The Spider and the Serpent

The official Newsletter of Charlotte’s Web

Volume 2, No. 3, Sunday, March 28, 2004

 

In This Issue

 

A Mere Matter of Thought:  Relationships

The Magick of Emotions: Part Two: Bringing Forth Creation of Your Deepest Hearts Desire

Perspective:  Celtic Tradition

Book Reviews:  The Templar Revelation

Monthly Calendar:  click here to view our Workshops

Small Print:  Getting ON and OFF the List

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A Mere Matter of Thought:  Relationships

 

When I got the idea to write on this topic, I thought, "What are you,

NUTS?" "Insane?" "Or just plain idealistic, nonrealistic, and askin' for

it?" Well, maybe all of the above, but this issue has repeatedly presented

itself to me over the past several months, and I thought it appropriate to

address it at this time. As always, the ideas presented in this section of

The Spider and The Serpent are open for discussion, and I encourage such

participation. Please feel free to email coral@charlotteswebstore.com.

 

Often, someone will ask when they are going to meet their 'soulmate', or

they excitedly exclaim that they HAVE met their 'soulmate', only to find

later that they had only come across someone who was willing to share

energy, but then be on their way. I do not mean to suggest that 'energy

sharing' is a negative thing, as long as the involved parties know what will

or will not come out of the sharing. (In a Truly FREE world, would that even

be necessary?)

 

Even the very idea of A 'soulmate' is somewhat of a question, if we are

all infinite beings on a solitary journey. If the journey is SOLITARY,

should we expect to walk it with a (one and only) mate? Or, should we expect

for there to be several individuals in this lifetime with which we can share

both intimacy AND soul growth? This is not to say that I believe monogamy to

be a thing of the past. I don't. It's just that it seems apparent that we

often jump the gun, so to speak, on taking what may in Truth only be a

friendship to an intimate level. (Now, be HONEST! How many of us have

stepped up to intimacy WAY too soon, then later regretted it?) How many

times have we all said, "I should have gotten to know them better?" Or, more

to the point, "WHAT WAS I THINKING?" More than likely, we were not thinking

at all, except with our lower level chakras. (smile)

 

If we truly are 'here' to carry out the evolution of our soul, it stands

to reason that we are all on an individual journey, and if that is the case,

we are all also on different evolutionary planes, depending upon how much of

Life's Truth we have successfully unfolded. Now, just because someone is

pleasing to the eye and leaves you with a residual feeling of some sort,

this does not necessarily mean that person is your 'soulmate'. I think

somewhere along the line in going from our parent's morals to establishing

our own, something got misplaced in the intimacy portion of the translation.

We somehow seem to believe that intimacy implies some sort of 'ownership'.

Not actually owning the other person, but rather the idea of a

'relationship'. It appears that we place ourselves into interactions too

soon, which often leaves us with an unsettled, 'I'm not good enough' kind of

feeling if the relationship does not succeed...or in some cases, fails to

even get off the ground.

 

Often times in this Life we stumble and fall and get bruised and sprained

and generally 'hurt'. But when this happens, we have a choice on how to

respond. Some will sink into the depths of depression and sleep 20 hours a

day. Some will eat their way through the kitchen on their way to the Publix

Bakery or Baskin and Robbins. Some will cry with no seeming end in sight.

Some will get angry and retaliate (upon themselves, most likely) and place t

hemselves in crazy social situations and end up, while really just seeking

comfort or distraction, in quite a similar relationship not too far ahead.

Some will sit down with a notebook and pen and make lists or write page

after page on why the relationship 'failed.' Some will drink themselves

silly while listening to Willie Nelson. You get the picture. We all deal

with sorrow in our own way. BUT.....if we had paid attention in the first

place; listened to the little voice that is in all of us that tells us what

to do and what not to do (c'mon, you KNOW it's there!), would we have gotten

ourselves into this mess? Excuse me, I should say 'Learning Opportunity'.

And for as much as we may not want to see it this way, isn't that what it

really is? Isn't it an opportunity to learn to understand ourselves on a

more accurate level and really think about why we do the things we do, and

why we get ourselves into the situations that we get ourselves into?

 

I see so much pain and sadness with regard to romantic relationships, and

it makes me really think about why. Why do we allow ourselves to remain in

emotional pain, or to be stifled in any way from being true to ourselves?

