Sacred Signs

This week's letter for the Pagan Blog Project was easy to write about. In fact, I am writing this well in advance in case I forget... and with my memory it is almost certain I will...

I was first 'introduced' to sacred signs a few years ago by my first 'official' spiritual teacher. The idea is that you ask the universe for a sign, assign specific images or words to mean certain things and watch and wait. It is similar to omens in that the universe is sending you information, but the interpretation is less subjective. Assigning specific signs, images and words also helps the universe to direct its efforts to something that you will definitely understand. Dreams are also a good source of communication, but these are too easily open to subjective interpretations and I find that the less room for 'error' there is in the interpretation, the better! You can't argue against something you have asked for!! I like to ask to receive it 3 times, just to be sure I am not putting it there or reading too much into everyday life. Some consider this arrogant or demanding, but if the universe is going to all the trouble of sending me a sign, I would rather get it right!!

One of the early sacred signs I asked for was concerning whether to accept an opportunity to take over a psychic development class. I in no way felt ready to lead such a class and needed some guidance as to whether I should or not. I asked for a rainbow for yes and a black hoodie for no. That night, I rediscovered Wicca books I had bought when I was a teenager and had not read since. So, I decided to start reading it. It was as if the book called to me from the study where it lived. A few chapters later and it was late and I decided I needed to sleep, but the book had other ideas. It said 'no just one more chapter'. Well, the next one was about 'fear' and in it the writer explains fear as a shrouded, dark feature with a hooded cloak... I was shocked! I had never expected to get my sign so quickly, nor in this manner. I was still not convinced, and for some reason I needed further validation. The next morning I was walking to my friend's house, the very friend who had offered me the opportunity in the first place, and as I was walking up the hill I found myself staring at a person walking towards me. I literally could not take my eyes off of the person! I thought it might have been my friend coming towards me, but soon realised it couldn't be her as the person did not appear to be waddling as a pregnant woman would. I brushed it off and continued walking. I turned the corner and was about 100m up the road before I realised the person had been wearing a black hooded jumper!!  Further validation received, I felt confident in declining the opportunity as I knew the universe had other things in store for me.

Another particularly memorable experience working with sacred signs was when I had the opportunity to work at my first psychic fair. I had been reading tarot for friends and family for a while and was ready to take it 'public', but was not sure where (or if I was meant to). So I asked the universe for a sign. To make things easy, I used the old yes = rainbow and no =  black hoody signs. the very next day, as I drove to work, the very same way I always had, I turned the same roundabout I had for months and looked at the same shop window but only now realised that the seven circles at the top of the logo were in fact the colours of the rainbow! I laughed out loud and continued to work. Later that afternoon, as I was driving down to Newcastle to visit my father, I looked at the sky and thought 'wow, it looks like a rainbow!' and again, I giggled at how the universe chooses to get its point across. The sun was setting and leaving purple, blue, yellow, orange and red sections across the horizon, it was quite beautiful really.  This time I had asked specifically for three signs, as I wanted to be totally sure. I had my two at this point, and was excited to see how the third would arrive! Further down the highway, there on one of the traffic announcement boards that litter the highways and freeways these days, were the words 'Rainbow Flats'!! Now, I didn't even know Australia had a Rainbow Flats let alone where it is exactly. I laughed so hard I could barely see where I was driving!!!! I still can't remember what exactly happened in Rainbow Flats that day, probably an accident of some sort, but I am grateful it did! (and hopeful no one was hurt...)

I have also changed the signs depending on what I wanted. I recently used the word 'twist' as a sign as the Oliver Twist scenario fit what I needed guidance about. I got it, more than three times over the last week or so, so I guess it is true!

I love working with sacred signs as it is an easy way to get information with very little margin for error through misinterpretation. Besides, it is interesting and fun to see how the universe gets the information to you!! All you have to do is ask the question and set the symbols and wait. The universe really will do the rest!!

M is for Meditation

This is a very meaningful topic for me… Mostly because I don’t do it nearly enough! Despite universal nudges that would make Ghandi himself frustrated……

I am a very practical person, and I like to understand the purpose of an activity, whether it be sport or cleaning, I like there to be a reason for me to do it. And the meaning needs to be on a relatively deep level, for example I do not usually like walking, even though I know it is good for my health, unless I have somewhere to go. A destination, other than to return home empty-handed, helps me to focus and get the job done.

