Show Air Date: Dec. 7, 2008

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. - Sun Tzu

Mommy? Daddy? What is a Gang/ Bully?

W/ Special Guests:

Detective Mark Marbach
Detective Raymond V Bercini
& Ex Gang Member/Youth Minister - Jahmy Graham

"A gang is for surviving deprivation and trauma ..."
A "gang" represents family and belonging.

How much do we all try to fit in?

Does getting upset or depressed cause us to join things we wouldn't normally join as a way to feel better about ourselves through others?

Gangs flourish because the needs of people in a neighborhood or culture or family are not being met.

A gang, fills a void.

W/ Jahmy Graham

What was Jahmy's Void? Deprivation? Trauma?

Jahmy is now a gentle and inspirational young man, 25 years of age. Jahmy grew up in the impoverished areas of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, California amid the negative influences of neighborhood gang life. Initiated into a gang at the young age of 10, Jahmy participated in a life of drugs, sex, violence, and criminal activity.

He was expelled from elementary school in the 5th grade for bringing a firearm to school.

At 14, he participated in a drive by shooting, which led to a charge of attempted murder—later reduced to assault with a deadly weapon. He subsequently served close to 2 years in juvenile hall and boot camp.

While he was incarcerated as a youth, he decided that he wanted to change his life. He made a pledge to himself: When I leave this cell, the gang is going to stay in it. There was only one problem: He didn't know where to start.

Then he met someone at New Directions for youth—the nonprofit agency where he was fulfilling his court-mandated community service and drug testing. This person shared with him that he had lived a similar life at one point. He told Jahmy that Jesus Christ could change his life. He subsequently invited Jahmy to church.

Today he is a very active member of Bethany Community Church Outreach in Granada Hills, California. He plays the drums and the bass guitar, and is an active member of the youth ministry. He reaches out to his generation to help young people in similar situations to those of his past to change their lives for the better. He visits juvenile detention centers and prisons to spread the good news of hope and change.

Truly, his life has been completely different. He has graduated Magna Cum Laude with his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the American Jewish University, formerly the University of Judaism--where he was one of the university’s top business students. He is currently completing his MBA there as well in Nonprofit Management. He plans to pursue a law degree, and specialize in ‘‘Fighting for the little guy/gal”.

He is the proud husband of Nzinga Graham, the love of his life and a 4th-year medical student at UCLA.

Family Gang

Did families fight against each other in the Civil War?
Yes they did!
Do parents drink, do drugs or hurt each other or even their own kids?
Yes they do!
Do siblings dominate and hurt each other?
Yes they do?
Can family members, aunts, uncles, cousins pit each other against one another?
Yes they can!

What Causes a Gang....

...Angry, scared, shameful, insecure, pressured, abused, scared, sad, depressed kids and adults.

A gang is a type of prostitution where you sell your heart and soul for a "feeling" of community. The Nazi's were a gang.

When you are not in a state of self awareness and self love, pain becomes a common thread of connection and it is pain that creates the bond of loyalty.

For this "family" feel to work and feed the "high" ego, there is someone or something to be against. A joined enemy to fight. This is for a sense of power and strength based on the original feeling or experience of powerlessness. Powerful is dominating and self satisfying. This is not to be confused with a non-harmful state called Empowered!

Some gangs, not all, evolve into formal organizations with social, economic, or political functions, and have older members.
Gangs also organize within certain institutions, such as prisons and the military, with variable ties to outside street gangs or organizations.

If we struggle with our physical realm as far as:

(hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily issues, we can be susceptible to joining organizations that are not based in truth and love. This also goes for many kinds of controlling groups such as cults etc.)

(Many times we join things for security and protection from physical and emotional harm).

When the heart and self esteem issues are not met:

(We crave acceptance, friends, success and / or achievements, status for self fulfillment)

We are creatures that need a sense of belonging at home, school, play or work.
• Belongingness (affection, belonging)
• Esteem (self-respect)
• Self-Actualization (the drive to fulfill)

According to Maslow, as Police's definition of a gang is: a group of individuals, juvenile and or adult, who associate on a continuous basis that...form an allegiance for a common purpose, are involved in delinquent or criminal activity.

The gang may range from a loose knit group of individuals who hang around together and commit crimes together, to a formal organization with a leader or ruling council, gang colors, gang identifiers, and a gang name.

Must we unite by having a common enemy and be against someone?
Hey this concept on a smaller scale is called Gossip!

In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen.

Today's street gangs are very different.

Today, sophisticated gang operations have members crossing state lines establishing syndicates and recruiting members as young as 10 years old in communities across the country. (And we have Jahmy to tell us this is so.) Gangs use children because they know that whatever the child under thirteen does, he or she cannot go to jail. These criminal organizations engage in high-stakes narcotics and weapons trafficking, gambling, robbery and other equally serious crimes. Never before have gangs been so mobile and so dangerous, and the problem is spreading.

FACTS

At lease 400,000 youths are currently in gangs nationwide. (FBI)
Violent street gangs are active in 94 percent of all medium and large sized cities in America. (Journal of American Medical Association)

Many of these cities have up to 40 different gangs.

(The American Street Gang)

Gangs in Schools

According to the most recent U.S. Justice Department surveys, somewhere around 760,000 kids are hanging, fighting, and pushing drugs in 24,000 different gangs. In 2000, 95 percent of law enforcement respondents "identified [gang] activity within one or more of the high schools in their jurisdictions. Ninety-one percent reported gang activity within one or more intermediate schools".

Basically, there are two major gang alliances in the United States:


Within those alliances are the actual gangs (in the same way that the American League includes the Yankees and Red Sox).

The Folk Nation, for example, boasts of big names like the Los Angeles-based and Chicago-based

The People Nation are the and

"You see a kid with a jacket hanging on their left shoulder— they're telling you they're Folk Nation, could be Crip."

They might pull their left pocket out, roll up their left pant leg, or wear their belt buckle to the left.

Regular baseball caps are very big. Why are all the kids in one New Jersey project wearing Pittsburgh Steelers caps? Because the team's colors also are Latin Kings colors.

Why are other East Coast kids wearing Kansas City Chiefs caps?
Because "KC" means "Kill Crips."

Tattoos are telling, too.
Don't believe the kid who tells you that his "MOB" tattoo means "man of business," or "money over bitches”, It often means "Member of Bloods”.

Or look for strands of colored beads, sometimes modified rosaries, which are popular among the most faithful gang members.

