Lunar Living Newsletter

Warriors of Peace: The Two Wolves Within

2010-11-13T03:47:00.010-05:00

A little boy was walking with his uncle in the woods when the boy turns to his Uncle and asks “Where does good and evil came from?

The Uncle sat the little boy down on a near by rock, pointed to the boy's chest and said. “Inside there, lives two wolves. One is love and one is hate.” The little boy leaned in, eagerly asking, “Which one wins?”
“Well, that depends.” said the Uncle. “Which one do you feed the most?”

A long time ago, a friend of mine helped me understand the importance and power behind one simple fact.
It does not matter what is true, it only matters what we believe to be true.

And the belief, that just about everyone struggles with, on some level, is that we are separate from one another.

Even if we have come to understand that we are all connected, everything in our world reflects what we have been taught to perceive, that we are separate.

And the second we view ourselves as separate, however reluctant, we create a reality of war. We become at war with the truth: that we are all connected. And life reflects this division to us. Little battles erupt around us and we develop our strategies in response. Separate vs connected. Peace versus war, love versus hate.

A warrior is an agent of unity.

A warrior studies and heals the division within himself, so that unity and peace can exist in the world outside him. A warrior develops courage to face down fear in all its forms, feelings, beliefs, sensations.

In short, to study to be a warrior is to face the battles within. To see beyond the trickery of division, and drop straight through, as a sword that sinks through hard earth, to the place where neither wolf exists. It is to accept you are both wolves, and out of that you are neither.

This is the battle before you, and when you take up your arms, you become a warrior for truth, an agent of peace.

There is the belief in Asia that a warrior achieves greatness when he learns how to not have the fight in the first place. So I ask you Warriors of light, in the areas of your life that present division, struggle, what is there to do, to put down the fight?

Survival Guide to Goddess School

2010-11-01T19:34:00.003-04:00

Term II: Way of the Warrior

So far in school, I have learned that being a warrior is challenging, in fact the only thing harder than the exams are learning the tools we need to pass them.

They teach us simple things, but it is the simple things that can be the hardest to do.

Be un-attatched to the outcome: a warrior's job is to reach the goal, not to control how that goal is reached; only to follow his part in making it so
Surrender all expectations: of how your “adversary should act, how your ally should be, and most importantly, of how you should feel, respond, or perform. (once again a warriors job is only to reach the goal, not control how.) After all, there is no rule that one should reach the goal gracefully, or painlessly, or quickly
Accept everything as it is: everything is exactly as it should be. Instead of trying to change reality, align with reality. From there you can look to see how to take advantage of the reality before you
Surrender what you want for the needs of the greater good. When sound judgment and objectivity have abandoned you, choose the path that allows the most people to succeed ( succeed in achieving peace/unity, not personal gain).
When all else fails, hold onto what you stand for, not what you stand against. Let what you stand for move you forward past the fray of smallness that seeks to defeat us at every turn.

This is what we have been taught. The peace within me grows ever wider, and oddly enough, I have discovered my capacity for compassion has grown in the heat of battle. Perhaps this war we have waged with truth, is to make the truth grow brighter within that we may light this universe, and those universes still to come.

How to Make the Most of your Massage and your Money!

2010-11-01T07:51:00.000-04:00

So you just had an extra yummy massage. Your body is like butta and quite happy about it. But what happens a week from now when the wear and tear of life kicks in? Don’t let the yummyness melt away!

Get extra mileage out of your massage by learning a few quick exercises to help bring your body back to neutral.

Just as we can forget the car keys (you left them in the refrigerator and the milk is on the counter) your body can forget how to relax. Habits override our body’s innate sense of freedom, with holding patterns. These patterns could have been necessary, (arms cover your face so that baseball being thrown at you doesn’t whack you in the eye.) Shoulders shrug up to our ears and curl in towards your chest to protect the heart.

The little traumas of life created body patterns of protection, and then forgot to let them go when the ordeal was over. Every time you feel the same emotions as that day the ball almost hit you, your body goes on full alert. Muscle memory kicks in, and all the same muscles contract in protection. Pretty soon, this new pattern becomes the new standard for neutral.

So what to do? The body and brain needs to be reset, so it can return to a healthier sense of alignment.

Here are 2 killer ways to Reclaim freedom and ease:

Integrative Kinetics:
How to make any activity work for you, even typing!
Click for Details

Integrative Alignment Massage: Age Defying Bodywork
Read on Below

Falling for Fall: The Bounty of Bliss

2010-09-11T05:18:00.003-04:00

It's harvest season, and anyone who's ever harvested a crop can tell you, there is much work entailed in reaping what you sow.

Don't give up just as you're about to receive the bounty. This is the time to dig deep and go for it!

Take heart in knowing working hard, is hardly working when done with passion. And passion is never more fully realized then when we surrender to it.
So sink into that bliss within, let it flow through your work and trust that the work you send out into the world will reap the life you long to live.

The Goddess School Guide: Test of a True Goddess

2010-09-11T01:27:00.003-04:00

Oh the wonderful world of magic is full of awesome, amazing things. There are tricks and tools beyond our imagining. It’s a complex world, with many dimensions, and folds of time. But the magic that is most powerful, happens to be quite simple.

To love.

What stands between us and those two words, are eons of history, trillions of hard wired synapses training our brains to react instead of be.

So what’s the solution? Well as I found out recently, it’s easier than you think.

Last year, I am happy to say, I was admitted entrance to the School of Divine Feminine Magic (Goddess School for short).

Recently we had our year end exams. These exams were designed to ferret out our weaknesses. Essentially, they were designed to have us fail, so we could discover how we fail! Dude, wish I’d known that before the exams.

To make things even more interesting, the exams are self-evaluated, followed by a review.

Now, I’m a tough critic, so self-evaluation was a bit brutal, at first. However, it was a brilliant opportunity to learn about compassion, and a chance to let go of identifying with what others thought about me.

There would be no approval to be gained by achieving a successful grade. The results weren’t given to gratify our ego and rank ourselves, but to learn where we needed more freedom.

The exam results showed what strategies I used when confronted with challenge, and tested their effectiveness. Part of the review phase was to replace and then develop new strategies that would work. In every situation, implementing the use of compassion improved results.

So you see, the same compassion that was needed to review the exams, would then be part of the solution to pass them.

Magic school, with all its glamour, is really about realizing who we are. Sure we get to learn really cool tools, like how to laser clean an issue in our system. Or how to create magical structures, or identify patterns and their origins in the body.

But lasers and magical structures, are all just fancy ways to ease ourselves into the truth of who we are.

We need to take baby steps in this process, because who we are is so blindingly powerful and awesome we can’t conceive of it all in one fell swoop.

Life and all its challenges are chances to see where and why we fail to realize who we are. With all the cool tools I’ve learned, the gift of compassion was the most powerful tool I learned. So important that you can't graduate Level One of Goddess School with out it :)

Read more on Compassioning your Way to Freedom

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

2010-09-11T01:00:00.001-04:00

Compassioning your way to Freedom

Now that you’ve got that song in your head…

Know that you are not your situation, your reaction to a situation, or other people’s reactions to the situation. Oh and by the way, other people aren’t their reactions either, no matter how convincing a performance they may be giving!

What’s the real source of your reaction? If you are having a strong reaction, question why it is so strong and if the situation is really causing it. A reaction is just that, an action in response to an action.

Our minds like to make things easy by for us by having preset responses ready and available to us. They automatically “kick in” when old familiar situations happen. Our mind sifts through our history and finds the response we use most often in that situation and then activates it. This is great, if that response supports us.

The antidote to all pain: who you are!
Don’t Hide in the Shadow of your Reaction: Tap into the Real You

Develop a new Response: Our minds like to have a plan in place.
Think of how you normally respond to certain challenging situations. Is your heart racing? Is your body pumped with adrenaline, are you primed for fight or flight?
Now go beyond this reaction, sink into that space within you that is calm, clear, knowing, and full of grace.

Find that space within you that trusts you don’t need a preset reaction, but can confidently handle each moment as it comes

Remember there is room for your reaction, any reaction you may have.
And there is room to choose to sink beyond that reaction to the freedom that you are!

August Challenge: Cook or be Cooked!

2010-08-09T06:03:00.004-04:00

Leo the Lion, is known for his talent and success, but don't forget he has a mighty roar. With rising temperatures, we may all be feeling a little more feisty than usual.

No matter what's thrown your way,
remember the universe is on your side.
Everything is perfect just as it is.
Even if it doesn't allows taste that way.

Life may not be serving up life in your favorite flavors this month, but that doesn't mean with a little ingenuity you can't craft it into a dish for all to be envied of. (or at least edible :)

Ever watch one of those cooking shows, there's always the magic box challenge. Master chefs are given 2 or 3 ingredients from which to create a culinary delight. Usually they are ingredients that you'd never think to put together, but with a little imagination can form something new, exciting and uniquely their own.

Challenge:
Take this month's "special ingredients" of what is before you and what others want to offer you and weave it into a creation that will propel you all forward.

How to Keep a Cool Head in the Dead of Summer

2010-08-08T06:48:00.008-04:00

Feeling a little heated? If the heat and humidity is getting more than just your hair in a tizzy, you're in good company.

Heat has a way of warping our perspective and our focus. It can raise our temper, or bring out our passion.
Don't let escalating temperatures get a rise out of you!
To assist you, here are 7 Tips to stay cool in the dead of heat:

The Cheat Sheet to Be the Heat
1. Have a goal and pour all that "heat" into how to obtain it, instead of what's in your way

2. Take what is being thrown at you, as a great source of energy to make what you want with.
3. Tempers can be like fevers, sometimes the best way to treat them is to let them burn out
4. Learn and let go! This month is a great opportunity to let go some steam and break free of old grudges.
5. See any melt downs as an excellent opportunity to reveal weaknesses so they can be strengthened
6. Frustration, and anger can be our ally, as long as we direct their energy towards obtaining a goal.
7. If you feel the need to strike out, finding something worth striking against! (i.e. tearing down old habits, so you can tap into the power beneath.

Age Defying Bodywork:

2010-08-02T05:26:00.009-04:00

Unwinding Patterns to a Younger, Freer Body!
Since being back on Maui, I took an advanced level bodywork workshop on Aston Patterning. I am excited to now offer Structural Alignment Massage as part of my services. I was floored by how dramatically my body shifted in just 4 days of this simple, yet power work. Its focus is to unravel age old body patterns and bring your body back to neutral. In the process it frees blocks of tension, creating efficiency of movement, greater ease and vitality.

At the start of the class, my left hip was in a great deal of pain from running uphill. Over the next few days, I watched as this pattern unraveled itself.

The front of my hips opened up, my low back lengthened, my legs found a neutral rotation, and my ribcage was lifted. I could breath better, and my legs and torso looked thinner with its more neutral alignment! I found myself doing handstands with ease I haven't felt since grade school. I highly recommend checking out the work if you get the opportunity. It is life changing!

For those of you living outside Maui, there is a link to the parent website so you can find a practitioner in your area.

*Structural Alignment bodywork can be incorporated into a regular massage, so you get the lusciousness of oil massage, with the freedom and wisdom of alignment work.

Spotlight: Integrative Alignment Massage

2010-08-01T06:41:00.000-04:00

Unravel age old body patterns and bring your body back to neutral!
This is a structural bodywork modality that works wonders for those with injuries, chronic issues, or those looking for an edge in their workout/activities.

This technique works with the fascia to unwind non-supportive body patterns that hold us back. It brings the body back to neutral freeing up energy that had been held in contraction, creating efficient movement, and a longer leaner looking body.

The Seducable You and What it can Teach You!

2010-07-02T08:30:00.005-04:00

July is one of my favorite months. Barbeques, fireworks, shirtless men, what's not to love :)

Even the stars agree that some R&R is in due order, and they are lending us some stardust to make that happen. But caution beware, for those tempted to squander it, this stardust comes at a cost.

The Scorpio moon is here to grace us with beauty, love, and passion that we may let go and let flow our true desires. However in its quest to ignite the fires within, it is also here to ferret out our vices. Or should I say lure out? The seducable within will be put to the test, so revel or resist, but do not walk away. The heart wants what the heart wants and this month it won't be denied.

For the past 6 months, your heart has been a steadfast and committed suitor. It has patiently bided its time, giving you space when you needed it, urging you on when you needed a little push. It has never given up on you, but faithfully urges you on to be the best that you are, so that you can have all that you deserve. It is time to surrender and dive in. Have a heart to heart with yourself, you might be surprised at what lies within. Perhaps you already have everything you ever wanted, or discover that what you want is something completely different than what you thought. Either way, take pause and listen to what your heart is telling you.

Enjoy and Good luck!

Parallel Lives: Reclaiming Power as Choice

2010-06-29T18:36:00.017-04:00

There is an ocean of you. Waves of past selves and future selves, and the selves of choices unmade. This life, your life, is a but a drop. A drop in the weaving of possibility of your many, many lives.

I recently had an encounter with my parallel life. It was a surprising experience. Startling and interesting all at the same time. I have learned from my past, present and future selves, but had never given much thought to parallel selves and if they existed.

I certainly never would have gone looking for my parallel self, if I hadn’t met my husband. That is my parallel life’s husband.

He was a stranger in a room, and yet there was something incredibly familiar. Nothing extraordinary in that, I have met many people that felt familiar. Yet when I went to sense where this familiarity was coming from, I saw it was not from the past, but rather I felt a sideways movement. Like an elevator that can go in any direction. And when the movement stopped, this stranger and I were somewhere else. We were in a house that looked and felt like my own, even though I’d never seen it before. And the man before me was the same only…different. His hair was a bit shorter and he was clean shaven, and no longer wearing a t-shirt but a collared button down shirt. But what struck me the most was his confidence. It was a confidence that defined him, that came out of his being, imbued in his touch. And when he spoke there was absolute certainty in everything he said. When he referred to his work, I could tell he was good at it, that he loved being good at it, the way he loved being married because he was good at it. That is we were good at it. I could feel her now. What the “me” in this other life was feeling.

The me in this life wasn’t as certain, she was having some doubts. You would never tell it, to look at her. She was happy, and much more clear about things than I am. But the doubt was there, way beneath the surface. That doubt was what we had in common. I think her biggest doubt was in the certainty. As if certainty itself might begin to determine her life. But when she looked at him, when he held her, the fear and doubt evaporated. Their life together, that was her certainty. It anchored her. I could tell she loved who she was and what she did. She was important, she was needed, she had found a place in this life. I witnessed all of this. This perfect life.

In the moment, everything felt right. For them. But later, when my consciousness returned to this world, to this life, I began to wonder. I wondered what choices had been made to carve out that particular life. Me and her, we were the same body, and yet we were on such completely different paths, and those paths had changed us. I could feel the desires she had in that life, how it felt to embody them and they felt alien to me.

As comforting as that moment was, experiencing the success and fulfillment of that life, it was not my own. It was not my own for a reason. I did not want that life she had chosen. I did not desire the things that she did.

Somewhere along the way, the choices I have made, have changed me. They have defined me, in ways I had not imagined. The choices of that life, as beautiful as it was, were not mine. I had no claim to them, no claim to her future.

I thank her. This women in my body in some other weave of life. I thank her for reminding me, that I have chosen my life just as it is. That every day I make choices to be on the path that I am on. Even, with all its challenges, they are my challenges. Ones I have fought for, even if it doesn’t appear to be that way. I have called in these challenges to grow into the person I am determined to be, and that therefore I already am.

I know that meeting her, has changed both of us. I think my life has planted a seed of doubt in her own, but only so she can more easily see the choices she has neglected to make.

Doubt, in its own way, can encourage us to make the choices we may not want to make. Doubt guides us to the fear within, that we may have a moment of reckoning, and decide if we wish to let them choose for us or not. Are we ready for change or not. And fear, is just a word that represents that we want more from life. Fear is a longing that wishes to be allowed. That glimpse of life of what could have been, it revealed to me I have more to allow in my life.

I can have the confidence she has, it is just a choice away. And she can have a path that is as certain as mine. Neither is better than the other. After all, at the end of the day the ocean of our selves is all flowing in the same direction, arriving at the same shore.

A shore of awakening, where we realize and remember the first choice any of us made was to experience who we are, in all our many facets and potentials. We are an artist, weaving this web of life. And moving forward, there are a few more colors I may want to use.

There is an ocean of you. Waves of time, that recede every so often, that we may reconcile with the choices we have made. Waves of time that rush forward and past us, to encourage the choices ahead. And the momentum of choice, the momentum of your many, many selves, that are here to remind you just how incredibly immense, and powerful you are.

Choice is your superpower; it creates entire worlds. Use it, enjoy it, and give yourself a moment to marvel at your masterpiece, even if it is a work in progress.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-18T08:01:00.008-05:00

Recently someone asked me to think of what I thought about when I was in high school. As most teenagers I thought about what I wanted in life, boys, dancing, boys, and magic. I would never have called it magic. I thought more in terms of human potential. That there was more for us, waiting out there. Like a pile of gifts waiting to be opened Christmas morning.

Interesting enough, the spirit of Xmas, celebrates the birth of a man who in his time realized his potential, and tried to point the way for each of us to find our own presents(presence).

Maybe that's why its my favorite holiday (ok that, and all the shiny, shimmering ornaments and lights). It reminds me of that youthful innocence and faith and utter belief in that which we cannot see but creates everything around us: possibility.

Whether you celebrate the holidays or not, celebrate that infinite pool of possibility. Wade in its beauty and grace and see what life can bring you.

I invite you to explore the unseen in your life and how it works in miraculous ways.

Be your own Best Ally!

2009-09-04T22:29:00.017-04:00

As we head into the last quarter of the year, the universe is pulling out all the stops to make sure we are where we need to be by year's end.

While the summer was about testing your relationships with others, September is about testing your relationship with yourself.

This month take on the challenge to make allies of the world around you.
Ally with your challenges, your neighbors, and strangers, and above all yourself.

If you find yourself feeling lost, confused, hurt, betrayed, angry, on unable to feel at all, take a deep breath and listen.

Listen to the complaints of yourself. Notice what you seek out from others, or objects, or your career, and find a way to give it to yourself in some small way.

If you feel judged, how have you been judging yourself and what can you do to feel empowered about it. If you feel undervalued, what can you do that will add value to your life? If you need nurturing, how can you nurture yourself?

In your soul there's
Answers to your prayers
If you're searching for
A place you know
A familiar face
Somewhere to go
You should look inside yourself
You're halfway there ~Exhale, lyrics

Take a moment and be the best partner to yourself, and you will begin to be an even better partner in all your relationships. You'll feel content, fulfilled, confident, and will be able to give to others what you have learned to give to yourself.

Summer Recap: The Bendable Personality...

2009-08-06T05:34:00.016-04:00

...and How You can Use it to Achieve Success
The theme for this year is partnerships, if you hadn't noticed the past few months were all about testing them! If you're still reeling from events past, it's not too late to learn from it. Here's a recap of summer themes and how to reinvent yours.
This summer is a time to look not only at the partnerships we want to form, but to examine the ones we are in, whether we want them or not. We are in partnership to the earth, to strangers, to co-workers, bosses, and family. We are in partnership to our past and our future, and then there are our past partnerships, and any unresolved issues whose remnants may linger into our present.
This is a chance to strengthen the shore holds of relationships, by acknowledging how we “be” in relationship and in partnership. It is a chance to identify where we could be more compassionate, or patient, or more forgiving. The remedies of compassion, patience, and resourcefulness are all at our disposal. We will be asked to integrate a malleability of spirit that we may close the gaps that former and present generations have created amongst us.
It's time to allow ourselves to become interdependent with one another. As we do this, personalities are bound to hit a few snags as they bump up against one another. Just know that by adopting a more flexible demeanor, you will increase your ability to contribute to and share in the bounty that can only exist when we work together.
Ferreting out the inner demons that divide us, will not only pave a more harmonious path in times to come, it will also be a more prosperous one. So if challenging personalities are the bane of your existence, if colleagues are chaffing, and breakups aching, know that an easier time lay ahead of you.

Aloha: Breath of Life

2009-05-17T19:50:00.021-04:00

It's been a few months since last we spoke. Let me catch you up. I have been in Boston, the Big Apple, and now am residing in Maui, HI.

For those of you that don't know, Aloha means "with breath". Aloha, by way of greeting is an exchange of breath, of your spirit. When the ancient Hawaiians first encountered the "white man", they were startled that they did not have this "breath".

In the English language, the word "inspire" means to breath in, to inhale, to take in breath. It's the intake of spirit in order to create expression. One who inspires, is one who shares this "breath" with others.

In Hawaii, greeting one another is not a perfunctory, unconscious encounter but rather an opportunity to share your spirit with another. It is the recognition that we share a common energy and are co-creating an experience with it when we meet one another.

