Some candle signs

I'm working a "hire me" spell with this honey jar. After three nights of absolutely clean burns, the candle on my latest honey jar left the amorphous pile you see on the left. I was disappointed about it – and the fact that the person I'm trying to influence hasn't called me since the (really fabulous) job interview – until I remembered that the same thing happened to the last such jar I worked on somebody – which is working to this day.

Well, this afternoon, I was sitting in the center of the couch when I happened to look at that “failed” honey jar. From that angle (see right-hand photo), the wax looks like a seated dragon crouched on the edge of the lid!

Like many diviners, I use the usual system of tasseomancy symbols to read odd candle-wax signs like this. The Complete Book of Fortune-Telling has this to say:

Dragon.–A sudden, unreasonable terror will come upon you. Let sanity counsel your actions – this monster is born of your imagination only.

You know, the same stuff everybody has been trying to tell me all along.

A suggestion for prosperity work

This just occurred to me while I was tweaking my own situation just a bit. It's not traditional, but it might be worth a try.

When you're doing a "steady work" job, you want to convince the prospective employer that you are the best person for the job. But another way to describe yourself is "the missing piece of the puzzle," the one element needed to make your new workplace purr like a finely tuned engine. So next time you want the cosmos to send you steady work, get yourself an old jigsaw puzzle, and include a piece in your spiritual work – the name paper in your shoe, the mojo bag, or the honey jar.

"Now we can do Big Things for love"

Preach it, Brother Geek!



... with thanks to Rev. Jack at the Pirates of the Unitarians blog.

I believe...

Well, I gave my friend Lakisha a copy of Get Right Church for Christmas. She told me she was going to take it home and listen to it during a nice hot bath, where she could relax enough to concentrate on the message. Now, Rev. Cleveland knows how to raise the roof, so I was surprised she wanted to listen to jumpin' happy music at such a time.

Anyway, we got on to the subject of the message. "I can't stand to hear anybody sing about 'before it's too late,'" I said. "I can't believe that you don't go on learning after you die, so you could still grow enough to repent."

"Well," said Lakisha thoughtfully, "it depends on what we come back as. If you're gonna come back as a ladybug, you're not gonna learn nothin'."

I had an answer for that, and it was interesting and possibly even wise, but also totally irrelevant to my sermon story tonight.

"Be exactly what you are," said Rev. Franklin, "and let God work it out."

Or, as an unnamed gentleman told me at a Friends of Negro Spirituals event I went to, "We each have to interpret these things in our own way."

Maybe Lakisha doesn't believe in reincarnation, but she was willing to entertain the idea. No, it was she, not I, who brought it up. I guess it was the handiest way for her to make sense of my idea, of learning after death.

But, you know, I was a Christian once, and I sure wouldn't have stepped outside my belief system to carry on a conversation like this.

Mad props to Lakisha! And more Happy New Year!

A great dream for the new year!

This morning I dreamed of a mysterious plant with a blue, trumpet-shaped flower and a stem like a jade plant; I cut it preparatory to placing it in some kind of rooting medium to start a new plant.

Wikipedia says that the jade plant is also called “friendship tree” and “money tree,” and is very easy to propagate; a great dream symbol for someone who needs to catch up on their networking. Looks like my task this year is to be a true friend to the folks who know what I need to know.

What, me worry?

When I burn a candle, I prefer free-standing ones, because I like to read the wax.

I'm burning a series of candles for personal power, as you can tell by the color. Tonight I melted the top layer of the wax from the previous candles - and when I had the candle affixed I noticed that it was "standing on its own two feet," "standing pat."

A coded message

Lately, since I'm still figuring out the real-life marketing thing, I've been feeling pretty hopeless about working for myself. It's the first poverty-tantrum I've had in a long time.

I was thinking of praying Psalm 23 to receive guidance in a dream (as Secrets of the Psalms recommends), but I had a powerful dream last night before I got the chance!

I was working in a big, handsome office. A homeless man was trying to get in to harass the employees. A coworker named FAITH – a strong lady whom I know and remember fondly from real life – was keeping him out. (Come to think of it, one of the most energetic women in my small business class was named Faith.) I sat down at my desk to call the library and ask for a book. Instead, a lady named "Joan Mendez" came on the line and addressed me as "Sis." Meanwhile, I noticed that a little green eraser on my desk had caught fire. Without any bewilderment or trepidation, I put it out while talking to Ms. Mendez.

So, after I found the links highlighted above, I googled "Joan Mendez," and found:

• Joan Mendez was the sound person on a documentary called After 45 Years of Working
• a Joan Mendez has a one-man contracting business in Kissimmee, Florida
• ...was an early explorer of the Philippines
• ...was a sister of the founder of the Lima Lima Flight Team, "The world's original six aircraft civilian formation aerobatic team!"

So, Joan Mendez is a signifier for independent work, an end to drudgery. Financial independence is my sister; this is what I must learn down to the marrow of my bones!

But still no practical marketing tips :)

(At 6:37 pm, it occurred to me: in my dreams, I often get names wrong. I know a real live person with the same initials, J.M., who has given me a number of punchy, inexpensive marketing ideas. In short, I already have the tools in my hands :)