As a race, the English are said to value their animals more than material wealth! we do love our cats and dogs!! The French regard indifference to culinary pleasure, as a sign of an idiot, while the Italians revere racing and the opera to a similar degree.

Such national stereotypes!

Japanese- ingenuity

German- efficiency

There are many, and many of them even contain a grain of truth. We can safely say that humans seek pleasure and avoid pain, but what else can we claim without hedging our bets?

We could say that humans, in general, enjoy humour– but only in its place!; that they admire courage– but not the unthinking kind!; that they dislike meanness– providing that it`s distinguished from financial prudence! We could also say that motherhood meets with general approval–providing that the worlds population doesn`t threaten to explode!! But what can we say that humans approve of in an unqualified way?

They approve of COINCIDENCE! For several reasons human beings enjoy universally and without qualification, a good coincidence!!

First, because coincidence is democratic; it has no regard for wealth or station in society!

Second, coincidence suggests that the world- meaning that vastness of time and space! in which human beings can easily feel less important than a grain of sand in the Sahara Desert– is not indifferent to us! Coincidence suggests that the world, whatever it may be, is not only uncannily attentive to us, but sometimes goes to extraordinary lengths to prove it.

Thirdly, as a consequence, coincidence creates an impression of mysterious potentials, mostly unrealised, but still a possible source of relief from the dreariness of the mundane comings and goings of our everyday lives. Coincidence does enjoy a kind of unequivocal, universal popularity! it`s not surprising that we have all kinds of opinions and theories about them. Are all events, in the supposed absence of provable causal connections, in fact coincidences?! Are coincidences spurred into being by our latent psychic abilities? Do they exploit, or reveal, unities ultimately traceable to the mind of God, or to the Collective Unconcious, or to the infinite kinship systems of innumerable rebirths? Does their value lie solely in what we learn from them, of the mind`s tendancy to create the patterns it sees, and to then invest them with meaning? Will coincidence eventially yield to the picklock of correct statistical procedure? and so on!!

With nets such as these being cast, perhaps the elusive coincidence creature will someday be captured and identified. But if it is, will we ever be quite sure that the evidence that becomes available, has not merely fallen into place by virtue of the mystery we call coincidence?

COINCIDENCES CONCERNING PEOPLE!

LINCOLN AND KENNEDY

Two of the most remembered and dramatic tragedies in American history, the assassinations of presidents Abraham Lincoln and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, involve the following amazing paralles:

1) Lincoln was elected president in 1860. Exactly one hundred years later, in 1960, Kennedy was elected president.

2) Both men were deeply involved in civil rights for ethnic communities.

3) Both men were assassinated on a Friday, in the company of their wives.

4) Each wife had lost a son whilst living at the White House.

5) Both men were killed by a bullet that entered the head from behind.

6) Lincoln was killed in Ford`s Theater. Kennedy met his death while riding in a Lincoln convertible made by the Ford Motor Company.

7) Both men were succeeded by vice-presidents named Johnson who were southern democrats and former senators.

8) Andrew Johnson was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908, one hundred years later.

9) The first name of Lincoln`s private secretary was John, the last name of Kennedy`s private secretary was Lincoln.

10) John Wilkes Booth the assassin of Lincoln was born in 1839 (according to some records). Lee Harvey Oswald the assassin of Kennedy was born in 1939, one hundred years later.

11) Both assassins were Southerners who held extremist views.

12) Both assassins were murdered before they could be brought to trial.

13) Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and ran to a barn. Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and ran to a theater.

14) Lincoln and Kennedy each has seven letters.

15) Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson each has thirteen letters.

16) John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald each has fifteen letters.

And lastly, Lincoln proposed a John Kennedy for vice president- John P kennedy!

A dollar bill was issued in Dallas only two weeks before JFK was killed there, it`s now known as the Kennedy assassination bill. Since Dallas is the location of the 11th of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts, the bill bears the letter K, the 11th letter of the alphabet, and the number 11 appears in each corner. The serial number begins with K and ends with an A, standing for Kennedy Assassination. 11 also stands for November, the 11th month of the year; two eleven`s equal twenty two, the date of the tragedy. And the series number is 1963, the year the assassination occurred.

G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

That sounds like a strange question doesn`t it? but it is one that I have often thought makes great sense when you look into the subject of reincarnation more deeply.

The buddhist teachings on reincarnation are profound. They do not deal merely with the fact of rebirth, but they explain how this is one of the fundamental elements of life and soul growth.

They refer to reincarnation as the `Law`and that `Law` explains many of the conundrums of life – why we feel a sense of recognition of some people; why we are drawn to certain countries, and why some people seem to be born with incredible skills!

