As I enter the Christmas season, like many others, I vow to enjoy the holidays more. Part of doing this, means identifying things that I don’t enjoy and trying to change those things. I’m going to be mindful of a few simple things to help me navigate the Christmas season.

1. Take time for yourself.

To me, this is often the best gift of all. Slow down, even though the craziness of Christmas, is urging you to speed along crazily. Take some alone time, even if it is only 10 minutes every day, to quite your mind and you will feel much better.

The craziness of the season sometimes whips us into unconscious patterns without us even realizing it. A good way to avoid this is to take time to ground yourself when you feel yourself spiraling out of control. Picture yourself as a tree with your roots going into the ground. Breathe deeply to the count of 8, hold it for a couple of counts, and then do a long exhale. The deep breathing will relax you and ground you as well.

Being outside in nature is also a good way to ground yourself, and be by yourself at the same time.

2. Be in the present, and be conscious of what you are doing.
Being conscious and present for me, involves being aware of those unconscious patterns I have inherited from my own family. While I also inherited many wonderful Christmas traditions, one of my ways of honoring my heritage and myself at the same time, is trying not to re-create those unconscious patterns around Christmas which have wounded me and others.

I read an excellent article suggesting raising your energy, prior to going into family situations where old patterns might be unconsciously activated.

The article suggested raising your vibration prior to the event (this can be done even by singing a favourite Christmas carol). If you notice an old pattern surfacing, you can interrupt it. You can remove yourself from the situation, or speak positively about something in the other person’s life.

The whole idea is just to change the energy of the pattern, so you aren’t replicating the same pattern. Even if you just change the situation energetically by sending positive thought energy to the other person, you can raise their vibration.

3. Practice gratitude!!

It becomes easy to complain about the stress of Christmas. However, it is a good time to remember how much we really do have, and to be thankful for all of those good things.

Try to enjoy the simple gifts that Christmas brings, wherever you are. Pay attention to your senses, and bring yourself back into your body. Focus on the sound of the snow crunching under your boots, the smell of a freshly cut Christmas tree, the twinkling of beautiful Christmas lights, the sounds of carols or children laughing.

Focus on all the positive aspects of your life, even if you feel like you don’t have many. Even if your family is driving you crazy, you have family to make you crazy. Even if you don't like your gifts, you are receiving gifts.

If you are feeling lonely or depressed, you can still feel gratitude. It is amazing how helping others, or experiencing the misfortune of others can cure you of your pity party.

The worst Christmas I ever had was when my partner of 5 years left me right before Christmas, I hated my job, and my mother and sister were out of the country. I was very depressed, suicidal, and did not want to celebrate Christmas.

I came home from the city I lived in, to celebrate with my father. My father was single too, depressed, and had not thought about the need to prepare Christmas supper. As we discovered the hard way, no restaurants are open on Christmas day. As we drove around town trying to find a restaurant, we ended up at a truck stop for our Christmas supper. After observing the people around us, and listening to their conversations, I have never been so happy for what I had. I only had to endure my “misfortune” one day of the year, but those around me had virtually none of the options that I did. It really showed me how much I had in my life.

I hope these simple techniques can help combat some of the craziness of the season. Christmas can be a magical time, if you can keep in mind and follow what the spirit of Christmas means to you.

Merry Christmas! Enjoy!

Damselfly, Cuttlefish and Hobgoblin

I journeyed for P with the following question: “Why does happiness continue to elude me and what do I need to do to create, savour and share it though my life?”

I went to the side of the lake where I usually start my journeys. I could hear “On your mark, get set, GO!” I looked at “myself” in the journey (kind of an idealized version of how I look in “real” life) and I was decked out like the god Mercury. I had the silver helmet, silver winged shoes. On “Go!” I shot out of the starting gate and ran up into the sky. I ran and ran on smoke all the way up. (This haste symbolized to me that perhaps P really want to get the answer to his question.)

I reached the Upperworld, and was met by a blinding white light. In fact, the whole time I was in the Upperworld I couldn’t see anything – I was blinded by the white light which was bathing everything in light so brilliant I could make out anything. Out of the white light, white oblong shapes started flinging themselves at me, shooting out in rapid succession. I couldn’t really see what they were but when I asked the word “cuttlefish” was given to me. I could then tell that they were the cuttlefish husks used in bird cages for birds to sharpen their beaks on.

I asked for messages, but no one identified themselves to talk to me. I asked again if there were any messages for P, and a voice said “Not here, but try next door.” I went down a set of stairs all the way to the Lower World and entered the Lower World through a wooden door.

I immediately saw a little hobgoblin. I asked if he had any messages for P, but he said “No” then urged me to sit down. I was provided with a rocking chair, and I sat down next to some type of opening. As I sat there rocking, the ground was moving and it opened up into what looked like a woman symbol, then gradually made itself into a keyhole shape. I could see the Void (black space with stars).

I went through the giant keyhole and was hanging weightless in the black space Void. I asked if there were any messages for P. After I waited a bit, a creature which I first thought was a butterfly came over. It had butterfly-like wings, so I asked “Dragonfly?” Wordlessly it answered, “No, damselfly.” It confirmed that it was P’s power animal.



I asked the Damselfly if it had any messages for P. It said “She has to follow her spirit.” I asked “How does she do that?” The Damselfly said “She’ll know. She has to release her fears.” The Damselfly started flying, and I followed. It progressed from the black and starry void into a lighter, whiter area. Soon it was blinding white light again, like the light in the Upperworld. I asked her “What is this place?” She said “Happiness.”



I saw a large black millipede curled up into a spiral, but I didn’t get any immediate responses about what the millipede meant.



I asked if there was anybody else that had any messages for P. A white traditional looking angel came gliding out. He was very shy and very mysterious. He didn’t speak and just held his hands in a prayer position. He smiled and said “Surrender.”



I thanked the angel, and the Damselfly and I went back the way we came. When I asked the Damselfly what the white place we were in was called she said “Happiness”. (So I’m assuming that the white Upperworld was Happiness too.) As we went back into the black void, I asked the Damselfly what this black void represented. “Possibility”, she said.



When we entered the Lowerworld again, the hobgoblin was jumping up and down. “Do you have something to say to P?” I asked. “No,” he said, “I’m just so excited for her!” He was smiling from ear to ear. I retraced my steps and thanked the guides and power animals and came back to ordinary reality.



Analysis
In speaking to P, she couldn’t think of any immediate connection to the god Mercury. I asked her to think about her associations with language, magic, communications and/or intellect. She did say she always enjoyed using words and language.



We talked about the cuttlefish. Cuttlefish, after they die, continue to provide by having their bodies used as sharpening devices. Because of this some of the traditional suggested meanings of cuttlefish are: a legacy to future generations, or something that is being held back for you or alternatively some type of family legacy (history, heredity). There were no connections to cuttlefish in her life, that P could think of.

P had no reference for hobgoblins, or the reason there was a giant woman’s symbol opening up into the keyhole to the void. I asked if she could think of any issues specifically pertaining to being a woman. She replied that she didn’t.

Damselflies are similar to dragonflies (I couldn’t find any meanings specific to damselflies). Some of dragonflies usual meanings are: transcendence, wisdom and enlightenment. The dragonfly inhabits two realms, air and water. As dragonflies they age they go through metamorphosis and take to the air. As a power animal, a Damselfly therefore can give a person balance between emotion and thought, as water represents the emotional body, and air represents the mental. As P didn’t have any conscious connection to Damselfly, I urged her to try to connect by having a photo or artwork of a Damselfly to help connect with its qualities.

A spiral, or as represented in this journey, a millipede, often personifies a labyrinth, which invites us to look inside ourselves for our inner wisdom. It speaks to the link between the outside material world and the inside spiritual world. I suggested to P that it was likely asking P to focus inside, on her inner, spiritual life.



I told P I believed the latter part of the journey, was quite literal so P could understand the message clearly. Her angel told her to “Surrender.” I suggested that it appears that she has to get to happiness by releasing her fears, going through “possibility”, and surrendering. This ties into the meaning of the millipede, which was also inviting her to go inside herself and pay attention.



