Blog Archives
Small Acts of Kindness ~ Spreading Seed Messages from the Heart
It doesn’t take much to make an impact. Small acts of kindness go along way – even farther than you’ll ever know, nor need to. A simple smile, hello, or telling someone they’re beautiful or that you appreciate them can change the course of that person’s life just when they need it most.
You might never know how your little bit of heartfelt compassion will affect someone, but doing something “just because” is where the most value is. Only the ego needs to understand the result. The higher self and heart already know the intrinsic value that goes without mention.
Just recently, as Dave’s life has shifted tremendously with his work coming to closure, he’s been exploring and discovering new parts of himself that desire an outlet of expression. Like many of us, life shifts are anchoring and taking on new meaning and so, too, has he been enjoying the organic process of how that is evolving.
It’s been heart-warming and sweet to watch Dave’s unfolding creative soul finding a new voice. And while this will continue to shift, as they always do once we embrace and take action on what is showing up in the moment, the joy he is experiencing is the same I know others are and will from what he’s putting out.
Just recently, on his own, he supported the nudge he got to start painting rocks and pieces of wood he found with simple messages and joyous images to leave on the trails we hike daily.
He was looking into buying some paints, but I told him he could just share mine. I was excited to supply him with the tools, including some inside pointers on using them and a lot of encouraging support with his idea. I happen to be working on two commissioned art projects currently, so we’re both in artsy mode, together, right now.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen him paint, let alone draw. And how sweet it was to watch!
I love what he’s created so far. He even made two rocks inspired by our rabbits, Cosmo and Joy, and some inspired by our Russian tortoise, Gaia.
He even included a bear, which is interesting because bear energy, as you might recall me sharing has been so prominent in my life this year both in the most recurring dream themes and in real-life sightings. And, just a couple of nights ago, bear returned again in an interesting unfolding that included a specific interaction with Dave – unbeknownst to him until I told him, but he’d already created the bear rock above.
So far he’s left two on a recent trail we did before the snow storm. I just had to document it for him, as you can see in these photos of him placing them for people to see along the trail.
Part of the fun, he said, is that the rocks will go to whom they are meant to be with. Being observant is part of that process and the rest is about alignment.
Some people may even just receive the message in heart, but decide to leave them there for other fellow explorers to discover as well.
It was almost like an Easter egg hunt with him placing them in different spots, except the rocks are not hidden. They are deliberate in terms of passing along a message and a smile.
I won’t say where these first ones were placed, but if you’re local to the area, you just might find one along a trail you explore.
He painted several more, some of which we’re taking with us on our upcoming road trip we’re leaving for tomorrow, so that he can place them on trails at our destination, too.
Spreading small acts of kindness through the creative heart is one way you can add a little light in someone’s life.
You might recall that while on our Magick Bus adventure, while gypsy-living in an rv for nearly two years, I started creating Magick Stones from the beautiful rock beings that spoke to me on our journeys.
I love that Dave came up with his own expression of rock art and how he wanted to share joy, peace, patience, and love with others – who knows what other messages he will add too! It’s fun seeing him having fun and letting his inner child out more and more.
I want this to be his project, but I did find just one rock that spoke to me while he was gathering rocks and wood for himself – it was a heart-shaped rock that felt important to share too.
And so I painted this stone yesterday before working on a mini wood portal painting, to add to his that we’ll be dispersing along trails on our mini vacation away.
I love the idea of merging our creative, child-like hearts.
So, yes, I’ll be away between the 12th (tomorrow) and 17th of this month, which put a short delay on sharing the new offerings I mentioned because of preparations and work I needed to get done. I’ve also been working on a couple of commissioned art projects and so my days have been full alongside enjoying snow shoeing adventures from our recent storm. I’m actually going to be doing a little fun work on this trip, as the energy of where we’re headed feels to be inspiring for both painting and idea-flow. So, there’s potential I might share a blog one time while I’m away. Otherwise, we’ll be immersing in our own personal journey this week to both celebrate and receive guidance on what’s to come.
Never underestimate the power of a simple act or expression. If your heart is nudging you to do something, do it. It could change someone’s life, including your own.
