The Cure For The Common Cold?

I have a cold – my third cold this year, to be precise. I am not happy. Instead, I am, quite literally, sick and tired! For me, this is a very unusual situation, as I hardly get sick. In fact, prior to this spate of colds, I hadn’t been ill for about two years. I thought I’d discovered the cure for the common cold! Actually, I still think I have; I just haven’t been applying my own knowledge…. So, here, without further ado, is Mags’ Theory On The Common Cold. The Nobel Committee is welcome to email me to make arrangements for me to collect my award for services to humanity :).

The principles of the field of Energy Medicine, along with the tenets of teachings such as The Law Of Attraction, focus on the fact that our bodies reflect what is going on for us at the levels of our mind and spirit. All illnesses therefore reflect certain beliefs that we hold or a soul-level issue that is currently a challenge for us.

Let’s look at the area of beliefs first. In terms of a cold specifically, I’ve noticed many people espouse beliefs such as: "When the seasons change, then I get a cold", "When other people are sick around me, then I get a cold", and "When I’m out in the chilly weather, then I get a cold".

This seems like common sense, and it matches many people’s experiences of catching a cold. But is it the truth? I would argue that it can be your truth if that’s what you choose to believe. I would argue that you can choose differently. I did. For example, last year, as winter slowly relinquished its chilly hold on us, many people got sick with colds and flu. My husband and I were catching public transport a great deal, and I lost count of how many times we were sneezed on and coughed on in the crowded buses. My husband kept on saying things like, “Oh, it’s just a matter of time before we come down with this as well.” My reply went something like, “I choose perfect health regardless of what germs are in the air or what other people’s bodies are doing. My body remains immune and healthy.” My husband got sick. I didn’t.

So why, if I have chosen not to conform to society’s beliefs about when and how I should catch a cold, am I sick now for the third time in as many months? Well, for me, this series of colds is not about beliefs such as those mentioned above, but is instead about larger soul-level issues with which I am currently grappling.

For example, cold number one happened at the same time as we had a couple of groups of house-guests come to stay with us. Don’t get me wrong – I dearly love the people who came to stay with us. For me, though, an ongoing issue has always been one of personal space and setting boundaries. When it’s just my husband and me in our home, we have a fairly uncluttered peaceful space; when we have houseguests, that all gets disrupted :). It can be fun, but it is also definitely chaotic! As the chaos took over, I started to feel claustrophobic, and the phrase “I can’t breathe” kept running through my head. Lo and behold, what should manifest out of that but a cold – I didn’t feel sick anywhere else in my body apart from having a very blocked nose. I literally couldn’t breathe!

Cold number two was also related to boundaries, but in a slightly different way. We had a surprise visit from some friends. I had hoped for a quiet evening and an early night as I was tired after a busy day, but as the evening wore on, I could tell that these friends were hoping to stay for supper and were settling in for the evening. I should know by now that not speaking up when I should about something results in me getting a sore throat, as the throat chakra corresponds to communication. As I’ve been working on this issue for pretty much my whole life, I actually do also know by now how to gently and kindly, but firmly, assert my boundaries. You do teach people how to treat you, after all. Yet, for some reason, this particular night, I chose not to put any of this into practice. I think I felt guilty at wanting to be selfish, as we hadn’t seen these people for a while. However, as the evening wore on (and on and on!), I got more and more upset, and old scripts related to others’ lack of consideration for me returned with a vengeance, until I was eventually screaming at them (in my head only, that is!) to please leave. And still, I chose to remain polite and not say anything. They eventually left, and I woke up the next morning with a sore throat.

Cold number three has arrived at a time when I am working on moving energy in an area of my life which has been quite stagnant. I’ve started a new project, and have been quite excited at the creative flow getting going again. To get the energy moving again has meant getting rid of some of the old “gunk” attached to it, and the cold has been a manifestation of this.

