The Fear of Making Mistakes "They're actually good things, not bad"

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. - George Bernard Shaw

by Catherine Pratt
www.Life-With-Confidence.com 

The fear of making mistakes can prevent you from trying anything new or moving out of your comfort zone. This is such a terrible waste of your skills and your talents and robs you from truly enjoying your life.

Just the word, “mistake” will strike fear in a lot of people's minds when it really shouldn’t. They’re actually good things not bad.

Walter Anderson talks about the fear of making mistakes in his book, The Confidence Course: Seven Steps to Self-Fulfillment. He says, "In order to live a fulfilled life, to feel exhilarated by your accomplishments, to worry well, you must expect mistakes to occur - and you must practice what I call RIP, which stands for responsibility, insight and perspective. It also means, as you know, Rest In Peace, which in itself may not be a bad way to look at your mistakes."

So, mistakes are a good thing. You can't grow if you don't allow yourself to make mistakes. The trick is to focus on what you learned from the mistake and how to improve from it.

It's not worth wasting your time agonizing over things in the past because you can't change what happened. You just need to recognize that you simply made a mistake. That doesn't mean you're a failure because you made a mistake. You and the mistake are not the same thing at all. You learned something valuable from it and can now move forwards. It means you can focus on a solution and be far further ahead than if you'd never allowed yourself to make the mistake.

Lots of times, they’re not even mistakes.

You just learned a different strategy was needed. Your actions weren't getting what you wanted so you needed to think of a different way. That's not a mistake. That's simply exploration and discovery. As Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

Lisa Nichols, the motivational speaker, also has a great quote which says, “they’re not failures, they’re feedback”. It’s much more comforting to think of them that way. You also keep a positive mindset rather than sinking into the thoughts that you “failed” when you didn’t really. You just gained some additional knowledge.

The best part about it is that you faced your fear of making mistakes and even though you may not have got the exact result you wanted, at least you tried. And, you won’t have to live with that constant nagging thought of “what if”.
What if I’d tried, what if I’d said something, what if…

Fear Of Making Mistakes In Front Of Other People

People don't notice our mistakes nor judge us anywhere near as much as we think they do. And, if you gain something from it, why let the fear of what someone else "might" think stop you? You can never know what someone else is really thinking anyway. They might really be impressed at your willingness to take a chance and to try things. You just don't know. You can only know what you're thinking. That you have complete control over.
Mistakes are usually some of our greatest learning experiences and that's the key thing to remember. It's really not so important what others think of us. It’s far more important to understand what you now know about yourself.

Sometimes, "blowing it" can make you realize what your priorities and values are and that's valuable insight you probably couldn’t have got any other way. This knowledge not only makes you more comfortable with yourself, it also helps you move forwards in a more confident way.

Once you relax and accept that you really are a good person just trying to do your best and that you make mistakes sometimes, then that mindset is going to be reflected outwards and come back to you in good ways. You'll discover that people trust and respect you all the more for being comfortable with allowing yourself to make mistakes.

Be who you are. Trust in yourself. 

It will come back to you in amazing ways. Don't be so focused on achieving one particular outcome that you miss all kinds of wonderful opportunities because you fear making mistakes. Mistakes are good things. Forgive yourself when you make a mistake. Or even better, celebrate. You’ve probably just learned a better way to do something. Or as Danish Nobel Prize winner, Niels Bohr, says, “An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field”. You could now consider yourself an expert in your field.

It truly is all in how you think about it.

What You Need To Do BEFORE You Can Develop Self Confidence

by Catherine Pratt
www.Life-With-Confidence.com 


To develop self confidence, there is something you absolutely need to be willing to do.

It’s something that sounds simple but may not be as easy as you’d like. You need to be willing to “let go”.

What I mean by this is that you need to open yourself up to new ideas and a new way of thinking about yourself and others. The easiest way to do this, is to let go of the old thoughts and beliefs you have that are keeping you trapped in your current situation.

Specifically, there are 6 main things you need to be able to let go of before you can truly develop self confidence:

1. Anger

This includes your anger at your family, your friends, your co-workers, and just basically the whole world. You have to be willing to let go of this anger. It’s a very draining emotion and it also prevents you from moving forwards in your life. You can’t see solutions if you’re focused on being angry at people. You’re also hurting yourself which you don’t need to do anymore.

2. Blame

You may be pretty good at blaming others for where you are in life and for why you’re so unhappy. You may not even realize how much you blame everyone else for your situation. Or maybe you blame it on circumstances (my parents were too poor to send me to college, I had to take care of my younger brothers and sisters, etc). It’s time to let go of the blame. It doesn’t serve you. Let it go.

3. Your Story

Are you clinging to a story you tell yourself as to why you are the way you are? So many people cling to their stories (I was abused, I was sick) and make them part of their identity and refuse to move forwards from that. They just don't know who they would be without that story. So, start to notice whether you talk about your problems and your excuses to everyone who will listen. Are you willing to actually start doing something about your problems or do you just want to keep re-telling the experience? Are you willing to let go of that story and develop some new ones?
Keep the positive learnings from your past experiences but completely let go of the painful emotions. You can develop your self confidence this way by using your past experiences as stepping stones to new situations. Think of it as now having a better idea on how to deal with a situation or you've learned something incredibly valuable about yourself. Perhaps, how strong you are or even a new skill. You don't need to remember all the details of the experience, just the knowledge you gained from having gone through it.

4. Your Thoughts

You need to be willing to look at your thoughts and really pay attention to what they’re saying. You need to be willing to choose which thoughts you want to keep and which ones it’s time to let go of.
This also include old, out of date past core beliefs you may have. Beliefs like, "I'm unlovable", "I'm useless", "I'm worthless". The beliefs you have about yourself and about others will affect your entire life. Choose beliefs that help you not hinder you.

5. Your Belief That You're Right

Do you say things like, “I’ve tried everything and nothing ever works for me” or “I’ll never be able to do that” or how about “I’m too slow”, or “I’m too old” and “I’m not lucky”. These are beliefs you have about yourself and your brain will sabotage yourself to ensure that you’re right about your beliefs.
The other aspect of this is that you will only see those things that reinforce that you’re right. So, if something goes wrong, you’ll automatically see it as, “see I’m cursed” and give up. You need to take responsibility for your actions and realize you need to let go of being right. Being right all the time just isn’t worth it.

So, let yourself be open to trying out some new ideas even if they feel uncomfortable at first. Be open to seeing the world in a different light.

6. Your Fear of Making A Mistake

The one other thing to let go of is your fear of making mistakes. As long as you cling to this fear, you won’t try anything new. You’ll always be too scared that you might do something wrong. When you do try something, at the first sign of trouble, you abandon ship and claim, “see this stuff never works for me”. You have to be willing to try new things and if they don’t work exactly as you’d like, you just need to modify them slightly and keep moving forwards in the direction you want to go. Learn to love mistakes. It shows that you’re moving forwards and becoming a wiser, stronger person.
Summary

Until you’re willing to let go of these 6 things, the ability to develop self confidence will always be a struggle for you. It’s that simple. So, you need to consider how attached are you to your old way of thinking and how much do you really want to change?
Are you willing to let go so that you can become the true spirit you were destined to be?

Once you let go of these things, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you start to develop self confidence and your life will just instantly start to blossom.

Embracing Lilith: Key to the Dark Madonna and our Core Feminine Wound

By Linda Broome

 “In her original state, she is a symbol of true feminine power- complete unto herself and embodying her own brand of feminine self containment, assertion and wholeness.” Kate O’Donnell

In the midst of the twenty-first century renaissance, renewed interest in the goddess has brought many faces of the divine feminine into fresh awareness… Lilith is one of the most alluring and ancient. After 5000 years of rumors, this female of ill repute remains a mystery. An expression of the deepest regions of the human psyche, she illuminates our desire nature, the greatest force in the human condition, and our core wound.

Lilith means, “night;” and she is associated with the color black and the dark side of the feminine. Her path leads us into our individual patriarchal distortions in order to illuminate our shadows. If we trace her back in time to seek the source of the fear and negativity she typically evokes, we often discover not only a major shift in the collective human image of the feminine, but also something essential that needs to be redeemed in our personal lives.

