The Justified Anger of the Righteous.

Talking with a friend today and he was discussing with me on his feelings and anger over this mess going on with the Corrupt Republican Party, and the wannabe dictator Trump currently squatting in the White House.  And anyone that has a smidgen of empathy, sympathy or even intelligence is angry.

So here are my thoughts to those not only here in the United States, but around the world who are dealing with the rise of White Nationalism, Fascism and a reverence for hate and evilness.  Look, it's ok to be angry, it is ok to fight against this.  If you don't who will?  Our entire planet and all it's life forms are on the line.  Democracy, and peace are on the line.  You are perfectly justified in fighting and in your anger and your loathing of these people supporting these actions.  It is the justified anger of the righteous.  The righteous in this case being those who believe in fairness, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Righteous meaning those who have a reverence for life, all life, plant, animal, and human not just an embryo or fetus.  Those who believed in what this nation aspired too.  We are those who believe in truth, education and equality for all.

I daily am angered by the corruptness of not only the Trump Crime Family but at the Republican Party.  To think that a corrupt, slimy, ill educated, cognitively challenged Sociopath such as Trump is revered by so called Christians who have forever told the rest of the world how they and only they were saintly, and good.  Un freaking believable.  Grab em by the pussy is fine with them, lining his pockets and breaking the law is dandy with them, pushing Russia and Putin's agenda, hey they loveee Russia and Putin now.  His wife, Melania, the former nude model, who like him has no breeding is seen as just "wonderful", even when she shows up braless flashing her nipples at the world.  Class huh?  Goddess forbid!  Frankly I am surprised she is not running around topless and in a thong.  And don't even get me started on his offspring who all seem to have inherited his lack of intellect and morals.

As for the Republican Party, for years we heard how they and only they were patriotic, fiscally responsible and the Party of family values.  Bah, they are only patriotic apparently when it comes to photo ops.  They all also seem to have plenty of donations from Russia.  Hmm, perhaps they are now owned by Russia.  As for family values, oh yes, they do have those, but they leave out that their family values are the values of The Charles Manson Family.  Come to think of it, Charlie and his crew had better values and morals then the Republican Party.

Daily we are reminded That our government has put children and families in cages, and literally given children to Betsy Devos, the idiotic Evangelical who plans on brainwashing and dumbing down everyone through her plans for education.  Betsy has ties to an adoption agency that is adopting out these children  MY GODDESS we are now dealing in human trafficking!  Crimes against humanity and the damn Republicans and the Trump base are just fine with it.

Our Constitution is undermined hourly and propaganda pushed by not only this damn administration but by the damn Republicans who apparently think we are ALL as stupid and uneducated as their base. 

Crime after crime, after crime and chaos galore!  It just goes on right along with the lies and propaganda of these nutters.

The planet is in crisis and they are fine with it, because they either call it fake news, or think it's great cause their mythical Jesus will come, save them and create a new planet!!

Angry, damn right I am, and you should be too!  Embrace that anger and put it to use, cause the only ones that are gonna save us, are ourselves!!

Santa is a Pagan, really!

And Yule draws near, the Winter Solstice will soon arrive and everyone regardless of their religion or spiritual path is celebrating some type of Holiday.

Back in the early days of the Catholic Church under Emperor Constantine, the Catholic Church under the guidance of Constantine was shaping the Christian religion.  Doctrines were established, laws were made of what was acceptable to believe but yet those pesky Pagans were still celebrating their holidays.  What was an Emperor to do?  So the Catholic Church begin to take Pagan Holidays and rename them something else, and dictate how they were to be celebrated.  So when Winter Solstice came up, it was designated as the birth of Jesus.  In 336 A.D.  Constantine declared the first Christmas celebration on December 25th.  All those "nasty" pagan celebrations he thought would be replaced with everyone going to Mass and scuttling those traditions of merriment.  But over the centuries the pagan roots crept back in.  You just can't keep the Goddess down.

Santa Clause if one goes searching for his roots, is really a mixture of various pagan figures. He is the Holly King of Celtic lore, he is Befana of Italian Lore, Thor and Frey of the Norse traditions, a pinch of Saturn and Cronos and so on.  The Christians tried to convert him and rename him St. Nicholas, but still his pagan roots shine through.  You just can't keep a good Pagan down!!

So even though some groups of Christians, meaning those right wing Evangelicals like to scream about Christmas being THEIR Holiday, remember, just like 95% of their religion, it has been "stolen" from other paths.

Have a wonderful Yule.

A history of Halloween.

Halloween is a mixture of the old and new, very old pagan, with a mix of Christian Holidays thrown in there.  The blend of the two in American culture grew into a creation that was unique when the different immigrants that had arrived in the American colonies, were free to celebrate without fear of retaliation by the various Churches.

Now every ancient culture seemed to have a final harvest celebration that occurred around the same time period.  They all seemed to have a number of things in common, which were, seeing this celebration as a time of the very last fruits of harvest, getting ready for the long days of darkness of the coming winter, preparing for those times of food shortages,  honoring the God and Goddess of the Harvest, and of the Light, and giving honor to the God and Goddess of the forthcoming time of Dark, and cold, giving honor to the spirits and beings who helped with the fruitfulness of the harvest, and trying to appease those who would be arriving with the cold, dark winter months.  It was also common to see this as a time of thinness between the veil that separated the living, and those who had died, and giving honor to one’s loved ones and ancestors who had passed into the afterlife.

For the ancient Irish Celtic folks, it was called Samhain, and they also considered it the start of their New Year.  They had bonfires, communal feasts, costumes, and would leave out offerings to the spirits and for their ancestors.  In the British Isles, these Celtic celebrations were influenced by the Romans, who had begun trade in 55 B.C., before invading later on.  The Roman's had their holidays such as Ferlia, which honored the passing of the dead, and also the festival of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and trees.  They were incorporated into the Celtic holidays.

The Welsh called it, Calan Gaeaf, and celebrated it on November 1.  To them, it was also a celebration of the first day of winter.  The Cornish Folk celebrated it on October 31 and called it Kalan Gwav.  In Brittany, they too celebrated it on the 31 of October, and there it was called Kalan Goanv.

Now the Germanic peoples had a festival, celebration if you will, that was celebrated on the 14th and 15th of October called Vetrablot, which was also known as Frey's blessings, and is known now as Winternights, and is celebrated on October 31.  It too was along the same line as the other celebrations we have discussed.

October 31 was also the Feast Day of the Egyptian goddesses, Sekhmet and Bastet.

The indigenous peoples of South and Central Mexico had a Holiday they celebrated around the same time as the Celts and the Romans, and the rest; they called it Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead.  It too was seen as a time of honoring and appeasing those who had gone on.

Now, as the influence of the Catholic Church increased and spread, they, in a hope of ousting the pagan celebrations, created the celebration of All Saints, in the early 600's A.D.  This was a celebration of all the Catholic Saints, and it was November 1, and the Church hoped it would entice everyone to put away their pagan beliefs.  It soon became known as All Hallows, which would become Halloween or All Hallows Eve.  It didn't quite work out the way the Church planned.  So in the 9th century, they rearranged their calendar and added All Souls Day on the 2 of November.  It was to pray for all the dead Catholics.  Once again, it didn't quite go as they planned, and soon, the customs of the 2 Christian Holidays, were incorporated into the celebrations of the everyday folk.