Since Mercury rules communications and language and the arts, I suggested that perhaps P needed to discover her inner world through writing or the arts. “Coincidentally” P had just bought a set of watercolor paints, even though she had never painted. I was excited for her, because this sounded like exactly what she needed to do to connect with her inner world. I urged her to suspend any judgment of her creations, to turn off her brain, and just create and see what came out.



Bringing the cuttlefish in as well, it may be that P’s legacy to future generations may lie in her finding her own happiness.



Later I thought about the hobgoblin. Hobgoblins are traditionally associated with working mischief on humans. Since the hobgoblin seemed to be a guardian of the entrance to her “unconscious” – the void – and was a cheerleader for her, perhaps her mischievious unconscious side really wants her to succeed in finding her happiness.



I thank P very much for sharing her journey which contained some very unique creatures I have never seen in a previous journey!

I have one opening for journey prior to Christmas, however if you purchase a journey now (for yourself or someone else) you receive the 25% December Discount, and the journey can be done in January!

Kara

Thanks to David for use of the photo which was posted on his site: http://theatavism.blogspot.com/2009/11/sunday-spinelessness-damselflies.html

Also, his website explained the difference between a dragonfly and a damselfly:
"You can probably tell just by looking at Xanthocnemis that damselflies are related to dragonflies, in fact the damsels and the dragons are two infra-orders in the medievaly themed order Odonata . You can tell a damselfly from a dragonfly thanks to the way they hold their wings - damselflies fold them up over their body when they land while dragonflies hold them open ..."

Grizzly Bear and Crystal Mushrooms

I did my usual journey preparations, and set my intentions about journeying for Z.

I looked at “myself” who was waiting on the side of the lake where I go to do my journeys. She was dressed in cowboy chaps, she had an Iriquois mohawk hairstyle, and a Western-style long-sleeved shirt on with wild roses embroidered on it. She landed on one knee like a Ukrainian dancer. (This was a clear indication to a question Z had asked about where she would be living.)
“I” got ready to go, and twirled up and up and up into the Upper World. I asked if there were any messages there for Z. There were not, so Iwent down a staircase that started out straight, and ended up sprialing down into the Lower World.

I had to squeeze through a tiny wooden door into the Lower World. When I was inside I saw lots of mushrooms arou nd. I asked if there were messages for Z. A Grizzly bear showed itself to me, but didn’t really want to come out. It finally came out but indicated that it was really annoyed that it had to appear because it was hibernating. I asked if it was Z’s power animal and it indicated that it was.

I asked the bear if Z should get a job or volunteer. The bear grunted “job”. The bear indicated that it wanted to go. I asked if it was grumpy because Z should be paying more attention to it, and the bear indicated yes, and then went back into hibernation.

When I asked if there were any more messages, a tiny mouse came out. She jumped up on my hand, and tried to squeak her message into my ear, but I couldn’t hear her. She “showed” me her message, by making tiny higgledy-piggedly patterns around on the ground, that were very cute. She indicated she was also Z’s power animal. Her message to me seemed to be that if Z revealed her inner adorableness, everyone will find you adorable. The message felt like that if Z revealed her inner “adorableness” it would improve her personal relationships.

I asked if there were any more messages before I left. The brown mushrooms I had seen growing before, showed themselves to me again. The message seemed to be that Z should be out in the mountains more, looking at things like mushrooms. Then the mushrooms told me “Look for the crystal mushrooms”. I think this might have a metaphorical meaning for Z, for when she is out hiking, as to inner wisdom that the mushrooms can share with Z in the wild, that Z needs to be out in the wild for some reason. I also think it might mean that Z might see some “crystal mushrooms” that she should buy/obtain, to have as a decoration or something to look at in her house.

Journey Analysis:It was interesting speaking to Z, as she mentioned that her partner has a great affinity for Grizzly bears. I told Z that the Grizzly’s grumpy mood seemed to indicate that Z really knew what she had to do for herself, she just had to do it. I told her that I got the feeling from the Grizzly that she was supposed to hibernate herself for awhile, to go inside, slow down, and figure out what it was that she wanted before she ventured out into the world again. I told her I thought she needed some solitude and self-reflection time.

I told Z that the message that Mouse was trying to give her was a message about strength through vulnerability. Mouse seemed to indicate to me that if Z gave more room to her adorable side – sweetness and cuteness – that it would improve her relationship with others. Z wasn’t crazy about doing this, as she didn’t think it would come naturally to her. I reminded her that even though it might not be in her nature, Mouse had come at this time to remind her of something to be gained in her relationships with her family, by remembering and revealing her natural adorableness.

Z mentioned that she didn’t at this time, feel any particular affinity for the power animals of Bear and Mouse. I told Z that if she wasn’t getting any personal meanings from her power animals, that it might be helpful to have a photo or a figurine, or some kind of visual reminder of her power animal(s), close by to somewhere she would see them quite often. Calling upon the characteristics of these power animals, at whatever time they appear in our lives, can help us deal with the situations that arise at the times the animals appear.

We discussed the appearance of the mushrooms. Z said mushrooms didn’t really have any personal meaning for her. I discussed the fact that mushrooms could be symbolic of a tool for her to retrieve messages from the Divine, since shamans had long used mushrooms for that purpose. Along with the hibernating bear, the mushroom symbol was likely about retrieving her messages from within.

I told Z that I thought she would likely see a “crystal mushroom” figurine when she was out and about, and that if she did she should acquire it. Crystals in general are able to structure, store, amplify, focus, transmit and transform energy, which includes matter, emotion and information. From the intention the mushrooms gave me in her journey, it seems that Z is supposed to be looking at the crystal mushrooms for some reason. Sometimes these visual symbols can trigger deeply held memories, or help retrieve messages that one has forgotten or are from the Divine or even past lives.

Thanks to Z for letting me publish her journey here!

Journeys are on sale for 25% off in December. I still have 2 openings to perform Journeys before Christmas. You can also buy a Journey for another person as a gift (pay in December, Journey can be performed in January). Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com!

The Sound of Nothingness

Everything had been flowing so smoothly, work with clients on new projects was proceeding, and creativity was flowing so easily. All was well. Then, in the area of creativity I was most excited about, things came to a grinding halt. “What the hell?” I thought. The stop of the flow was driving me crazy. Here I was, so ready and excited and I just wanted to go, go, go.

But nothing was coming to me. I literally could not do anything. I was not “receiving” anything.

It is amazing what our intuition is trying to tell us to do. But right now, what I am finding more interesting is what it is telling us not to do.

In hindsight, I learned that my intuition was trying to do was telling me to do “nothing”. It was telling me that "something was not finished" in that area. The reason no creativity was coming in for me on that channel, was because there was something "not done yet" with the last project I was working on. My eagerness to get on with things, blinded me to the fact that my intuition was telling me to stop and wait for resolution, before things could proceed again.

Listening to the sound of my intuition, when it isn’t telling me anything at all is one of the hardest things for me. As I’m learning to absolutely, always, totally trust my intuition, the times I find the most difficult, as those when intuition is giving me no answer at all. In my experience, when my intuition gives me absolutely no read, positive or negative, the message is actually to “Wait” or “Not proceed.”


So, I am having to develop faith. Faith that my intuition is giving me the right message for me at the right time. Faith in my own process, and the natural flow of things.
As my good friend said about intuition, "It's amazing how we are happy to use intuition as the gas pedal, but not the emergency brake." No truer words have been said about intuition. I was so excited to keep on progressing that I did not want to pay attention, or switch lanes to another area, where it was still flowing.


I'm trying to remember this lesson this time. I know that each time I don’t grasp a life lesson, it just comes back in a more obvious and harsher form. I’ve been beaten up enough at this point in my life, that I am finally happy to gratefully accept the lesson and move on.


I’m happy to say, once the unresolved issue resolved, and I was able to absorb the lesson around the unresolved issue, the creativity immediately started flowing again.


I thank Intuition once again, for helping me by cautioning me to stop and wait before proceeding, for my highest good.

11/11/11 It's Your Day to Get Something Started!

11:11:11

I wanted to alert everyone, if you aren't already aware, that tomorrow is an amazing chance to manifest. The date is 11/11/11 (2+0+0+9 = 11). One and eleven are major manifesting numbers, indicating "new beginnings". So tomorrow is the best day to get things going.

