AVIA……………………………………….wendy salter

Would you like to stay in a FRENCH CHATEAUX for a week or two?

Would you like to MEET some interesting holistic people, or writers?

Would you like to EAT gorgeous local home-cooked food, drink wine, relax by a fire, chatting?

Would you like to know that you will HEAR the breeze in the trees, the owls, and other birdsong

And SEE the mountains, fields, trees, sun moon and stars?

Would you like to TALK to me and ask questions?

JUST CLICK ON ‘CONTACT ME’

And you are one step closer.

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When I look up into the blue sky I feel something extraordinary. I feel a rising of my spirit. I can feel it physically in my chest like a bubble and very often it brings a smile to my lips and small tears into my eyes. It’s not like crying when I’m sad. It’s like something wells up inside me and overflows.

I love the blue sky and I miss it terribly when it is stolen by the blanket cloud that moves over it sometimes. I can remember the first time I went up in an aeroplane, I was petrified and thought I’d never get in the thing, but when we took off and lifted up through the clouds I fell in love with flying forever. Going through the clouds was like being lost in a fog. It looked cold and dismal and floated past the windows like a faceless ghost. Then suddenly we came out above them and the sky was perfectly blue. It was heavenly.

I peered through the little port-hole window and looked as far as I could see in every direction. The blue sky was everywhere, untainted and empty and vast. Far below was the blanket of clouds that now looked like a sea of cotton-wool balls and the earth had disappeared. I had ascended and gone into Heaven, along with a hundred or so other people who were flying to Stockholm.

I am not a child living in a fairy-book fantasy. I am a grown-up, a grandmother. I have a simple belief, and that is this: I believe that the world around us, all the things we see, hear, feel, observe, and know to happen in a physical way also happen in another way, that is not physical. I believe that there is an alternative life that is very similar to the physical life but is different in that we cannot see, hear, feel or observe it with our physical senses. It is only detectable with our 6th sense, or ‘spirit’.

When the aeroplane was flying through the air, I could see the way the sun lit up everything. Up there in my blue Heaven the only thing that was there was the sun. I couldn’t stay there though and after a while the aeroplane started to descend. It brought us all back down through the clouds and then I could see the earth below. Slowly, more and more came into view and I could see the landscape, then fields and towns, then houses and finally, when we touched down and taxied into the airport, I could see other people.

Whenever it is a dull dark day I remember how the sky above the clouds is always blue, and up there the sun always shines, unless I am on the other side of the world. There, on the other side, the sun is hidden from view and the sky is perpetual darkness, except for the stars. The stars fill the Heavens with a myriad of little lights. We can’t see the stars in the daytime, when the sun is so bright it fills the world with its light. But at night, when the sun is absent we can see the stars.

What does this tell me about ascending to Heaven? It tells me that it is a place where we can get a different view on life. We can see how the world is, in relation to everything else. The world and the planets, the moon and the sun are all moving around each other in a cosmic dance and we can observe it. We can see things that are enlightened but we can’t see things that are in the dark. But the stars give us a glimmer of hope. We can watch in wonder at things and try to understand. It is all there. The world we can see and the world we can’t see.

Everything that moves is moved by something you can’t see. Think about it. Every single thing that vibrates with life, that circles around and changes in time is motivated, moved, enlivened by …something you can’t see. But we can see the effect of this something that moves in everything, and when we ascend we can see it more clearly.

The worst time is when we are lost in a fog. We can’t see where we are going and we can’t see anything that can give us a perspective on things. It can feel quite frightening and we have to trust that the pilot knows how to take us through the fog in the right direction. On earth it can feel quite depressing when we can’t see the heavenly blue sky and there is no sun, and even the stars cannot be seen to give us hope. We then have to have faith that the clouds will pass, the winds of change will come and blow them away and then the sun will shine again and the stars will come out at night.

Our relationship to the sun in particular is paramount in our understanding of our relationship with light, especially the unseen light. The blue sky is only blue to us down here because of our unique atmosphere, yet the colour we see is important because the colour is an energy that affects us. It helps us to be happy. The moon, too, helps us understand and remember the cycles of time. And the stars, well if the stars weren’t there for us to wish upon, we’d have no hope. So the sun, sky, moon and stars represent a non-earthly component to the physical world that we live in. The rest is down here, where we put our feet. Non-earthly things we call spiritual. The virtual world of spirit is for us to know about but not touch, because it’s far away. Or is it?

Sunlight, the radiations from it, the warmth and light, give all living things what they need to grow. Without the sun we would be nothing. The blue sky helps us to feel happy because we can see the great ‘out there’ and then we don’t feel alone. The moon comes around like a true friend, with regularity and helps us remember we are going somewhere. Because it changes its appearance in cycles, we can see how time is progressing, and how we must be progressing, too. And the stars, there are so many of them, they seem like a token of all that has been and all that can be, places we can visit in our dreams, places for the imagination to be inspired.

Look around you and notice the living things on earth that respond in different ways to the things ‘above’ us. Animals look down, towards the earth. Even the birds that fly in the sky look down. Fish hide, protected, in the waters. Insects hide, protected under leaves, debris or the earth. But people, some people, look up. Those of us who look up are different to those who are mostly looking down. Those who look up aspire to something beyond the physical world. They dream, gaze into space for inspiration. They think a lot and wonder at the greater picture. They are connecting to something that is greater than ‘where’s dinner?’ or ‘where’s bed?’ or ‘where’s my mate?

While we are looking up, rising above the mundane, connecting to ‘Spirit’, dwelling on higher matters, ascending towards Heaven, it is really important to remember one thing. Our connection to Earth, the planet we call home is more important than just providing for our bodies. By lifting our thoughts, our imagination and our learning to higher things, we are raising our spirits for an important reason. That is, to bring that enlightenment to Earth. And for that reason we need to keep our connection to Earth by having deep roots that go right to the core of the planet. This way we, as individuals, and collectively as a human soul group, will ascend together with Earth. We will travel as on a space ship towards a higher world, where life is similar, but different in that it is as yet unseen. Heaven is all around us, around Earth, but the Light of the Living Sun will love us and give us life, both seen and unseen, until we re-unite.

