The Last Fragipanni

Amidst the confusion and noise of the passing traffic, I felt a calm presence. My mood was low and I worrying about various people, places and things. In my internal fog, I walked, my gaze towards the grey cement beneath my feet. Suddenly, the calm presence urged me to look up.

In front of me I observed the last Fragipanni flower resting boldly on a bare grey branch, bold but forlorn. It's bleak honesty touched me as I walked by, it reflected myself, my sense of lonesomeness in a vast world that demanded me to perform, to contribute, to give, to be something in contrast to bareness and just being.

The exquisiteness of the white and yellow flower was a reminder of my own inner beauty and a sign of the impending winter. A fresh crisp breeze caressed my face as I contemplated how the Spirit of the Fragapanni tree might be feeling with only one bloom left after a long Mullumbimby Summer.

The first time I hugged a tree, I was sixteen. I remember it clearly. It was a sunny Winter Melbourne day. I wore my blue jeans and a long, black hippy coat. Sitting in the picturesque botanical gardens, I was feeling sad and confused about love...quite spontaneously, I hugged a nearby tree.  Sincerely I whispered to the tree; please help me, please comfort me. Immediately I felt a wave of pure, unadulterated love wash over me and in that special moment there were no words, just a feeling of unspoken compassion and understanding emanating from the tree. It felt so real, I didn't question it, I just felt grateful. As I walked away, I felt uplifted, reassured and revitalized.

Now, I am a closet tree hugger which I highly recommend!

My recent encounter with the last Fragipanni was a symbol and a reminder that I can be a light, that there is always beauty to highlight the grey, that there is contrast for a reason.

 Life is a palette of choices and experiences. We are the artists of our lives, creating, dismantling and creating again and again.

Trees do have a spirit, because they are alive, be nice to them and give them a hug, maybe they need one too!

Is the Meaning of Life 42? 

Yesterday my gentle  23 year old son asked me 'But why, what's is life all about? Why should I struggle and toil, what for? Why?' As his sweet hazel eyes stared into mine I felt compassion and understanding. I remember asking the same question as a youngster myself and recklessly throwing myself into situations where angels feared to tread to find the answer. One thing was different then, there was no internet.

This information fed generation are different, they have google god, they text, they Skype, they You Tube and goodness knows what else to find answers to life. Yet still, in one way, nothing has changed, the question is still asked, what's it all about?

As my son continued to wait for my God like answer, a million things ran through my mind. I know what is my meaning to life, it has taken me 54 years, but he won't relate to it, he has to find it himself but he is looking to me for guidance. I made a joke about the meaning of life being 42 from the book 'The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy' we laughed and he wandered back to his computer.

I thought about how to answer him properly for the next 24 hours.  Then I had an epiphany, finding  joy is the reason for being here.  I thought about how I have always gained great pleasure from being of service to others, the joy of feeling connected to nature, to my higher self, to Spirit and  to knowing even if some small way, I can make someone feel good. Sure there are more philosophical and deeper answers to the meaning of life, but I wanted to keep it simple and relatable.

Thinking he would rush into my arms and say something like "I know mum always has the answer' I went to him and told him my epiphany...he looked at me like I was crazy . 'Yeah whatever mum, I'm sort of busy' As my aura deflated like a flat cappuccino, I retreated to the couch and pondered the complexities of parenting.

It really is a solo and unique journey here on the earth in many respects. No wonder sometimes it feels lonely even when you have a million people around you.

Only we can make our own minds up and choose how to view and live our lives. We are often guessing and making it up as we go.

Many claim to have the answers but at the end of the day it only matters what feels right for us.

What is your 'meaning of life?'

Maybe it really is 42?

 

Write, eat and be merry!

Apparently I am a writer but for some god forsaken reason, I haven't been owning it. Writers usually think their writing stinks but if they are a true writer they keep writing anyway, under the sheets, in the coffee shop, on their laptop and file it somewhere they don't even remember because after all, its shit. When they're not writing they walk around with a commentary going on in their head that should be on paper yet they feel like an empty sack and can't remember why.

With all the crazy planetary alignments of late and stepping in the teen years of the 2000's, recently something snapped inside me...I woke up one day with the thought I am a frickin writer, start frickin writing!  I dragged out one of my favourite notepads, found a pen and now I am off. The book I started last year is getting a shine up too. I couldn't believe I hadn't written in this blog for almost a year, so I am back! Be bored, be stimulated or laugh at me, just click me away, I don't care anymore, my writing might stink, it might delight but finally I realise its all about me! ME ME ME!

