Màiri Campbell ~ Seanachaidh
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Exploring Human Design:

8/3/2015

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Exploring Human Design:
Astrology for a New Paradigm

By Janet Hickox

Janet Hickox is an Astrologer, Human Design Coach, and Host of Living Astrology TV on the Empower YOU TV. She specializes in readings that empower individuals to live their authentic lives. Request a free Human Design chart by going to her website at www.living-astrology.com. She can be reached at (360) 399-1122. 

     I love astrology! There is no doubt in my mind that I was destined to become an astrologer. I am also certain that I was designed to share with the world new, exciting and eye-opening astrological concepts in an easy to understand, practical and useful way. Such is the purpose I have in mind today. I am speaking to you from a certainty that comes from having discovered my authentic self, Truth, and purpose through an astrology called, Human Design.
     Human Design is the synthesis of 4 Ancient Wisdom Traditions and 2 Sciences – the Chinese I’Ching, Jewish Kabbalah, Hindu Chakra system, Western Astrology and Quantum Physics and Human Genetic Coding. Making it even more mystical and magical is the fact that the entire system was transmitted to Robert Alan Krakower through a spiritual experience he had in Ibiza, Spain during the Harmonic Convergence in January 1987. A voice told Robert that this system – Human Design – was crucial to helping people on the planet make vital shifts in consciousness for the evolution of humanity. He spent the next 25 years traveling the world teaching and developing Human Design until his death in 2011.
     Human Design is one of the most important tools we have to move us forward into these new paradigm times. First and foremost, Human Design teaches us to LOVE ourselves by learning the Truth of who we are designed to be and how we can live our authentic life and destiny, serving to improve our self-worth and self-esteem. Human Design shows us how to act with awareness, deliberation and courage according to our own personal Type, and by doing so we learn to honor our energy, our feelings and emotions. Empowering each of us to, “Know Thyself,” allows us to find a way to love and accept others as well. My Human Design teacher, Karen Curry wrote in her book Understanding Human Design, The New Science of Astrology: Discover Who You Really Are (Hierophant Publishing, 2013), “Human Design is not about changing yourself. It simply gives you the tools to journey back to a deeper understanding of your gifts, your wisdom, your drive, and your vulnerabilities, which can set you free from old, self-defeating patterns of thinking and the judgment of others. It gives you a new perspective so you can see the beauty and magnificence of who you truly are.” My own personal experience with Human Design has opened me up to a sound decision-making strategy based on who I am designed to be, which has brought me into alignment with my true nature. Living out my True self has made my life easier and empowered me to pursue my passions.
     Human Design is complex, yet there are three key pieces that are easy to understand and can have a profound positive effect for each person. Let’s take a closer look. Unlike Western Astrology’s circular chart depicting planet placements by degrees of signs, Human Design is made up of three component parts, The Birth Chart, Body Graph and Keynotes.
     The Body Graph is comprised of 9 Energy Centers that resemble the Hindu Chakra system. It is from these centers that your Type emerges based on what centers are defined (colored) or undefined (white). Within each Energy Center are numbers, which we call Gates. They are related to the 64 Hexagrams of the I’Ching. These gates form connections between the Energy Centers and further define an individual’s personality characteristics. When the Gates between Energy Centers are connected they form Channels. The interconnected channels or their lack of being interconnected further help define your Type.
     The Keynotes section of your Human Design chart shows the key information gleaned from your Body Graph: Type (which includes your Life Theme and Strategy), Profile- Incarnation Cross and Inner Authority. From this information alone a Human Design astrologer can give you an easy to understand reading of your life map.
     The Birth Chart is comprised of two columns of numbers, one black and one red, with symbols for the planets between them. The numbers relate to the Gates within the Body Graph, and it is from this chart that the gates in the Body Graph are defined. The black column of numbers are based on your actual birth date and become the personality traits that you are familiar with in yourself. In Human Design we say that these are “conscious” traits. The red column of numbers are based upon a date that is 88 astrological degrees or approximately 90 days before your birth. These are the more “unconscious” traits that you are carrying within your Soul. In fact, the date of the red column is said to be the date that your Soul entered into your body. Your family and friends may recognize these traits in you before you actually do.     
     The first key to understanding your Human Design is discovering what Personality Type you are. There are 5 Personality Types in Human Design: Manifestors, Generators, Manifesting Generators, Projectors and Reflectors. Each Type has a different way of operating in the world and has a unique decision-making strategy. This knowledge alone rocked my world and fundamentally impacted my success in connecting to my authentic self. Here is a short description of each Type.