Happy 11/11!
The Universe Was Made Just To Be Seen By My Eyes
For anyone feeling lost, confused, scared, purposeless, hopeless, heartbroken, in the dark, alone, unloved, in mourning of a beloved or a meaningful part of your life, I feel you and for what ever reason, I feel a nudge to send you an energetic hug and outpouring of love from my heart to yours.
You are beautiful because you are you.
Nothing more and nothing less.
No one does you better than anyone.
Regardless of how your experiences play out, they are perfect in any form they come.
What we deem mundane or special is one and the same.
It doesn’t matter.
May you feel a spark light up in any dark corner of your heart you might be experiencing.
Here’s a simple, favorite song of mine for you today by Ryan O’Neal who makes music under the name Sleeping At Last.
“How rare and beautiful it is to even exist….”
“…the Universe was made just to be seen by my eyes.”
Monday Musings ~ The Writer’s Corner: Hope, Birthing Anew & Birthday Celebration Sale
Today’s Musings are threefold. I’d like to first start off with a short reshare of part of a blog post I wrote over 3 1/2 years ago that feels important again. It speaks to fostering hope and how powerful it can be in your life. I know that many people are experiencing a wide range of things from having some pretty fantastic openings, finally getting over the threshold and starting something new, to experiencing some sudden roadblocks and unexpected changes that are perhaps confusing, frustrating, or disconcerting after feeling like things were moving along well.
While we’re still in Winter, we are in fact closing in on Spring Equinox when daylight will start to increase again and more illumination and growth will take place – basically reminding us that light always returns, new life, beginnings, and seeds of change are at hand.
It speaks to hope.
But wouldn’t it be nice to bring that light and hope with you all year round?
When things get “dark” why is it that we forget all of the experiences where the light shined again in our lives, or how good it felt when we gave ourselves the nurtured opportunity to have fun, explore, be creative, take a break, and recharge?
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” ~Desmond Tutu
I shared this once, but want to put it out there again…. I propose we each commit to taking a “Hope Holiday” on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, as seems most beneficial to your life and personal experiences.
What does that mean?
It means allowing yourself to hope and dream, creatively engaging your imagination and bringing the music of your heart into your every day, even if just for a couple of minutes of day-dreaming, journaling, or visualizing. Doing this to the extent that you give yourself permission to immerse so fully into that minute or two that your body tingles and sings from your heart with that “becoming” that takes place, as you get lost in your hopes.
This isn’t to deny that you may be experiencing something very dark and restrictive feeling, as that is a valid feeling to allow yourself to explore. But it is a way to actively engage yourself into learning how to make a safe space for your heart’s desires to see the light.
The more you do this, the more that part of you feels supported and begins to expand with your cultivated love, much like a garden.
Your couple of committed minutes of daily “Hope Holiday” journeying may turn into any opportunity in the day you find yourself worrying and going over your usual mental chatter religiously. You’ll soon discover how much more productive you are because your energy is being engaged in a way that can create more of the things you want. And this starts a ripple effect into manifestation.
Small seeds of hope become blossoms of creation.
“Hope is a waking dream.” ~Aristotle
Hope is a place all to yourself that no one can take away from you. It’s like a self-induced “holiday” you can take at any time, and go anywhere you’d like with it….it’s only limited by your imagination.
It is where you are free to dream and activate your creative potential as a powerful multi-dimensional, creative being.
There are unlimited possibilities because you are an extension of a limitless Source gifted with evolutionary experiences at your will’s choice.
~
I take many a “Hope Holiday,” but tomorrow being my birthday will have me creating even more space than a few minutes of that for myself.
Tomorrow I turn 46, which in and of itself is just a number, but numerologically does carry its own energy. It will be a different day for me on many levels and I plan to engage in some things that I love and that embody the energy of how I want to walk forth into this new life cycle.
Yesterday I celebrated my rabbit, Joy, who was my birthday gift to myself and from my rabbit, Nestor, 10 years ago. It is also fascinating that parts of the Amethyst Rabbit came home to me, which was connected to both of them, in time to celebrate my birthday too. And, my sweet friend, KC (aka Bean), pointed out that one of the pieces was in a new form of rabbit that looks exactly like Astrid when she stretches out relaxing. That reveal was similar to when I first took home the Amethyst and noticed the very distinct rabbit I had not seen initially. All things confirming what our hearts lead us to.
