Stepping stones | Writing Creatively With Spirit

March 30, 2013
by predencia 4 Comments

What does poo in dreams mean?

Friday 29^th March 2013

Daffodils huddled together for warmth in this frozen month of March

I found out my grandmother’s name. It’s Christianna Benjamin nee Morgan. During my meditation I set the intention to connect with her and to be given a sign that I was connected. I had a tickling around my third eye and on the left side of my neck.

I saw a thimble, and later thread and a needle. Was she a good seamstress? Did I hear that somewhere? Then I had the thought of stitching together a patchwork quilt.

I dropped in and out of nothingness, but in between I thought about my dream from the night before in which I was trying to hide from a previous boss. I’d been trying to dodge him for ages hiding in all kinds of places before suddenly deciding that I’d done nothing wrong and, despite all the people who’d been trying to hide and protect me, I came out openly and challenged him. He didn’t pursue the issues and I realised that I needn’t have hidden for so long.

In the same dream I needed the toilet and had to go a long way to find it, (even though I was convinced that there was one closer). A woman snuck in before me, but fortunately there was more than one cubicle. The wall was flat, and the toilet bowl emerged from it and looked a little flimsy as it had no solid base attaching it to the floor. It had un-flushed poo in. I needed to do a poo but was conscious of people in the next cubicle so held on to it, just did a wee while pondering the oddness of the toilet.

Somebody once told me that poo in dreams is related to money. Does this dream mean that I found some (in the bowl) but was too embarrassed to add mine to it? Do you know anything about poo in dreams?

And what about the thimble and the patchwork quilt? I was wondering if it could mean that I’m to pull together all the different things that I’m learning into one. Maybe create something new and different from all the bits. Any thoughts?

And finally, I got the thought that it would be a good idea to write about my Family Constellation experiences.

When I was researching Shamanism I found people’s personal experiences really helpful. Constellations are about soul integration, about making whole the fragmented soul that has suffered trauma. This is also the aim of Shamanism.

It may require a bit of delving into journals but each experience was so profound that they are clearly documented.

March 28, 2013
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Modern Shamanism

Masquerade dancer

When I received the information to look more deeply into Shamanism I was more than a little reluctant to be associated with this form of practice. I threw some questions out about where to look and got what I can only describe as divine guidance from ‘R’ who responded with a comment on the blog.

If you read A hero with a thousand faces or The Writers Journey they suggest writers are modern day shamans. Maggie Whitehouse has some interesting things to say on shamanism – also google ayuhuesca and modern shamanism. X

Thank you so much ‘R’ for this comment. There was so much contained in such a small space. I spent a big chunk of today researching all the areas you suggested. It made immediate sense to me that writers would be Shamans. Especially after watching Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk on genius, and my experiences with my second novel. As a writer Joseph Campbell’s work is part of my tool kit so it was easy to find a hook for this.

I hunted everywhere for Maggy Whitehouse’s comments but the only sites with any references to Shamanism were unavailable.

I’ve made it this far without taking any consciousness enhancing aids but found the information on Ayuhuesca fascinating.

By far the area that absorbed most of my time was the information on Modern Shamanism.

There were a few sites but the first one I went to made me understand my reluctance.

In the Western world, when we hear the word “shaman,” most of us tend to conjure up an image of a masked and costumed indigenous tribal person, dancing around a fire in the dark, involved in some sort of mysterious ritual, accompanied by singing and drum beats.

This is not an easy thing for me to visualise myself participating in. It wasn’t till I read a little further that I began to relax, and even to become slightly excited.

But inside that cultural shell of mask, costume and ritual, there is a woman or a man with a set of very real skills. The shaman is the master of the trance experience.

All true shamans are able to achieve expanded states of awareness in which they can direct the focus of their consciousness away from our everyday physical reality and into the inner worlds of the dreamtime while very much awake.

The first thing they discover is that these inner worlds are inhabited, for there they encounter spirits–the spirits of nature, the spirits of the elementals, the spirits of the ancestors, and the higher, compassionate transpersonal forces, many of whom serve humanity as spirit helpers and guardians, teachers and guides.

It is this extraordinary visionary ability that sets shamans apart from all other religious practitioners. And it is through their relationship with these archetypal beings that shamans are able to do various things, initially on behalf of themselves and then increasingly on behalf of others. What sorts of things?

At the top of the list is probably ’empowerment.’ Working with the assistance of their helping spirits, shamans are able to restore power to persons who have lost theirs or who have been diminished by their life experiences. Shamanic practitioners are able to access information from ‘the other side’ through divination; some are skilled at guiding the souls of the deceased to where they are supposed to go in the afterlife, an ability known as psychopomp work; and many shamans are master healers at the physical, mental-emotional, and spiritual levels of our being.

www.sharedwisdom.com/article/modern-shamen

I’ve resisted this spiritual journey every step of the way, because of the negative connotations attached to most spiritual practices that fall outside of the main stream religions. I’m a scientist and psychologist. At each step I’ve questioned my sanity, wondered whether I would be ridiculed, loose friends, gain enemies, loose livelihood.

