Halloween - 31 October

History.Com

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
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Information on Halloween including how it is celebrated around the world, superstitions associated with it, how to carve a pumpkin (!) and much more can be found here



Jack-o-lantern smiling bright
Witches flying in the night
Ghosts and goblins, cats and bats
Witches with their funny hats
A full moon can't be beat
As we go out to Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!!

Samhain

BBC
Samhain (pronounced 'sow'inn') is a very important date in the Pagan calendar for it marks the Feast of the Dead. Many Pagans also celebrate it as the old Celtic New Year (although some mark this at Imbolc). It is also celebrated by non-Pagans who call this festival Halloween.
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Mysterious Britain
The festival marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter in the Celtic calendar, and is one of the four Celtic fire festivals - the quarter points in the solar year. It marked the point in the year were a time of plenty gave way to more lean times, in all probability the reason for its association with dread and eeriness. Traditionally it is when the gates of the otherworld are open, a time when dark forces are abroad in the realm of humans. This is a brief overview of Halloween examining its roots and folklore.

In the old Celtic calendar Halloween - or more correctly Samhain - was actually the beginning of the New Year, and the preparation for the coming hardship of winter. All the animals that were not breeding stock were slaughtered, and their meat salted and stored for the dark months. As one of the most important celebrations of the year, a great feast was held, and bonfires were lit throughout the countryside.
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30 October - Devil's Night

LiveScience.com

We all know what happens on Halloween, the night that little boys and girls dress up and (unwittingly) celebrate the ancient Celtic tradition of Samhain and All Hallows Eve.

Anyone who has woken up on Halloween morning to find their house egged, their pumpkin smashed or yard toilet-papered, however, is lucky enough to live where a sister tradition that is not quite as old (but a yearly custom all the same) is also practiced with fervor.

The night of Oct. 30, which goes by a variety of names including Devil's Night in Detroit and Miggy Night in parts of England, sees neighborhood youngsters pull pranks just as diverse as the custom's monikers, ranging from the innocent to the downright dangerous.

So where did this license to cause mayhem come from?

Mischief Night, as it is most commonly known in the United States, has been around in its present form for at least 50 years, when it became a day for playing "tricks" while Halloween itself was reserved for the little one to gather "treats." The practice goes back hundreds of years before that, though, to a time when Halloween and misbehavior were inextricably linked.
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U.S. and Soviet spooks studied paranormal powers to find a Cold War advantage

Scientific American

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is well known for pushing the boundaries of science and technology in search of ways to give the U.S. military an edge—robotic pack animals, self-navigating vehicles and plant-based jet fuel, to name a few. Less well known is the agency's Cold War-era investigation into how paranormal phenomena like extrasensory perception might be used by the U.S. to get a leg up on the former Soviet Union and, perhaps more importantly, by the USSR against the United States.

Working with Washington, D.C., think tank RAND Corporation, DARPA determined that paranormal research by the Soviets focused on physical science, engineering and quantifiable results, whereas their U.S. counterparts tended to be psychologists looking instead to explore the human mind. The bottom line, according to a 1973 DARPA-commissioned study entitled "Paranormal Phenomena": "the U.S. has failed to significantly advance our understanding of paranormal phenomena."

As Halloween approaches, the report serves as a reminder of our fascination with paranormal forces (for more on this, visit Sciam.com's "Science of the Occult" in-depth report). The authors were worried that the Soviets might win the race to use the supernatural to its advantage much as they had threatened to win the space race decades earlier when they launched Sputnik. "If paranormal phenomena exist," RAND analysts P. T. Van Dyke and Mario L. Juncosa concluded, "the thrust of Soviet research appears more likely to lead to explanation, control and application than [does] U.S. research."
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Global Peace Meditation

The Chopra Center for Wellbeing

Wednesday, October 29
3:30 to 4:30pm (Pacific Daylight Time)
10:30 to 11:30 PM (GMT)

Wherever you are on the planet, please join us for a one-hour meditation for the collective intent of peace in the world. This Wednesday, October 29 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm (PDT) 10:30-11:30pm (GMT), Deepak and David will be leading this meditation with the Seduction of Spirit participants in Carlsbad, California, and we will be broadcasting it via live audio. We invite you and all the members of the extended Chopra Center family throughout the world to join us in this global meditation for peace.