Lots of bunny love surrounding this time for me and that will lead to the third part of this share today, upcoming shortly.
I always feel a shift with each birthday, but this increasingly is happening the older I get. Things accelerating and many things finally feeling most naturally at peace and in flow.
This year will be a big year of focused work alongside creativity for me and feels like it will be pivotal on many fronts personally, as a union with my life partner, and from a wider scope of how I weave into the collective.
I have taken a break from my book in order to return with fresh perspective, but will be going full time back now after my birthday. It seems to be my focal point this year, feeling this is the year to finalize it. And I’m so grateful I now have abundant rabbit creativity flowing alongside it – my rabbit companions sure know just what I need to support and nurture the harder work I have ahead of me with that.
I’ll likely start sharing more about my book in the coming months, once I solidify more with it.
Although I love my new threefold series of blogs each week, there is chance this may evolve into only Ask Astrid Fridays, as she and I can cover a lot on those days and being that they are much more involved with tuning in, too, they do take a lot to put out there. So, we may expand that day’s blog, as a result and Monday and Wednesdays blogs either will go dormant for a while, or be more sporadic.
I’ll have to see how my schedule unfolds in the next couple of weeks, and will keep you posted.
~
That leads to the third part of this musing that ties us back into the “Hope Holiday” theme quite literally by sharing one of four new mini rabbit Faery gardens that will be hitting The Magick Rabbit Etsy shop tomorrow.
It’s titled, The Holiday, but in its description you’ll find much of what I shared here at start of this blog, as it embodies that message.
In all, I will have 7 more mini themed worlds to add to the shop – these will be the last in general – but tomorrow you’ll see just 4 of them, as I will be starting on new items I’m excited to share with you soon.
Remember, however, if one of the mini gardens you love gets sold, I can replicate most of them. So, you can just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
The other 3 new gardens will be in the shop likely by end of this week, or beginning of next. The last three will include a grand finale garden, and two micro mini gardens.
For now, here are the 3 others that will hit tomorrow. In order of photos they’re titled, Spring’s Promise: The Cosmic Egg, The Gift, and Believe.
I think you can kind of feel the theme of these new ones. 🙂
If you haven’t perused The Magick Rabbit yet, I think you might find it enjoyable even if you don’t find yourself purchasing something, as each mini rabbit Faery garden is a storybook world, just like the paintings.
Just looking at the images and then reading the first paragraph of each garden’s description will infuse inspiration and nurturing reminders.
We’ve spent a lot of meaningful time not only creating them with love, but sharing each of their stories with you.
I include either their mini story and/or energy they were created to share with you as daily reminders, mini guardians, or sacred altars.
As I like to say:
There’s a storybook tale within each creation to reflect your journey, as the adventure it is – all shared through the heart of one Magick Rabbit and one Rabbit Faery.
And as a tie-in with all of this I also would like to announce that the bunnies have inspired a celebration sale that will kick off tomorrow on my birthday – 2/26.
It will be a 3 day sale only 2/26 – 2/28, taking us to the end of February, as a cycle of activation and closure all at once.
This will be a 20% off store wide sale, to include the four new gardens with every $30 minimum purchase.
I believe it will go live at 12:01 pm my time tomorrow (PST), but it might click in earlier, as technical things have a mind of their own sometimes.
Our way of celebrating this new energy cycle the bunnies and I are embarking upon, while also celebrating the same for each of you if you feel drawn to bringing one of the energies of the creations and art into your life.
Thank you for all being a part of our lives and for helping to inspire these creations too. As while they come from our hearts, they are in answer to what we tune into out there.
If interested in exploring more of the creations in the shop and tomorrow’s sale you can find it all here:
Wishing everyone a wondrous Hope Holiday, however you choose to enjoy it.
