• Discover You!

    The You of You

    There is a power within you that is greater than the world. If you let it, it will sustain you, expand you, and fill you with joy.

    This power is closer than hands and feet; it is nearer and dearer to you than your own breath.

    It is invisible, silent, and immeasurable.

    All names for it are vague. All descriptions of it are inaccurate.

    It transcends everything you can possibly know about it.

    In the following lines, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the essayist and poet, who lived in the 1800s referred to it as instinct:

    "All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason."

    Today, we would probably translate "instinct" to mean "intuition" or "awareness."

    Our basic helplessness in trying to describe it is because it is not a thing, an object, either abstract or concrete, that can be classified. Instead, it is a transcendent, extraordinary experience that expresses itself in an ordinary way. It subtle nature escapes language.

    The power within you that can be spoken of is not the power that exists; for like the wind, it cannot be caught; and like the ocean, it can never be grasped.

    It is not the mind, but beyond the mind.

    This awareness that is you, this sentient understanding, this all encompassing consciousness, it is magnificence itself.

    And the sweetest thing about this understanding, is that it is the you of you, the immensity of you.

    There is nothing more intimate, nothing more reassuring, and nothing more exhilarating than this inner presence.

    Civilizations may come and go, you may trade one body after another, and yet this essence of you, this pure energetic consciousness, will only continue to expand in its awareness.

    When confronted with the lie of the world, it is truth; when intimidated by misfortune and adversity, it is strength; and when impoverished by lack, it is abundance.

    You are the quintessence of power and beauty and truth; for who you are is this power that never sleeps, this awareness that never ceases, this brilliance that never dims.

    You are the light of the world, an emanation of pure energy, unrestricted consciousness wrapped in layers of skin and bones, illusions and misconceptions.

    When you finally understand who you are, really are inside, there can be only one possible response: a spontaneous burst of happiness that has no limits.

    You are the unbounded potentiality, and who you think you are is not even close to who you really are inside.

    The purpose of life is simply this: to discover the you of you.

  • Voodoo Wares – Erzulie Freda Apron!

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    Here are some photos of the apron in honor of Erzulie Freda made by Eileen and Mambo. It is lovely!

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    Details of the beadwork and three gold rings representing each of Erzulie's husbands 😉

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    Complete with headscarf!

    Apron sets are available at www.spellmaker.com/voodoowares.htm

    Once you order your apron of choice, a collaborative effort between Mambo Sam and her mother-in-law, Eileen, begins. Mambo Sam will personally choose the material pattern, colors, and decorative touches of your apron and scarf. She will consecrate the material and bless all parts/decorations, etc. Eileen works her magick with her professional sewing skills! Once the apron/scarf set is complete, Mambo will then again take the apron and this time she will dedicate it to the lwa that you have chosen.

    Love

    Sister Bridget

  • Top Ten Reasons to Adopt the LAW of GRATITUDE

    Top Ten Reasons to Adopt the LAW of GRATITUDE

    What would your day be like if you started and ended it by simply noticing all that you have in your life?

    If you count all your assets, you always show a profit. Gratitude is a natural high. When you live in tandem with your spirit, appreciating all of life and what you have, you discover more joy and kindness in the world. Miracles happen everywhere all the time, but only those with an "Attitude of Gratitude" seem to notice them.

    This circle of peace grows and you return to your natural state of joy, love and peace, knowing you are whole and complete just as you are.

    "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the
    parent of all the others." ~ Cicero

    The following is a list of the top ten reasons to adopt the Law of Gratitude in your life:

    One. Being in Gratitude Only Has Positive Side Effects.

    Positive emotions make you feel good and offer a sense of comfort. When we take a few moments to express our appreciation inwardly or to another, immediately we begin to feel happier, more relaxed, more optimistic.

    Two. Feelings of Gratitude Provide Short-Cuts to Miracles.

    Negative thoughts and feelings create an interruption in the natural flow of life. When you are feeling positive and grateful you accelerate what it is that you desire. Consciously appreciating what you already have is the short-cut to manifestation and the secret to personal fulfillment.

    Three. Thoughts of Gratitude Flood Your Body with Immune-Boosting Endorphins.

    Studies also provide evidence that a positive, appreciative attitude enhances the body's healing system and general health.

    When you hold feelings of thankfulness for at least 15 to 20 seconds, beneficial physiological changes take place in your body. Levels of the stress hormones cortisol and norepinephrine decrease, producing a cascade of beneficial metabolic changes. Coronary arteries relax, thus increasing the blood supply to your heart. And your breathing becomes deeper, raising the oxygen level of your tissues.

    Four. Feeling Grateful Puts you Back into the 'Flow of Life' at the Speed of Thought. Thoughts create things. If you are feeling and thinking positive thoughts, you create positive situations. You draw positive people to you. Like attracts like.

    Five. Gratitude Unlocks the Fullness of Life

    Feelings of gratitude turn what you have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast or a house into a home. Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

    Six. Feelings of Gratitude Give You a 'Natural High'.

    Grateful people tend to be more optimistic, a characteristic that researchers say boosts the immune system. Studies indicate that daily gratitude exercises result in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. Grateful people experience less depression and stress, are more likely to help others, exercise regularly and tend to make more progress toward personal goals.
    People who feel grateful are also more likely to feel loved.

    Seven. Gratitude Provides an Immediate Sense of Well-Being.

    Gratitude, it turns out, can help us better manage stress. Gratitude research is beginning to suggest that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress.

    Eight. Feeling Grateful is the Main Cause of 'Sustained Joy'.

    Focusing on the gifts one has been given is an antidote to envy, resentment, regret and other negative states that undermine long-term happiness. Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.

    Nine. The More You Give — The More You Receive.

    You always get more of whatever you appreciate. When you express LOVE, GRATITUDE, and SINCERE APPRECIATION, you naturally expand. Consciously appreciating what you already have is the short-cut to manifestation and the secret to personal fulfillment.
    The more you assist others, the more you will assist yourself.

    Ten. When You Are Genuinely Thankful Anger and Fear Disappear.

    One of the incredible truths about gratitude is that it is impossible to feel both the positive emotion of thankfulness and a negative emotion such as anger or fear at the same time.

    To Practice This Thought:
    – Be lavish in your gratefulness.
    – Make gratitude a daily ritual.
    – Be thankful for whatever forces you to deal with your own strong emotions.
    – Set aside an hour or two to do nothing much except be grateful.

    Focus on what is working in your life and what IS right in the world. It doesn't matter how small or seemingly insignificant it may be. Before long you will notice that more things will fall into place with little or no effort on your part. Gratitude is a wonderful tool to use to feel good fast.

    7hearts 

  • Readings now available through SKYPE!

    Hi there!

    By popular demand, I am now offering Skype as an option for doing readings! Skype is a way to do free video chatting!  My Skype ID is sisterbridgetcorfield .

    For more info about Skype, should you need it, please see http://www.skype.com

    Have a great day!

    Love

    Sister Bridget

    Cball 

     

  • Oslo, Norway

    Hello everyone,

    It has taken me a few days to be able to speak clearly about the tragedy in Oslo, Norway.  My first order of business was to try to check up on our friends and clients that live there.  Thankfully, I believe that we have been able to determine that everyone we know there is fine.  Sadly, of course, not everyone is so lucky to have been personally untouched.

    These kinds of events not only leave us sad, angry, and frustrated, but often wondering how one person, looking so normal, can do something so heinous.  It is always a mystery to me when I look into the pictures of these people; why, what, how did you get to be that person?  Of course, there is no easy answer.  Maybe there is no answer, easy or otherwise.

    I will not relate the details of his crimes here, but they are chilling right down to the bone.  The crimes involve things that nearly none of us could even stand to see in a fictional setting let alone know that somewhere in the world these acts happened to innocent people.  The feeling is of incredible sadness and yet still laced with wondering how this kind of person gets shaped in life.

    When we are faced with the tragedies of natural disasters, we are horrified that nature can be such an awesome force to take anyone and anything down. I have heard reporters say that we are sometimes at war with nature and nature will eventually win.  But when it comes down to one human being causing such death and destruction, where do we look?   Upon whom do we lay blame? Surely we cannot blame Mother Nature here.

