S. Kelley Harrell's Blog: Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism, page 92

Wordless Wednesday

Anne Frank Diary at Anne Frank Museum in Berlin

Seventy years ago this week Anne and her family were discovered and arrested by the Nazis.

Photo by Heather Cowper.

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Life After Life Purpose

Originally published at Pagan Square.

I’ve long wrestled with the concept of ‘life purpose.’ Foremost, it seemed limiting–just one? And it smacked of New Age woo. The true wrestling part, though, was that I felt a deep calling, always, like since I became aware that I was aware, between 5-6 years old. I didn’t know what the calling was, and for most of my youth I was satisfied to just recognize that it was.

I came to shamanism for my own healing and deepening of spiritual connection. Typical to modern shamanists, I was on the receiving end, and thankfully so. However, about six months into that relief, my spirit guides began telling me to get off my ass and do something with it.

So, I did, for about eleven years. The first couple of years I worked with others as a shaman, then the spirit of that work presented itself to me as Soul Intent Arts, and I followed where it led, working in community.

I never really had internal confirmation of that as my life purpose, or anything else, despite that focusing on servitude to community carried its own sort of passion. I was very close to leaving my full-time job to pursue shamanizing further. I published my first book,  Gift of the Dreamtime . All the things I’d intellectualized as life purpose had come into being.

Then I had twins, and everything changed. I can blog about how the advent of becoming a parent deepened my spirituality in ways I’d never imagine, or how children are born animists and mine have taught me much about what I thought I already knew. I could go for days on those revelations, but the wisdom of that experience is, when my kids were about a year old, I no longer felt the calling that had been with me since childhood.

No one ever talks about the completion of a life purpose. The assumption in the name itself suggests it takes a lifetime to complete, which by default means the true realization of fulfillment can only happen at the end of life. I felt screwed, frankly. I settled into a raw openness of not having a life purpose, which incited low level panic all the time. Yes, I was elated to be a mom. My struggle was the math of coming through an abusive childhood to finally decide late in the reproductive game to have children, minus one calling. I decided that my life purpose was not to have one. I blessed what felt completed and greeted the openness of not knowing, the freedom of choosing my purpose, every day, every minute.

I sat with this for two years. It seems like a long time to stew, but when you’ve got two toddlers running in different directions, and sweet potatoes smeared all over your powder room light switch, it goes by pretty quickly.

Late last year I began to realize I didn’t really care about life purpose anymore. What was more detrimental was I coudn’t feel connected to my passions. Several books and one successful, though mutable shamanic practice later, I just wasn’t feeling any of it. And for me, the bottom line is, if I don’t feel something, the wolves come out of the walls.

I called in the highest aspects of myself and gave them full control of my consciousness. I asked them to write down what I’m most passionate about. The first thing that came was ‘family.’ That seems like a perfect sentimental no-brainer, though I can tell you with blushing certainty, I was surprised. Not because I don’t love my family or because I’m not fully engaged with their total wellbeing and joy, but because that kind of emotionally cohesive concept and devotion to family just wasn’t part of my childhood experience. To behold that my family lights me from within healed me and blessed me, immediately.

I asked for the next thing, and the word written was ‘friends.’ Again, I was surprised, not because I don’t value loved ones, but because I’m not much of a joiner, and anyone who knows me well knows that fact–see above ‘family.’

The next response was ‘writing.’ Yes. 8,000 huzzahs to the power of infinity, yes. I get up in the morning to write. I wake up because I have something to say, and that has been true since childhood. I couldn’t learn the alphabet fast enough. Now there aren’t enough hours in the day to write all the words that crowd my head for expression.

I waited patiently then, for the next passion to come. And nothing did. The buzzing presence of All I Could Be in that moment quieted until there was only regular old me in my skin. I can’t say how disappointed I was, and to a large degree, ashamed.

I’ve been on a shamanic path since I was seventeen. I’ve devoted years to building my practice. How was shamanism not my passion? How could it not be my heartsong? Yet, the longer I sat with the revelation of what sings in me, I knew with absolute clarity that shamanism isn’t what gets me up in the morning: it’s what enables me to stay up the rest of the day. It’s what sustains me when the passion turns into a sink full of dirty dishes, or the fourth night in a row that I haven’t slept.

It’s true that shamanism isn’t my passion; it’s my gift. It’s the gift I bring, and the gift I receive, ongoing. It’s not my job; it’s what I am. It’s not what I do, it’s how I live.

I can’t say that figuring those bits out fixed everything, though it was a start. The one thing with clarity that I can say is, a life purpose isn’t the thing I do to fulfill some mystical calling. It’s the things I do to give my life purpose, to make the time I have here meaningful.