Why do we tolerate things that we generally would not? Why are we willing to

sacrifice pieces of ourselves that we fought so hard to attain? Why do we

sweat (or fry!) in undesirable relationships as if we were prisoners, unable

to escape the result of our inaccurate choice? And WHY, when we find

ourselves without a mate, does the goal seem to be to get back into another

relationship? The sad thing is, more often than not, we do this without

going through the necessary healing process, thus attracting to ourselves a

person who is a match for us while we are in pain, but once we are healed,

this person may not be the best choice. Again, we find ourselves on the

seemingly downward spiral in the relationship area of Life.

 

Perhaps the reason why we seek companionship is the obvious one: Love.

However, in the attempt to give and receive Love, I think sometimes

desperation takes over, and the NEED emotion kicks in. Once a relationship

is based upon need (an inaccurate thought concept), instead of desire or

Love (accurate thought concepts), we tend to get results based upon

inaccuracy.

 

One of the things that has become very clear to me is that often times we

are so eager to have someone in our lives, that we choose someone who is not

our spiritual equal. If progressing on a spiritual path is a top priority,

one would be unwise to choose a partner that was not at least open to

spiritual freedom, in the absence of being on the same path together. If we

don't take the time to objectively consider this, we could be cryin' the

blues come Yule. "Why doesn't he/she realize how important my spiritual path

is to me?" Well, did you discuss it from the BEGINNING?

 

Too many times relationships do not succeed because perhaps they never

should have existed in the first place. Honesty, open communication,

consideration for the other, these are all important attributes in any

relationship. However, if we focus first on ourselves, making sure we are as

whole as possible, healed from any past residual negativity and free of all

bitterness and pain, we would certainly reap the reward of bringing in the

RIGHT person. If we keep in mind that "to everything there is a season",

this may help in those times of emotional need.

 

The emotional pain from a relationship does not, fortunately, last

forever. Usually, although it may be years down the road, we find ourselves

seeing what it was that we were to learn from this or that encounter. If we

take the time to learn our lessons, to evolve and unfold what Life has to

offer us as INDIVIDUALS, we should be attracting a more compatible mate.

It's a wonderful thing to be in a happy and harmonious partnership.

Remember, though, when we set expectations-they are OUR own expectations and

may not be achievable from the other person's standpoint. If we seek

contentment and peace of mind and wholeness, Spirit will surely reward

appropriately.

 

Until next time..Love and Blessed Be,

 Coral

 

 

 

The Magick of Emotions: Part Two: Bringing Forth Creation of Your Deepest Hearts Desire

 

The Past, The Future, Now.  All human understanding of these three

descriptions of a time in our lives stir vivid memories that are surrounded

with winds of emotions based on the judgment or our understanding of

happenings that transpired "then".  Yes, I include the Past and Future since

many of us are catching glimpses of alternate realities as we recognize our

innate abilities. With further study and journeys within ourselves we find

we are becoming more and more aware of the multi - dimensional portals where time, as we know it is not relevant, nor exist. Consistently practicing the transmutation of emotions and energy through a clearly defined awareness is empowering us to manifest our reality moment by moment.

 

In Part One, I shared some of the common thoughts of many seekers

supported by my own inner urgings regarding the conscious focus needed to

move forward into other dimensions where magick is realized. As you remember last month I suggested you take time to feel your feelings, to choose the feelings that were coming from your authentic self and releasing those emotions not recognized to be your own or a part of your desired outcome. In doing this you are fine-tuning your most precious dreams before blending them with the energy of your intent or will. A very special teacher of mine many times reminded me to be careful what I ask for because I might just receive it. He suggested that I go within and use that space to feel the feelings of my being within my already created dream, smelling the scents in that reality, seeing myself physically within the reality and flowing within the gratefulness it inspired in me from the joy of receiving my deserved desires and then releasing this energy to the infinite. Allowing the Universe and all it enfolds to work out the details. As Dr. Wayne Dyer stated in The Power Of Intention, Think yourself at the end, see it!

 

Many times after practicing this exercise I would find myself attempting

to justify how my heartfelt desires could possibly manifest themselves. I

would start thinking of all the obstacles I would have to overcome or move

through before such a miracle could take place. I would even imagine it

taking other people coming into my life, most people of which I didn't know

at that time, before anything so miraculous could transpire in my lifetime.

