Volume III, Issue 29 August 2 , 2002
Happy Lammas all,
Today has been one of those days. You know the type where you just wish you
could crawl back under the covers and stay there until it gets better? I
hadn’t been up much longer then an hour when several things just kept going
wrong. I think the most irritating thing though is I couldn’t find my brand
new "so Mom actually has a hammer when she needs one" hammer so that I could
nail up the house number I bought.
When I bought the hammer my husband asked me" if a coffee cup wasn’t good
enough," and said "next thing you know I will want a real screwdriver
instead of a butter knife." I told him that’s right when the end of
civilization comes I am not going to come out of the house carrying a coffee
cup and a butter knife and tell anyone "We can build a better world!" (It is
a reference to an old Tim Allen joke.)
I plan on grilling the children on the case of the disappearing hammer as
soon they wake up but I don't plan on waking them just yet. I am sort of
enjoying the peace and quiet for once.
The first thing I had to do this morning was run to the store to buy cat
food. I gave the cats the last of what we had after the store closed last
night and I refuse to pay five bucks for a small bag at the convenience
store ever again. It isn’t as if they were starving to death when I woke up
no matter what they claimed. They still had food in the bottom of their dish
10 minutes would not see the end of civilization as they knew it.
Fortunately one thing I didn’t have to worry about this week was something
for the "article" section. I had begged Kevin to reprint a meditation he had
sent out earlier this week.
(Final note: My hammer turned up as soon as I questioned the first child
this morning. What is it about kids and hammers?)
Anyway that is all for now,
So until next time,
Sheila K. Watkins
Editor: Whispers of a Stone Circle
See last page of this newsletter for submission guidelines, forwarding
guidelines, where you can subscribe to Whispers and copyright information.
~*~*~*~
Mairwen's Brownies
When I was learning to cook, I got these from a cookbook printed in 1926.
They come out a bit differently each time you make them, but they're
delicious!!
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup shortening (softened)
preheat oven to 350*
grease and flour 9x9 baking dish
Mix dry ingredients together. Blend together eggs and shortening, then pour
into dry ingredients. Mix (by hand or by mixer) together until well blended.
Pour into 9x9 baking dish and bake for 20-30 minutes.
The "toothpick test" does not work for these brownies. They're done when the
center is firm and the edges have pulled slightly from the pan. Do not bake
over 30 minutes!
For a real treat, brush a small amount of melted butter over brownies after
removing them from the oven - and serve the slices under a scoop of vanilla
ice cream.
~*~*~*~
Cool Link(s) of the week:
A mixed up mess of various topics
NASA Visible Earth "a searchable directory of images, visualizations, and
animations of the earth."
The UT System Crash Course in Copyright: A tutorial for faculty on what they
can and can't do, on campus and in distance education: what is fair use, how
do you find out who owns what, what licensing resources are available, and
more.
Best of History Web Sites: This site provides categorized links to hundreds
of "history-related web sites that have been reviewed for quality, accuracy
and usefulness."
Wild About Mushrooms: The Cookbook of the Mycological Society of San
Francisco Online reprint of the 1987 book about mushrooms.
~*~*~*~
A guided meditation for seeking one's psychic center
By Kevin Romaine (Sings With Coyotes)
This is a meditation I have used, with variations, for a couple of years
now. I sent it to a friend of mine who was having similar trouble getting
into the frame of mind for divination. Later, when someone else asked for
it, I realized I had forgotten to save it for myself! I asked my friend and
she e-mailed it back to me.
I think that getting your mind to the state that allows the vision trance is
really a matter of finding the still, quiet, centered place in your mind.
It's when you can hear the silence within the noise that you allow yourself
to see the unseen. To do this with another, you must, as the Seer, also take
them to the stillpoint within. With experienced people, who already know how
to look within themselves and their own mind, I have jumped almost
immediately into vision. With those still seeking their own center, a guided
meditation is essential to get them, and yourself, into a state of resonant
psychism. This is the one I often use.
(You may close your eyes while doing this; a suggestion--read this slowly
and in a measured voice while recording it on audio tape, and then play it
back to yourself)
You are standing on a windswept, grassy hillside. The breezes blowing
through the grass and your hair and the leaves on the trees are the thoughts
of your surface mind, tempestuous and chaotic. Your inner eye sweeps across
the hillside, and you see a cavern opening into the earth. You enter this
cavern, and begin a descent downward, leaving behind the wild winds of
everyday existence. The tunnel spirals down into the earth, deeper and
deeper, delving into the hidden places of your mind, the ore veins and
crystal streams of the ancient part of your mind, a legacy of the simpler
minds that evolved before you. The descent takes you deeper and deeper,
finally the tunnel opens into a larger cavern, lit by a silvery light, not
of the moon and not of the stars. In the midst of this cavern is a still
pool of cool, clear water, and you go to it, dipping your cupped hands in
and drinking deeply. The water is crisp and refreshing, tasting of the bones
of the earth. You feel totally at peace with yourself, in this place deep
within your mind, a secret sanctum, with its treasure the Well of Serenity.
