KS&L # 336 Ban New Year's Resolutions!

All the talking heads of TV and radio are discussing their New Year’s resolutions. They jokingly discuss the ones they made last year and how and why they were all broken. Broken New Year’s resolutions represent broken promises to ourselves. Of course, the worst broken New Year’s resolutions are the ones that people actually wrote down. This means that they did not honor a written contract they made with themselves. Some people do follow through with their resolutions: that is terrific, but for those who don’t, it may be wise to rethink this whole tradition.

As students of metaphysics we grow more and more to understand the dynamic interaction between the subconscious and the conscious mind. The subconscious mind is that part of us that puts into action what the conscious mind decides to do. Clear messages sent to the subconscious result in clear action. Muddy messages result in complete confusion by the subconscious often reflected by illnesses and accidents.

What has this to do with New Year’s Resolutions? It is just a game - right? It doesn’t really matter - does it? Of course it really, really does matter, more than anyone ever realized. The subconscious does not know that a contract that you make with yourself is not real. To the subconscious, everything is real until you tell it otherwise.

Standard New Year’s resolutions include dieting [really, a colossal waste of time], giving up alcohol and/or tobacco products, spending more time with family, and/or spending more time taking care of one’s self. Usually resolutions focus on something we do not like about ourselves, and vow - often in front of other people and in writing - to change that habit or pattern or abusive behavior. Resolutions are seldom if ever about positive things. So think about it. We start a new year off by finding fault with ourselves, vowing to change this fault and then discovering that we have no real clue how to actually accomplish this and then we polish off that first class ticket on the guilt train by feeling bad about what we didn’t accomplish for the rest of the year.

We feel guilty about this because to the subconscious mind, that commitment was REAL! When the conscious decided that this resolution was be too hard to accomplish, it said to the subconscious, “oh well, let’s not do that, it is too tough”. Now the subconscious feels that it has failed because the personal emotional contract was breached. Where did the energy of this process go? It was channeled directly into guilt.

Guilt always seeks punishment in some way. Some ways are so subtle and almost invisible that you may not ever notice it. Some are blatant.

So here is a suggestion for a powerful new idea: start each New Year absolutely guilt free. Just enjoy the year. Just enjoy the people in your life. Take “guilt,” “need to,” “must do,” “should do” out of your vocabulary and out of your life. Be clear and truly honest in your messages to your self. Do not make any resolutions - you don’t need them. Develop a positive rapport with your subconscious mind and discover what a really wonderful person you are!

Happy New Year Everyone!

KS&L 335 The Words You Leave Behind

At this time of the year, it is especially important to remember the thoughts below when we are tired and stressed!

What words will you leave behind when you walk away from someone? We live in a world where people have a tendency to be politically correct or so we think and yet at the same time, people just say the strangest things to someone and wonder why that person gets angry, hurt or depressed.

Let us look at a very powerful and important metaphysical principle: all thought is magic. All thought is energy. Words and actions are thoughts made manifest.

When we edit what we say, we are cognizant of the power of the words we use when we speak to someone. People frequently are careful about what they may say to or about someone like their boss, but find themselves utterly thoughtless when it comes to speaking to family members. Some parents deliberately project their pent up anger at their children with seldom a care for the impact that those words are going to have on that child.

Words can be like time bombs. Many a grieving person has rued the last words that they said to someone, wishing desperately to be able to ‘take back’ those last angry or hurtful words. Sometimes we do have to display anger to let someone know how powerfully we feel about something. Yet we would be wise to consider how those angry words are going to impact the person over time.

Consider this routine exchange. A mother and child are in line at the grocery story. Someone says something to the child, like how cute she is, or they like the child’s dress. The supposedly proud mother immediately says, oh, she is just such a bad child. She is a mess. Then she looks at the child and says, ‘You know what I mean.’ The person in line can see immediately how humiliated the child is in front of the stranger. Even if the mother acts as if it is funny, the child feels the sting of shame. More often than not, the mother says hurtful words to the child routinely. Those words become time bombs and as the child grows up, the negativity of those words will be like silent torturers for the child. The parent will probably wonder why the child lived up to the parent’s limited and toxic expectations.

Spouses do the same thing to each other. Each spouse or partner wants the other to be kind and diplomatic but that person does not always hold himself or herself up to the same high expectation.

We have choices each day in what we can choose to say and how we can choose to say it. Sometimes bluntness is in order, but in a limited way. In the military the wisest military leaders only give direct orders in times of emergencies.

Courtesy is the grease that makes day-to-day encounters go smoothly. Little courtesies make people feel appreciated, especially those who feel they are the unseen and unappreciated service and/or care givers. A simple ‘thank you’ for a nice job or a ‘would you please’ go a very long way in making anyone feel appreciated.

The words each of us leave behind may not seem important at the time we spoke them, but the echo of their impact, like a pebble in a pool, will be felt for quite a while.

Spiritual Holiday Gift Ideas

Essential Oils:
Lavender [Lavendula Agostoflia] – for healing
Sweet Orange Oil – for freshening a room
Frankincense – for spiritual upliftment and protection
Myrrah - for spiritual upliftment and protection
Rose – for raising frequency
Sweet Balsam Fir – for clearing
Thyme – for healing
Clove – for healing
Virtually any essential oil is a great gift

Salt:
Bar of Salt for traveling
Salt Scrub – for removing daily negativity
Salt Lamp – for mitigating electromagnetic energy in home or office
Salt or ‘fire’ bowls also mitigate electromagnetic energy

Bach Flower Remedies:
Rescue Remedy – for balancing stress
Rescue Energy – for perking you up during the day
Rescue Sleep – for rebalancing and calming the energy of the day
Rescue Remedy Pastilles in Blackberry to keep in a car or office drawer
Holly – for protection from negativity
Agrimony for those who are struggling but put on a brave face.
Star of Bethelehem – for those who are grieving
There are many more, but these are the most universally helpful.

Cayce Remedies:
Caster Oil – can be used as a carrier oil for essential oils to be used on your feet.
Radiac Machine http://www.baar.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=001&Product_Code=100
Cold Coins: http://www.baar.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=001&Product_Code=5021

Books for your Spiritual Library:
The Lightworker’s Guide to Healing Grief by Tina Erwin
Power vs Force by David Hawkins M.D. Ph.D.
Change Your Brain Change Your Life by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
The Holy Zohar Pocket Edition
The Urantia Book
A Course in Miracles
The Finding of the Third Eye by Vera Stanley Alder
The Game of Life by Florence Scovil Shinn
The Profit by Kahlil Gibran
The Mozart Effect by Don Campbell
Medicine Quest by Mark J. Plotkin Ph.D.
The Place We Call Home by Robert J. Grant
Any books by Thich Nhat Hanh

Miscellaneous Products that are Helpful
Eye Mask to keep out the light and facilitate sleep
Mozart CD’s especially Sonata for two Pianos
Blue Ant for hands free phone in your car
Quartz crystals for raising frequency and enhancing beauty.
Crystal singing bowls
Black Tourmaline for spiritual protection - any size.
Night Lights with green light bulbs for peace in the sleep state.
Bottles of Noni, Mangosteen or Acai juice for healing the body.
Super dark chocolate for an antioxident lift.

KS&L 334 Holiday Cards

It is hard to believe that the Christmas holidays are here again. The Jewish Festival of Lights has also begun. While there are lots of faiths not represented in this title, this is the month of special celebrations for these two faiths.

There are many concepts of loving and sharing that symbolize this time, maybe the best symbol is just love. While pondering the concept of love, perhaps we should consider why people send out holiday cards. Why do some people send a card with a printed address and signature? Is it just routine, another chore to send cards or to give a gift or gift card? Perhaps it is not. To be on a card or holiday gift list is to be thought of with a special feeling. Maybe we do not send cards to people we see each day which is OK. We send cards to people in our lives that we do not see, because something about the connection is special and we do not want to break it. Maybe the karma is not yet exhausted and we keep it going with our cards and often e-mails.

Creating a card for someone, perpetuates a connection, letting him or her them know that they are still in our thoughts. Why is this important? It is important because there is a part of us that wants to stay connected to so many wonderful people. This is why from a Feng Shui view, saving those cards, saving all of those tremendous wishes is saving, honoring the intentions of all the people who spent the cost, the time, the effort and the intention of sending something to us, of thinking of us. Perhaps we have wondered why we bother with cards each year. Maybe, we need that connection, maybe we need to now what things are happening in other people’s lives, that there is a lot of life going on all over the place.

Holiday newsletters seem irritating to some people, but again, someone reflected on their year. They shared their lives with us. Some newsletters are just perfect. Some reflect the challenges that this year posed including the death of a family member and the impact of fires or floods or tornados. Most people reflect on the milestones of their year, their travels - how they explored life this year - and how they interacted with family and friends. When we read these letters, we see life happening all around us, from the ordinary and the mundane to the electric moments that challenge us.

So perhaps as we reflect on all the festivities and organization required of the holiday time, we can come to understand that creating a holiday atmosphere free from strife, comfortable, beautiful with cards, food and gifts is a great service, not a chore. Love comes in many forms and all the effort we put into giving of our time and effort really does matter in the most subtle and humble ways. Often the effort alone is a gift - the gift of love we give each other. Ha

KS&L 333 Sharing Your Spiritual Passion

There is a theory that notes that if your spouse or partner does not share your spiritual passion, that you should leave or divorce them and find someone who does share your spiritual passion. This concept, theoretically, would put you in a better spiritual place because you are now fully enmeshed with another person who absolutely shares your views. But is this a balanced karmic view?

There are situations where a person discovers their spiritual path, awakens to their own sense of courage and strength, and leaves a very abusive/destructive partner. The experience of the abuse served its purpose and the person moved on from that experience and never accepted abuse again. The karma of that partnership was karmically, spiritually and physically over.

But what about another scenario, where two very good people are together and one person fully embraces the spiritual path, studies it on every level and is married to or is with a partner who thinks all that ‘spiritual stuff’ is just a bunch of ‘hocus pocus’? This is the scenario where just leaving that spouse is not so easy. This scenario challenges the spiritual partner to begun to look for the reason that the two of you are together in the first place.

The reality is that we have the karmic experiences we need. We are with the specific individuals we are with to have the spiritual opportunity for growth. If everyone around us believes the same way, how will we decide who we are? If everything is the same, where is the contrast, where is the challenge and when do we get to flex our spiritual muscle?

Ask any personal trainer why lifting modest size weights is important and he or she will immediately inform you that you lift this weight to stress your muscles and bones. Yes, we know that weight lifting builds muscle, but it also builds bone and bone is the critical component of our physical structure. The stronger our bones, the straighter and taller we walk, our physical posture is the picture of strength: literally we demonstrate by our posture and demeanor the metaphoric strength and power of our backbone in life.

When Christ, Buddha and the other Great Ones walked the Earth, did everyone agree with them all the time? Were there ones who listened, ones who disagreed and ones who tested their resolve? Of course there were! Those souls who lived during those times watched these Great Ones display their spiritual muscle and the strength of their spiritual backbone.

On the more mundane level of a marriage with the day to day pull of making a living, shopping, raising children, helping family, there are always going to be people who think the whole spiritual ‘thing’ is just some delusion about an unseen God. However those on a spiritual path are given a daily opportunity to live their spiritual belief. Parents must display moral courage when they set themselves up as examples to their children. Spouses must be patient with one another, displaying faith when a job is lost, a loved one dies, help with grieving is required or kindness instead of bitterness is the challenge of the day.

Your partner is with you to help you flex your spiritual muscle and build the ‘boney’ divine structure of a spiritual identity. Love the lessons that partner is teaching you. Love isn’t easy. When you love someone, it doesn’t mean that the other person has to share all of your thoughts or beliefs. The fact that they don’t is more the norm. Few spiritually matched people ever get together. The more routine scenario is that two very good people have come together to share the challenges of life. Ironically, your spouse is on his or her own spiritual path, which is precisely why they married you!

The spiritual path is not for the faint hearted. Your spouse will help you to determine what you believe. He or she will question you, challenge you and love you even though you each do not share the same beliefs day after day. Loving without judgment is a critical, life building, spiritual skill and it creates strong spiritual bones. Love your spouse or partner for the goodness you find there. At the end of the day, at the end of your lives, that is the most important lesson of all.

KS&L 86 Thanksgiving

This is the time of year we turn to considering all the things we are thankful for. But often we are made to feel that the world is in dire straights, is hopeless and that the sky is falling.

So perhaps it would be good to take a minute and look at globally what we can feel good about. Often, the press reminds us so continually of what is wrong with the world that we frequently forget to remember what is right with the world. So, here are some thoughts on what is right with the world at this snapshot in time. Please keep in mind that at any given moment, someone is demonstrating about something or someone or some government is doing something harmful, but if you look at the aggregate there are signs of hope out there.

The election is over and whether you are happy or unhappy about it, the government will still go on. We are an example to the world that you can have people disagree and still move forward and accept results.

All of North America, Central and South America are at peace.

India and Pakistan are at peace.

All of Europe are at peace.

All of Northern Africa and most of Africa is also at peace.

All of Asia is at peace. That, in itself is staggering. North Korea is being monitored by the Chinese - a first in history. Viet Nam is a trading partner.

All of the Middle East is at peace with the exception of Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of the former Soviet states are at peace.

There is unrest in many countries, but for the most part, this is not a planet at war with itself. Most modern countries are working very hard to prevent any hint of nuclear war. We are more aware of environmental concerns than we have ever been at any time in history.

The Internet and cell phones have linked the world. We will never see ourselves as alone on this planet because we know that we are part of the global community. More people are traveling to other countries to know for themselves that we, and they are the same, want the same things for our families, food, shelter, safety, love and economic stability.

The movement to spirituality is perhaps the largest planet wide, than it has ever been. We are aware of more people praying, believing in Angels and higher spiritual beings than ever before.

So, yes, as we consider that there are places of extreme strife, we must also honor and be grateful for the fact that the vast majority of this planet IS at peace and with continued prayer, hope and love, let us hope that in our lifetimes, all of the planet will be at peace at the same time. Happy Thanksgiving.

KS&L 332 Looking Through Edgar Cayce's Other Door

Edgar Cayce was always described as America’s ‘Sleeping Prophet.’ He acquired this astounding reputation, because he had the ability to fall asleep to give a ‘reading’ to a person in need. Cayce also discovered at an early age that he could completely absorb the contents of a book if he placed the book under his pillow as he went to sleep. Cayce was also known to provide information about his own health situation when he arose in the morning. Quite literally, he gave new meaning to the phrase ‘I’ll sleep on it.’

Edgar Cayce was a very humble and profoundly spiritual man, spending his lifetime studying the Bible. He was also a person who was frankly, not well educated. His formal education never extended beyond junior high school. He also did not spend his days in personal study of medicine, modern much less ancient history or studying the prophets of old. Yet, Cayce was able to provide over 14,000 ‘readings’ that can only be described as astounding. His topics ranged from: what happened in Atlantis, to an individual diagnosis of a sick person anywhere in the world through the process of remote viewing, to providing information on future world events.

This then begs the question: where did this information come from if Cayce himself did not have the educational background to provide it? This requires us to look through Edgar Cayce’s ‘other door,’ and that ‘other’ door represents the other dimensions of the spiritual world.

Just who was speaking through Edgar Cayce when he seemed to be at sleep? Actually if we look at the Cayce phenomenon with a open mind, it would appear that another intelligence, not currently of this Earth, but extremely well acquainted with this planet, was using Edgar Cayce as a conduit for information. We can be reasonably confident it was not Cayce specifically speaking. First of all, from a linguistic point of view, the syntax and speech patterns are not modern, and are frankly awkward to understand. This was not the speech pattern of Edgar Cayce personally. Secondly, Cayce had no memory of what he said when he awoke. Finally, Cayce only ever gave mention to exactly where this information came from by saying it was Universal Consciousness. Cayce may have believed that his own unconscious mind was communicating with the Universal Consciousness, but even that communication requires some fundamental source – an intelligence that can focus on a mortal. We all communicate with the Universal Consciousness when we sleep, but truly, we are praying to various intelligences on the other side.

We have to come to the conclusion that Edgar Cayce was a man so pure of heart that he could be ‘used’ as a conduit for this information by a sophisticated Intelligence on the other side. When Cayce appeared to lie down, it is safe to say, that he was never asleep. He was in what is known as, deep trance. When a person is in trance, he or she allows another spiritual intelligence to enter and use their body for the purpose of acquiring information. This is why the host person has no memory of what is said, because the host was not consciously speaking. The host gets him or herself out of the way and lets someone else quite literally take over their body.

Was the speaker an Angel or a Divine Being? Was he or she a person who no longer took on a mortal body? While we will never definitively know who the Intelligence was who used Edgar Cayce, perhaps we can take a peak through Mr. Cayce’s spiritual door. Through his experience, we are offered proof that there are Divine Intelligences on the other side of the mortal veil. They are real. Their existence is eternal and they are available to each and every one of us as well.

Perhaps in our own humble way, we too, can connect to the Divine through our own daily spiritual practice of heartfelt prayer sent out to heal the world. The more we pray, the more we, too connect to the Divine. The more we connect to the Divine, the more real, the more tangible those Divine realms become to us, as well as the beings who actually inhabit those realms. Perhaps there were many reasons for the events of Edgar Cayce’s life to play out the way that they did. Possibly one of those reasons was to elegantly and compassionately offer us a peak through that spiritual door and glimpse the everlasting hope of life, love and personal spiritual service.

Captain Ed Freeman, Medal of Honor Winner

Courage.

You're a 19 year old kid.

You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam.

It's November 11, 1967.

LZ (landing zone) X-ray.

Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.

Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see the m again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see a Huey coming in. But ... It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.

Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.

He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.
And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3of you at a time on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.

And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!

Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.

He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho.

May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

Sometimes we all need heroes and he truly is one of the finest.