Lately, I have been eating like a troll in an amusement park. Since Easter egg chocolate touched my lips, seduced my tongue and started dating my hips, sticking to them like glue. Every time I stand on my scales I can hear them laughing at me so I reach for something to stuff in my mouth to dull the pain. Emotional eating is my downfall, I know it, I feel it, but I can't always seem to be functional and do what all the experts say to do. Ring a friend, go for a walk, examine your feelings.  What is functional and what is dysfunctional, does anyone know anyone who is actually 'functional'?

At the end of the day, we are all souls in physical bodies trying to navigate ourselves through an incredibly complex world of choices, emotions, disappointments and enlightenment. Each time we fall, we pick up a little wisdom while we are down there. Maybe it will always be like that, maybe it won't.

We don't have to be perfect and it is okay to be dysfunctional .....but its also good to remember our time here is short, so lets not waste it on focusing what's wrong with us and start loving ourselves warts and all.

Chocolate anyone?

The Value in your Venus

People can be bloody annoying, no doubt about it.  The driver that pulls out in front of you unexpectedly, the shop keeper who was plain rude or perhaps the guy standing in the queue at the supermarket who smells like he hasn't seen soap and water for years. (It happens in Mullumbimby where I live, I can tell you, the alternative lifestyle has it's side effects!)

No matter how spiritual, tolerant and loving we may think we are, it doesn't prevent some people annoying the hell out of us. Sometimes it seems impossible to accept someone elses approach to life.

We are all walking around experiencing our own reality, from our own perspective and sometimes, hard as we may try, its a challenge to understand where someone else is coming from.Yet is it because we all have variable priorities when it it come to what is important?  The guy who cut us off may value his own needs more than others, or the smelly guy in the queue believes going natural is more important than smell.

Many years ago when I began to study astrology, I quickly realised that one of the greatest gifts of understanding someone's personal planetary make up was the gift of acceptance.  After all, if someone has ten water signs in their chart and cries easily, is it really their fault? If someone with an overdose of the element fire in their natal chart displays a restless nature and seems attention seeking, perhaps they just need a creative outlet to express themselves and they haven't worked that out yet.

The planet Venus is ruled by the Greek Goddess Aphrodite and its placement in our chart not only indicates what elicits our love, how we fall in love and what we love, it also shows us our base values. What is really important to us ?

Below is a list of Venus in the signs and what values are important to each one, If you don't know where Venus was when you were born go to http://alabe.com/freechart/ and plug in your birth details for a free chart and look for what sign Venus is in. It's fine if you don't know your birth time. You can also work out what Venus signs your loved ones have to further your understanding of them. 

So next time before we judge someone, perhaps we should take a deep breath and accept them for who they are. Easier said than done sometimes I know, but there's always room for self improvement!

If your Venus is in;

ARIES; You value action, possibly sport or movement based activities, you expect honesty from all yet value conflict, conflict makes you grow.
TAURUS; You value stability, solidness and you like to know what is going to happen next. You value things you can touch and see and sensuality. Good quality products reign, never give a Venus in Taurus a cheap or tacky present, they love quality and the good things in life.
GEMINI; You value a good mind, interesting opinions and great thought provoking conversations. You value those who are good listeners for your chatter.
CANCER; Family is everything to you, your best case scenario is a loving secure family unit. You value creativity, art and beautiful ambiance.
LEO: You value your heart connected friends, colour, romance and excitement. A drab or grey world would never do for you. You value good business sense.
VIRGO; You value organisation, clarity, solid promises and punctuality, a clean environment. Nature is important to your equilibrium.
LIBRA: Harmony within all relationships are paramount to you. You value the arts, music and beauty. Conflict amongst people is abhorrent to you.
SCORPIO; You value honesty, loyalty and intensity. You can be frank and to the point and at times, insensitive, as you value the truth over subtleties.
SAGITTARIUS; You value truth and the bigger perspective on things which is why you are often accused of being insensitive. You value a quest, a mission and a higher purpose.
CAPRICORN; Even if you live an alternative lifestyle, when it comes down to it, you value tradition and solidness in people, you abhor flakiness and false promises.
AQUARIUS; You value your freedom immensely and always feel your way of doing things is the only way, often you are right. You value history and the future and see how it interconnects.
PISCES:You value your own and others feelings enormously. You value your spirituality and often follow your intuition more than logic.

Be your own Ghost Buster

Awaking from a most unpleasant dream involving a man with a frightening presence taunting me,  I found myself pinned to the bed, paralysed, unable to move. I immediately called inside myself to Archangel Michael, the angel of protection, for immediate help. Yet still, I couldn't move. I called again, only this time with more gusto and urgency, and withing seconds the icky presence had gone. 

.