I believe we are on our way. We have started the journey home and everyone who can incarnate from the human soul group has done so. We are all on board and heading back. Some will get there before others as we start to become less physical and integrate into the unseen version of life. Those who get there first will not be the winners, or the losers, because we will work together as we have always done, because we are not separated. We have to help each other. We have to work as a team, not in competition, not some exploiting others for their own benefit. It’s not a matter of the wealthy few getting an easier trip, because those who have nothing will have nothing to lose. Anything physical gained in this, the physical world, cannot go into the unseen world. Nothing except our own soul, the spirit that has come to drive the body of our choice, will pass through the transformation into spirit. All matter will disintegrate into its energy form once again, until we are the love and light that we started as, once more. All physical attachments are just baggage that will weigh us down. Release the attachment to these things and the journey for you will become easier and more enjoyable.

Imagine going through an airport check-in with nothing to hold, not even a boarding pass, or passport. With nothing to carry you, your-self, will be the passport and you will glide effortlessly to your first-class seat. Effortlessly you, along with a couple of hundred or so other good folk, together in groups, will lift effortlessly into the air, with no air-con, no duty-free sales, no cramped legs or safety belts, no over-head luggage racks, no safety exit routine, no plastic lunch pack, just a pilot and a couple of stewards to be there for you. Then off you will go, up through the clouds, through the fog of fear and confusion, and out into the wild blue yonder, the heavenly blue sky, towards the sun.

And when you look back, just for a second, you will see that there are others, millions and millions of others, all coming along for the ride, even the Earth itself!

Coming soon - the next installment. The adventure has started - where will Brieze go next?

‘HER STORIES’, a novel by Wendy Salter.

I am thrilled to announce the arrival of my new novel, a four-story continuing adventure of a woman, called Brieze, who discovers her own history by travelling beyond earth time, into the past and the future.

Here, on this blog-site, I shall be writing short excerpts from the book and invite you to enjoy them in the comfort of your arm-chair, online.

Over the past twenty years, I have discovered that I am not just an insignificant blip in a questionable reality, but that I have a past and a future that stretches beyond this life-time and an ability to travel to them. I have written these easy to read stories for you to enjoy and whether you believe that we can all re-discover these forgotten memories or not, I hope that you will just enjoy the adventures. Because I am a woman and I have children and grandchildren, I suspect that these stories will appeal to women from between about eleven, [the age of my grandaughters] and eighty-seven [the age of my mother]. I could be wrong and men may enjoy them, too! They are not exclusively about girl things. The stories visit known historical events and Brieze’s adventures are very much about human relationships in those times, now and in the future.

‘Her Story 1, France 1788′

Chapter One

She watched as a single drop of blood fell onto the earth. The dry grains of soil soaked it up and it was gone. A second drop fell and followed the first. Another followed on behind and the earth accepted it without question. As each drop fell a small circle formed, a little patch darker than the earth around it and moist. She stared at the little pool, now sticky and shiny and felt her mind going away.

She slipped slowly and quietly into sleep. The whisper of wind-in-trees became fainter and fainter until it was no more. She surrendered herself into the deep pool of unconsciousness, falling, falling, falling.

Chapter Two

When Brieze was a baby her mother had brought her to this place, holding the little girl in her arms, wrapped tightly in a blanket. She came alone, except for the black and white collie called Shadow. Shadow, of course followed her everywhere. Her mother, Mary, never came without a gift. This time she had brought a shell, an oyster shell, because she loved mother of pearl. She had never seen a real pearl and looked down at it wondering what it would be like to find one. She wondered where she would have to go to see one; what part of the world, which ocean? She placed the shell in a small hole between the stump of a branch and the trunk of the Great Oak Tree, kissing it first then letting it fall into the secret place.

Her mother had died when Brieze was three, so her grandmother told her these stories. When an alien ‘flu, Russian or Chinese they had said, had come to the village her mother, being an herbalist, visited the sick with teas made of dried herbs from her collection. Her mother, apparently, was more than an herbalist. Grandma said she was a healer who loved people and spent her whole life caring for anyone who needed a bit of help. It wasn’t just the herbs, she would wash-up or walk their dog, or just sit and listen to them talk about what was bothering them. ‘Get-it-off-your-chest-time’ she used to call it. She knew that when people were sad they kept all their sad things on their chest. She tirelessly tended the sick people, making soup and washing bed-linen. One day, when the epidemic seemed to be subsiding and the village folk were recovering, Mary had gone out early in the morning to pick herbs to replenish her store-cupboard. She had come here, close to the Great Oak Tree and searched for the best fresh leaves and flowers. She had gone beyond the tree, out across the field close to the cliff, looking over the edge for those flowers that like to cling to the earth while getting the moist, salty air from the sea and the bright sunlight right out away from the trees. When the men of the village found her, draped over the rocks below, her hand was still clutching the tiny pink blossoms.

Brieze hadn’t come here, to the Great Oak Tree, to weep over her mother’s grave. That was over there, just beyond the tree. She had been before and done that many times. The grave was just a large stone, her own personal monolith, where they had scattered her ashes, but now it just looked like a part of the scenery. Nice, she thought, very understated and private.

No, she had come here for a special reason. Her grandmother had brought her up and taught her the ways of the old folk and she knew that by coming here today, around her 28^th birthday, she could do something that would give her something special, a present to herself. She was going to call on the Spirit of the Tree, to open a door into the Otherworld, to find her Soul’s purpose. She would do it tonight, the night of the Spring Equinox, very conveniently bright with full moon light and mild and still. She needed to prepare herself for the journey.

