Surrender Meditation

Moving On From Loss

 Losing loved ones can be painful. Especially these days, with the collective experience of the Covid 19 virus. Those who are crossing are doing so alone, without their loved ones surrounding them with love. Those who are left behind are left without closure, without the benefit of saying goodbye.

Even if the loss is not actual physical death, but the loss of a relationship, or a job, or any number of other painful experiences, moving on is sometimes the last thing on our minds.

So many times, loss is made worse by our attempts to hold on or resist the inevitable. Even our doctors are trained in resuscitating those who are transitioning. However, sometimes,it is better to let go of what was and know that on the other side of that death experience, whether it is an actual physical death or one less tangible, is bliss.

I was watching a podcast the other day, and the physician speaking was trained in end of life medicine. In one thirty six hour shift, he had the experience of resuscitating three people from death. What dampered his feeling of accomplishment was an identical reaction from all three patients. Upon awakening, they all three asked him, "why did you bring me back?"

Early on in my work as a shamanic healer, I was put into contact with a man who was in a coma. His wife was beside herself with grief, refusing to leave his side to sleep or shower or eat. I was employed to try to get in touch with the man's soul. When I connected with him, I found him in a tunnel of colors. He was looking toward the end of the tunnel, but would often look back and see his wife grieving. I saw his thoughts of their days of ballroom dancing. (I later found out that the couple had met at a ballroom dancing meet up, and that it was their favorite pasttime!)

I assured him that it was his choice to stay or go. I was not there to convince him to come back, as seems to be the case with many of us who are living and missing our loved ones! I believe in free will. Even when someone asks me to pray for the sick, or send healing energy to someone suffering, I always predicate my requests with the request that the outcome be "whatever is best for everyone concerned." I assured him that, yes, his wife would grieve, but the choice to stay or go was his, and his alone.

The next day, as I spoke with the family, and shared my connection with him, they affirmed that soon after I had done my session with his soul, he had indeed woken up, sat up in bed, and spoken to his wife for a few minutes. However, later on that evening he had passed.

Our connection to those who are leaving this world is one of the things that helps or hinders our loved ones in finding closure and moving on! Many times it is like they are waiting to receive permission to move on!

A couple of weeks before my dad passed, he found himself in and out of consciousness after a nasty fall. The preacher had come, and, to my dismay, had commanded him to wake up and be healed! After he left, I had a conversation with dad's soul. I reminded him of a story he had told me of his younger days soon before he married my mother.

My dad was very spiritual. Our lives and the lives of generations past revolved around a deep faith. He had shared with me that he had come to God with a specific request. He felt deeply that he had received a reply. He shared that God had spoken to him and said, "Don't come to me with what you want. Come to me with empty hands. And I will fill your hands with what is best."

As I stood beside my dad's hospital bed, I reminded him of the story. I told him that I was not asking for him to be healed. I was coming to him with empty hands. Whatever was best is what I wanted for him.

Whether or not you are saying goodbye to a loved one who is crossing from this life to the next, or whether you are releasing a failed relationship, a lost job, or even a portion of yourself that is no longer a part of your identity, it is important to allow the loss to really die a good death. Send them off with love and with the expectation that the next experience after the death will be bliss. Yes, give yourself time to grieve. But know that on the other side of death is bliss. And you will both be okay.

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.

Stories About Dad, Death, and Surrender

I have never really been good at giving messages to myself. Evidently this is a common problem for those who receive messages from Spirit. My very first mentor while I was still hearing messages while in the church was married four times before I met her and she told me once that she never got any warnings from (the Holy)Spirit about any of her choices. I read the same thing in one of Sylvia Brown's books.

In my early days of honing my gift of receiving messages, I heard this saying, "he who prophesies over himself prophesies to a fool." That makes sense. I always get more accurate messages for strangers than people close to me.

There is one exception. The tarot.

When I learned the tarot I was rather excited because I could finally get a message for myself. The cards don't lie.

I don't do readings for myself that often but for a couple of months I had been feeling like there was a huge change on the horizon. The cards agreed with my hunch when I got this card. Yes, you guessed it. The death card.

Now don't worry. As far as I know I am not going to die. Most of the time the death card represents a shift of some sort. It indicates that one's old way of thinking or doing things is about to change. A chapter is ending in order for another one to begin.

According to numerology, we all go through huge shifts at the age of around 28 and then again around the age of 52. As I am about to turn 52, I knew my energy was about to change. So receiving the death card was no huge surprise.

With yesterday's solstice and dark moon indicating an ending to a season in nature, I took some time to connect with Spirit and consciously release any ideas of how I thought my life should play out. For several years now I had a plan. I had been working my plan, and it was all going pretty well.

