Karma and Sleeping Beauty

So, there I am walking by the school, and  I've just asked the Universe for a message regarding creating a better dynamic in my relationship.  I see a tiny slip of paper on the ground, and here is what I found:

For those of you who don't know the Disney Princesses, this is Sleeping Beauty.

I felt a little, well, insulted.  What was the universe trying to tell me?  Grow up?  Then I thought about the story, and realized that it's all about WAKING UP!

To recap: A young girl is seperated from her home because of a curse of a wicked, jealous fairy.  Hoping to keep her from the fate in store for her, her parents send her to live an isolated life in the forest.  Circumstances call her back to the palace, where she lives out the curse by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel spindal and falling asleep.  The entire castle falls asleep, and a thorn bush grows up around the castle keeping everyone outside of it firmly out.  A prince battles his way through the thorns, fights a dragon, and finally arrives at the princesses side where she is awakened by his kiss.

This story is ours in so many ways. 

We are taught to seperate ourselves from others, that people are dangerous at worst and compitition at best.  We are not given the tools we need to explore our interconnectedness.  We are, instead, given advice and guidence based on fear. 

With that kind of information, our heart (our castle) becomes cold.  We explore the rooms looking for  . . .something, but finding instead the Karmic Wheel that locks us into our false life.  Taking the wheel seriously, believing that there is no escape, that the wheel is the way things ARE (our curse) we fall deeply asleep.  The thorns that grow around our heart are the justifications we give for all our unhappiness and isolation.

It takes a lot of work and understanding to heal from all this negative training, to find a way through our defenses, and do battle with our unconscious reactions.  But once we find our true selves; when we finally learn our importance in the scheme of things and have an idea of our value, we are then ready to connect to life in a more fulfilling and satisfying way.  We are finally ready to love.

Love,

Kristine

Catch a Falling Star and Put It In Your Pocket

I found another fallen star on the trail.  Another messag from the Universe.  As you can see, It's incomplete, so I figured that meant I had more to say about stars then I said on an earlier blog (light is returning).

 
I remembered a book by Neil Gaimen (and movie) called "Stardust".  In short, it's about a star that falls from the sky and becomes a beautiful girl that witches chase to cut out her heart in order to put it in a box and use it to stay immortal.  Phew.
This, I think, speaks to the desire to be ageless, and not just ageless, but ageless in a way that stops time.  No More Change!  We fear change, because the process of change reflects our own mortality.  We watch ourselves grow older, and, thinking that we are only a body, we fear our demise.
Abraham tells us that we are eternal beings, and the star speaks to that.  Once again, I quote Joni Mitchell
"We are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden."
I'm told we truly are made of the stuff of stars, but we only begin to shine, to become golden, when we learn to see ourselves as bigger than our bodies: as spirit.
The contentment we feel when we accept ourselves as spirit allows us to see life as it really is. 
We then develop a sort of fearless tranquility, a calm acceptance of our own corporal mortality.  When we accept our mortality, we can genuinely appreciate and allow life to flow through us freely and fully.  We then become as beautiful, light, and light-filled as the stars that gleam in the darkness.
Our gift of light manifests as the joy we inspire through acts of kindness, humour, comfort, food, a sympathetic ear or a pair of arms, music, art, theater, enthusiasm etc.  All these break through the darkness of illusion and unconsciousness and light the way for others on their path towards fulfillment and joy.
Now THAT is true immortality.
Love, Kristine

No Room at the Inn, but There's Lot's of Room in the Heart

A friend and I were talking about an heirloom she had from her parents.  It was a creche, and she had so many associations with it that were not positive.  As a lapsed Catholic, she shied away from anything remotely related to the Christianity and the spiritual practices that she had been taught, and, let's face it, with its attitudes toward women and gays, not to mention the flurry of child molestations by priests in the news, the Catholic Church has done much to dissappoint and dissillusion. 
I have always had a fondness for the creche: the tender look on Mary's face, Joseph's protective presence, the gifts in the hands of the Magi, the shephard kneeling by the manger, the animals surrounding the scene, and, of course, in the middle of it all the tiny baby.
Not being of any traditional religious faith, I wondered why I was so attracted to this scene.  As I reflected on it, I realized that the creche reminded me of the phrase "it takes a village to raise a child".
As with Jesus in the manger, people from all walks of life, high to low, Maji to shephard, surround and help us throughout our lives. Many have generously aided us in our growth and development. Even the ones who impact us negatively have something to teach.  Add to that the animals that we share this world with.  They are essential to our survival and teach us to open our hearts to the variety of creation.
Like Jesus, we all come into this world helpless; dependent on our circumstance for our survival.  The creche is a symbol of that universal human condition and I believe it's also a symbolic restatement of an essential truth of the Christian message: that we all have the power to become evolved spiritual beings, despite our humble origins.
This is a powerful message that puts the responsibility of our lives in our hands, AND it also encourages us to help each other through life, just as the inn keeper, shepherds, and Maji helped the holy couple and their son.
When I became a mother, I suddenly saw everyone else as the dearly beloved child of a mother like myself.  It softened my heart to my fellow human beings, and encouraged me to appreciate the value of each human life; to look for, and  love, their amazing potential, and to honor the variety and richness of their life's journey.  Approaching any relationship with these values in mind (and heart) will radically alchemize it from the iron of the satisfaction of basic needs to the gold of interpersonal spiritual power. 
Through our own efforts, and with the help of others, we can achieve great heights in our development.  As we grow and change we will encourage, and demonstrate to others, the ability to rise above circumstance and reach for the stars.

