Two puritanical regimes: coincidence or not?

I learned a little about life under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan regime in school history lessons and from historical novels.

Much more recently, I learned something about life in Iran after the 1979 revolution. The monarchy was replaced by an Islamic republic and the country controlled by a fundamentalist clerical regime.

HTwo timelines

King Charles I, called by his opponents a tyrant, was executed in January 1649 and the resolution to abolish the monarchy was passed on February 7th.

The Shah of Iran, known to his oppressed subjects as a tyrant, fled his country into exile in January 1979; the new leader Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile on February 1st.

I have noticed some similarities in the rules and restrictions that were imposed on the people after the regime changes. A few examples follow.

HDress codes were enforced

Cromwell believed that women and girls should dress in a proper manner. Make-up was banned. Puritan leaders and soldiers would roam the streets of towns and scrub off any make-up found on unsuspecting women. Too colourful dresses were banned. A Puritan lady wore a long black dress that covered her almost from neck to toes. She wore a white apron and her hair was bunched up behind a white head-dress. Puritan men wore black clothes and short hair.

In Iran, an Islamic dress code was imposed. Women's hair must be covered and dress must be modest. Women who wore make-up in public risked at best having their faces scrubbed clean and at worst being treated as criminals and punished. Many women wore long black robes over their clothes, robes that concealed everything except their face and hands. Ties for men were declared to be un-Islamic and beards Islamic.

Unseen influences: synchronicity, coincidences and timing

Many of the strange incidents described in other articles were very unpleasant and painful to experience. There is another side to the story: I experienced some interesting and amusing unusual incidents too, many of them during a phase in my life when I had started to wake up, defend myself and investigate the metaphysical world. 

This article contains a miscellaneous assortment of such incidents. I am not sure of their significance, although they do provide supporting evidence for the theory that our thoughts may influence reality. 

Some of these incidents gave me an opportunity to take a closer look at something that I had seen on TV or read about, reacted to and spontaneously wished that I could see more of; other things that I had just been thinking about and dwelling on without wishing that I could see them also manifested in my life. 

The milkman, the archbishop and the Liverpool Spinners
One fine summer’s day many years ago, I decided to go to the Harrods sale. I wanted to get there early to avoid the crowds, but needed to stay at home until my milk was delivered: it would turn sour very quickly if I left it standing outside my door in the heat. I did not expect to wait long, as the milkman always came very early on Saturdays in the summer. I did not know that my regular milkman was on holiday; the temporary man was late because he was not familiar with the route. 

Energy vampires: an introduction to the subject

I find it very amusing that when I search online for information about ‘energy vampires’, I find articles about electrical appliances on standby. 

Here, I am referring to people who have a detrimental effect on others because they drain them of their vital energy.  Alternative descriptions are psychic vampires and sappers. 

These people are like black holes, sucking and draining all the life out of the atmosphere and the people around them. They are all take and no give. They are a major adverse unseen influence and can ruin people’s lives. The worst cases can be carriers of evil the way that people used to be carriers of typhoid fever.

Being drained in this way can have serious, long-term effects on the victims. 

One result can be a kind of 'psychic AIDS' or 'emotional haemophilia' that destroys their resistance, their emotional strength and their ability to cope with the demands and responsibilities of life. Energy vampirism makes them weak and debilitated and affects their nervous systems; it surrounds them with an atmosphere that sabotages their lives by attracting trouble, unpleasant people, bad luck and negative experiences. 

An even worse aspect is that someone who is attacked by a vampire may end up turning into one.