Snake Oil
Christmas gifts in the attic
The magical window of my childhood belief in a Santa Claus was only a brief one. Even at the young age of six, I remember wondering how it was possible for all of the department stores and malls to have Santa Claus at their specific location at the very same time. I couldn’t imagine how one man, even if he had an army of supposed helper elves, could possibly deliver presents to children all over the world in one night. I also noticed how my wealthier friends often got more expensive gifts than our family did. Why did the poor kids end up with nothing at all? Was Santa only catering to the wealthy? Santa was supposed to come down your chimney and leave you your Christmas gifts. We had no fireplace in our house at all, yet we still got presents. And even if we did have a a chimney, how could such a fat man fit down one in the first place? These and similar thoughts started extremely early for me, and I wondered why other kids bought all of this malarky.
The observation that nailed the door closed on idealistic fantasies about Santa Claus and solidified my realist-cynic approach to Christmas was because my parents were not very good at hiding our presents. I would often see many of our gifts unwrapped at the bottom of Mom’s closet, or in the attic. I also saw Easter candy long before the “bunny” arrived, so that illusion was blown early as well. When I was seven years old I remember being awoken on Christmas eve by the sound of the attic stairs opening. My father built the pull down stairs to our attic facing the bedroom my brother and I shared. He had to open the door to our room to get up into the attic. I clearly heard my mother’s and father’s clumsy attempts at putting out our presents most years. They were often punctuated by their usual irritation with each other. “Frank don’t forget the ones for Kathy.” “Hurry it up, I want to get to bed already.” “ What are you trying to do, break my arms.” “Wait for me to put these down first!” I would have had to have been a complete imbecile to still buy the magic Santa Claus story after all of these theatrics.
While I was solidifying my recognition of the un-truths of Christmas, many of my dopey friends still believed in Santa Claus. Apparently they were not “blessed” with the mind of a detective and happily enjoyed their delusions. I found myself feeling it was my duty to burst their bubbles early on. When I told them the truth they would often disagree at first and be mad at me. Eventually they would realize I was right. Still, I often reminded them that it would be wise to play along with the charade. The benefits of pretending to believe in all of the Christmas crapola were numerous. A good, sweet, oblivious child performance could bring tremendous rewards. I had no issue with pretending to be a dumb, naive little kid for adults and I made sure my friends were smart enough to do the very same thing.
While my parents didn’t do an ideal job of giving us the illusions of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny when it came to the holidays, they did a great job in other ways. While a lot of the presents Mom (Santa) bought us were mediocre, lame stuff from church bizarres and clearance sales and not what we really wanted, she put in some real effort. She had seven children and that was a lot of presents to buy. She always got us at least one or two things that were on our Christmas lists. Opening our presents on Christmas morning was always really fun. Even when I knew what half of the gifts already were because I saw them or snooped around, I always enjoyed the process of opening the presents just the same. The excitement of opening gifts was really fun and my parents made a point to make sure we had the experience.
We had some wonderful Christmas traditions we always followed. For many years we got a real tree (until I was about 17 when they finally opted for a fake one). We baked cookies and decorated the house, and some years we made gingerbread houses. We decorated our tree together weeks before actual Christmas and sometimes made Christmas ornaments and even strung popcorn. We hung lights outside, listened to Christmas albums, watched Christmas specials like Mr. Magoo’s Christmas, A Year Without a Santa Claus, and A Christmas Story. We did Christmas up in a big way every year. There are still boxes of Christmas pictures and hundreds of great memories and funny stories associated with all of them. December was a really cold time in New York, but we had warm traditions in our home.
While I missed out on believing in Santa Claus and many of the other holiday illusions, I got to experience elements of family and holidays that really mattered. The cohesiveness of a family and celebrated traditions were priceless. We learned about giving and receiving and developed a healthy sense of the importance of all of it. When I was a kid, and even into my teen years, I would often get up in the middle of the night and look at the presents under the tree (the Christmas eve gifts we bought for each other were often wrapped and left out weeks before). Some nights I would clear a space and lay underneath the tree for an hour or so. I would turn on the lights on the tree and feel the soft white sheet we placed underneath it. The smell of the tree, the twinkle of the lights and the excitement of things to come were only a part of why I loved doing this. Some wiser aspect of me knew I would only be a child for a short time and I wanted to fully allow myself to feel every moment of it. I was safe and loved in a family and I knew I was blessed. I sensed that I had lived other lives in different families, times, and places that were not as wonderful when it came to my experiences in this family. I also knew that there were people all over the world that did not get to experience many of the things I was so blessed to have. I had friends who would have killed for what I had. So I savored those moments underneath the colorful lights of our Christmas trees. I allowed myself to be happy and I completely immersed myself into childhood and the magic of Christmas. The great things connected with Christmas were never about believing or not believing in Santa Claus. They were all about honoring and enjoying one of the best parts of my childhood.
Jim Ventura 10-2011
Editors note:
I wrote this Christmas story almost 5 years ago. I really do enjoy the month of December. Here in Phoenix the weather is often perfect. It is typically low seventies during the daytime and fifties to low forties at night. I especially love getting to wear some winter clothes for a few months-just a few months though! I allow myself to eat a bit more excessively than I normally do the rest of the year in December. Aside from the Christmas Eve lasagna that I make every year, (I make extra and eat it until New Years), I definitely allow myself extra cake candies and cookies in December. Putting on a few extra pounds (usually about 2-5) from Thanksgiving through the new year is worth it to me (Taurus Ascendant), and I am always eager to eat healthy again every January and drop the added weight! I have lost my interest in decorating the house and getting a Christmas tree. I haven’t done things like that in over a decade. I think if I had children, I would make a point to do more of these types of things though. I just enjoy the more decadent aspects (food!), and the good times with family and friends that we share during the Holiday season. In that way the season is still magical for me.
