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Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: Your Higher Heart Can Free You
As we celebrate this first day of February, many things come to mind for this month of “LOVE” ignited by today’s celebration of the magickal Imbolc (the halfway mark between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox) and a very magickal soul’s birthday. For any of you new here to my blog, Nestor is my twin soul in rabbit body who departed this Earth plane 11 years ago. Today is her Earth birthday – she would have been 16.
February also happens to be my birthday month, although I’m at the end – so our hearts hold each side of the bridge of love celebrated in this month.
I always honor and celebrate Nestor and Astrid shares this deep respect for her, as her mentor. The two of them are very similar in many ways – more so than any of my bunnies have been in relation to each other.
In fact, Nestor has seen to it that others of our soul family (like Astrid, Joy, Cosmo, and Gaia) have found their way to me and me to them. She constantly watches over and guides me, cares for my human self when she feels me in need, sends me messages and signs, supports me with my path and life’s work, and fuels my heart with greater and deeper love – much like Astrid does on Earth for me.
And where there is love, there is no separation.
Astrid wants today’s message to be about moving into our hearts more deeply, but also more expansively. She senses that while many are experiencing great openings in their lives, she feels those of you who still struggle and are finding yourself feeling trapped in a dark place you feel you can’t get out of, which may in fact reflect a tipping point opportunity.
She wants me to share a short story about what happened this morning and then will share why this was important and how it reflects her message for today.
I was busy cleaning up her bunny kingdom today and had left the usually closed bathroom door, slightly ajar after having gone in to get some paper towels to wipe down her litter box.
After I was done, and passed it to go get her fresh water and goji juice for her bowl, I closed the door fully. I returned not seeing her and went on a search to find her throughout the house, calling her name and looking under every one of her hiding places or potential unseen areas by the naked eye that she might have run off to.
She was nowhere to be found and I was a bit frantic, wondering if she’d fallen through a portal or something. 🙂
Finally, after surveying both floors three times, I wondered if she might have gotten deep into my closet and I closed the door on her by accident – nope.
Lastly, I thought, hmmm, could she have snuck by me and gotten into the bathroom in that short period it was slightly open and I closed the door on her?
The latter was in fact the case.
As I reached for the old vintage door knob and opened it, I saw her sitting on top of the toilet seat staring at me. She had in fact been closed into the dark bathroom and decided if she couldn’t get out the way she came in, she’d get higher, sit still, and hope I’d hear her heart in answer to my calls of her name.
“So what does this have to do with your message for today, Astrid?” I ask.
She replies, “This was my way of identifying with the people who find themselves struggling and feeling trapped in a dark place they can’t find a way out of. It happens to all of us and to struggle more is like sinking deeper into quicksand. It simply won’t help. These are the times to find your center, sit still while immersed in the dark, and elevate into your higher heart so that you can send and receive the clearest communication of love to where it’s needed the most, within and without.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Well, when you feel lost, lonely, in pain, and are struggling, much of this involves a separation from love – the most expansive and unconditional kind. The gap grows wider between your ability to understand things because you enter the mind’s reasoning alone and abandon the heart’s knowing. While I sat in the dark I could feel all of that fear and anxiety – mine and the collective’s rush through me – and realized I could either go mad trying to claw my way a tunnel through impossible doors, OR I could elevate my heart and mind and open to a wider perspective that would free me. I could move into my higher heart and find the well of love there I could use to create the peace I needed for myself and the situation, while I calmed myself and used that clarity of heart to speak to you in the language of love telepathy that I knew would reach your heart,” Astrid explains.
“Wow! Well said, Astrid. It makes perfect sense to me.”
“Yes, and when you were stressed today about unexpected things,” she continues, “you didn’t realize how you did the same.”
“Oh, you’re right! After that initial rush of anxiety, I did what elevates me into my heart the most and thought of this being Nestor’s birthday, and looked at you and cuddled with you for a bit. That brought me back to my peace and center, nurtured my truth, and my heart suddenly bridged a new perspective to my mind that shifted me out of the stress instantly and enabled me to detach completely,” I reply.
“Exactly,” Astrid answers.
“I guess we both found our way through the darkness and each other today,” I said.
“Through love,” Astrid replies. “An elevated kind of love, which is where we are headed. Just like you shared yesterday about your new teal hair feeling to reflect the higher heart. That is no coincidence my dear friend.”
I smile.
“As you said, where there is love there is no separation. We only feel lost, alone, scared, angry, or sad, because we have yet to BE this love. Love has been intellectualized and analyzed, with only short spurts of actually residing in it – if in fact we haven’t denied or repressed it altogether. Yet, we often live outside of it and only venture into its home in dire circumstances, by accident, or as a fleeting moment. We’ve forgotten that we were never homeless and we’ve forgotten how rich we are in the only currency that we can take with us beyond Earth – LOVE,” Astrid concludes.
I had a feeling that this morning’s experience with Astrid getting locked in the bathroom was no arbitrary thing once I saw her sitting there so purposefully, like a wise soul, atop the toilet seat throne.
Her message feels important to me and perhaps it will to you too on a level that is needed at this time. I feel she is speaking to us moving beyond what we think we’ve known as love into a much more expansive, bigger picture, and harmonic experience of love – very fitting for the first day of the month of love.
It’s no wonder that this little rose quartz tree sitting atop an amethyst mound was the only thing I returned back from Sedona with. I visited Crystal Magic and was only drawn to the beautiful crystal trees, and when I couldn’t decide between about four of them, I tuned into Astrid and asked which she would like me to bring home for her and me.
The answer was clear, as you can below.
Rose quartz is the stone of the heart and unconditional love. Amethyst is February’s stone and is spiritually elevating in ways that transmute energies into higher frequencies of love.
Rabbits are reflections of growth, rebirth, awareness, harmony, abundance, creativity, fertility, vulnerability, and Mother Earth’s changing seasons and rabbits (especially white rabbits) are traditionally symbolic of Imbolc, Candlemas, and Spring. They really help us leap into the energies available to us this new month, as shared in Lee’s Energy Update below that synchronously holds a similar vibe to Astrid’s message.
Astrid, Nestor and all of my rabbit soul companions have been powerful way-showers of these energies, and most importantly of love for me. Cosmo, as you may remember, was and is the epitome of this steadfast love Astrid speaks of. And all of my bunny partners help me to return there when needed.
Nestor was always a great reflector for me of what I was missing and needed to take care of within myself. And she continues to be a daily reminder in my heart, keeping me on track and not straying from my own need for consistent inner harmony. Thank you Nestor and Astrid for today’s insight and lesson.
I wish you all an extra love-filled February and to end this share here’s Lee Harris to expound on this month’s themes he is feeling for the continuation of this new 7-year cycle of elevation we’re in – “The Era of Higher Harmonics, Elevated Love & Abundance Shifts.”
Update: Today marked the end of our Giveaway on Instagram celebrating the upcoming launch of our new Etsy shop. We announced the recipient and surprised four others with a gift too. We’re so grateful to everyone who joined and for helping to raise money for rescue rabbits, as for each entry I committed to donating $1 to a rabbit rescue of my choice. February is starting off full of LOVE!
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: Honoring the Sacred Relationship to Nature & the Nature Within
As today marks the four-year anniversary that my sweet, special needs bunny boy, Cosmo, came home with me forever, Astrid is wanting today’s message to be a reminder of the sacred relationship humans are gifted that is about guardianship and stewardship, rather than ownership and dominion over nature. She wants us to move more into our hearts and not simply succumb to ego desires at the detriment of foregoing these sacred relationships. It is a great honor we are born into that comes with a commitment to awareness of compassion for the highest, to walk in presence of most heart-fully and responsibly.
