Moving Forward Despite Obstacles

At the moment I am sitting on an airplane that is delayed due to the thunderstorms around Houston where hubby and I are supposed to get a connecting flight taking us on a holiday to Cabo San Lucas Mexico. We have been planning and dreaming for this day to come for months now.

Working full time, doing weddings, events, classes and seeing clients, not to mention family drama, grandkids, and life has exhausted this girl. My plan has been to sit on the beach, meditate, and allow people to wait on me hand and foot for five days.

I have been posting a card of the day for several months now on my Facebook page, and I actually drew them and scheduled one for each day so even that was off my plate. So this morning when I was contemplating my day, and I was holding my cards, I said to Spirit: please not the chariot card, please not the chariot card.. and guess which one I got???

You guessed it!! The chariot.

Chariot obviously indicates movement, so it often has to do with travel, but most often it indicates the need to overcome obstacles to get you where you need to go.

What to do. I am sitting in an airplane on the runway, going nowhere.

I always say, when you can't control what is going on outside of you, you can always control what is going on inside.

What a perfect time to go within, connect with Divine Love and go with the flow.

Battle Scars

So the month of September was my month of quiet. I was not trying to post messages from Spirit on my blog.  I spent more time alone. I tried to meditate more frequently than usual. Some days I was more successful than others in my quest for spiritual contemplation.

I still drew a tarot card every day. Most of the time they were fairly good cards. I can't say that the entire month was spent receiving amazing inspiration and Angelic guidance. Most of the time the Voice that speaks to me was silent as well. I took this as a message that this was my month to reboot.

We all need that time when we reboot our internal computer. Just turn everything off and allow ourselves time to just enjoy our everyday lives. Get outside. Rescue a squirrel. Clean the pond. 

I still enjoyed teaching some classes and seeing a few clients. When the connection needed to be on, it did not let me down.

In the past week or so, however, I drew this card. More than once.

The first time I drew this card I took it as a message that it might be a difficult day. I might have to work hard to make any headway.

The second day I drew this card was only a few days later. Hmmmm.

I took this as a message that I didn't get the message the first time. (ha ha.. yes sometimes this happens.)

So I asked the card.. "what are you trying to tell me?"

I heard, " describe what you see.."

I saw the man. The wands (representing ideas, inspiration, etc.) were firmly planted behind him. He is holding one in his hand. He is looking off to the side. He is a bit wounded in the head but seems to be mostly okay. There is a bit of a scowl on his face.

"Joy, getting to where you are has not been easy. You have worked hard to learn the things you have learned, to accomplish the things you have accomplished. Along the way at times you have felt like you have been "wounded" by those who are not on the same page as you.. correct?"

"Yes, I guess you are right."

"It is time to let go of those battle scars. It is time to release and forgive any who have intentionally or unintentionally sent you energy that was less than loving or helpful."

I have been reading E-Squared, a book that gives you experiments on energy and teaches us that we are all connected, a concept which I already know and believe, but the particular chapter I had been reading had taught me that my thoughts, sent out toward another human being, are captured by their energy and known at a deep, if not unconscious level. I had always kind of wondered if the thoughts of others, directed at me at a critical or unloving level, could affect me, and this book theorizes that, yes, it does affect us. I had heard arguments both ways, some saying that negative energy directed toward us does not affect us if we are walking in love. Others say that, yes, it does affect us, just as if we love our plants and send them kind thoughts and words they grow better, a fact that can be documented by experimentation.  Or that the thoughts we send our bodies has a factor in our appearance. Or that the thoughts we send others is "heard" by their energy bodies.

We are all guilty of sending less than loving thoughts out toward others. How about that inefficient store clerk? How about that driver who cut you off in traffic? How about your spouse who points out your shortcomings but seems to be unaware of theirs? I think you get the direction I am heading.

My conversation with this tarot card seemed to be urging me to let go of my battle scars.

I thought I had done that long ago.

However, just to placate the "messenger" within the card, I decided to forgive and send loving thoughts to everyone who came to my mind who could, in my estimation, possibly have less than loving thoughts about me, or, for whom I could have less than loving thoughts about towards them.
I imagined myself giving each person who came to my mind the gift of a ball of light, symbolizing the light of love and acceptance. For if I say "forgiveness", I assume that there is something to forgive, or an offense that is in need of releasing the weight of. However, who am I to assume there has even been an offense? In "acceptance", I am saying in essence that there has been no offense, and I am completely accepting of that other person and any discrepancy in our words or thoughts. I thought it important to release any and every person who I have come into contact, either in person or by just the mere fact of having come into contact by some sort of communication (for example, by reading something that I have written or they have written). I also completely loved and accepted anyone from any previous lifetimes or even lives between lifetimes for whom there may have been any offense or assumed offense.

