Helping Children Find Their Way In The Dark

As children we were taken into dreamland as our parents read us fairytales and tucked us up in bed. We were taken to a land full of adventure and challenges.

The fairy tales were often about overcoming or surviving an experience that tested the main characters resilience.

In Little Red Riding Hood she had to deal with the wolf pretending to be something that he is not. In Snow White she had to deal with a stepmother that was jealous of her beauty in Hansel and Gretel the children had to confront abandonment by their own parents.

Its ironic that although fairy stories were read with delight and wonder, when a child screamed for their parent at night to save them from the boogie man under the bed or the troll in the cupboard, most parents would reply by saying ‘ see, darling there is nothing there, its just your imagination’ and parents have been known to threaten their children by saying ‘ if your naughty the boogey man will get you’. The bogeyman was common in folklore around the world and these otherworldly presences could be seen through the child’s eyes and could take any shape or form depending on the child’s fears.

We were told as children that fairies were real and some of us even had fairy tea parties and as children we knew they were real, we didn’t just believe, we knew. We even had the tooth fairy come and bring us a gift under our pillow, something our parents supported. At Xmas eve we rushed up to bed to sleep and wondered if we would see Santa as we had been encouraged to leave food out for him and to be good otherwise there would be no presents.

As children we were encouraged to see the ‘otherworld’ as real and a wonderful land of adventure and our imagination flourished. We connected deeply to the archetypal stories. It has been often said that children are closer to the world of spirit e.g.: like seeing fairies. As we get older that world of fantasy and imagination is thumped out of us by the so called ‘Real World’. We grow up ignoring the fear of the bogeyman in the cupboard (mine was actually under the bed, I used to take a leap and tuck my feet in tight) as we were told ‘its not real’.

What our parents didn’t have the insight or knowledge to help us work with our fears rather than push them into the unconscious. The first vampire movie I ever saw. I remember sitting between my fathers legs and holding his hand as I watched the black and white vampire movie. He would say ‘go to bed’ and I would be afraid so I wouldn’t go. When I finally went to bed with the sheets up at my chin I fell into a dream where all I saw was Dracula’s face and his teeth poking out trying to bit me. I screamed aloud and my mother came in to reassure me that it wasn’t real and I was safe. For many years onward I was frightened of the dark and always had the sheets up to my chin. The reassurance that it wasn’t real did nothing to curb my fears as in my reality IT WAS REAL.

Whether these experiences are seen as imagination or not, for a child whatever world they are experiencing is real and for someone to tell them its not doesn’t help to allay their fears.

If the child was an adult or young adult they would be told that they are having hallucinations or delusions, but if it’s a young child we just call it imagination.

Whatever the experience is ‘it feels real’. So we must treat it as such and like Little Red Riding hood or the witch in Hansel and Gretel, we need be resourceful and find out ways that we can overcome the witch, the wolf etc and the challenges they bring.

Many years ago a daughter of my friend was having great trouble sleeping and when she finally fell into some sleep she experienced nightmares that depicted her dead grandmother coming to visit her. She was terrified and still felt the presence when she awoke. She then refused to sleep in her own bedroom and would sleep in her mother’s bed every night.

My friend called me for support. I shared with her that it was best to teach her daughter how to communicate with what she was experiencing. I came and burnt sage in the room, played the medicine drum and asked her daughter to do this with me with strong intent. I also encouraged her to negotiate with the spirit of her grandmother and tell her that she loved her but she was being scared and asked that she didn’t come to her like that. She slept soundly from then on.

Many children don’t know what to do with these beings that they experience and rather than telling them that its not real you can help them negotiate with what is disturbing them

Simple questions can be asked:

• What is your name?

• What have you come to teach me?

• Play around, use the imagination, and encourage your child to use their imagination to work this out.

• Thank whatever being came to visit be it scary or no. It could just be in the wrong place…e.g. if it were a goblin it would do better in the woods in a far away land with some fairies?

