Mentoring Your Manifestations

I have been thinking about how we can continue our relationship in the most flexible and useful way.

What I mean is this. One of the main types of service I offer at metaphysical fairs is tarot card readings.

However, for steady growth and development, you probably could use other of my services, beyond tarot readings.

As a mentor, there could be a number of things I can help you with. For example, perhaps you would like to spend some time looking into your past lives to see what you can learn in this way.

Then again, maybe you would like to spend time doing some energy work, learning about your chakras, learning ways to clear, strengthen and heal your energy fields.

Another beneficial thing would be to spend some time doing meditation with light percussion or visualization.

Maybe you would like to do some dream work.

Mentoring can also include sessions where you simply want to explore possible paths and life choices that are presenting themselves. A combination of discussion, accessing my clairvoyant abilities and insights based on experience. During major life changes in career, relationships, spiritual development and more, this flexible mentoring approach can be most helpful.
 
I am offering a special bundles of sessions at a significant discount as a way of expressing my gratitude to you and to be able to offer you a variety of ways to help.

There is a maximum amount of freedom here. You are buying some of my time and energy, but how you use it is totally flexible.

Package of 3 half hour sessions for $129 (my normal rate for these would be $150)

Package of 3 one hour sessions for only $199 (my normal rate for these would be $300)

Package of 3  90 minute sessions for $299 (my normal rate for these  would be $450)

If you would like to engage in a mentoring program that encompasses a larger view and a longer term of development, consider this:

A series of 24 one hour sessions, consisting of 
2 hour life assessment session to clarify your life purpose
2 sessions on your vision for your directions, your goals
2 sessions to explore pathways to achieve your dreams
2 sessions focusing on your spiritual gifts
5 sessions on personal energy development
5 sessions of developing intuitive skills
4 sessions on self healing practices specific to you

This is a total of 21 sessions, and 2+1 = 3, the number of manifestation, the power of change in your life. The initial session would be 2 hours, and all the other sessions 1.5 hours each, or 32 hours of my time, for a total of $1899. This same amount of time, purchased one session at a time, would normally be priced at $3200.

If you would prefer to make all of your sessions one hour each (after the initial 2 hour session) for a total of 22 hours, the tuition would be $1299, compared to the normal price of $2200.
 
Because of the huge discount I am offering to mentoring clients, I am requesting payment for these bundles of sessions in advance.

Are you ready to manifest your dreams?

If you have any questions, please ask.

Rhythms to Magically Shift Our Spirits

The rhythms of our days vary. Some days we get up and feel eager to get going. Other days we wake up slowly and we welcome the slow pace of a day with no urgent appointments on the agenda.

Rather than force ourselves to be one or the other, we can either increase our pace and speed things up or we can slow things down.

When we match the pace of our feelings, we are in sync with our spirit.

Have you noticed how some days it seems to take a while to get in sync? How the rhythms of our day may take a while to catch up with our feelings? Or how are feelings seem to be brought into line with our pace?

It is always a matter of fine tuning. After all, we do not just have one pace all the time. It fluctuates, just as our mood does.

Sometimes when we are down, we can play directly into it to lift ourselves out, singing blues, dancing slowly with ourselves, maybe drumming a little or reading a good book until we move into another rhythm.

So the rhythms we work with can alter our moods. We could be feeling out of sorts, but then by simply taking a walk, we can come back refreshed and come up with fresh ideas.

We could even be discouraged or disillusioned, but after going out to dance for a few hours, come back with a whole new attitude.

We can use rhythms in our life to lift our spirits, improve our health, find inspiration, grab a hold of the joy of life and clasp it to our chest, so that we are heart to heart with our aliveness.

Consider the ways in which we establish and shift the rhythms in our days. It is a magical energy that is always at our fingertips, at our feet, the sparkle in our eyes and the sweetness of discovery. Every day has new things to discover, if we just open our senses and engage with them.

We always have the power to bring things into alignment with movement, and rhythm is the tuning fork for what drives us.

Paying Attention

Paying attention is key to enjoying life. Of course, enjoying life includes getting what we want.

Examples. If a person is not paying attention to the music, all of a sudden a beautiful dance turns into a chaotic mess.

If a person is driving a car and not paying attention, accidents happen.

If a small business owner does not pay attention to excellent performance or making use of every opportunity that comes their way, they fall short of their goals, or worse, lose it all.