We have all heard stories of ghostly encounters with the deceased and of houses that had unmistakable spooky presences, and perhaps you have your own stories to tell. I certainly get a lot of emails and calls asking for advice about this subject.

 Is it an over active imagination at work or are ghosts for real? When we speak of the Spirit world where the deceased exist, where is it anyway? There is no GPS to guide us there but I believe it is another world, functioning on a higher vibration than earth and within that world there are varying degrees of vibration and occasionally, our two worlds collide. 

  

Not all presences are unwelcome.  It is common for people to say good bye to their loved ones before they cross over which can be a loving and special experience.

 Then you have the Spirits that have unfinished business, are stubborn or attached to things, people or houses which prevents them from crossing over. Perhaps you have visited somewhere that had a strange energy and something has attached itself to you. Apparently, they like hotels and alcohol. I once picked up an old lady spirit after walking through a cemetery. She was not very pleasant but I was able to move her on. If you encounter these types of ghosts, there is no need to fear them, even if they are disturbing. In fact fear is what they feed on. They can be attention seeking, like a child who feels neglected. People are ignoring them and in their confused state, they can not understand why.

The basic thing to understand is that if you raise the vibration in your environment and your own energy, the undesirable entities will not feel comfortable and will choose to move on.  They often hook into your energy when you are vulnerable, perhaps ill or feeling down. By simply raising the vibration, they can't exist comfortably and will naturally disappear.

 Here are some tips to move them on with the underlying concept of raising vibration;

• Firstly, ask your guides and angels for help and protection and visualise a shield of white light around you

• Even though you may feel a tad silly, talk aloud to them, tell them they have passed on and there is a wonderful place waiting for them.

• Play healing, soothing or classical music. This will lift the vibration making it uncomfortable for them to stay in the same space.

•  Light candles, burn oils such as lavender, sandalwood or eucalyptus or burn a sage stick

•  Walk around the house slowly and notice if there are any cold spots, if you locate a spot, put the music, candles and oils in that room.

•  Place some bowls of water with salt in them in each corner The salt will absorb any negative energy. Throw the water out after a day or so and repeat if it still feels weird.

• Walk around outside the perimeter of your house throwing salt.

• Sage your house and yourself with a sage stick

• Burn sandalwood incense

• Clear you own energy by having a salt bath or scrub (any sort of salt works)

• Program crystals for protection by firstly cleansing them and then projecting protection prayers and thoughts into the crystal. Wear the crystals or place them around the home.

• Balance your chakra centres (try Doreen Virtue's You Tube chakra balancing meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xam4tq_UVEQ

• Call on Archangel Micheal
  

These souls are often confused so send loving thoughts to them but at the same time put down your boundaries and tell them it is not appropriate they stay.

If you don’t feel any improvement after this or you feel uncomfortable dealing with this on your own, enlist the help of a ‘ghost buster’ type clairvoyant. 

Remember that you have Spirit Guides and Angels that love you dearly and will always be there to help you but the key is to ask for their help. With a simple request you can unlock unconditional love, light and protection!

The Art Of Tea Leaf Reading

Storm in a Teacup or in a Cappuccino?

Sitting in an open air cafe in Byron Bay recently, I admired the ocean views and thought I saw a dolphin jump out the turquoise mass before me.  At that moment the waitress arrived with my Cappuccino and unmistakeably the pattern at the top of the coffee looked just like a dolphin.

I wondered if the universe was giving me some sort of personal message or if infact I was imagining the whole thing.  As I sipped my coffee, hating to upset the dolphin image, I began to recall a tea leaf reading I had had many years ago. It was on a cool winter day at a Melbourne market and all I could recall was an elderly woman gazing into my almost empty tea cup and remarking that I would live in a sub tropical climate and have two sons, quite right she was.

Feeling inspired, I began to google tea leaf reading and found that it originated in China, spread to India where the Romney gypsies learned the art and it travelled from there. The term for tea leaf reading is actually called 'Tasseography'  I found some basic directions how to perform a tea leaf reading and decided to give it a go.  http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Tasseography seemed a good place to start. A friend also loaned me an ancient tea leaf reading book.

It seems you can read your own tea leaves or for someone else.
Here are some basic directions; (although once you start researching, there are many different ideas)

• Once you have made a pot of tea and drunk to almost the bottom, the enquirer swishes it around three times with your left hand in an anti clockwise motion.  One can ask a specific question if desired. Otherwise just swish, allowing the tea leaves to get around the cup nicely.
• Next, turn the cup upside down and turn three times in anti clockwise direction.
• Turn the cup upright and see what symbols you can see, the first symbol you see apparently is the most significant
• The handle of the cup represents the enquirer, so the tea leaves near the handle pertain to the enquirer and the tea leaves opposite pertain to people in the inquirer's life
• The leaves closer to the rim of the cup represent the present or near future, whereas the leaves down the bottom are further in the future
• A symbol chart for tea leaves can be found at http://www.wikihow.com/wikiHow:Tea-Leaf-Symbols-List

Inspired by all this knowledge, I firstly went out and bought a packet of tea leaves, I found them on the bottom shelf at the local supermarket, I guess we live in a tea bag world these days!