Halloween is seen as the time of the thinning of the veil between the worlds.   It is a time to celebrate and pay homage to not only our ancestors but to all of our loved ones that have gone on, be it human or our pets.  It is also a time to pay homage to the Lady and Lord in their aspects of the Crone, and he of the Underworld.  It is also a time to propitiate those spirits that are associated with not only the forthcoming time of the cold winter months, but also those who may be associated with the land, and with your family lineage. 

From the Garden Crone Witching Handbook by A.D. Sarapa


Happy Samhain/Halloween everyone!!

Crone and Friends save the Halloween Candy. A short story for Samhain.

Wrote a short story for everyone to enjoy for Samhain/Halloween.  Hope you enjoy it.

Crone and friends save the Halloween Candy. by The Garden Crone

Crone was talking on her crystal ball on the afternoon of Halloween. She and Elaine, Elizabeth L, Elouise, and Ronny Harmony were discussing their plans. Suddenly Elizabeth P came into view on the crystal ball, looking all flustered. "Crone, we have a problem! That orange troll Ronald Trumpkin and his gang have been going around stealing all the candy and other goodies! They are hijacking trucks, breaking into homes and stores and holding up people to get their candy stores! We have to do something!"

Everyone begin to talk all at once excitedly. "Oh that orange menace", "Let me at him", "Oh NO", "What are we going to do" Crone said "Let's calm down and try and think. Let's call up the rest of the gang and we will all come up with a plan." Everyone calmed down as Crone proceeded to get Lyn, Sarah, Kendrix, Tena, Susan, Janice, Deb, Debra, Ana and Jennifer on the crystal ball. "Ok everyone, we need to come up with a plan to stop Ronald Trumpkin and his band of thieves and get back the candy they have already stolen from everyone. Idea's anyone." Susan asked "Are we bringing the pets? Because my Hagbard really detests the Trumpkins and since he had his surgery he has been a bit out of sorts. I think an outing will do him good." "Yes bring the pets, my fur babies detest him also. They can help." , "Yes, I say we bring them." , "Shield will definitely want in on this." And so it went with everyone wanting to bring their animal companion. "Ok, so we have decided the companions can help, so now let's come up with a plan."

Elouise said thoughtfully, "I think we should take George as the broom bus, whatever we do." Everyone agreed that was a good idea. And so the friends began to toss out ideas. Finally they came up with a plan. Ana would ride her broom to Crone's house, Elaine would ride Shield to Crone's house and from there they would all take George to pick everyone else up. They would all wear costumes and pretend to be trick or treaters. Crone would tell her friend Carol what was going on. Carol's husband had a radio show, and she could make an announcement to everyone to keep an eye out for Ronald Trumpkin and his band of malcontents and if anyone saw them, they could contact Crone on her portable crystal ball. They all had Witchbook and Witch tweet accounts also, and if they posted it on their profiles, people could let them know via their portable crystal balls. They also sent a message to Ghom the King of the Earth Elementals and he told them he would send them help in getting the candy back from Ronald Trumpkin and his gang. As for the friends, they would fly around in George and keep an eye out for the trolls. Everyone scurried around to get their costumes ready, find their brooms, portable crystal balls, round up their fur companions, post on Witchbook and Witch tweet and get ready to save the Halloween candy.

Crone decided to put on a Witch costume, that way Mem could ride on her shoulder and she dressed Stormy the German Shepherd up as a K-9. She had just finished getting Storm in his outfit when she heard Ana singing as she flew into sight. "Oh what a night to fly on a broom bus and trick or treat..." as Crone looked out the window she saw Ana come to a screeching halt. Off in the distance she saw a flying dragon and Ana said "Well, here comes Elaine and Shield." As Shield landed, Crone started to laugh, because Elaine and Ana were also dressed in their Witch outfits. Ana looked and begin to grin, and Elaine said "I see we all the same idea for costumes." The three friends began to giggle as Shield, Elaine's dog Monty, Storm and Mem greeted each other. Ana giggled "I wonder how many more Witches we will have join us." Crone replied "No doubt enough for a Coven and a few to spare!"

Crone brought out George who began to float in the air in front of them and Mem began the spell. "From broom to broom bus now be, and off we fly in the evening sky to pick up our friends and a mission to fly." POOF!! In an instance George was elongated and had seats for many. Crone, Ana, Elaine and their companions all climbed in and settled down for the flight. With a SWISH George was up in the air and off to pick up the rest of the friends. Like the speed of light they were soon picking up Ronny and Tena. Ron was dressed as a Scottish Highlander complete with a War hammer. He grinned and shook his hammer. "Thought this might come in handy to play whack a troll with Ronald Trumpkin." Tena was dressed as a Sorceress. SWISH up they flew and off into the evening sky and soon had picked up Elizabeth L, Elizabeth P, Susan, Jennifer, Janice, Lyn, Deb, Debra, Kendrix, and Sarah and were on their way to pick up Elouise. The friends were chatting and singing and Kendrix exclaimed "This is so much fun! And it was so wonderful flying through those lovely sunset clouds."

Soon they were at Elouise's house and George began his descent. Elouise was waiting on them and she too was dressed as a Witch! She laughed as she climbed in the bus. "So we have one Highland Warrior, a Sorceress and a Coven of Witches!" Everyone began to giggle. Crone said, "Now I will let Carol know that we are on the move." So she got out her crystal ball and called up Carol and let her know that the friends were now officially on the hunt.

Rick and Carol were doing their radio show when Crone contacted them. Rick said "My wife has just let me know that Crone and friends are out hunting Ronald Trumpkin and his gang and trying to reclaim the Halloween Candy. If any of our listeners see him, please contact Crone on her Witch Tweet account and give her the location. Now for a small break."

The friends and George were flying low to the ground. Susan said "Is that Melly Trumpkin up ahead?" Janice replied "It sure looks like a vamp, and I swear that is Rudy Ghoulkin." Elouise was checking all the messages on Witchbook and Lyn was keeping track of Witch Tweet. Elizabeth P said "Let me send Pegysue and check it out." So Pegysue flew ahead and went in for a better look. She came back and landed on Elizabeth P's shoulder and whispered in her ear. "No, that's not them." Jennifer shrugged "Well all those vamps and ghouls look alike."

Crone's crystal ball beeped with a Witch Tweet notification. Crone looked and started to grin. "And we have confirmation, someone just spotted Ronald and his gang 2 blocks over, and they have the Candy Truck with them. " And everyone cheered and began to prepare. ZOOM! George was off and Sarah sent off a quick message to Ghom that they had found Ronald Trumpkin and his gang.

George hovered beside a building as the friends spotted Ronald Trumpkin. " Yep, there's Ronald the Troll, Melly and Vanny the Vamps, Eir Duh and Ron Ron Trumpkin the gremlins, Rudy the Ghoul, Billy Goat Barr, Jerry Kushkin the Ghoul and Kell Conkin the ghoul." said Deb.

Slowly George descended and poofed back into his original broom form. The friends and their companions all began to race up the street to the Trumpkin Gang. They soon surrounded the stolen Candy Truck and the Trumpkin Gang. Crone and Storm stepped forward. "Give us the Candy Truck and Candy and no one will get hurt!" Ronald Trumpkin began to shake his fist and howl "NO! It's mine! I am the King of Candy." "You leaf my hussband alone, you Witches, or I will bite you! and Melly and Vanny barred their fangs. And with that all spell broke loose! Ronny was swinging his hammer, the Witches were swinging their brooms and slinging spells, Tena was punching the troll gang members, the cats were scratching them, Storm and the rest of the dogs were biting them, Pegysue was dive bombing them, and Shield was raking fire over their toes and the Troll Gang were screeching, and jumping and trying to run away. Above them they heard over all the noise a chanting of "Pumpkins away! Witches duck"! They looked up to see Goblins riding in on Gargoyles holding lots of pumpkins. The friends all jumped out of the way as the Gargoyle brigade began to drop pumpkins on the heads of the Troll gang members. "Ouch! That hurts!" and the troll gang stopped fighting and tried to cover their heads as they got whacked with pumpkins and knocked out. Soon they were all lying on the ground.