Aloha, is an acknowledgment of our abundance, that there is enough time, finances, and love available to us at all times, and can therefore take time to support one another when needed. In fact, it is our investment in supporting one another, that connects us with this flow, and keeps it alive and present in our lives.

The lush lands of Hawaii, are brimming with this energy. It is a paradise that calls to it people to remember their dreams once more and breath life into it.

So many begin their marriages at this special place. A place that is of partnership and community not only with one another but with the land.

Where does your breath come from. What inspires you? How do you share that with others?

If you don't know the answers to these questions, fear not. They are hidden in the chance meetings of ordinary life, waiting to be culled as a wisdom that only the now can give us. They are born not of the mind, but of the moment that is shared between two beings, between people, people and land, and land to land.

Ask not of yourselves, but of the moment what is there for you to give, to receive, to learn and grow, and your daily harvest will feed you far into the future, and heal into your past.

Aloha,
Veronique

Remember your first crush?

2009-02-10T15:47:00.023-05:00

Mine was in grade school. His name was Jeff and of course all the girls were in love with him. He was the coolest, cutest boy in the whole grade, and charming enough that no one blamed him for it. This guy had it going on.

Recently, I was lying I bed feeling sleepy enough to be cozy and awake enough to notice it, when a moment I shared with my first crush came to mind, and as the memory played itself out on the screen of my mind, I saw something that I had never noticed before.

I had a startling revelation that has changed everything I know about who we are and what we are capable of.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, the holiday that celebrates the capacity of our hearts: which is the source of all abundance, I thought I’d share with you my first crush and what I learned then and now. Enjoy!

The sun had lowered itself just enough to peek its head into the window of the fifth grade classroom, where a teacher was herding his children into their neat rows of desks.

The children were happy and rowdy from a good day’s play, and the teacher was using words like overexcited and unruly, which were sure signs that they would soon be subject to yet another discipline exercise.
He had them line up in front of they desks and ordered them to get their things in order quickly. There sentenced to utter silence for the last 10 minutes of class. No note passing, no joking around, and most importantly no girls vying for the boys' attention while pretending to be disinterested.

The kids sat anxiously fidgeting on the tops of their desks, legs swinging, feet clapping together. Others sat furtively on their hands, hoping to clamp down the restlessness that threatened to overtake them.

Only one girl at the front the room seemed perfectly content. In fact, if one were to pay close attention they would notice that beneath her contemplative stare she was downright happy.

For earlier that week an unexpected and special gift had been bestowed upon her. She had been assigned to sit next to the most beautiful boy she had ever met for an entire week. And now at the end of day, at the end of the week, she would spend her last 5 minutes, having him completely to herself.

No boys to egg him into a spitball match, no girls to flirt with him, no pranks to concoct to impress the ranks of his mates; just him and her and the 2 inches of desk between them.

So there she sat trying to talk her thundering heart into a respectable quietness, while staring purposefully at the floor in front of her in the hopes that no one would notice her utter joy at their punishment. The silence of the room began to descend, and her mind, distracted by the nearness of him began to let loose its questions.

What was it that made him special, and why did she like him this year when last year she wanted nothing to do with him? What had changed? Was it her? Was it him? Had some invisible switch been turned on inside her? What was it that made things go all crazy and swirling inside her?

A million and one questions threatened to tip over her already brimming mind, when one thought arose that stilled all the others.

The eyes are the window of the soul. She had heard someone say that somewhere. And at the time she had become instantly besotted with the idea that if she looked into someone’s eyes long enough she would see their soul, and know who they truly were. Ever since then, she had developed the habit of looking into people’s eyes when she thought they weren’t looking.

She had looked into the eyes of her Mom’s and her Pops, and Gramma’s. She had looked into the eyes of Mary the neighbor who sometimes looked after them, in the afternoon. She had looked into the eyes of strangers that she met at the Laundromat, on in line at the supermarket. But so far she had not come any closer to finding out what the soul was, or what it looked like, or who people really were.

She had long ago discovered that people spent a great deal of their time hiding who they really were. She wasn’t sure why they did this, but she suspected that people were afraid, since she always wanted to hide when she was afraid.

She wanted just one glimpse of the soul, so she could put a face to the feeling that she got when she looked at people. That deep inside them was something so bright, and magical, and special that they couldn’t understand it, and therefore couldn’t see it.

Maybe if she saw it, she could understand people, and understand all these feelings that bumbled around inside her.

And so she had begun her quest to see down into the bottom of people’s souls. So far the closest she had made it was halfway. Problem was people always turned away the second she had begun to make any kind of progress. And so she had begun to abandon the idea.

All these thoughts came to her mind as she sat there next to him, and before she knew it she found herself staring at the boy next to her. She might never have noticed what she was doing, if it weren’t for the misfortune of him catching her doing it. Her eyes widened with surprise, cheeks pinked with shame, and she waited for him to turn away. Only he didn’t.

Instead for reasons she’ll never know he stared back. And like Peter Pan whose Neverland was just beyond two stars, she stared into his eyes, looking for the constellation of his being that was sure to rest beyond them.

Down and down into the tunnel of his being she found herself sinking. The loveliness of him floated all around her, even his awareness of his affect on her felt soft and warm, and natural without the sting of shame or judgment to taint it.

Just as she thought she would never reach the bottom, he spoke. He spoke with such finality and simplicity that she scarcely had time to judge or dismiss his words.
“You’re going to beautiful one day.” He said. They were the most unexpected words a she had ever heard. But what was stranger was the way he spoke them. She had never heard him speak in quite that way before or since.

“You’re pretty now, but when you grow up, when you get older you’re going to be really beautiful.” There was a feeling around them that was a kind of peaceful quiet she had only felt on lazy days at the beach staring at the ocean. Not even her insecurity would dare interrupt it by objecting. For one moment, her mind was empty, her heart was full and all her questions melted away.

Brrrinng. The bell rang, and the boy next to the girl hopped off the desk in a race to be first out the door, a normal overexcited, unruly boy once more. But the girl was forever changed.

I was forever changed. And now after decades of silence, I can't help but wonder wonder why the memory comes to mind now. As I sifted through the memory, something caught my attention.

Growing up I had always wondered whether what he said would turn out to be true, I was of course interested in the outcome, in the promise that had been created.

In all that time, I never wondered what he saw when he looked into my eyes that compelled him to say what he said with a conviction that went far behind his years.

When I remembered it this time, I saw that he wasn’t just seeing something, he was “knowing” something; hearing something. As I looked closer into the memory” I saw myself at my current age speaking with the boy, and heard myself telling him the following.

“Help those see who they are. They will need that; you can give them that. Help her to see herself as she is, as she will be. She needs a future to believe in. She won’t believe me, but she will believe you.”

When I came out of my reverie, I realized that I had just made a leap in time. All those many years ago, when my first crush looked into my eyes, he had seen me as I am now decades later. I had drawn his consciousness into a place where he could see who I would be in the future, and gently “suggested” that he share what he saw with my younger self. And what’s more, the little girl, who had felt herself being drawn in “by a deep peace”, was being drawn into stillness by the person I am today.

Just an insecure, little girl, I was not ready to see what my futureself wanted to show me, so she had my crush tell me in such a simple way, that on some level I would believe it.

It would be another 3 years before I would be able to hear the guidance of my futureself, several more, before I would see what she looked like, and many, many more before I recognized that the person who had guided me as a child, was actually myself bending back through time.

I share this with you because, in moments when we are still, time stands still with us.

The little boy and girl had essentially “stopped time”, and therefore opened themselves up to all of time, and all of their future and past selves. Unburdened by expectation or a limited view of reality, they heard and listened and received. Future and past met in that moment to give a little girl hope: one with a grander context to live into. One that held a promise that she couldn’t quite create for herself, but whose future self could.

And here I am again, ready to expand into a broader view of what I am, one that expands beyond time and yet includes all of it.

2012 has been called the year that brings the end of time as we ascend into a higher dimension. It appears to me that the reverse is true. It is timelessness that allows us to ascend to a higher dimension. We are currently in a 3rd dimensional reality where time is a part of the 4th dimension. When we expand beyond time (the 4th dimension), we extend into unconditional love (which is the 5th dimension). In short, it is the cessation of time that allows us to be the love that we are.

When there is no past or future, there is only the present moment and when we are fully present, we are unconditional love.

Look for those moments in your past, when time stood still, when you felt a guiding hand, suddenly calm you guide you. Wisdom that was whispered in your ear, when you most needed it. Perhaps it was an older wise version of your self, bending time to come to your aide.

Time traveler or not, the significance of the memory is that we alter time every day, and if extend beyond it, we can tap into the love we have always wanted for ourselves. That unconditional love that wants a brighter future for us to live into.

Time heals all things, but its disappearance brings love.
Step out of time, step into love and truly know you are the love you seek.
Wishing you a Happy Valentine full of timeless moments

3 Quick & Easy Ways to Make Nice with Challenge

2009-01-10T03:13:00.008-05:00

Life always provides everything you need. So when challenges head your way, look for how you can use it to move you forward.

Here are some empowering questions to ask, to get the momentum flowing, when you’re feeling less than motivated, in need of clarity, or are just plain panicked.

 Ask yourself how your circumstances can be a resource to you.
 How can they challenge you to take action, or cultivate skills you might never have otherwise?
 And how can we be of service to one another?

Regardless of how much money may be in the bank, we can always support one another with ideas, encouragement, resources, and opportunity. And these offerings have longer lasting and farther reaching impact than money ever could.

Wishing you a bright, shiny future full of promise.

Have You Opened Your Love Letter Today?

2009-01-08T16:39:00.033-05:00

Love Letters from the Universe
I love watching film. I love being productive even more. So when I sat down to watch PS I Love You, I had already lined up no less than 3 projects to work on while watching it. I was only 10 minutes into the film, when I realized that they would have to be done later.
A couple hours and several tissues later, I reemerged, teary-eyed, awestruck, and touched by a message that went beyond the strength of love between two people. It was about the magic and love of ordinary life. I became present to the passionate love that was all around me. Not the sappy, feel-good kind— a real, tangible, love that impacts my life every day.

The movie is called PS I Love You. For those of you who haven’t seen it, or need a recap: it’s a film about a man who knowing that he is dying soon, writes letters to his wife to be sent to her over a year after his death. The letters come to her in unexpected ways at unexpected times, each of them urging her to get out in the world and start living life again. He has her pamper herself, and face fears, and encourages her to find a job she’ll truly love. He even sends her on a prepaid vacation.

Ahh, to be known so deeply and loved so completely by someone that even after they are gone they find ways to support you, guide you, and love you. Who wouldn’t want to be loved so thoroughly and completely it survives death?

As the film progressed, I felt a deep recognition within me, that all of us are loved this deeply and completely.That every day we all receive the most beautiful and exquisitely planned love letters from someone who knows us far better than we could ever know ourselves ~ the universe.

Like a devoted partner, it delivers them to us in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. Just as the husband encourages his wife to look for signs to guide her into a new life of her own making, the universe is constantly encouraging us to be open for signs that will guide us to where we want to be.

It letters are the well-timed hugs that remind us we are love, those invisible objects that we can’t help but trip over as we are brought back to the present just in time to realize we’re about walk past where we need to go. It’s a carefully planned “prank” that has us laugh at our imperfections, or a sad song that plays on the radio when we most need to cry the tears we have tucked away for a rainy day.

In fact, it weaves together a life so carefully designed and full of love that we cannot fail to live up to it. And when we falter, as we all do,it knows how to help us back on our feet, even if it has to drag us, kicking and screaming; for it is steadfast in following the path of our hearts, taking all measures to ensure that we accomplish what we most wish to do.

In the movie, it was up to the wife to take action, and so moved by his love for her, she found the courage to do so. She felt his loving presence and fueled by his belief in her she began to remember long lost dreams. She began to resurrect a more open perspective from her youth, where all she needed to guide her was a simple faith in the fact that she knew she was here on the planet to create. How that came to be, didn’t matter, because she trusted life would reveal the “how” in time.
In short, she let his love embolden her, and borrowed his faith until she could find her own.

Let the universe’s deep love for you embolden you in the year ahead and beyond. When you begin to lose sight of the path ahead, when you’re unsure of what to trust in, borrow the universe’s steadfast confidence in you until you can forge your own.
Look for signs, in the present and borrow from your past. Look for any time when you felt exuberance and optimism for your life and let that passion and clarity find its way to you again. Then lend that passion all the wisdom of lessons learned since, that it may come to maturity and steer you forward.

The universe believes in each of us, and offers us its support without question and without condition.

Open each day, as the love letter that it is, and pour over every letter of encouragement, understanding the love that went it into, is as deep as the love of a dying man urging his wife to lead the miraculous life he can’t but wants for her all the more.

Be Kind : ) Unwind ~ The Prosperity Principal

2008-11-14T16:17:00.016-05:00

Love Ain’t Gonna Paying The Bills…Or Does It?
Access to abundance comes from giving generously to ourselves and to others. In this way the flow of cash can follow the flow of generosity that we have already set in place. I call it the Be Kind, Unwind principal. When we develop the habit of being kind to ourselves we relax, our hearts become open to give and receive, and most importantly we naturally begin to be kind to others.
Think about it. Success has never been achieved, nor challenges overcome through worry, stress, and anxiousness. It is focus, clarity, and heart that achieves greatness and with it some financial stability.
Instead, take time to relax and to let go of worry. Lavish yourself with nurturance. Accept where you are confident you will get to where you are going. Accept all you have, trusting that all you ever need is already on its way to you.
Open Hearts, Open Hands.
While, it can be hard to acknowledge the abundance already available to us if we never give to ourselves. It is even harder for money to flow to you, if your hands are closed tightly over the money you have.
You need to keep your hands open, allowing people to both receive from you and to give to you.
Open hands lead to an open heart, and an open heart multiples all intentions that go through it.
But How Does This Translate To More Coin?
Imagine a small bowl of scented oil and its ability to freshen up a room. Now take that same amount of oil and put it into a spray bottle. Suddenly that little bit of oil has a big impact. Our hearts are like the spray bottle, it has the capacity to magnify the impact of even the smallest bit of focused intention.
When we leave our heart out of the process, by acting out of fear and survival, instead of from love and the belief that there is a solution where we can all benefit),we dramatically restrict our ability to manifest. We are literally blocking our ability to receive abundance. When clear focused intention connects with the heart of who we are and what we came here to do, the universe bends over backwards to support us. This concept has been mathematically proven to be governing law of the universe.
The easy, simple, way to get us all back on track, and put some cash in our pockets:
John Nash was a pioneer in governing dynamics (in other words looking at the laws that explain how things work). Simply put he proved that economic success is created when we search for a solution that serves both ourselves and the group at large. This idea flew in the face of all known mathematical theory at that time.
The greater good for all, actually enhances the greater good for the individual. Of course it took a few decades for the world to grasp its brilliance.
Here we are again, needing a reminder to bring this concept into our lives.
What can you do to unwind today? How can you be kind to yourself and others.
When we begin to work for ourselves and others in small ways, we will begin to build great things in a very large-scale way.

Manifesting Abundance Open Session:

2008-11-13T22:49:00.000-05:00

Direct from Amma’s: Accessing the Prosperity Principal

Be infused with Amma love and Amma Abundance. This healing session comes on the heels of Amma’s retreat. Fortified by her healing space, the session will provide freedom around the issue of abundance.

Make friends with your fear! Listen to its call and let it guide you to the wealth that lies beneath.

Clear habitual thinking, and create healthy patterns that let you soar and realize your potential beyond your own imagining
Investment: $33

This session is offered Long Distance, for information about how this works Click Here

Email me for more details or to register

SACRED SESSIONS FROM THE DESERT:

2008-10-16T05:47:00.016-04:00

Bringing The Power of Native American Indian Land

into Your Home and Into Your Life

Need Some Peace of Mind?
Want a break from stress? Need a Vacation but can’t get away?

When you can’t get away to peace and quiet, bring the peace and quiet to your home.
Soak up Sacred Vibes of American Indian lands from the comfort of your own home!
Take advantage of this unique opportunity to schedule a session, tailor-made to suit your needs, while being magnified by the healing power of Native American Indian Lands.

To begin the healing portion of the session, I create an energetic portal that allows you to be energetically present in the healing room, located in the midst of the Sacred Native American Indian Lands. These lands have a higher vibration which deepens any work that is done, while creating a soothing environment for your session, right in the privacy of you own home. For the session, you have the option to lie down or be sitting. Just, light some candles, play some music, and enjoy.

Each session starts with a brief phone consultation which can be done over the phone, or through Skype (a free phone service conducted over the internet). To ensure that you can get the most out of the session in the time available, we will discuss the many unique services that an energetic healing session offers you and choose the options that will serve you the best.

As the session begins I put you in a global healing grid, to relax, energize, and harmonize you while awakening you to the illusion of the issue at hand.

At the end of the session we will reconnect over the phone to discuss what occurred for you, as well as relay any information I received during the session. The Desert offers a truly unique experience of deep silence that nurtures the soul and quiets the mind. It is a natural sanctuary that I would love to share with you. I value the work that is possible, so much that I am offering a special introductory rate for this month only. Sessions are normally $80-100. This month have your first session for only $60. Check out great deals being offered this month. I look forward to working with you!

Redefining Fear A Revolutionary Act

2008-10-16T03:02:00.001-04:00

We may not always be able to stop feeling fearful, be we always have the choice to choose what that fear represents.

Fear could represent feeling threatened. But consider that fear is in reality a warning signal. It is the alarm system to our desires, and when they are being quashed, left unheard, unfelt, and unrealized, that feeling of fear arises to remind us we want more, not that we deserve less. Fear is the hope that there is more for us to receive, not that there is more for us to lose. It is the outcry of something deep within, that understands there is more for you to be and do. It’s the body’s way of urging you onwards to all that you have been asking for.

When you let go of fear, you begin to feel the desire to be who you truly are, and do what you came here to do. This desire is so immense, so life changing and so powerful that we would rather mask it with a thousand other constricting fears, then ever feel it. But this desire can not be silenced. To resist it, is the bane of existence; the real source of stress, illness, and a bleeding bank account. We hear its echoes in the shifting hierarchy, the collapse of major corporations, and the restructuring of wealth and power.

As the world reorganizes itself around us, it is natural to feel fear, doubt, or panic. The world’s tumultuous events are a mirror of our own inner landscape. But its redesign should be unsettling, for it is unearthing all the potential that lies beneath.

As potential raises its head from the ashes, the flashbacks of past experience flicker with all the questions we have left unanswered: Am I good enough? Do I deserve this? Can I trust my own judgment?

See this line of questioning for what it is: a habitual way of responding to a situation. Think of it as the well traveled road, with its predictable dead end. You do not become more heroic by taking this road, nor do you become a martyr. If the road always leads you back to where you started instead of where you want to go, why keep taking it? The same can be asked of that line of questioning you keep badgering yourself with.

Right now, you have the opportunity to reopen the cold cases from the past, and track down the thoughts that have murdered your bliss, creativity, and joy and see them for the illusions that they are. Bring justice to the fatality of your happiness, by seeing these thoughts as a creation of habit not an outgrowth of moral quandary.

As you release old ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, you naturally begin to align more fully with who you truly are.

The mass panic that is occurring is a mass outcry for more; more for us,
our lives, our country and our planet.

The resulting collapse of outmoded systems is the universe saying, yes you are ready for bigger, better, and grander things, both individually and as a race.

You may not get to choose what is occurring around you, but you do get to choose how you respond to it. Make a difference for yourself and the world at large, respond to it with clear intention for what you want, confident that in some form or other it is already coming to you.

You know this for your future victory is hidden your fear, whispering to you that a brighter day awaits you; you need only to have the courage to claim it.

Global Changes: The Good the Bad and the Ugly

2008-10-16T01:16:00.011-04:00

Put your minds at ease, all is going as it should. Better yet, all is going as you’ve requested!
That’s right you have been asking for the changes we are now encountering.

The Bad
As a planet and as a race we have evolved, and it is inevitable that how we run our day-to-day lives, our businesses and our countries must also evolve. Everyone can think of at least one time when they have wanted business to conduct business from a more evolved place. Perhaps you disagreed with how some corporations are choosing to conduct business, or felt trapped within a system that only acknowledged and compensated a select few for specific talents and skills, and left others to be underpaid and overworked. One only has to look at the fervor generated by this year’s elections, to see that mounting dissatisfaction with government has reached a critical point.

This year in particular, is unique in that there is simultaneously widespread discontent and widespread hope for change. In short, the amount of people demanding change has reached critical mass, and the Universe is answering this call.

The Ugly
If we asked for this, why does it feel so scary?
In order to create a system that better serves the greater good, we must first take down the old system and our dependence on it.

