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Ask Astrid Friday’s ~ The Rabbit’s Corner: Yield in the Face of Change
Ever since our Amethyst babies have returned home, the energy has been shaking up and redirecting here. Not in a new direction, per say, but into alignment with what I’d been sensing. The Universe, or All That Is, likes to reiterate things in reflection and with the types of astrological placements I have, much of the time my messages come in clear through an injury or fracture. This took place today.
I slipped on some ice, even after being told twice by Dave to be careful of it AND being cautious. My heel just hit the perfect angle sending me out of balance and falling in a way that overextended my knee. And this leaves me either with a strain or tear to my MCL. At least not a bone fracture, as my usual M.O., but ligament injuries are no fun thing and it will take time to heal.
And where does that leave me?
Only able to focus on my writing again. Go figure!
It was no surprise by me and it just seems that the Universe, or Uni, as I like to call IT has my back and knows me well – that to get into alignment with the momentum needed, there would need to be something put into place.
I’ve also sensed a lot of energy out there and my desire not to engage in it. There may be a part of that in this too, but also reflecting how I’m really ready to move forward with new momentum.
And, just like Astrid went through her little experience of moving energy through her solar plexus recently, I am moving energy through my knee – the place of flexibility, movement, and considered where we assimilate knowledge and learning on a spiritual and energetic level (think kneeling and praying – even being knighted back in the day). When you take into account that knees can also represent fears and humility, it makes a lot of sense.
It’s interesting that Astrid has changed her position of where she lays the last few days for her daytime naps. Normally she’s enjoyed being under the sleigh at center of our room or under the low meditation table in the exercise room adjacent to ours.
But I’ve found her now in the top level of her castle tower and with her body curved in positions where her bunny butt hangs out the window on one side or her legs do.
She seems to say with this that the peace in our hearts can keep us anchored and safe, even when we stretch parts of ourselves through unknown doorways.
That it’s about moving forward with a new approach to change, which is basically the unknown.
“You know, the unknown you’ve felt around your book,” she adds.
She likes to cut to the chase.
“Yes, you’re absolutely right,” I reply. “And you know that I’ve said I was going to get back to it full time after my birthday even though I’ve felt some fear around it.”
“Yes, and I’ve seen you clearing the slate and making room for it,” she says. “You’ve been feeling the tug at your heart for a few weeks now, while being presented with life options, and we’ve been waiting to see what you’d choose.”
She’s right. I have been feeling it in the background very profoundly and started getting the sense to jump full on in again, which is why on Monday I’d announced that Monday and Wednesday’s blogs would likely go dormant while I switch back gears to writing full time.
“Yes, and you know how powerful your words and feelings are. You then created the scenario to ensure it!” she says with a wink.
“I did indeed, because now I will need to rest my knee and lay low, which will keep me where I feel I want and need to be. It also ensures I listen to the messages so as not to create anything really terrible. I think the wind and storm, and now the knee, all point to new directions and their timeliness I’ve felt in my soul. Funny that I also was heading into a new form of painting with my side creative time to accompany writing, which all keeps me able to sit or lay on the bed while doing them.”
“You do follow your feelings well,” she says. “There are times you may feel vulnerable or even unsure about something, but you have never been one to resist the winds of change. That’s why you braved those 80 mile an hour winds without hesitation and stepped into them with determination to retrieve your things. Your knee is not a punishment or bad thing, but simply a reset and an opportunity to surrender even more and open to yet wider, even more flexible possibilities you have yet to imagine with your writing. Anything that feels overwhelming can be embraced through humility. I know that the next phase will likely be your hardest one yet with the book, but the wisdom of your knee is to yield in the face of change. Something I know you can do well, my friend. Remember where you’ve been and how far you’ve come. Now repeat that process. The parts and players may be different, but the game is still the same.” she says.
~
I wonder if any of you are approaching similar resets in your life that seem both exciting and overwhelming?
Do Astrid’s words touch a chord?
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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Monday Musings ~ The Writer’s Corner: Writing Versus Speaking
A topic came up at a dinner party we hosted this weekend that I felt might be a good musing for today’s theme. While being asked about the book I am working on we started talking about the writing process since there were three writers at the table – all from different backgrounds, including also a retired librarian, and a writer of speeches. It’s no surprise we discovered that each of us have our own process and feelings around writing, but a couple of us shared the feeling that writing was our preferred form of communication over speaking. That included me.
Why?
Well, we both experience greater ease at getting out what we want to say more clearly and in a better way than if we have to explain or speak about something on the spot.
We find that the channel of writing gives form to our words in ways that just doesn’t always happen when trying to convey something in person or public speaking.
Personally, I find that when I write, the way I share something is more congruent with my essence because I am able to access my process of channeling with greater ease and without so much noise.
