Dear Angelic Blog Buddies:
Last Thursday evening I was on the telephone teaching a tele-conference class for an hour. Pinky, my little Jack Russell Terrier, was in my office with me. Since I was not paying attention to her or playing with her, Pinky decided to create her own play and occupy herself by getting into some mischief. The mischief she chose was to reach up to a shelf where I keep my divination cards, and pull two cards out of the stack of Voyager Tarot Cards. She then proceeded to totally destroy the two cards.
When I finished the telephone class, I turned my chair around from my desk and saw Pinky sitting on my office sofa. She was so very proud of herself and her accomplishment of taking two whole cards and transforming them into a million little pieces. She flashed her big happy Pinky smile at me because I was now focused on her.
Some of you may remember one of my past blogs where I talked about divination tools such as spiritual card decks and how once at a conference where I had passed around a deck of my SPIRITUAL cards for people to use in drawing cards for messages, a man who was seated in the back of the room commented when he received the cards, that he didn't think I had a full deck. When I looked at what Pinky had done to the two Voyager cards, my first thought was that I truly didn't have a full deck.
And then I decided to see what two cards Pinky had removed from the deck. Once I did this, I was esctastic with my newly revised "minus two" deck of cards.
Thanks to Pinky there's NO MORE DULLNESS and CONFUSION.
NO MORE DULLNESS:
Pinky, the Tarot Card Reading Dog, is inspiring all of us to live our lives with curiosity, enthusiasm and imagination and to release (or chew up) dullness. The word dull comes from an Old English word: dol which means foolish. Webster's describes being dull as being without spirit. So Pinky is motivating all of us to live our lives with spirit. Pinky wants us to know that quite frankly it is foolish not to live spiritual lives. Webster's describes dull as not bright. Pinky is reminding us that we are here to shine and shine brightly.
NO MORE CONFUSION:
Confusion is the state of being confused. Confuse means to jumble up, mix up mentally, perturb or perplex oneself. The word confusion comes from the Latin confundere which derived from com (meaning together) and fundere (to pour). So in an essence, confusion is allowing mixed up messages to be poured into our minds and lives. Pinky wants us to live our lives without confusion. Pinky's affirmation is: I AM CHEWING UP CONFUSION. Pinky is inspiring us to remove confusion from our lives by focusing on what is important in our lives, i.e. what we truly value. For example, play is of the utmost importance to Pinky and so Pinky is very clear that every moment she isn't eating or sleeping is a moment to be spent playing.
Some years ago I did a week long class at a spiritual conference where I gave each participant a tee-shirt imprinted with the following message:
CAMP EARTH
WHERE YOUR
DIVINE PARENTS
SENT YOU FOR A
LIFETIME OF PLAY
So let's embrace our divine identity, without dullness and confusion, and be the HAPPY CAMPERS we were created to be.
Love in Abundance, Jayne
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Stand still
Dear Angelic Blog Buddies;
I can remember when I was a little girl and I wanted to go outside and play in new fallen snow, my mother would have to repeatedly remark to me to stand still while she was attempting to get a snowsuit on me or some sort of protective clothing.
Over the years, I have come to realize that standing still is something that my brain has a hard time computing. I do not do standing still well. Additionally, I have come to recognize that standing still is a very powerful form of healing.
In the Bible in Psalm 46:10, we read the words, "Be still and know that I am God".
The first spiritual divination tool I was introduced to by the angels was the Runes. I was inspired by the angels to create my own set of Runes made from broken pieces of sand dollars that I had collected at the beach. To this day it is my own personal belief that the Runes are one of the most intimate and personal of all divination tools.
There is a Rune that is called Isa. Of the 25 Runes it is No. 23. The Rune Isa looks like a lower case letter l. It is a single straight vertical line. It is a messenger of standing still; being patient. I always look at this Rune as the icicle Rune. It is filled with the power of the element of water. It has all the energy of a rainfall, waterfalls, an ocean; yet it is in a frozen or standing still state.
Sometimes in the past, when I had a question and wanted to know what I was to do, I would use the Runes and Isa sometimes appeared. I remember thinking, "Oh great, I am to do nothing." I really didn't like drawing that rune. The are many times I want to be flowing like a river and the Divine sends me a message that I need to stand still with the energy. Spirit tells me to chill out like an icicle.
Since the beginning of the year I have received inspirations from the angels as to the importance of rest in my life. There's so much change going on that it is overwhelming at times and it can be exhausting. In order to be nurturing to ourselves, we need to give ourselves permission to rest, pause, take naps, relax, chill out.
A good friend of mine gifted me a book by Macrina Wiederkehr: Seven Sacred Pauses - Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day. "Wiederhekr helps readers ...devote themselves to pausing - whether once a day or more frequently - the wisdom of living in the here and now and moving more harmoniously with the rhythm of day and night." The book is "an invitation to pause, pray, and live in tune with the spirit of each hour." I am certain that my angel team whispered to my girlfriend, "Give Jayne this book on sacred pauses; she needs the healing of the pause in her life."
I love anything that is connected with spiritual devotions aligned to the hours of the day. I recently attended a symposium at the Walters Art Gallery that was a gathering of brilliant researchers on the Book of Hours. However, I came to realize that I was reading and researching about the calling to pause; I just wasn't living it. I laughed at myself when I again looked at the title of the book: Seven Sacred Pauses. I wasn't allowing myself one pause let alone seven.
In contemplating how to help heal myself through pausing, resting, standing still I came to recognize how serious an imbalance this is in my life. Even though the sun sets at the end of each day, I wasn't. I'm the energizer bunny that keeps on going.I want to be constantly beating on that drum.
The angels were encouraging me to balance my life by taking a sabbatical or going on a retreat. For my solar return chart my Sun is in the 12th house. The 12th house is the house of giving oneself the gift of being invisible at times. The word sabbatical means to give rest at regular intervals.
I came to recognize I didn't understand what the Sabbath was all about either and how it was a gift of healing from God. The word Sabbath in Hebrew means the seventh. It was a consciousness that whatever was "the seventh" conveyed an energy of a time designated for repose and rest and rejuvenation. Every seventh year, fields were not to be tilled. They were given a year of rest. In Jewish law, the seventh day of the week was a day no one was allowed to do any work.
The Sabbath is a day of the week in certain religious practices, i.e. Saturday is recognized as a Sabbath day, and Sunday is also recognized as a Sabbath day. That is an abundant spiritual practice; however, for me I came to recognize that the Sabbath is the conscious choice of giving up constantly being in a doing/getting something done consciousness and entering into a stillness of being with God. It is a time to place ourselves in the lap of the divine and rest.
I remember in my childhood of growing up on a farm, my Mom and Dad both honored Sunday as the Sabbath. It was a day of going to church, coming home and sharing a special meal (there were certain foods that were for Sunday dinners only). Sunday was a day of resting. Life was lived at a slower pace on Sundays. I grew up when the Blue Laws were enforced. There was absolutely no shopping on Sundays. I remember many conversations in my home that the world was going to you know where because of having stores open on Sunday.
In a way my folks were right, we are experiencing Sabbath Deficiency Syndrome. We are lacking the goodness and healing we receive from stopping all the constant action and take regular intervals of rest. The Sabbath is about letting go and let ourselves fall into the arms of the divine. I think this is why I love Psalm 91 so much. It is a message that says if we place ourselves under God's wing, God will take care of everything. Words of Psalm 91 convey the message: God is my refuge; in God I trust. However, when I keep on doing everything from sunup to sundown, I am not embodying my belief in those words.
I do recognize that times change; however, I have been thinking to myself recently what a terrific idea God had in creating day and night and having the sun as the light during the day to support activities and having darkness at night in order to support rest and going to sleep so our bodies can rejuvenate. I am giving myslf the gift of going to bed earlier.
And an equally abundant idea is this idea of the Sabbath; a consciousness where we stop the doinginess and be with God. I have taken my appointment calendar this year and given myself Sabbath days;days of rest and rejuventation. I have to be truthful, some months I have really accomplished this and feel so happy about the healing in my life and some months I have resorted to old habits of being the bunny with the drum and I keep on drumming.
I also asked myself how I could give my physical body a rest, and I am doing days of fasting so my body isn't constantly having to be doing the bodily functions of digesting and eliminating. Some of you may know I was a pretty sick puppy the month of June from an on-going bout of bronchitis. Bronchitis affects the air passages of the lungs. I truly believe my body was telling me that I was sending air out through my service and healing activities, but I wasn't stopping and being still and letting air back in which would be a healing to me.
I have also given my mental and emotional bodies a Sabbath healing,too, by unplugging from newspapers and the television and computer news. I found that mentally and emotionally I was responding to all of the news and my body was constantly "doing responses" to where was Michael Jackson's body, who would be Michael Jackson's children's guardian, and how could Tony the football star dump Jessica the singer star via email the day before her birthday.