Is there someone or a group of someones for whom you have gained "battle scars?"

Are you holding onto those wounds, nursing them sometimes, or perhaps, wishing for some retribution?

Is there someone for whom you wish a less than loving "retribution"?

It is time to release those thoughts!! Believe it or not, your thoughts are like arrows in that person's energy field! It might be that they are small and relatively harmless, such as that "you idiot!" remark as  you slam on your brakes due to someone's driving skills. Have you ever had a sharp pain in your body that came and went relatively quickly? Who's to say that someone was not sending you a "thought dagger"?

I don't want to be the recipient of a "thought dagger" so I want to make sure I am not the perpetrator of one.

And then there are those "thought daggers" we send to ourselves.

But that is another blog for another day.



I love you all.

Thanks for reading.

The Gift Within the Challenge

Last night my husband and I were watching a documentary about savants. Savants are people with tremendous disabilities that impair normal everyday functioning, but in turn they have some extraordinary capabilities in some field. One was a concert pianist who is about the age of ten or twelve I think, but is severely autistic and cannot communicate normally or perform any everyday activities. Another was a grown man in his fifties with another form of autism who did not realize that he was autistic, but had a tremendous knack in the field of electronics. He had quit school at the age of sixteen, due to his tremendous dysfunction in the area of socialization, but taught himself electronics and went on to make amazing advances in the electronics industry. It was only in recent years where he was diagnosed with Asburgers Syndrome and with the help of brain stimulation, has made advances in the area of socialization. In his interview he said that with every disability there comes a great gift, that it is just up to us to discover the gift. I thought about that and realized that it is also true with any challenge.

Last month I did a class on magical manifesting, and in the class we did rituals to bring about some change in our lives. So this month I asked my class how their manifesting was going. In the ritual, it is recommended that we spend time with our intention every day, to incorporate the energy of the new thing into our own energy field. At least one person had commented that it seemed that things had gotten worse. It seemed, she said, that she was getting the opposite of that thing she was desiring to manifest. I noted that I had detected a similar tendency. The temptation is to throw away the ritual, saying that it didn't work, and go on with living in our comfort zone.

At this point Spirit decided to cut in, and let us know that it is not unusual when attempting to change something in our lives, that we first manifest the opposite of what we are desiring. Anything worth having is worth the challenge that presents itself before that thing comes to pass. I remember recently in the lecture by John Tenney, that he was sharing that when he had been asked to be a third party at a Catholic exorcism, the priest had told him that just when he thought he was going to die, that is when the breakthrough would come. This seemed curious to me, but it bears some resemblance to this message from Spirit. Just when we feel like quitting, take heart. Do not quit. The breakthrough is right around the corner.

In studying numerology this point was taken, that when a person incarnates to learn a particular life lesson, that very often they will manifest the opposite of that quality until they learn to embrace it. Every number in our birth date represents some life lesson that we came here to learn, and until we realize it and start focusing on it, we often unknowingly manifest the opposite of that quality. It is the same with someone who engages in physical exercise. No gains in the area of your chosen sport are realized if no effort is made. You don't become a cross country runner by taking walks around the block. You don't build muscles by lifting one pound weights. Gains are not made if there is no resistance.

Let me expound a little on that thought. Is there something you are desiring to manifest in your life and it seems like you are getting the opposite of what you are desiring? Are you ready to give up? Let me say first of all that Spirit is not a giant Santa Clause in the sky dropping down our desires like candy canes to expectant children. There are steps we have to take to realize our dreams. If your desire is to pay off your mortgage, don't just sit around and wait for some big check to arrive in the mail. Start by paying an extra $10 a month on your bill. If you want to lose weight, push back from the table. Make a plan. Don't think that you can just meditate all day and one day you will just wake up and be living in a different house with a different spouse in a different state. It doesn't happen that way. The gifts we receive from Spirit come wrapped up in the challenges we face every day. Find the gift.

There was a time in my life when I lived for over a month on hot dogs because I couldn't afford healthy food. I lived in a house where all our furniture had been repossessed and we sat on lawn chairs and slept on the floor. I kept waiting for God to come and rescue me but he never showed up. One day I realized that if my life was going to change then I was the one who had to change it. It was no one else's fault, including God's, that I was living this way. I made a plan and changed my life. It did not come overnight. Contained within that challenging period of my life was the gift of empowerment. I had to learn to give up the feeling of victimization and take my power back. No I didn't wake up one morning and have a different life. But the day that I said, if I do not do something then I am going to die, then that is the day I made a change. Sometimes we have to get to that point. And getting there is a gift.

