2014-06-12 Thursday

June 12^th is special day for me: both of my sons were born on June 12^th four years apart. I remember each of their births as if it was just yesterday. They have both grown to be good men of whom I am very proud. Unfortunately, as most of you know, neither has any use for their dad.

What makes today even more special is that it is also the birthday of my grandfather, Nicholas Lawrence Temple, know to the readers of Nick's Bytes as TNT.

A Facebook post by my friend Pat in Sicily reminded me of why I am again writing this blog. It was a very nasty troll attack that almost drove me completely from Facebook. It began by the troll responding to my Facebook post lesson Pres. Obama during his trip to Afghanistan on Veterans Day by saying he wished that the President would be murdered in Afghanistan. That upset me to no end!

The troll then continued his attack on me personally with flame after flame. In case you are not aware of the definition of flamer in the context of the Internet—which neither the troll or his wife were—the Urban Dictionary gives this definition:

A person who constantly starts fights on forums or message boards, usually with many vulgar statements and outright lies attacking one individual or group.  

This flaming troll distracted me the point that I began defending myself against the flames which is neither my intent in writing on Facebook are my blogs. Even though I blocked the troll and his troll-wife from my Facebook account, he flamed again by accessing my pages via a mutual friend’s Facebook account. That was when I began considering deleting my Facebook membership.

Instead, I began to again write this journal blog. I am rather glad that I did. As a friend commented on this blog, blogging gives one the ability of writing much more depth and detail than either Facebook or Twitter. I just wish that I could follow the advice I gave Pat today via this graphic that I created shortly after the troll attacks. 

However, I can't. Being hated causes me an abnormal amount of spiritual pain.

 Tomorrow may also be a special day for some:

I, for one, do not believe that Friday the 13^th conveys bad luck.Cultural histories  confirm the neutral qualities of the day. On the other hand, I do see a potential for tomorrow being transmitter of good things.

For the past several weeks I have been reading—studying—the book Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit. For anyone interested in the ways of shamans and/or Celtic history, culture, myths, and spirituality,  this is a marvelous book that I highly recommend.

For the ancient Celts, it was not the combination of Friday, Thirteen, and Full Moon that would make the day special. It was that the light of the full moon was said to make fairies more active in lives and affairs of humans, often bringing good fortune.

With the arrival of Christianity, the fairies, who were seen as neither viewed as good or bad by the Celts became all bad. Thus, the beginning of the superstitions about the full moon and Friday the 13^th (Jesus was crucified on Friday; 13 people attended the Last Supper in the Upper Room).

I have one final item to share: the delightful and potent prayer that I received from a friend in this morning's email:

~ Healing Prayer ~

Take my higher self

and every aspect of my being

To the very first incident

that caused these issues to start.

Let go of all of them

Hold the space open for

me to fill with all good.

I ask my spirit to dissipate all negative thoughts

and behaviors quickly without

and within, no residue

or echoes left behind.

I am filled with love

and gratitude

I am surrounded and loved

and protected in every way.

Please help us:

we are in great need this month