She is the original rebellious woman. Her association with red leads us to the demonic interpretation of her and her association with the most famous scarlet woman in the New Testament, Mary Magdalene, with her wild crimson hair!  Thankfully, an evolving understanding of Mary of Magdala places her in a new light, as Virgin (whole-unto-herself), the Lost Bride of Jesus, and after his death, as Widow. A central shadow theme in her story is that of living on the edge of existential loneliness.

Lilith, also known as the Black Moon, is an aspect of the Dark Madonna.

The Mythology of Lilith

The following tale is considered the foundation of the Hebrew myth of Lilith as the first wife of Adam.  Yahweh creates Adam and Lilith from earth, but with one significant difference: he uses impure sediments to create Lilith, whereas Adam has been fashioned from pure dust. Because of this, Adam expects Lilith to be submissive to him, but claiming equality, she will not be put below him and spirits away to lifelong exile near the Red Sea, where she (according to the myth) couples with evil spirits and bears demonic children. Meanwhile, Yahweh creates another spouse for Adam, this time taking one of his ribs and turning it into Eve - a creation from Adam and not one in her own right, like Lilith. Legend has it that the jealousy and rage generated by Adam's rejection motivated Lilith to come in the night for her revenge, strangling babies and giving men wet dreams to sap their strength, distorting her power and desire through a fearful patriarchal lens. Lilith predates Eve’s defiance in the Garden. She embodies the archetype of the free and flowing nature of the Divine Feminine, casting herself out of the Garden…the First Goddess of divine defiance.

From an astrological point of view, Lilith is associated with the more hidden, mysterious aspects of the Mother; the long tradition in Western culture of suppressing the feminine has made Lilith seem threatening. However, this is only true if she is banished into the unconscious. Actually, the integration and development of the energy symbolized by Lilith - in both men and women - is part of a process leading to a more inclusive and integrative life. The unfathomable suffering associated with Lilith themes is recognized by Hannelore Traugott, a recognized German Lilith expert, who writes: "Lilith represents something that has become unconscious and is striving to become conscious again. Let's call it archaic energy, spiritual femininity, something akin to the wisdom of the goddess. As long as we don't have access to this energy we experience it psychologically as loss, suppression, isolation, emptiness, addiction and above all power struggles."

Another scholar, Kocku von Stuckard notes: "For me, Lilith embodies the presence of an archaic form of feminine strength that ignores any patriarchal discourse of power and dominance and allies itself with those forces that affirm life itself. Lilith invites our independence, rebelliousness, and strength to be lived.  Lilith carves away what is not authentic, our false self image. This is how the creative energy of the Dark Feminine flows naturally through each of us.” This process takes great courage and naked emotional honesty.

 Beyond any traditional concept of the sacred feminine, my desire is to de-mythologize Lilith as evil while honoring her voracious spirit.

The Threefold Facets of Lilith

The three Lilith symbols in the birth chart tell an interesting and complex story: a chronicle of the feminine principle and how this specifically relates to the negation of our desire nature. It embraces past, present and the direction of the future from this particular point of view as well as the evolution of the feminine principle in consciousness, regardless of gender.

This threefold symbolism clearly demonstrates what and how it happened relative to our own soul history (as observable in our birth charts) and always sheds light on what happened to the original feminine principle and how this principle can return either within us as individuals or as a collective soul. Without the healing of the feminine, no healthy life is possible for women or men; the imbalance of life rooted in the patriarchy must be re-balanced and healed within us all.  Lilith in the birth chart, points to our individual journey originating in the core feminine wound and the specific distortion landscapes we each traversed.

 The Asteroid Lilith indicates where our specific CORE FEMININE WOUND originated and how it was experienced within the more equality-based matriarchal settings. We all have this essential feminine aspect within our soul and of course this principle has been wounded and distorted in all of us via the occupation of the patriarchy -whether we know it consciously or not. How we encountered and then responded to this new patriarchal order in the first place will be signified by asteroid Lilith in your birthchart. This symbol sheds light on our individual history in this respect, via sign house and aspects and reveals how and where we experience the themes of  personal power, rage and shame, patriarchal distortions, our inner split… how we demonize or idealize ourselves, exposing our core feminine wound.

She also represents how we make choices between personal autonomy and consensus negotiation, our capacity to release repressed anger, resentment, and the Negative Mother archetype. She gives clues to our idealized self image. She also indicates the ways in which we need to assert our own truths. In a man’s chart, this Lilith will reflect his ideal image of a woman and any Negative Mother dynamics.

From here onward, a progressive distortion occurred to our feminine nature in one way or another. This progressive has a peak; causing a natural insanity as a result of the unnatural order within which we were all forced to live. The symbol for this peak distortion is symbolized by Dark Moon Lilith.

Dark Moon Lilith represents this Shadow… where and how these patriarchal conditionings get played out in our psyches. It’s important to note that these distortions are subconscious, outside of our conscious field. They reside in a deep, primal and archetypal place within (we’re talking 5,000 years of human experience) that perceives self and life as “this is the way it is”; ingrained patriarchal patterns that are maintained as the status quo. In the chart, DML signifies how and where we experience the distorted aspects of Lilith in our lives--her anguish, bitterness, betrayal, alienation, and sexual doubts.

She reveals our fear fields, where we place mind over heart and control above vulnerability. The key to redemption is acknowledgement and release…endarkenment!  When we do this the emancipation serves as a bridge or channel to the clarity and expression of our original feminine design template. As an archetype of the Dark Madonna and Pallas Athene, she is warrior and an executor of boundaries.

Black Moon Lilith is the third aspect of Lilith’s trinity. Black Moon Lilith is the symbol in our charts via which we can heal, resolve and re-embrace our consciously inner feminine. It points out how the nullified, wounded part of us can be retrieved to re-emerge intact again in our consciousness. Representing re-birth, our distorted sense of self may be transformed into natural, whole (healthy) expression, that which is pure, raw, feminine beauty.  This manifests as liberation of our minds and hearts…for fully expressing our personal freedom and sexual passion. Black Moon Lilith is the primal feminine fire spirit. It illuminates our pretensions, false roles, and delusions to actualize who we essentially are.

Lilith and Eve: The Forgotten Woman

Here is the domain of the age-old inner power struggle between The Good Girl v The Bad Girl, personified at the beginning of human history by the feminine archetypes of Lilith and Eve.  The original story of creation begins with a powerful goddess, known as Lilith (Adam’s first wife) who was strong, independent and highly sexual, free and un-tameable.  She loved fiercely – but would not succumb to any form of domination, her feminine power had to be honoured and when it wasn’t she left Adam in the Garden of Creation and went off on her own.  The story even ‘warns’ us that she went against God’s wishes, which clearly reveals to us the sheer power of her virtue and unwavering sense of Self-Love.

After Lilith, we are introduced to Eve. In the biblical story we are told that Eve was created from “Adam’s Rib”. So immediately there is a sense of “ownership”, a play between the ‘creator’ and the ‘created’.  Eve was the complete opposite of Lilith, soft, gentle, subservient and passive.  Her role was to ‘serve’ Adam and create the children of the future.  Despite Adam’s near perfect design, still within the sweet and innocent heart of Eve, there was a flicker of Lilith’s spirit that remained, as we are told it was Eve that bit into the apple of the Forbidden Fruit.  From there on, Eve gets carries the burden, of the shame and guilt of being “the one” that had them both cast out of the Garden of Eden.

But it wasn’t the shame of biting into the apple that she was carrying.  It was the shame and pain of being severed from Lilith.

This polarity still gets played out within the hearts of mortal women here on Earth.  One moment we are Lilith – powerful, sexual, forbidden, untameable, creative, wild and free, and in the next moment we become Eve, sweet, caring, gentle, loving, innocent, pure and nice.
Men imagine that they do not have to deal so much with this archetypal power play that can at times play itself out on a daily basis with women.  But they do.  They experience this polarity when in relationship with women as a form of projection.

How may times have you been on the receiving end of a man adoring your Lilith nature when you first meet or in the early stages of dating, and then once you become ‘his’, he begins to scorn and hate that part of you?  Manipulating and cajoling you into becoming Eve all of the time.  Which women usually buy into, silently agreeing to his demands for a multitude of reasons ranging from “he will love me more”, or “I won’t loose him if I become what he wants me to be” and the classic “It is ‘right’ to be a good woman, I must abandon that part of me which is ‘bad”.

