Home of the Deborah King Center

Ojai: The Shangri-La of Spirit

by Energy HealingFeatured

I’m excited to announce that the Deborah King Center has moved to Ojai, California, a true Shangri-La for the spirit. I taught a workshop here a few years ago, and sensed the deep vibration that the Valley holds; that motivated me to relocate our Center here. You may not know much about Ojai, so I thought I’d tell you something about this magical mystical place and the people who were its earliest inhabitants—the Chumash—who chose Ojai as their sacred ground.

The Chumash tribe lived along the California coast, from Malibu to Paso Robles, for the past 13,000 years. They were some of the first people to inhabit North America and may have settled here after Atlantis and Lemuria were lost.

They called themselves “the first people,” and said the Pacific Ocean was their first home. Their creation legend of the Rainbow Bridge says that the Chumash were created from a seed planted by the earth goddess. They prospered for many years on Santa Cruz Island until they became too populous, so the earth goddess created a bridge out of a rainbow in order to move the people over to the mainland. The rainbow bridge stretched from the high peaks of Santa Cruz Island to the shore near modern-day Carpinteria. Many of their people made it across the bridge, but some looked down at the waters of the Pacific, shrouded in fog, became dizzy and fell into the ocean. The earth goddess turned the fallen ones into dolphins, which is why the Chumash claim dolphins as their brothers and sisters.

With a fortunate climate and lots of natural land and sea resources, the Chumash developed over 150 well-organized villages that thrived with basketry, bead making, boat building, and trading. The word “Chumash means “seashell people.”

The Chumash astronomers charted the night sky and had their own solar and star charts, which were interpreted by their shaman/astrologers. In their cosmology, the Sun was an aged widower who carried a blazing torch; the Moon was a female god who controlled human health, and Venus was a kindly god as the morning star, but an evil god as the evening star. The “Scorpion Tree” arborglyph (a carving on a tree) in a centuries-old gnarled oak on top of the Saint Lucia Mountains shows the rotation of stars around Polaris and portrays the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear (which includes the Big Dipper), in relation to the pole star.

The Chumash were a matriarchal society; nevertheless, both men and women were equally able to serve as chiefs and priests. They lived in direct relationship to each other, their land, the greater world, and out into the universe. Every part of nature was seen as imbued with spirit, from lowly rocks to the celestial orbs in the sky, and these spirits could communicate with one another. The Chumash were master herbalists. Their shamans were the healers, astronomers and community leaders; they drew strength from the two sacred mountains at each end of the valley. On the summit of Iwihinmu (Mt. Pinos) was a shrine for offerings—a sacred spot where they could look in all four directions and see their entire world.

They were guided by three basic laws: (1) To be happy in your own abilities, not envy those of others; (2) To take only what you needed from the land and sea and leave some for the future; and (3) To give from the kindness of your heart without expecting anything in return.

The Chumash brought their values to the primordial beauty of Ojai, and the vibration of their sacred connection to the land is still palpable here.

Ojai is the only place with a street named for the Theosophist Annie Besant. She owned the Ojai newspaper and felt Ojai was the magnetic center of the universe. She started a school in Ojai where students were taught how to think rather than what to think. Ojai is also home to the Krishnamurti Foundation. Krishnamurti was a protégé of Annie Besant and a noted spiritual teacher in his own right; he founded the Oak Grove School that continues to operate in Ojai today. Ojai is also home to the Krotona School of Theosophy, which began as a Utopian oasis in Hollywood with a focus on Forbidden Knowledge and human potential. There are all sorts of theosophical shrines—as well as the Liberal Catholic Church of Our Lady and All Angels; Meditation Mount, the center of Alice Bailey’s “New Group of World Servers”; and the Ecumenical Ministry of the Unity of All Religions. Even the community Art Center holds monthly Sufi Dances of Universal Peace.

In the Chumash language, Ojai means “Valley of the Moon.” The valley, only three miles wide and ten miles long, served as Shangri-La, the mythical paradise of eternal youth, for the 1930s movie Lost Horizon. And that’s what Ojai can be for you—a paradise in which you restore yourself: body, mind, and soul.

My next Retreat will be in Ojai at the Ojai Valley Inn in the Fall, check it out and hope you can join me for a hallowed and uplifting weekend.

Read more about Ojai, and all it offers spiritually, here.

Violet Flame blog image

The Violet Flame: A Mystical Tool for Transforming Your Trauma

by Energy HealingFeatured

In my twenties, I was in the fast lane: a young attorney with plans to conquer the corporate world (as well as the highest and hardest ski slopes and mountain tops). But as the saying goes, if you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans.

I was basically fueling my life with alcohol, Valium, and high-risk sports that helped me keep the memories of childhood abuse under some sort of illusory control. Then came a shocking diagnosis of cervical cancer. I didn’t want the radical surgery that was the standard of care at the time. The doctors gave me a few months before I’d have to have the surgery, so I started looking for alternate ways to heal.

I knew I had to lose the addictions, so I joined AA, which had the added benefit of reconnecting me to spirit. As a child of Catholic schools, I had been able to commune with Jesus and the saints, but had thrown those babies out with bathwater in my rebellious teens; with AA, I got back in touch. I also wanted to figure out what I was really feeling, so I began to journal. Here on the blank pages I could release all my pent-up remembrances of my horrific childhood. And I learned to meditate, which gave me a new-found clarity. It was my meditation teacher who helped me to understand the post-traumatic stress syndrome my childhood had bequeathed me.

In short order, I was led to an energy healer and, several sessions later, to the astonishment of my doctors, I experienced a remission of the cancer. While the physical problem was gone, I knew the emotional trauma that led to the cancer was still inside, waiting for its chance to jump me again.

I started looking for a way to get rid of my leftover emotional baggage. The more I learned about energy healing—the new path my life had taken—the more I realized that emotions have their own energy, and that energy can be transformed: it can shift from being a negative destructive force and become an instrument or force for the light. Like the way my journal entries that helped me release my memories of abuse turned into my first bestselling book, Truth Heals, which has helped countless others with their own traumatic past.

Think of the emotional baggage you carry—the traumatic events you have lived through. It could be a breakup or divorce that really traumatized you or the death of a loved one, especially if they died “too young.” Grief that is not released from the heart can cause havoc with your health. It could be surviving a natural disaster, like a flood or earthquake; a terrifying auto accident; any form of abuse or sexual harassment; a devastating financial loss, like many of us experienced when the real estate market collapsed; or a disease like cancer. It could be that you were bullied in school, mistreated at work, or taunted for being gay or different in any way. There are so many ways in which you can experience trauma, and it doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can be words spoken carelessly that cut you to the core. No one sees the scars, but they are there.

Do you shake it off and promptly say, “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” Uh-oh. You may think you’re fine; you may hope you’re fine; but are you really?

After I was physically healed of the cancer, I knew I still had an emotional garbage deep inside, so I searched for methods that were spiritually based and worked with energy. And I came across (oh, the serendipities of life) the Ascended Master Saint Germain and the Temple of the Violet Flame. The technique that utilizes the Violet Flame involves the transmutation of your old wounds, actually transforming the negative energies into a higher light. It’s pure alchemy, and I am offering that astounding experience to you . . . for free.

Do you have old wounds or recent traumas that you’d like to release? Do you want to feel vitally alive and filled with enough energy to get through your to-do list and check off your bucket list? If you are struggling with trauma, if you are seeking emotional healing, check out my free webinar and come experience the Violet Flame with me! on Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 11am PST / 2pm EST.

