You are wise. You know how to grow, even without knowing how you know. Like the ancient forests, spectacular galaxies and the acorn that becomes the oak, there is a natural intelligence for growth that is beyond logic and reason. It just happens. At the deepest levels, we are governed by this force that is so palpable it literally shapes the world. At the same time, it is so invisible that sometimes we forget its presence and worry that our minds have to work everything out for life to happen and for us to be alright. We can become unnecessarily anxious about our affairs and how life will unfold.
You are growing. You really are. Don’t doubt it. Even if you don’t see it yet, remember that so much is happening when the seed is still unbroken in the ground. Bellow the earth, it is summoning up all the might, power and force it needs to push above the top soil and burst up into the light. It is essential for anything good to happen later on! Yet we don’t see any of that. We just have to trust that things will happen when the time is right.
Trust in yourself. You know how to grow. Don’t overthink things, it won’t help you. Don’t worry so much, you are doing a great job in this game of life. When you trust yourself, you relax and you can heed your own wisdom, insight and messages much more clearly and easily.
You have a big destiny this lifetime and much to experience. Sometimes you make the error of judging something that is unpleasant as negative or a mistake. It isn’t. It’s just part of your great hunger for experience. It doesn’t mean you have to have a lot of it, but when you do, don’t shame yourself for it. Simply let it be. Maybe it’s just fertilizer for your next step on the path! It’s all part of your life process and its all a sign of growth.
Do not resist any points of instability in your life. This even applies to your most treasured relationships or creative projects. That instability is just a growing pain because more consciousness, more love and more light wants to infiltrate and pervade all parts of your life. The instability is not a sign of sickness, but of growth. So don’t fret. Instead choose to flow and grow.
Don’t you hear it? she asked and I shook my head no and then she started to dance and suddenly there was music everywhere and it went on for a very long time and when I finally found words all I could say was thank you. ~ Brian Andreas
From time to time along your journey, you will serendipitously encounter fellow travelers with whom there are sparks of resonance. It is always a thrill to discover you are exploring similar areas of fascination, and thus uncovering similar revelations within the same parenthesis of time. In these moments allow yourself to be heartened, validated, reassured, and invigorated. You don’t need throngs of people standing shoulder to shoulder with you or cheering you on to be infused with strength and inspiration. There is never a crowd on the leading edge, so if you meet only one kindred soul on your path, consider yourself lucky. Nurture your supportive relationships and feel the blessing of these like-minded souls for their belief in you, and for the mutual blessing you bring to each other. Gratefully see your own courage, wisdom, and adventurous spirit reflected in them.
Mantra :: My fellow travelers infuse me with rocket fuel, so I can go further than I could on my own.
Artwork by Rassouli
The Hero’s Journey dream oracle by Kelly Sullivan Walden
Her every action is infused with loving purpose. Every challenge and every opportunity in your life exists by her divine design. Her spiritual intelligence is within your heart. When you trust in your integrity and proceed according to your soul’s values, you are trusting and empowering her to be at cause in your life. Everything that is happening is part of how your prayers are being answered. A new order is to be established. You are being led to it.
Artwork by Jimmy Manton
To honor dharma means to live according to genuine spiritual principles. What those principles are depends on your inner values. To live according to your values means living with integrity of being, conducting yourself according to an inner spiritual code. If you are not quite ready to take such responsibility, or do not yet have the confidence to trust in your own values, work with an external moral code and attempt to align with that. Morality is like training wheels for the soul, imposing concepts of right and wrong. It is a top-down approach – mind first, then attempting to mold behavior accordingly. Spiritual integrity is a different approach. It does not ask what others think about a matter or how we will be judged for acting in a certain way. Rather, it enquires as to what resonates as the most spiritually aligned course of action. It considers how we can speak and act in such a way that those inner values are respected.
Adherence to external moral codes is useful in the earlier stages of development, but when a soul is ready to grow, being overly guided by morality can undermine spiritual progress. Morality can lead the soul into a state of psychological infancy, responding to externally imposed measures of conduct and aiming to avoid repercussions when a transgression is discovered by another. Or it may suffer with guilt and shame when a moral code has been violated – intentionally or not. In such a mindset, we hand power over to the collective that establishes the code, whether it be a religious, socio-economic, family or political group, or the collective more generally. In following that code, we can adopt something of a childlike attitude to punishment and reward. Hence, the shock when bad things happen to good people.
Those with the courage to grow into following an inner code take greater responsibility for their lives and actions. From greater responsibility arises greater freedom. In moving away from the crowd, such souls can forge their own path. This does not mean we act in ways despicable to others. Certainly, there are people who deny the power of moral code, but also lack an inner connection to spiritual presence, and so move with an absence of integrity altogether. Such people create much pain for themselves and others, as they assume a level of personal power without spiritual maturity to ensure that power is expressed benevolently.
