Monthly Archives: December 2018
January 2019 Energy Update with Lee Harris ~ Happy New Beginnings Year of Elevation
For those of you who also love Lee’s Energy Updates, I thought I’d do an extra post just for today, as we close at the year, to share his insights for our upcoming 2019. Lee calls this year a fresh start for many of us – a year of beginnings starting a new 7 year cycle of elevation.
It’s a time to harness what is within you now and show up like never before by tending to and nurturing your needs, and slowing down.
Lee says, “Don’t put yourself off this year.”
“The dream energy that you have in your heart is a dream for the planet,” he adds.
I couldn’t agree more and have shared this message Lee expresses, which is why I am at this place along my journey that I am now.
Wishing everyone a restorative January and a New Year of expansive potential.
Monday Musings ~ The Writer’s Corner: Poetry & Inspiration from Author Camilla Downs
Today we find ourselves at the last day of 2018 and the eve of a New Year. Many people find this a time to review the past year with reflection, gratitude, release, and openness to seeing where they might want to make changes that will be more supportive for the intentions calling to their hearts. It’s times like these that inspirational stories can really hit home and be way-showers and fuel to our passion flames, so this felt like the perfect day to share some poems and works from a woman who is truly an inspiration.
Today’s Monday Musings from The Writer’s Corner highlights Camilla Downs.
I haven’t met Camilla in person – yet – although we came close at the beginning of this year. With her living so close by in Reno, I know it’s just a matter of divine timing and alignment that we will, especially being that we share the same birthday – 2/26.
Yet, social media has been a connective bridge between us and this is how I’ve come to know her and her incredible children, Lillian and Thomas.
Camilla is a single parent who has encouraged, nurtured, and supported her beautiful children to be all they can possibly be and to live life fully despite Lillian’s rare chromosome deletion called 18p-, and Thomas’s challenges with sensory processing. In doing so, she has learned to do the same and so they walk this journey hand-in-hand.
The three of them are a powerhouse team, they’ve lovingly dubbed “Team TLC” to correspond with the first letters of each of their names, who have all self-published a book. Each of them have amazing gifts, have accomplished so much despite challenges, and are truly an example of vulnerable strength, compassion, and unconditional love.
I admire Camilla so much and find her to be a true inspiration, amazingly brave mother, woman, and soul, and a living embodiment of what it means to keep deepening into and expanding the heart as an example of unconditional love at work.
The connection the three of them have together is one of balancing teaching and leading, with learning and guidance. It has taken them to dark depths and soaring heights together. It is through their devotion and commitment to each other and themselves that they support the blossoming of one another and are spreading love to the world.
Camilla is a best-selling author of “D iz for Different – One Woman’s Journey to Acceptance,” blogger at http://camilladowns.com/ and inspirational speaker. Her passion is writing, sharing her life experiences, mindfulness, meditation, emotional connection, and nature photography.
I chose the following two of her newer poems to share with you today, as they feel to speak to themes and messages I feel prevalent in the collective and that I thought might be inspiring, shifting, and/or comforting as you embark on a New Year.
Following the poems you’ll find some words from Camilla, herself, and links to her published works, as well as her children’s. I share all of these links, which include some great book trailer videos for all three of their books that Camilla created, because it reflects how we truly can accomplish anything we set our hearts and minds too, no matter our circumstances nor how much life throws our way.
Camilla, you are a true inspiration and motivation for others to follow their dreams and see them through in 2019.
Thank you for sharing all of who you are with all of us and for being such a guiding light in your children’s lives, as much as I know they are for you too. I imagine we’ll continue to see a lot more of all of you in the years to follow.
I’m grateful to know you and call you my friend, sweet Pisces sister.
One Breath at a Time by Camilla Downs
One breath at a time, dear one
You find yourself in a vast ocean of your own creation.
An ocean full of the humanness of life.
Joy, love, peace,
laughter, happiness, abundance,
beauty, compassion, kindness.
Fear, sadness, greed,
competition, judgments, shame,
guilt, jealousy, loneliness.
At times you feel as if you
are on the verge of drowning.
One’s arms and legs have become
heavy with the struggle of this
ocean swirling with humanness.
What is one to do?
There is no place to return.
You jumped in knowing
there was only One Way to survive
in this vast ocean of humanness.
One breath at a time.
For as you breathe each breath
it is another opportunity
to feel the humanness of life.
Feel all of it,
the comforting and
the unlovely,
and then release it into
the vast ocean to be
cleansed by Mother Earth.
For one day you will feel
the heavy burden begin to
lift from your arms and legs.
You will know only the
unconditional love of this
ocean of humanness.
All the rest is still there.
Yes, it is.
Still swim in it, you do.
Yet, it just brushes by you
as you are drenched in the
unconditional love of all that is.
Rather than struggle
You move in harmony
with the humanness.
One breath at a time,
See, there it is ..
You just took another breath and another
and another … Keep breathing, Keep swimming
in this vast ocean and know
you are not alone.
You are surrounded and uplifted
by the One Love and breathe
it in with each breath.
You cannot escape the One Love.
It is always with you.
One breath at a time.
~
Nature’s Abundance by Camilla Downs
I feel the frosty cold
embrace as You brush
across this body.
I feel and Know
your Abundance.
I touch and hug
the beautiful,
scarred and knotted
trees that sprout
and grow from Your soil.
I feel and Know
your Abundance.
I delight in the sparkling
and unique snowflakes
as they drift from
the brooding clouds
above and lightly fall
upon this body.
I feel and Know
your Abundance.