If a person does not pay attention to their physical well being, they can create consequences that make their own physical comfort decrease.

What makes one person a better lover than another? Paying attention.

What makes one person more creative than another? Paying attention.

Malidoma Some, an African shaman, says that "A person who has a problem learning to drum is a person who has a problem with listening."

Carry that thought out to those things which are important to us. We can never become excellent at anyting without paying attention.

If we pay attention to the things we say are important to us, success has got to come to us, in larger or smaller amounts.

Paying attention is the true cost of success.

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.

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?

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.

Clap Your Hands, See What Happens

Sometimes when we act in a positive way, we do not know what effect our actions will have, although we feel it will be good.

Sort of like the classic image of the Fool in the tarot.

For example, I did an unannounced give away of tarot decks while giving a talk at the recent Celebrations Fair. I just felt like it would be good to give them away to people who did not have a deck and would like to have one, and also giving decks to people who felt like they were ready for a new one.

Who knows what good will come of all that. I am sure that the recipients appreciated their decks.

There has not been a flood of feedback from those individuals, so we will see what is revealed in time.

This week, there was a surge of interest in some hard to find decks that I have for sale. And that interest came from far away, not locally. Interesting. I was wondering when I would see some activity there again.

One school of thought is that it is a form of the law of return. What you put out comes back to you. And so on.

So now, I keep looking ahead absolutely certain that I will find a way to make my reading/healing/teaching metaphysical business full time. How exactly? I don't know all the answers to that. I just keep plugging away, repeating the things that work, and dropping the things that don't.

There are times when it is not clear whether an effort has worked. Participation in an event or group could take time to yield results. Then of course, there are some that never will. In those cases, it is simply a matter of deciding when the experiment has gone on long enough without definitive results.

Then sometimes you decide to do something just because you feel good about it, feeling that it is at least a gesture of good will toward the world or whoever receives it.

That may appear to be foolish, and it is one aspect of being a fool. Sometimes we feel moved to do things without knowing why. Sometimes we don't need to know why before we do something.

When I used to be real active in drumming circles, there was a saying. Sometimes people wait to see what happens, then they clap their hands. But there are other people who clap their hands to see what happens next.

The Art of the Apprentice

Once upon a time, the normal process for learning a new skill or trade was for the person who wanted to learn to apprentice with someone who had established a reputation for excellence.

Companies today seem less interested in making any such arrangements. They want people who either are already experts to just jump in as contractors and hit the ground running or hire absolute beginners with very limited skills who possess the virtue of being available for cheap wages.

So it is in our personal endeavors that we will have more of an opportunity to create an apprentice experience.

Although apprenticeship could refer to people learning skills from carpentry to masonry, it would also refer to a person learning how to cook well enough to become a chef or a master brewer. There are those who apprentice to learn how to be master gardeners or herbalists.

The term can also be used relative to a person learning a musical instrument, a sport, and also in learning hobbies like sewing, glasswork, carving, beadwork or pottery.

Apprenticeship also has a long history in esoteric learning, such as those who want to learn witchcraft or shamanism, those who want to learn tarot, astrology, kabbalah, runes, magic and spiritual healing.

Being an apprentice is about a devotion to excellence. The true apprentice desires to learn to perfrom their chosen endeavor as well as it can be done, and are always interested in learning more about it.

A person who is truly an apprentice knows that there is always more to be learned through practice and study,, so that no matter how recognized they are for their abilities, they know that they do not know it all. So there is a certain amount of humility and quiet pride that characterizes the person who apprentices.

At a certain point, such a person will be recognized as having mastery of their chosen skills. That may come in the form of official recognition and it may also come in the form of recognition by those who employ them or appreciate the beauty and excellence they display in their endeavors.

To be an apprentice in any field is a joy and a way that gives focus to a person's energies. Rewards eventually come to those who choose to take up the art of the apprentice. At some point along their path, they savor the satisfaction of a job well done, and the adulation of those who recognize it.

If you are not getting a deep level of satisfaction in life, consider the art of the apprentice as a path to pursue. You can apprentice in absolutely any field you choose. Anything and everything, from sexual pleasure to embroidery, from tarot reading to picture framing, from home building to auto repair, from software design to stand up comedy, from drumming to belly dance and anything else you can imagine can be areas that a person can choose as a vehicle for their apprenticeship.

