222

It's been about a week or so these numbers keep showing up for me.

I see it on the clock. On the odometer of my car. House numbers when I am driving or out running.

These numbers have come to me in the past to let me know that my family members are okay and it is okay to release worry about them. Good to know.

We all have numbers that come up for us frequently. Sometimes it is a single number, but more often it is a sequence of numbers or the same number repeating itself often.

The number two is all about nurturing. It is the number of couples, obviously, and in the study of feng shui it is the number of items in your home you place together when you are trying to attract love. In the case of three twos together, if you add them together, you get six, which is the number of family and relationships.

People who have two in their personal numbers often are people who love to nurture others, but often find themselves in the position of not feeling nurtured or often giving of themselves too much and not being nurturing enough of themselves.

Today while I was out running, lost in my own little world, it seemed that I would just happen to jolt back to reality long enough to notice a house number 222. No other house number jumped into my awareness. Back to my run. Back to my connection with Spirit. About a half mile later or so, I jolted back to reality again. Another house that was numbered 222. Deja vu? Didn't I just pass this house?

Okay, Spirit, what are you trying to say?

I think my family members are okay. There is always something going on, but nothing that I have been losing sleep over. What are you trying to tell me?

"What about your relationship with yourself? Are you nurturing  yourself?"

How many of us find ourselves in the position of feeling the calling to save the world or at least our little part of it but do not take the time to nurture ourselves? Whether it is a night out at the movies, or perhaps a bubble bath or a good book, perhaps the message for today is that it is okay to take a day off from saving the world and do something good for yourself!

Treat yourself to something fun, or something that you normally deprive yourself of. Send  yourself a silly love note! Eat a piece of chocolate!

No one needs to be Wonder Woman or Superman all the time. Take off that superhero suit once in awhile and be good to yourself! Lay down the worry and know that everything is going to be all right!

Just for today, lay down your Superman suit. Give up to your Source anything you are worried about. Know that everything is just as it is supposed to be.

Give thanks for all the good in your life, both the things that have come to pass already and those which are to come.

Today, I am thankful for two legs that still can run, a heart and lungs that come alive when outdoors, even if they protest a bit at first. I don't notice my heart beating or my lungs breathing when I am dormant inside sitting in front of the television. It is only when I challenge them, when the breeze blows against me as I make my way through the neighborhood, that I feel most exhilarated!

I am thankful for my connection to Spirit, who continually nudges me to be my best, to do my best, but also to enjoy my life.

What are you thankful for today?

If you are not nurturing yourself, take today and do something for yourself. Look in the mirror and tell yourself that you love yourself!

Of all the things you can be thankful for, be thankful for yourself. Of all the relationships you may enjoy in your lifetime, the relationship with yourself is the most important one! Other relationships may come and go, but the one you have with yourself truly is forever!

Grace?

Many of you  know that I have been absent from blogging as of late due to an almost obsession with writing my second book. This book is an attempt to describe my journey so far, from a child raised in mainstream Christianity, fully embracing this belief system for my first thirty five years, and then finding myself in the very uncomfortable position of a complete crisis of faith. Over the next several years I explored many different belief systems and have evolved into what I now affectionately call my "cosmic soup."

The past couple of days I decided to take a hiatus from my writing frenzy and do some soul searching and end of year rituals.

Last year one of the most rewarding rituals was the one where I asked Spirit for a theme for the year, something that would be my "guiding light" for the year.

Spirit gave me the theme "embrace your power."

At first I was uncomfortable with this theme. I was uncomfortable with the connotation of "power." Power seemed to me to be the opposite of humility, a quality which I very much aspired to. I have always asked Spirit for the privilege of being of service, and Spirit has always given me many opportunities. However, I was always under the impression that if I was embracing my power, then I was walking in ego.

This is very much not the case.

What I have learned this past year is that when I am comfortable with who I am, then I am embracing my power. When I am confident in my contribution to the world, then I am embracing my power. If I am not confident in my ability to be of service, then my contribution suffers.

My desire to be of service is dependent upon my deep inner knowing that I indeed have something to contribute, and that what I have to offer has value. So indeed, I have learned to  embrace my power.

As this year is concluding, I have contemplated on my theme and asked myself if I truly embraced my power. And I can say that yes, I have and am still learning to do so. I am much more confident in my contribution to the world and I believe that is so key to really being comfortable in our own skin.

So in the past couple of days, I have been connecting with Spirit and asking for my theme for the coming year.

