Women have access to a wellspring of deep wisdom.

However, in a culture that places so much emphasis on productivity, “getting ahead” and doing, it’s easy to lose touch with your radiant feminine essence.

And when you lose this beautiful connection – you’re truly missing out on a vibrant, soul-powered way of being in the world.

That’s why I want to invite you to The Shift Network’s special, no-cost event, The Inspiring Women Summit, taking place May 17 – June 19, 2014.

During this LIVE online series, 30+ visionary women – including people like:

•  Barbara Marx Hubbard (author of Conscious Evolution: Awakening Our Social Potential and Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence)
• Caroline Casey (author of Inner and Outer Space and The Astrological Language of the Psyche)
• Juana Bordas (author of Salsa, Soul and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Ageand The Power of Latino Leadership: Culture, Inclusion, and Contribution)
• Sera Beak (author of Red Hot and Holy: A Heretic’s Love Story and The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark).

These speakers will help you blaze a sacred path to an extraordinary life!  They’ll even have a few wonderful men, like Harville Hendrix, joining his wife, Helen LaKelly Hunt.

If this sounds good to you, you can save your place here.

This year’s program is packed with illuminating wisdom and life-changing techniques for deepening your spiritual connection, standing more powerfully in your feminine leadership, sparking your creativity, enhancing your health and relationships – and MORE!

You’ll find that the more you learn to live in alignment with your natural essence, the more all the aspects of your life will become easier, more joyful and abundant. And you’ll become more inspired and empowered to create the kind life you want – and make your best contributions to the world.

That’s why I’m inviting you to learn more.

Whether it’s leading a multi-million dollar company or a small home business,empowering your community or being a more conscious parent, enjoying deeperemotional and sexual intimacy or birthing a creative project that will change lives – the information and guidance in this summit can be applied to and by every woman.

Register for the Inspiring Women Summit now – and get ready to embark on a journey that promises to transform your life.

Yours truly,

Danielle

P.S. Here are just a few quotes from past Inspiring Women Summit participants:

This is the MOST awesome event I’ve participated in for women EVER. I FEEL the love, the power and the change. Meeting women from so many places… has been a wonderful bonus and blessing! It is an empowering feeling to be connected in this awesome way. Thanks to all the sponsors, organizers and participants for an amazing experience! – Christine O’Dell

I am fascinated as I discover that all women around the globe share same needs, feelings, and aspirations and have the inner power to sustain good life for their loved ones and inspire those beyond boundaries of culture, time and space. I am an Egyptian woman from Cairo who can relate to everything being said and who is deeply moved by the resonant power of women’s voice and self-determination despite their struggles. – Hala Abdel Moneim, Cairo, Egypt

THANK YOU for the graceful way you’ve harnessed technology to serve women lovingly during this summit. You’ve helped us reveal and share our beauty, strength, vitality, courage, creativity and ALIVENESS. What a prayer this is. And what a lifeline for some. Wow! How moving to feel myself to be part of a web of women from so many countries – all listening as our hearts beat faster with connection, each of us with equal access to these life-changing conversations, these moments of historic proportion!  – Dana Cunningham Anderson

If you’re lucky, you may have already taken the time and chance to discover many of your passions and get to spend much of your time enjoying things that bring you excitement and joy.  On the other hand, maybe you’ve not yet connected with activities, skills, and interests that ignite your passion.

As many of learn, and sometimes the hard way, it takes time, soul-searching, and some life experience to identify your true passions.  These prompts are written to tap into your wants, needs, desires, and fantasies.  Have fun with them and discover what you can add to your life that will fill it with delight.

• What’s the one thing I’ve always wanted to do?  Consider what would need to happen in order for you to carry through with this long-sought wish.  Make a plan and get started.  Remember that no matter how big a step might appear right now, all that needs to be done is to take that first step.

• If I could spend today doing whatever I desire, if I had no obligations today, what would I do?  Let your mind go.  It could be something related to your work, your home, or simply a lark.  Perhaps there is a spa treatment that you have been meaning to book yourself in for!

• Where do I really want to live?  What city and what type of residence?  Perhaps you’re already fulfilling this passion and you do live in your true first choice.  If not, take some time to truly ponder the possibilities of living in a place that makes your heart sing.  For now, place yourself there in your imagination whenever the need arises.

• Where would I like to visit?  Perhaps you’re harboring a secret yearning to visit Washington, D.C. or Westminster Abbey in London.  The streets of Hong Kong may be calling your name or even the Grand Canyon.  Can you make it happen?  What do you need to do to make it happen, to make it feasible?  Write a list out, and begin to implement the steps you need to embark upon your journey.

• What do I talk about doing but never do it?  In a conversation, you might state something like, “For the last 10 years, I’ve really wanted to take a cruise to the Caribbean.”  Even try shifting this statement to bring this into a closer reality for you.  Perhaps you say to yourself, “Soon, I will be taking a cruise to the Caribbean.”  Watch how things around you begin to shift.

• What are the reasons I don’t go after my dreams?  Explore within yourself why you haven’t pursued the life you want.  Can you do something differently to help bring your dreams to life?  Embrace the possibilities, and the realities, that you are the creator and architect of your days.  Move from this place of inner knowing.

•  What are the things in my life that I would like to get rid of?  If you’re discovering you don’t love everything about your life, maybe it’s time to do some “housecleaning.”  Make a list of the ways you’d like your life to change.  Perform the necessary purging that you know is required for you to move forward with your innermost dreams and goals.  Begin to take steps toward forgiving whoever you may still hold grudges toward, do a body cleanse of some sort, go through your home with a fine-toothed comb and clear out what you no longer need and is simply ‘taking up space’.

