[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Salara Kel'Halavath]

Welcome back Goss!
Have missed seeing you about and glad you are finding refreshment in this busy part of the year. AIM goes out December 15.
Take care,
S~*

[Naia Whitewater]

NAIA

Oath.
Sorry to hear times have been rough, but I'm glad to know you've time to be back.

Naia's one of those where she's got a lot of past in abandoned group threads and half written solos, so I'll be doing NaNo as a personal kick up the *ss to get her in form for winter activity. I'm happy to record word count per post / per thread to that affect.

As per the chat systems? I'm afraid the only thing I really use/can think of is discord.

[Rohka]

Discord, definitely!!

"Pagan New Years is busy! And since I do past life readings I get really bogged down this time of year. On the fun side I did an incredible reading on Saturday that opened my eyes to a whole new side of history I never realized existed until I caught a glimpse of it and then sat down with Google. Wow. Just wow. I really really love this time of year. It's completely renewing and refreshing for me."

So is there somewhere that I can learn how to do this?! The extent of my witchiness comes from reading Tarot cards IRL, and I'd love to delve into this more. Do you know any trusted resources, i.e. websites, books, youtubers?? The extent of my Pagan knowledge comes from watching The Last Kingdom from Netflix haha, but I was fascinated with the sorcerers/sorceresses on the show ^.^ What history did you find about??

[Gossamer]

Rohka -

So is there somewhere that I can learn how to do this?! The extent of my witchiness comes from reading Tarot cards IRL, and I'd love to delve into this more. Do you know any trusted resources, i.e. websites, books, youtubers?? The extent of my Pagan knowledge comes from watching The Last Kingdom from Netflix haha, but I was fascinated with the sorcerers/sorceresses on the show ^.^ What history did you find about??

I'm sorry but I can't really help you with pointing to a book or websites etc. I don't trust a lot of sources online. Most of them are batshit crazy, look like frauds, or seem kinda crazy.... my knowledge comes from being raised by a Manx Witch and a Shoshone man who was very into medicine and his ancestors. So what I know was only what I was raised in or learn from fellow witches irl who have practiced for years and years. What I do is scry with salted water and the assistance of herbs with a crystal cluster grounding me. Here's a picture of my bowl. I always use a black one... my original bowl was gifted to me by my grandmother on my 10th birthday but it got broken on a road trip a few years ago. This one was gifted to me by a High Priestess who kinda got pissed I claimed I'd never scry again because my bowl was broken. She had this one hand thrown and glazed for me by a potter friend. So now I'm obligated to use it. It really looks very similar to my original bowl.



Anyhow, all I do is purpose the water with salt oils and sometimes herbs. The Crystal cluster is charged under a new moon prior to doing the readings, and I have those that I read for scatter dried herbs across the top of the water when I go into trance. I use black Tibetan quartz crystals - deep dark black black black ones... you can barely see through them in the bottom of the bowl. They are amazing for spiritual protection (walking backwards isn't always healthy) and to help you enhance and ease your step backwards. You can also use purposed wax that is melted to scatter across the surface instead of herbs. It's whatever works best with the person you are reading or whatever you feel most like doing.. aka what resonates at the time. I had a hard time reading for someone once until we used fresh flower petals.

I can't really talk about specifics because it is my clients business but one of the readings that really stuck with me was rife with so much culture and heritage that I was completely ignorant of. After we got done reading, she was talking about it (and it answered so many why questions in her current life) to the Samhain group and several people hit google on their phones and started looking up facts and came up with some really rare really obscure info that we would have never known had I not done the reading.

I used to skip using the black crystal cluster but then it would take me a long time to come back from these visits and be fully in the now. With the crystal I'm not as tired and it is far easier to focus. I have read for several Miz folks too face to face ... one having a very interesting stint in a very famous library if I remember correctly.

They are all different and the readings usually turn out. The only thing I can suggest to teach you how to do it is to center, ground, and then reach into their energy field and step backwards with them. Stepping backwards is hard to describe but it requires you to let go of the idea that time is linear. It's not. Everyone has a brightness in their pasts... be they yesterdays events, a few years ago, or even further back which is what I'm reading. Reach for that brightness, the furthest back you can sense, and then talk through the images as they come to you.

Record your sessions. Let the person you are reading for ask questions. If you don't know its okay to say you don't know. Talk... talk more.. keep talking. Describe everything you see, smell, hear, touch, taste, etc... each time you read it will get easier. If something you are seeing doesn't make sense to you, it might very well make sense to the person you are reading for... and they can tell you about it afterwards. Many many people remember these lives after you read for them.

You should find that you can pick up on these bright spots even if you aren't reading and can reach out to them even if you aren't using your 'tools' to connect. Honestly the tools are more for the person you are reading than for yourself... they focus on them - and often see images in the water/herbs/wax - along with you... and it relaxes them enough that its easier to sense the brightness and step backwards. But you do the work.. tools or not.

