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The website of Author/Writer and Psychic Medium Astrid Brown. Making the most of 'YOU' i.e. how to achieve well-being and beauty from within ourselves. A truly holistic blog providing information on all aspects of psychic mediumship, spiritualism, philosophy, holistic therapies, nutrition, health, stress, mental health and beauty with a little bit of Wicca for good measure. Feeling and looking good is as much a part of how we feel inside as the outside.

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I am a great believer in Karma, but just what is it? Karma comes from the Sanskrit and ancient Indian Language with the underlying principal that every deed in our lives will affect our future life. For example, if we treat others badly during our lifetime we will have negative experiences later on in that lifetime or in future lifetimes. Likewise, if we treat others well we will be rewarded by positive experiences.

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ASTRID BROWN

Monday, 28 December 2015

MEMORIES OF HEAVEN

The Article below is from the Daily Mail and contains excerpts from the book below. Such stories are very common in my family with the latter additions to my family, my young granddaughters sharing their previous experiences. As a Medium, we chose our parents according to experiences we wish to learn and we tend to reincarnate in soul groups, where we take different roles in different lifetimes e.g. the parent one time and the child another etc. Some of the details young children give are so detailed it can't possibly be made up and many give so many facts that can be verified. As a child their memory of their prior existence is still fresh, however it is often lost as they grow up and experience their present lifetime. The book below contains accounts of previous lives by children whilst they are still fresh, read it with an open mind and you will be amazed.


The children who swear they've lived a previous life... and the details they give which are so astonishing they're hard to dismiss as make-believe

