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An Ironic Full Circle Birthday Twist
What do you get when you take a fish out of water, put the fish on the highest snowy mountain peak in sight, and ask her to find her way home? She begins to remember her essence, applies it to what ever surrounding she finds herself in, and starts to transform into the mythical sea goat her ascendant, North Node, and First House Mars foretold she could be.
Or, something like that. 😉
Truth be told, the short story of irony I’m about to tell is one I did not foresee being one I would tell. And yet, I feel guided to share it for the seed it might plant in any one of you who also may have fears or doubts about what is possible, as I’ve always strongly believed that our greatest fears hold the greatest alchemy for us. In fact, I feel that our greatest fears are the doorways to our gifts and potentials.
I’ve seen that transmutation with things like my fear of public speaking, which turned into teaching, leading retreats, being interviewed on radio shows and video spots, coaching others, creating a YouTube channel of my own, and even openly sharing in various forums or platforms like this.
But skiing? I had pretty much accepted it just might not be my thing and was okay with that.
As many of you know who so sweetly follow along with my journeys, skiing is likely close to the bottom of my list of things I would have considered doing well. I didn’t grow up doing it, I didn’t start to really ski more consistently until the last two to three years – I’m now 48, and I had layers of fears around it that at times were debilitating when first I tried my hand at it.
This fish – I’m a Pisces – was more comfortable in liquid water rather than on frozen water even though I loved the enchantment of it.
That is, until my Capricorn stepped in to help me merge into that sea goat.
Fast forward to 2021 and I find myself on a nine week “ski safari,” as Dave likes to call it, and unknowingly to me, this presented the opportunity to embrace, hide, or run away from my fears. The sea goat-to-be decided to embrace it and hence began the daily consistent journey of supporting myself through a different layer of growth for the next chapter in my life.
I made a decision to transform my relationship with fear and skiing and reprogram a whole new way of nurturing myself that would make it fun, gentle, encouraging, and unconditional. I spent the last eight weeks really listening to myself, understanding my feelings, and developing a consistent practice and system of trust and support that translated into a natural progression of greater confidence, comfortability, and the surprising personal skill to get down a mountain that I wouldn’t have thought was possible.
I still wouldn’t call myself a great skier with amazing form, but that was never the goal. My intention was to create an inner trust and way that worked with who I am so that I could experience the natural out of something that once felt very unnatural.
But even greater than not seeing that coming, was not seeing what unfolded next, which just so happened to take place the day before and on my birthday.
We had a surprise visit from one of Dave’s law school friends and his girlfriend who happened to be finishing up a short ski trip in Park City, Utah and were on their way to visit his family near Boulder, Colorado. They decided to stop a couple of days near us and didn’t know it was my birthday. So, in fact they ended up being with us to celebrate and we met them at Copper Mountain where they were staying, so that we could ski with them for two days.
His girlfriend is a beginner skier, also learning late in life like me. She’s three years older than I am and just started last January in Lake Tahoe. She’s only skied half a dozen times and has taken several lessons. So, it was a good match for me to ski with her while Dave and his friend skied together.
What I had no idea would happen, though, was the two days turned into me teaching her. She didn’t ask me and I didn’t set out to do it. It just naturally evolved and the result was something neither of us expected.
But let me repeat that…the two days turned into me teaching her. What?!
Somehow the self trust and confidence I had built within myself the last eight weeks, alongside the self nurturing and transparent vulnerability and understanding of my fears had created a bridge between me and her. It was an unspoken language that my heart understood during the first two minutes I watched her ski. And a camaraderie of nurturing ignited instantaneously and the teacher side of me found a new channel to lovingly work through.
It didn’t matter if I was “expert” at this skiing thing or not. I had personal experience and tender understanding about what was running through her. I saw her as me and I knew how I had nurtured my own inner child through this, so this experience was simply another version of that inner child I naturally gravitated toward and vice versa.
What unfolded within literally ten minutes almost made both of us cry.
She looked at me with the hugest smile and sparkle in her eyes (we were wearing our face coverings so that’s all we could see of each other) and said, “Oh my gosh Tania. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to make turns. This is the first time anyone has ever told me what you just did. I can’t thank you enough. You’re such a good teacher because you explain things the way I understand them.”
To say I was humbled by what she said is an understatement….I nearly fell over because the irony of this shocked me. I merely felt what she was going through and relayed things as I would have to myself. Nothing fancy, just from the heart in a simple way.
She had been used to expecting she would fall, expecting to have fear, and just holding her breath, ploughing straight down steep parts, and hoping for the best. She had no confidence. Her trust was in the fact that falling was normal and fear would always control her.