So, as unpleasant as three colds in three months has been, they have certainly taught me a great deal about work that I still need to do in certain areas of my life. I’d better put my own preachings into practice now – I’ve had enough colds lately to last me the rest of the year, if not the rest of my life!

Ask Mags: Can Dreams Predict The Future?

I had a dream about a week ago, and I think it came true… a few days after the dream a related event happened in my life. It was somewhat similar to my dream, but not exactly the same – different place, different people, but the same general topic. Did I predict the future?

I think that some people do experience prophetic dreams, in which they see an event occurring as it then later unfolds in the physical world. In these cases, the match between the dream and later physical reality is pretty much exact. I’m not sure how and why such dreams occur. One of my theories here is that because time doesn’t exist on the non-physical plane, the dreamer is able to “remember” the future in much the same way as we can remember the past.

However, I think that most dreams that people assume to be prophetic actually aren’t. We exist on different levels – in simple terms these are body, mind and soul. Our body (and our extended physical environment) acts as a mirror, reflecting back to us what is happening at the level of our minds (thoughts). In turn, our mind acts as a mirror, reflecting back to us what is happening at the level of our soul. Because energy is denser on the physical plane, it takes longer for our soul level to be reflected in the physical than it does in the mental plane. These reflections are useful to us when we are working through an issue of some kind in our soul’s development. As our thoughts are accessible to us and effects on our bodies and environment are visible, we can use these reflections to help us see what actions we need to take at soul level to resolve the issue and grow further. As we change and grow on a soul level, so too do our minds and life circumstances change accordingly to reflect the new soul reality. Those of you who have studied The Law Of Attraction and are applying it in your lives, will recognise the principles of those teachings here: thoughts become things, and in turn thoughts reflect our level of conscious awareness and alignment to Divine Energy (such as Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, Divine Power and Divine Abundance).

So, how does this all relate to dreams? Well, since our soul level is first and foremost reflected in the mind, and this is the level at which dreams take place, it stands to reason that our dreams can provide clues regarding what is happening for us at soul level. When we are out of alignment with Divine Energy, dreams can act as “early warning systems” – if we can pick up on what our dreams are telling us and change our thought patterns, we are likely to resolve our soul level issues at this point. If we ignore our dreams, however, and don’t change our thought patterns, then things and experiences manifest into the physical level that are a vibrational match for us at a soul level. For example, our bodies will get ill, or we will experience negative events in our environment. Of course, if we are in alignment with Divine Energy at a soul level, our dreams and physical reality will also reflect this. For example, alignment with the energy of Divine Abundance is mirrored in an abundant mindset and ultimately results in bodily health and material wealth on the physical plane.

As a result of this, my feeling is that dreams that match a later physical event in terms of broad subject matter only (in other words, the physical event is not a step-by-step and word-for-word reproduction of the dream) are not prophetic. We assume that they are because the dream happened before the physical event, but it is probably more accurate to say that the two are simply effects of the same spiritual cause, one seemingly occurring before the other purely as a result of the fact that it takes longer to manifest things on the denser physical plane.

I'd be interested to hear others' take on the subject - let me know what you think!

Andrea Hess: Unlock Your Intuition

Andrea Hess is one of my favourite people :). I’ve been an avid reader of her blog for a while now, and I can honestly say that Andrea’s articles have played a big role in helping me to align with my highest path and purpose. Even though I came to Andrea’s site already fairly familiar with my own intuitive abilities, I have had quite a few “a-ha!” moments while reading through Andrea’s blog, and my spiritual growth has progressed in leaps and bounds as a result. It was no surprise that I therefore jumped at the chance to purchase Andrea’s book when it came out!

Unlock Your Intuition is best used as a workbook. It is full of practical exercises to help you to hone your intuitive ability to the point where you can easily and reliably access it when you need it. I tend to read books straight through fairly quickly when I first get them, as I like to get the framework of the material in my head before I dig deeper into the nitty-gritty of the information. I did this with Andrea’s book, skimming through each of the exercises – but since then, I’ve been going back (and back and back!) to the book, doing the exercises and adding new layers to my intuitive ability each time.