A Moment of Navy Nostalgia

Dear Friends and Family:

This is why I personally loved the Navy - not so much the time at sea - Congress saw to that, [although I have been on every class of submarine made except Seawolf] but the other aspects,the commradere aspects of being able to count on each other and caring deeply about who we are to each other and the difference each of us can make. Brian Reynolds of Greenfish brings back special memories for Troy and I since we "courted" on Greenfish and watched her go from USS Greenfish (SS351) to becoming the SS Amazonas, a Brailizan ship on a very, very, very cold day in Groton CT in December 1973. What a great 20 years. . . love, Tina

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As the good times grow better over the years, the hard times fade; if we
let them. But the hard times, and the way we behaved then, are what have
made us what we are now. The monotony of endless mid-watches is easily
put aside when one remembers the glory of the night sky unbesmerched by any
lights. The fear of being swept away by seas high enough to break over
the tops of the periscopes dims besides the feelings of breaking free and
feeling the deck throb beneath your feet as the diesels drive the boat
forward. Endless hours on station, routine boredom broken by contact as
word was passed "break out the fire control tracking party" then more
endless hours as we, in our war, maneuvered away from those who would do
us harm; or close aboard if something new was seen and our interest peaked.
Times when, because of who we were and where we were, the opportunity to
pull fresh air through the snorkel was not given; After many, many hours
each step was labored as carbon dioxide increased and oxygen decreased -
a match struck quickly goes out, not enough air. Like old men burdened
with emphysema, we young men would labor to walk to our bunks; six feet, then
panting, rest a moment before waking a bit more. Watch stranders in the
Engine rooms and Maneuvering ask "What's the situation?" With wry humor
the reply would be "We have them surrounded" as we set next to them on
the bench momentarily to catch our breath. Early in the morning word would be passed "Prepare to snorkel, two main engines." The room watches would prepare their compartments, unlocking valves so they could be opened, opening sea values, oil valves, intake and exhaust vales; making the boat ready to refresh itself. "Commence snorkeling" and the diesels would growl and grumble to life, sucking air from the boat, pulling air down through the induction line, pushing water out through the exhaust system, and ears would pop as the altimeter
climbed a few thousand feet. The low pressure blower would start and surround
the boat in a protective coating of sound deadening bubbles; the engines
would settle into a steady beat as energy flowed into the batteries; to be
saved there and used carefully - a precious resource.

At times of inattention, the snorkel intake head valve would be pulled below the surface and in a reflexive moment, close tightly with a thud; to save the boat from being flooded. The diesels didn't care that there was no more air coming down the tube, they did what only they could do, pulling air from the inside of the boat, mixing it with a fine mist of fuel, and then squeezing it until it
exploded; the pressure of the exhaust laboring against the pressure of the sea as the exhaust was pushed to the surface. The altimeter would start to climb, quickly spinning as if in a climbing plane. The planesmen would labor to bring the boat back to the surface, urged on by exaltations of the diving officer who was not much older then they. "Jesus you guys can't do anything right get us back up damn it but if you broach I'll make sure you're a mess cook for life."

Men asleep gasp like fish pulled from the water, mouth full open in their
sleep to relieve the pressure in their ears, as the altimeter spun upwards;
11,000, 12,000, 13,000. The planesmen working to get the intake valve
above the surface again, but only just above the surface. Too high, and
it might be noticed - this would bring unwanted attention because of who we
were, and where we were. The boat settles deeper and the altimeter spins, 14,000, 15,000, and the high altitude safety shuts the engines down before
hypoxia can come to visit The Low Pressure blower falls silent as the
boat sinks quietly deeper. Inside is the pressure at the top of a
mountain, but no fresh air as the last gasps of the diesels belch smoke
into the submarine, and the air is filled with the foul spent breath of the
engines. "Flame out" is muttered, and the planesmen are cursed by all aboard.
In a few moment control is regained, the head valve is pushed free of the water and opens, air rushes back into the submarine pulled by the pressure from the top of a mountain. Faster than an airplane can dive, the altimeter spins from 15,000 to 0, ear drums are pressed tightly inward, perhaps to tear because the pressure inside the head cannot be equalized quickly enough. Sleepers awake, some pulled suddenly from deep slumber, confused as to where they are and what has occurred, gasping for air, with both ears throbbing from the change in pressure. "Commence snorkeling" For a few moments the routine had been broken, now it is again established. Routine is good, routine is uneventful, routine
will get you home. Then there is the smell of fresh air when the hatch is opened for the first time after a long period submerged, the smell of death as all that had found a home in the watery superstructure when it was below the surface,
in their world, die, dry, and began to rot in the hot sun. The boat is
submerged briefly to wash the remnants of life away as inside the ship is cleared, scrubbed, made ready for port. A quick shower is allowed, not enough water, too quick, but the feeling of running water over the skin welcome and sensuous.

The smell of land after a long time at sea, the feel of the pier the
first time you step off the brow after a patrol. The long time under a hot
shower thinking, as the dirt, grime, and smells washes away, that feeling
you didn't want to do that again - but ready to go the next time, perhaps.
The shipmates we knew and became close to. Those we wanted never to see again, but feel a sense of loss at their passing. Meeting again after the passing years to share memories of the good times, bad times scarcely mentioned, comrades again as we remember who we were, when we were Sailors.
Brian Reynolds
USS Greenfish (SS-351)

Healing Gel on Chronic Wounds

Can this gel make you well? So far, it works on wounds. Thought you might all find this interesting!

By Maria Cheng

The Associated Press

LONDON

For three years, Connie McPherson had debilitating leg ulcers that were so painful she sometimes couldn’t sleep. Despite repeated surgery, antibiotics, steroids and other treatments, nothing helped.

Then last year, she took part in a trial for a new gel aimed at chronic wounds.

“It was the answer to my prayers,” said McPherson, 58, a real estate agent in Tulsa, Okla. Within weeks, McPherson said, an ulcer that was treated was completely healed.

“I tried everything possible and this is the only thing that worked,” she said.

The gel used to treat McPherson was developed by a team led by David Becker, a professor of cell and developmental biology at University College London. The gel, named Nexagon, works by interrupting how cells communicate and prevents the production of a protein that blocks healing. That lets cells move faster to the wound to begin healing it.

Though it has been tested on only about 100 people so far, experts say, the gel could have a major impact on the treatment ofchronic wounds such asleg or diabetes ulcers, and even common scrapes or injuries from accidents.

In most chronic wounds, Becker said, there is an abnormal amount of a protein involved in inflammation.

To reduce it, Becker and colleagues made Nexagon from bits of DNA that can block the protein’s production. “As that protein is turned off, cells move in to close the wound,” Becker said. The gel is clear and has the consistency of toothpaste.

In an early study on leg ulcers, scientists at the company that Becker co-founded to develop the gel found that after four weeks, the number of people with completely healed ulcers was five times higher in patients who got the gel versus those who didn’t. The average leg ulcer takes up to six months to heal and 60 percent of patients get repeated ulcers.

Other experts said the gel appears promising. “It looks like the gel has a good effect in getting the outer layer (of skin) to restore itself,” said Phil Stephens, head of tissue engineering and repair at Cardiff University. Stephens is not linked to Becker’s research.

Still, Stephens said, it is crucial that the gel not interfere too much with the inflammation process.

“You need inflammatory cells to get in there and clean up the wound,” he said.

The gel has also been used on a handful of people who have suffered serious chemical burns to their eyes, including a 25-year-old workman in New Zealand who accidentally squirted liquid cement into one of his eyes.

In that case and five others, after Nexagon was applied, the outer lining of the patients’ eyes and the blood vessels within them regrew, saving their vision.

In the U.S., the gel has been granted approval by the Food and Drug Administration for serious eye injuries.

“This gel has the potential to do a lot of good,” said Dr. Thomas Serena, founder and director of the Penn North Centers for Advanced Wound Care in Pennsylvania. Serena has no financial ties to Nexagon but is one of the primary investigators for a U.S. trial of the product.

Another study is planned soon, which, experts said, should address correct dosages of the gel and side effects.

In the U.S., 70 million people have chronic wounds. With increasing rates of obesity, experts predict, there will soon be many more people suffering from diabetic ulcers.

Other gels are on the market, but they don’t work for everyone. Bioengineered skin, a protein that regulates cell growth and division, and even maggots are among the few other treatments that have been found to speed up healing.

Brad Duft, president of CoDa Therapeutics, which is developing the new gel, would not say how much Nexagon currently costs to make, for proprietary reasons.

He said the gel is still a couple of years away from being on the market, and that he expects the price to drop significantly after that happens. Some leg ulcer patients spend about $30,000 a year or more on treatment. Duft said the new gel would cost less than that.

For McPherson, the experience of being treated with Nexagon was so positive that she asked to be included in the gel’s next trial, to treat an even larger ulcer that wasn’t eligible for the first study.

“To have something that works would change my life,” she said.


KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH PHOTOS | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KS&L 160 Ghosts Part 4: Helping Ghosts and Clearing Dark Hauntings

We have all seen these reality TV shows where the psychic goes into a location and says they sense the presence of ghosts . . . and then the psychic leaves and the ghost is still there. That is not service. That is useless sensationalism.

Why is it important to clear a location once you know that you are in the presence of a ghost? Because sending on a ghost, is the compassion that you would/will want for yourself.