Then Spirit shook things up a bit. My plans have gotten shifted a bit, and I received a message on how my original plan was completely wiped out and how things were going to change over the next couple of months. At first I was a little disappointed. I liked my original plan. But one thing Spirit told me years ago is that we have to be willing to let go of how we think our lives are going to work out and be open to Spirit changing things. Surrender. Not easy. But if we are to be used by Spirit for the highest and best plan, then we have to be willing to surrender our plans to the plans of Spirit.

I had not felt the need to share until today. I received an email from one of my clients who has become a friend. She found a dead hawk in her barn and wondered if it was significant.

HUGE.

Hawks represent higher thinking and connecting with Spirit in a higher way. They are always present when connecting with Spirit in a higher way is indicated. The fact that it was dead symbolized my original message that it is time to allow our ideas of how our lives and our purpose are going to unfold to die so that Spirit can bring about the highest and best.

As I meditated today Spirit reminded me of a story that I meant to share but never did about something that occurred when my dad passed back in August.

I was sitting by his bedside. He drifted in and out of consciousness for about two weeks or so before he crossed. He couldn't talk and the doctors were not sure if he even knew who we were. I sat faithfully by his bedside, retelling him some of his favorite stories. He loved to talk, and frequently told stories, some of them over and over.

One of the stories he loved to tell was how God had given him my mother as his bride. He said that when he went to God and asked for a wife, God had spoken to him and said to him that he was not to come to Him with any particular person in mind, but instead, he was to come to God empty, and God would fill his desire with the best choice. As I retold the story to my dad, I received the message that we were not to come to God asking for God to heal my dad, for that was coming to Him with a particular outcome in mind. So I had told Dad that I was coming to God empty, and asking for whatever was best for Dad to bring that to pass.

Today the story was brought back to my mind as I meditated and Spirit (God, Goddess whatever your name for the Highest Power will do fine here) reminded me of this story. We have to be willing to let die whatever plans we have in mind for our lives. We have to be willing to lay down the gifts of Spirit and agree to only use them if they are required. We have to be willing to lay down and surrender any ideas of a particular outcome. We have to come to Spirit empty and allow our emptiness to be filled with whatever is for the highest good of everyone concerned.

Have you had a dream or a goal which has yet to manifest? Have you been traveling in a particular direction and for some reason, encountered a detour? Perhaps Spirit is telling you that it is time to surrender your plans to the plans of Spirit. Be okay with whatever the answer is.

Today is a perfect day to surrender your plans to Spirit. Light a candle, say a prayer, whatever has meaning for you. This time of year the story of the Christ Child comes to mind. The soul that was Jesus had to lay down whatever he was doing up in the Other World and come to earth for a higher purpose. Even if you thought that what you  were doing was for a Higher plan, be willing to lay it all down. Be willing to surrender your plans to the plans of Spirit.

Know that everything is going to be all right in the end. If it is not all right, it is not the end. ( I stole that from someone I don't know who.)

Blessings to you as you celebrate this sacred season of death and rebirth. Remember that death of one chapter usually occurs before a new chapter can begin.

This journey through life is filled with detours and changes of direction. We have to be open to releasing our ideas and plans and allowing life to unfold the way it is meant to unfold. 

It is okay to grieve the loss or death for a season, but realize that Spirit always has our best interests at heart. Eventually we will see the higher plan.

If you are at a cross roads and need a message from Spirit, I am always at your service. You can contact me at www.WhispersofJoy.net. There are many options available for you to connect with me.

Blessings to you as you navigate this path called life. Don't worry. All who wander are not lost. Maybe the path is just taking you in a different direction than you originally anticipated.

Cleaning out the Closet, and Thoughts About the Dark Moon

Yes, the new moon is upon us. If you have read my previous posts on the new moon, you know I like the term dark moon better, because it describes the actual state of the moon. In my way of thinking, the moon is not "new" until you see that first little sliver of moon after the dark moon. The energies are completely different.

According to my calendar, the moon will be dark on the early morning hours (2:14 a.m. specifically) of September 24th. This is why you may see some discrepancy as to the date of the dark moon. Depending on where in the world you are, you may experience the dark moon late in the evening on the 23rd.

We all experience the moons in different ways. Up until the dark moon, the energy has been about releasing what is no longer helpful, healing, and in your best interests. This may be relationships, jobs, or, in my case, all the crap that has been accumulating in my closets. Yesterday, I decided it was time to release all of the no longer useful things that have been taking up space in my closets. I am really trying to get it done before the new moon early Wednesday morning.

Here is what I like to do. Whenever I am impressed to take on a project, I like to think about what it may represent in my life symbolically. To me, closets represent things that are hidden from view. I am one of those people who stuffs things in closets and drawers when I know company is coming. I may or may not immediately go back to those closets and drag out those things that I have hidden there right away after the company has left. This results in losing a lot of stuff!

So while I am busy cleaning out my closets and drawers, symbolically I am releasing those things in my life that are not necessarily open to public view. Maybe even things that I hide even from myself.