Today is the day to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and decide to move forward. Your breakthrough is right around the corner. Yes, there is Unseen Help out there just waiting to assist you. But contained within the gift of deliverance from your present circumstance is the gift contained within the circumstance itself. Find that gift. It is the key to your emancipation!!

The Devil

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/55/RWS_Tarot_15_Devil.jpg/220px-RWS_Tarot_15_Devil.jpg

Ha Ha. So this is my story. I am thinking that today is going to be my last daily message from the tarot. I have found that not many people read on the weekends and I have a lot on my plate anyway. I will go back to my once or twice a week blogs after today. So I was hoping for a really good card for my last message for the month of messages. And I drew the devil. Not the card I was hoping for to say the least. I wanted to end the month off with something positive. So I will admit I put the card back and shuffled the cards and guess what. Got it again. I guess my guides want me to talk about this card.

In doing research about this card I find that the devil card is associated with Capricorn, I guess because in the picture the devil is half goat. Capricorn is associated with the mountain goat. If you have ever seen a mountain goat or at least seen pictures of them they are the animals who are relentless in their ability to climb difficult rocks to get to the top of the mountain.  Part of the implication of the card of the devil is that there is someone who will do anything to get to the top. Capricorns are thought of as being natural leaders and very focused on getting ahead. As an after note, I am a  Capricorn. I really don't see myself this way, but we often don't see our own faults I guess, if you would consider natural drive a fault. However, my understanding of this card is that the card of the devil is twofold. It is a warning against overindulgence, but it is also a suggestion that it may take some relentless focus and abandon to reach or achieve a goal.

In the card, there is a naked man and woman with chains around their necks, hooked together and tied to the perch the devil himself is sitting upon. The woman seems to be holding a basket of apples, the fruit thought to be the downfall of mankind in the garden of Eden. Here is my thought. In the garden, supposedly the devil tempts the woman to eat of the fruit so that she can obtain the knowledge of good and evil, thought to be a bad thing by God. However, think about it. Knowledge is in my opinion our greatest asset. Without knowledge we are nothing but puppets, doing the will of whoever holds the keys. The person holding the keys is the one with the knowledge. The apparent sin in the garden was that Adam and Eve thought that they knew better than God, that they, if they ate of the fruit, could become wise. My question is, why would God want to have people who followed or served Him because they didn't know any better? Wouldn't it be much better to have those who followed Him because they had thought about it, weighed the options, and decided it was the best plan of action? In other words, in my opinion, if the story is true, which is a whole other blog, then God possibly used the devil to persuade Adam and Eve to think for themselves because God actually did want his people to have knowledge.

I for one believe that God, or our Higher Power, or whatever you want to call our Source, wants us to seek knowledge. He/She wants us to think for ourselves. And then after we have weighed our options, to choose love. In order to choose, we have to have first hand knowledge or experience with its opposite. Yes, I believe that this card of the devil warns us against becoming enslaved to anything. However, if, when we are in the throes of slavery, we can look up and see the light at the end of the tunnel, if we can muster the strength within ourselves to climb up out of the pit of darkness and relentlessly climb those rocks to get to the top of the mountain, then the devil has served his purpose. He has thrown us into the pit of darkness so that we will look up and see the light and know that the light is something worth pursuing. That old saying comes to mind.."whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Just for today, think about what things in your life have caused you to pursue your way to the top, out of the pit of despair. We can actually thank the "devil", which is symbolic of anything that pulls us away from the light, because in our darkness, we realized that we longed for the light. Today I want you to consider that there is no black and white, only shades of grey. Our ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, God and the devil, all need to be reconsidered. Sometimes our greatest obstacles are our greatest teachers. The devil has no power over us, except that which we give to him.

What is your greatest fear? What is your greatest "vice?" Thank those things for what you have learned, the knowledge you have obtained. Overcoming obstacles is what makes us who we are. We are only defeated if we give up. Stand up and climb out of the chains that have you bound. You have not realized. You have the keys.

Two of Swords

http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/swords02.jpg

In this card we have what appears to me to be a woman, sitting on a bench with her back to a body of water containing large rocks, holding two swords crossed over her heart, and wearing a blindfold. There is a crescent moon above and behind her.

This card speaks to me of a person who does not want to see something. The blindfold appears to be self inflicted. The swords crossed over her heart are in fact in her own hands. The fate of this woman is in her own hands. She has closed her heart and closed her eyes. There is something she does not want to see or want to face. Swords represent the intellect, conflict and the mental realm. Water represents emotions, the moon represents intuition. Her back is to both her feelings and her intuitive sense. This card speaks of being at an impasse, not being able to move forward but not wanting to go back either.

