Tuesday, September 29, 2015

October 2015 Snake Oil/A Truly Scary Halloween Story

A Truly Scary Halloween Story

It was the fall of 1977, Star Wars mania was everywhere you looked. Like most other kids, I thought that this movie was the greatest tale ever told. My creative wheels were turning as Halloween approached. I planted the seeds in all of my friends for a Halloween that would be awesome. We would all dress up as characters from the movie. I had everyone excited about this idea. Anyone who saw us that night would think we were brilliant, they would envy us, we would become legends in our neighborhood. I could barely sleep through most of October as I plotted the greatest idea ever conceived.
I decided I would go as C-3PO. This character was one of the robots in the movie. Looking back on this decision, it was strangely fitting in many ways. The robot was slightly sarcastic, fussy, funny, and a tiny bit more feminine than the other robot in the movie. For this queer child, this wasn’t exactly a part I would have to stretch myself to become. I began to sketch out the blueprint of my costume. I had very little money, but I figured with my artistic talents, I could make this brilliant creation for next to nothing.
All the while I continued to prod my friend’s and little sister, keeping them enthused about the plan. As Halloween grew closer, many of my friends interest in this idea began to wane. What was the matter with these fools? They were slipping back into boring old standbys: Clowns, witches, pirates, ghosts... Was it possible for every one of my friends to be more lame? Was I the only one who could see how important this was? However, my little sister hung in there. She was going to be a character from the movie, Princess Leia. She was excited. I appreciated that she was equally enthused, so as my generous reward, she had far few big brother verbal beatings that October.

I purchased gold wrapping paper for my creation and collected cardboard pieces for weeks. A few days before Halloween I began to wrap my cardboard costume in gold paper. C-3PO was solid gold in the movie, so I wanted everything to be perfect. The problem was that things were not exactly coming together the way I expected them to. Measuring cardboard pieces to fit one’s body was far more complicated than I imagined. The mask looked lousy and it was difficult to breath with a cardboard box over my head. I tried on pieces of the costume and it felt awkward. It was difficult to move in this monstrosity. The vision was not translating into reality very well. I began to panic.

I put on what I had created and walked outside my room for the first time. My mother and little sister waited patiently with the camera. They were ready to mark this phenomenal moment in time with a snapshot to cherish forever. In reality they did it because I asked them to. My mother’s usual lack of enthusiasm was typical, but she held the camera and patiently prepared to take the shot. I stepped out of my bedroom and began my uncomfortable walk down the hallway toward them. The cardboard stuck into me in places I would not have expected. It was difficult to walk in this piece of crap. The costume ripped in some places as I painstakingly worked my way forward. The gold wrapping paper tore and fell off as I clumsily tried to move forward in this pile of shit.
Mom snapped the picture of what she called my “tin-man outfit.” The costume was falling apart and crumbling just as I was emotionally. I was grateful for the ugly mask, because it hid my pain. The situation was horrible; it was a major letdown. I couldn’t go out trick or treating in this, I would not get anywhere. My little sister howled with laughter at the sight of me, years of my tormenting her had finally been paid back. I turned around and ran back into my room as gold foil wrapping paper trails were left behind.
I spent the rest of the day hating myself, life, my family, friends, and everyone else on the planet. What would I do now? Maybe I would just skip Halloween this year. Maybe I would never come out of my room again. I was so angry at my mother. Why couldn’t she be the generous, creative mother who made costumes? She didn’t care, nobody cared. I sulked for a while, then began to think about all of the candy I was going to miss if I didn’t get over this. I reached into my closet and pulled out my rattiest looking clothes. I would go out trick or treating as a bum, an old standby, barren of any creativity.
We all went trick or treating the next day and night. My little sister was the only one who stuck with the Star Wars theme. Her costume was actually pretty good, yet no one knew who she was. A few people asked her who she was supposed to be. She tried to explain it to them, but was frustrated by their lack of awareness. Her misery made me feel a little better just the same. Still to this day we remind each other about how foolish we were back then and laugh our asses off at my disastrous plan. I learned that life sometimes doesn’t go the way you expect it to. It wasn’t the first or the last time I would be disappointed in my life. I also learned that when something doesn’t work out, then you find a new way to reach the goal. In this case it was for the fun of trick-0r-treating and piles of candy. I ate myself sick that Halloween. It felt damn good.
Jim Ventura 6-2003
Editors Note:

