“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.”

~Theodore Roethke, 20th-Century American poet

Some of you may be aware that, as an herbalist, I prefer self-healing to westernized medicine. Of course I do not advocate skipping immediate medical treatment in cases of extreme illness or emergency, but I feel that all intuition and common sense has vacated the local doctor’s office and gone searching for greener pastures.

For acute illness I do often suggest an herbal or vitamin remedy. They may not always taste like a dream but the results can be seen within about 24 hours and the illness or ailment is often sent packing much faster than the over-the-counter, knock-yourself-out-and-forget-about-it, type of remedies that we are all used to taking.

How do herbs heal? They work on a chemical level to correct any imbalances in our various physical systems and also to kick-start those functions whose sluggishness most likely led to the infection, sickness, etc…

Yet, as I have mentioned here on the blog in the past, all things are made up of light and all light is energy. So the purest and most subtle form of healing the human body, or any living thing for that matter, is energy.

There are many forms of energy healing, the most important one being thought. The power of positive thought has been expounded upon ad nauseum lately, but it cannot be over-emphasized.

My own preferred form of energy healing, for it pleasant effects, is the use of flower remedies. (Because energy signatures are universal, the essences are also great for use on animals for their healing.)

Flower remedies, most famously those of Dr. Bach, are a liquid containing the energy signature, or essence, of the flower from one or more plants.

Flower remedies can be made from the flowers of vegetables, trees, herbs, wildflowers and even the decorative garden flowers that we all know and love.

These simple essential healing remedies are made by infusing pure water with the blossoms in the noonday sunlight. Although I use the light cast during various astronomically and astrological phenomena, noonday sunlight is the most common method of creating flower remedies.

The light beams directly onto your vessel, passing through a floating layer of flowers and carrying their energies into the water.

Once the flowers are skimmed off, the energy water (or Mother Essence) is then cut or diluted using a preservative such as vinegar or brandy.

Some healers then ship the product as is, I prefer to bless or “activate” the essence for healing by stating the properties of the flower or flowers aloud and asking the universe to help it carry out its higher purpose within the life and body of the end user.

The properties of each flower are not made up quickly by some creative mind, but instead come from the energy experiences of test users around the world, from ancient healing knowledge that has been passed down, by looking at the physical design of the plant (often the shape of flowers tells you quite clearly what their usage is) and also from herbalism. Often the herbal use is related in some way to the energetic use of the same plant.

Though they most certainly can heal major physical ailments over time, the most pronounced effects of flower remedies come when used for emotional, spiritual and psychological healing.

I have used them for psychic development, youthfulness and vitality, all with great results. They have been prescribed with positive effect for depression, self-esteem, bravery and stronger will power.

The flower remedy treatment formula, usually a combination essence made specifically for the ailments and needs of the client based on their own answers to some brief questions, can be mixed using a variety of intuitive and research methods.

My general approach is to read the clients answers, get a sense of appropriate remedies based on my own personal experience and then to channel additional suggestions for remedies from my guides.

The end result is a subtle but highly attuned energy essence that benefits the whole person as opposed to focusing narrowly on one desired outcome. This is most beneficial since sickness creates many locales of imbalance and does not operate solely on the element or “symptom” that we have come to notice in ourself.

Flower remedies can also be taken as a solo essence, right from the original dosage bottle. This helps to treat more acute symptoms that come on more suddenly or have built up to an unmanageable level over time.

I have used this single remedy approach quite successfully on myself for treating a feeling of getting old, getting more tired and feeling less energy. Within just a few days that shine in my eyes had returned and my skin looked younger. The essence was Elderflower.

I have also seen this method used for swollen joints, arthritis, stress and panic attacks.

By locating a flower essence practitioner you can get access to your own custom blend of flower remedy, designed to alleviate long-term illness and readjust hormone, energy and mental imbalances in order to bring you to your best possible health.

Please consider doing some research yourself on these wonderful healing essences, the gifts of the universe for our souls. Please incorporate them into your life however you can for I truly believe that healing is meant to be subtle and natural, not harsh and chemical.

Best of Health to You All!

“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.”

~Neil Armstrong, Astronaut & First Man on the Moon

The following is excerpted from our ebook of the same name…

From time to time, in the course of my channelings and meditations, I get a piece of psychic history that shocks even me.

This is rare and usually comes in the form of first-person experience of a topic or time-period which I was not even expecting or intending to contact.

One such occasion was in the course of a personal meditation, a few years ago now, where I was receiving guidance from my higher self. All of a sudden, she told me to look into a puddle on the ground and that she would show me something of great importance.

I did as she suggested and was immediately transported in a direction that I can best describe as upwards. I rose up through a misty haze and was instantly transported back down again, backwards in time, into an endless lush jungle.

The covering or canopy was thick and green, damp, tall and dark. I knew that there were tribes of people living here, though how I knew this at that point I don’t really understand. I walked through this ancient, untouched place, pushing branches and large fronds out of my way as I went and eventually came to a small clearing amongst the trees and vines.

There, in the clearing, was a sight that I could never have dreamt, not in any vision, dream or meditation had I ever seen anything even remotely like it. There, in the middle of the clearing, stood a speechless (as in not able to produce what we think of as speech) wild man.

He was similar to, though more magnificent than, our textbook illustrations of Neanderthal man. Behind him, towards the edge of the clearing, stood a small group of other wild people, half hidden in the jungle. It was obvious to me that he was their chosen leader, perhaps for his physique and strength or bravery. In front of him, in a huge, blinding beam of light, stood some kind of “alien” creature. It was flat as a piece of paper, tall, angular and orange-reddish of color, and dwarfed the wild man by as many as three or four feet.

This creature, obviously also a leader of some sort, had a number of similar creatures, of varying heights and shades of orange, standing behind it. These two groups of beings were communicating with each other, exactly how I cannot work out, but the orange people did not speak in words, they spoke telepathically. The wild men seemed to only grunt and gesture, yet their “leader” was nodding his head and grunting in an understanding toward the orange leader.

The orange creatures were asking for something from the wild men, showing them pictures of their own reality in their minds. Once these beings had finished telling their story to the wild man, he paused for a few moments, just standing before this tall, flat being.

Then the man stepped backward a bit, toward the edge of the forest and seemed to hold council with his fellow tribes people. There was a lot of confusion, then some level of disagreement, followed by some type of compromise and a consensus of some kind. After this the leader stepped back into the clearing and, in an almost pitying way, gave a positive answer to this orange being.

I have thought much on this since I had the vision and asked for clarification of my ideas in several other meditation and dream sequences after that, and this is the understanding that I have come to about at least one portion of our human history:

In our ancient past, we lived as peaceful, highly-spiritual beings in small groups that worshiped the Earth, Sun, Moon and stars as actual beings, as thinking, living and feeling elements of nature. We did not have the power of speech, but did have many concepts that modern people think of as marks of “civilization.” These included self-awareness, ritual practices, agricultural knowledge, religious understanding, cooking and communication as well as the concepts of truth, responsibility, family connections, past, present and future.

At the same time, in other corners of the greater cosmos, other beings who looked and communicated differently to us were undergoing great changes in their way of life and on their own planets. One such group, the orange people, were suffering under the expansion and immanent explosion of their sun.

The normal course of life for them, on their sun-scorched planet, was to be born as flat yet moist, yellow beings, coming into an orangeness as they passed beyond puberty, getting taller as they also grew to have less moisture in their bodies, and eventually, when approaching middle to old age, to become reddened and drier, often like the texture of a tree, except flat.

They lived in extended family groups, on a dusty, rocky, and arid planet that was comprised equally of mountains and extensive dry plains. Each family group shared a plain or cave, where dozens and dozens of them lived together. What specifically they did, in other words, what they’re daily life was like, was never shown to me. I do not believe, however, that they went to work every day as we tend to do or that they had a care for the creation or collection of material goods at all.

These creatures seemed to be extremely spiritual in their reality, living for and by energy and thought, not growing or harvesting things. They did spend their time thinking, vibrating, creating, but not in a way that could be “seen” on a physical plane of existence. They seemed to act solely for the betterment of the whole race and of their planet, however certain forces in their universe were beyond their control.

The only true vision that I had of their planet and their life on it was at the very end of their world. Groups of the oldest and the youngest (I guess you could say the grandparents and grandchildren) of these orange beings were cowering under a large rock outcropping in the middle of a large open plain and were slowly frying, cooking to death, under the now constant radiation of their sun. As their sun grew, it not only became as close to them as our moon is to us, but also started pulling things toward it, like a vacuum or a magnet.

It was at this point that the strongest (adult/orange) of these beings chose to take the drastic measure that they did, coming to Earth and asking the peaceful people of this place to provide them with some kind of help. I get the sense that this was highly taboo and was only undertaken due to the most desperate and imminent of circumstances.

What did they want? How could these seemingly simple and unrefined humans have helped these highly evolved beings?

…To read the remainder of this story, please view our ebook on your Amazon Kindle reader. The book can be purchased for just 99¢ at Amazon. Also, stay tuned for future ebook instalments in our series entitled Ancient Alien Chronicles.

“I don’t believe that ghosts are “spirits of the dead” because I don’t believe in death. In the multiverse, once you’re possible, you exist. And once you exist, you exist forever one way or another. Besides, death is the absence of life, and the ghosts I’ve met are very much alive. What we call ghosts are lifeforms just as you and I are.”
~ Paul F. Eno, Author and Paranormal Researcher

As an addition to my Medium Adventures series, a reader recently asked me this question….Should you be afraid of being a medium?

It is an interesting question. And one that several people who have “accidentally” or “purposely” developed this skill over time have probably been faced with.

To be honest because I am a trained witch, meaning a “wise woman,” who has been exposed to the paranormal on a regular basis since I was fifteen, I never really had this concern at all.

But religion and dogma are just a doorway to true spirituality. Many of us are now becoming “spiritual” and slowly dropping the restrictive “religious” approach to self development.

With this in mind, the gifted mediums who are now beginning to blossom and step onto the stage, myself included, come from all different backgrounds and carry with them a wide array of beliefs and understandings.

You may have come to this path through Buddhism, or Catholicism or through Judaism. Where you came from denotes how you will react to the realization that you are starting to develop certain abilities.

This is what annoys me about some of the blogs out there written by other psychic mediums: They speak in a pointed manner about all sorts of “negative” experiences that they’ve had.

Call it transparency or call it shock value, but it does absolutely zero to foster healing or awareness in people. It simply serves to make people keep paranormal phenomena at arms length, to essentially cut themselves off from the spiritual world and their own gifts.

What these psychics fail to realize is that their negative experiences are caused mainly by their own selves, by their approach. (Or lack thereof.)

A witch learns to Believe not just Think that they are in control of the elements and the spiritual realm. Yes, these forces can do things that we cannot do (such as materialize and dematerialize at will) but they cannot take manifest form. This fact gives us a power over them, however much that power may be rooted in the ego.

We are physical beings, but with just as strong of a spiritual energy as any paranormal phenomena. The first thing is to set up boundaries. Spirits have different levels of ability themselves. Some can hear, some can see, some just sense. Others can muster up enough force to speak and even, at times, to move things.

I just felt that shiver run through all of you. *wink, wink* Oh, come on.

So if I approach the communication with spirits, elementals entities and other extra-sensory beings with the knowledge that I am the one in control, it enables me to change my energy frequency in such a way that they understand the boundaries.

I speak to them, both internally and also out loud when I feel the need. I simply tell them that I am open, but that they will only enter when I agree, that they will not show me horrific images, that they will leave my sleep in peace and that they will not fully possess my consciousness. (Most of them do not wish to do this anyway, for how could you give them aid or tell their story if you weren’t present for the bulk of the communication?)

So that is, basically, it for setting up boundaries. Yes, it really is that simple. The key isn’t using biblical symbols or calling archangels or speaking in fancy tongues. The key is true Belief that you have the upper hand.

Think of it this way: If they were more powerful than you are in your little ole physical form, why would they need to come through you to accomplish their work? Why wouldn’t it be you needing to go through them? (Leaving aside the fact that at some points on your learning path it will be you needing to go through them to accomplish your work. That’s what they call a symbiotic relationship folks.)

Many spirits and elementals are simple in nature and not some big galactic or evil force wanting to control all that you do for the next forever and ever, amen.

No. It is the mind and belief structure of the medium that gives these beings their form much of the time. You believe that there is 50% evil in the world and 50% good and you are just waiting for the day when that “evil” attaches itself to you and rides you like a sweaty night hag? Well then, baby, you will have that day, sure as a rainstorm.

But if you believe that we are all essentially of one Great Source, just walking at different learning points on a similar path and you believe that you can help others by becoming one with their energy for a brief space of time…that’s what you’ll end up experiencing. Like the creator of rainbows.

If you are at the beginning of this adventure and you are experiencing new abilities then just let it ride for a while. See where it takes you. This truly is a gift.

Of course, right now, it may not seem like a gift. But at least know that it can be a gift to others. You can help others, just by being open to spirit. You won’t need to go and spend the eight years in college to become a psychiatrist or parapsychologist. You’ll be able to help them instantly, giving guidance and effecting some much needed resolution.

If you feel fear or pain at the thought of becoming a medium, first embrace the feelings as valid expressions of your own inner self awareness. Then allow yourself the freedom to realize your place within all creation and your oneness with all things.

You ARE those spirits, YOU need to get YOUR message through, YOU need to know resolution, YOU need to heal the wounds that YOU had in life so that YOU can progress onward and upward, unburdened to meet YOUR next challenge.

See how it changes and becomes less threatening when you identify with the fact that we are all one and the same energy force striving for the ultimate awareness so that we can reconnect with our Source? You realize the importance of the work that you are being called to do.

If all else fails and you KNOW that you WANT to follow this path of the medium but you have hit a stumbling block, reach out and make contact with another medium. Tell them about your hopes, your fears and your difficulties.

Some may be short with you. Some may be over-wordy. But all will be familiar with at least some of what you are feeling. And just writing out your experiences will help you, I guarantee it.

Blessings on your own path to self-discovery.

-Vera Nadine

“Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.”
~ Robert Ingersoll, Political Orator

I believe that we as humans are born hopeful. That we have an inherent light within us that lives in positivity, no matter what the circumstance. This is borne out by the repeated words and advice of the spirit guides.

It may not always be easy to remember and have faith in this inner light and, when looking outside of ourselves, to the Earth and the human community, we may more easily see evidence of darkness and despair. But the truth is that we are all creations of the infinite light, that hope is always with us waiting to shine upon our path.

This is true for both individuals and for the planet upon which we live.

Based on my own experience and the wisdom of the guides, here are some valuable actions that you can take to ensure the growth of hope, within your own life and the life of the Earth:

• 1. Incorporate a practice of daily meditation into your life. This helps to empower your thinking, balance your energy and de-stress your life. It also helps you see the positive in more things, when the negative would seem to be more obvious. Meditation is a great regulator of stress, fear, high-blood pressure and depression. Take 15 minutes for connecting with yourself every day.
• 2. Switch to a diet that supports the natural processes of the planet, one incorporating organic, seasonal foods. A vegetarian or vegan diet is even more beneficial for the pressure that it takes off of the environment (commercial meat farming uses an inordinate amount of natural resources.) If you buy local, seasonal, organic produce it will benefit your immune systems like you can only imagine, and will support a local farmer who is doing things the right way for our long-term planetary survival.
• 3. Learn about how to grow and preserve your own foods, look into permaculture gardening and then practice these things. The amount of work needed to create good food will help you readjust your view on food and the ease with which we now get it. You may realize how unnatural our chemical-laden supermarket shelves really are. You will also greatly lessen your footprint on this Earth by growing food the old-fashioned way as well as greatly lessening your likelihood of developing diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
• 4. Walk more. To school, to work, to the grocery store or just to a friend’s house. Walking is such an aerobic, calming and connecting meditative experience. And what you save in finite fossil fuels will benefit not only you but the environment as well.
• 5. Volunteer your time. Giving is the surest way of receiving, and spending time with those less fortunate than yourself will certainly give you food for thought about what is valuable in life and how blessed you are by your creator. Everyone is too worried about money and acquiring things to give of themselves these days. You can begin reversing that trend, in your own life.
• 6. Smile and say hello. Strangers don’t generally bite, despite common belief to the contrary, and your moment of kindness and connection could very well change the amount of light that another person finds in their day. If you pass someone on the road, say hi, and see how it also makes you feel high.
• 7. Turn off the tv. Turn off the radio. Media is not a free medium, the commercials, news reports, political messages, offensive images and lyrics all take a very costly toll on your energy and your thinking. The amount of pain in your life may truly be nil, and yet the mental anguish and emotional upset brought to you every day in the form of “information” from the media can send any individual into a real and deep depression. Spend time in silence, share conversation with your loved ones. Let the media spin for their bread, but don’t let them spin your head.
• 8. Teach your children about physical exercise by setting an example of fitness. You can be as spiritual as you want, and it will benefit you to no end. But, if you combine that with lethargy and immobility, you will suffer constant malaise and illness, which does not benefit spiritual awareness. Sick people are a much bigger drain on planetary resources and what good is it to be great a meditator and astral-projector, if you also end up in a wheelchair or needing regular treatment for degenerative disease? Walk, run, dance, do yoga and just throw a ball around, you and your kids will be glad that you did.
• 9. Refuse to accept chemical and synthetic replacements for natural things in your life. People once stored their foods in wooden barrels and earthen jars. Clothes were once made from plant and animals fibres. Medicines once came from nature, without the chemical removal of their balancing “non-active” ingredients. Cleaning products were once homemade and non-estrogen mimicking. Building materials once came without chemical impregnation and manufacturing. It can be that way again, but only if you are willing to demand, and pay for, real value in the products that you use.
• 10. Breath before speaking. When you let words, which are energy and just as real as a seed in the ground or a slap across the face, escape your mouth in a moment of passion, without thinking, they can add more of what we don’t need to this world. Do not let your life breath be the vehicle by which more hurt, anger, violence and despair enter into our environment. Instead allow yourself to find the eternal spiritual source within you before attempting to express your feelings, let this divine spark be your guide to communicating your thoughts in a balanced way.
• 11. Allow yourself to believe that there is more beyond this world and more beyond this life. Know that you are always a part of that divine energy from which you came. Know that you have been sent here to learn and grow and that the opportunity is a gift. Have respect for yourself, your planet and the others in your life, for they are all essential to your ability to grow while you are here.

~

My blessings on finding your own ways to add value and hope to your life, and to this great planet Earth.

“Everything in nature contains all the power of nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Essayist, Philosopher, and Poet

We are all spiritual beings living in these containers, known as the physical body.

The point of this agreement is to learn more of the spiritual reality of energetic awareness by experiencing the different points of view afforded us through the various human senses.

Of course each of us knows of the obvious reasons for using the human senses, the enjoyment of smelling a beautiful ripe strawberry or the inner excitement that comes from spotting a magnificent flower in bloom.

But the mark of awareness is being willing to see the beauty and benefits of all levels of creation, of both the manifest and the energetic life forces in all things.

The life energy embodied in fruits and vegetables gives up the building blocks for our own physical health. The essences of flowers can provided us with subtle energies that benefit us physically, mentally and spiritually.

If we can use the energy forces of other living organisms in order to benefit ourselves and the world then we can, without a doubt, use our own energies in the same way.

I know that many of you out there have been learning about and implementing the power of intention in your lives. And I am certain that you have already noticed great effects from it.

Now that you have tried dedicated focusing of your thought energies and seen that you DO indeed control the experiences that you have in your life, let’s think about other ways that you can harness the power of your own, magical, physical form to derive further benefits for yourself and the world.

Name the single most common force that humans cannot ignore in their lives and once you’ve waded through the inevitable mundane and superficial answers you will arrive at the most natural and raw force….SEX.

Humans have sex for procreation and humans have sex for fun. But as with all life energies, and most especially with the sexual impulsive energy because it is so massive in its pull, sex can be used to direct intent, and to give it the most potent charge you possibly can!

The only thing necessary is a partner with at least some level of spiritual or energetic awareness and a small bit of focus on the part of both partners.

Though most effective when practiced during the act of physical sex, this technique can also be utilize to direct the energies during astral or even phone sex.

When not being used between two people, but only being raised by an individual alone, sexual energy can still be directed. Though a balance of masculine and feminine is ideal for strong manifestation of the intentions, it is not a requirement.

Begin by simply agreeing on a purpose for your intent, whether this be to manifest prosperity in your life together, to help heal a sick relative or to send rejuvenating energy to our planet. So long as the intent is fully agreed upon by both partners, then it will receive the necessary charge.

As arousal begins and the passionate energy begins to work its way through your system, each should focus on “seeing” the two energies become one, encircling the two bodies like and egg of light.

As the pleasure increases and the two separate energies begin to pulsate as one, remind yourself inside (or out loud) that you are both of the One ALL. Thus you have always been one energy, and you will create together, just as you truly ARE together.

The best way to direct the energy into the manifestation of your pure, agreed intent is to achieve (through the practice of mapping each others rhythms) a simultaneous climax. No matter if this is unattainable at first, so long as each of you pictures the intent at the time of orgasm.

As that point nears, “see” the energy turn from an egg into a circling spiral that rises above you like a tornado turned upside-down, emanating out from your point of connection into the ether, bringing to the universe the information about your desired intent.

Remember to also give a little of your own energy to the other person, so that they may use it to replenish themself. Sex, in its essence is about energy EXCHANGE, as much as it can be about energy RAISING.

If together it is possible to raise life force energy, enough to create a separate human individual, with sexual energy, then we can certainly utilize this magical, eternal force to create other things as well.

In allowing our combined sexual energy to ascend into the higher realms and to carry our intent there, we can contribute our own little bit to the overall ascension of our planet.

Happy Frolicking!

~

As a Note: If simultaneous climax seems difficult to achieve do not worry, the best route in that case is to make sure that the man climaxes first and then the woman (assuming that we are talking about a heterosexual couple.) This is because the woman is generally the receiver, taking the raw energy of masculine and transmuting it into life force, or creation. In this case the man would be the “producer” of sexual intent or energy and the woman would be the “director” of it.

“Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.”
~ George Eliot, a.k.a. Mary Anne Evans, British Novelist

As an empath and intuitive it gives me a little chuckle to notice that same gift in animals.

My cat is one of those elements of nature that constantly reminds me of the predominance of feelings as a mode of communication instead of words.

When she is in the same room as me and I think a positive thought she begins purring.

When she is in the same room as me and I think a negative thought she often gets up and leaves.

When I hurt myself, such as stub a toe or prick my finger while sewing, she comes running from anywhere in the house, sits at my feet and meows.

She’s just making sure that I am okay.

A recently publicized case of an empathic animal is that of Oscar that cat who resides in a Rhode Island nursing home.

Oscar’s regular job is to be a companion to the many residents who live in the home, providing companionship and entertainment (as all cats do.)

But he has also been widely noted for his continuing ability to “predict” death before it occurs. When Oscar senses that a patient is about to die, he curls up next to them in bed and refuses to leave their side.

One doctor was so moved by the accuracy of Oscar’s seeming prediction that he actually wrote about the animal in a prestigious medical journal.

The experts who have been commenting on Oscar’s story in the press think that Oscar must be reacting to chemicals given off by the body as the organs shut down or that he is simply responding to the changes in behavior that people often have around someone that they believe to be dying.

According to my guide Gretchen this is not how Oscar, or any other animal, senses the onset of death.

The animal is living in the same reality as you. The animal however sees a different portion of this reality than most humans are able to.

What you see is certainly not what they see.

Animals see in vibration, in energy form.

Yes death gives off a subtle chemical smell which some animals can surely recognize.

But what this cat is doing is viewing the energy body, the soul element of the individual, beginning to rise above and separate from the physical vehicle.

He is seeing the release and the crossing into eternal light, the realm of Oneness.”

Maybe Oscar is attracted to this energy, maybe that release vibrates in tune with his own vibration.

Or perhaps he is letting his purring lull these departing individuals into a peaceful sleeping death.

Undoubtedly, just as my cat comes running when I stub my toe, Oscar simply sees this final gift as another part of his duties as companion and healer to the residents of the home.

One thing we can be sure of is that animals are sensitive in ways that we cannot imagine or understand.

In some ways they are closer to the truth of vibration and manifestation than we humans are.

Perhaps it should really say something that my cat gets up and leaves the room when I have a negative thought.

Could it be that she is more in tune with the effects that these thoughts have on life and health and does not want to be around such low-vibration thinking?

I believe so.

So if you love your pets, as they love you, think positive thoughts.

It makes us all happier.

“Only that in you which is me can hear what I’m saying.”
~ Ram Dass, Spiritual Teacher and Author

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated April 2008.
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At present I am reading the book Compassion in Action by Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush.

It was a book that I bought simply because I wanted to read some Ram Dass and could not find his classic Be Here Now at any local shoppes.

But, despite my initial supposition that it was a book I did not need and would not particularly like, it turns out that I was very wrong on both points.

In a very unassuming way Ram Dass, sixties spiritual guru, public speaker and renown all-around caring guy, explains his own self-righteousness and stand-offishness in his past work.

He details, with humility, his confusion at how to truly implement, in a practical way, the advice and teachings that he was offered by his own guru, Maharajji Neem Karoli Baba. He talks about being caught up in his own feelings about his spiritual progress and not realizing that he was mentally putting himself at a distance (and often above) others who were less enlightened.

Opening up his heart to the path of service to others has helped him to see his knowledge and his approach to others as truly connecting tools.

The book gently guides those of us who feel a spiritual calling, but still want to know where the money comes from, to look at the oneness that makes us the same as other people, instead of the spiritual uniqueness that makes us work in separateness.

~

All I can say is: “Wow!”

I have not even finished the book yet, a book that I was only reading to bide my time until Be Here Now arrives on my doorstep, and it has already changed something that I thought was unchangeable in me.

For several years now I have struggled with my own desire to use my hard-won spiritual lessons as the basis for my career. To be self-employed in something that I thought of as a positive field.

And yet I was constantly struggling with my desire to only deal with, or only surround myself with, people who I felt were at the same (or at least a similar) level of awareness.

It was an internal battle. One that caused me much frustration and self-defeating thought. How could I be so spiritual and yet be having these exclusionary feelings towards other human beings? How could I be so conceited?

Now, in just a few short chapters, I realize that it is okay. It is not that unreasonable. Many other, perhaps wiser, spiritual folks than myself have had similar feelings and fallen into similar traps.

When we remember our oneness, how we are all part of the same spiritual stuff and each here for learning our own lessons and teaching lessons to others, it becomes easier to be in this world, but not of this world. It is possible to be on your path to awareness and still get your hands dirty in the real world. That is why you’re here, isn’t it, to make a difference?

The spiritual path being an essentially solitary one at times, by necessity, we can often end up overindulging in our “uniqueness.” We are reading and meditating and studying in order to grasp our “oneness”, but end up believing it theoretically while forgetting to implement it practically.

In just the past few days I have felt more strongly my connection to others and my desire to alleviate the sufferings in this world than I have ever felt it before.

And implementing it has been so freeing.

Now I understand, more than theoretically, the saying about providing value to the world and having faith that the money will follow. If your are doing what you do out of a genuine desire to better peoples lives, then reward is inevitable. If you are doing it for the money, get used to disappointment.

I don’t know about you, but I definitely need to read and implement some more of this book.

Namaste, Ram Dass.

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
~ George Washington Carver, American Scientist, Inventor and Educator

It is certain that we all have our bad days. Even the most enlightened of people can sometimes feel a lack of energy and be overwhelmed by the external reality of this world.

In these times we, as individuals, often wish for just one soothing moment, just an hour or two of peace and quiet.

Seeking outside of ourselves for security or happiness is, of course, not going to help us find it.

We certainly can only find lasting security, happiness and peace within our own spirits.

But the environment that we find ourselves in can often make it either easier, or more difficult, to achieve connection with our spirit.

When we strip away all the flash, the lights, the mechanical noises, the social pressures and the workload, what truth are we left with? The truth that we are all natural beings.

In this truth can be found the answer to that unknown longing which we, as seekers on a spiritual path, can feel tugging from within us, but cannot seem to put into words.

We miss our daily connection with nature.

It seems so simple, and may not immediately appear to be at all helpful. But in our moments of stress, illness, doubt, sadness and lethargy, we can indeed once again be filled with simple goodness. And the prescription is not a chemical one at all.

Get yourself out amongst nature.

I kid you not, it works! Even if you have to get in the car, or on the bus, and drive to nature. Do it!

Go alone or take your dog, but don’t bring another person with you all the time. Other people talk, other people enable us to keep our masks on. What we are going for is silence, room to think, complete freedom of self.

It doesn’t matter if you go for a hike in the mountains, a stroll in the park, a slow meander along the lake shore or a bike ride across the mesa. The location isn’t the point.

The breeze, the birds, the cool air, the tickling grass and the tallest tree…these are the point. Feeling the slow, beautiful and seemingly purposeless rhythm of nature is what helps reconnect you.

The air that you breath will seem more energizing, and the worries that you carry will seem less heavy, less real.

Being silent, in nature, is a meditation. I would argue that it is often the most powerful kind, for it feeds both your body and your spirit. Now that is a lovely balance.

Everyday I feel extremely blessed that my current home is so close to open fields and tall hills, that there is a bike trail nearby and mild weather most days. This has not always been the case, and yet I was always willing to drive far afield to reach somewhere natural and beautiful. No matter the weather, our true place as creatures of the planet Earth is out in nature.

Today, if you do nothing else for yourself, take a walk under that tree or up that hill. You’ll be glad that you did.

Blessings!

“True memories are not of mind and body, but those that remain forever written on the soul.”
~ Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, British Romantic Poetess

What is a “Soul Group” and why do they reincarnate together? This was the very provocative and insightful question recently asked of me in a forum that I visit.

I have been wanting to mention this concept here for some time and this gives me the perfect opportunity to do so.

A soul group is made up of more than one, and often several, individual souls who seem to regularly incarnate at the same time. As an individual soul is set out purposefully as a self-expression of the ALL. So these soul groups are still individual expressions brought into being by the ALL.

But as the ALL is always trying merely to learn of the endless possibilities within itself, it has occasionally experimented with coupling. By this I mean that it has set off several individuals with similar traits and given them each the same ultimate goal or soul purpose.

These souls, having begun together at the same time and with the same purpose, have often taken a vow to help each other on their quest to reach the goal or fulfill the purpose. Being as we are all ONE this is only the right thing to do.

The souls scurry off to learn their lessons and develop their skills while the ALL sits back and watches in an attempt to learn all of the different avenues that can be taken by that aspect of itself to fulfill the same goal.

Soul groups will often be born in similar circumstances at relatively the same time and may or may not come to actually KNOW each other in a specific lifetime. But they are always working in concert whether they are aware of it or not.

A soul group can be the family that you are born into or the group of friends that you develop or a similar group of co-workers…they can manifest in several ways.

But there is a difference between people with whom you are karmically entwined and soul groups.

With karmic entanglements there is a need to re-manifest with the other in order to release and resolve past energies between you. The soul group will desire to reincarnate at the same time and will most likely not just be bound by karma alone but also by divine purpose.

There are soul groups out there now striving together, and apart, to manifest the changes that are required by their soul’s purpose .

These are not necessarily good purposes (or positively charged purposes) for their are soul groups with what one might consider bad purposes (or negatively charged purposes) as well.

Keep in mind that the ALL has no knowing of good or bad, for it lives in a constant state of flux in which what IS…simply is. You may call this ever-presence or Now-ness.

What is certain is that we all, whether we are part of a soul group or not, are having a lasting effect on our planet and humanity itself.

Live to your highest potential.

Cultivate knowledge of the self.

And, walk with personal integrity in all that you do.

If you are a member of a soul group (and it is possible to be a member of more than one) then you are still walking an individual path at all times.

Be true unto yourself first. Follow where your own soul leads.

And be thankful that, for a time at least, your path is aligned with that of others of like mind.

Find strength in that knowledge, but know that all is temporary in the ever-creating mind of the ALL.

Blessings.

“I have a memory like an elephant. In fact, elephants often consult me. ”
~ Noël Coward, English Playwright and Composer

Well there are several different types of Psychic and several different types of energy. I do not claim to know them all. But I get lots of questions about my experiences with energy and paranormal phenomena so I thought I would take a moment to explain one type of psychic ability that I often use. I am not aware of other psychics who have this same type of ability so please drop me a line if you have experience with it.

This gift has to do with time and in particular distant past, however all time is a continuum and the present and future are all occurring together along with the past. So our ancestors who lived in, say, a mud roundhouse are still living there in that mud roundhouse right now. Your unborn grandchildren who will one day run in the field beside their school are already running there right now.

The past is the future and the future is the past. Right now is yesterday and tomorrow is right now.

It may seem hard to grasp, like some big conspiracy of the philosophical people to sound deep and intellectual. But once you suspend confusion and disbelief for a moment it becomes quite easy to grasp.

Have you ever experienced Deja Vu? Have you ever sunken into a conversation with someone or been out shopping with your children or reached for a sweater to fold it and had that warm fuzzy awareness of exactly how the next twenty seconds would occur? It can be eerie but it can also be quite comforting, the knowledge of what the next bit of the conversation will be about.

Is it really so hard to believe that just as we are living in our third dimensional reality, there may be other humans living and striving in their other dimensional reality? Because that is the only difference.

I say that I am a psychic elephant because elephants are rumored to have amazingly long memories.

Some psychics say that they could hear voices as children or see ghosts or often knew the future. Well you could say that I would be one of those whose gift came in the form of knowing the future, but only insomuch as the future IS the past. Since a very small girl I have known the past.

I began by telling little playmates about what used to be where we were playing in our neighborhood. I am quite sure that I freaked out our third grade teacher one day while we were visiting a living history museum that depicted life 150 years ago, by telling her that I “remembered living back then.” She insisted that what I meant was that I remembered having visited the museum before.

Later on in college I studied history, drawn to the spiritual high that I got out of it more than any grand career I imagined it might bring me. During this time I was also working with a priestess of the Goddess and becoming more aware of my connection to the natural and spiritual realms.

My academic focus was on architectural history and its no wonder that I soon began developing a much more acute gift for psychic visions of the past. Buildings are boxes that filter light and light records things in energy form. Buildings are like books waiting dusty on the shelf for someone who knows their language to come along and read them.

People ask me how old their house is. I read its psychic energy, its aura. I give them a date, say, maybe 1778. Then they hire me or someone else to do all of the title and deed research. Inevitably they come back to me and say, “Hey you know my house was built in 1779. How did you guess so close?” I just smile and say, “Oh, I studied this stuff.”

My two best friends know what I can do. My roommate likes to listen to what I see when we go driving around or hiking. Amongst other things, I have seen sacred elders perform an initiation ritual inside Stonehenge, a 17th century ship sink off the New England coastline, an angry Mounty pacing back and forth in front of Niagara Falls and ancient Native Americans hunting just off of a forest hiking trail.

When I worked in museums it was a spiritual rush to go to work every day. To hear the spirits that once owned these artifacts, to feel their energy and often see the scene of when it was made, or gifted or how it was used…these were special moments indeed.

Maybe this is why spirits, living and dead, from other time periods are a lot of what I deal with in my psychic work. They know that I do not believe them to be “long gone” or to be “delusions.” I am one foot in the past at every moment so having a woman who lives in a cave and hunts saber-toothed cats come to me because her young child is dying and ask me to see him safely to her ancestors is not weird at all. I do what I can with my gifts to help the young soul cross over, give the mother some comforting words and then come back to popping microwave popcorn or whatever I was doing.

I must say though that the people around me must sometimes think that I am bored by what they are saying or that I am just a serious daydreamer. When I studied for my Masters in England my professor commented that I had a low tolerance for listening to anyone who wasn’t as clever with words as I am. But he was mistaken.

Our classes were nearly all held on site so to speak. We took long bus and train rides to medieval abbeys, defunct castles, 14th century cottages, pagan monuments, places older than I had ever visited in my life. Then he would walk us around and try to talk about science and conservation. “Ahhhh…sorry, I’m currently watching the 300-year-old monks plant their garden, dude. I’ll, like, be back with reality later…M’kay?” I mean what was I supposed to say?

A guide who came from the Pleiades once told me that I was a recorder. That my gift was to remember all of the details and to have access to all of the lives that I had ever lived. He said that through those recorded moments and people and places I could access any and all other points in time.

People who know me well will tell you that my memory is more than uncanny, its downright spooky and even somewhat annoying. Ask me what shirt I wore on Christmas day when I was 12. No problem, a pink one with a bright orange stripe that said L.A. Gear in it. Ask me what exact words you said to me last Friday as we were coming out of the movie theater…”Man, when did hot dogs start tasting exactly the same as nail polish remover smells?”

Why I know the words to every movie and every character and every song and every comedy skit I have ever heard (much less how these are going to be helpful in some future life) is completely beyond me. I memorize words and pictures, it’s just what I do. I even memorize to a millisecond the pauses between the words and the inflection of peoples voices as they say them. (I do great impressions.) I don’t try to memorize this stuff, it just happens by default.

Like, I will always know if you have been in my closet because I can remember that the blue coat hanger had three white coat hangers hooked on top of it with a pink one on the left and exactly two and a half inches between that pink one and the scarf that lays over the rail at that end. It could be four days since I last opened that closet but if the white hangers aren’t tangled in the blue one anymore or the space has increased to four inches, I’ll know it.

So while I cannot imagine a reason for that spectacularly odd gift of memory, I figure that there must be a good spiritual reason why my newest guide, who is an ascended being and healer, is also a conduit for every female ancestor (both blood related and spiritual family) who has ever come before me.

I am an historical medium, that is the only way that I can describe it. I can often tell you what has happened in a place before, whether it is inside a building or in an open field. Maybe this explains my love of historic research and archaeology…we all feel the need to have our gifts validated from time to time.

The oldest thing that I have been exposed to was probably 35-40,000 years ago. I have had several visions and conversations with people who lived 6-8,000 years ago. And my most frequent communication is with peoples who lived about 1,000-1,500 years ago. Since I live in a relatively young country and see its history all the time (usually in very short but highly-detailed flashes) I consider 100-400 years ago to be basically like yesterday.

I know, you are asking yourself, “If the past, the future and the now are all happening at once and she claims to be able to see the past and speak with people from the past then why can’t she do that for the future too? The answer is that I can. But I do not have the same affinity for it. Human perception allows for only a linear understanding of time, at least on the conscious default kind of level. The past is something that just happens to me, the future is something I have to try to do and I feel lucky but doubtful when I do actually succeed at it.

Some people, rather than being sent forward as a recorder, I am sure have been sent backward as an eraser, to reset things that went too horribly wrong for the world. Perhaps they have a stronger affinity for the future than I do. But the few times that I have been able to look at a piece of land, or held a concept in my mind, that then triggered a view of future realities, they have all been very clear, but very isolated.

For instance, I can see my future home and its surrounding land but not anything that abuts it. I have no idea where the place is but I will definitely know it when I see it. As a matter of fact I call it home now, walk its halls and smell the flowers in its garden. This is because I have already been there. But I have been to my past homes as well, have looked at my past selves.

The past is something that I am just part of, that I just stumble into regularly. It is like an old trusted friend, tried, true and comfortable.

Anyone who has read some of my oldest posts has heard my primary guide Maggie. She is a tenth century healer and wise woman and she lived in Southern England. I have been to her home, MY home actually as Maggie is my own past self, my past life and my higher self as well. I have seen this house in visions and I have been there in the physical.

She told me what the town was now called, I took the train there from where I was going to school, I got off the train and I told her to take the feet (in other words, guide me to where we are going.) We walked about three miles out of the town center and through a modern housing complex. At the end of it sat a hilly field with nothing in it but high-tension electrical wires and a few ruts where people had driven their off-road vehicles.

She marched me across that field, with my eyes completely closed and I saw all of her neighbors huts, the children playing in the cart paths and the pigs in their paddocks. Suddenly she stopped and I was staring at the wooden door behind which was my (and her) former home. When I lifted that latch folks, it was solid and real, I felt it in my hand.

Now I know what HOME feels like and I know that this place truly was her home because I buried a simple mundane object there. When I let her take the feet again four years later, she walked me to the same exact spot in this vast, empty field and a few clawfuls of dirt soon proved it when I came up with my same old Powerpuff Girls key chain.

Beat that for tomorrow nights lottery numbers.

“Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of an educated man.”
~Norman Cousins, Political journalist, Author, and Peace Advocate

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated January 2008.
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I have debated for several days about whether or not to post this random spirit encounter but have decided that with all of the sensationalism and misguided statements out there it would not be unreasonable to add my own small voice to the mix in the hopes of being a wee bit more sensible than the general cacophony on the subject of Heath Ledger’s recent passing.

Regular readers of my blog will know by now that we, meaning Vera and Serge, have been traveling in the UK for the past couple of weeks. During our brief but expensive trip to London we did a fair amount of walking, despite their fantastic public transport system, and happened to stroll through an area of London called Clerkenwell while we were out and about.

As I was overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city I didn’t notice too much in the way of spiritual activity while we were there. When we returned to the relatively quiet and slower-paced area of the city where we were staying, however, I began to feel that there was a spirit trying to voice something.

I brushed it off as we settled down to have dinner and didn’t really attempt to tune into it until I was getting ready for bed later in the evening.

When I opened up to it completely, it rushed in like a wave.

The spirit was frantic but disoriented.

I saw it rushing about back and forth in all directions, staying in close proximity but turning every which way.

It was waving its hands from side to side next to its face and fretting over its newfound circumstance.

It was speaking in incomplete thoughts and not to anyone in particular…

“What the…?”

“I can’t, no, I can’t…”

The overall energy was that of someone who is realizing and regretting all at the same time.

As the face finally solidified in front of me I recognized it as Heath Ledger, though I have only seen him in one movie. He seemed darker of hair and chubbier of face, sort of bloated. But it certainly was him.

Please note that this was NOT a deliberate attempt to channel Heath, nor would I do so except at the request of his family. It is simply the case that, as I found out later, I walked through the place in London where he was filming just a week before his passing.

When a spirit passes, before they cross over, they can and often do visit the last manifest places that they spent time in. This is most common when the spirit is trying to understand what happened to them and come to grips with their new, unmanifest, reality…sort of a “taking stock” type of process.

Though this energy was not speaking directly to me, and was not at a settled vibration where I could speak to it, I did get the understanding from his mindset that the circumstances of his passing were, without a doubt, purely accidental.

I could tell that his energy before death had been dark and gloomy, he seemed to have lost the lust for life and was desperately grasping for something to hold on to. His intentions however were in no way wishing for death and the cloudiness of the residual aura that I encountered alongside his spirit suggests that he was not thinking clearly in the days and hours before his passing.

Perhaps someone should have been there caring for him. Perhaps he would not have accepted such care-taking. Perhaps he had lived a party life in his past, or perhaps not. Perhaps he was feeling down and depressed. Who knows for certain?

No matter these things, the truth, as I heard it from his spirit, is that he did not take his own life in any deliberate way. It was not suicide. He simply mistakenly overdosed on something that he took, prescribed or not, while in a very unaware state of mind.

Though the energy suggests that he is not yet resting in peace, I trust that once he adjusts to his new spirit state and checks on the status of his loved ones, he will feel free enough to go into the light and await his reconnection with them in the next realm of life.

My deepest condolences to his family, for whom there is now likely a seeming hole in their lives.

Knowing that all things occur as is best for the spirit and the universe may one day bring them comfort.

Blessed be.

“Body and spirit are twins: God only knows which is which”
~ Algernon Charles Swinburne, 19th-Century English Poet

Note: I have changed some names and identifying information in this story, owing to the fact that I do not share highly personal information belonging to my clients.

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As my years of channeling carry on and my professional channellings increase, I every once in a while stumble into a spiritual situation that I have never experienced before.

My gifts keep growing and, every time that I think I’ve seen it all, things still crop up that are completely new and foreign to me.

I recently had a gentleman order a reading for more guidance on his own path of personal growth and healing…nothing out of the ordinary there.

I read his email and rewrote the questions so that they would be more likely to illicit good answers…again, pretty run-of-the-mill.

Several days later I sat down to do the reading and asked for any guides to come forward and I felt one energy arrive…good, but normal.

But, when I asked this energy its name, that is when something weird happened. (Keep in mind that I am a witch, a channel and a spirit medium…I don’t say WEIRD very often.)

I asked the guide’s name and (in two distinctly different voices) he said first, “Jimmy Joe” and then immediately, “Jimmy Ray.”

I asked again. He said firmly, “Jimmy Joe.” And then in another voice firmly said, “Jimmy Ray.”

This was strange to me. It was a single energy, I was sure of it. But how could it not know its own name?

So I assessed the feeling from each name. Jimmy Joe, when I said it to myself in conjunction with the client’s name, Mitchell, just sounded like such a dark energy. It felt too heavy to be Mitchell’s guide. Jimmy Ray, on the other hand, seemed much lighter and seemed to mesh better with Mitch’s energy.

I asked the guide, “May I call you, Jimmy Ray?” To which he replied, “Yes, that is my name.”

Okay, problem solved. And from that point forward it was a normal channeled reading. Lots of useful information came through about Mitch’s spiritual healing, his personal triumphs and things he could do to progress further in the future.

As per usual I was asked a few questions for the afterword to the reading session, in which I talked about this strange phenomena and wondered aloud if these were some odd pair of twin guides.

I emailed the audio of the reading to the client and requested that he take some time to send a brief feedback.

Not too long later I got an explanation. Mitch is a TWIN. He has a twin brother. “Ahhhhh…I see” I thought to myself.

I have never read for a twin or twins of any kind before. This was a new thing for me, and boy was I interested.

Before I had even had the chance to ponder this for very long, another order for a reading came in from a new client…Mitch’s brother Mike.

Bingo!

He had to be wondering the same thing I was wondering…ever since I read Mitchell’s email.

I waited a few days for things to calm down, did some other readings for different clients. Then I read Mikes email, wrote out the questions and sat down to do his reading.

Everything went normal, I asked for any of his guides to come through and when one did I asked his name.

“Jimmy Joe,” he answered. (Mmm-hmm…I got goosebumps too.)

This time, it was the same-feeling energy, but with completely different tone of voice, completely different strengths etc. This time Jimmy-Joe did not seem like a darker or heavier energy at all. He seemed quite light, quite perfectly attuned to Mike’s energy.

But, as an experiment I now tried (in my head) to pair Mike’s energy with that of the previous guide, Jimmy-Ray. This time Jimmy-Ray seemed to be the wrong one, the dark and heavy one…completely inappropriate for Mike’s energy, though he had been so light when I channeled for Mitchell.

There was a definite way of telling which guide belonged to which twin, simply by their energy signatures. (Cool.)

Once I had emailed Mike the reading audio, he let me know that neither he nor Mitchell was surprised to find out that Jimmy-Joe was Mike’s guide.

Well maybe they weren’t but I sure was!

What was the nature of this spiritual reality that I was dealing with? Were these twin souls, such a soul mates? Were they a split soul, as can happen with either severe physical or spiritual trauma? Were they simply one guide offering up different strengths and vibrations of energy for these two individual siblings?

I do not know the answers to these questions and every time that I try to answer them I simply end up with more questions.

But I now am curious about a question which never much struck my fancy before, what is the spiritual nature of twins and multiples?

Anyone know the answer?

“You must see your goals clearly and specifically before you can set out for them. Hold them in your mind until they become second nature.”
~Les Brown, Author & Motivational Speaker

It seems like everyone is trying their hand at intentional manifestation these days. And I couldn’t be happier to hear it. Because, as we practice at focusing our intent for optimum manifestation, we each become more aware of the negative messages that we are sending out in our daily lives. And, in so doing, we tend to lessen the number of those messages that we are broadcasting, which can only result in the evolution of a more positive world.

What isn’t positive, however, is the frustration that many of us can often feel when we work to manifest something and it doesn’t seem to turn out properly. Try as we might it seems that the focus of our intent on one positive thing, long enough to bring it into manifestation for ourself, is something that we just cannot achieve.

Many people determine, prematurely, that the power of intention simply doesn’t work or, that their own thoughts are too hopelessly negative to allow them to use this power. But this is not necessarily the truth.

We live in an externalizing society. We are taught to believe that all that we could or should be doing to better ourselves is something outside of ourself. Thus the internal and natural abilities which are involved in intentional manifestation, the imaginative and visualization skills we need to employ, have not been properly nurtured or developed in our lives.

In developing the skill of focusing our visualizations on our intent, and seeing it as real, we can become more and more gifted at the actual manifestation of our deepest desires.

Here is a Visualization Focusing Exercise that you can practice at to strengthen these abilities:

First, choose a solid object that is about the size of your hand, but not bigger than you can hold in your hand. Make sure that the object doesn’t have too many colors or too many sharp angles or jagged edges. *The classic item used in this type of exercise is an apple.

Next, sit comfortably, as if you were preparing to meditate. Hold the object in both hands and stare at it. Examine it and how it feels in your hands. Look at its different attributes and slowly turn it, touching and observing the look and feel of all of its sides.

Continue memorizing its features. Feel its weight, its texture. Observe any nicks in its surface and how the light reflects off of, or casts shadows, upon it. Sit with it for as long as you feel necessary to really know what holding it looks and feels like.

Now, set the object down on a table or the floor in front of you. Place it so that you can clearly see it but cannot touch it. While looking at the object, place your hands in the same position that they would be in if your were holding the item.

Here you begin to visualize (ie. pretend or imagine) that you ARE still holding the item. Feel its weight, see its color and shape in your hands. Allow yourself to imagine running your hands over its surface. Feel its texture against your skin.

You may close your eyes, if the “feeling” sensation is easier for you. Or keep them open, if the “seeing” sensation is easier for you. DO NOT mistake looking at the actual object in front of you for actually visualizing it in your hands. You may glance at it in front of you but the point is to SEE and/or FEEL it still in your hands.

You can sit with this exercise for as long as you like until you feel some measure of success. And you can begin again by picking up the object and following these same steps as often as you like. Don’t give up, your ability will improve with time and frequency of practice.

Use the same object every time, or change objects when you wish, the choice is yours. Changing objects may make it more difficult but some people like a challenge.

Once you succeed and are comfortable with your ability to feel or see the object still in your hands for a long while after setting it down, you can then move to setting it out of sight and trying to achieve the same level of visualization.

After you get really good at it, keep practicing at further distances. Sit with the object in the morning before leaving the house and then try the visualization while on your lunch break at work.

Then, once you master a simple, hand-sized object, you can try your hand at smaller objects, like keys and buttons, or more jagged and complicated objects, such as a banana, a wrench, a Rubiks cube or a dvd case. Maybe you will be able to sit on a motorcycle or a bicycle and then use your visualization abilities to recreate that sensation long after you finish your ride.

This process can and will lead you to being able to stand in an empty field and see that dream home being built, or stand on a stage and feel the 20,000 people cheering for you.

Focus on developing your hidden skills and strengthening your belief in your powers of imagination and intention. If you want it, you will get there!

“I did not come to yoga to stretch. I came to live.”
~Maya Breuer, Kripalu Yoga Instructor

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated June 2008.
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Coming to Yoga

As we age, we embrace new things, we evolve and grow in wisdom and strength. This is not always so, but it can be, if we maintain an openness to new ideas and accept life’s challenges gracefully, as difficult as that may sometimes seem.

In my own evolution I have recently embraced a challenging new thing, one that actually facilitates my ability to accept other challenges with grace and strength. That thing being yoga.

I do not know what originally drew me to yoga, especially as the attraction began a few years ago when I was in the worst physical shape of my life. Still, yoga had an unknown appeal and I began reading and learning about it. At that time I did not incorporate it into my life, but that door remained open.

Brief dabblings in yoga over the last year have shown me that it’s not easy but that it is fun, and it remained very appealing.

Now, having been vegetarian for nearly nine months, and having shed over 40 pounds towards reclaiming my college/high school weight, I just suddenly incorporated a practice of yoga into my life.

The impulse was my thirty-second birthday at the end of March. I received an organic yoga mat as a gift from my fiancé, Serge, and he also paid for my first two yoga classes at the local ashram. Those classes were in the Sivananda style of yoga.

Though the classes didn’t work out, as the instructor was like a drill sergeant, I adopted a home yoga practice that has really done something good for me.

In the very beginning I did not believe that I would be able to stick to a regular yoga practice, and doing it every day seemed like a chore. I felt silly mostly, there was hardly a single pose that I could manage to do in a full and proper way.

As a result, there was no consistency to my yoga, it was done sporadically, without much focus. For whatever reason though, my focus is sharper now, just a couple of months after that rocky start.

Yoga is not the first thing that I do in the morning, but it is always done before breakfast and before I get pulled too deeply into my work for the day. I have been doing it everyday, except Sundays, for a few weeks now and I love it!

Why do Yoga?

It is difficult to explain why people do yoga and it is just as difficult to explain even my own reasons for doing yoga. All that I can say is that it changes my life, if effects the quality of my day.

I suppose the best way that I can explain the benefit that I derive from it is: I have better flow. Both my life and my energy seem smoother and more vitalized.

What is startling about yoga, when you first come to it, is how challenging it is. Glossy yoga magazines and television workout programs all make it look so glamorous and graceful. But the truth is that those people, who can look either graceful or glamorous doing it, have been putting their effort and focus into developing their yoga practice for years.

You and I will most likely look more wonky, wobbly and somewhat pained when we begin practicing yoga. But that is okay, most kids can’t do a cartwheel when they first walk into a gymnastics class and yet, after a bit of practice and stretching, they learn how to fly through the air with ease.

Perhaps the most rewarding, and life-changing, aspect of yoga is the shift in your focus that occurs with regular practice. You learn, mayhaps more than in any other area of your life, that it is really all about the journey and in time you begin not to focus on the destination. This is a valuable life lesson which will benefit you both on and off of the yoga mat.

You will most likely arrive at a yoga practice for the physical health benefits, which are numerous. There are psychological benefits to adopting a regular yoga practice, including less tendency toward depression and a lowering of stress levels. Physical benefits range from lower blood pressure to a reversal of degenerative diseases. I particularly enjoy the increase in physical strength as well as the gentle reshaping of my muscles and overall appearance.

Plus, it is a little time to yourself, for yourself. Most of us don’t get much of that anymore.

Beginning Yoga

If you have the inclination to explore yoga, the very first thing that you may do is to type “yoga” into Google. And what you get will probably overwhelm you within a minute or two. There is just too much information out there in the modern world, and western society is majorly obsessed with eastern traditions such as yoga!

You will find out that there are different paths of yoga, most referring to its spiritual benefits. And when it comes to the type of yoga that we usually think of, the on-the-mat kind, you will find that there are several different styles, all begun by a yoga teacher or guru, each with different goals and focuses. Some of these include Hatha, Kundalini, Ashtanga, Bikram, Kripalu and Sivananda.

I would recommend for beginners to look toward the basic style of yoga, called Hatha.

So, supposing that you take my recommendation, how can you find out more?

Again, information on yoga abounds! Most places that offer yoga classes will offer Hatha. The Yoga Journal is a fantastic resource, and officially the only magazine that I have ever read from cover-to-cover. You might also want to check out a video or a book.

To save you time in choosing resources, I have listed the only two videos and the only two books that I ever found useful in exploring yoga, and that is after hundreds of dollars worth of searching.

Hatha Yoga Illustrated, by: Kirk, Boon and DiTuro The BEST book on Hatha ever!!!

Yoga Bliss, by: Tara Fraser A cute and easy beginners booklet.

Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss (DVD) It’s great for beginners too!

Yoga Journal’s Yoga for Beginners (DVD) Simple intro video and a helpful pose guide.

Take it easy in the beginning and do not expect to look like a ballerina in your first session. Expect to look like an elephant on rollerblades, and be proud if you only end up looking like an ostrich on ice-skates.

The most important thing to remember is to try and keep your muscles (especially facial muscles) relaxed even when you are holding a position that may be physically demanding or uncomfortable. And equally important is to stay mindful of all the stretches and pinches that you are feeling in your body, be aware enough to know when you have stretched to your limit or held a pose long enough.

Following these pieces of advice will ensure that you get maximum benefits and minimum injuries from your yoga practice.

Basic Yoga Routines

Here are the three routines that I have designed for myself, each is comprised of twelve poses or asanas, mainly drawn from Hatha Yoga. Please note that not all poses are for all people and if you have any contraindications to certain poses you should not attempt them as a beginner. You can find out about what poses should not be done with certain types of injuries by looking them up in a book or at the Yoga Journal website.

When I say that I do these poses, what I actually mean is that I attempt these poses. You will not be able to do all of them and what challenges you will differ from what challenges me. Just keep at them and the full pose will come to you, as you gradually come to it.

I generally alternate these routines, relying more heavily on the first two and interspersing the third one for fun, flavor and a bit of a challenge. The opening move, sun salutation, is actually a series of poses comprised of mountain, upward salute, standing forward bend, high lunge, downward-facing dog, plank pose, four-limbed staff pose and upward-facing dog. They flow nicely into each other and the sun salute is easier than it sounds.

First Routine

Second Routine

Third Routine

These yoga routines can be as long or as short as you wish. You can do them quick and aerobic, or you can do them in a more peaceful and meditative way…the choice is yours. Most yoga instructors will tell you to do each pose, on each side, either six times or twelve times. I am still beginning, so I chose four times for now. I hold most poses for thirty seconds each, some for one minute and others I can only manage for ten seconds.

My yoga routine is usually a 15-20 minute affair, but has lasted as long as 40 minutes. After my morning yoga routine I also add a few aerobic and Pilates moves to finish up with. Generally these are sit-ups, leg-ups, scissor kicks, standing toe touches, jumping jacks and jogging in place. I finish with a yoga bow and roll up the mat until the next morning.

Be sure to always end with Corpse Pose, as this is where you rest while your mind and body integrate all that you have learned and experienced in your session.

What I like about yoga is that it offers increasing levels of challenge, and these differ for each individual yogi. I am slowly feeling my muscles and abilities develop, each day my practice is different. Yoga is never the same twice, with different muscles offering more or less stretch and resistance each morning.

I work toward supported headstand, king pigeon and toe pose. In yoga, you compete with no one and the only challenger is your own unique body. I know that there will be days when I will accomplish them and days that I won’t. And that is what keeps yoga fresh and fun.

Happy Yoga to You!

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
~Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish Painter and Sculptor

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated May 2008.
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Recently I wrote about my experience with shamanic healing and how it made me feel. I knew at the end of it that something had changed in me, in my energy field.

It took a few days to understand what that thing was and for the advice that the healer gave me to be really processed.

But, once I had settled a bit and could see and feel the whole thing objectively, it became apparent that the shift in me was the return of my inner child. Or rather the acceptance of that piece of energy in conjunction with the rest of my energy.

We do not ever deliberately release or deny our inner child, it is something that simply happens. It is gradual, the loss of our innocence and our playful side. This is the part of us which is most like spirit, for the child is not very far removed from the raw soul, having only been in flesh for a few short years.

This innocence and optimistic playful side is what many people search for in their daily lives, that hidden something that they feel is missing. Some people even perpetrate awful things against children in order to try and reconnect with, or get close to, that lost part of themselves.

What each of us really wishes for is the feeling of being complete, whole and perfect, just as we are. I now feel that the reintegration and acceptance of our child-like nature is a key step in achieving this feeling of wholeness, and thus freedom and joy.

What occurred to me after this healing is that Little Vera had come home, desiring to reconnect with me on my journey towards lightness and ascension. There was a slight tingling, a glow of sorts, in my stomach near to my solar plexus.

And I remembered that Jay, my shamanic healer, had suggested that I put my hand on that region each morning upon awaking and welcome the part of me that had returned. That I should give that energy tender and loving thoughts throughout my day.

The energy was definitely a playful one, one that wanted to dance and sing like no one was watching!

These observations, along with the fact that this same part of my energy seemed to have a withdrawing reaction to any conflict, anxiety or stress, made me realize that it was a child. My inner child, the true me, who I remember being before the care for others opinions, and the need to “behave properly” in order to please the adult world, ever set in. So I call it: “Little Vera.”

I decided right then and there that I would love her and protect her, embrace her and let her play, a little bit every day. I would not judge her on her impulses or try and make her conform to my will. I would not make her promises that I cannot keep or speak harshly to her. These are things that made her shrink and run away as I grew up.

Now that I knew what I wanted to do, to keep this innocent and magical part of me alive and intact, I had to go about figuring out how to do that.

It was easier than I thought, because as I lay, with my hand on my abdomen, breathing in deeply and speaking to Little Vera, I asked her what we could do together that would be fun for her.

She answered and gave me several different clues. First we could color and draw together. The ballet fairy that she drew as a result was very fun and colorful indeed, the kind of thing that your parents would hang on the fridge when you were small. (Which is where we hung it in our flat.)

I try to take Little Vera for a walk everyday, we watch butterflies and smell flowers and listen the birds sing.

There are days when my concern for the adult world has me forget to spend time as the spiritual child within me, but I place my hand on my abdomen before bed and feel that energy fill me up, lest I lose it again. If you hold your inner child close to you, they will hold you close to them in return, reminding you of the magic and joy in this world.

There are therapies out there that involve connecting with your inner child and re-parenting it, as you should have been parented but perhaps were not. It is a way of soothing your wounded spirit and of releasing the negative patterns that effect your ability to feel happy and confident as an adult. I do feel that I may be able to benefit from this approach, but perhaps now it is not necessary.

What we should do, as responsible adults, is to remember that we are all children inside, because time is now, there is no past, or future, all occurs simultaneously. We should be mindful always that children recoil and become upset by any forms of violence, conflict, anger, stress and worry.

When we find ourselves in these situations, the most important thing that we can do is to pause for a moment, put our hands on our stomach and tell “Little Brian” or “Little Emily” that it is going to be okay, that they don’t have to worry, that we will take care of things and that they are safe.

You will find that the more consideration and comfort that you give to that spiritual inner child of yours, the more comforted your adult self will feel and the more considerate the world will become.

I do not know if this approach to spiritual wholeness can bring healing to all of our physical and emotional ailments. And I do not know if this behavior can bring a lasting world peace.

What I do know is that we can find a greater measure of inner peace for ourselves by being whole, by accepting and integrating every aspect of ourselves. This is the only true balance and peace to be found, within yourself.

We can each benefit immensely by spending a little more time in our “child mind,” from playing and not worrying about the opinions of others, from dancing to some silly music, singing “I’m a Little Teapot,” drawing a fairy or just climbing a tree.

You do not have to have inner dialog with your child self, but it helps. If this is too weird for you, here are some suggestions for active ways to reconnect with your own inner child:

- Play dress up, even if its not Halloween
– Lay in the grass and make shapes of the clouds
– Dance like no one is watching, even when they are
– Draw a frog, a rainbow or a puppy
– Eat cookies for breakfast, occasionally
– Sing a childhood song, in a child’s voice
– Color on a sidewalk with chalk
– Use a straw to blow bubbles in your drink
– Swing from a tree and make Tarzan sounds
– Make a sand castle, so what if you’re 42?

Happy Playing!!!

“The only real valuable thing is intuition. ”
~Albert Einstein, Physicist, Philosopher and Author

Intuition is the holy grail of the Self-Development movement. There are so many books out there promising to help you find your inner voice, trying to teach you how to trust what your inner self tells you.

But it is not always that simple. It can take years to distinguish what the Quakers call “that still small voice within.” And the hearer can go back-and-forth between believing and not believing that what they are hearing has real value.

We have all experienced flashes of inspiration from time-to-time: A quick knowing that tells us we should slow down while driving, only to come around the corner and happen onto a fresh accident scene. A twinge in our mind that someone is untrustworthy only to find out later that they stole our credit card when we weren’t looking. The little voice that says “Take your umbrella” on a day that was supposed to be sunny, to then find your lunch break smack dab in the middle of a hail storm. These are certainly not mere coincidences.

Our mind and, more importantly, the spirit that powers our mind, are rare gifts and possess abilities that we simply cannot fathom. At the beginning of our journey, when we are trying to focus on building a connection with our own unique gifts and faculties, it is understandable how much emphasis is placed on cultivating a trust in your intuition.
Techniques abound, though I find that the non-imposing information provided in Shakti Gawain‘s work is the best starting point for many people. In her book, The Path of Transformation, she outlines ways to overcome some of the common blockages to inner guidance:

*Don’t make the process a bigger deal than it is. Stop trying to make anything amazing happen.

*Try identifying the different voices inside of you by asking yourself a question and then writing down the different tones of voice in different colors of pen.

*Try not to get caught up in needing an immediate answer. Inner guidance usually just lets us know what we need in the moment. It seldom gives us long-term information.

*Try not to confuse your intuitive feelings with other emotions or impulses.

*If you feel blocked for a really long time you may need to do some emotional healing work. It can be difficult to contact our intuitive feelings when we are holding our emotions inside us.

*Remember that developing inner guidance is a lifelong process that goes in cycles of flows and lulls. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

The more that we listen for our the voice of our intuition, the louder that we will hear it. That is simple truth. But what about the other voices in our heads? (No, not the schizophrenic type of voices.) What about the ego? What about the inner child? How can we distinguish exactly which voice we are listening to?

This very problem arose when I was counseling a woman just beginning her self-development journey. She was recently divorced, had left her job and moved several states away from where she had lived. It was her first time away from family and the very first time in her life that she had been alone with her own thoughts for more than a couple of hours.

On the surface, she knew that her marriage had been painful, that it was not leading where she wanted her life to go and that her ex-husband had been lazy and abusive. But she kept contacting me with worries and loneliness, kept reaffirming to her friends and family that she missed the past, that she missed the dream of that marriage. It is fine to feel hurt and lonely after a break-up. It is fine to feel confused about the future. But this was something more.

She was letting her discontentment with who she was in the present moment color her version of the past. We all have done this, at one time or another.

But, rather than trying to see this process as simply that, a process, and viewing it as an observer to her own growth, she kept on doubting whether or not she had made the right decisions in leaving her ex-husband and striking out on her own. (They say that the devil you know is better than the devil that you don’t.)

In order to validate the feelings that she was having, she convinced herself that it was her intuition that kept plaguing her with the wrongness of her decision. “My gut keeps telling me that there was something in that relationship for me and that I was too blind to see it.”

She would call me and tell me that she should go back to him. She felt that she knew it was the right thing, because she kept coming to that decision over-and-over again in her mind. Since it was so persistent, it must be her intuition.

But the intuition is subtle, much more fluid than that. It is not a force that knocks hard against a brick wall, it simply looks for another way around.

The only way to gauge for ourselves whether or not we are talking to our inner guidance, whether or not we are making our decisions based on our true intent and our true inner knowing is to ask. More specifically it is to question. By constantly questioning ourselves, by constantly holding ourselves and our motives to our own highest and best intentions, we begin to build an inner compass. As this questioning of our own motives becomes more automatic we can begin to sense whether or not the choices we make seem true to us intuitively.

This in itself is a process. We begin by simply asking ourselves what is the right path for us to take and listening or feeling for the answer in our gut. Intuition does not usually go through many long thought processes to explain and justify the decision that it chooses, it simply flashes the answer at you with seemingly no grounds whatsoever.

In this woman’s case I simply asked her, “What does this voice that you are currently hearing say to you?”

She replied in a very emotional manner, “It says that I am suffering now because I made the wrong choice. It says that things with him really weren’t all that bad and that now that I have left him I will never get to have children. It says that I should go back and try to rekindle the flame with him.”

To me it was obvious that this was a voice that spoke out of fear rather than truth or possibility. Then I asked her, “Well, is there another voice? Do you sometimes hear a gentler voice, one that doesn’t seem to have any fears?”

“Yes,” she said.

“And what does that one say?” I asked, “Does it say something along the lines of ‘I know that I have been brought here for a reason. I know that I can make a go of it in this new location and that I can create anything I want for my future. I feel free to be myself for the first time in my life and, since there is a reason for everything, I know that I am moving in the right direction?’”

“Well, yes,” she finished, “That is almost exactly what the other voice says.”

“That voice,” I explained, “is your intuition. It has nothing to base its beliefs on, it just knows.”

So, what was going on here? Was she developing split personalities? Not at all, she was as sane as anyone else. But it can sometimes be so easy to get caught up in the feelings of the moment. To desire an answer so strongly that we mistake the voice of Self Doubt for the voice of Intuition.

To discern the difference we need only ask ourselves if this is truly our intuition, and we will usually sense the answer. Intuition is a gentle force. The voices of the ego and friends are much more forceful. These other voices want you to come around to their way of thinking, whereas the voice of intuition would be happy if you’d just hear it.

“They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of him as somewhat of a recluse.”
~Emily Dickinson, 19th-Century American Poetess

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated April 2008.
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Today started out quite foggy and dreary, but now it seems to be brightening and drying up.

I don’t know how long this buzz will last, so I will take this opportunity to write a post about what I have recently been observing.

~

So many people, myself included, spend a great deal of their spiritual life or spiritual intentions attempting to find a connection with God, the Creator, the Divine One. We look for it outside of ourself, we expect and hope for grace and guidance to come TO us.

For some religions GOD is something that one must earn, something that one attains at the end of life. GOD is something that you must believe in, dedicate to and look for. GOD wants you to teach others to believe in him, to bring others to the path of seeking for him as well.

But God exists for you, already, within yourself. SO that is the only place that we can and should cultivate our connection.

But by its nature, the Creator is in all things. You are now, and have always been, God. God is in you and is in me. The oneness of all creation never ceases, not for one moment, no matter the circumstances.

The beauty of creation (ie. All that the creator has created) is that it is limitless. Creation has all possibility, there is no limitation to the forms that it may take.

I feel this truth acutely today. How the beauty and magic of existence is equal in both the flower and the thorn, in both the new leaf of this springtime and the old dried leaves of autumns past.

The death and the birth are equally magnificent, possessing equal mystery and magic. For without the one, there could not be the other. There could not be constant birth, for we live on a limited plane, a planet that is not ever-spacious. Thus death is equally beautiful. The magic of creation is the balance in all things. God’s loving creation, the true nature of the Creator, is present in ALL, whether light or dark.

We may perceive one set of creations as being more positive or more valuable than others, but this is only our perception, not necessarily a truth.

Both the water and the plastic bottle in which it is carried are a beautiful creation of God. They are equally amazing and loving in their existence despite any attributes that they may or may not possess. Goodness and Godness are the same thing, and all is of God.

So, if God is in all things equally, without exception, it is not wrong to say that you are God, as am I.

We are all of the same Creator. You and I, the flowers and the thorns, the dog and his feces, the mosquito and any disease that it may carry, the clouds and the sun.

Owing to this knowledge that the perceived attributes, behaviors and thoughts of a person or thing can never diminish the true Godhood that it possesses, it must be true that no action or thought, feeling or mistake that you ever make can diminish your true divine nature.

You are good. You are God. That makes you divinely good, no matter what.

Let yourself embrace both the vastness and the simplicity of this reality.

In speaking it we can feel the inner truth of it and begin to let go of the pain and heaviness that we have carried with us for so long in our hearts and minds.

At every moment your inner nature is one of divine goodness, even should you choose to act in a way that you or others perceive as not good.

Accepting your innate goodness, bestowed upon you by your very creation and existence, allows you to put down all of the collected “badness” that you have carried. You no longer have to accept that “badness” as who you are. It is simply what you have done or experienced, or what others have done and experienced, but it is not a living “thing” that you must tend to and care for. You are not required to carry it with you and make it your own.

Our badness, or our conception of our badness, is merely an energy. It has been attached to us only by our acceptance of its truth. When we realize that the ultimate truth is that of our divine goodness, we may see the untruth of our continued badness and be freed of its burden.

Like both the flower and the thorn, our true inner self as well as our outward actions and experiences are divine.

I am beginning to integrate this understanding into my view of myself and my purpose and to train my Ego-mind to treat me as a divine spirit instead of a collection of actions and thoughts.

You are welcome to accept the same process yourselves.

Blessings.

“You cheer my heart, who build as if Rome would be eternal.”
~Augustus Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated June 2008, a point in time when we were living in England.
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Well, we decided to take a day trip yesterday and ended up choosing a trip to Bath. Bath is historically one of Britain’s top tourist destinations and was the playground of many a Regency well-to-do family.

Of course Bath is not a new town, it and the healing springs that bubble up from beneath it’s ground have been sacred for thousands of years. In the first century A.D. the Roman invaders wrestled control of these healing waters, sacred to the British Goddess Sulis, from the hands of the local Duboni tribe.

After gaining control of the hot springs, the Romans set about subduing its flow and controlling access to the waters by erecting a complex of temples and baths, the remains of which can be visited today.

I find it ironic that the very thing which could make a modern Pagan angry with the Romans, the restriction of access to the spring, is now what has guaranteed modern visitation to its site.

If not for these Roman ruins, the spring would most certainly be capped and unknown, running anonymously beneath this modern, retail-carnival of a city.

So, and this is the only time that you may ever hear me say it, “Yeah Romans!!! Good job!”

I must admit that at the Roman Baths, the temple complex and bathing rooms, some of which take a bit of imagination to picture, are truly exquisite. The presence of both hot and cold natural baths in one place is magnificent.

The circular cold pool and the half moon “hot tub” type of area were both most appealing to me.

The great bath, heated by the forces of nature to about 115˚ Fahrenheit, was awe-inspiring. I can only imagine what it must look like at night with the fire lanterns lit. Against the rules, I put my hand in that warm healing water, dedicated to Minerva, the Roman equivalent of the British Goddess Sulis.

All I can say is that one can almost feel all of the minerals that are present in that ancient water, it has a palpable effervescence. This is not water that just fell into the water-table during last week’s rain storms. This is water which fell on the surrounding Mendip Hills millenia ago, spending its time percolating through bedrock and bubbling in underground caverns until it rose from this spring now and warmed today’s pool of heated water. Amazing stuff! Of course this place was always treated as sacred, because it is.

In Roman times this was a place of healing, washing and community for the upper class of Roman Britain. Here they could receive various treatments, including a full-body oil rub by servants and slaves. Many came and spent the day here, bringing their personal servants to wait on their needs.

Though the irony of this social twist, coming to a sacred place where all life should be equally sacred and then oppressing someone else to ensure your own leisure, is not lost on me. I still find the thought of their lifestyle to be rather fascinating somehow.

After we had wet our hands in the great bath, we explored the other rooms of the complex and eventually came to the east baths, an area of the complex which has not been fully restored and does not have any water filling it. Here, at this end of the complex there were originally baths, which in later centuries became steam rooms for massage.

As I was walking through one such room, I caught a glimpse, through a hole in the wall, into the next room. And there, plain as day, I saw a thin, Roman man crouching against what was now a raised walkway. As soon as I focused on the vision, the visual apparition of him faded, but the energy remained.

I moved calmly through the exhibit and onto the walkway below which he had just appeared. There weren’t very many people around so I got comfortable, leaning on the railing above this energy that I could still sense.

I closed my eyes and tried to make a connection with him, which I did. I had an internal conversation with him, attempting to discern his situation.

I asked him who he was. He replied, “My name is Tirius and they will not let me out. They will not let me out.”

At that moment I got a vision of him being in this pool (which now no longer exists) and saw that some other men, two or three of them, would not let him get to the exit to leave the water. I am unsure but I believe that Tirius could not swim.

At first it seemed like a bit of fun, a joke. But then it turned serious.

Tirius calmly told me that it was horrifying and that it was unwarranted.

Whether they watched him drown, or whether they held him under the water, he never showed me. But, nevertheless, they had been responsible for his death.

When I asked him why his spirit had chosen to remain here, I could see that it was because he could not get over the manner of his death. It is like when a living person has been through something horrible, which is long past, but cannot let it go, constantly speaking of it and allowing it to effect them. It had become the biggest part of his self-identity.

I told him that it had been two-thousand years and that he was free to move on now. But he shook his head.

I said, “Yes you are free now. These are no longer the baths.”

I asked, “Can you see a light of any kind?” And I told him that it was safe to go into it.

He replied, “There is no light for me. I am a slave.”

Ahhh…….I get it now. He was a Roman slave, most likely an enemy captured in battle and sold. He had been here in the baths as a servant to wealthy traders and soldiers. And, some of them had drowned him for the fun of it.

Lovely.

No wonder he was traumatized, even in spirit.

I could see that his death and his place in society weighed heavily on his identity. It would be easier to work with it then it would be to work through it.

I noticed that this now-dry space had one wet area, an ancient open drain that connected out to the main river in this part of England, the Avon. (Ironically there are several River Avons in England, as the word Avon simply means river in Old English.)

“Well,” I said to Tirius, “then you can return to the Goddess via the river.”

“I can?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I said, “you will go out here through the drain tunnel, enter the river and follow it out to the cool, blue ocean. After that the Goddess will meet you and place you into her gentle boat, in which she will take you safely home.”

“But, I am afraid of the powerful Goddess.” he replied to me.

“But you needn’t be frightened of her,” I explained. “All came from her womb, from which these healing waters flow, and she takes all back within. She does not judge.”

“She will be kind to me?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied, “the very kindest.”

“I believe you,” he said. “But….” And as he said this, his eyes glanced back towards the room, which had once been a smaller version of the great bath.

I could see that he was still not willing to simply leave this place behind and forget what had happened to him.

In a last ditch effort to get him to move on to his next life, after so long standing here and surveying the scene of his death, I referenced the loose stones strewn about the place.

I told him, “If it is this place that you must carry with you, until reaching your home, take one of these stones, of which the baths were built.”

“When you get to the sea,” I continued, “give the stone to the Goddess and let her take the weight from your soul, so that you can arrive home in peace.” “Give your worries to the Goddess, for she takes all.”

“And I will be free?” he asked. “I will be brought home to my people?”

“Yes,” I told him, “without a doubt.” “The Goddess will take you there swiftly and gently. Go to her now and live joyously in your next life.”

He then reached down and grabbed a stone from what had been the floor of the ancient pool. And he walked toward the large drain, holding it above his shoulders, as if trying to keep it from getting wet in a deep pool, which no longer existed.

He paused at the opening of the drain and looked back for a moment before going forward, into the drain.

Just then, the crowd entering the space pushed me in the direction of the next room.

I am not perfectly certain if he kept walking toward the river or turned back towards the baths. But, I think he has already found the sea.

** THIS STORY CAN ALSO BE FOUND IN OUR EBOOK, available on Amazon.com.

“It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page.”
~Joan Baez, American Singer/Songwriter

Automatic Writing Explained

Automatic writing is just that, writing automatically without thinking about what you will write. It is a technique that is used in various forms of therapy and in writer’s workshops around the world. Though, when employed as an extra-sensory practice, it involves opening oneself up to not only your own subconscious but also to spiritual beings and entities who might have some positive information and wisdoms to share with you.

Amongst superphysical, or psychic, abilities it is automatic writing that many people find the easiest to develop. And, I don’t say this just because it happens to be the first psychic communication that I myself deliberately attempted, but because the nature of this ability is one that can often get past the conscious defenses of our mind and allow us access to spiritual information.

This is true because, when we first become interested in spiritual abilities, we are often hampered in our over-confident attempts at psychic development by the protective ego, or conscious mind, which does not want us to experience anything that it cannot explain using reason. This is partly self-defense on the part of our mortal mind and partly self-defense on the part of our unique being. What if we come up against something that we cannot handle and suffer a breakdown or, worse, death? In other words, our fear of the unknown is often the very thing that keeps us from being able to experience the psychic unknown which we truly are trying to embrace.

How does automatic writing help overcome this problem? Well, simply put, the mind is a part of the physical body and as such will default to the physical senses if given the opportunity. Hence, putting a pen to paper. With a pen in your physical hand, the mind does not find it so ludicrous and fearfully unexplainable that information should be coming through you. After all, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do with a pen and paper?

So, pen in hand, you are more likely to be able to let spiritual beings speak to you and through you. And that is what you are aiming for, to allow non-physical information to permeate through you, as a physical being. This is the nature of psychic ability of any kind, the knowing and understanding of things not physically apparent.

With the development of automatic writing you may also find yourself hearing or knowing things in the split-second before they are written. These abilities, clairaudience and claircognizance (or clairsentience) are commonly developed in tandem with other types of extra-sensory gifts so they should not be alarming.

How To Do It

I myself began by putting pen to paper, on a mere whim, one summer afternoon many years ago. The process is simple and does not require any particularly difficult preparations.

You need a clean surface for writing, a very good-working pen, a stack of blank paper and a little peace and quiet in which you will not be disturbed. Then you need to have the clear intention of communicating with the spiritual realms, with a knowledgeable and positive being. When you are ready, think of your intention, close your eyes and enter a peaceful, slightly meditative, state of mind. Then hold the pen lightly, imagining the energy flowing down to you from the universe, from your mind and down to your hand. Allow it move if it wishes and see what comes through.

Though you may get interesting communication on your very first try, you are more likely to get a page of meaningless scribbles, if anything at all. This is quite normal. Keep trying and see how the scribbles develop. After a number of attempts you will know in your gut if this method is for you or not.

In the beginning, if you succeed in writing something automatically, you may find that your own belief in what you have written is wavering. This is a natural consequence of having successfully tricked or disengaged the conscious mind. Since your waking brain was not involved in the process of creating these words, which are before you now on the paper, it is disbelieving of what they are. So your mind will attempt to fill in the blanks of its own memory, to insert itself in a process of which it was not a part. So do not be fooled if you begin to doubt that you “did it right.”

Do not doubt the spiritual nature of the information obtained by assuming that you were exerting too much control on the process. It is common to wonder and worry that the information may have actually come from your own mental dribblings and not from a spiritual source. But the reality is that, when you have opened yourself up to the process, then any kind of amazing, and even mundane, information can be conveyed without the engaging of your conscious mind.

Spiritual development and the extra-sense are something rarely acknowledged or talked about in our modern western society, so it is not surprising that we find these things hard to understand or even believe in. But through trial and error you will know what is true for you and you will come to understand your own abilities. That is what being alive in this physical realm is all about.

“I shall go further and say that even if an examination of the past could lead to any valid prediction concerning man’s future, that prediction would be the contrary of reassuring.”
~Julien Benda, 20th-Century French Philosopher and Novelist

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated April 2007.
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Here is an interesting one…

As I have explained to a few of you, and will explain in a post sometime soon, I have a spiritual connection to the past and often get communications from ancient and historical figures interspersed with my regular channelings. The most interesting was a visit from a Mayan priest, filled with wisdom but also filled with tears and bitterness. He gives information on the end of his era in Mayan times and also about the traumas which our world is currently undergoing…specifically planetary phenomena and humankind.

I do not entirely share his opinions on some of things he talks about but I liked him enough that I want to do him justice by not censoring his words. If you take offense and email me I will assume that you haven’t read this part of the post and after laughing at your silliness I will promptly forward your email to the ether so that he can get a good chuckle too, wherever he is.

Be warned, this could be seen as depressing information if you do not keep in mind that he is seeing our “reality” through a very thick veil and that all divination and psychic messages are ultimately changeable by human will.

~

Will we as individuals suffer while our planetary changes occur?

The Mayan: We have already suffered. There is drought where there was fertile soil. We have died and there is no one to remember us. All that we worked so hard for, all that we sacrificed for, was in vain. I do not know the moon upon my face. In the many hours I sat by the fire, in all of the visions that I saw, never once could I have imagined the horror. So swift, like a fire through the desert brush, and all was gone. Oh the Earth lived on, and mankind as well but in some barren, soulless, polluted form. It will happen again. We were so wrong in our calculations, so wrong in our dreaming. How could predictions be so…flat? No one can ever describe, no vision can ever show that which is unknowable. There will be great upheaval and not all will die but not all will live. Those who live will be an entirely different humanity, maybe better hopefully better, wiser, more observant of the natural cycles, but maybe worse, more greedy, more defensive, more warlike. Let us hope this is not to be.

To whom are we currently speaking?

Answer: Sa-DI-een Sadayine. Sadayine Namayazal.

And where do you hail from?

Sadayine: I don’t know what you call us. Mayan, as if all that we have seen could be summed up in a word, so banal, so bland. The calendar is wrong. So many years, so many calculations, so many ceremonies and sacrifices (of people.) And it is wrong.

Has the end of your calendar already passed or is it yet to come?

Sadayine: Our calendar ended when we did. The entirety of our world was washed clean by flood and drought and petulance. Fire balls from the sky. You want to know when your calendar will end. I don’t know but I know you won’t see it coming…we were watching and we didn’t. No one here is watching, no one here cares. It is as if everyone sees the planet as a machine, but no one is putting any fuel in the machine. No one is tending it. They just take it for granted.

It is very unwise, very, very unwise. I do not think you have beyond maybe thirty years, thirty-five at most. But there’s nothing you can do. Perhaps I am bitter. Perhaps some great glowing guide will come from the sky and teach you dirty children all the better ways, and it will save you. But I don’t think so. Those who are meant to live will live and they will know sorrow. And, those who are meant to die will die and they will die quickly. I suppose that is a consolation. Two thousand and twelve, yes, we thought it would be a meteor. A meteor that would bend the energy of everything that lived and it would be a great rebirth. A rebirth of civilization, of hidden and lost knowledges and all new species would appear on the planet. Of course we never thought that anything else would happen in between. The meteor will come and some things will change, but this great energy is wasted upon this planet because the humans have ruined everything. There will be no great rebirth, there will be no great coming together of the peoples, revelations of too many lost knowledges, because there is no one to receive. The energy, the energy that the meteor brings will sink into the ocean like a stone. It won’t be harnessed, it won’t be driven, it will just be like a gentle rain that hits that hot ground in the desert and evaporates. It will be alright though when the death comes, if it comes to the plants and the animal and the humans and the water, it is not really a death, it is a transmutation, to energy, aware energy. And then you are free to become whatever you wish. So I suppose it is a change for the better, for most people. I don’t know about these Christians, they will change into an energy that is nothing but fear and they will just linger. What can they become if they believe nothing but fear? Only fear. You can only become that which you believe in. You cannot become a star if you do not believe in the stars, in the energy of the stars. If you believe it is just a dot in the sky like a coloring book, what will you become? If you believe in joy, than you have the choice of becoming joy. If you believe in fear, evil, that is what you are. You are what you eat, you are what you believe. I believe I am wise, but not nearly so wise as I once thought. So I am here to give you wisdom. That is why I am here.

Can we as a world return to more simplified lifestyles?

Sadayine: No, not as a world. You always talk of the ancients as if we had no brain. Our world was much better connected than yours is. I don’t mean by communication…by knowledge, by knowledge of each other, by a different world view. We saw the world as a big community. We knew there were others, doing what we were doing, living like we were living, in other places in the world. We sought to raise energy to continue our existence and gain wisdoms, not just for our own benefit but for the benefit of those unknown, those unseen, others. You can’t do anything as a world today, you don’t see each other, you don’t hear each other. You know of each other, for certain, and still behave as if no other exists. All that can be done is to congregate in small groups, begin by discussing but don’t let it end there. You must give love, plain and simple with no ulterior motive, with no hope of the love returning to you. Just give. And know that when you need it, it will come back. It is the same with anything. I don’t think I understand enough about you to really give you good advice on this. I don’t understand the type of humans that developed after we passed away. I am not confused but, I suppose, baffled. I suppose it is the same thing but, I wish you could speak my language. I can’t explain to you what I mean in your language. Ah, perhaps I cannot answer your question.

How can we relinquish the hold that machines have over our daily lives?

Sadayine: This is not really a question for me, but I will attempt to answer it. (Laughs: She thinks I sound like a Mexican Frenchman. Okay. Mexicans are Spanish, I do not speak Spanish. I was long dead before they ever came. If there had been a true wise man anywhere in the vicinity they would have killed them and hung their scalps from the trees for the animals to eat. I bet they taste good, they’re so fat. Yes, I bet they would taste good boiled with their own herbs. Ah, the Spanish, French, English, they didn’t do anything different than what the Americans do today. They colonize, they rape, they pillage, they take everything of value, they leave all of their diseases and then they go, on to the next. Terribly wasteful.) Your question, machines…..We had machines too, not so sophisticated as yours, not so power hungry as yours, more efficient by the way. A machine that only requires the power of an animal only requires a little bit of grain to power. At any rate, you must first understand that your machines are nothing but numbers. I don’t mean they run on numbers, which they do, they are numbers. Your matrix, it is an old Mayan trick. If you pile the numbers in the right way, if your speed them to the proper vibration they become solid, it’s like sculpting in reverse. You don’t start with the rock and carve off the pieces you don’t want, you don’t carve off the nothing, you begin with nothing and you build the rock. I don’t understand how to explain this to you. It can only be seen in a certain state you cannot just open your eyes and will to see it, you won’t. It is a vibration, it is a concept it is, uh….Quantum Physics. This is what your machines are made of, they have no soul but they have an energy in their own right, they exist do they not? Once you see that anything that is not organic, anything that does not grow under its own steam or decay in a natural process, is not living, is not real, you can begin to combat it. You pick numbers off it and it is void, it is no longer what it was, it is simply, I don’t know, garbage. I think the way to combat the machines without losing your lives is to ascend to a higher vibration of energy. I know that is not an easy answer but it is the only thing I can think. Your machines have become your keepers, you are not their keepers.

You are not their keepers! They are yours. There are very, very powerful people and very, very powerful forces that want this to continue, without overthrowing those powers all you can do is chose the hard road. Chose to ascend your vibrations, choose to live the hard way, choose to circumvent the system and pay whatever price there is because there is one. There will come a point in time when the machines die but unfortunately I think you will die with it, so it will not matter. The machines are here to stay until a shift, a very big shift, happens. Bush is just the poster boy for a much larger problem. He is just the one that made it obvious, he is not even a problem, you have to have some kind of intelligence, some kind of intent to be a problem. But he is a problem for those that are the problem, because he made it known. They want him just as dead as you do, but it’s too late now because the cat is out of the bag. The rich only want to be rich, that’s it. The powerful only want to stay powerful. Our wise men (the Mayan priests) I suppose they liked being wise men sometimes, to be able to look down the pipe at someone and say, “You cannot hold your smoke.” It must be nice sometimes. But they never sought to use it against anyone, they never sought to use their power just to get more power. A wise man would give you the shoes off of his feet while he stood in a vat of boiling oil. He would shave his own hair off to make you a warm blanket, these men today, they would shave your hair off to make them a warm blanket. Very different. It will come to bite them in the ass, but many people will suffer instead before that comes. It is the way of the world now I suppose.

You said the machines were just numbers, are repeating numbers a sign of this matrix?

Sadayine: No. They are a sign of a devolution. As the vibration of the planet increases there are certain things, certain machines, certain thought patterns, certain systems that cannot keep up with the pace. They cannot enter the fourth dimension and certainly not the fifth. They devolve and when they devolve they release an energy, it is like the last breath of a human. And this energy must go somewhere, it must become manifest in order to disintegrate and return to the ALL, to the center of this universe, to the melting pot that is creation. They manifest in street signs, they manifest in phone numbers, in calculator figures, in digital cloaks and the date on the head of your newspaper. And every time you see one, it is that piece of energy that devolved returning to the all, to the center, to the crucible of life and creation. It is a good thing, it means you are aware. How many people see it and say, “Oh, how queer?” That is it. “Oh it’s 4:44, how queer. What’s for dinner dear?” It is good to make note of it, the more often you see it, the more quickly the devolution is occurring. Which means, it means that the energy is accelerating. It means the ascension will come. Whether or not it brings mankind with it, well, you will all decide that I think.

What can humans do together as a whole or in smaller groups to try and help the planet survive?

Sadayine: I already answered this for you, it is intangible. I believe that your friend Gretchen has told you that the only fix is to emanate light and it has to be a specific kind of light. It is like putting a mirror in your window so that the bad spirits cannot come in. This light will help to neutralize some of the dark that is flowing at you but I fear it is irreversible. You may bend it, you may slow it but it will come. There is change coming to this planet from all directions and from within the planet itself. Fighting change is just a way of delaying the inevitable.

What can humans do together as a whole or in smaller groups to try and help our own species survive?

Sadayine: Learn to be kind to one another. Learn once again what your body as an animal, an evolved animal, is designed to eat, to touch, to experience. And banish forever those things that are not natural which you put in your bodies and on your bodies. Humans are killing themselves and they’re paying to do it. I don’t understand how the world became filled with fools but maybe that’s why she will change, maybe all the fools will fall off like dandruff and the floods will come to moisturize and the healthy skin, the healthy minds, will come back. I don’t know.

Will our species continue through and beyond these planetary shifts?

Sadayine: Yes but as I said before, we don’t what kind of humans they will be. Will they be better than you, kinder than you, wiser than you, cleaner than you? I don’t know. Will they be more like the gods of light that came from the sky? Will they be taller, thinner and more energy than flesh? Perhaps. Perhaps they will be. Perhaps they will be like children, simple, like the apes, gentle and playful and learning everything like it is new, as if they had never seen a blade of grass before. Maybe they will fear their own shadows and the eclipses in the sky, as humans once did before. Maybe they will be like animals, huge and overgrown and brainless and dangerous and violent. And they’ll kill each other out and cause extinction of the entire race. No one can know. The shift will be dramatic and what comes of it is untellable. I suppose that is why we are all speaking to you now. Everyone wishes to affect a specific outcome. All the voices must jumble. I suppose it’s like trying to tune to a radio station and always having five at once. Who will win? The talk radio, the country music radio, will it be the Christian channel or the Native American channel? Will you be stuck with Jazz forever? I don’t know, Somebody will win and it is the humans who will decide.

~

…Well folks, that is the Mayan. It is only a snippet of his talk with me but what is here is unedited. I don’t know if I got all of his ideas and his words spelled correctly and I don’t know if he spoke in a way that everyone can understand but it is what it is. He went through every emotion while I was channeling him, sadness, sorrow, anger, pride, mirth and laughter. He admitted in the end that he was very bitter and that much of what he was saying to me might be tainted with his bitterness and sorrow but I believe that contained within it lies some useful and pertinent wisdom, some valuable advice. Take it as you wish.

Vera Nadine

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
~Anthony Robbins, Author and Motivational speaker

Everyone is all abuzz about the law of attraction. It’s about time…since us magically-types have been clued into this concept for ages. No….literally…..AGES.

For some the concept is perfect, all on its own. Easy. For others the concept is just a little too big, or too basic, depending upon how you look at it. And then for others the concept is just too small, too narrow of an outlook.

How you look at it is not important. And, to be perfectly honest, the term itself, “Law of Attraction” can be enough to put some people off of even looking into it. Sounds too pretentious, sounds too exclusive.

So for my purposes here I’ll call this the Power of Positive Intent. “As your intentions go, so goes your life.” (That’s my new phrase, based ever so loosely on the whole voting and Ohio thing.)

Now, the general gist of Positive Thinking is just that: Positive Thinking. Of course some things are easier to be positive about than others. Its relatively easy to be positive about going on vacation, not so easy to be positive about receiving a foreclosure notice on your house.

The proof is in the pudding (Boy, I’m just all phrases and cliches today – note to self: Stop watching Amelie so much!)

SO…you don’t have to feel positive about the foreclosure.

But once you are over the initial shock, you need to give the situation a positive spin: “This is an adventure. I am now free to experience a new place. This means that a better living situation is out there for me, one that will enrich me and help me grow.” (For why else would the outside world come in and FORCE you to move your butt?)

You need not beat yourself up about being irresponsible, being unfortunate or any other low-vibration thoughts. You have learned whatever lesson you needed to learn and can now move on to life’s next leg of the journey.

What we all need to do is twofold: Keep positive vibes in everyday situations. (ie. that very slow cashier, the mechanic who didn’t fix it right, our nosy aunt) And also keep positive vibes flowing toward our specific goals. (Keep saying “It will never happen for me.” And, guess what? It never will.)

With goal intentions, some of them can seem too big, too intimidating. It is easier to focus intent on wanting a new bike, on meeting new friends or on getting that zone 10 plant to grow in your zone 4 garden. It is not as easy to focus intent on larger or more abstract things such as buying a 200-acre farm, opening a million dollar recording studio or curing yourself of Parkinson’s Disease.

So what I offer is a more bite-sized approach to this process, for the manifestation of any intent is always a process. The initial positive thought is the seed. But, as I am learning, you can’t just plant a seed and walk away. Come back and you find all kinds of problems that need addressing for that plant to reach maturity and give off the glorious bloom.

You have to water it. Talk to it. Think positive thoughts at it. Take the weeds out of the way. All the while knowing that you can’t force it.

The bloom will happen in its own time, not with you staring at it from the kitchen window while biting your nails and wondering to yourself if it was all for nothing…if that thing has gotten as big as its going to get and may never bloom.

It will bloom. You’ll walk out the front door one day and it will be standing there beautiful and perfect.

The more positive you are about its becoming what it was always meant to be, the quicker it will happen, the bigger it will be when it comes to fruition. And, as a consequence of your not biting your nails at the kitchen window, the more you will enjoy it and be able to revel in it when it does come. Because instead of relief (that it wasn’t as bad as you thought) you will have confirmation (that it is even better than you knew it would be.)

So in order to focus your everyday intent in a way that benefits the “big intent” you can try using what I call a Goal Map. Some call it a “treasure map” and you can too if you like.

Let’s take an imaginary woman named Erica: She is a college student at present and has exactly $0 to her name. Her parents have no cash either so she has to take charge of her own goals and try to make them happen. We begin with her goal: Live in a log cabin, owned and built by her, with a nice relaxing fireplace in it, located on a nice rural piece of land. (Sound familiar to any of you lightworkers out there ? ;))

Erica decides to use the Goal Map method for manifesting her intent. It works by breaking down the goal into a smaller set of goals which lead in a semi-logical progression toward the ultimate goal. If you want to build a log cabin and you don’t have any money (or even if you do have the money) there are several steps to get to that finished log cabin with you sitting sipping tea in front of the fireplace.

Most people focus easiest in a visual way, so I recommend getting images or photos that best represent a concept and placing them on a piece of paper. They can be really little images or much bigger ones. So your Goal Map can be as little as a piece of printer paper or as large as a bed sheet…it doesn’t matter. (Bed sheets will need to be hung in a place of prominence with your big images pinned to them, a piece of paper can have the images glued to it and can be carried around in your car’s glove-box.)

So you are drawing a map. Think of it like the Game of Life by Hasbro but instead of adding in the hurdles and pitfalls you are going to deliberately include pictures that show you overcoming any perceived obstacles, no problem.

You can chose whatever shape for the map that you like: ovoid, spiral, zig-zag etc… I like spiraling inward so we’ll say that Erica’s map will be a spiral. Erica is still in college so her progression toward goal would likely start there.

She would need to begin with

(1) graduation, then…

(2) finding a job,

(3) enjoying her work,

(4) saving money,

(5) picking a log cabin floor-plan,

(6) locating a nice piece of land,

(7) either buying the land (if she has the money) or applying for a loan (if she doesn’t),

(8) getting approved for that loan,

(9) hiring a contractor to build her foundation,

(10) overseeing delivery of the log cabin kit (if it was a kit house,)

(11) watching the initial construction take place,

(12) hiring an electrician and/or plumber to do the finishing touches,

(13) getting the keys and moving into her log cabin,

(*14) feeling the happiness of being there, sitting by her fire and relaxing in the power of her own positive intentions.

(Of course you could break it down even further by getting into stuff like having the town grant your building permit and getting the building inspector to approve the house for occupancy…but its more fun the way that I’ve laid it out. Include whatever you feel may be an obstacle, if you wish.)

Begin by choosing the current mini-goal. Look intently at the goal image for at least five minutes, once or twice a day. You can add as much ritual or as little to this process as you wish.

But don’t just look at the goal image. See it happening for you. See all of your inner resources striving for it. Know that the energies of the universe are listening and already beginning to manifest this goal in your life. Feel how all the people and situations in your life are participating, pushing you directly towards the achievement of that goal.

As you complete this process briefly allow the entire structure of your Goal Map to enter you mind and acknowledge your progress towards the ultimate goal.

You can carry the current goal image with you in your wallet or taped to your car dashboard or work desk to remind you to put positive action and mental focus into it throughout your day.

With this process even the most seemingly insurmountable goal will be possible.

But in the end you must know that size doesn’t matter. Really. The same Power of Positive Intention that can bring you a new pair of sneakers can also bring you a Tuscan villa. The one is really no bigger than the other.

Happy Manifestations to you all!

“Inner seeing has nothing to do with physical vision; it’s the perception of life directly.”
~Frederick Philip Lenz, III, Ph.D., Spiritual Teacher of American Buddhism

Someone wrote and asked, “When did you first know that you had the sight?” Good question. I, of course, do not have a very simple answer.

Firstly the sight is ofttimes a complete misnomer as many psychics do not actually SEE anything. I think that this is what can give rise to dismay amongst people who are attempting to develop their own sixth sense, they sit there hearing things and feeling things and never trust that they actually have a gift because they have not actually seen Uncle Bob come walking out of the mists and bow down before them in his burial attire.

Back to my gift…I suppose that I was a very precocious child, I was hungry for knowledge from a young age and had an inherent rightness about my way of speaking. Many may choose to coin this “Know-it-all Syndrome.” (Think Hermione without the wand.)

I truly do not remember ever thinking that I had a different gift then anyone else, and if I did it certainly revolved around reading and writing more than trancing and speaking in tongues. But I would tell stories to my friends. Everyone loved to listen to my stories, all of my little friends getting their free bit of after school entertainment out of me.

I would tell stories about the ladies in their funny hats and long dresses getting off of the train at a depot that used to be right where we are standing, about how cars used to be huge and shiny and have funny fins on the back of them, how a little girl used to play in the closet with her doll house just like we were playing now. Everyone loved how vivid my stories were and I felt like I had a gift. But the truth is that they weren’t my stories, I know that now.

My Mother always said that I was an Old Soul, something she could see deep in my eyes. She had a knowing of her own, seeing something in me before I was even born and naming me Vera Nadine, perhaps in the hope that I would become exactly what I am becoming today. I use to entertain her friends, and I think scare the pants off some of them, by singing songs from the 1940’s that I could not possibly have known on my own. Maybe it wasn’t me singing.

One summer, at camp, I walked along the forest path toward the lake with several other little girls and touched each tree for a time, the others pausing to listen as I told them the story of that tree, what it had lived through and seen, how it was feeling and when it would die. It only occurred to me many years later that I wasn’t lying to them but reading, at a very early age, the energy imprint of that living being…a signature that all things carry.

A part of me always knew that I wasn’t lying, that what I was saying wasn’t entirely made up out of my own imagination but tied, in some very real way, to an indescribable thing that I couldn’t see or touch but that was truly there somewhere lending its voice to my words. Call it child’s play or call it magic but I believe that my gift is inherent, something we all have that seeks expression.

Years later, after having attended a Protestant church for almost ten years with my extended family (neither of my parents condescending to attend with me mind you) I made confirmation alongside a boy named Damien (yes, really) and told my Father that I would not be going back there anymore. I didn’t find any truth or spirituality in the standing and sitting and mournful singing. Since we had agreed I could do as I wished after making confirmation, he didn’t fight me. (The whole fiasco I deem to have been arranged by him to appease his family’s desires to have me in church rather than by his own desire.)

Now I believe that spirituality and religion can coexist, but that they are not mutually exclusive and that the one can sometimes put a pretty firm end to the other and vice versa. After leaving Protestantism I embraced a solitary Pagan path and began researching more about earth-based religions. This is something that I worked at and learned more about all through high school. I do believe in magic, that is the ability to transform energies to your benefit, and know that I did some small bits of it as a teenager.

During this time I continued to be the learned-know-it-all and for some reason people always came to me when they had a problem that they could not solve or needed a shoulder to cry on. I also began attempting what I thought was Proper Divination, adopting a set of Tarot cards from a high school sweetheart (I still have them Lucas.) and toting them to a multitude of keg parties and Denny’s restaurants. I helped some people with what I told them, but always seemed to be more accurate when I forgot about the little booklet that had the card meanings and just “lied” to each person about what they meant based on what I thought that person needed to hear.

Why do I keep saying that I lied? Well because that is what I thought for so long, that I had lied to these people, that I was just being creative and making up stories to entertain. It is only just recently that I realized why I felt this way. It is because children are not raised to believe in the unknown as a thing of value, unless of course we are talking about certain select few deities, and therefore they believe that anything unseen is a figment of their imagination. But this is not always so.

Was I lying to these people about talking trees, what the tarot said for them or whether or not a little girl had once played with her dolls in the nearest closet? I do not think that I was. I think that I was simply exercising a gift which for me at the time had no definition, no recognizable value or purpose. Now that my connection to the divine is solid to me, has structure and definition, I see where these occurrences fit in to its development.

Freshman year of college my own spiritual path was illuminated for me in many ways, I met an older lady who was a priestess of the Goddess and had been taught many years earlier by another elderly lady whom she had met in her travels. She agreed to teach me her way of belief. I was so excited and by coincidence I also took a class that semester in the Myth and Reality of Witches…yes it did fulfill a General Education requirement.

I will not attempt to dispel all of the myths or explain all of the realities here, suffice it to say that the one strong reality I left the class with was that this was what I was meant to be, what I already believed and that I wanted to know other people who believed the same stuff….that there was a balance to all life, masculine and feminine, black and white, wet and dry, up and down and that we as spiritual beings having a physical experience could live in harmony with the rest of creation and in honoring it could harness its energy for the greater good.

My years of study with this woman included mostly work on the self, such as integrity of the word, cleansing negative habits, living in self-discipline and learning to slow the body and release the mind through meditation and path workings. She also instructed me in ways to connect to and commune with the different aspects of nature so as to better know their energies and be able to use them in a beneficial way.

As spiritual seekers, no matter what our mixture of beliefs or our chosen religions, we are all striving towards a true inner balance, a connection to the divine and toward personal impeccability. The truth is that this perfect impeccability cannot be fully achieved in manifest, physical form but it is the striving and the acknowledgment of our own imperfection that makes us impeccable.

When I was ready to go out on my own, armed with a strong spiritual foundation, my first guide finally came to me, not in a meditation but in a waking moment of self-despair. I had lost someone that I loved very much and could not reconnect to them in a constructive way and as I sat doodling crop circle-like forms on a blank paper (something I have done since puberty) a voice sounded in my head and my hand started writing words. That was Gretchen. Many other guides have come and gone since but she remains the constant.

Gretchen has helped me accept my chosen purpose in this life and has aided me in developing my gifts further so that I may help other spiritual seekers in this lifetime. I am sure that more gifts will develop in time just as I am sure that you are reading this because you suspect your own gifts and are wondering if it can be possible. I am here to tell you that it is so.

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”
~Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer and Management Consultant

Meditation is a contemplative state which one enters in order to relax the waking consciousness. There are many reasons that people take up meditation and there are numerous benefits to incorporating a regular practice of meditation.

Meditation can be used to cultivate a deeper awareness of one’s relationships and surroundings. Calming the ego-consciousness (the judge) that lives within our waking mind and opening ourself up to receiving peace, allows us to recognize and, with diligence, to access a higher state of consciousness.

Why should you want to reach higher consciousness?

That is a very good question and yet, one that is very difficult to answer. You may want to reach higher consciousness for the changes that it makes in how you use your life. You may want to reach higher consciousness to develop new abilities. Or perhaps you would enjoy having a higher consciousness because of the differences your actions may make in the lives of others.

What can be said is that, through the regular practice of meditation, you will come to realizations, values and talents that you are very unlikely to arrive at without the aid of meditation. I say unlikely, I do not say never. Meditation is a tool, like a key to a door. It is not the key that makes the wondrous thing behind the door exist. That thing always existed, all that the key did was make it easier to reach.

The realization and changes that develop in you over time, while practicing meditation (things like, mindfulness, calm, spiritual oneness, empowerment) are subtle shifts in your level of awareness that will help you to, among other things:

-Form more healthy romantic relationships
-Fulfill your internal life purpose
-Expel toxins and illness from your body
-Speak and act with true integrity
-See the beauty in all things
-Cope better with change and challenges in life
-Build self-esteem
-Look and feel more youthful
-Gain spiritual awareness / inspiration from the divine
-Walk lighter on the Earth
-Appreciate the gifts that you have in your life
-Serve yourself and others with deep kindness
-Channel positive creativity through your unique self

So I suppose that the question is not why you should want to reach higher consciousness, but why you should not want to?

What does meditation mean exactly? I have heard so many different things about it.

Meditation means many different things to many different people. There are several approaches to meditation, several layers of consciousness to explore and different levels of difficulty.

There are those who follow an accepted course of some kind, like Kabbalistic meditation or Transcendental meditation. And there are those who are more drawn to moving forms of meditation, such as Yoga or Tai Chi. Most are just looking for more inner peace and a connection with the natural world in which we live.

It would take pages to list here the myriad forms that meditation can take. Some examples are: breathing meditation, walking meditation, guided meditation, trance, sound healing, affirmation, tantric, chakra, crystal, visualization etc, etc…

What is common to many forms of meditation is the component of sitting and maintaining a relaxed pose in a place of silence. This, of course, is an oversimplification, but it is not as simple as it may sound. The difficulties that people tell me of, and that I myself am no stranger to, are the very reason that meditation can be so life-changing for us.

The realization that staying mindful of our walking, or maintaining mental silence for a few minutes, is so difficult, when we humans are supposed to be the masters of our physical world, is one that leads many people to realize their own potential for growth. This is why acheiving the simple acts of maintaining silence of the mind and awareness of our reality, empowers us and shows us our connection all other life.

Gaining this place of silent connection is the true meaning of meditation, no matter what form that meditation takes.

How do I learn to meditate?

Ah. That is the question!

The approach is a very easy one. The mastery is not always so.

To begin with, you need to find a comfortable position that you can rest in. Most people use a cross-legged position. Lying down, though comfortable, is not the best position for learning meditation. Lying down signals sleep to your mind, and if you try to relax the mind in this position, you will inevitably end up asleep.

I always suggest that beginning meditators sit on the floor, this helps to ground you and also to release any fears that you may relax too much and fall off of your chair.

So, you are most likely to begin by sitting cross-legged on the floor (or on a nice cushion, on the floor.) I always begin this way, with my back straight, supported by a wall.

The intention here is to relax your muscles, rest your eyes and release all worry from your mind. There may be an overall intention to astral project, meet your spirit guide or gain psychic abilities, but that is not the point of each individual meditation. Release these desires, be the beginner, be the student.

Doing meditation is called “practicing” just as in Yoga or in doing magic. That is because we are always the student, these are abilities that have no end, that continually grow and evolve, presenting new challenges along the way. We are always learning.

So now you sit in quiet contemplation, keeping your mind empty (or focused on your own inner body perceptions and mental perceptions) for as long as you can.

A fifteen or twenty minute meditation can change the entire energy and outcome of your day. But in the beginning, allow yourself to practice for only three, four or five minutes. Do not worry if you cannot stay still or carefree for longer than that.

If you have thoughts come barging in during your meditation time, simply thank your mind for its contribution and then release the thoughts and return to clear mindedness.

Once you become comfortable with the general concept and practice of meditation you can feel free to try adding instructive aids of some kind. These may be counting techniques or similar approaches learned from a book. They may be sentences or affirmations that you say to yourself repeatedly throughout your meditation. You may also find guided meditations, either audio or video, quite helpful.

I myself learned meditation, guided by a friend, using the simple tree meditation, which I eventually memorized and I still use variations of it regularly.

But I can’t meditate, I am so frustrated by my failed attempts. I thought this was supposed to be relaxing!

It is indeed meant to be a relaxing and comforting activity. If it isn’t, then it is probably one of three things… let’s look at the three most the common roadblocks to successful meditation.

I can’t sit still: You are most likely a person with high levels of energy (ie. anxiety) and teaching your brain that it is okay to relax and not be always doing is something that will take time. Begin by setting a stop watch and observe how long you can sit still for. Then slowly increase it in ten-second intervals. Force your body to just BE. Eventually you will not need the stop-watch or the forced increases anymore. Go slow and you will get there.

My mind will not stop thinking: This is the most common reason that people decide they are unable to meditate and give up trying. They can only seem to keep their head clear for 30 seconds or so, but the minute that they begin to relax into a meditative state, another thought pops into their mind. When this happens ten or more times, each and every time that they attempt meditation, it is not surprising that they become frustrated.

I was this person! I swore to my meditation teacher that I would NEVER be able to meditate, and I was truly convinced of that fact. But it wasn’t a real truth for me. And it isn’t for you either.

Perhaps, you are dragged out of your meditation by every creaking floorboard, passing ambulance siren or barking dog. I was too. But I promise you that this is just a stage. Your conscious mind, the ego, does not want to release control and will amplify every thought, worry, sound and itch to try and maintain that state of control. But it does eventually loosen its grip, if you stick with it. You will not fail, unless you give up and stop trying.

I don’t think that I am doing this right. I don’t feel anything: You have probably come to meditation with some unrealistic expectations of what you would experience. There is no wrong way to meditate.

The intention with meditation is to build a stronger, more open connection with your true inner self. There are as many methods for achieving that connection as there are individual people.

If you feel like this time is your own, than that is enough. What matters is that you take the time to stop, be at peace and listen to yourself. If you are giving time to practicing meditation, you are already doing it right.

So what does it all mean?

Well, as you can see, meditation is not just about the health benefits. The process of learning to meditate also involves developing patience and perseverance, two skills which we as modern humans tend to have less and less of. This benefit alone is worth the early struggles.

But you are also making time for yourself. Taking a few minutes to spend with yourself everyday (even if you never meet Elvis on the astral planes) has been shown to lower your blood pressure, relieve anxiety, heal depression and cure insomnia. And these are just some of the benefits that meditation can have for you.

If it benefits each individual practitioner in such meaningful ways, imagine what your own self-improvement can do for your friends, family, colleagues and the planet as a whole!

“Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one.”
~Marianne Williamson, Inspirational Author

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated January 2009.
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Wow. A new year already. The numerology seems to suggest that this year will be the beginning of a new life, for everyone.

Sorry it’s been a while since I posted, my focus has finally shifted wholeheartedly to writing my book and I am finding it hard to concentrate on the blog articles at present.

But this one, or perhaps the invitation for this one, simply arrived in my scope of vision. A relative of mine asked for a bit more info on intuitive development which made me realize that this is indeed most likely to be what draws people to this blog. It is not just simply my stories of spirituality and psychic experiences, but a desire to have these things become an integral part of your own lives.

Now, this person asked for more info on developing intuition. I, of course, read way too much into things and become over excited, always wanting to help increase the vibration of this planet by guiding others to spiritual awareness and enlightenment. (Total Light-worker Syndrome.)

Anyhow. I have decided to create a multi-approach and multi-subject list of good reading materials for moving you along your path toward intuitive abilities and spiritual awareness.

There are beginner, intermediate and advanced books here. They deal with many facets of energy and spiritual awareness. Some will be too weird or too heavy for the absolute beginner. This does not, however, preclude you from being able to read them. The beauty of reading in these subject areas is that you know when you are ready for a book, by whether or not you like and understand what you are reading when you pick it up.

This is about intuitive development so, as Serge suggested while I was writing this, just scan the list of subjects and titles. Use your own intuitive vibe to choose which few books you’d like to read first. Then see where that reading leads you to next. I suppose you could call this “going with the flow.” When something is right, you just know.

My belief is that two things are essential to the development of intuitive gifts:

1) Meditation, lots of it, in many and any forms.

2) A shift in awareness, a willingness to look at things from a new point-of-view, I would call this “mindfulness,” the act of becoming consciously aware of all the multitude of things that we do mindlessly in our modern world. (Such as speaking, eating, bathing, buying, judging others and being entertained externally, in ways that disengage us from our spirit and our environment.)

Have a look below and see how you can begin developing the necessary spiritual awareness to connect you to our natural energies and intuitive abilities…

Spiritual Awareness
The Power of Now
The Book of Secrets
There is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem
A New Earth
Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires
The Way of the Wizard
**Awakening: A Daily Guide to Conscious Living

Beginning Intuitive
Developing Intuition
**Trust Your Vibes
The Time Has Come to Accept Your Intuitive Gifts
**Personal Power Through Awareness
**Living With Joy

Intermediate Intuitive
Psychic Pathway
Awakening Your Psychic Skills
Living in the Light
Spiritual Growth: Being Your Higher Self

Contacting Spirit Guides
Ask Your Guides
Opening to Channel
Contact Your Spirit Guides To Enrich Your Life

Meditation
**Meditations: Creative Visualization and Meditation Exercises to Enrich Your Life
Wherever You Go, There You Are
Meditation for Beginners
**The Miracle of Mindfulness
How to Meditate: An Illustrated Guide to Calming the Mind and Relaxing the Body
Teach Yourself to Meditate in 10 Simple Lessons

From the blog front page, if you want more topics and materials click here:

Audiobooks & Meditations (these are a mix of the subjects throughout this post)
**Unlocking Your Intuitive Power: How to Read the Energy of Anything
Developing Intuition: Practical Guidance for Daily Life
Guided Meditations: For Calmness, Awareness, and Love
**Guided Mindfulness Meditation
Stress Reduction and Creative Meditations
The Essence of Being in Balance
**Meditations for a New Earth
Spiritual Growth: Vol 1 Raising Your Vibration
Spiritual Growth: Vol 2 Being Your Higher Self
Becoming an Intuitive Healer: A Professional Development Course for Health Practitioners
Guided Visualization Series Vol. 1
Living the Light Body
**How to Meditate with Pema Chodron: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind

Earth Spirituality (ie. Paganism, Native Ways and Wicca) * I am in no way stating that this spirituality is the only path to developing psychic skills, only that its openness to individualization and its balance between masculine and feminine divinity has led me to my own development of these innate gifts.*

Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speaking Earth
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
The Elements of Natural Magic
The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess
Spirit of the Witch

Oneness & Light-working
Oneness
The Calling
Family of Light
Bringers of the Dawn
Earth: The Pleiadian Keys to the Living Library
Affinity: Reclaiming the Divine Flow of Creation

Hermetics & Power of Intention
The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece
Spiritual Alchemy
The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent
Path of Alchemy: Energetic Healing & the World of Natural Magic
The Law of Attraction
The New Hermetics: 21st Century Magick for Illumination

Energy-Healing
**Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field
Vibrational Medicine
Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine
Intuitive Wellness: Using Your Body’s Inner Wisdom to Heal
Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul
True Balance: A Commonsense Guide for Renewing Your Spirit
Energy Work: The Secret of Healing and Spiritual Development
Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness

There are of course many more specific and advanced subjects that people may choose to study, or may naturally develop, along their own path of intuitive development and spiritual awakening. These include, by aren’t limited to, Astral Projection, Trance Channeling, Aura Reading, High Magic, Astrology, Divination, Herbal Medicine, Yoga, Hypnotherapy, Reiki, Feng Shui, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy and many others.

However, many spiritually aware people are happy to just develop an intuitive relationship with their spirit guides and their higher self. This is what enriches life and makes it a full and rewarding experience. All else is just icing on the spiritual cake.

~

To my relative who inspired this informative post, I love you. I love you not just because you are family, I love you because I know the curiosity, and joy, and excitement, and trepidation, that run through you when you begin looking into the limitless and beautiful world of things that can be felt but are unseen. I want you to know that I will help in any way that I can. And I love you because, in general, I aspire to love all people, and I can see how we are all one, at all times, no matter the form or the circumstance.

I am not yet completely altruistic. I don’t claim to be a bodhisattva, to have achieved Buddha mind, I am far too opinionated on world matters and personal behaviors to be that yet. But I am sending light energy and peaceful support to all spiritual seekers in this changeable place that we call Earth.

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. ~Mark Twain, American author and Humorist

Here is an interesting thing that occurred recently. It only lasted about eight minutes, but it seemed like several days…

I was lying in bed, just getting to what I call the twilight place. It is that place between sleep and awake where you begin to have very surreal thoughts and scenes pass through your mind, but you are also aware of your “self” and thus technically still awake. (This is the place that astral travelers and people who practice lucid dreaming are able to maintain.)

Anyways, I became aware of an open field, or clearing, in which I was standing with a muddy garden and a small run-down hut off to my right. It was just about sunset in this clearing. There was a woman crying off to the edge of the clearing and she was looking down at the ground. I approached her and gazed down to try and see what was upsetting her so much.

When I did, I was looking into a deep hole and gazing straight into the blank, open eyes of a man who was stone cold dead. I got freaked (as one does) and just about lost my connection to the scene and this woman.

But I reminded myself of something that Erin Pavlina said to me when we had talked on the phone, “Allow yourself to be startled by what you are shown, but do not allow yourself to become frightened by it.”

I slowly calmed myself and pulled myself back into the scene. I mean, I was being shown this for a reason and I had to stay present long enough to figure out what that reason was.

I came back to the place and looked down into the grave hole again.

The man was clothed in a ripped and worn woolen tunic and leather breeches. There was also a very cheap and tarnished bit of chain mail in the hole beside him.

His eyes were wide open, staring blankly up into the cascading tree canopy that leaned over the edge of the clearing.

In those eyes I could see shock and pain, but not the normal confusion of the recently deceased.

The woman, whom I took to be this man’s wife, said to me, “He is lost. He is bound and cannot be free. I fear for his soul.”

She followed this up with, “He has suffered enough. Can not you help him?”

At this point, I became aware of this man’s spirit watching us from just inside the forest a few yards away. I stepped a bit closer to him and asked him, “Why aren’t you able to move on?” Suddenly, it was just myself and this spirit, and the clearing seemed to have gone dark, like the sun had set.

The spirit raised his arm slowly and pointed to a place just the other side of his grave and pronounced wistfully, “HE won’t let me .”

As I turned, there appeared another spirit, that of a very burly, muscular man in leather and metal armor. He was standing with his feet spread wide and his arms crossed, as if guarding a doorway. He looked to be stubborn and was clearly quite angry.

I looked back and forth at the two of them several times. It was obvious that there was a strong relationship here, but that it was not due to family relation or friendship at all.

Finally, I walked closer to the burly spirit and the other spirit followed me, allowing me to be the one standing between the two of them. “Why are you preventing him from passing the veil?” I asked the second spirit. He answered quite snidely, “Because he did this to me.”

“He killed you?” I asked. “Yes. He shall never know peace.” He replied.

The first spirit explained to me, “It was in battle.”

Instantly, I received a vision of what had happened between the two men on the battlefield:

The burly man was part of an invading party (I think that they were Viking or something similar) and the other man was one of a smaller group of defending locals. I believe he would be considered Saxon.

When the invaders ran at the the line of the local men, assembled on one side of the battlefield, the line broke chaotically. Some men ran forward into the fray with their weapons drawn. Some ran forward blindly with their eyes shut. Some men turned and ran back away from the battle and others simply stumbled backwards, falling all over each other.

It was a bit like Braveheart with Vikings, but with much less choreography and less obvious valor.

The burly Viking was not in a position of weakness, but the Saxon man was. He was encircled and surrounded by five or six foes. Like the bottle in a game of Spin the Bottle… he just kept spinning in circles, pointing his weapon outward and striking anything that he could.

The Viking was several yards away, further in the fray, dominating his enemies quickly and continuing to move on to the next. Suddenly, he pushed into the circle surrounding the Saxon.

In a flash, this smaller Saxon man ran the Viking straight through with his sword. The Saxon was equally as surprised as the Viking that he had run him through. It all happened so quickly and without any other focus or intent on the part of that Saxon than protection and survival.

The Saxon was immediately aware of what had happened and, while saddened at not having had the chance to face the man eye-to-eye when he killed him, this Saxon man was relieved when he realized what happened. For, looking at the size and the fierceness of this Viking, he knew that if he hadn’t gotten lucky then he would be the one dead.

After seeing this vision, I instantly returned to the scene in the now dark field with me standing between the spirits of these two warriors.

The Saxon man explained, rather demurely, “I was in the right.”

TO READ THE REMAINDER OF THIS STORY please view our ebook, available at Amazon.com.

“Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, but an eternal Now does always last. ”
~Abraham Cowley, 17th-Century English Poet

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated July 16. 2008.
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As a part of the channeling for our book manuscript I have been branching out and accessing new sources of information. Attempting new things is always a bit daunting, especially when you don’t know what to expect, but succeeding in new areas of channeling is always very exciting to me.

The most recent experience has been in accessing the Akashic Library. Of course, explanations of what the Akashic Records are abound so I won’t get too detailed here, suffice it to say that this wealth of information exists only ethereally. It is an energetic record of all that has ever been or will ever be in the universe. (Hey, you don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to, but really, what do you have to lose?)

There have been many descriptions of what this place looks like by those who supposedly have visited it. You will find that these descriptions vary widely and that those which bear a striking resemblance to one another do so because a person has read widely about the Library before attempting to go there.

I follow a different path, as I tend to absorb only the most perfunctory information about psychic phenomena before I attempt it. I just don’t want the wealth of other people’s opinions to cloud what I might experience.