I will admit, that I consulted my cards. Using the tarot and also using simple playing cards, there is a system for mapping out your theme for the year knowing only your birth date. I have done this for clients as well as myself for some time. But, aside from what the cards were telling me, I wanted a personal, straight from Spirit theme for the year.

I got a one word theme this year and the word was grace.

Not your ballerina arabesque kind of grace, not your swan gliding across a lake kind of grace, mind you. Spirit would not take on that kind of a challenge..

I have not run into this word since my church going days.

When I was going to church, grace was a word that was used to describe how God favored us despite our inability to earn his favor. That "you are a sinner but I love you anyway" kind of thing.

To quote Wikipedia:

In Christian theology, grace has been defined as "the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it",^[1] "the condescension or benevolence shown by God toward the human race".^[2] It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved"^[3] - that takes the form of divine favor, love and clemency.

So at first I was not too happy with this theme either.  It seems like a good theme, except for this.

I don't believe I am a sinner in need of God's favor. I spent too many years recovering from the shame of needing pardoning from God for sins I did not necessarily even commit. In Christianity, all I had to do was be born in order to fall short of perfection.

I now believe that I am a spark of the Divine, born perfect, having only learned imperfection by the dubious nature of life on earth and all it entails.

Grace is also something I think I need if things are difficult and I need the inner strength to overcome them. Hmmm. Well, my tarot card that is my theme for this coming year is the Chariot, and that description kind of fits. The chariot card is all about overcoming obstacles.  Moving ahead despite difficulties.

So what is grace?

Grace, upon reflection, is the ability to handle anything life throws at you with inner strength and fortitude. It is the Divine Spark which lives within my own soul, that inner power which this past year I learned to embrace, giving me the ability to glide through any storm.

Does this mean Spirit is telling me that this coming year I am going to have some storms to face and overcome? Possibly.

We all come to the place where we have challenges to face. That is a part of life. Facing and overcoming them is what makes us strong. Grace gives us the ability to face them with an inner strength which only comes from our connection to whatever we choose to call our Source, or the Divine.

I guess we all could use a good dose of grace.

So what does all this mean for you?

I recommend sometime before the new year that you take a little time and go within. Look back on this past year and see if the year met up with the expectations you put upon it at the beginning of last year. If it did, be grateful. If it did not, be willing to release whatever parts of it did not make your soul sing. Accept the past year for what it was, and release it with gratitude for the joys and the lessons it contained.

I also encourage you to take some time in the coming days to go within and contemplate your theme for this year. And you can't take what you get and send it back and ask for something else.. no send backs. Take what Spirit gives you with gratitude .. and grace.

Give thanks for all the things that  you have experienced in this past year that has given you strength within and get ready for a coming year that will be the best you have ever had!!

Remember that expectation is everything! Expect wonderful for this coming year. Take your theme for the year and thank your Source for the grace to take whatever comes with joy.

And get ready for wonderful!!

Today's Winter Solstice

Many of you know that today is what is known as the winter solstice. Today is the shortest day of the year and starting today, we begin the progression to more and more daylight hours.

Symbolically, today is an excellent day for going within. It is a day of darkness, symbolizing taking time for inner reflection. Winter itself speaks of taking time for letting go of the need for outside stimulation and allowing our roots to grow deep. In the winter the trees shed their leaves, the flowers are dormant, many animals are hibernating. And yet we humans very often don't take the time for rest and reflection. This is a need that is so essential in our busy busy lives.

Instead of finding time for inner reflection, many of us will be hitting the malls, on that last minute shopping frenzy to find that "perfect" gift. What about taking some time and give a gift to yourself? I don't have time!! you might protest. Yes you do!!

I often hear this protest from my daughter, a single mother of two who works nights as a security guard. Everyone has at least a moment or two to breathe in and breathe out, thank the Universe for the blessings you have enjoyed, focus on your heart, and send love to yourself and others. One day last week I was blessed to be in the position of taking all three of my young grandchildren to the grocery store. At one point I was standing in line and two of the three were grabbing everything in sight. After losing it for a moment, I said out loud, "breathe in breathe out breathe in breathe out." and it was all better.

I like to take my ten minute drive to work to send love to every person I will interact with that day, to all my family members and to all that each of them will interact with that day. I send love to my heart and to my unseen Helpers.

Each of us must at some point go to the bathroom or take a shower. These are perfect opportunities to send love to your heart!

If you have more than a couple of moments today, you might create a ritual to thank your soul, your higher powers, and the energies at work in our lives for the past year. Give thanks for the blessings, the hard times, the challenges, and then release it all to the Universe so that you can be ready to take on the new year!

