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Posts from ‘May, 2010’

Choosing Hope Over Fear

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”
~ Emily Dickinson, 19th Century American Poetess

Choosing Hope

This is a channeling from one of my guides – I hope that it touches you.

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There is nothing to fear in this world, in your life. For all that is meant to be will come to pass, good or bad.

The universe decides when and where creation and destruction will take place, and it does so lovingly, without malice or forethought. There is only loving creation, and the act of destruction is merely another stage in an ever-expanding creative process.

The intent of the universal creator is, has always been, and will always be, balance. Balance in all things, for all things are this creator itself. And in knowing itself, and its joy, it seeks only growth, only balance.

Two dogs meet on the roadway, one going home, the other going away. Yet both are still alive. Both are still free. Whether the one going ever returns, or whether the one returning ever again goes, is not of any consequence. They are both equal and the same.

All that the universe has ever created still is. Even if it’s … Continue reading →

Random Spirit: Heath Ledger

“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

Heath and Lily

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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 … Continue reading →

Twin Brothers, Twin Guides

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

Twin Brothers

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 … Continue reading →

Visualization Focusing Exercise

“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

Apple in the Hand

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 … Continue reading →

A Little Yoga, For Beginners

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

Standing Pigeon Pose

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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 … Continue reading →

Embracing Your Inner Child

“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

Your Inner Child

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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 … Continue reading →

Intuition in Decision-making

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

Swirl of Thought

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 … Continue reading →

God In All Things

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

God as a Bug

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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. :)

After months of focusing on my diet and introducing a vegetarian lifestyle, I begin now to bring my focus to my physicality.

As part of that process, I have decided to stop dabbling in Yoga at home and to actually go out and join a class.

I have chosen Sivananda style Yoga, partly out of a lack of options and partly out of what I learned about it during my research of yoga styles. It seems very balanced for me, who I am and what I believe.

I have just returned home after my first 2-hour class, feeling invigorated (and a bit out-of-shape) and looking at things with more open eyes.

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 … Continue reading →

Medium Adventures: The Roman in the Bath

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

West End of the Great Bath, Roman Baths

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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.

Minerva, From the Temple at Bath

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 … Continue reading →

What is Automatic Writing?

“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

A Pen In Hand

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 … Continue reading →