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+{"text":" \nWhen the Lord gives you a revelation of the enemy's toxic plots, it empowers you to overcome every attack. As I always say, a devil exposed is a devil defeated. In _Hell's Toxic Trio_ Ryan exposes a threefold demonic cord that many believers have not yet discerned. He also shows you how it can be easily broken with heaven's strategy. You can't see what you can't see, but this book will open your eyes to the root of toxic attacks in your life. Get this book!\n\n\u2014JENNIFER LECLAIRE\n\nSENIOR LEADER, AWAKENING HOUSE OF PRAYER\n\nRyan LeStrange has an unusual and unique mantle of apostolic\/prophetic revelation. He captures key issues hindering breakthrough, spiritual freedom, and inheritance. In _Hell's Toxic Trio_ he both explains the hindrances as well as shows how to move into freedom. A much-needed book!\n\n\u2014BARBARA J. YODER\n\nLEAD APOSTLE, SHEKINAH REGIONAL APOSTOLIC CENTER\n\nBREAKTHROUGH APOSTOLIC MINISTRIES NETWORK\n\nRyan LeStrange's new book, _Hell's Toxic Trio_ , has pressed all the right buttons. As I read the manuscript, I kept saying, \"Amen! Oh, my! Yes! That's the truth!\" He has taken the power of that threefold cord and unraveled its grip, and like Samson of old, we can finally break free of those fetters that bind.\n\n\u2014JOHN KILPATRICK\n\nFOUNDING PASTOR, CHURCH OF HIS PRESENCE\n\nOver the years, I have learned that there are certain pollutants that are really dangerous to one's personal health and also to the well-being of the body of Christ. Some stuff just seems to seep into your being over a long and slow process, while other things just get in your face and try to eat your lunch! As believers and leaders in the body of Christ, we need to be on the alert because the enemy is like a roaring lion. Ryan LeStrange identifies three of these high-level pollutants in his book _Hell's Toxic Trio_ and shows ways to cleanse the soul so you can emanate a clean and righteous spirit and even permeate the atmosphere around you. The only thing missing from this book is a warning label: \"If you partake of these contents, you might react and spit out some old stuff!\" This book can change you from the inside out!\n\n\u2014JAMES W. GOLL\n\nFOUNDER, GOD ENCOUNTERS MINISTRIES\n\nAUTHOR, EQUIPPER, PERFORMING ARTIST,\n\nCERTIFIED LIFE LANGUAGE TRAINER\n\nThroughout church history God has been faithful to raise up apostolic and prophetic leaders in hours of confusion. For such a time as this Ryan LeStrange has been raised up. _Hell's Toxic Trio_ is the _rhema_ word for now! Not only does he expose the antichrist spirit, he points the reader to the feet of Jesus. This book will be considered a classic.\n\n\u2014BRIAN WILLIAMS\n\nFOUNDER AND SENIOR LEADER, HOPE CITY\n\nAre you fearful, anxious, or rejected? There is lasting healing for the wounded soul. In this powerful book apostle Ryan LeStrange delivers a revelatory remedy with typical refreshing candor. Through each page God will expose the toxic trio that has arrested the destinies of millions, and you will be catapulted into your divine fulfillment. As you read, release your faith and expect personal revival.\n\n\u2014KYNAN BRIDGES\n\nPASTOR, APOSTOLIC LEADER, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR\n\nGRACE & PEACE GLOBAL FELLOWSHIP\n\nMost CHARISMA HOUSE BOOK GROUP products are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs. For details, write Charisma House Book Group, 600 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, or telephone (407) 333-0600.\n\nHELL'S TOXIC TRIO by Ryan LeStrange\n\nPublished by Charisma House\n\nCharisma Media\/Charisma House Book Group\n\n600 Rinehart Road\n\nLake Mary, Florida 32746\n\nwww.charismahouse.com\n\nThis book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means\u2014electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise\u2014without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.\n\nUnless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Modern English Version. Copyright \u00a9 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved.\n\nScripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.\n\nScripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright \u00a9 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)\n\nScripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version\u00ae, NIV\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.\u2122 Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The \"NIV\" and \"New International Version\" are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.\u2122\n\nScripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.\n\nScripture quotations marked THE MESSAGE are from _The Message: The Bible in Contemporary English_ , copyright \u00a9 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2018 by Ryan LeStrange\n\nAll rights reserved\n\nCover design by Vincent Pirozzi\n\nDesign Director: Justin Evans\n\nVisit the author's website at RyanLeStrange.com.\n\nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:\n\nAn application to register this book for cataloging has been submitted to the Library of Congress.\n\nInternational Standard Book Number: 978-1-62999-488-8\n\nE-book ISBN: 978-1-62999-489-5\n\nWhile the author has made every effort to provide accurate Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.\n\nI dedicate this book to the radical warriors\n\nwho have fought through so many attacks\n\nof the enemy! I dedicate it to the fearless\u2014\n\nthe pioneers and planters who forge\n\nahead in spite of the opposition. In every\n\nkingdom assignment, whether it be family,\n\nbusiness, or ministry, there will typically\n\nbe spiritual resistance. Victory belongs to\n\nthe brave! In order to do exploits, we must\n\nkeep pressing. I commend all of those who\n\nhave daringly faced the opposition and\n\nkept going. Your greatest days are ahead!\n\nCONTENTS\n\nAcknowledgments\n\nForeword by John Eckhardt\n\nIntroduction\n\nChapter 1 The Reality of the Unseen Realm\n\nChapter 2 The Power of the Anointing\n\nChapter 3 Jezebel, the Spiritual Assassin\n\nChapter 4 Jezebel's Seduction, Schemes, and Strategies\n\nChapter 5 Casting Down the Demon Queen Jezebel\n\nChapter 6 Python, the Heat-Seeking Deceiver\n\nChapter 7 Breaking Python's Grip\n\nChapter 8 The DNA of the Religious Spirit\n\nChapter 9 First-Love Lifestyle: Freedom From the Religious Spirit\n\nChapter 10 Enforcing the Kingdom: Living Free\n\nNotes\nACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\nTHANKS TO MY forever love, the amazing Joy LeStrange, who fearlessly pioneers with me, and to my talented son, Joshua. Thanks to my mom, Eileen, and all of my extended family for all the love and support. Thank you to my staff and team, who work so hard to help me circle the globe with fire. Thanks to my editing team and those who help bring these writing projects together. Thank you to my supporters, friends, and partners for standing, believing, sowing, and building with me\u2014it takes a team!\n\nThanks to all of those who have labored to build, enlarge, and expand the kingdom. Thanks to the generals who have gone ahead\u2014we honor you. Thanks to those in my generation who have dared to carry the mandate of radical prophetic preaching, supernatural miracles, and nation-shaking faith\u2014I am honored to serve alongside you. Thanks to the next generation for being brave and daring\u2014I want to stand with, walk alongside, and partner with you to see a great awakening.\nFOREWORD\n\nRYAN LESTRANGE HAS a passion to see the church walk in power and liberty. He is committed to seeing the church experience revival and glory. There are evil spirits that attempt to block the church from experiencing God's best. In this book Ryan LeStrange exposes some of the strategies of darkness that prevent the church from experiencing the liberty of the Holy Spirit. Many leaders are not aware of the tremendous battle in the spirit realm between good and evil. We should not be ignorant of Satan's devices.\n\nRyan LeStrange is a fresh voice for revival, prayer, the apostolic ministry, and the prophetic ministry. He is ministering around the world, and he challenges believers to move in power and authority. He has a burden to see the church break free from controlling powers that stop and block revival. This book is a product of his determination to see the fire of revival burn continuously.\n\nEvery generation has authors who will help us break through for kingdom advancement. Ryan LeStrange has experienced the truths written in this book. He is not echoing what others have said but is giving fresh revelation for this new generation. There are thousands of believers worldwide who desire to see the church grow and experience God's choice blessings. If you desire these blessings, then take to heart the insight given in this book. I have dealt with the spirits of Jezebel and python. These are deadly enemies to leaders and churches worldwide.\n\nThere are many leaders who are not equipped to deal with these adversaries. I recommend this book to leaders and intercessors. A greater knowledge in this area is essential if we desire victory. Some of the truths in this book may be new to many, but consider what is said, and the Lord will give you understanding. Prayer is one of the most effective ways to overcome these opponents. There are powerful prayers in this book that will help any believer or church wage the good warfare.\n\nReligious spirits can be very deceptive. These spirits are often difficult to discern because they are religious. We need discernment to separate the true from the false. Ryan exposes spirits that mask themselves as being from God but are from the enemy.\n\nI have been a proponent of the prophetic ministry for many years. I have seen the great blessings prophets and prophetic people bring to the church. Ministries that embrace the prophetic ministry are a threat to the demonic realm. These ministries are a key to seeing the church move forward and advance.\n\nSatan hates the prophetic ministry and will attempt to block it. Prophets and prophetic people always bring fresh moves and attract revival. This is why it is so important to keep the church free from demons that hate the prophetic. Those who promote the prophetic ministry must have insight into what stops and blocks the prophetic flow.\n\nDo you have a passion for seeing and experiencing revival and the glory of God? Do you desire to see churches filled with light and power? Do you want to see revival spread across the land? Do you desire to have the keys that unlock doors and open the way for salvation, healing, and deliverance? If your answer is yes, then I believe you have the right book in your hand. This book will challenge you to rise up and be the overcomer you are called to be.\n\n\u2014JOHN ECKHARDT\n\nBEST-SELLING AUTHOR, _P RAYERS THAT ROUT DEMONS_\nINTRODUCTION\n\nWHAT IF I told you that there was a secretive conspiracy in operation, lurking just beneath the surface of your daily life and affairs? I know, you would most likely roll your eyes and say something like, \"Oh no, not another crazy conspiracy theory!\" I understand that the word _conspiracy_ brings all kinds of emotions and thoughts, but go with me on a journey for just a moment.\n\nWhen you were born again, you were re-created in the image and likeness of God. You were suddenly and powerfully brought into the world of the supernatural. There are spiritual forces at work in every element of your life. You have been given access to the realm of seeing, hearing, and knowing. Jesus said that He would send us a comforter to help and assist in our walk with God. Holy Spirit came to reside on the inside of us, providing the force and the power of the anointing of God in every area of our lives so that we become conquerors!\n\nThe anointing creates unstoppable power and momentum that bring explosive results in the kingdom of God. The devil and his minions absolutely hate the anointing. They want to shut down the flow of God's power and ability in your life.\n\nHell has launched a dark, malicious conspiracy against you. The word _conspire_ means \"to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act.\" In this book I will unmask three of hell's unlawful conspirators. I will show you how these particular spirits have similarities in their operations to bind and quench the life-giving breath and anointing of God. This evil toxic trio twists, turns, seduces, and restricts in order to hinder the spiritual progress of God's people.\n\nHowever, exposure creates opportunity for deliverance! As you embark on this journey into revealing truths, your spiritual eyes will be opened to see and recognize the hidden operations of these evil spirits and the pathways of deliverance. It is time for you personally to come under the refreshing winds of heaven and be released into your new season. It is time for the heaviness to go. It is time for your destiny to manifest. It is time to see your prophetic promises realized.\n\nI will rip the veil off the Jezebel spirit that has been at work throughout history to seduce God's people and kill the prophets. I will lay bare the evil operations of this foul anti-anointing spirit. You will see how it has robbed mankind throughout the ages and is currently at work in various facets of society. I will share personal experiences with you to arm you with strategies to overcome its power and walk free.\n\nI will expose the python spirit with its multifaceted operations. Many people fall prey to the attack of this spirit by being ignorant of what they are actually facing. This spirit hits on various fronts to choke out the wind of God in the life of a believer. A python attack can create spiritual, emotional, and physical suffocation. Revealing this vile serpent brings tremendous liberty to the people of God. You will be fully armed to break the grip of this demon.\n\nI will reveal to you the personal and corporate operations of the religious spirit. This spirit comes in subtly to sow legalism and bondage into the hearts of God's people. It dilutes identity and purpose to stifle the fresh prophetic revelation in the lives of believers. You will see it clearly and receive strategy to overcome it on every level.\n\nExposing the conspiracy tactics of this toxic trio is not just about studying these spirits\u2014it is about setting you on course for a greater walk in the Spirit. It is about entering God's prophetic times and seasons for your life. It is about enjoying the invigorating winds of heaven. Together we will go on a journey of revelation and impartation. We will uncover, expose, bind, break, decree, and release. We will stir up the fresh winds of personal revival and forge a brave path ahead into destiny. The toxic trio will fall, and the will of heaven will be manifested in your life!\n\nTherefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 10:26, NASB\nChapter 1\n\nTHE REALITY OF THE UNSEEN REALM\n\nGOD TOOK ME into a vision of the future as I was ministering with a dear friend of mine who carries a strong prophetic mantle for the nation of America. We were ministering to people prophetically, laying hands on them, and releasing the word of the Lord. I walked onto the platform next to my friend, and I was immediately caught up into another dimension. It came in an instant! It was as though a whirlwind were carrying me higher and higher up into the spirit realm.\n\nSuddenly I was swept up into this powerful encounter in the realm of the spirit. I was caught up, and God was about to show me something of great significance. This is how prophetic communication and experiences often occur in my life; they come in a moment, carrying great purpose. In a single instant God can give a message that changes the course of a person, ministry, family, or nation. We must learn to recognize, emphasize, and value these types of experiences. They carry communication from another realm.\n\nAs I was swept into the realm of the spirit, I saw the stadiums in America erupting with uncontrollable fire. The fire of deliverance was hitting the masses. It was not calm but violent in nature as the purging fires of heaven burned out demon powers. There was an intermingling of fire and glory, bringing mass deliverance. I asked the Lord about what I saw; He told me that there is a dimension of glory so heavy that it displaces demons. People can be set free in this glory.\n\nIn this vision I saw the fire of Pentecost knocking multitudes off their feet with Upper Room power. There was an extreme outpouring of fire like what fell in chapter 2 of the book of Acts. What I saw was unlike anything I ever witnessed in large gatherings. It was much more intense and radical. The Lord told me, \"It is coming!\"\n\nThere is a fiery move coming forth. The Lord told me this fire and glory will be carried by the pure. He is going to use those who have refused to change their message to please religious spirits. He is mantling those who have chosen not to bow to political systems in the church but have stayed tuned in to what heaven is declaring. They will operate in this next level of fire and glory.\n\nDIMENSIONS AND VIEWPOINTS\n\nAlmost a year later I was hosting a conference where one of the great prophets in our nation was speaking. He began to weep as he shared dreams the Lord had given him for America. He shared about the move of mass deliverance he saw coming to the nation. As he poured out from his spirit, it was like lightning hit me. I heard him speak of the very same things I had seen that day when I was shown the coming move of fire.\n\nThese encounters may sound strange or unusual, but they are typical for born-again people filled with the Spirit of God. Prophetic experiences and encounters should be a daily occurrence for Christians. It should not seem strange or unusual that people are having dreams and visions of that which is and that which is to come. It was these types of supernatural encounters that fueled the move of God in the early church. As heaven spoke, the people moved.\n\nWe are living and breathing here on earth, yet we are born of another dimension, called to occupy another space. We are spiritual beings temporarily parked in this natural realm.\n\nBrothers, become fellow imitators with me and observe those who walk according to our example. For many are walking in such a way that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. I have told you of them often and tell you again, even weeping. Their destination is destruction, their god is their appetite, their glory is in their shame, their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, from where also we await for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our body of humiliation, so that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working of His power even to subdue all things to Himself.\n\n\u2014PHILIPPIANS 3:17\u201321\n\nPaul paints a vivid picture of people living with two drastically different perspectives. In one group the people have their minds set on earthly things, therefore missing the heavenly prize. They are so focused on this present world that their lives are void of spiritual power and significance. Paul boldly declares that this would not be his pathway, nor would it be the journey of the Philippian church. They were navigating two spaces, this present world and that which is to come. They were active and effective in living, working, and building during their time on earth, but their walk was empowered by the realization that they were effectively representing another dimension. They were heavenly citizens, ambassadors, equipped to subdue the powers of darkness, shipwreck the strategies of hell, and release the kingdom.\n\nThis is a picture of how we are to walk. We are to be representatives of the heavenly sphere with supernatural power and authority functioning in the _now_. We are not waiting for a one-day breakthrough or blessing. We are to be moving, living, working, and functioning in it right now!\n\nThere is an often unseen realm of the spirit. Many pastors and ministry leaders are facing conflict and challenge in their churches. They think they are just having difficulty with a rebellious person, but there is something deeper at work in these situations. Many families are facing sudden struggle that is so overwhelming that family members are battling the urge to leave and break up the family. Their minds are under siege, and their commitment is being tested. The devil wants to hide behind natural reasoning and human wisdom.\n\nLet me be clear: I believe in counseling, renewing the mind, and growing in wisdom. Not every challenge can be resolved by casting out a demon. Sometimes people must work to grow in wisdom, to advance in understanding, and to change some things about themselves. We are three-part beings.\n\nMay the very God of peace sanctify you completely. And I pray to God that your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n\u20141 THESSALONIANS 5:23\n\nTo be sanctified wholly, we must deal with our threefold nature. We are a spirit. The spirit part of our being contains the DNA of heaven. My spirit is not ever depressed. My spirit does not desire the nature of the enemy or lust after the works of hell. When I was born again, the kingdom came to rest in my spirit with all power and authority. If believers learned how to live and dwell in the spirit realm, they would live their lives in victorious exploits. The enemy works to bombard and overwhelm them, to trap them in the beggarly elements of earth, but God has called them to soar high above the works of darkness.\n\nThe second part of man is the soul. I believe this complex part of our being is the mind, will, and emotions. It is the part that feels, understands, and chooses. This part can become toxic without the washing of the water by the Word of God.\n\nThat He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 5:26\n\nThe Word of God is like a Holy Spirit washing machine that removes the stains and pains of past experiences, turmoil, and torment. The reality of the Word of God can and will annihilate bondage in a human soul.\n\nHEALING WOUNDED AND DAMAGED SOULS\n\nA wounded and damaged soul becomes a breeding ground for wrong spiritual influences. In fact, wounded emotions can act as gateways to demonic powers. The devil understands that your beliefs determine your direction. One of his warfare strategies is to infiltrate the way you think. He wants to empower false belief systems, toxic thinking, and reckless emotional upheaval.\n\nThat you put off the former way of life in the old nature, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new nature, which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 4:22\u201324\n\nHealing wounds in the soul is a critical step in personal freedom. It firmly closes an open door to the powers of the enemy. Here are some simple steps that serve as keys to help you dismantle emotional bondages that the enemy has constructed in your life.\n\nRecognize the problem.\n\nThe first step to recovery is recognition. You can identify patterns, emotional outbursts (when the wound is triggered), and unhealthy cycles. Seeing that there is a problem empowers confrontation and healing. Denial empowers the bondage to remain. Many people with soul wounds live in a continual state of denial and false blame. This allows the hurt to remain and the problem to be camouflaged.\n\nGet to the root.\n\nYou need Holy Spirit's guidance, deliverance, healing, and cleansing. Once you have recognized a problem, allow Holy Spirit to shine a bright light on the root system. How did this begin? What was the point of trauma? What is the root system that I need to deal with? For example, a wound of rejection can manifest as anger, but that is just the fruit, not the root. The healing must go down all the way to the root. The entry wound needs to be dealt with. Often this process will require assistance from other skilled ministers, depending on the depth of the issue.\n\nConfront inner thoughts and lies.\n\nLies come to block the working of truth. The Word of God is truth! It is your foundation and must be the basis from which you draw your identity. Every deep emotional wound will form a series of lies that empower the existence of the wound. You must boldly confront the lies and make a decision to uproot them.\n\nReplace lies with truth.\n\nThere is healing in the Word of God. If the enemy has planted a lie in you that says you are not valuable, then you must get Scripture that contradicts that lie. The Word acts as an antidote to the toxic infection of lies and bondage.\n\nMeditate on the Word.\n\nRelease transformation through meditation. Meditation is the system of spiritual digestion. You must get in the truth and pray over those verses. Speak them, ponder them, and allow them to penetrate to the deepest recesses of your mind and emotions. This process draws out the healing properties of the Word of God. Sometimes you will spend days and months in the same verses because you are chewing them up and digesting them. You may need to write them and post them on the walls as reminders of your promise.\n\nBreak behavior patterns and cycles tied to lies.\n\nEach and every wound will create bad behavior patterns and cycles. Once you have dealt with the root, you have displaced the power of the wound, but there may be residual patterns that need to be broken. If you have acted a certain way for years, it is now routine and you have to make a conscious decision not to allow that behavior anymore. When you catch yourself falling back into an old pattern, be quick to do a course correct. Sometimes, if the wound was severe, you may actually have to learn how to act normally. This is particularly true in the area of relationships.\n\nResist, worship, and walk it out.\n\nComing out of these patterns can be a process. There must be resistance on a regular basis. Worship and inviting the presence of God into your life bring oil into what can feel like a dry process. Then you must walk it out\u2014day by day, bit by bit. Don't get discouraged if you have a thought that is not healthy\u2014this is a temptation. Cast it down and keep pressing on. Give yourself permission to walk out the process.\n\nRest in the grace of God.\n\nYou must come back to the perfect work of the Cross. One of the things Jesus did was take all emotional upheaval and wounds in your place. His unfailing love and perfect work empower your freedom. You must not and cannot get trapped in condemnation and self-righteousness. Having a strong understanding of God's grace and goodness will empower your recovery.\n\nPart of maturing in the new nature is accessing new ways of thinking. The Word of God becomes the road map to proper thinking and therefore opens the gateways to kingdom living. Once you think differently, you live differently. Renewing the mind is not a single-step process but a journey of continual change, growth, and renewal.\n\nHere is a list of ten types of damaged souls, their symptoms, and Scripture passages to renew your mind and put you on the path toward proper thinking.\n\n1. Conflicted soul\u2014unable to make rational decisions, tossed to and fro, highly unstable and overly emotional\n\nA sound mind makes for a robust body, but runaway emotions corrode the bones.\n\n\u2014PROVERBS 14:30, THE MESSAGE\n\n2. Tormented soul\u2014high levels of accusation, fear of punishment, dread over past mistakes, a heavy lack of peace\n\nThere is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.\n\n\u2014ROMANS 8:1\n\nAnd the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will protect your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.\n\n\u2014PHILIPPIANS 4:7\n\n3. Fearful soul\u2014fearful and anxious on a regular basis, unable to do certain activities because of abnormal levels of fear\n\nFor God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control.\n\n\u20142 TIMOTHY 1:7\n\nThere is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love.\n\n\u20141 JOHN 4:18\n\n4. Anxious soul\u2014nervous and easily panicked, void of peace and rest, anxiety attacks and bouts with a racing heart and\/or heavy breathing\n\nBe anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with gratitude, make your requests known to God.\n\n\u2014PHILIPPIANS 4:6\n\n5. Rejected soul\u2014easily offended and continually needing unnatural levels of affirmation\n\nIf my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me in.\n\n\u2014PSALM 27:10\n\nAll whom the Father gives Me will come to Me, and he who comes to Me I will never cast out.\n\n\u2014JOHN 6:37\n\n6. Weary soul\u2014tired and frustrated, a lack of flow in the Spirit, feeling frustrated and assuming that kingdom works will not produce promised harvest\n\nFor I satiate the weary souls and I replenish every languishing soul.\n\n\u2014JEREMIAH 31:25\n\nCome to Me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 11:28\u201329\n\n7. Offended soul\u2014holding grudges and refusing to let go of past wrongs; this type of emotional wound is yoked to a spirit of bitterness and infirmity that can manifest in various crippling illnesses\n\nBear with one another and forgive one another. If anyone has a quarrel against anyone, even as Christ forgave you, so you must do.\n\n\u2014COLOSSIANS 3:13\n\nPursue peace with all men, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, watching diligently so that no one falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness spring up to cause trouble, and many become defiled by it.\n\n\u2014HEBREWS 12:14\u201315\n\n8. Lost soul\u2014vagabond mentality, refusing to be established in the Word of God and the will of God\n\nBlessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season; its leaf will not wither, and whatever he does will prosper.\n\n\u2014PSALM 1:1\u20133\n\n9. Wounded soul\u2014enduring hurts and long-term wounds; this creates a toxic mental environment that sees everything in a negative light\n\nThe LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.\n\n\u2014PSALM 23:1\u20133\n\n[The LORD] gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.\n\n\u2014PSALM 147:2\u20133\n\n10. Confused soul\u2014vacillating between ideas, unsure of identity, lacking clarity, not resolute and firm in thought, decision, or direction\n\nThe steps of a man are made firm by the LORD; He delights in his way.\n\n\u2014PSALM 37:23\n\nYOUR EARTHLY HOUSE\n\nThe third part of man is the body. Your body permits you to be here on planet Earth, the house for your spirit man. Hebrews 9:27 says, \"As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this comes the judgment.\" This verse is not referring to spiritual death but to physical death. It teaches a basic Bible doctrine that every human being will eventually experience death in the flesh and then enter eternity.\n\nInstead, I say that we are confident and willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.\n\n\u20142 CORINTHIANS 5:8\n\nThe moment our natural bodies take their final breaths, we are instantly swept into another dimension. We do not die in terms of the spiritual dimensions; we simply shift arenas. We are no longer confined by the limitations of earthly bodies but are swallowed up into the realm of the spirit to receive our eternal rewards. This is one of the reasons why we must boldly teach and preach that the spirits of the dead are not hanging around on earth. Grandma is not coming back to talk with you\u2014it is a demon spirit that is mimicking her. She has entered the realm of eternity. No loved one who passed away is in your present; he is in your future.\n\nThe physical body has appetites that must be bridled in order to do the will of God. To have a rich and vibrant spirit life, you must conquer fleshly living.\n\nI say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are revealed, which are these: adultery, sexual immorality, impurity, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, rage, selfishness, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I previously warned you, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.\n\n\u2014GALATIANS 5:16\u201321\n\nYou must learn to live from the realm of the spirit and subdue the nature of your flesh. Discipline is a key ingredient to victory. Our bodies were created to serve us; we were not created to serve our bodies. There is often a struggle between the desires of the flesh and the realm of the spirit. It is conquered by being intentional and consistent in developing the spiritual life. As you learn to live from the place of the spirit, you will override the natural appetites of the flesh.\n\nSee then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 5:15\u201321, NKJV\n\nMAXIMIZING SPIRITUAL MOMENTS\n\nPaul encourages us to live rich spiritual lives, redeeming the time. He gives us a picture of maximizing moments and reaching the full spiritual intention of each season. How is this accomplished? It is reached through a daily infilling of Holy Spirit! He instructs us not to be drunk on wine but rather to be filled with the Spirit. The indication here is that there is a dwelling place in the glory of God that produces a similar effect to drunkenness.\n\nHave you ever been in a restaurant enjoying a quiet evening, only to be interrupted by people who have had too much to drink? They forget about everyone else. They are louder, bolder, and brutally honest because they are drunk. It is the same picture that we have in the Upper Room. Newly filled disciples came staggering out of a prayer meeting and were accused by the religious of being drunk. (See Acts 2:13.) They acted and spoke differently. Their level of boldness increased. There is a realm in the spirit that produces the intoxication of heaven and fuels personal, regional, and global revival!\n\nThis is the type of radical spirit living that comes from a fresh flow of Holy Spirit power in our lives. We are no longer timid but free to be as bold as lions (Prov. 28:1). Intentional communion with Holy Spirit brings greater awareness of the realm of the spirit and supernatural living. The picture in Paul's writings is not of a single encounter but a daily walk. We are called to receive a fresh flow of heaven daily. We are called to receive heavenly wisdom, heavenly insight, and heavenly empowerment. We were _never_ called to live spiritually stagnant.\n\nThe word _dwell_ means \"to remain for a time; to live as a resident; to keep the attention directed; to speak or write insistently.\" This is not a picture of passive pursuit but of an intentional lifestyle. We are called to live in the dimension of the spirit. One of the schemes of hell is to cause our minds, attention, and eyes to be fixed upon the natural realm, which dilutes our spiritual sensitivity and shipwrecks our faith.\n\nPRAYER IS A CORNERSTONE\n\nOne of the cornerstones of spirit living is prayer. At its heart, prayer is communication with God. There are many types of prayer that are valid and important. For example, the prayer of agreement is when two believers simply agree on a promise. A prayer of binding is when a child of God exercises legal authority over the works of darkness, forbidding their operation and advancements. There is a prayer of deep groaning and travail in the spirit, a gut-wrenching birthing in which the spirit dimension takes over the faculties of a believer to cry out in unknown languages and sounds until victory is realized in the spirit. A seasoned believer learns and utilizes the different facets of prayer. To engage the realm of the spirit, a person must be seasoned in prayer and active in daily fellowship with God.\n\nRejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Examine all things. Firmly hold onto what is good.\n\n\u20141 THESSALONIANS 5:16\u201321\n\nThese verses illustrate the lifestyle that unfolds the spirit dimension. We are instructed to \"pray without ceasing.\" What does this look like practically? Is this stating we should neglect our family responsibilities and commitments and remain in a prayer closet 24\/7? I don't believe these verses communicate that at all. I believe they are telling us that in all things we are to maintain an attitude of continual prayer. I say it like this: \"Live tuned in!\" We live with an ear on the heartbeat of Jesus, continually leaning in and looking into the realm of the spirit, listening, and being quick to heed His instructions.\n\nIn John Eckhardt's best-selling book _Prayers That Rout Demons_ he writes, \"Our source of power is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We build ourselves up in faith when we confess the Word of God. We experience greater confidence when we understand the Word and walk in revelation. Prayer plugs us into the power source. Prayer connects us to God and allows His power to flow to us in any situation.\"\n\nWe were made to live in communion with God. We are called to dwell in His presence. We are marked and mantled as carriers of the glory. You can never carry the glory if you have not first heard His voice! The accuracy of hearing Him is contingent upon the strength of listening. Prayer is a two-way conversation. It is a dialogue in which you offer your heart up to God through intimate conversation and come into His presence, allowing Him to reveal His heart to you.\n\nEvery world changer has a red-hot prayer life! Prayer is the lifeblood of spiritual progress, breakthrough, and exploits. Without clear direction, intimate fellowship, and radical pursuit, there will be no supernatural displays of power.\n\nConfess your faults to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much. Elijah was a man subject to natural passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.\n\n\u2014JAMES 5:16\u201318\n\nThe word _fervent_ in James 5:16 comes from a Greek word meaning to be active, operative, or put forth power. Another definition is \"energize, working in a situation which brings it from one stage (point) to the next, like an electrical current energizing a wire, bringing it to a shining light bulb.\" This type of fervent prayer releases spiritual power that opens the heavens and releases the strength of the kingdom. It is vital in spiritual warfare because things are never moved in the realm of the spirit without prayer. Prayer is the power that turns on the light of revelation. Without prayer there is no revelation, and without revelation there is no effective warfare.\n\nSome time ago I was preaching and felt prompted to follow in the footsteps of the apostle Paul. Paul prayed a powerful and effective prayer on behalf of the church at Ephesus, as chronicled in Ephesians 1. He asked that the eyes of their inner man be opened. I prayed this prayer over a lady, and she told me that almost immediately she became aware of the spiritual realm in a much more profound way. (This is one of the things that apostolic people and leaders must do\u2014release life-giving impartation and activate the spiritual sight of the church.) Her spiritual vision surged as she became acutely aware of atmospheres, bondages, needs, and potential breakthroughs. At first she was almost overwhelmed by all that her spiritual senses were picking up, which is often the case when people have their spiritual senses kicked into high gear. She shared with me the struggle that she was having sitting in a church service when she began to see and sense things. She lost track of what was happening in the meeting, distracted by the tangibility of the spirit realm and all that was going on around her.\n\nMature prophetic people come to understand that seeing or knowing something is not an automatic release to act upon it. Once your eyes are opened, you find yourself seeing frequently because the veil between the spiritual and natural realms is torn down. Prophetic seeing and knowing must be weighed by the Word of God. They must be weighed by the spiritual authority in your life and ministry. All things in the kingdom are subject to authority. This means that if I am under another person's authority, I must be subject to his or her chain of command and protocol. Many believe that once their spiritual senses become active, it is a license to release anything at any time, but that is an extremely immature prophetic paradigm.\n\nLet every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.\n\n\u2014ROMANS 13:1\u20132\n\nIn the early church the apostles were on the front lines exposing demon rulers, confronting them, and mobilizing the church to tear them down. Paul fervently sought an impartation of insight and heavenly vision for his spiritual children. He wanted them to be keenly aware of the spirit realm. Without this awareness there is no action plan for victory. The enemy will reduce you to a realm of carnality and defeat. This is part of his strategy\u2014to bombard your natural senses, physical desires, and emotional well-being until you become oblivious to the realm of the spirit.\n\nDemon powers find satisfaction in the destruction of humanity. They war against us, the children of God, because our very existence reminds them of the downtrodden and cursed place in which they have been assigned to live. They strive to kill the God nature in us and degrade our lives to a series of monotonous, carnal activities with no spiritual impact. They infiltrate our thinking with humanistic arguments and fleshly wisdom, denying the realm of the supernatural. This is a master strategy that keeps demonic entities under the cover of darkness without exposure and empowers their wicked schemes.\n\nPROPHETIC PEOPLE\n\nProphets and prophetic people are like spotlights. They violently break through the murky abyss and uncloak the weapons of the enemy. James W. Goll masterfully describes these vital roles in his book _The Seer_ :\n\nAs an anointed people, we as the Body of Christ have been called to carry a prophetic-type burden that will cause us to live on the cutting edge of God's eternal purpose. The prophetic ministry is but one aspect of the fivefold calling of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. As such, it is resident to a degree in every ministry and more evident and active in certain ones. God's ultimate weapon is a man or a woman who has encountered the prophetic anointing. God does not anoint _projects_ ; He anoints _people_!\n\nPeople anointed with a prophetic ministry speak the word of the Lord in the name of the Lord. They carry weight in the Church by virtue of the ethical, moral, and spiritual urgency of their message. Their credentials, credibility, and status as prophetic vessels stem not from birth or official designation, but by the power of their inner call and by the response of those who hear them.\n\nI often say that all prophets and prophetic people live with giant targets on their backs because the forces of hell realize they can see them. The enemy cannot afford to be exposed because exposure is one of the first steps of deliverance. Without proper revelation a person, family, ministry, or region will remain firmly within the grip of demonic forces. The hidden demons must be uncovered, the plans made manifest, the attacks revealed, and the schemes divulged. This is one of the life-giving aspects of healthy prophetic ministry. Prophets and prophetic anointing shine light in the dark places and work in tandem with apostolic leaders to bring revelation that empowers building.\n\nLearning to live with a keen sensitivity to the realm of the spirit is imperative to living a life of victory. Heaviness manifesting is often a sign of a hidden demonic power. God has provided a series of prophetic tools and spiritual gifts by which He speaks to His people. As children of God, we must educate ourselves on His methodology of speaking and be quick to recognize the message. Once we have received communication, we must effectively steward it. Learning to live with spirit eyes and ears open is key!\n\nProphetic power tools are given to reveal and release the will of God in the lives of people. Where the will of God is known, strength is provided. Prophecy releases power.\n\nBut he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification and exhortation and comfort.\n\n\u20141 CORINTHIANS 14:3\n\nFar too often the gifts are abused to unnecessarily wound God's people. Young and immature believers mistake what they hear and see as permission to bring accusation and manifest a spirit of rebellion.\n\nRecently I had an encounter with a group like that. I was conducting a multiday training seminar and activating people in prophetic gifts. As time went by, I sensed an extreme heaviness hitting the room. I began to pray, and the Lord immediately highlighted 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter. He told me to read those scriptures the following day and ask the participants to repent for any areas where they were not walking in love. He told me to have them minister to one another and let go of anything hindering them. As I obeyed the instruction of the Lord, it became obvious that there were some heavy offenses brewing in the group.\n\nI confronted a few people and found out they were faultfinding and criticizing people in the prophetic classes. As I gave them instruction and wisdom, they had a defense for every correction. They were blinded to their own wrongdoing and walking in open rebellion. They were deceived by experiencing things they deemed spiritual; they believed they were right and everyone else was wrong, including those in authority over the seminar.\n\nThis stance violates several simple prophetic protocols, but deeper than that it opens the door for the enemy by partnering with a spirit of rebellion. If indeed they were picking up on issues with others, the first step should have been to develop the heart of an intercessor for those who were hurting. This is key to changing atmospheres and lives. God releases and reveals to bring us into a place of prayer and petition. Intercession is vital.\n\nFor this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing to all, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, enduring everything with perseverance and patience joyfully, giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled us to be partakers in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.\n\n\u2014COLOSSIANS 1:9\u201314\n\nPaul was a mighty apostle of God moving in strength and demonstration, yet he was a passionate intercessor who gave much of his time and energy to praying for others. Intercession is at the forefront of transformation. God will often reveal something as an invitation to pray. Prayer releases angels, strengthens people, allows us to partner with the heavenly realm, moves things in the heavens, and lifts people out of bondage. Prayer releases power.\n\nIn understanding the dimensions of the spirit, we must comprehend atmospheres. The atmosphere in a place is the emotional climate, the vibe, the feeling. Have you ever walked into a room where people were having a heated disagreement and stopped as soon as you walked in? Even though the verbal communication ended, the emotional and spiritual temperature was at a boiling point. We would say, \"You could cut the tension with a knife.\" That is a reference to the atmosphere. Atmospheres are manifestations of spiritual forces.\n\nATMOSPHERIC SHIFTS\n\nI remember the first time I visited Disneyland. They call it a place where dreams come true. As a small child, I had never experienced anyplace like it. My senses were on overload. There were costumed characters everywhere. The smell of carnival foods filled the park. Every section had a theme, and even the shrubs were cut in the shapes of Disney characters. None of that happened by accident. A huge team of people worked around the clock to cultivate an atmosphere that made guests feel happy.\n\nJust as Disneyland creates an atmosphere, churches and ministries create atmospheres. I have spoken in places where the atmosphere was so filled with hunger that you could just say the name of Jesus, and people would begin to shout! It is easy to move in the supernatural and release strong prophetic preaching in places like that because they are like spiritual wombs, alive with power and presence.\n\nRecently this was illustrated to me in a profound way. God had given me a strong prophetic message to preach. I released it in one place with great power and authority. As I preached, it was as though layers of revelation were being released. Words, statements, and thoughts blazed across my consciousness with ease. The place erupted with shouts as I spoke. I traveled to another place and preached along the same lines, releasing the same revelation, but it felt as though every word fell flat with no impact. When I finished, I couldn't wait to leave. I felt heavy and extremely frustrated. I asked the Lord why. He told me it was the atmosphere. He said that some places have the right atmosphere to release strong prophetic insight, while others do not, as the people have not prepared themselves and the word will not be received.\n\nWhen a home falls into sudden strife, it can be the manifestation of a demon spirit. When this happens, people are swept into the atmosphere of the thing without praying and discerning the source behind the heaviness. If we would be more sensitive, we would avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble. One of the most prophetic tools we have is our use of words. All of creation came into existence as a result of what God spoke in Genesis 1. We must guard and appropriate our words to create the right atmosphere and to shut the door on the wrong ones. When we announce things such as \"I am in a bad mood,\" we are inviting in spirits of heaviness and anxiety. When we say, \"I am on edge,\" we open the door for torment and fear. When we proclaim, \"The stress is killing me,\" we release a two-edged attack. We empower spirits of stress, trauma, and confusion, and we also release a death decree over our bodies. Many times we say things without any thought of the consequences. These are all proclamations that shift atmospheres.\n\nMany people just accept the current vibes in their homes as the reality without attempting to discern what is happening behind the scenes. Climates and atmospheres are typically the result of spiritual laws and principles. Atmospheres must be governed. We have authority to cleanse our homes. We can declare the promises of God, bind the forces of hell, and release the glory of God in our homes. The same principles can be applied in the workplace. I am convinced that many kingdom people are being sent into the marketplace to release and demonstrate the kingdom of God. Entire companies could shift as a result of prayer and decree!\n\nI have seen churches and ministries suddenly come under a cloud of heaviness. This is often the result of anti-anointing spirits lurking undercover, creating false accusations, releasing division, and plundering the camp. It takes rich prophetic insight, powerful intercession, and strong apostolic authority to turn back the tide and break the attack. Powerful churches are closed today because Jezebel walked in the back door and was not discerned or dealt with. Properly discerning the spiritual climate and identifying and effectively breaking the driving force of an attack can save the life of a ministry.\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Are you sensitive to the realm of the spirit?\n\n\u00bb Are you aware of the atmosphere around you?\n\n\u00bb When you sense something negative about another, do you pray or criticize?\n\n\u00bb Have you developed regular prayer habits? If not, then when, where, and how will you start?\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Become aware of atmospheres in various places.\n\n\u00bb Be intentional about praying over the atmospheres where you have authority.\n\n\u00bb Pay attention to dreams, promptings, and leadings.\n\n\u00bb Don't brush off heaviness. Ask for discernment about what is behind it, and take authority over it.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_Father, I thank You that the eyes of my inner man are open. I thank You that I hear, see, and know in the realm of the spirit. I thank You that I do not overlook Your subtle promptings and clear directions. I ask for divine insight and spirit leading in my life. I commit my steps to You, and I will be aware of Your instructions. In Jesus's name, amen._\nChapter 2\n\nTHE POWER OF THE ANOINTING\n\nONE OF THE most life-giving forces in the world is the anointing of God. It is like heavenly dew and rocket fuel mixed into one. There is nothing better than teaching that is anointed, preaching that is anointed, prayers that are anointed, and atmospheres that are filled with the presence of God. When you step into a church, ministry, or meeting that is void of the anointing, it is like walking into a spiritual desert. The atmosphere is sorely lacking, and there is no sign of victory.\n\nGOD'S POWER\n\nIn _Operating in the Anointing_ , Pastor Benny Hinn writes, \"Acts 1:8 promises that we will receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon us. This promise is essential to understanding the anointing. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we are in God's presence. But God's presence is not the same as His anointing. God's presence is His glory and His person; His anointing is His power. In Hebrew, the word 'anoint' is _mashach_ , which means 'to rub in.' The Greek word is _chrism_ and means 'to smear.' When we receive the anointing, we are, in a sense, 'smeared' with His power, which means that He is not only upon us but within us, as oil would be rubbed into and absorbed by the skin. Simply put, the anointing is God's power. It is the manifestation and the result of His presence.\"\n\nThe anointing is the power of God upon and within people to fulfill spiritual assignments, break oppression, and catapult people into destiny. God never calls someone to do something without providing an anointing! We are completely unable to do the works of Jesus, move in the supernatural, or achieve exploits without Holy Ghost power.\n\nWhen the anointing hits a person or a gathering, there is a divine charge! Explosive spiritual shock waves are released, and things far beyond human achievement are accomplished. It is imperative that believers learn to value and recognize the anointing. The reality is that we are crippled in the realm of the supernatural if we do not move in the anointing.\n\nThe anointing is always connected to purpose. Prophets are anointed to prophesy and reveal. Apostles are anointed to break through, build, guide, and govern. Evangelists are anointed to work miracles and impact nations. Intercessors are anointed to pray fiery prayers that shake the heavens. Pastors are anointed to love, lead, and feed sheep. For every mandate, there is divine ability.\n\nYou shall take the garments and clothe Aaron with the tunic and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastplate, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. And you shall put the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. Then shall you take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. You shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the headbands on them, and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. Thus you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.\n\n\u2014EXODUS 29:5\u20139\n\nThe Lord gave very strong instructions concerning the priesthood. They had to be set apart, clothed, and then anointed to fulfill their priestly duties. This, of course, was an Old Testament example. Under the old covenant everything manifested through type and shadow. We see things in a picture, because God was not indwelling people as He is in our day.\n\nYou also, as living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.\n\n\u20141 PETER 2:5\n\nWe are called priests to be set apart for the Lord. When we become followers of Jesus, there is a full surrender. It is one of the key elements of living a life full of spiritual power. Holy Spirit leads us into a deeper and more intense relationship with the Father.\n\nWhat kind of clothing do we wear in the spirit? What are our priestly garments? Are they outward or spiritual? Many in the church debate what you can and cannot wear as children of God. Fashion has radically changed and evolved through the generations. While I believe in decency, the need for a person to dictate what others should look like often comes from strong roots in a religious mentality of bondage. I believe our priestly garments are not natural but spiritual. We are given powerful weapons of war and armor that thwart the attacks of the wicked one.\n\nFinally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 6:10\u201311\n\nIn the spirit realm we have mantles, or supernatural garments, that bring life, power, and authority according to our unique assignments. We have garments of righteousness through our acceptance of the full work of Jesus at Calvary. We have spiritual armor to protect and equip us for battle.\n\nOur anointing is not natural. It is not just oil from a bottle but divine oil from heaven filled with life, strength, and breakthrough. We all have a unique and powerful anointing available to us according to our assignments.\n\nI will never forget one of my early experiences with the anointing. I was in Bible college and so hungry for God! I spent hours in private worship and prayer. I so desperately wanted His presence. It was as if I were in a Holy Ghost washing machine. He was powerfully cleansing and delivering me.\n\nI had decided to join a student choir, and we were scheduled to sing at an area church. I was asked to do something special during the program, and I felt completely unqualified. I told my leader I did not feel ready. I told him I didn't have the skill to do it, and that was the truth! I did not realize it was a God setup.\n\nAs my time approached, my stomach was tied in knots. My mind was swirling; I just knew I would mess up. I got up to do my part, and sure enough, I began to mess up. Then something shifted. I felt something like liquid fire bursting forth from deep inside of me and surging from my head to my toes. It was an indescribable sensation. It was as if in a moment every high point I had ever experienced in prayer suddenly merged to become one overwhelming moment in the spirit.\n\nSuddenly words started flowing from another realm. What was happening? What was I saying? Would I get in trouble? I was off the plan and off course, but I was in another realm. My eyes were closed, and I was saying what was coming to my spirit supernaturally, with no fear. All nervousness and fear were swallowed up in this heavenly surge.\n\nWhen I finished speaking, I opened my eyes, and the altar was filled with people. Some were weeping; others, kneeling; but all were encountering God and His transforming power. The whole event switched gears and became a spontaneous revival meeting as God poured out on His people. That was the night I was totally transformed as I got a taste of both my mantle and the anointing that would catapult me into nations. The breaker showed up that night to tear down walls, remove bondages, and liberate hearts. My fears, shortcomings, and own thoughts were effortlessly swallowed up in the anointing. That was the first of many such experiences in the school of the spirit that God used to train me.\n\nDIFFERENT FLOWS OF ANOINTING AVAILABLE TO BELIEVERS\n\nWherever there is anointing, there is divine flow! To accomplish the will of God, there is a need for various types of anointings. Let's explore a few anointings that need to be active in the church and in the lives of God's people.\n\nMiracle anointing\n\nMiracles are instant turnarounds! They are manifestations of the supernatural in everyday life. Miracles can happen in every arena of life. We can experience financial, family, debt-cancellation, and healing miracles. God is a miracle-working God! Miracles are commonplace in the kingdom of God. The miracle anointing is the divine flow of God to perform miracles. It must be recognized and maximized. Typically there are instructions from God that open up this realm of anointing.\n\nGod worked powerful miracles by the hands of Paul. So handkerchiefs or aprons he had touched were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out of them.\n\n\u2014ACTS 19:11\u201312\n\nHealing anointing\n\nHealing is one of the works Jesus accomplished on the cross. The Bible tells us He sent His word and healed us (Ps. 107:20). The healing anointing is the divine presence of God to accomplish supernatural healing. Healing can be a process. It is not unusual for someone to have a sense of strength come into his or her physical body and begin driving out the weakness.\n\nNow when the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to Him. And He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.\n\n\u2014LUKE 4:40\n\nProphetic anointing\n\nThe prophetic anointing is the power of God to prophesy, see in the spirit, receive revelation, and function prophetically. There are multiple ways that God speaks prophetically. When there is a prophetic anointing, the level of revelation and divine insight becomes explosive. When Saul came into the company of prophets, it caused the prophetic anointing to hit him, and he began to speak prophetically. That is what happens when a prophetic anointing is at work. It becomes easy to see, know, hear, and declare. Oil of revelation begins to flow from heaven.\n\nWhen they came to the hill, a group of prophets met him. And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. So when all who previously knew him saw that he prophesied among the prophets, the people said one to another, \"What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?\"\n\n\u20141 SAMUEL 10:10\u201311\n\nFinancial anointing\n\nThere is a realm in the anointing that attracts increase; it helps create wealth and tap into the abundant blessings of God. When it is an anointing, there is an uncommon ease. Things happen suddenly and supernaturally. Many believers miss this realm because they do not understand that there is power (anointing) to get wealth!\n\nBut you must remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to get wealth, so that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is today.\n\n\u2014DEUTERONOMY 8:18\n\nBuilding anointing\n\nThroughout Scripture God places value upon building. David told his son that he would inherit the task of building God a magnificent house.\n\nThen David called Solomon his son and commanded him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel.\n\n\u20141 CHRONICLES 22:6\n\nThe Lord revealed Himself in this passage as the founder and builder of the church:\n\nAnd I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 16:18\n\nHe also sent Holy Spirit to live in us and pray through us. Praying in the Spirit builds up our spirit man and the realm of faith in us. The gift of prophecy builds people up. When the word of the Lord is released, the people of God are strengthened, encouraged, and established.\n\nGod is into building, and He has provided a strong grace to build. Apostles are foundational gifts to the church. They are sent ones\u2014sent to build! The church is called to be an advancing, prevailing, and building people. When He tells people to do particular exploits, there is divine ability to build. Leaders need to tap into the building anointing. Businesspeople need to tap the building anointing. Apostles and prophets are called to help build\u2014they need to flow in that grace, claim it, and stir it up.\n\nPrayer anointing\n\nI was preaching a revival meeting when suddenly strong intercession broke out all over the building. People began to run to the altar, praying under a supernatural leading from heaven. I didn't urge it or create it; heaven just showed up and people began to move into deep realms of prayer. Whether it is in our personal lives or as a body of believers, there is an anointing for prayer that we can tap into. We should look for that river and dive deep into it!\n\nEven them I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. . . . For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.\n\n\u2014ISAIAH 56:7\n\nLeadership anointing\n\nLeadership\u2014people placed in roles of authority\u2014is a heavenly concept. Many people struggle with this because of ignorance and rebellion, but it is still the truth. God never appoints a leader without the anointing to serve. Leaders need to learn the value of the anointing in this area and make a conscious effort to ask God for it and maximize it. The people who are being served by a leader need to pray and ask the Lord to anoint the leader.\n\nLet every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.\n\n\u2014ROMANS 13:1\u20132\n\nHelps and service anointing\n\nHelps is listed among the supernatural ministry gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:28. There is an anointing to help. Every purpose of God, work of God, leader, and ministry needs help. There is a blessing in helping. Many churches and ministries need to pray and teach on the anointing to help. People's lives can be supernaturally changed when they begin to serve the works of the Lord.\n\nAs everyone has received a gift, even so serve one another with it, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.\n\n\u20141 PETER 4:10\n\nSonship anointing\n\nThere is an anointing for us to function as sons and daughters of God. We were once orphans, but the power of the blood of Jesus brought us into total freedom and established us in the family of God. The enemy will attempt to bring accusation and heaviness, but we do not have to receive it. We can rest in what heaven has already said and enjoy the freedom of sonship.\n\nYet to all who received Him, He gave the power to become sons of God, to those who believed in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.\n\n\u2014JOHN 1:12\u201313\n\nBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love; He predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 1:3\u20135\n\nFamily anointing\n\nThere is divine power and assistance to raise families. There is supernatural ability for marriage and relationships. Too many people only see certain things as anointed, but every covenant carries an anointing. We can tap into the realm of God's power for our families. God can teach us how to be better spouses and parents through the anointing. This is one facet of the anointing\u2014to release revelation and insight.\n\nBut from the beginning of the creation, God \"made them male and female.\" \"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.\" So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.\n\n\u2014MARK 10:6\u20139\n\nMusical anointing\n\nMusic is deeply spiritual. It can open realms and create atmospheres. A simple lyric becomes lodged in our brains for days. A certain rhythm causes our bodies to move without thinking about it. Music carries something that affects us profoundly. There is an anointing for the right kind of music. There is an anointing on songs, lyrics, and sounds. There are realms of worship that push back the powers of hell and open the heavens. We need anointed musicians, minstrels, and psalmists!\n\nIt happened that when the evil spirit from God came on Saul, David would take the lyre in his hand and play. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.\n\n\u20141 SAMUEL 16:23\n\nKing David raised up an army of full-time worshippers that included four thousand musicians. He said:\n\nFour thousand shall offer praises to the LORD with the instruments that I have made for praise.\n\n\u20141 CHRONICLES 23:5\n\nWorship was a weapon of choice in Israel. It was radical worship that propelled David into the palace. He was a prophetic worshipper who knew how to tap into the anointing to push back darkness. He created an army of prophetic worshippers who staffed a throne room type of prayer-and-worship model in his kingdom. This is a model that is still relevant today. David valued the call to radical worship, prayer, and intercession. He established his own company of worship leaders who kept the incense of prayer and longing rising up to the throne of God.\n\nThese are the singers, heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites, who lodged in the chambers, and were free from other duties; for they were employed in that work day and night.\n\n\u20141 CHRONICLES 9:33, NKJV\n\nDeliverance anointing\n\nOne of the most elementary aspects of the anointing is the bondage-breaking power. Demon spirits entangle and ensnare, but the anointing can destroy those ties! When the anointing of God begins to move, it breaks the cords that have held God's people. There is power to set the captives free.\n\nThe Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.\n\n\u2014ISAIAH 61:1\n\nHe said to them, \"I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Look, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you.\"\n\n\u2014LUKE 10:18\u201319\n\nRegional anointing\n\nThere is an anointing to impact regions. This is one of the cornerstones of an apostolic ministry. There is an established sphere of influence. There are regional plans, regional purposes, and supernatural power to establish the kingdom of God within regions.\n\nWe are not boasting of things beyond our measure in other men's labors. But we have hope that when your faith is increased, our region shall be greatly enlarged by you, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man's accomplishments.\n\n\u20142 CORINTHIANS 10:15\u201316\n\nGlobal anointing\n\nSome have an anointing for global exploits. Their platform is the world, and they are called to go forth, shaking nations. There are global prophets who are given mandates for nations. They speak in a higher dimension of authority and insight. They are releasing prophetic insight not just for people but for nations. There are evangelists who have been supernaturally propelled forth into the nations of the world. They have faith, a word, and favor for nations. There are apostles who have been given a global platform to transform nations. They are given strong words for the nations accompanied by an earth-shaking anointing. God sends them with supernatural power and authority.\n\nBefore I formed you in the womb I knew you; and before you were born I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.\n\n\u2014JEREMIAH 1:5\n\nCorporate anointing\n\nThere is an anointing that is unique and different when God's people gather. It is the fruit of various gifts coming together under one united banner. As believers worship, pray, and pursue heaven together, there is precious dew that flows down, bringing life, strength, and breakthrough. In many ways it is a multiplication of the individual anointing upon the lives of people.\n\nBehold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like precious oil upon the head, that runs down on the beard\u2014even Aaron's beard\u2014and going down to the collar of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, that descends upon the mountains of Zion, for there the LORD has commanded the blessing, even life forever.\n\n\u2014PSALM 133:1\u20133\n\nBeliever's anointing\n\nThere is a well that dwells on the inside of every believer. It is part of our new nature and the complete work of Jesus at Calvary. We are not only appointed for dynamic kingdom works but anointed for them also. The realm of healing, miracles, casting out demons, spirit leading, and divine insight is available in the life of every believer. This has nothing to do with an office or the grace available for that specific work. This is the fruit of the kingdom in our lives. We can tap into the believer's anointing to be a powerful witness to the world and help change the lives of those around us.\n\nHe said to them, \"Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.\"\n\n\u2014MARK 16:15\u201318\n\nTHE SECRET IS IN THE SURRENDER\n\nGod anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.\n\n\u2014ACTS 10:38\n\nJesus walked in a tangible anointing that had maximum impact everywhere He went. How did He maintain such a high level of spiritual operation? The secret is in the surrender! He was completely surrendered to the will of the Father\u2014clinging to His voice for instruction, continually listening, looking, and leaning into the realm of the spirit.\n\nFor I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.\n\n\u2014JOHN 6:38\n\nJesus was not doing His own thing. The devil did his own thing and was swiftly kicked out of heaven. Many people follow in the footsteps of Lucifer, seeking to live their own lives, fulfill their own dreams, build their own ministries, and compete for their own voices to be heard. This is the epitome of demonic behavior. There are many in the ministry who are camouflaged rebels. They have the right language, yet they lack the surrender.\n\nAnd He said to them, \"I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.\"\n\n\u2014LUKE 10:18, NASB\n\nDon't get me wrong\u2014it is fantastic to have big, bold dreams and wild adventures of faith. I do not believe God created any human to live a boring and mundane life. Anointed people go big! The difference is the surrender. Are we allowing God to dream enormous dreams through us? Are we allowing the Father to place His desires in our hearts? Are we willing to change course at a moment's notice if the Lord asks us to? These are all questions we must ask if we dare to do exploits.\n\nGod is the ultimate dreamer and master planner. He left absolutely nothing to chance and authored every step of your destiny. He meticulously planned your entrance, your life, and your graduation from the earth realm into glory. He has ordained exploits beyond your wildest imagination.\n\nThere are too many people crouched in the corner, shackled with the bonds of disappointment. They have checked out of dreaming and are living on autopilot, merely existing. God wants to heal the dream nature inside of them. He wants to touch the broken places and command the dead bones to live again. He wants to speak to the broken dreams and declare purpose in the midst of pain.\n\nSome had a false start. They launched into a thing without the proper timing. The Bible declares that every purpose has an appointed time (Eccles. 3:1). They heard a word, dreamed a dream, saw a vision, and stepped out with little or no thought about the timing and the plan. There is always divine timing. It is an illegal spiritual operation to advance into a thing without obtaining the wisdom of God for the timing.\n\nAnointed people are sensitive to times and seasons. They have a strong Holy Ghost GPS. They know the dangers of a false start. Don't misunderstand me\u2014everyone has missed it in the area of timing. Peter is perhaps one of the greatest biblical examples of a passionate disciple who kept making false starts. His passion would often get ahead of his character, yet God kept restoring him and reviving him.\n\nI hear the Lord saying, \"For every false start there is an authentic launch. Some moved before the time and received flattering words, only to be greatly disappointed, but I am binding up their wounds and reviving them. I am reigniting the fire of destiny within them. I am relaunching them for the next phase. The time shall be redeemed. The enemy has been screaming, 'It's over,' but I am saying it is just beginning!\"\n\nI see some relaunches on the horizon. It is time to launch again with fresh purpose. There is a new beginning for you. There are things to be set in motion in your life and destiny. The devil keeps intimidating you and telling you that it is over, but God is going to launch you once again with renewed passion, purpose, and momentum.\n\nSurrender is the secret weapon of anointed people. The anointing flowing in abundance is the confirmation of surrender. Jesus was not striving to be anointed. He was doing the will of the One who sent Him. The lower He went in His own ambitions, the higher He rose in the spirit. This is a great mystery, but it is a power secret of anointed people\u2014first is last, and last is first (Matt. 20:16).\n\nWhy is surrender so significant? Because all covenants center on sacrifice and surrender. Every covenant demands a shedding of blood. It is one of the signs of the surrender. There must be a sacrifice in order to have a legitimate covenant.\n\nAnd not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.\n\n\u2014HEBREWS 9:12, NASB\n\nCOVENANT VIRTUE\n\nEach covenant offers certain unique rights and privileges. It also creates boundaries and alliances. One of the strongest pictures of covenant thinking is in the life of Abraham. After walking through the blood, the Lord declares to Abraham that He will place a generational blessing upon his lineage (his seed). (See Genesis 15.) The obedience of Abraham and his friendship with God would have generational implications.\n\nAll too often ministers spend hours focusing on every possible generational curse, the need for repentance, and the possibility of bondage without ever emphasizing the power of a covenant with God and the generational blessings available. I believe that God is establishing strong emphasis on engaging the realm of the spirit with a covenant mind-set\u2014in other words, stepping into a battle from a place of victory and absolutely gutting the powers of hell with the name, the Word, and the blood. If God's people awaken to their true identity and the strength of their covenant, they will be undefeatable, unstoppable, and immovable!\n\nThe Lord used strong covenant language with Abraham that makes many in the modern Christian world uncomfortable.\n\nI will bless them who bless you and curse him who curses you, and in you all families of the earth will be blessed.\n\n\u2014GENESIS 12:3\n\nThis is a lost reality; nonetheless it is a spiritual law. Two people in covenant fight the same battles and share the same enemies. This is the bedrock of effective spiritual warfare. Many people have passive spirits. They want to remain neutral in every matter and avoid conflict at all costs. They create covenant alignments to get the perks yet are unwilling to defend those they are supposed to be aligned with or fight the battles with them. This is a transaction mentality and not a covenant mentality. Transactional people enter relationships to get a benefit, but they lack commitment and endurance. They are fair-weather friends and leaders who run at the first sign of trouble.\n\nMany churches, ministries, and organizations are weak and spiritually diluted because of this false thinking. People come and go with no commitment and no covenant. These people abandon their posts at the first sign of battle. All covenants are proved in the thick of battle. When war erupts, the covenant is tested.\n\nLet's expand our grasp on these concepts. In today's church culture we are adamant about creating converts. We send out teams to pray with people on the streets in hopes of converting them. We plan big events to draw in the lost; we design the whole thing to talk them out of going to hell and accepting Jesus. I applaud all these efforts and cheer them on\u2014yet there is more!\n\nWas the church instructed to simply make converts? Is this the highest expression of _ekklesia_ (the church)? Should this be the ultimate aim of the church?\n\nGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 28:19\u201320\n\nImagine a groom going from place to place, having numerous wedding ceremonies with different women, leaving suddenly from each, and moving to the next bride. This seems crazy, but in many ways it is what we are doing in modern Christianity. We ask people to wear the ring without fully engaging in the covenant. Conversion is only the beginning of the matter. The highest expression of the kingdom is disciples who are reproducing, representing, and establishing kingdom culture.\n\nIt was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles.\n\n\u2014LUKE 6:12\u201313, NASB\n\nSomething was so deep in the heart of Jesus that He was up all night praying, pondering, and seeking wisdom. What could be that important? What could be that serious? He was about to choose the twelve men whom He would pour into day and night, the twelve who would change the world. He was about to select a ragtag group of men to cut a covenant with and share the deepest part of Himself. These were not casual relationships\u2014these were the very foundations of the ministry of the Lord of glory! He was going to choose His disciples, and there was no matter deeper in the heart of Jesus than this one.\n\nThese men would eat, travel, dream, and weep together; they would fight for one another, fight against one another, and do mind-blowing exploits. Jesus began a discipleship ministry, and relationship with these men was one of His most demanding tasks. Yet His limited time with these men built the foundations of Christianity as we know it.\n\nJesus preached to the masses, healed the multitudes, and shook cities and regions. He spent countless hours teaching the deep things of the kingdom. He taught the unlearned using pictures, parables, and stories. But when the crowds left, He was making disciples. He was building covenant relationships and investing His very person into those men destined to change the world.\n\nOften in this world we strive for bigger and better. We measure ourselves by our achievements, and we feel absolutely defeated if someone next to us seems to be outdoing us. Sometimes we live our whole lives doing outrageous things but never experience true covenant relationships.\n\nCovenant places boundaries upon our lives. When we become disciples, we become surrendered ones. I am often asked what I think about particular social issues and evolving morality in our society. In the past I have been far too quick to state an opinion. I have come to understand that as I am a bondservant of Jesus, my opinion does not matter in such affairs. When I became a disciple, I became tied to the value system of heaven. I am not allowed the freedom to decide what I think is right and wrong. I have divine guidance. At times the integrity of Jesus challenges my human heart and understanding, but it is my covenant responsibility to uphold the values of Jesus. There are things that I don't do because heaven has not authorized them. A life of purpose is a life of focus and surrender.\n\nThe anointing was one of the primary things that made a difference in Jesus's ministry. As He walked the face of the earth, the tangible touch of God was upon Him. Those with issues were drawn to Him in a supernatural way. The sick, the tormented, the afflicted, and the bound came. Not only did they come, but they left forever changed.\n\nJesus was anointed. He was supernaturally charged to break the back of demon powers and bring miraculous results. This is one of the pillars of purpose in the anointing. The anointing provides supernatural power to break the works of hell.\n\nAnd it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.\n\n\u2014ISAIAH 10:27, KJV\n\nA yoke is a piece of equipment used to connect oxen to a plow. The spiritual picture here is an instrument that attaches a person to a heavy burden. When the anointing comes, it breaks and destroys not only the evil weight but also every device that connects a person to it. Wherever there is great anointing, there is great freedom!\n\nNow the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.\n\n\u20142 CORINTHIANS 3:17\n\nPhilip the evangelist was leading a tremendous revival. As the anointing was moving, demons were fleeing.\n\nWhen the crowds heard Philip and saw the miracles which he did, they listened in unity to what he said. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed. And many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.\n\n\u2014ACTS 8:6\u20138\n\nPhilip was leading a tremendous move of God with mass deliverance. There is nothing like a heaven-sent revival. Historically revival has been used to change the destiny of a generation and call people back into deep intimacy with God. There have been various types of revivals, but all have featured spectacular displays of God's power. There is something about miracles, signs, and wonders that pierces the hearts of people.\n\nAN EMAIL LEADS TO REVIVAL\n\nA strong wave of revival can overturn a church, a community, a state, or even a nation. The wave comes in like a flood, subduing the powers of hell and releasing the reality of the glorious kingdom of God. I remember a very special revival in which I was privileged to have a role. The Lord sent the pastor of a small church into my life through an email. At the time, I was leading a regional ministry, and we had regular gatherings to stoke the fires of revival. This pastor felt tugged by the Lord to reach out to me. He sent me an email stating that he knew he was supposed to connect with me, and the Lord told him that his city would be changed when I came there. As I read the words, I felt a bit overwhelmed and questioned their authenticity. After all, maybe he was just exaggerating.\n\nThis pastor began attending some of my meetings, and the Lord connected us through a series of events. We built a relationship, ministered alongside one another, and strategized about the coming days. After a long period of time, the Lord reminded me of his initial email\u2014it was about me coming into his region. We had preached, traveled, and prayed together, but I had not yet been to his region. I felt a quickening to go. I went for what was supposed to be a weekend of meetings, but heaven swept into the building, and the miraculous of God began to break forth. There were many miracles. I vividly recall one that would become a catalyst for revival. There was an older man who said he had extreme bone problems. He had evident mobility issues and was unable to walk without major assistance. He had two canes and could barely move. As I stood before him praying, the gift of faith hit me, and I began to command him to rise up and walk. God's power overcame him, and he immediately jumped up and took off walking, completely without issue. It was a phenomenal sight. He lifted up the two canes and held them high as he walked with full mobility. Revival had begun!\n\nI stayed in that region for months, praying, preaching, prophesying, and holding revival meetings alongside the host pastor. There were many prophetic confirmations about what God was doing. The Lord had sent many other trailblazers ahead to seed the ground with the Word of the Lord. People began to come from various states and regions, and we outgrew the small church where the meetings began and had to rent a larger facility. Everything was supernatural! People were healed, saved, and filled with Holy Spirit. Lives were forever changed, and kingdom plans were birthed.\n\nIn a \"suddenly\" moment God fulfilled words given years before over that pastor, his church, and the region. He partnered with prophetic words given years before about the name of and strategy for this move. The Lord grew his ministry far beyond what it was when the revival began.\n\nThis is one of the reasons why demon spirits hate revival. Revival can bring a sudden fulfillment of dormant promises. Revival releases tremendous velocity in the spirit that breaks the clutch of demons. Revival can refresh the driest people and penetrate the hardest hearts. Revival releases a torrent of anointing and glory that plunders the structures of hell. The devil hates revival and strives to attack any person or ministry pressing in for it.\n\nThe anointing obliterates demonic powers. This is why there are demon spirits that have an assignment against the anointing. They want to quench the fresh flow of heaven in ministries, believers, and worship times. They want to stifle and bind up men and women of God. They want to create dry, dead, religious atmospheres that pose no threat to their kingdom. They launch strategic attacks against the people of God and against anointed places. They do not strike randomly but with intent.\n\nThese demons are called anti-anointing spirits. They fight and hinder the flow of life and power in the realm of the spirit. In 1 John 2:18 there is a warning about antichrists: \"Little children, it is the last hour. As you have heard that the antichrist will come, even now there are many antichrists. By this we know that it is the last hour.\" What is the meaning of _antichrists_? _Christ_ represents the Anointed One and His anointing. So the picture here is of a family of demonic entities that have a target to fight the anointing. They are on assignment to subdue, restrict, and overwhelm.\n\nWhen a ministry begins bringing in a fresh anointing of life and power, these antichrist spirits take notice and conceive heinous plans to stop the flow. They will send strife, division, accusation, hindrance, and financial attacks. They launch an all-out assault to stop the flow.\n\nAs we expound on the toxic trio of demons in this book, we will identify their operations and expose their agenda. While each of the three spirits is unique, they are similar in their type.\n\nThey are all spirits that work to destroy the anointing of God.\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Have you experienced resistance when you have pressed in to particular spiritual assignments?\n\n\u00bb Your anointing is connected to your purpose.\n\n\u00bb Resistance is confirmation that what you are doing is dangerous to the kingdom of darkness.\n\n\u00bb What areas of your life need to be surrendered?\n\n\u00bb What is the Lord dealing with you about concerning devotion, obedience, and surrender?\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Learn to recognize spiritual resistance in your personal life, ministry assignments, and corporate body of believers.\n\n\u00bb Bind the enemy when you sense the resistance.\n\n\u00bb Tap into the various types of anointings that are available for your life. Pray over them\u2014confess that they are yours, and ponder the scriptures associated with them.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_Father, I thank You that I am created for a purpose and destined for kingdom assignments. I ask You to help me recognize the resistance of the enemy and be strong in You to break the powers of darkness. I confess that I am fully committed to kingdom assignments, mandates, and relationships. I am spiritually sensitive, activated, and aware, in Jesus's name._\nChapter 3\n\nJEZEBEL, THE SPIRITUAL ASSASSIN\n\nI WAS A YOUNG ministry pioneer embarking on a brand-new adventure. God had given me direction, and I was ready to go. I could not wait to fulfill the dreams that were in my heart. My sense of expectation was surging as I stepped forward to answer the call to birth something new. It was a faith adventure in every way. I felt the Lord leading me into unknown territory with few resources. I had a word, I had a dream, and I had faith\u2014with that I jumped into the deep and launched a brand-new ministry.\n\nSHE WANTS THE HEADS OF FORERUNNERS\n\nIn the early stages of the journey the Lord brought someone before me whom I had only casually met a few times through some ministry friends. I felt as though I was in over my head, trying to launch something with no help. I reached out to that casual acquaintance to see if there was any interest in joining our ragtag team and launching into the deep. To my surprise, the answer was yes! We added a new team member.\n\nAs our team grew, there were exciting new relationships. People were being added to assist in the various areas, and God was doing all types of miracles. We experienced financial miracles, healing miracles, family miracles, and strong waves of deliverance. Our meetings were always unique. God showed up in power each and every time.\n\nTwo of the team members were a gracious couple who seemed to have a strong hospitality gifting and to be ready to serve in any way. As time progressed, I had some subtle checks but nothing too drastic. There were some questions, little concerns, things that I would find a way to brush off because I felt as though I needed every helper I could get. What would we do if we lost a key person?\n\nOne night while alone with this couple, I witnessed something that startled me and shook my confidence. The wife began to have a conversation with a member of my family that seemed to take a \"prophetic\" turn, probing into past wounds and pains. It happened suddenly and without warning. There were some accurate details and pieces of information, but as it unfolded, I knew in my spirit something was terribly off. What was it?\n\nThe event had some of the markings of a prophetic encounter, but there was something underlying. It was forceful, was obtrusive, and ended in confusion with no peace. Even deeper, when it was unfolding, there was not an awareness of God's love and redemptive nature. There was instead a sense of unlawful operation. There was a spiritual dynamic taking place, but it wasn't at all good or comforting. I knew that something was terribly amiss, and I knew that I would never allow anything like that again on my team. Now I had to discern what was taking place.\n\nI maintained a heart of pursuit with an attitude of seeking wisdom to resolve what I was sensing. Soon it would all play out in vivid detail. There was an underlying agenda with a power play that would unfold. What I sensed during that encounter was far greater than what I knew at that time. I was about to have a battle with a spirit that I had encountered before. This would be one of the first of many rounds with this spirit in that phase of my life and ministry. The same demonic entity would show up again and again with a determination to shut down our ministry and back me into a corner. It tried, but it did not prevail.\n\nAs time passed, there were further confirmations of the suspicions we had about the couple on our team. One of the most vivid skirmishes was when this spirit confronted me and my wife late one night in the couple's home. It was an actual spirit that showed up and began to unload a massive attack. We both sensed the evil presence, and our minds started to swirl as the demon unloaded garbage and accusation. I knew in that moment that there was an unclean nature to the spirit in that home. It had an assignment of seduction. I would come to find out that seduction is one of the primary tools of the devil that we were about to confront.\n\nThe entire thing came to a head after a series of small rebellions. The couple would choose to ignore an instruction, to do something they were not permitted to do, or to take charge of a corporate gathering without my permission. The once seemingly kind and loving couple morphed into something very different. There were major emotional and spiritual instabilities manifesting in the wife. The husband seemed firm at times but uncommonly passive at other times. There was something about the wife that appeared lustful but remained cloaked under a stream of \"God said\" statements, kind acts, and prophetic declarations.\n\nFinally there was an ultimatum delivered. I was told that the word of the Lord had been given that the wife was supposed to be my co-leader. The Lord had spoken to her that she was not to be under my authority but on an equal playing field. There was much pressure given to make the case, and her husband dutifully went along with it. Eventually we were in a state of strong disagreement, and a power play was under way. It was only after I discerned what was glaringly apparent behind the scenes that the full extent of the spiritual force was revealed\u2014this was a wrestling for control, illegal access, and illegitimate authority. This was a power play by the Jezebel spirit.\n\nI could now clearly see the roles of Ahab and Jezebel in this scenario. I want to be clear that this spirit can and will operate through any gender. It is simply looking for a host to seduce, control, and manifest through. I drew a firm line in the sand and stood up to the spirit. There was only one choice: repent and be free, or exit the team. After much posturing, attempted manipulation, and exaggerated emotions, the couple exited. This was the first of many battles we had in that ministry with that particular spirit.\n\nWARRIORS WIN!\n\nThrough the years, I have often been criticized for my preaching on demons and the Jezebel spirit, in particular. Many times I have wished that I wouldn't have to see, hear, or deal with these wicked enemies. I wish that I could live as others do, like ostriches with their heads in the sand, but I cannot. I am a warrior! I am a justice person who sees things as absolute. I hate the devil and the powers of hell. I cannot afford to be passive in spiritual warfare, or the enemy will take me out. _You_ cannot afford to be passive either.\n\nMy education on the Jezebel spirit was born in the belly of the fight. I never intended to learn about or preach on this spirit, but I fought it many times, as will any prophetic person. It is one of the major enemies of all prophets, prophetic people, and prophetic churches, hubs, and ministries. You cannot and must not leave Jezebel unchecked! There are wise strategies and sure methods for dealing with this destructive demon, but it must be addressed.\n\nThe Jezebel spirit is a spiritual assassin that takes particular aim at all things prophetic. To more fully understand this, let's dive deeper into one of the key components of prophetic ministry and one of the Bible's most legendary assassinations orchestrated by the Jezebel spirit.\n\nAs they departed, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, \"What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written:\n\n'Look, I am sending My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.'\n\nTruly I say to you, among those who are born of women, there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. But he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.\"\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 11:7\u201311\n\nJohn the Baptist was known for his preaching of repentance and his declaration of Jesus as the Messiah. It is interesting that Jesus asks the people in this passage, \"What did you go . . . to see? A reed shaken by the wind?\" This could mean a variety of things, but I want to take a prophetic spin on this. I believe that John was shaken by the winds of the Spirit, shaken by prophetic utterance, shaken by a realm of _nabi_ (bubble up) preaching. Words and messages burst forth from his belly with authority and power.\n\nJohn was untamed. He occupied the wilderness places. He was not a polished prophet. He did not give a variety of prophetic predictions as other Old Testament prophets did. He released a relatively simple message, yet it catapulted him to the front of the line in Jesus's assessment of Old Testament prophets. He topped the list!\n\nJohn was a messenger. All prophets are some type of messenger. The means of communication and the style of release differ greatly based on the particular mantle, but they are messengers. There are various realms of the prophetic, different functions and diverse flows, but every prophetic revelation contains a message that at the end of the day points back to Jesus.\n\nProphets were and are those who prepare the ground for the seed. They speak what we have not yet seen, revealing that which can be seen in the realm of the spirit. They are by nature forerunners. This is critical in our understanding of why Jezebel hates the prophetic anointing. This evil spirit despises the work of true prophetic ministry because it prepares generations, regions, peoples, and nations for the move of God. It prepares the way. John prepared the way for Jesus, and this is what I believe Jesus was commending. Jesus referenced John as the greatest because he was chosen in the gap between covenants to prepare for the greatest spiritual transition since the fall of Adam. He was chosen to be the messenger to make the decree of all decrees. He was the forerunner to usher in the Christ.\n\nWhat is a forerunner? It is someone who goes out ahead. Anything and everything prophetic has a forerunner nature. Prophets, prophecy, and prophetic flow always reveal what is in the heart and mind of God. As God's heart and mind come into the space that we occupy, they burst forth carrying divine power. The release of a forerunner word is the momentum in the spirit to carry a person into the manifestation of what has been spoken. The revelation carries the power of manifestation. A prophetic word is not an abstract promise but a spiritual reality. When God speaks prophetically, you are carried beyond the human and natural dimension into the limitless realm of the spirit, where all things are possible. Prophetic forerunners move out ahead in order to make a way for those that will come. They blaze spiritual trails. They open up revelations.\n\nSEDUCTION IS HER GAME\n\nFor Herod had laid hold of John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. For John said to him, \"It is not lawful for you to have her.\" When Herod would have put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they counted him as a prophet.\n\nBut when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she would ask. Being previously instructed by her mother, she said, \"Give me John the Baptist's head on a platter.\" The king was sorry. Nevertheless, for the oath's sake and those who sat with him at supper, he commanded it to be given to her. He sent and beheaded John in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. His disciples came and took up the body and buried it. And they went and told Jesus.\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 14:3\u201312\n\nJohn the Baptist was murdered at the request of a demon-possessed woman. This was not natural anger but spiritual rage. John refused to endorse the unlawful union of the king and his new love. This is one of the attributes of rugged prophets\u2014they will not bow to spiritual pressure when they perceive that something is wrong. They cannot be bought, intimidated, or manipulated. When they have heard the clear voice of the Lord, they become resolute. John was unwavering in his condemnation of this relationship.\n\nThe Jezebel spirit is an immoral demon. It uses various means to seduce its victims. One of its manifestations is sexual seduction. In this story we see a twofold perversion. First, Herodias captured the attention of the king so he would come into immoral relationship with her. Second, she used the allure of her daughter's dance to capture the attention of Herod and several men to ask for the head of the leading prophet.\n\nSeduction was used to order the assassination of a mighty forerunner. These same powers are at work today, attempting to annihilate the destinies, ministries, and spiritual exploits of prophetic leaders. Jezebel has strategic plans of distraction and deception. The Jezebel spirit had John's head cut off! There is so much revelation in this assassination. This spirit understands that if it successfully attacks the head, then it can kill the body. Many times men and women, chosen by God, begin to lead a charge toward change and reformation, but the Jezebel spirit bombards them with a multipronged attack in order to cut off the head of destiny!\n\nJezebel loves to intimidate prophets and prophetic people. This spirit wants to send prophets into hiding. It accomplishes this in a variety of ways. As Jezebel was empowered by a weak and wicked leader named Ahab, the true prophets suffered greatly.\n\nWhen Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in groups of fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water.\n\n\u20141 KINGS 18:4\n\nThe prophets were forced into the cave. Jezebel was on a murderous rampage, determined to slaughter the voice of the Lord in the land. God's prophets had to go into hiding. They could not minister. They could not flow. They could not give revelation to the people or the land because they were hiding in the cave.\n\nThe Jezebel spirit comes to push the prophetic anointing into the cave. It comes to tear down prophetic ministries and overwhelm prophetic leaders. It comes to steal the joy, rob the life, zap the strength, and quench the power. The prophets were struggling and had little provision. They survived but did not thrive. Jezebel will try to cut off the finances of prophetic ministry and prophetic people. Jezebel does not want you sowing into the prophetic voice of the Lord in the earth. It wants the prophets dead or hidden and struggling.\n\nThere is another dimension of the cave that we must think about with extreme honesty. Prophets can be peculiar people depending on their call and makeup. The way they function, the way they process, or their bold personalities can cause people to misunderstand them. As with any forerunner call, there is also a level of frontline warfare that emerges.\n\nJezebel may not be able to put you in a literal cave, but it will try to get you to live in a cave of rejection. Many prophets wear rejection as a badge. Instead of becoming intimate glory carriers, they manifest wounds and bitterness. Jesus came to set you and me free from the cave. We must determine not to put ourselves in a cave of rejection, a cave of isolation, or a cave of fear.\n\nWhen the Jezebel spirit runs rampant, it pushes prophets into the cave. This spirit sends waves of depression over prophets so that they end up alone, contemplating their demise. It releases words of witchcraft and spirits of fear to send the prophets and prophetic people running for their lives.\n\nBut I have a few things against you: You permit that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols.\n\n\u2014REVELATION 2:20\n\nHundreds of years after the actual human being named Jezebel died, Jesus gave this strong indictment of the church in Thyatira because of their allowance of Jezebel's illegal prophetic activities. He was railing against the acceptance of witchcraft in place of authentic prophetic ministry. This realm of the Jezebel spirit is particularly toxic.\n\nA Jezebel spirit does its best to establish its own renegade prophetic ministry through seduction. It seduces leaders with gifts, flattery, finances, and false loyalty. Jezebel proves its spirituality with grandiose proclamations of fasting, prayer, and revelation. The Jezebel spirit is a deeply rebellious spirit that will not submit to ordained leadership in any way, shape, or form.\n\nA person operating in a Jezebel spirit can \"fake it\" for a time in order to be handed the reins of authority. It is a dangerous game of deception and seduction in an attempt to wrestle power away from God-ordained leaders, only to fulfill its own wicked agenda. This is the overthrow nature of Jezebel\u2014to take the reins of power from those whom God has appointed. This spirit will move through people pledging loyalty and alliance, but it is deceptive.\n\nSTRANGE FIRE BURNS\n\nOne of the tactics that the Jezebel spirit employs is false prophetic witchcraft. Jezebel is a bewitching spirit. To more fully understand this, we must explore the nature of witchcraft.\n\nFor rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.\n\n\u20141 SAMUEL 15:23\n\nThe first component of witchcraft is rebellion. This was the Lord's harsh indictment against Saul as he openly disobeyed the instructions of heaven. He refused to do what God said. The Lord exposes a root desire of witchcraft in rebellion. The dictionary offers a simple definition of the word _rebellion_ : \"opposition to one in authority or dominance.\"\n\nIt is no mistake that God's government is established as a theocracy. It is not a democracy with voting, individual rights, opinions, and preferences. In fact, when we become disciples of Jesus, we are invited into a lifestyle of surrender. The apostle Paul, who we know was a powerful early church apostle, referred to himself as a bondservant (Rom. 1:1, NKJV). A bondservant was one who had been set free legally but chose to stay in the house. To commemorate this decision, the bondservant's ear would be pierced straight through at the doorpost of the house. (See Exodus 21:5\u20136 and Deuteronomy 15:16\u201317.) This is a powerful prophetic picture. One who was freed decided to remain. I believe Paul more deeply demonstrated this surrendered lifestyle when he wrote, \"'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are helpful\" (1 Cor. 10:23). He was teaching the church. He was stating that he did not live a life of navigating the narrow road because of law and legalism but because of grace. Through Jesus he was set free from the law, but he chose to remain attached to the ways of the Lord. He said no to some things because they were not wise for him as an apostle.\n\nThe bondservant has his ear pressed to the doorpost of the house. He is listening to the heartbeat of the house. This is another prophetic picture. God wants to bring us so in tune with His voice and His desires that we hear the secret whispers of His heart and know His ways. This type of intimacy fuels a life of power and exploits.\n\nA bondservant surrenders. Witchcraft refuses surrender. A bondservant submits to authority. Witchcraft lusts for quick power and dominance. A bondservant is disciplined. A witch is unbridled. A bondservant is humble. A witch is arrogant and boastful. A bondservant lives to please the master. A witch lives to serve and please self.\n\nWitchcraft is self-focused, self-promoting, self-serving, and self-pleasing. Jezebel is a witch.\n\nThe book of Leviticus tells of Nadab and Abihu, who were sons of Aaron and therefore priests.\n\nNow Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He did not command them to do. Then a fire came out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, \"This is what the LORD spoke, saying: 'I will be sanctified by those who come near Me; and before all the people I will be glorified.'\" And Aaron held his peace.\n\n\u2014LEVITICUS 10:1\u20133\n\nThe priests were struck dead for playing with strange fire. This is a picture of the power of witchcraft being judged by God. Witchcraft operates in the realm of strange fire. Witchcraft taps into spiritual dimensions that are not holy. Priests are called to be holy\u2014separated and set apart.\n\nI have had several alarming examples of the Jezebel spirit and strange fire. Not long ago I traveled to another nation to preach. While standing on the platform, I was suddenly swept up into the realm of heavenly vision. I saw witchcraft intermingling with the prophetic. I saw prophets being seduced by the spirit of witchcraft. I began to say what I saw and to intercede for that nation.\n\nAfter the meeting, I was eating in the back room with a prophet who shared startling confirmation of what I had seen. He told me about a group of prophets who had sold themselves to the powers of the enemy for fame, money, and power. They were preaching in large meetings, with masses of people coming to see them. They had detailed information from the realm of the spirit, but they had obtained it through illegal access.\n\nThis is an imperative prophetic truth! The motive behind a word is as critical in discerning it as the content of the word itself. You must listen with wisdom when prophetic things are declared. Jezebel spirits will use flattering words to gain access to people. If a person gives himself over strongly enough to false fire, he can tap into information. He receives communication from the spirit realm and knows things, but it is the communication of devils and cannot produce life or reveal the heart of God. If you listen to the word and discern the motive, you can identify that it is strange fire.\n\nI had a very interesting encounter with a witch some time ago. The woman started coming to our church, telling people she was very prophetic. She tried her best to gain access to me. She was very nice, but I had a subtle check. It was not a big check, just something down deep on the inside that did not feel right. She began to pursue a member of my family. She did nice things, volunteered, helped, and gave gifts. She shared little words of encouragement that were accurate and got the attention of my family member.\n\nI was riding in the car with my wife one day, and we were having a conversation about our future and possible ministry assignments. We were talking details, places, times, etc. Within moments this person messaged someone in my family and attempted to prophesy about our conversation. She knew some of the things we had discussed. That could easily have been a prophetic operation if the mind and the character of the Lord were in it, but in this case they weren't. I believe demons relayed the information.\n\nAs time unfolded, the Lord made it very clear to me that we were dealing with a witch who was trying to infiltrate our prophetic circle. One night I lay in bed deeply grieved. The Lord began to speak to me about the person and her past. He told me what to look up and even gave me instructions to research the person's background online. In twenty-four hours, based on the word of the Lord, massive corruption was uncovered. The Lord divinely enlightened me and protected me from lying powers of witchcraft.\n\nThis is why discerning the spirits is so important. Strange fire has spiritual power, manifestation, and even information, but it is not holy. The heart of God is not in it. The character of God is not in it. Anytime someone appears very powerful in the realm of the spirit but is dishonest, is greedy, has poor family relationships, or has a bad track record, you must be cautious. I fear that often strange fire manifests, deceiving God's people to unloose evil plans against them.\n\nI do not write this to put fear in you but to arm you for battle and effectively equip you. There is no time to be distracted or delayed. Strange fire works through Jezebel, releasing false prophetic utterances and unholy encounters. We must rightly identify and avoid these spirits and their agendas.\n\nYears ago I was asked to be part of a business opportunity. It sounded like a dream come true. One of the people involved was highly skilled in this arena. There was just one problem: something deep inside me was unsettled. After wrestling with this but not having any confirmation on my hesitancy, I decided to override my concerns and go forward. I determined that my reservations were just my mind wavering. I announced my decision, and we were going forward.\n\nThat same night I was lying in bed and could not sleep. At about 12:30 a.m. my phone went off. A dear friend messaged me with an urgent request to speak to me. I knew that I needed to hear what my friend had to say. I felt compelled to get on the phone right then. When God speaks, you must obey, no matter how foolish or extreme it seems.\n\nI called my friend, who began to warn me about doing business with this person. Not only was there a horrible track record of deception, but there was also a history of manipulation and Jezebelian activity. Now all my concerns were validated, and I knew that I had heard from God. That night I reversed course and canceled the agreement. A warning saved me years of possible trouble.\n\nHow can you properly discern the Jezebel spirit, strange fire, witchcraft, or false prophetic ministry? There are a few pieces of advice I would give. Number one: examine the motive. Proverbs 4:23 warns us to guard our hearts. We are to purify our hearts, examine our motives, and allow Holy Spirit to search us and reveal any improper agenda.\n\nThe Jezebel spirit always has an agenda. There is a wrong motive behind every activity of Jezebel. One of the ways you can properly discern the Jezebel spirit is by examining motive. Another way is by examining fruit. Most of the encounters I have had with this spirit have been with people who have had a track record of sowing discord, dishonor, and bad character. We should look at the fruit in the life of a person who wants to speak into our lives.\n\nAlso examine the methodology. We will explore this deeper in the book. A Jezebel spirit does things in a sneaky way to avoid proper oversight because it is a rebellious spirit. A Jezebel spirit is a forceful rank breaker that regards no one but itself. It will dishonor leaders and breach protocol every time. Whenever these behaviors are rampant, there is a wrong spirit.\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Have you encountered someone with bad character or a bad track record trying to dominate you with prophetic words, leadings, etc., and had a concern? Don't override the check! It may save your life.\n\n\u00bb Jezebel goes after the prophetic. It tries to cut off the head. Pray over your own life. Pray over the lives of those you know who carry a prophetic anointing.\n\n\u00bb Are you keeping yourself in a surrendered lifestyle as a bondservant? This is a freedom key.\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Learn to examine motives. Recognize that the _why_ is as important as the _what_.\n\n\u00bb Be a person of integrity. Value character, not just gifting.\n\n\u00bb Beware of people who have no stability but always want to give a word to others.\n\n\u00bb Ministry flows from covenant and relationship. Ask the Lord for a covenant heart.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_I thank You, Lord, that I am not deceived. I hear Your voice and obey Your leading. I ask for clear discernment of any and all wrong relationships and motives coming into my life. I want to love and value Your bride. I want to be a person of mercy and grace. I do not want to accuse, attack, and criticize everyone, but I do want to walk in wisdom. Help me walk in wisdom and clear discernment. In Jesus's name, amen._\nChapter 4\n\nJEZEBEL'S SEDUCTION, SCHEMES, AND STRATEGIES\n\nEVERYTHING THAT SATAN does is a counterfeit. He cannot create anything and is powerless over the Most High God. In order to buffet the life of a believer who is hidden in Christ, he looks for an entry point. He and his minions continually study the lives of human beings, paying close attention to their words, actions, pain, and temptation. Demonic powers utilize human weakness to create entry points for domination and strongholds. It is the ambition of the kingdom of darkness to overthrow the plans of the kingdom of God. Nothing brings greater pleasure to the hounds of hell than tormenting God's people and interrupting heavenly plans.\n\nCOUNTERFEIT REALITIES\n\nOne of the most evident examples of an attempt by evil powers to interrupt kingdom plans is the spiritual battle the apostle Paul faced. Paul was converted through a dramatic encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road. He was launched into a series of supernatural experiences with the Lord that sent him forth into the calling on his life. This was not a simple conversion and release of a student into the ministry. This was a man supernaturally changed and carrying a mantle to help father the early church. His ministry was turning the known world upside down as the spirit of revival spread from place to place with bold preaching, in-depth teaching, radical miracles, signs, wonders, salvations, and Holy Ghost baptisms.\n\nThe mantle that Paul was carrying quickly became a target for the artillery of hell. Paul was spending countless hours praying in the spirit and receiving heavy revelation from God.\n\nPaul decreed in 1 Corinthians 14:18, \"I thank my God that I speak in tongues more than you all.\" As he spent time in prayer unraveling the mysteries of God, he was given foundational truths to be used as building blocks for the early church.\n\nBut I reveal to you, brothers, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, neither was I taught it, except by a revelation of Jesus Christ.\n\n\u2014GALATIANS 1:11\u201312\n\nPaul was carrying uncommon revelation and authority. His teaching was fueling the move of God because the truths were being captured directly from the heart and mind of God. This type of powerful ministry posed a significant threat to the plans of darkness. The enemy could not allow Paul's ministry to go unchallenged, so hell mobilized a counterattack.\n\nAnd lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, lest I be exalted above measure.\n\n\u20142 CORINTHIANS 12:7\n\nThere was a demonic entity assigned to the life of Paul to harass him and shut him down. There was a demon stalking him, creating havoc, struggle, and turmoil. This provides stunning clarity about spiritual warfare strategies. Let's examine a few foundational truths in order to more clearly comprehend satanic tactics.\n\nThings in the realm of the spirit are governed by laws. There is divine order in the kingdom of God. Nothing is done randomly or without authorization. God always has a clear-cut chain of command. He reveals this to us over and over in Scripture.\n\nThen God said, \"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.\" So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.\n\n\u2014GENESIS 1:26\u201327\n\nWhen God created mankind, He placed the inhabitants of the earth under the authority of His creation. Man had all power and dominion. The enemy had absolutely no authority whatsoever; that is why he had to persuade man to cooperate with his plans to breach authority and gain influence over mankind. Satan could do nothing without the willing cooperation of Adam and Eve. When they yielded to sin and disobeyed God, it changed the order in the earth.\n\nAnd to Adam He said, \"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground on account of you; in hard labor you will eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, because out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.\"\n\n\u2014GENESIS 3:17\u201319\n\nMan was put under a curse because of the unlawful activities of Adam and Eve. It would take a redemptive plan to restore the authority.\n\nSo it is written, \"The first man Adam was made a living soul.\" The last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.\n\n\u20141 CORINTHIANS 15:45\n\nKINGDOM GOVERNMENT\n\nJesus is called the second Adam. He was birthed to redeem, or to buy back, mankind and undo the curse of sin. He was of divine origin, as was the first Adam, yet a man living in a fleshly body and enduring temptation. He was the sacrifice for sin and the Lamb that was slain. He came to break the power of hell and reverse the curse.\n\nChrist has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us\u2014as it is written, \"Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree\"\u2014so that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.\n\n\u2014GALATIANS 3:13\u201314\n\nIn every area there is an authority structure. In our homes there is a godly order and chain of command.\n\nWives, be submissive to your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head and Savior of the church, which is His body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 5:22\u201325\n\nHusbands are commanded to love and cherish their wives. They are instructed to arise as spiritual leaders, providing prayer, protection, and godly direction in union with their wives. Children are admonished to obey the instructions of their parents.\n\nChildren, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. \"Honor your father and mother,\" which is the first commandment with a promise, \"so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.\"\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 6:1\u20133\n\nWe are encouraged to pray for those in authority over us.\n\nTherefore I exhort first of all that you make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone, for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty.\n\n\u20141 TIMOTHY 2:1\u20132\n\nIn the government of the kingdom of God there are established roles, responsibilities, and ranks. There is not a random placement of people but a strategic development of gifts, callings, and offices to lead and guide God's people. This point is further illustrated with the language used in this scripture:\n\nAnd God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.\n\n\u20141 CORINTHIANS 12:28, KJV\n\nThe word _set_ here means fixed, placed, or established. The Lord Himself places men and women in roles of divine leadership. When He establishes them in those roles, there is a measure of authority granted to fulfill the responsibility. There is also an anointing or divine enablement released upon their lives. Prophets are anointed to prophesy. Teachers are anointed to teach; it flows out of them with ease because they have been given a spiritual portion. With these ranks and responsibilities there comes a demand for character. All too often we witness the tragic fall of highly gifted men and women who had tremendous power but very poor fruit.\n\nAt the forefront of the government of God are two offices: the apostle and the prophet. This does not in any way mean that they are more valuable or important than any other office or gift. It simply means that they bear a greater responsibility and have a higher level of governing authority. To illustrate this point, the Bible says God set the apostle first (1 Cor. 12:28). The word _first_ here is the Greek word _pr\u014dton_ , meaning \"firstly (in time, place, order, or importance):\u2014before, at the beginning, chiefly (at, at the) first (of all).\" It is quite clear that the Bible is establishing rank. Apostles are like generals tasked with receiving and releasing revelation that pushes the body forward. They are given plans for regions, peoples, and nations. They are called to teach and clear up confusion in key areas. They are God's generals. Beside them are the prophets, great and dynamic spiritual forerunners who go out ahead in revelation, clearing the path for the people of God.\n\nGod works on the earth through His ekklesia, His ruling and governing people. He has a rank, authority, and structure. He releases divine revelation, powerful anointing, and angelic assistance to get the job done\u2014on earth as it is in heaven! This is the goal: to release the kingdom of God on earth, to release the authority of the risen Christ on earth, subduing and overwhelming the powers of hell. The Lord is mantling people who will fight against and overcome the powers of hell.\n\nSatan has a counterfeit government. He delegates various powers and strategies to his dark army.\n\nFor we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 6:12, KJV\n\n\u2022 **Principalities** are the highest-ranking ruling spirits assigned to territories, regions, nations, and people groups. The Greek word indicates the primary or highest authority. These demonic forces are given charge to bind and hold territories. We see a picture of this in the Old Testament in Daniel 10 concerning the prince of Persia, who is a ruling spirit. Principalities will come in direct conflict with apostles and apostolic ministry because they are also assigned to regions and peoples.\n\n\u2022 **Powers** are the second-highest-ranking spirits that carry a manifestation of supernatural power to enforce the plans of the principalities. They influence the thoughts and feelings of human beings, seeding the thought realm with demonic lies. They work hard to destroy kingdom order, rule, and reign. The meaning of the word _powers_ indicates supernatural force and manifestation. These spirits operate in heavy divination, false fire, counterfeit spiritual manifestation, and evil supernatural operations. Powers attempt to overthrow prophets and prophetic ministry.\n\n\u2022 **Rulers of darkness** release deception, false religion, and the occult. They work to bind the souls of men and women in foul deception. These demons sow the seeds of false belief systems, directly combatting the office of the teacher.\n\n\u2022 **Spiritual wickedness** releases lust for sin and depravity. Spiritual wickedness dwells in the high places, the airspace above the earth. Both angels and demons travel through a great highway known as the first and second heavens. If our spiritual eyes were opened, we would see the spiritual activity taking place in the heavens and all around us. These demonic beings mirror the evangelist, serving as the recruiting arm of the kingdom of darkness. These spirits use supernatural enticement to draw people in to dark plans and schemes. They draw people to darkness much as the evangelist draws people to the kingdom of God.\n\n\u2022 **Demons** are the foot soldiers in the kingdom of darkness, carrying out the plans of the ruling spirits. They are sent on assignment and vary in category depending on their particular purpose. Demons are continually on the move, implementing the plans of darkness and attempting to create bondage in the lives of human beings. Just as a pastor tends to the needs of individual people, so these demons tend to evil assignments against the lives of people.\n\nDEMONIC PARTNERSHIPS\n\nThe Jezebel spirit is a ruling spirit that partners with evil powers to manifest manipulation and witchcraft. One of the powers the Jezebel spirit employs is seduction. Wherever the Jezebel spirit is at work, there is seduction at hand. The word _seduce_ means \"to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty; to lead astray usually by persuasion or false promises; to carry out the physical seduction of.\" The Jezebel spirit comes with enticement to lure people away from ordained plans, purposes, and order. There are layers in the seduction strategy of Jezebel.\n\nIn her book _Jezebel's Puppets_ , Jennifer LeClaire wrote a plot summary for Jezebel: \"A wicked spirit that has roamed the earth for thousands of years seeking someone to entice into sin, Jezebel is more than the spirit of control and manipulation that many make it out to be. Jezebel is a spirit of seduction that works to woo people into immorality and idolatry\u2014but it doesn't work alone. With the help of Ahab, false prophets, and faithful servants, Jezebel has been sinking its seductive teeth into society for ages\u2014and has infiltrated the pulpit and the pews of the church. Since few see Jezebel for what it is, this spirit continues to secure the hearts and minds of those who claim Jesus as their first and true love. Will Jezebel ultimately lead the church into a great falling away, or will the church wake up to this perversion before it's too late?\"\n\nOne of the ways that Jezebel seduces people is by speaking to their ambitions. When a Jezebel spirit comes into a ministry, it will often work to entangle key leaders and people by speaking to their ambitions. It will prophesy to a key leader that he should really be the senior leader. It will speak to the wounds in the heart of a person and validate pain in order to gain access. It can also reveal certain hidden desires that seem to have been forgotten. It will speak accurately to those desires but from an unholy place to draw people away from their current assignments and entangle them in an evil agenda.\n\nThe spirit of Jezebel is a sexually impure spirit. The spirit of whoredom is one of Jezebel's defiled cohorts. The whoredom of Jezebel includes prostitution, fornication, adultery, and all manner of evil sexual sins. Much of the rampant sexual sin that we see in the world and in the church today is rooted in the seduction of Jezebel.\n\nAnd it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?\n\n\u20142 KINGS 9:22, KJV\n\nJezebel partnered with the prince of the power of the air to release constant bombardment of filthy entertainment devised to lower inhibitions and seduce people. At the heart of witchcraft and idol worship are impure sexual practices. The very act of sex itself creates a deep and lasting bond in the participants' hearts, and even an emotional or mental affair can cause irreparable damage to a marriage.\n\nYou have heard that it was said by the ancients, \"You shall not commit adultery.\" But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 5:27\u201328\n\nThere is an emotional, soulish seduction that precedes a physical act. The seduction of Jezebel will always begin in the mind. In the arts and entertainment industry Jezebel has systematically lowered the resistance to sex and perversion for generations until almost anything goes now. As the web of seduction has been cast over minds, confusion and bondage have unfolded with devastating effects. I have personally prayed with countless young people who have been gravely addicted to pornography with easy access on their smartphones. It has been a progressive and evil plan intended to chip away biblical values and covenant relationships.\n\nThis whoredom spirit is not only a sexual issue but a covenant issue. Where you find the spirit of whoredom there is a breaking of vows, a lack of faithfulness, and self-serving behavior. Whoredom sells itself, its gift, its talent, for gain. It will quickly break a relationship for another opportunity. This spirit linked with Jezebel has defiled ministry relationships and aborted the concept of family in the kingdom.\n\nTHE PIT\n\nJezebel creates a deep and dark pit of sorrow as it seduces its victims and brings them into a place of defilement. In ministry this spirit lacks any kind of faithfulness and will cause people to jump from place to place with no root system. As they yield to this spirit, they will eventually wind up trapped in its pit.\n\nFor a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.\n\n\u2014PROVERBS 23:27\u201328, KJV\n\nOver the years, I have often seen a spirit of Jezebel come into a ministry that I was leading or the ministry of one of my friends with an agenda to disrupt and cause problems. I have prayed through and worked through deep and troubling challenges brought on by people with this spirit. When Jezebel comes into a church or ministry, it is sneaky and subtle, yet intensely wicked. Jezebel thrives where there is an Ahab type of leader who will overlook its cunning manipulation. People with Jezebel spirits are often highly gifted individuals who offer goods, services, finances, or assistance, but there is always a price to pay.\n\nSome years ago I took a small team with me to a powerful church where I was going to be preaching. I will never forget the encounter we had with a boisterous individual who attended that church. This person seemed unstable, had been married several times, and kept stalking the ministers. At the time, this person was focused on an determined to marry a powerful minister. That type of behavior in and of itself freaks me out!\n\nI was at this church for a series of meetings, and the person of whom I am speaking kept finding a way into the back room, into conversations, into events. This individual's presence became increasingly uncomfortable. Finally one of my team members pulled me aside to ask me if I had observed these behaviors. Of course I said yes, and we both agreed that it was a spirit of Jezebel. This individual kept trying to gain access to me, offering gifts, money, etc., but I discerned the motive and wanted no part of it.\n\nFinally my team and I asked the leaders of the church if they had discerned the spirit. To our amazement, they said yes but indicated they were afraid to deal with it. You could have knocked me over with a feather, I was so shocked! They knew that there was a Jezebel spirit slithering and maneuvering in their midst, yet they had determined to allow it? Why? The answer is simple. They recognized the severity of the manifestation if they confronted it.\n\nI have seen entire ministries destroyed by retaliation from a Jezebel spirit. It is imperative that you not allow that to bring fear but simply arm yourself with the wisdom of God. If you pick a fight with a demon, you need to be ready. It is not something that you just casually do. It takes authority, strategy, and wisdom to win the war.\n\nTHREE PHASES OF THE JEZEBEL SPIRIT\n\nI believe that every spirit of Jezebel that enters a ministry will go through three phases. I have developed this teaching through the years to help equip church and ministry leaders when discerning and confronting this manipulative spirit.\n\n1. Entry\n\nJezebel looks for vulnerable people to influence and disciple. In a church it will search out the weak, the hurting, those who can be manipulated through prophetic words. In a family or relational setting it will arrive looking to gain avenues of influence.\n\nIn ministries Jezebel will begin a network of gossip with secret \"prayer\" calls and conversations, laying the groundwork for a future rebellion. It keeps these contacts hidden beneath the cover of darkness to avoid exposure.\n\nIt attempts to infiltrate any and all prayer and prophetic ministries. It will attempt to join the intercession team and become a part of the prophetic team.\n\nIt uses flattery. In a ministry it will flatter the leader with big compliments and grandiose spiritual pronouncements. In family and relationships it will offer self-serving commitments to gain favor with the intended target(s).\n\nIt will babysit the leader's kids, wash the cars, run errands, and give gifts. A Jezebel spirit will release funds, offer money, and lavish gifts on a person, people, or leaders, all in an attempt to gain influence. This spirit lusts for power!\n\nIt boasts of revelation. It will reveal how spiritual it is\u2014how much the person fasts, prays, and seeks God. It will exalt itself in the realm of spirituality far above others. This is a conquer strategy.\n\nIt searches for a position and always has a hidden agenda.\n\n2. Exposure\n\nThis is the messy phase of the Jezebel ordeal. In a church or ministry, this phase is critical.\n\nAfter many hidden schemes, the behaviors of a Jezebel spirit begin to unravel, and those involved start to see the problem at hand. Once this spirit recognizes it is at risk of being exposed, it will work overtime to rally allies. In a church or ministry it will try to build a coalition of people to stand with it. In a family struggle it will pit one member against the other.\n\nIt will boldly state that the ministry or church leaders are not spiritual enough and do not accurately hear from God. It will say that God is not pleased with the ministry and make wicked pronouncements over a place.\n\nThis spirit then exerts strong control and emotional manipulation over followers, demanding loyalty. In a family it will create a split, and in a ministry it will quickly build a coalition of offended, weak people to stand with it. It will prophesy to their wounds and gain their loyalty.\n\nWhen the demand for submission comes from a leader, Jezebel will boldly and unashamedly refuse to submit. This spirit is a foul, rank-breaking demon that recognizes no authority and exists to tear down godly structure and rank.\n\n3. Confrontation\n\nWhen the confrontation happens, the person with the Jezebel spirit will voice opposition and stand firm in a position of independence. The Jezebel spirit will not bow to any type of leader.\n\nPeople with the Jezebel spirit will boldly declare that God is on their side. This is all part of the deception. Even though people with the Jezebel spirit are acting in direct contradiction to the Word of God, Jezebel will not bend. It does not recognize the authority of the Word of God and will twist Scripture to justify its case.\n\nThis spirit will display huge emotional outbursts and tantrums to disrupt and distract. Every time I have ever encountered a Jezebel spirit in operation, I have witnessed a strong measure of emotional manipulation. This will manifest through tears, anger, sorrow, and blame shifting. The Jezebel spirit will attempt to place guilt on the one who is righteous and get the attention off itself.\n\nThe end result is an intense power struggle. In a church or ministry there must be a choice: either the people will follow the senior leader or they will not. Jezebel and the leader cannot peacefully coexist, as it is the mission of this spirit to destroy the leader. This is the harsh reality. There will be a showdown, and the people must make a choice. This is where strong prophetic ministry is vital. The prophets can expose what is happening and empower the people to see it from a spiritual rather than an emotional standpoint.\n\nIn a family or relationship the process is much the same. Choices have to be made. Will people allow and tolerate the maneuvering of Jezebel? Lines must be drawn. Humble repentance needs to take place to bring deliverance and freedom.\n\nWhen a person with a Jezebel spirit is forced out of a church or ministry, he or she will let loose the powers of witchcraft on the way out. The Jezebel spirit will release a multitude of curses, creating confusion and a demonic swirl that must be broken with strong prayer and authority. This spirit will often attempt to reach back into a church and snatch people out with manipulation and accusation.\n\nThose who are not strong in the spirit can easily get sucked in to Jezebel's witchcraft with misplaced sympathy. They can easily watch the tantrums and feel that there has been a lack of compassion. Compassion is one of the most powerful forces in the world, but it must be properly placed. Demons will latch on to compassion and use it as a means to stay. Jezebel wants to take over! It does not just want a piece; it wants the entire cake. This is the harsh reality, but it must be recognized.\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Have you experienced emotional manipulation from the Jezebel spirit?\n\n\u00bb Do you know someone who exhibits these characteristics?\n\n\u00bb Launching out in a confrontation without prayer and wisdom can lead to utter chaos!\n\n\u00bb The place to begin is prayer. Ask the Lord for insight, strength, and wisdom.\n\n\u00bb Demons only respond to firm faith and authority.\n\n\u00bb As a leader, have you been confronted by the operation of a Jezebel spirit on some level? Have you experienced its seduction drawing you away from kingdom purposes?\n\n\u00bb You must never allow this spirit to continue to maneuver in your midst.\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb First review some of the symptoms listed in this chapter.\n\n\u00bb Ask Holy Spirit to shine His light on your own heart. Proper self-examination is key.\n\n\u00bb Pray for greater discerning of spirits and wisdom in relationships.\n\n\u00bb Recognize the reality of the spirit realm and its impact on your life.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_Father, I come before You seeking purity. I do not want my life mixed with any impure spiritual influence. Search my heart and reveal anything that is impure. I ask that You guide me in my family, in my private life, and in my kingdom calling. Make me aware of any seducing powers of Jezebel. I come against those powers in Jesus's name and forbid their operation in my life. I claim purity over my life, and I claim wisdom and discernment. In Jesus's name, amen._\nChapter 5\n\nCASTING DOWN THE DEMON QUEEN JEZEBEL\n\nJEZEBEL IS FOUND as a character in the Old Testament. She was used to defile God's people, tear down the altars of God, release demonic Baal worship, engage in seduction, destroy the prophetic ministry in the land, and pollute the kingdom. She was a demon-possessed witch masquerading as a prophet. She was no true prophet but one who carried strange fire and evil utterances.\n\nCONQUEST BRINGS CONTAMINATION\n\nAhab the son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the LORD than all who were before him. The sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat were seen as minor for him to walk in, for he took Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, as his wife and went and served Baal and worshipped him. He raised an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. Ahab made an Asherah and did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who preceded him.\n\n\u20141 KINGS 16:30\u201333\n\nIt is impossible to fully grasp the depth of evil that took place during the reign of Ahab without proper inspection of the history of Jezebel. She was a false prophetess of the demon god Baal. She operated in powerful seduction to accomplish her will and the will of Baal. Her alignment with Ahab sent the nation into a downward spiral of wickedness and idolatry.\n\nWhen Ahab came into covenant with Jezebel, he bowed to Baal. Not only did he surrender his life to false gods, but he also connected Israel to demonic idolatry. Jezebel was an instrument of the enemy used to defile God's people and corrupt the kingdom. This picture gives us insight into the plots this spirit launches today. It is a perverse spirit of domination that works to open up gateways for demonic activity to overthrow godly plans, families, ministries, and people. Jezebel is an overthrow spirit that works to overcome and subdue people for destructive purposes. An alliance with this spirit is the entry point of disaster!\n\n_Jezebel_ means \"unmarried; un-husbanded or un-exalted; without dwelling or cohabitation.\" This is a picture of a defiled woman who carries strong evil spirits and lacks any capacity for covenant relationship. What type of man would enter into a relationship with this woman? Jezebel was literally Jeze-baal\u2014an ambassador and servant of the god Baal, who stood in direct opposition to Yahweh. Ahab had no business marrying this woman and forming a covenant with a covenant breaker.\n\nThe Jezebel spirit neither honors nor recognizes covenant. When this spirit operates in families, it manipulates and forms alliances to fulfill its own evil agenda. When this spirit operates in ministries, it totally disregards authority, honor, and relationship to pursue its own desires. It disguises its ambition in terminology using the name of the Lord. It is totally deceptive and demon-inspired. It is a rank-breaking devil that abhors authority and refuses any type of biblical submission. Jezebel has no regard for loyalty and typically has a long track record of bad relationships.\n\nThe Jezebel spirit cannot and will not operate without the permission of an Ahab. Jezebel will always test the strength of a leader, pushing the boundaries. In the church world those with a Jezebel spirit will hop from place to place, leaving a long wake of destruction and deception behind. It is crucial that kingdom leaders inspect fruit and know the track record of a new leader before positioning him or her in power. When you place a person with a Jezebel spirit in a position of authority, you will live to regret it; this spirit will create confusion, calamity, and demonic disruption in pursuit of its own will. Those with a Jezebel spirit may act as if they are listening, but they will not accept your instruction or correction.\n\nHEED THE WARNINGS\n\nNot only does the spirit of Jezebel employ seduction and sexual deviancy, but it also opens the door for spirits of infirmity and catastrophic illness.\n\nLook! I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.\n\n\u2014REVELATION 2:22\n\nAt the end of a person's journey with the Jezebel spirit there is extensive sickness. I have tragically seen this happen twice in my life. The Lord will gracefully woo people over and over again to repentance. He will repeatedly send prophetic warnings, but they must heed the warnings, humble themselves, cut all affiliation with Jezebel, and truly repent, which means to completely change their thinking. Controlling personalities must dramatically change their methods of operation and thought patterns. They must undo years of learned behavior and get emotional healing along with spiritual deliverance. Cast out, reform, rethink, renew, and undo the yoke of evil spirits!\n\nSome time ago I encountered a powerful minister who had a personality that could capture the attention of anyone. This leader could persuade you to do anything. When this person's skills were put to good use, it was like an iron in the hand of the Lord. People were forever changed. This minister took joy in pouring into people hungry for training and development in their call, and in the hands of the Lord this was a powerful gift! As I got up close, though, I also saw something else, a dark underside.\n\nWhen a person did not do what this minister wanted, the minister would lash out with accusations and attacks. I had heard this person call other pastors to defame some traveling ministers because they did not do what the leader desired. The strength that I saw used in a good way was also used in a toxic capacity. As time passed, it seemed as though no one would stand up to this bullying behavior, so it went unchecked, and increased. The Jezebel spirit was running rampant with no accountability or repentance.\n\nThis minister was caught in lies on many occasions. These deceptions were tools used to manipulate the outcomes of situations to get the minister's own way. At first the lies were in private, but eventually they became bolder. Public messages were filled with deception. Stories that never happened in the person's life were made up. Struggles that were current were claimed as victories that had already been won. As Jezebel gained a stronghold, the behavior spiraled out of control. Lives were destroyed, people were broken, and hearts were wounded. This pattern of bondage would eventually create a choke hold, stifling the anointing and destroying a once-vibrant ministry. It would eventually end in ruin. Watching it from a distance was like watching a tragic play unfold, but there was little anyone could do because the Jezebel spirit had its claws deeply embedded.\n\nThis person would turn and twist facts to achieve the desired outcome. As time went by, deep paranoia and loneliness set in. Jezebel isolated the minister and created a deep well of distrust of people. Instead of love, there was bitterness. What had been a vibrant and powerful personality became weak, mean, and bitter. Occasionally you would catch a glimpse of the old flame, but it was increasingly buried deep beneath a hard exterior shell. Close personal relationships were in shambles as the Jezebel spirit grew in strength in the life of this person. God sent countless people with the mercy and compassion of the Lord to call for repentance, yet these calls went unheeded, viewed as a breach of authority. There is a lesson here: no matter who we are or what position we hold, we are all accountable on some level and need the input, oversight, and correction of godly leaders. Removing this counsel and creating a team of yes-men creates a breeding ground for the Jezebel spirit.\n\nThe story turned tragic as the minister fell prey to a series of illnesses. Eventually a final blow claimed the life of this once-powerful servant of God. This individual died filled with wounds, paranoia, and bitterness. This is the intended outcome of the evil powers of Jezebel. It wants to strip the anointing, the life, the zeal, and the purpose out of God's people. It wants to overwhelm and conquer. If allowed, Jezebel will lead a person to a bed of affliction. I am certainly not saying that all illness comes from this\u2014there are also physical issues and attacks from the enemy. But it is a reality that Jezebel will lead a person to a sickbed.\n\nDON'T BECOME AN AHAB\n\nI was leading a young ministry when a man came to me to share his story of deep marital problems. This man carried such a sweet presence of the Lord. He was compassionate, sincere, and kind. He began to tell me the story of recent troubles with his wife.\n\nThis man told me that his wife had become enamored with a woman claiming to be a prophet and would not make any decision without her counsel. His wife was spending most of their money on lengthy phone conversations and then giving what was left to the woman. (This was a number of years ago, before the technology we have now, when cell phones charged for long distance and we paid by the minute.) His wife ignored his repeated warnings, refusing to submit to his instructions.\n\nAs he shared this story, my stomach began to turn, and I could feel the powers of evil attacking his family. I strongly and firmly warned him that this was not a prophet but a Jezebel spirit. I pointed out scriptures about marriage and how this spirit was ignoring the Word of God. Anything prophetic that disregards the Word is a demon spirit! I told him that he needed to stand firm, cut off the money for the phone calls, and put an end to this. I told him that I would meet with him and his wife to minister deliverance to her and break the powers of Jezebel.\n\nHe agreed with what I was saying, but there was an issue\u2014he didn't have the strength. As I talked with him, I could see that he was indeed a man like Ahab, lacking the backbone to stand up to this demonic power. Authority is always required to break the grip of demon spirits and get them out. Jezebel is the same! You cannot be nice and passive with a Jezebel spirit. It is a vile demonic power sent to abort destinies and destroy lives. You must see it, confront it, and remove it. A leader who allows Jezebel to stay in position is guilty of its sins. This man could not and would not operate in his authority. Instead, he allowed the situation to continue.\n\nHis wife talked him into cutting ties with our ministry because she recognized that I would not tolerate the Jezebel spirit. Years later I received devastating news. I was told the wife ended up in a sickbed and eventually died. She had drained all of their money, and their lives ended in disaster, all because of the sinister plot of Jezebel.\n\nAhab becomes a gateway for the operation of the Jezebel spirit. Jezebel, who married King Ahab, was the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. His very name demonstrates deep-rooted idol worship. His name means \"a man of Baal.\" He was a high priest of the Canaanite fertility goddess Astarte. Many scholars agree that Astarte and the Babylonian goddess Ishtar are the same idol. Both Astarte and Ishtar were revered as fertility goddesses. They were associated with fertility, life, and sensuality.\n\nJezebel was raised from childhood to be a servant of demon gods. She was a loyal ally of Baal, determined to represent and worship him, along with the goddess of fertility, wherever she went, including the land of Yahweh's people. She could only do this with the submission of a wicked king who yielded to her seductive powers.\n\nIn his landmark book _Unmasking the Jezebel Spirit_ , John Paul Jackson writes:\n\nA spirit of Ahab symbolizes the abdication of authority, or at the very least, passive authority. It bespeaks of a mind-set that avoids confrontation and denies fault. The spirit of Ahab loves the position it has and fears confrontation. Someone with an Ahab spirit would rather make peace at any cost, even if it leads to making an unholy alliance.\n\nAn individual under the influence of an Ahab spirit often makes truces instead of covenants, thus prostituting rather than sanctifying relationships. But how can you have a truce with someone whose goal is to destroy you? It is impossible! Nonetheless, an Ahab spirit will always sacrifice the future good for the sake of peace today.\n\nWorking in tandem, the spirits of Ahab and Jezebel will quietly form a codependent relationship. Both will need and feed off the other in order to accomplish each one's goals. A pastor who is influenced by an Ahab spirit will need the help of someone influenced by a Jezebel spirit to maintain position and enlarge or entrench a powerbase.\n\nUNHOLY ALLIANCES\n\nThe kingdom of Israel was sent into a time of great trial by the unholy alliance of Ahab and Jezebel. They defiled the ways of Yahweh, exalted the altar of Baal, and permitted the unholy to take dominance. Jezebel instituted the building of stone idols atop all the high places and even in the holy Temple. She was a harlot and a witch, according to 2 Kings 9:22.\n\nStrong, life-giving churches are built upon two dominant anointings: the apostolic and the prophetic.\n\nNow, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 2:19\u201320\n\nAs the early church was advancing with rapid success, it was the apostles who were at the forefront. The apostolic gift is a strong, bold gift! The word _apostle_ means \"sent one.\" Apostles are sent to places and to people with a divine commission. They are governors who rule with supernatural wisdom, strength, and authority. They teach and train people to redeem and rebuild the mighty works of God. They activate gifts, callings, and destinies. They do not build comfortable places of rest but active centers of kingdom activity and training.\n\nThe apostolic spirit is one of strength and power. When apostles preach, they challenge the demonic powers and push back the darkness. They are not content to just leave things as they are. They are mantled to shake things up! They make demonic powers nervous. Now, there are some who falsely teach that there are no modern-day apostles. This is in error, as the book of Ephesians makes no distinction when it identifies the five ministry offices:\n\nHe gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, and for the building up of the body of Christ.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 4:11\u201312\n\nThe work of equipping is ongoing. It is not finished. People are being called, trained, appointed, and released today. The kingdom is growing and expanding even now. Apostles were listed first in 1 Corinthians 12:28. They were sent in as generals to lead the body into heavenly battle plans and prevail over the powers of hell. There were twelve original apostles of the Lamb who hold a unique place in the history of the church and the heavens. They are irreplaceable. Yet the office and calling of apostles continued after the original twelve and is still alive and active today, leading the mighty army of God.\n\nThe church also desperately needs prophets and prophetic ministry. It is absolutely impossible to obtain the victory without prophetic ministry. These two anointings work together to unlock kingdom plans and purposes. Prophets see in high definition. They are lifted high into heavenly places to see coming attacks, to warn, to unravel mysteries, and to be exposed to huge dreams in the heart of God for His kids. They shine bright light on the pathway for the people of God. Prophets confirm and affirm. They speak God's plans and His heart over people's lives, connecting them to eternal purposes. When prophetic ministry is functioning in a strong and healthy capacity, it creates such a life-giving flow of heaven on earth.\n\nSurely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His purpose to His servants the prophets.\n\n\u2014AMOS 3:7\n\nProphets have one of the most special invitations of all\u2014to share in the secrets of the Lord. I love to ponder Amos 3:7 because it takes me back to childhood. I can remember the game where a friend would whisper in my ear, and then I would share that same secret to another, and we'd laugh and laugh. You could not hear the secret unless you were close! Prophets and prophetic ministry require intimacy. As we live close to the Father, we are invited to explore all the vast chambers of His wonderful imagination and its immeasurable creativity. We are also invited to explore the depths of His vibrant, rich, and compassionate heart of love. Prophets ultimately reveal the heart, the mind, and the dreams of God to His people. Prophets are revealers!\n\nThese two gifts, along with the other wonderful gifts of God, powerfully equip the church to inherit the position that Jesus paid for: rulership.\n\nFor if by one man's trespass death reigned through him, then how much more will those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.\n\n\u2014ROMANS 5:17\n\nStrong churches, strong ministries, and strong believers enforce the reign of Christ. They use the authority that Jesus granted and stand boldly upon the promises of God. They do not shrink back when the enemy rears his head. It takes people who know who they are in the spirit to conquer the operations of the enemy.\n\nApostles and apostolic ministries guard the gates. They do not allow demonic powers to keep their hold on people, places, or regions. They march forth with a strong word from God and an authority in the Spirit. The demons in the early church era knew who the apostles were because they were constantly dismantling their structures and kicking them out.\n\nThe evil spirit answered, \"I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?\"\n\n\u2014ACTS 19:15\n\nThis demon knew Paul because he was terrorizing the courts of hell. Paul was training believers to cast out demons. Paul was teaching people the truth. Paul was leading an advancing army that was arising and standing against the plans of darkness. Modern-day apostles pose a great threat to the kingdom of darkness. Regions cannot and will not be changed without spiritual warfare. There is a struggle for which kingdom will prevail, and many ministries give up before the victory comes. They need a strong apostolic anointing to push them over the top.\n\nDON'T RUN AND DON'T HIDE\n\nProphets are an enemy to the Jezebel spirit. One of the primary functions of the Jezebel spirit is a false prophetic ministry. During the reign of Ahab, Jezebel murdered prophets of the Lord, released tremendous intimidation, and had the remaining prophets hiding in a cave.\n\nTrue prophets know how to see in the dark. They have night vision. They can discern what is going on beneath cover. They see Jezebel lurking beneath a polished exterior. When the Jezebel spirit encounters a true prophet or prophetic voice, it will unload warfare.\n\nOne of the most vivid examples of the attack of Jezebel against the prophetic is the plight of Elijah when she released a demonic word curse over him.\n\nAnd Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, \"So let the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.\"\n\nWhen he saw that she was serious, he arose and ran for his life to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked that he might die, saying, \"It is enough! Now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.\"\n\nAs he lay and slept under the juniper tree, an angel touched him and said to him, \"Arise and eat.\" He looked, and there was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water at his head. And he ate and drank and then lay down again.\n\nThe angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, \"Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.\" He arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.\n\n\u20141 KINGS 19:1\u20138\n\nElijah stood atop the mountain, challenging all the false prophets of Baal, and God answered with supernatural fire. In a single act of uncommon bravery, he openly exposed the corruption of Jezebel. Her prophets were killed as a result of his victory that day. But the witch was not about to go away quietly. The prophet had prevailed over her kingdom, and she was going to counterpunch him. This is symptomatic of the Jezebel spirit; it fights the prophetic anointing tooth and nail. If exposure comes forth, it will hurl a flurry of demonic word curses and intimidating accusations. It wants to send the prophets fleeing for their very lives.\n\nJezebel sent a vile and corrupt message to the servant of God. She wasn't even there, but someone else carried her contaminated words upon his lips. Jezebel always works through messengers. This spirit will build demonic networks inside of ministries, teams, families, and organizations. It will seduce, lie, and intimidate to create its coalition, and then conspire with its team to overthrow true prophetic anointing.\n\nWhen the utterance was released, Elijah was sent into an abnormal tailspin. He sank deep into a pit of depression. This was an absolutely shocking transformation. He went from a fearless warrior of Yahweh to a broken and intimidated man. What could have changed so suddenly? There were a couple of factors at work.\n\nFirst, he had just come from one of the most intense moments of ministry in his entire life. People often do not realize the toll that extreme times of outpouring can take on the body. When the raw and powerful anointing of God pours through people, they can feel zapped in their minds and bodies afterward. This is why protection in prayer and the right people surrounding a man or woman of God are vital. I believe Elijah was unusually susceptible to a spiritual attack because every part of his being was absolutely drained as he had warred with his mind, body, and spirit being lifted into the heavenlies and crushing the throne of darkness. Jezebel sent her message at the most opportune time for her. This spirit will come when it finds people at their most vulnerable.\n\nSecond, I believe Elijah allowed the power of Jezebel's words to overtake him by giving them consideration. The Bible says that \"he saw\" that she was serious. Her witchcraft opened up evil imaginations, and he did not cast them down. He could see himself being slaughtered. He could see himself being captured. He then ran for his life.\n\nIn a moment he was sent packing! This is what Jezebel wants\u2014to plant evil seeds of corruption and defeat in the minds of prophets. This spirit works through curses in an attempt to shut down the prophetic. It is key that we stand in opposition by the authority of the name of Jesus and the power of almighty God. There is no place for fear in the heart of a warrior who has been authorized by the mighty King Jesus! Jezebel is no match for the blood of Jesus.\n\nThe Lord sent angelic assistance to minister to Elijah and bring him out of the deep slumber of attack. Jezebel wanted to mute his senses and zap his strength. Prophets are fierce warriors who are wired with a high regard for justice. They tend to see things as right or wrong and refuse to compromise. They are one of the greatest threats to this foul spirit. That is why it will fight them tooth and nail.\n\nFEAR NOT\n\nIt is critical that we realize there is no room for fear or defeat in the kingdom of God. We have been granted all power and authority through the name of Jesus! We are never to shrink back from the enemies of the Lord. We are to get wisdom and strategy to dismantle both the kingdom and powers of hell. Fear not, for the Lord God Almighty fights for you and with you!\n\nDo not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, yes, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.\n\n\u2014ISAIAH 41:10\n\nLook, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you.\n\n\u2014LUKE 10:19\n\nWhile Jezebel is one of the nastiest spirits you will ever encounter, it is vital that you maintain a kingdom perspective on the authority that God has given you. We are to study and discern demons, not to be afraid of them but to be empowered to conquer them. \"For we are not ignorant of [Satan's] devices\" (2 Cor. 2:11).\n\nWe are always to fight these spiritual battles from a position of faith, wisdom, and authority. Faith is empowered by focusing more on the answer than on the current problem. Yes, we know there is an attack, and yes, we know where it is coming from. But we also know where we stand with God. We have the answers. We boldly stand upon the Word of God, unafraid. It is imperative that you keep your mind planted in the Word of God. Don't be moved by Jezebel's evil report. Don't give in to the cloud of confusion that you may be feeling. It all has to bow!\n\nWISDOM IS DERIVED BY TWO METHODS\n\nThere are two methods for gaining wisdom. First, wisdom comes from study. Second Timothy 2:15 says, \"Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.\" Becoming a student of God's Word is vital for successful kingdom living. You have to know what God says about you, your current situation, and the intended outcome.\n\nSecond, wisdom comes from intimate relationship and encounter with God.\n\nThe Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.\n\n\u2014ISAIAH 11:2\n\nThe Holy Spirit provides wisdom, counsel, understanding, and ability. You cannot spend time with Holy Spirit and not get insight! He is the Spirit of wisdom. Wisdom unlocks strategy. Strategy is the how-to. You know where you are to go, but you must have a strategy for how to get there. Spiritual warfare demands wise strategy.\n\nOr what king, going to wage war against another king, does not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?\n\n\u2014LUKE 14:31\n\nPeople are often ignorant concerning spiritual warfare. They pick fights without a solid battle plan and end up sidelined by defeat and discouragement. Apostolic people are strategic people. They pray strategic prayers, they implement strategic plans, and they embark on strategic journeys.\n\nYou fight by enforcing your authority. Jesus won it all. You are boxing in a match that is fixed. You have been granted the ultimate legal jurisdiction over the enemy. The key is to war from the heavenlies and the place of your authority, not on an equal plane. That is the lie of the enemy, trying to call you down from heavenly places and get you stuck and vulnerable.\n\nThen Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, \"Prepare yourself. Take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in and make him rise from among his brothers, and bring him into an inner chamber. Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, 'Thus says the LORD: I have anointed you king over Israel.' Then open the door and flee. Do not wait.\"\n\nSo the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, the commanders of the army were sitting, and he said, \"I have a word for you, Commander.\"\n\nJehu said, \"Which one of us?\"\n\nAnd he said, \"For you, Commander.\"\n\nSo he arose, went into the house, poured the oil on his head, and said to him, \"Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: I am anointing you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. You will strike the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD from the hand of Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both imprisoned and free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. Dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one will bury her.\" Then he opened the door and fled.\n\n\u20142 KINGS 9:1\u201310\n\nThe word of the Lord came forth powerfully that Jezebel's rule was over. She had resisted God's plan, defiled God's people, and withstood all prophetic correction. She would be killed and consumed by the dogs. Her end would be as violent as her evil reign.