Life Goes On ~ Keeping Hope Alive
Sunset at Byron Bay, Australia on the precipice of the New Moon after Crystal Castle activations
I’m definitely missing Australia, but also really enjoying pre-summer weather and beauty blooming all around here at Lake Tahoe. Life goes on and and with so much culminating around Summer Solstice, I’m clearly getting the sense of rapid growth and prolific possibilities manifesting. The energy available feels really rich with potential for anyone ready to run with it….ready to keep hope alive.
In the short few days we’ve been back we’ve been putting a lot into motion and quickly picked up right where we left off, quickly settling and organizing back while also hiking, enjoying a sunset cruise on the lake with friends, sightings right off our deck of Bald Eagle and hot air balloon gliding over Tahoe (awesome symbolism and messages), me finding both a large goose and hawk feather, talking about future travels, tons of garden delights and blooms from visiting my parent’s house, lunch and hair refreshening for us both in Reno…full, reflective, and balancing experiences for sure.
I’m getting back to my writing today (which will conclude my first draft here shortly) and we’re preparing for both my friend Lynne to come through again for a couple of days on the 10th, as well as our heading out on the 13th for a week to Austin for business mixed with some fun.
The day after we return, on the Solstice, I’ll both be heading to Northern California to pick up my new bunny love, as well as starting a big 10-day cleanse.
So yeah, a lot going on and I’ve heard from others experiencing in a similar vein and a lot of amazing things, greater fulfillment, and new beginnings starting to take root for them, which makes me happy to hear.
People have been pulling out of old frameworks and patterns, embracing more of their truth, and realizing how self-sacrifice has not served them and others in their lives they thought they were helping.
Every “setback” can be viewed as the potential for something more to be brought to light, greater alignment in process, or the opportunity to turn something from one thing to another and shift your vibration to match it.
While there may be a lot of drama and disturbing experiences floating about as well, I think that mentioning the lovely things is important to demonstrate what is available to experience and that we can choose where and how we place our attention and focus, not to mention how we integrate those contrasting things to our benefit or detriment.
Much is shifting in the world on a daily and moment-to-moment basis and if you choose to only focus and dwell on one perspective, not only will you be sucked into a cesspool of quicksand that keeps dragging you down, but you’ll also miss out on the rest, which includes how those things you may not like so much are, and have, actually been fueling all of the positive changes.
Let’s remind each other of our wholeness, by embodying it more and more and embracing all potentials of experience, not just the challenging, discouraging, and depressing ones.
People often wonder how I can always see the silver lining in things, but it’s because I know from experience that things always turn around, as is the nature of cycles, and that even in my darkest hours, allowing energy to flow through me without judgment and inviting perspective brought release and hope to light.
May you each experience the hope and potential seeded within all experiences to create from.
Grateful Reflection & Unwavering Hope ~ Choices that can Make all the Difference
Although we moved out of our house in Orange County and into the Magick Bus in early October of last year and did a couple of small trips, we didn’t officially begin the grand adventure until one year ago to this very day. As I look back on this past year, although doesn’t seem like a very long time, I’m in awe of how much energy we moved and how transformed my entire life – I am – is since then because of that choice. It feels like lifetimes of experiences took place, and in actuality they did, not to mention a full, literal rebirthing.
It is one of the best and most profoundly shifting choices made in my life and completely supported hitting the much needed reset button for my path.
When I reflect upon my life, I can easily pinpoint the pivotal choices and time periods that changed everything in big ways, and this is definitely one of them…in some ways, may be the game-changer in my world finally bringing me to the place I always believed and never lost hope of all the years of my life since a child, knowing it wasn’t until my later years -forties – that I’d truly return to myself and receive the benefit of all the committed work I focused on in a life of growing up very fast.
Only now to return to the innocence of the inner child that I devoted myself to preserving and freeing fully, which took on a lifetime of maturing quickly and inviting in lifetimes of integrating and traveling through the darkness.
It’s empowering to reflect back and recognize the growth and change you have made. To see how it all makes sense even though at the time it made none at all.
I recently have gifted myself many symbolic and tangible things in celebration and have fully embraced self nurturing like never before. I have felt it to be like a birthday celebration every day, which seeing my birthday 2/26…2:26…226 showing up constantly over the last year has reiterated, as a reflective message from All That Is resetting the button cosmically.
