" Miramaze, are you a Shaman? " someone asked recently. I am all for opening up exploring . A shaman ? In a very loose sense , yes. - a healer who uses altered states of consciousness, more of a witch really.I go to places where writing does not exist; I do have contact with and am influenced by the spirit world and one of my core beliefs is that there are two worlds, the material and the spiritual. As a person I am unconventional and bohemian and work intuitively. My challenge is to communicate and express what I " know " into words. This is why I am so happy when someone else does it for me and I can say YES ... this is what I know .. all wrapped up in words .. in a beautiful neat package !

People who know me see me as a healer and medicine woman. I have never had shamanic training as such , but Shamans , curanderas , curanderos often cross my path either as friends , teachers or healers. I love the world of " woo woo " as it is sometimes known. It's not " woo woo to me at all.

Two years ago I received excellent healing from a Psychosynthesis practitioner who is also a Shaman , very pragmatic and down to earth. During a ritual, while in a trance she crossed over into another world to get information and help from her spirit guides. I could feel her guides working on my stomach ,and legs- They sent me a spirit animal guide or power animal who has been with me now for two years.

I am very open to shamanism, methods, techniques and ways that can be used in holistic healing towards greater well-being and self - realisation.

Are you a Shaman ?

"Often people attempt to live their lives
backwards: they try to have more things, or more money,
in order to do more of what they want so they
will be happier. The way it actually works is the
reverse. You must first be who you really are, then
do what you love to do, in order to have what you
want."

-- Margaret Young

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water".

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs".

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor". The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh straw on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a "thresh hold".

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite awhile. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old".

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon". They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all "sit around and chew the fat". Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "the upper crust". Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake".

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night, "the graveyard shift". to listen for the bell; thus someone could be, "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer".

After watching Al-Risalah an epic film from 1976 with Anthony Quinn I slept for 12 hours waking up at 2pm . Weird. Sometimes, when I get over - tired or perthaps it is an adrenalin roll I can't get myself to go to bed .. it is as if I would be missing something if I did . So , what do I do .. I watch films on T.V.

I watched Al-Risalah " The Message " hoping to learn something about Islam. I try to keep an open mind. Al-Risalah is an epic film from 1976 with Anthony Quinn about the ascendancy of Islam . Emphasis is on the persecution of the early Muslims very similar to the persecution of the early Christians. Suffering , torture , and resulting martyrdom with the consolation prize of rewards in heaven,

To be fair - this is an OLD film- 30 years old so maybe not the best pest place to learn about Islam, but I wanted to see it because a young Morrocan friend who is a devout Muslim had mentioned it. I have come to understand through him that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims.

Back to the film ....So much fighting !!! So much suffering. WHY so much fighting ? Islam as other religions contains such beautifully profound and true messages at its core but these messages seem to get lost in translation and polluted by human lower traits of ..greed .... anger .. hate .. revenge. It is really sad how the essential message of Islam as the one of Christianity is lost under polluted under "mans " interpretation ... and it is very much a MANS interpretation , a man's world.

This film was full of men and fighting. Two women were featured, one a martyr who was tortured and died for her faith and the other an infidel who was very much like our Lady Macbeth in character. Apart from that – I did not see any women. Where were the women ?

As I understand it, the prophet Mohammed loved women. and women were included in the messages he received from God ; messages that stuck up for them and said that they were man’s equal and not goods to be bought and sold as was the way in those days. The prophet Mohammed was a kind and gentle soul. who could neither read not write . A humble shepherd who received God's messages through the Angel Gabriel. So far so good. The messages he received were good. The messages were so against the sword , fighting and killing. The messages were about forgiveness and love . Equality. Men being equal to women. Don't hurt women, cripples , children or trees.

I think it is so sad how we have allowed ourselves to be led astray by world religions.

Ironically , the other film that was on was a Hollywood version of Anthony and Cleopatra. I love Cleopatra films for the fabulous costumes, gold and finery, ancient ritual and mystery .. but here too there was vulgar Roman fighting. A passionate love story though that transcends death a redeeming quality.

So bottom line .. I think we can all do better. We can all be better human beings. It is time that we changed, It is high time we left behind these old outdated beliefs of fighting and killing ; an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth because an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.