June is Bustin' out all Over

It is the month of June, 

The month of leaves and roses, 

When pleasant sights salute the eyes 

And pleasant scents the noses. 

- Nathaniel Parker Willis

Thanks to  Oscar Hammerstein II for the title of this month's blog from his musical Carousel (1956).

June is seemingly named after the Roman goddess Juno and is the month for young people (well that rules me out!)

The two most beautiful flowers and my favourites believe it or not which represent June are the honeysuckle and rose. Until the 20th June, (my star sign) Gemini is the astrology sign for this month and June's birthstones are the Alexandrite, the Moonstone, and the pearl. The meaning is health and longevity apparently - sounds good to me.

Before Planting

I met an old friend today Geoff and his wife Pat. I also met their talented  daughter Gill, aspecialist grower of lavender and cottage pink plants. I bought 24 miniature lavender plants from her - purple, pink and white to go into the fountain I have and here they are:

After Planting

I decided earlier in the year I wasn't going to fill this area and satisfy the curiosity of the squirrels who dig everything up, but then I thought it looked a bit bare and put some of these beautiful plants in instead.

Visit her web site here to see her lovely range of plants and plant services. The weather is nice and warm again and pleasant to be out without coat or jumper.

I've created a little website with the things I am doing in my therapy and spiritual life with my business partner Linda - have a look and let me know what you think (constructive comments welcome). 

Do you believe in Angels? Last night, as often I do on a Friday night, I have a meditation and spiritual evening. This is a relaxed affair, nothing formal and very successful way of contacting your inner self and those from other realms be they Angels of Spirits.

I hope this doesn't cause you to unfriend me because you think I am a bit of a nut (not too far from the truth - but not yet committable), but last night we had a message from a very high being in the realm of Angels.

There were many facets to this message which took over three hours to get through, but one of the things this Archangel majored on was the need for us to try to get across to mankind a message that it is so important - mankind must replace hate with love.  This is my task (well certainly one of them) and that of my business partner.

Great - where do we start? I guess of the 7,089,000,000 people and rising on this planet only a few are in what you would call serious widespread conflicts of hate. Recognised battles, be they steeped in differences of religion, culture, nationality - they are easy to spot - at the time of writing, Syria for example, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bali, Somalia, Burma and Sudan where there are over 1000 deaths per year. There are other conflicts around the world that have registered less than a thousand deaths a year and there are many of them - too many to list but for example Mexico drug war, Israel and Palestine conflict, Libya and the Yemen to name just a few.

Hate however can be a much more clandestine emotion, one that can be hidden in the depths of the mind to resurface when the opportunity arises. Do you 'hate' the way you look in the morning, do you 'hate' that dress that woman is wearing or do you 'hate' that man because he is black or that woman because she is a lesbian or that child because he is disabled?

Hate is a mind condition, but it manifests itself more often in words and actions. We transfer that hatred that we are brought up with, conditioned with or what we learnt by being unable to contain our anger and hate and expressing that hate with violence of one sort or another, normally against an individual or property. Vicious, hateful words is a violence - it attacks the senses and emotions of the victim. Physical assault scars for life, memories that never go. Murder is the ultimate, put to death because your sexuality for example is not the same as theirs, or because your DNA makes you a different skin colour - something over which you have no control.

So whether you express your hatred through words or deeds, in a subtle way or a gross way, you need to understand how that hatred is eating away inside you and be of no doubt, it will ultimately destroy your health, alienate you from society, and lose what few friends and support if any you have.

Love on the other hand is the subject for another blog entirely. But think on this: Is opening a door for a disabled stranger courtesy, kindness or love? I think if you consider how it makes them feel, I would argue you've probably shown love for a fellow human being in anything but name.

Hey - enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Angelic Weekend

20Cm tall Angel

The weekend has gone - all too quickly. I've seen a great film, had a good time with friends, relaxed at home, shopped and done a bit of domestic stuff around the house. The weather's not been too bad either although it's been a bit chilly in a brisk stiff breeze which has just taken the edge off the temperatures.

The film (I'm not going to do a review like I used to) was Dark Shadows, a Tim Burton film starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and a delightfully evil portrayal by Eva Green. Briefly, Depp is a vampire who was condemned to lie for eternity in the 1700s in a grave. He was accidentally released by some workmen and went back to his ancestral home to reclaim his heritage. The film is both funny, dark and cleverly done by Burton with a decent storyline and apparently adapted from an American TV series of the 1960s which I can't remember ever seeing in the UK. 

25Cm tall Angel

This is a 12A and needs to be and you can imagine how difficult it is for this 18th century vampire to adapt to modern day America hence the comedy aspect to the film. If you like Burton's films then you'll like this one.

I've done the usual shopping bits and pieces over the weekend including some Arthur Bowers multi-purpose compost which was on good offer at the local DIY store and some paraffin for the greenhouse to ward off the effect of late frosts.

Glass Oil/Essence burner

The healing group I normally attend as a healer to every other Thursday night in Hull which offers healing using Reiki and Angelic healing was cancelled last week because the owner of the large house we use wasn't very well. Instead we held a meditation evening at my business partners home and what a fabulous night we had with our group of clients using two lovely meditations. I thoroughly recommend meditation as a relaxation tool and if any of you want to know about how to do it, let me know (by e-mail) and I'll point you in the right direction.

Wind Chime

You may recall I occasionally run a stall selling Angel related things (Touched by Angels) and I set up my dining table today to take some photographs of some of the new bits of stock that arrived recently and I've put some examples on here. You can click on them to enlarge them. It's the first time I've done this and I'm quite proud of the results and I aim to photograph the rest of the stock samples next weekend. I'm currently constructing a website and some of the pictures will go on there.  I had lots of offers of help before Christmas from blogger friends which I was eternally grateful for, but decided to get a grip and do it myself, both for the experience and for the purpose of getting off my backside and doing things.

My profile picture has changed too. An English portrait painter called George Dawes (1781-1829) bizarrely painted a host of Russian generals during Napoleon's invasion of Russia and they have all survived intact. They are very good portraits and my son John adapted one using Adobe Photoshop by putting his own face over that of a general in full regalia. I was so impressed, I asked him to do one of me and here is the result. The original uniform belonged to the man that was airbrushed out - General Konstantin M Poltoratsky (1782-1858) - but I respect his memory by mentioning him here. Clever eh?

'General' Rarelesserspotted

Have a great week.

Chat soon

Ta-ra