I am striving to find a balance of living in this world and still staying conscious I am not of this world. My world or reality is one of striving to achieve the balance of going out in the world and doing work and service for God and being a blessing, and then keep my own life in healthy balance by having an equal amount of time to rest and rejuvenate myself and be blessed by being still.
Love in Abundance, Jayne
I can remember when I was a little girl and I wanted to go outside and play in new fallen snow, my mother would have to repeatedly remark to me to stand still while she was attempting to get a snowsuit on me or some sort of protective clothing.
Over the years, I have come to realize that standing still is something that my brain has a hard time computing. I do not do standing still well. Additionally, I have come to recognize that standing still is a very powerful form of healing.
In the Bible in Psalm 46:10, we read the words, "Be still and know that I am God".
The first spiritual divination tool I was introduced to by the angels was the Runes. I was inspired by the angels to create my own set of Runes made from broken pieces of sand dollars that I had collected at the beach. To this day it is my own personal belief that the Runes are one of the most intimate and personal of all divination tools.
There is a Rune that is called Isa. Of the 25 Runes it is No. 23. The Rune Isa looks like a lower case letter l. It is a single straight vertical line. It is a messenger of standing still; being patient. I always look at this Rune as the icicle Rune. It is filled with the power of the element of water. It has all the energy of a rainfall, waterfalls, an ocean; yet it is in a frozen or standing still state.
Sometimes in the past, when I had a question and wanted to know what I was to do, I would use the Runes and Isa sometimes appeared. I remember thinking, "Oh great, I am to do nothing." I really didn't like drawing that rune. The are many times I want to be flowing like a river and the Divine sends me a message that I need to stand still with the energy. Spirit tells me to chill out like an icicle.
Since the beginning of the year I have received inspirations from the angels as to the importance of rest in my life. There's so much change going on that it is overwhelming at times and it can be exhausting. In order to be nurturing to ourselves, we need to give ourselves permission to rest, pause, take naps, relax, chill out.
A good friend of mine gifted me a book by Macrina Wiederkehr: Seven Sacred Pauses - Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day. "Wiederhekr helps readers ...devote themselves to pausing - whether once a day or more frequently - the wisdom of living in the here and now and moving more harmoniously with the rhythm of day and night." The book is "an invitation to pause, pray, and live in tune with the spirit of each hour." I am certain that my angel team whispered to my girlfriend, "Give Jayne this book on sacred pauses; she needs the healing of the pause in her life."
I love anything that is connected with spiritual devotions aligned to the hours of the day. I recently attended a symposium at the Walters Art Gallery that was a gathering of brilliant researchers on the Book of Hours. However, I came to realize that I was reading and researching about the calling to pause; I just wasn't living it. I laughed at myself when I again looked at the title of the book: Seven Sacred Pauses. I wasn't allowing myself one pause let alone seven.
In contemplating how to help heal myself through pausing, resting, standing still I came to recognize how serious an imbalance this is in my life. Even though the sun sets at the end of each day, I wasn't. I'm the energizer bunny that keeps on going.I want to be constantly beating on that drum.
The angels were encouraging me to balance my life by taking a sabbatical or going on a retreat. For my solar return chart my Sun is in the 12th house. The 12th house is the house of giving oneself the gift of being invisible at times. The word sabbatical means to give rest at regular intervals.
I came to recognize I didn't understand what the Sabbath was all about either and how it was a gift of healing from God. The word Sabbath in Hebrew means the seventh. It was a consciousness that whatever was "the seventh" conveyed an energy of a time designated for repose and rest and rejuvenation. Every seventh year, fields were not to be tilled. They were given a year of rest. In Jewish law, the seventh day of the week was a day no one was allowed to do any work.
The Sabbath is a day of the week in certain religious practices, i.e. Saturday is recognized as a Sabbath day, and Sunday is also recognized as a Sabbath day. That is an abundant spiritual practice; however, for me I came to recognize that the Sabbath is the conscious choice of giving up constantly being in a doing/getting something done consciousness and entering into a stillness of being with God. It is a time to place ourselves in the lap of the divine and rest.
I remember in my childhood of growing up on a farm, my Mom and Dad both honored Sunday as the Sabbath. It was a day of going to church, coming home and sharing a special meal (there were certain foods that were for Sunday dinners only). Sunday was a day of resting. Life was lived at a slower pace on Sundays. I grew up when the Blue Laws were enforced. There was absolutely no shopping on Sundays. I remember many conversations in my home that the world was going to you know where because of having stores open on Sunday.
In a way my folks were right, we are experiencing Sabbath Deficiency Syndrome. We are lacking the goodness and healing we receive from stopping all the constant action and take regular intervals of rest. The Sabbath is about letting go and let ourselves fall into the arms of the divine. I think this is why I love Psalm 91 so much. It is a message that says if we place ourselves under God's wing, God will take care of everything. Words of Psalm 91 convey the message: God is my refuge; in God I trust. However, when I keep on doing everything from sunup to sundown, I am not embodying my belief in those words.
I do recognize that times change; however, I have been thinking to myself recently what a terrific idea God had in creating day and night and having the sun as the light during the day to support activities and having darkness at night in order to support rest and going to sleep so our bodies can rejuvenate. I am giving myslf the gift of going to bed earlier.
And an equally abundant idea is this idea of the Sabbath; a consciousness where we stop the doinginess and be with God. I have taken my appointment calendar this year and given myself Sabbath days;days of rest and rejuventation. I have to be truthful, some months I have really accomplished this and feel so happy about the healing in my life and some months I have resorted to old habits of being the bunny with the drum and I keep on drumming.
I also asked myself how I could give my physical body a rest, and I am doing days of fasting so my body isn't constantly having to be doing the bodily functions of digesting and eliminating. Some of you may know I was a pretty sick puppy the month of June from an on-going bout of bronchitis. Bronchitis affects the air passages of the lungs. I truly believe my body was telling me that I was sending air out through my service and healing activities, but I wasn't stopping and being still and letting air back in which would be a healing to me.
I have also given my mental and emotional bodies a Sabbath healing,too, by unplugging from newspapers and the television and computer news. I found that mentally and emotionally I was responding to all of the news and my body was constantly "doing responses" to where was Michael Jackson's body, who would be Michael Jackson's children's guardian, and how could Tony the football star dump Jessica the singer star via email the day before her birthday.
I am striving to find a balance of living in this world and still staying conscious I am not of this world. My world or reality is one of striving to achieve the balance of going out in the world and doing work and service for God and being a blessing, and then keep my own life in healthy balance by having an equal amount of time to rest and rejuvenate myself and be blessed by being still.
Love in Abundance, Jayne
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
JUST KEEP LOVING
Dear Angelic Blog Buddies:
On the morning of Tuesday, June 30th, my husband, Chuck called from our kitchen for me to come downstairs immediately. He said I needed to come quickly as something was terribly wrong with our 19-year old Jack Russell Benny. I flew down the stairway to the kitchen to find Benny in the midst of a grand seizure. His entire body was quaking and he was breathing intensely. He does take daily preventive seizure medicine and I gave him an additional pill in an attempt to help calm his little body. His body slowly returned to a state of calmness, but because of the seizure he was now experiencing the loss of his back legs. It was very sad watching his inability to get himself up. He repeatedly struggled to stand up, but couldn't.
We called the vet immediately and made an appointment to take him in as soon as possible to determine what was taking place. The appointment was in the afternoon.I sat with Benny in the morning and just couldn't stop crying thinking about what the prospect might be. I would carry him outside, and once again he would try to stand up on his own, but just couldn't.
Additionally, I was dealing with the emotions of knowing that on this same date - June 30th, two years ago in 2007 - my precious Jack Russell Jackie had gone home to God.
Prior to heading out to the vet, Benny started to slowly regain a little energy in his back legs. I scooped him up in my arms and Chuck drove us to the vet's office. As we were getting Benny situated in the back seat of the car, our 13 year-old Jack Russell female, Riot was watching us and thinking this was an ice cream run. As Riot is the Queen of our house and runs the place, she wasn't about to be left behind, so she jumped in the car and refused to get out. It becomes a game with Riot as she leaps from the front to the back of the car, always out of our reach. She won the game.
So Chuck was the driver with Benny, Riot and Jayne as his passengers in the back seat. (We left our three-year old Jack Russell, Pinky at home).
The vet did all types of tests including the test where Benny's legs were "thumped" with a teeny, tiny medical tool (just like the one used on humans to test reflexes- only a fairy size thumper). Benny's reflexes and responses were excellent. When the vet put Benny's legs in an incorrect position, Benny reoriented them in the correct position.
All types of tests were done and blood work was taken and the next day the results came back. I received a personal phone call from the vet. The vet told me how amazed she was with the results because Benny is 19 years old. She just couldn't get over the results. She stated that quite frankly, Benny's condition is miraculous. Benny's heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, red blood count - everything is in abundant good condition; in fact, downright unbelievable for a 19 year old dog. There were no large growths or tumors. Granted, Benny is almost totally blind because of cataracts and is very hard of hearing, but he's a walking miracle.