We have become co-dependent on a system that no longer serves us. As with any co-dependent relationship that is about to be broken down, there is a certain amount of separation anxiety, panic, fear, and doubt. We know the old system is crippling us, but it is familiar, known, and we have learned how to live in this stifled regime.

One of the most common reasons people stay in abusive relationships is that they don’t believe they deserve more, or are afraid they won’t be able to find something better. Similarly for humanity, fear keeps us living in a world of “what if”, and those “what ifs” keep us stuck where we are, a place familiar and therefore “safe”. Soon, addiction to the familiar becomes addiction to the fear that will keep us where we feel safe.
We develop habits to reign us in from wandering out into the dangerous wilds of liberation. The word “wild” by definition means free. We use the phrase “we’re out of the woods”, to signify that we are out of danger. Literally being free has become equated with danger! It is no wonder, that in this ever awakening age, the wilds of freedom are rattling our cages. We are demanding change, demanding to break free of the constraints of fear that we have been imposing on one another.

The Good
In this brave new world, the first step we must take is to liberate ourselves from our
addiction to the familiar, including habitual living, which is at the root of unconscious living.

What habits do you have in how you relate to change? When we are confronted with change, most react with a certain amount of worry, stress, and concern. Yet, we could just as easily respond with excitement, curiosity, playfulness, or intrigue. One set of reactions comes from a place of fear, the other a place of power. The choice is yours to make. Which will you choose? Read on to find out more about Choosing from Power

Defining Moments that Lead you to Live a Legacy

2008-08-31T03:23:00.018-04:00

Defining moments, are the result of a persistence to seek truth, until its momentum and power pierces the hardened soil of unconsciousness, forever changing the face of history, and the trajectory of future.

The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness.
Max Eastman

In contemplating moments that define who we are as a culture, how then would we define ourselves? What is the difference between Moments of definition, and identity? This obvious answer is the “I”. Identify, is the “I” or ego defining itself. Yet when we look at the critical points of history, they are not shaped by the ego, but rather a collective force of truth, sweeping its way through our lives, in our lives and of our lives, until it reaches out and alters the world around us.
Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. Hannah Arendt

As such, I can only surmise that the truly defining moments of self, would work the same way. Not so much defining us, but rather undefining us. It is a stripping away of judgment that leaves us clean and free to be that which is beyond definition. When we let truth take over, we allow ourselves to be a force of truth and of awakeness that burns all illusion in its wake and leaves space for a world of our own making.

Worlds are born of the choices we make, the opinions we form, and habits we adopt. What world do you want to live in? The great news is that you get to create a new world tomorrow, by shifting how you relate to it today.

You have the opportunity to make a flat world round with each decision born of freedom and not habit. Revisit your choices, your opinions; be a student of your own philosophy and as such question everything. Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis. Martha Beck

Awake to a nameless world each day, and let its newness reinvent you. Let loose your ideals, and you liberate your life. It is the pursuit of freedom that is the stuff of Legacy

Group Empowerment Session: Money Magic

2008-08-14T16:14:00.006-04:00

Group Empowerment Session: The Money Cleanse

When we come together, we combine power and increase the probability to realize our dreams

Live, Love, Liberate: Tap into your aliveness, feel the flow of all the energy that is in you, of you and around you, and learn to ride its wave, and guide its momentum to create your life on purpose.

This year August is ripe for the money magnet picking. We have the influence of Leo, which is known for its ability for manifesting material success. We are also in the midst of the special triple 8 energies 8/8/08 which is a prime time for rapid manifesting. As if that is not enough, 8/16 brings with it a full moon lunar eclipse. Full moons, mean full pockets, and they are excellent for clearing and cleansing.

As Aug 23, is one of the last days from which to reap the benefits of the triple 8 prosperity, I have decided to hold a Money Cleanse.

This Empowerment session you will unravel unconscious ways of relating to money, and cut loose inherited habits in your thinking regarding giving and receiving money.

The stigma around money is vast, and much of how we view it today has been inherited to us through history(culture/country), heritage (parents), and habit.

While habit is a great time saver, it can also begin to run our life in unpredictable ways. It can take over how we are choosing to direct our energy. This has a profound impact on money, as money in reality is a flow of energy and energy responds to your intentions.

This session we will look at what you are intending, consciously and unconsciously. We will clear any blocks that this may have caused in your flow of creative or "money" energy. Then we will create a vision to magnetize towards us an incoming flow, and direct where we wish the outgoing flow to go.

If you happen to be fortunate enough to have all the money you need, in working with intentions and the flow of energy you are creating a huge shift in everything you are attracting and creating. Clearing blocks incoming energy will have a huge impact on all areas of your life and all that you are in the process of creating. And by redirecting the outgoing flow, you will begin to rapidly attract what you wish to create.

In this session we will learn how to:
~ Align ourselves with the flow of money,
~ Begin to break down unsupportive ways of relating to money that we have inherited
~ Tap into the truth of an abundant existence
~ Create a vision for what wish to create with money
~ Generate a practice in which we use this vision to attract money towards us, and give money freely

Join us! Come fly in the flow of synchronicity;
Break through Barriers and Expand the Boundaries of
what you WANT into what you ARE

Register today by emailing me at vredican@gmail.com

When:
Saturday August 23, 2008
7-9:30pm
Investment: $33

Where: Dance New Amsterdam (studio 6)
280 Broadway, 2nd Floor (entrance on Chambers, next to Modell's)

City Hall: 4,5,6,j,m,z
City Hall: R,W
Park Place: 2,3
Chambers: A,C,E
http://www.dnadance.org/about.html (has a map)

Can't be there? This session is also offered long distance,
(check or paypal accepted if you choose this option)

Email me for more details about this option vredican@gmail.com

How Leo Love Leads to Large Success

2008-08-08T16:13:00.005-04:00

If you're reading this late, no worries, the wave of fast manifesting will sweep through the better part of August, specifically 8/8/08- 8/24/08. So now let's take a look and the goodies the number 8 has in store for you.

Let the Good times Roll: Planets Align to Manifest STAT
If you are waiting for your ship to come in, prudence would say, set sail to your work ethic.

However, August brings us a wave of energy to help usher in the ship of dreams a bit faster than normal.

Numerology dictates that 8/8/08 is prime for creating quickly. The number 8 in numerology is a number of success. When positively expressed, the number 8 endows us with tremendous potential for conceiving far-reaching schemes and ideas. it provides the tenacity and independence to see our dreams through to completion. In short, you are lent powers of execution. to lead, direct, organize and govern.

Combined with Leo's disposition for success and in coming on the heels of a new moon and solar eclipse, this month is stacked with power. Now all you have to do is be able to harness it. So reign in the temptation to chump down 5 projects at once. Let this month's fuel light a fire under your creative assets and watch things fall into place with as much mystery, intrigue and magic as any Leo would tell you they are sure to possess ;)
Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and
you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever.
Nancy Kerrigan

Triple 8 means Triple the Success, Triple the Love and Triple the Fun

2008-08-08T16:10:00.005-04:00

Today is 8/08/08.

Things in 3s have always been a sign of completion or full cycle. Hence the saying 3x a charm. Even the superstition "bad things come in 3s", is about the idea that a cycle, or this case, curse completes itself by the third repetition. A play has three acts. A story has a beginning, middle, and an end. Pagan's describe a woman's life cycle in 3 stages, maiden, mother, crone (or wise woman). And of course there is religion's trinity: mother, father, child. 3 is not only completion, but wholeness.
So any day during the year that contains the same number 3x, is an auspicious one. A day of wholeness, oneness. It is a day, if no other, to remind us of the fullness within our lives. It shows us the power in acknowledging the completeness that exists around you, within you and without. As its power infuses you, recognize yourself as whole, your ideas as rich, and your heart as full, and you may glimpse the power of the universe that supports you as its own.

Group Empowerment Session

2008-07-04T13:33:00.004-04:00

Want to transform what you want into what you have?
Quit chasing your dreams, and let your dreams come to you!

Group Empowerment Session: Manifesting Abundance

When we come together, we combine power and increase the probability to realize our dreams

Embrace, Expand, Evolve: take in challenge, expand into another dimension of yourself and watch your life and how you relate to it evolve into something more powerful than you can imagine.

This month we pay homage to the havoc in our lives, the inner “destroyer” that welcomes the havoc inour lives as an opportunity to purge our life of that which would tear us down. Examining all that needs to be purged in our life, we scourge outdated modes of thinking to clear space for the riches of life to come swiftly towards us.

Join us! Come fly in the flow of synchronicity; break through barriers and expand the boundaries of what you WANT into what you ARE

When: Friday July 11, 2008
7-10pm
Where:
83 Ft. Greene Pl
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Contact me for directions vredican@gmail.com
Investment: $30

Invite deep and lasting change into your life,

contact me for me details vredican@gmail.com

Happy Independence Day: The Fire that Works to Fight for Freedom

2008-07-04T13:07:00.004-04:00

Let Challenge Light a Fire to Fight for Freedom
Has life dropped a few unexpected bombs your way? If you're feeling a bit battle-worn, take heart and look for the independence that these challenges can reap.

Times of turmoil and battle have long been endured. And victories honored. But did you know there are cultures that they have Deities to honor the destruction?

Her name is Pele the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess, also known as “woman who devours the land”. She is revered as both a creator and destroyer. Then there is Kali: the dark Mother, goddess of destruction and dissolution. Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess. She has four arms, with a sword in one hand and the head of a demon in another. The other two hands bless her worshippers, and say, "fear not"!

Why worship goddesses who decimate all that comes in their path? Why give thanks to that which brings turmoil to our lives? One might think they worshipped them out of fear, to prevent provoking their wrath. But perhaps it was wisdom that guided their prayers. Perhaps they understood that the upheavals of life bear gifts of greatness.

Volcanic fire purges the earth, burning away everything so that there is a clean slate to build on. While, Kali seeks to destroy all that would keep us tied down to a lifeless ordinary. These Goddesses are fearless in their quest for seeking out the greatness that they know lies within us all. The feret out weakness, smallness, and fearfulness. They are champions of courage, strength, and awesome power. They fight to cut away that which would destroy our greatness. Their acts of destruction may bring devastation to our world, but only so we are forced to see the brilliance of our selves beneath the ashes.

This month is about honoring our capacity to weather deep, irrevocable change. It is our ability to adapt to abrupt change that allows us to go beyond surviving to evolving.

If you find yourself in a moment of great stress, worry, concern, and doubt consider yourself fortunate. If you happen to be besieged to humanities greatest enemy- apathy, invite change into your life. Life will always intervene on your behalf for your greater good, so why not take advantage of this!

Honor the destruction in your life, as a sign of your evolution, and know that this means you will have new abilities at your disposal. Let challenge lead your forward, and rest confidence in the knowledge that your efforts evolve us all.

This 4th of July, as you celebrate the nation’s day of independence, look to celebrate the battles of your life and the freedom that they cultivate.

Strangers and Angels: Thriving Amidst Life Challenges

2008-07-04T13:06:00.005-04:00

A very wise friend of mine, recently reminded me of the gift of opening up to the people around us. Let strangers be the angels in your life and share with people your challenges. You never know who may have a solution, a resource, or partnership to offer you. If you’re like many, you may have a bit of excess baggage, and its name ain’t Prada. It is guilt, pride, and fear of being judged. Yet, how great do you feel when you are able to give someone directions, a name of a great restaurant, or suggest the perfect gift for someone? You feel honored and special, yes? Why deny the people around you this same privilege?

Even if they do succumb to a smidgen of judgment, know that all judgment comes from fear, and all fear comes from pain. So when their baggage is swatted in your direction, remember its their Prada not yours. So duck and go easy on them. We are all in this together, and like it or not, we need one another.

Test drive sharing those challenges in a safe, inviting environment at this months’ Group Empowerment Session.

2012: The End of Time

2008-06-03T02:00:00.008-04:00

Want to walk through the door of time, hear about the secrets your future holds, and share your wisdom with you pasts self?

This is more than just a possibility, this is reality. We live in a limitless world. This immenseness is so terrifying, that we began to set boundaries around ourselves. We pounded time into a thin line which can only be walked in one direction.

This simple act, which appears to keep things in a nice orderly fashion, now cages us. It keeps us in state of longing; always chasing satisfaction in the future and running away from the past. This sets up a momentum from which we believe we can’t escape. Linear time is the perfect ally of the ego, trapping us in a perpetual state of dis-ease.

However, time is non-linear. We are now, and we are here, we are nowhere or rather nowhere. A space where all time exists, and therefore no time exists. In this place, nothing exists, and so we can create any and everything.

Shifting to a belief of nonlinear time opens us up to vast possibilities for creation, which is our birthright. This is truly the meaning behind 2012. It is the end of time, literally.

2012 is about ascending our spirit to a higher level of being. In order for this to happen, the concept of time as we currently relate to it has to shift. In a sense, 2012 is literally the end of our current perception and preoccupation with time. As the concept of non-linear time permeates mass consciousness, time as we know it will cease to exist.

In our current relationship with time, we are so preoccupied with the past and future that we have very little time to actually be present in the moment. And yet the present moment is all we have. Now is the only opportunity to manifest our lives. But it takes more than being here, you have to be present in the “here”.

Presence in the present is our connection to every thing we need to know, and everything we need to create. We live in a world where the present tries to fix the past in order to secure a happier future. And yet, our future and past should serve the present, not the other way around.

Peace is living in alignment with the present ~ Echkart Tolle

How does this work?
Time is nonlinear, which put simply means that all time exists right now. The future and the past and present all exist at the same time. Therefore, we have access to our past and future selves at all “times”. We are constantly affecting and influencing them, so why not do so consciously? When we shift our relationship to the past and to the future, we create a shift in the energy of the past and in the energy of the future. The benefits of this are vast and all-encompassing.

Teach your past selves what you know. Invite your future self to come and counsel you. Invite the curiosity and playfulness of your youth to pay you a visit; not as a memory, where you are passively reconstructing what you believe the past to be, but as an active participant. Since you were once a child, why not access the wisdom from your past?

Tap into your greatest resource
Having presence in the present, is our greatest treasure. It is our access to our higher selves and to the great unconscious; our access to infinite wisdom and infinite resources. The present moment is the only opportunity we have to access and implement this wisdom and resources to create our dreams. Now is the only time we have to heal, to love, and to honor all that is good with in us. The Power of Now, is the truly the power of you. Why wait for 2012 to cash in your golden ticket, let the end of time come today!

The Not-So-Hidden Treasure Our Forefathers Left Behind

2008-05-13T03:48:00.025-04:00

New Age, New Market, New Economy:
The wave of the new age is having an impact. Already businesses are adjusting marketing strategy to be more green, to be “enlightened” and cater to this call to save the planet.

In this new world that the new age promises, will there be room for our current market system, or will a new market emerge from the ashes? Is the economy’s current recession the universe’s way of leveling the playing field, to break us out of the box, and ultimately lead us to higher ground?

Will a new way of relating to others, to the world, and how we define a World Power be the basis of a “new” market? These are a lot of questions that curiously enough, the dollar bill may hold the answers to.

On each dollar bill it is written “In God We trust”.
These simple four words suggest that money and what we value is a matter of trust. That value and trust go hand in hand. If money is a matter of trust, then to attract more or it, to increase its value, we need to increase our trust. However what is it we are trusting in?

To find out where we are placing our trust, we need only look at where we have been investing our money. War, distractions, things; at the end of the day, all of these things represent security. We have been trying to buy security for our future.

Each time we spend to purchase self-esteem, security, self-worth, we are reinforcing to ourselves that we don’t have self-worth and security. This creates a lower vibration of energy. And this energy attaches itself to the money we spend. And so your money becomes charged with fear. And soon, money becomes a centerpiece for fear; fear that you may not get it, that you may lose it and that there won’t be enough. And money, and trust, and value all begin to depreciate.

We are unconsciously, placing our money, our value and our trust in a fear-based system of consumerism that creates debt for the masses. And debt is what we have, on a global scale.

Value fear = debt
In reality our fears are illusions. All that is real is this moment. Will green paper really make us secure in this moment if we are on our deathbed? Will money really bring us happiness and security? Will it truly liberate us, if we are coming to it with a perception of fear? Or is there something else we can trust in? Something else, that our founding fathers were alluding to, when they printed in god we trust on the currency of what was at that time a new world, and a new opportunity for a new age.

Why each dollar bill says In God we Trust.
“God” in its most transcendent sense, represents a greater good, a higher purpose that can account for everyone. Simply put we are being asked to place are trust in the divinity of one another. As we align ourselves with our higher self, we elevate our consciousness, and this lifts the vibration of money. Money is truly the representation of the value that we attribute to ourselves and to one another.

This elevation of the collective conscious will inevitably shift the energy of money. As this energy lifts, those individuals and corporations which are not in alignment with this higher consciousness can no longer succeed. The energy of trust won’t support it. Businesses with a lack of vision and of integrity should be aware of this.

So for those companies wanting to thrive, they will need to ask themselves, what purpose they are here to fulfill. What call to the planet are they here to answer? There needs to be an alignment with a greater purpose on all levels: individual, company, cultural, societal, global level.

Fads, trends, quick rich schemes, may work for some, but not for all because the trust is not there. They are not following their hearts, but their fears. They are trying to cover up their feeling of lack, with a false sense of security. Fads feed on fear, they satisfy the egos need to feel in control momentarily. However, the price you pay is that you rob yourself of the opportunity of allowing the universes to lead you to greatness. You miss the magic of surrender to synchronicity. Synchronicity is the carrot of the soul, it keeps you curious enough to keep paying attention. It keeps you in the moment, just longer enough for you to stumble onto your higher self.

The market, with all its necessary evils, illustrates the value of now. It charts the value of things over an infinite series of “nows”. It understands that every moment has the potential to manifest value.

Each now, comes stocked with a self-generating creation game. The rules are, you can create whatever you wish, using whatever is before you in that moment, and there are no rules as to what that will look like. Maybe you will create a moment of silence, of play, of quiet, of listening. But always trust that what you need is there in the moment. If it appears to not be, then you may need to look at it from a different angle, in order to find a stone you haven’t overturned yet. The point of Karma (a balance and checks system for the soul) to not punish you, but rather give you a second, third, hundredth chance to find that stone you haven’t overturned. Beneath that stone just may be the key to reaching the next level of happiness and abundance.

So where do you place your trust in? Are you valuing yourself, others, and most importantly are you valuing the moment?

Place your value in the present moment, and trust that it will provide you with everything it needs. This is true wealth, this is the abundance that money can’t measure, and yet represents. It is the security we seek.
Next time you pull out a dollar bill, let it remind you that you always have the choice to choose what you place your trust in when it comes to bringing value and all its forms into your life. Will you trust the ego-based fear and its dictation about what money is and how it needs to be handled to get more of it. Or will you choose the moment, your higher self, the greater good, and allow the flow of the divine to lead you to the flow of value. If this task seems daunting, just remember this:

Every now is a coin upon which you get to print your faith. Its wealth is the knowledge you will gain from these choices. And this wealth will shape your world, inform your mind, and tell your heart where to go next.

Need Money?

2008-04-04T19:40:00.022-04:00

The chief value of money lies in the fact that one
lives in a world in which it is overestimated. H. L. Mencken
So there you are holding the big check. Cameras are flashing, as you dream up vacation homes, a trip around the world, and of course quitting your day job. We have all thought about what we'd do if we won a million bucks. But did you know that 70% of the lucky few who have hit the jackpot ended up broke within a few years? (National Endowment for Financial Education)

It happened to them and chances are it is happening to you right now. Yes, you. Whether you realize it or not you have already hit the lottery of life, and your prize is unlimited potential to manifest unlimited possibilities. What are you doing with your winnings? Are they going as far as you’d like, monetarily or otherwise?

Read on and find out about critical factors that could be putting your financial success at risk and what you can do about it. It's called Money and Manifesting, the latest book in a series to be written by psychic and channeler Dyan Garris.

I know what you're thinking, not another book about the secret to success. Been there, done that. As an energetic practitioner, and a metaphysical writer, I have come across a lot of great material by a lot of great writers, that all say the same thing. So I admit I had my reservations about this book living up to its promise to reveal something both essential and new.

However, as Dyan is keen to point out, this book is about more than making money and achieving the American dream. It's about breaking through our illusions and the very real and very abundant outcome that that could amount to, not only to our wallets, but to our body, mind and spirit. Don't take my word for, check it out for yourself as Dyan is put to the test in a recent interview.

