Friday, February 17, 2006

Interview by Reluctant Nomad

Key

Okay the rules of this particular game are that if you would like to have similarly well-researched and probing questions you ask Reluctant Nomad to interview you ;-). No? Ow, that hurt... okay this is his second and he's already got another to do so perhaps we'd better stick to the real rules...

If you want to risk me interviewing you just leave a comment after this posting and I'll be glad to do so. The full rules are at the bottom after my answers.

I'm most impressed by Reluctant Nomad's summing up of me and his questions. The only quibble I'd have is that he describes me as "a strong believer" in synchronicity. I don't believe - I experience and I play and I find them wonderfully useful and fun. But then that really is a quibble since I'm aware that the role of belief comes in when we are called on to give credence to what others say about their experiences. Also I may not have always been sufficiently careful in my language so may have easily given the impression that its only on the level of belief rather than the much more involved one of experience! ;-)

Wood eye?Question 1: You love seeing faces in things. And you have always been very sensitive about texture and how things feel. You also love colour and, at times, you’ve arranged your books according to the colour of their spines. If someone were to ask you for a preference, would you pick shape, texture, colour?

It would depend on my mood at the moment of the question. And maybe it also depends on the nature of what I'm doing.... right now I'm in word mode as I answer these questions and colour seems to be the strongest pull.

But whilst looking for a picture to illustrate this with I went into shape preference...

Honeysuckle essenceQuestion 2: You are a trained practitioner in flower essences and you talk of morning glory being a power plant that claimed you with great strength. Besides being a very beautiful plant, the morning glory is a powerful psychotropic. Many artists are very open to experiencing as much of the world as possible. Have you ever taken mind-altering substances? If not, why not? If you have, do you still take them?

(The photo is of Honeysuckle - I've yet to take any macros of drops of water on Morning Glories.)

I've never eaten morning glory or used any of the other shamanic plants in chemical form. I have a very strong reaction to the energies of these things (I experience this; its up to you whether or not you believe me! ;-). I have had problems with even the simplest of all medicines (e.g. aspirin gives me hives) so have neither need nor wish to explore them that way. I also dislike the sensation of being drunk... I seek greater awareness not less.

And incidentally having worked with people who have used various "recreational" drugs I've found their energy fields to be full of holes! Not recommended.

When I was doing the flower essence training (with Sue and Simon Lilly) one weekend we were exploring journeying to plants, usually with the aid of drum beats and sometimes through special poses too (like yoga only specific to the plants) but I was flat on my back and unable to move before we had officially started journeying to meet a particular plant - there was no way I could take up the pose that was specified... that one was the Beech tree, very domineering. When I tune in I feel these things very strongly.

Morning GloryIn the case of the morning glories I was growing some from seed that year and once they had germinated I felt this "taken over" reaction which resulted in the enamel I showed for IF - strength.

At the same time I did this enamel.
Nut Enamel

Nut Case

I had looked for my enamels last week when I was doing the MMM with the labyrinth in it but had not found them. After realising I'd like to use other plant enamels to illustrate this question I immediately found them (and discovered that the labyrinth one was too unclear to have been useful). I'd forgotten making this nut one and am not sure which plant inspired it but, as observed, I do love synchronicities... on the right is a strange "nut-case" that I found on Monday when out looking for nesting wooden dolls, for this week's MMM.

Question 3: You met Jim, your husband, between your two bouts of M.E. the second of which first affected you in 1996. So you will have known him from your mid-thirties, if not before, years in which many women choose to have children. You make no mention of children yet you strike me as a person who would make a very good mother and, in fact, would like to have had children. Am I right in thinking this of you? If so, why have you not had any?

We have no children. We would have welcomed them if they'd come. But they haven't. We do have eight nephews and one niece plus lots of friends with children. In many ways, given the exhaustion aspect of M.E., this has probably been the best solution - children that we can hand back to their parents when tired out.

Question 4: You read various ‘fortune-telling cards’, to use a rather inexact term and you have read books on dream interpretation. Many of these have different ways of interepreting signs and information based on keys, principles, and methods laid down over time. But, as I understand it, to be a good reader, much of your power is reliant on your intuition and an ability to open yourself to external influences. Do you think that if you were able to simultaneously read various types of cards (eg Tarot, Dream cards) or simultaneously apply different dream interpetation techniques to a dream you’d had, you’d land up wth conflicting interpretations? How would you interpret/handle that? Alternatively, if you believe they would not conflict with each other, how would you explain that?

So how many questions is this? I can count you know.... ;-)

I frequently use many different packs of cards and work with both cards and dreams. Of course there are contradictions - most books give contradicitons just in explaining one card. Such contradictions are handy in that they push one to use one's intuition to select which, if any, of the given suggestions fits best.