There is an excellent summary of what this date is all about by Hans Decoz, at http://www.tarot.com/, at the following link: http://tarot.com/articles/numerology/numerology-november-11-2009?feature=ds-t2-ln-111109&

Here is an excerpt:
"In Numerology, three specific numbers are recognized as "Master numbers," because they are more influential than any other number. Those Master numbers are 11, 22 and 33. That's why November 11, 2009 is such an important date in Numerology: it's known as a "33 Universal Day," and for most of us, it will be the first we've ever experienced in our lifetimes. Considering that 33 is the most powerful as well as the rarest of the three Master numbers, it's worth noting that this rarity occurs twice in November 2009: November 11 and November 29. To get a bit more technical, not only do these two dates add up to 33, but they are also the only two days between 2000 and 2017 that form a perfect triangle of 11-11-11 (the year 2009 reduces to 11 when adding 2 and 9)...."

Read the rest of the article for more info on this great day.

In other manifesting news....If you would like another perspective or just some confirmation on issues going in your own life, I have a few openings in before Christmas to perform "journeys" for readers of this blog. You can read more about "journeys" by choosing the "journeying" category on the right side of this blog, and reading the actual journeys of others.

If you wish to purchase a journey for yourself (or for someone for Christmas), email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com.

Now get out there and start manifesting!

Gimme A Sign - Now!

Newsflash – I can be impatient. Impatience has been a theme in my life lately. I'm so excited about my new projects that I tend to get impatient with my current commitments. I want to get on with it. I want to skip the next 10 chapters of my day job and end up in a new life. In this new life, I go with the flow and work on my new projects all the time. So instead of being patient and going with the flow now, I'm grouchy, grumbly and angry at the Universe for not giving me the magic bullet to get to the future instantly. I want instant answers to how it will look and what I’ll be doing, and I want them now.

So, during my lunch-hour at work, I sought advice from my coach, and then tried my best to cool my jets and absorb all the good, but not instantly-transformative advice I'd been given. I decided it would be a good idea to take a walk around the block, to clear my head. My coach had told me that before she left her corporate job that she had asked for a sign. So as I tried my best not to scuff my shoes in frustration, I asked for a sign. "Give me an obvious sign that I should be following this new path", I asked the Universe.

I walked out of the building absent-mindedly and opened the newspaper box for my alternative weekly paper. The front headline on the paper was "Ding, Dong the Myth is Dead". Hmmm, I thought. The illustration was a picture of the Wicked Witch of the West laying under the words "Ding, Dong", with her ruby red slippers sticking out.

Hmmm, I thought again. My first post on this blog is about how I had been given obvious and numerous signs and symbols related to the Wizard of Oz, indicating I follow a new path for my life. The Wizard of Oz signs always seemed to indicate the necessity of me following a new Yellow Brick Road to find me sitting there as the Wizard of my own life. The Myth = my job? My old life?I flipped the paper open to the feature article. The real-life witch in question was in fact a friend of my parents, who had become an acquaintance of mine. Hmmm, I thought again. Her alternative lifestyle and politics had initially made her very different from the mainstream of society here. But sticking to her beliefs, her slow persistence was making her more accepted into the mainstream.

"Well", I thought to myself. "Okay, that could have been a sign, but I'm still not convinced." "Gimme another sign if it's really supposed to happen", I asked. A few minutes later, a lady walked by in bright red ruby slippers. Hmmm, I thought."How about another one?" I asked. After all, you can never be too sure and I WAS almost 3/4 of the way around my block.

A new piece of graffiti was on a phone booth - "More X please". "X" was the name of a practitioner I had just seen. She had just given me some illuminating information about my new path. "Alright fine", I grumbled. Then the Ding Dong went back into her building, trying not to smile.

Thanks to from Mykl Roventine for the ruby slippers photo! http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=4&w=all&q=ruby+slippers&m=text

Copyright 2009, Kara Thompson Conduit of Joy

Happy, Happy Halloween!

Those that have known me for awhile, know that Halloween is and likely will always be my favourite day of the year.

So many things to celebrate! Costume wearing is not only tolerated, but expected (I would wear one every day if only it were socially acceptable where I live). Eating only candy all day is encouraged. There is a suspension of disbelief between fantasy and reality. We can honor our relatives and ancestors who have passed on, since the veil is the thinnest between the world of the living and the dead.

What's not to love!

Since of course I love the roots and symbolism of Halloween, I was delighted to discover this bit of Celtic wisdom about Halloween on Avia Venefica's blog.


http://www.symbolic-meanings.com/2009/10/23/samhain-and-the-seven-swans-of-virtue/

This story of the "Seven Swans of Virtue" ties Halloween to our Divine origins. It reminds us that Halloween is a day of cosmic balance. The channels which connect the physical and spiritual are widest, allowing humans to retrieve their Truth and reestablish their balance between physical and spiritual on this day.

Take your opportunity today to remember your Divine origins and rebalance yourself!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Thanks to SolsticeSol for the photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/solstice8207/1805076574/

Blinded By the Light

I've always been amazed by psychics. I've always thought that with the powers they possessed, the must be truly amazing people, to earn that kind of gift. I've always been intimidated by psychics, since they must know EVERYTHING. After all, if they can see elements of my future, by extension, must they not know everything? I was always in awe of them....until lately.

Don't get me wrong. I still think psychic powers are amazing and a gift from the Universe, God or the goddesses, or whoever gives these things out. However, as one who has been trying to come to terms with her own “skills” that verge into the psychic realm, I am not able to hold psychics in such awe anymore. After all, if I could be considered psychic, how special can psychics be?

Wait a minute....what am I saying? Aside from my obvious self-esteem issues, encapsulated in that statement is what's wrong with my thinking. I have until this time viewed psychic abilities as something that one was "worthy" of, or "earned" for being a good person. Hmmm....but aren't we all instrinsicly worthy, just because we exist?

This reminds me of one of the most profound experiences of my life. After my first child was born, my first outing into the "real" world, was to the local shopping mall. I will never forget, as the electronic door wooshed open, and I stepped one foot in, I caught sight of a man. In that first second, I could see him - all of him - as his mother saw him on the day he was born, as he appeared perfectly in the mind of God. All I could see was the best representation of himself. I could only see his brilliance, his perfectness.

Then I looked at a woman. She too, appeared to me as in the first moment of her creation. Perfect. The same thing happened with every person I looked at. They were all glowing in their perfection. It was almost overwhelming. I literally couldn't take it all in. It was like looking at the sun - the brilliance and intensity was blinding. I couldn't help but cry, and I had to leave because I was totally overwhelmed by the intensity.

I couldn't look anywhere without being blinded. Blinded by perfection. How often does that happen?

That day it hit in me in a huge and overwhelming way, that it never had before. Everyone IS sacred. Everyone IS an expression of the Divine. Every single person on this Earth came from the mind of the One.

I will always consider that day a rare gift. It was a reminder that all of us, no matter what our life circumstances, are all PERFECT, just because WE ARE. We don't have to do anything else, other than exist, to be that way.

This is particularly important to remember when we are in the seat of judgment. It is much easier to say "That person is [choose your poison – crazy, bad, psycho, ugly, etc.]. Much harder to judge if we instead think from that place of compassion "Wow, that perfect human being must have encountered horrible things in his life, to be acting from a place of so much pain and confusion."

Perhaps the biggest challenge of all, even harder than not judging others, is not judging yourself. After all, not judging yourself is the acceptance of your OWN divinity.

Sure it is easy for me to sit here and tell you to embrace others with compassion, and tell you how great I think you are, but can I do this for myself? What about self-compassion?

The most liberating exercise I have found in working on my own issues, is the discovery of self-forgiveness. I can judge myself more harshly than anyone else ever could. I’m sure this is true for many people.

Since I started forgiving myself for things big and small, I have felt better and happier than ever. I can start to truly feel that I am divine, created from the “power that created worlds” more than ever before. I am able to start accepting the fact that I am divine – just like you and that guy that works in your building that you never looked at before. Slade at http://www.shiftyourspirits.com/ calls this concept “super common divine”.

He describes it an amazing way in this post - http://sladeroberson.com/psychic-readings/what-do-voices-sound-like-when-they-arent-physically-making-a-sound.html.

