The Threads That Bind Us

February Events at Threads

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Hey there folks! Just a quick line to let you know what's happening over the next month or so.

The Medium, the Witch & the Shaman drop in days are no more; neither is the Discussion Night. However, we are all still available by appointment, and the Messages from Spirit event remains; though it will be a larger event that will be happening a couple of times a year. Stay tuned for dates, times & locations.

We are having a Winter Psychic Fair in conjunction with the Winter Carnival on Friday, Feb. 10 from 2 pm to 7 pm. Admission is a non-perishable food donation or $2 for the Food Bank, and it will cost you our excellent promotional price of $10 for a 15 minute reading or service.

To celebrate the fact that we won the Best Overall Entry Not a Float in the Winter Carnival Parade with our "Quidditch Team" in the theme of "Sporting with Carnival," we had 100 coupons to give out that offer great savings and promotions in the store, and we will continue to offer one per purchase throughout the month while supplies last. Come and get yours!

Last chance to get your calendars and datebooks is now; after February, they will be gone.

My first Eight Paths of Power class for the year is being offered Sunday, Feb. 19 at 11 am to 5 pm. The first class is on Intent. Cost is $50 per person and PRE-REGISTRATION (and payment) is required. If there are less than 3 people registered I will not run the class.

The more advanced classes (6 through 8) will be offered as part of a special Retreat Weekend in July. You MUST have completed the other classes 1 through 5 to qualify for this one. More information about price and times will follow over the next few weeks.

See you soon!

Blessed be,

Peace Begins With Us - A Remembrance Day Poem

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:40:00 +0000

The rat-a-tat-tat of enemy fire

Startles you awake.

You crouch in the trench with a pounding heart,

Your loved ones' lives at stake.

Your friends about you scream and die;

It echoes 'cross the field;

You swear to them you'll win the war,

A promise locked and sealed.

And as another shrieks in pain -

A shocked and dying bleat -

You load your rifle, whisper prayers,

And stagger to your feet.

A bullet kisses by your ear.

A friend collapses, dead.

You wish in sorrow it had hit

Your temple, or forehead.

With a snarl of rage you fire back,

And people drop like flies,

And as you watch, the one who shot

Your friend is hit, and dies.

And when the War is over, done,

You return to your friend's grave.

In your dreams you blame yourself;

His life you might have saved.

Staring at the poppies blowing

You study the what-if.

What if you'd refused to fight?

Would that have saved ol' Biff?

No, your mind informs you sadly.

No, that it would not.

He would have gone on anyway.

He would have gone and fought.

Only if there is no war

Can those lives lost be saved.

If there are battles to be fought,

Then battles will be braved.

"So how can such things be prevented?"

You enquire of your mind.

"Just one man cannot create

"From hatred, a friendship bind!"

Remind the others of the pain

That fighting war provides.

No one wants to lose their friends,

Their families, or their lives.

You've seen a War, your mind goes on.

You know what it can do.

And you look down, and see a blood-red

Poppy by your shoe.

"I'll pick a day," you say, "for us

"To remember those we lost.

"I'll say to them, well, we have peace,

"But this is what it cost.

"The Was was ended at eleven

"On the 'leventh of November,

"And all these poppies growing . . .

"I'll use them to help remember."

So the next November 'leventh finds you

Standing on the street.

You're handing out red poppies

And staring at your feet.

"Thank you," says a woman, smiling,

"But tell me, what's this for?"

"To remember those," you say to her,

"Who perished in the War."

"Were you involved?" she asks with interest,

"Or is this just good will?"

"Lady," you reply, "I fought,

"And I am fighting still.

"It just takes one to start a war,

"And two to keep the peace.

"If we agree we don't want war,

"Then maybe wars will cease.

"Recording info into books

"Is useless, collecting dust.

"We have to remember those who died,

"'Cause peace begins with us."

The woman takes the poppy, and

Pins it to her blouse,

And as she continues past, you say,

"Biff, I kept my vows."

- Diane Morrison, 1986

November & December 2011 Announcements for The Threads That Bind Us

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:40:00 +0000

Hey, have you noticed that it's getting cold out there? Leaf raking party at my place this weekend! You bring the rakes and your back muscle and I'll bring the beer and pizza. :)

The construction is almost done! Yay!

I have a couple of cool announcements for November and December.

First, starting this Saturday and continuing through the month of November, we are having a red tag clearance sale to make way for new inventory! All red tagged items will be 25% to 50% off! This is *only* for November; on December 1st, the red tags come off and all items are restored to regular price. Let us reward you for doing your Yuletide shopping ahead of the game. :)

All those orders I have been waiting for will be arriving during November. Speaking of which, it's time once again to pre-order your 2012 calendars. Witches' Calendar, WeMoon Datebook, Astrological Calendar, Faeries, Goddesses, and more available! Come in and browse from the catalogue to place your order! Special orders are guarenteed to receive what they have requested, while others will have to choose from between a couple of our more popular options, while supplies last.

On Saturday November 19th, 10 am to 1 pm, the Medium, the Witch and the Shaman will be offering a class on "Crystal Healing for All Paths." Cost is $66; please preregister! Minimum class size: 3 students or we will not run the class.

We have a new practitioner! Please welcome Lida, who will be in for drop ins on Thursdays. She will be offering Craniosacral Therapy, Raindrop Therapy, Massage and Amethyst Bio-Matt Treatments. If you have not experienced the Amethyst Bio-Matt, let me personally recommend it! It is a slightly heated matt made of crushed amethyst, which produces negative ions like a salt lamp, and aids your body's natural healing processes. During a Body and Soul Wellness Fair, Erin, who suffers from chronic nerve pain, had a half-hour long treatment and said that he felt no pain for three full days, and was in considerably less pain for a month afterwards. I have also had very positive experiences with the Bio-Matt. Lida's services will be available at the standard shop rates and she may also be available by appointment.

The Medium, the Witch and the Shaman are returning to the store on Wednesdays for drop-ins, except that we will be available from 1 pm to 5 pm (not 11 am to 3 pm,) and we will be there on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, but not the second or fourth. We will continue to do our discussion group and podcast on the first Wednesday of every month at 6 pm, but Messages from Spirit will be on the third Wednesday of the month instead of the last Friday, again at 6 pm when the store closes. All other aspects of the Messages from Spirit event remain the same; you need to register in advance if possible because we will take a maximum of a dozen people, the fee is $10 and every attendee gets a personal message! Erin and I will be available in the store for drop ins Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; and Rowean will be available Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Our last Discussion Group for the year will be on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 6 pm, and the topic will be "Ascension and the Mind/Spirit Connection" - how the energy changes affect your mood and thinking process (it might not be menopause!) We will not be doing a Messages from Spirit event in December or January, and there will be no Discussion Group in January either, nor Medium, Witch, Shaman drop in days, though all will be available by appointment. All of these things will resume in February.

The first of the Heart of Wicca Discussion Groups with Mystara Loughnah, 2nd degree High Priestess in the Star Sapphire tradition, happened on the first of November. Several people came out and we welcome you! The second one will be at 6 pm on the evening of December 6th. Donations welcome but it is free to attend.

There are plans in the works to create an online Webinar variation of the Eight Paths of Power for those of you who are interested in learning at a distance; please stay tuned for more information!

The Elder Futhark Runes class has been cancelled until further notice, and we will be closed on Remembrance Day (of course). PLEASE NOTE our December schedule! Last year I warned people a month in advance that we would be CLOSED over the SOLSTICE, and people still complained about us not being open when they wanted to do last minute shopping. We *will* be open on the 23rd and Christmas Eve this year, but not on the 21st and 22nd. Consult the December events or Calendar page for more details. We hope you have a happy holiday, whichever one you choose to celebrate! Also, please note that our winter hours begin Jan. 1 and last until the Spring Equinox, meaning that we will be closing at 5 pm daily during that time.

Don't forget that gift certificates are available for products or services, and they make a great stocking stuffer!

Very exciting news; my friend Shadowcat, a Reiki Master-Teacher only four initiations removed in direct lineage from Dr. Usui, Reiki's founder, is willing to come to the Threads to teach and initiate! Please contact me if you are interested so that we can set the date. Costs to be determined by numbers of registrants (the more people, the less expensive it will be) and should range in the neighbourhood of $100 to $150 each.

Please sign up as site members to receive our newsletters and announcements!

See you soon!

Blessed be,

The Threads That Bind Us

3004 B 31st Street

Vernon, BC CANADA

V1T 5H7

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New Events Added to October & November Calendar

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:20:00 +0000

Check out the new events added to the store calendar for October and November, including a Hallowe'en Psychic Fair on Friday the 28th and a class on Crystal Healing for All Paths with the Medium, the Witch & the Shaman on Nov. 19!

Blessed be,

New Stuff and Plans in the Works

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:15:00 +0000

I've been pretty quiet online for a while, resting and recuperating from a very very busy summer. I was away from home for a total of two full months between May and September with all the travelling I was doing, and I needed to put my head down and get a little rest; from people, from the store, from work, from things online. But I'm beginning to recover my bearings now as I nurture my soul a little. I've been doing some painting (it's not ready for display yet,) and I have started writing fiction again with a fan fiction fantasy novel.

The construction in front of the shop is almost finished, and I hope you will come and brave it and the weather to see us before All Hallows'! I'm currently offering a 10% discount on all my Tarot readings.

I must admit that I'm a little behind on my orders, partially because things have not been available and partially because the funds have been tight, since the construction seems to have driven a lot of our business away. But I have not been idle, and I have lots of new products you may not have seen, most of them handmade by me or someone else. We have Celtic style tapestries that would double as excellent altar clothes, handmade arbutus wood besoms, handpainted boxes, handmade soapstone and beadwork pipes, new handpainted pentacles, and the long-awaited smudging fans that many of you have asked me to get!

Our drop-in days with the Medium, the Witch and the Shaman have resumed every second Wednesday, along with our Discussion Group, classes, and Messages from Spirit. Our Elder Futhark runes class is still running as well.