Polarized Eve
You would of thought that becoming Eve 24/7 would fix the problem, right?  Seems feasible to believe that if you become Eve, you will live happily ever after?  Not true, what really happens is that you become shut down and repressed, resulting in the inevitable inner or outer ‘betrayal” by your partner to seek out Lilith again, usually in the arms of another woman, or his mind.  Doesn’t really matter which – as it will be felt deeply by the woman as a third person/presence.

The real betrayal is between both parties.  The woman betraying her full self, and the man betraying his innocence as he sides with the dualistic nature of his mind.  I feel that a woman can accept her Lilith and Eve aspects relatively easily once we are told about them and embark on some sexual healing to bring them back into balance.  I feel at this current time on the planet it’s the masculine that is rigidly holding on what is seen as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and finds it very difficult to see ‘his’ woman bearing both fruits.

The usual ending to this tale is that the man goes out to hunt for Lilith, seeking an illicit affair that seems to bring him back to life, as at first he is enticed and seduced, thrilled by the masterful knowingness of Lilith’s charms.  Yet it is a presence that he can not handle for very long, as she too is polarized and knows only one identity.  Eventually, just as he feels he is about to become ‘lost’ in her presence, he reverts and runs from her in terror.   He is afraid of her power and seduction, fearful that she is claiming his soul that he runs back to Eve begging for her forgiveness.  Eve being a good and nice person accepts him back yet secretly writhes in pain; she has become broken inside, distrust of the masculine sets root as she cries infinite tears in the realization that she has shamefully disconnected from her Lilith. Not only that, but the once true bond between her and Adam has been broken and now only exists as a form of fusion, a connection based on a lie.  And that my dear fellow humans, is where we find ourselves now.

That is where men get hooked into this particular form of duality.

This drama can be easily healed by both people by at first, simply understanding and owning this type of duality.  Ask to see and feel the deeply unconscious energies of attraction and repulsion towards Lilith, which sleep dormant within you until triggered.

Once you have the energies to hand, both people will need to begin a course in sexual healing.  A woman has to be shown, guided and encouraged how to re-awaken Lilith (its usually Lilith that has been suppressed – although it can be a role-reversal). We will cover that in Part: 2 of this article.

While a man has to root out his belief systems that he has embedded into his mind, that he wants Eve as a partner/wife and Lilith as a lover at arms’ length.  Once he was done that, he will then have to be re-introduced to a woman who healthily houses both qualities. It will have to become his ‘experience’ that two are actually one. Lilith and Eve can comfortably live within a true woman.

And that my dear female friends are where we all have to go.  To soulfully reunite with our Lilith and Eve within us.  Feeling comfortable with both aspects, releasing all shame and grief from within the archetypes, until there really only is One Woman.  As your male partner is only mirroring what is being felt by your inner masculine.

You know this is true.

But like most things on the spiritual path – the woman has to go first and take those first courageous steps, only because the masculine has become so ‘set’, it is only the fluidity of the feminine that can bring about balance.  It has been my intention to create the Awakening of the Seven Gates and the Forgotten Woman workshops to address this split and to bring about a rapturous reunion.

The Faces of Healing

The 6 Faces of Healing by Ann Albers

The First Face of Healing:
Insight

Dis-ease can occur on many levels, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. How do we react to our illnesses, our turmoils, and our confusion? Do we become helpless victims, or do we take a proactive stance, willing to be partners with our doctors, healers, and therapists?

When we suddenly understand that we must play an active role in our own healing, insight comes, like a flash of lightning. We realize we are no longer helpless! We may not immediately be able to control our dis-ease but we can learn from it, grow, and possibly even participate in our own healing. Miracles, dramatic shifts in the quality of our lives, become possible -- even when physical healing is not. We see how our lives can change.

This mask depicts the nature of insight. Insight occurs suddenly, usually when we are least expecting to receive understanding. Insight connects us with our soul. The feathers on top of the head represent the crown chakra, the energy center in the Hindu belief system, that connects us with Divine will. Insight is really only a remembering of your own wisdom. The peacock feather over the 'third eye' is symbolic of intuitive vision. We really do have our own answers, if only we learn to trust.

Do you want to know what an illness, or upsetting situation has to teach you? What childhood wounds or emotional scars need healing? What truth do you need to own and speak and act? How could you treat your body better, or give your soul some rest? Ask, and wait for the answers to bubble up from within.

Insight allows us to look through a window into a different reality. Perhaps we aren't meant to suffer, but rather to learn, grow, and move into a more blissful reality. Insight is an eye-opener. We learn to listen to the whispers of spirit that tickle us like soft feathers near the ear. Insight is the key to a doorway. When we walk through that doorway, when we accept the fact that we aren't helpless, we initiate and begin to participate in our own healing.

Consciousness Cleanse Day 1: The Gift of Desire

Welcome to Day 1 of the 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse. I'm thrilled that you've chosen to join me in this journey. I promise you that this is a day that can radically alter your life and bring about significant, important and inspiring changes. On Day 1, it's imperative that you bring forth your soul's greatest desire, that you pick one goal to achieve in the outer world and one goal to achieve in your inner world in the next 21 days.

You might ask, "Why is this important?" It is because desire is the spark that ignites the flame of your soul and illuminates your innate creativity, imagination and vision. On this day, you will summon one of the most powerful agents of change in the universe—desire. In its purest form, your soul's desire is a magnet pulling you toward the life you want to live. Your desires will source you with the inspiration to release your outdated beliefs and let go of whatever behavior is keeping you stuck in the past. Your soul's desires compel you to grow, evolve and move closer to your highest potential. Beneath the surface of your ego's insatiable cravings, your authentic desires are waiting patiently for you to acknowledge, claim and express them.

So today is the day for you to evoke two desires for 2010 that will lead you to joy, fulfillment and the next greatest evolution of yourself. These desires will act as your guide and your focus point through this life-altering process.

Take these next few minutes to go inside to that place where you have all the wisdom you need to live a life you love.

Listen to your meditation on desire  (8 minutes)

Cleansing Ritual

Write down the area of your life that most needs your attention right now and then write out all the details you saw of your soul's vision for this part of your life. What will that part of your life look like? How will achieving your goal change your life? How will it change the life of those around you? When you reach your goal, when you fulfill that desire, what will it make room for? Write that all down.

Then write down your inner goal. What is the one feeling you desire to feel most this year? How will you act differently if you were feeling that feeling all the time? How would people around you benefit? What would be different in your world?Write it out in great detail.

Soulful Action 

Your Outer Goal: What is one action you can take today that will move you one step closer to your soul's vision? Make a commitment to take that action.

Your Inner Goal: What is one action you can take or one thought you can think that will support you in having more of the feeling you most desire?Take that action or think that thought today.

Soul Food: I am worthy of living my heart's desires.

Debbie Ford is the national best - selling author of The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, The Secret of the Shadow, Spiritual Divorce, The Right Questions, The Best Year of Your Life and Why Good People Do Bad Things. Her new book is The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse (Harper Collins). She conducts workshops across the country. She lives in California with her family.

More from Debbie Ford

• Are you ready for the 21-day cleanse? Take this quiz! 
• Read an excerpt from the book 
• Learn more about the consciousness cleanse 

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How to Find Your Inner Creativity

Adapted from: "How to find your Creator State" by Sandra Walter


How do I honor my creativity?

Step One: Do your homework
Step Two: Give your ego a vacation
Step Three: Remove doubt
Step Four: Start in a supportive environment
Hold on: You may be wondering ...
Step Five: Breathe
Step Six: Create with abandon
Step Seven: Surrender to the art


Step one: Do your homework

Artists, just as athletes practice to perform their best. No artist can produce their best work without practice. Practice is to art what exercise is to the body. When your body is stronger,
more flexible, and has endurance, your day-to-day tasks become effortless. When you practice your craft, either in quick workouts or in marathons, your mind and body become accustomed to your art.

When your mind and body are at ease with the task at hand, your spirit is free. You are not preoccupied with the process of your art. You don’t ponder where to land the brush, or search for your lines, or remember the next step. The mechanics of your art become second nature.