What inspired you to write a book about money and manifestation?
Hello Veronique. Thank you for the opportunity to share with your readers from http://www.lunar-living.blogspot.com/. These are really great questions. "Money and Manifesting" was the next step in the toolbox of spiritual tools that Spirit and I are almost finished assembling. You are self-entitled as a psychic and channeler. Was channeling a key resource in the material described in the book? Can you talk a bit about how channeling works, for readers not familiar with that? I'm not sure how channeling works for other people, but I do know how it works for me. It's a matter of moving the ego self and thinking part of self aside enough to hear the information, and then bringing that information or messages forth and translating so that other people can relate to it in some manner. I've done this my entire life. So it's easy for me. It is simply a bringing forth of information. I'm just a messenger.
When I saw the title Money and Manifesting I thought it was a book about manifesting money, but as I read the book, I saw there was a distinction being made about what money is and how that relates to manifestation. Can you talk about the difference between money and its relationship to manifestation versus other things? Money is energy. The energy of money resides in the root chakra. In order to manifest anything, a good place to start is with understanding where the energy of what you are trying to manifest actually resides.

For example, a lot of people have been told to do their passion and the money follows. And then a lot of those people are declaring bankruptcy a year later. What is wrong with this? The energy of passion resides in the heart chakra and is demonstrated with the root. If they are blocked in the root chakra, where the energy of money resides, how can the energy of money rise up and have a meeting with passion? It can't.

Why this book won't leave your dreams half-baked: the missing ingredient not even the Secret talks about it
Most books on manifesting have the same basic principals:
~creating a vision of what you want,
~clearing any blocks to receiving it,
~putting in the work to achieve it and trusting it will come ~How does your book differ from this model?
Money and Manifesting is …based on the truth that we do not manifest with only the power of our minds. The power of positive thinking and the laws of attraction are universal truths; however, in applying the model that you outline above, we are missing many important steps. Our divine right of creation is not in our minds. The ability to create is in our root chakra. So you can apply the principles above and you may find that nothing much happens. Or you may find that some things happen, but in a limited way.

"Money and Manifesting" is about what's missing…In "Money and Manifesting" I explain exactly how to manifest using the power of your whole self not just your mind.

How this book's structure is putting the bank back in bankable, if only all reading could be so worthwhile
You mentioned that through the process of reading the book you have completed the first step needed to manifest money, can you explain a little bit more about how this works?
The book is an exercise in integration and chakra balance…Music and meditation has the ability to shift a person energetically. Then, for example, you can integrate that shift into your psyche by journaling about your meditation. You need to learn how to integrate in order to learn to manifest. The best way to learn to integrate is by actually doing it rather than by just reading about how to do it.

When reading the book your brain is going back and forth from a story which is processed by one part of self, to information which is processed with a different part of the self. You can't really process this book just with your mind, because it's not just information. The idea was for readers to be able to identify and see themselves and their own behaviors and thinking processes which block their attempts at manifesting. You can tell someone about their behavior all day long and they won't see it; but if someone can identify with a character and see themselves reflected, then they perhaps have a platform for change and growth.

Interested in getting your money flow flowing upstream?
Take the first steps and get your chakras balanced. Sign up for a
session now and take advantage of a special introductory rate. In addition to balancing your chakras, we will discuss patterns that are inhibiting you from fully accessing your potential and develop a strategy to clear the way to a fully embodied life. Contact me at vredican@gmail.com

You talk about integration as a critical factor in creating wealth, what is the biggest block to integrating the truth of who we are?
The biggest blocks to achieving anything and integrating the truth of who we are [would be] fear, perception, and illusion.

If you only made one change, which one would have the biggest impact on creating wealth?
Once you stop believing that money and pieces of paper have dominion over you, you can create anything you desire. In so believing you give your power of creation away to pieces of paper or to those who dole out the paper to you in the form of a paycheck, or to those who create the paper. It's by calling your real power back to you that you free up the energy necessary for creation.

Currently, the market is experiencing difficulty. How does the market model fit in with your manifestation model? How do they affect/relate to one another?
The current market is based on fear. We cannot manifest anything from a place of fear. We in general are afraid of losing our pieces of paper that tell us we are "wealthy" or tell us that we are valuable or credentialed or pedigreed, or educated. We've allowed pieces of paper in many forms to define who we are. The market is a reflection of that and through reflection we have opportunity to learn. It's as if the universe is offering us the challenge of figuring out who we are without our paper. In "Money and Manifesting" I'm presenting characters who each have blocks to manifesting their desires, not just money. If people can see themselves reflected there, they can then have the opportunity for growth and forward moving change.

Uncle Sam lend me your ear
What is true on the microcosm is true on the macrocosm, if you had the opportunity to advise the next president on ways to boost the economy and lower the deficit what would you advise?
I'm not a financial advisor; however, one of the challenges with the economy is that the whole system is based on fear. In this type of a system, it would seem that to boost the economy the place to start would be with assuaging the fear. I would advise that the president start with that. Lowering the deficit would have to begin with a willingness to get out of debt and then do what it takes to make that happen. However, while we insist on resonating to entitlement, I don't' see that happening any time soon.

Money in the U.S. is created by a private corporation. Private corporations in general have their own system for generating wealth. How does your system relate to this?
To answer your question, we really need to define "wealth." The money that is created in the U.S. by a private corporation is not "wealth." They are simply printing pieces of paper. It is our perception that these pieces of paper represent wealth and so they do. Perception here becomes earthly reality. My book teaches people how to untangle their perception of money/pieces of paper as power and money as a definition of self-worth. Once you disengage from this illusion, manifesting anything is easy.

Anything we can do on the individual level to influence the current way currency is created and operated in this country?
On an individual level we could try to begin to change our perception of money as power. As long as we continue to perceive pieces of paper as power, we leave ourselves very open to having this used against us. If we begin to see money and the energy of money as an exchange of energy, it might start having an effect on the way currency operates as a whole. That's definitely idealistic because we're talking about a shift in mass consciousness. I believe it could eventually happen; but yes, it would have to begin on an individual level.

Women's History Month

2008-03-15T02:13:00.006-04:00

Unearth the Legacy of the Feminine and Reap the Rewards of Creating a Life you Love

It's no secret that history of suppressing women is long, lengthy and harrowing. In particular there was a three hundred year period of women's persecution in the Witch trials. This obvious aggression towards women was not just against females, but an attack and eventual suppression of the sacred feminine aspects that exist in all of us.

Women were targeted for their capacity to more easily tap into these aspects and therefore incredibly capable of accessing powerful manifestation abilities. Intuition, the ability to receive were aspects so powerful that they threatened to keep the ego from thriving.

The ego more easily thrives on masculine aspects, because without the temperance of detachment, intuition, and a flow of incoming love, it will warp the masculine aspects. The feminine aspects teach us to surrender to what is, and therefore open us up to receive whatever we need. This leaves no place for the ego, and so the ego sought out its survival by warping the masculine aspects of gathering and creating into dominating and suppressing that which threatens it most: the sacred feminine: divine acceptance.

When we surrender to what life wants for us, we access everything we need. This ability to surrender is truly the power behind the sacred feminine. This month honor those women in history who have fought for the restoration of these aspects. Honor them by releasing the conceptions you may have about both genders. By unidentifying with gender, we can disconnect with the biases history has fostered. By releasing anger, prejudice and judgment we open the way to receive and therefore manifest.

It is in a genderless space that we can find the union of the best that both genders have to offer. A restoration of the sacred feminine and masculine and with this limitless access to create a world much easier to accept.

The Big Bang of it All

2008-03-15T01:21:00.012-04:00

The Big Bang of it all: Expand your Soul Expand your Peace

Right now while you're reading this the universe is slowing expanding; at least this is the theory subscribed to by scientists in favor of the Big Bang. The forces of the Big Bang that once long ago exploded a single mass into into a million different pieces that makes up the universe we now see before us.

It created a division of itself, the force of the split was to massive that the pieces it created are still expanding. And one day, scientists theorize, the very force that divided itself, will one day unify itself. The expansion will reverse, and that force will pull into to its center all the pieces of the universe. A massive call to home, to unity, to oneness. Humanity is experiencing a similar force, the force of truth, of love that is in an expansion to understand itself before that time comes to bring home the innumerable expressions of itself back to oneness. This journey of expansion is not without it's costs. As the bits and pieces of the universe expand, there is collision.

The theory accepted by reknown scientists, not only states we are expanding, but we are doing so at an increasing speed. Similarly, we are awakening to the truth of who we are with ever increasing speed, just as this is causing collisions in the universe, humanity is in experiencing a collision of ideas and beliefs at a heightened level. This collision is necessary. It is the jostling loose of concepts and structures that affirm that we are separate. In this way we can confront our attachment to it, and break free.

What is at odds within you? What in your world are you at odds with. What do you resist being at one with? What do you wish to erase from your life? Conflict, pain? Things that upset, alarm, anger, or frustrate you? These are the bits of rubble you bump up against in your journey to peace. It's not a smooth ride, but one that provides and opportunity to explore what is divided within and without, so that you may make peace with it. Making peace is not agreeing with something, it is only an acceptance that its existence means nothing more than it exists. It's the non judgement of the world around you. Seeing through the illusion of duality; right and wrong; good and bad. The ultimate rite of passage, not so much a rebirth, but an unbirth. A birth bursts out of the womb, this is the infurling of that creation. An implosion of the unborn. A unifying of the universe once more.

The future of this trajectory has two possible scenarios, either that the universe will continue to expand, creating mass collisions, torn apart stars and a creation of multiple black holes (something that has no capacity to absorb light). The other possibility is that the earth will collapse in on itself; that the force that divided and expanded will one day pull its collective components back home. A unified mass once again. An unbirthing of the universe.

Humanity also has two trajectory's for its journey, one which will find harmony within unity, or one that will be pulled apart. Whatever the universe's fate may be, we have a chance to decide our own. And perhaps the mysterious trajectory of the universe's path, may shed light on where and how we choose to take our own journeyas a race, a planet, a force in the ever-expanding universe.

Happy Unbirthday!

Ghosts of our Past: Releasing The Patterns that Childhood Fears Left Behind

2008-03-07T00:02:00.011-05:00

Letting go:
When we hold onto something in reaction to something, we create a pattern.

When we start to fall, instinct has us put our hands out in
front of us to catch ourselves. That instinct, is an ingrained habit. It is to protect us. However, many patterns we have were created in response to a "false interpretation of situation (what we thought was a monster lurking in the corner, was actually the shadow of a coat moving in response to the breeze from our window. It looked and felt real because we could not conceive of another explanation at that time.

Humanity is growing into adulthood, and beginning to shed fears of a younger humanity, as we open our minds to truths we were previously unable to comprehend. Important part of this process is letting go, of those fears, and acknowledging the "instincts" and habits that may still be running the show.

Our body, and its many habits needs to catch up. One way is to repattern our nervous system.

This calls into play the brain and the ENS (Enteric Nervous System). New research has some scientists calling the ENS our body’s second brain. The communication between these two systems, is showing the connection between emotions and physical symptoms.

Death Becomes Us

2008-03-05T03:41:00.010-05:00

Death is a taboo subject for most.
We avoid it, hide it, talk around it and in general pretend it's not out there. But there is great reward in inviting it into your life.
Death comes in many shapes and forms
It comes in whispers in comes in storms
It’s twilight chasing down the last few rays of sun,
The retirement of sneakers that long since ran their last run;
It’s the last dregs of coffee sipped slowing at 5 o’clock;
but death best used is the death of old selves;
A liberation that truth unlocks
This period of introspection, is perfect for quieting the mind, and taking stock of where you stand. Access what attributes, passions, and possessions are your assets and which are your debts. Balancing life’s checkbook, will give you clarity on where you stand and who you want to be to get where you’re going. You may want a full-scale renovation, or just a little reinvention. Whatever is not helping you is standing in your way. It’s time to clean house, cast out old habits that have run you into a rut; and die to an old regime, that no longer works. Releasing old patterns and ways of being is like a great exfoliate, that leaves our soul glowing with the newness of mind, thought and deed.

Sometimes the easiest way to shakeup our outlook,
is to start with our look.
Makeovers are a chance to rediscover who you are in your life.

New clothes and furniture don't reinvent you, but they are a great way to express who you are, where you are headed, and the type of experience you want people to have when they are around you. What do you want to stand for? What do you want to share with people? And how could you express this in your life?

Update your wardrobe; redecorate your home, and rearrange your schedule to reflect an expression of who you are and the type of lifestyle you truly desire.

Whether it’s a new look, or a new outlook, the dying of old ways gives rise to a new path.
Let letting go of the past lay fertile ground for a renewed self expressed and empowered self to rival Spring herself.

The Monster Underneath the Bed: Not Knowing What You Want

2008-03-05T03:17:00.014-05:00

Part of why we're afraid to face the many little deaths that life brings us, is because it reminds us of all the things we are afraid of losing. The things we pull close to us in the dead of night, like a security blanket. These are the things you have been holding onto; or rather they have a hold on you. Initially they helped you feel safe and secure. And needing that security is how they trapped you.
They have you stay in a job or relationship that you know isn’t in your best interests. They have you play and think small; they play a factor in every decision you make. This need for finding security in things and people, and certain situations, are what you are most afraid to let go. They are also the greatest source of empowerment, if you can let them go. In the wake of their absence, is a chance for the rebirth into the source of real power, real security. The knowledge that you there is and never will be anything you need to feel safe from, no reason to need security. There is no danger, and no safety. In their death comes the ultimate liberation. A resurrection of truth.

Three barriers to letting go:
~ Not knowing what we want
~ Fear of letting go of something we think we should want
~ Fear of letting go of the need to get what we want to come in a specific way:

These barriers our the first things that need to “pass” before we cab move forward to greener pastures.

It is the season of winter, a season to show us the wisdom of letting go of what is holding us back.

An Exercise to Exorcise it

2008-03-05T03:00:00.001-05:00

If you're not sure what is holding you back, take a look at what you're holding onto.

What are you most afraid of losing?
It may be that there is something in your life that represents to you what you think will bring you safety, and security.

The ultimate death would be to: die to the idea that you need security and safety, for you are always safe and secure.
~ If you believed this, what would you be able to let go of?
~ How might this liberate you?
~ What would you create in its place?

How Awakening your Natural Desire Helps Manifest your Dreams

2008-01-04T00:42:00.000-05:00

Relationship Empowerment Part III: Relating to Circumstance with Freedom
The third and last installment on the Relating with Power Group Series addressed Relating to Circumstance with Freedom. How the group empowerment works, is that I set up an energetic grid that works with each individuals energy field. I set an intention for what issue I want this grid to harmonize, heal, and empower. When I asked to look at what needing aligning to empower the group in relating to any circumstance: the answer I immediately received was to connect with our desires. There was a pattern in our systems that confused wanting and longing for being a natural flow of desire. Longing and wanting are these emotional patterns generated as a fix to something we think is lacking within us. The pattern then generates other belief systems such as "something is wrong", "this doesn't work", or more specifically "I don't work".
The longing and wanting often creates an energetic expression that grabs, and pulls, from a place of need. Or it contracts in on itself, and grabs and pulls at yourself (many addictions have this at its core). Our Soul Desire is a natural expression that comes from curiosity to understand itself. This Desire or curiosity is the purest place to manifest from. Our sacral chakra is essential to accessing energy for manifesting. When we are not manifesting with ease there is usually a disruption in the sacral chakra (located near the pubic bone) .
The group healing worked to balance this chakra by creating harmony in its feminine and masculine components. Regardless of where you fall on the subject of religion, the Mother Mary and Christ figures, are iconic and excellent examples of human beings who were able to access and harness divine energy. An inward flow of energy is a positive charge, outward flow is considered a negative or masculine charge). The immaculate conception, is one of the greatest examples of surrendering to and receiving creative/procreative energy. And so we connected with the energy of Mary to align us with the feminine energy of the sacral chakra which is our innate ability to receive.

Next we healed imbalances in the masculine aspects of the sacral chakra, which represents our ability to manifest, and to be grounded and present. For this we connected to the energy of Christ.

Christ had a profound understand of manifesting divinity here on earth. One of his greatest gifts to us was to show us that we have the ability to realize our divinity within our humanity, and the humanity within our divinity. Take and eat the body of Christ, take and drink his blood. An eternal remembrance of the sacredness and immense power in being human for it is only in form that we can realize and recognize many facets that divinity is expressed as. On earth as on heaven, which represents the union of our divinity with humanity.

It is our divine birthright to manifest our dreams. That is how divinity lives on earth. By putting the masculine and feminine aspects back in alignment with one another, we complete the circle from giving to receiving so that one flows into the other.

In the fullness of this we are expanded, vibration raised, and connected to source on a profound level. It is this place of pure potential, that desire is born to create, and manifest our dreams.

It is time for us as a planet to heal all that we allow to stand in the way of connecting and manifesting from this place. One place to start is to look within and feel the full depth of your desires, the good the bad and the ugly. Those feelings are gifts, they are teachers, and they let you know the boundaries that you have put around your immenseness. Feel, connect, and break free, you can always put in new boundaries should you find a use for them. But most of all let pure passion flow so that it may fuel your dreams.

Why Bad Resolutions happen to Good People

2008-01-03T00:21:00.000-05:00

First Make a Dream list for 2008
Choose something you're passionate about and write down the goal in a way that shows that. Nothing will stop your momentum dead in its tracks than a goal that sounds more like its chastising you, than cheering you on. Here are a few tips to get you started.
AVOID THESE STUMBLING BLOCKS:
The Bad Date Resolution: You know the ones that are boring, unmotivating, listless, and totally ignore what you really want. For example, I want to eat healthy this year, (I need a snack before I have even finished the sentence).
Easy Fix: Ask yourself why you want what you want. ( i.e.: I want to eat healthy in order to have more energy, feel good, look good, and sleep better at night) Goal: I want to be vibrant, energetic, and well rested This goal is motivating, and opens the door to all sorts of ways to achieve it, which includes eating healthy, but is achievable even if you fall off the Happy Veggies wagon.
The People Pleaser Resolution: Resolutions that you think you should have versus ones that acknowledge what you're ready to commit to.
Easy Fix: Focus on what the outcome would allow you to be, versus the outcome you think you need to have in order to feel (good, free, sexy, confident, powerful) For example if your goal is to lose weight (but you hate exercise, and eating healthy), ask yourself what state of being would the outcome give you? (confidence, security, freedom) Goal: One option would be to declare that you will relate to your body honestly, and fairly. This leaves room for you to take the good with the bad about where you are at with your goal. It's a goal that addresses underlying issues behind why you haven't met your goal so far, while not rubbing your face in it. It gives you action to take that doesn't demand a great deal of sacrifice, you may not be ready to make. And last but not least, when you look at how you who you want to be, you naturally start gravitating towards activities and taking actions that will help you achieve this.

The-Unrealistic-Takes-too-Long-so-I'll-just-Quit-Resolution:
Easy Fix: Give yourself a taste of what it feels like to have what you want on a regular basis (monthly, bi-weekly, etc)

If there is a bit of gap between what you want and what you have it is useful to look at the intention behind what you want. Create goals that reflect what you really want by asking yourself:
~What is the intention behind the goals you want to achieve?
If your goal is to be bi-coastal and have a Soho loft, and a mansion in Maui, and you currently share an apartment with 3 people, then what is it that being bi-coastal in 2 great living spaces provides you? Is it security, peace, perfect weather? Is it a lifestyle where you feel pampered, acknowledged, and an income that shows your work is appreciated?
~What action can you take that would give you a sense of what you really want
( i.e. make you feel pampered, appreciated? There is probably a small step you can take within your current means and schedule that would achieve this: (i.e. get a manicure).

I dream, I test my dreams against my beliefs, I dare to take risks, and I
execute my vision to make those dreams come true.
Walt Disney (1901 - 1966), The Disney Way

Two final speed pumps to avoid in making resolutions
~ When you don't know where to start or
~ When you have to face Resolution's arch enemy: The defeatist, fatalistic attitude

When you feel overwhelmed, unmotivated, hit a slow patch, or simply feel it can't be achieved, then...

Turn those bumps in the road into footholds that you can use to climb out of that Defeatest hole you've landed in.
~ Remember the feeling/state of being you get by achieving the goal
~ Look at what gets in the way of this feeling: tension at work; hectic schedule; low income

Create action steps you can take to shift this.
Include resources, partnership, support you may need to complete your goal
~ Resolve issue with coworker
~ Ask for a pay increase
~ Rearrange your schedule to allow one hour a week solely for you

Last but not least:
Acknowledge yourself and what you have achieved:
Half of success is knowing who you are. Resolutions are an opportunity to assess your assets and deficits, so that moving forward you can capitalize on your assets, while creating new habits that eliminate deficits. Look back at all you have completed in 2007, get complete with what you didn't like about 2007, and take stock of all that you gained so can capitalize on it in 2008. This includes any progress you made internally (more laid back about bills, communicate with authority, increased patience). These internal changes give you a sense of accomplishment which translates into confidence that other people notice.
Hope this tips are helpful, Happy Resolution Making

Give Yourself the Gift of Healing in Five Minutes or Less

2007-12-22T02:52:00.000-05:00

Here are three easy tools Each one caters to how you best understand things.