How to Lose Weight Without Dieting

How To Lose Weight Without Dieting

by Energy HealingFeaturedHealth

It’s nearly the end of January and chances are you’ve already blown your resolution to eat right and lose weight this year. Resolutions and dieting just don’t work. So what can you do about those unwanted and unhealthy extra pounds?

You can throw away your scales—the one in your bathroom that makes you cringe, and the one in your kitchen where you so carefully weigh out your food portions (before sliding into that pint of cookie dough ice cream). You can stop tracking calories in/calories out. You can stop worrying about which diet, and there are so many of them, might work this time.

Instead, use intuitive eating, a throwback to our ancestors.

Intuitive eating relies on your connection to your own body. In a culture based on intellect rather than intuition, in a workplace that requires sitting in front of a computer all day, in the fast-paced digital era where there is always a screen available to suck you into your head, you are probably not all that aware of your body . . . until it’s too late.

You didn’t notice what you were doing until the whole bag of chips was gone. Or your knees were hurting and the doctor said those extra 30 pounds weren’t helping. And you swore you would stop, until you remembered you had stashed a chocolate bar in the lower desk drawer.

Why do we so often eat in a way that hurts us rather than nurtures us? There are a lot of theories for why so many people eat in a way that is ultimately harmful to themselves—to their health, their appearance, their self-esteem. But, as a teacher of Ayurveda who’s worked with literally thousands of individuals, I know it all comes down to each individual’s makeup, the time of life they are in, and what they are dealing with emotionally. There is no one way for all, ever.

You may eat too much because you looked awesome in high school and could “get away with” eating everything, until you couldn’t. Or you were a slightly overweight child who grew into an even more overweight adult who is now treading the line of obesity. Or you picked up a wine habit that really added on the calories. Or you took medicine that put on the pounds. Or … or… or…

And you tried Weight Watchers and the Mediterranean diet and veganism and vegetarianism and raw food and fasting and the keto diet and eating right for your blood type and . . . you may have even lost weight, but put it right back on.

So throw away the rule book.

If you’re the type who isn’t hungry in the morning, don’t worry about “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” I have a completely healthy 70-year-old student who has her cup of coffee in the morning and hits the gym for an hour before eating breakfast. On the other hand, if you wake up hungry enough to eat a cow, go ahead, your body is telling you it needs the protein.

The trick is to know when you’ve had enough. As a student of Ayurveda, I would counsel you when you’re eating, take a bite or two or three and then put down your fork. Notice how well you’re chewing. Did you swallow quickly in your haste to eat? That food will be harder for your stomach to digest. Try stopping when you’re halfway through your plate of food. Notice: are you still hungry? Are you emotionally satisfied? Do you want to eat more because you’re needing more food, or just because there is food still on the plate? Were you taught to finish your plate, or are you able to leave food on your plate when you’re no longer hungry? Are there enough of the six flavors (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent) in the food you’re eating to be satisfying? You need those six flavors at every meal or you’ll be inclined to overeat because you’re not feeling satiated.

Try eating half your lunch and keeping the other half for a mid-afternoon snack. Maybe you need a lot less food to make your body happy at each meal than you’re thinking. But don’t save food beyond a couple of hours, as it becomes amma, or too dead to do anything except put on pounds and wreak havoc at the cellular level.

Remember, no rules. If you don’t feel like eating, don’t. If you don’t like kale, don’t eat it. If you are craving pasta with alfredo sauce, eat half the serving and then evaluate how you feel.

If you binge, notice how your body feels, as well as your mind. The more you realize what food is doing to your body and how it makes you feel, the more in tune with your body you will become and the healthier and happier you’ll be.

So what should you eat? Anything you want that makes your body feel good rather than painful. How much? Enough to just satisfy hunger, not enough to bring on pain. One of my venerable teachers from the East taught me to eat just enough to fit in the palm of my hand; surprisingly, it is enough.

In a sense, this way of relating food to your body, instead of simply obeying the psychological forces behind your way of eating, is a spiritual path, not just a health fix. You have to become more conscious, more aware of what you’re doing. From Ayurveda, I know we have to acknowledge and respect our digestion—it is the gateway between the food we put in our mouths and the nurturance our bodies receive.

Take a moment and feel your stomach: take a deep breath, deep enough so you can actually feel the middle of your body. Bring your awareness down from your thinking mind and into your body. It is, after all, the temple that is housing your soul.

Make this your resolution: This year I will be kind to my body.

Staying Friends After Divorce

Staying Friends After Divorce

by Energy HealingFeaturedRelationships

It doesn’t have to be a horror show. Divorce, that is. It doesn’t even have to be a battle. True, the marriage is ending. Your role is changing. You didn’t think it would happen to you, but it is. Even when you have all the money in the world.

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, and his wife of 25 years, MacKenzie Bezos, are sitting on a billion dollar fortune, 30 times over. So money obviously wasn’t the problem in their relationship. But people change over a quarter of a century. McKenzie is a novelist, although she worked as an accountant back at the beginning of Amazon. When it was up and running successfully, she stepped out of the business to concentrate on writing and raising their four children. Jeff is busy being a business mogul and the world’s richest man. Desires change, directions shift. Last week they announced their divorce in a joint statement on Twitter. I think it’s important to read the whole tweet.

“We want to make people aware of a development in our lives. As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends. We feel incredibly lucky to have found each other and deeply grateful for every one of the years we have been married to each other. If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again. We’ve had such a great life together as a married couple, and we also see wonderful futures ahead, as parents, friends, partners in ventures and projects, and as individuals pursuing ventures and adventures. Though the labels might be different, we remain a family, and we remain cherished friends.”

Isn’t that an incredible attitude toward a divorce!

How is it even possible? How can you split up and still be friends? Aren’t you supposed to hate the other, say bad things about them to the kids, and never see each other or speak again unless absolutely necessary?

A successful relationship is built on mutual respect, admiration, and affection. And over the long term, like 25 years of marriage, two individuals learn how to manage any conflict between them. They trust each other, and share a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. Obviously something has to change for a marriage to split up, and the Bezos have not been forthcoming on whatever situation created their divorce, but they are handling it as mature adults. They aren’t blaming each other. They speak respectfully about each other. They plan to continue sharing their lives—from the divorce announcement itself to raising their four children—as friends, just not as husband and wife.

You may think, well, of course there’s no problem; they have all the money in the world. But money isn’t the only point of contention in the breakup of a relationship; often it’s simply a divergence of interests. It’s not a sign of failure to divorce; instead, focus on all the good things that you got out of the relationship, and be grateful for them. Remember the affection that first brought you together. Respect the person enough to say kind things about them to the kids, co-workers, and friends. You want to go in different directions, but don’t want to lose the other. You started as friends and can stay friends.

I have a student who, when she got divorced, shared a lawyer with her soon-to-be ex, who wrote up their settlement together, saving many dollars and much animosity. They were married 20 years and are still friends, now many years later, working with each other on projects. It is possible.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that there isn’t personal heartbreak. Divorce can be traumatic but you should not feel like you failed; there is no moral rule that a relationship must last a lifetime. Be pleased with the good times that you did have and leave the relationship with as much love and respect as you entered into it. You’ll be glad you did.

