coming together in peace and love

I did a talk last night for a local group called Embracing Peace, it is a spiritual group of like minded people that meet on a regular basis.

My talk was on Kitchen Witchcraft and I was met with such enthusiasm, interest and questions it was really lovely, a lot of the guests knew nothing or very little about the Craft so it was fabulous to get such a positive response and to be able to dispel quite a few myths too (yes I did have a black cat but turns out I am allergic to cats...) ;-)

One thing that stuck me in particular was that the group started with a prayer...just a few lovely words sent to the Divine and the evening was finished off in the same way.  All these people holding hands in a circle sending out a prayer, no matter what faith, religion or spirituality they were, they all came together to send out positive wishes. Yes it did end with Amen but I just substituted Blessed Be...it didn't matter...the message was a united one of love and peace.

Truly beautiful ♥

#1 best seller and girly squeals

I admit to keeping an eye on my books on Amazon so that I can copy the reviews and put them on my website and the Moon Books website...I'm not obsessed or anything, I don't check every half hour LOL but I do check in occasionally.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I checked on Saturday and found a lovely bright orange '#1 BEST SELLER' tag on the Pagan Portals Kitchen Witchcraft paperback page (in the Occult Magic section) ...I may have squealed like a little girl ;-)

OK so it didn't stay number one for more than a day but it was long enough for me to take a photograph (how sad am I?).  It turns out that the Kindle copy was #4 in the list too!

Huge thank you to everyone that has purchased a copy, I am overwhelmed by the response.

The spiritual winds of change...

The winds of spiritual change have been blowing in my direction for the past few weeks, actually few months really.  Oh don't worry I am still a Witch through to my very core and no I am definitely not going all fluffy on you!...but lots of new and exciting information, directions and pathways have been literally thrown at me this year.

I hope that I have met each of these new pathways with an open mind and embraced each one with the proper respect.

The most recent was yesterday when I attended a Mediumship workshop with Steve Bradshaw at Chi Coffee.  And no...I am not about to get up on platform and do mediumship readings, but...the information and skills learnt yesterday have been taken away with me and will be added to my 'bag of tricks' to help me enhance those that I already have and to embrace new ideas and new ways of working with my spiritual journey.

Even with my Reiki stages I & II that I completed back in 2009 - chance came my way last month to do my Reiki Master and that has opened up more doorways and more different ways of practising for me personally.

So I am putting out a huge thank you here to all those around me that are walking their own pathways and allowing me the privilege of sharing in that journey and experience, it is an honour to learn from you all.

Everything that I have learnt and experienced has helped me to deal with new challenges and situations that come my way.   I never thought of myself really as a 'healer' but this year I have been working with my Reiki and Earth energy to heal, coupled with crystal healing (which I have always worked with but this year drew me to do a proper certified course on).  More courses are following on all sorts of other healing areas, all of which are exciting but had you said to me last year I would be doing I would probably have laughed...

I am and hope I never will be too old to learn and experience new things, and will always be open to new and exciting spiritual pathways.  I am truly blessed.

Diary of a Heretic...never judge a book by it's cover...

Diary of a Heretic by Mark Townsend

I knew of Mark Townsend, who he was and had read a few articles about him...but when I was given his book to review the thought did cross my mind "why am I reading a book about a Priest, not sure about this..."

My doubts were totally unfounded, never judge a book by it's cover as they say...

Mark writes as if you are sitting in his head, listening to his thoughts and watching his day through his eyes.   Mark's writing is open, honest and quite often funny, he has a unique view on people, life and the divine.  Diary of a Heretic takes you on his own personal journey, day by day, trying to make sense of it all.  It was a pure joy to read and certainly gave me a lot to think about.  Whatever faith you follow...you will love this book.

The official blurb:

In June 2007 Rev. Mark Townsend resigned from his ministry as a priest after his decision to share his story of brokenness and failure with the hierarchy. This book is the irreverent and whimsical, yet honest and gut-wrenching, story of his struggle to hold on to a faith within a world that seemed to be against him. It is a story that brings hope to all those who feel the established Western religious path has lost sight of compassion, grace and the one who could easily have been called ‘Friend of Failures.’ As the author gradually digs himself out of the consequential gutter the reader will discover that all such failures can be redeemed and may even produce glittering nuggets of gold. More importantly, the reader will begin to see that his or her own failure can also lead to real moments of magic - so long as it is not repressed but accepted. A major underlying theme of the whole diary is the notion that real magic does exist, and that the magical traditions such as Druidry can be a major blessing for those who crave for something more.

Early to rise...but a day of fun & frolics

I am awake...stupidly early for a Sunday...I woke waaaaay before the alarm was set to go off.

Because today is book launch day for Pagan Portals Hoodoo and not only that but it is the Chi Spiritual Market which should be loads of fun and frolics (whatever frolics are...)  Lots of different things happening - Reiki, reflexology, Indian head massage, psychic medium readings, tarot readings, artwork and pretty sparklies to purchase...oh and cake...plenty of cake of course!

So if anyone is in the Portsmouth (UK) area today pop on by and say hello:

Chi Coffee, 146 London Road, North End, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK

Opens at 11am until 5.00pm.

If you aren't local and would like a copy of the book (or other books, or CD) details of stockists are on my website www.rachelpatterson.co.uk - Pagan Portals Hoodoo was officially published yesterday.

Whatever you are doing - have a lovely Sunday!