The Eyes Have it (Visual leaners):
Symbol you visualize (photo provided) for healing ~ Angelic Symbol: (see below)

Come Again?
(Audible learners):
Sound healing by
reknown Judi Satori
~ Activations for Empowerment http://www.judysatori.info/free_audio.htm

It's All at Your Fingertips: (Kinetic Learners: for those that gotta do it to get it):
Symbol you trace with your fingers
~For Love and Manifesting: http://www.moretruthwillsetyoufree.com/draw.cfm

Free Angelic Healing Symbol

2007-12-22T01:51:00.000-05:00

Directions for using the symbol:
There are 2 ways to use this symbol: for self-healing and for healing others. The directions are different for each. I suggest you practice the self-healing first, as it is easier and will get you more familiar with the symbol, getting your ready to do the more complex visualization involved for using it to heal others.

For Self Healing: (1) Memorize the symbol. (2) Visualize it in the center of your heart, in the center of your chest (not to the left of center, which is associated with the physical heart). In your visualization, as you actually see it in your mind, see that the center swirl in the symbol circles from the top of the swirl clockwise, just as you see it here. Do not be concerned about whether you are looking at it from the inside or outside, which would flip the direction of the swirl. It can ‘lay’ on your body either way, facing in or out, so long as what you see in your mind looks the same as it looks here. (3) Sense or feel for the quality of angelic heart, or angel-ness, in the symbol. (4) While staying present with this sense of angelic heart, and while maintaining the visualization of the symbol in your heart, sense/feel/imagine/visualize/intend the angelic energy move from and through the symbol, going everywhere in your system, including your physical body and all your other aspects of being, or direct it to a particular area in need. (5) In general, do this for up to an hour at a time, and not more than twice a day. But if you do this often, your system will become more fluid and able to handle and process a lot more of this kind of energy at one time. (Note: you do not need to ‘draw’ the symbol, as done in Reiki.)

For Healing Others: The directions are similar to those above for self-healing, except now: (1) the symbol will be visualized on the third eye, on the palm of each hand, and on the navel (belly button). The symbol needs to be visualized in all 4 places simultaneously, which may take some practice, but after a little practice, it will become easy. As with self-healing, the key thing is not whether the symbol is facing in or out, but that you see it your mind the same as pictured here. (2) Sense or feel for the quality of angelic heart or angel-ness in all 4 symbols simultaneously. (3) While staying present with this sense of angelic heart, and while maintaining the visualization of the symbol in your third eye, palms and navel, sense/feel/imagine/visualize the angelic energy move from the symbols in your third eye and navel into the symbols in your palms, reinforcing the density of angelic heart there. (4) Sense/feel/imagine/visualize/intend that reinforced angelic heart energy in your palms flowing out of your palms into the receiver (the other person to whom you are giving healing). As you do this, continue to stay present with the sense of the symbols in the third eye and navel feeding the ones in the palms. After a little practice this will all become one integrated sense and visualization that you will be able to maintain with just a little bit of concentration and intention—like riding a bicycle. (5) In general, do not channel for more than an hour for a particular person, and not more than twice a day.

Secrets Revealed – What the Love Puja Uncovered:

2007-12-04T01:44:00.000-05:00

How Your Parents can Unlock the Key to Success:
Puja is a ceremony performed where one receives a blessing. In this case, I worked with the groups energetic field to heal issues regarding relationships, and also sent out a blessing for each individual to achieve their relationship wish. All great relationships always start with a great relationship with oneself.

When you set out on a mission, the first thing you want to do is make sure you have supplies. In a relationship there a few common set of skills that can help even the most self reliant. In the energy world, these skills are represented by the male and female archetypes. What's in your toolbox?

~ Are you often exhausted, overworked, and lack content?
~ Are you great at accomplishing things, but don't receive compensation for it?
~ Are you great at giving love, but have trouble receiving it?
You could benefit from deepening your access to
▲Self-nurturing, ▲Trusting yourself, ▲Embracing love ▲Allowing success ▲Accepting life as it is with ease
These traits are represented by the feminine or mother archetype. They are essential to receiving love, blissful states, allowing success, and liberation from judgment.

~ Are you filled with ideas, but have difficulty realizing them?
You could benefit from accessing
▲ Assertiveness, ▲Confidence, ▲ Self-reliance, ▲ Ability to manifest success
These traits are represented by the masculine or father archetype. They are essential to making a dream reality, the bolts and nuts of taking an idea and transforming it into a tangible experience. Key survival skills come from our masculine side. As a child we looked to our parents to provide us with these benefits of these skills: nurturing us, imbuing us with confidence, and directing our decisions with guidance. As adults, our success in life is heavily influenced by how much we were able to internalize these traits.

Most of us still look outside of ourselves for someone or something (i.e. a career) to provide us with what we need, in the same way we looked to our parents to provide it for us. Often times we mistakenly relate to our masculine and feminine energies and the traits they represent in the same way we relate to our parents. However, as our first exposure to mother and father archetypes are our parents, we usually confuse what these traits are, with an interpretation of how we saw it expressed as a child. As a result we internalize a way of relating to our power in similar patterns to how we relate to our parents.
If we felt smothered, and overprotected we may equate nurturing and acceptance, as inferior, submissive, and ineffective. (i.e. nice guy finishes last). If we have an unhealthy relationship with our masculine energies (or father figure). We may think being assertive is the same thing as being aggressive, and domineering. If the father was absent or unreliable, we may view our masculine traits as either absent or believe our ability to access them is untrustworthy.

Regardless of our past, and the state of relationship with our parents, the truth is these skills are already inherent within us, and by aligning ourselves with the masculine and feminine energies, we begin to retain our natural state of looking within for what we need.

This sense of freedom that comes from being realigned with your wholeness, is a natural aphrodisiac, that will attract people to you who are also coming from a place of wholeness, and fulfillment.

Protecting your Heart could be Limiting your Libido

2007-12-04T00:43:00.000-05:00

During the puja, it was interesting to note that as we began to balance the masculine energies we first needed to address any blocks in our kundalini energy (creative/procreative energy).

There was a link between the need to protect our heart and a block in kundalini energy. It was as if a closed heart had generated a shut down of life-force energy. Kundalini rises from the base chakra and travels up through the spine and out the crown of the head.

An interruption in the flow of kundalini be a factor in causing:
fatigue, low sex drive, limited ability to experience orgasmic sensation, and tension in the back, along the spine, and in the neck.

The masculine energy is also what is used to manifest things, to assert yourself, and is very grounding. It is the energy one feels when someone with charisma walks into a room. Their energy is declaring that they are here. After clearing some of the blocks in the sacral area, and along the spine, there was more a better flow of masculine energy from which to work with. This charged the body, with masculine energy which could now be available for the heart to receive, thus supporting the next phase of healing- aligning the feminine energy.

The feminine energies (the mother archetype), represents our ability to nurture, give, and receive and trust our intuition. As we began to harmonize the feminine energy, there was a clearing of any blocks in the heart area. We realigned ourselves with the truth that we are the love we seek, and created patterns of self-nurturing, acceptance. Now able to receive the masculine energy, this produced an overflow of love from which to attract and pour into our relationships.

OPEN HEARTS, OPENS DOORS: 4 Steps to Open the Door to Opportunity

2007-12-03T21:10:00.000-05:00

Think of a tightly held fist. It generates an energy of restriction and control. In its attempt to protect what is inside, it can neither gain nor give; its sole focus is to contain what it holds.

When we close our hearts we are generating this same kind of restricted energy, and also limit ourselves with what we can give and receive.

Counterpoint with a four step process:

Let go and let flow
Open your heart to yourself, to others by accepting what is
Send out what you wish to receive,
Be open to receive it

Letting Go and Let Flow
A fist is always holding onto something. Perhaps, its need for control, or anger at themselves or others, or to contain what we think is finite and precious within us. When the letting go process began, there was anger, and then grief, a deep, deep sadness. There was also a lot of fear. Thought patterns, and behavioral patterns seemed to stem from that. It was very dense.

Does Opening Your Heart Feel Free and Expansive, or Exposed and Vulnerable?
When we have an open hand, we can begin to imagine what we would like to receive. Yet sometimes being wide open, can leave us feeling vulnerable and exposed, rather than expansive and free. So I released blocks around receiving which burned through illusions of being "not being enough", fear of being rejected etc...

Send out what you wish to receive, and Be open to receive it
The last step is to send out what you want in order to give what you would like to receive. In sending out what each person wanted to manifest, again I noticed that there was a clearing around fear. Fear of rejection, fear of failing, fear of succeeding, and fear of being here and taking responsibility for being here.

Tis the Season of Peace, Love, and Joy, Isn't it?

2007-11-13T23:44:00.000-05:00

If you want to know where you are with your goals, you take a look at your results. For instance if your workout has hit a rut, chances are the scale has stalled, or your speed has slowed, or maybe the diameter of your muscles has stopped growing. And when looking for the culprit, it is a good bet you'll find a status quo routine.

If love makes the world go round, then what does the state of the world have to say about how we are exercising our love and compassion muscle?

As a former personal trainer, you learn first hand that muscles need diversity to keep thinks fresh, alive, and humming. It's the challenge that keeps your body alert and working for you. And just as our muscles need variety to stay healthy, sharp, and toned perhaps how we exercise our love is in need of a change of strategy as well.

If we really want to kick a season of peace and joy and happiness into gear, than shifting how we execute our love for one another, for our world, and for ourselves is an excellent way to start.

Lucky for us, Scorpio, with its love of love, passion, and determination, might just scare up the nerve for us to sculpt out a kind of love we've only dreamed about.

You Could be Bending Time and Not Even Know It

2007-10-24T00:24:00.001-04:00

Have you ever felt peaceful in the midst of chaos, profound love while being assaulted with “hatred” and “anger”? Moments when you felt something else was at play, maybe god, or angels, something divine, blessing you when you most needed it?

Most people have had at least one occasion when something like this has happened.

When I was little and a regular church-goer, I thought it was God, helping me. Then there was one moment, when I heard a voice inside my head tell me something about the future. Years later when it had come true, I remembered that moment, and wondered who had been speaking to me that day. Still a church goer, I thought something divine had spoken to me.

Many years later, I was meditating, and suddenly saw myself as a little girl. I went over to and found myself telling her the same words I had heard so many years before. It was not premeditated, it just happened. It was my future self that had been guiding me. I began to wonder how this fit in with divinity. All that time I had thought I had been guided by god, or spiritual guides. Suddenly I saw that those two were not opposing. It had been God, it had been a spiritual guide, it was the divinity within me, guiding me. It had felt as if it was something outside of me, because I had separated myself from my own divinity. That part of myself that had never forgotten, was one with everything, was so foreign to me, it could only be explained as an experience of something greater than me. And the divine within me, is greater.

Those moments, of peace and love, and calm, suspended in time in the most inopportune moments, are the divine within you. Moments when the greater divinity that is the truth of who you are, reveals itself to you, until you are ready, to only be that.

It is a choice, a chance to revert the decision of Adam and Eve. Our own personal moment in the Garden of Eden.

Awakening the Gaia Within

2007-10-16T23:53:00.000-04:00

Cough, cough, hack, Aaachew. Ah the lovely sounds of fall. It's flu season, and this year seems to be serving up family sized-portions of infirmities.

As we hurtle through the New Age, grounding our centers, expanding our minds, and evolving our souls, we may have forgotten that the body is in the midst of its own evolution. You can't overhaul the mind, without affecting the body, and this is showing up for many as the recurrence of old physical ailments. Particularly those chronic in nature. Old aches and pains, are resurfacing for one last Horrah, before leaving our inner "soular system".

As the mind releases old ways of thinking, the body begins to unravel locked habits, and holding patterns. It is a readjustment of the body letting go of conditioning it no longer needs. For some the physical release (unconscious in nature) may be more threatening then, the mental release.

This is as a period of exploring how we carry stress and habits in our bodies, on all levels. And so physical issues are pouring through our systems. Unraveling habits in bones, in muscles, in the nerves, in the glands, giving us an opportunity to observe how they relate to one other.

Physical challenges are the bodies way of requesting a certain level of respect to be maintained in how we are taking care of it. Right now, it's raising the bar, to match, new ground our consciousness has gained. It is also giving us another important opportunity- a way for us to viscerally experience what the planet at large is going through.

Our body's ecosystem is in a period of unrest, in much the same way the Earth's is. This is because human nature and earth nature are both in need of change, of higher evolution. These physical challenges, within and without are the bodies' way of elevating us.

In the same way our bodies have consciousness, the earth has a consciousness, often termed as Gaia, or Mother Earth. Consciousness and form, that had come together to create us, now working together to awaken the latent truth within.
Consciousness is powerful. Simply by bringing our attention to something, we immediately alter it, and gain access to deeper meaning, hidden truths. A listening to the soul. Think of a time when someone gave you a safe, welcoming space to express yourself. Merely by their attentiveness, and them listening to you, they enabled you to communicate with a clearer form of expression.

We have the same opportunity with our bodies. By listening to our bodies with attention and without bias as to what we assume is going on, we create a safe, welcoming space, for us to hear what our bodies are telling us. This is consciousness at work on the simplest of levels. Now, more than ever, our body is requesting us to use this amazing gift. To listen with consciousness to what is happening within.
And in focusing consciousness to changes in our body, we may discover patterns within us, that parallel patterns at play on a more global scale.

Finding softer resolutions to our own physical challenges, may just yet, reveal a way for Gaia to find less turbulent ways to achieve harmony as well.

This fall, what's the forecast for your soul? Will it be wild spread forest fires, and hurricanes, or is their a more gentler path to be found? Either way, it is a journey and a process, and a healthy portion of patience, and curiosity to our inner and outer worlds may be just what the doctor ordered, for us and for Gaia.

Sagittarius Full Moon

2007-05-28T21:19:00.000-04:00

Full Moon: May 31, 2007

A delicate balance of celestial influence is slipping into place, to provide you with a unique vibrational blend to soak up and draw from.

This month, Mercury, and Venus in Cancer have you use your mind and heart to speak with love and compassion. Uranus in Pisces wishes you to awaken to unconditional love and experience a bliss that can be shared with and comes from all.

Conducting this celestial orchestra is Sagittarius, who brings an appreciation for all things spirit. Possessing an excellent ear for the universe’s silent music, they will provide an excellent opportunity to dispel illusions that have previously thwarted you.

Tempered with an intention for the greater good, you can tap into this heavenly mixture to understand your place within the world. What unique note and rhythm are you hear to play?

This full moon is a gateway into the deeper, ancient realms of wisdom from which we all come. Its melody echoes in the truth of all you are. If you listen carefully you will hear your melody, and begin to exude it with increasing clarity, brilliance, rounding of the edges to create the sweetest tone, that life can tend to sharpen.

All you need is a willingness to dive into those dark, scary places, but be assured that is there that the sweetest sounds exist within us all, waiting patiently for their day to be sung.

Whether it is a journey into finding your song, or need to deepen its tone, this full moon will provide the support you need to get to the source of the matter.

Sagittarius Ritual

2007-05-28T21:01:00.000-04:00

With every new stage in the zodical cycle a new goal lies far ahead and our efforts appear to darken the view. The goal however, we have to remember, stands always in the light. Sagittarius as the ninth sign can be regarded as the completion of this cycle, the ushering of this light that sheds any illusion that we cannot acheive what we wish.

Meditation
1. Remain in silence for some minutes.
2. Sing three times: OM.
3. Ponder upon the seed thought for 3 to 5 minutes: I see the goal. I reach the goal and then I see another.
4. Recite the following mantra:
I am a point of light within a greater light.
I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of love divine.
I am a point of sacrificial fire, focused within the fiery will of God.And thus I stand.

5. Sing again three times: OM.
6. Recite three times: May all living beings in all the worlds be happy.
7. Remain in silence for three minutes, than end with: Peace, Peace, Peace.

Blue Moon: What's it all Mean?

2007-05-28T20:29:00.000-04:00

Blue Moon Madness: The Two Full Moons In May 2007
Maria Vaiano

We’ve all heard the expression “Once in a Blue Moon”. In fact, we use it in a sarcastic way to comment on the rarity in which something occurs. Astronomically however, there is significance to this event

A Blue Moon occurs approximately once every 2 and half years. It is simply the occurrence of two Full Moons in one calendar month and astrologically I feel it symbolizes a month of intense emotions for all of us.

Think about it. A Full Moon is the time of culmination in our monthly lunar cycle. It is when our tides are highest, we physically hold more water (yes it’s true!) and when we are at our most sensitive. Wherever the Full Moon occurs in your natal chart, you can be sure that emotions will run high concerning the matters it activates and there is likely to be a completion of some sort.

There could also be a reward during a Full Moon since culmination and endings are not necessarily negative. They are simply emotional!

This month, the Full Moon occurs in Scorpio on May 2nd and then in Sagittarius on May 31st.

The Scorpio lunation will bring matters concerning power, money, sex, shared resources, manipulation and possible deception to the forefront. An area concerning your personal power will need to be confronted and if you’ve been running away or deceiving yourself about a Scorpio matter, this Full Moon will bite you!

The Blue Moon on the 31st is in the philosophical sign of Sagittarius and your beliefs are going to be put to the test especially with the conjunction the Full Moon receives from retrograde Jupiter in Sagittarius. How you feel about what you believe may be changed. Again, this type of ending is not necessarily negative. Full Moons sometimes ask us to let go of what is no longer serving us.

Full Flower Moon

2007-05-02T01:08:00.000-04:00

Wednesday May 2, 2007 @ 6:09am
The moon that ushers in the abundance of flowers.

The Sun has moved into earthy Taurus, where the vital energy that emerged at the vernal equinox becomes stable and productive. In Taurus, we revel in our own embodied existence. "It’s good to be alive!" we feel, as our senses reawaken and the world begins to leaf out and bloom. Our Taurean side encourages us to care for our own comfort and well-being, to hang onto life and enjoy the good things of life, and to create beauty around us. http://www.mooncircles.com/fullmoon_jean.html

This tempered by Scorpio's pragmatism, who sees reality as it is. The sign of sex and death, it’s a grounding energy, a sobering energy that uses life’s finite standing as a platform from which to spring forth. They seize the moment, bringing passion to what is before them.
They use this as a catalyst to create whatever they wish that is not before them.

For them death is declarative, where each sentence holds an opportunity to distinguish itself as much from what it says as how it is punctuated.

What needs punctuating in your life?
This full moon, brings the promise of grand exits, in whatever form you choose. Seize this moment. Look at the loose-ends of your life, and choose how you wish to complete them. Get creative. This is your opportunity to declare who you are today by existing with flourish where you have been.
Exclaim!
Linger…
Transist with thoughtfulness, or
neat,
ordered,
lines.
Find your ending with subtlety; use finality.

Above gleam all you have learned and celebrate it as achievement. Too often we rush through our moments, too busy leaping ahead to what is next. We miss the grace of a pause, and the wisdom of the silence that runs between the paragraphs of our lives.
This full moon round off the latest chapter of your life, you may be surprised to find that some have been regurgitating onwards since your youth, and are prime for a revision and resolution.
Please share the exits of your life, and which timber you have found to execute them. After all, inspiration is being uplifted in the swells of one another’s momentum. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Wishing you a Festive (and hopefully allergy free) Flower Full moon !

Libra Full Moon

2007-03-31T23:52:00.000-04:00

Full moon in Libra 12:15pm Julia Bondi/April Kent
Embrace Arian awareness for as we explore ourselves and expand our spirit we also come to know our Libran need for others and our connection to them leading ultimately to knowing that we are all one. In the spring when we see nature expand we can remember our own need to expand fully, to become a creator.

In the traditions of the Ancient Wisdom teachings the Aries/Libra full moon is the preparatory time for the following full moon of Taurus/Scorpio – the spiritual New Year. This is the time to review our spiritual growth and experience of the past year and to take time to listen for our soul’s script for the coming year. Aries celebrates desire teaching us to trust our desires for whom we can become and what we can create in the coming year. Aries knows no limits, use this full moon to imagine your life without the limits you feel defined by. Create a new life!

Go ahead and visualize what you wish to attract. Act on your wishes, with consciousness and good faith, and from the truest, most recklessly hopeful, Aries part of yourself. But be ever mindful that your individual – and limited – vision is not the only one that counts. The Full Moon in Libra reminds us that we’re all part of a larger collaboration, and that joining together with others can make us wiser, stronger, and more influential – even if it means that we occasionally have to yield our Aries desires to the wishes of others.

Revolution of the Soul

2007-03-03T02:27:00.000-05:00

If what you want feels at odds with what you get, then perhaps the existing regime is long overdue for a coup. Fortunately for you, March promises to deliver astrological influence worthy of any revolution you might need.

