Sometimes we are carried, sometimes we crawl

A friend of mine has been struggling with incredibly serious issues involving her son. There have been legal charges brought against him, addiction struggles and overall concern for his life. The situation was taking a toll on her physically and emotionally. She visited me recently for a session of Reiki healing.

I meditated for a long time before her visit hoping to be strongly guided through the session in order to provide her with the maximum level of healing possible. I asked to be used as a clear and perfect channel and for my intuition to be strengthened. Then I cleansed and prepared the room by smudging with sage, lighting white candles and a salt candle, and anchoring myself as a clear and perfect energy channel.

As we began our session I put on a CD I like to use during sessions to aid in relaxation, it combines nature sounds and classical music and invites a very peaceful state of mind.  I was thankful to feel a strong presence with me. As I began to scan her body I was able to identify areas of blocked energy and imbalances. I sensed that she was feeling very fragmented inside.

As I worked to remove blocks, balance chakras and impart healing energy something almost magical happened. It doesn’t happen with all of the clients I see, but when it happens it can be incredibly powerful… I had a vision.

It was a vision of a man supervising a group of younger men while they worked in what looked like a fabric factory of some sort.  I faintly heard the word “tailor,” but wasn’t sure if the young men were weaving fabric or sewing clothing. My focus became fixed on the supervisor.

The man appeared to be in his forties, had dark curly hair, and a moustache. He had a stern but very fair way about him. I had the feeling he was weighed down with the responsibility of helping the young men make successful lives for themselves…like that was his purpose and he would stop at nothing until that happened. I felt like he would always be there for them to guide them down a successful path.

I then felt a very strong connection between my friend’s son and this man. As if this man was helping her son to find his way and to a purpose-filled life. I felt that the man would be with him during this dark time and throughout his life.

As your intuition is strengthened your responsibility to convey what you receive also increases. I knew I needed to share this with me friend. As I began to tell her what I saw and the power of the emotional connection I felt, the CD player began skipping through music…I tried to fix it, but couldn’t and had to turn the player off.

As I went back and continued sharing the story with her the salt candle began to sizzle…a noise I have never heard before. We looked at each other as if there was something much bigger than the both of us happening around us at that moment.

She listened to me intently and then shared that back in Iran, where she was born, her grandfather was a tailor. She knew he had died young but didn’t know much beyond that. A call to her mother later on that day proved that he indeed had people who worked for him, he died in his early forties and he had a moustache.

I have a deep sense that my friend’s son will be ok, and that this man (his great grandfather) will make sure of that. This passage through a dark section of life has great purpose for him and will bring about future success and peace!

interpreting the messages we receive

Learning to live with intuitive guidance is certainly a process. An open third eye doesn’t come with a user’s manual-- you must build a reference library of your own to understand what is being conveyed.

My latest experience was part of this continuing education process. Over the course of a couple of days I had the name “Alexander” push through my mind multiple times.  I was uncertain why…I couldn’t remember any Alexander in my life and was trying to figure out where this repetitive thought belonged.

A few nights later as I closed my eyes and turned to go to sleep the faceless image of a young man in his twenties with dark hair, wearing a white sports jersey and a backwards red baseball cap appeared very close to me as if emphatically trying to tell me something. It was a startling image. His face was replaced by a jagged black hole. I quickly opened my eyes, calmed myself using a white light meditation, and refocused myself on sleeping. It happened one more time and then stopped.

Over the course of the next few days I started to forget those two experiences not having found a clear explanation for what was going on. Then I got the call that cleared it up….a co-worker of my husband’s had a new baby—a son named “Alexander”…this same individual lost his brother to suicide a few months earlier.  I realized that the faceless man who appeared to me was the new father’s brother and I believe the repetitive appearance of “Alexander” in my mind was his way of letting us know he would watch over the baby.

With the blessing of intuition comes responsibility to deliver messages we are given. I now have to move forward and let the new father know even in death his brother will be there for him and his new son. I am afraid to deliver this not knowing how it will be received….but I will.

Going "in" and "up"

Many of us question how to increase our self awareness and our connection to spirit. It is a path humans have journeyed down both consciously and unconsciously since the beginning of time.

We have been given a system involving chakras (or wheels of energy) to help guide us through this process. The chakras are located up the center of our bodies stretching from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Each wheel relates to a specific aspect of our humanity/energy as well as a color.

We have seven major chakras: root (red/self awareness), sacral (orange/self respect), solar plexis (yellow/self worth), heart (green/giving and receiving love), throat (blue/self expression), brow (indigo/self responsibility) and crown (white/spiritual awareness). The health of each individual chakra and its relationship to the others is critical to our emotional, physical and spiritual health.

