Witches, Demons and the Devil: A Modern View

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Astral Annie

I’m writing this late on a Halloween night when witches, demons and the Devil are said to visit. They apparently come to bring their evil into our homes. This ‘take’ on 31st October has become a popular fantasy.

Yet it’s all based on a historical perspective that oppresses women. Though not a lot of people know or think about that. I also find that most people are unaware of the earlier tradition around this time of the year. It’s a time of ending. The harvest is over and Winter awaits. During the dark time of the year planting and harvesting take a back seat to waiting for the darkness to lift once more. The Celtic festival of Samhain, held on this day, is marking the start of a New Year. A new cycle. In celebrating the ending of the harvest it also honoured those who had died too. Unfortunately the traditions that arose from Samhain crossed swords with the Catholic church in the Middle Ages and the stories of witches were born.

During the Middle Ages thousands of women were tortured and executed because they were said to be witches. I struggle to read the voices in historical records because there is so much cruelty. Women were chattels to be kept in their place. So what better way to deal with an outspoken woman that to accuse her of conjuring demons or the Devil. In a sense I feel very little has actually changed. What we now have is a muddle of commercialised folk-lore where women are still portrayed as the baddies. I feel that the karmic energy of those times is still a vibrant thread right now. A past life as a witch can surface for anyone. Still affecting patterns in this current life.

Karmic patterns take a lot of shifting. Is this why someone who portrayed a witch in a TV series was the one to speak about the sexual abuse of women in Hollywood? Are witches still being persecuted today for being vocal women?

I loved letting my daughter join in trick or treating. She loved dressing up. And still does. I loved being able to approach a new cycle of energy by beginning a period of rest. I still do. And am being made to rest too. But I also recognised that by taking part in a commercial Halloween I was joining in the continued victimisation of women. And I definitely don’t want to do that. I am a ‘Me Too’ woman. So I want to step back from celebrating the death of witches. These women died from the exercise of evil. But it was the evil made by men. Not by a Devil tempting them to wrong doing. There is another reason I want to step back. I don’t feel the need to terrorise myself so that I feel fear.

All of the horror industry is based on the idea of creating fear. Dredging up the dark part of a human mind and sharing it with everyone. I lost my taste for horror movies when I began to realise that all I was doing was being a battery to generate fear. Fear is what keeps women oppressed. The fear that we have no voice or value. Or the fear of our ability to create life. And most of all, especially to the churches, fear of the power of the Divine Mother. Together with that karmic thread of fear about witches there is a cocktail of energy washing over every woman that is enough to make the strongest of us feel weak. Tired. Exhausted. Ready to give up and give in.

It’s time to reclaim witches. I want to identify with their strength. These were wyse women. Women who stood a little outside their communities and spoke as they found.

I would like to see a Halloween celebration of strong, powerful, creative women. As I’m sure that many of these women would have been serving their communities as healers and midwives. I believe these women were beautiful, handsome and fearless. Each in their own way. The aspect of a toothless old crone is a cartoonish portrayal of women who had learned all they needed to know of life by the births and deaths around which their lives centred. I would like to see many more Glinda The Good witches taking part in Halloween. Spreading their kindly and helpful magic to promote positive images of witches.

Finally, all the movies and books portray the return of bad spirits on Halloween. Actually my experience is completely different. My Guides and loved ones are always closer at this time. They come to show me that our worlds are separated by the thinest of energy boundaries. If I sit quietly and pay attention I can spend a few precious moments on their side of the divide. Surrounded by their love I can confirm for myself the existence of an Afterlife. It’s a reminder for me that after this cycle ends there will be a new beginning. In a place where oppression has ended and where I can be valued for being me.

Wyse witches are still with us. Positive and inspirational women who hope to lead the global community of women in rejecting oppression in all its forms. I live with the hope that my daughter’s daughter’s children can celebrate a positive Samhain celebration that places the creativity of women at the forefront of Halloween.

Day 708 of my blogging challenge

Comparing Brings Competition: Collaboration Anyone?

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Astral Annie

About half way through something I used to find myself comparing where I was headed to where I had been. It often brought on a wobble!

