Atwater Vitki

I just spoke to the owner/manager of one of the cat only, no kill shelters in our area. She is licensed to kennel 440 felines and is currently keeping 462 due to a tragic set of circumstances at an elderly housing unit. Operating cost are over $11k per month...just in feeding her lot...nearly $15k/mo overall and she owns the property outright. (120 acres inherited from her grandfather) The apartment fire that displaced some 16 elderly residents in Livingston last month also displaced nearly 2 dozen kitties and 10 dogs. She was able to get a temporary permit for the overage but had to show proof of adding on the kennels etc in order to be in accordance with county licensing laws. This made me think all the more how it is really up to each of us to do what we can, with what we have for the lives of these animals. Selfish, dumb Hu-mans have caused this problem of overpopulation of domesticated pets, both dogs and cats. When there is a tragedy, such as what shelters were built for in the beginning, there is now nowhere to put these animals. Several months ago I read of a town, not far from Chernobyl (Russian nuclear meltdown) and the soldiers that patrolled the area felt sorry for a few dogs and cats left there after the evacuation. In 1986, there was a handful of strays - no exact # was given. Earlier this year, a team of scientific and military personnel were sent in to evaluate and monitor radiation levels. The sickening part of the story, I'll leave out. By doing a per acre averaging formula, they determined there to be some 75,000 feral cats and 40,000 wild dogs living in the abandoned town and surrounding areas. It's to the point that towns, some 50 miles away are repeatedly reporting packs of "strange looking wild dogs attacking livestock" (sheep and goats). Many are hairless, some where said to have extra limbs, others very odd shape - all I would assume from the radiation effects. My point in bring this up is merely to show, that left unchecked, how rapidly feral populations can grow. On Maui, where we got our "Moki" kitty, he has a tattooed #M406 inside his right ear, to show he's been neutered, other places notch the ear to show that feral cats have been fixed. So yes, as you say Grateful "Spay, neuter, educate" does seems to be one easy way for folks to do the most good for this problem. If a "handful" of feral cats can become over 75,000 in 26 years...can we even calculate how many cats there would be here in the states if millions of feral went unchecked? Astronomical in number. IF that feral population were cared for, just food alone (domestic sources and prices) it's approximately $25 per month per kitty $1,875,000.00 per month just to feed that brood in "Oskarvonovikosoya" (I obviously don't recall the name of the town off hand)....and that's just the cats! So anyone that thinks, (even full price) $125 spay or $75 neuter is a problem....don't do it and see what an expense one would have! It boils down to just a few months of feeding per animal, let alone other needs and vet care. Spay, Neuter, Educate! for sure!! Blessings of Peace,

"Bucky" was transported to his new home yesterday! Kay and I can't thank enough the good folks involved for helping this one dear spirit find a permanent home! Grateful - you are in order for a Feline Civil Duty Oak Leaf Cluster Gold Medal to go along with the Gold Canine one I'm sure you've been awarded already! Again, thank you, your daughter and friends for making a new life for a deserving feline! (I'll send ya the full size one so you can see the de-tails and how paws-itive it really is!) Blessings of Peace, Al

Choo-choo is firing up the boilers!

Gwynn....first off, very glad to have you share your views, teachings and path. Very interesting. I've studied a bit on the Rosicrucians as a whole, but know very little about various divisions and idealisms. I'm sure it is a lot like the Ásatrú Folk in that there are many variations of similar Beliefs. While I am firmly a Left Hand Path devotee, I subscribe to a very small sub-set the Ásatrú Folk practicing Runic Beliefs. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm going to interject, from your previous answer, that what lead you to your particular form of belief system was heritage and ancestral culture, yes? Our good Rev Rattler asked (post #15) why one path and not another as well as Bro. Kaman (#5) about combining different systems is why I bring it up. I'm not sure how your personal views connect to each, but perhaps your "blanket" or "umbrella" (main part) of your Belief is based on the CR+C while you incorporate the various rites and rituals of many similar conceptualizations of emulation, yes? I think for many folks today the access to knowledge is what varies our personal views so much. I have basically spent my entire life looking for the similarities between both religious and secular Beliefs rather than the things that create separation, distortion and imbalance. Due to such things as the Internet, we now have the world at our fingertips and those who seek eventually find. Like the Rosicrucian Orders, many of Ásatrú Folk assemblies have branched off into various groups that adhere to specific aspects of the root belief, yet being the type of esoteric beliefs they are, allow for our individual interpretations. This is what one of the many things this ULC Forum is all about....bringing so many various Beliefs to one place to discuss and exchange our individual perspectives and practices pertaining to our basic Spiritual Beliefs, regardless what they may be. I sincerely look forward to your sharing more about your particular path! So, if you were to sum up a couple of the main differences between your individual practices, and those of most other CR+C's, what would you say those would be? I really liked what you said in #17..."I don't take sides in what happened during the split; CR+C just was more to my personal taste." That is exactly how I feel about the initial split of my first rune-gild and the subsequent splintering of numerous groups since then. While I still very much believe, and adhere to, the original teachings of my Yrmin-Drighten, his inner-gild political views and rather radical personal perceptions are just a bit contrary to my own....though I firmly believe no one has a better grasp of ancient Nordic/Teutonic history and Workings than he. Blessings of Peace,

