[Cauldron and Candle Illo]

 

 
Cauldron and Candle
Issue #92 -- August 2008

A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum
website: http://www.ecauldron.com/
message board: http://www.ecauldron.com/forum/

 

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C A U L D R O N   A N D   C A N D L E #92 -- August 2008

           A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum
                website: http://www.ecauldron.com/
          message board: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/
             newsletter: http://www.ecauldron.com/cnc/
            shopping: http://www.ecauldron.com/mall.php
              http://www.ecauldron.com/doxysbazaar.php

In this Issue:

[00] Editorial Notes
[01] Cauldron News
   * Outage/Backup Board Information
   * New Spell Grimoire Blog
[03] Interesting Recent Cauldron Discussions
   * A Diety to Grow Old With?
   * Is This Religious Discrimination? Is It Wrong?
   * Importance of Scholarship to Your Path
   * Follow up Tarot Reading When You Don't Understand a Card?
   * The Long And Short Of It
   * Can Two Different Beliefs Both Be Correct?
   * The Bits You Don't Like
   * More Than One Religion?
   * Closed Traditions?
   * Religion and Hierarchy
   * How Do You Re-Use?
   * Catalysts to Belief?
   * What If No One Claims Me?
   * Using the Gods?
   * Pagan Fiction?
[04] Flamekeeping: Death and Life
[05] Book Review: Chi Gung
[06] Support The Cauldron
[07] Newsletter Information
(Including How To Subscribe/Unsubscribe)

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[00]
=========
========= EDITORIAL NOTES
=========

In an effort to get this publication back on some type of regular
schedule, I'm calling this the August 2008 issue even though it
is being published in late July.

The main event of note in July was that our message board was
down for just over a week in early July. The board died a few
hours after we sent out the June newsletter on June 29th and did
not return to life until July 8th. The outage lasted as long as
it did because our Server Admin was moving his family across the
country at the time -- and Murphy's Law did what Murphy's Law
does best. Fortunately, our Backup Board over that SMFForFree
served us well during the outage.

I'm almost afraid to send this newsletter out for fear another
outage will follow. LOL. But its going out anyway. I hope you
enjoy it. As always, information on how to unsubscribe can be
found in the last section of this newsletter in case you aren't
enjoying it any more.

Randall Sapphire
Editor and Publisher, Cauldron and Candle
Co-Host, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

[01]
=========
========= CAULDRON NEWS
========= by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum Staff
=========

=====
===== OUTAGE/BACKUP BOARD INFORMATION
=====

It seems that a lot of people did not know about our Backup Board
or even were to go for more information if the message board goes
down. The Cauldron's main web site (http://www.ecauldron.com/) is
currently on a separate server in a different state that our
message board server. If the board goes down for any major length
of time, information about what is going on will be posted there
along with a link to our backup board is the outage is a
prolonged one. In the event that both sites go down, we have a
third server (http://www.ecauldron.org) hosted on a Google
Applications server. It currently has one page, pointing to your
two main sites; but if the other two sites were both down for any
major length, information about the outages were be posted there.

If you have never visited The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's main web
site at http://www.ecauldron.com/, you should consider paying a
visit as we have hundreds of pages full of articles, book
reviews, spells, and more. There is much more to TC than our
message board!

=====
===== NEW SPELL GRIMOIRE BLOG
=====

As we are always getting requests to post more spells, we have
started The Cauldron's Spell Grimoire Blog. We try to post a few
new spells in this blog every month. You can subscribe to the
full text feed of our Spell Grimoire Blog and receive each new
spell we post in your favorite feed reader.

  * Spell Grimoire Blog
    http://spellgrimoireblog.ecauldron.com/

  * Spell Grimoire Blog Full Text RSS Feed
    http://spellgrimoireblog.ecauldron.com/feeds/posts/default


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[02]
=========
========= INTERESTING RECENT CAULDRON DISCUSSIONS
========= Recent Discussion Topics on our Message Board
=========

In an average month, over 200 new discussion topics are started
on The Cauldron's message board. Here are a few of the more
interesting recent discussions. It's not too late to join in.

Thanks to Feedburner, you can now receive an email every night on
days we post new site news items to the main page of The
Cauldron's web site. These emails contain a link to the new item
and the first couple of lines of the news text. You can sign up
for Feedburner's free news delivery via the form at the end of
the site "News and Updates" section of The Cauldron's main web
page.