Does this sound familiar to any of you? It has been stated what a beautiful

thing the mind is to waste. Well, I certainly was not wasting the analytical

part of my brain. I was wearing it out and thank goodness it finally gave

way to an acceptance of feeling fine about the parts of the manifesting

process I could not understand then or I would have been holding myself back in this classroom of life a bit longer before moving on to Magick 102, so to speak. Not that it would have made a major difference in the big scheme of things except to me, but after all I was sensing an urgency from within to get it right and I just didn't know how. I read, I listened, I attended all types of metaphysical classes, I meditated, I ask and still the secret was not unveiled to me. Oh, how my guides and angels must have been laughing

lovingly and bouncing off imaginary walls as I looked for the forest and

could only see the trees. Releasing is of primary importance in manifesting

and I being of Spirit in a human body had a very hard time with just letting

go, allowing Spirit to work out the details. I kept releasing and then I

would take it back and start attempting to justify and analyze the whole

intention again and again until gradually it all became clear to me. I began

gently controlling my thoughts and my chatty mind. When I found my myself beginning to think on the details of a desired result I would affirm to my sub conscious by way of my conscious mind," I let go, I let God" or simply" God is in control" and I would again shift mentally to feeling myself already in the reality I deserved, experiencing the delight of the

manifested result or I would just focus my attention to the beauty that

surrounds me or better yet my feelings of gratefulness for being so blessed.

Trust me when I say this is a practice I still maintain to this day when my

mind wants to wander into territory where I no longer need to be. I have an

array of mantras, positive reinforcement sayings, Psalm verses, and bits of

acquired knowledge that fill the spaces within my being where self doubt and

fear arise at times.

 

I was listening to a speaker on T.V one morning lately and the title of

his discussion was  " Your Life Follows Your Thoughts" and I said to my

higher myself  "Thank you for this loving reminder today". So with that I

stress to you the importance of maintaining an awareness of the energy that

follows your moment-to-moment thoughts and can only suggest that you seek your own way of keeping check on this process of mental sabotage.

 

For to be in charge of ones own fate one must become in charge of ones own thoughts.

 

As we move further into this beautiful time of resurrected feminine energy

allow yourself to recognize this opportunity to be filled with the gift of

authentic self through feeling your emotions lovingly, honestly and without

judgment. All the while becoming more closely aligned with the Source and

your deepest heartfelt dreams.

 

You are the Magician. Now weave your Magick!

 

I welcome your questions and comments and invite you to contact me if I

may be of spiritual service to you.

 

 

Namaste,

Ann Bastuba

annbastuba@reikidivine.com

 

 

Perspective:  Celtic Tradition

 

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb or vice versa.  The

ideas of March was not good for Caesar but it marks the halfway point of the

month in which snowy winter is dying and green of spring is starting to

show.

 

The color green is appropriate for March, especially for St. Patrick's

day, a celebration of all things Irish here but just another feast day in

Ireland.  I've heard others say they don't care for the day as the Catholics

tried to end Celtic beliefs and substitute Christianity instead.  It did not

work over here.  Leprechaun, shamrocks and rainbows with pots of gold are

Celtic or Pagan.  Only a Celtic magician such as St. Patrick could drive the

snakes our of Ireland.  Why not celebrate St. Patrick's day for what it is

here, a celebration of Celtic roots.

 

Every Irish family has its own personal legend and the Mullen family has

its legend, myth or what every you choose to call it.  My father's mother's

maiden name was Mullen.  The story would begin, "you can't kill a Mullen".

 

The story was that during the time that the Church was taking over

Ireland, there were many women healers who acted as mid-wives and provided herbal cures for people and animals.  If babies lived it was due to the skills of these women.  Almost all babies were delivered by mid-wives.  For some reason the prie2ts decided that the women were witches and must be destroyed.  The priests were very zealous in their determination to kill the women.  Most people were aghast at the idea of losing anyone so valuable as a mid-wife and herbalist.

 

In one area there was a very wealthy land owner, John or Sean Mullen.

Sean Mullen had large land holdings and many children.  One day Sean and his sons were riding along the forest area of the northern part of the land.

Sean heard screams and saw a red haired women with two children running.

The priests were in hot pursuit.  Sean recognized the woman as Brigid, a

mid-wife and healer.  Sean and his sons rode out toward her.  The screaming woman and her children were scooped up by two sons and Sean and the rest went after the priests, pounding the priests with clubs.  The priests shouted curses calling the Mullens' heretics and other names.  This made the Mullens mad.  Our came burning torches.  Sean shouted, "leave this woman alone or I'll burn everything resembling a church, abbey or monestary to the ground, ye are not to touch my ground again!"  Because Sean's temper was legendary, the priests  turned and ran.  There were a few weak protests about sheltering a witch but the priests left.

 

Brigid was given a house and garden and delivered many Mullen babies.

Brigid gave the Mullens' a blessing == "Never one of you can be killed, you

can tame or train any animal and there will be no musical instrument you

cannot play", and the last one "there will always be at least one blond baby

girl for each family".

 

The last blessing probably came from here blond daughter marrying Mullen's

grandson.  It wasn't just the daughter being blond, but she was also the

witch of the family (later terms prophet).