What I find with meditation, is that if it is undirected, I do not see the point and often decide to do something else. This results in me sitting down to meditate perhaps once a week, at best… I know there are heaps of meditations on YouTube that I could do, but I often find it hard to do something if I do not know what to expect (which often blocks my psychic development!!), a fear of the unknown is one I have to deal with in this life and I have as yet not discovered how to… It occurs to me while writing this that meditation may be the very thing I need!! Weird, huh?!?! Hardly… anyway, I digress…

So, what is the purpose of meditation? What are the benefits that I can employ in my everyday life?

Without doing any actual research, my first thought is that it gives you time out from your life and the stress of holding down a job and a house (which for a single childless woman is not really hard). This is probably where I get stuck. I don’t really have any stresses, and if I do I tend to deal with it in a positive way anyway. I tend to be very organised and practical with deadlines etc so I rarely get stuck last minute… well, that is if I don’t put things off until the last minute, but then I just tell myself I put myself here, quit your bitching and get yourself out!  

What about the physical benefits? I have had to do some research about this section, as my first draft was just ignorant ramblings about the possibility of it helping with sleep and metabolism and stuff. I really wanted to know so I did it. This is what I found.

Benefits:

1. Reduces stress and anxiety.
2. Slows brain functions (the article does not say why this is a good thing, but I think that anything having a rest has got to be good!).
3. Increases focus.
4. More creativity: through open-monitoring, or guided, meditation.
5. More compassion and empathy: apparently meditation activates the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes emotion, one experiment found.
6. Improves memory.
7. Improves cognitive processes: through more grey matter, which leads to more positive emotions, longer-lasting emotional stability and heightened focus. Apparently, meditation reduces  the effects of age-related damage to grey matter and can reduce the decline of cognitive functioning (link to a reduction in Alzheimer’s?).
8. Boosts immunity: Meditation apparently activates disease fighting genes (recent research) which can help protect against pain, high blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis.
9. Balances hormone levels: relaxation is linked to higher levels of feel-good hormones such as serotonin.
10. Helps with fertility issues.
11. Stress is linked to decreased digestion and immunity, so perhaps relaxation/meditation can help boost the digestive system and metabolism leading to weight loss?!?!
12. Relieves irritable bowel syndrome.
13. Acts as an anti-inflammatory.
14. Calmness – thoughts occur but are the witness, while in a stressed or ‘ordinary’ mind the thought is the boss. This reduces reaction to situations and allows you to sail through difficult situations. 
15. Sharpens the mind through focusing and expanding through relaxation.

There are literally hundreds of others, one website boasted 100 benefits! I have listed the ones I feel are of benefit to me, perhaps not now but in the future! 

But what about the spiritual benefits? Research suggests that it helps you to discover your true self, sharpen your mind, develop your intuition and expand your consciousness, which I can attest to. I have had some awesome experiences meditating that have helped me on my spiritual journey. Most recently I lit my God and Goddess candle and asked them to be present with me during the meditation and I just sat in their energy, getting to know them and how they interact with me on a physical level, conversing with them to seek clarification on a few topics which they happily gave me. For me, after this experience, I realised that meditation is a way to increase your energy levels to converse and merge with deity, spirit guides and perhaps deceased loved one to get messages or to simply honour them and increase your own connection to ad relationship with them. For me now, meditation is more about connecting with deity and my own spiritual nature and reminding myself that it is a part of who I am. Still, I don’t meditate nearly as much as I should, which is a major issue of neglect on my part, as I am sure that I will feel better if I do meditate every day. I am not sure what it is that prevents me, fear probably – fear of the unknown, fear that nothing happens and probably most importantly fear that something does and I will not believe it (as I am also want to do). Or maybe I am just thinking too much about it and not doing it enough… Maybe I should just sit and breathe deeply and open my mind to the possibilities of it all…… I feel, excluding the obvious physical benefits, it will help increase my connection to deity and my true spiritual self so I need to make a commitment of at least 15 minutes a day. This can be part of my daily ritual to help strengthen my spiritual self and help her to come out more. I know when I did make it a daily habit, part of my routine (even if it was as an escape from a relatively bad situation), I felt more confident, aware and compassionate in my daily life. Perhaps I can get her back, or maybe even evolve to a better me? Sounds like a lovely idea… 