Even the medications Benny has been taken for seizures have had no negative impact on his organs. The vet indicated that if there was a grand seizure like the one the day prior, we would be able to give Benny an extra dosage of the medication as I had done. The vet felt that Benny's seizure just triggered old-age arthritis and that Benny's body (within the last 24 hours) worked the pain in the joints out to where he was now up and about again. What we were dealing with was arthritis and periodic seizures.
The vet concluded the assessment of Benny's health by giving me the following medical advice:
Just keeping on loving Benny the way you have been loving him.
I am sharing this with you, because sometimes life is downright overwhelming, stressful, zany, crazy,harsh,and unpredictable. Sometimes we just don't know what to do or how to handle what comes our way. I found such a comfort in the vet's words in how to care for Benny. It reminded me that when we are hanging on by a thread (which seems lately to be every day), to simply remember to just keep on loving. Loving God, loving ourselves, our pets, our families and friends. Just keep on loving.
Over the past week I have heard two quotations that I really love. The first is:
Meaning is not something you find;
Meaning is something that you give.
From the recent Benny Goes to the Vet experience, I recognize that the meaning I am striving to give to everything in my life is love.
The second quotation was stated last evening by a woman in an astrology class I attend. She said in so many words that OM/AUM is the primordial sound for this life and then said, "Imagine what the sound will be for the next life."
I love that inspiration because it stretches our mind to think about the evolution of sound. Imagine the sound for the next life or next expanded consciousness/reality or dimension of existance that we will encounter and experience. What comes to mind when you think about sound in the future?
Well, I thought about that. I thought of how the sound would be for me in some way equated with the continuation of love. Just as the vet's words inspired me, I was inspired in thinking that sounds of the future would be a way to keep on loving. And then I contemplated sound that keeps the love flowing for me.
Whenever Chuck and I go out to runs errands without the dogs with us and return home, as we are unlocking the house door, the most joyous sound to me is the distinctive barking of 3 Jack Russells. Benny, Riot and Pinky each have their own happy bark when we return home to them. It is so comforting to hear all 3 of them because I know in that instant that all 3 of them are a.ok. With the acapella barking, my heart overflows with love and joy. The acapella happy barks keeps the love flowing.
For Julie Andrews, maybe it's the hills that come alive with the sound of music. For Chuck and Jayne, it's our house and our hearts that come alive with the sound of barking of 3 Jack Russells welcoming us home.
Our pets truly are angels with fur. I think if any of you who are goofy like me about your pets, could have a choice between hearing a concert of a Celestial Choir or hear the purring or barking of a beloved pet in heaven, it would be a no-brainer on what we would choose. You can keep the Hallelujah Chorus. As for me, I want to be reunited with the Happy-lu-jah sounds of my beloved pets.
Just keep on loving.
Love to all, Jayne
On the morning of Tuesday, June 30th, my husband, Chuck called from our kitchen for me to come downstairs immediately. He said I needed to come quickly as something was terribly wrong with our 19-year old Jack Russell Benny. I flew down the stairway to the kitchen to find Benny in the midst of a grand seizure. His entire body was quaking and he was breathing intensely. He does take daily preventive seizure medicine and I gave him an additional pill in an attempt to help calm his little body. His body slowly returned to a state of calmness, but because of the seizure he was now experiencing the loss of his back legs. It was very sad watching his inability to get himself up. He repeatedly struggled to stand up, but couldn't.
We called the vet immediately and made an appointment to take him in as soon as possible to determine what was taking place. The appointment was in the afternoon.I sat with Benny in the morning and just couldn't stop crying thinking about what the prospect might be. I would carry him outside, and once again he would try to stand up on his own, but just couldn't.
Additionally, I was dealing with the emotions of knowing that on this same date - June 30th, two years ago in 2007 - my precious Jack Russell Jackie had gone home to God.
Prior to heading out to the vet, Benny started to slowly regain a little energy in his back legs. I scooped him up in my arms and Chuck drove us to the vet's office. As we were getting Benny situated in the back seat of the car, our 13 year-old Jack Russell female, Riot was watching us and thinking this was an ice cream run. As Riot is the Queen of our house and runs the place, she wasn't about to be left behind, so she jumped in the car and refused to get out. It becomes a game with Riot as she leaps from the front to the back of the car, always out of our reach. She won the game.
So Chuck was the driver with Benny, Riot and Jayne as his passengers in the back seat. (We left our three-year old Jack Russell, Pinky at home).
The vet did all types of tests including the test where Benny's legs were "thumped" with a teeny, tiny medical tool (just like the one used on humans to test reflexes- only a fairy size thumper). Benny's reflexes and responses were excellent. When the vet put Benny's legs in an incorrect position, Benny reoriented them in the correct position.
All types of tests were done and blood work was taken and the next day the results came back. I received a personal phone call from the vet. The vet told me how amazed she was with the results because Benny is 19 years old. She just couldn't get over the results. She stated that quite frankly, Benny's condition is miraculous. Benny's heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, red blood count - everything is in abundant good condition; in fact, downright unbelievable for a 19 year old dog. There were no large growths or tumors. Granted, Benny is almost totally blind because of cataracts and is very hard of hearing, but he's a walking miracle.
Even the medications Benny has been taken for seizures have had no negative impact on his organs. The vet indicated that if there was a grand seizure like the one the day prior, we would be able to give Benny an extra dosage of the medication as I had done. The vet felt that Benny's seizure just triggered old-age arthritis and that Benny's body (within the last 24 hours) worked the pain in the joints out to where he was now up and about again. What we were dealing with was arthritis and periodic seizures.
The vet concluded the assessment of Benny's health by giving me the following medical advice:
Just keeping on loving Benny the way you have been loving him.
I am sharing this with you, because sometimes life is downright overwhelming, stressful, zany, crazy,harsh,and unpredictable. Sometimes we just don't know what to do or how to handle what comes our way. I found such a comfort in the vet's words in how to care for Benny. It reminded me that when we are hanging on by a thread (which seems lately to be every day), to simply remember to just keep on loving. Loving God, loving ourselves, our pets, our families and friends. Just keep on loving.
Over the past week I have heard two quotations that I really love. The first is:
Meaning is not something you find;
Meaning is something that you give.
From the recent Benny Goes to the Vet experience, I recognize that the meaning I am striving to give to everything in my life is love.
The second quotation was stated last evening by a woman in an astrology class I attend. She said in so many words that OM/AUM is the primordial sound for this life and then said, "Imagine what the sound will be for the next life."
I love that inspiration because it stretches our mind to think about the evolution of sound. Imagine the sound for the next life or next expanded consciousness/reality or dimension of existance that we will encounter and experience. What comes to mind when you think about sound in the future?
Well, I thought about that. I thought of how the sound would be for me in some way equated with the continuation of love. Just as the vet's words inspired me, I was inspired in thinking that sounds of the future would be a way to keep on loving. And then I contemplated sound that keeps the love flowing for me.
Whenever Chuck and I go out to runs errands without the dogs with us and return home, as we are unlocking the house door, the most joyous sound to me is the distinctive barking of 3 Jack Russells. Benny, Riot and Pinky each have their own happy bark when we return home to them. It is so comforting to hear all 3 of them because I know in that instant that all 3 of them are a.ok. With the acapella barking, my heart overflows with love and joy. The acapella happy barks keeps the love flowing.
For Julie Andrews, maybe it's the hills that come alive with the sound of music. For Chuck and Jayne, it's our house and our hearts that come alive with the sound of barking of 3 Jack Russells welcoming us home.
Our pets truly are angels with fur. I think if any of you who are goofy like me about your pets, could have a choice between hearing a concert of a Celestial Choir or hear the purring or barking of a beloved pet in heaven, it would be a no-brainer on what we would choose. You can keep the Hallelujah Chorus. As for me, I want to be reunited with the Happy-lu-jah sounds of my beloved pets.
Just keep on loving.
Love to all, Jayne
Sunday, July 5, 2009
SPIRITUAL TOOLS
Dear Beautiful Blog Friends:
For the past two years I have been facilitating a monthly angelic message circle known as the IN THE LOOP group. We gather together the first Thursday night of each month via the telephone in a teleconference room. It has been a healing, blessing and enlightenment experience where earth angels and heavenly angels commune together. There are approximately 30 people from all across the USA who registered for this year's experience which will end next month. Each of the participants receives a personal message of upliftment and inspiration from the angels.
Prior to each teleclass gathering, I am inspired by the angels to sit at the computer and I become an scribe for the angels and bring a message to each person.
For the month of July it was getting pretty close to the time of the class on the first Thursday of the new month, and I had not been given the signal from the angels to sit down and take dictation. Needless to say, my spiritual self is trusting and obedient; however, my ego was starting to do a little dance called: The Freakout.
The morning of the actual teleclass, I was awoken by the angels and told to gather together all the decks of spiritual divination cards that I have purchased over the years. From the many decks that I brought together from the four corners of our home into my office, I was then inspired by the angels as to which spiritual deck was to be used for each of the IN THE LOOP members. A unique deck was chosen for each member of the sacred circle. Once the deck was chosen for each person, I was given a mini angel reading of 3 cards by the angels.