You are a Vital Part of the Universe

You Are a Vital Part of the Universe

by ChakrasEnergy HealingFeatured

There are still a few days left in the seasonal opening that occurs around the winter solstice, a time period running from December 12 through January 12, for deep spiritual exploration.

So I want you to do something. Even though it’s cold, step outside on a clear night and look up at the great vault of the heavens at the vast number of stars. Those tiny pinpoints of light are actually large celestial bodies, all moving through space in the stately dance of our solar system. And our solar system is only one among many.

Send your awareness out, out beyond our planet; out beyond our solar system with its orbiting planets, moons, asteroids, and comets; out beyond the multiple suns in our Milky Way galaxy; and further out beyond the billions of distant galaxies that make up our universe. There is no stopping point, no boundary, no end.

You are as vast as the universe

As you look out into the enormity of space, do you feel small? Insignificant? Powerless? Do you feel like “you” stops at your skin? While it’s true that your physical body, one of 7.7 billion on our planet, is infinitesimally tiny when compared to the universe, you are made from the same stardust as the huge celestial orbs of multiple galaxies.

You are as vast as the universe. You hold within yourself the infinity of cosmic creation, the birthing of stars, the mystery of life. As Walt Whitman wrote in “Song of Myself”: “I am large, I contain multitudes.”

When you allow yourself to expand into the boundless and limitless universe, you connect to your own immensity. Yes, you are the child of Mother Earth and Father Sky, an amalgam of dark and light, conflict and harmony, imperfections and stunning abilities. You contain multitudes. And the universe recognizes your unique existence, just as it acknowledges every spark of life in each plant, animal, and human on earth, each seeking its own merging with the light into the unity of universal unconditional love.

Outer and inner space

One of my students visited the Kennedy Space Center over the holidays and told us how impressed she was by the enormous size of the Saturn V rocket that blasted the Apollo astronauts to the moon, and the courage it took for those early space travelers to sit atop that monstrous rocket about to be hurled into the unknown with the force of 7.5 million pounds of thrust. And yet going to the moon is but a baby step in the exploration of outer space.

“Inner” space also seeks to be known. As many questions as scientists have about outer space and the planets and stars of our solar system and beyond, so do you have questions about the unknowns of your own inner space. What is my purpose here? Who am I? What is my path to happiness? The rocketship that launches you into this type of discovery is meditation and other contemplative practices—ones that make you look inside.

One of the seven principles of Hermes Trismegistus, written in the Hermetic sacred texts, is: As within, so without; as above, so below. This interconnectedness of all things is one of the great secrets of life. What you think and feel inside yourself is expressed or reflected in the outer world. It means there needs to be harmony between your inner spiritual realm and the physical world you inhabit (including your body) in order to grow in consciousness and expand into the furthest reaches of inner and outer space.

All the great spiritual teachers have expounded on the same lesson. Plato called self-knowledge the “very essence of knowledge.” Confucius instructed the Chinese emperor to deal honestly within himself as well as dealing honestly with all in his empire. Muhammad put it like this: “That which perceives this world is sight, while that which perceives the World of the Unseen is insight.”

In the Vedic Upanishads, it is said:

“Thus we look to the world

Without and see not the Self within us.

A sage withdrew his senses from the world

Of change and, seeking immortality,

Looked within and beheld the deathless Self.”

As you stand outside on a cold winter’s night, gazing up at the endless firmament, the vast dome of the heavens, breathe as one with the universe. Your breath is the breath of the universe. Your eyes are its eyes. Its pulsing heart is the beat of your heart. You are as immeasurable as the stars, which shine with your reflected light.

In these next few days, feel how expansive you and your chakras really are. Know that you, a tiny dot of physicality on the third planet around a single sun, are a vital part of the universe. And as you awaken, so does the cosmos.

Mother in the new year

5 Ways to Replenish Your Divine Feminine (and Why Now is the Ideal Time to Do It)

by Divine FeminineEnergy HealingFeatured

5 Ways to Replenish Your Divine Feminine (and Why Now is the Ideal Time to Do It)

The beginning is always a birth, and a birth needs a mother. The same is as true for the beginning of a new year as it is for the start of any new life. The Mother comes first.

Many cultures throughout history have birthed their Sun gods in late December or early January. In Hellenistic times in Greece, on the night of the January 5th, Aion, or time, was born from his mother Kore, the Virgin. Early Christians chose December 25 as the day of Christ’s birth from a Virgin, the same day the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis gave birth to her son Horus, a sky god who contained the sun and the moon and was thus the god of light.

Why was December 25th the birthday of solar deities? Because the Roman calendar considered December 25th the traditional date of the winter solstice, even though it was off from the astronomical solstice. By December 25th, you can actually see that the sun is returning. Early Christians chose that date because it was the return of the light, thus connecting the birth of Jesus with the birth of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun.

Christians were not the only ones to recognize the days between the Winter Solstice on December 21st, when the return of the light begins, and January 10th as the period of time that rightfully belongs to the returning light as it is birthed by the Mother.

Images of Isis with Horus on her lap became the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus when the temples of Isis were turned into Christian cathedrals. In her temple at Philae, Isis was herself worshipped as a Sun Goddess and as the Sun itself. An inscription at that temple says Isis is the “One Who illumines the Two Lands with Her radiance…”

Isis herself was born at this time of year. The Egyptian calendar had 360 days and added the “epagomenal”—five days at the end of the year to complete the 365 days of the solar year. During those extra five days, the Egyptian goddess Nut gave birth on the first day to Osiris, on the second to Horus the Elder, on the third to Set, and on the fourth to Isis.

Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of Mary on January 1st, the Octave (8th) day of Christmastide. In 1960, Pope John XXIII gave the day fully to Mary and the part she played in the “mystery of salvation.”

All of that is to say the Divine Feminine energy is uppermost, and most available to you, from mid-December to mid-January, when the mother births the return of the light. The feminine part of your consciousness, whether you are male or female, is responsible for nurturance, intuition, empathy, creation, community, collaboration, and the feeling rather than thinking sense.

So how can you replenish your divine feminine at this auspicious time of year? Or as the ancient Sumerians put it: “In Hestia, the darkest month, a tiny light is born. Our Lady, Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, in Her Mother’s arms, shines forth on the grey dawn.”

Here are a few suggestions for bringing the light of the divine feminine more strongly into your life:

Try cooperation instead of competition

Climbing the ladder of success by stepping on other people is the masculine image of competition. Other people are seen as possible threats and you have to fight for what’s yours. But when you operate out of your divine feminine, others are seen as allies or mentors that you want to bring into your circle, not keep them out. The circle, not the hierarchical ladder, is the symbol of the divine feminine energy of inclusion.

Intuition, not just rationality.

The cognitive mind does a great job at thinking, but often misses the wisdom that is available from the senses of the body. Your mind may say “I’m confident I can do this,” while your stomach is “tied up in knots.” Listen to your body. Listen to the intuitive sense that says “stay away from this guy” rather than thinking, “what a great job he has.” Meditation is the master key to strengthening your intuition.

Seek balance.

You may be working on “loving everyone,” but have you allowed into yourself the love that is offered to you by others? Is the energy you expend balanced with the energy you take in? Are you taking care of yourself as well as caring for others? Are of head and heart in balance? Are your chakras in alignment?

Help Mother Earth.

