Yup, I too became a victim of a lot of hype, but I'm also the kind of person that goes looking for facts.
Now, you all know how this kind of note can go, so.... buckle up and wear your helmets, or jump off before it's too late.... let us begin.
While we are bitching about swine flu and vaccines, millions of people are dying of starvation as we speak.
While we are so unwilling to let people standardise medication and food for what they claim to be our wellbeing, millions of people are dying of preventable diseases and malnutrition as we speak.
While we are bitching over the single currency and the united states of europe, millions of people are living under a dictatorial regime that casts out citizens that don't belong to the ruling party, or shoots them. Are living in countries where ethnic cleansing is taking place, as we speak.
While we complain about our freedom being taken because CCTV is on the streets, millions of people live in countries where they can be taken and sold as slaves, even as children, to grow chocolate that WE FUCKING BUY! as we speak.
And all the while.... we go out and buy clothes and products manufactured in those countries thus funding the disgusting breaches of human rights..... but knowing this, will we change? Will we fuck! we're so content to moan about how "shit" our lives are that we don't want it to change! We're too damn lazy to make our own clothes, or to set up local companies to sell locally sourced products.... Instead of boycotting supermarkets and protesting their new builds, we wait eagerly for them to open, then moan how it's "not like it was in the old days", as we walk round in a haze of wonder at the Christmas lights on sale in fucking June!
IT'S ALL BOLLOCKS!
Swine flu may or may not be a genetically engineered weapon, but we're not afraid that it'll kill millions of African people who don't have access to medical care... noooo, we're worried it might kill us, AS IF WE DESERVE TO LIVE!
WE sat by as millions starved to death in ethiopia and somalia and complained that £5 was too much to donate!
WE the spiritual sit about and talk about the coming of a great cleansing in 2012 that will make everything ok...... BULLSHIT! It's about as accurate as the bible! As soon as the crystal hippie, fluffy wuffy, new agers got hold of something exotic, i.e a calender created by a mysterious lost civilization, it became the new fad, a few books were written containing quotes and prophecies from different cultures and we sat in our nests, mouths open, waiting to be fed this crap without actually going to learn it for ourselves!
HERE are the hard facts.
The vaccine is FAR less likely to kill you than the flu, but if you really want to survive it, eat oranges, after all, the supermarket you didn't protest against is stuffed full of oranges, transported from halfway around the world (thus consuming fossil fuels and exacerbating pollution), from where they were grown on what was once a pristine and natural landscape filled with a beautiful array of wildlife and diverse cultures.... wildlife we hunted for sport, and cultures we sold as slaves.....
Go eat the oranges, survive the flu, consume the blood!
WE have blinkered ourselves, the government and media have not done a thing to make us blind! WE are so full of malcontent and greed, laziness and hunger that we allowed ourselves to shut out the suffering of others for our own benefit.
2012 is not an end of time, it's when a calendar resets, maybe, truth is we don't know, but like a million Dan Brown enthusiasts that wholeheartedly believe that there's something more than soil and rabbit warrens under Roslyn chapel we aren't bothered about finding out the truth.
Climate change isn't in the hands of our governments so stop bitching at them about it! They don't force you to use bleach in your toilet, you just can't be bothered to scrub it. They don't force you to turn your heating thermostat up to 30 just because your cold, IN FACT They are advising you not to! THEY don't fund MacDonalds and Starbucks, YOU DO, every time you have a moment of weakness and think "well, one won't hurt".
So what if a single world currency comes to be, it'll eradicate exchange rates and make travelling a damn sight easier. So what if we get a united states of Europe.... America hasn't done too badly.
Here are the solutions!
The REAL problems of this world are not ones that can be solved by meditating for peace, or moaning about to the government. The real problems of this world can all be solved at home. Change what cleaning chemicals you use, take the bus, cycle or walk. Introduce yourself to your neighbour, have them over for a cup of tea. Buy locally produced food and grow some of your own. buy recycled loo roll, so what if it's a bit more scratchy on the sphincter... at least you'll be able to breath when trees stop getting cut down. Check that all wooden products you buy are from sustainable sources, a table is a table, does it really matter what it looks like?
Stop being the person that says "I'm just one person, I can't do anything"------ I'm just one person and you're listening to me!
And don't revert back to "loads of others are doing it, so I don't have to" because that encourages laziness in others, you become a problem.