    There are no easy answers to any of this.  Most of the time we end up just feeling helpless and frustrated, not knowing how to direct our energies to most help.  One way to help is to join with us here at Spellmaker in praying for whatever peace and help can be given to those affected by this tragedy in Norway.  The Spellmaker Prayer Group will be devoting a portion of the prayer meeting on Thursday, July 28 to praying for those victims and families in Norway.  Please join them if you can – even if you cannot join in on the meeting, praying at the same time they meeting is going on will combine our collective energies. 

    Also, remember, the prayer group takes requests for your prayer needs, too!  Our prayer group offers prayers for all that we know about, it is very easy for you to be included.   Just follow the link above for instructions.

    Take care of yourselves and each other!  Have a safe, blessed, and peaceful week.

    Love, Mambo Sam, www.spellmaker.com

    Peacedove
     

  • Making Healthy Decisions – Part 8

    Hello everyone,Continuing on with our series on Making Healthy Decisions the question of today is:

    What Would Make Me Genuinely Happy?

    On the surface, this sounds like a no-brainer.  For some, getting a relationship back together is number one on their list!  For others, a new home, more money, better job, etc. is on their list.  For some, getting into a relationship is on their list.

    However, I am going to encourage you to rework that list!  I am not saying that all of those things above might not make you happy.  But is that what it would take to make you genuinely happy?  I guess a question within a question is "What is happy?"  That is a subject too big to tackle right here! Generally speaking, I do think it is a question to consider within the question of what would make you genuinely happy.

    I see so many folks working towards a relationship that they are sure is going to solve all their problems and,as they ride off into the sunset, they will be immediately happy.  Looking beyond that initial sunset, to see what that life would REALLY be like with that person is something that I often see overlooked.

    But in a broader sense of the subject of seeing what would make you genuinely happy, it's good old list time!  :-)  I highly encourage everyone to make that list!  If it is  just a one-word list that says, "Johnny" then you need to look beyond that, seriously.  What other things will make you happy?  How can you attain them?  If you are unhappy with your present circumstances and want them to change, what are you willing to do to change them?  How big of a role are you willing to take in your own happiness… your genuine happiness?  Will you listen to and/or take advice?  Will you explore all your options? How are you willing to try?

    Don't forget the small things, too!  Include them on your list! How many of these happy-makers did you do yesterday, last week, this year? Which ones can you indulge in today? When you're facing a challenge, ask what would make you happy in this situation.

    Cast a wide net!  You may have "buying a new car" on your list, but if you also remember that "dinner with friends"  and "playing with my dog" are great for you, you get to be happy every day–and that's important. What would make you happy now (that wouldn't make you unhappy later)? Do that!

    Then, take the decision you are trying to make and see what about it will or will not make you genuinely happy!

    Love, Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com

    Happy
     

  • Making Healthy Decisions – Part 7

    Hello everyone!  Continuing on with our series about Making Healthy Decisions!  (I will do a wrap up of this when it is all done – so you will have the list of questions all in one place!

    Today's question to ask yourself in your decision making process is:

     Should I be acting or should I be stepping back? 

    Okay, so this can be a tough one.  Do we wait and "see what happens" or do we jump in take that bull by the horns, wrestle it to the ground, and show it who's boss?  :-)   Living in this microwave-instant message-tweet-email-Facebook status updating-seeminglyinstant gratification world can be detrimental to our decision-making process.  We are beginning to feel that everything needs an instant action!  That just isn't true!  Some things are best left alone, left to marinate, left to give a chance to breathe and perhaps evolve into something else. 

    Countless times we've all acted too soon or without sufficient information, or we've stepped in where our input wasn't needed (or wanted – what is up with that – it seems that I can hardly even go to the grocery store without someone commenting on what I should be doing/buying, etc. – so strange… anyway…) and muddied circumstances that were already working themselves out.

    When you ask yourself, quietly and confidently, what your part is in a given situation, and where to wait (or exit entirely), you'll get a clear idea of your role. If you ask the question and still want to act against the advice of your internal coach, remind yourself that, although life is a series of little dramas, none of them needs a drama queen (or king).