Then it would take me ages to refocus on where I was headed. Plus the wobble could be quite uncomfortable as all my fears came out to haunt me. I began to notice my habit of comparing myself or my life with others. Finally I recognised that the only comparisons that were worthwhile centred around how I was doing. I stopped thinking about others and began measuring myself. This technique came back to me more recently when I started a regular exercise routine, I was glad too see that my comparisons where useful for helping me compete with myself. I compete to do something to the best of my ability.

Today was an exercise class. I love using my physical body because it’s the one I chose to have when I was working out my life plan in Spirit. Mostly it has served me well. Now and again it’s had to remind me very strongly that I haven’t been looking after it. But I wouldn’t swap it. It suits me and I’m learning to suit it. Comparing my body to the images that float around me is pointless. All that will happen is that I will start to judge this lovely vehicle. Or become dissatisfied with what I have chosen. I don’t want to do that. I’m sure most people don’t. Yet we are encouraged to compete with one another for a ‘perfect’ body. As if there is only one shape that will do. I though about that again later this afternoon.

When I was a full time counsellor there was a lot of talk about comparing one therapist with another. The idea that some were better than others.

I recall it seemed to bring with it the insidious energy of competition. Listening to debates amongst my colleagues about other people’s abilities it seemed that everyone was ready to judge. Because someone may not have been proficient according to the person doing the judging there was even a quite dismissive attitude. I hated it. Really hated it. All of us have to start somewhere. I had to begin being a therapist, make my share of mistakes and improve as fast as I could. The point was to get better. Not for me to start out a perfect therapist. What was the point of that? And I knew that everyone else was following the same process.

Comparing seemed to lead to people stating their credentials too. A sort of ‘my course is better than your course’ approach. For a long time I wouldn’t use my Masters degree in any of my paperwork. I had obtained it for me. To stretch me. To help me explore and open my mind more. In a qualifications competition I always stood back. Because what mattered was the work I was able to do. Not the level of my qualification. There was an endless rumble of complaint that people were entering counselling and thinking they knew it all after only a few courses. The organisation I belonged to wanted to tighten accreditation. To make my profession a closed shop where only those who conformed could work.

Comparing eventually moved me out of counselling. I didn’t want to compete. I wanted to work with the people I could help.

So I started to see people using my mediumship instead. That was an interesting experience. Stepping out of the competition led me to appreciate how much my work is actually a collaboration. Any of my work. In the end, I can’t do anything if the Spirit people don’t step forward. And I can’t pass on messages if there is no one for the Spirit person to talk to. Of course, that is exactly like life. No matter what I’m doing it will end up a collaboration somewhere along the line. Yet it’s still up to me to make sure I am doing my best in the moment. That’s where I’m happy to compete with myself.

Can I make a better connection? Am I able to give more detailed evidence? Do I need to reflect on the way someone received the message? And a whole load of other questions. Unfortunately I find that there are still judgements being made. Just like in my counselling profession there are people practicing mediumship who have fixed ideas about who else can do so. Fixed ideas about where they should have trained. Opinions about the work of others who have to start somewhere. I’m sure the Guides are encouraging and helping everyone to develop to the best of their ability. But not everyone is there yet. Mediumship is still a misunderstood ability.

There is a great opportunity here. Not to introduce restrictive practises. Or assume that connecting with Energy Beings is only the right of those in certain parts of the Spiritualist Movement. The opportunity is to support, assist and inspire those who are currently at the beginning of the process. Keeping people out will only lead to competition. Comparing is only useful when collaboration is the goal. It’s time to be inclusive instead!

Day 707 of my blogging challenge

Return To Sender? The Pain Of Love

Posted on October 30, 2017 by Astral Annie

I had a couple of conversations today about love. Whether We get a return of love and why love is painful. All about the absence of love. And how much that can hurt a human heart.

If fact, how it’s said we might die for or of love. So love, that most inspiring and precious of feelings, is also toxic in some way. Later in the afternoon I was thinking about those conversations. I’m always one to bounce difficult questions to my Guides. So we have had many chats about the purpose and nature of love. I’ve written about some of them before. But this little thought train refused to go away. In fact I kept hearing the lyrics from an Elvis song. “ Return to sender, address unknown. No such number, no such zone. We had a quarrel, a lover’s spat, I write I’m sorry but my letter keeps coming back.” How many times have I rejected love? Or had my love rejected?