We have dishonored the Great Mother in the way mankind has treated Gaia, our beloved planet Earth. Spend some time caring for the earth in any way you can—recycling; planting trees; cleaning the waters; using alternative forms of energy; clearing your house of toxic chemicals; eating more plant-based food than animals; living in harmony with the plant and animal kingdoms.

Listen, and keep your heart open.

The divine feminine is birthed in an open heart and receptive frame of mind.

So before you take down all those Christmas lights, or put away the menorah that held the Hanukkah candles, or light the seven candles in the Kwanzaa kinara, or get out the lanterns for Chinese New Year, or remember all the floating lights of Diwali, think about how you can birth this new year and strengthen your divine feminine connection to the light.

 

This is the ideal time of year to awaken the Divine Feminine energy within you, to discover this sacred power of healing and grace, so you can see the world with clear eyes and a full heart. To begin your journey towards activating your sacred feminine energy and connecting to your soul’s wisdom, so you can live a life of beautiful radiance, click here.

Light Up Your Life

Light Up Your Life

by Astrological EventsEnergy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedSolar

Winter Solstice is a time of great symbolism and a time of reflection as the darkest and longest night of the year gives way to the return of the sun. Solstice actually lasts for 3 days, since the change in the Sun’s path is so slight on the days around the solstice that the Sun seems to “stand still.” The “high noon” of Solstice is when the Sun is exactly overhead the Tropic of Capricorn. This year, that moment is on December 21st at 5:22 p.m. EST.

This is a great time to ask yourself: What in your life needs to emerge from the darkness into the light? What seeds have been nurtured in the depths of your being that want to find expression in the light?

All ancient spiritual teachers had some type of ceremony to honor the return of the sun, and they left us some vivid reminders. Stonehenge in England is known for its precise alignment with the movement of the sun and has been a sacred place to celebrate the solstice for thousands of years. The same is true for Newgrange, a burial mound in Ireland that is over 5,000 years old. It has a 62-foot passage leading to a chamber. During winter solstice, the rising sun comes through the top of the chamber and lights the room.

All over the world, there are festivals and rituals to mark the beginning of longer days and the return of the Sun, symbolized by Christmas tree lights, menorahs, Kwanzaa candles, and Twelfth Night bonfires. Another of the ancient customs comes from the Druids and Pagans, who still call their celebration Yule and burn a yule log. The log, an emblem of the returning Sun, is a huge block of wood, meant to last for the 12 days of Christmas, turning night into day and illuminating the house.

There is something within us all that needs to know there will be light after the darkness of the longest night. So how will you celebrate the Sun’s return to greater light?

You could make your own yule log. Each type of wood has its own spiritual qualities, and the type of wood you burn in a ritual can indicate your hopes and prayers for the new year ahead. Aspen brings spiritual understanding; oak symbolizes endurance and strength, victory and triumph; pine (fir, juniper, cedar) can bring prosperity and protection; the yew tree connects with immortality and longevity; and birch is associated with rebirth and regeneration, as well as fertility.

You can decorate your yule log with candles and greenery. A sprig of holly ensures your family’s safety and brings good luck. And do you know the song about “the holly and the ivy?” Ivy lives on after its host plant has died—a reminder that life goes on. It symbolizes healing, protection, and the binding of lovers together, so it’s associated with loyalty and the powerful bonds of family and friends. And then there’s mistletoe, associated with peacemaking and the end of discord, not just kisses, although nothing wrong with them either!

Wrap your log loosely with ribbons of different colors. Here again, see what you want to symbolize. Red, which we associate with Christmas poinsettias, holly berries, and Santa’s suit, is used to indicate passion and prosperity and good fortune. Green, the other color associated with the Yule season, is a reminder of the evergreen tree, and therefore everlasting life. White symbolizes purity and truth and represents purification and spiritual development. Gold, of course, is the blazing sun. It was one of the gifts brought to the newborn “light” of Jesus by the Magi, and the first menorah was made from a single lump of gold. Gold ribbons invite in wealth for the coming year and a sense of revitalization. You can also decorate the log with pine cones, dried berries, cinnamon sticks (makes a lovely smell as the log burns), along with the ribbons and the cuttings of holly and ivy.

When you’re ready to burn your yule log, you can do it in a fireplace or outside in a fire pit. Write down an intention for how you will live in the light during the coming year and stick the paper in with the log. On the night of winter solstice, set up an altar with pictures of your loved ones and spiritual guides, and turn off all the lights in your house, and then meditate. At the end, and facing the altar, say a blessing for the return of the light.

It could be: “The wheel of the year has turned once more. Tonight, the darkness starts to retreat and the light begins its return. The sun returns to us once more.” Then light the log or some candles, and say, “The shadows vanish and life continues. We are blessed by the light of the sun, and the inner sun of our divine self.”

Rituals are reminders. This time of year, in the midst of the usual holiday chaos, align yourself with the solstice and mark the birth of more and more light in your life. It is your light that brings you immortality.

Mary Murphy Blog

Shine like the star you are

by Energy HealingFeaturedGuest Blogs

Guest blog by Mary Murphy, LifeForce Energy Healing® Master Grad Practitioner

Yes, it is the holidays and you remember the bad ones. The ones where dad drank too much and Christmas dinner became a shouting match between the drunk relatives. But this year can be different because you can choose to be different.

Yes, you choose to be different.

We all wish that we could change other people but the truth is we can only change ourselves. We can set boundaries around ourselves to ensure our own mental health. We can set realistic expectations for ourselves.

That is all we can do. Truly the only thing we are in charge of is me, myself and I. You are the master of your own thoughts, emotions and actions. Christmas and the holiday season is a great place to start creating the life you want.

Let’s begin.

Decide what it is that you love and do those things that make you happy.

Many of us take on a huge amount of the responsibility for our families happiness when really it is an individual thing.

First, we need to set reasonable goals for ourselves. Does our house really need to look like the cover of House and Garden? Will it make our celebration more special?

Forcing your husband or significant other to light up the entire house may not make him happy and consequently you as you fight yet again about the lights. Let each person in your household contribute by doing the things that mean the most to them. You’ll be surprised if you ask your kids what it is that is really meaningful to them. Then let them help.

Christmas (or any holiday for that matter) is not the time to be a martyr.

Secondly, pace yourself. If you reach Christmas exhausted and cranky because you’ve been acting like a frantic elf—stop!

If you meditate—keep your practice up.

It is even more important now to be calm and centered as the rest of the world rushes around trying to get the best deal on the big screen TV the family wants.

Exercise—yes in most parts fo the country it is cold and dark. And we are tempted to put it off till the New Year—then we will get back on track.

Keep up whatever you do for exercise.

The endorphins will help you keep humming along and the exercise will keep you from the frustration of the extra 10 pounds that many gain between Christmas and New Year. It will also help keep your cortisol levels from getting out of whack.

And lastly, don’t spend money you don’t have.

It may be tempting to buy things you can’t afford thinking that this is what will make your family happy, when really it is you that makes your family happy.

Sitting on the sofa, sharing a good book, a Christmas movie, a bowl of popcorn, Christmas caroling in your neighborhood, volunteering in the community, those are things that everyone will remember. Do you remember the gift your sibling gave you five years ago? Bet not.

And, if you can afford it, buy something for someone who might not have a Christmas without you.

One of our favorite activities when my children were school age was to get a family in need and buy gifts for them. It helps put things into perspective. Warm clothes and boots and a single toy for a child in need vs the XBOX that seems so necessary!