When she was three years old, a friend’s daughter announced that her real name was Joseph. 
At first, her parents thought this was comical, if also slightly puzzling.
But it became alarming as the girl, Sally, insisted she was a boy and that her parents, Anna and Richard, weren’t her real parents and their home city wasn’t her real home.
She was convinced that, as Joseph, she lived in a little house by the sea, with lots of brothers and sisters.
‘She seems so certain,’ Anna told me. 
‘Initially, we thought she was playing a make-believe game. 
But this isn’t imaginary — it’s almost as if she has memories of when she was a boy called Joseph. 
Memories Of Heaven: The book is compiled from letters and emails sent to  motivational speaker Dr Wayne Dyer and his assistant Dee Garnes
Memories Of Heaven: The book is compiled from letters and emails sent to motivational speaker Dr Wayne Dyer and his assistant Dee Garnes
She keeps asking to see the ships, and we’ve never taken her to the seaside in her life.’
It should be pointed out that Sally’s birth was almost a miracle — coming after her parents had been vainly trying for a child for years, undergoing a series of failed IVF treatments.
Whereas dad Richard was a no-nonsense chap who found this behaviour hard to take, mum Anna knew that their daughter wasn’t playing tricks. 
She felt strongly that Sally’s memories were, in some way, real.
The possible explanations — some kind of mental illness, reincarnation or ghostly possession — all seemed equally unnerving. 
But of her daughter’s truthfulness she had no doubt.
For her part, Sally was frustrated because the grown-ups didn’t take her seriously.
We advised Anna not to let Sally see that she was worried, and to wait and see what developed.
Sure enough, six weeks later the little girl had stopped talking about Joseph and the house by the sea, and seemed to have forgotten those ‘memories’.
I have a mother I remember, but it's not you 
Author Dr Wayne Dyer's daughter, Serena 
But I never forgot about it.
Earlier this year, a book appeared that set me thinking about what had happened.
Memories Of Heaven, by the motivational speaker Dr Wayne Dyer and his assistant Dee Garnes, collects dozens of similar stories — proving that, whatever the explanation, there was nothing unusual about Sally.
The book was compiled when Dr Dyer had been ill with leukaemia for years, and he died of a heart attack before it was published.
Certainly, there is often an annoying shortage of detail in the accounts, which are printed verbatim from letters and emails sent to him by readers.
But what the testimonies lack in background and research, they make up for with their apparent honesty.
These stories come from dozens of independent sources, yet often tell of phenomena so similar that they seem to be describing the same events.
One-off accounts of supernatural oddness, however convincing, can be dismissed as anomalies. 
But when scores of parents report the same experiences with their children, perhaps we should take notice.
Zibby Guest, from Chester, writes that her second son, Ronnie, was 16 months old when he started talking, and would often refer to his ‘other house’, where he was ‘a grown-up’ with another mummy and daddy.
And Susan Bowers, from the U.S., didn’t know whether to gasp or laugh when her three-year-old looked up from struggling with his shoelaces and grumbled: ‘I used to be a man before, but I guess I’ll have to learn how to do this again.’
Ann Marie Gonzalez, another American, was ‘a little freaked out’ when her daughter on her lap stopped singing in mid-song and asked if her mother remembered ‘the fire’. 
Ann Marie asked what she was talking about, and the little girl very slowly described a blaze that had killed both her parents and left her an orphan, living with her ‘Grandma Laura’.
Another small child, the youngest daughter of Heather Leigh Simpson in Indiana, couldn’t bear the sound of sirens. They reminded her of the awful day when men came and took her mother away, and never brought her back. 
When her puzzled mum pointed out that she was still there, her daughter said: ‘No, the mummy before you.’
Other accounts contain rather more detail.
A four-year-old American called Tristan, for example, was watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon on TV while his mother, Rachel Martin, was cooking. 
He wandered into the kitchen and asked her: ‘Do you remember, a long time ago, I used to cook in George Washington’s [the first U.S. president] kitchen? I was a kid.’
Humouring him, his mum asked if she had been there, too. 
He replied: ‘Yes. We were brown people. But later I died — I couldn’t breathe,’ and he gestured with his arms wrapped round his throat.
Intrigued, Rachel read up on George Washington and discovered that his cook, Hercules, had three children: Richmond, Evey and Delia. 
Discussing her findings with her son, he said he remembered Richmond and Evey but couldn’t think who Delia was.
The idea that these are memories of past lives is given some credence by the fact that children often describe dying, even though they might be too young to have learnt about death.
Take the story of Els Van Poppel and her 22-month-old son, Cairo. They were about to cross a road in Australia when Cairo said they should be careful ‘otherwise I’ll die again’.
Shocked, his mother listened as he added: ‘Remember when I was little and I fell and my head was on the road and the truck drove over it?’
Els is convinced Cairo had never seen anything so gruesome on TV, nor heard it discussed. Equally, she was sure he hadn’t dreamt about it.
Memories Of Heaven author Dr Dyer, himself a father of eight, had a similar experience.
There are dozens of stories in Dyer’s book, from a girl who remembered being a wartime soldier with a blue-eyed daughter and a swastika on an armband, to the boy who regularly recalled being an old man in a chair by the hearth, under a thatched roof
There are dozens of stories in Dyer’s book, from a girl who remembered being a wartime soldier with a blue-eyed daughter and a swastika on an armband, to the boy who regularly recalled being an old man in a chair by the hearth, under a thatched roof
He says his daughter, Serena, often talked in an unidentified foreign language in her sleep. Once, she told her mother: ‘You are not my real mother. I have a real mother that I remember, but it’s not you.’
There are dozens of such stories in Dyer’s book, from a girl who remembered being a wartime soldier with a blue-eyed daughter and a swastika on an armband, to the boy who regularly recalled being an old man in a chair by the hearth, under a thatched roof.
Of course, most people reading such stories will say there is a simple, rational explanation. Perhaps the child has glimpsed something on TV, just for an instant, and that notion has been growing in the subconscious infant mind.
But much harder to explain are the recollections of past lives that match a child’s family history, with them seeming to know about relatives who died before they were born.
For example, Jody Amsberry became pregnant about two years after her mother suffered a late miscarriage. 
The stillborn child was named Nicole, and Jody decided that her own baby girl would be called Nicole.
When she was five, Nicole said to her mum: ‘Before I was in your tummy, I was in Granny’s tummy.’
Anna Kiely tells a similar story about a friend, whose first daughter died before she was a year old. 
Before I was in your tummy, I was in Granny's 
Jody Amsberry's daughter Nicole, aged 5
The woman was devastated, of course, and it was seven years before she had another baby.
The second time around, fearful of Fate, she was reluctant to do the same things she had done with her other child. 
She sang different lullabies, for example.
Yet, when her daughter was four and heard a song that her mother had sung to her dead sister but not to her, the child announced that she recognised it.
She said: ‘Mummy, you used to sing it to me.’
Similarly, Judy Knicely was dumbstruck when her three-year-old daughter announced that she used to be a boy, and that her grandmother had been her mother: ‘I was her little boy and I died when I was almost four.’ 
Sure enough, her grandmother had lost a son just before his fourth birthday.
Some of these stories involve a child claiming to be a much older relative. 
One woman reports how her two-year-old son twice told her that he used to be her father. 
Another was telling her two-year-old granddaughter about her own grandmother, who had brought her up and died 50 years earlier, when the little girl said: ‘I know, because I am her.’
Then there was Suzanne Robinson, who fell asleep, only to be woken by her three-year-old daughter smoothing her hair in a caring, maternal way and saying: ‘Don’t you remember? I used to be your mother.’
One fascinating implication of these apparent stories of reincarnation is that it does not happen at random. 
Such cases normally involve children claiming to be someone who was a family member in the past. 
This suggests that there is an element of choice in where they get reborn.
The theory is borne out by letters collected by Dr Dyer. 
Tina Mitchell in Blackpool, for example, writes vividly of a car journey she was making with her five-year-old, Mather, when he pointed to a cloud and said: ‘When I was zero, before I was born, I stood on a cloud like that with God, having fun.’
A few weeks later, he repeated the claim, adding: ‘When I was standing on the cloud, God told me to pick my mummy. 
'I looked down and saw mummies everywhere. They all wanted me to pick them, and they were all reaching for me. Then I saw you.
One mother says her daughter claims to remember sitting in a ‘ring of angels’, throwing a ball around the circle
One mother says her daughter claims to remember sitting in a ‘ring of angels’, throwing a ball around the circle
‘You were alone and sad and you couldn’t find your little boy, and I knew I loved you and you loved me, so I told God that I wanted you.’
The fact is that his mother was single and alone at the time she adopted Mather, when he was just a few hours old.
Sometimes, such ‘memories’ of children choosing their parents stay with people all their lives. Judy Smith, who is now in her mid-70s, remembers telling her parents when she was three that she had picked them.
‘I was somewhere above the earth, looking down at a gathering of several pairs of people,’ she writes. 
‘I then heard a voice asking me which ones I wanted as my parents. I was told that whichever couple I chose would teach me what I needed to learn. I pointed to my parents and replied: “I’ll take them!”’
But such a ‘selection process’ is not always quick.
Chris Sawmiller’s four-year-old son, Lucas, complained to her: ‘Do you know how long I waited for you to be my mum? A long, long time!’
Lucas has told the story several times and always emphasises how long he waited. He says he made the right choice: ‘I picked you to be my mum because I love you so much.’
A similar story is told by Robert Rinne, whose five-year-old son told him and his wife that he had picked them to be his parents while he was in Heaven. 
Mum, when am I going to get my wings back? 
Susan Lovejoy's son Joseph, aged 5 
Apparently, he went through one door to inspect the mothers and fathers, and another to see who his siblings would be.
Sometimes the stories are agonisingly poignant.
Marie Birkett, of Southampton, had to terminate a pregnancy while she was being treated for back problems. 
Years later, after she eventually became a mother, her two-year-old daughter said: ‘Mummy, you sent me back the first time because you had a bad back, but I came back when your back was better.’
Descriptions of Heaven are blissfully childlike.
One mother says her daughter claims to remember sitting in a ‘ring of angels’, throwing a ball around the circle. 
Another claimed her son was adamant that Heaven was ‘all parks’.
The mother of a girl called Amy Rattigan had two miscarriages before giving birth to a sister for Amy. 
When that girl reached three, she told her mum that she ‘missed’ her unborn siblings because they had all played together in Heaven.
Often these games involved flying on angel wings.
Similarly, Sandra McGleish told Dr Dyer’s daughter that at night an angel would take her on ‘flights’ to see her grandfather, who had died ten years earlier. 
The old man was apparently growing yellow roses for his wife, who was still alive.
Wings, it seems, are what children miss most about Heaven.
For instance, Trina Lemberger’s grandson was snuggling up to her when he said sadly: ‘I’m forgetting how to fly.’
Meanwhile, after Susan Lovejoy’s five-year-old, Joseph, broke his arm trying to make a jump, he complained to his mum: ‘When am I going to get my wings back?’
She explained that only planes have wings and he sobbed pitifully, saying that God had told him that when he ‘returned’ to earth he would have his wings back.
Of course, all these stories may be childish fantasies. 
But as I read them, I thought about my friends’ daughter and those ‘memories’ of a life before this one, seemingly impossible yet so vivid and sure. 
And I found myself wondering whether it’s these children who know the truth — and we adults who have forgotten it.
  • Memories Of Heaven, by Dr Wayne Dyer and Dee Garnes, is published by Hay House at £9.99. To order a copy for £7.99 (offer valid until January 2; P&P free on orders over £12), call 0808 272 0808 or visit www.mailbookshop.co.uk.