Lo, even as I dodge
and walk through
the nuggets of
geese waste left
behind by these
majestic and
interesting creatures,
I feel and Know
your Abundance.
Yes, I feel Your abundance
I Know it now.
It’s been a long road
getting to this
glorious and bountiful place.
Yet, I have arrived.
I have arrived
to the freedom
of Knowing this …
I am made of bits
and pieces of You.
You are made of
bits and pieces of me.
This body and ether
mix with Your essence
as we collide.
I see it now.
All that is made
of You is Good.
ALL, I say, ALL!
Even as your form is
changed and no longer
resembles Your essence.
It is of You.
And, it is Good.
Humans take and borrow
from you to create,
grow, and make
the things we must
have to survive,
yet also the things
we think we need,
and the things we
simply want so
as to fill a void.
Grateful for your
abundance and gifts
I am.
We take your trees
and metals and we
make this mysterious
and sometimes elusive
thing called money.
We make it into
something it is not.
It is only of
You and we use it
for good, for bad,
for our benefit,
and for the benefit
of others.
One slight shift
in awareness of
what money truly is ..
That is True Freedom.
Freedom to respect
and love that money
stuff of which
contains Your essence.
Knowing, absorbing
and feeling
Your abundance
has brought on
this shift from
lack to abundance.
Thank You
Mother Earth.
Thank You
Nature.
I feel and Know
your Abundance.
You are Abundance.
I Am Abundance.
And so it is.
I Am.
****************
Contributor Note from Camilla Downs
I love walking. I am out for walks anywhere from three to six days a week. I have a deep connection with trees and love spending time with them. Nature is partly the inspiration for my writings and poetry.
And partly the inspiration to write is a desire to process my own life experiences; to give them an outlet through writing. Writing in this way allows me to feel and release experiences and to receive comfort and answers via these writings. Writing holds my heart and guides me to confront the unlovely and harsh thoughts that litter my mind at times. Yet, also to fully experience the joyful and peaceful moments of this life.
Most times when I sit to write a poem, I will first look through nature photographs I have taken. I will feel an internal nudge to use one as inspiration for whatever I am about to write. The writing flows so fast, I can barely keep up with “grabbing” it all before it’s gone!
My writings are not only poetry. I write of my own life experiences and how I’ve processed the experiences. It was around the year 2008 that I repeatedly received a determined internal nudge to openly share my life and experiences. I continually brushed this aside thinking I had nothing of importance to say or share with others. The nudge was so persistent that I finally gave in and began sharing.
In addition, I am a mentor through “The Alchemy of You” mentoring sessions to empower others from within. This 4 session mentoring brings peace of mind to one in the midst of confusion, stress or disempowerment. Followed by or accompanied with a deep sense of appreciation for one’s self.
Further, these sessions assist others with decision making, being one’s true self and speaking one’s truth, knowing the solutions to situations, diffusing internal triggers when they arise, and paving the way for more harmonious relationships with loved ones and strangers alike.
http://camilladowns.com/thealchemyofyou/
I’m also a single mom to two beautiful beings; 17 year old Lillian Darnell and 13 year old Thomas Darnell. I’ve been single parenting them for the past 12 years. Lillian has a chromosome deletion called 18p-; which manifests in various challenging ways.
These two ignited a spark within and have been an integral branch of the spiritual path I travel. Thomas and Lillian have taught me empathy, compassion, patience, nonjudgment, and what it means to unconditionally love others.
We each have a published book and I am working on my second book, “Walk With Me Journey to the Center of My Soul”. To learn more about our books, visit here … http://camilladowns.com/books/
Published books:
D iz for Different – One Woman’s Journey To Acceptance by Camilla Downs
Biggest Little Photographer by Thomas Darnell and Camilla Downs
Where Would You Fly and Other Magical Stories by Lillian Darnell and Camilla Downs
This one link will take readers to all 3 books in one spot … http://camilladowns.com/books/
And, just for fun here’s the book trailer for each book:
Where Would You Fly: https://youtu.be/4OwzBMq1S8o
Biggest Little Photographer: https://youtu.be/LYUOex6s5-s
D iz for Different: https://youtu.be/3GUo0ZNny_s
Online articles and poetry:
Camilla Downs’ Soul Writer Blog:
elephant journal article:
https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/03/dear-meltdown-welcome-meet-my-friend-mindfulness/
The Urban Howl poetry:
http://theurbanhowl.com/2018/04/11/path-of-love-camilla-downs/
http://theurbanhowl.com/2018/06/01/the-path-of-the-heart-will-emerge-camilla-downs/
Women’s Spiritual Poetry:
http://womenspiritualpoetry.blogspot.com/2017/02/free-to-be-you-by-camilla-downs.html
Australian Institute On Intellectual Disability Article:
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: The Struggle Isn’t You
As this is Astrid’s last message for 2018, I was curious what she would want to share. She’s been extra playful and cuddly these days, which has added another layer to our together-time, and it also speaks to some of what her message is that she wants to leave you with.
And what might that be?
Astrid says, “The end to struggle.”
We’ve been immersed in year-end closure here, went deep with watching all four parts of the new Watership Down rabbit movie, along with prepping for new whimsical ventures in 2019 together – this to include our new book, art, and rabbit Faery fun. Our little Wonderland Faery realm has become a true Otherworld for creative manifesting, as we threaded together a Rabbit Hole of delight we feel enriched in every day. We’ve also been examining the reality we want to live and leave behind.
There’s been a lot of creative work and anchoring this last year to set up and define our intentions, and although this New Year, for us, will continue to be one of vision, setting priorities, and determination, it will also be one of breakthroughs and embodied beliefs. This, Astrid shares, to be done with joy, ease, and peace – with the knowing that we can trust our essence to guide us in flow and fun through the next leg of the journey.