After just one, long run together she was a completely different person on skis and she went from a past history of multiple crash falls and landings to only one small, gentle fall on the first two runs we did together, to not one fall on the third.
But more importantly, she was smiling huge, excited, felt confident, and was finally having fun!
I was floored because it was the last thing I would have expected and yet it actually seemed to make sense when I thought about it.
It’s not that I know all there is about skiing because I hardly know anything, but I know fear and I know processes. What I learned was a step-by-step way to address and explain things so that a better relationship could be developed with something new and scary. I knew that creating a bridge to more confidence and what would support that best, was where to start. The rest would naturally evolve.
She went on to tell her boyfriend and Dave that she’s had what she considered not great and good instructors, but I had done what neither had been able to.
It’s still actually hard for me to even say or write this because it’s challenging to see how this happened and so it makes me want to giggle in disbelief. And yet, we both witnessed, and her boyfriend did too on the second day, the progress she made.
He actually thanked me when we arrived on day two, my birthday, after doing one run with her, saying “Wow Tania. You really upped her game. She’s made huge progress. I don’t know what you did – hypnotized her or something – but thank you.”
You can imagine the laugh Dave and I had when we returned to the car on our own and I said, “I guess I’m a ski instructor now?!”
On our second day together, and first run of that day, she had a moment where her ski hit a round ice ball on the steepest part of the run. This, as you might surmise and is quite natural, put her back into a place of fear. So, it started to make her second run more challenging, as that fear thought was lingering with her and wondering if it would happen again. She began to lose confidence.
I knew that place very well, too. Those little setbacks when you have a different day, things feel different, conditions are different, etc. These are times that call for you to double back and navigate things from the beginning again in a way that feels nurturing instead of pushy or judgmental.
I started to do that with her and explained how it was okay…natural…but we could work with that. And we did. We talked through things and she took it step-by-step, including just looking a few feet in front of her to navigate her path rather than at the whole landscape, and then following closely behind me as I took a very slow and deliberate run like I’d done the day before that helped her feel guided to focus on rather than her fear. She mirrored me and we were as one.
She shared her gratitude for helping her through the fear and explained she felt so much better.
Once again, she looked at me with the hugest smile and sparkle in her eyes and I knew she was having fun again.
And that my friends, is priceless.
48 & Feeling Great! ~ The Full Snow Moon Has Anchored with Fuller Embodiment
Depending on where you live, February’s Full Snow Moon in Virgo reaches illumination either in the wee hours on the morning of Saturday the 27th, or anywhere in between that and the night before. The best view of it will be tonight, February 26th, which happens to be my birthday and will reach its highest point in the sky near midnight. I love that it’s called the Snow Moon and the reason is because typically February is the heaviest month for snow fall.
How perfect for this Winter Faery whose been on a snowy adventure navigating and braving new frontiers of experience for the past eight weeks. Every day has been an immersion into Winter Wonderlands that reflect the visions that inhabit my dreams. While I LOVE ALL seasons, the enchantment of Winter and snow is one I never tire of – very fitting as a Pisces water sign to love her seasonal realm of crystalline water.
I took this photo on Monday, February 22nd of this week while skiing at Vail on one of the most gorgeous days and also one of my braver days. It felt like a perfect reflection for the Full Snow Moon. As you can see, the Moon made her appearance, revealing her soon-to-be-debuting fullness.
According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, this Moon also has connection to animals:
The Cree called this the Bald Eagle Moon or Eagle Moon. Bear Moon (Ojibwe) and Black Bear Moon (Tlingit) refer to the time when bear cubs are born. The Dakota called this the Raccoon Moon, and certain Algonquin peoples named it the Groundhog Moon. The Haida named it Goose Moon.
Again, so fitting, as I have a strong connection with bears you might recall from my mention of them as messengers many times in dreamland. I am also very connected with geese and the avian family at large.
And speaking of geese, a silly goose I am and always will be.
I’m constantly laughing at myself, finding the humor, and embracing the opportunity in each moment to be silly and have fun. Sometimes that includes laughing until I’m crying and nearly can’t breathe (which has happened quite often on this trip), running around like a child saying innocent things with funny faces to convey it, or free falling into the snow in the middle of snow shoeing like the photo above.
Laughter and play go hand-in-hand for me.
Play is liberating and opens you to new possibilities. It opens your heart to the wonder and helps you to find magick all around you.
Play helps you to break from inhibitions and detach from needing to know. When you play you unleash your essence, come to know yourself more, and connect with the child in every one you meet.
Playing invites you to dance in spontaneity and turn the heavy into light.