I hope that helps?

[Rohka]

Helps immensely! I keep being told about crystals and minerals and ignoring it haven't looked into it, even though I had a rock collection when I was younger and it was really special to me, and I keep some in my pencil case and jacket pockets for Gods know why lol, never thought beyond 'I like these. I'll keep these.' I'll have to find some Tibetan quartz!

So I center/ground through the breath, and walking outside, usually. I also visualize creating a white light of protection around me, which seems to help. Are there other ways to ground/center? I have very little idea of how to reach into a person's energy field, other than talking with them and paying attention to the bright moments or intuitive feelings and letting go/spontaneously say things.

Thanks Goss, curiosity has peaked and I shall go forth and exploreee the irl magics~
<3

[Gossamer]

We're testing a few options for chat replacements. WhatsApp is one and Discord is another. IF you have a WhatsApp account and want to connect, let me know.

We created a server for discord ----- ? https://discord.gg/WEAmFgg

If anyone wants to check it out for testing purposes.

[Gossamer]

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm enjoying a nice long day off with family. But in doing that, I wanted to take a moment to say Thanks because after all this is what Thanksgiving is all about. I know these days Mizahar is smaller. I really like that about the site. It's so super manageable and for that I am thankful. And indeed instead of quantity we have so much quality. The playerbase is the best I've ever seen on any site anywhere at any time in the whole of my life. And in saying that I've been gaming for well over 25 years. I've never got the privilege to interact with such wonderful, talented, generous and truly giving group of people. They are literally in every city throughout the game and so far we have an amazing chat group that has settled into its new home on Discord which is far more phone friendly than our current AJAX server.... so we all keep in contact all day long.

The staff is amazing. Sure its small, but I know its growing again shortly.

To me that's fantastic. It finally feels like this Mizahar version is the version of Mizahar I've always really wanted and dreamed of. It reminds me of small town living where everyone knows everyone and a stranger is only strange for five minutes before they feel like they've been here forever.

We've been drama free for months and months too... probably more than a year if I were to go back and check my journals. That tells me that what we are doing is working and the way we are nurturing players is keeping things really running smooth. The HD tickets are always caught up these days and I can pretty much answer my PMs and Chat messages the same day and usually either right away or within a few short hours.

I'm super thankful for all of this.

I know 2017 has been a really great year for me. It's been filled with discovery, learning, and true connections. I've made some really great friends irl that are as giving as I am and that feels truly amazing since I've always had relationships that tended to be one sided... people getting from me what they need and me constantly giving with really no reciprocation. It's always made me an angry person. But I can't really remember the last time I've been truly pissed in months and months. Work just took a nose dive as we finished the busy season so I'm going to focus on NaNo and getting through it in the next seven days. I know I can do it. I survived the busy season unscathed and will full pockets because dang overtime is nice.

I need to plan my next overseas trip because its just about time for more vacation.

I've also learned about Fucket Buckets. I thought I'd take a moment to share them with you because honestly its helped a lot to let go of things that don't serve me this year. Many people have Bucket Lists... a singular list of things they want to do before they die. Fortunately in my case I've pretty much done everything in life that I've wanted to do as its come up so I don't need to make some silly 'someday' list because I've always had the philosophy that Someday Is Today. So I don't have a Bucket List but my Fucket Bucket List is about a mile long.

A Fucket Bucket is a great thing. It comes from the quote "Just chuck it in the Fuck-It Bucket and move on." - A Wise Person. So I just let go of things that don't serve me. These include toxic relationships with stupid people, dreams that aren't serving my own vision of what I want to be, and living in the now. This is something people my age have discussed over and over again. We've lost people before - everyone has - but when you hit middle age, you start loosing a lot more people a lot faster and time just FLIES. So you let go of anger, toss it on the list to systematically and symbolically 'let it go' and move on.

I'm doing more with local pagans, including spending time with my own Coven. That makes me happy. Turns out I'm not a half bad teacher and I'm doing a few lessons which again serves me. I'm also happy running my own Witchy Facebook Page, Unusual Witches and Witchtalk. That's brought me joy too.

I'm fast approaching my 15 year anniversary for my marriage and its still as fantastic as day one. I'm in exactly zero debt because of wise spending, not counting my mortgage which is paid down to less than half what it was taken out for while the property has more than doubled in value. I have three paid off cars, a job where I just celebrated a 10 year anniversary, and a home full of fur kids that I absolutely live for.

There's so much to be Thankful for. And I've been paying it forward as much as I can to make sure others around me have thankfulness too.

This means I'm going to also be diving back into my two lovely cities and moderating the heck out of them. I have Riverfall's new calendar almost done and I'm still chewing around ideas for Syka to have an exciting season. With Morwen missing from Mizahar, the world won't have a winter this year.... and that long term will be causing a lot of RP In-Game drama for everyone to enjoy.

Lets keep it real. Lets keep it happy. Life is so much better when we do that. Happy Thanksgiving!

