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Lecture - Helen David

Sunday, 18th May 2025

Meditation

Helen began by saying that she has been thinking about this talk for a few weeks and it was when she remembered first moving into her new home that she was looking at the books and videos she had packed. Among them was a video by Shirley McLain about Meditation and she decided to sit and listen to it which sparked her journey into meditation. 

“Shirley explained the Chakra system in all its colour, and it was a very visual image. Then she led a meditation of balancing the Chakras which was also very visual. Shirley encouraged doing an open eye meditation which I find difficult, but I tried however, I went into a deep closed eye meditation where I was taken into a field with very long grass, it was like a corn field. The grass was so high I couldn’t see. It was interesting that you were talking about imagination Val, because this meditation was rather like hypnosis.

Anyway, during the meditation it was suggested that I approach a clearing and I was invited to bring in someone that I had a connection with, someone who had affected me in certain ways that I had never spoken about, so I called my mother in. Now at the time she was in her mid to late sixties and I got the opportunity to talk to her through the power of suggestion in the meditation. I spoke to her about my childhood and how I was hurt by certain things she said and so forth and she listened and when I finished, she was given the opportunity to speak about it. 

And lo and behold, to me it was an eyeopener because I was sharing things with her from my perspective, and what she did was share it from her perspective which was very different. I was really deep in this meditation, but I was aware of what was going on.

I could then invite another person, so I asked my father. I had different reasons for speaking to him and it was again from my perspective and in turn when he spoke, I heard it from his perspective which again was very different.

When I came out of the meditation, I had tears streaming down my face and it wasn’t until later that I learned other aspects of life and I came to understand that not only is meditation a counselling resource but it actually is an expanding of the mind and that it doesn’t matter what you believe or what your perception is, if somebody has a different perception that is how it is for them.

I think that as we go through life we can see this. I think that COVID was the perfect example. For me it was easy because I had already reached the point where I understood that even if you disagree with people, they will have a different perspective, and it is very real to them. What you can do is endeavour to convey to them the reasons why they could look at an issue in a different way. But there are some people you cannot move. It doesn’t matter what you say. And beyond this first experience I think it was probably another eight years before I started doing regular meditation and I have never stopped. 

So, what I have learned through that is that there are various types of meditation and, because my practice is regular and consistent, I have been introduced to different levels of instruction in meditation that expands the consciousness and helps a person to evolve on the soul level as well as on a human level.  I have learned a lot more through the development of intuition but one of the things I have learned is that meditation can also shine a light on yourself. It can help you see that you have issues that you need to look at.

There are many types of meditation. I remember my husband telling me that his meditation was walking the dogs and I have heard that people who jog get in the zone which they think of as a meditative state but there is nothing like getting to a point where you can actually close all the noise off. 

You know there is so much noise around us all the time and I have a busy mind, and I am still trying to get to that state of silence. I always find it easier to follow a structured meditation just as I did with Shirley McLaine. I have recorded some of my own creative meditations as well as listening to the creative meditations of others.

It is a fact that meditation has many practical applications. It helps us to relax our mind and our body therefore it is a great way of destressing.  I think that my life has been very different because of meditation, and I have fortunate to have a lot of time to meditate and the environment so that a daily practice is normal for me.

We are all attracted to doing meditation in different ways. I understand that duality and why we are made the way we are, and it is that we are made of many components, and it is why we leans more towards one thing rather than another.

It all goes to the point of how unique we are. Some people like to meditate by the moon cycles. I know that people use these cycles to plant their seeds and bulbs and other crops at the New Moon. When you do that, you can define your objectives by asking Spirit and, if we do that consistently, it will help expand our minds.

What I have learned also it that meditation is also a tool for expanding our consciousness in such a way that we can move closer to Spirit. When you think about where we have come from our skin is just a covering around us an outward reflection of our inner reality and who we are really is this astral emotional and mental body connected to a physical body.

When we come into this life form, we take on this outer skin. We come in with people who we resemble so, obviously, we have connections to family that is in our DNA, but our real Father created the world through meditation. He created the universe and the life force that flow through us all and that is in our DNA so that gives you a little hint of the potential that is within us to create the world we want to live in and to make it better.

I know that we have had speaker here before talking about what we can create in our lives, so first of all, I want to impress on you that meditation is a counselling source that can effectively be used in helping people. So from a counsellors perspective, using powers of suggestion, that concept of helping people to see different perspectives, of getting them to see the other point of view by giving them the opportunity to talk to an empty chair only, in their meditation, it is not empty because they have put someone in the chair and told them of a time in the past when they were upset by something the other person said or did then, listening to the response from the person in the chair and trying to see it from their perspective. 

Working in this way deepens the intuition over time; it helps in the evolution of your soul and your core life; it serves as a motivating principle as far as setting your intentions and goals are concerned. It also is a way of asking for help from Spirit to achieve those goals. It is another way of shining the light on those things that you need to let go of in order for that to happen.