And yesterday, when I saw 2:26 again, after all that has taken place these last few days and weeks, it felt not only like a personal renewal, but one collectively, as so much is shifting for us all, even if you can’t see it yet.
We are even currently experiencing that very wet and cold winter I, and others, had felt would be coming…with flowing abundance of water for many areas that have been in need here in the West.
Tons of rain and snow fall abound and it is like a huge cleansing, refresh, reminder, and like healing tears asking of us to remember these watery depths that are needed as a part of the journey and in knowing your wholeness and to have reverence for the journey.
Great creative potential and fertility comes in the embrace of feeling and emotion, in being willing to walk hand-in-hand with our shadow, welcoming change, and being flexible and mutable with our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions so we can fluidly align with harmonic resonance.
Where ever you are right now, allow yourself to be more gentle and loving with all of it….to flow, to free yourself a little bit more, be more fluid, reward and enjoy life, reflect on those things knocking at your heart, love where you are, find ways to not judge or compare, and embrace the energy before you. Things are not always what they seem.
I know for myself that I have a ton of creative projects to manifest, and yet embracing the flow of energy has been most conducive to how these will not only come to be, what has been needed to keep shaping them, but is aligning with the ebbs and flows of collective energy…the pulling back of the rubber band at the right moment so that when released they shoot with great force, momentum, and focus….
For example, I’m now on my third revision of my book so far and I haven’t even finished it yet. I love how when you honor stepping away, there’s always a reason that presents itself…and each time it’s continued to infuse a whole new layer to the inspiration channeling through – reflective of more that I open up to as well.
I am not even in editing mode, I’m just being guided to rework the layers of myself, experiences, energies, collective at large into a renewed version of what that is in the now channeling through without frustration or questioning.
It’s become much more than originally started as and I love that too, as I’ve never had any attachment whatsoever to what was coming through or how it had to be.
I never even knew/know the story until it channels through.
I never edit, just write…I never judge it….just express it.
These revisions remind me of how I paint with layers over layers and the person viewing the painting will never know what is infused literally under the surface of the painting image they see, but they will feel it.
It’s also like music and sound channeling, where layers get harmonized together.
And with each expression of art, there is intention, energy, experience, feeling….that weaves into those layers too.
I’ve been in my joy with this and that is the only thing that matters. And I couldn’t be in that place of experience without everything I’ve experienced, the processes, the learning, the growth, and the choices made and honored.
I encourage everyone to find that passion you can just be you with and flow passionately with, without any attachments, judgment, boundaries, and goals except simply to express yourself and what you can’t not share because it is your breath of life.
And don’t lose hope, as the miracles often happen just when you thought there was nothing left to hope for.
I remember just before the Magick Bus came into our lives, I experienced a year of feeling and knowing the endings in all ways very profoundly and that completion translated as a choice in how I wanted to reset…and at the time without vision of what I see now, it felt like a cosmic return was in order. So I allowed myself to go to the depths of those feelings, mourning, explorations in depth, and found one answer in it all that could mean renewal here on Earth.
It meant letting go of everything I’ve known and been, taking a leap of faith, and being willing to face a new adventure of discovery from a completely fresh slate no longer tied to all that was (this life and beyond).
I was willing to take that leap and chance, to see what I could conjure up in the process of relaxing into creating a new relationship with nature and the nature of me.
And that choice led to here with a plethora of inspiration and knowing there are still yet some things I feel passionately compelled to bring forth while here. And they mirror my heart alone.
So I’ve risen to the occasion of creative power to not only create anything I want, but to recreate a new reality of experience at large. Something available to us all.
“Like water, be gentle and strong. Be gentle enough to follow the natural paths of the earth, and strong enough to rise up and reshape the world.” ~Brenda Peterson
Hope Is…
Hope is the pause, presence, and passion that assists you to align with opportunity in divine timing.
Recognizing Potential & Surrendering to Natural Flow ~ Hope Blossoms Out of Trust
So, I found it incredibly interesting, as well as profoundly symbolic, that I wrote an entire post and lost it all this morning.