I think this is a fantastic way to think about it. Instead of expecting the “super natural” to be outside of us, it is much more radical to think that it is inside of us. It is much harder, but also much more exciting to put this concept into action. IT is US. Taking personal responsibility for this radical concept, is very likely the reason we were put on Earth at this point in time.

It is easy to judge, but harder to love and accept. Yet, what brings us better results. Which choice will change our world.

As somebody once said, who knew what He was talking about, “Love your neighbor.”

Thanks to CharlaneG for the inspiring photo! http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlaneg/3145031135/

Journey: Forging Your Hands on the Way to the Valley

I am publishing some actual journeys so that those interested in having journeys done for them, can get an idea of the type of information that I may come back with for them, and what the experience is like. Since it can be difficult to describe what a journey message is like, I thought it would be best to demonstrate through actual journey accounts.

Journey
I did a journey for K with the intention of “what does the word “transformation” mean for K”? What messages are there for her around “transformation”?

I dove into the water to head out for my journey. However, apparently I was supposed to go up to the Upper World instead. So I did about three somersaults in the air, as I flipped up to into the Higher Realm. A dolphin popped out of the air and playfully did a jump for me before disappearing. I saw two more dolphins do the same thing for me as I continued up. This dolphin gave me confirmation that he was K’s main spirit guide at this time.

I asked for guidance/messages about what “transformation” means, on behalf of K. I had to wait a bit but I was finally shown a message.

K was standing there looking at her hands, or more correctly, the absence of her hands. Instead of hands, there was “nothing” in the shape of her hands - void space, black matter. I asked for clarification on the messages for K, about her hands. The message was around “no hands = no identity” (fingerprints identify an individual person, etc.).

I kept waiting and soon flesh color began to pour in the “molds” where there was currently void space. Eventually new hands formed and she got an entirely new set of hands. This did not happen quickly, so the message was also about how it will take some time to forge a new identity. But when the hands were “done”, they were fully and completely formed complete with new lines in the hands, and new fingerprints, and K had a different and new identity.

I asked for further messages, and was kept waiting for awhile. Finally I was shown K, making her way down a mountain with terraces (as in photos of rice growing on mountains in Asia). K would have to drop her body down over the side of a terrace and trust that she would land on the top of the next terrace. I asked for clarification, and received that she had already reached the top of the mountain, and climbed over it, but that she must now be careful and take her time on the way down.

K was wearing burgundy dress pants with a button at each ankle, and cream-colored dress shoes with a little heel. (I mentioned this to K, as I didn’t have a clue what it meant, but since it made itself known as a detail to me, it might have some significance for her.) Each time she dropped down onto the next terrace she landed on the little heel of her shoe and then carefully put the rest of her foot down.

She slowly progressed all the way down the terraces, but it took time and effort for each step down. She had to learn to trust yourself on each terrace, and take a little leap downward, but each time she did, it was fine and worked out for you. The feelings around this message were learning to trust herself (your intuition and experience) and also the Universe’s process. The message was, if K was willing to trust a little with each step, and stretch a little, things will be fine, and she would continue to build on the last step until you reach where you wish to go.

Symbolism and Analysis
When K and I looked at the symbolism in K’s journey some of the most significant messages to K were:

Slowness/patience in my process – It took time for me to receive messages.
This slow moving pace reflects the patience that K will have to exercise in forming her new identity and moving up to the next stage in her work and her life. K actually pointed this out to me, and I agreed with her.

Dolphin – Dolphins have many meanings but some of them are duality (with both lunar and solar symbolism, air/water breather), living in two worlds, playfulness, grace.
K really related to the meaning of her dolphin’s duality "being in two worlds at once." Her new project was really about being in two different types of worlds. Also her new project involves children and playfulness. I suggested that since her new project was also just being “born” that perhaps the dolphin could be representative of that, since dolphin is from the Greek word for womb.

Hands – This was the strongest image in the journey. The hand has long been thought as a conduit of power – transforming unseen energy into the world of form. The Latin word for manifestation is formed around the world manus which is the Latin word for hand. Hands also speak to balance, since there are two of them. In Celtic mythology they were thought to harbour energetic powers. (Thanks again to www.whats-your-sign.com for help with the symbols).

K resonated strongly with what I thought about the meaning of the hands and slowly forging a new identity for herself. She related that she was trying to detach from her ego, and was learning to be a neutral observer. K felt strongly about the phrase “conduit of power” in relation to her hands. It jumped out at her (and me) as she was reading the typed-up version of her journey. She is in the middle of a transition and she is discovering new skills and new sources of personal power.

I told K that the feeling behind the hands was so strong, it felt to me as though she might even be changing her destiny. K agreed that she felt the same way.

Mountains - Meanings of mountains can represent challenges, acquisition, accomplishment and aspirations.

The mountain symbolism was particularly interesting to me, as it had deep meaning to K. K had recently had a vision of her new life and going into a valley. The valley was a place of joy and ease, with only nature, and filled with children. She knew her vision was telling her that she was progressing towards the valley. Hence her travels “down the mountain” were very significant to her, as was the trust she was required to develop at each “step”.

When I asked her about her crazy ensemble of red pants and creamy white shoes with heels, she said that lately she had really been attracted to the color red, that she had never worn red before now in her life, and that it was a color of power to her. I asked her if she thought the pants were her “power pants”. The pants were children’s pants, which perhaps symbolized her new project with children, or that she had to more child-like and trust her intuition.

She also thought the heel on the shoes were significant. She told me that in her life, her feet symbolize moving forward. In fact, the day I was talking to her she had just injured her foot, which she took to mean that she was resisting learning to trust the unknown. The fact that in the journey she was landing on her feet and in particular her heels, every time she took a step down onto each “steppe”, meant to her, that she was “healing” with each step of the way down the mountain towards her valley.

Other stuff: K also noticed the appearance of “three” throughout her journey (3 somersaults, 3 dolphins) as three had been appearing in her life a lot lately.

K said that this journey grounded her, and confirmed for her, that she should be doing what she is doing at this present point in time.

Once again, thanks to K for allowing me to share this with anyone reading this blog! As always, journeys are so interesting to me and fun to do.

Thanks again for symbolism stuff to:  http://www.whats-your-sign.com/

Beautiful photo by: hannan http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanaan/

Intuition - The Gift That Keeps On Giving

An old friend of mine was in town a few weeks ago from a far away city. I don’t see him very often, but he is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Because I don’t see him often, I wanted to get him something for his birthday, that would remind him of me.

We only had two hours to spend together and I had to pick him up on the other side of town. I asked him if he wanted to stop at a rock shop on the drive back to my house as I was working on developing my intuition, and shopping would be an easy and fun way to exercise that muscle. The shop is near my house, but I had never actually stopped there in the six years I have lived in the neighborhood.

Before we entered the store, I told him that I wanted him to “feel around” with his intuition and see if there was anything in the store that he would like. “To the left” he said immediately and without hesitation as we entered the store.

We veered to the left side of the store and encountered a floor-to-ceiling shelf with all kinds of rock knick-knacks on it. He was immediately drawn to a butterfly made out of variegated orange agate rock slices, hinged in the middle with the bronze body of a butterfly. “I really don’t need more knick-knacks. But I love this!” he said. I encouraged him to keep it with him while we looked around the store.

We found a rock reference book and looked up the meaning of orange agate. We went to the cash desk and I bought it for him. We had only been in the store for about 9 minutes tops, including it took the time to look in the rock reference books.

I was thrilled that we got to use our intuition and that it was so easy. Most of all I was thrilled to get him a gift that he liked.

Flash-forward to yesterday…..I was having a horrible day. I had very little sleep for two nights in a row, I was having a horrible period and everything seemed gloomy. Work was crushing and overwhelming. It looked like an upcoming party was not going to happen. I had no love for myself and it didn’t feel like anybody else had love for me either.

I was sitting in my car wondering if I could make it through the entire afternoon without falling asleep or crying my eyes out. I asked out loud for the Universe to give me just one concrete sign that I was loved.

I dragged myself back up to my office and sat down in my chair. I was sitting deciding whether I should let myself have a full-blown cry before I tackled the rest of my work. At that very second my cell phone rang.

It was my friend. He was calling in the middle of the day from his city. He said “Hi, I just wanted to call you and tell you I love this butterfly!” “Thank God you did”, I said, “I was just going to have a total meltdown because I feel like I don’t have friends.”

