A CONDENSED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN

Halloween, from the old english word, Eallra Hālgena, first began thousands of years ago when our western european ancesters marked the changing seasons with awe and gratitude, and can be traced back to the time of Christ and beyond. It was celebrated as the dying season and was a time set aside to honor loved ones, relatives and ancesters who had passed on.

Pagans would celebrate death and the final harvest of the growing season with bonfires, feasts, and celebrations and with prophecy and astral projection. It was believed that during Samhein (Halloween) "the veil is the thinnest." This means that the perceptual abilities of all of us are enhanced during this time, and it's  easier to move between dimensions. The down-side of this phenomenon is that the easy, inter-dimensional access would also make it possible for both benevolent and malevolent energies to enter the earthly realm. In order to fool the undead and avoid harm, revelers, themselves, would dress themselves up as malevolent spirits. The Druids seem to have been the high priests of this ancient, european, nature religion, and used this mysterious time of the year for their magical and mystical endeavers, as well.

In Ancient times, Halloween was called Samhein (pronounced sow-wen) meaning "summer's end" from the old irish, or Calen Gaeaf (pronounced Calin Geyf) from the old english, and was celebrated from October 31st to November 2nd. Chaos was allowed to rule over the celebrations in order to relieve the stress of the harvest season, and to help to alleviate the fear associated with the dark, ominous skies and the rising wind, precipatation and cold that was beginning to set in. It was a very sacred celebration that brought some diversion away from the potentiality of hardship that winter could bring.
　
In the ninth century, Halloween evolved into a Christian Holiday known as, All Hallows Day, and was ushered in by the Roman Church. The Church sent Christian missionaries out into Pagan cultures to unite Pagan beliefs with Christian beliefs. Pagans, at the time, were appalled at the prospect of being forced to change their belief systems, which revolved around nature, into Christian belief systems. The Roman, Christian Hierarchy feared rebellion and uprisings by the Pagans and so it was avoided, to some extent, by incorporating Pagan customs into Christian beliefs.

Not only was Halloween redefined but pretty much everything else about the "old pagan ways" was redefined, as well.  Often, these changes came with the use of brutal force against the pagans.  It is interesting to note that the first Pagan auto-de-fe (witch burning) happened during the middle ages (12th century) and as time progressed, Pagans could be executed on the flimsiest of evidence. Even helping others, or mixing and administering medicinal herbs could be reason enough to be tortured and burned.  However, records also show that those accused of Witchcraft often owned choice pieces of property, which would go to the state after a conviction of Witchcraft.

Common, Pagan women, who were the healers, counselors and midwives of that time, were considered to be the enemy of the Roman Church. The women who were executed for their customs, beliefs and knowledge are thought to number in the millions over the course of at least 1,000 years and are always honored by modern day Pagans during Samhein.






　

ENERGY VAMPIRISM

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

Energy Vampires

Disclaimer-I have never been a psychic vampire nor do I consciously know of any.  I created this blog from a radio show on American Freedom Radio on which I was interviewed about the subject, and I approach this subject on a purely academic and scientific level.  

Psychic Vampirism in the Laboratory.

Scientific research is on-going and is necessary in order to try to prove the phenomenon of "psychic vampires."  Of particular interest was the finding that the physical body's central energizing core and its surrounding energy field, commonly called the aura, are each influenced by the presence of others. 


Initially, using aura photography along with visual observations of the aura, a study found that the auras of couples whose interactions were positive tended to complement and energize each other, with each aura becoming brighter and more expansive. Conversely, negative interactions tended to constrict the aura and actually induce a state of mental and physical fatigue. When constrictions occurred in the aura, intellectual functions became slower, short-term memory declined, and physical strength decreased by as much as 50 percent


A later study funded by the Parapsychology Foundation of New York not only confirmed the findings of this earlier research, it showed that certain persons were highly skilled at deliberately tapping into and directly feeding upon the aura of others.

By draining energy from another person's aura, these so-called psychic vampires not only deplete the aura's energy resources, they can also interrupt the capacity of the aura's central core to generate new energy, particularly when the interaction is prolonged.

Although the human energy system is indestructible--it is literally the soul of our being--its capacity to generate the energy required for daily living can become severely impaired. Long-term, continuous psychic vampire attacks can have devastating consequences that reach far beyond damage to the energy system.

Like the host victims of their blood-sucking counterparts, victims of recurring psychic vampire assaults can become--dare I say--psychic vampires themselves in a desperate effort to replenish their lost supply of energy.


Protection Techniques.


Fortunately, highly effective strategies are now available to prevent a psychic vampire attack, or once it's underway, to promptly end it. These laboratory tested strategies can also promote healing and repair damage to the energy system resulting from long-term vampire assaults. They can even be used effectively by psychic vampires provided they are motivated to overcome their energy addiction.

One of the most effective protection procedures known is the Finger Interlock Technique. Developed in our labs, this technique is easy to implement, and its effects are instant.

To begin this technique, simply bring together the tips of your thumb and middle finger of each hand to form two circles. Then, bring your hands together to form interlocking circles while envisioning your body enveloped in a bright sphere of impenetrable energy.

Finally, relax your hands and simply affirm, "I am now energized and fully protected." This simple, inconspicuous technique requires only seconds and can be used almost any time or place. With practice, you can use the finger interlock gesture alone as a cue to instantly activate the effects of the full procedure.

The Finger Interlock Technique has many other useful applications. Overcoming stage fight, improving memory, and promoting positive social interactions are all within its scope. You can use the technique to induce instant relaxation during important examinations, public presentations, and conferences, to list but a few of its many applications. A former student, now a practicing attorney, attributes his admission to law school largely to his use of the technique during the entrance exam.





Symptoms of Psychic Attack.  

These symptoms are also signs of depression so if you're feeling suicidal, find a counselor you trust.