TIPS:

• Be a good listener to your child and help them develop their self esteem and own their mistakes and recover and change.
• Watch for negative influences; meet friends and parents of friends.
• Communicate with them about their hopes and dreams as well as their fears and concerns.
• Help motivate and cultivate their talents or wishes.
• Be a role model, show your children how to deal appropriately with conflicts and problems.
• Discuss the importance of school and doing your best. Emphasize good study habits and the strength in self discipline.
• Establish rules and set limits. Be consistent and fair with a follow through of your words and behaviors.
• Volunteer at your child's school.
• Teach accountability for time spent, money and clothes.
• Spend quality time with children.
• Show respect for a child's thoughts and feelings.

Yes, the Gang feelings are in the WORKPLACE Too!

While hard to quantify, workplace bullying is clearly costly for employees as well as employers.

About 45% of individuals targeted by bullies at work suffer stress-related health problems, according to the Zogby survey.
1. cardiovascular problems
2. an impaired immune system
3. debilitating anxiety
4. post-traumatic stress disorder

Gary Namie, is the director of the Workplace Bullying Institute and president of Work Doctor, a consulting firm that specializes in correcting and preventing workplace bullying.

Companies have to pay in employee turnover and employee absenteeism becomes more frequent.

To a small extent, workers' compensation claims occur.
Bullies can tarnish an organization's reputation and ability to recruit, since word gets around when employees are miserable and leaving in droves.

Bullying is repeated, deliberate, disrespectful behavior toward another for the bully’s gratification.

This is high ego and a master / slave mentality with an addict "high" moment. There is no empathy here for the pain being caused which means this person was hurt in a way they are now numb to, internally, and they are passing on their pain to others. This is why child abuse is so communally harming and affects everyone eventually.

Workplace bullying is about difficult people who may or may not be behaving this way deliberately. They may actually be unaware. Bullying can be a behavior passed down from family members, coaches etc. therefore, the behavior feels normal and the awareness gone.

Bullies are out for self-gratification feeding a low ego striving for the high ego. Difficult people are not necessarily out to harm another; they are out to protect their own needs emotionally, mentally, physically, sexually or financially..

You can possibly reason and negotiate with a difficult person.

You cannot reason or negotiate with bullies.

Detective Raymond V. Bercini

Ray is a 19-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He is currently assigned to Operations Safe Streets Bureau, as a gang investigator. Born and raised in Southern California, he made the decision to join the Sheriff’s Department in 1990. He has worked several different assignments, which include,
County Jails,
Street Patrol,
Gang Enforcement
...and was promoted to the rank of Gang Detective in 2000. He has been involved in programs working with the most at-risk youth, who live in gang-infested neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County.

He has facilitated and taught self development and cognitive skill curricula to professional staff, parent groups, youth and gang members.

Detective Bercini is also currently working with a multi agency collaborative that specializes in hardcore gang intervention strategies. This involves formalized training, to professionalize former gang members and community partners who all are working to end gang violence in Los Angeles.

He is also a co-founder and a technical advisory board member of the non-profit, community-wide project “A Better LA” (www.abetterla.com)

and sits on the Board of Directors for the “Sole of Africa” (www.thesoleofafrica.org).

Detective Bercini is also one of the co-founder of “Core Plan International” (www.coreplan.org), an organization dedicated to working with youth and transforming communities worldwide.
He currently resides in Santa Clarita with his wife of 24 years, Deanna, their four children and grand daughter.

I work and train with allot of intervention specialist (mostly former gang members), our collaborative reaches approximately 20 different gang neighborhoods, crossing the racial and territorial barriers.

Detective Mark Marbach

40 yrs old is married with 3 children. He has a BA in History, from CSUN.

As a Deputy Sheriff (Gang Detective) my primary mission with my current assignment deals is to investigate gang related crimes in our area. I have specific gangs that are assigned to me and I am responsible for gathering intelligence on the gang regarding things such as membership, activities, rivalries, who’s active, etc. By maintaining a working knowledge of the gang, I try to identify suspects in various crimes believed to be committed by members of the gang.

I work with a team of 9 other gang investigators, each has his/her own targeted gangs, but we assist one another in gathering intelligence and investigating crimes.

Typically we focus on gang related: Murder, attempt murder, assaults with and without firearms, robberies, weapons possession and stolen vehicles.

Our mission is primarily enforcement. Identify who the gang members are committing these types of crimes. Build a case, seek prosecution through the District Attorney’s Office and work with the DA till there is a conviction.

I was hired by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. in December 1990. I graduated the Academy, April 1991.

Custody assignments - Men’s Central Jail (1991)
Regimented Inmate Diversion Program (Boot camp for inmates) (1991 – 1993)

Pitchess Detention Center – Minimum and Medium security facilities (1993 – 1997)

Patrol assignment – Temple Sheriff’s Station (San Gabriel Valley) (1997 – 2001)

Field training officer

Specialized assignments – Operation Safe Streets Bureau (Sheriff’s Dept. Gang Unit)

Gang Enforcement Team (2001 – 2004)

Investigator (Detective) (2004 – Present)

Show Air Date: Nov. 30, 2008

Happy= Glad= Content=Lucky= Fortunate…
Thanks=The Expressing of Gratitude…
Give=bestow= deliver.

I am Glad and Content when I see myself and life as Lucky which is another word for feeling Fortunate. It is from this word that I begin to express myself energetically and verbally through Gratitude. Then I can Bestow and Deliver it to others and create from this.

P.S. Could this be why we like turkey? Turkey has that L-Tryptophan in it which relaxes and can even put us to sleep…which makes me glad, feel lucky and fortunate which enables me to express myself grateful and delivering my restful self /or lazy self depending, on to others. Happy Turkey Day I say!


You can get L-tryptophan as a healthy sleep aid that is organic from some health food stores.
Santa Monica Homeopathic Pharmacy is one of the carriers. http://www.smhomeopathic.com/
Tel: (310) 395-1131

Be aware during the Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t overdue… Rest is an important ingredient in life and vacations.
Partaking in high sugar and bread, alcohol or drugs is not loving, resting, or safe playing. Comprende?



So to lose “you” in the Holidays is common and often painful. How many times do Holidays sound despairing or fun and turn to obligation, addiction, family mood swings, ignoring yourself and each other, and feeling like a prisoner within your own anger, fear, guilt, and shame? Becoming a prisoner of circumstances, yourself and others, be it friends or family is common as it all begins with Thanksgiving.