He told me that he felt like he was just “supposed” to call me. “Quite often I don’t listen to these impulses, because I’m not in a good mood or I have to have a shower or whatever. But I just thought I should call you, so I did.”

What a great and magical intuitive tool that butterfly is! When I dug deeper the meanings of the orange butterfly were even more interesting. Orange is associated with the second chakra - all about personal power, creative and emotion related energies, according to http://www.bellaonline.com/. If your sacral chakra is in balance, then you find yourself on an even keel. An unbalanced sacral chakra can affect your creativity, blocking the ability to come up with new artistic works, or to create new ideas to solve issues in your life.
The fact that his butterfly was orange is significant for many reasons. We met each other through the arts, and my friend works as a professional artist. Yesterday, my sacral chakra was out of balance as I was riding the roller coaster of emotions all the way down. The Universe found a delightful way to balance my sacral chakra out and also continue to surprise me.

According to A. Venefica, http://www.whats-your-sign.com/, butterfly symbolism speaks of resurrection, transition, celebration, lightness, time, and soul.
In many cultures’ myths the butterfly is a symbol of transformation because of its impressive metamorphosis. The pupae’s entire life changes to such an extreme it is unrecognizable at the end of the transformation. The deepest symbolic lesson of the butterfly is that she asks us to accept the changes in our lives as she does. She unquestioningly embraces the changes in her environment and her body.

The butterfly’s unwavering acceptance of her metamorphosis is also symbolic of faith. The butterfly beckons us to keep our faith as we undergo transitions in our lives. In Greek myth, Psyche is represented in the form of a butterfly and is forever linked with love as she and Eros shared an endlessly passionate bond together.

The butterfly was working as a two way receiver, connecting us with love and beckoning us to keep our faith as we both travelled through transition.

Gotta love intuition, yet again.

Journey: Wisdom of the Crone and Woody Woodpecker!

Journey
I did a journey for B, with the intention of finding answers/guidance on the question:
“What is B’s life purpose?”

As I journeyed up, I was joined by a bird which whipped past me in its enthusiasm. It was blue, so at first I thought it was a bluebird, but it had a bright orange neck, which popped out at me, was kind of cartoonish, like Woody Woodpecker, and it smiled at me as it went by me, flying up and up. The feeling I got was that this bird was B’s main personal guide, which is with her all the time. It was so excited to get there and get some answers that it raced ahead of me!

As B’s guide and I journeyed to the Upper World, the guide went up into the Vulva of the Universal Mother. It entered this sacred place of power, then this Vulva branched into two vulvas. These two vulva’s seemed to have particular relevance to B, and were blue as the bird was. The feeling I got was that it seemed to be important for B’s guide, to enter both Vulva’s, so he did. Once inside the Vulva’s, it turned into one vaginal canal of the Universal Mother, and we both went up and through the Womb of the Mother and continued up and out of her spinal column into the Upper World.

I asked for guidance on B’s question on her behalf. I was first shown B scratching in the dirt, taking the “dirt” into herself as a tunnel to process it. B seemed to be the “container” for the dirt – she was take into the dirt of others lives and hold it, and with her knowledge, to process it for them. (I asked for clarification on what the “dirt” was, and the “dirt” is the “stuff” in the people’s lives that B wishes to help them process). By scratching under the dirt, B would uncover gold. It felt like the gold was the unique values of each person coming to B.

The next message was an old aboriginal woman with black braids, dancing in a circle, wearing a white leather dress with fringes, decorated with blue and black beads. While she danced her sacred dance and sang her sacred songs, she was staring into a mirror. The mirror was not only reflecting her image, but was generating its own light and was reflecting other things back. When I asked for clarification, I received that B (as the old woman with sacred knowledge and powers) is a mirror for others, and would cause them to see themselves in a new, bright light.

The last message I got for B, was where B was represented by a kind of a closed plastic round container. (The closest thing I can think of that it resembled, is the circular plastic piece on the end of a retractable dog leash.) The retractable opening was taking in a sort of film, and spooling it inside the plastic container. The film was the experiences of all the people B wishes to help. Tiny pictures of these people were being drawn into the container (which represented B). Then when all the pictures had been coiled into B, it stopped and the “processing” inside began. Then, the retractable part started unspooling a long line of tickets. The tickets started coming out and people were enthusiastically tearing the tickets off as they came out. I asked for clarification and the tickets were B’s invitations to people she wants to help, that wanted to come to B’s events.

I provided this journey to B and let her think about it for a few days to see what she came to her.

Symbolism
When I looked objectively at some of the themes throughout B’s journey, there were some common threads:
- B in every image I had of her, was full of the experience and the sacred wisdom as the Crone throughout. Also, B was “birthed” through the ultimate Yoni (vulva) the sacred symbol of feminine creativity, further strengthening her tie with Ultimate female wisdom.
- B is portrayed as being a “container” of wisdom (as a tunnel she contained and processed the “dirt” of others’ lives, B as the old woman reflected back brighter images of people’s images that they couldn’t see of themselves, B as a plastic “container” collected other’s life images and processed them for them, and fed it back to them)
-B is portrayed as a spiral (tunnel is a cylinder, woman’s dancing circle, plastic container spooling and unspooling) or going through cylinders (Universal Vulva)
- The indigo/blue color throughout representing spiritual vision and deep delving into the psyche/expression and communication (blue jay, blue vulva, blue beads on old woman’s dress).

Analysis
It was interesting talking to B about what was going on in her life. She totally related to the qualities of the bluejay (opportunistic/communication/taking action in her highest good), and the woodpecker (opportunistic/attention grabber/look at old projects in new way).

She had long worked in male-dominated industries, and had always been challenged on her beliefs, particularly as she was a woman. She had battled male opinions about how to do things for along time, but was finally succeeding in making others in her industry, mostly men, see things and other people from a different perspective. She was finally coming to a place in her life where she was finding the confidence to express her opinions, particularly as female-oriented opinions in a male world. She was also seeing the men she worked with express their confidence in her. (We discussed the “initiation” into the Universal Vulva and out the top of the Universal Mother - attaining the wisdom of the Crone.)

Her day job centred around making employers see the qualities of their employees in a new light, or value them in a different way. The other activities she was being drawn to now were all about helping people see their own qualities in a new light, and value those qualities.
B confirmed that the journey images helped her see her own skills in a new and different light. She said that she was prompted to re-design activities that she was offering others in a different way, with a different focus. (We discussed how she was the “container” for others lives, and how she used her Crone wisdom and experiences to reflect back to them their true value. Also, the emphasis in her life on expression and communication with the blue color.)
We also discussed the deep symbolism of the spirals and circles, in the evolution of her clients from outer materialism to the value of their inner life. Also, how she was being “re-birthed” through the Universal Vulva and was facilitating the re-birth of others in her re-focussing their attention back to their own value.

I encouraged B to do her own further research on any aspect of the journey, particularly any details that stood out to her, for deeper meaning.

One other interesting important detail of this journey was that the woodpecker face that popped out at me during the beginning of the journey had a deep personal meaning for B. In fact, we did not entirely figure out the entire significance that the woodpecker played about this particular question for B. But since it presented it to such a strong image to me, and as it played such a significant role in B’s life, I encouraged her to examine her woodpecker experience and go back to her memories of that time in her life, to look for links to this question. I’m sure there is something even deeper and more relevatory there for her.

I thank B for allowing me to put the details of her journey on this blog. Thanks B! Our conversation was most illuminating!

Get rid of the psychic garbage!

Recently I was preparing to move. While I dreaded the packing, I forgot how much I enjoyed packing and moving, even though most people complained about it. When I was single, I used to move every few years. Moving not only kept me from accumulating piles of useless junk, but for some reason kept me in the present moment.

As I thought about moving to a new neighborhood, I was met by the harsh reality of the death of some of my most cherished fantasies about my ideal life in this neighborhood. When I moved into this neighborhood, I had grand visions. My children would be bare-footed best friends with the wild-spirited kids of the free-spirited woman who lives behind me. We would invite the elderly neighbor next door for tea with the kids, and she would become a grandma-like figure to them.

The looming moving date yanked me back into reality. The free-spirited woman was too busy taking her kids to alternative schools for her kids to play with mine. Our elderly neighbor was usually cranky and often critical about many things we did.