\n\nBORN FOR WAR\n\nProphets and prophetic people are born for war. They are bold, radical, spiritual warriors who see the attacks of the enemy but also see the power that is available for God's people. They do not back down from a fight. Jezebel reigned through terror, witchcraft, seduction, and intimidation, but God's prophet spoke her death sentence. The time was at hand for a deliverance in the kingdom, and her evil witchcraft could not stop it.\n\nJehu heard the word of the Lord and arose. He got in his chariot and went out for war. He was empowered by the directive of the Almighty. He did not sit in fear, wondering what would happen. What we need in this hour is a Jehu anointing! We need people to arise with the spirit that Jehu had upon him to break demon powers. It takes the spirit of Elijah to expose Jezebel but a Jehu anointing to break the spell. I pray that God raises up Jehus in ministries, in families, in regions, and in nations. May the holy boldness of the Lord be released, and may a supernatural anointing for victorious warfare be poured out upon God's people in this time!\n\nJehu armed himself for battle. He had the spirit of might upon him as he tapped into the justice of the Lord. We need a mantle of justice on our lives that becomes offended by the trespassing and meddling of Jezebel. We need a boldness to say enough is enough! We must get firm with the powers of hell and say NO to witchcraft over our families, NO to demonic forces in our ministries, and NO to devilish confusion over our minds. A Jehu anointing causes you to rise up in holy boldness and deal with the devil.\n\nThe spirit of Elijah recognized, exposed, and confronted Jezebel, but it was Jehu who defeated the witch. The Elijah anointing empowers us to see and expose Jezebel, but we must not stop there. We need the strength, boldness, and power of Jehu to rid our lives of this foul demon.\n\nWhen Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it. She put black paint on her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down through the window. As Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, \"Is everything all right, Zimri, murderer of his master?\"\n\nAnd he lifted up his face toward the window and said, \"Who is on my side? Who?\" And two or three eunuchs looked down to him. He said, \"Drop her down.\" So they dropped her down and some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses. Then he trampled her.\n\nThen he entered, ate and drank, and said, \"Attend to that cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter.\" So they went to bury her, but they found nothing of her except a skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands. They returned and told Jehu, and he said, \"This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'On the property of Jezreel dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel. The corpse of Jezebel will be like dung in the field on the property of Jezreel, so that they cannot say, This is Jezebel.'\"\n\n\u20142 KINGS 9:30\u201337\n\nJezebel attempted one last seduction. She looked out through the window, having painted her eyes and adorned her head. She was hoping to use her seductive powers to escape her execution. Jehu was not entangled in Jezebel's erotic enchantment; instead, he was armed with the word of the Lord and a righteous cause. The Jehu anointing is unafraid of the powers of Jezebel. It is angered by the presence of unholy seduction and offended by bold manipulation.\n\nThe anointing upon Jehu brought the fear of the Lord. Those who served Jezebel were suddenly unafraid of her. Those around her who had been in her web of deceit were the very ones who would obey the command of Jehu to throw her down. People often put up with witchcraft and bondage despite repeated warnings from the Lord. They need the bold mantle of Jehu to come and set them free. Jehu did not ask or plead; he demanded justice. \"Throw the witch down!\" That was his unwavering demand, and in a single moment the demon-possessed queen met her death. She was thrown down, trampled upon, and eaten by the dogs. She was defeated, and the power of her spell, broken.\n\nSTRATEGIES TO BREAK THE HOLD OF A JEZEBEL SPIRIT\n\n\u2022 **Discern.** Properly identifying this spirit empowers you to break free from it.\n\n\u2022 **Pray.** Warfare requires wisdom. Do not just immediately address it; you will come under counterattack and warfare. Allow the Lord to give you divine wisdom and insight.\n\n\u2022 **Establish godly boundaries of authority.** Don't be an Ahab! Jezebel pushes the boundaries, disrespecting all manner of authority. Everything in the kingdom has rank and order. It is a breach of biblical understanding to claim that Holy Spirit is against order and authority. Establish Spirit-led boundaries in your personal life, in your family, and in ministry. Do not be pushed outside of what the Lord has shown you.\n\n\u2022 **Use strong spiritual authority.** Demons will laugh at weakness. Fight from a position of strength. Jesus already won the victory! Be like Jehu and make a bold demand. Do not ask demons anything. Cast them out and break their power.\n\n\u2022 **Confront, offer repentance, then deliver.** After you have prayed and sought the Lord for clarity, if He has released you to deal with it, then confront the person and the situation. Offer opportunity for growth, repentance, and deliverance. Most people bound with Jezebel refuse to even examine their hearts because they are deeply deceived. If repentance is shunned, then their influence, position, or relationship in your life must be severed.\n\nTypically there will be a power struggle. Be prepared, and know that if you are walking in righteousness and integrity, then the Lord will defend you. Don't be manipulated or moved by the emotional manifestations or spiritual pressure. Stand strong! Stand on the truth! Stand on the Word!\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Is there any area in your life where you have taken on an Ahab mentality?\n\n\u00bb Have you allowed a Jezebel spirit to operate?\n\n\u00bb If you discern that Ahab spirit, kick it out. Call forth the fire of God to cleanse and purge.\n\n\u00bb Jezebel and Ahab are codependent and rely on each other.\n\n\u00bb Demons work in packs. Find the leader and kick it out.\n\n\u00bb Do not fear; use your authority.\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Determine to close any and all doors of manipulation.\n\n\u00bb Refuse to take on an Ahab personality and create illegal agreements in the spirit.\n\n\u00bb Study covenant thinking and living. Be strong and bold.\n\n\u00bb Realize that God has boundaries. It is important to honor His ways.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_Lord, I thank You that I am a covenant person. Teach me how to live with Your heart and perspective. I refuse to take on an Ahab personality. I thank You that I walk in truth and kingdom identity. I thank You that I take a stand for what is right. You have granted me authority over the powers of hell. I am unafraid of the powers of Jezebel. I thank You that all witchcraft, confusion, and curses of Jezebel are broken over my life in Jesus's name. I boldly declare that I am free through the shed blood of Jesus. I release freedom over my entire family in Jesus's name. Amen._\nChapter 6\n\nPYTHON, THE HEAT-SEEKING DECEIVER\n\nTHERE IS NOTHING like the fresh wind of God blowing upon your life. I can think of so many times I have been in seasons when the refreshing winds of God were blowing. Other times the healing wind of God was blowing. At the first church I planted some years ago, the Lord gave me very specific instructions about conducting a monthly healing meeting. Those meetings became the lifeblood of our young ministry.\n\nThe Lord sent people from all over the region and surrounding areas to experience the miracle-working power of God. There was such a wind of God's Spirit on the concept and the gatherings. You could feel God's sense of approval on the direction that we were taking. Of all the things that we had done at the time, those healing meetings were my absolute favorite!\n\nI can vividly remember one evening when a mother brought her teenage son who had major issues with one of his legs. She said he was born with a severe condition that demanded he wear a brace to walk. The mother explained to me that if he attempted to walk without the brace, his leg would just buckle and snap because it lacked the necessary parts to stand. As she shared that with me, I clearly heard the voice of the Lord say to pray and take the brace off. God was going to heal him! I related to the mother what the Lord was prompting me to do. I wanted her approval and cooperation before taking such a daring step of faith. She agreed. We prayed and took the brace off, and the young man took off running! It was a great day of celebration. God touched his body and caused the impossible to be suddenly possible.\n\nDuring that season outstanding miracles were commonplace in the meetings. We would get so caught up in the healing presence of God that the miracle realm would just open, and it became easy to get people healed. The ripples from those meetings went out throughout the territory; we became known as a group who believed in miracles. We would frequently receive phone calls asking us to come to the hospital and pray for someone in critical condition. We went and saw wonderful healings and miracles. It was a rich time for our ministry.\n\nThen suddenly the flow in the healing meetings changed. It was as if the life and vitality of the meetings diminished. At first I wondered what we had done to cause this. Was something wrong? Did we grieve Holy Spirit? What was happening? It was clear that the wind was not blowing on these gatherings as strongly as it had been. As I began to pray, the Lord told me that there was a seasonal shift taking place and He wanted to do some new things. He began to pour out strategy. It became clear that the winds of redirection were upon us. As we obeyed the Lord's instructions, we experienced wonderful new assignments, and the hand of God brought even more miracles. The key is that my team and I determined to ride the wind! Wherever the wind of God was blowing, that was where I was going to be. I wasn't going to be out on my own just doing something because it was a good idea.\n\nAt this point in my ministry I have experienced so many different seasons. I have had wonderful seasons of pioneering, daring seasons of growth, stunning prophetic seasons of major God encounters, difficult wilderness seasons of refining, and glorious seasons of revival and renewing. I have also had seasons of rapid advance when God suddenly launched me forward. I have learned to be thankful for each season and have determined to maximize the moment. People who ride the wind refuse to stay stuck! God is not stuck, and He never planned for you to be stuck. When the wind blows upon an area of your life, follow that wind!\n\nThen the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and will march in the storm winds of the south.\n\n\u2014ZECHARIAH 9:14, NASB\n\nThe Lord spoke to Israel and told them that He would defend them. He said that He would march in the wind and their help was in the wind. Some time ago I was praying and reading about great men and women of God. I found that many of them learned how to ride the winds. They were not so stuck in their ways that they could not change course when heaven mandated it. This is a spirit life key! You must be willing to go where the wind of God is sending you. You cannot just go by your own ideas or thinking. I read about one great revivalist who said that she always kept a bag packed. She would get caught up in the Spirit, and God would tell her to go to a nation, so she would immediately gather her things and head out. God used her to shake nations. She carried His glory in a significant manner and ministered under the glorious winds of heaven.\n\nGLORY IS IN THE WIND\n\nGlory people are Spirit people! Spirit people are wind people; they move with the blowing of the wind of God. They discern the winds of the Spirit. There are various winds of God available to blow on people for various reasons: healing winds, winds of change, winds of transformation, holy winds, and winds of transition.\n\nThe Hebrew word for \"spirit\" is _ruach_ , which means \"breath\" or \"wind.\" Genesis 2:7 says, \"Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.\" Notice the order of events: God gathered the dust in order to create mankind, but it was not until the _ruach_ , the breath of God and the wind of the Spirit, was released that man lived! The breath of God in us and upon us is what fuels our being. We are a spirit who lives in a body and possesses a soul. We are not a body with a spirit. The essence of who and what we are is the very breath of God Himself.\n\nIt was this breath that left Adam and Eve in the garden so that they suddenly died. Their bodies lived, but they were spiritually dead, as they were cursed to be people of the dust and not people of the spirit. The spirit is the life! We are carriers of the winds of heaven. When we pray, wind is released! When we decree, wind is released! When we prophesy, wind is released! When we worship, wind is released! It comes from our inner man, swirls all around us, and then catches us up into heavenly wind.\n\nHow did God birth the church? Did He assemble everyone together to be taught theology lessons? Did He begin with an organizational meeting? Did He have a heavenly board meeting to vote on what to do and how to do it? The answer to all these questions is a resounding no!\n\nGod urged a hungry people to gather in a room and to wait there. They were to assemble and patiently remain on standby until something miraculous happened. They were asked to believe in something they had never seen or experienced. They were promised something revolutionary and remarkable. They were given the task of prayer. Prayer fuels the arrival and release of the wind in our lives.\n\nAs this band of faithful ones was gathered in the Upper Room, there was a suddenly! In a moment, God blew through that assembly with a wild display of His power. The early church was launched in the wind!\n\nWhen the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared to them tongues as of fire, being distributed and resting on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.\n\n\u2014ACTS 2:1\u20134\n\nThe sound of the wind hit, and everything changed. Holy Spirit showed up in the wind. His breath began to flow through that place, and things were turned upside down. No one was the same. It wasn't a sound effect. They were hearing the entrance of the Spirit of God; the wind had arrived. Tongues broke forth, and fire fell. New wine was poured out as men and women were intoxicated in the glory of God. They left that room forever changed.\n\nPeter, who had denied Christ and was wracked with fear, became bold as a lion. He had been baptized in the wind and fire. He was chosen by God in a redemptive act to preach the first sermon of the church and to win three thousand people to Jesus in a single moment. The wind that blew that day shifted the course of human history. That same wind is still blowing and rewriting history. That wind is still lifting men and women out of obscurity and mantling them for nations. That same wind is still releasing flames of consuming fire. That same wind is still sweeping gatherings of the hungry and reaching the very deepest places in the hearts of men.\n\nThere is a spirit from the depths of hell that hates the wind. It comes to quench the breath and choke its victim to death. It is in the trio of anti-anointing demons that we are revealing in this book. It hides, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and implement its diabolical plans. It is a spirit that is determined to find people and places full of the wind of God and suffocate them.\n\nSOUNDS RIGHT BUT WRONG SPIRIT\n\nThe apostle Paul was on a preaching assignment when he encountered this evil demon:\n\nOn one occasion, as we went to the place of prayer, a servant girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, shouting, \"These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.\"\n\n\u2014ACTS 16:16\u201317\n\nPaul was on his way to prayer. He was on assignment, determined to see the gospel released in a powerful capacity. As he was focused on his mission, a great distraction arose. This young woman, who was totally possessed with an evil spirit, began to follow him. She was constantly crying out as she followed him. The content of her message was not wrong, but there was a wicked entity involved in her pursuit.\n\nPaul had arrived in the region with a clear mandate from the Lord to spread the gospel. He was sent as an apostle to bring liberty, truth, and salvation. He was a general deployed into a crucial mission field. Who met him? I believe it was the ruling spirit of that region. I will elaborate as we continue. This young lady followed him and would not relent. She was possessed by a spirit of divination. The literal translation of _divination_ is \"python.\" The girl was being controlled by the python spirit. It was binding the region with fortune-telling, incantations, and evil spiritual practices over the land. Paul was there to break its grip, but it was determined to stop him. Paul was being hunted by a serpent!\n\nHe wasn't sitting around doing nothing. He was in hot pursuit of God's presence and plan. He was on his way to prayer when this snake showed up. This spirit comes on the scene when a person is full of the life-giving breath of God. To more fully understand the tactics of this spirit, we must recognize the type of serpent a python is.\n\nA python is a fierce, suffocating warrior that quietly and methodically stalks its prey. It does not kill a victim with venom. The danger of the python is not its bite but its strength. When it sinks its teeth into its victim, the python is able to wrap its muscular body around the victim, constricting slowly. As the victim struggles for breath, the python tightens its hold. Every time the victim exhales, the pressure is increased, breaking bones and totally overwhelming the respiratory system. Finally the victim concedes to the massive grip of the serpent, dying of suffocation. A python kills by removing the breath\u2014this is the picture of this vile spirit.\n\nA python is a heat seeker. It identifies life by locating heat. Dead things are cold, but living things are full of warmth. The python spirit looks for the move of God. It looks for spiritual breakthrough and those pursuing the more. It finds those on their way to higher places and slithers through their lives and ministries, waiting to impose its deadly grasp.\n\nShe did this for many days. But becoming greatly troubled, Paul turned to the spirit and said, \"I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.\" And it came out at that moment.\n\nWhen her masters saw that the hope of their profits was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers. And they brought them to the magistrates, saying, \"These men, being Jews, greatly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.\"\n\nThe crowd rose up together against them. And the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them. After they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. Having received such an order, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.\n\nAt midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were loosened.\n\n\u2014ACTS 16:18\u201326\n\nThis young woman persistently followed Paul and his team around. She was loosing evil witchcraft against them. Though her words were not necessarily incorrect, Paul discerned the spirit behind what she was saying. This is how the devil works\u2014when you are pressing in to the fire of God, the passion of prayer, and the longing for revival, the enemy sends a demonic attack to distract and disrupt your pursuit.\n\nPaul was grieved in his spirit. He could sense the presence of evil in this young lady. On the outside it may have looked good, but there was a foul serpent lurking just beneath the surface. Thank God for the discerning of spirits and revelation knowledge. If only all Christians realized what a powerful position they occupy in the spirit through the completed work of Jesus. Not only did Jesus win the spiritual battles for us and position us in Him, but He also paved the way for the wonderful Holy Spirit to come and indwell us. We can hear from heaven and avoid devilish traps through the leading of the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 says, \"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.\" We can walk with Holy Spirit into truth, illumination, and victory! We do not have to be blinded by the powers of hell.\n\nThe python spirit is connected to fortune-telling and the working of familiar spirits. This young lady brought great financial rewards to her masters through her fortune-telling. She was empowered by a false spirit. The Greeks believed in the connection between Python and Apollo. They also embraced an \"oracle,\" a demon-possessed false prophet whose body would be taken over by familiar spirits to release the utterances provided from evil spirits. The Greeks believed wholeheartedly in these evil spiritual practices.\n\nThis culture of a python and the oracle predicting events had invaded Philippi. This evil python spirit and its practices influenced everyday life in Macedonia. According to Greek mythology, the serpent, who guarded the temple at Delphi, was killed by Apollo (and then the oracle at Delphi took on the name Pythia, and Apollo became known as Pythian Apollo). The word Pythian was later applied to diviners or soothsayers inspired by Apollo. The python spirit empowers evil sorceries and false spirit communication. As Paul was ministering throughout the region of Macedonia, he undoubtedly saw and discerned the reach and grip of this evil spirit.\n\nThere are historical accounts of violent physical reactions as false prophetic voices yielded to this demon in Greek culture and released utterances. Their bodies were overtaken by this serpent. In much the same way as the power of God affected people's physical bodies in the Upper Room, this demonic entity overwhelms a person who opens the door and creates evil manifestations as it releases its venomous prophecies.\n\nThe python spirit is alive and well in the world today, working through psychics, fortune-tellers, mediums, and all manner of false spiritualists. These underworld practices are clearly and strongly forbidden in the Bible. Leviticus 20:6 states, \"The person who turns to spirits through mediums and necromancers in order to whore after them, I will even set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.\" Christians are not to seek out spiritual assistance from any source other than God's Word, His gifts, His Spirit, and those being led by His Spirit. Seeking spiritual assistance elsewhere is a sure way to open doors to the enemy in your life.\n\nA number of years ago I encountered a woman who was totally overrun with demonic powers. She would sit in church meetings and begin to manifest demons. Her body would contort in a way that looked as if a serpent was operating through her. As the process unfolded, she would twitch with strange movements and then belch repeatedly.\n\nThe manifestations became a tremendous distraction. The leaders at the church were ministering to her, but she refused spiritual help. She would have to be removed from meetings because of the commotion she would cause. I will never forget one episode in church. There was a guest speaker preaching quite powerfully. In the blink of an eye, the demon-possessed woman turned and slapped her husband across the face. It made a huge noise, and everyone looked around, but she had moved under supernatural power, and very few people saw it because it was so fast. I happened to catch it from where I was sitting, but she moved uncommonly fast.\n\nThis woman had gotten wrapped up in false spiritual practices and became overwhelmed by the power of darkness. She opened a door for demons to come inhabit her. The devil doesn't care how small the crack in the door is\u2014he will exploit it to come in. This is why governing our spiritual lives by the Word of God and obeying the promptings of Holy Spirit are critical.\n\nThe python spirit seeks to ensnare people in a false prophetic capacity, to choke the very life of God out of them. The python spirit will release false fire over your life. The python spirit will release false words over your future. The python spirit will loose strange fire upon you. The python spirit will entice you and then cunningly take you into its deadly lair to defeat you.\n\nVISION INVADER\n\nOne of the words for \"prophet\" in the Old Testament is translated \"seer\" (e.g., 2 Sam. 24:11). The Scriptures often refer to Old Testament prophets as seers. This is a particular type of prophetic function that indicates a high level of visionary encounters in the realm of the spirit. Seers receive detailed prophetic encounters in visions, dreams, and night visions. They process the realm of the spirit in high definition. They are often totally swept up into the spirit realm, far beyond the confines of this natural world. They feel and sense things in a way that is deeply impacting. This is true of all prophetic people. They are extremely engaged in the realm of the spirit.\n\nMany young prophets and seers struggle to find anyone who can assist them in developing their gift, to understand the very real experiences they are having. Oftentimes churches shun the prophetic ministry due to lack of understanding, controlling demons, or religious traditions. It's sad to say, but many churches today have made a conscious decision to program out the move of God. They view prophets and prophetic people as troublemakers.\n\nThese abandoned prophets in the making are having spiritual encounters and experiences that they don't understand. If they cannot find help in the kingdom of God, they can be drawn into false spiritual practices because they are embraced by people who have spiritual language and an understanding of what they are experiencing. Sadly I believe that many God-called prophets have been deceived by the python spirit and are functioning outside of God's call and blessing upon their lives. This is one reason that I am passionate about prophetic teaching, training, and activation. I don't want to see python tangle up and deceive future world changers.\n\nI pray that God will raise up an army of spiritual mothers and fathers who will accept, love, and groom prophets, seers, and those with uncommon prophetic abilities. It is also key that those being trained are humble and submissive. One of the quickest ways for a deeply prophetic person to get off track is pride. Seeing and knowing in the spirit realm is a God-given gift. Pride comes in when people begin to use their gifts as a means of lifting themselves up and demanding people recognize their greatness. It becomes very demonic behavior that draws people away from Jesus and does damage to the people of God instead of strengthening them and serving them.\n\nPride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.\n\n\u2014PROVERBS 16:18\n\nThe python spirit comes to choke the life, the wind, and the breath out of you. When you are under attack from a python spirit, there is an uncommon sense of heaviness and oppression. As much as it is a false prophetic spirit, it is also a wicked spirit of bondage. It was no mistake that it was attempting to distract and derail the apostle Paul. It wanted to stall out the mission that God had sent him on. It wanted to abort the apostolic assignment. Python comes to rob the life-giving force of anointing and power.\n\nIn _The Spiritual Warfare Battle Plan_ , Jennifer LeClaire sums it up perfectly:\n\nThe python spirit had a stronghold in Philippi. When the man of prayer started heading for the house of prayer, this spirit launched its first attack against him\u2014a distraction followed by a full-blown trial that aimed to take him out of his purpose. Python knows it has no authority in a city that prays in the presence of God, so it works to distract people from praying so they can't fulfill their purpose.\n\nPython would rather watch you lick your wounds than pray to a healing God. Python would rather hear you complain or gossip than take your problems to a miracle-working God. Python would rather distract you with attacks, trials, and persecutions than see you press into a gracious God for deliverance. Again, python's ultimate goal is to put you in bondage and thwart your purpose. You may be going through the motions but feel dead on the inside because python has squeezed the life out of you.\n\nThe python spirit is an enemy of revival! It shows up to squeeze those who are pressing in to receive fresh flames of fire, strong anointing, and life-giving outpouring. Python has an assignment in regions to clearly identify those who pose a spiritual threat. When new ministries are established in a lukewarm territory and begin to engage the heavenlies, releasing the life of God over dry people, python senses the heat and comes lurking in the darkness, ready to strike. Understanding the operation of this spirit is essential for those who are going to shake a territory. It is certain that python will show up. Recognizing its evil plots empowers you to overcome.\n\nThe python spirit comes into families to put them under such a heavy squeeze that they quit moving forward. There is an anointing for families. In the same way that God empowers a person for exploits or a church for great things, He can release fresh oil over a family to bond together, to love one another, to experience the kingdom together, and to defeat the operation of hell. Python will come to bind up that power and create a cold atmosphere void of the life of God.\n\nPython comes against prayer. This spirit wants to kill prayer lives. It knows that prayer is one of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of a believer. It doesn't mind if people go through the motions of religion with no spiritual power, but when they begin to hunger for intimate communication with God, this demon gets nervous. Paul was raising up a kingdom movement that centered on prayer and the presence of God, and python was determined to shut it down. If Paul had not properly discerned this demon, it is hard to say where the church would be today. Thank God the apostle of God refused to give in. Thank God he didn't move away from the promise. Thank God he rebuked that demon. Thank God he was a warrior.\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Have you been distracted, particularly in prayer?\n\n\u00bb Have you opened any doors to familiar spirits?\n\n\u00bb Have you battled heaviness?\n\n\u00bb Do you feel as if you just cannot go forward in what God has called you to do?\n\n\u00bb Are there any enduring spiritual battles that could be the operation of a python spirit?\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Understand that the python spirit comes after things that are alive.\n\n\u00bb When you press in to God, this demon will attempt to take you out.\n\n\u00bb Concerning prophetic ministry, it is extremely important to guard yourself, making sure that you are drinking from a pure stream. How can you know that? By a person's fruit, alignments, and integrity.\n\n\u00bb Don't just accept every prophetic word; examine it by the written Word, and make sure the vessel is pure. This does not mean to be critical, but it means to honestly evaluate. Deception begins with a small seed.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_I thank You, Lord, that I am not deceived. I hear Your voice and obey Your leading. I ask for clear direction. Lord, I come before You, thanking You for Your purity in my life. I receive the washing of Your blood, and I thank You for freedom from all deception. I embrace Your wind in my life! I am hungry for Your anointing, for Your power, for Your fire! I want Your life moving in me and ministering to others through me. I break the grip of every operation of the python spirit in Jesus's name. I break its power right now and command it to go! I thank You, Lord, that I am free indeed. In Jesus's name, amen._\nChapter 7\n\nBREAKING PYTHON'S GRIP\n\nWE'VE ESTABLISHED THAT the python spirit attacks and chokes the breath out of its victims. When Paul exposed this spirit, it was hiding in a young lady. She was saying and doing things that seemed right to others, yet there was something that disturbed Paul. He was looking beyond the natural realm, glimpsing the unseen realm of spirits. One of the keys to defeating this spirit is recognition. You must be able to see it to defeat it.\n\nKNOW YOUR ENEMY\n\nThe gift of discerning of spirits empowers a believer to see the spirit motivating a person or situation. During the operation of this gift, spiritual eyes are opened so that truth is illuminated. This is imperative in dealing with the enemy, who is a master at hiding. Prophetic exposure brings violent confrontation.\n\nWhen Paul cast the python spirit out, there was a massive counterattack, but his faith never wavered. After being attacked, mistreated, and falsely accused, he held a spontaneous worship service in a prison cell. His praise brought about liberty.\n\nPaul's reaction reveals keys to freedom from this spirit: worship, praise, and faith. We will explore each of these keys to understand how they bring deliverance from the grip of an evil serpent. We will also examine the appearance of demonic spirits throughout the Bible and the promises of God's power over their attacks. We will draw lessons from the life of Paul by discussing his demonic encounters and victory strategies.\n\nTo grasp the concept of the python spirit, it is important to identify the hunting techniques of an actual python. These serpents are not known to kill their prey with deadly venom. They hide, lurking in the darkness and patiently waiting to capture their victim. They are proficient in identifying life by the presence of heat. Where there is heat, there is vitality and breath. As we established earlier, breath represents life in the spirit and the move of God. A python spirit, then, comes after that which is alive and moving. It has no interest in stalking lukewarm believers\u2014they are already in its grip. It comes after people who are manifesting the heat of God and releasing the breath of heaven. It lies in wait for the perfect moment to strike.\n\nWhen does python strike? As a person is pressing in to the things of God. This demon stalked the apostle Paul on his way to prayer. Its purpose was to extinguish the move of God. A python spirit suddenly strikes its prey, coiling its massive body around the victim, putting it in a deadly squeeze, and slowly killing it. This demon functions much like a natural python in that it grips its victim, choking the spiritual wind out of it.\n\nThe python spirit hates the life-giving anointing of God and comes to contaminate, diminish, and quench the anointing. It is hunting every person who is moving in the Spirit. It is on the prowl, looking for fiery places of revival, with the intent of shutting down the move of God. It is actively searching the earth for ministries that are moving in the Spirit. It will release plans to stall out the move of God.\n\nWhen the python spirit strikes, vitality is lost, and the life of God is suffocated. It loves to choke out the move of God. It loves to remove the life-giving flow of heaven. Under attack by a python spirit, you feel lifeless. It squeezes you with fierce pressure to get you to give up on hopes, dreams, plans, and purposes. It wants you to settle for a mediocre spiritual life void of the rich power of heaven.\n\nThe python spirit will get you second-guessing the things that heaven clearly and accurately revealed to you in the secret place. This is one of the cornerstones of a python attack. It grips the mind and does all that it can to stall out your pursuit of heaven's agenda. It is an anti-anointing demon. The anointing is connected to purpose. Python is on assignment to dilute your purpose and thereby hinder the anointing in your life.\n\nHeavy mind traffic and swirling thoughts of confusion are elements of the python attack plan. The enemy knows that the mind is the point of logic, thought, and reason. If he can sow seeds of destruction and confusion in the human mind, then he can create questioning of the call of God, stealing clarity.\n\nI will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who turn aside; it shall not have part of me.\n\n\u2014PSALM 101:3\n\nThis is a strong word! Guarding our eyes ultimately helps protect our minds. The enemy recognizes the power of the human mind. It has often been said that if you can imagine it, you can become it. The Bible declares in Proverbs 23:7 that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. This means that our inner thought life dictates the direction of our outward living. When a spiritual attack strikes the mind, the ultimate goal is to pollute thinking and cause the person to sink down into a pit of despair. This is especially true when the python spirit is at work. Its twisting and deceitful lies put purpose under siege in an attempt to derail destiny.\n\nTherefore guard your minds, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.\n\n\u20141 PETER 1:13\n\nWe are to be intentional about guarding our thought lives. We cannot and must not allow every negative thought to take root in our imaginations. Our imaginations are the creative engines of our beings. When our imaginations are not protected, we begin to see, dream, and declare destruction. The aim of a spiritual attack is to get people so bound in confusion and fear that they prophesy their own defeat.\n\nPYTHON POLLUTES\n\nA python spirit overwhelms its prey with a barrage of negative thoughts. It attempts to pollute the creative flow with damaging negativity. We must be quick to recognize this scheme, casting down contrary thoughts with the name of Jesus and the Word of God as two of our weapons. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we are instructed to cast down imaginations. This is not passive on our parts. This is aggressive warfare. This demands action from us. In the spirit realm words carry authority and power. We must combat the lies of the enemy with a strong confession. We need to immediately command those thoughts to leave in the name of Jesus. We must exercise bold authority over lying thoughts with the words of our mouths.\n\nWhoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from trouble.\n\n\u2014PROVERBS 21:23\n\nKeeping our mouths full of the Word of God, the promises of God, and the will of God is the key to victory. We are to combat the lies of the enemy with the words of our mouths. We are also to use the Word of God as a weapon. For every lie, we need to answer with a truth. Answer the attack with a promise. Jesus revealed a tremendously effective warfare strategy when the devil came to tempt Him. Each time the enemy released warfare and lies against Him, He answered with the Word of God.\n\nThen Jesus said to him, \"Get away from here, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.'\"\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 4:10\n\nThe devil hurled lies and temptations at Jesus, but at every point he was met with truth. Jesus stood on the Word of God. Jesus spoke the Word of God. Jesus fought the devil with the Word of God. This is our example when under attack\u2014we need to meet the enemy with the Word of God. God's Word acts as a defensive weapon, repelling the aggressive advances of the enemy. We can stand firmly upon the promises in the Word of God. As we dive deep into God's Word, our faith is built, and we are empowered to come out of the crippling effect of spiritual attack.\n\nWhen the apostle Paul discerned, confronted, and cast out the python spirit, there was an uproar. Paul and Silas were brutally attacked, stripped, beaten, and imprisoned as a result of a major demonic counterattack. Demons and demonic powers understand the art of war. One of the things that a successful army must do is stop the advance of the enemy. The army cannot allow an advance to go forth without opposing it. Many times when you engage the realm of the spirit and catch the attention of the enemy, you will receive a counterattack. Knowing this prepares you to face the onslaught and come out on the other side with victory. You are not to have a spirit of fear; you are to become a skillful warrior.\n\nHe trains my hands for war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand has held me up, and Your gentleness has made me great.\n\n\u2014PSALM 18:34\u201335\n\nDavid penned this powerful declaration of strength. He was known as a fierce warrior who understood the art of battle and had tasted the sweet cup of victory. Time and again God delivered and defended this radical lover of His presence. David was a worshipping warrior. He knew how to hide deeply in the arms of the Father. His unwavering affection for the Lord brought the presence of God into his life like a tidal wave. He dwelled in the courts of the Lord, enjoying immeasurable favor and supernatural protection. He faced massive spiritual attacks but kept coming out on the other side with the victory.\n\nUSE YOUR SECRET WEAPONS\n\nThe journey into destiny is not completed without a fight. The python spirit comes to undo the sense of purpose in our lives. It comes to squeeze out the fresh breath of heaven. It comes to hinder our prayer lives and dilute the anointing we carry. Python launched a severe retaliation against Paul and his apostolic team, but they had a secret weapon.\n\nAt midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were loosened.\n\n\u2014ACTS 16:25\u201326\n\nDespite the unjust beatings, the public humiliation they faced by being stripped naked in front of everyone, and their imprisonment, Paul and Silas decided to lift their voices in praise at the midnight hour. It is revealing that they began their spontaneous worship session at the darkest time of night. There is a message here. When the enemy blasts or retaliates against you and everything is falling apart, praise will bring you supernatural strength. Praise is a weapon!\n\nWhen we enter the realm of praise, we are fervently expressing our gratitude to the Lord and remembering His greatness. Praise establishes Jesus as Lord over every trial, every storm, every attack, and every present circumstance in our lives. As we fill our mouths with thanksgiving and fervent declarations of the goodness of God, we break through the fog of battle and encounter the warmth of His love and the force of His power. In 2 Chronicles 20 the men of Judah supernaturally won the battle against the enemy by praising and worshipping God. God defended them and set ambushes against their enemies because of their affection for Him. Praise was the choice weapon!\n\nIt was Paul's and Silas's praise that brought the presence of God into the prison and shook them loose. Praise can break the chains of bondage. Praise can shatter the lies of the enemy. Praise can chip away at the heaviness and release the glory. Once the glory comes in, you cannot stay bound. It is impossible. When God's presence fills a place, bondage has no choice but to go. Praise brings liberty.\n\nI remember a time when the power of God was healing people as I was ministering in a small church. A man came forward who had been battling severe back pain and had very limited movement. I felt the anointing and the power of God as I began to pray for him. After I prayed, I asked him to check his movement and the pain. Nothing had changed as far as he could tell. I began to praise the Lord. As I thanked God and worshipped Him, I got totally swept up in His presence. I was getting so blessed by the presence of God that I really forgot about the man and our prayer request. My hands were still on the man because I had been praying for him, but now I was lost in the presence of God, having my own praise party. After several minutes a surge of God's anointing came. The man began to move, and he said he was without pain and had full restoration of movement. Praise had overtaken affliction!\n\nDISCERNING A PYTHON ATTACK\n\nThere are two ways that you can properly detect the presence of a python spirit. First, you can identify it by becoming aware of its tactics. Secondly, it can be supernaturally revealed to you through the gifts of the Spirit. We will discuss both methods, but we will begin by listing the symptoms of a python attack and exploring each one to be equipped to detect, confront, and defeat this slithering demon.\n\nIt comes on the scene during a spiritual advance.\n\nThe python spirit shows up in the life of a person during his or her pursuit of God. Python comes on the scene in the life of a church or ministry as it is pressing in to the deeper things of God. Python has an assignment to bind and hinder the anointing. It is drawn to Holy Spirit heat. This attack will come at times of spiritual movement and progress.\n\nIt says things that sound right but grieve you on the inside.\n\nWe do not have a clear record of exactly how this demonic stalker was acting around Paul, but we do know what she was saying. This account provides us with some keen insight. In judging spiritual things, it is vital to examine not only the content but also the spiritual motivation behind it. For example, a minister can preach a sermon on faithfulness, but if his motive is to control people, then it is in error. A person with a python spirit manifesting may say all types of things that are right biblically but does not have a right spirit behind him. If you have a check in your spirit, pay attention. Stop and pray over it. Do not just shun the warning that God is giving you. Paul saw what others could not see.\n\nIt makes you feel restricted, overwhelmed, and bound.\n\nAll spiritual attacks will release heaviness and bondage upon your life. One of the telltale signs of an attack is when you experience extreme heaviness. The python spirit coils around you and puts you in a tight squeeze. You feel absolutely restricted and bound.\n\nIt can come with flattery.\n\nThe woman following Paul was saying all types of nice things with an undertone of flattery. Demons will often attempt to gain access by telling us what we want to hear. Again, this is why examination and prayer are key. Flattery overemphasizes things with an ulterior motive. It produces exaggerated kindness and grandiose spiritual announcements. It is designed to entangle your soul in order to get a foothold.\n\nIt is a stalker of the anointing.\n\nThe python pursues the anointing. It will follow people who are anointed. It will show up in places where there is a strong flow of heaven.\n\nIt can partner with religious spirits, the Jezebel spirit, witchcraft, and other demons to twist and squeeze the life out.\n\nDemons like to tag-team and partner for dark conquests. Typically when a major attack is launched against a leading ministry or person, there is more than one hidden devil. A python spirit can work in tandem with a religious spirit to squeeze the power out of someone's life. It can also act with a spirit of witchcraft and Jezebel to manifest a false and contaminated spiritual flow.\n\nIt persecutes the function and flow of anointing and comes against the move of God.\n\nWhen python comes to squeeze out the flow of heaven, it will persecute and mock the anointing of God. If it comes into a ministry, it will come against strong moves of God, finding fault and complaining. It will do the same in someone's personal life. It will bring railing accusation about spiritual encounters. We should and must judge all things by the Word of God, including heavenly encounters. Python raises unfounded concerns to totally shut down the sweet presence of God.\n\nIt is drawn to people with the fire of God.\n\nPython looks for those with the flames of God on their lives. It comes to put out the flame. It does not want the people of God burning with cleansing fire.\n\nIt is one of the spirits that fuel false prophetic flow, psychics, and so on.\n\nPython empowers occult activity, false predictions, false prophetic flow, and psychic powers. It is an evil demon that manifests false fire. It can accurately relay information that it unlawfully obtains from the spirit realm, but it is totally demonic. It cannot reveal the heart of God. False prophetic ministry always reveals things, details, and pieces of information, but it does not reveal Jesus. Real prophets reveal Jesus! They may share pieces of information or identify something that has happened in your life. Prophets see and know. They hear and encounter. They have supernatural access and can be highly accurate in their prophetic words over our lives, but each and every prophetic encounter will always end up drawing a person closer to Jesus. That is what real prophetic ministry does; anything less than that is false.\n\nIt can attempt to access position through impure prophetic ministry.\n\nThis is a common attribute of demonic spirits manifesting false fire. They will often attempt to gain an audience with a leader or access into the life of a person with impure prophetic ministry. The python spirit manifests in this capacity looking for influence. It will release information and illegitimate words to bait a person into allowing it into his circle of influence. Authentic prophetic ministry and prophets do not struggle to be noticed or to gain position. Many prophets would rather be in their prayer closets seeking God than on a stage or occupying a position of influence.\n\nIt manifests a false anointing and power.\n\nThe python spirit can be a carrier of strange fire. It can manifest realms of supernatural power and flow that come from the demonic realm.\n\nIt can attack your physical body.\n\nAs we know, man is a three-part being. We are a spirit, we live in a body, and we have a soul (mind, will, and emotions). Spiritual attacks typically show up on multiple fronts in these various dimensions of our lives. For example, it is not uncommon for someone under an attack of heaviness to experience physical symptoms of exhaustion. The python spirit is a constrictive spirit that comes to choke off the flow of wind and air. In the spiritual sense it will choke fresh life, prophetic anointing, and Holy Spirit wind. In the physical arena it can manifest as choking, severe respiratory problems, or even coiling of the physical body when being cast out. Many times in deliverance a python spirit being confronted will manifest with serpentlike moves in the physical body. I have seen many prophets and prophetic people get hit with the python spirit and have extraordinary bouts of respiratory, breathing, and throat attacks. These are uncommon attacks with a twofold purpose to manifest in both the spiritual and natural realm. To be clear\u2014not every physical issue is a spirit, but some are! We know that demonic powers can attack the physical realm, and this one does. It attacks the breath, wind, lungs, and voice.\n\nLearning the schemes and operations of the python spirit empowers believers for victory. We can quickly detect its operation and develop a prayer strategy to counteract its unlawful operations. Being armed with proper knowledge brings advantage in the arena of spiritual warfare. As we grow in our understanding of demonic spirits, their wicked desires, their battle tactics, and how to defeat them, we are skillfully equipped for victory.\n\nUSE THE GIFTS\n\nGaining knowledge regarding the python spirit is only one way that we can be prepared. There is another vital tool in uncovering hidden demonic powers. The realm of Spirit leading and the gifts of the Spirit are power weapons to properly expose demon spirits.\n\nEvery Christian has the right to tap into the realm of revelation and the leading of Holy Spirit. One of the wonderful gifts that has been provided in this set of gifts is the discerning of spirits.\n\nBut the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for the common good. To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But that one and very same Spirit works all these, dividing to each one individually as He will.\n\n\u20141 CORINTHIANS 12:7\u201311\n\nBelievers have been granted unlimited access to the realm of revelation and the all-knowing mind of Christ. Included in the ministry of Holy Spirit are these nine gifts that access spiritual breakthroughs and supernatural power. One of the greatest weapons against hidden devils is the discerning of spirits.\n\nWhat precisely is the gift of discerning of spirits? It is the ability to see, discern, and recognize the spirit motivating a person or situation. This gift can manifest in a variety of ways. All spiritual gifts operate as a means of transmitting divine information and power. Each one accesses different parts of the nature of God. The discerning of spirits allows a person to see and recognize a spirit being. This gift provides much-needed spiritual intelligence. It can function in a variety of ways. For example, people can discern a spirit by having an inner vision in which they see something with the eyes of their spirit and know that it is a spiritual being. People can experience a scent\u2014they actually smell something that reveals the presence of a demon. In the realm of the spirit, demons are foul! I have had experiences dealing with a person with an unclean spirit when I supernaturally smelled an awful stench that let me know there was a demonic power in operation. People can hear the voice of the Lord speaking to them about a spirit in operation. There are many methodologies of communicating the information, but the end result is the same\u2014a spirit being is revealed.\n\nEvery Christian needs to thank God for the nine gifts of the Spirit. When I was first born again, one of my mentors taught me that the Holy Ghost lives in my belly, and therefore all nine gifts of the Spirit live in me. My mentor also told me that if I forgot to claim them, they would not be in operation. Faith is in the believing, speaking, and doing. All exploits of faith have those three components. You believe, and therefore you speak; as you speak, you do! Faith creates movement and momentum.\n\nSpiritual gifts need to be activated. Begin to claim the discerning of spirits in your life. Take time to thank God and tell Him that you believe this gift is in you and active. Speak it out by faith. Then be quick to pay attention when God speaks. One encounter with the discerning of spirits can literally save you years of trouble.\n\nRecently I went to speak for a pastor whom I did not know very well. Right before I was scheduled to go, a dear friend of mine gave me a warning about the pastor and the ministry, but it was too late for me to cancel. When I arrived, I immediately sensed something was not right. The pastor was saying all the right words, but there was a void in the realm of the spirit. I prayed throughout my time there, and my eyes were opened to see a stronghold of rejection that caused the pastor to do immature, even offensive, things. Rejection, control, and even lying manifested while I was there. The discerning of spirits, along with wisdom from understanding spiritual warfare and people, helped me avoid a long-term relationship with this pastor that would have only brought great distraction and damage. I felt bad for the pastor, the church, and the family because they were all hurting as a result of these spirits buffeting this leader. The pastor needed deliverance and emotional healing. Although I was thrilled to minister to the people there, the alignment was bad, and I was glad to get out of that atmosphere. When you are in a spiritually toxic atmosphere, it depletes you. If you are a prophetic person, you really feel the swirling of evil powers, and your heart yearns for deliverance and healing for those involved.\n\nA strategy is an action plan with specific steps to achieve an objective. Let's talk about a strategy to conquer the python spirit in your life, your ministry, your family, or any other facet of daily living. How can we conquer this intruding force?\n\nFirst, it begins with recognition. All spiritual warfare is rooted in the ability to see what is trying to remain hidden. When you are dealing with any demon, you must see it for what it is. You cannot downplay it or ignore it. Ignoring a demon power in your life can result in horrific consequences. Recognition and identification are critical. Look at the symptoms and the manifestations, and then tap into any leading that you have, but if you are not forced into a timeline, then wait on the Lord for instruction.\n\nPython struck Paul on the way to prayer. Prayer is the force that often unravels the mind of God in a situation. We are given a powerful war strategy in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, as Paul teaches on the armor of God. No spiritual warrior is complete without armor. Many of us have memorized and know the symbolism behind each piece. We pray and put on our armor by faith. But there is a vital instruction right after the portion of Scripture about our armor. Paul makes a statement that must not be overlooked:\n\nPray in the Spirit always with all kinds of prayer and supplication. To that end be alert with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 6:18\n\nSpend time praying and listening. It is amazing what God can show you when you seek Him. Prayer is the foundation of productive warfare. Then use your authority! Command the spirit of python to break its hold in the name of Jesus. Paul directly confronted the spirit and cast it out. Command python to go. Stand boldly in the place of authority through the sacrifice of Jesus, and tell the python it has to go. Break its power with the name of Jesus. Break its heaviness with the name of Jesus. Break its divination with the name of Jesus. If python has made any false decrees over you, break them. Take authority over them, and call them broken.\n\nUse the weapon of praise. What did Paul do? He praised God. He boldly lifted his voice to the Lord. Praise will keep the momentum going. If you feel that serpent slithering, twisting, and attacking, start praising God. As you are praising Him, remember the times in your life when His goodness prevailed, and then thank the Lord for them. Get swept up in the goodness of God, and the anointing will flow! When the anointing flows, it will begin smashing the burdens and removing the bondage.\n\nFinally stand upon the Word of God. Follow in the footsteps of Jesus and use the written Word as your promise book. Find key verses that minister to your situation, meditate on them, and then speak them out of your mouth. Answer the enemy with the Word of God! He cannot defeat you when you align yourself with the Word, the blood, and the name of Jesus. Those are victory master keys. Cut off the head of the python and go free.\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Have you been discouraged, overwhelmed, or stagnant?\n\n\u00bb Recognize that the python spirit wants to choke out the life in you.\n\n\u00bb Increasing your prayer life will keep you built up in the Spirit.\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Praise and worship are keys to overcoming any demonic attack.\n\n\u00bb You have authority over demons, so fight back from a place of victory.\n\n\u00bb Jesus taught us to use the Word of God: \"It is written.\"\n\nPRAYER\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I am free from all the power of the enemy. Show me any areas of my life or ministry where I have allowed any demonic influence. Show me if I am compromising in any area, and help me walk in purity and holiness. I decree that I will fulfill the purpose for which I was created and will not be stopped or hindered by the spirit of python or any other spirit. In Jesus's name, amen._\nChapter 8\n\nTHE DNA OF THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT\n\nONE OF THE ultimate aims of anti-anointing spirits is to trap a person in dead works with no spiritual power or thrust. The anointing is like wind that empowers and accelerates the purposes of God. It is jet fuel in the realm of the spirit. Building in the kingdom without the presence of the anointing will lead to discouragement and bondage. The enemy wants to create a dry spiritual climate with no breakthrough or freedom. One of his favorite weapons is the religious spirit.\n\nWhat exactly is a religious spirit? Simply defined, it is a demon power that uses religious structures to entangle people in bondage, prevent transformation, and enforce the spiritual status quo. It fights revelation, defies prophetic insight, hates apostolic authority, and uses tradition to build structures of limitation.\n\nDON'T LET THE OIL RUN DRY!\n\nLiving in the kingdom demands the precious oil of Holy Spirit on a regular basis. This was one of the most distinguishing aspects of Jesus's ministry. Everywhere He went, there were supernatural results. You could not encounter the ministry of Jesus without encountering the power of God. The two went hand in hand. Hebrews 13:8 boldly declares, \"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.\" That means we should expect the same realm of power to show up now when we preach and declare Jesus and His glorious kingdom. The power of God is a witness to the person of Jesus. The power of God is part of the authenticity of the kingdom. The power of God is evidence of our sonship and position of redemption through the blood of the Lamb. We have been granted power over the devil. We have been given supernatural power over disease. We have been given power over temporary circumstances and challenges. Our inheritance brings access to the full majesty of heaven.\n\nWe are called to live in the anointing. We are called to move in the supernatural. We should not bow to the lies of the enemy or just give up in defeat. There is oil to help in every situation. There is Holy Spirit power and refreshing. The religious spirit comes to void those realities and crush life in the spirit. It comes to stifle and hinder. It comes to mock and challenge. It comes to bind and restrict.\n\nMany people begin with vibrant spiritual lives but end up dry and empty because of the religious spirit. Some years ago the Lord sent me to a specific region to establish ministries and labor for awakening. We began to experience explosive results. God did spectacular and supernatural things in our midst. After a period of time I began to meet some of the pastors who had sizeable ministries in the region. I noticed a common thread: they were all dry. I heard story after story of how their ministries began with the raw power of God, but over time they were worn down by criticism, complaints, and attacks, only to retreat and build ministries that were lukewarm. As I stepped into a higher perspective, I realized that I was seeing the stronghold in that region\u2014the religious spirit. It was active in every fiber of people's thinking and ruled the churches. It manifested through the sound of the region. It manifested through the government of the region. It manifested through the ekklesia of the region. Any ministry or voice that came in to challenge it was swiftly opposed. Over a period of years I tangled with this spirit many times. I had several prophetic dreams about the religious spirit and its plans in the territory. The bottom line is that it had established a successful stronghold and was choking the life out of the people of God. That is the aim of this horrendous demon.\n\nThen the Pharisees went and took counsel to entangle Him in His words. They sent their disciples to Him with the Herodians, saying, \"Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God truthfully, and are swayed by no one. For You do not regard the person of men. Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?\"\n\nBut Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, \"Why test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.\" They brought Him a denarius. He said to them, \"Whose is this image and inscription?\"\n\nThey said to Him, \"Caesar's.\"\n\nThen He said to them, \"Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.\"\n\nWhen they heard these words, they were amazed, and left Him and went on their way.\n\n\u2014MATTHEW 22:15\u201322\n\nThe religious elite of the day were trying to ensnare Jesus in a demonic trap. They were furious because He was preaching a message of power, love, and the kingdom. They were preaching a message of defeat, condemnation, and bondage. Jesus was loosing the captives and delivering the bound. They were exalting themselves while trampling upon the destiny of sons and daughters. Jesus was moving in great power and authority while they were dry and void of breakthrough. This is a picture of the stark contrast between the gospel and religion. The gospel will always point humanity to the grace of the Cross and the complete sacrifice of Jesus. By moving through that reality, we can ultimately find our positions as sons and daughters, demonstrating the kingdom, relating to God as Abba (our Father), and enjoying the carefree life of one who has been gloriously ransomed. It is easy to move in the power of God when we know our roles in His kingdom. Religion preaches a message of death, destruction, and entanglement. Religion strives without results. It points to human weakness instead of divine solutions. Religion works aggressively to deny and nullify the absolute price that was paid at Calvary. Religion continues to demand more without acknowledging that the price has been paid. Religion builds walls instead of doors and gates. Freedom will always offend religion.\n\nIn the passage in Matthew 22 there are some telltale signs of the religious spirit. These markers help us properly understand the makeup of this evil power.\n\nThey conspired against Jesus.\n\nThe religious spirit will rally allies in offense and anger. The Pharisees were outraged by Jesus's preaching and ministry, so they began to strategize in secret. Secrecy is one of the devil's great strategies. The enemy slithers around under the cover of darkness. His minions work best in hiding. The prophetic spirit boldly shines the light on hidden devils. That is why demons hate prophets, prophetic people, and prophetic ministry.\n\nThe god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.\n\n\u20142 CORINTHIANS 4:4\u20135\n\nThe gospel brings the light of God on the scene! Light exposes the power of hell. The religious spirit operates with secret councils, secret committees, and backroom deal makers. They met in secret to attack Jesus. This is the game plan of the religious spirit.\n\nThey were offended by truth yet honored dead traditions.\n\nThe religious spirit does not honor the Word of God. It twists the Word of God to strip away the power of God. Religion establishes traditions without power. People go through the motions without any results or breakthrough. Where the anointing is, there is breakthrough and freedom!\n\nFor laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men\u2014the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.\n\n\u2014MARK 7:8\n\nThey held secret meetings joined together by a common offense.\n\nWhen you remove the oil of Holy Spirit, there is a dry atmosphere. Dry people are easily offended. I have never seen a religious person, religious church, or religious ministry where there is not an abundance of offense. God unites people by spiritual purpose, assignment, and legacy, but demons rally people around anger, bitterness, and offense.\n\nThey used flattery to His face, yet their ultimate goal was to take Him out.\n\nDevils will use flattery to speak to the egos of men and drive in a nail of bondage. They spoke to Jesus with the intent of flattering Him while secretly plotting against Him. Religious devils operate with a smooth tongue and a wicked plan.\n\nThe actions of the Pharisees displayed many attributes of the religious spirit. Let's explore some of the religious spirit attributes and how they manifest in the lives of believers.\n\nNEGATIVE WORDS\n\nThe religious spirit comes with negative words. It loves to debate, argue, and pick apart every revelation and legitimate kingdom concept. It will twist Scripture in order to back its point. It will rip apart any person or ministry with a powerful anointing. It will defy all those with a prophetic spirit because it hates the flow. It wants to build religious camps of slavery and bondage. It will engage in endless disputes without ever moving in the power of God or anointing. Religious demons tell you why you cannot pray for healing, yet they have never prayed for a sick person in spite of the clear call of all believers to do so. Religious spirits will tell you why you cannot prophesy or how you did it incorrectly, yet they never have a prophetic word. Religious spirits will invalidate current cutting-edge ministries and wrap their offense in biblical language to hide their true intent.\n\nThe religious spirit condemns. Jesus came to set each of us gloriously free from condemnation and the works of the law. As we awaken to all that He is and all that He has called us to be, we step into a bold, uncommon realm of liberty. The religious spirit continually harasses and condemns people, placing value on judgment above mercy and blinding the eyes of its victims to the real power of the gospel.\n\nThere is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.\n\n\u2014ROMANS 8:1\n\nThe religious spirit also loves to complain and criticize. Wherever there is a religious spirit in operation, there will be critical attitudes in operation with much murmuring, complaining, and wrong speaking. Complaining is the language of hell. It empowers curses, bondage, fear, and contamination. Our mouths were created to be powerful weapons in the hands of the Lord. The religious spirit has no joy or victory; therefore it complains on a continual basis. Religious churches are always murmuring. They are never satisfied and manage to find something to be discouraged about. They create a toxic environment that kills dreams.\n\nDo not grumble against one another, brothers, lest you be condemned. Look, the Judge is standing at the door.\n\n\u2014JAMES 5:9\n\nPERVERSION AND COMPROMISE\n\nThe religious spirit is a spirit of perversion! One definition of the word _pervert_ is \"to twist the meaning or sense of.\" Religious devils love to twist scriptures, bend truth, and alter the true meaning behind many kingdom concepts. The religious demon is a twisted devil. It binds people and turns the truth in order to deceive them. It leads to compromise by focusing on works without power. It creates a heart that is trapped in lifeless activity, easily opening the door to compromise. It abandons the plans of God in pursuit of building its own kingdom. Religion compromises the plans of heaven, the pathway of destiny, and the dream of God. It becomes so stuck in dead traditions that the life of the spirit is stomped out!\n\nBeware lest anyone captivate you through philosophy and vain deceit, in the tradition of men and the elementary principles of the world, and not after Christ.\n\n\u2014COLOSSIANS 2:8\n\nWhere there is a religious demon, there is often an abundance of sexual perversion. People are so yoked with heavy bondage in every area of their lives that they begin to manifest deviant behaviors. The religious spirit robs people of the oil of spiritual intimacy and passion. It dominates their lives with ritual and no relationship. It overwhelms their souls with hardship and oppression. In the absence of relationship and an abundance of rules, it's easy to give way to impure desires and appetites.\n\nThere are some groups that will not allow you to preach without a uniform, yet it is no secret that some of their leaders engage in improper sexual relationships. In fact, sexual sin runs rampant in many of these groups because they are bound by the oppressive powers of the religious spirit. It is not what they wear, their tradition, or their practices that increase the level of carnality; it is the yoke of the religious spirit. Having a particular dress code is not a sin, but when a person or group places a demand on others to conform to their preferences and preaches hell on them if they don't, then you have the working of a demon of bondage. When the oil of Holy Spirit is removed, something moves in to fill the vacuum.\n\nPOLITICS AND CONTROL\n\nThe religious spirit is a political spirit. I am not talking about governing or world affairs but about political methodologies in kingdom ministry. The religious spirit values soulish ideas and control above strong Spirit leading. It plays politics in the church instead of hearing and releasing the fresh word of the Lord. When a place or a people becomes gripped by the religious spirit, it will become overly political, consumed and driven by the opinions of men. This type of atmosphere discourages daring spiritual leadership and radical obedience. It shuns strong prophetic preaching and bold ministry. It will stifle the flow and ministry of Holy Spirit to placate people and keep them in a false state of peace. The religious spirit is a master at control, binding and hindering regions.\n\nThe religious spirit places far too great an emphasis on keeping everyone happy. The reality is that when you boldly preach the gospel, prophesy, and cast out demons, there will be waves in the ministry. An apostolic or prophetic ministry will have warfare. It is impossible to advance in the spirit personally or corporately and not have some type of resistance. The religious spirit will try to contain and confine. Spirit life is about freedom and identity. The religious spirit places unholy limitations on people's lives, trying to mask their identity in Christ. This demon boxes in people, ministries, and groups. It places a lid on spiritual life. Religious spirits hate freedom! Their goal is to capture and contain people. The anointing brings freedom. The power of God breaks prison doors open!\n\nNow the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.\n\n\u20142 CORINTHIANS 3:17\n\nNO JOY\n\nReligious people are angry people. They are offended by happiness, joy, and the preaching of the goodness of God.\n\nClap your hands, all you people! Shout to God with a joyful voice.\n\n\u2014PSALM 47:1\n\nThe Scripture tells us to worship God with exuberance and energy. Have you ever noticed how religious people value quiet and are offended by noise? Real praise is filled with emotion! There are emotions of thankfulness, gratitude, and excitement. As praise goes up, God's glory comes down, and people are shifted into the realm of the spirit. We were not created to offer God somber, unemotional praise and adoration. It is a shame that many people are OK with screaming, holding up signs, and dressing in uniform at a sporting event but totally irritated by bold and aggressive praise at a worship gathering. Oh, how shocked they will be when they get to heaven.\n\nCry out and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion. For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.\n\n\u2014ISAIAH 12:6\n\nAnd those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.\n\n\u2014ISAIAH 35:10, NIV\n\nThe Bible says that joy will crown our heads. We are to walk in the joy of the Lord. In fact, Nehemiah tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh. 8:10). We can get through the battle with joy. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians 5:22. As we spend time with Holy Spirit and live in the realm of the spirit, an overwhelming joy will come forth.\n\nJoy is not connected to the ups and downs of life. There is a joy in the realm of the spirit that can be continual. The religious spirit stifles the joy of the Lord. It creates an atmosphere void of joy. It despises joy. Where there is joy, there is laughter. There is celebration. There is happiness and rejoicing\u2014acting out the presence of joy. Religious demons create oppression, fear, and anger. In the camp of religion there is no room for joy or celebration.\n\nUNGENEROUS\n\nOne time the Lord told me that if I wanted to locate the depth of the religious spirit in a region, just preach on the goodness of God and generosity. Angry people are not generous. Religious people get upset with stories of God's goodness and His provision. Religious demons hate preaching on provision because it is part of the revelation of God as our Father. A father provides, protects, and guides. Religious demons paint a false picture of identity.\n\nFor the LORD your God has blessed you in all the works of your hands. He knows your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.\n\n\u2014DEUTERONOMY 2:7\n\nOver and over in Scripture God establishes Himself as our provider. One of the names of God, _Jehovah Jireh_ , means \"the Lord will provide.\" When we understand the role of our heavenly Father as provider, our faith is inspired, and we can dream big, believe big, sow big, and harvest big! Financial exploits are empowered by moving out of limitation and into the realm of generosity.\n\nBut my God shall supply your every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.\n\n\u2014PHILIPPIANS 4:19\n\nWe are called to live generously and give generously. This type of kingdom mentality breaks the back of poverty and fear in our lives. We no longer trust in ourselves or in this world's economy but rather in the abundant provision of heaven. We begin to move from fear and withholding the seed into faith and planting the seed with an expectation of supernatural harvest!\n\nThere is one who scatters, yet increases; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will be watered also himself. The people will curse him who withholds grain, but blessing will be upon the head of him who sells it.\n\n\u2014PROVERBS 11:24\u201326\n\nWhat leads a man or woman to transformative change?\n\nDo you despise the riches of His goodness, tolerance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?\n\n\u2014ROMANS 2:4\n\nIt is the preaching of the goodness of God that positions a heart at the gateway of change. It is the revelation of the goodness of God that unfolds transformation. Understanding the abundance of God's goodness is a major key to moving into kingdom plans.\n\nThink about it\u2014how can you enter into exploits believing that God is mad at you and views you as a worm? The answer is simple: you cannot! A mentality of religion, fear, and false identity disempowers faith and massively fuels a fear mentality. You live your life as a series of works to earn a redemption that has already been paid for by Jesus in all of His glory.\n\nReligion shackles you to the whipping post of failure. It provides an erroneous narrative of the greatest love story ever written. It convinces people who were eternally pursued, bought back, freed, and forgiven that God is angry and the plan unfulfilled. Many people are totally paralyzed by this toxic mind-set.\n\nWhen we begin to hear, know, and understand the true nature of our Father, we become gloriously free. What do free men do? They dream immense dreams. They daringly step out to go for the seemingly impossible. This is why the religious spirit hates the message of the goodness of God\u2014it leads people to freedom. When you discover what has already been done and who you are called to be, you will be well situated for an exhaustive metamorphosis.\n\n. . . making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have delivered. And you do many similar things.\n\n\u2014MARK 7:13\n\nOPERATIONS OF THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT\n\nThe religious spirit can operate on many different levels. There are two common operations. One is the level of personal attack, in which this demon goes after the hearts and minds of people who are on the verge of personal breakthrough. The other level is corporate attack, when the religious spirit targets those who hold power to transform the corporate body of Christ, the ekklesia.\n\nPersonal attack\n\nHunger is always that catalyst of change in the life of an individual. A person gets so hungry for the more of God that he or she becomes desperate. This is the gateway to progress. Our individual spiritual lives should look like a journey of personal advancement. We should never be content to just camp out where God met us last month or last week. Our prayer lives should be in motion. Our devotional lives should be in motion. Our prophetic lives (seeing, hearing, knowing) should be in motion. Our revelation should be increasing and evolving as the face of Jesus becomes clearer to us.\n\nThe Bible teaches in Matthew 5:6 that the hungry shall be filled. What about the satisfied? There is no account of provision for those who are complacent. Hunger and thirst are the picture of pursuit. Hungry people will travel. Hungry people will get up early in the morning. Hungry people will invest their lives in pursuit of heaven. I was recently reading the story of one of the great healing ministers of the previous generation. This man would preach with mind-blowing miracles erupting like a volcano. I wanted to know more. What was his secret? What was it that caused him to touch God in a way that touched a generation? What did he know about God that I did not yet know? What was the key that unlocked the door to another realm? So I started reading about his life. I quickly discovered the secret. He decided to pursue God until he found Him in all His miracle-working glory. He locked himself away for days and hours, praying until the Miracle Worker showed up. He got hungry and began to pursue God\n\nMake no mistake about it, that kind of pursuit infuriates the religious spirit. It will hurl condemning thoughts against a person who begins to chase God. It will release vile accusation and mind-tampering heaviness. It confines people on a personal basis to block their access to their spiritual inheritance. This is one level of operation. This is boots-on-the-ground combat.\n\nCorporate attack\n\nThere is another level of warfare that the religious spirit engages in. It attacks people, leaders, revelation, offices, and wineskins that hold power to transform the corporate body of Christ. This is a higher level of strategic operation of the religious spirit. There are reforms that heaven releases on earth to suddenly shift the function, insight, and strength of the ekklesia. There are religious spirit high-level operations that create mind-sets, cultures, and concepts to keep the corporate body of Christ from moving forward.\n\nUltimately you cannot change the flow of the ekklesia until you change the function. Many times people cry, beg, and scream for an Upper Room outpouring. They desperately want Holy Spirit to pour forth fresh rivers and new wine, but they do not want to change the systems or structure of how they do things. Revival typically leads to a reform\u2014a new order and new methods. Jesus taught about this very thing. He said that there could not be new wine without a new wineskin.\n\nAnd no one pours new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins will be marred. But new wine must be poured into new wineskins.\n\n\u2014MARK 2:22\n\nNew wine cannot be contained in an old wineskin. The old wineskin represents a fixed way of doing things. The reality is that God is continually opening our eyes to discover where He is moving and how we must move with Him. He shifts the wineskin before sending forth the burst of new wine. If He just sent the new wine, it would actually bring destruction to what has been built. There must be revelation of how to function. God raises up forerunners to tune in to His instruction and help His people embrace revelation to empower them to receive new wine.\n\nWe can see this pattern in Scripture when John the Baptist came on the scene preaching the message of the kingdom. He was preparing the people for a seismic shift, as Jesus would soon come announcing that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The kingdom was there, standing right in front of them. The wineskin was shifting, but many would not shift. Then in the Upper Room the outpouring came and birthed the age of the ekklesia. There was a new wineskin. It would take apostolic fathers and mothers to articulate and teach the systems and structures that would appropriately steward the new wine.\n\nThis pattern continues today. Reform is birthed as God touches men and women to see in the Spirit, revealing His methods. There is reform happening with the purpose of abandoning the pathway of religion and embracing the plans of awakening. The unfolding of a new wineskin empowers God's people to receive a sustained release of new wine.\n\nThe religious demonic structures work overtime against the ekklesia to attack and persecute agents of change. They cite traditions and practices of man to overwhelm scriptural truth and prophetic leading. They fight like a religious mafia, debating, belittling, and tearing down to maintain business as usual. Many who are giving voice to it are deceived, just as Paul was before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. They believe that they are actually protecting the kingdom of God when, in fact, they are manifesting a religious spirit.\n\nThe late C. Peter Wagner masterfully articulates these truths in his book _Freedom From the Religious Spirit_ :\n\nDaniel 2:21 tells us, \"[God] changes the times and the seasons.\" Part of the character of God, then, is to continually produce new wine and to provide new wineskins for it. But Satan, of course, does not like that a bit, and later in the same book of Daniel, Satan reveals his purposes through the \"fourth beast\" who, according to the text, \"shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and the law\" (Dan. 7:25). What God designs for His glory and the advance of His kingdom, Satan constantly attacks in order to turn it back around.\n\nWhat device does Satan use to attempt to roll back God's new times and seasons? Look at that phrase \"persecute the saints.\" The Aramaic word for \"persecute\" is _belah,_ which means to \"wear out\" the mind. In other words, the corporate spirit of religion, as Satan's agent in this case, does not play so much on the heart or on the emotions or on personal holiness or on the fruit of the Spirit, but rather on the _mind_.\n\nTEACHING BRINGS LIBERTY\n\nThe work of the religious spirit on this level must be counteracted by teaching and training. Many moves of God are aborted too quickly by the attacks of a religious spirit. In the void of proper teaching, people succumb to the mental attacks of this demonic power.\n\nMy brothers, not many of you should become teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment. We all err in many ways. But if any man does not err in word, he is a perfect man and able also to control the whole body. See how we put bits in the mouths of horses that they may obey us, and we control their whole bodies. And observe ships. Though they are so great and are driven by fierce winds, yet they are directed with a very small rudder wherever the captain pleases. Even so, the tongue is a little part of the body and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles. The tongue is a fire, a world of evil. The tongue is among the parts of the body, defiling the whole body, and setting the course of nature on fire, and it is set on fire by hell.\n\n\u2014JAMES 3:1\u20136\n\nThose in the office of the teacher act as the rudder of a ship, turning the entire body. We will live and manifest what we believe. The way we change what we believe is through study\u2014learning and renewing our minds. The teacher plays a key role in renewing the corporate mind of the body of Christ. High-level operations of the religious spirit will attack and attempt to discredit any teaching that holds the power to set people free. This demon knows that if people begin to think and believe differently, then they will move into transformation.\n\nTeaching is essential to the formation, maintenance, and healthy establishment of new wineskins and new wine. Apostles receive heavenly communication and instruction to implement and build new-wineskin ministries for revelation in the body of Christ. Prophets release the revelation and decree of critical components of the new wineskins, but teachers fortify the wineskins with teaching, training, and building the walls, brick by brick, nugget by nugget.\n\nIn today's media-driven society, one of the religious spirit's favorite outlets is social media and online platforms. It will release lies against emerging voices and powerful kingdom leaders. It will attack their character, criticize their words, and attempt to tear down the revelation. It sees the threat and acts swiftly to stop it. Religious spirits attack any messenger who challenges their systems of bondage. People with religious demons will attack when they feel threatened by the revelation or ministry of another. Insecurity is always a breeding ground of demonic influence.\n\nWhile most of these subjects relate to the attacks of the religious spirits on Christians individually and corporately, there is yet another dimension of the religious spirit. It binds the minds of the unsaved and keeps their hearts trapped in deception by partnering with a power called \"doctrines of devils,\" actual demonic spirits that carry the message of false teaching to humanity to trap them outside of salvation. All people who dedicate their lives to the rules and regulations of any spiritual practice not built upon the cornerstone of Jesus and His salvation are being influenced by the religious spirit. The religious spirit works outside of the Christian church to build strong fortresses of false religion, creating men and women who are deceived and bound for hell but think they are on the road to heaven. It infiltrates politics and media and creates statements like, \"All roads lead to heaven.\" These words are evil pronouncements of deception fostered by the powers of hell to convince mankind that they can be saved without the Savior and redeemed without the Redeemer.\n\nFalse religions are empowered and established by demonic rulers. They create belief systems to keep people outside of heaven. They penetrate the thinking and believing of people to bind them to false ideas. Only the power of almighty God can break this type of religious deception. That is why it took a bright light and a Damascus road experience to reach Paul. He had to be convinced by the supernatural power of a living God. A living God speaks and moves!\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Do I get jealous of others whom God is promoting?\n\n\u00bb Am I spiritually dry? Does there seem to be an invisible lid on my spiritual life?\n\n\u00bb Am I overly critical and too quickly distracted by meaningless debates?\n\n\u00bb Am I stuck in dead traditions that do not lead me to the life of Jesus?\n\n\u00bb Do I allow fear of man to hinder me and hold me back from moving in my calling?\n\n\u00bb Am I easily offended?\n\n\u00bb Do I really have the joy of the Lord in my life, or do I just do what is required of me to please others?\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Do a heart check every day.\n\n\u00bb Learn to do everything for God alone, not to be noticed or praised by man.\n\n\u00bb Ask God to reveal areas of bondage in your life and to show you how to escape.\n\n\u00bb Encounter Holy Spirit on a continual basis to keep your oil flowing and your purpose pure.\n\n\u00bb Be purposeful about recognizing patterns of religious activity with no spirit life.\n\n\u00bb Release the oil of Holy Spirit in prayer and worship.\n\n\u00bb Meditate on the goodness, generosity, and grace of God. Allowing His new nature to permeate your thinking will eradicate the power of the religious spirit in your life.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_Father, keep me pure in all my motives. Show me if I ever begin to allow religion or bondage to enter my life. I want to serve You and You alone. I want only to please You, to do all I do for You. I am not a man pleaser but a God pleaser! You are the Author and Finisher of my faith. I break free from religious tradition and bondage in Jesus's name. I rip every demonic lid off my spiritual life, and I release Your abundant grace over me. I know that You are good, and I rest in Your goodness. I receive Your goodness. I confess Your goodness. I say that I am filled to overflowing with Your joy. Thank You, Lord, that I walk close to You all the days of my life, I hear Your voice, and You alone do I follow._\nChapter 9\n\nFIRST-LOVE LIFESTYLE: FREEDOM FROM THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT\n\nIT IS IMPORTANT when examining properly the many-faceted dimensions of the religious spirit to begin with the understanding that there is a company of demons that make up this family of religious spirits. There are the religious demons that sow seeds of the world's false religions, as we established in the previous chapter. These devils work to abort the magnificent revelation of the man named Jesus Christ. In some regions of the world these demonic powers are so strong that the only way Jesus can break through is by visiting people in person through a vision, a dream, or even an encounter. The stronghold of false religion chokes out the preaching of the gospel, even threatening believers with acts of violence. This is one class of demon operating at a high level to restrict and rule a territory.\n\nDON'T BE DECEIVED\n\nThen there are the types of demonic beings that are most often associated with the term _religious spirits._ These spirits sow seeds of bondage into the lives of Christian believers. There are levels of assignment in that class of demon as well. There are the foot soldiers, or little demons, that influence the minds, thoughts, emotions, and belief systems of people. I remember a number of years ago dealing with one such devil. I was sharing with someone about the powerful ministry of Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues. Without hesitation the person with whom I was sharing said that speaking in tongues was of the devil.\n\nI asked why this person thought like that, and he rattled off what his church had taught and gave me a few opinions. I let him finish, and then I got out my Bible. I began to expound on the outpouring in the book of Acts. Then I went to commonly misunderstood scriptures in 1 Corinthians 14 and explained the diversities of tongues and the laws that govern each operation. I shared my personal testimony about all the miracles and breakthroughs I have had from praying in the Spirit. When I finished, the person was unwavering. \"What about the Bible?\" I asked. He had no answer. It was then I realized that his mind was twisted in knots and blocked to the truth by a religious spirit. This was the work of a demon that blocked the transforming knowledge of the Word of God.\n\nEvery one of us has had personal attacks from the religious spirit in our lives. We have been spoon-fed lies to keep us from kingdom living and victorious believing. I remember a time when I was in a revival meeting and Holy Ghost laughter broke out. The joy of the Lord hit the building as God began to minister to His people. I had never been in a meeting like that. It scared me, and I thought it must be of the devil. As I was trying to figure it out, the Lord rebuked me and told me it was Him moving! I quickly repented and jumped in the flow. That night my life was forever changed. As a matter of fact, nearly every breakthrough I have had in my journey with God has required me to face religious thinking and believing in order to go to the next level. I have had to determine that my heart is after God and I will be in the midst of His times, seasons, and activities in the earth. If I must change my mind-set, then I will! I will not get stuck.\n\nThere is an even greater measure of the religious spirit that acts to enslave groups of people in false belief systems and lifeless works. This type of spirit is a high-level demon most likely on the level of a principality, much like the queen of heaven (Jer. 7:18). This is a far greater plot than afflicting an individual with lust, rage, or despair. This is a territorial demon that infiltrates churches, ministries, groups, organizations, cities, and regions to establish firm strongholds of religious bondage. This demon has a collective assignment to ensnare and entangle a large group of people, thereby preventing the light of the gospel from spreading.\n\nThis ruling demon does not manifest boldly but hides beneath religious language and subtle attitudes. It seeks to establish a lid on a territory and people. It places a lid on the realm of power. Jesus preached the kingdom with power! The disciples preached the kingdom with power! The early church preached the kingdom with power! This high-ranking demon does all it can to dismantle kingdom thinking and structures as well as the power that they generate.\n\nThis demon deceives people into thinking they are doing God's will. It creates guardians that will fight with great intensity to maintain the religious status quo. One of the answers for this type of ruler is a true apostle who comes into a territory with a breaker anointing. (See Micah 2.) Apostles then break open the tough ground, preach with power, build a strong kingdom-based ministry, and establish spiritual sons and daughters. This demon, of course, will fight that type of ministry tooth and nail. Many regions with this type of religious spirit in operation have no strong apostolic or prophetic ministry. The religious churches and groups have run them all out of town.\n\nWHERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS, THERE IS LIBERTY\n\nThere is no bigger aim of the religious spirit than to create enduring bondage. The aim of this demonic spirit is to undo the radical freedom that was obtained through Jesus's sacrifice at the cross.\n\nNow the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.\n\n\u20142 CORINTHIANS 3:17\n\nThe presence of the Lord breaks chains, tears down walls, and removes shackles. Religion hates spiritual freedom. It works overtime to reinforce evil and restrictive barriers.\n\nThe religious spirit creates a lack of freedom in the following:\n\n\u2022 **Receiving God's love** \u2014When you are bound, it is so difficult to know and believe the undying love of God.\n\n\u2022 **Receiving God's goodness** \u2014The nature of the Father toward His sons and daughters is that of goodness. Religious bondage empowers a theology that severely limits receptivity of the goodness of God. Believing, accepting, and receiving the goodness of God bring tremendous liberty.\n\nFor freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.\n\n\u2014GALATIANS 5:1\n\n\u2022 **Believing God's promises and who He says we are** \u2014Bondage attempts to hold you away from the promises of God. We access breakthrough by accepting and acting on His promises. If you can find a promise from God, you can find a breakthrough.\n\nReligious bondage keeps people stuck in slavery when Jesus provided adoption into the family of God. A bound heart is a wounded heart! Breaking the grip of bondage releases tremendous healing and freedom of identity.\n\n\u2022 **Prayer** \u2014The religious spirit creates powerless patterns of prayer that resemble routine more than relationship. Prayer is intended to be an intimate method of communication. Freedom from religious bondage releases a heart to enter a deeper and more glorious communication with God. Breaking the bondage will release new dimensions of intimacy. One of the highest points of prayer is the release of glory. When we come into the presence of God and His glory shows up, He is there in person. When God steps in, anything is possible.\n\n\u2022 **Relationship with others** \u2014The religious spirit issues a constant stream of criticism and judgment, eradicating the grace of God. Bound people are continually judging others without any type of grace. True grace empowers love. When we walk in love, we are not easily offended. We are quick to forgive and full of mercy.\n\n\u2022 **Walking in the power of God** \u2014Religious bondage annihilates the flow of the power of God. It is impossible to believe God for miracles and breakthroughs when you are stuck in religious bondage. This demon is an anti-anointing demon. Reading and studying the miracles of Jesus build faith and create a paradigm of the power of God.\n\nHow can I personally overcome the prison of the religious spirit and the patterns of bondage? As with any deliverance, it begins with recognizing the patterns we have listed. These are the symptoms of a prison that the religious spirit has placed you in illegally. You must realize that this spirit infiltrates your thinking. In order to break free, you must be willing to think differently and look at the Word of God through a fresh lens.\n\nDemon spirits travel through breaches. The dictionary defines _breach_ as \"a broken, ruptured, or torn condition or area.\" It is essentially an opening. Deliverance requires expelling a spirit, breaking its grip by using the authority of the Word, the name, and the blood of Jesus to command it to go, and slamming every door shut to close the breach.\n\nI remember a lady who struggled with condemnation and fear. She was invited to attend a meeting with a preacher who operated in a heavy religious spirit and released a very condemning message. One of my ministry team members advised her not to go and sit under that teaching. Why? Because it would only reinforce a mental and emotional opening that allowed demon spirits to travel back and forth. These openings must be closed by prayer and the Word of God. Every lie has to be addressed by the truth!\n\nOne of the great examples of this is the confrontation between Jesus and the devil in the wilderness. As Satan raged on with temptation after temptation, Jesus kept meeting his lies with the Word of God. Over and over again He stated, \"It is written.\" He did not offer up His opinion or suggestion. He stood firmly upon the written Word of God. This is a victory key! Meet the lies with the Word. As you are breaking free from a religious spirit, you will have to refresh and renew your mind with the Word of God. You will have to speak God's promises of sonship and adoption over and over again.\n\nBreaking free from the religious spirit will require purposeful pursuit of sonship. You must dive deep into the Scriptures to discover your identity as a son or daughter of God. You must build your faith by listening to teaching that reinforces your freedom. This will lead you to a place of unfettered worship that only sons and daughters enjoy. As you come into His presence from a place of freedom, you will soar above the bondage of the past.\n\nSTAY THE COURSE\n\nOne way you can judge the strength of a revelation or a prophetic concept is the measure of resistance that it provokes. It is vital that you view the resistance as a confirmation and press on. The religious spirit blocks kingdom breakthrough by pressuring apostolic and prophetic ministry gifts to bow to dead traditions and humanistic opinions. The reality is that those very traditions act as tools to restrict and contain the move of God. We need daring apostolic leaders who refuse to bow and keep blazing the trail!\n\nWhen they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. According to his custom, Paul went in, and on three Sabbaths he lectured to them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, \"This Jesus, whom I preach to you, is the Christ.\" Some of them were persuaded and joined with Paul and Silas, including a great crowd of devout Greeks and many leading women.\n\nBut the Jews who did not believe became jealous and, taking some evil men from the marketplace, gathered a crowd, stirred up the city, and attacked the house of Jason, trying to bring them out to the mob. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brothers to the city officials, crying out, \"These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.\"\n\n\u2014ACTS 17:1\u20136\n\nPaul and his team were directly challenging the ruling religious spirit, its false mind-set, its teaching, and the demonic grip it had on the region. What was the weapon of choice? Teaching! Paul expounded the truths of the Word of God in order to set the captives free. Breaking a ruling religious power will take teaching. There must be a release of heavenly foundations, a ripping apart of false foundations, and a building of new foundations. Apostles and prophets can work together to accomplish this goal in short order.\n\nThe region was stirred. This is the apostolic anointing in action. It breaks hard ground open, establishes the kingdom, and directly engages demonic rulers. Anytime there is an extreme reaction, it is evidence of spiritual warfare. The region rose and responded to the ministry of Paul. His ministry was not affecting just the ground but the airspace above where demons traffic.\n\nThe prophetic anointing carries such a grace to labor alongside apostolic ministry. Prophets carry an anointing to tear down the false! They prophesy against deception and reveal the testimony of Jesus.\n\nThen the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, \"Now, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.\"\n\n\u2014JEREMIAH 1:9\u201310\n\nThe Lord placed His word in Jeremiah's mouth to expose, confront, and tear down demonic structures, lies, and concepts. Prophets are spiritual warriors who do not back down from the threats of the enemy. They have seen the hidden demon crouching in the corner. They see the lie and refuse to keep silent. They become powerful weapons in the arsenal of the Lord. One deception that often grips prophets and prophetic people is that they become overly warfare oriented without revealing Jesus. It is critical that prophets understand the full weight of the call and their responsibility to love and serve the body as well as tear down. If there is no building, it becomes highly problematic.\n\nO foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.\n\n_\u2014_ GALATIANS 3:1\n\nReligious powers released a demonic enchantment over the Galatian church. Paul was speaking to them in a corrective fashion as their apostolic father. He could have used any language, but he chose to use the word _bewitched_. The purpose of this spell was to remove the believers from the liberty that had been established with the truth of the gospel and to replace truth with error, therefore shutting down the power and advancement of the kingdom.\n\nHow would this spell be broken? It needed to be addressed by the leaders and broken by the blood of the Lamb. Paul was exposing it in order to get them free. Exposure is warfare 101. You cannot conquer what you do not identify. Paul clearly marked the deception in order to bring the Galatians out of the snare of religious powers. This type of religious power moves to ensnare an entire group. It takes leadership within the group to renounce the authority of the enemy and break its power in the name of Jesus.\n\nMany regions, organizations, and ministries need bold, strong leaders who will unashamedly rise up and break the powers of the enemy. God always appoints leaders to usher groups into the promise. There is an anointing that flows as pictured in Psalm 133. The precious oil of Holy Spirit flowed down upon the beard of Aaron the priest and onto the people. That type of anointing breaks yokes, restores vision, and empowers people. Every spiritual relationship should unlock a flow.\n\nTHE CALL OF FIRST LOVE\n\nBut I have something against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your candlestick from its place, unless you repent.\n\n\u2014REVELATION 2:4\u20135\n\nThe church at Ephesus had forgotten its primary calling. It had abandoned the pathway of first love. There is a love that is to be above every other. There is a lover who paid the highest price for us. Our truest and highest calling is to love Jesus and be loved by Him\u2014this is first love.\n\nThe entire mission of Christianity could be summed up simply like this: to be loved, to love God, and to love others. We are called to be living demonstrations of radical love, pursuit, and encounter. One of the deepest and most painful operations of the religious spirit is to trap us in a life of continual striving without truly experiencing the wonderful love and mercy of God.\n\nBut experiencing the wonderful love and mercy of God is our call! This is our passion\u2014to live lives of first-love pursuit and encounter. Jesus did not come and willingly offer His life to make us good slaves. He came to seek and save that which was lost. The Father sent Him on a divine rescue mission to restore us back to the family of God.\n\nFor the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.\n\n\u2014LUKE 19:10\n\nThe mission of Jesus was to reposition us outside of the curse that resulted from the fall of Adam and to plant us in the family of God. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.\n\n\u2014COLOSSIANS 1:13\u201314\n\nWe have been radically delivered from the domain of darkness. We have been translated into the kingdom of God as sons and daughters. We are to live above the ruling powers of hell. We are not to be bound by the schemes, plots, and lies of the enemy.\n\nThe religious spirit works to undo the reality of our new nature. When we were born again, we were essentially recreated. We have a new nature. We have a spirit that is made in the image and likeness of our Father. We are not limited. We are not under the realm of darkness or any of its regulations. We can live in the spirit realm. We can walk out the plans of God. We can live from the dimension of the glory of God.\n\nDo not lie one to another, since you have put off the old nature with its deeds, and have embraced the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created it.\n\n\u2014COLOSSIANS 3:9\u201310\n\nThe religious spirit wants to set a trap for us as it did for the Galatian church. It wants to bind us in defeat and strap us down with bondage. We must make a concerted effort to tap into our new nature by walking in the Spirit. There is a pathway that leads directly out of bondage and straight into the wonders of the kingdom. This is the first-love lifestyle! Pursuit becomes the norm, and encounter is a regular occurrence.\n\nTo walk in the new nature, we begin with the understanding that we were saved not for works alone but for relationship. God's highest desire for our lives is relationship with Him. In order to understand the practical dynamics of what this looks like, we must first lay a foundation of what a relationship is. It begins with a bond and is strengthened by investment.\n\nAll relationships have some type of bond. Family relationships have a bond of blood. Romantic relationships have a bond of attraction and affection. Business relationships have a bond of benefit and shared goals. Our relationship with the Father is based on a bond of unwavering love and commitment.\n\nWhile we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Rarely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. How much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. Furthermore, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.\n\n\u2014ROMANS 5:6\u201311\n\nGod is so good that He pursued us even when we had no interest in serving Him. Time and again humanity failed God, but He pursued us anyway. This is the foundation of our relationship with the Lord. He loves us with a deep covenant love. He pursued us. He ransomed us. He forgave us, and He is presently working on our behalf. He is our good Father! This is the starting point of our relationship with Him\u2014understanding His deep passion toward us.\n\nHe reconciled us. He brought us back into a position of sonship that Adam had forfeited. He paid it all for us. He provided His Son as a ransom for us. We begin our pursuit of God from a position of unfathomable love. We begin with the call of first love.\n\nTHE PURSUIT OF GOD\n\nEvery relationship moves beyond a bond into pursuit. Any relationship that loses pursuit also loses encounter. These two are vital components of relationship. Pursuit demands that we take practical steps motivated by love. In our relationship with the Father we must develop a lifestyle of continual pursuit. What does this look like? Let me lay out some very simple and practical steps to living free from the grasp of a religious spirit and remaining planted in a first-love lifestyle.\n\n\u2022 **Worship** \u2014This is one of the distinguishing marks of a son or daughter of God. We are born to be worshippers. Worship is the act of releasing our intimate affection to the Lord. It is the expression of our adoration. Worship is the engine of first love. The Greek word for worship literally means \"to blow kisses toward.\" Worship is the language of heavenly love! We are releasing our affection and adoration toward Jesus, and as we sit in His presence, we are receiving His love back to us.\n\nWorship is the constant act of surrender. It is not just a few fleeting moments; it is a lifestyle of surrender. David is one of the Bible's great heroes. His source of power was his radical love for God. Time and again he was the underdog. He was the reject and the misfit, but he found the presence of God and was never the same. Worship, radical adoration, will crown the misfit and the underdog, taking them from pit to palace!\n\nWe must develop a worship lifestyle. We lift our hands. We bow low before Him. We pour out our hearts. We worship with music. We sit in the quiet places, telling Him of our love. We surrender fully and deeply to Him. We feel His presence like waves rushing over us, encountering us, shifting us, refreshing us. This is worship! It is authentic, organic, and original. Make time for it, make space for it, and allow it to be a central focus of your life.\n\nBless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.\n\n\u2014PSALM 103:1\n\n\u2022 **Praise.** What is the distinction between praise and worship? In many ways they flow seamlessly together, but there are some key differences. To praise is to lift up. Praise is lifting up the name of Jesus, the power of God, and the promises of God above every other thing. When we praise, we are exuberantly lifting up the Lord. Praise holds the power to crush the weapons of the enemy. Praise will break heaviness.\n\nIsaiah 61:3 tells us to put on \"the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.\" Praise is an eruptive and exuberant expression of thanksgiving. When we praise God, we often begin from a place of remembering where and how He moved in our lives. This type of expression will create spiritual movement in your life. Every believer must be a praiser!\n\nPraise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power! Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the lyre and harp! Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing; praise Him with stringed instruments and flute! Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with the clanging cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!\n\n\u2014PSALM 150:1\u20136\n\n\u2022 **Reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God** \u2014The Word of God is a manual straight from the heart of God. Romans teaches us that as we renew our minds with the truth of God's Word, we position ourselves to fulfill the will of God (12:2). Simply put, this means we must learn to think differently. That is a process, not a one-time thing. All believers must become students of the Word of God. They must read it regularly, study it, and dig into it. They must also meditate on it, ponder it, and pray it out.\n\nIsaiah 55:11 says, \"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.\" The Word of God is our promise book. As we dive deep into the pages of the written Word, we are empowered to prosper and live from a place of victory. We can stand upon the promises of God and declare them over our lives. The Word will create strength, healing, and victory if we partner with it. We can receive it and decree it with great confidence. A journey into God's Word is an exploration of life-changing power. The Word of God is the voice of God in our lives. It is crafted to shape us and to plant us deep in the ways of our Father.\n\nFor the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.\n\n\u2014HEBREWS 4:12\n\n\u2022 **Prayer** \u2014Daily conversation, reflection, and communication with God is imperative to a vibrant first-love lifestyle. Volumes have been written about the various facets of prayer. There are so many pathways upon which we can travel into the heart of God. The primary thing is to make encountering and seeking God a priority. We need quiet times of prayer. We need times of governing prayer, of binding and loosing. We need times to lean in, be still, and listen. We need times of praying in the Spirit, building our faith, and unraveling the mysteries. Prayer was one of Jesus's most powerful weapons. When they were all looking for Him, He was alone, outside of the city pursuing the Father. This is our model. James 5:16 tells us, \"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.\" A life framed by prayer is one of powerful destiny fulfilled.\n\nIn the morning, rising up a great while before sunrise, He went out and departed to a solitary place. And there He prayed.\n\n\u2014MARK 1:35\n\nSEEK HIM\n\nA first-love lifestyle, free from the grip of religious deception, is one of pursuit. There are practical steps to build a life of ongoing relationship with God. When you pursue, you will find Him. His power will show up. The men and women who do extreme exploits in a generation are those who have found His presence, His power, and His majesty. A first-love lifestyle creates a reservoir of power. Faith produces earth-shaking kingdom works.\n\nSo faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.\n\n\u2014JAMES 2:17\n\nThis is the result of pursuit: the kingdom begins to manifest in your life, wonders are unlocked, and the supernatural comes bursting forth. This is what the religious spirit works overtime to stop. It does not want Christians operating in the power of the gospel with boldness, strength, and authority. It is impossible to hang out with Jesus and not manifest His power.\n\nAs you plunge headlong into the love of God, a deep well of His affection and nature will rise in your life. Love produces grace toward others. As God's love for you and toward you is unraveled, it becomes much easier to have grace and mercy for others when they fall short. The religious spirit has no grace with people. It uses rules and regulations to place shackles of bondage on people, but the love of God releases the grace and mercy of God.\n\nBe of the same mind toward one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not pretend to be wiser than you are.\n\n\u2014ROMANS 12:16\n\nLove produces personal freedom. As you discover how much God loves you, it sets you free from the lies, torment, accusation, and weapons of the enemy. The love of God acts as a powerful tool to enforce the revelation of freedom in Christ. The love of God empowers your identity as a son or daughter of God. As you live a first-love lifestyle, you discover who you are! This breaks the chains of bondage and releases your heart to dream and believe big. The love of God creates a God-confidence in your life. You become convinced that God is ready, willing, and able to do all that He has promised. The impossible now seems to be within your grasp through the power of the name, the Word, and the blood of Jesus.\n\nA life of first love plants you in a supernatural lifestyle. You begin to believe and expect the miracles of God. Your heart soars to believe for the miraculous. You step out of mundane, ordinary living and into the realm of the miraculous and extraordinary.\n\nThe goal of the religious spirit is to trap a believer into lifeless cycles in which he or she is unable to enjoy the privilege of intimacy with the Father. The work of Jesus on Calvary was total and absolute atonement. He paid the price for every human being who will receive Him. There is unfathomable freedom in the power of His blood.\n\nFreedom is not a single moment but an ongoing journey. We move from faith to faith, from glory to glory. By the power of Holy Spirit, blinders are removed, and truth is made manifest. We have been positioned in Jesus in heavenly places and are called to rule and reign.\n\nWhen we receive Jesus, we are made new. We receive a new nature that empowers us to live a life of the Spirit of God. Jesus's sacrifice gave us full access to the kingdom, to rule and reign with Him as sons and daughters of God. We can lay down the mentality of servanthood without sonship. We are empowered to rule and reign with Christ. We conquer and defeat the work of the religious spirit in our personal lives as we pursue the Lord, renew our minds, and take our places as sons and daughters, recognizing that we were born to live wildly and gleefully free!\n\nPOINTS TO CONSIDER\n\n\u00bb Are you falling more in love with Jesus every day?\n\n\u00bb Do you spend time with Him daily?\n\n\u00bb Do you have a revelation of all that Jesus did for you?\n\n\u00bb Do you honor Jesus by walking in the reality of all that He has secured for you?\n\nWHERE TO BEGIN\n\n\u00bb Spend time with Jesus, just talking with Him and listening. (Always have something to record what He says to you.)\n\n\u00bb Meditate on the goodness of God, on the nature of God, and on all the promises for you.\n\n\u00bb Read the Word of God for deeper revelation on the kingdom.\n\n\u00bb Be vigilant about counteracting the lies of the religious spirit with the truth of the Word of God. Don't let the religious spirit put you and keep you in bondage.\n\nPRAYER\n\n_Lord, give me a deeper revelation of Jesus and the price He paid for me. Show me how to walk in freedom in every area of my life. Give me understanding of reigning on this earth and of my identity as a son or daughter of God. I decree that I am free from sickness and disease, I have the mind of Christ, I am prosperous spirit, soul, and body, and I walk in all that the blood has purchased for me. In Jesus's name, amen._\nChapter 10\n\nENFORCING THE KINGDOM: LIVING FREE\n\nTHE MINISTRY OF Jesus brings deliverance. As He went forth in the earth, He broke the power of the devil.\n\nWhen Jesus entered Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother, lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she rose and served them. When the evening came, they brought to Him many who were possessed with demons. And He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all who were sick.\n\n_\u2014_ MATTHEW 8:14\u201316\n\nEverywhere Jesus went, people were delivered. The church has the same bold call to freedom in this hour. Yet as we look at the church today, most people either do not believe in casting out devils or have never been taught how to do it, and many think it is mere foolishness. Yet while they are asleep, the enemy advances.\n\nWe can no longer have a Pollyanna attitude and simply pretend the enemy is not real. But we also do not want to overemphasize his power. Though it is important for us to understand his schemes and know how to thwart them, we must remember that we are victorious and triumphant children of the Most High.\n\nSomeone once asked me, \"Do you look for a devil behind every bush?\" My answer: \"No, but I know what to do when he shows up!\" We can live free in our minds, free in our bodies, free in our spiritual lives, and free in every area! The total price has been paid.\n\nNO LONGER CAPTIVE\n\nIf ever there has been a time for churches, ministries, and believers to be full of anointing, strength, and power, it is now! The world needs another great revival, but it is going to take a church on fire for that to happen. We must break the grip of these foul anti-anointing spirits and ride the mighty winds of God!\n\nFor our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.\n\n\u2014EPHESIANS 6:12\n\nSpiritual warfare is a part of our existence as believers. There are battles, attacks, and traps. We are not fighting with human beings but being resisted by unseen powers. Paul is teaching in these verses that there will be conflict. There will be opposition. Developing a winning strategy for war is critical. We cannot and must not leave our destinies to change. We cannot afford to shun the responsibility that we have as believers to engage the enemy and enforce the authority of the kingdom.\n\nThere are people who question the need for teaching on demon powers, bondages, and deception. If you were the devil and you really wanted to infiltrate culture, take over society, and bind up the church, what would be your master plan of deception? Convincing people that you are either not real or not doing anything would be a pretty good start. This is exactly what he does. He works overtime to strip revelation away from believers so that they will not pray in the Holy Spirit and move in the power of God. Their impotence allows him to operate subtly and effectively behind the scenes.\n\nEffective warfare strategy begins with spiritual education. This is enforced time after time in the Bible. Paul admonished Timothy to be a good student.\n\nStudy to show yourself approved by God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.\n\n\u20142 TIMOTHY 2:15\n\nLearning the tactics of the enemy, the nature of demon powers, and the authority of the believer equips you for masterful and victorious warfare. Educating yourself prepares you for the task at hand.\n\nYou must also realize that demons prefer the cover of darkness. The devil functions best when he is unseen and hidden. He releases wicked schemes under the radar. Battle strategy number one is exposure! You can never overcome what you fail to identify. Discerning what type of demonic power you are facing helps identify its tactics, operations, and schemes. This also helps you know how to combat it.\n\nTypically there are four points to break through a demonic attack. First, you discern the attack and identify the demon. Second, you enter into prayer to get wisdom and instruction. Third, you rise in authority to break the attack. You exercise the dominion that Jesus has given to you as a child of God. You boldly tell the devil no! You break his power and assignment over your life. You serve a spiritual eviction notice. This is what deliverance really is! It is evicting the enemy and sweeping the house clean.\n\nFinally you renew your mind and develop your faith to stay free. It is one matter to get free, but you must realize that the devil is persistent. If a demon has been operating in and around you for years and then you evict it, it will look for a way to come back. Jesus taught us this principle. If people are not willing to do some follow-up work, then it is better not even to minister deliverance to them because they can end up worse off.\n\nWhen an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through dry places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, \"I will return to my house from which I came.\" And when it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation.\n\n_\u2014_ MATTHEW 12:43\u201345\n\nWe must recognize that deliverance is often a process and not a singular event. If people refuse to build their faith, study the Word, renew their minds, and fight the fight of faith, they can receive deliverance ministry and end up worse.\n\nGO TO THE POWER SOURCE\n\nI remember, a number of years ago as I was leading a church in a very religious territory, a severely bound man came to me for help. He told me that he had been molested as a child and had continual struggles. You could look at him and see the presence of an unclean spirit. It had attached itself to every part of his life. He was in desperate need of spiritual breakthrough and strong deliverance ministry.\n\nI asked him where he went to church, and he told me. In that region there were few places that believed in and practiced deliverance. He was attending a nice church that had nice one-hour meetings with no power or authority. You may be happy to attend a nice church; you may love the music, the short services, and all the nice, predictable messages\u2014until your family gets in trouble. Then you want a radical church that heals the sick, casts out demons, and believes in miracles.\n\nI asked the man if he had shared this issue with his pastor. He said he had and that his pastor had laughed and said that they did not believe in demons at that church. This is a problem. If you have demonic oppression and you are attending a nice church that refuses to deal with demons, you can easily sink deeper into spiritual trouble. This man was desperate and in major trouble, but he was in a place that refused to help him. The reality of demons pushed them beyond their comfort zone.\n\nYou must understand that deliverance is neither pretty nor convenient, but it is absolutely necessary. The church you go to could be the difference between life and death for you.\n\nIt is easy to be extremely zealous, see a need, and just start casting out spirits, but in reality, if the person involved is not willing to do some follow-up work, you are doing that person a disservice. I have learned this the hard way. Demonic oppression creates strongholds in the thought life that act as gateways into a person. Those thoughts are connected to desires. The thoughts must be dealt with, the desires must be resisted, and the flesh must be put under. (Fasting is a great deliverance tool.)\n\nThe enemy will use thoughts, emotions, feelings, and desires to try and creep back in. Many people just want it all dealt with at an altar with no effort on their part. This is lazy faith! James taught us that faith takes some elbow grease. There must be some effort exerted. Not only do we have to break the foothold of the enemy, but we also must resist his attempts to come back.\n\nTherefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.\n\n\u2014JAMES 4:7\n\nAfter receiving deliverance, the journey continues. It is imperative that you resist\u2014stand against and firmly and repeatedly say no. It will take the prayers and agreement of others to keep the cord broken. Sometimes you must let go of some relationships and change your surroundings. You may have to stop watching certain programs and listening to certain music to slam the gateway shut and keep it that way.\n\nThe devil will lie to you and tell you that you are not free because you are having a tempting thought or desire. This is a heinous lie intended to overwhelm you and get you to give in to a spirit of defeat. You must recognize this lie and aggressively rise against it. You are not a captive to your mind, your body, or your appetites. You are in charge! You can use your authority to make these things line up with the Word of God.\n\nNo temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, and He will not permit you to be tempted above what you can endure, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.\n\n\u20141 CORINTHIANS 10:13\n\nThe word _temptation_ means \"a strong urge or desire.\" When a demon is removed, there can be root systems in the thought life. These thoughts attempt to give way to desires. These desires need to be bridled by the Word of God and your new nature. You must tap into the realm of the spirit and subdue the desire. The enemy provides temptation. Don't let the fact that you are being tempted cause you to question the freedom that belongs to you. The devil wants to use a fleeting thought or desire to convince you that you are bound. Do not buy his lies! Keep your confession strong and your mind rooted in the Word of God.\n\nThere is a powerful connection between what is in your heart and your mouth. When you believe something, you will think on it, and it will be planted deep inside of your thought life. You will then speak it out of your mouth. As you speak what you believe, you are releasing words of life or death in the realm of the spirit.\n\nDeath and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.\n\n\u2014PROVERBS 18:21\n\nOne vital key to living and staying free is to make speaking the Word of God part of your prayer life. Refuse to allow negative words of fear to dominate your mind and mouth. When the enemy screams at your mind that you are not free, boldly tell him that you are free and bind his lies up in Jesus's name! Dive deep into the Word of God, and find answers for your situation. Become a student of the freedom that you are seeking, and then pray, ponder, and meditate on those verses. Speak them out of your mouth. Call your mind free! Call your body free! Call your spiritual life free! Call your family free! Call your business, ministry, and financial life free! Prophesy the Word of God over your life by declaring what has already been written. Your mouth becomes a defense against the enemy.\n\nDecreeing the victory and breaking the power of the enemy are a crucial part of your personal freedom. Here are prayers and confessions for the various areas I have covered:\n\nBREAKING JEZEBEL ATTACKS\n\nIntimidation\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that You said in Proverbs 28:1 that the righteous are as bold as a lion! I break all intimidation from me in Jesus's name! I bind fear. I bind timidity in Jesus's name. I break the power of Jezebel's intimidation off my life in the name of Jesus. I command the lies of Jezebel to be broken off my mind. You foul Jezebel spirit, I command you to go, in Jesus's name. I will not listen to you. I will not surrender to you. I am free in the name of Jesus. Amen._\n\nRebellion\n\n_Lord, I thank You that I can and do fully surrender to You. You said in James 4:7 to submit myself to You and resist the devil. I come before You now, bowing my life before You. I offer myself as an offering to You. I give all of me to You. I repent for opening any doors of rebellion. I repent for partnering with rebellious thoughts or activities. I ask for Your mercy and forgiveness over my life in Jesus's name. I speak to every foul operation of rebellion, and I command it to go, in Jesus's name! I break the hold of Jezebel's rebellion over my life in the name of Jesus. I confess that I am free, that I honor authority and submit to all godly leaders, and that I live a life of godly surrender and submission in Jesus's name._\n\nWord curses\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I am blessed coming in and blessed going out, according to Deuteronomy 28. No curse can prosper against my life! I release the power of the blood of Jesus over me in Jesus's name. I break every word curse of Jezebel over my life. Every demonic decree over me is broken. Every false accusation is exposed and proved a lie. No lie will stand against me. No decree of witchcraft against me will prosper, in the mighty name of Jesus. I break the power of Jezebel over my life in Jesus's name! I say that I am free and the Word of the Lord is prevailing in my life in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nConfusion, manipulation, and lies\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I walk in perfect peace, according to Isaiah 26:3. My mind is fixed upon You, Lord, and Your shalom is abundant in my life. I break every spirit and power of confusion sent from hell against me in the authority of Jesus's name. I break the power of lies and confusion from the Jezebel spirit. I break manipulative powers over my life in Jesus's name! I say that I am free from guilt, shame, and control. I refuse to manipulate others and strive to get my own way. I command all powers of manipulation to be broken over my life in Jesus's name. The Jezebel spirit has no authority over my life. I command every form of Jezebel witchcraft and attack to be broken in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nStrange fire\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I am consumed by Your holy fire in Jesus's name, according to Hebrews 12:29. The fire of purity prevails in my life. The fire of revival is burning in me. The fire of awakening is rich in my life. The fire of deliverance and power is strong in me. I break every attack of strange fire and sorcery over my life. No strange fire can enter my life, in Jesus's name. I break the power of Jezebel's witchcraft over my life in the mighty name of Jesus and command it to go right now. I loose the freedom and purity of the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of my life. I say that I am blessed and free in the name of Jesus. Amen._\n\nSeduction\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I am pure in my thought life. Thank You, Lord, that I am sexually pure. I break all thoughts and temptations of lust in the name of Jesus. I break every spirit of perversion off my life and command them to go now in Jesus's name. I am not seduced or drawn away by the Jezebel spirit. I release the holiness and purity of the Lord over my life. Lord, You said in 1 Thessalonians 4 that I should be sanctified and avoid all immorality. I call for purity in my life. I consecrate my mind and body to You in the name of Jesus. Lust cannot operate in me. Immorality cannot prevail in my life in Jesus's name. I release the power and freedom of Jesus in my life right now. Amen._\n\nBREAKING PYTHON ATTACKS\n\nPhysical attacks\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I am healed and free. I break every attack of choking, congestion, and breathing problems in the name of Jesus! I say that I am healed and free. According to Job 33:4, \"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.\" I thank You, Lord, that my breathing is normal! You foul python spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus to take your hands off my body. I command you to loose my lungs, throat, and breathing. Go now, in Jesus's name! I say I am healed and free by the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank You, Father, for Your power flowing over my body now in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nConfusion and heaviness\n\n_I come against confusion, in Jesus's name! I break the power of the python spirit over my thought life. I release supernatural peace in the name of Jesus. I boldly confess that I have the mind of Christ, according to Philippians 2:5. My thoughts are clear. My thoughts are filled with the knowledge of God. I also break heaviness and confess that I am filled with joy. Python spirit, I break your grip over my thoughts and emotions in the name of Jesus! I command you to go right now, in Jesus's name. I say that I am free. I say that I have the joy of the Lord. I say that I am blessed now in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nFalse utterances and false prophetic words\n\n_Father, I thank You for purity in every area of my life in Jesus's name! You said in Your Word that the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus_ (Rev. 19:10) _. I break every false prophetic word over my life in Jesus's name! I pull down every misleading and destructive utterance. I bind up every wrong decree, and I release the power of the blood of Jesus over my mind. I thank You, Lord, for cleansing my prophetic life so that I hear Your voice and align with Your will. I command every lie of python over my life to be broken now in Jesus's name! I command every false prophetic spirit to go now in Jesus's name. I thank You, Lord, that I am free in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nFlattery\n\n_I break every flattering lie that has been spoken over me. In James 4:10 You said, \"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.\" I come before You now, humbly asking for Your direction and guidance in every area of my life. I thank You, Lord, that my heart is fully surrendered to You in Jesus's name. I command every flattering decree of python to be broken over my life in Jesus's name. I break every deceptive word in Jesus's name. I command the power of the python spirit over me to be broken right now in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen._\n\nStalking\n\n_Thank You, Father, that according to Psalm 37:23, my steps are ordered of the Lord. You have provided_ _the right steps for me to take in every area of my life. I am confident in Your leadership and guidance. I am protected and loved by You as I follow Your leading. I break the stalking spirit of python over my life in Jesus's name! I am not harassed, followed, or irritated by the python spirit. Python spirit, I command you to go now, in Jesus's name! I confess that I am free. My steps are blessed, and my pathway, secure in the name of Jesus. Amen._\n\nLies and deception\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I am led by Your Spirit, according to Romans 8:14. The Holy Spirit lives in me. The Holy Spirit is my teacher. I am not deceived. Deception cannot prevail in my life. I break the power of deception and deceiving spirits in the name of Jesus! I break lies and false thoughts off my life. I command the power of every lie to be broken in the mighty name of Jesus. I confess that the anointing lives in my belly, according to 1 John 2:20. The Spirit of truth lives in me, and I am led into all truth. I am not deceived. I break free from the grip of python in the authority of Jesus's name. I command the spirit of python to go from every area of my life now in Jesus's name! Spirit of python, I cast you out right now! Leave in the authority of the Lord Jesus. I am free in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nBREAKING RELIGIOUS SPIRIT ATTACKS\n\nComplaining\n\n_Lord, I choose to meditate on Your goodness in my life. I am so thankful for every blessing, every miracle,_ _every breakthrough\u2014even the little things. I confess that You are my Father. You are my healer. You are my provider. You are my everything. You said in Philippians 2:14 that I should do all things without murmuring or disputing. Thank You, Father, that my mouth is filled with praise and my heart is filled with thanks. I rebuke the religious spirit and command its power over my life to be broken in the name of Jesus. I cast out the religious spirit now and break it off me in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen._\n\nOffense\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I walk in love. You said in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is patient and kind. I confess that I am patient with others and I am kind. I do not keep track of wrongs. I do not hold grudges. I am free from offense. I break the power of offense off my life in the name of Jesus. I choose to walk in forgiveness toward others. I choose to release all pain and wounds. Father, I thank You for Your nature, Your love, and Your mercy operating in me toward others. I release all hurts, and I declare Your love is washing over me now in Jesus's name._\n\nCritical attitude\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that You said in 1 Corinthians 13 that love never fails! I say that I walk in love and mercy with people. I say that I see Your love for their lives. I say that I see the potential in people. I see the victory in their lives. I am not critical, in the name of Jesus. I break every critical attitude and thought process over my life. I refuse to partner with the religious_ _spirit and have a negative attitude. My eyes see as Christ would see. My mouth speaks as Christ would speak. I walk by faith and not by sight in the name of Jesus! I am free in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nCondemnation\n\n_Thank You, Lord, that I am free from condemnation as a child of God, according to Romans 8. I break every lie that would try to condemn me or accuse me in the name of Jesus. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus! The Spirit of life has made me free. I am free in my mind! I am free in my spirit! I am free in my body! I walk in Your grace. I receive Your promises. I receive Your goodness and Your love in my life. I break the weight, the lies, and the hindrance of condemnation off my life in the name of Jesus. I command condemnation to go in Jesus's name! I break every religious lie and mentality off my life and boldly declare that I am blessed, loved, forgiven, accepted, and free in the name of Jesus. Amen._\n\nDryness\n\n_Thank You, Lord, for the rivers of living water in my belly, according to John 7:38. I call forth Holy Spirit rivers in my life. I break the dry climate that Jezebel and religion would attempt to establish in my spiritual life. I release the rivers of refreshing. I release the rivers of joy. I release the rivers of healing. I release the rivers of mercy. I release the rivers of restoration. You said that You would anoint me with fresh oil. I declare fresh Holy Spirit oil running over every area of my life in the name of Jesus! Thank You, Father,_ _for the outpouring of Your spirit in my life. I break and bind the weight of the religious spirit and every religious attack, and I cast them out of my life in the name of Jesus! I command them to go now in Jesus's name. I call forth a spiritual climate shift in my life in the name of Jesus. Amen._\n\nBondage\n\n_Father, I thank You that Jesus paid the price for freedom in every area of my life. You said in John 8:36 that he whom the Son sets free is free indeed. I claim absolute freedom from all forms of religious bondage. I break heaviness and bondage off my thought life in Jesus's name. I break bondage off my spiritual life in Jesus's name. I release the power of God over me. I decree total freedom through the blood of Jesus. I am not bound; I am free. I command the religious spirit to go now, in the name of Jesus\u2014I cast you out and break your power over my life. As I read the Word of God, I say that I read it as a son or daughter and not a slave. I say that my mind is being renewed and my thoughts are lining up with Your promises. I release freedom over every area of my life in Jesus's name. Amen._\n\nAs you break the power of these demonic spirits over your life, you are invoking the rights and privileges afforded you by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Authority must be exercised. The enemy will always attempt to overstep and push the limits. Establishing yourself in the revelation of your identity and freedom powerfully positions you to live without the evil influence of the #ToxicTrio.\nNOTES\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n. _Merriam-Webster_ , s.v. \"conspire,\" accessed October 30, 2017, <https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/conspire>.\n\nCHAPTER 1\n\nTHE REALITY OF THE UNSEEN REALM\n\n. _Merriam-Webster_ , s.v. \"dwell,\" accessed October 20, 2017, <https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/dwell>.\n\n. John Eckhardt, _Prayers That Rout Demons_ (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2008), 1.\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _energe\u014d_ ,\" accessed October 20, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1754&t=KJV.\n\n. _HELPS Word-Studies_ , \"1754. _energ\u00e9\u014d_ ,\" Bible Hub, accessed October 20, 2017, <http:\/\/biblehub.com\/str\/greek\/1754.htm>.\n\n. James W. Goll, _The Seer Expanded Edition: The Prophetic Power of Visions, Dreams, and Open Heavens_ (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 2012), chapter 2, <https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?isbn=0768488567>.\n\nCHAPTER 2\n\nTHE POWER OF THE ANOINTING\n\n. Benny Hinn, _Operating in the Anointing_ (Bookmark Publishing, 2017), Lesson 1, <https:\/\/bennyhinnbiblestudy.org\/course\/operating-in-the-anointing\/>.\n\nCHAPTER 3\n\nJEZEBEL, THE SPIRITUAL ASSASSIN\n\n. _Merriam-Webster_ , s.v. \"rebellion,\" accessed October 23, 2017, <https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/rebellion>.\n\nCHAPTER 4\n\nJEZEBEL'S SEDUCTION, SCHEMES, AND STRATEGIES\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _tith\u0113mi_ ,\" accessed October 23, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G5087&t=KJV.\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _pr\u014dton_ ,\" accessed October 23, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4412&t=KJV.\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _arch\u0113_ ,\" accessed October 23, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G746&t=KJV.\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _exousia_ ,\" accessed October 23, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1849&t=KJV.\n\n. _Merriam-Webster_ , s.v. \"seduce,\" accessed October 23, 2017, <https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/seduce>.\n\n. Jennifer LeClaire, _Jezebel's Puppets_ (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2016), 41.\n\nCHAPTER 5\n\nCASTING DOWN THE DEMON QUEEN JEZEBEL\n\n. \"Jezebel Meaning,\" Abarim Publications, last updated September 1, 2017, <http:\/\/www.abarim-publications.com\/Meaning\/Jezebel.html#.We5AsGhSwdU>.\n\n. \"Jezebel No. 1,\" _All the Women of the Bible_ , Bible Gateway, accessed October 23, 2017, <https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/resources\/all-women-bible\/Jezebel-No-1>.\n\n. John Paul Jackson, _Unmasking the Jezebel Spirit_ (Flower Mound, TX: Streams Ministries International, 2002), chapter 2, <https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?isbn=0985863811>.\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _apostolos_ ,\" accessed October 23, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G652&t=KJV.\n\nCHAPTER 6\n\nPYTHON, THE HEAT-SEEKING DECEIVER\n\n. Ruth Ward Heflin, _Revival Glory_ (Morrisville, NC: lulu.com, 2013), 154, <https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Revival-Glory-Ruth-Ward-Heflin\/dp\/1304256162>.\n\n. Bible Hub, s.v. \" _ruach_ ,\" accessed October 24, 2017, <http:\/\/biblehub.com\/hebrew\/7307.htm>.\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _pyth\u014dn_ ,\" accessed October 24, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4436&t=KJV.\n\n. \"Apollo,\" _Encyclopedia Mythica_ , last modified January 31, 2004, accessed January 3, 2018, <http:\/\/www.pantheon.org\/articles\/a\/apollo.html>.\n\n. See, for example, Euripides, _Andromache_ , line 1106, <https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?isbn=0856687707>.\n\n. Kevin Kleint, \"Introducing the Oracle at Delphi,\" HonorOfKings.org, June 23, 2017, <https:\/\/www.honorofkings.org\/python-spirit-oracle-delphi\/>.\n\n. Jennifer LeClaire, _The Spiritual Warfare Battle Plan_ (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2017), 40.\n\nCHAPTER 8\n\nTHE DNA OF THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT\n\n. _Merriam-Webster_ , s.v. \"pervert,\" accessed October 24, 2017, <https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/pervert>.\n\n. A. A. Allen, _The Price of God's Miracle Working Power_ (Memphis, TN: Bottom of the Hill Publishing, 2012).\n\n. C. Peter Wagner, \"The Corporate Spirit of Religion,\" in _Freedom From the Religious Spirit_ (Bloomington, MN: Chosen Books, 2014), <https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?isbn=1441269029>.\n\nCHAPTER 9\n\nFIRST-LOVE LIFESTYLE: FREEDOM FROM THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT\n\n. _Merriam-Webster_ , s.v. \"breach,\" accessed November 8, 2017, <https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/breach>.\n\n. Blue Letter Bible, s.v. \" _proskyne\u014d_ ,\" accessed November 29, 2017, https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/lexicon\/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4352&t=KJV.\n\nCHAPTER 10\n\nENFORCING THE KINGDOM: LIVING FREE\n\n. _Merriam-Webster_ , s.v. \"temptation,\" accessed October 25, 2017, <https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/temptation>.\n\n# Table of Contents\n\n  1. COVER PAGE\n  2. TITLE PAGE\n  3. COPYRIGHT PAGE\n  4. CONTENTS\n  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n  6. FOREWORD BY JOHN ECKHARDT\n  7. INTRODUCTION\n  8. CHAPTER 1 THE REALITY OF THE UNSEEN REALM\n  9. CHAPTER 2 THE POWER OF THE ANOINTING\n  10. CHAPTER 3 JEZEBEL, THE SPIRITUAL ASSASSIN\n  11. CHAPTER 4 JEZEBEL'S SEDUCTION, SCHEMES, AND STRATEGIES\n  12. CHAPTER 5 CASTING DOWN THE DEMON QUEEN JEZEBEL\n  13. CHAPTER 6 PYTHON, THE HEAT-SEEKING DECEIVER\n  14. CHAPTER 7 BREAKING PYTHON'S GRIP\n  15. CHAPTER 8 THE DNA OF THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT\n  16. CHAPTER 9 FIRST-LOVE LIFESTYLE: FREEDOM FROM THE RELIGIOUS SPIRIT\n  17. CHAPTER 10 ENFORCING THE KINGDOM: LIVING FREE\n  18. NOTES\n\n## List of Pages\n\n  1. C\n  2. i\n  3. ii\n  4. iii\n  5. iv\n  6. v\n  7. vi\n  8. vii\n  9. viii\n  10. ix\n  11. x\n  12. xi\n  13. xii\n  14. xiii\n  15. xiv\n  16. \n  17. \n  18. \n  19. \n  20. \n  21. \n  22. \n  23. \n  24. \n  25. \n  26. \n  27. \n  28. \n  29. \n  30. \n  31. \n  32. \n  33. \n  34. \n  35. \n  36. \n  37. \n  38. \n  39. \n  40. \n  41. \n  42. \n  43. \n  44. \n  45. \n  46. \n  47. \n  48. \n  49. \n  50. \n  51. \n  52. \n  53. \n  54. \n  55. \n  56. \n  57. \n  58. \n  59. \n  60. \n  61. \n  62. \n  63. \n  64. \n  65. \n  66. \n  67. \n  68. \n  69. \n  70. \n  71. \n  72. \n  73. \n  74. \n  75. \n  76. \n  77. \n  78. \n  79. \n  80. \n  81. \n  82. \n  83. \n  84. \n  85. \n  86. \n  87. \n  88. \n  89. \n  90. \n  91. \n  92. \n  93. \n  94. \n  95. \n  96. \n  97. \n  98. \n  99. \n  100. \n  101. \n  102. \n  103. \n  104. \n  105. \n  106. \n  107. \n  108. \n  109. \n  110. \n  111. \n  112. \n  113. \n  114. \n  115. \n  116. \n  117. \n  118. \n  119. \n  120. \n  121. \n  122. \n  123. \n  124. \n  125. \n  126. \n  127. \n  128. \n  129. \n  130. \n  131. \n  132. \n  133. \n  134. \n  135. \n  136. \n  137. \n  138. \n  139. \n  140. \n  141. \n  142. \n  143. \n  144. \n  145. \n  146. \n  147. \n  148. \n  149. \n  150. \n  151. \n  152. \n  153. \n  154. \n  155. \n  156. \n  157. \n  158. \n  159. \n  160. \n  161. \n  162. \n  163. \n  164. \n  165. \n  166. \n  167. \n  168. \n  169. \n  170. \n  171. \n  172. \n  173. \n  174. \n  175. \n  176. \n  177. \n  178. \n  179. \n  180. \n  181. \n  182. \n  183. \n  184. \n  185. \n  186. \n  187. \n  188. \n  189. \n  190. \n  191. \n  192. \n  193. \n  194. \n  195. \n  196. \n  197. \n  198. \n  199. \n  200. \n  201. \n  202. \n  203. \n  204. \n  205. \n  206. \n  207. \n  208. \n  209. \n  210. \n  211. \n  212. \n  213. \n  214. \n  215. \n  216. \n  217. \n  218.\n\n","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}}