We all like everyone to think that we have it all together, all the time. Cleaning out closets represent to me the part of myself that I have stuffed away out of view.

What I have discovered from my project of cleaning out my closets is that a lot of little things end up cluttering up your closets! Things that I don't necessarily need or want, but I just can't seem to part with.

We are all familiar with the term: coming out of the closet. Long before it represented "coming out" about a person's sexual identity, it represented revealing a secret of some kind.

Today, while my husband was cleaning out his portion of the linen closet, he found a dainty necklace with a heart on it. He asked me if I had forgotten about it. I admitted I had never seen it before. There it was, for at least the eleven years since we have lived in our home, hanging in the back of the linen closet, forgotten. It must have belonged to the previous owners.

What treasures do you have hanging in the back of your heart? Forgotten amidst the clutter, waiting to be discovered? Sometimes in order to find the treasure, you have to clean out the shit!

Do you have forgotten treasures that are waiting for the clutter to be removed so that they can be revealed?

 What is it that you are ready to release? Anger? Resentment? A relationship that has outlived its time? Get ready, I am thinking now might be a good time to do that!! September is a "nine" month in Numerology. Nines are about releasing things, completing unfinished projects, endings, and surrender. In the tarot the nine card is the hermit. Go within yourself and find the wisdom you need. Take some time apart. I am finding personally that the "nine" energy has been particularly strong this month. And Spirit has indicated that October is set to be a month of new beginnings, and major changes. October is a "ten" month. The card in the tarot which is a "ten" is the card of the wheel of fortune. Things are going to change. It is also a month of new beginnings. Sometimes change is at first difficult if it is to bring new things into our lives. When a baby is born first there has to be that painful birthing process.

Let us spend some time releasing those things which no longer serve us so that we can be ready for the upcoming changes sure to occur in October. Remember, you can't pour water into a cup that is already full! It is time to empty your cup of all those things that are no longer useful to you so that your cup can be filled with new things!

Just for today, I encourage you to spend a little time thinking about what is no longer serving you and what is in your life that you no longer love? Release those things so you can be ready for what's coming up!

As always, I am at your service! Please do not hesitate to contact me for a personal session. You can contact me HERE. Happy Dark Moon!

Messages from the Tarot... the Death Card

In my last post I hinted at the suggestion that I read the tarot a bit differently from the suggested, traditional meanings of the cards, although sometimes the traditional meanings are quite spot on.

I draw a card almost every day. The card I draw always has some sort of message for me. Sometimes I can't quite understand what it is trying to tell me right away, but usually by the end of the day I have gotten the message. Let me give you an example from this week.

Yup. You guessed it. This week I drew the death card.

I will admit, when I drew it, I was a little anxious at first. I know that normally the death card does not have to mean that someone is going to die, but sometimes it does. When I was in Florida last month at my father's bedside as he transitioned, I never once drew the death card, but my sister did, maybe a day or two before he passed. Obviously, the apparent meaning of this card is that some sort of death is going to occur. But what does that mean? Well, it could mean a physical death, but usually it means that some part of your life is ending and something new is ready to be born. Now that I am writing this blog about the death card, I keep noticing the priest praying and the sun behind him that is either coming up or setting. The other day when I drew this card I will have to say I never noticed the priest.

My biggest tip on reading the cards is this:

Notice what you notice!!

The other day when I drew the card what drew my attention was what to me looks like a woman lying on her back on the ground. This to me represents surrender. Spirit told me that day that it was time to surrender all my plans, my intentions, and my goals to the Universe. Be open to change. Don't be attached to an intended outcome. I had to be willing to put to death anything that I want and surrender my will to Divine Will. Not always easy.

We all have goals, dreams, aspirations. We all come into this world with a creative mind, heart, and imagination. It is our right and our duty to dream, and then to put feet on our dreams and work towards bringing them to pass. But there is that fine line between manifesting our dreams and being willing to surrender our plans to the will of Spirit.

I had done a reading for a client this week and part of the message was that if you find yourself beating and beating a door and it won't open, maybe it is time to look for another door. In other words, if you are trying and trying to manifest something and it just continues to allude you, maybe it is time to surrender your goal or dream to Spirit and be willing to change your plans and even do something different. Maybe the cards were telling me the other day that it was time to surrender my plans. Be open to a different outcome. Don't be too attached to what I want to occur.

Why would they put a priest praying on the death card? Is that sun coming up or going down? It could be either one. What do you think?

When my dad was on his death bed, a minister came to pray. Well, actually  more than one minister came. Probably the priest showed up on this card because he had come to deliver "last rites."  Why did I not notice it until today? Must mean something.

The first time my dad's minister came to pray for him I left the room, but from outside the door I seemed to be hearing him compelling dad to wake up. I understand. Jesus commanded Lazarus and he rose up. This minister loved my dad. He believed that dad could be healed.

