Sunday, December 20, 2009

Color Your Love Mandala

A group of us gathered to color this Love Mandala from Arielle Ford's Soulmate Kit and within a year all of us had received the love we were calling in. Here is how you work with it...

"Treat it as a sacred ceremony. Do it at a time when you have an open heart and a clear mind. Color each small area with crayons or colored pencils, use different colors for different qualities, while vocalizing and meditating on the qualities you want in a soul mate."

You can create your own ceremony around it, here is what we did...

To clear our minds, we gathered around a nice meal and took time to catch up, laugh, and chat. To clear our hearts we did a simple clearing meditation. Then we set our intentions and began coloring. We talked as we colored; some of it was light conversation and some of it was clear intention.

When we were finished, we admired the mandalas and took turns speaking the qualities we had colored in. At home, we each hung our Love Mandala in a special place.

Within months, love began manifesting for each of us. We laughed as we remembered the Love Mandalas.

Download the Love Mandala.
Read more about manifesting your soul mate, from Arielle Ford.

(Source: The Soulmate Kit: How To Prepare To Manifest and Meet Your Soulmate, By Arielle Ford)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Law of Abundance Checks

This is a fun practice that will help you shift your focus and energy toward abundance.

Every new moon, write a check to yourself from your checking account for the amount of "paid in full" and sign it "Law of Abundance." There is no need to date the check.

We like to put the check in the Feng Shui wealth (abundance, fortunate blessings, ability to receive) area of the room or house. According to the Intuitive Feng Shui Ba Gua, this is the far left corner when you are standing in the main entry and facing into the room or home. You can also place the check on an altar or other meaningful place.

New moon dates can be found online through any popular search engine.

Enjoy the results.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Prayer for Peace -- St. Francis of Assisi

We've heard it a million times before, that working with prayer can be powerful, so many times that perhaps we forget just how the energy evoked by a prayer said from the heart can move in our lives. Prayer can bring healing, clear blocks within us, help us let go, and transform us. Prayers are essentially our calling out, our opening up, to simultaneously receive and offer assistance.

Try working with prayer, speaking it from your heart twice a day.... starting your day with the prayer and ending your day with the prayer. Give it time and see what happens.

Here is a lovely prayer for peace, the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. There are other prayers on this blog or you may have a favorite prayer of your own.

Prayer for Peace, Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Listen to this prayer sung as a duet with James Twyman and Tina Malia.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Lord's Prayer - Aramaic Translation

Lords Prayer, from the original Aramaic

Translation by Neil Douglas-Klotz in Prayers of the Cosmos

O Birther! Father - Mother of the Cosmos

Focus your light within us - make it useful.

Create your reign of unity now -

through our fiery hearts and willing hands.

Help us love beyond our ideals

and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.

Animate the earth within us: we then

feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all.

Untangle the knots within

so that we can mend our hearts' simple ties to each other.

Don't let surface things delude us,

But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.

Out of you, the astonishing fire,

Returning light and sound to the cosmos.

Amen.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Flow with the Stream

Water overcomes obstacles by yielding, by letting go of how it gets past the obstacle -- whether it flows over, under, or around the obstacle. Here are a couple meditations that will help you be more like water when you need it most.

1-Minute Letting Go Meditation
Imagine yourself standing by a stream.
Step into the cool water.
Feel the cool water on your feet.
Sit in the cool water.
Feel the cool water on your skin.
Feel your skin become the water.
Melt into the water.
Become the water.
Open your eyes and breathe.

(Source: Sunemaura O'Brien, www.sacredearthcenter.org)

Stream Story Meditation
This is a Sufi teaching story by Awad Afifi.

Awad Afifi the Tunisian was a nineteenth-century dervish teacher who drew his wisdom from the wide expanse of desert North Africa. He once shared with his pupils a story that began with a gentle rain falling on a high mountain in a distant land. The rain was at first hushed and quiet, trickling down granite slopes. Gradually it increased in strength, as rivulets of water rolled over the rocks and down the gnarled, twisted trees that grew there. The rain fell, as water must, without calculation. The Sufi master understood that water never has time to practice falling.

Soon it was pouring, as swift currents of dark water flowed together into the beginnings of a stream. The brook made its way down the mountainside, through small stands of cypress trees and fields of lavender-tipped purslane, down cascading falls. It moved without effort, splashing over stones-learning that the stream interrupted by rocks is the one that sings most nobly. Finally, having left its heights in the distant mountain, the stream made its way to the edge of a great desert. Sand and rock stretched beyond seeing.

