FST CDs, Mail order, Etc. All Threads.

Mike · Nov 23, 2007, 05:28:28 AM

Hello Mystress, I hope all is well. I am inquiring to see if you have received my request/purchase for a copy of your CD for the Fire Serpent Tantra Course. If so great.
Namaste
Mike

Mystress · Nov 23, 2007, 01:13:12 PM

I did recieve it. I have to print some more CDs, and then I will ship it out, with a free gift of my handmade soap. Thank you for your patience.

jbourke · Mar 13, 2009, 06:22:57 PM

I just ordered the CD too, because I am a registered student but have had trouble veiwing online lessons. I want to move forward and complete training.

-joshua

Marco · Apr 12, 2009, 04:42:58 AM

Dear Mystress Angelique Serpent,

I joined FST on March, the 28th and ordered your FST-CD as well. I hope, you recieved my order. I thought that I have forgotten to add my FST-nickname. So I just wanted to add that my FST-nickname and my real name are the same. I am looking forward to seeing you on video.

Best wishes,
your Marco

Mystress · Apr 12, 2009, 02:38:13 PM

Hello Marco:

These sorts of questions are best sent by email as they are not of interest to the other students.

I had not noticed you ordered the CD along with your subscription. *oops* Your CD is packed and labeled and ready to ship.

I do say to allow 4-6 weeks for shipping. That is partly because I don't get to the post office very loften, and because Canada postal rates vary *widely* depending on what country the package is going to. I find out the rate at the post office and decide whether to ship by land or air.

FYI
Blessings...

Minamaus · Aug 15, 2009, 05:10:14 PM

Hi Mystress, Gustav, and all,

I have had a whole week of trying to get the realplayer playing the video's, my husband is very good at IT and he gave up in the end as it started to crash our computer, which I need for work.

I will order the CD and hope that I can see the videos on there.

I am very excited to have joined this forum and would like to express my gratitude for email communication provided to me to date by Mystress, Gustav and others in relation to the grounding meditations I started about 6 months ago....

Look forward to chatting to you soon, all the best, Sabrina

Minamaus · Aug 15, 2009, 05:19:35 PM

Hi guys,

I would love to order the CD since I cannot view the videos online, I will search again through your website but perhaps you can point me into the right direction ?

Thanks,

Sabrina

Mystress · Aug 17, 2009, 01:39:40 PM

Hi Sabrina.. I fixed the links on the left, they should answer all your questions. Welcome.

AnandDaan · Aug 18, 2009, 08:48:42 PM

I've found the videos to be "quirky". They look like they load forever. I just pause them when they start to load, wait until they load as much as they seem like they are going to, and then press play. They usually play all the way through like that. Not technical, I know, and it may be specific to this computer, but maybe it'll help. Also as a side note, I've never had problems with the audio files, so those provide another immediate option while you wait for your CD.

Minamaus · Aug 28, 2009, 10:18:40 PM

Hi Mystress,

Just wondered if you have received my application/ payment for the CD about a week ago. Can I follow the lessons without the CD in the meantime ?

All the best,

Sabrina

gilded_raven · Sep 08, 2009, 07:41:44 AM

I too have put in an order for the cd and would like to confirm receipt of my payment.
Thanks!

Mystress · Nov 17, 2009, 01:33:10 PM

You do not need to see the vids to progress on the course. The content is all there, they are all transcribed word for word at the bottom of the lesson. The audio files of the videos work perfectly and also can be downloaded to your mp3 player (please don't share them!!)

I am sorry the videos do not work perfectly for everyone... most people are able to see them once they have found realplayer G2. Replacing them in newer format is in process.

But tech aside, all of this cyberspace of FST is a temple, and there are no accidents. Watching too many FST videos at once gets *me* hyperactive with energy overload, I think some people who cannot see them, aren't meant to and can surrender to that. You really need to pace yourself with FST. Do not underestimate the shakti charge of every page.

The videos have *always* been a little buggy! Often it is Goddess doing it to get people to slow down and be more mindful! Seriously, pay attention and you will notice it yourself. Pretty much forget about trying to watch if you are not grounded, and if cannot see them and you haven't put up the computer bubble spell then thank Goddess for preventing them blasting your computer.