When the chakras are all healthy and no one chakra is stronger or weaker than another -- the body is said to be "in balance". The root chakra relates to self awareness and it is essential this be balanced before work can begin on the others. The root chakra is like a foundation that grounds us during our spiritual quest.

In order to balance the root chakra we must identify what we each need as human beings. Is it more time to meditate or pray? Is it time to read a book, take photos or take a walk? Meditate on what will bring you inner peace. What will truly make you happy? Make a list and work to incorporate these things into your life. This is begins your journey "in." You must be your own best friend and take care of yourself as only you know how.

Once the foundation is strong and your root is solid you can begin the journey "up" toward your crown chakra which represents our connection to spirit. But you must spend time on the other chakras as well working to balance the delicate tower of energy that resides in us all.

Death -- a catalyst not an end

I had the opportunity recently to 'test' my progress on my spiritual path. One of the main reasons I started on this journey was to gain more understanding about life, its meaning and its place in the universe. I have always struggled with death...I guess that is not unusual. But my fear was based in a deep seeded feeling of failing  because I couldn't stop the inevitable from happening or control the outcome.

My Great Aunt Dot who has been here for over 97 years often shared one of her mantras that helped her get through the many losses she experienced in her almost ten decades.... "to live is to die" she would say. Truer words have never been spoken. There is no other way which life ends.

Before my spiritual consciousness woke from its deep sleep those words were distant and somewhat abstract. But now that I am exploring life, spirit and faith they have gained a new life. In fact I have begun to find those words comforting and somewhat freeing.

I had a difficult childhood...I know so many say that...but my childhood was lonely and filled with much sadness. In some ways I was closer to pets and various stray animals that walked into my life than to the people who surrounded me on an everyday basis.  Although I am much more connected to people in adulthood I never lost my connection to the animals in my life.

A few months ago myself and a small group of friends began feeding some stray cats in the parking lot where we work. Over time the cats came to depend on us for food and water and would even wait in our parking spaces for us to arrive each morning. We even set up a weekend feeding schedule so they would be taken care of on the weekends.

A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday evening, I was getting ready to start my weekend and was feeding the 6 cats. Five of the cats were part of a feral family and one stray named Molly had joined them. Molly was different and wanted to play, be petted and purr. While I was playing with Molly a car came around a turn very fast, hit one of the other cats and sped away.

Once I realized what had happened I began to panic. The "old" me would have somehow felt responsible and grabbed the badly injured and obviously dying cat and tried to get help while flying into hysterics and getting bit. But a calmer me with a different perspective acted quite differently.

Although a deep sadness loomed inside I knew I had to pray. Pray to God to take him quickly. He was in so much pain and had lost so much blood I was afraid to pick up the cat for fear of being bitten. I sat by him for what seemed like hours but I don't think it actually was more than a minute or two. The others from his cat family joined me as he passed.

I didn't really know what to do....except I knew I couldn't leave him there. He was such a sweet soul. I contacted the public safety office and they came to help me. I remained calm through all of this realizing there wasn't anything I could do about the death. But on the way home I began to cry uncontrollably sobbing. His little life shouldn't have ended that way. But it did.

I decided that I would do what I could to honor his little life that was taken too soon. With the help of my friends we found a new loving home for Molly. We are planning to capture the other 4 feral members of the "family" and have them fixed so there will not be more homeless cats starving and wondering into the paths of oncoming cars. And I have pledged to do what I can to raise awareness about spay and neuter programs.

The point being that as living things we will be witness to death and suffering, but out of those experiences must come lessons, ideas for change to make the world a better and kinder place, we can learn as much from death as we can from life if we only open ourselves to it.

What Do I Celebrate?

As the Holidays of 2011 approached my ten-year-old  asked me if I would rather celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah.....since I am identifiable (through the eye of formal religious training) as an Episcopalian I really wanted to respond with "Christmas"...and then I thought about it...

I realized it really didn't matter to me. Hmmm.....should it? And, more importantly why didn't it?

For me the holidays are not about trying to comprehend the significance of a birth that happened over 2,000 years ago, or how long a light burned without enough oil. It seems funny to me that it takes beliefs in essentially abstract events to bring out the best in humankind.

The holiday season is about love, faith and kindness....sprinkled with a miracle or two.

The season is about our common beliefs rather than our differences. The common belief in a power (or powers) greater than ourselves--a common belief that we should treat each other with love and compassion---and a belief that, yes, miracles have--and will continue to happen around us--all we have to do is pay attention.

When we concentrate on the small differences between us we allow the the world to become fragmented and polarized, and we move ourselves further from divine intention.

Our world needs to heal. Our world needs to be bathed in rays of beautiful divine light from each of us as we work to channel the "magic" we feel during the holiday season and bring that "magic" into our lives year round.

So, for me it is not what religion or holiday I celebrate. It truly is about how I celebrate God's love and how I make it part of my everyday life.