Imagine what it must feel like to all of a sudden discover that you are dead and not have any idea what to do to help yourself. You can see people crying, you are trying to talk to them and they just cannot hear you. Or worse, you have died a violent death and you see some chilling, dark intelligences around you and you awaken to an entirely new level of fear.

Sometimes a person in an automobile accident or traumatic event is literally knocked out of the body. The physical body is removed and the soul body is still at the accident site trying to talk to the paramedics, the police and their family. They return home, not realizing how they got there. Once you are dead, you can travel with the speed of thought. Often you travel on the connecting cords that bound you to certain people. This is why a family member will “know” when a loved one living far away has died – the soul visits them immediately after death often to say goodbye.

A soul still earns karma in the 4th dimension. Karmic law is still in effect for them because they are, in one way or another affecting the living. A ghost who jumps in a car and distracts a driver and causes that driver to have an accident earned karma for that event. So moving on any soul has untold benefits.

There is another more esoteric reason to help a soul and that is to help the Earth. Imagine the burden on the Earth of all these souls who still think they are alive. It is much better to move on immediately when the Light comes than to linger for even a moment.

If you sense the presence of a ghost, no matter where you are, there are some simple things you can do no matter what your faith or religion. First of all, if you think you are sensing something, you probably are. Next, do not be afraid. Be helpful. You can say this simple prayer:

“Oh Mighty God, I ask that Angels of Transition immediately come down and assist this soul or these souls and take them to the appropriate realm. I thank you Father for this assistance and I thank these Angels for their service. I pray that this soul will receive the needed help on the appropriate realm. Amen.”

Then, get on with your day, knowing that you have done wonderful service. Now, if you sense a ghost in someone’s house and they know they have this ghost and they do not want you to remove the ghost, explain that they are holding up this soul’s spiritual progress by not allowing them to move on, by not helping them. If they refuse, then there is little you can do because this is not your property. This is a sticky point, but one to consider. You can do this prayer at public places, in your own home and in hospitals. You can do this prayer at accident sites. You can also send prayers of helpfulness to these souls once you have moved them on.

If you are a psychic person and find hospitals difficult to take, ask that a team of these Angels of Transition assist you as you walk through the building, every single time you enter it so that all who may need assistance can so receive it.

It really is that simple. Television makes it seem so challenging, but it is not. The irony is that the element of simple caring and service can provide great benefit to so many people.

If you sense that the energy you are feeling is very dark, foreboding and just awful/icky, call a professional. Do not attempt to do this yourself. The reason is that unless you have done a great deal of work in this area, you can find yourself in a tough position and it can be, shall we say unnerving to say the least.

Burning a little sage and filling your house with white light will not clear dark energy or dark intelligences. Even burning Dragon’s Blood resin will not permanently clear dark intelligences or dark energy. Far more sophisticated assistance is required. You can make it quite uncomfortable for them by playing Mozart, using salt in strategic places throughout your home and frequently burning Dragon’s Blood, but the bottom line is, if it is that bad, you just need outside help.

While you are seeking outside help, it may be extremely important to do some research into the history of the piece of property. What predecessor energy still exists there and how might it be influencing the property today?

The other aspect is that you may have an object or a person in your home attracting this energy, so in these cases, there is just no simple fix. The solution may take literally months to permanently clear on every level, so patience and diligence will be required but the benefit to your spiritual progress will be tremendous.

KS&L 159 Ghosts Part 3 How Do You Know Your House Is Haunted?

What are the clues that a house is haunted? Some of them may surprise you.

A house does not have to be old or Victorian to be haunted. Often very new houses are haunted primarily because the entire development is haunted. This can happen, because of the land on which the project was built has the energy of previous owners, something called predecessor energy. The following illustration is from my own personal experience.

We bought an 18-month old house in a brand new subdivision in Charleston, South Carolina. Almost immediately things began to happen, but they were never dramatic enough to force us to move, which we later found out was true for most of our neighbors. The sounds of people walking in a non-existent attic were initially unnerving, but eventually they ceased. Over a seven-year period, we heard pounding on the door, we heard people sounding like they were washing dishes in the kitchen, but no one was there. We heard people running down a hallway, but all were accounted for. We had things vanish: a pearl earring, 4 sets of contact lenses, a gold bracelet, a wallet, a pair of shoes and the list goes on and none of these items were ever found. We heard tapping over our heads and of course the most unnerving was the feeling that someone other than my husband [who was in bed beside me] was holding my hand. One very cold morning we discovered that every door and window in the house was wide open. Unfortunately, moving was not an option until we had military orders to move.

Eventually we found out that virtually all of our neighbors had similar experiences. One lady had a two-story house and every morning she came downstairs and all of her furniture was rearranged and a rocking chair was rocking all by itself. She moved. Another family figured their house must have been built over a stable because they heard horses clomping all night. My neighbor’s jewelry vanished. In addition, her ceiling rained water but when she checked, the counters had raindrops on them, but the ceiling was in fact dry.

We discovered through much research that this was the site of the Archdale Plantation where an earthquake had occurred in the late 1700’s and killed many people. At that time, we did not know how to clear houses.

Other signs that your house is haunted include sensing movement out of the corner of your eye – when you know you are alone. Smells are a key sign that something is haunting your home. Some smells are in fact mold, but some have no cause and are due to a haunting. Lights coming on when you know you did not turn them on, or off is another unnerving piece of ghostly evidence.

Horrific events or predecessor energy can create a host of problems depending on what happened to the property, you are living on. This is why a new house can be just as haunted as an old house.

Sometimes a home is not haunted by ghosts but by dark energies and these signs include legal problems, water problems, constant fighting, house and car repair problems that have no specific cause, health problems that just don’t seem to heal. Depression, and financial problems are key indicators of this unique type of haunting. Sleeplessness, the fear that if you sleep at night, terrible things will happen but you can’t explain it to anyone. Odd behavior by animals is another indicator. Plants that die or have difficulty growing around your house, are also a classic sign.

Another major indicator is the feeling that your house feels dirty no matter how much you clean it. There just seems to be excess dust and dirt. This “dirt” is psychic and you can feel it. If you could see into the other dimension, it looks like black soot.

Dark hauntings can be caused by other actions, including doing Ouija, Tarot and Dungeons and Dragons. The insidious nature of the dark energy coming in is gradual. You don’t notice it at first. Once a door to the other side is opened, you need an extremely skilled person to permanently close that door and clear the darkness.

Houses that have been used as Methamphetamine production sites cannot be cleared by purely psychic means. They not only have dark intelligences and ghosts, they are also extremely toxic. The location has to be evacuated and the physical ground has to be healed and the toxic waste removed.

There are other signs, but these are the most obvious. In part 4 the process of clearing a location.

KS&L 158 Ghosts Part 2 Why Are There Ghosts

So, since we have established that ghosts do exist, then the question must be asked why do they exist? People don’t often ask that question, but it is important to ask, because there will come a moment for 100% of us when we, too, will have to come face to face with the 4th dimension and it will be most helpful to know what to do!

The method of death has a lot to do with what happens to us after physical death. If death is sudden, like an accident, very often, the person just has no idea that they are dead. They go around as they always have, talking to people and become infuriated that everyone seems to be ignoring them. Eventually there comes a moment when they realize that they are dead. For some it is a horrible realization. They may feel completely unprepared. Organized religion literally never tells a person what to do at the point of death.

If they have some religious/spiritual belief system, they will look for the light and hopefully ask for help. Actually they may have seen the light near them trying to help them, but rejected it because they were convinced that they were not dead. Death, of course, only happens to other people. Some people find it really cool to be dead and have a great time scaring friends and relatives. What they do not generally realize is that they are earning karma in this dimension. The karmic clock does not stop until you leave the third/mortal dimension and the fourth/non-mortal dimension.

If a person has a long illness, they may actually long for death and be completely ready for it when it comes. The Angel of Death will be in their hospital room, ready to escort them through the “valley of death” or 4th dimension. The Angel of Death is not a being to fear. Like all angels, he or she has a job to do and thank heaven they do this job! Once the sick person dies, the Angel of Death and perhaps other relatives who have passed on meet/greet the person newly separated from the body and help him or her through the darkness and into the light. Often if these people linger, it is only long enough to attend their own funeral and then they willingly move on.

If a person died a violent death, the act of violence will dramatically lower their frequency and one of the interesting facts is that the lower your frequency is at the point of death the harder and longer that transition is out of the 4th dimension. The higher a person’s frequency is, the easier the transition is to the heaven world. Ultimately, it is a math problem. Things that lower frequency and create problems at death are drug use, alcohol use/abuse, tobacco use, and violent behavior.

Suicides are almost always sorry, but to their intense sorrow, find that even death has not freed them from their emotional pain. They really need help, but usually never receive it. They almost always become ghosts – which is why a depressed person will go to a location where many people have committed suicide – they are in resonance with those ghosts, with the tragic, sorrowful energy of that location.

If a person was murdered, the extreme violence of this act will dramatically lower this person’s frequency, making transition quite difficult.

Hospitals and mental institutions are ghost factories. When any sensitive/psychic person walks into a hospital, they are bombarded by souls hoping someone can see them, help them and send them on. If you are psychic and do not understand what is happening, it can be a terrifying feeling. However, if you are that psychic, there is a process you can use to help them, which will be discussed on part 4.

Battlegrounds are usually filled with ghosts because of the violent nature of their deaths. They endlessly fight the same battles over and over, often never realizing that they are dead.

Battlefield hospitals are also ghost filled places. Often the doctors and nurses themselves remain, endlessly trying to help those who died. Although their frequency is high enough due to their service to readily move on, their dedication to the fallen often keeps them there.

In part three, recognizing a haunted house.

KS&L 157 Ghosts Part 1 Do They Exist?

Did you ever listen to a small child ask any minister/reverend/priest of almost any religion if there is such a thing as a ghost? The answer virtually 100% of the time is that condescending smile that says “dear child, of course there is no such thing as ghosts.” This is a lie and the minister knows it. If the child persists, the clergy person says, that all people just move into the light. This is unfortunately, another lie and it is told all the time.

This same question when posed to any school science teacher will illicit the same answer: There is no such thing as a ghost – period. However, again, if the child persists and notes that 'matter is neither created nor destroyed, then what happens to the energy of the physical body at death' question gets the very heated response that religious matters cannot be discussed in school – period.

All right, then let us address the question of whether or not there are ghosts. Yes there are ghosts. Actually, there are lots of ghosts out there and a surprisingly large number of people “sense” their presence. Even people who would never in a million years consider themselves psychic, just feel “creepy” in certain locations and just as quickly exit the location.

Ghosts have existed throughout recorded history. Where did Dickens get his ideas for “The Christmas Carol”, if he did not surely, believe in ghosts in the first place? Why is there a law on the books in the State of South Carolina that states clearly that if your house is haunted, that you MUST disclose this to potential buyers? Why is the Catholic Church sending certain priests back to school to become exorcists at the rate of over 300 a year if there is not something out there that needs “divine intervention” – at least divinely from the Catholic Church point of view? Currently the Catholic Church cannot keep up with the number of requests for exorcisms. Why do so many people think that the Queen Mary moored in Long Beach, California is haunted – there are even shows about it? The list goes on. The point is that something is and has been happening that people cannot explain.

Can we prove that there are such things as ghosts? Can we prove that a location is haunted? Actually, there are all kinds of “Ghost Busters” out there who would like nothing better than to prove to anyone who will listen that there are ghosts. They use lots of electronic gear to measure electromagnetic output. Those people who are students of Biogeometry also find that many of the Biogeometry tools are quite helpful in determining if a location is haunted because Biogeometry tools measure energy, and are not influenced by what you think is there. Ghosts actually emit an energy field. Why? Because energy is neither created nor destroyed, so when a body dies, the energy that was resident in that physical body has to go somewhere. That soul essence still emits an energy field and it is measurable/identifiable.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. So to have that human experience, we need a casing in which to feel all these experiences. Hence, the physical body is an animated aspect that we use to do this. When we no longer need that human experience and we return to being a spiritual being, we literally shed that physical body shell.

The question is then, where does this energy that once animated the body – go? It has to go somewhere. This energy is the essence of the soul. The answer is that the soul enters the 4th dimension on its way to the correct dimension of the Heaven World. The 23rd psalm from the Bible describes it perfectly:

“Lo though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. . .” The valley of the shadow of death is the 4th dimension and it is indeed quite dark and can be quite scary. The 4th dimension is the transition dimension – sort of like a step up transformer, which enables us to make the transition to the appropriate dimension.

We need that transition aspect because it is here that a certain amount of ‘soul’ sorting actually takes place. Many factors determine what happens to a soul after death. In part two, we will explore the factors that cause a soul to become a ghost.

KS&L 324 Why Horrible Things Happen in Certain Locations

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On a hot, sticky night on June 10^th, 1912, in the quiet little town of Villisca Iowa, a powerful evil wind blew into the home of the Moore family and became manifest. On that fateful night, a rather tall person or persons, wielding an ax murdered all six family members in their beds. Two young neighbors, spending the night with the Moore family girls, the Stillinger sisters, were also murdered in the front bedroom. The news of this premeditated murder, rocked the tiny, tiny town. No one was ever found guilty of the crime although someone was unsuccessfully tried for it. To this day, no one lives in the old house because no one is ever very comfortable in this house even though it has had several owners since that tragic night a hundred years ago in 1910.

One of the questions that people often asked, was why did such vicious, raw violence, happen in that house? While on the surface, there did appear to have been a revenge motive for the killings: something about a shady business deal. However, the raw violence of the obviously, premeditated, murder-for-hire, massacre of men, women and children that occurred in that house on that night would seem to go way beyond mere business revenge.

This begs the question: could it be possible, that there was something about the land that may have incited such action? Was there a history of violence on the property, long before the Moore family bought the house? Was there something in the karmic history of the slaughtered individuals that put them in resonance with such horror? Let us peek into the past.

A very long time ago, before this country was settled, the Fox Indian tribe controlled that part of Iowa and they called it Willisca, which was a lovely place although not the part of town where the massacre house now sits. The specific area of town where the massacre house now sits was the exact location where the Fox and Sioux Indians sent their criminally insane family members and where over time they also cremated their dead. They put them there because they believed that the ground was very negative.

Eventually, by the time the Lewis and Clark Expedition explored the territory, the Iowan Indians had control of the area. The Iowan Indians changed the name from Willisca to Villisca. What is in a name? To the Fox and Sioux Indians, the word Villisca means evil place, the place of devil spirits. Apparently, the change in name was not a good sign for the town and that piece of property in particular.

But here again, what made the property, or that area, negative in the first place? Perhaps the answer to this takes us back to understanding the energy of an area. The native American peoples always studied where animals felt safe, how trees grew and what plants grew in which places. They knew instinctively that poisonous plants and plants with destructive growths, stinging insects and misshapen plant life, were negative places. They could see the evidence. Only creatures and plants in resonance with that energy would grow there.

Only creatures and plants in resonance with that energy would grow there. This brings up the resonance issue. The Indians avoided that location because they knew that staying there would eventually make them physically and spiritually sick. They would not keep their horses there either for that type of land was harmful to all healthy creatures. The Fox and Sioux Indians only took their insane people there because they believed that insane people were already in a physically and emotionally negative place. Eventually they cremated their dead there.

So if someone is insane, possibly criminally insane and he or she lives in that type of environment, the energy of that land would be continually imbued with that increasingly negative energy. No normally healthy person or animal would ever want to spend time there because they wouldn’t feel comfortable. Perhaps the criminally insane were more comfortable, more controllable on property in which they were in resonance. If the insane were not there and the Indians cremated their dead there eventually – again, this is not a spiritually positive place.

Back to the Villisca murders: why did that family pick that house to live in? Why did those children pick that family to have that experience and why did the Stillinger sisters go to that negative house on that specific night? Does this mean that these eight seemingly innocent people were on some level and in some karmic way in resonance with profound evil? Is this why they couldn’t feel this level of evil in the ground before they bought the property and moved in or for the Stillinger sisters, who visited that house?

Native people felt the earth beneath their feet. They learned the language of the earth and communicated with nature on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. Few white men learned those precious lessons. Because of these facts, it would appear that the Moore family might not have been conscious of how negative the property was. They may not have been taught to heed that sense that tells them that something is very, very wrong. But if they were already in resonance with darkness on some level, they may never have felt the evil in the first place. They may not have realized that they were literally in resonance with profound evil. Maybe they were very angry about the business deal, or were angry at each other. Maybe something dark was haunting them and that feeling became their norm. We will never know what happened.

Perhaps the most critical aspect is the karmic aspect. Karma is always fair, always just. When people die together, even in a ferociously violent way, this is group karma. Even though an observer may not be able to fathom why the vicious death of six seemingly ‘innocent’ children could happen, we do not know the karmic path of any of those murdered souls. We cannot know why they had such a traumatic experience and nor how each of those souls will use that experience to balance something on their karmic path in the future. The curious aspect that no one was ever found guilty of the crime may have something to do with how the karma was balanced, for no other murders of that type took place any where near that town or in the town of Villisca and no one has ever really ‘lived a normal life’ in that

house again.

Perhaps one of the lessons of the Villisca Ax murders would be to absolutely listen to that psychic sense that tells you that something doesn’t feel right about a location. Remove anger from your life and research the history of a location before you purchase, rent or work in an area!

We attract what we are and if what we are attracting is negative, then we must change our life and only each one of us can make that karmically life-changing decision.

KS&L 331 Feeling Insignificant in the Eyes of God

Did you ever look up into the night sky on a really dark night and just marvel at the vastness of space?

Did you ever find a place, like Monument Valley with little or no light pollution and study the stars on a moonless night and decide that we are just insignificant beings on this small blue planet?

Did you ever visit a planetarium and listen as they described the sheer staggering numbers of stars in the sky?

Many people feel that we are each pretty insignificant in the face of such a huge dynamic as the tiny fraction of space that we can actually see. How can one person matter when you consider the size of stars, the fact that there are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on all the beaches, and in all the deserts of the whole world? It is mind boggling to consider that with each of those stars there are planets, asteroids, nebulae and potentially other beings who live there.

