Meditation – Connecting To The Divine

4 Easy Steps to Creating Protective Energy Bubbles

It’s easy to protect yourself from other people’s energy. Read on!

Recently I have been working hard on creating a protective energy bubble around myself every morning. I feel like it has been getting easier and easier to do, and yesterday I had proof that it is quite effective.

I had arrived at a meeting early and was chatting with some of the other attendees. A woman next to me was talking to someone else on the other side of me. At one point, she gestured with her hand, coming very close to my head. “I’m so sorry!”, she said. “I didn’t mean to hit you!”

Here’s the thing. She had not touched me. But she felt as if she had come into contact with something solid. This was pretty exciting to me! Not only is my energetic bubble protecting me from the energy of other people, but it is physically protecting me as well.

Do you create a protective bubble around yourself every day? It’s easy to do -just follow these quick steps:

Ground and center. Visualize and feel the energy of the earth flowing up through your root. Then visualize and feel divine energy coming down through your crown. Feel those energies connect in your body like an electric jolt.
Visualize a bubble forming outside of your energetic field. (If you don’t know where your energetic field is, just go with two to three feet out from your physical body.)
Infuse that bubble with the kind of energy you’ll need that day. Many times I’ll fill it up with love and make the boundary of the bubble porous to allow only love in or out. I especially will do that on a day when I’m feeling grumpy – it doesn’t do anyone any good to allow that negativity out!
Finally, if I feel I need extra protection, I’ll add a more solid layer on the outside of the bubble. If I want to be invisible, I’ll cover the bubble with mirrors.

It’s that easy. Let me know your experiences in the comments below!

New Moon blessings!

Oracle Reading for Today

Today I’m doing an Oracle reading using one of my newest decks, the Crystal Reading Cards. Every time I’ve done a reading using this deck, it has been powerful and insightful. I’m doing a three card reading. My question today is:

What can we collectively do for the people of Puerto Rico?

Reading for Puerto Rico

The first card, explaining the situation is Orpiment, which indicates success. My first reaction was “Success?! How can anything about the devastation on Puerto Rico, and the other Caribbean Islands indicate success?” As I read through the description and meaning of the card and the crystal, I realized that it is talking about what the end result will be. Sometimes we do need to go through devastation to get to the other side. Although, even as I type this I’m thinking that this sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo nonsense for this particular situation. I’m moving on to the next card which talks about what we can do moving forward, before I get too angry with the Oracle.

The second card, with the recommended action, is Chrysotile, which deals with animals in general, and our spirit animal tokens as well. I have been thinking about all of the animals on these Caribbean Islands. From household pets, to farm animals, to the wild creatures that inhabit the area – they have all been impacted by Hurricane Maria and Irma. This card wants us to think about how can we help them. Today is a good day to look for organizations which work to reunite pets with their guardians. Other organizations might work to restore natural habitats so that the wild creatures can help restore the natural balance between the sand and the sea. We can also help humanitarian and sanitation organizations as they search for and remove animals which have perished. Properly disposing of these creatures is so important for the people of Puerto Rico and other Islands to get back their safe drinking water and to walk from one place to another without worrying about unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Another thing we can all do is to light a candle to remember each of those creatures that perished. The disposal of their remains will not be pretty, but we can remember their magnificence as they lived.

The last card, with the Potential Result, is Malachite, which indicates healing. The verbiage for all of these cards are for the individual reading them, not for groups of people. But this card in particular has a message for all of us:

“They have heard your prayers for help and are shining their love and healing medicine upon you. They urge you to be patient and gentle with yourself and accept you are deserving of this love. You may have been feeling unwell, had an injury, or a more serious sickness. This card indicates relief is coming and healing is a hand.”

My interpretation of this is that there is so much to be done to bring Puerto Rico back to a habitable place. Just too much for one person to do alone. These cards are telling me to concentrate on the animals there. If any of us can help financially, look for organizations which help family pets, which help refurbish the natural environment, or which help restore sanitary conditions on the Island. If you can’t help financially, think about the animals there and send your healing thoughts. In the end, things will be better than before for the creatures of Puerto Rico!

Labyrinth

Thoughts on how a labyrinth relates to everyday life

This past weekend I had the chance to walk a real labyrinth for the very first time. I’ve seen them before, of course, but they have always been way too small to walk on anything but your tiptoes, let alone to get a true experience. I attended the Festival of the Muses: A Goddess Gathering this weekend. It was held at Joyful Journey in Moffat, Colorado. In addition to the spa experience (hot springs, sauna, massage, etc.), they also had a very large, and well thought out labyrinth.

I walked it twice, both times in the morning. Because there were plenty of other women/goddesses at the Festival, I never had the chance to walk it alone. But even walking it in quiet meditation with other people was a magical experience.

When I returned home, I wondered about labyrinths in general. How did they come to be? Were they used by pagans thousands of years ago? Every one that I’ve seen recently, with the exception of the Joyful Journey labyrinth, was built into a church floor, generally no bigger than 6′ in diameter. Were they used by the ancient Christians? What was the history?!

History:

Turns out the first known use of a labyrinth was a story from Greek mythology. It was built for King Minos of Crete to hold a Minotaur. In reading the story, it sounded to me as though it was more of a maze to keep the Minotaur in, than a labyrinth with an easy exit. (A Minotaur is a mythological monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. Here’s the story in Wikipedia.)

As I’ve read more, I’ve learned that there is a distinct difference between a labyrinth and a maze. A maze has multiple paths with choices to make when a path splits. To make it more confusing, there are many dead ends. A labyrinth has a single path in, and the same path is taken to get out.

Labyrinths were incorporated in Christian churches as early as 1000 AD, but I haven’t been able to find out what purpose they served.

More recently, labyrinths are built in public spaces and on church grounds as a way for individuals to walk a path of mindfulness and contemplation. That was certainly what I experienced.

My Labyrinth Experience:

So many thoughts bubbled up as I walked. My intention was to walk the entire thing thinking of what I was grateful for. But so many other revelations were made for me that I started thinking of those things as well. And, of course, each revelation was just another thing I was grateful for!

I realized that walking the labyrinth was a lot like a big project. You start working towards the project and you get turned around. You continue working towards it and you can see the end; you can see what the end result will be. So many twists and turns and you feel like you’re going backwards, but all the while you are still working towards your goal; in this case, the center of the labyrinth.

Once you reach the center, you feel so grateful. You realize all you have to be grateful for. And, when you finish a major project, you also feel so grateful! Regardless of the project, you know how much you have accomplished and how much you have given to the world by completing it. In the same way, you recognize that by walking to the center of the labyrinth, you have given so much to the world. You have spent undivided time in gratitude, and in connecting to the Divine, or just walking silently and meditatively. Just by doing THAT, you are giving back to the Universe, giving back to the Divine, giving back to Mother Earth.

This labyrinth had a beautiful marble angel at the center. She has received many gifts – crystals, flowers, and other precious objects – from previous visitors. What a beautiful sight to stand there and take in all the positive energy from others who have walked that path. As I stood in the center, I turned to each of the Directions and thanked each of those spirits as well.

As I made my way out of the labyrinth, I noticed things I hadn’t noticed on the way in. It’s all about the ebb and flow of life; the ebb and flow of your breath. It seems as though my heart had opened just a little more, so that I could be that much more observant of my surroundings.

A rock that looked like a rock walking towards the center, looked like a heart on the way out.