Mona says:

Cell mate is……

• Someone I feel an emotional hostage with.
• I or they are not honest.
• I project my past on to others and play it out as if it’s real.
• Someone projects their past onto me.
• Feeling trapped.
• Self Beating and in self dislike or hate.
• Judging each other. Etc.

Soulmate is………

• Someone I feel understood by.
• Someone I understand.
• Communication is respectful with self awareness.
• Intuition is active to where you can sense the other person’s thoughts feelings and truths.
• Psyche sees past the physical seeing.
• Telepathy is the type of communication from the inner mind and heart back and forth.
• Only through knowing yourself- good, bad and ugly with no shame or guilt can this truly grow in these deep levels.

So today we are going to look at this from a different angle with author and owner of and Bed and Breakfast healing vacation experience on the 100 acre dreamland in North Carolina, Jackie Woods.


She is the founder and CEO of the Adawehi (Ah-dah-way-hee) Institute, Healing School, and Wellness Center in Columbus, North Carolina where she teaches both on-site and Internet-based classes, workshops, and conducts personal counseling sessions. Her work has been featured in numerous publications and she frequently appears on national and regional radio and television. Woods is also the author of two previous books, Journey to Ultimate Spirituality and Spiritual Energy Cycles.

Continuing education courses from Adawehi are:
Chiropractic, Massage Therapy, Colon Hydro therapy, Acupressure with Color and Sound, Life Counseling, Music Imagery for children, and Herbal Therapy are all provided by healers who excel in their arts.

While visiting, there are many possibilities for nurturing yourself:
• Take a carefree walk along the trail
• Tour the biodynamic garden
• Meet other visitors, residents, and students at a variety of community events on campus
• Shop at the gift shop in the Adawehi Institute building
• Treat yourself to a session with one or more of the ten healers
• Meditate at the Healing Center
• Exercise at the Institute Circuit Training Room
• Enjoy a snack from Beneficial Foods
• Listen to the water rushing along the creek
• Take a healthy cooking class or one of the many classes available
• Watch the birds, dragonflies, and fireflies in season
• Count the stars in the dark, clear sky…

Jackie Woods the Author

“Soulmate or Cell-mate”

About the Author Jackie Woods was born with a highly attuned psychic gift that has helped her bring deep insight to her counseling sessions with couples. She uses this gift to help uncover the real heart intents of couples that takes the relationship past their original complaint list.

Soulmates “Made Not Found”, Says Jackie

Columbus, N.C. – Finding and keeping the ideal partner is a problem that has obsessed people since time began. We all want to find that perfect soul mate—that special person who will read our thoughts, think and feel the same way and know exactly what we want, without us needing to ask. The popularity of reality dating shows, like ABC’s “The Bachelor,” is evidence that most people still dream and hope to find their ideal soul mates.

However, evidence from marriage studies shows that the majority of singles will never marry their soul mates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50 percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 20 years. In light of these statistics, do you still try to find a soulmate, or just settle for a cell mate?

The chance of finding someone who matches all your fantasies is almost non-existent; finding someone who could become your soul mate is possible. All it takes is making changes to your definition of a soul mate relationship.

“The idea that a soulmate is our ‘missing half’ perpetuates the fantasy that there is one perfect person who will make us feel complete,” says Woods. “After counseling hundreds of couples, I’ve found that this belief is very destructive in relationships because it sets people up for disillusionment and frustration. The key is to get proactive and realize that the one with whom you choose to invest your time, effort, commitment and love will become the soulmate for you.”

“Communication is practiced. Understanding is developed,” concludes Woods. “My goal in writing this book is to give people hope and show them that a soulmate relationship is achievable with willingness, determination, and love.”


So what are you going to give thanks for and change in you and your life for the upcoming Holidays?

Summary

After counseling couples for more than 25 years, it became clear to Jackie Woods that one relationship trouble spot repeatedly emerges. It is the flawed concept that a person must have the right resume of patterns for a relationship to work. Instead, Woods contends that a relationship is a collection of heart gifts, assembled in a balanced way, by two people, for the purpose of creating a third entity called “relationship.” When couples begin to understand that they are a composite of heart qualities (or heart energies) rather than a resume of patterned behaviors, they will have more flexibility in agreeing on new forms for expression.

Soulmate or Cell Mate offers practical tools for relationship improvement. However, Woods contends that tools are only effective after each partner has identified the heart qualities that they possess and what activities best fit their expression. So, rather than make relationships a series of right steps, this book offers a refreshing new look at how to become the kind of person who can create a Soulmate relationship.

Air Date: Nov. 23, 2008

What is a bail out?

With Special Guest: Stephen Hall,E.A.

tax and financial advisor

See below for more information on Stephen

Would you say that you or we as a

whole are in a state of Economic Crisis?

A crisis is-a turning point. A decisive time, moment. A time of suspense.
Let’s look at what is happening:
• Banks are folding!
• The Treasury Secretary Paulson Does not want to bail out the banks with the 700B Even though 3 weeks ago he stated it was critical to take care of our economy.
• People are not spending; Starbucks profits are down 97%
• The Detroit BIG 3 (automotive industry)- What is going to happen??

We need a turning point in our world to grow in responsibility, depth and as humanitarians. Greed and selfishness has been our recent past behavior as a way of finding our "selves" from the master / slave mentality. As usual the pendulum swung too far the other way and now we are looking for understanding and balance. The greed and selfishness was a reaction from the generation before of suppression, denial, and a master/slave mentality.

Can this be an opportunity in your lifetime? In so many ways, yes.

I often wonder if Rome and the legend of Atlantis...... grew too fast economically and intellectually without wisdom and responsibility of the heart and soul.

Could we be the generation that makes our minds connect to our own and each other’s hearts and souls so we do not achieve, destroy and implode as history has done?

Keys to learning and growing in our "Economic Crisis"

or shall we say........

"Our Suspenseful Turning Point"?

Spiritually, find the truth and own it with no shame. Know your worth is inside not in your achievements and financial wealth. Not that you can't have wealth. Understand your own and other’s hurts and mistakes and open up to recover without added guilt, shame and punishment.

Mentally, catch old tapes of brain washings that you no longer can agree with if they are built on lies, guilt, manipulation, addiction, disconnection, and judgment of yourself and others. No more bigotry for differences.