+{"text":" \n\"Anxiety is part of the 'broken brain' syndrome that millions of Americans suffer from. Conventional medicine can mask the symptoms, but it doesn't tackle the root cause. That's what the total mind-body system of qigong does. In this groundbreaking workbook, Master Kam Chuen Lam shows us how to use our own life-force energy to lift our minds and bodies to a new level of wellness. Open this book to any page and you'll find it's one of the most practical, helpful, and friendly guidebooks to your own well-being you can imagine.\"\n\n\u2014 **Mark Hyman, MD** , author of the #1 _New York Times_ bestseller, _The Blood Sugar Solution_\n\n\"Master Kam Chuen Lam's workbook is a valuable resource for anyone dealing with anxiety, worry, or stress. The ancient healing exercises he shares from decades of experience are presented in a format that is easy to understand, learn, and practice. Having worked with some of these exercises I can personally say they cultivate more peace, calm, and body awareness. This is a book I will be recommending to many of my clients for years to come!\"\n\n\u2014 **Tahir Bhatti, MD** , wellness physician, director of Integrative Holistic Services, and associate clinical professor in the department of psychology at the University of California, San Diego\n\n\"In a world where everyone experiences stress and worry, what a gift it is to read _The Qigong Workbook for Anxiety_. Master Kam Chuen Lam introduces readers to the ancient tradition of qigong in a friendly and accessible way. He teaches simple yet potent methods for relaxing both physical and emotional tension. His instructions are revolutionary in that he encourages us not to reject feelings of anxiety. Instead, by practicing these qigong exercises we become aware of our greater energy field and learn how to regulate our nervous system even when tension arises. This book is for anyone who wants to tap into their inner strength and live a calmer, healthier life.\"\n\n\u2014 **Amy Conway, MPH** , senior managerial consultant for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California\n\n\"Having worked for over thirty years in a busy and demanding dental practice, I am no stranger to stress at work. I can, without hesitation, attribute my current well-being largely to my daily practice and enjoyment of qigong. Being calm as a practitioner, I am able to bring harmony to the way I run my practice and patients enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. I strongly believe that Master Kam Chuen Lam's unique lineage, wisdom, and extensive knowledge [make this book] a must-have for all busy and stressed professionals who also want to remain truly healthy whilst having to endure daily challenges at work and home.\"\n\n\u2014 **Thye Yeoh** , qigong student and dental practitioner in the UK\n\n\"Do not let the simplicity of the exercises in this book fool you. ... I work as the compliance director of a major financial firm in London\u2014a highly stressful job\u2014and I can vouch from my own experience for the profundity of these exercises and the enormous wisdom of Master Kam Chuen Lam's teaching.\"\n\n\u2014 **Charles Beck** , qigong student and director of compliance, London, UK\n\n\"True health is more than exercise and good nutrition. It includes peace of mind. Those who possess it glow and seem to have access to a wellspring of pure energy. If you've ever wondered how to become such a person, qigong Master Kam Chuen Lam can guide you there.\"\n\n\u2014 **Susan Piver** , founder of the Open Heart Project\n\n\"Qigong combines two approaches to treating anxiety that are known to work: exercise and mindfulness. This highly accessible and readable workbook should help many more people enjoy the benefits of qigong.\"\n\n\u2014 **Elizabeth Murray** , general practitioner and professor of emergency health and primary care at the University of London, UK\n\n\"This book comes at the right time. More than ever, employees and managers are struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing speed and constantly rising demands of business life. The ensuing stress and burnout is literally killing people. Western approaches to dealing with the resulting issues have reached their limits. Master Kam Chuen Lam's workbook is addressing the root cause\u2014anxiety\u2014in a new way. It is based on age-old Chinese wisdom and Lam's own life's work devoted to the study of human energy. I highly recommend it to everyone who wants to be successful in the long run.\"\n\n\u2014 **Thomas Apfel** , corporate account manager at IBM\n\n\"Master Kam Chuen Lam's new book about dealing with anxiety is a revelation on its own. During my daily interaction with dental patients, I come across a big percentage of anxiety cases. I have been aiming to incorporate Master Kam Chuen Lam's relaxation techniques during treatment. As a result, patients often relax so much that they're telling us when they get off the dental chair that they feel as if they had a good rest! It is without a doubt, that in this book, various daily issues are addressed in an effective manner. Conventional Western medicine has no ammunition to combat stress or anxiety for everyday life or work. Look no further, Master Kam Chuen Lam's new book provides you with the essential elements to survive today's hectic lifestyle and emerge unscathed with simple techniques. It's the first time I've come across such an informative and to-the-point read.... It is a beacon of hope in today's jungle.\"\n\n\u2014 **Maria Maliderou, DDS, MSc** , qigong student and dentist based in London, UK\n\n\"Stand, be still, and master anxiety. Master Kam Chuen Lam's highly-engaging _The Qigong Workbook for Anxiety_ is a gift for anyone struggling with fear.\"\n\n\u2014 **Gary Lopes Cunha, LMFT, LPCC** , outpatient psychiatry clinician for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California\n\n\"Master Kam Chuen Lam's qigong exercises are like a warm internal shower that relaxes, yet energizes. They seem a perfect antidote to the anxieties of life and aging. Getting older myself and working with elders, as I do, I can attest to their powerful benefits. This workbook is a wonderful guide and support for new and experienced practitioners alike.\"\n\n\u2014 **Vicki Giella** , qigong participant and former manager of the Senior HelpLine, a telephone assistance service for elders, their families, and caregivers\n\nPublisher's Note\n\n_This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought._\n\nDistributed in Canada by Raincoast Books\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2014 Kam Chuen Lam\n\nNew Harbinger Publications, Inc.\n\n5674 Shattuck Avenue\n\nOakland, CA 94609\n\nwww.newharbinger.com\n\nCover design by Sara Christian\n\nAcquired by Jess O'Brien\n\nEdited by Jennifer Eastman\n\nAll Rights Reserved\n\n* * *\n\nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data\n\nLam, Kam Chuen.\n\nThe qigong workbook for anxiety : powerful energy practices to rebalance your nervous system and free yourself from fear \/ Kam Chuen Lam ; foreword by Grandmaster Yu Yongnian.\n\npages cm\n\nSummary: \"Anxiety is an age-old problem. It exists in all cultures, and each has its own methods for treating it. For readers who suffer from anxiety but have found little relief from modern western treatments, the ancient practice of qigong--which can be understood as the cultivation of internal energy--may offer relief. In The Qigong Workbook for Anxiety, world-renowned and respected qigong master Kam Chuen Lam presents his first workbook for overcoming anxiety problems utilizing traditional Chinese energy-focusing exercises. By following these step-by-step exercises, readers will learn to transform feelings of anxiety into resilience and inner strength. The workbook also contains helpful illustrations\"-- Provided by publisher.\n\nIncludes bibliographical references.\n\nISBN 978-1-60882-949-1 (paperback) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-950-7 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-60882-951-4 (epub) 1. Anxiety. 2. Qi gong. 3. Exercise therapy. I. Title.\n\nBF575.A6.L36 2014\n\n613.7'1489--dc23\n\n2014012473\n\n# Contents\n\nForeword\n\nAcknowledgments\n\nIntroduction\n\nPart 1 Energy, Anxiety, and Inner Strength\n\nComing Up for Air\n\nSitting Up\n\nThe Golden Ball\n\nResting the Golden Ball\n\nRolling the Golden Ball\n\nYour Inner Reservoir\n\nStarting Wu Ji\n\nCalming Your Nervous System\n\nStanding and Rolling the Golden Ball\n\nGathering Your Energy\n\nPart 2 Your Personal Energy Field\n\nArm Swinging\n\nOpening the Curtains\n\nTensing and Relaxing\n\nWorking with a Wall\n\nClenching and Relaxing\n\nSpreading and Relaxing\n\nStanding and Opening\n\nCalming the Mind and Body\n\nResting While Standing Still\n\nLearning to Stay Relaxed\n\nPart 3 Developing Your Inner Strength\n\nTaking Root\n\nUsing the Rolling Pin\n\nHolding the Golden Ball at Your Belly\n\nExpanding the Golden Ball\n\nGolden Ball Energy Stance\n\nComing Back\n\nWorking with Your Breath\n\nOverwhelmed, Lying Down\n\nIn the Middle of the Night\n\nPart 4 Using the Power of Your Senses\n\nLooking into a Glass of Water\n\nListening to the Garden\n\nScenting the Sweet Smell\n\nTaking a Cup of Tea\n\nFeeling What Touches Us\n\nRefreshment\n\nPart 5 Working with the Energy Around You\n\nGiant Strides\n\nBubbling Spring\n\nWaves on the Rocks\n\nFearless Rider\n\nCrushing the Flanks\n\nHolding Two Forces\n\nPracticing in Nature\n\nThe Two Poles\n\nNeck and Face Self-Massage\n\nSoothing Your Back\n\nEasing Headaches\n\nEnergy Circuit\n\nThe Lineage\n\nAbout the Author\n\nHealing and Training with Master Lam\n\nBooks and Videos with Master Lam\n\nReferences\n\nNotes on the Author and Foreword Writer\n\n# Dedication\n\nWith profound gratitude for the countless masters\n\nwho discovered the secrets of human energy\n\nand shared their knowledge of this art,\n\nfor my beloved late master, Yu Yongnian,\n\nand for my very dear wife and sons,\n\nI dedicate this book and its healing power\n\nto human well being and a world at peace.\n\n# Foreword\n\nBy Professor Yu Yongnian\n\nHonorary member of the Council of the Association of Qigong Science of the People's Republic of China, former adviser to the American-Chinese Qigong Association, and honorary chairperson of the Da Cheng Chuan Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung Research Groups (Europe).\n\nAnxiety is a problem everywhere in the world today. In the course of my lifetime, I have seen the world speed up. Everything is affected. Speed has changed the nature of people's work, travel, communications, and almost every field of life. Even their family lives have changed. This acceleration has also affected the human psyche. Our nervous systems feel the constant impact of the instability and violence of life around us. Millions of people are suffering from tremendous tension. It affects their health as individuals, and it has a serious effect on our societies as well.\n\nThe intensity of what we are experiencing is new, but anxiety itself is not.\n\nThe earliest texts of the natural scientists of my country, dating back thousands of years, examined this problem and talked about calming the mind. Perhaps the most famous is the _Tao Te Ching_ of the great master Laozi, who wrote:\n\n_Rest your mind..._\n\n_Do not tinkle like slivers of jade_\n\n_Or bang around like stone shards..._\n\n_From stillness and tranquility comes the order of the universe._\n\nLaozi's writings include some of the earliest known references to qigong, the art of cultivating the internal energy of the human being. I have studied this art for over seventy years. I had the privilege of being a student, in my early twenties, of the Grand Master Wang Xiang Zhai. He brought this art out of the realms of secrecy into the light of public teaching. He taught the rare qigong system known as _zhan zhuang_. It is the most powerful of all the systems for cultivating human energy. But it involves no external movement at all. This makes it unique.\n\nPracticing zhan zhuang qigong changed my life. At the time, I was a young dentist who suffered from a great deal of tension. I experienced it in my upper back as I treated my patients. All that changed after I started learning this art. Under my master's guidance, I went deeper. I began to see the inner significance and power of this art. I saw the transformation that its healing and calming power could have on people's lives.\n\nDuring the many decades I have practiced zhan zhuang qigong, I have also seen it change the lives of countless people who have been my students. Some people may think that, since this is part of China's cultural heritage, it is only helpful to Chinese people. Not at all. I have had the good fortune to teach in other countries in Asia, as well as in America and Europe. My experience has shown me that zhan zhuang qigong is a precious treasure in the heritage of all humanity.\n\nI am therefore delighted that Kam Chuen Lam, my disciple, has written this book to show people how they can use this ancient art to help them with their anxiety. Together, we bridge East and West. I studied Western medicine in my youth, becoming a professor of dentistry. Kam Chuen Lam studied traditional Chinese herbalism and bonesetting. We have used our different backgrounds to create a pathway for people everywhere to study qigong, which we have in common.\n\nHe first came to study with me in Beijing. After that, I went to London to supervise the production of his first book, _The Way of Energy._ It introduced the zhan zhuang system of qigong to the West. One of my favorite photos was taken on that trip. It shows me standing with one of the royal guards in the city.\n\nThis year, a large delegation of Kam Chuen Lam's students from nearly twenty countries around the world came to Beijing to show me their progress. I was delighted to be part of a huge energy circle with them. As I felt the current of their energy, which I was part of myself, I felt our circle was a powerful symbol. It made me appreciate not only the progress of those students, but also the progress of our whole system of zhan zhuang qigong. It has come a long way since I helped introduce it into hospitals in China in the 1950s. At that time, we saw how helpful it was in the treatment of chronic diseases. Now we know that it is helpful for people in all conditions of health.\n\n_The Qigong Workbook for Anxiety_ will open up a new chapter. It shows, step by step, how this ancient art can be used in our own age for one of the most common disorders that people are now suffering from\u2014the pain of the heart and mind caused by anxiety.\n\n\u2014Professor Yu Yongnian\n\nBeijing, 2013\n\nAge 94\n\nMaster Lam\n\n# Acknowledgments\n\nThis workbook has a long history, and many people have made it possible. I would like to express particular gratitude to my grand master, Wang Xiang Zhai, who courageously decided that the treasures of this tradition, which were passed on as a secret transmission over the centuries, should be made public.\n\nMy own master, Professor Yu Yongnian, graciously accepted me as a student\u2014even though he was taking a personal risk in doing so in the dangerous days of the Cultural Revolution in China, when ancient arts were under threat. He was a constant and powerful force in my life; and to the extent that I have been able to experience the depths of this art, it is thanks to his deep practice, immense skill, and great kindness. He wrote the foreword to this book just before his death in October 2013. As my senior students wrote in a funeral tribute to him, \"We have lost not only our grand master, but a noble human being.\"\n\nMy wife, Kaisin, has stood by me through all the years in which I have studied this art and endeavored to bring it to the world beyond China. Without her, what I have done would not have been possible. I would also like to thank my sons, Tin Yuan, Tin Yu, and Tin Hun, for their support, understanding, and unending help.\n\nLastly, I would like to thank all my students who have made a sincere effort to learn this art and who have remained with me over these years. In particular, I would like to thank my devoted student Richard Reoch, who has helped me with the planning and writing of many of my books, and who has been my constant companion in my efforts to bridge East and West.\n\nAuspiciously, we were introduced to New Harbinger Publications and their acquisitions editor, Jess O'Brien, who had, unknown to us, been reading and studying my books for over a decade. I am deeply grateful for New Harbinger's willingness to help me bring this healing wisdom into the world in this form.\n\nQi\n\nThis is the Chinese character for \"qi,\" pronounced \"chee.\" It represents the invisible, all-pervasive, and palpable life force of the universe. The top of the ideogram represents a cooking pot. Underneath it are four strokes that symbolize fire. The pot is filled with boiling water and steam is rising from it.\n\nJust as steam is capable of powering engines and other devices, so the power of qi enables us to do anything we want. It is like pressure\u2014air pressure, water pressure, wind pressure. In the human being, it takes the form of personal power, present throughout our being and visible in the photographs that scientists are now capable of taking of our aura.\n\nThe power of qi is capable of breaking through the blockages in our energetic pathways, such as those that we experience as the paralysis of anxiety or the congealed stagnation of fear.\n\n# Introduction\n\nThis workbook offers anyone who suffers from anxiety a step-by-step way to transform that agitated energy into resilient inner strength. You are introduced to the ancient art of harmonizing your own internal energy and drawing strength from the energy around you. This art is known as \"qigong\" (pronounced \"chee gung\"), which means \"internal energy work.\" Qigong is part of the world's oldest continuous system of natural medicine, developed in China over centuries.\n\n## Part 1: Energy, Anxiety, and Inner Strength\n\nPart 1 introduces you to a different way of thinking about yourself. In qigong, you are seen as a complete field of energy\u2014similar to the current thinking of atomic physics. The energy of your whole being is what is studied and strengthened.\n\nQigong is based on the truth that each person is unique and to be respected. Your feelings, attitudes, and behaviors\u2014including their deepest psychological patterns\u2014are part of your total energy field. Fearful and difficult feelings are not regarded as enemies but as part of the whole. Working with your complete field of energy, rather than splitting it up, is at the heart of this system of well-being.\n\n## Part 2: Your Personal Energy Field\n\nYou are first introduced to your energy field and are given simple exercises that help you get a feel for it. Anxiety, worries, and difficulties of all sorts make us tense, and when we are tense, our ability to feel what is happening in our bodies is blocked. This makes it very difficult to actually feel how tense we are. But after a little tension release, our natural sensitivity begins to be restored. Those natural feelings are what we need to remember and reacquaint ourselves with. It will help you learn how to use your bodily experience to develop a mental \"imprint\" of tension release. You can use the charts in this section of the workbook to help you track your personal experience.\n\n## Part 3: Developing Your Inner Strength\n\nOnce you start to feel that you are working with your energy in a different way, not resisting moments of anxiety and other strong emotions but embracing them within the larger flow of your body's energy field, you learn how to strengthen and cultivate the natural energy you possess. This increases your stamina, resilience, and inner strength. What previously made you panic is now experienced as an energy blip passing through the far larger, vibrant field of your total being. The gentle exercises and postures described in this part of the book are surprisingly simple and can be done without any equipment at all. Charts in this part of the book help you keep track of your daily energy training and the way you are using your new awareness of energy to work with your emotions from the perspective of inner strength.\n\n## Part 4: Using the Power of Your Senses\n\nOften, when we are suddenly gripped by anxiety, we have no time to reflect, meditate, or do calm breathing. How can we use the immediate energy of the world around us to be more grounded and less swept away? In part 4, you are introduced to the centuries-old tradition of using the power of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste to influence your experience in subtle and profound ways. Our sensory experience is also part of the play and flow of our energy\u2014and a gateway to connecting with the constant movement of energy around us.\n\nIn this section, with the help of step-by-step instructions and charts, you learn simple methods that help balance and harmonize your mental, emotional, and physical experience. The methods form a path that strengthens and increases the flexibility of your whole nervous system. You are encouraged to do this in very personal ways\u2014to become the world's leading expert on your own experience.\n\n## Part 5: Working with the Energy Around You\n\nAnxiety can have the effect of closing us down. We can feel claustrophobic and alone with our agitation. No matter how we feel, we do not exist in isolation. Each of us exists in a vast, constantly dynamic field of energy: the world around us. We experience many different environments every day\u2014home, office, and the natural world\u2014all with their own energies, all influencing us in different ways. In this final part of the workbook, you learn ways of understanding and using these energies\u2014and also what you can do to protect yourself from harmful energies, which are common in this age of high-energy technology. You will also learn simple methods for developing and sharing positive energy with others, as well as how families and friends can help generate vibrant and healthy energy fields.\n\n## The Lineage\n\nThe art of qigong is the result of human inquiry, experimentation, and practice stretching over centuries. What I am sharing with you has been handed down in secret\u2014literally from person to person\u2014as masters passed on their wisdom to their students. It is only in modern times that it has become public. In passing on an art like this, it has always been important to know that the transmission is authentic. For this reason, I would like you to know the story of my lineage, and I hope you will find time to read these pages. Knowing this will be important to you\u2014especially if someone asks you about qigong, where it came from, and why you are practicing it.\n\n## Before You Begin\n\nYou will be working with your own energy field\u2014that makes it very personal. It will help if you pay close attention to your experience as you try the various exercises and suggestions. To help you do this, charts located throughout the workbook prompt you to think about and record what you are doing and how you are feeling. This way, you can be your own natural scientist, examining your own experience and deciding what is working best for you.\n\nMany people, when they start qigong, worry about whether they are doing the right thing, whether they are making progress, or (worst of all) whether they might be making a serious mistake. Guess what\u2014that makes them anxious. Don't beat yourself up. All the exercises and suggestions in this book have been developed and tested over centuries, and I have only included things that, in my experience, have proved helpful to my own students\u2014who come from all over the world, all backgrounds, and all ages.\n\nIt's natural to wonder if you are making \"progress,\" but actually, this idea is not really part of the qigong tradition. What happens when you practice qigong is very natural and almost imperceptible, the way a plant grows, day by day. If you feel impatient, uncertain, or frustrated, because you can't see or feel any progress, please note that down as part of your experience. Your natural energy will help you ride it all the better if you are fully aware of what's happening on your journey.\n\nSome people like to read books from the back to the front. So you might be reading this introduction last! That's all right. I have tried to sprinkle this kind of advice throughout the workbook. You do not have to do the exercises and suggestions in this book in a strict order. I suggest you look first at part 1 and follow the exercises and suggestions there first. But if you have already tried some of the practices for your senses from part 4 or some exercises from another part of the book, please continue to do that, working with whatever has the best effect on you. You can add the exercises and suggestions from the earlier parts of the book\u2014they will contribute to the power of whatever else you are doing.\n\nIf you want to develop a qigong routine, you can find one outlined in part 3. Following it is entirely up to you. You can also simply experiment with whatever you wish from this book and try to incorporate it into your lifestyle. If you do decide to follow a qigong routine, normally I recommend doing it in the morning. If you do it before breakfast, it is a good idea to drink a little warm water (not tea or coffee) before you start. If you have breakfast first, you should allow a short gap before you start your training. If you do your training at night, it is best to do it in a room with a light on. Preferably, there should be some source of fresh air in the room. If it is not possible to open a window, at least try not to practice in a room where the air is stale.\n\nDifferent people have different sensations when they start to practice qigong. It's common to feel warm, even hot. You might find yourself shaking a little\u2014sometimes a lot\u2014as your energy wakes up. Sometimes it's hard to sit or stand still, especially if you are always on the go. Those sensations are part of the practice. Whatever you experience is the result of the deep power of qigong.\n\n## Your Personal Responsibility\n\nIt is important that you understand that the advice I am offering in this book is a contribution toward your personal training and development. I have done everything in my ability to ensure that this book will be beneficial to your health and well-being. But I cannot possibly know every reader individually, and therefore I cannot adapt the instructions for each person.\n\nIt is therefore important that you understand that, owing to causes completely beyond my control, you might experience difficulties that you might feel are somehow connected with your qigong practice. People have been using my books for over twenty years, and no one has ever reported experiencing this. Nevertheless, please take personal responsibility and check that there is no medical reason to prevent you from undertaking the practices in this book.\n\n## What to Do if You Have a Problem Using Qigong\n\nIf at any time in your qigong practice you feel heat or pressure rushing to your head, start to have a headache, or feel dizzy or faint, you should immediately do the practice \"Gathering Your Energy\" (located in part 1) three times, slowly and carefully. You can do it three more times if you want to. Finish with a qi massage to the face and neck (located in part 5). Then completely relax and rest, breathing naturally.\n\n## A Further Word of Welcome\n\nNow that we have gone over all these useful tips in preparation for using this book, I would like to welcome you as you begin to explore this ancient art. The contemplation and inner work are personal and unique to each person. It is your own journey, working with the energy within you and around you. This art has been handed down from master to student in an unbroken succession of person-to-person transmission for over two thousand years. Through the pages of this book, I am delighted to extend this human wisdom now to you.\n\n## A Quick Check Before You Start\n\nWe'll be working with anxiety using the mind-body connection. The physical effects of anxiety in your body affect your mind\u2014your thoughts and emotions\u2014just as your thoughts and emotions have a direct effect on your body. We will be reading the physical signs throughout this workbook, so it will be useful to catalogue them now. But please don't mistake this for a physical check-up. In the centuries-old tradition of qigong, mind and body are inseparable, and we use each one to help the other. Please take a minute or two to record how you are feeling in this chart. You will want to come back to this chart later and see what you wrote.\n\nThe Bridge\n\nThe character for \"bridge\" literally means \"arch\" and is pronounced \"kiew.\" Its complexity expresses the dynamic and multifaceted quality of a bridge\u2014the quality of all that is involved in crossing a gap.\n\nAll bridges are complex. They require a combination of materials to take the strain of those who cross them. They also need flexibility. Whether made of bamboo, wood, metal, or stone, bridges need to be able to yield. A bridge allows communication\u2014allowing people and ideas to move from one place to another. A bridge is also always open, offering itself; anyone can pass over a bridge.\n\nA conversation can be a bridge. A person can be a bridge. An ambassador is a bridge. This book is a bridge.\nPart 1\n\nEnergy, Anxiety, and Inner Strength\n\n## \"Engaging, Not Avoiding\"\n\nOne of my students in California is a counselor for a major health organization that treats millions of people throughout the United States. In addition to being a health professional in the Western tradition, he has been studying internal energy work with me. We often talk about the tremendous health problems that people of all walks of life are faced with day after day in our modern world.\n\nHe has encouraged me to offer what I can from my years of studying, practicing, and teaching qigong, because he believes this kind of total energy work is part of what is desperately needed in these difficult times. \"Your tradition is a lineage of healer-warriors,\" he said. \"You teach the mastery of anxiety through the Way of Energy. It is possible to live a vibrant and meaningful life even with anxiety and in the midst of all the challenges we face.\"\n\nHe told me that the ancient tradition of qigong was very much in line with what many health-care professionals are now thinking. \"We need a perspective that emphasizes mindfulness, not avoidance,\" he told me. \"Avoidance in our day and age is packaged as feeling better, avoiding internal experience. This approach is reinforced with pharmacy ads promising happiness. The anxious usually need energy, but more importantly, they need a willingness to engage their worst fears if they are to have a chance of mastering them. Many have limited lives, because they want to 'feel better'\u2014by not experiencing anxiety. Paradoxically, this attitude keeps them chronically anxious in the long term.\"\n\nIn the ancient tradition of qigong, which is a way of working with all forms of energy, trying to avoid our actual experience is not considered healthy. Whatever we are experiencing is part of the total energetic field, both around us and in us. The more we are open to it, the more power we can draw from it.\n\nThus this book offers what may seem a different approach to working with anxiety. It works with the full energy spectrum of the human being, including all our experience, as well as the vast energy field that surrounds us at all times.\n\n## The Energy of Anxiety\u2014Bridging Two Cultures\n\nAnxiety is an age-old phenomenon. All human beings experience it. It takes place in all cultures. All medical and health-care systems offer ways of helping us deal with it. At the same time, it is hard to define. It is an elusive vibration that takes many forms.\n\nIt is evoked in one of the oldest classics of world culture, the _Tao Te Ching_ by Laozi:\n\n_Hesitant, like crossing a river in winter\u2014_\n\n_Cautious, like fearing four neighbors._\n\nIn contemporary Western culture, which has become the dominant model for much of the world, anxiety is often seen as a condition that can be treated in specific ways, partly through therapy and partly through medication. This is a relatively new way of trying to deal with anxiety.\n\nIn the older, classical Chinese model of health care, anxiety is seen to be part of a person's overall energetic pattern. Thus, the well-being of the whole person is what is studied and strengthened. The qigong tradition of cultivating internal energy is devoted to this approach. \"Qi\" means \"energy\"; \"gong\" means \"work.\"\n\nSome practitioners believe these two approaches are poles apart. In fact, they can be bridged. There is nothing in this book that requires anyone to give up whatever medication, therapy, or self-help methods they are using to cope with their anxiety. Also, the energy work offered in this book can be used whether you have a diagnosed anxiety disorder or simply struggle with varying levels of day-to-day anxiety.\n\nQigong does not treat your feelings\u2014even your most fearful and difficult feelings\u2014as enemies. This centuries-old tradition is based on respecting a person's feelings, attitudes, and behaviors\u2014including their deepest psychological patterns\u2014as part of their total energy field. Working with that total field of energy, rather than splitting it up, is at the heart of this system of well-being.\n\nThis is where ancient wisdom and the most contemporary scientific studies meet. Both focus on the totality of being. Both emphasize the reality of each person's direct, personal experience. The practice of qigong presented in this workbook is completely compatible with those therapeutic practices that empower individuals to relate with physical and emotional pain in ways that see these as powerful aspects of living a full life.\n\nInterestingly, the word \"anxiety\" in the English language comes from a root word meaning \"I cannot breathe\" or \"I'm choking.\" One of the translations for the Chinese word \"qi\" is \"breath.\" Often, people having a panic attack are told to take several deep breaths. Imagine what it would be like if we were able to breathe in that relaxed, calming way each moment of our lives.\n\nHuman Being\n\nIn classical Chinese, a single character of two strokes is sometimes used to represent a person. This is the uppermost of these two characters. It represents a person walking. Encoded within these two brushstrokes is the deep understanding that life is a process. It is always in motion. It is always changing. It is always shifting, in the same way that our weight moves from foot to foot. Whenever we see this character, it tells us that life is moving forward.\n\nBelow it is the character for \"body.\" Taken together, these two ideograms express the notion of \"human being.\" In the classical Chinese tradition, it is considered a rare and precious opportunity to be born as a human and have both a human mind and a human body. We believe this potential is a gift. It gives us the ability to accomplish many wonderful things. Whatever storms we encounter, whatever difficulties we face, we believe we should make the best possible use of this extraordinary opportunity.\n\n## Understanding Your Energy Field\n\nEvery human being is a field of energy. Energy doesn't simply flow through us\u2014we _are_ energy. This was discovered by humanity's earliest natural scientists\u2014the ancient Chinese physicians who studied the mysteries of the human body and mind. It has also been discovered by the modern scientists who reveal the wonders of our subatomic existence.\n\nWhatever we experience occurs within that field of energy. Whether we experience anxiety, fear, and pain or deep well-being, joy, and freedom from pain, it is all an experience of energy.\n\nIn classical Chinese medicine\u2014humanity's oldest continuous tradition of health care\u2014one of the principal causes of pain and dysfunction is tension. We tend to think of anxiety and tension as a problem of mental well-being, but to the earliest Chinese physicians, mind and body were so intimately connected that mental tension could be locked into the body at its most subtle level.\n\nTheir findings have been validated by modern neurological research. We now know that tension shows up at the cellular level, obstructing the flow of oxygen and other nutrients, as well as preventing the elimination of dead or infected organisms. The inevitable result of anxiety and tension is pain, disorder, and disease.\n\nInner Relaxation\n\nInner relaxation is therefore not a luxury. It is the key to health. Understanding this, China's earliest natural scientists and medical practitioners worked patiently to discover systems of health care that would reduce the effects of anxiety and promote inner healing.\n\nReferences to these systems appear in the oldest and possibly most influential text in the history of medicine, _The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine_. It dates back more than two thousand years, and its wisdom certainly goes back even farther than that. It includes an early reference to the system of cultivating energy described in this book: the practice of \"standing still without changing\" originally described by the Taoist master Laozi. _The Yellow Emperor's Classic_ , which was written much later, includes this passage:\n\n_The Emperor Huang Ti said:_\n\n_I have heard that in ancient times there were Spiritual Beings. Their knowledge was vast and their understanding was profound._\n\n_They stood between heaven and earth, connecting the universe;_\n\n_They understood and were able to control both yin and yang, the two fundamental principles of nature._\n\n_They inhaled the vital essence of life;_\n\n_They remained unmoving in their spirit;_\n\n_Their muscles and flesh were as one._\n\n_This is the Tao, the Way, which you are seeking._\n\nThis describes the essence of the mind-body practices in this book, the way in which apparently simple positions and gestures regulate the flow of life-giving energy that circulates within and around the human body and its nervous system at all times.\n\nMy own master in Beijing, Professor Yu Yongnian (pronounced \"Yoo Yongnyan\"), who died at the age of ninety-four while this book was in production, was fond of the writings of Laozi and liked to quote that passage from the Yellow Emperor. Talking to me about what it feels like to do these mind-body practices, he once said, \"As you stand, you breathe in not only the air, but the vital essence of life, real energy. Real energy is what you are inhaling.\"\n\nOur Energy Flow\n\nThere is an interesting relationship between the impact of this type of exercise on our physiology and its effect on our nervous system. Tests show that qigong has a deep, calming effect, while heightening our alertness. Practitioners of qigong tend to breathe more deeply, resulting in increased oxygen consumption. Their heart rate is slower but more powerful, resulting in increased stroke volume. They test well for alertness, but with negligible muscle tension. Those who regularly practice this type of exercise can attest to their improved powers of concentration, coordination, and inner balance.\n\nSeen through the lens of the qigong tradition, these are all signs of the unobstructed flow of the energy that enables life to flourish. If the flow of energy is blocked, then, like stagnant water, energy putrefies. What blocks the flow of qi within our bodies is tension\u2014the subtle effect of mental strain on our muscles and nerves. Qigong practice relieves this tension and clears the blockages.\n\nWith the blockages cleared, the heightened flow of energy automatically strengthens and calms our nervous system, because this inner relaxation and power is our natural state. What many people call a \"normal life\" is, in fact, the anxiety and discomfort we experience as a result of living with diminished and obstructed energy.\n\nA very low level of energy leaves us feeling drained of vitality, but we are also susceptible to short rushes of intense energy. We feel unstable. We often wake up feeling like we haven't slept. We feel hassled by family life and work. Sometimes we push ourselves late into the night. Underneath it all is constant anxiety. We feel vulnerable, often protecting ourselves with aggression toward others. It is almost like the vulnerability we experience if our immune system is weakened. Our emotional life shows the same patterns. We are vulnerable to inner turbulence. We are susceptible to panic and despair. All of this is the effect of weak, unreliable energy.\n\nAlthough you may recognize some aspects of that picture in yourself, it is probably not an accurate portrait. Your energy level is probably not that low. Much of the time you probably function well and feel fit. But since you are interested in this book, there are probably some days when you have an underlying sense that all is not well. You may feel that your energy fluctuates and that sometimes you lack stamina. You may be easily irritated at times, stressed and upset. This points to a level of energy that, while manageable at times, is irregular at others. It might be like a stream making its way through difficult terrain. It can be blocked by sudden shifts in the landscape or debris. On an emotional level, you may at times feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and agitated.\n\nA fuller and more stable energy flow is less likely to be obstructed. Like a river, the current is constantly flowing. We have greater staying power and are more resilient. We still experience the full range of emotions\u2014in fact, we are likely to be even more alive in our emotional life\u2014but the ups and downs of anxiety, fear, and other agitated states do not overwhelm us. They are part of the current. Opening up to that experience and raising your natural energy to that level is the possibility that this book offers you.\n\n## Natural Growth\n\nAll authentic growth takes time. So does healing and the process of deep strengthening. It is like giving birth.\n\nIn the more than thirty years that I have been teaching these arts and treating people in the West, I have always had to tell people that nature takes time to form, nourish, and give birth to new life. I tell my students, \"You can't make a plant grow by tugging on it every day. You simply put it in good soil, give it just enough water and light, and let it grow. If you do that, it will grow naturally. That is its nature.\"\n\nWe are all living at a time in history when the world seems to have sped up a lot, and there is a general expectation that everything can happen quickly, even overnight. So it's possible that some people have started reading and working with this book in the hope that it might quickly dispel all of the anxieties that they are having.\n\nIn my experience, some of the exercises and suggestions in this book can have almost immediate effects. That is not guaranteed, of course, because everyone is different, and the conditions in which people live and work vary widely. But even if you experience some immediate relief from the symptoms of your anxiety, that is not the point of this book\u2014or the profound wisdom of the qigong tradition.\n\nThis book and the practice of qigong are about the cultivation and strengthening of the energetic core of your being. This is why my grand master, Wang Xiang Zhai (pronounced \"Wang Shang Jai\"; his story is told later, in the section \"The Lineage\"), told his students:\n\n_Preserving the heavenly wisdom, and maintaining the state of quiescence,_\n\n_You are ready to act in response to all possible situations._\n\nThis energy work is hidden, unseen, and it takes place in the depth of your being. It is like the growth of a baby within a mother's body. Therefore, I suggest that you work with this book over a period of nine months, and in the opening and closing parts of this book, I have included charts you can use to pause and reflect on your overall experience of using the exercises over the course of that period. I hope this will help you care for and nurture deep, authentic growth within your being.\n\nThe next pages introduce you to some fundamental practices that will help you see the beneficial impact of apparently simple stretching, breathing, and calming exercises on your nervous system. Please don't be put off by their simplicity. They put you in touch with the deep simplicity and power of your own energy as a human being.\n\n## Coming Up for Air\n\n\"I'm drowning in it!\" I hear people saying that all the time. They may be drowning in their work and the pressure of deadlines or in the overwhelming demands and conflicts in their lives. Or, like the student whose story I tell in part 3, \"I Am Always Tired and Anxious,\" they might dream of themselves or others drowning. Such is the power that anxiety can exert over us. Just like someone who is sinking in water and running out of breath, we need to come up for air.\n\nIn the art of qigong there is a simple way to come up for air. You can do it sitting or standing; however, unless you are unable to stand, I recommend standing up to do this. So, if you are sitting as you read this page and really want to try coming up for air, stand up to do it.\n\nIt is best to stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Now breathe in for a silent count of six seconds, opening your arms to your sides. Breathe in through your nose only, if you can.\n\nAs you are breathing in, your posture has the feeling of welcoming someone or being delighted to see an old friend coming toward you. Your palms are open. Look forward at the world.\n\nYour chest naturally expands a little as your lungs fill with air and your arms open outward. You can see that when I do this, I bend backward very slightly and look upward a little. Please don't overdo this\u2014do it just enough to experience the feeling of opening up and breathing in.\n\nSometimes, if you are very anxious or tense, your upper body, shoulders, and neck can feel stiff, so this movement could feel difficult the first few times you make it. This is natural\u2014a sign of how much you will benefit from \"coming up for air.\"\n\nAfter breathing in for a silent count of six, breathe out, exhaling through your nose and mouth at the same time, and let your arms relax forward. It is good to feel your breath naturally leaving your torso through both your nose and mouth when you exhale. This clears stale air from your system and naturally enhances the depth of your next inhalation.\n\nYour upper body relaxes so that you are very slightly bent over. Relax into this until you have exhaled completely. Your arms and hands hang loosely at your sides, possibly just a little forward, almost as if they are falling off. You feel a sense of natural release in your chest as your muscles relax. Your head can tilt a little forward too.\n\nComing up for air once is good. It can save the life of someone who is drowning. I recommend you do this six times, without rushing through it.\n\nThere is no need to hold the breath or exaggerate the movement. This is a very natural and subtle way of changing the energetic pattern of your being, right on the spot. See the effect for yourself.\n\n## \"I Have Always Been a Worrier\"\n\nOne of my students is an accountant. When he first came to see me, he was clearly worried about something. I didn't ask him about that, however, and he simply joined my classes and started learning qigong.\n\nAs I got to know him better, he opened up a bit. He told me, \"I have always been a worrier. I found out some time ago that often the things that I worried about were quite trivial. But they consumed most of my mind. My worrying often hampered me from doing something about the actual problem. The only break I had from this cycle of worry was when I went to work, where I had other responsibilities placed on me, like meeting deadlines or producing accounts to a deadline. But then I worried about them as well.\"\n\nIt seemed from what he told me that he worried about almost everything in his life. One day he told me that the things that worried him stretched from problems with his car to concerns about his own health and the health of his family. But, he told me, things had started to change.\n\n\"Once I started doing qigong, things began to change,\" he said. \"While I was standing without moving, I began to see that the thoughts that were causing me anxiety were like a broken record. They just went round and round. I soon realized that I could quite easily have other thoughts. I could think about good times and places. This had a profound effect on me. After my qigong practice, I felt the things that were troubling me were not as insurmountable. In fact, they often seemed insignificant. When I was practicing qigong, I was a different person\u2014without all the problems.\"\n\nThere was a period of time when I didn't see him much. I found out that there had been a serious illness in his family. His sister had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given eighteen months to live. \"My qigong practice was particularly useful then,\" he told me. \"I used to see her every day. My daily qigong practice helped me stop worrying about her and accept the reality of the situation. That helped me, and I think it helped everyone else.\"\n\nHe said, \"This is how I look at situations now. If they cause me concern and I can do something about them, then, of course, I do what I can. Otherwise, I am able to accept what is happening.\"\n\n## Sitting Up\n\nThe energy patterns we associate with anxiety have several forms. They can shift from one to the other, creating whirlpools of energy that leave us often feeling quite scattered. When people get to this state, they often say, \"I need to collect myself.\" Whether you are feeling that or not, it is always helpful to gather your energy. It naturally reorganizes itself if it has a chance to settle\u2014even for a short time.\n\nSitting up, in the midst of everything, for a minute or so is one way to do this. It is simple but extremely powerful. Anxiety and anxiety-related energy patterns often cause energy to get disturbed and blocked in the upper body and head. This contributes to confusion, increased tension, and headaches. The simple practice of sitting up helps move that energy lower in the body, where it can be more naturally rebalanced. As you can see from the relaxed position shown here, you do not need to hold yourself in a rigid position.\n\nIf possible, sit on a chair that supports your back, which will enable energy to flow freely and relieve your torso and inner organs of pressure. Since the spinal cord runs between the brain and the base of the spine, having your back supported and relaxed helps the flow of energy.\n\nThe difference between simply straightening the spine for a minute and the qigong practice you are going to do here is that you will hold this relaxed, upright position for between one and two minutes.\n\nYou breathe naturally while sitting up. Your eyes are open, although you can half-close them if you wish. Your hands can rest anywhere. To begin with, you are simply straightening the spine in a simple, natural way and remaining in that position for a short period of time.\n\nYou can think anything you want. Do not try to constrain the natural movement of the mind\u2014that only increases tension.\n\nAfter you have practiced the first stage of sitting up, the next stage is to sit with your ankles crossed. Some people find this more comfortable, and you can feel that it produces a different sensation in your lower body and abdomen.\n\nAlthough you will have your feet flat on the floor again in the third stage, this intermediate step is very helpful for lower body relaxation and for helping you settle into the sitting posture.\n\nKeep your spine as upright and relaxed as possible, without strain. You can relax your chest with the following simple method. First, breathe in deeply, and then breathe out through your nose. Don't force the air out, but exhale as fully as possible. As you do this, let your chest sink down a little. Your shoulders will drop a little. After this first complete breath, breathe naturally. Your hands can rest loosely in your lap, on your thighs, or in any position that is comfortable.\n\nThis is a moment of simply sitting still. It provides a healthy pause in your day and is part of the subtle process of cultivating your natural energy. When you feel ready, move on to the third stage.\n\nIf you are comfortable with the previous two sitting postures, you can try this slightly more advanced stage. You might be tempted to go straight to this posture; you can, but I recommend following the three stages of sitting up. To some people, these subtle adjustments may seem like nothing at all. It can be hard to understand why they are important.\n\nIn this third position, your knees are wider apart. This improves the flow of energy throughout the whole body and from the earth up into the body (earth energy is stabilizing).\n\nYour open hands rest comfortably on your thighs. This helps relax your hands, arms, and upper body, which improves the flow of energy from your head, through your torso, and to your lower body and back. Your eyes are open or half-closed.\n\nSitting like this for a minute or two, up to a maximum of five minutes, is very helpful for stabilizing your energy.\n\nDo not confuse this practice with any form of meditation. You are not asked to concentrate on anything, to breathe in any particular way, to stop thinking, or to do anything in particular with your thoughts or emotions. If you feel anxious while doing this, please just allow that to happen while sitting in this relaxed way. This, in itself, is strengthening and stabilizing for your energy. Your anxiety will learn to trust that.\n\nIf you are feeling particularly anxious, you can place a glass of water (preferably one made of green or blue glass) on a low table slightly in front of you and gaze gently at that. Further suggestions about the use of water in this kind of exercise are included in the practice \"Looking into a Glass of Water\" in part 4.\n\nThe Golden Ball\n\nThe Chinese understanding of the human body is based on a deep connection with the natural power and patterns of our internal energy. These two characters point to an aspect that seems mysterious to many outsiders. The top character has four strokes of the brush and means \"internal\" or \"inner\"; the lower one, also with four strokes, is best translated as \"ball.\"\n\nIn the Taoist tradition, this is known as the \"golden ball.\" \"Golden\" here means \"not easy to find.\" It is rich. It is rare. The golden ball is also sometimes known as the \"dragon ball.\"\n\nThe golden ball is one of the main fields of study for qigong masters and students. It develops within us as we cultivate our inner strength. As we work with the golden ball, our nervous system is strengthened until it is able to embrace all disturbances, including anxiety, shock, and fear.\n\n## The Golden Ball\n\nThere are several ways you can imagine the golden ball, all of which are part of the mind-body work of the qigong tradition. One way is to imagine that your body is surrounded by a sphere of golden light. This sounds fanciful, but this ancient, poetic idea expresses a phenomenon that you can now test with technology that measures the strength of your aura\u2014the energetic field of the human body that extends slightly beyond the surface of the skin. We experience an aspect of this energetic \"glow\" when we feel the heat of a person next to us, even when he or she is not actually touching us.\n\nThere are other energetic patterns that the qigong tradition refers to when speaking about the golden ball. For example, there is a very strong concentration of energy in the lower abdomen, below the belly button. In classical Chinese medicine, this is known as the _dantien (tan tien)_ , pronounced \"dan dyen.\" It is sometimes called the \"sea of qi,\" but is more literally translated as the \"field of elixir.\" This can be thought of as a golden ball. A skilled practitioner learns how to develop the energy of this golden ball and can do this both internally and externally.\n\nThe stronger the energy field of the golden ball in your dantien, the higher the overall energy level of your whole being. A higher energy level is capable of accommodating a wide variation of energy patterns associated with our physical, mental, and emotional states. Our energy becomes like a great river, with many currents and countercurrents borne along with its flow.\n\nOne way of working with the golden ball is to imagine that it is a physical ball\u2014light, like a balloon, or heavy, like a bowling ball\u2014that we hold in a relaxed way between our open hands. We can hold it and move it as if it were actually there. After a while, it surprises many people to find that they are starting to feel the presence of energy between their palms. Not everyone feels it right away, of course\u2014everyone's experience is different. \"What's that?\" people ask me, when they start to feel their hands tingling a little, and they are worried that their imagination is getting the better of them. \"It's your golden ball,\" I tell them.\n\n## Resting the Golden Ball\n\nYou can practice resting the golden ball in your lap while sitting. This adds power to the stabilizing benefit of the sitting practice you did earlier, \"Sitting Up.\"\n\nSit comfortably and be aware of your body weight resting on a chair or stool. Rest your back against the chair to support your spine. Let the muscles of your torso relax. Let your arms hang loosely by your sides. This will help you drop and relax your shoulders.\n\nSlowly spread your elbows, moving them away from your body, as if small balloons were inflating between your elbows and your sides.\n\nThen slowly move your hands in front of your lower abdomen, as if gently taking hold of a large golden ball in front of your belly.\n\nIt is extremely important to keep your chest completely relaxed as you do this. Do not struggle to hold your arms up with the muscles of your upper torso. Your elbows and shoulders are completely relaxed as you hold the ball in front of your belly.\n\nThen lower your hands so that the backs of your hands rest lightly on your thighs, so the golden ball is gently resting in your lap.\n\nTry not to lower your head, either to look down or because the relaxation of your shoulders makes you lean forward. Remain relaxed, looking forward. Breathe naturally.\n\nAs you imagine your hands holding the golden ball, your palms and fingers naturally develop a soft curve, as if molding themselves to the surface of the large ball. Your fingers are not held tightly together; they are gently separated, spreading across the surface of the golden ball.\n\nKeep your chest and shoulders relaxed to avoid any strain in your upper body. Your qi will flow more freely if your upper body is relaxed.\n\nSometimes when people start to relax like this, they have a tendency to let their hands and fingers droop and to close their eyes. Please try to remain in the original position, even if you feel a little drowsy.\n\nYour eyes are open or half-closed. If you don't feel like looking straight ahead, you can let your gaze rest on the floor about six feet in front of you.\n\nYou are holding the golden ball in your lap all this time. This means that your palms and fingers are in place, gently open and curved along the surface of the ball. Do not close them too much (as if holding a baseball or an egg) or open them too much (so much that a large ball would roll off your lap). This subtle work with the golden ball helps the overall circulation of energy in your body, settling any disturbances in its flow.\n\n## \"Worrying About the Person in the White Coat\"\n\nYou might be asking yourself if it is possible that simply sitting still and resting an imaginary golden ball on your lap could actually have an effect on your anxiety. One of my senior students recently shared with me an account of the usefulness of \"Resting the Golden Ball.\" She used to work as a nurse in a major London hospital and now leads qigong classes for older people.\n\n\"It's well-known that people get anxious when they visit a health professional,\" she told me. \"They start worrying about the person in the white coat. They might have worrying symptoms. They may be going to receive test results and are fearful about the diagnosis. Even if they are going for a routine check, they may be worried that they won't pass it.\"\n\nShe told me that one of her students had experienced this kind of anxiety. She was eighty-five years old and had managed to remain healthy, active, and independent. But in the last year, her husband had died, and one of her daughters had moved to Australia. So she was experiencing major changes in her life. The last thing she wanted to have at that point was a health problem. But she was diagnosed with high blood pressure and was asked to come back for a further test. My student told me what happened:\n\nI could see she was visibly worried. I reminded her that the qigong postures she was learning in class could be done sitting down and could help relax her. At the next class, she reported back to me. While sitting in the waiting room, she decided to put her qigong training to the test. She sat up comfortably, placing her feet flat on the floor. Without making a fuss, she practiced \"Resting the Golden Ball.\" She held her hands in front of her belly, holding the invisible ball, with her hands gently positioned on her thighs. She decided to stay like that until she was called in for her appointment.\n\nWhen she eventually went in to see the doctor, she felt told me she felt remarkably relaxed and calm. She had her blood pressure test\u2014it was lower than it had ever been on any of her previous visits. The medical professionals were extremely surprised, and, as you can imagine, she was delighted. Now she tells me she is doing the seated posture whenever she feels anxious\u2014and she is feeling much more relaxed about everything, including going back to the doctor.\n\n## Rolling the Golden Ball\n\nHaving rested the golden ball on your lap for a little while, you can now advance to the next energy practice.\n\nLift the golden ball up, and hold it in front of your chest for a moment. Then slowly move the golden ball upward and away from your chest\u2014outward\u2014in a gentle curve. Complete the circle by bringing the ball down and in toward your belly.\n\nKeep your elbows loosely bent, so they move naturally with the movement of your hands. Breathe out as the large ball circles up and outward. Breathe in as the ball comes down and in toward your belly.\n\nAs you roll the ball away from you and breathe out, imagine your energy is sending away any anxiety, pain, and other difficulties. You are using the movement and your mental intention to create a flow of energy that unblocks and releases the inhibiting patterns created by fear, anxiety, and uneasiness. This motion feels steady and full, strong and heavy.\n\nIf you can, make at least a dozen circles with the golden ball.\n\n## \"Several Hundred Peanuts\"\n\nWhen I was a young man, I wanted to join the police. This was in Hong Kong when it was still under British rule; the police force was known as the Royal Hong Kong Constabulary. To be accepted, I first had to graduate from the cadet college.\n\nOne day, when I was going about my duties at the cadet college, my commanding officer came up to me, very angry with me. He accused me of something I hadn't done, which made me extremely upset. Because I didn't apologize, he threatened to dismiss me. It was nearly the end of my dream of joining the police. Luckily, he let me off with a warning.\n\nI was furious. I had been wrongly accused, but if I had talked back, I would certainly have been kicked out of the college. I went to see my master, from whom I was learning martial arts. He was in his eighties and was a very great teacher. I told him my story and asked him what to do. I was angry, because I felt I would now be on a list of badly behaved cadets in the college.\n\nMuch to my amazement, after listening to me, my master gave me a sack of unshelled peanuts. He told me to sit down and start throwing them into a huge pot some distance in front of me. \"Throw your anger away,\" he said. \"Then I'll tell you what to do.\"\n\nThere must have been several hundred peanuts in the sack. When I had thrown them all into the pot, he made me tea. Then he asked me, \"What do you think you should do?\"\n\nFor a moment, my mind was blank. I didn't know what he was talking about, and when he reminded me, the incident no longer seemed to bother me. He had used my body to calm my mind.\n\n## Your Inner Reservoir\n\nOur internal energy naturally gathers in a reservoir deep inside our lower abdomens. As we go about our busy lives, most of us are unaware of this inner source of strength, and it can become depleted. When that happens, we can feel anxious.\n\nQigong gives you a way of replenishing your energy, as well as developing your inner reservoir and preparing it for fresh energy. I recommend that you do this practice after any of the previous exercises. It is also helpful at any time, no matter what you are doing. It is a wonderfully calming exercise that soothes your nerves and restores your energy.\n\nWith a relaxed, slow motion, bring your right hand to rest over your lower abdomen. Rest your entire palm and fingers there, just below your navel.\n\nThen slowly bring your left hand to rest on top of your right hand. Rest your entire palm and fingers on the back of your right hand.\n\nIt's important to make this movement slowly, and to try to avoid hunching your shoulders or tensing your chest. Otherwise there will still be some tension in your upper body. You can prevent this by first letting your arms hang loosely by your sides, then slowly moving your forearms and hands up toward your belly without raising your elbows.\n\nFeel the sensations in your belly and hands as you sit still. Your hands are calm over your belly. Breathe naturally.\n\nRest like this for a minute.\n\n## Your Experience, Day or Night\n\nYou have now been introduced to several exercises that you can experiment with at any time of the day or night, whenever you are feeling anxious, or when you just want to take a break or refresh your energy. You can use the following chart to make notes on your experience. There are no right or wrong experiences; everyone's sensations are different. Sometimes you feel no sensations at all. It might be useful to review your responses in the chart \"A Quick Check\" at the end of the introduction. If you find this helpful, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\nWu Ji\n\nIt takes many strokes of the brush to write these two ancient characters, yet they represent the deepest simplicity of the universe. Their meaning is mysterious and hard to fathom, but they also are the name of one of the most practical of all exercises in the world of qigong.\n\nThe phrase is \"wu ji,\" pronounced \"woo chee\" (and sometimes spelled \"wu qi\"). \"Wu\"\u2014the upper character\u2014symbolizes what exists before anything emerges from nonexistence. Just like the clear and infinite sky that can give birth to endless clouds and abundant rain.\n\nBeneath it is \"ji,\" which means \"end.\" Not \"end\" in the sense of \"final\" but in the sense of that which is never reached. Taken together, these two timeless characters are symbols for an endless circle that contains and gives birth to everything.\n\n## Wu Ji: The Position of Primal Energy\n\nThere are said to be thousands of styles of qigong. All are forms of internal energy work. Some involve elegant and graceful movements. Some are based on the movements of animals and birds. All aim to cultivate the energy of the human being, and some of them also teach the practitioner how to work with the energy of the universe around us.\n\nAmong these thousands of possibilities\u2014handed down from parents to children over the centuries, and secretly from masters to their students\u2014there is one method that is distinguished from the rest, _zhan zhuang_ qigong (pronounced \"jam jong chee gung\"). It literally means \"standing like a tree energy work.\" It is famed for its most remarkable characteristic: it involves no movement.\n\nThis is the mysterious practice described in the verses of the _Tao Te Ching_ , one of humanity's greatest literary treasures (and said to be one of the most widely translated texts in history).\n\n_Standing alone and unchanging,_\n\n_One can observe every mystery,_\n\n_Present at every moment and ceaselessly continuing\u2014_\n\n_This is the gateway to indescribable miracles._\n\nMy late master, Professor Yu Yongnian, whose story is told later in \"The Lineage,\" was the world's leading authority on zhan zhuang qigong. In a lecture in London in 1998\u2014on one of his rare trips outside China\u2014Professor Yu said:\n\nThe history of health care in China stretches back into the distant past. As elsewhere in the Far East, a tradition has developed of taking care of one's own body and mind....In the West, although material life has developed enormously, there has not been a corresponding development in taking care of the human being. As a result, in today's society, people face enormous pressures both at work and at home. These create depression and many other mental and emotional difficulties. What people need is a way of looking after themselves, a way of taking care of their mental and physical well-being. What is needed is a method of self-healing....What is real relaxation? How would we know how to do that? Simply sleeping is not full relaxation. Nor is normal exercise, which deals almost entirely with our muscles. What is needed is a method of looking after ourselves that also relaxes our minds at the same time.\n\nThat method is the system that Professor Yu taught me\u2014zhan zhuang qigong, \"Standing Like a Tree.\"\n\nThe fundamental practice of wu ji is to align yourself, normally in a standing position, so that your body is centered, well-balanced, and upright\u2014and to remain in that position, without moving, while you progressively relax all your muscle groups, until the flow of energy within you and around you gives you what might be called a complete energy bath. In the following pages, you are introduced to the opening phases of practicing wu ji.\n\nIn my experience, this is a wonderful practice for both calming and strengthening the nervous system. Students of mine who have experienced high levels of anxiety, panic, and fear have found that this ancient\u2014and apparently simple\u2014practice transformed their experience. I have included a number of their stories throughout this book.\n\nAlmost nothing seems more natural than simply standing still, but not everyone can do this, strange as that might seem. We might be familiar with the military posture of standing at attention, but that does not normally have an internal relaxation practice associated with it. There is also postural adjustment that normally takes place when people practice wu ji. It can take time to see clearly what adjustments might be needed and then to allow them to take place naturally as you stand in the position. Some people also find standing still very startling, since there is normally so much commotion in their lives. For these reasons, I would like to take you through a step-by-step approach to wu ji, which will begin in this first part of the book and will deepen later.\n\n## Starting Wu Ji\n\nTo begin your practice of wu ji, you will be using a wall or something similar to support your back and help you relax. Many people unconsciously hold a lot of tension in their upper body musculature, because of the stress and anxiety in their lives. So using a support at the base of the spine will make a big difference in the depth of your relaxation.\n\nFind something solid to lean against, such as a wall. In the kitchen, you can stand with your lower back against the fridge or a counter. Or you may have a piece of furniture that works well for you.\n\nStand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Rest your backside gently against the wall or other support behind you.\n\nYour shoulders and chest are relaxed. Your breathing is natural. Stand still, fully at rest with your eyes open.\n\nYour feet take the weight of your body, like the base of a great pyramid, and the wall or counter you are leaning against stabilizes you.\n\nThis photo shows the position from the front. Your arms are loosely relaxed by your sides.\n\nAt this stage in your practice, you are still resting your backside against a support. You may feel that you are tilted slightly forward as a result of doing this, particularly if you're using a wall as a support, but using the support for your back is helpful for the initial\u2014and essential\u2014inner relaxation process. Later you will progress to doing the full practice without the support, but at this stage it is important to become thoroughly familiar with the inner work without being distracted by instability in your back.\n\nAs you stand, please go through the progressive relaxation described just below, moving downward through your body.\n\nBegin with a couple of minutes, if you can manage that. Then increase, day by day, until you are able to stand for five minutes or more, relaxed and motionless.\n\n## Calming Your Nervous System\n\nStanding still in wu ji helps calm your nervous system. This process of relaxation is vital to your health and well-being. If your nervous system is agitated, the flow of energy throughout your body is seriously impeded. As you stand in wu ji, follow the following inner relaxation sequence.\n\nInner relaxation is the secret of all health and well-being. As you practice the postures and movements in this book, your inner work is to relax\u2014whether you are standing still or moving. You can then carry this inner relaxation with you throughout your day, whatever you are doing.\n\nInner Release\n\nBring your attention to the area of your eyes. Release any tension you may be holding in the skin or muscles. If your eyes feel tired, imagine you are releasing the pressure in your eyeballs. Then bring your attention to your jaw and make sure you are not clenching your teeth. Relax your tongue.\n\nLet this sense of relaxation flow down your neck and over your shoulders. Allow each shoulder to sink, releasing any tightness. Your arms will naturally drop slightly as your relax. Release tension in your chest by breathing out gently.\n\nImagine you are standing under a warm shower. As the water cascades down your back, feel it washing away any tension in your back, as if dried mud were being softened and washed away by the water. Feel the weight of your body sinking down through the soles of your feet.\n\nFinally, imagine a fine golden cord supporting you from the top of your head. It stretches up into the heavens, gently suspending you. Remain still, repeating this inner relaxation as you stand.\n\n## \"Like a Mountain with the Winds Howling Past\"\n\nOne of my students is an independent management consultant. A few years ago he contracted pneumonia and lost more than twenty pounds in twelve days. He was off work for three months. But when he recovered and went back to work, he found he didn't have his earlier strength.\n\nHe has now been with me for several years and recently said, \"My strength and immunity have increased to a level far better than average for my age. I had a weak lower back. This would often cause problems, including a very stiff upper back. Over the years, these have improved enormously....I genuinely feel as if, while I am getting older, my spine is getting younger.\"\n\nI asked him about his internal energy and what effect it has on his high-pressure work in the business community.\n\nHe said, \"Energetically, I have plenty of energy, focus, and sharpness. When it comes to anxiety, crises come and go. I went through a lengthy divorce. A company that went bankrupt owed me a great deal of money. It was an extremely difficult time for me. No one would choose to have those experiences. It has made a considerable difference to have some point every day when I could be like a mountain with the winds howling past\u2014calm and unmoved. That tranquility in the eye of a storm has made a huge difference.\"\n\nThis student of mine also practices meditation. I asked him how he feels about qigong from that perspective. \"The open-awareness of this qigong practice has allowed me to become more open and less self-orientated, as it were,\" he said. \"There can be a huge divide between a state of calm you might experience in retreat and then your daily life. This divide does not arise the way we practice qigong. There is no split to be healed.\"\n\n## Standing and Rolling the Golden Ball\n\nYou were introduced earlier to the golden ball, including the exercise of rolling the golden ball while seated. Now that you have also been introduced to wu ji, you combine these two practices in this new exercise.\n\nBegin by standing in wu ji. Imagine you are holding the golden ball in front of your chest, between your palms. Stand still for a moment before beginning the next movement.\n\nSlowly circle the golden ball up and away from you, so that it moves in an arc outward, away from your chest. Complete the circle by lowering and bringing it in toward your belly. Keep your elbows loose, so that they move fluidly with the large circle of the golden ball.\n\nBreathe out as the golden ball arcs up and outward. Breathe in as the ball comes down and in toward your abdomen. As you move the ball through the space in front of you, it feels strong and heavy.\n\nImagine that with each exhalation and outward arc of the ball, you are expelling any agitation and disturbing energy from your body.\n\nTry making up to thirty circles with the golden ball.\n\n## Gathering Your Energy\n\nThis practice is an essential aspect of qigong exercise. It is a method of collecting your energy, directing it into its natural reservoir in the lower abdomen, and sealing it there. You can use it by itself, as a way of calming and centering your energy, or you can use it at the end of another exercise or a period of practice. It can also be used as an emergency treatment if you feel uncomfortable at any point in your qigong practice. In fact, you can use it as an on-the-spot method for getting some ground under your feet if you are overcome by strong emotion, experience intense pressure, or find yourself in a very difficult situation.\n\nStand with your feet shoulder-width apart. To begin, your arms are at your sides.\n\nOpen your hands and raise your arms out to the sides with your open palms facing forward. Continue to raise your arms until your hands start to come toward each other above your head. Breathe in as your arms circle up.\n\nBring your hands together so that your left palm is on top of the back of your right hand. This makes your arms into a complete circle, with your palms overlapped and facing downward. Your hands are directly over your head.\n\nThen move your hands forward so that they are poised to come down in front of your face and upper body. Slowly lower your hands down in front of your body. You feel as if you are pressing a large ball down into water. Breathe out as your arms press down.\n\nThe movement continues until your palms are in front of your belly. You can let your hands gently slide down, touching your torso, if you wish.\n\nMake three large circles like this, slowly and calmly.\n\nThen calmly bring your palms to rest over your abdomen. Your right hand is against your belly, your left hand on top of it.\n\nRest in stillness, breathing naturally for a minute.\n\n## \"To My Surprise\"\n\nSoon after we were married, my wife and I went from Hong Kong to London on our honeymoon. We planned to stay only a short time, but we have ended up living there for more than thirty years. Some of my earliest students are still coming to see me. One of them, a lawyer, held a senior position in a large legal department for a national professional body in the United Kingdom.\n\nJust after he retired, he told me what he had been going through. \"As the date of my retirement approached, I was waking up at four in the morning, worrying about the big changes in income and daily activity. I was often unable to get back to sleep.\"\n\nThis student is quite elegant and a real gentleman. He was honest about himself: \"I am by temperament quite an anxious person. My fight-or-flight reaction has a low threshold and is easily triggered, causing mild panic and anxiety. This can be accompanied by thoughts of worst-case scenarios. They take on a life of their own.\"\n\nI knew he was being honest with me when he spoke about his fears of retirement. \"The accumulating sleep deficit and anxiety became self-perpetuating,\" he told me.\n\nHe wanted me to know what he did, because he had applied lessons he learned from studying qigong with me. \"I found that if I got out of bed and stood in wu ji and then one other qigong posture for ten to fifteen minutes, my breathing became deeper and slower automatically. This led to a virtuous cycle, whereby my anxious thoughts and feelings diminished without any conscious effort on my part.\"\n\nHe said, \"I had always thought that practicing qigong would make me feel wide awake. To my surprise, I found that on returning to bed, I felt calm and relaxed, and I fell asleep without much difficulty. I found the transition to retirement much easier than I feared\u2014and I now have much more free time to practice qigong and enjoy life!\"\n\n## Experiencing More Energy\n\nIn this part of the book, you have been introduced to the standing practice of wu ji and the progressive relaxation sequence that accompanies it. You have also learned standing and rolling the golden ball, and the practice of gathering your energy. These take you to a different level of energy work and have a more profound effect on your nervous system. You can use the following chart to make a note of your experience. It is all the more important at this stage to know that there are no right or wrong experiences; everyone's sensations are different. If you find these notes helpful, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\nInner Strength\n\nThese two Chinese characters stand for \"inner strength.\" Literally, they mean \"heart strength\" or \"experience held in the human heart.\" They express a feeling that is close to what we mean by \"confidence,\" but they point to something deeper than that: not confidence in something, but confidence in anything.\n\nFor example, in the face of difficulty, you are not shocked. You do not feel helpless or worried. It is as if you have encountered this problem many times before and are thoroughly familiar with it. You already hold that experience in your heart. And not only are you familiar with this particular difficulty, but you also recollect what to do about it. Hence, you are able to draw on \"experience held in the human heart.\" It is a hidden, personal treasure.\n\n## Inner Strength\n\n\"When I stand,\" said my grand master Wang Xiang Zhai, \"the earth is in my hands. The universe is in my mind.\"\n\n\"You are free,\" he told his students. \"You are a great fire. If anything comes toward you, it will be consumed in the fire. If it does not approach the fire, it will not be burned. You are merely the fire. You remain where you are, content to be alight.\"\n\n\"You are the sea,\" he told them. \"Whatever anyone gives you, you can take. They can also take from you anything they want. The sea is vast; it can give up anything and still remain the sea. Like the sea, you are endless and unceasing. This is true freedom.\"\n\nIn Chinese culture, we have the tradition\u2014which once also flourished in the West\u2014of apprenticeship. Students learn from their masters by serving them; following their instructions; doing whatever is asked; and slowly, slowly being shaped by the wisdom and experience of the teachers. The teachers, in turn, are obliged to devote themselves wholeheartedly\u2014for the sake of their art\u2014to shaping the apprentices, and fashioning them into future masters. I have tried to keep that tradition alive, even though I am living in a very different culture now. Thus, I feel very happy to share with you these precious words of my grand master, hoping that you will grasp their profound meaning.\n\nIf you are suffering from tremendous anxiety and perhaps other emotions that overwhelm you at times, you might have turned to this book out of despair. I offer these words to you as a source of help. If you are willing to follow the simple instructions and practices in this book\u2014to sit and stand, following the guidance I share with you\u2014and perhaps, from time to time, to read the remarkable words of my grand master, then stamina, resilience, and great strength will naturally arise in your being. You cannot generate that strength through willpower and wishful thinking alone. But if you follow with care the practices in this book, you will be able, day by day, to create the fertile conditions in your body and mind that will make it possible for that inner strength to blossom within you, silently and beautifully.\n\n## Growing from Within\u2014A Nine-Month Journey\n\nPlease take a few moments to reflect on your current experience. You will be using your answers here as a point of reference nine months from now, when you complete the \"Inner Growth\" worksheet at the end of this workbook. The purpose of these two charts is to help your inner development as you use this workbook and experiment with qigong. Please remember that every person is unique. There is no set pattern and no target. Qigong will help you ride the energy of all your experience. The following questions are meant for your personal, private use. Please treat them as an intimate conversation with yourself.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n**Why does sitting and standing still in the various positions make you feel refreshed and energized? If it generates high levels of energy, why does it calm the nervous system?**\n\nThese are questions I am often asked about qigong. The basis of understanding qigong is an appreciation of energy. From the earliest natural scientists of Chinese civilization down to the quantum physicists of our own era, there has been a tradition of understanding all phenomena as expressions of energy. In Chinese, this energy\u2014or life force\u2014is known as \"qi.\" It is the basis of human life. It is none other than the vast force field that gives birth to and sustains everything in the universe\u2014visible and invisible. The practice of qigong helps you feel this wonderful world of energy. You learn how to work with it and relax into it. It is like learning to float in a great river.\n\n**Do I need to follow a strict sequence of exercises?**\n\nNo. Please feel free to experiment with the various exercises and suggestions in part 1. Everyone is different. Some people will make an immediate connection with an exercise; others won't. Some days you feel like trying one particular exercise; the next day you may not feel that way. There is a daily routine you can follow if you wish; you can find it in part 3. Many people like to add this routine to their day, since it only takes about ten minutes. But please feel free to make your own experiments with the practices and recommendations I am offering you.\n\n**What happens if I feel worse?**\n\nSometimes when we start \"Coming Up for Air\" and begin letting go of accumulated tension, the mind and heart can start to race, like a wild horse let loose in a field. This is normal. If you feel it is too much, follow \"Gathering Your Energy\" in part 1.\n\n**I'm feeling good. Can I skip ahead?**\n\nYes. This book is designed so that you can use it however you wish. It does not follow a strict, linear sequence. However, sometimes the very nature of anxiety keeps us skipping along, and we are unable to settle. Please notice this. When you find an exercise or a suggestion that you are attracted to, then please continue to do it regularly. You can add others as well, as additional experiments, slowly building up your repertoire. If you ever feel you are losing your way, come back to the very beginning and start \"Coming Up for Air.\"\n\n## Opening Up, Relaxing, and Gathering Your Energy\n\nAnxiety often makes us close up. We feel burdened, and we unconsciously constrict our muscles, particularly in the upper body. This puts pressure on our chests, and our breathing becomes shallow. That is why the very first qigong practice in this book is \"Coming Up for Air.\" This starts the process of opening up.\n\nAs you stretch your arms back, your chest expands. Your lungs open. You take in more oxygen. At the same time, you are stretching your whole upper body. Then, as you come back to the resting position, with your arms hanging slightly forward, there is a natural relaxation. That feeling of relaxation is the key to deeper qigong practice.\n\nSome people worry that they feel a little light-headed when they first start to do qigong exercises. This is _not_ a sign of illness or that you are doing anything wrong. As your qigong practice deepens, you will naturally develop a much stronger connection with the energy of the earth. This literally grounds you. At first, however, as your internal energy wakes up, you might feel it floating upward. You might feel a little dizzy or nauseous, or you might have a sudden rush of emotion. In that case, please follow the exercise \"Gathering Your Energy.\" This is what I call \"Qigong First Aid.\"\n\nEnergy Field\n\nThese two characters express in Chinese what we call an \"energy field.\" You will recognize the upper character as \"qi,\" \"energy.\" Underneath it is the character \"qung\" (pronounced \"chung\"), which represents an open space. It could be a football field, a large garden, or a great plain. It could simply be translated as \"area\" or \"field.\" This space is not closed, like a room or a house. It is open. Because it is open, it can expand\u2014it can grow. It can extend in all directions.\n\nEvery human being is an energy field. Our power, our capacity, and our potential are unbounded.\nPart 2\n\nYour Personal Energy Field\n\n## Health and Anxiety\n\nHuge numbers of people are seeking a method of relaxation that will enable them to function effectively in their busy lives. They feel a persistent level of anxiety and tension in almost everything they do and almost everywhere they go. The times we are living through are sometimes referred to as \"the age of anxiety.\" A student of mine showed me a magazine article that described people as \"all jumpy and edgy and short of breath.\" It said that physicians write over ninety-four million prescriptions for antianxiety medication annually in the United States alone (Miller 2012). The _New York Times_ recently featured a series of seventy essays on anxiety; the newspaper introduced the series by saying, \"Nearly one in five Americans suffers from anxiety. For many it is not a disorder, but part of the human condition\" (\"Anxiety\" 2013).\n\nPeople who suffer from anxiety have a wide range of symptoms, including restlessness and a feeling of being constantly on edge. They get tired easily. They have difficulty concentrating; their minds go blank with worry. They are frequently irritated. They experience body pains from persistent tension in their muscles. They have difficulty falling asleep; their sleep is disturbed, with them often waking up in the middle of the night; and in the morning they wake up feeling that they haven't slept.\n\nWe tend to think of tension merely as a problem of mental attitude. But to the early Chinese physicians, mind and body were so intimately connected that mental tension could be locked into the body at its most subtle level. Their findings have been validated by modern neurological research. We now know that tension shows up at the cellular level, obstructing the flow of oxygen and other nutrients as well as preventing the elimination of dead or infected organisms. The inevitable result of tension is pain, disorder, and disease. Inner relaxation is therefore not a luxury. It is a key to health.\n\nIn the tradition of classical Chinese medicine, tension is one of the most common causes of pain and dysfunction. Tension blocks the flow of vital energy, qi, in the human body. When our qi is flowing smoothly and without obstruction, we experience health. When it is blocked or diminished, we experience pain and ill health. We also experience this pain and _dis-_ ease in our attitudes, emotions, and thoughts. In fact, the two are so deeply interrelated as to be inseparable.\n\nThe exercises and practices in this book have been developed over many generations to balance muscular activity and relaxation so that your internal energy is strengthened. The overall effect on your nervous system and your mind is to calm you down, freeing you from debilitating anxiety.\n\nThe Benefits\n\nCirculation is a key determinant of our health. If the flow of blood, lymph, and other fluids is restricted, the body begins to degenerate. Our tissue loses its softness, dries out, and becomes hard. Joints stiffen and muscles ache. Our immune system is weakened as the flow of immune cells in the intercellular fluid slows and is blocked.\n\nAnxiety contributes to this degeneration. The many pressures of daily life put our whole system on constant alert, even in sleep. We see the results around us every day: hypertension, migraines, asthma, all manner of aches and pains, menstrual difficulties, depression, and heart attacks. We tend to store the effects of anxiety in our musculature\u2014as everyone with a stiff neck knows.\n\nThe gentle movements and postures of qigong slowly alternate contraction and release of all the major pairs of flexor and extensor muscles, as well as many of the smaller, deeper muscles in the body that normally we rarely use. This work warms and massages your internal body tissue, thereby releasing and encouraging the flow of blood, lymph, and intercellular fluid.\n\nThe inner relaxation usually helps our posture. This is especially noticeable in older people who take up qigong after a period of relative inactivity. The spinal muscles elongate. The ligaments become more supple and the movement of the spinal column eases. From the point of view of the flow of vital energy within the body, this has a profoundly beneficial effect on the central nervous system and our consciousness.\n\nMost people find that their breathing (which is easily affected and made shallow by anxiety) becomes deeper, slower, and more powerful as a result of qigong practice. Over time, I have noticed that their breathing rate can decrease from ten to twenty breaths per minute to six to eight per minute. Their breathing becomes smoother as their diaphragm becomes stronger. In hospitals in China, qigong has been used in the treatment of tuberculosis and chronic ailments such as bronchial asthma.\n\nDigestive processes also benefit from qigong. Anxiety affects the digestive system, with frequent complaints including gastric pain, ulcers, and bowel problems. In some cases, people who had bowel movements only once every three days (or even less frequently) have reported having daily bowel movements after doing even basic qigong exercises.\n\nMy master, Professor Yu Yongnian, took an interest in the effect of qigong on the cardiovascular system. In one of his experiments at Ten Lu (Railway) Hospital in Beijing, he measured blood counts of qigong practitioners (using the system described in this book) before and after their daily practice. He found that their hemoglobin levels increased, as did their production of both white and red cells. Their blood protein levels also increased significantly, resulting in increased absorption of oxygen from the lungs and improved circulation of the oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the organs.\n\nYou might wonder what all this has to do with levels of anxiety and, more particularly, with reducing or getting rid of anxiety. An old Latin saying provides an answer: \"A healthy mind in a healthy body.\" This was said, in good schools, to be the goal of educating the whole person. It also points to the interdependence between mind and body: the health of the body affects the health of the mind; the health of the mind affects the health of the body. Just take the example of Professor Yu's findings at his hospital. Imagine how our brain and nervous system would function if bathed in a nurturing flow of oxygen-rich blood. Wouldn't we feel alert, energized, and resilient? Imagine the contrast: the blood flow to the brain is constricted by muscular tension in the neck, and our shallow breathing means we have low levels of oxygen in our blood cells. Wouldn't this lead to reduced mental energy, increased worry, and a tendency to get stuck?\n\nYou may have tried many methods to lessen your anxiety. In the the following chart, you are asked, \"If you are already trying to control your anxiety, what have you found most useful, and why do you think this has helped you?\" It is useful to remind yourself of any methods that you have found useful, even if briefly. Nothing in this book counteracts any other method you might have found useful. You can practice these qigong exercises while receiving any other form of treatment or while using any other self-help method that offers relief from anxiety.\n\n## Using the Mind\n\nThe mind that is the anxious is same mind that can help us work with our anxiety. Our natural mental awareness is an ally. Although qigong may be different from other approaches you have tried, it has one important thing in common with most other methods: awareness. Your own awareness of what is happening to you makes a big difference in the effectiveness of what you do. Therefore, throughout this book there are charts to help you explore and keep track of your own experience.\n\nWhether you have started using the qigong practices in part 1 already or are dipping into different parts of this book looking for help, you may find it helpful to review your own experience of your anxiety. If you completed \"A Quick Check\" at the end of the introduction, you may find that your answers there will help you think about your responses to the questions below.\n\n## \"You Need to Train Your Spirit\"\n\nWhen I was very young, my father allowed me to begin training with a master in our city, Hong Kong. This was my first experience of the wisdom and power that was later to become the subject of my life's work and study. I learned many important lessons about anxiety, tension, and relaxation. My training was based on the principle that physical and mental health was part of the same discipline of working with energy.\n\nThe fundamental rhythm of all energy fields is the interplay of yin and yang\u2014the two interrelated energies in the famous Taoist symbol that weaves together light and dark. We need both energies to be whole, balanced, and healthy human beings, living a good life in the midst of the constantly shifting energies of human society and nature. Anxiety can be both yin and yang. Anxiety is yin when it undermines our ability to act. It is yang when it makes us frantic and tense. Like all energies, it can shift according to conditions. Qigong training cultivates the ability to work with yin and yang in all their forms.\n\nThe training I received from my master involved both yang and yin energies. First he taught me the martial arts. I learned some of the toughest forms, like those practiced by the famous Shaolin monks. One day I injured myself in a strenuous session. When I recovered, my master told me, \"Now you must learn tai chi.\" This is the graceful system of slow, gentle movements, known worldwide. What he said upset me. I loved the speed and force of what he had trained me in already.\n\nMy master could sense my resistance. \"You need to train your spirit,\" he said. My hard training had been developing my yang energy. Now I needed to cultivate my yin energy. During my years of teaching in the West, I have found that many people think that the gentleness of yin energy makes it weak. It is not. Indeed, in the _Tao Te Ching_ , Laozi points out that water is more powerful than rock.\n\nMy master knew that I was becoming too tense. My spirit was hardening. He knew that I needed to cultivate another aspect of my being. Later, during my philosophical studies, I thought back to how he trained me and realized that he was instructing me in how to understand and work with yin and yang.\n\n## Holding On and Letting Go\n\nProbably one of the most irritating things that anyone can say to an anxious person is \"calm down,\" \"relax,\" or \"just let go.\" Not only do those statements almost always make the person feel worse, they are actually based on an inaccurate way of understanding how human beings function.\n\nBeing alive is a constant process of holding on and letting go. These are not opposite states; they are two aspects of the amazing, dynamic process of being alive. In every human being, this process takes place simultaneously, in some way, in every function of the body and mind. Think about your breathing, or your heart beating, or the process of digesting food and drink. Think about how you go to sleep and then wake, the way you walk, the many ways in which you communicate. All involve holding on and letting go, woven together in the intimate fabric of life.\n\nSo too with anxiety and all our emotions. They are part of this continuous, unfolding rhythm of life. Understanding this lies at the heart of the qigong tradition and is beautifully expressed in the _Tao Te Ching_.\n\n_Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily;_\n\n_Sometimes there is strength, and sometimes weakness_\n\nThis passage reminds us that disturbances of all kinds are part of life. They are episodic in nature and are not the whole of life. Another truth is hidden within these simple words. All turbulence arises and subsides naturally, through its own organic processes. This is as true for our emotional life as it is for the weather. This knowledge is embodied in qigong. Thus, I do not ask you to force yourself into any mental state or reject anything about your experience. Instead, I am offering you a way of fully embracing\u2014even expanding\u2014the fullness of your experience.\n\nThe exercises in the following pages enable you to embody this. Please experiment with them and then use the charts provided to track your own experience.\n\n## Arm Swinging\n\nThis simple movement releases the tension so often associated with anxiety, and it increases your flow of energy.\n\nStand with your feet pointing straight forward, shoulder-width apart. Look straight ahead. Make sure that your head is not slumped forward or tilted backward. Relax your shoulders and let your hands hang loosely by your sides.\n\nSwing your arms loosely forward, with the backs of your hands facing forward, and your fingers gently spread apart. Let your hands swing up until they are level with your chest. Do not swing them higher than your shoulders.\n\nThen swing your arms back until they naturally stop behind you. Keep them slightly away from your body. Do not bring your hands together behind your back; they should remain the same distance apart as when they were swinging forward.\n\nLet the natural momentum of the swing carry your arms forward and then backward. Work toward a spontaneous and fluid swing. Build up to swinging your arms like this for up to three minutes, if you can.\n\n## What's Happening?\n\nHow can something so simple as swinging your arms help you with your anxiety? At first sight, it might seem impossible. That's especially true if you are someone who thinks that anxiety is a state of mind that has nothing to do with your body\u2014and certainly not your arms!\n\nBut perhaps you also know that going to the gym or going for a run is good not only for your physical fitness but also for your mind. It can clear your mind and improve your overall mental stamina. Qigong works on the same principle, except that in qigong we are working with an even deeper, more subtle approach.\n\nThe way you stand in the arm-swinging exercise, with your feet flat on the ground and shoulder-width apart, is a traditional way of connecting with the energy of earth\u2014the huge power source that nurtures all life on earth. Strong, sustaining energy comes up into our bodies through our contact with the earth. We know that intuitively when we go for a walk in nature or lie down on the grass.\n\nWhen you begin to swing your arms loosely, several things start to happen naturally in your body. First, the gentle swinging encourages your shoulders, chest, and neck to relax. You can experiment with this by hunching your shoulders and tensing your neck and chest while swinging your arms. You'll immediately find out how difficult it is\u2014you naturally want to loosen up. Loosening up these sensitive areas of the upper body is extremely important. It improves the flow of blood and lymph to and from the brain.\n\nAs your arms begin to swing, you feel sensations in your hands and fingers. Please try to keep your fingers open a little bit, so you can feel the air moving between them as they swing. This also helps encourage one the main effects of the swinging: the increased flow of blood all along the arms and hands, right through to the fingertips. That, in turn, stimulates increased circulation throughout the body.\n\nHow does that help with your anxiety? A combination of greater relaxation and increased blood circulation sends powerful signals to your whole nervous system. Anxiety often tenses and constricts your being, and with arm swinging, your body is sending the opposite signal to your nervous system\u2014relax and open up.\n\nFrom the classical Chinese point of view, there is also another reason. If you look at a chart of the meridians (energy pathways) that run through the body, you will see that all the main meridians have important terminal points in the hands and fingers. There's a saying in Chinese medicine: \"the qi flows with the blood.\" So the increased circulation caused by the swinging is also stimulating the flow of qi throughout all the meridians, clearing stagnation and increasing the movement of energy.\n\nDoes it work better if you swing your arms higher and faster? No! Here is the difference between qigong practice and a tough workout in the gym. For energy to flow smoothly and powerfully in your body and to calm and rejuvenate your nervous system, relaxation is essential. So, hidden within this seemingly simple, ancient tradition is the potent combination of power and relaxation.\n\nIt may surprise you that arm swinging is widely used as a morning exercise in schools, factories, and businesses throughout China. It rouses people's energy and generally seems to put them in a good mood to start the day. Also, people seem to appreciate doing it with others. There is something about the simplicity and the rising energy of the exercise that feels good to share with a friend, your family, or a large group of schoolmates or colleagues.\n\nEven more surprising to you, perhaps, is that this same exercise is used in traditional qigong hospitals in China for the treatment of serious illnesses, including some cancers, sometimes in conjunction with herbal treatments. In a hospital setting, arm swinging as a therapeutic treatment is done as a supervised exercise, since the patients devote themselves to the exercise for long periods of time.\n\nThe potency of the exercise lies in the subtle combination of the standing posture, which promotes a deep connection with the earth; the enhanced circulation of blood and qi caused by the arm swinging; and the inner relaxation, which releases internal blockages in the body's energy flow.\n\nPlease try it for yourself. There is a chart ahead to help you keep track of your experience at different times of the day and in different moods. Combining your exercise with the work of self-observation can deepen your own experience of this art.\n\n## \"I No Longer Feel Tired\"\n\nOne day a very charming lady came to see me at my clinic in London. She was middle aged and well dressed and had a dignified manner. It turned out that she was the head teacher of a good school in the city. I could tell immediately, from the way she walked, that she was suffering from postural pain. The way we hold our bodies is so often linked to anxiety.\n\n\"I have had this pain for years,\" she told me. \"I have been to countless doctors. I have tried Western medicine, Eastern medicine, and all manner of alternative therapies.\"\n\nIn the Chinese medical tradition, particularly in the art of qigong healing, pain is almost always a sign that the natural flow of energy in the body is being blocked. The blockage and the pain may persist for years, but it does not necessarily take all that long to unblock the energy and restore its natural flow. Of course, it may take time to overcome the habit of tensing up, but in my experience, it is almost always possible to make a difference.\n\nHere is where understanding the mind-body relationship is so important. Just as mental stress can produce tension and pain in the body, so too can we use bodywork to relieve the mind of its repetitive patterns of anxiety.\n\nI asked my patient, the head teacher, to stand up and to swing her arms gently to and fro. She began, but within a few minutes I could see her habit of tensing up. Her shoulders were hunched, her elbows were not loose, and the swing was forced.\n\nYears of caring, of being on constant alert, of helping others with their troubles\u2014all wonderful human qualities\u2014can have this effect on our nervous system if we are not careful. But because these patterns arise from a warm human heart, there is always a pathway back to a more natural state of being at ease, even in the midst of all the challenges we face.\n\nI corrected her arm movements and let her continue swinging.\n\n\"Ah,\" she said suddenly after a few minutes, \"I can feel it. I feel the relaxation in my tendons. They are no longer aching. My body feels comfortable.\"\n\nI thought she would stop at that point. Much to my surprise, she kept on going. And then she smiled and said, \"I no longer feel tired.\"\n\n## What Is Your Experience?\n\nPart 2 introduces you to the apparently simple exercise of arm swinging. This is something that you are welcome to try at any time of the day or night, whenever you are feeling anxious or want to take a break, or if you want to refresh your energy. Many people are skeptical about the benefits of this exercise, because it seems too simple. How can something so easy, almost childlike, make a difference? There is only one way to find out: try it.\n\nPlease use the following chart to keep track of your experience. Everyone's sensations are different. Similarly, the effects can be different on different days and at different times of day. If you find this helpful, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\n## Opening the Curtains\n\nHere is another apparently simple exercise that can help you in the midst of your anxiety. It is similar to the practice in part 1, \"Coming Up for Air,\" but it has an even more powerful effect on your inner organs and nervous system. It is a quick way of overcoming the constricting effects of anxiety, nervousness, and fear, which can cause us to tighten up internally.\n\nStand with your feet pointing straight forward, shoulder-width apart.\n\nImagine you are about to open heavy curtains that are drawn closed in front of a large window in front of you.\n\nRaise your hands to eye level, palms facing outward, as if placing them against the fabric of the heavy curtains. You are going to spread the curtains open, not pull them. Breathe in.\n\nAs you breathe out, use your open palms to spread the heavy curtains apart. Because they are heavy, you can't move them too quickly. Open the curtains until your arms are out to your sides at around a forty-five-degree angle.\n\nOnce you are familiar with this motion, you can make it more powerful. As you open the curtains, lean forward a little to put some pressure on the balls of your feet. This presses on one of the most powerful acupuncture points in your body, the _yongquan (yung chuan)_ point. It is a key power spot for your connection with the energy of the earth.\n\nThen bring your hands back to the starting position. As you do this, stop leaning forward, stand flat on your feet, and breathe in. Repeat the movement three, six, or nine times. Then slowly lower your arms.\n\n## Your Opening Experience\n\n\"Opening the Curtains\" works with the energy pathways that run from the _yongquan_ point in the middle of each foot up to your fingertips. You many experience new sensations as you do this, and you may detect a change in your experience of anxiety or other disturbing emotions. You may find the following chart a helpful way to keep track of any effect this practice has on you, physically and mentally _._\n\nPlease remember that these experiments are personal to you. If you find this exercise helpful and want to work with it over time, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\n## \"You Don't Know How Tense You Are\"\n\nOne day my master said to me, \"You don't know how tense you are.\" I was shocked and even a little resentful to hear him say that. I was a devoted student, still very youthful, doing my best to follow his instructions and training hard in the martial arts. A lot of the fast, repetitive exercises that have come down to us over the centuries, like swinging your arms rapidly in large circles, are designed to loosen up your joints and really free up your energy. We started our classes with vigorous warm-ups like this. The looser our joints, the more power in our punches. Even when we were sparring with our fellow students, our master would call out, over and over again, \"Relax! Relax!\"\n\nOn the day that he cautioned me about how tense I was, he came over and stood beside me and told me to do something new. \"Clench your fists very tightly,\" he said, making his own hands into two tight fists. \"Squeeze more tightly. Really squeeze hard. Now twist your fists in toward your body. Don't stop squeezing. Harder. Harder.\"\n\nMy fingers were getting sore from the pressure. The tendons in my forearms were really feeling the stretch. My wrists were starting to ache. My hands were getting hot. Then quietly he said, \"Release.\" He opened his hands, and I opened mine.\n\nI still remember the rush of energy. And I also remember that I was suddenly more relaxed than I had ever been. Oddly enough, he had showed me how to relax by asking me to tense up. Now I was learning that I could go much further than I had thought possible.\n\n## Tensing and Relaxing\n\nYou are now going to experiment with an approach to dealing with inner tension and anxiety that is patterned on the story \"You Don't Know How Tense You Are.\" The point of that story and the point of this exercise is that we might be in such a state of constant muscular and nervous tension that we have forgotten what it feels like to be relaxed. We may think we are relaxing, but we don't know what that would really feel like. In this sequence we deliberately increase the tension in our arm muscles and then let go so that our nerves begin to experience the feeling of relaxation. The alternation helps our nervous system remember another way of being.\n\nThere are two forms of this method of tensing and relaxing that you will learn. The first one you will do while sitting or standing still. With the second, you will learn to add a powerful movement to it. Both forms involve a very powerful twist of both arms. You feel the effect coiling up both arms into your chest and shoulders, and you feel the corresponding release of tension as you uncoil.\n\nBegin with your arms by your sides. Then gently bring your hands toward your abdomen, as if you are holding a large ball in front of your belly. Your elbows should be held away from your torso, allowing space under your arms. Relax your chest and shoulders. Breathe in.\n\nThen rotate your forearms inward so that the backs of your hands face each other. Your palms are turned outward, facing away from the sides of your body. Your fingers are pointing away from you. Breathe out as you do this.\n\nAs your forearms turn inward, you may feel a slight twist in your upper arms. Pause for a second or two, holding this position, feeling the twist. You feel it coiling up your arms, into your chest and shoulders. Do not breathe for a second\u2014 wait to breathe in on the next movement.\n\nNow, breathe in and let your arms return to the starting position, with your hands holding the imaginary ball in front of your belly. You feel the release of tension as you uncoil.\n\nIf you are doing this sitting down, you can rest your hands in your lap for a moment before doing the movement again. Breathe naturally for a moment. Repeat this sequence up to three times, if you wish.\n\nOnce you have become familiar with this exercise, you can add a further element. When you have twisted your forearms inward so that your palms are facing away from your body, squeeze your hands into fists as tightly as you can. Breathe in as you do this. Hold tight for a few seconds.\n\nThen breathe out as you unclench your fists. Your forearms are still turned inward. Then, breathing in, let your arms return to the starting position, holding the imaginary ball in front of your chest.\n\n## Working with a Wall\n\nOnce you have tried \"Tensing and Relaxing,\" you can add movement to it. You will be working with a wall, bouncing off it as you make the same twisting movements with your arms.\n\nThere are many different methods of tensing and relaxing, but they all work on the same principle. In the classical Chinese tradition, the alternation of tensing and relaxing is a perfect example of the powerful interaction between yin and yang. Tensing up involves yang energy\u2014strong, focused, and hard. Relaxing involves yin energy\u2014yielding, flexible, and soft.\n\nIn this exercise, the process of tensing and relaxing is rapid. It is a quick way of sending signals to the nervous system. The sudden and repeated interaction of yin and yang has the power to interrupt any patterns of anxiety, fear, panic, or obsession that may have taken hold of the mind.\n\nTo begin, stand with your back a few inches away from a wall. You will be bouncing your upper back against the wall, so check your position to make sure that you can do that. You can try rocking backward and forward on the soles of your feet to make sure you feel balanced and stable when your upper back touches the wall and when you lean a little forward. Most people need to be quite close to the wall to be able to do this.\n\nHold the large imaginary ball in front of your belly, as you did in \"Tensing and Relaxing.\" Your elbows are held away from your torso, allowing space under your arms.\n\nNow, let your body fall backward until your upper back bounces against the wall. As soon as your upper back touches the wall, there is a natural recoil that propels you forward away from the wall.\n\nAs you bounce forward, rotate your forearms inward so that the backs of your hands face each other, as you did in \"Tensing and Relaxing.\" Breathe out as you bounce forward, twisting your arms.\n\nWhen your body has come naturally forward, let your arms uncoil, so that you are holding the imaginary ball. Breathe in as you do this.\n\nRepeat the movement three, six, or nine times. Do not exaggerate the movement. You are not slamming your back against the wall. You are bouncing with a natural rhythm.\n\nAs you become familiar with the movement, the exercise will be a natural process of rapid tensing and relaxing, synchronized with your breathing. Your breath will come in short, shallow bursts in time with the bouncing.\n\nYou can record your experience in the workbook charts. In particular, if you decide to do this exercise when you are feeling particularly anxious, try noticing your different states of mind before, during, and after this vigorous form of tensing and relaxing.\n\n## Clenching and Relaxing\n\nEveryone reacts differently to qigong exercises. Some people find that a slower process of tensing and relaxing is more helpful than a rapid exercise. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that one method is better for your than the other. Don't worry that being able to do these exercises either faster or slower indicates something about your physical health or the state of your nerves. Each person is different. You need to experiment to see what works best for you.\n\nHere is a slower method you can try, using your hands to clench and relax, synchronized with your breathing.\n\nSit or stand upright. This automatically releases pressure on your internal organs. Let your arms hang loosely by your sides for a second. Relax your shoulders.\n\nSlowly open your elbows outward, away from your body. The movement is led from the elbows, keeping the shoulders still. Your arms rest in an open, relaxed curve on either side of your body.\n\nBreathe in. Then make your hands into fists and clench them tightly while you hold your breath. Hold tightly for a few seconds.\n\nOpen your hands as you breathe out, and lower your hands to your sides. Breathe naturally. Repeat up to three times, if you wish.\n\n## Spreading and Relaxing\n\nThis exercise is the reverse of \"Clenching and Relaxing.\" Here you spread your fingers wide apart, feeling the powerful stretch, and then let them relax.\n\nLike all of these relaxation techniques, you can do this standing or sitting. If you work at a desk, this exercise can be easily adapted to your needs: you can conclude by resting your hands on your desk, rather than your lap, if that is more convenient for you.\n\nBegin by raising your arms to chest level as if holding a large imaginary ball between your arms. Imagine the weight of your arms being supported by balloons under your arms.\n\nThen turn your hands so that your thumbs point toward each other. Your palms face downward and your fingers point away from your body. Breathe in.\n\nThen, as you breathe out, stretch your fingers and thumbs as wide apart as possible. The stretch should be as vigorous as possible, combined with a feeling that each finger is also extending forward.\n\nKeep your fingers and thumbs spread apart for a few seconds, and hold your breath. Relax the spread and breathe out while gently lowering your hands to your lap or by your sides. Breathe naturally. Repeat up to three times if you wish.\n\n## \"Locked Up in Anxiety\"\n\nOften, when people come to my classes or come to my clinic for treatment, one of the first things that I notice about them is that they are very tense. I can see the tension in their faces, the way they hold their bodies, and the way they move.\n\nI usually give them some simple exercises to do. I tell them the movements are a warm-up, but actually, this is a way of trying to help them relax a little. Some of those exercises, like arm swinging, are in this book. But some people are so tense that even after these \"warm-ups,\" their muscles are still tight. I used to tell them to relax, but that didn't work either. I realized that they had become so accustomed to being tense that they had no way of knowing how tense they actually were. They were literally locked up in anxiety.\n\nI decided to try a method I learned from one of my masters. I asked them to tense up. For example, I would ask them to clench their fists until their knuckles went white. When I saw they could do this, I would tell them, \"Squeeze harder; squeeze really tight!\" They would put all their effort into this, even getting short of breath. When I saw they couldn't stand it any longer, suddenly I would tell them to relax and breathe out.\n\nI could see the look in their eyes. The contrast between the extreme clenching of the fists and the sudden release of that tension gave them an experience they had not had for years. In that moment, they caught a glimpse of what it might be like to relax.\n\nNot only did they begin to let go of tension in their bodies, but that physical sensation began to affect their minds. Their minds were following their bodies. They could feel inner pressure being released. The process of tensing and relaxing was unlocking their anxiety.\n\n## Tracking Tension Release\n\nIt's important to become familiar with how your body and nervous system feel when they experience a moment of relief from the constant tension that accompanies anxiety. Even though we have these moments, they are easily swept away by the current of anxiety.\n\nYou can use your body to help your nervous system experience and develop a sustainable memory of tension release. After suffering from anxiety for a long time, many people have to relearn what it feels like to be relaxed.\n\nEach day, for one week, take a few moments immediately after swinging your arms or using any of the tensing and relaxing exercises in this part. Use the following chart to note how you feel in each of these nine areas of your body: shoulders, neck, mouth, eyes, elbows, wrists, fingers, shoulder blades, and lower back.\n\nYou do not have to be making any particular kind of progress each day. Just take a moment to feel each of these areas of your body after you have completed the exercise. Stand still, see how you feel in each area, and jot down a word or two that expresses the feeling.\n\nSome people wonder why I don't ask them to keep track of how they feel before doing these exercises and then make a comparison afterward. There's a good reason for this. Anxiety makes us tense up, and when we are tense, our ability to feel what is happening in our bodies is blocked. So it is very difficult to actually feel how tense we are. But after a little tension release, our natural sensitivity begins to be restored. _That's_ what we need to remember and reacquaint ourselves with.\n\n## Standing and Opening\n\nThis posture is the next stage in your qigong training. There is a subtle difference between this position and \"Starting Wu Ji.\" If you follow the instructions carefully, you will start to notice the different effect it has on your internal energy and any feelings of anxiety you may have.\n\nBegin by standing in wu ji. Your feet are shoulder-width apart, with your knees gently unlocked, and your feet pointing straight forward. Your arms are loosely by your sides, with your hands gently opened.\n\nKeeping your shoulders and chest completely relaxed, slowly open your elbows out to the sides. The movement is gentle. You feel as if you are softly curving your arms away from your body.\n\nAs you stand in this position, you feel a space opening up between your chest and your upper arms. There is more space under your arms. Imagining a small balloon under each arm that supports the weight of your upper arm will help you relax the muscles in your chest, shoulders, and upper arms. Breathe naturally through your nose.\n\nTry remaining in this position, without moving, for a minute or two. Try not to move, allowing your internal energy to find its way throughout your body as it rests in stillness.\n\n## Calming the Mind and Body\n\nNow we can go deeper with the practice of wu ji, which you were introduced to in part 1. This practice of \"Standing Like a Tree\" works on your mind in two ways: by calming the mind and strengthening it. But to strengthen the mind, you first have to calm the mind. Therefore, your training begins with calming the mind.\n\nThis process is helpful for working with anxiety, because a calm mind is less likely to panic than an agitated one. In addition, the qigong exercises in this book will help you develop your mental power to the point that you can encourage your body to relax precisely at the moment that you are experiencing high levels of stress.\n\nThe inner process of calming the mind begins, in the qigong tradition, with the body. We learn to use the nerves to send signals to our central nervous system. There are nerve endings almost everywhere in our bodies\u2014in our organs, our muscles, and our skin. If we have a physical shock, like an accident, those nerves send emergency signals to our central nervous system, which swings into action. Often it responds with the famous fight-or-flight reaction. This is a good example of how our bodies, through their network of nerves, affect our central command systems. We all feel the impact of strong emotions and thoughts on our cardiovascular system, muscles, and internal organs. This interactive energetic system is what makes qigong work\u2014why we can use the body to calm the mind.\n\nThe very first instructions you received on standing still in part 1 included \"Calming Your Nervous System,\" a progressive relaxation technique that starts from the eyes and moves carefully down through the body so that your musculature slowly releases the tension it normally carries all day and night (even during sleep).\n\nAfter relaxing your face, you carry on an internal conversation with yourself. You invite your muscles to relax, group by group: _I want to relax in the area of my neck._ You tune in to the physical sensations, looking for tension, then feeling the muscle fibers relax. Sometimes you might get distracted, in which case you talk yourself silently through the process: _Now I am relaxing my neck_.... _I am feeling it relax_.... _Now it is relaxing more_.... _I can move on._ You can support the relaxation of your upper body by continuing the process down through your hips, your thighs, your knees, your ankles, the soles of your feet, and your toes.\n\nOnce you have completed a full downward sequence of relaxation, start again, beginning again with your eyes. Notice if you have tensed up in the interval. Use that awareness of tension to guide yourself in your relaxation practice. You can do this over and over again while you are standing.\n\nI have noticed that this aspect of inner relaxation while practicing qigong is often overlooked\u2014perhaps because it is invisible. This is the deep inner work that the great masters who practiced this art were able to accomplish. They were not training themselves in physical endurance. They were transforming themselves through profound energy work.\n\n## Resting While Standing Still\n\nDespite all your efforts to relax while standing still, you may feel you are becoming tired and tense. One way of relieving this is to reposition your hands so that the backs of your wrists rest in the small of your back, just above your hip bones. Stand like this for a few moments, letting your shoulders completely relax and your wrists sink into the soft flesh in the small of your back.\n\nThis is an excellent way of relieving tension in your arms and shoulders while still benefiting from the standing position and allowing a smooth and unobstructed flow of energy through your body. It is an excellent position to use any time you feel anxious, tense, or tired.\n\nStanding deepens our connection with the ever-present energy of the earth. Whether we are in a garden or on the top floor of an office building, we are still able to connect with the potent energy of the earth\u2014the pull of gravity and the earth's magnetism. This energy is always available to us, naturally influencing our state of mind, our emotions, and our inner stability.\n\n## Learning to Stay Relaxed\n\nAs you work with tension release, using the sensitivity of the body as your guide, you are also increasing your mind's ability to focus on relaxation, experience it, and appreciate it. In this way, although you are exerting yourself mentally and physically, your mind is learning to be active but less agitated. This is not something everyone learns quickly. If you are having trouble relaxing, here are some additional methods used in qigong practice that you may find helpful.\n\nWhile you are standing, you almost always have thoughts, images, and feelings passing through your mind. You hear and see the world around you. You may become even more aware of your mental activity. You may have some anxiety. Try making a mental note of what you are experiencing: _Now I am feeling anxious. Now I'm worrying about going to the bank._ You don't need to stop thinking and feeling in order to calm down and get over your anxiety. The mind is naturally active. Let these experiences run their natural course. If you feel that your qigong is having no effect at all, you can say to yourself, _This is a very anxious person standing still and continuing to feel anxious._ And continue to stand still. If you experience a lot of anxiety while standing, try listening to a soothing piece of music while you follow the progressive relaxation sequence down through your body.\n\n## Inner Powers\n\nIn the classical Chinese tradition, a simple smile is said to have a beautiful effect on your whole nervous system. It is said to release a nectar-like substance that bathes all your internal organs.\n\nTry this for yourself. Once you are standing like a tree, bring your attention to your face. Let a gentle smile form. Feel the effect on your eyes, cheeks, and lips. Try using your natural sensitivity to see if you can feel any internal effect on your musculature and organs as you smile gently.\n\nAt an international gathering of my students, Madame Wang Yuk Fong, the daughter of Grand Master Wang Xiang Zhai, told them to smile while holding the zhan zhuang qigong postures. \"This is the 'inner laughter,' \" she said. \"That inner happiness will continue through your whole life. The more you stand, the more comfortable you feel. Everything looks very soft, relaxed, and at ease. Yet there is immense power inside you, which\u2014channeled by the mind\u2014expresses itself in movement and power.\"\n\n## \"I Never Shook So Much in My Life\"\n\nOne of my students travels a great deal. One of his trips took him to the Far East, where he was invited to demonstrate the art of tai chi, which he studies with me. It would be part of a large charity event to raise funds for the victims of recent floods. He asked my permission, because he would be demonstrating the form that bears my name\u2014Lam Style Tai Chi. I was happy to support the flood victims and said he could go ahead, but I warned him, \"There will be about eight thousand people watching you.\"\n\nWhen he returned, he told me that the arena had been completely packed. Luckily, as an international guest, he had a VIP seat at the front and was thrilled to see many masters demonstrating their arts. After a couple of hours, the organizers told him that his turn was coming up, and he went to the locker room to change.\n\n\"Then something happened to me that I never experienced before in my life,\" he told me. \"I was completely overcome with intense anxiety and nervousness. I was all alone in that changing room, trembling. I never shook so much in my life. At that point, it was going to be totally impossible for me even to walk out into the arena, let alone demonstrate.\"\n\nHe said, \"Then, in the midst of that panic, I remembered the qigong you taught me, but I was so anxious, I couldn't remember anything other than the starting position. I placed my feet shoulder-width apart and stood still, holding the golden ball. I just stood there, shaking, until I noticed that something had begun to change. The extreme shaking started to ease off. My breathing was less shallow; it slowed down a bit. The panic was passing. I was tired, but my mind was clearing.\"\n\n\"So, then what did you do?\" I asked him.\n\nHe replied, \"I heard the announcer call my name. I walked slowly into the arena and did the Lam Style form.\"\n\n\"How did it go?\" I asked him.\n\n\"I did my best for you,\" he said, humbly.\n\n## Your Standing Experience\n\nYou have now been introduced to the qigong practice of \"Standing and Opening.\" This takes you to a deeper level of wu ji, with fresh suggestions on how to calm your mind and body while doing this. As you probably discovered from standing still like this even for a couple of minutes, the body and mind have many sensations. In this age of constant movement, agitation, and distraction, we are not accustomed to simply standing still. Your experience of doing this is important, and I encourage you to take note of what goes on inside you\u2014your physical sensations and all your many thoughts and emotions. Most people experience resistance and discomfort at first, because this is so new. Please keep track of that too. It is a very important part of the overall process of cultivating your internal energy, strength, and resilience. You can use the following chart for your personal notes.\n\n## \"Much More Freedom\"\n\nOne of my students is a music teacher and a professional pianist. She has been studying music most of her life and gives public performances quite frequently. In addition to being a student of qigong, she is also adept in the Alexander Technique of postural training and teaches that system. What she told me is of value to everyone who suffers from anxiety\u2014not just pianists or other performers.\n\nIt takes a lot of energy to teach or perform in public. I have several students who do this and professionals who have come to me for treatment. Part of the challenge they face is that students, audiences, and crowds tend to draw on the energetic strength of the teacher or performer. Being the focus of other people's attention simply sucks out one's own energy. In addition to that, there is the anxiety or nervousness that people naturally feel when having to perform in front of others.\n\n\"My breathing used to be much more tense,\" my student, the pianist, told me. \"Practicing qigong has had an enormously beneficial effect. I have noticed that my breathing is much freer when playing. I am therefore less anxious and less dependent on adrenaline and muscle tension when performing in front of an audience.\"\n\nShe said, \"The practice of qigong is very grounding. Pianists often practice for long hours with shoulder, neck, and back tension. Learning to hold qigong postures opens energy pathways and reduces muscle tension. As a performer, I've experienced much more freedom in mind and body. I was a very nervous and tense performer in my early career. I now feel much lighter (and even cheerful!) when performing. Being calmer and more centered as a result of doing this work also means that I experience a different sense of time and space.\"\n\nWhen I asked her about the relationship of anxiety to her ability to perform, she said, \"It's clear. Ask any performer. Anxiety often stops us from responding in the moment and playing with a sense of ease and flow. As a performer, I can say that qigong is invaluable. Standing and sitting in the different energy postures would be a boon to any instrumentalist.\"\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n**What do I do if I feel anxious while doing these exercises?**\n\nIf you are prone to anxiety, then you know from personal experience that you can feel anxious at any moment, under almost any conditions, and that often it may not even be clear what you are anxious about. Qigong will help you work with the energy of your anxiety and make you much more capable of holding all such experiences in a far stronger field of personal energy.\n\nThere are three things you can do if, while doing any of these exercises, you feel anxious:\n\n  * Continue with the exercise, whether it is one of the stationary postures or one of the movements. Simply allow yourself to be anxious while doing the practice. This is deep training for your nervous system.\n  * Stop what you are doing and try the exercise \"Working with a Wall,\" gently bouncing with your upper back off a wall while exhaling. Do this three, six, or nine times, depending on how you are feeling. Most people find that the effect of this practice is to clear their mind and break the grip that powerful emotions can have on our being. It is a nonviolent way of \"bringing you around.\"\n  * Experiment with an instruction that Grand Master Wang Xiang Zhai gave to his students. He told them to imagine that they were like a great ocean or a great fire. A great ocean has an extraordinary power to absorb and purify. A great fire burns up whatever comes in contact with it. Let your anxiety or any other personal discomfort simply be absorbed and purified in the ocean of your being, or let it enter the healing fire of your energy.\n\n**Is there a risk that I could feel even more anxious while standing still?**\n\nThis can happen, but it is not likely that your anxiety is actually increasing. You are simply noticing it more clearly. It is a little like what happens when you clean your home: you notice all kinds of things that were there all along. If you have this experience, then I recommend you follow the advice I have given in answer to the first question above.\n\n**Can I overdo these tension release exercises?**\n\nSome people's anxiety can lead them to overdo things. It is hard to overdo these tension and release exercises, because there is a natural wisdom in the body. You get tired and your muscles hurt if you overexert yourself. In my experience, you can trust this automatic safety valve in the body.\n\n## Running Out of Anxiety\n\nThe energy of anxiety naturally exhausts itself. This is referred to, in poetic fashion, in the _Tao Te Ching_.\n\n_High winds do not last all morning._\n\n_Heavy rain does not last all day._\n\nIt doesn't always feel like it's going to happen, but there comes a point when the intensity of any strong emotion diminishes. The tensing and relaxing exercises I show you in this part of the book naturally support that process of lessening your anxiety. This means, in my experience, that it is almost impossible to hurt yourself doing these exercises. In fact, what happens is that your muscles tire and you naturally stop. But something else happens internally. Your nervous system is automatically involved in the physical alternation between tension and relaxation. Energetically, you could say that the muscular work acts like a suction pump. It draws the energetic whirlpool of your anxiety into the rhythm of tensing and relaxing, which helps to dissipate it.\n\nThe White Cloud Carving\n\nThis mysterious rock carving is often called the \"Chart of the Inner Landscape\" (the _Neijing tu_ ). It stands on the grounds of the White Cloud Taoist Temple in Beijing. It is said to be based on a scroll found on Songshan, one of the five sacred mountains of China.\n\nThe carving shows a side view of the human body. The head is shown as nine mountain peaks. The eyes are the sun and the moon. The spinal cord takes the form of a powerful river. You can see a sacred pagoda in the region of the throat and lungs. There are bright stars in the area of the heart, a grove of trees in the belly, and a burning cauldron in the lower abdomen.\n\nIt is a complete way of understanding the fundamental structures and processes of a human being.\nPart 3\n\nDeveloping Your Inner Strength\n\n## Human Energy Patterns\n\nThe evocative images of the White Cloud Carving may seem fanciful. They appear to bear no relationship to charts of the human body that are familiar to most of us today. Even if the imaginative drawings were to correspond to the various organs of the body, there seems to be a relationship between them in this model that is different from what we imagine when we think of ourselves as modern people. It is striking that there are multiple sources of powerful activity, and it is not completely clear who is in charge: the mountain sages, the weaver, the oxherd, or the figures tending the cauldron? And what has the greatest influence: the stars, the mountain peaks, the burning fire, the long waterway, or the interplay of yin and yang?\n\nOne way of understanding this centuries-old carving\u2014which is a foundational text for practitioners of acupuncture and other systems of Chinese medicine\u2014is to look carefully at how it depicts the human being as an interactive, energetic system, involving many different power spots within an overall complex of forces, profoundly influenced by the natural world and the galaxies.\n\nThis tradition of experiencing and working with the total energy of the human being is the basis of the qigong practices in this book. Instead of a separation between mind, spirit, and body, all elements of our being are understood as energetic forces. Their patterns and rhythms exert powerful influences on each other and on our entire being. Thus, properly cultivated, their collective energy can be used for the benefit of the whole person.\n\nIt is helpful to understand this\u2014or to accept that it offers an alternative way of understanding the human being\u2014in order to make sense of the value of qigong in dealing with phenomena such as anxiety and fear. Qigong works with patterns of energy in and around the body. Often, like many forms of energy, such as electricity and magnetism, human energy and its movements are invisible. What we experience is its effect.\n\nThere are five key aspects of the energetic structure of the human body used in the qigong system. The body is organized around a central column or channel. This runs from the top of the head to the bottom of the torso. Blockages anywhere along this channel seriously disrupt the flow of energy throughout your system. Sitting and standing with your back naturally upright helps prevent or clear such blockages.\n\nAt the top of the central channel is the uppermost point of the head. In Chinese medicine, this point is known as _bai hui (ba hui)_ , \"the hundred meetings.\" It is sometimes called \"the thousand-petaled lotus.\" This is a particularly sensitive point, through which a person's energy field connects with the energy that surrounds them.\n\nAt the other end of the channel is the lowermost point of the torso. This is known as the _huiyin (hui yin)_ point, \"the meeting of yin.\" This is a powerful point of connection with the supportive energy of the earth, especially when a person is seated.\n\nIn the lower abdomen, just below the navel and a short distance into the body, is the energy reservoir known as the dantien, the \"sea of qi.\" It is the principal area of energy storage within the entire energetic system of the body.\n\nThe human being, however, does not exist in isolation. We are at the hub of the energetic forces that surround us at all times. You can imagine that we are standing in the circle of a limitless sphere. It represents the vast and limitless field of energy we call the universe. This circle is not closed or limited. Traditionally, a circle is used in Chinese calligraphy to show open space. It is the symbol of limitless possibilities and all possible configurations of energy, visible and invisible.\n\nBelow us is a long curve. It is the uppermost arc of another sphere, one below us\u2014the earth, the vast storehouse of energy that supports all life-forms on our planet and is our traveling home in space.\n\nSince each human being is an energy field, and since energy attracts energy, we act as magnets for the energy that surrounds us. Constant streams of energy come to us and pass through us. The energy from the cosmos tends to be more variable and unstable\u2014it is associated with creativity. The energy from the earth tends to be more constant and stable\u2014it is associated with power. Your qigong practice enables you to harmonize these two forces within your being.\n\nIt is within these spheres of energy that we experience life\u2014all that happens to us and the many emotions that are constantly arising like swirling weather patterns. Anxiety is like that. So is fear, thought, and the energy of worrying. Like all energetic patterns, our emotions have great power and great potential. They are part of the total energy system that we learn to work with as our qigong deepens. That's what we'll be working on in this part of the book.\n\nEarth\n\nThis calligraphy is the artistic expression of one of the most profound and defining terms in the whole of Chinese culture\u2014the Tao. Normally, \"Tao\" is translated as \"the Way.\" In the _Tao Te Ching_ , the term \"Tao\" also denotes \"earth,\" meaning everything that surrounds us. Nothing in our environment or our experience is excluded. The earth is all embracing. It gives rise to everything in life\u2014birth, pain, all that we encounter, death, and renewal. As we say in Chinese, it includes \"this way\" and \"that way.\"\n\nThe central image is of a head on top of a body. Underneath, the long brushstroke depicts a long, simple raft in an ever-flowing stream. To the left is a boatman, plying his craft through the earth's waterways.\n\n## Taking Root\n\nLet's take your wu ji practice to a deeper level. You do this by developing your connection with the earth. You can do this whether you are standing directly on the earth in a garden or park or on the floor in your home, even if you are in a high-rise apartment.\n\nBegin by standing in the position \"Starting Wu Ji,\" described in part 1. Please follow the relaxation sequence \"Calming Your Nervous System\" in part 1.\n\nAfter standing in this position for a couple of minutes, let your mind rest its attention on the soles of your feet. Imagine that you are like a tree with its roots reaching down into the earth. (It may help if someone reads this page to you as you practice.)\n\nA mighty tree is deeply rooted in the earth. Its foundations are unseen. It draws its power from the soil in which it grows. Rising upward to the heavens, the tree's great mass is still. Countless creatures move across its surface, but the sturdy trunk is calm. It is silent and unmoved, filled with energy.\n\nFrom its tiniest roots deep in the earth to the buds and blossoms far above, the hidden power of the tree is moving, day and night, and season after season. Feeling wind and rain and stretching toward the light, the veins of its innumerable leaves breathe freely in the energy of space.\n\nYou are growing in this stillness. Beneath you is the earth, a sphere of power, fertile and immense. It sustains all living beings. As you sink and soften, inwardly relaxed, the earth's great power gives you energy.\n\nAbove you, expanding without limit, is the galaxy in which we live. You are standing in a universe of vast, immeasurable power. As you stand, relaxed and vertical, your brain, your senses, and your vital organs open fully, like blossoms in the light. This is the experience we call \"Standing Like a Tree.\" It is deep training for your whole being\u2014your mind, your heart, your nerves, and your internal organs. Outwardly, you are unmoving. You are growing within.\n\nLike the play of water and light in the leaves, like birds making their nests in the branches, like small animals making their way up and down the trunk, all manner of experiences may come to you as you stand. The tree may sway in storms and strong winds, amid thunder and lightning, but it draws strength from its roots. Let your deep training embrace whatever thoughts and feelings, itches or anxieties arise. Don't move, don't scratch. Just stand like a tree, rooted in the earth.\n\n## Finding Your Center\n\nAnxiety and other forms of tension often cause us to be off-center. Over the years, we become accustomed to holding our bodies in slightly crooked or tilted postures. The result is that when we stand still, we may notice that we are not properly aligned.\n\nThat is why it is very helpful to check to see if you are standing straight while practicing wu ji or any of the other standing practices in this part of the book. As you practice, your inner gyroscope will adjust to the correct, healthy posture.\n\nYou can check your posture yourself in a mirror. You can also ask a friend or partner to look carefully at your posture from all sides. Check that you are evenly balanced on your feet, without leaning to one side. Check that your navel is in line with the central point at the top of your head. If you drew a line from the top of your head straight down to the ground, it would pass through your navel and touch the ground exactly at the middle point between your feet.\n\nMake sure that your weight is spread evenly on your feet\u2014that you are not leaning forward or backward. Relax your knees. You can check to see if they are relaxed by locking them tightly and then letting the muscles naturally unlock.\n\nAs you stand, you can imagine that the distribution of weight in your body is like that of a pyramid. Your feet are the base. Your head is the peak. The base, spread firmly on the earth, is wide, dark, and heavy. The peak, pointing toward the sky, is upright and light. The feeling of heaviness in your feet comes from connecting with the earth's energy. The lighter sensation in your head is your own awareness of contact with the energy of space.\n\nAs you realign yourself in this way, the energetic and structural readjustment of your body has a corresponding effect on your nervous system. The emotional patterns that have been locked into long-standing physical distortions\u2014or have caused the temporary stiffness and tension of a particular day\u2014are freed up as your energy moves without obstruction.\n\nMy grand master, Wang Xiang Zhai, told his students, \"Begin by standing still. This is the practice that refines the flow of energy throughout the human body. Zhan zhuang transforms the weak into the strong and makes the awkward agile. Stand without moving\u2014each cell will work and grow. Your blood will move at full capacity and bring your vital functions into harmony. You stand in stillness, apparently inert. Within your being, you are filled with strength.\"\n\n## Using the Rolling Pin\n\nIf you do a lot of work with a computer, you may have an antistatic mat under your feet at your desk. This is a mat that is normally connected to a grounding wire or an electrical socket to absorb static electricity, which might otherwise damage electronic components. These mats are also helpful in keeping you\u2014the computer user\u2014grounded, as static electricity flows through you down into the mat and is dispersed.\n\nThis is a contemporary application of an age-old principle, one that has always been part of the qigong tradition. We are creatures of the earth\u2014we need its energy, and we also need its protection.\n\nEarth energy and our connection with the earth also help dissipate the agitated and erratic emotional energy that we experience as worries, anxieties, and annoyances. In everyday conversation, we call this \"settling down.\"\n\nThe earth nurtures and supports all the life-forms we know. The earth's energy bursts forth in spring. It blossoms fully in summer. It yields a rich harvest in autumn. In winter, it regenerates. This energy is always available to us, naturally influencing our state of mind, our emotions, and our inner stability.\n\nWhether we are standing in a garden or on the top floor of an office building, we are still able to connect with the potent energy of the earth. We are always affected by the energetic pull of gravity and the earth's magnetism.\n\nOur standing practice automatically strengthens our connection with the earth.\n\nIf you are familiar with acupuncture or reflexology, you know that there is an extremely potent and sensitive point, just behind the ball of the foot, on the central axis of the foot. In Chinese, this is known as the _yongquan_ point, the \"bubbling spring.\" It is our principal energetic connection point to the earth. Massaging or pressing this point draws agitated energy in our nervous system downward and helps dissipate it.\n\nOne way you can do this is to place a rolling pin, or a pen, pencil, paintbrush, or chopstick under your foot. Roll it backward and forward for a few minutes under the ball and middle of your sole. You can do this sitting or standing. It is not only a refreshing massage. It grounds you, and you'll see the effect on your nervous system.\n\n## Holding the Golden Ball at Your Belly\n\nWorking with the golden ball in this posture takes your practice of qigong to a more advanced level. It helps your spine decompress, which is beneficial to your central nervous system. The posture also stimulates the circulation of blood and qi throughout the body. Both factors aid our resilience when we are affected by difficult situations, anxiety, and fear.\n\nBegin by standing in wu ji. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart, with your toes pointing forward.\n\nLower your bottom slightly, about one inch\u2014as if you were about to begin sitting down on a high stool behind you.\n\nYour knees will bend slightly, but do not let them come forward over your toes. You will feel your lower back relaxing, as if you were actually sitting on the high stool. Relax your belly.\n\nLet your hands gently rise up in front of your hips and position them as if you were holding a large golden ball in front of your belly. As you do this, relax your palms. They are gently curved, as if resting on the round surface of the golden ball.\n\nBreathe naturally. To begin with, try remaining in this relaxed position for two minutes.\n\n## Easing Your Way Through Tension\n\nMany people experience a lot of tension in the very center of their body. The constant anxiety, worry, and nervous pressure they feel causes them to be stiff in their lower back, hips, intestines, and pelvis. This anxious stiffness cuts off the flow of energy, splitting the body into two. The symptoms are lower backache; hip pain; digestive disorders, including constipation; and groin problems. You could say this is one of the bodily imprints of our anxiety.\n\nBy relaxing in this position, holding the golden ball in front of your belly, you may find that these problems ease. As this part of the body relaxes, it has a corresponding effect on the invisible patterns of nervousness, anxiety, and fear.\n\nWhen holding the golden ball in front of the belly, many people hunch their shoulders and strain their chest muscles. One way to eliminate this unnecessary tension is to imagine that there is a strap running around behind your neck and stretching down to your wrists. The strap takes all the weight of your arms and, at the same time, has the effect of lowering your shoulders and relaxing your chest.\n\nSome people like to do this exercise while actually holding a beach ball or balloon, just to get a clear idea of what it feels like and to get the position correct. This is perfectly fine if it helps you.\n\nIt is good to feel that there is something expansive and spacious about the position\u2014so please don't hold the ball too close to you.\n\nIt also helps to imagine that you have just had a cup of your favorite warm drink, and its warmth is spreading through your abdomen. You could also imagine the relaxing feeling of a back massage or of a heating pad warming your belly or your lower back. This is the sensation that naturally develops when you hold the golden ball in front of your belly. It is the way your inner energy naturally begins to flow when you allow yourself to relax even for a couple of moments.\n\n## Expanding the Golden Ball\n\nIf you practice holding the golden ball at your belly for some time, you may feel that it is starting to expand. Sometimes your hands naturally begin to open wider. This is a natural effect of the increased flow of energy.\n\nThese sensations point you in the direction of the next practice with the golden ball. You can advance to this next position after you feel you are thoroughly familiar with holding the golden ball at your belly and can do it in a relaxed way for several minutes.\n\nSlowly let your hands open in front of you as if the golden ball was growing wider and wider.\n\nYour elbows remain slightly bent, just as they were when you were holding the ball in front of your belly.\n\nYour palms remain gently curved around the surface of the ball. Your fingers remain gently spread apart.\n\nYour hands should remain the same distance in front of your body as they were when you were holding the ball in front of your belly. They are just moving apart sideways, and they continue to move apart until your fingertips are pointing toward the earth\u2014as you can see in this photo.\n\nYour shoulders are relaxed, and your chest is relaxed. You continue to rest your backside on a high stool, just as you were before. Breathe naturally.\n\nAs you stand in this position, the golden ball no longer feels like something you are holding. You feel that in this expansive position, you yourself _are_ the golden ball.\n\n## \"Three Teacups\"\n\nIn the classical culture of China\u2014and much of the East\u2014there is a story about three teacups. It may help you as you explore the unfamiliar practices in this book and wonder, _Is this actually helping with my anxiety?_\n\nThe story goes like this. A master is teaching his students. During a break, he arranges for them all to drink tea together. At a certain point, he places three teacups in a row. One is upside down. One is half full of tea. One is empty. He picks up the teapot and pours out the tea in three equal amounts. The tea spills all over the upside-down cup and runs over the table. The second cup, being already half full, can only hold a little more tea, and soon tea is spilling over onto the table. The third cup is empty. The master is able to fill it completely.\n\nThis is not a story about how much information a student can take in. It is about the state of mind of a student who wishes to learn from a master. The master is not simply adding data to the student's mind; the master is transforming the student's being.\n\nThe first cup symbolizes the student who is resistant to change. The second cup represents the skeptical student, who takes only from the master what he or she chooses, based what he or she already knows\u2014possibly from another teacher.\n\nThe third cup, empty of tea, depicts the being of the student who is completely willing to follow the master's instructions, not out of blind stupidity, but because he or she is open to profound change\u2014and thus to transformative learning.\n\nThis attitude of the empty cup does not mean that you should suspend your critical judgment. That is why there are so many charts in this book to help you keep track of your direct, personal experience. But it does mean that second-guessing yourself or the instructions can get in the way of simply doing the practice.\n\nSome students have a long-standing habit of mind, and they might be deeply reluctant to let go of it. Their brains might resist the possibility of change, no matter how much they want to be free of their old patterns. In their case, emptying the teacup just long enough to follow the teacher's instructions could be the first step to that freedom.\n\n## Golden Ball Energy Stance\n\nOnce you are comfortable holding the golden ball at your belly for several minutes, you can experiment with this more advanced posture. It involves a slightly different stance and a different distribution of your weight. This posture is marvelous for increasing the flow of energy generated by the golden ball practice.\n\nBegin holding the golden ball at your belly with your weight evenly distributed over both your feet.\n\nShift your weight to your left foot and place your right foot slightly forward and to the right. Point it slightly away from you, toward the right.\n\nNow adjust your weight so that you feel that 60 percent of your weight is on your left foot and 40 percent is on your right foot.\n\nYour knees are relaxed, but not bent. Breathe naturally and stand still in this position for a minute.\n\nThen return to your original position with your feet shoulder-width apart and with your weight spread evenly over both feet. Relax in this position for a moment, still holding the golden ball at your belly. If you find it difficult to continue holding the ball, you can slowly lower your arms to hang loosely by your sides.\n\nThen, move back into the Golden Ball Energy Stance, but this time with your left foot a little forward and pointing slightly toward the left. Place 60 percent of your weight on your right foot, 40 percent on your left. Breathe naturally, and stand still in this position for a minute.\n\nYour arms are still holding the golden ball in a relaxed way in front of your belly. Your palms are gently curved around the surface of the golden ball, with your fingers slightly spread apart.\n\nAlthough you have changed the position of your feet and shifted your weight, you are still facing forward. Your head is upright. You are still standing straight, holding the golden ball at your belly, but just with more of your weight being borne by your rear leg and foot.\n\nAdvancing in This Practice\n\nThis stance increases the flow of energy throughout your body. It also strengthens your legs and deepens your connection with earth energy. Once you are able to hold this position for several minutes, you can take the practice to a more advanced level.\n\nThe first level is simply holding the position for a longer time. See if you can increase the period of standing to five minutes on each side, separated by an interval of two minutes in which you stand with your weight evenly distributed.\n\nOnce you have reached that level, try changing the distribution of your weight so that 70 percent of it is on your rear foot and 30 percent on your front foot. This is more demanding, but it takes you to a higher level of practice. You will likely need to start with shorter periods of time on each side. Then gradually increase to five minutes on each side, separated by an interval of two minutes with your weight evenly distributed.\n\n## Deepening Your Experience\n\nIn this part of the book, you are being introduced to the deepening practices of connecting with earth energy, taking root, and holding the golden ball at your belly. These are part of the methods used in the qigong tradition to simultaneously develop a person's energy field and produce a state of deep inner relaxation.\n\nPlease use the following chart to keep track of your experience. How you respond to these practices will be unique to you. We all have different emotional, physical, and mental responses. The effects can be different on different days and at different times of day. If you find these notes helpful, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\nWake Up\n\nThe first of the ideograms in this calligraphy means \"suddenly,\" and the second, \"understand.\" We might translate it as \"Suddenly, I understand!\" or \"Wake-up call!\"\n\nThese brushstrokes express a critical moment, one we've all experienced. We might have read a sentence many times. One day, we read it with fresh eyes; we clap our hands and say, \"Oh, now I get it!\"\n\nWe can also understand this as the moment when we \"come to our senses,\" awakening from a dream or an illusion.\n\nWe are floundering in the quicksand of anxiety, fear, and despair. We need to be rescued. \"Wake up!\" is the help that the energy of qigong offers us.\n\n## \"I Learned This from My Father\"\n\nOne day when I was young I saw that my father was very angry. I didn't know what had upset him. Suddenly, there was a startling _crack_ as he clapped his hands together very powerfully. I was shocked and immediately cried out, \"What are you doing?\"\n\n\"I'm waking myself up!\" he told me, smiling.\n\n\"But you are angry and now you are hurting yourself,\" I protested. I was so worried for him.\n\n\"No, my son,\" he said. \"I _was_ angry. I could have hurt others. Now everyone is safe; no one has been hurt.\"\n\nOver the years, I came to understand his words\u2014and what he was doing. It is easy to get swept away on a strong current of thoughts and feelings. We lose ourselves, and we lose track of what's actually happening around us. We are obsessed with something that happened in the past, or we are frantically agitated about something that might happen in the future. We are no longer present. Such moments in which we lose our way can do great harm. They make us forgetful and unaware. We are prone to accidents. We can be flooded with feelings of fear and aggression. Many people who have committed acts of violence speak of being lost to themselves in that moment. That's the mental state my father was waking himself up from. The single clap of his hands discharged it. That's what he meant when he said, \"Now everyone is safe; no one has been hurt.\"\n\nI had a student once who was so angry that he feared he would take out his rage on other people. He was obsessed with computer car games and realized he wanted to kill the imaginary people in the other cars on the screen. He was terrified that his violent obsession would take hold of him when he was driving in traffic. I told him the story of my father, and he understood immediately. Later, he thanked me. He had used this simple method several times. \"You saved me\u2014and you saved lives.\"\n\nThis way of waking ourselves up is not the same as self-wounding or being angry with ourselves. This is more like the way some people slap their thighs and shout \"I got it!\" when they have just solved a difficult problem. It's a way of bringing ourselves back from a daydream\u2014or a waking nightmare of any overwhelming emotion, including anxiety.\n\n## Coming Back\n\nWhen we are overtaken by worry, anxiety, or fear, it can be like being trapped in a nightmare. Sometimes we get lost like that when we are sleeping, and we suddenly wake up in panic. In qigong, getting lost like this is said to result from an imbalance of yin and yang. The soothing effect of qigong practice helps rebalance these energies. If you experience this difficulty at night, please see the sections that follow: \"Overwhelmed, Lying Down,\" \"I'm Always Tired and Nervous,\" and \"In the Middle of the Night.\"\n\nBut many people get overwhelmed and end up \"lost\" during the day. They are awake, but their minds have been captured by a waking nightmare. Our nervous system instinctively knows that we need to wake ourselves up, but on a conscious level, we don't know what to do. The lesson my father taught to me when he clapped demonstrates something you can try.\n\nThere are many moments like this, when you intuitively recognize that you need to \"come back.\" Your thoughts might be spinning around and around, trapped in a circle. You might be getting angrier and angrier at someone. Your body might be completely tense with worry\u2014wracked by chest, neck, or back pain.\n\nIf you want to break the cycle, clap your hands once, sharply, right in front of you. Notice the effect. It will be different for every person. It is like giving yourself a little energy shock. For a split second, your mind clears.\n\nIf you are in an office or another environment where it will be too disturbing to others if you clap your hands, use the back of one hand (your hand can be open or loosely curled\u2014like you are holding an egg) to slap the palm of your other hand, which is quieter. It might hurt for a second or two, but the shock brings you back from your nightmare or paralysis.\n\nYou are not punishing yourself or trying to hurt yourself. You are just using your energy to clear your mind for a second and come back into the present moment.\n\nIf you don't want to be seen doing this\u2014or if it hurts too much to clap or slap your hands\u2014try using the outside of your thigh. Curl your hand, as if you're holding an egg. Then strike your thigh with the side of your curled hand like you were cracking open the shell of a boiled egg. There is an important meridian (energy pathway) that runs up the outside of the thigh, normally in line with the outside seam of your trousers or jeans. A quick slap or blow on the surface stimulates the energy flow in the meridian, sending a helpful \"wake up\" jolt to your whole system. You can try this while sitting at your desk. Normally this hardly makes a sound, and no one will see it.\n\n## Working with Your Breath\n\n\"Take a deep breath,\" people sometimes say to a friend or coworker who is in a panic, hoping to help him or her calm down. But what do you do if you are in a panic yourself and you want to cool down before things get out of hand?\n\nThere are ways you can work with your breathing that can be of long-term benefit\u2014and give you some on-the-spot relief. Feel free to experiment with these. Everyone is unique and responds differently.\n\nDantien Breathing\n\nMany people breathe by raising and opening their chest cavity. The energy of their breathing is in their upper body. If they are experiencing anxiety and are told to breathe deeply, they will tend to hunch their shoulders and tense their upper body and neck. This has a short-term effect, but it is not as deeply relaxing as it could be.\n\nIn the qigong tradition, the focus of our breathing is the dantien in the lower abdomen (see \"The Golden Ball\" in part 1). It is possible to reorient our breathing using the following simple exercise. It can be done standing, sitting, or lying down. Place your right palm over your abdomen, just below your navel; rest your left palm on the back of your right hand.\n\nAs you inhale through your nose, allow your abdomen to expand gently, as if the breath was coming all the way down into it. When you breathe out, let the exhalation start from your abdomen. To begin with, draw your belly in lightly, so that you feel it is gently squeezing the air out of your lungs. If you practice this over time, your breathing will return to the original deep pattern you were born with.\n\nDouble Breathing\n\nIf you feel the need to boost your energy vitality in the midst of a difficult situation or a fit of anxiety, try this special breathing. Breathe in twice through your nose; that is, make two short, quick inhalations in succession. Then breathe out through your mouth. You feel you are blowing stale air out of your body.\n\nWhen you inhale twice quickly, you are taking in double the oxygen you normally inhale. And when you exhale, blowing stale air out of your body, you are dispelling a larger volume of carbon dioxide from your lungs than you normally do. In the classical Chinese way of understanding the body, this is described as taking in double the qi and then clearing stale qi from your energy field.\n\nTry this double breathing six times. Don't keep on doing it: it is only for a quick boost. If you then want to continue with another practice, do some of the standing qigong exercises in this book.\n\n## Overwhelmed, Lying Down\n\nMany people who suffer from anxiety feel constantly exhausted. The nervous effort of coping with anxiety makes us want to lie down and rest. But often we don't find resting easy\u2014the mind continues to spin, and we end up simply carrying on worrying while lying down. You may find the following gentle qigong practice helpful when you are tired and want to lie down or when you are lying down but still feeling anxious. It both relaxes and energizes you. This is also a wonderful way to start your day.\n\nLie flat on your back, with your head resting on the floor or the bed. Your arms are to your sides, slightly away from your body, with your hands positioned so that your palms are facing upward. Please sink into this position for a minute.\n\nThen, keeping your heels on the floor or bed, stretch your toes up so that your feet are at right angles with your legs. You'll feel a little stretch in the backs of your legs.\n\nThen lift your head slightly off the floor or the bed and look down toward your raised toes. Keep your gaze on your feet while you breathe in and hold your breath for a few seconds. Then breathe out and completely relax. Allow your feet to return to their original, relaxed position, and let your head sink back down to rest on the floor or bed. Repeat this six times\u2014breathing in as you move into the position, out as you relax.\n\nOnce you are familiar with this basic movement, you can add a little energy work to further increase the flow of energy throughout your body. Imagine an energy circuit running from the ball of one foot to the other. From the ball of your left foot, let the energy travel up to the top of your head and then back down to the ball of your right foot.\n\nAt first, you will need to imagine this energy circuit. Gradually, you will feel it. Try to keep your mind attentive to this energy flow while you are gazing down at your feet, holding your breath. When you breathe out, lower your head, and relax, you may feel the energy continuing to flow, but there is no need to concentrate on it.\n\nThen scan your entire body to see how you are feeling. You may feel like you want to get up. You may want to sleep. If you want to repeat this exercise, please wait a few minutes before repeating it, and you should only do it a total of three times in any one day. If you have enough energy to want to keep doing qigong exercises, then I recommend you get up and do some of the standing practices in this book.\n\nIf you have trouble falling asleep, you can use this practice when you get into bed. If you suffer from insomnia, you can try this in the middle of the night. For many people, it has an almost immediate effect. But if you are still having trouble getting back to sleep, there is a more powerful method in the pages that follow, called \"In the Middle of the Night.\"\n\n## \"I Am Always Tired and Nervous\"\n\nOne of my students in London is a real estate agent. He told me, \"I am always tired and nervous.\" The nature of his work is mentally strenuous and physically demanding.\n\nSeveral years ago he woke up in the middle of the night, which was common for him at the time. He was always on edge and couldn't sleep through the night. He turned on the television and saw my show, _Stand Still\u2014Be Fit_. The next week, he came to see me, and he has continued with me ever since.\n\nHe still has a lot of pressure in his job. Qigong does not magically get rid of anything that could cause him anxiety. It is really about helping him have good energy that, like a horse carrying a rider, can support him no matter what he is going through. Recently he told me about a nightmare he had had.\n\nI believe this internal energy work helps even my subconscious. I dreamed that I was chased by zombies into a huge barn. The dream was so real; it was frightening. I was screaming and running faster and faster. Suddenly I saw a gap in the top of the wall near the ceiling. I took an enormous, superhuman jump, squeezed through the gap, landed on open ground, and was safe. But my dream continued, and in it the whole town was swept away by a huge tidal wave. People were drowning and screaming. Properties crumpled down. The wind was howling. Trees were blown down. My entire house, except the roof, was submerged under water. Yet I was safe, as I was squatting on top of the roof in a sea of water. I woke up. I was dry. And do you know why? It is because my body energy was strong and warm. At some level, I was aware of this, and even in that nightmare, I could not fall into the water. I believe this is the effect of this practice, deep inside me.\n\n## In the Middle of the Night\n\nYou may suffer from sleeplessness, either having trouble getting to sleep or waking up in the middle of the night with your mind racing. Some people are completely overtaken by anxieties. They know they need a good night's sleep, but they just can't get it. I have found that many people are helped by this simple exercise that can be done lying in bed or on the floor. It is a variation on the exercise \"Overwhelmed, Lying Down.\"\n\nLie flat on your back, your arms resting by your sides. Your head is resting on the floor or the bed. Keeping your heels on the floor or bed, pull your toes up so that your feet are at right angles to your legs. You feel the stretch in the backs of your legs.\n\nThen turn your palms toward the sides of your thighs. Clench your fists. Pull your fists in toward your wrists so that they curl toward you, and you feel a strong stretch in your wrists. Squeeze your fists as strongly as you can.\n\nAs you do this, lift your head slightly off the floor or the bed and look down toward your toes. Breathe in and hold your breath for a few seconds.\n\nBreathe out and completely relax. Let your feet return to their original, relaxed position, let your hands relax, and let your head sink back down.\n\nRepeat this six times\u2014breathing in as you move into the position, out as you relax.\n\n## Waking Up Your Experience\n\nAt this point in part 3 you have been experimenting with practices that aim to wake you up or bring you back from daydreams, nightmares, or difficult situations, often involving high levels of anxiety. These including \"Coming Back,\" \"Dantien Breathing,\" \"Double Breathing,\" and practices you can do while lying down or experiencing sleeplessness.\n\nPlease use the following chart to keep track of your experience. The effects can vary on different days and at different times of day. If you find this helpful, continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\nFirst, please reflect on your overall experience of trying the \"wake up\" practices below from this part of the book. Have you noticed a general effect on your energy levels when you try these \"wake up\" practices?\n\nNow, please reflect on your experience of the individual practices listed below.\n\n## \"Their Eyes Become Brighter\"\n\nOne of my students is a former cardiac and intensive care nurse who now teaches zhan zhuang to senior citizens in London. She is a former senior administrator for Amnesty International.\n\nShe told me, \"I have reserves of energy and resilience that enable me to carry on even when feeling tired. These exercises have affected me mentally. Learning to stand still has a calming effect; it gives me more self-confidence and has reduced my tendency to be hypercritical, of myself and others. I used to suffer from nonspecific anxiety, which I experience far less now. Qigong has also helped me to understand and tolerate pain.\"\n\nI asked her about the experience of the senior citizens whom she now teaches.\n\nMany of them are over sixty years of age, and many have some form of disability. Apart from the physical benefits of qigong, they report that the practice has a calming and relaxing effect, and that it helps them to sleep\u2014they sometimes visualize doing these exercises or standing or sitting still while lying in bed. It reduces their underlying anxiety, which they often experience as muscular tension. As they become more familiar with their body, they learn to use only the muscles needed and to let go of the others.\n\nWhat I see in all my classes is the way, over time, the students' posture improves\u2014they are standing or sitting with a stronger back. But the effect is more than physical. Their eyes become brighter.\n\nSo many of them say that qigong has boosted their self-confidence and reduced the level of fear they might feel. One gentleman told me it felt that this had opened up a whole new world to him and had a profound effect on his spiritual life.\n\n## Your Daily Routine\n\nIf you would like to develop and strengthen your qigong practice, I highly recommend that you experiment with a short daily sequence. How you start your day has a deep influence on your physical, mental, and emotional state throughout the day's events. A short morning routine will help clear your internal energy pathways, so that your energy is naturally able to absorb any anxiety, fear, or other strong feelings you might have during the day.\n\nYou could experiment with the following qigong energy-strengthening sequence before you get carried away with the day's worries\u2014even before you reach for your phone or your computer. Of course, you may have many thoughts and worries while you do this, but just let all those thoughts and feelings arise as you do your qigong. The following sequence, drawn from the practices in this book, will take you less than ten minutes a day.\n\nNow you are ready to start your day.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n**What do I do if I can't stand still in wu ji or hold the golden ball long enough?**\n\nPlease don't overdo any of these practices. You are not in a competition\u2014either with yourself or with others. Please don't strain yourself. At the beginning, you will experience many different sensations. Some people get impatient. Some people get bored. Some people experience aches and pains. Some people feel nothing. This is all part of the way qigong works on your nervous system. Set yourself a clear target for your practice. But if you feel you need to stop sooner, that's fine. You need to pay attention to your own experience and be guided by your own natural wisdom.\n\n**Is it normal to shake while doing qigong?**\n\nShaking is perfectly normal. As you hold the positions, your muscles slowly tire. The parts of the muscles that you normally use may reach the limits of their endurance and call on the remaining parts of the muscles to help. This is the point\u2014a stage beyond tension\u2014at which you may begin to tremble. The shaking may then become more vigorous. That's natural. Don't try to stop shaking. You will gradually find yourself shaking less and less. For long periods, you may not shake at all. Relax in the position as much as you can. If you relax as much as you can, you will have taken your body and mind to a new level of development.\n\n**Is something wrong if one side of my body feels different than the other?**\n\nNothing at all. As you stand, one leg may feel longer than the other. One finger can be hot; another, cold. In the qigong tradition, these are signs that your internal energy is beginning to rebalance itself. At first you notice imbalances of which you may have been completely unaware. Normally, your body naturally rebalances itself. The initial experience of asymmetry is a sign that your training is working.\n\n**Is something wrong if my feet feel odd?