There’s not a day that goes by that Cosmo isn’t a part of my daily thoughts and reminders. Astrid knows this well, and is in communion with him and my other star rabbits.
Whenever something comes up that can potentially trigger or lead me astray, Cosmo instantly comes into heart and reminds me of how he approached everything with unconditional love, regardless of the situation. This instantly shifts my energy and keeps me aligned.
Astrid doesn’t want this post to be about her, so she asks me to share Cosmo’s last message that expounds on what she feels important to impart.
“I honor Master Cosmo with utmost respect. Let his love and words speak for today’s message,” she says.
Here it is:
Cosmo’s Message & Mission ~ A Journey of Greatest Compassion
With the recent passing of a dear soul in rabbit body named Flynn on the Full Moon Eclipse, who was like Cosmo’s twin brother in heart in so many ways, Astrid feels the importance of sharing how sacred every soul is and that regardless of the body chosen to incarnate as, there is something important that everyone has to teach us and help us to experience.
Astrid shares, “Your greatest teachers are many times in the form of something you wouldn’t think, or idealize, them to be.”
This can come to be the people who most trigger and challenge us, or it can be through a tiny fragile animal like a mouse or rabbit, an unusual insect, a little “Charlie Brown Christmas tree” type plant, or Nature’s expressions.
“Never underestimate the power of any child of Mother Earth to have profound effects on your life. If you open your heart more, you will hear the voices all around you that are talking to you all of the time – not just when you decide to listen,” she adds. “You are never alone and what you think you need or desire, can come through in a different way and form once you release attachment to how things ‘need’ to be. That, of course, including and starting with the sacred relationship within you. Tania discovered this when she surrendered deeper into her heart and discovered the truth of boundless love residing there.”
She’s right.
And part of what I discovered for myself was the profound relationship to rabbits that was unique for me and that made all the difference, as well as led me back to myself.
“Please tell them more about this discovery, my dear friend,” Astrid encourages.
“Okay, well the best way would be to share what I’ve recently wrote about this on my “Creating Life As A Work Of Art” page to this blog,” I answer.
“Very well, that sounds good to me,” Astrid replies. “I think it will be insightful about how you found your greatest meaning, sacred connection, and passion for life, which demonstrates to others it can be through something unique that speaks to each soul.”
Here is what I wrote:
Creating life as a work of art is my personal motto and I’ve learned that I do this best with a rabbit by my side – a magick rabbit, to be precise.
I’ve always lived a creative life, but it wasn’t until a life-clarifying experience a few years ago that I uncovered a deep truth in my heart – I wasn’t me without a rabbit. These complex and mystical beings stir something within that opens my heart wider, tears me inside out, lights the deepest recesses of inspiration and imagination, and makes sense of what can’t be explained.
Rabbits have played the biggest role in 16 years of my life (I’ve been blessed with 5 rabbit companions – currently Astrid is my cocreator on Earth while the other 4 are the star guides to my Cosmic compass) and in surrendering to learning the wisdom they have to teach, I have come to know myself even more. They have helped me to create a life that reflects the dreams and visions of the child within. We share a bond of watching over one another and encouraging the best in each of us to step forward courageously.
Their connection with creativity, abundance, and that fertile Spring energy of joyous blossoming reflects the importance of cultivating this renewing energy and innocence.
I’m passionate about sharing the magickal qualities of rabbits with others and the art of presence they embody that can help reveal the mystical origins we long to discover. The way of the rabbit is a recipe for creative living and enrichment. They indeed take us down a rabbit hole of discovery and adventure where the only limits will be how far we let our imaginations run. I love inspiring people to remember who they are and rabbits are way-showers to hearing that song again.
“I love this,” Astrid says and nudges my foot with loving approval. “You’ve come a long way and we – souls as the rabbit collective – are ever-grateful for your devotion and sacred commitment to relationship with us and the Earth Mother we love, and for being one of the voices for our messages. And since you’ve come this far, we hope you are willing to come a little bit further this Earth cycle you’re on.”
Tears.
“I know many times you want to let go and in the past have all but given up. Since you’ve trusted this much, please remember to listen to that song, as it is still composing itself,” Astrid adds.
“You always know what to say,” I share.
And so it is that Astrid, my star rabbits, and the rabbit collective are asking me to surrender even deeper to listening, and be willing to go all the way.
I didn’t realize Astrid would use her collective message to also message me an answer to my question I had about the new choice and timeline that was presented to me just recently and within Sedona’s womb.
The rabbit hole is an ever-deepening adventure.
If you’re on Instagram, don’t forget that today Astrid and I will be sharing the start of the Giveaway later, which will be ongoing through the 31st, with recipient announced on February 1st. We’re finalizing details and will be posting how you can receive a special little gift to celebrate the upcoming launch of our new Etsy shop – The Magick Rabbit.
Whimsical Wednesdays ~ The Artist’s Corner: The Art of Living
From the red rocks of Sedona to the white wonderland of Tahoe, I sit here surrounded by winter blankets of snow swathing the Forest Portal of our home.
We arrived back Monday evening, still vibrating in the energy of the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse – also a Super Blood Wolf Moon – and I’m just now fully integrating back in time for today’s Whimsical Wednesdays share from the Artist’s Corner.
We were away between Friday 1/11 and Monday 1/21, enjoying quite a full vacation and igniting of the new for 2019. Since we were driving, we decided on a stop-over in Las Vegas the first night to break up the drive – only exploring out for delicious comfort vegan food at The Modern Vegan for both dinner and early brunch, but the rest of our time was spent in the magick of Sedona’s high vibes.
We spent several days on our own anchoring in the energies, as Sedona welcomed us back, and then the rest of the time was with dear friends who all journeyed there from both the Grand Canyon and Tahoe to reunite.
I also had the chance to connect with two sweet friends that live in the area, we set intentions and sent out prayers from the Peace Garden two separate mornings, and of course we sampled all the great vegan eats and some new finds!
Every day was filled with tons of outdoor fun and exercise that tallied up to 60+ trail miles we ventured on foot and bike in 8 days – although I only went mountain biking once and Dave went three times making his mileage come to 74.
We thought it would be fun to see just how much adventure our feet take us on. 🙂
Unlike past blogs, I won’t be recounting our entire trip, but instead will be focusing on how Sedona was actually the birthing of my art and the “art of living” for me.
If you’d like to see a full photo journaling of the adventure, you can find all the beauty and adventure at my Instagram page here, even if you’re not on Instagram:
TaniaMarieArtist – (If you see two overlapping white squares in the right hand corner of a photo it means there are several photos to each post. You can click on them and then click the arrows to venture through)
It was interesting that our friends asked me about my time in Sedona, having me recount the evolution of my experiences with her energy since the beginning.
Although I now experience flow, joy, and tons of nature immersion, it wasn’t that way at start. Her powerful vortexes asked of me to dig deep, purge, cleanse, heal, and strip away everything I knew how to on a daily intensive that lasted for nearly two years. My journeys then were journeys into the inner sanctum of my heart and I only ventured out on small occasion to walk or drive somewhere where I could meditate, anchor in the work I’d done, set intentions, and receive insight for what was next. Other than that, I had no contact with anyone and in fact, had made a clean break from the life I had before.