I am sharing this experience with you in my blog for a couple of reasons. The first is that I think that many of you reading this blog probably are like me and have a lot of decks or sets of spiritual divination cards. It was really wonderful revisiting them. In fact, it was downright joyful. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the artwork of the decks of cards; some of which I had totally forgotten about. It felt like a reunion experience with some dear friends from the past.
There are saints, crystal deva, mermaids, dolphins, Mayan, Toltec, fairy, tree, flowers, animal spirit,crystal skull, Runes,inner child, ally, dream, Celtic, sweet dreams/bedtime, tantric, goddess, crone, Avalon tarot, DaVinci tarot, alchemical tarot, templar tarot, kabbalah, I Ching card decks. There are Karma Angels, Angelic Messenger, Kabbalah Angels, Angel Blessings, Archangel Oracle, Angels, Gods and Goddesses, and my own SPIRITUALS deck - and this is just to name a few of the many, many decks and sets of spiritual divination cards on the planet.
Hallmark and the American Greeting companies have nothing on any one of us. We communicate with cards. I am honoring you as I write this blog to you for keeping the lines of communication with spirit open through the use of divination cards. There are times in all of our lives where we feel blocked and stagnate and we think we aren't hearing the divine. And even in those times of frustration, we have reached for a deck and drawn a card to inspire us on our path. We have invested in our spiritual growth through purchasing spiritual divination tools that envelop us in the beauty of the art and the inspiration of the messages.
We have listened with the ears of our heart to spirit through the inspirational cards that we keep near us on our nightstands. We have them in our cars. We keep them close to us on our desks, in our briefcases and pocketbooks. And some decks can be found on kitchen counters so we can take a card from a blessing bowl in the center of the kitchen table as we head out the door to work. We grab a piece of fruit for nourishing our body and a spiritual message card to nourish our soul.
We keep them in velvet or silk pouches or wooden boxes. I was as amazed as to the containers that I have chosen for the decks of cards as I was in remembering the decks. I delighted in being reminded that throughout the years I have been drawn to use items such as little girls' purses as sacred card containers.
Years ago during my angel lectures, I would take a deck of my SPIRITUALS and pass the deck around the audience at the beginning of my presentation. I asked everyone to draw one card and read the message and then put the card back into the deck as the angels might want someone else to read that same card as a message. I was speaking to a large audience and as the cards made their way to the back of the room, a gentleman spoke up and said, "Jayne, I don't think you have a full deck." That was one of the funniest moments ever. I responded by saying, "Sir, I hope that isn't a message you are channeling from spirit, but rather telling me about the status of the deck of SPIRITUALS.
I am sharing with you the 3 questions that I was asked by the angels to use in the
3-card reading so that if you are inspired to do so, you will get out a deck of cards you haven't used for awhile and have a reunion experience, too.
The questions are connected to Matthew 7:7 - Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and the door shall be opened.
1. Ask for a message from your I AM Presence with the first card drawn. The first card is a blessing to help you know yourself as your I AM Presence.
2. Seek to find your Divine Identity through the second card drawn. The second card will bring a blessing of an activity you can do to be closer to your divine identity.
3. Knock and the door of opportunity shall be opened to you. The third card drawn will reveal information about this door of opportunity that will be presenting itself to you shortly.
Here's wishing each and every one of you blessings of uplifting and inspired divine dialogue with your spiritual divination cards.
Love in abundance, Jayne
For the past two years I have been facilitating a monthly angelic message circle known as the IN THE LOOP group. We gather together the first Thursday night of each month via the telephone in a teleconference room. It has been a healing, blessing and enlightenment experience where earth angels and heavenly angels commune together. There are approximately 30 people from all across the USA who registered for this year's experience which will end next month. Each of the participants receives a personal message of upliftment and inspiration from the angels.
Prior to each teleclass gathering, I am inspired by the angels to sit at the computer and I become an scribe for the angels and bring a message to each person.
For the month of July it was getting pretty close to the time of the class on the first Thursday of the new month, and I had not been given the signal from the angels to sit down and take dictation. Needless to say, my spiritual self is trusting and obedient; however, my ego was starting to do a little dance called: The Freakout.
The morning of the actual teleclass, I was awoken by the angels and told to gather together all the decks of spiritual divination cards that I have purchased over the years. From the many decks that I brought together from the four corners of our home into my office, I was then inspired by the angels as to which spiritual deck was to be used for each of the IN THE LOOP members. A unique deck was chosen for each member of the sacred circle. Once the deck was chosen for each person, I was given a mini angel reading of 3 cards by the angels.
I am sharing this experience with you in my blog for a couple of reasons. The first is that I think that many of you reading this blog probably are like me and have a lot of decks or sets of spiritual divination cards. It was really wonderful revisiting them. In fact, it was downright joyful. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the artwork of the decks of cards; some of which I had totally forgotten about. It felt like a reunion experience with some dear friends from the past.
There are saints, crystal deva, mermaids, dolphins, Mayan, Toltec, fairy, tree, flowers, animal spirit,crystal skull, Runes,inner child, ally, dream, Celtic, sweet dreams/bedtime, tantric, goddess, crone, Avalon tarot, DaVinci tarot, alchemical tarot, templar tarot, kabbalah, I Ching card decks. There are Karma Angels, Angelic Messenger, Kabbalah Angels, Angel Blessings, Archangel Oracle, Angels, Gods and Goddesses, and my own SPIRITUALS deck - and this is just to name a few of the many, many decks and sets of spiritual divination cards on the planet.
Hallmark and the American Greeting companies have nothing on any one of us. We communicate with cards. I am honoring you as I write this blog to you for keeping the lines of communication with spirit open through the use of divination cards. There are times in all of our lives where we feel blocked and stagnate and we think we aren't hearing the divine. And even in those times of frustration, we have reached for a deck and drawn a card to inspire us on our path. We have invested in our spiritual growth through purchasing spiritual divination tools that envelop us in the beauty of the art and the inspiration of the messages.
We have listened with the ears of our heart to spirit through the inspirational cards that we keep near us on our nightstands. We have them in our cars. We keep them close to us on our desks, in our briefcases and pocketbooks. And some decks can be found on kitchen counters so we can take a card from a blessing bowl in the center of the kitchen table as we head out the door to work. We grab a piece of fruit for nourishing our body and a spiritual message card to nourish our soul.
We keep them in velvet or silk pouches or wooden boxes. I was as amazed as to the containers that I have chosen for the decks of cards as I was in remembering the decks. I delighted in being reminded that throughout the years I have been drawn to use items such as little girls' purses as sacred card containers.
Years ago during my angel lectures, I would take a deck of my SPIRITUALS and pass the deck around the audience at the beginning of my presentation. I asked everyone to draw one card and read the message and then put the card back into the deck as the angels might want someone else to read that same card as a message. I was speaking to a large audience and as the cards made their way to the back of the room, a gentleman spoke up and said, "Jayne, I don't think you have a full deck." That was one of the funniest moments ever. I responded by saying, "Sir, I hope that isn't a message you are channeling from spirit, but rather telling me about the status of the deck of SPIRITUALS.
I am sharing with you the 3 questions that I was asked by the angels to use in the
3-card reading so that if you are inspired to do so, you will get out a deck of cards you haven't used for awhile and have a reunion experience, too.
The questions are connected to Matthew 7:7 - Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and the door shall be opened.
1. Ask for a message from your I AM Presence with the first card drawn. The first card is a blessing to help you know yourself as your I AM Presence.
2. Seek to find your Divine Identity through the second card drawn. The second card will bring a blessing of an activity you can do to be closer to your divine identity.
3. Knock and the door of opportunity shall be opened to you. The third card drawn will reveal information about this door of opportunity that will be presenting itself to you shortly.
Here's wishing each and every one of you blessings of uplifting and inspired divine dialogue with your spiritual divination cards.
Love in abundance, Jayne
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Healing Energies of Completion
Have you ever had so many irons in the fire, or juggling so many balls in the air at the same time, that you felt if you completed something - anything - it would be a major healing to your soul? Well, I've been feeling that way lately and decided to take a closer look at the healing energies of completion and accomplishing the experience of completion (even if on a small scale) in my life.
Completion originates with the Latin word: com (thoroughly) plere (to fill). When something is complete it is wholly finished. When we complete something, we accomplish the task. Jesus shared in his final statements made while on the cross the powerful words, "It is finished."
I encourage you to take a look at whatever needs to be completed in your life. I took a walk around our home with the Feng Shui Angels and took an inventory of what tasks were calling out and saying to me "finish me" or radiating an "incomplete" energy. I decided I would be totally honest with myself and get real on whether or not I even still wanted to complete some of the creative projects I had started.