Yet each step has brought me better health, more harmonious relationships and greater peace and sense of purpose. So why would this be any different?

I’m not saying that I’m rushing to become a fully paid up student of Shamanism, but I’m certainly considering the possibility. What is very clear from the research is the central role trance plays in this practice. Another reminder of how important meditation is.

Shamanism is about service to individuals and to the community, about helping to repair damaged bodies, emotional turmoil and to heal fragmented souls. The language of Shamanism is the same language of Constellation work. It has been suggested that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the result of a fragmented soul.

I see the use of parts integration techniques in my Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) training as related to making fragmented souls whole. Healing the whole person is the principle of all spiritual healing such as my Reiki, and sitting in a spiritual development circle is all about connecting with the spirit realm who instruct and guide us.

Maybe it’s not too big a step… like I said, at least worth considering. Thanks again R for your very helpful suggestions.

Has anyone attended any workshops in the Midlands of England? I note there are some in London but I was wandering if you know of any closer to the centre.

http://www.sharedwisdom.com/article/modern-shaman

http://www.huna.org/html/modshmn.html

http://www.modernshamanism.org/

March 21, 2013
by predencia 3 Comments

Can we really see the future?

19^th March 2013 (Tuesday)

I saw something and then it happened exactly (well almost) as I saw it. This is the second time this has happened to me; once years ago when I was very pleased with the outcome and this time when I was not.

During circle on Monday I asked about a relationship, about whether it was time to cease contact as I seemed to have outgrown it. My friend and I were no longer resonating (as they say) on the same frequency. The answer had been to ‘do nothing it will naturally cease when you’ve both learned all you need to.’

I went home and began trawling through some email correspondence from my friend for clues about what to do when she called me. That was the first shock. She very rarely calls, we mostly correspond by text or email.

She was calling to say she was on her way to Bristol (from Manchester), would be returning the following day and could she stay over at mine for the night for a catch up as we haven’t seen each other in a while.

‘What time?’ I asked, still a little surprised, but not wishing to sound trite by saying ‘I was just reading your emails,’ because I know she’s quite sceptical about some of this stuff.

‘About 6.30’ she replied, but I’ll text you when I’m leaving.

‘Ok’ I agreed, mentally re-jigging my evening.

That’s when it happened. I saw a text from her at 6.25 p.m. which said, ‘sorry can’t make it.’

‘Are you sure?’ she asked, and I wondered if I’d given something away in my voice.

‘Yeah sure.’

‘See you then.’ She was gone. I think she must be on the lowest tariff ever as that’s the usual length of calls she makes to me. Calls I make to her tend to be slightly longer, but she’s not a great on for the phone. (Must be missing a few pink genes.)

I didn’t think about it too much that night as I was having dinner with a friend and doing a reading for her, so I needed my head clear. (That’s another story) However, on waking on Tuesday morning I was drawn to this image of the text again. I went about the day making preparations for her arrival, only half expecting her to arrive, so clear was the text.

At 16.52 I received a text ‘Just leaving Bristol. Will let you know when I find arrival time.’

OK I thought, I must have been wrong. I thought about the last time I had a similar experience. I was doing a poetry performance and a friend had said he’d come to see me. As I got dressed to go out that night I saw him walk in and sit on a chair by the door. It was like a scene that’s lit up by the flash of a camera. It was that quick, but very clear. I waited all night and he didn’t show. Just as they were about to close the doors he slid in and sat in the chair I’d seen him in.

So maybe it wasn’t going to be another one of those occasions. From six o’clock onwards I kept my phone close in case she text me with little time to get to the station (another of her traits).

At 18.19 I saw her text and was by now convinced she’d be telling me her arrival time. It read:

‘Really sorry. Very tired. Decided to go on home. Hope you not too disappointed. Let’s arrange to link soon.’

BINGO!

There it was, as I’d seen it, only six minutes early.

I text back immediately, Yes, disappointed (could have done other things with my day than sort out her room etc) – a little. I must be getting better. I saw this. The wonder would have been if you’d made it. Yes. Next time.

‘Sorry, intention was there x’ she apologised again.

Now, mild annoyance aside, I’ve been wondering if these are just flukes or if I have the ability to see things before they happen. The first incident was about 2008 and I wasn’t sitting in circle then. I was doing some ascension work at the time but nothing specifically around developing psychically.

Have you had similar experiences? Were they a one off or have they become more regular? Is there any way to work on this area specifically, because, quite frankly it could be a very useful skill.

March 15, 2013
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African Ancestry – The journey continues

Friday 15^th March 2013

A few weeks ago I wrote about meeting my grandmother in a meditation which led to me start researching slavery and my ancestry.