Having crossed every other barrier in its way, the stream fully expected to cross this as well. But as fast as its waves splashed into the desert, that fast did they disappear into the sand. Before long, the stream heard a voice whispering, as if coming from the desert itself, saying, "The wind crosses the desert, so can the stream." "Yes, but the wind can fly!" cried out the stream, still dashing itself into the desert sand.

"You'll never get across that way," the desert whispered. "You have to let the wind carry you." "But how?" shouted the stream. "You have to let the wind absorb you." The stream could not accept this, however, not wanting to lose its identity or abandon its own individuality. After all, if it gave itself to the winds, could it ever be sure of becoming a stream again?

The desert replied that the stream could continue its flowing, perhaps one day even producing a swamp there at the desert's edge. But it would never cross the desert so long as it remained a stream. "Why can't I remain the same stream that I am?" the water cried. And the desert answered, ever so wisely, "You never remain what you are. Either you become a swamp or you give yourself to the winds."

The stream was silent for a long time, listening to distant echoes of memory, knowing parts of itself having been held before in the arms of the wind. From that long-forgotten place, it gradually recalled how water conquers only by yielding, by flowing around obstacles, by turning to steam when threatened by fire. From the depths of that silence, slowly the stream raised its vapors to the welcoming arms of the wind and was borne upward, carried easily on great white clouds over the wide desert waste.

Approaching distant mountains on the desert's far side, the stream then began once again to fall as a light rain. At first it was hushed and quiet, trickling down granite slopes. Gradually it increased in strength, as rivulets rolled over the rocks and down the gnarled, twisted trees that grew there. The rain fell, as water must, without calculation. And soon it was pouring, as swift currents of water flowed together - yet again - into the headwaters of a new stream.

Aswad Afifi refused to say what the story "meant," how it should be interpreted. He simply pointed his students to the desert nearby and urged them to find out for themselves.

(Source: unknown)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Energy Building

These energy building practices help you call in love and light, from the sky or earth, to fill yourself up and extend that love and light to other beings.

Energy Building
There are three basic steps to this practice: bringing in the light, arm and body patting, and clapping and chanting. Do each part for a few minutes. (Source: James Twyman)
  1. Step 1: Imagine light coming in through your crown and in to your heart. Breathe in and say to yourself "light be in me." Visualize your heart on fire (full of light) while holding your breath for 3 seconds. While exhaling, say out loud "light be as me" and visualize the light going in all directions and blessing everything in its path.
  2. Step 2: Hold your arms out, palms down. Start patting from your shoulder down to the hand, then flip your hand over and pat the other side of your arm. Then pat the other arm. You may also pat your body, dance, jump, etc. Be creative.
  3. Step 3: Chant "Hi" enthusiastically while clapping. This means "yes" in Japanese. Feel the energy of Yes.
  4. Step 4: Repeat steps 1 and 2.
  5. Step 5: Chant "Hu". This means the power of God. Feel the power of God within.
  6. Step 6: Repeat steps 1 and 2.
  7. Step 7: Chant "open", while visualizing three great streams of light coming down into your body.
Ground and Let the Energy of Mother Earth Fill You
When you are full of love and light, it seals and protects your aura and there is no room for negative energies to enter. You are also in a better place to extend this love and light to others.
  1. Stand or sit comfortably with your feet flat on the floor.
  2. Holding your hands at waist level in front of you, touch your fingertips together with your fingers pointing away from you. This acts as the "third leg of the stool" and helps to ground you.
  3. From the bottom of your feet, send your roots down deep into the earth. You may visualize your roots like the roots of a tree.
  4. Consciously set your intention on grounding.
  5. When you feel grounded, let go and let the energy of Mother Earth rise up through your roots and into your body, filling you up.
Call in Your Energies
When we do spiritual practices, especially healing, we are "putting ourselves out there," extending ourselves (including our energetic selves) out into the world. This can sometimes leave us vulnerable and over-extend our energies.

To rebuild your energy core, call in your energies.
  1. Visualize (or feel) the extension of your aura, way out there.
  2. Quietly to yourself, call in your energies with your intention.
  3. Visualize (or feel) your aura coming back in toward you until it is only a foot or so around you.
  4. Hold that feeling and hold the energies in around you consciously for a few minutes or as long as you feel comfortable.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bring Yourself into the Present Time Mantra

If you ever find yourself "lost" in the past, try this mantra to bring yourself into the present time. While it is useful to know about past lives and learn from past events, it is not helpful to dwell in them for long periods of time.

A useful visualization for this is to think of your life (or lifetimes) as a gauge where the pointer can move through different times, years, or ages. This mantra will help you keep your pointer in the present time by bringing you back from where ever you are to the present time.

First, speak this prayer aloud:
  • Help keep my pointer in the present time.
Next, speak this mantra aloud while visualizing the statements. Fill in the brackets with the current year and date and information about your location.
  • It is [year]. It is [month and day]. It is [season]. I am in [continent]. I am in [country]. I am in [state]. I am in [city]. I am at [street address]. I am sitting in [location] on [piece of furniture], which is on the floor, which is on the Earth.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Body-Mind Awareness

Yoga is excellent for establishing or re-tuning into the body-mind connection -- that balance between listening to your head and listening to your body. If you find yourself getting caught in the loop of reaction (whether it is an emotional reaction to a thought or a series of negative thoughts triggered by an emotion) these practices will help you break the cycle and prepare you to do other practices that will restore your balance.

Body-mind awareness helps to anchor you in the present moment and strengthens the immune system.

Feeling the Inner Body
Eckhart Tolle explains this practice on pages 52-53 of his book, A New Earth. We will paraphrase the practice here.
  • Focus your awareness on your hands (your eyes may be open or closed).
  • Feel the inner aliveness inside them. The energy may feel like a slight tingling at first.
  • Hold your attention there for awhile. The feeling may strengthen.
  • Now focus your awareness on your feet and feel the inner aliveness there.
  • When you feel ready, feel the aliveness in your hands and feet at the same time.
  • Then move your awareness to other parts or your body until you feel the aliveness in your whole body.
Eckhart Tolle calls this the "inner body" -- "life energy, the bridge between form and formlessness."

Thank Your Body
Another way to tune into and listen to your body is to say thank you to each part of your body. This is particularly helpful if you find yourself caught up in your thoughts or have been experiencing chronic illness or pain for so long that you have become somewhat numb to how your body is really feeling.
  • For this practice, first relax and tune into your body. Then focus on each part of your body (including your organs) one at a time. Thank each part for its service to you, naming specific things that you are grateful for.
You can also use this practice to reconnect to your body wisdom. If you listen, the body will give you clues that tell you what is going on. For example, your right shoulder hurts every time you think about a specific person or situation, or your tooth hurts every time you eat brownies. Your body is trying to tell you how to take care of yourself.
  • To reconnect to your body wisdom, after thanking each part of your body, tell your body that you will listen to its clues and that you will respond by taking better care of yourself. Finally, thank your body for talking to you.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Walking With Peace, A Peace Mantra

This is another lovely Vessels of Peace practice. The Peace Mantra can be used in many situations or as a walking meditation.

Working with the Vessels of Peace practices will strengthen your ability to choose peace in all your thoughts, words, and actions and will act as a catalyst for the process of partnering with the Divine Feminine.

Peace Mantra
Peace, Om Shanti, Salaam, Shalom

The mantra comes from four languages - English, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Hebrew – and offer a multi-faith way of invoking peace, since they are commonly used by the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

Repeat the peace mantras, aloud or silently, as the focus of a sitting meditation or as a contemplative practice while walking (see below) or when in stressful situations.

Pronunciation:

Peace (pea-sss)
Om Shanti (oh-mmm shawn-tee)
Salaam (saw-lah-mmm)
Shalom (shaw-low-mmm)

Cadence:
There is a particular cadence or pace at which the mantras are repeated, and it's important to try to stay with that rhythm, for it creates a vibrational effect in your being and in the atmosphere around you. You are literally aligning with a peace frequency and building the strength of that frequency in yourself and on the planet.

To create the cadence, pause for about two seconds after the repetition of each mantra and before beginning the next round of repeating them: Peace (pause) Om Shanti (pause) Salaam (pause) Shalom (pause).

Walking With Peace Meditation
Walk at a pace that is comfortable for you, then begin repeating the peace mantras.  You will find the mantra cadence fitting with your walking pace in some way -- every other step, every third step, etc. Just let it evolve over the course of your walking. The main thing is to keep the mantra repetition slow no matter how fast or slow you are walking.

You can repeat the mantras silently or out loud. If walking with others, repeating them softly out loud together, and walking at the same pace, is one option, or letting each one walk and repeat silently as guided is fine too. Try to refrain from interrupting the meditation with other conversation -- the power of the meditation is in the continuous focus on the mantras, the rhythmic movement of your body and the intention you hold to presence peace within yourself and in the world.


(Source: Vessels of Peace and Lynda Terry, author of The 11 Intentions: Invoking the Sacred Feminine as a Pathway to Peace)

Walking in Beauty, A Navajo Prayer

How often do you pause to experience something beautiful? When you are focused on something beautiful, you are in appreciation, which creates a connection to your higher self, your intuition, inner peace, God, Goddess, and so on.

This Navajo Prayer reminds us that beauty (connection to divine) is all around us, even as we walk through our everyday lives. Here are a couple of the many versions of this prayer.

Closing Prayer from the Navajo Way Blessing Ceremony
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again

Hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shitsijí' hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shikéédéé hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shideigi hózhóogo naasháa doo
T'áá altso shinaagóó hózhóogo naasháa doo
Hózhó náhásdlíí'
Hózhó náhásdlíí'
Hózhó náhásdlíí'
Hózhó náhásdlíí'

Walking In Beauty (Blessing)
Today I will walk out, today everything unnecessary will leave me,
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever,
nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.

In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.

With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Affirmation of Peace

As an informal Vessels of Peace circle, we want to share this affirmation with you.

The Affirmation of Peace is meant to anchor your embodiment of peace as a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual reality. It beautifully reflects your commitment to embody as an inner state, the outer reality that you wish for the world. You can incorporate it into your spiritual practices or use it on its own at any time.

By the Grace of the Divine Feminine,

I am a vessel of peace

I carry the dove of peace in my heart

I breathe the mantra of peace on my breath

I hold the vision of peace in my mind

I feel the truth of peace in my soul

I shine the light of peace in the world

I am a vessel of peace

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Working with the Vessels of Peace practices will strengthen your ability to choose peace in all your thoughts, words, and actions and will act as a catalyst for the process of partnering with the Divine Feminine.

(Source: Vessels of Peace and Lynda Terry, author of The 11 Intentions: Invoking the Sacred Feminine as a Pathway to Peace)

Reiki Affirmation

Also known as the Reiki Prayer, these 5 Reiki Principles were originally guidelines for a fulfilled life as laid out by the Meiji Emperor of Japan (1868-1912). Dr. Mikao Usui adopted them to help us be a channel for the universal life energy. (Source: Reiki Fire, by Frank Arjava Petter).

Rather than interpreting them literally according to today's world, they are guidelines. For example, we can find new ways to acknowledge and release anger and worry, and working honestly refers to practicing awareness or meditation in daily activities.

Here are a few versions that we use as affirmations.

Reiki Prayer (modified 1)
Just for today, I will not worry.
Just for today, I will not anger.
Just for today, I will be thankful for my many blessings.
Just for today, I will earn my living honestly.
Just for today, I will be kind to all living beings.
Just for today, I will remember my own divinity.

Reiki Prayer (modified 2)
Just for today, I will give thanks for my many blessings.
Just for today, I will not worry.
Just for today, I will not be angry.
Just for today, I will work honestly.
Just for today, I will be kind to my neighbor and to every living thing.

Reiki Prayer (modified by EarthAngels1111)
Just for today, I will meet all situations with love and understanding.
Just for today, I will remember that the universe is wholly benevolent.
Just for today, I am grateful.
Just for today, I will open my heart, working joyfully.
Just for today, I am kind to all creatures, all beings, especially myself.

Listen to them in Japanese here.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Cleanse and Clear Your Aura

With so much talk about staying positive, more people are aware of the energy of their thoughts and feelings, especially negative ones. Signs of “energetic debris” include headaches, negative moods, fatigue, pessimism, and general malaise. These practices will help you to let go of negative energy by cleansing and clearing your aura.

Cleanse, ground, and protect yourself as part of preparation for any meditation or healing work. Cleansing is also essential after doing any kind of healing work.

After cleansing your aura, seal it by drawing an invisible shield or tent over yourself and give thanks.

Practices to help you keep yourself clear in your daily life.
  • Sweep your energy field with your hands.
  • Smudge with sage, sweetgrass, and/or cedar.
  • Rinse your hands and forearms in cool water.
  • Stand in a waterfall of white light or rainbow colors of light.
  • Step into a golden net.
  • Take a bath in sea salt and baking soda or in Epsom salt.
  • Take a cool shower.
  • Use lavender, orange, or peppermint in a body wash, salt scrub, or spray.
  • Use stones such as blue kyanite, fishtail selenite, or selenite.
  • Claim yourself as a Temple of the Holy Universal Spirit.
  • Sit in direct sunshine.
  • Drink water.
  • Breath into your chakras.
  • Keep grounding.
You can also cleanse and protect yourself daily in the shower by calling in the holy spirit to the four directions (for protection) and calling in the blue-white light of divine love (to clean yourself thoroughly). (As taught by Darlene White Morning Glory, August 2006.) More on this practice will be shared in future posts.

Sources: Compiled from our Reiki training and experience.

Prayers for Protection

Before doing any meditation or healing work, it is essential to ground, cleanse, and protect yourself. These are a few prayers for protection that we find helpful.

From Edgar Cayce
This is paraphrased from Search for God by Edgar Cayce; as taught by Darlene White Morning Glory, August 2006.

"As I open myself to the unseen forces that surround the throne of grace, beauty, and might within myself, I throw around myself that protection found in the light of Christ."

The Lord's Prayer
Say the Lords Prayer (or the prayer from your personal teaching that brings you into harmony and love) facing each of the four directions. The Lord’s Prayer or similar prayer takes you into the sacred heart, a holy chamber within your physical body, and that’s the power point.

As taught by Darlene White Morning Glory, August 2006, here is our version of the Lord's Prayer.

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread, and
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who debt against us
Guide us as we align our will with your divine will, and
Deliver us from darkness,
For thine light, oh God, is the kingdom and the power and the glory,
For ever and ever, Amen.

Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepard
Tom Kenyon has a wonderful alchemical perspective on the 23rd Psalm as a Mantra of Protection that goes beyond Christianity and speaks to the connection to your celestial soul. Listen to it on his website: http://tomkenyon.com/planetary-meditation.

Tom adds the sacred feminine aspect, she, to the prayer, to call in the Goddess figure (Sophia, Venus, Quan Yin, or Mary, etc.) that is present in all personal transformation. Here is Tom Kenyon's version of Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. She restoreth my soul.
He preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. She anointeth my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Get Grounded

To help you stay grounded, or remind you of the many ways there are to get grounded, here is a list of the methods we use and that we give to our Reiki Level 1 students.

Staying grounded helps keep your mind clear and focused throughout the day. It also helps your energies flow and creates a pathway where old “stuff” can freely flow out of you and into the soil where it can become nutrition for future growth.

Staying grounded helps you stay present and helps to keep your aura clear. The following methods will help you get grounded. As with everything, you will find the ones that work the best for you.
  • Sit and Press Your Fingertips Together – Sit up with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor. Press the fingertips of each hand together. Breath deeply, sending the breath down your legs, into the floor, and into the Earth.
  • Send Your Roots into the Earth – Standing or sitting, imagine your roots on the souls of your feet, like tree roots, and send them down deep into the earth. Send them all the way to the core of the Earth. Feel your roots merge there with all the roots of other beings. Let the energy flow into you as well, anchoring you in your own special place on Earth.
  • Send Your Grounding Rods into the Earth – Standing or sitting, imagine grounding rods on the souls of your feet and send them down 40 to 80 feet into the earth. Remember to pull your grounding rods up before you leave.
  • Breathe – Send the breath down through your body and into the earth. With each breath, let Reiki energy flow into the Earth and flow from the Earth into you.
  • Eat and Drink Plenty of Water – Eating food will help you ground. If you are having a difficult time grounding, eating some meat is especially helpful. If you are vegetarian, try root vegetables.
  • Hug a Tree – Stand with your back to the tree or hug the tree. Trees are like living Reiki examples. They send their roots into the earth and reach their limbs up toward the sky. Feel Reiki light flowing through the tree, feel it flowing through you.
  • Lay on the Ground – Feel the Earth breath beneath you. Breathe. Listen.
  • Wear Red – Deep red is the color of the Root Chakra. Keep it close to your skin.
  • Connect with Nature – Walk in the woods, spend time in your garden, listen to a stream.
  • Carry Pocket Stones or Wear Stone Jewelry– Carry or wear deep reds, browns, black – Jasper, Obsidian, Hematite or whatever stone you feel drawn too.
  • Be Kind – Do something kind for another person. Smile. Give a kind word.
  • Avoid using, and being in the presence of, drugs and alcohol – Intoxicants disconnect us from the Earth and can cause disturbances in our energy fields.
Sources: Compiled from our Reiki training and experience.