Not only romantic love either. Family love. Friendship love. All sorts of situations I’ve found myself in when I’ve wanted to make a connection to another’s human being. And all sorts of situations where what I did was return the opposite of love to the person or people involved. Putting myself through pain. Ignoring that others might be feeling pain too. All my little acts that showed I actually didn’t love the person who was busy loving me. Like a constant trade. Loving someone who didn’t love me. Demanding from but not loving the people who loved me. A swirling circle of energy spiralling lower and lower. Until I was in a place where there seemed to be no love left at all. Least of all for myself.

Today I asked my Guides why it was so easy to discover the absence of love and to sink into the pain of love not returned. Why was that a part of my life?

As always they approached this in a very loving way. They have told me many times that this experience of human life is so that the Spirit can learn about the absence of love. In the Afterlife unconditional love is the guiding force holding the whole of the community together. To experience anything else the Spirit has to take a trip to a place where love is conditional. That’s our human reality right now. Being here actually helps my Spirit to keep choosing unconditional love in the Spirit World. But here the choice is different. I can experience love or it’s absence. It’s up to my free will to decide what I have. And to sort out how much or how little pain I feel.

That’s because I can look at love as something to give and receive in equal measure amongst all the people I connect to. Or I can view love as something that is in limited supply so it has to be earned, collected, hoarded and returned. If others don’t return the love I can shut down giving or getting love. I can stop loving myself. And that can become painful. But my Guides are keen to point out the fatal flaw I sometimes trip up over. I can’t give love to anyone unless I know how to give it to myself. Because, they say, it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. And I have to consider all those times I’ve thrown the opportunity for love away. Fearing to get hurt. Thinking I’m stopping myself from feeling pain.

They keep reminding me to learn to love myself. All that I am. Not to return to the pain of the past. But to keep an open heart so any love energy passing through will fill me up too.

That can feel difficult. I know that this tricky energy called love takes many forms. So I have to love the child and teenager still within me as much as the adult me tryping these words. I have to love the irritating me who always likes to be right. And the me who gets in a flap when a deadline is looming. Or the me who wants to shout at the TV when men are telling me how it feels to be a woman or to experience life as a woman. The ignorant, intolerant, angry, judgemental me who shouts out from a corner of my mind that she hasn’t really gone away. Until I can embrace all of myself, surround myself in unconditional love then I’m not ready for the bigger challenge.

The greatest test of love. Loving all those people who don’t return my love. And all the people who want me to be something I’m not. Plus those who want me to give endlessly as a sign of my love for them but who resist giving anything back to me. All the people who returned to sender and let a quarrel end the relationship. Those who judged me and decided not to find any love for me. And those who knew I loved them but decided not to love back. They may all have had their reasons. I have to look carefully at any pain I might feel from the lack of their love. The pain I feel is showing me the gap in my loving of me. The bit of me I’m not embracing and loving enough.

A return of love is a boost. I also see that the absence of love is a gift to show me where I have to love me more. Because that will help me to send loving, positive energy to those who don’t love themselves enough to share the love we can all have. My Guides tell me that when we have all learned how to return love to ourselves and others in any circumstances we will have made a heaven here on Earth.

Day 706 of my blogging challenge

Excited? Stepping Past The Wobbles

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Astral Annie

What am I excited about? Today I realised that I had manage to step past another major wobble. I felt it beginning, remembered my intention and sent the wobble away. Progress at last!

I had a conversation this afternoon that really made me think about the process of change. And get excited. It was all about deciding to have a baby. I remember before I decided to have a baby I wanted to sort all the things out that would have to change. After all, I didn’t know how my body would respond to being pregnant. Or what work I would be able to do for the nine months of being pregnant. How much morning sickness would I have to deal with? What weight would I gain? Could I get enough sleep? Never mind all the issues about being a major wage earner and balancing the finances whilst I was unable to work. Then there were issues about my business. It’s my career but I would have to park it for at least a little while. It was exciting. But also challenging.