•  Which people in my life inspire me and why?  It’s important to know who inspires you so you can spend more time with them.  What is it about them that lights you up so much?  Decide to take every necessary step to be inspired more often.  Inspiration is a flame which needs to be fanned on a regular basis!

•  If I were to make just one radical change in my life right now to make life better, what would it be?  Your answer to this question will really open up your possibilities.  Moving to a bigger city might really spice up your life.  Getting more education in a field that stimulates you, mind body and soul, might be a goal—plus you’ll likely make more money.

• How do I feel when I put all my effort into accomplishing one of my goals?  Notice these feelings.  You’ll no doubt want to experience them more often.  And once you reach a level of joy that you previously may not have felt, it will be easier to get yourself back to that joyous state the next time you make a move towards it.

• How do I feel whenever I achieve a life goal?  Awesome, probably.

•  What’s missing from my life?  Answering this question requires considerable soul-searching.  When I can’t seem to get to the bottom of things that I feel upset about, angry about, or in lack of, then I grab a pen and a journal and begin writing furiously to get it all out.  Almost without fail, that which I previously could not figure out or uncover will begin to reveal itself to me.

•  Who are my biggest supporters?  It’s wise to know the people that will stand behind you and help you pursue your passions, no matter what.  Whether you plan to keep your goals to yourself, or if you choose to let some people in on your plans, be sure to let your ‘circle of people’ know that you could use their support and good wishes.  Just knowing that there are kindred spirits thinking of you and looking out for your well-being can give you that extra edge to complete your goals.

•  Who gets in the way of me achieving my goals?  In order to find your true passions, you might be required to disengage from those who wish to counteract your efforts.  If there are thought patterns or programs that surface for you continually, patterns that ask you to step back from your dreams and ‘be realistic’, then do your best to clear these programs.  Write new notes to yourself, with new and empowering messages.  Write them on sticky notes if you need to, and plaster them everywhere.  I have some inspiring wall decal quotes throughout my house, with quotes that continually remind me to stay on track.  Even if I don’t ‘look’ at them all the time, I know they are there, and they just make me happy!

If you take the time to thoroughly ponder each of these questions, you’ll be pleased with what you discover. Your true passions are inside you, just waiting to be let loose to bring you excitement, joy, and fulfillment.

Here is some lovely, inspirational writing from a fellow Metis, Aaron Paquette.  He is a brilliant artist and a very talented writer, and I could not resist sharing his latest write up.  Enjoy!

The lesson is simple.  Let go of the desire for things that you think are valuable and they will fall away, revealing your everlasting, shining spirit.

I wouldn’t tell you what to believe but I would urge you to examine the feeling of lack in your life, the feeling that there is not enough.  If you were to spend a day, and another and another in gratitude and humour for what is at hand that sustains you, it would open the door for a fundamental shift in your perception of your wants and needs.

There’s no point in comparing your relative wealth to someone living homeless in the Third World, just as there is no point in comparing your relative poverty to Bill Gates.

Both comparisons will simply feed your ego, for good or ill, and bring you feelings of shame.  Comparison is the fastest route I know of to unhappiness.

If you must compare your life, then compare it to the deer who runs freely, the wolf that hunts, the bear that sleeps.  Compare the impact of your existence to the marching ant or the spinning spider who reminds us that we are all connected by the great web of life.

Remember that in that web, what you do to one life comes back to your own in some way or another.  When you kill the songbird, your song also dies.  When you take the life of an animal – without humility, awareness and gratitude – you take the life of the land, and so, eventually, your own life as well.

We see this unfortunate truth playing out in front of our eyes.  They killed the buffalo, they now cull the wolf.  They rip the resources from the land without thanking the land.  They cut the trees and foul the water.  They destroy the diversity of the fields for single crops and spray chemicals on it to obliterate the insects who feed on those crops.

And with sorrow we see the rivers clog with soil runoff.  We can no longer drink safely from the streams.  The lakes are overrun with algae and even the honeybees are dying.

We destroy our ability to live on the land itself, all because we have forgotten to be grateful, to listen to the song of our spirit.

This is why it’s necessary to stop, to be silent, to let go of the desire for material things and immaterial things.

As we treat our own spirit, so too, do we treat the land, and neither can survive the harm caused by neglect, anger, apathy and greed.

The great orator, Chief Canasatego said:

“We know our lands have now become more valuable.  The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone.”

There are only so many heartbeats given to every living being.  You have already used up many of your own. For those that remain, use them well.

hiy hiy

—--

Words & Art: Aaron Paquette
Painting: The Past Shows Us The Way

We have just moved past the cross quarter point on the year's wheel, known as Imbolc, and also known as Candlemas.  How has it been for you this winter?  Did you use the dark of the nearby passing season to inwardly reflect, and find those nuggets of wisdom and gems of self-realization that tend to bury themselves and hibernate? 

Now is time to take note of the increasing light of each passing day, and begin to call forth the seeds that were planted over the winter months, and that are now germinating.  Feel the life of these seeds stirring, and beginning to crack open and release their gifts, reaching with longing and grace toward the sun.  Imbolc translates to "in the belly".  Feel your dreams and visions awaken from deep within your being, and extend gratitude towards them, and toward the energies of Spirit that have assisted with the incubation of these dreams. 

Tune deeply now into your intuition, into your 'gut feelings', into those sparks of life and information that reside in your belly.  Try to get a sense for any new ideas and projects that are prepared to spark, and send to them the love of your presence and conscious awareness.  Breathe life into them, communicate with them, and ask them in which way they wish to work with you for the highest good of yourself, your family, your community, and the world community.  How can they best be served by you sending love and intention to them, and how can you co-create with these sparks of life and creativity in order to bring them to light and into their fullest, divine potential?  Here is pictured an image of Brighid, the Celtic Fire Goddess of renewal, healing, purification and creativity.

Finding Your Creative Spark:

Don't you love it when your creativity manifests itself?  Creativity brings us benefits that go far beyond artistic expression.  Even if you don't think of yourself as an especially creative person, you'll be glad to know that it's there within you just waiting for you to use it! Creativity can be expressed in many different ways. Plus, there are many techniques you can use to develop and nurture your natural creativity. 

Like many people, you may think that you're either creative or you're not. What a myth! If you long to be more creative, then go for it!

Here are ten tips you can use to become a new, more creative you:

• Think of yourself as creative. We all have the spark of creativity inside us; it's just a matter of fanning that flame to keep it alive, as well as knowing where your particular brand of creativity is best applied.
  The first step is to know that you're creative. Think positively about this and work to see your creative side whenever possible.

  

• Think creatively.  If there are two solutions to a problem, try them both. Try out your new ideas, even if they seem a little outlandish at first. These fresh, outside the box, perspectives can lead to huge breakthroughs.
  Telling yourself that you're creative is only the beginning; try to think creatively whenever possible.

  

• Put your new ideas into action. Don't worry what other people will think. By trying out your creative ideas, even if you don't succeed at first, you'll learn something and give your creativity a chance to flourish.
  Don't be afraid to try new things.

  

• Try not to over-think things; just go ahead and do it!  Rather than thinking of all the reasons NOT to do something, think positively and take a risk.  If you have always wanted to try writing or painting, just get it on paper (or canvas, as the case may be) immediately.
  Allow your creative impulses run wild.

  

• Be inspired!  Pay a visit to a museum, take in a play, try going somewhere you've never been or seeing something you've never seen.
  Remind yourself of all of those things that you have told yourself you would love to do or see... someday.  Find a way to make those things happen.  This will inevitably spark your inspiration... and  Inspiration sparks creativity.


• Make time for your creative outlets.  We're all busy these days.  Be sure to schedule some time for your creative pursuits.  Put yourself in front of your instrument, your computer, or whatever your medium may be for a few hours each week and let your creativity flow forth.


• Remember to enjoy yourself.  Make your creative endeavors a joy, not a chore.  If anything you are practicing or working on ceases to be a joy, take a step back and re-assess what is occurring for you internally before carrying on.  This will ensure the continued flow of creative energies.


• Play creative games.  This is a fun way to foster creativity!  Get together with friends and play creative group games where success hinges on being expressive and coming up with creative ways to communicate.


• Try a new creative medium. If you have chosen a creative medium, try mixing it up when you get into a rut. If you write, try playing music. If you're a dancer, try painting – you get the idea.
  Shake things up to get some new ideas and perspectives.

  

• Take a break!  If you're stuck for ideas, don't sit there in your workspace staring at the walls.  Even the most creative of people need to take some time off.  This can allow a blocked well of creativity to flow again.
  Get outside for a bit to recharge your creative energies.

  

Remember to be patient when nurturing your creativity.  Make a habit of enjoying some creative techniques daily and, make the commitment to yourself that you will continue to move from your creative center, from the fire in your belly, dancing with the magic that continually moves within and around you.

Ahhh… magic. This is a word I truly love. There are many synonyms to this word, plenty of which can stir up unsettling emotions and thoughts for some people. One synonym however, is one which I have personally chosen to use in my professional business, and that word is Alchemy. Alchemy, in its very basic sense, is the art of transformation occurring at its deepest level. When I looked up the definition of magic at dictionary.com, this is what I found:

As a noun -
1. the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.; legerdemain; conjuring: to pull a rabbit out of a hat by magic.
2. the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature. Compare contagious magic, imitative magic, sympathetic magic.
3. the use of this art: Magic, it was believed, could drive illness from the body.
4. the effects produced: the magic of recovery.
5. power or influence exerted through this art: a wizard of great magic.

As an adjective -
8. employed in magic: magic spells; magic dances; magic rites.
9. mysteriously enchanting; magical: magic beauty.
10. of, pertaining to, or due to magic.
11. producing the effects of magic; magical: a magic touch.
verb (used with object), mag·icked, mag·ick·ing.
12. to create, transform, move, etc., by or as if by magic: I magicked him into a medieval knight.

If I am to be blunt, I will say that I believe that an individual holding magic is not a myth. This brings me to the essence of why I started this blog – the essence of the truth that is held within each of us to change things, from the inside out. From our deepest levels of self, in order to see outward results that are filled with beauty, with truth, and with awakening. To reawaken the memory of our innermost wild selves, to recall that we are here in order to hold divinity and right relationship with all beings – with all our relations.

To come to the understanding that we did not just chance upon being here, and simply stumble into a human body, and then flounder in confusion and distress as to why we have extrasensory experiences and deeply affective emotions that bring us continually to new understandings and seemingly obscure crossroads. To wipe the sleep from our eyes so that we may see – truly see – that there is so much more to our time on this planet than earning a living and getting the newest, the bigger and the better. We are here. We have already earned our living – our right to be here. So what will we do with our time? What will we do with the magic inside of us as humans – the magic that we truly hold to produce desired effects that are heart centered, to drive illness from the body, to recover from disastrous events, to re-enchant ourselves with our world and the beauty that surrounds us every moment of every day? What will we do… to create… to transform… and to move ourselves into a more harmonious state of living?

There is a deep process involved in recovering the understanding of our true potentials, embracing them, and then learning to work with them. Many people are presently working on this process. If, however, I had an accumulation of directly shifting powers at my fingertips, right now, and without question, here is what I would do. I would immediately remove all nuclear power plants from the face of the planet and simultaneously wipe the slate clean of how to create these structures from human memory, thereby solidifying the impossibility of ever doing it again. I would reach forward into the future and delete any future possibility of creating anything even slightly related to nuclear energy and set the precedent within the human psyche for tangible, readily working ways to utilize that which mother nature has already gifted us with. In this I mean, I would set within the collective human mind a greater understanding of how solar and wind power could be utilized immediately.

Then, I would use my magic powers to create all of the necessary means to remove radiation from our oceans, atmosphere, and all things connected to these that have been poisoned. I would remove from the collective human psyche all of those emotions and thought patterns that have caused destruction in any way, shape, or form, and on any level. This includes the removal of jealousy, belief in scarcity, and fear of the unknown. I believe that even just these three things have held the potential to bring the world into the mess that it is right now.

The reason why I did not say that I would remove fear, is because I believe that fear has its place. Despite what many like to propose, fear is natural, much like anger. It is these emotions that we have shunned which deserve much deeper understanding from us. These two emotions are major catalysts, and once moved through, we find that we have moved to new understandings and feel much more mobilized than we did previously. I would use my magic to heal the earth and all her peoples, and instill joy as the new paradigm. The natural, organic state of joy that comes from within, and has simply been forgotten. Only because, we have allowed ourselves to forget. So then, I would use my magic to help us all to remember. To remember who we were, who we truly are, and the paths of true joy and divinity that we came here to take. I would use my magic to help us remember, that at the core of our essence, we are divine. And we can all make this magic.

The Full Moon in Gemini is one that we find to be in a direct opposition to the Sagittarius Sun.  Both Gemini and Sagittarius rule the mind and mental processes, but in different ways.  The Gemini mind consists of thoughts and processes that deal mainly with the individual, personal mind.  The Sagittarius mind takes thought processes well beyond the 'normal' scope and ventures beyond the Self, beyond the here and now and stimulates the mind to encapsulate that which one may not have previously believed possible to conceive of.  It is somewhere between these two mind processes that we are now being asked to strike a balance.  Along with this, there are strong polarities being placed before us to take a look at.  This is not only due to the Lower Mind and Higher Mind functions of Gemini and Sagittarius respectively, but it is also due to the Feminine/Mother aspect of the Gemini Moon and the Masculine/Father aspect of the Sagittarius Sun.  

This would constitute a very good time frame for going inward and doing some work on any parental issues we may be holding, as well as addressing our own internal Matriarchal and Patriarchal energies.  If you have been moved lately by an intense drive into the action of getting things done, have you also been neglecting to nurture yourself in the process?  If you have been shoving projects, deadlines and aspirations aside in order to take some time for yourself, might you now have the energy to put your projects into motion and see your aspirations through to completion?  This full moon is also about communication and adventure, along with emotional expression and creative fertilization.  Take your emotional drive and express anything within you that has not yet had the chance, or the space, to fully breathe itself into recognition.  All parts of you, all thoughts, all emotions, hold relevance and power.  Therefore, they also hold sway upon the decisions you make regarding which paths and journeys your life leads you to.  From here on forward, it is all about illumination and truthfulness - including truth to ourselves.

Gemini's air needs fresh ideas in order to ignite the fire of Sagittarius.  These two, when they come together for a cosmic dance, create a sense of play and of freedom.  Allow whatever inspires you to propel you into forward movement, growth and creation.  Just as the essence of Mother energy and Father energy is all about creation - so we are.  Find new ways to embrace lightness, fun and play!  Now is a wonderful time to contact old friends, access your social circles, network, and celebrate life in all of its forms and all of its splendor.

This time of year can have many feeling creatively 'stuck', so here are some ideas to help you rekindle your creativity:

Allow yourself to experience more joy.  Creativity flourishes when you think positively.  Find your passions and cultivate them.  Embrace challenges with curiosity.  Observe the conditions that help you get "in the zone."

Do what you can to improve your physical health.  Even if you feel your physical health needs no improving.  Studies have shown that creativity exercises are an effective way to relieve stress and boost our immune system.  Do a herbal cleanse, or maybe try out a new physical activity altogether to get the brain working in new ways.  Those who think resourcefully also cope better with aging and experience fewer declines in their cognitive functions.

Work on strengthening your relationships.  A sense of imagination can help to enhance your personal relationships. Break out of the same old conflicts releasing old thought patterns and seeking common ground.  Look at challenging situations from the other person's perspective and try out a different response.

Push yourself to your creative edge.  We all have some form of creative genius.  Enjoy the pleasure of developing your own gifts. With persistence and an open mind, you'll expand your skills for responding to all kinds of challenges.

Brainstorm.  Generating ideas is usually the first step in the creative process.  Put aside any judgments and just let the options flow.  Now's your chance to get zany and experimental.

Incubate.  Before inspiration hits, there's usually a quiet time while we allow our ideas to digest.  Help your unconscious mind along by taking a quiet walk or a relaxing shower.  Routine tasks like washing dishes can also trigger insights.  Think about a dilemma right before bed, and you may dream insights to wake up with a solution.

Take action.  Make a plan for how to implement your ideas.  Regard every attempt as a learning experience even if the immediate results fail to pan out. 

Lighten up.  Free up your fertile mind.

·        Some gentle stretching, breath work, or dancing are all great ways to awaken your body.

·        Meditation or soft music can dispel anxieties or boredom.

·        Humor is a very powerful tool for lowering inhibitions and seeing things more vividly.

Change your routine.  Any adjustment to your usual way of doing things can help you take a fresh look at life.  Take an alternate route to work or visit a coffee shop on the other side of town.  Expand your horizons by looking for ways to experience novelty on a regular basis.

Ignore the clock.  Get up early so you can savor the luxury of open-ended time.  Focus on the present moment instead of thinking about the next task you have scheduled.  Feel what it's like to be free from hurrying.  Try to remember that sensation as you start your day.

Communicate with nature.  Make the most of your leisure time with creative outlets that incorporate your passions. You may delight in watercolors, or want to take time to read a book on nature spirits.

Seek inspiration.  Surround yourself with whatever you find invigorating.  Visit art museums or go camping.  Spend more time playing with your kids - or borrow your friends' children for a day - and allow yourself to get caught up in their excitement each time they see something new.

Transform your life into a work of art by tapping into your creative side.  Once you discover and develop your passions, you'll be on your way to feeling more accomplished, centered, and fulfilled.

I wanted to share this lovely article on Criticism, as I feel it strikes a deep chord with so many of us these days.  In particular, we have learned to criticize ourselves and compare our 'failures' and 'successes'.  We would be much better served to find ways to celebrate all of our experiences, and to hold compassion for those things we have judged against ourselves or others.  This is not always easy and it certainly takes work for most of us to get there - to rewire those old programs and heal old wounds.  Simply in making the choice to do so however, will have taken us leaps and bounds forward on the journey.

Criticism - by Nissim Amon

A coral reef is a place full of life and vibrant colour, where hundreds of different species of fish and plants live free of the need to criticize each other. Although an immense variety of life exists there, every plant knows its place and each and every fish knows exactly where it belongs. Once in a while a human diver appears with a mask and air-tanks, and like everybody else down there, he is not critical either. The diver enjoys being a visitor to the underwater world, observing the richness and beauty of Nature without judgment.

Things change the moment the diver steps out of the water and back onto dry land. Dry land accommodates an infinite variety of humans, humans however seem to have innumerable opinions about each other, so the game of criticizing one another, is one of their most favourite pastimes.

On the human reef, we sit on small balconies, observe our neighbours and complain: the octopus is a mess, the crab is an idiot, the jellyfish is spineless, the silver fish is obsessed with glamour, the eel is too slippery, and all the shallow water fish are limited and without depth. This takes place, in every house, in every city, all over the world.

Criticism is so widely spread that some consider it the ultimate social skill and are constantly polishing their expertise. They are unaware that the stronger the stream of criticism flows, the further happiness drifts away....

Two thousand five hundred years ago, the Buddha gave a small discourse on criticism. He said that while it is easy to observe and point out other people's faults, it is extremely difficult to see one's own. He also said that most people hide their faults, like a dishonest gambler hides unlucky cards. The Bedouins of the desert have a similar saying – A camel cannot see his own hump!

So how can we see our own humps? To solve this riddle we must realize that we are not able to criticize our own humps, because the hump is the very place where criticism comes from.

When we discover "what is wrong" with other people, we criticize them, but this criticism is entirely of our own fabrication, and it has nothing much to do with the people themselves. Our shortcomings, flaws and negativity are a reflection or projection of ourselves on others. Our hump is what criticizes other people for having a bigger hump.
This inner voice, residing in our transparent hump, guarantees its survival thanks to the satisfying feeling we get from patronizing others. It specializes in finding their faults and feeds off the elation the feeling of superiority gives us.
If we lack a sense of self-worth, criticism becomes our way of avoiding self-examination. Becoming aware of this is an important step in the right direction.

The next step is to have the courage and fortitude to remove the hump and consciously rid our lives of obsessive criticism. Not only must one decide to do this, which is a huge step in itself, it is imperative to constantly remind ourselves not to falter on this decision. Try writing yourself little notes and stick them on all the mirrors in your house, make it a conscious effort - because it is so very easy to go back to criticizing everything again.

Your hump has a knack of playing tricks on you by telling you that you have a good sense of self-criticism, don’t be deceived by this. It is a very common deception. All forms of criticism come from the same hump....
When the positive spotlight is turned within it has nothing whatsoever to do with condemnation, disapproval or judgement. When YOU look inside of yourself, it is called wakefulness, mindfulness and awareness, not criticism.
The realization that you are neither superior nor inferior to anyone is a very high spiritual achievement. When this understanding is no longer purely intellectual but goes to the deepest level of your heart, it will give you the freedom that you seek, and also allow you the freedom of letting everyone else, be exactly who they are and whatever they choose to be.

The person who doesn't feel he is superior behaves without pretension and one who knows that he is not inferior feels no fear.

"One hundred percent ordinary,
Is extra-ordinary.
From moment to moment,
Without judgement,
The truth we seek is reality itself."

-Nissim Amon

Lughnasadh is the first harvest point on the wheel of the year.  Most people who are familiar with the sacred timing of Lughnasadh are aware of it occurring on the first day of August each year.  More traditionally however, Lughnasadh occurs at the exact opposite point on the wheel of the year from Imbolc.  This year, that precise opposition occurs on the 7th of August.  This is the time of year that Leo holds sway, and this year in particular will be very exciting since Leo will be in the New Moon coming up on August 5th.  This is a very firey time of year, the hottest time of year for many places in our world, and therefore it is a fantastic time for your personal creation mechanics.  In fact, the very root of the word, "Lugh", means "Light".  This is a wonderful time for you to infuse your ideas and creations with Light and focus on the growth that you have been intending upon in your life, whether it be personal, family oriented, professional, global, or all of these areas.  Tune into your inner fire in order to enhance your creativity and ignite the spark within the seeds of any projects that you have been meaning to tackle. 

This is a most beneficial time to allow yourself to receive guidance in whatever forms feel comfortable to you.  Meditation, divination, and journey work are all excellent examples of tools that you can engage in order to receive guidance.  Connect to the Leo energy, your inner wildcat, your lion or lioness self.  Leo is also significant in accessing your inner courage, and at a time of year where there is so much Light pouring forth, and especially if you are working with this Light intently, please remember that stronger burning Light will burn deeper into  that which remains hidden... the shadow aspects.  This pertains to those things that you may have placed upon the back burner or swept under the rug, or have simply been unaware of until now.  Along with that which is buried deep, once it reaches the level of conscious awareness, emotion may be brought to the surface along with it.  Allow this emotion to come.  Beauty lies within its release. Allow this to assist you in connecting with the Earth Mother, and the waters with which she supports all of life.

One of the after effects of emotional release, should it occur for you, is a feeling of emptiness, or a void of some sort.  This is entirely natural.  Now would be the time to plant your new seeds of intention.  What do you wish to plant and energize?  What do you want to see grow within your own life, and blossom from this point forward?  Between now and August 7th, you may wish to intuit these seeds, plant them, water them and observe their growth.  Harvest and transformation help to remind us of the wonders of our planet earth.  They keep the magic within our hearts alive, seeing how something new and nourishing happens from something so small.  But this only happens once that one small thing is planted by us, watered by us, and nurtured by us.  Attention needs to be given to these small things, and it is then that we can anticipate growth and change ... transformation and alchemy.  Here are some questions to assist in this process:

• What do I need to release right now?
• What am I looking most forward to for the rest of the year?
• What can I anticipate coming to fruition for my highest good?
• In what ways can I give gratitude for the gifts of growth and change I have received this year?
• How can I give thanks, in advance, for those things yet to come?

Giving thanks for, and truly acknowledging, that which you have already received will assist in the process of honoring the Earth Mother.  So you can see how it only makes sense that giving thanks before your needs are met will only help to enhance that which you hope to receive.  Think of Gratitude as your fertilizer, the feed for your seeds.  Once you truly feel this Gratitude take hold within you, move with it.  Stretch it, dance it, reach with it, breathe it, sing it.  Move it from within, to throughout and around you.  This vibration of Gratitude will be that much stronger then.  It will anchor much more clearly into your energetic field, and then simply by nature of the business, it will assist you in bringing forth more of that which resides in your heart. 

How wonderful is that?

Tonight’s full moon is in the wonderfully watery sign of Aquarius.  Within the circles and worlds of the mystics, astrology passionatas, and cosmic surfers this particular full moon is very auspicious.  There are three windows of energy driving each full moon, and these are:

1)      The exact point of day PRIOR to the full moon;

2)      The Full Moon day itself;

3)      The day directly following the Full Moon.

It is a full 180 degree stretch between the sign occupied by the Full Moon and the sign occupied by the Sun.  The day prior to July 22 sees the moon in earthy Capricorn and the Sun sitting in the emotional and watery Cancer.   The very next day, the chart shifts, and this Full Moon of July 22, 2013 lies within Aquarius, placing the sign directly opposite the Aquarius house as Leo.   Therefore, the Sun resides at this point in time within the house of Leo.   The sign of Leo is ruled, rather potently, by the element of Fire itself.  If the Sun depicts the energy, vibration and oscillation of Male energy, then the Moon depicts the energy, vibration and oscillation of Female energy.  With the potency of Aquarius and Leo backing the two of these, it creates a very strong window of opportunity for Manifestation, driven particularly by the marriage and balancing of the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine within each of us.

Here are some simple, yet very effective ways to work with the intensity of this particular Full Moon energy:

·         Set a clear, emotion-filled, heart-driven intention for yourself.  If you are able to work with a stone or crystal at this time, I would highly recommend it.  A few stones I would suggest are:

a) Citrine, for its manifestation and Fire balancing qualities

b) Amethyst, for working with the energy of Aquarius and clearing the higher chakras for highest intent of manifestation

c)  Garnet and Jasper, for a lovely ‘massage’ of the Heart Center and clarity of heart driven prayer

First, clear the stones with running water or sage smoke (preferably followed by the smoke of sweetgrass).   Secondly, ask the stone if it is willing to work with you for your highest good.  There are a few different methods of establishing a ‘yes/no’ response, ie: a pendulum or muscle testing.  Upon receiving a ‘yes’ response, you may gently place your intention to the stone, and mentally or vocally repeat your intention until you feel it ‘take hold’ within and around you.  

·         Upon going to bed for the night, intend to work with the dreamtime.  Ask for guidance within your dreams, and for clarity and understanding upon awakening.

a) Place the ‘Intention Stone’ you have just worked with beneath your pillow.  You may be surprised at the vividness and knowledge that come up within your dreams by performing this simple task.

b) Keep a dream journal next to your bed, in the event that you wake during the night in the midst of a dream and have the feeling to remember it.  More often than not, if you think to yourself that there is absolutely NO way you will forget this dream and choose to go back to sleep, the chances are good that you will forget in upon waking again in the morning.  Frustrating, I know, but ‘tis the mysterious way of the psyche!

c) First thing the following morning, be sure to record any insights, sensations, or emotions that you experience.  Greet the day with gratitude.  Remember, this process can also be done the day/night after the Full Moon.

·         For the days and weeks following the Full Moon, intend upon paying heed to the Divine Mother. 

a)      Shower upon yourself the true essence of Self Love, a reverence for the Great Mystery, a commitment to decisive action for following the mysterious and magical path of your own intuition. 

b)      Take note of what you have given, and give yourself permission to open to receive. 

c)       Trust your spirit and its innate wisdom of freedom within action.

We are working with the mighty dance of Aquarian Air and Leo Fire here.  Unique ways of self-expression are likely to bring themselves to the forefront.  This is a delicate dance now, and work must be undertaken to find a way to authentically ignite the flame of intent and desire, while gently and gracefully fanning these flames with the delicate breath of air.  This is truly the idea behind breathing life into ideas.  Aquarius energy is also great to work with in the realms of technology and learning techniques for navigating the new world which is being birthed at this time.

Once put into motion from within, air moves swiftly and fire responds accordingly.  Motion must be undertaken.  In this, yes, I mean physical movement.  In whatever way you sweat your prayers, be it Yoga, Dance, Walking/Running or Martial Arts, be sure to move the body in order to anchor these gifts within your energy field.   This is also to maintain a healthy ­­equilibrium between Mind, Body, and Spirit.  We do not want the mind to take over so that the potency of these elements become less so.  Of course, I am partial to the dancing path myself.  So my method is to grab some good, pounding music and drive my body into action with the beat.  Apres-danse is a perfect time to pick up your journal and a pen.

Intend now upon expanding beyond limiting beliefs, creating goals (both personal and business related), and committing yourself to the notion of trying new things while catching hold of  your thought waves in order to guide them into new territory.  You may even feel the need at this point to change some things, such as your hairstyle or your presentational wardrobe.  Listen to that.  Most importantly, allow yourself the time and space to process your experiences.  Claim your place within your own life.  Remember that you are the grand architect of your experience here … your Earth Walk.  Make yourself a promise to never forget this one simple, yet deep seeded truth.  No matter what comes up for you in this experience, above all else, remember to love this process.  However it feels, trust that it is at work for you and your highest good.  Remember to let go, and to have fun!

Please also enjoy the following article:

Decompression the Cosmic Way, by Sarah Varcas

This is the first of two Full Moons in Aquarius making the second (20th/21st August) an auspicious astrological Blue Moon. In an attempt to clear the air ready for this lunar event, the current Full Moon brings us a veritable energy blast, filled with the electrical power of its ruler Uranus who is now moving retrograde in Aries.

This is not the most comfortable of Moons. There’s some irritation here and a building inner pressure which may cause us to feel what I can only describe as compressed. Think of the pressure within an aerosol can and this’ll give you an idea of the energies around us right now. We want to break out and be free, explode into life, but instead we have to squeeze ourselves through this little nozzle to get into open air. And we all know what damage aerosols can do…

The good thing is this pressure has a powerfully creative element to it if we allow it expression rather than seek only to confine it. If we feel it building inside us this is a sure sign that something needs to be acknowledged and expressed, no matter how much we may prefer that it politely go away. This Moon helps us with this expression if we’ll let her, and if we won’t she’ll just call upon Uranus to do it for us anyway, so far better we step up to the plate and take responsibility for our own personal de-compression chamber and begin to release some of it bit by bit.

It may be anger, frustration, impatience, jealousy, despair… so many emotions we’d rather not have and yet which seem to take up so much energy when they come upon us. This Moon is triggering them now, not to torture us with our inner demons but to show us how their compressed energy inside of us is just about ready to explode. There’s nowhere left for it to go except outward. It will tolerate forced containment no more, which is why we need to stay alert to our feelings and behaviour at this Full Moon, not allowing the polarisation of blame and attack, judgement and conflict. Instead we are all united in a process of decompression during which we can breathe out fully and allow all this pressured, built up energy inside us to gradually release. We may need to do something physical to assist with it: walking, dancing, running. We may prefer to sit quietly and watch it disperse. We may need to act it out, write it out, sing it out. Whatever’s necessary to release the energy we must be prepared to do with awareness and the intention that its expression contribute to the highest good of us all.

To be honest, this is a bit of a test. Here we have an opportunity to show just how far we’ve come in managing the powerful energies that build inside. They can feel so huge, so over-powering that we may live our lives in fear of ever expressing them or even admitting they’re there. But however huge they feel, the universe is infinitely bigger and no matter how much of them we have to release there will always be space for more if necessary. What may feel all-pervading and destructive to us is a mere puff to the endless cosmos into which we gaze!

So this Full Moon is all about energy and what we do with it, how we express it. It’s about owning up to the monster we thought we had inside only to find in the eyes of the universe it’s merely a naughty puppy that needs some love and a bit of firm training. So yes, a pressurised Moon for sure, but one that’s ready to reveal just how creative we can be with the energy inside if we’ll only own up to it in the first place!

Happy Full Moon everyone!

Sarah Varcas

The Time is Nigh.  The End is Near.  The poles are reversing.  The ice caps are melting.  The globe is warming.  The Mayan Calendar is closing.  Jesus is coming.  It's the zombie apocalypse.  Shift Happens. 


By now, we've heard it all, in one form or another.  What we choose to believe is our choice.  It is hard to deny that something big is going down.  Hard to deny, I dare say, by anyone.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     It is very apparent that the world is in a time of massive shift.  No one can truly know what is coming, though many have asserted to know.  Yet with the eyes to see and the ears to hear, we feel it in our bones.  Our hearts may flutter with excitement, while our chests may clutch in fear.  This shift is collective in its nature, and much is being asked of us on a spiritual level, which breathes into all levels of the emotional, mental, and physical self.  In both my work and in my workshops, I am encountering much yearning which is offset by much uncertainty.  This may lead to seeking or to grasping, or it may lead to its opposite - which I have perceived as a sort of numbness.  This numbness allows us to believe that everything is just as it was and nothing is truly "going on".  The Earth is just as it was; sacred resources will supply our employment, plump our wallets and fill our fridges; new vehicles and forever new supersmart me-myself-and-i-phones can continue to fly off the product lines onto shelves and into every room of our homes and they will do so comfortably with no repercussions to our health or safety any level.

But this is not Truth.  We know this.  We know this so deep in our bones, throughout the entire landscape of our hearts and our minds.  We know this, and it rages deep into our very cells to the microcosmic degree.  And we are now being asked to tell ourselves the Truth, every microcosmic moment of every macrocosmic day.  Much is going on, much is happening, and it will not stop anytime soon.  We are being asked to harness our energies, and to get to know them intimately.  What is that niggling behind my eyebrow?  Why is that old injury acting up after all these years?  Why is my menstrual cycle kicking in every two weeks?  Every two months?  Why does my knee give out every time I walk away from so-and-so?  What are these childhood memories resurfacing for?  Why does this shit keep happening to me?

It is time to ask the deeper questions.  It is time again, to believe.  To allow ourselves to remember who we are, where we came from, and where we wish to go.  We have worked long on ourselves, in order to balance ourselves within this process of Healing and Awakening.  It is inevitable, but we can of course put blinders and masks on if we so choose.  It is, after all, a free will universe.  Dates and numbers are effective with which to look to for a landmark of awareness - but nothing within manifest reality is finite.  We are the navigators of our own waters.  We do have help, we do have guidance, but we are being asked to wipe the sleep from our eyes.  We are being asked to stand our ground and not allow the shades to be drawn any longer.  Be the eye of the hurricane, but don't deny the hurricane its existence.  This is an option that we do have.  Pretending no longer serves anyone, anything, anywhere - and things are moving much too swiftly now for us to look away from ourselves in the mirror.

It is not easy to watch this go down, to see the game unfold, to feel the wounds and the pains as they wash to the surface.  But please, let's not allow ourselves to get disheartened.  We are doing the work, we must simply remain diligent.  Let us also not allow the rockiness of this massive shift to give way to a fearful need to control.  This can lead to an insatiable desire for power.  And we are being asked to re-define, re-form, and re-claim this very word.  The power-hunger-program is one born of a very old paradigm which is now causing large ripples and waves as it moves to the surface in order to be cleared.  Let us choose to clear it.  True power comes from within our own selves, our own bodies, our soul vibes and essences.  Let us be clear.  This is not power over - it is power within.  Let us be conscientious that we do not grasp outwards for "pieces of power".    The stars are within us.  

To quote Don Mariano Quispe, of the Q'ero Lineage, "Our inner stars are linked to our souls and with the Kawsay Pacha (living energy world) and with the cosmos, in all of its manifestations.  Each of our inner stars holds information about where we came from and where we are going. It carries information about our biological lineages and about our spiritual lineages. It is like a guiding star - or a guiding light: illuminating the pathways of our souls from the past through the present and into the future ... our inner stars can illuminate areas from our past (including past generations) that are infused with hucha (heavy energy), like emotional hurts from our childhood or physical trauma.  Our inner stars reveal these areas of hucha to us and support us with cleansing and illuminating our past so that our present and future can be clean and clear and radiant."

This is the time to begin to work with our individual abilities, gifts, passions, and "keys".  It is not necessary that we 'go' anywhere.  Let us thrive well in our places, and the temples of our bodies.  Our information and tools are right here inside of us.  We brought them with us when we came into this world.  Let us restore them to their original intended divinity.  As the old adage goes, the only constant we can count on, is that there will be change.

Let us also not give way to the heavy arms of hopelessness.  We are revisiting that which we have allowed, over time, to seep in.  Some old programs and thought patterns have been triggered into release on their own terms and we have had to sit tight for the ride.  Some of the old has taken a lot of work, on an individual basis, in such a way that we have been able to manage the releases and their effects on our personal timing and in some cases, on our own terms.  Now we are being asked to truly feel the beauty and magic of working as a cohesive and interwoven collective.  It would serve us well to keep driving the points of our deepest desires home.  That which we wish to see happen for our families, our communities, our homelands.  Do not give up hope.  Let us place our signatures on those pieces of paper.  And let us sign them, over and over again, until we feel that our voices are heard and that we, ourselves, believe us.

Today, for the first time in many months, I was child-free in dance class.  This was thanks to my very gracious and intuitive babysitter, whom I believe could feel how run off my feet I was becoming with one babe in arms and two at my side all summer long.  There is a very fine line between being run off of one's feet, and dancing into one's feet.  There it is.  The key.  When things seem to get crazy, chaotic or out of control, my medicine is to dance my energy.  Dance it back inside.

Once I got into the dance studio, I didn't quite know what to do with my free hands.  They felt almost 'too' free after having them continually filled.  (To be true, I am typing this one-handed as we 'speak' ;)  Deciding to explore this new space, after the first wave of movement I decided to really take my time getting into the second wave of movement.  I wanted to ooze lusciously into the floor, to feel cradled by the earth and fully use the gift of gravity to give my body a complete stretch over and a deep release. This also happened to be one of those fine days where the music I had  chosen for class fit the freedom bill perfectly, it was a groovy and relaxing sound massage. 

When I finally came out of my deep breathing and stillness, everyone else was already standing and moving, deeply entranced in their own journeys and flowing with their dance.  It was so beautiful to see.  Despite the fact that the studio is surrounded by wall to wall mirrors, everyone had eyes closed.  Though mirrors can also at times serve a good purpose in observing, accepting and loving the natural movements we are each gifted with, I do enjoy it immensely when the existence of the mirrors is dropped from mind and all we are left with is free movement.  Free movement, directed only by our joy and gratitude for the gifts of our body vehicles.  I am filled once again with awe at the power and beauty of this medicine.  The entire room was electric and pulsed by that which holds all things as One.  Cohesive. 

At the completion of this one particular dance journey, the sense of community and bonding was both blissful and grounding.

And I was able to go home, arms free and expanded, scoop up my babes and feel them close while I showered them with butterfly kisses.  Still.  Free.