Snake Oil Family: can’t live with them, can’t strangle them...
There were some noticeably turbulent astrological triggers in mid November of 2012. Aside from a difficult Mercury retrograde in Scorpio, an eclipse acted like an added power surge to boost whatever issues were already surfacing. Halfway through the retrograde and the day after the eclipse, I climbed into my car after a fun night out and it wouldn’t start. I had never really had any problems with my Prius in the three years I have owned it (I bought a 2001 model used) but my first fearful thought was “what if my battery is dead?” While a Prius battery can actually last the entire life of the car, if it does fail, replacing one runs about $2,500. I was just about to call a tow truck when I gave it one last shot and it started. The power steering was out, and the control panel was a mess but it was possible for me to drive it. I uncomfortably drove the car home and left it at the repair shop I have used for many years. I did not sleep well because I was worried about what was potentially wrong with the car and what it might cost.
The next morning I got the call from my repair shop, after they did the diagnostic. It was not the primary battery, but the secondary battery that controls the power steering that needed replacing. His estimate to repair my car would be $2050 after ordering the part from Toyota. I was devastated. Like many people in 2012 I did not exactly have a spare $2000 lying around. Even if I had the money, I was not even sure if I should put it into a twelve year old car with 130 thousand miles on it. I still had eight months left of car payments before it would be paid off. I struggled with what I should do for an hour or so, then I made an uncomfortable call to my mother back east and told her of my plight. She quickly told me she would lend me the money (fortunately when my dad passed 3 years ago he left my mother in a comfortable place financially) and would send a check right out. I told her that I would prefer that she wait on doing that. I wasn’t sure if it was worth fixing and I needed to meditate on whether this was the right move for me - to add more debt when I still owed my mother from a similar financial punch I ran into six years ago with an A/C unit.
It was a miserable day with worrisome thoughts that ran through my mind about the possibility that I would not have a car for months. How would I get to the gym? How would I be able to go food shopping? How would I live without a car at all in Arizona? I felt like crap and finally took a needed nap after my rough night of sleep the day before. I woke up to a “magical” message on my answering machine from my oldest brother who had recently moved closer to my mother in the Carolina’s. “Yo Jim, this is your brother. You need to stop borrowing money all the time from Mom every time you have a problem. You are bleeding her dry. Me and the rest of your siblings are getting sick and tired of you draining away our inheritance money. You need to stop running off to Vegas all the time, and you need to get a real-full-time-job. You got to stop manipulating mom. You say you owe her a little bit of money still, but I think you really owe her a lot more than you are saying. Everyone is getting tired of your bullshit.” There were a few other nasty comments but this was the gist of my big brothers “helpful” call. My dark day turned even darker.
I was both upset and furious at the same time. Who the hell did my brother think he was talking to? I knew he had bullied many of my siblings at different times in our lives, but he had never directly attempted to bully me. Purely from a physical level I am 40 pounds bigger and more muscular than he is. The testosterone driven male part of me wanted to take his teeth out. He was fortunate at the time that he was 2000 miles away. I haven’t had a male speak to me in such a disrespectful way in over twenty years. More importantly, it was mom’s money. How dare he decide how she should or shouldn’t spend it. There was (hopefully) a good chance my mother would be alive for another 5-20 years. What kind of person feels they have a right to direct and decide what our mother should do with her money and claim that it is part of his inheritance? For all we knew, she might decide to give it away to Catholic charities, or the animal welfare league (things that are important to her) and that would be her right. I had already paid off most of the money I owed my mother over the years with monthly checks. The only reason my debt wasn’t completely paid off was because (like many people in the last few years) economic conditions had made things tight and I knew she was okay if it took a bit longer than expected. There were so many things wrong with his coercive logic and his message that every time I thought about it my head began to spin with anger. He was both insensitive and completely out of line.
