Gathering Energy on the Yin Side

It is a luxury to be off for a few days and not have to get up at any particular time. To be able to just read books and watch movies, to listen to music and just let new ideas percolate through my system. To enjoy a leisurely bath. And a cup of tea.

Just cooking some simple, healthy meals and getting plenty of rest is a good enough way to spend the day. When I feel like getting active again, I will be ready to get moving again.

Sometimes you just need to recharge your battery. During my busy seasons, I can sometimes work for weeks without getting a day off, and since I enjoy doing my reading and healing work, I am happy to work as much as possible.

There are some things I need to schedule right after New Year's, and then get everything off to a high energy start.

I am enjoying the yin side of the equation right now, staying in with the heat keeping everything cozy, nestled in with a book on the history of cards, some music for a winter evening and snacking on some delicious home made bread that a client just dropped off.

What else would make this an even better evening? Only one thing. If you think you know what that is, call or email, and you could be the winner of..........................I will tell you when you call.

The Quiet in the MIddle of the Noise

During the holidays what I enjoy most is to sleep late, go dancing or work out in the evenings, and in between, just read, watch movies, listen to music and be able to enjoy a cup of tea without worrying about having to finish it and rush off.

A perfect time for cleaning out closets and doing a deep cleaning. Maybe try cooking something differently today.

Little things prompt reflection for me, like the fact that the busy street now only has a car on it every once in a while. It is so quiet, compared to normal.

I like the way lights twinkle from quite a distance over the snow and fog against the mountains. The lights give it the sense of the skyline being personally painted for you as shimmering lights continue to define the profile of the buildings and mountains.

Where the quiet settles in, you can see the audience sitting down waiting for the next story. These are the invisible audience that is always waiting to see what you do next. They are just as ready to applaud for us as someone else.

Capture the essence of the lights, capture the inspiration and hope they transmit. A quiet moment provides time for a new idea to germinate, then for dreams to come into sharper focus.

Every touch now is a memory. Every touch now is a light. It is the light in the middle of winter, soft, distant, creative and sweet. Like the embers that glow and have enough power to get the fire roaring. The quiet in the middle.

Finding the One

I went salsa dancing this evening for the first time. Of course, when you take up a new kind of dancing, you have to learn the steps. Just like other kinds of dancing and when I was drumming. When you are trying to find your place in the music, you find the one, the beat that starts it all, the beat that starts the progression and kicks it all off, then you join in there to start.

Finding the one is a way to find your place so that you don't get lost. You can always get back to the beginning and start again.

Fortunately, at these dances, there are lots of dancers who will kind of show you the way until you get the hang of it.

Finding the one is about getting your bearings. Finding the one in dancing or drumming means you can play with the others. Finding the one means you can begin confidently and move on. The starting point keeps coming around again, no matter how many times you lose your place. Start over again until you get the hang of it.

Now I know that somebody was probably reading this thinking that it might be about finding "the one" but it's not. In fact I don't think that there is just one for any of us. I think that there are a bunch of people who could be great matches for us and we choose who we want to spend more time with out of all those.

There is not just one person in the world who is perfect for us, any more than there is only one beat in the dance where we can start dancing from. We find a partner to dance with and then we begin this dance. In time, we find dance partners who we really enjoy dancing with and then maybe we find one we like dancing with more and so we keep dancing with that one.

We have infinite chances to find one we can dance with, drum with, sing with, laugh with, be intimate with, and of all the ones we find who are quite wonderful, we choose to start the dance again with finding the one.

Now that you have found the one, step into the dance. Yes, together. Now let go and give yourself to the dance. Start again.

The Ying and Yang of the Solstices

On the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year, we make the turn into the lighter part of the year. Even thought it will not be immediately visible to our naked eye, the light is growing as the orbit of the earth changes again and our energies shift.

What an appropriate time then, to let go of whatever old fears, habits or behaviors that are holding us back from having the kind of life we want. As we let go of these and give more attention to the thoughts and actions that will lighten up our life, we find our path clearly laid out before us, with opportunities coming to light, and people who will be good for us to be with, clearly illuminated.

Moving from the dark into light is not about good vs evil. In the context of the solstices, it is the balancing between yin and yang, with the yin being the rich fertile place that enfolds the seeds of our dreams and gives the future a place to take root. The yang is the projective energy that sends the shoots above ground to reach up and absorb the light. It is both of these energies together that produce our future growth. We cannot have one without the other.

So as you shed whatever it is that you are ready to leave behind, replace that space in your energy field with what you want to grow into next. What do you want to happen between now and the Summer Solstice? How much can we do in six months time? How much can our life change? How much has already changed within the last six months? Are you ready to embrace your new growth and encourage it to grow robustly?

When Time Stands Still

Poised right on the edge, the moment seems eternal. You know that once you decide and move, everything changes. But for this moment of deliberation, everything is still. The moment before everything is set into motion, the world seems to bring up a steady stream of images and feelings that come up rapidly and clearly, until we find the one that triggers our decision, and then, in that instant the decision is clear.

All the facts, opinions and consideration have been stacked up and counted beforehand, and now, in this moment of decision, it is these images and feelings that bring our decision, and our action, into focus.

Once we have stepped off that edge, that moment of perfect stillness, we then act rapidly to put our decision into play and depart from that place of indecision.

It is incredible to savor that moment, because we know that we own it, and there are people and events awaiting our decision. And there is always a decision, because not making a decision is making a decision. Eventually, the moment comes, and we either decide or someone else decides for us.

There is such power at that moment. Savor it. Do you feel like you are having one of those moments now?

Mysteries Solved

He walked up to her while she was smoking a cigarette and he handed her his business card. All it said was Mysteries Solved and a phone number. She wondered how he knew that there was something she wanted to know. So of course she called him. "How did you know that I was looking for someone to help me figure this out?" she asked.

"Everybody has questions they want answers to, everybody is puzzled about some of the things that have happened in their life," he explained. "It's just that only some people are curious enough to really want to know the answers. Other people just push it to the corner of their mind and forget about it."

He handed these cards out to people everywhere he went, and there was a steady flow of customers, because there were always mysteries that people wanted solved.

There were mysteries that could be unraveled by sitting down and talking, and there were mysteries that required some digging around, although the Internet made the digging much easier than it used to be. And for some mysteries, he used his ability to travel mentally to find the answers.

It was an interesting business to be in, and there were stories that he came across that stuck in his mind and people were always interested to hear them.

You see, the word mystery quickly translated as crime stories and detective novels in the public mind. Then there were other popular mysteries, like UFOs, gypsies, witches, ancient civilizations and conspiracy theories.

But the mysteries that the mystery man got called for were usually more subtle, and more personal than that. Sure, there were those who had encounters with ETs, ghosts, witches or shamans, but there were many more who wondered where their life was going or why it had gone like it had already.

The Mystery Man was just as intrigued with these cases as he was with the big ones, and that is why he kept handing out his card to total strangers. He loved the mysteries they brought him.

And the people who called him loved the way he helped them unravel the mysteries and tell the stories of their lives. You see, this is how the Mystery Man also came to be known as the Storyteller. It was uncanny the way that he could find the perfect way to approach each person's request.

You could see it in their eyes, and hear the words form on their lips as he once again slipped a card into a stranger's hand without a word. "How did you know that I was looking for you? How did you know that I want to know? How did you know I have questions to ask?"

And the Mystery Man just smiled his cryptic, mischievous smile and responded, "Call me. I'd love to talk to you."

And so they did, and with each call, another mystery was unveiled, and another story was told. There was healing and humor, joy and sadness. And no two stories were ever exactly alike.

A Word About Weed

It has been interesting living in a state that has made medical marijuana legal. People are officially recognizing its use as a healing herb, which vindicates the views of many people since before the law changed.

Of course, there are many who still have the opinion, that people who use marijuana are addicts, even though marijuana is not an addictive substance. Some of these people share the opinion that it should never have been legalized.

And now the politicians have changed the laws that govern this new home grown industry. Yes, home grown in the sense that it is creating new jobs here.

Of course, there are many people who enjoy smoking marijuana just for fun and those people look forward to the day when full legalization will come, and people will just be able to go and buy it like a pack of cigarettes, and the government will make money on the taxes.

It certainly has less side effects than drinking. If we simply penalize users for their errant behavior, then it will be the same as drinking in terms of the way we set limits on it.

One irony of all this is that although the so called War on Drugs has attempted to wipe out marijuana consumption, that battle has long been lost, medical marijuana or not. The other thing is that the growers became expert botanists and gardeners with a very scientific approach because when aerial recon and spraying forced growers indoors, they found ways to grow more productive plants in less space, without natural light.

So the failed war on drugs not only created better and better generations of growers and plants to supply an ever increasing demand. It is like what happened when politicians got the bright idea to outlaw beer and alcohol. People didn't quit drinking and organizations sprang up to slake their thirst.

Funny how we have to keep on learning the same lessons over and over.

Right now all the wrangling over new laws is about who is controlling the money. The debate is no longer whether marijuana is good medicine. And the debate is no longer whether there is growing popular support for it both as medicine and for recreation. it is just a matter of time until more minds change.