**\n\nThis is natural. Our lives are so busy that we rarely have time to be still. When we sit or stand still for a little while, our nervous systems react. Some people find that their feet feel hot when they first stand in qigong postures. Sometimes they get pins and needles. These are the natural sensations of your feet bearing the relaxed weight of your body and making a powerful connection to the energy of the earth.\n\n**Does qigong affect my digestion?**\n\nQigong improves the flow of energy throughout your entire body, including all your internal organs. Sometimes people are surprised to find their stomachs rumbling or to experience burping and flatulence when they are doing these exercises. This is all part of qigong waking up your system. I recommend that you drink a glass of warm water before doing qigong training, especially if you start a daily routine. Never overeat. Chew your food thoroughly before swallowing. That helps your digestion\u2014whether you are doing qigong or not.\n\n## Adding Another String to Your Bow\n\nA lot of people take their anxiety personally. Because it is disturbing and makes them feel so uncomfortable, they tend to think that they might be doing something wrong\u2014they attribute it to a personal weakness or failure. But there is a completely different way of thinking about it. When I talked with my own master about his life experience\u2014he died recently in his mid-nineties\u2014he talked about the power of stillness. He pointed out how little we have of that nowadays and how much the world had sped up around us. If you look at our modern lifestyle, you could say that we live in a culture of anxiety. This is constantly affecting our experiences, our attitudes, and our nervous system.\n\nWe are all looking for ways to cope with this constant tide of anxiety. So please don't think that it is somehow your fault that you feel this way. The question is how best to help our nervous systems cope with the circumstances in which we find ourselves. I like to think that learning qigong adds another string to our bow. It gives us one more option in life. If it helps us to calm down and cope better with our own experience of anxiety, then it will also have a positive effect on everyone we come in contact with. They will experience your energy like a light breeze on a hot day.\n\nSenses\n\nThese thirteen strokes form the character \"yi.\" This comes close to representing what we mean by the word \"senses.\" \"Yi\" embraces the dimension of thought, feeling, and emotion in the human person.\n\nThe notion of \"yi\" is central to the Chinese tradition of meditation. According to this tradition's understanding of consciousness, awareness is like a movie screen. It receives the passing imprint of whatever is projected onto it. The screen itself is not changed. It is ready to receive whatever is projected onto it. It remains fresh, like a sheet of white paper on which calligraphy can be drawn.\n\nFear, anxiety, and all forms of mental disturbance are like these projections on a screen. Whatever we experience through our senses is also displayed on the screen. If we are aware of the evanescent, yet potent, nature of the senses, we can use our senses to tame and vanquish our demons.\nPart 4\n\nUsing the Power of Your Senses\n\n## Using the Power of Your Senses\n\nWe can use the power and sensitivity of our senses to reorient and rebalance our nervous system. We can draw on their power to influence our mental activity and any related physical symptoms. We can use them to help us work with even the most deep-seated patterns conditioned by anxiety, fear, and other emotional states.\n\nSome people find this hard to imagine. They are so used to experiencing recurrent and troubling states of mind that they believe these are immutable. \"That's just the way I am,\" people tell me.\n\nThere is also a widespread assumption that the body and mind are somehow distinct entities\u2014two different systems. They may be connected and working in parallel, but they are separate. This has long been reflected in some medical systems, with different methodologies of diagnosis and care for the mind and for the body. Since the senses are associated with physical sensation\u2014and thus the body\u2014the notion that they could have a powerful, even integrated, influence on our mental state runs counter to this deep-seated assumption of separateness.\n\nThese days, around the world, the study and treatment of the mind and the body are coming ever closer together. A more integrated medical model is emerging. Interestingly, the way we talk about our mental states in casual conversation already points to an intuitive awareness of this unity. We frequently rely on metaphors from our bodies and our senses to describe our elusive emotions: \"I'm so angry I can't see straight.\" \"I'm all knotted up with anxiety.\" \"I feel uptight.\" \"I'm under such pressure.\" \"I'm stewing in this.\" \"I feel so raw.\" \"I'm so touched by your love.\" \"Your grief is palpable.\"\n\nIn the qigong tradition, the so-called mind-body split does not need to be healed. It never existed. The human being is understood to be a single, complex field of energy. This is very similar to the latest studies and models developed in the field of quantum physics. It could be said that some energetic patterns are more dense and others are more ethereal, but there is no separation between mind and matter. Therefore, we are a living totality, which is constantly manifesting and influenced by innumerable tendencies\u2014both those that arise within our own field of energy and those that influence us from the immeasurable energetic field of the universe.\n\nBoth our senses and our mental states are part of this vibrating field of awareness. A single thought can cause our hearts to skip a beat. A single breath of fresh air can open our minds. This is the fundamental understanding on which the experiments and suggestions in this part of the book are based. They are not theoretical notions or new age fantasies. They are based on centuries of careful study, meticulous attention to detail, and the deep care of the qigong tradition.\n\nThe simple suggestions in the following pages may seem lightweight. For example, to suggest that burning a stick of incense could ease the paralysis of fear may seem nonsensical\u2014and might even feel insulting to the person who is caught in the icy grip of terror. But from an energetic point of view, pain and mental suffering is almost inevitably associated with blocked energy\u2014in the same way that ice impedes the flow of a great river. There is often a congealed, stagnant quality to the experience of being distressed, overwhelmed, and in despair. Like anything that is frozen, these mental states respond instinctively to warmth, expansiveness, and a widened horizon of awareness. This is so natural that we don't even need incense. We experience it every time we breathe the fresh air of the countryside, hear the sound of a nearby stream, and see birds taking wing in the sunlight.\n\nUnderstanding this and being able to use the fundamental energy of our being in this way is a path to human empowerment. It allows us to use all the faculties and energies of our being and to make a healthy relationship with our own energy and the natural energy of the living world around us.\n\nSight\n\nThe Chinese character \"ngan\" represents \"sight\" or, more correctly, the process of seeing. The square on the left-hand side contains two dots, representing our eyes. In the classical Chinese tradition, seeing is understood to be a two-way process. It involves the mind's receptivity to light entering the eyes and transmitting its energetic messages to the consciousness. It also involves the radiant power of the mind reaching out beyond itself\u2014through the eyes\u2014to the world around us.\n\nIn the qigong tradition, the eye is a gateway for the energy that surrounds us. It is like a telescopic dish receiving the signals of the galaxy.\n\n## Looking into a Glass of Water\n\nWhether you are currently experiencing anxiety or are in a situation that might produce anxiety, you can experiment with using your visual sense to affect your nervous system. As with any experiment, you do not have to believe it will work. You can adopt the approach of a scientist, carefully examining your experience to see the results. It is important to remember that in the qigong tradition, your entire being is a field of energy. Therefore, whatever happens to any part of your body or mind has an influence on your entire energy field. It is like adding a drop of watercolor paint to a glass of water\u2014the pigment diffuses throughout the liquid.\n\nIn the calligraphy for \"senses\" that opens this part of the book, you are introduced to the notion that the mind, like a sheet of white calligraphy paper, absorbs and reflects back whatever is painted upon it. Thus, while we may feel that our anxieties or fears operate at a deep level of the mind (whereas our sensory experiences are superficial), our senses are influencing the mind, like the strokes of a brush on paper. Therefore, we can use the power of our sensory experience to draw the mind in any direction, at any moment. Please bear this in mind as you experiment with these practices.\n\nWe can use the sight of water in numerous ways to literally keep our stream of thought fluid. The colors blue and green, which are reminiscent of the sea, have a similar effect. These can also be combined. If you have a blue- or green-tinted glass, fill it with water and place it on a table near you, so you can gaze at it comfortably. Rest your attention on the glass of water for a minute or so. Feel free to let any thoughts or feelings arise in your mind and heart. We are not trying to combat or suppress your natural feelings. We are simply letting the water and the blue or green color register in your visual field of consciousness.\n\nThe great qigong master Wang Xiang Zhai advised his students to imagine that they themselves were like a vast ocean. The ocean's immense and deep waters are home to inconceivable life-forms. Its waters have unknown depths. It is capable of accepting, absorbing, and purifying whatever enters it. In the following chart, you can record your experience of using a glass of water to imagine yourself this way.\n\nHere is another experiment. In Chinese businesses, you often see decorative fish tanks, which are kept (in homes as well as places of work) because of their impact on the environment. They have a beneficial effect on everyone who spends time there. If you have an aquarium yourself, you can experiment with standing or sitting a short distance from it and gazing at the life taking place within the tank. You may find it especially helpful to pay attention to one fish in particular. Observe it closely, follow its movements, watch the subtle patterns of its breathing and the delicate movements of its fins as it glides or floats in the water. If you wish to deepen this practice, see if you can identify with the fish or imagine what it might be like to be this supple being moving and floating in the waters of the tank. Allow yourself to feel that you yourself are that very fish.\n\nYou might be quite skeptical about whether this would have any effect on you, particularly if you are a highly intelligent, rational, and productive person, coping with many demands on you. You might say to yourself, _How on earth will staring at a guppy make a difference when I should have left for the office ten minutes ago?_ I can't answer that question for you. I can only suggest that you give it a try.\n\nYou can also experiment with the soothing power of candlelight. It is not accidental that people in virtually all cultures enjoy the subtle influence of candlelight. We may associate it with romance, but it is by no means limited to that. If you are working at home, having a meal, spending time with friends or family, or even rushing about frantically, see what happens if you light a candle. You don't have to stop and stare at it. Its light will influence the environment around you, even if you barely have time to notice it. But since this is an experiment, see if you can notice the subtle soothing and warming influence of this silent beacon.\n\n## Working with Sight\n\nUse the following chart to record your impressions of the experiments for using the power of sight to influence your state of mind. Often their impact is subtle, but you may notice their influence in your body, your physical movements, your personal habits, the way you speak, and the things you notice in your environment.\n\nSound\n\nThis simple character is \"yih.\" It depicts the human ear. Like the eyes, our ears are a bridge between our nervous system and the world around us.\n\nWe tend to think of the ear as an organ of hearing, but it is more than that. Deep within its structure is the delicate mechanism that governs balance. In some medical systems, this balance is thought of as a physical process. But in the tradition of classical Chinese medicine, balance is both inner and outer, spiritual and physical. This book is about both, using the power of the body to influence the workings of the mind. True balance is being able not only to stand upright but also to absorb in one's being the shock of the unexpected and the destabilization of anxiety.\n\n## Listening to the Garden\n\nWe all know that sounds have a profound influence on our mind and nervous system. Everybody is familiar with the effect of changing the soundtrack behind film footage. If we are shown a group of people running down the street accompanied by tinkling piano music, our minds\u2014without any verbal explanation\u2014jump to the conclusion that this is a happy scene. If we see exactly the same footage accompanied by the slow, sonorous notes of a cello, most of us instantly believe that we are about to watch something dreadful happen. Similarly, if someone screams\u2014even without words\u2014we are likely to be startled and upset. If we walk into a room where soft, flowing music is being played, we are likely to feel our bodies relaxing.\n\nObviously, we cannot control everything we hear, especially living in an age of constant noise: machines beeping or humming, phones ringing or vibrating, cars honking. But we can influence our sonic field in ways that relax, nurture, and strengthen our nervous system. Sometimes we just have to pay attention to sounds that are all around us\u2014but may not be those we notice most.\n\nWhen you awaken in the morning, before turning on the radio, checking your smartphone, or jumping out of bed, listen for the sound of the sparrows or other small birds that might be outside your window, twittering in a nearby garden. Particularly if you have had a stressful night, slept fitfully, or are waking up to a stressful day, I recommend the experiment of letting the music of these songbirds, however faint or distant, into the space of your mind.\n\nListening to water, in its many forms, can also have a potent effect on our nervous system. This is why many people place a small fountain somewhere in their home and increasingly in their offices or work cubicles.\n\nYou can also experiment with music. Wherever I teach qigong, I always try to have a recording of soft instrumental music playing. This influences the nervous system of my students, calming their minds and relaxing them so that they are more able to benefit from the power of qigong practice. A very helpful experiment is to listen to different types of music as you practice the qigong exercises in parts 1, 2, and 3 of this book. Notice the influence of different kinds of music. Try to see which music has the deepest and most helpful effect on your practice.\n\nMany people like to listen to their favorite music as they work, an example of the ancient truth about the influence of sound that has made its way into the modern world.\n\n## Working with Sound\n\nYou can use the following chart to record your impressions of the experiments for using the power of sound to influence your state of mind. The impact of this experiment with your senses is subtle. You may notice its influence in your body, your physical movements, your personal habits, the way you speak, and how you feel about what takes place around you.\n\n## \"The Reset Button of My Mind\"\n\nOne of my students works for the local governing council of a district in London. For almost as long as I have known her, she has cycled to and from her work and to our qigong classes. Recently she told me about an incident that made a deep impression on her.\n\nI was cycling home from work one day and felt very upset and anxious about a number of problems that I was having at work. In fact, I wasn't paying much attention to the road or the cars as I cycled along. There were many things that I was worrying about. My mind was completely absorbed in my difficulties.\n\nSuddenly, I heard the sound of a bird. Even though I was cycling in traffic, somehow the call of that bird penetrated everything else, and I heard it very, very clearly. It was so startling that I pulled over to the side of the road, got off my bike, and stood on the pavement looking up into the trees to see if I could spot the bird.\n\nI was overcome with the wonder of the world. I must have stood there for quite a few moments, looking up into the trees and listening to the bird's song.\n\nI remember this incident vividly, because when I got back on my bike and carried on cycling home, my mood had completely changed. Before, I was weighed down with my worries, anxieties, and all the things that were going wrong. But when I got back on my bike, I felt so much lighter in my spirit. I didn't even go back to thinking about the problems I was so anxious about.\n\nIt's not that those problems weren't serious. They were real difficulties I was having at work. The difference was my attitude or, perhaps you could say, my inner approach. Before, it was as if my mind was being crushed by what I was facing. I was in a tunnel. Afterward, my mind felt refreshed, no longer dragged down. Later on, I had a lot more clarity and some really good ideas about what I could do at work the next day. It was as if hearing the sound of that bird somehow pressed the reset button of my mind.\n\nIt wasn't just that she heard the sound of the bird. She paid attention to it, stopped, and listened.\n\nSmell\n\nThis noble character is \"bei\"; it depicts the human nose. This is not easy to see, because the character comprises many different elements\u2014the human person, feeling, two legs, and two hands.\n\nThis complexity, almost like a portrait of the entire human being, reflects the incredible way in which smell is capable of affecting our entire being. It is said that of all our senses, smell has the most immediate effect on our brain. A single odor can affect our entire body\u2014a perfume enchants us; a stench makes us shudder.\n\nKnowing this, we can use the power of smell to affect our state of mind, sedate pain, and awaken our sleeping spirit.\n\n## Scenting the Sweet Smell\n\nSmells have a very powerful effect on our nervous system. In this day and age, we may think of smells as merely atmospheric background to our experience, but they are constantly at work on us. They can affect our entire central nervous system. They can seduce us. They can jolt us awake. They can heal us. They can cause collapse. In traditional Chinese medicine, if a person was severely ill and too weak to eat, he or she would be subjected to strong, putrid odors\u2014so repulsive that the person would vomit. The effect was to jump-start the digestive system. It was an extreme measure, but it could save a life. Thus, even a terrible smell can be used to good effect on our mental and physical state. But don't worry, I'm not going to suggest that you try that!\n\nThere are some simple and obvious things you can experiment with. In the Far East\u2014and increasingly in the West\u2014many people use incense to create a warm and inviting feeling in their homes. Many people associate incense with religious ritual, but it can be used in a completely secular way. If you are free from smoke allergies, try burning some sandalwood or another incense in the room where you work or at home or when you are spending time with friends or family. There is now a wide range of fragrances available. You can experiment with different scents.\n\nIf you don't like incense, try aromatic oils\u2014there is a wonderful variety now available. Or you can try an aromatic candle. These are used to dispel stale and offensive odors in the home, but they can also be used simply to diffuse a gentle scent throughout the environment. If you have trouble sleeping, try the well-known method of using a lavender sachet or eye pillows filled with lavender.\n\nAs the calligraphy for \"smell\" suggests, the power of our olfactory system is so strong that it affects our entire central nervous system, more than any other of our senses. So while your anxiety or fear may seem overwhelming, impenetrable, or unshakeable, it is not necessarily immune to the subtle, healing influence of a sweet smell.\n\n## Working with Smell\n\nYou can use the following chart to record your impressions of using the power of smell to influence your state of mind. Often, the impact of these experiments is very subtle, but you may notice their impact in your body, your physical movements, your personal habits, the way you speak, and how you experience things around you. Remember that even an unpleasant experience can shift your state of mind.\n\nTaste\n\nIf you look carefully at the brushstrokes of this character, \"tsih,\" you will see at the bottom an open mouth. Above it is a long horizontal line, which represents the outstretched arms of a human being. It is like a child spreading his or her hands on a table and reaching forward to grasp a bowl of soup.\n\nEvery taste has a subtle\u2014and sometimes not so subtle\u2014effect on the inner core of our being. Indeed, the mouth plays an extremely important role in the Chinese medical diagnostic system. There are three main methods of diagnosis: taking the pulse, examining the eyes, and studying the tongue. Meticulous observation of the tongue is said to be the closest we can get\u2014without invasive procedures\u2014to observing the internal organs of the body. A skilled practitioner can read not only the state of the body but also our emotions in the subtle patterns of our tongue.\n\n## Taking a Cup of Tea\n\nIn Chinese culture, we say you never forget the food you had at home as a child. The texture, aroma, and taste of that food remains imprinted in our memories for the rest of our lives. It is not only true of our childhood. Taste has a lingering effect on us. Our memories of important moments of our lives often include a recollection of something we tasted at that time.\n\nIn this modern era, when so many people experience stress and persistent anxiety in their lives, it is not surprising that we also witness an increase in the consumption of \"junk food.\" We seek comfort and emotional release in the tantalizing flavors that are carefully blended in these foods, even though they have low nutritional value. The fact that junk food is of poor quality should not distract us from an age-old truth\u2014the taste of something sweet calms the spirit. For example, in Chinese cuisine, we prepare sweet rice, sometimes known as \"sticky rice.\" It has both a savory and a sweet taste and is normally served wrapped in a lotus leaf. In traditional Chinese medicine, sweet flavors are beneficial to the spleen and the earth energy of the body. A delicious taste is said to make the mouth calm and happy. The sensation is received by the brain and transmitted to the central nervous system. Similarly, if we want to wake up, there is nothing like chili powder or a curry. Our energy surges just from the aroma, even before we experience the taste.\n\nSo what should you do if you want to use the power of taste in an intelligent way and not succumb to the unhealthy eating habits of the modern world? There is an ancient tradition\u2014famous in China, but also enjoyed throughout the rest of the world\u2014that I highly recommend: drinking tea. Drinking a cup of tea is a way of engaging all our senses in a sophisticated way. There's the shimmering surface of the tea in the cup, the aroma that arises from the steaming tea, the delightful sound of the tea being poured from the pot into the cup, the warmth of the cup in your hands, and the taste of the tea itself. Every culture has its own version of a tea ceremony. Whether it is in a Middle Eastern market, a stately home in Europe, a Japanese teahouse, an Indian garden, or a Western restaurant, tea works its magic.\n\nIn many parts of the world, a good cup of coffee\u2014carefully brewed from fine-quality beans\u2014has taken the place of tea. What's important to remember, whether your choice of beverage is tea, coffee, or anything else, is that there is more to this than sipping or gulping down a drink. It's a gathering together of many, many elements of the lives we lead together, the richness of the natural world, and our appreciation of being alive.\n\nThe next time anxiety gets the better of you, I suggest a moment of world culture\u2014the age-old cup of tea, a good cup of coffee, or whatever you would love to taste.\n\n## Working with Taste\n\nYou can use the following chart to record your impressions of the suggestions and experiments for using the power of taste to influence your state of mind. Often the impact of these experiments is very subtle, but you may notice their impact in your body, your personal habits, the way you speak, and how you relate to other people.\n\nTouch\n\nYou may recognize this character. We saw it in the calligraphy for \"human being.\" It means \"body\" and can be understood as \"touch.\" From the topknot at the uppermost tip of this ideogram through the ends of the brushstrokes that depict the legs and feet, it tells us that the entire human body is exquisitely sensitive.\n\nIt is not only the physical body that is capable of feeling. We are blessed with a nervous system that reaches throughout our entire physical structure and is endlessly responsive to the most delicate of influences.\n\nSometimes, especially when we are anxious, distressed, or fearful, this sensitivity can be mistaken for weakness; but it can also be one of our greatest strengths. It all depends on how we use it.\n\n## Feeling What Touches Us\n\nThe calligraphy for \"touch\" shows the whole body from head to toe. This was the classical, poetic way of expressing the tactile receptivity of our bodies. Oddly enough, we often underestimate the power of touch, yet we are constantly experiencing it across the entire surface of our skin.\n\nWe feel the air and the atmosphere around us on our head, hands, and other exposed parts of our bodies. We feel our clothes brushing against us, from the shoes or sandals on our feet to the collars of our shirts. We feel the objects we hold in our hands and often greet each other with a handshake, a gentle touch, or a hug. When we cry, we feel the tears on our cheeks and cover our eyes with our hands. We embrace someone we love. When we shower, we feel water cascading over our faces and bodies. A massage rejuvenates and relaxes us. This entire nonverbal field of experience is constantly sending messages to our nervous system, affecting our emotions and shaping our experience of life.\n\nIf you are anxious or overwhelmed by the pace of life, there are three ways in which the power of touch may help you find a greater sense of equilibrium, nurture, and inner delight. The first is to ask yourself how you feel. Normally, we think only of our mental and emotional state: \"I feel upset,\" \"I feel overwhelmed,\" \"I feel afraid.\" But while you are experiencing those emotions, your entire body is also sensing the environment around you, feeling the clothes you are wearing, the phone in your hand, the cup from which you are drinking. Try taking a moment to extend your consciousness to this entire field of sensation and notice the effect.\n\nPay attention to the clothes you are wearing. Do they feel delightful and comforting to your skin? They don't have to be expensive or elegant. Next time you choose something to wear, don't consider only how it looks. Ask yourself how it feels, because you may be spending the rest of your day in contact with it.\n\nWhenever we experience a sudden shock, like losing our balance or getting bad news, we instinctively reach for something to hold. We can use this innate body wisdom to help us. It's not accidental or a sign of human weakness that progressive clinics and health-care centers often have soft toys on the chairs and sofas of their waiting rooms. An adult holding a teddy bear does not indicate infantile regression. We all feel better when we can touch and hold something that instinctively comforts us. Similarly, many overworked office workers like to use a rubber stress ball. This helps not just because of the effect of the tensing and relaxing, but also because of the simple experience of holding something. You can be as creative as you like in experimenting with this.\n\n## Working with Touch\n\nYou can use the following chart to record your impressions of the suggestions and experiments for using the power of touch to influence your state of mind. Often the impact of these experiments is very subtle, and you may notice their impact in your body, your personal habits, the way you speak, and how you relate to other people.\n\n## Refreshment\n\nAll our senses come into play when we have a meal, a snack, or a cup of tea or coffee with family or a friend. It's an honorable tradition. It meets our deep human need for refreshment, both nourishing us and revitalizing our spirit.\n\nOften, when people are at work, they \"grab a quick coffee\" or eat a sandwich while working. This is part of our fast-food environment. The problem is that while we are just \"getting a bite to eat,\" we are not really refreshing ourselves.\n\nMore and more people these days eat their meals alone. This is affecting family life and reducing simple human contact. That essential contact was part of the ancient tradition of taking tea together\u2014a tradition that still lives on in some parts of the world.\n\nWhat was important then\u2014and is still true today\u2014is the full sensory experience. That's why I recommend turning a meal or a drink with a friend or family member into an experience that encompasses all of your senses, if possible. For example, when making coffee with a filter, smell the freshly ground coffee. Fill the filter and place it in the glass bowl. Watch the coffee dripping though. Savor the wonderful aroma and the rich taste and warmth of the coffee as you share it with a friend. Your mind will calm down. You heart will warm. This is not time wasted. It is life refreshed.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n**How can working with the senses help with strong feelings of anxiety, even panic? How can these simple methods help calm the nervous system?**\n\nWe tend to think that our emotional experiences are more deeply ingrained in our beings than superficial sensory experiences _._ We associate our emotions with the mind and our sensory experiences with the body. In the qigong tradition, there is virtually no distinction between mind and body. Both are regarded as aspects of a single field of energy. Our energy field can be influenced just as easily and powerfully by our sensory experiences as by our emotions. However we direct our attention shapes our experience.\n\n**Do I need to follow these suggestions in any particular order?**\n\nNo. The suggestions in this part of the book offer you a rich menu of possibilities. Everyone's experience of working with his or her senses will be different, just as it will be different for an individual on different days and at different times of the day. Please feel completely free to try any or all of these suggestions. Don't force yourself to work with something you don't want to. Enjoy experimenting with something that interests you.\n\n**Could experimenting with this kind of work increase my sensations of anxiety or fear?**\n\nWhenever you experiment with something new, there is an element of the unknown. If you have a long-standing habit of discomfort with uncertainty or fear of the unpredictable, then even the slightest change can bring up disturbing emotions. That can make these experiments all the more potent and helpful to you. For example, if you feel overwhelmed by deadlines and are worried you might lose your job by spending a minute listening to songbirds in the early morning, that might actually be the most powerful and beneficial moment in which to do exactly that.\n\n**Can I combine this use of the senses with the other exercises in this book?**\n\nYes. All the suggestions for working with the senses can be combined with your practice of the qigong postures and movements. You can listen to music while standing still. You can feel your clothes and the air around you as you practice the movements. You can experiment with the scent of an aromatic oil. You can have a cup of tea or coffee before and after.\n\n## The Unseen Power of the Mind\n\nIn the many years in which I have taught in the West and treated people with a wide range of illnesses and injuries, I have noticed how skeptical they can be. Once I treated a gentleman who was suffering from back pain. He had been to many doctors and tried many expensive methods. He was lying on the floor when I treated him. After a few minutes of qigong massage, I told him he could stand up. He refused to believe me. I had to get his wife to help me convince him that his back pain was gone and that he could get up from the floor. He stood up and was able to move freely, without pain. Two days later, he called to say that he had booked himself into a clinic for a scan to find out whether my treatment had actually worked. He was going to spend thousands on it. I asked him, \"Are you going to do this because you are in pain?\" \"No,\" he said, \"because I am no longer in pain.\"\n\nThis skepticism affects our view of the world, but most importantly, our view of our own minds. We tend to have a fixed\u2014and rather negative\u2014view of the mind and of ourselves. How is it possible, we might ask, that we could use sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch to ease persistent anxiety? Is it simply a way of temporarily distracting us from our ongoing experience of pain?\n\nThe truth is that when we use our senses to their full extent, we are doing far more than distracting ourselves. We are using the deep resources of the mind\u2014indeed, the full power of our entire energy system. Our senses are amazingly powerful. We can learn to tap into that power and use it for transformative, personal healing.\n\nWhat makes this possible is something that is only now being validated by modern science, but which has been known to the qigong tradition for centuries. Physicians now refer to what is termed \"the neuroplasticity of the brain.\" Put simply, it means that our brain activity, our thought patterns, and our sense of who we are are all far more fluid and flexible than we ordinarily think. The mind is a renewable resource. Its power is its freshness. We can tap into that freshness\u2014instantly. That's what our senses are constantly inviting us to do.\n\nThe World Around Us\n\nIn the classical tradition, the four characters in this calligraphy are, from top to bottom: \"heaven,\" \"human,\" \"join,\" and \"one.\" This would conventionally be translated as \"heaven and humanity joined together.\" However, there is a deeper way of understanding this.\n\nThe character for \"heaven\" is made up of four simple strokes, which represent, within the overall ideogram itself, \"heaven,\" \"earth,\" and \"human being.\" Thus, compressed within the very first movements of the brush is an expression of the totality and inseparability of all existence. It is already joined together.\n\nNowadays we might say \"galaxy\" rather than \"heaven.\" That also would convey both the breathtaking complexity and the beautiful simplicity expressed by this brushwork.\nPart 5\n\nWorking with the Energy Around You\n\n## A Shimmering Net\n\nThe universe is a vast field of energy. The entire cosmos is a shimmering net of constant communication. Vibrations move through this net at inconceivable speed. Although our senses seem to perceive a world of separate forms, whatever we experience is, in fact, a pattern of energy.\n\nTo talk about the cosmos as an energetic spectrum is now commonplace in Western physics. But it was a fundamental tenet of Chinese science well before this millennium. The Chinese philosopher and naturalist Lu Yen wrote, \"All substance and form is energy. It is yin and yang, the motion of the sun, moon and stars, everything that emerges and dissolves. It is the clouds, the mist, the fog, and moisture. The heart of all living beings, all growth and development is energy.\"\n\nThe original Chinese phrase that expressed our relationship to the rest of the universe was _chih chung_ , sometimes translated as \"magnetism.\" Just over two thousand years ago, in what is known as the Later Han Empire, natural scientists in China were exploring energetic attractions of all sorts. They established specific magnetic polarities, and their work has been described as \"the greatest Chinese contribution to physics\" (Needham, Wang, and Robinson 1962, 229). By the Tang Dynasty (618\u2013906 CE), a compass was in use.\n\nBut the way in which _chih chung_ was being explored took it far beyond the kind of magnetism in a fridge magnet. The meticulous observations of these early pioneers, who were also forming the basis of Chinese medicine, revealed that the human body also had magnetic properties. Latter-day scientists confirmed this through the presence of iron in the blood. We now know that our bodies are part of and are affected by the earth's magnetic field and that each of us has an energetic field extending beyond the visible limits of the body.\n\nIn these and many other ways, the energetic imprint of each human being is determined by the configuration of the force field of the universe at any one moment. This is why part 5 of the book opens with a calligraphy whose meaning is \"the world around us.\" Is that world separate from us? Not at all. More accurately, we could say that we are that world\u2014or that it is us. That is what is so beautifully and simply expressed by the four brushstrokes of the opening character of the calligraphy, which means \"heaven\" or \"galaxy.\" Compressed within those strokes is the profound realization that heaven, earth, and humanity are one. We ourselves are the near and distant galaxies and the celestial rhythms that embrace us. This is the inner experience of qigong.\n\n## \"This Immense, Living Field\"\n\nMy sons are always showing me fascinating items they have found on the Internet. One day they showed me images from the Hubble Telescope, the most powerful telescope yet developed. Astronomers had trained it on a patch of sky that seemed completely empty, with no visible planets or stars. They said this patch of dark sky was no larger than a grain of sand held out at arm's length.\n\nWhat the scientists found in that little point in space was the light from over three thousand galaxies. The telescope was receiving photons that had been traveling for more than thirteen billion years to reach Earth. The astronomers said that what they saw was \"one of the most profound and humbling images in all of human history.\" Each one of those galaxies, which showed up on the telescope's receptor as little dots of light, contained hundreds of billions of stars. Later, they found another patch with ten thousand galaxies. They called it the Ultra Deep Field (\"The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D\" 2009).\n\nAs I watched these images, they called to mind some of the oldest texts in the spiritual legacy of the East: magnificent Buddhist sutras describing infinite world systems with radiant light streaming throughout the cosmos. These poetic descriptions are now seen to be remarkably consistent with the unending discoveries of modern science (Ricard and Trinh 2001).\n\nSometimes, contemplating the vastness of the universe can make us feel anxious. We may feel small and of no value compared to the cosmos. It can fill us with loneliness and dread, reminding us of our fragility. But there is another way of looking at this. Not one in which we feel intimidated by the universe, but one in which we feel part of this immense, living field of sparkling energy.\n\nIn the Taoist tradition, which I have studied extensively, the human body is understood to be a small galaxy. The whole point of the inner practices of that tradition, which gave birth to qigong, is to connect each of our small galaxies with the rest of the universe, with the immense energy of the incalculable number of galaxies that surround us.\n\nThat is part of what we are able to do through our qigong practice. We train our own energy field in order to strengthen our sensitivity to and our connection with the vast energy field in which we live.\n\n## Environmental Energy\n\nPlaces and environments are also fields of energy. You can sense this. Everyone has feelings about particular rooms and buildings. Those feelings are more than passing emotional states. You may be feeling anxious or suspicious about a location for a good reason. Our natural sensitivity tells us about the energetic qualities of locations. One place may feel welcoming, secure, or inspiring; another may feel threatening. Often, the feelings are health warnings. You just know a certain place is not a good one for you to be in.\n\nIn every moment of our lives we are picking up these kinds of messages. This shows that we are profoundly interconnected with our environments and that the energies that surround us shape our lives and our futures. Some messages warn us that if we sit in an exposed area, we may be approached from the rear without warning. Some tell us that our sleep may be disturbed if there is an open window over our bed. Others tell us where it feels best to have an intimate conversation.\n\nWorking with our own energy and the energy of our lives is the common experience of all humanity as we learn how best to live on this earth. It is our common home in space. Yet every person, every family, every home, every office, every day, and every place is different. Understanding and feeling this enables us to work with the energy of each situation as a fresh experience\u2014and therefore with a spirit that is alert, accommodating, and spontaneous.\n\nQigong heightens our ability to sense the world around us. We become more alert, but we also feel more emotionally sensitive. You may be surprised by new feelings as you look at your home, your neighborhood, and your office with increased sensitivity. Another level of your natural intelligence is waking up.\n\nKeen observation is important. That is why this is a workbook, with many charts that encourage you to reflect on your personal experience of qigong practice. There are questions about your physical and emotional experience, and many open-ended questions that simply invite you to ask yourself how you are reacting to the practices and exercises. This, too, is part of developing your sensitivity and appreciating it.\n\nAs that awareness develops on a personal level, it develops correspondingly on an environmental level. It's like having a new pair of glasses. You see so many things so much more clearly. You also become more curious about your own experience, about others, and about the amazing world around us. And that curiosity may lead to new and startling insights.\n\n## Home Energies\n\nWhether we live in an apartment or a large house, whether we spend most of our time at home or travel frequently, the energy around us has an impact on our lives. Although our home is meant to be a place of nurture and support, many people can feel anxious or subtly disturbed at home. And it is well known that moving to a new home is a cause of high anxiety for many people.\n\nFrom the point of view of our nervous system, there is one room in particular that has a pronounced effect\u2014the bedroom\u2014though other rooms have an impact as well. If we live in a one-room apartment, this effect is found in the part of the room where we sleep.\n\nMost of us spend at least a third of our lives asleep in our bedrooms. This part of our lives is extremely important to us. We need to sleep well\u2014deep, refreshing sleep. We need to dream\u2014clear, regenerative dreams.\n\nThe bedroom has other roles as well. For many people, the bedroom is also one of the places of greatest intimacy in our lives. It is a place of privacy, and it is also a refuge. It is often here that we come for protection, for security and peace. We can \"sleep\" on our problems. We can curl up and turn away from the stress of the day\u2014switching off the conscious activities of the brain and allowing the unconscious mind free rein.\n\nWe need to protect these precious hours of sleep and recuperation. If the bedroom is not a place of harmonious living, the consequences for our home lives can be devastating\u2014and how often we have seen that devastation exported emotionally into the rest of our lives.\n\nYou want to have a bedroom that is as safe as possible, where your privacy is ensured, where the risk of intruders is minimal, and where the risk of accident is reduced. These qualities are all the more important to you when it is dark and you are asleep.\n\nIf you are buying or renting a new place to live, you should pay careful attention to the internal relationship between the bedroom and the rest of the space. Since the energies from the rest of the home enter the bedroom principally through the bedroom door, it is important to be particular about the areas of the home onto which the door opens. This may not seem all that important to you compared with other factors in choosing a new home\u2014and the options you have may be limited\u2014but remember that you will likely be spending such a great deal of your time in your bedroom that you will be profoundly affected by the energies that enter and circulate in that room.\n\nIf you are choosing a new home, it will be helpful to know a few basic elements from an energetic perspective. Energies can easily flow from one room to another if there is a direct line of movement through the doorways. In some homes, the entrance to the bedroom is directly in line with the front door. You are less likely to sleep soundly in such a home. Your nervous system will be most relaxed if your bedroom is an interior, private place. In other homes, the entrance to the bedroom is directly in line with the bathroom or kitchen. In those instances, it is necessary to make arrangements that will keep the bedroom free from odors, fumes, and noxious energies.\n\nIt may not always be possible to have a separate bedroom with a door. You may live in an open-plan home or a studio apartment, leaving you without a protected, quiet place of repose. If that's your situation, try to set up your living space so that the sleeping area is clearly defined and protected at night by a barrier, such as a bookcase or a screen.\n\nQigong at Home\n\nWhether or not you are able to arrange your home taking all this into account, there is still one other thing that you can do: develop a daily qigong routine. It will make a difference in the quality of your life, both at home and away. Qigong is compatible with any other activity, like exercise or sports, and any sort of mind training, like meditation. Practicing a qigong routine every morning is like putting fresh batteries in your system before you start your daily activities. There is a sample routine in part 3.\n\nBecause you, your home, and anyone else who lives there are all fields of energy, the different energy patterns influence each other in a mutual, interdependent manner. We all know this from the simple fact that if one person is in a bad mood or acting in a disturbing way, he or she can upset everyone else and change the atmosphere in the home. Similarly, if you are regularly cultivating your life-enhancing energy and simultaneously calming your mind and nervous system, you will not only be less anxious and more emotionally resilient yourself, you will also have a beneficial effect on anyone you live with and the entire feel of your home.\n\n## Where You Work\n\nThe location of a shop, office, or factory is just as important to the well-being of the people who work there as the location of your home is to you and your family. Even if you don't have a choice about the location of your job, it is good to know if you are being exposed to helpful or potentially harmful energy there.\n\nUrban environments can affect our nervous systems in numerous ways, which makes it all the more of a challenge to live healthily. It is not just our individual temperament that causes us to be anxious, experience high levels of stress, and have difficulty sleeping. These patterns can be heavily influenced by our environment.\n\nIf you work in a shop, a bank, or a restaurant, it is likely to be on a busy street or in a mall, grouped together with similar businesses to attract as many customers as possible. This means you will be exposed to a substantial volume of moving, volatile energy. You will inevitably be affected by that turbulence.\n\nIf you are an office worker, on the other hand, it is likely that you will not be exposed to the same kind of bustling energy that you would inside a busy store. In fact, if you are looking for an office location for yourself, it is best to look for a quiet corner in a busy area. Often, this means a side street adjacent to a major intersection or on the upper floors above the shops at street level. Although most office workers cannot choose the location where they work, there are still ways you can use your qigong practice to help you counteract the difficult conditions in which you may be working. We will look at some special features of office life in the next section, \"Office Qigong.\"\n\nIf you work in a factory, you will know that they are, generally speaking, noisy places, and many generate fumes and waste. They need space, room to expand, and, usually, some open ground for off-site storage and transport. Since factories and light industrial complexes tend to be located in areas specially zoned for this kind of industry, your factory will likely be near other ones. The impact of the factories in the area is collective, which means that attention to health and safety and to each person's individual well-being is all the more important.\n\nBeing exposed to short periods of disturbed energy from a location is not necessarily a problem, even if it happens every day, as long as we are just dropping in. For example, the energy at a downtown intersection will be particularly disturbed. It might be a good location for stores that want to attract casual passersby, but if we were to try to live or work in that area, we would need to pay special attention to creating our own strong, protective energy field.\n\nOffice Qigong\n\nMost modern offices network their computers so that employees can readily share information, use e-mail, and access the Internet. Computers are connected to the network by cable or Wi-Fi system. Cables usually run under the floor; a Wi-Fi system is all-pervasive.\n\nAll electrical items have electrical and magnetic fields. In the workplace, that includes the wiring for power, phone and network cables, fluorescent lighting, computers, and air conditioning units, as well as the large number of invisible electronic networks whose signals penetrate everywhere. Everyone in the office is surrounded by these fields. Some of these fields may be of low power, but even these add up to an environment of energetic disturbance that can negatively affect the health of people who work in it for sustained periods of time.\n\nIn the classical system of understanding energy patterns in which I was trained, electricity and electronic equipment like computers, cell phones, and personal sound systems are considered fire energy. Like a fire, the energy shoots upward and is radiant and powerful. It is warming, transformative, and communicative. It can also cause overheating, burning, and dryness; it can be all-consuming.\n\nIn traditional Chinese medicine, a serious imbalance of fire energy affects the heart and disturbs the nervous system. The results of prolonged exposure to the upward force and intense power of fire energy can affect your concentration. It can lead to headaches, anxiety, and loss of sexual appetite. You find yourself nervous, jumpy, and unable to relax.\n\nIf you work in this type of office, you will always be using up your own energy as your system tries to cope with the excess fire energy that envelops you. This, in turn, weakens your immune system and therefore your resistance to disease. If you find yourself spending long hours working in this type of environment and your employer is not alert to this problem, you should develop your own ways of coping with the effects of these disturbing energy fields.\n\nMany practices offered in this book are helpful in counteracting the effects of fire energy. In part 3 you are introduced to the importance of connecting with the power of earth\u2014\"Taking Root\" and the other practices. Remember that you can literally \"ground\" yourself by using these practices, the way electrical equipment is grounded.\n\nAll the suggestions for using the power of your senses in part 4 can be helpful in an office environment. For example, the practice of gazing into a blue- or green-tinted glass filled with water can be easily adapted for discreet use at your desk. If you rest your eyes on the glass from time to time, you will notice the effect this apparently simple practice has on your nervous system.\n\nTake as many breaks as possible, to get out of the disturbing energy fields of the office. Literally go outside during breaks. Stand in the open air. This is a perfect time to practice the exercise \"Coming Up for Air\" in part 1. In meetings or at your desk, you can usually find a time when you can discreetly practice \"Resting the Golden Ball,\" or a tensing and relaxing exercise like \"Clenching and Relaxing.\"\n\nLike many of my students, you may find that regular morning qigong sessions make a huge difference, setting you up for the day. Over time, it strengthens your immune system and creates a strong field of energy that can protect you from the disturbed vibrations of your work environment. You can begin with \"Your Daily Routine\" in part 3.\n\nThe problems caused by working at a computer keyboard are, by now, well known. These are associated with tension; in extreme cases, the strain leads to damage of the nerves in the wrist. In traditional Chinese medicine, the condition is relieved by massage, the application of herbs, and special exercises. To help prevent or relieve tension and pain in the hands, you can use the following simple qigong exercise for a few minutes before starting work at the keyboard or if you start to feel tired while working.\n\n  * Begin by sitting or standing for two or three minutes in the position \"Holding the Golden Ball at Your Belly\" (in part 2).\n  * Then raise your hands to elbow height and turn them so that your palms are turned down toward the floor. Your fingers are pointing straight ahead.\n  * Slowly raise your thumbs as far as you can without moving your other fingers. Hold for one second. Then lower them, pressing down as far as you can. Hold for one second. Then relax your thumbs.\n  * Now repeat this for each of the fingers on your hands\u2014trying to raise and lower them in the same way, as far as you can without moving your other fingers.\n\nThese finger exercises not only help to remove the strain in your hands and improve the circulation of blood in your fingers, but are excellent stimulation for your brain. You will notice the effect that doing this has on your worries, anxieties, or other preoccupations.\n\n## Traveling Qigong\n\nMany people feel anxious when traveling. Of course, there is also the excitement and arousal of traveling, but for many people, the panic of getting packed and off to the station or airport on time is very unsettling.\n\nThere are different ways you can use qigong when traveling. First, there is a way of working with your mind that may help you. Then, over these next few pages I show you a sequence of six exercises that will greatly help your energy, especially if you are traveling in cramped conditions or on an airplane.\n\nPlease take a look at the calligraphy at the beginning of the section \"Earth\" in part 3. It shows the Chinese character for the Tao. There is a long single brushstroke at the bottom that represents a raft, the sort of flat, simple craft used for centuries for navigating waterways\u2014and still used today in some parts of the world. Just above it, at the left, is a small brushstroke that represents a person guiding the raft in the water. Picture yourself as that person. Your raft is floating in the currents of the water.\n\nAs you imagine this, you might close your eyes and feel that you are riding the current. You might sway a little as you do this. Try to feel that all the energy around you\u2014the movements of your car or bus, the sounds and smells of the station or airport, the commotion of your family, the turbulence of the plane\u2014are simply what you encounter as you balance on the raft, plying your oar in the water.\n\nIf you are not attracted to the image of a raft on water, you can imagine that you are being carried along in an old-fashioned bicycle taxi through the countryside. You feel the movement of the bike, the unevenness of the road, the air brushing against your face, and the feeling of the person who is riding the bike carrying you with them as you cycle along together.\n\nWhile these images may be most useful when you are traveling, you can also use them at work or in other situations where the environment is somewhat unstable and makes you feel uneasy.\n\n## Giant Strides\n\nThis is the first of six qigong exercises that you can do while sitting to rouse your energy, calm your mind, and improve your circulation and well-being. I originally developed them for use on an airplane, but you can use them on any other long journey as well, in a bus or on a train.\n\nSome seats make us slump so that our back is curved and our chest compressed. Try to sit up as best you can, but don't strain yourself too much.\n\nSlowly lift one foot off the ground. As you raise your foot, stretch your toes up toward you as fully as possible. Breathe in as you raise your foot. Then slowly lower your foot as you breathe out.\n\nBreathe in as you raise the other foot, again raising your toes up toward you as fully as possible.\n\nLift your feet eight times. Wait ten seconds. Then repeat the sequence two more times.\n\nAs you do this, imagine that you are taking huge strides over hills and mountains, like a giant. The movement is slow and powerful, your immense body covering miles with every step.\n\n## Bubbling Spring\n\nThis second traveling exercise focuses on one of the most potent acupuncture points on your body. Remain sitting comfortably in your seat, with your back as upright as possible.\n\nRaise the heel of one of your feet, keeping the ball of your foot firmly on the floor. Then press the ball of your foot down into the floor. Use your calf muscles to get the pressure going straight down into the ball of your foot.\n\nBreathe out as you press the ball of your foot down for a couple of seconds. Then relax, release the pressure on the ball of your foot, and breathe in. Lower your heel.\n\nThen repeat with your other foot. Press and relax eight times, first one foot, then the other. Wait ten seconds. Then repeat the sequence two more times.\n\nAs you press down, you are activating the _yongquan_ point on the sole of your foot, normally known as the \"bubbling spring.\" This action sharply increases the flow of qi throughout your system, and the work done by your calf muscles speeds blood circulation.\n\n## Waves on the Rocks\n\nIn this, the third of the traveling exercises, try to sit up in your seat so that you do not strain your upper back. Place both your hands on your knees, so that your palms and fingers cover the entire area around the joints. Your fingers should curve over your knees so that your fingertips are well below your kneecaps.\n\nSlowly rub your hands in smooth circles around the whole of your kneecaps. Your hands should circle around your knees starting with the inward aspect of each knee and circling around the front of the knee. The massage should be firm, but do not grip your knees.\n\nMake thirty circles around the knees. If you have knee problems, do this massage as many times as you wish. Breathe naturally as you do it.\n\nTo get the right feeling for this exercise, imagine that your knees are large rocks at the edge of the sea. Your hands flow around them just like waves that roll in, cover the rocks, wash completely around them, and then recede. Use your fingertips to move firmly in and around the ridges and spaces below your kneecaps.\n\nWhen you have finished, relax for a moment, with your hands resting on your knees or thighs.\n\n## Fearless Rider\n\nIn the fourth traveling exercise, begin by sitting in a resting position, with your back comfortably against your seat back. Your feet are flat on the floor.\n\nImagine that you are sitting in a saddle on the back of a powerful stallion. You are about to leap forward. As you feel the horse about to jump, you pull yourself forward fearlessly to ride upward with him. This forward pull takes place in the muscles of your buttocks, pelvis, and thighs. The shift in your hips automatically moves your back forward so that it is no longer touching the chair. As this happens, squeeze the muscles of your buttocks and thighs so that they are as taut as possible and you are fully sitting up. Breathe out as you come forward. Keep your upper body completely relaxed. .\n\nHold this forward position with the muscles of your buttocks and thighs tensed for a few seconds, without breathing in. Then gently release the pressure, completely relax, and sit back as you breathe in.\n\nSit up like this eight times. Wait ten seconds. Then repeat the sequence two more times\n\n## Crushing the Flanks\n\nIn the fifth traveling exercise, you are still riding the stallion. It is flying like the wind. To remain in position on its magnificent back, you need to grip its flanks tightly between your knees. As you crush the flanks, you imagine the full power of the horse carrying you with it.\n\nSome people, when traveling, experience tremendous anxiety because they feel trapped, helpless, and at the mercy of whatever is going on in the airplane or on the train or bus. Their feelings of powerlessness affect their overall energy. This exercise can help shift those feelings, as it boosts your qi.\n\nSit forward, if you can. Fold both your hands into loose fists and turn them palms downward. Bring your fists together so that the thumbs and index fingers of each hand touch each other. Place your fists together between your knees.\n\nSqueeze your knees together, pressing inward on your fists. Hold the squeeze for up to thirty seconds if you can. Breathe naturally as you do this.\n\nThen relax. Wait ten seconds. Then repeat the sequence two more times.\n\n## Holding Two Forces\n\nFor the final traveling exercise, sit up as straight as you can in your seat. Slowly breathe out, letting your chest sink inward a little. Relax your shoulders.\n\nThen, as you breathe in, bring your hands together in front of your chest and clasp them together.\n\nOpen your elbows outward so that your forearms form a right angle with your hands. Your palms are now vertical, pressing against each other.\n\nNow press your palms firmly toward each other as you breathe out. Keep pressing for thirty seconds while breathing naturally. Alternatively, you may prefer to do this exercise by pressing your palms together for ten seconds while making one long exhalation.\n\nThen slowly relax, keeping your arms in place. Breathe in slowly. Then repeat the pressing and relaxing, with synchronized breathing, two more times.\n\nYour arms are like two forces relentlessly opposing each other. You feel the pressure they exert on each other, but your mind and body remain relaxed, so that the power of the two forces is calmly held by the entire field of your energy.\n\n## Experiencing Your Environments\n\nAt the beginning of part 5, you were introduced to ways in which you can experience and work with the energy of your home and work environments. This is a different approach to working with energy, but since you spend a great deal of time in your home and work environments, they have a sustained effect on you, your health, and your inner life.\n\nPlease use the following chart to record anything you notice about your home or workplace. You can also list any changes you have made or are planning to try. Remember that everyone's experience is different, so you need to pay careful attention to what you are sensing yourself. If you would like to have a checklist of sensations to help you with your personal review, you can use the \"Quick Check\" chart at the end of the introduction. You can use this chart for notes. If you find this helpful, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\nThe Way of Nature\n\nNature is a living process of constant birth, death, and renewal. It is a process of perpetual rebalancing. It is never static, never the same. It is constantly coming to a beginning, over and over.\n\nThis is the deep truth embedded in the four characters of this calligraphy. At the very bottom, there are tiny brushstrokes. These represent fire\u2014the cycle of creation and destruction through which life forever renews itself, as a forest does after a fire.\n\nTaken together, the four characters of the calligraphy can be translated, \"The method of the Tao is the process of following nature.\" Thus, its message is one of profound relaxation, the antidote to anxiety. You may be experiencing anxiety now, but this is not a permanent state, nor is it your nature. You will cycle through this, like life, again and again, always changing.\n\n## Practicing in Nature\n\nAs you make progress in your qigong training, you will become sensitive to the flow of energy within you and to the energy that surrounds you. You may be drawn to practice outdoors\u2014in a garden, on a balcony, or in a local park. This is the way qigong has been practiced for centuries. You will feel refreshed by the air around you. However, it is not advisable to practice outdoors when it is windy or raining, and you shouldn't stand facing into direct sunlight, though sunlight on your back is beneficial. If you find it difficult to go outdoors for any reason, try to have a source of fresh air in the room where you do your exercises.\n\nYou can enhance your sensitivity to the natural world and derive immense benefit from it by learning to practice with a tree.\n\nThis photo was taken when I went to Muir Woods, the marvelous redwood forest in northern California. The power of the natural energy in the woodland is wonderfully invigorating.\n\nTrees are among the great powerhouses of nature, and the energy they radiate is extremely powerful. The presence of trees is a tremendous support for your practice, stabilizing and calming you with their protective power.\n\nIf you would like to try this practice, look for a tree that exudes a sense of strength, power, and well-being. It need not be a huge tree, but you should have the feeling that its energy is healthy.\n\nStand a few feet away from the tree in any of the qigong positions. For this practice (which is slightly different than what you see in the photo), please make sure you face the tree.\n\nImagine that there is a circuit of energy that extends from the crown of the tree down to the top of your head. It continues through your body down to your feet, then down into the earth, where it connects with the roots of the tree. The circuit continues back up through the tree until it begins to circle down through the top of your head again.\n\nAs you imagine the tree's energy coming in through the top of your head, breathe in. As it goes from your feet back into the tree, breathe out.\n\nAs you stand, allow your mind to rest on this continuous circuit. Experienced practitioners report feeling the mutual cycle of energy between them and the tree as they relax into the experience.\n\nYou can do any or all of the qigong practices in this book outdoors. If you start your day with a little routine, like the one at the end of part 3, doing all or part of your routine outdoors can give your energy a real boost and help your nervous system recover from any overnight worries, sleeplessness, or strain.\n\nYour Senses and Your Mind in Nature\n\nPracticing qigong outdoors is an excellent opportunity to use your senses and your mind to help you with your anxiety. Feel the air on your face, listen to the sounds of the trees, smell the grass and the flowers. Breathe freely in a relaxed way.\n\nIf there is a stream in the park or woodland, you can spend a few moments looking at the running water. If you see a stone in the water, observe how the water flows around and past it in an unending current. Try thinking of yourself as a smooth stone, standing in the current of all your anxieties and difficulties. They flow around you as you remain unmoving in the stream. Try to form a clear image of the water flowing past the stone in your memory, so you can use it later. Being a stone in the water doesn't mean that you become unfeeling or cold as a person. It simply means that you take your place in the flowing current of your life but are not swept away by it.\n\nDon't confuse this outdoor practice with meditation. You can talk to your friends or anyone you meet in the park. If you like to sing to yourself, please do. But please take this opportunity not to use headphones to listen to music or anything else. This is a time to appreciate nature just as it is.\n\n## Your Natural Experience\n\nYou have been taking your qigong practice out into nature. Outdoor practice enables you to feel more expansive, to do the exercises in the open air and to spend time making a connection with trees\u2014some of nature's most powerful energy transformers. You can do other qigong practices outdoors as well. In the chart below are some suggestions for practices that you can try outdoors. Follow your own preferences.\n\nIt is very helpful to keep track of your experience of doing qigong. You are the only person who can feel what is happening as you do this and how it is affecting your anxiety patterns. If you would like to have a checklist of sensations to help you with your personal review, you can use the \"Quick Check\" chart at the end of the introduction. If you find this helpful, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\n## The Two Poles\n\nAs you develop your practice of qigong, your hands become increasingly powerful conduits of energy. They are like the two poles of a magnetic field\u2014at any one time, one of these poles is positive, the other is negative. As your sensitivity increases and your qi becomes more and more powerful, you can feel the invisible current running between your palms.\n\nThere are numerous healing applications of this current. Your hands can be used in exactly the same way that magnets are used in magnet therapy. By placing your hands at different points on the body, the current passes through the body from one palm to the other.\n\nBefore performing the qigong massage techniques described on the following pages, you need to ensure that there is a strong flow of qi to your hands.\n\nStand in the position \"Holding the Golden Ball at Your Belly\" for at least five minutes. If possible, lower yourself down a little farther than usual. Your upper body should be relaxed. Spread your fingers amply apart.\n\nWhen you have completed your standing, rub your palms rapidly together for at least thirty seconds to warm them. Clap your hands together about a dozen times to bring your inner qi to the surface of your palms. You are then ready to work.\n\nYou will be using your hands like two magnetic poles of yin and yang energy. There are many ways of using this energy, including as first aid in some situations. If you have an accident, such as bumping some part of your body or stumbling and wrenching your ankle, you can apply your palms on either side of the affected area. This calms the nervous reaction and steadies the entire area, and\u2014depending on what has happened to you\u2014you may well find that it can relieve your pain and help reduce swelling.\n\nYou can imagine that the part of your body that is held between your hands is a small planet, like our own earth. The energy field between your hands is like the energy of the galaxy that surrounds the earth and sustains its biosphere. You are using the flow of your qi as a field of warmth, support, and nurture.\n\nIn our tradition, this use of qi is often referred to as \"natural medicine.\" The great Taoist sage Zhuangzi (also transliterated \"Chuang Tse\"), who lived about 2,500 years ago, wrote about this: \"The three treasures of vitality, energy, and spirit experience a daily flourishing of life and fill the whole body, so that great medicine can be expected to be produced naturally.\"\n\nThis \"natural medicine\" is one of the accomplishments of qigong practice. As you mature in your practice, the quality and power of your inner energy changes. What might have been a somewhat weak, irregular, unstable flow of energy becomes fuller, more constant, and unending\u2014less like a stream, more like a broad river. This enhanced flow of energy can be used for some forms of self-healing and helping others.\n\nI have done this kind of healing massage for most of my working life. I began with a clinic in Hong Kong after my training as a traditional herbalist and bonesetter, and I have since treated countless people in my centers in London and Piedmont, California. I have trained a number of my senior students in this method as well. They like to report their experiences to me, especially if they have been able to use their qi successfully in emergencies. One of them told me of such a success.\n\nI was walking on an uneven pavement and suddenly stumbled. My foot slipped off a loose paving stone, and my foot twisted to one side. I landed sharply on the side of my foot, pulling and twisting my ankle at the same time. The shock went right through my body. I immediately stopped and began rubbing my palms together. When they were warm, I knelt down and held my ankle between them. Then, after a little while, I gave the whole area a good, strong massage with my palms. I wasn't sure what the effect would be. When I stood up, I found I could place all my weight on the affected leg. Then I slowly moved my ankle. It was tender. I took a few steps and felt I could move it and continue walking. When I looked at my ankle that evening, there was no swelling.\n\nIf you have not practiced zhan zhuang qigong regularly, have been practicing incorrectly, or have only been practicing for a relatively short period of time, you should not expect to achieve miraculous results. But if you practice regularly and experience the sensations of the energy current between your palms, you can use your qi in this way and in the applications described in the following pages.\n\n## Neck and Face Self-Massage\n\nYou can use your energy for healing and calming self-massage. Your nervous system will respond wonderfully to a soothing qi massage of your neck and face, which will remove tension in your neck and bring radiant energy to your face.\n\nFirst, place your hands together and rub them together vigorously for a little while. Try to make sure that your fingers and fingertips are also rubbing against each other.\n\nThis automatically brings more qi to your hands. Most people experience the effect immediately: your hands and fingers become warm. Even if you do not experience increased warmth, your energy is there.\n\nThen rub your hands back and forth over the back of your neck. This helps to clear blockages and stiffness that impede the flow of energy to the brain and nervous system.\n\nYou can also give yourself a little \"qi facial\" this way. Gently rub your hands over your eyes, ears, and face, as if washing yourself. Try feeling the effect of holding your palms over your closed eyes for a few seconds\u2014and then over your ears.\n\n## Soothing Your Back\n\nAnxiety and other inner torment is one of the most common causes of backache. This painful condition affects millions of people. If you suffer from it, you may be able to give yourself some relief with a qigong massage. This should not be mistaken for a cure for back pain, especially if you are suffering from an injury to your back, a pinched nerve, or a chronic condition. But the warming flow of qi will help soothe you, lower your level of anxiety, and offer you some relief.\n\nFirst rub your palms together to stimulate your qi. Curl your fingers into open fists, as if you were holding an egg in each hand.\n\nPlace your open fists in the small of your back so that the curve between your thumb and your index finger rests in the soft flesh just above your hips. You are not using the whole of your hand, just the curve between your thumb and index finger. Then use your open fists to massage those two spots in your back for as long as you wish.\n\n## Easing Headaches\n\nThere are many causes of headaches. Some are the result of accidents and injuries, which require specialized treatment. But many ordinary headaches are caused by a blockage of qi in the area of the neck and shoulders, which affects the supply of blood and oxygen to the brain. You can use the following sequence for relief.\n\nBegin by stimulating the flow of qi to your palms using the \"Two Poles\" method.\n\nThen work with the tips of two or three fingers on each temple. Make smooth circles around the area of the temples, pressing gently inward. Make thirty-six small circles.\n\nThen run your fingers along both sides of the head, from the temples to behind the ears and down to the base of the skull at the back of your neck. Repeat this flowing motion six times.\n\nThen work the tips of two or three fingers on either side of the back of the neck, below the base of the skull. Make thirty-six small circles, pressing gently inward as you move. Finish by \"washing\" your head and face with firm, smooth, circular movements for about a minute.\n\n## Energy Circuit\n\nAnother way to work with the living energy of the world around you is to create an energy circuit with a partner. I recommend you do this with a family member or a good friend\u2014someone with whom you have a warm, supportive connection already. It is not necessary for both of you to have experience with qigong, but one of you should at least be experimenting with the practices in this book. If both of you are doing some daily qigong practice, of course, the effect will be even stronger.\n\nStand facing each other. It is best if your feet are shoulder-width apart. Move your arms so that they are positioned at a 45-degree angle to the side, level with your waist. The palm of your right hand faces down; the palm of your left hand is turned upward.\n\nHold your right hand over the other person's left hand, with your palm facing down over your partner's palm. Your two palms are facing each other. Leave some space in between your palms, as if you were holding an orange between them.\n\nYour energy will naturally create a circuit through your hands. Breathe naturally. Just stand for a few minutes like this, breathing naturally and relaxing.\n\nMany people ask me exactly what path the energy takes. You can think of it traveling from the palm of the first person's right hand (which is facing downward) into the palm of the other person's left hand. The right hand is passing energy into the left and the left is taking it. The energy simultaneously makes a circuit through your two bodies and continues through the connection of the other two hands.\n\nYou can also work with this energy circuit sitting down. Simply arrange yourselves so that you are facing each other and create the circuit with your outstretched palms. If one person is unable to stand up for any reason, that person can remain seated while the other stands.\n\nIf you have trouble figuring out the hand positions, please look carefully at the two hands in the foreground of the picture, which shows the correct position with one person's right hand on top, palm facing down, and the other's left hand underneath with the palm turned upward. The photo also shows the space between the hands. If you get one set of your palms properly aligned, then you can simply copy that (in reverse position) for the other set of palms. The photo also shows that the fingers of your hands are gently spread apart, but they are not tense.\n\nThere are many ways we can use and benefit from an energy circuit like this. If you are feeling anxious, just ask your partner to stand with you for a minute or two. In my experience with many students, even those two minutes can be extremely helpful. You will find that the energy of anxiety is neutralized.\n\nWhat happens if both people are feeling anxious? Your energy circuit will carry your anxiety along with it. The way energy flows, the weaker, most disturbed anxiety energy will flow downward toward the earth and dissipate into the ground. That will leave a strong circuit of supportive energy flowing between you.\n\n## Experiencing Energy Work\n\nHave you tried the various forms of energy work that you were introduced to in this part of the book? These include energy massages (\"The Two Poles\"), as well as working with another person to create a shared energy field (\"Energy Circuit\"). It's important to pay attention to the effect of these practices, so that you can learn from them and develop your ability.\n\nIt can also be wonderful to ask your partners about their experience, so there is space on this chart for that too. Remember that everyone's experience is unique\u2014not better or worse than anyone else's. If you find this helpful, you can continue to keep notes for yourself on a separate notepad.\n\n## Inner Growth\u2014A Nine-Month Review\n\nPlease come back to the following chart on the date that you entered in the box \"date nine months from now\" in the \"Growing from Within\" chart at the end of part 1. Answer these questions without looking back to see what answers you gave nine months ago. Then you can compare your answers and reflect on your experience.\n\nIt doesn't matter if you have maintained a regular qigong practice or followed any of the recommendations in this book. Life is a process of constant change, and it is always helpful to take a few minutes to review your experience. Please remember that every person is unique. These charts are meant for your personal, private use. Please treat them like an intimate conversation with yourself.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n**Are there any times or conditions in which it is not good to practice qigong outdoors?**\n\nIt is best to practice qigong outdoors during the day. If you are an early riser and want to start practicing before dawn, that is fine, especially if you are able to arrange to include the sunrise in the period of your practice. Normally, you should try practice with sunlight striking your back. Sun energy connects with an important acupuncture point in the small of your back, known as _mingmen (ming men)_ , the \"gate of fire.\" Facing strong sunlight can make you squint and tense up, thus impeding the flow of energy. It is best not to practice outdoors if it is misty, foggy, or rainy. Damp conditions can also impede the flow of energy.\n\n**What happens if dogs or other animals see a person \"standing like a tree\"?**\n\nAnimals have a natural attraction to strong energy. Dogs and other pets, whether at home or outdoors, may take an interest in a person doing qigong. If they know you, they may wish to lie down near you or be in the area where you are practicing. If they don't know you, they might run over to you to check you out. If a dog you don't know is barking or jumping up and down, it is best to remain still and not make any sudden movements, in case this is startling. If you want to move away, lower your arms to a normal position and walk calmly and slowly on. Once when I was in a park with one of my students, a squirrel ran up his leg and sat for a while on his shoulder. We had a good laugh about how he was doing quite well at standing like a tree.\n\n**What should I do if there are no changes I can make to the conditions in my home or workplace?**\n\nSometimes it is simply impossible to make physical changes to your environment. In that case, it is important to realize that regular, consistent practice of qigong creates a strong energetic field that not only helps you internally, but also acts as a sphere of protection around you. This is sometimes referred to as the \"aura\" and is what can be seen using bioelectrography, also known as Kirlian photography, which picks up the electrical field around a person. In the section on your workplace (\"Where You Work,\" in part 5), I give specific suggestions to help you cope with the intense energy of many contemporary offices.\n\n**Can you pick up other people's illnesses by practicing qigong or exchanging energy with them?**\n\nIf you are in the same room as a person with a cough or a cold, you can pick that up through the normal route of physical infection. That's natural and can happen whether you are practicing qigong with them or not. But the practice of qigong has a positive effect on your immune system and helps you bounce back faster if you do have any kind of illness or injury. So the most important thing is to try to establish a good daily foundation of refreshing your energy. If you do that, you will be at less risk of becoming ill, no matter how you come in contact with illnesses.\n\n## Does This Really Work?\n\nThe only person who can answer this question is you. Personal experience is the basis of the qigong tradition. Qigong has always been handed down from person to person. And the reason it has been passed on is that one person after another found that it really worked for them. But if you don't find it helpful, or if you don't see a way of fitting it into your life, please don't worry. There are other methods of working with energy, and since energy is all around us, you will never be without it.\n\nWhat I have found is that people from all walks of life can find ways to fit a little qigong into their lives, and they find it helpful. That is why I have told their stories throughout the book. You may have noticed that my students come from a range of backgrounds: teaching, medical care, law, business, real estate, computing, international relations, and community service\u2014and add to that list my own early days as a police officer.\n\nSome of my students are artists. They too put qigong to use in their work. One is an opera singer. She told me, \"Zhan zhuang qigong has extended my capacity. The change is fundamental: you can hear the difference. I am stronger, breathe deeper, and project my voice farther. Zhan zhuang changed my awareness of my inner space. I couldn't have learned this just from taking singing lessons.\"\n\nI am not asking you to believe me. I am offering you the possibility of trying it out for yourself. Then you can decide whether it works or not.\n\nA Living Fire\n\nIf you want to keep a fire alive, you need to ensure that there are burning embers that will stay alight until dawn. That is the meaning of the first of these four characters.\n\nThe second character represents the fire itself.\n\nThe last two characters express the idea of \"passing the baton.\" In a relay race each runner carries the baton and then carefully hands it on to the next teammate.\n\nRead together, these four characters describe the notion of \"lineage.\" A lineage is a living fire. Like the Olympic flame, it is carefully kept alight and then is passed from hand to hand. That is clear from the last three characters. The first one, however, adds a warning. You can admire a fire that is already burning and decide to start your own. But that is a different fire. It is not the same as keeping the power of the original fire alive.\n\n# The Lineage\n\nThe practice of cultivating human energy has been passed down from master to student in a lineage that stretches back some twenty-seven centuries. Like all forms of energy, it can be used in a variety of ways. From those earliest days, there has always been a distinctive stream of this tradition that has used energy to relax and nurture the human being, both mentally and physically. My own master was fond of recounting the thousands of years of history through which the art of qigong has developed. It is thanks to those many generations of masters and students that it is possible for me to share with you today the benefits that qigong offers for alleviating anxiety.\n\nTwo of the earliest books about qigong are a medical treatise and one of China's most famed books of philosophy. _The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine_ ( _Huang Ti Nei Ching_ ), the world's most influential medical text, appeared some 2,400 years ago. In it, the court physician tells the emperor: \"The sages were tranquilly content with nothingness and the true vital force accompanied them always. Their vital spirit was preserved within.\"\n\nThe _Tao Te Ching_ , by Laozi\u2014one of the most widely read and influential books in the course of human civilization\u2014says, \"By standing alone and unchanging, you will find that everything comes to you and the energy of the cosmos will never be exhausted.\" \"Standing alone and unchanging\" was Laozi's way of describing the practice through which we have come to understand the full power of the universe.\n\nThe cultivation of internal energy was developed as part of Taoism. It included the practice of remaining completely still in fixed positions. The Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi tells us that the sages of old were \"still and unmoved....Their breathing came deep and silent.\" Their \"minds were free from all disturbance...forgetting everything.\" They were \"open to everything and forgot all fear of death.\" In the text, a disciple tells his master, \"I am making progress.\" \"What do you mean?\" asks the master. \"I sit and forget everything...becoming one with the great void in which there is no obstruction.\"\n\nBuddhist thought and practice also influenced the development of the qigong tradition. The development of \"one-pointedness\" of mind (that is, the ability of the mind to be clearly focused) in the Buddhist tradition made a major contribution to the cultivation and application of qi in the human energy system.\n\nThe practices of qigong were passed down through the centuries in a lineage that was largely kept secret. It was not until the twentieth century that this heritage was shared openly in China and brought to the West.\n\nThe person who unlocked these secrets for the modern world was Grand Master Wang Xiang Zhai. Born in 1885 in the Shenxian district of Hebei province, he suffered from poor health as a child. His father was determined to improve his son's physical condition and sent him for training under his uncle, Master Guo Yun Sin, who lived in his village. From Master Guo he learned the secret discipline of zhan zhuang qigong. After his master's death, the young Wang spent ten years traveling throughout China, meeting and studying under the great masters of his day.\n\nBy the mid-1940s, he was ready to teach and pass on the fruits of what he had learned and moved to Beijing, where he was soon recognized as a master of extraordinary wisdom and prowess. His accomplishment was vast. From his humble origins as a boy suffering from asthma that left him severely weakened, he became a pivotal figure in the qigong tradition, bringing many of its most profound secrets out from centuries of secrecy into the modern world.\n\nIn the course of his studies, Grand Master Wang delved deeply into the spiritual heritage of Chinese culture, immersing himself in the wisdom of the Taoist and Buddhist traditions. Grand Master Wang composed poems to guide his many students on the path of qigong practice\u2014attempting to convey in words the inner experience of this art.\n\n_You who wish to master this art, begin by standing still._\n\n_Breathe deeply, undisturbed, like air among the clouds._\n\n_Your spirit and your bones are being tempered in this forge._\n\n_Hold still, unwavering._\n\n_This wisdom will suffuse your being, ceaselessly._\n\nGrand Master Wang broke new ground by challenging the traditional secrecy of qigong instruction. He taught openly. \"Knowledge should not be hidden away like a secret,\" he said. \"It belongs to all humanity.\"\n\nOne of the earliest students of Grand Master Wang was a young man who had studied Western medicine and was serving as a dentist at the Ten Lu (Railway) Hospital. His name was Yu Yongnian.\n\nAfter nine years of study and practice under Grand Master Wang, Yu began introducing aspects of zhan zhuang qigong as treatment for chronic diseases at his hospital. His initial successes were such that a major medical conference was held at the Beijing Shoudong San Hospital three years later, in 1956, to introduce the zhan zhuang system to hospitals throughout China.\n\nAfter the Cultural Revolution, Professor Yu published groundbreaking books on zhan zhuang. The first edition of _Zhan Zhuang for Health_ came out in February 1982 (Beijing: Educational Publishers). By April a second edition of 120,000 copies was issued, and by 1987 a further 294,500 copies had been printed. A limited edition of his next book _, Application of Zhan Zhuang for Health_ , was published in Beijing in 1989, and in the same year a further work on zhan zhuang qigong was issued by Cosmos Books in Hong Kong.\n\nProfessor Yu became the world's leading authority on zhan zhuang qigong, was on China's National Qigong Research Council, was a former consultant to the American-Chinese Qigong Research Group, and was honorary chairperson of the Da Cheng Chuan Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung Research Groups (Europe).\n\n## \"Taking Tea with My Master\"\n\nAlmost as soon as I was introduced to the art of qigong, I realized that it was far more powerful than anything I had ever learned before. I wanted to go directly to the source and learn as much as I could. The world's leading authority on the zhan zhuang tradition of qigong was a master in Beijing, Professor Yu Yongnian. I wanted to learn directly from him.\n\nSadly, this was at the time of the Cultural Revolution in China. It was a very dangerous period. Since I was from Hong Kong (still a British colony at that time), I would be viewed as a foreigner, and traveling to Mainland China to visit Professor Yu could create difficulties for him. So I wrote to him; luckily, this was possible. After we had exchanged many polite letters, I told him I wanted to study with him. He replied that I should come to take tea with him at his home.\n\nEven though having a foreign visitor could place him in danger, he welcomed me. He served me tea in the traditional way, and we had a polite conversation. Then it was time for me to leave. As I left his home, he said nothing about whether I could be his student, but he told me, \"Please take tea with me again.\"\n\nI ended up visiting him three times, and only at the end of our third visit did he say he would start sharing some ideas with me. When I returned the next time, he said to me, \"Now you will need to start all over again at the very beginning.\" In this way, I became his devoted student. Teaching me was not a decision he took lightly\u2014that's why he had wanted to see me again and again. He wanted to observe me, listen to the way I spoke, watch the way I handled a teacup, get a feeling of my own attitude toward him, and examine what I had already learned. At the same time, we were strengthening the connection between us\u2014the invisible channel that would carry centuries of wisdom and experience forward to the future.\n\nI owe him a huge debt of gratitude, because he taught me in a very deep and meaningful way. What he transmitted was something that can only be passed on through the power of lineage.\n\nLineage is how a truly authentic art is handed down and kept alive, transmitted in a very personal way. That is why I want you, dear reader, to know about the centuries of human learning through which this art has been developed and passed on. Of course, reading a book is not the same as learning directly from a lineage holder. But now that you have started to take an interest in this art, if you read and respect the stories, photos, and statements in these pages\u2014which I have put together to give you a sense of our shared history\u2014I hope you will have a feeling of what it might be like to start taking tea with a master.\n\nI first heard about Professor Yu in the 1980s. It was not possible for me to meet him\u2014I could only write to him, because China was still in the grip of the Cultural Revolution. Later, I was finally able to travel to Beijing and was accepted as one of his students. Even though I now live and teach in the West, I continue to respect the classical tradition of the master-student relationship and, until his death in 2013, returned regularly to China to practice with Professor Yu and learn from his lifetime of experience in this art.\n\nThis calligraphy is a gift that I received from Professor Yu. A literal translation is \"Follow the Tao, day by day, less and less.\" It means that as we continue practicing qigong correctly every day, we gradually experience less and less of whatever troubles us. Less anxiety, less tension, less pain. It is like polishing something precious\u2014slowly the accumulated dust and dirt are removed and the original quality is revealed.\n\nYou may sometimes see \"qigong\" spelled \"chi kung,\" though the pronunciation is always the same. So why the difference in spelling? It reflects two ways of transliterating Chinese into English. \"Chi kung\" is the spelling using the Wade-Giles system of transliteration, which was developed by two British diplomats serving in China in the nineteenth century. Wade-Giles was widely in use throughout most of the twentieth century. Most of the Chinese masters who preserved the classical Chinese arts during the often catastrophic turbulence of that century used the Wade-Giles system when writing their teachings in English. I grew up using that system, and all my books have used it. Nowadays, however, the newer pinyin system of transliteration is used in China, having been adopted by the government. This spelling is much more common in the United States, and so I have used it in this book. To help readers familiar with the earlier system of transliteration, I have included that in parentheses on first reference. I have kept most of the titles of works or names that used the earlier system in that form.\n\nIf You Are Opening the Book Here and Looking for Help in a Hurry\n\nPeople tell me that they are drowning. They may be drowning in their work, the pressure of deadlines, or the overwhelming demands and conflicts in their lives. They need to come up for air.\n\nThere's a powerful qigong practice for this. It's called \"Coming Up for Air.\" You can try it for yourself: there are photos and clear instructions in part 1 of this book.\n\n\"Qigong,\" pronounced \"chee gung,\" literally means \"internal energy work.\" The system has been in use for twenty-seven centuries and is part of China's medical heritage. It helps the flow of vital energy in the body.\n\nDon't worry about the theory. You can read that later. This book is designed for practical use. You can pick out anything you would like to try. It has many illustrations and is designed to be readable at a glance, so you can rest the book beside you and follow the instructions. Many of the exercises in this book are designed to address particular problems.\n\nIf you start worrying first thing in the morning\u2014before you even get out of bed\u2014or if you suffer from insomnia, go to the exercises, \"Overwhelmed, Lying Down\" and \"In the Middle of the Night\" in part 3. You can do these deep practices lying on your back, in bed or on the floor, in the morning or at night.\n\nIf you suffer from panic attacks or constant anxiety that makes you tense up all the time, go to \"Tensing and Relaxing\" in part 2. You can also try \"Clenching and Relaxing.\" You clench and stretch your hands, using your muscles to trigger a relaxation effect in your nervous system, similar to using a stress ball.\n\nIf you want to find out in depth how to use this ancient health system to handle your anxiety and develop your inner strength, I recommend you read the introduction and then start with the exercises in part 1. You can use the charts to keep track of how you are doing.\n\nIf, however, you're eager to jump right in, just do that. You can open the book at any page and try whatever exercise pops up there. They are all designed to help you work with your anxiety.\n\n## \"Pervading Anxiety\"\n\nOne of my students is a commercial program manager. When he first came to see me, he told me, \"I am experiencing pervasive anxiety.\" He had done some martial arts when he was younger and decided some kind of internal energy practice might help him with his inner distress. Later, he told me how he was doing.\n\nMy anxiety has decreased substantially. Once I started learning from you, even when my anxiety arises I am more able to just observe it, which allows it to pass more easily, without me becoming embroiled in a futile battle against fear.\n\nI find that through practicing qigong, I am able to reach a state of peace, calm, and serenity that is unobtainable by any other means of meditation, relaxation, or even sleep. This is after having tried various meditation and relaxation techniques over a period of around six years.\n\nAfter practicing qigong, it feels like I have just had a shower. People often comment on how fresh and relaxed I look, which does not happen if I have not practiced for a while!\n\nYou can pass through the whole cycle of emotions, from resistance, anger, fear, pain, and elation....You learn to let go and observe the experiences and sensations, which is good practice and training for the many obstacles that appear in daily life.\n\nQigong is different from many other systems, because you are not \"trying\" to do anything. In other systems, you often have to try to send energy here or there, or you focus on your breathing. This often either leads to the energy only being in your head or causes tension from the \"trying.\" The zhan zhuang system seems to be more natural, as it seems to work on the basis that if you relax, the energy does the work for you, and your mind and body eventually end up where they need to be.\n\nEven after practicing for a short period of time, it is possible to quickly and easily obtain a state of consciousness where all of your worries disappear while strengthening your body and spirit. Over time, this sense of well-being also spreads into your daily life.\n\n# About the Author\n\nMaster Lam has helped millions on the road to health. He has devoted his life to the study of qigong and the other healing arts of Chinese culture. From an early age he learned under some of the greatest masters of his time, in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. He has been teaching in the West since 1975, opening up the secrets of Chinese health care through his books, videos, workshops, and classes.\n\nMaster Lam is a lineage holder of the classical zhan zhuang qigong tradition established by Grand Master Wang Xiang Zhai. This is widely known as \"Standing Like a Tree,\" an art Master Lam first introduced to the West in his groundbreaking book _The Way of Energy_. It is this time-tested system for regenerative health that lies at the heart of this workbook.\n\nMaster Lam is also the founder of Lam-style Tai Chi Chuan, developed to enable people in the West to learn and practice the principal foundational movements of tai chi chuan.\n\nBorn in Hong Kong at the end of the Second World War, Master Lam first studied under masters such as Lung Tse-Cheung, a disciple of Grand Master Hu Yue-Chang, known throughout China as \"the king of Iron Palm.\" He was trained in the arts of Choy Lee Fut, Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, and Iron Palm, as well as tai chi.\n\nHe then studied Chinese medicine, becoming a qualified bonesetter and herbalist, and opened a school and clinic in Hong Kong. At this stage in his career, he was introduced to a master trained in the tradition of Grand Master Wang Xiang Zhai, who had opened up the world of zhan zhuang qigong to the public. Master Lam went on to study in Beijing under Professor Yu Yongnian, a grand master of the art of zhan zhuang. Professor Yu, who recently died, was the world's leading authority on this system of qigong; his books are widely used in China.\n\nMaster Lam first settled in London in the mid-1970s. He became the first person officially recognized by the Inner London Educational Authority to teach the art of tai chi, thus opening up this field for formal acceptance in education. He opened a clinic in London and established both the Lam Association of Cultural Arts and the Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung Research Group (Europe), with members in nearly a dozen countries. During this time, he demonstrated the power of his art by using qigong to heal himself after a near-fatal accident and a life-threatening illness.\n\nIn 2009, Master Lam explored teaching and offering healing treatments in the United States. He settled in Piedmont, California. Now he divides his time between Europe and North America, giving private teaching, public classes and workshops, and professional seminars, as well as offering KTL Therapy, a synthesis of all his life experience named for the members of his family who work with him to provide it.\n\nMaster Lam is the author of a range of books on tai chi, qigong, and feng shui. Among his most widely read works, published in over a dozen languages, are _Step-by-Step Tai Chi_ and his qigong trilogy, _The Way of Energy_ , _The Way of Healing_ , and _The Way of Power_. He is well-known as the presenter of the ten-part Channel Four series _Stand Still\u2014Be Fit_ , which you can watch on Master Lam's website (see the section \"Master Lam on Film\" for more).\n\n# Healing and Training with Master Lam\n\nMaster Lam offers personal training, public classes, workshops, and professional seminars. He also offers qigong healing treatments. He is based in Piedmont, California, and in London, England. He travels widely throughout the year.\n\nIt is important to understand that the practices and recommendations in this book are based on a lifetime of study and practice. You are more than welcome to experiment with them yourself. Using this book, while beneficial to you personally, does not constitute an authorization to teach qigong to others, to present yourself as a student of Master Lam, or to publish this information in books or on websites. If you would like to take your training further or explore how to share it with others who might benefit, please contact Master Lam to discuss this and find out about the training and worksops he offers.\n\n## Healing Treatments\n\nMaster Lam has a lifetime of experience in healing a wide range of disorders. Through his own years of research and experience, Master Lam now offers a qigong healing system known as KTL Therapy. It is based on accumulated research into the healing properties of countless herbs, the physical structures of the body, and the pathways through which our internal energy moves. This system has proven to be effective in helping people with many illnesses and injuries. Testimonials are published on his website, <http:\/\/www.lamkamchuen.org>. The site includes a list of conditions that can be helped by this therapy. These include dorsalgia (back pain), whiplash, sciatica, joint dislocation, accidents and sports injuries, and neck and shoulder pain, as well as hip, knee, and ankle pain.\n\nIf you would like to make an appointment for treatment with Master Lam, please contact him. His phone number in the United States is 1-510-666-7889. His international headquarters is in London, England: +44 207 261 9049. His e-mail address is hq@lamassociation.org.\n\n## Personal Training\n\nIf you would like to study privately with Master Lam, please contact him for an appointment. His phone number in the United States is 1-510-666-7889. His international headquarters is in London, England: +44 207 261 9049. His e-mail address is hq@lamassociation.org.\n\n## Classes and Workshops\n\nMaster Lam offers public classes in Piedmont, California. For information about current classes, please visit his website, <http:\/\/www.lamkamchuen.com>. Master Lam is willing to arrange, on request, workshops on qigong for specific conditions and illnesses. If you are interested in arranging a workshop for Master Lam anywhere in the world, please send a written proposal to hq@lamassociation.org.\n\n## Professional Seminars\n\nIf you are a health professional interested in the application of qigong in the care of people suffering from anxiety or other conditions, Master Lam is more than willing to discuss offering specialized professional seminars. If you are interested in arranging a professional seminar anywhere in the world with Master Lam, please send a written proposal to hq@lamassociation.org.\n\n## Websites\n\nMaster Lam's websites include:\n\n<http:\/\/www.lamhealing.com>\n\nThis is the main website, where you will find details of the healing treatments that Master Lam offers using qigong and the other health systems in which he has been trained and that he has practiced throughout his life.\n\n<http:\/\/www.lamkamchuen.org>\n\nThis is the principal website for the classes and workshops that Master Lam and his sons offer in the United States. It also provides helpful background on the healing tradition they preserve.\n\n<http:\/\/www.lamkamchuen.com>\n\nThis is Master Lam's international website, which has extensive details on his art, his books and films, his classes, and his healing work worldwide.\n\n<http:\/\/www.lamassociation.org>\n\nThis is the website of the Lam Association of Cultural Art, Europe. This is Master Lam's European hub. It includes detailed information about Master Lam and his activities in European countries as well as links to his qualified instructors.\n\n## _Inner Strength_\n\n### Anxiety Workshops and Personal Consultations with Master Lam\n\n_Physicians write over ninety-four million prescriptions for anti-anxiety medication annually in the United States alone.*_\n\nWhether you are taking medication, or receiving therapy for anxiety\u2014or looking for a totally different treatment plan\u2014the centuries-old qigong system of internal energy strengthening can help you. It offers a different, time-tested method for counteracting the destabilizing effects of anxiety. It builds your internal reservoir of inner strength while allowing you to continue with any other form of treatment you wish.\n\nInternational qigong authority Master Lam offers workshops and personal consultations on request.\n\nIf you would like to arrange a workshop or personal consultation with Master Lam, please contact him. His phone number in the United States is 1-510-666-7889. His international headquarters is in London, England: +44 207 261 9049. His e-mail address is hq@lamassociation.org.\n\n* Miller, Lisa. 2012. \"Listening to Xanax.\" New York, March 18. http:\/\/nymag.com\/news \/features\/xanax-2012-3\/.\n\n# Books and Videos with Master Lam\n\nThrough his books and videos Master Lam has introduced and taught a range of Chinese cultural arts in the West. His works have sold over a million copies, in seventeen languages. For copies of his books, please consult your local or online bookseller. For videos and DVDs, please contact Master Lam directly at http:\/\/www .lamkamchuen.org or e-mail hq@lamassociation.org.\n\n_The Way of Energy_\n\nA comprehensive qigong manual, the first book in Master Lam's trilogy. This is the groundbreaking work that introduced the zhan zhuang system of qigong to the Western world. This book provides an understanding of the human energy system, including practical exercises to help harness internal energy and stimulate blood circulation.\n\n_The Way of Healing_\n\nThe second book in this trilogy presents a simple program of qigong and tai chi exercises to gently improve the inner energy flow, which is vital to good health. The routines are suitable for all ages and levels of fitness, and there are special modifications for people with disabilities and those who are in poor health.\n\n_The Way of Power_\n\nThe third part of the trilogy introduces _Da Cheng Chuan_ (\"the great accomplishment\"). This is the most powerful of all the martial arts. The book features classical qigong exercises, but also movements drawn from this extraordinary martial art.\n\n_Everyday Chi Kung_\n\nA program of seated qigong to fit in your day, at work, home, or play. Offering a fifteen-minute-a-day routine, this is the first book to focus on seated qigong.\n\n_Walking Chi Kung_\n\nA manual that focuses on qigong in motion and includes over fifteen different walking steps and systems.\n\n_Step-by-Step Tai Chi_\n\nThe leading beginner's guide to this ancient art, featuring clear step-by-step instructions and color photographs of the basic tai chi movements.\n\n_Tai Chi for Staying Young_\n\nA simple exercise program for all ages, featuring careful, step-by-step descriptions of movements and exercises that can be performed as a daily routine at home or in any other convenient location.\n\n_The Feng Shui Handbook_\n\nThis guide presents the philosophy of this art and shows how to use feng shui to bring harmonious energy into the home or office, thus promoting both health and general well-being.\n\n_The Personal Feng Shui Manual_\n\nA practical guide to creating your individual feng shui chart and direction finder to create harmony in everyday situations.\n\n_The Feng Shui Kitchen_\n\nThe energy of food; feng shui essentials; preparing and cooking; and recipes for the four seasons.\n\n_The Way of Tea_\n\nA detailed guide to the art of making and enjoying this delicious, healthy, and complex drink.\n\n## Master Lam on Film\n\n_Stand Still\u2014Be Fit_\n\nA ten-part television series that presents step-by-step qigong that stimulates the internal body, enhancing physical energy and promoting health and well-being. The complete series is available online at http:\/\/www.lamkamchuen.org\/Simple_Exercise\/Simple _Exercise.html.\n\n_The Way of Power_\n\nFilmed in China and London, it contains nearly fifty minutes of unique demonstrations by Master Lam, Professor Yu, Madame Wang Yuk Fong (daughter of Grand Master Wang Xiang Zhai), and students. It also includes a unique demonstration of internal power.\n\n_Golden Ball Tai Chi_\n\nClassical movement compiled by Master Lam for his students. Strengthens your body, clears your mind, and lifts your spirit. Filmed on locations with Master Lam teaching local citizens, it includes simple, rejuvenating exercises that can be done by people who need to sit or lie down.>\n\n# References\n\n\"Anxiety.\" 2013. _Opinionator_ (blog). _New York Times._ <http:\/\/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com\/category\/anxiety\/>.\n\n\"The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D.\" YouTube video, 4:17, posted by \"Deep Astronomy.\" August 2, 2009. <http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oAVjF_7ensg>.\n\nMiller, Lisa. 2012. \"Listening to Xanax.\" _New York,_ March 18. http:\/\/nymag.com\/news \/features\/xanax-2012-3\/.\n\nNeedham, Joseph, Ling Wang, and Kenneth Robinson. 1962. _Science and Civilisation in China._ Vol. 4, _Physics and Physical Technology._ Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\n\nRicard, Matthieu, and Xuan Thuan Trinh. 2001. _The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet._ New York: Crown.\n\n**Master Kam Chuen Lam** has been a traditional Chinese healer for over forty years. He is also an internationally respected authority in the Chinese health systems of qigong and tai chi. He has produced over ten titles in these subjects and they have been sold across the world in over seventeen languages.\n\n**Grandmaster Yu Yongnian** wrote the foreword to this workbook months before his death at age 94. He was the world's leading authority on the rare qigong system known as \"standing like a tree.\" As a medical doctor trained in Western medicine, he brought the health benefits of this ancient system into hospitals and clinics throughout China. He was a member of China's National Qigong Research Council and was a consultant to the American-Chinese Qigong Research Group. He was also a consultant to the Da Cheng Chuan Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung Research Groups (Europe).\n\nProfessor Yu travelled and taught in both Asian and European countries. He supervised the production of Master Kam Chuen Lam's first book, _The Way of Energy,_ and appears in both _The Way of Power_ and its companion video in a rare demonstration of his teaching methods and power.\n","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}}
+{"text":"\n\n\n\nChuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team\nat http:\/\/www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\navailable at The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n           [Illustration: Faithfully yours Charles Dickens]\n\n\n\n\n                            PEARL-FISHING.\n\n                            CHOICE STORIES,\n\n                                 FROM\n\n                       Dickens' Household Words.\n\n                            SECOND SERIES.\n\n                                AUBURN:\n                        ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO.\n                              ROCHESTER:\n                        WANZER, BEARDSLEY & CO.\n                                 1854.\n\n      ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by\n\n                        ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO.,\n\nIn the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the\n                    Northern District of New York.\n\n                           THOMAS B. SMITH,\n                     STEREOTYPER AND ELECTROTYPER,\n                       216 William Street, N. Y.\n\n\n\n\nThe Publisher's Notice.\n\n\nThe large demand for the _First Series_ of this publication, has\nconfirmed the publishers in their opinion of its worth and its\nadaptability to meet the wants and tastes of the reading public, and\ninduced them to issue, in rapid succession, the present volume, which\nwill be found not less interesting and worthy of attention.\n\nThe publishers also announce their intention of continuing this series,\nwhich has been received with so much public favor.\n\nJune, 1854.\n\n\n\n\nContents.\n\n\n                                             PAGE\n\n  I.--THE YOUNG ADVOCATE                        7\n\n II.--THE LAST OF A LONG LINE                  33\n\nIII.--THE GENTLEMAN BEGGAR                    107\n\n IV.--EVIL IS WROUGHT BY WANT OF THOUGHT      130\n\n  V.--BED                                     167\n\n VI.--THE HOME OF WOODRUFFE THE GARDENER      184\n\n VII.--THE WATER-DROPS                        287\n\nVIII.--AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY               325\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nThe Young Advocate.\n\n\nAntoine de Chaulieu was the son of a poor gentleman of Normandy, with a\nlong genealogy, a short rent-roll, and a large family. Jacques Rollet\nwas the son of a brewer, who did not know who his grandfather was; but\nhe had a long purse and only two children. As these youths flourished in\nthe early days of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and were near\nneighbors, they naturally hated each other. Their enmity commenced at\nschool, where the delicate and refined De Chaulieu being the only\ngentilhomme among the scholars, was the favorite of the master (who was\na bit of an aristocrat in his heart) although he was about the worst\ndressed boy in the establishment, and never had a sou to spend; while\nJacques Rollet, sturdy and rough, with smart clothes and plenty of\nmoney, got flogged six days in the week, ostensibly for being stupid and\nnot learning his lessons--which, indeed, he did not--but, in reality,\nfor constantly quarrelling with and insulting De Chaulieu, who had not\nstrength to cope with him. When they left the academy, the feud\ncontinued in all its vigor, and was fostered by a thousand little\ncircumstances arising out of the state of the times, till a separation\nensued in consequence of an aunt of Antoine de Chaulieu's undertaking\nthe expense of sending him to Paris to study the law, and of maintaining\nhim there during the necessary period.\n\nWith the progress of events came some degree of reaction in favor of\nbirth and nobility, and then Antoine, who had passed for the bar, began\nto hold up his head and endeavored to push his fortunes; but fate seemed\nagainst him. He felt certain that if he possessed any gift in the world\nit was that of eloquence, but he could get no cause to plead; and his\naunt dying inopportunely, first his resources failed, and then his\nhealth. He had no sooner returned to his home, than, to complicate his\ndifficulties completely, he fell in love with Mademoiselle Natalie de\nBellefonds, who had just returned from Paris, where she had been\ncompleting her education. To expiate on the perfections of Mademoiselle\nNatalie, would be a waste of ink and paper; it is sufficient to say that\nshe really was a very charming girl, with a fortune which, though not\nlarge, would have been a most desirable acquisition to De Chaulieu, who\nhad nothing. Neither was the fair Natalie indisposed to listen to his\naddresses; but her father could not be expected to countenance the suit\nof a gentleman, however well-born, who had not a ten-sous piece in the\nworld, and whose prospects were a blank.\n\nWhile the ambitious and love-sick young barrister was thus pining in\nunwelcome obscurity, his old acquaintance, Jacques Rollet, had been\nacquiring an undesirable notoriety. There was nothing really bad in\nJacques' disposition, but having been bred up a democrat, with a hatred\nof the nobility, he could not easily accommodate his rough humor to\ntreat them with civility when it was no longer safe to insult them. The\nliberties he allowed himself whenever circumstances brought him into\ncontact with the higher classes of society, had led him into many\nscrapes, out of which his father's money had one way or another released\nhim; but that source of safety had now failed. Old Rollet having been\ntoo busy with the affairs of the nation to attend to his business, had\ndied insolvent, leaving his son with nothing but his own wits to help\nhim out of future difficulties, and it was not long before their\nexercise was called for. Claudine Rollet, his sister, who was a very\npretty girl, had attracted the attention of Mademoiselle de Bellefonds'\nbrother, Alphonso; and as he paid her more attention than from such a\nquarter was agreeable to Jacques, the young men had more than one\nquarrel on the subject, on which occasions they had each,\ncharacteristically, given vent to their enmity, the one in contemptuous\nmonosyllables, and the other in a volley of insulting words. But\nClaudine had another lover more nearly of her own condition of life;\nthis was Claperon, the deputy-governor of the Rouen jail, with whom she\nmade acquaintance during one or two compulsory visits paid by her\nbrother to that functionary; but Claudine, who was a bit of a coquette,\nthough she did not altogether reject his suit, gave him little\nencouragement, so that betwixt hopes, and fears, and doubts, and\njealousies, poor Claperon led a very uneasy kind of life.\n\nAffairs had been for some time in this position, when, one fine morning,\nAlphonse de Bellefonds was not to be found in his chamber when his\nservant went to call him; neither had his bed been slept in. He had been\nobserved to go out rather late on the preceding evening, but whether or\nnot he had returned, nobody could tell. He had not appeared at supper,\nbut that was too ordinary an event to awaken suspicion; and little alarm\nwas excited till several hours had elapsed, when inquiries were\ninstituted and a search commenced, which terminated in the discovery of\nhis body, a good deal mangled, lying at the bottom of a pond which had\nbelonged to the old brewery. Before any investigations had been made,\nevery person had jumped to the conclusion that the young man had been\nmurdered, and that Jacques Rollet was the assassin. There was a strong\npresumption in favor of that opinion, which further perquisitions tended\nto confirm. Only the day before, Jacques had been heard to threaten M.\nde Bellefonds with speedy vengeance. On the fatal evening, Alphonse and\nClaudine had been seen together in the neighborhood of the now\ndismantled brewery; and as Jacques, betwixt poverty and democracy, was\nin bad odor with the prudent and respectable part of society, it was not\neasy for him to bring witnesses to character, or prove an\nunexceptionable alibi. As for the Bellefonds and De Chaulieus, and the\naristocracy in general, they entertained no doubt of his guilt; and\nfinally, the magistrates coming to the same opinion, Jacques Rollet was\ncommitted for trial, and as a testimony of good will Antoine de\nChaulieu was selected by the injured family to conduct the prosecution.\n\nHere, at last, was the opportunity he had sighed for! So interesting a\ncase, too, furnishing such ample occasion for passion, pathos,\nindignation! And how eminently fortunate that the speech which he set\nhimself with ardor to prepare, would be delivered in the presence of the\nfather and brother of his mistress, and perhaps of the lady herself! The\nevidence against Jacques, it is true, was altogether presumptive; there\nwas no proof whatever that he had committed the crime; and for his own\npart he stoutly denied it. But Antoine de Chaulieu entertained no doubt\nof his guilt, and his speech was certainly well calculated to carry\nconviction into the bosom of others. It was of the highest importance to\nhis own reputation that he should procure a verdict, and he confidently\nassured the afflicted and enraged family of the victim that their\nvengeance should be satisfied. Under these circumstances could anything\nbe more unwelcome than a piece of intelligence that was privately\nconveyed to him late on the evening before the trial was to come on,\nwhich tended strongly to exculpate the prisoner, without indicating any\nother person as the criminal. Here was an opportunity lost. The first\nstep of the ladder on which he was to rise to fame, fortune, and a wife,\nwas slipping from under his feet!\n\nOf course, so interesting a trial was anticipated with great eagerness\nby the public, and the court was crowded with all the beauty and fashion\nof Rouen. Though Jacques Rollet persisted in asserting his innocence,\nfounding his defence chiefly on circumstances which were strongly\ncorroborated by the information that had reached De Chaulieu the\npreceding evening,--he was convicted.\n\nIn spite of the very strong doubts he privately entertained respecting\nthe justice of the verdict, even De Chaulieu himself, in the first flush\nof success, amid a crowd of congratulating friends, and the approving\nsmiles of his mistress, felt gratified and happy; his speech had, for\nthe time being, not only convinced others, but himself; warmed with his\nown eloquence, he believed what he said. But when the glow was over, and\nhe found himself alone, he did not feel so comfortable. A latent doubt\nof Rollet's guilt now burnt strongly in his mind, and he felt that the\nblood of the innocent would be on his head. It is true there was yet\ntime to save the life of the prisoner, but to admit Jacques innocent,\nwas to take the glory out of his own speech, and turn the sting of his\nargument against himself. Besides, if he produced the witness who had\nsecretly given him the information, he should be self-condemned, for he\ncould not conceal that he had been aware of the circumstance before the\ntrial.\n\nMatters having gone so far, therefore, it was necessary that Jacques\nRollet should die; so the affair took its course; and early one morning\nthe guillotine was erected in the court-yard of the jail, three\ncriminals ascended the scaffold, and three heads fell into the basket,\nwhich were presently afterwards, with the trunks that had been attached\nto them, buried in a corner of the cemetery.\n\nAntoine de Chaulieu was now fairly started in his career, and his\nsuccess was as rapid as the first step towards it had been tardy. He\ntook a pretty apartment in the H\u00f4tel de Marb\u0153uf, Rue Grange-Bateli\u00e8re,\nand in a short time was looked upon as one of the most rising young\nadvocates in Paris. His success in one line brought him success in\nanother; he was soon a favorite in society, and an object of interest to\nspeculating mothers; but his affections still adhered to his old love\nNatalie de Bellefonds, whose family now gave their assent to the\nmatch--at least, prospectively--a circumstance which furnished such an\nadditional incentive to his exertions, that in about two years from the\ndate of his first brilliant speech, he was in a sufficiently flourishing\ncondition to offer the young lady a suitable home. In anticipation of\nthe happy event, he engaged and furnished a suite of apartments in the\nRue du Helder; and as it was necessary that the bride should come to\nParis to provide her trousseau, it was agreed that the wedding should\ntake place there, instead of at Bellefonds, as had been first\nprojected; an arrangement the more desirable, that a press of business\nrendered M. de Chaulieu's absence from Paris inconvenient.\n\nBrides and bridegrooms in France, except of the very high classes, are\nnot much in the habit of making those honeymoon excursions so universal\nin this country. A day spent in visiting Versailles, or St. Cloud, or\neven the public places of the city, is generally all that precedes the\nsettling down into the habits of daily life. In the present instance St.\nDenis was selected, from the circumstance of Natalie having a younger\nsister at school there; and also because she had a particular desire to\nsee the Abbey.\n\nThe wedding was to take place on a Thursday; and on the Wednesday\nevening, having spent some hours most agreeably with Natalie, Antoine de\nChaulieu returned to spend his last night in his bachelor apartments.\nHis wardrobe and other small possessions, had already been packed up and\nsent to his future home; and there was nothing left in his room now, but\nhis new wedding suit, which he inspected with considerable satisfaction\nbefore he undressed and lay down to sleep. Sleep, however, was somewhat\nslow to visit him; and the clock had struck _one_ before he closed his\neyes. When he opened them again, it was broad day-light; and his first\nthought was, had he overslept himself? He sat up in bed to look at the\nclock which was exactly opposite, and as he did so, in the large mirror\nover the fire-place, he perceived a figure standing behind him. As the\ndilated eyes met his own, he saw it was the face of Jacques Rollet.\nOvercome with horror he sunk back on his pillow, and it was some minutes\nbefore he ventured to look again in that direction; when he did so, the\nfigure had disappeared.\n\nThe sudden revulsion of feeling such a vision was calculated to occasion\nin a man elate with joy, may be conceived! For some time after the death\nof his former foe, he had been visited by not unfrequent twinges of\nconscience; but of late, borne along by success, and the hurry of\nParisian life, these unpleasant remembrances had grown rarer, till at\nlength they had faded away altogether. Nothing had been further from his\nthoughts than Jacques Rollet, when he closed his eyes on the preceding\nnight, nor when he opened them to that sun which was to shine on what he\nexpected to be the happiest day of his life! Where were the high-strung\nnerves now! The elastic frame! The bounding heart!\n\nHeavily and slowly he arose from his bed, for it was time to do so; and\nwith a trembling hand and quivering knees, he went through the processes\nof the toilet, gashing his cheek with the razor, and spilling the water\nover his well-polished boots. When he was dressed, scarcely venturing to\ncast a glance in the mirror as he passed it, he quitted the room and\ndescended the stairs, taking the key of the door with him for the\npurpose of leaving it with the porter; the man, however, being absent,\nhe laid it on the table in his lodge, and with a relaxed and languid\nstep proceeded on his way to the church, where presently arrived the\nfair Natalie and her friends. How difficult it was now to look happy\nwith that pallid face and extinguished eye!\n\n\"How pale you are! Has anything happened? You are surely ill?\" were the\nexclamations that met him on all sides. He tried to carry it off as well\nas he could, but felt that the movements he would have wished to appear\nalert were only convulsive; and that the smiles with which he attempted\nto relax his features, were but distorted grimaces. However, the church\nwas not the place for further inquiries; and while Natalie gently\npressed his hand in token of sympathy, they advanced to the altar, and\nthe ceremony was performed; after which they stepped into the carriages\nwaiting at the door, and drove to the apartments of Madame de\nBellefonds, where an elegant _d\u00e9jeuner_ was prepared.\n\n\"What ails you, my dear husband?\" inquired Natalie, as soon as they were\nalone.\n\n\"Nothing, love,\" he replied; \"nothing, I assure you, but a restless\nnight and a little overwork, in order that I might have to-day free to\nenjoy my happiness!\"\n\n\"Are you quite sure? Is there nothing else?\"\n\n\"Nothing, indeed; and pray don't take notice of it, it only makes me\nworse!\"\n\nNatalie was not deceived, but she saw that what he said was true; notice\nmade him worse; so she contented herself with observing him quietly, and\nsaying nothing; but, as he _felt_ she was observing him, she might\nalmost better have spoken; words are often less embarrassing things than\ntoo curious eyes.\n\nWhen they reached Madame de Bellefonds' he had the same sort of\nquestioning and scrutiny to undergo, till he grew quite impatient under\nit, and betrayed a degree of temper altogether unusual with him. Then\neverybody looked astonished; some whispered their remarks, and others\nexpressed them by their wondering eyes, till his brow knit, and his\npallid cheeks became flushed with anger. Neither could he divert\nattention by eating; his parched mouth would not allow him to swallow\nanything but liquids, of which, however, he indulged in copious\nlibations; and it was an exceeding relief to him when the carriage,\nwhich was to convey them to St. Denis, being announced, furnished an\nexcuse for hastily leaving the table. Looking at his watch, he declared\nit was late; and Natalie, who saw how eager he was to be gone, threw her\nshawl over her shoulders, and bidding her friends _good morning_, they\nhurried away.\n\nIt was a fine sunny day in June; and as they drove along the crowded\nboulevards, and through the Porte St. Denis, the young bride and\nbridegroom, to avoid each others eyes, affected to be gazing out of the\nwindows; but when they reached that part of the road where there was\nnothing but trees on each side, they felt it necessary to draw in their\nheads, and make an attempt at conversation, De Chaulieu put his arm\nround his wife's waist, and tried to rouse himself from his depression;\nbut it had by this time so reacted upon her, that she could not respond\nto his efforts, and thus the conversation languished, till both felt\nglad when they reached their destination, which would, at all events,\nfurnish them something to talk about.\n\nHaving quitted the carriage, and ordered a dinner at the H\u00f4tel de\nl'Abbaye, the young couple proceeded to visit Mademoiselle Hortense de\nBellefonds, who was overjoyed to see her sister and new brother-in-law,\nand doubly so when she found that they had obtained permission to take\nher out to spend the afternoon with them. As there is little to be seen\nat St. Denis but the Abbey, on quitting that part of it devoted to\neducation, they proceeded to visit the church, with its various objects\nof interest; and as De Chaulieu's thoughts were now forced into another\ndirection, his cheerfulness began insensibly to return. Natalie looked\nso beautiful, too, and the affection betwixt the two young sisters was\nso pleasant to behold! And they spent a couple of hours wandering about\nwith Hortense, who was almost as well informed as the Suisse, till the\nbrazen doors were open which admitted them to the Royal vault.\nSatisfied, at length, with what they had seen, they began to think of\nreturning to the inn, the more especially as De Chaulieu, who had not\neaten a morsel of food since the previous evening, owned to being\nhungry; so they directed their steps to the door, lingering here and\nthere as they went, to inspect a monument or a painting, when, happening\nto turn his head aside to see if his wife, who had stopt to take a last\nlook at the tomb of King Dagobert, was following, he beheld with horror\nthe face of Jacques Rollet appearing from behind a column! At the same\ninstant his wife joined him, and took his arm, inquiring if he was not\nvery much delighted with what he had seen. He attempted to say yes, but\nthe word would not be forced out; and staggering out of the door, he\nalleged that a sudden faintness had overcome him.\n\nThey conducted him to the H\u00f4tel, but Natalie now became seriously\nalarmed; and well she might. His complexion looked ghastly, his limbs\nshook, and his features bore an expression of indescribable horror and\nanguish. What could be the meaning of so extraordinary a change in the\ngay, witty, prosperous De Chaulieu, who, till that morning, seemed not\nto have a care in the world? For, plead illness as he might, she felt\ncertain, from the expression of his features, that his sufferings were\nnot of the body but of the mind; and, unable to imagine any reason for\nsuch extraordinary manifestations, of which she had never before seen a\nsymptom, but a sudden aversion to herself, and regret for the step he\nhad taken, her pride took the alarm, and, concealing the distress she\nreally felt, she began to assume a haughty and reserved manner towards\nhim, which he naturally interpreted into an evidence of anger and\ncontempt. The dinner was placed upon the table, but De Chaulieu's\nappetite, of which he had lately boasted, was quite gone, nor was his\nwife better able to eat. The young sister alone did justice to the\nrepast; but although the bridegroom could not eat, he could swallow\nchampagne in such copious draughts, that ere long the terror and remorse\nthat the apparition of Jacques Rollet had awakened in his breast were\ndrowned in intoxication. Amazed and indignant, poor Natalie sat\nsilently observing this elect of her heart, till overcome with\ndisappointment and grief, she quitted the room with her sister, and\nretired to another apartment, where she gave free vent to her feelings\nin tears.\n\nAfter passing a couple of hours in confidences and lamentations, they\nrecollected that the hours of liberty granted, as an especial favor, to\nMademoiselle Hortense, had expired; but ashamed to exhibit her husband\nin his present condition to the eyes of strangers, Natalie prepared to\nre-conduct her to the _Maison Royale_ herself. Looking into the\ndining-room as they passed, they saw De Chaulieu lying on a sofa fast\nasleep, in which state he continued when his wife returned. At length,\nhowever, the driver of their carriage begged to know if Monsieur and\nMadame were ready to return to Paris, and it became necessary to arouse\nhim. The transitory effects of the champagne had now subsided; but when\nDe Chaulieu recollected what had happened, nothing could exceed his\nshame and mortification. So engrossing indeed were these sensations\nthat they quite overpowered his previous one, and, in his present\nvexation, he, for the moment, forgot his fears. He knelt at his wife's\nfeet, begged her pardon a thousand times, swore that he adored her, and\ndeclared that the illness and the effect of the wine had been purely the\nconsequences of fasting and over-work. It was not the easiest thing in\nthe world to re-assure a woman whose pride, affection, and taste, had\nbeen so severely wounded; but Natalie tried to believe, or to appear to\ndo so, and a sort of reconciliation ensued, not quite sincere on the\npart of the wife, and very humbling on the part of the husband. Under\nthese circumstances it was impossible that he should recover his spirits\nor facility of manner; his gaiety was forced, his tenderness\nconstrained; his heart was heavy within him; and ever and anon the\nsource whence all this disappointment and woe had sprung would recur to\nhis perplexed and tortured mind.\n\nThus mutually pained and distrustful, they returned to Paris, which they\nreached about nine o'clock. In spite of her depression, Natalie, who\nhad not seen her new apartments, felt some curiosity about them, whilst\nDe Chaulieu anticipated a triumph in exhibiting the elegant home he had\nprepared for her. With some alacrity, therefore, they stepped out of the\ncarriage, the gates of the H\u00f4tel were thrown open, the _concierge_ rang\nthe bell which announced to the servants that their master and mistress\nhad arrived, and whilst these domestics appeared above, holding lights\nover the balustrades, Natalie, followed by her husband, ascended the\nstairs. But when they reached the landing-place of the first flight,\nthey saw the figure of a man standing in a corner as if to make way for\nthem; the flash from above fell upon his face, and again Antoine de\nChaulieu recognized the features of Jacques Rollet!\n\nFrom the circumstance of his wife's preceding him, the figure was not\nobserved by De Chaulieu till he was lifting his foot to place it on the\ntop stair: the sudden shock caused him to miss the step, and, without\nuttering a sound, he fell back, and never stopped till he reached the\nstones at the bottom. The screams of Natalie brought the concierge from\nbelow and the maids from above, and an attempt was made to raise the\nunfortunate man from the ground; but with cries of anguish he besought\nthem to desist.\n\n\"Let me,\" he said, \"die here! What a fearful vengeance is thine! Oh,\nNatalie, Natalie!\" he exclaimed to his wife, who was kneeling beside\nhim, \"to win fame, and fortune, and yourself, I committed a dreadful\ncrime! With lying words I argued away the life of a fellow-creature,\nwhom, whilst I uttered them, I half believed to be innocent; and now,\nwhen I have attained all I desired, and reached the summit of my hopes,\nthe Almighty has sent him back upon the earth to blast me with the\nsight. Three times this day--three times this day! Again! again!\"--and\nas he spoke, his wild and dilated eyes fixed themselves on one of the\nindividuals that surrounded him.\n\n\"He is delirious,\" said they.\n\n\"No,\" said the stranger! \"What he says is true enough,--at least in\npart;\" and bending over the expiring man, he added, \"May Heaven forgive\nyou, Antoine de Chaulieu! I was not executed; one who well knew my\ninnocence saved my life. I may name him, for he is beyond the reach of\nthe law now,--it was Claperon, the jailor, who loved Claudine, and had\nhimself killed Alphonse de Bellefonds from jealousy. An unfortunate\nwretch had been several years in the jail for a murder committed during\nthe frenzy of a fit of insanity. Long confinement had reduced him to\nidiocy. To save my life Claperon substituted the senseless being for me,\non the scaffold, and he was executed in my stead. He has quitted the\ncountry, and I have been a vagabond on the face of the earth ever since\nthat time. At length I obtained, through the assistance of my sister,\nthe situation of concierge in the H\u00f4tel Marb\u0153uf, in the Rue\nGrange-Bateli\u00e8re. I entered on my new place yesterday evening, and was\ndesired to awaken the gentleman on the third floor at seven o'clock.\nWhen I entered the room to do so, you were asleep, but before I had time\nto speak you awoke, and I recognized your features in the glass.\nKnowing that I could not vindicate my innocence if you chose to seize\nme, I fled, and seeing an omnibus starting for St. Denis, I got on it\nwith a vague idea of getting on to Calais, and crossing the Channel to\nEngland. But having only a franc or two in my pocket, or indeed in the\nworld, I did not know how to procure the means of going forward; and\nwhilst I was lounging about the place, forming first one plan and then\nanother, I saw you in the church, and concluding you were in pursuit of\nme, I thought the best way of eluding your vigilance was to make my way\nback to Paris as fast as I could; so I set off instantly, and walked all\nthe way; but having no money to pay my night's lodging, I came here to\nborrow a couple of livres of my sister Claudine, who lives in the fifth\nstory.\"\n\n\"Thank Heaven!\" exclaimed the dying man; \"that sin is off my soul!\nNatalie, dear wife, farewell! Forgive! forgive all!\"\n\nThese were the last words he uttered; the priest, who had been summoned\nin haste, held up the cross before his failing sight; a few strong\nconvulsions shook the poor bruised and mangled frame; and then all was\nstill.\n\nAnd thus ended the Young Advocate's Wedding Day.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nThe Last of a Long Line.\n\n\nSir Roger Rockville of Rockville was the last of a very long line. It\nextended from the Norman Conquest to the present century. His first\nknown ancestor came over with William, and must have been a man of some\nmark, either of bone and sinew, or of brain, for he obtained what the\nAmericans would call a prime location. As his name does not occur in the\nRoll of Battle Abbey, he was, of course, not of a very high Norman\nextraction; but he had done enough, it seems, in the way of knocking\ndown Saxons, to place himself on a considerable eminence in this\nkingdom. The centre of his domains was conspicuous far over the country,\nthrough a high range of rock overhanging one of the sweetest rivers in\nEngland. On one hand lay a vast tract of rich marsh land, capable, as\nsociety advanced, of being converted into meadows; and on the other, as\nextensive moorlands, finely undulating, and abounding with woods and\ndeer.\n\nHere the original Sir Roger built his castle on the summit of the range\nof rock, with huts for his followers; and became known directly all over\nthe country of Sir Roger de Rockville, or Sir Roger of the hamlet on the\nRock. Sir Roger, no doubt, was a mighty hunter before the lord of the\nfeudal district: it is certain that his descendants were. For\ngenerations they led a jolly life at Rockville, and were always ready to\nexchange the excitement of the chase for a bit of the civil war. Without\nthat the country would have grown dull, and ale and venison lost their\nflavor. There was no gay London in those days, and a good brisk skirmish\nwith their neighbors in helm and hauberk was the way of spending their\nseason. It was their parliamentary debate, and was necessary to stir\ntheir blood. Protection and Free Trade were as much the great topics of\ninterest as they are now, only they did not trouble themselves so much\nabout Corn-bills. Their bills were of good steel, and their protective\nmeasures were arrows a cloth-yard long. Protection meant a good suit of\nmail; and a castle with its duly prescribed moats, bastions,\nportcullises, and donjon keep. Free Trade was a lively inroad into the\nneighboring baron's lands, and the importation thence of goodly herds\nand flocks. Foreign cattle for home consumption was as _striking an\narticle_ in their markets as in ours, only the blows were expended on\none another's heads, instead of the heads of foreign bullocks--that is,\nbullocks from over the Welch or Scotch Marches, as from beyond the next\nbrook.\n\nThus lived the Rockvilles for ages. In all the iron combats of those\niron times they took care to have their quota. Whether it was Stephen\nagainst Matilda, or Richard against his father, or John against the\nbarons; whether it were York or Lancaster, or Tudor or Stuart. The\nRockvilles were to be found in the _m\u00eal\u00e9e_, and winning power and\nlands. So long as it required only stalwart frames and stout blows, no\nfamily cut a more conspicuous figure. The Rockvilles were at Bosworth\nField. The Rockvilles fought in Ireland under Elizabeth. The Rockvilles\nwere staunch defenders of the cause in the war of Charles I. with his\nParliament. The Rockvilles even fought for James II. at the Boyne, when\nthree-fourths of the most loyal of the English nobility and gentry had\ndeserted him in disgust and indignation. But from that hour they had\nbeen less conspicuous.\n\nThe opposition to the successful party, that of William of Orange, of\ncourse brought them into disgrace; and though they were never molested\non that account, they retired to their estate, and found it convenient\nto be as unobtrusive as possible. Thenceforward you heard no more of the\nRockvilles in the national annals. They became only of consequence in\ntheir own district. They acted as magistrates. They served as high\nsheriffs. They were a substantial county family, and nothing more.\nEducation and civilization advanced; a wider and very different field of\naction and ambition opened upon the aristocracy of England. Our fleets\nand armies abroad, our legislature at home, law and the church,\npresented brilliant paths to the ambition of those thirsting for\ndistinction, and the good things that follow it. But somehow the\nRockvilles did not expand with this expansion. So long as it required\nonly a figure of six feet high, broad shoulders, and a strong arm, they\nwere a great and conspicuous race. But when the head became the member\nmost in request, they ceased to go ahead. Younger sons, it is true,\nserved in army and in navy, and filled the family pulpit, but they\nproduced no generals, no admirals, no arch-bishops. The Rockvilles of\nRockville were very conservative, very exclusive, and very stereotype.\nOther families grew poor, and enriched themselves again by marrying\nplebeian heiresses. New families grew up out of plebeian blood into\ngreatness, and intermingled the vigor of their fresh earth with the\nattenuated aristocratic soil. Men of family became great lawyers, great\nstatesmen, great prelates, and even great poets and philosophers. The\nRockvilles remained high, proud, bigoted, and _born\u00e9_.\n\nThe Rockvilles married Rockvilles, or their first cousins, the\nCraigvilles, simply to prevent property going out of the family. They\nkept the property together. They did not lose an acre, and they were a\nfine, tall, solemn race--and nothing more. What ailed them?\n\nIf you saw Sir Roger Rockville,--for there was an eternal Sir\nRoger--filling his office of high sheriff,--he had a very fine carriage,\nand a very fine retinue in the most approved and splendid of antique\ncostumes;--if you saw him sitting on the bench at quarter sessions, he\nwas a tall, stately, and solemn man. If you saw Lady Rockville shopping,\nin her handsome carriage, with very handsomely attired servants; saw her\nat the county ball, or on the race-stand, she was a tall, aristocratic,\nand stately lady. That was in the last generation--the present could\nboast of no Lady Rockville.\n\nGreat outward respect was shown to the Rockvilles on account of the\nlength of their descent, and the breadth of their acres. They were\nalways, when any stranger asked about them, declared, with a serious and\nimportant air, to be a very ancient, honorable, and substantial family.\n\"Oh! a great family are the Rockvilles, a very great family.\"\n\nBut if you came to close quarters with the members of this great and\nhighly distinguished family, you soon found yourself fundamentally\nastonished; you had a sensation come over you, as if you were trying,\nlike Moses, to draw water from a rock without his delegated power. There\nwas a goodly outside of things before you, but nothing came of it. You\ntalked, hoping to get talking in return, but you got little more than\n\"noes\" and \"yeses,\" and \"oh! indeeds!\" and \"reallys,\" and sometimes not\neven that, but a certain look of aristocratic dignity or dignification,\nthat was meant to serve for all answers. There was a sort of resting on\naristocratic oars or \"sculls,\" that were not to be too vulgarly\nhandled. There was a feeling impressed on you, that eight hundred years\nof descent and ten thousand a-year in landed income did not trouble\nthemselves with the trifling things that gave distinction to lesser\npeople--such as literature, fine arts, politics, and general knowledge.\nThese were very well for those who had nothing else to pride themselves\non, but for the Rockvilles--oh! certainly they were by no means\nrequisite.\n\nIn fact, you found yourself, with a little variation, in the predicament\nof Cowper's people,\n\n        ---- who spent their lives\n    In dropping buckets into empty wells,\n    And _growing tired_ of drawing nothing up.\n\nWho hasn't often come across these \"dry wells\" of society; solemn gulfs\nout of which you can pump nothing up? You know them; they are at your\nelbow every day in large and brilliant companies, and defy the best\nsucking bucket ever invented to extract anything from them. But the\nRockvilles were each and all of this adust description. It was a family\nfeature, and they seemed, if either, rather proud of it. They must be\nso; for proud they were, amazing proud; and they had nothing besides to\nbe proud of, except their acres, and their ancestors.\n\nBut the fact was, they could not help it. It was become organic. They\nhad acted the justice of peace, maintained the constitution against\nupstarts and manufacturers, signed warrants, supported the church and\nthe house of correction, committed poachers, and then rested on the\ndignity of their ancestors for so many generations, that their skulls,\nbrains, constitutions, and nervous systems, were all so completely\nmoulded into that shape and baked into that mould, that a Rockville\nwould be a Rockville to the end of time, if God and Nature would have\nallowed it. But such things wear out. The American Indians and the\nAustralian nations wear out; they are not progressive, and as Nature\nabhors a vacuum, she does not forget the vacuum wherever it may be,\nwhether in a hot desert, or in a cold and stately Rockville;--a very\nancient, honorable, and substantial family, that lies fallow till the\nthinking faculty literally dies out.\n\nFor several generations there had been symptoms of decay about the\nRockville family. Not in its property, that was as large as ever; not in\ntheir personal stature and physical aspect. The Rockvilles continued, as\nthey always had been, a tall and not bad-looking family. But they grew\ngradually less prolific. For a hundred and fifty years past there had\nseldom been more than two, or at most three, children. There had\ngenerally been an heir to the estate, and another to the family pulpit,\nand sometimes a daughter married to some neighboring squire. But Sir\nRoger's father had been an only child, and Sir Roger himself was an only\nchild. The danger of extinction to the family, apparent as it was, had\nnever induced Sir Roger to marry. At the time that we are turning our\nattention upon him, he had reached the mature age of sixty. Nobody\nbelieved that Sir Roger now would marry; he was the last, and likely to\nbe, of his line.\n\nIt is worth while here to take a glance at Sir Roger and his estate.\nThey bore a strange contrast. The one bore all the signs of progress,\nthe other of a stereotyped feudality. The estate which in the days of\nthe first Sir Roger de Rockville had been half morass and half\nwilderness, was now cultivated to the pitch of British agricultural\nscience. The marshlands beyond the river were one splendid expanse of\nrichest meadows, yielding a rental of four solid pounds per acre. Over\nhill and dale on this side for miles, where formerly ran wild deer, and\ngrew wild woodlands or furze-bushes, now lay excellent farms and\nhamlets, and along the ridge of the ancient cliffs rose the most\nmagnificent woods. Woods, too, clothed the steep-hill sides, and swept\ndown to the noble river, their very boughs hanging far out over its\nclear and rapid waters. In the midst of these fine woods stood Rockville\nHall, the family seat of the Rockvilles. It reared its old brick walls\nabove the towering mass of elms, and travellers at a distance recognized\nit for what it was, the mansion of an ancient and wealthy family.\n\nThe progress of England in arts, science, commerce, and manufacture,\nhad carried Sir Roger's estate along with it. It was full of active and\nmoneyed farmers, and flourished under modern influences. How lucky it\nwould have been for the Rockville family had it done the same.\n\nBut amid this estate there was Sir Roger solitary, and the last of the\nline. He had grown well enough--there was nothing stunted about him, so\nfar as you could see on the surface. In stature, he exceeded six feet.\nHis colossal elms could not boast of a properer relative growth. He was\nas large a landlord, and as tall a justice of the peace, as you could\ndesire; but, unfortunately, he was, after all, only the shell of a man.\nLike many of his veteran elms, there was a very fine stem, only it was\nhollow. There was a man, just with the rather awkward deficiency of a\nsoul.\n\nAnd it were no difficult task to explain, either, how this had come\nabout. The Rockvilles saw plainly enough the necessity of manuring their\nlands, but they scorned the very idea of manuring their family. What!\nthat most ancient, honorable, and substantial family, suffer any of the\ncommon earth of humanity to gather about its roots! The Rockvilles were\nso careful of their good blood, that they never allied it to any but\nblood as pure and inane as their own. Their elms flourished in the\nrotten earth of plebeian accumulations, and their acres produced large\ncrops of corn from the sewage of towns and fat sinks, but the Rockvilles\nthemselves took especial care that no vulgar vigor from the rich heap of\nordinary human nature should infuse a new force of intellect into their\nrace. The Rockvilles needed nothing; they had all that an ancient,\nhonorable, and substantial family could need. The Rockvilles had no need\nto study at school--why should they? They did not want to get on. The\nRockvilles did not aspire to distinction for talent in the world--why\nshould they? They had a large estate. So the Rockville soul, unused from\ngeneration to generation, grew--\n\n    Fine by degrees and _spiritually_ less,\n\ntill it tapered off into nothing.\n\nLook at the last of a long line in the midst of his fine estate. Tall he\nwas, with a stoop in his shoulders, and a bowing of his head on one\nside, as if he had been accustomed to stand under the low boughs of his\nwoods, and peer after intruders. And that was precisely the fact. His\nfeatures were thin and sharp; his nose prominent and keen in its\ncharacter; his eyes small, black, and peering like a mole's, or a hungry\nswine's. Sir Roger was still oracular on the bench, after consulting his\nclerk, a good lawyer,--and looked up to by the neighboring squires in\nelection matters, for he was an unswerving tory. You never heard of a\nrational thing that he had said in the whole course of his life; but\nthat mattered little, he was a gentleman of solemn aspect, of stately\ngait, and of a very ancient family.\n\nWith ten thousand a-year, and his rental rising, he was still, however,\na man of overwhelming cares. What mattered a fine estate if all the\nworld was against him? And Sir Roger firmly believed that he stood in\nthat predicament. He had grown up to regard the world as full of little\nbesides upstarts, radicals, manufacturers, and poachers. All were\nbanded, in his belief, against the landed interest. It demanded all the\nenergy of his very small faculties to defend himself and the world\nagainst them.\n\nUnfortunately for his peace, a large manufacturing town had sprung up\nwithin a couple of miles of him. He could see its red-brick walls, and\nits red-tiled roofs, and its tall smoke-vomiting chimneys, growing and\nextending over the <DW72>s beyond the river. It was to him the most\nirritating sight in the world; for what were all those swarming weavers\nand spinners but arrant radicals, upstarts, sworn foes of the ancient\ninstitutions and the landed interests of England? Sir Roger had passed\nthrough many a desperate conflict with them for the return of members to\nparliament. They brought forward men that were utter wormwood to all his\nfeelings, and they paid no more respect to him and his friends on such\noccasions than they did to the meanest creature living. Reverence for\nancient blood did not exist in that plebeian and rapidly multiplying\ntribe. There were master manufacturers there actually that looked and\ntalked as big as himself, and _entre nous_, a vast deal more cleverly.\nThe people talked of rights and franchises, and freedom of speech and of\nconscience, in a way that was really frightful. Then they were given\nmost inveterately to running out in whole and everlasting crowds on\nSundays and holidays into the fields and woods; and as there was no part\nof the neighborhood half so pleasant as the groves and river banks of\nRockville, they came swarming up there in crowds that were enough to\ndrive any man of acres frantic.\n\nUnluckily, there were roads all about Rockville; foot roads, and high\nroads, and bridle roads. There was a road up the river side, all the way\nto Rockville woods, and when it reached them, it divided like a fork,\nand one prong or footpath led straight up a magnificent grove of a mile\nlong, ending close to the hall; and another ran all along the river\nside, under the hills and branches of the wood.\n\nOh, delicious were these woods! In the river there were islands, which\nwere covered in summer with the greenest grass, and the freshest of\nwillows, and the clear waters rushed around them in the most inviting\nmanner imaginable. And there were numbers of people extremely ready to\naccept this delectable invitation of these waters. There they came in\nfine weather, and as these islands were only separated from the\nmain-land by a little and very shallow stream, it was delightful for\nlovers to get across--with laughter, and treading on stepping stones,\nand slipping off the stepping-stones up to the ankles into the cool\nbrook, and pretty screams, and fresh laughter, and then landing on those\nsunny, and to them really enchanted, islands. And then came fishermen,\nsolitary fishermen, and fishermen in rows; fishermen lying in the\nflowery grass, with fragrant meadow-sweet and honey-breathing clover all\nabout their ears; and fishermen standing in file, as if they were\ndetermined to clear all the river of fish in one day. And there were\nother lovers, and troops of loiterers, and shouting roysterers, going\nalong under the boughs of the wood, and following the turns of that most\ncompanionable of rivers. And there were boats going up and down; boats\nfull of young people, all holiday finery and mirth, and boats with\nduck-hunters and other, to Sir Roger, detestable marauders, with guns\nand dogs, and great bottles of beer. In the fine grove, on summer days,\nthere might be found hundreds of people. There were pic-nic parties,\nfathers and mothers with whole families of children, and a grand\npromenade of the delighted artisans and their wives or sweethearts.\n\nIn the times prior to the sudden growth of the neighboring town, Great\nStockington, and to the simultaneous development of the love-of-nature\nprinciple in the Stockingtonians, nothing had been thought of all these\nroads. The roads were well enough till they led to these inroads. Then\nSir Roger aroused himself. This must be changed. The roads must be\nstopped. Nothing was easier to his fancy. His fellow-justices, Sir\nBenjamin Bullockshed and Squire Sheepshank, had asked his aid to stop\nthe like nuisances, and it had been done at once. So Sir Roger put up\nnotices all about, that the roads were to be stopped by an Order of\nSession, and these notices were signed, as required by law, by their\nworships of Bullockshed and Sheepshank. But Sir Roger soon found that it\nwas one thing to stop a road leading from One-man-Town to Lonely Lodge,\nand another to attempt to stop those from Great Stockington to\nRockville.\n\nOn the very first Sunday after the exhibition of those notice-boards,\nthere was a ferment in the grove of Rockville, as if all the bees in the\ncounty were swarming there, with all the wasps and Hornets to boot.\nGreat crowds were collected before each of these obnoxious placards, and\nthe amount of curses vomited forth against them was really shocking for\nany day, but more especially for a Sunday. Presently there was a rush at\nthem; they were torn down, and simultaneously pitched into the river.\nThere were great crowds swarming all about Rockville all that day, and\nwith looks so defiant that Sir Roger more than once contemplated\nsending off for the Yeoman Cavalry to defend his house, which he\nseriously thought in danger.\n\nBut so far from being intimidated from proceeding, this demonstration\nonly made Sir Roger the more determined. To have so desperate and\nirreverent a population coming about his house and woods, now presented\nitself in a much more formidable aspect than ever. So, next day, not\nonly were the placards once more hoisted, but rewards offered for the\ndiscovery of the offenders, attended with all the maledictions of the\ninsulted majesty of the law. No notice was taken of this, but the whole\nof Great Stockington was in a buzz and an agitation. There were posters\nplastered all over the walls of the town, four times as large as Sir\nRoger's notices, in this style:--\n\n\"Englishmen! your dearest rights are menaced! The Woods of Rockville,\nyour ancient, rightful, and enchanting resorts, are to be closed to you.\nStockingtonians! the eyes of the world are upon you. 'Awake! arise! or\nbe forever fallen!' England expects every man to do his duty! And your\nduty is to resist and defy the grasping soil-lords, to seize on your\nancient Patrimony!\"\n\n\"Patrimony! Ancient and rightful resort of Rockville!\" Sir Roger was\nastounded at the audacity of this upstart, plebeian race. \"What! they\nactually claimed Rockville, the heritage of a hundred successive\nRockvilles, as their own. Sir Roger determined to carry it to the\nSessions; and at the Sessions was a magnificent muster of all his\nfriends. There was Sir Roger himself in the chair; and on either\nhand, a prodigious row of county squirearchy. There was Sir\nBenjamin Bullockshed, and Sir Thomas Tenterhook, and all the\nsquires,--Sheepshank, Ramsbottom, Turnbull, Otterbrook, and Swagsides.\nThe Clerk of the Session read the notice for the closing of all the\nfootpaths through the woods of Rockville, and declared that this notice\nhad been duly, and for the required period publicly posted. The\nStockingtonians protested by their able lawyer Daredeville, against any\norder for the closing of these ancient woods--the inestimable property\nof the public.\n\n\"Property of the public!\" exclaimed Sir Roger. \"Property of the public!\"\nechoed the multitudinous voices of indignant Bullocksheds, Tenterhooks,\nand Ramsbottoms. \"Why, Sir, do you dispute the right of Sir Roger\nRockville to his own estate?\"\n\n\"By no means;\" replied the undaunted Daredeville; \"the estate of\nRockville is unquestionably the property of the honorable baronet, Sir\nRoger Rockville; but the roads through it are the as unquestionable\nproperty of the public.\"\n\nThe whole bench looked at itself; that is, at each other, in wrathful\nastonishment. The swelling in the diaphragms of the squires Otterbrook,\nTurnbull, and Swagsides, and all the rest of the worshipful row, was too\nbig to admit of utterance. Only Sir Roger himself burst forth with an\nabrupt--\n\n\"Impudent fellows! But I'll see them ---- first!\"\n\n\"Grant the order!\" said Sir Benjamin Bullockshed; and the whole bench\nnodded assent. The able lawyer Daredeville retired with a pleasant\nsmile. He saw an agreeable prospect of plenty of grist to his mill. Sir\nRoger was rich, and so was Great Stockington. He rubbed his hands, not\nin the least like a man defeated, and thought to himself, \"Let them go\nat it--all right.\"\n\nThe next day the placards on the Rockville estate were changed for\nothers bearing \"STOPPED BY ORDER OF SESSIONS!\" and alongside of them\nwere huge carefully painted boards, denouncing on all trespassers\nprosecutions according to law. The same evening came a prodigious\ninvasion of Stockingtonians--tore all the boards and placards down, and\ncarried them on their shoulders to Great Stockington, singing as they\nwent, \"See, the Conquering Heroes come!\" They set them up in the centre\nof the Stockington market-place, and burnt them, along with an effigy of\nSir Roger Rockville.\n\nThat was grist at once to the mill of the able lawyer Daredeville. He\nlooked on, and rubbed his hands. Warrants were speedily issued by the\nBaronets of Bullockshed and Tenterhook, for the apprehension of the\nindividuals who had been seen carrying off the notice-boards, for\nlarceny, and against a number of others for trespass. There was plenty\nof work for Daredeville and his brethren of the robe; but it all ended,\nafter the flying about of sundry mandamuses and assize trials, in Sir\nRoger finding that though Rockville was his, the roads through it were\nthe public's.