To continue reading about Human Design click here

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Happy St. Andrews Day! 30th of Nov

30/11/2014

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A History of St. Andrew

Written by Michael T R B Turnbull, author of Saint Andrew: Myth, Legend and Reality information obtained from Scotland.org
PictureImage from www.ukflagshop.com
St. Andrew is considered to be the Patron Saint of Scotland. I found a wonderful article about him on the Scotland.org website and thought I would share it here.

Saint Andrew (who is believed to have later preached around the shores of the Black Sea), was an agile and hardy Galilean fisherman whose name means Strong and who also had good social skills. He brought the first foreigners to meet Jesus and shamed a large crowd of people into sharing their food with the people beside them. Today we might describe him as the Patron Saint of Social Networking!

Having Saint Andrew as Scotland's Patron gave the country several advantages: because he was the brother of Saint Peter, founder of the Church, the Scots were able to appeal to the Pope in 1320 (The Declaration of Arbroath) for protection against the attempts of English kings to conquer the Scots. Traditionally, Scots also claimed that they were descended from the Scythians who lived on the shores of the Black Sea in what is now Romania and Bulgaria and were converted by Saint Andrew.

In the fascinating legend of The Voyage of St Rule from Greece to Scotland we can see the complicated spread of devotion to Saint Andrew - from Constantinople in modern Turkey, to St Andrews in Fife. St Rule (Regulus in Latin) and the six nuns and monks who took the long sea-journey with him, stands for the missionaries and monasteries who worked long and hard to bring the Good News to Britain. They lived in communities organised by a monastic Rule - hence the name St Rule or Regulus.

As Scotland slowly became a nation it needed a national symbol to rally round and motivate the country. Saint Andrew was an inspired choice and the early Picts and Scots modelled themselves on Saint Andrew and on one of his strong supporters, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, whose statue you can see today in York, where the he visited his father, a Roman General then trying to force the Picts to go back north.

Although a pagan who worshipped the Roman sun god Sol, Constantine later became a Christian and went on to make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

It all began near Rome in 312 AD when, on the night of a make-or-break battle against a rival emperor, he saw the symbol X P (Greek for the first two letters of 'Christ') in the dazzling light of the setting sun and then had a dream in which he was promised victory. Constantine ordered his troops to hold the Christian cross at the front of the army, and won.

In a similar way, around 500 years later, King Angus of the Picts, facing a larger army of Saxons at Athelstaneford in what is now East Lothian in Scotland, was overwhelmed by a blinding light the night before the battle and, during the night, had a dream. The message he was given was that he would see a Cross in the sky and would conquer his enemies in its name.

The following morning King Angus looked into the rising sun and saw the Saltire Cross in its blinding light. This filled him and his men with great confidence and they were victorious. From that time Saint Andrew and his Saltire Cross were adopted as the national symbols for an emerging Scotland.

The Saltire Cross became the heraldic arms that every Scot is entitled to fly and wear. However, its colour was not white at first but silver (Argent), as in heraldry white stands for silver.

The first time the colour of the Saltire is mentioned is in the Acts of Parliament of King Robert II in July 1385 where every Scottish soldier was ordered to wear a white Saltire. If the uniform was white, then the Saltire was to be stitched onto a black background.