It just makes you wonder if God thinks of us as insignificant in the face of such vastness and complexity. Do we matter to God? Are we important to such a Supreme Being? Many people feel that sense of insignificance. Many wonder about the struggle each day to live, to be a good person, spouse, sibling, child, employee, co-worker and just citizen of this small blue planet.

Do we matter to God? Are we really insignificant?

God would never consider any of us insignificant. We are each profoundly precious in the sight of God.

Consider a blade of grass, how significant is that tiny bit of matter to God? That blade of grass is as equally significant as the greatest sun, the most astounding universe and the tiniest cell on this or any world. Every single atom in this creational universe, and all of the seven ever-expanding, super universes, is precious in the site of God.

Whether or not we feel insignificant is irrelevant. We are ‘significant’ to God. We are loved and adored by the Father in each and every moment of our eternal, immortal existence. When this knowledge lives within each and every one of us, we come that much closer to the Divine, to touching the face of God in all of its iterations.

How could it be otherwise? If we were not significant we would not be here, would not have the profound gift of mortal existence and could not have the knowledge of God at all.

We are God’s ‘creation’ in the physical sense just as that blade of grass is also a creation. God provides all the necessary elements of mortal interaction from that essential blade of grass to that firefly. Every single carbon based item on this planet is placed here for a reason. Part of that reason is so that we can have a ‘significant’ experience in mortal life.

Some of the experiences we require for mortal life are challenging, from climbing that mountain, to healing that mosquito bite. Some experiences are so significant that we will remember them life after life and some are so fleeting that we have already forgotten them. Yet all of them were essential to helping us become who we are at this moment. No energy of creational experience is ever wasted. Every moment is a karmic moment and every karmic moment is connected and balanced by the next karmic moment. It is the essence of the karmic savings and loan. Universal balance at the atomic level is life itself whether we think of it as ‘life’ in the parochial sense or not.

We, and that blade of grass are equally significant and equally loved. We will both always matter to God now and forever. Nothing and no one is ever insignificant!

‘Angel’ Keeps Watch Over Suicide Spot

By Kristen Gelineau, The Associated Press

WITH A SMILE AND KINDNESS, an Australian has saved 160 people over several decades, according to an official count.

In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. “Why don’t you come and have a cup of tea?” the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation.

For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia’s most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, the man widely regarded as a guardian angel has shepherded countless people away from the edge.

What some consider grim, Ritchie considers a gift. How wonderful, the former life insurance salesman says, to save so many. How wonderful to sell them life.

“You can’t just sit there and watch them,” says Ritchie, now 84, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside. “You gotta try and save them. It’s pretty simple.”

Since the 1800s, Australians have flocked to The Gap to end their lives, with little more than a 3-foot fence separating them from the edge. Local officials say about one person a week commits suicide there, and in January, the Woollahra Council applied for 2.1 million Australian dollars ($1.7 million) in federal funding to build a higher fence and overhaul security.

In the meantime, Ritchie keeps up his voluntary watch. The council recently named Ritchie and Moya, his wife of 58 years, 2010’s Citizens of the Year.

He’s saved 160 people, according to the official tally, but that’s only an estimate. Ritchie doesn’t keep count. He just knows he’s watched far more walk away from the edge than go over it.

Dianne Gaddin likes to believe Ritchie was at her daughter’s side before she jumped in 2005. Though he can’t remember now, she is comforted by the idea that Tracy felt his warmth in her final moments.

“He’s an angel,” she says. “Most people would be too afraid to do anything and would probably sooner turn away and run away. But he had the courage and the charisma and the care and the magnetism to reach people who were coming to the end of their tether.”

Something about Ritchie exudes a feeling of calm. His voice has a soothing raspiness to it, and his pale blue eyes are gentle. Though he stands tall at just over 6 feet 2 inches tall (an inch shorter, he notes with a grin, than he used to be), he hardly seems imposing.

Each morning, he climbs out of bed, pads over to the bedroom window of his modest, two-story home, and scans the cliff. If he spots anyone standing alone too close to the precipice, he hurries to their side.

Some he speaks with are fighting medical problems, others suffering mental illness. Sometimes, the ones who jump leave behind reminders of themselves on the edge – notes, wallets, shoes. Ritchie once rushed over to help a man on crutches. By the time he arrived, the crutches were all that remained.

In his younger years, he would occasionally climb the fence to hold people back while Moya called the police. He would help rescue crews haul up the bodies of those who couldn’t be saved. And he would invite the rescuers back to his house afterward for a comforting drink.

It all nearly cost him his life once. A chilling picture captured decades ago by a local news photographer shows Ritchie struggling with a woman, inches from the edge. The woman is seen trying to launch herself over the side – with Ritchie the only thing between her and the abyss. Had she been successful, he would have gone over, too.

These days, he keeps a safer distance. The council installed security cameras this year, and the invention of mobile phones means someone often calls for help before he crosses the street.

But he remains available to lend an ear, though he never tries to counsel, advise or pry. He just gives them a warm smile, asks if they’d like to talk and invites them back to his house for tea. Sometimes, they join him. “I’m offering them an alternative, really,” Ritchie says. “I always act in a friendly manner. I smile.”

In 2006, the government recognized Ritchie’s efforts with a Medal of the Order of Australia, among the nation’s highest civilian honors. It hangs on his living room wall above a painting of a sunshine someone left in his mailbox. On it is a message calling Ritchie “an angel that walks amongst us.”

He smiles bashfully. “It makes you – oh, I don’t know,” he says, looking away. “I feel happy about it.”


JEREMY PIPER | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Don Ritchie lives across the street from The Gap, Australia’s most notorious suicide spot. He doesn’t keep track of the people he’s saved but knows he’s seen more walk away than jump.

KS&L 16 Is the World Orderly or in Chaos?Recently someone asked whether or not the world is in chaos. A truly excellent question – and what does it ha

Recently someone asked whether or not the world is in chaos. A truly excellent question – and what does it have to do with karma?

Perhaps the answer is that the world is absolutely not in chaos. The world is actually quite orderly. (Do we rally think FEDEX could operate in a chaotic world???) All over the world, people get up, and start their day. They plan their activities, go to do some type of work, ponder feeding their families, the state of their governments, the state of their surroundings and who their kids will marry. Many wonder how will they educate their kids and how will they deal with difficult family members.

Traffic flows all over the world, even in chaotic seeming Italy. The entire world is connected to the Internet. This means that there is electrical power to all countries, the type of power that can support a computer. [It may not be stable, but it is frequently there!] Airplanes move over one million human beings a day through the air and land in all countries on the planet. Food is grown, delivered, sold and prepared. People eat out. People think, they love, they sleep they live and they die. This is the order of life. This is an orderly life. There is no chaos in this scenario.

It is the odd situation that makes the news, the out of the ordinary problem or emotional outburst or anger that hits the papers. Most of the time, life just goes on. If this were not the case, if it were chaos, there would be no CNN or even television – or free flow of traffic on land, sea and air. All would cease.

Personal chaos occurs when the utterly unexpected happens: we become divorced, a loved one dies, we lose our job, get married and/or have a baby. In those moments of enormous change, we feel that we have lost our footing and we do feel chaos. However, whether we realize it or not, we actively seek to reestablish the ordinariness of our days, for there is comfort in that mundane routine.

So, how does this affect karma? Maybe, just maybe karmically, we are doing better than we think. Maybe, in each small, insignificant moment, in each prayer that is said, a difference is made. Things get better. Each smile that is given changes a karmic moment in a positive way. As we trust the orderliness of our days, we trust that we will be OK and we trust that we are safe to move ahead. That sometimes, boring sameness, is our security and it is a wonderful concept.

So, the more we see the world as a calm, delightful place, a place of wonder, perhaps the world can become what we create. This is the orderly macrocosm of the microcosm of our days. These concepts can make life a wonderful experience.

How Essential Oils Work

The following information comes from Rainbow Forever Trust [healthy-wealthy@att.net]. Jay sells Young Living Essential Oils, so the products listed are from that company. Some of the other comments are from Jay's down line. I thought that the information was very valuable and worth sharing.

Research has shown that the effects of fragrance and aromatic compounds on the sense of smell an exert strong effects on the brain especially on the hypothalamus (the hormone command center of the body) and limbic system (the seat of emotions). Some essential oils high in sesquiterpenes, such as
myrrh, sandalwood, cedarwood, vetiver, melissa, and frankincense, can dramatically increase oxygenation and activity in the brain. This may directly improve the function of many systems of the body.

When a fragrance is inhaled, the odor molecules travel up the nose where they are trapped by olfactory membranes that are well protected by the lining inside the nose. Each odor molecule fits like a little puzzle piece into specific receptor cell sites that line a membrane known as the olfactory epithelium. Each one of the hundreds of millions of nerve cells is replaced every 28 days. When stimulated by odor molecules, this lining of nerve cells triggers electrical impulses to the olfactory bulb in the brain. The olfactory bulb then transmits the impulses to the gustatory center (where emotional memories are stored), and other parts of the brain that directly connected to those parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing,
memory, stress levels, and hormone balance, essential oils can have a profound physiological and psychological effects.