Love, Kristine

Light is Returning

Yesterday we bought our Christmas tree. 
I feel faintly guilty about doing this, politically incorrect, kind of like the way I feel when I admit to liking football, but I do enjoy having a tree in the house. 
Although the tree itself will dry up and land on the sidewalk, to be picked up and recycled, during it's time brightening our living room its branches hold the memories of all the holidays our family has spent together. 
Every year, from the time my three children were born, each one has received a decoration just for them.  My dream is that, when they have their own families, I will collect and give them their personal ornaments so that a part of their past will adorn their future trees.
So, yesterday we bought a tree. 
Usually, I feel a surge of energy when we do this, an increase in my joy and holiday cheer, as if  the season has really begun;  but I didn't feel as good as I usually do, so this morning before my walk, my question to the universe was: "how can I feel more joy". 
An almost immediate answer came.  I looked down, found, and rescued this star from the mud of the ridge trail:



I immediately remembered a Solstice song that we sing every year:
"Light is returning/ although it is the darkest night/no one can hold back the dawn.
Keep the candles burning/Keep the light of hope alive/Earth mother is calling her children home."
As I softly sang this song to myself, I felt so much comfort.  Joy kindled a fire in my heart. 
This song reminds me of  life's cyclical nature, and I realized that  I was attaching way too much weight to my current attack of the blues.  I mistook my mood for who I was, forgetting that the sunshine always follows the rain. 
I'm gradually learning to negotiate my mood swings with more grace and patience, to not think that my sadness is me, or is even bad or wrong.  Sure, it doesn't feel as good as joy, but neither grief nor joy lasts.  Life is a constant ebb and flow, and I'm learning to ride the tides of fortune and not attach who or what I am to what I feel moment to moment. 
After all, essentially there is something of the eternal in all of us.  True, our history is held by us like the tree holds decorations; but it's merely the "bling" of our life, moments that once were, but are no longer.  Our history is not who we truly are. 
We are more than our past, present, or future.  We are, and that's enough. Our bodies will fade away, but the world that we have created through living our distinct and amazing lives is our eternal legacy.  Light fades, but light returns.  No one can hold back the dawn.
Love,
Kristine

The King of Swords-Cutting out the BS

The King of Swords sits rigidly on a stone throne carved with butterflies, a gold crown on his head and wearing clothes of purple, red, and pale blue; colors of spiritual power, passion, and truth. Clouds and a few tall trees are in the background. He holds his sword upright and gazes intently at the viewer, as if asking you to contemplate it.  Contemplate it we shall. 
Swords represent the mind. 
The interesting thing about the mind and the sword is their dual nature. The mind, for example, is a good tool for analizing a circumstance or position.  It looks at many sides of an issue, and, depending upon how resourceful and open the mind is, can come to many different and even contradictory conclusions which lead to confusion and doubt. 
The sword has two sides as well.  Like the mind, it "cuts both ways". 
The well trained mind can free you from patterns of thought with a swift slice of logic.  It can also enmesh you in them if the "blade" is dull. 
To sharpen the blade of the mind, introspection and contemplation can be applied.  Ironically, that requires stilling the mind and focusing on the self, in a feeling and emotional way, with no analysis.  This will lead to more clarity, and clarity is what's needed for the mind to discover the truth that sets you free.
The King of Swords wants you to get to the truth of the matter, and the matter of interest is enlightenment (the gold crown).  The butterflies carved on his throne are also symbols of spiritual transformation.  He encourages you to become aware and awake, conscious of who you truly are: a fully realized spiritual being.
The clouds in the sky (that we see behind the throne) symbolize the assumptions we make, based on our past, that we use to define our future.  As in Joni Mitchell's song "Clouds", they create a life of confusion and distortion.  She sings: "I've looked at life from both sides now, from win and lose, and still somehow, it's cloud's illusions I recall, I really don't know life at all.
And we don't know life,  if we see it only through the perspective of our duality-mad rational mind.  When we finally see that all there is is all that is, and that all that is, is one, we won't worry about better or worse, win or lose, right or wrong.  These concepts are the clouds that block the sunshine of our radiant hearts. 
The King of Swords calls to you to cut to the truth.  Let yourself.   Not.  Know.  Anything.  Let life show you what it is, in all its beauty, creativity and freedom.
Love,
Kristine

If wishes were horses . . .