My gift to all of my current Snake Oil subscribers and new clients this month is Regular client rates for everyone this month! Quarterly Regulars get $15-25 off my listed rates and this month so do you! Up to three gift certificates for yourself or friends and family can also be purchased at this time. More information later in the newsletter. The special ends on December 31st 2015.
If you have never had your Astrology chart interpreted or have and would like to go into more detail this is one of many excellent ways to take advantage of this month’s special. Giving the gift of an Astrology chart interpretation to anyone 13 or older is a great way to give them tremendous amounts of insight into who they really are and meant to become! An Astrology chart session offers clear directional arrows for who we truly are (talents, challenges, and overall life purpose) and the direction our lives are meant to take in the larger picture. I learned all about Astrology by studying my own chart and others between the ages of 17-20 and it really made me more confident and helped me to embrace my life purpose early on!
Wishing everyone a happy holiday season and a wonderful New year! Jim V
“I can’t imagine anything more worthwhile than doing what I most love. And they pay me for it.” Edgar Winter
Gift Certificates Snake Oil Subscriber Special for December 2015
December 1-31st 2015: ALL sessions booked for both new clients as well as returning clients, and anyone who currently receives my monthly Snake Oil column, will be at my QUARTERLY REGULAR CLIENT rates for the whole month!
Clients enrolled in my Regular client program (information about program is available on my website or simply request it by email) always get $15-25 off my normal rates. Quarterly clients in the program pay $90 for full sessions. $65 for 45 minute sessions and $105 for extended 90 minute sessions. All appointments booked in December of 2015 will be at these rates. This special ends on December 31st 2015. No other discounts will apply at this time.
You may also purchase Gift Certificates at these rates for friends and family, and yourself to use anytime in the coming year ahead! A maximum of three gift certificates can be purchased at the discounted rates this month. Any of the many different types of sessions I offer are options for this special. You can get more information about the different sessions available on my website at JimVentura.com.
Email me to book your session or purchase Gift certificates at these rates before the end of of the year Venturasag@yahoo.com
Check out this extremely useful product as well as
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“To be at peace we must first learn to accept ourselves. Coming to peace with who we are, what we have, and what we do is the spiritual basis for the acceptance of others.” Joan Chittister
“Imagine what would happen if you treated everyone you meet like an angel. I mean really... treating every person who steps into your life as sent by Heaven! Everything you experience would change, and the entire world would change as well.”
James Twyman
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.
From Spirit Speaks Magazine 1991
From Caterpillar to butterfly
“Early one morning, two caterpillars met while drinking dew from a leaf. One caterpillar was green with orange speckles. The other caterpillar was white with several long horns.
The green caterpillar said, ‘How are you?’
The white caterpillar said, ‘As well as can be expected in this world.’
‘Yes, it is difficult sometimes,’ agreed the green caterpillar.
‘Difficult-I would say!’ said the white caterpillar. ‘Life is terribly difficult. We crawl on our bellies all day. My aunts and uncles have bumps all over their bodies. My grandmother has not been doing well. No...she hasn’t. A bumpy, hard crust has started to form around her, and she just hangs on the branch and won’t talk to anybody.’
The green caterpillar responded, ‘My wife has been a real sting-worm lately. She stung me twice this week. But the worst problem is the isolation-the little cocoons. Everyone keeps wrapping themselves in lumpy, bumpy cocoons. They can’t talk to each other, they don’t go outside. They just hang there. So you think we will be the same way?’
‘I’m sure of it,’ replied the white caterpillar. ‘Everyone follows the same path.’
‘There must be a reason for it,’ said the green caterpillar.
A butterfly that had been listening to the conversation lit upon the leaf from which the two caterpillars were drinking. The butterfly said, ‘Your destiny is greater than you think. Yes, you must enter the cocoon. Life may be different from what you think you wish it to be, but from the cocoon you will emerge a new creature. I was once in a cocoon. I once struggled just as you struggle.’
The caterpillars looked at the butterfly with amazement, ‘But, you...you are a winged creature.’
‘Yes, yes...I am a winged creature,’ said the butterfly, ‘but I once crawled just as you crawl. I once grew old, isolated myself, and wrapped myself in a cocoon and died. Then I came forth a new creature, resplendent and beautiful.’
The butterfly’s words gave the caterpillar hope, and they left rejoicing, for they believed they had a far greater destiny than they had perceived before.
You are like the caterpillars. Your families are like the caterpillar’s families. You and your families encounter many difficult and trying times. You isolate yourselves and wrap yourselves up in cocoons, engrossing yourselves in your lives. This creates trials and tests that bring spiritual development. From life you will expand to a greater destiny. You will become a divine being of light. Entering into your cocoon and aged worm, you will come forth a new creation-a butterfly of divine grace.
Families provide the challenges that assist the spirit in allowing this ultimate development.” from the Externals
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, December 5 th. 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.
“It has been said there are three kinds of awakening. There is the waking up that occurs when an individual wakes up from a long night's sleep.
There is the awakening that occurs when an individual makes his transition and discovers that there is no death. And then, there is the most important waking up, the waking up that occurs when an individual realizes that they have never been born and will never die, that they are an eternal, immortal being.” Michael Bernard Beckwith
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.
