Foot Spas, Blackbirds And Reincarnation

[poliphilo]

1. Ailz acquired a foot spa off Freecycle the other day. We went and picked it up and the man who handed it over at the door called me, "my man" twice in the course of thirty seconds. In the far off and long ago "my man" was how rich men in wind-up motor cars addressed  simple, smock-wearing country folk when they had to stop and ask them for directions. It was patronising to the point of insult. Coming from a scruffy-looking bloke in a council house it presumably has other connotations- but I can't say I liked it much.

I just topped the spa up with nearly-boiling water from the kettle. Ailz seems to be enjoying herself. There are bubbles.

2.The blackbirds who nest in our ivy have successfully raised one brood this summer and are now raising another. This makes me happy. One cannot have too many blackbirds.

3. Michael Newton- author of Journey of Souls-  says we enter into a covenant not to remember past incarnations when our souls return to earth. We have lessons to learn- and it's better we start with a clean slate.  Our responses will be fresher if events surprise us-  and the task will seem more urgent if we don't realise we have lives to burn. Yes-  fair enough-  but to know what I was is to know who I am- and I'm finding it really frustrating to be kept in the dark.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I saw two nests of blackbirds fledge very close to a bedroom window in Spain. They were about 6 feet from the window and it was lovely watching them every day until they left. They sing so beautifully.

I think I would very much like to read Journey of Souls. There are feelings I've been trying to ignore that make me think of where I might have been, instant recognition of places I have never visited in this life and a sense of affinity with places that have nothing to do with my immediate and traceable ancestry.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Journey of Souls is a remarkable book. It convinced me- and I like to think of myself as a sceptic.

I had a feeling of connection when I was in Durham earlier this year. Some cathedrals leave we cold, but Durham moved me deeply. I'd been there once before- but only on a flying visit- and I have no family connections that I know of with the area.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

P.S. I hope I'm not being nosey, but I'd love to know which places you feel connected with.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I don't mind at all. It fascinates me when people talk about that sort of thing. All my intense feelings of connection have happened in places in England. The very first time I visited England many years ago I flew into Manchester and took a train to Lancaster. When we got off the train at Lancaster I had a really eerie sense of knowing the place. Now, I've traveled a lot and to many countries. I've never had that sense of belonging anywhere else. We took a train to London that same week. I do not like big cities but London? I felt absolutely comfortable there, too, right from the start and most especially in Bloomsbury. There are other areas that said nothing to me. But I feel like I walk the streets of Bloomsbury with a purpose, as if I were walking home. What connection there is between Lancaster and Bloomsbury I don't know. But there you have it.

It's not just a matter of liking a place either. I had a real sense of coming home and I am driven to return time and time again to England. It's almost a need.

More recently, in Ely Cathedral I was overwhelmed by a sense of connection.
Now that was weird.

One other bit...I don't have a very good sense of direction but in London I could get around so easily without a map. I just knew where to go.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I like Bloomsbury too- but I'm not sure there's a connection.

I've just come back from a holiday in Kent- which is where my family roots are. Oddly enough I feel less of a connection to the places I've just visited- like Battle Abbey- than I do to those places in Durham I visited a month or so back. It should be the other way round, but my connection to Durham felt much more personal.