THE WHEEL OF REBIRTH

There is a lot of confusion concerning this great principle. Some people feel reluctance or repugnance at the thought of having to reincarnate in a physical body! They cannot understand why, once having passed through this physical earth plane and on to spheres of light, that they should have to return to the darkness of earth. There seems to them to be no reason and no logic in this; it refuses to fit in with their conception of an all-wise and all loving Father-Mother God. Yet when the picture is more clearly drawn, we are able to face the future with more joy and hope.

There is no forcing of reincarnation. The soul comes back to the earth of its own free will, to gain certain lessons, or to give certain service. When clothed in the physical body, the higher or God consciousness is so covered that you cannot believe that you chose your life. You find yourself saying `nonsense! I certainly did not choose this`. No! your lower self did not choose, that certainly did not. But the pure God consciousness, the higher part of your being, chose it, because it knew that only by travelling through that particular scenery of life would you gain the quality of consciousness for which you sought.

Until you conceive clearly this wheel of rebirth, you will find most of the deeper problems of life obscure, and will find it hard to understand the justice of life. We all admit, because something within us all compels us to admit it, that God is good, that God is an all wise and all loving Father and Mother. Yet there will remain problems beyond our solution. Nevertheless, we cling to the divine love, because the urge within us, which is divine, will direct us to the spirit of love.

The only way we can touch the divine secrets of life is through the path of love and selflessness. Mind which has its place in human evolution, can never of itself give the truth of the ancient wisdom, but it is necessary for the mind to be developed before a full comprehention of the universe can dawn. How does this touch the subject of reincarnation? Only because a great deal has been written concerning the sacred wisdom, and we all seek the truth through reading. However the heart of truth lies in the spirit, and only we soul-brothers and sisters can know truth, no-one else can give it to you. In the search for a clear understanding of reincarnation, we need to become acquainted with the soul within.

Humankind was created by God in his image and was given the key to heaven, although the mind and intellect were not as developed as they are now. Each generation is learning and so man is developing further and further. At our creation, humanity received the basis or foundation of a religion: one which is so simple! It is a religion of love and brotherhood, a religion of service to all aspects of life.

God gave to each of us a perfect form, and this gift gave us all the power and the choice of free will. In the begining, life was beautiful. However, because we possess this power of free will and choice, we desire to experiment, just as a child wants to play with a new toy. As soon as we as children discover our feet, we want to walk, when we discover sound and our own voices, we want to talk! This applies to the soul as well as the body! The soul, feeling power and knowledge, wants to experiment, and in the process it makes mistakes! this creates karma. Karma is the teacher of the soul. Therefore it has to go through countless lives and countless experiences, learning from its own karma, and by this it learns of the love of God our Father, the teacher. Humanity is created in perfect form, but as a babe, in understanding!

We can only grow in understanding through experience, through trial and error. This process goes on and on through time. When we think of God, our creator, the great light, and compare our own insignificance with that magnificence, we will begin to understand why we have to travel such a long journey back to that Source of Life.

Humankind is a process of evolution, and not a violation of the divine plan of progress. As a baby is both sweet and innocent, if we continued to be this way all through life on earth, we would be of little ultimate use. God created souls pure and good, we have to learn through experience to gain wisdom, by walking the path of evolution and spiritual growth. Procreation and reproduction of the body is the first step, but we have to learn more. We have to learn in order to find the creative secret of the universe.

G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

To believe without proof as most of us do

Is what faith is for.

To understand and cherish each new life

Is what God wants from us all.

By loving each other, you`re doing his work

So teach love and harmony to the next.

This ensures his work for eternity

And lays all our troubles to rest.

This faith will help us to protect our young

The future lies in the hands of them all.

To protect our world, we must teach them well

To insure that they`re safe, one and all.

We must not be afraid to show someone love

So give a small kindness each day.

Even when you feel slighted, just give a smile

You`ll see that it brightens their way.

You`ll get yourself through any difficult times

With this positive frame of mind

If you`ve a negative thought, please try again!

It`s so much easier to be kind.

A destructive way of thinking is so sad

And that will only darken your own mind.

So remember my words, when you`re at a loss

God answers all of our prayers in his own special time.

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

As far as I`m concerned, it makes perfect sense that the best evidence for understanding what happens during an NDE, comes from the multitude of people who have had them, during near clinical death experiences. This commonsense perspective is certainly validated in hundreds of medical studies. The substantial majority of people who have taken part in these studies have proved that NDE`s are real and that there is life after death. Having these NDE`S is their personal proof and I have had one myself during an operation.

In science, confirming the reality of a concept generally comes not from a single observation or study but from many independant studies with different methodoligies. This cross checking among scientific studies has always been the foundation of validating scientific discoveries. Thus it is vitally important to know that the NDE studies findings are corroberated by hundreds of prior NDE studies conducted by scores of NDE researchers. Those studies always make the same observations throughout the world and have done since the studies began in the 1970`s and they all come to the same conclusions. This adds to the converging lines of evidence that leads scientists and myself to conclude that there is life after death because our spirits are immortal, it is just our bodies that die.