Kicking it off is a lunar eclipse which has Virgo’s pragmatic, responsible, disciplined world facing off to Pisces’s creative, chaotic one. While their worlds operate under very different priorities, it doesn’t mean they can’t co-exist. In fact with the right diplomat, a most profitable and thriving alliance can be formed. And that is their wish for you. So if you find yourself in the midst of a tug-of-war between doing what you think needs to be done to pay the bills, versus what you want to do to live a life you love, ask yourself how you can have both and begin to strategize.

In many cases, when we ask the question how we can have both, we are blocked from seeing any solutions by a tyrannical belief system, laissez-faire practices, and supported by an administration that’s been running on autopilot for entirely too long. If your inner psyche’s current regime isn’t delivering on its promises, it’s time for an ousting. And you couldn’t be at a more auspicious time for one than right now. Saturn’s opposition to Neptune, is a powerful, world-altering influence. Don’t believe me, take a look at their history. They first began their current dance in 1989, the same year the Berlin Wall was torn down. Now they are at the midpoint of their cycle, what Berlin Wall’s need tearing down in your world?

At the heart of every revolution there is a common thread, there is a lack of faith and security in the rulers to deliver what is needed. And so they fight to gain back what was lost, which at its most basic, is security. Whether it be the security found in money, food, leadership, or political power, it is still security.

Of course a world where security exists, is a world where insecurity exists, and so the struggle for security begins again. It is only when we banish the concepts of both security and insecurity, fear, and bliss, love and hate, that a world of utopia can begin.

This doesn’t mean that you no longer feel fear, only that you stop placing importance to it, it doesn’t mean that you stop doing things that once gave you security, only that you do not do them to “get” or “be” secure. In this way, security and insecurity cease to exist the way that they used to. You begin to stop resisting feeling fear, and you stop trying to hold onto what makes you happy, but rather take in fear and happiness as an experience, and then let them go, leaving space for the next experience.

Seem impossible? Just give it and, Neptune will come to you aid, with it’s abilities to tear down your attachments, dissolve limitations, and expand you beyond the boundaries of what your mind believes to be possible; opening you up to a realm of limitless possibility.

As with all revolutions, there are many battles to be fought before winning the war, just try and remember the universe is always on your side.

Virgo Full Moon

2007-03-02T00:34:00.000-05:00

Intuitive Message for the Virgo Full Moon: We Are Spirit.
by Julia Bondi
Embrace the unknown, treasure the ego. With this full moon of Pisces/Virgo we edge ever closer to the meaning of the end of the Age of Pisces. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, these teachers of the Piscean Age, taught love in times of violence. They taught the embrace of the spirit and they lived the mysteries. How could these men become enlightened, filled with spirit and give themselves to the world of their time? How could their teachings, their lives and their spirits continue to guide our time? These were not weak men who sought to please or took the familiar, expected or easy path. Rather they were strong, decisive, challenging and charismatic leaders who drew followers to them as they followed their inner truth. How did they bridge the pull of the ego and the spirit? Can they show us how to live in our time of violence, fear and challenge?

Pisces teaches the most crucial spiritual and human lesson that spirit is always present in our being. We are spirit. We are here to return to the source, to surrender all control including aspiration, hope, direction and certainty. Only then can we live, witness life without mind, hear truth and gladly submit to guidance. What we are called to give up, to surrender, is not our individual awareness, not our responsibility to live consciously or our authentic destiny. We will find the freedom, justice and peace we seek in the inner world not in the outer world but we are alive, flesh and blood and our humanness is not our enemy. Pisces embraces the original unity of all life; the life we know and the life we do not yet know.

Virgo is the essential foundation for a truly spiritual life. If we are to fulfill our destiny, to serve in our world, to accomplish something worthwhile as an individual, a partner, a parent, a worker or a fulfilled soul we must find our path and develop the skills necessary to do the work (both inner and outer) that we incarnated to do. Knowledge is to be sought and applied. This is the realm of Virgo. When the archetype of Virgo has become our teacher it will also guide us to the humility and trust to continue to learn. As Gandhi said: "I have grown from truth to truth". More will always be revealed if we have not closed our minds to growth, if we have not become so certain that we are ruled by our ego.
Clarity, to know, to be certain, to be right, these are natural desires of the ego but only through the strength of a developed, accomplished and humble ego can we find truth by continuing to evolve and grow from truth to truth. Despite our intelligence, hard work, accomplishments there will always be limitations on what we can know through our human mind. There will always be a truth to be discovered or understood anew, further potential to fulfill, more unknown to be met. Existence is immense. The unknown is infinite. This immensity and original unity of all existence can only be known by our spirit not fully by our personality in our current life. Our day to day consciousness is by necessity a separated Virgo consciousness focusing on my development, responsibilities and relationships utilizing what I know while our Piscean spiritual consciousness is beyond human knowing. The perfect beauty of human life is to know that by becoming willing to release the need to know the truth and becoming ready to receive, truth will make itself known and all that we need to live that next truth will manifest easily. All we have to know is that we do not need to know more than we do right now, the rest is known by our soul and is available through guidance as we learn to embrace the TRUTH that we are spirit.

Mercury in Retrograde

2007-02-17T14:04:00.000-05:00

What does Mercury affect? http://www.astrologycom.com/mercret.html

In general, Mercury rules thinking and perception, processing and disseminating information and all means of communication, commerce, education and transportation. By extension, Mercury rules people who work in these areas, especially people who work with their minds or their wits: writers and orators, commentators and critics, gossips and spin doctors, teachers, travellers, tricksters and thieves.

Mercury retrograde gives rise to personal misunderstandings; flawed, disrupted, or delayed communications, negotiations and trade; glitches and breakdowns with phones, computers, cars, buses, and trains. And all of these problems usually arise because some crucial piece of information, or component, has gone astray, or awry.

It is therefore not wise to make important decisions while Mercury is retrograde, since it is very likely that these decisions will be clouded by misinformation, poor communication and careless thinking. Mercury is all about mental clarity and the power of the mind, so when Mercury is retrograde, these intellectual characteristics tend to be less acute than usual, as the critical faculties are dimmed. Make sure you pay attention to the small print!

The Key Issue
The key issue here is one of focus. Mercury's retro phase tends to bring unforeseen changes and blockages, but the aggravation and frustration that many of us experience during these periods is often due to our own inability to roll with the punches. Is this due to our ego-fixation? Mercury sets out to restructure our thinking processes and for many of us this is painful and frustrating. Moreover, these experiences reveal flaws in our internal organisation as well as our external planning, which can make us feel foolish and inadequate.

Mercury Retrograde in Pisces
When Mercury is retrograde, everyone's thinking is more introspective and we tend to think about issues and concerns which relate to the sign involved. With Mercury retrograde in Pisces, people with this sign prominent in their charts will be especially prone to such introspection. There is little choice but to reconsider our personal views and opinions about life. We receive, however, an opportunity to gain insight into our own ego.

Mercury retro in Pisces, the sign of his fall, creates mental and emotional confusion, with strange dreams and sometimes psychic experiences. Mental processes being entwined with emotions, we find it hard to separate ideas and opinions from passion and idealism. Our mental orientation can be unstable, unrealistic and overly-spiritual, but it also inclines to laziness and increases the urge to consume alcohol. Nervousness and stress, even unfounded fears and paranoia are stimulated, especially from working or living in a hostile environment. Maintain privacy and dignity in the working environment and don't try to read between the lines, when there is really nothing to find.

Mercury moves back into Aquarius on February 27. This inclines us to eschew current fashion and dress in a style entirely our own. Mercury here can be very stubborn and opinionated, while at the same time maintaining liberal, unbiased attitudes. Avoid any temptation to be disloyal to friends, or to criticize if not slander them. Do not use your friends coldly to further your own ends.

All areas of communication are affected, especially in matters related to hidden things, sexual encounters, passionate commitments, jealousy, investigations and the occult. Make sure your Valentines are correctly addressed! This period brings travel snafus and missed appointments of all kinds. Documents can go astray. Be sure to carry a diary and refer to it often.

New Moon in Aquarius

2007-02-16T23:49:00.000-05:00

Saturday, February 17, 2007 ~ 11:14am eastern

Aquarius New Moon Meditation:Awakening to Our Story ~ By Janet Kane

This month’s New Moon is in Aquarius, the Water Bearer. The highest expression of this sign is selflessly serving others and acting as a Good Samaritan. The New Moon’s positive aspect to Pluto (god of the underworld) adds power and intensity to any humanitarian work we might wish to accomplish. Aquarius sets the tone for the month to come as all New Moons do, but the month ahead is not an Aquarius one. The Sun will enter Pisces the day after the New Moon, which adds another flavor to the days ahead. How can we best combine both signs?

Aquarius is rational, logical and the Great Awakener, while Pisces conjures dreams, dance, music, myth and fairy tales. One way to get in touch with the Aquarius/Pisces energy is to analyze fairy tales to see what they can tell us about ourselves. Fairy tales were originally created by adults for other adults and had important moral and spiritual teaching points embedded in them. Snow White is about vanity—both the wicked stepmother and Snow White succumbed to the allure of flattery. Rapunzel is about lust—Rapunzel’s mother lusted after the rampion in the Crone’s garden and the Prince and Rapunzel lusted after each other. Hansel and Gretel is about gluttony—the family was hungry and therefore abandoned the children in the woods. Hansel and Gretel ate the witch’s house because of hunger and the witch wanted to roast the children in the oven. It can be quite revealing to examine your favorite tale to see what lessons it has to teach you.

Fairy tales have persisted almost unchanged for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years because they contain archetypal figures that resonate with similar archetypes in our psyche. We are all living out stories, most of the time unconsciously. James Hollis, a noted Jungian psychotherapist, has said that one of the major tasks in the second half of life is to become conscious of the fictions we are living and "Whenever we can use such fictions consciously, then we can remain awake on our journey."

I have a friend, Marie, whose father abandoned her and her mother when she was a child and married another woman with a daughter. When Marie was older and out on her own, she was invited to her father’s home for Thanksgiving. She ended up doing all of the cooking, while the stepmother and stepsister sat around drinking wine. When she told me this story, I asked the name of her favorite fairy tale. "Cinderella," she said. Cinderella is about envy. The stepmother and stepsister were envious of Cinderella because she was beautiful and Cinderella was envious of the stepsisters going to the ball.

As we discussed the fairy tale and its theme of envy, Marie began to realize how often she would find herself envying a girlfriend with a large house, another who was thin with a sparkling personality and another with a great job. We talked about what she coveted in her girlfriends may be what she wanted to bring into her own life. To help manifest these desires we worked with intentions and affirmations. In this way Marie’s own story began to change.
Let this Aquarius/Pisces month be an auspicious one for you by waking up (Aquarius) to your own unconscious story (Pisces). What fictions are you living? Think of your favorite fairy tale. What does it have to teach you about your life?

Leo Full Moon

2007-02-01T22:08:00.000-05:00

Full Moon in Leo - February 1-2, 2007 12:45am

Once more the Moon is opposite the Sun. Once more we feel pushed and pulled by opposing forces, until we are able to arrive at a new synthesis. Change is the only constant, and no sign is more focused on progress and change than Aquarius. What is no longer working? Where do we go from here?

The Sun is closely conjunct the asteroid Pallas Athene. Pallas’s mother was the Titan sea goddess Metis, who aided Jupiter in defeating Saturn and was later ravished by Jupiter. When Jupiter was warned that he would be overthrown by Metis’s child, he swallowed her, just as his father, Saturn, had swallowed him. And just as his father could not keep him down, Jupiter had to release Pallas. In some versions, Pallas springs from the head of Jupiter; in others, she is released when a double-edged axe (a matriarchal symbol) relieves Jupiter’s headache. Since time immemorial, those in power have attempted to eradicate whatever would disrupt the status quo. What have we been swallowing? What has become intolerable? What is struggling to be born?

Chiron, Neptune, and Mercury are also in Aquarius, adding their votes for freedom, equality, and innovation. Chiron’s once-every-50-years passage through Aquarius (2005–2011) heals the wounds of alienation and isolation. Neptune’s less frequent ingress into Aquarius (once in 168 years) and its longer transit through that sign (1998–2012) continue to remind us that we are not alone and that every one of us is an important part of the whole. Mercury’s position at the very last degree of Aquarius encourages us to express our highest ideals. Pluto’s semi-square to the Sun propels us to question outdated beliefs and assumptions. What are we afraid of? Where are we being called to take a stand? What do we love more than anything?

The modern ruler of Aquarius, Uranus, is closely conjunct Ceres, reawakening the power of the feminine. Ceres represents the principle of nourishment and renewal. What is healthy? What is sustainable? What is the highest good for all? Saturn’s ongoing opposition to Neptune and wide conjunction with the Moon spotlights the areas in our life where we need to clarify our priorities and reclaim our power. The disparities between our dreams and our reality become clearer as the Sun conjuncts Neptune at 19°30' Aquarius on February 8 and opposes Saturn at 22° Leo two days later. The Sabian symbols for this Full Moon invite us to take some time out to evaluate where we want to go next. For the Sun at 13° Leo: “An old sea captain rocking himself on the porch of his cottage; the quieted mind’s recollections of crises and joys long past.” For the Moon at 13° Aquarius: “A barometer; the ability to discover basic natural facts that allow us to plan in advance for action.” This Full Moon reminds us: “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.” (Gail Sheehy) by Stephanie Austin

The charts for the lunations in this issue are all set on the natural wheel with 0° Aries rising. All references to Sabian symbols are from Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala: The Cycle of Transformations and Its 360 Symbolic Phases, Vintage Books, 1973.

Full Moon Ritual

2007-02-01T21:50:00.000-05:00

Leo rules creative self-actualization, personal power, the beauty and magnetism of personal vision, and romantic love. So this year, the Full Moon of the artist, the lover, and the leader is the focal planet of a powerful yod that includes Uranus (uniqueness and originality) in Pisces (music, film, fantasy, spiritual growth) and Mars (sexuality and action) in Capricorn (achievement and hard work). For those of you who have been working on your goals since the New Moon in Capricorn, the Leo Full Moon provides an intense energetic field with which to release your intentions for achievement out to the world. It will be like strapping on a spiritual jet engine. Since Leo is a fire sign, use fire in your ritual. (www.astrowisdom.com)

Preparations
Create a sacred space and arrange a time to perform the ceremony. My preference is at night-time and outdoors so you I stand under the moonlight.

Write down on seperate slips of paper all the things you want to release or change.
Supply suggestions: fire proof container or cooking pot to toss the burning paper in, candle with matches or lighter, water (to put out the fire afterwards), and smudge sticks for cleansing.

Full Moon Purging
Cleanse your sacred area with an opening prayer, a sage smudging, and/or by burning some incense. Invite your guides/angels/masters/teachers to be at your side throughout the ceremony.

Light one or more candles. Look to the skies. Breathe in the night air.

Read the writing on each slip of paper one at a time. Set your intention to release the item/addiction/attitude from your life. Set it to fire and place it in the container. If you are doing this ritual with a group of others take turns reading your words. If these things are too personal to read out loud, read them silently to yourself. Just remember.... our words have power....Saying - "Be Gone" audibly and loudly can be very freeing. Go ahead, howl at the moon if you've a mind to. *laugh*

Thank the Spirits. Be Safe. Put out the fire.

January Update

2007-01-16T23:19:00.000-05:00

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. ~Frederick Douglass

Greetings,
This month started off with the energy of compassion. What a start it was, having spoken with several friends, I heard all about the miraculous and interesting ways it showed up in our lives. It didn’t always feel good, and it certainly didn’t show up as neatly as we had hoped, but the impact that it had, was as profound as the circumstances were bizarre. And having never experienced the depths of it the way I have this past last week, I feel compelled to share the lessons it taught me.

“I don’t understand, I saw my parents get out
of the car and I was so happy to see them, by the time we reached the front door and I’d lost all will to live.” Once and Again

Think of a boss that gave you nothing but grief, a roommate that pushed every button you had, and created a few of their own. The guy in line at the bank, grumbling about everything, and breathing down your neck to hurry up. Think about your mother, or father, and the special way family members have at getting the best of you.
What are they saying, what are they thinking of you, what is the worst of the worst you’ve heard someone say, the horrible little thoughts you secretly dread someone might think about you. Write all of them down, all the untruths. Particularly the ones that anger you the most to hear said. And look the list over.

Somewhere inside those are things you think of yourself, even the ones you vehemently disagree with. Particularly the ones you vehemently disagree with.

I know this because the laws of attraction that physics dictates, apply here as well as anywhere else. Like attracts like. You attract people to say what you secretly think, or question about yourself. Not to torture yourself, or punish yourself, or as payback karma, but for you to challenge yourself. For you to see how you are treating yourself and decide if this is really what you want, what you deserve. The problem is, we actually think its them, it’s their fault. They are the ones being unreasonable. They are the ones with the problem. Truth is we are the ones in need of an attitude adjustment. If someone said how dare you have white teeth, you probably wouldn’t get upset, no matter their tone, or how loud they yelled—because you don’t have a problem with it, even if it’s true. But if someone called you fat, or dumb, or lazy, or rude, what does that do? They are just words, just like white teeth. They don’t have grenades attached to them. We are the ones that give them their power to hurt, or anger us. We attach the grenade and the more we run the situation or words through our minds, analyzing it, and justifying how we feel about it, we are pulling out the pin.

I mention all this, because I happen to be fortunate enough to know one person, who is the perfect mirror for all my insecurities. I get to see all of them whenever I encounter this individual. And the universe is relentless in showing me the many ways in which I choose to work against myself. What it looks like, what it feels like.

I am quite fortunate to respect this person enough to be able to see past all the confusion, and anger, and hurt and see myself shining back at me, testing me challenging me, waiting for me to accept the unacceptable. Waiting for me to receive all of me, the parts that are unfinished, or dirty, or ugly, the parts that are revengeful, lustful, angry, the parts that don’t learn, or achieve fast enough. All that I judge, judging me right back, positioning for deliberation, fighting for liberation.

I’m incredibly lucky, to have someone that allows me to experience this discomfort, because that is the only place where I can grow. But most of all I cherish this individual willing to endure a fair amount of suffering, in order for me to learn and expand and become more than I ever imagined myself to be. That’s love. The boss, the roommate, the crazy person on the subway, they are our mirrors and they are trying to reflect the love we refuse to give ourselves any other way.

This issue is dedicated to my mirror and to yours whoever they are, may truth, love and peace bless them ten times over, the way we find truth, love and peace shining back through them.

Wishing you peace, love and prosperity for the new year,
Veronique

Capricorn New Moon

2007-01-16T22:55:00.000-05:00

January New Moon: Thursday, Jan 18 @ 11pm (EST)
In Your Patience Is Your Soul By Pythia Peay

The first New Moon of the New Year provides a welcome respite after the astrological fireworks of the past several weeks. Sun conjunct Pluto, then Mars conjunct Pluto, may have left some of us longing for a return to the ordinary and the mundane. Sun and Moon in the Saturn-ruled, earth sign of Capricorn provide just that note of relief. Mostly unaspected, this lunation, occurring in the late degrees of Capricorn, is a welcome portal to find safe haven. In an interesting twist, however, it falls right at the middle degree of the upcoming Uranus/Jupiter square (exact on January 22nd), allowing us to ground the lightning of our creative inspirations. As we turn and face the New Year, we can use the energy of this New Moon to turn inward, and cultivate soulful patience.

For while we may feel inspired to rush forward to put our dreams and New Year's resolutions into action, the heavens offer us an interlude of reflection. Indeed, if we can resist the forward pull of everyday life, we can realize within our consciousness the esoteric teachings embodied in the sign of Capricorn: the wisdom that comes with patiently abiding the ever-moving, ever-changing cycles of time.

To align with the rhythm of the planets this New Moon, you may wish to cultivate the quality of interiority and receptive waiting. One way to do this is to "think like a mountain" and attune to the consciousness of eternity as it is reflected in nature. Seated in quiet contemplation, for instance, bring to mind a stone on the bottom of a river. In your mind's eye, watch as it's jagged edges are polished to smoothness by the tides, whirlpools, rapids, and swift-moving currents of water over the ages. Then, contemplate the great religious monuments and temples that have been forged from stone into edifices of timeless endurance: the Black Stone of Mecca that is an ancient meteorite; the Western Wall in Jerusalem, said to contain stones from both King Herod's and Solomon's temples; and Delphi, the ancient Greek sanctuary where a white stone covered the tomb of the sacred serpent.

Next, imagine that you are standing at the base of a pyramid, that mysterious structure whose origins have long since passed out of human awareness. As you stand at the base of this massive stone monument, looking up at its face set against the blue sky, experience what it is like to feel as ephemeral as the grains of sand upon which it has been erected. The solid presence of the pyramid, its patient stance as sentinel over the passage of aeons and the rise and fall of civilizations, triggers in you an awareness of God's permanence and indestructibility-as if infinity had been etched into stone.

