On the last birthday of the blog (which happens to be my birthday as well) I talked a bit about how the blog started and what it had become.  This year, I want to talk about what keeping this blog has done for me.  

When I started The Mystic in August 2010, my life was very different than it is now.  I had just made a difficult and traumatic career transition and money was in short supply.  People close to me were either largely absent, frequently unwell, or going through their own personal traumas. And I felt very much alone.  

While I knew that something was missing, traditional religious practice just wasn't filling the void.

And then I found New Age spirituality.  It offered something no other spiritual practice had.  In embracing it, I found the freedom and tools which made defining my own path to spirit possible.  For this, I will be eternally grateful.

This blog became my way of focusing on what I was learning and my way of sharing what I found resonant.  It held me accountable.  It helped me to grow. It allowed me to clarify my beliefs and chart my own course.  And somehow, over the course of that, I became a better person than I had been before.

I have a long way to go.  But I do understand where I want to be and much of what I need to do to get there.  In the coming year, I will continue to review contemporary New Age materials but there will be other posts as well.  

My backyard though not really (legally) mine and well outside of my ability to protect.  Still in this space between what was and what will be - we walk, take deep breaths and look out from one mountaintop to another.  Beyond the the trestle and past the curve of the river, just out of view of this picture, is the land that once belonged to my grandfather. Land that I won't see up close again. Everything changes but the moment is always eternal. I'm grateful for all that offers.

Catch me as a guest on Christiana's Psychic Cafe with host Christiana Gaudet as we discuss tarot, angel cards, spirit and more! Great insight on angel card reading by Christiana, as well :)

UPDATE: This interview took place during my New Age phase where I'd temporarily renamed the blog The New Age Review. I went back to The Mystic Review about a year later. But it is true that my 3AM (video) encounter with Eckhart Tolle was the original impetus for the blog.

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.  

Is there a difference between an OBE (out-of-body Experience) and a dream?

Yes and no.  

Not all dream experience occurs in an out of body state and not all OBEs happen when we're asleep. But they can overlap.  In my opinion.

Dream State OBEs

I believe that dreams can take us out of body. While some of my own suspected dream OBEs have been profound, others have been dark and unpleasant. 

Dreams of flying may be out of body experience. When I was a child I dreamt of flying so often that I developed my own technique (a little like the way a dolphin swims) for controlling my speed, altitude and direction.

OBEs in Meditation

Possible OBEs can also occur during meditation (or in the hypnogogic state immediately before sleep). When this happens to me I feel as my consciousness is traveling, or flying, over great expanses of shining water. 

To me, these journeys are something between spiritual experience and a true out of body state. By this I mean that, while I feel part of my consciousness may have projected, I don't think that a full energetic body-spirit separation is achieved.

Full Split OBEs

In 2015 I was given the opportunity to study with (and interview) astral projectionist and teacher Robert Bruce.  It was then (using the Hemi-Sync recording developed by OBE adept Robert Monroe) that I achieved my first partial body-spirit split (as described here).  

This experience was a revelation because it convinced me that the complete separation of our physical and energetic bodies really CAN be achieved. 

Unfortunately, I lacked the discipline necessary to go further - at that time. Now, thanks to the encouragement of a good friend (who shares my interest), I've decided that I'm going to begin to work with out of body states and lucid dreams again!