I know this belief takes me out on a limb, despite a recent poll by the Pew Forum in the USA. The poll`s show that over 75% of people in the studies all over the world believe in life after death because they have had actual proof, myself included.

I have considered much of what I have researched throughout my years of studying human psychology on courses and in medical libraries and I`ve come to the firm conclusion that this is very real to human beings and agree with the many scientist`s that have conducted these studies, it really is a fascinating subject to learn about and even more wonderful to experience one. I have sat amongst hundreds of books and medical journals and have become totally lost in my work. At my fingertips were some of the greatest medical and scientific studies I`ve ever come across! I found the answers to this fascinating subject in those books and journals.

I left the libraries with the question `what`s the key to understanding these NDE`S`? Later the answer came to me and it was so simple! The answer is listen, and to listen carefully, to the people who have gone through a near death experience. They surely are one of the best sources of information and understanding to what awaits us at the brink of death and beyond. Since realising that fact and having the experience I have never looked back! Near death studies are the statements of the people who have had them, and they focus on the facts of the people who take part. It is through these studies from all over the world and all the different religions that answers to these important questions can be found.

G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

As you read this, one third of the world`s population is asleep and they say that we actually spend over two thirds of our life sleeping. By the time that they awaken, they will have collectively dreamt more than ten billion dreams! We all average two to three dreams per night but it depends on our psychological state of mind and physical health whether we experience more! The individual dreamers will perhaps have experienced their dreams as apparently random occurrances that seem to be to them, unique and bizarre! The vast majority of these dreams, will also have followed some of the familiar themes and patterns that we all experience when we dream. These dream patterns have been emerging for tens of thousands of years and form the basis for our most enduring stories and beliefs in waking life.

I have studied many books about the meanings of dreams, as I have myself had some real doozies!! and have found that the most worrying ones are some of the most common to everyone, phew! that was a relief I can tell you.

When I studied human psychology, I became aware that there are about a 100 of these universal dream patterns that appear over and over again. Dreamers from all over the world, regardless of country or culture, report these sleep patterns with remarkable consistency. From Russian policemen to Japanese chefs, Norwegian bikers to Venezuelan nurses, Indian dancers to Angolan oil workers, everyone everywhere in the world, experiences these same fundamental dream patterns. These universal themes aren`t just quirks of the dream process, they are the deeper reflections of the dreamers who are actually creating the dreams.

Although we may tend to think that our dreams are just random occurrences that we have no influence over, the reverse is actually true! Dreams don`t happen to us, we happen to dreams. When we dream, we effortlessly generate entire worlds, from the twinkling stars in distant constellations to the mundane of everyday scenes. We construct these natural patterns in our dreams because they reflect the essential nature of our waking lives. Beneath the busy bustle of our daily activities, we are trying to become more deeply aware of the true purpose and the real meaning of our lives.

The universal patterns that we create in our dreams echo this deeper search, but paradoxically, it can be easy to believe that dreams are meaningless and serve no real purpose. Although our dreams may seem to be nonsensical, the key to understanding our dream language isn`t just in being able to identify individual symbols but also in being able to comprehend the deeper dream patterns that we create. A solitary symbol can often seem inconsequential, but it can also speak volumes when woven into the richer themes of our dream stories. When we step back and look at our fundamental dream patterns, we start to see the bigger picture, both in our dreams and in our waking lives.

HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS

Your dreams reflect the fundamental patterns of your waking life and, although your nightly dreams and your daily life may seem to have no connection, the word `dream` also means your waking hopes and aspirations, as well as your night- time adventures. Even though the intentional persuit of your waking dreams and the natural creation of your nocturnal dreams may seem to be entirely seperate, they are both primarily driven by a deeper level of self-awareness that we all possess. This more elemental understanding of yourself is a natural human quality and is known as your unconscious awareness.

Unconsciousness is often equated with oblivion, but your unconscious awareness is simply all the information and experience that you aren`t consciously aware that you are absorbing. As rational humans we tend to consciously filter out most of that wider experience during our waking hours and usually only encounter it when we dream. Although your unconscious is an area of yourself that you are often un-aware of, it embodies all your past experiences and your possible futures, and can be immensely valuable in realizing your true potential in waking life.

The dreams that we create are stories that express everything you are unconsciously aware of and reflect what you find most meaningful in your waking life. These stories are the natural language of your unconscious awareness and have a deeper wisdom and a broader understanding than your conscious self.

All around the world, people are consciously creating the same kinds of stories again and again, answering questions that they aren`t consciously aware that they are asking.