Ronny and Tena climbed into the Candy Truck laughing. "Wow. That was fun! We'll make sure the truck and candy gets back to where it belongs." And off they drove to return it and the candy. With the help of the gargoyles and the goblins, the friends all tied the Troll gang upside down and the gargoyles lifed off carrying them off to Ghom to deal with.

The friends were all high fiving each other and celebrating, because they had saved the candy from the Trumpkin gang. George poofed back into the broom bus and everyone climbed aboard. "Now, let's go party and have same nice soup at my house to celebrate.! " said Elouse. Everyone cheered and with a zoom and a zip George was up in the air flying towards Elouise's house.

The End. Wishing you all a wonderful Samhain!

Angry White Men like Warren Hurst and other MAGA idiots

Oh yes to hear Warren Hurst a Sevier County Commissioner in Tennessee the White Males are discriminated against and have their rights violated on a daily basis.  This angry adult white male threw a hissy fit that would have made a 3 year old proud.

He cried that white males had no rights.  He cast slurs at the Democratic Candidates, he whined, whimpered and decried the status of white males.

So let me be blunt here Warren, YOU ARE PREJUDICED.  Oh you can deny that all you want.  But man up here.  The problem with you and the rest of the MAGA twits is suddenly you have to play fair with everyone else.  No more are you considered special.   Suddenly it is expected that Women have rights and are equal to Men.  No more wife beating and abuse is not condoned.  No more of this right wing Christian nonsense of the MAN being the head of the household.  Most women will laugh in your face if you try that nonsense.  No more grabbing women and kissing and pinching without their permission.  Do that and you are liable to be punched in the fact and arrested.  These new rules just deflate your male ego don't they?  Reality has kicked in and suddenly you are being made to acknowledge you all aren't special.

And worse, the LGBT community has rights according to you.  No more can you shake your manly fist and attack them without fear of repercussion.  Oh you can quote your Bible verses all you want, but we don't care. Which cuts to the next point, all of a sudden people are pushing back telling you idiots you can't push your religious nonsense down the rest of everyone's throats.  You can tell your revisionist history of the "USA is a Christian nation".  PFFFT, it's not.  IF you folks would get an education you would learn true history and not the lying propaganda you all try and push.

And minorities have rights!  Now you are told they are equal to you.  Oh you can push your lies and fake science that tries to show they are defective and less moral and less intelligent, but most folks with a bit of intelligence know better.  In fact most of them are superior in morals and intelligence to you all.

So what you all are really crying about is you can't go out and attack women, or be a sexual predator anymore without repercussions, you can't beat up the LGBT anymore and get away with it, or attack minorities anymore or be applauded for belonging to your little Nazi or KKK group.  You haven't lost your rights, what you have lost is your right to take away the rights of others. 

My advice to you all, is get an education, and I don't mean Bible Class or your little religious Colleges, but a REAL education with history, psychology and sociology.  Go see a therapist, it will help you not only understand yourself but others.  And last, pull up your big boy briefs and get over it already.

What is the void you ask?

You hear me speak of the void when doing spells.  And I have had folks ask me what is the Void.  So I shall try and explain it easily to you. 

The symbol for infinity is the Lemniscate,  it looks like a figure 8 lying horizontal instead of upright and vertical.

Where the lines intersect to form an X is the void.  So the void is the spot in the space time continuum where energy churns waiting to be used.  It is where all possibilities and outcomes exist.  It is the time without a time, a place without a place. It is the threshold of action and possibilities.  It is where everything that is, is.  The spot of everything that could be, might be is, and is not.  The threshold to the past and to the future.  .So the energy there churns waiting to get direction in being used.  So when we do spells, this is where we tap into and use our energy and willpower to meld with this energy, and mold it into the desired action or outcome we are striving for.  Again let me reiterate that when doing magic, or spells, the results are not instantaneous, but put into motion the actions that will result in our outcome we strive for.  Using herbs, crystals and other tools help us to connect with this energy in whatever form we are trying to bring into being.  When we petition Deity, we are basically asking for their help in forming our connection to this energy.  Sometimes we get a good connection and sometimes we have to try again.  Sort of like when you are dialing the utility company to speak to someone.  Occasionally we get through to the person we need to speak too on our first try.  Sometimes we get the message to try again later because all circuits are busy, or there are 20 callers ahead of us, please hold.  Sometimes we get a busy signal and have to hang up and try our call later.  The longer one does magic or spells, the better we get at getting that connection on our first try.  And as we redo spells, we strengthen that connection and feed more of our energy into the molding of the desired outcome.                                                                                                           

Hope this helped you understand the concept of the void better.                                                          

Those who misuse power will be destroyed by power.

Make no mistake about it, those who seek power for their own gain will misuse it, and those who misuse it will be destroyed by it. That my friends is a fact, not an alternative fact bounced around by the Trump regime and supporters and the Alt Christians, but a pure, unadulterated, immutable fact.

Just because I have not posted lately does not mean that I have given up.  No my friends I have been livid.  No, World, never think the United States has become completely filled with right wing suck ups and evil doers.  There are millions of us that are filled with a justified, righteous anger.  And make no mistake, there is a storm brewing of immense proportions that is filled with the anger of the righteous.  Evil doers beware.  Right now Vladamir Putin is rubbing his hands with glee, and figuratively jumping with joy, but I have news for Vlad, his reign of terror is on the wane.  The stars have shifted and his power will now decline.  The wheel of fate has spun and landed on justice and karma.  As for Turkish President Erdogan, you too will taste the sharp cutting edge of justice and karma, and last if not least, the current regime squatting in the White House, and it's enablers will now taste the power of justice. 

Hang in there those who believe in equality, justice and brotherhood.  The storm is moving in fast.  Keep up your search and fight for justice and truth and goodness.  Be not led astray by the lies of the sociopaths and the patriarchy.  Be not afraid to fight the good fight against evil.  Pray your prayers, sling your spells and stand up for what is right.  Always remember Evil often comes clothed in a pretty little, glittery package, and it appeals to the baser instincts.  It devours and destroys.  It doesn't create, and it most certainly does not create peace and harmony.  It encourages selfish behavior and pits people against people based on stupid things like skin color and gender.  It claims to be the favored, the anointed, and appointed by the most high.  But it is not.  It lies, for evil does not spread the truth, it in fact destroys it, corrupts it and encourages the spread of propaganda and hate.  Do not fear your righteous anger is wrong, because it is not. 

Always remember that those who believe in good outnumber evil.  But evil is well versed in manipulation and using fear to suppress.  Throw off those chains of fear and realize that within you lies the answer and the solution.

Bunnies, spiders and other critters.

