Category: Day-to-Day

  • You Cannot Please Everyone and…

    you should stop trying!  :-)  Now I realize that it pretty easy to say and not so easy to put into practice.  Howeve, as a person who spends a great deal of time trying to please everyone it has been a harsh lesson to me.  No matter how hard I try, someone, somewhere will be displeased with what I do. Of course, my business, www.spellmaker.com, is a service business!  Try as I might over the years, there are still folks who end up displeased with me.  :-(  To this day, I take it very personally!

    However, on a day-to-day basis, too many of us try too hard to please too many people.  Most of 
    know what the result of that is!  To that end, here is one of my favorite Aesop's Fables:

    A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?”

    So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way.  But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”

    So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

    Well, the Man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey.  By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them.  The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at.  The men said: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey with you and your hulking son?”

    The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do.  They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders.  They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole.  In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

    “That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them: “Please all, and you will please none.”

    ——End of Story

    Here's to keeping your donkey dry!  🙂

    Love, light, and peace,

    Mambo Samantha Corfield, www.spellmaker.com

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  • Being Alone is Not the Worst Thing!

    Hello everyone!  Hope you all had a safe and wonderful long weekend.  🙂

    Of course, as most of you know, in my day-to-day life I do a lot of work to bring people back together in their relationships.  Helping to mend broken relationships is the majority of my work, in fact!  However, I sometimes find myself in the position of letting someone know that being alone is not the worst thing that can happen to them!

    In my opinion, being with the wrong person or in bad company is far worse than being alone! Naturally I am not particularly saying that being alone forever is my meaning.  But some time being alone is often cleansing and uplifting!

    It is  far better to be alone than to be in the wrong company of someone who belittles you, cheats on you, takes you for granted, and or just generally treats you poorly. It is also  better to be by yourself than to be with people with whom you have nothing in common and nothing to talk about or, even worse, to be in the company of those who will belittle your beliefs, dreams, or goals!

    When you are alone you have the space, mindset, and time  to connect with your Higher Self fully without the interference of  the incompatible consciousness of other people around you. It is very different when you are by yourself than when you are with others.  You  should consider it one of your highest priorities to be with the right kind of people or just spend some time alone!

    Being with the wrong kind of people only lowers your state of consciousness and shrinks your awareness, brings on self-doubt, and does little for your self-awareness. We are always affected by the collective consciousness of the people around us, because whenever we are surrounded by people, our mind becomes part of the group mind. Being by yourself actually frees you from the group mind. That is why you can connect to God, the Universal Mind, or Cosmic Consciousness best when you are alone.

    Train yourself to be extremely selective with whom you relate.  The more carefully you choose  in life, the more you will be able to decipher exactly what you desire. Using the power of choice expresses who we are as creators of our perfect reality. The reason why you may be experiencing unfulfilling interactions with people is because you might have the wrong idea that you have to unconditionally accept everyone who comes your way. The truth is you have to reject people who are not best for you in order to accept only the best.

    Now, of course, there are those among us who will preach that there is "good in everyone, you just have to look for it."  When the looking gets exhausting, consider cutting that person from your life.  If you have to look that hard for the good, it is just not going to be worth it in the end.  You will do all the work and will reap little benefit.  Even worse, that person will not care nor respond to the fact that you are willing to put up with them because you feel that "there is a good person inside there somewhere." 

    Being alone for a period of time is sometimes your best opportunity for personal growth. 🙂

    Love, light, and peace,
    Mambo Samantha Corfield
    www.spellmaker.com

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  • Memorial Day Plans

    Hello dear readers!

    As Parran Matt and I were doing some errands today, we could not help but notice the amount of campers and cars packed up leaving for the long holiday weekend!  If you aren't traveling, Memorial Day… or any time this weekend is a great time to do a ritual for your ancestors, General Ogoun, or even Baron Samedi! 

    As we honor our fallen heroes, honoring our ancestors, even if they weren't military, is a great way to spend some time this Memorial Day weekend.  Of course, doing some ritual for General Ogoun Feraille or Baron Samedi is also a great way to honor our fallen military personnel! 

    When you do these kinds of services, it isn't the kind of service where you ask for something – it shouldn't be goal-oriented other than your goal being simply to say that you want to honor those who have fallen in the service of their country – even if it isn't the USA.  A lot of our dear Spellmaker clients are not in the USA!  But more than likely you have a military who has fought to keep your country safe, too!  So our Memorial Day can be everyone's Memorial Day as far as I am concerned.

    Light a candle and ask General Ogoun or Baron Samedi to send a blessing to these fallen ones.  Just say that you want to honor them and send your good energy to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and helped make our freedoms possible. 

    It just takes a few minutes to do a small service and send out your good vibes and ask for protection for those still serving in our military!

    Love to all,

    Mambo Samantha Corfield
    www.spellmaker.com

    Are they dead that yet speak louder than we can speak, and a more universal language?  Are they dead that yet act?  Are they dead that yet move upon society and inspire the people with nobler motives and more heroic patriotism?  ~Henry Ward Beecher

    Memorial-day1 

  • Is a “New Year New You” Necessary?

