Contrasts in Oracles

One of the most fascinating things about tarot decks is that so many artists have reinterpreted it using their own style, ideas and imagery. It is still a powerful set of symbols no matter which set we are speaking about. There are so many artists and so many styles. There are an infinite way of making a picture of lovers, a merchant, a soldier, a wise man, a priestess, a king, queen, magician, and the scenes from everyday life, people working together, quarreling, building, eating, playing, resting.

Some of the images are timeless, others are the flavor of today or this artist's imagination or philosophical preference. And other designs are very ephemeral, and will be known only by collectors of the odd and curious.

Runes, on the other hand, have remained impervious to all the artists over the millenniums that have come and gone. That suggests to me a reason for their staying power. They address primal needs, primal instincts and eternal values. A simple glyph indicates home, wealth, health, needfire, water, gambling, strength, the divine. Although over time our homes look different, our wealth takes different forms, our ideas about the divine change, these timeless marks represent things that have been important to people since caveman days.

The I Ching has also remained a reliable oracle, with different people trying their hand at translating the verses, but no one has changed the hexagrams. They are set and have been for thousands of years. Similar to the runes in that they represent things that have been important forever in civilizations, the particulars of how we perceive or portray what is important now can change. We may have different ways of saying it now, but what is important now was important to our ancestors.

Oracles can remind us of the roots of matters and as we let them play out, they may appear to be different, according to our individual imaginations.

Syncronicity 2

I think that Law of Attraction certainly is related to synchonicity. But there is a difference between times when our thoughts, words and actions are openly in agreement, or secretly in disagreement.

How many times do we have inner conflict that is not expressed?

Sometimes the synchronicity can be a wake up call to a person's true intentions. Maybe the universe knows that you are thinking of changing jobs, even though you have not said anything to anyone else, and all of a sudden here is information on a job opportunity. Perhaps a person is thinking to themselves of leaving a relationship suddenly meets someone who encourages them to go ahead and leave. Perhaps a person is thinking of paying more attention to their health when suddenly alarming news from their doctor is followed by a coupon for a heath club membership in that day's mail.

There are times when the synchronicity is answering a secret desire, and so appears to be more of surprise than something we have been openly and outwardly seeking.

So it can come to us subtely as well as loudly. Synchronicity can be quickly explosive or quietly unsettling. It send diffrerent messages in different ways. In either way, it opens the way for what we really want. Remember the saying: Be careful what you wish for.

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is one of the mysteries of life. Why is it that sometimes we think of a person, and all of a sudden we get a call or an email from them? Why is it that we are thinking about a certain subject, and all of a sudden there is a new article about it? Or we have a question on our mind, and we shuffle a tarot deck and the first card contains an image that pertains to our question?

There are no accidents. There are so many things happening simultaneously that I think that one of the keys is being open to seeing. When we focus our attention on something, we are able to see it. Synchronicity is a way of breaking our pattern when we find ourselves in a rut, always looking at things the same way. Synchronicity wakes us up with a surprise. It is the universe's way of saying "Hey look at this!"

For example, did you ever notice that when you are looking for information on a subject all of a sudden it is everywhere? It was always there, just that we weren't interested in seeing it.

Have you ever had the experience of wishing for an opportunity to do something, and all of a sudden that opportunity presents itself?

I feel that sometimes this synchronicity represents the confluence of events where we are applying our will and focus and so we draw things out of the chaos toward us.

In other words, we are meeting people, places and events in the world when we are ready. You know the old saying: When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Engaging with Our Essential Self

Have you ever felt the different kinds of connections between kinds of energy?

It feels natural and effortless to feel the Reiki energy moving, sort of like swimming and feeling the ebb and flow of the water. Sometimes I have to reaffirm that I am opening to my fullest potential. Then I feel the energy increase and pulse even stronger. When I work on people, it is easy to see their inner beauty, the radiant, sweet soul who is really there.

Their faces appear to transform and reveal themselves to me. I also sense a lot of that when I read for people, and so I think that these two abilities really compliment each other well. Openness to this seeing is something I want and welcome, although I am sure that there are some who are reluctant to open that much.

If we work in jobs that we allow us an opportunity to connect with others in spiritual way, we already are approaching this consciousness, because in order to do these kinds of jobs, we have to set aside some of the ordinary considerations of glamor and other superficial considerations to do what needs to be done for all kinds of people.

Some people are more open and develop this consciousness earlier, due to the nature of the work they do every day. I didn't develop a different perspective of consciousness until much later. There are kinds of working environments that open us to different levels of consciousness, and then when combined with a spiritual awareness, a closeness between people is possible in ways that bypass the superficial.

I always affirm that when I am doing healings or readings for people that I am in service to them and that with the assistance of my spirit guides I will bring through something that will be useful for them at this time. So if they are needing a perspective or fresh idea that allows them to make better use of information that comes to them, or the healing energy brings comfort to them physically, spiritually, mentally or emotionally, whatever they need at the moment, I feel the connection and they do too.