Will I keep the commitment though???? Perhaps I start with 5 minutes a day……

Working through the Elements: Air

Something struck me the other night, as I was heading to the back door to let my cat, Eddie Treebird, outside for what I think was the third time that night. All the windows and doors were closed and there is no real draft in my house. As I approached the backdoor, a sliding door with curtains hanging in front of it, the curtains were moving as if there was a draft or breeze coming from somewhere. The first thing I thought was ‘ghost’ but this was too clichéd even for me, so I stopped and waited to see what happened. By this time I was in front of the curtains and the draft that I had caused by walking across the room moved them even more and I was unable to determine the origin of the draft.

It occurred to me then that perhaps the initial cause of the movement was me. As I moved through the air in the room, it pushed forward ahead of me and caused the draft both ahead of and behind me, as a boat gliding across the lake. It got me thinking about the element of Air, that it is all around us even when it is not moving, it is still there. Sounds ridiculous and a bit ‘yea, der!’ but these things sometimes have to be learned and understood through personal experience… I think I took it for granted that when I breathed in my lungs would fill up with air and I would be able to then breathe out, it never occurred to me to think where Air came from or where it went. It never occurred to me to think about what happens when a person walks through Air that exists in the room or atmosphere (cause that is where it is), if there is an impact or not. I know people refer to the ‘butterfly effect’ and I think I understood it, but never really got it until that moment.

Air is all around us, (thank you Captain Obvious!) even as we sit it rests against our skin, our clothes, our hair. As we step we part it with our feet, we move it with our breath, we break it when we reach for something. The interesting thing is that it just seems to flow with what is happening in the environment. It does not force the issue, it merely accepts what is happening to it and acquiesces, allowing the changes to its structure and position to happen, and then remoulding itself based on the new information.

I have a new found respect Air, its fluidity, its adaptability, its availability. I also think that I have begun a relationship with this element that I will cultivate and look deeper into as I am sure, when looking at the changes the universe is guiding me to make, that I can learn something about the traits it possesses that will help me move forward, both spiritually and physically. I think I also like the idea of reacting to things when they happen rather than beforehand, living with the impositions or restrictions of others and not letting it ruin my own integrity, being able to adapt to situations while not changing who I am and how I work, being able to live in the moment and be changeable in a positive sense.

This is what Air is for me at this stage. It may change (and most likely will), but I am willing to work with Air in order to gain the strength I need in this most unpredictable time I now find myself in. It will be an interesting journey……

J is for Judgement - Pagan Blog Project

This kind of just happened... We were only just entering 'J' week, and I had this epiphany last week sometime and started to write about it. I am reading a book by Suzie the Ghost Whisperer, and in it she mentions about being judgemental and it got me thinking... so this is the finished product of such thoughts - just in time for 'J' week!!! Well, it would have been had I not been sidetracked with other things... so much for committment! Anyway, I also had to edit and re-edit this a few times to make sure what I was saying firstly made sense, and secondly was really what I meant... This was a tricky one and I needed to get all my little duckies in a row... hehe

From the Rider Waite Tarot Deck

This one has been hard for me to put into words. I think for me, its more about the differnce between judgement and judgemental. Judgements can get us out of some possibly scary situations, such as judging that you wont make it past the car in front before oncoming traffic reaches you. This is a good thing, and helps us keep safe.

Being judgemental is not so much a good thing. It is what you do in relation to a judgement you make. You might judge that the big, hairy biker (sorry to use an old cliche here...) is scary and may hurt you, but to act with disrespect towards this person based upon this judgement makes you judgemental (not to mention narrowminded!). Lifewise, to avoid having contact with this person may leave you wanting for entertainment or intellectual conversation... N'ever judge a book' right???

