Page 1 of Jefferson’s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence

An Aquarius Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse political, spiritual rant…sort of!

Last moth I participated in the HLPF (High Level Political Forum) at the UN. The HLPF is a way for civil society, us regular people in NGO’s, to get involved with contributing to policy that gets taken up formally by the international community at the UN. (An NGO, or Non-Governmental Organization, is a non-profit engaged with work that furthers the mission of the UN). The Forum contributes to shaping international law. DESA did a good job of managing the Forum, helping us non-governmental actors to demystify the process. The 2 Major Groups that I am a part of, the NGO Major Group, and the Women’s Major Group did a wonderful job of giving everyone there a chance to contribute. It went really well, until the following week when the Ministers arrived, and the creaky wheels of governmental message monopolization met the pavement of our ideals and enthusiasm. It showed us just how hard the process of rising above the noise of politics-as-usual can be. Frustrating, demoralizing and difficult. And it was like an astringent. Bracing, but good for you. It is, after all, reality.

Nonetheless, you can be sure that the massive and well organized representation of the peoples interests at the HLPF will not go unnoticed. The Secretariat of the UN has changed their position on a more inclusive process, the Governments are beginning to see that wisdom, and this is just the beginning. The wheels are creaking in another direction now. The Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved without it. Although it is going to take a lot of adjustment, governments are facing the fact that change is not going to come about unless they engage with us, and we work together. They just don’t have the resources to do otherwise.

Which brings me to my next thought…

A lot of us feel the weight of the world on us right now. As the world faces a presidency in the USA that has little bearing in the real world of solutions and is steeped in a litany of problems, it’s easy to lose faith. Our moral decency feels like it is being blown out of the water. The result of the constant onslaught of drama is that we feel ungrounded and overwhelmed. Which is just what we are being engineered to feel. Unless we have a very solid and strong spiritual practice to hold us, (and I do not mean new age mumbo jumbo here) we are going to feel like we are being punched in the face every time we digest and take in thing #1, thing #2 and thing #3. With each new gain in the outrageous, it just gets more out of control. If we can pull back and be in our spiritual selves for a time, we can gather the strength and the detachment from the drama to stay with our focus. Unhooking from drama does not excuse it, it allows us to move past outrage into calm decision making and discernment. Out of reaction into sensible and grounded solutions. Which is where we can connect to other POV to get things done.

There IS an intersection between politics, improving the world, and spirituality. Our job, as people of spirit, is to hold that meeting point. As the spiritual enters the political, it has its own way of opening things up. By bringing spirituality into things, they change of their own accord. Therefore, change is not overwhelming or forced. It flows like the wind on a beautiful day, as the leaves rustle, and we absorb it’s fullness. We don’t have to do much more than that, unless we want to bring it a step further. And then, as we find ways to insist on the spiritual, not by insisting that others be spiritual, but by insisting that the outcomes are aligned with ethical and moral ideas that are shaped by spirituality, then we see things change according to an evolution of human consciousness. No one owns that or even directs that. But we can board the ship, and stay the course.

This political time, which is so rife with tearing apart the ideals of democracy, needs push back. And a development of our own integrity. Democracy is an idea that is based in self governance. Which also applies to a self governance of our inner selves. If our emotional, psychological or spiritual parts are running riot, then we are not able to govern ourselves or elect trusted servants. We elect people who reflect the discordance. We must take that responsibility. Every one of us can participate in our democracy and must do this if it is to survive. The discordant elements have arisen to be addressed. This means  getting involved…out there, in person. Go to a town meeting, visit your representatives and talk to them. Start putting your energies into this face to face, before we lose it. Although protest is good and has it’s place, I don’t think its only about the oppositional. The key is to fight back by shaping policies. Anyone can propose a policy or join in it’s creation. Get creative. Sit down with others and identify a problem. Research. Figure out policy to address the problem. Bring it to your reps. And stand by it. One thing at a time.