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The Weekly Rune – Ansuz Reversed

Ansuz – Mouth – Ansuz hasn’t been The Weekly Rune since July of 2012, which is to say that reversed, it has never visited us until now. Note that the image shows Ansuz brightstave.

Ascribed the traditional meaning of “mouth,” the power of this Rune lies more in speech, or communication. The fourth Rune of the first aett, it describes the point of our journey that we begin to realize we have some personal power. We begin to realize that through the power of naming things, we can begin shaping our personal experience. Ultimately it never really is the experience, itself, that creates us, but our interpretation of it.

Called Odin’s Rune for its connection to inspiration,  this stave is associated with his significant creations–the first humans–Askr (ash tree) and Embla (elm, possibly water) in the Old Icelandic cosmology. Contrary to more widely known creation stories, Ask and Embla were fashioned from trees, and created all of humanity. Part of their task was coming into relationship with everything in the physical (and nonphysical) world. They had to name everything they encountered, and in naming them, they changed their perception of them. There’s a reason the thought persists in esoteric communities that when we began speaking, we began lying–however unintentionally. Metaphor and the thing it described may not have been the same thing for Askr and Embla. It’s probably not the same, now.

Hence, when Ansuz visits reversed, communications are likely a little bent. Things aren’t as clear as they could be. They play out, yet they don’t make sense. Our vision of reality is distorted, and that is the key of coping with Ansuz disjointed.

What is created is never separate from its creator, ever. When things start to seem a little off key, and the perception of a dynamic just doesn’t match the way things are, step back. Change your perspective, detach, and let the air clear. You don’t have to recreate this, just give yourself the chance to see it differently, which may just be closer to how it really is.

After all, is a spade really a spade?

 

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Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

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

I’m thankful for deep revelations this week, regarding creative vision and a WIP.

I’m grateful to have had a quiet weekend.

I’m thankful for my lover.

I’m grateful for my health.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks?

This post is part of VikLit‘s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. 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… the hop, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

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Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Kathleen Conklin

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Teen Spirit Wise Voice – Lorna Tedder – Three Shielding Techniques for Budding Empaths

I’m happy to feature Lorna Tedder, today. Publisher for Spilled Candy Enterprises, Lorna is author of over 20 books, and she’s an all-around amazing person to know. Much love.

An empath is someone who is sensitive to the energy of other people.  If you’re an empath, then you may literally feel the physical pain of someone else, particularly if it’s someone you care about or you are in close proximity to.  More likely, you will feel others’ emotions and may even confuse their feelings for your own.

For example, if your boyfriend is having a bad week, you may feel unexplained anger or hopelessness of your own, even when everything’s going great for you.  Another example is when you’re out shopping on Christmas Eve, when you’re happy and have plenty of time, and yet you suddenly start to feel jittery and stressed, just like all the other shoppers around you.

Turbulent emotion and discordant energy from other people can be overwhelming at times.   The best way to protect yourself against having your emotions hijacked is by learning to shield.  Here are three of my favorites that work for me in different situations:

#1 – The White Light Purge Technique

When I have an empathic bond, also known as an energetic connection, with someone I care about, I probably don’t want to shield from them, but I may need a reprieve from their darker emotions.

For example, if my best friend and her mom are fighting, I want to be the person she can lean on, but after listening to my friend vent on the phone for two hours, I’ll find that while she might feel better, her emotions have transferred to me and now I, for no obvious reason, feel mad at the world.  The White Light Purge helps me to get rid of those discordant feelings fast by replacing someone else’s emotions with positivity and serenity in my own body.

The White Light Purge is one of several “chakra-breathing” shielding techniques I use and is the simplest because it involves only the crown chakra, or energy center,  at the very top of the head.   It’s best if you can find a quiet spot, alone, but if you must, you can use the White Light Purge with your eyes open, even in a crowded room, and no one will know—unless you’re expected to talk.

Begin by breathing through your nose.   In through your nose, out through your nose.  After several slow breaths, imagine that you have a mouth on the top of your head where your crown chakra is.  This will seem a little strange at first but you’ll get used to it quickly.   Imagine that you are inhaling through the mouth on the top of your head, through the crown chakra, drawing in white light of love, or happiness, or protection (your choice).  Inhale for the count of five, then hold two beats.  As you breathe out through nose for the count of five, imagine that you are pushing the white light down through your body,  all the way down to your toes.   With the next breath, breathe out white light all the way down to your knees.   Keep inhaling white light and then exhaling it into your body until your entire body is full of white light.  This will displace any negative energy or overwhelming emotion from someone else, and you will feel calmer and more relaxed.