It is interesting to watch such a momentous change in action. It must have been that way when our grandparents watched alcohol was declared illegal, remained popular and then return to legal status.

From caveman days to less than a hundred years ago, people freely used it as medicine, ceremonial herbs, and for fun. They never would have thought that we would be going through contortions like this over it.

We look at lessons like this from within the memory of our grandparents time. The same types of lessons can be learned from past lives. But that is another story.

Making the Shot

Last night I decided to do something I had not done in a quite a while, so I went out to shoot pool. My game was really off.

There was a time when I was pretty good when I worked a job at night and one of my buddies also was off in the afternoons and we used to go shoot. Uncle Phil was a good at the game and he taught me lessons that I just had to start remembering to get my game back on track. He wasn't really my uncle. It was just that we used to call him that because he was a bit older than the rest of us, and he was a better shooter than the rest of us.

We also used to play chess, and there is a carryover between the two. In chess you learn to think several moves ahead. In pool, good shooters do that too. You want to sink your next ball, but you also want to know where that places you after that ball sinks, otherwise you can leave yourself in a place where you don't have a next shot. It sort of relates to that other axiom when you are playing someone else: if you can't sink it, hide it. That way your opponent will be as stuck as you are now and will be forced to leave you a good opening.

One of the first ones was that you have to visualize the shot before you can make it. If you want it to go a certain way, you have to cut it or bank it a certain way. When you miss it's because that's the direction you sent the ball in when you hit it.

If you want to get better control of where you are sending the cue ball, you have to have a tight bridge, which where you set your sights over the left hand.

You get the best leverage holding the cue in your right hand where you can balance it perfectly.

When you feel the tipping point of the balance and you have good aim, then just hit the ball hard enough to get it where it is going. This way you have more control over what happens next and will leave yourself in a good position for a follow up shot. People who hit way harder than necessary just make a mess.

There's another reason why the light touch works better. Uncle Phil taught me that the closest shot on the table, no matter how tough the angle, or how tight, is always a better percentage shot than the long shot.

If you can see the shot you can make it. If you can't see it you can't make it.

So as I was shooting last night, I started to get my game back on track. It's a long way back to my previous skill level. But that's what happens when you don't practice for a while.

The pool shooting then became a meditative practice for me and I started thinking about how to get a better aim on my business expansion.

It pays to play and get your mind off business so that you can come back sharper, with some fresh ideas. Who would have thought I would have gotten some new business ideas while trying to pocket a few balls.

And I am sure that was part of what old Uncle Phil had in mind while he was teaching me about shooting.

Dance is the Desire, Expressed

Dancing, any kind of dancing, works to still the mind while you move the body. Once you get up and dance and start to work up a sweat, all the things that were stressful about work, school, or anything else, just seem to fade away.

In this way, it has a cathartic effect. Cleansing, deep down to the bones. By the time I come home from dancing and take a shower or a bath, I feel so clean, so peaceful, so happy, that a state of relaxation sets in, now that the body has stopped moving and the muscles are feeling that good kind of exhaustion from being taken to the limits, and sleep comes easily.

Dancing can be a moving meditation. Why do you think that since ancient times, rituals and ceremonies included dancing? It can alter your state of mind and make an event special.

The body takes on a mind of its own, as it becomes entrained to the music and develops movements that ride the waves of the music. As the body pursues that single focus, there is nothing other than the present, the dance.

You have this moment, this music, this movement, this joy, this peace, this energetic shift that has changed your consciousness. As the body does what the body does, the mind is quieted, and the joy of living comes to the surface, front and center. In this moment, where there is nothing but the dance, there is nothing else to desire, except to feel the dance. The dance is the desire, expressed.

Western Mandalas, Chakras and Mantras

In eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, practitioners often use art to meditate with, and they call that a mandala. Tarot cards can also serve that same purpose. You can lay them out and let your eyes focus on them while you let go into that quiet state. We can use our tarot decks to create a mandala.

Robert Place, author of The Tarot: History, Symbolism & Divination and creator of the Alchemical Tarot, Tarot of the Saints, Buddha Tarot and others, notes that the idea of three chakras goes back to Plato. The idea also had a parallel among druids and witches. The idea of the seven chakra system which is most familiar to everyone is simply a carryover from the popularity of Eastern practices in the west. Although these references now dominate metaphysical literature, the western traditions have deep roots. These offer us different ways to access and work with our energy systems.

It is interesting how ideas gain currency. For example, back in the 80s and 90s, composer Philip Glass became famous for his compositions for orchestras, movie soundtracks, performance artists and plays. He practices Buddhist ways.

Many reviewers noted that the power of his work came from catchy phrases that repeated many times. Few made the connection that this might be due to Glass' familiarity with another Buddhist meditative practice, chanting.

So consider these tools. You can do the same things that practitioners of eastern religions do, without taking on all the eastern trappings.

I ma not against these things. I just observe that sometimes people can enhance their spiritual practices and psychic abilities by using tools that are already familiar, like tarot. And we can create new mantras that we feel more comfortable pronouncing, in words that make more sense to us.

How much easier would it be to remember three power centers: head, heart and low belly, rather than learn Sanskrit names for seven?

Powerful ideas can migrate between cultures and the understandings will permeate. Tarot art can take you to the same place as a mandala. Three power centers can do all the same things as a greater number of them. And the sounds that you give voice to can work as well as something you learn in another language.

Try these ideas. See how they work for you.

Magic in Action

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" said Arthur C. Clarke.

It is easy to see how that refers to cell phones, computers, ipods, TVs, and other things that represent a quantum leap forward to an older generation, although less amazing to a younger generation.

People can easily agree on this.

Yet, when we look at less physical aspects of our lives, it seems more magical. For example, have you ever noticed how when you are thinking of things, they just seem to manifest? You think about a subject, and here is a book on it, found in an unexpected way, and unexpected place.

Many people have had the experience of thinking of someone, then suddenly they call. How about thinking that you would like to do something, and here is an opportunity to do it?

Yet, when it comes to bigger things, like creating a more satisfying way of getting income, our belief is often that the results are in someone else's hands.

How funny. One person imagines a new product, creates it and makes money from it, and we do not see that as magic. It is simply hard work. Another person imagines a piece of writing, or a picture, or sculpture and creates it, and it seems amazing that someone could have created music or art that beautiful, a product of imagination, rather than hard work. Why is it different?

Maybe we should quit thinking of it as work. Think of it as something we would like to do that we could make money from. Our income would grow simply from doing something we would enjoy doing anyway.

I don't mean just the obvious easy choices like mattress tester or marijuana taster.

I mean someone has fun walking dogs for other people. Someone else has fun by doing custom woodwork. Someone has fun by tuning up cars. Someone has fun by doing psychic readings or energy healing. Someone has fun by designing computer programs. Someone has fun being a landscaper or a farmer. Someone has fun cooking.

How many times have you come across a new product or service and thought, "I wish I would have thought of that." Maybe you did think of it, but you didn't do it.

So let the magic play out. Think of what you can do or would like to do and focus on it and see how much support the universe provides. All magic starts with imagination, then the rest flows from there.

Stir the Energy Up

When our energy gets stuck, we have to get up and stir things up in order to draw new energy to us and magnetize ourselves for good things to come.

If you are wishing that you had an opening, that events were moving in your favor more, keep focused on your intention and do anything to stir things up.

Funny how it works. I am looking for ways to keep my business expanding. So I spend more time dancing and swimming and walking. Then I go home and find new business in my email.

What is the connection? I just keep putting my energy out there in the aethers, projecting, attracting, magnetizing.

Bodies in motion create vibrations. We are the greatest tools of magic. Focus and project. Then open to receive.


Of course, there are some evenings when I just stay home and kick back. And there are also lots of days when I send out emails, make calls, go to events to meet new people and take other actions to generate business.

That's right, just fire up the engines, put those ingredients in the cauldron and stir until ready to drink.

And then sometimes, I just have to step away from it and go knock back a few scotches and dance or better yet........

I will let your imagination complete that last thought. And if you have a good imagination, you know how to reach me and tell me how you would end that sentence.

Surrounded by Symbols

This season, more than the rest of the year, is more laden with evocative symbols than any other time.

How familiar are we with evergreen trees, holly wreaths, mistletoe? What about the New Year's symbols of the baby and the grim reaper? The witch at Halloween? The cornucopia at Thanksgiving?

We speak in this shorthand all the time. We know that a red diagonal line through anything means no. We know that thumbs up means yes. We know that a person who opens their arms is welcoming us and one who crosses their arms is not. We know that a colon and a half parenthesis is a smile. :)

Symbols have been part of our lives since before we had fully formed language. Primal ones that we have found, like the ancient cave paintings, are as emotive as many more finely drawn paintings, and carry a powerful amount of energy in a few spare lines.

There are systems to symbols, and some, like the runes or the I Ching hexagrams have an interesting way of fitting together and interlocking visually.

Others, like the system of tarot, have a way of interlocking conceptually, and although they are visual in themselves, they cannot be as compact as abstract forms like runes, or the hexagrams of the I Ching.