Consistently your dreams provide the answers to those little questions like `how can I change my life` or `why does nobody recognise what I can do`? and although it can be tempting to become fixated on the dream experience, there is no dream without the dreamer! You express your individual psychology through your dreams, illuminating the person you really are! what you actually need and what you truly believe. Instead of just hoping that there is some person or practice that can fix you, your unconscious awareness knows that you are already whole. We just haven`t got the technology to help us discover our full potential. We have yet to discover how to travel down that road that is still to explore. It has now been absolutely scientifically proved that we do in fact use 100% of our brains! we just don`t yet know our full capabilities. If we didn`t use 100% of our brains, man wouldn`t in fact be capable of the things that we can do. The old saying that we only use 10% of our brains has been proved to be wrong.

By exploring your dreams, you can become your own private psychologist, guiding yourself towards fulfilment by using the insights from your unconscious awareness. Many psychologists who help people with their dreams can interpret them for the client and advise you to keep a notebook and a pen next to the bed, when you wake, immediately write down your dream while the details are still fresh. A dream journal is very helpful as I discovered myself quite a long time ago when I was having trouble sleeping due to stress. I was suffering horribly confusing dreams and at the same time I was not fully asleep during them, so it was very confusing and upsetting, I thought I was actually going mad! One day I walked into my local library and found a book on how to interpret dreams and was totally staggered to see that many of the dreams I had been having were in fact in the book, I was so relieved to finally see that what I was going through was in fact quite normal, although quite a pain in the butt! From then on I read anything I could get my hands on about dreams and it`s a fascinating subject to study.

You may think it easier to ignore your unconscious expansiveness, discarding its rich ambiguity and just focusing on what you can definitely see and are consciously aware of. Even though you try to lock out your unconscious reflections, they continue to seep into your consciousness, giving you glimpses and little fragments of the bigger picture, just as if an un-tuned television had briefly locked onto your favourite show. These accidental glimpses and serendipitous fragments can often to convey something profoundly meaningful and it can be easy to become fixated on trying to make sense of them. The easiest and most natural way to understand your dreams is by understanding the stories that you create in your dreams. By keeping your journal, this allows you to go back to the details of the dream and it helps you to understand the meanings behind the details.

In 1885, Albert Einstein dreamt he was sledging down a snow covered hillside on a beam of starlight, and he used this inspiration to bring the Theory of Relativity out into his waking light. He once remarked that `the gift of dreaming has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing conscious knowledge` By using his dream visions to expand his conscious understanding, Einstein became a true scientific visionary. Those visionaries who were open to the stories emerging from their unconscious awareness have quite literally dreamed up most of our great advances in science and technology.

Orville and Wilbur Wright used to dream about flying bicycles, they realised their vision on the sands of Kitty Hawk, where their dreams took flight with the very first flight of the first powered aircraft. Nobel Prize winning physicist Neils Bohr developed his model of the Atom from a very vivid dream in which he was sitting on the sun! and all the planets were whizzing around him on separate racetracks. The organic chemist Frederich Kekule discovered the structure of benzene in a dream! Announcing his breakthrough, he urged all his fellow scientists to write about their dreams and to keep a careful record of them all. The advantages of learning how to interpret their dreams were, he thought, and informed them all, absolutely endless, and to keep a diary of all the details for themselves. He also decided to have regular discussions with them about their dreams in regular meetings with them.

DREAM CHARACTERS

As you train yourself to shine your sixth sense or your inner light of your unconscious mind into your surroundings, you aren`t just sweeping randomly, you are actually searching for that part of you that is of huge significance to you. Among all the distractions of life, you are looking for the reflections of yourself as you try to understand the true you. Your true identity rarely reveals itself in a random sweep of awareness, however, and so you are instictively drawn to the situations that reveal your true character. The best mirrors for your self awareness are other people and by unconsciously absorbing what they reflect back, you often become more enlightened about your own character.

Although it may seem more logical to think of yourself as a single identity, every individual accomodates a unique family of characters. Your different characteristics appear at different times, depending on what you are doing and where you are. Sometimes the characters you embody may seem to be quite routine and so, as your day starts, you might find yourself showing up as a spouse, then a parent, and then stepping into your professional identity as you enter your place of work. At other times your characteristics may seem quite unfamiliar and you hear yourself saying things like `I don`t know what possessed me to do that` or `I wasn`t feeling myself`.