Brieze had gathered some sticks, carefully, making sure that they were all from the Great Oak Tree. Twenty-eight small sticks, one for each year in her life. She then set them on the ground in a tidy pyramid shape and stuffed some dead ‘Old Man’s Beard’ flowers in the middle. She hit the two flints that she had found together hard and after the umpteenth strike she got a small spark, but then she put the flints down and took the lighter she had brought with her out of her pocket and lit the fire. The kindling took light quickly and as the sticks began to burn she placed some larger dead wood around the fire. She had brought a bottle of water and a small kettle and after placing the kettle of water over the fire, she steadied it with two large stones. While she was waiting for the water to boil she spread her groundsheet and sleeping bag under the great tree, under the canopy of crooked branches and the frill of delicate green, newly emerging leaves and close to its huge roots, which bulged out of the ground like knobbly knees. She burned some cedar wood shavings to purify herself and the area around her bedding then placed four smooth round pebbles close to its edges, to mark out the directions of the Northern Winds, the Eastern Dawn, the Southern Seas, the Western Woods and one in the centre for Godness.

She hadn’t made up her mind whether her God was male or female, or both, or neither, or just an Infinite Cosmic Mind. Infinite Cosmic Minds were hard to have a relationship with; she didn’t know how to talk to an Infinite Mind, it was too big. It was much easier for her to talk to the Great Oak Tree. Here it was, big and beautiful, touchable and permanent, for her life-time anyway. It was living and she could talk to it and it would listen. She knew it would keep her confidences. Was it an ‘it’? No, it was a She-He. A grandparent. One day it may be a grandfather, another day it may be a grandmother. She could hug it when she was feeling lonely and He-She would let her.

As soon as the water was boiling, she plunged the blade of her little ceremonial knife into its bubbles and steam and counted to twenty and then poured the water over some lemon balm leaves in a mug. Holding the knife’s edge against the skin of her fore-finger, she hesitated. She waited and looked out at the darkening world around her and up at the first star of the evening. It was the 21st of March, and the days were bright with warm spring sunlight, but cool and fresh at night. She grasped the mug and took cautious sips of the hot tea. Moving back to her bedding she wriggled down into her sleeping bag. She propped herself up on her elbows, facing the fire, which had settled into hot, flickering embers and it warmed her face. She placed the knife back on her finger.

“Greetings to the Spirit of the Sun, the Moon and all the Stars! Salutations to Mother Earth and the Spirit Winds from the sunrise, the noon-time, the sunset and the night! God bless my mother and Dad, wherever they are, and Grandma and Tom, and all the animals, and the trees - especially this one, the Great Oak Tree, and the fire, the sea, the sky and the stones…and me…and ” Brieze paused to search her mind for anything she may have forgotten. “…and the Angels.” Looking above her in case there were some angels listening, she prayed. “Please help me find my Soul’s purpose.” She looked back at her finger and the steel edge resting on it. “Oh well, here goes…”

The sharp blade slid across her pale smooth skin and a row of little red beads appeared. She winced but didn’t feel anything - yet. She unscrewed her eyes and watched the ruby red droplets form, then let them fall onto the earth one at a time. After they stopped Brieze wrapped a tissue round her finger and lay down to sleep. It wasn’t long before she slipped through the Doorway of Time.

ALL COPYRIGHTS RESERVED BY W H SALTER www.wendysalter.com

Have you ever wondered where the feelings of sadness come from? Sadness is sometimes described as having ‘a heavy heart’, just as happiness can be described as ‘lightheartedness’. We feel sad when a loved one goes away but the thoughts we have at the time determine how sad we may feel. If we have strong thoughts that our loved one loves us, we may miss them, but feel reassured that they will return to us and our sadness will turn to happiness again.

But when our loved one goes away forever, as in death, our sadness turns to grief - a deep, painful sadness that seems incurable. If we believe that our loved one loved us, as we loved them, we may have faith that that love endures even at their departing.

But if that love was not acknowledged before death we may be left with dreadful feelings of regret. How then do we lift our heart into happiness once more?

With Love. Love transcends all distance, time and boundaries, even death. If you can remember the feelings of joy when you received a letter or card from someone you thought had forgotten you, or didn’t love you anymore, you can imagine the joy you could send a loved one by sending them a Message of Love. Send your thoughts with happy memories, strong feelings, maybe of forgiveness, or asking for forgiveness, and mental pictures of something beautiful, that would mean something to them. Then believe that they will get your message, feel your love for them and be uplifted; their spirit will feel lighter and they may send you a message in return.

How and when that message comes, only you will know, when it arrives. Then the heaviness in your heart will leave and your heart will feel lighter. The Heart is known as the Bridge between the Earth world and the world of Spirit. It is on this bridge, The Bridge of Love, that you will be able to meet your loved one again.

If you feel sad, click on Bamboosong [Blogroll]

‘CHATEAUX BELAIR’, SEPTEMBER 2008.

There will be an exclusive gathering at ‘Chateaux Belair’, in France, at the end of September 2008. Those who would be interested would be holistic healers, practitioners, trainers, writers, artists, shaman/shamana, spiritual environmentalists and global humanitarians. That sounds like a lot of people but places will be restricted to a maximum of 9, although there will be more gatherings in the near future.

The purpose of the week will be to engage in self-healing, deep meditation and prayer, group discussion and help with work issues, global and environmental news and views, and Earth/Spirit connections, plus a lot of you-time. The style will be for respite, retreat and connecting in a natural, slow, quiet, authentic and meaningful way.

‘Chateaux Belair ‘ is a Holistic Centre without the commonly found commercial and materialistic paraphanalia. It is in remote rural France, was once a farm and tything centre, is huge and unspoilt, the home of barn owls, butterflies and hares and with views of open countryside and the Pyrenees. It is in the process of sympathetic renovation, with much to do. What has been done already is beautiful.

Rooms can be booked as singles or doubles [with shared bathrooms], and all meals, [home cooked with local fresh produce], will be included in the price.

Travel TO TOULOUSE is the responsibIlity of each guest. Taxi FROM TOULOUSE TO ‘CHATEAUX BELAIR’ will be arranged, and in reverse, likewise.

The Total Cost of the week, [7days], will be £450.00, for doubles and £550.00, for singles, not including the shared cost of the taxi to and from Toulouse, which will be minimal.

The dates are arriving 20th Sept ember 2008 and leaving 27th September2008

There will be a book-writers course during the following week and can be booked alongside this week.

click on CONTACT ME for more details and confirmed dates and travel arrangements.