Some symbols are so emotionally charged that their mere appearance sends chills or rushes of joy, depending on the sign, without anyone saying anything or any accompanying literature.

Obviously, some symbols are references to ancient beliefs and feelings and some are purely modern inventions of convenience which may or may not last. With some symbols we have near universal agreement, but with others not.

We bring our own interpretations to symbols as well as recognizing traditional meanings. This is why two people can look at the same picture and have two very different experiences of it.

And this is also why this is such an emotional time of year for so many people. We are surrounded by symbols and they can convey a host of messages to us faster than we can digest them.

What Do You Feel?

What do you feel as you go through your day? What do you feel as you go through your night?

Do you let your feelings guide your actions? Do you heed them or disregard them?

When you have a decision to make, do you follow your feelings, or ignore them?

There are things we know through our senses. We know what oranges, lavender and smoke smell like, what wool, cotton and skin feel like. We know what the moon, pine trees and mountains look like. We know how tomatoes, chocolate and bacon taste.

These are examples of things we know. We know them through our senses and our feelings. That is different than the knowledge we have because we saw or heard an announcement or a report.

It's not the same kind of knowing that we get from feeling, is it?

What we know from feeling is more personal. What we acquire from other sources is less personal, less familiar, less important.

Ever heard the saying that all news is local? Here's an example. Are you more concerned that a store that you used to like to shop at in your neighborhood went out of business, or the fact that there is a war going on thousands of miles away? Are you feeling more concerned that you need to do something about the fact that your clothes are fitting tighter now than they did last year, or the fact that some country you will never visit has corrupt elections?

When you have to make a decision about who to love or what kind of job you will do for money, are you guided by personal knowledge or abstract knowledge?

Personal is powerful. Feelings have their root in survival instincts.

What do you feel? So what do we do now? Of course, if something feels good we want more of it. If something does not feel good we want less of it.

Feelings lead us to the people we enjoy being with. Feelings lead us to the work we find satisfying to do.

What Do You Hear?

Can you hear the music in the sounds all around us every day? There are rhythms in the wind, the sounds of birds and animals. There are rhythms to the traffic whether we are driving in it, or letting it pass us by.

Of course, we will never hear that unless we turn the music players off for a while.

There are things people say that we will never hear, unless we listen closely. It is in the tone as much as the words. It is in the inflection, the rhythm.

What do you hear when you listen to the rhythm of the world?

How do you hear the world when you turn of the talk radio?

How do you hear the world when you turn off the news?

What does the world sound like when you are just in conversation with other people?

What do you hear when it is just the sound of your own breath, whether in a brisk walk, or sitting quietly?

What do you hear in the sound of people working?

What do you hear in the sound of people playing?

What do you hear when there is nothing to hear?

What Do You See?

Notice how the scenery always changes, even if you are not going anywhere. How can that be?

When our state of mind changes, our perception changes. When our feelings change, our moods change, and so we see things in a different light.

Just like you can drive down the same road to work every day and then one day see something new, not something newly built, something that was there all the time and you just didn't see it until now. How could that happen? How aware are we of the world around us every day?

So look around you. Do you see a world of helpful people? Or not? Do you see a world of friendly people? Or not? Do you see a world full of interesting people? Or not?

What influences what you see? Did you ever see it differently than you do now?

If you would like to change what you see, what would you need to do?

What We Thought We Would Be

The first time I ever remember someone asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up was way back when I was in grammar school. The question kind of stumped me, because at that time the farthest I was thinking ahead was to a softball game after school.

So I did what most kids did and just said whatever came to mind. I think I said that I wanted to be a lawyer because the night before I had watched a TV show with a lawyer in it and that sounded like as good a thing as any to say. Sure, I want to be a lawyer.

Of course, I forgot about that as soon as they got done asking me about it. Not once in my life did I ever think of going to law school. Heck, there were more important things to think about, like softball or basketball.

Then again in high school, they asked what I would like to be and what I wanted to major in when I went to college. At that time, I was just getting acquainted with the charms of the opposite sex. Why would I want to think about what class I would like to take in college when I wasn't even done with high school?

I have no clue what I answered then. Maybe newspaper reporter because I used to deliver newspapers, and I used to read them all the time, and the one I delivered had a great columnist by the name of Mike Royko. Back then, when you rode the subway or the bus home from work, you could tell that everybody was reading his column because they had the paper folded back so that they could read the left side of page 3, which is where Royko's column always was.

So at some point, I chose majors in college and chose jobs when I got out of college, then every so often, I chose to change jobs and change careers when something looked interesting.

There were times when I set goals and then achieved them and then moved on. Then I would choose some other career goal and achieve that.

Sometimes when we look back and reflect on what we have done and remember all those times when we said things about what we thought we would be, we notice that we still have time to choose again.

I figure I will live to be 150, so I haven't even had my midlife crisis yet, so I still have time to think about what I would like to be.

Yes, it has changed several times already. But hey, who says you only get one chance to choose in 150 years?

All these vitamins and supplements they keep coming up with keep working so well that maybe if I take enough Horny Goat Weed, vitamin C and Niacin I can live to be 250. Why not? I still have plenty of time to think about what I would like to be!

What Went Right

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday where the whole idea is to give thanks for all the good things we have received in life. What a beautiful and simple thing to do.

Notice how it puts a smile on your face and magnetizes you for more good things to come.

Often when people look back on their life, they remember things that went wrong, mistakes they made and they think to themselves, if only I had that to do over. That kind of thinking could lead into a downward spiral just as easily as an upward spiral.

So, instead, think about the things that went right, the times in your life when everything came together and you got great results. Notice how you experience an upward spiraling of energy.

Re-groove your thoughts to focus on what went right and look for ways to do more of that. And give some time and energy to those people in your life who helped things go right.

Take few moments to review and look for the victorious moments. Remember how it felt and begin to experience that feeling again. Those feelings will lead to actions, and the actions will bring results.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Hands & 2 Feet into the Future

What Does It Mean to Have a Personal Goal? The answer to this question is both obvious and not.

When we have a personal goal, it gives us something to aim for. It motivates us to try harder, enlarges both our vision and our reach.

So while personal goals can serve to get us something we want, it is also stretching us beyond that.

Working toward personal goals can move us into bigger realms, into evolutions of our body, mind and spirit.

Having a personal goal is an engine that drives us into our future. We do have a hand in our future. Two hands, in fact, and two feet.

In the course of our life, we will set goals and achieve them and then set new ones. We can also fail to meet goals we set and then reset them. There is wisdom, strength and victory in either outcome.

So take a look at your goals. You have two hands and two feet to get you into the future. These are your magic wands. These are your tickets to ride. Your imagination sets the course, and your hands and feet get you there.

Personal goals hold the keys to our imagination. Are you ready to unlock it?

Some of Us Are Slow Learners

If you sometimes feel like you are a slow learner, don't be disappointed. Why do you think that we are given more than one lifetime to get the important lessons?

Lessons can look different if we regard them as totally new, but when we look through a longer perspective we see the patterns and that helps us get clarity and recognize where we are at a faster pace and see the things that we repeat.

In this way, past life recall can accelerate our movement forward, ironic as that may seem.

As we review stories from our past, we are offered the opportunity to recognize how or why we may have chosen the work we have in this lifetime, our lovers and spouses in this lifetime. Viewing past life stories can also explain aspects of difficult family relationships.

Remember, however, that we always have free will, so we can choose to be stubborn and not learn lessons as well as the possibility of learning them faster.

Nobody said we had to be fast learners.

A Sense of Adventure

For many people, the word adventure conjures up images of climbing mountains, snowboarding in the back country, riding big waves on surfboards, sailing around the world, jumping out of airplanes with parachutes, and other such daring physical feats.

However, not everyone wants to do such things, and so perhaps it is worth considering the many things a person could do that would constitute an adventure for them.

For example, wouldn't many people who create their own business consider it an adventure? What about people who overcome a fear of public speaking and then become known as a speaker or actor? What about the person who writes a book, or paints pictures that hang in art galleries? Or the person who goes back to school later in life and earns a degree or learns new skills to start a new career?

Yes, earlier in my life I hiked fourteeners, crewed on a racing yacht, walked on fire, went on vision quests, drummed all night around campfires and did other such things.

Then I did other things that I thought of as adventures that depart from the vigorous physical model.

I thought of it as an adventure to work in the Renaissance Festival, to be a security guard for the Chicago Cubs baseball team for a season was an adventure, to edit a magazine and write for publications was an adventure. Writing books was an adventure. Teaching was an adventure. Moving across the country and starting my life over again several times, was an adventure. Learning to develop my psychic abilities was an adventure. Learning to be a gardener and herbalist was an adventure. Learning to dance was an adventure. Learning how to be a lover was an adventure.

If we have a sense of adventure about life, we can define it in many ways, all of which enhance our sense of aliveness, joy and excitement.

What are the adventures you have had? What adventures would you like to have?

Dancing Omens

Omens come in many forms. When something comes to your attention at least three times, you are being advised to take action by your spirit guides. This is an example of how it worked for me to get busy dancing again.