Invite into your heart all the unseen Help that is available and ask that your heart be aligned with its highest purpose and the highest energy available. Imagine that your physical body is lining up with your soul body. Imagine light and love being poured into every cell in your body. Even if you don't believe that there is power in visualization or that the energy of our souls is amazing and powerful, this meditation will make you feel good!! That in itself is the best reason to do this!

You might want to find a soothing picture to look at, or gaze into the flame of a candle. Meditate on your favorite deity, or even a houseplant! I can get to my happy place gazing at a pen! There is god force energy inherent in every object that graces our lives! All we have to do is expect to see the god in it!

Just for today, take a moment for yourself. Give yourself the gift of inner reflection. Find something to be thankful for. Release the old, and welcome in the new!

Remember that everything in our lives is a gift if we can just find the blessing in it!

Thoughts About the Holidays, Snow, and What's Ahead

You may or may not know that I am in the process of writing my second book so I have not been posting blogs as often while I am in this book writing frenzy. I have completely lost focus on everything else as I attempt to tell the story of my journey from mainstream Christianity to the path I now follow. As I have journeyed through my life so far, I have noticed that the same issues I have been through are a common thread throughout the lives of many others.

That being said, I have taken some time to connect with Spirit along the way, and I am noticing a theme.

It seems that there is a huge shift in our Universal Consciousness on the way.

We can choose to go along with our lives with the attitude of "business as usual" or we can choose to take a ride on this new energetic shift and get ready for the ride of our lives!!

Many of us have experienced many challenges in 2013 and I feel that it is really important as we approach the coming year to take some time to go within and find the gift in each of those challenges.

It seems, at least in our part of the country, that the weather is offering us the opportunity to take advantage of some time of inner contemplation.


Winter in itself is symbolic of going within. Snow, in particular, puts our lives on a bit of a hold pattern, as we are forced to either stay home or go out into the elements and shovel our way out.
Either way, whether you decide to hibernate or go out and face the weather, you are offered some time to contemplate. This morning as I began the process of shoveling the little bit of snow that had already accumulated, in a preemptive measure to keep on top of things, I felt such a wonderful connection to the elements and to the quietness of the snowfall. It seems when snow falls, there is almost an element of awe and reverence in the atmosphere that I can feel falling from the heavens.




In the news I am seeing that snow is falling in areas of the earth that has not seen snow in over a hundred years. This to me is significant. The Universe is calling upon us to take some time to contemplate, go within, and find the beauty in our lives.

Just like snow is beautiful to behold but sometimes can be a challenge, so it is with life. Our lives are filled with events and possibilities that offer us a life of awe and beauty, but also one of challenges to overcome. One seems to come only hand in hand with the other sometimes.

This season of Christmas is when people come together to have communion, possibly exchange gifts, and think about the story of new beginnings. In the quiet of a manger, a child was born which changed the direction of the world. Some of the change was good, and some not so good, as I am sure the intention of Jesus was to offer the opportunity for acceptance, forgiveness, and love, but we humans took some of the ideas to extremes and used him as a means of separation and judgement.

We can choose to look at the gift of the Christ Child as a blessing or a curse. Many died over the centuries as supposed followers of Christ killed those who did not adhere to the beliefs they were propagating, but I am sure that was not Christ's intention.

It is all about what we choose to focus on. Should we focus on the atrocities that have been displayed over the centuries or the hope that  there was the offering of a new beginning from the old ways that Christ attempted to uproot? Should we focus on the challenges related to how snowfall keeps us from going on about our business or should we use the opportunity to go within and appreciate the beauty and awe that snowfall affords us?

Should we look back on the past year with regrets, bitterness, or grief, or should we thank our challenges for the gifts of strength and fortitude which only a challenge offers us?

It is all about intention.

May I offer you the challenge to look back on this year with gratitude for the gifts it offered us. Let go of any hurts, griefs, or setbacks, so that your soul can be ready for a new beginning in 2014!!!

Just for today, thank every event in the past year that offered you the opportunity for growth. Let go of anything that you may be holding on to that may hinder you from moving forward!! Look forward to time with family and friends, and look at gift giving, not as an obligation, but an opportunity to bless others!! Many in our past have given us gifts that have brought us to the place where we find ourselves today. Thank them!!

Now excuse me while I go connect with the elements and become one with the snow!!