I can share more another time, but it was very intense and hard work.
It also opened the door to my artistic journey I’m on now.
Although I drew nearly all of my life up until that moment, for joy and only once for actual pay, it wasn’t until I started uncovering layers within myself that I decided to purchase some oil paints, canvas, and start truly painting for the very first time in my life while on this inner journey living in Sedona.
It didn’t happen right away, but the more I released and healed, the more I felt the call to express myself on canvas.
The first painting I created was for my parents – it was an oil painting of Venice they have in their living room today – an image I replicated from their travels there. I just jumped right in, as if I’d been painting all of my life, but in actuality I was simply moving the energy that I had released from within that echoed of my lives on this earth and the artist within me that had always been there.
Upon completion of this painting, I then created some symbolic paintings that seemed to echo not only the healing and insights I’d received, but the messages of empowerment and transformation that were taking place.
I also created a few charcoal pencil portraits of my grandparents and others.
In essence I was tapping into the well of creative energy as a form of communicating what was within me and channeling through me, while also adding layers of healing that aided the work I was doing – giving myself therapy on every level imaginable and with every tool available that I knew of and was learning along the way.
My art became a form of self expression, much as this Super Full Moon in Leo has beckoned forth from us all – to shine like the light that you are and to birth new creative things from the power within that you embody innately.
It was in Sedona when this creative birthing took place, that I knew art or creative expression was an important part of who I am and what I needed as the breath of life to bring through.
And since, I’ve continued to channel creativity, as it flows through me in its many forms of expression that shift as I do.
It is also then that I realized life could be lived as a form of art and how the “art of living” started to manifest as my way of life – everything seen as a way to create beauty and inspiration, as well as to paint my way through experiences and weave the story I wanted to tell with different strokes of colors and feelings that reflected my essence.
From then on, even though I would still have more layers to journey through, I lived much more presently and with intention.
Sedona helped bring me back to the core of who I am and it was up to me how I wanted to paint the rest of my journey from the heart.
So while my first encounter with Sedona was intense, there has always been a love affair with her energies, knowing she supported exactly what I needed. Since that time, every trip thereafter has been softer and more joyous, flowing, and activating, igniting major shifts and leaps at just the precisely aligned moments.
I was always a willing partner to her dance, but I’m no longer struggling to keep up.
Creativity continues to ooze from each encounter with her and greater inspiration comes forth, providing me choices and new possibilities.
This trip was no exception, as I found myself not only receiving inspiration on the new, fun images I’ll be creating next, but also found myself dancing with yet another potential timeline I hadn’t entertained before.
I didn’t know until the trip was approaching that we’d be there for this powerful Full Moon Eclipse.
Perhaps many of you also felt its potency and like something has shifted and/or released. It seems as though things are moving forward and receiving a green light, after a thoughtful pause for a bit.
I shared this with a dear friend about my experience with it:
The eclipse was a powerful experience, although gentle too. We actually had opportunity to watch half of it with an astronomer and telescope, which was very cool to see it so clear and close. It was very clear in the evening and then a thin veil of clouds emerged, which made it symbolic, to me. It did not affect viewing, but I could tell there was still a very thin veil – so as if those layers are very close to full reveal collectively soon. The astronomer had about 4 telescopes set up and we could see star clusters as well, like the Pleiades. We left to go back to our Airbnb home because we had to pack and leave very early the next day for the long drive home, so I watched the second half there. The house was perfectly situated with the moon right in front of the main sliding door and windows and patio, so I watched the whole thing. It was very moving because at the same time I got word that a favorite bunny of mine (that I’ve followed on Instagram for a while) had passed right as the eclipse was darkening. I saw that he’d become ill earlier that day and I had a feeling something might happen. It was very potent to say the least, and being that he reminds me of my male bunny, Cosmo, because they had the same exact special needs and the same unconditionally loving demeanor and expressions, it hit me hard. It was quite something that this bunny, Flynn, had chosen such a powerful portal just like my bunnies Cosmo and Joy had, to depart – one on Samhain and the other on Summer Solstice Full Moon. It wasn’t random and it just clicked in a bunch of things, as well as felt like a big shift. Very heart opening and moving. So, it did ignite some memories, but also a seed of new. A lot through the bunnies, but deeper levels. I’m not sure as of yet what the new entails, but that it is a seedling awaiting choices that can ignite new timelines.
Something very profound hit me while watching the eclipse, which I haven’t felt in the past with other ones. It was special and sacred to come through rabbits, whom I hold most dear and reflective for me and my life. They, too, symbolize creative abundance and fertile impetus for the new. The Moon, of course, has a large rabbit on it. 😉
I received a big hit to my heart and core of what is a must for me to do right now.
The rest is a story yet to unfold, but will do so as I support this creative expression to live as the art of me – my creative contribution to the new beauty we’re weaving together as a collective.
New Etsy Shop Update:
Originally there was intention to start a Giveaway this past Monday 1/21, but with travels and such things shifted and Astrid has chosen this Friday 1/25 to begin the Giveaway instead. This will take place on Instagram.
There’s potential of things shifting with the shop launch date, which is set for Friday 2/1, but for now it’s still that date. I will be checking in with Astrid and my other star bunnies, as the days unfold here. I have a lot to prepare for the launch, and two items have been delayed until the 8th or sooner due to an office move my printer is undergoing.
I always trust my rabbit familiars with their impeccable and keen navigation, so I’ll defer to them if they want us to go ahead and launch on 2/1 with most of the items, adding the two later that first week of February. (Laura mentioned that the Lunar New Year is not until the 5th and the 8th the Moon enters Aries, so who knows what the bunnies have up their thumpers!)
Or, if we’ll just launch everything together when I know they will all be ready.
Either way, it’s coming up very soon and I have lots to prepare. So I’m off!
It was a wonderful trip away and I’m also happy to be back. I hope you all had a great week and that the energy of this Full Moon Eclipse has ignited a creative transformation within you too.
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: Animals Understand
Today’s share from Astrid is a very important one, in our opinion, as she wants to impart to everyone more presence, patience, and effort in the way of communicating with your beloved animal companions. She tells me, “I want to share about talking to animals a bit because frankly I don’t think many people understand that they can, or forget that they could.”
I have to agree with her fully, and while Astrid is not going to be giving a lesson on how to do animal communication, she simply wants to stress communicating with your animal friends just as you would naturally communicate with anyone.
True, there are different ways, approaches, and techniques you can use – mostly it’s a process of trusting yourself and believing – but her message is one of reminding, more than anything, or in other cases, opening up this dialog for the first time.
If you speak from your heart, the techniques don’t matter so much although can be a segway to help.
“We are here for a purpose in your lives and while we communicate in nonverbal ways and demonstrations of reflections, we can also understand clearly what you say and feel, as well as have the ability to relay messages. I only ask for you to be open to this idea and try it. It may feel weird or silly at first, but then isn’t everything kind of silly if you think about it a lot? Many people talk to their unborn children while they are growing in the womb. Some talk to their family and friends who have journeyed to the other side. Others talk to God or other forms of unseen Sources that you believe in. So why is it so strange to think you could talk to animals AND that we could actually understand and communicate back? Think about it,” says Astrid.
The last four days ending 2018 and beginning 2019 we had family visiting, which included this little Faery you see beside Astrid. She’s our six and a half year old niece, Violet. I was curious to see how Astrid would relate with her and all of the activity she’d be in the middle of that she’s not so used to. Especially given the last time children had visited, Astrid was not pleased and established boundaries from the get-go.
