Lots happening in the lab and out, over the last few weeks and I've spent considerable time in analyzing WTH is going on. The item that may well have started it all was a rather innocent-looking book that I picked up from the library almost a month ago. Entitled "Sacred Signs", by Adrian Calabrese, it clearly ranks as one of the most revealing and influential books I have read to date on my spiritual journey. In a nutshell, it outlines a system that, if followed, will allow you to make consistant decisions that are ALWAYS in your greatest and highest good. Very tall claim, no? Read on and a light may dawn brightly.

Since long before recorded time, mankind has looked for signs from the heavens - a successful hunt, good rains for crops, when to go to war and when to make peace....the list continues endlessly but the underlying fact is that we will always encounter difficulties in our life where no clear answer presents itself. This book was incerdibly enlightening for me because it outlined a clearly understood method of not only how to ask for specific signs, but also how to recognize and interpret them when they arrive. What is really interesting is that we receive signs in our everyday life already, even when we don't ask, courtesy of our intuition...and this is an extremely valuable tool, you will agree. Rather than bore you with the specifics, I thought it much more effective if I share two experiments I attempted to give you a better understanding of the method in motion, so to speak. Please keep in mind that when we ask the Creator/Spirit/God/Goddess/Universe for a specific sign in a specific time period, as one of the experiments will show, it may arrive in totally unexpected ways.

Experiment 1

Request: I wanted to know if I should complete the novel I was working on or put it aside temporarily and begin work on query letters. I requested to see a peace sign, in the next 4 hours, to indicate that I should continue the novel to completion.

Result: Approximately three hours later, I had been doing some yardwork and one of my tenants had come outside. Instead of waving, she flashed me a peace sign and without thinking, I returned it. A few hours later, I had been sitting in my living room when the enormity of what happened hit me.

Observations: With one of the main components being awareness, I had ridden on the bike trail for about an hour with my eyes looking all around for a peace sign, thinking I might pass one that had been sprayed somewhere as grafitti. I had not been explicit as to how I would see this sign and assumed it would be the typical "Y" encased in a circle. Waiting for the manifestation of a sign can make one slightly anxious, so working on my detachment from the outcome, which is a crucial ingredient, is essential for clarity. To doubt in any way adds energy to the equation that is not conducive to an outcome that is in our greatest and highest good. It also sends a message to the Creator that we don't have faith in Him/Her, not a precedent that is to be wished for.

Experiment 2

Background: An idea had stuck with me regarding establishing a contest that would be hosted by a quarterly newslettter published by the company I work for. The premise was to give our tenants an opportunity to share a quote or saying that had helped them through a difficult or dark time in their life and an opportunity to breifly share how it gave them strength. I called it the "Quotes of Hope" contest and because I had felt directed to do so, wrote up a three page proposal outlining each aspect of the contest and how it could be a success. Even as I began to write it, I knew that it would be changing hands, confirmed by the responding email from the lady in charge, telling me that she had bumped it upstairs for consideration by her boss because she wasn't "able to make a decision like this." That was almost a month ago. Needless to say, I was very interested to discover if it was harmonious for me to continue to put thought energy into the proposal - basically, whether it would fly or not.

Request: I requested a white dove to indicate that my proposal would become a reality and gave a time limit of four hours for the manifestation.

Result: While reading a book by Og Mandino called "The Greatest Salesman in the World" ( a story about a fictional set of scrolls that contained the essential guidelines to being the best salesman in the world and only passed on to the person the fates had deemed worthy) the story's part that I read was about the Biblical character Saul, who was said to have  been blinded by a Light, en route to his further persecution of the Christians. Of course, the Light changes his path totally and he becomes God's servant as a result. The difficulty, and the reason that Paul decided to visit this mythical but extremely wealthy salesman, lay in the fact that people still didn't trust him to be God's messenger and thought he was merely trying to expose them. In desperation, beacuse Paul Knows within himself that he has indeed been called to share the word of God, he seeks the advice of this stranger, who informs him that, even after four long years, he is no closer to sharing his message efectively and that even religion needs a sales touch to promote it. What stopped me cold - and what I took to be a requested sign was that Paul began lamenting about seeing the vendors in front of the temple selling their DOVES and sheep for sacrifice.