I like birds, bumblebees, honey bees, can deal with wooly worms and earthworms, lightning bugs are cool, and I even like crickets.  What I do not like are snakes and spiders.  Snakes of any size or type are totally out of the question.  As for spiders, those little one's no bigger than an eraser on a pencil I can deal with and call them Grandmother Spider.  Anything over that is suspect and may be subject to the death penalty.  If it comes in my house, I consider it an invasion.  So the other night I was minding my own business and having a nice relaxing bath when out of the corner of my eye I saw something big and black skittering across the throw rug.  I looked, and there went a big old spider the size of a 50 cent piece.  Well, I was real proud of myself.  I didn't scream, I just yelled "Holy Hell!"  and jumped out of the tub, keeping an eye on said critter while looking under the sink for the can of Raid (if you will recall, this is not the first time I have had spiders in the bathroom, I now keep Raid in there just for such situations).  Finding it, I went on the hunt.  And there it was, squeezed between the clothes hamper and the wall.  I proceeded to spray at it, and got it a bit, but it squeezed behind the towel cupboard.  I managed to get some back there, but I am not confident that it died.  I now have the Raid can sitting on top of the sink and the can of hairspray sitting on the vanity.  If it comes out in my sight again, I am prepared. 

Then Jean calls me and asks me if I would think she was crazy if she asked me to come over and help her catch a baby bunny that had decided to come visit her, in the house.  Yep, somehow a baby bunny had gotten in her house and was hiding.  So over I went and just as I walked through her door it ran out from under her couch and underneath a stand.  So I caught it.  We put it in a box and took it down to the park and released it.  I am sure it had quite an adventure to tell to its friends and siblings.

Then the mouse.  Hubby had been leaving the basement door open so we could easily carry stuff out (yeah it is that time of year again, go through this, pitch out that) when apparently a pair of mice thought it would be a grand adventure to  explore and perhaps take up residence.  Well I tried to explain to them they had to leave.  No dice, so we put out bait for them.  Ha!  Apparently they knew better then to take it.  Hubby was not amused "Cats in the house and they can't even get a mouse!"  He told Mem he was going to go borrow the neighbors cat since Mem apparently couldn't catch them.  Well, Mem caught one of them.  I know, because I had a heck of a time getting it off of him.  I explained to him that they carried germs and disease and he couldn't eat them, they would make him sick.  He got noms and praised and bragged on.  I also told him to get the other one.  I said Mem get the other one.  Slash it with your claws, shake it, but do not eat it.  Either put it somewhere Mom will see it, or better yet just throw it in the garbage can.  So I get up the other morning and hubby said that Mem caught the other mouse. I asked hubby if Mem had ate it.  Nope said Hubby, he laid it on the floor next to the garbage can.  SEE!!!  Mem is one smart cat! 

Of course we have had various other critters such as Wasps (they are not on the protected list at my house), who if they are trying to get out, I will open the window or door and shoo them in the correct direction: flies and stinkbugs who are immediately subject to the death penalty and a cricket, who was caught and released.

One thing about it after being together for 32 years hubby knows which critters are to be killed and which ones protected.  Including the size requirements on the spiders. 

So enjoy the beauty of the Fall my friends. 

Natural treatments for arthritis

Did you know that there are over 100 different types of arthritis and related diseases? And age is not an indicator of it either.  Depending upon the type it can affect the very young also.  So what can a person do?  There is no cure for these diseases, but one can help treat the symptoms and control the amount of damage done. 

So let's discuss some natural treatments.

Boron-Various research since 1963 has shown that Boron is an effective treatment for arthritis, helping to alleviate the pain and discomfort.  6 mg a day seemed to be effective.  Added benefits of boron include helping to build healthy bones and improved brain function.

Turmeric-a natural Cox 2 inhibitor, turmeric will help will pain and keep inflammation from increasing.  Take with bioperine(black pepper) to increase the absorption.  Added benefits of turmeric is it helps prevent blood clots.

Ginger- another natural Cox 2 inhibitor, it too helps with pain and inflammation.  Added benefits are helps with nausea and helps to prevent blood clots.

Fish Oil/Flaxseed Oil- both are high in Omega 3's which help with inflammation.  Fish Oil may raise cholesterol levels in some folks, and it has a blood thinning effect.  I recommend cold pressed Flaxseed Oil.

MSM Chondroitin and Glucosamine-help with cartilage formation and repair.   Added benefits they also seem to help with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Boswellia- aka Frankincense-used to treat inflammation and pain.  Added benefits are helps with asthma and IBD's.   

Tart Cherry-helps with pain and inflammation.  Added benefits are better sleep and helps control gout.

Astaxanthin-helps with pain and inflammation, it is another natural Cox 2 inhibitor.  Added benefits include heart health, increased blood flow and helps prevent new wrinkles.

So there you go, just a few of the natural treatments for arthritis.  And you can get them anywhere.  I buy online at Swansons and Puritans Pride.  In fact Puritan has a tart cherry/turmeric/ginger blend that also has bioperine added. 

18th Anniversary of 9/11

Eighteen years ago it was a sunny morning when disaster struck out of a clear blue sky.  At 8:45 a.m. a plane that had been hijacked from Boston, MA slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and the world began to turn upside down.  With horror the world watched as the tower started to burn, and then even more horrific, at 9:03 a.m. a second plane hijacked out of Boston slammed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.  Not only First Responders rushed into perform heroic deeds, but ordinary citizens.  By the time the building collapsed and survivors found, over 2,600 U.S. citizens and 372 citizens of other nations excluding the Hijackers lost their lives.  Of those who lost their lives most were civilians, but 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers also died.

At 9:43 a.m. a third plane hijacked from Washington crashed into the Pentagon. 125 lives excluding the hijackers and the passengers on the plane were lost.  55 of those lost lives were military personnel.

At 10:10 a.m. a fourth plane hijacked from New Jersey crashed into a field in Shanksville, Somerset County, PA.  44 people excluding the hijackers were killed.  Heroism abounded on flight 93.  The passengers who had been in touch with people on the ground had learned about the other attacks.  They banded together and rushed the cockpit.  Flight 93 was the only plane not to reach its intended target.  Those passengers were heroes who gave their lives to save disaster from occurring to other innocent people.

All in all 2,974 people and 19 hijackers lost their lives in the initial attacks.

The people of the United States were horrified and most of the world cried with us.  I remember  9/11 like it happened yesterday.  The fear, the horror, the uncertainty and then the pride as we as a nation joined together as one.  There was no worrying if someone was LGBTQ or black or hispanic or what have you.  Our citizens as one arose to the occasion.   We all shed tears over the deaths and of the heroism of the passengers of Flight 93.  We mourned as a nation.

But fast forward to 18 years later and we have a narcissistic, sociopath squatting in the White House who has no scruples of lying and misleading the citizens, who seems to worship at the altar of Putin and Russia and buddy up to the corrupt regime in Saudi Arabia, where 15 of the hijackers were from.  Yet the squatter in the White House and his equally corrupt adult children and their spouses line their pockets at the expense of the nation and make friends and deals with the regimes that helped bring about this disaster.  We hear the Trump supporting idiots claiming that the real patriots support the terrorist Muslims, when we fight their idiot in chief"s Muslim bans, and when they don't realize apparently just what countries the terrorists were from. Also they who claim to love their fictional Jesus can't understand that not every Muslim is a terrorist.  But thinking is not the strong suit of republicans, evangelicals or the mob squatting in the White House.

This nation needs to revive that feeling of fellowship that we had among all members of our nation after the attacks.  People need to remember that religious extremism is BAD, regardless of what religion it is.  We need to become inclusive instead of dividing.  This nation needs a revival of morals, and I am not talking Christian ones, but Humanistic ones.

Please join me in a moment of silence remembering all those who lost their lives that fateful day.

Psychic Vampires?