Recognize that this quiet, unruffled spirit of endurance is a part of yourself, as well. Like the mountain peaks that radiate a majestic calm, there is a part of your being that remains unmoving and unperturbed. Because stone symbolizes that which remains constant despite the changes and upheavals that characterize life in the world, many wise teachers over time have taught that stone represents the incorruptible, everlasting aspect of the soul - that which endures with no destruction to its essential nature. So this New Moon, as you stand at the portal of the New Year, recognize the value in the old alchemical adage "in your patience is your soul." For by becoming as steadfast and durable as a rock, a boulder, or a mountain in your spiritual faith, you can learn to withstand the struggles of everyday life. This way you unwrap the true gift at the heart of life: the realization that your soul is immortal as the medieval alchemist's Philosopher's Stone, or brilliant as the diamond said to be identical with the Buddha's nature. By remaining constant and true to your higher destiny, you become like the prophets and priestesses of old, pillars of the temples of the Gods and Goddesses that stretches across time and space.

http://www.mooncircles.com/newmoon_pythia.html

New Moon Ritual

2007-01-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

With Jupiter and Pluto hanging out in Sagittarius you're blessed with their aspects of faith and optimism to view any goal you might conjure up in your ritual work. So be mindful of the goals you set on this night.

Climbing the Mountain
Capricorn is one of the four cardinal zodiac signs, the others being Aries, Cancer and Libra. I think of the cardinal signs as a kind of cosmic "skeleton", providing an essential spiritual structure to each person's chart. Like a real skeleton each of these signs form an anchor within a person's life. The first cardinal sign, Aries, starts with the sense of affirming the ego or life force within us; of one's right to exist and be oneself. Cancer, natural ruler of the fourth house, deals with a person's emotional security and feelings of being nurtured and safe. Libra, which is the natural ruler of the seventh house explores a person's ability to establish and maintain balanced yet meaningful relationships with others, and :

Capricorn, the natural ruler of the mid-heaven or tenth house, with the ability to interact with and find a place within the world or society at large. Capricorn has a pretty major task to play as an influence in each of our charts, and at the time of it's new moon we have a wonderful opportunity to learn about how to set and reach realistic goals for ourselves, goals which describe how we envision our interaction within the world.

The New Moon in Capricorn is a good time to commit to personal goals that express the positive energies of the sign of the Goat:

set practical, attainable goals;

work on developing maturity and common sense in the personality;

considering the future, and preparing for it;

focus on concrete ways of developing self- discipline and self-mastery;

give satisfying form to wishes;

make commitments and recognize responsibilities;

accept that we are limited, and that, ironically, some of our limitations truly free us to

explore deeper dimensions of experience by offering us a secure foundation;

nurture our dreams in a realistic fashion.

Visualize Your Wishes
It is often best not to include a wish unless you can clearly visualize it coming into fruition within your imagination. If not, there may be preliminary steps you need to take first, so instead, try visualizing these. Trust your feelings and intuition in this process- you will know instinctively what feels right. Some wishes become realized soon after the new moon. Others are more resistant and can take many months. Keep repeating wishes each month until they begin coming true as long as you continue to believe that they are right for you. When things in your life such as people, events, and your own attitudes begin to "shift", welcome this new change as evidence that your life is changing as a result of your positive intentions.

JANUARY

2007-01-02T20:50:00.000-05:00

This month, we start off the year with a full moon, and not just any full moon but the Cancer Full Moon, which is brimming with compassion. Anchored in the seas of Capricorn, we are gifted with ambition and pragmatism. The harmony of the two, creates a pool of love whic which to work from. Not the Nora Ephron girl-gets-guy kind of love, but the kind that weathers the storm, sees past the hurts, the regrets, the frustrations to what lay beneath in all of us-a perfection of oneness, where we are all one and the same, choosing to separate and be mirrors for one another, so that we may understand the fullness of humanity, of the universe, of the great beyond to remind us to let life take us beyond what we think is possible.

GIFTS OF THE MONTH

2007-01-02T20:20:00.000-05:00

This month create yourself a utopia with Cancer compassion, and Capricorn ambition

The compassionate energies of the cancer full moon, combined with Capricorn's practical, prudent, and ambitious nature, give us a great opportunity to seize the day not only for success, but for love.

Compassion is what allows us to receive . Softening our hearts tells the world you are ready to embrace the world and all its riches with open arms. With Capricorn's pragmatism and ambition there's no telling what you could create.

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein

CANCER FULL MOON

2007-01-02T20:15:00.000-05:00

Full Moon Wednesday, January 3, 2007 (8:57am EST)
At this beginning of a new year the Moon in Cancer is our reminder that we all choose to enter life, to be born, to embrace living and to fulfill our purpose in that birth. The Sun in Capricorn is our clarion call to seek that purpose consciously in this coming year.
Our deepest and most authentic purpose is to evolve, to awaken, and to share our talent and being in the work that our soul is here to accomplish. As Capricorn gifts us with its wisdom for this new year we must hear the goat’s message that we are all born as divine and sacred beings who are here to live a fully human life as an expression of our sacred nature. As we learn to trust our divinity, to listen deeply for the truth of our evolutionary goal, and to act constructively and pragmatically to achieve the zenith of our capabilities we are becoming our Capricorn nature.

Another of Capricorn’s secrets lies in its disguises. The disguises are our earthly nature viewed and lived without the profound truth of our eternal, sacred origin. In the quiet dark of this turning of the year at the winter solstice and the new year, look at the "who’s" you think you are, the past you believe weights you down, the beliefs about you, others and the world that cripple you. None of these identities, stories about the past or beliefs that limit you can be true if you are the soul being that you genuinely are. These disguises encase and constrict our true and powerful self, the self that can manifest (remember that Capricorn is the transpersonal earth sign uniting spirit and matter) our finest vision. The top of the mountain can only be reached by taking those first steps along the path after we have committed to the climb and the vision.

At this Full Moon use this moment to sight your highest goal, commit to your goal, and begin the journey in a new way. Let your way be guided by the shedding of your disguises, the recognition of your evolving soul’s power to achieve your desired goal, and the dynamic action to climb farther than you have ever climbed.
Julia Bondi http://www.mooncircles.com/fullmoon_julia.html

NATURE'S ASSISTANTS

2007-01-02T19:41:00.000-05:00

COMPASSION ENHANCING OILS:
Marjoram Sweet: Comforting Compassion
Rose: Sensuality, love, compassion.
Basil: Helps to strengthen compassion, faith and bring clarity.

GEMSTONES:
Rose quartz
pink tourmaline
emerald (pink or green stones)

SUGGESTED AFFIRMATIONS:
I forgive
I radiate love
I am tolerant of everyone around me
I have great joy, and therefore great energy
My peace is shared peace
I am weightless and free of burden

Compassion Ritual

2007-01-02T19:34:00.000-05:00

If you're in need of a little compassion tune-up, there's no better person to learn from than
KWAN YIN MOTHER OF COMPASSION IN ANCIENT CHINESE CULTURE

Kwan Yin's esoteric attributes are those of compassion, healing, and centering.She lives in the heart chakra, standing in full acceptance, suspended in tranquility, relishing joy in the silence. Kwan Yin's values are about co-operation, sharing, balance, harmony and partnership; she is highly sensitive and aware.

WHAT SHE WANTS YOU TO KNOW TODAY
She is here to tell you to release factors that inhibit you, that prevent you from connecting with others. Melt those walls of ice around your heart; forgive the person who you feel has committed a grievance against you; open your heart and radiate love so that love can come back to you.

COMPASSION RITUAL
Close your eyes in a tranquil space.
Visualize Kwan Yin resting with the world on one shoulder, her cheek resting against it.
She sees you, and you are drawn to the love radiating from her heart. She shows you how to take the world from your shoulders, hold it in your hands, and dance in joyful, carefree circles.
You see the earth's water rippling, the leaves in the trees blowing, the birds soaring without effort. Know this is happening purely thanks to your joy.

When you walk through each day, remember Kwan Yin's presence whenever you see the soaring birds, the rustling leaves, the rippling waters. Use these triggers as a reminder to take the world off your shoulders, and to dance with abandon, with your face to the skies and your arms in the air.

December Update

2006-12-12T21:11:00.001-05:00

With the new moon, the winter solstice, and a slew of other international, and religious holidays,
December is a month of celebration, a last horrah for the year. It's a culmination of a year, and all that has transpassed. The new moon reminds us of rebirth, the winter solstice celebrates the necessity of death, the shortest day of the year, it is also the longest day of the year for darkness.

And yet candles, the symbol of light, are apart of most holdiay celebrations this month. It is a reminder of the light we carry within.

The generosity of the sun to hide within night so that we may shine.

And shine we do with every goodwill act, including share our passion. Amidst the season of giftgiving, remember to share your gifts, with others, and inspire in one another what a diverse, interesting, varied world we have.

Season's Greetings

December New Moon

2006-12-12T20:11:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:01am
Continuing our sojourn into Sagittarius, we have Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Pluto/Sun/Moon conjunction all in Sagittarius.
Pluto/Sun/Moon brings the area of truth, self-identity and emotional needs under Sagittarian influence. Sag's are known for a deep quest for truth, wherever that may lead them, no stone goes unturned, even the ones best left alone.

The Sag. influence brings faith, hope, and playfulness, to counterbalance a far reaching introspection. Finding that balance between reaching for drops of Jupiter and acknowledging the wonders right here on earth can be a challenge for Sag. However, this month's magic is a breeding ground for miracles.

If you take on this new moon with the adventurous and grandeur spirit of Sag, that trip within and can be a journey sparked with curiosity and wonderment of what is new about you, you may have forgotten. What layers of yourself can you peel back, to find pearls of wisdom in the form of lessons, and discarding the shell that has grown them for you and is now no longer needed. What ways of thinking can be broadened, what plans are diverging into larger waters?
Think big, because this new moon brings us not only the introspection needed to take things to the next level, it provides the miracle we may need to let go of whatever has been in the way.

Saturn is in retrograde in Leo having us look back at what we need to be responsible for, but provides us with Leo's creativity to find solutions that are satisfying, enriching us in a way we would not have sought out, had we not been forced to. After all, challenges our life’s way of rerouting us to even larger dreams than we may dare to imagine.

This month revel in thought, in magic, in hope and the miracle of how life brings us what we need in the most unexpected ways.

With the New Year ahead, this is a great time to begin thinking of what the 2007 version of your life will bring. Read on about a way to celebrate this auspicious moment in this month's New Moon ritual.

WINTER SOLSTICE

2006-12-12T18:42:00.000-05:00

In pre-historic times, winter was a very difficult time for Aboriginal people in the northern latitudes. The growing season had ended and the tribe had to live off of stored food and whatever animals they could catch.

The people would be troubled as the life-giving sun sank lower in the sky each noon. They feared that it would eventually disappear and leave them in permanent darkness and extreme cold.

After the winter solstice, they would have reason to celebrate as they saw the sun rising and strengthening once more. Although many months of cold weather remained before spring, they took heart that the return of the warm season was inevitable.

The concept of birth and or death/rebirth became associated with the winter solstice. The Aboriginal people had no elaborate instruments to detect the solstice. But they were able to notice a slight elevation of the sun's path within a few days after the solstice -- perhaps by DEC-25. Celebrations were often timed for about the 25th.

The Ghost of X-mas Past

2006-12-12T18:41:00.000-05:00

Any record of the date of birth of Yeshua of Nazareth (later known as Jesus Christ) has been lost. There is sufficient evidence in the Gospels to indicate that Yeshua wasborn in the fall, but this seems to have been unknown to early Christians.

By the beginning of the 4th century CE, there was intense interest in choosing a day to celebrate Yeshua's birthday. The western church leaders selected DEC-25 because this was already the date recognized throughout the Roman Empire as the birthday of various Pagan gods. Since there was no central Christian authority at the time, it took centuries before the tradition was universally accepted:
~Eastern churches began to celebrate Christmas after 375 CE.

~The church in Jerusalem started in the 7th century.

~Ireland started in the 5th century Austria, England and Switzerland in the 8th

~Slavic lands in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Many symbols and practices associated with Christmas are of Pagan origin: holly, ivy, mistletoe, yule log, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen tree, magical reindeer, etc. Polydor Virgil, an early British Christian, said "Dancing, masques, mummeries, stageplays, and other such Christmas disorders now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalian and Bacchanalian festivals; which should cause all pious Christians eternally to abominate them." In Massachusetts, Puritans unsuccessfully tried to ban Christmas entirely during the 17th century, because of its heathenism. The English Parliament abolished Christmas in 1647. Some contemporary Christian faith groups do not celebrate Christmas. Included among these was the Worldwide Church of God (before its recent conversion to Evangelical Christianity) and the Jehovah Witnesses.

December

2006-12-04T00:16:00.001-05:00

Season's Greetings
Remember when you were young and possibility was only a wish away? It was a world of beauty and grace. Challenge and grave danger were merely adventures for us to measure the merit of our skills. We couldn't wait to grow up to see what world’s we would conquer, we were sure, that it was only freedom that kept our wildest dreams out of reach. A prize to be given to all adults.

Somewhere along the way (and maybe sooner for some than others) our dreams were shelved away along with our fingerpaint drawings, our belief in the Tooth Fairy, and faith in Santa Claus. The magic of living, became reduced to a mere race for survival. If ever there was a time to dust off those worn and faded imaginings, this holiday season would be the one.

December is a time of wonderment, magic, miracles, and a fertile ground for global change, both within and without us. Sagittarius is represented by the Centaur a magical creature, half man, half horse, I think in part because, the Sagittarius needed the speed of stallion to be able to fulfill their wide-scale visions.

This month is unique that in not one, but five planets are housed in Sagittarius. With the Gemini Full moon, another big thinker known for quick and keen intellect, the sky's the limit. As these two fun-loving, adaptable, and curious influences team up, take advantage to find pleasure in the spontaneous. After all the best opportunity we have, is the power of now!

Gifts of this Month:

2006-12-03T23:47:00.000-05:00

This month you are tuned to the forces of Gemini and Sagittarius, signs devoted to knowledge, truth, understanding, and communication.

Carpe Diem! with these forces you’ve been given both the questions and their answers.

Sagittarius’s quest for knowledge and truth, and Gemini’s ability to easily grasp any matter at hand are a winning combination.

These gifts provide us the luxury to follow the heart’s desire at our leisure knowing you’ll be guided to find resolution to any challenges that come your way.

Take care of the luxuries and the
necessities will take care of themselves.
Dorothy Parker

Gemini Full Moon: Alchemy of Spirit

2006-12-03T23:46:00.000-05:00

December 5, 2006—Monday
Embrace the questions. Welcome the Gemini mind as the well of our curiosity, the necessary precursor to the intuitive mind. It is in the seeking of truth that the higher Sagittarian mind is awakened. Listen. Truth, faith and understanding must be invited to appear. The archetypes of Sagittarius and Gemini are the paired question and answer. To find answers we must have the courage to ask, as well as being aware that we do want to know and that we can know. Then it is time to listen, to consider, to contemplate, even to ruminate. Our human mind is miraculous. Take the time to appreciate the gift of mind, the stimulation of dialogue and the fertile time of waiting for an answer to reveal itself. This rich process is a gift.

The Moon in Gemini asks: What do you think? The Sun in Sagittarius queries: What do you believe? And Uranus demands: What do you know? It’s not only necessary to think out of the box, it’s time to dispense with the box altogether. When Uranus operates as a focal point (the planet squaring two opposing planets — in this case, the Sun opposite the Moon), Shift Happens. Sacred cows are slaughtered, illusions shattered, and rebellions catalyzed.

The Awakener in Pisces stirs us from our spiritual slumber and reminds us that every thought is a prayer. What you believe, you see. You are the Dreamer and the Dream. What are your dreams now?

In this season of approaching holidays in which we will mark our Sagittarian faith and soon light the candles of hope in the darkness of years end we unknowingly trust that the Sun, the life-giver of our solar system, will again bring us life in the coming spring. It is that faith which is calling us to the future in which we can make the impossible possible. Nature is quiet and severe now with life and lushness a memory. Yet we know life is within the cold, dark world of winter. As the final fire sign Sagittarius holds the promise of the Aries to come as our questions hold the promise of answers to come and our desires hold the promise of miracles and manifestation to come. If we allow hope, trust and knowing to guide us then all is possible.
Julia Bondi, Stephanie Austin

Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your
doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance.
~William Wirt

Full Moon Ritual: Freed by Fire

2006-12-03T23:38:00.000-05:00

New moon ceremonies have to do with creation, manifestation, birth, and rebirth. The full moon is at the other end of circle as it completes the cycle, it symbolizes the end chapter. This is the time of the month that rituals are done in releasing or purging the things in our lives that no longer serve us such as addictions to food, drugs, or sex, relinguishing suffering involved in hurtful relationships, discharging physical and emotional pains, etc.

Each person in the circle takes his/her turn throwing in scraps of paper into a fire that is then watched turn into ashes. The scraps of paper have words written down on them of those things we were releasing or vowing to change in our lives. Yes, a full moon ceremony can be as simple as that.

Full Moon Purging Preparation
1. Create a sacred space and arrange a time to perform the ceremony.

2. Write down on seperate slips of paper all the things you want to release or change.

3. Throw into fire, or burn with a match, feel any attachment you have to them release

~Phylameana lila Desy

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.
David Russell

Nature's Assistants: Perfect Holiday Gifts

2006-12-03T23:34:00.000-05:00

Share the gift of magic with these
transformational hydrosol mysts .

They combine
~ a powerful blend of plant extracts,
~ distilled water, and
~charged crystals,

All carefully selected to embody specific qualities!

They are then amplified by Sacred Geometry, and energetic structures to evoke a multi-dimensional experience of heavenly-scented atmosphere.

Serenity Amenity:
Calms frazzled nerves, clarifies spacey minds, and softens tense muscles, to provide you with the ease and compassion you deserve

Awake and Alive:
This vibrant scent rejuvenates the mind and spirit alike, slicing through the morning fog, to create an energized focus, alertness, and confidence.

Dream Faery: Great for kids and night owls alike!
This soothing blend helps you put your day behind you, and while creating an atmosphere of magic and wonderment, that becomes sweet dreams. Remember the innocence and wonderment of youth, where anything is possible. When the grandeur of possibility may allude us during the day, let us find our way back in our dreams

As the hectic holiday season rushes in, take back your aliveness—
Drench your day with Mysts of Eden

For more details or to order email : vredican@gmail.com

November Update

2006-11-14T23:16:00.000-05:00

This month the new moon journeys with the energy of Scorpio, which is ruled by the areas of sex and death. One is a celebrating of creation and the other a process of uncreation. This is a great time to reflect what are you giving birth to in your life, and what could use a little uncreating. Uncreation, is the unraveling of something to its basic elements, setting it free and giving it back to the world from where it came. It is a reminder for us to look at what needs to be set free within us, and what needs some care and attention to grow. Passion and introspective, journey inward and be reborn with a fresh perspective, insight and vigor.

Gifts of this Month:

2006-11-02T03:45:00.000-05:00

Reignite passion and committment to your life with Scorpio fire and loyalty

SCORPIO NEW MOON: LUNAR SAMHAIN
the New Moon in Scorpio is a night when the veil is thin between the living and the spirit world.

The perfect time to integrate the spirit of what you wish for yourself into reality with practical action.

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.
Denis Diderot

New Moon ~ November 20, 5:13pm (est)

2006-11-02T00:17:00.000-05:00

Owning Your Own Power~New Moon in Scorpio
by Dena L. Moore

This New Moon in Scorpio is an excellent time to make an important choice...will you allow yourself to fall into the trap of external reality and find the mundane world and the wishes of others dominating your life, or will you step forward and decide that you are driving your own chariot? Will you accept responsibility for creating your own life and step firmly onto the path of personal evolution? Taking control of our own thoughts, deeds, and actions will infuse us with inner strength and creative power that can become the driving force behind living a joyful and enriching life. Now is the perfect time to choose your path and create your destiny.

Food to be Thankful for

2006-11-02T00:16:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is upon us, and with it our favorite seasonal spices and foods, but did you know that this feast, is loaded with healing qualities? No I’m not talking about the most popular sedative tryptophane, read on to find out how your thanksgiving dinner will be healing your body.

Here are the highlights of your favorite holiday foods/spices:

Having trouble remembering all the names of your partners family member, try:
Rosemary: Ability to preserve also led to the belief that it helped preserve memory
Nutmeg: is also great for concentration (although after that fifth glass of eggnog, you might need more than nutmeg)

FUN FACT
Did you know nutmeg helps with male infertility and impotence?

