Monthly Archives: January 2015

Meet The Gardens Webmistress

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You can be in love…madly, passionately,
and wondrously in love…with God, in
love with Goddess, and in love with All That Is.

In love and touching greatness, your love
transcendent, can change you; it can heal
you. As well, your love can heal and
change your world in ways you’ve
not yet imagined. Lazaris

I am a middle age woman, mother, wife, sister, and friend with the feeling in my heart that I am still decades younger in my mind. Of course my body speaks loudly that I am so otherwise, whenever I venture to far. Reality and responsibility require I keep my feet on the ground.  In my family lineage, I am the oldest left behind. My beloved family mentors have all passed over to the other side of the veil, where they continue to support me with their love and energy. In observing and participating in my children’s growth and watching them maneuver down their own paths as adults, I continually learn more about myself as well as my role as a mother. Allowing them to make their own choices is one of the greatest challenges and to know when to stop short in aiding them as opposed to hindering their progress on their own life paths. They are truly my greatest blessings.

When I was an impressionable young teenager I participated in the Lutheran church I had attended, off and on as a child, in their study program to become confirmed into the church. After attending a series of weekly studies and lessons, I would become a member of the church and be allowed to receive communion. My reason to do so was shallow, in that my best friend was required to do it via her parents and I did not want to be left out. My own parents were supportive in my choice. What I discovered inside myself, in a very base unconscious way, was that there was a light inside me that seemed to glow brighter and warmer at the end of my commitment and studies. I attended communion twice, and walked away with the feeling in my heart that this experience had been good for me. However, whatever I was going to learn and discover in feeding the new yearning in my soul would come by following my instincts to leave the church.

I started out over 30 years ago, consciously, on this spiritual quest. All I had was this strong desire urging me on, to where I did not know. In that time, the conditions of my path has run a wide gamut. There have been moments of complete and utterly beautiful, mystical happenings. Comparatively, there have also been times with nothing short of chaos and life changing transitions. My path has taken me to living in 3 different regions of the U.S. as well as a year spent in Great Britain; where overall my life’s education has been greatly broadened in my perspective of life.  Sometimes my personal choices have been such that they took me the long way thru grueling stages; other times they led to less laborious travels to attain the sought after outcome. By discovering the attachment to my Higher Power thru my soul and realizing such an intense source of love and guidance I have found myself anchored in a warm bed of comfort knowing that it is eternal and unconditional. With my knowing that such a power is within my reach 24/7 I can weather anything that comes my way.

The Universe has and continues to provide answers, sometimes magical, to my sincere questions and requests. Numerous times answers have come later than sooner but as I have discovered, not before and only when I was ready to hear them. My earthly teachers have and continue to be many, often from surprising sources. Wonderful gems can be discovered in the briefest of encounters as well as the lifelong people that grace our lives, as long as we are open and willing to hear them. I will forever remain a student! To stop learning is to stop growing. Success lies not in attaining the destination but rising to the challenge of the journey.

The Majickal Garden was created for those beginning their own search. It’s a place to sample the seeds of germination…and decide if it feels right for them as well as for those who have been consciously working their own enlightenment. Its goal is not to turn anyone to one way of thinking but to possibly provide a starting point in the individual self discovery of the soul. It’s also a platform for anyone with a desire to share some of what they might feel blessed to have received, in the form of written expression.

It has been said that regardless of how long a meeting lasts with those that cross our paths, we are never the same person as when we first met. If we live life consciously in the moment we will realize in giving we are receiving. We hope you find a few gems of your own in your visit to our website.

Peace and Light

Jasmine

Webmistress Majickal Garden.com

Privacy Policy

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The Majickal Garden recognizes that privacy of your personal information is important. The following is an explanation of what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit majickalgarden.com and how we safeguard your information. We never sell or allow third party access to your personal information.

Log Files As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL or Shaw Cable), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.

Cookies and Web Beacons We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as forums.

We also use third party advertisements on majickalgarden.com to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing Ayrshire real estate ads to someone interested from Ayrshire, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).

You may choose to opt out of such advertising. To find out more about Google and its Doubleclick DART cookie used to generate internet-based advertising, follow this link Your use of this website without opting out means that you understand and agree to data collection to provide you with internet-based advertising.

You can choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

Affiliate and Compensation Disclosure: In accordance with new FTC Guidelines and rules please be aware that some of the links on this website may be linked to affiliate partner products. In some cases, this website may receive commissions for products viewed or purchased on affiliate websites via my referral. We do not receive revenue for writing any product reviews, nor do we receive free products for evaluation, just use good judgment before you buy anything and do research fully.