Are there Psychic Vampires you ask?  Yes.  I will try and condense things down to explain.  We hear all the time about Psychic Vampires aka Toxic people.  But the thing is Psychic Vamps don't just steal your energy, there are some who can also steal other things from you, and transfer things to you.

Like I said this is a really complex subject and without writing a set of encyclopedias about it I will try and simplify things as much as I can.

First let me state I do not see Aura's.  I certainly believe that we all have a force field of our life energies that surrounds us.  Over the eons plenty of cultures have believed something similar for it to be just dismissed.  Now I think that a very teeny tiny percentage of folks may be able to see a reflection of that force field.  I do not think that it is a very common talent to have.  Now over the years we have heard from many different people and cultures that there are ties between people, and they are generally talking about metaphysical ties.  And over the previous decades we have seen things like Kirlian photography and even Quantum physics such as the entanglement theory show us bits and pieces of things that seem to tie into these tales that have been told.

So basically when we interact with someone or even a pet on an intimate basis , our force fields appear to have ties form between the 2 force fields.  I call it hooks with lines.  So in my force field would be a hook with a line running from me to the force field of say my cat.  So we would say there is a tie between us.

Now when you interact (and I am not talking about passing them on the street and exchanging a hello, but an interaction where you sit and chat) on a friendly basis, meaning a longer period of time you start to have little bands of interaction form.  Do it often enough and long enough and you get the hooks.  Now in our intimate interactions with others who are not Psychic Vamps we exchange energy.  We all have friends who when we interact with, we start laughing and having a good time and both folks feel more energized.  Same goes for love interests, both people feel loved.   So basically these hooks and the lines between sort of act like a telephone or electrical line.  But when we have this hook and line thing occur with a Psychic Vampire, the exchange only goes one way.  By the time we are done interacting we feel drained.  They of course are feeling energized.  How many of you personally know folks that after you sit and talk to them, either in person or on the phone, they say to you "Oh I feel so much better now that we've talked", and you on the other hand feel like you've been run over by a tractor trailer.

They can also steal your luck, your health and any other number of things from you.  We all know stories about people who were considered to be jinxes. A jinx is a person who seems to cause bad luck or misfortune to happen to others around them.  So an exchange of energies occurs.  The jinx exchanges their bad luck or misfortune to someone else and waltzes off with the luck or what have you of their victim.

So how do you handle this?  First off once you have identified such a psychic thief, because really that is what they are, (of course if you wish to call them a psychic vampire, feel free to do so) you need to limit severely your contact on an intimate basis with them.  You also need to get rid of those hooks and ties.  A good cleansing bath from head to toe, including using hyssop is indicated.  Get rid of any pictures, or anything they have given you.  Because these items can help keep those hooks and lines from dissolving.  A spell can also be done that you state that wish to permanently cut all ties that bind you to this person.  Wear protective jewelry or carry protective crystals when you know you have to interact with this person, and visualize a protective bubble around you that will deflect any attempts to form new hooks and ties.  Eventually these psychic thieves will wander off and find someone new to drain.  But in the meantime you must keep your shield up, carry your protective crystal when you are around them, and do a cleansing bath asap.

Now some of these folks know exactly what they are doing.  They have stumbled onto some of the darker methods of the craft and use it to their own advantages.  Some folks do it, but not consciously.  Regardless it doesn't matter, no one needs a Psychic Vamp or Thief hanging around.     

Succubus and Incubus

Down through the ages have been reports of spirits who attach themselves to humans during sleep and drain them through sexual contact.  Succubus are those supposedly of the female gender who attack males and Incubus are those supposedly of the male gender who attack females.  Some supposedly are also attracted to those of the same sex and lore has it that some are able to switch gender.  Now Lilith is supposedly in charge of Incubus and Succubus, so she would be the deity whom I would contact in such a situation.  And in case you are wondering if I have ever known someone who had such a situation, the answer is yes.

In my book Tough Magic for Rough Times I gave a spell at the very end of the book to cleanse a home or business of disruptive entities and told the basic story behind said spell.  I didn't go into depth but the spirits were Incubus and Succubus.  A quick readers digest version is this:  My friend Salt had a friend who owned a few businesses.  She had hired a young man and allowed him to stay in an apartment over the businesses.  While he was there (And it was only a month or so) weird things begin to occur.  Salt's friend was having nocturnal visits from an Incubus, and other workers and customers were having similar experiences.  Before the young man took off, he told the Lady he was into Incubus and Succubus.  Yep, he had somehow acquired a following of them and didn't care who knew what he was up too.  So he ended up quitting and moving on.  But his little friends, or some of them decided to stay.  And the weird stuff kept up.  Salt called me and asked if I could help.  I told him to have his friend call me, and she did.  After talking to her a few times I had a good idea on what was going on.  So I told her I would come up with a ritual to get rid of her unwelcome guests, and that I would send it and the list of ingredients and supplies needed to take care of the situation.  Plus I told her she would have to do her home, the apartment he stayed in and all of the businesses, plus do a cleansing on herself.  Salt said he would help her do it and then do a cleansing on himself afterwards.  The ritual and supplies can be used for any type of spirit.  It borders on an exorcism, but it isn't.  After doing the ritual and cleansing, the Lady did not have any more issues with said entities or spirits.  She called me about a month after they had done it and said she had nothing else occur and that she noticed that she felt better than she had in years in fact.

What you have to do is cleanse everything, including yourself and set up protective barriers to keep out your unwelcome guests.  You have to invite in good and protective spirits and entities.  This is the part many folks forget.  They generally do a cleansing and think they have gotten rid of the problem, and they have, but only temporarily.  This is why you hear stories of folks saging a place and a week later the problem is back.  The correct way is banish, cleanse, invite in positive energy and beings, set up protection and deflection.  You can use crystals and other stones, plants or other magical items to help keep up the energy.  And once a month or after a stressful incident do a mini cleansing.  Add a house blessing which invites in the positive energies also every few months.  And once a month do a magical cleansing bath on yourself.  Something as simple as Epsom Salts and lemon juice with a pinch of hyssop with help keep you free of nasty psychic gunk.  Burn Sandalwood, Frankincense, Myrrh or Dragons Blood incense once a week and waft it through your home will help keep positive energy flowing in.  Wear a pentacle or other protective jewelry.  Hang windchimes and bells up and around.

All of this will make you, and your home very unattractive to these entities.  Good luck!  And remember the ritual to get rid of unwelcome,  otherworldly guests is in Tough Magic for Rough Times.

Smear Campaigns

Smear campaigns are the go to tool of your Cluster B's.  What it is character assassination or to be blunt a bunch of lies deliberately told to discredit someone and cause harm to their reputation.  And it doesn't matter who or what your Cluster B is they will ALL do this.  They do it because they feel they need to undermine someone who has threatened their version of reality, or to someone they feel threatened by or to make themselves appear innocent in a situation.  They tell anyone who will listen to their sordid tales flat out lies meant to destroy the reputation of whoever has come into their sights.

But they will never flat out attack the person face to face.  They are the trolls who use aliases on social media or post anonymously in forums or other internet mediums.  They tell tales meant to inflame other people who after reading or hearing all of these horrendous things that supposedly occur, in turn instead of thinking things through logically believe them.  Because to a normal person it is hard to believe that someone would make up such lies and tell them but to Cluster B's it is a normal thing to do.

But they do.  Talk to anyone who has had a Cluster B in their life.  You will hear tales of Mothers who have done this to their children, children who have done it to their parents, siblings who have done it to each other.  Co- workers who have done it to others, and I could go on and on.