The art of the apprentice is a vehicle for getting more out of life.

Rituals, Resonance, Remembrance

We know what we know through our senses. One of the important reasons why we use stimulants to our senses of taste, touch, hearing, sight, and smell during ritual is so that the experience stays with us.

Spiritual ceremonies always contain sensual elements. There may be frankincense, sandalwood, sage, juniper or some other aromatic herb that is burning. There are bells or gongs that are rung to signal the call to service. There are candles, bonfires or oil lamps.

There is a physical touch in the way of greeting or blessing. There is taste in the sharing of food or wine. There are symbolic signals such as special robes that ritual leaders wear. There are sprinklings of holy water.

All of these are about marking the occasion as a special event. Rituals containing these elements stay with us much more powerfully than rituals that are merely a lecture or sermon.

Ritual music that is moving, literally moves us to remember. Rituals that involve drums, tambourines, stomping, clapping, singing, dancing, large groups of harmonious voices, all serve to make the ritual an indelible event.

These elements are found in various combinations in spiritual ceremonies all around the world.

There is a similar reason why bells are rung in steeples, gongs are banged in temples, and shamanic practitioners wear little bells.

There is a similar reason why if we are not dancing around fires, candles or lamps are lit all around the church or temple.

There is a similar reason why a shaman may smudge, temples may light sandalwood incense and churches may walk around swinging a censor filled with burning frankincense and myrrh.

There is a similar reason why earthy religions cut loose with drums and dancing, churches have large choirs, temples have drums, movement and chanting and some churches contain elements percussion, dancing and singing.

There is a similar reason why one religion shares wine and hosts, another bread and wine, some earthy religions share rum, and some shamans use vodka.

We know what we know through our senses. Bringing sensory experiences into ritual makes them more real for us, more memorable, more powerful. That is why a refrain from a song or a whiff of incense can suddenly evoke a spiritual feeling or idea.

Whether you are celebrating some regularly occurring holy day or creating a special personal ritual, bring your senses to your ritual for a more powerful result.

Tranceportation

To get to there from here, sometimes we have to let our mind walk out in front of us. If we can just let go and relax, our mind can travel and bring us back information, impressions, imprints for the future.

I find that tarot cards work very well for this. So does drumming, dancing, taking walks. Simply engage yourself in one of these activities until your consciousness is free to wander.

Pull cards and make a spread, or keep pulling cards until you something clicks and you find that one image or a cluster of images sets your mind off traveling. The journey takes on a life of its own and does not need to be directed.

With drumming, just find a rhythm that feels right and keep going with it. The rhythms will create passageways to other realms.

If you dance for a half hour, your body will lead your mind out of whatever it is stuck in. It is best to use instrumental music because lyrics could set your direction, and you want the freedom to let the movement shape your journey.

Walking also works well. After a while, the physical motion is automatic and as you simply notice different things in your surroundings, your mind will wander in different ways than your body.

Why use trance? It can carry you to places that you will not get to simply by thinking about them. Trance can make you aware of things on a different level. There are certain realms that you have to be relaxed to enter.

Use trance for transportation, and you will be moved on many levels. These will heighten your ability to pick up psychic impressions and bring you a peaceful feeling. Trance has the ability to be both stimulating and relaxing at the same time.

Sweating It Out

I have in the past been in sweats myself, and no one got hurt, no one died. I have led sweats myself, and no one got hurt and no one died. I have also been to firewalks. I have walked on fire and saw many others do it without getting hurt or dying.

I used to lead drumming circles and there were always people who came because they liked the energy and the feel of the circles, but had no training or experience with percussion instruments and drums. And yet, eventually, they all participated.

In each case, I always gave people permission to quit if they did not feel like they could keep up with everyone else. It was always my experience that they would get some value out of it even if they had to withdraw and sit out for the balance of the event.

If they were in a sweat and they said they needed to get out, they were let out so they could get fresh air, water and something to eat. They would sit with the firekeepers. When people were at a firewalk and didn't feel ready to do it, they were encouraged to simply sit on the side and watch other people. There is a lesson for people in that way too.

Drumming circles posed no possibility of physical danger as did a sweat or firewalk, but it was my experience, and I led drumming circles for years, that if you let a person join in when they are ready to join in, or leave when they want to leave that they will get value from the experience, and in most cases, when they felt ready, their energy would blend into the circle beautifully.