People make judgements every day, about clothing, when they cook, drive, hang out the washing etc. But these are harmless, and should be acknowledged as part of the human experience. It is when your judgements become part of how you show yourself to the world and treat others that you (and the rest of the world!) have issues.

I know in some situations I have been judgemental of late, mostly towards myself (which in the world of spiritual growth and understanding is probably the worst person to show judgement towards!!), but also to others. I have judged people based on gaining small snippets of insight into them as a person and acted accordingly. You might think that this is ok, as it is not a factless judgement, and you are partly right. The problem is that it is based on a small part of the person, not the whole. I asoknow that people show certain parts of themselves in certain situations to meet certain needs and may not even be who they are at all!!! I need to open my mind to the possibilities and not make judgements about an entire life based on one interaction with it. Sure, if these snippets appear to make up more of the whole than it now does, I will act accordingly, but in the meantime I am going to try to embrace all people I meet and get to know them on a deeper level before discounting them.

Also, I am going to acknowledge that judgements are a part of the human experience, and work through those that help and hinder me in an attempt at personal growth... Let's see where this goes, shall we?

This little light of mine, I'm (someday) gonna let it shine......

Inspired by Ms Moonlilly - http://wiccanwonderland.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/h-is-for-holding-it-in/

This blog entry is inspired by Ms Moonlilly's H is for Holding it in discovered most 'coincidentally' through the PBP... again... Read this one first, then come back to me!! xx

I have been a part of something wonderful this past week. Someone who I love very much has finally accepted all of herself and is allowing her true self to be seen by the world! She has accepted that she is a spiritual being and that she just might be able to do the things we have hitherto only 'played' at doing. It was a wonderful thing to see the light bulb moment, be with her the moment she stopped fighting it and embraced it all, and for that I thank her and the universe for putting me in the room with her!

It is not surprising that I myself have been going through this same thing for much of my life. I always knew I was destined for something 'more' or 'greater' than the mundane, but my teenage mind decided that was fame and fortune. My adult brain now realises that this may perhaps be the embracing of my own spiritual self and allowing this part of me to shine to the world. Accepting that I have a gift or talent for helping people is hard. As Ms Williamson says 'our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure' and I can definitely relate to this.

Who am I to be so 'gifted'? Anyway, I am not really, it's only tarot I read and it's not even information from me, its from my guides and my client's guides. I don't really do anything but sit there and listen, what's so special in that??

This makes me laugh now though, because I know there are so many people out there who don't listen, who don't know what I/we know. They just live their lives based on YOLO or some other gimmick and hope for the best! In some cases they use YOLO as an excuse to be an arsehole, a fact I have made very clear to any teenager I can (and I am a High School Teacher by trade!) that it is not... There are no excuses for being an arsehole... ever... Especially when you are aware you are being such...

Anyway, as usual I digress (hoping said teenagers will read this blog eventually... :))...

I think this fear has extended to my ritual observance. For a while now I have been drawn to being more active in my spiritual life, for myself not for others. I have been getting 'flashes' of an offering bowl on my altar, me sitting in front of it meditating and connecting to the God and Goddess, perhaps doing a pathworking to find my God (I have found my Goddess, and she does need a named counterpart!! Well, not really, but it would make me feel better!). But something is stopping me... It is fear. Well, DER right? But not so much fear that nothing at all will happen, cause there is always that, but fear of what other's will say if they find out I pray and meditate to a Hindu Goddess and which ever God I am to work with now? I am an Australian living in Mine Country (not Wine Country... lol). You don't sit at home and pray to Indian Gods!! Gee, I don't think many people in this area even think about the concept of God in any form, let alone pray to one!! What would they think if they found out??

I think for me the truth is that most people who know me (students especially!) already know me as 'weird', so it would only be another notch in that belt anyway... I also have to realise that I should not fear them finding out, I should embrace the idea. What I could share with them should they but ask?!

There is another quote that fits nicely here - those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

Perhaps I should use this as a mantra for a few days and see if it helps any??