Completion can occur by realizing you no longer want to finish the project and you liberate yourself from the weight of feeling incomplete about it. In short, you outgrew the idea. If you were a child, you wouldn't be trying to fit into a piece of clothing that you had outgrown. You would accept, "This doesn't fit me any longer" - and be done with it.
Some activities may speak to you that you still want to do them. I encourage you to make time to do the project or decide upon a time schedule for the project. Now, it may be a project that requires money to finish the task. If that is the case, then set up in your budget a column for putting a few dollars away, whenever possible, for the accomplishment of this project. A lot of times we put the pressure of waiting for a windfall to come our way in order to get tasks completed. Live life with ease and grace by setting aside a few dollars at a time and little by little the dollars will grow into the amount that is needed. In this way, you are moving towards completion by directing money (energy) to be saved towards the completion.
In Native American rituals the spiritual energies of the four directions (north, south, east and west) are honored and invoked in ceremonies. Infinite spirit/Great Spirit is honored as all energies originate from Creator, i.e. the mind of God.
When we find ourselves scattered in all directions, we can do a healing by bringing ourselves into one-mindedness. One-mindedness keeps us on our spiritual path. The one-mindedness thought I am suggesting is completion. A simple healing is to ask yourself: What task can I complete today?
The angels encourage us not to get caught in the "fret net". Fret comes from an Old English word (fretan) that means to devour. When we worry about things, we are literally allowing the worry to consume us or devour our energy. The healing is to refocus fretting energies to active completion energies. I encourage everyone to not only: Don't worry, be happy; but also - Don't worry, be busy completing what needs to get done or completed in your life. Nike has a slogan: Just do it.
We are being called to look at projects we can wrap up. Are there any cleaning projects in your home that you want to tackle and finish. Letting go of things that are no longer useful or purposeful or working is an act of completion. All of us know how great it feels when we can step back and say to ourselves, "I did it; it's finished; the job is completed." A powerful healing is experienced in completion.
This is a month of activity, i.e. the activity of completing. Complete:
Reading a book you started reading. Making phone calls you need to make. Writing letters you need to write. Cleaning out closets that need to be straightened up. Wrapping up loose ends in a nice bow and saying to yourself, "There, that's done. I completed that task."
All such projects require making time to complete the tasks. Pay attention to how you allow what was going to be a few minutes on the computer or watching TV to expand into lost time, i.e. where did the time go?
Be a time master this month. Sometimes, I look at the clock and make a note to myself of the time and then inspire myself to work for the next 15 minutes as focused as I can be on whatever project is at hand. Start the day spending a few moments thinking about what you plan to complete. Honor yourself at the end of the day by reflecting upon what was accomplished.
I recently read in the book Secrets of Simplicity by Mary Carlomagno that procrastination has a domino effect. It not only impacts what isn't being completed, but is taking energy away from something that is waiting to be started anew. The new cannot start because the unfinished it still taking up space. Completion is the act of closing old doors so that new doors can open.
In 1994, I remember when Archangel Michael inspired me to leave my job in order to work full time for the company of angels. I was hesitate because of fear of the unknown. What truly was the angelic motivation (or angelic kick in the butt) was when Michael said that there was someone who was waiting for me to get up out of the chair of the old job, so they could replace me. Michael said I would be quickly replaced and it would be a financial healing to the new employee. And he was right. I was replaced in less than a day and the woman even told me what a blessing the job was to her. I had to be the one who recognized I was complete in that job and needed to move forward. And when I resigned I said to my former employer, "I am leaving for no other reason than it is time to do so." It was time to close one chapter of my life and open the pages to a new chapter serving God in cooperation with the angels.
Another thought I loved in the book Secrets of Simplicity is the teaching that sacrifice comes from a place of powerful decision making. Deprivation comes from powerlessness. Embrace the power to choose what you are willing to sacrifice.
We may have to choose to make sacrifices in order to complete what needs to be finished but we are choosing to do what needs to be done. The fact that we are the ones making the decision empowers us.
Sometimes we feel that when we are completing chores, we are having to sacrifice fun time. I am sharing Mary's thought about sacrifice as it conveys that by choosing to sacrifice the time for play in order to complete chores, we are being powerful individuals and making positive decisions that support our spiritual growth.
The angels are emphasizing in a big way that completion is important as it brings healing to our lives. Before you leave any meetings, pause and ask yourself if you are complete in any assignments you were given as a result of the meeting, i.e. do you feel complete in knowing what is expected of you? I know we have all had experiences from attending meetings where we feel that we are more confused after the meeting than when we went into the meeting.
Another form of completion is being able to say no. When someone asks you something, and you definitely are not going to do it, say no. This completes the exchange and you have closed the door on you being the answer the person was seeking, and the person can go forward and find the answer another way.
When we are truthful with our no's, the space is created for the yes's that are attuned to the highest good for all involved.
Love in abundance, Jayne
Completion originates with the Latin word: com (thoroughly) plere (to fill). When something is complete it is wholly finished. When we complete something, we accomplish the task. Jesus shared in his final statements made while on the cross the powerful words, "It is finished."
I encourage you to take a look at whatever needs to be completed in your life. I took a walk around our home with the Feng Shui Angels and took an inventory of what tasks were calling out and saying to me "finish me" or radiating an "incomplete" energy. I decided I would be totally honest with myself and get real on whether or not I even still wanted to complete some of the creative projects I had started.
Completion can occur by realizing you no longer want to finish the project and you liberate yourself from the weight of feeling incomplete about it. In short, you outgrew the idea. If you were a child, you wouldn't be trying to fit into a piece of clothing that you had outgrown. You would accept, "This doesn't fit me any longer" - and be done with it.
Some activities may speak to you that you still want to do them. I encourage you to make time to do the project or decide upon a time schedule for the project. Now, it may be a project that requires money to finish the task. If that is the case, then set up in your budget a column for putting a few dollars away, whenever possible, for the accomplishment of this project. A lot of times we put the pressure of waiting for a windfall to come our way in order to get tasks completed. Live life with ease and grace by setting aside a few dollars at a time and little by little the dollars will grow into the amount that is needed. In this way, you are moving towards completion by directing money (energy) to be saved towards the completion.
In Native American rituals the spiritual energies of the four directions (north, south, east and west) are honored and invoked in ceremonies. Infinite spirit/Great Spirit is honored as all energies originate from Creator, i.e. the mind of God.
When we find ourselves scattered in all directions, we can do a healing by bringing ourselves into one-mindedness. One-mindedness keeps us on our spiritual path. The one-mindedness thought I am suggesting is completion. A simple healing is to ask yourself: What task can I complete today?
The angels encourage us not to get caught in the "fret net". Fret comes from an Old English word (fretan) that means to devour. When we worry about things, we are literally allowing the worry to consume us or devour our energy. The healing is to refocus fretting energies to active completion energies. I encourage everyone to not only: Don't worry, be happy; but also - Don't worry, be busy completing what needs to get done or completed in your life. Nike has a slogan: Just do it.
We are being called to look at projects we can wrap up. Are there any cleaning projects in your home that you want to tackle and finish. Letting go of things that are no longer useful or purposeful or working is an act of completion. All of us know how great it feels when we can step back and say to ourselves, "I did it; it's finished; the job is completed." A powerful healing is experienced in completion.
This is a month of activity, i.e. the activity of completing. Complete:
Reading a book you started reading. Making phone calls you need to make. Writing letters you need to write. Cleaning out closets that need to be straightened up. Wrapping up loose ends in a nice bow and saying to yourself, "There, that's done. I completed that task."
All such projects require making time to complete the tasks. Pay attention to how you allow what was going to be a few minutes on the computer or watching TV to expand into lost time, i.e. where did the time go?
Be a time master this month. Sometimes, I look at the clock and make a note to myself of the time and then inspire myself to work for the next 15 minutes as focused as I can be on whatever project is at hand. Start the day spending a few moments thinking about what you plan to complete. Honor yourself at the end of the day by reflecting upon what was accomplished.
I recently read in the book Secrets of Simplicity by Mary Carlomagno that procrastination has a domino effect. It not only impacts what isn't being completed, but is taking energy away from something that is waiting to be started anew. The new cannot start because the unfinished it still taking up space. Completion is the act of closing old doors so that new doors can open.
In 1994, I remember when Archangel Michael inspired me to leave my job in order to work full time for the company of angels. I was hesitate because of fear of the unknown. What truly was the angelic motivation (or angelic kick in the butt) was when Michael said that there was someone who was waiting for me to get up out of the chair of the old job, so they could replace me. Michael said I would be quickly replaced and it would be a financial healing to the new employee. And he was right. I was replaced in less than a day and the woman even told me what a blessing the job was to her. I had to be the one who recognized I was complete in that job and needed to move forward. And when I resigned I said to my former employer, "I am leaving for no other reason than it is time to do so." It was time to close one chapter of my life and open the pages to a new chapter serving God in cooperation with the angels.
Another thought I loved in the book Secrets of Simplicity is the teaching that sacrifice comes from a place of powerful decision making. Deprivation comes from powerlessness. Embrace the power to choose what you are willing to sacrifice.