You might try and ignore your different identities in your waking life but they will continue to reveal yourself in your dreams. The characters that are revealed in your dreams are aspects of yourself and you construct them from your experiences of people who embody those characteristic qualities. If you are unaware of anyone who has those particular characteristics that you want to express, then you find yourself just making someone up, using a combination of character nuances that you have observed unconsciously in other people. These characteristics can often guide your understanding of a situation that you can`t comprehend consciously and your behaviour in your dream characters usually reflect your relationship to those particular aspects of your character. For example when you dream of a loved one, you`re reflecting on the deeper and unspoken qualities of your character. In any close loving relationship, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish where your identity ends, and the identity of your partner begins. If you are separated from them for any length of time, it may feel as if a part of you is missing. I feel that a huge part of me has died because of the loss of my son to cancer but I am able to stay in touch through my dreams and because I practice meditation. The loved ones in your dreams help you to understand what this person really means to you and how they can enrich and inspire your daily life. And lastly here is the most common dream that people experience.

FALLING

The most common dream is that of falling. The sensation of falling often seems to happen without any warning. Everything seems normal and under control, but then you feel like your legs suddenly give way under you and you feel like you are falling. Sometimes the fall may seem to be small as you trip and fall or disappear down a pothole. At other times the fall might be more dramatic as you tumble down endless stairs, or plummet off a cliff into a bottomless chasm. There seems to be nothing you can do to prevent the fall and you may feel yourself suddenly stop just before you hit the ground or you suddenly wake up just before you hit the ground!

Falling is sometimes perseived as a failure in waking life. That are usually triggered by the sudden realisation that you will not be able to completely control the outcome of a particular situation. You have probably set yourself high standards for the results you expect and you may feel like a failure if you are not able to reach them. This can bring you down to earth with a bump and make you feel that you are letting others down as well as yourself. Sometimes, however, you need to release yourself from your responsibilities, the sensation of falling in dreams, and from this inevitable process of letting go. As you let go, you give yourself the freedom to move on.

When you sleep you are releasing yourself from conscious awareness so that you can relax your mind and repair your body, and give yourself the opertunity to dream. When you dream of falling it is in fact your body and mind relaxing and you are releasing accumulated tention from your muscles. If you trip over a small obstacle, it often indicates that you are just starting to release the tention in your body from your daily life. A larger deeper fall suggests that you need to let go of some bigger responsibilities that are dragging you down. Hitting the ground indicates that you need to take a more down-to-earth approach, setting your feet firmly back on the ground as you work out a way forward with your problems.

ACTION

This dream is often triggered by accumulated stress and tention, and so is encouraging you to take a more relaxed approach in certain areas of your waking life. Most of your residual muscle tention can be released by physically relaxing before going to bed or when you lie down. This is where meditation becomes very useful and I thoroughly recommend that you read a book on this subject. Muscular tention often arises from a fear of failure and it can feel like you spend most of your day braced for impact. When you are tense you are far less likely to notice opportunities and take full advantage of them. The more you relax, the more you are able to influence a favourable outcome. As our large anti-gravity muscles, such as our back, arms and legs relax, we physically sink a little lower into the bed. This release of tention is often experienced as a twitch known as a hypnic jerk, from the word hypnogogic, which means light sleep. We are on the edge of sleep or we are just about to enter the full sleep state that is refered to as the hypnopompic sleep state. Falling is often associated with feelings of failure, such as `letting go` or `falling from grace`.

G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

Many people these days say they don`t believe in the spirit world. It`s not fashionable to say that you believe in anything that you can`t see, and many people seem to think that it`s ok to laugh at people who claim to be able to talk to the spirits.

There`s nothing wrong with a bit of healthy scepticism. After all there are plenty of con artists out there who just want to take advantage of people who are grieving. But there`s nothing wrong with belief either! In fact belief is what gets us all through the trials of life. And that is what allows miracles to happen. Most people believe in God! we can`t prove it but we know he`s real. You can`t measure love but you know that it`s real!

Here are some common doubts about life after death, and my thoughts on how to deal with them.

It`s not scientifically possible for the spirit to exist outside of the body-

ISN`T IT? Our essence is nothing more than energy! Just like electricity, that energy can be stored in different places. Energy doesn`t die, it just moves around. We don`t have a way of measuring souls or spirits right now, but I believe that one day we will.

I`ve been to a medium and they got it all wrong-

Yes! it`s sad to say that some experiences with mediums don`t turn out the way we hoped. Not all mediums are able to truly tune in to their intuition. I`ve seen some truly terrible mediums at work, but just like any other skill, I have seen some amazing work done too. It really is the luck of the draw. The good news is that when you learn to connect with your departed spirits, you`ll be your own medium. And who better to trust than yourself?

I want to believe, but I just don`t feel anything when I think about the spirit world-

That could be because you are too tuned in to your logical mind, and not connected to your intuition. Over-thinking is a very common problem in this day and age. Once you start to connect with your intuition you will start to be able to sense the spirits.

Surely if the spirit world truly existed, there would be some concrete proof?-

My own personal experience is proof to me that the spirit world exists. As your intuition grows stronger, you`ll see and hear proof of the spirits, just as I do. However the spirit world cannot be measured with scientific tools. The energy of spirit is all about feelings, and in this age of logic we don`t have many tools for measuring the more intuitive side of our existence. Even the most sophisticated brain-scanning machines can`t measure feelings like joy, relief, guilt and contentment. It`s amazing that we can send people into space, but we still can`t measure feelings!