For more information, go to the Chopra Center website

Diwali - Festival of Lights

Diwali 2008 is on October 28, Tuesday

BBC

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is the most popular of all the festivals from South Asia, and is also the occasion for celebrations by Jains and Sikhs as well as Hindus.

The festival of Diwali extends over five days. Because of the lights, fireworks, and sweets involved, it's a great favourite with children.

The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance, although the actual legends that go with the festival are different in different parts of India.

The Times of India summed up the modern meaning of Diwali:

Regardless of the mythological explanation one prefers, what the festival of lights really stands for today is a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill, and a religiously sanctioned celebration of the simple - and some not so simple - joys of life.
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One of the biggest festivals of Hindus, Deepawali or Diwali in India is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm and happiness. This festival is celebrated for five continuous days, with the third day being celebrated as the main Diwali or as 'Festival of Lights'. Fireworks are always associated with this festival. The day is celebrated with people lighting diyas, candles all around their house. Lakshmi Puja is performed in the evening to seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth. Diwali gifts are exchanged among all near and dear ones.

The Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India has a beautiful site with lots of information including:

- Diwali Recipes
- Deep in Diwali
- Tradition of Playing Cards
- Pooja Thali Decorations
- Making Diwali Cards
- Diwali Essay
- Diwali Poems
- Diwali Songs
- Diwali Mela
- Diwali Wallpapers
- Diwali Decorative Items

World's largest crystal discovered in Mexican cave

The Telegraph

Hidden deep beneath the surface of the Earth is one of the greatest natural marvels on the planet: a giant crystal cave packed with crystals up to 36 feet long and weighing 55 tons.

Buried a thousand feet below Naica mountain in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico, the cave was discovered by two miners excavating a new tunnel for a commercial lead and silver mine.

Known as Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) it contains some of the world's largest known natural crystals–translucent beams of gypsum as long as 36 feet and softer than human nails.

The crystals thrived in the cave's extremely rare and stable natural environment. Temperatures hovered consistently around a steamy 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius), and the cave was filled with mineral-rich water that drove the crystals' growth.
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1 October 2008 The healing power of gemstones

Solomon's real mine?

Mail Online

3,000 years on, archaeologists uncover fabled site in desert...
In a discovery straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, archaeologists believe they have uncovered one of the lost mines of King Solomon.

The vast copper mine lies in an arid valley in modern-day Jordan and was created in the 10th century BC - around the time Solomon is believed to have ruled over the ancient Hebrews.

The mines are enormous and would have generated a huge income for the king, who is famed for bringing extraordinary wealth and stability to the newly-united kingdom
of Israel and Judah.

The announcement will today reopen the debate about how much of the Old Testament is myth and how much is history.
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Most Haunted Live 25th - 31st October 2008: Investigating the Denbigh Asylum in Wales

Saturday 25 October 2008: First of seven spooky nights of paranormal investigation in Denbigh, a Welsh village allegedly cursed by witches and home to an asylum which has reportedly been the scene of ghostly activity. Yvette and the team try to conjure up the spirit of one of the witches as well as other phantoms.
Living TV

Paranormal investigator to host web chat

Belfast Newsletter

HALLOWEEN is edging closer and Ulster folk are bracing themselves for spooky goings-on and things that go bump in the night.

There is often deep scepticism surrounding ghostly sightings or alleged paranormal activity and that debate is set to be played out in an interactive web chat on the News Letter website next week.

Taking your questions will be a leading investigator from the Northern Ireland Paranormal Society (NIPS), who is no stranger to 'scary' assignments.

Darren Ansell – who when he is not targeting the truth is a full-time business development manager – is looking forward to portraying a positive message to would-be detractors.