Emotionally, do not judge feelings as bad, ridiculous or crazy... for you see, that is what will cause crazy. Let your feelings out in exercise form and hear their message from a state of understanding. Many times, feelings are messengers and metaphors and stem from memories or blocked instances that you do not feel ready to deal with. Be nice to yourself when the feelings are active, but do not necessarily lead or make decisions from them, just understand them like you would a child.

Physically, be healthy and nice to the home (body) that which carries your mind, heart and soul.

Financially, have boundaries and keep learning what is real and true and be aware of the "more" monster !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More is the black abyss where there is no end to its hunger.


An economic bailout is when a bankrupt or nearly bankrupt party (like Lehman Brothers) is helped by another party (like the US government) giving them asset, that can be easily converted to cash. This infusion of liquid assets frees up the troubled party to meet its short term obligations. In return, the helping party will often receive controlling interest.

So, when you hear that AIG has 1 trillion dollars worth of assets, you may wonder why they need a bailout and ask “Why don't they just sell their own assets"?

The key word when you are talking about assets is liquid (available cash). The companies in crisis have illiquid assets (no or little money). An illiquid asset is not readily saleable due to uncertainty about its value or it lacks a market in which it can be traded. In other words, no one is going to buy mortgage company assets because the value is uncertain and there are not buyers for the troubled loans, where they are most often worth less than what is owed.

When a large company is on the verge of a failure that will have vast long term effects, the government views this as “too big to fail.” They will step in for a bailout in order to stop wide spread economic repercussions and panic that result in depressions. What the U.S. government is proposing to do in the mortgage bailout will be the largest since the Great Depression.

95% of homeowners are paying their notes on time. 5% that are in trouble are in a bind because most bought something that they couldn't pay for.

I am so sad we have to sometimes hurt to learn. Personal responsibility is a part of life at every age. This stinks I know, but we can survive and be better in the long run if we grow, learn and change our beliefs and habits.

The sentence truth above feelings and desires is so important.

Small Business could be the Economic Bailout

Small business is the economic backbone of America and certainly the path to any economic bailout, we need to acknowledge that fact as well.

While large businesses have lost more than 170,000 jobs over the last six months, small businesses are seeing their employment sector grow. Over 200,000 small business jobs have been created in that time. New data shows a continuation of this trend.
How small business makes money, who they serve, when and where they work has little to do with the Dow Jones Index - which is made up of just 30 companies.

What is short selling?

Short selling is the borrowing shares of a company and then selling them in hopes that their value will fall. When that happens, short sellers buy the shares back at a lower price to repay the loan and reap a profit.

If the value falls, financial companies loaded with bad debt had become prime targets for short sellers. The SEC said it had become concerned that this practice "may be causing sudden and excessive fluctuations of the prices of such securities in such a manner so as to threaten fair and orderly markets".

IS THIS A DEPRESSION OR A RECESSION?

Let's use Target as a picture of what's happening.
A little over $150 million, of average receivables (meaning Target customers are not paying their Target charges) have two missed payments or more leading to an account of $225 million. Bad-debt expense is killing the retailers as well as their being no money available for loans. Bad debt has more than doubled to $314 million from a year earlier as more customers default on credit-card bills.

American Express Co. had its highest monthly increase in credit-card delinquencies on record in October as jobless claims rose. American Express has been battered by rising delinquencies and higher funding costs. The New York-based company became eligible for government funds when it won Federal Reserve approval to become a commercial bank on Nov. 11 as frozen credit markets choked off affordable financing.

First came the crisis over bad paper.
Now the crisis could get worse because of bad plastic.
At the same time, it's becoming harder to get new credit.

Americans have almost $1 trillion of credit card debt outstanding. Defaults are rising.
A lot of mortgage loans had no boundaries from the beginning. Therefore loans between organizations are not bound in truth. Evaluations by ratings agencies were not thorough.

Obama is now the next president:

How will he affect your money???

According to Obama’s team- he will help all Americans that earn under $200,000 those that earn above $200,000 your taxes will go up! But there are still tax benefits to you as well!

Steven says… About Obama and Health Care, to revise Health Care in his first year could be political suicide. To touch that right now will create higher taxes. Every country worldwide that has nationalized health care has taxes over 50%. Right now the average American pays under 20% in taxes!! This topic may be a second term presidential issue.

Financial Check list:
Buy assets wisely!
Buy Stocks and Real Estate – Come up with a systematic game plan to be a part of the real estate adjustments that are finally affordable in your area!
If you are feeling the pain of what is going on- Do not worry! There is relief out there!

• The Government is forgiving the taxation of a foreclosure if you are losing your primary residence.
• If you have a bad loan- or if you are not sure you have a bad loan- you can possibly modify your loan.
• If you have massive credit card debt and do not know where to start- we can help – there are solutions out there!

How can you work in this economy?
1. Save money for a down payment on your new home and/or rental property.
2. Save money for retirement- start aggressively funding your 401K and Retirement Plans- Put the money in a Money Market fund for now!
3. Look at your loan documents and find out what kind of loan you have!
4. Get ready for the biggest sale of assets in our lifetime!

The market is going to get worse before it gets better: here is why: Just like physical illness, you can get weaker, have a surgery to help mend and then heal and be stronger in the long run. Right?

How can we learn to live?

Ask yourself questions of need before purchasing anything, including groceries.

Don’t use credit cards.

Watch you gas.

When shopping, take the specific amount you plan to spend, and stick to it.

Practice saying "no" to things like a self parent.

Clearance items are usually not necessary.

Pack a lunch: you can easily save $40-$60 per month, just by bringing items with you.

Shop at consignment shops: Try cutting your family's wardrobe budget. Designer clothes in excellent condition can be purchased for about 20% of their original cost. If second hand clothes are not for you, at least make it a point to shop from the clearance rack. It can make a huge difference.

Have a "no-spending" weekend: It is necessary to take a break from our usual routine in order to get our budget back on track. Try making it through an entire weekend without spending any money. It really can be done! For entertainment, you can watch old movies, play at the park, or go for a family bike ride.

Trim Your Grocery Bill: Eat less meat. It is a proven fact that it takes longer for your body to digest meat than any other food anyway. Give your body and your budget a healthy break by having one or two meatless meals per week.

Compare sale ads: Most weekly specials can be checked online. Go to a different store for the sales. Comparing sales may take a bit of time, but if it saves you $25-$50 with each weekly shopping trip, it is certainly worth the effort.

Buy the store brand. Yes, it's true that sometimes the generic brand is really the name brand just labeled as the store brand.
Buying Groceries: Buy your produce from the farmer's market. Most towns have one, even if they only set up one day per week. During the fall season is usually when the farmers market is around. Check your local paper to find one in your area.