Not that I don't believe that dad could be healed. I used to believe that I could command things to happen in the Spirit world and they would happen. And sometimes they did.

Now I take a bit of a different view. 

I still believe in miracles. But I am more inclined to surrender my will to Divine Will. So I suggested to the minister that we just pray for whatever was best for dad's soul at this point in his journey. I figured if he wanted to pass I didn't want anyone's prayers getting in the way. After all, I do believe in the power of prayer. Sometimes I believe it is possible to pray and for things to happen that are not necessarily in our best interests. I was not sure if dad wanted to stay or go at this point. I just wanted what dad wanted. And what was best for him.

Have you been praying or setting intentions or saying positive affirmations for something that just has seemed like it was not happening?

Maybe today's message is that it is time to surrender your will to Divine Will. Be open to change. Be willing to change your plans or reset your intentions in a different direction. Ask for Divine Guidance.

You know, it is said that when Lazarus died, his sister had called for Jesus four days before and Jesus didn't come. Jesus apparently waited until Lazarus died before he came. Why? Would it not have been easier to heal a living Lazarus than to raise a dead one?

We don't always know what is best.

If something in your life is not working, maybe something greater is being born. Sometimes you have to let something die in order to birth something else.

It is okay to grieve over what is dying.

At some point, though, you just have to get up and go on living.

Whatever in your life is not working, I encourage you today to let it die a good death. Grieve, if you must. But after you have grieved for awhile, look yourself in the mirror and say, "okay, it is time to get up now and go on living." Allow whatever is ready to be born to come.

Remember that nothing really dies anyway. It just changes form.

Are you ready to give birth to something new in your life? I am available for consultations, by phone, skype, email and in person. Click HERE to set up your appointment today!

It's Okay to Break the Rules Sometimes.. Lessons Learned from Officiating Weddings

This blog breaks a little from my normal tradition of writing blogs based upon messages that I receive from time to time from the Spirit world. If you have visited my website or followed me on Social Network sites, you know that I also don the hat of wedding officiant, in addition to my gift of delivering messages from Spirit and teaching spiritual classes.

I like to think that for every hat that I wear, whether it be Post Office clerk, wedding officiant, or messenger for Spirit, that I always allow Spirit to be there in charge, lighting my way and guiding my words and actions, but sometimes I will admit that for weddings in particular, I am always very attentive to making sure I am doing every little thing right, and saying the script word for word. When I teach classes, I normally don't even look at my notes, but not so for weddings.

Recently, however, Spirit urged me to lighten up a bit. I always try to make sure every little detail is covered and that the ceremony goes off like clockwork, but, if you have ever attended a wedding, this sometimes does not happen.

Take, for example, a recent outdoor wedding where a neighborhood cat decided to come up and begin to sharpen its claws on the trellis while the couple were saying their vows.

The cat offered some laughter of which I was glad, because I was stressing about another detail of which I did not know how to remedy. The bride and groom were standing on tiles placed on the ground so that everyone would know where to stand and also so that the bride and bridesmaids in their high heel shoes would be more comfortable than having their heels stuck in the ground. It seemed to me that someone placed the tiles for the bride and groom too far apart, and both of them seemed afraid to step off of their tiles, and I did not want to interrupt the ceremony to ask them to get a little closer. Looking back, I wished I had spoken up. After the ceremony I went home and beat myself up over and over again about how I wished I had noticed the tiles sooner and moved them closer together. Or I wished I had encouraged the bride and groom to move off of their tiles and get a little closer.

Sometimes I get messages from Spirit while doing the most mundane tasks, and it seems that even preparing for a wedding is no exception. One afternoon I was dressing for a wedding and I had in my mind decided what I was going to wear, right down to which pair of shoes I would don. At the last minute, after putting on the shoes I had already chosen, I decided that they were not comfortable that day and decided on another pair. I heard Spirit say to me in my heart that sometimes it is okay to change our minds, even if we have already put the wheels in motion for certain decisions. This was a personal message for me, and the message from Spirit had nothing to do with which shoes I had chosen to wear. This was a message of surrender, that my plans can change, and even if I feel I have been led by Spirit to go down a certain path, that I have to be willing to surrender my plans and allow things to change, even if I have already put certain things in motion.

It seems that Spirit knows when I am going to need the messages that come to me. The next day, a wedding did not go at all as planned and I was forced to ad lib a bit of the ceremony! What!! AD LIB?  Me, a Capricorn, a stickler for staying within the lines, doing everything completely according to plan? AD LIB? Because I had decided to lighten up and go with the flow, I did not flip out or beat myself up over and over afterward as I did the day before about the tiles that were too far apart.

I am thinking to myself that most people are better at going with the flow than others and may be laughing at the silly things I stress out about.

