I would like to thank everyone who has sent me recipes for our Tarot Canada Eclectic Cookbook for Spiritual Gourmets. Please keep them coming. This is our "next-year" project.

The 2nd Wednesday of the month has been reserved at Pagan Playground, 500 Hazeldean Road, Kanata, Ontario (corner of Terry Fox) for a regular meeting of Tarot Canada. These will be informal gatherings and they will begin at 7:30 pm. The first one will be held January 9, 2002. The next three will be February 13, March 13 and April 10 - mark your calendars. If the weather is inclement, the meeting will be cancelled. Bring your books and decks, better yet bring a friend. Let me know if you are attending. I will not plan coffee/tea for the first meeting as we can buy one at Subway or MacDonalds. Isabelle and John have our thanks for the use of their wonderful store for our gatherings.

A lot of members are due to renew their memberships in January. The renewal fee is $20 this year and I thank everyone for their continued support. We have have made a lot of progress this year as an organization. Tarot Canada is endorsing the Code of Ethics for Spiritual Guides as outlined by the Council of Spiritual Practices, I trust everyone will find it appropriate. Peace, love and joy to all of you and yours. May the beneficence of the universe guide and protect us all.

Love, Cheryl

LITTLE ROCK - Attorney General Mark Pryor today announced a settlement with Access Resource Services, Inc. (ARS), a company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Most Arkansans know ARS for their Psychic Hotline featuring Miss Cleo and her psychic readings. "This settlement relieves Arkansans of approximately $3.2 million in bills owed during 2000 and 2001," Pryor said. "No other state in the nation has reached a better settlement for its consumers." The settlement has been signed by all parties and is awaiting judicial approval.

The original lawsuit alleged that the Psychic Hotline, among other deceptive practices, operated a pay-per-call or 900-number service that wrongly billed Arkansans for "psychic services," charging fees of $4.99 a minute. The settlement requires Access Resource Services to change its business practices and to perform a number of tasks including, but not limited to, the following:

* ARS will forgive all outstanding debts against any Arkansas consumer for calls credited by the telephone company prior to the date of the order settling the suit. ARS must also waive all rights to collect such debts, totaling approximately $3.2 million for 2000 and 2001, and must not sell such outstanding receivables to any third parties. If ARS has reported any Arkansas consumer to any credit reporting agency, ARS must contact the credit-reporting agency and have the debt removed from the consumer's credit history.

* Every Arkansas consumer who paid an ARS collection notice will receive a letter and claim form within 30 days of the entry of the order. Consumers who properly complete, sign, and return the claim form with appropriate documentation will then be entitled to a refund jointly administered by the Attorney General and ARS. ARS will issue the refunds as directed by the Attorney General and provide proof of payment.

* ARS may not advertise the sale or promotion of pay-per-call psychic services from, to, or within the State of Arkansas by means of television or radio, newspaper or periodical, direct mail, Internet, or any other advertising in a manner that violates Arkansas statutory or common law.

* ARS is prohibited from billing consumers for services that were represented as being "free-of-charge" or billing consumers at a rate higher than the rate represented to the consumer.

* ARS is prohibited from charging consumers for time spent "on hold." Any "free time" shall be calculated only during the time the consumer was actually speaking to a psychic reader.

* ARS is prohibited from billing consumers for calls that were not made from the consumer's telephone line. Therefore in the future, ARS will credit the consumer and cease all collection activity if the consumer provides a letter, E-mail, telephone call, final bill, or other evidence from the consumer's local exchange carrier (LEC) showing that, at the time the call was said to have been made, the consumer was not the subscriber of the telephone line from which the billed call was alleged to have been made. The Attorney General's Office also has received nineteen complaints against ARS for violating Arkansas's "Do Not Call" law, and in the settlement, ARS agrees to refrain from calling members of the "Do Not Call" program and to register with the Attorney General's Office.

"I am very happy that we have changed the business practices of ARS, the Psychic Hotline, and Miss Cleo," Pryor said. "I predict that many Arkansans will be getting an opportunity for a refund in the near future."

If you have any questions about this settlement, the Attorney General's "Do Not Call" program, or any other consumer-related questions, contact the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General's Office at 200 Catlett-Prien Tower Building, 323 Center Street, Little Rock, AR 72201. The office can be reached by calling 501-682-2341 or 1-800-482-8982. TDD service is available for the hearing impaired.

There was a group of women in a Bible Study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three, they came across verse three, which says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, this woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot then she thought again about the verse, that "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked thesilversmith, how do you know when the silver is fully refined? He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

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Don't forget the 10% discount on the Wisdom of the Four Winds Deck if you mention you saw it on our website. Access it here. Thanks to Kelvin!!!

Descendants of those executed during the infamous 17th century witch hunts in Salem, Massachusetts, were cheering on Thursday after the last of their wrongly accused ancestors were exonerated.

In a move that brings an end to a 300-year controversy haunting the state of Massachusetts, acting Gov. Jane Swift approved a bill that clears the accused witches hanged in 1692 and 1693.

``It's a great thing. They should have been exonerated a long time ago,'' said Sharon Tirone, whose ancestor Sara Wildes was hanged on Gallows Hill near Salem and then exonerated in 1711.

``These relatives were very distraught about this, they really took it to heart and they fought very hard for this,'' she told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Swift signed the bill on Wednesday as the town of Salem, which was rocked by the colonial-era hysteria, was in the midst of its annual celebration of Halloween.

Twenty-four men and women were hanged, crushed to death or died in prison during the witch hunt, which has grown into a symbol of the perils of group-think and superstition.

The incidents were used as the basis for Arthur Miller's award-winning 1953 play ``The Crucible,'' which drew parallels between the witch hunt and congressional hearings into perceived subversives and Communists.

The bill exonerates Susannah Martin, Bridget Bishop, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and Wilmot Redd and was brought to the state legislature by descendants of some of the women accused and executed.

``The governor thought that Halloween was an appropriate day to sign this bill,'' said Shawn Feddeman, a spokeswoman for Swift.

In 1711, the legislature issued a general amnesty that exonerated all but six of the accused witches. In 1957 the state legislature passed a resolution exonerating Ann Pudeator, who was hanged.

This bill finishes the job, said Paul Tirone, who sponsored the bill.

Relatives Cheer Bill Clearing Salem Witches