I am proceeding with my Pagan Pathfinders Podcast this fall, recording this weekend. I am behind on uploads, but we have been recording and I will be catching up very soon. I will also continue, now that I'm not driving all over the world, with my account of my trip to Montreal for the Canadian National Pagan Conference.

Last but not least, I do hope you will join us for the T. Thorn Coyle event this weekend!

I have been quiet, but not idle.

Blessed be,

Witches' Ball 2011 Cancelled

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:10:00 +0000

Please note that this year's Witches' Ball has been cancelled due to insufficient ticket sales. We are sorry for the inconvenience and we hope to reintroduce the event next year! Ticket refunds, for those who have purchased one, are available at The Threads That Bind Us.

Blessed be,

Sable

The Creative Process

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:48:00 +0000

I am not a painter. No one ever told me in art class that I had any particular talent. I got consistant Bs, which isn't bad, of course, but there are other areas of my life in which I received much greater accolades. I was not encouraged to pursue art. Mostly such things were politely ignored.

My parents didn't encourage me to pursue writing or music, either; other areas where I had actually received several accolades through my school career. They were big on getting a stable income and then doing these things on the side. But they didn't have the money to send me to university even though I excelled at acedemics, and I was too depressed as a teenager to successfully pursue scholarships. I didn't want to start my life with a great big debt when I didn't really know where I was going.

At one time, I figured I was going to be a professional author or a musician, and since both pursuits had been actively discouraged as impractical, lazy, and whimsical, I was cut loose and drifting. I went from school into the Recession, with no trade training, no history of clerical work, no post-secondary education, and a dreamer's soul. I suffered through long periods of unemployment and nowhere jobs that I loathed. I was a server at a malt stop, a housekeeper, a fruit picker, a babysitter, an underpaid care aide (a job that lasted exactly two days) and finally a tow truck, delivery service, and taxi dispatcher. I made nothing or less than nothing, often taking less than the legal minimum wage. I lived at less than subsistence poverty level for many years. I have been poor enough to not be able to pay the gas bill in the winter in a dive of a place where we couldn't get equal payments because of the high energy costs, and I heated my bath water in pots on the stove, warmed the place as best I could with space heaters and my oven, and endured three months of pneumonia.

I was delighted when I finally got the taxi dispatcher job. At least it was a job that paid a little bit more than minimum wage for full time work! Never mind that the job description should be "professional target for abuse"; from the customers on the other end of the phone when their taxi was later than they desired, from the drivers who lived or died on the calls they got and therefore tried every dirty trick in the book to abuse, manipulate, whine and cajole until they got special treatment, from co-workers who wanted better shifts and more attention, and from the owner, who viewed everyone in her employ as a personal serf, or perhaps a poorly-functioning robot. I was called a bitch at least once a day, but at least I could pay my ridiculous heating bill!

In many ways, my husband's accident was the best thing that ever happened to me. I suppose that sounds really horrible to say. But it drove me from that horrible taxi job for many reasons. And it also taught me that there was a big difference between "can't" and "don't want to" or "am afraid to." I found I could do anything when I really had no choice - pick my 280 pound husband up and put him in a car; carry 50 pounds of groceries for 45 minutes; learn to drive even though I was terrified; live alone; turn a little thrift store that I bought for $2000 into a respectable little metaphysical business; face the imminent loss of the man I loved more than my own life.

This lesson has begun to make its way into areas of my life where I have traditionally defeated myself because of lack of self-confidence. Once again, I am pursuing my dream of writing; my business is growing in a time when most of the others in my field are going out of business; I'm singing again and working towards getting some new things recorded; and I thought, "Why not try my hand at artwork?" The crafted items I have made for the store seem to be doing reasonably well. I have painted many things; pentacles, feng shui charms, boxes, etc., and people buy them; not quickly, but they do.

Once, just a couple of years out of high school when some of us were coming together to form the beginnings of the Okanagan Pagan community, I painted some pentacles for myself and my friends. I did this because you can't seem to buy pentacles at stores, even metaphysical stores. I sold some of them at the local metaphysical shop on consignment (Dreamweaver at the time,) but eventually they were given back to me because they weren't moving fast enough. I gave that idea up, of course. But you know, on my recent cross-Canada trip, I stayed with many friends whom I hadn't seen much of since that time, and I'll be damned if everyone who had purchased, or been given, one of my pentacles doesn't still seem to have them. I know this because I saw their altars and there they were, usually being used as centerpieces. That's encouraging!

I have toyed with the idea of taking up painting for a long time. I have no less than five blank canvasses at my house. I've picked them up here and there - at the dollar stores, at Wal-Mart - and I've done nothing. I have lots of excuses: "Not enough time," "Don't have any good ideas," "Paints are separating," "Not in the mood," but the truth is, I just looked at that empty canvas and thought, "What if I mess it up?"

Silly, really. The answer, of course, is, "You buy another canvas and start over or do something else. You got them at the dollar store; how expensive can they be?" I'll buy snacks and a good coffee when I'm out on the road, and I'll buy restaurant food at work, so why be so afraid of spending money on a little canvas?