Our evolutionary process for strengthening our connection to dharma, or ‘spiritual law’, transforms our relationship with ourselves, each other and the world. As we grow spiritually and mature at a psychological level, we naturally begin to cultivate our inner values, eschewing those we have been taught that no longer resonate. We learn the often painful lessons of what society says is more important – control, profit or personal gain at any cost, social status through positions of power, for example. We increasingly align ourselves with our values and adhere to them more courageously, evolving them according to inner resonance rather than outer effect. We realize that self-respect is more important than trying to control and manipulate outer events or other people. We are moved from an inner place rather than motivated by external rewards. As a consequence, it is spiritually safe for us to receive an abundance of material blessings because we know we will not try to sell our soul to obtain them.
The Dharma of Kali brings the message that your most abundant successes will manifest when you are aligned with your integrity. You do not need to put your faith in pathways or projects that do not resonate with your deeper spiritual knowing and values. Seeking the ways of the world to bring you what you need is only going to limit your spiritual progress and undermine the most abundant manifestation of your purpose. If you intuitively know that you need to engage with a more traditional worldly means of progress, then you can do so with your spiritual integrity intact and guiding you so you stay true to yourself in the process. As you are guided from within, you shall make the best progress.
An idea has captured your attention – or will do so very soon. It may be a grand vision or the vague sense of something that could be. You are encouraged to accept the vision, the idea or the inspiration as it is important to your creative and spiritual growth.
Also, it IS possible. The bee is bringing you healing medicine-wisdom. The bee is a powerful spirit totem. Bees are able to fly with wings that are significantly small in proportion to their heavier bodies. They can do so because of the sheer speed with which their wings move. Your idea, even if it seems like a big, substantial plan that might be difficult to ‘get off the ground’ and up and running, can succeed. You will attract great helpers to you and the Earth will support the success of this project, idea or vision, because it is about helping the greater good, as well as your own growth and development. When Mother Earth lends you nature-wisdom to support your healing and growth, you know you have an exceptionally powerful ally to your cause. Let this bring you confidence.
Allow inspiration to fill you with enthusiasm, an expectation of magic and marvelous synchronicity, as people, situations, and opportunities fall into place to help bring your inspiration into reality. This idea has the potential to flower into so much more than you realize. It has great potential. It can become something that feeds and nourishes others on their creative and personal healing paths too. It has the quality of a mission and is so much more than one, singular idea.
When an inspiration comes from the greater creative intelligence of the universe – even when it makes itself known as an idea coming through a human source – all that is needed to bring it into being will be available at the right time. For the human channel of the idea, it is just a matter of being open, receptive, trusting and enthusiastic about what has come through. Everything required for each step will be naturally attracted to support the success of the project according to divine timing. The healing process below will help you manifest the support needed for your inspiration to take flight.
You are a vehicle for inspiration. You are meant to think and do things differently. You are capable of receiving fresh ideas that are not so ‘out there’ or different that they stop being practical, helpful and wonderful. Avoid the trap of doubting your ideas are special or interesting enough. Your inspiration comes direct from the universal creative source and you are to believe and recognize the signature of great intelligence within your inspirational ideas and creative urges – and to act accordingly. To sum up, there is indication of sweet success, like abundant honey, coming your way through your commitment to and development of an idea that you have already had or will soon receive. See it through to the end. Bee-lieve!
Healing process :: Place your hands in prayer position at your heart or lay them in your lap with palms facing upwards in a gesture of receiving. Say aloud, “May my inspired ideas be blessed by the creative intelligence and love of this universe. May the perfection of divine timing govern the unfolding of this idea into its most beautiful and fulfilling form. May this idea attract the most nourishing people, situations and opportunities so that it may live out its destiny to make a positive contribution to the world. Through sacred genius, love and grace, so be it.”
When you are ready, sit quietly and say, “I commit myself – body, heart, mind and soul – to that which will illuminate me with golden inspiration and uplift me and those around me with love. I am open to receive all the support and protection needed to truly honor this commitment. So be it.”
Rest for a moment to complete your healing process. If you notice imagery of bees, actual bees or people dressed like them (stranger things have happened!) when you are out and about, know that this is the universe playfully confirming your healing.
Your heart is big enough to dream not only for yourself, but for a new humanity. Imagine a world that is healed with respect, understanding and with community that fosters life. Even your dreams that relate to you alone will contribute positively to the greater good because that is the nature of your heart. Your heart naturally and intelligently co-operates in a grand scheme of loving creativity, working to heal the hearts of the world. The heart creates win-win situations that benefit the individual and the collective.