The sense of smell is the only one of the 5 senses directly linked to the limbic lobe of the brain, the emotional control center. Anxiety, depression, fear, anger, and joy all emanate from this region. The scent of a special fragrance can evoke
memories and emotions before we are even consciously aware of it. When smells are concerned, we react first and think later. All other senses (touch, taste, hearing, and sight) are routed through the thalamus, which acts as the switchboard for the
brain, passing stimuli onto the cerebral cortex (the conscious thought center) and other parts of the brain.

The limbic lobe (a group of brain structures that includes the hippocampus and amygdale located below the cerebral cortex) can also directly activate the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain, acting as our hormonal control center. It releases chemical messengers that can affect everything from sex drive to energy levels. The production of growth hormones, sex hormones, thyroid hormones, and neurotransmitters such as serotonin, are all
governed by the hypothalamus, thus, the hypothalamus is refereed to the "master gland."

Essential oils--through their fragrance and unique molecular structure—can directly stimulate the limbic lobe and the hypothalamus. Not only can the inhalation of essential oils be used to combat stress and emotional trauma, but it can also stimulate the production of hormones from the hypothalamus. This results increased thyroid hormones (our energy hormone) and growth hormones(our youth and longevity hormone).

Through inhalation studies they have found that diffusing essential oils can heightened level of activity in the hypothalamus and limbic systems of the brain, which can have
dramatic effects on not only emotions, learning and attitude, but also many physical processes of the body, such as immune function, hormone balance, and energy levels.
High levels of sesquiterpenes occur in melissa, myrrh, cedarwood and clove, vetiver, patchouli, sandalwood, and frankincense, can increase levels of oxygen in the brain by up to 28%.

Diffusing or directly inhaling essential oils can have an immediate positive impact on mood. Olfaction is the only sense that can have direct effects on the limbic region of the brain.
Studies at the University of Vienna have shown that some essential oils and their primary constituents (cineol) can stimulate blood flow and activity in the emotional regions of the brain.

Clinical studies at the Department of Psychiatry at the Mie University of Medicine showed that Lemon not only reduced depression but reduced stress when inhaled.

Great Blends to use to help ease depression, anger, trauma, bringing about happiness.

Citrus Fresh:
Stimulates the right brain to amplify creativity and well-being as well as eradicate anxiety. Works well as an air purifier. University researchers in Japan found that diffusing a citrus
fragrance in an office environment improved mental accuracy and concentration by 54%. It has been found to be very calming and relaxing especially to children. When diffused it
adds a clean, fresh scent to any environment.

It Contains: Orange, tangerine, lemon, mandarin, grapefruit, spearmint. Apply to wrist, back of neck, back of ears, feet.
Believe: Helps to release the unlimited potential everyone possesses, make it possible to more fully experience health, happiness and vitality, Restores feelings of hope. Elevates the
mind helping to overcome stress and despair. It Contains: Idaho Balsam Fir Rosewood, and Frankincense apply to back of neck, temples, wrist, feet.

Brain Power:
Promotes deep concentration and channels physical energy into mental energy. It also increases mental potential and clarity, and long-term use may retard the aging process. Many of the oils in this blend are high in sesquiterpene compounds that increase the activity in the pineal, pituitary, and the hypothalamus glands and thereby increase out put of growth hormone and melatonin. It elevates the mind helping to overcome stress and despair,. Removes emotional blocks, heightens relaxation, and helps release feelings of anger.

It Contains: Frankincense, sandalwood, melissa, cedarwood, Blue cypress, lavender, helichrysum Apply to back of neck, ears, feet, wrist.

RutaVala:
Promotes the relaxation of body and mind, counters stressed nerves and revitalized passion. It Contains: Lavender, Valerian, Ruta. Apply to wrist, temple, neck.

Stress Away Roll-on:
This blend of oils reduces nervous tension, and encourages relaxation. It Contains: Vanilla, lime, copaiba
Apply to wrist, temples, and neck thought-out the day and right before bedtime

Tranquil Roll-on:
Provides stress relief and relaxation and with the oils it contains they are known for their ability to decrease anxiety and induce tranquility. Great for mosquito bites or bee stings.

It Contains: Lavender, Roman chamomile, cedarwood.
Apply generously on wrists or back of neck for relaxation.

Valor:
Balances energies to instill courage, confidence, and self-esteem. and helps open
and release emotional blocks, brining about a feeling of grounding. It also helps the body self-correct its balance and alignment. It Contains: Rosewood, Blue Tansy, Frankincense, Spruce. Apply to wrist, chest, base of neck, feet, spine.

Joy:
Produces a magnetic energy to bring joy to the heart, mind, and soul. It inspires romance and helps overcome deep seated grief and depression. It Contains: Rose, bergamot, mandarin, Ylang Ylang, lemon, geranium, jasmine,palmarosa, Roman chamomile, rosewood. Apply over heart, thyumus, temples, and wrists.

Hope:
is essential in order to go forward in life. Hopelessness can cause a loss of vision of goals and dreams. This blends helps to reconnect with a feeling of strength and grounding, restoring hope for tomorrow. It helps overcome suicidal depression.
It Contains: Melissa, spruce, juniper, myrrh.
Apply to edge of ears, wrists, neck, temples, over hear, or chakra/Vital flex points.

Peace & Calming:
Promotes relaxation and a deep sense of peace and emotional well-being, helping to dampen tensions and uplift spirite. Reduces depression , anxiety, stress, and insomnia. It Contains: Blue tansy, patchouli, tangerine, orange, Ylang Ylang. Apply to edge of ears, wrist, feet, dilute for a body massage. 4-8 drops on a cottonball and place on a vents for a great night sleep.
Single oils to use are Frankincense, cedarwood, lemon, peppeprmint, ylang ylang, rosemary, Jasamine absolute.
Diffuse 20 minutes, 3 times daily. Drect inhalation 4-6 times daily.

Dietary Supplementaion:
MultiGreen, Life 5, Super B, Mineral Essence, and Balance. Complet. Omrega Blue softgels.

I hope this helps when a person is feeling depressed, lost, lonely, sad, unhappy.

Testimonies:
I suffered from depression for a short while with a very stressful job. My doctor gave me a prescription drug for it. I did not want to go that route but had no choice. A few months later I was introduced to the oils. One of the oils was Peace and Calming for depression. I slowly weaned myself off of the depression drug and have been rubbing Peace and Calming on my feet every day. No more depression! Wow, these oils are a miracle! Janice Erhart
**********
I had been taking an anti-depressant (prozac) for a few years then I was introduced to Ruta Vala. I began by putting Ruta Vala on the back of my neck (bottom of the brain stem) before
bed and taking a capsule of 4 to 5 drops in the morning or whenever I remembered.

I did that for a few days then kept taking a little more prozac out of the capsule and adding a drop or 2 of Ruta Vala. I did this until I had no more prozac to remove. Now I just take
one capsule of Ruta Vala once a week (about 8 to 10 drops) and no more prozac.

Dawn Child
*********
With the help of many essential oils, I am getting off Prozac. Aside from excercise, light
therapy and supplements I apply and smell the Young Living oil's Valor, Frankincense,
Peace and Calming, etc. I am getting needed oxygen to my brain and cells. I feel blessed!
Sheli Toepfer
********
I have lost both beloved parents within 6 months and credit the following 'formula' for helping me out of a deep depression after the first death, and getting me through the second funeral with much more grace and dignity than I would've been able to muster without the oils: Put a drop of Valor on your wrist and hold your other wrist against it for a moment (drives the oil in). Put Harmony on all chakra points, and a drop of Joy
over your heart. Try this for grief or depression. Nancy

Summers
*********
Depression is a battle I fight on a daily basis. I was diagnoses with Bi-polar Disorder. I believe I have had this since I was a child, but was only diagnosed with this as an adult. I don't like being on prescription drugs because they are not only expensive, but most of them are highly addictive and you never know what side affects you will have as a result of taking them. Since becoming aware of the wonderful benefits of using essential oils, I use Lavender and Peace & Calming Essential oils on a daily basis. I have tried Valor Essential Oil, and it was alright, but not really enough for me. I recently came upon Joy Essential Oil, and that has made all the difference! I don't feel depressed or overwhelmed when I apply this on a daily basis. I apply 1-2 times a day the same as I apply oils for migraines. I love the smell of the Joy Essential Oil - when I breathe it in, it brings me a sense of security somehow. Hollie Drange

KS&L 330 The Good Steward

Edgar Cayce was considered one of the most remarkable psychics of the Twentieth Century. His ‘readings’ are so prolific that they are housed in the Edgar Cayce Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This center has a metaphysical library that is so large that only the metaphysical library at the Vatican is larger. What makes this so remarkable is that the very foundation of this library is the massive collection of Edgar Cayce readings that cover topics that range from healing the body to what happened in Atlantis.

When you study the life of Edgar Cayce what you find is a man who had an astounding ability to tap into the spirit world when asked a specific question, and then to share that information with the rest of us. These ‘readings’ offered glimpses of the future of the world as well as how to heal someone at a distance. Mr. Cayce didn’t just heal someone he gave them the tools to heal themselves. That information using everything from essential oils, electronic devices, therapeutic massage to meditation, comprises the basis for the Cayce healing library in Virginia Beach.

