Mara's Musings

Thinking of a new set of anti-fluffy reality affirmation cards (copyright) - the perfect Christmas gift.  Any further suggestions gratefully received:



**   Life is unfair

**   No matter how many times you say "I am beautiful" into the mirror you will not look like Angelina or Brad.

**   Archangel Michael has better sh*t to do, sort your own life out. 

**   Saying "I am a magnet for money" into the mirror will not make you rich - go and get a job.

**   You are responsible for yourself.

**   If "manifesting by positive thoughts" works why aren't we all rich, thin and beautiful?

**   The only person you can rely on 100% is you.

**   The Universe owes you nothing.

**   When you ask for help people are entitled to say "no".

**   No one else is duty bound to help you even if you ask them to.

**   Acting helpless will only manipulate people for so long, then they will disappear as if by magic.

**   There are plenty of more deserving cases out there.

**   You are not the centre of anyone's universe except your own.

**   Your problems are called your problems because they ARE YOURS!  Deal with it.

**   Whining like a bitch only works when you are 3.

**   How will you trade on your looks/cleavage when you are 80?

**   No one has to bail you out when you lunch it out.

**   You're right - nobody does give a toss.

and finally....

**   Being a nice person does not guarantee anything - mostly Karma screws up.

I am currently seeking a 3 bedroom property to rent in Glastonbury, Wells or surrounds in Somerset.  I have a partner, a 16 year old daughter and a dog.  We both work.  In fact I have 2 businesses and a part time job.  My partner is self employed.  We currently pay iro £1.2K a month between us in rent as we live separately due to both having very tiny houses.  My landlady is now selling so we decided, OK let's pool our resources and get a place.  We have references, deposits and so on.  So what is the problem I hear you ask?

Obstacle 1 - self employment.  Letting agents hate the self employed because we are obviously completely unrealiable.  I mean, we all just loll around all day doing nothing or searching for poor unfortunate landlords to rip off.  The fact that you are already paying rent and have done for 30+ years is irrelevant. 

Their solutions: 1) get an accountant.  Um, we can't afford an accountant.  Ok, then 2) give us 6 months rent up front (usually around £5K) plus our (extortionate) fees and charges for credit checks which we can get online for £9.95.  Right.  Thanks.

Obstacle 2:  Benefits.  Housing benefit?  forget it.  Tax Credits?  Possibly, but mostly not. 

Obstacle 3:  Pets.  Sorry no pets.  Extra deposit? No sorry.  Current reference for dog? Nope.  Meet the dog? No.  Inspect my house for dog poo or general dog destruction? No. 

Their solution: get your dog put to sleep or give it to a rescue.  Nice.

Obstacle 3:  Cost.  3 bedrooms under £750 pcm.  Don't make me laugh! 

Their solution:  We can offer you a rabbit hutch for £700 in the arse end of beyond...any good? 

Obstacle 4:  Letting agents' attitude to renters.  Some have developed looking down their noses and making life as difficult as possible into an art form.  Basically this only applies to a small but significantly obnoxious few and I must add that the vast majority of letting agents I have met (and boy I have met a few lately!) are very nice and helpful, within the boundaries of the extensive rules they seem to have developed in the last 18 months.  I am currently compiling a list of letting agents in the area to help people that find themselves in my situation and there are 2 agents in Glastonbury/Street who are not going to be pleased with their less than rave reviews.

and finally today I discovered another obstacle for you: CHILDREN. 

So top tips  to get a house:
Have a minimum of £5K sitting in the bank.
Don't lose your job.
Don't be self employed.
Get all your pets put to sleep.
Get your kids into care or just don't have any.

Then you may be able to rent a small shack with an outside water supply.

Happy house hunting!!

This has been doing the rounds on Facebook of late, and in the light of my previous post, I thought I would also share it here.

The language of the avante-garde of new age free thinking liberalism and what they really mean.
A humourous but essential guide to those living in, considering living in, or just loving Glastonbury for all it's whacky weirdness.

Debate.

