A fire is dying to rose-colored embers in a brazier. A sound like branches being broken drifts down to us from high overhead. We cannot see the blue heron flying above us. It calls, wrapped in folds of night, and its dream touches ours.
Amplifying Your Intentions with Prosperity Grids
To create a prosperity grid, there are no hard and fast rules — these are only some guidelines to help get you started in five easy steps. Allow intuition to guide you, and, as an added bonus, the more often you work with crystals and grids, the more elevated your intuition will become.
Cooking — A Spiritual Practice
According to Sophie Egan in her book Devoured, March 2015 was a watershed moment in the eating lives of Americans: for the first time since the government began tracking our spending habits around food, we spent more money on food prepared outside the home (restaurants, takeout, etc.) than on groceries that we cooked at home.
Looking Beyond the Pink Ribbon
Recently, I was invited to take part in an exhibit presented by artists and healers in a local hospital setting. The exhibit was called Art Heals. A few days after a lovely opening reception, I received an email from the executive office informing me that they removed 2 of my 11 paintings. They had received a lengthy message from a patient who complained that the exposure of breasts was offensive.
shadows
the shadows that chase you in the night are merely cast from the glow of the light.
they can’t hurt you. they’re not to be feared.
they’re the places we tuck
ourselves into when we’re not quite ready to be known.
to be seen.
to be heard.
Me, My Guitar, and I
When the twins came along, in a flurry of nappies, no sleep, and baby-related chaos, I put my career to one side for a little while. Having babies is a full-time job and all-consuming, but as any parent will tell you — it is so worth it. The boys became the center of our universe and for a long while all dreams were put on hold, until I bought my guitar.
A 21st Century “Sabbath Day” Experiment
What if taking a Sabbath actually made all that is on your plate easier and relationships more fulfilling? Instead of a full plate feeling heavy, it could feel nourishing. I used to feel resistant to taking a day off, and now I don’t know how I could live without a Sabbath. If you are thinking that by Sabbath I mean a highly rule-oriented day of do’s and don’ts based on a religion, please keep reading because that is far from what I mean. Yes, a Sabbath does involve slowing down and refraining from constant activity, but it is more about a state of mind than said actions or non-actions.
Cretan Labyrinth
The last sentence of my last blog almost a year ago was: “Oh, the discoveries that await!,” referring to the permanent walking labyrinth I was hoping to create the coming spring. Boy, did that turn out to be prophetic! I did create the labyrinth, last spring, and have been walking it, if not daily, regularly. It is one of my proudest creations because I was so convinced initially that I couldn’t do it.
Crystal Alchemy: Sweet Selenite
Selenite is named after the Greek Goddess of the moon, Selene. This delicate, soft, and serene crystal is one of "the" crystals to have around you to create peace, serenity, and calm. Some crystals can disturb your sleep, but you can put this gem on your bedside table. Because Selenite is restful and soothing, it can be used for helping with insomnia. Try it out and see. Use it for clearing your mind and emotions, and to release stress. It does wonders for relaxation and meditation.
The Extraordinary Power of Writing
The effects of writing are cumulative: what you write today may not tell you yet about yourself as a whole, but taken together with hundreds of other bits of writing, this piece of writing will eventually present you with a picture of yourself, and solutions to many of your problems. And sharing your writing with others only intensifies all of these results. How does writing do this?
Align with the Universal Vibration of 2017: the Year of New Beginnings
Excitingly, after an intense year of cleansing and completion in 2016, 2017 heralds a cycle for promising beginnings birthed from the heart. According to the ancient metaphysical science of numerology, 2017 has a universal vibration of a one (2+0+1+7=10, 1+0=1). This is a collective influence that affects everybody. Perhaps, in some way, we can breathe a sigh of relief as 2017 will feel more vibrant and alive, and we will probably have more get up and go.
How Listening to Your Children Can Benefit You, Your Children and the World — A Review of 'Listen: Five Simple Tools To Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges'
Reading the new book Listen: Five Simple Tools To Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges
is a little like visiting an amazingly caring, honest, and helpful parents' group. Hearing the stories of other parents, readers will feel less alone with their parenting struggles. Parents will also feel deeply understood by authors Patty Wipfler and Tosha Schore, who know parenting and families inside and out. They are down-to-earth and funny, like when they comment that when our children have big upsets, it’s like they are taking “emotional poops.” But Wipfler and Shore also take very seriously the lack of support that exists for all families and the strains that poverty, racism and other oppressions put on parents.
What is 'Floating'? − Floating Free at Bloom Wellness
Each flotation tub at Bloom Wellness has 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt, easily supporting a person's full weight in about 10 inches of water..Upon first arriving, I was handed a large, fluffy robe and shown to a very nice, very clean locker room.... Thus attired, I was then taken to a windowless room lit only by a flickering candle and enjoyed a turn in the Dreamwave Bliss, a completely engulfing shiatsu massage chair that massages from head to toe while a recording of waves crashing on the beach played in the background.
Traditional Naturopathy — What Is It, Really?
Traditional Naturopathy has been around in our country since the 1800s, as a drugless system of healthcare and medicine. A Traditional Naturopath — an ND — is dedicated to utilizing nature's healing powers in a healthcare system to help others. The practice is distinguished by six well-established principles that underlie and determine education and practice protocols:
My Instrument Is Tabla, My Music Is My Own
Before moving to California I had only seen tabla in the form of a documentary video of Ravi Shankar and Allah Rhaka at the Monterey Jazz Festival. It was amazing to watch, but I never imagined myself actually playing those drums; it was too foreign, exotic, and different. When I arrived at CalArts in 1998, my experience with tabla became very real and accessible.
Collective Consciousness
When two or more people get together, their thoughts are stepping stones to the consciousness they share. When we think, there are two components. First, there is the thought. Second is the consciousness that listens to that thought. Most people just focus on thoughts, but in a collective consciousness, they share the consciousness that listens to those thoughts. They don’t always have to agree, for their bond is strong enough that the disagreements don’t break up their shared consciousness.
Stress as a Vehicle for Evolution
What would you think if I told you that stress — that tension creating aching in your shoulders, shallow breathing, headaches, stomach aches, irritability and anxiety — also holds the key to your personal growth, healing, and evolution?
Women in Martial Arts: Different and Strong
When I was a teenager, I was (and still am) a passionate feminist. Back then, my views were very black and white. No one could bring up differences in the sexes around me without provoking a rant. Equality meant men and women were the same in everything of import. Then, when I entered college and at the same time got involved with martial arts, predictably everything got more complex.
Your Body Is Talking To You
Did you know that trying to overcome your emotions is a bit like taking down your mailbox so you don’t receive bills in the mail? Just as receiving an electric bill and responding to it keeps energy running in our homes, feeling and responding to our emotions keeps our own energy in flow. If we can see our emotions as messengers, like Karla McClaren recommends in her book Language of Emotions, then we can stop judging them and work with the messages they bring.
“Don’t Worry Baby!”
The playful flow of my emotions paused abruptly. The cereal-filled spoon, poised in my hand, seemed to stop of its own volition. I suddenly felt my inner antenna tune to a deeper part of my consciousness. As the words reached my ears from “Don’t Worry Baby,” from the Beach Boys, a subtle vibration filled every cell of my body.