We may have to choose to make sacrifices in order to complete what needs to be finished but we are choosing to do what needs to be done. The fact that we are the ones making the decision empowers us.
Sometimes we feel that when we are completing chores, we are having to sacrifice fun time. I am sharing Mary's thought about sacrifice as it conveys that by choosing to sacrifice the time for play in order to complete chores, we are being powerful individuals and making positive decisions that support our spiritual growth.
The angels are emphasizing in a big way that completion is important as it brings healing to our lives. Before you leave any meetings, pause and ask yourself if you are complete in any assignments you were given as a result of the meeting, i.e. do you feel complete in knowing what is expected of you? I know we have all had experiences from attending meetings where we feel that we are more confused after the meeting than when we went into the meeting.
Another form of completion is being able to say no. When someone asks you something, and you definitely are not going to do it, say no. This completes the exchange and you have closed the door on you being the answer the person was seeking, and the person can go forward and find the answer another way.
When we are truthful with our no's, the space is created for the yes's that are attuned to the highest good for all involved.
Love in abundance, Jayne
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Pollen Path
On June 6,1989 my first husband, after 18 years of marriage, informed me that he was starting a new life without me. He stated that he would be moving out on June 30th. Needless to say, it was like an atom bomb had been dropped on my world. I am eternally grateful for God's support, guidance and strength and for the inspirations given to me by the angels in helping me put one foot in front of the other and move forward in my life. One of the angels' inspirations was to register for a week-long herbalist class held on a mountaintop in Vermont.
The class took place only a month or so after my husband's departure, so I was pretty much a shell-shocked woman. I flew to Vermont and my suitcase which departed with me in Baltimore didn't arrive with me in Montpelier. It would be days before it would show up. In looking back I know that God was helping me acclimate myself with the little unknowns, i.e. I didn't know where my clothes were;I didn't know when I would ever see them again, etc, and of course, the big unknowns, what would life be like on my own?
In the middle of the week the teacher - a master herbalist - taught us a Native American ritual of creating a prayer bundle. We each made a prayer bundle and then were instructed to go out into nature and find a tree we connected with. We were to hang the prayer bundle on the tree and release our prayers to God. I made my prayer bundle with the request that my suitcase would show up. I went to one of the biggest trees on the property as I wanted my prayer to go straight up to God. I attached my prayer bundle to one of the branches. I crawled out from underneath the tree and was walking on the road back to the house when I was approached by an automobile. The driver stopped and asked if I knew where he could find Jayne Howard as he had a suitcase to deliver to her. I remember being very impressed with the expediency of God's response to prayer bundles.
I greatly admire the woman who was my teacher. She is someone who has literally gone into a woods and has been able to find dinner in the plants and herbs. She epitomizes self-sufficiency and I know that God placed me in her care so that I would start believing in my own self-sufficiency. However, I wouldn't be truthful if I didn't admit that this was a very challenging week for me because of the emotions I was experiencing from the separation I was in the midst of and the divorce on the horizon.
I guess I was pretty pathetic and the woman took pity on me, because she suggested that maybe an emotional breakdown diversion would be for me to watch videos in the basement of her house. I am someone who loves going to the movies and watching videos. So I was thrilled with her suggestion. I went into the basement(a place of pure base chakra security/foundation energies) where the video player was and began watching a series I had never heard of before: The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.
I now know that God guided me to Vermont to meet Joseph Campbell (via video) because the experience was life-changing. The diversion from emotional heartbreak became a passionate experience of pure heart joy. I loved the wisdom of Joseph Campbell. I couldn't wait for the herb classes to be over. During free time, when others were doing creative herby-type activities, I would go into the basement and put on another vhs tape. I was enchanted. I was mesmerized. I was reborn. There were so much that spoke to my soul in the six-part series. I drank in every word that Joseph Campbell spoke.
To this day, I remember the chills I got in hearing Dr. Campbell say the Sanskrit words, "Sat chit ananda" - Follow your bliss. He commented that one of his students from Sarah Lawrence University asked him, "Dr. Campbell, what is my bliss?" He replied, "That, dear one, is what you get to spend your life finding out." I felt he was speaking the words directly to me and my new life.
I was empowered by the wisdom shared of the Navaho having a powerful shamanic ritual that they call the pollen path. Pollen is the life source, The pollen path is the path to the center. Dr. Campbell shared the Navaho's wisdom words: "Oh, beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me, beauty above me, beauty below me, I’m on the pollen path."
I didn't know what was ahead of me; however, I was choosing that my path would be the pollen path. From that moment forward, my life would be a path of beauty and bliss. Dr. Campbell explained in The Power of Myth videos that we are all on own hero's journey. The Pollen Path is such a journey. I could identify with our hearts being the hive and that we are called to be diligent to our sacred pollen path creating honey that is sweet to the Divine's lips.
Years later, in my travels I came across a Native Amrican sand painting of the Pollen Path. The art was created as part of a Navaho blessing ceremony. In researching the art I learned from Margaret Schevill Link's The Pollen Path and Joseph Campbell's Inner Space that the art depicts the Initiate entering the path of the rainbow. The Initiate passes onto the yellow pollen path between the two mysterious Ethkaynaashi Spirit Bringers or Guardian Beings, and comes into the white field of ritual ceremony through the Navajo Tree of Life, the Green Corn Plant. The corn plant has seven markers which correspond to the seven chakras. The Initiate has to pass through both the female and male experience as he goes on the path. The female experience symbolized by the smooth curved lines of the rainbow (red and blue) and the male by the crooked, dynamic lines of the lightning. Passing out of the top through the corn tassels, he comes to the Blue Bird, which signifies blessing and peace.
As I mentioned, the week on the mountaintop in Vermont was a stretch for me. I remembered one of the most bliss filled afternoons was when our group took a field trip to a bed and breakfast. We were served afternoon tea and we got to walk the property and see the owner's magnificient herb garden. On the way home we stopped at a Ben and Jerry's and had ice cream.
At the beginning of the week, the teacher had made mention of the ice cream outing. One of my emotional life preservers was the thought of having ice cream. Ice cream is one of my bliss foods. Driving from the bed and breakfast, on route back home and going to the Ben and Jerry's, one of my fellow students riding in the car I was riding, made the suggestion that we should skip ice cream because of dairy products not being good for us. I am certain to this day she still shutters at the thought of my threatening voice of what was going to happen to her if we didn't make the planned ice cream stop. The short version goes like this: "Jayne gets ice cream, and no one gets hurt."
When I think of my week in Vermont, I remember: prayer bundles; Joseph Campbell; the Pollen Path and ice cream.
Those sweet memories came rushing back to me today when I came across an advertisement by Haagen-Dazs (I have no ice cream prejudices). Haagen-Daz is promoting a campaign: Haagen-Dazs loves Honey Bees. I am giving you the link to their page of Gardening Tips for attracting bees:
http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/
In our own gardens we can link ourselves with the mystical pollen path by creating an environment that is beautiful, attractive and supportive of honey bees.
Until my next post: BEE HAPPY.
Love, Jayne
PS: Don't miss reading the book or watching the movie: The Secret Life of Bees
The class took place only a month or so after my husband's departure, so I was pretty much a shell-shocked woman. I flew to Vermont and my suitcase which departed with me in Baltimore didn't arrive with me in Montpelier. It would be days before it would show up. In looking back I know that God was helping me acclimate myself with the little unknowns, i.e. I didn't know where my clothes were;I didn't know when I would ever see them again, etc, and of course, the big unknowns, what would life be like on my own?
In the middle of the week the teacher - a master herbalist - taught us a Native American ritual of creating a prayer bundle. We each made a prayer bundle and then were instructed to go out into nature and find a tree we connected with. We were to hang the prayer bundle on the tree and release our prayers to God. I made my prayer bundle with the request that my suitcase would show up. I went to one of the biggest trees on the property as I wanted my prayer to go straight up to God. I attached my prayer bundle to one of the branches. I crawled out from underneath the tree and was walking on the road back to the house when I was approached by an automobile. The driver stopped and asked if I knew where he could find Jayne Howard as he had a suitcase to deliver to her. I remember being very impressed with the expediency of God's response to prayer bundles.
I greatly admire the woman who was my teacher. She is someone who has literally gone into a woods and has been able to find dinner in the plants and herbs. She epitomizes self-sufficiency and I know that God placed me in her care so that I would start believing in my own self-sufficiency. However, I wouldn't be truthful if I didn't admit that this was a very challenging week for me because of the emotions I was experiencing from the separation I was in the midst of and the divorce on the horizon.
I guess I was pretty pathetic and the woman took pity on me, because she suggested that maybe an emotional breakdown diversion would be for me to watch videos in the basement of her house. I am someone who loves going to the movies and watching videos. So I was thrilled with her suggestion. I went into the basement(a place of pure base chakra security/foundation energies) where the video player was and began watching a series I had never heard of before: The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.