It doesn’t matter your age. These are the things that keep you ageless.
When you invite playfulness into your life more, you’ll find yourself feeling a little more free and like anything is possible.
The expansive and majestic vistas I’ve had opportunity to see the last couple of months have been the perfect landscapes to support the unlimited potential innate to us all.
And while the perfect realm for this watery spirit, it has also been the perfect realm for continued embodiment and merging of the earthy counterparts I carry strongly as my native being as well. My strong Capricorn counterpart has also been nurtured into greater fullness, finding sanctuary in the high altitudes her mountain goat heart thrives in. We’ve been sleeping at nearly 10,000 elevation and soaring up to nearly 13,000 and it’s all felt like home to me.
Snow and mountains….what more perfect an adventure for a sea-goat. 😉
And it’s not just the mountains I’ve been learning to descend sure-footedly, but also the mountains I’m seeing myself capable of ascending to literally and metaphorically.
These captures of me in my “spacesuit” feel like a great way to reflect and anchor in the start of this new cycle for me. Not only will they tell the story of such a huge leap in growth I navigated through and opened by loving my way through fears, but they will mark for me milestones in courage and the gateways I opened for all things to be possible. I’ve learned new processes that can be implemented across the board and certainly will be for the rest of this year and beyond.
A cosmic traveler I am, navigating and implementing the journey of spirit in body as one.
Interestingly, I noticed on this trip that the more comfortable in integrated embodiment I’ve become, the more silver has been woven into my entire head of hair. So although ever-more impish, as one of my dear friends likes to call me, Winter has set in for good as the guiding wisdom and constant reminder that Spring’s hope is never lost.
Today I’m 48 in Earthly years and yet the hourglass of my soul creates it’s own gauge to navigate life by.
Warm Love Day Wishes from an Enchanted Winter Forest
Winter Wonderland wishes of magick and warmth for a Happy Love Day from our hearts to yours 💙 May you discover the source of love beginning with you and may every day be an invitation to open your heart more, share kindness, be compassionate, look through eyes of wonder and find the gifts and joy where no one else does, and blossom even though the frost has set in. ❄
Enjoy this stroll through the enchanted forest here we’ve been enjoying. These are from yesterday’s snow shoeing adventure about a mile and a half further up from our regular snow shoe area, where we found another interesting twin marker like I shared before (Sasquatch?) amidst the magick. I love the green bursts of life peeking through the flocking.
Love, wonder, and giggles to all!
A Different Yet Rich Christmas
This year has been very different for everyone, shifting even the way many of us celebrate the holidays. While distancing became the passing norm, experiences that invited our creativity became the connective new.
Although 2020 dealt a mixed bag of surprises, one of the key themes Dave and I deepened into was how precious and fragile life and every moment is. So finding ways to make the most of everything and seeing only what there was to be grateful for, kept hitting home as the important reminder.
This year saw us sharing online gatherings with friends and family afar that we otherwise never would have had so much time with.
And personally, this year saw me being able to support and connect with so many incredible souls with online classes and events, that otherwise would never have felt possible. This in turn opened me to much more expansive possibilities I once had felt the doors close on. It also helped to raise the vibrations for others that were ready to take the next leap on their journey – and that simultaneously helps the collective.
Portals are becoming more evident as the veils continue lifting. A new doorway of experience is available as the collective shifts into accelerated being. When I’m in nature, I can feel the layers of richness evolving before my eyes and the possibilities stir under the surface.
This year, while challenging for so many, has offered us an incredible fertile ground for new growth and potential. Where we may have felt freedoms infringed upon, we had the ability to deepen into the most important freedoms no one could ever take away from us – and these include the way we choose to create our reality through perception and reflection and how we experience our inner world that no one can master for us, but ourselves.
We also have always had the music of our hearts to listen to, and our imaginations where we can harness creative energy toward manifesting our hopes and dreams. These are gifts of our spirit in body where we are always free to roam and explore.
It’s one reason I feel it’s important to never lose our innocence, because it’s in that purity of curiosity, wonder, and belief, that so much is possible.
This year we have been spending the holidays on our own. It’s been a year of feeling the connection and love, despite not being with others because that is a bond that can’t be broken by distance.
Love transcends all boundaries and I know this very well with the passing of so many who have been the most dearest to me. There truly is no separation within the vortex of our heart bridges.
Usually we’d be at my parents’ home celebrating Christmas, if we aren’t away on travels. This year we are having an intimate holiday instead, which goes with the theme of our year that also included a wedding on our own.
On some level this feels important for something we have yet to see the why’s of, and even if that’s just about anchoring more into our embodiment, essence, empowerment, and new relationship to everything and everyone through the relationship we have nurtured within over 2020, then that is good enough for me.