"I would hope to show people and answer questions in a way that portrays paranormal investigators in the right light as normal people with normal jobs," he said.

"Paranormal investigation is not all about running and screaming and I would like to show a little bit more professionalism about what we do."

The origins of the 33-year-old's fascination with the unknown began with his own personal experiences while growing up in Ballynahinch.
Full article and information on how to join in
Due to take place: Thursday, October 30

So Powerful Is the Light

"So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth"

Baha'u'llah (1817-1892)
Founder and prophet of the Baha'i faith
Teacher of the earth as "one country and mankind its citizens"

The Big Question: What was the Holy Grail, and why our centuries-old fascination with it?

The Independent

Why are we asking this now?

Because a new exhibition at the Royal Academy, which brings together hundreds of relics from more than 1,000 years of the Byzantine Empire, has stirred up renewed and fevered excitement over the idea that the Holy Grail is in town.

Curators spent five years bringing together a host of archaeological treasures including mosaics, jewellery, icons and manuscripts to create the first exhibition in Britain on Byzantine art in more than 50 years. But the item causing the most frenzied excitement is the Antioch Chalice, a sixth century silver cup on loan from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art which – to grail aficionados – is one of the most credible contenders to be the Holy Grail itself.

Professor Robin Cormack, the exhibition's curator said: "[The chalice] has an inner plain cup with an ornate covering. The outer cup can be dated to the sixth century but nobody can say for sure when the inner cup was made. There is still a plausible argument that it is the Holy Grail."

What is the grail actually meant to be?

The Holy Grail is an expansion of the legend surrounding the Holy Chalice, the vessel used by Christ during the Last Supper. According to grail legend, Joseph of Arimathea used the cup to collect Jesus's blood and sweat as he was dying on the cross, giving the vessel magical, life-sustaining properties. Credited in the Gospels as the man who generously gave up his own tomb to bury Christ's body, grail legend extends Joseph of Arimathea's story further by making him the first keeper of the Holy Grail.
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Related Site:
Royal Academy of Arts - Byzantium Exhibition

Pets are good for your health...

Guardian Online

American researchers have discovered that owning a pet can significantly reduce your risk of a common cancer. And that's not all, says Emine Saner

The body of evidence supporting the notion that pet ownership is good for your health grew even fatter this month. A new study, published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, found that keeping animals can cut the risk of developing the relatively common cancer of the immune system, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, by almost one third.

"The idea that pets and good health are associated goes back 20 years or more," says Dr June McNicholas, a psychologist who has researched the relationship between people and their pets. The catalogue of health plusses can't all be attributed to regular dogwalking however. When a study suggested that people who own pets have better cardiac health, says McNicholas, "one of the significant factors in people recovering well from a heart attack was owning a pet, but it wasn't just dogs. It applied equally to cats." Here are some of the many ways in which pets have been found to strengthen our constitutions.
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First shots of tigers swimming with humans

The Telegraph

Traditionally, trainers have struggled to build an attachment with the largest of the big cats because the sheer bulk of the animals limits the potential for physical interaction.

But the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, or TIGER, near Miami, claims to have overcome the problem by encouraging both tigers and humans to swim together in a specially adapted pool.

Tigers are known as the best swimmers of all the big cats with modified webbing between their toes to make their feet more like flippers.

Although a number of wildlife parks have encouraged the animals to swim for exercise, the routine has usually consisted of little more than trainers throwing lumps of meat into the water for the tigers to collect.

Bhagavan Antle, director of the centre, said he wanted to give the 200lb, two metre long creatures an opportunity to exercise properly without giving them meat.

He also wanted the public to be able to appreciate the grace and power of the big cats in the water so he built a giant outdoor swimming pool expressly for the purpose.

...The hand-reared tigers are introduced to the water a few months after birth and the trainers then give one-on-one tuition to each of the animals while they are in the water.

"At the institute we feel that swimming with the big cats gives them a closer bond between the animal and their human companions," said Mr Antle.
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The five tasks a day that could protect your mental wellbeing

Mail Online

Simple tasks such as playing a musical instrument, gardening and mending a bicycle every day could protect your mental health.