I have a really good one. One day last fall I had booked two weddings on the same day. I had not allowed any time to eat, so I was driving to the first wedding eating some peanut butter to take the edge off. Unbeknownst to me, I had dropped a dollop of peanut butter right smack in the middle of my dress, and I didn't notice it until after the wedding was over. Now, if you didn't know that peanut butter was peanut butter, can you think of something else it might resemble?  I was horrified. I am sure all in the wedding party had a good laugh at my expense.

 I used to use my Kindle to read the wedding ceremonies. I liked it because I did not have to flip pages. Once my Kindle froze up right smack in the middle of the ceremony. Needless to say I no longer use  my Kindle for wedding ceremonies. And I no longer eat peanut butter on the way to a wedding.

Whether you are planning your wedding or just a vacation to Disney World, it is really helpful to allow for things not going as planned. If you have given your life over to serve Spirit, the same is true. Sometimes classes are not attended. Sometimes people cancel at the last minute. Sometimes people don't like you!! What???

I guess, with it being the day before the dark moon, this blog can have this for a theme: SURRENDER. The dark moon is all about releasing what is no longer working. Or releasing whatever. For me, it is releasing the need to have everything go perfectly ever single time.

Make your plans. Do your work. Be prepared. But, in the end, surrender all  that to Spirit. Sometimes the things you have planned will go like clock work. And then sometimes they won't. If there are tiles placed on the ground, so to speak, and you are expected to stand on them, and in your heart you know that they are too far apart, don't be afraid to step off the tile.

Happy May!

At the beginning of this year, when I was contemplating my theme for the year and looking at my tarot card for the year, I knew this was going to be a crazy ride. And so far, my expectations have come true.

Universally we are in a year of the chariot.

(I attribute this image to wikipedia.)

When we think of chariots we think of speeding ahead, travel, and maybe some challenges to overcome. Things seem to happen quickly in a chariot year. In my case, my personal years are the same as the universal year, so I guess I get a double dose of this card.

If you follow the stars, lately there has been a lot of crazy activity in the heavens as well. Although skeptics will say that the heavens have nothing to do with our lives on the earth, I find that everything is connected. We all can attest to the fact that when the moon is full people seem to act a little crazier than normal. More babies are born on full moons than any other time of year.

In April, on the night before the full moon, I found it necessary to take my dad to the hospital. While we were waiting to be seen, there was a man sitting by his computer, (I don't know what his job really was), and he commented to me that he always knew when it was a full moon, due to the increased activity in the ER.

I believe that yes, the placement of the stars and the phase of the moon have a lot to do with our lives.

Have you noticed that April was a bit of a crazy month energetically? Were you happy, as I was, when the calendar turned over to the month of May?

I am not an astrologist, but when I connect with Spirit, I am told that indeed, things are changing. For me, I notice that time is moving faster. It may be my connection with the chariot card, but this year I am finding that I can barely keep up!

How can we sail smoothly through these fast moving days of change?

Obviously, the biggest thing we need to do is have some down time! I had to be reminded of this when I contracted a month long bout with illness that went away only when I took a holiday to Florida, making sure I did no work that week, sitting by the ocean, walking up and down the beach and renewing myself, sitting with the sun, and the moon, and myself. We have to schedule in "me" time!

The second thing we need to do to make it through these energetic changes is spend much time in quiet contemplation. Whether you call it prayer, meditation, sitting with the moon, or just relaxation, make sure you schedule a bit of time every day to do nothing! This may sound similar to the first thing I mentioned about down time, however, when you feel like you have to schedule in time to meditate, sometimes it becomes another thing to do, so I don't count meditation as down time, although it can be, if our mental attitude about it is one of anticipation and excitement and not.. oh no, another thing to put on my list of things to do!  It doesn't have to be a large amount of time. I try to take several mini breaks a day, maybe just five or ten minutes at a time, sitting in my favorite meditation pose, or even just focusing on my breath as I go about my daily routine.

Just as you have to charge up your cell phone frequently or the battery goes dead and your phone becomes useless until you plug it in, you have to allow yourself some time to recharge your battery. Plug into Source and get your power back.

I believe that everything has consciousness and that we are all connected. Plugging into Source can be as simple as going outside and breathing some fresh air once in awhile. Or, my personal favorite, find a water source. (I have a small pond in my backyard where I like to recharge). Drink some water, and pay attention to how the water feels as it travels down your throat and into your belly. Imagine the water cleaning out the "gook". Give thanks to the water as it refreshes your spirit.

The last thing I think we need to do to get through these changing times is surrender. Surrender to Spirit all your plans, your schedule, your life, your expectations, even  your money. Sometimes I have to do this frequently. I surrender and then I take it back. When I begin to worry or try to figure out how everything is going to work, then I have taken it back. When I think I know how something is going to play out, then I have taken it back. My favorite prayer, or affirmation is this: I ask that the highest good be done in this situation for everyone concerned. I don't pretend to know what that best and highest solution is.

