The Magical World of Tylluan Penry

Firstly a big thank you to my blogfriends for your birthday wishes and posts. It was really kind of you and very much appreciated.

I had a great birthday - the weather stayed fine, which meant I got to sit in the garden in my arbour almost all day..... I had a beautiful set of books from Mr Penry which should keep me reading from now until January...and the family were able to visit and we could enjoy a birthday meal (not to mention some wine ) together.

There's definitely something to be said for summer days, but only when you're not stuck indoors doing a job you hate! The first sign of summer we all need a little time in our spiritual garden to sit, smell the lavender and roses, and dream...how do you like to spend summer days?

There's only one word for today's weather - Glorious!

So I'm off into the garden, then!

Homer our Bassett Hound, hasn't been the same since the Dark Knight Batman film came out. You see he has a mark on his back that looks exactly like the Batman logo, and being a Bassett has decided that Christian Bale probably modelled his performance on him!

Now of course he is looking for the Joker. Will it be Ben? Well, Homer would like it to be Ben, because he's always good for a laugh, but Ben isn't so keen....

Ben considers himself to be the Love God, so there's no way he's going to be the Joker too.

And Barney 'I'm Welsh you know' is going through a very serious phase

and simply isn't interested. The only thing that might tempt him is a bag of cookies, but Homer keeps pinching them off him.

So that leaves only the Dowager Duchess Florence....

and believe me, it would be a brave dog indeed who trusted her to play the Joker!

So at the moment there's a lot of plotting and scheming going on, and Homer whizzing around on his short little legs going 'Dara dara dara dara Batman!'

I think we're in for a very interesting weekend!

I'm not sure what set me off thinking on this, but maybe it's the fact that sometimes the news is so horrible that I vow never to read another newspaper again.

Now I know there are certain groups out there that just love the word evil. The media loves it because it makes a great headline...Evil yobs do this... evil hoodies do that... and some of the things they describe are so horrific that yes, the word evil is probably right. But there are other times when I think the word has been overused, to the point that it loses much of its meaning.

So what is evil? Is there really more of it about now than there used to be? Does it matter?

Start talking about evil and it makes many pagans, particularly Wiccans, a bit uncomfortable. THis is because when some people (notably the religious types) start talking about evil, what they mean is witchcraft and the devil. Now I'm a witch but like most of my kind I don't believe in a devil. Not the figure with horns and hooves and a nasty little trident for prodding people as they roast in the eternal flames.

Why? Because when Christianity ousted the earlier pagan faiths (of which there were many strands, not just one) it appropriated sacred sites and even some deities (Brigid the goddess became St Brigid for example) and Christianised them. That was the easy bit.

But some deities weren’t so easy to assimilate, so these had to be demonised. And the pagan Horned God (who goes by many names, but the most popular nowadays are Herne and Cernunnos) became the Devil (Satan, Lucifer. Beelzebub etc.)

That's not to say I don't believe in evil. I do. There is great good in the world, great evil, and an awful lot of middling stuff too. But for me the biggest problem with believing in a devil is that it's an easy cop out. When someone has committed a horrible crime and says ‘The Devil made me do it,’ it’s just a way of denying their own guilt. A way of saying 'look, I'm a good person who just had a bad day.'

Now for me this is where we run into a few problems. Do good people do evil things? Or are evil actions confined to only evil people? And what exactly constitutes evil anyway?

For me, doing something evil means doing something outside the normal realms of ‘bad.’ It's something so alien to our natures that it shouldn’t come easily to us. An evil act is so far outside the norm it is impossible to justify (although that doesn't stop people trying). That’s why oppressive regimes first begin by demonising and dehumanising the enemy, because then the normal rules of society no longer apply.

And this, in my paranoid moments makes me panic when people still demonise people like me - pagans, witches etc. Just what are they planning, I wonder?

If you think you've seen an Unidentified Flying Object and are trying to eliminate the more mundane explanations a good site to visit is called Heavens Above. This lists all known satellites and gives maps of their orbits and when they are passing overhead etc.