Quetzal...at the risk of being repetitive....."...my only conclusion can be that it simply Is. There is no good or bad in the Universe, just things and circumstances that Are. Things that are in an ethereal state and things that are in a physical state." I do truly believe my Sis's, and the many, many like her, will get their acknowledgment, there not here...wherever "there" may be. Since I believe in the cyclic theories and young/old soul concept, I firmly believe she is one of the Old Souls who, by passing through the tests put forth to her and maintaining her firm Belief will indeed not be subjected to another round in the physical realm. If, as some believe, Angels are created from their physical experiences and Saints are sainted based on their deeds, she will most definitely become a Sainted Angel in the next round for her.....but of course one must believe in such things for that to be a reality. ~~~.*.~~~ Dan56..."Essentially, what's right is good and what's wrong is bad. Every individual must clarify the difference for themselves, but in Christianity, Christ clarified, defined, and demonstrated good. " Oh I hear ya loud and clear. By my expressing the things that have been bestowed upon my Sis that is what I was attempting to submit. That even someone who has so many, many upsets and set backs in this Life she maintains her firm Beliefs in good. I have to believe, since it is her belief, that her "reward" will not be of or on this Earth. Don't forget, I routinely have given my support of the historical Christ and the principles and precepts he stood for and taught. I just do not support the views of the many versions of the Christian religion formed, by others, around his teachings. Earthly men created religious views, not the Christ and that is why I separate the two....the earnest Faith and Belief of the many, such as my Sis... and the dogmatic approach of many forms of zealous extremes (Westboro Baptist for example)

How sad to hear. And to think in the midst of this crisis, you still have time to coordinate others in the saving graces of animal well being. You are a strong and powerful friend Grateful, may you be Well and continue your Good Works in the name(s) of those you hold in reverence. Freya, your sis-in-law and friend, will be added to our list of being sent healing energies and prayers. I will also add a bit of the majikal in asking the Nordic Hierarchy to watch over her as well. I am assuming from her name, there must be some form of Nordic ancestry at work there! The below prayer is a healing formulary used during Rune-working, which I will do tonight at the appropriate hour. Blessings of Peace, Odhinn, Vili, Ve, Frey and Freyja, Watch over your daughter, Freya, of Midgaard. Give her blessed strength, Give her mighty stance! Bestow Blessed courage, Bestow Blessings to advance! Odhinn, Vili, Ve, and Heimdalr Protect your daughter of Midgaard. Light the Need-fires of Naudhaz within, Light her pathway of Raiðo without. Protect and promote her through Perðho. Odhinn, Vili, Ve, Baldr and Mimir, Guide your daughter of Midgaard. I call on the aerts of the Elder to guide her, On the ancients of Ogham to protect her, On the wisdom of Younger to fill her, On the power of All to instill Peace. Odhinn, Vili, Ve and all the Mighty of Asgaard, Watch over your daughter of Midgaard.