With anticipation, I hurried home and made a pot of tea. I followed all the instructions and when it came to the moment of reading my cup...all I could see was tea leaves!

However, that didn't dampen my spirits, at my next psychic development class I teach, I made it the topic of the day and we all read each others tea cups and had lots of fun.  I got a much better reading from my students than I could give myself.

If tea is not your thing, next time you are having a cappuccino with a friend, swap cups at the end and see what you can see, the patterns the froth leaves in your coffee cup are full of stories.

Another idea is to take a photo and post it on your facebook page and let all your fb friends give you their interpretations, it makes good conversation.

Bottoms Up!      

Evening Clearing

As I began to drift into sleep, fragments of my day danced in my mind in the form of random thoughts and momentary visions. The saleswoman in the sandwich bar who looked distressed, my son complaining about his dinner, the dog barking and upsetting the neighbours, the snake I saw slowly crossing the warm tarred road as I had to suddenly brake.

As I tossed and turned and adjusted my pillows, I felt frustrated as fatigue engulfed me yet no relief of a deep sleep seemed imminent.

I called out to my Spirit Guides and Angels for help and advice and I clearly heard the words, 'clear your energy' Could it be that simple?  My logical mind began to analyse their suggestion and I had to admit it made perfect sense.

We all have an invisible antenna that is constantly monitoring and absorbing the energy around us, whether we do it consciously or not. Human beings are basically sensitive and we often subliminally take on others feelings, thoughts and vibrations. At the end of a busy day, taking these vibrations to bed with us can surely not be conducive to a sound nights sleep.

That night I listened to a clearing meditation on You Tube and I found I slept deeper than usual.  Now I have set up a regular routine that seems to be working.

Integrating energy management practically into our lives seems apt in the 2000's. The last thirty years or so has seen a huge shift in acceptance of spiritual ideas and practices but I intuitively sense that now is the time we are being encouraged to ground and apply spiritual routines
into our daily lives.

Just like brushing our teeth, clearing our energy at night can become a simple routine and an effective way to drift off to our other life of sleep land and recharge our energies on a deeper level.

Listed below are some night time tips. I suggest you experiment with any that appeal to you and work it into your night time routine. If you don't get immediate results, don't despair, it may take a week to adjust to the new energy and for it to integrate. Sweet dreams!

•  Lay in bed comfortably, place your hands on your stomach. Breath in until your stomach rises and on the out-breath put the intention that you are releasing any negative energy you have picked up through the day. Repeat several times. 

• Use an essential oil that appeals to you, for example lavender oil. Place a few drops on the palms of your hand, breath in the scent, rub your hands together and run your hands through your aura, over your chakra centres, whilst saying the affirmation, 'I now release any negative energy I have picked up today.

• Ask Archangel Michael to cut any cords of toxic energy you have accumulated through out the day. 

• Visualise a soft violet light around your bed, see yourself gently breathing in the light as you go to sleep with the intention of releasing old energy on the out-breath.

• Visualise a circle of angels holding hands around your bed and angels stationed at the bedroom door. Ask the angels to remove and unwanted energy from your aura and keep you safe through the night.

• Use a crystal you like,  a rose quartz or amethyst is a good choice. (Avoid clear quartz and smoky quartz, they may be too strong for sleep) Cleanse the crystal in salt water. Hold the crystal and say 'I now program this crystal to clear any negative energy I have accumulated today' Place it by your bed. Cleanse the crystal regularly.There are many clearing meditations on you tube and the internet. Experiment with ones that work for you. 

• For a particularly heavy day, I have a salt bath before bed with ten drops of lavender. Salt absorbs negative energy. I use the pink Himalayan salt but any salt works. Salt scrubs in the shower are handy too. To make a salt scrub, get a small container, fill it three quarters of the way with salt, use Almond oil to cover it and add a few drops of your favourite essential oil. I use rose geranium and lavender. Voila! Gently rub a small amount into the skin and rinse after soaping and rinsing in the shower, avoiding the face.  (The shoulders are good to scrub as we often pick up negative energy around the shoulders.)

• Ask your angels to guide you to the perfect evening clearing routine for you. Be creative and experiment, you know yourself better than anyone else, trust your inner wisdom!