If there's one thing that annoys me more than Mediums who are full of crap - it's Witches who are full of crap.
Don't get me wrong, we all do and say things from time to time that upon reflection we think maybe we shouldn't have done or said, but I'm talking about the kind of people who make a lifestyle out of doing and saying nothing but crap.
As with all these stories I'm sharing on here I will change the names of the actual people I talk about.
Mostly because it's unfair to use the real names of real people without their permission but also because these particular two are real internet-fiends and I would be very surprised if they don't dip into GHE every now and then and have a sniff around.
Him - I will call Adam, her - I will call Veronica. Actually, even though they are made-up names they're not exactly a million miles away from their real names so if they are reading this they will know instantly I'm talking about them.
I wouldn't exactly call these people my friends but I wouldn't exactly call them my enimies either.
We don't live that far apart and I suppose because we are all part of the craft we just seem to run into one another every now and then.
These two aren't a couple (well, they are in Adam's mind) but they do seem to spend an awful lot of time together.
I first met them 3 years ago at the Halloween Festival at Queen Mary College.
They were giving a lecture about Hereditary Witchcraft and both claimed to come from a long line of hereditary witches.
A conversation I had with Adam after the lecture demostrated to me that in actual fact their craft goes no further back than both their teenage years but I let that go.
Everytime there's a craft event or meeting these two crop up and instantly try to take over. They see themselves as some kind of craft leaders because of their alleged hereditary background.
Needless to say, most of our meetings end in the highest amount of drama with me (of course) being somewhere at the centre of it all.
My last encounter with them was at last year's Beltaine. We were all at the Pagan Federation's 'Beltaine Bash' at Conway Hall in Holborn.
I was there with some friends of mine and Veronica sniffed me out. The usual false pleasantries were exchanged.
"You must come down to the reading room" She said "Adam and I have been given permission to reveal our family oracle".
I could have said a lot in response to this but I thought, no. Be nice.
Eventually we made our way to the reading room. I like the reading room. Various Witches, Druids and other pagans sit around the outside of the room with little tables giving readings from all manner of divination techniques.
Veronica and Adam were on the far side of the room and I spotted them as soon as I walked in. It's difficult to miss Adam. He a rather portly chap and dresses like a stage magician with black flowing cape and top hat - I kid you not.
"So what's this oracle all about?" I asked
"We've been trying to convince our family to allow us to bring it out in public for years" Adam told me "They've always said no, but they agreed we would be allowed to demostrate it just this once".
"Really?" I said "It must be really something!"
"Oh it is" Veronica chirped up "People are leaving this table in utter shock".
"Well it sounds brilliant" I said "Where is it then?"
"Well..." Began Adam "There is a charge, just to cover costs you understand"
I smiled "How much"?
"£25"
I laughed.
"Do you want a reading then?" Veronica said
"For 25 quid?" I snorted "You must be joking!"
"Alright" said Adam "Just because we want to show you how good our oracle is you can have a free reading - but you must tell people here how good it is and send them to us ok?"
"Oh alright, go on then".
Veronica proceeded to lift a large terracotta floor tile from under the table. On the tile was little marks and squiggles drawn in felt tip pen all seemingly in a spiral shape. She also picked up a piece of chalk and a handful of different coloured stones.
She handed me the stones and instructed me to think of my question the cast them down on the terracotta tile.
I did this and then followed about 5 minutes of both of them oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over the tile as Veronica made little marks on it with the chalk.
She removed the stones that had landed on the tile and put them away and picked up the stones that had missed the tile and gave them back to me.
"Ok, do it again" she said
I did. Then came another few minutes of oooohs and ahhhhs and these two clowns looking like a couple of proffessors bent over a table trying to work out a particularly difficult sum.
Veronica then produced a small notebook and wrote something on it, tore out the page and handed it to me with a look of gleeful pride.
"There you are" she said.
I opened the piece of paper, steadying myself for the earth-shattering revelation that was about to be revealed to me.
Little did I know that the words on the paper literally did almost knock me off my feet.
My friend Rebecca who had gone to the bash with me had been watching all of this and came over to my side
"What does it say?" She asked
I handed her the piece of paper. It read:
EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT
"Bloody hell" I said "It's no wonder people are leaving this table in shock".
Adam began bouncing. "It is good isn't it?" He said
"Good?" I replied "Good? Are you seriously telling me you're rushing people 25 quid for this load of sh*t?"
I threw the piece of paper back onto the terracotta floor tile
"Oh don't worry" I said before I left "I'll keep my word. I'll tell everyone here exactly what I think of your oracle".
swanlady
You meet as many colourful people in your life as I do in my Raymond.
I remember About a year after I lost my dad, I was grieving so badly that I could no longer live in Splott without wishing my dad back every second of everyday. It was,nt healthy for me and it certainly was,nt helping me to be a good mum to Trystan who was only six at the time. He needed his mum.
It had been decided that we were going to move, we just had to decide where I wanted to move to.
The one day Mike was in work and Tryst was in school. I had just finished the housework/ironing and had tea ready to cook. that was by 11.30am, so the void was vast when my dad died as the rest of the day, I would normally do his housework and ironing, then go shopping with him and help him visit his wonder mashers. (Endearment for OAP,s as he was a social worker for the care of the elderly).
Anyway, I was looking round the house to see what else I could do when someone knocked the front door. It was a Gypsy woman.
"Good morning to ya", she said in the typical irish tinker or traveller accent.
before I had chance to speak, she went on to ask If I wanted a reading, all I had to do was give her £20 to buy one of her charms.
Off course I did the obvious. I said No thanks.
she then told me that I was going to move in the next month or two.
I congratulated her on her accuracy as I looked above the front door at the For sale sign.
She then told me that I did,nt want anymore children as I had six as it was.
Poor woman looked positively shocked when I told her I had one child, so it looks like another five to go.
Then she asked me yet again to buy a charm to which I yet again declined.
Then she said I was very close to my mum and dad and they were both not too well with a cold right now.
I said I would take them some flu medicine shortly then.
Not bad seeing as my mum had been dead the past 19 years and my dad a year.
It took me a full 20 minutes to get rid of the woman. But not without her cursing me before she left as she had,nt got one penny out of me.
I wished her a lovely day and shut the door.
I went in the front room and cried, not because of the silly woman, but because she said my dad had a cold and the one dearest wish at that moment was for that to have been true and me going round his house with some flu medicine.
But I still look back and smile at that lady.
Maybe I should have invited her in that house for a cuppa as that house had some highly charged activity going on there, even I run out of there once when it got a little to intense. lol
Raymond
Actually you've just reminded me of another story I can tell. I had a gypsy come to my door once too.
I'll write it up shortly.
Bravo
Buy a lucky charm?
Not that bloody lucky is it? You've got loads of them and you're having to go knocking door to door to scrape a living...