Earlier this year while I was reading at a festival, a couple who I used to see at dancing came to me for a reading. They asked me why I quit dancing. They reminded me that I have to do what feeds my soul.

One day last month at the rec center, I saw a familiar looking woman on the track. It took me a moment to recognize her. She asked me if I used to go contra dancing, and I said that I did. She asked me why I quit dancing. She said that was too bad and wondered if I would come back.

When I went dancing in one of the bars the other night, I ran into a healer I know from working fairs, and I know that she always liked to dance a lot. She talked to me a bit and so I decided to stay and dance. Until that moment, I wasn't quite sure if I would stay or go.

I was having dinner with a woman the other night and mentioned dancing to her and she encouraged me to go back to it, and said that she would like to go and see what it is like too.

Dancing was the first exercise I got besides walking after my heart attack 10 years ago. I feel like it helped me recover. They say that if you are going to have a relapse and another heart attack, it will happen within one or two years. I was dancing through that whole period, with no relapse.

It took me a month to be able to walk around the block for a half hour after my heart surgery. About four to six months later (can't remember exactly), I was introduced to contra dancing, and I was able to dance for three hours a night every week.

I could not believe that it took that much effort to get back on my feet at first, then later, I found myself wanting to dance at every opportunity. I am sure that dancing did me good. During that period, I never lifted any weights or walked on any treadmill. Just danced.

So I am being prompted to dance again. When you pay attention, omens help you choose. My spirit guides are clearly saying that this is part of my path for now.

Dancing, Healing, Spirits

Some psychics smoke cigarettes to ground when they are taking a break. Some eat sweets. Me? I like a shot of scotch. And I dance. Let me note right here that I don't drink while I work. Not even when I am working parties or events where they are serving liquor. I have my scotch after work, when I get home. I am always sober when I am reading. I know there are people out there who might think that psychics should just do things like eat vegetarian and do yoga in between doing their psychic work, but that's not really how it works. Put a plate of BBQ ribs or meatballs in the break room at a psychic fair and watch them disappear.

This year, I felt the veil part about a month before Samhain, and I have been asked to do work I do not ordinarily get called on to do. The events I have been working have been very busy for me, and I have felt the energy open up new channels. It has been a profoundly heavy time this year.

Tonight, and a few nights recently, I have done something I have not done in a long time. I went to bars that feature blues or rock, and I drank and danced.

You may not think that is noteworthy, but here's why. Years ago, I used to dance every week. You could count on seeing me at contra dancing every Friday evening. Then I tried some other forms. One of my inspirations was a guy in Atlanta who told me that he took off a lot of weight and kept it off by dancing. He danced several nights a week. One night was contra, one night was Cajun, one night was Irish, one night was waltzing, one night was swing. He asked one question. "What's more fun? Going to a gym, lifting weights and walking on a treadmill, or dancing with women?"

I didn't have to think long. And I danced more. And I always felt good when I danced.

When I moved to Colorado, I started doing the Dances for Universal Peace as well as the contra dances.

Then I met a woman who did not care for the dances I took her to when we started dating, so I quit dancing to spend more time with her. She didn't take me up on my offer to go dancing in bars either. As a result, years went by without me dancing again. I missed it. But you do crazy things sometimes when you are in love.

So that relationship is over, and recently I felt the urge to start dancing again. I actually was kind of hesitant wondering to myself whether I would like it as much as I used to after a long layoff. A couple of people encouraged me, and I am so glad they did.

Even though putting my foot back in the dancing water began with having a drink and asking women to dance in a bar, my energy really perked up just from doing that. Next week I will start contra dancing again. Then we will see what comes next.

This I know. Dancing is the antidote to a lot of things that bring our spirits down. It must be the endorphins or whatever that kick into gear when we get up and dance.

Or maybe it is just the heart that enjoys the aerobic exercise. The heart also enjoys the touch and the eye contact with a dance partner. Dancing is very healing.

Weekend Magic

Today is Friday and a great day for invoking the magic of Freya for good fortune in your dating activities this weekend. Who couldn't use a little magic in their love life?

If you don't have an active love life, you want one. If you have one, there is always room for a little more sparkle and excitement.

What intentions are you setting as you prepare for your Friday night? What would you like to have happen? What are you doing to make it happen?

If you were to call on Freya and ask her for assistance with something, what would it be?

Freya was one of the most sexual of the ancient goddesses. She was very open about enjoying and using her sexual energy, so it is very fitting that the times of the week which are most popular for inviting someone to get together with you are Friday and Saturday night, with Friday night, Freya's night, kicking off the weekend celebrations of lust, flirtation and fertility.

Interesting how it all fits together. Why else are Friday and Saturday nights the biggest nights for dating and partying? Because most people work a schedule from Monday through Friday, so Saturday and Sunday are the times when they get to sleep late then get up and just do things they want to do, and be with people they want to be with.

Freya opens the gateway to our pleasure each weekend. She celebrates abundance as well as sexuality, with our efforts having earned us enough money and freedom so that we can enjoy the weekend. And then heading back to work on Monday, she certainly supports our efforts to do well and make more money.

Doing what we like certainly facilitates our enjoyment of the activities by which we make money. And Freya is all about doing what we like.

For those of us whose money making activities often fall on weekends as well, I feel her blessing my efforts and making them ever more abundant, and then facilitating that flow of energy into the after hours, when the celebrations of life, and the expressions of love, or at least like, kick into high gear.

Enter the weekend on your day Freya!

So what is it you would like this weekend, reader?

Here But Not Here, Gone But Not Gone

At times of transition, our minds sometimes let us fade in and out of consciousness. Not that we are blacking out, or anything like that. For example, I have moved a number of times in my life, but lived in Atlanta longer than anywhere before I moved to Colorado, and every once in a while I find myself saying that I have to drive into Atlanta for an event tonight.

Of course, Denver looks nothing like Atlanta, and I know I am here, not there. But when I am in that in between state, what is connecting is that I am going in town, and for a long time, that's what it felt like and looked like. Before I get in the car and actually go there, I might actually think I am going there. But then once I am out in the car, the familiar sights remind me that the Atlanta part of my life is gone, but not gone.

It happens like that with people in our life too. Sometimes after the death of someone we knew for a long time, we find ourselves thinking that we will be going over to see them one day soon and then we remember that they have already gone.

When we are used to getting up to go to work at the same time every morning, and then that changes, we find ourselves getting out of bed thinking we need to hurry up and make coffee and get dressed, and then we remember that we don't have to leave or go anywhere right now, and then we can think about what we want or need to do today.

People who have recently ended a relationship can also experience these feelings when they think about going somewhere, and for a moment their memory slips and they picture themselves going with their old partner or being with their old partner.

It is as if our bodies have memories of their own and they remember certain experiences so well that they can still recall a presence that is now gone. It is as if our bodies hold on to these old memories until they are replaced by not just newer, but more powerful, memories that occupy more of our consciousness.

Even then, the lingering memories of what used to be still have a powerful grip, whether we call it nostalgia or sentimentality or romanticism, those powerful memories will never be completely gone as long as we live in those bodies that experienced them.

I have a theory that medical experts may not agree with, and it is this. Although I know that Alzheimers is a degenerative disease that affects the mind, I also know, in the psychic way of knowing that sometimes people will choose to slip in and out of consciousness, and sometimes allow themselves to feel here, but not here, as they recall some more pleasant moment of their past.

I think people sometimes choose that blissful state of here but not here, gone but not gone.

Let me be clear that I am not saying that people can just will themselves out of Alzheimers. I am just saying that even those of us in good health can sometimes allow ourselves the pleasure of slipping in and out of different states of consciousness.

When our energy ebbs and flows in those in between times we may be walking between the worlds, as it is often said of shamans. We are simply enjoying a feeling whether or not it is actually accurate, it may be feeling accurate. When we have a pleasant thought, our body experiences that as if it were happening.

That between the worlds state seems to exist between the highs and lows. There are times when that level of consciousness feels as delightful as anything we might have deliberately cultivated, but it is even more enjoyable because it just comes, without being summoned. There is a flow to it.

Without trying too hard, in fact I will say because we do not try too hard, we find ourselves in a euphoric state that feels effortless. We can be walking between two worlds when we practice being here, but not here, gone but not gone.

Closure

Sometimes there are chapters of our lives that cry out for the proper ending. We feel incomplete or out of sorts unless we can put things in perspective through some word or action that lets us feel that we have completed our work in that part of our life, or said what we really wanted to say in order to let go and move on.

For lack of this aspect of completion, a person could walk around feeling ill at ease in their own skin. Until they reconcile their feelings with what happened, they often may be out of sorts in their dealings with others who had nothing to do with the reason for their upset.

Of course, it is best if you can reach this closure with people in real life who were involved in the events or situation. That is often optimal.

However, sometimes, the person with whom you would like closure is dead, or lives far away, or for other reasons you choose not to contact them.

In that case, closure can be done ritually, through special ceremonies. In one case, I assisted a woman who needed to put to rest her grieving over a miscarriage that had happened a number of years earlier. After the ritual, she found peace with that issue for the first time in years.