Stop buy chocolate from arseholes like Nestle. Pick up litter that you see. Clean up after your Dog. Buy fairtrade and organic.
Sign petitions about causes you believe in, seriously how long does that take? 5 minutes? and if there is no petition, how long would it take to make one? And as you'd have started making friends with your neighbours, you'd be able to get signatures almost straight away.
Don't wait for the worlds problems to be so big that they come to you.... be an active person, look for them before they become a problem. Be a hero, stop them, fight them so they stop being problems.
Be a hero.
One day you'll be able to eat an orange and feel good knowing that you helped make sure it was grown on land that wasn't stolen, in a way that doesn't harm the planet or encourage the use of slave labour and transported using non harmful fuels.
Even though we have all been guilty of this, we are all capable of changing.
This Samhain has been a lesson in friendships, It's taught me to evaluate who is a true friend, who has been with me for a lesson which has since been learned and who is just a barnacle on the hull of my boat weighing it down and slowing it down, using my boat to carry the burden of their own apathy and inactivity.
Recent Events
I've had a rough time recently, seems that on facebook I fell into a nest of vipers. I went into a conversation about Celts, Druidry etc when someone had stated that Druids were all making it up. I asked that person if they thought that archaeological finds, plus academic studies, translations of latin texts, comparrisons with other European peoples and spiritual instruction through medidtation could forge at least partial reconstruction of what many of us feel very passionate about, our heritage and our spirituality.
What followed was a barrage of insults, uneducated arguments and put downs the likes of which I haven't seen for years. I stated a few facts I have learned about our ancestors, to try and bring sense and reason to the aggression that had welled up but that was received in exactly the same manner and aggravated the situation. So on Friday I said that I would not take part in the argument any longer as it seemed that it was nothing more than an excuse to argue and create negativity, I removed a dear friend from my friends list so I didn't have to hear any more from them. It was quiet over the weekend and then I added my friend back hoping that the subject had just been dropped, but NO, they were waiting for me, they actually waited until they could see me on his friends list again to start attacking what I had said, and insulting my intelligence and my spirituality. Why? Why do people do that? it's ridiculous!
But it wasn't just about the subjects above, there were aggressive attacks and insults thrown when I joined in pretty much any conversation, on pretty much any subject! I'd never heard of these people before, why in Helheim did they attack me?
As my friend wisely said, nobody in these discussions is right or wrong, They may not be right or wrong, but they are too aggressive for me. A good reflection for my own anger that pops up in retaliation.
It might be easy for some to just say "yes I accept that this is a mirror for me and I need to change" but then most people can shrug stuff off, I take things to heart, and as much as I aspire to be able to shrug things off I can't, I try, but I can't. The Doctors told me (when I was 24) that I have Aspergers Syndrome and that one of the things associated with that is crap social skills and taking things to heart.
Perhaps it is me that is bad for these conversations. These people insist that I don't know what I'm talking about, some of them don't even bother to read what I have written, they just scan for phrases or sentences they can use to carry on or initiate arguments.
Damn Fluffys!
Most of the antagonists are "fluffy" people who don't like the raw and bloody truth brought to their attention, as when it is brought to their attention they react in aggressive, confrontational ways that show to everyone else that they were never really "fluffy" in the first place. They detest being made to show their humanity.
A Nation of Liars?
I chose to be a spirit of change, I chose also to speak, and uphold the truth, never to cotton wrap it so that it can be ignored, if something needed saying I would say it. I know that no one likes the truth, if it points out something bad about someone they hate it, they get aggressive, violent sometimes. If it compliments something about them, they go into denial! WE have become a race of perpetual liars, holding back the truth, biting our tongues, bottling up emotions till they explode, giving ourselves cancers and ulcers from the stress of not being able to be honest even with those closest to us. We spend the early years of our children's lives telling them that they must always tell the truth, School teachers do the same, they tell children that truth is the best thing, we tell our children that lies are evil..... then when they grow up they find out that their parents and teachers were just hypocrites, that truth has no more value to adults than a £5 note that's been ripped, washed and burned.
I don't care any more if the truth can be painful, pain is good, it reminds us we're alive and tells us something is wrong and needs changing. That's the same pain people feel when they feel offended by my posts. I am your mirror, I reflect you, what you like about me, you like about yourself, what you hate about me is also present in you. Deal with it. I don't ask people to change for me, have the bloody respect to not ask me to change for you.