I no longer facilitate such events simply because I am focused on other things now.

Tarot readings, tarot teaching and dealing in tarot decks is my public activity right now and that is very rewarding. The daily challenge I set for myself writing on this blog is another.

I do a lot of one-on-one coaching and consultations which I offer in a private setting, and you can read more about those on my website. Some people do great in big workshops and others flourish in the one-on-one environment.

The key to all of these personal development challenges is to know what it is you really want to do and to give yourself permission to quit if you feel that it is time to quit. Focus your attention on what it is you really feel most important to do.

Nobody needs to walk on fire, spend hours in a sweat, climb mountains, go on vision quests, fast in the wilderness, jump out of airplanes, deep sea dive, drink ayahuasca or eat mushrooms. These are all just tactics we use to break through limitations.

We have all kinds of challenges in life and our first task is to decide which ones we need to meet.

For some people letting go of their concerns about not having the most beautiful voice, or not knowing the finer points of music will allow them to listen to others, join in, let their energy flow, experience joy and visionary states. It was said by another drum master that a person who does not know how to drum is one who does not know how to listen.

When I used to teach creative writing, one of the comments I heard often from new students is that they did not know if they could write. But after I told them that they had permission to write whatever they wanted and not to censor themselves, suddenly those very same people were writing good stories. They just had to let themselves go.

For some people, decluttering their own home and office so that they only have what they really want and really use would be a far more cathartic and valuable experience than walking on fire or sitting in a sweat.

There are those who hold onto every souvenir, every scrap of paper, old magazines, old newspapers, clothing that they have not worn in years, equipment from sports they no longer play and will never play again, broken appliances, and other things they have never gotten around to fixing. A person in this situation is really needing some coaching and support in the art of letting go.

For some people, learning to let themselves experience the ecstasy of orgasm on a regular basis would be far more beneficial than walking on fire or sitting through a sweat.

Each of us has different challenges to sweat out. Which one is most important to tackle first? Choose. Now if you want help doing it, ask.

Moving at the Speed of Life

Right now I am thinking of all the things I can possibly do to speed up my transition into a full time tarot reader.

I have redone my poster, brochure, business cards and I am working on redoing my web page to focus the primary attention on tarot, and leaving everything else, such as the past lives, reiki, house blessings, handfastings, dream interpretation, sound healing, life coaching, writing coaching and everything else to a place of less attention on the website. This focus seems to be working well. I am now able to see how all of these things can grow out of the focus of tarot, and how tarot can also be applied in all these other ways, from moving energy to coaching to everything else I know how to do. New vistas are now open. New perspectives. New capabilities.

This blog will continue to be open in terms of the range of subject matter, just as the readings I do for people cover a wide range of questions about the whole spectrum of life, rather than just articles about cards themselves.

At the same time, I have been giving lots of attention to bookings for the coming year and planning ahead as much as possible. My plans include both travel to selected places to work and building up my phone reading business.

Examining all cash flow and planning accordingly is essential. Still another essential part of this process is manifesting enough business and enough bookings to render the day job unnecessary. Part of the successful transition then is planning, and another part simply requires trust that more opportunities will continue to open up.

Part of this process involves brainstorming with others, and part of it is simply meditating on this myself.

Interestingly, I have also noticed that these meditations about the progress of my business involves drumming, chanting, playing harmonica, walking and swimming as part of the process of welcoming in clearer thinking and focusing energy on the goal.

I have cleared my schedule of other activities and now focus more tightly on how to bring the transition into the nearer future. Every day is another step closer.

It is all a process of having a dream, then walking into the dream and taking my place in the picture. Step by step, I bring myself into the picture until everything is moving at the speed of life.

2012 Hysteria, the New Y2K

Seems that pretty frequently I get notices in my email or see it on websites that there will be some kind of workshop for people concerned about the end of the world as we know it when the calendars roll around to 2012.

All this jazz originated from the fact that the Mayan calendars only go that far. Apparently the authors of all these breathless texts about it never thought of a simple explanation.

Just imagine people living a few thousand years ago, sitting around carving a calendar out of stone. Having done a bit of manual labor in my lifetime, I can picture these old stone carvers sitting around after a hot day of banging away with their hammers and chisels when one of them says "I'm tired. We've carved up to 2012. That's a lot of lifetimes ahead of our own. Let's go do something else. A few thousand years from now, they can get some other stone carvers to continue hacking away at these rocks."