You just need to relax and stop thinking about other people`s opinions of you, to allow the spirit world to be able to come into your life. They are always there and waiting just for the right time to come through to you.

Your dreams are the easiest way that they can come through, as it is then that you are at your most relaxed and open, to their vibration. There is nothing to fear from the spirits, they are energy of love and without you even realising it, they are looking after you anyway. Just like a phone call from a friend you haven`t heared from in a long time, they are there and waiting for you to tune into the right wavelength.

SPIRIT

My spirit is around you

I see your pure gentleness.

The purity of your love

The love you so gently gave to me.

I am with you always

It breaks my heart to see you weep

Please don`t weep.

My arms are surrounding you with my love

My hands are guiding you for strength

In shadowed and still darkness, I hold your hand.

When dawn breaks, I am your warmth

When you dream and see me, it`s because I am truly with you

You are my forever beautiful day.

In your nights I caress you

I have not left you

I am always shining my soul upon you and giving you my heart.

G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

I was given a set of Tarot cards quite a long time ago as a birthday gift, and have been fascinated with them ever since. I received a reading from a young girl about 30 years ago now, and it was so accurate that it was spine chilling! Here is a short history of what I know about the Tarot for you.

THE STORY OF THE TAROT

The Tarot can reveal your potential! It can tell you about your hopes and aspirations, the present, your past, what you are projecting into your future with your own natural energy `your life force or inner light` and also the possible outcome of your choices. You can `realise` the direction your life is taking, and what to do about it; how to improve your life-style, love life, personal goals and generally how to develop your own ability to make decisions, with hopefully the right choices. The Tarot is simply an objective mirror. The amazing thing about the Tarot is that the cards never lie, only humans lie!!

This seemingly `random` choosing of the cards, is in fact the synchronicity of life itself! as you tap into the universal energy of that moment together! By learning how to work with the Tarot, you will also learn the truth about yourself and how others see you, as you journey on through life. The Tarot cards are like stepping stones, and just like The Fool (the un-numbered card) we may not always get where we planned to go, but it`s often by taking a path we hadn`t intended to go down, that we arrive somewhere that is different! or life changing! It was in fact the Tarot cards that helped me along my journey when I met my husband!

The Tarot has been an important Western mystical pathway for hundreds of years! With connections to alchemy, astrology, Kabbalah, Christian mysticism, numerology and many other esoteric traditions. The Tarot is available to everyone, you don`t need to be a psychic to use them. I like to refer to them as the Beautiful Science!

Nobody is really sure where the Tarot originated from, but throughout the last 300 years or so, historians, occultists and writers have brought a range of ideas, coloured by their own personal view of the Tarot!

Decks of mystical cards have existed in India and the East since biblical times, and were probably brought back by the Knight Templars during and after the crusades in the Holy Land. There have also been suggestions that travelling gypsies from Egypt brought the Tarot to Europe.

Most information sources, including my own research of the Tarot, have found that the first Tarot decks appeared in the early 14th century, arising from a combination of early Italian playing cards, and the set of 22 Major Arcana, the origin of which, still remains shrouded in mystery to this day. In the middle ages, the Tarot was also used to play a game called Tarocchi, later known to card players as `Trumps` and is still played in Europe. The earliest cards were beautifully hand-painted, one of the earliest decks is the Visconti Sforza deck (c1440) painted for the Duke of Milan.

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 18TH CENTURY

The French occultist and linguist Antoine Court de Gebelin researched the mystical significance of the Tarot during the 18th century. He claimed that the major Arcana was originally an ancient Egyptian set of tablets, tablets of mystical wisdom! remnants of the mysterious Book of Thoth. Gebelin was convinced that the tablets were brought into Europe and hidden by travelling magi (priests who followed the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism) which was practiced during the medieval period. He developed his own Tarot deck using 77 cards plus the Fool. The Major Arcana contained three times seven cards, plus the Fool and each of the four suits of the Minor Arcana contained twice seven cards. That became the foundation for most decks ever since, and that is why we have the lucky mystical number seven! During the 19th century, the French Kabbalist and philosopher Eliphas Levi (1810-1875) suggested that the Tarot was rooted in the sacred alphabet of the Hebrews. In the elitist circles, the intellectual occultists believed that the Tarot revealed powerful esoteric knowledge. By the end of the 19th century, Dr Arthor Waite designed his own radical deck with the help of an artist friend. Waite initiated one of the most secret groups called the Hermatic Order of the Golden Dawn!

