Did you know that a cipher and a code are not the same thing? Technically, a code is something that replaces words, phrases, or sentences with groups of letters or numbers. A cipher, on the other hand,  rearranges letters or uses substitutes to disguise the message. I know this sounds like the same thing, but to break it down…an example of a code is 10-4 in CB language, meaning “Okay” or “I received the message.” A cipher uses single letters or numbers for representation. like 1=A,  2=B,  3=C and so on.

Because I’m beginning to get excited about the release of my second book, “She Who is Hidden,” due out this November, I wanted to start a little game. Sort of a pre-release buildup, if you will, so below you will find a beginner’s level cipher. (I love this kind of stuff!)

It’s a simple cipher, so see if you can figure it out! I’ll post the answer in a couple of days. For those of you who know a little about me, this should be a breeze!

J  MPWF  CPPLT,  DBUT,  BOE  DPGGFF!

Have fun and I’ll check in soon,

Suza

Did you know?

A witch should never haggle over the price of any instrument or tool they are puchasing for magic works? It will cause negative energy to attach to what they buy.

Hmmm.

Suza

I watched “The Fourth Kind” tonight and wanted to research the real lady. You know…see how much truth it was really based on. I eventually stumbled across a site about alien abductions, and I joke you not, it was about how to prevent abductions from happening to you!

Read on:

• Leave bright light on; in your room, hallway, and other rooms where Children or others sleep. Or everybody sleep in same room. If you have a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) for use with computers, plug the lamp into that. (In case abductions include power disruption)
• Hurry and buy or rustle up fast, before tonight, some kind of warning buzzer that will alarm you if the power goes off.
• If you have floor fans and/or table fans, bring them into your room and turn them all on, air-stream directed away from you of course. It would be great if one or more fan could be plugged into a UPS.
• Keep a flashlight with fresh batteries beside you in bed (sleep with it!).
• If you have an attic fan, turn it on.
• Spread salt all around your bed; surround it entirely.
• If you have access or can buy quickly (by tonight) the essence of an herb called Yarrow (achillea millefolium), spread it around your bed-room.
• If nobody is pregnant in your house, also buy essence of an herb called pennyroyal (hedeoma pulegioides) and spread it around your bed-room.
• Sleep with iron bars nearby or preferably, next to you. A crucifix made of iron would be good too.

Aaaagh! I’m not sure what scared me more….the movie or that this was posted on the web.

Madness.

The candle burning on my desk today just happens to be green, a fitting color for St. Patrick’s Day, but as I read over status postings on FB, one caught my eye. It claims genocide  is the real history associated with this holiday, so I decided to dig a little deeper. Here’s what I found, and from reputable sources like The History Channel. They don’t shy away from the brutal truth.  

Here’s the quick and dirty version.

St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents only to be captured by Irish raiders when he was still a young man. He was a captive for 6 years and presumably turned to his Christian faith during his hardship. Once he escaped, Patrick returned to Britain.

Then he supposedly heard the voice of God telling him to go back to Ireland where he encouraged the practise of Christianity.                    **NOTE: He did NOT introduce the religion. It already existed there.**

He did, however, perform a little trickery here and there, as did our friend Constantine, by mixing pagan symbols into Christian practice, thereby making it more “comfortable” for the pagans and greasing the wheels of conversion, so to speak. Nowhere did I find mention of killing mass numbers of pagans, or any hint of genocide, but throughout history change has always brought conflict and death, so I can imagine it wasn’t always pretty.

The act of driving snakes out of Ireland is a metaphor for getting rid of pagan practises. That is pretty much an accepted fact.

And what about the blue? the first color associated with “Feast Day,” now known as St. Patrick’s Day, was actually blue. However, the Irish flag has green on it, shamrocks are another favorite symbols, and heck, the whole of Ireland is pretty much and emerald. (Hence the nickname) So they went with green, especially in the 1700s when Irish-Americans paraded to show their discontent over being considered a lower social class. 

There is so much more to learn. The pinching, leprechauns, shamrocks, but I’ll leave that to you. Don’t you just love history? I do. It’s where we find ourselves.

So, I’ll burn my green candle, but will wear a blue shirt. I like the authenticity, and it will make me stick out in the crowd.  : )

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Sanskrit was a great answer, and some still argue that it is the reigning king of old languages, however, many scholars now point to language that I had never heard of until yesterday.

Tamil. It is widely believed to be at least 6,000 years old. Wow, and a written form to boot. It is related to languages that are considered Dravidian or proto-Dravidian…don’t get me started, because I got lost among all the references to guttural sounds etc. etc. and the many, many branches of the verbal family tree.

And I thought the old, old, English of Beowulf (the original, original that sounded half-German) was hard to follow.

Both Tamil and Sanskrit hail from India, so either way, they get the bragging rights.

Note:  Some reports claim that Tamil has only 1500 years under its belt and is beaten out by another language called Kannada, found in Bangalore.

Whatever the case, I got what I needed for research, and am happy that I speak my mother tongue, good old (or rather, good new) English.

Back to work on love and murder,

Suza

…new house last night. I wanted the new house so badly that I cried.

So, the first thing I do after a dream as emotional as this is open the now yellowed pages of my dream interpretation book to see what ails my psyche. Don’t laugh or navigate away just, yet…this isn’t hocus-pocus but psychology, and I’ve found over the years that the book can be dead on.

Dreams are not always obvious, for example, dreaming of drowning can be about debt, a car represents your life and can be very enlightening if someone else is driving it in the dream. I once leaned over and started honking the horn because my father was driving my car and wouldn’t listen to me!

This morning I read that a house can represent a few things, and one of them is health. I focused in on this because, I’m dieting, of course, and also because of the room I focused on in the dream. The kitchen. This room might be about my spirit being fed  : ) or my own need to be, and I quote, “more concerned about dietary habits.”

Blech. This interpretation was not so enlightening. I could have told you I needed to lose 10 pounds.

Or maybe I just want a bigger house. You know us writers. Never satisfied.

Well anyway, happy dreaming…

Suza

As a fan of riddles, clues, and mysteries, I often stumble across interesting tidbits.

As a romance writer, I found this amusing.

Probable Words ( a decryption method)

When important messages are relayed, often unimaginative choice of words could give away the encryption, as specialists in the field of cryptography have amassed a set of most probable words as the nature of the message exhibits. For instance, in decoding love letters, frequency ordering looks for words such as ‘love, heart, fire, miss, life, light’ which are most frequently used. Hence it is important to rephrase messages before they are encrypted and transmitted.”

For more you can link to the following site:

http://library.thinkquest.org/27158/decipher.html

With love, murder, and secrets in mind,

Suza