I hope when you feel like you are a bit overwhelmed or that life is happening to you too fast, that you will come back and reread some of these suggestions. If you need someone to listen, or want to hear what Spirit has to say about your situation, you can contact me HERE. I do phone, email and skype consultations, as well as in person if you live near me.

Together we can weather all that life throws our way. Yes, life may be a chariot rushing full speed ahead, but we are allowed to take a break and recharge!

Not the End of the Story

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the Unicorn Writers Conference in Portland, Connecticut with my good friend Hali.

 I recently finished writing my second book, (or at least I thought I was done writing it) and was looking for my step in the process. The conference was held at San Clements Castle, a magnificent estate, filled with all kinds of picturesque views and fun statues.

At one point in the day, I decided to take a break from the back to back workshops and go outside (it was relatively pleasant that day) to take a breather and connect with the energy of the castle. The message that I received was a great message and I thought that others might benefit from the words of wisdom from my guides.

Let me preface the message with a little background of my life of late.

I get up at 5am Monday through Friday and go to work at the Post Office. After work, I see clients, I write weddings, sometimes (not as much lately with the increase of clients and classes) I post a blog. As you know I have been working on my second book. I have been teaching several classes at two different locations. Oh yes. And I join couples in marriage. The weekend before this past one I went to the beach to participate in a full moon ceremony.

This past weekend it was a weekend writers conference.

So I sat down on one of the concrete walls to breathe and look around at the beauty of the castle. The air was brisk, but invigorating. The sun warmed my face as I took a deep breath and felt the energy of the castle.

"You know,Joy,"  my Guide began, "this castle was not created to be an event location. Even though it is functioning very well in its current capacity, this was not the original intention of the first owners of this land."

Well, yes, I imagine this is true.

"Sometimes, our original intentions do not turn out to be the end result."

This reminds me of one of the philosophies I learned in  my study of shamanism. Don't be attached to having your plans turn out only one way. If you think that the things you are manifesting can only be realized in one way, then you will find yourself stuck.

 Be willing to surrender your plans to Spirit and allow your vision to be manifested in the best possible way for the good of all concerned.

In my thoughts about the castle, I thought about the original owners of the castle and what visions they must have seen for it when they first decided to build it. I wonder if they realized those visions in their lifetime. Over the years, I wonder how many different things the castle might have been used for. I really didn't do my homework and so didn't know much about the history of the castle: how old it was, who were the original owners, how many times it had changed hands, what different events may have occurred here. But I felt that the Spirit of the castle was content with its present duties as an event location. Many weddings occur here. I am sure there are a multitude of various events that the walls of the castle are privy to. My feeling was that the castle was happy with its present state of affairs. (yes, you skeptics, a castle can be happy.)

Since I began writing my second book, a memoir of my spiritual path and how I got from my "previous" life as a born again Christian to my current life as an intuitive, medium, shamanic practitioner, and sometime animal communicator, the message that life does not turn out exactly the way we plan really hits home. No this was not my original intention. My thoughts or expectations of my weekend at the conference did not pan out exactly as I had envisioned.  But I  have to say that Spirit always knows best. Our best laid out plans cannot hold a candle to all the wonderful things that Spirit and perhaps even our own Highest Self envisions for us.

The other "sub" message that Spirit told me was that it was okay to take breaks. I have a tendency to "make hay while the sun is shining." In other words, work work work as long as the opportunity is there. However, at this moment, as I had ditched a workshop to sit out in the sun in this very captivating courtyard, I knew that we all need times when we just breathe.

 We all need to get away from the hustle and bustle of our lives and sit and look at a water fountain, whether any water is coming out of it or not, or perhaps just sit and gaze at a candle, watch a sunset, or sit with the moon. Spirit said to me as I recited aforementioned saying,

"What, do you think the sun is going to stop shining?"

That's very true! If we have the attitude, "make hay while the sun is shining," then subconsciously we are afraid the sun is going to stop shining. The opportunities are going to mysteriously stop coming our way, Spirit is going to go on vacation and leave us hanging, so we better have some sort of back up plan.

Just for today, think about your goals or your visions of your life. Is your life turning out exactly the way you planned or have there been some detours? Has there been some rerouting? I like another saying that goes something like this,

 "life is what happens while we are busy making other plans."

As we head into the new moon on Sunday, let us think about surrendering all of our best laid out plans to Spirit and to our Highest Self. Let us lay aside any expectations that our life or our plans have to turn out in any specific way. Let us be open to surprises. Let us be open to detours. Let us be open to the notion that the there may just be a surprise ending to our story.

Remember this.

Everything always turns out okay in the end. And if isn't okay, it isn't the end.

Message from NCIS

I have been getting messages from Spirit via movies and television for years.