The book begins by focusing on the practice of divination, either dowsing using a pendulum or with a simple muscle testing exercise that you can perform alone. I would encourage you to pay particular attention to these grounding exercises – the discipline learned through this practice is invaluable, and it will stand you in good stead when you do move beyond this. The book’s later chapters will help you take your intuitive skills further through receiving accurate information through asking open-ended questions and communicating with your spirit guides.

As with the articles on Andrea’s blog, this book benefits from her ability to explain concepts clearly and simply, and Andrea’s down-to-earth nature and great sense of humour shine through. This is a well-written and extremely valuable book.

Energy: Some Introductory Thoughts

Us woo-woo folk often like to talk about energy. Some people can see energy in the form of auras. Others can feel energy. Still others can work with it, using energy for example to heal. To me, energy is a tangible thing. I can’t see full human auras (yet!), although I can sometimes see a faint oily/smoky aura around plants, especially trees. My main experience of energy is one of feeling it physically. For example, anger rolls out of people like a strong wave and hits me hard and square on in the chest. It feels like the person has physically shoved me, even though they haven’t touched me with their hands. This happens even if the person concerned is not actually angry with me, but is directing their anger at someone else or at a situation that has frustrated them. Being around an emotionally needy person, on the other hand, feels like I am being coated in a gooey, sticky energy, almost like they are literally trying to bind me to them. And nervous people seem to give out very jagged, spiky energy. It feels all over the place, like little lightning bolts jabbing into me from all directions.

So what is this energy that I and others experience? Is it one of the already known forms of energy recognised by physics? Or is it something completely different? Attempts to identify the nature of psychic energy, or psi, and to prove its existence have been a jumble of successes and failures and contradictory results. All in all, for something that is an accepted part of daily reality for a lot of people, a definitive answer remains elusive.

How do you experience energy in your daily life?

Got A Question? Ask Mags!

Do you have a question that you'd like to see answered on this blog? Ask Mags by sending an email to: woowoowisdom[at]gmail[dot]com

I look forward to hearing from you!

Psi What?!

Academics love definitions (I should know – I used to be one!). While it is sometimes difficult to define something very complex, I thought the following categorisation of Psi by Caroline Watt (from the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at Edinburgh University) was helpful in outlining the main areas of interest in the field.

The Greek word psyche means mind or soul, and it is therefore no surprise that the Greek letter from which this word springs, Psi, is used by parapsychologists as a catch-all term to describe various phenomena that are unexplainable by current scientific means. Psi encompasses two main categories of phenomena, each of which is further broken down into subcategories:

1. Extrasensory Perception (ESP) refers to the transfer of information between people without the use of any of the five accepted senses. ESP consists of:
1. Telepathy: Communication directly between people’s minds.
2. Clairvoyance: Acquiring information about someone or something from a physical source that is present in the environment yet concealed from sight (for example, information contained in a sealed envelope).
   
3. Precognition: Obtaining information regarding a future event.


2. Psychokinesis (PK) refers to the ability to influence a person or object seemingly using thought instead of any known physical energy form. PK consists of:
1. Macro-PK: Affecting the physical environment on a scale large enough to be visible, such as levitation or bending a spoon.
2. Micro-PK: Affecting the physical environment on a scale that can only be detected by statistical means, such as statistically significant changes in a random number generator that correspond to the intent of the person operating the machine.
3. Bio-PK: Influencing another’s physiology, such as occurs in energy healing for example.
   

Eckhart Tolle: The Power Of Now

On one of the online forums to which I belong, whenever anyone asks for book recommendations to help them with personal development, spiritual growth, becoming more intuitive, meditation, relationships or the Law of Attraction, the first book recommended and endorsed over and over again, is Eckhart Tolle’s The Power Of Now. This book has clearly had a profound and powerful effect on many people’s lives, including my own.