Regarding the CDs and mail order.

I suck at mail order. I always have, ADD brains, not good at repetitive stuff with too many steps involved. Always falls down someplace along the line. FST CDs are always late. Hate when people nag me about it too, and I know its a bad attitude... they paid some $ and its not unreasonable of them to ask where their order got to.

The problem is its not ebay here... its not, "yay I made a sale.." CD orders make me cringe because they represent a committment I will likely fail to complete on any reasonable deadline, simply because of the nature of my disability. Its not about money because there is no profit when measured against the time and trouble for me.

I do send them~! I keep my word, but not promptly.

A few times a year when I am feeling organized enough to make it through all the little steps and to the post office. I include gifts... called thank you gifts but really more like apology gifts- (sorry this is so late!) usually some FST soap, FST logo fridge magnets, or what... lately the envelope has included a small tibetan mala prayer bead, which is carved of yak bone and shaped like a human skull. Meditating on the inevitability of death makes you feel more alive. They are carved by Tibetan refugees in india and blessed by me.

Of course, the added weight of the gifts adds to the postage costs... Each CD is burned and labeled and packaged and sometimes even shrink wrapped by my own hands. I make a dozen at a time, put them into padded envelopes. Its labour intensive, time consuming and nit picky, not even a little bit profitable or fun.

If I ever decide to do something like this again I'll make a master copy, send it to a CD mail order and production company, outsource the whole gig and never touch them myself.

The FST CD was created not for profit!! Only in service of students who were unable to get streaming video to work *at all* because of bandwidth limits of years gone by (2001 modems~!) that are long outdated by tech improvements. These days sometimes students order them just to have a backup of the course which was not their intended purpose and if they get impatient besides... then I get cranky! In fact, some of the essays on the CD are no longer the same as the web versions which get tweaked when I get the impulse.

The issue these days is not with bandwidth but with the very dated format of the videos themselves, realplayer circa 1999. They really only work with an older version of realplayer (G2) and you have to hunt around on the realplayer website a bit, to find it. Realplayer keeps moving the link on me, redirecting it back to thier front page. If you are not stuck in 2001 and still using a modem, and cannot get the vids to work on the site then the CD probably wont help you. You need to get the web ones working. Ask me for a CD refund via email. Send me a copy of your paypal reciept with your request.

I'm not offering a refund on the course itself. Most folks agree it is worth more than they paid and most folks can still see the vids once they get realplayer configured correctly or I'd have shut the course down by now (or rewritten the website to focus on the audio files and call the videos an unreliable free bonus lol. ) Ultimately I cannot be responsible for individual issues with particular computers not able to fully access one aspect of a very large course. Especially when alternates are provided; the info of the videos is already presented via two other options, sound and text.

I never liked realplayer, it was the choice of my original business partner and he was also cameraman. The dated format of the videos is a huge embarassment to me for the past few years, and it is the reason why FST is not promoted. It bothers me though, I got higher standards. Search engine links and my own websites only, the students who find me are the ones Goddess leads and fortunately you are mostly a patient bunch.

I could easily have >5x the students (and 5x the RL income, which would be just enough to allow my husband to *retire* without needing to move us to a smaller home) with a very modest google adwords campaign but I am *not* going to do any extra promotion for FST so long as I feel the course has this gaping embarassment of 1999 realplayer video streaming. I'm not going to deal with 5x the complaints!

OK? So the problem with the vids is hurting me worse than all of you!

The past few years a re-edit to you-tube style mpg streaming has been in process, (Yay Gustaf!!) the problem being that we could not convert directly. The original vids were converted to realplayer before editing so we had to go back to the original DV tapes and remaster everything.

Magnetic tape is fragile. I was not going to risk the original master tapes by shipping them anywhere! Decoding the masters onto a full editable version by itself was messy, saving as DVD discs made sound lag, it took several attempts over a couple of years before I found software and was able to copy them all as raw naked DV files to a portable hard drive to ship to Sweden into Gustaf and his Lady's care. Previous to that I had also approached professional video editing companies with no solution. Its a huge job, progressing steadily. Taking longer because I am distractible and spread so thin, too.

