Whispers from Spirit

 

Whispers from Spirit

Synchronicity is spirit's way of whispering to us. When we are paying attention, no one needs to yell to get our attention. A quiet message can be delivered in many ways. Example. It has happened to me on a number of occasions. A person calls and tells me that they really want to see me right now, and I tell them that it will have to be later because I have other appointments to take care of first. Next thing that happens is that one of the appointments reschedules, and that person does get an appointment now. Or a person changes their appointment when 10 minutes later another person calls and asks if I have any openings today. Or a person tells me that they have looked over my listing and website on more than one occasion and every time they look, they feel called back to my listing, so they call. Of all the billions of people on the internet, spirit gave the person a sign, a gut feeling when they were looking over the listings. Or I am looking for a business card for a person and exactly the one I need is on the top of the stack, a stack that I have not looked at for a while. Or I am wanting to look up something and a book that contains the answer catches my attention even though it was not the one I had in mind, so I pick it up and find out what I need to know. Or a book that falls off the shelf is one that addresses what is on my mind. Out of all the books on the shelf, why that one? Other examples. A person expresses their dissatisfaction with their day job, expressing a desire to spend more time on their own business, which has been a side job. Soon after, their day job lets them go. Now they have more time for their own business. A person goes hiking simply because they enjoy hiking. They join a hiking group and meet another person who also enjoys hiking and they find a great partner. A person is thinking about what might be the next best career move for them. A news article about a new business idea catches their attention, after a web search and a phone call, they have found their new position. A person needs a new car. Then someone brings up in conversation that they know someone who has a car sitting in their garage that they never drive any more and are willing to let it go for a very reasonable price. Synchronicity. Coincidence. Alignment. Spirit is showing signs of support when you are connecting with people with a project in mind and everyone you talk to says yes. That is a sign that spirit wants it to happen. When a person appears in your dreams and shortly after you meet a person who is like that, do you think that maybe spirit was affirming your desire to connect with that person? You think it was a coincidence that you dreamed about a person just before you met them? When you have a feeling that you should choose a different route to get where you are going today, and later find out there was a big accident on the road you were first intending to use, you think that was a coincidence? When we begin to notice the patterns in our lives, this is a way that spirit indicates alignment with us and helps us find the way on our path. The more attention we pay to these coincidences, the more significant they become. Everything has a meaning. It is up to us to recognize it. I always love hearing from you, so if you feel like sending me a note, calling or coming to see me, please do! Have a wonderful day!

Notice what you notice

 

Notice what you notice

Have you ever noticed that when you are out and about, certain things in nature catch your attention? Have you considered that when an animal, bird or insect makes its presence known to you that it has a message for you? This is one of the ways spirit speaks to us. Notice that animals figure into dream interpretations, visions, astrology, cards. The photo shows the Fox from Colette Baron-Reid's Spirit Animal Oracle and the Hawk from Steven Farmer's Power Animal Oracle Cards, two handy little tools you might choose to use. Earlier popular works that feature animals, birds, reptiles & insects include "Animal Speak" by Ted Andrews, "The Druid Animal Oracle" by Philip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm and the "Medicine Cards" by Jamie Sams and David Carson, which draws on Native American lore. Sometimes people are wanting signs from spirit, but not noticing what is right in front of them. But notice. If you were taking a walk and an owl is perched on a tree branch right at eye level and doesn't move when you stop to look at them, do you pick up some kind of message from this? If a red fox decided to take a walk with you through the neighborhood, would you derive any meaning from that? What if a butterfly or dragonfly were floating around you? Would that signal anything to you? Notice what you notice. What we pick up is always related to what is on our mind. So spirit sends us messengers in the form of nature rather than a business memo or an official notification. Notice that spirit always connects with us when we are more relaxed. Our mind is more open if we are just out taking a walk, or if we are just listening to music while sitting on the patio, or when we are gardening. Yes, spirit also sends messengers in the form of people who convey things to us, whether they are people we work with, family, friends, neighbors and others. But today we are focusing on nature symbols because they are so universal. Parents and children alike get thoughts and feelings from interactions with creatures. Messages from creatures can be found by simply examining what that creature does in real life. That is one strong thread you can examine simply by Googling. The other strong thread will be from folklore, legends and myths. Two of the decks I mentioned above draw their wisdom from stories. The oral traditions of the Bards of the Druid traditions, or the storytellers of the Native American traditions are sources of interpretation. And of course, other cultures have other stories about critters. So when you are looking for ideas or guidance, notice what you notice. The answer may be right in front of you, looking at you, walking with you, flying around you. Notice what you notice. It tells you something. I always love hearing from you, so if you feel like sending me a note, calling or coming to see me, please do! Have a wonderful day!