Like Tolle himself, this is a quiet book. And it is in this quietness, in the spaces between the words, that the book’s power becomes apparent. The book gently and lovingly, yet firmly, deconstructs our egoic minds and allows us to experience the pure spiritual presence that lies behind the identities created by our egos. Letting go of the incessant chatter of our analytical minds, and living in The Now, is far from being an empty and boring place to be (as many people starting out on this journey imagine). Instead it is a rich and fulfilling experience, full of intense joy and peace. It can be quite overwhelming the first few times you experience this – I dipped in and out when I started, each time increasing the length of time for which I was able to sustain such presence.

The concepts Tolle discusses are both profound, yet simple, but it can be a challenging process to implement. Our egoic minds are strong and they do not give up their hold on us easily! But, the more you practice the principles, the easier it does get. It is worth persevering – the rewards for doing so are enormous. For example:

• Going about daily life with a strong background hum of joy and peace is infinitely preferable to one of anxiety and stress. And this is noticeable to others as well – people (even those who are not into woo-woo things themselves) have often said things to me like “I enjoy being around you, you have good vibes”.
• You are able to focus on tasks before you with much more clarity. The full strength of your mind is brought to bear on your work (and play!) as it is no longer cluttered with unrelated issues.
• You feel alive and your health usually improves. You glow with vitality. Tolle himself is one of the best examples of practicing his own teachings – he looks about 40 years old, but is actually in his early 60s!
• Your life circumstances change to reflect the abundance of love, joy and peace to which you are connected. Life flows more smoothly, problems seemingly disappear, and new and exciting experiences and things are drawn to you.

Eckhart Tolle is currently working with Oprah Winfrey on a series of teleclasses based on his second book, A New Earth, which expands on the concepts in The Power Of Now. While I found it most helpful to me to read the books in the order in which Tolle wrote them, you can start with the books in any order, and some people have found A New Earth more easy to digest. If you’d like to follow the New Earth webcasts live, you will need to register on Oprah’s website. Be warned though that they have experienced some bandwidth issues because of such high demand, resulting in some viewers not being able to log in. You don’t need to log in, however, to download the classes after they have taken place (you can download the video, audio, or a pdf transcript of the show, depending on your preference and internet connection).

The Art And Science Of Woo-Woo

Hello. My name is Mags and I am woo-woo. My sixth sense is just as useful in my life as my other five senses are, my heart is just as important as my head, and the spiritual world is just as real to me as the physical one.

To skeptics, the fact that I believe in things that they cannot see and see things in which they don’t believe, makes me irrational and gullible. I prefer the term open-minded :) . After all, what is considered acceptable scientific knowledge today was often ridiculed in years gone by before scientific tests caught up to people’s experiences.

Far from dismissing science, however, I embrace it. I come from an extended family that is pretty evenly divided between skeptics and psychics. Let’s just say that family gatherings were always very lively and full of debate! While each side would argue their case, I’d often find myself adopting a more balanced viewpoint, and integrating information from both camps. Science and psi can exist harmoniously side-by-side.

It is the aim of this site to encourage this peaceful coexistence, through exploring an eclectic mix of topics in both fields and at the intersection of the two. The articles on this site are written in a genuine spirit of enquiry, as much to help me understand my own experiences of this wonderful thing called the universe as to allow others to use the information presented in whichever way is helpful to them in their own journeys. In this endeavour, I am always happy to consider alternative viewpoints and explanations, and as such you are more than welcome to contact me (woowoowisdom[at]gmail[dot]com) with questions or information that I and others may find helpful and interesting. That said, here’s a caveat: I have my own beliefs and opinions, of course. Who doesn’t?! I have been known to change my mind (I am open-minded, after all!), but I rarely do so as a result of abuse. Who does?! It is my hope that we can explore these topics together, treating each other in a respectful and loving manner, regardless of whether our beliefs are in alignment or not.

Thank you for visiting. Now, let’s go and have some fun. Woo-woo!