If we find ourselves struggling, where can we be curious about ways in which we might be holding on to old patterns and realities, lower ideals, or stringent and limited attachments?
Astrid says, “The struggle is a detour to who you really are. The struggle is a way to stay small. The struggle is a way to keep you away from what you believe you don’t deserve. The struggle keeps illusion as an interference to seeing the possibilities and beauty available. The struggle isn’t you.”
For most of the first part of my life I struggled on many levels. I was constantly inflicting inner torment upon myself with voices of knowing battling voices of fear, pain, confusion, and conflicting patterns that weren’t even mine in many cases.
And this kept me from being me and being able to expand further. It was like being tethered to a post and always hitting the end that snapped me back.
That is, until I realized the post didn’t truly exist except for believing it did.
Astrid has been through her own struggles and in seeing her come to this place of surrender and no longer feeling the need to fight, she is finding the love and joy her essence exudes, feeling right at home.
And so are we both experiencing this, which is creating greater peace daily.
“There is always another way,” she says, “and while we feel things serve us, truly they serve our patterned beliefs – not our hearts. Love is not a struggle. Creative energy simply flows. When we relax into these spaces, spend more time nurturing and cultivating the love in our hearts, we find greater comfort in things we never thought we could. We open ourselves to different opportunities, see new perspectives, and realize there are a multitude of ways to experience what we want, rather than believe it can only be in one form.”
“And what about those old realities and lower ideals so many of us struggle to hold on to?” I ask her.
“Like the unlimited dimensional experiences you can’t see, but still exist, why is it that you feel there to be only one reality? You struggle to hold on because you are so close to letting go. It is that last piece that will change everything. The release and fall into your grace. You fight to stay small because being more means greater empowerment and awareness. It’s been easier to let others and even beliefs power over you then to truly live without constraints. Hope, love, imagination…these things no one controls, but you. They are the keys to a new reality no one can take away. They live where struggle does not exist. When you go there, you know what I mean. If you can learn to stay there, you will know what is possible,” Astrid says.
We have both been embracing this experience where struggle need not be anymore and gently breathing deeper into our hearts to help it move through.
This has brought Astrid to a place of exuberant and loving expression as her norm now, without need to struggle and fight within, as a way of preserving it only for special moments. We have both learned to trust who we each really are and that life is meant to be a joyful, creative, and wondrous experience.
The other things may exist and they may knock on our door to try to tether us back, but they will meet with surprise when they find there is no knot on the other end. We’ll see the rope and when the knocking thinks it has us, we will let go of the other end and watch them disappear.
Let this be a year we all let go of the struggle and fight.
Let this be a year to create a new reality.
For me and Astrid it is a storybook year we are weaving together, piece by piece, heart to heart.
We both wish you all a wondrous New Year – a year of greater creativity, transformation, fertile and abundant potential, and alignment for the collective with it being a 3 year in numerology.
Astrid will be back next year on January 4th, 2019.
Whimsical Wednesdays ~ The Artist’s Corner: Christmas Whimsy is a Family Tradition
As today is Whimiscal Wednesdays, I couldn’t think of a more whimsical way to share what is in my heart and how I live every day from the innocence of my inner child than to share a glimpse into our day yesterday. While it’s true that I have never let go of the the little girl within and don’t go a day without a bit of silly and imagination, in part this is also because of having a family that does the same.
There are many things my spirit carries forth into embodiment simply by way of essence, but my parents have instilled much of the same in me because they, too, have never stopped nurturing their inner child and “living life as art.” Neither did my French grandfather who is the one I often mention having been the one to encourage the artist part of me. We have a lot of family members who have enjoyed continuing on in the ways of the inner child’s artist, thoroughly enjoying life, laughing a lot, and finding ways to bring beauty more to others.
We are truly grateful for this and even though, like any family, we have our ups and downs and challenges, I truly believe that having this little part cultivated and in tact, has supported moving through life with more hope, resilience, and desire to keep re-imagining anew.
Both of my parents are artistic and creative as well in their own ways, and both love to have fun, giggle to tears, and enjoy creating beauty around them. This includes creating an enchanted Winter Wonderland in their home that rivals Santa’s North Pole home and toy shop. In fact, every holiday they go all out with decorating from their childs’ hearts.
My dear Faery Laura has mentioned having had a word for 2018 and a new one for 2019 – “thrive”, and while I wouldn’t say there’s only one for me, I would say that “storybook” often comes to mind when I think of the theme I’ve been cultivating in my life and “whimsical” is another I have truly become extra fond of.
When put together, I feel 2019 to continue anchoring in more of both of these and that my life is unfolding and embodying a storybook that I’m singing from my whimsical heart.
Because of this, I felt so strongly that yesterday I would wear my Alice in Wonderland dress to my parent’s Faeryland home to celebrate Christmas, as it would be a way for me to immerse more fully into this wondrous journey I’m creating and embarking on.
I truly felt like the little girl that I am, now walking hand-in-hand with the woman I’ve become. There is no separation.
And I loved being surrounded by the beauty and enchantment my parents create, the warmth they exude, and the love that emanates from all that they share.
I didn’t take photos this year of the entire house, but I assure you every room is themed with Christmas Wonderland delight!