I think the real trouble isn't what other people will think; a colleague pointed out to me once that people don't very much anyway. The real problem is accepting the real me and letting the old one go in favour of her. That is scary on a 'better the devil you know' level... I know who I am now, and she has gotten me this far in life, what will the new one do? No one can tell me, but I just have to have trust in the Gods and the universe that they know better than me and allow her to shine through right?? Easier said than done, I know, but it seems to be a running theme in client's readings of late, so perhaps this is the universe's way of telling me 'others are dealing with this same issue, how can you tell them to do something that you are unwilling to do yourself?' Which is true on many levels... a healer that can not heal themselves is no real healer at all right??

I know I have to embrace my true, spiritual self. It doesn't have to, and probably wont, happen overnight, so I guess I have time to take it slow. But I think I deserve to be the real me, to let my own light shine upon the world because 'as we light our own light shine, we unconsciously give permission for other people to do the same'. To me, that would be the ultimate gift to anyone. Not that anyone really needs permission from me to do anything, but perhaps if I lead by example, then others will start to believe it is OK and they can be who they were put here to be. That's gotta be for the greatest good of the world right??

Thoughts about Karma and Reincarnation

Someone wrote a post on Facebook the other day about karma, I can't remember who it was. It said basically that karma may not ever arrive to a person who has done wrong by you as they may never have actually done anything wrong.

It got me thinking that life is truly all about perception. One person's idea of 'bad' is different to another's. In a situation where there is an argument of some kind, inevitably both parties feel as if they have been wronged and wait for karma to exact revenge or rectify the situation in some way. But the truth may be that neither is in the wrong or that both are and karma should be 'dealing' with them both!

If this is the case, then who decides what karma does? Who decides who should receive punishment or reward? What if both have done wrong and are deserving of punishment? What is the truth about a situation is that it was you who did the wrong and the other person was in the right, would you accept your 'punishment'? Would you forgive them and let them off the proverbial hook?

Maybe their is no right and wrong really, just choices and consequences... if you make a mistake and own up to it and learn from it, then fine, all is well with the world. But if you make a mistake and don't own up to it or learn from it then you are doomed to make the same mistake/s over and over again. Or is this what karma is all about, living negatively until you realise your lessons and learn them? Is this what karma actually is? There is no external force or deity or angel or guide or ascended master deciding who gets punished or rewarded like St Peter at the Gate, it's all based upon your own choices and actions? If you stuff up, realise, apologise and learn, your reward is simply that you don't have to go through that situation again, you have learnt and can move on to the next lesson. If you don't learn then it'll keep happening until you do, thus creating what people would term negative karma.

So then, if you keep blaming others for what happens to you, then your karma is to always be affected by the actions of others until you realise your own power in the situation. It's more of a 'law of attraction' thing then really, isn't it? Some people have just termed this karma and personified it to the point that it gets blamed for everything, people began to use it as an excuse to get out of their own personal growth. "I don't have to deal with this situation directly, as karma will teach them!" Kinda gives people a 'get out of gaol free' card in relation to their personal growth I think......

So, I guess to the point of this whole blog - the need for me to finally come to terms with K/karma. This has definitely been a long time coming. I have had many conversations about this subject and still not discovered my truth. But here it is - to me karma is:

1. not an indiscriminate force or being punishing and rewarding for behaviours,
2. not a separate entity, with it's own code of conduct and laws, but a part of the law of attraction, if not completely bound up in it. 


3. not an excuse to get out of dealing with situations you need to personally, for your own growth and maturation. 
4. entirely based upon the morals and values of the individual.

this got me thinking about reincarnation and stuff, who is in charge of the big issues? After consideration, I have conclude that karma is:

1. inseparable from the soul/spirit.
2. not in charge of reincarnation
3. based upon our own ability to learn from our mistakes and forgive others.

But this brings me to another interesting point. Who decides what you do in each life, the lessons you will need to learn and who you will need to meet etc etc? 