With that in mind I have come to understand that the Akashic Library, or any positive psychic phenomena for that matter, always presents itself in whatever form will be most comforting and acceptable to the individual. This makes sense, as the Library can be whatever it wants to be, given its entirely ethereal and non-manifest nature.

So here is what I saw and how I experience the Akashic Library:

Firstly, I laid down and was tucked tightly in, like a wrapped mummy. I generally channel in a crossed-legged position, sitting in my meditation room. But when doing very deep work, such as past-life regression or anything requiring a disconnect between spirit body and physical body, I use this tucked-in technique. The object is to simulate the feeling of being in a womb or the grave, this makes you feel safer and signals to your psyche that the need for the spirit to remain firmly rooted in the body is no longer true.

Next I call to my higher self, whom I generally do not invoke in regular channeling (as she is very large, very strong and very far removed from our plane of existence.) I ask her to take me to the place between places, the realm in which all exists in energetic form and where all things past, present and future are recorded in the light.

At this point I begin to feel my physical vibration speeding up and the spiritual energy rising slowly up above my body.

Next, I ask my two guides, Gretchen and Astra, to guide me safely upwards into the other realms and lead me to the entrance of the Akashic Library. I begin to visualize us walking up a winding, white stairway, that stands unsupported in our ether. The walkway ends at a place that is universal, filled with endless wisps of cloud and starfields.

We float briefly in this formless place and arrive at a hovering set of marble stairs, leading up to a set of great oak doors. This looks a bit like the entrance to the New York Public Library, oddly enough. Once inside, I walk through a short, unlit entryway and then approach a reception area, a small space with a rounded desk in the middle. Behind this desk sits a woman, who asks what topic I am researching and then points me toward one of the doors that leads off of this space.

On my very first visit she asked my topic and handed me a key. This was not just any old key, but a key that was bigger than my hand. It was a huge solid gold skeleton key, which is encapsulated inside of an outer covering of clear quartz. Essentially, it is a quartz key with a solid gold core. At the end of my first visit I was instructed to keep this key and I remember storing inside of my own torso somewhere.

At each visit, after briefly reaffirming my topic to the person at this desk, I enter the same door that I first used and step onto a very small landing. I walk from this landing, down the three steps, and into a dark, round room. This appears to be a black room with nothing much in it.

I hold the key in my hand and state my topic out loud. At this moment a long circle of huge books appears just above my head, wrapping around the walls of the room. These books are simply hovering, not on a shelf of any kind. And they are not entirely solid, but seem almost like holograms, as they continually spin around me. Each of them is perhaps 7-inches wide at the spine and each book cover or book spine is a different color, no two the shame shade.

Sometimes, this array of books spins quite quickly – a blur of colors above my head – and other times quite slowly. It eventually comes to a halt as it reaches the chronicle which will contain the information that I need. It is at this point that the book I require becomes quite solid and it slides out from the circle and opens itself in the air before me. The book then hovers, open, but not yet within my reach.

It is then that a “person” who has been standing silently in a darkened edge of the room steps forward and offers to help me access the information. This person, who has told me to call him “Z“, is in fact very hard to distinguish as male or female and his androgyny is very changeable depending on the information that we cover. He can sometimes be very feminine and motherly and other times rather forceful and priest-like. But he is always there and acts not only as a reference librarian of sorts but also as a translator, a guard and a guide.

As Z steps forward, the book comes now within reach and I hold it as he interprets the information for me. Each of the pages is indeed covered in symbols that could be an alphabet, and usually these are accompanied by one or two relevant images, but I cannot read these texts. In the beginning I did try to understand them by just absorbing their energy, but the conscious mind (which filters all that we try to understand or communicate) was unable to function in this place.

Z, then, acts as an interpreter for the information encoded here in the Akashic Records and I believe that his job is not only to help you by translating the required information for you but also to keep you from accessing depths of information that may hurt you or someone else. I believe that the type of key you are given at your first visit is some sort of determining factor in what information Z is willing to translate for you.

At any rate, once the book is open and in my hands, I then nod and the person who I have asked to assist me with the channeling session begins asking our predetermined questions. Depending on the answers, my assistant then alters the questions accordingly.

This is a much deeper level of channeling, nearing a complete trance state, and is rather intense. Though my limit for most client channelings and other, simple, channelings is about an hour, the limit for these sessions in about half-an-hour. Each half-hour session results in about 4-5 pages of raw material and will eventually lead to a book about the untold history of humankind.

At present our focus seems to be mostly on human spirituality and our relationship to our planet via our food choices. We’ll see where it all leads.

Wish me luck!

Also, please feel free to submit your questions and comments for, or about, the Akashic Library.

“So as long as a person is capable of self-renewal, they are a living being.”
~Henri Frederic Amiel, 1821-1881, Swiss Poet & Philosopher

With the birds chirping outside and the cool, yet sunny days growing longer, it is not difficult to appreciate the beauty of the springtime. The tulips poke their heads up through the ground, the squirrels and birds return to their business and the deep snows melt away. Still, spring is even more powerful than its inspiring visions of colorful flowers and running streams.

Spring carries with it a very unique energy, burgeoning with the buzz of renewal. Renewal, or to make all things new again, is a sacred energy, one that life could not continue without. The circle of life, so sacred to the belief structures of many cultures, would be an incomplete circle, and therefore not a continuous cycle, without the renewal, the rebirth.

How many times have we each wished that we could start things over again? Wished that we could have fresh energy or undo the mistakes or simply be young again? Well, spring is your time!

Though we may not know it, living in our fast-paced modern world, humans do enter a phase that is similar to hibernation during the winter months. Our energy gets lower, our bodies get looser, our sleep gets longer. With the natural return of the sun, spring begins the cycle of awakening, and thus renewal. We can embrace that energy and awaken feeling freshened, full of energy and ideas.

A very simple way of getting a little bit of this springtime energy into your soul is to go out and be in it and work with spring at its own level. Spring is the beginning, so try getting outside close to dawn, if possible. Put on a thick sweater, take a thermos of hot tea and walk out in your yard or garden or in a local park. Get down close to the ground and look at the plants just pushing up through the soil. Grab a rake and clean up some of last autumn’s and winter’s debris. Don some garden gloves and plant some new seedlings to harvest later in the year. By working, as the springtime does, to renew the Earth and take in its changes, you will be embracing the same type of growth and renewal for your own life.

Of course, in embracing this energy, it is important to know that nature’s cycles can be both gentle and violent. It is not experienced the same by every one of her creatures. Sometimes the flower that pushes up through the soil will tear up a wide swath of ground with its force, leaving the place looking ragged and unkempt, until the blossom finally beautifies all with its glorious color and scent. Perhaps you may have a sweet and flowing journey through your time of renewal, while I may experience explosive change and a sense of confusion or regret. That is the gamble that we all take in renewing ourselves, in beginning again.

Though change is never easy, it promises the excitement of the unknown, the opportunity to keep learning and growing. Just as the new seedlings in the spring must first push their way through the hard, cold ground before they can grow tall and blossom.

Like it or not, at times we all reach a point of stagnation in our lives, when we can’t seem to go forward or backward. This can be the death of us, whether of our hope, our health, our faith or our relationships. In such situations we often cannot see the need for change in ourselves, or we cannot see the way of making it happen. We look outside of ourselves for an answer, even just a subtle push. The springtime is nature’s season for giving that subtle push, though our personal season of renewal can come at any time, in any month of the year.

Spring has been the harbinger of changes to come since before mankind walked this Earth. It has been worshipped as sacred, as the time of the new dawn, by countless cultures and religions, both ancient and modern. It is worth pausing to reflect on this time of renewal while it is happening around you. Let spring fill you up with hope, for spring is an energy which never looks backward or allows regrets. Spring is the looking forward, the building up, and it is filled with optimism and promise.

“Cleanse your emotions, passions, impulses, attitudes, and reactions. That is the essence of spiritual discipline as laid down in all faiths.”
~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba, South Indian Guru and Spiritual Teacher

While you are walking the path of spiritual development, slowly building a greater awareness of your spirit, personal motivations, actions and your effect upon the world, you are also learning to recognize the difference between a spirit-thought and an ego-thought.

The easiest way to phrase this is that you are learning to discern your impulses from your inspirations.

Sometimes these impulses are big things like the impulse to drink a case of beer at lunchtime or the impulse to jump in bed with a beautiful stranger behind your wife’s back. But often what we are faced with are the collection of small daily impulses that, when followed blindly, drain us of our energy, our focus and our self-esteem.

For instance, this morning, between the moment of waking, kissing my beloved, taking a sip of water, then using the bathroom (a sequence which took roughly 4 minutes) I had a total of four self-defeating and/or distracting impulses. All of which were completely unrelated to what my true spirit or a healthy, happy mind and body would desire in reality.

These consisted of several old friends such as: the go-back-to-bed monster, the fear-of-falling-down-the-stairs demon, the ghost of sugary-cereal-for-breakfast and the sucked-into-the-internet-inferno dragon.

Why do any of these concern me? Quite simply because each of these thoughts carries with it an energy or, more specifically, a desire for energy.

Thoughts that desire to eat up a bit of your energy tend to give a kick-start in your mind to exactly the kind of energy that they are hungry for, amplifying its presence and its hold over your thoughts. Which would be fine, if the type of energy they ask for was one that feels good – like watching a butterfly on a sunflower or being a kid on Christmas morning or falling in love. But impulse thoughts, more often than not, are feeding off of fear, desire, desperation, discord and sluggishness.

Though I prefer to use positive language in my articles, I must be honest here and say that, when it comes to impulses, working to reduce their hold on you can seem like a battle. One where the battlefield is won on some occasions and then lost to the opposing side on other occasions.

The approach for achieving success here is really two-fold.

First, you must become aware of your thoughts and impulses, learning to tell the difference between inspired motivation and defeatist impulses. In other words, knowing which desires are truly the real divine you and which are power-based mind illusions. The best way to do this is to develop a practice of meditation, having daily bits of silence and calm in which you deliberately listen to your mind chatter and work on quieting it. Also, it may be helpful to institute a 30-second delay between motivations (thoughts and desires) and their respective actions (speaking and moving), just to give yourself time to gauge their true origin and value in your life.

Second, you must find a way to silence our disempower the illusion-based impulses and only act on the truly divine motivations. This is a game of constant mindfulness and willpower. What you need to have are a set of inspirations and intentions for yourself and your life. For example, knowing that you want a fit body, and articulating why it is that you want this, will give you a ready-made shield for the moments when ego shoots its French pastry ammunition at you. So, take the time to make note of your hopes and true inspirations for your life, whether it has to do with how you spend money, how your relate to your parents, or even how often you do your laundry. You can use your inspirations to help you stay on track.

For instance, I have some long held intentions and positive desires that helped the divine me win in the spirit & ego tug-of-war this morning.

1. I am trying to move closer and closer to waking up at the sunrise, despite the change of seasons or the silliness of daylight savings time.

2. Though I have an old knee injury, my intention and affirmation is that my joints are getting stronger every day and that my trust in them to support me is unwavering.

3. With a past of food issues, including anorexia and obesity, and the desire to build a body healthy enough to carry a baby in the near future, I now walk on a path that consists of organic, whole, vegetarian foods with the occasional indulgence in (not the every day gorging on) something sweet or cheese laden. Knowing the difference between occasional and habitual, I aim always to be mindful of the fact that what I put in my mouth becomes a physical part of this mortal body which houses my divine spirit.

4. My partner and I have both come to our own realization that we tend to disappear into our computers and forget to live life in the real world. As a joint decision, we now have three days a week that are “unplugged” days – days for hiking, gardening, canoeing, cooking, knitting, reading books, etc. Therefore, I can stimulate my intellect and need for information on “plugged” days. Hence, I have no need to run to the computer on a Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday.

So, with a few moments of awareness, armed with these above intentions and a small snippet of willpower, I was able to silence each of these defeatist impulses and carry on with my morning. I opted to actually remain awake, to walk confidently down the stairs, to eat whole rye toast and old-fashioned homemade oatmeal, to steer away from checking my email and to instead focus on our planned morning hike.

Will spirit and positive intention always win the tug-of-war with ego, fear and imbalanced desires? Most certainly not. But today, this one fine morning, my spirit takes the prize.

“I am a part of all that I have met.”
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1809-1892, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom

You are my brother one. I am your sister one. The divine ALL from whence we came is calling upon us to ascend, to raise our personal vibration along with our awareness and begin to come together to show others the way of healing, of community.

We must take our awareness, which is still rather a rare gift, and use it to heal the planet, to save whomever we can by helping them to awaken to their own true divine connection and to accept the truth on a very real level, that we are all ONE. That each of us is just a simple expression of one tiny aspect of a larger, limitless whole. We are like molecules in the body of eternity, but molecules with all the creative and loving powers of that whole.

We can teach others verbally, or with written words, about light energy as creation, about the existence of the ALL that is all we see and more, or we can teach others by the laying on of hands. Some are open to these “direct understanding” methods of spiritual learning, but many are not. Are these the “sleeping” ones who will not ascend when our planet enters its true fourth-dimensional state? Perhaps. But I believe that we each have the opportunity to awaken some of them, and without any true forcing of the topic at hand.

The answer, as it is to all things, is light and vibration. We may carry ourselves in the mode of integrity and the mode of spiritual awareness, as most of you reading this already do, and by so doing we may unintentionally give off an energy that makes those “sleepers” who are wakeable become curious or in awe. They may mistakenly see you as a God, or transversely, may take you as Self-righteous. They will see what they are willing to see, but you may lead by example, so to speak, in a way that pulls them out of the closet and closer to the open window through which spiritual awareness can shine in upon them.

Yet a more proactive way that we can shake the awareness of the “sleepers” is by practicing what we preach, in all interactions, in all circumstances. You interact when you purchase a book from the cashier, you interact when you meet a stranger at a dinner party, you interact when you go to a job interview, you interact when you get pulled over for speeding, etc… Now, attempt to always emanate healing, loving, accepting energy, even when the mundane situation could be interpreted as uncomfortable or unlucky, whatever. Feel the white, yellow and pink-tinged light fill you up, pulled from a connection to the universal divine, and then let it surround you like an unseen, glowing egg. When you smile, send out a beam of that light. When you laugh or talk, let its divine truth be the sound from your lips. When you shake hands, send some of it off into the world of the other person.

Know that you are not doing anything that you should ask permission for, you are not doing anything that injures your karma, but something that improves both your own karma and the karma of the other person. Humans were initially sent here to learn how to love, but became enthralled to the glamour of the “self.” What you are doing when you consciously carry yourself in this way is returning to your own true meaning, to the ONE true purpose and reality of humankind.

At first, it will not be easy to remember to carry yourself in this way. After all, this level of vibration and understanding is most likely something that you only embrace and actually open yourself to when you are at home, comfortable, purposely exploring and learning about it. But I ask you, what good are these talents if you do not use them to the betterment of the whole world? If you hide them beneath the same armor that you have always adorned yourself with when you are out in the world interacting with other humans?

So, make a conscious effort to be emanating your loving, spiritual and healing light at all times, to all people. This will be difficult to remember and tiring to maintain at first. You must train yourself to keep in this mindset even when you are embroiled in some modern, mundane human drama, like being late for the kids school play and getting stuck in what seems like the slowest check-out line on the planet. Don’t be snippy with the check-out girl, give her a glance of love from the eternal divine, you are doing both her and yourself a longer lasting favor than nastily pointing out the obvious could ever be.

You will slowly find that doing this exercise will increase your own awareness of divinity along the way and make it easier overall for you to reach those aware levels when you sit down to meditate, channel, dream, walk the astral, etc… You will also come to experience more love and good luck, so to speak, in your own daily life. For, with each person that you send universal spiritual and love energy off to, the energy is exponentially increased in the world. This is because, generally unknowingly, that dear, special other person will carry this infinite energy off with them and express its existence, often wordlessly, to others in their life and like a piece of gossip it will fly around the globe creating positive karma and small loving creations along its way.

You have been given, by your own free choice, awareness on this globe of good and bane that others may not have access to. You have chosen and been granted this for one purpose – to heal others with its truth and to help raise the collective vibratory existence of this time and this place. Begin simply, for the benefit of the ALL and see how it unfolds in your world all the “impossible” possibilities that you have found wanting in your soul.

We are lifelong spiritual seekers and we feel we have been tapped by the Universe for a unique mission: to bring more loving light energy into the modern world and to uncover ancient mysteries that belonged to our ancestors — to help us all during the transition to a more empathic future world.

Tikal

Our souls are calling us to Guatemala, to unwind from our book writing marathon and to explore and collect the sacred wisdom lying dormant within some of the world’s most sacred ruins and ecological wonders — Tikal.

Vera will use her time at Tikal to enter a trance state and channel the spirits of Tikal’s original inhabitants, priests and builders. Having already created a channeled connection with an ancient Mayan priest, Sadayin, she seeks now to gain a better understanding of the mystical beliefs of the everyday Mayans who lived at Tikal. Vera will also ask for the Mayan priests to share their insights about the coming events for 2012 and beyond.

After our trip, we will share with you, our spiritual brother and sisters:

• an audio podcast of our walk around Tikal, including the audio transcript of Vera’s channeling
• a photo slideshow of the pyramids, wild life, Mayan locals and the magnificent jungle
• an informative blog article detailing Vera Nadine’s intuitive impressions of spirit life at Tikal

Lake Atitlan

As a bonus, we are also planning to publish a similar podcast and blog post from the surrounds of Guatemala’s beautiful volcanic Lake Atitlan.

It is our hope that this trip will be a spiritual inspiration, not just for ourselves, but for all soul seekers and lovers of channeling.

We have booked our flights and paid for our accommodation, but need your help to make our destiny of visiting Tikal become manifest. Your generosity and loving kindness can make all of this possible.

Simply donate any amount and each of our generous patrons will be entered into a drawing to win one of the 3 great prizes:

• a free Personal Channeled Reading
• a small Mayan tapestry
• a mystery gift from Guatemala

Click to donate any amount ($1 – $5 – $20 – $50 – $100).

May your journey be blessed!