The Goddess Inside

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"Angel of Capricorn"

Jonathon Earl Bowser – Canadian fantasy artist

Written by Jasmine

(Webmistress The Majickal Garden)

Art has helped to give me a different perspective on women and the *goddess* soul housed inside with respect to the physical body. We come in so many different shapes and sizes. Rivaled by all the variations of personalities, perceptions and ideas the human is capable of producing. Women are depicted in most all genres of advertising, art and other mediums, in the *preferred* wafer thin beauty that a large percentage of the female population could only dream about attaining. I found myself becoming rather indignant at seeing the use of the female body in such a narrow minded view, sending the message that sensuality, sexuality and only a perfect body makes the package complete.

I discovered the artwork of Boris Vallejo (born in 1941 – a Peruvian-born American fantasy artist) and Jonathon Bowser (born in 1962 – A Canadian fantasy artist). Both are well known in the world of Sci- Fi and fantasy art. Their centerpiece of many pieces is the *perfect* body I mentioned earlier. Their work is truly beautiful. In one of those rare moments of deep thought that carry you away from time to time…I realized the spectrum of social thinking about this issue. Society deems the accepted view of what a beautiful woman looks like. It then (society) holds a huge, badly lighted mirror up to the naked, self-conscious woman and thumbs its nose rudely.

Jonathon Earl Bowser – Canadian fantasy artist

Now, as I enjoyed browsing thru these artists’ efforts, appreciating the vivid colors, scenes and yes, I had to admit that the women in these fantasy scenes were beautiful. And ok…yes, I have to admit there was to my surprise a tinge of jealousy creeping up from the dark depths of me. I figure this has to be an effect from having it subliminally implanted in my mind that I am inferior because I don’t fit the perfect mold; or vanity rearing its head in spite of my keeping an eye on the old self-esteem.

The sort of magical, sensual attitude of such artistic work is tapping into the feelings that humans naturally respond with when the senses are stimulated, and then painting the imprint onto a canvas. If this was the case then it would stand to reason magical sensuality lies inside of us all. For many of us, it’s like an overlooked, overgrown garden in need of someone to care enough to tend to it.

The beauty I saw of the women contained a very apparent strength; evoking power and confidence. The artists brought this out from behind the canvas by mixing beauty and nature with an appealing pallet. Just as in real life. Have you ever seen the beauty come from inside someone? At first glance nothing stands out until you’re face to face and connecting. Then with a simple genuine smile the soul’s warm glow can appear and smooth out the wrinkles of age.

I felt the beauty of the artists depictions stir up the warm embers of female pride. There was a feeling of connection evoking the image of the mythological creatures that exuded strength and conviction in their passions…be they dark or light. We as women could be domesticated goddesses in the way of the power we have inside us to evolve and become the person our soul longs to be. Self-accepting confidence in truly accepting the body as the personal vessel, choose to stay up on the upkeep of it…or not…and enjoy life by merging your respect to self-image and then allow your soul to shine.

It’s with a different eye I now look at the presentation of women in art. There is a healthier respect towards the gifts that have been received and what can be done with them. Allow the warm loving guidance of the soul. Beauty is in the lucky eye of the observant beholder and acknowledging it begins well below the surface of the skin.

Jonathon Earl Bowser – Candadian fantasy artist

Soulmates, Marriage and Reality

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When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love

–Robert Fulghum

Francesco Hayez - Italian ArtistFrancesco Hayez – Italian Painter

Written by Jasmine

(Webmistress The Majickal Garden)

 

In order to be able to recognize if someone is your soul mate, you need to *know thyself*. A relationship on this level is a true partnership that requires both sides to be aware of the responsibility for a healthy heart, mind and soul.

In a soul mate marriage, there is a sense of balance and a strong, positive attitude. Intimidation, manipulating ways or abuse is not part of the relationship. There is a mutual feeling of safeness. A feeling like it was meant to be with a natural fit is part of it with a shared honesty and support. With a sense of familiarity and a feeling of the spouse as a mirror is part of a soul mate relationship. This kind of marriage is not hard to maintain ( at the same time not without challenges)  and are healthy, passionate and harmonious. By working together they find plenty can be achieved.

Where couples are active soul mates, there is a mutual joy in watching the growth of the other. They will accept who you are and bring out the best in you by challenging you to do your best. They are a best friend. A soul mate will not ask nor need you to change from who you are. The commitment to the marriage is cherished and small moments together are some of the best.

This basic outline of a soul mate relationship is based on an understanding that both have attained such a level of growth on a soul and human level as to be compatible and ready to share the very special chemistry *magic* that occurs with soul mates sharing lives together.

O.K. If we understand what a soul mate is…how do we convert that to the reality of our lives and the partners we have chosen? The last thing I would advocate is ending a marriage because it does not fit the blue print of an outline of a soul mate. However, there are things, in understanding what a soul mate is, that can be of help in the current relationship.