Ann Coveney is an Englishwoman abroad. She has been living in Spain for the last four decades, where she was married to her Spanish husband and brought up her sons. Now, she is a pioneer in a spiritual desert, a not insignificant beacon of Light for the Spanish and English women there. She holds a women’s gathering monthly, is a keen student of esoteric teachings, Flower Remedies and a friend of Findhorn, and so much more. Keep up the good work, Ann - A desert flower, a ‘Spanish Rose’ in a Catholic stronghold. Contact me if you would like to contact her.

On Saturday, the 17th May 2008, there will be a gathering of like-minded souls, men and women, at the Oasis Centre in Childe Okeford, Dorset.

We shall start at 10.30am and go on till about 4pm.

The invitation is to anyone who is working in the field of Complimentary Medicine, Esoteric Teachings, World Healing, Environmental Studies, Writing and Publishing, or related subjects.

We will all have a chance to speak, laugh, share news and views, and demonstrate our craft.

The cost of the day will be £14.00, paid in advance to myself, if possible. [Or at the door if booked in advance]

Please Contact Me via this Blogsite.

Please bring your own lunch.

Wendy Salter

As the 21st Century progresses we are witnessing on the world stage more horrors and chaos, turmoil and human suffering than ever before. For anyone who has stepped onto their ’spiritual paths’ in the last twenty to thirty or even more years, it must raise the question ‘What’s going on?’

Since the beginning of time, the Grandmothers and Grandfathers of the human race have sat by their fires and wrung their hands, looking through pale eyes that have seen ‘life’ and set deep into the lined faces of those who have walked the earth for a life-time. They were neither the elite, nor masters of the universe but I bet they mostly thought the same thoughts, ‘What’s going on?’ Every generation of elders looks out to a world that has seemingly gone mad. ‘It’s not like the good old days!’ they say, woefully, yet the wisdom of their years has always told them that things will always be like this: the changing world will always seem chaotic. And as Time pulls the good things away into the past, we will be left with memories of ‘the way things were’.

I am an ordinary grandmother. I look at my own babies, now mothers in their thirties; beautiful women, hard-working and balanced in the fulcrum between their parents and their children, yet still feeling inside like the young and free spirits they once were. My mother, a great-grand-mother still puts on her ear-rings and wants to dance. My grand-babies, now pubescents-with-attitude, think they can rule the world but still take a teddy to bed.

But I am a Grand Mother in my visions, my aspirations and my imaginings. I am Grand in my wellies, in my garden planting cabbages, and I am Grand because I have a faith born in a crisis or two and growing daily. I am Grand because I have given birth, endured and survived the pain of labour and because I have so much love I have to hug people and give some away, daily. I am Grand because I have seen such heavenly things beyond this world and because I can bear to witness the suffering in others, knowing there is a higher purpose to it all.

‘What’s going on?’ Life is going on. The more the populaton of this planet increases, the more we will witness life in all its diversity and extremes. The more of those who consider themselves to be the elite, the saved, the chosen ones, the enlightened, the wise, the healed, the wealthy, the successful, the good and the righteous…

the more we could see the opposite.

The buzz on the airwaves is that it is the time of the Grandmothers. It is time for the women of the world to speak out, to bring their way of being to center stage and ask the Grand Masters to step aside for a while. Have the women been absent? Are we not still here, individually enduring and surviving, growing and evolving? Are the men folk all tyrants and bastards, domineering and disempowering of women? And do we think that because someone has put out the buzzword ‘Grandmothers Speak’ that grandmothers ever stopped speaking? Is it time for Grandfathers to stop speaking now?

This hierarchical view may be new-age fanaticism. Men and women are all humans, and the forces at work in this world and all the other worlds are continually there, and have been since the beginning of time. If the male/female juxtaposition is changing it is surely just a swing of the pendulum. We may feel it, acknowledge it and talk about it but do we control it? Maybe we do and maybe by the power of our thoughts we can change things.

Let us listen to the Grandmothers but not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let the Grandmothers and the Grandfathers teach us their wisdom.

Perfect balance is when the pendulum stops: yet the very swinging of the pendulum is balance in the making. On this funny old lump of rock, spiralling around the sun, spiralling around in the cosmos, we, the little you and me, are at once the least significant and the most important thing in the universe, purely because we exist, in some form, and seem to be aware of it. And we call her Mother Earth, this rock. Now she is a Grand Mother. And the Grand Father? So, ‘What’s going on?’

The vision of the Spirit Grandmothers speaking their message comes at a time when women are definitely changing. We are bold and beautiful, caring and fearsome; we have opinions, views and wisdom; we are pro-active and gentle, can cry with laughter and cry with sorrow. Every now and then the Spirit World sends us a vision of love and hope, support and guidance, and we thank the Grandmothers for coming at this time.

It will give us the strength to love our men even more, stand up to them and put them right when they are wrong, and listen to their stories, dreams and worries, while holding their hands. We will shout across the land when we have had enough of horror, suffering and destruction and we will paint our art in acts of kindness, forgiveness and understanding. Just the way women do.

Seersha is an enigmatic, sensitive and knowledgable shamanic healer and teacher. Based in Kent, she runs worshops for the curious and dedicated wanabees. Her approach to her work is earthy and spiritual and her long dark hair and original style adds to her charm. A trusty Wise Woman. Go to www.shamanicplanet.com

Mick Stott, an ex- Manchunian Army Physical Training Corps Officer, Is a humourous, fiesty yet sensitive trainer of NLP, Hypnotherapy and Master Trainer of Timeline Therapy . He is gradually easing the R.M. Military and Kent Police establishments into a new way of thinking. His life quest is to help ex-servicemen suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome [PTSD] to regain their lives, using a revolutionary blend of NLP, spiritual understanding and Energy Healing. Visit www.qperformanceuk.com

