Rumpelstiltskin

A little Halloween fun for you … and quite in line with recent themes on this blog — for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. 😉

Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

Rumpelstiltskin

By the side of a wood, in a country a long way off, ran a fine stream of water; and upon the stream there stood a mill. The miller’s house was close by, and the miller, you must know, had a very beautiful daughter. She was, moreover, very shrewd and clever; and the miller was so proud of her, that he one day told the king of the land, who used to come and hunt in the wood, that his daughter could spin gold out of straw. Now this king was very fond of money; and when he heard the miller’s boast his greediness was raised, and he sent for the girl to be brought before him. Then he led her to a chamber in his palace where there was a great heap of straw, and gave her a spinning-wheel, and said, ’All this must be spun into gold before morning, as you love your life.’ It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father, for that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold: the chamber door was locked, and she was left alone.

She sat down in one corner of the room, and began to bewail her hard fate; when on a sudden the door opened, and a droll-looking little man hobbled in, and said, ’Good morrow to you, my good lass; what are you weeping for?’ ’Alas!’ said she, ’I must spin this straw into gold, and I know not how.’ ’What will you give me,’ said the hobgoblin, ’to do it for you?’ ’My necklace,’ replied the maiden. He took her at her word, and sat himself down to the wheel, and whistled and sang:

’Round about, round about,
Lo and behold!
Reel away, reel away,
Straw into gold!’

And round about the wheel went merrily; the work was quickly done, and the straw was all spun into gold.

When the king came and saw this, he was greatly astonished and pleased; but his heart grew still more greedy of gain, and he shut up the poor miller’s daughter again with a fresh task. Then she knew not what to do, and sat down once more to weep; but the dwarf soon opened the door, and said, ’What will you give me to do your task?’ ’The ring on my finger,’ said she. So her little friend took the ring, and began to work at the wheel again, and whistled and sang:

’Round about, round about,
Lo and behold!
Reel away, reel away,
Straw into gold!’

till, long before morning, all was done again.

The king was greatly delighted to see all this glittering treasure; but still he had not enough: so he took the miller’s daughter to a yet larger heap, and said, ’All this must be spun tonight; and if it is, you shall be my queen.’ As soon as she was alone that dwarf came in, and said, ’What will you give me to spin gold for you this third time?’ ’I have nothing left,’ said she. ’Then say you will give me,’ said the little man, ’the first little child that you may have when you are queen.’ ’That may never be,’ thought the miller’s daughter: and as she knew no other way to get her task done, she said she would do what he asked. Round went the wheel again to the old song, and the manikin once more spun the heap into gold. The king came in the morning, and, finding all he wanted, was forced to keep his word; so he married the miller’s daughter, and she really became queen.

At the birth of her first little child she was very glad, and forgot the dwarf, and what she had said. But one day he came into her room, where she was sitting playing with her baby, and put her in mind of it. Then she grieved sorely at her misfortune, and said she would give him all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her off, but in vain; till at last her tears softened him, and he said, ’I will give you three days’ grace, and if during that time you tell me my name, you shall keep your child.’

Now the queen lay awake all night, thinking of all the odd names that she had ever heard; and she sent messengers all over the land to find out new ones. The next day the little man came, and she began with TIMOTHY, ICHABOD, BENJAMIN, JEREMIAH, and all the names she could remember; but to all and each of them he said, ’Madam, that is not my name.’

The second day she began with all the comical names she could hear of, BANDY-LEGS, HUNCHBACK, CROOK-SHANKS, and so on; but the little gentleman still said to every one of them, ’Madam, that is not my name.’

The third day one of the messengers came back, and said, ’I have travelled two days without hearing of any other names; but yesterday, as I was climbing a high hill, among the trees of the forest where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, I saw a little hut; and before the hut burnt a fire; and round about the fire a funny little dwarf was dancing upon one leg, and singing:

’”Merrily the feast I’ll make.
Today I’ll brew, tomorrow bake;
Merrily I’ll dance and sing,
For next day will a stranger bring.
Little does my lady dream
Rumpelstiltskin is my name!”’

When the queen heard this she jumped for joy, and as soon as her little friend came she sat down upon her throne, and called all her court round to enjoy the fun; and the nurse stood by her side with the baby in her arms, as if it was quite ready to be given up. Then the little man began to chuckle at the thought of having the poor child, to take home with him to his hut in the woods; and he cried out, ’Now, lady, what is my name?’ ’Is it JOHN?’ asked she. ’No, madam!’ ’Is it TOM?’ ’No, madam!’ ’Is it JEMMY?’ ’It is not.’ ’Can your name be RUMPELSTILTSKIN?’ said the lady slyly. ’Some witch told you that!– some witch told you that!’ cried the little man, and dashed his right foot in a rage so deep into the floor, that he was forced to lay hold of it with both hands to pull it out.

Then he made the best of his way off, while the nurse laughed and the baby crowed; and all the court jeered at him for having had so much trouble for nothing, and said, ’We wish you a very good morning, and a merry feast, Mr RUMPLESTILTSKIN!’

 

This eBook of “Fairy Tales” by the Grimm Brothers (based on translations from the Grimms’ Kinder und Hausmärchen by Edgar Taylor and Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes) belongs to the public domain. Complete book.
Authorama – Classic Literature, free of copyright. About…

Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are

This is a great TED Talk for anyone looking to feel more empowered. Brain injury survivors will find it especially interesting, since Amy Cuddy herself suffered a TBI at age 19. You’d never know it listening to her! Proof positive that her strategy of “Fake it ’til you become it” really works. Job interviews, public speaking events, difficult conversations … even sporting events: just two minutes of a different posture can affect the outcome. 🙂

Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are

“Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how ‘power posing’ — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.”