This message from the universe knocked me out.  I was, as usual, out on the trail with dog and friend, and I saw a flash of blue.  It was an unusual color, and, being plastic, didn't belong out on the trail, so I picked it up.  I didn't think much of it.  This particular blue is not a color I like all that much, so I didn't think I'd be putting in in a found art piece.  I figured I'd be doing my bit for outdoor esthetics by putting it into a recycling bin when I returned home, but before I did, I decided to take a closer look at it.  Here it is:

I don't know if you can read this, but it says "share the power of a wish". 
We all know about wishes.  We wish on stars, we make a wish before we blow out birthday candles, if you tell your wish it won't come true, and, one of my favorites: If wishes were horses, beggers would ride.
Thinking of wishes like this takes the power from wishing, making it something only children do, at best, and valueless at worst. 
When I was a child, I set great store by wishing, and many of the things I wished for came true.  I look back on the things I achieved as an adult, and I recognize that I now live where I wished I would, and I did (and do) many of the things I wished I could. 
Yet, despite this evidence, I lost faith in the power of my wishes.  Life seemed too big, too fast, and too out-of-control for me to make wishes about.  Wishing seemed an impotent and frivolous return to past naivety. 
When my children entered my life, and I had the opportunity to see again how powerful a simple, believed-in wish could be.  I reconsidered.  For THEM, the wishes worked, but was I too jaded for wishes to work for me?
I pondered that idea, and came to the realization that I never stopped wishing, I just stopped noticing the results. I saw that the universe continually supported my heartfelt desires, and that even if the answer to a particular wish was "no", in retrospect I would see that "no" was the right answer for me.
Wishes, hopes, prayers, and dreams: all of these guide the mind to focus on a lovely vision of what might be. As you continue to wish, to dwell in the energies of hope and excitement, you encourage these energies, and the vibration around the wish grows.  These powerful vibrations increase the attraction to the fulfillement of the wish, and therefore the likelihood of recieving what you wish for grows.
I now think of wishes as Visions, visions of a better, more enjoyable future. 
Be a Visionary.  Make a WISH!
Love,
Kristine

Baby Steps Toward Abundance

When I woke up this morning I went through my usual ritual: Coffee, newspaper, crossword, journal, pull amulet, and pull an angel card for the daily message from the universe.  For the first time, both the amulet and angel card I pulled were about:

I was struck by the coincidence, but the duties of the day took my mind off of it.  The duties of the day placed my mind on something entirely different:  my business. It just wasn't as fulfilling as it used to be.
I wondered what I could do to create more ease, abundance, fulfillment, and prosperity in my life. 
Since the kids were adults, and my own work was feeling the impact of the economy, I needed a way to open myself up to a life that would be as satisfying as raising my kids had been or as exciting as beginning my graphic art business.  Been there, done that, now I wanted something new to focus on.
I pondered what that might be as my dog and I trudged up the hill to our favorite walking trail.  I happened to glance in the middle of the street and spotted this little lump of cloth.  Curious, I went towards it and here is what it was:

A very dirty baby's sock.  With hearts on it.  What in the world could this mean? 

In a flash, I got it.  I've been collecting found objects with the intention of creating art pieces with them.  I've found some pretty amazing and inspiring things, and I still haven't moved forward in this work.  This little sock was telling me to begin doing the thing I love to do; Make stuff.  Start small, but start.  Prioritize doing what I love and follow my heart. The very dirt on the sock itself indicated to me that by doing this, I would ground myself more fully in my creative nature. 

I started to think about all the things I was going to make.  I got idea after idea as I continued on my walk, but, as usual, doubt set in.  I worried that I was too old to start making the objects I was dreaming about, that I didn't have time, that they'd take time away from what was more important: making money not things, and that my time to be an artist was past.  Then I saw THIS:

A tiny buckle from a wristwatch.

It told me to detach from any notion of time, that the way to connect to myself was by being in the moment, by doing what I enjoyed moment to moment, and prioritizing doing what I love to do, just as I prioritized the activities of my children when they were small. 

It's my turn to reconnect to myself and my dreams.  That's all I need or want to do right now.  More importantly, it's time to get back to the pureness of my creative spirit: what I felt as a child when I made something, painted something, sewed something; not thinking about anything except the joy of creating, having no idea or ideal of  "being an Artist", but simply doing what I did because I wholly and fully enjoyed it.  That's truly heaven on earth!

Love, Kristine