There is a very good chance that the mate you have chosen is in your soul group. There is a reason, as a spirit in lesson, for your getting together. Elements such as where the spiritual and intellectual growth stands for each side enters in to how you relate with each other. Also how one another has dealt with past issues from childhood thru adulthood. If this is understood, how past issues can affect your relationship and how you relate to one another, a desire to begin to clear them up could change things that might be somewhat undesirable in the marriage.

The more time a couple has racked up together, the easier it is for the reasons that attracted you in the first place can begin to pale. Reach back to the days when things were still fresh and focus on these traits when they shined the brightest. By making an effort to look at one another thru those eyes you can begin to see the other in a different light. Your positive response could actually bring these qualities out in the other if done with love and respect. Sometimes the best of us can forget what we were like so long ago before the focus of every day dealings of life shifted priorities.

In looking at what can be done to begin a change in the tide of a marriage with serious problems where there is a definite gulf in relating to one another…the worst thing that one could do is put the blame on the other and wait for them to *get it together*. The more rational thinking is to begin to look inside with a fresh eye as to where you can begin with yourself. Its sometimes not an easy feat for a start, however, if your being honest with yourself, you will begin to see where your own responsibility in the relationship lies and seek a place to start. When the other begins to see the changes brought about by efforts taken on your own initiative, your mate might naturally seek changes in themselves.

Soul mates do not agree on everything. There is no *ideal* mate and no one will think exactly the way you do. There will still be difficult times in a marriage, even as soul mates. No one has all the answers but with a commitment to take the responsibility to be the best you can be…it can definitely affect those around you. If we truly are spirits in lesson on this earth, it is our responsibility to discover the answers that work for ourselves individually. In a marriage where oaths were taken, from that day forward, in becoming a couple lies the responsibility to actively uphold that oath. How much time and effort put into the commitment of the marriage is a choice for both sides.

Love, respect and support to the other is a firm base that should prevail with any dealings with the mate you have chosen.

 

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

–Rainer Maria Rilke

Jasmine’s Reflections Introduction

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Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

Chief Seattle

  My spiritual path has led me thru shelves of books. There have been some special teachers in my life; some for a day, a year or still remain. The scope of these subjects are beyond what I could even hope to get thru in this lifetime. I could not tell you exactly what books I have read but with each one that left an impression…I have absorbed the essence that I felt I needed before I moved on. Sometimes to my delight, something I might have read or learned from others long ago might come to the surface to meld with current insights that shed a brighter light in my spiritual enlightenment. I have also spent decades learning to “listen” to my spiritual guides and as well as varying degrees of meditational reflection. In this section I would like to share with you in my writings a little of what I have learned. It’s my own *knowing* and *truth.* However seeds are planted, it’s up to the individual whether or not it’s a germination that will apply to them. Perhaps, if nothing more, I might share a subject that will simply encourage further investigation on your own; wherever you choose to seek it.

Finding Serenity

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Rainbow_at_strandhill-500 sm

Article By Jasmine

serenity:
The quality or state of being serene

serene:
1 a: clear and free of storms or unpleasant change b: shining bright and steady
2: marked by or suggestive of utter calm and unruffled repose or quietude

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the Serenity
to accept the things I cannot change…
Courage to change the things I can
and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr (American theologian, 1892-1971)

Pagan Serenity Prayer

God & Goddess grant me:
The power of water, to accept with ease & grace what I cannot change
The power of fire, for the energy & courage to change the things I can.
The power of Air, for the ability to know the difference.
And the power of Earth, for the strength to continue my path.

Author Unknown

Despite years of research by numerous individual, the exact origin of the prayer is veiled in time and mystery. Every time a researcher appears to uncover the conclusive source, another one crops up to confound the claim. The impact in the meaning of, with due respect to the real author, is undeniable.

Of all the tools I have been blessed to add to my toolbox for maintenance of the Soul, one of my most treasured is, modest in first appearance, one of my most useful. These simple 4 or 5 lines of a poem pack a wallop of an impact, if one chooses to see and feel past the initial simplicity.

I have found myself at times, in extreme states, sitting firmly upon a horse that is securely bolted to the floor of a complex merry-go-round of life, with the full gamut of possible emotions whirring inside and about me, frantically grasping for anything solid to help me get off the dizzying contraption. These seemingly basic lines have proved themselves, time and again, something that I could grab a hold of.

It gives us permission to ask…in the chaos of human emotion, to find the Serenity, a moment of calm, to understand the things that we have no power to change. It allows us to ask for the Courage to see and make changes to the things we are capable of changing. Most importantly, we can ask for the Wisdom to understand the difference between what we CAN change and what we CAN’T change. Admittedly, during times of calm and control, this might seem an elementary feat. Anyone having experienced times of feeling so out of control will know quite differently.