I was supposed to be going to a festival this weekend - I'm very good at filling my days with stuff to keep me busy - but decided against it at the last minute and determined to take an actual weekend off over Canada Day. I know perfectly well that nobody is really going to show up over the long weekend at the shop, so why waste my time? And I had a practical project that I wanted to do that gave me an excuse to use that blank canvas; I needed something to cover the back of my desk at the shop, which is facing outward from my till area and is nothing but ugly pressboard.

I went to the dollar store again and bought an enormous canvas. It was the biggest one they had. I need that much area to cover the back of the desk. Now this was really intimidating. So much canvas to destroy! I waited for a couple of weeks before I even took it out of the plastic wrapper.

I started painting the background with the base coat. I have several acrylic paints. You used to be able to get them at the dollar stores and I have been accumulating them for years. Some of them have indeed separated now and will have to be replaced. I started with a very neutral iron black, and then a midnight blue. I had this idea of a Goddess and God image making the cosmos. I wasn't really sure where to start, so I started with black. I laid out the canvas on my picnic table and painted as I chatted with some friends who came to visit.

One of my friends is an accumulator of useful items. She would be a hoarder, really, except that she generously gives away said items to people who seem to be able to use them. And she informed me that she had an old homemade wooden easel that was big enough to handle the canvas I had chosen; did I want it? Would that be easier for me?

Well, of course I said yes, so she brought it over in her big van. It really is a monstrosity of a thing. It's bigger than I am and made of unsanded plywood. I still have a sliver from it, actually. But a) it was free and b) it was exactly what I needed.

I waited until my day off, pulled out the easel and because it was a cold day, I brought it in from outside and put it in the kitchen, where the light is better. I brought in my box of paints and sat them on the kitchen counter. I got my packages of dollar store paintbrushes out. I don't know what the technique was. I've never had a formal art lesson. All I had was an idea and a desire.

I went to my computer and started Googling nebula images. I wanted to use nebulae to represent the raw starstuff of Creation. I have had some success with that glowy star look in the past by dry brushing on a dark background. I figured I would give it a try. Because the pictures were square and the canvas was rectangular, I decided to combine two nebulae into one image as my background. I started with the Crescent Nebula because it almost looked like a landscape to me:

Then I found this image of something called the Cygnet Loop Nebula, with a lovely lightning-strike like cloud that made me think of the God instantly and His dynamic, fertilizing energy: "Deep calls upon height, the Goddess on the God, She on the flame who quickens Her . . ." and I thought that the colours would combine well with the Crescent Nebula to make the whole rainbow spectrum:

I didn't realize this, but I included an image of this nebula in my Great Rite video, which I used because it looked to me like a lightning seed striking the sky with the force of Creation.

I figured I would overlap the two somehow in the middle, and then I would use something called the Eskimo Nebula to represent the cosmic zygote of Creation:

Why they call this the "Eskimo Nebula" I have not the foggiest notion. It looks to me like a fertilized cell growing and dividing, illuminated by sun rays. I'm probably going to work with it again.

I thought, then, that I would add nebula-like images of the Goddess and the God to either side. I had a vague idea for a dancing Goddess based on the Phoenix Nebula (yes, this really exists!):

And I thought maybe I would have the God shooting a cosmic seed at the zygote. This is called the Elephant's Trunk Nebula:

So I printed these images out on my colour laser printer, which helped but did not quite capture the same light qualities as the computer images. I brought them into the kitchen and taped them to the top of my easel over my canvas with masking tape. I put on some trancy, almost lyricless music (Delirium and other such sounds that I had on my hard drive). Grooving to the sound, I started to paint.

I repainted the canvas in a darker black because I could tell I would need the contrast to get the nebula colours right. It came out flatter than I wanted. Usually I spray Varathane on my wooden painted items when I am done to protect them, which makes the black shinier, but I knew I wouldn't be doing that with canvas. I decided to go over it again with a wash of "Sequin Metallic Black" to make a slightly shinier look. Of course I didn't mix it perfectly and that created some banding that you can see if you look closely, but I figured I was going to cover it with my Goddess anyway and decided not to worry about it. Ultimately I think it gave the sky texture and depth, and it provided the deeper black look that I wanted.

I knew that I would have to start with the darker colours in the nebulae and work from there into the brighter colours if it was going to work right, and I have limited palate space (I was using plastic Gladware lids and a washed-out sushi container.) I also knew that I would have to get just the tiniest bit on the brush to make it look right or it would get too big and too bright too fast. I also knew from past experience that when using light paint on a dark background, it is easier to start dark and make it brighter than it is to make it darker once you've gone too bright. Also, being nebulae, I figured that transparent gas clouds should look free flowing and natural, so I fought my natural instinct to be fussy, and though I was careful to dab just the slightest amount of paint on the edge of my brush and then wipe it off, I wasn't too careful about my movements with the brush and let it happen naturally. Sometimes it didn't blend quite right on the canvas texture, so I wet my finger and smeared it around like fingerpainting. I wanted the paint to seem to glow slightly as well, so I made use of a technique that I'd tried effectively when painting stars before; I mixed in just a tiny bit of a metallic paint with each of the colours I used. Fortunately, I like metallic paints and have something in just about every colour of the rainbow, so was able to match at least the general shade:

I had yet to add the red shades when Steve, whom we live with and is part of our extended family, got home from his new job. I told him all my plans and he said, "It looks great! It seems to me like that might get a little busy, but I'm sure you'll make it work." I realized that he was right. It was going to get too busy if I did everything I wanted to do. Time to minimize.