We spent a lovely day that was filled with a full vegan feast they lovingly made for us, opening sweet and thoughtful gifts, watching Christmas animations – Nestor the Long Eared Donkey (a fav of mine and how my twin soul rabbit, Nestor, got her name) and one we’d never seen before – The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (which was very magickal too), and sharing about the old ways and how life once was so different and simple. This to include stories of my parents when they were children growing up – one in a small, cobbled-street village at the foot of a castle in the South of France and the other in the old Italian parts of Hoboken, New Jersey.
We were then sent home with a huge care package of goodies to last a week – no cooking for me weeeeeeeee!
Before we ventured off to their Otherworld, Dave and I had enjoyed a mystical morning Christmas skiing. A fog covered the slopes, creating mysterious pockets to journey through on our descent. It was such a cool experience and coupled with Christmas Eve’s snow storm while skiing, a full rainbow that day, and a small misty rainbow portal yesterday, I felt magick consume me and offer more hope to a New Year filled with potential of greater peace and joy.
I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas and holiday and I wish each of you a little whimsy and sweet delight, as you think about the ways you might want to create this upcoming New Year from your inner child’s creative heart.
Magickal Christmas Wishes to All from the Rabbit Faery!
Just a quick bunny hop online to send out warmest wishes to you all. May the true spirit of this time of year shine through your heart always and remind you of the childlike wonder that resides within.
I woke up early this morning with excitement, as we had a full afternoon and night of snow here yesterday, which created the most enchanted Christmas Eve and beautiful White Christmas to wake up to.
Astrid was excited to see me up and even more excited about the Christmas bunny gifts me and Santa left for her.
We’re heading out skiing so this faery rabbit can hit the bunny slopes, play in the snow, and get her ski bunny on, then will be sharing a whimsical Christmas at my decked out parent’s house – the real Santa’s cottage. All things that warm and nurture my inner child’s heart.
Have a beautiful, love and peace filled day, however you celebrate – whether that’s with family, friends, animal companions, in solitude, or with Nature. Sink into the expanse of your heart and the depth of the dreams that are within it to follow.
May purity and innocence fill your heart in overflow.
Monday Musings ~ The Writer’s Corner: Twas the Night Before Yuletide
My dear friend Mark of Ravenwood Inspired, who also happens to be the wizard behind making me two new fantastically magickal Faery wands (one of which just arrived recently in time for the Solstice), sent me this version, below, of one of the most famous Christmas poems. I have to say, however, that I really love this one a lot more and I think you’ll understand why.
I thought it would be perfect for today’s Monday Musings. It also reminds me of my Russian Tortoise, Gaia, and celebrates this sweet Eve that is also Joy’s birthday (my sweet angel rabbit who returned to the stars).
If you haven’t heard or read it, I hope you enjoy this enchanting Yuletide rendition that speaks of the spirit of the season and reminds us of its true reason. The poem is thought to be written by C.C. Williford.
We’ll be back to regular Monday Musings next week, which will feature more poetry and other works by a sweet author friend of mine. Stay tuned!
Until then, I hope you enjoy a beautiful holiday evening, however you choose to celebrate this time of year.
I’m about to jump into my snuggly bunny onesie, enjoy Christmas lights by the fire, prep a yummy meal and dessert, and get ready for the continuation of the new Watership Down miniseries and present opening.
Wishing you a beautiful Christmas Eve.
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE YULETIDE
Twas the night before Yuletide and all through the glen
Not a creature was stirring, not a fox, not a hen.
A mantle of snow shone brightly that night
As it lay on the ground, reflecting moonlight.
The faeries were nestled all snug in their trees,
Unmindful of flurries and a chilly north breeze.
The elves and the gnomes were down in their burrows,
Sleeping like babes in their soft earthen furrows.
When low! The earth moved with a thunderous quake,
Causing chairs to fall over and dishes to break.
The Little Folk scrambled to get on their feet
Then raced to the river where they usually meet.
“What happened?” they wondered, they questioned, they probed,
As they shivered in night clothes, some bare-armed, some robed.
“What caused the earth’s shudder? What caused her to shiver?”
They all spoke at once as they stood by the river.
Then what to their wondering eyes should appear
But a shining gold light in the shape of a sphere.
It blinked and it twinkled, it winked like an eye,
Then it flew straight up and was lost in the sky.
Before they could murmur, before they could bustle,
There emerged from the crowd, with a swish and a rustle,
A stately old crone with her hand on a cane,
Resplendent in green with a flowing white mane.
As she passed by them the old crone’s perfume,
Smelling of meadows and flowers abloom,
Made each of the fey folk think of the spring
When the earth wakes from slumber and the birds start to sing.
“My name is Gaia,” the old crone proclaimed
in a voice that at once was both wild and tamed,
“I’ve come to remind you, for you seem to forget,
that Yule is the time of re-birth, and yet…”
“I see no hearth fires, hear no music, no bells,
The air isn’t filled with rich fragrant smells
Of baking and roasting, and simmering stews,
Of cider that’s mulled or other hot brews.”
“There aren’t any children at play in the snow,
Or houses lit up by candles’ glow.
Have you forgotten, my children, the fun
Of celebrating the rebirth of the sun?”
She looked at the fey folk, her eyes going round,
As they shuffled their feet and stared at the ground.
Then she smiled the smile that brings light to the day,
“Come, my children,” she said, “Let’s play.”
They gathered the mistletoe, gathered the holly,
Threw off the drab and drew on the jolly.
They lit a big bonfire, and they danced and they sang.
They brought out the bells and clapped when they rang.
They strung lights on the trees, and bows, oh so merry,
In colors of cranberry, bayberry, cherry.
They built giant snowmen and adorned them with hats,
Then surrounded them with snow birds, and snow cats and bats.