Now that I was moving, these dreams could never come true. But did they really have a chance of even existing? I started thinking that since I had lived in the same house for 9 years already, it was more than likely at this point that these fantasies would never come true, if they hadn’t already. I felt sad, but then happy. I realized I was mourning the idea of these fantasies and the idealized version of my life they evoked, more than the relationships I had with the real life people involved.

While I was organizing and packing I experienced similar feelings. As I yanked the ad for organic food delivery off my fridge, I suddenly realized “I guess I won’t be doing that”. While I experienced a wave of sadness for not having accomplished one of my goals, it was soon followed by a larger wave of relief. I was now released from the burden of doing it, and more importantly released from the guilt I was giving myself for the whole time I did not do it.

My relief started to grow and grow as I went through the junk drawer. All of sudden I was gleefully chucking away saved twist-ties and random screws. With the disposal of each of these items, I was being freed of all the obligations this stuff was tying me to. By getting rid of my sprouter, I no longer had to someday be sprouting my own sprouts. By getting rid of the touch-up paint for the TV room, meant that I no longer had committed myself to touching up the paint in the future.

I realized that my fantasies about my “ideal” life and the guilt I imposed on myself for not following through, is the real psychic garbage. These lofty ideals and my self-imposed judgment is what really needs to be cleaned out of my mind on a regular basis, and I suspect from most people’s minds. The problem is, I am usually not even conscious that I am judging myself constantly. Most of the things I was judging myself for, really weren’t even that important in the grand scheme of things.

Once the guilt was gone I experienced a lightness, an almost giddiness. I was free. So I didn’t get around to doing what I thought I “should”. I was free to do something different or better in the future. No wonder I had always enjoyed moving so much! The chance to be freed of all ones’ fantasies of an ideal life and the self-imposed guilt from not fulfilling those fantasies – how fantastic! No wonder I kept moving every few years!

The best thing about this discovery is, if I want to, I can stay in the same spot. Every year now, however, I am going to make a point of having a spring cleaning of my “psychic garbage”.

Is there anything that needs to be chucked out of your head today?

School Daze - Journey

My son started kindergarten this fall. All of the dizzying decisions to be made including how old he should be upon entry, whether he should take English or French kindergarten, got me so agitated that I felt like vomiting whenever I thought about it.

So, as I do with difficult decisions in my life, I did a journey to find out information about my options. I made the journey with the intention of finding out what the best option would be for him. I went with two specific options in mind – asking for information and guidance in relation to each one. Option 1 involved him taking English kindergarten for a year, then French kindergarten the second year. Option 2 was for him to go straight to French kindergarten.

I left for the journey from my usual spot. A stork came with me on my journey, and let me ride on its back up to the Upper World. We rode a spiral of smoke up, up through the layers of clouds, into the sky. When I got there I asked for any guides or teachers with messages for me.

A stingray made itself known to me. I asked about option #1. The stingray did kind of a steady flip, flopping as it went in a straight line ahead, on the level, indicating how things would go if I pursued option 1. From the stingray’s movements, which appeared to be normal stingray behaviour, I inferred this option would be easy, with just a few normal challenges, indicated by the normal flopping movements of the stingray. Since I was doing the journey before I went to sleep, my concentration started drifting a little. Images started coming into my own head about issues that came from my own going to school.

It was revealed to me that when I was in elementary school I thought any kid who was older than me, in my grade was “stupid”. I thought anyone that wasn’t the same age as me had failed because of their stupidity and had to be held back. I was very judgmental about these kids, and felt very superior to them.

A scene then flashed into my mind of my first day of grade 8. I had been living out of the country in a different culture and on the first day of school, I was wearing the wrong thing. The kind of thing that was so wrong I probably would have been beaten up if I was not with my mother. Perhaps my mother was having trouble accepting the fact that I was now in junior high, but she dressed me very immaturely for my age and inappropriately for the mid-1980’s! I was wearing grey cords, a plaid blouse with a Peter Pan collar (yellow, pink, grey, white) and a little string tie with it. I remember it so clearly because I thought it would be the outfit that I died in. I walked the gauntlet of kids who were wearing a uniform of blue jeans, jean jackets and black leather jackets. I may as well have been naked.

My mind slid down these tangents for awhile. I moved a lot as a child, and went to several different schools. My mind replayed for me all the times I had to go to a new school, the trauma of being judged, the exhaustion of trying to fit in. Finally I consciously stopped myself and thought “This is not a journey about me – why am I seeing all of these memories of mine?” Then the lightbulb went on. Oh, I get it. It’s actually MY fears of him being judged that are being activated. It really doesn’t have much to do with him at all. It’s MY stuff I have to resolve.

Once this initial realization sunk into, I finally got around to asking about option #2. The poor stingray was trying to go straight up a 90 degree cliff. He accomplished it, but his progress was steep and slow and not easy. He finally got to the top of the cliff and was able to stop and rest. Hmmm…seemed like a tough row to hoe, unless you absolutely had too. Looked like option 1 was the best.

After I was done my journey and had recorded it for myself, I researched the animal symbols in my journey. I took the lessons that were revealed to this point and continued looking deeper.
I looked up some information about the stork. I discovered that in ancient Egypt the stork was associated with the word for “human” – ba – as they had the same phonetic value. The ba was the unique individual character of each human being. I took this to reaffirm in a greater way, that my unique self definitely was present as I sought out these messages.
I also discovered that the Hebrew word for stork was equivalent to "kind mother", and the care of storks for their young, made the stork into a widespread emblem of parental care. Storks would not abandon their nests even if they were on fire.

According to Walker in the Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art, the word “stork” comes from the Greek “storge”, which means “powerful affection” or “mother-love”. Hmm….so, my “mother-love” which was also part of my unique self came with me to find messages for my son. Perhaps this meant I was even re-mothering myself in healing my own past school-related issues.

About stingrays, I found out that “Anything that swims in deep water is normally symbolic of deep unconscious aspects of the dreamer. Stingrays have the ability to inflict pain wounds.” Hmmm…I guess that was an even bigger hint to let go of my own issues so as to best not re-injure myself today from the same source.

Final Thoughts
While I did get an answer to the question I went asking, the most interesting aspect of this journey (and not typical in most of my journeys) that it was revealed to me that my own lessons could be affecting my decisions about my son. What a good thing to know! Also, good to know that these issues had to be healed for my own good (and my son’s).

(I chose option 1, and though it is not easy, I think it in the long run it will be in my son’s best interests.)

As an adult, until I did this journey, I tended to think back on my many experiences of attending a new school as “positive” and “growth” experiences, that resulted in me being the “amazing person with many life experiences” I am today. This is the luxury of having surviving painful experiences - you can package them all up and revise them in whatever way you wish. But apparently, while I had many “life experiences”, there was also some unresolved school-related traumas, hiding down deep in the well of my anxiety and reactivated by my own child entering the school system.

Looking at the journey and the symbolism research together my lesson revolved around the fact that my son is just beginning his school life and will have his own challenges and traumas. It’s important that I don’t confuse my own issues from the past with his issues. All I can do is let him live his own life, and make the best decisions I can for him, learned from my own experiences. It is important for me to process and release my own experiences, as the stingray was there to tell me, so that I didn’t get hurt twice!

What I Do When I'm "Journeying"

In some of my upcoming posts I will describe a “journey” I have taken, and what messages I have come back with. I wanted to set out some basic information about what I do and what my background is before I started posting about journeys. This is so that readers know where I am coming from and the basics about how this process works. I think this is necessary so that readers can have a measure of comfort about what I do, particularly if you decide you would like me to do a journey for you.

“Journeying” is a tool I use to link me into the collective unconscious, get guidance and receive messages from spiritual guides. It is a shamanic practice across many cultures the world over. There are many tools to connect with Universal wisdom and guides that everyone, including me, can access. These might include dreams, “coincidental” conversations with other, messages from songs on the radio and many, many more.

However, journeying is one of the tools I am most comfortable with. It is one of the easiest ways for me to bring back answers and messages for specific questions particularly for people I don’t know. It’s also very fun for me – I love decoding the visual symbols in combination with the messages to intuit an even deeper meaning!! Bringing back messages to help someone else or myself is incredibly satisfying. I feel like it is one of the highest uses of my particular intuitive faculties, which has been given as a gift to me from the Universe.