Astrid Brown (Author)
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Monday, 21 December 2015

IS OXIDATIVE STRESS THE CAUSE OF MIGRAINE



I found this article in the Daily Mail today, as a Migraine sufferer since my teens this is an interesting finding. I usually know my triggers and can catch it before it develops too bad. I eat a good diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and am very aware of consuming plenty of antioxidants. However Migraine doesn't just affect the arteries in the brain, the arteries in the abdomen are often affected. Many children who suffer from periodic tummy pains go on to develop Migraine and I often have both areas affected, the study seems to focus on headaches and Migraine isn't limited to headaches, so  the findings on more research will be interesting.

  • Scientist at University of Maine examined a range of triggers, such as dehydration or air pollution, and compared how each of them affected brain
  • He found surplus of free radicals, the corrosive molecules produced by our bodies as we process oxygen, were at the root of all headaches
  • The surplus creates an imbalance in the body called ‘oxidative stress’
Migraines have a single cause that is to blame for every symptom ranging from pain to nausea, a new study has claimed. 
Scientists found that a surplus of free radicals, the corrosive molecules produced by our bodies as we process oxygen, were at the root of all headaches.
The surplus creates an imbalance in the body which is called ‘oxidative stress’, when there are not enough antioxidant defences to fend off the free radicals.
The common theme behind all headaches is oxidative stress - and this is responsible for every symptom ranging from pain to nausea
The common theme behind all headaches is oxidative stress - and this is responsible for every symptom ranging from pain to nausea
The researchers said that their findings could one day help find a cure for migraines - which could be as simple as taking a vitamin.
Jonathan Borkum, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Maine, studied 2,000 papers on migraines to come to his conclusion.
He looked at a range of triggers, such as dehydration or air pollution, and compared how each of them affected the brain.
Professor Borkum found that the common theme behind all headaches was oxidative stress which he described as a ‘plausible unifying principle behind the types of migraine triggers encountered in clinical practice’.
Free radicals have also been linked to cancer and some experts believe they are the reason why we age.
The discovery means that headaches could be prevented or alleviated using supplements such as beta carotene and vitamin C which bind and shut down free radicals.
However they may have health risks and one study found that antioxidant supplements were associated with higher risk of death than those who did not take them.
An estimated one in 10 people suffer from migraines which can last for hours and can be so serious that patients are unable to function.
Elizabeth Loder, chief of the Division of Headache and Pain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the study, said that sometimes what people think is the trigger for a headache is actually a symptom.
She told the Boston Globe that some people think chocolate causes headaches, but the craving for something sweet may actually be a sign of a coming headache. 

The discovery means that headaches could be prevented or alleviated using supplements such as beta carotene and vitamin C which bind and shut down free radicals
The discovery means that headaches could be prevented or alleviated using supplements such as beta carotene and vitamin C which bind and shut down free radicals



Astrid Brown (Author)
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Monday, 14 September 2015

ARE DOLPHINS PSYCHIC?



I saw this in the Daily Mail and just had to post it here


  • Dolphin intelligence is a feature in Susan Casey's book Voices in the Ocean
  • The mammals behave in a way that suggests a 'collective consciousness'
  • Their limbic system, involved with controlling emotions, is larger than ours 
  • Dolphins have been known to 'sense' when swimmers have become stranded and gone to their rescue, even if they are miles away  


Dolphins have long been considered to be intelligent, but scientists are only now starting to unravel the true complexity of their brains and behaviour.
In many ways they behave like humans - they form social groups and cliques, they have previously been taught to recognise 'alphabets' of symbols and many have even attempted to befriend us.
Now, a book discusses how this high level of intelligence could stem from the mammals having what's known as a collective consciousness, with the author claiming they 'may know something that we don't'. 
The paralimbic area of the dolphin's brain, which regulates emotions as it does in humans, has evolved an extra lobe. A new book discusses how this may give the animals an unprecedented level of social intelligence, and even a 'collective consciousness'. Fungie the Dingle dolphin that lives in an Irish bay is pictured
The paralimbic area of the dolphin's brain, which regulates emotions as it does in humans, has evolved an extra lobe. A new book discusses how this may give the animals an unprecedented level of social intelligence, and even a 'collective consciousness'. Fungie the Dingle dolphin that lives in an Irish bay is pictured
The points are raised in Susan Casey's book 'Voices in the Ocean'.
Ms Casey wrote the book after she encountered a pod of spinner dolphins. 
She admitted that this first experience made her want to explore the 'strange, enduring, occasionally tragic, and often wonderful relationship between humans and dolphins' and set off to learn more about the creatures. 
Dolphins and the 'collective mind' 
Over the past 50 million years the brains of dolphins have evolved and expanded dramatically in size. 
At the same time, their bodies have shrunk, their teeth have become smaller and they have developed high-frequency hearing.  
The limbic system in a dolphin's brain is responsible for the emotions in the same way as it is in human brains.
While most vertebrates evolved this region early and kept it pretty much intact, the system in the brains of dolphins developed further. 
Dolphins form cliques, can recognise themselves in a mirror, empathise, fear and love - just like humans. And these similarities have been used to explain why dolphins are so keen to befriend humans in Susan Casey's book Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins
Dolphins form cliques, can recognise themselves in a mirror, empathise, fear and love - just like humans. And these similarities have been used to explain why dolphins are so keen to befriend humans in Susan Casey's book Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins
The idea of a dolphin collective soul was proposed in the 1980s by paleoneurologist Harry Jerison. However, 'collective consciousness' in other animals has been discussed for a century. Blue tits (pictured) in Europe (for example) have exhibited telepathic behaviours with birds in other parts of the world, for example
The idea of a dolphin collective soul was proposed in the 1980s by paleoneurologist Harry Jerison. However, 'collective consciousness' in other animals has been discussed for a century. Blue tits (pictured) in Europe (for example) have exhibited telepathic behaviours with birds in other parts of the world, for example
Odours, for example, are indistinguishable underwater so the hippocampus of dolphins - a region linked to their olfactory sense - diminished, Ms Casey explained.
'Meanwhile, their paralimbic area grew huge, so densely jammed with neurons that it blurped out an extra lobe,' she said.

COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS AND TELEPATHY IN ANIMALS

The unique evolution of the dolphin brain suggests the animals are doing something very sophisticated or complex while they're processing emotions.
Their brains may even have adapted for a type of unprecedented connectivity.
The idea of a dolphin collective soul was proposed in the 1980s by paleoneurologist Harry Jerison, referred to 'the communal self.'
However, 'collective consciousness' in other animals has been discussed for a century.
The idea was first presented by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1893 and is often referred to as a group having a 'shared mind' or 'hive mind'.
Yet in the 1970s, scientists began to suggest this collective consciousness could be developed and spread through species non-explicitly, through telepathic means.
Monkeys in Japan, for example, adopted and developed certain identical behaviours without ever coming into contact with one another.
Blue tits in Europe exhibited similar so-called telepathic behaviours, suggesting they were sharing ideas. 
Ms Casey's book explained: 'In fact, dolphins are so tightly bound to their pods that they may be operating with a degree of interconnectedness far deeper than our own.'
'There's a jubilee of tissue packed into this area, an exuberance of grey matter that scientists believe relates to all things feeling - and no other mammal has anything quite like it.'
During an interview with neuroscientist Lori Marino, Ms Casey asked whether the animals' nature was the reason why dolphins have such large brains. 
Ms Marino said this unique evolution suggests the animals are 'doing something very sophisticated or complex while they're processing emotions' and their brains may have adapted for a type of connectivity unprecedented in the animals kingdom.
Ms Marino calls this a 'collective soul'. 
'When you look at their brain you can definitely see how this could be an animal that takes sociality to another level,' Ms Marino told Ms Casey. 
She used the example that dolphins and whales strand en masse when only one or two individuals are sick and when they're herded together they huddle in a group rather than jumping nets.
'There is some sort of cohesiveness in them that I don't think we get quite yet, but it accounts for a lot of the behaviour that seems strange to us,' she continued. 
'I think a lot of it comes down to emotional attachment.
'And I think there is a very strong sense in them that if something happens to the group, it happens to you.'
The possibility of a dolphin collective soul was first proposed in the 1980s by paleoneurologist Harry Jerison. He referred to this as as 'the communal self.' 
However, 'collective consciousness' in other animals has been discussed for more than a century. 
The idea was first presented by French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1893, but his definition related more to a shared understanding of certain morals and social norms based on people either imitating others, explicitly passing on these behaviours to one another, or agreeing certain ideals in order to feel accepted.
Neuroscientist Lori Marino explained in the book that the dolphin's unique evolution suggests they are 'doing something very sophisticated or complex while they're processing emotions' and their brains may have adapted for a type of connectivity unprecedented in the animals kingdom
Neuroscientist Lori Marino explained in the book that the dolphin's unique evolution suggests they are 'doing something very sophisticated or complex while they're processing emotions' and their brains may have adapted for a type of connectivity unprecedented in the animals kingdom
Tales of dolphins befriending humans (stock image) are said to date back as far as AD 77 when Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder recounted a story about a dolphin who formed a bond with a boy who fed him bread. Aristotle even wrote offhandedly about the dolphins' 'passionate attachment to boys' 
Tales of dolphins befriending humans (stock image) are said to date back as far as AD 77 when Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder recounted a story about a dolphin who formed a bond with a boy who fed him bread. Aristotle even wrote offhandedly about the dolphins' 'passionate attachment to boys' 
It is often referred to as a group having a 'shared mind' or 'hive mind'.
Yet in the 1970s, scientists began to suggest that this collective consciousness could be developed and spread through species non-explicitly, through telepathic or 'supernatural' means.
Monkeys in Japan, for example, were shown to have adopted and developed certain identical behaviours without ever coming into contact with one another.

