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.

Different Kinds of Oneness

In metaphysical circles, you often hear it espoused that a goal of enlightened people is to bring about unity and oneness among people.

In the best of ways, what we see that demonstrated when a catastrophe strikes and people spontaneously contribute to help those who are suffering. That kind of oneness displays compassion and a sense of empathy with other people.

In the worst of ways, we see a different kind of oneness expressed when corporate execs dump thousands of employees while rewarding themselves with multimillion dollar bonuses. There is something wrong with this picture. What is it? It is that in one situation, the oneness is expanding and in the other oneness is contracting.

But what if those execs who profited hugely from these changes in the corporate structures were to contribute to making the world a better place by creating new businesses in the US? What could be a better use of millions and billions of newly acquired wealth than helping to create new businesses? Rather than expect those people to start all the new businesses themselves, fund organizations to provide seed money for entrepreneurs.

We have seen banks in countries like India and other countries provide micro loans for people starting new businesses. How much is that practiced in the US? Maybe in a less developed country, a few hundred dollars can launch a new business, but here it might take a few thousand.

Years ago in this country, people got together to form labor unions to create better working conditions for people who worked in factories. That was another expression of oneness, and it lifted our standard of living.

Now it is a different time, and perhaps what is needed now is for more people to be encouraged to create a job rather than focusing on finding a job.

So if we are to encourage this kind of thinking, what well known, wealthy exec will step forward to set such an initiative in motion?

After all, doesn't the difference between having a good idea and starting a new business often come down to funding?

And aren't the people most likely to start a new business the motivated individuals who are trying to create a better life for themselves and others?

Isn't it time to emphasize a new kind of oneness?

What We Are Capable Of Doing

Many of us are feeling called by the situations of our lives to rise to a new level of awareness, to a level of being more, doing more. Why now?

We are now at a new level of evolution and it is time to look at not just what we have done, but what we can do.

Just like job hunting on the web has changed the way people look for work, with robots scanning resumes to decide who might get the job, we cannot do things the way we used to. Used to be that you had an opportunity during an interview to make the case for why you should get the job. The resume stated your history and experience.

Today, robots scan for keywords, and if they are not on your resume, you will not be interviewed. Yes, I share the opinion that this is an inferior way to find the best person for the job. But there is another choice. We can choose to create a better way of doing things, by not participating in that system and charting our own path.

That may be the whole message of the changes in a nutshell. The universe may be encouraging us to do things in a way that makes sense for us. That requires extra energy, but the rewards are greater, not just in terms of money, but in terms of how we spend our time and energy.

By choosing to go to the next level, we do take risks, and we challenge ourselves to do things we have not done. We may find ourselves calling on reserves of strength and resources we did not know we had, but this is part of our initiation into another world.

Every time we ask to go to the next level we are expressing our will and desire to engage with the universe in a new and different way. It is another way of breaking new ground and presenting ourselves so that the world can see what we are capable of, not just what we have done.

It is new every day when we re-create ourselves. It is always about what we can do now, not just what we have done in the past.

Supercharging the Rituals of Career Change

When we come to major crossroads in our lives, we need to take both practical and symbolic actions to help with our transition into the next phase of our life.

For example, if we are changing career paths, or changing jobs, it is a good time to de-clutter and clear our living space of the old energies and invest it with new energies.

Job hunting can be depressing if you let it get you down, so make time to go for a walk or swim or dance, or whatever form of physical activity you enjoy, because it will help keep your spirits up and keep your body energized by getting your heart pumping and the oxygen flow can stimulate new ideas.

Taking time for meditation every day helps restore calmness and clarity too.

Many people like to put up a poster board and place words and pictures on there that express what they want and even just glancing at that is a form of visual affirmation every day.

Another powerful step is to get in touch with your spirit guides, God, Goddess, guardian angels, ancestors or whoever you call on for help and do something symbolic to ask them for their help. By that I mean choose some physical symbol of the successful change you want to make and keep one with you and keep one where you see it every day.

We have to call on every bit of help we can when we need it. Every one of these exercises dovetails.

When you clean your space and discard what is no longer important, you have room for what is important. When you reaffirm your intentions and do the rituals that keep mind and body strong, you keep moving forward. When you ask for help, you acknowledge that you don't have all the answers, so you trust that your helpers will provide some for you.