=====
===== A Diety to Grow Old With?
=====

How important is it to you to have a deity that understands
aging? Has your pantheon changed or do you think it will change
as a reflection of your age advancement?

For me personally, I no longer feel very connected to Goddesses
of Beauty & Fertility. This is a bit of a problem because as far
as I can tell the Egyptian deities, who I have always felt drawn
to, are ageless or forever youthfull and fertile. There isn't one
that I am aware of that changes with age. I believe in other
pantheons however, this can happen. I have found I have been
gravitating to the darker more shadowy beings like Neith.

I don't see my age advancement as needing an underworld deity at
my side (yet anyway, I'm not 90!) just one that can be
sympathetic and that I can gain strength and comfort from during
a new chapter in my life.

I would be happy to hear of any deity recommendations for the
second half of life!

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6334.0

=====
===== Is This Religious Discrimination? Is It Wrong?
=====

So lets say that someone goes to a new dentist, and while he
fixes her teeth just fine, she realizes that all the
inspirational/quasi-religious posters in his office and waiting
room say "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" on them.
Other than the posters in the office, she is not subjected to any
sort of proselytism.

After she goes home, and the Novocaine wears off, she googles the
guy. She finds his church's online newsletter archives and find
several articles written by him that espouse views completely
contrary to her own...on matters such as women's rights,
reproductive freedom, and so forth. The dentist is clearly very
involved with his church, and claims to give more than the
required tithe.

Because of this, she decides to find a new dentist, despite the
fact that her root canal was a stunning success. She can't stand
the idea that her money is part of a tithe supporting a church
with views with which she vehemently disagrees.

Did she do the right thing? Why or why not?

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6314.0

=====
===== Importance of Scholarship to Your Path
=====

Unlike many other religious forums, the Cauldron places a premium
on research and scholarly understanding of religion. As such,
we've amassed a collection of bookworms, archivists, and other
people that love learning. What are some ways that you
incorporate research into your religious practices?

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6299.0

=====
===== Follow up Tarot Reading When You Don't Understand a Card?
=====

Has anyone ever done a second reading when something in the first
one left you puzzled?

How did you do it? Did you do a complete new spread? Did you do a
different spread? Did you use a puzzling card from the former one
as significator?

More than a week ago I've done a celtic cross spread and had the
5 of swords (Robin Wood deck) in the position of 'near future'.
I'm still trying to figure out what it means. The problem is that
from what I know about the card it could mean disappointment or
gain of something that doesn't belong to you, but it's not clear
if I'll disappoint someone or someone will disappoint me or if
I'll loose something that belongs to me or if I'll gain something
that doesn't.

I also don't know what kind of loss/gain or disappointment it
might be. Will it be about relationships, a job or something
else? As I've just graduated and will start a completely new job
in a completely new city soon it could refer to any loss or gain.
I'm confused. Maybe it's just trying to say that I'll be
disappointed about something because my hopes are too big. I had
the 8 of staffs on the position of 'near past', maybe indicating
that I'm going a bit fast and aren't aiming careful enough or
expecting too much. But I'd like to know to what aspect of life
if refers to. (Maybe I should have phrased the question more
specific, I just asked how my new life will be.)

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6269.0

=====
===== The Long And Short Of It
=====

I blame Koi!

Quoting Koi: "Now I think we need a thread where everyone gives
their long, explanatory title ... and what they typically shorten
it to."

Well, I have 'Kemetic Feri Discordian' in my short line, which is
a decent summation, I suppose; those are three things with names.
I actually mostly just say 'Kemetic', as that's the basis of
where I'm coming from, but it doesn't help communication much
'cause most people haven't heard of it.

If I were being comprehensively descriptive I'd probably have to
go with something like:

Secularly-raised Setian Kemetic neo-reconstructionist ecstatic
mystic heretic pledged to Hethert, dedicated to Wepwawet, and
beloved of Khnum, student of the Anderson Feri tradition
(Morningstar line; hoping to train in Blackheart line as well)
with a heavy kitchen-witch and hearth-guardian sensibility,
heavily leavened with ancestral influences (particularly Slavic
folk customs, some Irish lore, and a ladleful of dwojwierny),
part-time disciple of the Discordian saint Sri Syadasti, dabbler
in spirit dealings drawn primarily to Bluejay, with half-assed
influence from a variety of sources that illuminate my personal
understanding of Egyptiana, including particularly a smattering
of Judaism, Hinduism (especially Shaivite Hinduism), Shinto, and
West African Traditional Religions and the African Diaspora
Religions.