And that's how the Mayan calendar came to an end at 2012.

But today there are lots of people selling books or DVDs or CDs or whatever about it, fretting about what it all means. Who else is worrying about it besides the people who have a product to sell? Well, OK, some of the people who bought those products.

I can't help but remember back to 1998 and 1999 when there was a certain segment of the population that was convinced that the world would come to an end or at least we would all descend into major catastrophes at New Year's Eve 2000 because nobody's computer clock would be able to move forward, and everything would grind to a halt. I always thought it was nonsense.

Back then, some of the hysterical ones would look at me earnestly and say "It's all true. You just don't understand." Of course, their understanding was also fueled by paranoid, fear based talk radio folks who were busy cashing in on selling survivalist gear to their listeners in preparation for the coming apocalypse. The worst of them warned people to stash truckloads of canned food in their basements and buy plently of guns and ammo to fend off the hoards who will want to steal your canned goods. They were even hawking night vision goggles so that you can see them coming in the dark. And hand cranked radios so that you could pick up the signals when the power went out. Of course, if all the power went out, how would radio stations broadcast? All you would get is a cramp from cranking. Oh never mind that. No sense letting facts interfere with your sales pitch. Back then there were also people running around hawking their books, recordings, and workshops about the looming disaster.

Not being particularly susceptible to fear mongers, I simply reasoned that all the corporations would not allow all the clocks and computers to stop and they would fix their programming. Being without electricity can make life hard for us when we can't watch movies, listen to music, cook on electric stoves, or keep food cold in the refrigerator, but electric companies experience power outages as an interruption in cash flow. After all, that's how they keep calculating interest on our credit cards, car loans, home loans and everything else. Computers run by the different branches of government figure out how to tax us. Do you really think that all these powerful interests will allow all this money making machinery grind to a halt? Of course not. Not then. Not now.

So what did I do New Year's Eve 2000? I partied. I drank, danced and drummed. I had a fire in the fireplace.

What were the Y2K afficionados doing? Probably hunkering down in their bunkers with their tons of gallon buckets of nitrogen sealed tins of beef, mac and cheese and green beans, digging the vibes from their own personal generators.

Next time I saw one of those characters who had been vigilant about warning me to prepare for Y2K and lay in my truck load of canned goods and cases of ammunition at a dance the month after New Year's, I asked him if he was tired of eating mac and cheese and canned beef yet. He had this constipated kind of look about him.

I just smiled and wished him "Bon Appetit!"

Everything is Magic, Then It Expands

Some days, there is nothing but magic in the air. We remember those moments and hold them close, and then they expand.

We want more days like this in our lives.

Breathe, breathe. Some days putting one foot in front of the other is enough. Other days everything is magic.

One moment we breathe and we feel full of life energy. Everything around us is more alive, more interesting, more delicious than ever before.

We have looked ahead to see what is there, and then we find ourselves back here, now. Now, now, each step leads us toward whatever our future is, as we step into it, with everything here leading to it.

When we experience those moments when we are totally alive and in it, then we savor it, so that the taste can last longer.

Those moments when we connect and the rest of the world drops away, everything is magic and that is all that there is. So we enrich it with our presence, and charge it with our affection, tenderness, our fire and our strength and launch our energy out into the world to create more moments like this.

Music: Primal, Potent Magic

Today, I am prompted to think of how guitars changed my life. Les Paul, who invented the electric guitar as well as multitrack recording, died today, and that led me to remembering when I got my first guitar and taught myself how to play and what happened next.

Music has always been a part of my life. An important part. Before I learned guitar, I wanted to be a classical violinist. After a year and a half of lessons I was eager to play melodies, but the traditional way of teaching at that time was to focus on finger exercises long before attempting melodies. I understand that methods have changed since then, but I quit because I was entranced by melodies, not exercises.

So after quitting violin lessons, I didn't take up anything else immediately. But eventually, I got hooked on rock, and decided that I wanted to try that. So I bought a guitar and within a very short time, I was able to play songs. For a little while I was in bands, but then spent many years playing solo. For a number of years, inviting people over to play guitar and sing was a great way to socialize and have fun. People would come over and we made music, hung out and talked and taught each other songs.

