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Post 3000

Not wanting to make a big song and dance about it, but this post is officially the 3,000th post to appear here on Beyond the Sphere. In yesterday’s post, First Flight of the Phoenix, I briefly mentioned coming with me as we enter and explore a mystical realm, a strange sphere of the imagination… and then go beyond!

Indirectly I was referring to this post, and the immediate future as we go further forward into the fantastic and wondrous world of this tiny WordPress blog in the corner of a dusty Mansion where very often the weird and wonderful happens.

On May 13th 2010 this blog was born. It had a different name back then, but it was still this blog. This link – > CLICK HERE < – will take you to a new page and back through the depths of time to that very first blog post, where I ummed and ahhed for possibly three hours before clicking the submit button. The blog itself, post-wise, has changed a little bit over the years, but it is still as random as ever. I still try to post something a little different, and a little different to what I posted the previous days (which is really something when I post after not posting anything – a kind of double whammy there!). Sometimes it works.

I must say I have had an absolute blast over the last 3000 posts. My imagination, as always, ran away with me. The connections I’ve made through those blog posts have been incredible. I’ve met people from all over the world through this medium, on screen if not in person. Each and everyone have been special, and have helped immeasurably to reach this little milestone. If you are reading this, that includes you, so please pat yourself on your back, and raise a glass of virtual champagne with me, as I say here’s to the next 3000!

Refreshments are available in the Reception Room just off the Foyer in the Mansion (I miss writing about the Mansion, so we may be seeing a few more exploratory posts sometime in the near future!). There’s a large spread, of virtually whatever you want. Help yourself!

Thank you all for reading my wafflings, moanings, attempts at poetrying, scribbling, photographying, singing, and bad hair days. Thank you for reading about my mindful of characters who take me with them on their own random journeys.  Thank you for not being offended by my less than perfect posts (on the odd occasion that they appear! ahem). And thank you for proving that there really are some wonderful people who share this gorgeous planet with me.

And if one milestone celebration isn’t enough, take a look at my other blog Splodge and Splatter (there’s a link to it over there somewhere on the right!). You’d have thought I’d meticulously planned two milestones to happen on the same day.

They’re like buses around here, milestones!

I’m ending the waffling on this post here. Please come with me as we journey into the future. Ding Ding! Find your seat and settle down. We’re off into the great Beyond!

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Letters to the Universe… The Birth and Rebirth Edition

Dear Friday,
You certainly come around fast, don’t you? Not that I’m complaining, as it means the weekend is here once again… and I do love the weekend! Will I be trying something new this weekend or sticking with the same ol’ same old? Let’s just see what happens shall we? But Friday… it is good to see you again!

Dear Raili,
I just had to send you a little letter of Gratitude via the Universe. I’ve thanked you for your Soul Gift through email, and through my blog, so the final stage of thanks has to be through the Universe as well. As we know, the Universe is always listening!

Dear Dark Nights,
Since the clocks went back an hour at the weekend, the dark nights are most certainly drawing in now. Perfect time to grab a little notebook and pen and scribble down ideas. Any idea. Anything that comes to mind. The next great story has to begin somewhere. Let the light shine through the darkness, as it were!

Dear Artistic Side,
I refer you to the previous letter! Scribbling like that may ignite a spark of inspiration in you, and you never know, there may be another watercolour painting on the horizon!

Dear The Weather,
I can see you are teasing us with your chilled evenings. At least the mornings aren’t covered in a layer of frost just yet, but it won’t be long before you get your way. Winter’s birth is just around the corner.

Dear The Word Apoptosis,
What a wonderful sounding word you are, but your meaning of ‘death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism’s growth’ sounds slightly gruesome. That said, you allow new cells to grow, rebirth, so I think you are a word of celebration!

Dear Hallowe’en,
So, you came and went in a flash once again, didn’t you? At least this blog has returned somewhat back to normal (whatever that is around these here parts!) Thinking about it though, it’s a good thing we aren’t permanently stuck in that Hallowe’en state. You’re fun for the day / week / month, but we must return to normal at some point. Until next year!

Dear Backache,
It’s such a relief that you have left me again. I know you only ached upon standing, but your arrival was at a slightly inconvenient time, I have to say. Still, if you hadn’t called by, I wouldn’t be feeling as good as I do now, and would probably be taking things for granted. So in an odd way, thank you for your visit.

Dear Sweet And Sour Sauce With Egg Fried Rice,
Can I just say how you brought my taste buds back to life earlier this evening!? You were the epitome of deliciousness. Yum. Yum! YUM!!!