Regular art practice makes the technical portion of your craft a no-brainer. You no longer think about the activity itself. This leaves your art open to inspiration, where something less physical can take place. It is similar to regular meditation; when the body is at peace, the soul opens to possibilities.

Regular practice of your art paves a faster route to creative clarity.

Finding Innocence Once Again...

Twice in the past month, I’ve drawn the Two of Cups. It’s one of the most beautiful cards in my Tarot deck. A man and woman stand together with two cups, locked in a deep trance. They are in love, and—I think—so am I.


I step into this thought, just bare toes on the water, and wait to drop into the sea and feel nothing again. I am fluttering, hopeful, terrified, and elated, all at once. But I am alive, and I feel…something. Something that isn’t hurt and grief and anger and betrayal and devastation. Something I haven’t felt in a long time.

I see Robyn to tell her what I’ve discovered, but she already knows. My eyes have a sparkle in them. She tells me I sound like a teenager, and she just loves it. She’d been afraid I would become bitter toward all men, given my marriage, and she gets a kick out of hearing me describe what I like about this man and the way my voice softens and lilts when I say his name.

Thinking this news will make my mother and another good friend feel more secure about my new and independent life, I tell her I think I’m in love, but she doesn’t want to hear it. Why would I be interested in another man and so soon after my divorce? Would this stop my ex and me from getting back together? Maybe it would be better to let my ex remarry before I fall in love with someone new, she says.

Disappointed, I tell her nothing else.

I should quit while I’m ahead, but I don’t. This new feeling is exciting and I want to talk about it. I tell two other friends over lunch because they want to know why I keep smiling to myself. They want to hear all the dirt, so I describe this man and his sense of integrity and the way he makes me feel all shiny and new. They note the lightness in my voice, even a giggle, and then tease me until I have tears in my eyes. They take a happy moment and shred it. I don’t finish my dessert, but I feel stupid and childish, and I cross their company off my list. They tell me I’m being too sensitive and shouldn’t be upset with them.

None of it changes the way I feel. I’m totally and completely besotted with this man and didn’t know it. I can’t tell him this, not yet. I have to know if there’s a spark there first or if I’m the only one who’s smoldering. I don’t want to make the mistake of confessing to someone who isn’t ready to hear that I am madly and deeply in love because he opened a gateway, a portal of love.

So I tamp down the feelings. I swallow them. I choke on them. Along with so many other feelings I’ve had that I wasn’t “allowed” to have during the course of my adolescence and later my marriage. I’m not allowed to feel anger because, I’m told, it’s morally wrong. I should be forgiving instead. I’m not allowed to feel joy because too many people see that as bragging or selfishness. I should feel selflessness instead. I’m not allowed to feel grief or despair because then I’m accused of needing anti-depressants or even, as one friend hinted, a suicide watch. I should feel calm and rational. And I’m not allowed to be in love because it’s too soon, too childish, too…whatever.

I choke on my feelings, and they settle into my fifth chakra, right at my throat. I swallow them but they stick in my throat and won’t go down and won’t come up. I can’t breathe. And yet...what I want to express...is I have deep feelings for this man.

She laughs at me. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Yeah, well, everyone else seems to think so. And I don’t know what to do about them, so they must not be good. I’m expected to have separation anger and grief and everyone wants to know if I’m having those and well, good, now swallow them and get on with your life. But these feelings are different.” I describe my affections and the reasons for them, and she stops me.

“Aw, honey, it’s okay to have feelings. Feelings are good. And these are good feelings. Just enjoy them. You don’t have to express them to this man or to anyone else. Just enjoy them for what they are.”

These feelings do feel good. I could get lost in enjoying them. I could want to drag them out and make them last a long, long time.

“It’s been so long since I’ve felt this way,” I tell my healer.

She laughs again. “I can hear it in your voice. It’s like you’ve become a virginal maiden all over again.

You get all giggly and feel like a teenager around him instead of the calm, cool, and collected businesswoman that nothing fazes. It’s very sweet and wonderful. Just enjoy that feeling.”

Before I can say anything else, she adds, “Honey, don’t you see? You might very well have written off all men after your marriage, but instead, here is a man who has touched you deeply and rekindled an innocence in you that you thought you’d lost forever. You don’t have to say anything to him or to anyone else. Just breathe through your feelings and explore them.”

And now I have tears in my eyes again because my healer has revealed to me that:

I’ve reclaimed an innocence I thought was dead.

I’ve found a part of myself that I locked away a long time ago.

And I’ve fallen in love when I least expected it.

How to Let Go & Trust In Your Spiritual Self: Part 1

Many people working on the personal development and self-discovery hear the words "just let go," or "just let it all go and trust." Unfortunately, many teachers do not break this down and explain exactly how to do that.

1
Living at the spiritual level


Perhaps you know people who seem to always have the best of luck in everything they do. These people always seem to be in the right place at the right time and have fantastic luck. They don't get sick, they are never the victims of crime, they seem to have great relationships, and they always appear to have plenty of money. This good fortune is not a product of their education, their family background, their jobs, or their exercise programs. It's a product of how they 'think!'

These people have released the need to 'control' everything in their lives. They understand there is a 'physical way' to live, as well as a 'spiritual way' to live. We have our physical bodies, but we also have a spirit/soul. Most people choose to live on the 'physical' level only, and neglect the 'spiritual' level.

A Course in Following Your Bliss

Magical transformation
through love
by being given
(or giving one’s self)
permission
to do what you really want to do
and be who you really are.

Honoring a promise brings fortune!


The Fool

Follow your bliss!  Follow your bliss!  Know what your bliss is!!!  Follow your bliss!

t’s therefore the card that offers you permission to go off on your own great and profound personal quest, just like Percivale did. (And he became one of the three greatest knights of all, y’all!)

The important aspect (and for some of us, the hard work) is: to actually KNOW what our bliss is (or would be/could be).

Because you see, when we get kinda down or times are tough, THAT is often the first knowing or believing that goes RIGHT out the window.

So, as I have written before, this is the somewhat rambling response I’ve given to a few clients when they’ve asked,

Follow my bliss?

What the hell does that mean?

 

You start by knowing what your heart’s true desire is [provided it's moral, of course.  And pretty close to legal.] If necessary, take some time to hone your understanding of what that means to you, for today, anyway.  Do it over an extra cuppa if that’s all the time you have.  But do it.

Do!! It!!!!

Then, no matter how impossible or illogical it may seem, like −

I’m gonna write a children’s story about an orphan boy who goes to a school for wizards, and it’s going to be so beautifully done it’s going to earn me enough to support myself and my family for the rest of my life.  In fact, it’s going to make me the first person to ever earn a billion dollars from writing fiction!  [Like THAT could ever happen!]

 − take your first single SMALL step on the path that follows your bliss.

And see what that leads to.

Then take the next step.

And see what that leads to.  And so on.

The difference between The Fool and some other Tarot cards that offer permission to follow your own unique path is that The Fool in particular says,

 “Stay connected to your heart, moment by moment.

Know that your heart may change, and so your direction may change, moment by moment.  But DO NOT allow yourself to think less of yourself, your efforts or your path because of that.  Go where your heart tells you and you will achieve more than most will ever even hope for.”

This is the card of the Sacred Fool, the Holy Fool;  the one who is open to divine inspiration and honors it by following his or her bliss, harm to none and love for all, always.

Let me remind you [troooooo-leeee for the umpteenth time] of how The Fool’s gift once applied to me.

We humans, with our nearly angelic powers and potentials, side by side with the reality of how we ignore them, or maybe even worse, use them in ways that are just plain selfish, demeaning, destructive and stupid, moment by moment.

And I got the very clear message that a big chunk of the problem is that we are following old habits, old programming. NOT following our bliss. Not honoring that which is angelic in us.  Not reaching for that which is for our Highest and Best.

But we can.

And then I came into the office and drew The Fool card and found great blessing in the message that that there is ALWAYS the possibility of doing it all differently

IF we know our hearts truly truly;

IF we honor that which truly resonates for the Highest and Best, which is always one with OUR Highest and Best;

 IF we follow our bliss.

 Wishing you a day of magic, and the sacred, and your true path.