Gas: Gas prices have come down. Now let's learn some gas saving tips so you'll be prepared for a hike before it arrives.

Junk in the Trunk: Remove roof racks and extra cargo from the trunk. Your trunk is not a storage unit. Extra weight causes reduced fuel efficiency. Unused roof racks can cost you a whopping 2-4 miles per gallon because of the wind resistance they cause.

Slow down! Every 5mph that you drive over 60mph can reduce gas mileage by 10%. Leave the house ten or fifteen minutes earlier.

If you’re not out of a job or on the verge of having your house foreclosed, please hold a center. Do not pick up others issues or fears. You are no good to yourself or others in fear that is not true for you.

So....history is our teacher of what to do and not to do. Can we come out of this, if we listen and own our addictions and desires and see it as the fuel of this fall?
Can we surpass history from the inside and out?

Can poverty, abuse, and bigotry heal, as we learn, we are all in this together and everyone had their hand in the cookie jar in some way, shape or form?


Hugs and strength to all of you!

Mona

More about Stephen E. Hall, E.A.

Tax Accountant, and Real Estate Entrepreneur

Stephen Hall is a graduate of U.S.C. and a dedicated tax professional with over 11 years experience. Steven is the second generation president of a family tax consulting firm. He is successful in the real estate field, purchasing and selling on small and large scale projects. As an accountant Stephen is current in all new laws pertaining to real estate and a good advisor for your needs.


ROBERT HALL & ASSOCIATES Tax Consultants

Robert Hall & Associates is a recognized leader in the tax and tax planning field. In business for over 35 years, we provide a wide range of services to individuals and businesses in a variety of industries.

Whether you need individual tax planning or complex tax planning for your business, we guide our clients through a full range of tax planning and preparation decisions with strategies that minimize your tax liabilities. Our, experience, analysis and research allow us to optimize financial opportunities to be found in existing as well as recently altered tax laws.

Call our office today at 888-808-1040 and email us at becca@roberthalltaxes.com and ask for a free report on the ten items to save on taxes in this wild ride!

Show Air Date: 11/16/2008

Are you Funny?

Do you have A

Sense of Humor?

With Special Guest:

David Goldman, CEO Comedy Time

Comedy Time has been ranked as the 7th most watched channel on mobile devices by Nielsen and we are the leading producer of short-form comedy for mobile and broadband. We are on every major phone carrier deck in the US and Canada (Sprint, Verizon, ATT, Rogers, Telus, Bell Mobility) and appear as a branded channel on most major broadband portals including Hulu, AOL, Youtube, MySpaceTV, Yahoo and MSN.

See Below for more information on David and Comedy Time

So the Bible Says......

Book of Proverbs. Proverbs 17:22: "A merry heart doeth good like medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

Humor in Relationships

Humor has it Hands Down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is there laughter in your relationship?
Here are the rules:
1. No hitting vulnerabilities (areas where someone is insecure or hurting).
2. No personalizing (know there is no bad intentions. When someone is on a roll and hits vulnerability it's usually an accident. Please don't get hurt. But later on, talk about the boundaries so you don't step on that subject matter again.).

Good Communication and Understanding is A Must!
3. Be a free infectious laugher.
4. Be able to be "stupid" with no self beating (shame) laugh at yourself.


If laughter is missing... the relationship looks like what?
Remember introducing humor to a humorless relationship might take some time. You need to practice this muscle. Start slowly by working on your own inner child by being light with a fun loving attitude. Remember that laughter and fun are contagious.

Humor can be learned, not just inherited.
• Look for humor everywhere. When something feels funny, enjoy it. Let laughter flow. Then remember it, feel it and laugh again.
If you judge yourself for being joyous or forward, you will kill it!

Humor Chemically

Psychoneuroimmunology and Humor

There is, now, so much evidence that your thoughts, moods, emotions, and belief system have an amazing impact on the body’s health and healing mechanisms.

Whether or not you get sick depends on your body’s ability to fight off infection and disease. In 1980, prior to the discovery of the AIDS virus, the departing editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Franz Ingelfinger, estimated that 85% of all human illnesses are curable by the body’s own healing system. We now know that building a positive focus in your life plays an important role in supporting the body's ability to do this.

The body’s healing system responds favorably to positive attitudes, thoughts, moods, and emotions (e.g., to love, hope, optimism, caring, intimacy, joy, laughter, and humor), and negatively to negative ones (hate, hopelessness, pessimism, indifference, anxiety, depression, loneliness, etc.). So you want your mind set to process through negativity and change your attitude by changing thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behaviors to keep the body in condition to handle whatever life dishes out.
Truth is not always pretty but how you handle it is what really matters.


The key is found in complex molecules called neuropeptides. Peptides are found throughout the body, including the brain and immune system. These neuropeptides are the means by which all cells in the body communicate with each other. This includes brain-to-brain messages, brain-to-body messages, body-to-body messages, and body-to-brain messages.

The mere fact that you feel better after a good laugh is enough for many to conclude that humor must be good for you. But new evidence confirms what our grandparents knew all along. Your sense of humor not only enriches life, it also promotes physical, mental, and spiritual health.

This information is portrayed in the movie www.whatthebleep.com

Reduction of Stress Hormones

When you're under stress, your body undergoes a series of hormonal and other body changes which make up the "fight or flight" response. This is actually a behavior from fear.

When negative or fearful, your body still goes into these reflexes even though there is no physical threat to your life. If you're under stress day after day, this preparation for a vigorous physical response (which never occurs) begins to turn inward on itself and threatens your health! Anything which reduces the level of stress hormones in the blood on a regular basis helps reduce this health threat. Stress weakens the immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to illness.

In the shows; Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs "Whistle While You Work" or "Whistle a Happy Tune" (so no one knows that I am afraid) from the King and I tell us to Try it!! "My Favorite Things" (fear of the thunderstorm from The Sound of Music.)

Immunoglobulins

The greatest amount of research to date has focused on immunoglobulin A, a part of your immune system which serves to protect you against upper respiratory problems, like colds and the flu. Our saliva contains IgA, and this is often referred to as the body’s first line of defense against upper respiratory, viral, and bacterial infections. Several studies have shown that watching as little as 30 or 60 minutes of a comedy video is enough to increase both salivary IgA and blood levels of IgA. This has been shown for both adults and children.

