G. Michael Vasey's Blog: The Wacky World of Dr. Vasey, page 14

Reflections on Life

Over the last couple of years, I bashed out a good deal more poetry and verse and, as I am apt to do, I bundled it up in a new short volume of poems called Reflections On Life. I don’t really know why I bother a poetry barely sells but you never know who one of these slim volumes may find. I also used a small number of my own photographs for the cover and inside on the theme of reflections to round it out a bit. It is already available in Kindle format and will soon be also out in paperback form as well.

 

[image error][image error]  

The post Reflections on Life appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

Let Go!

The last time I visited Whitby Abbey I was a boy. I recall little of it. Just that I was bored. Of course, I have been to Whitby many times since, often with my father who had business there. He would leave me for an hour or so to wander and once I recall taking my oil paints to paint the harbor. I was last there just a few years ago with my parents, ex-partner and daughter. I do like Whitby!

I must say that the abbey ruins are fairly impressive but I felt no atmosphere or energies. It seemed a dead ruin to me. A stark reminder of other times. As we pondered aspects of the Abbey in the context of the spiritual prompts of the weekend, my sense was of the skeletal remains of something erected to the glory of man rather than the glory of God. What was left reminded me of what Asteroth has called the ‘horny matter of experience’ – essentially, the structure that we build through life to protect ourselves, shut out the inner and act out our public outer selves. The spiritual activities that took place in the Abbey are no more and, for me anyway, have left no energy ripple in time that I could pick up. In considering this analogy, I was reminded of how we act out roles, how we have our sensitivities dulled by our experience of life, and how we often lose sight of the true spiritual nature of self.

 

[image error]

 

“Let go!” someone said….. echoing Asteroth again.

We had each selected four words as we set out on the weekend. As we sat eating lunch, we each first held and then fished about in a bag for pieces of paper with four words. Mine was quite a shock at first – Meanness, Avarice, Non-attachment and Omniscience – it said. Strangely, or rather just like me, my focus was on the negative words and not on the positive ones. I don’t believe I am either mean or avaricious. In fact, I am anything but (although maybe I am blind to it?). Except, as Sue pointed out, possibly mean to myself.

So, as I considered this skeletal structure originally built to glorify God and as a place for men and women to worship and carry out God’s will, I could not help but see me reflected in it. Non-attachment was the word I wanted as I considered this.

A ruined Abbey. Is this a parallel for each of us as we live life? Born perfect and innocent yet, somehow soiled through living? Erecting our defenses consciously and subconsciously around us as horny matter or in this instance, bricks and mortar, losing sight of the living indwelling God within? Some forms of religious belief would have us soiled with original sin anyway – incapable of redemption without intervention. Perhaps, however, does the intervention need to come from within?

“Let go!”

“Just let go….”

The contrast between the stark remains of the Abbey and the vibrant pulsating heart beat of the Church at Lastingham couldn’t be more apt. For me, one was a stark reminder of how life sucks you in. The other, held the promise of life….. a living guiding inner spirit.

“Let go....”

Yes – non-attachment was the phrase of the weekend for me.

Each of us had chosen our words at the beginning. Divine providence had ensured we picked the words that would guide us and have us ask the right inner questions. I am not privy to what inner experiences my fellow seekers had, but I’m fairly sure they were also profound. So much of the mystical is deeply personal and yet, also universal.

“Let go“

The post Let Go! appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

Like A Heartbeat

This weekend, I attended the Silent Eye Keys of Heaven weekend workshop in the Whitby area of Yorkshire. Of this much more later…..

However, the penultimate stop of the weekend was the church in Lastingham and a visit to its beautiful crypt. The remains of St. Cedd are supposed to be buried just to the right of the alter under the small church and there are a number of old carved stones to view.

 

[image error]

 

On approaching the church, I could feel it. Energy! Once inside the church, I could feel it pulsating strongly and I remarked to one of my colleagues – it’s like a heartbeat! Down inside the crypt, the heartbeat was strong and regular. To sit there and silently experience the energy pulsating was I think possibly the highlight of the weekend – possibly along with the Sticky Toffee Pudding with masses of custard I had experienced the evening before….or perhaps the dance of the Foxes in Whitby. These weekends often have many highlights and magical – WOW moments that I genuinely believe are magical that spontaneously happen when a group of like-minded souls get together.

 

[image error]

 

Back to that energy though. The heart beat from inside the Church. It is Earth energy but possibly at a point where water enables it.  Water is represented by the downward pointing triangle in the Hexagram – as is Earth. Earth represents groundedness, stability, potential, and stillness, while water can represent birth, fertility, and refreshment – as well as washing, cleansing and baptism. As I sat in the crypt in silent meditation, feeling that pulsating energy, I did feel grounded finally and cleansed. It was a truly magical moment that was experienced alone and yet in the company of my weekend friends. Each of us experienced the energy in our different ways and each of us took something very special away from that church…

 

The post Like A Heartbeat appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

Where is my Party?