\n\nAs Sir Roger drove homeward from the assize, which finally settled the\nquestion of these footpaths, he heard the bells in all the steeples of\nGreat Stockington burst forth with a grand peal of triumph. He closed\nfast the windows of his fine old carriage, and sunk into a corner; but\nhe could not drown the intolerable sound. \"But,\" said he, \"I'll stop\ntheir pic-nic-ing. I'll stop their fishing. I'll have hold of them for\ntrespassing and poaching!\" There was war henceforth between Rockville\nand Great Stockington.\n\nOn the very next Sunday there came literally thousands of the jubilant\nStockingtonians to Rockville. They had brought baskets, and were for\ndining, and drinking success to all footpaths. But in the great grove\nthere were keepers, and watchers, who warned them to keep the path, that\nnarrow well-worn line up the middle of the grove. \"What! were they not\nto sit on the grass?\"--\"No!\"--\"What! were they not to pic-nic?\"--\"No!\nnot there!\"\n\nThe Stockingtonians felt a sudden damp on their spirits. But the river\nbank! The cry was. \"To the river bank! There they _would_ pic-nic.\" The\ncrowd rushed away down the wood, but on the river bank they found a\nwhole regiment of watchers, who pointed again to the narrow line of\nfootpath, and told them not to trespass beyond it. But the islands! they\nwent over to the islands. But there too were Sir Roger's forces, who\nwarned them back! There was no road there--- all found there would be\ntrespassers, and be duly punished.\n\nThe Stockingtonians discovered that their triumph was not quite so\ncomplete as they had flattered themselves. The footpaths were theirs,\nbut that was all. Their ancient license was at an end. If they came\nthere, there was no more fishing; if they came in crowds, there was no\nmore pic-nic-ing; if they walked through the woods in numbers, they must\nkeep to Indian file, or they were summoned before the county magistrates\nfor trespass, and were soundly fined; and not even the able Daredeville\nwould undertake to defend them.\n\nThe Stockingtonians were chop-fallen, but they were angry and dogged;\nand they thronged up to the village and the front of the hall. They\nfilled the little inn in the hamlet--they went by scores, and roving all\nover the churchyard, read epitaphs\n\n    That teach the rustic moralists to die,\n\nbut don't teach them to give up their old indulgences very\ngood-humoredly. They went and sat in rows on the old churchyard wall,\nopposite to the very windows of the irate Sir Roger. They felt\nthemselves beaten, and Sir Roger felt himself beaten. True, he could\ncoerce them to the keeping of the footpaths--but, then, they had the\nfootpaths! True, thought the Stockingtonians, we have the footpaths, but\nthen the pic-nic-ing, and the fishing, and the islands! The\nStockingtonians were full of sullen wrath, and Sir Roger was--oh, most\nexpressive old Saxon phrase--HAIRSORE! Yes, he was one universal wound\nof vexation and jealousy of his rights. Every hair in his body was like\na pin sticking into him. Come within a dozen yards of him; nay, at the\nmost, blow on him, and he was excruciated--you rubbed his sensitive\nhairs at a furlong's distance.\n\nThe next Sunday the people found the churchyard locked up, except during\nservice, when beadles walked there, and desired them not to loiter and\ndisturb the congregation, closing the gates, and showing them out like a\nflock of sheep the moment the service was over. This was fuel to the\nalready boiling blood of Stockington. The week following, what was their\nastonishment to find the much frequented inn gone! it was actually gone!\nnot a trace of it; but the spot where it had stood for ages, turfed,\nplanted with young spruce trees, and fenced off with post and rail! The\nexasperated people now launched forth an immensity of fulminations\nagainst the churl Sir Roger, and a certain number of them resolved to\ncome and seat themselves in the street of the hamlet and there dine; but\na terrific thunderstorm, which seemed in league with Sir Roger, soon\nrouted them, drenched them through, and on attempting to seek shelter in\nthe cottages, the poor people said they were very sorry, but it was as\nmuch as their holdings were worth, and they dare not admit them.\n\nSir Roger had triumphed! It was all over with the old delightful days at\nRockville. There was an end of pic-nic-ing, of fishing, and of roving in\nthe islands. One sturdy disciple of Izaak Walton, indeed, dared to fling\na line from the banks of Rockville grove, but Sir Roger came upon him\nand endeavored to seize him. The man coolly walked into the middle of\nthe river, and, without a word, continued his fishing.\n\n\"Get out there!\" exclaimed Sir Roger, \"that is still on my property.\"\nThe man walked through the river to the other bank, where he knew that\nthe land was rented by a farmer. \"Give over,\" shouted Sir Roger, \"I tell\nyou the water is mine.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said the fellow, \"bottle it up, and be hanged to you! Don't you\nsee it is running away to Stockington?\"\n\nThere was bad blood between Rockville and Stockington forever.\nStockington was incensed, and Sir Roger was hairsore.\n\nA new nuisance sprung up. The people of Stockington looked on the\ncottagers of Rockville as sunk in deepest darkness under such a man as\nSir Roger and his cousin the vicar. They could not pic-nic, but they\nthought they could hold a camp-meeting; they could not fish for roach,\nbut they thought they might for souls. Accordingly there assembled\ncrowds of Stockingtonians on the green of Rockville, with a chair and a\ntable, and a preacher with his head bound in a red handkerchief; and\nsoon there was a sound of hymns, and a zealous call to come out of the\ndarkness of the spiritual Babylon. But this was more than Sir Roger\ncould bear; he rushed forth with all his servants, keepers, and\ncottagers, overthrew the table, and routing the assembly, chased them to\nthe boundary of his estate.\n\nThe discomfited Stockingtonians now fulminated awful judgments on the\nunhappy Sir Roger, as a persecutor and a malignant. They dared not enter\nagain on his parish, but they came to the very verge of it, and held\nweekly meetings on the highway, in which they sang and declaimed as\nloudly as possible, that the winds might bear their voices to Sir\nRoger's ears.\n\nTo such a position was now reduced the last of the long line of\nRockville. The spirit of a policeman had taken possession of him. He had\nkeepers and watchers out on all sides, but that did not satisfy him. He\nwas perpetually haunted with the idea that poachers were after his game,\nthat trespassers were in his woods. His whole life was now spent in\nstealing to and fro in his fields and plantations, and prowling along\nhis river side. He lurked under hedges, and watched for long hours\nunder the forest trees. If any one had a curiosity to see Sir Roger,\nthey had only to enter his fields by the wood side, and wander a few\nyards from the path, and he was almost sure to spring out over the\nhedge, and in angry tones demand their name and address. The descendant\nof the chivalrous and steel-clad De Rockvilles was sunk into a restless\nspy on his own ample property. There was but one idea in his\nmind--encroachment. It was destitute of all other furniture but the\nmusty technicalities of warrants and commitments. There was a stealthy\nand skulking manner in everything that he did. He went to church on\nSundays, but it was no longer by the grand iron gate opposite to his\nhouse, that stood generally with a large spider's web woven over the\nlock, and several others in different corners of the fine iron tracery,\nbearing evidence of the long period since it had been opened. How\ndifferent to the time when the Sir Roger and Lady of Rockville had had\nthese gates thrown wide on a Sunday morning, and, with all their train\nof household servants at their back, with true antique dignity, marched\nwith much proud humility into the house of God. Now, Sir Roger--the\nsolitary, suspicious, undignified Sir Roger, the keeper and policeman of\nhis own property--stole in at a little side gate from his paddock, and\nback the same way, wondering all the time whether there was not somebody\nin his pheasant preserves, or Sunday trespassers in his grove.\n\nIf you entered his house, it gave you as cheerless a feeling as its\nowner. There was the conservatory, so splendid with rich plants and\nflowers in his mother's time--now a dusty receptacle of hampers, broken\nhand-glasses, and garden tools. These tools could never be used, for the\ngardens were grown wild. Tall grass grew in the walks, and the huge\nunpruned shrubs disputed the passage with you. In the wood above the\ngardens, reached by several flights of fine, but now moss-grown, steps,\nthere stood a pavilion, once clearly very beautiful. It was now damp and\nruinous--its walls covered with greenness and crawling insects. It was\na great lurking-place of Sir Roger when on the watch for poachers.\n\nThe line of the Rockvilles was evidently running fast out. It had\nreached the extremity of imbecility and contempt--it must soon reach its\nclose.\n\nSir Roger used to make his regular annual visit to town; but of late,\nwhen there, he had wandered restlessly about the streets, peeping into\nthe shop-windows; and if it rained, standing under entries for hours\ntogether, till it was gone over. The habit of lurking and peering about,\nwas upon him; and his feet bore him instinctively into those narrow and\ncrowded alleys where swarm the poachers of the city--the trespassers and\nanglers in the game preserves and streams of humanity. He had lost all\npleasures in his club; the most exciting themes of political life\nretained no piquancy for him. His old friends ceased to find any\npleasure in him. He was become the driest of all dry wells. Poachers,\nand anglers, and Methodists, haunted the wretched purlieus of his fast\nfading-out mind, and he resolved to go to town no more. His whole\nnature was centred in his woods. He was forever on the watch; and when\nat Rockville again, if he heard a door clap when in bed, he thought it a\ngun in his woods, and started up, and was out with his keepers.\n\nOf what value was that magnificent estate to him?--those superb woods;\nthose finely-hanging cliffs; that clear and _riant_ river coming\ntravelling on, and taking a noble sweep below his windows,--that\nglorious expanse of neat verdant meadows stretching almost to\nStockington, and enlivened by numerous herds of the most beautiful\ncattle--those old farms and shady lanes overhung with hazel and wild\nrose; the glittering brook, and the songs of woodland birds--what were\nthey to that worn-out old man, that victim of the delusive doctrine of\nblood, of the man-trap of an hereditary name?\n\nThere the poet could come, and feel the presence of divinity in that\nnoble scene, and hear sublime whispers in the trees, and create new\nheavens and earths from the glorious chaos of nature around him, and in\none short hour live an empyrean of celestial life and love. There could\ncome the very humblest children of the plebeian town, and feel a throb\nof exquisite delight pervade their bosoms at the sight of the very\nflowers on the sod, and see heaven in the infinite blue above them. And\npoor Sir Roger, the holder, but not the possessor of all, walked only in\na region of sterility, with no sublimer ideas than poachers and\ntrespassers--no more rational enjoyment than the brute indulgence of\nhunting like a ferret, and seizing his fellow-men like a bull-dog. He\nwas a specimen of human nature degenerated, retrograded from the divine\nto the bestial, through the long-operating influences of false notions\nand institutions, continued beyond their time. He had only the soul of a\nkeeper. Had he been only a keeper, he had been a much happier man.\n\nHis time was at hand. The severity which he had long dealt out towards\nall sorts of offenders made him the object of the deepest vengeance. In\na lonely hollow of his woods, watching at midnight with two of his men,\nthere came a sturdy knot of poachers. An affray ensued. The men\nperceived that their old enemy, Sir Roger, was there; and the blow of a\nhedge-stake stretched him on the earth. His keepers fled--and thus\nignominiously terminated the long line of the Rockvilles. Sir Roger was\nthe last of his line, but not of his class. There is a feudal art of\nsinking, which requires no study; and the Rockvilles are but one family\namong thousands who have perished in its practice.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn Great Stockington there lived a race of paupers. From the year of the\n42d of Elizabeth, or 1601, down to the present generation, this race\nmaintained an uninterrupted descent. They were a steady and unbroken\nline of paupers, as the parish books testify. From generation to\ngeneration their demands on the parish funds stand recorded. There were\nno _lacun\u00e6_ in their career; there never failed an heir to these\nfamilies; fed on the bread of idleness and legal provision, these people\nnourished, increased, and multiplied. Sometimes compelled to work for\nthe weekly dole which they received, they never acquired a taste for\nlabor, or lost the taste for the bread for which they did not labor.\nThese paupers regarded this maintenance by no means as a disgrace. They\nclaimed it as a right,--as their patrimony. They contended that\none-third of the property of the Church had been given by benevolent\nindividuals for the support of the poor, and that what the Reformation\nwrongfully deprived them of, the great enactment of Elizabeth\nrightfully--and only rightfully--restored.\n\nThose who imagine that all paupers merely claimed parish relief because\nthe law ordained it, commit a great error. There were numbers who were\nhereditary paupers, and that on a tradition carefully handed down, that\nthey were only manfully claiming their own. They traced their claims\nfrom the most ancient feudal times, when the lord was as much bound to\nmaintain his villein in gross, as the villein was to work for the lord.\nThese paupers were, in fact, or claimed to be, the original _adscripti\ngleb\u00e6_, and to have as much a claim to parish support as the landed\nproprietor had to his land. For this reason, in the old Catholic times,\nafter they had escaped from villenage by running away and remaining\nabsent from their hundred for a year and a day, dwelling for that period\nin a walled town, these people were among the most diligent attendants\nat the Abbey doors, and when the Abbeys were dissolved, were, no doubt,\namong the most daring of these thieves, vagabonds, and sturdy rogues,\nwho, after the Robin Hood fashion, beset the highways and solitary farms\nof England, and claimed their black mail in a very unceremonious style.\nIt was out of this class that Henry VIII. hanged his seventy-two\nthousand during his reign, and, as it is said, without appearing\nmaterially to diminish their number.\n\nThat they continued to \"increase, multiply, and replenish the earth,\"\noverflowing all bounds, overpowering by mere populousness all the severe\nlaws against them of whipping, burning in the hand, in the forehead or\nthe breast, and hanging, and filling the whole country with alarm, is\nevident by the very act itself of Elizabeth.\n\nAmong these hereditary paupers who, as we have said, were found in\nStockington, there was a family of the name of Deg. This family had\nnever failed to demand and enjoy what it held to be its share of its\nancient inheritance. It appeared from the parish records, that they had\npractised in different periods the crafts of shoe-making, tailoring, and\nchimney-sweeping; but since the invention of the stocking frame, they\nhad, one and all of them, followed the profession of stocking-weavers,\nor as they were there called, stockingers. This was a trade which\nrequired no extreme exertion of the physical or intellectual powers. To\nsit in a frame, and throw the arms to and fro, was a thing that might\neither be carried to a degree of extreme diligence, or be let down into\na mere apology for idleness. An \"idle stockinger\" was there no very\nuncommon phrase, and the Degs were always classed under that head.\nNothing could be more admirably adapted than this trade for building a\nplan of parish relief upon. The Degs did not pretend to be absolutely\nwithout work, or the parish authorities would soon have set them to some\nreal labor,--a thing that they particularly recoiled from, having a very\nold adage in the family, that \"hard work was enough to kill a man.\" The\nDegs were seldom, therefore, out of work, but they did not get enough to\nmeet and tie. They had but little work if times were bad, and if they\nwere good, they had large families and sickly wives or children. Be\ntimes what they would, therefore, the Degs were due and successful\nattendants at the parish pay-table. Nay, so much was this a matter of\ncourse, that they came at length not even to trouble themselves to\nreceive their pay, but sent their young children for it; and it was duly\npaid. Did any parish officer, indeed, turn restive, and decline to pay a\nDeg, he soon found himself summoned before a magistrate, and such pleas\nof sickness, want of work, and poor earnings brought up, that he most\nlikely got a sharp rebuke from the benevolent but uninquiring\nmagistrate, and acquired a character for hard-heartedness that stuck to\nhim.\n\nSo parish overseers learned to let the Degs alone; and their children\nregularly brought up to receive the parish money for their parents, were\nimpatient as they grew up to receive it for themselves. Marriages in the\nDeg family were consequently very early, and there were plenty of\ninstances of married Degs claiming parish relief under the age of\ntwenty, on the plea of being the parent of two children. One such\nprecocious individual being asked by a rather verdant officer why he had\nmarried before he was able to maintain a family, replied, in much\nastonishment, that he had married in order to maintain himself by parish\nassistance. That he never had been able to maintain himself by his\nlabor, nor ever expected to do it; his only hope, therefore, lay in\nmarrying and becoming the father of two children, to which patriarchal\nrank he had now attained, and demanded his \"pay.\"\n\nThus had lived and flourished the Degs on their ancient patrimony, the\nparish, for upwards of two hundred years. Nay, we have no doubt whatever\nthat, if it could have been traced, they had enjoyed an ancestry of\npaupers as long as the pedigree of Sir Roger Rockville himself. In the\ndays of the most perfect villenage, they had, doubtless, eaten the bread\nof idleness, and claimed it as a right. They were numerous, improvident,\nragged in dress, and fond of an ale-house and of gossip. Like the blood\nof Sir Roger, their blood had become peculiar through a long persistence\nof the same circumstances. It was become pure pauper blood. The Degs\nmarried, if not entirely among Degs, yet among the same class. None but\na pauper would dream of marrying a Deg. The Degs, therefore, were in\nconstitution, in mind, in habit, and in inclination, paupers. But a pure\nand unmixed class of this kind does not die out like an aristocratic\nstereotype. It increases and multiplies. The lower the grade, the more\nprolific, as is sometimes seen on a large and even national scale. The\nDegs threatened, therefore, to become a most formidable clan in the\nlower purlieus of Stockington, but luckily there is so much virtue even\nin evils, that one, not rarely cures another. War, the great evil,\ncleared the town of Degs.\n\nFond of idleness, of indulgence, of money easily got, and as easily\nspent, the Degs were rapidly drained off by recruiting parties during\nthe last war. The young men enlisted, and were marched away; the young\nwomen married soldiers that were quartered in the town from time to\ntime, and marched away with them. There were, eventually, none of the\nonce numerous Degs left except a few old people, whom death was sure to\ndraft off at no distant period with his regiment of the line which has\nno end. Parish overseers, magistrates, and master manufacturers,\nfelicitated themselves at this unhoped-for deliverance from the ancient\nfamily of the Degs.\n\nBut one cold, clear winter evening, the east wind piping its sharp\nsibilant ditty in the bare-shorn hedges, and poking his sharp fingers\ninto the sides of well broad-clothed men by way of passing jest, Mr.\nSpires, a great manufacturer of Stockington, driving in his gig some\nseven miles from the town, passed a poor woman with a stout child on her\nback. The large ruddy-looking man in the prime of life, and in the\ngreat-coat and thick-worsted gloves of a wealthy traveller, cast a\nglance at the wretched creature trudging heavily on, expecting a pitiful\nappeal to his sensibilities, and thinking it a bore to have to pull off\na glove and dive into his pocket for a copper; but to his surprise there\nwas no demand, only a low curtsey, and the glimpse of a face of singular\nhonesty of expression, and of excessive weariness.\n\nSpires was a man of warm feelings; he looked earnestly at the woman, and\nthought he had never seen such a picture of fatigue in his life. He\npulled up and said,\n\n\"You seem very tired, my good woman.\"\n\n\"Awfully tired, sir.\"\n\n\"And are you going far to-night?\"\n\n\"To Great Stockington, sir, if God give me strength.\"\n\n\"To Stockington!\" exclaimed Mr. Spires. \"Why you seem ready to drop.\nYou'll never reach it. You'd better stop at the next village.\"\n\n\"Ay, sir, it's easy stopping for those that have money.\"\n\n\"And you've none, eh?\"\n\n\"As God lives, sir, I've a sixpence, and that's all.\"\n\nMr. Spires put his hand in his pocket, and held out to her the next\ninstant half-a-crown.\n\n\"There stop, poor thing--make yourself comfortable--it's quite out of\nthe question to reach Stockington. But stay--are your friends living in\nStockington--what are you?\"\n\n\"A poor soldier's widow, sir. And may God Almighty bless you!\" said the\npoor woman, taking the money, the tears standing in her large brown eyes\nas she curtsied very low.\n\n\"A soldier's widow,\" said Mr. Spires. She had touched the softest place\nin the manufacturer's heart, for he was a very loyal man, and vehement\nchampion of his country's honor in the war. \"So young,\" said he, \"how\ndid you lose your husband?\"\n\n\"He fell, sir,\" said the poor woman; but she could get no further; she\nsuddenly caught up the corner of her gray cloak, covered her face with\nit, and burst into an excess of grief.\n\nThe manufacturer felt as if he had hit the woman a blow by his careless\nquestion; he sat watching her for a moment in silence, and then said,\n\"Come, get into the gig, my poor woman; come, I must see you to\nStockington.\"\n\nThe poor woman dried her tears, and heavily climbed into the gig,\nexpressing her gratitude in a very touching and modest manner. Spires\nbuttoned the apron over her, and taking a look at the child, said in a\ncheerful tone to comfort her, \"Bless me, but that is a fine thumping\nfellow, though. I don't wonder you are tired, carrying such a load.\"\n\nThe poor woman pressed the stout child, apparently two years old, to her\nbreast, as if she felt it a great blessing and no load: the gig drove\nrapidly on.\n\nPresently Mr. Spires resumed his conversation.\n\n\"So you are from Stockington?\"\n\n\"No, sir; my husband was.\"\n\n\"So: what was his name?\"\n\n\"John Deg, sir.\"\n\n\"Deg?\" said Mr. Spires. \"Deg, did you say?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\nThe manufacturer seemed to hitch himself off towards his own side of the\ngig, gave another look at her, and was silent. The poor woman was\nsomewhat astonished at his look and movement, and was silent too.\n\nAfter awhile Mr. Spires said again, \"And do you hope to find friends in\nStockington? Had you none where you came from?\"\n\n\"None, sir, none in the world!\" said the poor woman, and again her\nfeelings seemed too strong for her. At length she added, \"I was in\nservice, sir, at Poole, in Dorsetshire, when I married; my mother only\nwas living, and while I was away with my husband, she died. When--when\nthe news came from abroad--that--when I was a widow, sir, I went back to\nmy native place, and the parish officers said I must go to my husband's\nparish, lest I and my child should become troublesome.\"\n\n\"You asked relief of them?\"\n\n\"Never; oh, God knows, never! My family have never asked a penny of a\nparish. They would die first, and so would I, sir; but they said I might\ndo it, and I had better go to my husband's parish at once--and they\noffered me money to go.\"\n\n\"And you took it, of course?\"\n\n\"No, sir; I had a little money, which I had earned by washing and\nlaundering, and I sold most of my things, as I could not carry them, and\ncame off. I felt hurt, sir; my heart rose against the treatment of the\nparish, and I thought I should be better among my husband's\nfriends--and my child would, if anything happened to me; I had no\nfriends of my own.\"\n\nMr. Spires looked at the woman in silence. \"Did your husband tell you\nanything of his friends? What sort of a man was he?\"\n\n\"Oh, he was a gay young fellow, rather, sir; but not bad to me. He\nalways said his friends were well off in Stockington.\"\n\n\"He did!\" said the manufacturer, with a great stare, and as if bolting\nthe words from his heart in a large gust of wonder.\n\nThe poor woman again looked at him with a strange look. The manufacturer\nwhistled to himself, and giving his horse a smart cut with the whip,\ndrove on faster than ever. The night was fast settling down; it was\nnumbing cold; a gray fog rose from the river as they thundered over the\nold bridge; and tall engine chimneys, and black smoky houses loomed\nthrough the dusk before them. They were at Stockington.\n\nAs they slackened their pace up a hill at the entrance of the town, Mr.\nSpires again opened his mouth.\n\n\"I should be sorry to hurt your feelings, Mrs. Deg,\" he said, \"but I\nhave my fears that you are coming to this place with false expectations.\nI fear your husband did not give you the truest possible account of his\nfamily here.\"\n\n\"Oh, Sir! What--what is it?\" exclaimed the poor woman; \"in God's name,\ntell me!\"\n\n\"Why, nothing more than this,\" said the manufacturer, \"that there are\nvery few of the Degs left here. They are old, and on the parish, and can\ndo nothing for you.\"\n\nThe poor woman gave a deep sigh, and was silent.\n\n\"But don't be cast down,\" said Mr. Spires. He would not tell her what a\npauper family it really was, for he saw that she was a very feeling\nwoman, and he thought she would learn that soon enough. He felt that her\nhusband had from vanity given her a false account of his connections;\nand he was really sorry for her.\n\n\"Don't be cast down,\" he went on, \"you can wash and iron, you say; you\nare young and strong; those are your friends. Depend on them, and\nthey'll be better friends to you than any other.\"\n\nThe poor woman was silent, leaning her head down on her slumbering\nchild, and crying to herself; and thus they drove on, through many long\nand narrow streets, with gas flaring from the shops, but with few people\nin the streets, and these hurrying shivering along the payment, so\nintense was the cold. Anon they stopped at a large pair of gates; the\nmanufacturer rung a bell, which he could reach from his gig, and the\ngates presently were flung open, and they drove into a spacious yard,\nwith a large handsome house, having a bright lamp burning before it, on\none side of the yard, and tall warehouses on the other.\n\n\"Show this poor woman and her child to Mrs. Craddock's, James,\" said Mr.\nSpires, \"and tell Mrs. Craddock to make them very comfortable; and if\nyou will come to my warehouse to-morrow,\" added he, addressing the poor\nwoman, \"perhaps I can be of some use to you.\"\n\nThe poor woman poured out her heartfelt thanks, and following the old\nman servant, soon disappeared, hobbling over the pebbly pavement with\nher living load, stiffened almost to stone by her fatigue and her cold\nride.\n\nWe must not pursue too minutely our narrative. Mrs. Deg was engaged to\ndo the washing and getting up of Mr. Spire's linen, and the manner in\nwhich she executed her task insured her recommendations to all their\nfriends. Mrs. Deg was at once in full employ. She occupied a neat house\nin a yard near the meadows below the town, and in those meadows she\nmight be seen spreading out her clothes to whiten on the grass, attended\nby her stout little boy. In the same yard lived a shoemaker, who had two\nor three children of about the same age as Mrs. Deg's child. The\nchildren, as time went on, became play-fellows. Little Simon might be\nsaid to have the free run of the shoemaker's house, and he was the more\nattracted thither by the shoemaker's birds, and by his flute, on which\nhe often played after his work was done.\n\nMrs. Deg took a great friendship for this shoemaker; and he and his\nwife, a quiet, kind-hearted woman, were almost all the acquaintances\nthat she cultivated. She had found out her husband's parents, but they\nwere not of a description that at all pleased her. They were old and\ninfirm, but they were of the true pauper breed, a sort of person, whom\nMrs. Deg had been taught to avoid and to despise. They looked on her as\na sort of second parish, and insisted that she should come and live with\nthem, and help to maintain them out of her earnings. But Mrs. Deg would\nrather her little boy had died than have been familiarized with the\nspirit and habits of those old people. Despise them she struggled hard\nnot to do, and she agreed to allow them sufficient to maintain them on\ncondition that they desisted from any further application to the parish.\nIt would be a long and disgusting story to recount all the troubles,\nannoyance, and querulous complaints, and even bitter accusations that\nshe received from these connections, whom she could never satisfy; but\nshe considered it one of her crosses in her life, and patiently bore it,\nseeing that they suffered no real want, so long as they lived, which was\nfor years; but she would never allow her little Simon to be with them\nalone.\n\nThe shoemaker neighbor was a stout protection to her against the greedy\ndemands of these old people, and of others of the old Degs, and also\nagainst another class of inconvenient visitors, namely, suitors, who saw\nin Mrs. Deg a neat and comely young woman with a flourishing business,\nand a neat and soon well-furnished house, a very desirable acquisition.\nBut Mrs. Deg had resolved never again to marry, but to live for her boy,\nand she kept her resolve in firmness and gentleness.\n\nThe shoemaker often took walks in the extensive town meadows to gather\ngroundsell and plantain for his canaries and gorse-linnets, and little\nSimon Deg delighted to accompany him with his own children. There\nWilliam Watson, the shoemaker, used to point out to the children the\nbeauty of the flowers, the insects, and other objects of nature; and\nwhile he sate on a stile and read in a little old book of poetry, as he\noften used to do, the children sate on the summer grass, and enjoyed\nthemselves in a variety of plays.\n\nThe effect of these walks, and the shoemaker's conversation on little\nSimon Deg was such as never wore out of him through his whole life, and\nsoon led him to astonish the shoemaker by his extraordinary conduct. He\nmanifested the utmost uneasiness at their treading on the flowers in the\ngrass; he would burst with tears if they persisted in it; and when asked\nwhy, he said they were so beautiful, and that they must enjoy the\nsunshine, and be very unhappy to die. The shoemaker was amazed, but\nindulged the lad's fancy. One day he thought to give him a great treat,\nand when they were out in the meadows, he drew from under his coat, a\nbow and arrow, and shot the arrow high up in the air. He expected to see\nhim in an ecstacy of delight; his own children clapped their hands in\ntransport, but Simon stood silent, and as if awestruck. \"Shall I send up\nanother?\" asked the shoemaker.\n\n\"No, no,\" exclaimed the child, imploringly. \"You say God lives up there,\nand he mayn't like it.\"\n\nThe shoemaker laughed, but presently he said, as if to himself, \"There\nis too much imagination there. There will be a poet, if we don't take\ncare.\"\n\nThe shoemaker offered to teach Simon to read, and to solidify his mind,\nas he termed it, by arithmetic, and then to teach him to work at his\ntrade. His mother was very glad; and thought shoemaking would be a good\ntrade for the boy; and that with Mr. Watson she should have him always\nnear her. He was growing now a great lad, and was especially strong, and\nof a frank and daring habit. He was especially indignant at any act of\noppression of the weak by the strong, and not seldom got into trouble by\nhis championship of the injured in such cases amongst the boys of the\nneighborhood.\n\nHe was now about twelve years of age; when, going one day with a basket\nof clothes on his head to Mr. Spires's for his mother, he was noticed by\nMr. Spires himself from his counting-house window. The great war was\nraging; there was much distress amongst the manufacturers; and the\npeople were suffering and exasperated against their masters. Mr. Spires,\nas a staunch tory, and supporter of the war, was particularly obnoxious\nto the work-people, who uttered violent threats against him. For this\nreason his premises were strictly guarded, and at the entrance of his\nyard, just within the gates, was chained a huge and fierce mastiff, his\nchain allowing him to approach near enough to intimidate any stranger,\nthough not to reach him. The dog knew the people who came regularly\nabout, and seemed not to notice them, but on the entrance of a stranger,\nhe rose up, barked fiercely, and came to the length of his chain. This\nalways drew the attention of the porter, if he were away from his box,\nand few persons dared to pass till he came.\n\nSimon Deg was advancing with the basket of clean linen on his head,\nwhen the dog rushed out, and barking loudly, came exactly opposite to\nhim, within a few feet. The boy, a good deal startled at first, reared\nhimself with his back against the wall, but at a glance perceiving that\nthe dog was at the length of his tether, he seemed to enjoy his\nsituation, and stood smiling at the furious animal, and lifting his\nbasket with both hands above his head, nodded to him, as if to say,\n\"Well, old boy, you'd like to eat me, wouldn't you?\"\n\nMr. Spires, who sate near his counting-house window at his books, was\nstruck with the bold and handsome bearing of the boy, and said to a\nclerk, \"What boy is that?\"\n\n\"It is Jenny Deg's,\" was the answer.\n\n\"Ha! that boy! Zounds! how boys do grow! What that's the child that\nJenny Deg was carrying when she came to Stockington; and what a strong,\nhandsome, bright-looking fellow he is now!\"\n\nAs the boy was returning, Mr. Spires call him to the counting-house\ndoor, and put some questions to him as to what he was doing and\nlearning, and so on. Simon, taking off his cap with much respect,\nanswered in such a clear and modest way, and with a voice that had so\nmuch feeling and natural music in it, that the worthy manufacturer was\ngreatly taken with him.\n\n\"That's no Deg,\" said he, when he again entered the counting-house, \"not\na bit of it. He's all Goodrick, or whatever his mother's name was, every\ninch of him.\"\n\nThe consequences of that interview was, that Simon Deg was very soon\nafter perched on a stool in Mr. Spires' counting-house, where he\ncontinued till he was twenty-two. Mr. Spires had no son, only a single\ndaughter; and such were Simon Deg's talents, attention to business, and\ngenial disposition, that at that age Mr. Spires gave him a share in the\nconcern. He was himself now getting less fond of exertion than he had\nbeen, and placed the most implicit reliance on Simon's judgment and\ngeneral management. Yet no two men could be more unlike in their\nopinions beyond the circle of trade. Mr. Spires was a staunch tory of\nthe staunch old school. He was for Church and King, and for things\nremaining forever as they had been. Simon, on the other hand, had\nliberal and reforming notions. He was for the improvement of the people,\nand their admission to many privileges. Mr. Spires was, therefore, liked\nby the leading men of the place, and disliked by the people. Simon's\nestimation was precisely in the opposite direction. But this did not\ndisturb their friendship; it required another disturbing cause--and that\ncame.\n\nSimon Deg and the daughter of Mr. Spires, grew attached to each other;\nand, as the father had thought Simon worthy of becoming a partner in the\nbusiness, neither of the young people deemed that he would object to a\npartnership of a more domestic description. But here they made a\ntremendous mistake. No sooner was such a proposal hinted it, than Mr.\nSpires burst forth with the fury of all the winds from the bag of\nUlysses.\n\n\"What! a Deg aspire to the hand of the sole heiress of the enormously\nopulent Spires?\"\n\nThe very thought almost cut the proud manufacturer off with an\napoplexy. The ghosts of a thousand paupers rose up before him, and he\nwas black in the face. It was only by a prompt and bold application of\nleeches and lancet, that the life of the great man was saved. But there\nwas an end of all further friendship between himself and the expectant\nSimon. He insisted that he should withdraw from the concern, and it was\ndone. Simon, who felt his own dignity deeply wounded too, for dignity he\nhad, though the last of a long line of paupers--his own dignity, not his\nancestors'--took silently, yet not unrespectfully, his share--a good,\nround sum, and entered another house of business.\n\nFor several years there appeared to be a feud and a bitterness between\nthe former friends; yet it showed itself in no other manner than by a\ncareful avoidance of each other. The continental war came to an end; the\nmanufacturing distress increased exceedingly. There came troublous\ntimes, and a fierce warfare of politics. Great Stockington was torn\nasunder by rival parties. On one side stood pre-eminent, Mr. Spires; on\nthe other towered conspicuously, Simon Deg. Simon was grown rich, and\nextremely popular. He was on all occasions the advocate of the people.\nHe said that he had sprung from, and was one of them. He had bought a\nlarge tract of land on one side of the town; and intensely fond of the\ncountry and flowers himself, he had divided this into gardens, built\nlittle summer-houses in them, and let them to the artisans. In his\nfactory he had introduced order, cleanliness, and ventilation. He had\nset up a school for the children in the evenings, with a reading-room\nand conversation-room for the work-people, and encouraged them to bring\ntheir families there, and enjoy music, books, and lectures. Accordingly,\nhe was the idol of the people, and the horror of the old school of the\nmanufacturers.\n\n\"A pretty upstart and demagogue I've nurtured,\" said Mr. Spires often to\nhis wife and daughter, who only sighed and were silent.\n\nThen came a furious election. The town, for a fortnight, more resembled\nthe worst corner of Tartarus than a Christian borough. Drunkenness,\nriot, pumping on one another, spencering one another, all sorts of\nviolence and abuse ruled and raged till the blood of all Stockington was\nat boiling heat. In the midst of the tempest were everywhere seen,\nranged on the opposite sides, Mr. Spires, now old and immensely\ncorpulent, and Simon Deg, active, buoyant, zealous, and popular beyond\nmeasure. But popular though, he still was, the other and old tory side\ntriumphed. The people were exasperated to madness; and when the chairing\nof the successful candidate commenced, there was a terrific attack made\non the procession by the defeated party. Down went the chair, and the\nnew member, glad to escape into an inn, saw his friends mercilessly\nassailed by the populace. There was a tremendous tempest of sticks,\nbrick-bats, paving-stones, and rotten eggs. In the midst of this, Simon\nDeg, and a number of his friends, standing at the upper window of a\nhotel, saw Mr. Spires knocked down, and trampled on by the crowd. In an\ninstant, and, before his friends had missed him from among them, Simon\nDeg was then darting through the raging mass, cleaving his way with a\nsurprising vigor, and gesticulating, and no doubt shouting vehemently to\nthe rioters, though his voice was lost in the din. In the next moment\nhis hat was knocked off, and himself appeared in imminent danger; but,\nanother moment, and there was a pause, and a group of people were\nbearing somebody from the frantic mob into a neighboring shop. It was\nSimon Deg, assisting in the rescue of his old friend and benefactor, Mr.\nSpires.\n\nMr. Spires was a good deal bruised, and wonderfully confounded and\nbewildered by his fall. His clothes were one mass of mud, and his face\nwas bleeding copiously; but when he had had a good draught of water, and\nhis face washed, and had time to recover himself, it was found that he\nhad received no serious injury.\n\n\"They had like to have done for me though,\" said he.\n\n\"Yes, and who saved you?\" asked a gentleman.\n\n\"Ay, who was it? who was it?\" asked the really warm-hearted\nmanufacturer; \"let me know? I owe him my life.\"\n\n\"There he is!\" said several gentlemen, at the same instant pushing\nforward Simon Deg.\n\n\"What, Simon!\" said Mr. Spires, starting to his feet. \"Was it thee, my\nboy?\" He did more, he stretched out his hand; the young man clasped it\neagerly, and the two stood silent, and with a heartfelt emotion, which\nblended all the past into forgetfulness, and the future into a union\nmore sacred than esteem.\n\nA week hence and Simon Deg was the son-in-law of Mr. Spires. Though Mr.\nSpires had misunderstood Simon, and Simon had borne the aspect of\nopposition to his old friend in defence of conscientious principle, the\nwife and daughter of the manufacturer had always understood him, and\nsecretly looked forward to some day of recognition and re-union.\n\nSimon Deg was now the richest man in Stockington. His mother was still\nliving to enjoy his elevation. She had been his excellent and wise\nhouse-keeper, and she continued to occupy that post still.\n\nTwenty-five years afterwards, when the worthy old Spires was dead, and\nSimon Deg had himself two sons attained to manhood; when he had five\ntimes been mayor of Stockington, and had been knighted on the\npresentation of a loyal address; still his mother was living to see it;\nand William Watson, the shoe-maker, was acting as the sort of orderly at\nSir Simon's chief manufactory. He occupied the Lodge, and walked about,\nand saw that all was safe, and moving on as it should do.\n\nIt was amazing how the most plebeian name of Simon Peg had slid, under\nthe hands of the Heralds, into the really aristocratical one of Sir\nSimon Degge. They had traced him up a collateral kinship, spite of his\nown consciousness, to a baronet of the same name of the county of\nStafford, and had given him a coat of arms that was really astonishing.\n\nIt was some years before this that Sir Roger Rockville breathed his\nlast. His title and estate had fallen into litigation. Owing to two\ngenerations having passed without any issue of the Rockville family\nexcept the one son and heir, the claims, though numerous, were so\nmingled with obscuring circumstances, and so equally balanced, that the\nlawyers raised quibbles and difficulties enough to keep the property in\nChancery, till they had not only consumed all the ready money and\nrental, but had made frightful inroads into the estate itself. To save\nthe remnant, the contending parties came to a compromise. A neighboring\nsquire, whose grandfather had married a Rockville, was allowed to secure\nthe title, on condition that the rest carried off the residuum of the\nestate. The woods and lands of Rockville were announced for sale!\n\nIt was at this juncture that old William Watson reminded Sir Simon Degge\nof a conversation in the great grove of Rockville, which they had held\nat the time that Sir Roger was endeavoring to drive the people thence.\n\"What a divine pleasure might this man enjoy,\" said Simon Deg to his\nhumble friend, \"if he had a heart capable of letting others enjoy\nthemselves.\"\n\n\"But we talk without the estate,\" said William Watson, \"what might we do\nif we were tried with it?\"\n\nSir Simon was silent for a moment; then observed that there was sound\nphilosophy in William Watson's remark. He said no more, but went away;\nand the next day announced to the astonished old man that he had\npurchased the groves and the whole ancient estate of Rockville!\n\nSir Simon Degge, the last of a long line of paupers, was become the\npossessor of the noble estate of Sir Roger Rockville of Rockville, the\nlast of a long line of aristocrats!\n\nThe following summer, when the hay was lying in fragrant cocks in the\ngreat meadows of Rockville, and on the little islands in the river, Sir\nSimon Degge, Baronet of Rockville,--for such was now his title--through\nthe suggestion of a great lawyer, formerly recorder of the borough of\nStockington to the crown--held a grand f\u00eate on the occasion of his\ncoming to reside at Rockville Hall, henceforth the family seat of the\nDegges. His house and gardens had been restored to the most consummate\norder. For years Sir Simon had been a great purchaser of works of art\nand literature, paintings, statuary, books, and articles of antiquity,\nincluding rich armor and precious works in ivory and gold.\n\nFirst and foremost he gave a great banquet to his wealthy friends, and\nno man with a million and a half is without them--and in abundance. In\nthe second place, he gave a substantial dinner to all his tenantry, from\nthe wealthy farmer of five hundred acres to the tenant of a cottage. On\nthis occasion he said, \"Game is a great subject of heart-burning, and of\ngreat injustice to the country. It was the bane of my predecessor; let\nus take care it is not ours. Let every man kill the game on the land\nthat he rents--then he will not destroy it utterly, nor allow it to grow\ninto a nuisance. I am fond of a gun myself, but I trust to find enough\nfor my propensity to the chase in my own fields and woods--if I\noccasionally extend my pursuit across the lands of my tenants, it shall\nnot be to carry off the first-fruits of their feeding, and I shall still\nhold the enjoyment as a favor.\"\n\nWe need not say that this speech was applauded most vociferously.\nThirdly, and lastly, he gave a grand entertainment to all his\nwork-people, both of the town and the country. His house and gardens\nwere thrown open to the inspection of the whole assembled company. The\ndelighted crowd admired immensely the pictures and the pleasant gardens.\nOn the lawn, lying between the great grove and the hall, an enormous\ntent was pitched, or rather a vast canvas canopy erected, open on all\nsides, in which was laid a charming banquet; a military band from\nStockington barracks playing during the time. Here Sir Simon made a\nspeech as rapturously received as that to the farmers. It was to the\neffect, that all the old privileges of wandering in the grove, and\nangling, and boating on the river, were restored. The inn was already\nrebuilt in a handsome Elizabethan style, larger than before, and to\nprevent it ever becoming a fane of intemperance, he had there posted as\nlandlord, he hoped for many years to come, his old friend and\nbenefactor, William Watson. William Watson should protect the inn from\nriot, and they themselves the groves and river banks from injury.\n\nLong and loud were the applauses which this announcement occasioned. The\nyoung people turned out upon the green for a dance, and in the evening,\nafter an excellent tea--the whole company descended the river to\nStockington in boats and barges decorated with boughs and flowers, and\nsinging a song made by William Watson for the occasion, called \"The\nHealth of Sir Simon, last and first of his Line.\"\n\nYears have rolled on. The groves and river banks and islands of\nRockville are still greatly frequented, but are never known to be\ninjured: poachers are never known there, for four reasons. First, nobody\nwould like to annoy the good Sir Simon; secondly, game is not very\nnumerous there; thirdly, there is no fun in killing it where there is\nno resistance; and fourthly, it is vastly more abundant in other\nproprietors' demesnes, and _it is_ fun to kill it there, where it is\njealously watched, and there is a chance of a good spree with the\nkeepers.\n\nAnd with what different feelings does the good Sir Simon look down from\nhis lofty eyrie, over the princely expanse of meadows, and over the\nglittering river, and over the stately woods to where Great Stockington\nstill stretches farther and farther its red brick walls, its red-tiled\nroofs, and its tall smoke-vomiting chimneys. There he sees no haunts of\ncrowded enemies to himself or any man. No upstarts, nor envious\nopponents, but a vast family of human beings, all toiling for the good\nof their families and their country. All advancing, some faster, some\nslower, to a better education, a better social condition, a better\nconception of the principles of art and commerce, and a clearer\nrecognition of their rights and their duties, and a more cheering faith\nin the upward tendency of humanity.\n\nLooking on this interesting scene from his distant and quiet home, Sir\nSimon sees what blessings flow--and how deeply he feels them in his own\ncase--from a free circulation, not only of trade, but of human\nrelations. How this corrects the mischiefs, moral and physical, of false\nsystems and rusty prejudices;--and he ponders on schemes of no ordinary\nbeauty and beneficence yet to reach his beloved town through them. He\nsees lecture halls and academies, means of sanitary purification, and\ndelicious recreation, in which baths, wash-houses, and airy homes figure\nlargely; while public walks extend all round the great industrial hive,\nincluding wood, hills, meadow, and river in their circuit of many miles.\nThere he lived and labored; there live and labor his sons; and there he\ntrusts his family will continue to live and labor to all future\ngenerations; never retiring to the fatal indolence of wealth, but aiding\nonwards its active and ever-expanding beneficence.\n\nLong may the good Sir Simon live and labor to realize these views. But\nalready in a green corner of the pleasant churchyard of Rockville may\nbe read this inscription on a marble headstone:--\"Sacred to the Memory\nof Jane Deg, the mother of Sir Simon Degge, Bart., of Rockville. This\nstone is erected in honor of the best of Mothers by the most grateful of\nsons.\"\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nThe Gentleman Beggar\n\nAN ATTORNEY'S STORY.\n\n\nOne morning, about five years ago, I called by appointment on Mr. John\nBalance, the fashionable pawnbroker, to accompany him to Liverpool, in\npursuit for a Levanting customer,--for Balance, in addition to pawning,\ndoes a little business in the sixty per cent. line. It rained in\ntorrents when the cab stopped at the passage which leads past the\npawning boxes to his private door. The cabman rang twice, and at length\nBalance appeared, looming through the mist and rain in the entry,\nilluminated by his perpetual cigar. As I eyed him rather impatiently,\nremembering that trains wait for no man, something like a hairy dog, or\na bundle of rags, rose up at his feet, and barred his passage for a\nmoment. Then Balance cried out with an exclamation, in answer apparently\nto a something I could not hear, \"What, man alive!--slept in the\npassage!--there, take that, and get some breakfast for Heaven's sake!\"\nSo saying, he jumped into the \"Hansom,\" and we bowled away at ten miles\nan hour, just catching the Express as the doors of the station were\nclosing. My curiosity was full set,--for although Balance can be free\nwith his money, it is not exactly to beggars that his generosity is\nusually displayed; so when comfortably ensconced in a _coup\u00e9_, I\nfinished with--\n\n\"You are liberal with your money this morning; pray, how often do you\ngive silver to street cadgers?--because I shall know now what walk to\ntake when flats and sharps leave off buying law.\"\n\nBalance, who would have made an excellent parson if he had not been bred\nto a case-hardening trade, and has still a soft bit left in his heart\nthat is always fighting with his hard head, did not smile at all, but\nlooked as grim as if squeezing a lemon into his Saturday night's punch.\nHe answered slowly, \"A cadger--yes; a beggar--a miserable wretch, he is\nnow; but let me tell you, Master David, that that miserable bundle of\nrags was born and bred a gentleman; the son of a nobleman, the husband\nof an heiress, and has sat and dined at tables where you and I, Master\nDavid, are only allowed to view the plate by favor of the butler. I have\nlent him thousands, and been well paid. The last thing I had from him\nwas his court suit; and I hold now his bill for one hundred pounds that\nwill be paid, I expect, when he dies.\"\n\n\"Why, what nonsense you are talking! you must be dreaming this morning.\nHowever, we are alone, I'll light a weed, in defiance of Railway law,\nyou shall spin that yarn; for, true or untrue, it will fill up the time\nto Liverpool.\"\n\n\"As for yarn,\" replied Balance, \"the whole story is short enough; and as\nfor truth, that you may easily find out if you like to take the\ntrouble. I thought the poor wretch was dead, and I own it put me out\nmeeting him this morning, for I had a curious dream last night.\"\n\n\"Oh, hang your dreams! Tell us about this gentleman beggar that bleeds\nyou of half-crowns--that melts the heart even of a pawnbroker!\"\n\n\"Well, then, that beggar is the illegitimate son of the late Marquis of\nHoopborough by a Spanish lady of rank. He received a first-rate\neducation, and was brought up in his father's house. At a very early age\nhe obtained an appointment in a public office, was presented by the\nmarquis at court, and received into the first society, where his\nhandsome person and agreeable manners made him a great favorite. Soon\nafter coming of age, he married the daughter of Sir E. Bumper, who\nbrought him a very handsome fortune, which was strictly settled on\nherself. They lived in splendid style, kept several carriages, a house\nin town, and a place in the country. For some reason or other, idleness,\nor to plead his lady's pride he said, he resigned his appointment. His\nfather died, and left him nothing; indeed, he seemed at that time very\nhandsomely provided for.\n\n\"Very soon Mr. and Mrs. Molinos Fitz-Roy began to disagree. She was\ncold, correct--he was hot and random. He was quite dependent on her, and\nshe made him feel it. When he began to get into debt, he came to me. At\nlength some shocking quarrel occurred; some case of jealousy on the\nwife's side, not without reason, I believe; and the end of it was Mr.\nFitz-Roy was turned out of doors. The house was his wife's, the\nfurniture was his wife's, and the fortune was his wife's--he was, in\nfact, her pensioner. He left with a few hundred pounds ready money, and\nsome personal jewellery, and went to a hotel. On these and credit he\nlived. Being illegitimate, he had no relations; being a fool, when he\nspent his money he lost his friends. The world took his wife's part,\nwhen they found she had the fortune, and the only parties who interfered\nwere her relatives, who did their best to make the quarrel incurable. To\ncrown all, one night he was run over by a cab, was carried to a\nhospital, and lay there for months, and was during several weeks of the\ntime unconscious. A message to the wife, by the hands of one of his\ndebauched companions, sent by a humane surgeon, obtained an intimation\nthat 'if he died, Mr. Croak, the undertaker to the family, had orders to\nsee to the funeral,' and that Mrs. Molinos was on the point of starting\nfor the Continent, not to return for some years. When Fitz-Roy was\ndischarged, he came to me limping on two sticks, to pawn his court suit,\nand told me his story. I was really sorry for the fellow, such a\nhandsome, thoroughbred-looking man. He was going then into the west\nsomewhere, to try to hunt out a friend. 'What to do, Balance,' he said,\n'I don't know. I can't dig, and unless somebody will make me their\ngamekeeper, I must starve or beg, as my Jezebel bade me when we parted!'\n\n\"I lost sight of Molinos for a long time, and when I next came upon him\nit was in the Rookery of Westminster, in a low lodging-house, where I\nwas searching with an officer for stolen goods. He was pointed out to\nme as the 'gentleman cadger,' because he was so free with his money when\n'in luck.' He recognized me, but turned away then. I have since seen\nhim, and relieved him more than once, although he never asks for\nanything. How he lives, Heaven knows. Without money, without friends,\nwithout useful education of any kind, he tramps the country, as you saw\nhim, perhaps doing a little hop-picking or hay-making, in season, only\nhappy when he obtains the means to get drunk. I have heard through the\nkitchen whispers that you know come to me, that he is entitled to some\nproperty; and I expect if he were to die his wife would pay the hundred\npound bill I hold; at any rate, what I have told you I know to be true,\nand the bundle of rags I relieved just now is known in every thieves'\nlodging in England as the 'gentleman cadger.'\"\n\nThis story produced an impression on me,--I am fond of speculation, and\nlike the excitement of a legal hunt as much as some do a fox-chase. A\ngentleman a beggar, a wife rolling in wealth, rumors of unknown\nproperty due to the husband; it seemed as if there were pickings for me\namidst this carrion of pauperism.\n\nBefore returning from Liverpool, I had purchased the gentleman beggar's\nacceptance from Balance. I then inserted in the \"Times\" the following\nadvertisement: \"_Horatio Molinos Fitz-Roy_.--If this gentleman will\napply to David Discount, Esq., Solicitor, St. James's, he will hear of\nsomething to his advantage. Any person furnishing Mr. F.'s correct\naddress, shall receive 1_l._ 1_s._ reward. He was last seen,\" &c. Within\ntwenty-four hours I had ample proof of the wide circulation of the\n\"Times.\" My office was besieged with beggars of every degree, men and\nwomen, lame and blind, Irish, Scotch, and English, some on crutches,\nsome in bowls, some in go-carts. They all knew him as \"the gentleman,\"\nand I must do the regular fraternity of tramps the justice to say that\nnot one would answer a question until he made certain that I meant the\n\"gentleman\" no harm.\n\nOne evening, about three weeks after the appearance of the\nadvertisement, my clerk announced \"another beggar.\" There came in an old\nman leaning upon a staff, clad in a soldier's great coat all patched and\ntorn, with a battered hat, from under which a mass of tangled hair fell\nover his shoulders and half concealed his face. The beggar, in a weak,\nwheezy, hesitating tone, said, \"You have advertised for Molinos\nFitz-Roy. I hope you don't mean him any harm; he is sunk, I think, too\nlow for enmity now; and surely no one would sport with such misery as\nhis.\" These last words were uttered in a sort of piteous whisper.\n\nI answered quickly, \"Heaven forbid I should sport with misery; I mean\nand hope to do him good, as well as myself.\"\n\n\"Then, Sir, I am Molinos Fitz-Roy!\"\n\nWhile we were conversing candles had been brought in. I have not very\ntender nerves--my head would not agree with them--but I own I started\nand shuddered when I saw and knew that the wretched creature before me\nwas under thirty years of age and once a gentleman. Sharp, aquiline\nfeatures, reduced to literal skin and bone, were begrimed and covered\nwith dry fair hair; the white teeth of the half-open mouth chattered\nwith eagerness, and made more hideous the foul pallor of the rest of the\ncountenance. As he stood leaning on a staff half bent, his long, yellow\nbony fingers clasped over the crutch-head of his stick, he was indeed a\npicture of misery, famine, squalor, and premature age, too horrible to\ndwell upon. I made him sit down, sent for some refreshment, which he\ndevoured like a ghoul, and set to work to unravel his story. It was\ndifficult to keep him to the point; but with pains I learned what\nconvinced me that he was entitled to some property, whether great or\nsmall there was no evidence. On parting, I said \"Now Mr. F., you must\nstay in town while I make proper inquiries. What allowance will be\nenough to keep you comfortably?\"\n\nHe answered humbly after much pressing, \"Would you think ten shillings\ntoo much!\"\n\nI don't like, if I do those things at all, to do them shabbily, so I\nsaid, \"Come every Saturday and you shall have a pound.\" He was profuse\nin thanks of course, as all such men are as long as distress lasts.\n\nI had previously learned that my ragged client's wife was in England,\nliving in a splendid house in Hyde Park Gardens, under her maiden name.\nOn the following day the Earl of Owing called upon me, wanting five\nthousand pounds by five o'clock the same evening. It was a case of life\nor death with him, so I made my terms and took advantage of his pressure\nto execute a _coup de main_. I proposed that he should drive me home to\nreceive the money, calling at Mrs. Molinos in Hyde Park Gardens, on our\nway. I knew that the coronet and liveries of his father, the Marquis,\nwould ensure me an audience with Mrs. Molinos Fitz-Roy.\n\nMy scheme answered. I was introduced into the lady's presence. She was,\nand probably is, a very stately, handsome woman, with a pale complexion,\nhigh solid forehead, regular features, thin, pinched, self-satisfied\nmouth. My interview was very short. I plunged into the middle of the\naffair, but had scarcely mentioned the word husband, when she\ninterrupted me with \"I presume you have lent this profligate person\nmoney, and want me to pay you.\" She paused, and then said, \"He shall not\nhave a farthing.\" As she spoke, her white face became scarlet.\n\n\"But, Madam, the man is starving. I have strong reasons for believing he\nis entitled to property, and if you refuse any assistance, I must take\nother measures.\" She rang the bell, wrote something rapidly on a card;\nand, as the footman appeared, pushed it towards me across the table,\nwith the air of touching a toad, saying, \"There, Sir, is the address of\nmy solicitors; apply to them if you think you have any claim. Robert,\nshow the person out, and take care he is not admitted again.\"\n\nSo far I had effected nothing; and, to tell the truth, felt rather\ncrest-fallen under the influence of that grand manner peculiar to\ncertain great ladies and to all great actresses.\n\nMy next visit was to the attorneys Messrs'. Leasem and Fashun, of\nLincoln's Inn Square, and there I was at home. I had had dealings with\nthe firm before. They are agents for half the aristocracy, who always\nrun in crowds like sheep after the same wine-merchants, the same\narchitects, the same horse-dealers, and the same law-agents. It may be\ndoubted whether the quality of law and land management they get on this\nprinciple is quite equal to their wine and horses. At any rate, my\nfriends of Lincoln's Inn, like others of the same class, are\ndistinguished by their courteous manners, deliberate proceedings,\ninnocence of legal technicalities, long credit and heavy charges.\nLeasem, the elder partner, wears powder and a huge bunch of seals, lives\nin Queen Square, drives a brougham, gives the dinners and does the\ncordial department. He is so strict in performing the latter duty, that\nhe once addressed a poacher who had shot a Duke's keeper, as \"my dear\ncreature,\" although he afterwards hung him.\n\nFashun has chambers in St. James Street, drives a cab, wears a tip, and\ndoes the grand haha style.\n\nMy business lay with Leasem. The interviews and letters passing were\nnumerous. However, it came at last to the following dialogue:--\n\n\"Well, my dear Mr. Discount,\" began Mr. Leasem, who hates me like\npoison. \"I'm really very sorry for that poor dear Molinos--knew his\nfather well; a great man, a perfect gentleman; but you know what women\nare, eh, Mr. Discount? My client won't advance a shilling, she knows it\nwould only be wasted in low dissipation. Now don't you think (this was\nsaid very insinuatingly)--don't you think he had better be sent to the\nwork-house; very comfortable accommodation there, I can assure you--meat\ntwice a week, and excellent soup; and then, Mr. D., we might consider\nabout allowing you something for that bill.\"\n\n\"Mr. Leasem, can you reconcile it to your conscience to make such an\narrangement. Here's a wife rolling in luxury, and a husband starving!\"\n\n\"No, Mr. Discount, not starving; there is the work-house, as I observed\nbefore; besides, allow me to suggest that these appeals to feeling are\nquite unprofessional--quite unprofessional.\"\n\n\"But, Mr. Leasem, touching this property which the poor man is entitled\nto.\"\n\n\"Why, there again, Mr. D., you must excuse me; you really must. I don't\nsay he is, I don't say he is not. If you know he is entitled to\nproperty, I am sure you know how to proceed; the law is open to you, Mr.\nDiscount--the law is open; and a man of your talent will know how to use\nit.\"\n\n\"Then, Mr. Leasem, you mean that I must in order to right this starving\nman, file a Bill of Discovery to extract from you the particulars of his\nrights. You have the Marriage Settlement, and all the information, and\nyou decline to allow a pension, or afford any information; the man is to\nstarve, or go to the work-house?\"\n\n\"Why, Mr. D., you are so quick and violent, it really is not\nprofessional; but you see (here a subdued smile of triumph), it has been\ndecided that a solicitor is not bound to afford such information as you\nask, to the injury of his client.\"\n\n\"Then you mean that this poor Molinos may rot and starve, while you\nkeep secret from him, at his wife's request, his title to an income, and\nthat the Court of Chancery will back you in this iniquity?\"\n\nI kept repeating the word \"starve,\" because I saw it made my respectable\nopponent wince. \"Well, then, just listen to me. I know that in the happy\nstate of our equity law, Chancery can't help my client; but I have\nanother plan; I shall go hence to my office, issue a writ, and take your\nclient's husband in execution--as soon as he is lodged in jail, I shall\nfile his schedule in the Insolvent Court, and when he comes up for his\ndischarge, I shall put you in the witness-box, and examine you on oath,\n'touching any property of which you know the insolvent to be possessed,'\nand where will be your privileged communications then?\"\n\nThe respectable Leasem's face lengthened in a twinkling, his comfortable\nconfident air vanished, he ceased twiddling his gold chain, and at\nlength he muttered, \"Suppose we pay the debt?\"\n\n\"Why, then, I'll arrest him the day after for another.\"\n\n\"But, my dear Mr. Discount, surely such, conduct would not be quite\nrespectable?\"\n\n\"That's my business; my client has been wronged, I am determined to\nright him, and when the aristocratic firm of Leasem and Fashun takes\nrefuge, according to the custom of respectable repudiators, in the cool\narbors of the Court of Chancery, why, a mere bill-discounting attorney,\nlike David Discount, need not hesitate about cutting a bludgeon out of\nthe Insolvent Court.\"\n\n\"Well, well, Mr. D., you are so warm--so fiery; we must deliberate, we\nmust consult. You will give me until the day after to-morrow, and then\nwe'll write you our final determination; in the, meantime send us copy\nof your authority to act for Mr. Molinos Fitz-Roy.\"\n\nOf course I lost no time in getting the gentleman beggar to sign a\nproper letter.\n\nOn the appointed day came a communication with the L. and F. seal,\nwhich I opened not without unprofessional eagerness. It was as follows:\n\n    \"_In re Molinos Fitz-Roy and Another._\n\n     \"Sir,--In answer to your application on behalf of Mr. Molinos\n     Fitz-Roy, we beg to inform you that under the administration of a\n     paternal aunt who died intestate, your client is entitled to two\n     thousand five hundred pounds eight shillings and sixpence, Three\n     per Cents; one thousand five hundred pounds nineteen shillings and\n     fourpence, Three per Cents Reduced; one thousand pounds, Long\n     Annuities; five hundred pounds, Bank Stock; three thousand five\n     hundred pounds, India Stock, besides other securities, making up\n     about ten thousand pounds, which we are prepared to transfer over\n     to Mr. Molinos Fitz-Roy's direction forthwith.\"\n\nHere was a windfall! It quite took away my breath.\n\nAt dusk came my gentleman beggar, and what puzzled me was how to break\nthe news to him. Being very much overwhelmed with business that day, I\nhad not much time for consideration. He came in rather better dressed\nthan when I first saw him, with only a week's beard on his chin; but, as\nusual, not quite sober. Six weeks had elapsed since our first interview.\nHe was still the humble, trembling, low-voiced creature, I first knew\nhim.\n\nAfter a prelude, I said, \"I find, Mr. F., you are entitled to something;\npray, what do you mean to give me in addition to my bill for obtaining\nit?\" He answered rapidly, \"Oh, take half; if there is one hundred\npounds, take half; if there is five hundred pounds, take half.\"\n\n\"No, no, Mr. F., I don't do business in that way, I shall be satisfied\nwith ten per cent.\"\n\nIt was so settled. I then led him out into the street, impelled to tell\nthe news, yet dreading the effect; not daring to make the revelation in\nmy office for fear of a scene.\n\nI began hesitatingly, \"Mr. Fitz-Roy, I am happy to say that I find you\nare entitled to.... ten thousand pounds!\"\n\n\"Ten thousand pounds!\" he echoed. \"Ten thousand pounds!\" he shrieked.\n\"Ten thousand pounds!\" he yelled, seizing my arm violently.\n\n\"You are a brick,---- Here, cab! cab!\" Several drove up--the shout might\nhave been heard a mile off. He jumped in the first.\n\n\"Where to?\" said the driver.\n\n\"To a tailor's, you rascal!\"\n\n\"Ten thousand pounds! ha, ha, ha!\" he repeated hysterically, when in the\ncab; and every moment grasping my arm. Presently he subsided, looked me\nstraight in the face, and muttered with agonizing fervor, \"What a jolly\nbrick you are!\"\n\nThe tailor, the hosier, the bootmaker, the hairdresser, were in turn\nvisited by this poor pagan of externals. As by degrees under their hands\nhe emerged from the beggar to the gentleman, his spirits rose; his eyes\nbrightened; he walked erect, but always nervously grasping my arm;\nfearing, apparently, to lose sight of me for a moment, lest his fortune\nshould vanish with me. The impatient pride with which he gave his order\nto the astonished tradesman for the finest and best of everything, and\nthe amazed air of the fashionable hairdresser when he presented his\nmatted locks and stubble chin to be \"cut and shaved,\" may be _acted_--it\ncannot be described.\n\nBy the time the external transformation was complete, and I sat down in\na _caf\u00e9_ in the Haymarket opposite a haggard but handsome\nthoroughbred-looking man, whose air, with the exception of the wild eyes\nand deeply-browned face, did not differ from the stereotyped men about\ntown sitting around us, Mr. Molinos Fitz-Roy had already almost\nforgotten the past; he bullied the waiter, and criticized the wine, as\nif he had done nothing else but dine and drink and scold there all the\ndays of his life.\n\nOnce he wished to drink my health, and would have proclaimed his whole\nstory to the coffee-room assembly in a raving style. When I left he\nalmost wept in terror at the idea of losing sight of me. But, allowing\nfor these ebullitions--the natural result of such a whirl of events--he\nwas wonderfully calm and self-possessed.\n\nThe next day his first care was to distribute fifty pounds among his\nfriends the cadgers, at a house of call in Westminster, and formally to\ndissolve his connection with them; those present undertaking for the\n\"fraternity,\" that for the future he should never be noticed by them in\npublic or private.\n\nI cannot follow his career much further. Adversity had taught him\nnothing. He was soon again surrounded by the well-bred vampires who had\nforgotten him when penniless; but they amused him, and that was enough.\nThe ten thousand pounds were rapidly melting when he invited me to a\ngrand dinner at Richmond, which included a dozen of the most agreeable,\ngood-looking, well-dressed dandies of London, interspersed with a\ndisplay of pretty butterfly bonnets. We dined deliciously, and drank as\nmen do of iced wines in the dog-days--looking down from Richmond Hill.\n\nOne of the pink bonnets crowned Fitz-Roy with a wreath of flowers; he\nlooked--less the intellect--as handsome as Alcibiades. Intensely excited\nand flushed, he rose with a champagne glass in his hand to propose my\nhealth.\n\nThe oratorical powers of his father had not descended on him. Jerking\nout sentences by spasms, at length he said, \"I was a beggar--I am a\ngentleman--thanks to this----\"\n\nHere he leaned on my shoulder heavily a moment, and then fell back. We\nraised him, loosened his neckcloth--\n\n\"Fainted!\" said the ladies--\n\n\"Drunk!\" said the gentlemen--\n\nHe was _dead_!\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\n\"Evil is Wrought by Want of Thought.\"\n\n\n\"It must come some day; and come when it will, it will be hard to do, so\nwe had best go at once, Sally. I shall have more trouble with Miss\nIsabel than you will with Miss Laura; for I am twice the favorite you\nare.\"\n\nSo said Fanny to her cousin, who had just turned to descend the\nstaircase of Aldington Hall, where they had both lived since they were\nalmost children, in attendance on the two daughters of the old baronet,\nwho were near their own ages, and had always treated them with great\nkindness.\n\n\"I am not sure of that,\" replied Sally, \"for Miss Laura is so seldom put\nout, that when once she is vexed, she will be hard to comfort; and I am\nsure, Fanny, she loves me every bit as well as Miss Isabel does you,\nthough it is her way to be so quiet. I dare say she will cry when I say\nI must go; but then John would be like to cry too, if I put him off\nlonger.\"\n\nThis consideration restored Sally's courage, and she proceeded with\nFanny to the gallery into which the rooms of their young mistresses\nopened; but here Fanny's heart failed her; and, stopping short, she\nsaid,\n\n\"Suppose we tell them to wait awhile longer, as the young ladies are\ngoing to travel. We might as well see the world first, and marry in a\nyear or two. But still,\" added she, after a pause, \"I could not find it\nin my heart to say so to Thomas; and I promised him to speak to-day.\"\n\nEach cousin then knocked at the door of her mistress. Laura was not in\nher room, and Sally went to seek her below stairs; but Isabel called to\nFanny to go in.\n\nFanny obeyed, and walking forward a few steps, faltered out, with many\nblushes, that as young Thomas had kept company with her for nearly a\ntwelvemonth, and had taken and furnished a little cottage, and begged\nhard to take her home to it; she was sorry to say, that if Miss Isabel\nwould give her leave, she wished to give warning and to go from her\nservice in a month.\n\nFanny's most sanguine wishes or fears, must have been surpassed by the\nburst of surprise and grief that followed her modest statement. Isabel\nreproached her; refused to take her warning; declared she would never\nsee her again if she left the Hall, and that rather than be served by\nany but her dear Fanny, she would wait upon herself all her life. Fanny\nexpostulated, and told her mistress that, foreseeing her unwillingness\nto lose her, she had already put Thomas off several months; and that at\nlast, to gain further delay, she had run the risk of appearing selfish,\nby refusing to marry him till he had furnished a whole cottage for her.\nThis, she said he had--by working late and early--accomplished in a\nsurprisingly short time, and had the day before claimed the reward of\nhis industry. \"And now, Miss,\" added she, \"he gets quite pale, and\nbegins to believe I do not love him, and yet I do, better than all the\nworld, and could not find it in my heart to vex him, and make him look\nsad again. Yesterday he seemed so happy, when I promised to be his wife\nin a month.\" Here Fanny burst into tears. Her sobs softened Isabel, who\nconsented to let her go; and after talking over her plans, became as\nenthusiastic in promoting, as she had at first been, in opposing them.\nThomas was to take Fanny over to see the cottage, that evening, and\nIsabel, in the warmth of her heart, promised to accompany them. Fanny\nthanked her with a curtesy, and thought how pleased she ought to be at\nsuch condescension in her young mistress, but could not help fearing\nthat her sweetheart would not half appreciate the favor.\n\nAfter receiving many promises of friendship and assistance, Fanny\nhastened to report to Sally the success of her negotiation. Sally was\nsitting in their little bedroom, thoughtful, and almost sad. She\nlistened to Fanny's account; and replied in answer to her questions\nconcerning Miss Laura's way of taking her warning, \"I am afraid, Fanny,\nyou were right in thinking yourself the greatest favorite, for Miss\nLaura seemed almost pleased at my news; she took me by the hand, and\nsaid, 'I am very glad to hear you are to marry such a good young man as\nevery one acknowledges John Maythorn to be, and you may depend upon my\nbeing always ready to help you, if you want assistance.' She then said a\ndeal about my having lived with her six years, and not having once\ndispleased her, and told me that master had promised my mother and yours\ntoo, that his young ladies should see after us all our lives. This was\nvery kind, to be sure; but then Miss Isabel promised you presents\nwhether you wanted assistance or not, and is to give you a silk gown and\na white ribbon for the wedding, and is to go over to the cottage with\nyou; now Miss Laura did not say a word of any such thing.\"\n\nFanny tried to comfort her cousin by saying it was Miss Laura's quiet\nway; but she could not help secretly rejoicing that her own mistress\nwas so generous and affectionate.\n\nIn the evening the two sweethearts came to lead their future wives to\nthe cottages, which were near each other, and at about a mile from the\nHall. John had a happy walk. He learned from Sally that he was to \"take\nher home\" in a month, and was so pleased at the news, that he could\nscarcely be happier when she bustled about, exclaiming at every new\nsight in the pretty bright little cottage. The tea-caddy, the cupboard\nof china, and a large cat, each called forth a fresh burst of joy. Sally\nthought everything \"the prettiest she had ever seen;\" and when John made\nher sit in the arm-chair and put her feet on the fender, as if she were\nalready mistress of the cottage, she burst into sobs of joy. We will not\npause to tell how her sobs were stopped, nor what promises of unchanging\nkindness, were made in that bright little kitchen; but we may safely\naffirm that Sally and John were happier than they had ever been in their\nlives, and that old Mrs. Maythorn, who was keeping the cottage for\nSally, felt all her fondest wishes were fulfilled as she saw the two\nlovers depart.\n\nFanny and Thomas, who had left them at the cottage door, walked on to\ntheir own future home, quite overwhelmed by the honor Miss Isabel was\nconferring on them by walking at their side.\n\n\"You see, Miss,\" said Thomas, as he turned the key of his cottage-door,\n\"there is nothing to speak of here, only such things as are necessary,\nand all of the plainest; but it will do well enough for us poor folks;\"\nand as he threw open the door, he found to his surprise that what had\nseemed to him yesterday so pretty and neat, now looked indeed \"all of\nthe plainest.\" The very carpet, and metal teapot, which he had intended\nas surprises for Fanny, he was now ashamed of pointing out to her, and\nhe apologized to Isabel for the coarse quality of the former, telling\nher it was only to serve till he could get a better.\n\n\"Yes,\" answered she, \"this is not half good enough for my little Fanny,\nshe must have a real Brussels carpet. I will send her one. I will make\nyour cottage so pretty, Fanny, you shall have a nice china tea set, not\nthese common little things, and I will give you some curtains for the\nwindow.\" Thomas blushed as this deficiency was pointed out. \"Why, Miss,\"\nsaid he, \"I meant to have trained the rose tree over the window, I\nthought that would be shady, and sweet in the summer, and in the winter,\nwhy, we should want all the day-light; but then to be sure, curtains\nwill be much better.\"\n\n\"Yes, Thomas,\" replied the young lady, \"and warm in the winter; you\ncould not be comfortable with a few bare rose stalks before your window,\nwhen the snow was on the ground.\" This had not occurred to Thomas, who\nnow said faintly, \"Oh, no, Miss,\" and felt that curtains were\nindispensable to comfort.\n\nSimilar deficiencies or short-comings were discovered everywhere, so\nthat even Fanny, who would at first be pleased with all she saw, in\nspite of the numerous defects that seemed to exist everywhere, gradually\ngrew silent and ashamed of her cottage. She did her utmost to conceal\nfrom Thomas how entirely she agreed with her mistress, and as this\ngenerous young lady finished every remark, by saying \"I will get you\none,\" or \"I will send you another,\" she felt that all would be right\nbefore long.\n\nAs Thomas closed the door, he wondered how in his wish to please Fanny\nhe could have deceived himself so completely as to the merits of his\ncottage and furniture; but he too comforted himself by remembering how\nhis kind patroness was to remedy all the defects; \"though,\" thought he,\n\"I should have liked better to have done it all well myself.\"\n\nThe lady and the two lovers walked homewards, almost without speaking,\ntill they overtook John and Sally, who were whispering and laughing,\ntalking of their cottage, Mrs. Maythorn's joy at seeing them happy,\ntheir future plans for themselves and her, and all in so confused a way,\nthat though twenty new subjects were started and discussed, none came to\nand conclusion, but that John and Sally loved each other and were very,\nvery happy.\n\n\"What ails you, Thomas?\" said John. \"Has any one robbed your house? I\ntold you it was not safe to leave it,\" but seeing Miss Isabel, he\ntouched his hat and fell back to where Fanny was talking to her cousin.\nIsabel, however, left them that she might take a short cut through the\npark, while they went round by the road.\n\nAt the end of the walk, Sally was half inclined to be dissatisfied with\nher furniture, so much had Fanny boasted of the improvements that were\nto be made in her own, but she could not get rid of the first impression\nit had made on her, and in a few days she quite forgot the want of\ncurtains and carpet, and could only remember the happy time when she sat\nin the arm-chair with her foot on the fender.\n\nAs the month drew to a close, the two sisters made presents to their\nmaids. Laura gave Sally a merino dress, a large piece of linen, a cellar\nfull of coals, and a five pound note. Isabel gave Fanny a silk gown\nthat cost three guineas, a beautiful white bonnet ribbon, a small\nchimney glass (for which she kindly went into debt), three left-off\nmuslin dresses, a painting done by her own hand, in a handsome gilt\nframe, and a beautiful knitted purse. Besides all this, she told Fanny\nit was still her intention to get the other things she had promised for\nthe cottage, as soon as she had paid for the chimney glass. \"I am very\nsorry,\" she said, \"that just now I am so poor, for unfortunately, as you\nknow, I have had to pay for those large music volumes I ordered when I\nwas in London, and which after all I never used. It always happens that\nI am poor when I want to make presents.\"\n\nFanny stopped her mistress with abundant thanks for the beautiful things\nshe had already given her. \"I am sure, Miss,\" said she, \"I shall\nscarcely dare wear these dresses, they look so lady-like and fine; Sally\nwill seem quite strange by me. And this purse too, Miss; I never saw\nanything so smart.\"\n\nIsabel was quite satisfied that she had eclipsed her sister in the\nnumber and value of her gifts, but she still assured Fanny she had but\nmade a beginning. Large and generous indeed, were this young lady's\nintentions.\n\nOn the wedding morning Isabel rose early and dressed herself without\nassistance, then crossing to the room of the two cousins, she entered\nwithout knocking. Sally was gone, and Fanny lay sleeping alone.\n\n\"How pretty she is!\" said Isabel to herself. \"She ought to be dressed\nlike a lady to-day. I will see to it;\" then glancing proudly at the silk\ngown, which was laid out with all the other articles of dress, ready for\nthe coming ceremony, her heart swelled with consciousness of her own\ngenerosity. \"I have done nothing yet,\" continued she; \"she has been with\nme nearly six years, and always pleased me entirely, then papa promised\nher mother that he should befriend her as long as we both lived, and he\nhas charged us both to do our utmost for our brides. Laura has bought\nSally a shawl, I ought to give one too--what is this common thing?\nFanny! Fanny! wake up. I am come to be your maid to-day, for you shall\nbe mistress on your wedding morning and have a lady to dress you. What\nis this shawl? It will not do with a silk dress, wait a minute,\" and off\nshe darted, leaving Fanny sitting up and rubbing her eyes trying to\nremember what her young mistress had said. Before she was quite\nconscious, Isabel returned with a Norfolk shawl of fine texture and\ndesign, but somewhat soiled. \"There,\" said she, throwing it across the\nsilk gown, \"those go much better together. I will give it you, Fanny.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Miss,\" said Fanny, in a tone of hesitation; \"but--but\nsuppose, Miss, I was to wear Thomas' shawl just to-day, as he gave it me\nfor the wedding, and John got Sally one like it--I think, Miss--don't\nyou think, Miss, it might seem unkind to wear any other just to-day?\"\n\n\"Why, it is just to-day I want to make you look like a lady, Fanny; no,\nno, you must not put on that white cotton-looking shawl with a silk\ndress, and this ribbon,\" said Isabel, taking up the bonnet, proudly.\nFanny looked sad, but the young mistress did not see this, for she was\nexamining the white silk gloves that lay beside the bonnet. \"These,\"\nthought she, \"are not quite right, they look servantish, but my kid\ngloves would not fit her, besides, I have none clean, and it is well,\nperhaps, that she should have a few things to mark her rank. Yes, they\nwill do.\"\n\nThere was so much confusion between the lady's offering help, and the\nmaid's modestly refusing it, that the toilette was long in completing.\nAt last, however, Isabel was in ecstasies. \"Look,\" said she, \"how the\nbonnet becomes you! and the Norfolk shawl, too, no one would think you\nwere only a lady's-maid, Fanny. Stop, I will get a ribbon for your\nthroat.\" Off she flew, and was back again in five minutes. \"But what is\nthat for, Fanny? Are you afraid it will rain this bright morning?\"\n\nFanny had, in Isabel's absence, folded Thomas' shawl, and hung it across\nher arm. \"I thought, Miss,\" answered she, blushing, \"that I might just\ncarry it to show Thomas that I did not forget his present, or think it\ntoo homely to go to church with me.\"\n\n\"Impossible,\" said Isabel, who, to do her justice, we must state, was\nfar too much excited to suspect that she was making Fanny uncomfortable;\n\"you will spoil all. There, put the shawl away,--that's right, you look\nperfect. Go down to your bridegroom, I hear his voice in the hall, I\nwill not come too, though I should like above all things to see his\nsurprise, but I should spoil your meeting, and I am the last person in\nthe world to do anything so selfish. One thing more, Fanny: I shall give\nyou two guineas, that you may spend three or four days at L----, by the\nsea-side; no one goes home directly, you would find it very dull to\nsettle down at once in your cottage; tell Thomas so.\" Isabel then\nretired to her room, wishing heartily that she could part with half her\nprettiest things, that she might heap more favors on the interesting\nlittle bride.\n\nLaura's first thought that morning had also been of the little orphan,\nwho had served her so long and faithfully, and whom her father had\ncommended to her special care. She, too, had risen early, but without\ndressing herself, she went across to Sally. Sally was asleep, with the\ntraces of tears on her cheeks; Laura looked at her for a few moments,\nand remembered how, when both were too young to understand the\ndistinction of rank, they had been almost play-mates; she wiped from her\nown eyes a little moisture that dimmed them, then putting her hand\ngently on Sally's shoulder, she said, \"Wake, Sally, I call you early\nthat you may have plenty of time to dress me first and yourself\nafterwards. I know you would not like to miss waiting on me, or to do it\nhurriedly for the last time. You have been crying, Sally, do not color\nabout it, I should think ill of you if you were not sorry to leave us,\nyou cannot feel the parting more than I do. I dare say I shall have hard\nwork to keep dry eyes all day, but we must do our best, Sally, for it\nwill not for John to think I grudge you to him, or that you like me\nbetter than you do him.\"\n\n\"Oh, no, Miss!\" replied Sally, who felt at that moment that she could\nscarcely love any one better than her kind mistress. \"Still John will\nnot be hard upon me for a few tears,\" added she, putting the sheet to\nher eyes.\n\n\"Come, come, Sally, this will not do, jump up and dress yourself\nquickly, that you may be ready to brush my hair when I return from the\ndressing-room; you must do it well to day, for you know I am not yet\nsuited with a maid, and do it myself to-morrow.\"\n\nThis roused Sally, who dressed in great haste and was soon at her post.\nLaura asked her many questions about her plans for the future, and found\nwith pleasure that most things had been well considered and arranged.\n\"There is only one thing, Miss,\" said Sally, in conclusion, \"that we are\nsorry for, and it is that we cannot offer old Mrs. Maythorn a home. She\nhas no child but John, and will sadly feel his leaving her.\"\n\n\"But why cannot she live with you and work as she does now, so as to pay\nyou for what she costs?\"\n\n\"Why, Miss, where she is she works about the house for her board, and\ndoes a trifle outdoors besides, that gets her clothing. John says it\nmakes him feel quite cowardly, as it were, to see his old mother working\nat scrubbing and scouring, making her poor back ache, when he is so\nyoung and strong; yet we scarcely know if we could undertake for her\naltogether. I wish we could.\"\n\n\"How much would it cost you?\"\n\n\"A matter of four shillings a week; besides, we must get a bed and\nbedding. That we could put up in the kitchen, if we bought it to shut up\nin the day-time, and, as John says, Mrs. Maythorn would help us nicely\nwhen we get some little ones. But it would cost a deal of money to begin\nand go on with.\"\n\n\"I will think of this for you, Sally. It would be easy for me to give\nyou four shillings a week now, but I may not always be able to do it. I\nmay marry a poor man, or one who will not allow me to spend my money as\nI please, and were Mrs. Maythorn to give up her present employments,\nshe would not be able to get them back again three or four years hence,\nnor would she, at her age, be able to meet with others; and if you would\nfind it difficult to keep her now, you would much more when you have a\nlittle family; so we must do nothing hastily. I will consult papa; he\nwill tell me directly whether I shall be right in promising you the four\nshillings a week. If I do promise it, you may depend on always having\nit.\"\n\n\"Oh, thank you, thank you, Miss, for the thought: I will tell John\ndirectly I see him; the very hope will fill him with joy.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Laura, \"do not tell him yet, Sally, for you would be sorry to\ndisappoint him afterwards, if I could not undertake it. Wait a day or\ntwo, and I will give you an answer; or, if possible, it shall be sooner.\nNow, thank you for the nice brushing: I will put up my hair while you go\nand dress; it is getting late. If you require assistance, and Fanny is\nnot in your room, tap at my door, for I shall be pleased to help you\nto-day.\"\n\nLaura was not called in; but when she thought the toilette must be\nnearly completed, went to Sally with the shawl which she had bought for\nher the day before. As she entered, Sally was folding the white one John\nhad given her. \"I have brought you a shawl,\" said Laura, \"which I want\nyou to wear to-day; it is much handsomer than that you are folding. See,\ndo you like it?\"\n\n\"Yes, Miss,\" said Sally, \"it is a very good one, I see,\" and she began\nto re-fold the other; but Laura noticed the expression of disappointment\nwith which she made the change, and taking up the plain shawl, said, \"I\ndo not know whether this does not suit your neat muslin dress better\nthan mine. Did you buy it yourself, Sally?\"\n\n\"No, Miss, it was John's present; but I will put on yours this morning,\nif you please, Miss, and I can wear John's any day.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" replied Laura, \"you must put on John's to-day. It matters but\nlittle to me when you wear mine, so long as it does you good service;\nbut John will feel hurt if you cast his present aside on your\nwedding-day, because some one else has given you a shawl worth a few\nshillings more.\" So Laura put the white shawl on the shoulders of Sally,\nwho valued it more than the finest Cashmere in the world.\n\nAs Sally went down stairs, she saw Fanny in tears on the landing. \"I\ncannot think how it is,\" answered she, in reply to Sally's questioning,\n\"but just on this day, when I thought to feel so happy, I am quite low.\nMiss Isabel has been so kind, she has dressed me, and quite flustered me\nwith her attentions. See what nice things she has given me--this\nshawl--though for that matter, I'd rather have worn Thomas's. Oh, how\nnice you look. Dear, so neat and becoming your station, and with John's\nshawl, too, but then Miss Laura has made you no present.\"\n\n\"Yes, a good shawl and a promise besides, but I well tell you about that\nanother time. Let us go in now, they must be waiting for us.\"\n\nFanny felt so awkward in her fine clothes, that she could scarcely be\nprevailed on to encounter the gaze of the servants; but her\ngood-natured cousin promising to explain that all her dress was given\nand chosen by her mistress, she at last went into the hall. Sally's\nexplanation was only heard by a few of the party, and as Fanny, in\ntrying to conceal herself from the gaze of the astonished villagers,\nslunk behind old Mrs. Maythorn, she had the mortification of hearing her\nsay to John, in the loud whisper peculiar to deaf people, \"I am so glad,\nJohn, the neat one is yours; I should be quite frightened to see you\ntake such a fine lady as Fanny to the altar; it makes me sorry for\nThomas to see her begin so smart.\"\n\nWhen the ceremony was over, the party returned to the Hall, where a\nhospitable meal had been provided for all the villagers of good\ncharacter who chose to partake of it. It was a merry party, for even\nFanny, when every one had seen her finery long enough to forget it,\nforgot it herself. Thomas was very good-natured about the shawl, and\ndelighted at the prospect of spending a few days at L----. He and Fanny\ntalked of the boat-excursions they would have, the shells they would\ngather for a grotto in their garden, and the long rambles they would\ntake by the sea-side, till they wondered how ever they could have been\ncontented with the prospect of going to their cottage at once.\n\nAs the pony-chaise which the good baronet had lent for the day, drove up\nto take the bridal party to L----, for John and Sally were also to spend\none day there, the two young ladies came to take leave of their\n_prot\u00e9g\u00e9es_. Laura said, \"Good-bye, Sally, I have consulted papa, and\nwill undertake to allow you four shillings a week as long as Mrs.\nMaythorn lives. Here is a sovereign towards expenses; you will not, I am\nsure, mind changing your five pound note for the rest.\"\n\nIsabel said, \"Good-bye, Fanny. I am very, very sorry to disappoint you\nof your treat at L----, but I intended to have borrowed the two pounds\nof Miss Laura, and I find she cannot lend them to me. Never mind, I am\nsure you will be happy enough in your little cottage. I never saw such a\nsweet little place as it is.\" So the bridal party drove away.\n\nIn less than a week the cousins were established in their new abode.\nSally settled and happy; but Fanny, unsettled, always expected the new\ncarpet, the china tea-set, and the various other alterations that Isabel\nhad suggested and promised to make. The young lady, however, was\nunfortunate with her money. At one time she lost a bank-note; at\nanother, just as she was counting out money for the Brussels carpet, the\nnew maid entered to tell her that sundry articles of dress were \"past\nmending,\" and must be immediately replaced. One thing after another\nnipped her generous intentions in the bud, and at last she was obliged\nto set out for her long-expected journey to France without having done\nmore towards the fulfilment of her promises than call frequently on\nFanny, to remind her that all her present arrangements were temporary,\nand that she should shortly have almost everything new.\n\n\"Good-bye, Fanny,\" said she at parting; \"I shall often write to you,\nand send you money. I will not make any distinct promise, for I dare say\nI shall be able to do more than I should like to say now.\"\n\nLaura had given Sally a great many useful things for her cottage, but\nmade no promise at parting. She said, \"Be sure you write to me, Sally,\nfrom time to time, to say how you are going on, and tell me if you want\nhelp.\"\n\nWhen Isabel was gone, Fanny saw that she must accustom herself to her\ncottage as it was, and banish from her mind the idea of the\nlong-anticipated improvements. It was, however, no easy task. The window\nonce regarded as bare and comfortless still seemed so, in spite of\nFanny's reasoning that it was no worse than Sally's, which always looked\ncheerful and pretty. To be sure, John, who did not think of getting\ncurtains, had trained a honeysuckle over it, still that made but little\nshow at present. The carpet, too, so long regarded as a coarse temporary\nthing, never regained the beauty it first had to the eye of Thomas, as\nhe laid it down the evening before he took Fanny to the cottage; and\nFanny could never forget, as she arranged her tea-things, that Miss\nIsabel had called them \"common little things;\" so of all the other\npieces of furniture that the young lady had remarked upon. Sally's house\nwas, in reality, more homely than her cousin's, yet as she had never\nentertained a wish that it should be better, and as Laura had been\npleased with all its arrangements, she bustled about it with perfect\nsatisfaction; and even to Fanny it seemed replete with the comfort her\nown had always wanted.\n\nAt the end of three months Isabel enclosed an order for three pounds to\nFanny, desiring her to get a Brussels carpet, and if there was a\nsufficient remainder, to replace the tea seat.\n\n\"I would rather,\" said Fanny to her cousin, \"put up with the old carpet\nand china, and get a roll of fine flannel, some coals, an extra blanket\nor two, and a cradle for the little one that's coming, for it will be\ncold weather when I am put to bed; but I suppose as Miss Isabel has set\nher mind on the carpet and china, I must get them.\"\n\nA week or two after John was invited, with his wife and mother, to drink\ntea from Fanny's new china. It was very pretty, so was the carpet, and\nso was Fanny making tea, elated with showing her new wealth.\n\n\"Is not Miss Isabel generous?\" asked she, as she held the milk-pot to be\nadmired.\n\n\"I sometimes wish Miss Laura had as much money to spare,\" replied Sally;\n\"for she lets me lay it out as I please, and I could get a number of\nthings for three guineas.\"\n\n\"Fie, Sally,\" said her husband; \"are not three shillings to spend as one\npleases, better than three guineas laid out to please some one else?\"\n\n\"Nonsense, John,\" said Fanny, pettishly; \"how can a carpet for my\nkitchen be bought to please any one but me?\"\n\n\"John isn't far wrong either,\" answered her husband; \"but the carpet is\nvery handsome, and does please you and me too, now it is here.\"\n\nTime passed on, and Fanny gave birth to a little girl. Isabel stood\nsponsor for her by proxy, sending her an embroidered cloak and lace cap,\nand desiring that she should be called by her own name. Little Bella was\nvery sickly, and as her mother had not been able to procure her good\nwarm clothing, or lay in a large stock of firing, she suffered greatly\nfrom cold during the severe winter that followed her birth. The spring\nand summer did not bring her better health; and as Fanny always\nattributed her delicacy to the want of proper warmth in her infancy, she\ntook a great dislike to the Brussels carpet, which now lay in a roll\nbehind a large chest, having been long ago taken up as a piece of\ninconvenient luxury in a kitchen. \"I wish you could find a corner for it\nin your cottage, Sally,\" said she, \"for I never catch a sight of it\nwithout worrying myself to think how much flannels and coals I might\nhave bought with the money it cost.\"\n\nLaura frequently sent Sally small presents of money, but Isabel, though\nnot so regular as her sister, surprised every one by the splendor of\nher presents, when they did come. As Bella entered her second year she\nreceived from her godmother a beautiful little carriage, which Thomas\nsaid must have \"spoilt a five-pound note.\" This was Isabel's last gift,\nfor it was at about this time that she accepted an offer from a French\ncount, and became so absorbed in her own affairs, that she forgot Fanny\nand Bella too. Poor Bella grew more and more sickly every month; the\napothecary ordered her beef tea, arrowroot, and other strengthening\ndiet, but work was slack with Thomas, and it was with difficulty that he\ncould procure her the commonest food. \"I am sure,\" said Fanny to her\ncousin, as little Bella was whining on her knee, \"that if only Miss\nIsabel were here, she would set us all right. She never could bear to\nsee even a stranger in distress.\"\n\n\"I wish,\" said Thomas, \"that great folks would think a little of what\nthey don't see. I'll lay anything Miss Isabel gives away a deal of\nmoney, more than enough to save our little one, to a set of French\nimpostors that cry after her in the street, and yet, when she knows our\nchild is ill, she never cares, because she can't see it grow thin, or\nhear it cry.\"\n\n\"For shame, Thomas,\" said his wife, \"do not speak so rudely of the young\nlady. Have you forgotten the pretty carriage she sent Bella, and how\npleased we were when it came?\"\n\n\"I don't mean any harm,\" answered her husband; \"only it strikes me that\nMiss was pleased to buy the carriage because it was pretty, and seemed a\ngreat thing to send us, and that she wouldn't have cared a straw to give\nus a little cash, that would have served us every bit as well.\"\n\n\"I never heard you so ungrateful, Thomas. Of course she wouldn't,\nbecause she wished to please us.\"\n\n\"Or herself, as John said; but maybe I am wrong; only it goes to my\nheart to see the child want food while there is a filagree carriage in\nthe yard that cost more than would keep her for six months.\"\n\n\"Well, cheer up,\" said Sally; \"Miss Laura will be coming home soon, and\nI'll lay anything she won't let Bella die of want.\"\n\n\"I'm afraid she won't think of giving to me, Sally,\" said Fanny\ndespondingly; \"I was never her maid, you know.\"\n\n\"You wouldn't fear, if you knew Miss Laura as I do, Fanny; she never\ncares who she helps so long as the person is deserving, and in want. She\nhas no pride of that sort.\"\n\nIsabel's marriage was put off, and Laura's return, consequently,\npostponed. As Bella grew worse every day, and yet no help came, the\nunselfish Sally wrote to her patroness, telling her of poor Fanny's\ndistress, and begging her either to send her help, or speak on her\nbehalf to her sister.\n\nIsabel was dressing for a party when Laura showed her Sally's letter.\n\"Poor Fanny,\" said she, \"I wish I had known it before I bought this\nwreath. I have, absolutely, not a half-franc in the world. Will you buy\nthe wreath of me at half-price, it has not even been taken from its\nbox.\"\n\n\"I do not want it,\" said Laura, \"but I will lend you some money.\"\n\n\"No, I cannot borrow more,\" said her sister despondingly. \"I owe you\nalready for the flowers, the brooch, the bill you paid yesterday, and I\nknow not what else besides; but I will tell Eug\u00e8ne there is a poor\nEnglishwoman in distress, I am sure he will send her something.\"\n\nEug\u00e8ne gave her a five-franc piece.\n\nIt was late one frosty evening when Sally ran across to her cousin's\ncottage, delighted to be the bearer of the long hoped-for letter. Fanny\nwas sitting on the fender before a small fire, hugging her darling to\nher breast, and breathing on its little face to make the air warmer.\n\"I'm afraid,\" said she, in answer to Sally's inquiries, \"that the child\nwon't be here long;\" and she wiped away a few hot tears that had forced\ntheir way as she sat listening to the low moans of the little sufferer.\n\n\"But I have good news for you,\" said her cousin, cheerfully. \"Here is a\nletter from Miss Isabel at last. I would not tell you before, but I\nwrote to Miss Laura, saying how you were expecting every week to be put\nto bed again, and how Bella was wasting away, and see, I was right about\nher, she has sent you a sovereign, and her sister's letter, no-doubt,\ncontains a pretty sum.\"\n\nFanny started up, and could scarcely breathe as she broke the seal. What\nwas her disappointment on seeing an order for five shillings!\n\n\"I am very sorry, my good Fanny,\" said Isabel, \"that just now I have no\nmoney. A charitable gentleman sends you five shillings, and as soon as I\npossibly can, I will let you have a large sum. I have not yet paid for\nthe carriage I sent you, and as the bill has been given me several\ntimes, I must discharge it before I send away more money. I hope that by\nthis time, little Bella is better.\"\n\nFanny laid her child upon the bed, and putting her face by its side,\nshed bitter tears. Sally did not speak, and so both remained till Thomas\ncame in from his work. Fanny would have hidden the letter from him, but\nhe saw and seized it in a moment.\n\n\"Five guineas for a carriage, and five shillings for a child's life,\"\nsaid he with a sneer, as he laid it down. \"Do not look for the large\nsum, Fanny, you won't get it; but I will work hard, and bury the child\ndecently.\"\n\nFanny felt no inclination to defend her mistress. For the first time, it\noccurred to her that Thomas and John might be right in their judgment of\nher. She raised Bella, as Thomas, who had been twisting up the money\norder, was about to throw it in the fire. He caught a sight of the\nchild's wan face, and, advancing to the bed, said, in a softened tone,\n\"Do you know father, pretty one?\" and as Bella smiled faintly, he added,\n\"I will do anything for your sake. Here, Fanny, take the money, and get\nthe child something nourishing.\"\n\nBella seemed to revive from getting better food; and the apothecary held\nout great hope of her ultimate recovery, if the improved diet could be\ncontinued; but expenses fell heavily on Thomas, Fanny was put to bed\nwith a fine strong little boy, and, although Sally and Mrs. Maythorn\ndevoted themselves to her and Bella, the anxiety she suffered from\nbeing separated from her invalid child, added to her former constant\nuneasiness, and want of proper food, brought on a fever that threatened\nher life. In a few days she became quite delirious. During this time\nIsabel was married, and Laura returned to England.\n\nWhen Fanny regained her consciousness she was in the dark, but she could\nsee some one standing by the window. On her speaking the person advanced\nto her side. \"Do not be startled to find me here,\" said a sweet soft\nvoice. \"Sally has watched by your side for three nights, and when I came\nthis evening she looked so ill that I insisted on her going to bed;\nthen, as we could find no one on whose care and watchfulness we could\ndepend, I took her place. You have been in a sound sleep. Dr. Hart said\nyou would wake up much better. Are you better?\"\n\n\"Yes, ma'am, a deal better; but where am I, and who is it with me?\"\n\n\"You are in your own pretty cottage, and Miss Laura is with you. You\nexpected me home, did you not?\"\n\n\"Oh, thank God; who sent you, dear Miss Laura? How is--but may-be I had\nbest not ask just while I am so weak. Is the dear boy well?\"\n\n\"Yes, quite well; and Bella is much better. I have sent her for a few\ndays to L----, with Mrs. Maythorn; the sea air will do her good.\"\n\n\"Oh, thank you--thank you--dear young lady, for the thought. I seem so\nbound up in that dear child, that nothing could comfort me for her loss.\nHow good and kind you are, Miss--you do all so well and so quietly!\"\n\n\"Yes, Fanny, dear,\" said Thomas, coming from behind the curtain and\nstooping to kiss his wife. \"Miss Laura has saved you and Bella, and me,\ntoo, for I couldn't have lived if you had died; and has found me work;\nand all without making one great present, or doing anything one could\nspeak about. I'll tell you what it is, wife, dear, Miss Isabel does all\nfor the best, but it is just as she feels at the moment. Now Miss\nLaura--if I may be so bold to speak, Miss--Miss Laura does not give to\nplease her own feelings, but to do good. I can't say it well, but do you\nsay it for me, Miss; I want Fanny to know the right words, to teach the\nlittle ones by-and-by. You know what I wish to say, Miss Laura.\"\n\n\"Yes, Thomas,\" said Laura, blushing, \"but I do not say you are right.\nYou mean, I think, that my sister acts from impulse, and I from\nprinciple. Is that it?\"\n\n\"I suppose that's it, Miss,\" said Thomas, considering, and apparently\nnot quite satisfied.\n\n\"You have no harder meaning, I am sure,\" said Laura, quietly, \"because I\nlove my sister very much.\"\n\n\"Certainly not, Miss,\" returned Thomas. \"But, myself, if I may take the\nliberty of gratefully saying so, I prefer to be acted to on principle,\nand think it a good deal better than impulse.\"\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nBed.\n\n    \"Oh, Sleep! it is a gentle thing,\n      Beloved from pole to pole!\"\n\n\nWas the heart's cry of the Ancient Mariner at the recollection of the\nblessed moment when the fearful curse of life in death fell off him, and\nthe heavenly sleep first \"slid into his soul.\" \"Blessings on sleep!\"\nsaid honest Sancho Panza: \"it wraps one all around like a mantle!\"--a\nmantle for the weary human frame, lined softly, as with the down of the\neider-duck, and redolent of the soothing odors of the poppy. The fabled\ncave of Sleep was in the land of Darkness. No ray of the sun, or moon,\nor stars, ever broke upon that night without a dawn. The breath of\nsomniferous flowers floated in on the still air from the grotto's\nmouth. Black curtains hung round the ever-sleeping god; the Dreams stood\naround his couch; Silence kept watch at the portals. Take the winged\nDreams from the picture, and what is left? The sleep of matter.\n\nThe dreams that come floating through our sleep, and fill the dormitory\nwith visions of love or terror--what are they? Random freaks of the\nfancy? Or is sleep but one long dream, of which we see only fragments,\nand remember still less? Who shall explain the mystery of that loosening\nof the soul and body, of which night after night whispers to us, but\nwhich day after day is unthought of? Reverie, sleep, trance--such are\nthe stages between the world of man and the world of spirits. Dreaming\nbut deepens as we advance. Reverie deepens into the dreams of\nsleep--sleep into trance--trance borders on death. As the soul retires\nfrom the outer senses, as it escapes from the trammels of the flesh, it\nlives with increased power within. Spirit grows more spirit-like as\nmatter slumbers. We can follow the development up to the last stage.\nWhat is beyond?\n\n    \"And in that _sleep of death_, what dreams may come!\"\n\nsays Hamlet--pausing on the brink of eternity, and vainly striving to\nscan the inscrutable. Trance is an awful counterpart of sleep and\ndeath--mysterious in itself, appalling in its hazards. Day after day\nnoise has been hushed in the dormitory--month after month it has seen a\nhuman frame grow weaker and weaker, wanner, more deathlike, till the\nhues of the grave  the face of the living. And now he lies,\nmotionless, pulseless, breathless. It is not sleep--is it death?\n\nLeigh Hunt is said to have perpetrated a very bad pun connected with the\ndormitory, and which made Charles Lamb laugh immoderately. Going home\ntogether late one night, the latter repeated the well-known proverb, \"A\nhome's a home, however homely.\" \"Ay,\" added Hunt, \"and a bed's a bed,\nhowever _bedly_.\" It is a strange thing, a bed. Somebody has called it a\nbundle of paradoxes; we go to it reluctantly, and leave it with regret.\nOnce within the downy precincts of the four posts, how loth we are to\nmake our exodus into the wilderness of life. We are as enamored of our\ncurtained dwelling as if it were the land of Goshen or the cave of\nCirce. And how many fervent vows have those dumb posts heard broken!\nevery fresh perjury rising to join its cloud of hovering fellows, each\nmorning weighing heavier and heavier on our sluggard eyelids. A caustic\nproverb says,--we are all \"good risers at night;\" but woe's me for our\nagility in the morning. It is a failing of our species, ever ready to\nbreak out in all of us, and in some only vanquished after a struggle\npainful as the sundering of bone and marrow. The Great Frederic of\nPrussia found it easier, in after life, to rout the French and\nAustrians, than in youth to resist the seductions of sleep. After many\nsingle-handed attempts at reformation, he had at last to call to his\nassistance an old domestic, whom he charged, on pain of dismissal, to\npull him out of bed every morning at two o'clock. The plan succeeded,\nas it deserved to succeed. All men of action are impressed with the\nimportance of early rising. \"When you begin to turn in bed, its time to\nturn out,\" says the old Duke; and we believe his practice has been in\naccordance with his precept. Literary men--among whom, as Bulwer says, a\ncertain indolence seems almost constitutional--are not so clear upon\nthis point: they are divided between Night and Morning, though the best\nauthorities seem in favor of the latter. Early rising is the best\n_elixir vit\u00e6_: it is the only lengthener of life that man has ever\ndevised. By its aid the great Buffon was able to spend half a\ncentury--an ordinary lifetime--at his desk; and yet had time to be the\nmost modish of all the philosophers who then graced the gay metropolis\nof France.\n\nSleep is a treasure and a pleasure; and, as you love it, guard it\nwarily. Over-indulgence is ever suicidal, and destroys the pleasure it\nmeans to gratify. The natural times for our lying down and rising up are\nplain enough. Nature teaches us, and unsophisticated mankind followed\nher. Singing birds and opening flowers hail the sunrise, and the hush of\ngroves and the closed eyelids of the parterre mark his setting. But \"man\nhath sought out many inventions.\" We prolong our days into the depths of\nnight, and our nights into the splendor of day. It is a strange result\nof civilization! It is not merely occasioned by that thirst for varied\namusement which characterizes an advanced stage of society--it is not\nthat theatres, balls, dancing, masquerades, require an artificial light,\nfor all these are or have been equally enjoyed elsewhere beneath the eye\nof day. What is the cause, we really are not philosopher enough to say;\nbut the prevalence of the habit must have given no little pungency to\nhonest Benjamin Franklin's joke, when, one summer, he announced to the\nParisians as a great discovery--that the sun rose each morning at four\no'clock; and that, whereas, they burnt no end of candles by sitting up\nat night, they might rise in the morning and have light for nothing.\nFranklin's \"discovery,\" we dare say, produced a laugh at the time, and\nthings went on as before. Indeed, so universal is this artificial\ndivision of day and night, and so interwoven with it are the social\nhabits, that we shudder at the very idea of returning to the natural\norder of things. A Robespierre could not carry through so stupendous a\nrevolution. Nothing less than an avatar of Siva the destroyer--Siva\nwith his hundred arms, turning off as many gas-pipes, and replenishing\nhis necklace of human skulls by decapitating the leading\nconservatives--could have any chance of success; and, ten to one, with\nour gassy splendors, and seducing glitter, we should convert that pagan\ndevil ere half his work was done.\n\nBut of all the inventions which perverse ingenuity has sought out, the\nmost incongruous, the most heretical against both nature and art, is\nreading in bed. Turning rest into labor, learning into ridicule. A man\nhad better be up. He is spoiling two most excellent things by attempting\nto join them. Study and sleep--how incongruous! It is an idle coupling\nof opposites, and shocks a sensible man as much as if he were to meet\nin the woods the apparition of a winged elephant. Only fancy an elderly\nor middle-aged man (for youth is generally orthodox on this point),\nsitting up in bed, spectacles on his nose, a Kilmarnock on his head, and\nhis flannel jacket round his shivering shoulders,--doing what? Reading?\nIt may be so--but he winks so often, possibly from the glare of the\ncandle, and the glasses now and then slip so far down on his nose, and\nhis hand now and then holds the volume so unsteadily, that if he himself\ndidn't assure us to the contrary, we should suppose him half asleep. We\nare sure it must be a great relief to him when the neglected book at\nlast tumbles out of bed to such a distance that he cannot recover it.\n\nNevertheless, we have heard this extraordinary custom excused on the no\nless extraordinary ground of its being a soporific. For those who\nrequire such things, Marryat gives a much simpler recipe--namely, to\nmentally repeat any scraps of poetry you can recollect; if your own, so\nmuch the better. The monks of old, in a similar emergency, used to\nrepeat the seven Penitential Psalms. Either of these plans, we doubt\nnot, will be found equally efficacious, if one is able to use them--if\nanxiety of mind does not divert him from his task, or the lassitude of\nillness disable him for attempting it. Sleep, alas! is at times fickle\nand coy; and, like most sublunary friends, forsakes us when most wanted.\nReading in that repertory of many curious things, the \"Book of the\nFarm,\" we one day met with the statement that \"a pillow of hops will\nensure sleep to a patient in a delirious fever when every other\nexpedient fails.\" We made a note of it. Heaven forbid that the recipe\nshould ever be needed for us or ours! but the words struck a chord of\nsympathy in our heart with such poor sufferers, and we saddened with the\ndread of that awful visitation. The fever of delirium! when incoherent\nwords wander on the lips of genius; when the sufferer stares strangely\nand vacantly on his ministering friends, or starts with freezing horror\nfrom the arms of familiar love! Ah! what a dread tenant has the\ndormitory then. No food taken for the body, no sleep for the brain! a\nhuman being surging with diabolic strength against his keepers--a human\nframe gifted with superhuman vigor only the more rapidly to destroy\nitself! Less fearful to the eye, but more harrowing to the soul, is the\ndormitory whose walls enclose the sleepless victim of Remorse. No\npoppies or mandragora for him! His malady ends only with the fever of\nlife. _Ends?_ Grief, anxiety, \"the thousand several ills that flesh is\nheir to,\" pass away before the lapse of time or the soothings of love,\nand sleep once more folds its dove-like wings above the couch.\n\n\"If there be a regal solitude,\" says Charles Lamb, \"it is a bed. How the\npatient lords it there; what caprices he acts without control! How\nking-like he sways his pillow,--tumbling and tossing, and shifting, and\nlowering, and thumping, and flatting, and moulding it to the\never-varying requisitions of his throbbing temples. He changes _sides_\noftener than a politician. Now he lies full-length, then half-length,\nobliquely, transversely, head and feet quite across the bed; and none\naccuses him of tergiversation. Within the four curtains he is absolute.\nThey are his Mare Clausum. How sickness enlarges the dimensions of a\nman's self to himself! He is his own exclusive object. Supreme\nselfishness is inculcated on him as his only duty. 'Tis the two Tables\nof the Law to him. He has nothing to think of but how to get well. What\npasses out of doors or within them, so he hear not the jarring of them,\naffects him not.\"\n\nIn this climate a sight of the sun is prized; but we love to see it most\nfrom bed. A dormitory fronting the east, therefore, so that the early\nsunbeams may rouse us to the dewy beauties of morning, we love. Let\nthere also be festooned roses without the window, that on opening it the\nperfume may pervade the realms of bed. Our night-bower should be\nsimple--neat as a fairy's cell, and ever perfumed with the sweet air of\nheaven. It is not a place for showy things, or costly. As fire is the\npresiding genius in other rooms, so let water, symbol of purity, be in\nthe ascendant here; water, fresh and unturbid as the thoughts that here\nmake their home--water, to wash away the dust and sweat of a weary\nworld. Let no _fracas_ disturb the quiet of the dormitory. We go there\nfor repose. Our tasks and our cares are left outside, only to be put on\nagain with our hat and shoes in the morning. It is an asylum from the\nbustle of life--it is the inner shrine of our household gods--and should\nbe respected accordingly. We never entered during the ordinary process\nof bed-making--pillows tossed here, blankets and sheets pitched hither\nand thither in wildest confusion, chairs and pitchers in the middle of\nthe floor, feathers and dust everywhere--without a jarring sense that\nsacrilege was going on, and that the _genius loci_ had departed. Rude\nhands were profaning the home of our slumbers!\n\nA sense of security pervades the dormitory. A healthy man in bed is free\nfrom everything but dreams, and once in a life-time, or after adjudging\nthe Cheese Premium at an Agricultural Show--the nightmare. We once heard\na worthy gentleman, blessed with a very large family of daughters,\ndeclare he had no peace in his house except in bed. There we feel as if\nin a city of refuge, secure alike from the brawls of earth and the\nstorms of heaven. Lightning, say old ladies, won't come through,\nblankets. Even tigers, says Humboldt, \"will not attack a man in his\nhammock.\" Hitting a man when he's down is stigmatized as villanous all\nthe world over; and lions will rather sit with an empty stomach for\nhours than touch a man before he awakes. Tricks upon a sleeper! Oh,\nvillanous! Every perpetrator of such unutterable treachery should be put\nbeyond the pale of society. The First of April should have no place in\nthe calendar of the dormitory. We would have the maxim, \"Let sleeping\ndogs lie,\" extended to the human race. And an angry dog, certainly, is a\nman roused needlessly from his slumbers. What an outcry we Northmen\nraised against the introduction of Greenwich time, which defrauded us of\nfifteen minutes' sleep in the morning; and how indiscriminate the\nobjurgations lavished upon printers' devils! Of all sinners against the\nnocturnal comfort of literary men, these imps are the foremost; and\npossibly it was from their malpractices in such matters that they first\nacquired their diabolic cognomen.\n\nThe nightcap is not an elegant head-dress, but its comfort is\nundeniable. It is a diadem of night; and what tranquillity follows our\nself-coronation! It is priceless as the invisible cap of Fortunatus;\nand, viewless beneath its folds, our cares cannot find us out. It is\ngraceless. Well; what then? It is not meant for the garish eye of day,\nnor for the quizzing glass of our fellow-men, or of the ridiculing race\nof women; neither does it outrage any taste for the beautiful in the\nhappy sleeper himself. We speak as bachelors, to whom the pleasures of a\nmanifold existence are unknown. Possibly the \u00e6sthetics of night are not\nuncared for when a man has another self to please, and when a pair of\nlovely eyes are fixed admiringly on his upper story; but such is the\nselfishness of human nature, that we suspect this abnegation of comfort\nwill not long survive the honeymoon. The French, ever enamored of\neffect, and who, we verily believe, even _sleep_, \"_pos\u00e9_,\" sometimes\nsubstitute the many- silken handkerchief for the graceless\n\"_bonnet-de-nuit_.\" But all such substitutes are less comfortable and\nmore troublesome; and of all irritating things, the most irritable is a\ncomplex operation in undressing. \u00c6sthetics at night, and for the weary!\nNo, no. The weary man frets at every extra button or superfluous knot,\nhe counts impatiently every second that keeps him from his couch, and\nflies to the arms of sleep as to those of his mistress. Nevertheless,\nFrench novelette writers make a great outcry against nightcaps. We\nremember an instance. A husband--rather good-looking fellow--suspects\nthat his wife is beginning to have too tender thoughts towards a\nglossy-ringletted Lothario who is then staying with them. So, having\naccidentally discovered that Lothario slept in a huge peeked nightcowl,\nand knowing that ridicule would prove the most effectual disenchanter,\nhe fastened a string to his guest's bell, and passed it into his own\nroom.\n\nAt the dead of night, when all were fast asleep, suddenly Lothario's\nbell rang furiously. Upstarted the lady--\"their guest must be\nill;\"--and, accompanied by her husband, elegantly coiffed in a turbaned\nsilk handkerchief, she entered the room whence the alarum had sounded.\nThey find Lothario sitting up in bed--his cowl rising pyramid-fashion, a\nfool's cap all but the bells--bewildered and in ludicrous consternation\nat being surprised thus by the fair Angelica; and, unable to conceal his\nchagrin, he completes his discomfiture by bursting out in wrathful abuse\nof his laughing host for so betraying his weakness for nightcaps.\n\nThe Poetry of the Dormitory! It is an inviting but too delicate a\nsubject for our rough hands. Do not the very words call up a vision? By\nthe light of the stars we see a lovely head resting on a downy pillow;\nthe bloom of the rose is on that young cheek, and the half-parted lips\nmurmur as in a dream: \"Edward!\" Love is lying light at her heart, and\nits fairy wand is showing her visions. May her dreams be happy!\n\"Edward!\" Was it a sigh that followed that gentle invocation? What would\nthe youth give to hear that murmur,--to gaze like yonder stars on his\nslumbering love. Hush! are the morning-stars singing together--a lullaby\nto soothe the dreamer? A low dulcet strain floats in through the window;\nand soon, mingling with the breathings of the lute, the voice of youth.\nThe harmony penetrates through the slumbering senses to the dreamer's\nheart; and ere the golden curls are lifted from the pillow, she is\nconscious of all. The serenade begins anew. What does she hear?\n\n    \"Stars of the summer night!\n         Far in yon azure deeps,\n     Hide, hide your golden light!\n         She sleeps!\n     My lady sleeps!\n         Sleeps!\n\n     Dreams of the summer night!\n         Tell her her lover keeps\n     Watch! while in slumbers light\n         She sleeps\n     My lady sleeps!\n         Sleeps!\"\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nThe Home of Woodruffe the Gardener.\n\n\nI.\n\n\"How pleased the boy looks, to be sure!\" observed Woodruffe to his wife,\nas his son Allan caught up little Moss (as Maurice had chosen to call\nhimself before he could speak plain) and made him jump from the top of\nthe drawers upon the chair, and then from the chair to the ground. \"He\nis making all that racket just because he is so pleased he does not know\nwhat to do with himself.\"\n\n\"I suppose he will forgive Fleming now for carrying off Abby,\" said the\nmother. \"I say, Allan, what do you think now of Abby marrying away from\nus?\"\n\n\"Why, I think it's a very good thing. You know she never told me that we\nshould go and live where she lived, and in such a pretty place, too,\nwhere I may have a garden of my own, and see what I can make of it--all\nfresh from the beginning, as father says.\"\n\n\"You are to try your hand at the business, I know,\" replied the mother,\n\"but I never heard your father, nor any one else, say that the place was\na pretty one. I did not think new railway stations had been pretty\nplaces at all.\"\n\n\"It sounds so to him, naturally,\" interposed Woodruffe. \"He hears of a\nsouth aspect, and a <DW72> to the north for shelter, and the town seen\nfar off; and that sounds all very pleasant. And then, there is the\nthought of the journey, and the change, and the fun of getting the\nground all into nice order, and, best of all, the seeing his sister so\nsoon again. Youth is the time for hope and joy, you know, love.\"\n\nAnd Woodruffe began to whistle, and stepped forward to take his turn at\njumping Moss, whom he carried in one flight from the top of the drawers\nto the floor. Mrs. Woodruffe smiled, as she thought that youth was not\nthe only season, with some people, for hope and joy.\n\nHer husband, always disposed to look on the bright side, was\nparticularly happy this evening. The lease of his market-garden ground\nwas just expiring. He had prospered on it; and would have desired\nnothing better than to live by it as long as he lived at all. He desired\nthis so much that he would not believe a word of what people had been\nsaying for two years past, that his ground would be wanted by his\nlandlord on the expiration of the lease, and that it would not be let\nagain. His wife had long foreseen this; but not till the last moment\nwould he do what she thought should have been done long before--offer to\nbuy the ground. At the ordinary price of land, he could accomplish the\npurchase of it; but when he found his landlord unwilling to sell, he bid\nhigher and higher, till his wife was so alarmed at the rashness, that\nshe was glad when a prospect of entire removal opened. Woodruffe was\nsure that he could have paid off all he offered at the end of a few\nyears; but his partner thought it would have been a heavy burden on\ntheir minds, and a sad waste of money; and she was therefore, in her\nheart, obliged to the landlord for persisting in his refusal to sell.\n\nWhen that was settled, Woodruffe became suddenly sure that he could pick\nup an acre or two of land somewhere not far off. But he was mistaken;\nand, if he had not been mistaken, market-gardening was no longer the\nprofitable business it had been, when it enabled him to lay by something\nevery year. By the opening of a railway, the townspeople, a few miles\noff, got themselves better supplied with vegetables from another\nquarter. It was this which put it into the son-in-law's head to propose\nthe removal of the family into Staffordshire, where he held a small\nappointment on a railway. Land might be had at a low rent near the\nlittle country station where his business lay; and the railway brought\nwithin twenty minutes' distance a town where there must be a\nconsiderable demand for garden produce. The place was in a raw state at\npresent; and there were so few houses, that, if there had been a choice\nof time, the Flemings would rather have put off the coming of the family\ntill some of the cottages already planned had been built; but the\nWoodruffes must remove in September, and all parties agreed that they\nshould not mind a little crowding for a few months. Fleming's cottage\nwas to hold them all till some chance of more accommodation should\noffer.\n\n\"I'll tell you what,\" said Woodruffe, after standing for some time, half\nwhistling and thinking, with that expression on his face which his wife\nhad long learned to be afraid of, \"I'll write to-morrow--let's see--I\nmay as well do it to-night;\" and he looked round for paper and ink.\n\"I'll write to Fleming, and get him to buy the land for me at once.\"\n\n\"Before you see it?\" said his wife, looking up from her stocking\nmending.\n\n\"Yes. I know all about it, as much as if I were standing on it this\nmoment; and I am sick of this work--of being turned out just when I had\nmade the most of a place, and got attached to it. I'll make a sure thing\nof it this time, and not have such a pull at my heart-strings again. And\nthe land will be cheaper now than later; and we shall go to work upon it\nwith such heart, if it is our own! Eh?\"\n\n\"Certainly, if we find, after seeing it, that we like it as well as we\nexpect. I would just wait till then.\"\n\n\"As well as we expect! Why, bless my soul! don't we know all about it?\nIt is not any land-agent or interested person, that has described it to\nus; but our own daughter and her husband; and do not they know what we\nwant? The quantity at my own choice; the aspect capital; plenty of water\n(only too much, indeed); the soil anything but poor, and sand and marl\nwithin reach to reduce the stiffness; and manure at command, all along\nthe railway, from half-a-dozen towns; and osier-beds at hand (within my\nown bounds if I like) giving all manner of convenience for fencing, and\nbinding, and covering! Why, what would you have?\"\n\n\"It sounds very pleasant, certainly.\"\n\n\"Then, how can you make objections? I can't think where you look, to\nfind any objections?\"\n\n\"I see none now, and I only want to be sure that we shall find none when\nwe arrive.\"\n\n\"Well! I do call that unreasonable! To expect to find any place on earth\naltogether unobjectionable! I wonder what objection could be so great as\nbeing turned out of one after another, just as we have got them into\norder. Here comes our girl. Well, Becky, I see how you like the news!\nNow, would not you like it better still if we were going to a place of\nour own, where we should not be under any landlord's whims? We should\nhave to work, you know, one and all. But we would get the land properly\nmanured, and have a cottage of our own in time; would not we? Will you\nundertake the pigs, Becky?\"\n\n\"Yes, father; and there are many things I can do in the garden too. I am\nold and strong, now; and I can do much more than I have ever done here.\"\n\n\"Aye; if the land was our own,\" said Woodruffe, with a glance at his\nwife. She said no more, but was presently up stairs putting Moss to bed.\nShe knew, from long experience, how matters would go. After a restless\nnight, Woodruffe spoke no more of buying the land without seeing it; and\nhe twice said, in a meditative, rather than a communicative way, that he\nbelieved it would take as much capital as he had to remove his family,\nand get his new land into fit condition for spring crops.\n\n\nII.\n\n\"You may look out now for the place. Look out for our new garden. We are\njust there now,\" said Woodruffe to the children as the whistle sounded,\nand the train was approaching the station. It had been a glorious autumn\nday from the beginning; and for the last hour, while the beauty of the\nlight on fields and trees and water had been growing more striking, the\nchildren, tired with the novelty of all that they had seen since\nmorning, had been dropping asleep. They roused up suddenly enough at the\nnews that they were reaching their new home; and thrust their heads to\nthe windows, eagerly asking on which side they were to look for their\ngarden. It was on the south, the left-hand side; but it might have been\nanywhere, for what they could see of it. Below the embankment was\nsomething like a sheet of gray water, spreading far away.\n\n\"It is going to be a foggy night,\" observed Woodruffe. The children\nlooked into the air for the fog, which had always, in their experience,\narrived by that way from the sea. The sky was all a clear blue, except\nwhere a pale green and a faint blush of pink streaked the west. A large\nplanet beamed clear and bright; and the air was so transparent that the\nvery leaves on the trees might almost be counted. Yet could nothing be\nseen below for the gray mist which was rising, from moment to moment.\n\nFleming met them as they alighted; but he could not stay till he had\nseen to the other passengers. His wife was there. She had been a\nmerry-hearted girl; and now, still so young, as to look as girlish as\never, she seemed even merrier than ever. She did not look strong, but\nshe had hardly thrown off what she called \"a little touch of the ague;\"\nand she declared herself perfectly well when the wind was anywhere but\nin the wrong quarter. Allan wondered how the wind could go wrong. He had\nnever heard of such a thing before. He had known the wind too high, when\nit did mischief among his father's fruit trees; but it had never\noccurred to him that it was not free to come and go whence and whither\nit would, without blame or objection.\n\n\"Come--come home,\" exclaimed Mrs. Fleming, \"Never mind about your bags\nand boxes! My husband will take care of them. Let me show you the way\nhome.\"\n\nShe let go the hands of the young brothers, and loaded them, and then\nherself, with parcels, that they might not think they were going to lose\neverything, as she said; and then tripped on before to show the way. The\nway was down steps, from the highest of which two or three chimney-tops\nmight be seen piercing the mist which hid everything else. Down, down,\ndown went the party, by so many steps that little Moss began to totter\nunder his bundle.\n\n\"How low this place lies!\" observed the mother.\n\n\"Why, yes;\" replied Mrs. Fleming. \"And yet I don't know. I believe it is\nrather that the railway runs high.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes; that is it,\" said Woodruffe. \"What an embankment this is! If\nthis is to shelter my garden to the north--\"\n\n\"Yes, yes, it is. I knew you would like it,\" exclaimed Mrs. Fleming. \"I\nsaid you would be delighted. I only wish you could see your ground at\nonce; but it seems rather foggy, and I suppose we must wait till the\nmorning. Here we are at home.\"\n\nThe travellers were rather surprised to see how very small a house this\n\"home\" was. Though called a cottage, it had not the look of one. It was\nof a red brick, dingy, though evidently new; and, to all appearance, it\nconsisted of merely a room below, and one above. On walking round it,\nhowever, a sloping roof in two directions gave a hint of further\naccommodation.\n\nWhen the whole party had entered, and Mrs. Fleming had kissed them all\nround, her glance at her mother asked, as plainly as any words, \"Is not\nthis a pleasant room?\"\n\n\"A pretty room, indeed, my dear,\" was the mother's reply, \"and as nicely\nfurnished as one could wish.\"\n\nShe did not say anything of the rust which her quick eye perceived on\nthe fire-irons and the door-key, or of the damp which stained the walls\njust above the skirting-board. There was nothing amiss with the ceiling,\nor the higher parts of the wall,--so it might be an accident.\n\n\"But, my dear,\" asked the mother, seeing how sleepy Moss looked, \"Where\nare you going to put us all? If we crowd you out of all comfort, I shall\nbe sorry we came so soon.\"\n\nAs Mrs. Fleming led the way upstairs, she reminded her family of their\nagreement not to mind a little crowding for a time. If her mother\nthought there was not room for all the newly arrived in this chamber,\nthey could fit out a corner for Allan in the place where she and her\nhusband were to sleep.\n\n\"All of us in this room?\" exclaimed Becky.\n\n\"Yes, Becky; why not? Here, you see, is a curtain between your bed and\nthe large one; and your bed is large enough to let little Moss sleep\nwith you. And here is a morsel of a bed for Allan in the other corner;\nand I have another curtain ready to shut it in.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Becky, who was going on to object. Her mother stopped her by\na sign.\n\n\"Or,\" continued Mrs. Fleming, \"if you like to let Allan and his bed and\ncurtain come down to our place, you will have plenty of room here; much\nmore than my neighbors have, for the most part. How it will be when the\nnew cottages are built, I don't know. We think them too small for new\nhouses; but, meantime, there are the Brookes sleeping seven in a room no\nbigger than this, and the Vines six in one much smaller.\"\n\n\"How do they manage, now?\" asked the mother. \"In case of illness, say;\nand how do they wash and dress?\"\n\n\"Ah! that is the worst part of it. I don't think the boys wash\nthemselves--what we should call washing--for weeks together; or at least\nonly on Saturday nights. So they slip their clothes on in two minutes;\nand then their mother and sisters can get up. But there is the pump\nbelow for Allan, and he can wash as much as he pleases.\"\n\nIt was not till the next day that Mrs. Woodruffe knew--and then it was\nAllan who told her--that the pump was actually in the very place where\nthe Flemings slept,--close by their bed. The Flemings were, in truth,\nsleeping in an outhouse, where the floor was of brick, the swill-tub\nstood in one corner, the coals were heaped in another, and the light\ncame in from a square hole high up, which had never till now been\nglazed. Plenty of air rushed in under the door, and yet some more\nbetween the tiles,--there being no plaster beneath them. As soon as Mrs.\nWoodruffe had been informed of this, and had stepped in, while her\ndaughter's back was turned, to make her own observations, she went out\nby herself for a walk,--so long a walk, that it was several hours before\nshe reappeared, heated and somewhat depressed. She had roamed the\ncountry round, in search of lodgings; and finding none,--finding no\noccupier who really could possibly spare a room on any terms,--she had\nreturned convinced that, serious as the expense would be, she and her\nfamily ought to settle themselves in the nearest town,--her husband\ngoing to his business daily by the third-class train, till a dwelling\ncould be provided for them on the spot.\n\nWhen she returned, the children were on the watch for her; and little\nMoss had strong hopes that she would not know him. He had a great cap\nof rushes on his head, with a heavy bulrush for a feather; he was stuck\nall over with water-flags and bulrushes, and carried a long osier wand,\nwherewith to flog all those who did not admire him enough in his new\nstyle of dress. The children were clamorous for their mother to come\ndown, and see the nice places where they got these new playthings; and\nshe would have gone, but that their father came up, and decreed it\notherwise. She was heated and tired, he said; and he would not have her\ngo till she was easy and comfortable enough to see things in the best\nlight.\n\nHer impression was that her husband was, more or less (and she did not\nknow why), disappointed; but he did not say so. He would not hear of\ngoing off to the town, being sure that some place would turn up\nsoon,--some place where they might put their heads at night; and the\nFlemings should be no losers by having their company by day. Their\nboarding all together, if the sleeping could but be managed, would be a\nhelp to the young people,--a help which it was pleasant to him, as a\nfather, to be able to give them. He said nothing about the land that was\nnot in praise of it. Its quality was excellent; or would be when it had\ngood treatment. It would take some time and trouble to get it in\norder,--so much that it would never do to live at a distance from it.\nBesides, no trains that would suit him ran at the proper hours; so there\nwas an end of it. They must all rough it a little for a time, and expect\ntheir reward afterwards.\n\nThere was nothing that Woodruffe was so hard to please in as the time\nwhen he should take his wife to see the ground. It was close at hand;\nyet he hindered her going in the morning, and again after their early\ndinner. He was anxious that she should not be prejudiced, or take a\ndislike at first; and in the morning, the fog was so thick that\neverything looked dank and dreary; and in the middle of the day, when a\nwarm autumn sun had dissolved the mists, there certainly was a most\ndisagreeable smell hanging about. It was not gone at sunset; but by\nthat time Mrs. Woodruffe was impatient, and she appeared--Allan showing\nher the way--just when her husband was scraping his feet upon his spade,\nafter a hard day of digging.\n\n\"There, now!\" said he, good-humoredly, striking his spade into the\nground, \"Fleming said you would be down before we were ready for you;\nand here you are!--Yes, ready for you. There are some planks coming, to\nkeep your feet out of the wet among all this clay.\"\n\n\"And yours, too, I hope,\" said the wife. \"I don't mind such wet, after\nrain, as you have been accustomed to; but to stand in a puddle like this\nis a very different thing.\"\n\n\"Yes--so 'tis. But we'll have the planks; and they will serve for\nrunning the wheelbarrow, too. It is too much for Allan, or any boy, to\nrun the barrow in such a soil as this. We'll have the planks first; and\nthen we'll drain, and drain, and get rare spring crops.\"\n\n\"What have they given you this artificial pond for,\" asked the wife, \"if\nyou must drain so much?\"\n\n\"That is no pond. All the way along here, on both sides the railway,\nthere is the mischief of these pits. They dig out the clay for bricks,\nand then leave the places--pits like this, some of them six feet deep.\nThe railways have done a deal of good for the poor man, and will do a\ngreat deal more yet; but, at present, this one has left those pits.\"\n\n\"I hope Moss will not fall into one. They are very dangerous,\" declared\nthe mother, looking about for the child.\n\n\"He is safe enough there, among the osiers,\" said the father. \"He has\nlost his heart outright to the osiers. However, I mean to drain and fill\nup this pit, when I find a good out-fall; and then we will have all high\nand dry, and safe for the children. I don't care so much for the pit as\nfor the ditches there. Don't you notice the bad smell?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed, that struck me the first night.\"\n\n\"I have been inquiring to-day, and I find there is one acre in twenty\nhereabouts occupied with foul ditches like that. And then the overflow\nfrom them and the pits, spoils many an acre more. There is a stretch of\nwater-flags and bulrushes, and nasty coarse grass and rushes, nothing\nbut a swamp, where the ground is naturally as good as this; and, look\nhere! Fleming was rather out, I tell him, when he wrote that I might\ngraze a pony on the pasture below, whenever I have a market-cart. I ask\nhim if he expects me to water it here.\"\n\nSo saying, Woodruffe led the way to one of the ditches which, instead of\nfences, bounded his land; and, moving the mass of weed with a stick,\nshowed the water beneath, covered with a whitish bubbling scum, the\nsmell of which was insufferable.\n\n\"There is plenty of manure there,\" said Woodruffe; \"that is the only\nthing that can be said for it. We'll make manure of it, and sweep out\nthe ditch, and deepen it, and narrow it, and not use up so many feet of\ngood ground for a ditch that does nothing but poison us. A fence is\nbetter than a ditch any day. I'll have a fence, and still save ten feet\nof ground, the whole way down.\"\n\n\"There is a great deal to do here,\" observed the wife.\n\n\"And good reward when it is done,\" Woodruffe replied. \"If I can fall in\nwith a stout laborer, he and Allan and I can get our spring crops\nprepared for; and I expect they will prove the goodness of the soil.\nThere is Fleming. Supper is ready, I suppose.\"\n\nThe children were called, but both were so wet and dirty that it took\ntwice as long as usual to make them fit to sit at table; and apologies\nwere made for keeping supper waiting. The grave half-hour before Moss's\nbed-time was occupied with the most solemn piece of instruction he had\never had in his life. His father carried him up to the railway, and made\nhim understand the danger of playing there. He was never to play there.\nHis father would go up with him once a day, and let him see a train\npass; and this was the only time he was ever to mount the steps, except\nby express leave. Moss was put to bed in silence, with his father's\ndeep, grave voice, sounding in his ears.\n\n\"He will not forget it,\" declared his father. \"He will give us no\ntrouble about the railway. The next thing is the pit. Allan, I expect\nyou to see that he does not fall into the pit. In time, we shall teach\nhim to take care of himself; but you must remember, meanwhile, that the\npit is six feet deep--deeper than I am high; and that the edge is the\nsame clay that you slipped on so often this morning.\"\n\n\"Yes, father,\" said Allan, looking as grave as if power of life and\ndeath were in his hands.\n\n\nIII.\n\nOne fine morning in the next spring, there was more stir and\ncheerfulness about the Woodruffes' dwelling than there had been of late.\nThe winter had been somewhat dreary; and now the spring was anxious; for\nWoodruffe's business was not, as yet, doing very well. His hope, when he\nbought his pony and cart, was to dispatch by railway to the town the\nbest of his produce, and sell the commoner part in the country\nneighborhood, sending his cart round within the reach of a few miles. As\nit turned out, he had nothing yet to send to the town, and his agent\nthere was vexed and displeased. No radishes, onions, early salads, or\nrhubarb were ready, and it would be some time yet before they were.\n\n\"I am sure I have done everything I could,\" said Woodruffe to Fleming,\nas they both lent a hand to put the pony into the cart. \"Nobody can say\nthat I have not made drains enough, or that they are not deep enough;\nyet the frost has taken such a hold that one would think we were living\nin the north of Scotland, instead of in Staffordshire.\"\n\n\"It has not been a severe season either,\" observed Fleming.\n\n\"There's the vexation,\" replied Woodruffe. \"If it had been a season\nwhich set us at defiance, and made all sufferers alike, one must just\nsubmit to a loss, and go on again, like one's neighbors. But, you see,\nI am cut out, as my agent says, from the market. Everybody else has\nspring vegetables there, as usual. It is no use telling him that I never\nfailed before. But I know what it is. It is yonder great ditch that does\nthe mischief.\"\n\n\"Why, we have nothing to do with that.\"\n\n\"That is the very reason. If it was mine or yours, do you think I should\nnot have taken it in hand long ago? All my draining goes for little\nwhile that shallow ditch keeps my ground a continual sop. It is all\nuneven along the bottom;--not the same depth for three feet together\nanywhere, and not deep enough by two feet in any part. So there it is,\nchoked up and putrid; and, after an hour or two of rain, my garden gets\nsuch a soaking that the next frost is destruction.\"\n\n\"I will speak about it again,\" said Fleming. \"We must have it set right\nbefore next winter.\"\n\n\"I think we have seen enough of the uselessness of speaking,\" replied\nWoodruffe, gloomily. \"If we tease the gentry any more, they may punish\nyou for it. I would show them my mind by being off,--throwing up my\nbargain at all costs, if I had not put so much into the ground that I\nhave nothing left to move away with.\"\n\n\"Don't be afraid for me,\" said Fleming, cheerfully. \"It was chiefly my\ndoing that you came here, and I must try my utmost to obtain fair\nconditions for you. We must remember that the benefit of your outlay has\nall to come.\"\n\n\"Yes; I can't say we have got much of it yet.\"\n\n\"By next winter,\" continued Fleming, \"your privet hedges and screens\nwill have grown up into some use against the frost; and your own\ndrainage----. Come, come, Allan, my boy! be off! It is getting late.\"\n\nAllan seemed to be idling, re-arranging his bunches of small radishes,\nand little bundles of rhubarb, in their clean baskets, and improving the\nstick with which he was to drive; but he pleaded that he was waiting for\nMoss, and for the parcel which his mother was getting ready for Becky.\n\n\"Ah I my poor little girl!\" said Woodruffe. \"Give my love to her, and\ntell her it will be a happy day when we can send for her to come home\nagain. Be sure you observe particularly, to tell us how she looks; and,\nmind, if she fancies anything in the cart,--any radishes, or whatever\nelse, because it comes out of our garden, be sure you give it her. I\nwish I was going myself with the cart, for the sake of seeing Becky; but\nI must go to work. Here have I been all the while, waiting to see you\noff. Ah! here they come! you may always have notice now of who is coming\nby that child's crying.\"\n\n\"O, father! not always!\" exclaimed Allan.\n\n\"Far too often, I'm sure. I never knew a child grow so fractious. I am\nsaying, my dear,\" to his wife, who now appeared with her parcel, and\nMoss in his best hat, \"that boy is the most fractious child we ever had;\nand he is getting too old for that to begin now. How can you spoil him\nso?\"\n\n\"I am not aware,\" said Mrs. Woodruffe, her eyes filling with tears,\n\"that I treat him differently from the rest; but the child is not well.\nHis chilblains tease him terribly, and I wish there may be nothing\nworse.\"\n\n\"Warm weather will soon cure the chilblains, and then I hope we shall\nsee an end of the fretting.--Now, leave off crying this minute, Moss, or\nyou don't go. You don't see me cry with my rheumatism, and that is worse\nthan chilblains, I can tell you.\"\n\nMoss tried to stifle his sobs, while his mother put more straw into the\ncart for him, and cautioned Allan to be careful of him, for it really\nseemed as if the child was tender all over. Allan seemed to succeed best\nas comforter. He gave Moss the stick to wield, and showed him how to\nmake believe to whip the pony, so that before they turned the corner,\nMoss was wholly engrossed with what he called driving.\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" said Woodruffe, as he turned away to go to the garden,\n\"Allan is the one to manage, him. He can take as good care of him as any\nwoman without spoiling him!\"\n\nMrs. Woodruffe submitted to this in silence; but with the feeling that\nshe did not deserve it.\n\nBecky had had no notice of this visit from her brothers; but no such\nvisit could take her by surprise; for she was thinking of her family all\nday long, every day, and fancying she should see them whichever way she\nturned. It was not her natural destination to be a servant in a\nfarm-house; she had never expected it,--never been prepared for it. She\nwas as willing to work as any girl could be; and her help in the\ngardening was beyond what most women are capable of; but it was a bitter\nthing to her to go among strangers, and toil for them, when she knew\nthat she was wanted at home by father and mother, and brothers, and just\nat present by her sister too; for Mrs. Fleming's confinement was to\nhappen this spring. The reason why Becky was not at home while so much\nwanted there was, that there really was no accommodation for her. The\nplan of sleeping all huddled together as they were at first would not\ndo. The girl herself could not endure it; and her parents felt that she\nmust be got out at any sacrifice. They had inquired diligently till they\nfound a place for her in a farm-house, where the good wife promised\nprotection, and care, and kindness; and fulfilled her promise to the\nbest of her power.\n\n\"I hope they do well by you here, Becky,\" asked Allan, when the surprise\ncaused by his driving up with a dash had subsided, and everybody had\nretired, to leave Becky with her brothers for the few minutes they could\nstay. \"I hope they are kind to you here.\"\n\n\"O, yes,--very kind. And I am sure you ought to say so to father and\nmother.\"\n\nBecky had jumped into the cart, and had her arms round Moss, and her\nhead on his shoulder. Raising her head, and with her eyes filling as she\nspoke, she inquired anxiously how the new cottages went on, and when\nfather and mother were to have a home of their own again. She owned, but\ndid not wish her father and mother to hear of it, that she did not like\nbeing among such rough people as the farm servants. She did not like\nsome of the behavior that she saw; and, still less, such talk as she was\nobliged to overhear. When _would_ a cottage be ready for them?\n\n\"Why, the new cottages would soon be getting on now,\" Allan said; but he\ndidn't know, nobody fancied the look of them. He saw them just after the\nfoundations were laid; and the enclosed parts were like a clay-puddle.\nHe did not see how they were ever to be improved; for the curse of wet\nseemed to be on them, as upon everything about the Station. Fleming's\ncottage was the best he had seen, after all, if only it was twice as\nlarge. If anything could be done to make the new cottages what cottages\nshould be, it would be done: for everybody agreed that the railway\ngentlemen desired to do the best for their people, and to set an example\nin that respect; but it was beyond anybody's power to make wet clay as\nhealthy as warm gravel. Unless they could go to work first to dry the\nsoil, it seemed a hopeless sort of affair.\n\n\"But, I say, Becky,\" pursued Allan, \"you know about my garden--that\nfather gave me a garden of my own.\"\n\nBecky's head was turned quite away; and she did not look round, when she\nreplied,\n\n\"Yes; I remember. How does your garden get on?\"\n\nThere was something in her voice which made her brother lean over and\nlook into her face; and, as he expected, tears were running down her\ncheeks.\n\n\"There now!\" said he, whipping the back of the cart with his stick;\n\"something must be done, if you can't get on here.\"\n\n\"O! I can get on. Be sure you don't tell mother that I can't get on, or\nanything about it.\"\n\n\"You look healthy, to be sure.\"\n\n\"To be sure I am. Don't say any more about it. Tell me about your\ngarden.\"\n\n\"Well: I am trying what I can make of it, after I have done working with\nfather. But it takes a long time to bring it round.\"\n\n\"What! is the wet there, too?\"\n\n\"Lord, yes! The wet was beyond everything at first. I could not leave\nthe spade in the ground ten minutes, if father called me, but the water\nwas standing in the hole when I went back again. It is not so bad now,\nsince I made a drain to join upon father's principal one; and father\ngave me some sand, and plenty of manure; but it seems to us that manure\ndoes little good. It won't sink in when the ground is so wet.\"\n\n\"Well, there will be the summer next, and that will dry up your garden.\"\n\n\"Yes. People say the smells are dreadful in hot weather, though. But we\nseem to get used to that. I thought it sickly work, just after we came,\ngoing down to get osiers, and digging near the big ditch that is our\nplague now: but somehow, it does not strike me now as it did then,\nthough Fleming says it is getting worse every warm day. But come--I must\nbe off. What will you help yourself to? And don't forget your parcel.\"\n\nBecky's great anxiety was to know when her brothers would come again. O!\nvery often, she was assured--oftener and oftener as the vegetables came\nforward; whenever there were either too many or too few to send to the\ntown by rail.\n\nAfter Becky had jumped down, the farmer and one of the men were seen to\nbe contemplating the pony.\n\n\"What have you been giving your pony lately?\" asked the farmer of Allan.\n\"I ask as a friend, having some experience of this part of the country.\nHave you been letting him graze?\"\n\n\"Yes, in the bit of meadow that we have leave for. There is a good deal\nof grass there, now. He has been grazing there these three weeks.\"\n\n\"On the meadow where the osier beds are? Ay! I knew it by the look of\nhim. Tell your father that if he does not take care, his pony will have\nthe staggers in no time. An acquaintance of mine grazed some cattle\nthere once; and in a week or two, they were all feverish, so that the\nbutcher refused them on any terms; and I have seen more than one horse\nin the staggers, after grazing in marshes of that sort.\"\n\n\"There is fine thick grass there, and plenty of it,\" said Allan, who did\nnot like that anybody but themselves should criticise their new place\nand plans.\n\n\"Ay, ay; I know,\" replied the farmer. \"But if you try to make hay of\nthat grass, you'll be surprised to find how long it takes to make, and\nhow like wool it comes out at last. It is a coarse grass, with no\nstrength in it; and it must be a stronger beast than this that will bear\nfeeding on it. Just do you tell your father what I say, that's all; and\nthen he can do as he pleases; but I would take a different way with that\npony, without loss of time, if it was mine.\"\n\nAllan did not much like taking this sort of message to his father, who\nwas not altogether so easy to please as he used to be. If anything vexed\nhim ever so little, he always began to complain of his rheumatism--and\nhe now complained of his rheumatism many times in a day. It was managed,\nhowever, by tacking a little piece of amusement and pride upon it. Moss\nwas taught, all the way as they went home, after selling their\nvegetables, how much everything sold for; and he was to deliver the\nmoney to his father, and go through his lesson as gravely as any big\nman. It succeeded very well. Everybody laughed. Woodruffe called the\nchild his little man-of-business; gave him a penny out of the money he\nbrought; and when he found that the child did not like jumping as he\nused to do, carried him up to the railway to listen for the whistle, and\nsee the afternoon train come up, and stop a minute, and go on again.\n\n\nIV.\n\nFleming did what he could to find fair play for his father-in-law. He\nspoke to one and another--to the officers of the railway, and to the\nowners of neighboring plots of ground, about the bad drainage, which was\ninjuring everybody; but he could not learn that anything was likely to\nbe done. The ditch--the great evil of all--had always been there, he\nwas told, and people never used to complain of it. When Fleming pointed\nout that it was at first a comparatively deep ditch, and that it grew\nshallower every year from the accumulations formed by its uneven bottom,\nthere were some who admitted that it might be as well to clean it out;\nyet nobody set about it. And it was truly a more difficult affair now\nthan it would have been at an earlier time. If the ditch was shallower,\nit was much wider. It had once been twelve feet wide, and it was now\neighteen. When any drain had been flowing into it, or after a rainy day,\nthe contents spread through and over the soil on each side, and softened\nit, and then the next time any horse or cow came to drink, the whole\nbank was made a perfect bog; for the poor animals, however thirsty,\ntried twenty places to find water that they could drink before going\naway in despair. Such was the bar in the way of poor Woodruffe's success\nwith his ground. Before the end of summer his patience was nearly worn\nout. During a showery and gleamy May and a pleasant June, he had gone\non as prosperously as he could expect under the circumstances; and he\nconfidently anticipated that a seasonable July and August would set him\nup. But he had had no previous experience of the peculiarities of\nill-drained land; and the hot July and August, from which he hoped so\nmuch, did him terrible mischief. The drought which would have merely\ndried and pulverized a well-drained soil, leaving it free to profit much\nby small waterings, baked the overcharged soil of Woodruffe's garden\ninto hard hot masses of clay, amidst which his produce died off faster\nand faster every day, even though he and all his family wore out their\nstrength with constant watering. He did hope, he said, that he should\nhave been spared drought at least; but it seemed as if he was to have\nevery plague in turn; and the drought seemed, at the time, to be the\nworst of all.\n\nOne day Fleming saw a welcome face in one of the carriages; Mr. Nelson,\na director of the railway, who was looking along the line to see how\nmatters went. Though Mr. Nelson was not exactly the one, of all the\ndirectors, whom Fleming would have chosen to appeal to, he saw that the\nopportunity must not be lost; and he entreated him to alight, and stay\nfor the next train.\n\n\"Eh! what!\" said Mr. Nelson; \"what can you want with us here? A station\nlike this! Why, one has to put on spectacles to see it!\"\n\n\"If you would come down, sir, I should be glad to show you....\"\n\n\"Well; I suppose I must.\"\n\nAs they were standing on the little platform, and the train was growing\nsmaller in the distance, Fleming proceeded to business. He told of the\nserious complaints that were made for a distance of a few miles on\neither hand, of the clay pits left by the railway brickmakers, to fill\nwith stagnant waters.\n\n\"Pho! pho! Is that what you want to say?\" replied Mr. Nelson. \"You need\nnot have stopped me just to tell me that. We hear of those pits all\nalong the line. We are sick of hearing of them.\"\n\n\"That does not mend the matter in this place,\" observed Fleming. \"I\nspeak freely, sir, but I think it my duty to say that something must be\ndone. I heard a few days ago, more than the people hereabouts\nknow,--much more than I shall tell them--of the fever that has settled\non particular points of our line; and I now assure you, sir, that if the\nfever once gets a hold in this place, I believe it may carry us all off\nbefore anything can be done. Sir, there is not one of us within half a\nmile of the station that has a wholesome dwelling.\"\n\n\"Pho! pho! you are a croaker,\" declared Mr. Nelson. \"Never saw such a\ndismal fellow! Why, you will die of fright, if ever you die of\nanything.\"\n\n\"Then, sir, will you have the goodness to walk round with me, and see\nfor yourself what you think of things. It is not only for myself and my\nfamily that I speak. In an evil day I induced my wife's family to settle\nhere, and....\"\n\n\"Ay! that is a nice garden,\" observed Mr. Nelson, as Fleming pointed to\nWoodruffe's land. \"You are a croaker, Fleming. I declare I think the\nplace is much improved since I saw it last. People would not come and\nsettle here if the place was like what you say.\"\n\nInstead of arguing the matter, Fleming led the way down the long flight\nof steps. He was aware that leading the gentleman among bad smells and\nover shoes in a foul bog would have more effect than any argument was\never known to have on his contradictious spirit.\n\n\"You should have seen worse things than these, and then you would not be\nso discontented,\" observed Mr. Nelson, striking his stick upon the\nhard-baked soil, all intersected with cracks. \"I have seen such a soil\nas this in Spain, some days after a battle, when there were scores of\nfingers and toes sticking up out of the cracks. What would you say to\nthat?--eh?\"\n\n\"We may have a chance of seeing that here,\" replied Fleming; \"if the\nplague comes, and comes too fast for the coffin-makers,--a thing which\nhas happened more than once in England, I believe.\"\n\nMr. Nelson stopped to laugh; but he certainly attended more to business\nas he went on; and Fleming, who knew something of his ways, had hopes\nthat if he could only keep his own temper, this visit of the director\nmight not be without good results.\n\nIn passing through Woodruffe's garden, very nice management was\nnecessary. Woodruffe was at work there, charged with ire against railway\ndirectors and landed proprietors, whom, amidst the pangs of his\nrheumatism, he regarded as the poisoners of his land and the bane of his\nfortunes; while, on the other hand, Mr. Nelson, who had certainly never\nbeen a market gardener, criticized and ridiculed everything that met his\neye. What was the use of such a tool-house as that?--big enough for a\nhouse for them all. What was the use of such low fences?--of such high\nscreens?--of making the walks so wide?--sheer waste?--of making the beds\nso long one way, and so narrow another?--of planting or sowing this and\nthat?--things that nobody wanted. Woodruffe had pushed back his hat in\npreparation for a defiant reply, when Fleming caught his eye, and, by a\ngood-tempered smile, conveyed to him that they had an oddity to deal\nwith. Allan, who had begun by listening reverently, was now looking from\none to another in great perplexity.\n\n\"What is that boy here for, staring like a dunce? Why don't you send him\nto school? You neglect a parent's duty if you don't send him to school.