Immunoglobulin’s M and G have also been shown to be enhanced as a result of humor/laughter. Laughter even increases levels of a substance called Complement 3, which helps antibodies pierce through defective or infected cells in order to destroy them.

Researchers conducted a study of Israeli soldiers in war-like conditions. Soldiers, who joked, told funny stories, or clowned around more were judged by both their peers and commanders to be coping better with the highly stressful conditions of combat training. The researchers concluded that the humor initiated by the soldiers increased their feeling that they were in control of whatever situations came up, and that this enabled them to perform at a higher level.





"Humor does put you in a good mood. Usually when people are sick, or have something wrong, they get depressed. They can't do this; they can't do that (Helpless /Hopeless). But if you start to laugh, it will change your mood. This affects your thinking and feeling and then behaviors. It's a feeling of 'I can, I can,' instead of 'I can't.' Because depression is 'I can't,' and laughing is I can."

The studies say, young women in different phases of their menstrual cycle were asked to select from among comedy, drama, and game show programs for an evening of television viewing. Premenstrual and menstrual women preferred comedy over the other choices to a greater extent than did women mid-way through their menstrual cycle. The researchers conducting the study concluded that this choice was due to "a desire to overcome the hormonally-mediated noxious mood states that are characteristically associated with premenstrual and menstrual phases of the cycle."

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Concerns and Cautions About Using Humor in Health Care Settings

Professionalism with humor can still be professional but it has a lighter style of interaction. This is referred to as “good bed side manner.” Humor does not replace compassion.
Be intuitive and aware if people are responding positively or negatively to humor. Don't force humor or laughter if she or he is not open to accepting it.
That's like a comedian yelling at the audience to laugh at his jokes.

Homework for humor

1) Spend the next week or so laughing more often and more intensely than you usually do. Force yourself to laugh more in situations where other people are laughing. You'll feel self-conscious about this at first, but you will gradually become a more natural belly laugher.
2) Spend more time around people who are good laughers, use their laughter to boost your own.
3) Listen to comedy audiotapes (many libraries have comedy tapes) while driving to and from work, and force yourself to laugh more when you find a segment funny.
4) Try faking laughter when you're angry or anxious this still affects you and your outlook.
Humor not only entertains, but shows perspectives to change political views as well as change beliefs. Humor can become a miraculous tool to love life and accept its challenges. Humor is a pervasive feature of human life which crosses racial, cultural, sexual, and class divisions.

Dangerous humor / sarcasm on vulnerability

“Two things people throughout history have had in common are hatred and humor. I am proud that I have been able to use humor to lessen people's hatred.”
—Richard Pryor

One of the biggest comedy traps is making careless and cruel comments about others.

Why is this popular form of entertainment and communication?
When someone puts someone else down, it is a way of feeling better about you for a minute.

All this toxic energy is from a judgmental point of view. If you go down I go up. I call this the See Saw Game. Then if I think you are wonderful with my judger voice alive and kicking, I am down. Now, if I do this under the disguise of humor it doesn't count...I just say “I'm kidding” and put you down again for being overly sensitive.

I have been guilty of this myself. Years ago I hosted many shows and comedy venues and the more I roasted someone, the more attention, and money I made. This made my stomach hurt. I couldn't understand why I felt sick. I wasn't doing anything "wrong"? I hurt a couple of my celebrity friends when I was younger by the humor points that were vulnerabilities, but everyone else was doing it too. See…? I wasn't alone. Therefore it's ok, right?

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! (By the way, my celebrity friends have never heard any of my "humorous cracks" that, today, I believe are NOT FUNNY! I decided it hurt them and live apologizing to them internally.) I left the field and began working on myself; I became more self sensitive regarding my own vulnerabilities. Funny doesn't hurt.

How we treat others is simply a reflection of how we feel about ourselves. When we value ourselves, we cannot devalue others. Secure people do not put other people down or themselves. They accept themselves and others as is and hold understanding for all qualities. That does not mean I can't laugh at myself or others as long as I and others are secure with the subject matter.

Intuitively understanding people and situations, and knowing when and when not to act or speak is crucial. There is a vast difference between judgment and intuition.

Intuition discerns and understands the truth. Judgment, on the other hand, is a critical assessment stemming from fear. It's cold, calculated, and limiting.

"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me".
Not true. Emotional scars can go deeper and be more painful than physical pain.

Critical humor hurts; “I was JUST KIDDING” after someone felt hurt is not ok?

Certain types of racist humor actually feed racial, sexual, and cultural stereotypes.

This is not about freedom of speech. It's about verbal abuse! Humor is a fantastic communication tool is used for understanding or harmless play.

So............ now what does funny mean to you........... How is it in your everyday life?

I'm waiting.................

About David and Comedy Time:

We just launched a new comedy brand aimed at women called “ChickComedy” www.chickcomedy.com Real Networks has been running it on their Superpass home page. Hulu, YouTube and Yahoo have just picked it up and it is also running on Verizon’s VCAST service. We also have a Latino brand “Comedy Time Latino” and an Urban brand “Comedy Time Urban.”
You might recognize the attached clip from us that women forwarded to each other all over the world and is amongst the most popular internet clips ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77o

We also won Media Week’s “Media Plan of The Year” award for a branded programming campaign we did for the DVD release of Saw III. http://www.comedytime.tv/view_video.php ... e8d6f0fed3

You can see more of our content by going to www.comedytime.tv or www.youtube.com/comedytimetv

DAVID GOLDMAN BIO
CEO And FOUNDER, COMEDY TIME

David Goldman is the founder and CEO of COMEDY TIME, a market leader in the production, licensing and distribution of short-form comedy content for mobile and broadband applications.

Goldman began his entertainment career at the William Morris Agency where he represented directors, actors and musicians. He was vice-president of the motion picture department and head of the motion picture director's division. He later served a similar function at competing agency ICM. His agenting clients included Will Smith, Mick Jagger, Kurt Russell, Roland Emmerich, Renny Harlin, Billy Idol, the Beach Boys and David Lee Roth.

Goldman is a graduate of UCLA and UCLA School of Law

Email: david.goldman@comedy-time.com
Phone: 310.287.1617
8737 Venice Blvd, Ste. 101
Los Angeles, CA 90034

Show Air Date: Nov. 9, 2008

Journey of an American Sangoma

w/ my special guest: Gretchen Crilly McKay

The word shaman originated from a word in Siberia and eventually came to be applied to all medicine men and women of indigenous cultures who's practice includes the flight of the soul.