G- Thank you so much for your help! >^*.*^<

Poll could have used "All the above" and "Other" categories..... I need only look as far as my own sister who has been the poster child of the "Good Christian" her entire life to know our comprehension of "God" is nowhere close to what s/he, it, whatever, really is. No one has studied deeper and harder, longer and taken every word in the Bible as gospel as she has, nor been as devout to the principles, commandments and tenets as she has. I doubt very seriously if anyone could claim to have turned every fiber of their being over to "God" as much as she has..... ...yet she has colon cancer, has lost one daughter to the grave and another daughter to drugs. Lost a son to hypocrisy, a husband to multiple strokes and death, every in-law turned against her after hubby's passing. She's basically been the reincarnation of the biblical man Job for everything that has gone wrong for her in her life, yet she still clings to the grace and glory of "God". IMHO, Job was a sissy compared to Sis. So if anyone on this Earth would be deserving of a "reward" or "grace" or any special attention from "God" it would be her.....yet she's now, as of just the other day, as a cherry on the whip cream of Life, just lost her life savings and hubby's insurance money ($46,500) to the mortgage bank for having no choice but to sell her 4bd/3ba/3gar house for $45,000 under what she owes (which is $120k under what they paid in 1998)....but is Sis crying? No, she's thankful she had the money to cover the bank and enough left over to get into a small studio apartment. Yet, with all the spirit crushing events in my Sis's life, the winding, twisting path of my brother's world and the odd, stranger than normal reality events that have paved the road of my journey in Life I do indeed believe there is some form of Supreme Being. Even if that "being" is little more than a Collective Consciousness vibrating at such a level as to make it barely haptic to us humans. Is "God" good? Based on personal family experience, I'd say that's highly subjective. Does "God" care about the humans on this bubble? I'd say that's highly subjective. Does "God" even exist in a manner as reported in the Bible, Koran or Torah? I'd say that's highly subjective.And through it all, this Supreme Entity has proven nothing to me or many....not even if it does indeed exist. Since it has not given the slightest inkling of being good or bad, happy or sad, fer us or a'gin us, my only conclusion can be that it simply Is. There is no good or bad in the Universe, just things and circumstances that Are. Things that are in an ethereal state and things that are in a physical state. What is matter is matter, what is not matter is not matter. What is positive energy is merely one pole of opposite extremes. Everything just Is what it is and that's all it is, including the Supreme. And, as far as our puny little Hu-man minds go, we may never be sufficiently Aware to figure out this, or anything else. Frankly, that's what I believe separates this physical realm from the ethereal realm....here, we don't have a clue or even the means to comprehend, there, we'll have the answers we need. Blessings of Peace,

Blades- I know so well what you speak of. When I worked for the county we frequently found boxes full of kittens and puppies in the parks or up at the water reservoir....one of my own kittens came from a box of five deceased and one barely hanging on. Every time I see an orange crate box at the grocery store I think of little "Namu" that grew to be such a cool companion and the cruelty of people that think abandoning animals solves any kind of problem. There are times when I think what a heartless society we've become when it seems like no one is willing to do jack squat about small problems before these things grow into huge problems. Our schools have deteriorated into diploma mills, pet sanctuaries have become first choice for the masses, businesses of all kinds have become heartless corporations and the political process has been so compromised voters feel useless. On one hand it's very clear how we've created two generations of people that begin every sentence with "Feel this..." and end it with "...ya know what I'm sayin', man?"* I've lived a fairly adventurous life always taking care of me and mine while following my dreams...and a few nightmares...and until our accident had far greater plans for this chapter of life than what panned out. But, as anyone will tell ya, "That's Life!" However the loving care of pets has been a priority since I was old enough to know that "Bear" was my very first dog and how angry I was at my parents for leaving him with the people that bought our farm when I was 12 and we moved to 'clean city life'. Even as expensive spaying and neutering has become, isn't it far less expensive to deal with 1 or 2 than a litter of many? Not just our small group of pet loving folks that is trying to get things done locally, but good people all over the world are trying to get that message out of "Spay, Neuter, Educate!" It blows my mind to think of some of the people around here that have kept four cell phone stores in business in a town of 25,000, seven if you count the 1 satellite TV and 2 gaming station stores that also sell cell phones and services. I've witnessed teens that can blow hundreds of dollars on 'toys' yet will waste a day standing in front of the same store trying to get rid of litters of kittens and puppies....what happened to those little fuzzies at the end of the day and they still had most of them? How can parents or young adults justify a $200-$450 cell phone, but fail to go through with a $125 spay or $85 neuter? It seems life is awful cheap these days, whether it's puppies and kittens abandoned through no fault of their own or people that have been abandoned by Life and are now career criminals. Perhaps I even seem a bit judgmental and intolerant about these things, but dog gone it, where was our caring society, learned officials and ever so enlightened politicians when these were small manageable problems? Why and how did it ever get to such blown out proportions that it seems these issues, among many, are now insurmountable? Blessings of Peace, *from the TV show "Hard Time" about career criminals and the experiences they have going from jail to prison.