Then just before dawn, at the end of their fest,
Before they went homeward to seek out their rest,
The fey folk they gathered ‘round their favorite oak tree
And welcomed the sun ‘neath the tree’s finery.
They were just reaching home when it suddenly came,
The gold light returned like an arrow-shot flame.
It lit on the tree top where they could see from afar
The golden-like sphere turned into a star.
The old crone just smiled at the beautiful sight,
“Happy Yuletide, my children,” she whispered. “Good night.”
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: Solstice Illumination as You Journey Down the Rabbit Hole
It’s no surprise to me that today’s share from Astrid falls on this incredible Solstice line-up to include a Cancer Full Moon and Ursid meteor shower. Rabbits have long been associated with the Moon and, in fact, many ancient stories tell of the rabbit on the Moon that you can actually see when She’s at her fullest. I find it fascinating how on this longest night of the year that we’ll have incredible illumination and cosmic alignments galore, as the Full Moon will peak tomorrow morning of the 22nd AND tonight we are also going to be able to see Mercury and Jupiter in conjunction within this Yule’s Long Night’s Moon sky to add to those shooting stars.
Winter Solstice celebrations of the first day of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere means Summer Solstice celebrations for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere. Again, a very cool link for Astrid, as she came home with me on Summer Solstice – a day shared by the transition of my beloved rabbit, Joy.
And Winter Solstice, two years ago, was a day my sweet rabbit, Cosmo, had chosen for some of his ashes to be spread here in Lake Tahoe.
So, I’m seeing a lot of wholeness around this, which makes sense as the Winter Solstice embodies the energy of conclusion along with a time for rest, self-reflection, self-care, and “being the light” – something rabbits are very adept at in being masterful navigators of the dark.
I’ve noticed Astrid spending extra time in her castle tunnels lately, as she demonstrates this time to cozy up and journey the inner labyrinths of our emotions, beliefs, fears, and patterns so we can make adjustments for bringing in and embodying the new and potentials we envision and feel calling to our hearts.
“There is value in journeying the depths of your heart,” she says.
The seasons remind you of the ever-shifting and flowing cycles of life, change, and potential to honor and make space for. Winter Solstice reminds you of the light that you are, as a gateway of sacred reverence for a “return to light” in general.
Astrid reminds you that your 3D circumstances and stories do not define you. She encourages you to open your heart more and be willing to take up more space while beaming out the glow of who you really are.
“If I relinquished to simply being seen as a little, round ball of bunny fluff I would never know the true and full power of my inner rabbit. Looks can be deceiving, but if you believe in that limited illusion then you won’t experience the full spectrum embodied in the coin of being. Remember there are two sides to it, but you’re not limited to one or the other. There is simply the coin that can flip in and out of experiences at will, never being less of the whole at any time,” she says.
So, as the holiday season flashes through with a flurry of hustle and bustle, Astrid wants you to tune into your inner rabbit and honor your needs with some extra nurturing during a time when you are feeling tugged to do more outside of yourself. This will create balance and help you to find that peaceful center amidst everything around you. It also helps you to anchor more into your wholeness and all of the potentials available for how you experience things and are experienced, yourself, by others.
The Full Moon feels at home in Cancer and this lends to the ability to do some beautiful movement on the inner landscape that can help you make those bunny leaps into the New Year. An opportune time for embracing your feelings, allowing healthy emotional release, communicating from the heart, and experience a cleansing and freeing up of space, as you are supported in shedding light on the dark crevices within.
I know how Astrid and I will be spending this cozying up Cancer Full Moontime, as I return to one of my most beloved childhood stories – Watership Down – this weekend.
Astrid’s eyes get bigger and she sits up to nudge my ankle, as I write this.
I read the novel in 6th grade as part of our curriculum and was transformed by it, falling in love with the rabbits and the movie, as well. It has long been a favorite for me so when my sweet friend, Kelly, told me it was coming out again, the little girl inside of me was over-the-Moon excited. I keep mentioning it every day, actually, and it’s finally almost here.
Originally set for release on the 25th/Christmas, Watership Down is a new BBC series starting the 22nd and will hit Netflix on the 23rd in two feature-length episodes.
I feel its message is quite fitting for these times and its release is quite aligned with things unfolding in my new world.
Before I conclude with a dream Astrid wants me to share, she also reminds me of all of the sightings and alignments that have recently been taking place here. She wants me to mention these, as a way for others to also recognize the constant messaging reflected to us even when we think we are alone and not receiving answers. And also because she knows our experiences are collectively connected, like a warren, and there may be something ignited by these reminders.
“Nature is especially supportive to your journey,” Astrid shares, “as She mirrors with raw reflection the answers you search for and in some cases for many of you, yearn for.”
Lately, I’ve had a lot more different wildlife sightings than usual. For the first time, recently on Thanksgiving, we’d seen a raccoon just across and down from our house and yesterday I saw another – this time one that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. We haven’t seen raccoons in all of the years we’ve lived here so both of these feel significant, including the full life cycling as well, as we approach the end of the year and this longest night before days expand.
Coyotes have been on ultra high around our house, too. Several individuals have crossed the street in front of our car as we turn the curve at the Sherwood sign recently (I always say we live at the edge of the Sherwood Forest). And two large coyotes that looked like wolves went right by the edge of our back deck one night, as if circling the perimeter of our home.
Then, of course, the four deer at our back deck and side yard on 11/11 for our first sighting at this house.
But yesterday, along with the transitioned raccoon, I also saw bald eagle for the first time in months and a cool sighting of wild mustangs.