Goss

[Gossamer]

Goal Setting

So many people here set goals and fail. I hate seeing it, though honestly I see it over and over again. There are many reasons for such failures. People site lack of time, others dropping the ball that were critical to their plans, or even cities closing or storytellers dropping off the face of the planet. But from my perspective there's a simple reason that people fail over and over again.... and it stems from their actual lack of planning.

Its a fantasy game, I get that, but honestly planning huge for a fantasy game rarely works and rarely leads to happiness. I have some advice for all of you. It works in a lot of other areas of life too. Its a way to see your goals through. RP wise. Organizational wise. Even paying off bills wise.

Its simple. Make a list of all your goals. Write them all down. Humans are reward based creatures and we need to see progress so we get encouraged. When you make this list, include all the little things along with the medium things and even list the big things. Then... once you have all these goals on paper, organize them. What you want to do is list them in order from smallest to largest. What? Why this way? Why not from the most important to the least significant? Well, I'll tell you. The smallest goal is usually the quickest easiest goal. The largest goal is usually the hardest one that takes the longest to achieve. So say you have all these goals... and you need to tackle them.... once they are listed from the smallest to the largest you suddenly have a doable list. It's a list that doesn't defeat you before you even get started. It's a miracle list that encourages you and teaches you along the way. It's one that will HELP you achieve your goals instead of destroy them.

How?

Lets take an example. It can be an rp one, but right now lets say I need to clean my kitchen because it looks like a wreck. Its the holidays so this isn't far fetched and maybe a costco run happened and nothing got put away... feasible as well. Lets take that as an example from the real world then I'll give you an RP one.

So what do I need to do with my kitchen? I need to clean it. When I clean what do I do? Im going to say there's a sink full of dishes (I hate even doing dishes) and the refrigerator needs cleaning out. There's a bowl of potatoes on the top of it that has something bad in them, and the counters are cluttered and overflowing with stuff that needs to be put away (that costco run?). My spice rack was a victim of a scared cat that climbed it and rather than take the time to organize and repack all the spices neatly... I just shoved them all in (true this, not a made up fact). The breakfast nook needs to be pulled out and cleaned out from under. The floor needs to be cleaned and mopped. The cupboards need to be organized. Under the sink needs cleaned too. The garbage needs to be taken out.

Okay.... so certain things need to come before certain other things. Why? Well, once you clean the fridge out there will be even more dirty dishes. You are defeating your purpose to wash dishes if you make more dishes immediately after you get the dirty ones clean because you don't get that sense of accomplishment. Why take the garbage out if you are going to throw old or outdated stuff in it because that means you'll be taking it out twice or letting food sit in it overnight. Ugh... again... you won't feel like you have gotten anything done. You can't drag all the cobwebs off the ceiling after you clean the floor... because gross... you'll have to do the floor again and holy hell what a fucking waste doing it twice in one session right? Smell what I'm cooking here?

This is actually a big project with lots of little parts, and we need it done this week. So.... lets organize.

1. Clean out Fridge
2. Wash a load of dishes
3. Take out garbage
4. Dust ceiling
5. Clean off Ceiling Fan
6. Wash curtain over window
7. Wash light fixture covers over sink
8. Deep clean stove and run a 'self clean' on the oven.
9. Organize 1 cupboard (x10?)
10. Clean off counter (x3)
11. Clean off table
12. Clean off bench
13. Clean off breakfast nook seating
14. Sweep Floor
15. Mop Floor

That's a hell of a lot of work for 'clean the kitchen' right? But say if you want this all done in one week and are working 40 hrs etc.... you have just broken this task into smaller jobs that are more easily managed and if you start on a monday and do a few each day.... you'll be done by friday with a sparkling clean kitchen. You might just have to repeat taking the garbage out every few days or once you run all the dirty dishes, remind yourself to load the dirties straight into the dishwasher instead of leaving them in the sink.... and run a load when you have enough etc. But you've just broken the task down into a manageable method.

This works for paying off your bills too. List the smallest bill you owe first through the largest bill you owe last and make it a hobby to work on paying them all off one at a time until they are all gone.

This also works on RP. Each of you have a character plotnotes page. Place some goals on there. List them smallest to largest. Work through the list and reward yourself along the way with a sense of accomplishment as you get things crossed off. Don't DELETE Them... just cross them off... so you can see how far you've come. I also list things my PC needs or wants to own as well and cross them off as I buy them IC. That works well for getting goals done too.

I hope you all take this to heart and start using this method go get some things done. Use it here. Use it real life. Start succeeding! Make things easy on yourself.


Goss

[Pulren Marsh]

The city DID close!

LOL, excellent advice, Jen. I guess I don't want people to know about my super secret super cool plans so I will do it on a piece of paper.

Get a piece of paper
Get a pen
Write this shit down in order like Jen said.

Thanks!

[Gossamer]

After all the bullshit and broken promises...
I still believe.

-S.L. Heaton