    Good morning, everyone!  As we all head back to work in the shiny new year, many thoughts turn to makeovers, resolutions, changing one’s self.  The beginning of a new year is always a great time to make those resolutions to change things that we were not so happy with last year!

    I have noticed with myself that I often tend to go overboard on resolutions, like so many people do!  Unfortunately, that is a great way to set yourself up for failure.  But, I do believe that there is a great deal of validity in bringing in the new year with a new version of yourself.  Sometimes it might just be  a matter of firmly deciding to leave last year in the past where it belongs.  If you had a particularly bad year in 2010, now is a great time to decide to try to let go of whatever negativity, pain, or trauma that you had.  You CAN take it with you, but why?  Even if problems of the past are still unresolved, you can leave the last months of negativity behind – cleanse yourself of them, and decide that this is a NEW beginning to solving old problems.  Sure, we sell products for cleansing  – Lady Samantha’s Hex Removal Kit, white candles, Milk of Damballah white bath, etc. and those are great to use. However, sometimes just making a very resolute promise to yourself to start over, even if it is with old challenges, can be very effective!

    Sometimes we cannot see how to change or, with some folks, why!  I get tons of letters from people who can tell me exactly how they want their intended partner to change, but very little of how they could or should change.  Making a resolution to be more self-aware, take responsibility for some of what is going on in your life, could be just the thing to help some people.  I am not talking about blaming yourself for everything that happens – that is just as unhealthy as being totally unaware of what role you play in your own life.  Look for the balance in your life – drop the “poor pitiful me” victim attitude OR the “everything is my fault” martyr attitude. Instead realize that you cannot control everything, but you can control your own actions, attitudes, and self-awareness.    Now that is a resolution!

    So keep those resolutions realistic but be willing to accept, create, or believe in a miracle! 


    Love, light, and peace,

    Mambo Samantha Corfield

    www.spellmaker.com

  • Happy New Year!

    Hello everyone and a big wish for a Happy New Year to all!  It is always so invigorating and exciting to start a brand new year.  I hope that your 2011 will be filled with wonder, joy, excitement, and magick! 

    Looking out over the Spellmaker 2011 plans, it is great to see some old favorites coming up – the annual Erzulie’s Valentine’s Day Ritual, the start up again of the Free Prayer Group in February, of course the annual St. Patrick’s Day ritual to Sobo – not to mention that we will be doing another video voodoo conference this year!  Plus, we are planning to do a big free ancestor ritual to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of my father on 11/11/11.  It will be a great birthday party and an open party to honor your own ancestors.

    Needless to say, there will be more public events that we will be doing, so please do stay tuned for more info!

    In the meantime, take care of yourselves and have a safe and peaceful holiday weekend.  Love to all!



    Mambo Samantha Corfield

    www.spellmaker.com

     

  • Stop poisoning yourself!

    Happy Friday, everyone!

    Of course, everyone knows that I speak to a lot of folks!  Sadly, I often find that a lot of them are constantly poisoning themselves with toxic thoughts about themselves.  

    We have talked in the past about toxic relationships with others, but what about a toxic relationship with yourself?  I, unfortunately, see it all the time.

    Of course, we always recommend products from www.spellmaker.com that can help with this:  White image candles, Milk of Damballah white bath, Lady Samantha's Hex Removal kit, etc.  Any of our dear caseworkers can help you with that. 

    However, I think it is also important to put some psychological practices behind the spiritual practices.  I ran across this article that is an excerpt from a book. I have not read the book – if any of you have, I would love to have you weigh in on it!

    The article did have some good tips in it:   10 Ways to Transform Toxic Thoughts

    So many of you out there are just poisoning out the good in yourselves – let's try to take some steps to stop that!

    Love, light, and peace,
    Mambo Samantha Corfield
    www.spellmaker.com

    Whiteflowerbasket 

  • Stress in Social Media?

    Hello everyone,

    I read a very intriguing article today that stated that doctors were starting to see stress symptoms caused by people trying to keep up with Facebook, Twitter, etc.  These people felt compelled to keep their statuses updated, pictures uploaded, etc., etc.  When they fell behind, they felt like failures.

    In looking back over my fairly short history with social media (just a couple of years at most), I did see where there were times when I felt like needed to add "something" to Facebook or Twitter – otherwise it seemed like I was just sitting stagnant somewhere.  There is, to me, sometimes a huge obligatory feel to catching up on Facebook.

    But doesn't this kind of go against the whole idea of social media?  Weren't we supposed to be on Facebook to have fun, catch up with one another, find old friends, reach out to those we love and care about?  Was it ever supposed to be a chore?

    I had read quite some time ago about some people thinking that the verb "friending" someone on Facebook demeaned the whole idea of a friend…. that it took away from the very word "friend."

    Obviously, as an online business owner, I do feel that I should be on Facebook, not just for family and friends, but because I believe that it offers potential customers of Spellmaker another way to get to know me.  Most of you who do know me, already know that I am big on having customers get to know us. I feel it is important for them to know who they will be not only giving their money to, but who are they entrusting with fragile things such as their love life!  I have always been a big believer in telling pretty much all my personal business to my customers.  LOL.  That has been sometimes a bone of contention with certain family members, but I figure if you are entrusting me with your personal information, turnabout is fair play.