Communicate your desires to everyone you meet, not just close friends. People like to help other people, and they will be better able to help if they know exactly what you are trying to do, what your goal is, what you are open to, and what might work.

We all have rituals that we follow every day. In your time of need, find a way to supercharge them and gear up so that the changes work in your favor. There may be doors opening that we have not seen. There may be opportunities that we have yet to unearth. There are connections yet to be made. Put in place a set of daily rituals that really support you. If you need help with this, ask me.

Guidance to Grab a lead and Go for It

When we need to make changes, we frequently alternate between moving as fast as we can and taking time to look everything over.

As we tune into our spirit guides who are intimately connected to our survival instinct, and they serve us well, and that is where we get that inkling that this path would be better for us than that one. Or that spending time on this is better than that.

It is where that voice comes from that says it is time to get back in shape. So even though we might feel like being laid back again, we decide it is time to get up anyway and get a move on.

When once again choosing our next move along the career path, spirit guides are the voices that suggest this or that is our best choice.

A deck of tarot cards can be very useful in these rapid fire situations that we find ourselves in. The cards can react rapidly and point us in the right direction. Once again, of course, it is our choice what direction we want to take.

We see the energies moving in the areas around us. There is that swirling energy that
suggest to us wonderful choices are available if we will just stop and make use of them.As these options get straightened out,

So we find out parth again and settle into a groove,then we tade note and act, and once we have moved in the direction where we seeour greatest opportunity and we start gettig traction with them, we feee more assured, Our instincts will guide ups to our most productive opportunity. This can mean utilizing an approach we had not seriously considered before.

And yes, these new approaches are revealing ssuccess or at lest promise of success.

Now the immediate need is to take it our for a road test. How well does the idea fly. It can get to a point where we don'r recognize it as our own, but still it works, and we carry on with it and it gets better, Once we think it over, take a lead and jump on it. This shifting around and chaos will shift our next success into great.

Right now it is messy. People restless. they are hunting, Soon will come openings staffed by performers who really want it to happen. Necessity is the mother of invention once again.

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.

Written in Stone?

Last night I was listening to an interview on the radio with John Anthony West who has done a lot of controversial research on ancient cultures. For example, he says that the sphinx was actually created by some civilization the preceded the Egyptians and that the erosion on its exterior was done by water, not wind. Of course, people who have a vested interest in their theory of the past don't even want to discuss this.

This type of reaction is not new. I was raised in the Catholic church and went to Catholic schools. We were taught that Catholicism became as big as it did because whenever people were introduced to it, they regarded it as so superior to whatever came before it, that they just abandoned those old ways and joined it. Of course, later in life when I read other history books, I discovered that this was not actually how it all happened.

Göbekli Tepe, located in Turkey, is the site I heard them discussing, so I looked it up and saw the photos. It appears to have been an ancient temple made of stone pillars 10-15 tons each, carved in raised relief with figures of various animals and people. Ground penetrating radar shows that there may be 18 more similar structures adjacent to the one that is unearthed. They estimate these sites to be older than the pyramids of Egypt or Stonehenge. Much of this work was done under the direction of the German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt.

Such a huge endeavor had to be organized and directed by a powerful person. A powerful vision must have been behind this work, and either the people agreed with this vision and worked toward it, or they were forced to work on it. The other obvious fact the stones give us is that these people had to be very skilled to carve raised relief figures into the stone columns at a time when other historians and archaeologists would not credit people with having tools to do such work.

Now the next amazing thing about this site is that someone then buried it under tons of dirt, which actually helped preserve it.

So the question we are facing is this. Why would people spend the immense amount of time and energy necessary to build such a complex, and then cover it over with dirt and abandon it?

A possible explanation could be this. Perhaps the political or religious structure that caused its creation later fell out of favor and people moved on.

Compare that to the structural changes in our society right now. At the beginning of the US, everyone was a farmer, craftsman, merchant or trader. Cottage industries were how most people made their living.

That was until the industrial age, when factories became the major employers and people quit working on farms or in home based businesses to go to work for the large employers. And that structure stayed in place until our present time.

However, as we now see major corporations closing down their US factories and offices in order to hire cheaper labor in other countries, the US workers are now left to create new ways of making a living.

Some people have gone back to farming, some in specialized organic farms or farms that raise heirloom varieties of plants that can command higher prices. Other people are inventing and marketing their own products. Others are creating specialized services that they can personally offer.

