DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by the varius articles in this ezine are not necessarily the views of Spirit Circle, but rather the views of the individual authors.

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Spirit Circle Goals
By Charles

I have often been asked, "What is the goal of Spirit Circle?" I usually just answer, "To spread Love and Light and Acceptance over the world." Some people accept that answer, others want to know more. So I have decided to try to explain it all here.

Actually, Spirit Circle has many goals. Some of those goals are short term, some are long term and some are very long term. And I know that Spirit has goals for Spirit Circle that I have not yet been told about. And of course, I have a major goal of my own.

So let us discuss my own major goal first. I expect to live somewhere around ten more years. In that time, I have to get Spirit Circle to such a size and with an established infrastructure such that it will continue on without me, and continue to grow and accomplish its purpose. If I can accomplish that, then I fully expect Spirit Circle to still be here and be strong a hundred years from now. Obviously, I cannot do this by myself, this has to be an effort by a great many people. So one of my tasks is to find people who can also see the vision and to work toward accomplishing that vision. (Yoo! Hoo! Where are you?) Obviously, there will be people who will see a different vision and will try to subvert our vision to their own, to take over and control Spirit Circle and bend it toward their own ends. So we must guard against this, another of my goals.

One of our more immediate goals is to become incorporated as a not for profit organization. This will give us certain legal protections and will also allow us to apply for and receive grant moneys to carry out our work.

Some short term goals are:
1) To have a LOT more classes/courses/workshops. This will have to depend on our members as they are the ones that we are looking to in order to get these materials developed.

2) We want a LOT more articles for the Library. Again, this will depend on the members for input. The vast majority of the articles presently in the Library were written by members and many more are wanted. We would like to have enough of them that they have to be separated into different "rooms" by categories. Each and every one of our members knows something that no one else knows. Some of this may be only personal information, but still you know something that I don't know. And even if we already have an article on a subject that you feel that you could write about, you can write about that subject from a different viewpoint so it would be useful.

3) Increase member participation. We have a forum that all members can use, we have a chat room that is available 24/7. We have asked for members to develop classes/workshops and write articles. Now if you can think of anything else that we can do, PLEASE let me know.

One of our goals is to spread a web of spiritual Light and Love over the world with members in every country in the world. This is a goal that I hope to see fulfilled in my own lifetime.

Another goal is to establish a physical "Spirit Circle Center" or headquarters with a full staff of full time workers. There will be auxiliary Centers in other areas of the world, with people working in them. As Spirit Circle continues to grow, the amount of work that will be required to maintain and administer it will also continue to grow. Already there is a very heavy work load and many more workers could be used. We will need office type help and also need teachers.

Since I have mentioned teachers, I will now mention another goal. We would like to see Spirit Circle become an accredited school for many metaphysical and spiritual subjects. Spirit Circle will also eventually maintain a "Spiritual Retreat."

I guess that if we really wanted to get down to it, we could state that the ultimate goal of Spirit Circle is that it will become a real force for peace in the world.

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Serenity, Fleeting Serenity
by Kanislatrans

Garlic and basil mingle and tease my nose as I walk to the garden. its been a long busy summer and I haven't been keeping up on things here in my little piece of serenity. The weeds are almost as high as the corn and spinach bolted long ago. the tomatoes have fallen from their stakes and snake across the path, their ripening fruits orange, green and red against the black plastic.

Bushel basket in hand, I walk past onions and hot peppers, to the bed of beets . After a prayer and an offering of sage, I start pulling them from the loamy ground. The beets are big this year and seem to have thrived despite my neglect. Proof again that nature can get along well with out us two-legs assistance.

The sky catches fire as the sun settles behind the hills. I stop and watch the colors blossom and then fade. It is a spectacle that thrills my heart as if I were a child. Dusk chases the colors leaving the sky velvet soft and a blue that deepens by the moment. Caught in the moment, I am lost. Time has no meaning at times like this. It is as close to the divine that one can get and still be awake.