You are being asked to honor your growing desire to co-create with conscious, like-minded people. Your collaborative dreaming is a heart-inspired win-win, bringing mutual enchantment to yourself and others. The heart wants to love and be loved. Working with others creatively is a way to allow the heart to grow. It is a chance for you to learn how to honor yourself and others and to find ways to live and let live, simply by growing and strengthening your active trust in your hearts guidance.
Bear through the rough patches that can happen when you work creatively with others. Ideas might clash and there can be friction, particularly if you have different ways of working. Sometimes big dreams need more fire to ignite them into reality. More fire might require more friction along the creative path. It is not meant to be a permanent condition! Just an aspect of the creative process from which you can learn something useful, if you wish. Your guidance is to embrace any experiences of friction or tension – within yourself or as you work with another – with compassion, detachment and tolerance.
Creative endeavors, particularly involving groups, can bring up unresolved issues about being valued, heard or capable. They can also trigger disputes about taking responsibility, or enflame insecurities about being cast into unfamiliar roles of leadership or of having to follow. This might happen for you, for others or for all involved! The stronger the creative energy that flows, the more likely that triggering will take place. It is the nature of creative energy to move in all directions. It doesn’t just want to grow one project, everything that comes into contact with it will grow. That means that the art and the artists are in the process of creation. This can be smooth but it is more likely to be rough sailing – at least at times. This is not a sign that something isn’t working – far from it! It is more usually a sign that growth is happening and you are feeling the growing pains.
Stay in your integrity, honor what you feel and remember why you chose to open up to group endeavors in the first place – especially if the group involvement becomes complex or challenging. Call on unconditional love each day and evening, it only takes a moment to do: “I call on unconditional love. Please help and guide me in this project.”
You are going through this experience or will be in the near future because you are part of a new creative learning program for humanity. This learning program is taking place at a spiritual level and it requires highly individualistic and creative people to learn to work with each other without compromising who they are, in order to reach a common creative goal. It is wonderful, important and challenging creative and spiritual work. You need a strong sense of self to be able to engage in the process and not lose your voice during the journey. You need a strong enough sense of self to be flexible and know when to bend – rather than break. You have to intuit what is going to be a good heart inspired sacrifice for the greater good and when you will need to stay true to your own voice, for the greater good. Only the heart can guide you on these matters and others may not always agree with your instincts, and vise versa. That is part of the challenge of staying present so that the friction created can be channeled into creative energy, rather than lost in emotional turmoil.
Please remember that what really matters is that you hear your own voice. Others may or may nort be able to receive it. When you hear your own voice you will be able to connect with your heart truths. You will know when it is right to remain in a group or when you need to withdraw in order to work with others who resonate at a more appropriate vibration and perhaps more in harmony with your own. Not every collaboration will be long term. Sometimes the learning will be short, sharp and possibly even painful, before it turns into the wisdom that is gained from experience. At other times the journey will be more loving, supportive and harmonious. This is neither better nor worse, just different.
You are no longer to think of yourself as the lone wolf. Yes, you have your unique path to tread, but you now have tasks to accomplish for you own growth and the greater good that require more than a one-man-band. You will still do your own work, of course. However others are on the way to help you. There is only so much a single drop of water can do on its own, though it is precious. Together those drops can become a wave and make a considerable impact in the world. You are a part of a wave of loving consciousness and you are meant to be exploring collaborative dreams, healing relationships and conscious communities. Some connections will be short lived and perhaps involve some learning experiences that you are hopeful of never needing to repeat. Others will be longer term loves. Either way, you will emerge more of yourself and more in connection with the world that wants your ideas, presence, energy and light.
If you are struggling in a group and wondering whether to continue or to let it go and move on, trust your heart and don’t allow any group to become more powerful that the wisdom of your own heart. Always allow the sacred rebel within you to question authority! Is it loving and wise authority? Or is it coming from a place of fear-based control? Look to your hearts wisdom to discern whether your involvement in a group is healthy or not. Sometimes a group can only receive so much of our energy before it is time to move on. Sometimes a group is not receiving us at all but we feel that we are meant to be a guiding hand in it for a period of time, before our heart urges us to let go. Ask for guidance, do the healing process below and trust in the feelings that become clear to you over time. You will know what to do and you must always trust your own voice above any other.
Healing process :: Imagine a chain of paper dolls, all connected, forming a circle.
Imagine that the circular chain of paper dolls can be filled with a beautiful golden light, which begins in the heart of each paper doll. The light shines out and shimmers, making the paper dolls radiant, shining and golden.