#2 – The Florida Sun Room Technique

Where I live in Florida, a lot of houses have porches or patios that have been closed in with windows and blinds to keep out too much sun.  These rooms are usually air conditioned and sometimes heated in winter.  In the summer, when the sun is hot and bright, the blinds are closed so that the room stays cool.   In winter, the blinds can be raised so the resident can enjoy the view and let the sunshine heat the room.  In spring and fall, the windows themselves can be opened to let in the breeze and smell of flowers.  These rooms are called Sun Rooms or Florida Rooms.

The Florida Sun Room shielding technique is easiest when combined with meditation or at least with your eyes closed.  It’s my favorite technique to use in a romantic relationship because there are times when you want to feel the other person’s loving feelings for you and other times when emotions are too turbulent and you need to protect your own oversensitivity to others’ emotions.

Begin by closing your eyes and breathing through your nose.  Visualize your body from head to toe, from shoulder to fingertip, as a Florida Sun Room.  You have four walls of glass windows around you, each covered with heavy, thick blinds.  Allow yourself the time to experiment with the windows and blinds to find the right combination for the situation that needs shielding.

Start by having all blinds down and tightly closed so that no light can come in.  The room is light-tight, and you are in utter darkness.  This phase of the technique is meant to shut out all emotion around you so that you’re alone with your own emotions.  What you feel is your own feelings—not someone else’s influential emotions.

Slowly open the blinds enough to let a little sunlight into the room.  This will give you a chance to become acclimated to whatever emotions you feel through an empathic bond.  Continue to open the blinds until they are fully open.  When you’re ready, raise the blinds to the top of each window.   Can you still feel the emotions coming through?   What’s the bare minimum that you need to shield from heavy emotions?  Lighter ones?

Now open the windows all the way and feel the difference.   If you’re in a healthy, loving relationship, this is most likely how your visualized Florida Sun Room will look.   If the emotions are more difficult or the relationship becomes unhealthy, closing the windows and blinds will help you to deal with your own emotions without the added “overwhelm” of your partner’s emotions.

#3 – The Candle Life Technique

If you’re an empath, it’s likely that you get too close emotionally too fast to new people.  You can’t help it—as an empath, you may be inclined to see the world emotionally through someone else’s eyes and understand that person and all his or her quirks and darkness as though they were your own.   You may fall in love with or become best friends with someone you just met because rather than taking months to get to know someone, as non-empaths do, you feel that you already know them through the emotions and energy you sense from them.  You feel you know them at “soul level” in a matter of days rather than months or years.

One way to keep from getting too close to someone too fast—marrying them in three weeks or going into business with them without researching their past—is the Candle Life Technique.  The first time I mix my energy with another person’s or risk bonding emotionally with them, I light a candle.  I prefer to use a 3-inch by 3-inch pillar candle because the burn time is long enough to know where I stand in the relationship.  I choose a color that reminds me of the person I’m forming a bond with and then etch that person’s likeness or name into the wax.

As the friendship or relationship grows, I light the candle and burn it regularly (sometimes daily but at least a few times a week) to keep from getting too caught up in the other person’s emotions and influenced in a way that’s not good for me.   For example, I once formed a partnership with a new friend who was excited about a particular project.  I had no business sinking money or time into that project but when I was around her and all her enthusiasm and confidence, I felt just as emotionally attached to it as she was.  This is where the Candle Life Technique is helpful.   I don’t make any major decisions about the other person or our relationship as long as there is wick left to burn, and I limit the candle burning to no more than an hour at a time, much less if I feel intensely about the other person.

The Candle Life Technique gives me time to not rush into anything.   If the relationship turns out to be something that’s not good for me, then the end of the wick will be the end of the line for that relationship.   As the wick burns out, the flame and energy of the relationship will dissipate with it.

Saying goodbye to a relationship or friendship may not be something you want when you first light the candle, but this technique will help you to sever the energetic bond much more easily.   If the relationship is a good one, you’ll know by this point if you want to pursue it.

If you’re new to shielding, try one of these three techniques to see which works best for you.  Feeling other people’s emotions when you don’t want to can seem like a curse, but the good news is that most empaths who research and experiment with different kinds of shields usually find several that work for them.

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Lorna Tedder writes about empaths and energy at The Spiritual Eclectic Blog.   Her next book will be a guide to shielding, including more chakra breathing techniques.

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Available worldwide, Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism.

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The Weekly Rune – Othala

Othala – property - Othala reminds us of what is most important: where we come from, and where we’re going. Where Fehu brings awareness to wealth that must be tended–assets, and investments–Othala focuses on that which we own, that which in many ways tends us–property we inherit, then pass on.