\"\n\nWoodruffe answered by a smile of contempt, walked away, and went to work\nat a distance.\n\n\"That boy is very well taught,\" Fleming said, quietly. \"He is a great\nreader, and will soon be fit to keep his father's accounts.\"\n\n\"What does he stare in that manner for, then? I took him for a dunce.\"\n\n\"He is not accustomed to hear his father called in question, either as a\ngardener or a parent.\"\n\n\"Pho! pho! I might as well have waited, though, till he was out of\nhearing. Well, is this all you have to show me? I think you make a great\nfuss about nothing.\"\n\n\"Will you walk this way?\" said Fleming, turning down towards the osier\nbeds, without any compassion for the gentleman's boots or olfactory\nnerves. For a long while Mr. Nelson affected to admire the reed, and\nwater-flags, and marsh-blossoms, declared the decayed vegetation to be\npeat soil, very fine peat, which the ladies would be glad of for their\nheaths in the flower-garden,--and thought there must be good fowling\nhere in winter. Fleming quietly turned over the so-called peat with a\nstick, letting it be seen that it was a mere dung-heap of decayed\nrushes, and wished Mr. Nelson would come in the fowling season, and see\nwhat the place was like.\n\n\"The children are merry enough, however,\" observed the gentleman. \"They\ncan laugh here, much as in other places. I advise you to take a lesson\nfrom them, Fleming. Now, don't you teach them to croak.\"\n\nThe laughter sounded from the direction of the old brick-ground; and\nthither they now turned. Two little boys were on the brink of a pit, so\nintent on watching a rat in the water and on pelting it with stones,\nthat they did not see that anybody was coming to disturb them. In answer\nto Mr. Nelson's question, whether they were vagrants, and why vagrants\nwere permitted there, Fleming answered that the younger one--the\npale-faced one--was his little brother-in-law; the other--\n\n\"Ay, now, you will be telling me next that the pale face is the fault of\nthis place.\"\n\n\"It certainly is,\" said Fleming. \"That child was chubby enough when he\ncame.\"\n\n\"Pho, pho! a puny little wretch as ever I saw--puny from its birth, I\nhave no doubt of it. And who is the other--a gypsy?\"\n\n\"He looks like it,\" replied Fleming. On being questioned, Moss told that\nthe boy lived near, and he had often played with him lately. Yes, he\nlived near, just beyond those trees; not in a house, only a sort of\nhouse the people had made for themselves. Mr. Nelson liked to lecture\nvagrants, even more than other people; so Moss was required to show the\nway, and his dark-skinned playfellow was not allowed to skulk behind.\n\nMoss led his party on, over the tufty hay- grass, skipping from\nbunch to bunch of rushes, round the osier-beds, and at last straight\nthrough a clump of elders, behind whose screen now appeared the house,\nas Moss had called it, which the gypsies had made for themselves. It was\nthe tilt of a wagon, serving as a tent. Nobody was visible but a woman,\ncrouching under the shadow of the tent, to screen from the sun that\nwhich was lying across her lap.\n\n\"What is that that she's nursing? Lord bless me! Can that be a child?\"\nexclaimed Mr. Nelson.\n\n\"A child in the fever,\" replied Fleming.\n\n\"Lord bless me!--to see legs and arms hang down like that!\" exclaimed\nthe gentleman; and he forthwith gave the woman a lecture on her method\nof nursing--scolded her for letting the child get a fever--for not\nputting it to bed--for not getting a doctor to it--for being a gypsy,\nand living under an alder clump. He then proceeded to inquire whether\nshe had anybody else in the tent, where her husband was, whether he\nlived by thieving, how they would all like being transported, whether\nshe did not think her children would all be hanged, and so on. At first,\nthe woman tried a facetious and wheedling tone, then a whimpering one,\nand, finally, a scolding one. The last answered well. Mr. Nelson found\nthat a man, to say nothing of a gentleman, has no chance with a woman\nwith a sore heart in her breast, and a sick child in her lap, when once\nhe has driven her to her weapon of the tongue. He said afterwards, that\nhe had once gone to Billingsgate, on purpose to set two fisherwomen\nquarrelling, that he might see what it was like. The scene had fulfilled\nall his expectations; but he now declared that it could not compare with\nthis exhibition behind the alders. He stood a long while, first trying\nto overpower the woman's voice; and, when that seemed hopeless, poking\nabout among the rushes with his stick, and finally, staring in the\nwoman's face, in a mood between consternation and amusement;--thus he\nstood, waiting till the torrent should intermit; but there was no sign\nof intermission; and when the sick child began to move and rouse itself,\nand look at the strangers, as if braced by the vigor of its mother's\ntongue, the prospect of an end seemed farther off than ever. Mr. Nelson\nshrugged his shoulders, signed to his companions, and walked away\nthrough the alders. The woman was not silent because they were out of\nsight. Her voice waxed shriller as it followed them, and died away only\nin the distance. Moss was grasping Fleming's hand with all his might\nwhen Mr. Nelson spoke to him, and shook his stick at him, asking him how\nhe came to play with such people, and saying that if ever he heard him\nlearning to scold like that woman, he would beat him with that stick; so\nMoss vowed he never would.\n\nWhen the train was in sight by which Mr. Nelson was to depart, he turned\nto Fleming, with the most careless air imaginable, saying, \"Have you\nany medicine in your house?--any bark?\"\n\n\"Not any. But I will send for some.\"\n\n\"Ay, do. Or,--no--I will send you some. See if you can't get these\npeople housed somewhere, so that they may not sleep in the swamp. I\ndon't mean in any of your houses, but in a barn, or some such place. If\nthe physic comes before the doctor, get somebody to dose the child. And\ndon't fancy you are all going to die of the fever. That is the way to\nmake yourselves ill; and it is all nonsense, too, I dare say.\"\n\n\"Do you like that gentleman?\" asked Moss, sapiently, when the train was\nwhirling Mr. Nelson out of sight. \"Because I don't--not at all.\"\n\n\"I believe he is kinder than he means, Moss. He need not be so rough;\nbut I know he does kind things sometimes.\"\n\n\"But, do you like him?\"\n\n\"No, I can't say I do.\"\n\nBefore many hours were over, Fleming was sorry that he had admitted\nthis, even to himself; and for many days after he was occasionally\nheard telling Moss what a good gentleman Mr. Nelson was, for all his\nroughness of manners. With the utmost speed, before it would have been\nthought possible, arrived a surgeon from the next town, with medicines,\nand the news that he was to come every day while there was any fear of\nfever. The gypsies were to have been cared for; but they were gone. The\nmarks of their fire and a few stray feathers which showed that a fowl\nhad been plucked, alone told where they had encamped. A neighbor, who\nloved her poultry yard, was heard to say that the sick child would not\ndie for want of chicken broth, she would be bound; and the nearest\nfarmer asked if they had left any potato-peels and turnip tops for his\npig. He thought that was the least they could do after making their\nfamous gypsy stew (a capital dish, it was said) from his vegetables.\nThey were gone; and if they had not left fever behind, they might be\nforgiven, for the sake of the benefit of taking themselves off. After\nthe search for the gypsies was over, there was still an unusual stir\nabout the place. One and another stranger appeared and examined the low\ngrounds, and sent for one and another of the neighboring proprietors,\nwhether farmer, or builder, or gardener, or laborer; for every one who\nowned or rented a yard of land on the borders of the great ditch, or\nanywhere near the clay-pits or osier-beds.\n\nIt was the opinion of the few residents near the Station that something\nwould be done to improve the place before another year; and everybody\nsaid that it must be Mr. Nelson's doings, and that it was a thousand\npities that he did not come earlier, before the fever had crept thus far\nalong the line.\n\n\nV.\n\nFor some months past, Becky had believed without a doubt, that the day\nof her return home would be the very happiest day of her life. She was\ntoo young to know yet that it is not for us to settle which of our days\nshall be happy ones, nor what events shall yield us joy. The promise had\nnot been kept that she should return when her father and mother removed\ninto the new cottage. She had been told that there really was not, even\nnow, decent room for them all; and that they must at least wait till the\nhot weather was completely over before they crowded the chamber, as they\nhad hitherto done. And then, when autumn came on, and the creeping mists\nfrom the low grounds hung round the place from sunset till after\nbreakfast the next day, the mother delayed sending for her daughter,\nunwilling that she should lose the look of health which she alone now,\nof all the family, exhibited. Fleming and his wife and babe prospered\nbetter than the others. The young man's business lay on the high ground,\nat the top of the embankment. He was there all day while Mr. Woodruffe\nand Allan were below, among the ditches and the late and early fogs.\nMrs. Fleming was young and strong, full of spirit and happiness; and so\nfar fortified against the attacks of disease, as a merry heart\nstrengthens nerve and bone and muscle, and invigorates all the vital\npowers. In regard to her family, her father's hopeful spirit seemed to\nhave passed into her. While he was becoming permanently discouraged, she\nwas always assured that everything would come right next year. The time\nhad arrived for her power of hope to be tested to the utmost. One day\nthis autumn, she admitted that Becky must be sent for. She did not\nforget, however, to charge Allan to be cheerful, and make the best of\nthings, and not frighten Becky by the way.\n\nIt was now the end of October. Some of the days were balmy\nelsewhere--the afternoons ruddy; the leaves crisp beneath the tread; the\nsquirrel busy after the nuts in the wood; the pheasants splendid among\nthe dry ferns in the brake, the sportsman warm and thirsty in his\nexploring among the stubble. In the evenings the dwellers in country\nhouses called one another out upon the grass, to see how bright the\nstars were, and how softly the moonlight slept upon the woods. While it\nwas thus in one place, in another, and not far off, all was dank, dim,\ndreary and unwholesome; with but little sun, and no moon or stars; all\nchill, and no glow; no stray perfumes, the last of the year, but sickly\nscents coming on the steam from below. Thus it was about Fleming's\nhouse, this latter end of October, when he saw but little of his wife,\nbecause she was nursing her mother in the fever, and when he tried to\namuse himself with his young baby at meal-times (awkward nurse as he\nwas) to relieve his wife of the charge for the little time he could be\nat home. When the baby cried, and when he saw his Abby look wearied, he\ndid wish, now and then, that Becky was at home; but he was patient, and\nhelpful, and as cheerful as he could be, till the day which settled the\nmatter. On that morning he felt strangely weak, barely able to mount the\nsteps to the station. During the morning, several people told him he\nlooked ill; and one person did more. The porter sent a message to the\nnext large Station that somebody must be sent immediately to fill\nFleming's place, in case of his being too ill to work. Somebody came;\nand before that, Fleming was in bed--certainly down in the fever. His\nwife was now wanted at home; and Becky must come to her mother.\n\nThough Becky asked questions all the way home, and Allan answered them\nas truthfully as he knew how, she was not prepared for what she\nfound--her father aged and bent, always in pain, more or less, and far\nless furnished with plans and hopes than she had ever known him; Moss,\nfretful and sickly, and her mother unable to turn herself in her bed.\nNobody mentioned death. The surgeon who came daily, and told Becky\nexactly what to do, said nothing of anybody dying of the fever, while\nWoodruffe was continually talking of things that were to be done when\nhis wife got well again. It was sad, and sometimes alarming, to hear the\nstrange things that Mrs. Woodruffe said in the evenings when she was\ndelirious; but if Abby stepped in at such times, she did not think much\nof it, did not look upon it as any sign of danger; and was only thankful\nthat her husband had no delirium. His head was always clear, she said,\nthough he was very weak. Becky never doubted, after this, that her\nmother was the most severely ill of the two; and she was thunderstruck\nwhen she heard one morning the surgeon's answers to her father's\nquestions about Fleming. He certainly considered it a bad case; he would\nnot say that he could not get through; but he must say it was contrary\nto his expectation. When Becky saw her father's face as he turned away\nand went out, she believed his heart was broken.\n\n\"But I thought,\" said she to the surgeon, \"I thought my mother was most\nill of the two.\"\n\n\"I don't know that,\" was the reply, \"but she is very ill. We are doing\nthe best we can. You are, I am sure,\" he said, kindly; \"and we must hope\non, and do our best till a change comes. The wisest of us do not know\nwhat changes may come. But I could not keep your father in ignorance of\nwhat may happen in the other house.\"\n\nNo appearances alarmed Abby. Because there was no delirium, she\napprehended no danger. Even when the fatal twitchings came, the arm\ntwitching as it lay upon the coverlid, she did not know it was a symptom\nof anything. As she nursed her husband perfectly well, and could not\nhave been made more prudent and watchful by any warning, she had no\nwarning. Her cheerfulness was encouraged, for her infant's sake, as well\nas for her husband's and her own. Some thought that her husband knew his\nown case. A word or two,--now a gesture, and now a look,--persuaded the\nsurgeon and Woodruffe that he was aware that he was going. His small\naffairs were always kept settled; he had probably no directions to give;\nand his tenderness for his wife showed itself in his enjoying her\ncheerfulness to the last. When, as soon as it was light, one December\nmorning, Moss was sent to ask if Abby could possibly come for a few\nminutes, because mother was worse, he found his sister alone, looking at\nthe floor, her hands on her lap, though her baby was fidgetting in its\ncradle. Fleming's face was covered, and he lay so still that Moss, who\nhad never seen death, felt sure that all was over. The boy hardly knew\nwhat to do; and his sister seemed not to hear what he said. The thought\nof his mother,--that Abby's going might help or save her,--moved him to\nact. He kissed Abby, and said she must please go to mother; and he took\nthe baby out of the cradle, and wrapped it up, and put it into its\nmother's arms; and fetched Abby's bonnet, and took her cloak down from\nits peg, and opened the door for her, saying, that he would stay and\ntake care of everything. His sister went without a word; and, as soon as\nhe had closed the door behind her, Moss sank down on his knees before\nthe chair where she had been sitting, and hid his face there till some\none came for him,--to see his mother once more before she died.\n\nAs the two coffins were carried out, to be conveyed to the churchyard\ntogether, Mr. Nelson, who had often been backward and forward during the\nlast six weeks, observed to the surgeon that the death of such a man as\nFleming was a dreadful loss.\n\n\"It is that sort of men that the fever cuts off,\" said the surgeon.\n\"The strong man, in the prime of life, at his best period, one may say,\nfor himself and for society, is taken away,--leaving wife and child\nhelpless and forlorn. That is the ravage that the fever makes.\"\n\n\"Well; would not people tell you that it is our duty to submit?\" asked\nMr. Nelson, who could not help showing some emotion by voice and\ncountenance.\n\n\"Submit!\" said the surgeon. \"That depends on what the people mean who\nuse the word. If you or I were ill of the fever, we must resign\nourselves, as cheerfully as we could. But if you ask me whether we\nshould submit to see more of our neighbors cut off by fever as these\nhave been, I can only ask in return, whose doing it is that they are\nliving in a swamp, and whether that is to go on? Who dug the clay pits?\nWho let that ditch run abroad, and make a filthy bog? Are you going to\ncharge that upon Providence and talk of submitting to the consequences?\nIf so, that is not my religion.\"\n\n\"No, no. There is no religion in that,\" replied Mr. Nelson, for once\nagreeing in what was said to him. \"It must be looked to.\"\n\n\"It must,\" said the surgeon, as decidedly as if he had been a railway\ndirector, or king and parliament in one.\n\n\nVI.\n\n\"I wonder whether there is a more forlorn family in England than we are\nnow,\" said Woodruffe, as he sat among his children, a few hours after\nthe funeral.\n\nHis children were glad to hear him speak, however gloomy might be his\ntone. His silence had been so terrible that nothing that he could say\ncould so weigh upon their hearts. His words, however, brought out his\nwidowed daughter's tears again. She was sewing--her infant lying in her\nlap. As her tears fell upon its face, it moved and cried. Becky came and\ntook it up, and spoke cheerfully to it. The cheerfulness seemed to be\nthe worst of all. Poor Abby laid her forehead to the back of her chair,\nand sobbed as if her heart would break.\n\n\"Ay, Abby,\" said her father, \"your heart is breaking, and mine too. You\nand I can go to our rest, like those that have gone before us; but I\nhave to think of what will become of these young things.\"\n\n\"Yes, father,\" said Becky gently, but with a tone of remonstrance, \"you\nmust endeavor to live, and not make up your mind to dying, because life\nhas grown heavy and sad.\"\n\n\"My dear, I am ill--very ill. It is not merely that life is grown\nintolerable to me. I am sure I could not live long in such misery of\nmind; but I am breaking up fast.\"\n\nThe young people looked at each other in dismay. There was something\nworse than the grief conveyed by their father's words in the hopeless\ndaring--the despair--of his tone when he ventured to say that life was\nunendurable.\n\nBecky had the child on one arm; with the other hand she took down her\nfather's plaid from its peg, and put it round his rheumatic shoulders,\nwhispering in his ear a few words about desiring that God's will should\nbe done.\n\n\"My dear,\" he replied, \"it was I who taught you that lesson when you\nwere a child on my knee, and it would be strange if I forgot it when I\nwant so much any comfort that I can get. But I don't believe (and if you\nask the clergyman, he will tell you that he does not believe) that it is\nGod's will that we, or any other people, should be thrust into a swamp\nlike this, scarcely fit for the rats and the frogs to live in. It is\nman's doing, not God's, that the fever makes such havoc as it has made\nwith us. The fever does not lay waste healthy places.\"\n\n\"Then why are we here?\" Allan ventured to say. \"Father, let us go.\"\n\n\"Go! I wonder how or where! I can't go, or let any of you go. I have not\na pound in the world to spend in moving, or in finding new employment.\nAnd if I had, who would employ me? Who would not laugh at a crippled old\nman asking for work and wages?\"\n\n\"Then, father, we must see what we can do here, and you must not forbid\nus to say 'God's will be done!' If we cannot go away, it must be His\nwill that we should stay and have as much hope and courage as we can.\"\n\nWoodruffe threw himself back in his chair. It was too much to expect\nthat he would immediately rally; but he let the young people confer, and\nplan, and cheer each other.\n\nThe first thing to be done, they agreed, was to move hither, whenever\nthe dismal rain would permit it, all Abby's furniture that could not be\ndisposed of to her husband's successors. It would fit up the lower room.\nAnd Allan and Becky settled how the things could stand so as to make it\nat once a bed-room and sitting-room. If, as Abby had said, she meant to\ntry to get some scholars, and keep a little school, room must be left to\nseat the children.\n\n\"Keep a school?\" exclaimed Woodruffe, looking round at Abby.\n\n\"Yes, father,\" said Abby, raising her head. \"That seems to be a thing\nthat I can do; and it will be good for me to have something to do. Becky\nis the stoutest of us all, and....\"\n\n\"I wonder how long that will last,\" groaned the father.\n\n\"I am quite stout now,\" said Becky; \"and I am the one to help Allan with\nthe garden. Allan and I will work under your direction, father, while\nyour rheumatism lasts; and....\"\n\n\"And what am I to do?\" asked Moss, pushing himself in.\n\n\"You shall fetch and carry the tools,\" said Becky; \"that is, when the\nweather is fine, and when your chilblains are not very bad. And you\nshall be bird-boy when the sowing season comes on.\"\n\n\"And we are going to put up a pent-house for you, in one corner, you\nknow, Moss,\" said his brother. \"And we will make it so that there shall\nbe room for a fire in it, where father and you may warm yourselves, and\nalways have dry shoes ready.\"\n\n\"I wonder what our shoe leather will have cost us by the time the spring\ncomes,\" observed Woodruffe. \"There is not a place where we ever have to\ntake the cart or the barrow that is not all mire and ruts; not a path in\nthe whole garden that I call a decent one. Our shoes are all pulled to\npieces; while the frost, or the fog, or something or other, prevents our\ngetting any real work done. The waste is dreadful. Nothing should have\nmade me take a garden where none but summer crops are to be had, if I\ncould have foreseen such a thing. I never saw such a thing\nbefore,--never--as market-gardening without winter and spring crops.\nNever heard of such a thing!\"\n\nBecky glanced towards Allan, to see if he had nothing to propose. If\nthey could neither mend the place nor leave it, it did seem a hard case.\nAllan was looking into the fire, musing. When Moss announced that the\nrain was over, Allan started, and said he must be fetching some of\nAbby's things down, if it was fair. Becky really meant to help him; but\nshe also wanted opportunity for consultation, as to whether it could\nreally be God's will that they should neither be able to mend their\ncondition nor to escape from it. As they mounted the long flight of\nsteps, they saw Mr. Nelson issue from the Station, looking about him to\nascertain if the rain was over, and take his stand on the embankment,\nfollowed by a gentleman who had a roll of paper in his hand. As they\nstood, the one was seen to point with his stick, and the other with his\nroll of paper, this way and that. Allan set off in that direction,\nsaying to his sister, as he went,\n\n\"Don't you come. That gentleman is so rude, he will make you cry. Yes, I\nmust go, and I won't get angry; I won't indeed. He may find as much\nfault as he pleases; I must show him how the water is standing in our\nfurrows.\"\n\n\"Hallo! what do you want here?\" was Mr. Nelson's greeting, when, after a\nminute or two, he saw Allan looking and listening. \"What business have\nyou here, hearkening to what we are saying?\"\n\n\"I wanted to know whether anything is going to be done below there. I\nthought, if you wished it, I could tell you something about it.\"\n\n\"You! what, a dainty little fellow like you?--a fellow that wears his\nSunday clothes on a Tuesday, and a rainy Tuesday too! You must get\nworking clothes and work.\"\n\n\"I shall work to-morrow, Sir. My mother and my brother-in-law were\nburied to-day.\"\n\n\"Lord bless me! You should have told me that. How should I know that\nunless you told me?\" He proceeded in a much gentler tone, however,\nmerely remonstrating with Allan for letting the wet stand in the\nfurrows, in such a way as would spoil any garden. Allan had a good ally,\nall the while, in the stranger, who seemed to understand everything\nbefore it was explained. The gentleman was, in fact, an agricultural\nsurveyor--one who could tell, when looking abroad from a height, what\nwas swamp and what meadow; where there was a clean drain, and where an\nuneven ditch; where the soil was likely to be watered, and where flooded\nby the winter rains; where genially warmed, and where fatally baked by\nthe summer's sun. He had seen, before Allan pointed it out, how the\ngreat ditch cut across between the cultivated grounds and the little\nriver into which those grounds should be drained; but he could not know,\ntill told by Allan, who were the proprietors and occupiers of the\nparcels of land lying on either side the ditch. Mr. Nelson knew little\nor nothing under this head, though he contradicted the lad every minute;\nwas sure such an one did not live here, nor another there; told him he\nwas confusing Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown; did not believe a word of Mr.\nTaylor having bought yonder meadow, or Mrs. Scott now renting that\nfield. All the while, the surveyor went on setting down the names as\nAllan told them; and then observed that they were not so many but that\nthey might combine, if they would, to drain their properties, if they\ncould be relieved of the obstruction of the ditch--if the surveyor of\nhighways would see that the ditch were taken in hand. Mr. Nelson\npronounced that there should be no difficulty about the ditch, if the\nrest could be managed; and then, after a few whispered words between the\ngentlemen, Allan was asked first, whether he was sure that he knew where\nevery person lived whose name was down in the surveyor's book; and next,\nwhether he would act as guide to-morrow. For a moment he thought he\nshould be wanted to move Abby's things; but, remembering the vast\nimportance of the plan which seemed now to be fairly growing under his\neye, he replied that he would go; he should be happy to make it his\nday's work to help, ever so little, towards what he wished above\neverything in the world.\n\n\"What makes you in such a hurry to suppose we want to get a day's work\nout of you for nothing?\" asked Mr. Nelson. He thrust half-a-crown into\nthe lad's waistcoat pocket, saying that he must give it back again, if\nhe led the gentleman wrong. The gentleman had no time to go running\nabout the country on a fool's errand; Allan must mind that. As Allan\ntouched his hat, and ran down the steps, Mr. Nelson observed that boys\nwith good hearts did not fly about in that way, as if they were merry,\non the day of their mother's funeral.\n\n\"Perhaps he is rather thinking of saving his father,\" observed the\nsurveyor.\n\n\"Well; save as many of them as you can. They seem all going to pot as it\nis.\"\n\nWhen Allan burst in, carrying nothing of Abby's, but having a little\ncolor in his cheeks for once, his father sat up in his chair, the baby\nsuddenly stopped crying, and Moss asked where he had been. At first, his\nfather disappointed him by being listless--first refusing to believe\nanything good, and then saying that any good that could happen now was\ntoo late; and Abby could not help crying all the more because this was\nnot thought about a year sooner. It was her poor husband that had made\nthe stir; and now they were going to take his advice the very day that\nhe was laid in his grave. They all tried to comfort her, and said how\nnatural it was that she should feel it so; yet, amidst all their\nsympathy, they could not help being cheered that something was to be\ndone at last.\n\nBy degrees, and not slow degrees, Woodruffe became animated. It was\nsurprising how many things he desired Allan to be sure not to forget to\npoint out to the surveyor, and to urge upon those he was to visit. At\nlast he said he would go himself. It was a very serious business, and he\nought to make an effort to have it done properly. It was a great effort,\nbut he would make it. Not rheumatism, nor anything else, should keep him\nat home. Allan was glad at heart to see such signs of energy in his\nfather, though he might feel some natural disappointment at being left\nat home, and some perplexity as to what, in that case, he ought to do\nabout the half-crown, if Mr. Nelson should be gone home. The morning\nsettled this, however. The surveyor was in his gig. If Allan could hang\non, or keep up with it, it would be very well, as he would be wanted to\nopen the gates, and to lead the way in places too wet for his father,\nwho was not worth such a pair of patent waterproof tall boots as the\nsurveyor had on.\n\nThe circuit was not a very wide one; yet it was dark before they got\nhome. There are always difficulties in arrangements which require\ncombined action. Here there were different levels in the land, and\ndifferent tempers and views among the occupiers. Mr. Brown had heard\nnothing about the matter, and could not be hurried till he saw occasion.\nMr. Taylor liked his field best, wet--would not have it drier on any\naccount, for fear of the summer sun. When assured that drought took no\nhold on well-dried land in comparison with wet land, he shook with\nlaughter, and asked if they expected him to believe that. Mrs. Scott,\nwhose combination with two others was essential to the drainage of three\nportions, would wait another year. They must go on without her; and\nafter another year, she would see what she would do. Another had\ndrained his land in his own way long ago, and did not expect that\nanybody would ask him to put his spade into another man's land, or to\nlet any other man put his spade into his. These were all the\nobstructions. Everybody else was willing, or at least, not obstructive.\nBy clever management, it was thought that the parties concerned could\nmake an island of Mrs. Scott and her field, and win over Mr. Brown by\nthe time he was wanted, and show Mr. Taylor that, as his field could no\nlonger be as wet as it had been, he might as well try the opposite\ncondition--they promising to flood his field as often and as thoroughly\nas he pleased, if he found it the worse for being drained. They could\nnot obtain all they wished, where everybody was not as wise as could be\nwished; but so much was agreed upon as made the experienced surveyor\nthink that the rest would follow; enough, already, to set more laborers\nto work than the place could furnish. Two or three stout men were sent\nfrom a distance; and when they had once cut a clear descent from the\nditch to the river, and had sunk the ditch to seven feet deep, and made\nthe bottom even, and narrowed it to three feet, it was a curious thing\nto see how ready the neighbors became to unite their drains with it. It\nused to be said, that here--however it might be elsewhere--the winter\nwas no time for digging; but that must have meant that no winter-digging\nwould bring a spring crop; and that therefore it was useless. Now, the\nsound of the spade never ceased for the rest of the winter; and the\nlaborers thought it the best winter they had ever known for constant\nwork. Those who employed the labor hoped it would answer--found it\nexpensive--must trust it was all right, and would yield a profit by and\nby. As for the Woodruffes, they were too poor to employ laborers. But\nsome little hope had entered their hearts again, and brought strength,\nnot only to their hearts, but to their very limbs. They worked like\npeople beginning the world. As poor Abby could keep the house and sew,\nwhile attending to her little school, Becky did the lighter parts (and\nsome which were far from light) of the garden work, finding easy tasks\nfor Moss; and Allan worked like a man at the drains. They had been\ncalled good drains before; but now, there was an outfall for deeper\nones; and deeper they must be made. Moreover, a strong rivalry arose\namong the neighbors about their respective portions of the combined\ndrainage; and under the stimulus of ambition, Woodruffe recovered his\nspirits and the use of his limbs wonderfully. He suffered cruelly from\nhis rheumatism; and in the evenings felt as if he could never more lift\na spade; yet, not the less was he at work again in the morning, and so\nsanguine as to the improvement of his ground, that it was necessary to\nremind him, when calculating his gains, that it would take two years, at\nleast, to prove the effects of his present labors.\n\n\nVII.\n\nIt was observed by Woodruffe's family, during one week of spring of the\nnext year, that he was very absent. He was not in low spirits, but\nabsorbed in thought, and much devoted to making calculations with pencil\nand paper. At last, out it came, one morning at breakfast.\n\n\"I wonder how we should all like to have Harry Hardiman to work with us\nagain?\"\n\nEvery one looked up. Harry! where was Harry? Was he here? Was he coming?\n\n\"Why, I will tell you what I have been thinking,\" said their father. \"I\nhave thought long and carefully, and I believe I have made up my mind to\nsend for Harry, to come and work for us as he used to do. We have not\nlabor enough on the ground. Two stout men to the acre is the smallest\nallowance for trying what could be made of the place.\"\n\n\"That is what Taylor and Brown are employing now on the best part of\ntheir land,\" said Allan; \"that is, when they can get the labor. There is\nsuch difference between that and one man to four or five acres, as there\nwas before, that they can't always get the labor.\"\n\n\"Just so; and therefore,\" continued Woodruffe, \"I am thinking of sending\nfor Harry. Our old neighborhood was not prosperous when we left it, and\nI fancy it cannot have improved since; and Harry might be glad to follow\nhis master to a thriving neighborhood; and he is such a careful fellow\nthat I dare say he has money for the journey,--even if he has a wife by\nthis time, as I suppose he has.\"\n\nMoss looked most pleased, where all were pleased, at the idea of seeing\nHarry again. His remembrance of Harry was of a tall young man, who used\nto carry him on his shoulders, and wheel him in the empty water-barrel,\nand sometimes offer to dip him into it when it was full, and show him\nhow to dig in the sand-heap with his little wooden spade.\n\n\"Your rent, to be sure, is much lower than in the old place,\" observed\nAbby.\n\n\"Why, we must not build upon that,\" replied the father; \"rent is rising\nhere, and will rise. My landlord was considerate in lowering mine to \u00a33\nper acre, when he saw how impossible it was to make it answer; and he\nsays he shall not ask more yet on account of the labor I laid out at the\ntime of the drainage. But when I have partly repaid myself, the rent\nwill rise to \u00a35; and, in fact, I have made my calculations in regard to\nHarry's coming at a higher rent than that.\"\n\n\"Higher than that?\"\n\n\"Yes; I should not be surprised if I found myself paying, as\nmarket-gardeners near London do, ten pounds per acre before I die.\"\n\n\"Or rather, to let the ground to me for that, father,\" said Allan, \"when\nit is your own property, and you are tired of work, and disposed to turn\nit over to me. I will pay you ten pounds per acre then, and let you have\nall the cabbages you can eat besides. It is capital land, and that is\nthe truth. Come--shall that be a bargain?\"\n\nWoodruffe smiled, and said he owed a duty to Allan. He did not like to\nsee him so hard worked as to be unable to take due care of his own\ncorner of the garden;--unable to enter fairly into the competition for\nthe prizes at the Horticultural Show in the summer. Becky now, too,\nought to be spared from all but occasional help in the garden. Above\nall, the ground was now in such an improving state that it would be\nwaste not to bestow due labor upon it. Put in the spade where you would,\nthe soil was loose and well-aired as needs be: the manure penetrated it\nthoroughly; the frost and heat pulverized, instead of binding it; and\nthe crops were succeeding each other so fast, that the year would be a\nvery profitable one.\n\n\"Where will Harry live, if he comes?\" asked Abby.\n\n\"We must get another cottage added to the new row. Easily done! Cottages\nso healthy as these new ones pay well. Good rents are offered for\nthem,--to save doctors' bills and loss of time from sickness;--and, when\nonce a system of house-drainage is set a-going, it costs scarcely more\nin adding a cottage to a group, to make it all right, than to run it up\nupon solid clay as used to be the way here. Well, I have a good mind to\nwrite to Harry to-day. What do you think of it,--all of you?\"\n\nFortified by the opinion of all his children, Mr. Woodruffe wrote to\nHarry. Meantime, Allan and Becky went to cut the vegetables that were\nfor sale that day; and Moss delighted himself in running after and\ncatching the pony in the meadow below. The pony was not very easily\ncaught, for it was full of spirit. Instead of the woolly insipid grass\nthat it used to crop, and which seemed to give it only fever and no\nnourishment, it now fed on sweet fresh grass, which had no sour stagnant\nwater soaking its roots. The pony was so full of play this morning that\nMoss could not get hold of it. Though much stronger than a year ago, he\nwas not yet anything like so robust as a boy of his age should be; and\nhe was growing heated, and perhaps a little angry, as the pony galloped\noff towards some distant trees, when a boy started up behind a bush,\ncaught the halter, brought the pony round with a twitch, and led him to\nMoss. Moss fancied he had seen the boy before, and then his white teeth\nreminded Moss of one thing after another.\n\n\"I came for some marsh plants,\" said the boy. \"You and I got plenty once\nsomewhere hereabouts, but I cannot find them now.\"\n\n\"You will not find any now. We have no marsh now.\"\n\nThe stranger said he dared not go back without them; mother wanted them\nbadly. She would not believe him if he said he could not find any. There\nwere plenty about two miles off, along the railway, among the clay-pits,\nhe was told; but none nearer. The boy wanted to know where the clay-pits\nhereabouts were. He could not find one of them.\n\n\"I will show you one of them,\" said Moss; \"the one where you and I used\nto hunt rats.\" And, leading the pony, he showed his old gypsy\nplay-fellow all the improvements, beginning with the great ditch,--now\ninvisible from being covered in. While it was open, he said, it used to\nget choked, and the sides were plastered after rain, and soon became\ngrass-grown, so that it was found worth while to cover it in; and now it\nwould want little looking to for years to come. As for the clay-pit,\nwhere the rats used to pop in and out,--it was now a manure-pit, covered\nin. There was a drain into it from the pony's stable and from the\npig-styes; and it was near enough to the garden to receive the refuse\nand sweepings. A heavy lid, with a ring in the middle, covered the pit,\nso that nobody could fall in in the dark, and no smell could get out.\nMoss begged the boy to come a little further, and he would show him his\nown flower-bed; and when the boy was there, he was shown everything\nelse: what a cart-load of vegetables lay cut for sale; and what an arbor\nhad been made of the pent-house under which Moss used to take shelter,\nwhen he could do nothing better than keep off the birds; and how fine\nthe ducks were,--the five ducks that were so serviceable in eating off\nthe slugs; and what a comfortable nest had been made for them to lay\ntheir eggs in, beside the water-tank in the corner; and what a variety\nof scarecrows the family had invented,--each having one, to try which\nwould frighten the sparrows most. While Moss was telling how difficult\nit was to deal with the sparrows, because they could not be frightened\nfor more than three days by any kind of scarecrow, he heard Allan\ncalling him, in a tone of vexation, at being kept waiting so long. In an\ninstant the stranger boy was off,--leaping the gate, and flying along\nthe meadow till he was hidden behind a hedge.\n\nTwo or three days after this one of the ducks was missing. The last time\nthat the five had been seen together was when Moss was showing them to\nhis visitor. The morning after Moss finally gave up hope, the glass of\nAllan's hotbed was found broken, and in the midst of the bed itself was\na deep foot-track, crushing the cucumber plants, and, with them,\nAllan's hopes of a cucumber prize at the Horticultural Exhibition in the\nsummer. On more examination, more mischief was discovered, some cabbages\nhad been stolen, and another duck was missing. In the midst of the\ngeneral concern, Woodruffe burst out a-laughing. It struck him that the\nchief of the scarecrows had changed his hat; and so he had. The old\nstraw hat which used to flap in the wind so serviceably was gone, and in\nits stead appeared a helmet,--a saucepan full of holes, battered and\nsplit, but still fit to be a helmet to a scarecrow.\n\n\"I could swear to the old hat,\" observed Woodruffe, \"if I should have\nthe luck to see it on anybody's head.\"\n\n\"And so could I,\" said Becky, \"for I mended it,--bound it with black\nbehind, and green before, because I had not green ribbon enough. But\nnobody would wear it before our eyes.\"\n\n\"That is why I suspect there are strangers hovering about. We must\nwatch.\"\n\nNow Moss, for the first time, bethought himself of the boy he had\nbrought in from the meadow; and now, for the first time, he told his\nfamily of that encounter.\n\n\"I never saw such a simpleton,\" his father declared. \"There, go along\nand work! Now, don't cry, but hold up like a man and work.\"\n\nMoss did cry; he could not help it; but he worked too. He would fain\nhave been one of the watchers, moreover; but his father said he was too\nyoung. For two nights he was ordered to bed, when Allan took his dark\nlantern, and went down to the pent-house; the first night accompanied by\nhis father, and the next by Harry Hardiman, who had come on the first\nsummons. By the third evening, Moss was so miserable that his sisters\ninterceded for him, and he was allowed to go down with his old friend\nHarry.\n\nIt was a starlight night, without a moon. The low country lay dim, but\nunobscured by mist. After a single remark on the fineness of the night,\nHarry was silent. Silence was their first business. They stole round the\nfence as if they had been thieves themselves, listened for some time\nbefore they let themselves in at the gate, passed quickly in, and locked\nthe gate (the lock of which had been well oiled), went behind every\nscreen, and along every path, to be sure that no one was there, and\nfinally, perceiving that the remaining ducks were safe, settled\nthemselves in the darkness of the pent-house.\n\nThere they sat, hour after hour, listening. If there had been no sound,\nperhaps they could not have borne the effort; but the sense was relieved\nby the bark of a dog at a distance, and then by the hoot of the owl that\nwas known to have done them good service in mousing, many a time; and\nonce, by the passage of a train on the railway above. When these were\nall over, poor Moss had much ado to keep awake, and at last his head\nsank on Harry's shoulder, and he forgot where he was, and everything\nelse in the world. He was awakened by Harry's moving, and then\nwhispering quite into his ear:--\n\n\"Sit you still. I hear somebody yonder. No--sit you still. I won't go\nfar--not out of call; but I must get between them and the gate.\"\n\nWith his lantern under his coat, Harry stole forth, and Moss stood up,\nall alone in the darkness and stillness. He could hear his heart beat,\nbut nothing else, till footsteps on the path came nearer and nearer.\nThey came quite up; they came in, actually into the arbor; and then the\nducks were certainly fluttering. In an instant more, there was a gleam\nof light upon the white plumage of the ducks, and then light enough to\nshow that this was the gypsy boy, with a dark lantern hung round his\nneck, and, at the same moment, to show the gypsy boy that Moss was\nthere. The two boys stood, face to face, motionless from utter\namazement, and the ducks had scuttled and waddled away before they\nrecovered themselves. Then, Moss flew at him in a glorious passion, at\nonce of rage and fear.\n\n\"Leave him to me, Moss,\" cried Harry, casting light upon the scene from\nhis lantern, while he collared the thief with the other hand. \"Let go,\nI say, Moss. There, now we'll go round and be sure whether there is any\none else in the garden, and then we'll lodge this young rogue where he\nwill be safe.\"\n\nNobody was there, and they went home in the dawn, locked up the thief in\nthe shed, and slept through what remained of the night.\n\nIt was about Mr. Nelson's usual time for coming down the line; and it\nwas observed that he now always stopped at this station till the next\ntrain passed,--probably because it was a pleasure to him to look upon\nthe improvement of the place. It was no surprise therefore to Woodruffe\nto see him standing on the embankment after breakfast; and it was\nnatural that Mr. Nelson should be immediately told that the gypsies were\nhere again, and how one of them was caught thieving.\n\n\"Thieving! So you found some of your property upon him, did you!\"\n\n\"Why, no. I thought myself that it was a pity that Moss did not let him\nalone till he had laid hold of a duck or something.\"\n\n\"Pho! pho! don't tell me you can punish the boy for theft, when you\ncan't prove that he stole anything. Give him a whipping, and let him\ngo.\"\n\n\"With all my heart. It will save me much trouble to finish off the\nmatter so.\"\n\nMr. Nelson seemed to have some curiosity about the business; for he\naccompanied Woodruffe to the shed. The boy seemed to feel no awe of the\ngreat man whom he supposed to be a magistrate, and when asked whether he\nfelt none, he giggled and said \"No;\" he had seen the gentleman more\nafraid of his mother than anybody ever was of him, he fancied. On this,\na thought struck Mr. Nelson. He would now have his advantage of the\ngypsy woman, and might enjoy, at the same time, an opportunity of\nstudying human nature under stress--a thing he liked, when the stress\nwas not too severe. So he passed a decree on the spot that, it being now\nnine o'clock, the boy should remain shut up without food till noon, when\nhe should be severely flogged, and driven from the neighborhood; and\nwith this pleasant prospect before him, the young rogue remained,\nwhistling ostentatiously, while his enemies locked the door upon him.\n\n\"Did you hear him shoot the bolt?\" asked Woodruffe. \"If he holds to\nthat, I don't know how I shall get at him at noon.\"\n\n\"There, now, what fools people are! Why did you not take out the bolt? A\npretty constable you would make! Come--come this way. I am going to find\nthe gypsy-tent again. You are wondering that I am not afraid of the\nwoman, I see; but, you observe, I have a hold over her this time. What\ndo you mean by allowing those children to gather about your door? You\nought not to permit it.\"\n\n\"They are only the scholars. Don't you see them going in? My daughter\nkeeps a little school, you know, since her husband's death.\"\n\n\"Ah, poor thing! poor thing!\" said Mr. Nelson, as Abby appeared on the\nthreshold, calling the children in.\n\nMr. Nelson always contrived to see some one or more of the family when\nhe visited the station; but it so happened, that he had never entered\nthe door of their dwelling. Perhaps he was not himself fully conscious\nof the reason. It was, that he could not bear to see Abby's young face\nwithin the widow's cap, and to be thus reminded that hers was a case of\ncruel wrong; that if the most ordinary thought and care had been used in\npreparing the place for human habitation, her husband might be living\nnow, and she the happy creature that she would never be again.\n\nOn his way to the gypsies, Mr. Nelson saw some things that pleased him\nin his heart, though he found fault with them all. What business had\nWoodruffe with an additional man in his garden? It could not possibly\nanswer. If it did not, the fellow must be sent away again. He must not\nburden the parish. The occupiers here seemed all alike. Such a fancy for\nnew labor! One, two, six men at work on the land within sight at that\nmoment, over and above what there used to be! It must be looked to.\nHumph! he could get to the alders dryshod now; but that was owing\nsolely to the warmth of the spring. It was nonsense to attribute\neverything to drainage. Drainage was a good thing; but fine weather was\nbetter.\n\nThe gypsy-tent was found behind the alders as before, but no longer in a\nswamp. The woman was sitting on the ground at the entrance as before,\nbut not now with a fevered child laid across her knees. She was weaving\na basket.\n\n\"Oh, I see,\" said Woodruffe, \"this is the way our osiers go.\"\n\n\"You have not many to lose, now-a-days,\" said the woman.\n\n\"You are welcome to all the rushes you can find,\" said Woodruffe; \"but\nwhere is your son?\"\n\nSome change of countenance was seen in the woman; but she answered\ncarelessly that the children were playing yonder.\n\n\"The one I mean is not there,\" said Woodruffe, \"We have him safe--caught\nhim stealing my ducks.\"\n\nShe called the boy a villain--disowned him, and so forth; but when she\nfound the case a hopeless one, she did not, and, therefore, probably\ncould not scold--that is, anybody but herself and her husband. She\ncursed herself for coming into this silly place, where now no good was\nto be got. When she was brought to the right point of perplexity about\nwhat to do, seeing that it would not do to stay, and being unable to go\nwhile her boy was in durance, she was told that his punishment should be\nsummary, though severe, if she would answer frankly certain questions.\nWhen she had once begun giving her confidence, she seemed to enjoy the\nlicense. When her husband came up, he looked as if he only waited for\nthe departure of his visitors to give his wife the same amount of\nthrashing that her son was awaiting elsewhere. She vowed that they would\nnever pitch their tent here again. It used to be the best station in\ntheir whole round--the fogs were so thick! From sunset to long after\nsunrise, it had been as good as a winter night, for going where they\npleased without fear of prying eyes. There was not a poultry-yard or\npig-stye within a couple of miles round, where they could not creep up\nthrough the fog. And they escaped the blame, too; for the swamp and\nditches used to harbor so much vermin, that the gypsies were not always\nsuspected, as they were now. Till lately, people shut themselves into\ntheir homes, or the men went to the public-house in the chill evenings;\nand there was little fear of meeting any one. But now that the fogs were\ngone, people were out in their gardens, on these fine evenings, and\nthere were men in the meadows, returning from fishing; for they could\nangle now, when their work was done, without the fear of catching an\nague in the marsh as they went home.\n\nMr. Nelson used vigorously his last opportunity of lecturing these\npeople. He had it all his own way, for the humility of the gypsies was\nedifying. Woodruffe fancied he saw some finger-talk passing, the while,\nthough the gypsies never looked at each other, or raised their eyes from\nthe ground. Woodruffe had to remind the Director that the whistle of the\nnext train would soon be heard; and this brought the lecture to an\nabrupt conclusion. On his finishing off with, \"I expect, therefore, that\nyou will remember my advice, and never show your face here again, and\nthat you will take to a proper course of life in future, and bring up\nyour son to honest industry;\" the woman, with a countenance of grief,\nseized one hand and covered it with kisses, and the husband took the\nother hand and pressed it to his breast.\n\n\"We must make haste,\" observed Mr. Nelson, as he led the way quickly\nback; \"but I think I have made some impression upon them. You see now\nthe right way to treat these people. I don't think you will see them\nhere again.\"\n\n\"I don't think we shall.\"\n\nAs he reached the steps the whistle was heard, and Mr. Nelson could only\nwave his hand to Woodruffe, rush up the embankment, and throw himself\npanting into a carriage. Only just in time!\n\nBy an evening train he re-appeared. When thirty miles off, he had wanted\nhis purse, and it was gone. It had no doubt paid for the gypsies' final\ngratitude.\n\nOf course, a sufficient force was immediately sent to the alder clump;\nbut there was nothing there but some charred sticks, and some clean pork\nbones, this time, instead of feathers of fowls, and a cabbage leaf or\ntwo. The boy had had his whipping at noon, after a conference with his\nlittle brother at the keyhole, which had caused him to withdraw the\nbolt, and offer no resistance. Considering his cries and groans, he had\nrun off with surprising agility, and was now, no doubt, far away.\n\n\nVIII.\n\nThe gypsies came no more. The fogs came no more. The fever came no more,\nat least, in such a form as to threaten the general safety. Where it\nstill lingered, it was about those only who deserved it,--in any small\nfarm-house, where the dung-yard was too near the house; and in some\ncottage where the slatternly inmates did not mind a green puddle or\nchoked ditch within reach of their noses. More dwellings arose, as the\nfertility of the land increased, and invited a higher kind of tillage;\nand among the prettiest of them was one which stood in the corner,--the\nmost sunny corner,--of Woodruffe's paddock. Harry Hardiman and his wife\nand child lived there, and the cottage was Woodruffe's property.\n\nYet Woodruffe's rent had been raised, and pretty rapidly. He was now\npaying eight pounds per acre for his garden-ground, and half that for\nwhat was out of the limits of the garden. He did not complain of it; for\nhe was making money fast. His skill and industry deserved this; but\nskill and industry could not have availed without opportunity. His\nground once allowed to show what it was worth, he treated it well; and\nit answered well to the treatment. By the railway he obtained what\nmanure he wanted from the town; and he sent it back by the railway to\ntown in the form of crisp celery and salads, wholesome potatoes and\ngreens, luscious strawberries, and sweet and early peas. He knew that a\nSurrey gardener had made his ground yield a profit of two hundred and\ntwenty pounds per acre. He thought that, with his inferior market, he\nshould do well to make his yield one hundred and fifty pounds per acre;\nand this, by close perseverance, he attained. He could have done it more\neasily if he had enjoyed good health; but he never enjoyed good health\nagain. His rheumatism had fixed itself too firmly to be entirely\nremoved; and for many days in the year, he was compelled to remain\nwithin doors, or to saunter about in the sun, seeing his boys and Harry\nat work, but unable to help them.\n\nFrom the time that Allan's work became worth wages in addition to his\nsubsistence, his father let him rent half a rood of the garden-ground\nfor three years, saying--\n\n\"I limit it to three years, my boy, because that term is long enough for\nyou to show what you can do. After three years, I shall not be able to\nspare the ground at any rent. If you fail, you have no business to rent\nground. If you succeed, you will have money in your pocket wherewith to\nhire land elsewhere. Now you have to show us what you can do.\"\n\n\"Yes, father,\" was Allan's short but sufficient reply.\n\nIt was observed by the family that, from this time forward, Allan's eye\nwas on every plot of ground in the neighborhood which could, by\npossibility, ever be offered for hire; yet did his attention never\nwander from that which was already under his hand. And that which was so\ngreat an object to him became a sort of pursuit to the whole family.\nMoss guarded Allan's frames, and made more and more prodigious\nscarecrows. Their father gave his very best advice. Becky, who was no\nlonger allowed, as a regular thing, to work in the garden, found many a\nspare half-hour for hoeing and weeding, and trimming and tying up, in\nAllan's beds; and Abby found, as she sat in her little school, that she\ncould make nets for his fruit trees. It was thus no wonder that, when a\ncertain July day in the second year arrived, the whole household was in\na state of excitement, because it was a sort of crisis in Allan's\naffairs.\n\nThough breakfast was early that morning, Becky and Allan and Moss were\nspruce in their best clothes. A hamper stood at the door, and Allan was\npacking in another, which had no lid, two or three flower-pots, which\npresented a glorious show of blossom. Abby was putting a new ribbon on\nher sister's straw bonnet; and Harry was in waiting to carry up the\nhampers to the station. It was the day of the Horticultural Show at the\ntown. Woodruffe had been too unwell to think of going till this morning;\nbut now the sight of the preparations, and the prospect of a warm day,\ninspired him, and he thought he would go. At last he went, and they were\ngone. Abby never went up to the station; nobody ever asked her to go\nthere, not even her own child, who perhaps had not thought of the\npossibility of it. But when the train was starting, she stood at the\nupper window with her child, and held him so that he might lean out, and\nsee the last carriage disappear as it swept round the curve. After that\nthe day seemed long, though Harry came up at the dinner-hour to say what\nhe thought of the great gooseberry in particular, and of everything else\nthat Allan had carried with him. It was holiday time, and there was no\nschool to fill up the day. Before the evening, the child became\nrestless, and Abby fell into low spirits, as she was apt to do when left\nlong alone; so that Harry stopped suddenly at the door when he was\nrushing in to announce that the train was within sight.\n\n\"Shall I take the child, Miss?\" said Harry. (He always called her\n\"Miss.\") \"I will carry him---- But, sure, here they come! Here comes\nMoss,--ready to roll down the steps! My opinion is that there's a\nprize.\"\n\nMoss was called back by a voice which everybody obeyed. Allan should\nhimself tell his sister the fortune of the day, their father said.\n\nThere were two prizes, one of which was for the wonderful plate of\ngooseberries; and at this news Harry nodded, and declared himself\nanything but surprised. If that gooseberry had not carried the day,\nthere would have been partiality in the judges, that was all; and nobody\ncould suppose such a thing as that. Yet Harry could have told, if put\nupon his honor, that he was rather disappointed that everything that\nAllan carried had not gained a prize. When he mentioned one or two, his\nmaster told him he was unreasonable; and he supposed he was.\n\nAllan laid down upon the table, for his sister's full assurance, his\nsovereign, and his half-sovereign, and his tickets. She turned away\nrather abruptly, and seemed to be looking whether the kettle was near\nboiling for tea. Her father went up to her; and on his first whispered\nwords, the sob broke forth which made all look round.\n\n\"I was thinking of one, too, my dear, that I wish was here at this\nmoment. I can feel for you, my dear.\"\n\n\"But you don't know--you don't know--you never knew----.\" She could not\ngo on.\n\n\"What don't I know, my dear?\"\n\n\"That he constantly blamed himself for saying anything to bring you\nhere. He said you had never prospered from the hour you came, and\nnow----\"\n\nAnd now Woodruffe could not speak, as the past came fresh upon him. In a\nfew moments, however, he rallied, saying,\n\n\"But we must consider Allan. He must not think that his success makes us\nsad.\"\n\nAllan declared that it was not about gaining the prizes that he was\nchiefly glad. It was because it was now proved what a fair field he had\nbefore him. There was nothing that might not be done with such a soil as\nthey had to deal with now.\n\nHarry was quite of this opinion. There were more and more people set to\nwork upon the soil all about them; and the more it was worked the more\nit yielded. He never saw a place of so much promise. And if it had a\nbad name in regard to healthiness, he was sure that was unfair,--or no\nlonger fair. He and his were full of health and happiness, as they hoped\nto see everybody else in time; and, for his part, if he had all England\nbefore him, or the whole world, to choose a place to live in, he would\nchoose the very place he was in, and the very cottage, and the very\nground to work on that had produced such a gooseberry and such\nstrawberries as he had seen that day.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nThe Water-Drops.\n\nA FAIRY TALE.\n\n\nI.\n\nTHE SUITORS OF CIRRHA, AND THE YOUNG LADY; WITH A REFERENCE TO HER PAPA.\n\nFar in the west there is a land mountainous, and bright of hue, wherein\nthe rivers run with liquid light; the soil is all of yellow gold; the\ngrass and foliage are of resplendent crimson; where the atmosphere is\npartly of a soft green tint, and partly azure. Sometimes on summer\nevenings we see this land, and then, because our ignorance must refer\nall things that we see, to something that we know, we say it is a mass\nof clouds made beautiful by sunset colors. We account for it by\nprinciples of Meteorology. The fact has been omitted from the works of\nKaemtz or Daniell; but, notwithstanding this neglect, it is well known\nin many nurseries, that the bright land we speak of, is a world\ninhabited by fairies. Few among fairies take more interest in man's\naffairs than the good Cloud Country People; this truth is established by\nthe story I am now about to tell.\n\nNot long ago there were great revels held one evening in the palace of\nKing Cumulus, the monarch of the western country. Cirrha, the daughter\nof the king, was to elect her future husband from a multitude of\nsuitors. Cirrha was a maiden delicate and pure, with a skin white as\nunfallen snow; but colder than the snow her heart had seemed to all who\nsought for her affections. When Cirrha floated gracefully and slowly\nthrough her father's hall, many a little cloud would start up presently\nto tread where she had trodden. The winds also pursued her; and even men\nlooked up admiringly whenever she stepped forth into their sky. To be\nsure they called her Mackerel and Cat's Tail, just as they call her\nfather Ball of Cotton; for the race of man is a coarse race, and calling\nbad names appears to be a great part of its business here below.\n\nBefore the revels were concluded, the King ordered a quiet little wind\nto run among the guests, and bid them all come close to him and to his\ndaughter. Then he spoke to them as follows:--\n\n\"Worthy friends! there are among you many suitors to my daughter Cirrha,\nwho is pledged this evening to choose a husband. She bids me tell you\nthat she loves you all; but since it is desirable that this our royal\nhouse be strengthened by a fit alliance with some foreign power, she has\nresolved to take as husband one of those guests who have come hither\nfrom the principality of Nimbus.\" Now, Nimbus is that country, not\nseldom visible from some parts of our earth, which we have called the\nRain-Cloud. \"The subjects of the Prince of Nimbus,\" Cumulus continued,\n\"are a dark race, it is true, but they are famed for their beneficence.\"\n\nTwo winds, at this point, raised between themselves a great disturbance,\nso that there arose a universal cry that somebody should turn them out.\nWith much trouble they were driven out from the assembly; thereupon,\nquite mad with jealousy and disappointment, they went howling off to\nsea, where they played pool-billiards with a fleet of ships, and so\nforgot their sorrow.\n\nKing Cumulus resumed his speech, and said that he was addressing\nhimself, now, especially to those of his good friends who came from\nNimbus. \"To-night, let them retire to rest, and early the next morning\nlet each of them go down to Earth; whichever of them should be found on\ntheir return to have been engaged below in the most useful service to\nthe race of man, that son of Nimbus should be Cirrha's husband.\"\n\nCumulus, having said this, put a white nightcap on his head, which was\nthe signal for a general retirement. The golden ground of his dominions\nwas covered for the night, as well as the crimson trees, with cotton. So\nthe whole kingdom was put properly to bed. Late in the night the moon\ngot up, and threw over King Cumulus a silver counterpane.\n\n\nII.\n\nTHE ADVENTURES OF NEBULUS AND NUBIS.\n\nThe suitors of the Princess Cirrha, who returned to Nimbus, were a-foot\nquite early the next morning, and petitioned their good-natured Prince\nto waft them over London. They had agreed among themselves, that by\ndescending there, where men were densely congregated, they should have a\ngreater chance of doing service to the human race. Therefore the\nRain-Cloud floated over the great City of the World, and, as it passed\nat sundry points, the suitors came down upon rain-drops to perform their\ndestined labor. Where each might happen to alight depended almost wholly\nupon accident; so that their adventures were but little better than a\nlottery for Cirrha's hand. One, who had been the most magniloquent among\nthem all, fell with his pride upon the patched umbrella of an early\nbreakfast woman, and from thence was shaken off into a puddle. He was\nsplashed up presently, mingled with soil, upon the corduroys of a\nlaborer, who stopped for breakfast on his way to work. From thence,\nevaporating, he returned crest-fallen to the Land of Clouds.\n\nAmong the suitors there were two kind-hearted fairies, Nebulus and\nNubis, closely bound by friendship to each other. While they were in\nconversation, Nebulus, who suddenly observed that they were passing over\nsome unhappy region, dropped, with a hope that he might bless it. Nubis\npassed on, and presently alighted on the surface of the Thames.\n\nThe district which had wounded the kind heart of Nebulus was in a part\nof Bermondsey, called Jacob's Island. The fairy fell into a ditch; out\nof this, however, he was taken by a woman, who carried him to her own\nhome, among other ditch-water, within a pail. Nebulus abandoned himself\nto complete despair, for what claim could he now establish on the hand\nof Cirrha? The miserable plight of the poor fairy we may gather from a\ndescription given by a son of man of the sad place to which he had\ndescended. \"In this Island may be seen, at any time of the day, women\ndipping water, with pails attached by ropes to the backs of the houses,\nfrom a foul fetid ditch, its banks coated with a compound of mud and\nfilth, and strewed with offal and carrion; the water to be used for\nevery purpose, culinary ones not excepted; although close to the place\nwhence it is drawn, filth and refuse of various kinds are plentifully\nshowered into it from the outhouses of the wooden houses overhanging its\ncurrent, or rather slow and sluggish stream; their posts or supporters\nrotten, decayed, and in many instances broken, and the filth dropping\ninto the water, to be seen by any passer by. During the summer, crowds\nof boys bathe in the putrid ditches, where they must come in contact\nwith abominations highly injurious.\"[1]\n\nSo Nebulus was carried in a pail out of the ditch to a poor woman's\nhome, and put into a battered saucepan with some other water. Thence,\nafter boiling, he was poured into an earthen tea-pot over some stuff of\nwretched flavor, said to be tea. Now, thought the fairy, after all, I\nmay give pleasure at the breakfast of these wretched people. He pictured\nto himself a scene of love as preface to a day of squalid toil, but he\nexperienced a second disappointment. The woman took him to another room\nof which the atmosphere was noisome; there he saw that he was destined\nfor the comfort of a man and his two children, prostrate upon the floor\nbeneath a heap of rags. These three were sick; the woman swore at them,\nand Nebulus shrunk down into the bottom of the tea-pot. Even the thirst\nof fever could not tolerate too much of its contents, so Nebulus, after\na little time, was carried out and thrown into a heap of filth upon the\ngutter.\n\nNubis, in the meantime, had commenced his day with hope of a more\nfortunate career. On falling first into the Thames he had been much\nannoyed by various pollutions, and been surprised to find, on kissing a\nfew neighbor drops, that their lips tasted inky. This was caused, they\nsaid, by chalk pervading the whole river in the proportion of sixteen\ngrains to the gallon. That was what made their water inky to the taste\nof those who were accustomed to much purer draughts. \"It makes,\" they\nexplained, \"our river-water hard, according to man's phrase; so hard as\nto entail on multitudes who use it, some disease, with much expense and\ntrouble.\"\n\n\"But all the mud and filth,\" said Nubis, \"surely no man drinks that?\"\n\n\"No,\" laughed the River-Drops, \"not all of it. Much of the water used in\nLondon passes through filters, and a filter suffers no mud or any\nimpurity to pass, except what is dissolved. The chalk is dissolved, and\nthere is filth and putrid gas dissolved.\"\n\n\"That is a bad business,\" said Nubis, who already felt his own drops\nexercising that absorbent power for which water is so famous, and\nincorporating in their substance matters that the Rain-Cloud never\nknew.\n\nPresently Nubis found himself entangled in a current, by which he was\nsucked through a long pipe into a meeting of Water-Drops, all summoned\nfrom the Thames. He himself passed through a filter, was received into a\nreservoir, and, having asked the way of friendly neighbors, worked for\nhimself with small delay a passage through the mainpipe into London.\n\nBewildered by his long, dark journey underground, Nubia at length saw\nlight, and presently dashed forth out of a tap into a pitcher. He saw\nthat there was fixed under the tap a water-butt, but into this he did\nnot fall. A crowd of women holding pitchers, saucepans, pails, were\nchattering and screaming over him, and the anxiety of all appeared to be\nto catch the water as it ran out of the tap, before it came into the tub\nor cistern. Nubis rejoiced that his good fortune brought him to a\ndistrict in which it might become his privilege to bless the poor, and\nhis eye sparkled as his mistress, with many rests upon the way, carried\nher pitcher and a heavy pail upstairs. She placed both vessels, full of\nwater, underneath her bed, and then went out again for more, carrying a\nbasin and a fish-kettle. Nubis pitied the poor creature, heartily\nwishing that he could have poured out of a tap into the room itself to\nsave the time and labor of his mistress.\n\nThe pitcher wherein the good fairy lurked, remained under the bed\nthrough the remainder of that day, and during the next night, the room\nbeing, for the whole time, closely tenanted. Long before morning, Nubis\nfelt that his own drops and all the water near him had lost their\ndelightful coolness, and had been busily absorbing smells and vapors\nfrom the close apartment. In the morning, when the husband dipped a\nteacup in the pitcher, Nubis readily ran into it, glad to escape from\nhis unwholesome prison. The man putting the water to his lips, found it\nso warm and repulsive, that, in a pet, he flung it from the window, and\nit fell into the water-butt beneath.\n\nThe water-butt was of the common sort, described thus by a member of the\nhuman race:--\"Generally speaking, the wood becomes decomposed and\ncovered with fungi; and indeed, I can best describe their condition by\nterming them filthy.\" This water-butt was placed under the same shed\nwith a neglected cesspool, from which the water--ever absorbing--had\nabsorbed pollution. It contained a kitten among other trifles. \"How many\npeople have to drink out of this butt?\" asked Nubis. \"Really I cannot\ntell you,\" said a neighbor Drop. \"Once I was in a butt in Bethnal Green,\ntwenty-one inches across, and a foot deep, which was to supply\nforty-eight families.[2] People store for themselves, and when they know\nhow dirty these tubs are, they should not use them.\" \"But the labor of\ndragging water home, the impossibility of taking home abundance, the\npollution of keeping it in dwelling-rooms and under beds.\" \"Oh, yes,\"\nsaid the other Drop; \"all very true. Besides, our water is not of a sort\nto keep. In this tub there is quite a microscopic vegetable garden, so I\nheard a doctor say who yesterday came hither with a party to inspect\nthe district. One of them said he had a still used only for distilling\nwater, and that one day, by chance, the bottoms of a series of\ndistillations boiled to dryness. Thereupon, the dry mass became heated\nto the decomposing point, and sent abroad a stench plain to the dullest\nnose as the peculiar stench of decomposed organic matter. It infected,\nhe said, the produce of many distillations afterwards.\"[3] \"I tell you\nwhat,\" said Nubis, \"water may come down into this town innocent enough,\nbut it's no easy matter for it to remain good among so many causes of\ncorruption. Heigho!\" Then he began to dream of Princess Cirrha and the\nworthy Prince of Nimbus, until he was aroused by a great tumult. It was\nan uproar caused by drunken men. \"Why are those men so?\" said Nubis to\nhis friend. \"I don't know,\" said the Water-Drop, \"but I saw many people\nin that way last night, and I have seen them so at Bethnal Green.\" A\nwoman pulled her husband by, with loud reproaches for his visits to the\nbeer-shop. \"Why,\" cried the man, with a great oath, \"where would you\nhave me go for drink?\" Then, with another oath, he kicked the water-butt\nin passing--\"You would not have me to go there!\" All the bystanders\nlaughed approvingly, and Nubis bade adieu to his ambition for the hand\nof Cirrha.\n\n\nIII.\n\n     NEPHELO GOES INTO POLITE SOCIETY, AND THEN INTO A DUNGEON--HIS\n     ESCAPE, RECAPTURE, AND HIS PERILOUS ASCENT INTO THE SKY, SURROUNDED\n     BY A BLAZE OF FIRE.\n\nNephelo was a light-hearted subject of the Prince of Nimbus. It is he\nwho often floats, when the whole cloud is dark, as a white vapor on the\nsurface. For love of Cirrha, he came down behind a team of rain-drops\nand leaped into the cistern of a handsome house at the west end of\nLondon.\n\nNephelo found the water in the cistern greatly vexed at riotous\nbehavior on the part of a large number of animalcules. He was told that\nWater-Drops had been compelled to come into that place, after undergoing\nmany hardships, and had unavoidably brought with them germs of these\nannoying creatures. Time and place favoring, nothing could hinder them\nfrom coming into life; the cistern was their cradle, although many of\nthem were already anything but babes. Hereupon, Nephelo himself was\ndashed at by an ugly little fellow like a dragon; but an uglier little\nfellow, who might be a small Saint George, pounced at the dragon, and\nthe heart of the poor fairy was the scene of contest.\n\nAfter awhile there was an arrival of fresh water from a pipe, the flow\nof which stirred up the anger of some decomposing growth which lined the\nsides and bottom of the cistern. So there was a good deal of confusion\ncaused, and it was some time before all parties settled down into their\nproper places.\n\n\"The sun is very hot,\" said Nephelo. \"We all seem to be getting very\nwarm.\" \"Yes, indeed,\" said a Lady-Drop; \"it's not like the cool\nCloud-Country. I have been poisoned in the Thames, half filtered, and\nmade frowzy by standing, this July weather, in an open reservoir. I've\ntravelled in pipes laid too near the surface to be cool, and now am\nspoiling here. I know if water is not cold it can't be pleasant.\" \"Ah,\"\nsaid an old Drop, with a small eel in one of his eyes; \"I don't wonder\nat hearing tell that men drink wine, and tea, and beer.\" \"Talking of\nbeer,\" said another, \"is it a fact that we're of no use to the brewers?\nOur character's so bad, they can't rely on us for cooling the worts, and\nso sink wells, in order to brew all the year round with water cold\nenough to suit their purposes.\" \"I know nothing of beer,\" said Nephelo;\n\"but I know that if the gentlemen and ladies in this cistern were as\ncold as they could wish to be, there wouldn't be so much decomposition\ngoing on among them.\" \"Your turn in, sir,\" said a polite Drop, and\nNephelo leaped nimbly through the place of exit into a china jug placed\nready to receive him. He was conveyed across a handsome kitchen by a\ncook, who declared her opinion that the morning's rain had caused the\ndrains to smell uncommonly. Nephelo then was thrown into a kettle.\n\nBoiling is to an unclean Water-Drop, like scratching to a bear, a\npleasant operation. It gets rid of the little animals by which it had\nbeen bitten, and throws down some of the impurity with which it had been\nsoiled. So, after boiling, water becomes more pure, but it is, at the\nsame time, more greedy than ever to absorb extraneous matter. Therefore,\nthe sons of men who boil their vitiated water ought to keep it covered\nafterwards, and if they wish to drink it cold, should lose no time in\ndoing so. Nephelo and his friends within the kettle danced with delight\nunder the boiling process. Chattering pleasantly together, they compared\nnotes of their adventures upon earth, discussed the politics of\nCloud-Land, and although it took them nearly twice as long to boil as it\nwould have done had there been no carbonate of lime about them, they\nwere quite sorry when the time was come for them to part. Nephelo then,\nwith many others, was poured out into an urn. So he was taken to the\ndrawing-room, a hot iron having, in a friendly manner, been put down his\nback, to keep him boiling.\n\nOut of the urn into the tea-pot; out of the tea-pot into the slop-basin;\nNephelo had only time to remark a matron tea-maker, young ladies\nknitting, and a good-looking young gentleman upon his legs, laying the\nlaw down with a tea-spoon, before he (the fairy, not the gentleman) was\nsmothered with a plate of muffins. From so much of the conversation as\nNephelo could catch, filtered through muffin, it appeared that they were\ntalking about tea.\n\n\"It's all very well for you to say, mother, that you're confident you\nmake tea very good, but I ask--no, there I see you put six spoonfuls in\nfor five of us. Mother, if this were not hard water--(here there was a\nnoise as of a spoon hammering upon the iron)--two spoonfuls less would\nmake tea of a better flavor and of equal strength. Now, there are three\nhundred and sixty-five times and a quarter tea-times in the year ----\"\n\n\"And how many spoonfuls, brother, to the quarter of a tea-time?\"\n\n\"Maria, you've no head for figures. I say nothing of the tea consumed at\nbreakfast. Multiply----\"\n\n\"My dear boy, you have left school; no one asks you to multiply. Hand me\nthe muffin.\"\n\nNephelo, released, was unable to look about him, owing to the high walls\nof the slop-basin which surrounded him on every side. The room was\nfilled with pleasant sunset light, but Nephelo soon saw the coming\nshadow of the muffin-plate, and all was dark directly afterwards.\n\n\"Take cooking, mother. M. Soyer[4] says you can't boil many vegetables\nproperly in London water. Greens won't be greens; French beans are\ntinged with yellow, and peas shrivel. It don't open the pores of meat,\nand make it succulent, as softer water does. M. Soyer believes that the\ntrue flavor of meat cannot be extracted with hard water. Bread does not\nrise so well when made with it. Horses----\"\n\n\"My dear boy, M. Soyer don't cook horses.\"\n\n\"Horses, Dr. Playfair tells us, sheep, and pigeons, will refuse hard\nwater if they can get it soft, though from the muddiest pool.\nRace-horses, when carried to a place where the water is notoriously\nhard, have a supply of softer water carried with them to preserve their\ngood condition. Not to speak of gripes, hard water will assuredly\nproduce what people call a staring coat.\"\n\n\"Ah, no doubt, then, it was London water that created Mr. Blossomley's\nblue swallow-tail.\"\n\n\"Maria, you make nonsense out of everything. When you are Mrs.\nBlossomley----\"\n\n\"Now pass my cup.\"\n\nThere was a pause and a clatter. Presently the muffin-plate was lifted,\nand four times in succession there were black dregs thrown into the face\nof Nephelo. After the perpetration of these insults he was once again\ncondemned to darkness.\n\n\"When you are Mrs. Blossomley, Maria,\" so the voice went on, \"when you\nare Mrs. Blossomley, you will appreciate what I am now going to tell you\nabout washerwomen.\"\n\n\"Couldn't you postpone it, dear, until I am able to appreciate it. You\npromised to take us to Rachel to-night.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said another girlish voice, \"you'll not escape. We dress at seven.\nUntil then--for the next twelve minutes you may speak. Bore on, we will\nendure.\"\n\n\"As for you, Catherine, Maria teaches you, I see, to chatter. But if\nMrs. B. would object to the reception of a patent mangle as a wedding\npresent from her brother, she had better hear him now. Washerwoman's\nwork is not a thing to overlook, I tell you. Before a shirt is worn out,\nthere will have been spent upon it five times its intrinsic value in the\nwashing-tub. The washing of clothes costs more, by a great deal, than\nthe clothes themselves. The yearly cost of washing to a household of the\nmiddle class amounts, on the average, to about a third part of the\nrental, or a twelfth part of the total income. Among the poor, the\naverage expense of washing will more probably be half the rental if they\nwash at home, but not more than a fourth of it if they employ the Model\nWash-houses. The weekly cost of washing to a poor man averages certainly\nnot less than fourpence halfpenny. Small tradesmen, driven to economize\nin linen, spend perhaps not more than ninepence; in the middle and upper\nclasses, the cost weekly varies from a shilling to five shillings for\neach person, and amounts very often to a larger sum. On these grounds,\nMr. Bullar, Honorary Secretary to the Association for Promoting Baths\nand Wash-houses, estimates the washing expenditure of London at a\nshilling a week for each inhabitant, or, for the whole, five millions of\npounds yearly. Professor Clark--\"\n\n\"My dear Professor Tom, you have consumed four of your twelve minutes.\"\n\n\"Professor Clark judges from such estimates as can be furnished by the\ntrade, that the consumption of soap in London is fifteen pounds to each\nperson per annum--twice as much as is employed in other parts of\nEngland. That quantity of soap costs six-and-eightpence; water, per\nhead, costs half as much, or three-and-fourpence; or each man's soap and\nwater costs throughout London, on an average, ten shillings for twelve\nmonths. If the hardness of the water be diminished, there is a\ndiminution in the want of soap. For every grain of carbonate of lime\ndissolved in each gallon of any water, Mr. Donaldson declares two ounces\nof soap more for a hundred gallons of that water are required. Every\nsuch grain is called a degree of hardness. Water of five degrees of\nhardness requires, for example, two ounces of soap; water of eight\ndegrees of hardness, then will need fifteen; and water of sixteen\ndegrees, will demand thirty-two. Sixteen degrees, Maria, is the hardness\nof Thames water--of the water, mother, which has poached upon your\ntea-caddy. You see, then, that when we pay for the soap we use at the\nrate of six-and-eightpence each, since the unusual hardness of our water\ncauses us to use a double quantity, every man in London pays at an\naverage rate of three-and-fourpence a year his tax for a hard water\nthrough the cost of soap alone.\"\n\n\"Now you must finish in five minutes, brother Tom.\"\n\n\"But soap is not the only matter that concerns the washerwoman and her\ncustomers. There is labor, also, and the wear and tear; there is a\ndouble amount of destruction to our linen, involved in the double time\nof rubbing and the double soaping, which hard water compels washerwomen\nto employ. So that, when all things have been duly reckoned up in our\naccount, we find that the outlay caused by the necessities for washing\nlinen in a town supplied like London with exceedingly hard water, is\nfour times greater than it would be if soft water were employed. The\ncost of washing, as I told you, has been estimated at five millions\na-year. So that, if these calculations be correct, more than three\nmillions of money, nearly four millions, is the amount filched yearly\nfrom the Londoners by their hard water through the wash-tub only. To\nthat sum, Mrs. Blossomley, being of a respectable family and very\npartial to clean linen, will contribute of course much more than her\naverage proportion.\"\n\n\"Well, Mr. Orator, I was not listening to all you said, but what I heard\nI do think much exaggerated.\"\n\n\"I take it, sister, from the Government Report; oblige me by believing\nhalf of it, and still the case is strong. It is quite time for people to\nbe stirring.\"\n\n\"So it is, I declare. Your twelve minutes are spent, and we will always\nbe ready for the play. If you talk there of water, I will shriek.\"\n\nHere there arose a chatter which Nephelo found to be about matters that,\nunlike the water topic, did not at all interest himself. There was a\nrustle and a movement; and a creaking noise approached the drawing-room,\nwhich Nephelo discovered presently to be caused by papa's boots as he\nmarched upstairs after his post-prandial slumberings. There was more\ntalk uninteresting to the fairy; Nephelo, therefore, became drowsy; his\ndrowsiness might at the same time have been aggravated by the close\nconfinement he experienced in an unwholesome atmosphere beneath the\nmuffin-plate. He was aroused by a great clattering; this the maid caused\nwho was carrying him down stairs upon a tray with all the other\ntea-things.\n\nFrom a sweet dream of nuptials with Cirrha, Nephelo was awakened to the\npainful consciousness that he had not yet succeeded in effecting any\ngreat good for the human race; he had but rinsed a teapot. With a faint\nimpulse of hope the desponding fairy noticed that the slop-basin in\nwhich he sat was lifted from the tray, in a few minutes after the tray\nhad been deposited upon the kitchen-dresser. Pity poor Nephelo! By a\nremorseless scullery-maid he was dashed rudely from the basin into a\ntrough of stone, from which he tumbled through a hole placed there on\npurpose to engulf him,--tumbled through into a horrible abyss.\n\nThis abyss was a long dungeon running from back to front beneath the\nhouse, built of bricks--rotten now, and saturated with moisture. Some of\nthe bricks had fallen in, or crumbled into nothingness; and Nephelo saw\nthat the soil without the dungeon was quite wet. The dungeon-floor was\ncoated with pollutions, travelled over by a sluggish shallow stream,\nwith which the fairy floated. The whole dungeon's atmosphere was foul\nand poisonous. Nephelo found now what those exhalations were which rose\nthrough every opening in the house, through vent-holes and the\nburrowings of rats; for rats and other venom tenanted this noisome den.\nThis was the pestilential gallery called by the good people of the\nhouse, their drain. A trap door at one end confined the fairy in this\nplace with other Water-Drops, until there should be collected a\nsufficient body of them to negotiate successfully for egress.\n\nThe object of this door was to prevent the ingress of much more foul\nmatter from without; and its misfortune was, that in so doing it\nnecessarily pent up a concentrated putrid gas within. At length Nephelo\nescaped; but, alas! it was from a Newgate to a Bastille--from the drain\ninto the sewer. This was a long-vaulted prison running near the surface\nunderneath the street. Shaken by the passage overhead of carriages, not\na few bricks had fallen in; and Nephelo hurrying forward, wholly\npossessed by the one thought--could he escape?--fell presently into a\ntrap. An oyster-shell had fixed itself upright between two bricks\nunevenly jointed together; much solid filth had grown around it; and in\nthis Nephelo was caught. Here he remained for a whole month, during\nwhich time he saw many floods of water pass him, leaving himself with a\nvast quantity of obstinate encrusted filth unmoved. At the month's end\nthere came some men to scrape, and sweep, and cleanse; then with a\nsudden flow of water, Nephelo was forced along, and presently, with a\nlarge number of emancipated foulnesses, received his discharge from\nprison, and was let loose upon the River Thames.\n\nNephelo struck against a very dirty Drop.\n\n\"Keep off, will you?\" the Drop exclaimed. \"You are not fit to touch a\nperson, sewer-bird.\"\n\n\"Why, where are you from, my sweet gentleman?\"\n\n\"Oh! I? I've had a turn through some Model Drains. Tubular drains they\ncall 'em. Look at me; isn't that clear?\"\n\n\"There's nothing clear about you,\" replied Nephelo. \"What do you mean by\nModel Drains?\"\n\n\"I mean I've come from Upper George Street through a twelve-inch pipe\nfour or five times faster than one travels over an old sewer-bed;\ntravelled express, no stoppage.\"\n\n\"Indeed!\"\n\n\"Yes. Impermeable, earthenware, tubular pipes, accurately dove-tailed. I\ncome from an experimental district. When it's all settled, there's to be\nwater on at high pressure everywhere, and an earthenware drain pipe\nunder every tap, a tube of no more than the necessary size. Then these\nlittle pipes are to run down the earth; and there's not to be a great\nbrick drain running underneath each house into the street; the pipes run\ninto a larger tube of earthenware that is to be laid at the backs of\nall the houses; these tubes run into larger ones, but none of them very\nmonstrous; and so that there is a constant flow, like circulation of the\nblood; and all the pipes are to run at last into one large conduit,\nwhich is to run out of town with all the sewage matter and discharge so\nfar down the Thames, that no return tide ever can bring it back to\nLondon. Some is to go branching off into the fields to be manure.\"\n\n\"Humph!\" said Nephelo. \"You profess to be very clever. How do you know\nall this?\"\n\n\"Know? Bless you, I'm a regular old Thames Drop. I've been in the\ncisterns, in the tumblers, down the sewers, in the river, up the pipes,\nin the reservoirs, in the cisterns, in the teapots, down the sewers, in\nthe river, up the pipes, in the reservoirs, in the cisterns, in the\nsaucepans, down the sewers, in the Thames--\"\n\n\"Hold! Stop there now!\" said Nephelo. \"Well, so you have heard a great\ndeal in your lifetime. You've had some adventures, doubtless?\"\n\n\"I believe you,\" said the Cockney-Drop. \"The worst was when I was pumped\nonce as fresh water into Rotherhithe. That place is below high-water\nmark; so are Bermondsey and St. George's, Southwark. Newington, St.\nOlave's, Westminster, and Lambeth, are but little better. Well, you\nknow, drains of the old sort always leak, and there's a great deal more\nwater poured into London than the Londoners have stowage room for, so\nthe water in low districts can't pass off at high water, and there's a\nprecious flood. We sopped the ground at Rotherhithe, but I thought I\nnever should escape again.\"\n\n\"Will the new pipes make any difference to that?\"\n\n\"Yes; so I am led to understand. They are to be laid with a regular\nfall, to pass the water off, which, being constant, will be never in\nexcess. The fall will be to a point of course below the water level, and\nat a convenient place the contents of these drains are to be pumped up\ninto the main sewer. Horrible deal of death caused, Sir, by the damp in\nthose low districts. One man in thirty-seven died of cholera in\nRotherhithe last year, when in Clerkenwell, at sixty-three feet above\nhigh water, there died but one in five hundred and thirty. The\nproportion held throughout.\"\n\n\"Ah, by the bye, you have heard, of course, complainings of the quality\nof water. Will the Londoners sink wells for themselves?\"\n\n\"Wells! What a child you are! Just from the clouds, I see. Wells in a\nlarge town get horribly polluted. They propose to consolidate and\nimprove two of the best Thames Water Companies, the Grand Junction and\nVauxhall, for the supply of London, until their great scheme can be\nintroduced; and to maintain them afterwards as a reserve guard in case\ntheir great scheme shouldn't prove so triumphant as they think it will\nbe.\"\n\n\"What is this great scheme, I should like to know?\"\n\n\"Why, they talk of fetching rain-water from a tract of heath between\nBagshot and Farnham. The rain there soaks through a thin crust of\ngrowing herbage, which is the only perfect filter, chemical as well as\nmechanical--the living rootlets extract more than we can, where impurity\nexists. Then, Sir, the rain runs into a large bed of silicious sand,\nplaced over marl; below the marl there is silicious sand again--Ah, I\nperceive you are not geological.\"\n\n\"Go on.\"\n\n\"The sand, washed by the rains of ages, holds the water without soiling\nit more than a glass tumbler would, and the Londoners say that in this\nway, by making artificial channels and a big reservoir, they can collect\ntwenty-eight thousand gallons a day of water nearly pure. They require\nforty thousand gallons, and propose to get the rest in the same\nneighborhood from tributaries of the River Wey, not quite so pure, but\nonly half as hard as Thames water, and unpolluted.\"\n\n\"How is it to get to London?\"\n\n\"Through a covered aqueduct. Covered for coolness' sake, and\ncleanliness. Then it is to be distributed through earthenware pipes,\nlaid rather deep, again for coolness' sake in the first instance, but\nfor cleanliness as well. The water is to come in at high pressure, and\nrun in iron or lead pipes up every house, scale every wall. There is to\nbe a tap in every room, and under every tap there is to be the entrance\nto a drain-pipe. Where water supply ends, drainage begins. They are to\nbe the two halves of a single system. Furthermore, there are to be\nnumbers of plugs opening in every street, and streets and courts are to\nbe washed out every morning, or every other morning, as the traffic may\nrequire, with hose and jet. The Great Metropolis mustn't be dirty, or be\ncontent with rubbing a finger here and there over its dirt. It is to\nhave its face washed every morning, just before the hours of business.\nThe water at high pressure is to set people's invention at work upon the\nintroduction of hydraulic apparatus for cranes, et c\u00e6tera, which now\ncause much hand labor and are scarcely worth steam-power. Furthermore--\"\n\n\"My dear friend,\" cried Nephelo, \"you are too clever. More than half of\nwhat you say is unintelligible to me.\"\n\n\"But the grand point,\" continued the garrulous Thames drop, \"is the\nexpense. The saving of cisterns, ball-cocks, plumbers' bills, expansive\nsewer-works, constant repairs, hand labor, street-sweeping, soap, tea,\nlinen, fuel, steam-boilers now damaged by incrustation, boards,\nsalaries, doctors' bills, time, parish rates--\"\n\nThe catalogue was never ended, for the busy Drop was suddenly entangled\namong hair upon the corpse of a dead cat, which fate also the fairy\nnarrowly escaped, to be in the next minute sucked up as Nubis had been\nsucked, through pipes into a reservoir. Weary with the incessant\nchattering of his conceited friend, whose pride he trusted that a night\nwith puss might humble, Nephelo now lurked silent in a corner. In a\ndreamy state he floated with the current underground, and was half\nsleeping in a pipe under some London street, when a great noise of\ntrampling overhead, mingled with cries, awakened him.\n\n\"What is the matter now?\" the fairy cried.\n\n\"A fire, no doubt, to judge by the noise,\" said a neighbor quietly.\nNephelo panted now with triumph. Cirrha was before his eyes. Now he\ncould benefit the race of man.\n\n\"Let us get out,\" cried Nephelo; \"let us assist in running to the\nrescue.\"\n\n\"Don't be impatient,\" said a drowsy Drop. \"We can't get out of here till\nthey have found the Company's turncock, and then he must go to this plug\nand that plug in one street, and another, before we are turned off.\"\n\n\"In the meantime the fire--\"\n\n\"Will burn the house down. Help in five minutes would save a house. Now\nthe luckiest man will seldom have his premises attended to in less than\ntwenty.\"\n\nNephelo thought here was another topic for his gossip in the Thames. The\nplugs talked of with a constant water-supply would take the sting out of\nthe Fire-Fiend.\n\nPresently among confused movements, confused sounds, amid a rush of\nwater, Nephelo burst into the light--into the vivid light of a great\nfire that leapt and roared as Nephelo was dashed against it! Through the\nred flames and the black smoke in a burst of steam, the fairy reascended\nhopeless to the clouds.\n\n\nIV.\n\nRASCALLY CONDUCT OF THE PRINCE OF NIMBUS.\n\nThe Prince of Nimbus, whose good-nature we have celebrated, was not good\nfor nothing. Having graciously permitted all the suitors of the Princess\nCirrha to go down to earth and labor for her hand, he took advantage of\ntheir absence, and, having the coast clear, importuned the daughter of\nKing Cumulus with his own addresses. Cirrha was not disposed to listen\nto them, but the rogue her father was ambitious. He desired to make a\ngood alliance, and that object was better gained by intermarriage with a\nprince than with a subject. \"There will be an uproar,\" said the old\nman, \"when those fellows down below come back. They will look black and\nno doubt storm a little, but we'll have our royal marriage\nnotwithstandstanding.\" So the Prince of Nimbus married Cirrha, and\nNephelo arrived at the court of King Cumulus one evening during the\ncelebration of the bridal feast. His wrath was seen on earth in many\nparts of England in the shape of a great thunderstorm on the 16th of\nJuly. The adventures of the other suitors, they being thus cheated of\ntheir object, need not be detailed. As each returns he will be made\nacquainted with the scandalous fraud practised by the Prince of Nimbus,\nand this being the state of politics in Cloud-Land at the moment when we\ngo to press, we may fairly expect to witness five or six more\nthunderstorms before next winter. Each suitor, as he returns and finds\nhow shamefully he has been cheated, will create a great disturbance; and\nno wonder. Conduct so rascally as that of the Prince of Nimbus is enough\nto fill the clouds with uproar.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nAn Excellent Opportunity.\n\n\nIn one of the dirtiest and most gloomy streets leading to the Rue Saint\nDenis, in Paris, there stands a tall and ancient house, the lower\nportion of which is a large mercer's shop. This establishment is held to\nbe one of the very best in the neighborhood, and has for many years\nbelonged to an individual on whom we will bestow the name of Ramin.\n\nAbout ten years ago, Monsieur Ramin was a jovial red-faced man of forty,\nwho joked his customers into purchasing his goods, flattered the pretty\n_grisettes_ outrageously, and now and then gave them a Sunday treat at\nthe barrier, as the cheapest way of securing their custom. Some people\nthought him a careless, good-natured fellow, and wondered how, with his\noff-hand ways, he contrived to make money so fast, but those who knew\nhim well saw that he was one of those who \"never lost an opportunity.\"\nOthers declared that Monsieur Ramin's own definition of his character\nwas, that he was a \"_bon enfant_,\" and that \"it was all luck.\" He\nshrugged his shoulders and laughed when people hinted at his deep\nscheming in making, and his skill in taking advantage of Excellent\nOpportunities.\n\nHe was sitting in his gloomy parlor one fine morning in Spring,\nbreakfasting from a dark liquid honored with the name of onion soup,\nglancing at the newspaper, and keeping a vigilant look on the shop\nthrough the open door, when his old servant Catherine suddenly\nobserved:--\n\n\"I suppose you know Monsieur Bonelle has come to live in the vacant\napartment on the fourth floor?\"\n\n\"What!\" exclaimed Monsieur Ramin in a loud key.\n\nCatherine repeated her statement, to which her master listened in total\nsilence.\n\n\"Well!\" he said, at length, in his most careless tones, \"what about the\nold fellow?\" and he once more resumed his triple occupation of reading,\neating, and watching.\n\n\"Why,\" continued Catherine, \"they say he is nearly dying, and that his\nhousekeeper, Marguerite, vowed he could never get up stairs alive. It\ntook two men to carry him up; and when he was at length quiet in bed,\nMarguerite went down to the porter's lodge and sobbed there a whole\nhour, saying, 'Her poor master had the gout, the rheumatics, and a bad\nasthma; that though he had been got up stairs, he would never come down\nagain alive; that if she could only get him to confess his sins and make\nhis will, she would not mind it so much; but that when she spoke of the\nlawyer or the priest, he blasphemed at her like a heathen, and declared\nhe would live to bury her and everybody else.'\"\n\nMonsieur Ramin heard Catherine with great attention, forgot to finish\nhis soup, and remained for five minutes in profound rumination, without\nso much as perceiving two customers who had entered the shop and were\nwaiting to be served. When aroused, he was heard to exclaim:\n\n\"What an excellent opportunity!\"\n\nMonsieur Bonelle had been Ramin's predecessor. The succession of the\nlatter to the shop was a mystery. No one ever knew how it was that this\nyoung and poor assistant managed to replace his patron. Some said that\nhe had detected Monsieur Bonelle in frauds which he threatened to\nexpose, unless the business were given up to him as the price of his\nsilence; others averred that, having drawn a prize in the lottery, he\nhad resolved to set up a fierce opposition over the way, and that\nMonsieur Bonelle, having obtained a hint of his intentions, had thought\nit most prudent to accept the trifling sum his clerk offered, and avoid\na ruinous competition. Some charitable souls--moved no doubt by Monsieur\nBonelle's misfortune--endeavored to console and pump him; but all they\ncould get from him was the bitter exclamation, \"To think I should have\nbeen duped by _him_!\" For Ramin had the art, though then a mere youth,\nto pass himself off on his master as an innocent provincial lad. Those\nwho sought an explanation from the new mercer, were still more\nunsuccessful. \"My good old master,\" he said in his jovial way, \"felt in\nneed of repose, and so I obligingly relieved him of all business and\nbotheration.\"\n\nYears passed away; Ramin prospered, and neither thought nor heard of his\n\"good old master.\" The house, of which he tenanted the lower portion,\nwas offered for sale; he had long coveted it, and had almost concluded\nan agreement with the actual owner, when Monsieur Bonelle unexpectedly\nstepped in at the eleventh hour, and by offering a trifle more secured\nthe bargain. The rage and mortification of Monsieur Ramin were extreme.\nHe could not understand how Bonelle, whom he had thought ruined, had\nscraped up so large a sum; his lease was out, and he now felt himself at\nthe mercy of the man he had so much injured. But either Monsieur Bonelle\nwas free from vindictive feelings, or those feelings did not blind him\nto the expediency of keeping a good tenant; for though he raised the\nrent, until Monsieur Ramin groaned inwardly, he did not refuse to renew\nthe lease. They had met at that period; but never since.\n\n\"Well, Catherine,\" observed Monsieur Ramin to his old servant on the\nfollowing morning, \"how is that good Monsieur Bonelle getting on?\"\n\n\"I dare say you feel very uneasy about him,\" she replied with a sneer.\n\nMonsieur Ramin looked up and frowned.\n\n\"Catherine,\" said he, dryly, \"you will have the goodness, in the first\nplace, not to make impertinent remarks; in the second place, you will\noblige me by going up stairs to inquire after the health of Monsieur\nBonelle, and say that I sent you.\"\n\nCatherine grumbled and obeyed. Her master was in the shop, when she\nreturned in a few minutes, and delivered with evident satisfaction the\nfollowing gracious message:\n\n\"Monsieur Bonelle desires his compliments to you, and declines to state\nhow he is; he will also thank you to attend to your own shop, and not to\ntrouble yourself about his health.\"\n\n\"How does he look?\" asked Monsieur Ramin with the most perfect\ncomposure.\n\n\"I caught a glimpse of him, and he appears to me to be rapidly preparing\nfor the good offices of the undertaker.\"\n\nMonsieur Ramin smiled, rubbed his hands, and joked merrily with a\ndark-eyed grisette, who was cheapening some ribbon for her cap. That\ngirl made an excellent bargain that day.\n\nTowards dusk the mercer left the shop to the care of his attendant, and\nsoftly stole up to the fourth story. In answer to his gentle ring, a\nlittle old woman opened the door, and giving him a rapid look, said\nbriefly,\n\n\"Monsieur is inexorable; he won't see any doctor whatever.\"\n\nShe was going to shut the door in his face, when Ramin quickly\ninterposed, under his breath, with, \"_I_ am not a doctor.\"\n\nShe looked at him from head to foot.\n\n\"Are you a lawyer?\"\n\n\"Nothing of the sort, my good lady.\"\n\n\"Well, then, are you a priest?\"\n\n\"I may almost say, quite the reverse.\"\n\n\"Indeed, you must go away; master sees no one.\"\n\nOnce more she would have shut the door, but Ramin prevented her.\n\n\"My good lady,\" said he, in his most insinuating tones, \"it is true I am\nneither a lawyer, a doctor, nor a priest. I am an old friend, a very old\nfriend of your excellent master; I have come to see good Monsieur\nBonelle in his present affliction.\"\n\nMarguerite did not answer, but allowed him to enter, and closed the door\nbehind him. He was going to pass from the narrow and gloomy ante-chamber\ninto an inner room--whence now proceeded a sound of loud coughing--when\nthe old woman laid her hand on his arm, and raising herself on tip-toe\nto reach his ear, whispered:\n\n\"For Heaven's sake, sir, since you are his friend, do talk to him; do\ntell him to make his will, and hint something about a soul to be saved,\nand all that sort of a thing: do, sir!\"\n\nMonsieur Ramin nodded and winked in a way that said \"I will.\" He proved,\nhowever, his prudence by not speaking aloud, for a voice from within\nsharply exclaimed,\n\n\"Marguerite, you are talking to some one. Marguerite, I will see neither\ndoctor nor lawyer; and if any meddling priest dare--\"\n\n\"It is only an old friend, sir;\" interrupted Marguerite, opening the\ninner door.\n\nHer master, on looking up, perceived the red face of Monsieur Ramin\npeeping over the old woman's shoulder, and irefully cried out,\n\n\"How dare you bring that fellow here? And you, sir, how dare you come?\"\n\n\"My good old friend, there are feelings,\" said Ramin, spreading his\nfingers over the left pocket of his waistcoat,--\"there are feelings,\" he\nrepeated, \"that cannot be subdued. One such feeling brought me here.\nThe fact is, I am a good-natured, easy fellow, and I never bear malice.\nI never forget an old friend, but love to forget old differences when I\nfind one party in affliction.\"\n\nHe drew a chair forward as he spoke, and composedly seated himself\nopposite to his late master.\n\nMonsieur Bonelle was a thin old man, with a pale sharp face, and keen\nfeatures. At first, he eyed his visitor from the depths of his vast\narm-chair; but, as if not satisfied with this distant view, he bent\nforward, and laying both hands on his thin knees, he looked up into\nRamin's face with a fixed and piercing gaze. He had not, however, the\npower of disconcerting his guest.\n\n\"What did you come here for?\" he at length asked.\n\n\"Merely to have the extreme satisfaction of seeing how you are, my good\nold friend. Nothing more.\"\n\n\"Well, look at me--and then go.\"\n\nNothing could be so discouraging; but this was an Excellent Opportunity,\nand when Monsieur Ramin _had_ an excellent opportunity in view, his\npertinacity was invincible. Being now resolved to stay, it was not in\nMonsieur Bonelle's power to banish him. At the same time, he had tact\nenough to render his presence agreeable. He knew that his coarse and\nboisterous wit had often delighted Monsieur Bonelle of old, and he now\nexerted himself so successfully as to betray the old man two or three\ntimes into hearty laughter.\n\n\"Ramin,\" said he, at length, laying his thin hand on the arm of his\nguest, and peering with his keen glance into the mercer's purple face,\n\"you are a funny fellow, but I know you; you cannot make me believe you\nhave called just to see how I am, and to amuse me. Come, be candid for\nonce; what do you want?\"\n\nRamin threw himself back in his chair, and laughed blandly, as much as\nto say, \"_Can_ you suspect me?\"\n\n\"I have no shop now out of which you can wheedle me,\" continued the old\nman; \"and surely you are not such a fool as to come to me for money.\"\n\n\"Money?\" repeated the draper, as if his host had mentioned something he\nnever dreamt of. \"Oh no!\"\n\nRamin saw it would not do to broach the subject he had really come\nabout, too abruptly, now that suspicion seemed so wide awake--_the_\nopportunity had not arrived.\n\n\"There is something up, Ramin, I know; I see it in the twinkle of your\neye; but you can't deceive me again.\"\n\n\"Deceive _you_?\" said the jolly schemer, shaking his head reverentially.\n\"Deceive a man of your penetration and depth? Impossible! The bare\nsupposition is flattery. My dear friend,\" he continued, soothingly, \"I\ndid not dream of such a thing. The fact is, Bonelle, though they call me\na jovial, careless, rattling dog, I have a conscience; and, somehow, I\nhave never felt quite easy about the way in which I became your\nsuccessor downstairs. It _was_ rather sharp practice, I admit.\"\n\nBonelle seemed to relent.\n\n\"Now for it,\" said the Opportunity-hunter to himself--\"By-the-by,\"\n(speaking aloud,) \"this house must be a great trouble to you in your\npresent weak state? Two of your lodgers have lately gone away without\npaying--a great nuisance, especially to an invalid.\"\n\n\"I tell you I'm as sound as a colt.\"\n\n\"At all events, the whole concern must be a great bother to you. If I\nwere you, I would sell the house.\"\n\n\"And if I were _you_,\" returned the landlord, dryly, \"I would buy it--\"\n\n\"Precisely,\" interrupted the tenant, eagerly.\n\n\"That is, if you could get it. Phoo! I knew you were after something.\nWill you give eighty thousand francs for it?\" abruptly asked Monsieur\nBonelle.\n\n\"Eighty thousand francs!\" echoed Ramin. \"Do you take me for Louis\nPhilippe or the Bank of France?\"\n\n\"Then, we'll say no more about it--are you not afraid of leaving your\nshop so long?\"\n\nRamin returned to the charge, heedless of the hint to depart. \"The fact\nis, my good old friend, ready money is not my strong point just now. But\nif you wish very much to be relieved of the concern, what say you to a\nlife annuity? I could manage that.\"\n\nMonsieur Bonelle gave a short, dry, churchyard cough, and looked as if\nhis life were not worth an hour's purchase. \"You think yourself\nimmensely clever, I dare say,\" he said. \"They have persuaded you that I\nam dying. Stuff! I shall bury you yet.\"\n\nThe mercer glanced at the thin fragile frame, and exclaimed to himself,\n\"Deluded old gentleman!\" \"My dear Bonelle,\" he continued, aloud, \"I know\nwell the strength of your admirable constitution; but allow me to\nobserve that you neglect yourself too much. Now, suppose a good sensible\ndoctor--\"\n\n\"Will you pay him?\" interrogated Bonelle sharply.\n\n\"Most willingly,\" replied Ramin, with an eagerness that made the old man\nsmile. \"As to the annuity, since the subject annoys you, we will talk of\nit some other time.\"\n\n\"After you have heard the doctor's report,\" sneered Bonelle.\n\nThe mercer gave him a stealthy glance, which the old man's keen look\nimmediately detected. Neither could repress a smile; these good souls\nunderstood one another perfectly, and Ramin saw that this was not the\nExcellent Opportunity he desired, and departed.\n\nThe next day Ramin sent a neighboring medical man, and heard it was his\nopinion that if Bonelle held on for three months longer, it would be a\nmiracle. Delightful news!\n\nSeveral days elapsed, and although very anxious, Ramin assumed a\ncareless air, and did not call upon his landlord, or take any notice of\nhim. At the end of the week old Marguerite entered the shop to make a\ntrifling purchase.\n\n\"And how are we getting on up-stairs?\" negligently asked Monsieur Ramin.\n\n\"Worse and worse, my good Sir,\" she sighed. \"We have rheumatic pains,\nwhich make us often use expressions the reverse of Christian-like, and\nyet nothing can induce us to see either the lawyer or the priest; the\ngout is getting nearer to our stomach every day, and still we go on\ntalking about the strength of our constitution. Oh, Sir, if you have any\ninfluence with us, do, pray do, tell us how wicked it is to die without\nmaking one's will or confessing one's sins.\"\n\n\"I shall go up this very evening,\" ambiguously replied Monsieur Ramin.\n\nHe kept his promise, and found Monsieur Bonelle in bed, groaning with\npain, and in the worst of tempers.\n\n\"What poisoning doctor did you send?\" he asked, with an ireful glance;\n\"I want no doctor, I am not ill; I will not follow his prescription; he\nforbade me to eat; I _will_ eat.\"\n\n\"He is a very clever man,\" said the visitor. \"He told me that never in\nthe whole course of his experience has he met with what he called so\nmuch 'resisting power' as exists in your frame. He asked me if you were\nnot of a long-lived race.\"\n\n\"That is as people may judge,\" replied Monsieur Bonelle. \"All I can say\nis, that my grandfather died at ninety, and my father at eighty-six.\"\n\n\"The doctor owned that you had a wonderfully strong constitution.\"\n\n\"Who said I hadn't?\" exclaimed the invalid feebly.\n\n\"You may rely on it, you would preserve your health better if you had\nnot the trouble of these vexatious lodgers. Have you thought about the\nlife annuity?\" said Ramin as carelessly as he could, considering how\nnear the matter was to his hopes and wishes.\n\n\"Why, I have scruples,\" returned Bonelle, coughing. \"I do not wish to\ntake you in. My longevity would be the ruin of you.\"\n\n\"To meet that difficulty,\" quickly replied the mercer, \"we can reduce\nthe interest.\"\n\n\"But I must have high interest,\" placidly returned Monsieur Bonelle.\n\nRamin, on hearing this, burst into a loud fit of laughter, called\nMonsieur Bonelle a sly old fox, gave him a poke in the ribs, which made\nthe old man cough for five minutes, and then proposed that they should\ntalk it over some other day. The mercer left Monsieur Bonelle in the act\nof protesting that he felt as strong as a man of forty.\n\nMonsieur Ramin felt in no hurry to conclude the proposed agreement. \"The\nlater one begins to pay, the better,\" he said, as he descended the\nstairs.\n\nDays passed on, and the negotiation made no way. It struck the observant\ntradesman that all was not right. Old Marguerite several times refused\nto admit him, declaring her master was asleep; there was something\nmysterious and forbidding in her manner that seemed to Monsieur Ramin\nvery ominous. At length a sudden thought occurred to him; the\nhousekeeper--wishing to become her master's heir--had heard his scheme\nand opposed it. On the very day that he arrived at this conclusion, he\nmet a lawyer, with whom he had formerly had some transactions, coming\ndown the staircase. The sight sent a chill through the mercer's\ncommercial heart, and a presentiment--one of those presentiments that\nseldom deceive--told him it was too late. He had, however, the fortitude\nto abstain from visiting Monsieur Bonelle until evening came; when he\nwent up, resolved to see him in spite of all Marguerite might urge. The\ndoor was half-open, and the old housekeeper stood talking on the landing\nto a middle-aged man in a dark cassock.\n\n\"It is all over! The old witch has got the priests at him,\" thought\nRamin, inwardly groaning at his own folly in allowing himself to be\nforestalled.\n\n\"You cannot see Monsieur to-night,\" sharply said Marguerite, as he\nattempted to pass her.\n\n\"Alas! is my excellent friend so very ill?\" asked Ramin, in a mournful\ntone.\n\n\"Sir,\" eagerly said the clergyman, catching him by the button of his\ncoat, \"if you are indeed the friend of that unhappy man, do seek to\nbring him into a more suitable frame of mind. I have seen many dying\nmen, but never so much obstinacy, never such infatuated belief in the\nduration of life.\"\n\n\"Then you think he really _is_ dying?\" asked Ramin; and, in spite of the\nmelancholy accent he endeavored to assume, there was something so\npeculiar in his tone, that the priest looked at him very fixedly as he\nslowly replied,\n\n\"Yes, Sir, I think he is.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" was all Monsieur Ramin said; and as the clergyman had now relaxed\nhis hold of the button, Ramin passed in spite of the remonstrances of\nMarguerite, who rushed after the priest. He found Monsieur Bonelle still\nin bed in a towering rage.\n\n\"Oh! Ramin, my friend,\" he groaned, \"never take a housekeeper, and never\nlet her know you have any property. They are harpies, Ramin,--harpies!\nsuch a day as I have had; first, the lawyer, who comes to write down 'my\nlast testamentary dispositions,' as he calls them; then the priest, who\ngently hints that I am a dying man. Oh, what a day!\"\n\n\"And _did_ you make your will, my excellent friend?\" softly asked\nMonsieur Ramin, with a keen look.\n\n\"Make my will?\" indignantly exclaimed the old man; \"make my will? what\ndo you mean, Sir? do you mean to say I am dying?\"\n\n\"Heaven forbid!\" piously ejaculated Ramin.\n\n\"Then why do you ask me if I have been making my will?\" angrily resumed\nthe old man. He then began to be extremely abusive.\n\nWhen money was in the way, Monsieur Ramin, though otherwise of a violent\ntemper, had the meekness of a lamb. He bore the treatment of his host\nwith the meekest patience, and having first locked the door so as to\nmake sure that Marguerite would not interrupt them, he watched Monsieur\nBonelle attentively, and satisfied himself that the Excellent\nOpportunity he had been ardently longing for had arrived. \"He is going\nfast,\" he thought; \"and unless I settle the agreement to-night, and get\nit drawn up and signed to-morrow, it will be too late.\"\n\n\"My dear friend,\" he at length said aloud, on perceiving that the old\ngentleman had fairly exhausted himself and was lying panting on his\nback, \"you are indeed a lamentable instance of the lengths to which the\ngreedy lust of lucre will carry our poor human nature. It is really\ndistressing to see Marguerite, a faithful, attached servant, suddenly\nconverted into a tormenting harpy by the prospect of a legacy! Lawyers\nand priests flock around you like birds of prey, drawn hither by the\nscent of gold! Oh, the miseries of having delicate health combined with\na sound constitution and large property!\"\n\n\"Ramin,\" groaned the old man, looking inquiringly into his visitor's\nface, \"you are again going to talk to me about that annuity--I know you\nare!\"\n\n\"My excellent friend, it is merely to deliver you from a painful\nposition.\"\n\n\"I am sure, Ramin, you think in your soul I am dying,\" whimpered\nMonsieur Bonelle.\n\n\"Absurd, my dear Sir. Dying? I will prove to you that you have never\nbeen in better health. In the first place you feel no pain.\"\n\n\"Excepting from rheumatism,\" groaned Monsieur Bonelle.\n\n\"Rheumatism! who ever died of rheumatism? and if that be all--\"\n\n\"No, it is not all,\" interrupted the old man with great irritability;\n\"what would you say to the gout getting higher and higher up every\nday?\"\n\n\"The gout is rather disagreeable, but if there is nothing else--\"\n\n\"Yes, there is something else,\" sharply said Monsieur Bonelle. \"There is\nan asthma that will scarcely let me breathe, and a racking pain in my\nhead that does not allow me a moment's ease. But if you think I am\ndying, Ramin, you are quite mistaken.\"\n\n\"No doubt, my dear friend, no doubt; but in the meanwhile, suppose we\ntalk of this annuity. Shall we say one thousand francs a year.\"\n\n\"What?\" asked Bonelle, looking at him very fixedly.\n\n\"My dear friend, I mistook; I meant two thousand francs per annum,\"\nhurriedly rejoined Ramin.\n\nMonsieur Bonelle closed his eyes, and appeared to fall into a gentle\nslumber. The mercer coughed; the sick man never moved.\n\n\"Monsieur Bonelle.\"\n\nNo reply.\n\n\"My excellent friend.\"\n\nUtter silence.\n\n\"Are you asleep?\"\n\nA long pause.\n\n\"Well, then, what do you say to three thousand?\"\n\nMonsieur Bonelle opened his eyes.\n\n\"Ramin,\" said he, sententiously, \"you are a fool; the house brings me in\nfour thousand as it is.\"\n\nThis was quite false, and the mercer knew it; but he had his own reasons\nfor wishing to seem to believe it true.\n\n\"Good Heavens!\" said he, with an air of great innocence, \"who could have\nthought it, and the lodgers constantly running away. Four thousand?\nWell, then, you shall have four thousand.\"\n\nMonsieur Bonelle shut his eyes once more, and murmured \"The mere\nrental--nonsense!\" He then folded his hands on his breast, and appeared\nto compose himself to sleep.\n\n\"Oh, what a sharp man of business he is!\" Ramin said, admiringly; but\nfor once omnipotent flattery failed in its effect; \"So acute!\" continued\nhe, with a stealthy glance at the old man, who remained perfectly\nunmoved. \"I see you will insist upon making it the other five hundred\nfrancs.\"\n\nMonsieur Ramin said this as if five thousand five hundred francs had\nalready been mentioned, and was the very summit of Monsieur Bonelle's\nambition. But the ruse failed in its effect; the sick man never so much\nas stirred.\n\n\"But, my dear friend,\" urged Monsieur Ramin in a tone of feeling\nremonstrance, \"there is such a thing as being too sharp, too acute. How\ncan you expect that I shall give you more when your constitution is so\ngood, and you are to be such a long liver?\"\n\n\"Yes, but I may be carried off one of those days,\" quietly observed the\nold man, evidently wishing to turn the chance of his own death to\naccount.\n\n\"Indeed, and I hope so,\" muttered the mercer, who was getting very\nill-tempered.\n\n\"You see,\" soothingly continued Bonelle, \"you are so good a man of\nbusiness, Ramin, that you will double the actual value of the house in\nno time. I am a quiet, easy person, indifferent to money; otherwise this\nhouse would now bring me in eight thousand at the very least.\"\n\n\"Eight thousand!\" indignantly exclaimed the mercer. \"Monsieur Bonelle,\nyou have no conscience. Come now, my dear friend, do be reasonable. Six\nthousand francs a-year (I don't mind saying six) is really a very\nhandsome income for a man of your quiet habits. Come, be reasonable.\"\nBut Monsieur Bonelle turned a deaf ear to reason, and closed his eyes\nonce more. What between opening and shutting them for the next quarter\nof an hour, he at length induced Monsieur Ramin to offer him seven\nthousand francs.\n\n\"Very well, Ramin, agreed,\" he quietly said; \"you have made an\nunconscionable bargain.\" To this succeeded a violent fit of coughing.\n\nAs Ramin unlocked the door to leave, he found old Marguerite, who had\nbeen listening all the time, ready to assail him with a torrent of\nwhispered abuse for duping her \"poor dear innocent old master into such\na bargain.\" The mercer bore it all very patiently; he could make\nallowances for her excited feelings, and only rubbed his hands and bade\nher a jovial good evening.\n\nThe agreement was signed on the following day, to the indignation of old\nMarguerite, and the mutual satisfaction of the parties concerned.\n\nEvery one admired the luck and shrewdness of Ramin, for the old man\nevery day was reported worse; and it was clear to all that the first\nquarter of the annuity would never be paid. Marguerite, in her wrath,\ntold the story as a grievance to every one; people listened, shook their\nheads, and pronounced Monsieur Ramin to be a deuced clever fellow.\n\nA month elapsed. As Ramin was coming down one morning from the attics,\nwhere he had been giving notice to a poor widow who had failed in paying\nher rent, he heard a light step on the stairs. Presently a sprightly\ngentleman, in buoyant health and spirits, wearing the form of Monsieur\nBonelle, appeared. Ramin stood aghast.\n\n\"Well, Ramin,\" gaily said the old man, \"how are you getting on? Have you\nbeen tormenting the poor widow up stairs? Why, man, we must live and let\nlive!\"\n\n\"Monsieur Bonelle,\" said the mercer, in a hollow tone, \"may I ask where\nare your rheumatics?\"\n\n\"Gone, my dear friend,--gone.\"\n\n\"And the gout that was creeping higher and higher every day,\" exclaimed\nMonsieur Ramin, in a voice of anguish.\n\n\"It went lower and lower, till it disappeared altogether,\" composedly\nreplied Bonelle.\n\n\"And your asthma----\"\n\n\"The asthma remains, but asthmatic people are proverbially long-lived.\nIt is, I have been told, the only complaint that Methuselah was troubled\nwith.\" With this, Bonelle opened his door, shut it, and disappeared.\n\nRamin was transfixed on the stairs; petrified with intense\ndisappointment, and a powerful sense of having been duped. When\ndiscovered, he stared vacantly, and raved about an Excellent Opportunity\nof taking his revenge.\n\nThe wonderful cure was the talk of the neighborhood, whenever Monsieur\nBonelle appeared in the streets, jauntily flourishing his cane. In the\nfirst frenzy of his despair, Ramin refused to pay; he accused every one\nof having been in a plot to deceive him; he turned off Catherine and\nexpelled his porter; he publicly accused the lawyer and priest of\nconspiracy; brought an action against the doctor, and lost it. He had\nanother brought against him for violently assaulting Marguerite, in\nwhich he was cast in heavy damages. Monsieur Bonelle did not trouble\nhimself with useless remonstrances, but, when his annuity was refused,\nemployed such good legal arguments as the exasperated mercer could not\npossibly resist.\n\nTen years have elapsed, and MM. Ramin and Bonelle still live on. For a\nhouse which would have been dear at fifty thousand francs, the draper\nhas already handed over seventy thousand.\n\nThe once red-faced, jovial Ramin, is now a pale, haggard man, of sour\ntemper and aspect. To add to his anguish, he sees the old man thrive on\nthat money which it breaks his heart to give. Old Marguerite takes a\nmalicious pleasure in giving him an exact account of their good cheer,\nand in asking him if he does not think Monsieur looks better and better\nevery day. Of one part of this torment Ramin might get rid, by giving\nhis old master notice to quit, and no longer having him in his house.\nBut this he cannot do; he has a secret fear that Bonelle would take some\nExcellent Opportunity of dying without his knowledge, and giving some\nother person an Excellent Opportunity of personating him, and receiving\nthe money in his stead.\n\nThe last accounts of the victim of Excellent Opportunities represent him\nas being gradually worn down with disappointment. There seems every\nprobability of his being the first to leave the world; for Bonelle is\nheartier than ever.\n\n                               THE END.\n\n                *       *       *       *       *\n\n              =Popular Work! Twelfth Thousand Now Ready!=\n\n                      LEWIE, OR THE BENDED TWIG.\n\n                           BY COUSIN CICELY,\n\n              Author of \"Silver Lake Stories,\" etc., etc.\n\n              =One Volume 12mo.,            Price $1.00.=\n\n  ALDEN, BEARDSLEY & CO., AUBURN, N. Y.,       }\n  WANZER, BEARDSLEY & CO., ROCHESTER, N. Y.,   } _Publishers_.\n\n    \"Mother! thy gentle hand hath mighty power,\n    For thou alone may'st train, and guide, and mould\n    Plants that shall blossom, with an odor sweet,\n    Or, like the cursed fig-tree, wither, and become\n    Vile cumberers of the ground.\"\n\nBrief Extracts from Notices of the Press.\n\n* * * A tale which deserves to rank with \"The Wide, Wide World.\" It is\nwritten with graphic power, and full of interest.--_Hartford Repub._\n\n* * * Her writings are equal to the best. She is a second Fanny\nFern.--_Palmyra Democrat._\n\n* * * It is recommended by its excellent moral tone and its wholesome\npractical inculcations.--_N. Y. Tribune._\n\n* * * Full of grace and charm, its style and vivacity make it a most\namusing work. For the intellectual and thinking, it has a deeper lesson,\nand while it thrills the heart, bids parents beware of that weakness\nwhich prepares in infancy the misery of man. \"Lewie\" is one of the most\npopular books now before the public, and needs no puffing, as it is\nselling by thousands.--_N. Y. Day Book._\n\n* * * The moral of the book is inestimable. The writer cannot fail to be\ngood, as she so faithfully portrays the evils which owe their origin to\nthe criminal neglect of proper parental discipline.--_Hunt's Merchants'\nMagazine._\n\n* * * The plot is full of dramatic interest, yet entirely free from\nextravagance; the incidents grow out of the main plot easily and\nnaturally, while the sentiment is healthy and unaffected. Commend us to\nmore writers like Cousin Cicely--books which we can see in the hands of\nour young people without uneasiness. Books which interest by picturing\nlife as it is, instead of giving us galvanized society.--_National\nDemocrat._\n\n* * * A touching and impressive story, unaffected in style and effective\nin plot.--_N. Y. Evangelist._\n\n* * * The story of the Governess, contained in this volume, is one of\nrare interest.--_Highland Eagle._\n\n* * * The story is a charming one--the most affecting we ever\nread.--_Jersey Shore Republican._\n\n* * * \"Cousin Cicely\" is just the person to portray family scenes.\n\n* * * This story will be profitable reading.--_Daily Capital City Fact,\nColumbus, Ohio._\n\n* * * The contents of the work are of the first order, and\nunexceptionable.--_Hartford Daily Times._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n [1] Report of Mr. Bowie on the cause of Cholera in Bermondsey.\n\n [2] Report of Dr. Gavin.\n\n [3] Evidence of Mr. J. T. Cooper, Practical Chemist.\n\n [4] Evidence before the Board of Health.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTypographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:\n\ngave him little encouagement=> gave him little encouagement {pg 11}\n\nwhere an elegaut _d\u00e9jeuner_=> where an elegant _d\u00e9jeuner_ {pg 20}\n\nwo had sprung=> woe had sprung {pg 27}\n\nagaint the barons=> against the barons {pg 35}\n\nThs spirit of a policeman=> The spirit of a policeman {pg 62}\n\nthree feet together anwhere=> three feet together anywhere {pg 207}\n\nNepho now lurked=> Nephelo now lurked {pg 321}\n\ncried Nepho=> cried Nephelo {pg 322}\n\nyou are are not such a fool=> you are not such a fool {pg 334}\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Pearl-Fishing; Choice Stories from\nDickens' Household Words; Second S, by Charles Dickens\n\n*** ","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}}
+{"text":"\n\n\n\nProduced by hekula03, David E. Brown, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http:\/\/www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  _Chap-Books\n  and\n  Folk-Lore Tracts._\n\n  _Edited by\n  G. L. Gomme, F.S.A.\n  and\n  H. B. Wheatley, F.S.A._\n\n  _First Series._\n\n  I.\n\n\n\n\n  THE HISTORY\n  OF\n  THOMAS HICKATHRIFT.\n\n\n  PRINTED FROM\n  THE EARLIEST EXTANT COPIES,\n\n  AND EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION,\n  BY\n  GEORGE LAURENCE GOMME, F.S.A.\n\n\n  LONDON:\n  PRINTED FOR THE VILLON SOCIETY.\n\n  1885.\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction.\n\n\nThere seems to be some considerable reason for believing that the hero\nof this story was a reality. The story tells us that he lived in the\nmarsh of the Isle of Ely, and that he became \"a brewer's man\" at Lyn,\nand traded to Wisbeach. This little piece of geographical evidence\nenables us to fix the story as belonging to the great Fen District,\nwhich occupied the north of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.\n\nThe antiquary Thomas Hearne has gone so far as to identify the hero\nof tradition with a doughty knight of the Crusaders. Writing in the\n_Quarterly Review_ (vol. xxi. p. 102), Sir Francis Palgrave says:--\n\n\"Mr. Thomas Hickathrift, afterwards Sir Thomas Hickathrift, Knight,\nis praised by Mr. Thomas Hearne as a 'famous champion.' The honest\nantiquary has identified this well-known knight with the far less\ncelebrated Sir Frederick de Tylney, Baron of Tylney in Norfolk, the\nancestor of the Tylney family, who was killed at Acon, in Syria, in\nthe reign of Richard Coeur de Lion. Hycophric, or Hycothrift, as the\nmister-wight observes, being probably a corruption of Frederick. This\nhappy exertion of etymological acumen is not wholly due to Hearne, who\nonly adopted a hint given by Mr. Philip le Neve, whilome of the College\nof Arms.\"\n\nThere does not seem to be the slightest evidence for Hearne's\nidentification any more than there is for his philological conclusions,\nand we may pass over this for other and more reliable information.\n\nWe must first of all turn to the story itself, as it has come down\nto us in its chapbook form. It is divided into two parts. The first\npart of the story is the earliest; the second part being evidently a\nprinter's or a chapman's addition. Our reprint of the former is taken\nfrom the copy in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge,\nand which was printed probably about 1660-1690; the latter is taken\nfrom the British Museum copy, the date of which, according to the\nMuseum authorities, is 1780.\n\nIn trying to ascertain something as to the date of the story apart from\nthat of its printed version, it will therefore be necessary to put out\nof consideration the second portion. This has been written by some\none well acquainted with the original first part, and with the spirit\nof the story; but in spite of this there is undoubted evidence of its\nliterary origin at a date later than the first part. But turning to the\nfirst part there are two expressions in this early Pepysian version\nwhich have not been repeated in the later editions--those of the\neighteenth century; and these two expressions appear to me to indicate\na date _after which_ the story could not have been originated. On\npage 1 we read that Tom Hickathrift dwelt \"in the _marsh_ of the Isle\nof Ely.\" In the earliest British Museum copy this appears as \"in the\n_parish_ of the Isle of Ely.\" Again, on page 11 Tom is described as\nlaying out the giant's estate, \"some of which he gave to the poor\nfor their common, and the rest he made pastures of and divided the\nmost part into _good ground_, to maintain him and his old mother Jane\nHickathrift.\" In the earliest British Museum copy the expression\n\"good ground\" is displaced by \"tillage.\" Now it is clear from these\ncurious transposition of words in the earliest and latest editions that\nsomething had been going on to change the nature of the country. The\neighteenth-century people did not know the \"marsh\" of Ely, so they read\n\"parish\": they did not know the meaning of \"good ground\" so they read\n\"tillage.\" And hence it is clear that at the printing of this earliest\nversion the fen lands of Cambridge and Norfolk had not yet been\ndrained; there was still \"marsh land\" which was being made into \"good\nland.\"\n\nBut I think there is evidence in this printed chap-book version of the\nstory which tells us that it was taken from a traditional version. Let\nany one take the trouble to read aloud the first part, and he will at\nonce perceive that there is a ring and a cadence given to the voice by\nthe wording of the story, and particularly by the curious punctuation,\nwhich at once reminds us of a narrative from word of mouth. And besides\nthis there is some little evidence of phonetic spelling, just such as\nmight have been expected from the first printer taking the story from\nthe lips of one of the Fen-country peasantry.\n\nNow this internal evidence of the once _viva-voce_ existence of\nthe printed legend of Tom Hickathrift has a direct bearing upon\nthe question as to the date of the earliest printed version. The\ncolloquialisms are so few, and the rhythm, though marked and definite,\nis occasionally so halting and approaches so nearly a literary form,\nthat we are forced to observe that the earliest printed edition now\nknown is certainly not the earliest version printed. There are too\nfew phoneticisms and dialect words to make it probable that the print\nin the Pepysian collection is the one directly derived from popular\ntradition. As the various printers in the eighteenth century altered\nwords and sentences here and there, as different editions were issued,\nso did the seventeenth-century printers; and therefore it is necessary\nto push the date of the printed version farther back than we can hope\nto ascertain by direct evidence. There is no reason why there should\nnot have been a sixteenth-century printed version, and to this period I\nam inclined to allocate the earliest appearance of the story in print.\n\nAnd then prior to the printed version was the popular version with\nits almost endless life, perhaps reaching back to that vague period\nindicated in the opening words of the story, \"in the reign before\nWilliam the Conqueror.\" Already internal evidence has, it is suggested,\npointed to a popular unwritten tradition of Tom Hickathrift's life\nand exploits. But we must ask now, Is there, or was there, any\ntradition among the peasantry of Lyn and its neighbourhood about Thomas\nHickathrift? And, if so, how far does this popular tradition reach\nback, and how far does it tally with the chap-book version? Again,\nis this popular tradition independent of the chap-book story, or has\nit been generated from the printed book? To answer these questions\nproperly we must closely examine all the evidence available as to the\nexistence and form of this popular tradition.\n\nTurning first of all to the historian of Norfolk, Blomefield,[A]\nwriting in 1808, gives us the following account:--\n\n\"The town of Tilney gives name to a famous common called Tilney Smeeth,\nwhereon 30,000 or more large Marshland sheep and the great cattle of\nseven towns to which it belongs are constantly said to feed. Of this\nplain of Smeeth there is a tradition, _which the common people retain_,\nthat in old time the inhabitants of these towns [Tilney, Terrington,\nClenchwarton, Islington, Walpole, West Walton, Walsoken, and Emneth]\nhad a contest with the lords of the manors about the bounds and limits\nof it, when one _Hickifric_, a person of great stature and courage,\nassisting the said inhabitants in their rights of common, took an\naxle-tree from a cart-wheel, instead of a sword, and the wheel for a\nshield or buckler, and thus armed soon repelled the invaders. And for\nproof of this notable exploit they to this day show, says Sir William\nDugdale [Dugd. _Hist. of Imbanking_, &c. p. 244; Weever's _Fun. Mon._\np. 866], a large grave-stone near the east end of the chancel in\nTilney churchyard, whereon the form of a cross is so cut or carved as\nthat the upper part thereof (wherewith the carver hath adorned it)\nbeing circular, they will therefore needs have it to be the gravestone\nof _Hickifric_, and to be as a memorial of his gallantry. The stone\ncoffin, which stands now out of the ground in Tilney churchyard, on\nthe north side of the church, will not receive a person above six\nfeet in length, and this is shown as belonging formerly to the giant\n_Hickifric_. The cross said to be a representation of the cart-wheel\nis a cross patt\u00e9e, on the summit of a staff, which staff is styled an\naxle-tree. Such crosses patt\u00e9e on the head of a staff were emblems or\ntokens that some Knight Templar was therein interred, and many such are\nto be seen at this day in old churches.\"\n\nNow the reference to Sir William Dugdale is misleading, because, as\nwill be seen by the following quotation, the position of the hero is\naltered in Dugdale's version of the legend from that of a popular\nleader to the tyrant lord himself:--\"Of this plain I may not omit\na tradition which the common people thereabouts have, viz., that in\nold time the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages had a fierce\ncontest with one Hickifric (the then owner of it) touching the bounds\nthereof, which grew so hot that at length it came to blows; and that\nHickifric, being a person of extraordinary stature and courage, took an\naxletree from a cart instead of a sword, and the wheel for his buckler,\nand, being so armed, most stoutly repelled those bold invaders: for\nfurther testimony of which notable exploit they to this day show a\nlarge gravestone near the east end of the chancel in Tilney churchyard,\nwhereupon the form of a cross is so cut as that the upper part thereof\nby reason of the flourishes (wherewith the carver hath adorned it)\nsheweth to be somewhat circular, which they will, therefore, needs have\nto be the wheel and the shaft the axletree.\" This version, taken from\nDugdale's _History of Imbanking_, 1772, p. 244, though differing in\nform, at all events serves to carry us back to 1662, the date when Sir\nWilliam Dugdale's _History_ was first published.\n\nBut the local tradition can be carried further back than 1662,\nbecause the learned Sir Henry Spelman, in his _Icenia sive Norfolciae\nDescriptio Topographica_, p. 138, and written about 1640, says, when\nspeaking of Tilney, in Marshland Hundred: \"Hic se expandit insignis\narea qu\u00e6 \u00e0 planicie nuncupatur Tylney-smelth, pinguis adeo et luxurians\nut Paduana pascua videatur superasse.... Tuentur eam indigen\u00e6 velut\nAras et Focos, fabellamque recitant longa petitam vetustate de\nHikifrico (nescio quo) Haii illius instar in Scotorum Chronicis, qui\nCivium suorum dedignatus fuga, Aratrum quod agebat, solvit; arreptoque\nTemone furibundus insiliit in hostes victoriamque ademit exultantibus.\nSic cum de agri istius finibus acriter olim dimicatum esset inter fundi\nDominun et Villarum Incolas, nec valerent hi ad versus eum consistere;\nredeuntibus occurrit Hikifricus, axemque excutiens a curru quem agebat,\neo vice Gladii usus; Rot\u00e2, Clypei; invasores repulit ad ipsos quibus\nnunc funguntur terminos. Ostendunt in c\u00e6meterio Tilniensi, Sepulcrum\nsui pugilis, Axem cum Rota insculptum exhibens.\"\n\nA still earlier version is to be found recorded by Weever in 1631. The\nfull quotation is as follows: \"Tylney Smeeth, so called of a smooth\nplaine or common thereunto adioyning.... In the Churchyard is a ridg'd\nAltar, Tombe, or sepulchre of a wondrous antique fashion, vpon which\nan axell-tree and a cart wheele are insculped. Vnder this Funerall\nMonument the Towne dwellers say that one Hikifricke lies interred; of\nwhom (_as it hath gone by tradition from father to the sonne_) they\nthus likewise report: How that vpon a time (no man knowes how long\nsince) there happened a great quarrell betwixt the Lord of this land or\nground and the inhabitants of the foresaid seuen villages, about the\nmeere-marks, limits, or bondaries of this fruitfull feeding place; the\nmatter came to a battell or skirmish, in which the said Inhabitants\nbeing not able to resist the landlord and his forces began to giue\nbacke; Hikifricke, driuing his cart along and perceiuing that his\nneighbours were fainthearted, and ready to take flight, he shooke the\nAxell tree from the cart which he vsed instead of a sword, and tooke\none of the cart-wheeles which he held as a buckler; with these weapons\nhe set vpon the Common aduersaries or aduersaries of the Common,\nencouraged his neighbours to go forward, and fight valiantly in defence\nof their liberties; who being animated by his manly prowesse, they\ntooke heart to grasse, as the prouerbe is, insomuch that they chased\nthe Landlord and his companie to the vtmost verge of the said Common;\nwhich from that time they haue quietly enioyed to this very day. The\nAxell-tree and cart-wheele are cut and figured in diuers places of\nthe Church and Church windowes, which makes the story, you must needs\nsay, more probable. This relation doth in many parts parallell with\nthat of one Hay, a strong braue spirited Scottish Plowman, who vpon\na set battell of Scots against the Danes, being working at the same\ntime in the next field, and seeing some of his countreymen to flie\nfrom that hote encounter, caught vp an oxe yoke (Bo\u00ebthius saith, a\nPlough-beame), with which (after some exhortation that they should\nnot bee faint-hearted) he beate the said straglers backe againe to\nthe maine Army, where he with his two sonnes (who tooke likewise such\nweapons as came next to their hands) renewed the charge so furiously\nthat they quite discomfited the enemy, obtaining the glory of the day\nand victory for their drad Lord and Soueraigne Kenneth the third,\nKing of Scotland; and this happened in the yeare 942, the second of\nthe King's raigne. This you may reade at large in the _History of\nScotland_, thus abridged by Camden as followeth.\"--Weever's _Funerall\nMonuments_, 1631, pp. 866-867.\n\nAnd Sir Francis Palgrave, quoting the legend from Spelman,\nobserves,--\"From the most remote antiquity the fables and achievements\nof Hickifric have been obstinately credited by the inhabitants of the\ntownship of Tylney. Hickifric is venerated by them as the assertor of\nthe rights and liberties of their ancestors. The 'monstrous giant'\nwho guarded the marsh was in truth no other than the tyrannical lord\nof the manor who attempted to keep his copyholders out of the common\nfield, Tylney Smeeth; but who was driven away with his retainers by the\nprowess of Tom armed only with his axletree and cart-wheel.\"[B] This\ndoes not appear to me to put the case too strongly. A tradition told\nso readily and believed so generally in the middle of the seventeenth\ncentury must have had a strong vitality in it only to be obtained by\nage.\n\nLet us now turn to the other side, namely, the existence of a\ntraditional version in modern days, because it is important to note\nthat the printing of a chapbook version need not have disturbed the\nfull current of traditional thought. In a note Sir Francis Palgrave\nseems to imply that the story was still extant without the aid of\nprinted literature. He writes:\n\n\"A Norfolk antiquary has had the goodness to procure for us an\nauthentic report of the present state of Tom's sepulchre. It is a\nstone soros, of the usual shape and dimensions; the sculptured lid or\ncover no longer exists. It must have been entire about fifty years ago,\nfor when we were good _Gaffer Crane would rehearse Tom's achievements_,\nand tell us that he had cut out the moss which filled up the\ninscription with his penknife, but he could not read the letters.\"[C]\n\nAnd Clare, in his _Village Minstrel_, tells us that:--\n\n  \"Here Lubin listen'd with awestruck surprise,\n  When Hickathrift's great strength has met his ear;\n  How he kill'd giants as they were but flies,\n  And lifted trees as one would a spear,\n  Though not much bigger than his fellows were;\n  He knew no troubles waggoners have known,\n  Of getting stall'd and such disasters drear;\n  Up he'd chuck sacks as we would hurl a stone,\n  And draw whole loads of grain unaided and alone.\"\n\nAnd this view as to the existence still of a traditional form of the\nstory is almost borne out by what the country people only recently\nhad to say relative to a monument in that part of the country over\nwhich Sir William Dugdale travelled, and of which he has left us such\na valuable memorial in his _History of Imbanking_. A writer in the\nJournal of the Archaeological Association (vol. xxv. p. 11) says:--\"A\nmound close to the Smeeth Road Station, between Lynn and Wisbech, is\ncalled the Giant's Grave, and the inhabitants relate that there lie the\nremains of the great giant slain by Hickathrift with the cart wheel\nand axletree. A cross was erected upon it, and is to be seen in the\nneighbouring churchyard of Torrington St. John's, bearing the singular\nname of Hickathrift's Candlestick.\"\n\nIt appears, then, that the following may be considered the chief\nevidence which we have obtained about the existence of the story:--\n\n  That a chapbook or literary form of the story has existed from the\n  sixteenth century;\n\n  That a traditional story existed quite independently of the literary\n  story in the seventeenth century;\n\n  That a traditional story exists at the present time, or until very\n  recently;\n\nAnd knowing what folk-lore has to say about the long life of\ntraditions, about their constant repetition age after age, it is not, I\nventure to think, too much to conclude that a story which can be shown\nby evidence to have lived on from mouth to mouth for two centuries\nis capable of going back to an almost endless antiquity for its true\noriginal.\n\nLet us now consider what may be the origin of this story. There is\none theory as to this which has gained the authority of Sir Francis\nPalgrave. The pranks which Tom performed \"must be noticed,\" says Sir\nFrancis, \"as being correctly Scandinavian.\" He then goes on to say,\n\"Similar were the achievements of the great Northern champion Grettir,\nwhen he kept geese upon the common, as told in his Saga. Tom's youth\nretraces the tales of the prowess of the youthful Siegfried detailed\nin the Niblunga Saga and in the book of Heroes. It appears from Hearne\nthat the supposed axle-tree, with the superincumbent wheel, was\nrepresented on 'Hycothrift's' grave-stone in Tylney churchyard in the\nshape of a cross. This is the form in which all the Runic monuments\nrepresent the celebrated hammer or thunderbolt of the son of Odin,\nwhich shattered the skulls and scattered the brains of so many luckless\ngiants. How far this surmise may be supported by Tom's skill and\nstrength in throwing the hammer we will not pretend to decide.\"[D]\n\nNow this takes the story entirely out of the simple category of local\nEnglish tradition, and places it at once among those grand mythic tales\nwhich belong to the study of comparative mythology and which take us\nback to the earliest of man's thought and belief. In order to test this\ntheory let us have before us the passages in Tom Hickathrift's history\nwhich might be said to bear it out, and then let us compare them with\nthe stories of Grettir.\n\nThe analysis of the story based upon the plan laid down by the\nFolk-Lore Society is as follows:--\n\n  (1.) Tom's parents are nobodies, \"a poor man and day labourer\" being\n  his father.\n\n  (2.) Tom was obstinate as a boy.\n\n  (3.) Loses his father, and at first does not help his mother, but\n  sits in the chimney corner.\n\n  (4.) Is of great height and size.\n\n  (5.) Strength is unknown until he shows it.\n\n  (6.) Commits many pranks, among which is the throwing \"a hammer five\n  or six furlongs off into a river.\"\n\n  (7.) Kills a giant with a club, Tom using axletree and wheel for his\n  shield and buckler.\n\n  (8.) Takes possession of the giant's territory and lives there.\n\n  (9.) Commits more pranks, \"kicks a football right away.\"\n\n  (10.) Escapes from four thieves and despoils them.\n\n  (11.) Is defeated by a tinker.\n\nIt will not be necessary to analyse the whole of the stories to which\nwe are referred for the mythic parallels of Tom Hickathrift; but I will\ntake out the items corresponding to those tabulated above. In the story\nof \"Grettir the Strong\" we have the following incidents:--\n\n  (1.) Grettir's father \"had his homestead and farm land.\"\n\n  (2.) Grettir was obstinate as a boy (does nothing on board ship.)\n\n  (3.) Plays pranks upon his father, and returns from attending the\n  horses to the fire-side (Iceland).\n\n  (4.) Is short, though strong, and big of body.\n\n  (5.) He had not skill to turn his great strength to account.\n\n  (6.) He wrestles with other lads, and commits many pranks, flings a\n  rock from its place.\n\n  (7.) Wrestles with Karr, the barrow dweller; and\n\n  (8.) Takes possession of Karr's weapons and wealth.\n\n  (9.) Fights with and conquers robbers.\n\nNow it cannot be denied that there is a great similarity in the thread\nof these two stories. Norfolk, the colony of the Northmen of old, may\nwell have retained its ancient tradition until the moving incidents\nof English economic history brought about the weaving of it into the\nactual life that was pressing round men's thoughts. It would thus leave\nout the great mass of detail in the old northern tradition, and retain\njust sufficient to fit in with the new requirements; and in this way it\nappears to me we have the present form of the story of Tom Hickathrift,\nits ancient Scandinavian outline, its more modern English application.\nNow it is curious to note that the cart-wheel plays a not unimportant\npart in English folk-lore as a representative of old runic faith. Sir\nHenry Ellis, in his edition of Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ (vol. i.\np. 298), has collected together some instances of this; and whatever\ncauses may have led to this survival there is nothing to prevent us\nfrom looking upon the wheel and axle in the story of Tom Hickathrift as\na part and parcel of the same survival.\n\nThere now remains to notice one or two points of interest outside the\nnarrative of the story itself. Of curious expressions we have--\n\n  fitted (p. 3), to pay any one out, to revenge one's self;\n\n  buttle of straw (p. 3);\n\n  shift (p. 3), to support, to make shift. See Davies's _Supplementary\n  Glossary_, _sub voce_ \"make-shift,\" \"shiftful\";\n\n  bone-fires (p. 11). See Ellis's _Brand's Popular Antiquities_, vol.\n  i. p. 300, note;\n\n  cocksure (p. 14), quite sure.\n\nOf proverbs there are--\n\n  to win the horse or lose the saddle (p. 8);\n\n  to make hay while the sun did shine (p. 10).\n\nOf games there are mentioned--\n\n  cudgells (p. 4);\n\n  wrestling (p. 4);\n\n  throwing the hammer (p. 4);\n\n  football (p. 13);\n\n  bear-baiting (p. 13).\n\nIt will be observed that the spelling of the name in the Pepysian copy\nis specially divided thus--Hic-ka-thrift; and though it seems probable\nthat some good reason must be assigned to this, I cannot find out\npoints of importance. But about the dubbing him Mr. (p. 7) or Master,\nas it would be in full, there is something of great interest to point\nout. This was formerly a distinct title. In Harrison's _Description\nof England_ we read, \"Who soeuer studieth the lawes of the realme,\nwho so abideth in the vniuersitie, or prefesseth physicke and the\nliberall sciences, or beside his seruice in the roome of a capteine\nin the warres can liue without manuell labour, and thereto is able\nand will beare the post, charge, and countenance of a gentleman, he\nshall be called master, which is the title that men giue to esquiers\nand gentlemen and reputed for gentlemen.\"--Harrison's _Description\nof England_, 1577 (edited by F. J. Furnivall for the New Shakspere\nSociety, 1877), p. 129.\n\nOf yeomen he says, \"And albeit they be not called master as gentlemen\nare, or sir as to knights apperteineth, but onelie John and Thomas,\"\n&c. (p. 134): and of \"the third and last sort,\" \"named the yeomanrie,\"\nhe adds, \"that they be not called masters and gentlemen, but goodmen,\nas goodman Smith, goodman Coot, goodman Cornell, goodman Mascall,\ngoodman Cockswet,\" &c. (p. 137).\n\nMr. Furnivall's note (p. 123) is as follows:--\"_Every Begger almost is\ncalled Maister._--See Lancelot's 'MAISTER Launcelet' in the _Merchant\nof Venice_, II. ii. 51, and the extract illustrating it from Sir Thomas\nSmith's _Commonwealth of England_, bk. I. ch. 20 (founded on Harrison,\ni. 133, 137), which I printed in _New Sh. Soc.'s Trans._ 1877-9, p.\n103-4. Also Shakspere getting his 'yeoman' father arms, and making him\na 'gentleman' in 1596.--(Leopold Shakspere, Introduction, p. ciii.).\"\nWe thus get still further indication of the early date of the story,\nthe significance of the title \"Master\" having died out during the\nseventeenth century.\n\nThe following is a bibliographical list of some of the editions, many\nothers having been printed from the beginning of this century:--\n\n  (1.) The history of Thomas Hickathrift. Printed for the booksellers.\n  London [1790.] 12mo. pp. 24.\n\n  Cap. i. Of his birth, parentage, and education, ii. How Thomas\n  Hickathrift's strength came to be known, iii. How Tom came to be\n  a Brewer's man; and how he came to kill a giant, and at last was\n  Mr. Hickathrift. iv. How Tom kept a pack of hounds; his kicking a\n  football quite away; also how he had like to have been robbed by four\n  thieves, and how he escaped.\n\n  (2.) The Pleasant and delightful history of Thomas Hickathrift.\n  Whitehaven: printed by Ann Dunn, Market Place [1780], pp. 24.\n\n  (3.) The History of Thomas Hickathrift. Printed in Aldermary\n  Churchyard, London. [1790.] 12mo. Part the first, pp. 24.\n\n  Similar contents to No. 1, with addition of cap. v. Tom meets with a\n  Tinker, and of the battle they fought.\n\n  (4.) The most pleasant and delightful history of Thomas Hickathrift.\n  J. Terraby, printer, Market Place, Hull. [1825.] 2 parts. 12mo. pp.\n  24; 24.\n\n  Same as No. 1. Second part, cap. i. How Tom Hickathrift and the\n  Tinker conquered ten thousand rebels. ii. How Tom Hickathrift and the\n  Tinker were sent for up to court, and of their kind entertainment.\n  iii. How Tom, after his mother's death, went a-wooing, and of the\n  trick he served a gallant who affronted him. iv. How Tom served two\n  troopers whom this spark had hired to beset him. v. Tom, going to be\n  married, was set upon by one and twenty ruffians, and the havock he\n  made. vi. Tom made a feast for all the poor widows in the adjacent\n  houses, and how he served an old woman who stole a silver cup at the\n  same time. vii. How Sir Thomas Hickathrift and his lady were sent\n  for up to court, and of what happened at that time. viii. How Tom\n  was made Governor of the East Angles, now called Thanet, and of the\n  wonderful achievement he performed there. ix. How the Tinker, hearing\n  of Tom's fame, went to be his partner, and how he was unfortunately\n  slain by a lion.\n\n  (5.) The history of Thomas Hickathrift. Printed for the Travelling\n  Stationers. 12mo. pp. 24.\n\n  Same as No. 3.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n  THE\n  PLEASANT HISTORY\n  OF\n  THOMAS HIC-KA-THRIFT.\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  _Printed by J. M. for W. Thackeray and T. Passinger._\n\n\n\n\n  THE\n  CONTENTS.\n\n\n  What honour Tom came unto.\n\n  How Tom Hic-ka-thrift's strength came to be known.\n\n  How Tom came to be a Brewers man, and how he came to kill a gyant,\n  and at last was Mr. Hic-ka-thrift.\n\n  How Tom kept a pack of hounds and kickt a foot-ball quite away, and\n  how he had like to have been robbed with four thieves, and how Tom\n  escaped.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n  THE\n  PLEASANT HISTORY\n  OF\n  THOMAS HIC-KA-THRIFT,\n\n\n_His Birth and Parentage, and the true manner of his performing many\nmanly acts, and how he killed a gyant. Young man, here thou mayest\nbehold what honour Tom came unto._\n\n  And if that thou dost buy this Book,\n  Be sure that thou dost in it look,\n  And read it o're, then thou wilt say,\n  Thy money is not thrown away.\n\nIn the reign before William the conqueror, I have read in ancient\nhistories that there dwelt a man in the marsh of the Isle of Ely, in\nthe county of Cambridge, whose name was Thomas Hic-ka-thrift, a poor\nman and day labourer, yet he was a very stout man, and able to perform\ntwo days works instead of one: He having one son and no more children\nin the world, he called him by his own name, Thomas Hickathrift. This\nold man put his son to good learning, but he would take none, for he\nwas as we call them now in this age, none of the wisest sort, but\nsomething soft, and had no docility at all in him.\n\nGod calling this old man his father out of the world, his mother being\ntender of him, and maintained him by her hand labour as well as she\ncould; he being sloathful and not willing to work to get a penny for\nhis living, but all his delight was to be in the chimney corner, and\nwould eat as much at one time as might very well serve four or five\nordinary men; for he was in length when he was but ten years of age\nabout eight foot, and in thickness five foot, and his hand was like\nunto a shoulder of mutton, and in all parts from top to toe he was like\na monster, and yet his great strength was not known.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_How Tom Hic-ka-thrifts strength came to be known, the which if you\nplease but to read will give you full satisfaction._\n\nThe first time that his strength was known was by his mothers going to\na rich farmer's house (she being but a poor woman) to desire a buttle\nof straw to shift herself and her son Thomas. The farmer being an\nhonest charitable man, bid her take what she would. She going home to\nher son Tom, said, I pray thee go to such a place and fetch me a buttle\nof straw, I have asked him leave. He swore a great oath he would not\ngo: nay, prithee, Tom go, said his old mother. He swore again he would\nnot go, unless she would borrow him a cart rope. She being willing to\nplease him, because she would have some straw, went and borrowed him a\ncart rope to his desire.\n\nHe taking it went his way; so coming to the farmer's house, the master\nwas in the barn, and two men a thrashing. Said Tom, I am come for a\nbuttle of straw. Tom, said the master, take as much as thou canst\ncarry. He laid down his cart rope, and began to make his buttle;\nbut said they, Tom, thy rope is to short, and jeer'd poor Tom, but\nhe fitted the man well for it: for he made his buttle, and when he\nhad made it, there was supposed to be a load of straw in it, of two\nthousand weight. But said they, what a great fool art thou, thou canst\nnot carry the tith on't? but Tom took the buttle and flung it on his\nshoulder, and made no more of it then we do of an hundred weight, to\nthe great admiration of master and men.\n\nTom Hic-ka-thrift's strength being known in the town, then they would\nnot let him any longer lie basking by the fire in the chimney corner,\nevery one would be hiring him to work; they seeing him to have so much\nstrength, told him that it was a shame for him to live such a lazy\ncourse of life, and to lie idle day after day, as he did. So Tom seeing\nthem bait at him in such a manner as they did, he went first to one\nwork then to another; but at length came a man to Tom and desired him\nto go with him unto the wood, for he had a tree to bring home, and he\nwould content him. So Tom went with him, and he took with him four men\nbeside; but when they came to the wood, they set the cart by the tree\nand began to draw it up with pullies; but Tom seeing them not able to\nlift it up, said, stand away, you fools, and takes the tree and sets it\non one end, and lays it in the cart. Now, says he, see what a man can\ndo. Marry, it is true, said they. So when they had done coming through\nthe wood they met the woodman, Tom asked him for a stick to make his\nmother a fire with. I, said the wood-man, take one what thou canst\ncarry. So Tom espyed a tree bigger then was in the cart, and lays it on\nhis shoulder, and goes home with it as fast as the cart and six horses\ncould draw it. This was the second time that Tom's strength was known.\n\nSo when Tom began to know that he had more strength then twenty men\nhad, he then began to be merry with men and very tractable, and would\nrun, or go, or jump, and took great delight to be amongst company,\nand to go to fairs and meetings, and to see sports and pastimes. So\ngoing to a feast, the young men were all met, some to cudgels, some\nto wrastling, some throwing the hammer, and the like; so Tom stood\na little to see their sport, and at last goes to them that were a\nthrowing the hammer; and standing a little by to behold their manlike\nsport, at last he takes the hammer in his hand to feel the weight of\nit, and bid them stand out of the way, for he would throw it as far\nas he could. I, said the smith, and jeer'd poor Tom, you'l threw it a\ngreat way I'le warrant you; but Tom took the hammer and flung it; and\nthere was a river about five or six furlungs off, and flung it into\nthat; so when he had done, he bid the smith go fetch his hammer again,\nand laught the smith to scorn; but when Tom had done that, he would go\nto wrastling, though he had no more skill than an ass had, but what he\ndid by strength; yet he flung all that came, for if once he laid hold\nthey were gone. Some he would throw over his head, some he would lay\ndown slyly, and how he pleased; he would not lock nor strike at their\nheels, but flung them two or three yards from him, ready to break their\nnecks asunder; so that none at last durst go into the ring to wrastle\nwith him, for they took him to be some devil that was come amongst\nthem; so Tom's fame was spread more in the country.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_How Tom came to be a Brewer's man; and how he came to kill a Giant,\nand at last was Mr. Hic-ka-thrift._\n\nTom's fame being spread abroad in the country, there was not a man\ndurst give Tom an angry word for he was something foolhardy, and he did\nnot care what he did at them; so that those that knew him would not in\nthe least displease him. But at length there was a brewer at Lyn, that\nwanted a good lusty man to carry his beer in the marsh and to Wisbech;\nso hearing of Tom went to hire him, but Tom seemed coy and would not\nbe his man, until his mother and friends did perswade him, and his\nmaster intreated him; and likewise promised him a new suit of clothes\nand cloath him from top to toe; and besides he should eat and drink of\nthe best. So Tom at last yielded to be his man, and his master told him\nhow far he should go; for you are to understand there was a monstrous\nGyant, who kept some part of the marsh, and none durst go that way; for\nif they did he would keep them or kill them, or else he would make bond\nslaves of them.\n\nBut to come to Tom and his master, that he did more work in one day\nthen all his men would do in three; so that his master, seeing him so\ntractable, and to look so well after his business, made him his head\nman to go into the marsh, to carry beer by himself, for he needed no\nman with him. So Tom went every day to Wisbich, which was a very great\njourney, for it was twenty mile the road way.\n\nTom going so long that wearisome journey, and finding that way which\nthe Gyant kept was nearer by half, and Tom having gotten more strength\nby half then before by being so well kept, and drinking so much strong\nale as he did; one day he was going to Wisbich, and without saying\nanything to his master or to any of his fellow servants, he was\nresolved to make the nearest way to be a road or lose his life, to win\nthe horse, or lose the saddle; to kill or be killed; if he met with\nthe Gyant; and with this resolution he goes the nearest way with his\ncart, flinging open the gates for his cart and horses to go through;\nbut at last the Gyant spying him, and seeing him to be so bold, thought\nto prevent him, and came intending to take his beer for a prize, but\nTom cared not a fart for him, and the Gyant he met Tom like a lyon,\nas though he would have swallowed him. Sirrah, said he, who gave you\nauthority to come this way? Do you not know that I make all stand in\nfear of my sight, and you like a rogue must come and fling my gates\nopen at your pleasure! How dare you presume to do this? Are you so\ncareless of your life? Do you not care what you do? I'le make thee an\nexample for all rogues under the sun; dost thou not see how many heads\nhang upon yonder tree that have offended my law! But thy head shall\nhang higher then all the rest for an example. But Tom made him answer,\nA turd in your teeth for your news, for you shall not find me like one\nof them. No, said the Gyant, why thou art but a fool, dost thou come to\nfight with such a one as I am, and bring no weapon to defend thyself\nwithal? Said Tom, I have a weapon here will make you to know you are a\ntraytorly rogue. I, sirrah, said the Gyant, and took that word in high\ndisdain, that Tom should call him a traytorly rogue, and with that he\nran into his cave to fetch his great club, intending to dash out Tom's\nbrains at the first blow.\n\nTom knew not what to do for a weapon, for he knew his whip would do but\nlittle good against such a monstrous beast as he was, for he was in\nlength twelve foot, and six foot about the waste; but while the Gyant\nwent for his club, Tom bethought himself of a very good weapon, for he\nmakes no more ado, but takes his cart and turns it upside down, and\ntakes the axletree and the wheel for his shield and buckler, and very\ngood weapons they were in such time of need.\n\nThe Giant coming out again, began to stare at Tom, to see him take the\nwheel in one hand and the axle tree in the other to defend himself\nwith. O! said the Gyant, you are like to do great service with those\nweapons; I have here a twig, said the Gyant, that will beat thee and\nthy wheel and axle tree at once unto the ground; that which the Gyant\ncalled a twig was as thick as some mill posts are, but Tom was not\ndaunted for all that, for he saw there was but one way to kill or be\nkilled; so the Giant made at Tom with such a vehement force that he\nmade Tom's wheel crack again, and Tom lent the Gyant another as good,\nfor he took him such a weighty blow on the side of the head that he\nmade the Gyant reel again. What, said Tom, are you drunk with my strong\nbeer already.