- The leakiness and declining aura feelings are the major symptoms of psychic attacks (vampires).
- Wooziness and exhaustion are the most common signs of psychic vampires where they could be very attacking upon anyone else.
- Lack of energy is the indication of psychic vampires where it can suck him or her in most blistering manner where no body could save from it.
- Muscle tension is the sign of psychic attack.
- Psychic perplexity is the indication of vampires where they suck the energies of others.
- Chronic headache is the sign of psychic vampire.
- Constant weariness and low energy shows the indications of psychic vampires.
- Lack of sleeping or snoozing represents the psychic attacks.
- Irritation, hypertension and chronic impatience come in psychic vampires.



Psychic Vampires' Code of Ethics

Many Psychic Vampires have a strict code of ethics that they adhere to with regards to the who's and how's of draining the energy from others. According to these ethics, a psychic vampire must ask if they can take energy from people. 

The giver's attitude of willingness creates an opening that enables a taker to connect to the giver. Connecting to each other, although generally unseen, literally creates a physical connection that we just do not see with the naked eye. The Hunas have spoken about these connecting "cords" for centuries.

If you suspect you are a giver and you don't want to be, you must become clear that you play a role in the experience and you are no longer willing to do so. Say firmly and clearly aloud, "No one else can have my energy."

If you are a taker and you wish to change, you must become clear that you are no longer willing to play that role. Say firmly and clearly aloud, "I now receive all the energy I need in healthy ways. Energy comes to me easily from the earth, from the air, from Divine intelligence. It is everywhere and I willingly accept it from healthy places and in healthy ways. I always have all the energy I need."

http://healing.about.com/od/energyhealing/a/psivamps.htm


Sucking Your Own Energy

You know how after a long cry or an emotionally negative experience you feel exhausted? This are examples of sucking your own energy.

It may seem hard to fathom, but psychic vampirism can occur in a self-contained, parasitic form that turns inward to feed upon itself. In that internal form, the person ironically becomes both vampire and victim. Examples of eating away at ourselves include phobias, obsessions, and compulsions that can hover over us like monsters waiting to devour us.

Since this blog was first written much more research has been done in relation to a person's sphere of energy and it's effects on those within it's grasp.  We know, for example, that a kindness to another raises the white blood-cell count in the bodies, and the serotonin levels in the bodies and brains of the giver, the receiver, and even in others who are merely within the field of the kindness given.  In other words, kindness makes people healthy.  Instant karma in action.










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ONLY KINDNESS MATTERS - THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF ALTRUISM

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

ONLY KINDNESS MATTERS

"When planning revenge, remember to dig two graves." Confucius

STUDY-KINDNESS CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE


You know how you're always hearing about how if you display kindness it's good karma and that it will eventually pay off? Well, apparently, it pays off immediately.

Research shows that when we are kind to others it boosts our immune systems and alleviates depression, thereby staving off disease. Being kind has even been linked to suppressing cancer. So, I assume that the inverse is also true. That is, being purposefully unkind weakens our immune systems which might tend to allow mental and physical illnesses to bloom.

Several scientists named Luk, Levy, and Pearsall have documented this phenomenon, in separate correlations using similar but distinct methods. In research involving thousands of subjects, statistical evidence showed time and time again that the giver of kindness, the receiver of kindness and the on-lookers of a kind act all experienced the same level of white blood cell increases in the body and endorphin increases in the brain (a feel-good chemical that alleviates depression).

CARLOS CASTENEDA-CON ARTIST OR PROPHET

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

Carlos Castaneda, Con-Artist or Prophet?

He's been dead for years and his infamy continues to grow. He's been accused of academic misrepresentation, plagiarism, severe mental cruelty, lying about his background (age, homeland, military service, family), being a hoaxster, being a slut, and being an all-round disreputable individual.

On the other hand, he was deemed, "Godfather of the New Age," and "a compelling writer," who wrote "beautifully lucid books that had a narrative power unmatched in other anthropological studies" by Time Magazine, "one of the most profound and influential thinkers of the century," by Deepak Chopra, and a "neolithic sage" by Life Magazine. His admirers included John Lennon, William Burroughs, Federico Fellini and Jim Morrison.

Many people have worked tirelessly to debunk and destroy the Castaneda mystique including Richard DeMille ( son of the famous director), Weston Labarre (a foremost authority on Native American peyote ceremonies), Joyce Carol Oates, and even Time Magazine, who formally had nothing but praise for Castaneda, reversed itself calling him a liar and a "hoaxster."  Many of Castaneda's own students have told tales of Castaneda's cruelty and abuse.

I wonder, probably as you do, how someone as spiritually enlightened as Castaneda seemed to be could have behaved in such a despicable manner?  Then I remembered that Castaneda's spiritual mentor, Don Juan, often pointed out that Castaneda was slow, stupid, too egotistical, and an all-round, screwed up guy. Don Juan was very puzzled about why Spirit would select Carlos Castaneda to teach such sacred mysteries to.  Why?  Probably because Castaneda was chosen to be a messenger and nothing else. He was not a saint. His great gift was that he could convey tricky information in a way that could be understood by millions.  Many spiritual teachers throughout history have come to us as communicators and nothing more.

Myself and millions of others who have read and re-read Castaneda's books, often for the pure entertainment value it, can tell you that while his stories about being a sorcerer's apprentice of a Yaqui Indian brujo named Don Juan may be fictional, the wisdom inherent in his books is real. Myself and many others who have experimented with the exercises described in the Castaneda books have had some genuine success. This success may be attributed to what I will call, the believability factor.

(I will define the believability factor as, the pivotal element needed to actualize desire, will, and imagination into reality. That is, whatever you believe is true will become true and, indeed, is true as soon as you believe it. If you and your grandfather truly believe, for example, that prayer will cure your grandfather, your grandfather has a better chance of recovering. If you believe you will be wealthy, you will become so, etc.)

Further, one of the arguments that Castaneda couldn't have been a sorcerer's apprentice to Don Juan is that he was incorrect about the geography.  "There shouldn't have been any mountains where he said there were," etc.  As far as I can see, when you're in a strange land at sunset or at night, as often was the case, and you're exhausted, your perceptions aren't always on target.  Certain types and configurations of clouds could look like mountains, for example.  Carlos, himself told a story about how he had stood up and found that he had mistaken a piece of cloth, blowing in the wind, for a strange and frightening animal in it's death throes.  Further, his teacher, Don Juan, became upset with him for investigating the "strange and frightening animal," because he was trying to rattle Carlos into changing his perceptions.  In fact, the whole story was about changing one's perceptions of the world, from beginning to end.

Another argument is that Castaneda had stolen ideas from truly spiritually, enlightened others in order to write a fantasy novel.   In Castaneda's defense, there were many, many people during the 1960's who were writing spiritual books and I'm sure they all learned from each other.   However, there's nothing that I have ever read on the subjects of magic, perception, and self-actualization that's been as successful in synthesizing heartfelt spirituality with hysterical humor, edge-of-your-seat suspense, and "just add water" instructions as Castaneda's books have. 

After all, Jesus himself is famous for telling parables and stories which he used to convey knowledge and wisdom. For example, Jesus tells a story about meeting Satan in the mountains during a spiritual retreat during which time he fasted, meditated, and prayed. In Jesus' story, Satan magically transports them both to several different places, each one miles from the other, while trying to convince Jesus to join forces with him. Jesus had this vision under extreme physical and psychological stress, no doubt, and so the whole experience probably happened in a "separate reality."

Though he seems to come across as somewhat egotistical, Carlos Castaneda always reminded his students that it wasn't about him and that it was never about him. He didn't want people focusing on him, apparently. He always said that it was about the spiritual knowledge in his books and that everyone should be focusing on that.  I don't doubt that he was a tad egotistical, or more, but I don't think it was as over-bearing as some others might think.

We will never really know if Carlos Castaneda really did experience what he claimed that he experienced in the Sonoran Deserts of Mexico and in the bus depot of Nogales, Arizona. For me, personally, Don Juan, Genero, Carlos, Pablito, Katrina, and all of the other characters in his books live on, and what they taught me is not an illusion. It is as real as you are, sitting there reading this blog, and that's a loaded statement.

NURSING HOME CAT PREDICTS DEATH WITH ACCURACY

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

NURSING HOME CAT PREDICTS DEATH WITH ACCURACY

From the online magazine, Live Science

Ray Henry Date: 26 July 2007 Time: 06:18 AM ET

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours.

His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.


http://www.livescience.com/4547-cat-predicts-patients-deaths.html

ARE OUIJA BOARDS DANGEROUS? NOT AS DANGEROUS AS FOOTBALL.

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

ARE OUIJA BOARDS DANGEROUS?

Disclaimer: Although I feel that ouija boards have been demonized beyond the point of logical thinking, you should know that, in theory, it opens the door and invites the spiritual realm in.  You should be careful what you invite in.

Are Ouija Boards dangerous?  Why yes...yes they are.   Once, many years ago when my sister and I were sparring over some childish thing I accidentally smacked her in the eye with the box. I was around 10 years old and she was 8. She would always play quietly and act innocent when my parents were around but was extremely annoying when they weren't. Anyway, she made me so angry this one time that I picked up the nearest toy, which was the dreaded Ouija Board, and threw it in her direction. It was a playful toss and I didn't mean to hurt her, but it smacked her just the wrong way.  Was that sarcastic enough?

When I was a kid, Ouija Boards were very popular with the adolescent, and teen-age girls. It was marketed as a game and was considered a toy. I think I got mine as a gift on my 16th birthday. There were probably millions of girls worldwide who had also received an ouija board as a gift. Obviously, Satan had sent legions of demons to Earth to beguile adolescent females into creating a gateway into our plane from the dark netherworld.  Oh, sorry.  There's that sarcasm busting through again but quite honestly, I don't know of anybody, personally, who had ever had any bad experiences with it and I knew lots of kids who had them.

Out of all of the times I used the board, along with all of the times that my friends used their boards, never once did any of us have any inter-dimensional beings, Satanic or otherwise, enter our environment. In fact, none of us, to my knowledge, ever even got any kind of a clear message from anyone, living or dead, except maybe once which I will get into at the end rant.
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Now, there are a lot of highly imaginative people in the world and sometimes I think their imaginations run over-time. I am not saying that it isn't possible to make some kind of contact with other dimensions. What I am saying is that contact like that can be made through any kind of inter-dimensional spiritual pursuit, even praying, if it's even possible at all. 

Much has been made from the implications associated with the movie "The Exorcist" and how playing with an ouija board may lead to demonic possession.  First of all, The Exorcist, is not a true story.   Before, The Exorcist, no one ever questioned whether or not the ouija board was a conduit of evil.  At the most, it was considered to be a tool to open up your third eye or to alter your perceptions of reality and of what is possible.  It was never considered to be evil during the 1950's when many homes had one, side by side with Elvis Presley 45's.  That association with evil didn't happen until much later. I've done some anecdotal research about possession, mostly from the Christian point of view, and not one possession that I've read about had to do with using an ouija board.  Those types of possessions may be out there but they're rare.  

So, may I say that you should relax and not think so much about all the holes that Satan and other evil forces are trying to bust through.  The oiuja board is safer then high school football, where 5.5 million youth football players get injured each year.  Are we then to say that football is evil and a conduit of Satan?  What about all those prayers they chant in the locker rooms?  Of course football isn't a conduit for Satan and it would be silly to think so.  Just as silly as thinking that teen-age girls playing with ouija boards is satanic.  

I wonder if the roles were reversed and girls played football and boys played ouija, if football wouldn't get the same kind of press that ouija boards have now.  It seems to me that the female of the species is very attracted to spiritual play, often more so then many males.  It is their natural domain being the nurturers, mothers, and household healers of the world.  I think that if girls and women are attracted to the mysteries of the spirit then we should let them wander around in it.  Even if you look at it from a Christian perspective, why would God give women this interest in things like astrology, tarot, and ouija from a young age if he didn't want them to pursue it?  Yes, there are biblical mysteries but for the most part they are hands-on like other spiritual pursuits are, especially for females who are all but banned from holding high positions in most spiritual doctrines.  

