Got a bit of a surprize when I got this, this eveing...it sounds beautifull!!

The card at the top of the cross represents your goal, or the best you can achieve without a dramatic change of priorities. The High Priestess: A pure, exalted and gracious influence. Education, knowledge, wisdom, and esoteric teachings. The forces of nature. Intuition, foresight, and spiritual revelation of the most mysterious and arcane sort.



love and h.g.w. to all x

Unfortunatly the town where I was born and bred (Warrington) has been in the news this week, for all the wrong reasons!

The Showbar in Warrington has been selling drinks for just 10p in a promotion they call "2 bob Tuesdays!" and young revellers are flocking from far and wide to take advantage to get "smashed" very cheaply....at best this is a very irrisponsibe promotion, but at worse this is down right bloody dangerous!!!!!!
When I was in my early 20's (before I moved to Northampton and became a manager for Scottish and Newcastle) I worked at the Postern Gate pub, as I have mentioned before on this blog. I worked an average 40 hour week, and I worked damn hard. As a result I would chill out several times a week at Mr Smiths club and loved every moment of it....However, there is a dark side to Warringtons nightlife, and I must say a very ugly one it is, and one that I thank God on my bended knees that I have not partaken in, in years!
Its all to do with the geography of Warrington (although *myself included* Warrington seems to breed nutters!!!LOL...Appologies to fellow Warringtonions who are not nutters!!) and the fact that its slap bang inbetween Liverpool and Manchester. So come the weekend most of the northwest appear to converge on Warrington, get pissed, and have a veritable tribe war!!! Fights, brawles, slanging matches, glassings and gang culture! All very commen in the Warrington I left behind in 1993! Sometimes I breath a deep sigh of relife for this, but I still have memories of these events taking place under my very nose, and they are not nice to recall!!
Now some utter gonk somewhere thinks it would be a fun idea to sell drinks for just 10p!!!!!
My first thought is the manager must either have an IQ of an amoeba or have a masters degree from fairy-land!!!
In my day as a trainee manager I had licensing law written in stone and engraved on my very crainium...but when I read someting like this I somtimes think the licensing law must have had a clause written into it, so managers can and do have the right to act with childish iresponsibillity!!!...maybe I live on another planet........
This breaks the law on several levels and I am mightly surprized that nothing appears to have been done!!!
And the main one is serving a person or person who appear to be intoxicated!!! YES!! its is ILEGAL TO SERVE ANYONE WHO IS DRUNK!!!
Photos fom the news show drunk bodies piled up covered in sick...so how the heck are they getting away with this??? and how on earth (or what ever planet these folks live on) can they be having a good time!!!??? Is the defination of having a good time include collapsing in a pool of ones own vomit, in the gutter??? If this is so, I hope to never ever have a "good time" again!!
My opionion??
Haul the pratt who is responsible for the Show Bar, before the courts so him/her can explain their actions and be given a very hefty fine. And have the liscence revoked for the club!
And for those of you who think I am pulling a mother Theresa act! I too have been drunk (sometimes very drunk) in my youth! I have also been thrown out of pubs for being drunk in my 20's and I have even ended up in A&E, drunk!!!! and you know what??? I hated every moment of it!!!! Being drunk has taught me a valuble lesson.
"DONT GET DRUNK!"
So these days I dont.
I still drink, and a love my chilled wine in my hot tub of an evening...but I have seen others, and personally been though hell because of drink. So I have learned to respect it too. This dosen't mean I am a party pooping stick in the mud!!! That I am most certainly not, as my close friends who know me personally will know! But the most valuable lesson I have learned as far as drink is concerned, is this:
"Excess WITHIN control!!!"
Its my wish that others would learn this lesson too................