Dreams - I've found that the symbols in dreams are ones which are personal. So although one may look to other people or other resources for suggestions or help in interpreting a dream in the end it is up to you to personally feel whether or not an interpretation rings true for you. This is not found quickly but requires time for the body to adjust around the idea. One particularly good book on this is:

Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams (amazon.co.uk / amazon.com)

Cards - I play with cards a lot. I've had other people tell me that I do good readings... I rely on intuition a great deal. I use my body's responses to check that I have received and interpreted my intuition appropriately (with muscle testing on a balanced body - sorry about the jargon explaining would take another post which I may do some day... it was part of my Health Kinesiology training though in that it is not used for reading cards but bodies) but most of all I do listen to my intuition.

I used to rely on my intuition to do my maths homework so I don't regard the use of my intution as at all separate from my previous interests or work ;-).

And just for clarity, I don't use cards to "predict the future" but to help me explore things.

And of course this is a wonderfully well-timed question as I've now accepted the challenge of designing my own set of cards and have just posted the first one.

Question 5: Many people, especially artists, are very receptive to music and, given a bit of encouragement, will be very passionate about their likes in music. Yet, in your blog, you make no mention of music even though Jim is the bass player of the Macaroni Penguins, your favourite band, and you talk of your much greater than average ability to hear high pitched sounds. Why?

I love to dance to but not talk about music.

Question 6: Unless my research is flawed, it would appear that Jim is a very keen climber and cyclist, activities that your ME would preclude you from. Is this difficult or are they activities that don’t interest you?

Jim at the top of StaircaseYou are right. For anyone interested in lists of climbs, walks and cycle rides see Jim's website. He also has a photo gallery - including this one that I took of him at the top of staircase at Sennen in Cornwall, UK. I climbed it too that holiday (1995) but I don't think there are any photographs to show that it wasn't such a doddle for me...

I don't miss climbing (though Jim would love it if I was able to climb with him) but I do wish I could cycle and walk more.

He goes on holiday without me when dedicating himself to climbing and mountain walks. But then I go off on courses like the flower essence one mentioned above or art ones. We can both be quite independent, as well as companionable.




Thank you for asking such great questions!




For those of you who may want to be interviewed in this fashion, here are the Official Interview Games Rules:

* If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying, "interview me".
* I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.
* You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
* You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
* When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting, your problems with even the simplest medicines and dislike of drunk sensation, along with our similar "high pitched sound" hearing is alike.

I do NOT want to be interviewed. Anonymous anyway :)

Caroline said...

Very interesting anonymous - are you sure you don't want to be interviewed.... there is no need to become less anonymous...

Reluctant Nomad said...

Thanks for such great answers!

Sorry about the extra one and the fact that most of the others were multi-parters. Yes, I know that you can count but I was hoping that you’d get so engrossed that you’d not realise that you were answering 19 or whatever questions! :-)

They tell me more about you so your other readers should feel grateful about the effort both of us put into delving into your mind. I’m glad there was only one slight quibble about what I said but I really don’t think it gave you any right to try and send all those potential interviewees my way!!

What is that picture of? The one that looks like a furry eye? Is it an insect of some kind?

Interesting what you say about drugs. There was a time when I’d try anything that I came across – I have a few more interesting posts about such times that match my dope-cake story. I’ve told you before that plumbago is indigenous to the Western Cape and that it was Rhodes’s favourite plant (is there some sort of synchronicity there related to your father?) but I haven’t told you about morning glory and South Africa. Although it’s not indigenous to there, it grows like a weed and will cover huge swathes of walls and trees. In Cape Town, I constantly pull it off the ivy and other plants so that it doesn’t swamp them.

I’ll be keen to see who takes you up on the challenge and what materialises from that.

Caroline said...

Reluctant Nomad - (I keep wanting to call you Mr Nomad... how odd... but then Reluctant is such a strange first name...)

Great questions deserve the best answers I could give. And it was because you'd done such a good job that I tried to push people your way, before I bowed down to the pressure of The Rules.

I do wonder if anyone else will read them. I definitely have trouble in believing that anyone could possibly be interested.... even though I enjoy reading other people's.... hmm... this is certainly at the belief level and needs sorting out!

I'm very grateful, amazed, boggled even, at the effort you put in. It must have taken you so long!

Most of them look like eyes to me today... all the pictures are linked to other places which will probably supply the information... if you mean the picture next to question 1 its of a wood knot in our Birch dining table. All those eyes... I was under scrutiny!


If you'd like me to check out your energy field for holes and possible patches I'd be happy to do it from here.... I do lots from a distance... all I need is your permission. Though you might want the feedback by email rather than in a comment somewhere. Let me know:

caroline at energy dot f9 dot co dot uk

I don't really know much about my father's time in Africa despite all his "when I was"ing... I do know that he was engaged to a woman out there but she broke it off as he was not then prepared to leave the RAF. I met her long after he'd died and was stunned to discover that my father had a very consistent taste in women - she looked so like my mother!