 

Mullens' came home live from wars and lived through horrific accidents.

Each family unit had musicians who never had lessons and the finest race

horses in Europe where from a Mullens stable.

 

The next time St. Patrick's day comes round, go enjoy your Celtic heritage

and paganism.  The Celts are one's who like to joke.  So here's to a switch

on the old story of Christianity soaking up pagan holidays and Celts soaking

up Christian holidays and making them pagan again.

 

Have a Magickal March.  Look up Celtic rituals and form your own Irish

holiday!

 

Example:  Go on a leprechaun hunt!  Remember, Hecate was the goddess of

mid-wives.

 

Bright Blessings,

Elizabeth

 

 

Book Reviews: The Templar Revelation by W. V. Steen

 

The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ.

A Touchstone Book Published by Simon & Schuster

 

The Templar Revelation puts forth theories, that if proven, could indeed

destroy the Christian Church as we know it. An astounding amount of effort

has gone into this book, The Templar Revelation by Lynn Picknett and Clive

Prince and it filled with intriguing facts and theories. Some parts are like

a Russian novel filled with non-English words and phrases embedded in plots

which twist around upon themselves. It is a "must read" for anyone who is

not afraid of fact and thought related to the Christian church and things

metaphysical.

 

The authors take us to the south of France and introduce us to people and

places, past and present, who are related to groups like the Freemasons, the

Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion. We learn historical facts and

theories, related to their search for and stewardship of the Holy Grail,

which we learn is more of metaphor than an actual cup used at Jesus' Last

Supper. They also give compelling evidence of major deceptions perpetrated

on us by the Church and by the Council of Nicaea which assembled the New

Testament. They compare the four New Testament gospels with other gospels which were not included in the New Testament. For those who are not familiar with these events, this makes reading The Templar Revelation worthwhile for this alone.

 

The authors also take an in-depth look at Jesus and his relationship to

John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. They also examine various rituals and

sacraments established by Jesus and John, and reveal their similarities to

those of ancient pagan religions.-some are identical. And they take this

line of thought a few steps farther and seriously call into question whether

these three people were in fact religiously Jewish at all (Just what did

Jesus learn during those years in Egypt?). They put forth some very

interesting theories relating to many of the Bible stories Christians have

just taken for granted. They go well beyond comparing Easter to Pagan rites

of fertility. They even do and expose` on the resurrection itself.

 

The book is written in two major sections, and the first is not an easy

read, but press through. Despite the effort it takes to get through some

parts, it's all extremely interesting and informative. The second section,

which sums up the first, is an easy read, and puts the first section into an

easy progression. This book can be exhausting yet exhilarating for Christian

and Pagan alike. You will feel like you've accomplished something worthwhile

when you've finished this book.

 

Review written by W.V. Steen

 

Monthly Calendar:

 

For workshop reservations or more information, please contact Coral at

coral@charlotteswebstore.com or call Charlotte's Web (770) 516-0571.

 

April 2004

 

Guided Meditation with Ann Bastuba

 

Meditation Sessions every Friday night

(EXCEPT the first Friday of every month)

This is a great way to unwind from the week and start your weekend. Good

fellowship and networking opportunity. Advance reservations recommended.

 

Location: Charlotte's Web, 3595 Canton Road, A4, Marietta, GA 30066

 

Time: 7:30p to 8:30p

 

Directions: From downtown Atlanta/I-285 take I-75N to I-575N. I-575N to

the Chastain Rd. exit Make a right on Chastain Rd. Continue on Chastain Rd,

cross over Bells Ferry Rd. The next traffic light is Chastain Corners Rd.

Make a left onto Chastain Corners Rd. Immediately on your left is the Kroger

Shopping Plaza. The store is in the Plaza facing Chastain Corners Rd.

>

> Phone: (770) 516-0571

>

> email: coral@charlotteswebstore.com

>

> Price/Donation: $5.00

>

> <=========================================>

>

> Riding the Wheel of Wise

>

> Sunday, April 18th

>

> Event Details: Come to understand the magic of the Sabbats and how they

can be a guide for transforming your reality and creating the life you want.

Learn to utilize the Sacred Sciences and ancient calendars to reveal the

hidden path of death, rebirth. Discover how flowing with this energy

releases pain, struggle, and suffering. Learn to balance it with your needs

and desires to manifest health, joy, love, prosperity, all your dreams and

aspirations.  Advance reservations required.  Please call Charlotte's Web at

(770) 516-0571 or send email to coral@charlotteswebstore.com

>

> Event Time: 3:00p to 5:00p

>

> Donation: $30.00

 

 

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