Although some people may be forced into these roles because they cannot get other employment comparable to what they used to have, it is, in essence the return of cottage industries, or home based businesses. Self employment and small businesses will be the wave of our future.

In a way, this may be like the ancient people covering up their old constructions once they have decided that they have moved beyond that model. Just a short time ago, people in the US grew up thinking that getting a job working in a large corporation was their career, their livelihood. Now people are looking at creating their own work, their own business, as their path in life.

Religions are following the same path as many of the churches which used to be full to capacity are now being shut down for lack of attendance, or hobbling along with a fraction of what they used to have. Meanwhile, although there are new megachurches replacing some of these, there is an increasing percentage of the population that chooses to not to belong to any organized religion, as many as one quarter of the population according to some surveys. There too, as individuals no longer are part of large organizations, their spiritual path or religion may be a self directed, home based activity.

These archaeological finds, contrasted with our current situation suggests that human history and the evolution of our societies and civilizations has been more of a rise and fall than a steady forward march. These excavations clearly show that humans were capable of great feats during the time of hunter gatherers, predating the rise of agricultural societies and the changes they engendered. Then after demonstrating they could do such things, people chose to abandon them.

We are now riding the cusp of another rise and fall era. Old structures are falling and new ones are rising. How we proceed from here will be the result of millions of individual decisions, which may look more organized to people looking back on us many years from now.

We can choose to ride this cusp coming from either love or fear. Be aware of what motivates your choices. We are already inhabiting new forms. Can you feel it? How are you navigating this ride?

Rest

Like most other people, I use my computer all the time. Email, my blog, my website, different sites that I am on, like Facebook, some smaller listings and sites that I check into once in a while. Using all these things to try and promote my business, research information, connect with people, look for leads. These are things I do for my self, to develop my own business, my reading and healing business.

Then at my day job, I am always on the computer doing the company's work. Plus in various assignments over the years, on the phone at the same time.

This past weekend, I decided to rest. Unplug as much as possible and rest.

Checked the email a couple times, checked my lottery tickets, went to the farmers market, cooked, walked. Read a book. And slept.

By the time it was Monday morning again, I was more rested than I had been in a while. It felt really good.

There is so much we need to do, especially if we are growing our own business. That feeling that we always need to be on top of things, doing this that and the other or else we might miss something.

Some people have recommended that I start Twittering and doing a few other things online, but I just have not got around to it yet.

Being unplugged was really restful. I keep a pretty strong pace most of the time, working the day job Monday through Friday and working fairs and festivals on weekends.

Right now I am making my schedule more simple, more efficient. I am pruning the less productive events from my schedule and instead concentrating on booking more private appointments.

Unplugging and resting are very rejuvenating. My plan includes having more of that in my schedule too. It feels very good. Well rested helps a person be ready for what has to be done next.

Sometimes we fall into that trap of thinking that if we are not always busy, we will miss something. But it all comes back to love and fear. If we love what we do and stay focused on our vision, taking some quiet time becomes a plus, not a minus. Being constantly busy may be rooted in fear. It always comes down to love or fear doesn't it? Choose love.

Finding a Way to Do What You Love

When people are faced with trying to find a new career, they often thrash about and wonder what that could be. I know I did for a while. I kept applying for jobs simply because they held out the promise of a higher salary, but ultimately I had to come to grips with the fact that I did not really care about those jobs and chose not to pursue those possibilities any more.

Once I got clear on the fact that I really wanted to do something that I could get out of bed eager to do every day, everything changed.

I looked at my involvement with tarot, past lives, reiki, music, and other metaphysical pursuits over the years and realized that for as much as I enjoyed doing those things and for as much positive feedback I had gotten from clients that I had never really made an effort to make that my full time source of income.

That was partially due to the fact that earlier in my life I really enjoyed my day jobs and felt no desire to change that.

Now I am placing all of my attention on shifting out of my day job and into life as a full time reader and healer. Making that decision helped me organize my energies much more clearly and I am steadily making progress toward my goal.

Have you overlooked the obvious for yourself?

There are many people who have taken a hobby or favorite recreation or activity and turned it into a business they love, which also supports them.

Your whole world view can shift radically when you quit thinking of your career path in terms of getting this next job because it pays a little more, or shifting into something you don't really want to do simply to have a paycheck.