I now know that God guided me to Vermont to meet Joseph Campbell (via video) because the experience was life-changing. The diversion from emotional heartbreak became a passionate experience of pure heart joy. I loved the wisdom of Joseph Campbell. I couldn't wait for the herb classes to be over. During free time, when others were doing creative herby-type activities, I would go into the basement and put on another vhs tape. I was enchanted. I was mesmerized. I was reborn. There were so much that spoke to my soul in the six-part series. I drank in every word that Joseph Campbell spoke.
To this day, I remember the chills I got in hearing Dr. Campbell say the Sanskrit words, "Sat chit ananda" - Follow your bliss. He commented that one of his students from Sarah Lawrence University asked him, "Dr. Campbell, what is my bliss?" He replied, "That, dear one, is what you get to spend your life finding out." I felt he was speaking the words directly to me and my new life.
I was empowered by the wisdom shared of the Navaho having a powerful shamanic ritual that they call the pollen path. Pollen is the life source, The pollen path is the path to the center. Dr. Campbell shared the Navaho's wisdom words: "Oh, beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me, beauty above me, beauty below me, I’m on the pollen path."
I didn't know what was ahead of me; however, I was choosing that my path would be the pollen path. From that moment forward, my life would be a path of beauty and bliss. Dr. Campbell explained in The Power of Myth videos that we are all on own hero's journey. The Pollen Path is such a journey. I could identify with our hearts being the hive and that we are called to be diligent to our sacred pollen path creating honey that is sweet to the Divine's lips.
Years later, in my travels I came across a Native Amrican sand painting of the Pollen Path. The art was created as part of a Navaho blessing ceremony. In researching the art I learned from Margaret Schevill Link's The Pollen Path and Joseph Campbell's Inner Space that the art depicts the Initiate entering the path of the rainbow. The Initiate passes onto the yellow pollen path between the two mysterious Ethkaynaashi Spirit Bringers or Guardian Beings, and comes into the white field of ritual ceremony through the Navajo Tree of Life, the Green Corn Plant. The corn plant has seven markers which correspond to the seven chakras. The Initiate has to pass through both the female and male experience as he goes on the path. The female experience symbolized by the smooth curved lines of the rainbow (red and blue) and the male by the crooked, dynamic lines of the lightning. Passing out of the top through the corn tassels, he comes to the Blue Bird, which signifies blessing and peace.
As I mentioned, the week on the mountaintop in Vermont was a stretch for me. I remembered one of the most bliss filled afternoons was when our group took a field trip to a bed and breakfast. We were served afternoon tea and we got to walk the property and see the owner's magnificient herb garden. On the way home we stopped at a Ben and Jerry's and had ice cream.
At the beginning of the week, the teacher had made mention of the ice cream outing. One of my emotional life preservers was the thought of having ice cream. Ice cream is one of my bliss foods. Driving from the bed and breakfast, on route back home and going to the Ben and Jerry's, one of my fellow students riding in the car I was riding, made the suggestion that we should skip ice cream because of dairy products not being good for us. I am certain to this day she still shutters at the thought of my threatening voice of what was going to happen to her if we didn't make the planned ice cream stop. The short version goes like this: "Jayne gets ice cream, and no one gets hurt."
When I think of my week in Vermont, I remember: prayer bundles; Joseph Campbell; the Pollen Path and ice cream.
Those sweet memories came rushing back to me today when I came across an advertisement by Haagen-Dazs (I have no ice cream prejudices). Haagen-Daz is promoting a campaign: Haagen-Dazs loves Honey Bees. I am giving you the link to their page of Gardening Tips for attracting bees:
http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/
In our own gardens we can link ourselves with the mystical pollen path by creating an environment that is beautiful, attractive and supportive of honey bees.
Until my next post: BEE HAPPY.
Love, Jayne
PS: Don't miss reading the book or watching the movie: The Secret Life of Bees
Monday, May 4, 2009
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
Angelic Blessings of Springtime Joy to Everyone:
Perhaps some of you remember living in a household where springtime meant a time for a thorough spring cleaning. Spring cleaning was a ritual of opening windows and letting fresh air in; taking rugs outside and shaking them clean; scrubbing the house from top to bottom until everything was shining clean and bright. The sunshine energy of springtime that was being experienced outside of the house, was felt inside the house through the abundant cleaning. There's something rejuvenating and regenerating about spring cleaning. It clears and cleans the home and the soul at the same time. "Cleanliness is next to godliness." - F. Bacon.
I love working with the word images of the Sabian Symbols. Sabian Symbols are a set of descriptive statements that were developed by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones for each of the 360 degrees of the astrological zodiac.
There's one sabian symbol that expresses the thought: "A woman holding a bag outside of a window." The symbolism of a woman holding a bag out of a window, is connected to the practice of placing items outside in the fresh air. By doing this practice, the stale and musty odors of winter were replaced by the fresh, new crisp smells of spring.
You may also have childhood memories of a clothes lines in the backyard and the wonderful smell of clothes that had been hung outside to dry. A family would have a clothes line; a clothes pole to keep the line from dragging on the ground once the clothes were hung on the line; a clothes basket for carrying clothes to and from the clothes line and clothes pins for hanging the clothes on the line. Perhaps you also remember running outside to gather clothes off the line because a rainstorm was rapidly approaching.
The angels are giving us a message this month to clean up and clear away the old. In little ways and big ways, we can make things better in our lives. It's springtime. Yippee! Let's open the windows and shake out old, stale, stagnate energies and replace them with abundant fresh air energies. Let the sunshine in.
We can apply this message first on a physical level by gentle breathing exercises that allow more fresh air into our lungs and bodies. We can open windows in our households, and let fresh air into our rooms. Additionally, we can be on the lookout for stagnate thinking, and allow fresh air to circulate in our thinking.
We're being asked to take a look at our lives and see what we are holding on to. It can be "stuff" in our actual environment or "stuff" inside of ourselves. It's all clutter. It's time to bring it out to the light of day.
I'd like to share with you the lyrics for the song entitled: STUFF
Written by Kelly Garrett/Tim Owens
"Catalogs fillin' up the mailbox
Home shopping on the cable box
And www dot
Oh there's no escape
Delivery truck coming up 'round the bend
Beep, beep, beep, just backing in
Sign here and here and here again
'Cause it's no money down no payments till
Your whole place is cram packed filed with
Stuff (stuff) stack it on stack it on up
(Stuff) never gonna ever get enough (stuff)
Oh it's treasure till it's mine then it ain't worth a dime
It's stuff (stuff) spreading like weeds
Dragging me under in an endless sea of stuff
(Stuff) There ain't no end
Got to get a bigger place so I can move in
More stuff
It's getting late but it's alright
The get-it-all mart opened up all night
You can catch it all with a quick swipe
It's easier everyday
Suv's and mini vans
Parading 'round in caravans
Toting off more than their tires can stand
'Cause it's no money down no payments till
Every square inch of the whole world's filled with
Stuff (stuff) stack it on stack it on up
(Stuff) never gonna ever get enough (stuff)
Oh it's treasure till it's mine then it ain't worth a dime
It's stuff (stuff) spreading like weeds
Dragging me under in an endless sea of stuff
(Stuff) There ain't no end
Got to get a bigger place so I can move in
More stuff
Drag it in, pack it in
The man with the most
He just wins more stuff
Stuff (stuff) stack it on stack it on up
(Stuff) never gonna ever get enough (stuff)
Oh it's treasure till it's mine then it ain't worth a dime
It's stuff (stuff) spreading like weeds
Dragging me under in an endless sea of stuff
(Stuff) There ain't no end
Got to get a bigger place so I can move in
More stuff"
We're being inspired to take a look at how we have become Stuff Masters; masters of accumulating stuff.
In my booklet Angelic Feng Shui: 101 Way to Make Your Home Heaven on Earth,I share that first we accumulate stuff; and then it starts accumulating us. In short, it takes our energy from us. It takes our energy by being in the way, i.e. we may be moving it around the house - here, there and everywhere - sometimes even into storage lockers that we rent; it takes our energy in having to dust it and keep it clean; it takes our energy by taking up space. I am certain you have heard people comment that they don't want to think about ever having to move because they will have to deal with all their stuff.
It's cleaning time. It's clearing time. We're clearing out old habits. We're discarding thoughts and things that are just no longer relevant to our lives. Get the dust bunnies out from under the bed and out of our minds, too. We are being inspired to ask ourselves: What are we holding onto; and why?
Clean out; clear out; release; let go; discard. We're making room for more sunshine and fresh air in our lives.
There's a lot of changes going on in our nation's economy and as a result people are getting creative about stretching dollars they have and finding new money sources. Last weekend Chuck and I commented to each other on the abundance of yard sales we saw taking place. There were yard sales everywhere. Some were on people's lawns; some on church parking lots. Walmart even rented space on its big parking lot ($15 a table) for a community yard sale which I thought was an absolute hoot because a lot of people buy their stuff from Walmart.