If it’s simply to know love more through the dance of our own parts merging as one, then this feels rich with possibility for experiencing a more expansive kind of love with all of creation.
Although we are sharing a sweet Christmas at home, I did get to have a wonder-filled visit exploring my parents’ Christmas realm that is the most elaborate of all years yet.
I didn’t photograph everything, but since it’s been kind of a tradition to take you on a journey through my parents’ ever-childlike-hearts that mirror my own, I thought I’d share some peeks into their gingerbread wonderland that can warm anyone’s heart.
The photos you have seen throughout the post so far are of their creative imaginations come to life.
My parents know how to create warmth and magick all throughout the year and it’s no wonder that I have followed in their footsteps with my own sacred space, as you saw in yesterday’s share of my Wonderland room.
The next photos are of my dear Queen Astrid enjoying her Solstice, Christmas Eve, and Christmas surprises, as every Faery Rabbit Queen deserves sparkly fun to tickle her heart too.
And it’s also part of my path to share how every soul is important, has consciousness, intelligence, feelings, personality, and their own purpose in life.
I may not live any kind of conventional life, nor do I have any resemblance to that kind of family or cocreative business partnerships, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s taken me a lifetime to fully embody, in peace and transparency, my human expression of essence. And while this feels like the beginning still, it’s pure harmony to me.
My dear soul mate in rabbit body – Astrid – The Queen of this realm and my heart, keeps me on my toes, centered, focused, and balanced, while helping to channel the work that we do.
Everything I do, create, and move through me is all done with a Magick Rabbit by my side.
“Creating life as a work of art with a Magick Rabbit by my side” isn’t my motto for nothing. It’s the reality of my life. It’s who I am.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
This is me in my harmony, heart zone.
And the Winter Solstice and Christmas season is part of that harmony, heart zone…the pieces of me that are most meaningful, find ease and grace during this sparkly and enchanted season of pure potential.
Sending out magickal wishes, sprinkles of pixie dust, and bunny nose twitches of energetic potency and love!
May your hearts grow in depth and size with each embracive breath taken.
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!
New Moon Gratitude Giveaway With A Twist
You may remember my Summer Solstice Gratitude Giveaway from 2018, almost exactly a year ago. It was the second giveaway I hosted and was extremely well-received, as well as had far-reaching effects and benefits to all who joined. I still hear from people who have continued implementing their practice and how it supports the shifts and challenging times they go through, while helping them to expand and live more abundantly.
Well, I’ve been strongly nudged to offer this again, but with a little twist.
I’ve been feeling into the collective energy and listening to what people have been sharing, as they navigate current big changes once again cycling through.
In the midst of challenges and trying to figure things out, it’s easy to forget your practice and rituals of gratitude, but especially of self-care and creating space for you.
So this time the challenge, if you so choose to accept it, will combine a gratitude practice with self-nurturing and love.
This is only an invitation, so if you don’t like the guidelines or resonate with following the structure of it, you simply can choose not to participate or use it as inspiration to create your own practice, add to one you already have, or simply use it as a reminder of mindfulness.
If you do feel a draw to participate and feel like accountability would be helpful, then I welcome you to join.
Here are the guidelines for the Giveaway that will result in implementing changes relative to your life, experiencing more of what you want in your life, and may even see you receiving a gift from me.
New Moon Gratitude Giveaway:
1. Accountability: Please let me know by this Friday, May 31st that you have decided to commit to this challenge. You can either let me know in the comments of this blog post, or CONTACT ME ***** If you find this through my posting it on Facebook or Instagram, please STILL ONLY CONTACT ME ABOUT JOINING VIA THESE 2 OPTIONS. It helps me out a lot to have everything in one place. I know people tend to miss details due to a lot of info to take in, but hoping this helps.
2. Gratitude in Action: Starting June 3rd and for the next 8 full days until the end of June 10th please begin a daily practice of gratitude – even if you already are – in which case go further. This is where the twist comes in: Rather than creating a list of at least 10 things you are grateful for and why about just ANYTHING (which in many cases will result in being grateful for things “OUT THERE”), I am going to ask that you look for things to be grateful for that are about yourself ONLY. (things “IN HERE”) – (Please read through the end of this blog to see why this is important and for examples). At the end on June 11th, you’ll send me this list just like you did last time. You can either type them up or take a photo of your journal pages and send that to me. I know this can be vulnerable, so I understand people not wanting to participate, however that is also a hugely empowering part of this and of course anything you share with me stays between us. I’m a Reiki Master Teacher and have also coached with clients so I honor that relationship. This will give you at least 80 things and reasons you are grateful for something about yourself. The more heart connection you can create with this, the more you increase the frequency of this experience, depth of healing, and expansive magnetism it creates.
