Epiphany is my word du jour. It all started when I was explaining the importance of the 6th of January, or Epiphany, in the Italian calendar, as a day when La Befana fills the socks of children with toys or sweets if they are good or coal, onions or garlic if they are bad. My meandering mind then turned circuitously, via the origins and dual meaning of the word, to an epiphany of my very own triggered by a conversation about witches, witch crafts and covens.  In Italian folklore, La Befana is often depicted as an old woman or crone wearing shawl riding a broomstick, like a traditional witch. For Italian children, La Befana is like Father Christmas, coming down the chimney—explaining her sooty look. And just like children that leave food for Santa and his reindeer, Italian families will often leave a small glass of wine and some thing to eat for La Befana. According to local folklore, La Befana sweeps the floor before leaving.  There are a number of versions of the Christian legend behind La Befana, but one is that she was too busy sweeping and cleaning to join the Three Wise Men, [...]

As I ploughed through self help book after self help book trying to sort the wheat from the chaff on the personal growth shelves, I started to believe that my writing debut would be a book of self help in a minute for busy bankers looking for answers. With his book :59 Seconds, professor Richard Wiseman beat me by a second. The cover title nailed my journey to date in a second. The last few years have been moving from a place of thinking too much (a common trait among those of us with very long thin analytical fingers) and changing very little, to a place of Intuition and as professor Wiseman put it “Think a little; change a lot.” This book, a scientific approach to personal growth, is a one-stop shop of what I think are many of the main topics in the personal development industry, including creativity, relationships, sales (or persuasion as he entitles that chapter), Happiness, Stress, personality, parenting, attraction, motivation and decision making. Perfect for helping those New Years’ resolutions stick, whatever they may be. It is centred, grounded and it is very readable. I had I read it as my first book, [...]

This was the photograph smiling at me from the wall of courses being offered at The College of Psychic Studies. I had never intended to become a student of the college, let alone a member, all I was doing was attending a lecture on one of my heroes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But it was as I was leaving 16 Queensbury Place and Andrew Lycett’s talk that Davina MacKail’s smile caught me. Under the photo was the course description: Reading the Signs of Destiny; just the perfect smorgasbord to wet my appetite for this new esoteric world.  My journey into psychic development started on 7 May 2008 with Davina’s 10 week course, which covered Divination tools, such as the Tarot, Palmistry, the I-Ching, and pendulums and a beginner insight into Feng Shui, Dreams and shamanic journeying. I instantly gelled with palmistry and continued my studies on this subject with Robin Lown but there was something about Davina’s teaching style that made me want to learn more from her. So each year I have been dipping in and out of the different workshops she offers slowly realising that it almost does not matter what she teaches because [...]

The other day as I headed off to what I thought was a business drink, I found myself at a local gathering of South Indian Brahmins. From just my surname they embraced me as if I were their own and proceeded to ask me questions about my father and his family that I absolutely no clue about. The funny thing was that the more names I threw out at them about family I had vaguely heard of, the more they knew who I was and where my father came from than I did. Today is dad’s birthday and he would have been would have been 76. As I sit here reflecting on this local TamBrahm community, I realise how little I know of dad’s life, his world and how and where he grew up. While I realise no good can come of regretting The Father of All Assumptions I know it has shaped my life for the last 10 years and its time for this cycle to end. This closely knit group with Tamil Nadu origins filled my head with stories of the types of people my family would have been and the fact that they would have been [...]

My head is still spinning from La Rondine last night, and I can’t just blame the generous quantities of champagne. I was super lucky to be invited to the Opera Holland Park by a contact of mine to see Giacomo Puccini’s opera and it proved to be a thought provoking evening on many levels. While I cannot claim to be knowledgeable of opera I am always engaged by a good story. The storyline of La Rondine, with a rich banker and mistress and the quest for true love had all the ingredients to draw me in. Whether or not one wants to see the ending as happy or sad, it seems that for La Rondine at least, this label is a point of view. We were resolutely divided, as some argued Madga, the mistress, was smart to go back to the wealthy banker Rambaldo. For me it was an unhappy ending as Magda finds her true love with the poorer Ruggero and yet chooses to let him go when she believes her past means she can never become his wife. I still had a little with thrill with the character of Prunier, who loves an audience [...]

I never thought I would live to hear myself say that I love to play with numbers. In the mathematical format, numbers and I are like vampires and garlic. But when I discovered Numerology and the idea that you can play with numbers to give you a clue to personality, path and purpose, I was in my element. I first met Sonia Ducie, author of Do It Yourself Numerology on a day-long workshop at The College of Psychic Studies in 2009, but I had read my way through the Thorsons Principles of Numerology, which she wrote, long before then. Sonia, the daughter of a mathematician who would talk about mathematics at breakfast, started her love affair with numbers by mistake, she recalled when I first met her. Mistake or not, she has now been practising for nearly 20 years. For Sonia numerology is her way to connect to her psychic side. Most practitioners of the esoteric arts will use numerology as part of their divinatory practise whether they read palms, the Tarot, or are simply practising Feng Shui. According to Sonia, the power and energy in numbers is a fundamental force in the cycle of life. True or not, [...]

The element of Earth appears in a number of divination tools as well as being the element represented in the Root Chakra. In astrology, the Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.

The element of fire appears in a number of divination tools as well as being the element represented in the Solar Plexus Chakra. In astrology the fire signs are Aries, Leo and Sagitarius.

The element of air appears in a number of divination tools as well as being the element represented in the Heart Chakra. In astrology the air signs are Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius.

The element of water appears in a number of divination tools as well as being the element represented in the Sacral Chakra. In Jungian psychology, Carl Gustav Jung said water is for feeling. In astrology, the water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.