I had decided not to paint that yellow part in the Crescent Nebule because I was going to put my zygote there, and I didn't have the red shades yet and wasn't sure what I was doing from this point. I figured I would put my bright phoenix goddess in the dark sky part above my Crescent Nebula image, but I knew the God therefore had to go in the bottom right hand corner, where I had left out the yellow parts of the Cygnet Loop Nebula to make room for Him under the "lightning" strike, and I wasn't sure how I was going to work it. Originally I was thinking of the Deities as sillhouettes in the yellow parts of those images. But then it struck me that what I had done with the Cygnet Loop, without the red bits, looked like it was all shooting out of that bottom corner (see above,) and the Crescent Nebula, with all its greens and blues, looked like a river of starts going past a green shoreline:

Then I saw the solution like a flash in my mind's eye. The God would be a glowing golden nebula with golden antlers on His head, spinning space, and the Goddess would be a silver icon of beauty, rising triumphantly from the river of Her creation with those perfectly-placed stars in Her hands and a silver crescent on Her brow. I asked my nephew, an athletically built young man, to come and stand in such a way that he could have been spinning the pink nebulae from his hands, and painted his silhouette in glowing bronze tinted orange, then yellow, which I did as quickly as possible so he wouldn't have to stand there in an uncomfortable position forever. This is the result:

After that, I painted a white-silver silhouette Goddess as I envisioned Her. My final touches were to paint the antlers pure bronze with pure metallic gold outlining instead of just gold because it matched the colouration better, and to limn my Goddess in purple and pink, with stars streaming from Her hair:

The part that makes me happiest is that I managed to communicate with Their postures alone the joy of life that I think They share with me. They are obviously having fun creating the Universe - as it should be.

So here is my final result, and I'm very proud of it! It took courage to do it; it isn't exactly how I originally thought it would be, but I opened myself to the possibilities when I asked my Deities to help me communicate the beauty of Them and Their creation, and I was deeply inspired. It took me eight hours in a single day. My clan thinks I could sell it, but I think I'm kind of reluctant to part with the original. After all, I'm not a painter!

Why did I blog about all this? I thought maybe others might be encouraged to explore their own latent creativity through my journey. I was very happy with the results of this project and I'm going to do more painting. Maybe people will want buy my work, and maybe they won't. Either way, I enjoyed it and I feel good about it, and isn't that what it's all about? The creative process is just that, and nothing ever turns out exactly the way you consciously intended it. Doesn't mean that it isn't great though, and I did manage to communicate my original intention - painting the Creation of the Universe as my Deities may have built it; in colour and chaos, celebration and cosmic beauty - much more effectively than if I had tried to control the whole process. Get out of your own way and let inspiration guide you! And don't let your doubts stop you. You really can do anything.

Blessed be,

Updates for June 2011

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:11:00 +0000

At last, summer! For those of you who are keeping track of such things, I am back from my epic journey to Montreal, and while my car seems to have nearly disintegrated underneath me due to a badly marked road washout in Saskatchewan, the Lady has brought me safely back and I am back in the shop, getting caught up on the things I need to do. The air conditioner is safely installed so you will not blister in the sudden wave of heat!

I have tons of things to write for my blog about the Conference and the journey, but it will likely take a long time to get it all typed and written. Memories to last a lifetime and food for the soul! I especially welcome any of my new friends from the Canadian National Pagan Conference "Gaia Gathering" who see fit to join the list. Merry met!

The next couple of weeks are your last chance to benefit from the Medium, the Witch & the Shaman drop-in days over the summer. We will be in the shop from 11 am to 3 pm on June 1, 8 and 15; after that, drop-in days will not resume until September. Victoria and Lois will still be available by appointment over the summer, and I will be available for drop-in Tarot readings, Reiki, crystal healing, aromatherapy and mentoring on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, unless festivals or other responsibilities call me out of town. Selena will also be available for channelled readings, co-creative meditation, and counselling on Mondays; Erin will be available for drop-in Tarot readings, Reiki, mentoring and counselling on Tuesdays, and Rowean will be available for drop-in Tarot readings, Reiki and Henna body art on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The Medium, the Witch & the Shaman will continue with our Discussion Nights over the summer. Our next meeting is Wednesday, July 6 at 6 pm PDT, and our topic is "Spiritual Creativity." Join us in person or by Skype at medium.witch.shaman. For more details, check out the MWS website at http://mediumwitchshaman.webs.com, or the Podcast page at the Threads website http://www.thethreadsthatbindus.net/apps/podcast.