In another case, a person needed to release a grievance over an injustice from years before. In another case, a person simply wanted a meaningful ritual to say farewell to a parent who died when they were not there.

I was also present one evening when a person performed a ritual act to signal closure to his old career.

When we do such things, we can experience a feeling of peace that we have acknowledged that a significant part of our life has ended and we say farewell to that as we prepare to begin our next chapter and set out on our next adventure.

Is there an area of your life that you feel needs closure? Have you ever thought about addressing that in a ritual context?

It is a powerful and life affirming act. It can also help us draw wisdom and compassion from those life lessons.

This is a powerful form of alchemy and an act of magic that we perform to transform sadness into a creative force, and bring peace from chaos, to bring understanding and compassion from confusion and hurt.

If you have a feeling that such an act of closure is needed, then the time is now. There is even love among the ruins of what once was, and that is always left to the gleaners who know how to find value and nourishment in the parts that have been left behind.

And it is always the survivors who are the beneficiaries, although the ghosts will often take the ritual as their cue, and take their leave, finally breaking their earthly bonds and moving on. Ghosts are not just spirits of the dead who have not crossed over. Relationships and careers have ghosts too, and sometimes these cast long shadows, until our fires cast enough heat and light to burn them away.

All Dreams Are Fragile

All dreams are fragile until they are strengthened. Dreams begin as visions that dance in our imaginations.

It is not until we act on them that they begin to take on a heavier consistency. After we have helped to shape our dreams through action, results start to coalesce.

The picture in our minds grows brighter, stronger.

If we do not handle this dream carefully at first, it may escape our grasp, fall and break into a million little pieces.

We have to treat it more gently when it is smaller, to nurture it into its full size. All dreams are fragile until they have time for us to breathe life into them. Until then, they are just visions.

All dreams are fragile at first, so handle them gently.

Once they have been molded by experience and strengthened with our efforts, they are strong enough to stand alongside all our other accomplishments.

That is why the visions that come to us in dreams seem ephemeral at first. Everything starts with a vision. And when they are in that visionary state, they are fragile at first.

So treat them kindly and sweetly and then you will be able to influence which ones grow and become the next stage of your life.

All dreams are fragile at first, so handle them gently.

Ferocious

Our natural appetite for love is ferocious. A panoramic vision, a desire boldly stated. Larger than the small lives that some of us settle for. Those who would not describe it that way have simply tamped it down. Who does not feel the yearning, the desire? Who does not know that they contain this fire within them? It can get tamped down if we allow ourselves to think that we do not deserve to be able to feed this fire, or if we think it is not possible.

What could be bigger than our desire for love? What differs from person to person is how we get it.

When we are trying to express ourselves as part of a couple, what really determines how well we are matched is how our ferocious appetite is fed, or not fed, by our partner.

Our ferocious appetite is sometimes tamped down when we are allowing other interests in life, such as our work, to divert attention from it. Work, when it is a labor of love, can feed our ferocious appetite. But in so many of our lives, we may be doing work that is simply trading time for a paycheck.

Our ferocious appetite is really about the love in our life. Everything else is second to that.

Why do I use the term ferocious? Because it is wild, large and primal. Because it is the force that motivates us, drives us to do whatever we do, drives whatever relationships we form and cultivate.

The ferociousness of our desire is what teaches us to be brave, strive for what we really want and wrap our arms around it. The ferociousness of our desire has everything to do with how great a vision we pursue and how we go about it.

Great loves produce great results. Look around you. Those who have ferocious appetites for love and pursue them make great impacts on the world. The people all around them can feel it.

Our ferocious appetite for love needs to be fed, and if it is not, we will be consumed by not feeding it.

Love, Heat and Passion

It has been said that the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference. Upon first hearing this, many people think that this cannot be correct. After all, love and hate would seem to be the two opposites. But there is a lot of energy in these two. Ray Bradbury, the great science fiction author, notes in Zen and the Art of Writing that there is as much zest in what you hate as in what you love, and either can produce enough energy to inspire great stories and great writing. Deep feelings from any perspective can breathe life into a point of view. Powerful reserves of feelings can animate and illuminate.

Now it is easy for us to recognize the passion in a relationship expressed as energetic lovemaking, romantic interludes and excited playfulness, but there is another side to that same source of energy. It is the dark side of romantic love that often finds expression in words that lead to regret, and the regret, in turn, becomes surrender.

Doesn't that often seem the case with couples who have mercurial relationships but stay together? They still have a lot of energy and they still care deeply. They care enough about each other to express deeply felt emotions. On the surface that may seem contradictory, but think about it for a moment. Two people may have very different opinions on a subject or very different concerns over an issue, but they still care enough to get excited, frustrated or angry and that forms the basic energy from which they argue. And isn't it true that often after a heated disagreement that the couple makes up, forgives each other and reconciles with passionate lovemaking?

So I am not saying that anger, arguing, and heated disagreements are desirable states, or things to be admired. What I am saying is that in a deeply felt relationship, there will be disagreements, heated discussions and flare ups. People in passionate relationships feel emotions deeply and they express them. And both parties in a relationship can take turns being right and being wrong.

Energy can be transmuted. Anger can become affection and affection can become anger. And the shifting between them can melt opposition. These change when a person is able to shift their frame of reference to view their emotions through a different perspective and they can feel the emotions expressing differently. How else do people calm down when they are expressing too much energy and going off on wild tangents?

Although the idealist in us would advocate for the peaceful discussion and resolution of all differences, with couples easily agreeing on solutions, the rise and fall of passions will preclude that from always being the case.

Strange as it may seem, it is the cool end of the spectrum that finally signals the end of a relationship. When one or both of the parties no longer cares enough to even disagree, they are indifferent to making love, and they can just walk away, then they are withdrawing their energy so completely from the relationship that there is nothing left. Nothing left to fight over, nothing left to debate or discuss, nothing left to love, no care, no compassion, no kindness, no tenderness, no excitement. Just nothing.

When one partner can actually say to the other partner that they do not care what happens to them, then the relationship has been drained of all life.

Just as the presence or absence of our body heat is a sign of life, when the body of love cools below the level of warmth, it is a sure sign that life is gone and that the love, heat and passion that once electrified the space between the two people has lost all of its vitality, that is indifference, the opposite of love. When nothing is left to flare up, nothing is left to heal, no excitement is left in the loving, and neither cares to even discuss it, then the body of love has cooled below the temperature necessary for life.

The passion, heat, and love in a relationship are its breath, pulse, and heartbeat. Without them, there is nothing.

The Path of Least Resistance

Have you ever experienced a powerful feeling that seemed stuck in one gear, but then once your perspective shifts, the attitude lightens up and energy starts moving again?

Energetic shifts require a looseness rather than a tightness. Stepping back and seeing from another point of view suddenly gives traction.

When we try too hard to make something happen, we find ourselves forcing a fit. It is like trying to do a job properly without having the proper tools. You know how it is when you are trying to put something together and do not have the right size screwdriver or wrench?

Energy works the same way. It is the difference between making something happen and allowing something to happen. Things can happen with great power and great force if you just step back and let things move along the path of least resistance.

Have you had times when you could just smile and radiate out energy and make light conversation with people that they are drawn to you? Have you noticed how that can work better than a hard sell? Have you noticed how sometimes when you are getting frustrated looking for something that it suddenly turns up when you quit stressing over it and quit digging around and upending things?

It sometimes happens to me while writing, when I am stressing over what to write about, then I step away, relax and come back, and the words flow.

How have you experienced this in your life?

Priest and Priestess

In traditions where ceremonies and rituals are performed by a priest and priestess, there is a unique relationship that goes beyond the bounds of lovers or friends. The relationship begins as student and teacher, but then once the second person learns how to work together to perform their roles, the energies of the two people become very finely attuned at every level, to where they are able to tune into each other and read signals that are communicated psychically.

Although in older traditions, the two are often lovers, husband and wife, or a long term couple, the spiritual connection that is interwoven with it connects them in ways that even long time couples do not achieve, because these connections are formed through conscious effort and consistent practice.

Being part of such a practice opens doors of perception that allow us to appreciate life in subtle ways. Many of these are subtle and can only be known by those who practice.

Working together as priest and priestess, significant life passages are experienced through the container of ritual, allowing participants to process emotionally challenging situations with perspective, understanding and profound assimilation.

I am grateful for being part of such a priest and priestess tradition and for being blessed with incredible women as priestesses in my life, and know that this will always be part of my way, my path in life.

Lifetimes Within Lifetimes

Tonight is a time when some spiritual traditions remember those they know who have crossed the veil this year, and for me this year, the veil opened a long time and stayed open. I could sense the opening earlier than usual, and more powerfully than usual.

During this time, there has been a growing influence in my reading sphere, opening the way even deeper. Saying farewell to those who have crossed always feels like it brings the closure to just the right note.

Since this is a perfect time for reflection, it often seems as if there are lifetimes within lifetimes. When I think back on certain segments of my life, it feels as though I have lived more than one lifetime in this lifetime, and that it might actually have been some other person who lived through some of those other chapters, since I no longer feel or look like that person now.