Yes, I am practical, and I have had to also take some of those jobs from time to time just to get some cash flow. The difference is not resigning yourself to thinking that the rest of your life has to be like that.

Look at the things that you really love to do. Then do some brainstorming and networking to investigate and consider all the different ways that you can make a living in some way connected to that love.

It may not be easy, but if you stay focused, you can find a way. Remember that old saying, "Where there's a will, there's a way"?

Alice in Wonderland: The Show Must Go On

Do you ever feel like you have fallen down the rabbit hole?

Consider for a moment that corporations and politicians got together to change laws and trade agreements so that plants and offices could be shut in the US so that they could move over to China, India and wherever and hire people for peanuts. The corporations are saying to us "so what if we sacrifice some quality. We got cheap labor and big paydays for our execs."

So we now have to deal with the fact that there are fewer good jobs to be had in the US and people who are looking for work often find that it takes longer to find another job, and that what they do find pays considerably less.

To help out in this situation we have long had a program where we offer some compensation to help those who are out of work.

Except that now the political nutbags have decided not to extend benefits to those who are out of work. I've heard the opinion expressed by the right wing windbags that unemployment compensation is not a good thing because it just makes people lazy.

But we didn't have millions more people suddenly get lazy and decide not to work. No, we have had millions of people thrown out of work when their employers moved the work to other countries where they could find people who would work cheaper, even though they made profits for decades while paying Americans a living wage.

Now some people would rather start their own small business and some small businesses could use loans so that they can expand.

But the windbags and politicians in their genius have decided not to put through a measure that would make more money available for small business loans through small banks. Hmmmmm...Interesting way to find solutions for problems.

Let's see. What kind of world are we creating if we don't want these solutions? Oh, I see the solution that they are in favor of. Yes, they are whining that it is unfair to expect the people who have more money to pay more taxes. Interesting.

Where is all this leading?

Down the rabbit hole again.

Surrender

There are times when we exert our will to get what we want, and there are times when we just surrender. After we have made bold and valiant effort, moments follow when you just thank god and goddess and the world that you have had this life so far and be open to the results you get. Surrender is that delicious moment where you are waiting, expectant and floating.

The time to move again will come soon enough. When we pause for a moment, we can feel the energy moving around us and through us.

Surrender deeply into the night. Let sleep come. Open the gates to the dreamworld and let us see where we go next.

Surrender and refresh yourself before the next wave of action gathers momentum. We will need our energy to go with it.

Surrender.

Wal Weed

Who would have thought that funky Boulder which is nothing if not an outpost of old hippies, artists, musicians, alternative healers, psychics, colorful characters, street performers, greenies added to the mix of interesting elements that a university town usually has, would be the home of businesses who tell the New York Times reporter that they want to get away from the hippie aura that is connected with weed and become the biggest chain of stores.

A little while back when I wrote about this subject at the time Colorado just passed the new law regulating dispensaries, I predicted this outcome. And here it is in today's NYT, people from California with deep pockets who are happy with the new laws and want to turn medical marijuana into a chain store product. Heck, one of the chain store owners quoted doesn't even smoke weed. She just wants to sell the stuff. And she doesn't want to have any kind of hippie influence around her business.

That's what's odd about the whole thing. All these years, the grower's art was developed by people who just loved the stuff and took all the risks to refine the process and were constantly in search of additional knowledge about their favorite plants. And as a result, they became expert horticulturists.

Lots of those kinds of folks were the ones who helped get out the vote and change the law. At the beginning, less than 10 years ago, there were no stores, just caregivers and patients, growers and customers.

Then through the magic of the marketplace, retail stores, called dispensaries, came into being. Lots of them. Big ones and little ones. And then somebody got busy influencing legislators to create a new law that would make it hard for local Colorado people who invested all their money into creating small dispensaries to be able to stay in business while making it easy for someone from out of town with deep pockets to swoop in and start chains. The legislator who was the prime mover behind the law was often heard to say that he expected the new law to put at least half of the dispensaries out of business.

What is not public knowledge at this point is whether the people who want to create chain stores for marijuana are connected to the politicians who made the law. It would not be at all surprising if some investigative reporter were to make such a discovery, because it is rather common in our system that laws are written to please big campaign donors and good friends.

What is surprising is that Boulder, a town that doesn't want a Walmart and is well known for all the funky, creative businesses it has spawned or hosts, would be the launching pad for a chain of marijuana stores that would like to pretend that this whole movement did not have very earthy roots.