Growing up in Chicago, and hearing lots of the great blues musicians, I also was inspired to teach myself blues harp (harmonica) which can also play lots of lovely melodies beyond blues. When you can play blues harp, your instrument fits in your pocket and you can jump in with other musicians on a moment's notice. And it has the power to transform any space. Back when I was a cab driver, for example, and we were in waiting lines, like at the airport, some drivers would be shooting craps, but I would pull out my harp, and then another driver pulled out a guitar and a long boring wait in a parking lot would turn into a jam.

Later on, my life changed and drumming became my favorite instrument and I spent many evenings in drumming circles and drumming parties, and for a while was the drummer for a band of women vocalists. There were nights around the fire when we would drum until our hands got sore and swollen and people would be falling out having danced and drummed into a frenzy and spent their energy. But all it would take to get them started again was for one person to start a chant or a beat, and people would come back to life.

That was followed by a number of years where contra dancing kept me smiling for many an evening. High energy, work up a sweat, keep your eye on your partner and your ear on the caller, and keep in time with everyone else kind of dancing. If you have never experienced it, a hot fiddler and a good caller leading a band can turn a room full of strangers into synchronized waves of energy within minutes.

I have also participated in the Dances of Universal Peace and sung in kirtan and participated in song circles on a number of occasions. Voices can join and stir up waves of energy that are ethereal and send people floating around in circles.

Any kind of participation in music or dance will lift the spirits of the participants and stimulate good feelings.

In retrospect, I would have to say that music really came into my life in a big way because people like Les Paul helped to make the guitar an even more popular and accessible instrument. I mean rock n roll would have never been without the electric guitar. When Muddy Waters started playing electric guitar, he just blew the blues right out of the folk music arena and into legend. Eelctric guitar opened portals to other dimensions.

And, in turn, music opened portals to other dimensions. Music is one of the first, and still most potent forms of magic that we have.

Disorientation & Reorientation

Tests we face in life are meant to cause us disorientation. Each time we have to recalculate our course, we have to see with fresh eyes and hear with fresh ears in order to find our way again. In this process of renewal, we discover things about ourselves. Little realizations open the door to big revelations.

Look at some of these definitions of orientation:
an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs
position or alignment relative to points of the compass or other specific directions
a person's awareness of self with regard to position and time and place and personal relationships
predilection: a predisposition in favor of something
orientation course: a course introducing a new situation or environment

When sailing a sailboat, you are constantly shifting your position relative to the wind in order to make optimum use of the energies present in the wind and water so that you can stay on course and get where you want to go. They call this maneuver tacking. Little ribbons on the top of the sail give the first indication of the shifts in the wind. These are called telltales.

When two people are dancing, someone leads and someone follows. Good dance partners only need to use a movement of the eyes, a light touch of the hand, or a shift in the hips to signal a change of direction, a turn, a spin.

When drummers are drumming together, a signal can be as simple as an extra beat to pick up or slow down the tempo.

A choice of words will indicate a range of differences in a writer's intention. Subtle, but significant signals. A tone can signify the difference between pleasure and pain.

Disorientation and reorientation are ways of responding to life by constantly revising our directions, renewing our connections and clearly reaffirming our choices in order to signal and then make our change in direction. Adjusting to flowing and shifting energy patterns is necessary to life. Consciously engaging in the procecss strengthens us and enlarges our life.

Joy

How many times in your daily life do you experience joy? Can you experience joy from going to the farmer's market and buying fresh produce? Can you experience joy from simply going for a swim? Can you experience joy from seeing plants grow in your garden? Can you experience joy from drumming and singing for a little while? Can you experience joy from drinking a cold beverage while watching the sun set or the moon rise on a warm evening?

Now what about letting your creative spirit out to play? Did you ever just feel like writing something simply because you felt like saying something? Did you ever feel like drawing a picture just because you had an idea you wanted to sketch out? Did you ever want to sing a song that just came to you just because you felt like it?

Did you ever make love with total focus and just feel the joy, and letting it continue on? Did you ever make love until you felt your energy connect in a different way with your partner? Did you ever feel your energies connect on another level that is not easy to explain? Did your joy become ecstasy? Did you ever feel the joy so permeate you that you reached a happiness beyond all recognition? Does this happen often? Why not? Would you like it to? Is joy so simple to attain that we forget about it? Or is joy one of those things we save for special occassions?

Do you get up in the morning and dress comfortably and do what you need to do with joy as the feeling that flows through you? Do you experience joy and creativity every day? Why not?