The breeze speaks softly. Although the voice is soft, I know it is Coyote. "pretty, huh?" he says. My reply is a simple"yeah". We sit together as the air cools, my guide and I. Both of us knowing that this is not a time for lessons, but a time to bask in and feel deep in out spirits this wonderful thing called living.

The crickets begin their nightly serenade as the stars come out. Here on the cool ground surrounded by life I have found peace. Tomorrow is as far off as the stars and my spirit sings. Coyote sings then also, his voice rides the wind and chases the last fireflies of the summer around the meadow. Softly I add my song to his, and somewhere in the distance a family of our kin join in. Together we howl as Sister Moon slides over the dark hillside.

"We've got company."says Grandfather, and I follow his direction to the meadow. Three flashlights bob and weave through the goldenrod and timothy hay, headed in our direction. The lights round the raspberries and currant bushes. Three boys and two dogs tumble into the garden.

"Are you coming in, Dad?" the tallest one asks. The dogs freeze and give me a puzzled look. They always do when Coyote is around. The youngest boy slides on a tomato and falls into the cauliflower bed. The middle boy helps him up as I smile and then laugh. "Yep, I was just coming down," I reply, picking myself off the ground. "Help me with this basket, I've gotta get the beets cleaned so we can can them tomorrow night."

I wish Coyote a good night and all 6 of us walk to the house. Coyote continues his song behind me as the moon paints the meadow silver. It is a good day to be alive.

copyright 2002, Bryan M. Welsh

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Love
Rosemary Feld

Most people's idea of what love is - is the energy of giving and the feeling of being "cared" for. This "caring" for is usually expressed in the physical as doing something for the one you love as a demonstration of love. When the physical caring for is not there - we do not feel the love any longer; we say, "you don't love me anymore", because we can't see it. That is because the feeling has changed. We are basing the love on that feeling of being taken care of by someone.

There is a love stronger than this one expression of being physically cared for. This is the feeling that we receive from outside of ourselves, that we are respected and honored for who we are, not what we do or do not do. We know we have purpose and are part of a whole. This is the love that allows us to express without judgment or interference. We feel the confidence of this love that we are capable and powerful beings - that we will be supported and upheld by this loving energy and will be "cared for" by our own ability to create and manifest.

We are moving toward a new expression and understanding of love on this plane - one where we acknowledge each other's unique expression without having to personally support that expression. We will still give to others, but the energy will change. This giving will not be based on one being's interpretation of another's need - it will be based only on the "joy of giving" - a sharing of who you are. Each of us will know that the other is capable of creating and supporting his or her own needs. There will no longer be the need for one being to be the fulfillment of another. We will all become self-fulfilling. We will be able to watch what another creates without attachment to the creation. We will be able to express joy at all expressions, because we will not be physically tied to the expression.

So do not be afraid to love one another. There is no stake in it for you - nothing that you need to give up or give away. Love is the natural flow that connects us to each other and to every part of the whole.

copyright 2002, Rosemary Feld

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Pendulum Power
Learning to use the mighty pendulum!

A pendulum is a wonderful tool that my Spirit guides taught me to use when I was a child. It is a way to interact with your subconscious mind. Your conscious mind holds all the easily accessed information that you need on a moment's notice, such as a phone number or the name of your boss' wife.

Your subconscious mind is much deeper, and holds the memory of every experience that you have ever had, whether you recall that experience consciously or not. This is why hypnosis works so beautifully in helping people to recall past events. It is a way for them to access the deep subconscious mind. A pendulum works in the same way.

A pendulum is one of the most useful tools that you can learn to master. Your deep subconscious mind can tell you many things about yourself that you may not consciously understand. Examples might be:

Is this vitamin good for me?

Am I allergic to peanuts?

Did I drop my glasses inside the house?

Can I find my purse upstairs?

Is it the highest and best thing for me to take this new position?

Will I be happy in real estate school?