\n\nThe Gyant recovering laid on Tom most sad blows; but still as they came\nTom kept them off with his wheel so that he had no hurt at all. Tom\nplyed his work so well, and laid such huge blows at the Giant, that\nthe sweat and blood together ran down his face, and he being fat and\nfoggy, and fighting so long, was almost tired out, asked Tom to let\nhim drink a little, and then he would fight with him again. No, said\nTom, my mother did not teach me that wit; who's a fool then? Tom seeing\nthe Gyant begin to be weary, and finding him to fail in his blows, he\nthought best to make hay while the sun did shine, for he laid on so\nfast as though he had been mad, till he had brought the Gyant to the\nground. The Gyant seeing himself down, and Tom laying so hard on him,\nroared in a most sad condition, and prayed him not to take away his\nlife and he would do anything for him, and yield himself to him and be\nhis servant; but Tom having no more mercy on him than a dog of a bear,\nlaid still at the Gyant 'till he had laid him for dead, and when he had\ndone he cut off his head and went into his cave, and there he found\ngreat store of silver and gold which made his heart to leap. But when\nhe had done, he loaded his cart and went to Wisbich and delivered his\nbeer; and coming home to his master, he told it to him; but his master\nwas so overjoy'd at the news that he would not believe him till he had\nseen; and getting up the next day he and his master went to see if he\nspoke true or no, and most of the town of Lyn. But when they came to\nthe place and found the Gyant dead, he shewed them where the head was,\nand what silver and gold there was in the cave, all of them leapt for\njoy, for the Gyant was a great enemy to all the country.\n\nThis news was spread all up and down the country how Tom Hic-ka-thrift\nhad kill'd the Gyant, and well was he that could run or go to see the\nGyant and the cave; then all the folks made bonefires for joy; and\nTom was a better man respected than before. And Tom took possession\nof the cave by consent of the country, and everyone said that he did\ndeserve twice as much more. So Tom pulled down the cave and built him\na brave house where the cave stood; all the ground that the Gyant kept\nby force and strength, some he gave to the poor for their common, and\nthe rest he made pastures of and divided the most part into good ground\nto maintain him and his old mother Jane Hic-ka-thrift. And Tom's fame\nwas spread both far and near throughout the country; and then it was no\nlonger Tom, but Mr. Hickathrift, so that he was now the chiefest man\namongst them, for the people feared Tom's anger as much as they did the\nGyant before. So Tom kept men and maids, and lived most bravely; and\nhe made him a park to keep deer in; and by his house, which is a town,\nhe built a famous church and gave it the name of St. James' Church,\nbecause he killed the Gyant on that day, which is so to this hour and\never will be; and many more good deeds he did which is too tedious to\nwrite in this column, but to tell the chief I shall do my endeavour.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n_How Tom kept a pack of Hounds; and kickt a Foot-ball quite away;\nand how he had like to have been robbed by Four Thieves, and how he\nescaped._\n\nTom having so much about him and not used to it could hardly tell how\nfor to dispose of it, but yet he did use a means to do it, for he kept\na pack of hounds, and men to hunt with him; and who but Tom then. So\nhe took such delight in sport that he would go far and near to any\nmeetings, as cudgel-play, bear-baiting, football play, and the like.\nBut as Tom was riding one day, he seeing a company at football play he\nlighted off his horse to see that rare sport, for they were playing\nfor a wager; but Tom was a stranger there and none did know him there;\nbut Tom soon spoiled their sport, for he meeting the football took\nit such a kick that they never found their ball no more; they could\nsee it fly, but whither none could tell, nor to what place; they all\nwondered at it, and began to quarrel with Tom, but some of them got\nnothing by it, for Tom gets a spar which belonged to a house that was\nblown down and all that stood in his way he either killed or knocked\ndown, so that all the country was up in arms to take Tom, but all in\nvain, for he manfully made way wherever he came. So when he was gone\nfrom them, and was going homeward, he chanced to be somewhat late in\nthe evening. On the road there met him four lusty rogues that had\nbeen robbing of passengers that way, and none could escape them, for\nthey robbed all they met, both rich and poor. They thought when they\nmet Tom they should get a good prize, they perceiving he was alone,\nmade them cocksure of his money, but they were mistaken, for he got a\nprize by them. When they met with Tom they straight bid him stand and\ndeliver. What, said Tom, what should I deliver? Your money, sirrah,\nsaid they. But, said Tom, you shall give me better words for it first,\nand be better armed too. Come, come, said they, we do not come hither\nto prate, but we come for money, and money we will have before you stir\nfrom this place. I, said Tom, is it so? Nay then, said he, get it, and\ntake it.\n\nSo one of them made at him, but he presently unarmed him, and took away\nhis sword which was made of good trusty steel, and smote so hard at the\nothers that they began to set spurs to their horses and begone, but\nhe soon stayed their journey, one of them having a portmantle behind\nhim, Tom perceiving it to be money fought with more courage then he\ndid before, till at the last he had killed two of the four, and the\nother two he wounded most grievously that they cryed for quarter. So\nwith much intreating he gave them quarter, but he took all their money\nwhich was two hundred pounds to bear his charges home. So when Tom\ncame home he told them how he had served the football players and the\nfour thieves which caused a laugh from his old mother, and to refresh\nhimself went to see how all things did, and what his men had done since\nhe went from home. And going to the forest he wandred up and down, and\nat last met with a lusty tinker that had a good staff on his shoulder\nand a great dog to carry his bag and tools. So Tom asked the tinker\nfrom whence he came, and whither he was going, for that was no highway.\nBut the tinker being a sturdy fellow bid him go look, and what was that\nto him, but fools must be meddling. No, says Tom, but I'le make you\nto know before you and I part it is to me. I, said the tinker, I have\nbeen these three long years and have not had one combat with any man.\nI have challenged many a man but none durst make me answer; I think,\nsaid he, they be all cowards in this country, but I hear there is a man\nin this country which is called Tom Hickathrift that killed a gyant;\nhim I would fain see, said the tinker, to have one combat with him. I,\nsaid Tom, but methinks, said he, it might be master with you; I am the\nman, said he, what have you to say to me? Why verily, said the tinker,\nI am glad we are so happily met together, that we may have one single\ncombat. Sure, said Tom, you do but jest. Marry, said the tinker, I am\nin earnest. A match, said Tom. 'Tis done, said the tinker. But, said\nTom, will you give me leave to get me a twig? I, said the tinker, hang\nhim that will fight with a man unarmed, I scorn that.\n\nSo Tom steps to the gate and takes one of the rails for his staff; so\nto it they fell, the Tinker at Tom, and Tom at the Tinker, like two\ngiants they laid on at each other. The Tinker had a leathern coat on,\nand at every blow Tom gave the Tinker, his coat roar'd again, yet the\nTinker did not give way to Tom an inch. But Tom gave the Tinker a blow\non the side of the head, which felled the Tinker. Now, Tinker, where\nare you? said Tom.\n\nBut the Tinker being a nimble fellow, leapt up again, and gave Tom a\nblow, made him reel again, and followed his blows, and took Tom on the\nother side which made Tom's neck crack again. So Tom flung down his\nweapon and yielded the Tinker the better on't, and took him home to his\nhouse, where I shall leave Tom and the Tinker till they be recovered of\ntheir sad wounds and bruises.\n\n\nFINIS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE PLEASANT HISTORY\n\nOF\n\nTHOMAS HICKATHRIFT.\n\n_THE SECOND PART._\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. I.\n\n\n_Tom Hickathrift and the Tinker conquered and overcame three thousand\nrebellious subjects._\n\nIn and about the Isle of Ely, many disaffected persons, to the number\nof ten thousand and upwards drew themselves up in a body, presuming to\ncontend for their pretended ancient Rights and Liberties, insomuch that\nthe Gentry and civil Magistrates of the Country was in great danger;\nat which time the Sheriff, by night, privately got into the house of\nThomas Hickathrift, as a secure place of refuge, in so eminent a time\nof danger: where before Thomas Hickathrift, he laid open the villainous\nintent of this headstrong giddy-brained multitude, Mr. Sheriff, quoth\nTom, what service my brother, meaning the Tinker, and I can perform,\nshall not be wanting. This said, in the morning by day-break, with\ntrusty clubs they both went forth, desiring the Sheriff to be their\nguide, in conducting them to the place of the rebels' rendezvous,\nwhen they came there Tom and the Tinker marched up to the head of\nthe multitude, and demanded of them the reason why they disturbed\nthe Government? To which they answered with a loud cry, Our will's\nour law; and by that alone will we be governed. Nay quoth Tom if it\nbe so, these trusty clubs are our weapons, and by them you shall be\nchastised. Which words were no sooner out of his mouth but the Tinker\nand he put themselves both together in the midst of the throng and with\ntheir clubs beat the multitude down, trampling them under their feet\nevery blow which they struck laid twenty or thirty sprawling before\nthem. Nay, remarkable it was, the Tinker struck a tall man just upon\nthe nape of the neck, with that force that his head flew off, and was\ncarried violently fourteen foot from him, where it knockt down one of\ntheir chief ringleaders; Tom on the other hand still pressing forward,\ntill by an unfortunate blow he broke his club; yet he was not in the\nleast dismay'd; for he presently seized upon a lusty stout rawbon'd\nmiller, and made use of him for a weapon, till at length they clear'd\nthe field; so that there was not one found that dare lift up a hand\nagainst them, having run into holes and corners to hide themselves\nshortly after some of their heads were taken and made public examples\nof justice, the rest being pardoned at the humble request of Thomas\nHickathrift and the Tinker.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. II.\n\n\n_Tom Hickathrift and the Tinker was sent for to Court and of their kind\nentertainment there, etc._\n\nThe King being truly informed of the faithful services perform'd by\nthese his loving Subjects, Thomas Hickathrift and the Tinker, he was\npleased to send for them to his Palace, where a Royal banquet was\nprepared for their entertainment, most of the Nobility being present.\nNow after the banquet was over, the King said unto all that were\nthere, these are my trusty and well-beloved subjects, men of approved\ncourage and valour, they are the men that overcame and conquer'd ten\nthousand which were got together to disturb the peace of my realm;\naccording to the character that hath been given to Tho. Hickathrift\nand Henry Nonesuch, persons here present, they cannot be matcht in any\nother kingdom in the world; were it possible to have an army of twenty\nthousand such as these, I dare venture to act the part of Alexander\nthe Great over again: yet in the meanwhile, as a proof of my Royal\nfavour, kneel down and receive the antient order of knighthood, Mr.\nHickathrift, which was instantly perform'd. And as for Henry Nonesuch,\nI will settle upon him, as a reward for his great service, the sum of\nForty Shillings a year, during life. Which said, the King withdrew, and\nSir Thomas Hickathrift and Henry Nonesuch the tinker, returned home,\nattended by many persons of quality, some miles from the Court. But to\nthe great grief of Sir Thomas, at his return from the Court, he found\nhis aged Mother drawing to her end, who in a few days after died and\nwas buried in the Isle of Ely.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. III.\n\n\n_Tom after his old Mother's death went a wooing; and how he served a\nyoung Gallant who affronted him before his Mistress._\n\nTom's mother being dead, and he left alone in a large and spacious\nhouse, he found himself strange and uncouth, therefore he began to\nconsider with himself that it would not be amiss to seek out for a\nwife; and hearing of a young rich widow, not far from Cambridge, to her\nhe went, and made his addresses: and at the first coming she seem'd to\nshew him much favour and countenance; but between this and his coming\nagain, she had given some entertainment to a more genteel and airy\nspark, who happened likewise to come while honest Tom was there the\nsecond time; he look'd wishfully at Tom, and he star'd as wishfully\nat him again; at last the young spark began with abuseful language to\naffront Tom, telling him he was such a great lubberly whelp, adding\nthat such a one as he should not pretend to make love to a Lady, as he\nwas but a Brewer's servant. Scoundrel quoth Tom better words should\nbecome you, and if you do not mend your manners, you shall not fail\nto feel my sharp correction. At which the young Spark challenged him\nforth into the back yard; for, as he said, he did not question but to\nmake a fool of Tom in a trice. Into the yard they both walk together,\nthe young spark with a naked sword, and Tom with neither stick nor\nstaff in his hand, nor any other weapon. What says the spark, have you\nnothing to defend yourself? well I shall the sooner dispatch you. Which\nsaid, he ran furiously forward, making a pass at Tom, which he put by,\nand then wheeling round to his backside, Tom gave him such a swinging\nkick on the breech, which sent the spark like a Crow up into the Air,\nfrom whence he fell upon the ridge of a thatcht house, and then came\ndown into a large fish pond, and had been certainly drown'd if it had\nnot been for a poor shepherd who was walking that way, and seeing\nhim float upon the water, dragged him out with his hook, and home he\nreturned like a drowned Rat; while Tom enjoy'd the kind embraces of his\nfair Mistress.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IV.\n\n\n_Tom served two Troopers, whom the young Spark had hired to beset him,\netc._\n\nThis young galland being tormented in his mind to think how Tom had\nconquered and sham'd him before his Mistress, he was now resolved for\nspeedy revenge; and knowing that he was not able to coap with a man of\nTom's strength and activity, he therefore hired two lusty Troopers,\nwell mounted, to lie in ambush in a thicket which Tom had to pass\nthrough from his home to the young lady, and accordingly they attempted\nto set upon him: How now quoth Tom Rascals, what would you be at? Are\nyou indeed weary of the world, that you so unadvisably set upon one who\nis able to crush you in like a Cucumber; the Troopers laughing at him,\nsaid, that they were not to be daunted at his high words, High words\nquoth Tom, no I will come to action; and with that he run in between\nthese armed Troopers, catching them under his arm. Horse and Men, with\nas much ease as if they had been but a couple of Baker's babbins,\nsteering his course with them hastily towards his own home, and, as\nhe pass'd thro' a meadow, in which there was many Haymakers at work,\nthe poor distressed troopers crying out, Stop him stop him he runs\naway with two of the King's troopers. The hay-makers laught heartily\nto see how Tom hugged them along; ever and anon he upbraided them for\ntheir baseness; declared that he would make minced meat of them to feed\nthe Crows and Jackdaws about his house and habitation. This was such\na dreadful lecture to them, that the poor rogues begg'd that he would\nbe merciful, and spare their lives, and they would discover the whole\nplot, and who was the person that employ'd them; which accordingly they\ndid, and gain'd favour in the sight of Tom, who pardon'd them upon\npromise that they would never be concern'd in such a villainous action\nfor the time to come.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. V.\n\n\n_Tom going to be married, was set upon by one-and-twenty Ruffians in\nArmour, and of the havock he made amongst them, etc._\n\nIn regard Tom had been hinder'd by these troopers, he delay'd his\nvisit to his Lady till next day, and then coming to her, gave her a\nfull account of what had happen'd; she was pleased at heart at this\nwonderful relation, knowing it was safe for a woman to marry with a\nman who was able to defend her against all assaults whatsoever, and\nsuch a one she found Tom to be. The day of marriage was accordingly\nappointed, friends and relations invited. Yet secret malice which is\nnever satisfied without sweet revenge, had like to have prevented the\nsolemnity for having three miles to go to church, where they were\nto be married, the aforesaid Gentleman had provided a second time\nRuffians in armour to the number of twenty-one, he himself being then\npresent either to destroy the life of Tom, or put them into strange\nconsternation; however thus it happened, in a lonesome place they\nbolted out upon them, making their first assault upon Tom, and with\na Speer gave him a slight wound, at which his love and the rest of\nthe women shrieked and cry'd like persons out of their wits, Tom\nendeavour'd all that he could to pacify them, saying, stand you still\nand I will show you pleasant sport. And with that he catch'd a back\nsword from the side of a Gentleman in his own company, with which he\nso bravely behaved himself that at every stroke he cut off a joint,\nloth he was to touch the life of any, but aiming at their legs and\narms, he lopt them off so fast, that in less than a quarter of an hour,\nthere was not one in the company but what had lost a limb, the green\ngrass being stained with their purple gore, and the ground strew'd\nwith legs and arms, as 'tis with tiles from the tops of the Houses\nafter a dreadful storm. His Love and the rest of the company standing\nall the while as joyful spectators, laughing one at another, saying,\nWhat a company of <DW36>s has he made, as it were in the twinkling of\nan eye! Yes, quoth Tom, I believe that for every drop of blood that I\nlost, I have made the Rascals pay me a limb as a just tribute. This\ndone, he stept to a Farmer's hard by, and hired there a servant giving\nhim twenty shillings to carry these <DW36>s home to their respective\nhabitations in his dung-cart; and then did he hasten with his love to\nthe church, where they were married, and then returned home, where they\nwere heartily merry with their friends, after their fierce and dreadful\nencounter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VI.\n\n\n_Tom made a feast for all the poor Widows in the adjacent towns; and\nhow he served an old Woman who stole a Silver Cup at the same time,\netc._\n\nNow Tom being married, he made a plentiful feast, to which he invited\nall the poor widows in four or five parishes for the sake of his\nmother, which he had lately buried, this feast was kept in his own\nhouse, with all manner of varieties that the country could afford for\nthe space of four days, in honour likewise of the four victories which\nhe lately obtain'd. Now when the time of feasting was ended, a Silver\nCup was missing, and being ask'd about it, they every one deny'd they\nknew any thing of it. At length it was agreed that they should all\nstand the search, which they did, and the Cup was found upon a certain\nold woman, named the Widow Stumbelow; then was all the rest in a rage,\nsome was for hanging her, others were for chopping the old woman in\npieces, for her ingratitude to such a generous soul as Sir Thomas\nHickathrift; but he entreated them all to be quiet, saying they should\nnot murder a poor old Woman, for he would appoint a punishment for her\nhimself; which was this; he bor'd a hole thro' her nose and tying a\nstring therein, then order'd her to be stript stark naked, commanding\nthe rest of the old women to stick a candle in her fundament, and lead\nher by the nose thro' all the streets and lanes in Cambridge, which\ncomical sight caused a general laughter. This done, she had her cloaths\nrestor'd her again, and so was acquitted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VII.\n\n\n_Sir Thomas Hickathrift and his Lady was sent for to Court, and of what\nhappened._\n\nThe tydings of Tom's wedding was soon nois'd in the Court, so that the\nKing sent them a royal invitation to the end he might see his Lady,\nthey immediately went, and were received with all demonstrations of\nJoy and Triumph. But while they were in their mirth, a dreadful cry\napproached the Court which proved to be the Commons of Kent who were\ncome thither to complain of a dreadful Giant that was landed in one of\nthe Islands: And brought with him abundance of Bears and young Lyons,\nlikewise a dreadful Dragon on which he himself rid, which monster and\nravenous beasts had frighted all the inhabitants out of the Island.\nMoreover they said if speedy course was not taken to suppress them\nin time, they might over-run the whole land. The King hearing this\ndreadful relation was a little startled, yet he perswaded them to\nreturn home and make the best defence they could for themselves at\npresent, assuring them that he should not forget them, and so they\ndeparted.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VIII.\n\n\n_Thomas Hickathrift was made Governor of the Island of the East Angles,\nnow called Thanet, and of the wonderful Achievements he performed\nthere._\n\nThe King hearing the aforesaid dreadful Tydings, immediately sate\nin Council to consider what was to be done for the overcoming this\nmonstrous Giant, and barbarous savage Lyons and Bears that with him had\ninvaded his Princely territories. At length it was agreed upon that\nThomas Hickathrift was the most likeliest man in the whole kingdom,\nfor undertaking of so dangerous an enterprise; he being not only a\nfortunate man of great strength, but likewise a true and trusty subject\none that was always ready and willing to do his King and country\nservice, for which reason it was thought necessary to make him Governor\nof the aforesaid Island; which place of trust and honour, he readily\nreceived, and accordingly he forthwith went down with his wife and\nfamily, to take possession of the same, attended with a hundred Knights\nand Gentlemen, who conducted him to the entrance of the Island which he\nwas to govern. A castle in those days there was, in which he was to\ntake up his head-quarters, the same being situated with that advantage\nthat he could view the Island for several miles upon occasion; the\nKnights and Gentlemen at last taking their leave of him, wish'd him all\nhappy success and prosperity. Many days he had not been there before it\nwas his fortune to behold the monstrous Giant mounted upon a dreadful\nDragon, bearing upon his shoulder a club of Iron, having but one eye,\nthe which was placed in his forehead, and larger in compass than a\nbarber's bason, and seem'd to appear like a flaming fire; his visage\nwas dreadful, grim and tawny; the hair of his head hanging down his\nback and shoulders, like snakes of a prodigious length; the bristles of\nhis Beard like rusty wire: And lifting up his blare eye, he happened to\ndiscover Sir Thomas Hickathrift, who was looking upon him from one of\nhis windows of the castle; the Giant then began to knit his brow, and\nbreath forth threatening words to the Governor, who indeed was a little\nsurpriz'd at the approach of so monstrous a brute; the Giant finding\nthat Tom did not make much haste down to meet him, he alighted from the\nback of the dragon, and chained the same to an Oak tree, then marching\nfuriously to the castle, setting his broad shoulder against a corner of\nthe stone walls, as if he intended to overthrow the whole building at\nonce which Tom perceiving, said is this the game you would be at; faith\nI shall spoil your sport, for I have a delicate tool to pick your teeth\nwithal; then taking his two handed sword of five foot long, a weapon\nwhich the King had given him to govern with taking this I say, down he\nwent, and flinging open the Gates, he there found the Giant, who by an\nunfortunate slip in his thrusting was fallen all along, where he lay\nand could not help himself. What, quoth Tom, do you come here to take\nup your Lodging? This is not to be suffer'd, and with that he ran his\nlong broad sword in betwixt the monstrous Giant's brawny Buttocks and\nout at his Belly, which made the monstrous Brute give such a terrible\ngroan that it seemed like roaring thunder, making the very neighbouring\ntrees to tremble; and then Tom pulling out his sword again, at six or\nseven blows he separated his head from his unconscionable trunk, which\nhead, when it was off, seemed like the root of a mighty Oak. Then\nturning to the Dragon, which was all this while chain'd to a tree,\nwithout any farther discourse, with four blows with his two-handed\nsword, he cut off his head also. This fortunate adventure being over,\nhe sent immediately for a team of horses and a waggon: which he loaded\nwith these heads, and then summoning all the Constables in the Country\nfor a guard, sent them to Court, with a promise to his Majesty, that he\nwould rid the whole Island likewise of Bears and Lyons before he left\nit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IX.\n\n\n_The Tinker hearing of Tom s Fame went down to be Partner in his\nEnterprize; and how he was unfortunately slain by a Lyon._\n\nTom's victories rang so long, that they reach'd the ears of his old\nacquaintance, the Tinker, who, desirous of honour, resolved to go down\nand visit Tom in his new government, when coming there he met with kind\nand loving entertainment, for they were very joyful to see one another:\nNow after three or four days' enjoyment of one another's company, Tom\ntold the Tinker that he must needs go forth in search after wild Bears\nand Lyons, in order to rout them out of the Island. Well, quoth the\nTinker, I would gladly take my fortune with you, hoping that I may be\nserviceable to you, upon occasion. Well, quoth Tom, with all my heart,\nfor I must needs acknowledge I shall be right glad of your company.\nThis said, they both went forward, Tom with his two handed sword, and\nthe Tinker with his long pike-staff. Now after they had travelled\nabout four or five hours, it was their fortune to light of the whole\nknot of wild beasts together, being in number fourteen, of which six\nof them were Bears, the other eight young Lyons now when they had\nfastened their eyes upon Tom and the Tinker, these ravenous beasts\nbegan to roar and run furiously, as if they would have devoured them\nat a mouthful; but Tom and the Tinker stood side by side with their\nbacks against an Oak, and as the Lyons and Bears came within their\nreach, Tom with his long sword clove their heads asunder till they were\nall destroyed, saving one lyon, who, seeing the rest of his Fellows\nslain, was endeavouring to make his escape: now the Tinker being\nsomewhat too venturous, ran too hastily after him, and having given\nthe Lyon one blow, he turn'd upon him again, seizing him by the throat\nwith that violence, that the poor Tinker fell dead to the Ground; Tom\nHickathrift, seeing this, gave the Lyon such a blow that it ended his\nlife.\n\nNow was his joy mingled with sorrow for tho' he had cleared the Island\nof those ravenous savage beasts, yet his grief was intolerable for\nthe loss of his old friend. Home he returned to his lady, where in\ntoken of Joy for the wonderful success which he had in his dangerous\nenterprizes, he made a very noble and splendid Feast, to which he\ninvited most of his best Friends and Acquaintance, to whom he made the\nfollowing Promise.\n\n  My Friends while I have Strength to stand,\n    most manfully I will pursue\n  All Dangers, till I clear this Land,\n    of Lions, Bears, and Tygers too;\n  This you'll find true, or I'm to blame,\n    let it remain upon Record;\n  Tom Hickathrift's most glorious fame,\n    who never yet has broke his word\n  The Man who does his Country bless,\n    shall merrit much from this fair land;\n  He who relieved them in Distress,\n    His Fame upon Record shall stand:\n  And you my Friends who hear me now,\n    let honest Tom, for ever dwell,\n  Within your Minds and Thoughts I trow,\n    since he has pleas'd you all so well.\n\n\nFINIS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n\n[A] Blomefield's _History of Norfolk_, vol. ix. pp. 79-80; the same\nstory is related by Chambers in his _History of Norfolk_, vol. i. p.\n370. The parishes of W. and N. Lynn, though lying in marshland, are\nexcluded from any right of pasturage on the Smeth Common.\n\n[B] _Quarterly Review_, vol. xxi. p. 103.\n\n[C] _Quarterly Review_, vol. xxi. p. 102, note.\n\n[D] _Quarterly Review_, vol. xxi. pp. 102-103.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:\n\n\n  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.\n\n  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained from the original.\n\n  Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chap-Books and Folk-Lore Tracts, Vol.\n1 (of 5), by Various\n\n*** ","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}}
+{"text":" \n_Also by Olivia St. Claire_\n\n203 WAYS TO DRIVE  \nA MAN WILD IN BED\n\nCopyright \u00a9 1996 by Sakkarra, Inc.\n\nAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be  \nreproduced or transmitted in any form or by  \nany means, electronic or mechanical, including  \nphotocopying, recording, or by any information  \nstorage and retrieval system, without permission in  \nwriting from the publisher.\n\nPublished by Harmony Books, New York, New York.  \nMember of Crown Publishing Group.\n\nRandom House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland\n\nwww.randomhouse.com\n\nHARMONY BOOKS is a registered trademark and the Harmony Books colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.\n\nDesign by John Fontana with Linda Kocur\n\nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.\n\neISBN: 978-0-307-83320-4\n\nv3.1\n_To the sensual goddesses of history and heaven\u2014especially_\n\n_Aphrodite, Cleopatra, the Cloud Damsels, the Cosmic Yoni, the_\n\n_Djanggawo sisters, Hathor, Inanna, Lilith, Mother Earth_ ,\n\n_Nofretari, Oshun, Pele, Sekhmet, Shakti, the Snake Priestess_ ,\n\n_White Buffalo Woman, Wild Woman, Xochiquetzal, the_\n\n_Yoginis\u2014and to the Sex Goddess in every woman_\n\n# Acknowledgments\n\nMy deepest gratitude to all the women and men who so graciously shared their most intimate thoughts and feelings with me\u2014we have all learned so much from you. Heartfelt thanks as well to the extraordinary women who so lavishly gave me their support, advice, assistance, and love during the writing of this book\u2014Christine, Claudia, Deborah, Jane, Karen Marie, Marianne, Pamela, Paula, Sandy, and Tovi\u2014and to those who have so expertly guided me in birthing it into the world\u2014Shaye, Paula, Shima, and Miko.\n\n# Contents\n\n_Cover_\n\n_Other Books by This Author_\n\n_Title Page_\n\n_Copyright_\n\n_Dedication_\n\n_Acknowledgments_\n\n_1_ awakening your inner sex goddess\n\n_2_ creating your sensual garden\n\n_3_ self-pleasuring\u2014the key to the kingdom\n\n_4_ awakening aphrodite's body\n\n_5_ the mirror of sensual transformation\n\n_6_ g(oddess)-spots and love nectars\n\n_7_ fantasies from the cloud damsels\n\n_8_ the secrets of divine orgasm\n\n_9_ cleopatra's pleasure toys\u2014electric, plastic, furry, and human\n\n_10_ the goddess with her consort\n\n_11_ daily goddessizers\n\nappendix: the inner sex goddess scrolls\n\n# 1  \nawakening your inner sex goddess\n\n_A woman learns to be a good lover from her own heart and from the heart of her being. She does not need to learn it from a man. She learns it from her inner goddess_.\n\n_\u2014 Elaine Kittredge, Masterpiece Sex_\n\nevery woman has an Inner Sex Goddess. She lives in your heart, your body, and your senses. She is the part of you that feels aroused by reading erotic literature or watching sexy movies. She is the part of you that skips a heartbeat when an attractive man in tight jeans walks by. She is the part of you that feels coy and flirtatious when you put on a clingy dress; after all, it was _her_ idea to wear the dress in the first place. Your Inner Sex Goddess is the one who bought this book and who tingles with anticipation at the thought of becoming, at last, her most gloriously seductive self.\n\nWhether you experience her as a feeling (like a buttery inner warmth), as one of the many roles you play in life (such as career woman, mother, friend, wife, party organizer), or as a distinct personality (like your inner child, inner critic, or inner male and female), your Inner Sex Goddess is a strong, important, and natural part of who you really are. And getting to know her is really getting to know your deepest self\u2014your beliefs and values, your fears and dreams, and the very personal poetry of your body. The truly wonderful thing about your Inner Sex Goddess is that, without instruction from any person, book, workshop, or man, she already knows how to be fabulously sexy and alluring. In her bones, she knows how to _feel_ sexy, even when you're tired and cranky, bored, or simply at a loss for inspiration. She knows exactly what to do with her hands when you are making love; she doesn't wonder if it's better to stroke his back or tickle his ear because, with unerring instinct, she automatically does the very thing that will most stimulate herself and her lover.\n\nIn fact, your Inner Sex Goddess is a boundless source of sexual energy, know-how, and charisma. Unashamed, self-confident, and regally proud of her sexuality, she understands that feeling and being sexy is a natural and beautiful way for a woman to nourish her spirit and learn to love the ecstasies of her sensation-rich body. Revealing herself to you with every swish of your hair or sway of your hip, your Inner Sex Goddess revels in the textures of life and the world of the senses\u2014and the more you revel in those textures and senses, the better you will get to know her; the freer she will be to enjoy pleasuring herself and her lover; and the more lovely, bold, and exciting she will become.\n\nIt is she who lives in the vivid sensitivities of your body. She is there when you appreciate the look of candlelight on the curve of your breast, the smell of a gardenia in your hair, the taste of wine on your lips and tongue, the feel of sun or silk on your skin, the sound of sultry jazz or samba music, the luxury of a hot bubble bath or a full-body massage, the delicious flushes and tingles of self-pleasuring or lovemaking. These physical sensations are doorways to your rich inner world of lush romance and hot libido.\n\nIn fact, we women have a natural gift for combining romance, love, and sex into one magical art form. Even our enticingly soft and curvy bodies seem to be specially designed for exquisite pleasure. Did you know, for instance, that we females are unique in having a highly sensitive organ whose _only_ purpose is sexual delight?\n\nBut even though we have all these natural erotic gifts, no one has schooled us in the art of being in tune with and expressing our inherent sexuality. So we have felt awkward, confused, and even cut off from one of the most precious and vital parts of ourselves. This is not the case in many indigenous cultures\u2014for instance, Native American, tribal African, Tantric Indian, and some ancient Far Eastern societies, to name a few. Placing a high priority on developing sexual joy and proficiency in a sacred, loving way, these traditions often use specially trained sexual mentors to instruct and advise young people on how to appreciate the beauty and majesty of their bodies, as well as how to bring the highest sensual pleasure to their future partners\u2014and to themselves. Naturally in touch with their Inner Sex Gods and Goddesses, people in these cultures believe sexuality is a divine gift and learn to treat their bodies with the utmost respect and reverence. We would be wise to learn from them.\n\n## the natural textures of life\n\nAncient indigenous cultures who were living closer to the earth and practicing rituals tied to the cycles of nature were more in tune with the senses and textures of life than our modern \"civilized\" society. Their uncomplicated existence and natural belief in the divine nature of plants, animals, elements, and life itself allowed them to be more intimately acquainted with the sensuality that dwelt within them\u2014and left them with practically no inhibitions. To them, sexuality was a natural part of creation, and their sex organs were a chalice of the sacred energy of life. For example, one Stone Age cave painting shows a male figure holding a bow, his penis connected by an unbroken \"power line\" to the genitals of a female figure, suggesting that the female ritually empowered the man to go out for the hunt\u2014archetypal roles that these early peoples acted out in daily life. In ancient India, men and women transformed themselves into gods and goddesses\u2014meditating, anointing themselves, drinking sacred potions, muttering mantras over their bodies, and having ritualized sex\u2014for the purpose of achieving enlightenment. Other prepatriarchal religions honored fertility, creation, and sexuality in their ceremonies as different aspects of the same divine force. The pagan rites of Beltane, for example, involved ritual or wildly abandoned sexual activity as the symbolic cause of the earth's fertility in spring, and the solstice celebrations of planting and reaping the crops as a gift from the sensual, abundant body of the earth as goddess.\n\nThe women of all these cultures innately understood that the power and divine sexuality of the feminine principle was inherent not only in the earth, the elements, the animals, and the goddesses their people worshiped but also in their own sex organs and instincts, in the smells and tastes of their fleshy bodies, and in the natural textures of their lives. They and their individual Inner Sex Goddesses lived interchangeably with each other on a daily basis, moving smoothly and powerfully from conjugal bed to cooking fire to sexual fertility rite to tribal council to wheat harvest to sacramental childbirth and back again. Though we have centuries of acculturation and stifling moral convention to conquer, we too can become the natural sex goddesses these women were born and raised to be. When we come to know, revere, and love our bodies and their pleasures, as they did, we will no longer see our sexuality as something separate from our everyday selves. For with knowledge, reverence, and love come power, respect, responsibility, control\u2014and the natural manifestation of each woman's own brand of lusty and graceful sexual divinity.\n\nFinding your particular version of vampiness means exploring the hitherto unknown territories of your body, your senses, and your hot-blooded imagination. Your Inner Sex Goddess waits there in the intoxicating realm of self-knowledge and self-pleasuring. In our quest to know her, then, we'll be investigating many of the different avenues of pleasure through which you may find and unleash her, including:\n\n\u2022 Transforming reading, writing, breathing, walking to work, and wearing clothes into aphrodisiacs for your senses\n\n\u2022 Reveling in creative autoeroticism and self-pleasuring\n\n\u2022 Having revealing inner dialogues with your goddess self\n\n\u2022 Exploring and eroticizing every square inch of your body\n\n\u2022 Inventing and enjoying wanton fantasies, dreams, and visions\n\n\u2022 Discovering new G-spots and lovemaking talents\n\n\u2022 Having lots of earthshaking orgasms\n\n\u2022 Playing with erotic toys, clothes, and props\n\n\u2022 Making wild passionate love to your man\n\nBut before we venture onto the superhighway of rich physical sensation, let's start by exploring some simple but very fruitful _mental_ pathways to your sensual kingdom. Your sexuality is contained not only in your five physical senses but also in the inner senses of your mind and heart, and the journey to your Inner Sex Goddess begins not with your lover or some esoteric technique but within the private realm of your fantasies, heartfelt desires, daydreams, and self-created images about who you are. Experiment with the following ideas and see which ones resonate for you.\n\n## daily dialog\n\nThroughout the day make a habit of asking your Inner Sex Goddess how she would do things. Just pretend that there is some creature inside you who knows how to be appropriately and naturally sexy, and have a conversation with her. Ask her, \"How would you dress this morning? walk down the street? talk to that man? move your hips? dance? put on your makeup? wear your hair? How would you make yourself _feel_ sexy? In what ways would you pleasure yourself? What toys would you use? How would you respond? Which man would you choose? How would you make love to him? Where would you put your hand?\" Maybe she would add a silk scarf to the conservative outfit you put on. Maybe she would walk to work through the sensation-stimulating park rather than taking the boring bus. Perhaps she would tango in the kitchen instead of going to the gym. Follow her advice and see where it takes you.\n\n## journal\n\nStart keeping a journal for your Inner Sex Goddess. Slip into her mind and heart and jot down what you see through her eyes, hear through her ears, feel through her emotions, think through her thoughts, and do through her body. Let her write about what she'd like to do, how she'd like you to relate to her, how she feels about herself, and how she'd like to express herself. Ask her questions about your sexuality and let her write the answers for you.\n\nWhen I did this one time, my Inner Sex Goddess wrote down that if you view any sensual act not as something you do but as something you receive, as she does, it takes on a whole new meaning. For instance, when you kiss your lover, don't think of what you are doing to him with your lips, but instead focus on receiving the softness of _his_ lips, receiving the smooth texture of the skin on his neck, receiving the hard round energy of his fingers as you suck on them. She said to close your eyes and concentrate on drinking in your lover's very essence. As much as I have attuned myself to the many nuances of lovemaking, I never would have thought about kissing quite this way. But keeping a journal for my Inner Sex Goddess brought out a wonderful new perspective that I have since eagerly incorporated into my love life. Find out what unique insights await you when you visit with your inner sexual divinity.\n\n## bodyknowing\n\nA particularly sensual woman I know says, \"For me, being in touch with my sexuality means deliberately cultivating a sort of magnetic, earthy feeling. I focus on being fully in my body and using all of its instincts and sensations, really feeling the electromagnetic energy pulsing around me. I imagine that I am a wild creature of the earth, a wolf woman, and knower of the moon mysteries. At those times I feel like an untamed, exotic animal using my bodyknowing to move sensuously through the natural world. It is then that my Inner Sex Goddess seems most alive.\"\n\nI recommend reading Clarissa Pinkola Est\u00e9s's superb book _Women Who Run with the Wolves_ to get an even deeper feel for the wildish woman inside you, so closely akin to your Inner Sex Goddess. Both these inner archetypes\u2014sensual, electric, and instinctual\u2014are characterized by their strong sense of bodyknowing.\n\n## inner movies\n\nUse the screen of your imagination to conjure up your Inner Sex Goddess. You may be surprised at who or what appears. Get comfortable. Close your eyes, breathe deeply. Relax and go inside yourself. Imagine a movie screen in your mind's eye and ask your Inner Sex Goddess to reveal herself on it. She may appear full-blown right away or slowly with a foot first and then an ankle, a leg, and so on. What does she look like? How does she dress and move? Is she a robed ancient queen or a contemporary woman in business suit over leopard-print panties? Observe her activities. Does she do different things than you do? What kind of perfume does she dab on? How does she communicate with men, verbally and nonverbally? What does she do in your workplace? at home? at school? in the neighborhood? What does she call herself\u2014maybe she prefers Angelique to your usual Anne. Ask her how you can be more in touch with her, in a safe, elegant, and appropriate way\u2014and how you can do this quickly and easily when need be. Request that she come to you in your dreams and teach you. Ask her to be with you when you make love with your partner and when you pleasure yourself. Thank her for revealing herself to you and give her a gift of gratitude. Let her give you a symbolic present and take careful note of what it is, for she will surely be communicating something special to you with this inner gift.\n\nYour Inner Sex Goddess may change her appearance from day to day, too. Sometimes mine appears as a beautiful naked Greek goddess and sometimes as the Great Cosmic Yoni (in the Tantric tradition, _yoni_ means \"vulva\"), who is the source of ecstasy, sensuality, and womanness. She has given me all sorts of symbolic presents, including a gold key (the key to any sense or experience I might want to open), a marble sculpture of a breast (representing the female qualities of nurturing and sensual beauty), and a leopard-skin G-string to remind me to be raunchy and have fun. Pat, a business executive friend of mine, says that her Inner Sex Goddess looks like Catwoman and is always admonishing her to slink around more and lick all the flavors of life. Another friend tells me that her Inner Sex Goddess looks like Marilyn Monroe, calls herself Lolita, and often shows up when she's making love to point out hidden erogenous zones on her man's body by kissing them with her red, pouty lips. My friend Georgia says that her Inner Sex Goddess is more like a colored ball of energy\u2014sometimes pink, sometimes turquoise\u2014that floats around Georgia's body making tingly sensations and whispering sexual secrets in her dreams.\n\n## mythological journeys\n\nAs the brilliant modern-day philosopher Joseph Campbell asserted, myths are often the key to our innermost selves, and mythological characters are the archetypes of our inner personalities. Exploring the tales of some of the mythological goddesses of sensuality can lead you to new discoveries about your own sexual persona. Of the scores of magnificent erotic deities, here are just a few to consider. Read about them, contemplate their qualities, gaze at their images, copy their poses, bring their accoutrements into your everyday life, or have inner conversations with them. Call on them just before you make love. Let them seep into your consciousness and connect you to your innermost sexual self.\n\nAphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, sensuality, and passionate relationships. It is she who graces your life when you fall madly in love. As the only goddess portrayed nude in Greek art, Aphrodite is proud of her beautiful nakedness and potent sexuality. In fact, in one representation of her as Aphrodite Kallipygos (Aphrodite of the Lovely Backside), she coyly draws up her robe to admire her own round fanny. The rose and lily, symbolizing the vagina, are her beloved flowers. Try draping yourself in a Grecian-style robe, even if only mentally, and lean back to gaze at your own luscious derriere. Meditate on the ripe power of this fetchingly plump piece of human art, potent enough to drive some otherwise sane men to a state of crazed desire. In emulating Aphrodite, you become a regal feminine beauty with the magical transforming power of erotic love nestled in every angle, wiggle, and curve of your body.\n\nIn the Semitic tradition, Lilith was the first woman, created at the same time as Adam. But when Adam tried to have sex with her, she grew wings and flew out of paradise to live in the desert, later becoming the bringer of agriculture and the protector of children. God then created the more compliant Eve. Let Lilith's fierce drive for sexual equality, independence, and wildness teach you about yours. Imagine yourself taking wing to escape a brand of sexuality you no longer desire and creating a powerful new one fashioned after your personal tastes and talents.\n\nOshun is the African Yoruba goddess of the river, sensuality, and creativity. As her waters dance sinuously through the countryside, she adorns herself with bangly stone bracelets, the beautiful clothing of the landscape, and the perfumes of the wildflowers. Also presiding over the arts, gold, and love, she provides a sensual healing balm to all who dip into her liquid body. She is completely self-contained, self-aware, and lovingly self-conscious of her natural erotic beauty as she glows in the moon's silvery romantic light. Mentally immerse yourself in her fluid sensuality and surge, ripple, and murmur like the river. Adorn yourself with flowers, flowing fabrics, and gold bracelets that jingle. Revel in your self-contained, liquid eroticism.\n\nIn the Mayan tradition, Xochiquetzal (Precious Flower) is the female deity of flowers, beauty, pleasure, and sexuality. Always joyous and free in her sensuality, she is sometimes represented as a butterfly, and her ancient worshipers often dress as hummingbirds and butterflies to dance around her rose-covered image. Merlin Stone, author of _When God Was a Woman_ , says that \"when a woman felt the pleasures of her body, it brought special joy to Xochiquetzal.\" Imagine dancing amid rose petals, hummingbird feathers, and butterfly wings as a form of ritual adoration. Worship your divine femininity by pleasuring your own fleshy rosebuds.\n\nShakti is a form of the Hindu Great Goddess and symbolizes the energizing life force of the universe. She is often represented as a snake, uncoiling sinuously up the human spine, awakening the life-giving, sensual energies within. Through worship of this divine goddess\u2014which included adoring a woman's body as the goddess's human form and having sacred sex with her\u2014male Tantric practitioners hoped to reach enlightenment. Slither like a snake and feel how this undulating movement awakens your sexual instincts. Sense the creative power of the universe uncoiling in your womb, ready to give birth to new life, new ideas, and new inner enravishments. Worship your own body as the physical manifestation of all that is divinely female\u2014beautiful, powerful, innately enlightened, life-nurturing, and sensual. You are the embodiment of sacred union.\n\nI also recommend that you read Hallie Iglehart Austen's inspired and gorgeously illustrated book _The Heart of the Goddess_ for poetic and practical journeys with scores of other goddesses from many cultures and time periods.\n\n## sex initiatrix\n\nAnother friend of mine likes to fantasize that she, as the officially recognized Sexiest Woman in the World, is teaching an inexperienced lover the art of pleasing a woman. Or she is a tribal sex shaman who is initiating a young boy into manhood during a sacred puberty ceremony. Or she is Sharon Stone, reducing otherwise strong men to butter simply by crossing her legs or dancing provocatively with another woman. Whether she indulges in these fantasies while standing in line at the grocery or when she is pleasuring herself or her lover, she finds it a rapid and surefire way to make her sexiest inner self come alive. And it's no wonder, for initiating virginal or emotionally unawakened men into the intoxicating mysteries of the female body is a powerful ritual we women have been performing for countless centuries. Try it and see if it doesn't awaken magic in you.\n\n## the heart of beauty\n\nThe Hawaiian shamans have a lovely way of connecting with their inner graces. They suggest finding something beautiful, like a rose or a pretty stone or a piece of yellow silk. Focus on its beauty, singling out and appreciating all the various things that make it lovely. Find the qualities it shares with you. For instance, notice the way the open petals of the rose resemble your pretty vaginal lips. Observe that the stone has many different sides, facets, and colors, like your multifaceted personality. Revel in the cool smoothness of the silk, like your satiny skin. The more you focus on the textures and senses of beauty, the more your subconscious starts to bring it into your life, the more you see it everywhere, and the more your mind and body begin to mimic these innate qualities of your Inner Sex Goddess.\n\n## the temple of erotic love\n\nOne of the most potent pathways to your inner sexual sanctum leads directly through the Jade Gate, as the Chinese call it\u2014your vaginal opening. Though Far Eastern and Indian Tantric cultures have bestowed upon the female sexual organs poetic names like the Grotto of the White Tiger, the Honey Pot, and the Valley of Joy, modern Western culture often views them as something unclean to be hidden and ashamed of. At best, \"women see their sex organs as an absence rather than a presence,\" laments a well-known Western gynecologist. But ancient and indigenous societies have long honored the vulva in particular as the primary source of life, pleasure, and spiritual development. Identifying it with the lotus\u2014flower of perfection and eternity, and the great void from which all existence arises\u2014the people of south India rubbed carved wooden yonis (vulvae) as a form of worship. Statues and paintings from South America, Africa, ninth-century Europe, and twentieth-century Australia too show goddesses displaying their sacred vulvae with authority and pride as the source of fertility, inspiration, and protection. Many of these statues appear over doorways as a reminder that the vagina is the literal gateway to life. Numerous churches and castles in the British Isles of the ninth century were thought to be sanctified by sheela-na-gigs, stone carvings of playful, smiling women with their vulvae spread wide. These peoples wisely believed, as did the tribal wizards of New Guinea, that \"All magic radiates from [the vagina] as fingers do from a hand.\"\n\nThat kind of reverence, respect, and love for this sacred part of a woman is an essential key to releasing the Inner Sex Goddess locked inside. So, like a female Indiana Jones on a quest for your true sexuality, you must transform what for you may be a mysterious void into a sacred temple of erotic love.\n\nThere are several ways to undertake this quest. You could make a list of all the wonderful things you can think of about your vulva\u2014for example, as the birth canal, it's the gateway to life; men go absolutely bananas over it; it provides the highest sexual ecstasy; its many amazing talents include vast expansion, tight contraction, and copious lubrication; it is cleverly hidden; its lips are provocative protrusions or delicate wings, whatever the case may be. Make a long, sensually detailed list. Or you could practice the following meditation.\n\nFirst, honor the entrance to your temple of erotic love by rubbing oils or powder on it. Place your hands over your pubic bone and vulva, feel the powerful energy that emanates from this cave of creation. As you allow the muscles in your stomach, genitals, and anus to relax, imagine that the warmth and love in your hands is being pulled into your vagina, illuminating the dark spaces and making the walls glitter with a jewellike brilliance. See this inner space being transformed into a vaulted temple, an elaborately decorated mosque, a holy shrine, a vast cathedral, or a shaman's magical cave. This is the magnificent entrance to the mysterious worlds of sexual ecstasy, sacred union, and the beginnings of life. A male friend once told me, \"When you give a woman oral love, your head is cradled at the source of woman, the source of life. It's a sacred place where you can worship, and the divinity you are worshiping gives you instant feedback and the most otherworldly sensations.\"\n\nAllow yourself to luxuriate in your hallowed temple of erotic love. Explore its inner recesses, discovering the sacred sensual secrets hidden there. You may want to imagine that you are one of many priestesses studying your art together or that you are performing some sexual healing for a man who has petitioned the temple goddess for rejuvenation. Learn from these activities. Ask the deity of this temple, your Inner Sex Goddess, to cleanse you of any negative feelings you may have about this sacred space and to fill it instead with reverence and love. Inquire how you may come to know her better and help her be a larger presence in your life. Just for a moment imagine that the goddess magically embodies herself in you and that you have all her knowledge, majesty, charisma, and heavenly experience. Promise her that you will always honor her temple and request that she be instantly and fully available to you whenever you merely think of this part of you. Thank her for inviting you here and gently take leave of your temple of erotic love for now. Rest in the knowledge that it and your Inner Sex Goddess are always there to nourish, support, and eroticize you.\n\n# 2  \ncreating your sensual garden\n\n_Because I am a goddess I will come to your heaven, and lie on your cloud.... Let my hovel be our heaven, let my bed be our cloud, On which we are united in perfect, heavenly bliss_.\n\n_\u2014 Erotic poetry of ancient Egypt, from Sacred Sex, Robert Bates_\n\nthe essence of being a goddess is that you transform even the most mundane events and surroundings into a celestial garden of delights by your very existence. Cultivated and in full bloom, your inner garden grows to encompass the world around you, expanding your capacity for pleasure, luring divine consorts to your domain and elevating the quality of life and lovemaking, for you and for your lover, to sublime heights. It is your Inner Sex Goddess, who, by the simple act of viewing the entire world as a sensual paradise, creates this erotic garden, first in your own life and then by divine osmosis in the lives of those around you.\n\nNow that you recognize your inherent, natural potential as a goddess, your first divine act must be to create the sensual garden that sustains and enriches your inner life and provides a perfumed playground for all who enter it. Start by tasting the ambrosia of life, reaching out and grabbing the sensuous feeling of wind in your hair or silk on your skin, savoring the magic of a striking piece of art, reveling in the mystery of a blossoming flower, sinking into the romance of a poetic phrase or a lover's sigh. These simple yet profound acts of transformation are your natural birthright as a woman.\n\nWhile men have the gift of robust action, women have the gift of powerful perception. Sensually, men tend to focus on their genitals, whereas women are more holistic, more interested in arousing their entire bodies and their feelings. A man often wants to get right to the physical pleasure, while a woman knows how to heighten sensitivity by first creating the mood of romance. She knows that stimulating your \"romance hormones\" will create the context for the magic that can come from stimulating your sex hormones. In fact, many women find that if they pleasure themselves and their lovers only in a physical way, they feel bored, dishonored, and cut off from their deep feelings and true Sex Goddess nature.\n\nAt the same time, though, women intuitively understand that the physical senses are the very doorways to inner eroticism\u2014the openings through which magic passes from the outer to the inner world and back again, the alchemical tubing that transforms sunsets, cantatas, and freshly baked bread into the hot pheromones of love. To a woman's Inner Sex Goddess, the whole world is an aphrodisiac. It's simply a matter of noticing it. And a woman becomes a Sex Goddess not by virtue of a perfect body, a bag of exotic sexual tricks, or a Valentino-like lover but by virtue of her ability to abandon herself to the electrically sensual qualities of everything around and within her and to pamper herself with them.\n\nSo if you want to make your Inner Sex Goddess a larger part of your life, use all of your senses as doorways between the exterior world and the magical interior kingdom where she dwells. See, hear, taste, smell, and feel her in every fire flame, zesty orange peel, and cat's purr. Leave room for your efficient, taking-care-of-business self, yes; she's important too. But right now, it's your sultry inner seductress that we're showering with attention. Deliberately create occasions for her to come out and play. Pamper, treat, and romance her all the time. She will turn your everyday life into a garden of sensual delights, bring your spicy inner flavors to the surface, and galvanize your man to new erotic ecstasy.\n\n## sowing the seeds of sensuality in your garden\n\n_1_. Send yourself flowers. Fresh, fragrant flowers not only make you feel beautiful and adored but also provide a pretty-to-look-at and heavenly-to-smell prop for your bedroom, or for your bathroom, kitchen, or living room\u2014wherever you decide to take your self-love tryst. Get all of your senses involved with the flowers\u2014arrange them in a pretty vase and place them in a different spot every day; inhale their fragrance deep inside you; caress your skin with their velvety petals; garnish your food with them. Let your Inner Sex Goddess select the bouquet for its sensual appeal\u2014two blood-red roses, one lushly fragrant gardenia, several exotic and silky tiger lilies. Get luxurious!\n\n_2_. Give yourself perfume. Your favorite kind. Something that smells wickedly sexy. Spray your sheets with it. Dab it behind your ears, between your beautiful breasts, along your soft inner thighs. Smell your luscious self. One hedonistic friend of mine likes to apply a musky scent between her toes and then massage them to bring out the aroma. She says it makes her feel pampered.\n\n_3_. Have plenty of romance-making candles around\u2014tapers for elegance, votives to create a soft glow, big fat ones to help you recall phallic encounters, aromatic ones to awaken your earthy nature. Light them in the bathroom when you luxuriate in the tub. Fill your bedroom with many flames of love. Look at your gorgeous body in the mirror in shimmering candlelight. Fantasize that you're performing a magic sex ritual by candle flame and the light of the moon. Become aware of the incandescent quality of your Inner Sex Goddess. Glow.\n\n_4_. Prepare a candlelight dinner for one. Set a romantic table with flowers, special dinnerware, candles, a stunning centerpiece. Indulge in aphrodisiacal appetizers such as oysters, avocados, mangoes, figs, or other juicy fruits. Savor an entr\u00e9e that you can eat with your fingers, and lick them frequently. Indulge in a sinfully rich and gooey dessert. Relish your food. Inhale its aroma. Lick it. Tear it apart with your fingers. Taste it slowly. Fruits are lovely to rub on your body and gently, slowly lick off. Don't do the dishes. Go directly to bed with yourself.\n\n_5_. Treat yourself to a bottle of good wine. Red wine makes me feel much more sensuous than white or pink, but follow your own sensual urges here. A wine with a good nose will add another texture. Pour it into a delicate wineglass. Savor it. Let it slide warmly over your tongue and down your throat. Pour it on yourself and lick it off. Allow yourself to slip into the relaxed, uninhibited playground of Dionysus, the god of wine. Become his goddess consort.\n\n_6_. Humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow stated that the two most common triggers for peak experiences are music and sex. How about music and sex together? Put on some evocative music and listen to it with your whole body. My Inner Sex Goddess loves cool, sultry jazz, but other women I know prefer hot, driving salsa, romantic Mathis or Vandross, lush and elegant Ravel or Chopin, dreamy Debussy, the fireworks of Tchaikovsky, earthy blues, electric, pulsing rock, or ethereal flute music. (See the \"Inner Sex Goddess Scrolls\" at the back of this book for lots more specific musical suggestions.) Play whatever turns you on at the moment. Close your eyes and slip inside the sound. Let it loosen your pelvis and shake your shoulders. Slink around in it. Sing or hum. Feel your voice vibrate your chest, throat, and face. See the colors the music creates behind your eyes. Taste its brassy, peppery, or creamy essences. Exult in the emotions it provides. Melt into the harmony of the spheres.\n\n_7_. Dance. Naked. When there's no one else around to criticize your technique, your Inner Sex Goddess is free to undulate, writhe, slither, rock 'n' roll, hula, fandango, samba, or even strip to her heart's content. Close your eyes and surrender to the mood of your movement. Or dance in front of a mirror and see how sexy you look with breasts jiggling and hips swaying. Dance _with_ the mirror; press up against it and feel its cool slickness against your skin. Make a hot, moist patch on it with your breath and flatten your nipple against it. Perform the dance of the seven veils with a big filmy scarf or a fringed shawl. Be provocative. Not only is this fun, loosening, limbering, and hormone-stimulating, it's also great practice for the sexy striptease you're going to do for your man someday soon.\n\nIf you feel totally uncoordinated or sexless when you dance, then try almost any other form of physical movement\u2014yoga, aerobics, stretching to music, walking, tai chi, swimming, running. I have a shy, pixielike friend who is actually embarrassed to go to the gym because she gets overly excited by the movements of her thighs while using the StairMaster!\n\n_8_. Give yourself some sexy lingerie. I love to wear lacy camisoles under my sweaters, blouses, and blazers, letting enough show so that it looks very feminine and demure but at the same time revealing and sexy as hell. My Inner Sex Goddess simply adores peekaboo lace. My friend Jennifer, on the other hand, always wears satin panties and matching plunging bras under her accounting manager pinstripe suits. She says it helps her remember she's a shameless hussy. Let your Inner Sex Goddess investigate and supplement your wardrobe. Try sleeping in a silky teddy instead of your regular oversized T-shirt. Be aware of how these textures glide and flutter over your skin. Admire yourself in a mirror often. Pose like a Victoria's Secret model. _Feel_ like one. Buy and wear\u2014if only for yourself\u2014something that makes you look and feel like an expensive call girl. My friend Lisa, a harried mother of twin three-year-olds, says the easiest way for her to feel sexy on command is to don her see-through merry widow with lacy garters and ribbons that untie in strategic places. When she wears it with lace-top stockings and five-inch heels, she says she looks and feels deadly. Sometimes she adds her G-string silk panties. Of course, she often sports these duds for her man, but just as often she wears them only for herself. They make her feel expensively sexy. And they become exciting props for self- or partner-lovemaking.\n\n_9_. Dress sensuously all the time. This does not mean you have to look overtly sexual; obviously that's not always appropriate. It means that you wear things that feel sensuous and soft; fabrics and shapes that heighten your awareness of your skin and movements. Even with your most severe business suit or your sportiest tennis togs, you can add at least one little thing, seen or unseen, that has a sensate quality to it. Silk, satin, cashmere, lace, Lycra, pearls, filmy scarves, fur, velvet, earrings that dangle against your neck, red lipstick, a push-up bra, see-through panties, a flowing skirt that billows against your bare skin, lots of bracelets, a snake armband worn on the upper arm, a wide choker, short tight skirts, silk or lace T-shirts, anything leather against your skin. Go braless. Go pantyless. Definitely go slipless, unless it's a sexy one.\n\nIt's amazing how sexy you will feel when you go without panties, particularly when you're wearing a long, flowing skirt that swishes when you walk; you're all covered up, but you feel so deliciously _exposed_. Whether your sensuous attire is demurely hidden from public view, proudly flaunted for your lover, or unabashedly admired in your own mirror, your Inner Sex Goddess will be softly vibrating and ready for further attention.\n\n_10_. Soak in a hot, scented bubble bath. Spend hours at it. Read a steamy novel. Tease yourself with a soft skin brush. Bask in the glowing candlelight. Dream. Fantasize. Croon to yourself. Paint your toenails. Smooth the bubbles over your face, neck, arms, breasts, tummy, thighs, genitals. Arch your feet coquettishly and tickle your glistening toes. Massage your scalp as you wash your hair. Let the water drain while you're still in the tub. Or finish off with a cold shower. Pat yourself dry with the biggest, fluffiest towel you own. Or don't use a towel at all, and move directly into a thick terry-cloth robe. Or smooth perfumed body lotion over every inch of your skin. Float into your warm bedroom, and if there's a man in it, wake him up seductively. If not, sizzle to your own inner music.\n\n_11_. Read something erotic. Curl up with a good story by Ana\u00efs Nin and identify with the hot French coquettes she writes about. Transport yourself to another time and place where anything sexy, a little kinky, and very feminine goes. Like the women in the stories, allow yourself to be carried away by your passions until you feel that familiar warm glow begin to burn inside you. Then let your hands take it from there. There's lots of other good erotic literature out there too, something to fuel every fire, from the seductive S&M stories of A. N. Roquelaure to the taboo and poetic writing of Marco Vassi to anthologies like _Deep Down: The New Sensual Writing about Women_ and _TheGates of Paradise_. There's always Nancy Friday's _My Secret Garden_ as well as many other collections of women's fantasies and even some of the letters and stories in magazines like _Playboy_ , _Penthouse_ , and _True Romance_. (See the \"Inner Sex Goddess Scrolls\" at the back of this book for a more complete list.) Or maybe a hot love scene from your favorite romance or trashy novel will light your inner fire. One highly organized friend of mine makes a copy of every good love scene she finds and puts it in a hot-pink file folder that she keeps locked in her nightstand drawer. Some of them are pretty dog-eared by now, but they never fail to arouse her passionate nature. Find your own favorites and keep them handy for reading to your Inner Sex Goddess or your real-life sex god.\n\n_12_. Write your own erotica. Even the feel and sound of pen on paper as you write can be a sensual delight. Release your erotic feelings, hopes, and dreams onto the paper. Let your pen take flight, and follow its fanciful wanderings. Express how you felt when you last made love; recall the sensations that stirred you emotionally, sink into the feelings, and let them pour onto the paper. Invent a wildly romantic interlude in the forest, and write down exactly what you'd like to have happen. Describe a piece of music or a part of your body in sensual detail. Imagine your ideal lover and give him written instructions on how to drive you wild in bed. Tell the story of your bizarre sexual experiences on another planet. Pen an imagined page from the journal of Fanny Hill, Cleopatra, or Oshun, the river goddess. Write intensely brief poetry, cool factual journalism, or hot turgid prose. Create a passionate romance novel or a porn comic book. Try on different writing styles to suit your mood or to create a new one. Since no one will be grading this paper, really let yourself go. Don't be afraid to dig down deep inside you and reveal your heart's secret erotic desires.\n\nA single real estate broker I know told me she once spent a lone day at the beach feeling the blazing sun on her skin and fantasizing about a hot lover who would sneak up and inflame her body even further with steamy kisses. Later, feeling compelled to pour her sensual feelings onto paper, she wrote a rhymeless poem describing her fantasy love fest. She said that concentrating on finding the right words helped her relive and enhance the experience, and rereading it now and then recaptures all those sizzling skin sensations and simmering passions. Her poem turned out to be one of her most treasured personal turn-ons.\n\n_13_. Ogle sexy pictures. Your Inner Sex Goddess is much more visually erotic than you might imagine, so give yourself permission to open the optic channels to your libido. She loves those bare-chested men in Calvin Klein ads, lovers in the ecstatic embraces and wild positions depicted so beautifully in Oriental woodcuts and Indian miniatures, pictures of luscious babes who look rather like you in men's magazines, beefcake postcards (one woman I know collects a few eye-poppers in every town she visits), hunky-man calendars (my calendar for this year happens to be \"The Men of Hawaii,\" and are they hot!), nude photos you've taken of your lover, the sexually explicit drawings found in _The Joy of Sex_ and other sex instruction books, museum postcard reproductions of beautifully sculpted nude Greek statues, the cover of a steamy novel, magazine photos of movie stars in action. Actually, some of the most erotic images I've ever seen are photographs or paintings of nature\u2014Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings of flowers that look like women's vulvae; beautifully rendered still lifes where the soft fruit or flowers resemble swollen lips, rounded breasts, or plump behinds; photos of dense redwood forests exuding damp earthiness and phallic sensuality; drawings of curvy, openly inviting shells glistening with moisture.\n\nCollect your personal preferences and keep them at the ready in your erotic file folder. Drool and fantasize to your libido's content. Imagine you are _in_ the picture, and follow your bliss.\n\n_14_. Watch X-rated videos. Yes, real women watch porn flicks. In fact, your Inner Sex Goddess can literally be transfigured by visual eroticism. One of the best descriptions I've ever heard of this phenomenon was reported by Sallie Tisdale in her fabulous book _Talk Dirty toMe:_ \"Watching my first adult movie, watching for the first time a man penetrate another woman, was like leaving my body all at once. I was outside my body, watching, because she on the screen above me _was_ me; and then I was back in my body very much indeed. My lust was aroused as surely and uncontrollably by the sight of sex as hunger can be roused by the smell of food.\"\n\nAdult videos are much improved these days, and often you don't even have to fast-forward to get past all the boring or stupid stuff. For sleek erotic atmosphere with gorgeous men and women, try Andrew Blake's films. Candida Royale and her Femme Productions put out many sexy films that are more romantic and woman-centered. These and many other modern hard-, soft-, and medium-core porn videos (see \"The Inner Sex Goddess Scrolls\" for a more complete list) provide a great tool for expanding your sexual horizons and acting out vicariously what you might never do in real life. Whether you're into fantasizing about vampires, whips, bisexuality, group scenes, or just plain sizzling sex and plenty of it, there's a film made just for you. Your Inner Sex Goddess can also learn some interesting new tricks to try by yourself or with a partner. As my fiftyish friend Judy said when she loaned me one of her favorites, \"I thought the film was trash, but it made me laugh, think, and swoon all at the same time. I couldn't wait to plug in my vibrator.\" I recommend that you (1) read the package carefully to get a feel for how kinky, outlandish, or romantic the film is; (2) trade videos and personal reviews of them with friends; (3) watch alone at first; and (4) watch with a vibrator in your lap.\n\n_15_. Collect, admire, and play with erotic objects. Joanna, my plain but profoundly charismatic soul sister, likes to collect phallic objects, for instance. Her favorite is a two-inch-long crystal penis, every detail true to life. Obviously too small to do anything with, this toy is just for her Inner Sex Goddess to fantasize over. I have a stunning satinwood statue of a man arching over a woman's shoulder to kiss her breast; I love to gaze at it and stroke it. My pleasingly plump friend Marsha collects beautifully tasteful representations of women's pelvises and derrieres; they make her feel good about her own. Another friend likes lots of velvet pillows for looking, touching, and rubbing against sensitive body parts. Some women find that certain wild animals and the coiled power they represent arouse sexual thoughts\u2014panthers, snakes, and stallions, for instance\u2014and they enjoy having pictures, statuettes, or stuffed toys of these creatures around to inspire, admire, and pet. Pretty feathers, and even feathery plants, can be a sensual delight for the eyes and skin. Having a fetish for erotic collectibles not only results in some fabulous toys for your lovemaking lair but also keeps your sensual self alive and tantalized all the time, always on the lookout for a new addition to your secret sensitizing collection.\n\n_16_. Aroma is another powerful stimulus for your Inner Sex Goddess. In fact, the ancient Egyptians, believing that fragrant oils were created by the gods, used scents to evoke in themselves the joyous sensuality of Hathor or the powerful regenerative qualities of Isis, for instance. Unleash your inner goddesses by inhaling deeply of _all_ the \"essential oils\" of life\u2014ocean air, baking bread, freshly washed hair, damp earth, baby skin, lemon peel, the musky aroma of sex, and especially flowers and their liquid essences. The lush smell of white ginger instantly unlocks all my voluptuous instincts, so I always return from Hawaii with ginger sachets to tuck in my drawers and pillows. Try placing a drop of your favorite essential oil on a bedside lightbulb or on melting wax as it drips down the side of a candle. Spray gardenia perfume in your linen closet and later unfold the fragrance onto your bed. Dip a cotton ball in jasmine oil and nestle it between the mounds of your breasts. Bathe in lavender-scented water. Saturate a lacy white handkerchief with ylang-ylang oil, wear it next to your skin for a while, and then carelessly leave it lying around in one of your man's favorite haunts.\n\n_17_. Burn incense. A room filled with the heady aroma of musk, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, or amber, one of my favorites, somehow oozes sensuality. Like the ancient Tantricas, use the pungent smoke of your favorite incense to activate and eroticize your chakras (energy centers). Hold a stick of burning incense near your pubic bone and then move it slowly up the front of your body all the way to the top of your head, pausing for a few moments at your genitals, diaphragm, heart, and throat. Keep the incense about two inches away from your skin. Somehow this raises your sexual temperature and infuses your body and mind with heat, preparing you for an unusually sensual experience.\n\n_18_. Develop an eye for the erotic qualities of nature. Women are especially talented at seeing and feeling the sensuous beauty in a vivid sunset, a purple craggy mountain at dawn, frothy ocean waves, emerald green rolling hills, tall grasses rippling in the wind, a certain iridescence of light and shade in the forest. Feel the thickness or sweetness of the air at the beach, in the mountains, in a forest glade, in the steamy jungle. Smell and taste it. Gardeners know that massaging wet dirt can be a sensuous experience. Caress the tender petals of a flower. Eat a blade of grass. Close your eyes and let the sound of crashing ocean waves wash over your body. Trickle hot sand over your feet and legs. Press your body against the rough bark of a tree. Walk barefoot in the grass. Feel with your eyes as you watch a horse run, a cat stretch, a bird soar, a snake slither, a butterfly float, a tiger spring, or a dragonfly mate.\n\nIf you live in the city and can't get away, take your Inner Sex Goddess to a museum or art gallery and let her drink in the sensual images of nature depicted in fine works of art. Luxuriate in Monet's sumptuous gardens or John Constable's overpowering, detailed landscapes. Absorb the subtleties of light or merge with the stillness in a photograph. Become intimate with Ansel Adams and his stunning black-and-white adorations of canyons and deserts. Imagine yourself into the setting of a van Gogh and let your animal senses run wild.\n\n_19_. Mine your past for experiences and sensations that touch off interior sparks. Old love letters, postcards, snapshots, prom mementos, valentines, love songs, discarded clothing of his and yours, and even photos of a magnificent beach you went to by yourself are a living treasure chest of evocative sense triggers. Close your eyes and submerge yourself completely in the sights, sounds, and smells associated with that memory. Feel his arms around your waist as you danced to that old song; taste the souvlaki and baklava from that romantic trip to the Greek islands; drink in the smell of his skin when he wore that old flannel shirt. Vividly recall the rapid beating of your heart and the warm tingle under your skin that burned these moments into the very fibers of your body. Your Inner Sex Goddess lives in those vibrant sense memories.\n\n_20_. As a little girl, you knew the power of your mother's lipstick and high heels to transform you into a sexy, grown-up chick; or a clown's hat to bring out your silly oaf side; or a bandanna and a stick for a horse to turn you into a Wild West cowgirl. This stuff still works, even on your fuddy-duddy adult self, because Your Inner Sex Goddess adores the game of dress-up. Try on any persona that excites your erotic imagination and act the role to the hilt in front of your private mirror. Adorn yourself like a tart: net stockings, garter belt showing beneath short tight skirt, five-inch heels, brightly rouged cheeks, and teased hair. Wriggle your behind, whip your handbag around, expose your push-up bra and crotchless panties, and stand disdainfully arched against the doorway to attract imaginary customers. Dress up like a harem girl, with floating sheer scarves, beaded vest, lots of jangling jewelry, ankle bracelets, heavy Cleopatra eyeliner, and face veil. Pull the scarves provocatively across your breasts and through your legs; with head down, peek out from behind your veil with inviting eyes; let your scarves and ropes of jewelry fly out from your body as you twirl, dance, and undulate. Or be a demure geisha and don a kimono, wide silk sash, chopsticks in your piled-up hair, and the whitest makeup you can find. Geishas consider the nape of the neck very erotic, and they extend their white makeup around to the back of the neck, making a long, pointed pattern with it in the space where their kimono collar falls away. Step mincingly about the room, flutter your fan in strategic places, purse your lips, and enticingly caress your brazenly exposed neck and ankles. Or transform yourself into a hula dancer by baring your breasts, tying a sarong or big scarf low around your hips, and arranging flowers and leaves in your hair. Sway your hips, raise your arms gracefully to one side, and perform the sensuous _ami_ movement by rotating your hips around in one big continuous circle. Slip into the memory of how you looked and felt, or take your harem scarf or your net stockings to bed with you, the next time you want to entice your Inner Sex Goddess or your consort lover.\n\n_21_. Try the practice of vivification. The Native Americans believed that everything\u2014rocks, trees, streams, animals, clouds\u2014had a living spirit, and they addressed each one with the same respect, awe, and love they would give to any divine being. When you become conscious of every flower, shell, fig, painting, or piece of music as a living essence of sensuality, its vital spark will come alive for you, revealing all its rich colors, secret smells, and soul-tingling textures. And in getting to know this voluptuous being, you will be transformed. As Joseph Campbell said, \"The [self] that sees a 'thou' is not the same [self] that sees an 'it.' \"\n\n## your body: the temple within the garden\n\nWe don't need to attend a sex seminar, travel to an exotic locale, or search out the perfect lover to open wide the doors of our true sensuality. All we have to do is be fully present right here in the sacred temple of our own bodies. As the Boston Women's Health Collective has so brilliantly put it, \"Our Bodies _Are_ Ourselves\" (emphasis mine). Through the senses of our bodies we know the world and ourselves. Through our bodies we _know_. We know what we want and need. We know what we feel. We know what to do. We know who we are. We know ourselves as women. In fact, the poet Adrienne Rich has written that women \"think through the body.\"\n\nBy becoming more aware of our bodies, bringing our attention to each part as we observe or touch it, we tap into the deep wisdom contained in these our miraculous sensate morsels of flesh. We begin to learn the language of our instincts, which direct and guide us when we make love. All too often, though, we let our heads take the lead in bed and leave our wise bodily instincts behind. This separates us from our full sensuality and leaves us feeling unfulfilled, as though something were still lacking. It is! What's missing is the full experience of the senses we are trying so hard to stimulate, and the powerful sensate wisdom of our bodies. So often we criticize, ignore, or try to change our bodies. But without them, how could we have the wonder that is sex and sensuality?\n\nYour Inner Sex Goddess knows that in order to be a great lover, with your man or with yourself, to enjoy lovemaking and discover new sexual delights every day, you have to be fully present in your body. You have to revere it as the sacred temple of your sensuality and consciously inhabit all of its rooms, hallways, and turrets. So when you want to tempt the voluptuousness out of your bones or turn your lover into hot mush, start by taking the time to consciously inhabit the temple of your body. Turn your mental switch from outer visual mode to inner sensate mode. Really _feel_ the sensations of your skin. John Gray, author of _Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus_ , says that women have more \"cuddling hormones\" than men and that the skin all over their bodies is ten times more sensitive than men's, as sensitive as the skin on a man's penis. So take advantage of those extra pleasure sensors. Concentrate on the tingles, the tickles, the heat rising and falling, the waves of pleasure. Luxuriate in your body. Here are some things you can do to increase your awareness and turn on your body senses.\n\n_22_. Rub your hands together rapidly for about ten seconds before you touch your body. This (1) brings your awareness to your hands and the physicalness of your body, (2) sensitizes your hands, (3) makes them nice and warm, (4) creates energy that you will definitely feel when you touch your hands to your body. Watch out for tingles!\n\n_23_. Close your eyes and take several slow, deep breaths. Feel the breath traveling to every corner of your body. Let it tingle. Imagine that you are breathing in through your breasts and nipples. Let them become filled with heat and energy. Focus intently on the subtle sensations and a new sense of presence in your breasts. Then imagine breathing in through your vagina. Again, really concentrate your attention there. Feel its fullness, warmth, and energy.\n\n_24_. Another sensitizing breath technique that comes from the Tantric tradition is called the Breath of Fire. Sit up straight and pant very fast and very hard. Make a hissing sound as you inhale and exhale. Continue this for about fifteen seconds (you can work up to two minutes, but take it slowly at first). Then inhale very deeply, hold your breath for a count of five, and exhale fully and slowly. As its name suggests, this technique will ignite your sexual fires; and if you want to direct them to a specific place in your body, you can do so simply by focusing your attention there as you perform your final slow exhalation. Feel the hot inner breath actually traveling to your favorite erotic hot spot.\n\n_25_. During rhythmic activities like running, rowing, singing, and making love, people's breathing will often synchronize. If you consciously model your breathing pattern after the excited panting or deep moaning rhythms of peak sex, you will find your body and mind responding with the physical sensations of arousal, even releasing titillating pheromones.\n\n_26_. Contract every muscle in your body as tightly as you can for five seconds. All at the same time, clench your fists, hunch your shoulders, curl your toes, pull in your stomach, tighten your leg and arm muscles, scrunch your eyelids shut. Contract everything. Then release your tension completely for five seconds. Do this five times. Finally, relax, relax, relax. Let go. See what happens.\n\n_27_. Lick yourself all over. Start by sliding your tongue across the tips of your fingers. Then travel down to lap your palm, encircle your wrist with a wet tongue, lick the back of your hand and your knuckles, trace a tongue line down your forearm with occasional nibbles along the way, and flick your tongue in the hollow of your elbow. Continue languorously over the rest of your body. When you are with your lover, ask him to join you by licking and biting your other arm.\n\n_28_. Sensitize your head by massaging your scalp or by shampooing your hair while imagining that a lover is doing it, brushing your hair for a long time, pulling slowly on your earlobes, tracing circles on your scalp with your fingernails, pressing the hollows beside your eyes and behind your ears, tapping your head all over with your fingertips, rubbing your scalp with a rough towel. Close your eyes and let these physical tingles awaken the sensual you.\n\n_29_. Bathe in the hot sun\u2014nude, if possible. Sunlight actually increases the level of the hormone androgen, the female counterpart of testosterone, filling your body with delicious liquid desire and bringing your Inner Sex Goddess to life.\n\n_30_. My friend Gloria has developed a simple but elegant way to be deeply in touch with the sensations of her body. She says that when her erotic feelings first start to blossom, the bottoms of her feet start to tingle. She then focuses on moving that tingle up to her vagina, or wherever she wants it, and she moves and breathes in ways that keep that prickle of excitement growing, no matter what else may follow. Whatever your body's calling cards of arousal are\u2014tingling feet, melting chest muscles, burning palms, soft tongue\u2014focus on those sensations and visualize them expanding into your fingers, breasts, pelvis, toes, head, wherever. Feel them actually traveling along your nerve pathways, glowing, heating, and thrilling your entire body.\n\n_31_. Rub your skin with fur, velvet, chamois, felt, honey, olive oil, cold cream, rough facial cleansing cream, suede, cold cans of soda, fresh porcini (wild mushrooms whose firm silkiness feels like the skin on the tip of your man's penis). Stand in the rain, run through the wind, dip your hands in snow, submerge yourself in a cool, bubbling brook. Lie naked on a rug, a wooden floor, the sand, a bed of leaves. Ask your Inner Sex Goddess what her favorite skin treat is and indulge yourself with it.\n\n_32_. Sensuously apply perfumed lotion to your entire body. Don't forget the backs of your knees, your underarms, the nape of your neck. Really focus on the physical sensations as you do this\u2014the place where you are rubbing, your hands as they caress your skin, the heady aroma. Be aware of every one of the millions of nerve endings all over your skin.\n\n_33_. Give yourself a massage. It's a good idea to trim your nails first so you can use your fingertips without getting stabbed. Take your time and be very sensuous about it. Slather yourself with oil, scented or unscented. As you move your hands over your body, focus your attention on the delicious sensations that are exchanged between fingers and skin, each experiencing its own distinct pleasures. Start at your feet and slowly work your way up your legs and torso, leaving your genitals for last. Or begin with your face and scalp and work your way down. Spend lots of time on your fingers and hands because they are extremely sensitive to touch and because they take quite a beating during your busy day. Use long, sensuous strokes that go deep into the skin, or work in soothing circular motions. Large, two-handed circles over the tummy are especially nice. Let your hands discover all those little knots of tension, and knead them out. Cup your hands over your eyes, breasts, and pubic bone. Caress, hold, and cradle your body the way a lover would.\n\n_34_. As you are performing number 32 or 33, do the following body awareness exercise. If you have started with your foot, for instance, close your eyes and \"listen\" to the sensate messages your foot is sending you. How does it feel? Does it want stronger or gentler pressure? Lift your hands for a moment and be aware that the foot you have stroked probably feels lighter and more vibrant than your other foot. As you massage your foot, tell it how beautiful and strong it is, and thank it for supporting you so well. Let your foot drink in all this pleasure. Continue in the same manner with every part of your body.\n\n# 3  \nself-pleasuring\u2014the key to the kingdom\n\n_We human beings are able to make love more frequently and sensuously than perhaps any other animal. Yet we are often disappointed after lovemaking. Why? Because most of us are like owners of a precious Stradivarius violin that we have never learned to play_.\n\n_\u2014 Jolan Chang, The Tao of the Loving Couple_\n\nas a sacred temple, your body is the divine instrument of pleasures fit for the gods. And before you can use it to make beautiful music with your partner, you have to become a virtuoso on your own Stradivarius. In order to seduce others with your heavenly melodies, you must first seduce yourself by drawing out your deep, wild sexuality, turning on the magnetic firelight of your body, and inflaming your own delicious passion. Even the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt obeyed this basic rule, for among them it is said that the sun brought the world into existence by first pleasuring itself. After that, it was the female sky who, by lowering her beautiful potent body over the male earth, created the union that produced life.\n\nAutoeroticism has long been practiced as a natural and elegant way of honoring the glorious gift of a body and communing with one's inner divinity\u2014from primitive cave drawings of masturbation to the erotic dildos found in ancient Egyptian tombs, to a Buddhist temple in Orissa that boasts beautiful bas-reliefs of men and women stroking themselves. Even today's sex therapists extol the benefits of autoeroticism as a vital tool for self-knowledge and relationship-enhancement, professing that sexual virtuosity with a lover is attained by first becoming a sexual virtuoso with yourself. Many ordinary women bear this out; they have told me that, despite the fact that their first experience with lovemaking was merely okay or even disappointing, they later learned to reach sexual heights and become extraordinary lovers by focusing on sensualizing their own bodies. Such was the case with me.\n\n## my story\n\nI had a very strict and sheltered upbringing that did not include getting information about sex, although I always suspected that something mysterious, powerful, and potentially dangerous or enjoyable (both equally discouraged) lurked beneath the currents of everyday life. During high school I necked and petted with my boyfriends, but genital contact was so out of the question that I didn't even think about it. Then, finally, at age nineteen, I had intercourse for the first time\u2014a somewhat boring encounter with a steady boyfriend that produced the required bloody sheet, but not much in the way of passion, excitement, or romance. Subsequent boyfriends helped me see that sex could be sexier than had been apparent in the first encounter, but my eyes weren't truly opened to the sensuality and power I owned for myself (and with which I could light all sorts of flashing sparks in men) until several years later when I bought a vibrator.\n\nA trusted friend had raved about the fun she was having with her mechanical instrument of pleasure, and I wanted to explore too. Suddenly I could concentrate fully on my own body and the delicious inner and outer feelings I was having without having a man's wants and needs to worry about. And because the vibrator was so intense and indefatigable, and because it would stay exactly where I wanted it to, I found myself making a discovery: \"Oh, _that's_ what an orgasm is!\" Over the next several months I explored every inch of my body and learned to love my hips, little toes, breasts, inner elbows, genitals, and earlobes for the voluptuous and powerful way they could make me feel. I gave up feeling embarrassed or ashamed about any of my body's shortcomings, and even about the fact that it could give me such pleasure. In fact, learning about my own personal poetry gave me greater self-esteem, zest, and natural charm. And the more I enjoyed my own body, the hotter and sexier I felt, the better lover I became, and the more men seemed to be attracted to me. That's why, when women say to me,\n\n\"I have a really great lover. Why would I want to play with myself?\"\n\n\"If I masturbate, it means I can't get a lover and have to settle for second best.\"\n\n\"I already know how to massage my hot button. Who needs anything else?\"\n\n\"My man feels too threatened by my vibrator.\"\n\n\"I masturbate every once in a while, but it's kinda boring.\"\n\n\"I'm afraid I'll get so aroused by women's bodies I'll become a lesbian.\"\n\n\"Isn't that really more for men?\"\n\n\"I could never do _that!\"_\n\n\"I don't really know how.\"\n\n\"I'm not oversexed!\"...\n\nI say that you can settle for good sex or even pretty great sex if you want to, but I believe that self-loving is one of the most vital keys to your inner kingdom of abandoned, expert, and rapturous sexuality. It's certainly one of the easiest, fastest, and most reliable ways to unleash your Inner Sex Goddess. And if you want some sensible, virtuous reasons to spend precious time and energy on what may seem like frivolous, threatening, or wickedly self-indulgent pleasures, here they are.\n\n### Reason # 1\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Is the Single Most Important Thing You Can Do to Become a Truly Great Lover.\n\nBy focusing on your own total fulfillment, you gain access to the complete you\u2014the savage you, the loving you, the lusty trampy you, the giving you, the unbridled you, the inventive and adventurous you, the magnetic you, the Aphrodite you, the instinctive wild you, the Sex Goddess you. You discover a whole new way of being a woman.\n\nYou have the keys to your body, your physical and emotional sensations, and your most lascivious libido. Self-pleasuring allows you to find out firsthand:\n\n\u2022 What most turns you on\u2014or off\n\n\u2022 What makes you feel less inhibited\n\n\u2022 What feels good real slow and gentle or very hard and fast\n\n\u2022 How long you like to be stimulated\n\n\u2022 How sensitive your nipples and clitoris are\n\n\u2022 Where your G-spot is and how it likes to be rubbed\n\n\u2022 The best way for you to reach orgasm\n\n\u2022 How to extend your sexual capacity into multiple orgasmic bliss\n\nBy becoming familiar with your sexual organs and the pleasure they can provide, you discover just how beautiful and powerful they really are; your genitals may even become your favorite feature. I know a woman who feels that her pink flowerlike inner vaginal lips are one of her strongest assets. She says men are fascinated with her large fleshy petals and want to stroke and kiss them endlessly!\n\nWhen you discover and awaken all of your personal hot spots and habits, when you find out for yourself what the tight contractions of your vagina feel like to a man, when you see how sexy you look with hips undulating, nipples erect, and in the full throes of orgasm, you have a visceral experience of the high-wattage sexual power that is yours to command, enjoy, and give. You _know_ you are a deliciously dangerous weapon of love.\n\nAnd when you're in firm control of all your rich sexual assets and weapons, needing nothing outside yourself, yet wanting and commanding the whole world of sensuality, you are prepared to fully inflame your man's body, his mind, and that most powerful erogenous zone of all\u2014his imagination.\n\n### Reason # 2\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Makes You Feel Sexy.\n\nIn _203 Ways to Drive a Man Wild In Bed_ , I explained that the first secret of great sex is \" _Feel_ sexy, and you will _be_ sexy,\" One of the fastest, surest, and most enjoyable ways to summon up that sense of power and sensuality is to titillate your body and mind with some self-loving.\n\nThat's because thinking about sex makes you feel sexy; preparing to have sex makes you feel sexy; knowing and appreciating your body makes you feel sexy; loving your genitals makes you feel sexy; seeing how beautiful you look when you are flushed with excitement makes you feel sexy; orgasm makes you feel sexy. And stimulating your sex hormones makes you feel sexy; that is, after all, their physiological function\u2014to engorge your womb with blood, to start your vaginal juices flowing, to activate the sensation-rich nerve endings in your genitals and breasts, to stiffen your nipples, to flush your skin with extra blood and energy. In fact, the electromagnetic energy field surrounding your body begins to overflow with sexual energy and potency.\n\nIn fact, self-pleasuring actually expands your capacity for pleasure. The more pleasure you get, the more you want. The more you learn to enjoy, the more you can handle. It's like when you finally try the Flying Teacup ride at the carnival: you get off feeling giddy and exhilarated. _Now_ you are ready to take on the Giant Killer Roller Coaster! Building the pleasure of sex and sensuality is similar. All of your senses come alive, expand, and reach enthusiastically for more.\n\nAnd most important, being in touch with your Inner Sex Goddess makes you feel sexy. She is the repository of all your sensual drives, feelings, and knowledge. When you respect and love her and give her free rein to express herself, she will reward you with the riches of your own natural sexual power and artistry. Your Inner Sex Goddess _knows_ how to feel and be sexy. She _is_ sex.\n\n### Reason # 3\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Puts You in Touch with Your Body.\n\nWe ignore our bodies most of the time. We're too busy organizing complex work and social schedules, we're devising five-year plans and household budgets, we're weighing the pros and cons of buying a new refrigerator or a new dress, we're making decisions and formulating opinions, we're determining if a new man is safe, mature, and stable enough to go to bed with. We even make physical exercise a rigorous mental obsession, calculating our heart rates and personal best scores. We tend to view the input and sensations of our bodies as less important, less reliable, and less real than those of our minds. But this separation of mind and body can be terribly self-destructive.\n\nI find that when I neglect the pleasures of self-loving I become more critical of my body. I see it as a separate entity with cottage cheese thighs and wrinkles around the eyes. I lose a nurturing awareness of the rhythms and cycles of my body and of nature. I don't know and love myself as well. I start feeling powerless and depressed.\n\nBut a luxurious session of self-play can quickly restore my feelings of oneness with body and soul. It can do the same for you. By focusing your attention on the sensations of your skin, muscles, and seemingly countless erogenous zones and by feeling your womanness intensely, you come to know your body again and love all of its pleasures. You may find you actually like your fleshy thighs and crinkly eyes; they too are full of sweet sensations. Your body, mind, and soul begin resonating together once again. You feel healthier, earthier, more in tune with yourself, more human. Your body lets you in on its inherent playfulness and love of dancing, exercising, and making love. You reclaim the joy of being alive, and you feel glad to have your sensuous female body, which was made for pleasure.\n\n### Reason # 4\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Strengthens and Increases the Flexibility of Your Love Muscle.\n\nIn case you don't already know it, the pubococcygeus (PC) is your primary love muscle. It's the one you use to stop the flow of urine, and if it's well trained, you can use it to massage a man's penis to ecstasy. It is also the muscle in which you experience most of the contractions of orgasm, and if you keep it well toned, it helps you have bigger, better, and more frequent orgasms. Just flexing it can make you feel sexy and hot. That's why having a strong and flexible PC muscle is crucial to great sex, whether you're flying in tandem or solo.\n\nThe increased blood supply and toning contractions of orgasm vitalize your PC muscle. It feels good if it's exercised and strengthened, and then it pays you back by giving you better climaxes and more control of your partner's pleasure too. And of course the easiest way to give yourself plenty of lovely toning orgasms\u2014unless your man is available for hot sex twenty-four hours a day\u2014is by self-pleasuring.\n\n### Reason # 5\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Teaches You How to Have Orgasms\u2014Lots of Them\u2014Easily and Quickly.\n\nMany women have never had an orgasm with or without a partner. Many are not sure if they have or not. Many women fake it just to keep the peace or to avoid hurting his feelings. According to recent surveys, only about 30 percent of women have orgasms through intercourse alone, but 80 to 99 percent achieve climax with masturbation. This is astonishing. It's completely normal and very common _not_ to have an orgasm through intercourse all by itself. Most women need additional stimulation to experience their full sexual potential and enjoyment, but all the while they think they're supposed to be climaxing all over the place just from their lover's penis. While some women do, most do not. The truth is that once you learn how and where your body needs to be stimulated in order to have an orgasm, you can start having them any time you want to, easily and quickly\u2014during intercourse, while masturbating with your partner, and through self-pleasuring on your own.\n\nA woman's body is an amazing pleasure machine, capable of trillions of orgasms, big ones and small ones. In fact, according to Dr. Andrew Stanway in _The Art of Sensual Loving_ , \"any one woman's total sexual output through her life (intercourse plus self-produced orgasms) is probably more than a man's.\" It seems that a woman's capacity for sexual gratification is nearly limitless. And the more orgasms you have, the more your body learns to respond to all types of stimulation so that it is easier to have more and more wonderful climaxes.\n\nThe best way to teach your body to have easy orgasms is through self-pleasuring. You can try out all kinds of fun things in complete privacy, without having to worry if you're taking too much time, looking silly, or doing something incredibly weird. If you find it takes twenty minutes of constant clitoral massage to make you come, then you've discovered a great secret. If you learn that pulling on your nipples or massaging your anus while you thrust your finger in and out of your love tunnel throws you over the edge, then you've found the key to unlocking your orgasmic bliss. Chances are, you are not going to discover these things while having sex with your man. You'll be too embarrassed to explore yourself or too busy worrying about his pleasure, or you won't have enough time because he's already had his orgasm and gone to sleep. Stop denying yourself! Use your hands to teach your body how to have its ultimate pleasure.\n\n### Reason # 6\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Puts You in Control of Your Own Pleasure.\n\nWhen you know your body and its sexual responses really well, _you_ can control whether, when, and how to have your orgasm. You know just what it takes to create warm liquid feelings throughout your entire body and to bring on those delicious orgasmic contractions. Then you can guide your man to help you have _multiple_ orgasms, if that's your desire. The point is that you know exactly what you want and need, and you know precisely how to achieve it. You are your own mistress.\n\nAnd then there are times when you don't have a man in your life. Fortunately that doesn't mean you have to give up being your Sex Goddess self, because while you are self-pleasuring you can fantasize the most outrageous encounters, imagining every single touch, kiss, and stroke being done exactly the way you want it, for as long as you want it, as tenderly or roughly as you want it, by whomever you desire. Your imaginary sex partner anticipates your every sexual wish and never tires of titillating you all the way to the outside edge of your pleasure envelope. I've had several lovely liaisons with a fantasy Mel Gibson, for instance, where he licked me all over for three hours, massaged and kissed my breasts just the way I like it for about an hour and a half, and then made hard and fast love to me for forty-five minutes without stopping till we both collapsed in luscious exhaustion.\n\nAnd even when you do have a man in your life, he will sometimes be away, ill, or just not into it. Again, your own loving hands are always there to do your bidding. Sometimes your man may be just plain tired out from having given you ten star-burst orgasms in a row, but you want eleven that night. On those occasions you always have the ability to continue riding the waves on your own. In other words, you are not at the mercy of a partner's sexual whims, skill, or presence to enjoy your own ecstasies.\n\n### Reason # 7\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Leads to Self-Confidence in All Areas of Life.\n\nWhen you know how to turn yourself on and realize that you can do so anytime without depending on anyone else, you will gain a tremendous sense of self-control and self-confidence. You feel surer of yourself, more deserving, and more powerful.\n\nThis exhilarating sense of potency naturally spreads to other areas of your life. Learning to take responsibility for your own sensual enjoyment gives you the confidence to take the same initiative elsewhere. The aliveness and power you feel as a self-created Sex Goddess help you know that you are a fascinating and limitlessly capable creature, regardless of the role you are playing at the moment. My banker friend Charlotte says, \"Now that I'm in touch with my full range of feelings and experiences, I am more complete, more integrated. I know the amazing things I'm capable of in all areas of my life. And I like myself for it.\"\n\nAccording to research cited by Lonnie Barbach in _For Yourself_ , \"consistently orgasmic women tend to describe themselves as contented, good-natured, insightful, self-confident, independent, realistic, strong, capable, and understanding while non-orgasmic women tend to describe themselves as bitter, despondent, dissatisfied, distrustful, fussy, immature, inhibited, prejudiced, and sulky.\" Gee, I'd rather be around a frequently orgasmic woman. Wouldn't you? And so would your husband or lover, your children, your co-workers, and your friends. You become an asset to the rest of the world when you are happy, strong, and fulfilled. And you know it.\n\n### Reason # 8\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Is the Key to Overcoming Sexual Guilt and Self-Repression.\n\nThe more time you spend getting to know your body\u2014feeling comfortable with it and all the wonderful things it can do for you and seeing how beautiful it is at rest and during all stages of excitement\u2014the more you come to understand that sexual pleasure is a natural and especially wonderful benefit of living in a body. Our bodies love to be stroked and caressed; they thrive on it. In fact, if deprived of physical affection they can become ill.\n\nFinding out that self-pleasuring is a natural and beautiful function, something that makes you feel great about yourself and more loving to those around you, frees you from all that guilt you may have been carrying around. It breaks down the walls of inhibition and helps you let go of the fears and musty old taboos that have been keeping you from fully enjoying your natural Sex Goddesshood. And once you do release whatever sexual guilt is lurking in all those dark inner corners, you will be able to express your sexuality and your true self more freely\u2014 _with_ your lucky lover. You can start enjoying sex more and regretting it less.\n\n### Reason # 9\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Promotes Health, Well-Being, and Energy.\n\nYour sex muscles are not isolated. To paraphrase an old song, \"The sex bone's connected to the thigh bone; the thigh bone's connected to the back bone,\" and so forth. Healthy, well-toned pelvic and vaginal muscles lead to healthy, well-toned stomach muscles, leg muscles, and on and on. To say nothing of the increased flow of blood and energy that permeates your entire body when you indulge in a vigorous self-pleasuring workout. Exercise makes for healthy, happy muscles. It also boosts your energy production and releases endorphins that create a sense of well-being. In fact, according to Dr. Deepak Chopra, a chemical called Interleukin-2 floods the body during any positive exhilarating activity\u2014and I think most of us will agree that sizzling self-play qualifies as such an activity. Interleukin-2 is a powerful anticancer neuropeptide, the body's chemical equivalent to a feeling of joy. So for a quick mental and physical pick-me-up that will also build long-term health\u2014some women say it even makes them feel younger\u2014indulge in your favorite form of self-play.\n\n### Reason # 10\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Reduces Stress and Tension.\n\nThe intense muscular and emotional release of selfinduced orgasm provides quite a tonic for anxiety, tense muscles, job stress, traffic jam tension, or the frustration of a bad hair day. Stress and tension restrict the flow of blood and energy through your body and cause blocks to creativity, good health, and joyful living. Like a good massage, self-pleasuring can soothe and release these tensions with the simple touch of a finger. My friend Diane, who has a very stressful job, says, \"I sometimes masturbate every day if it's a tough work week. I don't know how I'd manage the stress caused by intense days filled with frantic meetings and impossible deadlines without it!\"\n\n### Reason # 11\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Helps You Sleep.\n\nOn those nights when your mind is racing, or you're all keyed up from some intense conversation or event, or worry is keeping your eyes glued to the ceiling, you can invite the Sandman into your bed by indulging in some stress-releasing self-massage. It has been scientifically proven that giving yourself a lovely orgasm relaxes your muscles and tunes your brain waves to alpha (the brain waves of dreaming sleep and creativity) or even theta (deep sleep). And it's a \"sleeping pill\" that has no side effects and will leave you energized, not stupefied, in the morning.\n\n### Reason # 12\n\nYou Don't Have to Stop Feeling Good When You or Your Sex Organs Are in a Delicate Condition.\n\nSuppose that you have an infection, you've recently had non-womb-related surgery, you are in the last stages of pregnancy, you just gave birth, or you are having your period. These are times when it might not be comfortable, desirable, or safe to indulge in love play with a partner. But during such times, you usually need _more_ loving, not less. During those times, you could really use the recuperative magic of sensual bliss. Fortunately, you can always give yourself just the right gentle caresses and love strokes to soothe your soul and keep you in life-affirming touch with your Inner Sex Goddess.\n\n### Reason # 13\n\nFor Older Women, Self-Pleasuring Increases Vaginal Lubrication and Lessens the Discomfort of Dryness.\n\nThis is true not just when you are pleasuring yourself, but all the time. By keeping your vaginal glands active, before, during, and after the menopausal years, you are encouraging them to produce more lubrication regularly. So you'll be juicier for your man too. When you keep your vaginal muscles contracting and those hormones secreting, you'll stay sexually active and in touch with your Inner Sex Goddess.\n\n### Reason # 14\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Provides Relief from Menstrual Cramps.\n\nOne of the benefits of having nicely toned and frequently orgasmic vaginal muscles is that they are stronger, more elastic, and much better able to handle the inner movements associated with your menstrual period. The spasms that release no-longer-needed blood from your uterus are therefore less intense, jarring, and painful. And these contractions don't have to enlist the support of surrounding stomach and back muscles to do their job. Most women who make self-pleasuring a favorite habit find that they experience much less pelvic cramping and greatly diminished or no menstrual backaches. A nice side effect, no?\n\n### Reason # 15\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Enhances Lovemaking with Your Partner.\n\nIf you are hot, you can't help but light his fire.\n\nIf you have a strong PC muscle to flutter on your lucky man's love organ, and if your body is willing and eager to have lots of deep orgasms, you are going to bring new vigor to his body and sexual imagination.\n\nIf you know all your secret erogenous zones and personal turn-ons, you can be much more confident and creative as a lover. You can gently guide him to massage your inner lips counterclockwise, if that's what makes you hot, and let him feel the power of bringing you to a teeth-chattering climax. You can teach him all sorts of sizzling new sex tricks. And if you think your man doesn't really want you to be so brazenly aggressive, think again. According to a book of sex surveys published in 1991, _Do You Do It with the Lights On?_ , 91 percent of men\u2014and a whopping 98 percent of men age thirty to fifty-four\u2014not only wanted their partners to take a more active role in sexual play, they wished them to choose the position, place, and procedure.\n\nIf you are sexually self-sufficient, you are freer to express this wanton sexuality with your man. That way he doesn't feel so pressured to perform or to puzzle out how to make you fly higher than anybody else has. He doesn't have to spend sleepless nights wondering if he's man enough to make you have the multiple orgasms he's read women secretly expect. You can seductively show him how. Your relaxed self-confidence and euphoria gently rub off on him and magically bring out his natural savage aptitudes and talents.\n\nIf you learn how to be deeply intimate with yourself, you can be more intimate with your partner. Likewise, your increased openness encourages him to be more intimate with you. And so that elusive soul sharing that we call intimacy blossoms and grows in your most treasured relationship. A lover once told me, \"When you are open with me about your feelings and show me your vulnerable, out-of-control side, I feel I can be open and vulnerable with you. And that makes me feel good.\"\n\nIf you pleasure yourself regularly, you will feel sexier. You will _be_ sexier. You will want to make love to your man more often, and you will do so with more gusto and expertise. He will think he has died and gone to heaven.\n\nAnd last but certainly not least, once you get comfortable with and good at pleasuring yourself, you can put on a really hot, provocative show for your lover. Men _love_ to watch women give themselves pleasure. Whether you tie him down and make him watch you for hours or simply wet your finger and slip it quickly inside yourself while staring into his eyes during foreplay, he'll be bewitched. Every true Sex Goddess has this mouth-watering act in her sexual repertoire. (More details on self-pleasuring for and with your partner in Chapter 10.)\n\n### Reason # 16\n\nIn the Age of HIV, Self-Pleasuring Is the Ultimate in Safe Sex.\n\nObviously, when you have sex only with yourself, you are in no danger of catching sexually transmitted diseases from someone else. No small concern these days.\n\nBut even in partner sex, masturbating with and for each other can be a delightful way to stay safe. Using your hands, vibrators, dildos, and a variety of other sex toys allows you to exchange a lot of loving and fun sexual energy without exchanging any body fluids. And even without body fluids, you can have the sensual moistness of hot sex if you add playful fruit\u2014cucumbers, zucchini, peaches, mushed-up bananas, and so forth\u2014to your repertoire as well. (More details in Chapter 9.)\n\n### Reason # 17\n\nThe Joy of Self-Pleasuring Is Always Available.\n\nMorning, evening, and in-between times, at the office, while traveling, at the beach, on an airplane, when you're bored, when you look or feel too grungy to be seen by another human being, when he's sleeping or watching a football game, between the time he forgets the anniversary of your first kiss and the time when you forgive him, between lovers, after a divorce, when you have the jitters, when you're feeling lonely, when you're feeling sexy and there's no one else around, when you find yourself alone with an X-rated movie or a picture of a man with muscles to die for, whenever wild and crazy thoughts come bouncing unbidden into your head\u2014you can always pleasure yourself and be your own Inner Sex Goddess anytime.\n\nOne friend recalls that when she was on her way to see her lover after a three-month separation, she became so excited thinking about his waiting erection that she slipped into an airport bathroom during a stopover, hid herself in a tiny stall, and hastily created her own urgent and explosive, if necessarily silent, orgasm. Thank Goddess, your hands always travel with you!\n\n### Reason # 18\n\nSelf-Pleasuring Is One of the Very Best Ways to Unleash Your Inner Sex Goddess.\n\nGoing all the way back to the ancient Sumerian goddess Inanna, divine and human women have innately understood that self-loving is the magical open sesame to the inner realms of power. In fact, Inanna is thought of as the patron goddess of self-pleasuring because she was in a constant state of ecstatic union with herself, and that inner union gave birth to the fertility of all living things. As a matter of fact, self-love _is_ the creative state, because when you _know_ that you are new each day and that you are a beautiful and perfect temple of pleasure, your benevolent, loving power gives life to all those around you.\n\nAlthough there are many roads\u2014mental, emotional, and spiritual\u2014to the kingdom of your Inner Sex Goddess, the physical path of sensual awareness and self-pleasuring is usually the most direct route simply because it is so tangible, it is easily accessible, and it fairly bursts with the power of all the five senses. And you will find that if you perform any of what you might consider the mechanical or physically impersonal acts of self-pleasuring with self-love you will evoke the very mental, emotional, and even spiritual feelings of love and affection you usually have only with an intimate mate. Not only is this more fun, stimulating, and satisfying, but it also expands your self-esteem and enhances your ability to communicate love to yourself and your partner\u2014and to receive it from him. And this is what being a true Sex Goddess is all about.\n\n# 4  \nawakening aphrodite's body\n\n_Round her delicate throat and her silvery breasts they fastened necklaces of gold which they, the gold-filleted Hours, wear themselves when they go to the lovely dances of the gods in their father's house_.\n\n_\u2014 first Homeric \"Hymn to Aphrodite,\" translated by Jules Cashford_\n\neven Helen of Troy, a woman so gorgeous and enticing that a war was fought over her, bowed to the awesome beauty and sensual power of Aphrodite, Queen of Heaven and Goddess of the Dawn. Despite one of Aphrodite's temporary disguises as an old woman, Helen recognized the Golden One by the \"sweet throat of the goddess and her desirable breasts and her eyes that were full of shining.\" Most often portrayed nude, the goddess of love was completely unself-conscious about her body and its sexuality, often flaunting it by decorating herself only with golden ornaments. In fact, her unembarrassed naked sensuality and her skill at pleasuring drew countless lovesick men to her like a magnet. Aphrodite was a woman who knew her own erogenous zones and how to activate them to excite herself and her lovers. She truly understood that Woman embodies all the senses in their exalted form and that pleasuring her beautiful body is a natural way for a woman to nourish her erotic soul.\n\nAwakening to the Aphrodite within you, then, means learning how to delight in the pleasures of your own flesh and opening your body to the rich sensations and wanton feelings locked inside. And your own hands, mythically adorned with Aphrodite's brazenly worn gold rings and bracelets, are the keys. So use your golden goddess fingers to love and awaken your body, exploring all its curvy contours, discovering and intensifying its unique pleasure points, and transform it, like Aphrodite's own body, into a sumptuous temple of erotic delights in which you and your man can worship regularly.\n\nIt's natural at first to feel some inhibitions about manually pleasing yourself in every wild way you can possibly think of, but try to let those impediments go. Be as bold and as reverent as Aphrodite. If you do feel shy about jumping right in to try _all_ of the following suggestions, that's okay. Just start out with what feels comfortable and fun to you. All you may want to do just now is read about them. Don't be surprised, though, if you soon find yourself feeling tempted to try a thing or two, getting more and more adventurous, and even making up your own kinky list of self-pleasuring scenarios. Try to give yourself and your body the benefit of the doubt by crossing over your embarrassment threshold just a little bit. After all, there's no one around to judge you or find out just how much fun you're having. Sip some wine. Relax. Let go. Let your hair down. Brush it out. Like Aphrodite, throw caution, inhibition, and self-consciousness to the wind.\n\n## aphrodite's boudoir\n\nIt will be much more tempting for your Inner Sex Goddess to come out and play if you create a loving and sensual nest in which she can feel comfortable, safe, and uninhibited. So before you begin your self-play sessions, take the time to create a bedroom Aphrodite would have been proud of. Take the phone off the hook or use the answering machine. Lock the door, post a sign, or do whatever you have to do to ensure privacy. Make sure the room is warm and that you have something to drink. Gather together all the things you might want or need\u2014oils, a towel, a large mirror, a handheld mirror, perfume, wine, sensual foods, music, lingerie, costumes, scarves, sensual fabrics, pillows, erotic literature, sexy pictures, X-rated videos, special erotic objects, vibrators, dildos, and other sex toys of your choice. (More on vibrators and other toys in Chapter 9.) You won't use all of these things every time, but have them handy and gather whichever items you want for that particular session _before_ you start. Dress the bed in pretty, fresh linens. Artfully arrange flowers, candles, incense, and evocative paintings or photos. Really focus on creating a special, sensual, and freeing environment for your self-loving ritual. Doing so will make you feel special, sensual, and free.\n\nYou can even use your lingerie to add a touch of sass to the interior design of your Aphrodite-like bower. Hang a see-through negligee over the bedpost. Dangle a lacy garter belt from the knob of your dresser. Let several long strings of pearls cascade from one corner of a mirror, and float a silky teddy from the other. Drape lace-topped stockings over a chair. Adorn your pillow with a feather boa and your bedside lamp with a filmy scarf. Display your long satin gloves on the nightstand. Dressing your boudoir in lingerie and jewels will transform it into a sensual palace that beckons your Inner Sex Goddess to appear in its midst\u2014 _and_ will be a real turn on to your lover.\n\n## the breasts beautiful\n\nAphrodite, like any clever Sex Goddess, certainly knew how to make the most of her feminine assets. So she is depicted, in many statues and paintings, winsomely exposing two of a woman's most naturally glorious and seductive attributes, her breasts. Wildly arousing to most red-blooded men and exquisitely sensitive to your own or a lover's touch, your golden orbs provide a softly feminine place to begin your erotic self-arousal, especially since there is a direct nerve connection between the nipples and the clitoris. Although the intensity of breast and nipple sensation is different for each individual Sex Goddess, Masters and Johnson, the definitive scientific sex researchers, found that about 1 percent of the women they studied were actually capable of going all the way to orgasm simply by caressing their own breasts. But even for the rest of us, breast and nipple massage can provide some highly erotic sensations, and it will usually start your libido sizzling and your divine vaginal nectars flowing.\n\n_35_. Begin by using the feathery touch of your nails or fingertips to stroke the delicate skin on the side of your torso and under your arms. Slide your fingers down across your stomach and make circles all over your belly and midsection as you raise your hands, and your temperature, up to your swelling breasts. Repeat several times and let yourself float on the hypnotically languorous sensations.\n\n_36_. Slide your palm in circular motions around the whole area of your breast. Press firmly. Do one breast at a time or use both hands for the two together. Keep this up even after your nipple has become erect. Go faster, slower, harder. Cup as much of each creamy globe in your hand as possible and move them both around. Pull them out. Press them in. Jiggle them. Squeeze them. Imagine that your lover is caressing them. Continue until your breasts feel very warm and tingly.\n\n_37_. One day, as I leaned over the side of the bed to retrieve the bottle of massage oil I had dropped, I discovered that my breasts felt more sensitive when they were hanging down. I later learned that this is because of increased blood supply to the nipples. So by all means try this leaning-over position. Besides feeling lushly full and tender, your breasts are freer to move as well. Shake them. Give them love taps. Push them together. Massage as in number 36.\n\n_38_. Massage your nipples. Press on them. Roll them gently between your fingers. Use firmer and firmer pressure. Pinch them. Pull them and hold, or pull and release completely in very rapid strokes. My friend Carrie, a computer specialist with no current lover but plenty of libido, says she likes to hold on to her nipples and shake her breasts with them. Try this for the intensity of the feelings and the visually exciting stimulation.\n\n_39_. Use one hand to encircle your breast and push it up and out, as a push-up bra would do. This pulls the nipple taut. With your other hand, roll, pinch, and pull the nipple. Wet your fingers and play with it. Rub your fingers back and forth rapidly. Use the pad of your index finger to rotate your nipple in small circles. Flick your fingers or fingernails across each bright berry. Know that your man would be fascinated to watch these maneuvers. Keep all of this up way past the point at which you feel the urge to move to your pubic area.\n\n_40_. In one very elegant sex movie, I watched with fascination as a woman licked her own nipples. Even though she was rather small-breasted, she was able to accomplish this delightful trick by bringing her breast close to her mouth with her hand, bending her neck down, and using the _bottom_ of her tongue to reach the nipple. Close your eyes and feel the lapping of your lover's tongue.\n\n_41_. Rub your breasts and nipples with silk, velvet, fur, feathers, and even rougher textures like wool, terry cloth, or a very soft brush.\n\n_42_. Write your partner's name or some sizzling words of love across your chest with your fingertips, spray-on perfume, or hot red lipstick. Use your nipples to dot the i's or make lovely curlicues on appropriate letters.\n\n_43_. Pull on long, tight leather gloves and play with your breasts and nipples.\n\n_44_. One friend of mine suggests circling the nipples with an ice cube. She says, \"It makes my nipples stand up immediately and feel all wet and fiery.\" Her husband often requests the pleasure of watching her do this, and he usually jumps right in to lick the watery drips from her upturned buds. Apparently it makes him \"feel all wet and fiery\" too.\n\n_45_. Dab whipped cream or honey on your nipples, or dip them in wine. Lick it off\u2014or let _him_ lick it off.\n\n_46_. Massage your nipples with Vicks VapoRub, Ben-Gay, or some other cream that makes your body heat rise.\n\n_47_. One day I got the idea from an old photograph of a French courtesan to apply rouge to my nipples. While this is a makeup trick you'll want to secretly expose to your lover, try it on your own, too, and see how ripe and enticing your nipples will look. Let the color come off as you massage your pretty rosebuds. Reapply as desired.\n\n_48_. One bawdy corporate comptroller I know told me that she likes to put her accounting pencils to better use in the privacy of her own boudoir. Pinching her nipples taut, she rubs the rounded pencil erasers, softened from use on her daytime ledgers, against her sensitized areolae.\n\n_49_. Put on a pretty bra or swimsuit top, but pull the material away so that your nipples and most of your breasts are exposed. Fondle your velvet tips. Now pull the supporting bottom part of the bra up over your breasts so that it rests above the breasts and pushes them down. Again, this puts more pressure into the nipple and sensitizes it. Massage, pull, and pinch your nipples. You can, of course, dress up in any sexy lingerie\u2014camisole, teddy, merry widow, bra with the nipples cut out\u2014and do the same thing. There's no reason you shouldn't look just as gorgeous for yourself as you do for your lover, and besides, your breasts will be sensitized by the extra exquisite pressure. As one young nursing student I know says, \"The cool silk and low-cut lace bodice of my favorite camisole do wonderful things with my nipples, especially when I wear it under my uniform.\"\n\n_50_. Adorn your fingers with rings before you begin your breast play. Depending on the rings, you may want to turn them around so the showy parts are on the insides of your fingers. They look great, and you can tease your nipples with their different textures as you massage.\n\n_51_. Use a vibrator on your nipples. Put on one of the ridged or pronged attachments and hold it steady or move it back and forth across the areolae. Circular motions are good, too. My friend Brigitta, a pale Nordic beauty in a still-lusty twenty-year marriage, says she prefers to use a Swedish massager that fits on the back of her hand. She straps it on and lets her vibrating hand and fingers loose on her sensitive breast skin. Sometimes she shares the delicious vibes with her man. (More on vibrators in Chapters 9 and .)\n\n_52_. Get in the bathtub and use your shower massager to wash your nipples with sensation. This is a favorite with several friends of mine, who say it reminds them of being nubile young girls in the shower after gym class, giggling over all the exciting new sensations they were just discovering then. It makes me feel like a Polynesian beauty, standing naked in a steamy tropical waterfall. Discover your own liquid fantasy.\n\n_53_. Watch yourself in a mirror as you do any or all of the above. Marvel at the hypnotic beauty of your golden orbs, radiating like the Aphrodite within you\u2014to please your own aesthetic senses or titillate your favorite man.\n\n## aphrodite's private foreplay\n\nAs the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite knew instinctively that the flower of her desire lay resting lightly in her clitoral rosebud and that it had to be treated with the utmost delicacy in order to blossom to its full beauty. While no two buds of love are exactly the same, we modern-day Aphrodites know from all-too-frequent experience that most don't like to be attacked by a too-eager hand. They like to be slowly warmed up first. Hence, your Inner Sex Goddess has gifted you with the instinctive skill of your own brand of private foreplay for the clitoris. Use it for solo as well as partner sex.\n\nWhile your breast play will already have begun to unfold the petals of your clitoral sensitivity, it's still a good idea to go gently and slowly when approaching direct stimulation of this sensitive area. In fact, some women never touch the glans of their clitoris directly when self-pleasuring; it's just too tender. Instead, they concentrate on the pubic mound. And even though most women do require at least some direct stimulation of the clitoris to have an orgasm, it's still best to start by stimulating the surrounding areas.\n\n_54_. You might want to begin by stroking your inner thighs and buttocks. Remember to be present in your body, as we learned to do in the body-consciousness exercises in Chapter 2. Really feel all of the luscious sensations you are creating. As you reach the genital area, use a finger or two to gently massage around your anus. (Make sure you are freshly bathed.) Softly rub the perineum (between anus and vulva) with back-and-forth or circular motions. Give it a few gentle love taps. Concentrate on building a fire in this lower portion of your genitals.\n\n_55_. Most women enjoy the comforting feeling of cupping their entire pubic mound in one hand. Press and massage gently in circles, from side to side, or back and forth. Knead it like bread. Shake it gently. Recall the feeling of your man's pelvis pumping against this fleshy mound.\n\n_56_. Still holding your pubis tenderly like a ripe fruit, press your outer vaginal lips together. Then caress them gently up and down so that they begin to open up and expose the moist inner lips. Continue this up-and-down motion, occasionally reaching farther down to include your perineum in one long sensuous stroke over it and your inner lips.\n\n_57_. You may find it intoxicating to pay some special attention to your delicate perineum. Try sitting with feet flat, knees bent, and legs spread. Rotate your pelvis forward so you can reach it easily. With the touch of a butterfly's wings, caress your inner thighs and allow your fingers to cross over your perineum. Tease this dainty area with your fingernails and inscribe wings, flowers, and stars there. Brush it lightly with a feather or cosmetic brush. Wet your finger and make maddeningly delicious circles. Imagine how provocative this would look to a Peeping Tom.\n\n_58_. My friend Jenny, a shy librarian with a hot lover who is cleverly disguised as an ordinary mailman, says that when self-pleasuring she loves to vibrate her pubic mound with her whole hand. She suggests laying one finger on each vaginal lip and vibrating them, too. You can use your other hand to vibrate your perineum and\/or anus simultaneously if you choose. Jenny admits that she has taught this trick to her favorite mail carrier too.\n\n_59_. According to Oriental erotic texts, a woman's upper lip is directly connected to her clitoris. While massaging your pubis or vaginal lips, try biting your upper lip, or run the fingernails of your other hand over it, to send tingly signals to the rosebud you're about to touch.\n\n_60_. If the upper lip connection is not a powerful one for you, try moistening your lips with Vaseline or a lovely supermoist lip gel. Lightly rub your fingers over your glistening lips. Slip a finger between them.\n\n_61_. Recline languorously on a pillow and let your legs fall open. Rest the palm of your hand on your pubic area but without touching your clitoris. Exerting a firm but light pressure, use your hand to move the skin of your pubis around in slow circles over the underlying tissue and bone. Occasionally release your hand and lightly pat your beautiful mound of pleasure. Alternate light patting with deep circling until moans escape your lips. After observing their women get all hot and bothered by doing this, men seem to feel especially clever when they \"invent\" this foreplay technique to use on you themselves. So be sure to let your lover catch you at it.\n\n_62_. While holding your vaginal area, move your hips around in circles. Undulate like a snake. Or do some pelvic thrusts \u00e0 la Elvis. Keep your hand loose enough so that your pelvic motions cause it to slide lightly around your moving mound. I have a very modest friend who claims that pretending she's a rock star and flagrantly thrusting her hips around frees her wilder, lustier self to come out of hiding. So, with her hand suggestively placed over her naked sex, this is how she begins every self-pleasuring session. When you try this, you may want to imagine that you are getting private lessons in hip swiveling from the King himself.\n\n## the ripe rosebud\n\nThe lovely little organ whose only function is to give pleasure originally got its name from Aphrodite's compatriots, the ancient Greeks. Wise in the ways of both loving and philosophy, they understood that this tiny knob was the key to a woman's orgasmic pleasure. So from their word for \"key,\" _kleis_ they coined the term _kleitoris_. Just as every door key is different from all others, every woman's clitoris looks and behaves differently and has highly individual preferences for stimulation. These preferences can range from no direct touch at all to indirect pressure with only the palm of the hand to intense and deep finger massage directly on the glans. So there is no \"right\" way to pleasure your ripe rosebud. There is only the way that feels good, comfortable, and sensuous to you. And that may change from day to day or from month to month, depending on your emotional state, your physical condition, and your monthly cycle. So consult your Inner Sex Goddess and be adventurous yet sensitive to the responses of your own body. Here are some suggestions to try out as you take the time to deepen the sensual bond between you and your own pleasure organ.\n\n_63_. Lubrication is not only the key to a good relationship with your clitoris, but it also extends the sensations over larger parts of your vaginal area. So before you caress this delicate bud directly, make sure your fingers are moistened with your own saliva, the juices from your vagina, K-Y jelly, or oil. You can use baby oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, or a good massage oil. Olive oil is probably a little too thick, but sunflower, safflower, and grapeseed are good choices. Scented massage oils add another dimension of sensuality; the flower essences, musk, and ylang-ylang are particularly potent for sexual play. Just make sure the oil you use contains no alcohol, which can irritate the delicate mucous membranes. And avoid Vaseline too; because it's not water soluble it can be uncomfortable and unhealthy if it gets in your vagina or urethra.\n\nExperiment with different lubes for different occasions. Your own juices are always available, completely natural, and very earthy and sexy. Oils, which are slipperier, are good for intense friction and hand gliding. Scented oils add luscious aromatic vapors and can catalyze some exotic fantasies. The choice is deliciously yours.\n\n_64_. You may want to begin by using your entire hand\u2014heel, palm, and fingers closed together. Cup your hand over your pubic mound, touching your clitoris lightly, and inscribe circles around and over it. Press with the palm or heel of your hand. Then try using your overhanging fingers. Keep the circular motions going as you explore the sensations arising from varying pressures and parts of the hand. Most women find that sustained repetitive movements are the most satisfying. Also lovely is imagining that your lover's hand or penis is caressing you tenderly there.\n\n_65_. Karol, a sexy secretary I know, says she likes to rub her clitoris indirectly through its shaft. You can stroke on the right side if you are right-handed and on the left if you are left-handed. Switch sides when you feel the urge; this technique can provide an entirely different sensation, and it can renew sensitivity when one side gets \"tired.\"\n\n_66_. Experiment with various kinds of touch and rhythms\u2014light feathery pats, gentle massage, firm steady pressure, intense rubbing, playful love slaps, fast circles, slow back-and-forth movements, languid strokes alternating with quick taps, rolling motions, pinches, vibrating with your hands or fingers. When you find a touch that really lights your fire that day, stay with it for a while. As you explore your own key rhythms and touches, sense the wetness seeping into your loins.\n\n_67_. If you can stand it, try massaging your rosebud firmly with just one finger. Play around with circling, side-to-side, and rolling motions. Create a vibrating motion with your finger as you press down hard. Rock your pelvis up to meet your trembling digit as you would to reach for a lover's touch. Add another finger and probe some more. If the pleasure gets too agonizingly intense, stop momentarily and massage your thighs or belly instead.\n\n_68_. Like my friend Bess, a forty-something banker, you might like to try taking hold of the shaft of your clitoris with thumb and forefinger. Roll it between the fingers. Pull on it. Move it up and down. Squeeze. Release. Roll it again. Try using two different fingers, or the fingers of your two hands. Bess says, \"I need a lot of stimulation, and somehow this direct, forceful handling really gets my body humming.\"\n\n_69_. Contract your PC muscles rhythmically while caressing your clitoris. Squeeze and release the muscles around your anus. These tightening movements heighten the sensitivity of your clitoral nerves. Let your contractions roll back and forth between the two areas as you continue rubbing your love button. Test varying rhythms. Do it to rock music.\n\n_70_. I always wondered why the women in X-rated movies frequently use both hands to stretch their outer lips wide before provocatively stroking themselves. Often we think that their immodest actions are meant only to provide better sight lines or are done purely for the benefit of some debauched man. But I've found that, as usual, women are much smarter than that. After all, men don't invent these unusual and creative moves. Women do. Because, yes, they drive men crazy, but more important, they feel great. Through personal experimentation, I've learned that spreading your love lips open the way these women do makes the sensitive skin of your clitoris feel deliciously exposed and taut. Try it yourself, and then stimulate your lovely pleasure organ any way you choose. Imagine that _you_ are a raunchy porn star\u2014and your man is salivating over every frame of the movie.\n\n_71_. A luscious thing to do while gloriously outspread is to thump your clitoris lightly and quickly with your middle finger or the side of your hand. (Wouldn't a slap from your lover's penis be lovely too!) Alternate with hard circular massaging.\n\n_72_. Sara, a dietitian with six kids, says that whenever she can steal a moment to herself, one of her favorite techniques is to stroke down toward her clit from the top of her pubic mound, not quite touching its surface or sometimes gliding lightly over the top of it. Adapting a technique she learned from her deliciously randy husband, she occasionally slides her fingers down farther to gather some juice from her vagina and then circles her wet fingertips around her sensitized bud. Try it. You'll like it too.\n\n_73_. You can learn a lot from watching a man play with himself. Because the clitoris is closely akin to the penis, you can adapt almost any male masturbation method to the caressing of your love bud. For instance, try holding and stroking your clitoris up and down as he would his penis. Or slide from bottom to tip with the fingers of one hand, and then switch to the other hand. Do this quickly and with upstrokes only. Improvise with anything that works for him.\n\n_74_. While caressing your clitoris, squeeze or rub your vaginal lips. Using only one hand will keep the rhythms and movements in concert, but you could also try using two hands to circle clockwise with one while the other moves counterclockwise. Or one hand could administer gentle blows while the other presses and massages deeply.\n\n_75_. Pull gently on your pubic hair while teasing your clitoris. For me, this always brings back arousing memories of a wonderful man who loved to reach around in front of me and hold my pubic hair while he rubbed his penis against my clitoris from behind.\n\n_76_. Tug on a nipple in rhythm with your clitoral strokes. Roll both between your fingers. Massage in tandem circles as your legs fall invitingly open for an imaginary lover.\n\n_77_. In one sex class I attended, the instructor asserted that \"any good clitoral massage should include the urethra which is actually part of the G-spot and is therefore highly sensitive to erotic pleasuring.\" At the next class most of the women, including me, excitedly attested to the truth of this theory. In the name of scientific research, test it out for yourself.\n\n_78_. Tickle the underside of your love bud with one finger while stroking, patting, rubbing, or flicking the side or top of the clitoral hood with another. This intensely erotic trick can make you climb the walls, so apply it judiciously.\n\n_79_. As you lovingly stroke your clitoris, be aware of how the sensations change. At the beginning it will be tender and want a light touch. But as your excitement grows and you get closer to orgasm, your rosebud will swell and become harder and stiffer, much as a man's penis does. At this point, press harder, circle or stroke faster, vibrate more intensely. Thrust your pelvis against your hand. Arch your back and pant, moan, or scream.\n\n_80_. My friend Rosie reminds me of a plum\u2014small, round, and sweet, but tart at the same time. Very frank about the fact that she's been self-pleasuring regularly since the age of five, she says, \"I love to massage my soft spot [the perineum, between the vagina and anus] with the fingertips of both hands. Then I smooth my fingers up between my vaginal lips, collecting some wetness so my fingers can slide more easily, then I let them slide over my clit, down outside the outer lips, and back to my soft spot. Each time I reach my clit, I give it a little extra push, squeeze, or roll. After about three minutes of this, I'm really shaking. But then I circle my clit and soft spot with both hands at the same time, which makes me feel unbearably sexy, until I have an orgasm that vibrates my whole body.\"\n\n_81_. While you rub your pleasure organ, try bearing down as you do when you have a bowel movement. This pushes the entire pelvic floor down and brings more pressure into the clitoris, making it exquisitely sensitive and trembly. Many women report that this action alone can bring on an orgasm very quickly.\n\n_82_. Don some of your laciest, sexiest panties and massage your clitoris through them. Pull the two sides together at the crotch so that you have a thin, taut ribbon of fabric to pull against your pulsing love bud. Since this is as exciting to feel as it is to watch in the mirror, keep it in mind for a visual turn-on when you're in bed with your man.\n\n_83_. A technique I modified from an Oriental love text is really meant for pleasuring a man's \"Jade Stalk.\" But there's no reason your \"Rosy Stem\" shouldn't enjoy it too. Hold your little stem between your fingers and stroke it in rhythm to the throbbing of your heart. Then give it one fast up-and-down stroke, and return to the slow, sensuous stroking for about ten seconds. Then two rapid up-and-down strokes and back to the slow stuff for another ten seconds. Increase to three fast, and back to slow, and so on.\n\n_84_. After your love button has become engorged with excitement, try holding it between your fingers while you use the palm of your other hand, or your flattened fingers, to massage lightly in circles over the tip. Fantasize, if you wish, that it's really the pulsing head of your man's penis that's rubbing you there.\n\n## the voluptuous vagina\n\nAphrodite wasn't the only one who was hip to the benefits of loving her own body. Since ancient times, Taoist medical practitioners and Tantric initiates have taught that to have a whole and healthy body and mind, you must fully love your genitals and the sexual energy harbored there. When you come to know and love your vagina as the mysterious cavelike home of the sacred life force, you will find yourself developing a new, more charismatic relationship with your femininity, your sexuality, and your man.\n\nWhile some women prefer to explore the voluptuousness of their vaginas first before moving on to the clitoris\u2014feeling that the dainty bud is just too sensitive in the beginning\u2014others feel that starting with clitoral massage warms up the vagina's fewer nerve endings so that it becomes more eager for erotic touch. But whatever your personal preference, it's delicious to pleasure both erogenous zones at the same time. You can practice the following techniques while you are massaging your pearly bud or try them all by themselves. Mix and match to your libido's content.\n\n_85_. Stroke and massage all around your vaginal opening. Run your finger up and down over the juicy slit, gently opening it wider and wider. Pull the lips apart and caress the moist skin just inside the opening. Many women find that the wider their vaginal opening is stretched, the more acute the sensations. Relish this feeling of vulnerable exposure.\n\n_86_. Dip one or two fingers into your voluptuously wet furrow. In addition to keeping your fingers lubricated for clitoral stroking, this adds another level of sensation. (Short fingernails are a prerequisite.) Press upward to feel the back of your clitoral membrane and explore its moist sensitivities from this other side. If you curl your hand, you can keep the knuckles of your free fingers pressed against the outside of your clitoris at the same time.\n\n_87_. Slide one or more fingers in and out of your vagina just as you like your lover's penis to do. Slant your hand and sweep your fingers around to feel the luscious friction from all angles and against all surfaces of your vaginal canal. Stretch your lips wide. Go fast. Go slow. Tease yourself unmercifully.\n\n_88_. A very sultry woman I know says she likes to insert just one finger about two inches deep. Then she crooks her finger and tickles first the upper and then the lower walls of her vaginal barrel. It's \"exquisite torture,\" says she.\n\n_89_. While performing 87 and 88, use the thumb of the same hand to rub your clitoris or pull on your inner lips. This is much like the tug of your lover's penis as it dips in and out between all those sensitive tissues.\n\n_90_. Adapting a cooking technique for stuffing chickens, I discovered that it feels heavenly to slip your thumb inside your vagina and then glide it in circular motions against your other fingers, massaging the thin, wet membrane of your vaginal wall between them. Try out your own inner recipe.\n\n_91_. When your vaginal tissues are engorged with sexual juices and excitement, their sensitivity to touch and pressure is magnified. One inch of thumb can feel like nine inches of a man. So if you simply anchor your thumb tip inside and press it down toward your spine, you can mobilize your fingers to simultaneously tease your clitoris with circular massage or up-and-down sweeps.\n\n_92_. Plunge into the depths of your coral abyss with two or three fingers and rotate them as if you were stirring up a scrumptious batter. Or spread your fingers out like a scissors, as far apart as you can. Open and release several times.\n\n_93_. Adorn your index finger with a big flashy ring and thrust it in and out of your steamy vagina. The X-rated movie stars who love to perform this act for the camera know that it adds elegant beauty to the scene and feels fantastic, too. Show this one to your lover.\n\n_94_. Experiment with different body positions. Kneel, lie on your stomach, stand in front of a mirror. Or try lying on your back with feet braced against the headboard or wall. This, and kneeling with your legs spread, tenses the pelvic muscles and pulls your vagina taut to heighten sensation.\n\n_95_. When her husband is away, my friend Karen says she uses one of those standing pillows with arm rests as a substitute. She snuggles into its \"embrace\" or props herself against her stand-in hubby's open \"legs\" while she diddles herself just the way he would.\n\n_96_. With the flat of your hand, try stretching the soft skin of your pubic mound upward toward your belly. Hold it taut while you slide the fingers of your other hand quickly in and out of your tightened opening. Conjure up your favorite fantasy.\n\n_97_. Spread open your outer lips and use your thumb to gently strum the inner ones. Play this tune for your man and his drum major's baton.\n\n_98_. My friend Gail, a brilliant graphic artist with fiery red hair and tons of freckles and boyfriends, graciously offered to share one of her favorite maneuvers. She says she loves to insert two fingers into her vagina and press her clitoris with two fingers of the other hand. Then she rubs the two sets of fingers together through all the sensitive skin between. I've found you can also do this with only one hand by inserting your middle finger and using your thumb for the clitoris. What a divine massage!\n\n_99_. Hold open your vaginal lips with the fingertips of both hands. Knead the flower-petal skin in circular motions, down toward the anus, around toward the inner thighs, and up toward the clitoris. Keep going around and around till you can't stand it anymore.\n\n_100_. When a Hawaiian friend of mine mentioned that she likes to go \"swimming with the dolphins\" when she pleasures herself, I couldn't wait to hear the details. She says she lays her hand flat against the entire vaginal area. Then she lets the tip of her middle finger tease her vaginal opening and occasionally slide in and out. She alternates pressing hard against the top and undersides of her pubic mound with the heel and ball of her palm. Then she rolls and undulates her whole hand in wavelike movements, the way dolphins swim. Or you can let your middle finger lie against your clitoris with the fingertip just inside your vagina; then circle, roll, and undulate your hand like a sinuous creature of the deep.\n\n_101_. While thrusting your fingers in and out like a lover's hard shaft, massage your inner thighs, belly, derriere, or nipples with your other hand. All of these sensitive tissues are erotically connected and will respond quite intensely to tender caresses at any location. You rarely get to experience these delightful combinations with a partner because it's just too awkward; so take the opportunity to treat yourself to this extra loving.\n\n## the love muscle\n\nThe PC muscle, the one you squeeze to stop the flow of urine, is one of the greatest love secrets in Aphrodite's body. Just by twitching it, any ordinary goddess can give and receive ambrosial delights worthy of the heights of Mount Olympus. A well-toned PC muscle will greatly enhance your pleasure during self-loving as well as while making love with a partner, and it will drive most men wild when flexed against their penis. When strong and healthy, this muscle is highly sensitive to vaginal stimulation and is actually able to bring his thrusting penis closer to your G-spot. It makes for increased lubrication, stronger clitoral sensations, more intense and more frequent climaxes, and even multiple orgasms. How does all this magic take place?\n\nLying about one inch below the surface of the skin, the PC muscle runs from the pubic bone to the tailbone, firmly supporting the anus and internal sex organs. It may be as thin as half an inch or as thick as two inches. In addition to cradling your organs of pleasure, the love muscle is also home to the pudendal nerve, which detects feeling around the clitoris, the vaginal lips and opening, and the anus. This nerve sends signals to the brain that say \"This feels good; send blood and energy here,\" and it later receives brain signals that start the pleasurable contractions of orgasm. After every contraction of your PC muscle, whether you flex it deliberately or an orgasm does it for you, blood rushes into the vagina, making the tissue swell and darken and increasing lubrication. Some women describe this sensation as a melting or \"I love you\" feeling. In fact, besides the actual nerve connections between the PC muscle and the brain, there seems to be some extrasensory bond between the love muscle and the heart that, when activated, makes you feel soft, fuzzy, and warm inside.\n\nThe miraculous abilities and pleasures of a well-trained PC muscle are extolled in the ancient love texts of the Oriental and Tantric traditions, too. They describe women with such a high degree of PC control that they were able to pick up small objects and thrust them out with great force, using only their vaginal muscles. Imagine what they could have done with a man's penis! But the real beauty of such dexterity is that they were able to provide their own intense vaginal and clitoral stimulation\u2014without a penis, dildo, vibrator, pillow, hand, or finger. Their agile vaginas were completely self-contained pleasure units. We too can share in this special female magic simply by exercising our PC muscles regularly. And you will find that these sexual calisthenics are a major turn-on in and of themselves.\n\n_102_. The fastest and easiest way to get started enjoying your PC muscle is to simply flex it quickly about twenty-five times\u2014anytime, anywhere; no one will know. The sensation will be more intense if you put your attention on your clitoris or vaginal opening while you are squeezing. This will strongly focus your awareness, energy, and excitement. In fact, some women say they can reach a climax from this exercise alone. At the very least, it will bring your Inner Sex Goddess immediately to attention.\n\n_103_. When your muscles have something to resist their squeezing pressure, they can develop even faster, and you can get a better idea of just how strongly you are flexing. Insert a finger, a clean carrot, or a dildo into your vagina, squeeze and hold it for five seconds. Release and squeeze again. After several of these, do some quick clenches. Swoosh the inserted object around to provide differing levels of pressure and to excite your PC muscle into more intense flexing. See what it feels like to push the muscles _out_ as well; you can accomplish this by pressing down as you do when you have a bowel movement. If you close your eyes and focus on your moist vaginal walls sliding against the object, you will find a warm, pleasurable sensation building up inside you. Let your libido and your Inner Sex Goddess take it from there.\n\n_104_. Here's a Tantric PC exercise that always makes me feel like a volcano boiling, oozing, and erupting. You may want to perform this one to music, as I do. Stand with your feet apart at shoulder width and begin slowly squeezing your PC muscle. Breathe in deeply with each squeeze, and exhale with each release. Feel the volcanic heat coming up the insides of your thighs and into your womb. Keeping your feet firmly planted, rock your hips back and forth sensuously\u2014rock forward as you inhale and squeeze, rock back as you exhale and release. Feel the heat building in your loins. After a bit, move your hips around in circles as you continue flexing and releasing. Imagine that you are a hula dancer or a belly dancer; sway your pelvis provocatively and perform expertly sexual internal dances. Feel the volcanic heat radiating from your pelvis as you release a low \"ahhh\" with each exhalation and PC relaxation. As you continue undulating your hips and flexing your love muscle, imagine that the hot energy you are generating rises up through your belly, breast, throat, and face to the top of your head, where it showers you with tingly liquid ecstasy. Slowly return to earth whenever you're ready.\n\n_105_. The ancient Chinese Taoists developed a complex set of stone egg exercises designed to strengthen and tone the vaginal muscles. For a time, these exercises were taught only to the Empress and the Emperor's concubines in the royal palace, supposedly so they could better please the Emperor. And I'm sure they did. But these wise women knew that they were secretly enjoying themselves, enhancing their health, and even prolonging their youth. If, like these multitalented royal ladies, you'd like to increase your sexual energy and expertise, here's a simplified version of the egg techniques.\n\nSelect a stone or a wooden egg about one inch in diameter from a gem store or a New Age shop. Keep it scrupulously clean with soap and water. Always perform the egg exercises while standing, feet apart at shoulder width, and warm yourself up first with some self-massage. Insert the egg into your vagina, large end first, using your own juices or some oil to lubricate it. Hold the egg inside you by clenching the muscles at the opening of your vagina. When you first start practicing, simply feel your internal muscles contracting against the smooth egg. Get used to holding it inside you and feeling how it moves.\n\nAs you become more expert, you can move on to more advanced techniques such as the following. Inhale as you squeeze the muscles at the other end of your vagina, deep inside. Then begin to move the egg up and down, and from side to side, with the muscles in the middle section of your vagina. This takes practice and dexterity, but the sense of passionate control you will experience is worth the effort. Even if you just learn to keep the egg snug inside, you can't help but revel in its smooth sensuality and the delicious feeling of fullness it provides. Try different size eggs, too\u2014bigger egg, more fullness; smaller egg, more exercise and control. Eventually you can train your vaginal muscles to draw the egg in all by themselves and expel it forcefully. Your vaginal expertise, whether applied to an egg, a finger, or a penis, is limited only by your imagination.\n\n## the bewitching behind\n\nAphrodite Kallipygos (Aphrodite of the Lovely Backside) captivated scores of lovers simply by undraping her fleshy fanny. She truly understood that a woman's behind has the power to ignite her own inner fires as well as to bewitch almost any man. You'll begin to understand the fanny's electric power if you use your erotic imagination to recall how delicious it feels when you rub yours up against your man's body while lying in the spoon position, or when he cups your luscious cheeks in his hands as you make love. I didn't really catch on to this myself until about the twentieth time my lover, plunging into me from behind, moaned in the throes of ecstasy, \"Your ass looks so fine when it quivers, and it feels so good bouncing up against me.\" Meanwhile I actually _was_ quivering, with even more intense pleasure than he! So complete the awakening of your Aphrodite's body by discovering, with your own gentle hands and fingers, the unexpected pleasures of derriere and anal massage, a sensual treat fit for a goddess.\n\n_106_. While you are pleasuring your vagina or your clitoris, smooth your hands over the silky curves of your behind. Use feathery fingertips or firm palm pressure; squeeze gently or hard; scrape your nails across the delicate skin; it's especially sensitive because it is rarely exposed to sun and air. Rub the rough lace or cool silk of a camisole against your fanny. Don your elbow-length gloves or furry mittens and massage your rounded curves and the deep valley between them. Experiment with wet hands, ringed fingers, naked knuckles, and rolling forearms. Have fun with feathers.\n\n_107_. Diane, an otherwise very buttoned-down attorney friend of mine, says she likes to rub her behind against the cool sheets of her bed the whole time she is pleasuring herself in other ways. Sometimes she places a pillow between derriere and bed to add a new sensation and a higher elevation. Or she lays her backside against the rough wool of the blanket and undulates with the motions of her vaginal self-play. Occasionally she even stands with her back against the wall\u2014she has textured wallpaper, but even smooth paint will do\u2014and slides up and down while she uses her hands to caress the front of her body. She loves to find different textures to stimulate her bottom during self-play and often sits in various locations to produce interesting new effects\u2014smooth, hard wooden chairs; rocking chairs; plump velvet couches; canvas deck chairs; rope hammocks; fabric-covered office chairs that roll around; desks; kitchen countertops; toilet seats; bathtubs, dry or with a thin layer of water; rugs and carpets; stairs; grass; sand; the rough bark of a tree limb; a swing; a large basket\u2014the possibilities are truly limitless.