Both William Wallace and King Robert the Bruce appealed to Saint Andrew to guide them in times of national emergency. The Saltire was flown on Scottish ships and used as the logo of Scottish banks, on Scottish coins and seals and displayed at the funerals of Scottish kings and queens - that of King James VI for example and of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. At the Union of the Crowns in 1603, London was treated to the spectacle of Saint Andrew and Saint George on horseback, shaking hands in friendship. When King George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822 he was presented with a Saltire Cross made of pearls on velvet, within a circle of gold.

There is also a wider dimension. Saint Andrew and his relics at St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh provides Scots with a special link to Amalfi in Italy and Patras in Greece (where two Cathedrals named after the saint also hold his relics). The many St Andrew Societies worldwide, set up originally as self-help organisations for Scots who had fallen on hard times, form a network of Scots who are all united under the Saltire Cross of Saint Andrew. They give Scotland a European and worldwide dimension.


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Join us for Seattle PubCamp!

2/11/2014

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November 15th, 8:30am to 6:30pm. 
@ The University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture

Publish happy! Come to a one-day self-publishing conference in Seattle. Learn how to become an "Authorpreneur," exploring all the nuts and bolts of self-publishing. We'll cover everything from writing and editing your masterpiece, to building your author platform and marketing your books. Three concurrent tracks will focus on writing craft, publishing and book marketing.


PubCamp in Seattle is Writer.ly’s third in-person self-publishing conference that was developed as a way to help writers get writing, learn the craft, educate them about the business of self-publishing and book marketing and network with other writers in their community.

What some people had to say:

“Thank You, PubCamp! What a terrific conference with astounding follow-up
that shows you really CARE!”

– Mark H.

“I hope you all do this again next year! This was wonderfully informative.”
– Màiri C.

Speakers include:
Our keynote: Laurie McLean, 
Fuse Literary on why you don't need an agent
Theo Nestor, author on the art of writing your (memoir) book proposal
Waverly Fitzgerald, author on the economics of self-publishing
Northwest Editor's Guild panel on how and when to work with an editor
Among 
many other great workshops.

We're providing lunch, free parking and over $100 worth of swag for attendees!
- 20% off MOO products, shipped to PubCamp for pickup.
- Bronze Pubslush Prep Package, valued at $50
- $100 credit to spend on Writer.ly Star Services

The day will finish with our Seattle Writing Community Party and Wine Reception. You'll have the opportunity to meet with writing organizations, groups and non-profits from the Seattle area, while noshing on delicious treats.

>> View full PubCamp details here. <<

SPACE IS LIMITED AND THIS EVENT WILL SELL-OUT. 

Our Sponsors:
Moo.com
Pubslush
Booktrope
Vellum
Silkwords
Gorham Printing
Hedgebrook.org
Northwest Institute of Literary Arts
Seattle Free Lances

About Writer.ly (
www.Writer.ly)
Writer.ly is an online marketplace where authors can hire the help they need to finish their books and get them published.

#self-publishing #writingcraft #bookmarketing #writingworkshop #publishing #conference


Buy Tickets

--
Abigail Carter
CEO, Writer.ly

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Life and Gardening

14/9/2014

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This weekend my husband and I had an appointment with our tax accountant. Yes I know normally this is not the time of the year but our accountant lets his clients come in once a year for a free tax tune-up. It is a great way to know if there is anything that you need to alter before taxes are due. Thankfully we are right on track for things to be pretty much a wash which is the best way to have things at tax time. 

One the way home we stopped by The Plant Farm in Smokey Point. They had pansies on sale 15 for $15 and my wonderful husband bought me 20 different ones. No, I was not the only one picking them out, he was helping to pick out the colors too. I am very lucky to have a husband that enjoys going to the plant nurseries with me. Our reason for going there was to get some special soil for me to be able to transplant some tiny baby Sundews. I've also had to do some replanting with my strawberry plants as they are going crazy. The two big pots both have loads of runners coming off of them so I've got those down in some soil in various pots hoping that they take root. I also found a little baby Black Walnut sapling that was growing in among my potatoes that I've also transplanted. If it manages to survive I'll be giving that little guy to my heart sister Jann.