And when we hear these tales we don't always think things through.  For example Hillary Clinton seems to be a favorite for smear campaigns.  But honestly, do you not think if she had done all these things that someone at some point would not have taken legal steps?    And with as many investigations as she has been through and with all the hate towards her, if she had actually done 1/4 of what she has been accused of she would have been convicted and put in prison.

Another example of smear campaigns is The Sandy Hook Conspiracy tossed around by the right wing.  Parents of the victims were attacked and their reputations smeared. Of course that right now is involved in a lawsuit.  Libel is when a smear campaign is in print.  Slander is the spoken word.

Now your Cluster B's have little helpers who generally help with the smear campaign.  Someone coined the term flying monkeys to describe these helpers who may or maynot be aware that this is a smear campaign meant to spread lies and cause harm to the person they are being told by.  Flying monkeys can either be the naive who have no clue they are being used as a tool, or fellow cluster B's who are more than happy to jump in and have fun spreading lies.

Smear campaigns are also used for revenge purposes by Cluster B's.  They can be used to direct attention towards a hated other to divert attention from what the Cluster B is doing or has done.  They also happen when people go no contact with the Cluster B.  In order to get attention from the person who has gone no contact the Cluster B person and their flying monkeys will start slinging their lies to get a reaction and hopefully contact.

Your Cluster B's are not normal people.  Research after research has shown that their brains are wired differently and that they have no moral compass or conscious.  The best way to deal with these people is to avoid them and have as little contact with them as possible.

Toxic Femininity

All the time we read about toxic masculinity and the cluster B's of the male persuasion, but very little is mentioned about those of the female variety.  But make no mistake they are out there.  The biggest difference to me is how they operate.  Those of the male variety are more overt in their behaviors.  Those of the female variety are more covert in their behavior.

For example if there are children and the parents get divorced your non toxic folks will reassure the children that the divorce occurred because the parents have changed and that the children are not responsible for the divorce and that the parents still love the children.  They will encourage the child to maintain their relationship with the other parent (assuming of course that the other parent is not a danger to the child meaning they aren't a child abuser or molester or indulge in behaviors that will put the child in danger).  But with a toxic female, she will use those children as a weapon.  She will turn the child against the other parent and often keep them from the relatives on the father's side of the family.  She will make up stories that are simply not true.  She will say things like "Daddy doesn't love us anymore" or perhaps blame the child for the divorce.  She will make up stories about the relatives on that side or say things like "I don't know why your Grandma doesn't love you as much as she loves so and so". She may make up tales of child abuse that the child doesn't personally recall, but is soon brainwashed into believing that it occurred. I have seen this type of behavior often.  And if the father is the one who gets custody she will still operate in this manner making up lies.  I personally know of one who had 2 sons.  The oldest who was tired of the abusive behavior of his new step father ended up in the custody of his father.  The mother cut all ties with him, and wouldn't even allow him to write or talk to his brother on the phone.  She also kept the father and his family from contact with the youngest son.  9 years later she decided to get back in touch with her oldest son and spun him a tale that it wasn't her fault but that of his father and the father's family.  She spun a tale worthy of a best seller.  And it worked.  He has no contact with that side of the family at all.She also caused issues between him and his brother, between the brother and his children, and has caused chaos and heart ache for not only her children, her ex, but her grandchildren.

Then there are the ones who decide that having children is the way to keep a handle on the man.  She will deliberately get pregnant hoping that it will allow her to "keep" the man.  These types are the ones who have a bunch of children who have different fathers.  The children are used as pawns.  Oh they will tell you they love children, but if you take a deeper look you will see that the children are not being given love and affection but are pretty much on their own when it comes to learning correct behavior or having their emotional well being taken care of.  And excuses, oh my.  The kids are out of control but it is never her fault, there are excuses galore.  The man didn't give them attention, or the wrong attention, or they supposedly have ADHD or are autistic, or a myriad of  other reasons. They will lie about being on birth control, which is why I encourage all men who aren't married and are sexually active to use a condom.  I gave this advice to my son and both of my stepsons and to other men also.  Just because she says she can't get pregnant doesn't make it so.

The ones that decide to get a divorce and yet still want to keep their claws in their ex.  I call it the "I don't want you right now, but I may want you later, so I am keeping my claws in you".  You know the type.  She is remarried but Goddess forbid that her ex gets involved in a relationship. She will cause issues until she manages to break up the new relationship.  I see this one quite often also.  The children, if there are any will be used as pawns.

The ones who lie about about being sexually assaulted or being physically abused.  These types do a terrible disservice to the women who are victims for real.  I have personally known women to do this.  Unless I personally know and have witnessed such behavior from a man, I tend to take this with a grain of salt when one of these types start.  I personally knew one of these types who told all and sundry that her man beat her.  Now I had known the man for years, and I had never heard a peep from  a single ex of his that he had done this ( and dear Anonymous this was a girlfriend of his, and not a wife, and neither one had children of any type).  But this woman I knew for a fact was a narcissist.  So one night when she was out of control and asked to leave the bar, she took off with the fellow's auto.  I had a mutual friend of mine and the fellow's take him to get his car.  Just as they got to the driveway, they witnessed her yelling, screaming and slapping and punching her own self!  The mutual friend told the fellow, oh no, you are not getting out.  So back they came to the bar.  30 minutes later the cops showed up to arrest the fellow for domestic assault.  This time it didn't happen.  He had a witness.  So if you have a woman who claims that 10 out of 10 relationships were abusive, you might want to hold off on making a judgement.  I have also personally known these types to lie about being sexually assaulted.  When one of them confessed to lying about it, she claimed she did it to get even with him.  I am not saying that these types don't get sexually assaulted or physically abused, what I am saying is to investigate when they make one of these claims.

I have known women who see other women as the enemy in their pursuit to obtain what they want, be it a job, a role in a club or the main prey a man.  These types will lie and destroy the reputation of the other person they see as a rival for their desired outcome.  Make no mistake, they might act all sugar and spice but they are deadly.

And they come in a lot more forms and guises.  The overt ones are easier to spot then the covert ones.  Regardless they are all trouble for everyone who comes into close contact with them.  Be wary, and keep your eyes and ears at attention, and listen to your instincts.  Remember they care for no one but their selves.

Evil eye and ill wishing.

Every culture around the world has stories of the evil eye.  So to break it down the evil eye is the ability to look at a person and cause bad things to happen to them.  Now this can either be done consciously or unconsciously.  It can be as minor as jinxing or as nasty as a hex.  I call it ill wishing.  And many people I believe are able to do it and are not even aware of the fact that they can do it.

I look at things this way.  To me a jinx is a temporary run of bad luck or annoyances occuring.  You miss the bus, the car gets a flat tire, the dog gets lost, you misplace your keys.  Things that aren't deadly or hold the potential to cause harm. Hexing is a run of bad luck or even illness.  The car blows up, you break your leg, the dog gets ill.  And it can cause pain and suffering, it may last for months or only days.  It is more of a person thing compared to a family thing, in other words a hex is placed on an individual.  A curse can be placed on a person, place, family or object.  And the end result of a curse is to cause great harm and suffering or death.  Ill wishing or the evil eye is a desire to cause discomfort or crossed conditions to occur and is basically caused by jealousy or to covet what someone else has.  I believe that many times the person capable of this is not even aware that they are doing it, or capable of causing it.  Those who know that they can do it, are able to direct it and cause greater damage.