Then support your child in imagining a beautiful white light and send the being off to wherever seems best for its wellbeing with a loving heart.

from working title 'Once upon a time'
copyrightby Odette Nightsky 2009

Working with the Voices

(Hawk Medicine: Messengers from spirit)

Last night as I watched the news there was a report on mental illness and its treatment. They showed a man who had turned his life around regarding getting medication for his 'incurable' illness 'schizophrenia'. Interesting that the mental health media only seems to show people who work well on medication which is only a minority of people. I find that the majority of people I have met who have been diagnosed share that they are very unhappy with the medicated and the feeling that someone has control over their life and their choices. Even on meds, many still hear voices and have strong feelings of paranoia and added to that they are so squashed by the medication that they are depressed a great deal of the time and when they complain the only option is for another medication. Many feel owned by the system and trapped in a a no win situation as the system keeps passively implying that you will never recover from this 'disease'.

I know it seems like nothing has changed much in years gone by regarding mental health treatment but there is movement that is slowly getting recognition step by step and inch by inch... The 'Hearing Voices Network' is spreading more world wide. Mental health bodies have been encouraged by consumer bodies to acknowledge this pathway, which leads into a more holistic viewpoint that acknowledges the individual, validates peoples personal and spiritual experience's and recognises the acutely sensitive persons need for dialogue and working with the experience rather than suppressing whats happening. Below is a story of a man who was diagnosed and medicated but found a way to work with his inner world and has now found a balance in his life. Blessings Odette

I talk back to the voices in my head

by Dean Smith, Saturday April 4 2009, The Guardian:

I was working as a holiday rep in Brittany 15 years ago when I started hearing voices. I was in my mid-20s and thought it was my mates mucking about. I looked inside and outside the flat to see where they were. It felt really scary, because the voices were saying stuff like, "Right, you're having it" and, "We'll get you in the end."

Over the next four days, the voices taunted me more and more, and I became depressed and paranoid. I had a strong desire to be with my family - I had no money, but I got back to my mum and dad's house in Stockport by hitchhiking and dodging fares. The train journey was particularly harrowing: the voices convinced me everyone was talking about me.

My family were brilliant. My mum used to care for my auntie, who had mental health issues, so she had some insight, and my dad was very patient with me. My visits to the GP were less successful - I was put on antidepressants and, when they didn't work, antipsychotics. They didn't work either, and by now I was regularly hearing three, one laughing in a wicked kind of way, the other two using abusive and threatening language.

The voices got me down so much that I started self-harming. I wound up getting sectioned several times. I was put on heavy medication and encouraged to spend my days playing games with the other patients - anything to distract the voices. Each time, I'd come out being a fantastic Scrabble or blackjack player, but none the wiser about the voices.

Ten years ago, at 29, I was told I had paranoid schizophrenia. Friends - well, people I thought were friends - immediately associated the diagnosis with knife-wielding murderers. A lot of them stopped having anything to do with me. I realised I'd been given a label that comes with a huge stigma and a prescription of potent, but in my case useless, medication.

I remained keen to find out about innovative treatments, and finally, at a mental health seminar, I heard a speaker talk about an approach advocated by growing numbers of mental health professionals that involves people engaging with the voices inside their head. He was from the Hearing Voices Network and I agreed to visit him. He said I should be frank and uncompromising with the voices. If they told me to self-harm, I should just say no. "If anyone else told you to put your finger in the fire, you wouldn't, so why act on what they say?" he said. He added that if I wanted to know why they were there, I should ask them, and if I wanted them to go away, I should tell them. It was so simple, but it made so much sense.

I took his advice, questioning them, challenging them and even cutting them off if I didn't have time to talk to them. I'd say things like, "I'm watching TV now, I'll talk to you later" or "Why exactly do you think I deserve it when bad things happen to me? You can't answer that, can you?" Sometimes I'd do it in my head; other times out loud. I began to recognise the voices as representing the negative feelings I had about myself, and that alone helped me feel less frightened of them. It's not that they aren't real, but they ceased to have the power over me they did. I began to realise they couldn't carry out their threats.