FUNGIE THE DINGLE DOLPHIN 

Dolphins form cliques, can recognise themselves in a mirror, empathise, fear and love - just like humans. 
And these similarities have been used to explain why dolphins are so keen to befriend humans.  
Tales of dolphins befriending humans are said to date back as far as AD 77 when Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder recounted a story about a dolphin who formed a bond with a boy who fed him bread.
Aristotle even wrote offhandedly about the dolphins' 'passionate attachment to boys'.
In Ms Casey's book, she refers to one dolphin in particular called Fungie, the Dingle dolphin. 
According to local legend, the bottlenose dolphin has been swimming in Dingle bay, Ireland since October 1983. 
Despite the dangers the bay present Fungie, including heavy boat traffic and fishing trawlers, sightings are reported almost every day. 
He is always seen alone, however, suggesting he is not part of a pod like other dolphins.
Dolphins have also even been known to bring fish and other 'gifts' to humans which feed them, particularly at the Tangalooma Island Resort in Australia. 
Ms Casey explained this behaviour may be a sign that dolphins behave towards humans the same way they do towards one another.
Blue tits in Europe exhibited similar so-called telepathic behaviours, suggesting they were sharing ideas. 
Ms Marino continued: 'In fact, dolphins are so tightly bound to their pods that they may be operating with a degree of interconnectedness far deeper than our own.'
Befriending humans: The social needs of dolphins 
The dolphin's behaviour, on the other hand, may not be a sign of a collective mind, or telepathy, but instead a much higher state of social intelligence compared to other animals, namely humans. 
'In any group of dolphins you’ll find cliques and posses, duos and trios and quartets, mothers and babies and spinster aunts, frisky bands of horny teenage males, wily hunters, burly bouncers, sage elders - and their associations are anything but random,' Ms Casey said in her book.
'They’re also highly social chatterboxes who recognise themselves in the mirror, giggle, feel despondent, stroke each other, adorn themselves, use tools, introduce themselves, rescue one another from dangerous situations, form alliances, throw tantrums, gossip, scheme, empathise, seduce, grieve, comfort, anticipate, fear, and love - just like us.'
These similarities may explain why dolphins are so keen to befriend humans.  
Tales of dolphins befriending humans are said to date back as far as AD 77 when Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder recounted a story about a dolphin who formed a bond with a boy who fed him bread.
Aristotle even wrote offhandedly about the dolphins' 'passionate attachment to boys'.
As Ms Casey described in her book: 'When you consider how risky it is for dolphins to spend time in close proximity to people, it is all the more intriguing that so many human-dolphin stories have similar themes: dolphin seeks out man, dolphin wants to play with man, dolphin assists man, dolphin rescues man.' 
Ms Casey explained dolphins may behave towards humans the same way they do towards one another. 'In other words, dolphins do not always differentiate between us and them' she said. Dolphins have even been known to bring fish and other 'gifts' to humans which feed them
Ms Casey explained dolphins may behave towards humans the same way they do towards one another. 'In other words, dolphins do not always differentiate between us and them' she said. Dolphins have even been known to bring fish and other 'gifts' to humans which feed them
She refers to one dolphin in particular called Fungie, the Dingle dolphin. 
According to local legend, the bottlenose dolphin has been swimming in Dingle bay, Ireland since October 1983. 
Despite the dangers of the bay, including heavy boat traffic and fishing trawlers, people claim to have spotted Fungie almost every day.

JOHN LILLY: THE MAN WHO MADE DOLPHINS THE 'SMARTEST ANIMALS'

The idea that dolphins have superior intelligence was made popular in the 1950s by neuroscientist John Lilly.
He attached electrodes to the brains of living dolphins to stimulate neurons and observed that a dolphin that was about to be brutally killed made loud noises, which he interpreted as attempts to communicate with its tormenters.
After further experiments Dr Lilly became convinced dolphins had a human-like faculty of speech and attempted to establish contact with the marine mammals. 
Dr Lilly became somewhat obsessed with the intelligent dolphin theory, administering LSD to himself and dolphins in the hopes of stimulating conversation and moving to the American West Coast, where he wrote books in which he combined New Age ideology with his dolphin research. 
Dr Lilly said the animals were 'more intelligent than any man or woman' and attributed them philosophy, ethics and an 'ancient vocal history'.
He is always seen alone, however, suggesting he is not part of a pod like other dolphins.
Ms Casey explained this behaviour may be a sign that dolphins behave towards humans the same way they do towards one another.
'In other words, dolphins do not always differentiate between us and them. 
'Maybe that was why Fungie had made his home among the residents of Dingle,' she said. 
'To him, perhaps, they were just a slightly peculiar-looking pod.'
Dolphins have even been known to bring fish and other 'gifts' to humans which feed them, particularly at the Tangalooma Island Resort in Australia.  
Dolphins: Lifesavers of the sea 
Whether it's a social need for the dolphins to connect with a species it sees similarities in, or a strong desire to interact with any species, the creatures have a reputation for being keen lifesavers.
Ms Casey's book features a number of anecdotes of dolphins breaking away from boats to encircle and rescue the bodies of people who had attempted suicide or become stranded at sea, sometimes miles away from where the dolphins were.  
One example, quoted from the book 'Beautiful Minds' by biologist Maddalena Bearzi, recalls a story in which dolphins supposedly beckoned a group of divers out to sea and away from the coastline of Thailand on the day the tsunami hit in 2004.
The divers were unaware of the dangers on the shore and claim the dolphins effectively saved their lives by keeping them out at sea. 
If they do have a collective consciousness, with or without telepathic abilities, the animals may have been able to 'sense' that someone was in danger. 
And if theories about the animals not being able to differentiate between humans and themselves are true, they may have responded to a lone human in the same way they would a lone dolphin that had been separated from its pod.  
Ms Casey's book features anecdotes of dolphins breaking away from boats to encircle and rescue the bodies of people who had attempted suicide or become stranded at sea, sometimes miles away from where they were.  If they do have a 'collective mind' the animals may have been able to 'sense' someone was in danger
Ms Casey's book features anecdotes of dolphins breaking away from boats to encircle and rescue the bodies of people who had attempted suicide or become stranded at sea, sometimes miles away from where they were. If they do have a 'collective mind' the animals may have been able to 'sense' someone was in danger
Are dolphins really that smart? 
Not all scientists are in agreement with Ms Casey, however.  
A study from neuroethologist Paul Manger of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa claimed that behavioural studies involving dolphins are flawed and therefore not very informative.
'We put them on a pedestal for no reason and projected a lot of our desires and wishes on them,' said Professor Manger. 'The idea of the exceptionally intelligent dolphin is a myth.'
Whereas goldfish placed in a bowl try to jump out to freedom, dolphins rarely try to escape when they are caught in nets.