Having had another look at these today, whatever I saw last night, I don't think it was the ISS satellite, as it was moving in the wrong direction.

Interesting stuff!

Rather strange, actually. There I was, out in our street, at 10.45pm waving goodbye to one of my daughters and her husband who had come to spend the day with us and were just leaving for home. It was a beautiful night sky, no sign of the moon where we were, but a lovely clear sky with a few streaks of light pearly cloud. I'd already pointed out a few stars and planets and then.... I saw it.

Now I'm not saying it was filled with little green men or greys, but it was definitely a UFO in the sense I haven't got a clue what it was; it could therefore reliably be classed as unidentified and it was definitely flying.

It was flying quite low, approaching from the south and then heading south east towards Pontypridd. It made no noise. It left no vapour trail that I could see (and I think in that sky I might have seen something.) It had no flickering lights as you usually see on airoplanes (and indeed I could see on other planes in the sky at the same time.) This was nothing like them.

It was just a large, white ball of light. Like a planet on the move. It flew slowly, but smoothly. No aerobatics or anything fancy.

My other daughter saw it too, so I know it wasn't the gin

I don't know what it is lately, but there are never enough hours in the day. Maybe Global warming is speeding up the clocks or something.

And talking of clocks, we are still having some spooky problems with one of ours. It will only work when it is showing the wrong time - otherwise it stops at the same time every day. Weird or what?

Apart from that we have had a ghostly appearance of smoke out in the kitchen. No, I didn't burn the toast. This was weird, it appeared to be coming in short puffs (almost like someone smoking) near one of the kitchen windows. It would last about 15 - 20 seconds and appear every 30 secs - 2mins. This went on for over an hour and several people saw it.

We investigated all sorts of ideas as to where it could come from. It only happened (as far as we know) on one day. But all the same, very peculiar!

As a welcome break from being up to my eyes in Mandrakes (well, on paper at least!) two of my daughters decided to take me to the cinema to see Mamma Mia. It was great fun, and was the only film I've ever been to see where everyone was still in their seats when the lights came on again. Apparently some viewings have had the audience singing along too, but I went early in the morning (probably so I didn't embarrass my daughters with my terrible laugh. It's been known to make strong men shudder...)

Anyway, the final draft is almost done, just a little bit of cleaning up now, sorting out the glossary and the index and I'm done. It's a great feeling! Now for the next book.... Mamma Mia, here I go again....

Nearly finished the book.... am just doing the final draft of the final chapter. After that I've got to go through it and clean it up a bit (looking for typos etc) and then send it off.

I still can't quite believe it's all coming to an end... I wonder what I'll write next?

Yet more apologies for not being around much lately - it's just that I'm trying to get my new book finished.... it's dragging on now yet I'm nearly there.

I do keep dropping in and trying to catch up with your blogs and comments, only I'm not doing very well at the moment... sorry about this.

I am so preoccupied it's getting ridiculous. Yesterday I went out and only when I came home did I discover I was wearing odd shoes!

Mention the word ‘elf’ nowadays and mostly one has the impression of kindly pixies living in fly agaric mushrooms, eating berries and occasionally helping shoemakers with their workload. Or Legolas or Galadriel in Lord of the rings.

Centuries ago however, people regarded elves as the implacable enemy, always present, ever watchful, constantly hostile to mankind.

Country dwellers named the small flint arrowheads found in so many sites around UK and elsewhere ‘elf shot’ believing they were used to attack people.

The term ‘elf shot’ can also refer to any sudden illness in man or beast. If it couldn’t be explained readily, the elves, mankind’s traditional enemies, were blamed.

The original meaning of the OE ælf is ‘shining, white’ (the OE word for swan ‘ælfitu’ comes from the same root)

And before anyone asks, 'Well where can we get a mole at this time of night?' let me explain. The book is nearing the end. In spite of yesterday's post I am trying to keep a lid on all the new information that keeps popping up whenever I think I've read and researched everything I can get my hands on.