I emailed or called a few of my other siblings and explained what was going on. They were sympathetic. They had all had their past battles with my brother. Many of their battles were far worse than my recent experience. My mother was also furious when she found out about my brother’s call to me. She admitted she should never have told him in the first place. The issue with my car and brother were at a time when a lot of personal planets (Venus, Moon, Mercury and also Saturn) were in Scorpio. Typically Astrology like this will trigger the part of us that has the ability to manipulate (or heal and influence in a positive way) others or bring up where we are manipulated. Through all of my internal discord, the messages from my oracle readings and intuitive prompts from my Higher Self were to take no action. Damned annoying enlightened part of me was ruining my desires to crush my stupid brother and expose him for the loser he really was. I learned many years ago about the karmic repercussions of acting on anger and knew it was wrong to do so. Still, I had some really creatively cruel fantasies about various ways to make my brother “pay” for his big mouth comments. It helped release some of my anger. In addition to my intuition telling me to not take action, and that somehow the car situation would be resolved less expensively than I thought, a close, pragmatic, persuasive friend of mine suggested I let her mechanic look at my car. She had raved about him for many years and I finally listened to her advice. She said he was honest and very reasonable about what he charged. At the very least, he would tell me if I should even pay to fix it at all. I listened to her suggestions and it took another week for me to get the car to him so I was without transportation for about 10 days. My friends thankfully all helped out with getting me around.
It wasn’t easy, yet I became progressively calmer and more peaceful after a few days and surrendered the situation to Spirit. The day before my birthday (a few days after I dropped the car off), I got a call from my friend’s mechanic. He was not only able to get the part much cheaper than my auto body shop quoted but he would also plug my radiator leak that I was told would cost me another $350 in addition to the $2050 for the power steering issue. My friend’s mechanic did both jobs and charged me a total of $201. In addition, he also told me that this was a really sound car and I would probably get another 2-6 years out of it! The astronomical discount was awesome, but the peace of mind I felt knowing I still had a good car was truly priceless.
My brother shocked me with a call the day after I picked up the car. He apologized for “stepping over the line” in his previous message and called to wish me a Happy Birthday and apologize. We had a good talk. He admitted that he was struggling financially after his move. He felt it was not fair for mom to be giving more to one of her children than the others. Still, he realized he had gone too far. While he still was clinging to his stubborn perspective about this being an issue of unfair treatment (I did often get slightly better treatment from my mother even when I was a kid. Being the baby boy who had the ear and voice of a counselor made mom understandably a bit extra fond of me), he was genuinely sorry. This was ground breaking for him. I don’t think my brother has ever apologized for anything in his life. For me, it was a truly amazing birthday gift. I forgave him and it felt good to be done with those feelings. I am not one to hold grudges for long. Stubborn longstanding resentment is not a worthy place for any of our energy to be held-up. Who needs that kind of anger floating around in one’s body and psyche? This is the type of stuff that contributes to the creation of illness. I could transform this into something positive.
As usual there was purpose to this family explosion. I had a little bit of fear about whether my car would last much longer, since I wasn’t in a place yet to buy another one if it didn’t. Worry is a form of negative prayer that can bring the things we are afraid of to us. I had a bit of shame and discomfort about whether I leaned on mom too often in the past. My brother in his clumsy, obnoxious way brought these fears to the surface for me. I still had a few self-deprecating beliefs and fears of inadequacy and they were blocking my ability to create prosperity for myself. Awareness of limiting beliefs is the first step in being able to release them. It also brought a dark family issue to surface. While we are a fairly close, loving family, we often are way too judgmental and frequently talk about what everyone in the family is “rightly” choosing or not choosing to do. I have been guilty of this type of gossip as well. It was time to let got of the too frequent nasty comments that were often a part of our interactions. As children we learned this from bad behavior on the part of my mother and surprisingly, even she was realizing this was not a good thing. I think some of the more enlightened members of my family will begin to let go of this ugly pattern as well, so there was potential good that came out of this negative experience.