In our lives we all have things we do not want to face, issues that are difficult. We may sense the infidelity of a lover or we may have doubts about our own feelings in our primary relationships. There may be something within that is holding us back from moving forward and fulfilling our destiny. We may be fearful of the unknown. Sometimes it is easier to remain in a place that is unfulfilling than to shed the relationships or environment that is holding us back. Our ship cannot come in because we are in a place where the water is filled with dangerous rocks.

The truth of the matter is that whatever we don't face now we will end up facing at some point in our future. Life is a series of lessons, and if we fail a test or just refuse to take the test, we will get the opportunity over and over until we do. There is no graduating to the next level until we pass the tests we are given.

The worst scenario is when we have closed our eyes and our hearts to our own needs and desires. Sometimes we may have the best of intentions. We may fear hurting the people in our lives. We may think that it is heroic if we put aside our own needs for the needs of others. Or maybe we cannot imagine how we will survive without that other person. It is not good for the other person if you are there only because you don't want to hurt their feelings. Each one of us has the right to be in a primary relationship with someone who is dedicated to that relationship. If one or the other is not committed, then both suffer.

Today is the day to open your eyes and see what you do not want to see. Take the swords down which you have in place to protect your heart. Turn that bench around and face that emotion or intuitive feeling which you have turned your back on. We are only living if we are feeling our raw emotions, if we are opening ourselves up to the spray of mist from the ocean of passion. What is your life worth if you spend your whole life living a lie? How have you robbed the significant people in your life of a life filled with true emotions, not pretense?

Remember this. If something is not good for you, it is also not good for those with whom you share your life. The significant people in your life deserve to spend their lives with people who really want to be there. In the same sense, you also deserve to spend your life with people who are true and honest with you.

Whether it is a relationship, a career, a home, or another scenario that you have closed your eyes and your hearts to, today is the day to take off that blindfold and put down the sword. Stop lying to yourself and face that which you have turned your back on. If you feel you are at an impasse, then spend some time meditating on what you really want to do with your life.Don't come to the end of your life with regrets. Live with wild abandon. It is time.

Strength

http://thealchemicalegg.com/PRStrength.jpg

Today's message from Spirit is about the strength that comes from within. In the tarot card strength, which is the eighth card of the major arcana, a woman is depicted serenely holding the mouth of a lion. In the particular variation I chose this time on the link above, she is walking calmly beside the lion along with a dog and a cat. I chose this variation just because I like the image, but the message is the same. The message is that it is the strength that comes from within that tames the wild lion, often symbolic of our ego or our wild nature, or it could be an obstacle of some kind, or just life itself, which is often a struggle.

When you come across this card, it is usually a sign that whatever obstacle you are facing, it can be overcome by going within and drawing upon your inner resources. It is also a message that if we are at peace within ourselves, then our outer world has to come into alignment.

I spent many years wondering how I could live in such turmoil in my life when I was doing all the right things, seemingly. I went to church multiple times a week, I gave my free time to doing things that I thought were spiritual, and yet I was always broke, always in turmoil in my marriage, always struggling. I prayed to God every day to take the turmoil away, and He didn't. One day I guess I woke up and realized that God was not going to do anything for me that I was not willing to do for myself. I made a plan and rid my life of the issues that were making me miserable. For awhile I was mad at God and thought how dare He not come to my rescue. I had to do all these things myself and He did not help me at all. I started meditating and finding my strength within myself. I found the peace that I thought I was supposed to have from following God and I found it within myself.

After awhile I discovered that God did not desert me after all. He was not outside of myself, somewhere up in the sky. He (or She, for God is not one or the other) was within me. I am a spark of the Divine, or God. The answers that I need are not outside of myself. Yes, I talk to the Divine. Sometimes He is Jesus. Sometimes She is Diana or one of the other Goddesses. Sometimes He or She is one of my Power Animals or one of the Angels. Each one of these representations is a different aspect of the Divine which is also manifested within me. No I don't think there is only one way to heaven. I think Heaven is within me,and all the answers I seek are there.

When we find that strength that is within us, then all the lions that are in our world seem to lose their roar. Yes, I still have challenges like everyone else. Sometimes I forget that all the answers I need are within me.  But when I get back to my center and go within myself I always find all the answers I need. And if I don't know the answer then I assume I don't need to know right now. One of my affirmations is that whatever I need to know is revealed to me.

Just for today, put on the shelf all your preconceptions of how life is supposed to be. Don't expect some Higher Power outside of yourself to come to your rescue. You are the tamer of the lion.  If you are living a life of challenges then it is up to you to make some changes. Go within and find your place of peace. All the answers you need are within your reach. You just have to find your strength within yourself and then the lion will walk beside you in peace.