The process is slow, but just like our continental congress labored to bring our country into existence, worth every bit of effort. That applies to ourselves and to the world. Loving and accepting things as they are is the first step to addressing anything. Let’s jump into the flowing river of change together. The Earth, the trees, the wind and the soil have our back. Let’s stop trying to know and just be a part of un-knowing together. That is how we enter he sacred numinous land of creative possibility. Once we touch that, no matter how much we get slapped down, that wondrous voice fills us and keeps us strong.

We were all born with intuitive gifts, but over the years, as our logical brains developed, most of us turned off this crucial “in the gut” connection. Our feeling, sensing selves sublimated to our more rational thinking, proof oriented nerd selves. Which isn’t bad, we need those skills to be in the world around us and succeed. But just as vital for business, relationships and decision making, is the gut feeling, the thoughtless knowing, that we feel in our bodies, or just know somehow. And that part of us is usually right.

Intuitives, psychics and creative people live in this realm and have learned to trust it’s wisdom. Far from woo-woo or wishful thinking, they have learned to integrate intuition at a level of processing that navigates the most crucial and important next steps to developing anything. They have gotten past the doubt, the indecision and double thinking by just trusting the first thing that comes to them to do and doing it. It’s about taking action, and seeing what happens. Embracing the adventure of letting that knowingness take hold. With each success, right brained people learn to traverse the bridge between rational thought and inner guidance, and follow it’s threads. Its deliciousness and wonder makes life feel better and more satisfying.

Intuitive readings with Tarot + Curio create a deep connection to your story.

When personal desire for an outcome, or too much thinking clouds your vision, then turning to professionals in this realm is what smart people do, to come back into trust with their gut. Intuitive readings should resonate with what you already know and direct you towards trusting yourself to take actions on your own behalf. Sometimes, a good intuitive might tell you something you might not want to hear, or something you have a hard time grasping because you expected a different answer. If you give your mind time to create another pathway, you see that the intuitive was opening a door for you to greater awareness. A lot of times we are stuck because we have shut down our feeling intuitive selves, and created a scenario that leaves no room for us to imagine a solution. Our desire for a certain outcome is too powerful. This messes with our ability to trust our intuitive selves. Because really, life is a crap shoot. Intuition increases the odds. That part of the brain is way ahead of the reasoning process.

Here are 4 ways to get into the flow. They help you increase awareness of things you might be taking for granted, and are a basic, but important part of this realm.

1. Awareness. Start noticing your feelings about situations before you enter them. How do you feel about getting into that subway car? How do you feel about walking into that party? How do you feel about the meeting you are about to have? Take mental note of your feelings and then see what happens for real. Were you right? Did doing that open anything up for you?
2. Meditate. Yes, simple meditation is key for allowing oneself to be in the flow. Meditation trains the mind to tolerate empty spaces, setting thought aside. It’s like creating a blank page. Your life is the painting. Tolerating that empty space invites flow into your life. Where there is a vaccum…the divine flows in.
3. Allow. Stop trying to figure things out. That’s right, put that problem on the back burner. Instead play with imaginative writing. Ask a question and write down the first thing that comes into your mind. And then allow a second thing to come on in. And then you are writing and finding something emerging, bringing you closer to an answer.
4. Heart. Emotions are powerful tools. Your heart is connected to intuition through empathy. It is a feeling state that carries much information. What are your emotions telling you about a situation? Why do you have that feeling when you hang out with a certain group of people? Or even before you begin to pick up the phone?

And… if none of these help you get clear, get yourself to an intuitive. It’s what we do best! You will be glad you opened up your story.

Four Ways to Help Yourself Stay Sane

Here comes the darkness! And with it, an opportunity to start anew. Making friends with the darkness allows its power to infuse us with its grace. We are directed inside. Fear melts. Calm ensues. We rest, as the sun seems to sit still in the darkness. This is a sacred process, the spiritual death of merging with the soil of rebirth. We are blessed by its decay, its absorption of the skin we slough, the pain we leave behind. What’s left is the light of sacred prescience, a newer tougher skin, a revelation of inner power and joy that has been waiting to be noticed. It beckons us forward, into the coming warmth of the Sun.