Perhaps the most important element of all of the Cayce work is the integrity with which he dealt with his ability to work with the spiritual world. Edgar Cayce was a man with tremendous psychic ability. This ability was not a gift. A gift is something unexpected that you receive on a holiday or your birthday.

Psychic ability is a very specific skill that you earn life after life after life. You don’t just wake up one morning and you are suddenly psychic. Perhaps if you are hit by lightening, then perhaps you may have found a sudden ability, but that ability is never a gift, because it carries with it a huge level of karma both positive and negative based on how any soul chooses to use that skill. Psychic ability is a responsibility and the greater a person’s ability, the more significant the responsibility and the heavier the karmic burden. Abuse that ability by hurting another person with it, and the karmic price tag for that abuse is very high. It is costly because you earn your ability life after life by what you sought to learn each life. Perhaps you wanted to learn how to do hands on healing or become a medical intuitive. Maybe you wanted to be able to see into the future and prevent disaster. Possibly you actively sought to see the dead, or auras or the stacks of time. All of that is fine. But once you acquired this ability, what did you do with it? How did you use it?

Karma attaches because once you have an ability you are karmically expected to share what you have earned and learned with the utmost integrity. The more you use your ability, the higher the ante is raised. This means that you are earning more intense positive karma with each wonderful, generous and above all, wise action you perform. The reverse is also true. People who participate in fostering psychic addiction by taking advantage of other people, such as fortune tellers, cult gurus or energy vampires, know what they are doing and they energetically steal on a conscious level.

Edgar Cayce always used his powerful psychic ability from a place of the utmost integrity. He is one of the finest examples any of us can study in just exactly how to use any spiritual ability and hold ourselves up to the highest karmic/spiritual standards. He did not promise what he could not deliver. Cayce was honest in what he could and could not do for someone, and he realized that he could not heal everyone. No one could do that, not even the Christ because not even Christ could randomly remove the karma of another person.

Edgar Cayce was truly the finest steward of the psychic and spiritual ability that he had. He was a humble man with a deep and powerful love of Christ, the Divine and the spirit world. Cayce also loved all people of all religions so much that he would often sacrifice himself to help a person in great need. In the crazy world we live in, perhaps now and then it is a good practice to study those more spiritually advanced souls who walked among us and follow their example of outstanding spiritual stewardship.

Summer First Aid Kit With Essential Oils

[The following information comes from Arial Lange}

Young Living Therapeutic Grade Summer First Aid Kit With Essential Oils

Every home should have a fully stocked first aid kit. Therapeutic grade essential oils are very effective solutions to help deal with all sorts of summertime bumps, bruises, cuts, scrapes and other discomforts.

If you have the Essential Oils Desk Reference, look up the oils you have and see what they can be used for. Most oils have antiseptic properties and can be used to disinfect or clean cuts and scrapes. Some oils would need to be diluted, especially hot ones like cinnamon or oregano.

Peppermint
This is probably my most favorite essential oil. I drink water with a couple drops of peppermint in it. It is so energizing and refreshing. Always use essential oils in glass containers.

Temporary Fatigue or Lack of Energy: Peppermint is very stimulating. Inhale it & put a drop or 2 on your big toes. Put a couple drops of peppermint in water and drink it.

Heat Fatigue: Peppermint oil, rubbed on base of skull, inhaled, and added to drinking water.

For Digestion and Heartburn: Put a few drops in an empty capsule and take internally after a heavy meal. (Be sure you are using PURE YL essential oils for this.) Rub 4-6 drops in the palm and rub over stomach and around the navel to relieve indigestion, flatulence and diarrhea.

Nausea or Motion Sickness: Put a drop of peppermint on your tongue, then on your hand and inhale it. Another way is to rub several drops of peppermint on the abdomen.

Headache: Put a couple of drops on the back of the neck and on the temples, then in your hands & inhale.

Allergy and Cold Congestion: Place a drop of Peppermint oil on the tongue and inhale into the nose and sinuses to relieve congestion.

Injuries: Apply peppermint oil immediately to bumps and bruises to relieve pain.

Cool off on a Hot Day: Drink a drop of Peppermint oil mixed in a glass of cold water.

Poison Ivy or Poison Oak: Apply Peppermint oil on location neat or dilute with V-6 Vegetable Mixing Oil.

Poison Ivy - Help with Itching
1 cup of cold water
1/2 cup of cider vinegar
9 drops of Lavender essential oil
3 drops of Peppermint essential oil
2 drops of Roman Chamomile oil
Blend well. Place in plastic bowl with tight sealing lid.
This blend is great to keep cool in your refrigerator. Soak a washcloth in this solution to gently apply to area of skin with the poison ivy.

Itching: Apply a drop of peppermint oil topically on unbroken skin to stop itching.

Insect Repellent: Add 10 drops of peppermint to a 4 oz. bottle of distilled water. This is my favorite insect repellent for working in the garden. It works wonders to keep the biting Deer Flies off. I have had no bites while using this simple formula. Be careful not to get any near your eyes.
Take the peppermint water and spray where insects enter your house.

Remove Ticks: Apply a drop of Peppermint oil on a Q-Tip and dot it on the tick. Wait for it to let go, then remove the tick.

To Kill Aphids: Add 4-5 drops of peppermint oil to 4 ounces of water and spray the plants.
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LAVENDER:
Burns and Sunburn: Apply 1-3 drops on burn location to cool tissue and reduce inflammation. Apply 3-6 times daily or as needed.

LavaDerm Cooling Mist from Young Living is another option for sunburn. It has lavender and Aloe Vera.
LavaDerm Cooling Mist #3249

After-Sun Healing Spray
1 cup distilled water
1/2 cup aloe vera gel
8 drops of Lavender essential oil
2 drops of Roman Chamomile essential oil
2 drops Geranium essential oil
Blend together and pour into a 12-16 ounce fine mist
spray bottle. Spray skin if you have been over exposed to
the sun. This is very healing and soothing to sunburned
skin. Do not get any in eyes.

Insomnia: Lavender is well known for its calming and sedative properties. Rub a couple drops on the back of the neck and shoulders. Rub a drop of lavender oil on your palms and smooth on your pillow, then inhale.

Bee Sting or Insect Bite: Put a drop of lavender on the area to stop itching and reduce swelling.

Headaches: Lavender is good for headaches. Put a couple drops in your hand then inhale. Then rub a drop on your temples, the back of the neck across forehead or on location.

Allergies: Diffuse Lavender oil to alleviate the symptoms of allergies. Rub a drop of lavender oil between your palms and inhale deeply to help alleviate the symptoms of hay fever.

Mood Uplifting: Diffuse or put a couple drops in your hand and then inhale. Apply direct application. Lavender also helps PMS symptoms.

Poison Ivy and Poison Oak: Apply 2-3 drops of lavender oil to stop the itching and heal the skin.
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Cleanse & soothe cuts, scrapes and other minor injuries with:
First-Aid Spray
5 drops lavender
3 drops tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)
2 drops cypress
Mix above oils thoroughly in 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add this to 8 ounces of distilled water and shake vigorously. Put in a spray bottle. Spray minor cuts and wounds before applying bandage. Repeat 2-3 times daily for 3 days. Complete the healing process by applying a drop or two of tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) oil to the wound daily for the next few days.

Purification
This one is great for disinfecting cuts and scrapes. Also put on location whenever you have bee stings or other bug bites.

Thieves
This is one to have on hand for when cuts and scrapes get infected. I put Thieves on and layer AnimalScents, V6 or other carrier oil over it if it needs to be diluted.
PanAway, Helichrysum or Deep Relief are all pain relievers.

PanAway
is a blend with wintergreen, which has an active principle similar to cortisone; clove, which contains
eugenol, used synthetically by dentists to numb gums; peppermint, calming for nerves; and helichrysum, soothing to localized discomfort.
Many people have had relief from arthritis symptoms, sports injuries, sprains, muscle spasms, bumps and bruises.
Apply on location for muscles, cramps, bruises, compress on the spine and Vita Flex points on the feet.
Headache: Rub a couple drops of PanAway on the back of the neck, on temples or forehead, inhale. Create a soothing compress by rubbing 1-3 drops of PanAway on location, cover with a warm cloth. Leave for 30 minutes.

Helichrysum
is a good oil to have around to stop bleeding. I had an experience with this a while back when I cut myself. I didn’t have straight helichrysum but I had Aroma Life which has helichrysum in it. I put Aroma Life on the cut and stopped the bleeding.
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These are just a few ideas for your First Aid Kit.
Did you know that you can do a Raindrop Technique just on the feet? It’s marvelous!!! You apply each of the oils in the Raindrop Kit, one after another, to the feet. If you know Vita Flex (a technique that we use to work oils into the body) use it, otherwise, just rub them on. I would use 3 - 4 drops of each oil on each foot, and use less (1-2 drops) of the oregano and thyme at first, because they can heat up on the skin.
Also, I know of several people who just use peppermint oil on their feet when they ache and love the results that they get.
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Information provided here is in no way intended to replace proper medical help. Consult with the health authorities of your choice.
_______________________________

Ariel Lange
http://heal-naturally.younglivingworld.com
Young Living Distributor Number 24417
www.oil-testimonials.com/4883
www.NingxiaRed.com