    Of course, as with other decision-making processes, it takes some thought to decide when to act and when to step back and see what happens.  Putting these question together with the other questions, however, lets you see that this is just part of a whole process.  Putting the process together will make much more sense in the end!  🙂

    Love, light, and peace,

    Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com

    Laneends
     

  • Making Healthy Decisions – Part 6

    Good morning everyone!  As we continue on with our series on making healthy decisions, I wanted to stop for a moment and clarify what this series is all about.  Many of my readers are those engaged in more esoteric studies – spells, spiritual growth, magickal endeavors, etc.  Those readers are tending to put this exercise in that category.  While it can be used in that way to some degree, this is meant to be about every day decision making.  Some of the information may be useful in spell casting, but really it would be more useful deciding when or if to do spell casting, not so much to assist you with the actual process. 🙂

    Our next question to ask ourselves when making a decison is: 

    What Really Matters?

    This can be extremely beneficial.  Taking the time to figure out what really matters to you is crucial to making a good decision.  For some of us, we think that everything matters equally – we are passionate about every little thing. On the surface, this can seem admirable; when you look a little deeper you will see that this means that we treat all things equally.  It is very difficult to live successfully in this way.  Prioritzing things in your life will make you more organized, let you know when to pick your battles (and not everything is worth a battle – really, it isn't), and allow you to let go of certain things in order to accomplish other, more important, things.

    For most people,  beings with emotional capabilities will come first – children, spouses, parents, friends, pets, etc. For some, they themselves will come first.  After those obvious choices, what really  matters after that?  Understanding what your priorities are and how your decision impacts them will allow you to weed out things that don't matter and leave you with a clearer understanding of what your decision needs to be.

    For instance, is your job the means by which you take care of the things that are most important (money) or is there another way that you care for those things (emotionally, perhaps)?  If you say yes to the former, then job decisions are going to be weighed against the impact on others. If you say yes to the latter, then job decisions may be based entirely on other criteria.

    Therefore, deciding what really matters to you will help you in making a healthy  decision.  🙂

    Love, light, and peace,

    Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com

    Decisionsahead
     

  • Making Healthy Decisions – Part 4

    PLEASE NOTE: Sorry, I accidently got these out of order! So after this will actually come Part 6 since Part 5 was already published. Sorry for the confusion!

    Greetings, everyone! As we continue on with our series about making healthy decisions, we move on to our next question to ask ourselves:

    What Am I Not Seeing?

    We have a tendency to sometimes protect ourselves in difficult situations by not being willing to seek out what we are not wanting to see about a situation. It is something we all do – we can have a tendency to gloss over the details that are unpleasant to us. Naturally this can lead to some disasters in decision making!

    Often, what we're not seeing is what we don't want to see. While it may be difficult, or sometimes even painful, force yourself to look at what you don't want to see. Hiding details from yourself is truly not helping you. Trying to force an objective, dispassionate view of the situation can be tricky and take some practice, but try it! It is very difficult for a human being to try to remove emotion from a decision. Sometimes we can trick ourselves into it by pretending that the situation actually belongs to someone else – what would we tell them that we can see?

    Looking at the situation from the outside looking in can often really help us in seeing what we think might not be there! Taking off our blinders and searching for clues might be difficult, however, the end reward is completely worth it!

    Love, light, and peace,

    Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com

  • Healthy Decision Making – Part 5

    Hello everyone! We are at the half way point in our series on making healthy decisions! I forgot to mention in the beginning that these things should be done in order! Ask the questions in the order in which they are presented. For instance, today's question:

    What Would my Grandmother

    (or mother, father, Jesus, Buddha, the Lwa, whomever's philosophy your admire) Do?

    Thinking of a role model, whether a great spiritual teacher, admired friend or family member, spiritual person, etc., is like having a mentor on-call. Ask yourself what this person would do if facing the same situation. You should use someone whose philosophies are well known to you and are admired by you. This is not to offset your own opinion or philosophy but rather to put things in perspective by looking at another point of view, one you have admired.

    This is not to go get another opinion, this is more to see what your decision would like if shaped around an admired philosophy. The decision might not be exactly right for you configured within those parameters, however, it will give you another perspective to consider. This question should be asked after you have established the prior points in this exercise. You must first consider your own feelings and thoughts before putting someone else's spin on your decision! 🙂

    Love, light, and peace,

    Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com