She gave my sister the engagement ring that she'd kept all those years... So he really had left his heart in Rhodesia and not just to the land. Not that he ever mentioned her once to us. It was his sister who engineered the meeting between us and his ex.

Hmm I seem to be in tell all mode still... I'll have to turn that off!

Unknown said...

Caroline, I find this post most interesting. Since you have studied energy fields have you read the book 'Power vs Force' by Dr Hawkins? If not you may find it interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1561709336/qid=1140176339/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0320612-4367873?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

My Mom and I have been studing energy medicine for a couple of years now. Mom is a great practitioner of energy healing.

Caroline said...

Toni - I've not read that book - have you read:

The Field by Lynne McTaggart
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0007145101/

Glad to hear that you and your mother are using it - there are so many ways to work with energy and some people do get very good at it.

Anonymous said...

I'm grateful about the effort you both put into delving into Caroline's mind :)

Caroline said...

My mind is an open book .... I just wish I'd learnt to read the language its in...

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Nomad's questions were great, he asked things I wanted to know, things that were at the back of my mind, things I never thought of but when he asked, I wanted to know.

The more I read about you Caro, the more I think, what an interesting, really, really interesting gal.

I've never studied esp, dreams or anything like that...only read the usual from magazines, etc...but instinctively, I know they work. In fact, esp runs strong in me.

Caroline said...

Thank you anonymous for your appreciation of both mine and nomad's efforts.

GG - thank you, thank you. (I'm blushing too...) I know you have a strong sense of other GG - your humour and eye for detail bounce around it - brightening the way so others might see it for themselves. And mostly its so subtle that they don't notice.

Reluctant Nomad said...

To me that birch knot looks like a velvety cockroach that looks like an eye. Not as nasty looking as a real cockroach but very similar in shape.

I'm glad you enjoyed the interview and even gladder (um, more glad) that others seem so appreciative. It didn't take as long as you may think - I could have done it quite a few days ago but I dawdled until yesterday. Basically, I just downloaded all your writing and read through it making notes when I read something intriguing. It was fun! :-)

Checking out my energy field sounds very interesting so please do. I'll email you later or sometime over the weekend so that you can send me the results privately. Thanks.

Caroline said...

Reluctant Nomad - I've tried but still don't manage to see the cockroach... hmm... and I'm very glad you did find it fun and that you are gladder too! Tee hee... if it wasn't a word before it must be now. So useful as a rhyme for bladder and adder and madder....

Mike said...

Wow, great interview! I would participate, but it looks like a lot of work...

Caroline said...

Viking is that a request for an interview or not?
I'll be happy to put you under the magnifying glass if you'd like!

andrea said...

Wow. This is good. I want to read it again. Maybe partly because I'm starting to understand what drives you, especially as I am influenced by your HK ministrations (is that a real word or did I just make that up?). I'm debating whether or not to go under the microscope. You or Mr. Nomad? Hmm....

Mike said...

Well... Since nobody else has asked... Sure! Why not!

Caroline said...

Andrea - why not ask for both at once - tee hee - we could collaborate on it.... might be fun!

Viking054 - excellent - I'll start the research!

Unknown said...

Thanks Caroline I will have to look up the book you recommended.

Reluctant Nomad said...

The big dot in the middle of the picture is where the cockroach's head is, the body going towards the right where it tapers off. The dark line on the right is its 'tail' thingy.

Gettit?

I think I may have bugs on the brain! :-)

Caroline said...

Toni - I forgot when I replied to thank you for recommending the one you did! Thank you!

Reluctant Nomad - I can see it now, but its the eye that still dominates for me - isn't it odd - ink blot test?

Melba - glad you accepted it - I expect I am older than you but probably not old enough to be your mother... I'm delighted that you do feel mothered by me... I've had so many mothers myself it must finally be my turn to mother others back! And thanks for volunteering - you are second on the list.

Johnnynorms said...

Enjoyed reading your answers C; have thought about stepping up, but am too private a person. I enjoy letting out fragments a little at a time anyway!

Caroline said...

Johnnynorms - it was quite scary to volunteer for it... so I can understand your qualms!

What it has done is make me feel much closer to Reluctant Nomad for taking all that time to read about me and come up with such pertinent questions.

(And as I've started on the first one myself now I'm becoming even more aware of how much time and care he must have put into it. But it is fun to read about other people, especially when you feel you have specific permission to dig a little deeper too... ;-)

Johnnynorms said...

Qualms is a great word - in honour of it, I have fished out an old doodle with that title and revamped it.

Good luck with the deep digging!

Saddle Up said...

Nice answers Caroline... I got here from Nomad's blog... feel free to interview me :)

Caroline said...

Saddle Up - well maybe sometime one day - I don't seem to be getting myself organised enough to get going properly - but I noticed you've already asked Mr Nomad so that'll help!