But there are ways to protect from the evil eye or ill wishing.  There are amulets, talismans, charms and spells that can protect against it ( Eye in Hand, Nazar Boncugu, Hand of Fatima and so on).  Of course protective or defensive magic will protect against it.  There are herbs and other plants that specifically protect against the evil eye such as Anise and Birch.  If you think you have been ill wished a good cleansing bath, and a hex breaking spell should take care of things.  Protective spells can be done around one's belongings and property as a proactive measure, little reflective discs hung on windchimes and other decorative items can help reflect the envious energy back to its sender.  There is plenty of information out there on how to avert or get rid of the evil eye. 

A sermon for the Trump supporting Christians.

Today's sermon for our Trump supporting Evangelicals. Feel free to share with your favorite Trump supporting Alt Christian.

I see all you Christians spewing hate and venom about different races and religions, about the immigrants and feeling no compassion nor mercy towards them. You don't feel bad because they are being kept in cages, children in cages my friends. Oh you go to church on Sunday, and sometimes go to prayer meeting. You petition your politicians to stop abortions, and cry your tears, and at the same time demand that these immigrants, these people of a different color be treated worse then you would treat an animal. You thump your bibles, and claim you love Jesus. But yet you don't follow his words. Love thy neighbor. And you reply with all the good deeds you have done towards your neighbors. But that is not what Jesus meant, he didn't mean your next door neighbor, nor the person who is the same skin color, or religion as you. He meant every human being. Oh I know you are shaking your head, and saying "What do you know, you're an evil Witch". Well my lost friend, I am also an ordained minister. So here is a sermon for you. Print it off if you want, take it to your preacher and see what he says. Because this is what Jesus had to say.

Get out your bible and turn to Luke 10: 25-37 is what we are going to talk about.

25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

Now let me explain it to you. The Jewish folks and the Samaritans were enemies. Tensions were high between the 2 groups. They hated each other, despised each other. The Samaritans had desecrated the Jewish Temple at Passover with human bones and the Jews had destroyed the Samaritans' temple on Mount Gerizim. People of each group loathed the people of the other group. Each felt that the other group was evil, despicable, and saw each other as filth, and unclean animals. Yet Jesus showed the lawyer that this was wrong. That every human is our neighbor. It wasn't the Priest that stopped to help the injured man, nor was it the Levite. The levites were men of the tribe of levi who helped the Priests in the temples. Both the Priest and the Levi were supposed men of God, yet they scurried along and did nothing to help the injured traveler. It was the despised Samaritan who stopped and not only aided him right there, but took it upon himself to take him to an inn and get him help, and even paid for the man to be taken care of.

Now turn to the book of Matthew 25 :  31-46.

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

And Jesus tells you flat out that what you are doing to these people is wrong and he will condemn you for it. Because you didn't help them, but rejoiced in their pain and suffering and made excuses for it, that you did this to him also. Oh you can make your excuses to me, and try and justify it, but right there in his own words, in the bible that you love to quote to justify your hatred and cruelty, you are condemned. You love to judge others and point fingers and telling people they are going to hell and are sinners, but right there, in Jesus's own words you are the sinner. You are going to be punished and cast out. You need to get out your bible and read it for yourself instead of being led astray by false teachers and false ministers. You need to repent of your evilness right now. You need to change your wicked ways or you will be cast into the fiery pit of hellfire right along with the rest. You may be rejoicing now and rubbing your hands with glee over the evilness going on right now, but unless you change your ways you won't be rejoicing come the judgement day. Repent.

Pilgrims, Puritans, and Quakers. Who is who and how they helped shape the USA.

The beginning of the Great Experiment which would eventually become the United States of America started with the first settlers at Jamestown in 1606.  Jamestown was essentially founded so that the English Companies could expand their market and increase their wealth.  Basically it was founded for economic reasons.  The Settlers were mostly of the Anglican faith.  In 1619 the first African slaves were introduced to the New World.  They were brought by an English ship that had captured a Portuguese Slave ship. Thus slavery was born in Virginia. ( I had a Grandon ancestor at Jamestown)   Relations at first with Native Americans was good, and then as the English tried to enforce their rules and superiority and religion on them they deteriorated

In 1620 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, in Massachusetts. They too had roots in the Anglican faith, BUT they believed in a distinct separation between themselves and the government and without them interfering in government.  So they were fleeing religious persecution.  They basically believed to each their own, and that people should be able to practice religion as they saw fit without government interfering or without people interfering with their religious beliefs into government.  Sound familiar?  First amendment history here folks.  Most of the Pilgrims were of the working class and had fled from England to Holland, and then came from Holland to the New World.  ( I had several ancestors at Plymouth Rock.) Relations with Native Americans in the beginning was good but soon deteriorated.  (Noticing a pattern yet on relations with Native Americans?)  As for governing, the Pilgrims basically believed that those governing derived their powers by the consent of those being governed. (Hmm, sound familiar?)

In 1629 the first Puritans began to arrive.  They too claimed to be fleeing religious persecution.  Sharing roots in the Anglican faith with the Pilgrims, these folks were different though.  For one they were of higher class and status and more educated and controlling.  They abhorred any taint of the Roman Catholic Church and they believed that government and religion should go hand in hand.  They believed that their views of religion should be enforced by the government.  They were also very strict, unbending, and extremist.  Their view of government was that God picked the rulers, anointed them and the will of the people were not important.  The ruler was to enforce the biblical rules on the masses.  (Hmm, sound like our Evangelical nuts?) To them there were rules, more rules and erroneous ideas.  Healthy and wealthy meant you were favored by God.  Women were to firmly know their place in the world, which was at the bottom of the ladder.  As for education, a basic ability to read a recipe or to measure was all a woman needed to know, the same for the lower class males.  As for learning, as long as you were male and wealthy, reading biblical literature approved and created by the Calvinist Church was fine.  They also saw Satan and Evil everywhere.  Witches were everywhere creating chaos and trying to undermine the Kingdom of God and his anointed ones.  There was no tolerance towards any other religions, which were seen as tools of Satan.  Other races were considered inferior and evil.  Cruelty towards dissenters was seen as doing the will of God to punish said Evil ones.  (Sounding familiar?)  These folks were arrogant and felt that they were superior and doing God's Will.  Their relations with the Native Americans was bad from the beginning and they had no qualms in wiping out the Native American populations.  Slavery was fine and according to them was ok according to the bible.  (Sad to say, but I also have Puritan ancestors)  They were the gloom and doom folks, full of anger and angst, and wanting a government intertwined with religion.

The Quakers were not affiliated with the Anglican faith but considered themselves practicing Christianity that was close to the original Christians meaning before Paul/Saul and the Catholic Church.  They first came to the New World in 1656.  Very open and accepting to other religions, they felt that each person had the right to practice as they saw fit.  They believed that every person was able to contact deity themselves and would and could be guided by said deity by listening for that inner voice.  They also believed that all people, races and genders were created equal and entitled to equality.  They felt that women were able to speak during services and were loved equally by deity.  They were accepting of the Native Americans and saw them as equals.  They were often persecuted and killed outright by the Puritans for being heretics or in league with Satan.  They were to help cause the abolitionist movement and the fight for women's rights.  They pushed for equality for all regardless of race, gender, income, or religion.  (Bells ringing here on the all men{meaning humans} are created equal?)  I have many a Quaker ancestor.