In either case, reading or healing, what we are doing is taking a look at a person in a way that connects to the essential self, rather than the superficial self. These different energy levels that we experience awaken us from the trance of every day life to reveal the other life we sense. It is this that we love to stay engaged with and prolong our exposure to, through readings and healings.

What We Do For A Living

Having worked in a number of different jobs during my life. there I will make an observation based on my experience, about how types of work affect us.


I have noticed that people who work in non-profits such as charities, environmental groups, or community service organizations are often possessed of a sense of mission and compassion that differs from much of private industry.


Frequently a characteristic you find among people who are serving what they feel to be an important purpose are willing to work long and hard for average wages and the whole time are consumed with an attitude of wanting to do the job as well as it can be done. This is related to the person's sense that what they are doing is more than just a job.


Now this same feeling can occur within a person working in private industry, most often those who came up with a new idea or invention and started their own business. They will feel the sense of mission and purpose in the same way that a person who is really devoted to a vegetarian lifestyle will feel perfectly at home in a health food store, or a person who loves literature working in a bookstore, or a person who loves music loves playing in a band or a person who loves exercise teaching aerobics classes.

Within the corporate world though, what most frequently happens is that we become mercenaries. We trade our time for a paycheck and there is no dream attached to the daily activities we do. We may be attentive and efficient and help the company make money, but our heart is not really in it.

Today, with all the turmoil in the markets, with jobs being offshored, long established businesses closing, corporations reducing or eliminating pensions, sick pay, vacation pay, group health insurance or other amenities, any sort of camaraderie or extended family type bonding is eroded, if not cut off completely. When our relationship to the company is strictly reduced to a bartering of hours for dollars, there is a certain sapping of our life force. It is a grind when people live for the weekend, when they just do what they have to until the two days a week when they can really do what they like.

Of course, there is a numbing to much of what constitutes the rest of a life too, when we are so dedicated to our work that it dominates all of our counsciousness. That is why I have changed careers a few times. When I worked in a corporate environment and was consumed with it to the point that I didn't have much of a social life, the company was happy, but I eventually was so unhappy that I had to quit. We need to have time to work and play.

And in choosing our work, we need to at least make an effort to find work that we can put some heart into. This doesn't have to be real ethereal. I mean you can tell the difference when you go to a restaurant and the server does a great job, has a good attitude versus one who looks like they are just marking time until they get off. You have also noticed it when you get your car repaired, the difference between someone who not only knows what they are doing, but also appears to care and be cost conscious too.

What we do for a living matters in a lot of ways.

It Makes So Much Sense, Why Not?

Just because an idea makes good sense, that doesn't mean that anything will come of it any time soon. Here are a couple of examples.

Marijuana has all kinds of uses, from medicinal to recreational, and its impotent cousin has many industrial uses, such as paper making, fabric making, rope making and so on.

Yet we have spent billions of dollars to try and eradicate it, but have we? No. It is still as popular and available as ever.

So why not just legalize it and tax it? Instead of spending money, the government would be making money. People would be able to partake of their pleasure just the same as if they were choosing to drink an alcoholic beverage or smoke a cigarette. Penalize people when they do something wrong. We don't try and arrest people if they have a beer at home. We do penalize them if they have a beer and then drive erratically, or commit a violent crime. So if we treated smoking the same way, lots of police would be free to pursue terrorists, rapists, robbers and murderers and others who cause problems.

How about one more example? The Cuban trade embargo. What purpose does it serve? It didn't drive Castro from power. He simply retired from old age. If we are not trading with them because they are a communist or socialist country, then how do we justify opening trade with China? The fact that one market is bigger than the other does not alter the principle. Or does it?

What would happen if we opened trade with Cuba? Well, probably the first thing that would happen is that it would become a favorite vacation spot for Americans. Then lots of new businesses would open up to import and export products. If trade can help build relations between countries and promote democratic ideas then we would be destined to succeed.

It Makes So Much Sense, Why Not?

Conscious Giving and Receiving

What is the essence of giving and receiving?

Now that may seem to be a simple question, but follow it through for a few moments. How often do we give a person something because they really need it or want it? How many times have we given gifts because we think it is what is expected of us on the occasion? How many times do we give gifts simply to curry favor with the other person? How many times have we given our children a gift because other children have one just like it, and we don't want them to feel left out?

Have you ever been the recipient of a gift that you didn't want or need, because it filled the need of the giver to try and score points with you somehow, rather than a real heartfelt effort? Where did those gifts end up? Yard sales? Thrift shops? Passed on to someone else when you had to come up with something but didn't really care to put a lot of effort into it? The garbage?

How many times is our giving simply conforming to social convention, rather than coming from the heart? How differently would we approach gift giving if we let our heart direct us?