I say, loosen the bridle a little.  Allow your girls to roam freely around her ideas and perceptions of what is possible.  It's okay to give guidance but it's not okay to stifle them.  In the final analysis,  ouija is not a dangerous sport and it's far less dangerous then many of the other sports around.  I'd rather have my kid playing ouija then becoming injured or worse from playing football.


 http://www.livestrong.com/article/358827-percentage-of-kids-who-are-injured-in-football/#ixzz2Hh4JFNUc   

VOODOO AND BLACK MAGIC. DOES IT WORK?

Cathy Meadows, M. A. Clinical Psychology

Do Voodoo and Black Magic Produce Real Results?

A local TV news station in Deltona, Florida (local 6) carried the following story:

"A burned-looking voodoo doll recently appeared in the yard of Commissioner Zenaida Denizac.A photo of Denizac's face was taped to the doll's head and several pins were stuck in its body. Since the discovery, the sheriff's office has increased its presence outside of Denizac's home and those of other commissioners over the weekend."

Voodoo, huh? Does it work? Is it possible to whammy someone off the face of the earth through mind-power alone, using nothing but thought, emotion, and will?  Absolutely not. Even quantum physics cannot support this concept. For one thing, even if someone had that kind of mind power, and we haven't been able to scientifically prove that anyone has, that person would have to "out-think" everyone else who wants the victim well and healthy.  

It's like a football game. Both teams want to win so much that the players on both teams can imagine it vividly, taste it, and see it in their mind's eye, and yet only one team will win.  Regardless of if the players on both sides pray, cast spells or meditate, there's going to be a loser and a winner.  

Then, on a psychological level, you have the black magic practitioner, whose mind is sometimes filled with dark thoughts for extended periods of time while he/she concentrates on doing ill to others. According to the scientific research, if anyone concentrates intensely on negative thoughts, whether on themselves or on others, for long periods of time, their psychological and physical health will diminish.   Who-so-ever is spending all that time on destructive thinking is the one who's immersing him or herself in negativity and it will be that person who suffers the ill effects. If the victims of diabolical thinking, however, continue to think positively and do lots of kindnesses for others, and don't know or care that you're trying to hurt them, it won't effect them in the least.  

Studies have been done showing that when a person performs a kindness, that person as well as the recipient of the kindness, and anyone who even witnesses the kindness being done, show increases in serotonin (anti-depression) levels, and increases in disease-fighting white corpuscles. This pretty much covers both mental and physical health. 

Of course, the opposite occurs as well. Perform cruel acts and your serotonin levels and white corpuscles will decrease and, over time, will have deleterious effects on your mind and body. We've all read the stories about how black magicians often end up insane and disease-ridden.  Now, we know why.  (Follow the link at the bottom of this page for a more in-depth explanation of this phenomenon.)

http://undergroundhealthreporter.com/act-of-kindness#axzz22Qgx2DeA

THE SCIENCE OF ALTRUISM AND LONGEVITY

Cathy A. Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

Life Coach

THE SCIENCE OF GOOD DEEDS
The Science of Good Deeds

The 'helper's high' could help you live a longer, healthier life.

By Jeanie Lerche DavisWebMD Feature
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Linking Kindness and Health

In a paper published earlier this year, Post describes the biological underpinnings of stress -- and how altruism can be the antidote. This connection was discovered inadvertently in 1956, when a team of Cornell University researchers began following 427 married women with children. They assumed that the housewives with more children would be under greater stress and die earlier than women with few children

"Surprisingly, they found that numbers of children, education, class, and work status did not affect longevity," writes Post. After following these women for 30 years, researchers found that 52% of those who did not volunteer had experienced a major illness -- compared with 36% who did volunteer.

Two large studies found that older adults who volunteered reaped benefits in their health and well-being. Those who volunteered were living longer than nonvolunteers. Another large study found a 44% reduction in early death among those who volunteered a lot -- a greater effect than exercising four times a week, Post reports.

In the 1990s, one famous study examined personal essays written by nuns in the 1930s. Researchers found that nuns who expressed the most positive emotions were living about 10 years longer than those who expressed the fewest such emotions.

The Science of Altruism

When we engage in good deeds, we reduce our own stress -- including the physiological changes that occur when we're stressed. During this stress response, hormones like cortisol are released, and our heart and breathing rates increase -- the "fight or flight" response.

If this stress response remains "turned on" for an extended period, the immune and cardiovascular systems are adversely affected -- weakening the body's defenses, making it more susceptible to abnormal cellular changes, Post explains. These changes can ultimately lead to a downward spiral -- abnormal cellular changes that cause premature aging.

"Studies of telomeres -- the end-caps of our genes -- show that long-term stress can shorten those end-caps, and shortened end-caps are linked with early death," he tells WebMD. "These studies indicate that we're dealing with something that's extremely powerful. Ultimately, the process of cultivating a positive emotional state through pro-social behaviors -- being generous -- may lengthen your life."

Altruistic emotions -- the "helper's high" -- seem to gain dominance over the stress response, Post explains. The actual physiological responses of the helper's high have not yet been scientifically studied. However, a few small studies point to lowered stress response and improved immunity (higher levels of protective antibodies) when one is feeling empathy and love.

In one study, older adults who volunteered to give massage to infants had lowered stress hormones. In another study, students were simply asked to watch a film of Mother Teresa's work with the poor in Calcutta. They had significant increases in protective antibodies associated with improved immunity -- and antibody levels remained high for an hour afterward. Students who watched a more neutral film didn't have changes in antibody levels. "Thus, 'dwelling on love' strengthened the immune system," writes Post.

Compassion in the Brain

...Brain chemicals also enter into this picture of altruism. A recent study has identified high levels of the "bonding" hormone oxytocin in people who are very generous toward others. Oxytocin is the hormone best known for its role in preparing mothers for motherhood. Studies have also shown that this hormone helps both men and women establish trusting relationships.

The Evolution of Kindness

"Humans have evolved to be caring and helpful to those around us, largely to ensure our survival," says Post. "In Darwin's Descent of Man, he mentions survival of the fittest only twice. He mentions benevolence 99 times."

..."If it is evolutionarily beneficial for human beings to benefit from social support, you would expect that evolution would provide the species with the capacity to provide social support," he tells WebMD. "This is where the human capacity for altruism may come from."