As we are directed to the inner light to refresh and renew our souls, I want to take a moment of gratitude to you my sweet friends, clients and co-travelers on this journey. Thank you for making me and my work a part of your life. The spirits and ancestors thank you for your courage and strength. I am inspired by each, and every one of you.

As we head into 2017, a wild and unknown territory, I invite you to ready yourselves with a little self-care during this time. If you start to worry about the world, let the darkness take it and hold it in the earth. Turn to the things you love and put energy there. If you need to unplug from the latest tweet, then unplug. The world will be fine without you for a bit. You know, there are things quite bigger than us, than we can handle. This is well and good. We are not meant to take on some things. They are not to tackle alone. Those things are to be held by a movement that will rise up, and we will know when it swells to walk within it. That time is on its way.

What we are meant to do alone, on this eve of the light becoming stronger, is transform the energy of worry, anger and resentment into dreams, art, vision, passion, compassion and care of those who need us. We dearly need each other to accomplish what is before us. Attending to our spiritual foundation, which is the ground we will walk on, takes every day nurturance. Prayers of forgiveness and compassion for those that we fear is our armor. Bridges must be built; alliances are waiting to form. We will know when they beckon us.

If one considers translating these energies into the Tarot, I feel that we have just experienced the Tower card. Big time, right? Things have been shaken up, shocking and clearly disturbing in many ways. Revelations are swirling around us almost too much to take in. So much information and yet as it settles, we are being given the language to understand what is being revealed. It is not always easy to take in, yet it is becoming the story that moves us forward. A story that we all are writing together.

I feel at this time of darkness; we are presently in the Temperance card. The alchemy of change, healing ourselves by connecting to the earth in moments of rest and receptivity. Spending time with nature, meditating and receiving love is what we can do till the energies of the Sun renew the earth, pulling us into the next and more powerful card – Judgement. This is what lies before us. To rise up and to really see. Seeing what is good, what is painful, what needs to be voiced. We are creating the work that needs to be done. What we learned with the Tower card and integrated with the Temperance card is ready not to be called out of us in a new direction. What an amazing time to be alive! To be in touch with our power as alchemists.

So, this is my Solstice wish for all of us, as we step out of the Tower into the place of integration and wholeness, let us not skip this step. Let us all rest in the darkness and be renewed to be called into the next chapter. And may we stand together in united energies as the light shines upon us again, ready to face what is next.

Love and Abundance to you all!

Cathy

The subject came up recently on a parents list serve about kids seeing ghosts. It’s hard in a public forum like that, where people might not be wanting to hear about esoteric information, to comment fully. So I am going to undertake the subject here a little bit.

I began seeing spirits at the tender age of 3-4. That along with astral traveling every night was a little much for me to deal with. We lived right next to a cemetery, so you might say there was a lot going on. I would see things and in my mind, I turned them into Dr. Seuss characters to take the edge off. My parents, staunch Catholics, chalked it up to my ever expansive imagination. They were pretty exasperated at my continually waking them up in the middle of the night to soothe me. They had no understanding of what I was going through. I learned to suffer in silence, have  good night light, and resorted to imploring whatever it was to stop. And, after awhile it slowed down, but it never stopped. I did not react well to that, but I also never stopped wondering about it and investigating my ability to know things, receive love from animals and plants easily, and tune into strong weather. And of course, communicate with the dead. I also read and re-read “Lives of the Saints,” inhaling it like it was my favorite penny candy. They had it going on those saints, they knew about this stuff. Too bad they were all dead!

Now a grown woman, who has totally stepped into her gift with passion, and mom of 2 very in tune kids; I want to provide a safe atmosphere for my children to interact with spirit, and also be able to take a break from it as well. We all need to have personal space.