Having spent a week in the Uk and just sort of in general, I’d like to know why I should vote for anyone? I don’t hear any sensible reasons from anyone in politics anymore. Where is the party I can vote for? It doesn’t exist.

I think what I would look for in a political party would be something along the following lines;

Let people be what they want to be and express what they are without letting any group or individual force their views on others,
Provide an adequate safety net for all in the areas of basic living – food, housing, health, education etc.
Stay out of people’s lives as much as possible – small Government,
Pay as much attention to financial crime and cheating by the wealthy as it does to street crime.

That’s it really.

Where is that party?

The post Where is my Party? appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

‘Socialism’ is to Blame for Populism?

The rise of populism has had me concerned for quite some time but recently, I developed a theory about why populism is working right now. My theory may upset some people as it probably isn’t at all PC but therein lies the problem.

Working class people are interested in their issues – wages, union representation, security of employment, healthcare, pensions and so on…. and rightly so. Traditionally, they ave been represented by left of center parties like Labour and the Democrats and have voted for those parties in return. But, in recent years, something as happened to those left of center parties. Rather than being about bettering the quality of life of working class folk and helping the genuinely dispossessed, these parties have become more and more obsessed with ideology. That ideology is all about battles between the oppressed and oppressors – it as become a constant stream of PC policies around gender, sexuality, climate change, rights for immigrants, and other such topics that most working class people actually either do not support or do not believe it should be the primary focus of the parties supposedly representing them. Working people are not socialist. In fact, they often lean strongly right on issues like immigration and nationality. So, their party not only has deserted them but now promotes causes they feel no affinity for or are actually dead set against! Where are they going to go?

You got it….. populists.

Now, I’m not saying that gender, sexuality, immigration etc. are not topics of importance at all. What I am saying is that these ideological, neo-marxist, policies are not what the ordinary person in the street is truly concerned about – they are concerned about protecting their way of life…… and their party is now the one threatening that very way of life.

Think about it. I think this explains the rise of populism – the left of center parties have been hijacked by ideologues.

It’s only going to get worse. Imagine when the ideologues ban cars, fossil fuels and so on or raise taxes on heating fuels….. the yellow jackets will come onto the streets, their way of life and very prosperity threatened by the ideologues who think they know best. Mark my words, the neo-marxist infiltration of left of center parties will result in a populist push back the like of which hasn’t been seen in a long time…….

The post ‘Socialism’ is to Blame for Populism? appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

‘Socialism’ is to Blame for Populism

The rise of populism has had me concerned for quite some time but recently, I developed a theory about why populism is working right now. My theory may upset some people as it probably isn’t at all PC but therein lies the problem.

Working class people are interested in their issues – wages, union representation, security of employment, healthcare, pensions and so on…. and rightly so. Traditionally, they ave been represented by left of center parties like Labour and the Democrats and have voted for those parties in return. But, in recent years, something as happened to those left of center parties. Rather than being about bettering the quality of life of working class folk and helping the genuinely dispossessed, these parties have become more and more obsessed with ideology. That ideology is all about battles between the oppressed and oppressors – it as become a constant stream of PC policies around gender, sexuality, climate change, rights for immigrants, and other such topics that most working class people actually either do not support or do not believe it should be the primary focus of the parties supposedly representing them. Working people are not socialist. In fact, they often lean strongly right on issues like immigration and nationality. So, their party not only has deserted them but now promotes causes they feel no affinity for or are actually dead set against! Where are they going to go?

You got it….. populists.

Now, I’m not saying that gender, sexuality, immigration etc. are not topics of importance at all. What I am saying is that these ideological, neo-marxist, policies are not what the ordinary person in the street is truly concerned about – they are concerned about protecting their way of life…… and their party is now the one threatening that very way of life.

Think about it. I think this explains the rise of populism – the left of center parties have been hijacked by ideologues.

It’s only going to get worse. Imagine when the ideologues ban cars, fossil fuels and so on or raise taxes on heating fuels….. the yellow jackets will come onto the streets, their way of life and very prosperity threatened by the ideologues who think they know best. Mark my words, the neo-marxist infiltration of left of center parties will result in a populist push back the like of which hasn’t been seen in a long time…….

The post ‘Socialism’ is to Blame for Populism appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

I Have Cried Enough Tears For You…

[image error]

Divine Play by freydoon rassouli

 

I have cried enough tears for you

And yet still I wish you well

And hope to see you escape your hell

It must be hard to live consumed by self

Always defensively aggressive

Seeing enemies in your friends

Holding people to a standard

You didn’t set yourself

I have cried enough tears for you

And yet I still have hope

That you might finally see

You are your own worst enemy

And you are sowing your own misery

Rejecting those that love you

And chasing those that never will

As anger seethes within

I have cried enough tears for you

The loss of what may have been

That aches so deep inside

But I’m so tired of this ride

I’m tired of what I see inside

of you driving your behavior

People never change, it’s said

Destiny, such as it is, is inbred

 

[image error]

The post I Have Cried Enough Tears For You… appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

Unfriendly Prague

I have lived in the Czech Republic for more than 13-years now and I have to say that it is an unfriendly country in the main. Czech’s are – generally speaking – morose, rude and jealous people. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here but occasionally, you have to get away to experience good customer service and people who are happy in life….