With eclectic shared practice with primarily-family, thus heavily
neo-recon-Celtic influenced.

If the thing that's distinctly dual-trad at the moment manages to
synthesise into a syncretic jobbie, its name will be something
like Ab Khem.

And this is why I wrote the Cauldron article on how not to screw
up eclecticism!

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6248.0

=====
===== Can Two Different Beliefs Both Be Correct?
=====

This is something that I have been contemplating for some time
now, but unfortunately I feel I am going to be just as incoherent
in my words now as I would have been a couple of weeks ago.
Please bear with me!

When it comes to matters of religion, people hold very different
and often conflicting beliefs to one another. For instance, my
MIL believes that Judgement Day is just around the corner and her
god is going to choose a select number of people to rule with him
in heaven. She believes this to be the absolute truth, and she
believes it with every fibre of her being. She even refers to her
religion as 'the truth'.

I on the other hand most certainly don't believe this! That
belief just doesn't work for me, and thus my religious beliefs
are completely different. And thus conflicting. Although my MIL
would not be happy to hear what my religious beliefs were and
would try to convert me to her beliefs because that's what she
believes she is supposed to do, I am fine with her holding her
beliefs. I don't care that they conflict with mine. I believe
that religion is a very personal thing, and thus would never try
to convert anybody to my own beliefs. Just because they work for
me, it doesn't mean they're going to work for someone else.

Yet when all said and done, I feel as if this train of thought
has a very serious flaw. How on earth can do completely
different, completely separate, completely conflicting religious
beliefs both be right? My MIL would clearly state that only her
beliefs are right, and that everybody elses are wrong. One thing
I like about TC is that the majority of people here respect an
individual's religious freedom. Including myself. And yet does
this mean that I'm secretly thinking to myself; only my beliefs
are right, and everyone elses' are all wrong? Because I'm not
thinking that in the slightest... but how can I say that two
beliefs are both the truth? I can't. To me, it defies logic.

And so, I'm confused.

If anyone has any musings whatsoever on this subject, I'd like to
hear them. Sorry for the long-winded post.

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6243.0

=====
===== The Bits You Don't Like
=====

There are a lot of people who want to walk a pagan path, and want
it to be a 'historical' path, but basically disapprove of parts
of it and simply discard them. They are usually advised to do
this, in fact, with phrases like 'take what you like and leave
the rest', 'if it makes you uncomfortable it's not for you', and,
basically, 'if it feels good, do it'.

This leaves a lot of paths looking unbalanced, usually towards
the 'white light' side, but also occasionally towards the 'dark
fluff' end of things. There are Wiccans who reject binding and
scourging in initiations, 'shamans' who rail against the use of
entheogens, practitioners of sacrificial religions who disapprove
of sacrifice. They seldom change the name of what they do, but if
one assumes that a person using the name of a religion actually
embraces all the parts of it, one is often wrong.

My question is, what have you rejected in your chosen path, and
why? Did you spend any time trying to follow the practices you
don't like? Do you feel that if you had, you would have
understood them as integral and embraced them, or would have
ended up excising them anyway? Do you seek to understand the
'uncomfortable' bits before rejecting them, and do you feel your
religion is missing that elusive 'something' due to sanitization?

I often find modern religions to be superficial when described by
their pratitioners, but I can't figure out if that is because
those practitioners have discarded half their humanity (and half
of their gods' reality), or because those practitioners simply
don't talk about those aspects in public.

F'ex, I read a post on another forum where the person wanted to
try augery and wondered if her local butcher shop would be
willing to sell her 'a mess of entrails to read'. To me this
seemed worse than useless, but suggesting that she ritually
slaughter her own bird or beast, with appropriate ceremony and
dedication, and read its entrails in the context of the ritual
itself, was met with a superior/condescending version of 'ewww,
gross!'. As if wanting to read entrails was uber-pagan and
impressive, but doing the prep-work oneself was simply barbaric.

How much do you discard as barbaric or uncivilised, and do you
feel that it undermines or enhances your authenticity as a modern
day pagan?

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6232.0

=====
===== More Than One Religion?
=====

While I'm not a complete newbie to Pagan Religions, there is
still a ton I need to learn, and I'm getting there... slowly.
Especially lately where I have more time on my hands to read,
search, etc. But I'm slightly confused on something..

I have not read too much into this but I am hoping to get some
opinions from people who know this stuff better than me because I
don't really know if there is a right or wrong answer.

I have seen people who are Pagan, who consider themselves as
being part of more than one Pagan religion. For example, I see
several people who, in their list of beliefs list things such as
Druidry, Shamanism, Wiccan, Heathen. While I know these are all
Pagan, I know that a lot of Pagan religions are quite different
from one or another, would believing in more than one Pagan
religion be contradictory to the others? Mind you, I don't yet
know a lot about other Pagan religions other than the ones I'm
reading up on, so whether or not they contradict one another is
quite over my head. I have also seen posts on other forums
regarding Druidry vs Celtic Recon and people who claimed to be
into both.

Some of the Pagan religions are similar, some are different, but
is it 'wrong' or contradictory to study/practice more than one?

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6224.0

=====
===== Closed Traditions?
=====

So I'm really not sure what to think of this. I was on a site I
frequent called gaiaonline. It's mostly teens and young adults,
with a thriving message board and a few games and such to play.
One of the forums is called Morality and Religion, or M&R for
short. There are a few Pagans on the site who are very well read
and knowledgeable, but I'm starting to think that they are just
making some things that they personally believe into fact and
telling people who are trying to start out in Paganism that it is
the whole truth. Other than this they are nice people and have a
private forum for helping newbies along.

The main think they seem to be able to rant on about is something
they call 'Culture Rape', claiming that most ancient Pagan
traditions are closed and if you weren't raised in, say, Ireland,
then you have absolutely no right to attempt to worship Celtic
Deities. Some people try to defend themselves by saying that they
are of Irish descent but they still cry culture rape. They get
pretty mocking when people say that they have anything to do with
Native American spirits or Deities if they aren't Native American
themselves.

I've googled the terms closed tradition and culture rape many
times and only ever found it from this small group of people...
I'm just curious of ANYONE has come across this? I'm just really
confused, and I'm not the type to get into a confrontation with
them because, honestly, if I go up against them I'm going to get
mocked since I haven't read all the keys of Solomon or
something... And having been 'thwapped' by both Celtic and Native
American Gods, it's pretty much a sure bet they would have a lot
to say to me that isn't productive at all...

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6219.0

=====
===== Religion and Hierarchy
=====

Hierarchy is something that crops up in many religions. I?m not
referring to the relationship between humans and the Divine, but
rather the relationships that occur between humans in a religious
structure/organization.

For instance in Catholicism (the only reason I?m using this
example is because I find it to be the easiest) there is the
Pope, various Archbishops and Cardinals, bishops and bishops of a
diocese, priests, and pastors. And of course then there are the
lay people.

And so I have been thinking: what is the purpose behind such
hierarchy? If one was to come from a fairly Marxist perspective,
their reason may be that it is a form of social control. And yet
other religions beside those ?dominant? ones such as Catholicism
also have some sort of hierarchy within them. BTW for instance,
has the High Priestess and High Priest of a coven.

So, do you believe hierarchy is an important aspect of a
religious organization? Why do you think many choose to have a
hierarchy? Does your religion have any form of hierarchy?

(A latter thought I had: how do you feel about the hierarchy of
men and women in certain religious organizations? If there is one
in your religion, how do you feel about it? And if there isn?t,
do you think there should be one?)

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6171.0

=====
===== How Do You Re-Use?
=====

A lot of us try to be "green" in a variety of ways...recycling,
composting, conserving energy, etc. One of my favorite ways to be
green is reusing junk and making it into usable stuff. What are
some of the things you do to reuse? Here are a couple of my
favorites:

1. Turn soft plastic containers (e.g. yogurt containers, sour
cream cartons) into seedling containers. I heat the tip of a
Phillips screwdriver to poke drainage holes in the bottom, and
then put the container lid underneath as a drip tray. If you can
get your hands on larger containers (e.g. Panera's cream cheese
containers) this works well for large houseplants as well.