'DOLPHINS ARE NO SMARTER THAN GOLDFISH', CLAIMS EXPERT

A recent study from neuroethologist Paul Manger of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa claimed that behavioural studies involving dolphins are flawed and therefore not very informative. 
'We put them on a pedestal for no reason and projected a lot of our desires and wishes on them,' said Professor Manger. 'The idea of the exceptionally intelligent dolphin is a myth.'
Whereas goldfish placed in a bowl try to jump out to freedom, dolphins rarely try to escape when they are caught in nets.
While zoologists have observed that dolphins can distinguish between the concepts 'many' and 'few', he suggested the same ability has also been demonstrated in yellow mealworms. 
While zoologists have observed that dolphins can distinguish between the concepts 'many' and 'few', he suggested the same ability has also been demonstrated in yellow mealworms.
He continued that evidence which shows dolphins have learnt sophisticated 'tool use' is 'flimsy' because it is based on the fact bottlenose dolphins on Australia's west coast have learnt to hold sponges in their snouts to help them find food on the ocean floor.
'Exactly what the dolphins do with the sponges remains unknown,' he said.
While researchers have been able to teach bottlenosed dolphins to recognise an 'alphabet' of as many as 40 symbols, Professor Manger pointed out that African grey parrots and California sealions have also managed the same feat. 
And while much has been made of the dolphin's ability to identify itself with a 'signature whistle', experts now say this is not a complex language, and say it is no more unusual than the tail-wagging dances of bees or 'signature' accoustic signals made by other marine animals. 
At the time of the report, Karsten Brensing, a marine biologist with the organisation Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), said: 'To put it bluntly, most of that is b*******.
'You can use similar arguments to prove that people aren't intelligent.' 
'One of the great marine scientists, Ken Norris, described dolphins as "the most mysterious of fauna on the planet" in the 1960s,' Ms Casey told MailOnline. 
'Since then we’ve learned much about these animals: we’ve examined their formidable brains, we’ve charted their amazing evolution, we’ve tested their cognition in every way we can think of, we’ve observed them in the wild. 
'We know that dolphins are self-aware, that they have distinct and stable personalities, that they call themselves by name. So that makes our relationship more informed, but at the same time we’ve learned all these impressive facts about dolphins, we’re making their lives increasingly hard. 
Dolphins contend with many threats [and] my hope is we can take all our knowledge about them and distill it into wisdom.'

Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins by Susan Casey is published by Oneworld






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Wednesday, 10 June 2015

AstridBrownAuthor.com: CONVINCE ME

AstridBrownAuthor.com: CONVINCE ME: CONVINCE ME You turn up, like it’s where you belong Stating you were here all along I want to believe what your lips say but c...



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Tuesday, 12 May 2015

BEAUTY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PRODUCTS







Astral Original







Astral has been around for decades 60 years in fact and I can remember my mother using it. It's not got fancy ingredients and it's pretty uncomplicated and basic but that's the beauty of it. Astral works, its great as a moisturiser but can be used as a cleanser and I cover myself in it before I go to sleep and I wake up with lovely soft skin, even rough dry heels and elbows disappear. It's so inexpensive I bought a huge 500ml pot recently and it was only £8. It may have been around for a while and other skin products have come and gone, but this is a classic and it just works.

http://www.astral-cream.co.uk






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Friday, 24 April 2015

ANOTHER REASON WHY YOU SHOULD NOT PLAY WITH OUIJA BOARDS



Story below is from the DAILY MAIL. As I have mentioned many times never play with ouija boards as they attract the dark side and often masquerade as loved ones who have passed over. Unless you are an experienced medium stay well away from this side as you can unleash forces of which you have no control nor understanding


  • Journalist Hellicar was sent to report on the 'Enfield Poltergeist' in 1977 
  • Presence first made itself known after two girls played with a ouija board
  • Over the summer, some 30 people witnessed the ghostly goings-on 
  • Story to be told in series starring Timothy Spall and Matthew Macfadyen
The first sign that something was amiss came when the children’s Lego bricks were hurled at me by an unseen hand. The next came a few minutes later, when a heavy kitchen cabinet crashed to the floor at my feet. Yet I had been alone in the room — or so I thought.
Scariest of all, though, was the very palpable atmosphere of fear. A malevolent spirit seemed to have taken up residence, moving the furniture, emptying drawers, sprinkling water, lighting matches and causing general mayhem, forcing the terrified Hodgson family who lived there to huddle together in dread. 
It seemed to centre its attention on 11-year-old Janet, who was levitated above her bed, sent into violent trances and made to speak in a rasping male voice. Many of the 1,500 psychic occurrences there were not only independently witnessed but are verified by investigators’ photographs and audio tape.
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The Enfield Poltergeist terrified the Hodgson family - including Janet, 11, pictured here flying through the air, and her sister Margaret, right - and at least 30 witnesses during the summer of 1977
The Enfield Poltergeist terrified the Hodgson family - including Janet, 11, pictured here flying through the air, and her sister Margaret, right - and at least 30 witnesses during the summer of 1977
No wonder the Hodgsons’ unremarkable council semi in Green Street, Enfield, North London, became notorious as the most haunted house in Britain. The story is being told in a three-part drama which starts on TV next month. Timothy Spall and Matthew Macfadyen play psychic researchers called in to investigate the haunting, and Janet is portrayed by 13-year-old Eleanor Worthington-Cox, who won an Olivier Award for best actress in the title role of Matilda in London’s West End.
It is creepy stuff, with moody music, special effects, dramatic acting, emotionally-charged dialogue and skilful editing; a mix that will ensure viewers go to bed afterwards — if they dare — with goosebumps.
However, for all the technical trickery and artistic licence, it is nowhere near as horrifying, nor as mystifying, as the real events on which the story is based.
I know, because as a newspaper reporter sent to write about the hauntings, I witnessed many of them first-hand as they unfolded 38 years ago in the summer of 1977. So did some 30 other people including police officers, neighbours, other journalists and BBC staff and even passers-by.
The Enfield Poltergeist, as the ghostly visitor became known, first made its presence felt soon after Janet and her older sister Margaret, 12, played with a ouija board.
‘The girls were changing into their nightclothes and complained something was making their beds wobble,’ their mother Peggy (played on screen by Rosie Cavaliero) explained to me after the haunting began. ‘I told them to stop messing about.
‘The next night, I heard screaming and banging coming from their room after they had gone to bed. When I went in, a heavy chest of drawers was sliding by itself across the floor, trying to block the doorway. The girls were terrified.
‘I pushed the chest back against the wall, but it slid towards me again. I tried, but I couldn’t stop it. I wondered if my two younger boys [Johnny, 10, and Billy, seven] were playing pranks, because they also slept upstairs, but they weren’t anywhere near the room.’
Over the next few weeks more furniture moved of its own accord; plates, cutlery, toys and books would go flying, and one night things were so bad Peggy called the police, who arrived to see a sitting-room chair lift off the carpet and move towards them.
One of the officers, WPC Carolyn Heeps, later reported: ‘It came to rest after about 4ft. I checked it for hidden wires or any other means by which it could have moved, but there was nothing to explain it.’