 Brightest Blissings!

Quote for the Day: All I’m gonna do is just go on and do what I feel.  ~ Jimi Hendrix


PAGE OF SWORDS

Identify, own and begin a positive, deep and bright personal transformation.  TODAY! This card has the symbolism of a snake.


Snake symbolizes:

1. transformation and rebirth (the snake sheds its skin, and in that process experiences rebirth;  it has become a new creature and a creature renewed)

2. healing (the Rod of Asklepios, Greek God of Healing and Medicine, was entwined by a snake, and snakes were sacred totem animals, guardians and helpers at the temples of dream healing dedicated to him)

3. subconscious wisdom (knowledge of the Shamanic Lower World, which is almost universally understood to be a place of deep and beautiful healing as well as  a place of ancient and traditional wisdom)

4. masculine energy (any questions on this one?  Go back to our friend Freud)

5. clandestine affairs (the sneaky sneaky sneaky snakey)

So when the Page of Swords shows up for a client, I’m likely to ask him or her

~ what kind of deep personal transformation have you been longing for?

~ how can you be open to a rebirth − for personal and/or planetary healing?

~ how can you connect with deeper and perhaps archaic or ancestral wisdom, (Shamanic journeying, deep meditation, magic, prayerwork ) and to what purposes?

~ how can you go after these things in a direct, vigorous, perhaps even forceful way?

~ how will you test for integrity – in yourself, no less than in those around you?

Also, this card indicates that it may be a good idea to be more than normally open to help or guidance from someone of substantial masculine energy: a positive, powerful man or a strong and wise woman-warrior type, for example.

So, given all that:

What is the deep, positive and bright personal transformation you can own and begin TODAY?  DO IT!

Bright blessings and beautiful, healing transformation!


THE UNIVERSE

The Universe is your oyster.  It will give you your fondest wishes, if you will be clear within yourself about those wishes, be true to those wishes, hold them close moment by moment, and honor them.


As I said before, this is absolutely one of the most glorious, hope-filled positive cards in the deck, so PLEASE know that such energy is available to and for you today.  Don’t waste the vibe by talking yourself out of what may be!

The card in the Legend deck pictures a Goddess/dancer moving ecstatic and free under the stars within Stonehenge (the Giants’ Dance, as it was once known).  Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the deck, finds this card to be a harbinger of liberation, the attainment of a long-sought goal, and the culmination of events, efforts and experiences from the past.  [So listen for advice and take to heart the good wishes of others who would offer or encourage you toward such positive culminations.]

Some readers find assured success, emigration and a change of place in this card.  Others see a promise that the querent – the person having the reading done − will become all that she or he can and more IF he or she is only confident enough.

[Need me to repeat that for ya?]

You will become all you can and more if you are confident enough!

As I sometimes say to clients in my readings, “Remember: you’re really never too old to become a Mouseketeer, if you want to.”

When this card comes up, I ask clients:

What would dancing free under the stars be for you?

What would give you that sense of

freedom, and

security, and

elation, and

ecstasy, and

connection to beautiful and eternal and renewing Source and its most healing , empowering rhythms?

Now:

what can you do

and

what will you do

to begin to give that to yourself?  NOW!

The Universe is your oyster.  It will give you back your fondest wishes, if you will be clear within yourself about those wishes, be true to those wishes, hold them close moment by moment, and honor them.

In our daily lives, we very often become wrapped up in the seeming necessities — or easy ways out — of the moment.  We lose track of our more profound, more eternal and inspiring hopes, wishes, beliefs − and powers.

So, starting today, reconnect with that higher, more hopeful vision of yourself and your life.

KNOW that you have all that is necessary to bring it into being.

This is a card of successful completion, harmony and lasting happiness.

Believe!

Bright blessings!

 [And please share this card with someone who needs a little boost today.]

Quote for the Day: Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.  ~ Albert Einstein


ACE OF SWORDS

Undertake a quest for a new beginning in a way that is firm yet considerate of the law: WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND!


This card last turned for us way back in May.  And just a month before that. And less than two weeks before that.  So, aside from me, IS THERE ANYBODY NOT PAYING SUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO THIS CARD?  I mean it.  Really!  Own up.  Right.  Attention.  Right?  Right.

All right, boys and girls, ALL TOGETHER NOW:
Aces in any Tarot deck are cards of a new beginning.
 
Therefore:
~ How can you (how do you need to) begin your life anew, today, right now?
~ What changes can you begin, even in ways that may seem small?
~ What potentials can you believe in, hope for, reach for and remember?
 
When the Ace of Swords comes up in a reading, as it did in a big way for a client earlier this week, I say something like:
 
Your new beginning has to do with going on an adventure, of giving yourself permission to go after something that really sets your heart and soul on fire.
Please understand, if you undertake this quest, it very well may involve the release of some element of your life that no longer serves you.
 
Should you find that to be the case, strive to let the release be as quick and clean as possible, a very skillful surgery.

I’ll stand by that.

But as I’ve worked with clients who have had this card come up, I’ve also come to perceive that the adventure, the new beginning and the release tend to have an aspect of destiny to them: we often find that the person has reached a point where they must make some choices to move forward in order to evolve as their life offers them the potential to do.

And what I often see is, in doing so, they do very well to remember that even big changes can be initiated and made without creating negative karma.  And I’m going to keep telling myself that until I believe it.

By the way, I have also found that this card betokens a positive outcome for skillfully undertaken literal surgery.
 
(And for some people, the adventure they decide to go on, and the “surgery” of the release they decide to make, can lead to a profound healing of the romantic side of life as well.)

What is your new beginning?  What adventure does your destiny call you to − beginning today?   What may you be called to release?
 
Undertake your quest in a way that is firm yet considerate of the law:
WHAT GOES AROUND
COMES AROUND
 
Bright blessings and joyous adventures!


PAGE OF CUPS

Know what wisdom you seek. Begin or ramp up your search or endeavor now. Give your creativity more free play in your life.  Now!


Saw this fellow last in early September.  It’s a card with counsel that’s good for a regular reminding.  So can we all try to pay a little contention this time?  Huh?

In Celtic legend, Salmon is considered the wisest of all creatures.  He dwells in a great well overhung by the Hazel, the tree of knowledge.  As the fruit (hazel nuts) of the tree drop into the well, Salmon eats of them, growing greater and deeper and truer in wisdom.

When this card shows up for a client, I share about the legend and then say something like,

First of all, this card is a call to find meaningful opportunities to seek wisdom and increase your knowledge – scholarly pursuits may be perfect just now.  So get started on that immediately if you feel some call to do so.

Beyond that, Page of Cups is a card of creativity.  So be prepared to explore how you may begin or expand creative projects starting today. Not tomorrow.  Not next week.  Today.

And in many traditions,  The Fish represents spirituality.  Salmon is one of the only creatures on the Earth who returns to its place of  birth to procreate.  So this card speaks of a primal, powerful drive toward reconnection with Source − with The Divine, with Ultimate Reality, whatever name you choose to give to it.  Or perhaps a drive to return to a place you consider sacred — perfect at any time of the year, no?

Some readers find the Page of Cups represents

a fair young person,

meditation,

an imaginative, reflective, inspiring friend

So if any of these pop up in meaningful ways today [including via an email Tarot card, already], eagerly accept the gifts they bring.      

What this card recommends and requests, all in all, is

Know what wisdom you seek.  

Begin or ramp up your search or endeavor now.

Give your creativity more free play in your life.

Open to very solid and inspiring reconnection with Source in beautiful, meaningful, transcendent ways.

DO IT TODAY.

DO IT TODAY.

DO IT TODAY.

Bright blessings, grace and peace!


Quote for the Day: The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. ~ Albert Einstein


THE MOON

Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it.  Today.


We last saw this card back toward the end of July.

The Moon is another one of those cards that has different meanings depending on who you studied with, where ya come from, and  − if you’re a good reader and not just a good memorizer − the kinds of things you find your clients have gone through when The Moon turns up to guide them.

Some readers say The Moon warns of darkness, hidden dangers and instability.  Others stress the “Moony” aspects of fluctuating emotion, high levels of unconscious activity and intense dreams.  I find I can accept that more easily.

For me, The Moon is first of all a card that betokens change.