The holidays are a special time and needn’t be a time of exhaustion and sadness. Spending time with those we love is the real gift we give each other. Think about the things you really love about the holidays and do those. Let go of the rest. And let go of the past. It is over and done with. Set limits. Don’t put up with bad behavior.

A few years ago I bought myself my own Elsa doll that sings “Let it Go.” When I feel particularly wound up, I get the doll out and play the song over and over until I feel better.

And one last thing…don’t look at instagram again until after the New Year. Comparing your holiday to anyone else’s is a recipe for disaster. Be happy with what you have. Cherish your family whatever size, shape, color, gender orientation, race, religion or political persuasion. Time is short. Enjoy every minute!

Shine on you bright star!

Merry Christmas.

Cats - Royal Meow

The Royal Meow

by Energy HealingFeaturedPets

A German Shepherd, a Doberman, and a cat have died. All three are face to face with God, who wants to know what they believe in.

The German shepherd says: “I believe in discipline, training, and loyalty to my master.”

“Good,” says God, “then sit down on my right side. Doberman, what do you believe in?”

The Doberman answers: “I believe in the love, care, and protection of my master.”

“Aha, “ said God, “you may sit to my left.” Then he looks at the cat and asks: “And what do you believe in?”

The cat answers: “I believe you’re sitting in my seat.”

And that is so accurate! It’s like the saying, “Dogs have masters; cats have slaves.” I know, I’ve been a slave to various felines in my life. If you have ever had the privilege of caring for a cat, you know what I mean.

Cats don’t listen to commands. Just try telling a cat to sit, or come, or speak. Instead of instant obedience, you’ll probably get a disdainful look, as befits the royal majesty. Yes, cats have an ancient royal lineage.

Ancient Egypt was famously devoted to cats. The deities Mafdet, Bastet, and Sekhmet all had the heads of cats. Bastet’s job was the protection of her country as well as of home and hearth; she also protected women’s secrets, guarded against evil spirits, and was, naturally, the goddess of cats. Sekhmet was a lion-headed goddess who had to be appeased or else she would wreak havoc (like those YouTube videos of a cat with a roll of toilet paper).

Since the First Dynasty of Egypt, cats—tamed African wildcats—protected the Pharaoh. Mafdet, a deity with the head of a leopard, was the protector of the Pharaoh’s chambers against not only snakes and scorpions, but also against evil. And then, of course, there’s the Sphinx, with a human head on top of the big cat body, guarding the sacred temples and pyramids. Over 200,000 cats have been found mummified in the tombs and “cat”acombs, with small bowls nearby for their milk in the afterlife.

One reason cats were protectors of the temples, besides getting rid of pesky rodents, was their ability to see beyond the physical plane. Cats, who can see in very low light, also sense what’s going on beyond the visible. I’ve seen my cat sit and stare at a spot in my home, checking out the spiritual presence in the room.

In ancient Japan, cats were charged with protecting Buddhist scriptures that were transported on ships from China, keeping mice and rats away from these sacred documents. This gave the Japanese a revered image of cats, which became the featured stars of folk tales in the 6th century. Today, cats and cat images are still aboard ships around the world.

In an ancient Chinese myth, in the beginning of the world the gods asked cats to oversee their new creation, and granted cats the ability to speak. The cats were more interested in playing and sleeping than with running the world. Eventually the cats said, why not put human beings in that position? So the power of speech was given to humans instead of cats, while cats were entrusted with keeping time. There is a belief in China that you can look into a cat’s eyes to tell the time of day. Today, cats have a well-developed love of routine. If your cat likes to have breakfast promptly at 7 in the morning and you oversleep, kitty will let you know in no uncertain terms that it’s time to wake up and feed me!

In 4th century India, the epic poem the Mahabharata had a cat named Lomasa that teamed up with a mouse to escape death, all the while discussing the philosophy of the balance of power in relationships. Despite their size compared to ours, it’s no question of who holds the power in the cat-human relationship!

Back in ancient Persia, Muhammad outlawed harming or killing cats. Muhammad clearly loved his own pretty kitty, Muezza, so when the call to prayer came, he cut the sleeve off his prayer robe, where the cat was napping, rather than wake her up. Another cat, which belonged to an ally of Muhammad’s, saved Muhammad from a snake attack. While petting the cat afterwards, he granted felines the ability to always land on their feet.

Although cats had high standing at first in ancient Europe, when the Christian Church tried to demonize all the important pagan symbols, they associated cats with evil. Pope Gregory IX denounced cats, especially black cats, as being in league with Satan, and they were regularly killed throughout Europe. This let the mice and rat populations explode, and the fleas from these rodents brought about the Bubonic Plague. It took until the reign of Queen Victoria in Great Britain, who adopted two Blue Persians and treated them like members of her court, that Europeans again started keeping cats.

As strange as it may seem, domestic cats didn’t arrive in the U.S. until 1749 CE, when they were brought on board ships from England to help control the rodent population. By 1895, cats had become so popular that the first cat show filled Madison Square Garden in New York.

Well, time to go feed my cat. She’s old and slow these days, but still communicates her desires with that inborn authority to command. And yes, she can sit and nap wherever her royal majesty desires.

If you want to learn more about cats, other pets, and wild animals check out my Communicating with Pets and Animals course.

Dead worshippers

Pipe bombs, assault rifles, and dead worshippers

by AdvocacyEnergy HealingFeaturedSocial ActivismTrauma and Violence

The time has come to take the bull by the horns and deal with a situation none of us likes and yet many don’t know what to do about it. I’m talking about the difficult and dangerous rhetoric being spouted in every direction that leads directly to pipe bombs, assault rifles, and dead worshippers in a house of God.

As a spiritual teacher, I usually remain neutral, seeking the good at the heart of all. But we are headed down a treacherous path and it’s time for each of us to take a stand, express our opinions, make our voices heard to try to save our country and those who live here. Those who are trying to get here to escape precarious conditions in their own country may find themselves facing military personnel bearing arms rather than the open arms of Lady Liberty.

Actions start with words, and these days civil discourse has all but died. In the past, there was an arcane concept called public debate, where opposing arguments were put forward, the matter was deliberated, with each side putting forth the best defenses of their position. Each side listened to and responded—politely!—to the other. The two sides might have disagreed, but neither party reacted with hatred and vitriol to the other. You could have a difference of opinion without being enemies.

Now we find ourselves in an era of incredibly nasty name-calling, horrific personal attack ads, and in-person physical attacks that are praised by those in power.

Politics and culture wars have become so divisive and destructive we’ve become untethered from our values. And it starts at the highest level of government, with a head of state who attacks the opposition—the opposition being anyone and anything that doesn’t kowtow to him, doesn’t kneel and touch the ground in submission. By labeling his opponents as evil, by mocking them publicly, by refusing to recognize the truth, by leading with fear and divisiveness, our so-called “leader” has inspired the violence we see today. He has inspired the unhinged folks who seek death to the enemy—whether that enemy is a politician, a journalist, or a group of brown-skinned women and children.

When the populace isn’t well-educated, when reading has given way to sound bites and memes, when the country’s “leader” speaks from the gutter, with no moral ground to stand upon, he gives the crazies all the permission they need to kill. It’s a well-known fact that human beings imitate behavior and that is a key problem today.