And it seemed as if I got all the down sides of having a baby. My partner could continue to work as normal and stay on a career track of his choosing. He wouldn’t be the one throwing up every morning or trying to adjust to a new centre of gravity when his body changed shape. He would also have his own income and I would have to depend on him for mine. Yet I knew I wanted to have a baby. We both did. Discussing this choice I know we both felt the excitement. The thrill of new life. I was excited about making our family bigger. So all of the resistance my mind threw up, the doubts and questions, gradually subsided. I had a baby. It was wonderful. But it was also nothing like I had imagined.

All that careful planning and the stressing about the detail went out the window. Though I was excited to begin a new life with my child.

What I hadn’t expected was the significant adjustments I had to make to my whole way of being. Baby certainly came first. Instinctively. Anything I had prioritised for me dropped off the list. The challenge of changing took a lot longer to settle out. Leaving me very wobbly at times. Working to adjust to a lot of unexpected outcomes. And being very stressed about the whole reality of motherhood. I know my confidence took a big blow. Not only because my life had changed out of all recognition. But also because I continually judged my performance as a mother. Excited? No, terrified! Of course I eventually sorted myself out. I saw that my child was surviving in my care and my confidence returned. Life settled back down.

That’s what happens when we change. I know all about the resistance I put up, then the wobbles and finally becoming accustomed to the new state of being. So I’ve learned to look very closely at myself when change is happening. There is a point when I realise I’m excited about what is happening. I can see the glimmers of the future me emerging out of the gloom of wobbles I’ve surrounded myself with. That first tiny fluttering of butterflies. A little ‘Yippee’ feeling about the time when I’m living my revised life. I also notice that I’m doing lots of ‘not planning’. In other words everything seems to be coming together all by itself. And the wobbles are getting less and less with every step I take towards my new life.

Now I know that getting excited as soon as possible when making changes can really balance out the wobbles. It gives me something to focus on instead of dread. As I step into my new life, birthing my new creations, I’m uncertain how things will shape up but very certain I will enjoy the outcomes. Thank you excitement!

Day 705 of my blogging challenge

Curl Up With A Good Book? A Life Habit

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Astral Annie

I love to curl up with a good book. I’ve blogged before about my love for books and my passion for the written word. It’s my favourite form of escapism!

This week I’ve had a chance to curl up with several books. As I moved from one to the next I though about my lifelong habit of reading. It’s something I learned at my mother’s knee. Literally. She read to me and my siblings all the time. Or at least for as long as we could sit still. In primary school I used to love the end of the day. Especially when the nights were drawing in and the classroom became a cosy oasis of light against the dark outside the window. Before we went home the teacher would always read a story. I remember all of us sitting around her in a circle whilst the latest book was performed for us. I could drift away to another world and forget about the walk home in the dark.

There were fantastical stories, tales of adventure and warm, heartfelt plots about ordinary lives. As I grew older I found that I also enjoyed curling up in the library with factual books. Biographies, how to’s and why books. History, travel and instruction books. I discovered that there was an amazing amount of information between the covers of even the most ordinary titles. By the time I was in college I had discovered books about subjects I was learning. Books that were there to teach, enlighten, open my mind to some aspect of my world. I enjoyed curling ups with textbooks and lightening their impact with the odd funny or fiction book.

Then I discovered that many successful people also like to curl up with a good book. It isn’t always a work of fiction but reading books definitely features in their top ten habits.

What a great reason to read. Spending time finding out new stuff, indulging my imagination and relaxing can all help me be successful. Actually I have to say it’s also true. When I began to experience contact from the Spirit World the first thing I did was threw myself into a reading frenzy. I took every opportunity to curl up with books about the history of the Spiritualist Movement. Biographies and autobiographies of mediums, some well known, some not. Plenty of how to books. Even more that seemed to be how not to books. And a very wide ranging selection of books about the evidence for or against mediumship. I loved it. Because I know it is my preferred way of exploring anything new.