Have you ever noticed how often when you listen to a recording of your own voice, you ask, "Do I really sound like that? Is that really my voice?" Yet how many times do we look in the mirror and ask, "Do I really look like that?" Photographs really startle us at times, when we do not easily match our photos with our memories.

It is almost easier at times to recall past lives and match our experiences and feelings to those long ago stories. Oddly, sometimes it seems easier to believe scenes of a life hundreds of years ago in a different time and place that it is to believe what we were doing 20 or 30 years ago. Sometimes we may feel strongly that we wished we had made a different choice at various turning points, but of course, it is never possible to go back and change them. All we can do is choose to proceed with full focus from where we are now to where we would like to be next.

At each juncture, we have the power of free will and free choice, and so if we have drawn wisdom or inspiration from our past, our powerful positive or negative motivations can shape what is next in our life.

What a perfect time to reflect on our past and peer into our future. Just as the colorful fall leaves give way to reveal the skeleton of the tree underneath, so our colorful stories give way to reveal the essence of our life.

I love pumpkins, pumpkin pie, violin music, red wine, smoke and colorful leaves. And I love all the stories, all of the stories, the magic of how the same story you have heard or told before may mean something different to you this time.

It is magic, isn't it?

Navigating Through the Scary Parts

When we have come to a turning point in our lives, and our plans must change, navigating by our feelings proves to be our most reliable guide. As we tune into a consciousness other than the everyday consciousness, we can see openings that we did not see before. Pathways appear and open. As part of this process, we find ourselves letting go of our previous plan.

Courage is what are calling on when we proceed even in the face of fear, going ahead even though we have doubts. That is why taking risks causes us to get goose bumps and opens our senses to a hyper-aware state. Every breath awakens us to a more intense state of awareness. Our eyes open wider, our hearing becomes more acute, our sense of the energies all around us becomes fine tuned. It is love that that gives us the strength to face fear and embrace change. Fear may give us a jolt and make change necessary, but it is love that allows us to proceed along our path to nourishment, healing and success. Our heart is the true center of our body and soul, and our feelings are the heart's messengers.

Knowing that does not mean that we do not feel fear. In fact we feel it deeply, because it is the other motivator in our lives that is as powerful as love. At times, those two power sources can run side by side, propelling us through the gates of our next peak experience, over the top of our next threshhold.

If we follow our feelings from the jolt, we will be able to find our way through the scary parts and manifest an even better future. Radical change is like that lightning bolt that illuminates, electrifies, and spurs us into action.

If we have lived a life where we are used to getting what we want, we can become scared when we are jolted into change. If we have lived a life where we are not used to getting what we want, it can be scary when we manifest what we do want. Either way, we are summoned to continue our journey.

Halloween costumes and haunted houses can be scary, but not nearly as scary as setting off on a new path and making radical changes in our life.

Whether we are putting on or taking off costumes and masks, moving forward on our path may require yet another change in identity. Which of these identities is temporary, and which is permanent?

The Journey of the Heart

Our heart is our center in so many ways. It is the midpoint of our energy systems. It is our source of courage and strength. It is the symbolic heart of our love life, our relationships. It is where our feelings are most powerful. Giving and receiving love keeps us alive and vibrant. When we feel pain or joy, it can be felt there most powerfully. How can a person live without being in touch with their heart center?

Do we have reservations about opening our heart? Past experiences can cause that. In our heart is the memory of our love life. In our heart lives the record of our feelings. We may have even forgotten specifics over time, we navigate by these traces of the maps of our lives. Over time, some of the images and pathways have faded, but being human, we pursue the paths to joy and make efforts to avoid the paths to sorrow, although these can never be completely separated. Love and loss are intertwined. Healing comes when we follow the strongest paths to love most of the time.

Love can move us along pathways that we did not know were there before. At times we are explorers discovering parts of our own map of our bodies and souls that we did not even know were there.

We may have been operating earlier in our lives on the theory that there are certain ways that love is always expressed. And sometimes, rather than lose our contact with love, however tenuous, we search every corridor of the heart, looking for ways to keep it alive.

Some bonds, once forged, are so durable that they are indestructible. Part of our life experience is this journey of the heart, feeling our way along these pathways, knowing what we know by having lived through every moment, and moving along, step by step, in the flow of life, whether or not we can see where we are going. It is about the journey.

You Are Enough

How many times in your life have you faced the thought that you are not good enough, smart enough, beautiful enough, or desirable enough?

How many times have you wondered if you are not enough because someone else was chosen for the job, the relationship, or whatever else it was that you were seeking?

How many times have you wondered if either your best years were behind you and that your best opportunities have already come and gone?

Fortunately, none of that is true. That is fear talking.

You are always enough.

Perhaps if you chose a different goal, you would get exactly what you want. Perhaps you have been defining your success by someone else's standards and that is why you allowed yourself to feel that you were not enough.

Are you working from your own definition of a good relationship or someone else's? It is possible that you can have a good relationship even if it does not look like what your friends, neighbors and relatives are doing.

Are you working from your own definition of a good job or career choice, or someone else's? When you have felt like you were not enough because someone else got the jobs you wanted and were well qualified to do, perhaps it is time to set a new direction. Perhaps it is time to see whether that hobby or special interest of yours can become the source or a source of your income.

If you redefine your vision of relationships, you can find yourself in the position of plenty and have gratitude for your success, rather than feeling like you are not enough.

If you redefine your vision of what you do to make money, you can find yourself in the position of joy and success because you are setting your own standards instead of trying to live up to someone else's.

Never give up. Let go of the idea that you are not enough. You are more than enough. You have more going for you than you realize.

Let the love come through you as you affirm that you are enough. You always have what it takes to have joy and love in your life.

This is love talking. Listen. Now feel it. You are enough.

The Power of Making Love Visible

Healing often takes place in forms that we do not recognize, because our tendency is to think of healing as more obvious and physical.

When feelings need to be healed, there are many ways to go about it. Often it is the love, compassion, kindness and cooperation that help heal.

But healing can also come through flirting, gentleness and creativity. Healing that needs to be done is often the common kind, the residue of divorces, end of relationships. Death presents different kinds of losses to heal, as do losses of career or jobs.

Loss of feelings is something that is sometimes visible on a person's face and body language, but some people are good at hiding it, and you cannot tell that they are in the process of healing too.

So here is a suggestion. Whenever you are in a position to be helpful to someone else, just do it because you can, and because it circulates good energy in the world.

Reiki and other forms of energy healing certainly do help with emotional healing and usually once a person tries it they can feel it.

For those of you with a partner, try expanding that feeling of warmth, gentleness and softness to your lovemaking. Make time to include this and notice what happens. Feel how the sexual healing expands and nurtures.

For those of you currently without a partner, try making more eye contact with the people you meet. See their souls light in their eyes. Offer them heartfelt compliments, and encourage them in any way you can.

Let go of the limiting notion that there is one perfect person for you but they are hidden somewhere. There are many people in the world with whom you can share good feelings, good experiences, joy and love. Viewed in that light, the world is abundant.

If we keep viewing our lives as some kind of a challenge to meet and marry the perfect person, we may be doomed to a life of searching for needles in haystacks.

Healing hurt feelings is a function of people extending love, joy, compassion and cooperation to as many people they come into contact with as they can.

We do have the power of making love visible. How often do we use it?

Reading Within, Reading Without

Today, I was thinking of a situation and was going to draw some cards to read on the matter, but then I remembered I did not have my cards with me. So I did what came to me automatically, and just focused on the subject and let the answer come.

Of course, I have done this before, and it is always part of my readings that what comes through is not always what exactly is on the cards. Many people understand that the cards are gateways through which messages can come. Some people see them as visual prompts, focal points for the person requesting the reading to focus on and let their mind start to work on their issues even before the reader speaks.

There are times when I tell a person something, they ask me what cards told me that, and sometimes the answer is that it was not coming from any card, but rather from one of my spirit guides who told me to give you this message. Of course, there are also times when the literal interpretations of the cards do convey exactly the right message for this person at this time.

I have noticed recently that more people are asking me questions that do not require the cards, and in fact, for some answers, the cards are not needed at all.

Of course, you know that there are many psychics who do not use cards, runes, pendulums, I Ching, crystal balls or any other kinds of tools to connect with spirit and relay messages to clients. Mediums, channelers and straight psychics are other names for working this way. When messages come through touch, it is called clairsentient, when it comes through hearing, it is called clairaudient, and when it comes through seeing it is called clairvoyant.

Our comfort with using tools is both for the comfort of the client who might like to think that there is a logic and methodology to what we do. And there is to a degree, but there is also a lot coming through that psychic connection, which is not about logic, and is more deeply rooted in an ability to feel or sense.

The more we attune ourselves to be the tools, the more reliable our connections to our sources. For the reader, the tools are often familiar props that serve to set the stage until the senses connect and take over.

We go within in order to go without. I always affirm before a reading that I will bring through something that is useful for this person at this time.

For readers, learning to work within and without is part of the necessary development of really being a reader. It takes practice and it is not always easy to learn, but if you truly want to be able to do good readings, it is essential to learn. Like every other talent or skill, some will be born with more than others, but for the most part, it is the refinement of the skill through practice that brings the readings to life.

