Autumn Equinox thoughts

It is that time of the year, equal day and night and now the hours of daylight get smaller as the hours of darkness increase. Outside in the woods there is a noticeable change as the leaves fall from the trees and turn various hues of yellow, red and brown The mornings are cooler too but there is still a lot of warmth in the sun. There are still a few butterflies and dragonflies around but not so many.

But there are changes ahead and the events of the last couple of years are leading to shortages of food, clothing and petrol as well as other things. The pandemic left us with a lot of changes some of which are not very good. But how do we deal with shortages of items we need? Well, many people just panic buy and when the rest of us go shopping there is nothing left even though there was originally enough for all of us. The same is happening with petrol as people not only fill up their tanks but fill cans as well leaving none for those whose car use is essential. The media does not help as they scare monger. As soon as they say something will be scarce, people chase off to grab all they can see of that particular item. They do not consider anyone else. Our society can be very selfish at times making sure they have what they want and never mind anyone else.

I have noticed that when I go shopping nowadays, I can never get all the items I would like and sometimes I cannot get those items I actually need. Has the concept of sharing disappeared? Do we think we are more important than anyone else? I do not have a car and rely on a volunteer car service and my son to get shopping and go to the dentist. I have another dentist appointment early next month so hope my volunteer car service are still available.

So overall my thoughts are not exactly cheerful at this moment in time. I accept changes as I must but I do hope that we get to see a better world during the few years I have left on this planet. There needs to be a change in perception of what life should be like and how we live.

Feeling guilty

There are many times in my life when I have felt guilty, sometimes for doing something I should not have done and at other times for not doing something when I could have done. Nowadays I tend to feel guilty for not doing things I should have done like help someone else with something but declining to help. Yesterday a friend here fell in the street and said that for some time no-one came to help her to get up but eventually someone did do just that. Would you pass someone in the street who had fallen and needed help to get up? I hope you would help. I would if I could do so but with my own physical problems it could be difficult and I would feel guilty about it.

A few weeks ago I helped to rescue a bat here in my housing complex but it took several days before I found someone to help and that only happened when I made a huge fuss on social media. Luckily the bat survived and has now been released but I would have felt very guilty if it had died as I feel I could have made more fuss earlier.

I sometimes feel guilty when I have to ask people for help and that means taking them away from doing something that is important to them. But should I feel guilty asking for help? I know people who take pride in making others feel guilty too by using words such as why didn’t you help or what did you think you were doing. They often turn the story around so the blame lies with you and you feel guilty. This is known as gaslighting and looking back at my life I can see that that kind of thing happened a lot especially with my mother.

So how do we deal with feelings of guilt? Each person will have a different way. I tend to look at why I feel guilty and acknowledge that feeling and also try not to do the same again. But it is often not that easy and maybe dealing with it is a subject for another blog post.

Spirituality and spiritual people

This blog post will be full of questions and suggestions. I hope you would like to respond to these so thank you in advance. First of all what do we mean by spirituality? There are several definitions on Google so here are two of them;

‘the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.’

‘Spirituality involves the recognition of a feeling or sense or belief that there is something greater than myself, something more to being human than sensory experience, and that the greater whole of which we are part is cosmic or divine in nature.’

As a druid I recognise that there is something out there larger than me and the rest of the world. It might be a god, or goddess, or just a great spirit. I am also very connected to the natural world and know that all is connected in one way or another. That is for me a way of life too.

So what is a spiritual person? Again let’s look at a definition from Google;

‘Being a spiritual person is synonymous with being a person whose highest priority is to be loving to yourself and others. A spiritual person cares about people, animals and the planet. … There are many people who do not practice a religion, who do not meditate, pray or belong to any group, who are very spiritual people.’

So how do people who read the tarot and oracle cards fit in with this definition and what about healing of any kind, how does that fit in? I can look at lots of things that people who are spiritual do like, yoga, meditation, drumming, chanting etc. Are these things spiritual in themselves or does it depend how you do them?

For me yoga is exercise rather than a spiritual practice but it is different for others I do know. Meditation is a spiritual practice for me though as is drumming. I like to drum with a purpose in mind, for healing or journeying or chanting but not otherwise. I could go on for a lot longer but I will stop here and hope that I get some responses to tell me how you think about spirituality and what a spiritual person is like.

Gifting

It has been a busy week sorting out things after buying a used chest of drawers from a local charity. They are made of beautiful dark wood and large enough to put in all the stuff that has been in baskets and crates on the floor. So I put the empty crates and baskets on the landing outside my door. A visitor claimed the baskets and a neighbours children clearing out her flat claimed the crates. What a good way to get rid of things. Your junk is often someone else’s most wanted item.

However I get many comments about this asking why I am not selling these items but giving them away. I know what it is like to have very little money so I am happy to help others and see what I give away as a gift.

But this brings me to something else about giving away and money. Many years ago when I first became a Reiki Master Teacher I checked out the current level of charges for this. I
was amazed at some of the excessive prices charged and the advertising about someone’s teaching being better than another. For me Reiki was and still is a gift, one I am willing to share with others freely. But I still get ‘flack’ from others about this saying that I can charge for my time and get money that way. It is not about money! Healing energy is not about money at all. I have this gift and I wish to share it freely and when I train Master Teachers myself I always chose students who have what I considered to be an ethical attitude. I remember looking at a web site some years ago and there were so many different
59 kinds of Reiki all charging a specific sum of money for a distant attunement and a manual. To me that kind of teaching is not teaching at all but this topic can take me down a different road so I will stop there and get back to the giving away theme.

Is it better to give something away to someone who needs it or to throw it away in the rubbish? Our rubbish tips are full of unwanted items so recycling them has to be good. Is it better for me to give away these items now or store them until after I have gone when someone else throws them away?

There are many people in our world who are in great need at the moment due to unfortunate circumstances not of their own making. I am looking through my belonging to see what else I can give away to those in need. I have lots of knitted toys to donate to children who don’t have any. Some people give things away to make themselves look good but that is not for me. I genuinely believe that I help others in one way or another. I don’t need a reward or money only the word s ‘Thank you’. This blog was originally written several years ago but has been edited to make it up to date.

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