Recently Chris Matthews, a political commentator on MSNBC, shared a story that got me thinking. He’d returned to his hometown in Pennsylvania for an event and had a chance to speak with a number of middle school teachers. What he learned was troubling. Teachers told him about how disrespectfully and hurtfully teens talk to each other these days, in ways these veteran teachers had never seen before. Even worse, these teachers bemoaned what happened when they called their students on such unacceptable behavior. They responded with a shrug of the shoulders and a chilling defense: “Everybody does it, even the President.”

Our past presidents, red and blue, unlike this one, didn’t encourage getting down and dirty by duking it out in the mud. Truth mattered and was valued by people on both sides of the aisle. Our cherished first amendment—freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble peaceably, freedom of religion, and freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances—have all been shoved aside. Only one thing matters to this presidency . . . winning. Winning personal accolades, personal wealth, and unchecked personal power.

When politics is untethered from values, it debases all of us. When immorality, disrespect, and unprincipled standards are encouraged, when fiery words incite violence, when personal power is upheld at our expense, we are on the road to ruin.

So what can each of us do?

Right now, the most important thing we can do is to VOTE on or before November 6th. And we must align our vote with our core values to counteract the amoral standards being set before us as the example to follow. If we vote for candidates who support this kind of demagoguery (a demagogue is a political leader who seeks support by appealing to prejudices), we are condoning violence.

What else can you do besides vote? Encourage others to vote. Knock on doors for candidates you believe can steer us in a better direction. Volunteer to drive others to the polls. Talk and FaceBook and blog about your concerns. Don’t hate on the opposition. Talk about what you like about the candidates you support instead of dumping on the ones you don’t like.

Whatever you do, whatever your politics, seek the high road rather than the low one, and align your choices with your higher self.

If you’re looking for endorsements, you’ve come to wrong place. Each of us will vote red or blue, yea or nay in the privacy of the voting booth, which is our right, our responsibility, and our privilege.

Last week’s rash of pipe bombs, an act of domestic terrorism and political violence, the recent devastation at a Pittsburgh temple by someone who blamed Jews for that pathetic migrant caravan, are but the latest worst-case examples of why our private decisions in the voting booth couldn’t be more important.

Let’s vote for more light, a higher consciousness, and heartfelt consideration for all. But above all, vote!

Breast Cancer

An Alternative Approach to Breast Cancer

by Energy HealingFeaturedWomen

Women are afraid of breast cancer, and rightly so. In the U.S. today, women have a “1 in 8” lifetime risk of getting diagnosed. Who these days doesn’t know several friends or relatives who have had some form of the disease, ranging from early stage DCIS to stage four metastatic breast cancer? I know quite a few of my students who have been through this difficult experience. So let’s talk about the field of energy medicine for women who are dealing with breast cancer.

I have always believed that when you have been diagnosed with cancer, you need everyone on your team—your oncologist, surgeon, radiation oncologist, and other medical personnel—along with practitioners of whatever complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments work most effectively for you. As a spiritual teacher, I highly recommend the supportive measure I believe is vital for dealing with breast cancer treatment, recovery, and prevention of recurrence: a strong, daily meditation program.

There is a lot happening on the alternative (CAM) front these days. One of the encouraging developments is that there are more “integrative oncologists.” These are the doctors who go beyond the standard Western medical care by combining the best of conventional and alternative treatments. While still utilizing surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy (often administered in very different ways than usual), these docs include lifestyle evaluations, recommendations for specific botanicals and supplements to bring the whole body to a better state of health, exercise, and the inclusion of treatments like energy healing, meditation, acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, therapeutic massage, biofeedback, yoga, tai chi, and the expressive arts.

Integrative doctors and CAM practitioners use protocols that are based on the idea that attacking the tumor with the traditional “cut-burn-poison” approach is frequently not enough. They understand the importance of bringing mind-body-spirit into harmony, and relieving the chronic stress that so many live with—stress that promotes inflammation, which is at the root of almost all chronic disease, impacts your “terrain” (the biochemical environment inside your body), and dampens the immune system and body mechanisms that can fight off cancer cells. Toxic exposures from all the hormone-disrupting chemicals in our food and water, plastics, and pollutants in water and air eventually damage genes that can then become cancerous. So these practitioners aim to bolster your immune system and lessen inflammation, while understanding that we are all unique and need individualized healing plans.

Over the last 15 years, almost every major city mainstream hospital, such as MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City, and UC Simms/Mann Center for Integrative Oncology in L.A., has launched integrative programs. To find a cancer center that provides CAM treatments by practitioners trained in cancer care, go to https://fonconsulting.com/resources/integrative-oncology-centers/. When one of my friends was dealing with breast cancer, she went to the Sari Asher Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Palm Beach and was amazed to find a (female) massage therapist who was trained to work directly on her breast to reduce scar tissue after a lumpectomy and radiation.

There are also annual conferences that focus on integrative therapies. The Annie Appleseed Project (https://annieappleseedproject.org), for example, hosts an annual evidence-based complementary/alternative cancer therapies conference that provides outstanding information to practitioners and patients about new possibilities for surviving and beating cancer (and they serve only organic food).

Many of the complementary and alternative treatments are forms of holistic medicine, often based on the wisdom of ancient medical systems, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (which includes acupuncture, tai chi, qigong, herbs, and massage); ayurvedic medicine (stemming from the ancient Indian Vedas); indigenous healing methods; and naturopathy and homeopathy.

If whole-person integrative medicine is to become the new standard of care, and all of us involved in energy medicine certainly hope this happens, there is a lot to be done before most doctors and patients understand its potential. Of course, the biggest problem with CAM treatments is that most integrative services are not YET covered by insurance. But the tide is turning. Kaiser Permanente recently started to offer coverage for acupuncture, chiropractic, and other CAM treatments.

With breast cancer rates in the U.S. predicted to soar 50% by 20301, it’s more important than ever that energy healing is included in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

[1] https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2015/breast-forecast

Cathy Gabrielsen PTSD Blog

5 steps to heal PTSD

by Energy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedTrauma and Violence

Guest blog by Cathy Gabrielsen

Cathy Gabrielsen

When I start asking over and over again if I am OK, if the situation is OK, if the kids, the weather, the roads, are OK, then I am headed for a PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) episode. When I repeatedly ask if you are OK, if you are sick, if your partner or your kids are sick, then I am PTSD. I need constant reassurance that everything is OK. Because a few times in my life, things were definitely not OK.

I am a regular person: a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend. I am just like you, except I was in a war. The war I survived wasn’t on a distant battlefield; instead, it was right here, close to home. Our traumas, our triggers are all unique, but the effects of PTSD are all eerily similar.

One of the many significant challenges of PTSD was the not knowing. Not knowing when I might be triggered, not knowing how long the episode might last, and not knowing how severe it might be. This not knowing was crippling for me. In one moment I was perfectly fine, and the next, I was in a haze, suddenly feeling like I had just time-traveled, I was in this bubble alone, and then came the fear, the shaking, the paranoia, and the tears of despair. What was beginning to surface were emotions from old traumas that were stored deep within me. Trauma like having had my high school boyfriend nearly die in front of me, never to recover; trauma from having had cancer as a young mother, and who knows how many other traumas. Day by day, a part of an old wound would resurface and I would suddenly go PTSD.

To this day, I will never know why the emotions came on the days they did. To this day, I will never remember how long those moments were – if they lasted minutes, hours or days. The only thing I remember is how I felt. What I did not know was that it was pure fear, fear of the remembering and fear of the re-experiencing, as if it were the first time.