And Finally, Dear Winter Television Schedulers,
I don’t spend a lot of time in front of the television, but at the times I do settle down to watch something, it can be rather frustrating when you schedule two or three good programmes on different channels at the same time. Yes, I know I can record one of the programmes, but the whole point of not having a lot of time to sit in front of the TV should really give a bit of a clue that I don’t have time to watch what I’ve recorded… Could I ask that you schedule things a little better, just so they flow with each other a little better? That way, those of us who are caught up in this bizarre time vortex stand a little chance to see something?

Thank you for reading.

P.S. Here’s a picture of the sky:

Well, if there is one thing that is constantly changing, it’s the sky. This picture has been tweaked slightly, to enhance the colours, but that seems to make it become more alive.

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From Across the Miles

At the beginning of September this year, I received a very nice surprise. Totally out of the blue, and completely unexpected.

Every month, Raili from SoulGifts in Australia, chooses one of her followers to be the recipient of one of her Soul Gifts, and in September she chose me. I didn’t receive the gift until the beginning of October, and decided to wait until November to post about it so that this post didn’t get lost within all the Halloweeny madness that went on last month. And the gift that Raili sent to me was not only a gift to my soul, but one for my sight, sound and smell senses as well! Fabulous!

The first thing I noticed was the relaxing scent that greeted me as soon as I opened the parcel. Raili had wrapped her gift in several sheets of different coloured tissue paper, enhancing each layer with a blend of essential oils to match the individual energy vibration that each layer represented. Upon each layer, Raili had written the names of each blend:

Transformation / Abundance

Sacred Mountain

Joy

Awaken / Balance

Inspiration

Grounding

Clarity

Raili also included a letter and a poem, ‘Birth’, as well as the framed picture. I didn’t remember reading the poem on her blog, but in finding it to link to for this post, I received another surprise. The post had appeared on my birthday. You have to love synchronicity and coincidences. I do… and I experience rather a lot of them!

Could it just be a coincidence that this past weekend’s One Word Sunday theme was ‘Orange’ and the top layer of tissue paper is orange? The Universe moves in mysterious ways indeed!

Now, the picture that Raili created was another surprise. As I was looking at each section in turn, I suddenly realised that I wasn’t looking at one picture, but four of them. Raili had created four ATCs and framed them. I’ve recently started creating ATCs (Artists Trading Cards) myself, so this made the gift even more special, even more personal, if you like.

Each image that Raili created seemed to ‘speak’ to me, as I thought of two words to represent each image

CREATION

ENCHANTMENT

EXPANSION

MAGIC

ILLUMINATION

STARCHILD

COMPLETION /  The WHOLE

 

Raili told me that this gift had been a labour of birthing which included many weeks of staged and guided steps. So, I’d like to finish this post with one more step, inspired by Raili’s Soul Gift:

Birth of a Starchild

Across all miles
Across all time
Await for the joy to awaken
Through grounding
Through clarity
Appears inspiration
From Sacred Mountain to nursery of stars
There begins transformation
And then balance
And then abundance
Of the magic of creation

Enchantment follows a path of expansion
Where everything slots together
New ideas meet forgotten memories
Burdens become light as a feather
Illumination of all things good
Glows brighter than the Sun
And in that moment, that spark of light,
The creative process has begun

A Starchild
An Idea
A Gift from the Soul
Marks completion of one cycle
But not on the whole
Ideas flow forever more
So grab them with open arms
And through gratitude
And sharing light
Experience never ending charms

Once again, Raili, thank you.

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Wordle: The Miracle Within

Close your eyes
Ignite the power within
Don’t be surprised
As our journey begins
Breathe in and out slowly
Rest and relax
Commit yourself wholly
As we start making tracks
We walk through a wood
All dense and green
And everything’s good
Even those things unseen
We go into a trance
Right where we stand
We stop and give thanks
As we enter dreamland
Through shadow we float
And whisper we rise
Any thoughts we take note
They could be a guide
‘Though rancid thoughts repel
We don’t need them here
And on them don’t dwell
Just to be clear
Now onward we go, away from the crowds
Through vast open skies
Feel the touch of the clouds
Then down into the depths
Of the water below
Feel every ripple, go with the flow
Refreshing and clean
Coolness sharp as a pin
Invigorated and keen
We’ve invoked the miracle within
The power of the mind
Is there to be used
Use it well, use it wisely
It shouldn’t be abused
We’ve now reached the end
Of our meditation
Open your eyes and stretch
And give your thoughts consideration.