Welcome…

Welcome to The Other Side – my little corner of cyberspace where I write about my experiences and thoughts on Witchcraft, Pagan Spirituality, the Paranormal, Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and sometimes the interconnectedness of these topics, as well as my day-to-day family stuff here in Sydney, Australia.

This blog has recently undergone some reorganization, which will hopefully make it easier to navigate. I also have 4 other blogs (which could be considered as sub-sections of The Other Side) that are linked to on the appropriate pages here.

Please use the top menu to find the various pages and posts on topics you are interested in. The menu to the right contains links to my most recent posts in addition to a very extensive ‘blog roll’ containing other websites and blogs on related topics. I hope you enjoy browsing my ‘inane ramblings’.

SOuL Searchers Parapsychology Certificate Course

As I’m a member of SOuL Searchers Paranormal Investigation group (and the website manager) I’m putting this here to help get news of this brand new course “out there”. There’s more info about SOuL Searchers here on my blog or you can go straight to our website by clicking on the poster below.

NO! …don’t bite it!

…my repeated shouts a little while ago (especially the word NO!) as my dopey dog Shelby decided to chase and snap at a fine, LARGE example of an Abispa ephippium or Australian Hornet or Mud-nest wasp! It’s a beautiful beastie but not when it’s chasing my dog, or me for that matter, and unfortunately for the hornet I chose to take action that was in the best interests of my dog rather than the poor old hornet, who was probably only trying to feed her babies.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 23,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Dragon Drumming

This is the story of how my newest drum came to be.

In the beginning…

It was over a year ago now, in late August 2010, when I discovered the music of Caiseal Mór via Facebook. The following month I bought a couple of his albums, The Well of Yearning and Flow (I have recently also bought Alchemy for the Heart) as well as 2 of his books, What is Magic? then shortly afterwards, his autobiography A Blessing and A Curse: Autism and Me. I was fascinated while reading about the process involved in creating his drums, with how he tunes the drum shell, speaks to the skins and also connects with the spirit of each drum he makes. At that stage I’d never seen what Caiseal’s drums looked like, but I already knew I’d really love to have one.

Autistics Speaking Day

…was officially on November 1 but I missed it so I’m posting something about it here now, although I have not registered my blog as one of the participants. The purpose of this special day…

Halloween, Samhain & Beltane in Australia

The following blog is the result of a conversation on Facebook, which I thought was worthy of being repeated here, tweaked and expanded a little and with photos added of course.

Lion Cub Sketch

I’ve used this little fella on the Spheres Of Light website and on my Aussie Wytch’s Book of Correspondences blog but I realised I’ve never actually added him to my collection of artworks here at The Other Side. So, here he is…

Feeling bleh…

...looks the way I feel, lol.

I’ve been feeling rather unsettled again lately and in need of some sort of change, so of course I’ve altered the look of my blog yet again. I’ve switched from the “Twenty Ten” theme to “Parament”. I was growing tired of the white background, and I think the dark grey makes my artworks look nicer.

Speaking of which, I’ve posted another of my sketches. The delightful face at the left looks the way I feel at the moment after too many late nights and a lunch that might have been a bit “off” (reheated last night’s Thai food takeaway leftovers). This sketch is a bit rough and not one of my best, but I like it because it’s a pretty good rendition of the “Salt Vampire” from the original Star Trek series. I actually did quite a few sketches based on Star Trek, which I might get around to posting here eventually.

Time

I came across this poem I wrote a long, long time ago which I’d pretty much forgotten about, so I’m adding it here for ‘posterity’ (or at least as long as this blog lasts).

I wrote it in my best fancy handwriting at the time and illustrated the outside of the page around the poem, so the whole thing has been scanned to display its prettiness .

You can click on the image to enlarge it, plus I’ve typed it out below so it’s easier to read.

The Invocation

It’s interesting as I look back at my early sketches and paintings and see just how ‘Pagan’ I really was, even before I knew anything about Paganism. Here’s another one I did way back in the dark ages when I was on uni break and staying up most of the night to produce my artworks. I was always interested in Earth’s Moon and in my drawings, having more than one moon was even better, as well as making it clear that the scene was of a very alien landscape (which somehow always felt more like ‘home’ than my home did at the time).

Saturn Return

In astrology, the Saturn return is an alleged phenomenon which is described as influencing a person’s life development at 27 to 29 or 30-year intervals. These intervals or “returns” coincide with the approximate time it takes the planet Saturn to make one orbit around the sun, i.e. 29.4 years. It is believed by astrologers that,

Why???

Why don’t I listen to my ‘psychic’ hunches??? Today, for the first time in aaaaaaages, I decided I’d enjoy a couple of glasses of wine with my lunch, while watching “Days of Our Lives”. Yes, I know, some of you might think alcohol would be necessary to be able to sit through an episode of that stupid show, lol. Anyway, while pouring the first glass I said to ‘Son 3′ (now home from uni), “If we get a phone call from ‘B’ or the school, you’re it, as I won’t be able to drive.” He laughed, and said something like, “Yeah right, that’s not gonna happen. Why would it anyway?” I had a sense of ‘foreboding’ and inner ‘knowing’ but promptly ignored it and enjoyed two glasses of Two Little Ducks, Classic Dry White with lunch while watching one of my favourite ‘soaps’.

Spot the Difference

Click to read

The latest Axis Mundi issue (July 2011) is now online, and it just happens to have an angelic theme …hehe.   (Click on the magazine image at the left to read it.) It’s strange how things turn out sometimes, with lots of little synchronicities all pointing in the same direction (see my previous blog post for an explanation).

Angelic Synchronicity

Facebook is often a source of contention and unrest due to the “status updates” people post and the subsequent string of comments by others keen to express their views about those updates. This past week has seen a barrage of emotionally charged sentiments

After the Rain

After the rain this afternoon I noticed the fog spreading over the river at the bottom of my street, so I decided to take a quick walk with my camera to try to capture some of its eerie beauty. The photos don’t really do it justice, but you can get some idea of what it was like. On the way back up the hill I took a few more photos …and then a few more, lol. The collection here is the best of what I photographed.

‘Tis done! …for now

Well, I’ve spent another enjoyably lazy afternoon mucking around with my blog, creating  new images or tweaking old ones to illustrate the various sections this blog is now divided into. I think it’s actually finished (well, until I change my mind and get some other brilliant idea of how to fine tune all the decorations and pretties I’ve created).

Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis is a frightening form of paralysis that occurs when a person suddenly finds himself or herself unable to move for a few minutes, most often upon falling asleep or waking up.

Changes?

Change is definitely in the air. For quite a while now I’ve been wondering if I should register a domain name and create my own website. Trouble is my ideas keep changing about what name to choose, what the focus of the website would be, what purpose it would serve, why do I want to do it etc etc etc.

Busy, Busy, Busy …or, A Website Manager’s Work is Never Done

I’ve been so swamped with other Spheres Of Light website work lately I forgot to show off my latest creation here. I’ve finally made my first video clip …yay me!