Shamanism is not a religion, unless you want to make it into one. It has been and is being practiced by people of many religions, from Christianity, to Judaism, to Hinduism. You will find shamanic practitioners of every faith.

So what then is shamanism? It is a direct experience of spiritual knowledge.

Paganism was influenced by shamanism, as reflected in the stories. Some of the shamanic practices of the Greek religion later merged into the Roman religion. The repression of shamanism continued as Catholic influence spread with Spanish colonization. In the Caribbean, and Central and South America, Catholic priests followed in the footsteps of the Conquistadors and were instrumental in the destruction of the local traditions, denouncing practitioners as "devil worshippers" and having them executed. In North America, the English Puritans conducted periodic campaigns against individuals perceived as witches. A similarly destructive story can be told of the encounter between Buddhists and Shamans.

The symbols on the shaman's costume and drum can refer to animals (as helping spirits), or the rank of the shaman. “Mutually opposing symbols”, are used to distinguish “white” shaman’s practicing at day contacting sky spirits, and “black” shaman practicing at night contacting evil spirits for bad aims.


These series of opposing symbols referred to a world-view. Symbols are a form of communication used like grammar is used in arranged words which form a cognitive map.

Initiation and learning

A shaman may be initiated by:
• a serious illness
• by being struck by lightning and dreaming of thunder to become a Heyoka
• a near-death experience
• follow a "calling" to become a shaman

In many South American shamanic cultures there is the use of psycho-active substances

(peyote, fly agarics, psilocybin, etc.)

In the Lakota culture pain is often used instead of psychoactive plants. While a Siberian shaman would use “Fly Agaric” (Lakota medicine man would do a sun dance).

The Lakota medicine people have some bias against the use of psychoactive plants. The majority of shamanic cultures use repetitive sound to enter the shamanic state versus the use of psycho-active plants or pain.

Shamanic illness

Shamanic illness, also called shamanistic initiatory crisis, is a psycho-spiritual crisis, usually involuntary, or a rite of passage, observed among those becoming shaman. The episode often marks the beginning of an episode of confusion or disturbing behavior (that lasts for a limited time) where the shamanic initiate might sing or dance in an unconventional fashion, or have an experience of being "disturbed by spirits". The symptoms are usually not considered to be signs of mental illness by interpreters in the shamanic culture.

Underlying beliefs of practice

Many shamans have expert knowledge of the plant life in their area, and an herbal regimen is often prescribed as treatment.

They are often considered a type of homeopath.


Generally, the shaman traverses the axis mundi and enters the spirit world by effecting a transition of consciousness, entering into an ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of entheogens.

Some of the methods for affecting such trances are:
• Tobacco (improves concentration, but is not psychotropic)
• Drumming
• Dancing
• Singing
• Listening to music
• Icaros / Medicine Songs
• Vigils
• Fasting
• Sweat lodge
• Vision quests
• Mariri
• Sword fighting / Bladesmithing



"Power" or "master" plants used as incense or consumed to heal or attain altered states

(please do very thorough research before using them, and always consider using it with guidance from an experienced person):

• Psychedelic mushrooms - alluded to euphemistically as holy children by Mazatec shamans such as María Sabina.
• Cannabis
• San Pedro cactus - named after (St. Peter), guardian and holding the keys to the gates of heaven, by the Andean peoples; Quechua name: Huachuma
• Peyote
• Ayahuasca - Quechua for Vine of the Dead; also called yage
• Cedar
• Datura
• Deadly nightshade
• Fly agaric
• Iboga
• Morning glory
• Sweetgrass
• Sage
• Salvia divinorum - sometimes called Diviners' sage

Shamans will often observe dietary or customary restrictions particular to their tradition.

For example, the diet followed by shamans and apprentices prior to participating in an Ayahuasca ceremony includes foods rich in tryptophan (a biosynthetic precursor to serotonin).

They also avoid foods rich in tyramine, which could induce hypertensive crisis if ingested with MAOIs such as are found in Ayahuasca brews.



In the shamanism it is believed that part of the human soul is free to leave the body. The soul is the axis mundi, the center of the shamanic healing arts. Shamans change their state of consciousness allowing their free soul to travel and retrieve ancient wisdom and lost power.

Because a portion of the soul is free to leave the body it will do so with out of body experiences. The soul can leave while dreaming and the soul can leave the body to protect itself from potentially damaging situations be they emotional or physical.

(If you talk to hospice people they will tell you of these stories as people are passing all the time)

In situations of trauma the soul piece may not return to the body on its own, and a shaman must intervene and return the soul essence.



There are various reasons for Soul Loss. If a person was in an abusive situation, part of one's soul may leave to protect itself from the abuse. Sometimes as a child, fighting parents may prompt the soul part to hide because the child is scared.

(This is called Disconnection or Disassociation in psychological terms)

If a traumatic accident is about to occur such as an impact or accident the soul would leave so that it wouldn't be affected by the force of the accident. If a loved one is lost, the soul part may go until the person is ready to deal with their grief.

All of these are very healthy mechanisms of protection. In some cases the soul part will return on its own. But if it does not realize how to return, or if it does not know that it is safe to return - the shaman may need to assist the return of that missing piece.

Another way to lose ones soul is to give it to someone. When two people are in love, or when they are in a family, it is sometimes occurs that they will give portions of their soul to their loved one. A mother may give some to her child because she wishes to protect him or her. This type of soul exchange may seem acceptable because of a person's desire to share themselves with another, but it is generally not a good idea. An individual can't use another person's soul, because simply: it is not their soul.

(This is called codependency in psychological terms)

It is important to know that no one can take your soul / internal energy without your consent. If someone has stolen your soul you have in some sense given it to them or allowed them to have it. If you feel for some reason that someone is tugging at your soul or inner essence, make a firm decision within yourself that they cannot have it and they will not be able to take it from you.



Soul loss would be comparable to the psychological concept of disassociation. Some of the symptoms that would indicate soul loss to a shaman include:
• Depression
• Feeling of incompleteness
• Inability to move forward on some issue
• Lost memories
• Feeling like your not in control of your life
• Someone says: I felt like part of me died when...
• I feel like so and so stole my soul

Soul loss is often accompanied by a feeling that something is missing from life.

Once again, the language of our society refers to soul loss,
• I lost something when I lost my job,
• I never felt the same after my accident...

A coma is a situation of extreme soul loss, where more of the soul is out of the body then in.

As with the other protective feature of soul loss, this can be very appropriate. If the body is in a great deal of pain, or if the soul needs time to consider its situation a coma provides needed time.