THE 20TH CENTURY

Later on in the 1940`s the British occultist Aleister Crowley, designed the `Thoth` deck. Such a controversial character! who was notoriously known for his heroin addiction! and the use of erotic magic in his own cult, the Order of the Silver Star. Crowley believed that the Tarot was of an `intelligence` in itself! and a key to the archetypal world within ourselves! This was a turning point for the development of its more recent psychological interpretation. Since then, hundreds of decks have been designed, and the Tarot has become more than just a fortune-telling tool! It is a map of self-discovery, a mysterious and ancient symbol of all that we are. The Tarot is an art form for divination and fortune telling methods, but most important of all, it is now seen as a very useful tool in the search for self-discovery and psychological awareness.
G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

I have found over the years that the biggest block to connecting with the spirits is fear or confusion over what happens when we die! This fear may be subconscious, in that we never really realised that we had it. Or we may have confused or mixed feelings about the after life, both in terms of what it means and how our loved ones are experiencing it. We may even be unsure that the after life exists at all, but simply hope that it does and that it`s a happy place!

Some people visit mediums in the hope of finding out, one way or another, if the after life exists. They hope to hear messages from loved ones that demonstrate beyond doubt that the medium is in touch with a loved one in spirit. I believe that when we seek proof, this can act as a block to contacting the spirit world. We have to contact the spirits with belief, and then they will be able to show us the proof. If we approach the spirits with scepticism and doubt, it is much harder to create a clear channel for the medium.

BELIEVING IN THE AFTER LIFE

Do you believe in the after life? It`s ok to have your doubts, but if you have strong doubts, these will block your ability to connect with your loved ones. Believing, on some level, that there is somewhere that we go after we die is crucial if you`re to get in touch with the spirit world.

If you have doubts about the after life, what are they and where do they come from? Are your family and friends believers, or is the after life something they`d think was a little bit silly? Do you feel that you need proof, before you can believe? If you`re not entirely convinced about life after death, you need to talk through your doubts and how beneficial it is to believe, and the real reasons behind your doubts.

WE HAVE TO USE OUR FAITH AND LISTEN TO WHAT OUR HEARTS TELL US TO BE TRUE

First and foremost, believing in the after life is a great comfort to almost everybody. It reassures us that love never dies, it merely changes form. Believing in the spirit world helps us to come to terms with the empty space in our lives that`s left when a loved one departs, and to a certain extent helps us fill up that empty space and ease our suffering, by utilising positive energy.

I firmly believe in the after life because I have been lucky in that I have had proof, and that proof was given to me by my son Andrew who we lost to cancer in 2009 at the age of just 31. He has been able to come through to me several times, because not only have I always believed! but I am able to give others proof, because of my ability to receive visions and information, although it doesn`t always come through when I want it to, or when I`m pressured by others. I practice meditation for that simple reason, it helps me to open the channels through relaxation.

It has been proven that believing in an after life helps the living cope emotionally with death, and helps the families of the lost to heal. We have doubts because we are afraid. We are afraid of looking or sounding silly, and we`re afraid of being made a fool of. We are afraid of wasting our time on something that isn`t real to others. I`ve found that none of these fears is worth giving the time of day to.

In the world we live in, we place a great emphasis on science and proof! If we can measure and prove something, we accept it as real. If we cannot, we have a tendancy to dismiss it. Until of course, the time comes when we have the tools to measure it. Then even doubters would become believers, after all is said and done, man used to think that the world was flat! until we had proof!

We live in an age where we can`t measure psychic energy, intuition or spiritual vibrations, but one day this will change. But right now we have to use our faith and listen to what our hearts tell us to be true. If you turn off all other distractions, what does your heart or inner light tell you of where your loved ones are now? Do you feel that they have simply gone out of existance? Or do you feel that on some level that they are still with you? I believe that most of us know our loved ones are still with us in some form. Their loving energy is still close, even if their bodies have gone. We just need to allow ourselves to receive their energy and light.

It`s ok to have some doubts. You wouldn`t be human if you didn`t! But when it comes to connecting with the spirits, just let go of your need for proof. Ignore anyone who says it`s silly to want to believe in life after death. When you contact the spirit world looking for proof, your vibrations are all wrong. You`re bringing the heavy energy of logic and reason. It`s far better for you to focus on the positive feelings you have about the after life. We all have them, even the people who doubt the most. Think about the times when you have felt a closeness to the spirit world. When you experienced a feeling that there was an energy around you that wasn`t from this world. Focus on your belief in the after life, not your disbelief, then you will be able to open yourself up to the spirits.

The after life isn`t a place that anyone goes to alone! When we die someone always comes to get us, and when we exist in the after life, we are surrounded by the spirits of departed loved ones and more energy besides. Nobody need be afraid of dying, or that their loved one is in a bad place. I believe that the after life is a place of community, companionship and love.
G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

Every Sunday I`m going to write a poem just to have an interlude from the usual posts! I hope you enjoy this change. This poem is written in the common slang dialect of the north of England, rather like the cockney way of speaking that you will hear in London. I hope you like it.