This is my prediction of what is yet to come. One of these days we will vote to just flat out legalize it for every one, not just medical patients, and when that day comes, chain stores will definitely be the major players. When it becomes legal, weed will be sold in all the kinds of places where you can buy cigarettes. Walgreens, 7-11, grocery stores, Walmart and all the rest will want a piece of the action, and all those people who dedicated their lives to the art of the grow will merely be suppliers. It will be a shift in consciousness for many people.

Sort of an Alice in Wonderland moment, isn't it?

Curiouser and Curiouser

Alice in Wonderland used to say that. Does anybody else feel that when they look around everyday? Curiouser and curiouser.

Curious can be a good thing. It is that playful child part of us that exhibits the joy of living by looking at things and wondering why it is that way. Curiosity has led me to learn a lot of what I know. I picked up my first tarot deck and started to work with it just to see how it works. I also decided to find out what past lives were about because I was curious. And Reiki. And dowsing. And magic. And so many other things.

I wanted to live in different parts of the country, just to see what it was like to live there. And so I did. I wanted to see what it was like to have a large garden full of flowers, vegetables and herbs, and so I did. At one time I wanted to see how much satisfaction I could get out of refinishing furniture. So I did.

I have not kept on doing all of those things. Some things I did just for the experience, and then moved on to other things.

Many of the different jobs and career changes I have had in my life came out of that same curiosity. Some of those things I was curious enough to try included advertising copywriting, advertising sales, driving a cab, tending bar, being a waiter, being a security guard for the Chicago Cubs baseball team, custom picture framing for an art gallery, organizing blood drives for American Red Cross, editing a metaphysical magazine, editing a literary magazine, teaching creative writing, and working in a call center for a computer company, being a professional tarot reader. I may have forgotten a few things, but if you get that life can be not just an evolution, but an adventure, you get the point. Curiosity always stimulated me to try new things and I am happy I did that rather than spend my whole career in one type of business. I had fun doing most of these jobs.

Wondering what it would be like to do this or that for a living, wondering about all the different things that people do has always been a fascinating topic for me.

So far curiosity has added a lot to my life. Kids are more uninhibited in their curiosity than adults, so they try things just to see what it is like. They also ask questions which often strike adults as funny because they are not aware of social conventions and do not censor themselves. When many adults settle into patterns, they often lose their sense of wonder, and censor themselves, because they want to be seen as serious and important and so they tamp down their playful spirit. But of course, you can bring that playful spirit into the workplace too, although how you let it loose will vary according to the environment.

Kids like to see how things work, and that is why although they make a mess, sometimes they might even leapfrog ahead of adults and learn to do something like make a web page, which their parents might not know how to do.

The Alice in Wonderland effect is about a different aspect of curiosity. Frequently when I look at or listen to the news it seems surrealistic. Look at the top Google searches on any given day, and what most people are interested in seems curiouser and curiouser. If the top Google search for the day is about some minor TV celebrity who got a DUI, what does that say about the searchers?

This morning while I was half awake and having my first cup of coffee, I heard something about attacking and boarding some boat and I thought it was going to be another incident about Somali pirates, when it turned out to be about Israel and some Turkish ship, I think. It used to be that talk of pirates usually referenced Long John Silver, Jean Lafitte, Bluebeard or Captain Hook.

I saw an article about research in Columbia about preventing dementia, and I thought, isn't that the place where most cocaine comes from? Are they trying to use cocaine to prevent dementia? Really? Or is it just a coincidence that both these things are coming from the same country? Curiouser and curiouser.

One other morning I thought I heard some reporter say that BP was going to try and hoover up their oil spill onto some ship, and they were somehow going to be able to filter the water out from the oil and take the oil to a refinery. Or maybe I was just dreaming that's what I heard. Curious. I wonder if that can be done?

Sometimes listening to a news report after just waking up can seem as otherworldly as a funny novel or a funny movie. Sometimes even when I am wide awake, the world gets curiouser and curiouser.

The Bloom Is Off the Bud

You have to ask yourself why Colorado people who voted in favor of medical marijuana suddenly needed House Bill 1284 which effectively kills a lot of small businesses and sets up a system that only favors people with very deep pockets. The bill was signed into law by Governor Ritter recently.