Observations: Once again, I mistakenly assumed I would be shown a literal - and very alive - dove. While this may seem a stretch, we have to examine the context that the sign was given, because that is one key component where we rely entirely on our intuition to determine its validity. In my case, the story coincided with my initial idea being a form of communicating a message - sharing a source of strength, experience and hope to people, during the Christmas season when many of our tenants have emotional difficulties. In that light, does my conclusion of receiving this a sign make more sense? One tentative suggestion for what may be considered an imperfect match (requesting a singular white) is the time factor. We all know when working with any type of of magic - for a specific outcome - that it takes time for our Guides to set things in motion and in place, to eventually manifest our request. The more bizarre the request, of course, may mean a longer period of waiting. Perhaps the sign may have arrived in a much different form if I had extended the time limit to a full day. The most important observation would seem to be that it is imperative that we trust the Creator and our Guides to direct us, so taking that step one step further, we also have to trust ourselves. After seeing how some of these signs arrive, seeeing this contest become reality may arrive in a very strange way.

There are two others requests that are ongoing, one of them with no time limit. One other experiment had some unpleasant and totally unforeseen consequences, and some very startling realizations. Outside the lab, I was grateful to obtain some peace and closure, after attending the funeral of one of my tenants. Agreeing to meet another tenant at the funeral home slightly surprised me but it turned out this lady had felt a need for closure as well. We had the chance to talk afterwards, taking the bike trail, and it became obvious that my Guides never sleep. It was a very cool experience.

 

It looks like the Catholic League are the first to turn their attention away from the Harry Potter series to about the Golden Compass, a movie adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, which, unlike Potter, is explicitly anti-Church. Ironically, their chief complaint seems to be that children who see the movie might read the books.

It gets funnier, though- Britain's Secular Society is protesting, too- specifically, that the anti-religious message has been watered down.

Frustrated biblical scholar April Deconick disputes the loving portrait of Judas promoted by the National Geographic for their Judas special. She informs us that even in this work, Judas is the bad guy, and excoriates the Society for withholding the text while they worked on their own translation under strict secrecy

Aliens attack Earth - official
A series of bizarre fires in a village were caused by aliens testing weapons, Italian government officials believe. A report into the unexplained fires in fridges, TVs and mobile phones blamed creatures from outer space. Canneto di Caronia was the centre of world attention three years ago after residents reported everyday household objects bursting into flames. News footage at the time showed electrical appliances, cookers, a pile of wedding presents and items of furniture smouldering. Dozens of experts, including scientists, electrical engineers and military personnel, arrived in the village on Sicily, 60 miles east of Palermo, to investigate the phenomenon.

Devil returns to haunt demonic authors
Just weeks after being named America’s top ghost hunter – along with her husband Ed who died in August 2006 – Lorraine Warren is facing a major lawsuit. It concerns the reprinting of The Devil in Connecticut by Gerald Brittle, about an alleged case of “demonic possession”.

Rock-star ghost diaries
Most ghost stories are pretty damn lame, and most happen to everybody except musicians. If you attempt to seek out ghost stories from pop stars, you quickly discover that phantoms, freaky psychic phenomena, and even UFOs aren't nearly as numerous as popular culture has us believe. In fact, one might estimate that maybe one in five musicians has something to say on the subject.

Jack-O-Lantern

Out of this ancient tradition comes one of our most famous icons of the holiday: the Jack-o-lantern. Originating from Irish folkfore, the Jack-o-lantern was used as a light for the lost soul of Jack, a notorious trickster, stuck between worlds. Jack is said to have tricked the devil into the trunk of a tree and by carving an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, he trapped the devil there. His pranks denied him access to Heaven, and having angered the devil also to Hell, so Jack was a lost soul, trapped between worlds. As a consolation, the devil gave him a sole ember to light his way through the darkness between worlds.

Originally in Ireland turnips were carved out and candles placed inside as lanterns lit to help guide Jack’s lost spirit back home. Hence the term: Jack-o-lanterns. Later, when immigrants came to the new world, pumpkins were more readily available, and so the carved pumpkins carrying a lit candle served the same function.