The Impact of Genetics and Environment

An interplay of our genetics and our environment - especially in our early years - will play into whether we develop into altruistic individuals.

...He's referring to a small study published recently, which looked at oxytocin levels in children's urine while they interacted with their parents. One group was composed of orphans who had spent the first 16 months of life in overseas orphanages - neglected before being adopted by U.S. families. The other group of kids had been raised in stable, caring homes during their earliest years.

The adopted orphans had produced lower levels of urinary oxytocin after being with their mothers, compared with children raised in nurturing homes since birth. "This may be a clue to a 'window of opportunity' in children's development, that those who grow up to be empathic, caring, and more altruistic in later life were nurtured more in their earlier years,"

The Healing Hormone

Indeed, oxytocin may be connected to both physical and emotional well-being, says Fricchione. "Oxytocin is the mediator of what has been called the 'tend-mend' response, as opposed to the 'fight-flight' response to stress. When you're altruistic and touching people in a positive way, lending a helping hand, your oxytocin level goes up - and that relieves your own stress."

In one animal study, researchers looked at the numerous effects that oxytocin can produce in lab rats -- lower blood pressure, lower levels of stress hormones, and an overall calming effect.Altruistic behavior may also trigger the brain's reward circuitry -- the 'feel-good' chemicals like dopamine and endorphins, and perhaps even a morphine-like chemical the body naturally produces, Fricchione explains. "If altruistic behavior plugs into that reward circuitry, it will have the potential to reduce the stress response. And if the altruistic behavior continues to be rewarding, it will be reinforced."

"All the great spiritual traditions and the field of positive psychology are emphatic on this point -- that the best way to get rid of bitterness, anger, rage, jealousy is to do unto others in a positive way," Post tells WebMD. "It's as though you somehow have to cast out negative emotions that are clearly associated with stress -- cast them out with the help of positive emotions."

STUDIES TO BEGIN INTO THE POSSIBILITY OF OTHER DIMENSIONS

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

STUDIES TO BEGIN INTO THE POSSIBILITY OF OTHER DIMENSIONS

by  Mark Alpert 

The detection of extra dimensions beyond the familiar four—the three dimensions of space and one of time—would be among the most earth-shattering discoveries in the history of physics.

Now scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., are designing a new experiment that would investigate tantalizing hints that extra dimensions may indeed exist.

Last year researchers involved in Fermilab's MiniBooNE study, which detects elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos, announced that they had found a surprising anomaly. Neutrinos, which have no charge and very little mass, form out of nuclear reactions and particle decays. They come in three types, called flavors—electron, muon and tau—and oscillate wildly from one flavor to another as they travel along. While observing a beam of muon neutrinos generated by one of Fermilab's particle accelerators, the MiniBooNE researchers found that an unexpectedly high number of the particles in the low-energy range (below 475 million electron volts) had transformed into electron neutrinos. After a year of analysis, the investigators have failed to come up with a conventional explanation for this so-called low-energy excess. The mystery has focused attention on an intriguing and very unconventional hypothesis: a fourth kind of neutrino may be bouncing in and out of extra dimensions.

String theorists, who seek to unify the laws of gravity with those of quantum mechanics, have long predicted the existence of extra dimensions. Some physicists have proposed that nearly all the particles in our universe may be confined to a four-dimensional "brane" embedded within a 10-dimensional "bulk." But a putative particle called the sterile neutrino, which interacts with other particles only through gravity, would be able to travel in and out of the brane, taking shortcuts through the extra dimensions.

In 2005 Heinrich Päs, now at the University of Dortmund in Germany, Sandip Pakvasa of the University of Hawaii and Thomas J. Weiler of Vanderbilt University predicted that the extradimensional peregrinations of sterile neutrinos would increase the probability of flavor oscillations at low energies—exactly the result found at MiniBooNE two years later.

Energized by the prospect of discovering new laws of physics, the MiniBooNE team soon proposed a follow-up experiment called MicroBooNE that could test the sterile neutrino hypothesis. The new detector, a cryogenic tank filled with 170 tons of liquid argon, would be able to detect low-energy particles with much greater precision than its predecessor could. A particle emerging from a neutrino interaction would ionize the argon atoms in its path, inducing currents in arrays of wires at the perimeter of the tank. Scientists could then pinpoint the trajectory of the particle, allowing them to better distinguish between electron neutrino interactions and other events and thus determine whether there really is an excess of oscillations at low energies.

Estimated to cost about $15 million, the MicroBooNE tank would be located near the MiniBooNE detector at Fermilab so that it could observe the same beam of neutrinos. This past June the lab's physics advisory committee approved the design phase for the project; if all goes well, the detector could begin operating as soon as 2011.

Researchers hope that MicroBooNE will lead to the development of much larger detectors, containing hundreds of thousands of tons of liquid argon in tanks as big as sports arenas. Such facilities could search for other hypothesized phenomena such as the extremely rare decay of protons. "It's a fantastic new technology," says Bonnie Fleming, a physicist at Yale University and spokesperson for MicroBooNE. "And it's crucial for taking the next step in physics."

Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "A New Neutrino Hunt".

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) Mark Alpert is author of Final Theory (Touchstone, 2008), a physics thriller that features neutrinos and extra dimensions.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS FROM JANE ROBERTS - SETH SPEAKS

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

JANE ROBERTS CHANNELING SETH 

from the book,

SETH SPEAKS

"Your Godliness speaks through your creaturehood. It is not debased and no entities took upon themselves the disreputable descent into matter. Your souls are not slumming. You are not the garbage heap of the universe. You are yourselves becoming and you are creating, in your way, a unique reality in which, in your terms, each moment is miraculous; in which your own identities are forever original and unduplicated..."

"You are not cosmic princesses and princes who come down here to immerse yourselves in lives of sorrow and degradation; who wear physical bodies of great weight, gross and sinful. You are spirits who express yourselves through the miraculous joy of flesh. Who bring to the Universe a reality unknown, in your terms. Who wear as your badge of identity, joy and exultation; and those that tell you that physical life is evil, do not know what they are speaking."