Amendment 20 which made medical marijuana legal in Colorado, did not even mention dispensaries. Originally, it only named caregivers who would raise the plants would provide the medical marijuana to patients.

Obviously, since not everyone who would be a patient for medical marijuana personally knows a grower, storefront dispensaries sprang up, providing a place for these patients to get their stuff.

It was an entrepreneurial boom in Colorado for a couple of years after the passage of Amendment 20. People who have a green thumb decided to grow medical marijuana as a way to make a living. Some of them became caregivers who sold directly to patients, and some growers sold to dispensaries.

Given that so many businesses around here have been having a hard time due to home foreclosures, bankruptcies and such, and with businesses like IBM keeping busy with laying off American workers in Boulder so that they can hire more people in India to take over their jobs, it was a breath of fresh air to see something happen to stimulate new business start ups and create new employment.

Senator Chris Romer suddenly introduced and promoted the bill to regulate all these new businesses. What are the new rules?

Well, it clearly favors big operators.

Bill 1284 limits caregivers to five patients. That will certainly limit a person's ability to be a caregiver.

Growing plants is a full time job. They require constant attention to control temperature, moisture, humidity, nutrients, keeping clean of bugs, pruning, trimming, curing and so on. Being a caregiver is not the kind of thing you can do well as a part time hobby. So it makes sense to let caregivers have more patients and raise more plants, to give them more of a margin to make a living.

The new law also requires dispensaries to grow 79% of their own product and buy what else they need from other dispensaries. Up until now, small dispensaries have been buying product from independent growers.

How much money do you think it would take to set up both a dispensary and a growing operation and pay these fees?

A lot of the independent operators spent their savings and everything they could scrape together to invest in this new legal business opportunity, leasing property, buying equipment, hiring help. And now the playing field is tilted by who? Dispensary licenses could cost $18,000. Add to that the requirement to have a dispensary and growing facility that is properly equipped and has all the licenses, and you are looking at pretty hefty investments.

One aspect of the new law may reveal who is behind the changes to force many small operators out of business. The new law will permit one person to have multiple licenses for multiple locations.

I wonder if Senator Chris Romer, the primary sponsor of the new medical marijuana law, received substantial campaign contributions from individuals who will benefit from this unique aspect of the new law?

Interestingly, in Colorado, one person cannot have more than one retail liquor license. This is the stumbling block that prevents grocery store chains from selling liquor in Colorado.

So the new law says caregivers cannot serve more than 5 people, but one person could own a chain of dispensaries. Does anyone else smell something funny here? And I do not mean the bloom on the bud.

Bottled Water

Yes, drinking water is a healthier choice than drinking soda, but even though I have bought bottled water at times, I have always felt it was a frivolous industry. After all, more than half the bottled water sold is not mineral water or spring water, but simply filtered tap water bottled by the big soft drink manufacturers. For them, it was simply a way to expand their product line, so they used their marketing and advertising to get us to buy something which we could already get for free.

Well, OK, we do pay for the water that comes out of the tap at home, but compared to everything else we buy, it is very reasonably priced, and we figure it into our cost of housing, since virtually every residence in this country has running water.

The answer to getting good quality drinking water is not found in buying bottled water. If we really feel like the quality of our tap water needs to be better, we need to see to it that our cities and towns do a good job of providing that service to us.

Now people are also noticing that although plastic water bottles are recyclable, they are not really recycled that much. So in order to get drinking water, we throw away tons of plastic bottles every day that are made from oil, thus in another way, increasing our demand for oil and expanding our dependency on it.

The alternative is very easy. Get bottles that are good quality metal or glass and refill them. I drink tap water all the time. I also cook with it, make coffee and tea with it, drink whisky with it. Oh yes, I also bathe in it, straight from the tap. I don't insist on anything special. And it works just fine.

It's kind of funny how something that is marketed as good for us really is not really much improved over our tap water, while it creates more garbage and uses more oil. Another victory of marketing over substance.

Curious, isn't it? Just another one of the ironies of modern life.

Winter's Last Mask

The rain was wonderful this evening, and it will be great if it does not continue to turn into snow. Perhaps by the new moon on Thursday, the snow will just be in the mountains.

Rain sounds encourage softening thoughts, cozy evenings, quiet thoughts. Quiet jazz, a trumpet setting a mood in the background. A quiet book, one that prompts appreciative thoughts. Candles, incense, hot tea.