Scientists say the 'five-a-day' activities can improve mental wellbeing in the same way eating five fruits or vegetables daily helps the body stay healthy.

People should try to be active, connect with others, take notice of their surroundings and keep learning.

...The five categories are: Connect with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours; be active with sports and hobbies such as gardening or dancing or just a daily stroll; be curious, noting the beauty of everyday moments as well as the unusual; learn something, for example fixing a bike or playing an instrument; and finally, giving to others you meet around you.
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Coffee and chocolate are the key to long life

The Telegraph

Chocolate, coffee and tea are among the key foods and drinks needed to live a long and healthy life, according to a leading nutritional scientist.

Professor Gary Williamson, from the department of food science at Leeds University, has produced a list of 20 "lifespan essential" foodstuffs.

All are rich in naturally occurring chemicals, known as polyphenols, which have been linked to a variety of health benefits including protection against heart disease.

He said that foodstuffs on the list, which is dominated by fruits and vegetables, can also help to slow down the ageing process by helping to protect cells from the natural damage that occurs over time.
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Hikers find 'abominable snowman' footprints

MSNBC

KATHMANDU - Japanese climbers returning from a mountain in western Nepal said on Tuesday they had found footprints they think belonged to the abominable snowman or Yeti.

"We saw three footprints which looked like that of human beings," Kuniaki Yagihara, a member of the Yeti Project Japan, said in Kathmandu, after returning from the mountain with photographs of the footprints.
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The Harmony of Chinese Medicine

Epoch TImes

It speaks in a language that is foreign to our ear and conjures up images of peculiar herbal concoctions, but there is a lot more to Chinese medicine than meets the eye. Developed over several thousand years, Chinese medicine is a holistic, individualized approach aimed at preventing, identifying, and treating the root cause of illness, rather than treating the symptoms alone.

Chinese medicine follows the principle of “heaven, human beings, and the universe.” According to its theory, the human body is considered a small universe with an intricate set of systems that connect with each other and the environment.

The best way to maintain health is to nurture the mind and body and have a relaxed, gentle lifestyle. When balance and harmony are achieved in all aspects of life, the human body will be in a state of balance.

If a sick person is healed by a doctor, yet afterwards goes on losing his temper and pursuing self-interest, how could his illness not recur? Chinese medicine links every part of the patient’s nature.

Ironically, many people in the modern age reject all things that are “unconventional.” But a system that has existed for thousands of years is still continuing to treat over one quarter of the world’s population. The practice of Chinese medicine can provide us with a fresh insight into many health issues.
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Burning fall leaves can hold spiritual significance

CourierNews - Chicago

In the eighteenth century, Charles Wesley wrote a hymn known as Earth and All Stars.

The second verse is a stirring tribute to the extremes of the elements and nature. One line in particular, "Flowers and trees! Loud rustling dry leaves!" is especially appropriate at this season. We can all identify with it.

After all, it's autumn! What is more common in this part of the country than loud rustling dry leaves?

We kick those leaves out of the way, rake them, heap them into compost piles, bag them (in special bags, yet!), or, if we are particularly fortunate, burn them, relishing the aroma of the sacrificial smoke as it wends its way heavenward.

A lot of symbolism and memories are bundled with those colorful remnants of the greenness of summer, symbolic ever since God created autumn.

...Whatever faith we proclaim, whatever we hold sacred (and everyone holds something sacred), we are symbolic creatures. Burning leaves for the garden is a ritual of autumn. It is one thing to ban an event; quite another to ban a ritual, as the early church discovered. That is why so many symbols seemingly out of place in Christian worship are there: as transitional motifs from our symbolic nature into the divine.
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John Edward is a medium with a message

Couriermail.com.au

THE world's most famous psychic, John Edward, was 15 and managing a video store in downtown Manhattan when he first realised he "wasn't like other folk".