[I am honoured to be working with Mick on this program, as an Energy Healer. By reconnecting the traumatised and dislocated mental/emotional/physical body to the spirit, all other forms of healing become effective and lasting. Even medicines become more pro-active and efforts made by the sufferer to recover become easier and more successful. It is possible that the DNA can be affected at this deep level of healing, and any genetic influences can be relieved]

Lisa Turner is a lively, enthusiastic Aussie, who combines her knowledge and humour to deliver serious training in the field of spiritual evolution. Her course for ‘Lightworkers’ will take you further up your path, and bring you into the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to eliminate negative unconscious conditioning and install some really positive ground-breaking perspectives. visit www.psycademy.co.uk

Post Trauma Stress Disorder by Wendy Salter

During a trauma we suffer stress: physical, mental, emotion stress. Afterwards we expect to recover, over time. The symptoms can vary from person to person. ‘Strong’ people recover normally but some people, perhaps more sensitive, and possibly seen as ‘weak’ people, take longer. Some people don’t recover and they never reclaim an ‘ordinary’ life. This latter group of sufferers is now diagnosed as having PTSD – Post Trauma Stress Disorder.

With regard to the article sent to me by friend and journalist, Brenda Hanson, outlining the results of a study done on a group of PTSD suffers in Canada, reported in Thunder Bay [Variants in stress-related gene help ...
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhttddcw_0cmz2rrcf&invite=r2q4vz ], and illuminating the subject of a variant gene being involved, I outline here my own observations on the subject.

It is always exciting when a new discovery is made. It is then up to us to decide whether this discovery adds to our knowledge or not, and whether it can be utilised to good effect. The scientific world looks to prove something, with clinical trials to provide data and statistics. When this backs up previously held suspicions or beliefs it is a wonderful thing. We must, at all times ask whether the new information expands our wisdom on things, rather than just making a statement that limits us.

Are the faulty genes the cause of the problem or are they the end result of a problem? To allocate the cause of any dis-order to faulty genes, we may run the risk of limiting ourselves, by halting the ever-necessary investigation into the true nature of dis-ease. We could say ‘Ah! We have found the dastardly culprit, now we can blame it and stop looking!’ But does that lead us to a healing process and a cure?

If a sufferer is told ‘It’s in your genes’ the general assumption of a lay-person may be that it’s just their bad luck and that there is nothing more they can do about it.

This doesn’t mean that the identification of a contributing gene may not be relevant. It may be relevant in identifying the person who may be more prone to the condition – QED- but not that their fate is not only pre-determined but that it is also final and fatal.

Should we not ask, when considering the cause of a disorder, to research into the possible purpose of that disorder? PTSD is a set of symptoms, not a disease from a known virus, for example. Each person who is presenting any one of, or all of the identified symptoms is a unique case and is presenting a unique, to them, set of circumstances. PTSD is possibly the acute or chronic stage of other stresses, which are coped with but at this level the person just cannot cope any longer and there is a breakdown, physically, mentally and emotionally. PTSD becomes evident after an accumulation of stress, or excessive stress. The external, circumstantial causes can be from any type of trauma.

To land conveniently on the genetic platform and announce ‘eureka!- this is the cause’, is bypassing the problem, for it requires another leap to saying it is the cure. Nevertheless, there has to be benefits of knowing the gene state.

• The presence of the gene can be a contribution to the solution

• The presence of the gene can identify the level at which stress becomes acute and PTSD

• The presence of the gene can identify groups of people who accumulate such levels of stress.

Dis-ease and dis-order is the physical outcome and end result of a disruption in the well-being, safety, life-force, spirit/body relationship and evolution of the person. It can also be the set of keys to unlock the cure.

Any one gene which is seen to be contributing to a certain condition can be looked at as the cause, but then we must ask the question ‘How did that gene become the signature of that condition?’ If a gene brings about a physical manifestation, it will be seen as the cause, but what caused it to be different.? What is the cause of its nature? What happened to it to make it different to others and create a pattern within itself to cause that condition? Is it possible that the condition itself, over generations, caused the gene to change?

Do potential soccer-playing genes, accumulating information and creating specific patterns over generations, suddenly present a soccer-player gene?

Genes are the patterns of DNA held in the chromosomes that split during fertilisation of the ovum. The accumulated information from past millennia forms patterns which shows up as a personal attribute, physical feature, character trait or defect in the person. Some are good, some are bad, all are changing. Evolution determines those that survive and those that disappear by making the person strong or weak. This is Darwinism. There is another ‘ism’ and that is that we, as incarnating spirits choose the lineage that can offer us the best circumstances for us to evolve in, as a spiritual being. ‘Spiritualism’. Either way we have a very diverse gene-pool to choose from.

Continual ’stress’ will sift the proverbial wheat from the chaff. Some of us will weaken under stress and some of us will thrive. All humans who start demonstrating the inability to cope with stress, [hard-ship, shock, trauma, degradation, malnutrition, lack of love, etc.,] will find an opportunity to find a new approach to coping. They will seek it out, investigate, experiment, persevere and survive, or cave in and perish. And there will always be doctors, scientists, therapists and healers to help them.

At this time in history we have an opportunity to strengthen our inherent genetic patterning with some very new, innovative, ground-breaking, exciting and positive approaches, with new understanding of how the mind works, the spirit/body relationship and the role of diet and natural medicines. Perhaps we are remembering and rediscovering some very old ways, too.

In days gone by, a soldier finding himself unable to cope with the extra-ordinary stresses of the war he has to fight, the battle-field he finds himself on and the conditions he has to deal with to either live or die, will have several choices.

• He may just survive, by the skin of his teeth, and with a lot of good luck.

• He may do something extra-ordinary and be held up as a hero

• He may find he doesn’t have a choice and gets killed

• He may not cope and run away, or tries to.

• He may just survive long enough to come home, only to find his life is in ruins and his ability to recover from his injuries has gone

In the old days all surviving soldiers were heralded as heroes – some more than others and those got medals. Those who suffered ’shell shock’ didn’t recover. Those who ran away were shot. They were branded ‘cowards’, ‘weak’, or having ‘low moral fibre’, or ‘LMF’.