So, many times I’ll read something I’ve written, or someone else will, and it will sound like a different person, but it is actually more me.
That said, over time I have become much better at doing this in my speaking through the process of teaching because it has engaged more presence and ability to create that time and space for me to channel. I’ve learned to enjoy the process in settings like these and have grown enormously because of it. I just simply don’t like to be rushed, and yet when I’m writing it seems the words and inspirations come faster than I can get them down.
I have also found that if I’m moving, I also induce that channeling. This is something I’ve been known to do when on the phone with a friend or family member in need, or with a coaching client where I will pace back and forth. It moves the energy and I’m able to cut through this denser dimension and reach into the beyond.
I’ve also, as mentioned, been able to duplicate this with ultra presence and taking my time to listen and then pull out the most resonant words and expressions.
But when it comes to writing, this is a naturally built-in process for me and the stuff just flows. Same goes for my painting – another preferred method of channeling expressions through.
Writing and painting bring both presence and momentum to the experience and if I add in the perfect music with that process, it’s like pure magick for me. I am able to ride those frequencies and then grab the visions and feelings straight through.
Another way this happens is when I’m out in nature hiking. I find that so many ideas and inspirations will pop through when in this nurturing and inspiring environment and I’m moving energy in communion with Terra.
The guest who also felt she wrote so much better than the spoken work also said the same – that when out hiking in nature she will get the best ideas. She also shared that she is woken up in the middle of the night with ideas.
I haven’t personally been woken up with an idea, but I do indeed receive inspiration and messages via my dreams.
Perhaps the difference is also that writing is a more solitary experience where speaking draws upon interaction, reactions, and feedback from others. It may speak to a preferred way of being and feeling more comfortable or nurtured in one energetic space and dynamic over another.
While I feel both are challenging in their own ways, I’m much more drawn to the challenge of writing and engaging someone in the story I’m weaving as not only a form of personal growth, but in finding more intoxicating ways of storytelling.
I’m wondering if any of you experience similar with your writing?
Do you find writing to be easier than speaking for you? More resonant and clear?
Are there things you do that create greater ease of channeling ideas into words or receiving inspiration?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and I also want to welcome any fellow writers to contribute a piece of their own work, whether it be a poem, a short story, a new book you have out, or your own thoughts about your writing journey to be featured in an upcoming Monday Musings ~ The Writer’s Corner. Please send your ideas to: Contact Tania
Monday Musings – The Writer’s Corner: How to be Your Own Magickal Muse
I thought I’d kick off the first blog in my new series under the theme title of “Monday’s Musings” with a few ideas around how you can become your own magickal muse. A muse by definition is a creative influence – this can be a “person or a personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.” But this can also simply be you, which makes the process empowering to realize you have within you the ability to inspire yourself. And guess what? This doesn’t just have to be isolated to influencing yourself purely with writing, but can be a way to inspire any aspect of your life.
Here are some thoughts to help get that creative fire lit inside of your heart, but don’t stop here, as there are so many ways you can ignite inspiration:
- Indulge your child at heart and engage that child-like wonder about everything with curiosity and fascination – what the heart is encouraged to explore will become a grand adventure of ideas streaming through
- Find a process that helps you to create a well of flowing ideas that move you – journaling ideas, taking photographs of things that are interesting or beautiful, clipping out images and words in magazines to create idea boards with or folders of inspiration, collect little trinkets and treasures that spark imagination or a part of your inner child, gather and write down words, phrases, thoughts that you hear and that float through your mind – what you find fascinating in some way can act as a seed to grow ideas from
- Go on a creative excavation about yourself and your life to discover what inspires you. Ask yourself what truly invigorates you and fuels your passion and really engages your imagination – what you uncover will be pathways to easier flow and streams of thought
- Be inquisitive about that feeling and nudge that is bubbling inside of you and wants out. Rather than just push it aside, judging it, fearing it, or keeping it as a constant thought, write it down, speak it into a recorder, draw it…just move it out and through – what you invite to dance with you will begin to reveal where your energy wants to go and rather than stay stuck, will start you on a journey
- Let your writing run free and perhaps allow this to be one part of your life that doesn’t have structure, if in fact all other parts do. Don’t over-think things, just write what comes up right away as a feeling no matter how weird and don’t edit – simply flow. There’s plenty of time for that later – what you surrender to will take you on an adventure
- And if you don’t have structure in your life, perhaps creating a ritual or sacred practice around writing and creative flow will help make it a more natural part of your life – in either event, once you do have a practice in place like a specific time to do it, area to be in that inspires, a ritual to invite the process to begin and be separate from the rest of your life, then go back to the point above and let it flow without judgment – what you create consistency with will become an extension of your creative flow and life