When my daughter was a child, my most common means of receiving messages from Spirit was through the Disney movies that I took her to see. But that is another story.

So I will give a little bit of background so this message makes some sense.

Lately I have been really studying on marketing. My second book is about finished and I want to do a better job of marketing it and myself. I have signed up for every free marketing seminar and email list and have been reading ecourses on marketing.. everything I can get my hands on.

So much so that hubby love complained the other day that I was on the computer for five hours and I guess he was feeling a little left out. Other things have been taking a back burner to this obsession with reading everything I can get my hands on and doing worksheets and self analysis on everything imaginable.

So last night hubby love and I were able to catch the last few minutes of one of our favorite television shows, NCIS. The end of the show came and in the last scene the new girl on the show is hitting balls at one of those batting cages. She is missing all the balls that are thrown at her.

Mark Harmon's character walks up behind her and tells her she is trying too hard. Instead of going after the ball, she should try just relaxing and letting the ball come to her. Connect with the ball.  It is all about timing, I think he said.

Mind you, I am not a sports aficionado. Yes, I do realize that my last blog was a message from Spirit based on the game of baseball. I have not missed the synchronicity of the two back to back messages.

Well, Spirit, I had to reply. This suggestion goes against every marketing strategy I have been reading. I have to go for the gusto. I have to promote myself. I have to .... etc etc..

Now I am not saying that Spirit is telling me that everything that I am reading is horse shit.

Sometimes you just have to go against what all the experts say and do what Spirit says.

What does this have to do with me? you may be asking me..

Yes, we should go after what we want. If we want to lose ten pounds, we have to go to the gym, stop eating junk, drink more water, etc etc. However, if we see ourselves as fat, we will never lose the weight no matter what we do. Losing ten pounds is probably 90% what we think and 10% what we do.

It is the same with whatever you are trying to manifest into your life.

I remember when I first got attuned to Reiki. Reiki is a healing energy that is passed from a master to a student through an attunement. I thought I would feel different. I thought I would get "hot hands" like I was told I would get. I didn't. I was worried that it didn't "work": that I didn't get the attunement, because I didn't feel any different. Not so much different from when I was a child and I got "born again," and I was worried that it didn't "take" because I didn't feel anything.

So eventually I just started using the Reiki as if I got it, and after awhile, I felt the energy in my hands. My hands never did get "hot", but now I do get sensations when the Reiki turns on. However, that did not come right away. I had to use the Reiki first, and then the feelings came later.

My  point is that sometimes you just have to let the ball come to you.

Is there something you have been trying to manifest? Perhaps a better job, a relationship, maybe even a connection with one of your guides. You have been trying and trying, but to no avail. Nothing seems to be happening no matter what you do.

Let me encourage you right now to stop trying so hard!!

Let the ball come to you!!

I am hearing from Spirit that there are  many of you who are trying so hard to grow spiritually. You go to every class, go to sessions, go to healers, to every workshop you can find, and you are not seeing the results you would like. You want to wake up one morning and instantly be able to sense the thoughts and feelings of everyone around you and hear Angels talking to you or perhaps even see one standing at the foot of your bed when you wake up!!

Spirit is saying, cut yourself some slack!! One day when you are not "trying" to connect with Spirit, you will get the most amazing connection ever! Maybe at first you will not recognize it because that was too easy! Or maybe that amazing prompt from Spirit came in the form of a message through a television show!

Just for today, Relax!!  Go soak in a tub, or take a walk. Hug a child, go shopping. Stop thinking so much. Everything is going to be all right!!

Most of the time, guidance from Spirit comes when we least expect it. I have come to expect the unexpected when it comes to Divine Guidance. When I am trying too hard, the answers elude me. When I surrender, the guidance comes knocking on my door, or greeting me through the television set.

Remember, if you would like some help discovering your path or finding the healing to your soul that you have been seeking, feel free to contact me! We can chat a bit and discover what your soul has been longing to tell you!  

We can set up a skype call, a telephone chat, or an email session, or, if you live in the immediate vicinity of my home town, Winchester, Virginia, we can get together in person. I also do private sessions once a month in Leesburg Virginia. You can connect with me here.

Blessings to you as you relax and allow Spirit to toss that ball in your direction! 

Temperance

This week I have been getting ready for a class I am teaching in a couple of weeks on Reiki. Most people these days are familiar with Reiki but just as a short synopsis Reiki is healing life force energy which comes through a lineage dating back to Jesus or perhaps even further. It was rediscovered by Master Mikao Usui in 1925 while he was spending twenty one days in meditation atop a sacred mountain in Japan.

I was thinking about how so many of our really amazing profound insights and discoveries come to us while we are spending time going within ourselves. Meditation is the process by which we put aside our daily worries and concerns for a period of time and get quiet. So many of us complain that our lives are a mess, we are seeking answers, or peace, or maybe a new job, and the answers elude us. We work and work, we do this and do that, we say affirmations, we may do rituals or say prayers. All of these things are completely wonderful as long as we do not forget that all the answers we need are available to us when we get quiet and listen.