Our "Messages from Spirit" event will also be continuing through the summer, which is (usually) the last Friday evening of every month at 6 pm. The next one, however, is July 22 rather than the 29th. All are welcome, but there is only room for 12 people so you may wish to register in advance! In order to make sure that an individual intuitive and psychic message is available to each and every attendee, any more than a dozen people will be turned away. Selena Wong, our Reconnective Healing practitioner, intuitive counsellor and channeller, may be appearing in lieu of members of our trio over the summer as we take our holidays.

My Eight Paths of Power classes are also continuing through the summer near to the Wiccan Sabbats. "Intoxicants," which will study the use of incense, smudging, herbs, aromatherapy, and intoxicating substances in magick, will be held on Sunday, June 26th, and "Dance & Sacred Movement" will be held on July 17. Both classes are from 11 am to 5 pm. Cost is $50; please preregister.

There are plans in the works to create an online Webinar variation of the Eight Paths of Power for those of you who are interested in learning at a distance; please stay tuned for more information! I am aiming to have the first Webinar class, "Intent," ready for September.

Rowean and I will be starting a Ritual Magick study and practice group sometime in June or July. We will be using Donald Michael Kraig's book "Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts" as our study guide, and will draw from material of the Golden Dawn, Rosicrucians, OTO, Aleister Crowley, etc. If you have an interest in magick but are not a Wiccan, this may be a good group for you. Even if you are a Witch, the discipline in your study can't hurt you. Contact Rowean or here on FB for details.

This month, we will be holding another Mini Psychic Fair; this one in support of Pagan Pride! ALL profits made by the practitioners plus your $2 admission donation will go to support the event. Last year was amazing and this year we hope it will be even better! Come see us on Friday, June 17, from 3 pm to 7 pm for short sample readings and healing treatments at $10 for 15 minutes.

The day after that, Saturday, June 18, we will be at Downtown Vernon's enormous sidewalk sale on 30th Avenue, the Sunshine Festival! We'll have some great deals and promotions, and you'll be able to buy your crystals or get great readings in the warm summer sun! Come see us and the other great Downtown Vernon merchants as we put on our best show for you!

At the end of the month, we are planning to be at the brand-new Sun Wheel Festival in Alberta, sponsored by Where Faeries Live. Erin and I are both planning to present workshops and we will have the shop with us . . . though it will only be a carload, like what we brought to the Beltane Faire . . . our greatest effort this year in Alberta will still be for PanFest on the August long weekend, so save your pennies!

Festival season means that more fabulous items get purchased because they are needed, but it also means they don't stay in the store as long. Check back frequently to see all of our new great stuff! Our crafty streak has not stopped despite our busyness; we've added handpainted pentacles to our available products. Some of you will remember that I made several of these a few years back, before I had a store. Each one is a handpainted original work of art that will never again be exactly imitated, though variations on my "Triple Moon" design have been popular. Rowean is helping with this project and some of the designs you see emerging in the store are hers, some are mine, and many are the result of our combined efforts and inspiration. The order from Quebec has arrived and the order from Massachusettes is on the way, though hampered by back orders and the mail strikes. This even benefits our clientele at a distance - we now have more than 1000 items available for sale at our Web Store: http://www.thethreadsthatbindus.net/apps/webstore/.

For those who are interested in our side projects: I am trying to streamline the list and very soon will stop cross-posting. If you'd like to keep track of my personal blog, my writing, matters Wiccan and my other projects, you can find that at http://sablearadia.webs.com. If you are interested in the Pagan Pathfinders Podcast, you can find that information at http://paganpathfinders.webs.com. If you want to know what's happening with our local Wiccan Temple, you can find that at http://mirthandreverence.webs.com.

Please sign up as site members to receive our newsletters and announcements!

Last, two things that are VERY IMPORTANT to note! First, FB has forced us to change to the new groups format. In order to avoid becoming a limited social network, we have been forced to start a new fan page, and start over. Please, if you wish to continue to be connected to this group, change over to the new one as soon as you can! You will find the new group at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Threads-That-Bind-Us/206869696014295. Please join today!

Second, the city is beginning a major construction project on July 2 that will affect traffic on 30th Avenue until October. This concerns us because we have noticed that when 30th Avenue is blocked off, our traffic dies down to almost nil and we might as well go home. Since we can't go home for six months or we won't have a shop anymore, we advise our clientele that they may find it easier to approach us from the Library (that's 31st Street) or from 32nd Avenue (which runs past Innerspace Diving off of Hwy 97, or the Greyhound Bus depot and Cenotaph Park if you are coming from 27th Street or Pleasant Valley.) There are parking spaces available along those streets, which are often easier to get to than 30th Avenue anyway, and if you park up at the Civic Arena, which is on 31st Street, you can park for free!