3. Giving in Action: This is an important one! For each of these 8 days I’d like you to do at least one thing in the way of giving and/or nurturing to yourself that you wouldn’t normally do. Please make note of that in your journal next to your list of things you’re grateful for and why about yourself.
4. Responsibility: Send me your Gratitude and Giving lists by the end of the day on Tuesday June 11th. I would also love to hear how this experience was for you and anything you noticed shifting in your life during and/or after the 8 days.
5. Integrity: All of this truly is between you and yourself on whether or not you actually do these things and how much you invest of yourself in them. And with that said, it would be wonderful if you can make a promise to yourself to continue this forward long after June 10th. See this New Moon energy as the portal to make a huge life shift – even if it is simply in fine-tuning what you already do. For some, this may be a new experience. Either way, I assure you that you will experience positive and enriching shifts in your life during this time period and as a result. And if you maintain this as your daily walking meditation you will experience things exponentially, but most importantly your quality of life will be enhanced, as will everyone and every experience you come in contact with. There are so many ways you can fine-tune this process and challenge yourself to rise to greater levels with it by going farther with it all and in every circumstance. You will learn creative ways that gratitude now is simply aligning you with probable realities your frequency is matching. The choosing of the realities is up to you, but they await you realizing them.
Of course adding this to a gratitude practice, in general, about ALL of the things you are grateful for would be truly powerful too, but I tend to see how self love and nurturing continues to be neglected and so this is why I’m focusing this particular challenge on YOU.
I think it can be easier to find things about others or things around us to be grateful for, but is harder for us to look at ourselves with the same loving eyes of appreciation and love.
So, why am I focusing this on you?
Since we know the power of “what you embody within will reflect without” this alone is reason.
We also are well aware of the thought that you can’t give what you don’t already have yourself – or at least perhaps not as fully.
We’ve also heard, “if you can’t love yourself, how can you love someone else?”
And, if you’re always giving out, but never open to receiving, then you aren’t fully exercising truly living in abundance. When we give to and receive from ourselves as well, this gets an extra boost.
We get messaged in every which way about how mission and service is of utmost importance. That you need to think in this vein, “how can I be of service?” And while I agree that taking into account the highest good for all concerned is key, the word “all” remember is inclusive of you, too!
We tend to bypass ourselves because we’ve been told that is selfish. We’ve also been told about the ego and to have any of that would also be a taboo. But the “you” I’m talking about is not about some ego-trip, nor is about not caring about anyone else.
It’s seeing everything and everyone connected.
What it’s not about is being a martyr and self-sacrificing.
What is about is authenticity, showing up, living out loud, expressing your unique self and fullness, and being the best version of you within the collective tapestry. And in order to do that, there’s a level of self nurturing, love, and care that is needed. There’s a level of appreciation for the beautiful gifts you have, for your life, for the ability to shine your individual light. There’s a need for you to have space, time, and value.
Because when you are doing these things, it automatically translates as the highest good for all concerned.
When you disregard yourself, push yourself aside, diminish your light, relinquish your right to express yourself, feel bad about or hide your gifts, and believe you aren’t worthy of things, then others feel that too.
Others receive your example, as permission to do the same – what ever that is. And they act accordingly, which may look something like a lot of people yearning for self love and finding ways to fulfill that hopelessly and endlessly, or even defend or lash out about that missing piece hopelessly and endlessly.
Gratitude is a powerful thing – you can read the link from my last post, above, about this. And having gratitude for, and appreciating your uniqueness, accomplishments, and value can take things a step further.
It’s like the layers of an onion we always talk about peeling away.
We can take things deeper and the core of you is a powerful place to focus, alongside the rest of the wonderful work, practices, and gratitude that you make time for.
Here are some examples of things you might find about yourself to share with yourself:
I think this might be a tricky challenge because you might find it easier to say something like, “I’m grateful for the job that I have.”
Now, while that is a wonderful thing to have gratitude for and truly does shift things by expressing and feeling that, it still isn’t personal enough for this challenge.
Your job is something outside of you, or an extension of you.
So how can you make it more personal?
What is it about you that made you the perfect candidate for the job? What qualities do you have that make you exceptional at your job?
So, for instance, “I am grateful for my ability to understand and listen to people and for my sensitivities that enable me to be good at knowing our customers’ needs, find common threads, and be a good team builder.”