- In line with sacred practice and ritual is creating a sanctuary of inspiration or invent a way that supports and nurtures your writing. This can be surrounding yourself with things you love, have a particular energy, make your inner child feel safe, that inspire and cultivate thought flow and imagination, or could be noticing what kind of things or where you are that help more, like traveling, being by the ocean, tucked away in a cabin in the mountains, or in a closed room with specific music playing – what you cultivate will bring enrichment to your process
- Always look for meaning in things – what you are curious about will reveal many potentials and creative ways to express or solve things
- Work at it. Creativity is a process and for many isn’t flowing quite as freely as it once did when we were children. And even if it is flowing, we need to keep encouraging and nurturing it to greater heights. Making a committed effort to keep at it will bring it back to being a natural process again – what you focus on building, will come more freely
- Become conscious about everything and embrace a real caring – what you are present and passionate about will create momentum and connection
- Engage creativity, imagination, and ideas. Invite it, cultivate it, nurture it, and encourage it out – what you fertilize and cultivate will grow
- Ask yourself what wants to be written and what story is aching to come forth, rather than asking what you feel like writing. They say everyone has at least one book in them…what’s yours? – what you surrender to will reveal gifts and make the journey flowing and fun even when challenges arise
- Empty yourself of all knowing and let your inner vision and heart guide you to the truth within you – what you stop controlling will be able to fly
- Remember yourself as the child you once were and can be again – what you retrieve will flourish where once it was constrained
- Explore childlike fantasy and flexibility – what you open up to will make the impossible possible
- Listen to your instincts – what you trust will open you to the most natural flow of expression
- Feel what you feel – what you embrace will reveal the most meaningful things that will engage others to feel as well
- Take chances and write as if you’re the first person ever writing the story and writing in the way that you are – what you risk will bring innovation as your best friend on the adventure
- Be your own heroine/hero. Find the things you like about yourself and cultivate more gratitude around them. Create your own style and image that helps you to feel more alive, authentic, and cultivates the writer you – what you fertilize will blossom
- Believe in yourself and what you have to say – what you believe about you, others will too
- Allow mistakes and realize that there aren’t any – what you let go of will draw to you hidden gifts
- Surrender to the story and lose yourself – what you immerse in will bring that reality to the heart of others through you
- Keep writing. The thoughts will flow and your story will find its way, but won’t unless you write – what you put energy toward will take you on a journey, create a result, and a destination to begin again from
I’d love to hear from any of you on any additional thoughts and ways you engage the muse within.
Transformation & Birthing Anew
I imagine I’m not the only one feeling such incredible energies of fertile possibility around every corner. I find dream time wildly infused with layers of dreams after dreams that are either other timelines, foretelling, psychic touch-ins, or clearly symbolic of things playing out. And yes, definitely the identity shifts, rebirthing, and kundalini energy Lee Harris has themed for the month are hugely washing over and through me still – so much so I have deemed October the month of firmly and clearly establishing the new through developing daily scheduling, finding my flow amidst that, and deepening into essence.
I found myself purging, clearing, reorganizing, and redecorating when I thought I was done. This has involved:
- donating or sharing with others several more bags of clothes and other items going out
- re-imagining a 1/4 of my office including removal of the center piece to my room and a whole redo of my shelves – this won’t be fully done, as I’m awaiting some things to come in November and December, but for now is complete and oh so fresh (This included moving out the last old piece I had for 10 years, which felt important since everything else in my office is new)
- making tons of room in my office closet to help with this
- establishing the new style of clothing to mirror who I am now (this involves a two-part me for my active outdoor lifestyle and athletic center training and the personal lifestyle outside of that) – this always feels pivotal for full embodiment inside and out and feels much clearer than ever now
- receiving new plants as gifts, bringing in a couple from outside for the cold months ahead, and finding new homes and decorative stands for them inside that added warmth and indoor garden delight
- establishing our new exercise program we started on October 1st, which involves 5 days a week of training and classes that after the first couple of weeks of feeling out what we liked, is now fully established in our calendars – this will amp up with ski season added into the mix and for now involves at least 3 days of hiking as well
- working on creating my daily schedule (just about done) to include everything on my intention list – something new since I don’t really have a schedule although manage to get things done – this feels important to be more focused and deliberate, but flowing in and out of several aspects of balanced life and work that I want to accomplish – doing this will keep me moving forward
- dreaming up new aspects to this blog, as well as all that I’ll be involved in, which will soon have a new direction
- planning some upcoming Winter travels
- keeping focused on the goals we have for our life
And this big transformation has been reflected in not one, but now two rare Rubber Boas we’ve come across on our hiking paths recently.
The first you may recall was when Laura was visiting and we were descending from Eagle Lake. This first one was a luminous copper baby Rubber Boa – she captivated me!