Being negative - you are not seeing things from my point of view.
Showing your ignorance - you are not seeing things from  my point of view.
Just being one of the sheeple - you are opposing my argument, I have lost and can't cope with the fact that you don't share my point of view.
Reactionary - not seeing things from my point of view.
Brainwashed - not seeing things from my point of view.
Positive - you agree with me.
Educated/well-read/intelligent - you agree with me.
True - it's what I believe
Lies/disinformation/uninformed -  you don't believe in what I believe in.
You need to take a more inclusive holistic approach - you need to include my whacko theory in with your rational one.




Life
I am speaking from the source - I am making this shit up
I'm speaking my truth - I'm being an obnoxious twat who lacks empathy
Standing in my own power - I'm being an obnoxious twat who lacks empathy
Everything is perfect - I'm deluded or high on drugs
The universe will provide - I am too apathetic to do anything myself so I am hoping some  mug will sort my problems out for me.
Down with the system! - except the benefits system which I live on.

There's going to be a paradigm shift - I live in a dream.
The Mayans were really clever, they foretold all of this - I have never watched Apocalypto.

Religion

I believe in religious freedom - unless you are a Christian, a Muslim or a Jew because they are all evil.
You shouldn't be negative about my beliefs - but I can say what I like about yours.
I believe in/I am an angel/fairy/unicorn/alien - I haven't taken my meds today.

Food
We should all be vegan/vegetarian/raw - I am a food fascist and only believe in choice for myself but not others.
Animals are people too - I watch too much Walt Disney.
You should be a vegan/vegetarian/raw because meat is poison - however having to take multivitamins and mineral supplements is OK
I don't put anything processed into my body - except for the vitamin supplements I need to take because I am on a diet that excludes everything except organic mung bean sprouts.

Health

I don't put poison in my body - except booze, fags and weed.  And possibly a bit of ayahuasca.
I only use natural remedies - until I get really ill then I will take painkillers, antibiotics or have an operation like the rest of you.
Research shows... - I have been online and found some crackpot website and I am now quoting it as fact.
I am qualified in *insert relevant fictional subject here* - I'm a quack and will take your money faster than you can spit.
The results of this therapy may not be immediately apparent - By the time you realise this doesn't work I'll  be long gone.
"practitioner"  - I will take shed loads of cash and speak in tongues to no avail.
I know this works - I have no evidence to back myself up, but if you question me you are basically calling me a liar.
You should go on this amazing detox - I have no concept of the human body to the point where I don't realise I am being ripped off and if I just stop putting crap in my body it will detox itself.  That's why I have a liver and kidneys.

Green Issues

I am protecting the environment - I never bothered to learn to drive but I am happy to take a lift from anyone as long as I don't have to pay for the petrol since that is supporting the multinationals.  I am also happy for a gas guzzling ambulance to take me to hospital, or a fire engine to attend my home if it catches fire.
Flying is bad and aeroplanes are evil - I am off to India for 6 months.
I am going off grid - except when I need money, healthcare, food or a place to live.
Your generation never recycled - I have no concept of life before everything got disposable.



Money

How about an exchange of energy? - I don't want to pay you.
Investment - you pay me an extortionate amount of money to sit and chant in an ice-cold yurt for a day and I convince you that you are doing yourself a favour and not  me.
You have to get with the paradigm shift - I'm not paying you and you are an unreasonable unenlightened git for expecting me to.
Down with the system! - except the benefits system which I live on.
Tax is theft - I don't want to pay tax but I am happy to accept the benefits provided by those who do.
All property is theft - except the stuff I own.


And finally:

I found that blog really negative and/or offensive - I have no ability to laugh at myself as I have had a complete sense of humour failure.

I am currently designing a website for a virtual environment digital artist who renders high resolution images and animations.

Have a look at the website as it develops.  The galleries will go online in the next day or so - this guy is amazingly talented so do take a look.

I had an interesting conversation with a Goddess Conference attendee yesterday in which she spoke about her concern regarding the lack of balance between the masculine and feminine aspects of deity within "modern witchcraft".  I did point out that the Goddess Temple was what it says it is, it is not and does not to my knowledge purport to be, the representative of the entirety of British Witchcraft/Paganism .  The clue is pretty much in the name.