And I think that when we talk about asking Spirit for help it is a two-way street. There at two sides to every coin and if we are asking for help then we must be prepared to take it whatever it is, and some of that is taking on responsibility for what is to happen. Often the light will shine on those aspects of ourselves that we need to get out of the way so that healing can happen. And sometimes it is our thought forms. Matu talked about how many thoughts we have in one day and it blows my mind that somebody actually worked that out! 

But if we don’t catch those negative thoughts and habits that we have brought through from our childhood or, if no-one points them out and we don’t own them, then we can’t move forward. It is interesting because I found it to be true that, once we become aware that is all it takes to let it go. Sometimes we have to be prepared to do that because we don’t always want to look at those things.

I also want to talk about symbology. I dabble with the cards, not because I do readings, but I have a good sense of energy and identifying energy. I do it through mainly feeling and I have facilitated a few Circles, and in some Circles, I brought in the cards. I have been using the Zen Osho tarot cards ever since.

What we used to do in Circle was take a card and then I would lead people into a meditation to discover what the message from that card was so, to me, this is a deck that is very simplistic, full of colour, just one word on each card, symbology and they are very easy to meditate with.

I found that the wisdom that came out of that group proved to me that the energy is heightened and intensified when people meditate in a group. This is why when we connect in meditation group work, we can make a more emphatic direction of change because the group energy contains all the special individual energies. It is the difference between seeing one person sitting in the MCG and then the cameras pan back, and you see the whole of the MGC filled with people or, in ‘Carols by Candlelight’ when the cameras move back and you see all the flickering candlelight. Instead of one candle you see we are all part of the whole and that makes the connection, one to the other to the other. We are all interconnected.

So, there are quite a number of ways to connect. You can use Oracle cards, some people use the Runes, and we can also use our dreams. I recommend that you keep a journal by your bed so that you can record your dreams and if you use that dream in meditation, you will be surprised what you find out. 

I have studied a Native Chart and the energy of the planets and today we are going to do a meditation using a card that you have chosen.

My mother used to say that I learn so much through watching movies and I totally understand what she was getting at. I remember watching the movie, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and, in the true story, Elizabeth found herself in an ashram in India and she could not stop her mind from wandering as she was trying to meditate but, as she moved through her life, she realized that she was fine as she was. She had the thought, ‘God dwells within me’ and I think that is quite a powerful statement. I do affirmation work and invocations which are like a prayer, a statement. It is as if you are calling out to God. When you are meditating in this format you often get what you need to know. There are many types of cards you can use to help with meditation and affirmations.

So, if God dwells with me then I know that what is happening I can get through it, I have got this, I can manage in all things. I would say that meditation is mostly about the mind, developing the mind, settling the lower mind so that the higher mind and lower mind meet.

It is about the evolution of the soul and the mind connecting as one. It is about opening up to those higher realms, connecting to those higher Spirits, to those who have passed over. This is only because I have been on a journey for so long and it is a discipline. 

The difficulty is that so many people are busy and finding the time presents a problem with all the other things we have to do, looking after the children or grandchildren, work etc. but there is great need for it, and I would love to see meditation in every school. Can you imagine if, at the beginning of every day, meditation was the first thing they did in the classroom? Imagine how the children would be more relaxed, more open to caring for others, less likely to cause problems and perhaps they would find the lessons easier, and they might worry less about things. 

When we go back to our original source and we see how the Creator moved with the space, the solar system, the love that He sent out and the intelligence that primed it, that Light as energy steps out, creating all these light forms and they are again another reflection of another reality. I always think that all this, is an outer reflection of His inner reality.”

 

 

Homily - Val Ollive

Sunday, 18th May 2025

Imagination 

How many of us today remember Lassie, Skippy, The Lone Ranger? Those were the days when children went outside to play, and it was those types of shows which inspired them to use their imagination. However, today it seems to be more about video games, attacking this and that, ( l don’t play them I’ve only watched.) Now that may be good for their reflexes but what about using their imagination. Do they have to use their imagination when it is all in front of them on a screen.

When you look at things from the past children playing, imagining they are going to the moon, which seemed impossible at the time, but it has been done. But where did the first thought come from? l am talking before television or video games. It came from their own imagination/visualization.

So, I ask the question, where and what are the imaginings of the children today. Do they have any thoughts of their own or do they all come from what they see in the world today?

I’m not saying go back to the “good old days” but give the children the chance to be a child with all their own thoughts, not ones delivered to them on a screen. For not only will they be communicating with one another face to face, they will be connecting energetically and spiritually, probably without even realizing it.

I’m speaking about young children where they are still learning how to be in the world, the older children are connecting through live music shows which is great as music is a language on its own, but have the older children missed out on the joy of being a child with a great imagination rather than a view of the world through a screen.

I suppose the reminder here is we are here to learn how to be of service to one another and to do that we have to connect physically, face to face for that to happen. Just a thought.  

 

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