Whacky News Items of The Day

1. Lightning Awareness Week. Would you believe one exists and this is it? Yes, read this article and you, too, may start constructing a grounded, rubber lightning shelter in your backyard.

2. Grizzly Bear-Size Catfish Caught in Thailand. Yes, weighing in at 646 lbs, it is possibly the largest fresh water fish ever caught. The bad news is, it's endangered and they killed it. The good news is, it supposedly brought good luck to a lot of villagers.

3. Alan Cumming has a perfume named after him. Yes, the guy who played the MC in Cabaret. Want to know what it smells like?

You may now return to your daily lives just a little bit more well-informed.

The Book of Jobina

OK, I’m exaggerating, but what the heck is going on here? After my latest post, in which a session of Reiki left me feeling better than I had in months, I went in the next afternoon for my steroid epidural. The night after that, I began to experience what can only be described as a five-day-solid agonizing migraine headache, complete with light and noise sensitivity, nausea, sweats and dizziness. In getting the shots done on Thursday, I’d hoped to make sure I was comfortable for our extended visit with M’s family, including her 90+ year old grandmother, who I dearly love and don’t know how many times, if at all, I’ll get to see again. Instead, it turns out that I experienced a rare, but possible, reaction to the shots – either a bodily rejection of the steroids or the result of a pinprick leak in my cervical spinal column, causing pressure changes in my neck and skull that left me feeling like I’d been tossed in a sack of hammers and rolled down a hill. For five days.

Is there some higher message or meaning in here? Why do I keep experiencing these debilitating injuries and illnesses? Am I supposed to pack it all up and go live in a cave somewhere, communing with the animals and existing on shoots and berries? Or, conversely, am I supposed to be counting my lucky stars that I live in an industrialized, “first-world” nation, with a job that, even though it’s not exactly my soul’s calling, furnishes me with the medical insurance to treat all these issues and at least not worry where my next meal might come from if I have to spend a week doped into hallucinations with multiple pills?

I am truly thankful for my family and especially for M, who has been the most wonderful, supportive angel of a partner through all this I could ask for – despite the fact that my illness put even more stress on what was an already emotion-fraught trip for her. I am going to make an appointment for another session with my Reiki master as soon as possible, too, to see if that can help clear up the aftereffects of this latest problem. The ache in my head is very dull now, but I still feel – physically and emotionally – hung-over. The loving ministrations of my cats (I swear having them wrapped around my head purring all night put the last whammy on that headache) and going into the place of peace and no pain I experienced during that last Reiki session truly helped me get through this without completely losing my marbles.

I don’t know how to be clever just now, but I’m easing back in. Further bulletins soon…

This Shit Really Works!

Shake, Rattle n’ Roll, Baby…

So – long time no post. Last I left off here, I was just getting over my bout with vertigo, which was bad enough but just the tip of the iceberg, I soon found out. Since then I’ve been afflicted with two – count ‘em - two herniated discs in my neck, a killer stomach virus, a few panic attacks and The Return of The Constant Menstruation. Sounds fun, no? Trust me, it’s been a blast. Between the bleeding, the searing pain, the reduced use of my dominant arm and hand, the parade of drugs and the projectile spewing, I’ve truly been the life of any party. I’ve missed a lot of work at my day job, had to stop doing the work I love most – animal communication – and generally been confined to resting and moping, with a side of weight gain. It’s been a rough few months, here, is what I’m trying to say.

But… last night I finally did something I should have done weeks ago. I went to see my Reiki master. See, I’ve been taking drugs, seeing doctors both medical and pshrinky, and getting steroids shot into my spine, and it all helped, but I’ve still been feeling lousy. Not just physically but, as you may imagine, spiritually. Guilty and sad that I haven’t been able to do my animal work just when my business was really taking off. Depressed over feeling sick and in pain all the time. Tired and defeated and right on the edge of hopeless. I tried to do Reiki on myself and meditate, but I was too distracted or in pain to get it flowing. Not only that, but I began to doubt that those things could help me. I began to fall back on the ol’ inner skeptic society built in me, telling myself that all that New Age mumbo-jumbo was a scam, and even my beloved animal communication must be a comforting delusion – dismissing all the amazing results I’ve seen and the information I’ve gotten that I just could not possibly have known without it being real.

So, enter my Reiki master, Linda Gnat-Mullin. Although I’d been attuned to level I by her (I did level II long-distance with someone else, mostly due to curiosity and financial considerations) and afterwards had some very intense psychic experiences with her, I’d never actually gotten a full Reiki treatment. Well, little did I know that the work she does involved not only Reiki, but shamanic work and other spiritual/energetic methods. That’s right, sage was burned, spirits and the divine feminine were invoked, crystals were placed and even a rattle was shaken above me. It was all enough that definitely, at times, I had to internally roll my eyes and think “oh, jeez, is all this New Age, white-lady-fixated-with-aboriginal-spiritualism frou-frou-rah really necessary? And does it do any good besides giving one the psychological/placebo effect that one is better?” Well, I’m here to tell you – it works!

After two hours of communing with animal spirits, crying over childhood issues and being spritzed with lavender, not only did I feel emotionally “cleansed”, more vibrant and happy, but the pain from my herniated discs went away. For the first time in weeks I was able to sleep through the whole night, and woke up with no pain at all. None.

Moreover, there’s a spring in my step I haven’t felt in months. I feel… positive. Like I don’t have to carry a big weight anymore. How about that?

Sure, I’m still looking forward to getting my latest epidural this afternoon – those steroids in the neck can make one pretty grumpy, but they do take the pain and weakness down a few notches. But I am now thoroughly convinced that this Reiki session did me every bit as much good as any allopathic medical treatment I’ve ever had. So, I’ll be going back soon, and recommending it to all my friends – even if it does seem a little woo-woo to some. I may fall back into doubtfulness, but I now feel that a treatment like this – even just a tune-up – is worth every penny and just as important in taking care of myself as making sure I eat my vegetables or get my spine adjusted at the chiropractor. After all, I’m trying to go into a line of work where I will be helping to take care of many others – human and of different species. How can I do that if I am stuck and ill, myself?

So, back on track. I hope within a week or two to being doing consultations again. Until then, I will be taking good care of myself, looking forward to my next treatment and planning our vacation in Costa Rica. I have work, financial and family issues to take care of, but I feel as though it’s much more manageable. Wish you could get and outlook adjustment, too? Drop me a line and I’ll give you Linda’s number. It’s worth it!