I am not slagging off the Goddess conference or its attendees, I have never attended the conference myself so I only have my perspective from the outside.  What I don't like is the attitude that seems to permeate from many of their followers they are somehow "redressing the balance" because what they are actually doing is creating imblance within their own religion which comes across to people like me on the outside world as being anti-male, feminist dogma.

The main argument I hear in favour of excluding the God is that society is already "dominated" by a male God - in the form of Christianity, Islam and Judaism where the feminine is excluded. It's a valid point and I am not defending it, but world "society" contains many religions a lot of which do have female deities.  Even within Christianity the Virgin is venerated and prayed to in her own right.  Just walk into any Roman Catholic Church and you will see a shrine or chapel in her honour.

My question is:  how do you provide balance within your own particular faith by simply replacing the masculine with the feminine?  Surely placing the male as secondary to the female aspect of deity is equally as wrong and I don't think you can really justify marginalising the masculine in one religion to make up for the perceived lack of balance in another!

Surely we should, especially in this day an age, be able to recognise that different does not mean unequal. So called "masculine qualities" are not negative in my view, any more than "feminine qualities" are always totally positive in their expression.


This particular woman was obviously seeking to redress the balance within her chosen faith, and left with a copy of  the book The Witches' God by Stewart & Janet Farrar.  A wide choise of pagan God imagery has been hard to come by on the high street but can now be found at Herotica in Glastonbury .  The artwork is all created by Glastonbury artist Lynn Bastian and celebrates the Divine Male in all his aspects.

...A Web Designer/Freelance Writer

Just a qucik insight into a day in the life of a self employed web designer and freelance writer.

On a "normal day" I will:

Start the day with an hour and a half checking emails and trawling freelance websites for upcoming new projects.  Answer all email, apply for jobs and look at the day's tasks.  I revist my email regularly throughout the day too so I can respond to clients quickly.

At some point I will spend  time blogging and updating social networking sites (including Facebook where a lot of my clients contact me), checking Twitter, LinkedIn and posting on there to maintain my web presence and getting myself "out there" as far as my business is concerned.  I pop in and out of these periodically throughout the day too, whilst I am waiting for images to upload or for some programme or other to do its thing.  There can be a lot of waiting around in web design!!

The main body of my work is spent blogging, writing articles for clients, designing and/or maintaining websites, editing images,proof reading and whatever other work I actually have currently in the pipeline.  Web design can be incredibly time consuming.  "Just" popping up 20 images may be what the client thinks the job is.  In reality editing in photoshop, uploading galleries, tagging images and generally making things look right at the end of it all generally takes hours.  This is one of the reasons I offer the clients package deals and monthly retainer options because all these "little jobs" often add up to a lot of hours.

I tend to work in blocks of 2 hours which is the time it takes for the battery on my laptop to run down!  The beep tells me it's time for a break and charge my machine and I will stop for half an hour to give myself time away from staring at the screen.  It's not all sitting around though!  During these times I can do other stuff I need to do like the laundry, housework, printing up bits and pieces I need for clients and having the obligatory cup of tea.

I usually pop in to town for an hour or so, to shop, catch up with people and also to network.  It's amazing how much work you can pic up sitting outside a cafe with a cup of tea in Glastonbury! 

Then it's back to more of the same until usually about 6pm when I stop to eat and then I use the next couple of hours to sort accounts and plan the next days work, answer emails and so on.

On other days I may take 3 hours out to cover some shop work, or to go and meet a client for a couple of hours. Or I may continue into the wee small hours to get a job done to a deadline.  Each day is different and it is sometimes difficult to get motivated.  But it is incredibly satisfying to have a client come to you with an idea and gradually see that take shape into a fully functioning website.

Search Engine Optimization is an essential aspect of web design without which your site can become lost in searches. The old phrase “needle in a haystack” is one that can easily be applied to individual sites in the huge “haystack” of sites online.

SEO can target the search engines so that your website has a web presence. That is people can find it by typing in key words related to your service or product.

It can be a long and complex process but essentially it looks at which search terms as used by potential customers and making sure that when these are used your website is high enough up the listing to catch their attention.

Please check my website for more information.