    However, on a personal level, how do you feel about social media such as Facebook?  Do you ever feel stressed about it?  Do you feel that it is something you MUST keep up with or do you just want to keep up with it?

    One of my  Spellmaker Novitiates recently mentioned in one of her posts about evil Facebook and stalking people on there!  LOL – that is worthy of a whole 'nuther post, but first I would like to get your opinion on social media in general! 

    Love, light, and peace,
    Mambo Samantha Corfield
    www.spellmaker.com 

    1spiritualpower

  • The State of Fear.

    Last week I had the opportunity to speak with an old friend that I had lost touch with. A rather unfortunate memory of this person is that she was always afraid of something!  While I enjoyed catching up with her, I was also sad to find that she was still that fearful person – she was working the same job that she absolutely hates for fear of going to find another one ("not in THIS economy"); she still had very little outside interests ("the world is full of crazy people") and she was still alone ("there are no good men left").

    While Ellie knows what I do for a living, she is not a person prone to do things like spell work or candle work! I wish she was… I would definitely recommend that she try something like some white candle magick or a Milk of Damballah white bath to try to help her remove some of the fear and negativity that she finds herself steeped in!

    So we will call my friend Ellie.  Ellie lives the State of Fear. Everything is riddled with negativity and fear and I began to remember why I had "lost touch."  While Ellie is an extreme case, how many of you out there are living in the State of Fear?  Are you afraid to make new friends, talk to people, put yourself out there, take a chance on… well… anything?

    You know that old saying "nothing ventured, nothing gained?"  It is just as viable today as it ever was.  Even in these tough economic times, even while we are bombarded with news of atrocities throughout the world, there is still goodness, love, and fun to be had out there.  Notice I said OUT THERE.  It isn't coming to your doorstep.  You must go out there and live your life.  If you are afraid of every little thing – the dark, people, new friends,conversations,etc., you are doing yourself a terrible disservice.

    I am not saying it is easy to overcome these fears, but won't you please try?  If you see any of yourself in those paragraphs above, try to master your fears of just one thing!  Are you afraid of people?  Are you sure that all of them are up to no good?  Try just talking to one new person a month – maybe they will be a rat bastard, but maybe they will be a new lifelong friend! Are you afraid of new ventures? Go some place new!  Force yourself if you have to.  I am sure you will find that there wasn't anything scary about it at all. 🙂 You might even enjoy yourself!

    It's a big wide world out there people – if you are just existing in your tiny corner of it, never venturing out of your safe zone, not only are you doing yourself a disservice, you are doing the world a disservice – the rest of us out here might enjoy the pleasure of your company!  🙂

    Love, light, and peace,
    Mambo Samantha Corfield
    www.spellmaker.com

    candle magic for healing

    © Illreality | Dreamstime Stock Photos

  • Look within.

    Inspirational-quotes-1
    Get to know the wonderful you! 

    I was speaking to someone today about the "God Within" – that which lives in all of us and is there to guide and nourish us.  If you can find that within yourselves, you can accomplish anything. Find your God Within and it won't matter what other people think, or what anyone else thinks you can or can't do. Once you truly know yourself, you know everyone you need to know.

    Love,

    Mambo Sam
    www.spellmaker.com

  • Yes You Can!

    CAN'T – A POEM BY EDGAR GUEST

    Can't is the worst word that's written or spoken;
    Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
    On it is many a strong spirit broken,
    And with it many a good purpose dies.
    It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each
    morning
    And robs us of courage we need through the
    day:
    It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning
    And laughs when we falter and fall by the
    way.

    Can't is the father of feeble endeavor,
    The parent of terror and half-hearted work;
    It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
    And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
    It poisons the soul of the man with a vision.

    It stifles in infancy many a plan;
    It greets honest toiling with open derision
    And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a
    man.

    Can't is a word none should speak without
    blushing;
    To utter it should be a symbol of shame;
    Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;
    It blights a man's purpose and shortens his
    aim.
    Despise it with all of your hatred of error;
    Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain;
    Arm against it as a creature of terror,
    And all that you dream of you some day shall
    gain.

    Can't is the word that is foe to ambition,
    An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
    Its prey is forever the man with a mission
    And bows but to courage and patience and
    skill.
    Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying,
    For once it is welcomed 'twill break any
    man;
    Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
    And answer this demon by saying: "I can."

    "End of Poem"—————————————

    Happy Sunday one and all!  Remember that you CAN! Whatever it is, you truly can do it. I really enjoy this poem because of it's strength in railing against the "can't" attitude.  Written in the 1800's well before the "new age" movement of watered down affirmations, this tells us to HATE the word "can't," to fight against it!

    I love that! Now don't get me wrong, I love a good affirmation as well as the next person – but there is something wonderfully invigorating about this poem and it's healthy hatred of the word can't! 🙂

     Love,light, and peace,
    Mambo Samantha Corfield
    www.spellmaker.com