I hope you all enjoy the photos.

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Who's Working For Self-Publishing Authors?

18/5/2014

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PictureImage is from original post click to go there.
The following post is from a friend of mine. I know the company that she is referring to. I personally talked with them to try and determine if they could do something different for me that what I myself am capable of doing. The answer was no. They could not and it would cost me a few hundred dollars to have them do what would only cost me time if I did it myself. 

I know that not everyone would be able to do all of it themselves. They do need help with some of new ways of self-publishing. I truly hope that if anyone seeks help with their self-publishing that they really do the research and don't just go with the first person or company that makes everything sound easy and wonderful. In the mean time to all my author friends... keep writing my darlings, keep writing. ~ Màiri

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Who’s Working For Authors? by Armchair-epublishing

The battle between Amazon and the Publishing industry continues to heat up. Thanks to the exploding self-publishing Indie market, there is plenty of conflict in this story. Only this isn’t fiction - it’s real.

Navigating through the myriad of publishing choices available for authors today can be complicated and confusing. For the first time in history, with the help of new innovations and more accessibility, there are a variety of options for new and experienced writers. But, with some of those options, comes a price. If an author doesn’t take the time to understand their options or research them they might pay the price later.

Everyone wants a piece of the Indie publishing pie; Amazon, publishers, small presses, vanity presses, ebooks and even bookstores. Yet, in this scenario, who is working for the authors? The only real answer to this is - the author. Authors must be more diligent then ever to protect themselves and their work. 

This blog post is the result of the Amazon vs Publishers and bookstores battle. During my research for a book client, I couldn’t locate any evidence of who was really working for the authors? For example, a certain bookstore, which is now offering self-publishing services, was convincing my client, and other writers, to be anti-Amazon. They would tell them that they should use their program with Ingram, a nationwide book distributor. 

Yet, I felt that they weren’t telling their clients the entire story. The information the bookstore provided was limited and one-sided. I couldn’t get a clear picture of what was really being offered? Nor, could I understand what the benefits were for the author? What the authors would hear is use them and Ingram and your book will be in bookstores. Only, they left out some really important information: just because you use Ingram doesn’t mean that your book will be picked up by bookstores. In fact, probably just the opposite.

And, where did Amazon fit into this equation? Were the books going to be available on Amazon? It was a bit confusing since they were anti-Amazon. After all, Amazon sells the majority of books and ebooks all over the world. 

Regardless of how any of us feel about Amazon, they are a necessary tool for today’s Indie authors. My goal was to make sure that my client had full advantage of all avenues that would help her book be successful, this included Amazon. It should be about how could we make them, the author, successful, not who is the bad guy in this story. 

I, for one, am grateful to Amazon. Because of Amazon and the Kindle, there are more readers today than ever before. Amazon and Createspace have opened up doors and opportunities that were never available before. Not just for writers, but also for readers. 

They have allowed writers to explore and expand. They put no limit on creativity. 

As an author, I am more willing to go with a publisher who can solve my problems and makes it easy for me. One who understands the importance of writers, as well as readers. 

I think bookstores and publishers shouldn’t focus on anti-Amazon campaigns. This won’t gain them market share. Instead, they should take note of what Amazon is doing right and focus on that. Amazon makes it easy for writers. They don’t limit writers. Authors should have the options to diversify their work; to self-publish on the sites that make it easy for readers and writers to connect.

As an author, it should be all about your bottom line, not theirs. Do what is best for you. All of these options should be working for you, not the other way around. After all, it is your writing that is making them money.

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    Màiri Campbell lives in WA with her husband and their three dogs

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