Thanks for coming by and I promise to do some visiting in the next week, especially to my friend Holly...all I can say is there are sometimes never enough hours in the day, ya know? Happy Halloween or Samhain, as the case may be. Don't forget to take a moment on Thursday to honour Day of the Dead and those that came before us. Without them or their struggles and sacrifices, we would not be here.

Looking for something with more than a hint of the supernatural, check out this entry in my poetry blog...

See you in the ether ! 

Happy Halloween/ Samhain! :)

Morning, Jay! I'll be back in a bit to read your post. If you get a chance, though, drop by the Tree for a special treat.

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

The book Sacred Signs sounds like an interesting one and would be something I'd like to look through. I've always been a firm believer in signs and messages that divine wisdom sends our way. Sometimes I feel that we've gotten so far removed from our intuition and the divine wisdom that resides within us that it can be hard to recognize those signs. But with practice and awareness it is possible, as you found out!

You have a very fascinating blog and I'll definitely stop by again.

Its amazing what we get when we ask for it. It is shown to us differently than what we might expect too! Thank You for coming to my journal. I have redesigned it today whilest I have been drugged up on pain killers. Come take a look and let me know what you think ok? I am glad you liked my posting about Autumn and the color yellow.

Take care now my friend. by the way do you know what has happened to Captain Canuck? Will? I guess I could ask him myself but I haven't yet. All I know is he hasn't posted since August or so.

~~~Amanda

Hi Jay. I just finished reading your post, and you know, it's so interesting to me how, when I'm questioning everything, I end up here at your journal... Maybe this is a sign from my Guides; maybe this is their way of providing me with the answers to the questions I've been harboring...

It's also interesting to note that just last night, my hubby and I were watching the movie Bruce Almighty; at the part where Bruce (Jim Carey) begs god for a sign, he first sees a portable sign saying "Caution Ahead" and then, after begging god again for a sign, he sees a truck filled with large, brilliant-red Stop signs. And then, he crashes into a light pole. I remarked to my hubby, "It's amazing how we ask for signs, and then we don't see them when they're given to us..."

I hope you'll write here more often, Jay. Your guidance is needed...

Just stopping in to say hi! Hope all is well with you! I've sent you some e-mails...I haven't heard back so I hope you're getting them ok.

Hey there, Nick, it was great to hear from you, my friend!

Sounds like you did the holiday right, good on you.

Now, sorry this isn’t long-winded as we like, but am still wiped out from our psychic fair day here. (Wrote about it and other “happening” Sunday night.) So will return again soon as I can to catch up on all your other doing.

Cheers and have a blessed one,
Melissa

Greetings dear DS
We got election fever over here and this energy can get to me as it is very conflicting.. but am managing..aha you did an ceremony to honour the ancestors that's wonderful. I myself need to do that because I do have visitors and need to sit with them at times and have a hearty moment. Thanks for the kind sharin love and keep you psychi portal logged on

Hah, no, no politics for me. I abhor politics. The only reason I got a voter's card is so my parents would stop giving me a Look, & I chose unaffiliated, because I don't trust or like any political parties. (They'll never take me alive!)
I try to be nice, but it's just gotten to the point where I want to strangle people, & I begin to lose respect for them & their beliefs, & I just get really angry & don't give a damn about how rude I'm being. Which isn't a very good thing at all. Damn my temper. :p
Good luck with those books. I'm trying to participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time, & I am so stuck it's not even funny. :\
Heh, school's still pretty crappy. A girl was so shocked when I basically told her that I have no friends, that I found myself smiling like an idiot. So it's still fairly cruddy. And, being as optimistic as I am, I don't think it'll get any better. :P

MyHotComments

Morning, Nick. I'm popping in to say hi and to invite you to visit the Tree. Let's remember together...

Hi Jay, good to hear from you! The nano thing is going well, which is nice after two years of just struggling through it. I don't know where the next 25,000 words are coming from, but I do know where the next 2,000 are and that's enough for one night.

Work is so so - there's been a lot of change, most of which I've had little choice about. Now that I'm in a new job, I'm hoping things will settle down soon.