Yesterday's problem was all my own fault. I had been to Hay, the town on books, and discovered a book I have been after for years, Grigson's 'An Englishman's Flora.' I've heard about it of course, because just about anyone with my sort of interests is bound to come across it sooner or later, but when I read it I thought 'Rats! I've left stuff out!'

Only actually, I hadn't. My book really is the way I want it to be. So today I got on with finishing the final edit and then sat out in the miniscule amount of sunshine that came our way today.

Of course, I also managed to get drenched, as did the washing....

Just when I thought my book was almost finished, I discover some other things I want to put in it.... this means revising a few chapters yet again. It's awfully tempting to simply leave it as it is (it's a huge book anyway) but then I feel I'd be cheating.

Researching a book is an endless task sometimes, but I've promised myself these will be the last additions. It's got to finish somewhere!

So it's back to the grind - and apologies for not being around much these last few days...

I have just joined the crew of the Black Pearl... I just hope I won't be required to walk the plank any time soon.

While everyone else is off pillaging and firing cannons etc., I am off to check on my anti-mermaid charms as I have a strong feeling we may be needing them... well, you never know....!

Today I want to look at two other possible causes of psychic attack. The first is where people bring the attack on themselves - they may not even know they're doing it, but it can be quite scary.

Sometimes the problem starts off small... you might be a negative sort of person, always looking for the worst in others, never expecting anything good to happen. Little by little you damage your auric field (I'll explain about that in a minute!) and eventually you end up hexing yourself. It's not only other people's negativity that causes problems; we can harm ourselves, too!

Now, about the auric field. This is one of those terms that is very useful but badly defined. Ask ten people, you’ll probably get 10 different explanations. Here’s what I mean when I talk about the auric field. It is the physical and etheric body combined. That means your physical (i.e. flesh and blood) body, plus the etheric/aura that surrounds it. Not everyone can see the aura. And even people who can often see it differently.

The easiest things is to think of it as an outer glow around us –a protective shell. And when we’re very negative, we damage it.

The damage (in this case in the form of criticism) starts off as the odd pinhole, - over the years these tiny holes get bigger and join up and suddenly you’ve got a hole the size of a rugby ball.

Then what happens? Any similar negative influences in the vicinity… and there are always a couple of them floating around – get attracted to this damaged area and latch onto it. You’ve invited them in. And then you’ve got problems.

The final group is actually quite rare. This is where an entity from the Other World is hostile to you. It often (though not always) accounts for the negative atmosphere we sense in some places. The cause might be a spirit who has become grounded, and is stuck between worlds, unable or unwilling to move on. It can cause a range of unpleasant but unspecified aches and pains and vague feelings of being unwell.

Interestingly it often happens near water or in damp houses. This could be because water conducts psychic activity. These sort of psychic attacks down normally harm you all that much, they just wear you down.

In my next post on this subject, I'm going to look at ways of dealing with psychic attacks.

Regular readers of this blog will know I am fond of posting 'It could only happen in Wales' stories. Such as the man who reckoned he saw an alligator in Swansea near Tescos, or the man whose wife burned his kilt. Today I spotted another little gem in the Daily Mail.

Basically, someone dials 999 and...

Control Room: Hiya Butt, wassa marra then?'South Wales Police, what's your emergency?'

Caller: 'It's not really. I just need to inform you that across the mountain there's a bright stationary object.'

Control room: 'Right.'

Caller: 'If you've got a couple of minutes, perhaps you could find out what it is? It's been there at least half an hour and it's still there.'

Control: 'It's been there for half an hour. Right. Is it actually on the mountain or in the sky?'

Caller: 'It's in the air.' Ever so high

Control: 'I will send someone up there now to check it out.' (I have never ever met anyone who was promised an immediate response. Instead if the caller was lucky, he might have heard 'Probably nothing, mate. Tell you what, when we've finished picking up drunks we'll call by and have a look at it.')

Caller: 'OK.'
The mystery was soon solved, as the exchange between control and an officer sent to the scene makes clear.

Control: 'Alpha Zulu 20, this object in the sky, did anyone have a look at it?'