I was really excited about it and was just about to publish when I “inadvertently” hit some keys that shut everything down before having saved it.
It expounded upon nurturing hope, trust, love, extra conscious presence, belief, inspiration, and motivation, as I used the example of how I care for my animal companions and plants, as a reflection of the consistent way I care for the seeds of creation I am nurturing and cultivating in all other areas of my life.
(More on what’s evolving, as a result of that, to come!)
The same ways in which I trust my instinctual nudges and don’t give up on any of them simply because they are in need of extra tender attention for the time being, is a reminder to how all things in life can be approached to create amazing possibilities and to be in alignment with the underlying energies at hand.
Sometimes that translates into tending to the little, yet important things a bit more consciously, or being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel with unwavering trust and love.
And sometimes that translates into surrendering into peaceful embrace of what is naturally unfolding, realizing the perfection of the bigger picture at hand that is at work for the highest good of all concerned.
And when doing so, we receive beautiful gifts and surprises that birth forth with renewable thriving.
This may not always be the case, as some things simply are showing us the impermanence of life, the continuity of life cycles, the natural evolution, constant change, and the need for loving release and surrender into the flow of unfolding that is presented to us.
My Gerbera Daisy plant hadn’t looked exceptionally well, but I hung in there with it and kept giving it love. I’m happy to say it not only pulled through but presented this lovely pink bloom surprise! Yay!
So, while I could likely have pushed my brain cells to try and retrieve what I wrote somewhere in my memory, instead I let go of the need to do so, and embraced the natural evolution and instant reminder of death and birth, endings and beginnings….that all simultaneously take place and provide a new spark of invigorating creative energy potential.
I decided not to allow frustration to take over and that whatever REALLY wanted to come through, would.
Much like what is unfolding in very big ways, very literally in my life…not just with my plants.
There are reasons things unfold as they do.
Sometimes they call for us to take heed more and tend to loving nurturing that we need to be more present to, and which can make the difference in what we want to create, when we do so.
And sometimes we need to understand the message that there are times for us to move on and the culmination of closure is at hand.
Many times both of those come hand in hand.
All of which is not a loss, but simply a gentle embrace of potential adventure into the brilliance of your next choosing.
Something new is always available to us.
It may not be the same…and in fact it shouldn’t be.
It will feel different.
It temporarily may feel uncomfortable.
You might go through a short grieving period, as you let go with gratitude.
It might bring to light your fears and feel scary at first.
It will take an adjustment period while you integrate.
But it WILL present you opportunity in every way.
Opportunity for greater potential.
Opportunity for something more than you thought possible.
Opportunity to be more naturally you because you are in the flow of life, rather than using your energy to go against the current.
Thriving, rather than surviving.
“Where flowers bloom so does hope.” ~Lady Bird Johnson
Seasons of the Soul ~ Take a Hope Holiday!!
Faery Forest Magick – from the park I returned to this weekend to explore more – the setting for a recent photo shoot
I just put out my July newsletter yesterday, a bit earlier than usual, as I’m going to be away the beginning of July and wanted to ensure time to get a message out.
Sometimes I’ll share the message here as well if guided to.
This is one of those times and so here is what I shared as July’s Summer reflection, which includes the inspiration that came through, as well as some insights on the energy of tomorrow’s 1st of the month, Full Moon in Capricorn.
“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” ~Henry David Thoreau
Changes in light and seasons can affect your mood, energy level, health, sleep, and general behavior. For some people this can be gentle and easy, as they merge with or transcend the seasons, while others experience some or all-consuming affects.
If you haven’t paid attention to your patterns with this, perhaps you might do so, as you may discover there’s a rhythm to the madness you’ve been experiencing.
Knowing your process is key to shifting it.
That said, it’s not just the seasons that we reflect, but we also go through seasons of the soul, which will be different for each, as well as at times collectively experienced.
Alongside things like solar flares and all that is shifting planetarily, having an effect on the evolution of our DNA, we also go through periods of ups and downs, needing to be more inward or outward…all in reflection to the journey we are on and what we are either consciously engaging or subconsciously avoiding, repressing, or denying.