Although the weather forcasters have promised us a bit of an Indian Summer this week, its true to say Autumn here is well under way! Leaves are turning golden and the carpet of fallen ones grows daily...and so begins my favorite season of the year!
Clearing the garden was mostly hard work, but Derek did mow the lawn for me. I got on with weeding, dead-heading and the tidying up which did indeed give me a bit of back ach...but I suppose now I am 44 I should expect this! ...However the patio was a mess and I had a huge harvest of my tomatoes which I shared with mum, and they were very yummy. After I had tidyed the patio I was struck at just how bare it looks with all my spring and summer flowers gone! So I stood scratching my head thinking of ways to make it more interesting!. Now I have a 3 foot soiled filled wooden tough with a twig trellis above it (which is where my black-eyed Susans climb in summer) and earlier that week I had bought a huge, tin, wiccan looking Jack O' Lantern from TK Maxx...why??? I hear you ask. Basically I liked it, and even though Samhain is a month away I decided to set it on the wooden tough and put a stumpy, but large church candle in it, to light it! The effect was surprizingly good!!...from my hot tub I can watch him flickering and looking menacing, sinister and fun all at the same time! From my bubbling hot steamy tub my TK Maxx Jack looked fantastic! Anyway, this hatched an idea and when I saw Sirius one evening struggling to get around my garden in the dark (as viewed by me in my hot tub) as his eyesight is not very good in the dark...
My Jack and indeed my patio was to become a feature lit by candles and now I have a veritable fairy grotto out there, than any Santa would be proud of!! I have been making my own Jack O'Lanterns using nothing more than old dog food tins (washed ofcourse!) a craft knife, some plastacine and a bit of garden wire!! and on Sunday in a space of an hour I had made 3 of them and hung them on the empty trellis above my Maxx Jack...Derek came and gave his objective opinion.
"Good! but you need to paint them!" he exclaimed
So that afternoon we did a dash to hobbycaft for some orange metal paint! However I did not paint them straight away as evening was drawing on and it was getting dark...eagerly I waited for it to get dark enough so that I could light my tin "Jacks" and Oooohh what a delight!!! I was gobsmacked by the effect, and that night I was quite mesmerised by them winking and glittering at me in my tub. They dident even need paint, I decided, as in the dark all you can see is their candle lit faces, and there is an added bonus of extra light on my patio so Sirius can see better when he decides to have a nightime forage around my garden....but I was delighted with my very own fairy glade, so much so I am planning on making more with moons and stars on!! Now this is what I CALL recycling!!!
Below are pictures and details of how I made them, if you want to have a go...But a word of WARNING!!!! craft knives are as sharp as razorblades, if not shaper, and tin cut with such knives will have edges which are equally as sharp, so NEVER let any children near them. My advice would be if your having a Halloween party make some of these as a surprize for children and hang them well out of reach on trees and bushes in the garden. Also tin with candles in gets very hot so do not touch them!!! Blow them out and leave to cool down.

You will need (as well as a very steady hand!) an old tin, washed and dryed, a craft knife like the one pictured, a lump of plastercine or modling clay which I have used, and some garden wire! (paint and brush optional)



I start with the eyes. Cutting VERY carefully!! By far the simplist shape for the eyes (as well as the nose) is a triangle! The plastacine you hold inside the can so as you cut though the metal, you cut safely into the plastacine...and not your fingers!!!



onto the next eye! again with plastacine in place benith the can! Carefull now!!!



onto the nose and here I show my modeling clay (plastacine) which absorbs the craft knife etches!!



Triangle nose finished with clay in place!



and onto his mouth which is a crescent shape and therefore a little more tricky!!
I have decided to give this guy a single tooth!!



and finally not forgetting two holes at the top of the can on either side. This is where your garden wire hanger goes!



Well this chap is now finished but this is the first one I have painted so although the cutting is done he is still basically a work in progess. My notes on using a craft knife are as follows;
*Alwasy store the knife CLOSED and well away from children. Locked away is even better!
* During use ALWAYS cut away fom your body, and NEVER towards yourself!
*Always use a buffer for the cuts in this case plastercine! and hold firmly in place!
*NEVER use a craft knife after drinking alcohol or taking drugs! Even simple painkillers can have an effect on your judgement!
*ALWAYS keep sharp objects away from children and pets...and anyone under "an influence"...NUFF SAID!!

Now here are some piccies of my Jack fom Maxx (my big boy!) and my homemade Jacks hanging in my garden!!
As I realised very recently, taking pictures in the dark, only lit by candlelight is very difficult as the pictures of the lanterns on a previous blog shows...so these piccies were taken in daylight, but the effect is lost here! They look so much more effective in the dark!!! I am sure you can imagin it! ;)

Have fun! but for goodness sake take great care if you have a go at these!

love Vix

View Full Version: Dark Tower COFFEE BAR!!
vickyanddoctorwho >>THE DARK TOWER!! >>Dark Tower COFFEE BAR!!

not bad for a forum I closed down 6 years ago!!
Very impressive infact!!

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It appears someone had far to much time on their hands!!