"A woman came in to rent something and I said, 'You're pregnant', and she said, 'No I'm not', and I said, 'Yes you are. Because I'm seeing your aunt who just died in a car accident and she's telling me you're going to name your baby after her'," recounts Edward, now 39, down the phone (and still in his native New York).

"She went white as a ghost and said, 'Oh my God, I do have an aunt who died in a car crash recently'.

"Then a few weeks later, she came in and said she was pregnant. It was a girl and she named her Bonnie, after the aunt.

"After that, the owner would say, 'Please don't do that John, you're freaking out the customers'."
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Related Site
Official John Edward site

Contained in the released Ministry of Defence files...

Telegraph Online

These are some of the most interesting reports contained in the released Ministry of Defence files:

1) January 1991: Man reports seeing two aliens landing their flying saucer next to a railway track near Warminster Army barracks in Wiltshire.

2) March 1990: Woman claims she is an alien from "Amazon, the planet of warrior women" in the Sirius system, whose spacecraft landed on Earth during the Second World War. Encloses drawing of herself with ears similar to Star Trek character Mr Spock.

3) 1989: Two aliens seen emerging from flying saucer in Somerset, apparently in order to check their engine. One was able to speak in perfect English, according to witness.

4) April 1991: Alitalia airliner en route from Milan to Heathrow has near miss with brown missile-shaped object near Lydd in Kent. Case closed after investigation fails to identify object.

5) June 1991: Four passengers on board a Dan Air Boeing 737 saw a "wingless projectile" pass beneath the aircraft as it climbed from Gatwick Airport headed for Hamburg.

More detailed coverage can be found at the BBC Online

Read the files at the UK National Archives

Passenger jet almost 'collided with UFO'

Mirror Online

A passenger jet heading for Heathrow almost collided with a UFO over Kent, according to the latest "X-files" to be released by the Government tomorrow.

In other reports US Air Force pilots were ordered to shoot down a UFO over East Anglia (the files don't say what happened next) and RAF Tornado jets were overtaken by another UFO over Germany.

The files from 1986-92 include claims from people who say they met or were abducted by aliens. They will be posted on the National Archives website

York plays host to ghost vigil

The Press

A CITY-WIDE experiment into the paranormal will take place on Hallowe’en this month as ghost hunters stage the world’s biggest ghost vigil.

In an attempt to boost York’s reputation as the most haunted city in the world, astrologer Jonathan Cainer wants residents to listen out for things going bump in the night on October 31.

He said: “Several cities claim the title of the world’s most haunted and obviously there’s no official designation, but he who shouts longest and loudest gets it.

“York must be up there, so I say let somebody say we aren’t and, while they prove that, we will prove that we are the most haunted.

“Guy Fawkes Night ought to belong to York, but we can make Hallowe’en ours, with that in mind we want to do the world’s biggest ghost vigil.

“This is an open invitation to everyone in York but particularly to spiritualists or those living and working in haunted properties.”
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Understanding the power of music - Science shows that music really does kill pain and reduce stress

MSNBC

More than 7,000 runners who raced earlier this month in a half-marathon in London were under the influence of a scientifically derived and powerful performance-enhancing stimulant — pop music.

The dance-able, upbeat music at London's "Run to the Beat" race was selected on the basis of the research and consultation of sport psychologist Costas Karageorghis of Brunel University in England. He has learned how to devise soundtracks that are just as powerful, if not more so, as some of the not-so-legal substances that athletes commonly take to excel.

"Music is a great way to regulate mood both before and during physical activity. A lot of athletes use music as if it's a legal drug," Karageorghis told LiveScience. "They can use it as a stimulant or as a sedative. Generally speaking, loud upbeat music has a stimulating effect and slow music reduces arousal."
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Half of mammals 'in decline', says extinction Red List

(Photo © Mark Carwardine/NHPA)

AFP

Half the world's mammals are declining in population and more than a third probably face extinction, said an update Monday of the "Red List," the most respected inventory of biodiversity.