2. Turn cereal boxes into magazine holders. I never have enough
magazine holders because I hate to pay the exorbitant cost for a
cheap piece of plastic. I recently found that I can make
serviceable holders out of cereal boxes. Once the cereal is gone,
just remove the plastic bag from the inside and cut it into the
magazine holder shape. Here is a pic of a few completed ones:
http://replayground.blogspot.com/2008/04/diy-organizing.html. If
you get really fancy, you could cover and decorate it. Mine are
more au naturale, 'cause I'm lazy and not very Martha Stewarty.

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6120.0

=====
===== Catalysts to Belief?
=====

I thought of this question while reading some of the other
topics. I was wondering what brings people around to believing,
or disbelieving certain things. I'm not talking about 'callings'
or anything like that, I want to know the sort of life changing
events that bring people around to go from one set of beliefs to
another. Or from believing in something, then changing their
minds.

My own experiences have been a bit odd, mixing what is logical to
me with experimentation, and seemingly random experiences. I'm
talking about specific beliefs, not just the religous paths. For
example, why you believe in magic (or not), rather than why you
follow Wicca (or not).

Anyway, my curiosity just happened to get the better of me, and I
thought it would be an interesting and possibly lively
discussion.

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6108.0

=====
===== What If No One Claims Me?
=====

I do not believe in picking your own Deity. To me that is like
falling in love with someone who has never even noticed you are
alive. So what if no Deity ever claims you? What if you have done
all the meditating and rituals and introspective journeys and
still no one steps forward? I mean like after 15 years? Where do
you go? Atheism? I am friends with many spirits and what could be
called gods, but no one has ever been interested in my worship or
offered their patronage. So what do I do?

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6101.0

=====
===== Using the Gods?
=====

Often in reading people talk about the Gods I keep finding a
prevelant theme. "I dedicate and/or pay homage to whatever God
can get me what I need". It seems to put the Gods in a servant to
man type of role as opposed to developing a relationship with
them. Its like the reversal of the Christian "serve God or burn
in hell" concept. Why can't there just be a relationship rather
than usery?

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=6100.0

=====
===== Pagan Fiction?
=====

I would say the closest I have gotten to 'pagan fiction' is the
Avalon trilogy by Marion Zimmer Bradley (which I absolutely
loved). Historial fiction is my favourite genre. Philippa
Gregory, Anya Seton and Jean Plaidy are the three authors I have
the most regard for.

But I had a recommendation on my Amazon account of a book called
Confessions of a Pagan nun by Kate Horsley, and the synopsis
sounds fantastic so I put it in my cart. It's about one of St
Bridget's nuns in Kildare.

So I decided to search for other books grouped with this one, and
have found a few books by Elizabeth Cunningham that sound rather
interesting. I'm going to give one a try and see what I think.

Anyway, I was wondering; do any of you read pagan fiction?

* Read (or join in) this discussion:
  http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=5984.0

[03]
=========
========= FLAMEKEEPING
========= DEATH AND LIFE
========= by HeartShadow
=========

HeartShadow is following her own religious path. She calls it
FlameKeeping. This regular column will present articles on
FlameKeeping, many taken from HeartShadow's FlameKeeping blog at:

http://flamekeeping.blogspot.com/

=====
===== Death and Life
=====

We are born only to die, only to cease to exist as we are.
Knowledge of that ending, of a time to come without us, is
terrifying to many people. So we search for immortality,
guarantees, anything to predict what will come when, and how to
plan for or against it. But our daily life offers no guarantees,
no promises of the future except that it will come. Promises of
the future can only come from faith.

How we handle the knowledge of mortality defines us in many ways.
We spend our lives striving for immortality, hoping for survival
against all reality. Yet in truth many of us desire certainty
even more than immortality, desire to know the date and time of
our death, and to know how it will happen and how to pass
painlessly and with grace. Such knowledge cannot exist, of
course, because even if we knew our own body's original time
limit, we constantly do things to change that and shorten and
lengthen our timeframe.