Imagine a feeling of love, connection, help and goodwill shining along with golden light.
Stay with that image or feeling as long as feels good for you. Then simply open your eyes and you have completed your healing process.
I wonder about rebirth, about the next experience, the next atmosphere inhabited … certainly, there are many opportunities.
It’s graduation time.
Something is happening 250 miles above the earth. There are orbs, life forms, moving freely up, down, sideways, and any direction they will. Many people dedicate much time to videoing these orbs in their own homes, or elsewhere. Strange to see them in space too …
We have a physical body we can see. Perhaps the unseen are only unseen because the body’s they inhabit take on the appearance of whatever is around them, effectively blending into the environment. To us, it looks like the environment … but how many actual chameleon-like bodies are surrounding us at all times?
No such thing as being alone.
The human body is an antennae, a water filled electrical conduit, and it picks up on the slightest vibration, whether aware of it or not.
Some think their mood swings are all about their personality, and it sort of is – but for the most part I think they are extra sensitive and picking up on, and sometimes embodying, the energetics of others.
It is important to know what emotions, fueled by whatever type of energy, actually belong to us or are simply being picked up on and felt from another’s output., because not only are we an antennae, we are a power source, and empower that which is circulating within us … whether the thought, feeling or emotion actually belongs to us or not.
This stuff is like tar … it sticks to the energetic body, unless we can become aware of it and consciously release it, let it flow on out like a breath rather than constricting with it.
Taking charge isn’t always loud, sometimes it’s only a whisper in the mind, exercising the will to be as is without accepting the gifts of the wave, the energetic ocean of waves that we walk through and swim in on a daily basis.
Sort of like in the actual ocean where one gets wet, but the inner portion of the body remains as is. In the ocean of vibration, which is filled with waves coming from every aspect of surrounding life, it’s important to be “water proof” and let it roll off like water on feathers.
Physical body, emotional body, mental body, etheric body… and more! Caring for our body’s is so much more detailed than simply what we ‘see’.
There are many opinions around you. Some are helpful but others are distracting you from your truth. Although it can be helpful to hear the thoughts of others, when it comes down to it, you will have to come to your own decision. Do you know how unique you are? How your path is your path to be chosen, lived and created – only by you? Someone else cannot become the source of your decision-making power without negative repercussions for both of you in the long run.
You have become swept up in thinking things through. You have been thinking about which way to go with a matter of importance and you have got a bit stuck in the logic of the decision-making process. Sometimes we have to accept that any path is a path forward and if it is not the best path, we can change our approach later on if needed. If we are slightly off-base with a decision, life will often shift and move to guide us back on track. We don’t have to be perfect. In fact, there is rarely ever a perfect choice to be made – just some choices that feel more heart honoring than others. Sometimes we can only really know in hindsight if we made the best choice possible in that moment. At the time of decision-making, we only really have our internal wisdom to rely upon. And that is all we need.
There is no need to punish or traumatize yourself with possible choices. Just making a choice will set things in motion. The best way to catalyze the situation you are in and bring about healing change, stimulate your creative juices and find a more inspired, energized and enjoyable approach to your life, is to just make a choice based on what you feel right now. Not based on anyone else’s feelings. Just yours. So ask yourself – what do I feel right now? And go from there.
If you cannot relate to the need to make a choice between two or more clear alternatives, know this, you are at a crossroads in your journey and the choices you make at this time – even simply choosing to do things a little differently, without much drama associated with the decision – are powerful triggers for some great magic to enter your life.
Take a different approach to something. Be open to that which makes you uncomfortable but could be exciting and interesting. Even small adventures will yield big rewards right now. It matters less that you do the most wonderful thing ever (too much pressure!) and more that you simply take action from your heart. Open up to the creative magic of life and don’t worry about how it is all going to work out. The bigger creative flow of life is sorting out all the details and you are not immune to that plan. In fact you are a natural part of it! So just spend some time with your own feelings and know that all is going to work out perfectly.
Healing process :: Close your eyes and relax, rest your open palms facing upwards on your legs. Imagine that you have a ball of light in each hand. If you find it hard to visualize or feel, you may prefer to draw this process in your journal instead.
Focus on one ball of light first. What color or colors does it feel like? What feelings, words, symbols or qualities does it have? How heavy or light is it? How substantial? What do you feel about it? Do you like it?
Turn your attention to the second ball of light. Repeat the investigation or exploration that you did for the first.
When you are ready, choose one. There is no wrong or right choice, just whatever captures your attention, energy or heart most at this moment. The other may be there waiting for you later on, if it needs be – or it might be easily released, if that most serves your life’s path and creative journey.