The malevolent presence seemed to particularly focus on Janet, pictured here in the bathroom
The malevolent presence seemed to particularly focus on Janet, pictured here in the bathroom
The council house which was apparently haunted by one of its former residents, who died in a chair
The council house which was apparently haunted by one of its former residents, who died in a chair
In desperation, the family called in the scientifically respected Society for Psychical Research, who sent two members, Guy Lyon Playfair, the Cambridge-educated author of several books about psychic phenomena, and businessman Maurice Grosse to investigate.
Playfair, portrayed in TV’s dramatised version by Matthew Macfadyen, said: ‘I went in a few weeks after the trouble started. I had an open mind, and looked for a logical explanation. I soon found there wasn’t one.’
His first experience of the Enfield Poltergeist was when a marble appeared from nowhere and dropped like a stone at his feet on the lino floor. Over the next 14 months he would visit the house on almost 120 occasions — sometimes the ghost would be quiet, but on many others it would be running rampant.
On my first visit, it was as if the Lego throwing was an initiation — a newspaper photographer, Graham Morris, had already had a block hurled at him. Even more puzzling, the blocks were hot. And when I checked the wall fixings of the cabinet that had fallen to the floor, the screws were still in place. Janet was dismissive when I told her what happened. ‘Oh, that’s not unusual,’ she said. ‘What’s really annoying is when it pulls out all the drawers and leaves everything on the floor.’
The episode is now being made into a television series for Sky Living, with Timothy Spall playing paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse
The episode is now being made into a television series for Sky Living, with Timothy Spall playing paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse
On subsequent visits I experienced cold draughts, graffiti, water puddles appearing from nowhere, bad smells, and chairs and tables moving of their own accord. Other witnesses reported physical assaults, matches bursting into flame and fleeting glimpses of different apparitions, including an old woman and a man.
Spookiest of all, an imprint of a body would be found on one of the beds, as if someone had been sleeping there. Peggy would straighten the sheets, only to find the shape back again later.
On another night when the family were together in the sitting room with me, there was a slow rapping coming from Janet and Margaret’s bedroom, directly above. We dashed upstairs, but no one was there.
A few nights later, Guy Playfair heard ‘a tremendous vibrating noise’ coming from the same empty room. ‘It was as if someone was drilling a great big hole,’ he reported. He went in to find the fireplace torn out from the wall, where it had been cemented in. ‘It was one of those old Victorian cast iron fires that must have weighed 60lb. The children couldn’t have ripped it out of the wall, but in any case they weren’t there.’
On another occasion, with all the children in bed, the other SPR investigator, Maurice Grosse (portrayed by Timothy Spall in the TV drama), was downstairs compiling notes when he heard Janet screaming. He ran to see her being dragged out of her room by an unseen force. She was then hauled down the stairs and dumped at his feet.
Like so many of the ghostly incidents, it was recorded on audio tape, and some were caught by a remote camera set up by Graham Morris.
Not that the Enfield Poltergeist made it easy — Morris would set up his expensive equipment with flash guns powered by freshly charged batteries, only to find them quickly draining. Tape-recording was often difficult, too — a BBC team’s state-of-the-art machine, which worked perfectly outside the house, would sometimes inexplicably jam once inside.
Pictures show Janet being levitated off the bed, curtains twisting themselves into a spiral, pillows being thrown, sheets being pulled off the sleeping children. When I asked Janet if she realised she had been whirled across the room in her sleep, she said she had somehow drifted through the wall into the house next door.
‘I can tell you exactly what I saw,’ she said and described where various objects were situated. I checked with the neighbours, Vic and Peggy Nottingham, who confirmed everything in their bedroom was placed just as Janet had told me.