I had to update this with a wonderful question from a dear friend and my reply. It's at the bottom
Someone was asking me about the seasonal celebrations and why they fall on certain days of the year. I began my answers pointing out that it's only christianization of the pagan paths that have given them dates, in the ancient times we celebrated according to natural occurences, the Rut, the May bloom, the longest day etc, I reminded them that our ancestors did not have the gregorain calendar (the one we used as the standard calendar on earth now).
What followed is the last reply I gave, only I don't think it was me that was answering, I was just the typist, listening to the world:
"It's a shame that there are so many authors, especially in that awful publishing house "llewellyn" that never bother to address that our pagan ancestors did not use the Gregorian calendar. Those authors are just as guilty of screwing up paganism as the early church, they mix the religions together, add extra elements (as the Celts actually only worked with 3, the earth, sky and sea), blended in the stuff that the masons used (i.e. egyptian and sumerian stuff) added in things from the near and far east (like chakras), put a pinch of what they stole from races that their ancestors massacred (native americans) and bundle it all up saying it's authentically Celtic. There was even one author that tried to tell us that the ancient Celts venerated the potato..... interesting as the ancient Celts didn't have potatoes, they were introduced by Sir Frances Drake.
In truth our ancestral beliefs were MUCH simpler than all that robe and athame nonsense sold in bookshops. Ritual tools were things you used in your everyday life, the same knife you used to share your blood with the earth was the one you used for cutting reeds to thatch the roof.
The Pentacle is another thing that makes me laugh about modern "pagans" especially the ones who prance around saying how much the hate christianity... the Pentacle and the Pentagram are Christian symbols. IF we had any symbols they were spirals, but as our religion was so much a part of our lives as hunting, farming and fighting, all our art could be called religious.
Modern "pagainsm" is as far removed from the natural world as modern christianity. Our ancestors didn't set aside time to go and meditate what it was like to be a part of the environment, they WERE a part of the environment, there was no seperation, even when we started farming we were still at the mercy of the weather, seasons, wildlife, it's only today modernisation that has removed us from that, we've become egotistical, we've got a false sense of security, and it makes me giggle when we prattle on about how much damage we've done to the environment... what's happening to the earth now isn't jsut man made, it's the gods (which are not humanoids with antlers, they are the very forces that drive this planet) gearing up to remind us that we are still at the mercy of the environment.
Some time ago we shouted back at the Gods saying "Look! We don't need to fear you WE can CONTROL you", we shouted so loudly and made a big scene about it that we deafend ourselves to their advice, which was not to test their patience. We acted like spoiled brats, we ignored them... and now like parents who are fed up of repeating themselves, they're getting ready to punish us.
The more these fake authors spread their emo, teenage, Wiccan*, ritualised, masonic bullshit, and pass it off as real, authentic and ancient, the more we seperate ourselves from the gods. yes we might cry their names and pray for help, but they don't talk english, the only language they understand is the langauge of getting up off our butts and going outside, learning directly from them in their raw form, the weather, soil, rot, growth, death, birth, season, sun, volcano, hunt, THESE are the gods. If we learn to live alongside them, as part of them, THEN we have true paganism, and we have a solution.
*a Wiccan in the old days was a follower of Freya, pure Norse religion, not the bollocks they say is Wicca today. I know very few "wiccans" today who are capable of working with the true nature of Freya, without going insane.
Not sure where all that came from.... I just started typing a reply and let myself open up..... Don't think that was the answer I would have given from my own conscious mind lol"
As this flowed through me I was filled with clarity, for the first time in years, I understood, I understand totaly what is going to happen: Either we are going to grow up and learn to be part of the world again, or the "gods" are going to punish us, not with a catastrophe that kills us all, parent's don't naturally kill their children, but they'll certainly knock us back into the stone age.
The choice is up to you, You can drive your car till the oil runs out, then you'll have no choice but to walk, or you can buy an electric car or a hydrogen car that'll keep you driving for a lot longer and have little impact, or better still, learn to use the bus and fight for a better, and cleaner public transport system. You can heat your home with power from a coal station, until the coal runs out, then you'll have no choice but to freeze, or you can switch to Hydro, wind or solar power, and have warmth for good. Is it really that difficult a choice?