I had explained to Astrid, as I always do, what was about to happen before our family arrived and shared with her all of the details of who was coming and how things would be.
And for the first time, Astrid welcomed a child into her realm with curiosity and a warm heart.
I was also sure to explain to Violet, who is very sensitive to animals and the Unseens, how she could best engage Astrid.
And so, the two of them met each other half way, opened their hearts to a new friendship and possibility, and found this to be the bridge between them.
They both did very well and Astrid was working her magick, much like a therapy animal. She stretched herself to help engage and bring out more within Violet, but also knew when she needed her own space and recharge time, retreating to her tunnels or pawing gently with tiny thrusts, rather than her usual big grunts and charges, if she wanted to impart something of a boundary with her.
In this way, she was also demonstrating to Violet, that when Violet might feel upset about something that she could create gentle boundaries, too, without having to be over-dramatic.
Astrid now wants me to share about how one Big Faery taught one Little Faery to remember who she is and how to harness her abilities. In my book, however, it’s more about how Astrid continues to be a guiding light in my life and everyone’s lives she touches.
So, after the first night, Violet came to me and said that she woke up in the morning with Astrid standing over her.
It wasn’t until that second night, before bed, that she brought it up again and said that it scared her and made her feel uncomfortable.
Violet and her parents were staying downstairs next to my office and Astrid’s room, so it was normal that Astrid would be sharing the space with them.
However, Violet started saying that she wanted to close Astrid into her room for the night because she didn’t like her visitation in the morning.
Her parents told her she couldn’t do that because Astrid is a house rabbit, that is free to roam.
I’d been quiet while her parents were handling things, then looked at Astrid and knew we needed to take this a step further.
So, when Violet came into my office to tell me she was going to close the door I had a Faery-to Faery conversation with her.
Astrid was right next to us and the conversation went something like this.
“Astrid really likes you. Remember I told you that you’re the first child she’s ever been open to. She doesn’t mean to scare you, nor did she try to. She just really likes you and either was giving you healing energy, or was curious and maybe even wanted to play since the wee morning hours are fun times to her,” I said.
Violet listened.
I then continued, “You’re a Faery. Why don’t you have a nice conversation with Astrid and ask her if she will leave you alone in the morning because it scared you to be woken up like that. She understands, but you just need to talk to her and tell her how you feel.”
Violet processed this quickly and said, “Okay.”
She then proceeded to get down by Astrid, stroked her gently and told her in her own words how she felt and asked her to please not do that again.
We then went to bed.
The next morning Violet came upstairs and I asked her if Astrid had come to wake her in the morning.
She said, “No she didn’t.”
I said, “See, she understands and you are able to talk to animals. Remember this. The only thing that makes us different is the body we live in.”
Violet smiled big.
She was very happy and proud of what had taken place.
I believe she’ll remember this and carry it through in more situations where she can feel empowered, empower another being, and not power over or deny the value of another child of this universe.
Astrid was very pleased and continued to open her heart and be gentle with Violet. She also continued to honor Violet’s wishes for the rest of the nights they stayed with us.
“I want her to know…for everyone to know…that humans and animals can share a harmonious relationship. It takes time, patience, a little effort to listen and decipher sometimes, but if you open your heart then all possibilities await you.”
Thank you Astrid for your wisdom you so generously share with us and for being a guiding light and bridge between all of creation.
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: The Struggle Isn’t You
As this is Astrid’s last message for 2018, I was curious what she would want to share. She’s been extra playful and cuddly these days, which has added another layer to our together-time, and it also speaks to some of what her message is that she wants to leave you with.
And what might that be?
Astrid says, “The end to struggle.”
We’ve been immersed in year-end closure here, went deep with watching all four parts of the new Watership Down rabbit movie, along with prepping for new whimsical ventures in 2019 together – this to include our new book, art, and rabbit Faery fun. Our little Wonderland Faery realm has become a true Otherworld for creative manifesting, as we threaded together a Rabbit Hole of delight we feel enriched in every day. We’ve also been examining the reality we want to live and leave behind.
There’s been a lot of creative work and anchoring this last year to set up and define our intentions, and although this New Year, for us, will continue to be one of vision, setting priorities, and determination, it will also be one of breakthroughs and embodied beliefs. This, Astrid shares, to be done with joy, ease, and peace – with the knowing that we can trust our essence to guide us in flow and fun through the next leg of the journey.
If we find ourselves struggling, where can we be curious about ways in which we might be holding on to old patterns and realities, lower ideals, or stringent and limited attachments?
Astrid says, “The struggle is a detour to who you really are. The struggle is a way to stay small. The struggle is a way to keep you away from what you believe you don’t deserve. The struggle keeps illusion as an interference to seeing the possibilities and beauty available. The struggle isn’t you.”
For most of the first part of my life I struggled on many levels. I was constantly inflicting inner torment upon myself with voices of knowing battling voices of fear, pain, confusion, and conflicting patterns that weren’t even mine in many cases.
And this kept me from being me and being able to expand further. It was like being tethered to a post and always hitting the end that snapped me back.
That is, until I realized the post didn’t truly exist except for believing it did.
Astrid has been through her own struggles and in seeing her come to this place of surrender and no longer feeling the need to fight, she is finding the love and joy her essence exudes, feeling right at home.
And so are we both experiencing this, which is creating greater peace daily.
“There is always another way,” she says, “and while we feel things serve us, truly they serve our patterned beliefs – not our hearts. Love is not a struggle. Creative energy simply flows. When we relax into these spaces, spend more time nurturing and cultivating the love in our hearts, we find greater comfort in things we never thought we could. We open ourselves to different opportunities, see new perspectives, and realize there are a multitude of ways to experience what we want, rather than believe it can only be in one form.”
“And what about those old realities and lower ideals so many of us struggle to hold on to?” I ask her.
“Like the unlimited dimensional experiences you can’t see, but still exist, why is it that you feel there to be only one reality? You struggle to hold on because you are so close to letting go. It is that last piece that will change everything. The release and fall into your grace. You fight to stay small because being more means greater empowerment and awareness. It’s been easier to let others and even beliefs power over you then to truly live without constraints. Hope, love, imagination…these things no one controls, but you. They are the keys to a new reality no one can take away. They live where struggle does not exist. When you go there, you know what I mean. If you can learn to stay there, you will know what is possible,” Astrid says.
We have both been embracing this experience where struggle need not be anymore and gently breathing deeper into our hearts to help it move through.
This has brought Astrid to a place of exuberant and loving expression as her norm now, without need to struggle and fight within, as a way of preserving it only for special moments. We have both learned to trust who we each really are and that life is meant to be a joyful, creative, and wondrous experience.
The other things may exist and they may knock on our door to try to tether us back, but they will meet with surprise when they find there is no knot on the other end. We’ll see the rope and when the knocking thinks it has us, we will let go of the other end and watch them disappear.
Let this be a year we all let go of the struggle and fight.
Let this be a year to create a new reality.
For me and Astrid it is a storybook year we are weaving together, piece by piece, heart to heart.
We both wish you all a wondrous New Year – a year of greater creativity, transformation, fertile and abundant potential, and alignment for the collective with it being a 3 year in numerology.
Astrid will be back next year on January 4th, 2019.
Magickal Christmas Wishes to All from the Rabbit Faery!
Just a quick bunny hop online to send out warmest wishes to you all. May the true spirit of this time of year shine through your heart always and remind you of the childlike wonder that resides within.
I woke up early this morning with excitement, as we had a full afternoon and night of snow here yesterday, which created the most enchanted Christmas Eve and beautiful White Christmas to wake up to.
Astrid was excited to see me up and even more excited about the Christmas bunny gifts me and Santa left for her.
We’re heading out skiing so this faery rabbit can hit the bunny slopes, play in the snow, and get her ski bunny on, then will be sharing a whimsical Christmas at my decked out parent’s house – the real Santa’s cottage. All things that warm and nurture my inner child’s heart.
Have a beautiful, love and peace filled day, however you celebrate – whether that’s with family, friends, animal companions, in solitude, or with Nature. Sink into the expanse of your heart and the depth of the dreams that are within it to follow.
May purity and innocence fill your heart in overflow.
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: Solstice Illumination as You Journey Down the Rabbit Hole
It’s no surprise to me that today’s share from Astrid falls on this incredible Solstice line-up to include a Cancer Full Moon and Ursid meteor shower. Rabbits have long been associated with the Moon and, in fact, many ancient stories tell of the rabbit on the Moon that you can actually see when She’s at her fullest. I find it fascinating how on this longest night of the year that we’ll have incredible illumination and cosmic alignments galore, as the Full Moon will peak tomorrow morning of the 22nd AND tonight we are also going to be able to see Mercury and Jupiter in conjunction within this Yule’s Long Night’s Moon sky to add to those shooting stars.
Winter Solstice celebrations of the first day of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere means Summer Solstice celebrations for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere. Again, a very cool link for Astrid, as she came home with me on Summer Solstice – a day shared by the transition of my beloved rabbit, Joy.
And Winter Solstice, two years ago, was a day my sweet rabbit, Cosmo, had chosen for some of his ashes to be spread here in Lake Tahoe.
So, I’m seeing a lot of wholeness around this, which makes sense as the Winter Solstice embodies the energy of conclusion along with a time for rest, self-reflection, self-care, and “being the light” – something rabbits are very adept at in being masterful navigators of the dark.
I’ve noticed Astrid spending extra time in her castle tunnels lately, as she demonstrates this time to cozy up and journey the inner labyrinths of our emotions, beliefs, fears, and patterns so we can make adjustments for bringing in and embodying the new and potentials we envision and feel calling to our hearts.
“There is value in journeying the depths of your heart,” she says.
The seasons remind you of the ever-shifting and flowing cycles of life, change, and potential to honor and make space for. Winter Solstice reminds you of the light that you are, as a gateway of sacred reverence for a “return to light” in general.
Astrid reminds you that your 3D circumstances and stories do not define you. She encourages you to open your heart more and be willing to take up more space while beaming out the glow of who you really are.
“If I relinquished to simply being seen as a little, round ball of bunny fluff I would never know the true and full power of my inner rabbit. Looks can be deceiving, but if you believe in that limited illusion then you won’t experience the full spectrum embodied in the coin of being. Remember there are two sides to it, but you’re not limited to one or the other. There is simply the coin that can flip in and out of experiences at will, never being less of the whole at any time,” she says.
So, as the holiday season flashes through with a flurry of hustle and bustle, Astrid wants you to tune into your inner rabbit and honor your needs with some extra nurturing during a time when you are feeling tugged to do more outside of yourself. This will create balance and help you to find that peaceful center amidst everything around you. It also helps you to anchor more into your wholeness and all of the potentials available for how you experience things and are experienced, yourself, by others.
The Full Moon feels at home in Cancer and this lends to the ability to do some beautiful movement on the inner landscape that can help you make those bunny leaps into the New Year. An opportune time for embracing your feelings, allowing healthy emotional release, communicating from the heart, and experience a cleansing and freeing up of space, as you are supported in shedding light on the dark crevices within.
I know how Astrid and I will be spending this cozying up Cancer Full Moontime, as I return to one of my most beloved childhood stories – Watership Down – this weekend.
Astrid’s eyes get bigger and she sits up to nudge my ankle, as I write this.
I read the novel in 6th grade as part of our curriculum and was transformed by it, falling in love with the rabbits and the movie, as well. It has long been a favorite for me so when my sweet friend, Kelly, told me it was coming out again, the little girl inside of me was over-the-Moon excited. I keep mentioning it every day, actually, and it’s finally almost here.
Originally set for release on the 25th/Christmas, Watership Down is a new BBC series starting the 22nd and will hit Netflix on the 23rd in two feature-length episodes.
I feel its message is quite fitting for these times and its release is quite aligned with things unfolding in my new world.
Before I conclude with a dream Astrid wants me to share, she also reminds me of all of the sightings and alignments that have recently been taking place here. She wants me to mention these, as a way for others to also recognize the constant messaging reflected to us even when we think we are alone and not receiving answers. And also because she knows our experiences are collectively connected, like a warren, and there may be something ignited by these reminders.
“Nature is especially supportive to your journey,” Astrid shares, “as She mirrors with raw reflection the answers you search for and in some cases for many of you, yearn for.”
Lately, I’ve had a lot more different wildlife sightings than usual. For the first time, recently on Thanksgiving, we’d seen a raccoon just across and down from our house and yesterday I saw another – this time one that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. We haven’t seen raccoons in all of the years we’ve lived here so both of these feel significant, including the full life cycling as well, as we approach the end of the year and this longest night before days expand.
Coyotes have been on ultra high around our house, too. Several individuals have crossed the street in front of our car as we turn the curve at the Sherwood sign recently (I always say we live at the edge of the Sherwood Forest). And two large coyotes that looked like wolves went right by the edge of our back deck one night, as if circling the perimeter of our home.
Then, of course, the four deer at our back deck and side yard on 11/11 for our first sighting at this house.
But yesterday, along with the transitioned raccoon, I also saw bald eagle for the first time in months and a cool sighting of wild mustangs.
This all took place on a day I decided to forego my usual schedule and go down to Reno instead, feeling called to shift things. I was contemplating the change and how it felt aligned with my feelings, guidance, and going much deeper into my work after setting things up to nurture that.
As I began my drive suddenly bald eagle appeared confirming what I was affirming in my mind and heart. She soared toward me and above, following the lake’s shoreline, as I was. I could see her white head clearly, guiding her dark, massive body across the sky. She heralds taking to flight, greater personal freedom, and going further with courageous steps, as she can see ahead the possibilities and renewal even if I can’t.
And in the valley below, I saw wild mustangs for the third time now, but rather than them grazing near Washoe Lake, they were in a single-filed line wading through the lake at hip level, which was a beautiful sight to see.
A lot of feeling confirmations and moving through the watery energies of this Cancer Moon reflected – all connected with inner trust and being willing to examine what is moving through.
A raw, freeing energy seems embodied in all of the sightings – even with the sad physical death sighting of the raccoon.
I definitely have been feeling nudges with several things and the need to make the next moves and changes. Driving always is meditative in this regard, where I solidify answers and confirm my intentions.
Astrid is always on my mind when I drive and I smile in my heart with each sighting, knowing she is experiencing it with me where ever I am.
Later yesterday evening I was messaged by a friend and artisan that I’d commissioned back at the beginning of September to create a special piece for me connected to my projects as a way of manifesting the visions. There had been no rush, as I believe in perfect unfolding and wow, was it ever.
She sent me photos of the creation she was making for me and said it would be done that night and sent out the next day – and it was!
Of course, this was magickal with its birthing happening for the Solstice and Full Moon. Not just because of the timing, but because of even the details of the creation that were so fitting – some of which she did through her own inspiration of my energetic description.
This piece happens to be a cosmic dragon, that embodies the essence of the Cosmos. She is of Aurora Borealis coloring, star-dusted, and golden star encrusted, holding a silver crescent Moon up with her tail – that has planets embedded along the spine in cosmic alignment. And upon the Moon sits a little white rabbit, while another rabbit sits on the back of the dragon reaching up in sacred connection with it.
Talk about synchronicity with the Solstice Full Moon, Meteor Shower, and Mercury and Jupiter conjunction.
Oh, how the Universe works in mystical and magickal ways.
Astrid is smiling hugely as I share all of this and she had made her way to me when I was receiving this news and the photos to ensure I knew her magickal part in all of it. 🙂
She now asks me to add the dream.
So, just two nights ago Astrid appeared in my dream landscape. She’s been hopping in lately even if I don’t always share about it. But this one was potent with its timing and so I’m not surprised she wants me to share it.
In the dream Astrid was with me and we came upon a place the Earth was opening up below us. A deep hole, jagged with rocks appeared and suddenly Astrid went hurdling down it. I couldn’t see how it happened, but there was a deliberate energy around it. I peered down and saw her laying on the ground. I was so worried she was hurt or worse, but she stands up and brushes herself off. She takes a moment working out her legs and such, shaking it off, and seems to be okay after wiggling her body back.
I contemplate how I will get her when suddenly creatures of inner Earth start to approach. First as shadows and then closing in on her from the left. They are almost like wolves, but something more.
I can hear her in my heart and know she’s about to take off, and she does. She darts off to the right down one of the tunnels and the creatures follow.
I hear the invitation and know I must journey into inner Earth and her womb to follow her. In my mind, to save her, but I gather Astrid intends much more than that.
She seems not afraid or worried that they will catch her, but I’m not as certain – my mothering instincts setting in to protect her.
But I also feel the call of the adventure, and Astrid is asking of me much more than simply to save her…she wants me to join her on the journey.
I, and she, know I have no choice because love guides me above all else, and gives me the courage.
Two dear and powerful shamanic friends of mine show up as if they know of this expedition already and come with tools of their gifts to join the mission in this underground system of warren tunnels within Earth’s core.
So the three of us devoted women head off together, down the rabbit hole.
Wishing you all a peace-filled Solstice journey into the light of your heart.
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide
Today Astrid would like to speak to that little voice inside of many of you that sometimes wishes to just curl up in a ball and shrink back into a dark corner or closet – maybe even just pull the covers over your head and pretend the world has no idea you exist. Maybe you prefer being invisible sometimes and this can serve well in specific cases, but perhaps you’re holding yourself back out of fear or a deep-seeded experience that leaves you afraid to put yourself out there.
Living so close to, and intimately with, the ground and Earth, rabbits know how to “hide” well, but this can have a two-fold meaning of either having the need to camouflage and blend in or that you have made yourself so small that you are un/under-recognized for who you are and the gifts that you embody.
Rabbits know the importance of awareness and protection, but they are not shy about exhibiting their exuberance and big personalities when they feel the urge to do so. In fact, they will leap with glee when the moment moves them, or rise to the challenge with fierceness, despite being seen as small, timid and fragile creatures.
They are extraordinary sound navigators who know when to seize the moment and “hop” into new territories and experiences. Their ultra-sensitivities create the light when all seems lost and dark.
And this is the place Astrid wants to address for those of you who find yourself feeling lost so much, desire to shrink away, or aren’t even aware that you are diminishing your light when it’s needed the most right now in the world.
Invisibility can definitely be a gift, but it doesn’t serve you or the collective to live in the dark eternally.
Life can’t go on, nor thrive, without light.
Astrid knows there are times she’s been afraid and that she’s needed to regulate her energy so as to find that balance of protection and safety, while also making herself known and asserted.
If she had remained purely in fear by her circumstances and triggers, she would not only not have survived, but not have been recognized for the gifts she has. Marcy of SaveABunny and her staff of volunteers saw her because of the big energy she put out, and of course we know that this is also how she and I made the connection.
We both had to rise to our highest and most whole, to have a meeting of equals merge into partnership and recognition of reflection.
We could easily have missed a beautiful chance if we both stayed small.
How many times might you have missed out on an opportunity because you kept yourself small?
How much of your dreams are you not able to experience because you hesitate to share your gifts?
How much love do you hold back from yourself because you’re scared to show others who you really are or to feel how worthy you are?
Is it disappointment, hurt, anger, or guilt that makes us fear ourselves and our power?
I often wonder why these feelings win out over love over and over again.
Astrid shares that responsibility can play a part in this process we seem to be learning in exercising our gifts and powers.
But she and I both agree that responsibility can can carry its own weight that isn’t always tempered with love, but analyzed and dissected by ego.
So in fact it, too, can lead us astray of going bigger, as it tries to work out every angle to satisfy another excuse not to shine forth.
While we think that hiding serves us well, in most cases it is a reaction to something now or from a “past” that didn’t go the way we hoped. And even though those triggers and experiences are gone, we are still operating as if they are happening right now.
This perpetuates our “staying small” and unable to shine our inner lights, like rabbits do, to navigate us through the dark tunnel labyrinths of experience.
And in some cases, we devise ingenious ways of talking ourselves out of letting our energy out bigger to serve our ego fears and can even find spiritual bypassing ways of describing it and why it makes sense to do so.
Truth is, if you want to find a reason not to do something you can always find one.
And when it comes to our wholeness and embodying our potential, we have all the excuses in the world why not to do that.
Whether or not those excuses are valid is between you and yourself.
Astrid wants to remind you that it’s okay to recognize when camouflage and invisibility can serve us and be a magickal tool in our back pocket to pull out now and then, but “hiding” when rising would benefit you most, is not the healthiest choice to always fall back on.
It’s okay to learn as you go and make instant adjustments along the way. Chances are, you’ve already done years of work so truly, now is about the experiential classroom. This is about being both student and teacher and bringing integrity and humbleness to the process of being.
Now, more then ever your gifts, your light, your essence is needed in the world.
And while you think you may be alone in facing those frightful triggers, experiences, and the things that feel scary in the world, you are not.
More and more souls are finding that the way out of hiding is to actually step out. No one is going to force you out nor pull you out. Only you can make that choice, but it’s a very liberating choice that once made – even in small steps – suddenly helps make sense of an upside down world and brings authentic power to the forefront.
Astrid says, “The more you wear a mask, the less you will ever know yourself. It’s not just others you hide from in doing so, nor whom are robbed of knowing your beauty and experiencing your ripple across the world. You are the one who is hurt the most when your light is kept small.”
Astrid knows how I, too, have kept myself small in the past and straddled timidly between two worlds of fears and hopes.
“And what did that do for you?” she asks me.
“It kept me stuck,” I replied. “Torn and tormented between two worlds warring against each other, rather than teaming together and empowering myself into truly living, rather than merely surviving.”
That reminds me of a favorite line Julia Roberts says in Steel Magnolias, “I’d rather have 30 seconds of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”
How about you?
If coming out of hiding gave you the most enriching and fulfilling experience you’ve ever known and was better than your wildest dreams, wouldn’t it be worth “going bigger” for, even if it wasn’t forever?
Not that it couldn’t or wouldn’t be forever, but you won’t know it until you try it.
Or is the known feeling of suffering and smallness, more comforting?
“Everyone has the ability to go bigger, no matter what their circumstances are. You are creative beings and therefore have unlimited ways to bring through more of your potential. Feel bigger! Thinking is only half the story, but your heart will guide you past the limits of your mind,” Astrid says.
It’s not easy, I know, and can be quite sticky with layers, but personally I decided that the possibility of that total enrichment far outweighed the illusion of safety in the darkness.
Astrid says, “That safety is an illusion that keeps you away from your truth….away from being who you really are and experiencing what you have available. That illusion is the fix to experiencing the true power within your heart.”
And she’s so right.
We think we stay safe by staying small and hidden, but by making that our “norm” we not only get to experience more of it, but are dying a slow death.
Choosing to go bigger and stop hiding happens for each person at different times in their life or soul journey and in different ways, by different triggers, and timings, so there isn’t just “one” way to get there.
Yet the one thing we all have in common is “potential.”
And the more each of us do our best to rise to that potential, the easier it becomes for others to do the same.
Rather than spend time trying to make others step into their potential, why not utilize our resources to “be” the potential?
Rabbit doesn’t wait for snake to see the “potential” when it threatens her kits rather than finding something else to eat that day. Rabbit rises to her “potential” and becomes the bigger rabbit she knows herself to be and chases off the snake.
Yep, that’s right. There are videos out there that catch mother rabbits fighting off poisonous, deadly snakes to save their babies. It’s incredible, but this is the truth of their wholeness they weave in and out of, as they carry it at their core always.
And I’ve seen this happen not only with people, but myself as well, where we’re put into dire situations and then rise to the occasion.
But wouldn’t it be wonderful to rise always, rather than only when threatened or in our darkest hour?
Those moments demonstrate that we have it in us, but we choose not to always shine the light.
Astrid carries this bigger energy with her always. You can see it and feel it, even if not demonstrated every second, but when she wants to, she does. She’s not afraid to let you know it’s simply who she is, nor is she worried how you might judge her. She knows the truth of who she is will reach the truth of each of us and when truth meets, that’s the most authentic and fulfilling experience, regardless of result. Yet, it also helps reflect and draw to her exactly what she needs and wants to see, while not missing out on what it feels to be alive.
I asked Astrid if she has any advice to offer to someone wanting not to hide anymore, but is too afraid.
She thinks a moment and replies in her own way, “There will never be a perfect moment to wait to do something and tomorrow is not always a promise. We can’t survive alone in the dark forever. Night turns into day and it is your nature to do the same. In and out you weave, but weave you must, or cease to be. Both the Sun and Moon know just when to shine on the Earth or how to allow others the same. Yet they DO and WILL shine in fullness and never cease to shine while others are. They dance in and out, sharing the stage of the grand show. You may not know how stepping forth and being bigger will be embraced, but embrace it for yourself and you will find your place on the horizon amidst the other stars. It’s there that we will meet, heart-to-heart.”
What I’ve learned, and Astrid describes so beautifully, is that the truth of who you are is not something you can hide from forever. It catches up to us, no matter how fast we run away. Just as the Sun’s light keeps shining, despite your only seeing it half the day, so does your light, despite blanketing it in vein.
Eventually, your essence will see its way through, so why not give it a boost out?
“That’s right! Being who you really are is what we need most in the world at this time and is the greatest service to humanity,” concludes Astrid.
Whimsical Wednesdays ~ The Artist’s Corner: The Magick Rabbit Storybook Art
As promised, today’s Whimsical Wednesdays brings to you a peek into my “Artist’s Corner” with the first look at some new little whimsical paintings Astrid and I have been working on in our free time. Astrid was right that 12/12 would be the reveal and so without further ado, I’d like to show you what the two of us have been up to lately in Wonderland here.
If you’ve been following along for a while, you likely recall the evolutionary journey my paintings and drawings have gone through over time, but this fresh flow of creativity has truly been the most enjoyable for me, as they come straight from my inner child and blend together my imagination with what Astrid sends me.
Moonlight Whispers by Tania Marie & Astrid
We call this collection “The Magick Rabbit ~ Storybook Tales of Wonder and Whimsy Come to Life.”
The images you see here are straight off the press, as they say – just quick snaps from my cell phone for now in order to share them with you.
They’re also Astrid approved, as you can see. 😉
I love how she embraces them and even recognizes herself in The Empress, which I created as a whimsical version of her as a Tarot Card, and gives it a straight-on kiss!
And in Bedtime Stories, she goes straight for the little dark bunny that looks like her! Too cute!
I intend to get them professionally photographed/scanned here shortly, which will capture the detail and color much better than I can in most cases, and will then be able to make more fun stuff available to you.
The Journey by Tania Marie & Astrid
I want to stick to small sizes, as these are meant to be fun for me, easy and quick to execute so that they mimic childhood memories of when I used to sit down at the kitchen table as a little girl with my French Grandpa drawing throughout the Summer on my grandparent’s long visits with us.
They’re pure joy and imagination flowing through what I love most – rabbits!
Bedtime Stories by Tania Marie & Astrid
And in keeping them this way, I can also make artwork like this, accessible for many.
While I keep a creative channel of energy flowing in balance to the other things in my life I need to focus more left-brained on.
The Empress by Tania Marie & Astrid
These original 8″ x 10″ paintings on canvas boards will be available, alongside prints and other fun items like greeting cards, journals, etc. with these images on them.
In this way I can offer affordable storybook windows that rekindle the wondrous heart of your inner child – portals to harness sweet magick into your everyday life.
I’m not sure that I’ll have the other items available before Christmas, but these originals might be up in my new Etsy shop soon.
Eventually, I’ll create more of these 8″ x 10″‘s (and perhaps some other fun smaller canvas board sizes) in my spare creative time, but the next collection will be a little bit different – I’ll share what I mean when they’re ready! I see them in my/Astrid’s minds’ eyes, but I never know what is going to come out until it does!
What I love is that there’s no thought involved. The magick just happens in surrendering to the inspiration.
Cosmic Voyage by Tania Marie & Astrid
I can’t tell you how wonderful and fulfilling it’s been to channel these first five rabbit-inspired, magickal pieces of art from the Faery Tales of my mind and the shared visions between Astrid and me.
They are little whispers of enchantment to infuse your life with a little magick and inspire your own inner child or a beloved child in your life.
While simple, like anything I create, it’s always infused with much more. And you can discover that meaning for yourself, each time you peer into these Faery Tale Windows.
There’s a storybook tale within each to reflect your journey, as the adventure it is – all shared through the heart of one Magick Rabbit and one Rabbit Faery.
For now, this is just a little introduction, as Astrid and I have been so excited about sharing these.
We’ll announce when my Etsy shop is ready, as I’m in process of rebirthing it after it being empty for years.
If you’re on Instagram, you may want to follow along, as I’ll be making shop update announcements there, as to when things will be available. In terms of originals, these will be first-come-first-served, so keeping your bunny ears tuned in will be key for those. I’ll also have giveaways and other fun things only available via Instagram.
We hope you enjoy this little peek into the world we’ve been walking in lately.
Let us know what you think.
Ask Astrid Fridays ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: Upgrades & Overloads of Rebirthing Change
Rebirthing seems to be a theme running through the collective and just today it came through to me through five different streams of experiences and messages from others. One of them being Astrid, as rabbits reflect this symbolism well. She’s been very eager the last couple of days to not only nudge me hard at my ankle, but has bee-lined to me in order to grab a hold of my pant leg with her teeth to get my attention.
Likely she knew of the energy overload I was experiencing and the upgrade about to take place, but it also seems she’s been really keen on my being with her so that we can navigate the unknowns together.
Rabbits are very at home in the labyrinth Netherworld where intricate underground passageways and dark twisting tunnels are the norm and where they feel secure navigating their travels by intuition and inner light alone.
Change is no stranger to them and they are accustomed to making decisions in the face of fear and maintain peaceful focus amidst chaos.
After all, their survival relies on it.
This sense of self and ingenuity is a gift that reflects to us our ability to master the same within us awaiting our reclaiming.
As Lee shared in his December Energy Update yesterday, “We are built to handle change.”
And as the ever-rebirthing rabbit says, “You, too, can get in touch with change and ride the sands of time, as the seasons weave their cycles.”
Astrid knows change very intimately and has braved the new every step of the way. Recently she shared about her own upgrade to a Castle Tower, and while it had mirrored our own shifts up until then, it was also foreshadowing more change upcoming for me.
That hit yesterday, as I’ve added a heap load of new into my life recently (including a wave of new energy painting) and its been a process to integrate a balanced schedule with it all.
I’ve been feeling a build-up of energy in a way I can’t describe and it catapulted me to this suspended point outside of this or that. It released tethers that provided any sense of familiarity and detached me even more.
Astrid says, “This is the Cosmic way, and when you are at home within this unknown, you realize the power of your own inner light above all else.”
It keeps coming at me with the expression of new inspiration and focuses, along with the stripping away of layers, the joy of surrendering things to others ready to own their own level of responsibility and reclaiming, and the deepening gratitude that stretches me to farther reaches of heart generosity that lives for today.
Astrid often sits tall and looks me straight into my heart with piercing wisdom that seems both so far away and so tangibly rich.
She says, “This is because I reflect the heart’s Great Mystery that can only be experienced by way of both loving and letting go more. Then you experience the vastness and beautiful complexity of Cosmic Love.”
She continues sharing “This overload of energy is a liminal space you’ve been experiencing as a compilation of layering new pieces onto pieces you don’t want to forget, while juggling ways to hold them within the still limited version of unrealized potential, rather than relaxing into these things already being who you are. The reminders have already done their work and the memory can now let go into the ease of embodiment. It’s time to create from the impetus of fertile inspiration and allow these to rebirth completely anew.”
And so, yesterday, my mini Notebook (the computer I’ve been using the last 5 years) finally and fully overloaded. I’ve been receiving messages from it over the past few months that there was no space remaining and our attempts to delete things went in vein.
Then my computer said, “No more.”
Just as Astrid said, “Come join me as you already are.”
Ironically and synchronously this took place yesterday directly after I posted Lee’s December Energy Update and right after I received an email from a very special spirit and artisan who after a couple of months since onset of our correspondence, had completed creating “a celestial muse” she was working on in collaboration with me that happens to embody “creation” and not surprisingly, but without me saying anything, wove the song of my heart into being.
It just so happened that I was ready for this, as anything of importance to me – truly only my new novel – is stored on a tiny little chip, and things that might “seem” important, but speak of the old days for me, were surrendered away. I let it all go, including several years of saved emails and work correspondence from days of the past and embraced Dave’s extra, heavy duty computer as my new replacement, which I’ve been using for our shared side business bookkeeping.
The overload caused everything to run in circles, take forever to implement, reverse working at all without hours of dissecting, and simply not listen to or understand commands.
In essence, I would not be moving forward unless I walked into a much more expansive field where pieces are not even present to remind me and only embodiment speaks for itself.
All of the new energy couldn’t keep piling on to things working in the background and using up space in one way or form. A larger playing field within the vortex of my heart had to be opened where things move freely and are simply an intrinsic part of me.
I said goodbye to the memories while closing all access of return and this new and vastly larger platform now provides the space for that “impetus of fertile inspiration” Astrid spoke of.
Better yet, I have no attachment to it and anything on it, which feels extra freeing, as I don’t feel the computer to be mine. It is more of a portal and conduit to bring things through, but to shut away and detach from at end of each day.
And then today, some wonderful and full circle soulful unfoldings took place when the perfect guardian said yes to my passing on three sacred items that speak of what has been some of the greatest importance to me and my lifetimes, which I only recently had also been nudged to surrender over in trust.
Astrid was specifically involved in this, literally getting my attention and moving these pieces into my awareness.
I couldn’t ask for a wiser companion.
I’ve also found myself giving out in bigger ways than ever lately, feeling that vastness and abundance, without need to hold on. There are infinite ways for things to come about. To hold onto something as an idea of insurance was also robbing the good it could do in so many other ways now, including the very way I thought it might one day help.
Astrid has been quite the muse in all of this – amusing and musing!
When I do something from that infinite place she binkies with delight – I call it a Cosmic Binky.
When I’m missing the point or urgency, she grabs hold of my pant leg.
When I’m “getting it” and download her wisdom, she peers deeply through me in her Buddha Bunny- like stance with eyes dark as the Cosmos and a twinkle of starlight at center.
This morning, as we were still prepping Dave’s computer for me I was upstairs at our usual Ask Astrid blog time so Queen Astrid came running upstairs to get me. She waited patiently beneath the graceful towering giraffes – her grounded sentinels of grace and divine purpose.
From there she was downloading today’s message, as she helped me to connect the dots with all the latest happenings.
Every day a new layer of fine-tuning is integrated.
She reminded me that every time my energy gets an “upgrade,” so do my computers and cell phones.
And we both know that this is true for many of you out there as well.
Our energy shifts affect things around us.
Rabbits are finely attuned to energies and reflect them to the tiniest degree.
My two other rabbits, Nestor and Joy, used to have physical blow-outs because of the expansive energy they would channel and their bodies had to readjust, which isn’t the easiest always for bunnies.
Astrid is much better at managing her energy and wants me to understand those tweaks and fine-tunings that can help with optimizing my own.
This time it wasn’t about forcing a change by crashing my computer and losing things, but more about mindfulness that gave me the option of tweaking realizations and moving forward more effectively and in bigger ways.
As we go through changes, which right now everyone is experiencing in varying degrees of relative intensity, there are ways to tune into those little tweaks so that we can all optimize our energy.
Sometimes they’re easier to see and feel than others, so reflections like these can assist us.
For me, it seems Astrid is sharing that just as she fully chewed down and got rid of her Carrot Cottage so it no longer takes up any space, in order to make space for her Castle Tower, so too did I need to look at the tiny ways space was being held by things I already embody.
I had even saved the top roof of the Carrot Cottage with the idea to create a little house upstairs for her and she was not interested in the least bit.
So I’ve since removed it completely once she said, “I told you we’re done mom. I love the memories it held of my being welcome to my forever home, but our love is now permanent and the cardboard house takes up space our hearts can use to create and anchor new growth in.”
So, in reflection, while I may have given up the work and things of the past, if it still sits there even as storage space on a computer, or as an item tucked away on a shelf, they’re still taking up space I could breathe more freely in and by removing them I brush away the dust of memories and awaken the sparkle of birthing new stars.
Astrid smiles. “Change is like the beautiful birth of a star.”