My brief period of darkness was a difficult ride, but it led to a period of noticeably good things. I pushed myself to start doing the instructional videos I was procrastinating getting done, and the car problem refocused my need and ability to create back up funds for emergencies. I let go of the bad relationship I had with credit cards a few years ago and I no longer wanted mom to be my back up credit card. The interest-free loans were nice, but the “cost” in the long run was not worth the benefits. We often want to avoid and run from the painful and challenging experiences that surface from time to time in life. Sometimes we get blinded and outraged and this can cause us to lose sight of our real power. It may even lead us to create new negative karma to resolve. We can stubbornly keep rehashing our anger over “how someone treated us so badly,” yet this can distract us from solving the issues that surface when difficult, even obnoxious people trigger buried issues. Often it is the moments of greatest darkness that allow us to recognize the true creative powers of the Self. If we are willing to listen to the wise voice of our intuition and not get seduced into letting fear and anger fuel reactive responses, we can heal our deepest wounds and we have opportunities to permanently move out of the dark places within us into a more peaceful present and joy-filled future.
Jim Ventura 12-2012
Editors note:
It’s 2013 and we made it through the Mayan prediction of the end of the world (it was probably never meant to be a literal end of the world, it more likely had connotations that are similar to the Astrological meaning behind the beginning of the Aquarian age) and the predictions by the nut-jobs on the “far Right” who said, “everything will collapse if Obama is reelected.” Anyone who actually misses the “fun” of wondering when the apocalypse will come shouldn’t worry though; I am absolutely sure that we will have a bunch of new end of the world predictions coming up in the next few years to give buyers something else to nervously prepare for. I can already feel the difference in the energy of the Universal “6” year coming in and it definitely feels a bit more stable than the push and pulls of the “5” year we have just left behind. I will give everyone some information about the influences of the “6” year and the year of the Rabbit (In Chinese Astrology) in next month’s newsletter.
I made my first You-Tube video (the link to view it follows). Special thanks to my two helpers Frieda and Apollo Poetry. Apollo filmed the video and did the editing work for me. He did a great job and is currently available if you want to do a video of your own. Apollo can be reached at ApolloPoetry@gmail.com. He also has many excellent videos of his own on You-Tube, well worth checking out! It was great fun and I am looking forward to doing future videos every few months. My wise-ass first video introduction was meant to make the people who already know and work with me laugh. The people who already think I am a “Snake Oil” salesman now get to say, “see I told u so!” It has been almost 13 years since I have done television or video (I did a public access talk show in the late 90’s for 2 years) and it was really fun to go back to this type of creative work again. I have some great ideas for upcoming videos. Please pass my videos along to friends and family. The information can be a great help to people and it’s a good way to introduce them to my work, so they can hopefully stop being so “afraid of this stuff,” and take advantage of the benefits of using oracles as navigational aids.
The new year is always a good time to look at an overview of the upcoming year. Remember, everyone who receives my newsletter gets $5 off listed prices, and both fans and friends on Facebook friends get a total of $10 off listed prices. In-person office sessions also get another $5 discount if the session is paid for in cash! If you email me with your Birthday (day and month) I will also add you to my yearly Birthday promotions list and you will get an offer for a heavily discounted session each year when your Sun sign Astrology is highlighted. There will not be a price increase for session prices this year. Wishing everyone the best in the New Year! Cheers, Jim V
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Gandhi
Snake Oil Radio
Thursdays at 3:30 pm (there will be four live broadcasts this month)
My next live broadcast of Snake Oil Radio will be Thursday, January 3rd, at 3:30 p.m. (MST). Almost every Thursday you can catch a new show. Each 45 minute show will expand on my current column’s subject matter. It will also offer an opportunity for you to call in live (or chat with other listeners in the chat room) with comments and your thoughts about the topic of discussion. Halfway through the show you can even ask me for a free 5 minute mini reading with your personal question. If you miss the live show, you can catch any of my previously recorded shows on the web site’s archive. You can also catch Snake Oil Radio on I-tunes (download my pod-casts there).
All you need to do is be at a computer and tuned into: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Jim-Ventura You may also access it by going to blogtalkradio.com. Type “Snake Oil” into the search option.
You can also go to the shows that are currently “On air” at that time and find me. The call in number is 646-200-3966 for questions and comments.