Now they bother me a lot less and, when they do, I'm in control of the conversations. I'll still talk out loud to them if I feel like it, even if I'm on the bus or in the street. I get some funny looks, but I don't mind.

Recently another voice appeared, but this one is positive and happy, sounding like me as a young teenager. He's mischievous, but funny, and I quite enjoy chatting with him.

I'm off medication now and have been discharged from mental health services. I've got my own place and have a girlfriend, and I train nurses and mental health staff in helping others to engage with their voices. The fact that I can speak with genuine understanding means I usually have a captive audience. I also work with people who hear voices, getting them to understand the benefits of talking back.

I've learned that my voices themselves are not a problem. It's my relationship with them that's important. Facing them and working with them has changed my life and made me feel optimistic about it instead of scared.

Case Studies with Sensitive Plant

I will be working with this plant for the next year. If you are interested in purchasing the essence and being part of a case study. Please email me.


Sensitive Plant

Mimosa, Bashful Plant.
Mimosa Pudica

This herb would be one of the most fascinating and captivating plants we can grow, just touching the plant makes the leaflets, instantly close up, with the leaflets folding together, on the topside. If the touching is boisterous, the stems will collapse at the axial node and will lie limp for 10 minutes or longer. Windy weather will also close the leaves as will excess noise. Several years ago when teaching a herb course where building earth works were taking place close by. It was observed that while the noisy machinery was in progress, the sensitive plant stayed completely closed. When the workmen finished the plant sighed with relief and opened up. Plants also close up to sleep at night.

Medicinal Uses

In Hawaii and other tropical countries where mimosa grows it has been a revered folk remedy with a long history of use as a powerful healer of the central nervous system, as well as having a remarkable effect on correcting many ailments of the body. In some areas of North Queensland, the plant has grown, seeded, spread and become a despised weed, because of the sharp thorns. However, very few people have ever heard the valuable therapeutic properties of the plant.

Dr John Whitman Ray founder of Body Electronics, who worked in the cook island, stressed the importance of a healthy central nervous system. It is vital that our nervous system be in good working condition, for the rest of the body with its many intricate parts and functions, to work efficiently.

As the central nervous system comprises the brain and the spinal cord which effect all the nerves that branch to every part of the body, the sensitive plant can therefore have and effect on all of the body.

Hawaiian medicine men say the whole plant can be taken for maximum benefit, with the flowers used for brain clarity, leaves for central nervous system disorders and the steam and roots for the digestive systems, intestines, for fluid retention and to stimulate the kidneys.

People who drink the leaf tea regularly have observed reduced symptoms of stress, lowering of high blood pressure , restful sleep and relief from shingles. Parkinson’s disease and other ailments that effect the nervous system. Some people taking the herb found that as the nervous system strengthened, grey hair returned to its original color. Asians observed the plant folded to sleep at night and believed that placing a few leaves under the pillow of a child would give a good nights sleep to the child and for all in the household.

Leaves are also made as a flower essence and taken for the uses mentioned above. The essence is found particularly effective for conditions of mental and nervous stress, and people who are easily upset. The simile used, when referring to a person as a being ‘as sensitive as a mimosa’ becomes a very meaningful saying, when we grow a plant and see how sensitive the leaves are to being touched. Then when we start to comprehend, the profound power of the plant, to help overly sensitive people, we will also realize that this mimosa plant can play a significant role in ‘like cures like’ in the realm of natural healing.

Even touching the leaves of a plant , seems to have a marked calming consequence. This soothing effect can have a calming action in households where siblings bicker and tease. Have a potted sensitive leaf plant for each child and send them to the plant each time a fight erupts, to play with the plant. Or better still, suggest to the child who starts the teasing to go and visit their plant, to divert the quarrel. Tell the child that the plant can help them to be calm, poised and more loving. Children and adults are fascinated by the sensitive action of the plant when touched. The flowers may be eaten and look novel as a garnish on a meal

How to use herbs in your daily life
Author: Isabel Shipard.