Tuesday's New Moon

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you will recognize that I do not subscribe to any particular belief system. Yesterday's blog was based upon a sermon I read on the website of a popular television evangelist. I frequently post blogs based upon the cards of the tarot. I am a shamanic practitioner, but I like to label myself as a student of all religions, but a subscriber to none.

I love to base my rituals on the phases of the moon and I frequently read blogs based on the principles of astrology. No, I am not an expert in astrology and the only education I have is the blogs that I read and the one book I own on the subject. But I have studied enough to know that full moons are symbolic of manifesting and new moons are a good time to release whatever is no longer serving you. That being said, we are about to experience a new moon on Tuesday. I wanted to share a blog by Sue Kearney on her insights about the new moon and some possible ways to connect with Spirit and do ritual to release aspects of yourself or your life you are ready to let go of.

The past week or so I began my journey into my past as I am writing a book about my adventures through Christianity and eventually expanding to include other ways of thinking and believing. I am so grateful for all of the experiences as they have made me who I am. In doing this, I have revived a lot of forgotten memories, and I have been able to see how Spirit was in charge all along, and how the rituals I partook of in Christianity are not completely unlike the rituals that I enjoy today. I completely love and applaud all seekers of spirituality, no matter with which group you associate yourself, and I find that we are all alike, and all different.

This is my suggestion. One day this week, take a moment and examine a belief system that is unlike your own, and instead of finding fault or heralding your own beliefs as superior to that of another, embrace your similarities and forgive your differences. We are all on a spiritual quest. We all want world peace and inner peace. We are all in the business of healing the planet and ourselves. Our techniques and rituals may be different, but our goal is the same. Let us put down our swords and instead embrace one another.

My new moon ritual is going to be an adventure into releasing our collective prejudices toward one another. However they may manifest, we have all experienced religious prejudice either toward us or from us to another, and possibly both. My goal is to pull down those walls that separate us and instead build a bridge to join us together in achieving a common goal.

I would love for you to join me in my quest to rid myself and my world of religious prejudice. In whatever ways that it manifests, whether it is an expensive license to regulate Spiritual activity, or prayers directed at another religious belief or practice, or just a simple belief that my God is better than your God. I ask you to look within yourself and see if you have any beliefs against another faith that you need to release.

Whatever Spirit is leading you to release, Tuesday would be a good day to do it! Find a ritual that speaks to you, get into your spiritual happy place, however you find to do that, and let it go! Let us all let go of what no longer serves us, so that we may move forward in our quest for enlightenment.

Command Your Blessings!!

I have to admit this is not an original, straight from Source, message. But it is an important one and one that has been rolling over and over in my brain for a day or two now.

I am always engaged in multiple projects. Right now it seems that the Universe has cleared my schedule so I can focus my attention in other areas. In January I will be teaching a class on the second level of Reiki, so I have been preparing for that class. In addition, I recently got my writing muse back and have started writing my second book, chronicling my journey through life thus far. In doing this I have had to go into my spiritual basement, so to speak, and relive some things from my past. I had a dream the other night that the walking dead were in my basement, and yes, although I know it may have been a result of watching the show, I also realized that I was delving into the deep recesses of my past to bring back to life some things that I have attempted to let die but which were crying out for resolution.

But this is not the subject of this blog. In doing a bit of research for my book, I went onto the website of a popular television evangelist to see if his message was the same now as it was when I was first exposed to his teachings at the ripe age of seventeen. I am now fifty and I have to say that he and his wife still look the same and are still preaching the same message.

I believe that messages from Spirit transcend time and space, and belief systems. I have the utmost respect for this man, and I clicked on a link to a particular message on his site. The message was about our commanded blessings.

What are commanded blessings? They are blessings we bring into our lives by commanding them in.

It is a universal principle that the thoughts we think and the words we speak have power in our lives. Louise Hay, the transformational genius that is the author of many books on self empowerment and has the largest new age publishing house that I am aware of, taught me the principle that what you focus on grows.

While taking a short break from my writing, I happened upon this blog from my favorite astrologist talking about how this weekend is apparently a really big opportunity for us to ask for what we want from our highest Source.

So, when I get a nudging from two or three different sources or one that keeps me awake at night and won't go away, I tend to take notice. This is that message.

What do you need? Do you need a new job, a new car, a new relationship? If you could ask God, or your Highest Source, whatever you call Him or Her for anything, what would it be? Maybe it is more enlightenment, or something that there is no pricetag on. Maybe it is inner peace. (we bring world peace by first finding peace within ourselves.) This weekend is the weekend to ask for what you want. And don't just ask.. command! No it is not arrogant to command your blessings! Some think that we should humble ourselves and never presume to command our higher powers anything. Hogwash!