A comprehensive survey of mammals included in the annual report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which covers more than 44,000 animal and plant species, shows that a quarter of the planet's 5,487 known mammals are clearly at risk of disappearing forever.

But the actual situation may be even grimmer because researchers have been unable to classify the threat level for another 836 mammals due to lack of data.

"In reality, the number of threatened mammals could be as high as 36 percent," said IUCN scientist Jan Schipper, lead author of the mammal survey, in remarks published separately in the US-based journal Science. Full Story

Related Sites

IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature
IUCN helps develop conservation science, manages field projects all over the world, and brings together players from different domains and sectors to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice.

This work encompasses all types of animal and plant species on the planet; all types of ecosystems – the different types of natural places that exist on Earth; and a wide range of major environmental and sustainable development issues.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

California woman “tunes into” animals

Tonawanda News

Marla Steele admits she thought it was crazy when she first heard about pet psychics. She was a skeptic.

But things started happening that changed her mind. For the past eight years, Steele, 43, has been “tuning into” animals across the country, sharing with pet owners any pain their animals might be feeling or telling them that their deceased pet is content in its next life.

“I think that there’s a bigger spiritual connection that we have with our animals,” Steele explains.
Full Article

Related Site

Marla Steele, Healing with Energy - Office site

Revealed: How the Government studied the paranormal for use in war on terror

Glasgow Daily Record

Secret documents have revealed the MoD have been studying the paranormal and other unexplained scientific phenomenon for use in the war against terror.

The newly released files show that just after 9/11, the Ministry of Defence conducted a research project into psychics - with the possibility they could be used to locate terrorist cells.

Last night saw the UK debut of the eagerly anticipated US TV show Fringe, which takes its name from fringe science, an umbrella term for such bizarre notions as ghosts, UFOs, psychics and invisibility.

The series, from JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost, centres on FBI agent Olivia Dunham and uses paranormal plots following in the X-Files tradition.

Coincidentally, as the show takes off, the truth of just how seriously our Government have taken fringe science is slowly emerging.

As Abrams has said: "Though you could say it's science fiction, the weird thing about Fringe is that a lot of the stuff is at least in the realm of possibility.
Full Story

Blossom Goodchild predicts 14th October UFO Sighting

UFO Digest, Canada

Like wildfires in the Australian outback, rumors of an upcoming mass televised UFO sighting over American skies are taking the Internet by storm. Blossom Goodchild, an Aussie actress and author, has the international Ufology community on its ear with channeled information concerning the eminent appearance of a massive extraterrestrial spacecraft for October 14th, 2008. Calling themselves ‘The Federation of Light’, these Beings from another world have stated to Goodchild that they intend not only to make themselves known, but also to remain more or less in place for a full 72 hour period, thereby providing the media with ample opportunity to once and for all capture on film evidence that will silence the skeptics and debunkers forever. The predicted rendezvous point? Alabama.

And here's the kicker; she isn't the only one making the prediction. Unbeknownst perhaps even to themselves, statements made by other individuals in the past corroborate her findings, one of these being immortalized on paper by Dannion Brinkley.
Full Story

Blossom Goodchild clarifies October 14th

There Is More Than Enough

"There is more than enough of everything for everyone to live quite happily. It is simply a matter of changing your "every man for himself" economy to a "highest good for all" economy..."

Tomorrow's God
Neale Donald Walsch

Peace Prayer of St. Francis

O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is discord, harmony.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sorrow, joy.

Oh, Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Prayer of Peace
Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

Roman Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans
Known as the patron saint of animals, birds and the environment

His feast day is October 4

Jennifer Love Hewitt: Ghost Stories and Much More...

Wistv.com

It's been quite a year for Jennifer Love Hewitt. Once just the mild-mannered (if gorgeous) star of CBS' high-rated Ghost Whisperer, the actress was thrust into an unexpected spotlight last winter, then led a long-overdue scrutinization of the entertainment industry's unreal ideal when it comes to body image. TVGuide.com welcomed the chance to speak with Love about, yes, Melinda's especially tricky travels ahead, but also the message she is adamant to keep spreading, about being comfortable in one's own skin. -- Matt Webb Mitovich

TVGuide.com: As I watched Ghost Whisperer's season premiere (airing Friday at 8 pm/ET), the irony was not lost on me that it revolved around arson, when the Universal Studios lot where your show films was damaged by fire over the summer....

Jennifer Love Hewitt: I know. That was a total coincidence. In fact, the fire happened just as they were getting ready to send out the script for that episode, which freaked us all out a bit. "Isn't our first episode called 'The Firestarter'?" It was one of those weird things.
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Related Sites:

Ghost Whisperer airs in the UK on Living TV

Ghost Whisperer - Official CBS site
Newlywed Melinda Gordon tries to help the dead communicate with loved ones, 'but sometimes the messages she receives are intense and confusing.' Most of Melinda's efforts involve resolving conflicts that are preventing the spirits from passing over. The drama is 'inspired by the work of medium James Van Praagh.'

James Van Praagh - Official site
James Van Praagh is a best-selling author, and spiritual medium. He has written several best-selling books dealing with spirituality and spirit communication which have been translated into over 50 languages worldwide.

James Van Praagh and Ghost Whisperer

Stressed out? Take a "mooment"

Reading Evening Post

Let's face it; we all get stressed out. Whether it’s the pressure of a looming deadline or our inability to get the coffee machine to work, things can get rough.

But if you’ve ever sat at your desk feeling that you can’t go on, the answer, apparently, is to moo like a cow.

Yes, it sounds like an ‘udderly’ bizarre April fool, but a group of organic dairy farmers claim to have come up with a stress-busting meditation technique inspired by their bovine friends.

The new technique, called ‘Taking a mooment’ is a five-minute exercise based on making the “natural relaxing meditative sound of a moo”.

It was thought up by farmer Graham Vallis, of Highdown Farm near Exeter, who says he found himself naturally meditating to the sound of his contented cows gently mooing in the background.
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Wall Street banker swapped finance to become a monk in a remote Bulgarian village

Mail Online

A former Wall Street banker has swapped the world of finance for religion and become a monk.

Brother Nikanor advises former colleagues to put a jar with soil on their desks to remind them where we are all heading and what matters in life.

As western banks fold into each other like crumpled tickets and commentators portray the current crisis as the last gasp of modern capitalism, Hristo Mishkov, 32, shares the pain - and offers home truths.

His story partly resembles that of Brother Ty, the monk-tycoon protagonist of the 1998 satire 'God is my Broker' by U.S. writers Christopher Buckley and John Tierney - he failed on Wall Street and became a monk.

But 10 years later, the similarities are superficial: the Bulgarian had a successful broking career, does not write self-help manuals and aims to get happy, not rich.

His interest in financial markets began under communism in the 1980s when he and other children created their own play stock exchange in their apartment block's basement in Sofia.

Five years ago, after failing to find happiness in the life he lived, the Christian Orthodox who hadn't practised as a child quit the New York-based market for a dilapidated Bulgarian monastery that once served as a communist labour camp.

Retaining one luxury - a mobile phone, which connects him with both potential donors and former trading colleagues - he has brought the rigour of his broking experience to his faith.
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Shock pictures on cigarette packets

Department of Health - UK

...The UK's 10 million smokers should brace themselves from 1st October, when the UK will be the first country in the EU to introduce graphic picture warnings on all tobacco products. The warnings illustrate the devastating effects that tobacco can have on health...

I am not going to post the full article or even go into any kind of description.

I feel very strongly that this is such a bad step. For those who are not aware of it, there is something called, 'The Rice Intention Experiment' ~ inspired by Dr. Masuro Emoto's book The Hidden Secrets in Water.

The objective of the experiment is to supply evidence to support the idea that intentions can modify and alter our physical reality. I believe that having such horrific images on something can only create more negativity and illness.

Learn more about this fascinating experiment at the Manifest Station

Earliest reference describes Christ as 'magician'

MSNBC

A team of scientists led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio recently announced that they have found a bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that is engraved with what they believe could be the world's first known reference to Christ.