This all took place on a day I decided to forego my usual schedule and go down to Reno instead, feeling called to shift things. I was contemplating the change and how it felt aligned with my feelings, guidance, and going much deeper into my work after setting things up to nurture that.
As I began my drive suddenly bald eagle appeared confirming what I was affirming in my mind and heart. She soared toward me and above, following the lake’s shoreline, as I was. I could see her white head clearly, guiding her dark, massive body across the sky. She heralds taking to flight, greater personal freedom, and going further with courageous steps, as she can see ahead the possibilities and renewal even if I can’t.
And in the valley below, I saw wild mustangs for the third time now, but rather than them grazing near Washoe Lake, they were in a single-filed line wading through the lake at hip level, which was a beautiful sight to see.
A lot of feeling confirmations and moving through the watery energies of this Cancer Moon reflected – all connected with inner trust and being willing to examine what is moving through.
A raw, freeing energy seems embodied in all of the sightings – even with the sad physical death sighting of the raccoon.
I definitely have been feeling nudges with several things and the need to make the next moves and changes. Driving always is meditative in this regard, where I solidify answers and confirm my intentions.
Astrid is always on my mind when I drive and I smile in my heart with each sighting, knowing she is experiencing it with me where ever I am.
Later yesterday evening I was messaged by a friend and artisan that I’d commissioned back at the beginning of September to create a special piece for me connected to my projects as a way of manifesting the visions. There had been no rush, as I believe in perfect unfolding and wow, was it ever.
She sent me photos of the creation she was making for me and said it would be done that night and sent out the next day – and it was!
Of course, this was magickal with its birthing happening for the Solstice and Full Moon. Not just because of the timing, but because of even the details of the creation that were so fitting – some of which she did through her own inspiration of my energetic description.
This piece happens to be a cosmic dragon, that embodies the essence of the Cosmos. She is of Aurora Borealis coloring, star-dusted, and golden star encrusted, holding a silver crescent Moon up with her tail – that has planets embedded along the spine in cosmic alignment. And upon the Moon sits a little white rabbit, while another rabbit sits on the back of the dragon reaching up in sacred connection with it.
Talk about synchronicity with the Solstice Full Moon, Meteor Shower, and Mercury and Jupiter conjunction.
Oh, how the Universe works in mystical and magickal ways.
Astrid is smiling hugely as I share all of this and she had made her way to me when I was receiving this news and the photos to ensure I knew her magickal part in all of it. 🙂
She now asks me to add the dream.
So, just two nights ago Astrid appeared in my dream landscape. She’s been hopping in lately even if I don’t always share about it. But this one was potent with its timing and so I’m not surprised she wants me to share it.
In the dream Astrid was with me and we came upon a place the Earth was opening up below us. A deep hole, jagged with rocks appeared and suddenly Astrid went hurdling down it. I couldn’t see how it happened, but there was a deliberate energy around it. I peered down and saw her laying on the ground. I was so worried she was hurt or worse, but she stands up and brushes herself off. She takes a moment working out her legs and such, shaking it off, and seems to be okay after wiggling her body back.
I contemplate how I will get her when suddenly creatures of inner Earth start to approach. First as shadows and then closing in on her from the left. They are almost like wolves, but something more.
I can hear her in my heart and know she’s about to take off, and she does. She darts off to the right down one of the tunnels and the creatures follow.
I hear the invitation and know I must journey into inner Earth and her womb to follow her. In my mind, to save her, but I gather Astrid intends much more than that.
She seems not afraid or worried that they will catch her, but I’m not as certain – my mothering instincts setting in to protect her.
But I also feel the call of the adventure, and Astrid is asking of me much more than simply to save her…she wants me to join her on the journey.
I, and she, know I have no choice because love guides me above all else, and gives me the courage.
Two dear and powerful shamanic friends of mine show up as if they know of this expedition already and come with tools of their gifts to join the mission in this underground system of warren tunnels within Earth’s core.
So the three of us devoted women head off together, down the rabbit hole.
Wishing you all a peace-filled Solstice journey into the light of your heart.
Whimsical Wednesdays ~ The Artist’s Corner: My Artistic Journey Creating from the Heart
Today I thought I’d answer one of the questions I get asked a lot about my artistic journey. When did you start painting and what kind of training did you have?
It seems to me that we’re programmed to think that in order to be able to do something we must have gone through a certain kind of rigorous training and so we automatically ask these kinds of questions, as we relate seeing gifts in someone to a curriculum of schooling.
While this may be some peoples’ journeys, it isn’t everyone’s.
There are many people whose training has come “built-in” from their soul history.
There are some people who aren’t born with a filter and so they just “go for it” with expressing themselves and the creative energy that moves through them.
There are people who cultivate a passion they feel.
And there are people who are drawn to training more studiously because that feels right to them, they want to advance their techniques and expand with their breadth of work, and maybe even on some level feel it’s a way to establish value for their work, as society places such high worth on things like degrees, training, and names of schools we attend and get accepted into.
There’s no one way, or one right way. We each go on the journey that feels to provide exactly what we need.
For me, it was a strong aversion to training, classes, and schooling of any kind. So much so that I even turned down working at an art school to teach others to draw because it felt boxed-in, and since I didn’t feel right about it for myself, I just couldn’t see advocating that through my work to others. It was more about consistency for me. I had to go through that process though and interviewing, in order to confirm to me what I felt.
So what has my journey been like with art?
I have been drawing all of my life.
It was my favorite pastime.
My fondest memories are of summers sitting at the dining table with my French grandfather drawing after play time outside.