However, as with anything that requires action, I ended up putting the books down. Whilst I love reading it can’t replace actual experience. It’s exactly the same with the internet. Virtual worlds are fab (or not so fab if you’re running away from living your life) but they don’t pay the bills (unless you have sold them to others). So at some point what all successful people do is put their knowledge into practice. They go and have experiences. The live their lives. I knew that I couldn’t just curl up with a book about mediumship and have the sort of experiences I wanted. After all, I was hoping to feel, sense, see or hear Spirit people for myself. I feel I have been very successful with doing that. It’s become my passion.

Finally, I believe that books open our minds. I like to encourage people to curl up with a book. Let it inspire, teach or entertain you whilst you work out how to apply your abilities to being successful in what you do. So, what are you going to read next?

Day 704 of my blogging challenge

Teeth, Laughter, Wisdom: A Year Of Change

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Astral Annie

I feel like I’ve got through this year by the skin of my teeth. And I’m glad I’ve been able to laught about it all. Because learning wisdom can be hard work.

I was reminded about my year this afternoon when I lost one of my front teeth. It fell out. Easily and unexpectedly, it was no longer in place. I admit that it had been a bit wobbly. However, I wasn’t planning to part company with it just yet. That also made it the third tooth that came out all by itself this year. Two wisdom teeth also jumped ship. Leaving me to wonder if I was gaining or losing wisdom as the year unfolded. Yet I also thought about all of the clearing I’ve been doing. Especially about learning to laugh at the ups and downs I create in my life. And understanding when and where I’ve held myself back. Perhaps even gritted my teeth to hold on to things that should be well back in my past.

I know that the year is almost over. I’m heading into the reflective part of the cycle. A time to slow down and plan for my future until the energy of Spring gets me off and moving again. Time to think about the bits of me I’ve lost easily. To think about my wobbles. And to notice when letting go was very easy. I laughed at the way I’ve sunk my teeth into some of the challenges. Grinned about the way I’ve wobbled all over the place. And seen the wisdom of taking action, any action, instead of dithering and worrying. I know I have learned to step lightly through my life. It’s not as serious as I sometimes believe it to be. In the end it comes down to being happy with life the way it is. And making sure that I live it to the full.

I’ve had several conversations this week about being 90. What do I want to be saying to myself then? That my life was safe, restricted and full of regret? Or that I lived and experienced as much as I could? Will I have been happy? Teeth really don’t matter. Living a laughter filled life does.

Day 703 of my blogging challenge

My Gift From The Spirit World: Trance Mediumship

Posted on October 25, 2017 by Astral Annie

I’m writing this very late tonight because I’m still floating gently down from a trance demonstration. A gift the Spirit World gave me eleven years ago and one I adore.

Back in 2006, before I had done anything about my Mediumship, I went on a workshop at a local Spiritualist church. It was all about Trance Mediumship and run by someone I later realised was very well known, Jean Duncan. In fact it was my first ever public demonstration as she selected me to sit in a cabinet and have a go at seeing if any Spirits would channel through me. When they did I was amazed. That was when I began researching this form of mediumship. And when I started practicing. A few weeks later I also started to develop what became my public mediumship too. In the last eleven years I have done a few trance demonstrations but tonight I felt I had come full circle. My gift from them has kept on giving.

Back at Keighley Spiritualist Church once more I was delighted that the Spirit World popped in to show themselves. I understand from the feedback that people saw relatives, got confirmations and were able to reassure themselves that their loved ones were well. It’s wonderful to be able to give people something back. I also felt really priveledged to work briefly with Jean Duncan once more. As well as my regular Guides Emma Hardinge Britten and Gordon Higginson. Another gift from the Spirit World indeed. I also know from tonight that my efforts to sit for direct voice, a form of physical mediumship, are being rewarded. Along with the work the Spirit World are doing to manifest energy figures during my demonstrations.

I have a feeling that there will be a lot more opportunities for me to continue developing my Trance mediumship. It was a gift to see so many people in the church. And to share what I can of the work of the Spirit World. So I will sleep well tonight knowing I have worked to the best of my ability this evening. That’s all I ever ask.