A card for this evening. A woman in a mask, not showing her face just yet. Like spring still masked by another cold snap. The masked woman is ready to share her gifts, but we have to be willing to accept them while she still wears her mask.

We are eager for the warmth of spring, the colors and scents of flowering plants, but for some reason, she is not ready to reveal herself totally just yet. She is aware of our mood, and she is tantalizing us. But she is not totally unreachable. She is eager to let herself go, ready to shed the winter mask. When spring comes, her energy will burst open and show us all the vitality and energy that has been hidden from our view behind that mask.

Winter wanted to make one last brief appearance before giving way to spring. She is being coy with us to remind us what the world is like without warmth, new growth, and the shaking of the sleep from all that is eager to emerge.

The growth of our seeds requires that the shells be opened, so that we can climb out and take on our new forms. Our businesses, our relationships, our efforts in all aspects are being drawn out of their shells, into the light and heat.

Cards, Food and Friends

The deck of cards has to be one of the most creative inventions of mankind. It's small, fits in your pocket, yet provides uncountable hours of entertainment, and it is the most economical toy you can buy. What else can you buy for a dollar that you can have fun with for hundreds of hours?

Whereas other games have one set of pieces, one format, one set of rules. For example, how many different games can you play with a chess set, checker set or backgammon set? They are all great games with long histories, but each one can only be played with their own set. By comparison, with a deck of cards, people can choose between playing old games or inventing new ones. Kids can play with grandparents, since the basic elements of suits and numbers are easy to understand and remember. It is the rules of each game that varies.

After family meals, card games were a way to socialize, because you could play a game while talking and joking. Friends use card games the same way. You can get a bunch of people together and old friends can mix with new friends on an equal footing.

Obviously, they are a long time favorite way of gambling. When I go to casinos, I don't want to sit in front of a slot machine. I play card games, because I like the interaction with the dealer and the other players.

If we extend that same sense of socialization into using cards to do readings, there is still the socialization factor. Of course, people have personal questions they want to investigate with a deck of cards, and many people prefer private consultations for their readings.

And there are always people who come for their readings with their mother, sister, friends, lovers and spouses for their readings. They enjoy sitting in on each other's readings and chatting and joking with each other. Sometimes they remain silent until I say something that really registers with them, and then they ask "how did he know that?"

The constant shuffling and dealing of cards allows for an exchange, an interaction. Whether it is a playing card deck or a tarot deck, the cards still trigger interactions among everyone present.

So reading in a festival or expo setting fits into the mood of things that way. People can be enjoying each other's company, eating and drinking and looking around at all of the other sights, and then when they sit down and we shuffle and deal the cards, there is once again that interaction.

People have been enjoying this interaction for centuries because the cards come into play so naturally when people get together. Break the ice, try your luck, take a look ahead, try and win a little bet, cards by their nature suggest both action and strategy.

Even magicians who can do things like disappear people on stage still like to use card tricks are part of their repertoire, because the little things have just as much power to mesmerize as the big things.

So pick a card, any card, and let the action begin!

A Meditation on Money

Today I am working on my taxes. Like everyone else who makes at least part of their income as a self employed person, gathering all the receipts together so that you can calculate your income versus expenses is one of those tasks that demands a number of hours of time and attention and it can be frustrating if you have not kept your records and receipts where you can find them.

There are moments of enlightenment in this preparation. For example, identifying which expenses were a waste of money, and which brought a good return, thus pointing the way to be more efficient and more profitable next year.

Some people express a lot of anger over paying taxes, but I do not. Here are a few my insights on the subject.

Ask someone who used to have a good paying job and then lost it because their company moved that job to India or China, and I'll bet they would much rather have a decent paying job and pay taxes on that income rather than be on unemployment or working at some much lower paying job now.

If you think about it, every job that is off shored means one less income tax that a person will be able to pay, which, of course, reduces government income. On the whole, it also reduces the quality of life as people fall from an income bracket which would enable them to buy houses, cars, and make other major purchases. Another reason to be concerned about this corporate behavior.

Most people who start their own business have a dip in income before it rises again, unless they have someone who has given them money to use, or they have a spectacularly successful new beginning right off the bat.

There is concern about money wasted in pork barrel spending or earmarks. We probably never had a government budget that did not have any pork in it. Representatives will probably always be looking to get some of that for their home district, in the same way that lobbyists are always making donations to campaign funds in order to get laws passed that they want. Can we stop these practices? Unlikely.