"As I have told you before, those who speak to you in terms of guilt; ignore them. Those who tell you that to be spiritual is not to be physical do not understand the great physical-spiritual nature of your being. They have not dreamed in their minds. They have not sparkled in themselves like stars and so experiencing night they think that existence is dark."

"Open up your eyes and perceive your reality and that will lead you to other realities. You have legs; use them. You have consciousness; use it. You have minds; use them, and use your joy and smile. You know what I am about to do now, but for you, listen to the vitality of your own being. Be alert to your own identity and let it ring throughout the reality of your own being and it will lead you to what you want to do and don't fear shadows."

Quotes:

"Within your physical atoms the the origins of all consciousness still sings."

"You get what you concentrate upon...there is no other main rule."

"Thought is energy."

"The gods did not conceive the universe in sorrow; this earth did not come from a tear. You have formed your own tears."

"The self has no boundaries except those it accepts out of ignorance."

"You create your own reality."

"Hatred of war will not bring peace. Only love of peace will bring about those conditions."

"When every young man refuses to go to war you will have peace. You do not have to defend any idea with violence."

JESUS AS MERLIN...SORT OF.

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

Could Jesus Have Been as Big a Pagan as Merlin Was, Philisophically?

By Jennifer Viegaupdated 7:23 a.m. PT, Wed., Oct. 1, 2008

A team of scientists led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio recently announced that they have found a bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that is engraved with what they believe could be the world's first known reference to Christ.

If the word "Christ" refers to the Biblical Jesus Christ, as is speculated, then the discovery may provide evidence that Christianity and paganism at times intertwined in the ancient world.
The full engraving on the bowl reads, "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS," which has been interpreted by the excavation team to mean either, "by Christ the magician" or, "the magician by Christ."

"It could very well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the primary exponent of white magic," Goddio, co-founder of the Oxford Center of Maritime Archaeology, said.
He and his colleagues found the object during an excavation of the underwater ruins of Alexandria's ancient great harbor. The Egyptian site also includes the now submerged island of Antirhodos, where Cleopatra's palace may have been located.

Both Goddio and Egyptologist David Fabre, a member of the European Institute of Submarine Archaeology, think a "magus" could have practiced fortune telling rituals using the bowl.
The Book of Matthew refers to "wisemen," or Magi, believed to have been prevalent in the ancient world.

Fabre concluded, "It should be remembered that in Alexandria, paganism, Judaism and Christianity never evolved in isolation. All of these forms of religion (evolved) magical practices that seduced both the humble members of the population and the most well-off classes."
"It was in Alexandria where new religious constructions were made to propose solutions to the problem of man, of God's world," he added. "Cults of Isis, mysteries of Mithra, and early Christianity bear witness to this."

The bowl is currently on public display in the exhibit "Egypt's Sunken Treasures" at the Matadero Cultural Center in Madrid, Spain, until November 15.

© 2008 Discovery Channel


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26972493/

RESEARCH: NIGHT LIGHT CAUSES CANCER-DISRUPTS CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS.

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

RESEARCH-Night Light Disrupts Circadian Rhythm Causing Ill Health

RESEARCH: NIGHT LIGHT CAUSES CANCER-DISRUPTS CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS-
Light Pollution: Night Skies, Dark No More

By Ben Harder

Posted March 14, 2008

The night is not what it was. Once, the Earth was cast perpetually half in shadow. Man and beast slept beneath inky skies, dotted with glittering stars. Then came fire, the candle, and the light bulb, gradually drawing back the curtain of darkness and giving us unprecedented control over our lives.But a brighter world, it is becoming increasingly clear, has its drawbacks.

A study released last month finding that breast cancer is nearly twice as common in brightly lit communities as in dark ones only added to a growing body of evidence that artificial light threatens not just stargazing but also public health, wildlife, and possibly even safety.

Motivated by such trends, more than two dozen cities worldwide will go dim on March 29 in an hourlong demonstration. At 8 p.m. local time, Atlanta's and Chicago's tallest towers, the Phoenix Suns' arena, and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge will join many other sites in turning off their lights. According to the World Wildlife Fund, which is organizing the event, an estimated 2.2 million Australians switched off their lights or took other action during "Earth Hour" last year in Sydney, briefly reducing that city's energy use by more than 10 percent.

People who are working while others are stargazing may face the greatest risks. Hormonal disturbances triggered by nighttime exposure to white or bluish light can disrupt circadian rhythms and fuel the growth of tumors, experiments show.

Two decades of research indicate that women who work night shifts have unusually high rates of breast cancer, and some data suggest a parallel effect on male workers' prostate cancer rates.

Last December, a unit of the World Health Organization deemed shift work a probable human carcinogen.Yet light and cancer may be even more fundamentally linked. In last month's study, a team that included Richard Stevens, the University of Connecticut Health Center epidemiologist who first proposed the connection, compared satellite images of Israel at night with maps showing where cancers are most common. Its analysis suggests that 73 percent more breast cancers occur in the country's brightest communities than in its darkest.

http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnVzbmV3cy5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZXMvc2NpZW5jZS9lbnZpcm9ubWVudC8yMDA4LzAzLzE0L3R1cm5pbmctb3V0LXRoZS1saWdodHMuaHRtbA==

JOY BY FLOWING WITH THE UNIVERSE

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

HOW TO BE AS JOYFUL AS YOU DESIRE

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To be as joyful as you wish to be you must be going in the same direction as the universe.

The universe is constantly changing in order to maintain it's balance in a fluctuating

environment. Therefore, you must be constantly changing in order to maintain your balance.

Don't get obsessed and stuck in thoughts, ideas, behaviors or emotions. You must go with the flow to maintain your balance.  You must walk the knife's edge.

You will know that you are out of balance when you don't feel well, either emotionally or physically. To get back in balance change something; your outlook, your behavior, your habits, etc..

When you are content, you will know that you are in balance with the universe.

FIND SATISFACTION AND CONTENTMENT THROUGH THOUGHT CONTROL

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

Controlling Your Life by Controlling Your Thoughts

Play on your Perceptions, Will-power, and Thought-control

In this experiment it's important to keep in mind that: Your thoughts create your emotions, and not the other way around. You can't create a feeling without first having a thought that preceeds it. The thought is the boss. This is a fact.