This morning in my daily tarot draw this is the card I chose:

When I get this card, I know that perhaps I have gotten a bit out of balance and it is time to get back on track. In the picture, the Angel is pouring water from one vessel into another. One foot is in the water and one on land. The sun is rising. Obviously this is an Angel, which indicates that there is help from the Higher Realms in achieving this goal.

In symbology, water represents Spirit and the earth represents our physical lives. This card is indicating that it takes both spiritual practice and human effort to achieve our goals. One without the other will not work.

It is so easy to focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else.

I was talking to a coworker today and he was talking about how when he gets a focus on something, he notices that other things in his life suffer because of the intense tendency he has to throw all of his energy into that one project. We all can say that we know what he is talking about, and I think that it is an easy habit to fall into.

We imagine a goal. We may want to manifest a new relationship, a new job, or any number of goals that are commendable. However, we throw everything we have into this one basket. We may forget that we have other obligations. We may try to manifest our dreams without taking the time to go within and seek higher guidance.

Master Usui was a healer before he went atop the mountain. He had studied chiqong  and other eastern healing modalites. However he was frustrated. He was not achieving the results he desired. He went to the mountain to seek higher guidance. It didn't come on the first day. Nor did it come the second. This speaks to me of our tendency to want a quick fix. We are so used to the McDonald's mentality. We want what we want and we want it right now. Master Usui was willing to put aside some time to go within and seek higher guidance. The answers didn't come until his time on the mountain was almost done.

Other spiritual masters have done the same thing. The Buddha obtained enlightenment by spending time under a tree. Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days.

Sometimes the answers we seek to our most innermost desires and questions can only be found by spending time alone with Spirit. But, as the tarot card for today indicates, there needs to be a balance. We have to eventually come down off the mountain and do something!

Once we spend our time with Spirit,it seems like doors open without any effort on our part! The right doors. The right person just happens to come across our path. Or the right job. We have an inner knowing of what to put effort into and what to let go.

There is a mantra that I love that says: "What I focus on grows."

Sometimes it is good to focus on our goals. It is good to visualize achieving our goals. But if those goals seem to elude us, perhaps it is time to surrender. Let go of our intended outcomes and allow the Universe to unfold just as it should. If we think that our lives have to unfold in a certain way, then we still have spiritual work to do. One of the steps to enlightenment is the ability to detach ourselves from our desired goals and know that all is well, no matter what.

Just for today, why not spend a little time going within for that needed guidance? But don't stay there forever, expecting your dream job or your dream lover or your dream car to come up the mountain to you. I guess it is possible to find a large bag of money sitting at your doorstep, but more than likely you are going to have to put some effort into achieving your goal. But your time going within will give you the needed guidance to know just which path to seek, and which one to let go.

Surrender

This morning in my meditation I kept hearing the word "surrender." I have always felt like surrender was a paradox. We have goals. We do things to achieve these goals. We do vision boards. We do affirmations. We take action to make our dreams come true. And then we have to surrender these goals to the Universe?

Sometimes the things we really want to come to pass always seem just beyond our reach. We are always almost there. There is something that always comes up to cause us to take a step back. Two steps forward one step back. We get a little money saved up and then our car breaks down or some such similar thing. We get into a relationship and then that person finds someone else. You know the scenario. We find our dream home and then the financing falls through or someone else puts a contract down first. That is when we have to come to a place of surrender.

When you have done everything in your power to make a certain thing happen, when you have done your affirmations, when you have taken action, when you have meditated and envisioned it happening and then something happens that seems to be the opposite of what you wanted, it is time to surrender. Yes you have plans. You have goals. But there comes a time when the Universe just wants you to say, okay, this is what I want, but I am willing to lay it down for now. I know the Universe has my best interests at heart. I am just going to go with the flow and allow things to unfold as they will. I know that the best will come to me, and I am going to release my feelings about what that best thing is. It doesn't mean that you are giving up. Just take some time to surrender all you want, all you are to the Universe. Sometimes we don't know what is just around the corner. Sometimes it is all about timing. You can't force a flower to bloom in February. You may see a little sprout of a flower poking its head out of the dirt but you cannot make it bloom. If you go outside and start poking and prodding at that little sprout you will only kill it. Surrender.

Surrender is different from giving up. If you are in a place of surrender you are giving to the Universe all your plans and goals and you are releasing your right for what you want to happen in a certain way.

Think about things that you have wanted to happen that seem just beyond your reach. Just for today, give those goals up to the Universe, the Divine, God, Goddess, and say, okay, I surrender. I know that my best good is there for me, I surrender my thoughts and plans of what that best good is. Today I release control.

And then wait and see what happens.