Case in point was last week when visiting Prague to see my brother and sister in law who were visiting this country for the first – and probably last – time. Before I met with them they had already been subjected to pure rudeness, lack of basic manners (hello, please, thank you etc.) and treated as unwanted tourists – ten a penny in Prague and a never ending supply so why be nice?

I stayed at their hotel – a tourist place called The Prague Superior Center Hotel – a place to avoid…

On checking out of the place, I made the mistake of telling the receptionist that she was being rude. No please, thank you or any manners – just orders barked in a loud voice (just in case we were deaf?). Of course, this was my mistake as I got rudeness back and told her that she was being rude again. What followed was simply bizarre and straight out of Fawlty Towers….

She called her colleague while pretending to deal with us and give this colleague a running commentary in Czech about us – “idiot tourists, don’t wish to deal with f**ing tourists, wish they would all F off and leave us alone” sort of thing. My daughter and I listened in amazement and eventually, my 12 year old Czech daughter told her in Czech – we do understand you! I think this was the moment in which this woman decided to subject us to pure hatred as we had you see embarrassed her.

She put the phone down flushed and looking shocked before announcing that she ‘didn’t care anyway’. I was then given a PIN box to enter my PIN to pay for parking downstairs. Each time I tried to enter the PIN, one of the keys didn’t work and so I was told that my card was bad and she would contact the police if I couldn’t pay! Despite trying to tell her the keypad wouldn’t work, she just talked over me so I tossed the PIN pad back on the desk saying – here you try then! I was of course then accused of throwing this at her despite the fact it had about 10 inches of wire and therefore couldn’t travel far whatever I did. Eventually I managed to pay and we left leaving my car for later pick up. I did call her a bitch at that point – who wouldn’t?

A few hours later, we come back to collect the car and she appeared with a colleague and refused to allow us to leave (ie provide exit ticket for car park) while she made calls to the manager – ‘they are back,’ she says…. manager didn’t appear interested despite me saying ‘yes – I’d like to meet the manager!’

At this point, she started talking Czech again accusing us of having three people in the room and saying that we must pay more for the extra person (I booked a room on booking at a room rate btw). We told her there was just the two of us. But she was adamant until my Sister in Law understood what was going on and pointed out she and her husband were staying in another room. ‘Prove it!’ she said which we duly did. No apology – she just got madder.

I asked if we were to be detained there against our will all day to which the response was ‘Let me give you some advice – go back to your own country’. I pointed out that my daughter is Czech and I am a permanent resident with as much right to be there as she did. However, we were finally processed and allowed to leave.

Only later did my daughter tell me the colleague had told her she would beat my 12-year old daughter black and blue…. and I also noted that my contact details and name were written down in her and writing on a scrap of paper which no doubt is a breach of my privacy.

I have experienced some bizarre things in Central and Eastern Europe but this takes the biscuit.

No apologies….. I believe what she told me is classified as hate speech under EU law and I think she should find another job because service isn’t for her… and what her colleague told my daughter is verbal abuse of a child in anyones language…

This wasn’t a bad day. This was a person in the wrong job with inadequate training taking it out in a paying customer – unacceptable.

As we Ex Pats sometimes laughingly joke with each – Czech and service work are simply not designed for each other….

The post Unfriendly Prague appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

Videos to Promote Music

So I also made some videos to promote my music…. again – limited success but also rather variable.

 

Far Away

Deni and I had a fun weekend making this with my iPhone – it was only at edit time we realized that we took it in the wrong mode so the image is small…. but we had fun… Just 46 views!

 

Anatomy of Love

Made to promote the new album – well at 33 views I’d say – fail…

Crazy

Wow – more than 100 views. Could they ALL be me?

Fire

111 views so far – so who knows?

Girl on the Phone

Over 2000 views! A hit?

I made several others and ten discovered the record company makes them too…. So now I don’t bother..

They have managed 3 subscribers!!!

The post Videos to Promote Music appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.

Videos to Promote Books

I ave not yet figured out how to promote my books – they just seem to sell themselves in the end and nothing much I do influences when or how many. However, back in the day, I did make some promo videos for some of my books…..

Your Haunted Life 3 – The Black Eyed Kids

This one managed 96 partial views….. the book sells well still today and can be found here.

 

Moon Whispers

Poetry doesn’t sell though I have moved a few books. This video managed a total of  36 partial views….. The poetry collection can be found here.

 

Your Haunted Lives Revisited 

This video managed a total of 31 views….. and the book sold OK, but wasn’t the follow up I had hoped for. Even a new cover failed to get it attention. You can find it here.

 

Your Haunted Lives

My biggest hit – a #1 bestseller across many supernatural categories and my best selling book ever yet the video died a death collecting just 76 partial views. You can find this book here.

 

My thinking on book promotion videos? Don’t bother LOL

The post Videos to Promote Books appeared first on The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey.