Curses, Or Just My Imagination Running Away?

Greetings, Gifted Reader!

Apologies to subscribers of this blog for this very late post, but a series of psychic mishaps has caused Gypsy Stars to be late in publishing it this month.

Gifted Readers, do you believe in psychic demons? Do you think it’s possible for those whom you consider enemies to generate negative energy and send it your way so that you bumble, stumble and fall when it comes to very ordinary, mundane tasks?

these guys, innocent or capable of evil?

Throughout history, in nearly every culture on the planet, there have been folks putting curses and spells on other folks. Instead of taking on the object of their hatred physically, the person may engage a priest or shaman to perform a ritual for the purpose of bringing harm to another through otherworldly means. By creating spiritual discord through the use of implements, the object of the curse might fall sick or become damaged in some way. Some rituals for curses are quite complex and involved.

But do they work? Or, is it just our imaginations running away with us? Can our fears or negative thinking influence us so strongly that we, in effect, end up putting the curse on ourselves?

Marie LaVeau (her tomb, pictured) called the queen of curses

It’s like that old Twilight Zone television episode, The Monsters on Maple Street, where rumors and innuendo create havoc in people’s imaginations and escalate to the point of disaster. On a suburban street, in a middle-class neighborhood, a power outage has occurred. As neighbors gather in the darkness to determine the cause, one of them volunteers to check out the area beyond their neighborhood. Another man agrees to do the same, but a little boy warns that the outage might be the result of an alien invasion. He goes on to explain that in one of his comic books, extraterrestrials invaded a neighborhood by causing a blackout before disguising one of themselves as a human being. Soon, the neighbors are loudly airing their suspicions about each other. Why does one neighbor’s car suddenly start by itself? And, another has been observed standing outside late at night looking at the sky--while another secretly listens to his radio in his basement. The neighbors get so worked up in their wild accusations that when they spot a lone figure approaching them, one of them grabs a shotgun and shoots without asking questions. Tragically, the dead man turns out to be the volunteer who had gone to check out the rest of the area.

do voodoo, or do we do?

So the lesson of the story, and the lesson for all those who have ever felt they were cursed, is that it doesn’t take anyone outside of you to put a hex on you. Our minds are so powerful that we only need to think that something bad, evil or foul has possessed us and we will create the resulting chaos, or even illness.

Remember to keep your thoughts cheerful, happy and smiling within your spirit. You are a shining star in the loving heavens of this wonderful world. Irie.

happy thoughts...

you're a star...

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Until next we meet, remember to believe in the good in yourself!

Good luck, light and love,

Gypsy Stars

http://www.gypsystars.com

Animal Spirits: Do Dogs Dream?

Greetings, Gifted Reader!

How do you feel about animals? Do you believe they have to ability to think? And, if so, do you believe they dream like humans do? Have you ever watched your pet sleeping when s/he suddenly began twitching or whimpering? Did it make you wonder if s/he was having a nightmare about being chased, or upset about not getting his or her favorite treat?

I consider myself to be a true animal lover—I don’t eat them, or wear them, nor do I hold them prisoner in my home and call them pets.

At least, I don’t anymore.

But once upon a time, I was the owner of a gentle feline named RastaFari. That’s him in the photo above and, no, that is not a spike going through his cheek, but just him leaning against the porch railing and yawning. When Rasta was still a tiny kitten, he was run over by a van (that drove off without stopping) and was forever scarred—having lost one testicle, some intestines, and the use of his right front paw (see how he holds it in the pix?). Still, the boy had spirit. Not only did Rasta refuse to allow a paralyzed paw keep him from fighting raccoons in the backyard, but he wouldn’t back down from any other animal—cat or dog--either. The only thing Rasta couldn’t do was climb trees or my kitchen countertops, which I thought was a good thing. Being a tommish boy, Rasta loved nothing more than running around in the woods chasing something, but whenever he came home he was contemplative and sweet. I even taught him to sit and shake hands! And, Rasta never once scratched me. Sometimes, when I was feeling especially down, he’d sit in front of me and stare as if he could read my mind. During cold winters, he would lie in front of the portable heater for hours. Sometimes, when I touched his thick fur, it would feel like it was on fire. Yes, RastaFari was special and we had a deep connection that transcended animal/human relationships. I’d had other pets before, both dogs and cats, but none of them formed that exceptional bond with me that Rasta and I had. Unfortunately, I had to move away and was unable to bring Rasta into my new life, but I think of him often and wonder if he ever misses me.

In medieval European folklore, animals that were thought to assist Wiccans and magicians were called “familiars”. The image of a witch riding a broomstick with a cat is, pardon the pun, a familiar depiction from that period.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_spirit

Of course, lots of other cultures also have stories of animals that assist humans, especially when that human is in peril. In Japan, a raccoon dog named Tanuki, with gigantic testicles that he sometimes throws over his shoulders, is often portrayed as a Shinto priest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanuki

In other parts of the world, animals are always significant to shamans. Native Hawai’ians teach that their ancestors or ‘aumakua are sharks. Interestingly, it’s been reported that no Native Hawai’ian has ever been bitten by one.

http://tribes.tribe.net/hooponopono/thread/c7d805c2-acff-4e48-870c-1157e1b8ea54

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aumakua

And, of course, many American Indigenous carved animal totems.

So, who is your familiar? Drop a line to gypsystars@me.com and let us know.

Thank you, author George Patton, for another wonderful blog idea. That’s George’s familiar, Midnight, pictured sideways. She is after all magical and her master, George, knows all about magicians—having penned Black Jack, a novel about his great uncle Herman (see below).

Hey, readers. Don’t forget you can connect with Gypsy Stars on Facebook and join The Urban Goddess where we promote your metaphysical business.

And, we have T-zing t-shirts for you.

Until next time, leaving you with good luck, light and love.

Gypsy Stars