Energy wants to flow and move. And as a result, it will take us on an adventure with many twists and turns, roadblocks and speedways, downpours and easy breeziness.
Yet, as we know, there are ways to embrace it with the example of grace that Nature provides us. And so we, too, can flow more easily and efficiently in our lives without depleting and wasting energy resisting, fighting, blocking, and whining.
So while we have ventured into Summer with the Solstice we just celebrated, the light may feel bright, joyous, and promising for many, with hope easier to harness.
This is a time where Spirits may feel more on high and many take vacations, holidays, and breaks before they settle into Fall and Winter.
But wouldn’t it be nice to bring that light and hope with you all year round?
When things get “dark” why is it that we forget all of the experiences where the light shined again in our lives, or how good it felt when we gave ourselves the nurtured opportunity to have fun, explore, be creative, take a break, and recharge?
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” ~Desmond Tutu
I propose we each commit to taking a “Hope Holiday” on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, as seems most beneficial to your life and personal experiences.
What does that mean?
It means allowing yourself to hope and dream, creatively engaging your imagination and bringing the music of your heart into your every day, even if just for a couple of minutes of day-dreaming, journaling, or visualizing. Doing this to the extent that you give yourself permission to immerse so fully into that minute or two that your body tingles and sings from your heart with that “becoming” that takes place, as you get lost in your hopes.
This isn’t to deny that you may be experiencing something very dark and restrictive feeling, as that is a valid feeling to allow yourself to explore. But it is a way to actively engage yourself into learning how to make a safe space for your heart’s desires to see the light.
The more you do this, the more that part of you feels supported and begins to expand with your cultivated love, much like a garden.
Your couple of committed minutes of daily “Hope Holiday” journeying may turn into any opportunity in the day you find yourself worrying and going over your usual mental chatter religiously. You’ll soon discover how much more productive you are because your energy is being engaged in a way that can create more of the things you want. And this starts a ripple effect into manifestation.
Small seeds of hope become blossoms of creation.
“Hope is a waking dream.” ~Aristotle
Hope is a place all to yourself that no one can take away from you. It’s like a self-induced “holiday” you can take at any time, and go anywhere you’d like with it….it’s only limited by your imagination.
It is where you are free to dream and activate your creative potential as a powerful multi-dimensional, creative being.
There are unlimited possibilities because you are an extension of a limitless Source gifted with evolutionary experiences at your will’s choice.
~
I’ve always loved this scene from Shawshank Redemption. There are many cool parts and lines in this movie, but this is my favorite. I’m such a water faucet when it comes to stuff like this, as while I was searching for this clip and watching it, I just kept crying with expanded excitement of possibilities, like a baby. 🙂
If you don’t know this movie, you may enjoy it. These were the best clips I could find. I only added the second one because the first cut off the full end, which I felt was important to see through fully.
“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Enjoy and remember to hope.
I’m putting out July’s newsletter on the early end because I am going to be away the beginning of July. The last few newsletters are also longer since I’ll not be sending out any during my 3 month sabbatical.
I’ll be away July 1st – July 5th in the mountains and again July 9th – July 12th for what’s turned into a very special weekend with Hillary and the Horses in BC. So I’ll be unavailable for work during that time, although still online for emails.
Fourth of July around here is kind of crazy since our city allows fireworks. While others enjoy that, we prefer the quiet and having our animal companions feeling safe and calm. So we’re heading to the mountains of Big Bear for some peace, which is an easy trip with the animals.
I don’t plan these things, but July 1st happens to be a Full Moon and so once again I’ll be taking in that energy on the onset of this intentful recharge.
7/1’s Full Moon is in Capricorn, which I love. It’s also cool it falls on the 1st of the month. The Cancer Sun/Capricorn Moon is a powerful energy to work with and can be quite challenging for many. Cancer triggers the emotions and so one needs to be aware of this pulling that can potentially be harmful since it comes from the subconscious and from old attachments. The key is to channel that emotional energy and watery passion into being a creative force in your life with Capricorn wisely guiding it.