You have to read within in order to read without.

Is Your Mask and Costume Temporary or Permanent?

Right now, the weather feels perfect for the mood and the time. Leaves are turning colors, it has been a bit rainy and overcast. Samhain and the Day of the Dead are approaching, and our thoughts turn to wishing those who have crossed the veil a good journey into their next phase of life in the spirit world.

That task is one that feels so right to do. It is good to honor those whose company we have enjoyed in this life. It feels like something we need to do in order to move on and let them move on.

Of course, the mood is not all somber. There are fabulous parties where people create costumes and masks and enter into the altered state induced by the trance of the change in appearances. For that brief time at costume parties, we get to be someone else and see how it feels to view the world from a different perspective and have the world see us from a different perspective.

In these brief windows when we don masks and costumes, part of the persona that may be kept hidden much of the rest of the time, suddenly is brought out to play. There are dreams that lie dormant most of the time, when we want to be someone who lived in a different era, a different world, played a different role.

Sometimes, these expressions are nothing more than a flirtation with a fantasy, but then there are times when we can make these our reality.

If you can imagine a different life for yourself, that is the first step to realizing it. So is your mask and costume representing a temporary or a permanent change?

Give Me Patience, But Not Too Much

With our desire to manifest becoming more and more urgent, patience seems to be a step in the opposite direction. Patience is not easy for me.

Of course, this duality is always present. Sometimes the things we dearly want take a while to happen because certain things need to happen before we achieve our goal.

There are skills and arts that take time to develop, and so that is a form of patience. And these are necessary for success. You have to be good at something.

A related principle is that sometimes you hold things close to your chest until you are ready to share that heartfelt desire with the rest of the world. Sometimes the power of your dreams can be diluted if you talk about it too much.

At the same time, dreams must be shared with others if you are in need of their support.

Patience is sometimes that dull looking sharpening stone that brings a fine edge to the knife. Not glamorous, but necessary.

Then there are other forms of patience, like waiting for a call. That can really drive a person up a wall. To deal with the impatience, you simply have to let go and let the response come in its own time.

Although it seems like conflicting advice to act to manifest your dreams now and having patience, think about how these two seeming opposites fit together.

Our Free Will

Did you ever consider the mystery of our free will? It is the essence of why some people are atheists. The logic is there, because if we have the free will to decide what to do with our lives, what does the existence of some divine beings matter?

I am not arguing for atheism, simply looking at the topic from many angles. No matter where we are in life right now, for better or worse, it is a result of our free will. Our choices.

I personally do believe in the divine, the supernatural and believe that there are mysteries in life we cannot explain. And the whole question of what life will be like after we die is something we will never know until we get there. I don't know what to believe abou all those stories, but I certainly am not worrying about them now.

Beliefs are powerful things. They are motivators for us. We draw courage from them. Some people draw fear from their beliefs, and guilt. Other people draw joy from theirs. Whatever your beliefs, they will propel your actions.

So our free will represents our ability to either act on one set of beliefs we have formed and stick with it, or since our beliefs can also change over time as a result of our life experience, then our free will is our expression of our beliefs.

When we look at our own life, what we are seeing is the result of our free will choices and where they have brought us. Now consider that we can always change our beliefs and our free will choices, and thus we can change our lives. Right now.

We always have free will, both in wonderful situations and desperate situations. It is interesting to observe how sometimes our free will choices seem to contradict our beliefs, but of course, that is never so. Our free will choices can be nothing other than our acting on our beliefs, and our expressions of our selves. And, of course, we always have the ability to change both beliefs and free will. Most of us have. Some by a little, some by a lot.

How do you see your choices?

The Eyes Have It

The light in your eyes reveals the joy in your life. See how the reflection comes back from the eyes of others? What does it take to light the fire?

Notice the people who have joy in their eyes. See how they sparkle? It is the light that is coming through, the light that shows the vision, the beauty, the joy.

Notice how when you meet someone who has that light in their eyes that you feel good about the interaction even before anything is said.

How is the light in your eyes? Do you smile at people with them, happy to be alive? Do you see a bright future for yourself? Do you see a world full of possibilities? Do you see reasons to celebrate life? Do you see other people as basically good?

There are many ways to let the light shine through your eyes. Just pick a reason, any reason, to let your eyes light up.

Do you know the way to bring the light to the eyes of those you meet? Do you enjoy trying to share that light? I know I do.

Drinking in the Music with Your Body

Music is the world. All of the world around us is sound. All of it forms a music, although we may not hear it unless we tap into it. It is in the quiet rhythm of a rainstorm. It is in the wind that moves through the trees and rocks. It is in the crackling of a fire as it reaches through the wood and builds to a roar, then settles into the glow of embers. It is the water that runs in a stream. The relaxing, enchanting sound of these elements moving through a natural course, drawing our ears into the patterns, be they subtle, and soothing or loud and exciting.

That is why sometimes I can feel comfortable just listening with no sound system on. It is also why sometimes a recording that establishes gentle rhythms and sweet sounds creates an environment conducive to a peaceful evening or a graceful awakening, where another music might bring forth an edgy feeling, or a nervousness, an anxiousness, while others simply make you feel like dancing or singing.

There is a kind of music for every kind of feeling. As our tastes change over the years, we come to prefer one or another, even though in the past we may have chosen differently.

When we are doing something that establishes its own rhythm, a task we are doing, music can help create a harmonious groove that supports that work and makes everything feel efficient. Work becomes a dance with the right choice in music.

When preparing for something that requires concentration or enhances a mood, the choice in sound makes all the difference. It can help create a good mood or destroy it.

When you notice the rhythms of your body, can you hear the music you make? When you notice your choices in music, do you notice what that is reflecting back to you? If you make your own music, or if you play a drum, can you feel what is coming through besides the beats or notes?

Can you hear what you are creating? Every breath is orchestrated, every movement is synchronized with something. Are you aware of what that something is? When you choose to drink in a sound and savor it, are you aware of how it is affecting you?

Listen. There is magic in the air. Can you hear it?

The Living & The Dead

This week someone asked for my help because a person they knew had been missing for several days.

After visiting places the person had been, touching some of the things he had worn, and then reading using the pendulum, tarot cards and runes in addition to just tuning in, I got a very clear hit that the person was dead and that it was violent, not a natural death.

Of course, this is not the message that his friends were hoping for. Yet, I sensed a sigh of relief as well as sadness.

The woman who was close to the man who was missing later confided that she at least felt free to accept the truth rather than stay stuck in the hope that he would return and that everything would be fine. Once she was able to be open to the other outcomes, she was able to begin her grieving process instead of being stuck.

Today, my reading was confirmed. He is dead and it was not a natural death.

Readings of this type and rituals for those who have crossed over are for the benefit of those who are living, the ones who are still here. Of course, we wish the spirits well on their journey, however the solace is most necessary for the survivors.

When people ask for the truth in a reading, it may or may not be easy to accept, depending on the subject. And sometimes when there is denial, it is not to say that the reading is wrong, it could just be that the truth is hard to accept.

The greatest mysteries of all are those of birth, death, life and rebirth. We may not always understand these changes and why people enter into them the way they do.

Those of us whose services are engaged to see, convey what we see and when a clearing, blessing or healing is requested, we do that for the benefit of all concerned. Understanding why a person did what they did may not always be easy to grasp or accept.

When we pause to acknowledge death, we are performing an essential act of being alive.

The Joy of Living

The joy of living is not something you find. It is something you create.

Anybody can be happy when you are making buckets full of money and everything is going their way. It takes a person with a positive disposition to feel joy and find happiness when everything is not going easily.

Try this. When you feel like you are in a difficult situation, and you know that it is one you do not control, release your futile attempts at control. Notice how the burden lifts off your shoulders. Don't you feel lighter already? When things are out of your hands and they are ridiculously bad, just laugh. I just look at some of these things and say, OK, whatever. I keep on redefining my future instead of letting someone else define it for me. There is joy in that.

We all need to do whatever we can to move in the direction of our dreams. We can make wise choices about how we use our money. We can associate with people who love us, or at least like us, and will help us.

We can be optimistic about what comes next.

Now I have times when I feel the deep dark funk, the soul searching lows and down times as much as anyone else, but I realize that they are just part of the ebb and flow of life.

If you think that joy is something you have to search for to find, try this. Just decide to share a joke, sing a song, be optimistic about what is happening, and keep doing what you love, what moves you in the direction of your dreams, what makes your heart sing.

You will be surprised at how fast things will turn around. Joy is not something we find. It is not like we lost it while we were carrying in the groceries from the car or digging through old paperwork. Joy is something we intentionally create.

The Excitement of What We Don't Know

Why are the things we don't know so exciting? People always come to readers to either validate something they know but want confirmation on, or they want to know about the unknown.

Actually, since the beginning of mankind, people have wanted to know what they don't know. From the cavemen who cast bones to find out how the hunting would go or how they would fare in battle with their enemies, to the ancient Greeks who made pilgrimages to the Oracles at Delphi to Nostradamus and Madam Lenormand to Jeanne Dixon, Linda Goodman, Sylvia Brown, James van Praagh and John Edward to your favorite neighborhood tarot reader, palmist or astrologer, people want to know what they do not know.