What is magic?

 

What is magic?

Magic happens when we do the unexpected. Magic happens when we make a change happen that takes others by surprise. Why is that? Because they did not expect it. In the earliest tarot decks, the magician is a slight of hand magician, the entertainer, the stage magician. The image here is from the Tarot de Marseilles, which is what Le Bateleur means, a street performer. The performer lives by his wits. Yes, they perfect tricks to fool the audience and that makes for great entertainment. Think about that for a moment. They share a link with today's stage magicians. All these magicians get your attention one way, with their words, their humor, their misdirection, getting you to look at one thing while they are doing another, resulting in amazing surprises. Things happen that the audience does not expect. Have you ever witnessed a magician with a deck of playing cards right in front of you who can make cards appear or disappear right in front of you and you have no idea how it happened? That is how good they are. You can be within arm's reach with your eyes wide open and not know what happened. That is one kind of magic. Another kind of magic happens when someone who is more of a shaman creates change that we cannot figure out. The card below illustrating that is from the Old Path Tarot. Shamans could use simple tools like sound from drums, rattles and bells to transform consciousness through our feelings. We could see feel those vibrations in our bodies, but we did not know what happened. That kind of magician is getting our attention with a subconscious level of recognition. That kind of magician would pick up signs from animals and nature and communicate messages to us with symbols. That kind of magician could communicate with plants and knew which plants we could burn or ingest to help us recognize changes. These messages from nature, through the shaman could help us heal and gain insight into our selves. Even to this day, with our great abilities in science, we do not know how or why they constructed things like stone circles, although we suspect links, like connections to constellations of stars. It was a kind of communication between the universe and us that the magician facilitated and today we have theories about it. But think about it. Although we do not really understand it all, ancient people put a great amount of labor into those constructions. Would they work that hard for no reason? When you look at today's Farmer's Almanacs, you still find the ancient connections between astronomy and astrology. They pay attention to moon cycles and planetary changes for not only planting our food crops and going fishing or launching voyages, but also staring new business, ending old business and taking care of our selves. Today, we can still get messages from nature, and still find healing and peace of mind through nature. The shaman's tools were extremely simple. Dressing in certain kinds of furs not only kept us warm, they also conveyed energies to us. Warriors wore one kind of skin, fur, feathers and amulets while healers and seers wore a different kinds of skins, fur, feathers and amulets. People were pictured with certain kinds of animals to convey certain messages. The second magician is also casting runes, which are an abstract set of symbols thousands of years older than cards, which still contains the sames kinds of meanings that they did to our ancestors. How powerful is it that those symbols have remained consistent through millennia? How powerful is it that the first musical instruments that humans developed were drums, rattles and simple flutes and wind instruments, and those are still catalysts for change for us today? How powerful is it that our ancestors found that the aroma of certain burning certain plants could shift our feelings and consciousness and that we still relate to the same ones today? How powerful is it that ingesting certain plants could bring about changes in health and consciousness back then and still today? The most concise definition of magic is change according to will. We discovered ways to make change and then we used them deliberately. So what is the link between the stage magician and the shaman? Change according to will. Both use materials that are hidden in plain sight. There is magic all around us. We just have to open our eyes to it and use it. We all have the ability to be magicians and our magic can take us by surprise. I always love hearing from you, so if you feel like sending me a note, calling or coming to see me, please do! Have a wonderful day!

Pollinating our dreams

 