One of the things that makes our country a good place to live and expresses our sense of decency toward other people is the use of our tax dollars to help those who are worse off get some help when they need it. Thus far, I have gone through my whole life without ever collecting one unemployment check or one set of food stamps. I am glad of that. I have seen or heard comments that some people would like to simply do away with Social Security and Medicare as a way of lowering their taxes. I do not agree. I have paid into Social Security since I was 14 when I got my first regular part time job and my Social Security card, and I certainly will be drawing out a monthly check when I get to be the right age for it. And if and when I am eligible for Medicare, I will use that too.

Here is a mystery of money to ponder. In all this discussion of reforming the health care system, some people raise the concern that if we covered everybody, where would the money come from? Did you hear this question before invading Iraq? Or Vietnam? Or wherever? When we have wars, where does that money come from? Or for that matter, questions of why we should get into a war. I would far prefer that my tax dollars help people get health care coverage than finance a war.

All in all, I regard paying taxes as just part of what it takes to live in this country. As I prepare my taxes, I keep an eye out for what I can learn from the process, and even though some money paid in may be wasted, I am sure that some of it is going for good purposes. I agree that our representatives do an imperfect job of managing our money.

As I look at my own expenditures, I never have a perfect year either. How would I define perfect? A year in which all of my expenses were wise and yielded great returns. No, every year I have spent some money wisely and some money foolishly and every year, I have made money on some investments and lost money on others.

This exercise is part of our learning process. Think of it as a meditation on money. And yes, I always have a professional help me prepare the forms and submit them. It is well worth it.

There is something to learn from all of the things we do, even the things we do not like to do. It is all part of raising consciousness.

Heart Breathing

As I watch for omens that will bring more possibilities for making this career transition, I am focusing my breathing through my heart. A simple method. Just as I breathe deeply, I imagine drawing breath in and out that way, just relaxing it, so that I can be more observant.

Keeping the intention circulating that I affirm that I do work that I love and make money this way. I affirm that what I have to offer is valuable to others. I let go of whatever tension is there.

My heart is beating smoothly, and it is full of good feelings, and doors are opening, with each breath. New possibilities become visible, with each breath. I am confident, creative and looking forward to finding solutions that work so that I can make a successful career transition.

I am still booking events, still extending my energies, and networking with others. I am still doing my work, organizing my schedule and inventory. All of that.

The stress melts away when I breathe through my heat. I know that the changes will come, the openings will present themselves, the opportunities will appear. And I breathe through my heart to dissolve stress and affirm that there is heart in my work, and that there is courage in the next step.

Day Jobs & Day Dreams

Like many other people, I have a day job while I build up my own business. For the second time in 14 months, I am getting a pay cut on my day job. And for the second time in a year, the job I have been doing is being sent to India. Obviously the corporate strategy is to pay their American workers as little as possible, and when you cannot squish the wages down any further, export the jobs to third world countries.

These corporate thieves and liars promised me a certain number of dollars to do this job when they hired me, then after I was here doing the job, they simply sent out an email one day announcing that they were reducing our pay. They pulled that crap while the banking fiasco was going on, and said that the pay cuts were necessary "Due to the current economic crisis." Of course, that was a lie. That was a convenient cover for the company to steal from the employees. "The current economic crisis" did not stop the execs from rewarding themselves.

Today, they informed me that my pay would be cut again, because they just don't want to pay what they had previously agreed to pay me after the last pay cut. They have customers and they are renewing their contracts.

The management attitude is that they don't care if some of us quit because there are plenty of unemployed people to take our place.

It is the greed of the corporations that has made it more difficult to find jobs in the US that pay well. The corporation I work for is now the largest employer in India and they sold off their manufacturing division to a company in China.

I find it interesting to observe that people like the tea baggers are venting their frustrations at the government, but not expressing their dismay about the conduct of corporations.

Yes, there were negative feelings expressed about the banking fiasco. But what about other corporate bad behavior? In order for our economy to grow, we need to outgrow these greedy execs and this corporate conduct that rewards duplicity and mean spiritedness. How are you going to grow the economy if you keep trying to pay employees as little as you can get away with?

It is good to have this safe space to vent. I am reminding myself that this is only my day job and my goal is to grow my own business.