People are releasing the old in the hope of transmuting their former treasures to cash. Mercury is retrograde. So it's a great time to have dialogue with things we've purchased in the past, i.e. "Why did I buy this?" or "Why am I keeping this?" Mercury is the planet that rules our mental faculties; our thinking energies. Mercury is the ruler of Gemini; the zodiac sign of the third house of the sacred wheel. The message of the third house is: I THINK THEREFORE I AM. Let this be a time of thinking about belongings from our past that are clogging up our ability to be mindful in the now. Do we really need these things now? You might find yourself saying, "I THINK I am going to release this item THEREFORE I AM free.
George Bernard Shaw wrote: "Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you must see the world."
"God doesn't seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must have clean ones." - Dwight L. Moody
I remember in my childhood days singing a song at our Methodist church where the only words I remember to this day are "open up your heart and let the sunshine in." I decided to find the lyrics to share with you and I was amused by the rest of the lyrics. In closing, I share this song with you and the reminder from the angels...let the sunshine in your life.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
Written by Stuart Hamblen;
Copyright 1953 by Hamblen Music Company
Mommy told me something
A little kid should know
It's all about the devil
And I've learned to hate him so
She said he causes trouble
When you let him in the room,
He will never ever leave you
If your heart is filled with gloom
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Smilers never lose
And frowners never win
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Open up your heart and let the sun shine in
When you are unhappy
The devil wears a grin
But oh, he starts to running
When the light comes pouring in
I know he'll be unhappy
'Cause I'll never wear a frown
Maybe if we keep on smiling
He'll get tired of hanging 'round.
If I forget to say my prayers
The devil jumps with glee
But he feels so awful awful
When he sees me on my knees
So if you're full of trouble
And you never seem to win
Just open up your heart and let the sun shine in
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Smilers never lose
And frowners never win
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Open up your heart
And let the sun shine in.
Angelic Blessings of Sunshine and Light,
Love, Jayne
Perhaps some of you remember living in a household where springtime meant a time for a thorough spring cleaning. Spring cleaning was a ritual of opening windows and letting fresh air in; taking rugs outside and shaking them clean; scrubbing the house from top to bottom until everything was shining clean and bright. The sunshine energy of springtime that was being experienced outside of the house, was felt inside the house through the abundant cleaning. There's something rejuvenating and regenerating about spring cleaning. It clears and cleans the home and the soul at the same time. "Cleanliness is next to godliness." - F. Bacon.
I love working with the word images of the Sabian Symbols. Sabian Symbols are a set of descriptive statements that were developed by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones for each of the 360 degrees of the astrological zodiac.
There's one sabian symbol that expresses the thought: "A woman holding a bag outside of a window." The symbolism of a woman holding a bag out of a window, is connected to the practice of placing items outside in the fresh air. By doing this practice, the stale and musty odors of winter were replaced by the fresh, new crisp smells of spring.
You may also have childhood memories of a clothes lines in the backyard and the wonderful smell of clothes that had been hung outside to dry. A family would have a clothes line; a clothes pole to keep the line from dragging on the ground once the clothes were hung on the line; a clothes basket for carrying clothes to and from the clothes line and clothes pins for hanging the clothes on the line. Perhaps you also remember running outside to gather clothes off the line because a rainstorm was rapidly approaching.
The angels are giving us a message this month to clean up and clear away the old. In little ways and big ways, we can make things better in our lives. It's springtime. Yippee! Let's open the windows and shake out old, stale, stagnate energies and replace them with abundant fresh air energies. Let the sunshine in.
We can apply this message first on a physical level by gentle breathing exercises that allow more fresh air into our lungs and bodies. We can open windows in our households, and let fresh air into our rooms. Additionally, we can be on the lookout for stagnate thinking, and allow fresh air to circulate in our thinking.
We're being asked to take a look at our lives and see what we are holding on to. It can be "stuff" in our actual environment or "stuff" inside of ourselves. It's all clutter. It's time to bring it out to the light of day.
I'd like to share with you the lyrics for the song entitled: STUFF
Written by Kelly Garrett/Tim Owens
"Catalogs fillin' up the mailbox
Home shopping on the cable box
And www dot
Oh there's no escape
Delivery truck coming up 'round the bend
Beep, beep, beep, just backing in
Sign here and here and here again
'Cause it's no money down no payments till
Your whole place is cram packed filed with
Stuff (stuff) stack it on stack it on up
(Stuff) never gonna ever get enough (stuff)
Oh it's treasure till it's mine then it ain't worth a dime
It's stuff (stuff) spreading like weeds
Dragging me under in an endless sea of stuff
(Stuff) There ain't no end
Got to get a bigger place so I can move in
More stuff
It's getting late but it's alright
The get-it-all mart opened up all night
You can catch it all with a quick swipe
It's easier everyday
Suv's and mini vans
Parading 'round in caravans
Toting off more than their tires can stand
'Cause it's no money down no payments till
Every square inch of the whole world's filled with
Stuff (stuff) stack it on stack it on up
(Stuff) never gonna ever get enough (stuff)
Oh it's treasure till it's mine then it ain't worth a dime
It's stuff (stuff) spreading like weeds
Dragging me under in an endless sea of stuff
(Stuff) There ain't no end
Got to get a bigger place so I can move in
More stuff
Drag it in, pack it in
The man with the most
He just wins more stuff
Stuff (stuff) stack it on stack it on up
(Stuff) never gonna ever get enough (stuff)
Oh it's treasure till it's mine then it ain't worth a dime
It's stuff (stuff) spreading like weeds
Dragging me under in an endless sea of stuff
(Stuff) There ain't no end
Got to get a bigger place so I can move in
More stuff"
We're being inspired to take a look at how we have become Stuff Masters; masters of accumulating stuff.
In my booklet Angelic Feng Shui: 101 Way to Make Your Home Heaven on Earth,I share that first we accumulate stuff; and then it starts accumulating us. In short, it takes our energy from us. It takes our energy by being in the way, i.e. we may be moving it around the house - here, there and everywhere - sometimes even into storage lockers that we rent; it takes our energy in having to dust it and keep it clean; it takes our energy by taking up space. I am certain you have heard people comment that they don't want to think about ever having to move because they will have to deal with all their stuff.
It's cleaning time. It's clearing time. We're clearing out old habits. We're discarding thoughts and things that are just no longer relevant to our lives. Get the dust bunnies out from under the bed and out of our minds, too. We are being inspired to ask ourselves: What are we holding onto; and why?
Clean out; clear out; release; let go; discard. We're making room for more sunshine and fresh air in our lives.
There's a lot of changes going on in our nation's economy and as a result people are getting creative about stretching dollars they have and finding new money sources. Last weekend Chuck and I commented to each other on the abundance of yard sales we saw taking place. There were yard sales everywhere. Some were on people's lawns; some on church parking lots. Walmart even rented space on its big parking lot ($15 a table) for a community yard sale which I thought was an absolute hoot because a lot of people buy their stuff from Walmart.
People are releasing the old in the hope of transmuting their former treasures to cash. Mercury is retrograde. So it's a great time to have dialogue with things we've purchased in the past, i.e. "Why did I buy this?" or "Why am I keeping this?" Mercury is the planet that rules our mental faculties; our thinking energies. Mercury is the ruler of Gemini; the zodiac sign of the third house of the sacred wheel. The message of the third house is: I THINK THEREFORE I AM. Let this be a time of thinking about belongings from our past that are clogging up our ability to be mindful in the now. Do we really need these things now? You might find yourself saying, "I THINK I am going to release this item THEREFORE I AM free.
George Bernard Shaw wrote: "Better keep yourself clean and bright. You are the window through which you must see the world."
"God doesn't seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must have clean ones." - Dwight L. Moody
I remember in my childhood days singing a song at our Methodist church where the only words I remember to this day are "open up your heart and let the sunshine in." I decided to find the lyrics to share with you and I was amused by the rest of the lyrics. In closing, I share this song with you and the reminder from the angels...let the sunshine in your life.
LET THE SUNSHINE IN
Written by Stuart Hamblen;
Copyright 1953 by Hamblen Music Company
Mommy told me something
A little kid should know
It's all about the devil
And I've learned to hate him so
She said he causes trouble
When you let him in the room,
He will never ever leave you
If your heart is filled with gloom
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Smilers never lose
And frowners never win
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Open up your heart and let the sun shine in
When you are unhappy
The devil wears a grin
But oh, he starts to running
When the light comes pouring in
I know he'll be unhappy
'Cause I'll never wear a frown
Maybe if we keep on smiling
He'll get tired of hanging 'round.
If I forget to say my prayers
The devil jumps with glee
But he feels so awful awful
When he sees me on my knees
So if you're full of trouble
And you never seem to win
Just open up your heart and let the sun shine in
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Smilers never lose
And frowners never win
So let the sun shine in
Face it with a grin
Open up your heart
And let the sun shine in.
Angelic Blessings of Sunshine and Light,
Love, Jayne
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