In the middle of emotional Chaos, it is such a relief to discover the ability to recognize and screen out the crap, shove it aside, to focus on the real issues at hand. I liken this result of grabbing a firm hold of these words to…finding yourself blasting around a chaotic tornado… looking down into the calm of the center and wanting so badly to plant your backside firmly on the bottom, longing for merely a short break, to look up and out, but not knowing how to get there.

Some basic knowledge of Human Nature 101 is most helpful at this point. The mind can be a wicked culprit for allowing the merry-go-round to persist. Over analyzing situations to the point of “if I had/had not done this” or “if he/she had not or had done this” and the what if’s, in second guessing different outcomes, won’t ever change what actually came about. However, playing things over and over again in the mind is one of the games it can play on us. Another player in this is the heart. Emotions of jealously, anger, pain, hurt, fear, love, etc create a chaotic whirlpool as to find oneself lost in confusion to the degree of feeling out of control.

The Serenity Prayer invites your Soul into the equation. By, with respect to your well being, it allows you to set aside you’re thinking mind, you’re feeling heart and lets you focus on the facts at hand and what you can and cannot do about your situation. In asking for peace of mind to recognize the answers to your questions, your able to clear out the irrational thinking of the past, being unchangeable anyway, and the emotions of the heart coloring your perception of how to proceed to attain an acceptable sense of sanity, and allowing yourself to continue down your life’s path, instead of spinning helplessly out of control.

Having said all this…and especially at my most serious moments of crying out for help…I have found peaceful respite, some breathing space, to get my feet more firmly planted on the ground. It’s in times of extreme emotion and crying out to the universal energies for help, that we find our intentions the truest. It’s with True Intentions our requests for help are most heard. With our honest efforts to occupy the sense of Serenity for even the shortest time, we can most loudly hear the answers to our heartfelt questions.

One of my favorite analogies is, if you’re going to win the lottery you have to make the effort to go out and buy a ticket. If we want to reap the benefits the Universal Energies, they so lovingly want to bestow upon us…we have to make the proper efforts to allow them the open channel for us to receive. Just as in winning a big lotto jackpot…we must allow our Souls the opportunity to reap the benefits they so deserve.

This poem has, over time, never ceased to amaze me. No matter how simple or complex my situation…the words seem to change, sometimes ever so slightly, to accommodate my understanding of a particular situation. For as many years as I have known it…there are times it seemed to pop right up into my mind…and other times I had to go dig it up just to be sure. As simple as 4 or 5 lines can appear, this is a true testament to the depth of meaning it can take on for those in need.

The Universal Energies have blessed us with some wonderful tools. It’s with our choice in free will we are able to accept the use of them. This is but one of the many I have been thankful to have experienced and one I will never discard.

UPDATE: Quite a while after this article was written and while doing some research for a different subject, I came across the Serenity Prayer with credit given to Reinhold Niebuhr. I have included a short biography from http://who2.com/reinholdniebuhr.html and a few of his quotes.

Reinhold Niebuhr
Theologian

Name at birth: Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr

During his lifetime, Reinhold Niebuhr was the best-known Christian intellectual in the United States. Ordained as a minister in the German Evangelical Synod of North America in 1913, Neibuhr pastored a middle-class congregation in Detroit for 13 years. In 1928 he began a career-long association with New York’s Union Theological Seminary, serving as professor of Christian ethics (1928-60) and dean (1950-60). Niebuhr neither created nor defended a particular belief system as much as he worked to apply Christian morals to contemporary political and social problems. His theological stance has been described as “Christian realism,” and most of his work was devoted to reconciling the concept of perfect love with a world in constant violent conflict. A prolific writer and a popular, engaging lecturer, Niebuhr became a national celebrity and influenced Martin Luther King, Jr. and policy makers in the administration of President John Kennedy. His books include Does Civilization Need Religion? (1927), The Nature and Destiny of Man (2 volumes, 1941-43) and Faith and History (1949). He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.

Niebuhr is credited with authoring what has been called the Serenity Prayer, a form of which is used by Alcoholics Anonymous. One version of it goes like this:

God give me the serenity to accept things which cannot be changed; give me courage to change things which must be changed; and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.

Extra credit: His brother, Helmut Richard Niebuhr, was also a well-known theologian and clergyman… In his early years Reinhold Niebuhr was an active socialist, but he advocated early intervention against Adolf Hitler in World War II, and by the end of the war had moved away from socialism to condemn totalitarian communism.

“Original sin is that thing about man which makes him capable of conceiving of his own perfection and incapable of achieving it”

“Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love.”

“If we can find God only as he is revealed in nature we have no moral God”