OOOH OUR BERTY!!

“Oooh our Berty! will ya stop ya flippin whinin! ya look ok!”
“Bloody ell our Gerty! it`s not just fallin out! it`s goin bloody white, now people will bloody stare!
That`s chuffin worse than goin bloody grey!”
“Oooh our Berty! I`ve just about ad me fill!
So it`s off ta Boots with you an me today!”
“What the eck for? there`s no magic pill is there?”
“No but there`s a great big bloody bottle with ya bloody name on it!
An don`t ya chuffin mither me pally me old lad! I`ll get ya bloody sorted with that chuffin hair!”

So, off they went! to Boots the chemist was their game.
Peace and quiet was Gerty`s aim.
In the queue she did wait!
She`d now got the bottle! boy was she in a right old state!
She just wanted to get back home, oh Lord! she couldn`t wait!
Her nerves with his whining were in a right old mess!
So there he was in the nuddy in case anything went wrong!
He just sat there waiting with trembling hands!
Thinking what if his mates come knocking?
Would they still think him a man?

“Oh Lord!… what am I ta do with my poor old Berty?
What if it goes wrong?!”
Said a worried and frazzled Gerty!
“Okey doke me duck! here we go!
Bend ya head for me… down real low!”
“What colour am I avin?”
“Pink with green bloody spots…now keep flippin still!”
“Brown would be nice…. but I don`t think it really matters!”
“Ooh our Berty… now look what you`ve gone an done!!
You`ve made a bloody splatter!
Now me nice new rugs got all messed up!
I`d better go get the bleach an a bloody mop!”
“Oh urry up me duck! it`s gettin bloody cold!”
Oh Lord above!! Berty thought! why do I av ta be nearly chuffin bald?
An ta make matters bloody worse!… what there is…is goin chuffin white!
Me hair used ta be just flippin right!

“Will ya blummin get a move on our Gerty!? in`t it time?
Ya said wash it off about half nine”
“I know I did me duck!
Oh bloody chuff…can`t ya wash ya own chuffin hair?
Just look at the mess you`ve made of me new bloody chair!
And the new chuffin rug!!
Ooh eck! look at it now our Berty!!
Right in the bloody middle where people will chuffin stare!”
“Ooh eck me duck! I`m sorry!
I`ll do it meself…don`t fret…but ya know how I hate gettin bloody wet!
Oh crikey! how the bloody chuff do I wash me skin?
I`ve gone all black!…I thought ya said it would be brown!!
Now all me chuffin wrinkles av got it in!!”
“Oh come here our Berty! I`ll get it out with the bleach!”
“OH MY GOD!!….NO CHUFFIN BLOODY CHANCE!!
I`ll use as much soap as I can!
Oh our Gerty…look at the state of me now!!
An I was goin out with the lads for a pint!!”
“Ooh our Berty! will ya stop ya chuffin whinin for heavens bloody sake!
Oooh…but ya do look funny me duck!
Now yar in a right bloody state!!”

G xx

nanny.gina.r@gmail.com

THE SUDDEN HEALTH OF A SOLDIER

In World War one a soldier by the name of Jack Trayner, who lived in Liverpool, England, suffered two bullet wounds. One left a hole in his skull that refused to heal, and the other, which severed nerves which even the most skilled of surgions could not rejoin and had left him with a paralyzed and atrophied right arm. He was awarded a total-disability pension.

By 1923 Mr Trayner had begun to suffer from epilepsy, probably triggered by the head wound. He was now unable to walk. That same year he was taken on a pilgrimage by his local priest to Lourdes, France, where he was lowered into the communal bath. Four days later at home he jumped out of bed, washed and shaved himself, and walked out of the hospice unaided. After this recovery he went into business as a coal merchant which is extremely hard physical work for anyone, married his childhood sweatheart, fathered two children, and lived a normal life for the next twenty years, until his death from pneumonia in 1943. During this time the Ministry Of War Pensions, refusing to believe that someone who had been pronounced totally disabled and could become mysteriously and totally cured, continued to pay him his disability pension for the rest of his life. Although the Catholic Church refused to believe it was a miracle and they denied that it had happened to him. Although the miracle was certainly inexplicable not only to his own family but also his priest and the congregation of his local church! There certainly are more things in Heaven and Earth. God does work in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.

OUR FIRM FOUNDATION

Lord you are our firm foundation
During the storms of life.
Your gentle heart is holds us all
In our times of pain and strife.
A treasured Father we can always turn to
When our times are good or bad
Lord we love you, and you are the greatest blessing to us
Mankind could ever have.
G xx