Well, my simple truth is - YOU DO! You choose which family you will be born in to, what lessons you will learn from which sacrifices and losses you'll experience, what your life purpose will be and so on and so on...... And even who your children will be!! (Well, this you decide together. As for your grandchildren, there is also a level of discussion about this, but I feel that the ultimate choice lies within the soul themselves as they have to be born to your child in order to be your grandchild and whether they want to do that is up to them!!) Before you are reincarnated you make this 'soul contract' based upon your own needs as a soul in order to evolve. This is what drives circumstances, events and situations in your life, this innate need to experience in order to grow and evolve, not some separate entity doling out punishment and reward indiscriminately! It is entirely up to you whether you honour your own contract and fulfill your life purpose. You can opt out at any time, and this is what people who live negatively have chosen to do - they have decided it is all in fact too hard and they can never overcome their current situation. There is no judgement here, as I have done the same on occasion. Besides, it is their life to live and their choices are their own. As are mine. 

So I guess what I am saying really (and please, don't hang me for this!) is that there is no such thing as karma. It is merely your willingness to learn your 'contracted' lessons and evolve past your current circumstances. You have chosen these circumstances for yourself, now are you going to whinge and lay blame or are you going to take responsibility for your life and move on with love????

Discovering the Inner Self through Numbers? AB501U731Y!!

Warning! Frequent brain explosions occur if you proceed... hehe

Complete Book of Numerology

I have always been fascinated with numbers. Not mathematically, or scientifically - I couldn't multiply anything to save my life! - but just in general. I have always had a knack for remembering phone numbers, ID numbers, licence plate numbers and any other sequence of numbers I needed to remember (and some I did not!). I have even been able to tell when a loved was in front of me at the traffic lights based on the numbers of their licence plate! What I did not realise was that numbers had a specific vibration, or meaning, to them. I just thought they were used to add stuff up or subtract stuff, the 'If Johnny had 8 apples' kind of thing. I now realise there is so much more to them! 

My birthday was always just another day, my favourite day where I got awesome presents, but a day nonetheless. I love birthdays in general, where you get to celebrate that you made it out of your mother's womb in tact and continue to be in a somewhat similar degree! It is the day a person just happened to be born into this world - as we all know there is no such thing as 'just happened'! 

I had also been interested in numerology for a while, from the all too brief discussions at psychic development groups and with friends who were a little more versed than me on the subject, but I had never gotten around to actually doing something about it. Until recently that is...

I used to work in a book shop (yes, it was as awesome as it sounds!) and was familiar with a variety of titles, so when David A Phillips came up on my Kindle (Blasphemy! I hear you all shout...) search I immediately bought it. Well, was I in for a surprise!! 

I am also now a teacher of high school students, partly because I love teaching History, and partly because I love to torment children and watch as their heads explode every time they have an epiphany. Well, let's just say Karma visited me and came with a vengeance! Every 'page' of this book revealed new information that did exactly that - BLEW MY MIND!!!! On a daily basis there were little bits of my brain, skull and skin littered all over the floor! Obviously not literally, as that would be completely crazy, but you get the picture! 

I was somewhat aware that our birth dates could tell us a bit about ourselves, but I was not prepared for it to EXPLAIN ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!! It told me why I am so easily frustrated with things, why I am overly sensitive to people and situations, why I have a very hyperactive personality and why I liked numbers so much in the first place!

The best part of this book is that it is easy to follow and you can do the activities while you read through, gaining insight into your life and personality as you go along. Another awesome thing is that you can start doing the charts of other people (at least in part) before you have even finished the book! I have an equally hyperactive friend and we discovered that she too has the same numbers as I do - now we just blame it on the numbers and go about our merry day!! I found that looking at the charts of others bit by bit helped me to better understand what Phillips meant by certain things and to solidify each aspect - and there are a few! - of numerology as I progressed through the book. 

I think the truly best part (I know, let's just say it is an awesome book and leave it at that ok?) is that it will help me to tune in to my intuition and to help build the trust in it more. Once you have the basics down, you can easily look at a chart and intuitively provide information to your client about themselves by looking at the numerous links between each aspect. It is all just so very awesome! I have also found from recent conversations that doing the charts of children, their parents get a better understanding of how they work and why, and most importantly what to do about it!

I feel this book was an excellent first look at numerology; comprehensive, well written and easy to follow! If anyone was ever interested in studying numerology - and I quickly found out it is a 'study' not just a 'read' - this would be the perfect place to start!! 

Feel free to post your own insights below, or links to other awesome numerology books. I think my passion has awakened with force!!!!