I believe I first ran this story here about 7 years ago. It’s from my first book Dirty Little Secrets. I published DLS back in 2004. A number of the stories in the book are humorous essays. I think one of the most fun, and inexpensive healing arts available is humor! When we can genuinely laugh at ourselves and the world we are often in a really good place. This is one of many stories I told friends for years in my twenties that finally was written and put in a book! I still have copies available of Dirty Little Secrets. I am running a special for the month on this book and a really discounted special for my CD recording of the book. I had the entire book professionally recorded, it can be played on your computer. Check out how to order a copy of either in this newsletter, or you can pick up a copy if you are here in person for a session and avoid the shipping charges.
We had some interesting retrograde motion of planets this summer and currently Mercury is retrograde in Libra until the 9th of this month. I never thought that a Venus retrogrades could cause so much trouble, but as Venus moved retrograde in Leo for the last few months I felt it, and so did almost everyone of my clients and friends! A mix of good and challenging realizations came to the surface. I had to let go of a 12 year friendship. I am typically painfully loyal but I realized that there was an uncomfortable imbalance in the friendship that had been bothering me for a long time. She is someone that I was often a bit uncomfortable with when it came to her ethics (Greed Dragon) in business and other areas of life. It never directly affected me, but really hit me hard a very personal way in early August. I can’t say I didn’t struggle with it for a bit, but I know that she needs to be walking a different path in her life and it is not good for me to be part of this path. I know that the Universe often creates a vacuum effect before it fills what is lost with something far more in alignment with our evolving vibrations. I went thru a similar thing about 15 years ago that resulted in a very intimate new relationship that emerged a few months after the change...
The lion (Leo) part of me wanted to roar and attack from the mistreatment, yet the wiser part of me was wise enough to forgive and recognize why I was co-creating this experience. This Venus retrograde was all about looking at our giving and receiving ration and becoming more empowered in seeing our self worth. Now that it is moving forward again we can all find more opportunities to be more comfortable allowing our inner Queen or King to emerge!
If you want more frequent updates for astrology and other subjects follow me on my Fan page on Face Book. I am definitely keeping this column to just monthly for awhile.
The weather is finally becoming a little cooler here in Phoenix and my favorite season of fall is about to happen! Wishing everyone a happy Fall. Cheers, Jim V

“I’ve never known anyone yet who doesn’t suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around... We’re all eight years old again and anything is possible.” Sue Grafton

Channeled corner. I read many, many books from different trance channelers in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Unfortunately many of them are now out of print, but I still have a huge collection and will share some of the best material I have collected over the years.


“Youth, as your will grant, is the stretch of years between childhood and adulthood. There is thus no juncture, or cusp, that is so wrenching to the psyche. The child exists in a mental and physical world all its own, which the adult may glimpse only rarely and crudely. To push toward successful entry into adulthood requires that the psyche literally  be unraveled and rebuilt from scratch. All the learning, the security and mastery of childhood are incorporated into an entirely new structure, allowing the assumption of full status as an adult in your society. The cusp of youth then, at age fourteen, is so fraught with trauma because there is no life point where the psyche is so rest asunder, restructured from the ground up.
You may thus find wild mood swings, sudden growth spurts, snarling disobedience, foul language to embarrass a sailor, experimentation with drugs, and rejection of the toys of childhood and the strictures of childhood. 
The early adolescent is a gangly, uncoordinated creature. The body always reflects the inner condition. The psyche is literally unraveling, sorting itself out into new configurations, and this activity finds a reflection in the physical awkwardness of early youth...”
Whatever Happened To Divine Grace by Ramon Stevens