“Journeying” is a tool of a shamanic practitioner. I was a member of a shamanic journeying group for several years where I learned “journeying” for myself and others. When I use the term “journey” it has a specific meaning as a technique for message retrieval.

Depending on your comfort level, you can think of what I, and other shamanic practitioners do, as being similar to dreaming, tapping into the collective unconscious, asking my imagination for answers or directly receiving messages from guides/power animals or the Universal Life Force (or whatever else you might believe). It all depends upon your orientation and belief system.

I won’t go into the specifics of how to journey here, but there are some good resources and guidebooks on shamanism, such as “Earth Magic” by Stephen Farmer. This book basically sets out the nuts and bolts of shamanic practice for anyone who would like to learn and practice. You may wish to also check out www.shamanism.org. Micheal Harner is the founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and has developed a program of core shamanism practices and certification, especially for Westerners. Shamanic techniques and tools are similar the world over and used throughout many different unrelated cultures for the same purpose

I use the basic journeying tools, as set out by the authors above. Before I “journey” I call in my guides to accompany me, and set a specific intention for a specific purpose (for example: “Find out why Lisa is sick”), then listen to a drum beat, which takes my mind into a “journey state”. I follow some simple protocols depending on the type of journey I make. I always have as part of my intention the highest good of all of those involved, and if there is any negativity I immediately take safeguards and return. (This is has only happened a handful of times over many years.) Anyone can learn to follow these techniques and learn to do this, although it is important to get guidance and mentoring under others first when you are starting. (See the end of this post for more recommendations.)

As you will see from my posts, I mostly come back with visual messages. I bring back the images that have popped into my head and record them once I am finished the journey. Sometimes these images are very bizarre and don't "make sense" in a rational way. Quite often this is because I am just the messenger and the only image or the message conveyed only makes sense to the person receiving the message. While I am journeying my intellectual mind isn’t fully functioning, so I am not able to interpret messages during that time. This also allows me to suspend any type of judgment or interference from my judgmental intellect, and allows whatever needs to come in, to enter. Journeying is a time of collection for messages only. I journey to where I need to be, ask for guidance or ask specific questions, and wait to be shown answers. When I receive what I have come for, I give thanks, and leave.

Messages and answers come to me personally, mostly in visual format. Visual images seem to be the easier way for me to bring back and make sense of information I’ve been given. Sometimes I receive messages “spoken” telepathically within the journey. Other people I know receive messages through feeling with their bodies or smelling and hearing, but these phenomena aren’t as common for me. Once I come back to waking consciousness, I interpret the meanings of the (mostly) visual symbols in my journeys using my intuition and my intellect. Tying together the whole thing by combining the visual messages with the symbolic meaning of the images themselves is my favourite part! It is even more mind-blowing when I relate the message to a question asker and they interpret the meanings of the messages and symbols according to their own personal cosmology. Helping someone or solving a problem for someone is the most satisfying thing of all for me about journeying.

If You Want to Start Shamanic Practices Yourself
The basic journeying techniques are easy to learn how to do, but when you are starting out it is important to have an experienced practitioner guiding you, particularly someone who is careful about psychic safety. This person should have experience so they can guide you along the correct and respectful paths and teach you a respectful practice. Your teacher should be respectful of all Spirit and of you and your journey along the shamanic path, with your own particular brand of wisdom. Studying and practicing should all feel very easy and good. If it doesn’t, you should stop and seek assistance elsewhere. Be guided by the feelings in your body and heart. They do not lie.

I am not in a position to teach these practices, but I would recommend looking for a group in your area or attending workshops, etc. Bonding with others in a shamanic group is a very intense experience and is intimate in a way that few things are.

Like everything else, the more you practice, the better you will become. Everyone manifests their own talent at receiving psychic messages in their own way, just like some people can sing better than others, or draw in a more skillful way.


If you have further questions about what I do, please email me. I would be delighted to talk about it.

Shopping with your Intuition

Shopping might be viewed as a rather shallow way to use your intuition. However I find it is one of the best ways to strengthen it. If you can develop it in your mundane daily decisions, you would be surprised by the quality of your choices, and also how many additional messages you might receive along the way.

I find the best way to see if your Intuition is correct is to actually follow it. I am coming to this conclusion usually after NOT following it many, many times always to my detriment.

My intuition has ALWAYS been right. When will I actually believe that? J I guess when I decide to listen to it absolutely, positively, 1000% of the time and as a result my life flows as smoothly as silk.

You will see from the following conversation between my intuitive mind and my “rational” mind that sometimes that is a huge struggle for me. (Luckily no one can hear these conversations except me…and that is bad enough.)

Reason: “Geez…I see the toystore I was headed to for my niece’s birthday present went out of business.”

Intuition: “Hey you - the name of that other kids’ store that just popped into your head – your niece would really, really love something that is in that store, for her birthday…”

Reason: Ignores Intuition. Keeps thinking of possible of solutions.

Intuition: “Hey you - I’m telling you she wants something that is in that store”.

Reason: “That store is too far.”

“It’s not too far if you go this way…[shows me a map of the route in my head]”

“Okay, but what about the traffic at lunch time?”

“I promise, the traffic will be light.”

“Doesn’t that store only sell clothes? I bet they don’t even have toys…”“The store has something your niece really wants for her birthday.”

“I have to get back to the office right away to give Dick that information he wanted…”“Dick isn’t even in the office this afternoon.”

“How do you know? Alright, but you’d better be right…I’ll go to the darn store”

K gets to the store…

Reason: “So what is the thing she wants?” asks, as K moves around the store looking at things.

Intuition smiles but doesn’t answer and stays silently smug.

Reason: “Am I buying the right thing? Is this what she wanted?”

Intuition still doesn’t answer, keeps smiling and not answering.

K takes the presents to the till for gift-wrapping and then leaves the store to buy some lunch, while the presents are being gift-wrapped.

K comes back in the store, is immediately drawn to the first thing she looked at in the shop and didn’t buy. K instinctively now knows this is the right thing, the thing she was supposed to buy. K takes this item to the till to buy it. K leaves store and drives back to work.

As she drives, K feels in her body and her mind, more and more, that the item she got is the thing she was supposed to buy.

Reason: “Great. Okay you were right. Fine. Thanks. Is that what you wanted to hear? Thanks.”

Intuition decides to be smug all day, but keeps laughing quietly while Reason is once again forced to admit defeat. Intuition is even more smug when K’s niece opens the gift and immediately loves it.

Score: Intuition - 3, 697, 884 correct
Reason – 3 (probably when it decided to align with Intuition)

Really it’s amazing Intuition keeps helping me out after all the attitude it gets from me.

Once again, thanks Intuition!!

Heavyweight

I had a dream last night. My mom’s boyfriend, who is an entrepreneur, had set up a boxing match. It was a fight between a woman I didn’t know against an established male boxer. It looked like a really uneven fight – definitely the experienced boxer would win. At the last minute, the girl bowed out of the match, and I had to take her place. For some reason unbeknownst to me, it was really important that the boxing match go ahead. Instead of running away or protesting against the ridiculousness of the match, in the dream, I determined that I had to go ahead with it.

Just before I woke up I remember thinking in the dream “This established boxer is going to kick the crap out of me. I know physically I am outmatched. How can I use my mind to win this match, even though it looks impossible?” I also remember putting black eyeshadow on my eyes, although I’m not sure if it was to make me look scary or pretty, but it seemed important for some reason.

I told my coach about this session, and we started trying to unravel the pieces of this dream. We established that my mom’s boyfriend is an entrepreneur, involved in a lot of projects I don’t really understand. She suggested that perhaps he was showing me something about my own entrepreneurial interests – perhaps showing things I don’t understand about my own business myself. We were trying to figure out the significance of the “fight”.

I told my coach that during the day I had been reading some New Age magazines like Mosaic and Synchronicity and didn’t realize it at the time, but I had been thinking things like “Wow. There’s no way my little voice and humble ideas could compete with Louise Hay, Stephen Farmer, and all those other….heavyweights.” As soon as the word tumbled out of my lips, I knew what the fight in the dream was about.