How Many Turning Points Do We Have?

How many turning points do we have in our life? Did you ever stop to reflect on just how many times you have changed course over the years due to major life events?

In my own life, the sudden death of my father at a young age resulted in my becoming a hippie instead of enlisting in the military. That was one. My life opened up to very different experiences because of that.

Single life after my first divorce was one huge never ending party. After my second divorce, I moved, started a new career and a new relationship in a whole new part of the country and worked hard at changing my life.

A turning point came when an ad agency I was working for went out of business, so rather than look for another job, I launched my own freelance writing business which was very active for several years, until I accepted a job as the editor of a magazine.

Another was when I self published my second book of poetry. For a year and a half I called on boookstores, created special events, book signings, readings and everything else I could think of to sell my books. Met lots of people because of that and found out that even though lots of creativity goes into writing a book, tons more goes into the marketing.

After having a heart attack several years ago, I suddenly was faced with the realization that I could no longer eat and drink like I used to and needed to be more consistent with exercise.

When I really got into gardening, I discovered just how nurturing and life affirming this activity is. A lot of hard work goes into creating a garden, and many rewards come out of it.

When I discovered drumming, my perception of music opened up in a whole new way. People could come together simply by making sounds together, dancing and singing could erupt in the middle of it, and the differences between audience and performer were forever blurred.

There have been so many turning points in my life, and I am sure, many more to come.

How would you describe the turning points in your life?

Lust & Love

Today Valentine's Day seems to be not much more than a sales promotion event for companies that produce chocolates, flowers, greeting cards and other gimmicks like diamond jewelry, teddy bears and special pajamas. But the only gift that actually comes close to the original spirit of the times might be sexy lingerie.

Back in the days of the Roman Empire, February was the time for a holiday known as Lupercalia, a very lusty holiday during which the followers of Pan would run wildly through the streets in animal skins with little whips, the playful touch of which were said to make a woman more fertile.

Women would bare their flesh in order to receive more strokes. People would play the ancient equivalent of spin the bottle and there was a general air of lusty playfulness everywhere.

It does not take much imagination to see why such a holiday would be immensely popular. So, like they did with other holidays, the church laid a more genteel veneer over the old pagan holiday, and thus, Valentine's Day was born.

In the blink of an eye, a day of lusty playfulness was suddenly turned into a day of dedication to love and faithful devotion. All of this was done with the same deft touch that turned Samhain into All Saints Day, Yule into Christmas and the Ostara into Easter. A little smidgen of politics and religion, and voila! the lusty antics, laughter and opportunity for people to stop working to sprout and sport their wild hairs was suddenly tamped down.

So if you are feeling a bit randy on Valentine's weekend, consider it a bit of the roots of the old holiday peeking back through the veneer of chocolates and roses.

Gypsy Mysteries

People are always fascinated by gypsies. Not just the ethnic variety, but those who seem to wander through life, not particularly attached or weighed down, but just free spirits who flow in and out of different careers and homes and lives. There is something magical about the way they can blend in and transmute themselves whenever the need arises.

Once upon a time, people stayed close to the place where they were born. Family, school, church and work were all found within a 20 mile radius of where they lived. So when the circus came to town, it was a big event. Not just because there were colorful tents, ferris wheels, elephants and such, but because the people who worked in those shows were just as mysterious as anything. Locals would marvel at them.

The same was true for those people who work various circuits like the Renaissance Festivals or craft shows. They may spend part of the year making merchandise to sell during the season, then hit the road for more than half a year, camping out for a few weeks at a time, then moving on to the next show not to return again for a year.

While they are in the company of their fellow festival members, there is a certain extended family feeling among them, which ebbs and flows as they break camp and then set up camp again, especially since they do not all follow exactly the same pattern all the time.

They have to earn all their money on the weekends, then during the week, they either restock or repair or relax. Camaraderie is found around a fire, with music and storytelling, much the same behind the scenes at a modern Renaissance Festival or craft fair, as behind the scenes at circuses or carnivals or the old fashioned gypsy camps.

They are here, and then they are gone. The shows are magical, the entertainment fetching and the mood celebratory and lively. Then camp is broken and the show disappears for another year, the grounds deserted, and the people regroup somewhere else to begin again, each day an adventure, each show with a little different flavor, each moment special in that it repeats, but not exactly, forever.