\n\n_108_. The anus is one of the most erotically sensitive spots on your body, and if you are freshly bathed, it's just as clean as the rest of you. So don't be squeamish about discovering its pleasures. Just remember that the secret to enjoying anal play is lubrication\u2014either your own saliva or a good massage oil. Start out by simply wetting your index finger and pressing or massaging all around and over the outside of the opening. Keep your mind and body focused on the erotic by simultaneously massaging your nipples, clitoris, or vagina. As you enjoy these luscious sensations, let yourself relax and feel good about this often outcast part of your body. Indulge in ecstatic sense memories of your lover's tickling caresses to your behind. Breathe deeply and consciously relax your sphincter muscles. Then gently and slowly work your finger inside your anus and keep massaging. Circular or come-hither motions are best at first; save the in-and-out movements for later when you're more accustomed to the feeling and more relaxed. Discover your personal internal hot spots by trying different pressures, motions, and locations. Many women find an especially delicious place to rub is on the vagina side of the anal canal, which is really the other side of the magical G-spot. In fact, this is how many otherwise nonorgasmic women finally achieve a shuddering climax. But even as a simple accompaniment to the main melody of clitoral or vaginal self-pleasuring, anal massage is a delight you won't want to miss.\n\n_109_. An especially deep and earthy feeling of ecstasy can be achieved by massaging\u2014from both sides\u2014that thin, silken spot that lies inside between the vaginal and anal canals. You can do this by inserting the finger of one hand in the vulva and the finger of the other hand into the anus, then rubbing them together. It's probably easiest to accomplish this while lying on your back with legs drawn up to your chest. One inventive friend of mine says she likes to leave a hand free for breast or clitoral massage at the same time. So she simply uses her thumb inside the vagina and slides the pinky of the same hand into her anal opening, bringing thumb and pinky together around the delicate internal tissues. Considering the possibilities for variation here, discovering your own style of anal play\u2014and later revealing them to your panting lover\u2014can be at least half the fun.\n\n# 5  \nthe mirror of sensual transformation\n\n_Woman is the creator of the universe, the universe is her form.... Whatever form she takes, whether the form of a man or a woman, is the superior form. In woman is the form of all things, of all that lives and moves in the world. There is no jewel rarer than woman, no condition superior to that of a woman_.\n\n_\u2014 Saktisangama Tantra_\n\nPriestesses of the Tantric tradition, sometimes called yoginis, took great pride in the firepower of their bodies and sexuality to burn up obsolete ideas and beliefs, transforming them into jewels of expanded sensual perception and wisdom. Intimately familiar with the physical and esoteric function of every part of their bodies, they deliberately adopted certain postures and palpated special body points that enhanced their sensual energy flow. They had the ability to see the true nature of their resplendent physical forms reflected in a quiet pool, a looking glass, or a lover's eyes.\n\nBy looking into the yogini's Mirror of Sensual Transformation and seeing yourself as a magnificent creature made for love, you too will be able to shed worn-out ideas about puffy tummies and sagging chins, throw radiant light on heretofore hidden and mysterious places, and come to truly understand that \"in woman is the form of all things.\" If you approach this anatomical exploration as an exhilarating journey of rediscovery, you will no doubt have provocative revelations about yourself and your sexuality\u2014revelations that will make you an unusually creative bed partner. In fact, sensuality experts as diverse as ancient Tantrics and modern-day sex therapists _require_ expertise in this kind of self-pleasuring investigation before moving on to any other kind of sexual teachings. It's an eye-opening fount of knowledge and an autoerotic turn-on. So grab your Inner Sex Goddess, light a few candles, and make a special ritual out of discovering the divine firepower of your own sumptuous body.\n\n_110_. Set up a full-length mirror and a good-sized hand mirror in a private, quiet room. Lock the door and make sure you will have at least an hour and a half completely to yourself. Then start out by creating a soft sensual mood\u2014after all, you are about to seduce the sacred inner you. Take a scented bath. Light some candles and incense. Put on sultry music. Fix your hair in a pretty style and dab on some musky perfume or body lotion. Don your sexiest lingerie and pose before the mirror, proudly erect with hands on hips, as the yoginis do, or reclining provocatively like the centerfold models in _Playboy_ magazine. Then seductively strip down to complete nakedness, or perhaps leave on a string of pearls or a thin chain around your waist, or a flower in your hair. Think of all this as preparation for your lover. Just as Cleopatra's attendants would have readied her for romance with scented milk baths and opulent adornments, so should you carefully prepare for a loving session with yourself. Crawl into the translucent, hot skin of your Inner Sex Goddess and enjoy.\n\nThen sit or stand about ten inches away from the full-length mirror and stare gently into your eyes. Relax, breathe deeply, and imagine your eyes becoming like soft jelly. Look into your soul. The Tantrics recommend eyegazing like this for about five to ten minutes, longer if you can. Really let yourself trespass on the inner you\u2014sultry, deeply sensual, romantic, tender, and loving.\n\nBegin to explore your body with your hands. Look at yourself from all angles\u2014front, back, side, standing, kneeling, sitting with legs apart and together. Do not criticize. If you have to, imagine that you are from another planet where lumpy thighs are considered exquisitely sexual. Examine every nook and cranny with the handheld mirror, praising and patting each delicious body part. Many women find that looking at their own bodies this way turns them on. Admire and caress your entire body, except the genitals, for at least forty-five minutes.\n\nNow lovingly examine your pubic area in both the full-length and handheld mirrors. If you have a makeup mirror with a magnifying side, use that, too. Observe the different colors, shapes, and textures. Label each part by touching it gently. Notice first the contour of your upper pubis. Does it slope invitingly down to your vulva, or is it a high, provocative mound? Is your pubic hair a dark, thick bush or more like wispy blond grass? Does it form a triangle? a bold band? a small circlet peeping over the edge? How would someone who was mesmerized by it, like an adoring lover, describe this part of you?\n\nAs you slide your fingers farther down and along the hair-covered outer lips of your vulva (labia majora), be aware of their spongy or pillowy texture. See if yours are puffy, flat, long, or curved. Would you describe their color as burnt sienna? dusky rose? amorous amber? Regarded by some as the female equivalent of a man's scrotum, these lips contain glands that, when aroused, release a film of sweat that chemically stimulates and attracts the opposite sex. Did you know they were so enticing?\n\nWhen you stroke your hairless inner lips (labia minora), notice their smooth, moist slickness. They too contain glands that produce lubricating juices. Feel, smell, and even taste these fluids when they arrive. Try to characterize the size, shape, and texture of your inner lips, which vary greatly from woman to woman. Some women have described theirs as having \"the feel of satin sheets,\" \"caviar coloring,\" \"edges like a doily,\" or \"the clean lines of a Jaguar racing car.\" Do yours remind you of a flower? the inside of a peach? folded velvet? a sea creature? a fleshy heart? a yin-yang symbol? Is the left lip bigger or smaller than the right one? Do the inner lips stay tucked demurely inside the outer ones, or do they protrude or droop temptingly? Notice how the texture, moisture, and warmth of both your inner and outer lips change as you excite them, engorging with blood, thickening, and darkening.\n\nThen slide on up to the clitoris, or the Jewel Terrace, as it's lovingly known in the Orient. Slip back the hood of skin that covers it and run your finger along the shaft. Although it is much like a man's penis, the clever little clitoris is unique\u2014no organ whose _sole_ function is to stimulate and elevate erotic pleasure exists on a man's body. The most sensitive of your sexual organs, it is often the _key_ (remember that's the literal translation of \"clitoris\" in Greek) to sensual ecstasy. That's because it is crammed full of tender nerve endings, more than any other part of the vulva. Here too are intensely sensitive microscopic fibers called Pacinian corpuscles, jammed even closer together in the tip of the clitoris, making this apex a keenly acute receptor of sharp pleasure\u2014or pain, if too roughly handled. Gently experiment with differing strokes and amounts of pressure on your clitoris, touching it directly\u2014with a wet finger is usually best\u2014and indirectly through the surrounding tissues, up and down the shaft, across the tip, circling the whole area. How does it look and feel as it receives these different types of loving attention?\n\nUsually about 3\/4 inch to 1 1\/4 inches long, each woman's clitoris will have a size, shape, and character all its own. Some women have described theirs as a \"tiny dewdrop,\" a \"tight, pulsing rosebud,\" or a \"big flashy cultured pearl.\" How would you describe your \"love diamond\"? In an Aboriginal creation myth, the two Djanggawo sisters had clitorises so long that they formed grooves on the earth as they walked, and the well-endowed sisters had to rest their clitorises on their thighs in order to have access to their vaginas. What is the relationship of your clitoris to the vaginal opening? Is it a mere finger's width away, or more like a wrist's width distant? It may be that women whose clitorises are very near to their vaginas are the ones able to have orgasms through intercourse alone.\n\nAs you press and massage your love bud, notice the tiny ridge of tissue that runs underneath. Not just the little pebble you see on the outside, the clitoris is actually a much larger organ that lies partially buried beneath the surface. In actuality, the clitoral system is at least 30 percent larger inside your body than it is on the outside, so you can experience flashes of burning pleasure when it is stimulated from inside your vagina too. The clitoral shaft is composed of two rods of spongy tissue that fill with blood during sexual arousal. (It should be enlarging and becoming more sensitive and \"erect\" right now as you touch it.) These two rods bend backward and connect with the pelvic bones on either side of the vagina, while another muscular rod extends from the inner part of the shaft, splits in two, and surrounds the vaginal opening. During arousal, these muscles contract and keep blood from leaving the clitoris, helping to keep it enlarged and tugging gently on it as well. Try stroking your vaginal lips as you watch in the mirror what happens when the pressure on these connected tissues sends thrilling messages to your clitoral bud. Imagine that your lover's penis, rubbing in the vicinity, will do the same.\n\nAs you massage your inner lips, notice how your vagina naturally opens to your finger. Approach this portal in a sacred way, as do the people of the Sepik River in New Guinea. They enter and exit their ceremonial houses by crawling between the outspread legs of carved figures of the sacred feminine form. Slip through the entrance of your inner cave to feel the creamy warmth within, and the differences in texture and sensation between all the sides of its elastic walls. Some sexologists assert that the first third of the vagina is more sensitive to touch than the remainder because more nerve endings are located there, and that the deeper two-thirds is more responsive to pressure and stretching. Many women feel differently. Slide your fingers deep inside and see what's true for you.\n\nFeel the power of your PC muscles as you alternately squeeze and push them against your fingers. Watch your muscles contract in the mirror. Imagine how this milking action would feel to a penis. Explore the thick folds of your vaginal walls, some running horizontally and some vertically, and the milky secretions they produce. Feel, smell, and taste this love juice.\n\nDelight in your vagina's miraculous ability to compress or expand to accommodate the smallest tampon, the largest erect penis, and even the birth of a baby. See if you can get your fingers far enough inside to feel the way the upper two-thirds of your vagina opens up like a sultan's tent, and the lower third swells to create a warm, spongy, soft area of tissue that will eventually grip a penis tightly. Experience the particular way your magical inner cave lifts and opens wide as you become more aroused, pulling your vaginal lips apart, sensitizing and flooding them, too, with blood and moisture.\n\nIn the Quodoushka tradition, a Cherokee equivalent of Tantra, the depth of the vagina and its characteristics are thought to be important clues to a woman's entire sexual temperament. In Harley Swiftdeer's _Quodoushka Manual_ , five female genital anatomy types are described, including Dancing Woman and Sheep Woman. With a vagina of average depth, small inner lips, and a high, small clitoris that springs up from beneath its hood like a dancer, Dancing Woman prefers a lover with a short, thin penis ( _tipili_ , or \"sacred snake\"). Sheep Woman, on the other hand, has a deeper vagina, larger, thicker vulval lips, and a lower, more hidden clitoris. She produces copious lubrication and can climax only if she feels a heart connection to her partner. What is the nature of your \"feathered flying serpent\" ( _tupuli_ ), as the Cherokees call it?\n\nLook in the mirror now to see how gorgeous your vulva appears when excited with love, and how much it has changed since you started this scintillating adventure. Reconsider your vagina not as an unattractive and unknown void but as a divine portal to the most secret parts of the inner you, a doorway to your Inner Sex Goddess, a Vermilion Gate, as the Orientals call it, through which to receive your lover in the most royal fashion. Praise and perfume this wondrous, sacred part of yourself.\n\nSince there are few things more beautiful than a woman aroused, gaze in the mirror now and see how gorgeous your whole body is\u2014how pink your luscious lips have become, how your eyes have dilated and your skin flushed. Admire the way your breasts have swollen and your nipples have become harder and darker, erect with desire. Your clitoris, too, is erect and pulsating. Your vaginal lips may have swollen up to three times their normal size, and they may have darkened to a deep wine or a bright red. Your toes, feet, or stomach muscles may be fluttering or quivering in a high state of turbulent excitation. Notice how your body not only _looks_ different but also _smells_ and _moves_ differently. Take in the whole image of you in full bloom\u2014glorious, sensual, and powerful. Tell your reflection how radiant, delicate, sexy, graceful, glowing, shapely, and devastating you look. Bask in your beauty and thank yourself, your body, and your Inner Sex Goddess for revealing their wonderful secrets to you.\n\n_111_. Finish off this mirrored self-play by continuing to arouse and ravish yourself almost to the point of orgasm\u2014at least three times and maybe up to fifteen times. With each buildup to and retreat from the point of no return, your excitement will reach higher and higher levels. Then finally let yourself climax, watching your orgasm in the mirror, and float in the dreamy sensations for an eternity.\n\n_112_. A very saucy friend of mine, who actually appeared in a _Playboy_ video of over-forrty-and-still-fabulous women, suggests the following alternative way to discover your own body: perform all of the activities in this chapter not in front of a mirror but before a video camera. If you don't own one, you may be surprised to find out how inexpensive they are to rent. Watching your own sexy, self-loving video at a later time can be not only immensely informative but also a titillating turn-on\u2014for you and maybe for a fortunate partner!\n\n# 6  \ng(oddess)-spots and love nectars\n\n_Woman has sex organs just about everywhere. She experiences pleasure almost everywhere_.\n\n_\u2014 Luce Irigaray, This Sex Which Is Not One_\n\nis there really such a thing as a G-spot? Does every woman have one? Will I be able to pinpoint mine? Can it give me a different type of orgasm? Yes, yes, yes, and _yes!_ In fact, the G-spot is one of your Inner Sex Goddess's favorite treasures. She knows where yours is, and she's been eagerly waiting to initiate you and your lover into the hidden ecstasies of its potent orgasms and love nectars.\n\nAlthough the ancient Romans, Japanese, Chinese, Tantric Indians, and indigenous cultures throughout history were intimately familiar with this special sweet spot inside a woman, modern society seemed to lose touch with its existence until 1950, when a German gynecologist named Ernst Grafenberg researched and wrote about it. His findings caused quite a stir among the medical and scientific crowd, but not too many other people knew about them. Then thirty years later a trio of psychologists and sex therapists expanded Grafenberg's work into a book and decided to name this ancient and utterly female body part after him\u2014the _man_ who supposedly discovered it! So it became known as the G-spot, although it does go by other, more accurate and interesting names. One woman I know affectionately calls it her love button. The Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers refers to it, very clinically, as the urethral sponge. In Panama they speak of this savory spot as _la bella loca_ , which literally means \"the beautiful crazy.\" I like to think of it as a woman's goddess spot. Whatever it's called, this lovely hidden site is a pleasuring bonanza.\n\nIn fact, many sex researchers believe that learning to have a G-spot climax is an important key to achieving multiple orgasms. That's because after you've had one vaginal or clitoral orgasm, the extreme sensitivity of those areas will make you want to stimulate other less overwrought areas of your genital pleasure zone. Meanwhile, some doctors and psychologists are still haggling over whether women have vaginal orgasms, clitoral orgasms, or some combination of the two, or whether there even _Is_ a vaginal orgasm. We should do them a favor and clue them in to the fact that women have _all kinds_ of orgasms, including clitoral, vaginal, G-spot, and breast! The beauty of the female body is that it's sensitive to orgasmic stimulation all over\u2014and, yes, the G-spot is _especially_ sensitive to the erotic touch, and can give you an entirely different type of orgasm than you've ever had before. It may be more subtle and somehow deeper than the ones you're used to, but maybe not; maybe your G-spot orgasms will be more electrifying or tinglier or more wavelike. Your own goddess spot mystery waits there for you to discover.\n\n## what and where is the g-spot?\n\nEveryone has a pet theory. According to Grafenberg, the G-spot is an area in the vagina composed of the paraurethral glands and ducts, a complex network of blood vessels, nerve endings, and the tissue surrounding the neck of the bladder. The apparent function of this network is to act as a buffer between your lover's penis and your urethra by swelling and filling with blood during sexual excitement. But many doctors say the G-spot is merely a small cluster of nerve endings and blood vessels, like a little bean deep inside the vagina. And some feminist sex researchers claim it covers a lot more territory\u2014that, in fact, it encompasses the entire complex of tissues around the urethral opening, all the way up the long bladder tube, and all around the vaginal canal.\n\nThe somewhat esoteric quality and imprecise location of any given G-spot may account for the fact that some women and their mates believe they don't have one; having been told it has to be located in one specific area, they conclude that a lack of special sensitivity there means the G-spot doesn't exist for them. How unfortunate, especially since, as we've seen, doctors and sex researchers can't even agree on where this one specific spot is! Some say it's about two inches inside the vagina, others say it's above and in back of the pubic bone, and still others say it's much deeper than that, almost at the end of the vaginal canal.\n\nMy Inner Sex Goddess and I have our own personal theory. Apparently there are very tender nerve endings associated with the urethra, at the opening and all along the bladder neck, probably designed to protect the very important function of waste removal. Since the bladder neck runs parallel to the vaginal canal, on the side toward your stomach, you can feel this tender bladder tissue through your vaginal walls. These urethral nerve endings are supersensitive in various spots along the way; and the exact location of these spots is _different for every woman_. In other words, every woman has her own personal G-spot\u2014or even two or three G-spots!\u2014that will look, feel, and locate itself in a manner completely unique to her. Just like everything else about a woman's sexuality, your G-spot is a highly individualized treat.\n\nBut most doctors and sexologists do seem to agree that the main function of the G-spot is to help you achieve a high degree of sexual intoxication! When you are drunk with rapture, just imagine what an uninhibited and wanton hussy you become, how much more intensely you feel even the barest touch, how much easier and more delicious it is to abandon everything to your feeling of pleasure and that of your lover. This is the special bounty of your G-spot.\n\nHow, then, do you find your special sweet spot or spots? Call on your Inner Sex Goddess to help you; she will raise your level of attunement to the subtler sensations of this area. The other helpful trick is to keep in mind the G-spot's second main function\u2014to swell during sexual excitement for protection of the urethra and bladder. When you are aroused, the G-spot will rapidly become engorged, get harder, and may even develop well-defined edges, making it much easier to locate.\n\nYou can take the following steps to find your goddess spot:\n\n_Step 1_. Get yourself into a state of arousal.\n\n_Step 2_. Assume a seated or squatting position, like sitting on the toilet, for instance. It's almost impossible to find your sweet spots while lying on your back because gravity tends to pull your internal organs down and away from the vaginal entrance. (Remember this when you are trying to feel your G-spot during intercourse!)\n\n_Step 3_. Lubricate your finger and first massage gently around the urethral opening, sometimes called the meatus, not around the vaginal opening. See if and how sensitive this external area is for you. A whole new experience opened up for me when I discovered this as one of my personal goddess spots, and I couldn't understand why I'd never thought of it before. But it may not be yours, so explore carefully and with an open mind.\n\n_Step 4_. Still making sure your finger is lubricated, insert it gently into your vagina. Letting yourself be guided by your instincts, use firm upward pressure to slowly investigate along the front of your internal vaginal wall. (Some women find that pressing down at the same time on the outside of the abdomen with the other hand helps pinpoint areas of special sensitivity.) Because the bladder tube runs on the other side of the front vaginal wall, you'll find your own G-spot somewhere along this path. One woman I know said she found her special spot when she felt that she was touching \"an inverted clitoris, one that was inside my vagina, and much more pleasurable for me than my clitoris.\" But anywhere you feel a slight jolt, a momentary urge to urinate, a small, rather hard lump, or a warm, deep sensual feeling is _it_. If you don't find a G-spot right away, or even after you do, don't stop searching. You may have more than one!\n\n_Step 5_. A commonly found G-spot lies about half an inch inside the vagina at about eight o'clock or four o'clock (if the top of your vagina is twelve o'clock). One woman I know found her special spot \"in front and a little to right of center. When I touch it, or when my lover's penis does, it feels pleasurable and kind of liquidy.\"\n\n_Step 6_. Be sure to try the area just above your pubic bone. As you probe inside the vagina, you first encounter the lumpy Skene's gland just inside the opening. Then there's the hard area of the pubic bone itself. Beyond it lies a smoother area leading back to the cervix. From there, come back toward the pubic bone a little and hook your finger in back of it where there's a small hollow. Wag your finger right and left. Many women find their G-spot in this area; and it is the place to which most scientists refer. But if, like me, you aren't especially sensitive right there, don't stop searching yet!\n\n_Step 7_. Keep tracing your finger along the front vaginal wall, as far as you can reach. Stroke and circle with your finger. Deep inside the vagina, almost to the end, is another very common sweet spot. I especially notice mine here when my lover's penis is thrusting deep into me from behind, but it's difficult to reach with my own finger. So don't give up too soon in trying to find a possible deep sweet spot. You may want to insert a wet finger or dildo and duplicate the angle of rear-entry intercourse to fully explore the path of your goddess spot.\n\n_Step 8_. Notice and remember where your sensitive spots are and how they felt when stimulated. As I've mentioned, you may have one or more G-spots; some of them may be larger than others; you may be hotly sensitive to G-spot stimulation or just mildly warmed by it; upon contact with your G-spot you may or may not have an immediate orgasm, and it may feel sharper or softer than those that are clitorally stimulated. One friend of mine describes her G-spot climaxes as \"sudden, sharp, and explosive,\" while another says, \"It feels like a warm, deep wave spreading throughout my whole body.\" I don't always have an orgasm when I rub my deeper G-spot, but when I do have one, it's like a slow, pulsing release. On the other hand, massaging the sweet spot at my outer urethral opening can make me feel as if I've been shot out of a cannon. Your experience will be different still.\n\nHere's what Diane, my buttoned-down attorney friend, says about her G-spot explorations: \"At first I had trouble finding my G-spot because I had this set idea about where it was supposed to be. And it just wasn't there. Then one time when Tom was making love to me from behind and we were lying on our sides, he angled into some corner of me that felt really good. The next day I pressed around inside by myself and found it again\u2014a sort of mushy, earthy place that made me feel as if I were melting down. When I told Tom about it, he probed around with his penis until I started shuddering. This made him really hot, and he just kept thrusting into that place. Somehow this spot seemed connected to a wild animal inside me, and once it got loose, I started bucking and screaming for Tom to 'fuck me hard!' That night we made love for hours with a ferocity and urgency I'd forgotten existed in our relationship.\"\n\n## love nectar\n\nWhen you massage your goddess spot, you may find yourself ejaculating a small amount of clear fluid from your urethra. Despite appearances, this is not urine. It is not the color of urine, it does not smell or taste like urine, nor does it stain like urine. Furthermore, it has now been scientifically tested to prove it is not urine. This sweet juice is your love nectar, and it falls under the special province of Xochiquetzal, Mayan goddess of beauty, sexuality, and flowers. Sometimes represented as a butterfly, Xochiquetzal symbolizes the sacrament of sipping transformational ambrosia\u2014as the butterfly sucks the nectar of the flower, so the lover drinks the honeyed liquid of his woman's vulva. Never be embarrassed by it; it is a lovely female ejaculation that announces the presence of your very enjoyable orgasms.\n\nGrafenberg observed that with women, as well as with men, the ejaculation that occurs at orgasm involves fluid being ejected in gushes through the urethra and that this happens most often when the G-spot is being stimulated. Since we know that sweet spots are really urethral nerve endings and tissues this really makes sense. It also makes sense that G-spot ejaculation is intimately related to the strength of the PC muscle, the one that controls the flow of urine. The stronger your PC muscle is, the more likely you are to emit love nectar. Some women claim they ejaculate every time they make love; others say it happens only occasionally. Some detect a cyclical pattern, possibly related to the phases of the moon. And many women never ejaculate at all and have just as good a time. So whatever your orgasmic flow experience, don't think it strange.\n\nIn fact, the female production of love nectar has been recognized and even reverently cultivated for centuries. Aristotle observed that women expelled fluid during orgasm. So did the famous second-century Greek physician Galen. And in the seventeenth century, Dutch anatomist Regnier de Graaf described the \"female prostate\" and \"female semen\" in detail. The Bataro tribe of Uganda was known to have a custom called _kachapati_ , or \"spray the wall,\" in which older women taught younger ones how to ejaculate. And in some ancient and modern Tantric teachings, sexual intercourse is said to have the specific esoteric function of stimulating the flow of female fluid, which they call _rajas_. The men of this Tantric school even make a ritual out of collecting the precious juice on a leaf, adding it to a bowl of water, offering it to the deity presiding over the ritual, and then drinking it themselves.\n\nThe taste of this orgasmic fluid has been variously described as very sweet, tangy, bitter, or tart. Not only is every woman's flavor different from that of others, but the taste of any given woman's _rajas_ may change depending on her mood and the time of month. I was once lucky enough to have a lover who delighted in what he called the \"sweet 'n' spicy\" flavor of orgasmic juice. He loved to stimulate me to produce this nectar so that he could drink it directly from my body.\n\nSo never try to inhibit the natural flow of your precious love fluids. Remember, the Tantrics worshiped them. Try seeing yourself as they did\u2014as the embodiment of the divine female principle, fountain of life and pleasure, source of the magical elixirs of physical and spiritual transformation\u2014at the very least, a Sex Goddess who's so hot she overflows with the sweet nectar of love.\n\n## the goddess spot pleasure dance\n\nNow that you've located your particular sweet spot and learned that it's perfectly okay to secrete special love juices, let's explore the best ways to incorporate the G-spot into your self-pleasuring adventures. You may find a direct shortcut to the temple of your Inner Sex Goddess.\n\n_113_. It's usually best to save the G-spot for later in your pleasuring session, maybe even after you've had your initial orgasm, so that it's swollen, sensitized, and easier to find and excite. Massage, stroke, tickle, and fondle your sweet spot as you would your vaginal lips or clitoris. You will probably want to use heavier pressure on your goddess spot than you would on your clitoris, and you will probably feel the sensation deeper inside your body. Abandon yourself to its earthier tones of pleasure. You can perform this erotic dance all by itself, or you can add clitoral, nipple, or navel and tummy massage to your private party. Or simply stroke yourself all over and dream about Antonio Banderas. With the G-spot, prolonged stimulation is usually the best way to rouse your Inner Sex Goddess from her sensual slumbers.\n\n_114_. The _Kama Sutra_ suggests rubbing your G-spot with the middle or third finger. The ancient erotic text considers the index finger too heavy and aggressive for this delicate pleasure. Of course the middle finger is often the longest one, too\u2014making it easier to reach your G-spot. You may also want to experiment gently with dildos, vibrators, and peeled carrots to provide a longer reach.\n\n_115_. Positioning is important. Remembering that lying on your back is not the best way to find your sweet spot, you will probably correctly surmise that it's also not the best way to stimulate it. Try kneeling, squatting, or sitting on your heels with your knees apart. The positions you get into for rear-entry sex are good, too. Sandy, a friend who has created the most sumptuous bathroom I've ever seen, likes to sit on the edge of her bathtub, knees spread wide, and feet in the tub. She says this position provides a great angle for finding and rubbing the somewhat elusive love button, and she can keep her fingers wet at the tap.\n\n_116_. Get on your hands and knees and use your fingers to imitate a thrusting penis bumping up against your G-spot from behind. Make sure your fingers are well lubricated and the nails trimmed. You can achieve the best angle by sliding your fingers around behind your leg and fanny, instead of approaching from the front. The rear entry and the downward motion, along with maybe a lusty \"being taken\" fantasy, add up to an unusually exhilarating experience.\n\n_117_. If you want to learn to make love nectar, or to do so more at will, here's how. First increase your PC muscle strength and control by conscientiously doing about one hundred quick squeezes a day for at least a month. Then, in one of your self-loving sessions, get really hot and ready by giving yourself several regular orgasms with your favorite method of clitoral and vaginal stimulation. You should feel as if you're on an orgasmic plateau. Now stimulate your goddess spot with your fingers or a vibrator; if you have a sweet spot on the outside at your urethral opening, this is usually the best one to start with. Here's the key: push out and down with your vaginal muscles, rather like the way you would push with a bowel movement or when giving birth. Keep pushing as you rub, and do whatever it is that makes you so excited you feel like shaking or exploding.\n\nDavid, a middle-aged accountant friend of mine, told me about the first time his wife favored him with her love juice: \"First I got her incredibly hot by licking her lovely pussy until she came three times. Then I slid my two fingers just inside her opening and circled around the rough area there. She began to moan and cry 'Don't stop!' which really turned me on too. Pretty soon her vagina was pumping my fingers, almost shoving them out. And then she squirted the most delicious warm liquid all over my hand. I loved it!\" The important things to take note of here are her high level of arousal, the sweet-spot massage, and the shoving that she did. These are the keys to making a successful and exciting brew of goddess love nectar, either by yourself or with your man. Happy trails!\n\n# 7  \nfantasies from the cloud damsels\n\n_People walk down the street and see someone they are attracted to and they can undress that person right in their minds and perform all kinds of sexual acts on them in their fantasies. They go to bed at night and generate fantastic pornographic images in their sleep. This is just something that happens. It seems to be a natural activity_.\n\n_\u2014 James Hillman, former director, Zurich Jung Institute_\n\nfantasizing is as natural as walking, sleeping, and breathing. In fact, we can't seem to stop doing it. And why would we want to? The exciting sensory images that come unbidden from our subconscious, from the heart of our most intimate erotic reservoirs, are as necessary to our lives as the bread we eat, yet as naughtily delicious as chocolate candy. They make our skin tingle, our hearts flutter, and our deep inner caves moisten. And like magic carpets, they transport us to enchanted realms of raging desire, perfect love, and unashamed carnality.\n\nThe goings-on in our heads\u2014our attitudes, beliefs, personal rules and regulations, wishes and dreams\u2014are at the very source of who we really are. They keep us posted on who we think we are now, who we'd like to be, who we'd like to \"try on\" for five minutes, and who we'd like our partners to be. And they determine who we _will_ be, if we so desire. Erotic, irrational, and completely carefree, this private world is ours alone\u2014unassailable by anyone else's opinions or needs, undemanding of anyone else's presence or good graces, unfathomable to anyone else's linear everyday thinking. Our personally fabricated mythology constitutes an intimate inner fortress and playground that gives us strength, joy, and freedom. For even if we can't quite manage to let ourselves go stark raving wild in our jobs, relationships, and bedchambers, our fantasies give us the opportunity to visit a land where letting it all hang out is deliciously de rigueur.\n\nThese exotic passports to otherwise forbidden erotic territory are issued by the ethereal Cloud Damsels who float through our imagination. Erotic nature spirits who live in a lofty dimension parallel to human reality, the Cloud Damsels, known as Apsaras in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, are sacred beings of both earth and sky. Originally human women but now goddesses (like you!), their special gift is the ability to combine sensuous flesh with divinity, sexuality with spirituality, fantasy with reality. With their fluid, sweet-smelling bodies, they may take one human lover or hundreds of godlike consorts, effortlessly combining the earthy sensuality of one with the impossibly wild and divine imaginings of the other, and vice versa. Tall, ornate headdresses sprout from their temples like the abundant fruitfulness of their erotic imagination. They delight in spicing up any and all sexual encounters with a tidbit of juicy fantasy, elevating the mundane to the glorious, human sweat to divine ambrosia, and solo sex to a magnificent garden richly populated with amorous Greek Adonises, dashing and swarthy sheikhs, and insatiable young sexpots of the male, female, animal, and extraterrestrial persuasion.\n\nThe Cloud Damsels, as close companions to your Inner Sex Goddess, live in the most uninhibited and uncensored part of your mind. There they are free to reflect the vivid images of your raciest thoughts, your most intimate desires, and your most deeply hidden pleasure stimulators without having to bother with the complications of real life, real people, or real consequences. They give you the freedom to indulge in any outrageous scenario you care to\u2014being penetrated by a huge black stallion, making oral love to another woman, having wild sex with Bj\u00f6rn Borg on Wimbledon's center court as thousands of horny onlookers applaud\u2014while still keeping your marriage, your self-esteem, your emotions, and your pocket-book intact. What a divine luxury!\n\nWhile the five physical senses are potent conveyances to the realm of your Inner Sex Goddess, fantasizing can be thought of as the sixth, vitalizing sense. Under the purview of the otherworldly Cloud Damsels, it's the sense that enhances all the others, opening up even more diverse avenues for your unfettered sexuality, and, as Nancy Friday says in _My Secret Garden_ , \"taking one further, faster in the direction in which the unashamed unconscious already knows it wants to go.\" Your creative and erotic imagination is the sense that can intuit, interpret, and invent intangibles\u2014like romance, atmosphere, mystery, intoxicating danger, forbidden delights, and irrational, all-consuming lust\u2014all the things that stimulate our particularly female hormones. For we women are creatures of rhapsody and enigma, more stimulated by emotion than by action, more aroused by the romance of sex than by the mechanics of sex, and more unloosed by imagination than by facts, formulas, and graphic realities. We come fully alive in our fantastical imaginings.\n\nThat's why your Inner Sex Goddess recommends investing _every_ sensual activity with erotic imagery\u2014exploratory sessions with your body, sybaritic warm-ups for sex, partner lovemaking, and especially self-pleasuring, where it's just you and your unbridled imagination. As the Cloud Damsels in you know, all of these fleshly pleasures can be even further glorified by healthy dollops of divinely inspired phantasm. And in this rarefied atmosphere of magical reality, _anything_ goes. There is nothing to be ashamed of, for your daydreams, reveries, and mental inventions simply reflect your unique, and completely normal, sexual personality\u2014uncensored, rare, courageous, and exquisitely precious. You don't have to act them out, tell them to anyone, or even figure them out. On the other hand, you can do all of those things if it would please and excite you to do so. Your flights of fancy are your private possessions to invent, modify, reveal, conceal, discard, repeat, and indulge in as you will.\n\n## having a pleasant flight\n\nWhen you allow yourself to travel to the vast open spaces of fantasyland, you will find your sensual life taking on a new radiance. Women who give free rein to their Cloud Damsel visions report that their experience of sex is more intense, more ecstatic, and more full-bodied than they ever thought possible. In fact, many women say they can achieve orgasm by fantasy alone, with no physical stimulation at all. The key is to surrender completely to the irrational brilliance of your own erotic mind and to let your fantasies lead you, not the other way around. Here are some tips for making the most of your fantasy flights:\n\n\u2022 Impose no limits. While few of us would actually have sex in the middle of Times Square, fantasizing about it can be delicious, healthy fun. So don't label yourself a pervert or nymphomaniac just because you like to dream about being trussed up, blindfolded, and ravaged by twenty-seven Mongol warriors. On the contrary, be as outrageous and outlandish as you possibly can. Enjoy the rare opportunity to explore the impossible and to step into someone else's skin\u2014whether it be Venus de Milo, Irma la Douce, a nymphomaniac mermaid, a tightly laced Victorian damsel aching to have her bodice ripped, a primitive cavewoman, a creature from _Star Wars_ , or even a male truck driver with \"horns.\" Whatever your weirdest fantasy, there are at least a thousand completely normal women out there whose kinky castle-building is even more over-the-top than yours. So let your unfettered hallucinations bring out all of your muskiest natural perfumes, your most salacious proclivities, and your wildest primal instincts. Make no judgments. Take no prisoners or guilt trips. These private tours are safe within the boundaries of your head and heart.\n\n\u2022 I think it's best _not_ to share your fantasies with your mate. He might feel threatened, intimidated, outraged, or even betrayed, especially if his delicate male ego is called into question. Worse yet, he might criticize or belittle your fanciful efforts, puncturing a gigantic hole in your fantasy balloon. But most important, if you know someone else will be privy to your secret exotic dreams, you will not feel free to indulge in the really juicy, borderline ones\u2014the most liberating and fun visions of all!\n\nThe exceptions to this are those fantasies that you specifically want to turn into reality and that you feel are safe, nonthreatening, and practical enough to do so. I once conjured up a vision of taking my lover to the opera, both of us dressed to the nines, and slipping off for a stand-up quickie in some dark corner while the onstage drama raged on. The elegance, furtiveness, and danger of this make-believe scenario really appealed to my naughty Inner Sex Goddess\u2014and to my man, when I shared it with him. For months it was a joint fantasy that we used to titillate each other. Then one night at the theater, he got up in the middle of the first act and led me to a vestibule, where, behind a swinging door, we pounded into each other until we heard the audience applaud and begin to leave the theater proper. Just in the nick of time, we refastened our clothes and nonchalantly emerged from behind the door to join the exiting audience for intermission. It was fantastic, but then I had to think up a new outrageous daydream!\n\n\u2022 Fantasize at every opportunity\u2014while commuting on the train, lying in the sun, ironing tablecloths, enduring a meeting, fixing dinner, observing a flower, drifting off to sleep, showering, flying on a plane, walking to work, and especially when looking at and touching your body or that of your lover. Fantasize while you are preparing for a sensual encounter, making love to your man, or indulging in your favorite self-pleasuring activities. The more you flex your fantasy muscles, the more alive you will feel, the more abandoned and creative a lover you will be, and the better you will know your Inner Sex Goddess, for it is in the realm of your vivid imagination that she lives, breathes, and grows.\n\n\u2022 Use props. Make your fantasies as real as possible by adding a dash of tactile reality\u2014a filmy scarf for your harem sojourn (while in Egypt I bought scads of sheer belly-dancing scarves with dangling beadwork just for that purpose); a furry tail for your Catwoman reverie; a length of rope or a blindfold for your \"rape\" fantasies; mesh stockings and a brief, frilly apron for the French maid in you; sandalwood or musk incense for imaginary Tantric rituals; juicy fruits for fantasy love with Tom Jones. And of course always have your favorite toys readily available\u2014vibrators, videos, scented massage oil, ben wa balls, and so forth. Your castles in the air become much more erotically solid when draped with the stuff of reality.\n\n\u2022 Let your erotic visions speak a different language. In fantasies, men don't have \"penises\"; they flaunt swollen \"cocks.\" You no longer own a \"bosom\" and \"genitals\"; now you've got creamy \"tits\" and a \"juicy pussy.\" And horny hunks don't swarm around to have \"intercourse\" with you; they are panting to \"fuck\" you silly. For many of us, the brazen language of sex can instantly trigger your most wanton instincts and transform your fantasies from bland into sizzling. Foreign words, too, can add just the right touch of exotic romance when you are daydreaming about sexy Italian counts or rough-hewn blond Vikings. Phrases such as _\"Baise-moi, ch\u00e9ri!\" \"Bums Mich Schneller, Liebling!\"_ and _\"Chiavami, tesoro!\"_ are just the ticket to exciting foreign fantasylands. Learn to savor these powerfully evocative words. Whisper them to yourself in the dark of night. Chant them to yourself. Use them to catapult otherwise casual musings into the realm of hot, depraved fantasy masterpieces.\n\n## going to the source\n\nI am in the African bush with an untamed lover. We roll in the leaves and wallow in the mud like languorous primitive beasts, and then he washes me off in a cool green river. We glide through the water on the back of an alligator, and when the creature tries to reach around and devour me, my wild lover saves me from its cruel jaws with the power of his muscled arms. He proudly parades me through the village, naked on the back of a giant wrinkled elephant. In his hut he leaves me bare but wraps himself up in white robes so that I can see only his dark smoldering eyes as they travel hotly over my quivering nakedness. Then he parts his robes for me so I can touch his hot, hard body, and I kneel down to take his swollen member in my mouth. Caressing my head as I suck him, he brings me under his robes, where it's even hotter than under the African sun. He pours his honeyed come down the front of my body and rubs it into my breasts so that I'll bear his scent. Slowly we sink down onto the rough mat, and he enters me from behind, biting my neck and growling softly like a wild animal. His huge shaft plunges hard against the very deepest part of my woman's well, and soon I am panting in uncontrolled ecstasy. Hours pass as he keeps me teetering on the brink of breathless release. Finally, possessing me completely by reaching around to put one hand on my throbbing bud and the other on a burning hot nipple, he thrusts even more powerfully into me, snarling like a great tiger\u2014and I scream in the ecstatic agony of my body's surrender. Later he bathes me under a cascading waterfall and lies with me on the banks of the river, while we listen to the hyenas laugh.\n\nOne night, while out dancing in a tight red dress, I am suddenly grabbed by three men who blindfold me and throw me into the back of a van. Days later, awaking from the drugs they've given me, I find myself standing on the auction block of a white slave market. I am covered from head to toe with robes; only my eyes are visible. The auctioneer says, \"The bidding will start at one million rupees for this exceptionally fine specimen!\" Suddenly he rips away my robes, exposing my entire naked body; the audience gasps in excited approval. Several customers, men dressed in long robes and turbans, come up and bounce my breasts between their hands, pinch my nipples, and grab my bottom. One man in a blue sash even rubs my clit and thrusts an incredibly long finger deep inside me, pumping it in and out to observe my reaction. Though I should feel humiliated and angry, I find myself feeling haughty and sexy instead, because I can see that every one of these men has a huge erection jutting out under his robe. I start gyrating my hips, squeezing my own tits, and massaging my pussy. I look right into the eyes of the man with the blue sash and lick my lips suggestively. I take my fingers out of my wet sex and stick them in his mouth. He starts sucking them hungrily and whips out his iron rod to get at it with his hands. All the other men do the same, so that all I see are these gorgeous shafts aching and throbbing for me. I am turned on tremendously, and I keep undulating and fucking myself with my fingers until all of those men spurt their come all over my body\u2014all except the man in the blue sash: he sticks his stone-hard member straight up my pussy and fucks me hard, fast, and deep, right there in front of everybody, and I explode in uncontrollable spasms. I select him as my lucky owner and lead him off to demand more fucking.\n\nThough some women quite easily and prolifically conjure up elaborate visions like the ones above to accompany their self-pleasuring interludes, many of us are just as happy dreaming up much simpler scenarios\u2014like \"What would my next-door neighbor look like without his clothes? I'll bet his stomach muscles ripple, all the way down to his...\" or \"I'd love to rub my oiled-up breasts all over my husband's body.\" That's okay. Fantasies can run the gamut from simple musings about real men and situations to complicated visions of exotic lands, strangely sexed people, and bizarre or impossible copulations. Almost anything you see, read, hear about, remember, or experience can become a rich source of voluptuous inner visions for you. The world, and especially the sensualized domain that your Inner Sex Goddess perceives, is full of juicy ideas. So never feel stumped as to where and how to come up with really tasty fantasy material. Simply tune your otherwise rational brain in to the outlandishly opulent wavelength of your personal Cloud Damsels and view the world through their erotic-tinted glasses. Allow yourself to recognize a sensual image when you see one, relish it, take a mental picture of it, write about it in your journal, free-associate it with any people, places, or things that float across your mind. Let your imagination range freely over completely new territory. Then, when next you want to embody your Inner Sex Goddess\u2014whether you are self-pleasuring, making love to your man, or standing in line at the bank\u2014flip through your mental catalog of self-produced fantasy flicks and plug in the hottest one.\n\n_118_. Recall a man, situation, or previous lovemaking session that made your love button shiver. In your mind, savor the sounds, smells, and textures that went with it. Embellish them. In your imagination let them evolve to an extreme pleasure point. Here's an example: \"I had a lover once who had the most beautiful smooth brown skin. Just the smell of it drove me insane with lust. Whenever I want to get hot, I remember that musky scent and the feel of his skin against my chest. Sometimes I get to swimming in that smell and imagine that it's pouring in through my nose, mouth, and vagina to fill every corner of my body. It turns my insides to warm honey.\" And another: \"My boyfriend and I used to jump on his motorcycle and go for wild moonlight rides. Remembering the feel of that vibrating hunk of metal and my boyfriend's ass between my legs makes me tremble even now. It works especially well in tandem with my vibrator.\"\n\n_119_. Read steamy novels. Become one of the characters and immerse yourself in the hottest scenes\u2014clothes, food, toys, locales, the whole megillah. Some of those anonymous Victorian porn books can be delightfully kinky\u2014with wide-eyed, pantalooned maidens turning into sex-crazed, riding crop\u2013wielding mistresses who love to watch their brothers impale every servant in the house. Or become a different sex. \"Henry Miller's books really get my juices flowing,\" a friend told me. \"I love to put on my husband's clothes\u2014when he's not around, of course\u2014and pretend I'm one of Miller's cocky male heroes, throwing around words like 'prick' and 'pussy' and whipping out my huge member to fuck every woman who crosses my path. It's fun to wear the shoe on the other foot for a change.\"\n\n_120_. Peruse adult magazines. The photos, especially in _Penthouse_ , are often meant to be realistic fantasies. A ten-page layout of two women playing with ice dildos supplied me with raw fantasy material for months. Don't forget to read the stories and the letters from other readers too. \"A man wrote in about secretly watching his wife shed all her inhibitions and have pornographic sex with two hunky gardeners, and for some reason that lit all my fuses,\" my friend Mary told me. \"Improvising my own version, I have great fun imagining my husband spying on me as I have my way with the virile young guys who clean our pool. My favorite part is when I sit on the lap of one, his love-stick buried deep inside me and my back to him, while the other guy slurps on my clit. This is just too much for my husband, and he has to come out of hiding and join in by sucking my tits. Of course I would never do this in real life, but that's what makes it even more fun to fantasize about!\"\n\n_121_. Walk in nature. When you see a waterfall, fancy that you are standing under it with a long-haired Polynesian lover, feeling the water and his hands on your breasts. Let the intense mossy green of a forest return home with you as a mental talisman that evokes vivid color, moist earthy feelings, and romantic medieval imagery. See mountains as breasts to suckle, trees and skyscrapers as mighty shafts to penetrate you, rock clefts as mouths to kiss and be kissed by. Let a mud puddle conjure up visions of rolling in the mud with a crocodile, a wolf, or a primitive tribal lover. Use these natural spices to flavor your solo or partner lovemaking. One nature lover I know told me this fantasy. \"All of a sudden this log became a platform on which I could display myself to hundreds of men. In my mind, I lay back on it, nude, the log between my legs so that I was spread-eagled, my sex open wide. I could imagine the bark prickling my bare back and ass as I massaged my juicy opening, and all these men with huge naked erections stared at me hungrily. But no one was allowed to touch me because I was the sacred white goddess of the forest, and they had to worship me from afar.\"\n\n_122_. Become another woman\u2014someone you've read about, seen in a movie, or heard of in a song. \"I have different fantasy personalities depending on the activity,\" a woman told me. \"For pleasuring myself, I mentally play the role of Salome, whom I see as someone unashamed of touching her body and with lots of marvelous veils and things to play with. With my husband, I imagine that I am Xaviera Hollander, the Happy Hooker, flaunting my bold sexuality and giving him everything a man could possibly dream of. And when I just want to relieve the boredom of ironing, I invent a scene where I'm 'Brown Sugar' from that Rolling Stones song. She's a saucy little tart who drives all kinds of rock stars wild.\"\n\n_123_. When you see an attractive man, imagine what he looks and feels like naked. What outrageous things would he do to you? What naughty acts would you perform for him? How would his penis be shaped? What color is his pubic hair? Does he have a tattoo on his right inner thigh? Would he like to shave your mound? How does the inside of his mouth taste? Would he prefer you in white cotton, red lace, or black leather? Does he cry out when he comes? Are his nipples sensitive? his earlobes? his eyelids? Would he have a penchant for licking your cleavage? Would you like to lick his? The next time you play with your vibrator, imagine it's his hands that are giving you those sudden shocks of pleasure.\n\n_124_. Read sex manuals. Pick out some of the kinkier suggestions that you might never have the nerve to do in real life\u2014like having your man whip you lovingly, wrapping his penis with pearls, or inviting a third person into your love-play\u2014and fantasize about them. Devise your own variations. Pretend that you are being photographed or drawn for the book's illustrations. As you fill your mind with these vivid images, let them stir you into self-pleasuring action. \"I've always read about watching yourself have sex in an overhead mirror, but I'd be too embarrassed to do this with my husband. So sometimes when we make love, or especially when I'm by myself, I imagine that I can see the reflection of his tidy little rear bouncing up and down on top of me. It gives me the most amazing tingles,\" a friend told me.\n\n_125_. Be alert for accidental triggers to your erotic imagination. Wrong numbers, incorrectly addressed mail, switched luggage or tickets, accidental grocery cart collisions, misinterpreted words or names, and unusually striking newspaper articles can all carry the seeds of a great fantasy garden. I used to get occasional wrong-number phone calls from people asking for Natasha. Eventually, one deeply disappointed caller told me that Natasha was a dominatrix who had always had this phone number, and maybe I'd like to get paid for \"punishing\" him instead of just insisting that this \"bad boy\" had reached the wrong number! I hung up on him and got my phone number changed, but in the meantime I had great fun fantasizing about rudely making appointments with these men\u2014how they would love the verbal abuse!\u2014putting on hip boots and chains, and satisfying their every desire for erotic leather punishment.\n\n_126_. Let music shape your feelings into images. Brazilian music or reggae can take you to hot tropical climes where small bikinis, dark sultry men, and devil-may-care attitudes have free rein. The heavy drumbeat of hard rock may stir your primitive instincts. Baroque sonatas may turn you into a bird flying free of all society's limitations or a guitar being plucked by a man's strong fingers. \"I don't fantasize about people or events but more about feelings,\" Carol told me. \"I can put on a piece of music, concentrate on a particular instrument or melody line, and use that to focus my sensations and feelings into one electric-blue chord that flows throughout my body as I want it to. This chord feels hot, cold, and throbbing all at the same time, and it kind of beams into my hands, breasts, and genitals as the music trips along. It intensifies everything that I'm doing to myself, and if I focus it in my clitoris, it always gives me an orgasm.\"\n\n_127_. Advertisements are a great source of fantasy these days. How about those Calvin Klein ads showing the naked torso of a perfectly sculpted man on the sand? Imagine rolling in the waves with him or feeling the bulge in his jeans. The ads for Guess jeans often depict a hot western scenario or a coffee-shop t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate with gorgeous men and women lolling about. You could walk right into one of those scenes and get branded by your favorite cowboy. TV commercials for perfume are usually designed specifically to evoke romantic fantasies: Liz Taylor seductively bringing luck to some classy dude in a casino; a pouty-lipped woman challenging you that \"not every woman can wear Red,\" apparently because it's so hot and bold; some Fabio look-alike galloping up on a horse to scoop you up and away to cloudland. And then there's the next-door neighbor who comes to borrow coffee. My friend Teresa fantasizes, \"That sexy hunk rings my chimes all right. When he comes to ask for coffee, I invite him in, and while I'm reaching up to get the tin off the shelf, he comes up behind me, pins me against the cupboard, raises my skirt, and screws the living daylights out of me. Then I undo his shirt, put honey on his nipples, and lick it off, and somehow we forget all about the coffee.\"\n\n_128_. Delve into your dreams for fantasy scenarios. As messages from the subconscious, dreams can give us clues to the \"forbidden\" desires and fears we otherwise keep hidden from ourselves, and in fantasy it's safe to explore them. I once had a powerfully erotic dream about the very ordinary man who was my boss at the time. Although in real life I liked and respected him, there had been no particular sexual chemistry between us\u2014and it would have been a career disaster to get romantically involved with him. But in my nocturnal imagining, I let myself see the suave and sexy Don Juan personality that he probably never revealed even to himself and that lit a huge bonfire in my libido. Intentionally refraining from any real-life dalliance with him, I undressed him with my eyes and made dangerously abandoned imaginary love to him in the hallway for months. It made going to work such a treat!\n\nYou can also program your dreams to work things out for you. A friend told me she'd been having mental flashes of two of her female colleagues licking and biting her all over. She did not want to explore the idea of making love to a woman in real life, but these images were so persistent that she decided to tackle the idea in her dreams. After about five nights of falling to sleep deliberately thinking about these women, she finally had a dream in which the three of them made an intensely erotic porn movie together, stroking, sucking, tweaking, and kissing each other in every possible entangled combination. She enjoyed the dream so much, and it felt so natural to her, that she treasured it as a favorite fantasy for years. Even though she still had no desire for same-sex love in her daily life, she allowed herself to relish the beauty of woman in her dreams and fantasies.\n\n_129_. Assign yourself a role\u2014any role\u2014and see where it takes you.\n\n\u2022 You're a librarian who just can't help sneaking hunky young college students in between the shelves for some real education.\n\n\u2022 You're a sports reporter, and when you find yourself in the football players' locker room, you tear off all your clothes and massage yourself to orgasm while the entire team cheers.\n\n\u2022 You're a teenager on your first date, making out for hours, then finally letting him feel your breast, his hot, desperate panting loud in your ear.\n\n\u2022 You're stranded on a desert isle with only the wild animals for loving company.\n\n\u2022 You're a harem girl, pampered, perfumed, bathed, and licked by hundreds of beautiful lusty women every day and chosen to suck the sultan's golden dagger every night.\n\n\u2022 You're a porn film star and have to watch hugely endowed men and beautifully molded women having sex constantly; then you let three men and two women suck, fuck, and bite you for ninety-seven camera takes.\n\n\u2022 You're a nineteenth-century French maid whose master often finds it necessary to spank you for dereliction of duty.\n\n\u2022 You're a Tantrica in an ancient Oriental garden pungent with the smell of orange blossoms and jasmine, and an Indian god with twelve arms smooths every inch of your body with his twelve hands while making transcendental love to you.\n\n\u2022 You're an executive at a meeting, and one of your colleagues has slipped under the conference table to lick you between the legs.\n\nYou're a hostage who is tied down, forced to perform cunnilingus on six women, spanked with the thick penises of ten huge men, and then taken from behind by each one in turn.\n\n\u2022 You're Lady Godiva, riding bareback and bareassed through town with only your long tresses to cover your voluptuous charms.\n\n\u2022 You have a blind date, and you're getting dressed to go meet a new man for the first time, dreaming up all his sensational qualities and odd quirks, anticipating the flirtatious eye signals and dinner conversation, imagining all the salacious things he might try to (and you might let him) do to you.\n\n\u2022 You're a despotic ruler whose male subjects must pay tribute to you by sucking your nipples and then rubbing their come all over your body.\n\n\u2022 You're a glamorous gambler at a casino in Monaco, and a visiting Italian prince follows you around the casino all night and finally whisks you off to his yacht for a moonlight tryst.\n\n\u2022 You're a waitress at an elegant restaurant who occasionally slips into the men's room and has sex with whoever is in there, no matter how many or how few.\n\n\u2022 You're a bee who has ecstatic orgasms by flying deep into the well of fragrant, brilliantly colored flowers and rolling gleefully around in their soft golden pollen.\n\n## cloud damsel visions\n\nWhile most fantasies are purely for lustful fun, a certain kind of imagining is meant for more serious business\u2014the business of designing reality the way you want it to be. Whether that means making changes in the way your partner feels and behaves, making changes in the way you feel and behave, or calling a new lover to you, these visions are fantasies with a powerful purpose. Indulge in them often enough, and you will find your real life starting to take the shape of your utopian dreams. It's as if you and your Cloud Damsels sit around a white witches' magic cauldron: you throw in mental pictures of what you want, together you brew it up with imagination, and the resulting steam carries your desires to their intended destination in reality, infusing the person or thing with the smoky essence of your erotic vision. More potent than ordinary visualizations, these magnetic mirages carry all the power of your fervid physical desire, hotly charged emotion, and most unbridled imagination. Your inner voices will prompt you when it's appropriate to use them.\n\n_130_. Imagine summoning a lover to you. When my friend Vivian wants to bring a new man into her life or make a long-distance connection with a current one, she merely thinks intensely of that person while she pleasures her body. She feels herself calling to him energetically and sees the man consciously receiving the connection. Vivian says this seems to work even better for her when done in the shower because her pleasure is more intense and because she envisions the steam from her very hot, wet body floating off with the powerful erotic magic of her dream. When I tried this once, I not only had a deliciously entertaining shower, but the lover I'd been thinking of phoned me from three thousand miles away immediately after I left the bathroom!\n\n_131_. Design beautiful new feelings about your own body that will translate into bewitching behavior. Because I believe it's so important for women to learn to love and admire their genitals, I often recommend they try autoerotic play enhanced with the following fantasy: Envisage your mate or imaginary lover ardently licking the lips of your sex and moaning, \"I love your gorgeous pussy. It tastes sooooo good and makes me so hard.\" As your passion mounts, he kisses you even more intensely and groans, \"Give me more of your delicious nectar. I love to lap it up.\" Embroider on this basic scenario as you wish and allow your hands or vibrator to act it out. In addition to being delectable self-pleasuring fun, this vision helps you (1) to know in your bones what a magical, sexy jewel your vulva is; (2) to radiate physical heat from your sex organs to those of your lover; and (3) to invent elegantly lewd pelvic moves.\n\n_132_. Fantasize your mate into the Valentino-like lover you desire. Suppose your man, though he means well, just doesn't spend enough time on foreplay. You've tried retraining him with erotic massage, seductive self-pleasuring shows, and tender talk, but you've had only moderate success. Time for voluptuous visions. In a private pleasuring session, imagine that your once-reluctant lover is now slowly teasing you in all the sweetly agonizing ways you crave. In vivid detail, see him lovingly massage your toes; feel his slow, sensuous caress on your inner thigh; smell the scent of his fevered skin as he bites your nipple; hear the passionate endearments he whispers in your ear; taste his tangy tongue on the corners of your mouth. Simultaneously, inflame all these hot spots with your own loving hands, building your excitement to a feverish heat. The combination of the powerful creative juices of sex, your steaming emotions, and your fierce intention will drive this blazing message straight into your lover's heart.\n\n# 8  \nthe secrets of divine orgasm\n\n_And then it happened like a miracle, this pulsation of pleasure unequalled by the most exalted musicians, the summits of perfection in art or science or wars, unequalled by the most regal beauties of nature, this pleasure which transformed the body into a high tower of fireworks gradually exploding into fountains of delight through the senses_.\n\n_\u2014 Ana\u00efs Nin_\n\nWe women know that orgasm is not a _goal_ to be achieved at all costs, like a touchdown or a home run. In fact, sometimes we don't even care if we have an orgasm because we enjoy the sweet ecstasy of the _process_ of lovemaking so much. Yet that pleasure \"unequalled by the most regal beauties of nature\" is a divine gift to which we are most definitely entitled, and which your Inner Sex Goddess most dearly wishes to bestow upon you. In fact, the blissful waves of orgasm are vital food for the goddesses within your body, strengthening all your subtle energy centers and nourishing your physical and mental capabilities as well. The ecstatic pulsations of your orgasm also constitute one of the most deeply satisfying gifts you can give your lover. Few things turn a man on more than knowing he has solved the eternal mystery, found the elusive Grail, and sent your body into uncontrolled spasms of rapture\u2014which then cascade all over _his_ body.\n\nWe Sex Goddesses have this divine frenzy well within our power\u2014to receive and to give. The research of Masters and Johnson indicates that women's capacity for orgasm far exceeds that of men. And the more we exercise this ability, the more sensitive and responsive to orgasmic stimuli we become, achieving even greater heights of climactic ecstasy, capacity, and skill. In fact, Mary Jane Sherfey in _The Nature and Evolution of Female Sexuality_ speculates that without the restraints of societal and internal taboos, women might be freed to behave more naturally, in a similar fashion to our close relatives the higher primates who copulate, and probably reach orgasm, up to fifty times a day when in heat. How happy and healthy they and their mates must be!\n\nNot too far removed from this state of natural, sexually vibrant well-being are the islanders of Mangaia in central Polynesia. Believed to be the most orgasmically advanced society in the world, they consider female orgasm not an indulgence but a necessity. At puberty, Mangaian males are taught how to stimulate women to maximum sexual pleasure, and the man who fails to give his woman at least two orgasms every time they make love loses his status in the island's society. Sadly, our culture is not so advanced.\n\nBut actually it's much better to retain control of your own body and its pleasures anyway, to realize that nobody _gives_ you orgasms. You create them yourself by knowing how your body reaches its peak and then directing your feelings and activities in a way that _allows_ an orgasm to occur. This command of simultaneous control and abandon is the special talent and gift of your Inner Sex Goddess and of the many sex goddesses, ancient and modern, who have discovered the secrets of first-time, dependably regular, teeth-chattering, and multiple orgasm and have honed their skills into a fine art. Let's listen in on one of their powwows.\n\nOnce upon a time a group of ancient priestesses and modern-day sex goddesses sat around the campfire trying to figure out how to induce the Goddess Who Makes You Shudder Inside to visit them. They knew she could be elusive and that she required praise and petting that met certain very high standards. But these women had clues and secrets that they whispered to each other over the fire. \"Try rubbing very fast.\" \"Let yourself go.\" \"Maybe worshiping a cucumber will make her come,\" they said. And lo, the mysterious seeds of their shared female wisdom eventually bore fruit, the Goddess Who Makes You Shudder Inside appeared full bloom in their midst, and they and their lucky mates lived ecstatically ever after. Each in her turn had revealed a secret....\n\n### Secret # 1\n\n_Know and Love Your Sexual Self\u2014Regularly_.\n\nThis, of course, is what you've been doing throughout this book\u2014exploring your body and finding not its faults but all of its sexy hollows and curves; discovering your personal hot spots, desires, and sexual style; becoming intimate with your Inner Sex Goddess; loving your sensuality, your wild erotic thoughts, and your genitals; learning how to pleasure yourself, and thereby your lover. As one woman said, \"I never had an orgasm until I gathered up the courage to look at my vagina, decided it was beautiful and lovable, and finally got comfortable touching myself and feeling a little bit out of control. That's when all heaven broke loose.\"\n\nA woman who loves her sexuality and regularly pleasures herself to orgasm has a high degree of sexual self-confidence. She wants to express herself sexually more than the usual woman and possesses a higher-than-average sensual thermostat. She likes her body and thinks of herself as lovable and valuable. She expects to delight herself and her lover more than the ordinary woman would; and she most often does. Her self-pleasure is its own reward. Yet it's because she's so hot that she gets the best lovers and the best loving. \"When I realized that _I_ am the one, not a man, who brings sexuality into my life, I felt as if I had been reborn. My body, now truly my own, seemed very precious and powerful. It showed me how to have _real_ orgasms.\"\n\n### Secret # 2\n\n_Surrender_.\n\nWilhelm Reich, the psychoanalyst who wrote _The Function of the Orgasm_ , described climax as \"the ability to surrender to the flow of sexual energy without any inhibition.\" Abandoning yourself to your hot-blooded feelings is essential if you want to be carried over the orgasmic edge, for the very essence of orgasm is letting go, relinquishing control, being lost in the moment, submitting to your body's imperative. You must ask your critical, control-freak self to step aside and let your voluptuous feelings show the way. One very wise woman said, \"You can't _force_ yourself to orgasm; you have to relax, get in the flow, and let your body do its own thing.\" And yet another has said, \"I get myself as excited as possible and then just let go. I kind of surrender to my sensations.\"\n\n### Secret # 3\n\n_Focus_.\n\nEvery orgasmic woman I know says she intoxicates herself to orgasm by throwing everything else out of her mind and concentrating only on her body and its heady feelings of pleasure. At that moment nothing else exists. \"I empty my mind and merge with my feelings,\" one woman told me. \"When I touch my breasts, I concentrate fiercely on the tips of my nipples. When I stroke my vagina, I am so focused there that I _become_ my vagina, pulsing and contracting.\" This ability to loose yourself from the bonds of normal reality and focus totally on the altered reality of voluptuous sensation is what allows many women to achieve extraordinary or multiple orgasmic peaks. \"In my private world, only the tip of my clitoris exists. But at that moment it feels bigger than my whole body, as if I'm one giant clitoris rippling on waves of vibration.\"\n\n### Secret # 4\n\n_Get the Right Kind of Clitoral Stimulation\u2014and Plenty of It_.\n\nWhether you like it direct or indirect, fast or slow, hard or easy, with water or your hand or a vibrator, find out what drives your clitoris crazy\u2014and stick with it until your body can't stand the agonizing pleasure anymore and has to climax to relieve the tension. One friend says, \"My best orgasms happen when I spread my vaginal lips apart and let the faucet in the tub run full blast right on my clit. The faucet is fabulous and can last a lot longer than I can.\" Another self-educated woman chimes in, \"I like to move a vibrator up and down over my clitoris for about ten minutes nonstop. Then I just hold it steady and push it in until I explode.\" Still another says, \"I can accelerate my orgasm by holding the sides of my clitoral hood between my finger and thumb and gently massaging it while I slide a wet finger over the tip of the clitoris itself. Fireworks!\"\n\n### Secret # 5\n\n_Try Your Goddess Spot_.\n\nWherever it is, your G-spot is _your_ area of special sensitivity, so capitalize on it. Three different sex goddesses say: \"I arch my back so my fingers can reach a real deep sexy place inside me. Then just a couple of strokes and I go off like a cannon.\" \"I can come several times if I put a dildo just inside my vagina and rub it up and down quickly over that rough spot I love.\" \"My G-spot is outside over my urethra. If I massage it in circles, orgasmic waves start right away.\"\n\n### Secret # 6\n\n_Flex Your PC Muscle_.\n\nContracting the PC muscle greatly increases sensation and adds enough additional stimulation to bring many women to the threshold of orgasm. One wild maiden confides, \"Tightening makes the feelings stronger. When I get close to climaxing, I squeeze hard and hold my vaginal walls together till the contractions stop.\" And another says, \"After I have an orgasm, I use my PC to mimic the contractions until I come again.\"\n\n### Secret # 7\n\n_Watch Yourself in the Mirror_.\n\nMany women are tantalized into orgasm by seeing what their own buildup of sexual tension looks like and watching how their body moves with mild or intense orgasms. One says, \"When I see my vaginal lips swelling, opening up like a hothouse flower and undulating real sexy-like, I start quivering inside and sort of roll into an internal shudder.\" Another autoerotic voyeur declares, \"My nipples get very dark and big, as if someone's been kissing and biting them for hours. And then my whole body seems to get pink and light up. Watching this sends me right over the edge.\"\n\n### Secret # 8\n\n_Use a Vibrator_.\n\nThis secret is especially helpful if you've never had an orgasm. But even if you have, new sensual peaks await you, as the following story illustrates. \"A friend told me about the fun she was having with her vibrator, and I wanted to explore too. It was great because I could direct the intense pulsing movements exactly where I wanted them and keep them going for a really long time. I felt that I was building up to some sort of explosion or precipice, and I remember thinking, Could this be dangerous? Soon I felt as if I'd reached the top of some mountain and then fallen off into a blissful state of delicious inner pulsing and uncontrollable contractions that I had never dreamed my body was capable of.\" (See Chapter 9 for details on using vibrators.)\n\n### Secret # 9\n\n_Fantasize_.\n\nThe most erotic organ in the body is your brain. It is the epicenter of your sexual earthquakes. And as you know from the previous chapter, your personal Cloud Damsels are intimately familiar with the wilds of your interior erotic terrain. In the blink of an eye, they can create at least ten hot fantasies that will expertly touch off any number of private landslides. So do as more than 80 percent of orgasmic women do: fire up your imagination to bring on a shuddering orgasm. Here's what just one of them said, \"I like to get on all fours with a vibrator beneath me on a pillow and imagine that I am being taken doggie-style. This wonderful little fantasy brings on multiple orgasms and makes me really hot for more loving from my real-life man.\" Another creative vamp shares this fantasy: \"I lie flat on my back, insert three wet fingers, and fantasize that an Arab prince has whisked me off to his tent and laid me down on a long table covered with luscious exotic foods. The women of his harem start licking me all over like a piece of fruit, and the prince himself slips his tongue deep inside me. That always makes me come right away!\"\n\n### Secret # 10\n\n_Play a Role_.\n\nSometimes playing the part of a sex kitten, a dominatrix, or an innocent young girl can free the wildly orgasmic you from the bonds that restrain her. Dress the part and really act it out. Three playful Sarah Bernhardts confide: \"When I wear my red lace bra and see-through panties, I start slinging my hips around and getting naughty. I feel like a high-class call girl capable of firing off a hundred orgasms.\" \"I like to dress up like Lolita, with red pouty lips and little schoolgirl dresses. Then I do that 'shy Di' look. Sexy and sweet at the same time, I feel it's okay to do anything, including innocently losing control of my body and, 'Oh my! I've just had an orgasm!' \" \"I _pretend_ that I'm having an incredibly intense orgasm. I shout and fling myself around in a frenzy. My body doesn't seem to know the difference and actually comes to a climax.\"\n\n### Secret # 11\n\n_Vividly Picture a Body Part_.\n\nI used to think I was the only oddball who did this, but it turns out that many other women find visualizing body parts extra stimulating too. I usually imagine a close-up view of my breasts, nipples extended and quivering. Somehow this heightens their sensitivity and sends intense orgasm signals to my vagina. Other sensual visualizers share their secrets: \"I get an image of what my clitoris must look like to a man, from a straight-on view. It seems huge, red, and wet. Then if I just touch it with my fingertip, I have an orgasm immediately.\" \"I see my vaginal walls swelling and filling with blood, and the back of my vagina opening up to accommodate this huge dildo I have. I see the dildo in there, too, thrusting against the walls and forcing them to open even more. The power of this image really gets me, for some reason, and I then imagine I'm actually watching the spasms of these swollen walls as they release all the energy they've been holding.\"\n\n### Secret # 12\n\n_Keep Your Rhythm and Pressure Steady_.\n\nThis is a biggie. Almost every woman I know says the trouble with trying to have an orgasm with a man is that he's likely to change the exquisite thing he's doing to you just when you've reached a level of unbearable sexual tension. At that point, it's crucial to _not change a thing_. \"Yes!\" a friend of mine agreed. \"It must be exactly the same rhythm, motion, pressure, speed, everything for the last twenty or thirty seconds. If not, the whole thing is ruined!\" Another smart lady capitalizes on this essential element: \"After I come, I just keep up the same steady, hard stimulation even though at first it feels like I can't stand to be touched. Pretty soon that intensity goes away and I just keep on riding the waves of pleasure into multiple-orgasmic bliss.\"\n\n### Secret # 13\n\n_Tease Yourself_.\n\nYou can intensify and prolong your orgasm by building tension to a peak but stopping before you go over the edge. Lighten your touch or move to a different area while the level of arousal drops, then rises again. The more times you do this, the greater will be your release in the end. \"I love to tease myself into a powerful orgasm by moving my vibrator down from my clit to my vaginal opening when I'm almost ready to come. I hold it there for a while and hang suspended until all pulse stops racing and then move it back to my clit,\" my friend Joan said. \"I do this about ten times before I finally let myself come; then I just explode.\" Another shameless self-tease confesses, \"If I take my time, build up slowly, then let myself come down again, maybe just rubbing my breasts between peaks, I get this almost unbearable feeling of wanting to jump out of my skin after about five times.\"\n\n### Secret # 14\n\n_Experiment with Breathing Patterns_.\n\nEvery woman seems to have a different way of using her breath to enhance her orgasmic capabilities. Explore your breathing repertoire until you find just the right lung action for you. \"I make sure that I have an orgasm every day, because it helps relieve the stress of my high-power job,\" a colleague told me. \"I find that breathing deeply is very important for me, no matter what I'm doing, but especially when I'm pleasuring myself. I just breathe very deeply and imagine that the air is being breathed in and out of my vagina. It seems to make my insides tingle just enough to bring me off beautifully.\"\n\nOther heavy breathers say: \"I've found that if I hold my breath, it helps me over the plateau.\" \"Panting in short, rhythmic gasps really increases the sensation in my whole vulval area and makes me come faster. In fact, if I keep up these pants after my first orgasm and rub myself more gently, the hypersensitivity in my clit disappears and I can go into another sexual buildup and another orgasm\u2014even five or six more.\"\n\n### Secret # 15\n\n_Make Sounds_.\n\nWithholding noises can stifle your orgasmic feelings, while letting them out frees you to express what you feel inside. Here's what several vocal women have to say: \"If I don't scream like a banshee, I can't come.\" \"When I moan, I get more into my feelings. I don't know if I could have an orgasm without letting these sexual urges out.\" \"I actually talk to myself about how sexy I look and how good it feels. I say things I would tell a man, like, 'Ooooo, it feels so good when you suck my tits.' It makes me really hot, and then I just can't keep from coming.\"\n\n### Secret # 16\n\n_Change or Combine Types of Stimulation_.\n\nOnce you have an orgasm, try changing your type or place of stimulation to encourage another one. Or combine several styles at once. One voracious lady says, \"My first orgasm comes from fingering my clitoris. But my second one usually arrives only if I plunge a dildo real deep into my vagina and pump it hard.\"\n\nMany women say that if they simply change positions, with their fingers or vibrator approaching from a different angle, they can induce more orgasms. Another woman gluttonous for pleasure says, \"After I come once, I just add on another erogenous zone. I keep my fingers in my vagina, but also rub my bottom or twirl my nipples to make more climaxes.\"\n\n### Secret # 17\n\n_Push_.\n\nBearing down or pushing seems to trigger orgasm for many women. Sara says, \"When I want to have an orgasm, I just push down, as I did when I had my baby. The extra pressure sends me flying.\" Another multiply orgasmic lady says, \"After my first climax, my clitoris is less responsive to touch, so I create more sensation by pushing hard against my fingers to bring on another one.\" And another affirms, \"Bearing down on the dildo makes all my inner skin feel exposed and extra-sensitive. I come right away like that, several times.\"\n\n### Secret # 18\n\n_Learn to Distinguish Between Clitoral and Vaginal Orgasms_.\n\nVaginal orgasms are quite different from clitoral ones, and you may not realize you're having one because your contractions are not the intense muscular spasms of clitoral climax but the deeper, more oceanlike waves of vaginal orgasm, and this may set you on an orgasmic plateau that leads to other things.\n\n\"When I have a vaginal orgasm, my whole pelvis, and sometimes my entire body, bounces and shakes,\" Rachel explained. \"It happens when I use my dildo to rub the very back of my uterus, deep inside. After one of these, I'm satisfied, but then I crave lots more sex, mainly with a real live cock. So my husband loves it when I please myself this way.\" One vibrating vixen says, \"I love to make my clit come first with Jerry the Vibrator. Then I set him aside and use my fingers to caress just inside my vulva until it starts undulating inside. Then if I touch my G-spot, this delicious liquid starts flowing that feels like it comes from the middle of my being.\"\n\n### Secret # 19\n\n_Ride Your State of Mind Beyond Orgasm_.\n\nOne cosmic seductress shared these provocative thoughts on going beyond orgasm: \"To me, orgasm is like the electric charge of putting your finger in a socket\u2014an exciting feeling but a little crude. I find that if I get my head out of the way, feel completely safe, and let go of all my inhibitions and fears, I can go beyond that violent charge into a delicious hum, a state of bliss that can go on for quite a long time. When I'm completely in touch with my Inner Sex Goddess, she knows what to do with my body and leads the way. But you have to be willing to unite completely\u2014not with a partner but with yourself.\"\n\nThe Taoist masters, too, have always regarded the feeling of oneness achieved during and following orgasmic ecstasy as the most easily accessible mystical experience. So if you approach pleasuring and orgasm not just as a physical release but as a spiritual adventure, you too may find that a mystical place even beyond orgasm lies deliciously within your self-loving grasp.\n\n# 9  \ncleopatra's pleasure toys\u2014electric, plastic, furry, and human\n\n_In retrospect, I can see there were times I came close to romantic love with my vibrator. I solved the problem of possessiveness by buying several and lending them to friends_.\n\n_\u2014 Betty Dodson, Sex for One_\n\nalthough it is said that, on many nights, Cleopatra would summon hundreds of her soldiers to take their individual turn satisfying and being satisfied by her seemingly endless capacity for sexual pleasuring, once she met Mark Antony she became a one-man woman. And while he was off fighting wars and acquiring new territory for their kingdom, she would slake her robust sexual appetite with a wide assortment of inventive and luxurious toys, from dildos fashioned of smooth wood or stone to gold-chain pleasure halters, papyrus reed ticklers, and carefully selected clusters of grapes. Aside from quenching a queen's lusty thirst, Cleopatra's pleasure toys also kept the jewel of her libido sparkling, piqued and developed her prodigious imagination, and enhanced her magnetically irresistible sex appeal. Her eyes literally smoldered with passionate invitation when Antony returned from campaigning, and she wantonly initiated him into whatever new and secret seductions she had invented during their long separation. She was a woman profoundly in touch with her Inner Sex Goddess.\n\nAs a queen, Cleopatra knew that gold and land were her most necessary allies. But as a woman, she believed that a finely carved dildo was truly a girl's best friend. Much more charming and fun companions on a solitary evening, they're much more affordable and easier to procure too. Today's vibrating dildos and modern pulsing massagers provide a reliable source of high orgasmic pleasure that can't be beat\u2014in fact, using a vibrator is how I discovered what an orgasm was in the first place. My friend Sally says she used to need an hour and a half of hand stimulation before she could have an orgasm, but with her trusty electric toy she can reach a shuddering climax in ten minutes or less if she wants to. Joan, a very focused and intense woman in her frisky sixties, reports that she needs up to two hours of rapid pulsation directly on her clitoris to reach her peak. For her, a vibrator provides the consistent, long-lasting stimulation her body wants and needs but that neither she nor her husband has the stamina to maintain by hand. Well-known sex therapist Pauline Abrams says, \"It takes longer for me to come with a vibrator, because I can't control the feedback system as well as with my own hand,\" but most women find that the concentrated, unflagging stimulation provided by an electric pleasure toy makes for easier, faster, and often more intense orgasms than they can count on with any other method.\n\nA vibrator works by quivering and shaking the millions of nerve endings in the skin of your genitals. It can trigger at least a million more sensors than the most skillful hand or penis, meaning that an intensely high level of arousal, if not ecstatic orgasm, is inevitable. But don't worry that you'll become addicted. In fact, quite the opposite is usually the case. Most women find that when they learn the full extent of their erotic capacity by self-pleasuring with vibrators and other sex toys, they are at last able to transfer these satiating talents and sensations to other styles of lovemaking, whether on their own or with their partners.\n\nJust like sex goddesses, vibrators come in many styles, shapes, and sizes. Like me, you may choose to acquire an entire inventory of vibrating toys to suit your different sensual moods. Or, like Joan, you may prefer the simplicity of one perfect pleasure wand, always impeccably attuned to your particular cravings. Whichever your predilection, you can buy most types of vibrators in an ordinary drugstore because they are basically massagers for the whole body. For other types, such as dildo vibrators, you may need to visit your local sex store or browse through the many tasteful sex toy catalogs currently available. Once acquired, you can prolong your vibrator's life and the quality of service it gives you by storing it in a cool, dry place\u2014I keep mine in a cloth bag, snuggled in a drawer\u2014and wiping it clean after every use with a cloth moistened with warm water or alcohol. Never immerse your vibrator-massager in water.\n\n## swedish-style scalp massagers\n\nHeld on by straps around the palm, these massagers are small vibrating boxes that sit on the back of your hand. They make your whole hand vibrate gently. Although the pulsations they produce are not as intense as wand or coiloperated vibrators, the advantage of Swedish-style massagers is the skin-to-skin contact they permit and the versatility of being able to transport vibrations to any body area that your eager hand and fingers can reach. So for a lovely silky sort of vibratory experience, strap on your Swedish massager and make your hand flow sensually over your body like that of one of Cleopatra's handmaidens in the milk bath.\n\n_133_. Glide over your entire body with your electrified hand, delving into every crevice and cranny with this quivering sensation. When you vibrate your skin, you stimulate the flow of blood to that area, a marvelous health and beauty treatment for the entire body. And you will discover that areas previously not so erotically sensitive will awaken to new sensual thrills at your vibrating touch\u2014your scalp, lower back, fingers, and toes, for example. So skate lightly over the skin, hold firmly in one spot, or massage as you go. Tingle your soft lips, earlobes, and nipples. Massage your tummy and inner thighs. Tickle the bottoms of your feet, your inner elbows, and the curve of your fanny. Try performing the Mirror of Sensual Transformation ritual with a vibrating hand and see how marvelously different it feels.\n\n_134_. Vibrate your vulva. Cup your entire pubic mound in your pulsating palm; slowly press in and feel the deep waves ripple throughout your entire body. Let your fingers rest lightly on your clitoris and vaginal lips. Massage your rosebud and moist vaginal opening with your softly buzzing hand. Squeeze them gently. Insert one vibrating fingertip inside your vagina. Just hold it there while you tingle; then rotate it and slide it in and out. Sneak up on your G-spot and make it throb. With your new quivering touch, you can add a fresh dimension to what you did in numbers 35 through 132.\n\n_135_. If you didn't become an immediate fan of anal self-play in Chapter 4, try it with your _electrified_ fingers. You may discover, as did my friend Sharon, that the delicate tissues there, richly endowed with sensual nerve endings, literally invite vibrations. She says, \"I love to strap on my Swedish massager and lay the tip of my middle finger against the opening in my behind. The vibrations feel sooooo good, and somehow primal. At the same time I rub my clit and labia with the other hand. It's kind of like being rocked in an unbelievably sexy cradle.\"\n\n## electric wand and coil-operated vibrators\n\nAs used by most modern sex goddesses, these vibrators are great for super stimulation of the genital area, especially the clitoris, thereby quickly propelling you into the blissful throes of first-time orgasms, nectar-producing orgasms, and even multiple orgasms. As such, they are highly recommended by Aphrodite, the Cloud Damsels, the sensual descendants of Cleopatra, and 99.7 percent of all Inner Sex Goddesses as an especially fine way to develop deep communion with them. And the more you express your Inner Sex Goddess self, the deeper and more electric is your communion with your lover. So pick out the vibrator type best suited to you, and aim for the stars.\n\nA wand vibrator is composed of a tennis-ball-sized vibrating head attached to a foot-long phallic handle. One of the oldest and most popular types, this magic wand generates a strong penetrating vibration, diffused over the rounded rubber head, and it's very easy to maneuver. It can be easily stationed between you and your lover, providing both of you with powerful vibes and free hands.\n\nCoil-operated vibrators have smaller handles, usually about seven inches long, and a vibrating metal plug on the side to which you can fasten a fun assortment of vinyl attachments\u2014rounded, pronged, and cuplike. They generate more focused, super-fast vibrations, are relatively lightweight and quiet, and have the advantage of variety over the vibrating head. Both wand and coil-operated vibrators usually have two speeds of operation, which basically translate to \"intense\" and \" _really_ intense.\" So handle these toys with care, but do handle them.\n\n_136_. Since wand and coil-operated vibrators were really made to be body massagers, you can and should use them to voluptuously tingle the skin all over your body. Employ the longer wand vibrators to pleasure places you can't normally reach with your hands. Massage the middle of your back, for instance, while you twirl your nipples with your free hand, or extend the wand down to tickle the bottoms of both feet while you rub your clitoris with your free hand. Play with the attachments of a coil-operated model on different parts of your body\u2014perhaps the suction cup over a toe, the pronged number to scratch your back, or the small rounded one to slip into your navel. Or simply give yourself an all-over vibrating massage before you move on to more sexual endeavors.\n\n_137_. Although the possible combinations of body parts and vibrator attachments are tantalizingly endless, here are some suggestions for each tingling attachment that Cleopatra would have loved to have in her collection. The dome of the suction cup is perfect for crowning your clitoris with euphoric pulsations; it fits over and around your little Jewel of the Nile without touching it directly. Try using the pronged attachment to simulate the grazing of Mark Antony's teeth on your milk-wet nipples. The small rounded tip is excellent for penetrating _in_ to sensitive places, like a smoothed Nile pebble having an earthquake inside your moist interior caves. And the ringed diffuser spreads the tantalizing tingles over the fleshy mounds of your honeyed breast or your jasmine-perfumed pubis; and, if pressed down firmly, it sends caressing pulsations deep into your very bones.\n\n_138_. Nipples and vibrators go well together. The round ball of a wand vibrator can impart a wonderful tingly feeling when smoothed over or pressed deep into a rosy areola. Cupping a nipple with the domed attachment of a coil-operated model might remind you of a small, sucking mouth. For a sharper, more intense sensation, pass either the pronged or the spot massager lightly over your nipples; this can send darts of excitement to your lower regions, warming them up for further self-play.\n\n_139_. When you feel ready to move the vibrator to your genitals, you may want to soften the intensity of its pulsations at first. Too strong a pressure or movement can kill your building passion. Try placing a folded towel, a pillow, or a piece of clothing, like maybe your sexy panties or teddy, between your delicate vaginal or clitoral tissues and the head of the vibrator. Or encase the whole vibrator in a thick cotton sock. This will help diffuse the vibrations, and the different texture against your skin will add a thrill all its own.\n\n_140_. Massage your outer and inner love lips with the vibrator. Long, slow strokes bring out the best and hottest levels of sensation. At some point stop and hold the head maddeningly steady against your urethral opening or your vaginal opening. Let the constant, steady pulsations melt into you and spread a throbbing glow throughout your whole body.\n\n_141_. You know how maddeningly exciting it is when your lover teases you by completely removing his penis from your vulva, pausing, and then resuming his amorous assault. Do the same with your vibrator by continually raising it away from your body and bringing it back again.\n\n_142_. Try inserting your stone egg (from the PC muscle exercises) or some ben wa balls into your vagina and then holding the vibrator against your vaginal opening. The egg or balls will rattle around deliciously.\n\n_143_. One sexy editor I know says she likes to rest a finger on her clitoris and then vibrate her finger with the rim of the suction cup attachment. Of course, this finger arrangement can also travel farther down across your inner lips to create a throbbing vulval massage.\n\n_144_. Though this is a delicate undertaking, most women use their vibrators to bestow otherwise impossible raptures upon their yearning clits. Techniques for doing this are as varied as the women who invent and relish them. Some stir their wands over and around the clitoral tip in slow, lazy circles. Others rub up and down or back and forth. They may alternate these movements with simply holding the vibrator lightly in place or rhythmically pulsing it in and out like a slow, gentle love tap. One young and blissfully married swim instructor I know says she prefers to plant her vibrator firmly over her clitoris and then very slowly increase the urgency by pressing it in closer and closer until the vibrator is mushing her clitoris into her pubic mound and the entire area is throbbing wildly. Then she switches the vibrator control to high!\n\n_145_. While vibrating your clitoris in the manner of your choice, trail your moistened fingers over the soft furrow between your labia, circle around your vaginal opening, and slip inside. Rotate, tickle, or thrust appropriately.\n\n_146_. A favored method of my friend Beverly, a bookish professor of philosophy, is to vibrate her clitoris while manually massaging her nipples, and then alternate with the opposite procedure\u2014vibrating her trembling tips while manually massaging her love bud. For Beverly, as for many women, there is a direct and powerful connection between these two hot spots that is electrified by the simultaneous pulsing and pulling actions. She says it's a great turn-on for her to watch this in the mirror too\u2014as it would be for any lucky lover, by the way.\n\n_147_. You can simulate the skin-to-skin pulsations of a Swedish scalp massager by resting your wand or coiloperated vibrator on the back of your hand as you stroke, knead, and slap with your fingers or palm. With a little imagination, these strokes could feel like the delicious ministrations of your man's mouth, hand, or \"sacred snake.\"\n\n_148_. Insert a fingertip to pinpoint your G-spot and then vibrate it by placing your magic wand on the part of your finger, knuckle, or hand that remains outside.\n\n_149_. My next-door neighbor, an avid sensualist, suggests laying your vibrator, head up, on a pillow, kneeling or squatting over it, and touching your genitals to its pulsing head as lightly or firmly, as fast or slow, as you desire. Pump your hips, \u00e0 la Elvis, over the humming surface.\n\n_150_. Free your hands for erotic self-exploration by creatively engineering a harness to hold your vibrator in place against your labia or clitoris. Tie a long scarf under your pelvis and vibrator, and over your shoulder. Two scarves crisscrossed around your hips can work even better. Or don the bottom half of your bikini swimsuit and insert the vibrator head between cloth and skin.\n\n_151_. I've found that if you hold the vibrator lightly against your love bud and use the middle finger of your other hand to tickle and caress the outside of your vaginal opening and the area just inside it, the voluptuous sensations and images of a lover's penis rubbing against your moist vulva are magically and meltingly evoked.\n\n_152_. One day over crullers and coffee my friend Marion confessed to me, \"I love to rent steamy sex videos and watch them with a vibrator in my lap. I copy every thing they do in the movie, whether it involves somebody's hand or tongue or even a man's penis, except that I'm doing it with my vibrator. I rub it all over my face, breasts, genitals, and derriere. Whatever they do, I get turned on by watching it and feeling my own vibrations at the same time.\" A great way to double your pleasure!\n\n_153_. Using either a wand vibrator or one of the smooth attachments on a coil-operated vibrator, slip the oscillating head around to your anal opening and massage gently. Don't try to insert it. With your free hand, rub your swollen labia and\/or clitoris. Close your eyes and float on a dreamy, cradling cloud, or imagine your lover's tongue there.\n\n_154_. Even though your vibrator is a wonderfully powerful love machine, don't make it do all the work. Move your body against it, gyrate your hips, swivel your fanny into it, undulate over and around its pulsing head. From a prone position with knees bent, thrust your pelvis up off the bed, tighten your tummy and PC muscle, and grind against the massager. Kneel or stand with legs outstretched and do the lambada or the limbo with your mechanical partner. Bend over and slip the vibrator between your legs to massage your tender thighs and labial mound; grip it with your thighs and squeeze, as if it's another phallus you know and love.\n\n_155_. Get personal. Plenty of women have told me they have pet names for their vibrators\u2014Sam, Vic the Vibrator, Thor (the god of thunder!), Valentino, Reginald Rutabaga III, and so on. The woman who dubbed her vibrator Valentino often plays flamenco music and wears one of those black gaucho hats with a chin strap when she has a rendezvous with her electrically powered lover.\n\n_156_. Many sex toy shops and mail-order catalogs carry a variety of vibrator attachments specifically designed for sexual use\u2014including \"cliticklers\" (perfect for focusing vibrations on one spot) and G-spotters (curved to tuck against your labia or to insert for vaginal vibration). There's even one shaped like a two-pronged twig that tingles your clitoris and your inner vaginal walls simultaneously or pulsates deliciously inside your anus. Sometimes half the fun of these attachments is shopping for them in the first place and imagining the dazzling variety of uses to which you can put them. So don't be too shy to indulge in this harmlessly pleasurable pursuit\u2014or to actually cavort with these naughty little toys either!\n\n_157_. Okay, say your vibrator has brought you to a thrilling orgasmic peak, and say your love bud is now supersensitive and shy of further vibratory touch, so you think the fun is over. Only your Inner Sex Goddess knows for sure, but you could probably go on to several more orgasms and reach places in your deep, hot sexuality you never knew existed. If you simply relax, take a few deep belly breaths, and let your hand rest between the vibe and you while you gently rotate against it, you can sustain the lovely orgasmic plateau and allow your clitoris to rejuvenate itself for further, heightened responses. This is when your Inner Sex Goddess _really_ comes alive.\n\n## dildos and battery vibrators\n\nDerived from the Italian word _diletto_ , which means \"delight,\" dildos are penislike objects used for delightful sensual pleasuring. Battery-operated vibrators are simply dildos that vibrate. Since you do basically the same things with both devices, I've lumped them together here for convenience\u2014after all, it's their penislike quality that matters.\n\nAnd that's of course what mattered to Cleopatra when she had her wood and stone dildos especially carved to order. We don't know for sure, but since clay dildos were found in Egyptian tombs around that same time, we can only imagine what elaborate pleasure wands the Queen of the Nile might have had prepared for her eternal resting place. We do know that Cleopatra treasured her phallic possessions as practical magic for keeping her ripe, vitalizing sensuality within easy reach. The Egyptian temptress intuitively understood that sense memories are stored all over the body, and the touch of phallus to vulva can spark off internal nerve messages that evoke lust and love.\n\nThroughout the ages, people of all cultures have unabashedly used carved phalluses as delightful keys to unlock deep sexual feelings. The people of ancient times actually considered dildos sacred. Originally worshiped as fertility gods, they were believed to house the magical potency of life itself. In India, holy lingams made of stone, metal, or ivory, representing the god Siva, were used to deflower virgins as a sacred rite of passage before marriage. And in ancient Rome, it was a statue of the phallus god Mutunus Tutunus who presented his staggering equipment for affianced young girls to ceremonially straddle.\n\nIn ancient Japan and China, a wife would often have a replica of her husband's penis made of tortoiseshell, horn, or wood, with his name beautifully inscribed on it. Greatly cared for and kept in a specially made box, it was a much-venerated likeness of his actual form that could be doted upon and used for self-satisfaction during the prolonged absence of a loved and loving mate.\n\nIn the harems of Arabia and the social and sacred events of Greece, dildos continued to develop new and more interesting forms, and around A.D. 500 a nice touch was added: dildos began to be made from sealing wax so they would absorb body heat. By the 1100s, the clever French had invented long red rubber instruments called _consolateurs_ that held milk or other liquids that could be pumped out to simulate ejaculation.\n\nToday both vibrating and nonvibrating dildos come in an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, perfect for each libidinous lady and her every sensual mood. Vibrating dildos made from plastic, vinyl, or rubber are relatively inexpensive and portable, and they produce vibrations gentler than the wand or coil-operated vibrators. Some are plain hard cylinders while others approximate the softer feel and luscious look of a real penis. Take your pick. I have a delightfully mischievous friend who loves to give the plain cylindrical kind\u2014not very lifelike, but effective\u2014as first-time vibrator gifts. Wearing a catlike grin, she told me, \"They're nonthreatening, affordable, and always appreciated.\"\n\nRegular dildos are equally insertable, portable, and affordable\u2014they just don't vibrate. What they do is provide a delicious feeling of fullness in the vagina (or rectum); the movement is up to you. They too are made from rubber or plastic, but some are fashioned from a very lifelike silicone, and some even sport little protrusions that look and feel like testicles.\n\nBecause they come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, buying a regular or a vibrating dildo can be a mind-boggling experience. I've seen them as small as 4 1\/4 inches long and an inch in diameter, and as big as 10 inches long by 2 1\/4 inches. They come in every color, from flesh to black to turquoise, and in shapes ranging from plain cylinders to ducks, whales, and dolphins to lifelike models of a famous porn star's equipment. Relying on your own personal tastes, you shouldn't have too much trouble selecting a color and shape to suit you, but size can be deceiving. Some women choose a dildo too small because they underestimate the expanded scope of an aroused vagina, while others find that their eyes are much bigger than their sexual appetites. I recommend experimenting with vegetables first\u2014zucchini, cucumbers, and carrots\u2014to determine the perfect fit for you. Then let your Inner Sex Goddess be your guide.\n\n_158_. First things first. Always lubricate your dildo before use because, far from being innately slippery, rubber and plastic can be somewhat sticky and can even pinch or abrade your sensitive tissues. But the oiling-up process can be a scintillating project in itself. Like Cleopatra, you might want to wet your dildo with your mouth by sucking on it lustily, as you would your man's penis. When I attended a class in the art of fellatio, I was delighted to discover that the instructor actually got turned on by using a lifelike rubber dildo to demonstrate oral technique. This practice is not at all weird or perverted; it's sensual as all get-out. In fact, I often have hot oral sex with my dildo while I pleasure myself in other ways at the same time. Try it. The other lubing option is to rub your dildo with oil in the same sensuous way you would massage your lover's equipment. Again, with a little imagination, this procedure can be an entrancing turn-on for you.\n\n_159_. Asking what women like to do with dildos is like asking \"What do women want?\" Basically, everything. Your repertoire should be limited only by your imagination. With your vibrating dildo, try everything you like to do with your regular vibrator. Use your nonvibrating dildo to perform some version of whatever you enjoy doing with your hands and fingers. Make either kind do all the lovely things to you that your man's love tool does, and all the things you _wish_ it could do. It's your dream penis to do with\u2014and be done unto with\u2014as you please. Look at it. Fondle it. Lick it. Screw it. Make it last for hours. Experiment with wild new ways of making love that you can shock your lucky man with later.\n\n_160_. Here's what my friend Charlene, a freckled, fresh-faced mom, likes to do: \"First I smooth the oiled head of my dildo up and down my vaginal lips. Then I press it in a little deeper so it snuggles in between them. Still moving it forward and back, I bring the dildo up to massage my clitoris, then down to nuzzle it barely inside my opening\u2014just enough so that the lip of the dildo head catches on the rim of my vagina. After I pull it in and out a few times, I start the whole routine over again, keeping myself from pushing the entire length deep inside as long as I can\u2014because as soon as I do, I have the most fantastic orgasm.\"\n\n_161_. Create a welcoming space for your dildo by fingering your clitoris long enough to get your juices flowing. Still massaging your delicate rosebud, dip the dildo into your musky lubricating fluids and slip it slowly inside you. Then slide it in and out, matching the cadence of your thrusts with your clitoral strokes and firing off all those lovely inner sex neurons. Keeping the two motions going, quicken your pace until you are thrusting and rubbing at lightning speed. See how far out into the galaxy you can take yourself.\n\n_162_. As you are thrusting, you might want to get your PC muscle into the rhythm too, squeezing it around the plunging dildo so that you can feel its texture against your sensitive vaginal walls. Remember that contracting your inner muscles also pulls on your clitoris, so you'll get a double whammy effect with these sensations. And it's great practice for milking your man's hot member.\n\n_163_. Try inserting your dildo as deep as possible and just holding it there. If it's a vibrator, flick on the switch after it's in place and let the vibrations radiate throughout your entire vaginal cavity. With a nonvibrating dildo, just focus on the luscious feeling of fullness. Let your other hand caress your body erotically as you fashion daydreams of cradling the love-swollen penis of the sexiest man alive.\n\n_164_. I know a woman who prefers to insert her dildo at oblique angles so that it stretches and pulls at her vaginal opening yet penetrates very little. She says, \"This way, it hits all those special spots, inside and out, that drive me crazy, and I feel always on the edge, craving more.\"\n\n_165_. Many women like to alternate deep, powerful plunges that pound into the inner recesses of their love cave with shallow, almost playful thrusts that excite the tighter entryway section. You can even let the dildo slip out completely sometimes, experiencing a lovely tug against your inner lips and vaginal rim each time you reinsert it. Show your lover how to do this with his flesh-and-blood phallus.\n\n_166_. Experiment with varying leg positions to achieve different effects: knees together or spread wide; sitting, reclining, or kneeling; standing in front of a full-length mirror; on your side with legs drawn up; on all fours; in a chair with your legs draped over the arms; face down while imagining being taken by a Mongol warrior. My manicurist says she likes to half recline with one knee up and the other flat on the bed. Then she brings her dildo in from behind, leaving plenty of room for the other hand to massage her clitoris or outer lips. This also brings the tip of the dildo in contact with the front wall of her vagina, where she undoubtedly has a goddess spot or two.\n\n_167_. A great position, if you can manage it, is lying on your back, knees spread wide, feet together and drawn up close to your bottom. Hold the dildo inside you and maneuver it with your feet. All the muscles around your vagina and its lips are being stimulated by the stretch of your legs as well as the exertions of your feet. And this lightly athletic marvel leaves both hands free for erotic exploration to your nipples and clitoris or other erotic venues. If there were a Sexual Olympics, this would surely be a hotly contested event!\n\n_168_. If you have a dildo with a suction cup base, try sticking it to the floor; then squat over it with legs spread wide and bounce up and down wildly. You can create very deep penetration and play with your breasts at the same time. Do your man the biggest favor of his life and let him watch you next time.\n\n_169_. Mary Ann, whose husband is often away scouting locations, has become quite chummy with her vibrating dildo. She says it makes her even hotter for Bill when she stretches her love lips wide open with the fingers of one hand and plunges her dildo in and out with the other. She comments, \"Not only does this feel great and remind me of my lover, but it's incredible to watch in the mirror too.\"\n\n_170_. As you tease, thrust, and rub with your dildo, letting yourself get more and more rapidly out of control, you may find it amusing to deliberately slow the pace by plunging your dildo in as deep as possible and just letting it rest there. Massage your clitoris very languidly and gently until your breathing is back to normal. Then speed up again, bringing yourself to a peak three or four times before you finally let the overpowering spasms carry you over the edge.\n\n_171_. Sex therapist Pauline Abrams says, \"I have my best orgasms if I put a dildo inside me so that it touches my cervix and then use the vibrator. That makes my orgasms much stronger.\" You can use the vibrator to steam up your clitoris and, while doing slow, sensuous penetration, gyrate on the dildo and vibrator at the same time. Or occasionally move the vibrator to the base of the dildo to send fiery pulsations rocketing up inside you. Another idea is to hold the dildo inside you by squeezing your legs together so that one hand is free for the vibrator and the other is available to tease your nipples or to perform some other delight.\n\n_172_. Insert your dildo about halfway and revolve it around and around the neck of your womb as if you were stirring up a delicious batter of passion cookies. This is especially intoxicating when done with a vibrating dildo turned up to full speed.\n\n_173_. Adorn your dildo with a ribbed or contoured condom to create a subtle but stimulating variation on the sensations it produces. It's a great way to practice safe fantasy sex with your favorite outrageously endowed porn star.\n\n_174_. Accessorize. Don a hat, scarf, gloves, shirt pulled open to expose your breasts, garter belt, and stockings under a tight dress, earrings in your pubic hair, temporary tattoos\u2014anything you might not feel brazen enough to wear for your lover. The sight of yourself in the mirror, coquettishly attired, with a lovely plump phallus sliding in and out of you, may give you the salacious ideas you've always wished you had.\n\n_175_. For a delightful tease, skim a vibrating dildo back and forth over your perineum for five to ten minutes before allowing yourself to push it into the deep well of your vagina.\n\n_176_. In some sex toy stores and catalogs, you can purchase hollow dildos containing a rubber or latex tube that's open at one end. You fill the tube with warm water or cream, or take a tip from the Italians and use egg whites or even fish eggs. Then you thrust the dildo in and out in your favorite manner and eject your fantasy lover's \"vital essence\" at the moment of your climax.\n\n_177_. Though this may be not to everyone's taste, I just have to pass along what seems like an exotically stimulating idea from a very adventurous friend of mine. Says she, \"I like that vibrating feeling in my behind; it seems to go all the way up through my vagina and stomach. That's why I often slide my vibrator dildo gently into my rear and smooth my fingers around the stretched opening there. Usually I just lie back and let the feeling build, but sometimes I play with my clitoris or the inside of my vagina. If I slip my fingers inside, I can feel the vibrations through the skin of my vagina, especially if I twirl the vibrator dildo around in that direction. It's a real deep, earthy sensation that makes me shudder and shake like a volcano.\"\n\n_178_. And here's one more from yet another lusty adventuress: \"I think two dildos are better than one, and I like to come up with creative ways to use both my small penislike vibrator and my big lifelike dildo. First I make the little one slippery by sliding it into my cozy slit. Then I slip it into the hole in my bottom and switch it on. Next I glide my Superman-size dildo ever so slowly into my vagina, push it in and out, and churn it around in circles. I imagine that some burly, sweaty construction worker is having his way with me and being real rough. This somehow blasts all my inhibitions right out of the water, and I pound against him like a wild woman. And once I've got all that going, I still have one hand free to stroke my clit. I haven't yet tried using another vibrator for my clitoris, but that's next on my list!\"\n\n## cleo's grab bag\n\nWith the power, ingenuity, and resources to have any sensual toy imaginable created for her, the precocious Queen of the Nile collected quite a cache of inventive pleasuring instruments. But her favorites were always her dildos and the simple little things like ibis feathers, lion fur, and of course milk baths. These pleasures she indulged in for both solo and partner lovemaking. While vibrators and dildos are at the top of almost every modern Sex Goddess's toy list, there is a veritable cornucopia of other scintillating playthings you too can use to coax delectable pleasures from your silky, sexy body\u2014and that of your lover. Though some of the suggestions that follow may bend the boundaries of your self-pleasuring comfort zone, put on your sultry Cleopatra crown and let her try them out for you. You may be surprised at your exotically expanded capacity for pleasure.\n\n_179_. Ancient Indian texts suggest that natural substances make the best penetration toys; they recommend radishes, mangoes, and gourds as well as the usual bananas, carrots, cucumbers, and zucchini. (One zany advertising writer says, \"Thank God for zucchini\u2014it has ridges! But I always practice safe vegetable sex and use condoms to avoid contact with pesticides.\") Fascinatingly, the ancients also suggested a \"reed made soft with oil\" and the stalk of a plant which, when soaked in hot water, swells up and takes on an \"agreeable warmth and texture.\" Mmm, sounds yummy. Of course, if they were around today they might also advocate using pickles (with their titillating knobs and crevices), Popsicles (deliciously icy, and fun to eat afterward), corn on the cob (lube it well first!), or even hot dogs (wet, slippery, flexible, cold, and sort of lifelike in color). Consult your Inner Sex Goddess on any richly inventive ideas she may have.\n\n_180_. An artist friend of mine suggests sculpting your vegetable of choice to size, or to an interesting shape, with a potato parer, leaving enough skin at the bottom so it won't slip out of your fervid grasp. She says she goes into another world when she puts on her headphones, inserts her artistically molded eggplant, and lets her regular vibrator tickle her clitoris unmercifully. When designing your vegetable penis, don't trim too close to the center or it will go limp.\n\n_181_. Almost any smooth object shaped like a cylinder can be used as a dildo\u2014like candles, for instance. Just remember that your internal tissues are delicate; so don't use anything that's glass or metal or that has rough edges or sharp corners. Be as discriminating about your stand-in lovers as you are about your flesh-and-blood men.\n\n_182_. Ben wa balls can provide an exhilarating internal massage, especially if you activate them with a vibrator (as suggested in 142) or by walking, dancing, or exercising while they jiggle around. These are especially handy for an ultimately unattainable fantasy\u2014having a man's penis massaging your vaginal walls all day. You could also insert a vibrating dildo in your bottom and point it toward the ben wa balls just on the other side of the sensitive dividing tissues.\n\n_183_. The Japanese have a slightly different version of their own ben wa balls\u2014called rin-no-tama balls. One of these small brass spheres is hollow and the other contains a tiny heavy metal ball or quicksilver, so that the balls constantly roll against each other. You insert them in your vagina\u2014put the empty ball in first\u2014and secure them with a tampon. Any pelvic movement causes them to shimmy around and tickle your insides mercilessly.\n\n_184_. Most sex toy stores or catalogs carry a little gem of an item called a Kegelcisor. Made of heavy brass, it's a small barbell for exercising your PC muscle (doing Kegel exercises), based on the concept that it's easier to build up strength and tone if you have to work against a resistive device. It's about 6 and 3\/4 inches long and has three small spheres, one at either end and one in the middle, that are 1\/4 inch to 1 and 1\/8 inches in diameter. This fancy fitness tool builds love muscles to grasp your man with, and it can be a uniquely gratifying dildo as well.\n\n_185_. Ice is a fabulous toy. Rub a frosty ice cube across your nipples, over your vaginal lips and clitoris, and inside the walls of your womb. You may prefer \"warm\" ice that has been sitting out for some time or the cold shock of ice cubes fresh from the freezer. Place an ice cube inside your vagina and let it melt as you massage your vulva, or use a vibrator on your labia to blend an internal \"cherry\" daiquiri. You can make a chilling dildo by freezing a cucumber or by very carefully filling an extra-sturdy and\/or large condom with water and popping it in the freezer. A few hours later cut away the condom and _voil\u00e0!_ \u2014an ice penis to play with.\n\n_186_. A truly marvelous toy for sale at most sex stores is a Venus Butterfly massager. This tiny vibrating pad, which lies over your clitoris and straps on around your thighs, allows you to enjoy continuous titillation on your love bud while your hands are completely free to roam over the rest of your hot bod.\n\n_187_. Of course, it's good to have some playthings for the rest of your body too. Taking an inventory of the self-pleasuring treasure troves of several sensuous friends (nightstand drawers, shoe boxes under the bed, even safe-deposit boxes), I discovered the following collection of simple little toys kept handy to make the skin tingle all over the body: a small piece of rabbit fur, ostrich and peacock feathers, a feather duster, silk scarves, the satin from a discarded camisole, a lace doily, black leather gloves, a small rubber ball, wool mittens, the ratty pronged attachment from a long-abandoned vibrator, a satin-smooth wooden egg, a collection of thimbles for each fingertip, cloth flowers, a soft cuddly teddy bear, an old woven place mat, elbow-length cotton gloves, part of a beaded car-seat cover, felt squares, a terry washcloth, a large fluffy makeup brush, the ruffle from a taffeta petticoat, pieces of Velcro, and the long Cleopatra wig from an old Halloween costume. Whether you employ these skin-sational toys by your own private self or invite your lover to join in, they provide easy and fun inducements to coax your Inner Sex Goddess out of hiding.\n\n_188_. Nobody talks about it, but millions of ordinary, virtuous, and sane women find that a little loving bondage provides a hot, intense, and daring addition to their self-pleasuring repertoire. If you've wondered about it but are a little squeamish, self-play can be a wonderfully private, fun, and safe outlet for your budding bondage fantasies\u2014and a special delight for your sizzling Cleopatra-esque personality. While sex toy stores have all kinds of fancy handcuffs, whips, clamps, blindfolds, and chains, there are perfectly wonderful substitutes for all of these wicked toys right in the sanctity of your own palace. Scarves, stockings, bras, and panties make fabulous handcuffs and blindfolds; choker necklaces, ribbons, or long strands of pearls can become decorative slave collars; belts, towels, dustpans, and Ping-Pong paddles can be used for sensuous self-spankings. One friend of mine, who is particularly partial to nipple stimulation, says that clamping her nipples with padded clothespins creates a delicious teasing pinch while leaving her hands free for other delightfully depraved activities. (If you don't have the padded variety, use cotton balls or scarves as a cushion.) Reading a book like _The Story of 0_ can give you plenty more inventive ideas for playing at submission while providing an erotic state of mind perfect for exploring the sweet tortures of passion.\n\n_189_. Another unexpected pleasure can come from playing with toys especially made to fit into your bottom. Depending on your personal preferences, you can insert small dildos, carrots, or cucumbers to provide an exquisite feeling of fullness, or larger specially made anal plugs that stretch, and thereby titillate, your tight opening. Anything you insert into your nether regions should be completely smooth and seamless with a flared base to keep it from slipping all the way inside. And always use lots of lubrication. Once your fanny toy is comfortably and safely in place, you have both hands free to roam over other erotic territories. One woman who enjoys euphoric anal sex with her partner told me that, when alone, she likes to circle her fingers around the rim where her rear sex toy emerges while she massages her clitoris with the other hand. Another lusty lady says, \"When I really want to come fast, I slide this special rubber plug inside my bottom and then stroke the inside of my vagina with my left hand. This turns my vaginal walls to warm pudding, and the plug makes me feel so wide and extended that my body just opens and comes.\"\n\n_190_. Water as a toy offers a fount of sensuous possibilities. Sit in front of the hot, powerful jet stream in a whirlpool bath. Use a bidet, or simply pour warm water over your genitals. Lie in the tub with your vulva directly under the faucet and turn the water on hard, perhaps switching from hot to cold to hot. Remove the head from your shower and let the extra weight of the water falling from a height feel like a thousand tiny fingers rapidly running over your genitals. Marilyn Chambers, star of the classic porn video _Behind the Green Door_ , says, \"What's really good is a hose in your bathtub. You just die, I swear. Just hook a hose to the faucet and take the spray attachment off. You put it on your clit, then you turn the water up and down\u2014hot or cold\u2014and you go through the ceiling. It's the most wrenching orgasm you will ever have in your life.\"\n\n_191_. Then there's a shower massager. The kind you can move around by hand is the only kind to have, of course. Dial the setting to any and every type of spray that takes your fancy\u2014diffuse, pulsing, hard, soft. Wash your inner thighs and navel with hot, tingling liquid. Rub the hard spray directly on your nipples. Spurt pulsing water against your clitoris. Open your labia lips and let the warm liquid pour like cream all over your sensitive membranes. Focus the stream with your hand, and finger yourself within the gushing current. Let hot pulses cascade down the cleavage of your bottom. Spray your entire genital area at different angles and from varying distances, in circles, in long sensuous strokes. Shake it over your throbbing bud and thrust the massager rapidly closer and farther away from your body. Let your Inner Sex Goddess splash around like a wild creature of the deep.\n\n_192_. I'll bet you've never thought of your douching equipment as a toy, but many women have told me they find it extra-stimulating to pleasure themselves while douching. They say the warm water spraying inside and then dripping over their fingers as they rub their clitoris drenches them in ecstasy\u2014and makes them think of penises bursting with love juice. Even if you don't wish to partake of this watery rapture, you can always use the dry attachments as delightfully different dildos.\n\n_193_. Brightly colored ribbons, small soft flowers, and decorative hair combs can be used to adorn your pubic hair as a playful masterpiece of sensual art. If you want to go a little further, try shaving your genitalia (an erotic sensation in itself), admiring your innocently exposed elegance, and then applying a pretty, feminine temporary tattoo. Follow up these aesthetics with master strokes of pleasuring massage to your decorated pubis. Reveal your artwork to your man, if you dare.\n\n# 10  \nthe goddess with her consort\n\n_You must perceive what you are through knowing yourself and your pleasures; for only then can you give the pleasure you seek and accept the pleasure given to you_.\n\n_\u2014 Ashley Thirlby, Tantra_\n\nnow that you've awakened all the erotic centers of your body and mind and learned to bring yourself via a thousand different paths to the highest peaks of sexual ecstasy, it's time to invite your consort into the game. Of course you've been making love to your man all along, and he's been reaping the benefits of your rapidly developing Sex Goddesshood, but have you shared your hottest autoerotic expertise and passion with him? Have you, for instance, thought about tying up your partner and making him watch while you undulate, shiver, and throb to your own inner rhythms? Well, if not, now's the time to knock his socks off.\n\nGoddess vamp that you are, however, even you may at first feel a little shy about revealing your intimate moves and feelings so boldly. But there are several good reasons for overcoming any lingering bashfulness.\n\n_Reason # 1_. According to recent research, many couples have their best sex when they engage in self-pleasuring or mutual self-pleasuring prior to or during intercourse. It adds variety (a crucial element in any long-term relationship), spice, mutual trust, and vulnerability, and it deepens intimacy immeasurably. In _The Art of Sensual Loving_ , Dr. Andrew Stanway says, \"The value of masturbation cannot be overestimated in any loving relationship.\"\n\n_Reason # 2_. You can turn your lover's flame up to extra hot with a simple twist of your nipple or stroke of your sexual triangle. Why do you think there's so much female masturbation seen in X-rated videos? Because men are intensely visual and begin to drool helplessly at the sight of a woman in the throes of her own passion. The fact that you are lusty and confident enough to allow him this intimate and thrilling sight of _you_ is extra frosting on his erotic cake. A man once told me, \"When a woman takes on the full power of her sexuality by loving her own body, and _lets me see it_ , she empowers me to be my sexiest self and takes us to places neither one of us has been before.\"\n\n_Reason # 3_. It takes the passivity out of being the receiving partner. Even in partner sex, you must still be responsible for your own passion, arousal, and orgasmic pleasure. So it's fortifying to know that instead of simply having to respond and follow where your man leads, you can add some flashy steps of your own. And through some magical process of sexual osmosis, it turns out that taking the turns _you_ like makes the dance much more exciting for both of you.\n\n_Reason # 4_. It's the best way for your man to learn your sexual needs and desires. You can show him, for example, that when you are touched lightly your body reaches out for more sensation, and that it contracts away if pressed too hard. You can let him see that when your nipples are twirled at just the right angle, your vulva opens up for him like a sweet, honey-dripping flower. Men want to know that their tremendous sexual prowess is propelling their partners to the heights of ecstasy. But never forget that, most of the time, they are completely mystified about what _really_ turns women on. How provocatively refreshing it is, then, to be shown in such a nonthreatening and salaciously seductive way _exactly_ how to drive you wild in bed!\n\n_Reason # 5_. You can learn hot new tricks from your man too. Not long after I vibrated my way to sexual self-rediscovery, I met Michael, a dedicated and natural sensualist. Sometimes I brought my vibrator to bed with us, but what Michael really wanted to see was me stroking myself between the legs, swelling, undulating, and oozing delicious, slippery moisture. He used to love watching me give myself an orgasm with my fingers and often said it was the most erotic thing he'd ever seen. I loved to watch him, too. In fact, that's how I learned most of what I know about exciting a man's penis. By watching him pleasure his own, I found out, for example, about that \"one slow, five fast strokes\" routine that drives most men insane.\n\nClearly, self-pleasuring with a partner can provide an electrifying boost to any couple's love life. But whether you discuss its lusty virtues with your mate beforehand\u2014to feel him out, prepare, and excite him\u2014or make it a sizzling surprise, it's probably best to start with a small, unintimidating sample of your self-pleasuring power. Over the next several days or lovemaking sessions, take your cues from each other, slowly getting used to your new erotic freedom, before you gradually crescendo to a stirring display of autoerotic fireworks. You'll probably both feel more comfortable that way.\n\n_194_. Sometime during foreplay look him straight in the eye as you suck the tip of your forefinger and slide it seductively over your lips. Then use your wet fingertip to tease his lips and mouth or to give your nipples a slippery pinch, or insert it smoothly into your vagina. Although his eyes will be riveted to your actions, keep him physically involved too by using your other hand to massage his body somewhere.\n\n_195_. As a variation on number 194, start by brazenly wetting your finger in _his_ mouth before trailing it over, under, and into your body.\n\n_196_. Cup your breasts in your hands and present them to him. Bring your nipples to his mouth, lift his hand to them, or play provocatively with them yourself. Deliberately twirl, tweak, pull, and pinch in the ways that make you hot, so he'll learn something while he's getting an erection.\n\n_197_. Provocatively slather oil on your breasts and then take your pleasure on his body, rubbing your slick, tingly nipples roughly or gently all over his face, neck, chest, nipples, stomach, legs, buns, testicles, and penis. Slide his toes, knees, flattened hand, and finally his hardened penis between your pearly globes. Let your deeply satisfied moans inflame him even further.\n\n_198_. As a variation on the previous suggestion, do the same with your oiled pubic hair and vulva or (a personal favorite of my lover's) with your well-lubricated bottom.\n\n_199_. Give your man a tactile and sensual thrill by asking him to lick your fingers while you massage your hottest erogenous zones.\n\n_200_. Take photos of yourself massaging your body and send them to him, insert them in the folds of his newspaper, or leave them propped up on his pillow.\n\n_201_. Some women prefer to blindfold themselves when first self-pleasuring for their lovers. Says my shy friend Milly, \"I can be in my own private world and feel free to do all sorts of naughty things I'd be too embarrassed to do otherwise. Sometimes I even keep the blindfold on after we start making love because the feeling of not knowing what's coming next and the heightened sense of touch are so exciting.\" In fact, not being under the scrutiny of your gaze can be freeing for your partner too.\n\n_202_. You might try supplementing what your man is doing to you with _his_ hands. A sensuous publishing exec I know says, \"When my husband has his fingers in my vagina, it feels more intimate if I stroke his hand with mine. Sometimes I rub my clitoris or massage my outer lips against his fingers. We have fun getting our fingers all tangled up together.\"\n\n_203_. Another opportunity for partial privacy is when your lips are locked together in a passionate kiss and your eyes are closed or busy staring into each other's orbs. This is a good time to stroke his back with one hand and massage your breasts or vulva with the other. He just makes you so _hot!_\n\n_204_. Incorporate any of the sense-awakening activities from Chapter 2 into your partner self-pleasuring. Take a bath with him and run the water and your soapy hands over your genitals and his. Dance for him while seductively undulating your hands over your private places. Use flowers, feathers, or fur to stroke yourself, and him, provocatively. Pour wine over your breasts or genitals, rub it in, lick your fingers, and press your wine-soaked parts against him. Smooth ice over your nipples and into the narrow glove of your sex, then let him lick off the cold drippings.\n\n_205_. One closet vamp I know likes to use her lover's body as a self-stimulating tool. She says, \"I rub my vulva against his knee, foot, or fanny cheeks. Or I tickle my breast with his chest hairs or pinch a nipple between his toes. Sometimes I insert his big toe in my vagina and use it like a dildo. Of course I'm fingering my clit the whole time, too, and looking him straight in the eye.\"\n\n_206_. Actually, one of the best self-pleasuring toys you'll ever have is your man's very own love rod. Use it, slippery with your lubrication but firmly ensconced in your caressing hand, to trace circles around your clitoris; to tease your inner lips and coral opening; to tickle your nipples; to massage your facial muscles; and, keeping it decidedly under the control of your maddening grasp, to inflame the inner walls of your vagina.\n\n_207_. Several sex toys have been specifically designed to transform your lover's penis into an even more exciting self-pleasuring tool for you. The fact that you show up with one of them in the bedroom will ignite his lustful imagination even before you start. Latex or rubber rings with beads in them or soft prongs all around can be slipped down to the base of your man's organ. The snug fit increases his erection, and the beads or prongs rub deliciously against your vaginal lips and clitoris as he thrusts in and out of you. The beaded ones can also be made smaller to fit around the base of his penis head, thus providing you with an outrageous internal massage. French ticklers, or rubber sleeves that fit over the penis and sport nubs all over or feathery plumes on the end, also tease your insides and may quickly stimulate you into a frenzied vaginal orgasm. How potent he'll feel then!\n\n_208_. My friend Liana's husband loves to watch her do the vacuuming while she's dressed in her leather corset or lace teddy. To further relieve the boredom of this mundane task, Liana occasionally reaches down to massage her exposed love nest. And of course it just so happens that she has to bend over then to examine a speck of dust on the carpet, giving her husband a spectacular view. Apparently she sometimes rubs the humming vacuum cleaner wand between her thighs, too. I always wondered how she got her husband to help with the housework!\n\n_209_. Men love to see a woman spread her sex lips wide while she plays with herself, but women often feel hesitant to do this because they think it must look grotesque. On the contrary, men find the sight intensely erotic and beautiful. One lover of mine watched fascinated as he moaned over and over, \"You're so pretty, so pretty. Yes, open that flower for me.\" Soon he simply had to join in.\n\n_210_. My friend Teresa, who's been ecstatically married to the same man for thirty years, says she likes to cup, lift, and massage her fanny while her man is on top during intercourse. In addition to providing a deeper angle of entry, this adds rear stimulation that excites her immensely. And when she wants to come, she can easily slip her finger into her anus and start the spasms rolling.\n\n_211_. When he is taking you from behind, massage your breasts or reach down to rub your love bud. Again, you may want to include him in the massage by occasionally stroking his thrusting penis while you're in the neighborhood.\n\n_212_. You can, of course, pleasure yourself from any lovemaking position, but spoon fashion is a particularly good one because your hands and the front of your body are completely free and, as you don't face each other, any embarrassment can easily be hidden. Even the mystery of what your man can't see you doing but can feel in your undulating response is a veiled enticement for him. Anyway, most men are very aroused when a woman gets so excited, presumably by him, that she just has to touch herself erotically. So if you have any doubts, you may want to try the spoon position as a seductive starter.\n\n_213_. Speaking of lovemaking positions, when you are lying on your stomach and he's taking you from behind, use the friction of the sheet or pillow to graze against your nipples and clitoris. Your deepened undulations will turn up the heat in his body as well as yours.\n\n_214_. Sometimes it's easier to abandon your inhibitions when you dress up like a tart. As a birthday present for my man, I once donned a red lace merry widow with garters and stockings (no panties!) and let him ogle me as I stood up on the bed to dance, wriggle, and seductively stroke all my exposed parts. Later he raved that it was the best birthday present he ever received.\n\n_215_. Tie him up and make him watch you give yourself an orgasm. Concentrate on your arousal, letting him see just what kind of stroking, pressure, speed, and positions best turn you on. When you've had your first climax, untie him and allow him to join in the fun of bringing you to another.\n\n_216_. Occasionally remove your wet finger from your glistening, musky depths and put it in his mouth to suck.\n\n_217_. A bank teller I know says, \"My lover gets wildly excited when I kneel over his chest, pinning down his arms with my legs, and then rub my clit and vagina. He says he loves to see my aroused sex and the ecstasy on my face, feel my tensed muscles, hear my panting, and inhale my scent. He usually has just enough arm movement to stroke his penis and time his orgasm with mine.\"\n\n_218_. When you are on top during intercourse, give him an additional show and yourself greater pleasure by sitting up straight and massaging your flushed breasts. You may want to occasionally wet your finger in your mouth or vagina and moisten your stiffened nipple with it. Or lean back and stroke your clitoris as you keep thrusting on him.\n\n_219_. When you feel especially bold, try kneeling over his face as you stroke your vaginal lips. He'll love the view; and you can occasionally allow him to lick you.\n\n_220_. One bawdy friend of mine shares the following: \"Nothing makes my boyfriend hotter than when I stroke his shaft to get him hard and start his pre-ejaculate fluids going. I take some on my fingers and put it in my mouth or massage my nipples or clit with it. Another thing I love to do is rub myself all over with his come juice. It's a great lubricant for self-massage, and it drives him crazy to watch me do this.\"\n\n_221_. Self-pleasuring is a lovely accompaniment to oral sex as well. When he has his tongue buried in your dewy depths, you can get so carried away that you abandon restraint to massage your clitoris or caress your thighs and breasts. Or you can get the urge as you're kissing him too. As one very ladylike matron told me, \"I feel so primal when I lick my husband's penis that a different me comes out. I don't feel shy at all about rubbing myself at the same time and even imitating with my fingers what I'd like him to be doing inside me. I always give him a good view of this, too, because it makes him really excited.\"\n\n_222_. When you have both become more comfortable with this type of love-play, you should encourage your man to pleasure himself for you as well. It's highly erotic to watch each other simultaneously and to respond, even from a small distance, to the other's building arousal and orgasm. You can lie next to or opposite each other, legs perhaps entwined, and feast your eyes and senses for hours\u2014or you can get a little more aggressive about it. One new bride, who was obviously getting her marriage off to a flaming start, told me, \"I'll never forget the excitement of watching my lover, kneeling between my outspread legs as I masturbated for him, stroking his engorged penis to orgasm right above me. Neither one of us could take our eyes off the spectacle of the other's sex in full, pulsing bloom. It was magnificent!\" When you do this, try to retain some shred of your rational mind to observe how he is specially treating his love organ\u2014that way, you'll know just how to make it your own later.\n\n_223_. Self-pleasuring with your lover by phone can also be quite titillating. My friend Sara, who carried on a long-distance romance for over a year, says, \"I used to talk to Jeff with one hand on the receiver and the other between my legs. I'd give him a blow-by-blow description of what I was doing, panting and moaning into the phone, or even putting the mouthpiece down below so he could hear the wet sounds I was making. Sometimes I'd start masturbating first and then call his answering machine as I got excited enough to come\u2014and there'd just be these long drawn-out 'Ooooooo's' for a sexy message. He never looked at another woman the whole time he was gone.\"\n\n_224_. The best way to overcome any jealousy your man might feel about your vibrator or dildo is to bring it to bed with you and let him play too. Share with him the lusty creature you become when a vibrator is throbbing you to orgasm, and be sure to pet him a little at the same time. Then use your toy gently on him. Let him see how delicious it looks when you tease yourself with a dildo, telling him you always imagine it's his lovely thick limb, and invite him to thrust the dildo powerfully inside you while his own equipment is free to cradle elsewhere\u2014like in your cleavage, the cleft of your bottom, or between your buttery love lips. Or put on sexy lingerie and give him his own personal X-rated show, with you as the female lead gyrating in flagrant abandon with the male star\u2014your vibrating dildo. If you always involve him and let him see more of your passion than he'd normally be privileged to view, your toys will become not a threat but favorite tools for joint self-pleasures.\n\n_225_. My friend Catherine has a very clever suggestion for including your man in the vibrator action. She says that when her husband is making love to her from behind, she often presses a vibrator to her thighs, pelvic mound, or clitoris. Not only does this raise her passion to fever heat, but it also transmits tingling pulsations to her lucky fellow's erection right through the walls of her throbbing flesh. Or when they are face-to-face, she simply lodges a small battery-powered vibrating dildo between her genitals and his. That way, each time he thrusts, they both get a powerful quivering jolt.\n\n_226_. Remember all those suggestions in Chapter 9 for using a vibrator on the back of your hand while your fingers tantalize your clitoris, vaginal walls, or G-spot? Well, simply substitute your lover's hand for your own, slipping his fingers seductively between the vibrator and your trembling flesh. He'll love participating firsthand in your pulsing, swelling excitement.\n\n_227_. With or without a vibrator, you might drive your man wildest of all by bringing yourself to the frenzied peak just before orgasm while he watches in panting fascination, then stopping completely, looking at him with fever in your eyes, and moaning, \"Come fuck me _now!_ \"\n\n# 11  \ndaily goddessizers\n\n_She learned to be at home in her body, to be her own best friend, her favourite lover._\n\n_\u2014Tee Corrinne,  \nDreams of the Woman Who Loved Sex_\n\n\"I make time for self-pleasuring every day, even if I have to lock myself in the bathroom, skip lunch, or tell my mate to give me an hour by myself. If I didn't, I'd be stressed out at work, a boring lover, and a crabby witch to my friends and family. They deserve better than that, and so do I.\"\n\n\u2014 Anne, executive secretary\n\n\"My sexuality makes me feel alive, important, and good about myself.\"\n\n\u2014 Sandy, housewife and mother of six children\n\n\"It makes me feel great to know that we women can be many different kinds of people, professional as well as sexy.\"\n\n\u2014 Jennifer, computer specialist\n\n\"The more time I spend getting in touch with my inner sensuality, the better my day seems to go. It gets my sex hormones flying, and then men are drawn to me like magnets.\"\n\n\u2014 Lelia, retired attorney\n\nlike riding a bicycle, the knack of unleashing your autoerotic Sex Goddess is not lost if you don't do it all the time. But I've found that the greatest benefits of keeping her active in your life\u2014enhanced health, well-being, and energy; stress reduction; charismatic self-confidence; hot lovemaking expertise; and constant sexual radiance\u2014are made fully available only if you keep your self-pleasuring thermostat on high with regular practice. Smart, sexy women, like the ones quoted above, pleasure themselves and their Inner Sex Goddess\u2014even if only in some small, five-minute way\u2014every single day. Besides innately understanding that self-pleasure is necessary for their physical, emotional, and mental well-being, they feel it's a precious and delightful gift they love to unwrap as often as possible.\n\nLike them, you should bestow upon yourself the same love and attention you would naturally give any romantic relationship. That's what keeps love affairs (and lovers) healthy, hot, and juicy. A love affair with yourself is no different. So schedule time for sensuality; delegate household chores to children, mate, or cleaning person; give up an hour at the health club; skip part of a gossip session (giving up gossip completely is of course unthinkable); knock a half hour off your shopping; do whatever you have to do to establish your self-pleasuring as a priority. Never forget that you _deserve_ to live in a perpetually fresh garden of ecstatic delights. And, as a reigning Sex Goddess, your glorious kingdom extends to those you love and care for.\n\n## daily goddessizers\n\nEven if you are the busiest woman on the planet, I'm sure you can find time for at least one of these quick and easy goddessizers every day. They'll keep your sensual motor purring and your Inner Sex Goddess glowing.\n\n\u2022 In your morning shower, let the water run over your beautiful genitals. As you wash, massage your clitoris and dip your soapy fingers into your vagina.\n\n\u2022 As you towel off, rub the rough terry cloth against your soft vulva.\n\n\u2022 When you apply body lotion, massage your nipples for an extra minute.\n\n\u2022 Admire your naked body as you dress. Preen, pose, and play.\n\n\u2022 Whenever you go to the bathroom, touch your vulva lovingly.\n\n\u2022 Move through your whole day being turned on by sounds, smells, beautiful scenes, awareness of your sexual juices, the sight of someone's full mouth, provocative ads, a glimpse of the moon.\n\n\u2022 Caress a tree on the way to work.\n\n\u2022 Sensitize your clitoris by lightly stroking it for ten minutes every day.\n\n\u2022 Roll in fur.\n\n\u2022 Squeeze and rub your thighs together, especially when you're on the gym machines.\n\n\u2022 Exercise naked.\n\n\u2022 Flex your PC muscle whenever you think of it; no one at the meeting will know.\n\n\u2022 Stand in the wind, close your eyes, open your palms, inhale its freshness.\n\n\u2022 Flash yourself in the mirror.\n\n\u2022 Invent a hot fantasy while riding the bus to work, standing in line at the bank, or under the hair dryer at the beauty salon.\n\n\u2022 Choose your lunch menu based on color and fragrance. Admire, lick, and smell your food.\n\n\u2022 Give your Inner Sex Goddess a mental hug at least once every day. Like you, she thrives on attention, love, and praise. Ask her advice on what to wear.\n\n\u2022 Indulge in a chocolate-covered ice-cream bar. Rub it on your lips and anywhere else you can get away with.\n\n\u2022 Whenever you look in a mirror, tell yourself, \"I love you. You are intelligent, powerful, sexy, beautiful, and irresistible.\" Blow yourself a kiss if no one's looking.\n\n\u2022 While talking on the phone, massage your face, neck, and breasts.\n\n\u2022 Occasionally bring your attention to your _hara_ (located about two inches below your navel), considered by martial arts specialists to be the body's center of gravity and power. This snaps you immediately into the present moment and the world of the senses. Float there as you experience your own sensuality, remaining motionless or stroking yourself luxuriously.\n\n\u2022 Dance the hula as you file or dust.\n\n\u2022 Self-pleasure in the \"exotic\" locations you visit every day\u2014the ladies' room at work, a telephone booth, a restaurant bathroom stall, someone else's backyard, or an empty meeting room.\n\n\u2022 On the commuter train, feel the heavy vibrations come up through your feet and into your legs, thighs, and pelvis. Let your body hum.\n\n\u2022 Punctuate your housecleaning with short vibrator sessions\u2014ten minutes fully clothed on the couch with the vibrator, ten minutes vacuuming, ten minutes back on the couch, ten minutes dusting, and so on.\n\n\u2022 Wash dishes in the nude.\n\n\u2022 Doodle pictures of body parts and other sensuous things. Write in your journal about all of the erotic things you've seen, smelled, touched, heard, and done today.\n\n\u2022 In the grocery store, fondle the cucumbers and zucchini.\n\n\u2022 Treat your self-pleasuring as a brief meditation. Close your eyes and drift in the alpha brain waves produced by using a vibrator on your erogenous zones. Tune in to your sensual intuition, daydreams, and creative juices.\n\n\u2022 Lying in bed at night, massage and love your body. Go to sleep thinking of yourself as a sensual wonderland, a famous temptress, or the answer to your man's erotic dreams.\n\n## for special, languorous occasions\n\nWhen you do have time for a longer, more luxurious visit with your Inner Sex Goddess, treat yourself to:\n\n\u2022 an hour-long hot scented bath with candles, music, and wine\n\n\u2022 an extended version of any of the \"Seeds of Sensuality\" activities from Chapter 2\n\n\u2022 the hottest and longest fantasy or role-play you can dream up, complete with toys, clothes, and props\n\n\u2022 the ritual of the Mirror of Sensual Transformation, with or without a vibrator\n\n\u2022 a two-hour teasing session in which you bring yourself to the peak at least fifteen times before you finally allow yourself to explode into one earth-shattering orgasm\n\n\u2022 a two-hour teasing session in which you give yourself fifteen orgasms\n\n\u2022 an X-rated video accompanied by candles, incense, wine, and a vibrator\n\n\u2022 a lazy afternoon with a fantasy or real life love slave\n\n\u2022 a languorous self-massage with aromatherapy oils or in a hot bath\n\n\u2022 two hours of reading or writing erotic literature, massaging your breasts and genitals the whole time\n\nFor an extra treat, try this lovely Tantric sensual meditation:\n\nStimulate yourself to a peak of excitement, then close your eyes and focus on your _relaxed_ breathing. Imagine yourself to be _in_ your perineum or clitoris. Feel a sensation, heat, tingle, shape, color, or sound there. As you continue pleasuring yourself, breathe energy into this area and let your special sensation expand as you exhale. After a few moments move your imagined location high up into your womb and feel a different sensation there. Repeat the breathing and expanding. Next, travel to your navel with the same process, and then to your heart. As you fully experience the warmth and love in your heart, finally let yourself have an orgasm that washes deliciously over your entire body. Bask for a while in your sensual Nirvana before reentering the everyday world.\n\nYour Inner Sex Goddess brings pleasure, confidence, and joy not only to you but, through you, to all those in your life. A whole world of women in such full sensual flower would be a beautiful garden indeed. So, like all of the mythological and real-life sex goddesses you've read about in this book, don't be afraid to get really decadent and outrageous. On the contrary, be proud of your multifaceted, lusty creativity. Remind yourself every day that you are a luscious, highly erotic woman\u2014a true Sex Goddess divinely designed for pleasure and loving.\n\nFreely radiate your resplendent sensuality, and the whole world will be transformed into your divine kingdom of love.\n\n# Appendix\n\n## the inner sex goddess scrolls\n\n_books, magazines, music, and videos to get you in the mood_\n\nOf the millions of erotic books, magazines, videos, and pieces of music out there, here are just a few that have been highly recommended by the Inner Sex Goddesses of many ultra-sensual women (including my own) especially for self-arousal. Try them out and see which ones resonate for you. If you find a particular work that really brings your Aphrodite self out to play, explore the other pieces that author, composer, or director has done too. Visit your local sex toy store or browse the pages of home pleasure toy catalog or adult magazines for further choices. Shop the erotica section of your favorite bookstore. Ask the clerk at the video or music store for recommendations. Share suggestions with your friends. Keep your eyes and ears open and your Inner Sex Goddess antennae alert; once you start looking, you'll find that all sorts of wonderful erotica shows up naturally within your Sensual Domain. Happy trolling!\n\n#### Literature\n\n_Delta of Venus_ by Ana\u00efs Nin (actually _anything_ by Nin is fabulously erotic)\n\n_Fanny Hill_ by John Cleland\n\n_Lady Chatterley's Lover_ and _Women in Love_ by D. H. Lawrence\n\n_Cher\u00ed_ by Colette\n\n_Emmanuelle_ by Emmanuelle Arsan\n\n_The Story of O_ by Pauline Re\u00e1ge\n\n_The Pearl_ by a collection of Victorian authors\n\n_Plaisir d'Amour_ by Anne-Marie Villefranche\n\n_The Pleasures of Loving_ , compiled by Maren Sell\n\nThe Black Cat books, any of them, published by Grove Press\n\n_Tropic of Cancer_ by Henry Miller\n\n_The Naked Lunch_ by William Burroughs\n\n_The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty_ , _Beauty's Punishment_ , and _Beauty's Release_ by A. N. Roquelaure\n\n_Exit to Eden_ by Anne Rice\n\n_The Erotic Comedies_ , or anything else, by Marco Vassi\n\n_The Gates of Paradise_ , edited by Alberto Manguel\n\n_Lust_ , edited by John and Kirsten Miller\n\n_My Secret Garden_ and _Forbidden Flowers_ by Nancy Friday\n\n_Pleasures: Women Write Erotica_ by Lonnie Barbach, Ph.D.\n\n_Endless Love_ by Scott Spencer\n\n_The Intimate Kiss_ by Gershon Legman\n\n\"Song of Solomon\" from the Bible\n\n_Erotic Poems_ , edited by Peter Washington\n\n_The Book of Eros_ , edited by Lily Pond and Richard Russo\n\n#### Art Books\n\n_The Art of Arousal_ by Dr. Ruth Westheimer\n\n_The Erotic Edge_ by Lonnie Barbach, Ph.D.\n\n_The Erotic Arts_ by Peter Webb\n\n_Erotic Art of the East_ and _Primitive Erotic Art_ by Philip Rowson\n\n#### Adult Magazines\n\n_Playgirl_\n\n_Woman on Top_\n\n_Playboy_\n\n_Penthouse_ (great for the pictorials with people making love)\n\n_Penthouse Letters_ ( _hot_ letters from readers)\n\n_Yellow Silk_ (collections of erotic writing)\n\n_Tantra_\n\n_For Women_\n\n_Paramour_\n\n#### Classical Music\n\n_Hungarian Rhapsody #2_ by Liszt\n\n_Bolero_ by Ravel\n\n_The 1812 Overture_ by Tchaikovsky\n\n_Scheherazade_ by Rimsky-Korsakov\n\n_Symphony No. 9_ (\"Ode to Joy\") by Beethoven\n\n_Canon in D Major_ by Pachelbel\n\n_Romeo and Juliet_ by Prokofiev\n\n_Meditation_ by Mischa Maisky, cello\n\n_The Double Life of Veronique_ soundtrack by Krzysztof Kieslowsky\n\n_Carmina Burana_ by Orff\n\n_The Firebird_ by Stravinsky\n\n_Suite No. 3 in D Major_ by Bach\n\n\"Love Death\" aria from _Tristan und Isolde_ by Wagner\n\n\"Celeste Aida\" from _Aida_ by Verdi\n\n\"O soave fanciulla\" from _La Boh\u00e8me_ by Puccini\n\n\"Tu, tu, amore tu?\" from _Manon Lescaut_ by Puccini\n\n_Carmen_ by Bizet\n\n#### Modern Music\n\n\"Layla\" (original or \"unplugged\" version) by Eric Clapton\n\n\"Brown Sugar,\" \"Let's Spend the Night Together,\" or countless other hits by the Rolling Stones\n\n\"Fields of Gold\" by Sting\n\n\"Lay, Lady, Lay\" by Bob Dylan\n\n\"Knights in White Satin\" by the Moody Blues\n\n\"Black Magic Woman\" by Santana\n\n\"Baby, Baby\" by Smokey Robinson\n\n\"Fire\" by Jimi Hendrix\n\n\"Stir It Up\" by Bob Marley\n\n\"Love Me Tender\" by Elvis Presley\n\n_Inside the Taj Mahal_ (flute) by Paul Horn\n\n\"Dream Lover\" by Mariah Carey\n\n\"Crazy for You\" by Madonna\n\n\"Caribbean Queen\" by Billy Ocean\n\n_Rhythm of the Saints_ by Paul Simon\n\n\"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman\" by Aretha Franklin\n\n\"Fly Me to the Moon\" by Frank Sinatra\n\n\"Unforgettable\" by Natalie and Nat King Cole\n\n\"Sweetest Taboo\" by Sade\n\n_CrazySexyCool_ by TLC\n\n\"Purple Rain\" by Prince\n\n\"Sex\" by Morphine\n\n\"Funky Blues\" by Charlie Parker\n\n\"Fooled Around and Fell in Love\" by Elvin Bishop\n\n_Taj Mahal_ by Taj Mahal\n\n_Compact Jazz_ by Antonio Carlos Jobim\n\n_Nouveau Flamenco_ by Ottmar Liebert\n\n_Dreams_ by Kitaro\n\n_Enigma_ by Enigma\n\n_Chariots of Fire_ soundtrack by Vangelis\n\n#### Adult Videos\n\n_Behind the Green Door_\n\n_Delta of Venus_\n\n_The Seven Seductions_\n\n_Pandora's Mirror_\n\n_Taboo American Style_\n\n_Night Trips_ , _House of Dreams_ , _Hidden Obsessions_ (and _any_ other films directed by Andrew Blake\u2014he's one of the best)\n\n_Three Daughters_ (and any other films put out by Candida Royale and her Femme Productions; they are specifically directed toward women)\n\n_The Licorice Quartet_ (and anything else directed by Harry Paris)\n\n_Boiling Point_ , _Cat House_ , _The Girl with the Heart-Shaped Tattoo_ (and any other films directed by Toni English, a woman)\n\n_Better Sex_ (an instructional series)\n\n_Red Shoe Diaries_ (the half-hour TV series from Showtime)\n","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}}