You may like to take that chosen ball of light and imagine sending it our into the universe with love. If you have drawn it, you might like to add words, feelings or colors.
When you have finished, simply say, “My choices flow easily from my heart and I tread my path with certainty and grace, always within the merciful protection of unconditional love. So be it.”
When you are ready, simply open your eyes and you have completed your healing process.
No matter how powerful we are, how much courage and strength we have, there are times when we can’t quite move ourselves along to the next phase of life or creative exploration. At such times we need some divine intervention – a little help in pulling our trolley along, so to speak. When we are at the edge of our own limits and have no more personal resources, we might be left with only one spiritual power, that of faith. Fortunately that is enough.
As unlikely as it may seem, the invisible help from the universe is often more powerful than the physical efforts of a thousand men. That is because the invisible help is not limited by physical laws. It can shift, bend and move in ways that defy limitation. It can affect, evoke and influence situations through invisible, but undeniably persuasive means.
You are in a situation where you cannot ‘set right’ the course of events all by yourself. This is not an indication that you have done something wrong, nor does this suggest that you are not strong enough. It is a sign that there is something bigger unfolding in your life and your willpower will be supplemented by the power of life itself. Sometimes a bigger plan needs to manifest for the benefit of humanity and the earth. You need to shift your perspective to realize that you are part of the greater unfoldment of life, that your individual life serves the greater plan and that you are not separate from its genius. This is what is happening now. You happen to be instrumental to the greater plan and as such, you need to accept your position and be moved, while also being empowered and protected as you make personal progress through your role in that grander scheme.
This is a time for humility and trust. You need complete faith in the processes and events that are happening. There is nothing to worry about, you will be moved most fully and easily, and with the most grace and assistance, through your faithful surrender. Ironically, it is through complete surrender, in total faith, that we become the most empowered. When we are no longer trying to impede the perfection of the greater plan, we can be aligned with and moved by the process. Having faith in the benevolence of life – rather than harboring the suspicion that life is seeking to catch us out, have a joke at our expense or carelessly toss us about as though we mean nothing – then we can relax a little. Having faith in the process gives you space to be curious about what is taking place and to relax enough to be open to what we are most in need of, even if we aren’t exactly sure what that is or how it can happen.
There is now an opportunity for you to be moved from the situation you are currently in, to the next chapter in your life story. You can’t do it on your own. It is too big a shift. It needs the grace of life to intervene on your behalf.
You will need faith though. You may feel as though the wheels of your trolley are coming off or that they are a bit rickety, but you must also understand that the voice of life is now coming straight to your heart with this message:
“I have resources you know not of. It is safe to trust in my ways and in my wisdom, for I love you and am guiding you into all that is rightfully yours. Know that what is rightfully yours is what your heart truly desires and you need not fear loss. Nothing that is meant to come to you will be denied and it is safe for you to let go and allow me to move you.”
Through faith, peace is restored and you are able to know this, and perhaps have some fun in the process.
Healing process :: Say aloud, “I now ask that all disappointing experiences of the past that have led me to believe that life is not trustworthy or that faith is a silly or immature way to deal with life, be released from my mind, body and heart. I ask for help to accept that I can and will attract all that is needed into my life, at the perfect time and in the perfect way. I ask to be empowered to absolutely receive all that can assist me with gratitude and without shame or guilt. In doing so, I dedicate myself to be a clear, loving, open channel for the flow of life. I know the benefit in doing so is not limited to me, but will flow so that life can benefit others through me. I trust in this now, through unconditional love, so be it.”
You have completed your healing process. If needed, repeat the above prayer each day to help you boost your confidence that everything can and will sort itself out, whether you feel in control or not. In fact, it can do so more easily when you don’t feel in control.
Accurate, painted as if they were a lot like us, loved flowers, children and fell in love.
They lived over much of Europe, from 400,000 years ago unto 30,000 years ago. They interbred with us, so they live on, but are not found as a distinct species.
We coexisted with them for 10 or 20 millennia and our genes say we mated “freely,” as one geneticist put it.
At the high point, our genes were 10 percent Neandertal.
Their brains were bigger than ours and they were stronger and hardier. They were here for 100,000 years before the first traces of us. They are not our ancestors but a cousin species to us. We both came from homo erectus, who appeared 1.9m years ago.
All 3 species coexisted for 150,000 years. H. erectus left Africa and colonized Europe and Asia long before Neandthals and us.
The genes for white skin and blue eyes don’t appear till 8,000 years ago.
Artwork by scientific illustrator Tom Bjorklund of Finland