This, to me, is an endlessly fascinating part of human nature. For many of us, it is not enough to simply get up every day and do whatever we have to do, with no end in sight, no dream to move toward. If we thought that all there was to life was to have a job, pay the bills and have some food and entertainment in between, then we naturally find ourselves asking if there is not something more exciting, amazing or great that we are destined to do.

It just seems too limited to think that there is not anything greater or more mysterious going on here. We all like to think that there is a special purpose we serve, or a special task that we have to do before we die, or some other great adventure that is just around the bend, whether it is the love of our life, writing the great American novel, making our own independent movie, playing and singing in a band or whatever. There must be something coming up for us that is more than just our every day job.

The notion that amazing and exciting developments can happen to anybody, with just a twist of fate, is the very root material of most popular movies and novels. The idea that life can present us with something really jazzy just up around the bend, is what makes people want to take a look around that bend, so they ask a reader to help them see.

Sometimes what they see inspires them to do something different and change their life. Readings can let people know they have other choices that they may not have seen. Readings can help people recognize patterns in their life that they were unaware of until the reader pointed them out.

Precisely because a tarot reading, astrology, runes, palmistry and other kinds of reading are considered by many people to be mysterious, people are willing to open up to the experience. After all, it takes a different kind of seeing to see what our normal sight cannot see.

Validation, Not Fortune Telling

People sometimes come to me for a reading to get validation about something going on in their life, rather than revealing something they do not know. That may sound simple, but it is very valuable. Why?

Many years ago, when I started reading at fairs and festivals, I would often wonder why a total stranger would come to me and ask if they should marry the person they are thinking about marrying.

Consider the situation. Maybe all of her friends are telling her to go ahead with it because the guy is good looking, has money and a big house. But something inside her might be warning her off. And perhaps I am the only person who tells her that the match might not be a good one.

Of course, her free will makes the decision whether to marry this person or not.

There are other situations in which this is valuable as well. Sometimes people want a validation about a career change and when a reader simply uses their abilities to identify something that would agree with the querant's own research and decisions, once again, the validation feels real good. A neutral source just confirmed that you are on track.

Other times it may even be in the area of an activity a person enjoys just because it lifts their spirits, such as music, writing or some form of art. If a person gets validation that this really could be a good way for them to express themselves, whether or not it is about making money, that also validates their feelings about what works for them.

The important thing is that sometimes we feel like we might be crazy, especially if someone else is telling us we are because we know something we cannot prove. That validation tells us that we are not crazy. And that feels good.

Especially if the reader is neutral and does not know all the people involved or have any inside information, then the reading simply draws on the reader's abilities and the help of their tools, such as their cards.

I have seen many occasions when simply receiving that validation let the person feel supported in going ahead with what they were going to do anyway. And there is value in that.

Soothing the Throat

This evening my throat was feeling a little raw, so I knew that I needed to do few things to address it. First was the old standby, gargling with warm salt water. Then there were cough drops, cough syrup and then a few mugs of hot tea.

A hot bath with Epsom salts, eucalyptus oil and hyssop oil really felt good as well. Then I felt like something a bit more gentle for the spirit would help as well, so I chose a biography of the author and Trappist monk Thomas Merton to watch, and kept getting these little surprises throughout when they featured comments by Buddhist monks he had dialogue with, Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama.

There was also a sequence that made me smile when Merton's publishers said that they were not sure that his books would sell, and they were amazed at how well they sold. That shows a difference in the way commercial publishing works these days. Then, if the publisher thought that the author had something worthwhile to say, they would publish it even if they were not sure it would be popular. Today, the trend in publishing is to try and only print what is popular. But that does not always prove to be a winner either, because the public's taste can be fickle and ephemeral.

It was also interesting that some people who knew Merton commented that people were not always happy with what he wrote when he spoke out about subjects like peace. He had the clarity of mind to point out that his church had no problem taking a hard line stance on abortion, because they see it as the death of a person, yet they took no stand against using nuclear weapons which could kill millions of people at a time.

There, of course, were also people who had to stretch themselves to understand how or why a Christian monk could find such common ground with Buddhist monks.

In some way, the peaceful spirit emanating from this story helped calm my throat as well. I finished off the evening with some classical music which was very soothing, and then it started to rain, which is always a healing sound for me.

There are a lot of ways to help soothe physical discomforts, using resources from within and without. Healing often works in mysterious ways.

It is important to do more treatments of this sort tomorrow as well, since I will be talking a lot Friday, Saturday and Sunday, doing readings and giving a talk. My voice is important in my work.

So this is a time of charging up the batteries for a large amount of activity, so that I am ready when I need to be.

Peace of Mind

There are many ways to get peace of mind. There is a certain feeling that comes to a person finally achieves something that was difficult for them to do. When something we have worked hard on proves out. Satisfaction.

There are also times when we feel vindicated because something we advocated or predicted came true.

We can also achieve peace of mind by simply not worrying about things so much. Sometimes what we worry about turns out alright and would have turned out alright even if we had not worried about it. Notice how the power of something that had us worried often dissipates quickly when we just quit worrying about it?

Another way to peace of mind is when we simply resign our self to a situation that is not of our liking rather than fight a tremendous uphill battle. Some battles are absolutely worth it, because a great wrong has been righted. But there are other battles that would not win us any great victory, maybe just the hard feelings of others. So maybe we get to feel vindicated, but we do not win any prize.

The wise person chooses their battles and avoids as many battles as possible if there is another solution.

Peace of mind comes through wise choices, not just sitting quietly. Meditation and reflection are good. So is conflict resolution. There are so many ways to get there that I am sure I will think of more as soon as I post this piece.

In a word I guess you could say that common sense makes peace as well as anything else. Peace of mind is not as difficutl to achieve as it might appear at times. We just have to remind ourselves to stay on track.

How We Relate

Often, we find ourselves hooked on forms that we follow because they are familiar, even if our own experience with them has not been successful.

Often times when people have relationship questions, they are thinking about getting married or divorced. It is common for a person to be looking for a third marriage even if they have been married and divorced twice already. But if your experience has been that way, a new idea might work better.

One woman came to me for a reading and when the question of two lovers came up, she announced that she would not choose between them, she would simply keep them both. Of course, some people might not agree with this approach, but trying something different is for the person looking for a different solution.

Last week, when a famous movie star died they noted that he had been married six times. And I am sure you have also read about other actors and actresses who have been married that many times. You would think at some point they would just acknowledge that that model of relationship is not working for them and stay single. But I think what is happening there is that they are really so used to seeing relationships through the context of that form, that they cannot imagine a relationship in another form.

I have met other people who are not movie stars or pop stars or celebrities who also have a track record like that, so the idea is not just about famous people.

Some people who travel a lot for their business end up separated from their partner for frequent or long periods of time. Some people enjoy it that way, some just accept that it is part of the job, and others don't like it and it ends up tearing at the fabric of the relationship.

Once again, it is how people relate to the forms. Where one person might find the absences intolerable, another welcomes them.

We are at a time when many different kinds of relationships exist simultaneously. Within this article I am not trying to discuss all forms of relationships, just the most common.

Expanding our concepts of relationships seems to be necessary. About 1 out 2 marriages ends in divorce, but 50 years ago, getting a divorce was considered a disgrace and could prevent you from getting invited to certain groups and events. So the divorce rate was lower, but that was because some people stayed in a lousy situation rather than fight the social stigma.

Today, we have more choices. In most cases, people would not think twice about whether a person is divorced before inviting them to a social event.

Now when people are meeting and discussing themselves, disclosing that they have been married and divorced before is no big deal.

It all has to do with how you see your possibilities. Years ago, it just came to me when I was filling out forms that asked me about my marital status, I thought about checking divorced again. Then I thought that choosing that word to define myself is like saying that my status is all about my failed marriage. But that is not true. I now choose the word single whenever I have a form to fill out.

Why? If you are legally divorced and available for dating again, doesn't the word single define your current state?

Use a parallel example. Would you define the rest of your life as the person who used to work at XYZ Corporation but lost their job to outsourcing, or would you present yourself to new people as what you do now?

Certainly presenting yourself as who you are now and what you do now will further you progress in creating a new career path.

So give it some thought when you consider your options and what works for you. Maybe just continuing to date will serve your social needs better than another marriage. Maybe we have set stumbling blocks in our own path if we fail to consider other options.

Maybe the woman who chose to keep both lovers is going to thrive with her choice, instead of letting one go and marrying the other.

What made me think of all this in the first place? The idea of a person having six marriages. Plus the fact that so many people express a desire to marry again even if they have had a number of unsuccessful previous marriages.

We all have to make our own choices, it's just that sometimes we offer ourselves to limited a range of choices and then insist that it must be that way.

Perhaps the person who allows themselves more or different choices will cope with the ebb and flow of life and the ebb and flow of relationships better than those who confine themselves to the limited options.

That is for each person to decide. I am just offering this observation.