I saw a TV program on the subject of heroism: why and how heroic deeds were done and who became a ‘hero’. Out of the 6 veterans that were featured, who had been awarded medals for bravery, not one of the six knew they were being brave at the time. Not one of the six had decided to be a hero. Not one of the six thought of themselves as heroes and not one of the six had their medal on display or talked about it.

Is it all about being in the right or wrong place, at the right or wrong time? Or is it about having the right or wrong genes? Or is it that at any one time any one of us has a choice? Do we know we have that choice at the time or do we just find ourselves doing something? Who we are and how we got to be that person is such a complex subject, it is a lifetime’s study.

If we believe that this one life is all there is, then nothing matters anyway; none of it is for any reason, it has no purpose; it is just an accidental occurrence and not worth discussing.

But we all know that that’s not the case. We know that what we do in any situation affects others as well as ourselves. In that case what we do is important and if it is important it’s not just for five minutes self-gratification. It must have a lasting significance, even after our passing and if that’s the case then we are all experiencing now the lasting effects of what happened before - that which others did before us.

If the genes we inherit were designed by our ancestors, everything they did to evolve those genes, to change them for better or worse, are in us now and it is up to us to do what we will with them. So what do I do if I inherit a bad gene which will pre-dispose me to cope badly with stress; what do I do about it? Roll over, give up and die? Go to a shop and but a new one? Or re-design the one I’ve got? I guess re-designing a gene takes some time, so where do I start?

What came first, the chicken or the egg? If I am past the age of passing on my genes to my offspring, how does changing my genes benefit anyone else? The Native Americans say that whenever I heal myself, I do it for all my relations: ‘Mitakwe Oyasin’. So what do I change?

I change the way I think. I change the way I view things, get a new perspective. I change the way I do things, behave differently. I can change the way I deal with things. And I can show others that I didn’t give up, that I can learn from it and in that way help others that come after me. Wounds heal. Stress can be relieved. Lessons can be learned. PTSD can be cured. Genes can change, in us and in those who learn from us.

But that is only the physical, mental and emotional side. What about the non-physical side? This, I know, is hard for a lot of people to understand. If I start talking about ‘energy’ or ’spirit’ many people will think I am talking about fairies, or ghosts, and religion. I am talking about neither.

It is scientifically proven that we are energy – vibrating, moving, living energy which ranges across such a wide spectrum that we can only see one part, hear one part, sense another part and have no idea about the rest. Some people, like me, ’see’ and ’sense’ more than others and so I ‘know’ there is more to life than what we are physically aware of. [Convincing others is more difficult].

It is also proven that energy is influenced by thought and so how and what we think is a relevant point to discuss.

If someone who has a disability in coping with post trauma stress is told ‘It’s because you have a different, faulty or bad gene’, they will lose hope in ever recovering. If they are told they can be helped, hope returns. Positive thoughts return and already things are changing for the better.

When someone who understands and can communicate with the complex negative thoughts and memories in the unconscious mind and can work synergistically, i.e. using a variety of techniques together, and can say ‘we can help you’, even more hope comes to the sufferer.

And when the Power of healing – the highly charged energy - that moves, re-charges and re-enlivens every atom of that person, even in the genes, that person will feel so much hope, have so many positive thoughts, that any inherited gene that says ‘you will not cope with stress and you will not recover well from trauma’ will begin to change. The encoded information will change. Pre-set negative and destructive patterns will re-organise themselves and start to create a new pattern and the consciousness in that gene will be changed. The new consciousness in that gene will return to the collective consciousness after death with a different message and will then return in a new life with new abilities. It will have evolved.

The term ‘Akashic Records’ [origin unknown] describes the unlimited store of information about all life, forever, from the beginning to the end. It is a record of all lives and experience and it is also a library of all potential life and experience. It may be that the DNA in every cell in all living things holds the link to the Akashic Records and the genes are what has been selected for that life-time for that person.

When studying the aspects of ‘Past Lives’ we can tap into information that is in the unconscious memory from before this life-time. A past life scenario can play like a film demonstrating an event of a personal connection that can throw some light onto why certain circumstances are being experienced now.

‘Soul Retrieval’ is another method of healing, where lost memories, aspects of the ’self’ can be retieved, to awaken dormant DNA, or eliminate erroneous information that is now redundant or not belonging to the present situation. Akashic Records, past lives and soul retieval do not belong to the cientific world and yet old cultures of the indiginous people of the world have practiced this form of healing for millenia. It is provable in its efficacy by the results. Maybe we do not have to understand it more than that. Let the researchers do some test trials on these proceedures to witness the results but we have to give up for good the need to know and understand the ‘how’. We all believe the grass grows because we can witness it. We can observe it, scientifically study it and learn it’s process but we don’t really understand the ‘how’.

Another aspect is this: we are all unique. We are all born with a unique set of circumstances. No one cure-all can be 100% right for all people. Each one of us has a choice – are we going to let a trauma, a little gene and some bad thoughts and feelings get in the way and destroy us or are we going to use this opportunity to learn something, especially about ourselves, and discover something new – that the little gene can change, traumas can be healed and bad thoughts and feelings can dissipate allowing new good ones to arrive? It’s up to us.

“The nature of dis-ease holds the key to the cure of that dis-ease”

“If you want to change your life, change the way you think, because thoughts manifest according to their nature”.

An Example of gene programming: Back in time, something took place which we call ‘The Slave Trade’. Black people were enslaved by white people. According to the accounts, both personal, eye-witness and third-hand, extreme cruelty was inflicted on the slaves – not just once, but continually for some, and for successive generations. These experiences may have caused a ‘variant gene’, which was passed on and is now in the present generation, as a memory, to serve a purpose. The descendants of the slaves may experience something similar – child abuse, racial prejudice, injustice, poverty, poor social standing, and lack of freedom. If a traumatic event is experienced by someone in this generation, and they have a serious lack of ability to cope, they may be diagnosed as having PTSD. Investigation reveals a certain variant gene, in more than one case, and the gene is cited as the cause of PTSD or an increased risk of it.

It is possible that a variant gene does not CAUSE PTSD or an increased risk of it.