Perhaps the change should be rhythmical and constantly evolving, like the changing of the moon itself.  

In some cases I’ve intuitively perceived it to be a warning that a client should change course, NOW!

At times I’ve found it indicative of the need to accept that change will come, so get to work on determining what would be the best, happiest, most fruitful and healing way to have it – so a substantial change doesn’t just get handed to you half-baked on a paper plate.

In this deck, because of the card’s embodiment as Morgan Le Fay, I find The Moon to have other important qualities and messages.  First, it is a card of feminine empowerment.  So − assuming you are of the feminine gender − own your power not just as a person, but as a woman.  And let yourself contemplate what that distinction might most fully mean to and for you.

Of course, if you’re masculine, this card directs that you more fully own your connection to the divine feminine, or to the artistic, intuitive, perhaps even Dionysian elements in your life.

And whether you are male or female, masculine or feminine, The Moon is a card that commands you to own your magic – whatever you understand that to be – and use it fully and well for the highest and best of all.  

Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it. Today.

Bright blessings and… YOUR magic!

Quote for the Day:  The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water; but to walk on the earth.  ~ Chinese Proverb


QUEEN OF SWORDS

Be very strategic. Be clear about what you want, why you want it, the impact it will have on you and your world, and what it will take to attain your goal.  Then follow the plan that comes naturally from this knowing.


This card certainly betokens being strategic in our lives and in our world – as I’ll talk about in a bit.  That could, if you let it, lead to the question, “What is the difference between strategy and tactics?”

[God knows, I confuse the two about every chance I get.  Which helps explain why I drive an old Toyota instead of a new BMW, I guess.]

Strategy is the big picture look at a problem, situation or goal.

It focuses on the sea-change-sized thing that needs to be achieved.  Defeating an enemy, preserving the ecology, earning a living as a Tarot reader − those are strategies.  Concepts like objective, maneuver and security are among the principles of strategy.  Sun Tzu’s The Art of War teaches strategy.

Tactics vary with circumstances, time and technology.

As I’ve written before when this card has appeared, if I were to guide you in marketing yourself as a Tarot reader for the eighteenth century, I’d suggest you get a beautiful snug little cart, paint it in wild and wonderful colors, and travel the roads from town to town to town in order to find new clients. And stay ahead of the sheriff.


If I were advising you to be a Tarot reader this year, I’d talk about blogs, web sites, apps, podcasting opportunities, corporations having you on retainer and maybe even securing sponsorships to help find new clients.  And stay ahead of the sheriff.

[As you can probably suspect from this blog in general, I still think that snug little cart thing sounds pretty good.]

So, tactics present a small picture perspective where individual trees are in focus, and dealing with them one by one is the action. Strategy focuses on the big picture of the entire forest, and whether to preserve it, napalm it, or something in between.

Got it?

Goodie!

Me, I’m as lost as ever.

Where was I?

Oh.  Yeah.  Believe it or not, this all has to do with what the Queen of Swords would tell us about our day, and possibly our future.

As I always say to my clients,

I love the Queen of Swords.  If anyone ever crosses her, disappoints her or gets in her way, she doesn’t get mad.  She just has them beheaded.  ‘Nothing personal,’ she’ll say.

(That is a tactic to eliminate an obstacle.  The strategy behind the tactic is to ensure that her reputation will precede her and scare absolute hell out of those who might think to oppose her, or mess her about in any way.)

The Queen is a master of BOTH strategy and tactics. And your ability to work –consciously — with strategy and tactics is what you are being asked to explore within yourself and your situation today.  The Queen is intelligent, and may in fact be a scholar or have a strong scholarly bent, especially when circumstances dictate she must.  She will do what is necessary to learn what may be essential for her to succeed.

So, if you need to learn something new beginning today, don’t resist.  Get started!  It will be worth your while.

Most importantly [at least as I have experienced this card in working with clients], if the Queen wants to get from point A to point B, she will take the time to clearly and accurately understand WHY she should do that (strategy), and determine every baby step necessary to move her from where she is to her goal (tactics).  Just as important, she will exert the will to hold herself to every single step.  She’ll take unexpected breaks if they come her way, but she’ll muster the grit to grind it out every inch of the way if she must.

So be clear about

  ~ what you want,

~ why you want it,

~ the impact it will have on you and your world,

~ and what it will take to attain your goal.

~ Learn what may be necessary to help you succeed.

~ Then put yourself on the path to your goal.

~ And if anyone gets in your way, don’t take it personal.

[Ummm… I mean, just find a way to cut him out of the situation.  And keep on moving on.]

Bright blessings!

Quote for the Day: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  ~ Mark Twain


EIGHT OF WANDS

How can you liberate yourself, your creativity, your spirit today?  What do you need or what can you do so that you can  JUST GO FOR IT!!!?


It’s a good card to have come up in an emotionally charged season.

Liberation can ALSO involve freedom from from prejudice and hate, but also, from preconception and emotional baggage.  So please bear those elements in mind as you review what the card has to offer.

As I have said before [and I now realize I say with conspicuous regularity], “Ahhhhhh, yes.  Yepper, yepper, yep, yessirino!  Another card where my interpretation veers semi-wildly off in a direction of its own.”

My offering about this card is based on a Shamanic Journey I once did asking about its meaning.  (To find out more about Journeying, see the category of Shamanism on my web page, at http://shamanspath.org/index_ShamanicJourneyIntro.htm.)

Other readers give this card meanings like speed, action, movement toward opportunity, a test of skill, and an adventure.  It’s considered a good omen.

So if any of those are what you need today, by all means grab ’em and run!  Run!!!

I see the Eight of Spears as the card of utter, total complete liberation.  It’s an indicator that it is time for you to explore for yourself:

how it is that you may give yourself

more freedom to

go where you want to go

when you want to go there

by the means and

at the speed of your own choosing.

Given that, you KNOW my questions if you were my client would start with something like,

SO!  How are you keeping yourself confined?

How are you confining yourself in ways that are no longer appropriate for who you have become and what you may give to the world?

How can you open yourself to a liberation − in your thinking, your behavior, your belief in what is possible and your understanding of how you may go about achieving that possibility?


Please remember that one way in which you may need to… um, try something different is to just freakin’ go for it.  It may be a little uncomfortable, but at least it’s owning who you are and freeing yourself up so you can move along YOUR path. [Harm to none and love for all, of course.]

So:

How can you liberate yourself, your creativity, your spirit today?  What do you need or what can you do so that you can  JUST GO FOR IT!!!?

Bright, free, inspiring blessings!


ACE OF CUPS


What is your Holy Grail?  What is the highest, most perfect ideal you can strive for?  What is the purest, most positive thing you can aspire to do?  Who or what is the best, most brilliant, most caring version of yourself you can seek to become? Starting today, this minute, how can you honor THAT knowing, THAT aspect, THAT vision of yourself and your life?

 We last saw this card almost precisely two months ago.  And it’s a wonderful, beautifully spiritual card, so it’s perfect that it has come back around in this season, as all the fairy magics fire up for the long Winter dreaming!

Some spiritual traditions consider this season among the times when veils between the realm of ordinary reality and the realms of spirit are notably thin. So PLEASE take advantage of the energies and openings today in a sacred, loving and healing way.

Aces in any Tarot deck are cards of a new beginning.  So, that being the case, how can you (how would you like to or how do you need to) begin your life anew, today, right now?  What changes can you begin, even in small ways?  What potentials can you believe in, hope for, reach for and remember?  (And you can expect The Universe will keep asking that question until you most assuredly  remember to ask it alla tyme bya youseff!)


In any Tarot deck, the Ace of Cups is interpreted as a card of abundance, joy and even divine inspiration. [Ahem!] Some readers speak of this as a card of tremendously uplifting energy. [Ahem! Ahem!]

There have been many visions of what the Grail may really be.

~ Some have seen it as the vessel from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper.  Or a vessel from which he drank while on the cross.

~ Some perceive it as one of the Great Magical Cauldrons of Celtic spirituality.

~ Others have thought it a huge jewel broken from the crown of Lucifer when he was cast out of heaven.  [Me, I've always thought Lucifer got a bad rap.  What if he really WAS a light-bringer, and religious bigotry and opposition simply worked to dog him down? Eh? That could never happen.  Eh?]