Officer: 'Yes, it's the Moon. Over.'

This isn't as mad as it sounds. Shortly after the London Ungerground attacks of the 7th July, the police, the fire brigade and who knows who else all packed into my little road which peters out into the mountainside. It went on for hours and all the neighbours were out (including Yours Truly, of course).

Apparently (I kid you not) someone reckoned an airoplane/UFO/Saddam Hussein had landed on the mountain.

I've always liked Oscar Wilde's 'We are all of us in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars' quote, but here's an even better one from the great writer:

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

Today I had planned to write the third part of my talk on psychic self defence, but alas, the best laid plans of mice and men etc......

I shall do my best to catch up again tomorrow!

All my good intentions went west today in a deluge of rain.... now in my part of the world we know all about rain, basically because it rains most of the time. Today started off so nicely, a little streak of sunshine lighting up the mountains, making me think I could dry some washing and all that sort of thing.

It wasn't too bad until about 2pm. A few light showers, a fine drizzle, the air felt washed and clean. And then the heavens opened. Thunder, lightning.... torrential rain that hurt your skin (I know I was out in it at one point....) It was so bad that it tore up some of the tarmac on the main road.

And did the cars slow down as the roads flooded? Of course not. Some drivers put their foot down and tried to race through it. And even our new, multi-million/billion pound bypass flooded (interestingly, the old road never did. Must be progress )

So all my plans to work on my book, catch up (again) on the blog etc., went by the wayside. Instead I spent time drying clothes, hair, handbag etc.

Now I'm shivering and cold. So after a wee tot of whiskey hot honey and lemon I'm off to bed.

Shall catch up with you again tomorrow!

[This is the second of a series of posts based on the talk I gave at Witchfest Wales 08 on June 21st.]

Well, we've looked at the signs of a psychic attack. The next thing - and you move to this stage only when you're certain that it is a psychic attack - is to find out what sort of attack it is. In my own experience there are four main types.

Group 1. This is the unintentional attack, usually due to people who simply can’t let go of things. They lie awake at night seething; they talk and think about slights and injuries that often are really pretty trivial. The trouble with these attacks is that you can get caught in the crossfire. They're the most common type of attack and you can’t always be sure that you were the original intended target. This sometimes makes it difficult to identify your attacker.

Group 2. This is the intentional attack from a person who really does wish you harm. It’s more focussed and has a better chance of hitting the intended victim. It’s also more likely to harm you than the other groups. The amount of damage depends on the skill of the hexer. But be warned - it can be considerable.

The methods used can vary - a popular one is conveyed by constant criticism. It may not start out as a psychic attack, but it can certainly end up as one. Remember the old saying, ‘Sticks and stones may hurt my bones but words will never hurt me?’ Rubbish.

Words do a great deal of harm – they force someone else’s negativity onto us. They can drain our energy to the point where we no longer have the will or strength to fight back. And then we’re really vulnerable.

Another method is using some sort of object to convey the hex. Something that appears to be a ‘gift’ may in fact be a means of control to enforce a psychic connection. The object can be almost anything, metal or crystal… think of the curse on the Hope Diamond … Speaking from my own experience, the most powerful attacks come with leather, fur, wood – basically anything that has once had life. Because if it once had life you can reanimate it.

One of my first encounters with a psychic attack (I was about sixteen) involved one of these. We had a sudden outbreak of very nasty psychic activity in the house. An occultist friend of my father’s advised searching the house for anything made of leather or fur because these seem to ‘hold’ hexes well.

We eventually discovered the culprit had left a rather pretty tribal art picture made of hide, fur and grasses, hidden between books on a shelf! It would have remained unnoticed for a long time if I hadn’t been told to look for something just like it.

If you do find anything of this nature it should be ritually destroyed preferably at the dark of the moon. But no matter what the moonphase, it’s better to ritually destroy it than wait.

Well, that's the first two groups dealt with. I'll consider the other two in my next post on the subject. Meanwhile, the sun is calling and the garden (not to mention the laundry) awaits!