Remember that the pendulum is your way to interact with your own subconscious mind, and cannot tell you how someone else feels. A question such as "Does Johnny love me enough to marry me?" is tricky. Your subconscious mind doesn't KNOW the answer to this question. It can only tell you what you yourself BELIEVE the answer to be. There is often a great difference between knowing and believing something to be true. Stick to questions that you personally can answer with a 'yes' or 'no.'

I have taught many people to use a pendulum over the years, even children and elderly adults. You do not need to buy a pendulum in order to use one successfully. It is easy to make one by using a ring suspended on a string or a thread. A heavier ring that has some weight to it works best, and it should be able to swing freely.

Your first step is to hold your hand like a gun, thumb facing upright, pointer finger fully extended, the remaining three fingers tucked into your palm. Now hold the end of the thread in your 3 fingers, and loop the ring end over your pointer finger, and let it hang in front of your hand. The ring, suspended upside down on the thread, should be able to swing freely, without hitting your hand or knuckles.

Hold your other hand, palm up, about an inch below the ring. You should be able to swing the ring easily back and forth without touching your palm. Still the ring, so that it lies suspended motionless over your palm. Now ask aloud, "What direction is Yes?" In a moment or two the ring will begin to swing, usually either side to side or front to back. This motion will determine the direction that the pendulum will swing in when it is indicating that the answer to your question is 'yes.'

Next ask, "Show me the direction for No." The pendulum should begin to swing in the opposite direction. For instance, if the direction for 'yes' was left to right, then the direction for 'no' will be front to back. (Very rarely you may see a direction that indicates a response of "I don't know." You may see this indicated by a diagonal or circular motion.)

Once you have ascertained your pendulum's directions, please ask a test question that you know there is only one definite answer to. An example might be, "Am I a woman?" Check that your pendulum is indicating the appropriate reply for the question. If it does not, start again and be sure that you understand the different directions as indicated by your pendulum.

Now you are ready to use your pendulum to ask any sort of yes/no question you can think of. Remember that the pendulum is your way to interact with your subconscious, not how someone else feels.

It may be helpful to narrow the scope of questions when searching for a lost item. In that way you can eliminate going through each area room by room. Let's say you have lost your glasses. Your sequence of questions and possible answers might be:

Have I lost my glasses? (Yes)

Are they in the yard? (No)

Are they in the house? (Yes)

Are they on the first floor? (No)

Are they on the second floor? (Yes)

Are they in the front of the house? (Yes)

Are they in a bedroom? (No)

Are they in the bathroom? (Yes)

Are they in plain sight? (No)

Are they under something? (Yes)

Are they kicked under the sink? Yes!

Success at last!

If you are interested in purchasing your own pendulum, it is best to buy one that has a point on the end. This can be useful when using some of the many pendulum charts on the market, which have possible words and replies already printed up for you. Also, a pendulum with some weight works better than a lighter one, for it will hang with a better center of gravity.

I would like to make the final point that there is nothing mystical or magical about using a pendulum... they are merely useful tools for accessing the subconscious mind, and are not paranormal in any form.

Walk in Love!

Rev Peggy Ray
www.celestialcreations.net

c. Rev Peggy Ray

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WHAT IS SPIRITUAL MEDIUMSHIP?
By Linda M. Marrero, R.N., ACH , Spiritualist Medium
(Copyright 2002, all rights reserved)

So, you are curious to find out exactly what Mediumship is? And what does being Spiritual have to do with it? Well, I'll tell you. Spiritual has to do with Spiritualism. This is a religion that began in 1848. This religion believes in continuance of life after the "change" called death. It also believes that everyone is morally responsible for all of his or her actions and thoughts, so care should be taken in being positive and loving. But the main importance, for the sake of this article, is that it is a religion that believes in communication with those in Spirit.

Now you say, well that's all well and good but what does that have to do with Mediumship? Well, there are many people who have been guided and instructed by other Spiritualist Mediums, who pass along a disciplined, but positive and loving way to "speak with" the Spiritworld.