This uncertainty and brevity of life, far from the apparent curse
people see it as, is actually a great blessing in disguise. Only
because we do not know the time of our death can we risk it,
always in the hopes that it won't be this time, won't be us. We
strive and struggle against the unknown, to learn, and grow, and
become better than we were. This drive for immortality, not in
the body, but in the minds of others, drives both the best and
the worst of human behavior. We seek the immortality of opinion,
of remembrance, and that seeking can guide us in many directions
of life.

We exist, and strive, for a reason. As part of the Divine, we are
separately-willed individuals that work to improve ourselves and
the Universe around us when we are at our best. These drives to
strive, to grow, to change and improve ourselves and others, push
us only because we have a time limit, because we cannot put these
desires off indefinitely, but must work at them from a young age
if we hope to achieve them.

All words, however, are cold comfort when faced with mortality
and the mortality of our loved ones. The Divine can seem cold and
uncaring compared to personal pain and hardship. Yet, the Divine
suffers, as we do, with each death, and rejoices with us in each
life. Our Flame is that of the Divine, never lost or forgotten,
even when we leave our bodies and cease to be separate, and are
again one with the Universe.

The loss of ourselves, of our individuality, is scary to many
people. We value our identities, our separateness from each
other, even as we bemoan it. Anything that threatens our
separateness, our knowledge of self, is a potential threat even
as it is a potential gift. And so we fear death, knowing that we
will no longer be ourselves when we do not wear our bodies, and
fearing what we might be without them. We try to find ways to
save our individuality even beyond death, beyond all knowledge
into the realm of hope and faith.

But the Universe does not conform to our will and desires, much
as we wish it did. Our lives end, but we are never forgotten or
lost, but instead returned to the greater Universe.

=====
===== Questions:
=====

  * What do you do in fear of death? Does it help? Hurt?

  * What blessing has mortality brought to your life?

  * How can you live without certainty? Would life be better if
    we knew of how we would die?


[05]
=========
========= BOOK REVIEW: CHI GUNG
========= reviewed by QuietOne
=========

Chi Gung: Chinese Healing, Energy and Natural Magick
Author: Lily of the Valley Carnie
Trade Paper, 288 pages
Published: Llewellyn, September 2002
ISBN: 1567181139
See this book at Amazon:
  http://www.ecauldron.com/cncbook.php?asin=1567181139

Chi Gung (also spelled QiGong or Chi Kung) is the practice of
cultivating one's internal energy and promotes benefits like
improved health, healing, flexibility, endurance, intuition and
overall well-being.   My favorite book on the subject is by Lily
of the Valley Carnie who I feel introduces a fresh perspective to
this ancient practice.  Plus the cover art is really cool... pine
trees silhouetted against a sunset sky turning a delicious
purple/orange with just a sliver of the moon showing... just
awesome.

The first part of her book introduces the fundamental principles
and concepts needed to develop a Chi Gung practice and covers
topics like: Nei Dan vs. Wei Dan training; Meridians and
Cavities; the principles of Yin and Yang; the philosophy of the
Five Elements; the Regulation on Mind, Body and Breath; and the
Fire, Wind, and Water Paths of Chi Circulation. In addition, she
presents a series of exercises intended to help you become more
familiar with the way Chi flows through your body that provides
an excellent foundation for the explorations to follow.

The remainder of the book provides many, many examples of ways to
apply Chi Gung to a wide variety of activities. Some are physical
(like swimming underwater, fly-fishing, or working with weapons).
Others are mental (like developing intuition, increasing your
awareness or learning to visualize). While others are craft
oriented (like painting, playing music, or drawing).

This is what I feel sets it apart from other Chi Gung books I've
read.  Since Chi is a universal energy then you are able to sense
and apply it everywhere and I like the way she encourages you to
learn to include Chi Gung in whatever activity you are engaged
in.  This allows you to make the practice of Chi Gung a personal
expression of you and your art, whatever that may be.

The other thing I really like is the way she encourages the
spirit of play when practicing Chi Gung. Since the flow of Chi
through the body is hindered by tension and stress then being too
serious in your training is a guaranteed way of limiting your
potential. Ms Carnie recommends a fun approach to training that
allows an awareness of the Chi flow to develop naturally.

She teaches in a conversational way that is both informative and
fun and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning
more about this ancient art.


[06]
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If you have specific questions, proposals or other ideas we
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request for a more specific question. He's not trying to be rude,
he just can't think of anything general and useful to say that
isn't said here.)


[07]
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