The Enfield Poltergeist, as the ghostly visitor became known, first made its presence felt soon after Janet and her older sister Margaret, 12, played with a ouija board
The Enfield Poltergeist, as the ghostly visitor became known, first made its presence felt soon after Janet and her older sister Margaret, 12, played with a ouija board
Another time, two passers-by, a lollipop lady and a baker, looked up at the house and through a first-floor window saw Janet spinning around and bumping against the glass. A cushion also seemed to materialise on the roof.
But everything took a serious turn when Janet began to lapse into violent trances, swearing and hurling insults in disembodied voices quite unlike her own.
‘This thing never seemed to know who it was,’ Playfair said. ‘It would claim to be all different people, speaking in many different voices, and much of what it said through her was nonsense. It was as if Janet was being taken over.’
But one night an eerie message — captured on tape — came out of Janet’s mouth loud and clear, and what it said sent a chill through all of us. ‘My name is Bill,’ rasped a voice. ‘Just before I died, I went blind and then I had a haemorrhage and I fell asleep and died in the chair in the corner downstairs.’
None of this meant anything to the Hodgson family or their neighbours. But when the tape was played on the radio, a man got in touch to say he recognised his father’s voice. ‘His name was Bill Wilkins,’ he said, confirming his father had lived at the Hodgsons’ house many years earlier — before Janet was born — and he had died exactly as he had described.
The Hodgson house had a very strange atmosphere whether Janet was there or not. I always felt as if we were being watched by a malignant spirit. 
Playfair, 80, wrote a book about the Enfield Poltergeist — This House Is Haunted — which became a bestseller. The new drama is based on it and sticks to the basic story, but inevitably ramps up tension — Playfair says a few psychic scenes didn’t happen but were written in by the TV people.
Maurice Grosse, who died in 2006, had only become interested in the paranormal the previous year, after his journalist daughter — also called Janet — had been killed in a motor cycle accident and the family began to experience psychic happenings.
He was convinced she was trying to send messages from beyond the grave to him and his wife Betty (played in the TV series by Truly, Madly, Deeply star Juliet Stevenson).
Grosse and Playfair came to believe it wasn’t so much Peggy Hodgson’s house that was haunted, but Janet herself, and to a much lesser extent, her older sister Margaret. Indeed, one night we had all gone out to visit Janet’s uncle, a few doors away, and the ghostly tricks continued there. ‘This is person-centred,’ Playfair told me. ‘It doesn’t stay in the house, but follows Janet around.’
For myself, I wasn’t so sure. The Hodgson house had a very strange atmosphere whether Janet was there or not. I always felt as if we were being watched by a malignant spirit.
It was never comfortable for me — especially after I discovered the corner where Bill Wilkins died was where I invariably sat! I was worried, too, that the poltergeist might attach itself to me, just as it apparently had to Janet.
I had a young family; what if it left the Hodgsons alone and took up residence in my house? So even after all these years I understood Spall’s concern when he was asked to play Grosse.
‘It frightened the life out of me’, he admits. ‘I’m scared of anything like that in case it leads to me being haunted. I didn’t want to wake up at night with the doors opening and shutting.’
He asked Playfair if he was ever worried ‘there would be demons sitting on your bed or something.’ Playfair replied: ‘Oh no, I made a nice cup of tea and went to sleep.’
Inevitably, there were accusations that the Hodgson family were staging an elaborate hoax, and Playfair and Grosse were dismissed as gullible.
Janet admitted in a TV interview in 1980 that she and her siblings had tried to fake some happenings — ‘about two per cent’ — because they felt under pressure when so many visitors came to the house expecting to see something ghostly on demand.
Those who witnessed the goings-on are convinced the only explanation is paranormal
Those who witnessed the goings-on are convinced the only explanation is paranormal
First-hand account: Furniture moved of its own accord; plates, cutlery, toys and books would go flying
First-hand account: Furniture moved of its own accord; plates, cutlery, toys and books would go flying
‘We caught them each time because we were watching for trickery,’ says Playfair. ‘They would try to bend spoons, like Uri Geller. They tried to hide my tape recorder so I would think the poltergeist had moved it. But they didn’t realise it was switched on, so I heard every word of their plot!
‘But too many other things happened that could not be faked. Usually there were too many witnesses. What about all the things that happened in empty rooms, when the kids were somewhere else?
‘What about all the things I saw and heard? And the police officers? Children couldn’t have fooled so many people, all of whom wanted to find a rational, earthly explanation for what was happening.’
To all those who say the poltergeist must have been a hoax I say this: I was there and you weren’t. I investigated everything at first hand and you didn’t. I know what I saw and heard.
Investigator Guy Lyon Playfair 
As for the cacophony of voices coming out of Janet’s mouth, the psychic investigators devised their own test. With Janet and her mother’s agreement, the girl’s mouth was filled with water before being taped up to prevent her speaking. Yet the voices still came out. And afterwards, all the water was still in her mouth.
Maurice Grosse offered £1,000 (£6,500 today) to anyone who could replicate the voices by ventriloquism or any other form of trickery, but no one took up his challenge.
Finally, Playfair invited two psychic medium friends to see what they could make of the hauntings.
‘They came to the house and almost immediately made contact with the poltergeist,’ says Playfair. ‘It took them 15 minutes of talking to him calmly, and the effect was remarkable. The nastiness died down at once and Janet went to sleep for 14 hours — the first uninterrupted sleep she’d had in nearly two years. After that, there was very little trouble.’
Life at the house in Green Street returned to normal for the Hodgsons. Peggy, who had refused to move, even when things got so bad that the family would huddle together in fear, remained there until she died from breast cancer in 2003.
Janet left home at 16, married and moved to Essex. She prefers to stay out of the limelight, saying she doesn’t want to rake up those traumatic events. ‘I’m still in touch with her,’ says Playfair, ‘but I respect that she doesn’t want any more fuss.’
Inevitably, the TV drama will bring out the disbelievers. ‘To all those who say the poltergeist must have been a hoax I say this,’ says Playfair.
‘I was there and you weren’t. I investigated everything at first hand and you didn’t. I know what I saw and heard.’
So do I — and that’s why I slept with the lights on for weeks afterwards.
  •  The Enfield Haunting begins on Sky Living on Sunday May 3 at 9pm.



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PSYCHIC QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

PSYCHIC QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

IS IT REALLY POSSIBLE TO FORECAST THE FUTURE AND OTHER QUESTIONS?

I am often asked various questions pertaining to the spirit world and various aspects of the psychic, here are some of them: I will in time feature more questions and answers as this webpage evolves

Q. Is a psychic or medium a fortune teller?
A. It may surprise you to know psychics and mediums are not fortune tellers
Q. Is it possible to forecast the future?
A.Well not 100% and this is because of free will.
Q. What is free will?
A. Free will is YOUR right to decide what you want to do about a situation, it is a choice
Q. How does free will affect a situation?
A. Well before we incarnate as Spirit in a human body, we decide on what experiences and challenges that will benefit our spiritual growth. However we are given the choice (free will) as to whether we go through with the experience or challenge. In effect we are allowed to change or mind.
Q. So are you saying we all know what lies before us?
A. Well in a way we all do. Remember we are 'Spirit' in a human body and your spirit does retain a memory but it is deep in our subconscious. This memory is retained deeply for a reason to help us fulfill our experiences and challenges we ourselves chose. However it is also at this deep level so we are not so aware. If you knew what lay before you would you go through with it? Probably not but we still retain this memory deeply and this reflects in our Aura.
Q. So what is the Aura?
A.The aura is The Aura is an electromagnetic field that surrounds living bodies, this includes people, animals, plants and crystals and is composed of several layers that are constantly moving. The Aura links us to whats known as Universal energy i.e. that is all the knowledge in the Universe past, present and future. It is on this aura that psychics are able to tap into and access your past, whats going on in the present and the possible future and I say possible specifically if your goal or desire is dependent on other people, for remember every person involved in a situation has free will.