Our current practitioners' schedule for drop-ins is as follows:

Monday, Wednesday, and most Fridays 12 pm to 5 pm - Sable Aradia, Psychic Witch, Reiki Master - Tarot and Reiki, Crystal Healing, Chakra balancing, Crystal healing, information on Wicca and magick

Monday 1 pm to 5 pm - Selena Wong, Psychic & Life Coach - channelled readings, co-creative meditation, counselling

Tuesday 12 pm to 5 pm - Erin Righ, Psychic Witch, Reiki Master - Tarot and Reiki, Chakra balancing, information on Wicca and magick, pastoral counselling from a Wiccan/Pagan perspective

Wednesday 11 am to 3 pm, appointments from 9 am to 5 pm (until June 21) - "The Medium, the Witch and the Shaman" Lois, Psychic, Medium, Reiki Master - Channelled psychic readings, Mediumship, Energy clearings, Healing Matrix, Reiki; Sable Aradia, Psychic Witch and Reiki Master (see above); and Victoria Willard, Natural Health Practitioner and Shaman - Reiki, Thai massage, Herbal Consultations, Quantum Touch, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

Thursday 12 pm to 5 pm, Saturday 1:30 pm to 5 pm - Rowean, Psychic Witch - Tarot reading, Reiki healing, henna body art

Michelle, Tarot Reader & Psychometrist - available by appointment only.

Victoria and Lois are available by appointment only after the 21st of June until September.

June Events:

June 1 - MWS Discussion Night & Podcast "Riding the Energy Wave" 6 pm to 8 pm; by donation

June 15 - last drop-in day for the Medium, the Witch & the Shaman for the summer 11 am to 3 pm

June 17 - Mini Psychic Fair! 3 pm to 7 pm; $10 per 15 minute reading or healing; all profits to Okanagan Pagan Pride

June 18 - Sunshine Festival 9 am to 5 pm; store remains OPEN

June 24 - Messages from Spirit 6 pm to close; $10 per person, first dozen people accepted only

June 26 - Eight Paths of Power #4 "Intoxicants" 11 am to 5 pm; $50 per person, please preregister

July 1 - Canada Day; store CLOSED

July 1-3 - Sun Wheel Festival, Alberta

Enjoy your summer!

Blessed be,

VOTE, Dammit!

Mon, 02 May 2011 17:01:00 +0000

So today is day two of election days here in Canada. I'm writing this to make an urgent plea - please, please, please, for the love of the gods, VOTE!

I know that many of the people who are interested in alternative spiritualities of any kind, be they Pagan or otherwise, are disillusioned with the system. We don't believe our voices are being heard. We lose faith and trust, especially amongst the young. Many of us develop contempt for the whole process. I can't tell you the amount of times that I have heard in the past few weeks, since the Minority Conservative Canadian Government was toppled for contempt of Parliament, something to the effect of, "Well, they're all a bunch of crooks anyway, so I just don't give a damn and I'm not going to bother voting at all."

Folks, your silence is NOT an effective protest! There is a lot of discrepancy between statistics, depending on who is keeping track and what they are trying to prove, but only anywhere from half to about 60% of Canada's eligible voters actually voted in our last federal election. That means that about half of us, maybe a little more, decided who should govern the rest of us. How does that help anything? Then we end up with what we've got. The entrenched right wing power structure, being the only ones who can get together in a sufficient group because they've only got one choice, vote us in a minority government that nobody else really wants, while the majority of us, who have more leftist political views, divide our votes amongst three major parties.

But think about what would happen if the silent 40 to 50 percent of us, most of whom don't bother because they hold the system in contempt, actually voted! I think we'd see a new day in Canada. I think that there would be considerable change.

Many of us live less than sedentary lifestyles so we believe that we do not have sufficient identification to vote. We think that we have to have picture ID and so forth. So we don't try. But it's not true! If you don't have picture ID, what you need is some kind of ID card - which could be a Care Card, a Social Insurance card, a Veteran's card, a paper copy of your interm driver's license or even a public library card (yes, seriously!) - and a piece of mail with your current address on it, which would be something a little bit more substantial than a letter - like a bank statement, a hydro bill, or even a Welfare or disability cheque. You can even get your family members to vouch for you if you have none of these things. Rowean, my sister-in-spirit, lost her purse this year. Her husband spoke for her and she voted anyway; they just got home now.

Listen folks, people kill and die everyday all over the world, and have for centuries, for the right to vote. We have that right. If we don't exercise it, nothing will ever change without violence - and what thinking person really wants that?

I voted in the advance poll because I thought I might still be driving today from the festival I attended on the weekend, and so did my husband, and most importantly of all, my 19 year old son (who had his Care Card and his bank statement) did too. It was his first federal election, and I am very proud. He told his friends to vote too.

Get to the polls today! It's your right and privilege as a Canadian. Be the change that you would like to see in the world!

Blessed be,

The Happiness Formula

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:42:00 +0000

When I went to the Deepak Chopra event in Penticton in the fall, I was struck by this story, and it really stuck with me:

He said that one of the things that he is involved with is a project called "Sages and Scientists," where philosophers, spiritualists and religious leaders get together with scientists of a variety of disciplines and discuss life, the universe and everything. He said that when the Dalai Lama came to visit, they were delighted to tell him that they had discovered the secrets of what causes stress. The Dalai Lama then pointed out that everyone dwells on the negative all the time, and that it would be of much greater value in the world if they were to discover the secrets of what causes happiness.