Try to look at your thoughts as if they can be arranged because they can be. Emotion is secondary, as research shows. It's all about your thoughts. You will feel emotion in concordance with your thoughts. Even a "state of mind" or an "event" is nothing more then a conglomerate of thoughts. They are simply thoughts stacked one on top of the other and you are the one doing the stacking. Any problem that you are having in your life can be fixed by rearranging your thoughts.

Thoughts can bring about the emotions you want to feel.  The emotions and states of mind associated with joy, happiness, peace, contentment, etc., are brought about by controlling your thoughts and vice versa.

For example, if you want to feel contentment then first you have to recollect the feeling of contentment. Thinking about that feeling and how it feels, or remembering a time when you felt contentment will invoke that feeling. Now, hold that feeling. It isn't easy to hold it for more then a brief period at first but in time it will become easier.  Your brain is like a muscle.  If you exercise it, it grows strong and soon you will be able to manipulate your thoughts in ways that bring you happiness and contentment.

Your mind and your spirit like to be exercised in such ways and once you are able to control the flow of thoughts going through your mind you will be free and you will no longer be at the mercy of your environment.

REMOTE VIEWING-INGO SWANN-RESEARCH CONCERNING HISTORY, MAIN CHARACTERS, EXPERIMENTS

Cathy Meadows, M. A., Clinical Psychology

INGO SWANN AND REMOTE VIEWING

EXPERIMENTS AND RESEARCH

This blog is taken directly from Ingo Swann's writings.

I am not responsible for any of it's content.

　
Remote viewing was researched in response to the fact that the Soviet Union was engaged in large scale research into psychotronic applications phenomena. The national security implications of failure to match a technological breakthrough by the Soviets is obvious. In this respect, the remote viewing research was a product of the Cold War, and is analogous to myriad other projects.



Initial research was carried out at the very prestigious Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Certain psychically-gifted individuals were able to describe distant locations, often with amazing accuracy.



With this fact established, the military/intelligence community approved further funding. Research continued, but the main effort soon switched to development (applications), based on two key findings. First, remote viewing ability is latent in nearly all humans. Second, it is possible to teach ordinary people to perform remote viewing.



Groups of students recruited form the ranks of the funding client agencies were trained at SRI. Their mission was to gather data, using remote viewing, regarding targets of special interest to the client agencies. Usually, these were targets inside the Soviet Union that had resisted the standard intelligence gathering techniques.



The 15% accuracy cited in recent public statements on behalf of the CIA is the baseline which ordinary non-gifted and untrained persons often do achieve. This figure was identified very early in the SRI research phase. The minimum accuracy needed by the clients was 65%. In the later stages of the development (training) part of the effort, this accuracy level was achieved and often consistently exceeded.



Throughout the period of my personal involvement (1972-1988), oversight and monitoring teams from the client agencies were in constant attendance. These teams consisted of multi-discipline scientific professionals, some being leaders of their disciplines, and drawn from just about every scientific field. Over the years, representatives of these teams were rotated, with replacements coming in.



During the sixteen-year time span involved, approximately 500 representatives of these oversight teams identified flaws and strengths in the effort. With this intense scrutiny, the program continued to be approved, tested, and ultimately utilized by testing various kinds of experimental and real-time applications. Thus, it seems at variance with the oversight committees' facts that the CIA suggests that remote viewing was "unpromising." But, as is well known, there are various levels to all games.



Per the definition used by the client military and intelligence agencies, and as I identified it at SRI, developed (or trained) remote viewing is a highly-specialized technique. However, the term has been adopted unfairly and incorrectly to include almost any sort of psychic endeavor. This clouds the public mind as to what remote viewing really is.



The key players in the development, training and use of remote viewing remain under the strictest security constraints. They can't talk, but I, at least, honor them for their commitment to the welfare of the Nation even if within a controversial area. Similarly, the documentation supporting the real story is archived under top security wraps.



Ironically, and probably insultingly to the skeptics, the acknowledged "father" of computers, the British mathematical genius Alan Turing, accepted PSI as a fact. In a famous paper he wrote exploring how one could distinguish between talking (at long distance) to a human or to a very advanced computer, Turing invoked Rhine's statistical proof of the existence of ESP. He concluded that this facility, and this one alone, separates the human from the machine, including his hypothetical mega-computer.



THE RESEARCH


THE 1973 REMOTE VIEWING PROBE OF THE PLANET JUPITER



BACKGROUND


In 1973, mainstream science, academe and media were unequivocally opposed to any kind of parapsychology or psycho-energetics research. It thus came as something of a cultural shock when the nation's second largest "think tank" undertook that kind of research. The resulting first flap was enormous, largely because of SRI's high scientific standing and its military and intelligence community affiliations.The Jupiter Probe was one of a number of early experiments designed to try to discover the dimensions and extent of human remote sensing faculties. It was felt that radical experiments should be undertaken in the attempt to establish the dimensions of those faculties.



One such radical experiment, the "Jupiter Probe," took place in 1973 at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) under the excellent auspices of Dr. H.E. Puthoff and Mr. Russell Targ (both esteemed physicists) and other competent scientists of the Radio Physics Laboratory.



THE ELEMENTS OF THE EXPERIMENT TARGET SELECTED: The planet Jupiter.



FEEDBACK EXPECTATION: Technical data and analyses drawn from information telemetered back to Earthbase from NASA spacecraft and which information would be published in scientific media: the Pioneer 10 and 11 "flybys" of 1973 and 1974, and the later Voyager 1 and 2 probes of 1979.

DATE OF EXPERIMENT (#46 in a series): April 27, 1973. The first Jupiter bound NASA spacecraft, Pioneer 10, was already en route to the planet, but yet too far distant to send data back to Earthbase, principally at Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL).

RAW DATA YIELD OF THE EXPERIMENT: (1) One standard 8-1/2" x 11" page containing three drawings; (2) two and 1/6th pages of verbal data recorded and transcribed.