If the word "Christ" refers to the Biblical Jesus Christ, as is speculated, then the discovery may provide evidence that Christianity and paganism at times intertwined in the ancient world.

The full engraving on the bowl reads, "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS," which has been interpreted by the excavation team to mean either, "by Christ the magician" or, "the magician by Christ."

"It could very well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the primary exponent of white magic," Goddio, co-founder of the Oxford Center of Maritime Archaeology, said.
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New York ~ Spooky sites in and around the city

Daily News

If you really want to get into the spirit of things for Halloween, check out a few of the most haunted landmarks in and around New York City. We asked Dominick Villella from the Paranormal Investigation of NYC team to share his favorite paranormal hot spots for aspiring ghost-hunters.

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia

"Almost every paranormal team has witnessed some paranormal activity, from sightings to voices," says Villella of this former prison, abandoned since 1971. Notorious criminals including Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton suffered solitary confinement and hard labor here, piquing plenty of interest in the Halloween guided tours.
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October Global Peace Meditation

The Chopra Center for Wellbeing

We are excited to lead another Global Peace Meditation during our upcoming Seduction of Spirit retreat. Join us from wherever you are the week of October 27-Nov 1 in this global meditation. We will have a live audio feed of Deepak's guided meditation from the event.

For more information visit Deepak Chopra's site

The healing powers of gemstones

Maui Weekly

Maui jeweler reveals the healing powers of gemstones.

Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but for Maui jeweler, astrologer and author Shakti Carola Navran, these sparkling gemstones are so much more than a fashion statement—they operate at the core of our being, inspiring creativity and innovation.

For more than 30 years, Navran has worked as a professional jeweler, using her innate talents to design and create jewelry for clients all over the world. But she is no ordinary jeweler; while she can certainly craft a dazzling set of earrings, a breathtaking engagement ring, or an eye-catching necklace, she will also tell you how the crystals or gemstones used in a piece of jewelry can enhance your mind, body and soul.

A student of astrology, Navran has identified the correlation between astrological charts and gemstones, perhaps explaining the intrinsic connection between humans and these dazzling natural wonders.
Full Article by Sarah Ruppenthal

Shakti Carola Navran's new book:
Jewelry and Gems for Self-discovery: Choosing Gemstones That Delight the Eye and Strengthen the Soul

Within the pages of this comprehensive guide, readers will discover how the principles of astrology and the metaphysical powers of gemstones can generate physical and spiritual well-being, healing and personal growth.

Shakti Carola Navran offers a thorough introduction to astrology to help you identify the challenges and spiritual needs evident in your birth chart. A detailed list of sixty-four gems and crystals with full-colour photos of polished stones and finished jewelry, makes it easy to find the minerals that can balance these conflicting energies.

You'll learn how to 'program' your stone with joy, peace of mind, self-confidence, or any other quality.

October Trees

How innocent were these Trees, that in
Mist-green May, blown by a prospering breeze,
Stood garlanded and gay;
Who now in sundown glow
Of serious colour clad confront me with their show
As though resigned and sad,
Trees, who unwhispering stand umber, bronze, gold;
Pavilioning the land for one grown tired and old;
Elm, chestnut, aspen and pine, I am merged in you,
Who tell once more in tones of time,
Your foliaged farewell.
~ Siegfried Sassoon

Acupressure seen to calm children before surgery

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Acupressure helps calm anxious children right before they get anesthesia for surgery, without the nausea and other side-effects caused by sedatives, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Taping an acupressure bead between the eyebrows reduced anxiety noticeably in the children, compared to a similar sham treatment, Dr. Zeev Kain of the University of California Irvine and colleagues reported.

"Anxiety in children before surgery is bad because of the emotional toll on the child and parents, and this anxiety can lead to prolonged recovery and the increased use of analgesics for postoperative pain," Kain said in a statement.

"What's great about the use of acupressure is that it costs very little and has no side effects."
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