I just heard some guy say that he was particularly annoyed that Amy Whitehouse failed to sort herself out "because she had so much help" - the record company paying for expensive rehab, her loving family, her management dot dot dot

This immediately reminded me of a diatribe I wrote in 2003, The Artist's Diatribe, which addresses exactly that issue - but from the viewpoint of The Artist. Well worth reading and if you happen to be an artist, to take note, learn the lesson and don't go down the same rabbithole Amy and Alex went ...

There is a moment I am very familiar with - it happens at every party.

The music starts to play ...

Who is going to have the courage and step up to be the first on the dance floor?

You might be a priest, a shaman, a healer, a therapist, an artist, a musician - but are you also "an energist"?

What is an energist? Is that like an anarchist, or something else? Here's want an energist isn't.

I was really surprised when Alex informed me that this month was DragonRising's 15th birthday.

Look at that ... I own a publishing house ...

You think no evil, live your life as you do, try to make the world a better place and then one day you wake up and you're the owner of a publishing house ...

How did that happen?!

I was talking to a depressed business man last night who kept sighing and saying that he wanted and needed to take a rest after the recent upheavals and problems he had been involved in.

He clearly felt tired and dejected - but was this curable by him lying down in a corner to rest? Or did he really need something else altogether - an inspiration, perhaps?

Well, it's official now.

The New Age is dead.

It was already in the hospital in the mid eighties, then was moved into the hospice at the turn of the century. There it lingered on, until the global recession hit ... hard ...

RIP, New Age.

How do I feel about it?

The Gift is a form of energy magic that is perhaps the most simple and direct way to understand a hugely complex operation, which is to generate a unique energy form and to transmit it to others. First described in 1996,

The Gift is indeed, a gift on many levels; now it turns out, it is also a TEST.

... oh yes! And there are so many other names for fear.

Procrastination. Indecision. Weighing things up carefully. Waiting for a sign. Waiting for the right moment. Waiting for Mr Right! Waiting for a miracle ...

And there are even more of "Fear, by any other name" ... THE GOOD REASONS of course ...

After the recent health scare, I have been told by doctors and guardian spirits alike (and how often does it happen that they ever agree?! on anything?!) that I have to throttle back and take it a whole lot easier. But how do I keep the research going which is what I do believe I'm here for? The answer - instead of trying to please the whole world, its wife, and all the other relatives, I'll work with my mastermind group instead.

At the end of November, I became acutely ill and was taken to hospital. An operation was scheduled for December 31st, and today is December 21st, and it's true to say I'm not feeling at my best.

Here is a personal comment on my reactions to this, and an article entitled "In Sickness & In Health" which I wrote for an unpublished book for magical people.

I was watching an episode of "Brat Camp" with my teenage son tonight.

For those who don't know what that is, Brat Camp is a series of documentaries about wayward teenagers being sent to Utah to haul logs in the wilderness, for MONTHS on end, to "find themselves".

This article from 2002 welcomes the Snow Queen to the then story section at Sidereus and has some interesting reflections on the importance of story, story telling and especially fairy tales.

Silvia Hartmann writes: Once in a while I see one of those pseudo personal development articles, written by some !"£$!! who doesn't have the first clue about anything beyond what you can pick up in the cheapest of pop psychology leaflets, and they really infuriate me. Now, I haven't treated this reaction with energy therapies as yet because whenever it happens, I immediately sit down and write a response which I otherwise probably wouldn't be doing. In this case, the thing was entitled, "Forgiving Your Way To Health" and it was so profoundly useless, I nearly spat my coffee all over my computer keyboard as I flashed through the usual platitudes on this painful subject being regurgitated brainlessly once again. So, and as a direct result, here is ...

An essay on decisions, living in the light and on re-uniting with the true experience of this world.

How people *really* die, what happens exactly, what patterns are present and much more importantly, what *we* can learn from this to make *our lives* different - a phantastic interview with a hospice nurse who shares her knowledge, experience and understanding of "The Dying Process".

Once again, and from totally different starting points, Mindlist and MET List have come up with a thread that is very similar. On Mindlist, the question of "people typing instruments" came up and with it the question as to how useful that is, and whether or not one should attempt to "type" people at all. On MET, the question of mapmaking came up and whether or not it is useful to make oversimplified maps of the human energy system at all. I'd like to offer an essay on the topic of "Systemic Complexity" as I understand the processes involved, it might help allay some confusion.