Full Moons provide the ability to have clarity, bring to the surface, and make aware things that are being shown to you through your experiences. This moon will illuminate your inner knowing and ancient wisdom, but provide support in solidifying and rooting with your feelings. Great time for focused energy, perseverance, and successful outcomes that come with doing the groundwork.
The other thing I find interesting from what I’ve been reading, because it has been a huge key theme for me, is there’s an emphasis on personal boundaries right now that empower you toward the things you want and have been working on. I’ve been getting that message loud and clear that it’s about saying “no” when you really mean to, and not letting guilt or any other driving force outside of your truth guide your decisions. You are being most responsibly compassionate in being authentic and saying “yes” to you. This is a mirror for others to do the same, not to enable otherse, and for energy not to be wasted.
So, do look at the places you spend your energy and time and whether it is really the most efficient use of it. Ask if it is feeding you in return or just going out one way. If you aren’t achieving your goals then you may want to change your process in a way that actually supports them, or redefine them altogether, as perhaps you’re out of alignment.
Everything not aligned with you will need to be released in order to align yourself with what you are creating, but do so with reverence and gratitude for the role it has played in your evolution.
Are you where you want to be?
Stay focused, get back on track, and firmly ground yourself in for the challenge with trust and wise discernment – much like the mountain goats that defy gravity, as they climb sure-footedly.
Next month will be my last newsletter before I take off on sabbatical beginning September 1st. In it I’ll share more about this time for me and what has inspired it, as perhaps you may find your own soul journey reflected.
I leave you with this:
Remember to always ask if what you have around and within you, what is feeding your day, what messages you hear, read, and see, and the source, channels, and people they come through, are really helping or hurting you.
If they aren’t nurturing and nourishing, then release them from your experience, understanding their place in the bigger picture, but not in your reality you want to create.
And that doesn’t just mean the things and individuals that seem obviously out of alignment, or completely not what you’re about. That goes for the ones that are in your field of interest, that look the part, but don’t feel, or consistently act the part.
Question even the spiritual new agers and all of the messages we are bombarded with from the very accessible channels we have these days.
I shared this recently with a dear friend:
“I can’t tell you how much aversion I am also experiencing to a lot of the ‘spiritual new age group,’ yet understanding it’s all part of the bigger picture…just not MY picture and reality anymore. It’s about creating your OWN healing elixir even if that completely rocks the boats of everything you once knew or at one time felt aligned with. It’s time to create new paths and forge ahead into the unknown, but personally aligned, creative adventure!”
Here’s to YOUR creative adventure!
If There’s Warning…
…there’s hope.
Otherwise, what would be the purpose of giving warning if there’s no hope of responding to that warning?
The Elf Tree
This is such a sweet, enchanting, perfect little message of hope, belief, and all things magickal. Of course my Faery sister Laura reblogged this too from the mystical Cnawan Fahey – he knows how to capture Faery hearts 😉
I also feel that this short post on “The Elf Tree” goes wonderfully with Cnawan’s poem shared the day before titled “Crimson Dawn”. They both speak to all things possible and the power of belief.
There are hidden gifts in everything for those with hearts to see them.
Here is Cnawan’s poem, “Crimson Dawn”:
The gray dawn
of an overcast life
brings another day
beneath the shroud
of sorrow.But to part the clouds
to find that inner light
and cast it upon the pain
transmutes grief to glory.Every poignant tale
that pangs the heart
with colors of emotion
is born of alchemy
when someone let the sun shine
upon their clouds of sorrow.
Beside the shore of the hallowed lake, there has dwelt a kindhearted Elf for nigh 60 years. A shy emissary from the lands of enchantment, on spring’s first day he returns to his dwelling by the water. Politely knock on his door and peer inside to see piles of candy and slips of paper, little notes written by the hands of children. The young ones leave him treats and letters, with sincere greetings or serious queries, to which Mr. Elf kindly replies. Upon their return a child will find a note addressed to them by name, neatly typed in the smallest of print. So many to rifle through, but they always find a merry reply, with the closing salutation, “I believe in You.”
Then when summer is done and fall in is in the air, it is time for the Elf to vacate his tree once more. He hangs…
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Tania Marie 