I received a lot of recognition for my drawing in elementary, middle, and high school, but never had any formal training. I naturally took to it without art class teachers’ help. In fact, most of what they said didn’t make much sense to me.
I was very good at reproducing things that I saw like a photocopy. That was my left brain, detail-oriented, perfectionist that could sit for hours working on two square inches of a piece to get every pencil or paint brush stroke exact.
It’s no surprise I was also extremely good at staying “inside” the lines of coloring books – another enjoyment I loved – along with things like creating Spirograph drawings (do you remember these?!).
Detail work is something I carry in me over lifetimes, but I’ve come to find is not my joy.
It’s a soul-ingrained pattern I’ve spent years undoing in this life.
Ironically, my childhood drawings I started doing on my own before this patterning circled back through is what I’ve returned to now. A reclaiming of my “essence,” but channeled through a fresh me.
As a child I was very good at creating simple images of what I saw in my mind’s eye of things I loved in nature all around me.
My favorite and best thing I could draw was, and remains to this day, animals.
I never felt drawn to taking classes outside of the ones we either had to, or had as electives, through high school.
For some reason I felt inclined to keep this part of my life raw in its nature and didn’t want to feel controlled by rights and wrongs. I wanted simply to bring forth my visions without boundaries. Having everything else in life feeling so controlled, this let me have one little sacred piece to myself where anything goes.
Interestingly, while I could draw people if I wanted, I just don’t really want to and it’s more effort.
What flows for me is nature, animals, magickal beings, and enchanting or cosmic visions.
While my work could easily be judged by art critics who have their own idea of what makes art “good,” for me I love the raw expression of what moves through someone’s heart.
That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the beauty of fine works of art. I am in awe of the masterpieces hanging in galleries and marvel at how incredibly they’re executed.
But I do love purity and innocence too, which is what my presence here on Earth is about. And I equally see the beauty within this type of creative expression and see them as fine works of art in their own right because, to me, art is something that not only captures a visual gift come to life, but truly moves you with emotion to experience something deep or even triggers the opening of your own heart with the images acting like keys.
Creative energy is unlimited and therefore there are many ways to bring forth artistic expression.
I say, if it feels joyful to your heart to create, then that’s art.
So, while I’ve cultivated my own form of artistic expression by listening to what moves me and implementing what I’ve integrated and worked on throughout my life, I believe we each have our own journey with this.
But I encourage anyone who feels the desire to draw, paint, or create in some way, to just do it!
There is value in expressing what you feel and if you feel it, I guarantee there is someone out there who needs just what you have to share.
What do you feel your artistic journey has been?
Sometimes we start out one way, but move into a different arena later.
Don’t be afraid to try something.
The value of art is not based on whether it hangs in a gallery or gets critical acclaim.
The value of art is in the expression.
Creativity yearns to be shared.
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide
Today Astrid would like to speak to that little voice inside of many of you that sometimes wishes to just curl up in a ball and shrink back into a dark corner or closet – maybe even just pull the covers over your head and pretend the world has no idea you exist. Maybe you prefer being invisible sometimes and this can serve well in specific cases, but perhaps you’re holding yourself back out of fear or a deep-seeded experience that leaves you afraid to put yourself out there.
Living so close to, and intimately with, the ground and Earth, rabbits know how to “hide” well, but this can have a two-fold meaning of either having the need to camouflage and blend in or that you have made yourself so small that you are un/under-recognized for who you are and the gifts that you embody.
Rabbits know the importance of awareness and protection, but they are not shy about exhibiting their exuberance and big personalities when they feel the urge to do so. In fact, they will leap with glee when the moment moves them, or rise to the challenge with fierceness, despite being seen as small, timid and fragile creatures.
They are extraordinary sound navigators who know when to seize the moment and “hop” into new territories and experiences. Their ultra-sensitivities create the light when all seems lost and dark.
And this is the place Astrid wants to address for those of you who find yourself feeling lost so much, desire to shrink away, or aren’t even aware that you are diminishing your light when it’s needed the most right now in the world.
Invisibility can definitely be a gift, but it doesn’t serve you or the collective to live in the dark eternally.
Life can’t go on, nor thrive, without light.
Astrid knows there are times she’s been afraid and that she’s needed to regulate her energy so as to find that balance of protection and safety, while also making herself known and asserted.
If she had remained purely in fear by her circumstances and triggers, she would not only not have survived, but not have been recognized for the gifts she has. Marcy of SaveABunny and her staff of volunteers saw her because of the big energy she put out, and of course we know that this is also how she and I made the connection.
We both had to rise to our highest and most whole, to have a meeting of equals merge into partnership and recognition of reflection.
We could easily have missed a beautiful chance if we both stayed small.
How many times might you have missed out on an opportunity because you kept yourself small?
How much of your dreams are you not able to experience because you hesitate to share your gifts?
How much love do you hold back from yourself because you’re scared to show others who you really are or to feel how worthy you are?
Is it disappointment, hurt, anger, or guilt that makes us fear ourselves and our power?
I often wonder why these feelings win out over love over and over again.
Astrid shares that responsibility can play a part in this process we seem to be learning in exercising our gifts and powers.
But she and I both agree that responsibility can can carry its own weight that isn’t always tempered with love, but analyzed and dissected by ego.
So in fact it, too, can lead us astray of going bigger, as it tries to work out every angle to satisfy another excuse not to shine forth.
While we think that hiding serves us well, in most cases it is a reaction to something now or from a “past” that didn’t go the way we hoped. And even though those triggers and experiences are gone, we are still operating as if they are happening right now.
This perpetuates our “staying small” and unable to shine our inner lights, like rabbits do, to navigate us through the dark tunnel labyrinths of experience.