If a particular desire is in line with your soul's purpose for this lifetime, it is completely within your rights to command it!! Our words have power and create that which comes out of them!!

What do you think happens when you say, "I quit!" All of the Angels and Higher Powers stop what they were doing to bring you your blessings and say, "hold it, legions of Angels. She just quit. Let's go back to heaven until she decides what she wants and sticks to her guns!"

The world of spirit is listening while you decide what you are going to command. If you say, "bad things always happen to me." you are commanding bad things to happen to you. Why not change that around and say, "wonderful things always happen to me!!" Do you see the emotion that rises up within you when you change your words?

Just for today, command those blessings! Get up and dance a jig because you are so excited that those things you have need of are approved and on their way!! Get excited! You have an audience with the Higher Realms this weekend. I am not saying that this is only going to work this weekend, but why not take advantage of the configuration of the stars and declare what you want to manifest?

I don't believe that the commanded blessings are only for a select group of people, which differentiates me from the television evangelist. We don't have to be born again to reap the blessing. We just have to believe that the blessings are ours for the taking!!

So how should you go about commanding your blessings? Find a ritual that speaks to you! It could be as simple as shouting it out to the Universe! "I command my new job to present itself!" (or whatever). You could light a candle and write your blessing on a piece of paper and burn the piece of paper, setting your intention that your request is being sent up to the Universe via the elements of fire, smoke and air. You could write your intention down and put on some funky music and dance around it! (I used to do this with my checkbook. I would place my checkbook on the floor and dance around it, commanding money to appear in my account!)

Connect with Spirit in whatever way is your custom and place your request. Believe that your request has been heard and the answer is on its way to you! In this way you are commanding your blessings!

Salt

Sometimes I like to think of common occurrences from a different perspective.  We all get so used to seeing things the way we are used to seeing them. For example, I wanted to post a Thanksgiving blog. I read some of my blogs from previous years, just so I would not repeat myself, as well as reading some other lovely blogs to get ideas.
 Giving thanks is something we all know we should do. But here are some various blogs on various "holiday" themes: (and some not so "holidayish" but inspiring nonetheless:

A great Thanksgiving post by Sue Kearney here.

 Here is a blog by  on how to avoid getting the holiday emotional flu bug.

Check this blog out by McKella Sawyer  as well to let you know it is okay to change up a few things as we get ready for the change in seasons!

This blog by Cynthia Lindeman let me know it is okay to burn out and do absolutely nothing. (good to know after my October and early November filled with a week long mediumship training class, (with the assignment of practicing on clients(for free), teaching six classes on various spiritual subjects, joining nine wonderful couples in marriage, oh, and I work at the Post Office..)

This blog by Shan Watts shows how sometimes we just have to do things our own way, no matter how much they differ from everyone around us!

Anyway, back to my Thanksgiving blog. I decided that I would look at Thanksgiving from the perspective of the salt.

Salt, if you look at it, is a tiny white, granular substance. Without the container that it is kept in, you would not know what it is. It looks like many other granular, white substances. Some people say we get too much of it, so you may not find people shaking it into their foods as much as years past, however, without it, our turkeys are not quite as tasty, (unless seasoned with some kind of other seasonings or salt substitutes), our potatoes are a bit bland, and, if you check out the ingredients in many of our ready made foods, it is found in almost everything.

I guess my message for today is that sometimes the ingredient that makes our lives the tastiest is the one that is small and seemingly inconspicuous. It is the small things that make our lives ones that we look back on with fondness. And the ingredient that one person finds distasteful is the same one that another person can't live without. We are all individuals and we all come into this life experience with different perspectives. None of us is right and none of us is wrong. A person who has high blood pressure or heart issues looks at salt very differently than someone who has a salt deficiency. And what would we do without salt to put on our driveways when it snows?

We are the salt for one another, as well. Jesus said, "you are the salt of the earth." (apparently he didn't know it wasn't good for you.) I think he meant that we season each other's lives. We make each other more palatable. We make each other less boring and bland. And maybe that it is the little things that are the most important.

This year, when you are sitting around the table, and you hear someone say, "will you please pass the salt?" remember that each one of us is a grain of salt. We each have something that makes our lives a little more tasty, a little more easy to chew.

With that said, I hope you will check out my fellow bloggers perspectives and the "salt" that they are offering this week, and think of something you can do this week that will add some "salt" into someone else's life.

This week, be salt.