Time in the City

Every time I come to the city my sensitive levels go up in absorption…big time…

this is why I cant live here, it ok to come for a short period of time as I know its going to come to an end and I must admit I do get a lot of insights while I’m here.


The Trains

Travelling through the tunnels of darkness in smelly graffiti metallic worms. I really hate these metal worms, they are so ugly and there is not an inch of pride in the city trains, they are just functional and always smell. There is no air conditioning and every ones un cleaned armpits hover over the urine toilet cleaner vibe.

Funnily enough the people I find best to approach and ask for directions are the little vulnerable old ladies who, to me at least are most kind. I didn’t appreciate the guy at the end of the pay ticket exit hitting everyone up, including me for four dollars, I could feel his parasite like energy beaming with the smoky glass look of death in his eyes. I had to psychically blow him off me with my breath. Im sure I looked a bit odd doing a few passes and flicks over my body, but hey who cares, I’m the one that has to carry that shit with me if I don’t do my ritual that does help me on a psychic level

I can see why so many people are plugged into their own IPod program, as it sort of keeps you in your own world whilst you are in a metal worm with others.

The Streets

I probably walk more in the city than I seem to in the country – and although when I first arrive I cruise at a gentle pace, its not long before I am moving as quickly as everyone else and getting irritated when people are moving too slow. I walk down a street that shouts a sign ‘street camera’s are here for your safety’ I suddenly feel not so safe at all!


Houses/Apartments

I have never been claustrophobic but when I look at all the houses, the apartments, and terrace houses. I imagine if they have a garden at all and when I do imagine it, all I can see is it being surrounded by fences and other peoples windows that can see into your private world however small a bit of green it might be. In the room that I am staying as a guest. I look out the window to a touch of blue sky and mostly a red brick wall with a window with bars on it. I hear the neighbours like they were in the same room having a party as I try to fall asleep, not far off the sound of doof music thumps away. I grab my IPod and attempt to relax in my own world as I drift off to sleep. Not that easy though as I am a guest in a house with many old memories and I begin to pick up on images and feelings that are not my own. I have to reconnect to the source and go deeper inside myself so as I don’t become too absorbent to what the house memories ooze out.

Money

Well its disappearing faster than I can hold it. And really what have I spent it on? As I have nothing to show for it. I just bought a juice and sat down on a comfy cushion chair and read the papers (which by the way brought no comfort…should have just gone to the cartoon section!). I was given a bottle of tap water and then charged $6.50 for one of the most crappy tasting juices, and am not even sure is was real juice! I am always thirsty in the city and even if I take my own bottle of water (heavy as it is) I always need more and so I always have to buy more.


City Vibe

I find myself zeroing in on everyone’s energy and comparing myself to the more fashionable women, getting overwhelmed by what I call ‘Mall Drain’. I feel zapped from the flueresant lighting (and just recently I saw a report that said by the end of this year all normal bulbs will be replaced by fluresants….I may be living by candlelight….) I feel a massive sensory overload. Because of my sensitivity, I become very self protective and if a man stares at me and I don’t like what I feel I hear a voice inside me say ‘And what the fuck are you looking at?!’ In that moment I put out a stare and a vibe that says ‘Fuck off!!’ (it often works). Funny how protective a sensitive person can get and how hard we try to appear. What a total illusion that is! In that way I am very protective but it doesn’t help in keeping my heart open. In most cases I am trusting my gut instinct with the feeling of ‘warning, warning’ but I don’t have to be so vicious with my reaction to protect myself as I know the best protection is a open loving heart. I am still learning ☺

The Park

I wish there was a place in the city you could go to when you feel overwhelmed and lie down for a while and have a snooze. I don’t feel safe to have a snooze in this park that I’m in…not in the city. As I sit on a bench I hear the noise of a busy world everywhere. Cars, talking, shouting,sirens, airplanes, trains, buses, motorcars, construction etc. I sit with the pigeons and not far on the other side of the park are the some homeless people warming up in the sun and a few suits with their coffee and papers taking a moment from the office. All looking for space in their own way.