ADDITIONAL PRE-FEEDBACK REPORTS OF THE EXPERIMENT: A review of the Jupiter Probe was included in --Mind Reach-- published in 1977 by H.E. Puthoff and Russell Targ (Delacorte Press/Eleanor Friede) with an Introduction by eminent Dr. Margaret Mead.


TWO PARTICIPANTS IN THE JUPITER PROBE EXPERIMENT: Two viewers simultaneously took part in the Jupiter Probe -- myself (in California) and Mr. Harold Sherman (in Arkansas). Mr. Sherman was a noted psychic who had earlier (in the late 1930s) taken part in long-distance viewing between New York City and the Arctic. Those exceedingly successful experiments were undertaken in conjunction with the noted Arctic explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins (see: "Thoughts Through Space" by Sir Hubert Wilkins and Harold M. Sherman, Creative Age Press, New York, 1942).


THE RAW DATA


SWANN JUPITER PROBE (April 27, 1973)
Experiment 46


No big sharp noises for the next 1/2 hour, please.6:03:25 (3 seconds fast) "There's a planet with stripes."6:04:13 "I hope it's Jupiter.""I think that it must have an extremely large hydrogen mantle. If a space probe made contact with that, it would be maybe 80,000 - 120,000 miles out from the planet surface."6:06 "


So I'm approaching it on the tangent where I can see it's a half-moon, in other words, half-lit/half-dark. If I move around to the lit side, it's distinctly yellow toward the right." (Hal: "Which direction you had to move?")6:06:20 "


Very high in the atmosphere there are crystals... they glitter. Maybe the stripes are like bands of crystals, maybe like rings of Saturn, though not far out like that. Very close within the atmosphere. [Note: See sketch of ring in the raw data drawing below.] (Unintelligible sentence.)


I bet you they'll reflect radio probes. Is that possible if you had a cloud of crystals that were assaulted by different radio waves?" (Hal: "That's right.")6:08:00


Now I'll go down through. It feels really good there (laughs). I said that before, didn't I? Inside those cloud layers, those crystal layers, they look beautiful from the outside. From the inside they look like rolling gas clouds - eerie yellow light, rainbows."6:10:20


"I get the impression, though I don't see, that it's liquid."6:10:55


"Then I came through the cloud cover. The surface -- it looks like sand dunes. They're made of very large grade crystals, so they slide. Tremendous winds, sort of like maybe the prevailing winds of Earth, but very close to the surface of Jupiter. From that view, the horizon looks orangish or rose-colored, but overhead it's kind of greenish-yellow."6:12:35


"If I look to the right there is an enormous mountain range."6:13:18


"If I'm giving a description of where I've gone and am, it would be approximately where Alaska is if the sun were directly overhead, which it is. The sun looks like it has a green corona... seems smaller to me. (Hal: "What color is the sun?") "White."6:14:45


"I feel that there's liquid somewhere. Those mountains are very huge but they still don't poke up through the crystal cloud cover. You know I had a dream once something like this, where the cloud cover was a great arc... sweeps over the entire heaven. Those grains which make that sand orange are quite large. They have a polished surface and they look something like amber or like obsidian but they're yellowish and not as heavy. The wind blows them. They slide along."6:16:37

"If I turn, the whole thing seems enormously flat. I mean, if I get the feeling that if a man stood on those sands, I think he would sink into them (laughs). Maybe that's where that liquid feeling comes from."6:18:10


"I see something that looks like a tornado. Is there a thermal inversion here? I bet there is. I bet you that the surface of Jupiter will give a very high infrared count (?), reading (?) (Hal: "Reading... inaudible sentence.) "The heat is held down."6:19:55 "I seem to be stuck, not moving. I'll move more towards the equator. I get the impression that that must be a band of crystals similar to the outer ones, kind of bluish. They seem to be sort of in orbit, permanent orbit, down through another layer farther down which are like our clouds but moving fast. There's another area: liquid like water. Looks like it's got icebergs in it, but they're not icebergs."6:22:20


"Tremendous wind. It's colder here, maybe it's because there's not a thermal inversion there."6:23:25 "I'm back. OK." (Hal: "Very interesting.")"The atmosphere of Jupiter is very thick. I mean ... (Ingo draws) ... Explanation of drawing: This is what appears to be a hydrogen mantle about 100,000 miles off the surface. Those here are bands of crystals, kind of elements. They're pretty close to the surface. And beneath those are layers of clouds or what seem to be prevailing winds. Beneath that is the surface which I saw was, well, it looked like shifting sands made out of some sort of slippery granulated stuff. And off in the distance, I guess, to the East was a very high mountain chain 30,000 feet or so, quite large mountains. I feel these crystals will probably bounce radio waves. They're that type.



SYNOPSIS OF JUPITER RAW DATA ELEMENTSCONFIRMED BY SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL FEEDBACK

1. Hydrogen mantle": Confirmed - September 1973, 1974, 1975.


2. "Storms, wind": Confirmed (as to dimensions and unexpected intensity) - 1976, 1970.


3. "Something like a tornado". Confirmed (as strong rotating cyclones) - 1976.


4. "High infrared reading". Confirmed - 1974.


5. "Temperature inversion": Confirmed - 1975.


6. "Cloud color and configuration": Confirmed - 1979.


7. "Dominant orange color": Confirmed - 1979.


8. "Water and ice crystals": Water possible there, but ice crystallization of other elements Confirmed - 1974.


9. "Crystal bands reflect radio probes". Confirmed - 1975.


10. "Magnetic and electromagnetic Auroras ("Rainbows""): - Confirmed, 1979.


11. "The RING": Confirmed -1979... not only as to its existence, but as being "inside" the crystallized atmospheric layers.


12. "Liquid composition": Confirmed - 1973, 1976, as hydrogen in liquid form.


13. "Mountain range (mountains) and solid core": Probably Confirmed - 1994. Confirmed existence of solid core several tens of masses of earth's. Recent comet impacts reveal enormous craters extending through thick cloud cover, one approximately the size of 1/2 of the United States.


14. "Confirmed elements of the raw data's three drawings"