~ It has even been written that the Grail is a great crystal at the juncture between the Shamanic upper, lower and middle worlds, and that our ordinary reality world balances upon its tip.

I see this card as being about regeneration − which makes sense, as so many of the objects mentioned here are mystical, magical, regenerative tools.

The Ace of Cups asks that we be open to rebirth, perhaps a spiritual rebirth, and that we begin to seek it today.

Most importantly for me, our culture has come to see the Grail as a symbol of purity and perfection.  So when I work with clients and this card comes up, I say,

What is your Holy Grail?  What is the highest, most perfect ideal you can strive for? What is the purest, most positive thing you can aspire to do?  Who or what is the best, most brilliant, most caring version of yourself you can seek to become?


Now, starting today, this minute, how can you honor THAT knowing, THAT aspect, THAT vision of yourself and your life?

 It may take a little work, sure, but you’re certainly worth it!  And so is the world you made your promises to.

Bright blessings, and a beautiful day full of magical early autumn!

Quote for the Day:   I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?  ~ John Lennon

Love Yourself!

Love every aspect of yourself, from your ugliest judgments to your highest moments of self-expression. We love your hate, disgust, confusion, lies & mistreatment of yourself and your environment. It’s not that we encourage or support this behavior, rather, it’s that we see it dissolving and revealing its true essence, the forgotten expression of a shared divinity. We in the higher-realms see that as we love you in your totality, as you are and are becoming, that in-turn you move closer to the light, you move closer to acting from your ultimate truth, which is a constant expression of heart-centered awareness. It may serve you to act as we do, expressing love to the pains & challenges you face, in your self and others, casting light into the shadows, no matter how dark.

Breathe softly in this moment and surrender your shame to God. Every single one of those who have forgotten have caused pain, acted selfishly & spread the sickness of fear, and every forgotten One forgot the same thing, that they all contain within the spark of the Universal Creator. Large spans of time out of synch with your Creator has accumulated a lack of self-love plague in the walls of your chakra channel and the time is now to clean house and reclaim your sacred dome-ain. This great cleansing comes through acting from Love to soften the field around you, widening the sacred branch that runs through your conduit.

Beloved Ones, your DNA repairs itself & enhances its potential from the love you extend and receive. Therefore, as each One of you outwardly expresses love, your capacity to receive love increases through the Law of Attraction. The beautiful message we bring to you is that when the Law of Attraction is souly programmed with love, you in-turn become more attractive. We mean “be-coming attractive” in the sense of all planes of existence, even physical. As your DNA repairs itself through the expansion of Love expression, a vast healing occurs within, dissolving old karmic soul wounds that have led to your appearance in the field, energetically, locally & physically.

We ask you to have Faith at this time that the Wisdom of Love has the power to heal all and bring about your greatest inner-desires. We see your yearning for freedom, play, fun and safety and we say to you that it is only through Love that these desires can become manifest. For those of you seeking abundance, we also encourage Love as your primary delivery method. Abundance comes to those who have opened themselves up to be attractive through love of self, inner, outer & ultimate. Find your self-love and there in you’ll find whatever you need exactly when you need it.

Remember, Beloved Ones, that loving the shadows is the greatest challenge, but as the Law of Attraction governs, those willing to take-on the channel of the challenge will receive the greatest gifts. You are awakening and the time is Now to love and to create in the space that Love illuminates. Love will attract creative, sexual manifestation energy your way, so Love today and get out and play. Watch children as they play from genuine love, learn from their ego-less joy. Appreciation, Beloved Ones, bridges all pain, sadness and sickness, so Be & Be Great-full for the Love around you and within you, and you just might begin to notice how much more love is actually present in so much you overlooked.

Awakening in essence is removing the blinders to the Love already present. Awakening altars time and space, as Love is the ever-lasting etching in the fabric of the cosmic curtains. The veils widen as you Love all that is. Love Yourself, Love the shit & Love the bliss, for unification comes from the appreciation of polarities.

Be In Love With Your Life!!!

As humans we are blinded by your own light. We wait for the writing on the walls to explain the next step of the journey. But the next step of the journey is described and decreed by our own motions and emotions. When we deny our emotions, there is no motion in life. Our car stands still. our body stands still. Our paychecks stand still. Our very dreams stand still. Open up to explore the New World of you. You have come to the edge of your world. You have come to the edge of your expectations. Will you fall off?

Immerse yourself in this next leg of your journey. You are off the maps. You are off the screens and the satellites cannot find you. You are expanding faster than the speed of light, if you choose. The more that you hold tight to a state of motionlessness, the more your life will scream at you. Your life screams for its life. The entire universe has bet on you. Everything awaits your choices.

Earth is not meant to be hard. Humanness is a divine point of origin. Life is a gift. Flesh is a gift. Air is a gift. You are a gift. Love what you have created and let it love you. Honor what you have created. Honor whoever is in your heart, whoever is in your household, and whoever is in your life.

Love this point of creation that you are that you will be, and that you are becoming. The future is up to you. Each step you take into your fearlessness, each thing that you do in love -- no matter how small, ripples out and touches the universe. A great applause is heard throughout the heavens. You took one-step forward into fear, into love, into the future. You stepped away fearlessly. You stepped off the mountaintop knowing you could fly without fear.

Your life beckons you. Be in love. Not just with a person, or a body, or a new car – but with your every experience. Open up your heart to this next level of your experience. The entire Universe needs you. Whatever you yearn for – become it. Whatever you wish for – let it be your experience. Stop wishing for it – live it. Allow life to come into you and you to come into life, without regrets, without angers.

You are a fool on the cliff of the edge of your life...so LIVE LIVE LIVE it!!!!

"The world will be saved by the western woman"

Recently, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made a proclamation that stunned the crowd at the recent Peace Summit in Vancouver: "The world will be saved by the western woman." Wow.

Most people I meet have a new fear--the fear of not being relevant, the fear of not making a difference, the fear of working on things that don't really matter in the important times of transition we live in. We're hungry to be part of making things better. We want to create, we want to do what we love again and find our voice. We sense intuitively that we have a critical role to play in shaping the future of our world. And yet, so many of us give in to excuses of not being good enough, young enough, smart enough, wealthy enough, creative enough. We still play small, still give in to the "victim" archetype. We still buy into what society's beliefs are and put them right above our own.

But we don't really have time for these fears. If I could create a vaccine, instead of the flu one, I'd create one against fear. It's what holds us back, every one of us, in every area of our life. And, while we're holding back, time just moves on faster than ever. We are at a critical time in the evolution of our planet, a time where each one of us is waking up. We feel it. Our intuition is growing more acute. Our inner microphone, as I like to call it, is getting harder and harder to turn off, so that we can't just go along with our normal day. There's a rise in consciousness where we feel more connected to others, a part of something bigger going on, where we each have a role to play. The most important thing isn't to get the promotion, or stay in the marriage, or lose those 10 pounds. The most important thing is for us to remember who we are--why we are here--to do the inner work and find what are our "spiritual" reasons for being on the planet. Yes we do have something great to accomplish. Now. At any age. Wherever we are.

I am passionate about having us all take back our power, whether it be from our spouses, our jobs, our kids, our parents, our weight, whatever or whomever we lent it to. Ask yourself: To whom have I given my power?

The energies for December: Faith

Inspirational Message


Faith is the unshakable knowing of the heart when nothing makes sense to the mind.

Faith is the breath of God that animates our soul. the invisible force that holds hawks in the air and allows swimmers to float naked on their backs. We cannot see it, we can only feel it when we pay attention. When we doubt ourselves, our faith slips away and we become vulnerable to uncertainty. And this lessens our source of spiritual power, which is always available to us in times of misfortune, pain, and illness. It is normal to experience spiritual doubt. In fact, times of doubt can lead to our greatest transformative moments and is the 'can' opener to faith.

To travel with hope into the future is an act of great faith. It is the frontier of the fool, the great unknown and such a journey can bring with it a feeling of uncertainty. It is faith that teaches us to contemplate the invisible which is beyond our grasp; not through the power of knowledge.