But those terrorizing moments, days, weeks, when I was in PTSD eventually passed. It was in those moments when I felt free that I began to get the clarity I needed. Those moments of clarity were the beginning of my surviving PTSD.

On the days I was clear, I talked to my doctor, and I always took the medication, but what I also did was to search for additional ways to heal. I found meditation and energy healing, practices that created a safe space for me to heal. I started to integrate these alternative modalities into my day, in addition to the steps set in place by medical professionals.

It has been over a year and a half since my last PTSD. I am well, I am free of the past, and I have moved on to a better place. I let go of the experience, I put it down as a step on my path to healing, with the intention of never seeing it again.

During the time of struggle, my family was deeply affected by my experiences and pain. They were at a loss, never knowing what to do. Emotions are contagious. When happiness is around us, we are happy, when stress or anger are close to our personal space, we feel it. When I was in PTSD, so was my family to a degree, they saw it, and they felt it even if they didn’t name it. I can remember listening to my husband on the phone, whispering to my doctor, asking questions, for which there were no real answers.

What I found in my search for true emotional and physical wellness, was that healing had to start and end with me. What I encourage family members to do is be a part of the healing plan. Start to incorporate some of the suggestions below into your life too. The fear is real in a person struggling with PTSD, and the concern of living with someone in PTSD is real, in the family members and friends, who witness and love someone through it.

True healing from PTSD is about getting the fear out of your body and out of your energy field. I am no longer taking any medication; I continue with meditation and energy healing and other alternative modalities to stay well. I strongly suggest you follow doctor’s orders while incorporating the following steps into your day-to-day plan, and hopefully, you too will find peace and wholeness.

How I healed from PTSD and how you can too:

  1. Connect. A connection to Source is a path to healing PTSD. The greatest healing will come with a meditation practice. Take the time to connect to a deeper part of yourself and a higher Source of power through prayer and meditation. Connect not only with yourself but with others. Make a list of people who you can call or talk to when you are struggling and reach out to them when you need to. Developing a connection, or a deeper connection with animals and nature is also very healing. Take a silent walk outdoors, keep the phone off and allow yourself to be present. Put your feet on the ground and feel rooted into the ground. If you can’t get outside, look outside and feel the beauty and peace all around.
  2. Awareness. Discover how you feel. Spend time alone, be contemplative, and write what you are thinking; soon you will discover why you feel the way you do. Take the time to become aware of what brings you joy. Find joy in a new activity, something you have always wanted or dreamed of doing, try something new and in the outdoors! Find something that brings you joy, like that perfect sunrise or new flower in bloom.
  3. Walk away. When you find yourself relieving the trauma, or are in the anxious/panic moment, imagine you are walking away from it. There is no help in reliving it or re-experiencing the event; that will do no good. Intend to put the event in your hands, the whole experience, imagine putting it on the side of the road, or in the trash can, or give it to an angel to carry away to the light, but get rid of it so you can move on without it.
  4. Communicate. Get yourself a small notebook, write the truth about how you feel, what you want to let go of, and keep writing. You may not know why you feel the way you do, but communicate what it is you feel, then let it go.
  5. Be Positive. People with PTSD can experience the sounds, the smells, the tastes, the experiences as if they are happening again at that very moment. As you heal, make a note of what positive experiences you have had. Just ask someone you love to describe the person you have become and write the words down. Somehow, I became better for having experienced the worst, and so can you.

Healing began with me by connecting to a higher power through meditation and prayer, by engaging in energy healing, and by grounding myself in nature. I became aware of my feelings, so I could recognize when it was time to walk away from the fear. I also began to communicate in ways I had never done before. And finally, I exchanged joy for fear, seeing a life free of PTSD and full of positive possibilities.

Healing from PTSD is possible – I know, because I healed. You can too!

A speaker, writer, and practitioner in the energy healing field, Cathy Gabrielsen is a LifeForce Energy Healing® Graduate. Her Grabrielsen Healing Center is located in West Chester, PA and provides both individual and group services.

Lying hurts us

Lying: what it does to us (nothing good)

by Energy HealingFeaturedTruth Heals

Lying is in the headlines today, but make no mistake, it’s hardly breaking news. A culture of lying and the devaluation of truth has been evolving for a long time. We’re in the midst of a war on truth and the collateral damage is devastating to us all.

As a spiritual teacher, I’ve been addressing lying for years, even writing a bestseller on that very topic in what now seems like a lifetime ago (how much has changed in the past 10 years!) – Truth Heals: What You Hide Can Hurt You (Hay House, February 2009).

How does lying affect us? Lies have a severe and negative impact on our personal energy field (our chakras) and our bodies, not to mention our souls. We all know the self-inflicted consequences of what we bring down upon ourselves, the emotional and physical damage, when we deny the truth.

On the flip side, once we get in touch with it, the truth has an amazing ability to heal us.

This was my own startling discovery back in my 20’s, when I had cancer. As soon as I was willing to look in the mirror and admit, at least to myself, the sexual assaults I had endured, I started to heal – I could actually feel it happening, right in my own body, in real time. Pretty exciting! Once I fell back in love with the truth, I started spreading it everywhere, and it’s contagious – pretty soon, others around you start using the truth as their set point too.

I wrote Truth Heals to help people understand how important it is to find their own truth, and to stop living the lies that are holding them back. As I have long taught, it’s the lies we tell ourselves that do the most damage. And as former FBI chief, James Comey, tweeted recently, “small lies matter.” Indeed.

As you work to become more aware of your own truth, you can (simultaneously) work on refining your ability to discern if others are truth-telling. You have the power within you to turn on your own personal lie detector. In your interactions with others, even when watching someone on TV, your body tells you when someone is lying, you sense it in your gut. Listen to that little voice and trust your intuition. Learn to read other people and see beyond their words to what their body language, from posture, to fiddling, to facial expressions, is telling you. Learn what eyes are telling you without ever uttering a word and understand the difference between occasions when someone looks you in the eyes and those times when they are unwilling to meet your eyes. Identify what it means when a smile never reaches the eyes, because when that happens, the smile isn’t coming from anywhere trustworthy.

We live in a troubled and deeply divided time. It’s the age of He Said, She Said, and #MeToo, when major newspapers track politicians’ failure to speak the truth with daily scores. At the same time, the media we depend on for the truth and the institutions we’ve always relied upon to protect it, are now under attack.

What’s critical to understand is that today, more than ever, given the political environment where lying has been weaponized in high places, we must look beyond politics to understand the effect of lies and the war on truth upon us as human beings.

Whatever your politics, I’ll leave you with something that is accessible, positive, and hopeful:

The wisest and healthiest course is to rise above and rediscover the importance and healing power of truth in your personal life, so that you send out a ripple of truthfulness to all those around you. You can prove that “truth heals” and start a revolution.

Harvest Moon

The Night of the Harvest Moon

by Astrological EventsEnergy HealingFeaturedLunar

INDULGE IN THE HEALING LUNAR ENERGY

Weather permitting, don’t miss your chance to experience an amazing annual event that takes place tonight. Just after sunset the moon will be magically transformed into a giant ball of glorious orange gracing the night sky.

Lunar Energy is a powerful source of energy healing, and a full moon is a perfect opportunity to activate your chakras. This Harvest Moon may well be the best of all.