Session 14 – Science Fiction

I also wrote about the voice in the night which led me to Tom Seligman,

https://writingcreativelywithspirit.com/2013/03/08/spirits-speaks-messages-in-the-night/

African Ancestry DNA kit

and ultimately to a company in America that uses DNA to find which African country my ancestors who were taken to the Caribbean in the Transatlantic Slave Trade were from. I ordered a kit which arrived yesterday.

Today I swabbed my cheeks and sent them back. In approximately six weeks I will know my roots.

If nothing else comes of going to circle I will know this. I don’t know why it’s so important at this time but there must be a reason for it, because I’ve never really been interested in genealogy. I don’t even know my grandmothers, both of whom died before I was born. With both my parents also dead and my last aunt from my mother’s side dying last year aged 101 my links with the past are quickly diminishing.

Maybe I’m about to discover some new ones!!!

March 15, 2013
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Invoking my creative muse

It’s Wednesday at 6.55 a.m. and I’m about to use the gift I received at circle on Thursday to invoke my creative muse.

Creative muse invoking kit

I have my dried lavender flowers, lavender oil, yellow feather and instructions, all beautifully bound in a yellow bag. I have a bell and a compass.

The instructions read: Put you symbol by where you work. Rub a little oil onto it, sprinkle flowers over the symbol while you repeat the following words aloud.

‘Muse of art, muse of sound, muse of thought, gather round. I ask for power, for shining light, creativity in this rite. As I will, Blessed be!’ Face east where you work, ring a bell, add a feather.

I do all of the above assuming the feather is the symbol of my art. Only when the feather is soaked in lavender oil, has dried flowers sticking to every strand, and I’m a little more awake (the ringing of the bell I think) do I realise that I needed a different symbol of my art.

I repeat the whole thing, but this time with a pen as the symbol.

It’s a lovely way to start the day. Beautiful smell of lavender, sound of tinkling bell (a cow bell my son brought back from Switzerland for me) and gently music.

Nothing dramatic has happened. I have a feeling my creative muse has been with me for some time, and had put in a re-appearance yesterday when I began writing on Love is Not a Reward again after a week away.

I’ll face east all day, maybe a good thing to get my back off the radiator anyway, and see what happens.

I research the meaning of Muse and realise that I’ve been working with at least one for some time now. Nice to formally welcome them though. And how thoughtful of my circle friend to think of me.

March 8, 2013
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Spirits Speaks – Messages in the night

Wednesday 6^th March 2013

I went to bed last night exhausted from my day’s research into the transatlantic slave trade. On Monday night I had dinner with two friends and told them of my thinking; that if we are all linked then I need to speak to my white as well as black ancestors. All of this was still swilling around in my head as I drifted off to sleep.

At some point in the night I was woken with the name ‘Tom Seligman.’ I heard it very clearly spoken. I thought it an odd name and made a mental note to remember it in the morning. As I drifted off to sleep again, by now thinking maybe I’d dreamt it, I heard the name again, ‘Tom Seligman. Get up and write it down. You’ll forget in the morning.’ I got up, scribbled the name on a piece of paper and went back to sleep.

In the cold light of day I began to doubt what had happened in the night, and wondered if this might have something to do with a Jewish connection as my mother’s maiden name is Benjamin.

Hours later I sat down to research the name. Two people with that name came up on Google’s first page. One was a young British conductor and the other, Thomas K Seligman was the ex director of the Cantor Centre for Visual Arts at StanfordUniversity in the United States. It was only when I got the part of his biography that said, He subsequently specialized in the arts and culture of the Tuareg people of the central Sahara, and has organized a major exhibition and catalogue entitled Art of Being Tuareg:Sahara Nomads in a Modern World (2005-2008) that I sat up and took notice.

I began to research the Tuareg people which eventually lead me to uncover the extent of the Arab world in the transatlantic slave trade as well as the Jewish interest. Also the way Christianity, Islam and Judeism have justify the transatlantic slave trade. It gave me an understanding of the background to the current conflict in Mali.

I obvioulsy have to do my own personal journey on this one, because for the first time I comprehended the full extent of black Aricans in the slave trade. Although many have pointed out that no-one on the African continient understood the full extent of the burtality that would be meted out to the slaves once they were taken on board the ships, all this now rests withing the collective world psyche. This is not just a European/American/African issue. It is a world issue, and if we acknowledge that we are universally linked then the world will not be free till slaves are truly free.

I began to understand why I’ve been finding it so difficult to write the story of black Caribbean parents. It cannot be divorced from the experience of slavery, because so much of what happened then still exists today.

I think my ancestors – all of them – want the stories told, but I was ill equipted to tell them. My experience of being raised by Caribbean parents is only part of the requirements.