Day 702 of my blogging challenge

Right Order: A Message About Getting Clear

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Astral Annie

I like to take an oracle card every now and then. When it feels right. So that I can recieve a message from my intuition, my loved ones in Spirit or my Guides.

I enjoy the apparent randomness of looking at a card and realising that it makes perfect sense. It’s one of the intriguing things that got me hooked right at the beginning of my interest in the intuitive world. I couldn’t imagine how every card seemed to make such good sense. Even when I was selecting them for my friends. And then total strangers as I moved into doing card readings. Yet the messages were really clear. After much debate with my Guides I finally learned to trust that oracle cards, a psychic intuitive tool, would also respond to the energy around and within me. Or the people around me.

I tested the readings for a long while. Making careful notes I waited to see if the messages came out right. I’m not sure what I expected. I tried hard not to make things fit with my expectations or interpretations. So I tried to forget the detail of the cards. In that way I though wouldn’t be influencing outcomes. I really didn’t want it to be me trying to make the messages come out right. Over time I understood that the cards gave me the energy of the moment. But it was still up to me to make the choices that took me forward in my life. If I wandered off on a different path then the information from the cards might not hold good. So the cards become little boosters. Prompts to me to keep me positive and on track.

Today’s card is Right Order. A reminder that it’s time to put things in their proper place in my physical world.

I’ve been clearing out the clutter for a few months now in my home and my Centre. Looking at everything I own with a fresh pair of eyes. And asking myself if it’s right to keep this or that. Because my personal possessions are full of energy. Energy that can be fixed in the past, or energy that is stuck and no longer appropriate. Some of my things are energetically flat. The energy has gone or been drained away. Even as there are some items that still radiate the energy that I require. In fact I love that my crystals always tell me when they need to move on and be somewhere new. That doesn’t necessarily mean still with me.

Now I’m also listening to the energy of my books, CDs, clothes and furniture. Anything that I own at the present time. Working out what I want to keep and what can be redistributed. At the same time I’m also working through paperwork, storage boxes and the layout of my personal spaces. Of course, moving all this stuff is bringing the dust and cobwebs to light. So there is cleaning as well as clearing going on. I want to feel that I’m surrounded by the right energy. It feels liberating. To let go of all the unwanted stuff and make space in my physical world. I am excited about what might find it’s way into my possession for my onward journey. A bit like opening a suitcase the Universe has packed for me. Seeing all the wonderful things inside.

When everything is in it’s right order I know that I will be delivering on the things I am here to do. Living to the best of my ability. Using my abilities to the full. That feels really right for me. How about you? Do you need to get things in order at the moment?

Day 701 of my blogging challenge

Another Milestone: Speaking Up And Out

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Astral Annie

I’ve been thinking about passing another milestone. A marker of my progress towards my authentic self. How different my voice has become through my writing practice.

It’s been an interesting journey. From the scared to the confident. From ‘can I really say this’ to claiming my subject matter without hesitation. Past the wondering if people will read my blog to not caring if they do or don’t. All along the way I have been trying to reach the authentic words that live inside of me. The words that define what I believe and create with. A journey into me. Not to notice only the words I like about myself but to uncover the words underneath. All the little vocal sub routines that stop me being who I really am. Knowing that if I find them I will want to reshape them. To be, as my counselling self would say, congruent. Feeling, thinking, acting the same as my principles. Not an easy piece of work. A big milestone.

I set off on this journey on a tide of irritation. I’d watched a TV programme that seemed to have gone out of it’s way to find people who expressed their psychic selves in ways that the makers could easily ridicule. I know I was fed up of being expected to dress in black, or have bangles and jangly earnings, even to behave as if the Spirit people couldn’t shut up in every conversation. I felt it deeply. What I saw wasn’t me at all. Yet I wore the same label. However, I was an ordinary person doing extraordinary things. Things I knew everyone could do if they wanted to. I suppose that isn’t good television. And the programmes create such a lot of misunderstanding. Don’t get me wrong. I love that people are aware of psychics and mediums and ask questions. If only the answers given were more straightforward.

So my first milestone was to get thirty blogs done. My second was to talk about my life as a psychic and medium.