With its unique properties, the moon has been endowed with names to capture its monthly lunar transition. For me, nothing quite compares to the Harvest Moon. I hope you’ll take advantage of this rare and wondrous opportunity to join me in meditation under its glow.

A Time to Recharge and Reflect

Harvest Moon is the name given the full moon that is closest to the Autumnal Equinox that occurred just a couple of days ago, this past Saturday. Year to year, it can be up to two weeks before or after, and while the Harvest Moon typically is in September, it can also happen in early October.

What’s unique is that unlike any other time of year, for a few special nights the moon rises earlier than usual, just after sunset, giving you a perfect evening of moon gazing.

We’re treated to a visual feast and a spiritual reawakening all in one.

For a spiritual teacher, it’s hard to ask for more.

Why the Harvest Moon is Special

This is the night sky at its most romantic and dramatic, affording us a connection with the fullness of the season and the bounties of the earth. Since ancient times, the Harvest Moon has been revered and central to our celebration of the seasonal harvest traditions timelessly binding our cultural and spiritual fabric.

This annual celestial event is one of nature’s great visual displays but what we see only hints at the role it has played in different cultures around the world.

Celebrated Since Ancient Times

In the Northern Hemisphere, it signals the beginning of autumn. Many believe the origins of the Harvest Moon date back to Europe in the 700s. In the centuries since, observances and cultural traditions have been recounted around the world. Two are particularly intriguing.

In China the Harvest Moon is celebrated with a festival where games are played and delicious treats, ‘mooncakes’, are enjoyed. Due to calendar differences, the Chinese call it the ‘August’ Moon.

In America, the Algonquin Indians, among other indigenous tribes, not only celebrated the Harvest Moon but put its unusual brightness to work. Like Mother Nature’s flashlight, they used its light to harvest crops well into the night.

One of Nature’s Optical Illusions

What we see is bigger and bolder than usual, and the moon’s surface appears warmer and a vibrant orange. An optical illusion that is the result of the moon’s positioning, the Harvest Moon’s remarkable brightness occurs because we’re viewing it through the lower, and thicker, part of atmosphere.

While the moon’s color is inarguably more intense, and it appears larger and warmer, as it rises through the night, the moon will appear smaller and cooler.

Upcoming Lunar Events

For those of you who like to plan ahead, a truly rare event is when the Harvest Moon falls on the night of the Autumnal Equinox. This wont won’t again until 2029, but let’s start planning now!

Next up, however, and usually in October as it is this year, is the Hunter’s Moon; the first full moon after the Harvest Moon. It also features unique color, this time red, not orange, and it’s known as a Blood or Sanguine Moon.

Get Out and Experience It

Wherever you are, I urge you to get outside, even if just for a few minutes, and bask in the lunar energy on display and become part of a celestial event celebrated around the world for millennia.

And no worries of you miss it tonight – there are encore performances for a few nights after that are nearly as spectacular.

Worldwide traditions transcending our differences and bringing us together like these should be cherished, so I offer three words of advice:

Sit. Meditate. Enjoy.

That’s what I’ll be doing.

Separated by the miles, we’ll be together in spirit.

Deborah

Limiting Beliefs

Heal Your Limiting Beliefs (But First Discover Them!)

by Energy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedHealthLife CoachingSelf Love

Do you ever feel like you are running in place instead of moving toward your goals and dreams? Like you’re pounding away on a hidden treadmill going nowhere. Clearly, something is holding you back, when your path seems to be blocked, and chances, you are blocked by limiting beliefs you don’t even know you have.

What’s a Limiting Belief? 

Just like 15th-century Europeans who believed that the earth was flat, you may have unexamined beliefs that are incorrect. Such beliefs may be limiting you, holding you back—especially those that stem from fear-based thinking. Fear is always limiting, as opposed to opening, expanding and freeing. When you start to look closely at your personal beliefs, you may be surprised to find that some actually close doors rather than open them. Limiting beliefs can stifle your vision, your potential, and your power. You won’t set sail to explore the world if you’re afraid you might fall off the edge.

Where Do Your Beliefs Come From?

Typically, your most important beliefs are unconscious. You haven’t examined them because you don’t even realize they exist. Over 90 percent of your core beliefs originated in childhood, coming from your parents or caregivers, school, and culture. These subconscious views run the greater part of your life and shape your potential to be happy or unhappy, rich or poor, healthy or not so much. You have inherited what you believe, most of which is unconscious, and all of it dramatically influences your life.

Do You Know What You Believe?

Questioning your beliefs is an exercise well worth the effort. It’s part of the process of self-discovery needed for spiritual growth and healing. It will free you from all kinds of limitations in life, including fear and living according to what’s right for someone else but not for you. You’ll want to ask yourself: “Where did this belief come from?” and “Does it still work for me, or is it limiting me in some way?” If you think that an idea no longer fits you, ask yourself what might suit you better.

Here are some of the personal “belief” areas you’ll want to examine:

Religion – this is usually the primary limitation for people when they want to expand their consciousness. What, if any, childhood faith were you raised in? Do you believe in the tenets of that faith now? Do you practice them? Are they fear-based? Are you aware of unconscious beliefs from your early education about religion that may be negatively affecting your life today? Also, consider your beliefs about the religions of others. Do you automatically reject others or their thinking because their religion is different from yours, even if you give only lip service to your own?

Politics – So many people automatically exclude everything from the “other side,” assuming that no good can possibly come from it. Do you automatically decide that everyone who opposes your viewpoint is 100 percent wrong? How much do you expose yourself to the beliefs of the other camp? If very strong feelings arise when you look at this area of belief, consider it closely and make sure that love and not fear is ruling your outlook.

Social Values – Where do you stand on the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies, the death penalty, gay marriage, social welfare programs, and other important topics? I always try to read well-written pieces on both sides of every issue and then consciously recheck my position. Have you thought through your own views on these issues recently, or do you automatically determine that there can be nothing of merit on the other side?

Race – We’d all like to think that we’re blind to skin color, but the truth is that we inherit racial prejudices from our family of origin, our schools, and our country—and these are very hard to delete. Bring your feelings into the light and really examine them.

Money – I can almost guarantee that if you have money problem, they can be traced back to certain beliefs you inherited from your family of origin. What are your beliefs about abundance and your own relationship to it?

Relationships – What subliminal or even overt messages did your mother and father give you about interpersonal relationships? How healthy is your relationship to yourself? Is your self-talk positive and empowering? Do you believe in your worthiness and potential? What about your relationship with a significant other?

Why Is It Vital to Question Your Beliefs?

Most of your preconceived beliefs are unconscious unless you make the effort to shift them into your awareness. Here’s why it’s important to bring all of them into your consciousness:

  1. Your unconscious beliefs may inhibit you from becoming all that you are meant to be. It’s nearly impossible to expand and grow, to take in new information and make new choices, when you are confined to operating solely according to preexisting ideas.
  2. If you want to work comfortably with others, you’ll need to be able to accept their beliefs and treat them with the same respect you would your own.
  3. A person with a lot of fixed beliefs is acting from fear. Being afraid to give serious thought to the activities and opinions of others means that you are judging them without really giving their ideas your full consideration.

To free yourself from limiting beliefs that keep you “running in place” instead of growing into your greatest good, give some thought to your beliefs. Find out where you really stand. Free yourself to be open-minded and self-determined, think what you want to think, be in the driver’s seat of your own consciousness!