I have some hope that the new vids, even as rough cuts with no titles might be online before the new year but ... not promising anything!

The second the web videos are replaced, the FST CD gets pulled from the website and I sigh loud and long with relief to be free of the albatross of shipping CDs!

Gustaf will later do a second *new* edit of the videos because the original editor didn't know my work and just selected the best take of the topic, so there is good content in the originals that ended up on the cutting room floor. I am excited to see them! At that point, I'll put an ad in Oprah's magazine and let it all go viral. In the meantime, gathering and training enough graduates to become Lineage FST teachers to be ready to cope with a new level of success!

You do not need to see the vids to progress on the course. They are all transcribed at the bottom of the lesson. The audio files work perfectly and also can be downloaded to your mp3 player (please don't share them!!) I am sorry the videos do not work perfectly for everyone... most people are able to see them.

I have a backlog of CDs dating back to August or early Sept to ship that is weighing on my mind so much I'll pay the buyers to be free of it. I will offer a $10. bonus to anyone who will accept a refund via paypal instead of a delivery. This offer dates Nov 17 2009 to existing unfilled orders only.

If you still want your CD... I will ship it... but be patient with the ADD woman with the seam in her head for a while yet ok? I admit I have lost track of orders, but can search email archives and paypal archives.. always do on shipping day to make sure I got them all.

Emailing your paypal reciept back to me is the best reminder, please do not post about it here. If you want a refund & $10 bonus do the same and I'll process it in a day, and with my thanks for letting me off the hook~!

Minamaus · Nov 19, 2009, 07:46:29 PM

Dear Mystress,

I am very happy for you to not send me the CD and I also don't need a refund. You have changed my life so much already over the past 12 months, and I am very grateful for this. Thanks to dowsing I pretty much found out that I don't need the CD's (and I have tried the audio links from the website from three different computers and they also don't work). Since I am super sensitive to your course material (or the attached Shakti, because if I spend more than 1hr on a session at any one time, I'll end up feeling very strange and kind of out of my body, and so need to go into the garden a lot and pretend to be a tree) there really was a good reason for why I should not have the additional material.
And I really wish I could help you since those kind of activities, e.g. getting stuff done and working to tight deadlines (my profession up until a couple of years ago) is right up my alley. But unfortunately I live in Australia. However, if you think it is of any help, you could send a padded envelope with the CD's and addresses for me to send the CD's off on your behalf, I am happy to do so. How many are there ?

All my love and I wish you a wonderful recovery,

Sabrina (or Minamaus) from Australia (but soon back in Munich for Christmas, hurrah !)

Minamaus · Nov 23, 2009, 04:36:26 PM

A Miracle happened: I got the Audio to work !

TwinDragon · Sep 08, 2010, 06:04:38 AM

Hello!

Mystress, I ordered a fire serpent tummo cd as I ordered for the course, and I was wondering if you have forgotten it or something! Just thought I'd post:)

I'm able to listen to the audio only but not the videoes, they start to view the introduction but stops. But that's fine, maybe I don't really need them..

I also wanted to give a thanks to you Mystress and to Goddess for this course.. It really confirmed a lot of what I've experienced, and thanks to your information it cleared a lot of misunderstanding and confusion for me.. So thanks!

Mystress · Sep 12, 2010, 01:42:54 PM

I am closing this thread: All CDs were shipped before I left for Europe, including ones changed to donations... and those will be the last of them. I am retiring the FST CD and taking down the purchase page.

The CD dates back to when most people had telephone modems and couldnt view streaming video... long before you could get youtube on your cell phone. The only reason it exists is to give acccess to a few people with bandwidth issues, many years ago... not for profit, I hate mail order.

As mentioned on the realplayer info page of this site, you need realplayer g2 to view the videos.
Google it, find it archived someplace else, easier than you can find it on the realplayer site. Getting the CD wont make a bit of difference if you arent using the correct version of rp so I will refund your CD purchase.

Blessings...