By the end of a month my third milestone was to keep on going for another nine hundred and seventy one blogs. As I passed the half way point of my daily blog target I realised that I was developing my writing voice. The blogs behind me were slowly revealing my true nature. Instead of being ‘how to’ pieces they were the review of my day. Inspired by conversations, feelings, thoughts and experiences I had. That’s when I decided to put a book together. As if, by exploring another writing path I could get extra practise at speaking for myself. In the end the book emerged. Not a reworking of my blogs. But a record of my journey into mediumship.

I feel it was another milestone in my progress to live in my intuitive world. To be brave enough to speak about how I ended up here and why. A counter-balance to the stereotype that psychic medium brings to mind. And the blogging continued. At the start of this year I found another milestone. A desire to help other women bring their writing voices to the table. To break the wall of silence imposed on intelligent, articulate women who didn’t believe it was ok to be themselves. Inspired 2 Write will have it’s sixth challenge next month. The voices that are emerging are speaking up and speaking out about women’s lives, our intuitive selves, in a different way. A powerful way.

So I’ve set myself another milestone for next year. To bring together an Inspired 2 Write weekend for women. Another opportunity to hear my writing voice alongside those of other women.

It’s really necessary at the moment. The truth about what affects the lives of all women is being revealed. The recognition that women stay silent whilst they are disrespected and abused. A feeling of not rocking the boat. Even of powerlessness. The idea that sexual harassment is a normal, everyday occurrence and women just have to put up with it. Recognising the little voice screaming inside to be heard. This is not about men and what they can do. It’s about the experience of being a woman. And what I can do. Not only feeling irritated enough about the label psychic to challenge it but also inspired enough to challlenge the label ‘woman’.

I know that my blogs don’t always draw people to read them. I can see the website stats. After all I’m not posting about things that go bump in the night. Or Spirits that won’t leave me alone. Nor the tragedies inherent in the messages I give. That’s not my experience of the intuitive world so I don’t write about it that way. I’m proud of fact that my writing voice is clear, down to earth and getting stronger. That I keep putting in another milestone. Now I’ve also set myself the challenge to explore what being psychic adds to being a woman. I’m going to deal with all the energy of oppression that I have soaked up in my life. I’m not sure how but it seems like a good thing to do. Another part of my journey to bring out my authentic self.

Milestones are way markers showing me how I am growing. I’ve passed a few very important ones in order to speak up and speak out. Now I’m ready to head towards the ones that release me from silence on subjects people prefer not to talk about.

Day 700 of my blogging challenge

Feeling Strong: Letting The True You Through

Posted on October 22, 2017 by Astral Annie

The wind was really strong last night. As I lay in bed listening to it shaking the trees I thought about how powerfully it can blow across the land.

I’m an air sign. I love being outside when the wind is blowing. Even when it’s so strong I struggle to stand steady. I also enjoy feeling the cleansing energy of the wind as it rushes around me removing any cobwebs. The storm last night reminded me that I have been removing layers of stuck energy for most of this year. That’s what has made it such a challenging one. Yet underneath all of the stuckness I’m getting a real sense of who I actually am. And I love her. The me that is emerging is so much fun. She’s strong too. Ready for any challenge.

That’s a good thing. Because I’m almost at the end of this period of changes. Anything not yet shifted will linger to trip me up over the next nine years. So I’m grateful for the wild and windy weather. It’s encouraging me to check what is still stuck. So I can shift it, clear it, release it. I want the tirue me to have the space to grow and develop much more. Letting the gales of change energy blast me will make sure I have many more options. So I’m standing strong and steady which ever way the wind is blowing. I’m using visualIsation to keep my dreams in focus. As well as making sure I enjoy the moment. Being in the Now is a great way to notice how I’m different. It also lets me understand what I still want to change.

When I pay attention to my true self I feel strong. I recognise that I can survive any gusts and storms coming my way. In the calm after the storms I will still be standing strong, loving myself and able to contribute my abilities to my tribe. So blow wind, blow. I want to grow!

Day 699 of my blogging challenge

Annie Conboy

Down 2 Earth in everything she does!

Monthly Archives: October 2017