Pollinating our dreams

Watching the hummingbird moths gathering pollen from the lilacs, gives me something to think about. After all, there are a lot more flowers than pollen gatherers. So how do we pollinate our ideas and actions? One way of looking at it is how we mix and match things today. Like bees and moths who carry influences from one plant to another so that the plants produce fruits, nuts, vegetables, coffee, chocolate and spices, we also cross pollinate aspects in our life. For example, many of us healers combine energy healing with music, stones, aromatheraphy, herbs, breathwork and other techniques which are often practiced separately. Seeds for ideas came to me by finding ways for music to combine with other things. Synergy is created when different elements are combined, and it is fun to experiment with different ways to bring them together to make them more effective. How have you cross pollinated your work? Your play? Businesses that borrow ideas from other kinds of businesses often produce breakthrough results. Do any come to mind from your own experience? Perhaps for us humans pollination takes place when new ideas fertilize our energies by joining the right and left sides of our brain. You are probably familiar with the model. The right side of the brain is the masculine side, the projective energies, ruling over our abilities in ways of order, in fields like law, medicine, accounting, engineering, math, science, logic and order. The left side of the brain is the feminine side, ruling creative abilities and receptive energies, in fields like art, music, writing, design, fashion, culinary arts, free flowing, instinctive and great sensory appeal. Certainly we can see how an artist needs to have some business skills in order to succeed, and we can also see how creative inspiration leads people in professions like law, science or medicine to make new discoveries. When we fertilize a new idea on the other side of our brain, the growth brings new developments. Pollinators help plants get their male & female parts together so that they will produce all the wonderful fruits, vegetables, nuts and other foods we need and want. Fortunately, we humans have a more direct route for getting male & female parts to meet. All kinds of ways to make relationships blossom. Pollinate your relationships. Pollinate your ideas. Pollinate your dreams. See how they blossom as we act on our desires. See how blending energies and ideas gets results. I always love hearing from you, so if you feel like sending me a note, calling or coming to see me, please do! Have a wonderful day!

Optimal energy empowerment

 

Optimal energy empowerment

Clearing blockages to keeping our energy flowing freely is one of the methods for keeping our thoughts and actions aligned with our purpose and focus. When all our chakras are running smoothly, we maintain a level of confidence and a flow that enables us to create good results in our relationships, our work, our health and happiness. Think about this. Just like getting a massage or chiropractic adjustment when we feel out of sorts, think about getting a reiki treatment to help put our mind, body and spirit back in order. Not so many years ago, getting a massage was something you heard about being offered at spas, country clubs, and as a treatment for athletes. Today, we have massage therapists in every shopping center, which has greatly broadened its public appeal and common acceptance. The same has happened for chiropractic care and yoga. These are now present in storefronts in shopping centers, and as a result, more people are routinely using these services to maintain optimum health. The same has happened for stores that sell herbs, essential oils and organic foods. These are everywhere and people use them more frequently. Of course, not all of this takes place in shopping centers and storefronts. Many massage therapists have offices in their homes or office spaces. Organic farmers offer their goods to customers through subscription or delivery services. Reiki may or may not become public in the way of opening chains in shopping centers. What I am suggesting that you consider is making reiki sessions a regular part of your health care, like the massage places that offer memberships where you sign up for a monthly massage. It is quite common for reiki healers to offer discount packages for repeat clients the same way massage therapists do. I do. I have always offered package discounts of 25%, where you buy 4 sessions for the price of 3. Here is another option. If you come in once a month for an energy tune up, you can have a rate of $75, which is a 25% discount from my regular price of $100 per hour without paying in advance. You can have the discount just for coming regularly. Why would you want to do that? Think about it. Comparing reiki to massage as a regular treatment is an excellent model. Sometimes we go to massage therapists when we have aches and pains and are recovering from injury, illness or surgery. But we do not only go for that. We also go for stress relief. When stress keeps stacking up on us, we feel out of sorts and edgy with ourselves and others. Stress causes headaches, indigestion, anxiety and nervous tension. Calming the monkey mind with reiki soothes and calms all of these. Working with people over the years, I have also noticed that people also need energy clearings and boosts when going through major changes like seeking a new work situation, new home, new relationship. Reiki can help you build your energies for successful changes. Regular sessions can avoid stresses and aches from piling up on you. Massage and reiki restore the fluidity to your everyday movement and your every day sense of well being. People always say that they feel lighter after a reiki session. Lightness lets you be more fluid and calm. Massage treats all of these in a very physical way, with deep tissue manipulations reducing tension. Reiki, on the other hand helps re-balance your energies with gentle touch, sound, smudge and other gentle measures, such as placements of stones. So consider a regular reiki treatment as a regular part of maintaining good health, rather than only making an appointment when there is something that urgently needs attention. My thought for today then, is to encourage you to consider making reiki appointments a regular contributor to your wellness, rather than just when a pain won't let you rest. Some people still view massage as an occasional treat, but others have made it an ongoing practice. Think of reiki the same way. I always love hearing from you, so if you feel like sending me a note, calling or coming to see me, please do! Have a wonderful day!