Spring Classes
MICHAEL MATERIAL
* What is your soul age? The soul age of friends and family ?
* How do past lifetimes influence us in the present ?
* What does karma feel like, and how does it work ?
* How does your chief negative feature impact your life, and can it be changed?
* What happens when your partner is an idealist and you are a realist ?
* What is your life goal? Is it dominance, acceptance, flow or submission ?
*What is your essence, your soul mate’s essence ? Artisan, priest, king, server, sage, warrior or scholar ?
* What is a soul mate, task companion, heart link ?
* What do the higher centers feel like?
After this workshop you will understand all of these questions and many more, and more importantly have the answers.
There are no tests to pass, just some great information. 5 classes, 2 hours each.
What is the Michael teaching?
The main goal of the Michael teaching is agape or unconditional love. The teaching views life as a learning game in which fragments of the Tao - that essential part of each human being - set up lessons which continue over lifetimes. These lessons are learned via the personality which Essence chooses each lifetime. Michael teaches us what the components of the personality are so that we can learn to use and see these components in ourselves and in others. In that way we can learn to understand why human beings behave as they do. Michael is composed of 1,050 individual Essences who have lived on the physical plane and now teach from another plane. One of the most basic and important principles of the teaching is that it is not a religion or a belief system. Michael encourages their students to self validate all of the information they receive. The system was originally in print in over 12 volumes of information. “My studies of this material have been extensive and now I offer what I have learned to my students” Jim Ventura (Old Scholar). The classes will help you to use and understand the material without the need to read all the out-of-print books.
Saturday mornings 10 am till noon March 9, 16, 23, 30th and April . $90.00 for all five classes ($80.00 pre-paid and for current Regular clients). Maximum of 8 students for this home class (one student may call in out-of-area on speaker phone) and minimum of 4 sign-ups to hold the classes. A $20 deposit is required to hold your space in this series.
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” Gandhi
Private Parties
I am available to do private parties with “mini readings” for your guests. Parties can be booked with either 20, 30 or 45 minute session blocks. Many of the different oracles I work with can be chosen for your specific event.
The parties are a fun way to enable family and friends to become more comfortable with the benefits of oracle readings. I have done many of these parties in the past and they are truly memorable events for all of the guests.
Minimum and maximum numbers of readings are required to book a party. If more than the minimum is booked than the host gets his/her session free! $50.00 non-refundable deposit is required to hold a party date. 20 minute sessions for $30.00. 30 minute sessions for $45.00. Call or email me for more information. Any home parties booked in December 2012 or January 2013 are $40 for 30 minute sessions!
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle, and the other is as if everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
Here’s my contact information to make an appointment for a session, or information on current classes: Phone: (602)957-3035 Email: Venturasag@yahoo.com
Information about the different sessions and types of readings and services, past Snake Oil columns, and how to order my books and audio CD’s can be found at my website: Http://JimVentura.com
“Friend” me on Facebook to get other extra offers and in between column extras! Signing up for my fan page will get you even more extras and first shot at reading specials.
All Current Snake Oil subscribers get $5.00 off all listed prices below.
All sessions/readings for 2013 are: Full (70 minutes) $110.00; Shorter session (45 minutes) $80.00; Extended session (90 minutes) $130.00 (two people can split an extended session back to back for $65.00 each).
I accept cash, checks, debit cards, Master Card, Visa, and PayPal for payments on sessions and for books and classes. Send me your birth month and year to get added to the yearly Birthday mailer promotion.
End of newsletter Special
You can have a New Year overview session to look at primary themes, challenges, and opportunities for the coming year. One symbol from each of the many different oracles I read will be pulled to highlight 2013 for you!
Angel card
Viking Rune stone
Druid animal totem
Lakota Indian card
Egyptian Cartouche
Tarot Archetype
Your session can be a 45 minute or full 70 minute reading. Mention the end of the newsletter special and you get $15 off of my listed prices (normally subscribers get $5 off) for booking this session in January of 2013 only. Email or call to set up your appointment.