Most regard Othala as the final Rune in the third aett, though some scholars position it elsewhere. Regardless of where it’s located, the agreement of its emphasis on inheritance remains the focus  (Do comment if you have thoughts on its alternate placements!).

Spiritually speaking, it calls our attention to the wisdom of our ancestors. The insight of those who went before us–people in our own blood line who have endured similar trials, overcome them, then moved through the rest of their lives enriched for it–is something we really can’t overlook if we want to live in the present. It sounds odd, doesn’t it? Look back to see where we’re going. Isn’t that what ancestors are for? We are merely the living manifestations of our family lines. We can either stumble blindly through the same patterns over and over, or we can invite some higher awareness from loved ones who are merely waiting to be asked to share.

In the family lines of Othala what becomes quickly obvious is the point of power: us.  We are part of the wise legacy we were born into. We are informed and have valid contributions to make to our own experience, to that of those around us, and that of those who come after us. While it entails the pattern of looking back to make choices for now, that affect the future, Othala makes us be present. It makes us deal with our crap, so that we can see ourselves as informed support in our own council.

The memo with Othala is patterns are life. We can either bring out best game to them, or not so much. Either, way, we are charged with the continual task of tending our assets, on every level. Be strong. Othala is telling us not only that we can take care of the needs before us now, but that we can be prepared for those that are coming.

What we heal now obviously benefits us. It also leaves our family lines and the world in better shape for those who follow us.

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Want to get The Weekly Rune early? Check out how at  Patreon.

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Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

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

 

I’m grateful to have had two fabulous nights out over the weekend. Living large!

I’m thankful for a the ability to roll with household emergencies.

I’m thankful for direction on my novel, even if I don’t know where it’s going.

I’m grateful for my friends and family.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks?

This post is part of VikLit‘s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. 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… the hop, 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.

Teen Spirit Wise Voice – Flash Silvermoon –Under the Influence of Janis–Joplin, That Is

Today, I have author and Priestess of the Rainbow Goddess Tradition, Flash Silvermoon. Author of  The Wise Woman’s Tarot (which is in my top 3 oracles), Flash is an Animal Communicator, and she hosts the weekly Internet Radio show, “What the Animals Tell Me.” Comment to win a copy of Flash’s ebook, “Janis Joplin and Me 40 Years of Music and Magic.”

How would you describe your work/path/art to a beginner?

I am a spiritual Renaissance Woman with many tools in my basket. I started my journey quite young and have pursued an understanding  of the magical realms since I was a teenager. I always knew that I was different and that these interests were unusual for most at my age but that never bothered me. I actually kind of liked my uniqueness and was fine not being like everyone else. I don’t think that I realized that most didnt have the psychic experiences that I did even early on and that was OK with me.I thought my work was to be a rock musician and I performed in bands since I was 16 years old. My path took me to music school until they tried to control me way too much and that was not a good fit at all.I stayed on my music track full tilt til I was about 35 and my psychic work  grew up right next to that and then it took over as my main profession and I still do both  but less music now. I have 2 CDs of good hi energy rock music, and Janis Joplin was a huge influence and Spirit Guide..

How did this work call you? At what life stage?

As a teenager I read voraciously folks like Edgar Cayce, Joan Grant,books about Atlantis and Lemuria and how the world was created. This was my fascination. The first psychic tool that I used was a kind of object reading calledPsychometry. When my friends saw how easily I did these readings it was suggested that I might try Tarot Cards and that worked very well and easily for me.

Describe your experience of spirituality as a teen/young adult. Discuss your blessings and challenges of that era.
I was and still am Spiritual and not religious. I resisted traditional religion and did my best to rail against organized religion. My inner spiritual world was very rich and included people and animals. I was visited by spirits but was never afraid. My early years were filled with out of body experiences  where I could feel myself lifting out of my body and dissolving into this glorious place which sometimes wold last an hour or better.I never understood when people claimed to need space because i could take  up the whole universe if I wanted to.

How does that experience speak through your work, today?

 I still am pretty fearless and accepting of my work spiritually but pursue more  clear protection now that I didn;t know then. I feel and always did feel that I was more often 10 years beyond most of my peers and that was ok with me. I think it has “caused me to miss out on a lot of recognition and I would still rather be on the cutting edge, My friend Cherie used to say, ‘”If you aren’t living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room,” Kind of like that. I have always loved animals and never dreamed that I would have the privilege of working with tigers and lions and bears and primates, horses, deer and so many more.  It is thrilling. My abilities as a psychic and medium have grown exponentially over the 46 years I have been  stretching those muscles. Manifesting the Wise Woman’s Tarot book and deck was a 25 year project that felt like a life work and there are many more books simmering on back and front burners demanding my attention.

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Available worldwide, Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism.

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Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Allen Sheffield

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