It is possible that the variant gene is CAUSED BY PTSD.

History repeats itself. We all know that fighting, racial hatred, greed, victimisation, cruelty, tyranny, etc. is bad, wars are bad. It doesn’t stop them happening. PTSD isn’t new – it’s as old as mankind. Maybe we are just learning to recognise the symptoms, acknowledging their existence as something we can help and change for the better, and finally seeing that Man does indeed hurt man. But he can also help man, heal man and be kind and love man.

If there is a variant gene for PTSD, or an increased risk of suffering from it in some people, there must also be a variant gene for learning, changing, heroism, healers, kindness, and unconditional love.

By Wendy Salter, 16^th April, 2008

Hermes was a handsome Greek god and Aphrodites was a beautiful Greek goddess and they were so perfectly matched, reflected each other so perfectly, that their union in love gave birth to Hermaphroditus. A picture of him/her can be seen on the last card in the Major Acana of the Greek Mythic Tarot - ‘The World’. The teaching of this card in the Tarot is one of balance, unity, perfection and being whole. The four elements of earth, water, fire and air come together as a perfection of creation through the evolution of all the human aspects: the physical being, the intellect, the imagination and the emotions. Beauty, the imaginative and logical mind working creatively together and unconditional love is the expression of the enlightened spiritual being through the earthly human being.

Let us imagine for one moment a simple possibilty. If the ‘Whole’ is all the aspects of life between the poles of gender existence, from one extreme, masculinity, to the other, femininity, together in Oneness, and the separation of these two polarities is for the purpose of evolution, experience, knowledge and Self-consciousness, the journey away from and back to the ‘Whole’ is ‘Life’. From the beginning of Time, back to the end of Time, we can explore ‘Life’. The polymorphic reproduction of life is what life on earth is all about, and this is the source of our anxieties about genetic interference, modification and cloning.

Somewhere on this journey, we, as human beings, will experience being male or being female, with the potential to be the other in recession. The moment we become conscious of the opposite state hidden within us, we find ourselves in a position of choice. We can be one or the other, or both, to any degree at any one time. Picture the Managing Director of a Global Conglomerate wearing high heels and lipstick. The two aspects wouldn’t normally go together, in our view of a male and female world, but it has already happened. Imagine a six foot muscular, hairy truck driver feeding the baby. Again, another strange situation to imagine, yet I am sure there are some nurturing truckies out there. But why? Does a woman have to lose her femininity to rule in a ‘man’s world’; and does a man have to lose his masculinity to participate in a ‘woman’s world’? We allocate these roles to each gender purely because the traits of the gender lend themselves more easily to the role. But should that rule out the choice to swap roles?

Likewise, in a less extreme situation, can boys and girls both learn to cook and play football? Of course they can. But can men wear women’s clothes? Can women wear men’s clothes? Absolutely! In fact many men find women in dungerees and a hard hat very attractive and I have to admit the long dark locks and silk shirt of a  Regency dandy quite appeals to me! Why? Because the sexuality of the person is not about what we wear. I have seen many strong, non-high-heels-and-lipstick feminine women become mothers, go about their career, choice of life-style or activity without any criticism. And there are many non-hairy, non-muscular men who are beautiful and soft and still very male and good fathers.

Since the very early beginnings of theatre men and women have changed roles. The Greek Mythologies are full of men being women and women being men. Pantomimes still play with this form of entertainment. Angels are seen as being neither male nor female and both together. They are perceived as tall and strong, wise beyond our knowing, gentle and kind and beautiful, handsome and graceful. They are pure Light. [Actually I see them as vibrating webs of golden thread, patterns of conscious intelligence and not human in form but that's another story].

There are, however, areas of modern life where men and women who act out-of-role, or feel differently and wish to live honestly with that, incite the wrath of public opinion; they upset the proverbial apple cart and seem to present some gender blurring, or morality questions we should be finding a solution for. It is just a matter of being open-minded, thinking outside-the-box for a moment. If a person’s appearance upsets us then we are living in the wrong century! Surely, by now, we have enough diversity in personal taste, physicality, fashion, culture and national differences to be tolerant to anything new and different. In the world of art, there is a direct intention to re-create what we already know into new concepts. In the world of fashion, the haute-couture designers push out and destroy the boundaries of conventionalism every day. So it is not so much about what we look like. There seems to be something else more subtle and hidden that will make us feel a gender difference is uncomfortable, or wrong in some way.

This week has seen a first in the world of the internet: the online debut of the works of Charles Darwin.

Chapter I ‘The Descent of Man’, Charles Darwin

‘HE who wishes to decide whether man is the modified descendant of some pre-existing form, would probably first inquire whether man varies, however slightly, in bodily structure and in mental faculties’.

If nothing else, Darwin set out, over a life-time, to study the effect of time on living things. He observed so much diversity that he suspected a natural law at work which aroused his curiosity. How did living creatures become so different? The more he looked the more diversity he found. His conclusion was that we are evolving, changing all the time, according to the influences of living in this world and with each other. He concluded that it was inevitable that we would change. I wonder if he ever thought that what he was observing on his travels was a prototype, a work in progress, or an end result?

The human embryo in its first stage of gestation is neither gender; it is an androgen [although some say the cells are actually female, probably because they are being created within the female body], but at around 8 weeks, one gender is favoured. This primary stage is a living replica of the primary stage in the evolution of life on Earth and each stage of development of the young embryo, foetus, baby and child replicates the evolution of man, through all the animal forms. The toddler shows the time we stood up and became erect. We are continuing this evolution now. It may just be, hypothetically, that the end result will be a hermaphrodite, the male and female in one body, able to reproduce  asexually.

Do we as humans have an arrogance about us being an end result, the top of the class, perfection? I don’t honestly think the majority of human beings think that. But some seem to think that their opinion is correct and final.

If religion has any positive role to play I shall expound my theories on it another day. One development of religion is that it gives some folk the right to judge others. If they are not matching the model of their religion, all others must be faulty. Enough said.