Benefits.


Tree’s: Even though I felt I couldn’t sleep in the park I did sit under a few tree’s to write in my journal and after doing both the writing and connecting with the nature part of the city I did feel quite a bit calmer and more myself. The botanical gardens and Hyde park has some lovely trees….a tree always helps to ground me . The older the better.

Churches: Although I am not religious in any way I have found through my life that I really do love churches. I do not agree with what is preached majority of the time but the building itself was modelled on the original church which was the forest, the place were people would gather to worship pre Christianity. The architecture shows us in the ceiling of some churches how the trees would join together to host those who wanted to connect and honour ‘All That Is’.

I find them very peaceful places (if you can find one that’s open of course!) and it gives me time to reflect. Its easy for me because I have no horrible history with religion and I can just appreciate the beauty and sanctuary state is was originally meant to be. I often think of the movie ‘The Sound of Music’ where they were hiding in the church as a place of sanctuary. It is sad what man has done with the concept of sanctuary as it should include all people of all walks of life, however I still like churches and the peace I feel when I need some space in a busy city.


Ferries: If you have a pension card (ok don’t ask me how I have one as I am not on a pension) the government here offers you a all day ticket of $2.50 on all buses, trains and ferries. The ferry rides are a wonderful bargain. Now there is a really nice way to get some space. You can go back and forth on all the local ferry rides. Yes I know that includes tourists but they are generally happy folk on holiday and I don’t mind being surrounded by different speaking cultures. I just sit back on the top deck of the ferry and breathe in the salt air watch the water and look and the fabulous harbour of Sydney. So much space….I can breathe again.

After coming home to my beloved bed and comforting sleep I awoke to sunrise on the beach and plunged myself into the waters, walked home and saged myself and did a little energy clearing and a bit of recapitulation.....

Would love to hear your suggestions of how you find your peace in the cities or what you really find difficult in being in the city.
So come over to sensitiveservices.ning.com and share.

Bright Blessings
Odette

Attachments

I asked spirit before I went to sleep last night for help. The back pain and the migraine was so painful it blocked me from working with spirit, working with my inner strenghth. I dreamed of people invading my house, people I did not know coming in the windows and the doors. I shouted for them to get out very loudly. Then on the outside of the house they all were gathered and the cat that I share was crushed during them getting out on mass. He was in a state of rigamortis. Beside me was a vet, a kind man. I begged him to do something. He gave mouth to mouth to the cat and after three attempts the cat sprang back to life (cat represents intuition and abilities of the psyche). I awoke this morning with that message and now I about to walk in nature and sit and do the 'Meditation for Sensitives' from my book. I realise that I absorbed much from the funeral, not just on an empathetic level but also many fragements on a psychic level.

Now the pain of my head and my back have subsided (left side still a bit dodgy) I feel like I can now focus on what is attached to my psyche.

Would love to hear how you deal with your inner challenges.

Just Like A Radio Reciever With Feelings

I am aware that just before I start to go down the tunnel of darkness that I become very sensitive to noise and things out of order.

I sat by the river yesterday and all the sounds of nature were comforting, but the sounds of civilisation grates on my nerves when I am feeling wide open.

I went to a funeral just recently and the emotions were very strong as this young man could not walk this life anymore. I hugged many people who were sad and sang a Celtic blessing, which brought up many of my own emotions regarding losing my brother four years ago. When I came home I felt separate and not connected at all. I started to get migraine and felt angry that no-one called me to ask ‘are you ok' or 'how are you feeling’. I felt rejected. I was rejecting myself. I felt like I should have done better, more, wasn’t enough, not in regard to the man passing, just in regard to me and my life all over.

As I sat by the river in the early morning and wrote in my journal I realised that at the moment I am not feeling connected to humanity but at the same time I cant stop feeling the collective.