There may be some of you going, ‘Oh not that old chesnut again. When are they going to stop blaming slavery?’ And in truth I was one of them, but that was from a point of ignorance. The fact that our Caribbean parents have no firm ancestral anchors is a massive handicap.

One of the outcome of this for me is that I’ve decided to take one of the DNA test that will tell me where in Africa my people hail from. It’s obviously important, otherwise why would spirit go through such lengths to make sure I found this information.

Here’s a question. Has spirit ever spoken to you, and if so what did they say? What actions did you take and what was the outcome?

This is truly a fascinating journey.

February 22, 2013
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Zoe and me at home

Zoe, the trance specialist from the Monday circle, came to see me for a spot of public speaking coaching. This was in response to the many messages she’s received about doing platform work.

Crotons. Just wanted to brighten up this post on a cold and grey day.

On entering my lounge she said it reminded her of one in the home of a specialist surgeon she’d been to visit some years ago, and suggested that maybe I was going to become a specialist in something.

In the course of the hour, in which we looked at physical and vocal presentation, we also exchanged some details about our respective journeys that lead to our meeting a few weeks ago. About half an hour into the session she looked at me and said, ‘I’ve just seen a picture of a globe. You’re holding it in your hands.’

‘Oh my God!’ I said taken aback, ‘that’s the third time.’

‘What’s the third time?’ she enquired.

‘That I’ve been told about a globe.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Once in November in a reading, and on Monday in the reading with Mike. Both times a woman was holding a globe.’

‘Well, well, well,’ she said, ‘and here it is again. Only it’s not just an ordinary globe. It’s one of those with a light inside. It’s like your lighting up the world.’

That’s when she told me she’d been told that she’d be travelling the world and jokingly said, ‘maybe we’ll be doing it together.’

I told her about my thoughts on trance mediumship, and she offered to help me with understanding symbolism. In return I offered to help her put a book together of her extraordinary journey so far, and told her that she reminded me of Betty Shine. She’d never heard of Betty Shine but pondered on the fact she has a sister called Betty. I said, (getting into the swing of things), that maybe her sister was telling her to shine her light from the platform.

It’s only as I write this, nearly twenty four hours later, that it’s suddenly occurred to me that I too have a sister called Betty, and maybe she too could be telling me to shine my light across the world. Yes, I’ve laughed out loud. Oh how we can’t often see our own messages. I’m more than ever understanding that the messages come in a whole variety of ways, which is why understanding symbolism is so important.

I have a feeling Zoe and I will be doing more work together. She’s even suggested that we attend a course at ArthurFindlayCollege. Now THAT would be a step in a very definite direction.

February 14, 2013
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Do spirits speak to us through electrical equipment?

Thursday 14^th February 2013

During my morning meditation yesterday I heard a crackling noise coming from my laptop. When it got to the point when I couldn’t ignore it any longer I went to investigate. The noise was coming from where the speakers were plugged in. I unplugged the connection and went back to meditating. I later realised that nothing was connected to the electrical supply.

I ran this past my friend who said, ‘maybe they (spirit) want you to amplify what you’re saying. Amplify your message.’

This morning I did my colour cards and got

Mauve = enjoy clear hearing.

Amber = awaken your creativity

Cherry = live and extraordinary life

My animal cards were

Lynx = discernment – look beyond immediate appearances

Koala = empathy – speak less and listen more

Eagle = spirit – trust in your higher self

During meditation I asked for help with awakening my creativity, as I’ve been struggling with writing since Monday. I had a clear message that the way to tell the story I’ve been struggling with is through letters.

Do you think the electrical equipment is about speaking or listening? Or can it in some way be both?

Oh and I forgot to mention that the hummingbird fell out twice. It means joy and the message is ‘lighten up.’

Any thoughts?

February 14, 2013
by predencia 2 Comments

Do mediums really need guides?

Tuesday 12^th February 2013

Today I went for a colonic hydrotherapy treatment. The therapist turned out to be a trance medium who had practiced for over ten years. (How random – (or otherwise) is that). I shared with her my concerns about not being able to contact my guide(s).

From Brendan’s holiday in
Egypt

She had an interesting take on it. She said that if my energy was already vibrating at a high level that I was already connected to my higher self, to spirit as it were, and that I didn’t need an intermediary.

She said most people who have a guide use the guide (which they have conjured up anyway, as we create all things in our lives) as a means of talking to their higher selves because they don’t yet know or trust that they can do it themselves. Quite often these people lack confidence and use the guide very much like a child uses an imaginary friend.

She suggested that whatever other spiritual practices I’ve been engaged in have brought me to accept that we are all one, all connected to each other and to all of the universe, to past, present and future and therefore there’s no need of a separate guide.

I’d really welcome some thoughts on this.

Writing Creatively With Spirit

A journey of psychic discovery

Category Archives: Stepping stones