In the urge to criticise and judge, we humans show  a lack of understanding about how we perceive another.  We don’t like to feel uncomfortable and if we have to witness someone very different to ourselves, we feel threatened in some way and the first line of defense is attack. This is a primal reflex to a stranger, something unknown and different - not a member or our clan or tribe. But when we judge it to be wrong, we are not recognising the possibility that that trait is in us too.

What I would like everyone to think about is this: If there is going to be diversity in this world, and that diversity has a purpose, then we should not be criticising any form of life. Whatever gender, male or female, male/female, female/male, colour, shape, size or height we happen to be we may be perfection-in-the-making. Whatever gift, talent, style, view, expression we happen to have we may be perfection-in-the-making. But if anyone of us is having a bad day, suffering, in pain, lost, lonely or sad, we may have forgotten that we are perfection-in-the-making and may need a little help and a little tolerance and understanding.

If you are feeling good about yourself, smile and let the world know that you are seeing your perfection-in-the-making today and if you are struggling, just remember these words, and ask for help.

Have you found the right place?

Yes - if you are looking for an inspirational novel to read online - see ‘Her Stories, the Book’

Yes - if you are interested in Past Life work, exploration, - see ‘Her Stories, the Book’, and ‘Practitioner Profile’

Yes - if you are looking for something interesting to read on esoterics, spirituality, natural health, human nature, environmental things, global issues, - see ‘Wisdom and Insights’

Yes - if you are a writer, aspiring or established - see ‘The Bookwright’ on Blogroll

Yes - if you would like to learn more about me, WENDY SALTER, Holistic Practitioner - see ‘Practitioner Profile’ and ‘About me’

Yes - If you are looking for serious help with a personal, physical, emotional, mental or spiritual problem, or PTSD- see ‘Practitioner Profile’

Yes - If you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and are looking for relief - see ‘Quantum Performance/Synergie’ on Blogroll, and ‘Practitioner Profile’

Yes - If you are looking for some education and training in being a ‘Lightworker’ - see ‘Psycademy’ on blogroll

[No - if you are looking for a cheap Ferrari]

Tom Evans is an inspiring, gentle and effective facilitator. If you feel you have the urge to write, have a book just waiting to be written, would love to get published and have any nervousness, blocks in your creative flow, or practical problems, Tom is your man. His expertise in the field of virtual technology, his own personal experiences as a writer and his patience and understanding will overcome any difficulties you may be experiencing. Contact him now on www.psycademy.co.uk/thebookinside or www.thebookwright.com

I started working as a Holistic Practitioner in 1998, after re-discovering my inherent gift since 1988.

I specialise in:

• Re-alignment of the spirit/body connection. Aura and chakra healing. Spiritual counselling
• Past Life Therapy
• Post Traumatic Stress Relief.
• Soul Retrieval
• Earth healing: people, places and buildings. Dowsing
• Bereavement counselling and support for carers

 Working with the spiritual energy field [aura] around the body came easily for me as this is what I discovered I could do naturally but to work on the physical body I trained in Shiatsu, which is a holistic approach to working manually with the meridians, chakras and the physical body itself. Shiatsu incorporates acupressure, the less invasive version of acupuncture. I have a developed intuition which gives me insights into the conditions of the client. The rest is brought forward by the higher aspects of both myself, the client and those Beings of Light who work endlessly to help us. This is not based on any one religion, philosophy or belief system but incorporates all.

Places and buildings:

I can apply my abilities to discover insights into the atmospheric, energetic or funtional problems of a place. By dowsing the property or place I can map out areas that are disrupted or deficient in their natural energy field, and then investigate the cause or source of the disturbance.

Visit the Practical Applications section for more information. Please email me for more information, fees and bookings.

AKASHIC RECORDS

“Instead of looking back in time, events appear as in pictures alongside each other as if congealed in space. (It may be called a 4th dimension). Moving from one event to another, that is ‘reading in the Akashic Records’.
(Rudolph Steiner)

Returning to the past can be seen as a reflection: it is not a true experience, only a mirror image. It is changed, distorted, changed and modified by our looking at it, hence the expression ‘see in hindsight’.
As soon as you complete an experience you are changed by the wisdom gained in that experience and from that moment on you will always see it differently. When wisdom isn’t gained memories may ‘come back to haunt you’.
But at any moment in time, you can visit your future or past (even past-life) self. Being pre-cognisant, clairvoyant, having a prophetic dream, a premonition, or a ‘vision’ is visiting a potential future for yourself (or others) and a deja-vue is a memory or where your future self has already been.
When your future self comes to you it is for a reason – to help you; to help you take advantage of some of the wisdom that you will gain fully later on. This gives you a ‘knowing’, or a strong intuition, or a revelation, or inspiration that enables you to act differently, if you wish and if you trust it.
Your Higher Self already knows the potential outcomes of your experience. If there is a chance that your freedom of choice is being interfered with, it may intervene. It is sometimes described as ‘Divine intervention’, or ‘Angelic rescue’, or a ‘Miracle’, or a spiritual or magical phenomenon.
Later on, when you have completed the experience you may look back and see how all the unexpected ‘synchronicities’ came together to help you. When you happen to go back in time, by remembering a time of extreme pain, fear, despair or anguish, you may be your future self returning to bring about the miracle and if you re-experience some of the emotions you may be relieving your self of absolute despair or unbearable pain.
Our Higher Selves, Spirits or Soul Egos are not bound by Time but view all time, past, present and future as one overview, as in the Akashic Records. The term ‘Akashic‘ is derived from a Hindu word for sky, heaven or ether and the Anthroposophical Society of the late 20thC, which brought Rudolph Steiner to center stage, coined the term ‘Akashic Record’ to describe where all the cosmic knowledge was stored. The study of Spiritual Science gives us a blending of what we can know from the Natural World and what can be perceived in the Supernatural World. The study of genetics and DNA offers many insights into how we carry forward information from one life to another, and as we study the power of the Mind, thought and prayer, we can see how this information can be gathered. Jung gave us the term ‘The Collective Unconscious’, or ‘The Universal Mind’, which is another expression of the same thing.