98 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
98 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
This article is excerpted from the Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal.
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Each issue of the Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal is published by
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High Plains Arts and Sciences; P.O. Box 620604, Littleton Co.,
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80123, a Colorado Non-Profit Corporation, under a Public Domain
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Copyright, which entitles any person or group of persons to
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reproduce, in any form whatsoever, any material contained therein
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without restriction, so long as articles are not condensed or
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abbreviated in any fashion, and credit is given the original
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author.!
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IN GRANDMOTHER'S LAP
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Now you're working and studying very hard, and you don't
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seem to have anyone you can share insights with, ask "silly"
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questions of, or meet fellow strugglers through-and you're
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starting to feel desperate. In short, you want/need a teacher.
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You know no one, and don't know how to start, or you know
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everyone and don't know how to choose, or you don't even know
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what you want and feel "silly" trying to get help to figure it
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out.
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Get Grandmother to help. If you know nobody and don't know
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how to get connected, you can:
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1. Write RMPJ and ask for help.
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2. Hang around occult book shops and ask for help.
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3. Try to find your local network.
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4. Work mail-order.
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or, 5. Do a daily affirmation: "I open myself to encounter the
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best possible teacher for me at this time, knowing I will
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recognize this person, and that our work together will be of
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mutual benefit and do no harm. It is accomplished (or Amen,
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Selah, So mote it be, So it is now ...whatever.)" If you choose
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5., put your books, notebooks, and mind in order and start doing
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all the others at the same time (except maybe mail-order? ...up
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to you).
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Recognition just means being aware-you can walk past your
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best friend without seeing them if your mind's elsewhere. You
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will "feel drawn to" one or more of the 0 to 20 potential
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teachers you encounter. Go to that one or ones. If they mess up
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in bad moods, can't get started without coffee, need fourteen
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pairs of shoes to feel secure-ignore it. You want to be close to
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what is best and most highly evolved in them, not what's least.
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However, if they cheat in financial, sexual or competitive areas
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and gloat about it, perhaps their ethics are not ideal for you to
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imitate-you may wish to look a little longer.
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Once you know who, even if you don't know what yet, the
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question is, how? Well, don't call at 2:30 AM and burst into
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tears, unless that's the only approach you can possibly manage.
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But remember, when you ask someone to work with you , you are
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saying, "I perceive you as special, further along the path than
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I. I want what you have because I find you admirable." Do you
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really expect a nasty rejection from somebody you've flattered
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like that? Really, really?
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Here is how you do it. You bump into them, or call and ask
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if you may arrange to talk with them privately with them at some
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point, or have them to dinner and take them downstairs to see the
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Van Gogh. But try to get them alone, relaxed, and away from
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potential interruptions. Tell them you've been reading and
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working, and feel you'd like some support and guidance. Say
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"Would you be willing to teach me? I'm not sure what that would
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work out to, but I know I need some more structure, and I admire
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your __________ (calm, poise, warmth, radiance, knowledge,
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authority-just don't say sex appeal or money)." If they say no,
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for any reason, tell them you're disappointed but accept their
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decision, and can they give you any referrals? If it's no again,
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ideas? If still no, think of the valuable experience you've
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had-you'll find the next approach easier.
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Even if the first person you try says "No, you'll never make
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it and forget it," keep trying. Opinions differ. Great people
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have ghastly days, and they don't always show. Some advocate
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saying no, repeatedly just to test the would be student's
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resolve. If you want to really store up credit on your karma,
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ask if they can see any way you could work to overcome the
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problems they've so kindly pointed out to you.
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Be patient, keep working on it, keep studying on your own,
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and "When the pupil is ready the guru will appear."
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There will be no signature to this, I'd rather you thought
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about it without any contamination resulting from my identity. I
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do have some credentials, but so what? You do, too you are
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alive. Try to get any questions, suggestions, concerns, or great
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discoveries to me by the first of the month preceding publication
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(so I can answer them in the next issue) by sending them to
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Grandmother's Lap c/o RMPJ. If nothing comes in, I may ramble on
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anyway-or I may not.
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Blessed Be, The Spinster Aunt
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........from R.M.P.J. 8/86
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