My daughter began seeing spirit at the age of 4. I instantly recognized she was GOOD! Better than me…kids have hardly any filters. Because I so accepted it, she just assumed it was normal and it wasn’t till she was older that I had to teach her how to deal with it in a more concrete way. Normalcy, acceptance, and lots of love for the whole process are really important at the younger ages. Now a teenager, I have been teaching her how to deal with it when the need arises. My son is sensitive to the natural world, often receiving messages about living things and rocks. He loves rocks. He’s 20, works for the Student Conservation Association, and very knowledgeable about plants and nature spirits! Neither of them are scared, both of them use their talents to thrive in the world.

Here are some tips for those who have sensitive children. I am supposing that your child might actually be seeing something.

1. Don’t be scared, be curious. Ask questions and support your child. If they need to snuggle in with you at night sometimes to get a break, let them know it’s okay. (I’m sure that’s a no-brainer, but I know many nights with a child, who you might not sure if they are having separation anxiety, or what; can be taxing).
2. Research your house. Find out who lived there and whatever you can about who died there. You can find remarkable things at the NY Historical Society, where I research land issues.
3. Ask your child to describe what they see and what is being said to them. This helps to know if it is an Ancestor, or another presence. If its Grandma, that might be a comforting thing for the whole family. If it is the guy who died there, is there something he needs? A simple offering left for a day, like a tiny bit of food from the family dinner, and some good old whiskey (in a glass), goes a long way to settling down the pesky spirits. (Make sure you throw away offerings after). They need our love too!
4. The idea is to look at this as a gift, a good thing. Because if your child has it, it’s something they have to learn to live with. If it is just a passing thing or imagination, that’s a good thing too. A creative genius blooming. Either way, support your child as best as you can.
5. You might do some reading about spirits and mediumship. Some good books are – The Light Between Us by my friend, Laura Lynne Jackson. Another friend, Kim Russo’s book just came out – The Happy Medium – Life Lessons from the Other Side. I work alongside both of these women and their stories are heart warming.
6. Do not watch The Conjuring!! Or any other horror flicks for that matter. Don’t get yourself freaked out. Negative things are very rare. Don’t get it in your head that you will be messed with or physically harmed. For a spirit to embody that kind of energy is very rare. There ARE negative spirits out there. And ones who just don’t know how to behave around us. That’s when you call in a professional. Our ancestors knew how to live in harmony with the spirit world. It is an interactive thing. It helps us on so many levels to honor that wisdom.
7. What is normal for spirits, when they want to get our attention…appearing out of the corner of your eye, dreams, full out sightings, things fall off shelves, lights going on and off when they shouldn’t, things breaking, light bulbs that constantly blow out, things moving around the house, lost keys, lost things, lights and orbs, sounds, smells, and footsteps. These things are scary yes, but really, they are not. I mean, footsteps cannot hurt us, and lights can’t either. Lost keys and stuff disappearing is annoying, but not awful. We just need to take a breath and ask, “Okay, you got my attention, what do you want? Please make it clear to me. I come in peace and I have good intentions here. Sorry I can’t really speak to you, but I offer you some things to honor your presence here.” And then offer them candy or something nice like sandalwood incense. If things quiet down then it’s just a new roommate that you have to live with. It if keeps up at the annoying level you might want a medium to talk with that spirit, to see what it wants beyond that. And that might just be enough.
8. Now if it’s in any way more menacing, that’s when you need to at least consult with a professional. Because everyone deserves to live in their space with out being terrified out of their wits. That’s just not cool.
9. If it’s really that your kid is sensitive, it’s always good to take a class in spiritual protection, so that you know what to do when your kid becomes too bombarded. Later blogs on that coming.

So, if your kid is seeing spirit, it’s going to be okay. Really. And so are you. Maybe this is happening so that you can be more in tune yourself. Or recover a long lost creative talent. We all need to be more awake to the world, it’s our kids who are teaching us! I salute you, we are caretakers to some tender younglings! The world needs them!