These would be more in line with self-love and nurturing. Seeing how something unique about you is a gift. And on top of it, you can see how that gift you have is “serving the higher good.”
It could even shift what you have felt about that gift. For instance, you may have been down on yourself for being an empath or being so sensitive, but in fact those gifts you think are curses, are quite a blessing.
So reach in to find and have gratitude for that gift. Not focusing on the limitations, but the possibilities it provides.
Another example could be, “I am grateful for the way I can find humor in everything, for my silliness and playfulness, and the ability to always see through the eyes of my inner child. I am grateful to be a child at heart because it creates a feeling of wonder for everything around me, helps me to appreciate the little things, and helps lighten situations, as well as gives others permission to have fun too.”
So, rather than say something like, “I am grateful for the children of the world that make me smile,” can you see how the above makes it personal, but still extends out into the world as service, once again.
This all also creates greater self awareness while also nurturing an appreciation for who you are – as you are a beloved child of the universe.
It helps to create presence, supports you to slow down and create time and space for yourself, and helps to anchor in the new with greater empowerment to move forward with.
You’ll likely discover some resistance, icky feelings, blocks, and other feelings dredged up. I encourage you to go with the flow and try not to judge what comes up. Be gentle with yourself. Your inner child will thank you for this.
Again, we’re not in any way negating or stopping the practice of gratitude in general for anything, but we are taking it deeper and extending it to the inner landscape, as a means to create a ripple on the outer one – inside out.
Love as service.
Self-nurturing as mission.
These effect the whole.
They ARE the whole.
Imagine what a world of self-nurtured individuals might be like. Souls that have learned appreciation and value for their uniqueness now interacting in the world and able to really see and appreciate one another’s individuality and value. What possibilities might that create?
I hope this makes sense.
That brings us to the Giveaway part.
At the end, after I receive everyone’s submissions on the 11th, I’ll then be randomly choosing FOUR people to receive a free gift.
If only four or less people join, you’ll all receive a gift.
If more than four people join, then I will do a random, blind drawing of names, likely helped out by Astrid, to pick four recipients.
So, again if you decide this would be of benefit to you to join, regardless of the gifts involved or not, then you can either comment to this blog or use the Contact page to let me know that you are participating.
The four people will be receiving one of our mini magick rabbit faery gardens or magick rabbit baskets as your gift.
These are enchanted little themed worlds that carry an energy, reminder, theme, and inspiration for life.
They are truly mini portals of possibility.
I am going to be taking part in this myself, alongside anyone who wants to join, but of course I’m not part of the names to be drawn.
The Gratitude Giveaway will start this Monday, June 3rd on the New Moon and will go through the end of Monday, June 10th – that’s 8 full days this time.
New Moons are excellent times to begin anew – create new intentions, renew commitments, take action toward goals, and are great for self-awareness to align with your hopes and dreams for the future.
That energy feels perfect for this.
If you choose to participate, please make sure to read the guidelines and follow them exactly as written and don’t forget to let me know by end of this Friday, May 31st, that you’ll be joining.
You also have the option of simply taking part in this without letting me know or receiving anything in return.
You are a limitless being and there are limitless reasons you might be reading this right now and it might be speaking to a part of you.
It’s completely up to you how or if you want to take this journey.
Yet, I assure you, by truly committing and upping your normal approach, your life will take a lovely turn.
Whimsical Wednesdays ~ The Artist’s Corner: The Inner Artist & Upcoming Flash Sale
Although we’re heading toward Memorial weekend, it has been a flashback to Winter here the last week and a half. It’s interesting to reflect on how Mother’s Day weekend was like Summer here and we were spending every day at the beach then, and the week leading up to it. Directly the next day temperatures dropped and we’ve experienced sporadic snow flurries, rain, and intermittent or full-on cloudy days. This morning we woke to six plus inches of new snow, as you can see in the photos, although it’s half melted already. It all disappears quite quickly, but I’ve even had to cover my Garden Tower for the last week because of below freezing temperatures at night.
We still have another week upcoming of colder weather with rain and clouds, but most of the snow may be halting after today other than some mixed flurries with some of the rain.
It’s all felt very mirroring of the inner landscapes – a time of pause, release, refresh, and percolating new that I’ve been feeling deeply. There’s been an odd, but good sense of things changing even though I can’t see what that looks like yet. It still feels to be headed in a positive direction, so currently it’s just about slowing down and taking care of the little things, paying attention to what’s popping up, investing deeper into intentions, and creating ever-more clarity.
Supposedly there’s one more week of this vortex-like bubble before we’re back to Spring vibes, but who knows as mountain life is so unpredictable, just like life!
I’ve been making use of this reset time and seeing how it is nurturing the inner artist.
The inner artist is the part of me/you that is also connected to your inner child. The inner artist might speak directly to your artistic talents and how they channel through in terms of a creative project, but the inner artist might also speak to the creative energy woven into the very fabric of life and how you harness that for living in general.
It’s that part of you that creates for the pure joy of creating.
It’s the part of you that finds peace in those moments of creative impetus flowing through.
It’s the part of your heart that knows what is most healing, transformational, and aligned with your spirit self.
It’s the part of you that longs to express itself, be honored, trusted, heard, reclaimed, nurtured, and supported.
It’s the part of you that knows.
So perhaps, while you may not be experiencing a literal Winter-in-Spring cycle, you might find that something is calling you inward nonetheless.
This might be a calling to acknowledge your strengths and gifts, create healthy and balanced boundaries that honor your needs, and time and space for what you desire. That includes releasing toxic people, things, ideas, and beliefs so that you can open to more expansiveness.
You may need to reacquaint yourself with the priorities and commitments that feel essential to you and then eliminate the things that take you away from that, don’t make good use of your time, and fundamentally avoid doing what clearly is your joy.
And if it’s not quite clear, then slow down and refresh, so you can hear that voice and create a restorative cocoon to nurture what stirs within.
Keeping your space organized and clear helps you to be more clear and focused.
They don’t call it Spring cleaning for nothin’!
I feel that only new things are wanting to be around and am making room for that new to come in, but also in general to create space for the new I’ve already embraced, to anchor. It feels good!
The inner artist of life seems to be inviting me to create from an ever-clearer energy and I’m feeling that redirection of alignment during these Wintery weeks.
How about you?
Although we may still have a wet and cold Memorial Day in our future, part of this refresh celebration is extending to our Etsy shop for an upcoming Flash Sale. YAY!
New inventory feels to be percolating to share over the coming months and so we’re making it easier to bring home things you love in our shop, in order to create space, by offering a 25% Off Flash Sale shop-wide that will begin this Sunday and conclude at the end of Monday’s Memorial Day.
This added to already slashed prices creates bringing sweetness home at steals.
More than anything we love making you smile and the reason for creating this shop was purely a heart-to-heart connection.
So keep an eye out in the shop for that here:
We’re so grateful to everyone who has brought home the inspiration and whimsy Astrid and I have been called to create and share with you to support your inner child and artist of life.
It’s moved us greatly to read all the sweet and touching reviews from those of you who have so generously shared those with us.
We so love and welcome any reviews from our friends, as it helps us to know what you love about our creations and your experience, so that we may continue to create in that vein.
I sense that we’re going to have another release upcoming of some sacred art – some of your most beloved – so stay tuned for that too.
In the meantime, if you’re on Instagram, head on over to my page to see the latest discovery released – perhaps one might call to your heart.
Here’s to your inner artist child!
Monday Musings ~ The Writer’s Corner: Soulful Sunday 107 – Play by Brad
To celebrate the first blog back from The Writer’s Corner since my time away in Sedona, I’d like Monday’s Musings to kick off with the musings around the theme of “Play” because it truly is the cornerstone to well-being, balance, optimal living, and cultivating more creativity – IMHO. This is a great post by my sweet friend, Brad, that includes a wonderful article for both your inner child and children in your life to understand the importance of play in your and their lives.
I’ve heard recently from several friends that they struggle with wanting to experience more creativity, have blocks in terms of their writing and other projects, aren’t sure where to start in terms of their ideas and dreams, or feel challenged with experiencing joy and optimism in their lives.
I truly believe that play is so important to life and if it weren’t for my Peter-Pan syndrome refusing to “grow” up in the way others have accepted this to mean, I likely would feel all the same things too. Yet, I embrace singing, laughing, dancing, make-believing, making up stories, seeing through childlike eyes of wonder, believing in the magickal, seeing the glass half full, talking to myself and all the creatures of Mother Earth and the Otherworlds, recreating myself and my environment to match my heart’s joy, and embracing being silly despite others around me acting all “grown up”.
If you struggle with writing or feeling a block with your creativity, check out number eight of the ten benefits of play in the article within Brad’s blog post.
If you allow yourself to spread your wings beyond the boundaries conditioning has created and embrace having more fun, playing, and being silly now and then, you will definitely feel a difference in your life and experience it through different eyes as well.
Your projects, dreams, and writing will get a boost of freshness, as you reset a new way of being that embraces all those wonderful core parts of who you really are, rather than making them feel like they need to behave and have a life-long time out in the corner – remember, nobody puts Baby in the corner!