For the after dinner "I ate-too-much" pain
Apples: Available year-round, unpeeled apples are a great source of fiber. They're also a source of the phytochemical quercetin--a compound widely recognized for its ability to fight heart disease and cancer, infections, inflammation and colitis
Nutmeg: nausea, indigestion
Cinnamon: supports digestive function

Also great if its Granny likes to keep the temperature at just above freezing:
Cinnamon is great for stimulating circulation
(try it in a mulled cider or cocoa for optimal results)

Other remedies:relieves congestion, pain and stiffness of muscles and joints, menstrual discomfort, and it’s a powerful anti-microbial agent that can kill E. coli and other bacteria

Nature's Assistants

2006-11-02T00:15:00.000-05:00

ESSENTIAL OILS:
Passion/Sensualizing:
Patchouli,Ylang Ylang, Jasmine

GEMSTONES:

RUBY:

Known as the Gemstone of Passion
Don't have any spare rubies lying around?
Visualizing a ruby red light (particularly in the sacral area), during a meditation, or even while relaxing during a bath, can have a similar effect

RED GARNET:
Attracts love, promotes bonding, and opens things up for receiving pleasure.

If you have these stones place them in a bowl of distilled water and place the bowl in sunlight. After a couple hours, take stones out and water becomes a passion enhancing tonic, or can be poured over sacral for a healing effect. Enjoy!

Fire of Life Breathing Exercise

2006-11-02T00:14:00.000-05:00

Love's mysteries in souls do grow, But yet the body is his book
John Donne

The exercise is for those:
~who want more energy,

~who want to increase focus,

~who want to take a moment to pamper themselves,

~who want to increase their capacity to receive and feel pleasure

If you've said yes to any of the above you've begun the exercise
Learning to reconstruct your world/perspective in such a way that you are always saying yes to it is a step toward receiving more pleasure in your life

Every time you do this exercise it will be a different experience; just enjoy it for the ride it takes you on. The more you do the exercise the less you’ll have to think about it, the more the breath will flow, the greater the opening for pleasure. This is an opportunity to give yourself permission to be with and own your body and however its feeling. The more you surrender to the experience, the more in touch you’ll be with the landscape of sensations your body is constantly painting, Happy breathing!

Things to keep in mind:
Breath: inhale through the mouth, exhale through mouth using deep breaths at first (as you exhale, think of relaxing the jaw, the throat, ribs, almost like a sigh (particularly when the breath reaches the upper body chakras)

If you are not used to breathing deeply you may feel light-headed or dizzy at first. If this happens take slower breaths, and remember to breath from your belly (diaphragm) You may find it helpful to put your hands on your abdomen to remind you. Drinking water before you start helps oxygenate your system. If coughing occurs, this could indicate shallow breathing (follow the tips I just mentioned) or that blocks are clearing (which is good).

Sound: sound reinforces release and is a chance to give yourself ultimate expression. When we censor our sound, we limit our potential to use the energy available to us. In a sense censoring, is a cutting off and slowing down of the flow of energy; which works against the intent of this exercise (to tap into your energy, and create aliveness in the body)

I am open to receive with every breath I breathe.
~Michael Sun

LET's BEGIN
Start standing with you knees slightly bent, arms loose by your side.
Centering/grounding:
Take three slow breaths to calm your mind, releasing all thoughts, as you exhale feel the breath traveling down your spine, through the base, between your feet into the earth anchoring your down towards the center of the earth. Once you begin to feel grounded:

Start incorporating the movement which will continue throughout the exercise, unless noted to stop. As you inhale draw your fingers in, bending your elbows in a pumping action upward, exhale and release your breath. As you get used to this action,

Incorporate sound: let sound come out of your mouth in whatever form it takes (if you need more direction you could try more primal, guttural sounds for the first 3 chakras, and relaxing into the breath (i.e. sigh or a moan) for the upper chakras) The key is to express, not suppress, if you’re feeling self-conscious, bring your attention back to your breath, it’s very difficult to hold a thought and breath deeply at the same time. Once you feel comfortable with the movement, breath, and sound

Include visual: see the breath pumping from the core of the earth, feel the heat from hot molten lava, pumping up the breath into the 1st chakra, then exhaling back down through the 1st chakra into the earth. You will go through the seven chakras in succession. Starting with breathing into and exhaling out of the 1st chakra, then breathing into the 1st chakra up into the 2nd chakra, and exhale back down through 2nd chakra and 1st, into the earth. Continue in the same manner adding 3rd, 4th and so forth until the seventh chakra as indicated below:

1st-3rd Masculine Energies:
1st chakra
Feel the breath pumping into the base of your spine, then exhale and feel the breath travel down through the base of your spine releasing all the way down into earth returning to the core (this happens in one exhale) You may notice, you have difficulty feeling this area of your body, feel the breath get stuck. Keep breathing in and out of this area, going faster and faster until the breath flow with ease in and out of the base of your spine. (a Ha! Sound can work well if you’re feeling shy, or “spacey”) The first three chakras are considered by some to be the masculine energies. Guttural sounds and masculine breathing (breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth, can be a great way of working to start.

Note: if you have a hard time feeling the breath through the spine, you can feel the breath (or energy) coming from the earth into the soles of your feet, up your legs into the spine)

When you feel ready move onto the:
2nd chakra (if you’re not sure give yourself at least one minute-two minutes for each chakra)
Inhale, feeling the breath moving in through the base of the spine, and upwards through the 2nd chakra, or the area around your pubic bone (reproductive area). Exhale back down through the spine returning your breath to the core of the earth. Notice the difference it makes to have breath flowing through this area than through the base of your spine. Does it have more tension, harder or easier to feel? How does this affect the sounds you make? Repeat until flow of breath is easy and free.

3rd chakra

Next move the breath up through spine up through the pubic bone, up to the naval area, your source of power. Again notice any changes, in how it feels, what sounds come out of your power area. Continue until flow is established.

4th-7th Feminine Energies:
4th: heart chakra upper chest into base of the throat
Breath through the spine up through base, pubic, navel into the heart area, the upper chest. Relax your rib cage, focus on letting the breath relax into the area, let your heart receive the inhale to its fullest, as you exhale feel the breath shutter through your chest and ribcage, back down to the navel, through the pubic bone, the base of spine, into the core of the earth. Begin to soften the sounds and breaths, as you focus on receiving the inhale of breath, letting it sink into your chest, as it travels back down on the exhale.

5th: throat chakra (source of expression) (you can stop the pumping action if it’s too intense)

The breath travels up to the 5th chakra through your throat extending out to the shoulders. This chakra can be a source of great blockage, it could be repressing anger, sadness, hurt, joy, shame and threat. Its also involves the shoulders which can hold tension between what we think we should or shouldn’t do. As your breath runs through this area, feel any suppression loosen, let it come out in sound (resist the urge to force out sound, the throat is a feminine energy area, feel your jaw relax, and let the sound that comes out, come from deep within you. Sounds might become more high pitched, with shorter breaths)

6th: 3rd eye: area between in middle of forehead just above the eyebrows (no movement)
As the breath travels up to the forehead (it reaches the top of the spine,) often associated where the Aha! Sensation comes from. Your brain may feel active, as if its “waking up”. Sounds may be orgasmic.

7th: crown chakra: top of head (no movement)
As the breath reaches into, through and out of the top of the head, there is a release, the sound begins to quiet. Inhale and exhale through the entire system for as long as needed, and then begin to focus on the exhale, focusing on the breath moving downwards, into the earth, grounding you as your breathing returns to normal.

Reviving lost dreams with Indian wisdom

2006-11-02T00:13:00.000-05:00

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not;
Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge

At the start of things, we can be filled with energy, enthusiasm and high ideals, but a few (or often times, many) bumps down the road, we start to lose our momentum. Where in the process are we choosing to slow down until we stall? What gets in the way? Often times are biggest stumbling block is not the block itself, but our willingness to take a good look at it, and identify it.

There are Native Americans that have two names, one of which is never made public because of the power it would give another person over them. They believe their name holds the key to revealing who they are: their weaknesses, and their strengths. When something, or someone is named, they are identified, and there-in holds the power to knowing them. Similarly, I’ve found that when I can name what stops me, I have begun to take away its power over me.

It is very easy, and very dangerous to chalk up procrastination to some “fog that comes over you” or worse, a vague nondescript concept, like apathy, laziness, or “lack of willpower”. Those things do not exist in space; therefore they cannot be fought, worked with, or shifted. It is in specificity that we can begin to gain clarity, and from there create a plan to build up momentum for the next leg of our journey.

Think of what you say when someone asks you why you haven't gotten to where you want to be? What comes to mind? It takes time. It takes money. I'm taking a break. Whatever comes to mind, these are your primary suspects!

Compile a list of possible suspects and saboteurs of your goal
Brainstorm a short list of what you think is the cause of your stalled plan. This is just to get the juices flowing. If all you can come-up with are excuses, and vague ideas, don’t worry, this is the beginning stage, the focus here is to compile possible stumbling blocks to work with.

Look over your list and put a star next to any items that are vague, excuses, or justifications, i.e. "I just lack drive.") Key words to look for are absolutes such as never, or always, (i.e. I never follow through")

These thoughts are slowing you down or keeping you in the same place, like a rope wrapped around your waist holding you back as you try to move forward. It would be easy to blame the rope, or say you could move forward if only you had some scissors to cut the rope with.

But now let's say this rope was elastic, like a rubber band. With the right kind of leverage, like say a slingshot, and a willingness to let go, these thoughts that pull you back, once released, will propel you forward. Why? Because thoughts are energy and energy is always in motion, negative thoughts, create backwards motion. But with a little creativity, you can actually use that backwards energy to move you towards your goal.

For your slingshot you will need:

one rubber band (the list of specific things that hold you back)

The handle (the goal you are working towards/what you are committed to) and

Willingness to let go of the rubber band (your greatest barrier, isn't the block, but your need/desire to hold onto it)

The Handle
The handle is the anchor for the slingshot. The anchor for you is your goal, what you are committed to achieving. Be clear about what's most important to you, and about why you want to achieve it, what does having it provide for you. This is your primary goal. Make sure it can be listed on one short complete sentence. Be careful to be specific.

For example let's say Robin of the company Batman and Robin, has a primary goal of being the best superhero there ever was. What would that look like, would world peace have to be achieved, lower crime rate, how many criminals a year caught?
Why does he want to achieve it/What does it provide for him: recognition/being the best at what he does

His goal could be more clearly defined as:
Stopping the more crime in a single year more than any other superhero and being known as a frontrunner in his company

List your goal across the top of the page

From Specificity to Elasticity: Giving your thoughts elasticity.
The second you start to question what you have come to know as the staus quo, you immediately lend flexiblility to them. By having a curiosity about your thoughts what previously felt set in stone, (I'll never lose weight, I never have before) begins to be the start of an interesting inquest. (I haven't yet lost weight, what's been in my way?)

Interrogating your list of possible suspects to gain clarity about them
Looking at your list of possible "suspects" and saboteurs of your goal, pick one that is a recurring theme for you in projects.

Let's go back to Robin. From his list he chooses:
"I never get to do anything, I always have to wait in the car "

These are both absolutes, but by asking a few simple questions, we can get a clearer and more fuller picture of what's going on (who these suspects really are)
We can start with questions the absolutes:
I haven't yet been assigned a key position, what's been in my way?

The Alchemy of Words:
Turn your thoughts into Likes and Dislikes, Strengths and Weaknesses, Wants/Don't wants

In Robin's case: I never get to do anything
He could ask himself:

What do I want, What don't I want?
I want to be the one to catch the bad guy, I don't want to sit around
I want to use my skills, I don't want to miss an opportunity to fight

What do you like about this, What don't you like?
I don't like waiting around, I don't like taking orders,
I like being able to devise and implement a plan, I like being where the action is; I like learning by doing

Strengths/Weaknesses
I'm good at thinking on my feet, I need work on recognizing and waiting for the right moment to take action.
I have quick reflexes, I'm not consistent with paying attention to details

Turning strengths, likes, and wants into action steps

We now have a clearer picture of what Robin's looking for in the future.

He wants to use his skills in high impact situations, he loves recognition, and thrives on victory, he doesn't want to be left behind and therefore wants to feel he is trusted, and a valued and a key player. Indirectly we can see that his lack of patience, could indicate his boss values a more thoughtful big-picture approach to problems

Keeping his goal in mind and looking at the information he gathered through his investigative work, we can see the gaps that need to be filled, and the strengths that he can capitalize on

Action steps might include:
Work on becoming more detailed oriented, seeing the big picture in all situations:

He can notice how his mentor ( who is great at seeing the big picture) handles things differently than he would in situations

He can view the less exciting tasks he has to do as an opportunity to work on becoming more detail oriented, and becoming more patient

Using strengths to become a key player:

He can use his strengths as someone with enthusiasm to do the tasks he is assigned well and gain leverage towards having more responsibilities in the future

He can propose solutions when problems arise, within a big picture context, to illustrate how and what he has learned

He can request from his boss what kind of situation he would be allowed to use more advanced skills

Assign a Deadline
Now that he has an action plan, he needs to assign a deadline for each task.

This will help to create urgency as well as help him to track his progress. At any point if he feels himself slacking, he can go through this process again, and see if new saboteurs have emerged

Robin is now empowered to take responsibility for how he is feeling, where he is stuck, and also gained a lot of information on what he can do to move him forward towards his goal. This alone, will build confidence in his ability to handle situations, and that will be reflected in everything he does.

Recap

Identify your possible saboteurs of your goal
Get specific about what you’re not doing and what you are doing
Investigate: Ask questions that will give you information about assets and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, wants and don't wants
Develop action steps you can take that will allow you to work on and with your weaknesses, and capitalize on your assets

Give yourself a deadline when you will take those actions by

Reward yourself! Have something to work towards, it can be weekly, monthly, even small daily treats– whatever you need to keep you in motion!

Remember it is not as important that your plan is perfect, or that you have the best strategy, what’s important is that you get movement flowing to build momentum for your goal, you can always reassess and re-strategize later if you are not reaching your goals.

NOVEMBER

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It's November, the beginning of holiday season, the work rush, and family outings. If you're feeling the push of the hectic season, then you'll be happy to know that aid is on the way. This month the moon bolsters us with the Tauran energy of determination, committment, and owning your own strength. The Lunar Goddess invites us to look within and be exactly who we are, exactly where we are at, reminding us it is not attainment of perfection, but attainment of acceptance that draws out the luminous within us. But be forewarned, science tells us like attracts like, and the powerful currents of the moon will draw out and magnify any momentum you have towards what you are commited to. It will also bring out what you are not committed to, what you are confused about and show you where you tend to wane in determination, in order that you can begin to move forward in all areas towards what you want to acheive. This month's newsletter will empower you with ways to move ahead, while enjoying where you are at.

Full Moon in Taurus ~ November 5, 2006

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Aries Full Moon is the best Full Moon to put some concrete action behind a desire to begin

This Full Moon opposes not only the Sum but Venus and Mars as well! How we identify ourselves, who and what we love, and the very passion that we hold for life is greatly illuminated. This Full Moon, more than any other lunation this year validates each of us in our individuality and freedom to choose how we develop our gifts and present them to the World. The fixed T-square with Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune is still in dynamic suspension! Neptune, still retrograde, feeds the confusion even at Full Moon. Do we expand and grow or pull back and rest on our security? Pluto in T-square to the Nodes reminds us that we have forever - but each step brings us closer.

~ www.aphrodette.com/horoscope/starenco.htm

Full Moon Meditation

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Meditation from http://www.mooncircles.com/

Drawing Down the Moon
Imagine above you the round glowing disc of the moon, bathing you in a protective circle of light. Vibrant with energy, your space is transformed, filled with the purity of spirit. Stand and raise your arms above your head. Let your palms face each other and curve slightly toward the moon. Feel as though you’re a sacred chalice, drawing the power of the Great Mother into every cell of your being—from your toes, to your womb, to your breasts, to your jaw, and your eyes. Feel the pleasure of this energy. It is vibrant with the power to give, to receive, to nurture life, and manifest what is possible.

Sending your blessings
Draw your hands to your heart. Massage this area. Feel that you have become the goddess, capable of balancing the earth and harmonizing its opposing forces. In particular you are tuned to the energies of Taurus and Scorpio.Draw your hands to your heart. Massage this area. Feel that you have become the goddess, capable of balancing the earth and harmonizing its opposing forces. In particular you are tuned to the energies of Taurus and Scorpio.

Taurus is earthy, sensual, and attractive, drawing in what it needs to feel comfortable and secure. It is slow-moving, like the earth, also lush and abundant. Scorpio is mysterious, hidden, and attractive in a potent, magnetic way. It holds its power deeply inward, like a jewel in an underground cavern. Both are "fixed" signs, strong, persevering, and capable of great commitment and depth of character. Both are deeply rooted in sexual experience. Pleasure-loving Taurus loves to touch and be touched, to be stimulated by scents and tastes. Scorpio is intensely passionate and capable of a thrilling intimacy once it trusts. Both are also the primary money signs—keen to manage the vast resources of wealth in the world.

When we are in balance at the Full Moon, we vibrate with the energy of both signs. This is a passionate time! But if we are out of balance, we may tip into more negative expressions of one or both signs. Taurus can be stubborn and indolent, dictatorial, or resistant to change. Scorpio can be overcome with emotional turmoil, vengeful, jealous, and secretive—or power-mad and controlling. Even if you are feeling balanced, surely there are those in the world this season who are stuck in the negative energies.

Imagine that with your goddess vision, you have the ability to see this negativity circling the globe like a dark smoke. Know that if you breathe in this smoke you have the power to transform it in your heart—breathing it out as the pure white light of the goddess. Read the affirmations and visualize the world’s darkness dissolving with your breath. Find a comfortable rhythm and repeat the statements until your light has transformed the world.

Breathing in… Lonely rooms, isolated hearts, cold despots.

Breathing out… Love’s comforting and passionate touch.

Breathing in… Poverty; the fear there’s just not enough.

Breathing out… An abundance of wealth, satisfying every need

Breathing in… The habit of unhappiness, being stuck in the past,

Breathing out… Magical transformations, just for the asking!

Grounding the energy
See the world bathed in the purifying light of your offering: the sleeping babies, the politicians arguing, the starving children, liars and thieves. See the world transforming with this light, growing peaceful and calm. When you are ready, bring your hands to your sides, palms facing the earth. Send your divine light deep into the earth. See this energy take shape as a round moon, gathering below you in the center of the earth. Feel yourself slowly coming back into your body. Rest in this peace until you are ready to return to your life. Blessed be.

Better to Bully-up then go Belly-up

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Or at least that’s the Tauran’s motto, and if you don't believe me just ask at their mascot the Bull

Known for perseverance, they aren’t just goal setters, their goal achievers. Tempered by their love of peace and harmony, this often times results in great contributions to the world. They give respect and take respect and being very helpful in nature, friends can always depend on them.

Dependability and perseverance are excellent qualities to have in your tool box when setting out to begin the next (if a bit less exciting) phase of a project, goal, or dream. It could be the rough patch in a relationship, or in a long, long, so much longer than you thought-term goal, where the rewards at the end won’t be reaped for quite some time. Whatever area you're stalled in, this is the perfect time to kick it back in gear.

Capitalize on the energies of Taurus's follow-through to push through to the next level of your dreams.

Take your cue from the universe, it was designed to support all creation, including yours. Last month we received a jolt for new beginnings, followed by the new moons purging process of anything unnecessary. This month continues the journey, by presenting the perfect opportunity to jumpstart any stalled dreams. Need some inspiration? Try the Indian Wisdom exercise coming next week.

Until then, get going, the universe awaits!

Nature's Assistants

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ESSENTIAL OILS:
Featured oil Clove: Builds courage and strength

Common blockades to completing and meeting our goals and their antidotes
Impatience: Chamomile, Clary
Fatigue: Basil, ginger, lemon, lavender, orange, peppermint, rosemary
Indecision: Basil, Clary, Cypress, Jasmine, Patchouli, Peppermint
Fear: Cedarwood, Fennel, Ginger, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Thyme

GEMSTONES:
BERYL:
Strengthens will-power

CARNELIAN:
Elevates the spirits, grounds energies thus assisting concentration and mental focus by clearing the mind and focusing one's thoughts

GARNET (dark red)
Increases determination, energy and courage. Attracts love, promotes bonding

MALACHITE
It relieves any congestion in the body and helps with confusion and lack or purpose and insecurity

RUTILATED QUARTZ
Improves decisiveness, strength of will.

COLOR:
Yellow: is the color of clarity, good for healing 3rd chakra, your source of power and strength
Silver: is the color for flow, keeping things moving

2006-10-16T23:27:00.000-04:00

OCTOBER