So as you can see though the Puritans may have shaped the Evangelical branch, the Pilgrims and the Quakers actually helped shape our beliefs of equality and acceptance.  You will read revised nonsense by Evangelical's claiming that they, the extreme religions helped found this nation.  Bull.  All they did then, and as now, try to force their religion down our throats.  Don't believe them.  As usual they are delusional, revisionist liars.  But then again with the current idiotic nut in the White House spewing his stupidity and lack of knowledge of anything except lying and conning what can you expect.  The vision for this nation was for equality and opportunity for all and freedom from not only the tyranny of the rich and powerful but also form the tyranny of religion.

 

Religious Coercion

That's right,coercion. When someone harasses, forces or uses violence or threats to convert others to their religion this is coercion.  And history is filled with instances of this.  In the Christian religion, Constantine the Great can be held responsible for this gaining popularity and for becoming the mainstay of Christianity to gain converts.

As I have told you before the original followers of Jesus did not act like the Christians of what was to become and currently is Christianity.  That was created by Paul, and further expanded on by Constantine the Great and the resulting early Catholic Church and when that split, by the Roman Catholic Branches and later the Protestant sects.

The original followers of Jesus did not believe he was divine or the son of God.   To them he was an enlightened Rabbi who was trying to return them to the original tenets of the Jewish faith, meaning before it was tainted by Chaldean or Babylonian beliefs under Abraham, and later tainted by Egyptian Patriarchal beliefs under Moses. The original followers understood that it was a Jewish religion, and was to focus on a more equitable social structure and humane beliefs.  Then along came Paul who in his grandiose scheme of things and a desire to appear special and powerful and a way to get back at Popea and also at the Jewish religion whom he felt had spurned him, claimed to have been picked by the spirit of Jesus.  This led to tensions and quarrels between the original followers and Paul. And so it began, the battle for Christianity.  By the time Constantine came into the picture, there were a variety of sects of Christianity.  And like any good Sociopath, Constantine seized upon this to further consolidate his power.  At the first Council of Nicea, Constantine picked out certain Bishops to help him with his plans.  And the result was those who did not believe what was decided were to be forced into believing what was decided there.  It was at this Council that it was decided that Jesus was divine, born of a Virgin, the son of God, and was sacrificed on the cross to redeem human kind.  NONE of this was in the original belief system of the original followers of Christ.  Those who preached otherwise, were given the choice to either adhere to the new teachings or die. It was that simple. 

And as time moved forward the same tactics were used when new rulers or Popes came to power.  Heresy and Heretics were labeled on thousands and used to justify the murder of many.  When the schism in the Catholic Church occurred this scene was replayed.  Over and over and over.  It was used to justify the Holy Wars with the Muslims, the outright massacre of entire villages such as those who adhered to Catharism.  It was replayed during the Spanish Inquisitions when not only those of the Islamic and Jewish religions were attacked and killed, but also those of the Protestant Sects.  But make no mistake, the Protestant Branches were doing the same thing. Pagans, Witches, Jews and Muslims were fair game to both Churches.  And depending upon what country you lived in, you could be killed for being Catholic or Protestant.

When the United States began to be settled, first by the Pilgrims, and then came a flood of Puritans who are the base of the religious problems in the United States in current times.  The Puritans fought with the Pilgrims and the Quakers, the Native Americans, and the few Catholics that had arrived.  The Salem Witch Trials were the Puritans.  The Puritans screamed of heresy, heretics and Witchcraft.  And they used coercion to induce others to switch to their religion.

And it still goes on today worldwide.  Terrifying others with threats of eternal damnation, and actual force in some cases, these religions gain converts.  Convert or die is their slogan.  They gain positions of power in the governments and slowly force their views and visions into law. They are extremists and fanatics who care nothing for the rights of others.  They discourage education and learning, because they know that those who are exposed to both eventually realize they are being controlled by hateful Sociopaths and other Cluster B's.  Many besides being Cluster B's also suffer from various other mental illnesses. 

So if a religion, tells you that they and only they are favored by a particular version of deity and all others will suffer pain and go to a bad place, run. I don't care if it's Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or any other religion, including New Age ones or Pagan ones, run.  Any religion or spiritual path that encourages you to help others, seek knowledge, and helps you understand that taking care of the planet and it's lifeforms, and encourages you to love yourself and others, and helps you to understand that there is NO ONE just right way is to be embraced. Choose wisely, the health of your soul depends upon it.

Psychic attack, hexing and cursing.

Oh what a subject to discuss, but we shall give it a go and see if we can answer some of your questions.  Now mind you, these are my interpretations of the above and different Witches have different definitions. And they can share similar symptoms, for lack of a better word.

Psychic Attacks can either be a deliberate act, or an unconscious act.  When I say unconscious I mean that the jealousness and ill wishes of someone else can if the emotions are strong enough, or if the person who holds them has a degree of power.  Now these attacks can also be caused by an unsavory entity that you may have ran across, either knowingly or unknowingly. Psychic attacks for the most part hit on the mental level, but there can also be physical symptoms.  You can feel lackadaisical, low energy, fatigue, unwell with no specific illness, or have headaches.  Mentally you may feel your confidence drain, have strange thoughts and ideas go through your head, have nightmares and night terrors or feel that are losing your mind, or even feel suicidal.   So think mind games here.

Hexing is a deliberate act to cause harm or suffering to someone.  Things start to fall apart in your life.  Friendships and relationships are strained or broken, employment problems, financial issues crop up, things get lost or stolen, appliances, autos and electronics have problems or break down.  Illness of self, pets, or loved ones occur.  A perpetual cloud of bad luck and depression seems to hover around you.

Cursing is also a deliberate act to cause harm or suffering to someone.  Objects can be cursed, so can locations or land or even families.  Curses are meant to cause long term harm, and they will often result in death of the person or in the death of a loved one including animals. Severe financial losses occur, houses catch on fire, horrible accidents happen.  A curse is meant to destroy the person so that they either die, kill themselves or wish they were dead.  I have known 2 families that seem to have been cursed.  The first one people would commit suicide out of the blue, others would die in automobile accidents.  There were fires that destroyed property and harmed people.  Finally with the last person of the generation that died the curse seemed to end.  The second family people died in fires, committed suicide, lost children in tragic accidents, people would die horribly out of the blue by hemorrhage or other tragic ways and not be found for days, or die in horrible accidents in front of their loved ones.  Everyone eventually dies, but when tragedy seems to fill the atmosphere over and over, there might be something going on.

Yes there are ways to remove hexes and curses, and stop psychic attacks. You can do spells, cleansing baths, and even cleanse an object.  You can do banishing spells on land or locations.  And no you don't have to know who your attacker is to break the spell/curse/hex or psychic attack.  And I assure you that eventually your attacker will have karma bite them in the butt, and no doubt when they lest expect it.  If someone does not have a valid reason for what they are doing, the Universe will balance things out.  The Goddess doesn't like mean and nasty.

Cooking With The Garden Crone, available now!

And it is done!  The print copy that is.  I will get to the ebook of it soon.  It has been raining here and my fibro decided to kick in and my hands are still stiff and sore, so the ebook can wait a few days.  But meanwhile, the print book is ready!

Come meet some of the people that were in my childhood world, and read some of my adventures in cooking!  Try out Great Great Aunt Sarah's blackberry cake, or Great Grandma Cassie's Molasses cookies.  150 recipes including puppy treats and kitty treats.  I also included some pictures of family members whose recipes were used in the book. 

I am hoping you will enjoy the stories, the pictures and the recipes.  Here is the link  Cooking with the Garden Crone.

Well, I am off for a much deserved hot bath and some chamomile tea.