Well, they took this under advisement, and the next time they encountered the Dalai Lama, they told him that they had found it.

"Oh, really?" said His Holiness with a raised eyebrow.

So what they said was that happiness can be directly corrolated to a formula, which was invented by a man named Martin Seligman. And the formula is this:

(S)et point + (C)onditions of living + (V)oluntary choices = (H)appiness

Seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? But what is most interesting is the percentages that each one of these factors occupies.

Your Set Point (S) represents the perspective that you begin with. In simplest terms, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Is the glass half full, or half empty? Or as Deepak Chopra puts it, "do you see problems, or do you see opportunities?" We learn this perspective from our upbringing. If our parents are negative people, always looking on the bad side, always talking about the worst case scenario, expecting ill fortune and getting it, then so do we. Our Set Point makes up 50% of our Happiness (S=50%).

This sounds like bad news! Are we doomed to always be negative if our parents are negative people? The answer is NO. There are two ways in which you can actively change your Set Point.

The first is Cognitive Therapy. Change your thoughts, change your expectations and your actions and emotions will follow. People who have been in Anger Management classes or therapy for Addictions or Neuroses know all about this, but it is easy enough to do it on our own. Every time you think something negative, examine that belief and ask yourself why it is that you have it! For instance, you may have picked up the belief somewhere that people who are wealthy are jerks. This could be blocking you from prosperity, because on some level, you don't want to be a jerk! Why would you have this belief? For me, it was a belief that my parents passed on to me. It, of course, does not necessarily hold true. Another thing you can do is practice the art of affirmation. You need to understand that your subconscious does not understand negatives or sarcasm. So if your friend repeatedly tells you, "You're such a dumb blonde!" for example, even if you know they are joking, it will begin to have an effect on you and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you say, "I am not stupid," then your brain will not hear the "not". Say instead, "I am smart!" It will become a self-fulfilling prophecy too.

I know this is possible because I learned to be very negative from my parents growing up; but I like to joke that I spent my twenties getting my mom's voice out of my head telling me why everything wouldn't work. And in my thirties, I have been gradually more and more successful at everything I do.

The second method is Meditation. Changing your consciousness levels, and learning to relax your mind, rewires your brain to feel less stress and to think more positive thoughts. It improves your ability to produce beta brain waves overall, and people who produce more beta waves are not only "smarter" than others, they think more positive thoughts too.

Now, as you might expect, your Conditions of Living (C) also affect your overall Happiness. Whether you are wealthy or poor, what kind of condition your health is in, whether or not you suffer from pain, whether or not you are in a good marriage or an unhappy one, and whether or not you hate your job or have one, all do have an influence. What will surprise you is the percentage. Only 10% of your total Happiness is at all affected by these things! (C=10%)

It amazes us in the Western World that we can look at films of children in Third World slums and wonder how they can laugh and play and enjoy themselves, even with swollen bellies from malnutrition, playing in mud and sewage. Or to put it another way, people are often amazed at the fact that Erin can joke and laugh and smile when he has so many challenges facing him. Well, Conditions of Living only make up 10% of your Happiness. So change them if you can, but it really isn't that important. (This has another side to it too: those of you who think your life will instantly be perfect if you win the lottery - hah! think again! Money will not guarentee your Happiness; only YOU can do that!)

The remaining percentage, fully 40% of your Happiness, is a result of your Voluntary Choices (V=40%). So, aside from your innate perspective, the greatest bulk of your Happiness depends upon what it is that you do. What's interesting is that this works sort of like eating! You can choose to do things to make yourself happy; Retail Therapy, eating chocolate, taking a hot bath, or other simple, selfish pleasures, and they will make you happy for a while - like eating a chocolate bar will fill the hunger gap for a while. Or, you can choose to do things that either make other people happy, or that have long-reaching effects in which you are making a difference in the world, like become a parent, working for a cause you believe in, exercising your creativity, doing important scientific work, being a listening ear when your friend is going through a tough time, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or counselling, and these things will make you happy for much longer periods - like sitting down to a nutritious meal will ease hunger for several hours, if not all day.

So if you are in a job in which you feel curtailed or unfulfilled, the best thing you can do for yourself is to find a job in which you feel that what you do matters, whether that is being a stay-at-home-mom or working on the Nobel Prize. And instead of seeing problems that stop you from pursuing these dreams, see challenges that you must rise to face with courage!

Also, practice compassion whenever possible. Love others, even when they hurt you, and try to practice acceptance and understanding. Just remember that loving them can sometimes mean tough love, and so you need to set boundaries and not be an enabler for negative behaviour. On the other hand, hating others, and holding grudges, teaches them nothing and just brings you harm. Learn to let things go and practice forgiveness.

What can we learn from all this? It really is very simple: Happiness is a choice. "Your living is determined by not so much what life brings you as by the attitude that you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens." (Lewis L. Dunnington). Or, as the Dalai Lama says, "What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful."

Come and join The Medium, the Witch & the Shaman for our workshop on March 19, 10 am to 1 pm, "The Keys to Happiness" to learn more!

Blessed be,

Video from Deepak Chopra's video blog at YouTube: