S. Kelley Harrell's Blog: Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism, page 80

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m thankful for a balanced brain.

I’m grateful new artistic inspirations.

I’m thankful for progress made on my rune manuscript and its proposal.

I’m grateful for soul merging in healthy ways.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!

This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her  co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Katie. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

// ]]>

The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

Describing Writer’s Block

I don’t get writer’s block.

No, seriously, I don’t. My life stays full of inspiration, and my head crammed with words, scenes, characters. There’s never a dull moment in my imagination. What I don’t have enough of is time (and often energy) to get it all down in a way that’s coherent and something I can expand upon later. Imagine

For years my partner, Rob, has been developing a technique to more thoroughly yet gently open dialogue with his clients. He’s a Licensed Professional Counselor, and he found that by engaging people through descriptors rather than a dry interview process, they talk more easily about themselves, others, and life dynamics. As a result he created a deck of cards called Describe – Perspective Exploration. Describe is a collection of adjectives, one per card, with three questions related to the adjective on the card. The questions are open-ended prompts stimulating exploration and discussion.

Rob created the deck with therapists and counselors, teachers, school counselors, life coaches, camp counselors, families, or any individual or group wanting to explore how they view the people and world in mind. As I sat with it, another function emerged.

You know I’m all about decks as oracles and curious forms of divination. I sometimes also cast Runes and cards of various tarot decks to flesh out plot dynamics or characters. Generally speaking, I will use anything as an oracle, and there’s a place for Describe in that realm. Practically speaking, I realized that Describe is a fabulous tool for artists or writers who need external direction for where to go on a project. I wasn’t necessarily stuck–or blocked as we tend to say–though I wanted to color in my current projects more fully.

Using them different ways stimulates different thinking, with regard to my writing. Knowing a character pretty well in broad strokes is good, though the refinement of it to feeling real and personable is what makes a character stand out to readers. Describe works well for that, as I can flip through the deck to pull adjectives that generally round out my character, though the reading of the questions for each adjective gives me further ground to demonstrate how that trait manifests in the character’s actions and behaviours. It’s the difference between saying she’s curious about the paranormal, and she’s relentlessly spent from chasing werewolves.

They’re useful even in a nonfiction dilemma. When I hit points in the project that I don’t know how to take the material deeper, I pull from Describe the adjectives that indicate how I’m feeling about writing that material. Again, emphasizing the answers to the questions on those cards, I’m able to work through my process in the writing, and refine where the project needs to go.

Not only is it a resource for moving through creative development, it’s therapy in a box, you could say.

Check it out. He’s currently Kickstarting the initial release of Describe. There are varying reward levels for support, including a reduced price for your own deck. There are also options for a deluxe deck, and handmade reproductions of the cover art.

If you’re keen on better telling the story that needs to be told in words, art or spirit, hone your perspective with Describe.

The post Describing Writer’s Block appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

The Weekly Rune – Wunjo Reversed

For the week of 3 May 2015

We’re upended lately, and Wunjo reversed sustains that up-in-the-air sense of efforts not coming to fruition.

Read right to left in the image is Laguz to the right, then Wunjo reversed to the left.

“Water at the bottom of the Ocean,” featuring Laguz

Laguz remains the half-month rune through 14 May. To learn more about the half-month rune’s influence and to pledge support for The Weekly Rune, visit Patreon. Find my runic artwork on Etsy.

Wunjo reversed brings a sense of wishes not being fulfilled at this time. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be at all, just that the current tide isn’t in favor.

Brightstave, this stave is a natural binder, of sorts. It carries the life force of hope, joy, and gratitude, all of which generates crazy desirable attraction. Some consider this the Law of Attraction rune, which may not be a stretch. The thing to remember about Wunjo, in general, is it comes at the end of busting your ass. It’s a reward, of sorts, but it’s also the fruit of truly hard work. It doesn’t just *poof* manifest out of thin air because the fates align.

Or maybe it does. Let me know.

With the inherent steady, methodic movement that Laguz brings, Wunjo reversed trickles through what’s necessary. Yes, there is movement this week, toward really good things. Don’t rush it.

The post The Weekly Rune – Wunjo Reversed appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m thankful for a great weekend of friends and gaming =)

I’m grateful for meeting ocean spirits in a new way.

I’m thankful for safe travels.

I’m thrilled to be busy, and wondering when my clone will arrive.

 

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!

This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her  co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Katie. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

// ]]>

The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

Divination by Genes – DNA as Oracle

AKA The Post That Fits Nowhere Yet Means Everything

Over the last year there have been a lot of changes in my life. They may not be particularly obvious on the outside, yet they’ve been profound in re-shaping my self and world view. Myself and a few mystic friends set “themes” every year. Not fans of personal goals, we focus more on general life areas that need addressing, and hold open that space year-long to grow and heal whatever is found there. In 2014, my theme was grieving the life I didn’t have.

No small order.

In reality, life was going pretty well, which considering how challenging it’s been to acclimate to being a mom to twins, coping with being a cyclic person, and maintaining some semblance of self alongside that, was no small feat.  Though after facing the reality of what being a bestselling author really looks like, the size royalties really are, and how bills get paid, I realized I had some mourning to do in the arena of unfulfilled life goals, and some filling in of blanks to do on that whole ‘you create your reality’ thing.

Those truths struck deeply enough; however, the real stripping of blinders came at a more visceral level. Late summer found me plummeting into a chemical spiral, depression that manifest as extreme pain, fatigue, numbness, and radical mood shifts at ovulation, and I didn’t know why. As a survivor of childhood incest, I spent my youth triggered by mundane events, which sent me into emotional tailspins that took weeks (months? years?) to balance. As a teen and young adult, I was accustomed to PTSD waves unearthing me, even impacting my monthly cycle. Considering the stress of how much my life has changed in the last few years, I could often relate my shifts to current events. Not this time.

The thing is, neither could my doctors, allopathic or woo. I’ve had some health challenges, including minor stroke, FMS, PCOS, migraines, miscarriages, the collection of which are nothing to play around with, and I was concerned that my body could swerve so significantly out of plane without obvious cause. I lead a healthy life. I follow strict dietary recommendations for Celiac Disease. I seldom eat refined sugar. I rarely drink alcohol or caffeine and don’t smoke, and at the time I was working out regularly.

I worked my spiritual wellness routine like a champ. I did everything I’d advise clients to do. I stayed in regular rapport with my body, I talked to my food, to my cells, and engaged helping spirits to advise and support. Over and over the resounding message I got was that the soul work was done. This distress wasn’t a soul issue, and the body and mind needed support.

Two intensely long and agonizing months of testing later, I learned that despite my seeming wellness, I absorb almost nothing from food. This wasn’t a total shock given that I’d followed a gluten-free foodstyle for 14 years. I was aware of the correlation between food, digestion, and brain balance.  I also realized that despite doing all the right things, I frequently felt undernourished. Not hungry, but lacking something in my diet. These results indicated that I was lacking B12, D3, and folate–all of which I ingested regularly. The task then became teasing out whether that lack was a deficiency or a true malabsorption issue.

Considering that my diet should have been nourishing me well, the need to delineate between further digestive issue and a genetic mutation became evident. I changed to a grain-free foodstyle to appease my tummy. I started on B12 injections, and my GYN put the possibility of hysterectomy back on the table if the chemical imbalance didn’t soon resolve. Understand this cyclic spiral has been an issue from day 1 of my first period at 10 years old. Recent events were mere distillation of it. I did not argue my GYN’s suggestion.

My chiropractor was the first to hint at doing the 23andme DNA test. Within a week, both my holistic GYN and natuopath suggested it, as well. All were at the end of their wisdom. This test would indicate ancestry of my mother’s line, of course, also genetic mutations that can flag serious health conditions, and based on these mutations, what drugs and supplements I should take, and what ones I should avoid. On the voice of the Multiverse, I submitted the test on 19 February, and waited.

I thought I would murder somebody the first two weeks. I was so angry to have to change yet again to accommodate the effects years of PTSD has had on my body. I felt punished. I felt helpless, and I wasn’t hopeful that anything would improve.  Somewhere around the third week, brain fog lifted, I dropped 9 pounds doing nothing, lost several inches, and my pain abated. It was progress. I observed, as well, that my mood flattened to a dull neutral, which was better than unpredictable spikes. That flatness, however, carried a distinct lack of inspiration, which isn’t much use to a writer.

12 April I got the results.  I’ve read all these stories about people doing DNA tests and discovering ethnic roots that upended them, changed their concept of who they are, stirred passionate emotions. I’ve never seen myself as being upset by such, and I wasn’t surprised to learn my Haplogroup origins. In reality, I already knew it from doing a similar ancestry test a few years ago. The subclade of H6a1 was an interesting nuance, which I’m keen to do more research on. The genetic mutation information, however, overwhelmed me. Reading it, seeing on paper its path across the history of my body absolutely left me stunned and grieving in a new way.

I am homozygous for the genetic mutation for MTHFR, which means my body can’t methylate amino acids –a process without which results in increased risk of miscarriage, stroke, migraines, auto immune conditions, and digestive disorders. Familiar, yes? Some people who are homozygous for this will never experience conditions related to it. I already have been for some time.

I can’t detox estrogen, which only exacerbates the former condition. I can’t absorb calcium. I don’t have the precursors to process antidepressants, and my body doesn’t produce them at normal rates.

The thing is, I knew that, all of that. I’ve known it since I hit puberty, and my life since has been a series of trial-and-error attempts to bring balance to my form and find healthcare givers who could help me with that. None of it has worked longterm, and these strings of letters and numbers are at least part of why. Sure, they’re who I am. How my life has shaped the way in which they function has had direct impact on me every day, yet until I could see them for exactly what they are, I couldn’t engage my own health issues with meaning. The study of DNA isn’t exact, but it’s enough of an oracle to speak a difference in the quality of my life.

At almost six months into this journey, now on the right foodstyle and having started the most appropriate supplements, I’m more fit, feel better, and occupy healthier space on the planet. Only in the last few days has the mental and emotional flatness lifted, and I find myself relieved, concerned, and oddly able to focus on the present.

It’s a relief to know that not every questionable aspect of my health is a result of prolonged childhood trauma. I can now drop the identity that my brain is broken, and that my life must be a perpetual quest to fix it–a cross I carried not only for my sake, but for that of my children, who given the main mutation in my test, really are miracles. I find peace in that, yet still question if those genes could have expressed themselves differently had I not been under incredible duress for over half my life.

I will not lose sleep over that mystery.

I understand now that my focus has to evolve from trying to stop a tide from constantly shifting, to supporting my impermanent body at base levels in the small ways that I can, and to developing coping skills for all of the above.

I better understand now who I am, why I am.

—

Thanks to Lezlie for talking openly about her exploration into DNA and how her life changed around it.

The post Divination by Genes – DNA as Oracle appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

The Weekly Rune – Fehu Reversed

For the week of 26 April 2015

Mannaz wraps up its role as half-month rune this week, with Laguz flowing into place.

This transition brings a shift from mindfully situating into new or unexpected community to a more internal emotional well of introspection. On the intuitive front, Fehu reversed suggests we be a little stingy with resources for a bit.

Read right to left in the image is Mannaz on top, Laguz below, then Fehu reversed to the left.

Mannaz remains the half-month rune through 29 April, at which Laguz shifts to the fore. To learn more about the half-month rune’s influence and my work with the runes, visit Patreon. Find my runic artwork on Etsy.

Laguz brings the inner landscape into sharper focus, which when taken into consideration alongside the bestowal of community we experienced with Mannaz, may challenge boundaries a bit. It’s hard enough to enter new territory with others when rebuilding the self–as we have been. It’s even harder to do so under the current runes, because empathy may be in overdrive.

Reading Fehu reversed is fairly straightforward: when upside down, our possessions fall out of our pockets. What’s certain is the frustration of the efforts of hard work falling through our fingers, and the refinement of focus from a dangling carrot to what assets are most needed at this time.

Really, this week is a reminder not to fall back into old habits. New self, new group, new boundaries. Don’t get sucked into other peoples’ drama and lose that focus. Don’t get turned upside down, though if it happens, see it for what it is. Hold onto that new wealth.

The post The Weekly Rune – Fehu Reversed appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m thankful for more rain, and the stunning green it leaves behind. Our yard is bursting with blossoms and new growth!

I’m grateful for getting the correct supplements, and the ensuing improvements based on them.

I’m thankful for my lover’s safe return.

I’m thrilled to have had an awesome solo-parenting weekend with the kids.

I’m happy to have new subscribers! Thank you!

I’m grateful to have been asked back as a reader to SFF’s Annual Psychic Fair. It’s a great evening. Come by if you can!

I’m grateful for a bright weekend of friends and games.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!

This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her  co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Katie. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

// ]]>

The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

The Weekly Rune – Algiz Reversed

For the week of 19 April 2015

Mannaz affirms we’re headed in the right direction as the half-month rune, though Algiz reversed encourages us to progress carefully.

Read right to left in the image is Mannaz, then Algiz reversed to the left.

Mannaz remains the half-month rune through 29 April. To learn more about the half-month rune’s influence and my work with the runes, visit Patreon. Find my runic artwork on Etsy.

The stave of the mind, Mannaz hits on a lot of fronts. Indicating community and the affirmation of right thinking, this is a time of a lot of dynamics being aligned, ducks in a row.

Algiz reversed brings other focuses to the fore, as well. Concerned with all matters of protection and defense, this rune upended suggests reason to be wary.  Algiz can indicate matters of home, of feeling that safety so deeply that we become capable of carrying it with us wherever we go. It stands to reason that reversed we have to be able to both discern where that stability may be challenged, and/or where we may be overprotecting ourselves.

So, we have Mannaz saying all is aligned, with Algiz reversed telling us to be careful. This is a push-pull time, in which the personal compass provides the only true direction. The ultimate message is that Mannaz has the clear intel, and Algiz reversed prods us to be sure about our commitment to act on it.

—

If you enjoy The Weekly Rune, please consider supporting it through Patreon. By becoming a patron or matron of the runes, you get full details on the rune of the week, as well as the full influence of the half-month rune. With your pledge, you support not only my work, but the path of the runes into modern culture and spiritual insight. Thanks so much for your continued support!

The post The Weekly Rune – Algiz Reversed appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m thankful for rain.

I’m grateful for quickly passing colds.

I’m thankful for a great group in this year’s Intensive.

I’m thrilled with two new runic art creations.

I’m grateful for wonderful feedback on Gift of the Dreamtime. It’s 11 years old, and still reaching readers.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!

This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her  co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Katie. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

// ]]>

The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.

On Intuitive Understanding

Several months ago, Peggy Payne asked me to participate in the blog tour, On Intuitive Understanding, which features authors whose lives are touched by intuition. In responding to her inquiry, I’m also including other authors who have participated in this tour.

I met Peggy Payne years ago when she edited my first book, Gift of the Dreamtime: Awakening to the Divinity of Trauma. The woman’s fierce and fearless in her pursuit of penning the spiritual side of life and how it overlaps sexuality. If you haven’t read Revelation, it’s a powerful story of a young pastor’s response to hearing the voice of God–literally. Likewise, her latest novel, Cobalt Blue, dives headlong into a young woman’s sultry spiral into a kundalini awakening.  Fearless, I said.

As part of this tour, Peggy asked me to respond to the questions all of the authors are pondering. Here are my answers:

1) What Am I Working On?

I’m currently working on a supersecret book that embraces the runes in a new way, which is to say I’ve been stuck on writing its proposal for some time. I adore the runes, particularly the Elder Futhark, and have been courting them for over two decades. Groundbreaking, and probably crazy, this book’s been a great experience to write.

Even more challenging has been the completion of my first novel. As most of you know, I’ve published erotic fiction under another name, though I’d not written a full novel until now. The Last Snow Moon is new adult magickal realism, and tells the story of Ariana Lunaea and James McCall, both powerful intuitives charged with readying the planet for the Sixth World, then stumbling all the way to the finish.

I also have a blog-to-book series installment in the queue, am largely finished with a manuscript on the shamanic approach to chronic illness, continue to write The Weekly Rune, and stay engaged in runic and shamanic .

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My nonfiction ventures into the cracks and crevices of spirituality, specifically modern shamanism, that few others have dared. Gift of the Dreamtime is my story of greeting the spirit world from the inside of spiritual crisis and ecstatic trance. At the time of its publication, no other book shared that information. I’m incredibly proud of it, and readers still contact me about its impact on their lives. Its accompanying Reader’s Companion sheds light on the events in my life as the journey unfolded, and shares notes on the books’ first edition, which came out in 2004.

 

Real Wyrd broke similar ground, sharing insight into Middle World experiences, or true paranormal as some would call it.  This book was challenging to write, in that few modern shamans talk about experiences that frighten or upend them. There’s much talk about the emergence from the spiritual crisis that led to calling, though not as much about what that crisis looks like in everyday life. Apart from that, the Middle World, itself, is frequently unexplored, and this book confronts it compassionately.

 

Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism is my effort in expressing the nuts and bolts of modern shamanism to a younger audience, but also what life in that role is like. Most books that teach techniques about journeying, don’t delve into how the act of ecstatic travel changes life, much less share coping skills on managing that change. Teen Shamanism does just that, and creates a foundation for the young and young-at-heart to embrace the path healthily and wholly.

 

The anthologies I’m published in share similar characteristics. They confront some aspect of spirituality that’s uncommon or unspoken:

The Journey of Healing
The Spirit of a Woman
Nature’s Gifts
Engaging the Spirit World

 

3) How does my writing process work?

Practically speaking, I start every project writing like I’m dying, then work from a chunky first draft to a fit manuscript. People often ask me if I’m a pantser or plotter. Both. I have a general guideline for where things need to go, though I let the book unfold as it wants. From the way of the woo, I call in every project’s spirit, and that of its components and characters. Their stories play a great role in my fictional plots, as well as in the structure of nonfiction.

4) Why Do I Write What I Do?

I don’t know. I guess we ultimately write what we know, and I know my life is and has always been weird. I’ve also sustained a personal quest to help people find the odd curvature of their lives and frame themselves gloriously with it.

I remember in school, every teacher I always had said that if I have question, someone else in the class has the same question. Ask it, not just for the benefit of self, but for others who are afraid to speak. That was never enough motivation for me to actually speak in class, though the same truth applies to my writing. I’m not the only one, whatever it is, and there’s no reason for anyone else to feel alone in their wild symmetry, either.

I’d like to share the bios of other authors on the On Intuitive Understanding blog tour:

Dielle Ciesco[image error], author of The Unknown Mother: A Magical Walk with the Goddess of Sound, and Your True Voice: A Transformational Journey through the 10 Gates of Sound, specializes in the transformational power of the voice to heal and connect us with our own Divinity. She is passionate about every Voice, be it the one we use everyday to communicate, the ones we hear inside our heads, the silent voice of wisdom, voices raised in song, or the ones that call us to awaken. The creator of Vocal Toning Meditation, Transformational Voicework, and Toning for Peace, she is a featured improvisational vocalist on the TLC series with Visionary Music, creators of DNA Activation music, as well as on the Bliss of Being with Richard Shulman and the Pure Heart Ensemble. She teaches workshops, writes, sings, makes art, and works one-on-one with clients from her home in Western France.

 

Jan Krause Greene[image error] is the author of I Call Myself Earth Girl, a novel which explores how a woman gradually opens herself to mystic wisdom when she discovers she is pregnant and is convinced that she conceived the baby in a dream. She is currently working on the sequel, as well as two other books. She also helps individuals embrace their authentic voices through Finding YOUR Voice Writing Workshops.

Krause Greene grew up in the Washington, DC area. She came north to attend Boston College and has lived near Boston ever since. While raising five sons, she wrote Homefront, a popular newspaper column chronicling her life as mother, teacher and writer. Self-described seeker and visionary, her poetry and fiction examine life’s big questions from the perspective of characters both young and old.

An avid story-teller, Krause Greene appears at open mic venues and has been the featured story-teller at a number of venues in the greater Boston area. Last March, she was invited by the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers to read from her novel at The Mount, the beloved home of Edith Wharton.

As a member of a four-generational household spanning ages 2 to 98, Jan Krause Greene spends time caring for her mother, playing with her grandchildren, gardening and communing with nature. She also loves to sing and dance, although she notes that she is not very good at either.

The post On Intuitive Understanding appeared first on Soul Intent Arts -.