Teach a Man to Fish

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.” —Author unknown

No, I don’t eat fish, and yes, this analogy applies to women and children as well as men. I mention it today because so many people have lately requested I “just heal them” of whatever physical, mental, emotional or spiritual pains trouble them. I keep having to say, “No, I will not do the work for you, but I will teach you how to heal yourself. The energies of this time do not support a complete outsourcing of self-healing or any other responsibility. Yes, in most cases, I can help, but that comes through educating people about how their own energy system, karma, and self-talk work so that they know how to shift themselves into the positive feelings they’d prefer.”

Some people appreciate this, while others feel angry that I’m withholding what I “could” give them. The truth is that I love and honor them enough to offer much more than just a quick fix. The challenges of our times (both individual and collective) all stem from people outsourcing their own responsibility, which ultimately results in feeling “stuck” or “trapped” by circumstances “outside” their control.

When we abdicate personal responsibility, we also give away our freedom and power. In order to reclaim freedom and power, we must accept the responsibility that goes along with them. Yes, we can ask for help, but we should be wary of those who offer or claim to do everything for us, because real healing and empowerment come from within. Giving responsibility for our own well-being to another person, corporation, doctor, government, religion, or the economy makes us vulnerable to their whims, flaws, limitations and control. How can we know they truly have our best interests in mind? What choices do they leave us for opting out if we don’t like this feeling of dependence? What if we learn, mid-stream, that they not only can’t live up to their promises to save us, but never intended to do so in the first place?

Suddenly, the free ride doesn’t seem so free. Whatever its form, true healing comes with a price. In most cases, that price means throwing off the illusions that got us sick, ill, in debt or trapped. Some of these illusions run deep, and we may not want to let them go; however, we will only heal to the degree we manage to surrender the illusions. We can’t fake this casting off process to our deepest selves. If we haven’t finished, then the same issue(s) will continue to appear until we clear away the root distortions and lies. I see these patterns in clients and myself regarding past life issues, limiting beliefs and the blame game. Understanding our process makes letting go much easier. It might seem to take longer to learn how and why we engage in certain patterns, but ultimately, consciousness is more efficient than playing whack-a-mole with the next symptom, drama or disappointment.

Solutions from outside ourselves may ease pain for a moment, but they won’t help when the next challenge appears. And rest assured, in 2012, challenges will continue to appear! Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” As the veils drop, people will begin to see myriad ways in which the current paradigm functions as a dictatorship. Life is upside down, inside out and backwards — and has been for a long, long time. Recognizing the inversions takes courage:

“MUCH madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
’T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.” ~Emily Dickinson

Healing such inversions requires courage, an understanding of how things become inverted, and acceptance of the personal responsibility to right those things within our own perspective, attitudes and vibration. At best, surface action and outsourced healing act as band-aids, but they won’t correct the root problem. At worst, they can amplify the root problem of giving away power and control to someone or something else. The famous slave-turned-Underground-Railroad-Guide Harriet Tubman said, “I grew up like a neglected weed – ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.” “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” In a society that feeds external dependence and spiritual disconnection, most people remain ignorant of liberty. We get to know liberty by cultivating an intimate relationship with it. We liberate ourselves each time we remember we change our outer world by changing ourselves within.

Healing and freedom go together. That’s why Harriet Tubman could say, “I never ran my train off track and I never lost a passenger.” The sooner we realize that our natural state is one of flow, Grace, health, wholeness, freedom and total alignment, the faster we can readjust whenever something begins to pull us off course. Faster adjustments mean less time in pain, resistance and poverty. When we learn to conduct ourselves, we stop running off track. We feel balanced, free, healed and whole.

Will I heal you? No. It is not my responsibility to heal you, but I love teaching people how they can heal themselves. I love helping people to recognize their own systemic patterns so that shifting one or two areas results in quantum leaping all areas of life affected by those patterns. Sometimes past life awareness heals root causes of distortions; sometimes clearing parasites strengthens the core sense of self; sometimes tough love helps people realize how powerful, magical and connected they already are. Whatever comes through me in sessions, I am not the one doing the healing. “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.” Source energy flows all around and through us, but it cannot force us to embrace that energy. Learning to recognize and correct our own resistance ensures that we can connect to infinite healing, love and freedom whenever we desire. We gain true security by realizing how and why we manage the flow.

Even if I could use my faery magick wand to bless and presto heal everyone I know, the energy of these times runs against such action. From Egypt to Madison to Occupy to localization to grassroots freedom movements, today’s healing energy requires participation in order to work. David Icke describes “Problem-Reaction-Solution” as the means by which the 1% control the 99%. Collectively, the world has begun reacting to problems. Will we scream for the quickest “solutions” offered? Or do we accept responsibility for the world we wish to co-create? Will we become the change we wish to see in the world, or sit back and demand someone else swoop in to save us from ourselves?

Patrick Henry so famously said:

“Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

“Is security so dear, or wealth so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

The energy of 2012 supports the passion of Patrick Henry. In a world of so many environmental, economic, personal, and collective ills, we must choose. We can relearn responsibility for managing our own energy, health, finances and reality creation, or we can accept a default reality that may very well extinguish the human race. Each personal healing affects the collective. Each step towards personal sovereignty and well-being empowers the collective. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but that does not negate the importance of individual parts. I leave you with words of The Elders Oraibi of the Arizona Hopi Nation:

“You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.

“Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.

“And there are things to be considered:

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your Truth.

Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

“This could be a good time!

“There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

“Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate.

“At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

“The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!

“Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.

“All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”