I am feeling disconnected from myself from the greater whole. Like a radio receiver I can pick up on so much of others peoples issues, pain, confusion and then I get left with the energetic's because I am and have always been like a radio receiver. At times like these I watch myself close off, close down. I don’t answer the phone, I pretend I am not here, and I only feel safe at night.

In the daylight I feel too exposed. I noticed that this is my protection wall going up. I get feelings of insecurity that I am not important and if I disappeared no one would really care. These are the thoughts of my inner child, my inner insecurity coming up to be seen. I have insight enough to know that this is a process that I go through and I will come out the other side but the feeling of disconnection is great.

Its weird, as it’s a disconnection I also feel far too connected to everything outside of me as well. I am unable to turn the radio receiver off. The cover of the radio is gone and even the little bits of dust that fall from the atmosphere feel heavy on me (right now there is a plane flying low overhead and I feel its noise is inside me). My back is in pain (not feeling supported) and all my left side is out of alignment (female side)During this time I pick up on the fears of humanity. The fears of no money, fears of the future in all ways. One look at some program of loss or pain and I have absorbed it and am weeping in empathy. When I am in balance I have compassion but I stay in my own energy strength.

Now as I write this I can feel what I call my wise self observing all this fear and need for connection from the outside. I know the true connection comes from within and I realise I am so full of conflicting feelings that I am unable to receive the connection to spirit that fills my cup. I have major resistance.

At times like these I expect a lot of myself and I know the first step is to ‘forgive myself’ .

How do I go about doing that?

Step into the feminine and talk to my inner child in a compassionate and loving way for it is she who is angry right now, it is she who is saying give me attention, but if you don’t give it to me when I needed it then I’m not going to talk to you and put a wall up. I sage myself every day and do my best to move beyond my resistance, pratice some recapitulation and take a walk in nature at some point during the early day of late eve. I can understand why some people have great resistance to leaving home and going out in the world but once in nature a quiet space I am glad I went out. I need to allow myself to go through this. The only way I recover from the dark tunnel is to go through it and out the otherside. There is no other way for me as that’s the path where I learn the most.

The senses

Hear: irritation to noise and sounds and different frequency tones
See: I see things out the corners of my eyes and have trouble focusing on things
Taste: I crave for sugar and salt
Touch: want to be touched. Don’t want to be touched and sometimes feel spirit touching my head and then I burst into tears

My senses go into alert. I can feel every pain, twitch, itch irritation in my body. My liver is hot and I get headaches so I drink mint tea to cool it down and take vitamin Bs. I wish for a dark rainy day so I can disappear would you believe I can see a dark greay rain cloud out there in the sky scince I began to write, the thought of it brings comfort.....strange :)

I feel like I am every so slowly walking out of it….but its step by step and kindness to myself is a big key. It also good for me to write my feelings down and today I thought to share them with you and maybe you would like to email and share with me too.

Its good to share.

PS. On another note the website will be back up around the 23rd march and things are progressing nicely on that front. Will keep you posted re the new things for this year.

Thankyou for reading, for letting me share, it helps me to reconnect.

Blessings on your journey both within and without

Come and share on sensitiveservices.ning.com

Walking into 2009

Well I burst into this new year with a wonderful download from spirit as I spent most of the night in nature under a ruby diamond night sky. I was overwhelmed with what came through and am still downloading and will be for a while to come.

I am sorting many things this month (my main website will be under construction) and would also like to invite you to come and share your sensitive views at



www.sensitiveservices.ning.com
and head to 'mypage' or just take a wander around.

Would love to have you join us there. There is already a subject up for discussion.

Strong Bear Medicine came through for this year and so I am embracing the qualites of this beautiful being who was my first power animal when I began my shamanic training many years ago and has come back again to walk with me.

What medicine walks with you this year? Bring your heart towards your spirit and recieve the medicine of your soul.

I'll be back soon
Blessings and gentleness to you and your beloveds
Odette