As a woman and a Christian westen woman at that!! I was not allowed into Hindu temples during my many travels and in 7 years of near solid travel in Asia I was only admitted only twice (probably because I was wearing a Sari and showing great respect)...This really should not have happened at all as I am not a Hindu! and unlike other faiths where you can be "converted" to be a Hindu you must be born as a Hindu.
This first time I was allowed into the outer sanctum was in Nepal. The second time was in a tiny temple in Trivandrum (south India) where my third eye was opened while I made an little offeing of flowers to the Deity in the inner sanctum, and my heart could indeed hear the "Om" the very resonence of creation and indeed the universe...Both occasions affected me very deeply. and if the soul has harmonics mine were playing me a veritable lullaby as I learned more and more about this most mystic and spiritual Faith. I found myself carried on a beautiful wave of learning and although my knowledge of Hinduism is very limited I find great peace when I meditate or even think about Lord Shiva!
Shiva is a main Hindu deity and he forms part of the trinity (with Bhrama and Vishnu) which is the very core of the Hindu faith.
His name in Sanskrit is written thus:
शिव
Which means the auspicious one! But Lord Shiva has many names...and is represented in many forms.....
Lord Shiva is often depicted as a beautiful youth while at the same time as a Yogi with the wisdom of ages. Often he is depicted as dancing the Tandava and stamping his feet on the demon of ignorance. In this form he is the Nataraja, dancing the sacred dance of creation and destruction. For as Lord Shiva is indeed the creator he is also, in turn, the destroyer and worshipped as such with very deep reverence. Shiva is also worshipped in his form as a Lingam or Linga. This form is often seen as a stone collum often thought by scholers as being phallic. But if I am honest here the Lingam does not look very phallic, but its symbolism is all important, representing creation, sustinance and passing of all things, fading out of time itself...seen as the end of the Universe.
Lord Shiva has a third eye on his forhead called Tryambakam and this has many meanings which I am only begining to contemplate. When I consider the third eye I find my thoughts drifting back to the Pineal gland, which as humans, we all have buried in the deepest and at the very epicenter of the most ancient part of our brains. (this was covered in a previous blog of mine)
Shiva wears a deer in the left upper hand. He has a Trident in the right lower arm, with a crescent moon on his head. He is said to be fair like camphor or like an ice clad mountain. He has fire and Damaru and Malu or a kind of weapon. He wears five serpents as ornaments. He wears a garland of skulls. He is pressing with his feet the demon Muyalaka, a dwarf holding a cobra.... He faces south.... Panchakshara itself is his body. His body is seen as covered in ashes!
His throte is blue as he drank poison in the waters and oceans of the world... and his hair is often seen as being curly or even matted or dreadlocked. He rides a beauitfull white Bull called Nandi, and this is why bulls and cows are considered very sacred in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka...Shiva is also seen with a great cobra which symbolises his strength over even the most wild animals!
Anyway, you can see for yourself as I have found these utterly beautifull Shiva (gifs or animations) for meditation!

Firstly we see Shiva as "Nataraja" Lord of the cosmic dance of creation and destruction! (my favorite representation!)













It has been much to my great pleasure and priveledge to have visited Varanasi (sometimes called Banares or Kashi, city of light) which is the most holy city in India and Hindu's make pilgrimages here and many hope to be cremated on the Sacred Ghats on the river of the Ganges..
This is me on my visit to Varanasi in 1995!


.....with love, blessings x

Photo blog!!

Welcome to my most peacefull place!!!
These are photos from my hot tub garden room where I commune with the Elements every night sometime after 9pm!!
Sorry for the poor quality but the only light I will allow in my tub room is candle light so I have had to tweek each photo in Corel X to try and make them more viewable.
Ok then...now for some explanation!
Being a Freemason aside for a moment I am basically a very spiritual creature! and I find great beauty, peace and tranquillity in all things of a spiritual nature. The backpacking around Asia in 95'-96' brought this side of my personallity to the fore as I learned about Hinduism, Buddahism, Jainism and many more of the rich religions of this area of the world. Derek would often loose me on days out, but he knew exactly where to find me!! In a temple or in deep conversation with a Sadu (Hindu Holy man) or visiting a Shrine and even just chatting with the local folks. There is a very deep ingrained desire in me to study all that is spiritual (and not just faiths!)l and it is not something I have much control over! This, some would call, strange obsession is only matched by my love of Tudor history which I have adored since childhood...As for my own religion, I am supposed to be a Methodist but I have rarely been to Chaple and I am ashamed to say the last time was my beloved Dads funeral in 2001 as he was indeed a Welsh Methodist which is why I was Baptised in the same faith. However I find certain degees of great knowledge, teaching and beauty in nearly all faiths and spirituallity! and I love this!!
My hot tub garden room represents this side to my nature!!
Here the Elements, of Earth (my birth sign is Virgo which is Earth) Air, Fire and Water converge in harmony with my Spirit and just for a short peacefull time each day, I get to contemplate...........Sorry there are no pictures of me or my hot tub (part of it is visable in one photo, I believe) and this is simply because when its running there is a heck of a lot of steam and my Blackberry is not waterproof!! hehehehe!!! Hope you enjoy them though!!
love and h.g.w Vix