And in some cases, we devise ingenious ways of talking ourselves out of letting our energy out bigger to serve our ego fears and can even find spiritual bypassing ways of describing it and why it makes sense to do so.
Truth is, if you want to find a reason not to do something you can always find one.
And when it comes to our wholeness and embodying our potential, we have all the excuses in the world why not to do that.
Whether or not those excuses are valid is between you and yourself.
Astrid wants to remind you that it’s okay to recognize when camouflage and invisibility can serve us and be a magickal tool in our back pocket to pull out now and then, but “hiding” when rising would benefit you most, is not the healthiest choice to always fall back on.
It’s okay to learn as you go and make instant adjustments along the way. Chances are, you’ve already done years of work so truly, now is about the experiential classroom. This is about being both student and teacher and bringing integrity and humbleness to the process of being.
Now, more then ever your gifts, your light, your essence is needed in the world.
And while you think you may be alone in facing those frightful triggers, experiences, and the things that feel scary in the world, you are not.
More and more souls are finding that the way out of hiding is to actually step out. No one is going to force you out nor pull you out. Only you can make that choice, but it’s a very liberating choice that once made – even in small steps – suddenly helps make sense of an upside down world and brings authentic power to the forefront.
Astrid says, “The more you wear a mask, the less you will ever know yourself. It’s not just others you hide from in doing so, nor whom are robbed of knowing your beauty and experiencing your ripple across the world. You are the one who is hurt the most when your light is kept small.”
Astrid knows how I, too, have kept myself small in the past and straddled timidly between two worlds of fears and hopes.
“And what did that do for you?” she asks me.
“It kept me stuck,” I replied. “Torn and tormented between two worlds warring against each other, rather than teaming together and empowering myself into truly living, rather than merely surviving.”
That reminds me of a favorite line Julia Roberts says in Steel Magnolias, “I’d rather have 30 seconds of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”
How about you?
If coming out of hiding gave you the most enriching and fulfilling experience you’ve ever known and was better than your wildest dreams, wouldn’t it be worth “going bigger” for, even if it wasn’t forever?
Not that it couldn’t or wouldn’t be forever, but you won’t know it until you try it.
Or is the known feeling of suffering and smallness, more comforting?
“Everyone has the ability to go bigger, no matter what their circumstances are. You are creative beings and therefore have unlimited ways to bring through more of your potential. Feel bigger! Thinking is only half the story, but your heart will guide you past the limits of your mind,” Astrid says.
It’s not easy, I know, and can be quite sticky with layers, but personally I decided that the possibility of that total enrichment far outweighed the illusion of safety in the darkness.
Astrid says, “That safety is an illusion that keeps you away from your truth….away from being who you really are and experiencing what you have available. That illusion is the fix to experiencing the true power within your heart.”
And she’s so right.
We think we stay safe by staying small and hidden, but by making that our “norm” we not only get to experience more of it, but are dying a slow death.
Choosing to go bigger and stop hiding happens for each person at different times in their life or soul journey and in different ways, by different triggers, and timings, so there isn’t just “one” way to get there.
Yet the one thing we all have in common is “potential.”
And the more each of us do our best to rise to that potential, the easier it becomes for others to do the same.
Rather than spend time trying to make others step into their potential, why not utilize our resources to “be” the potential?
Rabbit doesn’t wait for snake to see the “potential” when it threatens her kits rather than finding something else to eat that day. Rabbit rises to her “potential” and becomes the bigger rabbit she knows herself to be and chases off the snake.
Yep, that’s right. There are videos out there that catch mother rabbits fighting off poisonous, deadly snakes to save their babies. It’s incredible, but this is the truth of their wholeness they weave in and out of, as they carry it at their core always.
And I’ve seen this happen not only with people, but myself as well, where we’re put into dire situations and then rise to the occasion.
But wouldn’t it be wonderful to rise always, rather than only when threatened or in our darkest hour?
Those moments demonstrate that we have it in us, but we choose not to always shine the light.
Astrid carries this bigger energy with her always. You can see it and feel it, even if not demonstrated every second, but when she wants to, she does. She’s not afraid to let you know it’s simply who she is, nor is she worried how you might judge her. She knows the truth of who she is will reach the truth of each of us and when truth meets, that’s the most authentic and fulfilling experience, regardless of result. Yet, it also helps reflect and draw to her exactly what she needs and wants to see, while not missing out on what it feels to be alive.
I asked Astrid if she has any advice to offer to someone wanting not to hide anymore, but is too afraid.
She thinks a moment and replies in her own way, “There will never be a perfect moment to wait to do something and tomorrow is not always a promise. We can’t survive alone in the dark forever. Night turns into day and it is your nature to do the same. In and out you weave, but weave you must, or cease to be. Both the Sun and Moon know just when to shine on the Earth or how to allow others the same. Yet they DO and WILL shine in fullness and never cease to shine while others are. They dance in and out, sharing the stage of the grand show. You may not know how stepping forth and being bigger will be embraced, but embrace it for yourself and you will find your place on the horizon amidst the other stars. It’s there that we will meet, heart-to-heart.”
What I’ve learned, and Astrid describes so beautifully, is that the truth of who you are is not something you can hide from forever. It catches up to us, no matter how fast we run away. Just as the Sun’s light keeps shining, despite your only seeing it half the day, so does your light, despite blanketing it in vein.
Eventually, your essence will see its way through, so why not give it a boost out?
“That’s right! Being who you really are is what we need most in the world at this time and is the greatest service to humanity,” concludes Astrid.
Tania Marie 