2024: I have been going through my old posts deciding which to republish and which to leave as drafts. I debated a bit on this one because it is a remnant of my one old psychic readings and I still have mixed feeling about that time of my life. But I decided to share this particular post because I still pray for Reginald.

The idea in this psychic exercise was to get 10 pieces of information on a deceased individual. The information below is what I came up with.

Name: Reginald

Age of Passing: 54

Cause of Death:  Trauma, violent, crushing lower jaw.  Alone or not at home when he passed.  Not killed in a battle but may have been attacked.  Grief at not being with family.

Description: Tall, strong, shaggy reddish hair.  Beard, belt, tunic, sword.  High-boned face.  Colors bright orange-red and green.  Strong sense of a powerful, very upright presence.

Mental Makeup: Stern, sharp mind, strong, loyal, bright, exacting, curious, considered, serious.

Home: Second floor or higher tower room: scrolls, maps, stars, observing sky directly.  This where he studied what he described to me as "ancient wisdom, even then."  Also a large open room on first floor, exposed timber, plain.  Big hearth /fireplace, stone.

Closest Relative: Children and wife (who was blond). He loved her deeply.

Friends: Strong, rough men.  In some ways he did not really have much in common with them.  Also brothers.  He was loyal even when loyalty was not deserved.

Greatest Challenge on Earth:  Not especially challenged.  He felt up for any challenge.  Being loyal to those who did not deserve loyalty was really not an issue for him - honor is on you, not them.  Only real conflict was that his interest in learning and study was not really part of his station in life - something he could not share widely or devote himself to entirely.

Political or Humanitarian Figure Most Admired:  A King or Duke.  Wallace.  An older teacher or tutor (very wise)

I had seen his face with photographic clarity (which is unusual for me) and heard the word king but I had the sense he was a leader but not the actual king (perhaps this was a clue to his name).

It seemed to me that Wallace might be William Wallace.  I wasn't sure about that as Reginald, however, which was not, to my ears, a Scottish name. There was something about stirling too, but I failed to write down how that came up.

Anyway, I decided I should research the info I received.

What follows it the short version of my research. A longer, and to my mind more interesting, annotated version exists but is way too long to share here. I hit upon the name almost immediately after googling Reginald, Scotland, Knight.

Name: Sir Reginald Crauford, Knight

Born: Abt 1248

Place: Loudoun, Ayrshire, Scotland

Died: 1297  (apx age 49)

Married: 1275 to Cecelia (most likely) nee Swaine of Dannish descent (blond?)

Children: Sir Reginald Crauford, Knight (1296 to 1307)

Office: Sheriff of Ayr

Ethnicity: The name Crauford is of Norman origin

Extended Family: Reginald did have at least one brother.  His sister Margaret was the mother of Sir William Wallace, the famous patriot.  The Craufords rallied with Sir Wallace in his fight against the English.

Contemporaries:  Sir Reginald was a "firm friend of King Robert the Bruce."

Manner of Passing: Sir Reginald Crauford, Sheriff of Ayre, was murdered by the English at the Black Parliament of Ayr c. 1297.  (The Scottish nobles murdered at Ayre were lured to a meeting then hung. This event did not happen when Wallace was a child a la Braveheart but when he was an adult.  Wallace was apparently warned of what was happening at Ayre, avoided Sir Reginald's fate and later avenged his death, along with many others.)

Colors: Pic of a historical reproduction of the Crauford tartan follows (stated colors red and green).  (Note I did not see Sir Reginald wearing these colors but rather as an association.)

Home: Fireplace consistent with the time, Tower is historically correct

Stirling Connection: There was a battle of Stirling fought in 1297 which Wallace led.  I am not sure if this was before or after Ayr or if Sir Reginald was present.

What was of great interest to me in this reading was that all pieces of information fit a real historical figure with several significant life events accurately represented. Details such as the Crauford colors, home, fireplace (a relatively new but very popular advancement in Sir Reginald's time) and clothing seem to be consistent as well.  While I like history, I have never read anything about Scottish history and certainly wasn't familar with Reginald Crauford.

This is my first historical reading and I found it very validating!

Please check out the following images:

Wiliiam Wallace (the clothing of the day)

Norman Fireplace Popular in Sir Reginald's Time

This month, just a couple of weeks short of its third birthday, The New Age Review broke 100,000 all time page views.  And, while I know there are blogs out there getting this many page views in a week or even a day, I consider 100,000 (100,222 as of this morning) a milestone.

I remember checking my stats in the early days of the blog, and seeing that no one had visited the blog. I remember how exciting it was when even one or two people read an entry and the sense of validation and purpose I felt when those numbers, oh so slowly, began to grow.

I wrote those early posts because I needed a place to talk about what I was learning and because I believed that somebody out there might need to be led to the books and resources that had helped me so much.   When people commented and emailed me to say that something I had shared helped them, I was ecstatic.

In spite of that however, The New Age Review isn't really about reviewing the material I write about. It's about experiencing it.

Put another way - my reviews, or the best of them at any rate, are largely experiential.  

I made a decision very early on about the way I would review things.  I decided that while I would acknowledge material not resonant for me, I would not write pointedly negative reviews focusing largely on criticism. 

Not everyone understands when I can't (or won't) do a review.  And luckily I can usually tell if something is going to work for me or not.  But even when I can't I stick to my process because it fits my review style.

Working and applying the material in order to report back on that process only works if that material resonates.  Taken this idea a step further, I think that experiential reviews provide a clear picture of how a given resource works.  And why.

Sometimes the resource works because it triggers a new idea or approach to something.  Sometimes, it is an agent of change or transformation.  Both of these are good.

Not everything I write here is review oriented however.  Over time, much of what I share is simply my experience as I attempt to evolve into somebody better.  

Lately, this had led me to think about changing the name of the blog but this morning I decided I wouldn't. And it occurs to me for the first time, that The New Age Review DOES review metaphysical resources very nearly exclusively.  Some of these resources just happen to be the direct influence of spirit and the lessons the universe so generously provides.

As my approach to spirituality becomes more and more experiential it's likely that my reviews will as well.