Our faith connects the past to the future and gives us a kind of spiritual gravity. It reassures us that the Divine is in the future just as in the present and past. All that is unknowable is held within the Divine and that includes us, our families, friends, and all our collective well being; yesterday, today, and tomorrow in all ways.

It's okay to worry but also know that it is a potential doorway you can open and allow faith to enter. Fall out of your mindsets and have confidence your heart will catch you.

May you cultivate great faith and bright blessings this month. Wishing you and your loved ones a refreshed outlook and renewed perspective as we celebrate the light!

Be optimistic, be light, be an expression of faith in action!

The energies for November: Trust

Inspirational Message

Move from a place of knowing within you rather than as a result of adaptation to outer experience. Let go of your assumptions and need to control life's creative process.

It does not matter what spiritual path you’re on, an ultimate sense of peace comes down to one question: Can you let go of the need to control your life, and trust there is a benevolent force guiding all that ever has, is, and will happen?

Trust is the soul's way of attuning to a fundamental law of reality. There is a deep rhythm that moves through all life that cannot be controlled by our will. When trust informs our experience, it allows our psyche to relax and our soul to be at peace with our situation. We can rest in unquestioned confidence that the universe provides, that we have and will receive what we really need. In fact, often beyond what we alone are even capable of imagining.

When we have a lot of basic trust, we are courageous and take risks. We don't suppress our competencies. We engage in life wholeheartedly, doing what feels appropriate with the confidence that it will work out. Life becomes a story of creation not an obstacle course.

Without basic trust, we tend react to what arises in accordance with our conditioning wanting our process to go one way or another. We cling to predetermined assumptions and outcomes. We become tense and contracted and do all we can to manipulate the circumstances to fit with our desires.

Here is a suggestion for changing the automatic internal response to external signals. When a traffic light turns yellow and there is a safe distance to stop before it turns red, what do you tend to do? Do you accelerate to 'make it through'?  If so, this is a metaphor for what happens inside when our yellow worry light goes off — we accelerate; try harder, move faster, do more, all stress responses to our conditioning.  Trust is the ability to stop and wait for the green light to signal the time to move forward again.

So, for the month of November, be gentle with yourself. Practice putting on the brakes when the light is yellow. Take a moment to pause and breathe in trust and the deeper rhythm of life while waiting for the green light to again signal you to go.

May Trust increase your capacity for loving thoughts and kind actions.

Love Affirmations: Loving Abundance

Love Affirmations are  statements that promote health and abundance in one’s life. I know how valuable it is because I’ve experienced the benefits of giving my self daily doses of love affirmations especially in moments when I become aware of my emotions moving toward an unpleasant path. I will therefore, focus my Love Affirmations for those episodes of self- doubt and bouts of unworthiness.


I love myself for who I am
I am beautiful inside and out
I am special in many unique ways
I love every part of me from, the tip of toes to the tips of my hair
I am endowed with an amazing body that functions perfectly
I am able to do wonderful things because of this body
I love and accept myself and honor every aspect of my physical self that makes me who I am
I am loving abundance expressed
I love all the knowledge I have and all the wisdom that comes to me each moment
I am blessed with a mind that comprehends things easily
I am a creative being capable of making life joyful and exciting
I love the lessons learned from daily experience
I am full of ideas to empower others and support them in their journey
I am able to communicate knowledge and wisdom to anyone effectively
I love and accept myself and honor all the thoughts of who I am
I am loving abundance articulated


I love the passion I have for life and unconditional love
I am eager to give boundless love to myself in order to lavish boundless love on others
I am keen on bestowing all things pleasurable to those I encounter each day
I love the talent and skills I possess
I am a creator of many amazing ways of expressing love to anyone I meet
I am an active participant of making the world a better place for all
I love and accept myself and honor all emotions that make me who I am
I am loving abundance illustrated
I love the abundant spirit that moves in all of me
I am surrounded by a magnificent light that attracts all the best of life
I am pure love energy vibrating in the highest and grandest expression of itself
I love the divinity that abounds in me and all others surrounding me
I am one with every spirit in this universe desiring peace, unity, harmony and joy
I am part of the bigger entity of which all love and light dwells
I love and accept myself and honor the holiness inside me that make up who I am
I am loving abundance manifested

May these love affirmations remind you that loving abundance can be yours; that the love you experience for yourself will radiate; and ultimately, you will come to realize and experience the abundance of life.

7 Stages to Clearing Your Emotions

painting by Norman Rockwell


Most of us do not know how to clear the negative emotions in our bodies. It's a process most of us have never been taught to do. Society doesn't really support us in this work. As a result, when we do try to clear, because we do not know the stages that humans go through in order to release painful emotions, we get stuck. For many of us, this leads to feelings of frustration and so we just give up. But when we give up, we do so at a price. When conflicts remain unresolved, their associated emotions remain, creating energetic imbalances in the body on the physical level that lead to illness. On the mental level, they can create bi-polar disordersand, in some cases, depression. On the emotional level, they lead us to either act out in destructive ways such as raging, or in covert ways, using passive/aggressive behavior. All of these things are destructive to our personal relationship with our Inner Children, not to mention our relationships with others.

The 7 Stages of Emotional Clearing are given as a roadmap to help you navigate the stages of clearing that each person experiences in order to fullyand completely clear negative pain associated with a conflict or other negative event from the body.

The 7 Stages

1. Trigger
2. Identify Trigger through anger
3. Projectionand blaming
4. Expressand release angerand pain
5. Look forand find the mirror
6. Own the mirror
7. Clear the mirror

1. Trigger

A trigger occurs when someone violates a personal boundary or agreement.

2. Identifying the trigger through anger

Once triggered, you react with anger or, if not anger, at least a sense that something is not right.

Note: Many people get stuck here because they have learned to immediately stuff their anger when it occurs. An example would be saying to yourself, “Oh, it’s just not worth getting upset over.”

15 steps to navigate your personal transformation

1. Spend time in nature -- connect with the peace and perfection of plants, trees, flowers and the night sky.

2. Take daily sun baths for 10 to 15 minutes. Visualize the sun's light filling the cells of your body.

3.  Spend time each day nurturing yourself. Begin a new health regimen, prepare healthy meals for yourself, receive spa treatments, massages, etc. Homeopathy, essential oils and flower essences can prove beneficial during this time.

The Healing Miracles of Archangel Raphael

By Samantha Winstanley

Doreen Virtue's new book, "The Healing Miracles of Archangel Raphael," is here. Please read an excerpt and feel peace. 

Blessings to all

Lilith

There were two trees in the Garden of Eden. Eve, created to replace Lilith, took the fruit from the other one, the Tree of Knowledge. She has been blamed by the Church, along with all women, for the sins of the world. Decoding the symbolic significance of the serpent, ancient and pervasive symbol of feminine wisdom, is central to understanding the deepest levels of humanity’s story. In Qabalah, the mystical tradition of Judaism, the serpent climbs the Tree of Life to return to the source.

Holding space

As we flow from Spring Equinox into a deeper, richer Spring, what seeds are we planting? And as we become vessels for the Sacred Feminine to flow through us, how are we holding space?

I thought this was a beautiful article on Holding Space by Melita Marshall.

Enjoy!


"But beyond all of these attributes, holding space is a spiritual exercise in which a higher consciousness, a high vibrational field, is invoked and maintained. It is invisible and hard to describe, but people feel it and need it. To do this, we consciously honor our connection with Source and with all life, we celebrate our work as service and demonstrate the value of community".

Waking the Warrior Goddess Within

The Warrior Goddess has been calling me lately to step out of my past, bless my lessons, to rise from the fire, from the ashes and transform into my true self, my Phoenix essence, my Firebird.


Goddess Oya

Beautiful Oya, your stength honors and humbles me. 
I ask you to fill me with your courage, 
so I may clear away what blocks my path. 
Help me to know my mind and speak it without fear. 
Protect me in my battle to know my true self.


I found a book that honors the Warrior Goddess, called Awakening Female Power: The Way of the Goddess Warrior by Karin LaPuma.


One reader reviewed it and had to say this about the book, "It is a confidence/self-esteem builder; helps you figure out how to deal with the "monsters" in your personality; serves as a reminder of important values you may have forgotten & reminds you to respect yourself & find strength in your weaknesses."


I personally am looking forward to reading it!