Have you noticed that certain times of year evoke different feelings or orientations?
For me, it’s about LIGHT, about opening to it and receiving it.
How do you define light?
Perhaps you think about it as: inspiration, healing, divinity, truth, love- or something else.
Whatever your definition of light, the dark days of December seem to call for a kindling of that spark, a nourishing of our inner light.
Here’s a simple one: How would you complete this sentence?
Last week I began an online class focused on the arc known as the Hero’s Journey. If you’re at all familiar with the mythologist, Joseph Campbell and his work, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about!
Essentially, the idea is that we are all the hero of our own story, and within our lifetimes are invited, encouraged, urged, and sometimes dragged onto a journey of self-transformation.
Have you ever thought about the unique track of your life and your experiences as being tailor made just for you?
It’s kind of a radical idea, one I learned from the Manual for Teachers, which is part of A Course In Miracles (ACIM).
In it, it says that in our journey to God, we have,
“[A] curriculum [that] is highly individualized, and all aspects [of it] are under the Holy Spirit's particular care and guidance.”
When I first read this, I smiled.
According to Celtic tradition, we’re about to get to the time of year when the veils between worlds is purportedly thinnest.
The actual date is from sundown on October 31st to sundown on November 1st which coincides with Halloween and the Day of the Dead.
Supposedly, this 24-hour period is a powerful time:
for divination (since the veils are more porous)
for reflection on the balance of life and death
for connecting between the physical and spiritual worlds
for honoring and remembering loved ones who have passed on
I'm sure you’re aware of the difference between liking someone and loving them. But would you indulge me for a minute?
Call to mind a friend or colleague. Someone you genuinely like who perhaps is reliable, trustworthy…Now think about someone you love. A family member or close confidante.
Can you feel the difference?
Yes!
Unfortunately, sometimes the lines between love and like get blurred, especially with members of our family.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.
When I was in my early 20s, I moved across the country to live near my sister. Growing up, our relationship was complicated. Sometimes we got along wonderfully, other times, not so much.
Do you have a go-to strategy when you find it hard to concentrate and your brain feels fuzzy?
Or when you can’t seem to figure out what to do next, or what direction to move towards?
When I’m in that place, it sometimes feels like I’m spinning in circles, directionless, blind to possibility.
However, when I REMEMBER to use this tool (!), a breathing exercise, it can really make a difference.
Why?
Since the end of October, I’ve been struggling with aftereffects from Covid-19 and today I felt guided to share my healing journey with you.
Sometime in mid-October, I contracted Covid. As with many of us, I wasn’t exactly sure how I got it. I was traveling overseas and didn’t confirm I was positive until I returned home! After quarantining for ten days, and finally testing negative, I was ready to move on with my life!
Ha Ha.
This was my first encounter with a long-term illness, something you may live with or have experienced at some point in your life. To you, I offer my deepest condolences. You are indeed a brave warrior.
Each time I’d think I was finally better and could get BACK to my life, I’d have some kind of relapse. Mostly with a blanketing sense of fatigue that would descend like a band across my eyes. That’s when I knew I couldn’t keep going.
This went on for weeks that turned into months.
I have this mp3 track of Louise Hay called 101 Power Thoughts for Life. At the beginning of it she says, “the thoughts we think and the words we speak are constantly shaping our world and our experiences. Many of us are in an old habit of negative thinking and do not realize the damage we have inflicted upon ourselves. However, we are never stuck because we can always change our thinking.”
Sometimes it’s fun to sprinkle in a little astrology… why? Because those GIANT orbs in the sky actually affect us here on earth.
January thus far may have had its fits and starts, but good news is a foot! Beginning on January 28th when Uranus ends its retrograde, there will be NO major planets backspinning from now until April 1st!!!!
In this time of giving, I’m reminded of a lesson from A Course In Miracles, “to give and to receive are one in truth.”
Initially, this can seem like an impossible statement, because if I have a sweater and I give it to you, then I no longer have that sweater, right?
Right!
But what if, on an energetic level, giving and receiving were the same thing?
For a number of years now, I’ve had this connection to the White Goddess. I first identified her as White Tara, Buddhist goddess of healing and compassion. But on my recent trip to Vietnam, I learned of a new white goddess, Quan Am. The Vietnamese version of Kwan Yin, the Boddhisattva of compassion
If you are unfamiliar with the Sanskrit term, bodhisattva, or bo tat in Vietnamese, it refers to a Buddhist concept of devoting your life to easing the suffering of others. A Boddhisattva vows to help release all sentient beings from suffering before being truly liberated.
This entire month, I’ve been kinda obsessed with the idea of the veil. Meaning the veil between worlds, or the veil that hides the truth from us.
In Hinduism, the goddess Kali is known to rip this veil from our eyes, to help us see the truth. Another way of thinking about it is that the goddess Maya is cloaked in the veil of illusion, which, in truth is as gauzy as a wispy cloud.
While I appreciate the imagery of both of these, the visual that has always, always, always speaks to me is the mists of Avalon. There the priestess stands in the prow of her boat and parts the mists, thus allowing her to enter the island of Avalon. Whereas, the others who are incapable of this feat wander forever lost in the gloam.
I was having a conversation the other day about how there are 2 types of people: YES people and NO people.
I realize this sounds incredibly generalizing, but hear me out.
Think about yourself. When you’re asked to attend something or hear about a new idea, what’s your initial response?
Is it a resounding and quick, YES!
Or a NO?
Responding like this is automatic. There may be judgment around one way being better than the other, but I don’t think that’s true. in essence, it’s simply a way we’re oriented towards the world.
You know when someone shares a technique or exercise they do with you, and as soon as you hear it, your brain says YES!
That happened to me the other day. A woman shared something that a coach she had years ago told her to do. It goes like this:
I was really struck with this notion, of envisioning trust blanketing everything and everyone, as opposed to feeling guarded or on alert.
The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who, after 40+ years of marriage, is now single! As part of her healing journey, she told me that she never felt like she had permission to be in a reciprocally loving relationship.
Not only was this a huge A-HA for her, but also led to a discussion about this idea of permission, how unconsciously we believe we can or cannot act in specific ways, do certain tasks, or take on specific roles.
Make sense?