My subconscious didn’t believe there was room enough in the world for my ideas. After all, what is the significance of what I have to say compared to the big wigs of the New Age personal development industry?

(I never thought about the symbolism involving the making up of my eyes until later. According to whats-your-sign.com, the eye is the window to the soul, which may explain why the symbolic meaning of eyes tends to be of a spiritual nature. This to me indicates the dream was trying to tell me about the links to my spiritual projects, such as this blog. This confirms in an even deeper way what the dream was trying to tell me.)

My coach told me that she didn’t think I was connecting with those people who my blog is targeting. Perhaps that is because I haven’t had the courage to send it out to even one person yet!! What a surprise that I wasn’t connecting with anyone if no one even knew about it.

“Send the blog link out to one person”, she told me. “Just take baby steps.”

She told me a lot of stuff I know already and agree with, but apparently was not feeling deep down. Each of us is unique, and has a unique message. Even if the exact same message has already been shared many times, the unique individual spin I put on it is destined to reach the ears of one particular person, or perhaps several, or perhaps millions. There is a reason I need to share my message in my own unique way. That is the way things are designed in this Universe. Her point was, I will never know when or if that message finds its intended audience, unless someone actually reads what I write.

So here I am in the ring – my humble voice. I’ve put up my dukes and I’m giving it my best shot! Read away and I appreciate any comments you might have.

Conduit of Joy

While I was buffetted around by the crowd at a Sheryl Crow concert, this phrase came into my head."Conduit of Joy". What was that supposed to mean?

Sheryl Crow is of one of my favourite singers.  Her authenticity hits me right in the gut.  Something about the timbre of her voice makes me go wobbly inside.  The harmonies in her songs make me feel like weeping with their beauty.  Her lyrics mirror experience and convey deep emotion to me.

Sometimes I have fantasized about being her. In many ways, she expresses what I would be doing with my own singing talent in an alternate universe.   She embodies what kind of singer I would be - the type of music she sings, her look, her songwriting, the emotion she conveys.

As I watched her in concert I felt the part of me that was on the stage with her.  As she sang, I  remembered what it was like to have the Divine sing through me when I was on stage.  I got shivers down my spine as she sang "Maybe Angels".  The crowd was pretty sedate except for one guy.  He looked like he perhaps he was on something, but maybe he was just high on life.  Whatever he was, he was totally in alignment with what Sheryl was delivering.  He danced with total abandon. He didn't give a shit what anyone thought about how he was dancing, what he looked like, or anyone else's judgements of any kind.  He was just grooving.  

I was sitting in my seat, dying to start dancing, but I couldn't quite work up the nerve yet.  Then I thought, "If that guy down there can do it, so will I".  I stood up, feeling self-conscious at first.   Then as the music moved me, I didn't really care what anybody else thought.  I could feel the energy start moving through me, more and more.

A little while later I saw a guy down the row from me, looking at me intently.  It wasn't a look of desire, or disgust.  His look was saying "Oh my God I wish I were free to dance like you.  I'm dying to dance but my inhibitions/partner/fear of looking like an idiot are not letting me."  I was kind of freaked out, but then I started feeling real pity.  The only thing worse than people thinking you look like an idiot when you're dancing, is not having the courage to get up and dance at all.  What a shame that he cared that much about what other people though, that it prevented him from getting his groove on.  After all, Sheryl was only here for tonight.

All of sudden it hit me.  I was this guy's "Conduit of Joy".  He was feeling all the love and alignment of Sheryl's music, but he just couldn't express it.  I was expressing his feelings as well as my own, through my dancing.  Then I thought about the guy on the floor.  For awhile, he was my "Conduit of Joy".  

It's so much easier to imagine how to do something when you have a model.  Sheryl was modelling pure joy for the audience, and it was being directly expressed by the guy on the floor.  Now I was the model for the guy down my row.  We were all modelling joy for each other.  We were each slipstreaming for each other, on the Highway of Joy.

Joy is our natural state.  If you watch children you know this is true.  They can find joy in any activity.  We don't have to make ourselves happier.  We have to strip away the crap that we accumulate over our naturally joyful selves and get ourselves back to our natural state of joy.

There is a particular brand of joy out there for you and you alone.  The Universe came up with a big hunk of it for you on the day you popped into this world.  It's specifically your brand, it is what you and you alone think is fun, great and lights your fire.  Nobody else can get your share of joy and nobody else can express it fully for you.

The "conduit of joy" experience at the concert showed me that we should be "conduits of joy" for each other.  It was probably one of the primary reasons we were put on this earth.

So...get a little help to take you to Joy.  Pick a lead "joy driver".  This should be someone whose art, music, writing, whatever, makes you feel so excited you think your head is going to pop off.  You know who they are.  Once this person gets you on the Highway of Joy, you'll get a clearer and clearer picture of how to get to your own Joy-town.  After all, now you are on that Highway and you are in the driver's seat.  You get to decide where you want to go, and which exits you might want to take.

It is your highest duty to yourself, to be your own "conduit of joy".  You are God's divine expression of Himself.  You are made of the matter that created worlds, and you deserve your share of the Joy pie.

Now get in that car and drive!  If you look in the rear-view mirror don't be surprised if someone else is tailing you.  :)

Hello Yellow Brick Road!

A few weeks ago, I took my kids to see "The Wizard of Oz". It was fantastic. I had forgotten, or maybe I never knew how many levels the story worked on. The scarecrow unbeknownst to himself was smart. The lion actually had courage when the chips were down. The tinman realized he did have lots of heart.

The plucky little duffer that played Dorothy was the catalyst for it all. She was the one little girl who had the gumption to do what everyone else was scared to do. She challenged the powers that be, and helped everyone around her, including herself, to see their own amazing truths. When she didn't know what to do, her friend Glinda the Goodwitch came to her assistance. Amazing how once she decided to whole-heartedly commit to something, the Universe helped her along.

So what does this "Somewhere Over the Rainbow-ing" have to do with me?

The day after I saw the play, I was laying in bed listening to the radio when "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" came on the radio. The next day I heard it again. Then I was reading a blog post that mentioned the Wizard of Oz. Once the Universe shows me three signs in short order I pay extra careful attention. I had been asking the Universe for guidance on what to do with my life - what was the relevance of these messages for me?

When I was a wee child, I loved to sing more than anything. I sang with my whole heart.It was all I really ever wanted to do. I sang all day long, as loud as I could and whenever I wanted. I could sing louder than my entire elementary school choir, which I considered a point of pride.

One day, our music teacher told us we'd be performing the musical "The Wizard of Oz". Once I heard the music, I was hooked. I absolutely loved the song "Somewere Over the Rainbow". Then our music teacher told us that only kids from the grade above us would be considered for the lead roles of Dorothy, the Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Lion. I was incensed! I knew I was the best singer in the school and I wouldn't be eligible to Dorothy?

I auditioned and was cast as one of the Munchkins. This was not good enough for me. I knew I was a better singer than the girl who had been cast as Dorothy, and I wouldn't stand for it. I couldn't stand for it, because it was wrong. She didn't love that song when she sang it, like I would have. I demanded a re-audition, pint-sized diva that I was.

My music director politely re-auditioned me and told me that since I was in the lower grade that I would still be a Munchkin. He tried to console me by telling me that I was an excellent singer, and I could audition for a lead role the next year. The unfairness! How could talent not trump ridiculous rules! Was this how the world operated? My indignation did not abate for many years.

Flashforward 28 years....What happened to that Dorothy wanna-be? I appear to have lost my pluckiness and my ruby slippers. I am far from "home" - who I am really am. I need to create something that is truly of me, and has genuine meaning for me. Something that could channel my real feelings and ideas. Things that weren't being coaxed out in my paid employment. Perhaps a blog would be a good idea...

Back then was such a "plucky" Dorothy, and I didn't even have the knowledge, experience, skills that I have now. Perhaps I will borrow a little "Dorothy-ness" from the little diva that I was. Perhaps that "Dorothy-ness" can lead me down my own yellow-brick road towards Kansas.

Guess what? This morning I woke up to the sounds of Judy Garland on the radio. First thing I saw at the office was a co-worker was wearing her ruby-red slippers. A tiny tornado just ripped by and pulled the sticky with these ideas on it up, up and away....here I go!