Shock is another symptom of soul loss, where the individual's soul hasn't returned yet or hasn't fully re-entered the body.

Occasionally, a person having suicidal thoughts may be because of a desire to reunite with one's lost soul pieces.


Don't overlook the importance of having someone perform a soul retrieval for you because you feel you must do it on your own.

When performing soul retrieval the shamanic practitioner will create a sacred space for you, one where you are held in a container of love, and one that protects you from interferences of the outside world.



Shamans work with the spirit / soul along with all sources of energy. In the case of shamanic extraction they are working with misplaced energy. No energy is truly bad from a shamanic perspective. If energy is misplaced or it isn't in accord with the environment (the human body, or the body of land...) it will bring illness.

(This is similar to Quantum Physics talked about in the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know” )

Where does misplaced energy come from?

We all are aware that emotional states can affect health. Stress is acknowledged to cause backaches and ulcers. Shamans believe that your emotion takes the form of energy and can be stored throughout the body and eventually lead to illness. So you store your stress or anger in your stomach, or you get angry and send your anger out at someone. We can see this if can remember a time when someone's anger or sadness seemed to have an effect on a room: "her anger hit me like a blow" "you could cut the tension with a knife."

The energy that can be stored in the body does not have to be from anger but could be from other reasons as well. In the shamanic mind there is no distinction made based on where the energy came from. The shaman can see that the energy does not belong there and removes it.

The Extraction: Finding and Removing the Misplaced Energy

Sound instruments may be used, such as a rattle or a drum, to increase the power or the energy of the "magnet." A magnet represents the attraction and repelling of energy within yourself or with others. The shamanic practitioner may sing to maintain her or his shamanic state, or to increase her/his power during the process.

(This is how we all use smells/ incense, music, light or a dark room to focus and/or concentrate)



If you want to be proactive in avoiding misplaced energy in your body there are various thing you can to. To protect yourself from outside energy you can imagine yourself surrounded by protection. One commonly used method is to envision yourself surrounded by a blue translucent egg that allows only positive energy in and allows energy back out. This can surround you as you go about your daily life. If the environment is severe, or someone is combative you may wish imagine a brick wall for that time.

When you are feeling negative emotions it is important not to ignore them so that they will be stored in your body. They need to be expressed and allowed to leave your body. You do not want to send them to others either, so you can request that as you express your emotions they are transformed into more neutral or healing energy by the universe or your guardian spirits.

There are stones which transform and lighten energy such as selenite, calcite, and quartz. A dark purple amethyst may make a good protective stone.

(Is this where the idea of a purple heart comes from?)


In the shamanic belief every thing is alive and carries with it power and wisdom.

This is also a similar belief in Buddhism.

Power animals are an essential component of shamanic practice. They are the helping spirit which add to the power of the shaman and are essential for success in any venture undertaken by the shaman. They use animals like many other religions use guardian angels or prophets.

Each power animal that you have increases your power so that illnesses or negative energy cannot enter your body. The spirit also lends you the wisdom of its kind. A hawk spirit will give you hawk wisdom, and lend you some of the attributes of hawk.

(Even if this was just visualization, it can affect your energy if you see and feel it)

A popular website: http://www.animalspirits.com

Article:

Blessings of peace, love and light,
Gretchen Crilly McKay
www.ancestralwisdom.com



My love affair with Africa began many years ago. When I made my first trek to Africa, in 1994, I knew my soul had returned home. In 1999 a consultation with a Zulu Sangoma (shaman) changed my life.

Throughout Africa traditional healers hold an esteemed and powerful position in society. Their role is that of physician, counselor, psychiatrist, and priest.

African people share a common understanding of the importance of ancestors in daily life. When they have lost touch with their ancestors, illness may result or bad luck. Then a traditional healer, or sangoma, is sought out who may prescribe herbs, changes in lifestyle, a career change, or changes in relationships.

Master healers believe that we are here for only one purpose, to heal through love and compassion.

A sangoma is a traditional healer of southern Africa who is “trance-possessed” by his or her ancestors, or amadlozi. The sangoma is a mediator between people and their ancestral spirits. These healers must learn how to prepare herbal medicines, how to interpret dreams, incorporate spirits, diagnose illness through divination with bones, and heal both physical and spiritual illness. Through the ritual use of muti (herbal medicine), steaming, purification, dreaming, and dancing in a trance-like state to drumming, the initiate becomes bound to his or her ancestors who have chosen her for this work.

A sangoma may not cause any harm. The calling requires that the healer use her gifts only for good.

I had been practicing shamanism in the United States for several years. Everything I was instructed to do in Africa was focused around prayer, ritual, and ceremony. There were morning rituals followed by the unfolding of daily activities: chores, going to town, work for the ancestors. A morning and evening ritual of eating bubbles (herbs that are the food of the ancestors) and daily steaming were also a regular routine. The Purification ceremonies and the using of animal sacrifices were performed to initiate me into the work with my ancestors.

I then began to learn an African divination system called “throwing the bones.” Throwing the bones is an ancient African divination tool for diagnosing illness and problems connected to ancestral issues. When the bones are thrown onto a mat, they create a story that the practitioner must “read” and share.

Traditional Doctor Mntshali told me that he must teach my ancestors to wake up, to give me their unlimited sight. The first step in achieving this was dancing with my ancestors.

Through these exercises the ancestors were teaching me their way of communicating for the purpose of locating illness within a client of mine.

(Don't Christians Speak in Tongues?)

Thus began the first phase of aligning my ancestors within myself. I am opening up my mind and energy to remembering their lives and the gifts passed on to me through them.

(Isn't it true, the different Bible's and studies of our family trees, show us the gifts and difficulties of our ancestors so we too, can learn and grow and remember who we are through our family traits and gifts? Is it not true the sins of the forefather’s shall be passed down through generation to generation?)

The beheading of the chickens for my ritual was sacrificed and eaten in a ceremonial way. Please note nothing is killed for the sake of being killed.

It was one of the most amazing, sacred experiences of my life!

© Copyright 2007 Gretchen Crilly McKay. All rights reserved.

Gretchen Crilly McKay is a sangoma and shamanic practitioner who has studied traditional healing methodology with master teachers in the United States and Africa. She has a private shamanic practice in Southern California where she sees clients and offers workshops and shamanic training.


For more information or to contact Gretchen:
www.ancestralwisdom.com
gcmckay2@mac.com