And the second was just this past weekend on Saturday when an adult Rubber Boa was laying across the path we were hiking to Lake Tahoe from our house, on our return back home. This one was large and very worm-like – her coloring a coppery green (best I can describe it as) and she was sunning herself with her little tongue zipping in and out with slithery delight. I had a feeling it was another Rubber Boa, but had it confirmed when I looked it up and saw her exact duplicate in online photos. I say rare, because we have only ever seen the Garter Snakes here on hikes, but this is the first two times to see Rubber Boas and within just weeks of each other – both non-poisonous. Both Boas just laid there and let me talk to them. So curious and sweet!
This last Sunday I also found myself hiking 6 miles on my own while the boys were mountain biking. This was incredibly invigorating and renewed another level of my connection to nature, as I wandered the wrong right paths, connected with wonders around me, and even birthed a new sound channeling I haven’t done in a while. I shared the adventure and sound video on my Instagram. The photo above is from this hike where I was tickled with joy by the grove of baby pine trees I stumbled upon and laid with.
And the rebirthing has been reflected in not just the snake, kundalini energy, but in a powerful birthing dream I had a couple of nights ago – AGAIN. I say, “again” because this is now about the 3rd or 4th time within several months that I dream of myself giving birth. And interestingly, in this dream I gave birth back-to-back twice! I was pregnant in the dream and being assisted by a woman or female energy, who assured me it would be simple and easy – like a click I would feel physically, emotionally, and mentally. And just as she said, I felt that click and instantly the labor happened in one easy release. No pushing, pain, or anything. I never actually saw the baby come out, but something did.
This feels symbolic of my book process and my editor – she has also shown up in Tarot cards and in my dreams.
So, indeed it was symbolic of me birthing anew and may not be limited to the book, although it’s the biggest focus right now. It can also speak to the newness all around.
And this repeated a second time – this time a male and female energy assisting and this time the click was taking a bit longer, so they induced it with a little tapping at my lower back and poof! Another easy release. Talk about potent.
I have a feeling on this one too. 😉
I can only imagine this means the new I’m feeling led to bring forth will in fact not be as hard or challenging as my mind could easily make it. It will just be a very involved process and a committed one at that – perhaps even 9 months worth just like it would be to bring an actual human baby into the world. A successful release of creative energy and joyous passion is the potential awaiting the channeling ahead.
And that’s all that truly matters – that we are having fun and supporting the flow of our unique creativity into the world in ways relative to each of us. No other result than expression is the power we long for. If we allow that energy to get stuck, that’s when we find ourselves blocked in other areas of our lives too.
Where are you feeling stuck in your life and how can you help to move that energy through a creative outlet, idea, way of self-expression, support of a passion, etc. that you have and feel bubbling inside?
These are ways I use dreams and nature to reflect to me messages and guidance.
We have so many things, mirrors, gifts, and tools available to us. Are you present to seeing all the support and guidance you have around too?
We can even ask for our dreams to show us things, if we think we aren’t “getting it” in other ways. The same with nature and messages in general – we can ask for reflections, but you must be present to embrace them, as they will come in ways you’re not even thinking are possible.
Presence is SO important and is another message I feel to be incredibly key for us all. It helps you respond, rather than react. It helps you to see all of the support you DO actually have. It helps you have more gratitude. It helps you to know yourself, others, and everything around you more. It helps you to trust.
Last night I did a big Reiki Healing Attunement for some intentions and wishes that included things close to home and for friends and family I know could use a little boost, and of course Astrid doesn’t skip a beat in helping. There’s a part in the process where I blow violet breath and when I blew, Astrid stretched huge and yawned and while I was finishing stuff in the heart chakra, she was licking her giant Tahoe mother quartz on the ground!
She is enjoying all of the new energy, but also excited to get a stronger move-on with the writing she’s waiting to assist with again.
I haven’t had much time yet to delve deeply in that the last couple of weeks other than ideas because it became evident I needed to get all of these things worked out and in place. There’s something important about solidity, clarity, and anchoring to really support the new in greater flow, ease, and efficiency.
So, I’ve been utilizing the time to research, finish reading the last book I have to help with my writing, have some key things to continue clarifying and journaling about, and organizing all of my notes and processes to implement.
This will also involve that new blog series I’ve now made mention of twice and I promise to share it very soon! Perhaps even this week, but it won’t officially begin until Monday, October 29th.
Astrid is especially pleased about this, as soon she’ll have her own spot on part of this new blog series upcoming. Stay tuned!!
A New Chapter Begins
Have you been feeling the pull to take your life to a new level of experience? I know I’m not the only one embarking on a new chapter in life right now and I know that for some this can be both a scary and exciting thing, as well as potentially intense. Change is not always easy, but can become a more fluid experience when you play in the fields of potential with curious wonder, rather than fight it. After all, these shifts are soul nudges that have answered your desires or evolutionary needs, both consciously and subconsciously. Sometimes what shows up might not seem aligned with that and yet even when those things seem separate and not connected, there’s something at the heart of it all in essence that may be a hidden gift, reminder, empowering opportunity, or core way to integrate the new path.
I’ve traveled extensively in the outer world to what are considered sacred and exotic spots, but it’s the journeys within and even the traveling between spaces and through all the energetic and emotional nooks and crannies that things like physical travel took me to, that have made all the difference. And while much of that travel has been on more etheric planes, even such things as the sacred tattoos I wear, have been ways to come into my body and harness spirituality more tangibly for this Earth plane I currently reside in.
I feel like we’re being guided through new doorways of experiences, relative to each, but that are operating on a whole new plane of existence – in essence helping to create whole new realities.
Starting all over can feel like so many things, including some unpleasant or uncomfortable variations, but mostly I see it is an opportunity, a potential to rise to the “now” occasion, a possibility for recreating from new choices – a rebirth – and a means to shape in that “now” what the “future-you” already is walking, without past restraints.
Sometimes you might have that tug of war within yourself, as you wrestle with old and new, or sometimes it’s as easy as slipping on a new pair of shoes that feel oh-so-much-more comfortable, spacious, shiny fun, and upgraded.
This last Saturday, 8/18/18 – a very cool number sequence to end on – marked the conclusion to my teaching Reiki, which has been an 11 year cycle. Synchronously, one of my students (who also captured this sneak photo of me teaching) was someone I taught Reiki 1 & 2 to, 10 years ago when she was 19. She now returned, at a completely new place in life to complete her 3rd Master Teacher level and boy has her life positively changed on every level. AND, she’s already put out there to her clientele, that she is available for teaching.
Talk about fast upgrades and changes, but it came with a lot of work over these past 10 years and willingness to keep saying, “yes” to what her soul was putting forth for her, even though her ego wasn’t understanding why and wasn’t fully on board with yet.
In some ways I’m in a similar place where my soul has put forth this inspiration and guidance, after culminating to an ending vortex of choice, and it wasn’t something I saw coming even though I toyed with things twenty five years ago.
That ending left me both fulfilled and feeling uninspired, completely soul spent, and nostalgic for a different place I call home.
In many ways, the “past me” might have seen the work I’ve been doing until recently as being my end result, and in a way it was – as it truly was more of a predictable soul path I was completing from lifetimes of build-up. Many of you likely can relate. And although not necessarily an easy path I was on, it was easier to melt into and only challenging in terms of moving into more vulnerability, clarity, and opening that throat chakra that yearned to teach, yet had the fear to transmute.
When everything pointed to endings 3 years ago, I was left with a choice and so I followed a nudge, went off into Nature (just as John Muir says, “The mountains are calling and I must go”), listened deeply, and found myself here when I might have been elsewhere.
This then put into motion a potential new cycle and so I began playing in this new field of experience and trying on how it felt. I decided to go with it, feeling a new level of inspiration was the very and only thing that would keep me here and that offered a completely new and freer embodiment, if so chosen.
Little by little, and quickly in some cases, I shed my skin and this led to now and a fresh start. During that time, a story began channeling through and I wrote when the moment moved me, while building a new life.
Perhaps the story reflects a journey intimately remembered or maybe it energetically rewrote what has been to what can be.
In any case and for what ever reason yet unknown, it is the only thing calling my heart besides seeing what is possible from living at a different and more balanced vibration.
This past Thursday, 8/16 – a day earlier than expected – I received my manuscript back from my editor (more on that shortly) and this coincided with Astrid’s early birthday gift arriving (her birthday isn’t until 9/15), which I’d ordered custom a couple of months ago, but was on back-order. No coincidence we both received something new and connected on the same day.
Astrid’s gift was this special child’s chair stitched with her name and a star on it, chosen to match my green chair and the green theme in our shared room.
I have both a green chair – my desk one – and a comfy arm chair by my book shelf, which Astrid loves to climb up and sit on. I thought she might enjoy her own arm chair so that she and I could both sit and mastermind together. Besides, every queen needs their special throne and now she has one that declares her star child essence as cosmic spirit in bunny body.
It took until yesterday to finally figure out where she wanted it, but the second I put it together and set it up for trial runs, she was exploring and jumped right in it quite comfortably.
But as the days went on, she was missing her bed and carrot cottage under the stars looking out on the forest by the door, so I moved it to a new location and put her other things back and she instantly said, “yes, that’s it!”
She climbed right in and sat there for long periods not moving at all, but just sitting up tall in it and looking at me from across the room, very regal and wise.
Then she started grooming herself and making it home. Good thing is, it’s super light and therefore totally mobile with a handle on top, so we can move it whenever she feels she wants a new vantage point.
She now goes to sit on it when I sit in my comfy chair and we gaze across at each other, feeling the immensity of our combined energies in this space.
It’s a bit like this new path for me, where I know it’s what my creative spirit is guiding, but will take some adjustments (likely a lot more work than Astrid’s few days of helping me to figure out where it belonged) in order to fit as comfortably in my own new “chair” as she does, but I’m following her example.
That brings me back to receiving my manuscript from the perfect editor I was guided to. I couldn’t be happier and more grateful for the opportunity to work with her and her feedback was just what I had hoped it would be to both support and kick me into deeper explorations with highlighted strengths and weaknesses. I feel as if I’m getting a whole new education and training in a way that works in better alignment for me than studying at a university, for example. She’s definitely my vibrational fit.
Since I had a workshop to teach last Saturday, I put aside editing and novel thoughts except for the summary letter, because I knew that once I dove in, it would be all-consuming. And quite literally, even though I still have yet to go through everything, as I’m creating the space for full digestion of it and all that I feel it will ask of me, it HAS become all-consuming on my mind. I find my thoughts are always going there and so I know where I’m meant to be.
Yet, just from her letter, I can sense the enormity of this commitment and choice I’ve made with it and why nothing else can be on my plate going forward. I was curious how I would feel from receiving the feedback and the only thing it brought up for me was this incredible sense of soul challenge to grow and deepen, which inspires me. I can also feel the reality of the creative limb I’ve flown out on with this, which presents further challenges to rise to, including even the genre choice I decide upon with it.
I definitely have my work cut out for me. I never do things simply, and it makes complete sense that for something to truly engage my heart and spirit to feel inspired to continue on here – regardless of any outcome with it what so ever – it WOULD have to be the biggest challenge yet.
Any fellow writers (or creatives), will understand the journey and it is one that can sometimes take years, of which I’m fully on board and committed to. So I truly don’t know the extent of time this project will take and I’m not rushing it so that I can immerse fully in the growth and learning, feeling that this is about much more than a book – it’s a whole new adventure and journey of mind, body, heart, and spirit.
And it IS a whole new playing field, as I’ve mostly only been a blogger and put out one self-published book – Spiritual Skin, along with a lot of creative writing when I was much younger. This one has the potential for traditional publishing depending on how vulnerably and flexibly I stretch myself and even how I surrender completely to living my dharma and embracing the new lessons this path is creating for me.
In any event, the old cliche is true…”it’s the journey, not the destination” that matters and I can really feel that in traveling this unknown territory simply for sake of bringing through vibrational potential that arises from the challenge and exhilaration of experiencing how far and wide I can fly on the wings of my creative free spirit.
It will definitely involve a constant cycling through of deaths and rebirths, as makes sense with next year’s growth year #13 – death / 4 year I’ll be entering come my birthday. The 4 energy will have me focusing on foundations, sharpening skills, working hard, involved in patient, methodical approaches to goals, nurturing of projects, and overall serious approaches to career, well being/health, and relationships of all kinds for balance. All of which I’ve been preparing for with deep cleaning on all levels and flowing with the creativity that was inspiring me this last 12/3 year I’m still completing.
I didn’t need to know this information on numerology, but it is definitely interesting to see how we do in fact follow the energy imprints regardless of not being aware of them playing out.
I always start experiencing trickles of the upcoming energies before they set in fully and I can see how come this Fall, pretty much exactly after Fall Equinox, I’ll be on a different trajectory.
This also falls perfectly with my sweet and dear Laura coming to spend a fun and potent week here at the same time we co-teach and host our “Living a More Magickal Life” workshop event on the Equinox – the official ending for me to this kind of teaching platform in general. It’s not often that we get in-person time together, but when we do it has always put into motion some huge life shifts for both of us and this coming together in a month from now feels like the most potent alchemy potential we’ve created yet.
So, between now and then I am readying everything, we have some other friends visiting, I’m getting fully organized and cleaned out, creating a workable plan to put into action, reviewing my editor’s feedback, tuning in, and beginning research – that way I’m fully ready to go, come end of September, and dive fully into things.
I see Fall and Winter perfectly fitting for nose-to-the-grind action, but in my newly adapted balanced way so as not to repeat my past neurotic tendencies to overwork myself until I “crash-and-burn.” This is why Dave and I have and will continue implementing a new well-being track into our life, while we also focus on other life goals we’re creating foundations for. It will definitely be a busy 6-8 months to get things ready for the next leg of the journey.
This is why I’ve released everything else, as a way of having laser beam focus on the new and yet without any old patterns being brought into that space and reality that is forming.
There is an invitation being extended to us all I feel where a portal of fresh possibilities await.
Have you also increasingly felt drawn away from things and toward completely new ones?
Where might you create more balance in your life so that you can be more present and vibrant to what is calling your heart’s attention?
Sometimes what we think we should be doing is only a choice away from what we could be doing.
If something nudges you there is reason. Whether it directs you into a whole new life journey or supports your journey with new, you will experience invigoration from listening to that subtle voice rather than dismissing it/you.
Thank you for being part of and supporting my journey. I not only support yours equally, but do my best to keep embracing each challenge on my own, as my contribution to the collective.
A Shifting Trip & Full Circle Updates
As we’ve settled back in this week after our time on the Pacific Ocean, I’ve felt another shift of energy grounding subtly, but profoundly in. I just realized today that it was four years ago at this time in August that we were exploring Alaska for nearly 2 weeks and that seems fitting since it was upon returning from that journey that I knew a big life shift had to happen, and now another is organically kicking in that will change everything once again.
We just returned from 10 days away along central and southern California’s coastline, and while it was a very nurturing trip, we could sense its full circle energy, as well as its helping to reflect and integrate the new upcoming.
Like when we returned from Alaska, I knew Orange County was no longer our home and in revisiting there at the end of this trip, we no longer felt any heart ties to even the few places we had once loved and helped us while we were there. We felt a strong closure and it also offered us time to explore, in thought and imagination, the new opportunities and possibilities we’re feeling into and that are presenting themselves.
We always loved Crystal Cove, and while it still is a magickal place, it offered us a chance to seed intentions, as it had in the past, but this time as a portal door only.
We did enjoy seeing some of our dearest friends while visiting and of course, having some vegan food indulgences at some of our fav restaurants just around the corner from our then house.
Yet, like the weddings that both started and ended this trip, there was a solidification of commitment to another level of experience, life, and relationship to ourselves and each other that seemed to get kicked up a few notches. We found ourselves dreaming bigger and feeling into new choices.
On our first full day back we went to the beach here and both felt a much stronger resonance to our Lake Tahoe waters and the peace and energies most resonant to our new lives, to be flowing through this mountain air.
Interestingly, while we were away, the smoke in the Tahoe Basin from the immense fires in California was sadly the worst it had been. It started clearing a few days before our heading home and is hugely better now than it was. If not for an upcoming Reiki workshop I’m teaching this weekend, we had actually considered gathering up the fur babies upon return, and heading out somewhere else again until the smoke cleared. Something about that and its timing is meaningful. And even while we were at our favorite Crystal Cove, the nearby fire had created an ominous sky of smoke that merged an interesting portal of two worlds.
The energies shifted along the journey as well, where we were relishing in the relaxation and all of the Faery beauty and ocean magick, but nearing the last few days we were already ready to go home.
Yet, there was much natural beauty and enchantment experienced that immersed us in Faery and vegetable garden delights, took us wandering along gorgeous coastlines, connecting with so many ocean creatures and cetaceans, discovering moonstones, tons of feathers from the amazing pelicans, seagulls, and hawks, and other sparkly quartz sea delights to create portal connections without needing to be physically there, and lots of yummy vegan food that included a very special, pampered evening with a friend who shared her new vegan cheese line with me, a gathering with friends, and some sweet time with Dave’s dad and stepmom.
It was no coincidence there were so many portals, abundance of blossoms, plants, and animals, water and faery energy, fountains, and even a wishing well….all perfect to activate new seeds of intention and reflect the promise of new.
And all of the ocean time coincided with a book I was reviewing for another author, set in Atlantis, that awakened more seed memories. I just sent in my endorsement review for the novel yesterday, which seemed to be a potent day for not just myself and Dave, but others, with things clicking in and setting the tone for another new cycle.
My Take-Away From the Last 10 Days:
Indeed there’s yet again another shift taking root, but each one is so mutable these days that it’s never about reaching any finalized stage or end result, yet truly about being most flexible and open to your highest joy and potential at every corner.
With Mercury Retrograde ending on the 18th, this all feels timely with the reflections, curiosity, explorations, solidifying – and for some – the intensity, around this time period, but also points to some leaps into new immersions just around the corner.
I feel another life-changing time period is kicking in for Dave and I, both individually and together. In many ways it does remind me a bit of the time period right before the Magick Bus adventure living in the RV for a year and a half traveling about. This took place after the impending changes following Alaska and the seeded intentions that were inspired. And while different energetically, there is a similar whole-new-start-vibe and more choices for how it all unfolds.
This Fall and Winter feels to involve a lot of focus, commitment, and work to solidify that change and catapulting to come in 2019. A lot is happening all at once and I feel that like the last couple of years, we will look back a year or two from now and be amazed at what was accomplished.
In many ways our trip was both surreal and like being in another world, as a bubble of magick always enveloped us, but while grateful for what it offered, we are happy to be home and so is a certain bunny, named Astrid, very happy about that too.
My Evolving Relationship with Astrid:
I had two dreams about her while we were away, so we were in contact, and since returning, our relationship has also kicked up several notches. We are the closest we’ve ever been, she’s been super attached to me, wanting to snuggle and immerse in loving connection, and even wanted me to hold her when I came home. She’s excited about the next level of work she and I will be doing, as in just two days I will be receiving back my manuscript from my editor – EEK!! – and the next challenging, but exciting step will kick in, as I review feedback and get cracking on the new plan in order with revision work.
But being back with Astrid has been very special and I’m loving our deepened connection and her continued softening into the love that she is. Our communication is impeccable and we are SO in tune!
She’s been extra excited running around in the morning and evenings, and watching me through the door, as I took care of my Garden Tower and plants and flowers outside. She’s actually been pawing at the window while watching me and anxious for the green yummies I just harvested for her yesterday.
Garden Tower Updates:
My small garden is doing so beautifully and is abundantly producing. I even have my very first two pumpkins ever (called Wee B Little pumpkins) starting to grow, which excites me greatly, along with another four tomatoes on the Charlie Brown Christmas tree-like tomato plants I saved, and nine Ring of Fire sunflowers all coming in – I smell Autumn just around the corner!
We and Astrid have enjoyed so many harvests and yesterday’s was no exception, as I filled a gigantic heaping bowl with every variety of herbs and greens and still there is tons on the Tower remaining. I gave everything a good pruning and watering and we have happy plants! Since the strawberries and lettuces are done, I no longer have to net the tower or any of the plants, as the forest critters are not interested and being entertained and indulged with other yummies.
And speaking of Garden Tower, my original one that used to be at our Orange County home, just found a new loving home with my dear friend and vegan cheese connoisseur/creator and her husband. The friend I mentioned who pampered me with this:
I couldn’t be happier! I can’t wait to see the Garden Tower flourish at their beautiful home, which is like a little Italian villa.
Somehow that feels full circle too, that my original one I loved so much and was one of the joys that kept me going while living there, has come into the right hands – the last thing I had a tie with in OC that always was in the back of my mind, is now put to peaceful rest and will assist my friend in the blossoming of her new business and intentions, as the metaphor for her experiences created in the garden of life.
Writing & Workshop Updates:
As mentioned, I’ll be receiving my manuscript back in two days, but since I’m teaching on Saturday and will need time to digest all that I hear back, I’ll likely not be starting back on revision work and the next stage until sometime next week. That said, it WILL be my main and only focus outside of life and shared ventures with Dave. Likely even more so now, as every step gets increasingly demanding and challenging. So, while I will continue to blog now and then, as inspired, it will still remain on the less side and not like my once daily shares.
As always, you can catch more inspiring and fun, quick updates on my Instagram page though, which has included the photos you see here in this blog, plus many more!
The day before I left, I received some new bunny additions to my Wonderland office and upon returning I had two new dragons awaiting me. These all anchoring in new energy to inspire my writing again, along with some small shifts in redecorating I often do here and there. Astrid also has a very special birthday gift arriving tomorrow – all just in time for beginning the book adventures next week.
I do feel rested and rejuvenated from our little vacation and the last month off from writing while its been with my editor, so I’m ready to dive back into writing with my wise partner, Astrid, and the rest of my spirit guides.
This Saturday ends my Reiki teaching days, as I put closure to that with the last Reiki 3 Master Teacher workshop held here. It will be a lovely day, as one of my first students joins to finally get her last level in, while another lovely soul comes to both review and cultivate her teaching skills, helping out as she feels so moved. I have some ideas percolating for this workshop that will make this a fun ending. I know a few people were sad not to be able to join this and the last Reiki 1 & 2 workshop, but I do firmly believe that all things flow in alignment and there is a beautiful reason yet unseen that will reveal itself in perfect ways.
And lastly, today marks exactly 1 month remaining to register for the upcoming Fall Equinox “Living a More Magickal Life” with Laura Bruno and myself.
The last day to register is September 15th – synchronously that’s also Astrid’s birthday. 🙂
To reiterate, this is the first and last time she and I will be teaching together and this event will end and celebrate my own closure with teaching in this format at this point in my life. So, it will be a special event with inspired topics that will assist all joining with how to move into that new with wings! We continue to tune in and be open to what wants to come through for this, but as with all gatherings of this kind, not only do surprises always show up, but the effects of what takes place on the seemingly subtle planes will continue to unfold long after the day in potent ways. So keep those keen senses about you, as magick increases before your eyes.
There are still a couple spots remaining. If you feel called to join, you may register here:
Keep believing and may all possibilities be open to you!
Tania Marie 