Coffee

Coffea cruda syn. C. arabica
Coffee – imagine a sunny day in the distant past – perhaps a thousand years ago, perhaps much longer. A band of African warriors enters a damp highland forest, dense with the glossy undergrowth of 12- to 15 – foot-high broadleaved evergreens. Clustered at the leaf axils of these shrub like trees are rounded, deep red berries, no larger than the first joint of a man’s little finger. The men know that something in the berries helps them to perform great feats of strength and bravery, and so they pluck a large supply of the berries to chew in preparation for the battle that lies ahead.

Magickal Cleansing

So Why Do we need to Cleanse Before doing Ritual and Magickal Work?

Well, as you are about to honour the Goddess and the God, firstly you want to be clean out of respect for them! Secondly, by taking a Ritual bath it signals to your mind and body that you are preparing to do Ritual and Magick, which starts to get you into the right frame of mind to perform anything that you will be doing within the Circle! Thirdly, you need to ensure that your ‘space’ is clean and free from negativity (all the pent up emotion and negative energy that has accumulated over the time since it was last spiritually cleansed builds up, and if you haven’t used the space before, who’s to say exactly what has happened there in the past!), to ensure that you have only good and positive energies about when you perform Rituals.

Sacred Dying – Embracing The End Of Life

Having experienced the loss of family members from an early age has been the result of me adapting my way of thinking regarding living and dying; there is really no difference between birth and death, as both are equally sacred moments of the soul and facts of life. Sometime or the other we are all going to die.

 
Death is simply an end to the physical body, as the soul prepares its transition back into the spiritual realm. Nobody dies a moment before their time and nobody lives a moment after their time has come to make this great transition. None of us want to die; we want to live longer because that is what we know – the fight or flight for survival is in our primitive brain.

 
It is pointless to desire an extended life because it is all there – past, present and future, happening right now as we stay focused in the present moment. Having lived the past 15 years or so removed from traditional spiritual teaching and embracing the more holistic approach to life and death, has assisted me in understanding death with ease.

 
The many books I have read on the subject of death and dying, as well as the volunteer work with CANSA, serving the terminal patients who had been sent home to die, I was blessed in that I learnt much from both the patient and their families during this time, as they were trying to cope with impending death and finally the grieving stage of a loved one.

 
As a holistic practitioner since 2005, I promote the holistic and palliative approach to death. The imminent death of a patient, whether it is that of a family member or a client, is a sacred moment. There is no better way to show your love than just to be there for the dying person, assuring them that they will not die alone.

 
There is nothing fearful about death or dying. For both the dying and the living to partake in this very sacred time of transition, is a final gift of love to sit vigil at the deathbed.

 
Many years of learning about holistic care has led me to a place of sharing my knowledge with you. As Ramm Dass once said “If you are going to die, the best way to prepare is to quiet the mind and open the heart. If you are going to live, the best way to prepare is to quiet the mind and open the heart”. May we that are called to serve the dying, practice quieting the mind as we open our heart to serve those that are facing death, and share love and compassion to those that are left behind to mourn the passing of their loved one.

 

In loving service,
Mona Minnaar (SNHS/RHASA/CEOLD) 

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Swan Circle

Roodepoort, Gauteng

Suggestions for Exercises – Tarot Lesson 12

Exercise 12.1 – Arcana Cards in the Celtic Cross

Layout One: All cards are minor except the outcome (Position 10). This situation is a temporary personal drama, but its impact will be powerful and significant in some way. (See Jill’s first reading.)

Layout Two: The only major arcana card is in the Past (Position 4). The circumstances of the moment are the result of some major event from the past, or what was once of major significance is now fading.

Bors

by Brian Edward Rise

 
Lancelot’s cousin. Though hindered by unchaste acts in his past, he is one of the more successful Grail-knights and travels to Sarras with Perceval and Galahad where the Quest of the Sangreal is achieved. Bors is welcomed to Camelot after his return to Britain where he reports of Galahad’s attainment of the Supreme Vision and  subsequent death. He is made king of Claudas’s lands He warns Lancelot in vain about Agravain and Mordred’s plot to catch him alone with Guinevere and he eventually sides with Lancelot in the scandal that splits the Round Table. He fights Mordred with the king and, according to Malory, after Arthur’s death Bors takes religious orders and joins his cousin at a Glastonbury hermitage. However, Bors eventually dies in the Holy Land in the Crusade to Jerusalem.

Exploring past and place

Bob Trubshaw

Few of today’s career-conscious archeaologists would want to justify the theories and interpretations of, say, Glyn Daniels, still less more distant notables such as Gordon Childe. Even within single academic lifetimes it is possible to take disparate broad-views of the subject, as Colin Renfrew has happily shown. By the same criteria the ‘fringe’ contains a legacy that should largely be disregarded.

Reincarnation & Past Lives

by Anita Asman

 
We are all intrigued by our past lives, wondering what and who we were in the past. For the evolution of our soul, however, it is really not important “who” we were in the sense of a person (e.g. were we someone famous?), but in the sense of “who” we were as an essence. Therefore, the true questions to ask are “what have I accomplished in a past life”, “where lies my connection in this life to my past lives”, “what are the lessons I still have to learn, based on my past lives”.

RETHINKING THE QUARTERS AND TOOLS

In times past, from our ceremonial forbears, we received instructions on the quarters and their usage. As time and technology has progressed I feel that we need to update our directions, their meanings and usages.

How to find totem animal

Working with our animal symbol or animal totem (the terms are synonymous) is a process that will aid in our self-discovery, and also teaches us about life and the world around us. Animal spirits often reveal themselves to us through our subconscious during sleep and meditation. During these sessions, animals indicate valuable information about our past, present and future, as well as help us with situations we are dealing with in our lives.