Mediumship is the act of communicating with Spirit. A person who comes to a Medium for a reading could be called a sitter or "listener". Mediumship is not an exact science and is sometimes looked upon as an "experiment". The purpose of this experiment is to give pieces of information as evidence of a relative, friend or loved one who is touching in from the Spiritworld. This evidence can be a name; a place known to the listener; a significant piece of jewelry; an emotional event or dilemma in progress in the listener's life; or even a description of a person in spirit. And by the way, Spirit people can be quite vain and "show" themselves as a much younger person. This can sometimes be confusing. Picture this...Grandpa Frank died at 88, but I am describing a person much younger to the listener. Sometimes, but not always, there is a meaningful message being passed along. A Spirit may want to show their love to someone who felt unloved. A Spirit may want to apologize for transgressions committed while they were here. They may encourage a grieving relative to let go of their grief and get on with the act of "living". No two readings are ever alike, because no two people are exactly alike.

Now, I'll bet you're wondering..How do they do it? How does a Medium contact a Spirit? Do they wake them up from their eternal slumber? Well, I feel that I can safely tell you that once you pass into the Spiritworld, you don't just go to sleep. You function almost like you did here on the earth plane. You retain personality traits that can be easily recognized by "listeners" in a sitting.

A Medium must have learned discipline to be able to get the mind in a relaxed and clear state so that "thought impressions" can be recognized and interpreted. The key word here is interpreted. This is why we say Mediumship is not an exact science. A Medium "senses" an impression and verbalizes it to the listener. Unfortunately, it is not like a telephone conversation or a television connection. Since thoughts are "impressed" upon the mind of the Medium, there can be errors in interpretations. And to make matters even more difficult..Spirits also use symbols. Yes, symbols. A pine tree could urge the Medium to feel that an address with Pine Street is significant. Or being aware of a Spirit with rosary beads may mean that they were Catholic. And at times there are pieces of information that are just that. They are snippets of information that "trigger" a memory or an understanding, that only the listener would know.

Mediums have no control over which relatives and loved ones choose to make their presence known. A sitter or listener can help to promote a successful reading. When you come to a sitting with an open mind and accept any and all contact, this helps to open up a positive flow of communication. It is common for some pieces of information to not immediately be recognized but in due time, things fall into place. Please understand that a purely Mediumistic reading is for the purpose of giving evidence of eternal love and life. It is not to foresee the future .

Every well-trained Spiritual Medium holds themselves to a high standard of integrity, and will not tell you things of a negative nature. They also don't want to know anything about you beforehand, so as to ensure that "impressions" are not tainted by previous knowledge.

Now you can say that you have some understanding of what Spiritual Mediumship is. Thank you for your time, and love and light to you and yours.

(Bio: Linda Marrero has a practice in Central New Jersey. She is a Spiritual Medium, an Advanced Clinical Hypnocounselor, and a Registered Nurse. For more information you can contact her by phone, e-mail or visit her website.)

Linda M. Marrero
732-985-7995
www.Spiritwords.net
SpiritwordsInfo@aol.com

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A Bit of Inspiration

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while other can be mainstreamed into conventional schools.

At a Chush fundraising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shay? Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is God's perfection?"

The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish and stilled by the piercing query. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that he seeks is in the way people react to this child." He then told the following story about his son Shay:

One afternoon, Shay and his father walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shay's father understood that if his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.

Shay's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning." Shay's father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly.

Shay was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base. Shay was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved up a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. One of Shay's teammates came up to Shay and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay and his teammate swung at the ball and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman.

Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to first." Never in his life had Shay run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shay, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing short stop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third." As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shay run home." Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection."

Funny how this is so true!

Funny how simple it is for people to trash different ways of living and believing and then wonder why the world is going to hell.

Funny how people can send a thousand 'jokes' through email and they spread like wildfire, but when one starts sending messages regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of morality is too often suppressed in school and the workplace.

Funny how when you go to forward this message (if you choose to forward it), you might not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what we think of ourselves.

Let's share it with our children...

~ Author Unknown ~

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