There is a brighter future for us all, we just need to reach for it -------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE -
My friend's post:
The phrase I use a lot, which doesn't feature here yet, but may help us articulate and communicate what is "wrong" with much "spiritual guidance" writing is "The Marketing of Mysteries". Selling back to us what is our's for free in our heads and hearts. Disconnecting, plain and simple. Enjoying this stream very much, in complimentary contrast to working with a very diverse and enormous team on The Camp for Climate Action's "Swoop" in Nottingham this weekend. Thanks all.
My reply:
I used to question what gave people the right to charge for spiritual knowledge or services. I would rant and rave about how the energy wasn't ours and the lore was for everyone.. and indeed that's true, but then I remembered some teachings I had quite early on. Nothing can be given in nature without an exchange. For every creation, there must be a destruction. We can look at this in a number of ways, from the food cycle to the water cycle, it applies to spirituality as well. No there isn't a finite amount of spiritual lore or power, but this is a finite universe and it can only fit so much into it. So how does money or trade fit into this, I mean, money is hardly spiritual.... but the act of exchange is. It would be lovely to think that there are Shamans, Druids, Witches, Priests etc the world over that would accept whatever trade they get, even if that trade was packets of rice, pots of honey..... but you only need so much rice and so much honey. Money is (unfortunately) the main form of tradeable currency on earth, and it's useful to everyone at this point in history. Pots of honey don't pay the bills, bags of rice don't put fuel in the car to get to a workshop.
It's only the fact that money has been demonized in spirituality that we don't associate it as trade, money is the source of most people's stress, many of us are in debt, but it's not money that caused that, it's the greed of people who control vast quantities of money. If Cattle were the main currency on earth, they would be just as much a source of stress for us all, if bed springs, buttons, eggs, in fact anything else were the main currency on earth it would be the same, and yet there are many spiritual people out there that say they would prefer to take things like eggs, honey, rice as payment. At it's core, the money we have now used to represent precious metals, before that we know that our ancestors traded in cattle, look at the first Rune in the elder futhark, it's Fehu, meaning cattle, it represents a tradeable energy and challenges us to keep it in balance.
On the other hand there are those people who allow greed to consume them, they charge ludicrous prices for their events, for instance there are correspondence courses that people are charging THOUSANDS of pounds for, Alas the law states that I cannot link or expose them here, nor name the people that do it There are people who are charging hundreds of pounds for half an hours healing! I once exposed who these people were, I just looked at their website to see they've taken the prices off and put a "contact us for info" button in it's place lol! I don't know, I don't see why things like this should be so expensive, it stops people who really need these things from being able to get them.
There must be a balance in all things, Money IS an acceptable trade, but the practitioner must be prepared to accept other forms / amounts of payment.
When setting a price, the practitioner must take into account that there are people who can't meet that cost. Thankfully, many practitioners that will show compassion and reduce the cost, or accept a trade of services instead of money, That's the way I do my work, I don't set a price, I ask for a donation or a trade of services, if the gods feel the donation or trade is not fair they'll sort it out, I don't need to do anything.
But there are, unfortunately, a few practitioners who will turn people away of they can't meet the cost, and it is these charlatans that give all of us a bad name.... it only takes one bad apple....
Well after almost a year, the Tribe of The Spirit Bear website is back up and running, new events, updated info have already been added, and there is much more to come.
The book is going through its final checks before we have it reprinted as a 2nd edition, it's even been renamed and has also had tons more put into it.
As always we're on the lookout for ideas and requests, if there's information that you'd like to see on the site, please let us know, if you think we can improve what we've done (I always believe we can), then please let us know
I've thoroughly missed doing the work I used to do in the Tribe and I'm really looking forward to getting back in there and seeing what help we can give to the environment, the planet and all peoples.
In the upcoming year we've got the Walk for tribes in it's 3rd year and we've changes the dates to make it easier for more people to join in, let's make this year a good one. We'll be hosting talks and workshops on a variety of subjects both spiritual and environmental.
Well, I've done enough promoting now, hope you take the time to look at the site
Finally! My book is here! 
Relief
Awestruck
There are people who are charging hundreds of pounds for half an hours healing! I once exposed who these people were, I just looked at their website to see they've taken the prices off and put a "contact us for info" button in it's place lol! I don't know, I don't see why things like this should be so expensive, it stops people who really need these things from being able to get them.