I hope this article helps inspire you to play more and make 2019 more joyous for you. I really do believe you’ll find your projects and life flowing and thriving more.
Here’s an accompanying short blog inspiration I shared before, with some quotes to inspire more play – Play More.
This episode of Soulful Sunday explores the power of play.
Play is so important to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the United Nations as a right of every child. ~ Kenneth Ginsburg
Enjoying some playtime with my nephew Willie.
Children learn (through play) critical life skills for mental, physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and communication development. A growing body of research (and my experience too) shows that play is equally important to adults. Play supports health, stress management, learning, and better relationships.
We get so caught up in our responsibilities that we forget to play, laugh, and enjoy life regardless of our circumstances. Play is defined as any activity done for pure enjoyment, rather than serious reasons or purpose. The danger in posts like mine is that we will add play to our growing To Do Lists! Then you face the paradox of wanting to play because…
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Whimsical Wednesdays ~ The Artist’s Corner: Being You More Creatively Will Help Create the World You Want to See
Welcome 2019. It is already the 2nd of the New Year, as I sit down to share this new blog post. Do you feel a shift in energy? I could sense something in the days leading up, and although each day is just that – another day – there does indeed feel to be a different air about things. At first I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but perhaps I don’t need to either.
Being that this #3 New Year collectively rings in greater creativity and innovative vision to bring forth through your personal vehicle of expression and embodiment, it may be that you are feeling a deep calling from within to make changes and live more from your heart than ever before.
I found it sweet that the day before New Year’s Eve, when we were hiking to the lake, I found a snowflake ornament hidden in the brush below this tree you see in the photo above. The tree is decorated year-round and I felt the discovery of this hidden sparkle of delight inviting me to hang a bit of magick this tree guardian would watch over that would reflect my unique creative expression in the divine collective – just as each snowflake is unique, but part of Source. It reminds me of a painting I did long ago titled, “Uniquely You, Divinely One.”
To me, this was also the message I was being shown in discovering the snowflake…that is what’s so important this year to truly shine our creative uniqueness in the world, as a way to empower the collective.
I looked around for some way to fasten the snowflake on the tree and Dave pointed out a small silvery white ribbon on a branch. So I threaded it through the snowflake and tied it on.
Perhaps this is the shift I was sensing. That things are truly focusing more on the micro, inherent in the macro. That what each of us chooses to express – no matter what it is – is what is going to shape the world the most. This being both the world – reality – you experience AND the reality for the collective as potential.
I know for me it’s been an increase in creative energy via new channels and forms and creating a lush reality around me that nurtures my heart and soul. I find the more I do this, the more I bring that level of peace, joy, and love out into the world more consistently and through each experience I encounter. AND the more I enjoy this temporary Earth home because I am embracing the potential it was meant to be.
This increase in creative energy came from inspiration I wasn’t sure I had in me anymore back three years ago – a time when I felt life on Earth no longer offered enough to keep me past the closure I’d come to.
And yet, just as the heart is vast and limitless, so too is our creative capacity. Creative reinvention found its way into my life again and I said, “yes” to it.
Are you ready this year to say “yes” to something in your heart?
Perhaps you might find at least one way in which you could express yourself in a new and currently more heart-full way?
Even if it’s just a new outfit, hairstyle, reorganizing or redecorating a room, starting a project, finding creative ways to spend more time or more meaningful time nurturing yourself, with loved ones, doing something you love, and/or, but quite importantly, out in nature connecting and receiving her gifts.
Currently I’m immersed in family visiting right now and having our niece here who is 6 1/2 years old truly always reflects to me the part of myself I value and nurture likely the most – my inner child.
It tickles me that she wants to spend so much time with me and I gather it is because of that part within each of us that meets in the heart…the little girl that loves magickal things.
It is this same part that is fueling my current creative projects – the focus full throttle now, after a lot of anchoring. I’ll be jumping back in after our family time comes to closure and can’t tell you how much energy I feel ready to pop.
I received word recently from my rabbit family that February 1st will be the launch of my new Etsy shop. It just so happens to be my beloved and departed rabbit, Nestor’s, birthday, as well as the magickal Imbolc of new beginnings, purification, and the light within blossoming.
And the more I keep channeling creative energy, the more I’m seeing and hearing of people all around me doing so many wonderful new things! It excites me greatly.
Some other big changes and arrivals have come all at the end of 2018 that perhaps I’ll share in another post, but for now I’m wishing everyone a wonderfully creative new spark in your life and that you find yourself feeling ready to nurture and cultivate more of what you love and desire, as well as intend for the world through your own actions.
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.
Tania Marie 