Nikki Starcat Shields's Blog, page 21

On Becoming Luminous

Each year, I share my Word of the Year and some words about how it came about, in order to hopefully inspire you in your own journey (and because it’s fun to share). This year, my word is LUMINOUS.

Last May, I received a copy of The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte for Mother’s Day. I worked through it over the next several months, and chose a handful of words that resonated most with me. If you’re not familiar with her work, Danielle LaPorte teaches that rather than pick goals, we can look beh...

Starcat’s Favorites: Quiet Time

Ah, Winter… I like you more than I used to, dear Winter. I like the quiet lull after the Winter Solstice, when the wind and snow comes and all is swathed in drifts. I enjoy the opportunity to dive deep into visioning what I want the New Year to be, for me. I like the change of calendar and the hope and promise it brings. Thank you, Winter, for your cold and dark, that encourages me to hibernate just a bit and to take some time in the creative cave. Blessings!

I hope you’re able to take some q...

It’s Change-Making Time

Many of us are still processing the U.S. election results and what they mean. It seems unthinkable to me that we’d regress, as a society, just when we’re finally beginning to understand that all beings have innate worth. Open bigotry and misogyny in the 21st century? Really?!

Still, perhaps it’s better out in the open. At least we’ll know who the racist, sexist, homophobic jerks are, so we can avoid them and boycott their businesses. Right?

It seems to me that, in the big picture, this is a t...

We Are Not Misfit Toys

I’ve been seeing a lot of social media posts by friends and acquaintances who are feeling especially down and worthless lately. Some of them suffer from anxiety and depression, which I understand is caused by brain chemistry – but in my opinion, I think these conditions are often exacerbated by the false expectations our society has of us. And these expectationsaffect most of us, to one degree or another, making us feel like failures at life.

We’re “supposed to” have the perfect home, of cour...

Starcat’s Favorites: Wrapping It Up

Is it just me, or is it super hard to believe it’s December already? It’s the big winter holiday month, and time to start wrapping up, not just gifts, but 2016. Many of us are rather glad to see it go. For so many of us, it was a hard year, on both collective and personal levels.

Still, there are always blessings hidden in plain sight within the hard times. I have so much to be grateful for this year, and I’m counting those blessings as I begin to wrap up the year. Chief among them is that my...

Surviving the Spiritual Apocalypse

The title of today’s post is a joke, sort of. A couple of weeks ago, BlackLion and I were kicking around various ideas for a subtitle for my forthcoming book, The Heart of the Goddess. My daughter ElvenTiger was listening in, and her suggestion, with a gleam in her eye, was “Surviving the Spiritual Apocalypse.” We laughed.

Then there was this election…

Many of us are now feeling like some kind of “end of the world as we know it” is upon us. It sucks that racism, misogyny, and xenophobia are v...

Universal Justice

Today seems like a good day to begin our series on the Tarot. I drew a card, asking what the readers of this blog needed to know, and here it is: Justice.

This is from the Mystic Faerie Tarot by Barbara Moore and Linda Ravenscroft. It’s a fabulous deck.

If you, like me, were on the losing side of the U.S. election last week, the notion of Justice being served might still smart a bit. Let’s take a closer look at what it might offer us for wisdom.

Looking at the big picture, which the Major Ar...

Starcat’s Favorites: Life Goes On

One of the things I love most about life is that, no matter what crises happen, big or small, life goes on. There are always a zillion opportunities to connect, to share kindness and compassion, to show our love. There are present moments, stretching out in a chain from now to forever, ready for us but to awaken.

I think those of us who are particularly intelligent, in an academic brainy sort of sense, can get ourselves into trouble. We take things too seriously, too literally, too personally...

It’s That Time of Year

I woke up this morning with no blankets, and one tiny corner of the bed where I was squished to the edge of the mattress. Why? Snuggling dogs. We have two medium-sized dogs, who somehow become Great Big Giant Bed-Stealing Canines when the weather gets cooler. Still, they’re so cute – who could kick them off?

Both of the cat brothers are also sleeping indoors at night, now that the lows are in the 30s and 40s. The heat has been turned on, and slippers are essential.

It’s that time of year.

Sur...

Musings on the Tarot

For years and years, I used a 3-card Tarot spread as part of my daily spiritual practice. Then I guess I sort of got tired of using the cards. Around 2011 or so, my practice evolved to focus more on meditation and journaling.

In 2014, I started doing a monthly Tarot reading for myself on the New Moon. I haven’t missed a month yet! It felt good to get back to using the cards regularly, if less often. I was still a bit resistant about doing readings for others, though. I’m not sure why.

Lately...