From this place, you know that you are able to venture out into the unknown
landscapes of your mind or another’s, for this is a place shared by all, a
restful grotto at the heart of all souls. You now take another drink from
the pool, to fix in your mind the silky texture of the water, and then begin
the journey back to the surface of your mind. Up, up, up the spiral you go,
finding your way by the green earthlight you now are able to see. Upward you
go, and then you emerge from the cavern, blinking as your eyes readjust to
the bright light of day. The winds of your thoughts are yet blowing across
the grassy hillside, but now you see patterns within the waving grasses, and
now have knowledge of the way down into your mind to a quiet, restful,
serene refuge.
(Take a few moments now to bring yourself fully back to yourself.)
I think this would work all by itself or in conjunction with a familiar
method of divination.
~*~*~*~
Announcement(s):
From: action@d...
To: aclu_list@c...
To: ACLU Action Network
FR: Damon Moglen, National Field Coordinator
DT: July 24, 2002
In the last several days, a national firestorm has started to build around a
program proposed by President Bush to recruit one million volunteers to act
as spies and informants against their neighbors. Under the proposed program
-- which the President is calling Operation TIPS -- the government would
recruit letter carriers, utility workers, cable installers, and others whose
jobs allow them access to private residences to report "suspicious
activities."
But the plan has run into trouble in Congress. The House is moving to reject
the President's program. It is not clear what the Senate will do, but it is
likely to vote on the bill in the coming days. The fate of this deeply
misguided program could very well rest with the Senate.
Take Action! Your Senators will play a key role in deciding whether or not
Operation TIPS will go ahead. You can read more and send a FREE FAX to your
Senators, urging them to reject this misguided program, from our action
alert at:
Other related issues:
Urge Congress to Protect Against Domestic Spying!
Attorney General John Ashcroft has gutted restrictions on the FBI's spying
on domestic religious and political organizations, and even individuals.
For an example of past FBI misconduct, see the homepage for court case Judy
Bari (Earth First! organizer) vs. FBI at:
Homeland Security Department Must Be Open and Accountable
President Bush's Faith-Based Initiative
~*~*~*~
Writer's Biographies:
Mairwen has been a Craft Practitioner for 13 years, and was formally
initiated into Trefn Gwyddoniad at Beltaine 1995. She co-founded The College
of the Blue Butterfly with Sebastio, High Priest, at Bridget's Fire 1996. As
of Yule 2000, she was recognized as an Elder of the Gwyddon Craft. More
recently, she received her Druid Masters after four years of study. More
information on the Gwyddon Craft may be found at:
Sings With Coyotes /Kevin Romaine lives in rural Iowa. He is a well-regarded
reader of the Tarot and crystal ball. He likes cooking for Pagans, sews his
own and others' ritual garb, and is the organizer of BBMMDM for 2002.
Sheila K. Watkins knew from the time she was 15 that she wanted to be a
writer but did not really start writing until she entered college where she
worked on her college newspaper and also worked as the editor of the feature
section for one semester. She was also introduced to the love of writing
poetry at this time. Fortunately for all of us most of the poems have been
lost to the world of men. After college she worked several jobs during the
next few years but none included writing. It wasn’t until after both of her
children had started school in 1998 that she went back to her love of
putting words on a computer screen. Her first submission was accepted by
publication by the IOWAN newsletter and it started her on the path of truly
honing her work. In October of 2000, she founded and became editor of
Whispers of a Stone Circle.
~*~*~*~
Submissions are always welcomed and can be made to: Zeliziw@n...
In submitting materials writers are agreeing that if accepted I may post
them in the newsletter and on the web page (whenever I finally get back to
work on it.) Works submitted must be the writer’s own work and they must
still retain the copyright OR it must be verifiably public domain. Works can
have been published before but please nothing that has been around over and
over again. Copyright remains in the author’s possession. The Author also
realizes that they will not be paid. (If I had money I would be hosting this
on something other then Yahoo.) If a submission is accepted, I will check
for punctuation, capitalization and spelling in submitted articles. I will
fix minor errors if they are present. I will NOT reword things (except for
an occasional "an" for "a" and vice versa.) Poems are published as
submitted.
Forwarding information: If you chose to forward this newsletter, do so in
its entirety, including copyright and contact information. People may
subscribe to Whispers of A Stone Circle at:
All articles, poems, etc, except where noted are copyrighted by the writers
and are used with permission. They are not to be republished without the
express permission of the writers. Contact information may be obtained by
contacting the editor of Whispers of A Stone Circle at Zeliziw@n...
Copyright (c) 2002 Sheila K. Watson. All Rights Reserved