New Client Special extended through November 30th 2015:
June 1st 2015 thru November 30th 2015 Special: New Client introductory offer
$10-15 off listed rates  for your first 45 minute session, 70, or 90 minute session! Ask for the special when you email
Venturasag@yahoo.com to book. Debit and credit card payments get $10 off for 45-90 minute sessions. Local in-office clients can get an extra $5 off for cash or check payments for sessions. If you want to buy a new client a thoughtful gift of a session you can also take advantage of these rates!
My current rates (new clients can subtract the above discounts from these rates): 45 minute sessions $80. 70 minute sessions $110. 90 minute sessions $130.
“You are always free to change your mind and choose a different future, or a different past.” Richard Bach

Snake Oil Radio

Thursdays at 3:30 pm (there will be two live broadcasts this month)
My next live broadcast of Snake Oil Radio will be Thursday, October 8th at 3:30 p.m. (AZ doesn’t use daylight savings time, so it’s the same as pacific time). Most Thursdays 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. 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).
To hear a live show, 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.

“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.” William Arthur Ward
Dirty Little Secrets 

(available in print and audio CD, or kindle) Storyteller and professional oracle reader Jim Ventura takes his readers on a wild literary ride. Dirty Little Secrets is a collection of short essays. The book explores some of society’s perceptions about what people often consider to be dirty little secrets best kept to oneself. The book tackles subjects with unflinching honesty: drug use, sexual addiction, unrequited love, revenge, childhood weirdness, homosexuality, and the old souls quest to experience magic and miracles in everyday life. The author holds little back in expressing his quest for enlightenment. Dirty Little Secrets illustrates how meaning, spirituality and humor can be found to be embedded in every experience.
Excerpts from Dirty Little Secrets:
Light as a feather, stiff as a board “...Childhood for me was a time of experimentation. I was attracted to the occult, there was something about its danger and mystery that was compelling...”
What’s wrong in this world? “...My belief has always been this: life is meaningful and safe, and people are basically good by nature...”
Criminal “...My nightmare with the bad-boy showed me parts of myself that were not honorable. While I never even came close to the type of thievery Jim was involved in, I had still been a thief when we met. I tried to manipulate this young man, by making him need me, and he manipulated me right back, tenfold...”
The Raven “...I began to remember every violation done to me in past relationships, every client who was loving and kind in relationships and was treated like garbage ran through my head. Every piece of slime who walked all over my brothers and sisters, and close friends passed through my head. I felt rage, someone needed to take a stand, someone needed to fight back. I appointed myself, through an imaginary election, to the position of righter of all wrongs...”
Another queen singing I’m coming out! “...Everyone who knew me was comfortably aware that I was gay, except my parents, After they went back home it nagged at me for days. I could not carry this anymore, it no longer mattered that they might be upset. It was the truth; it was who I was and the last part of me still in hiding...”
To order a CD audio recording of the book (this is a dvd audio and will play on most computers and dvd players) read by the author, or a soft cover print version of Dirty Little Secrets, contact the author directly at Venturasag@yahoo.com
Print version $11.00 including sales tax. Please include $4.00 for shipping ($15.00 total). 
Special for month of October 2015 $6 for CD (audio) version. Also $4 for shipping $10 total.
Or send check or money order to Jim Ventura 2515 N 52nd St. #206 Phoenix AZ 85008. I can also be contacted my e mail if you want to use a debit card via pay pal to order.
Dirty Little Secrets is also available at Amazon.com


Here’s my contact information to make an appointment for a session, or information on current classes: Phone: (602)957-3035 text: (602)349-0746 Email: Venturasag@yahoo.com (best method for contact).
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. Simply click on “like” on the fan page and you will automatically get my weekly updates. 
You also may want to check out my posts on Tumblr.com: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/snake-oil-blog
All sessions/readings for 2015 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).  Email me for information about my Regular Client Program for even bigger discounts on session prices with the added benefit of monthly or quarterly check-ins. 
All Current Snake Oil subscribers get $5.00 off all listed prices for any 45-90 minute sessions (except when using a special discount promotion). Local in office visits receive  another $5 off listed prices for cash or check payments.