Priestess in Blue Jeans

Who I Was Born to Be

Speaking of the Child, this was sent to me by my dear friend Anne.

Lovely.

Blessings on the Way,

Jamie

Resurrecting the Magical Child

We often hear about the 'wounded child', yet the Child archetypes that live within and through us also include the 'magical child', the 'nature child', the 'divine child', and others. To resurrect these parts of our Child is to resurrect joy, creativity, a sense of awe and wonder, magic, curiosity, hope, imagination.

In an Apple Farm Community blog entry, Irony and Innocence, appears the following:

"The archetype of the child has to do with the wonder of all beginnings and the wonder of beginning again. We are led by it to imagine being in the world as on the first day of creation, seeing the world for the first time. The child embodies and encourages spontaneity and joy, imagination and celebration.”

These facets are similar to those associated with the Feminine, so perhaps what gets squelched is the Feminine or 'Magical Girl' child, which would exist within each one of us, regardless of gender. Resurrecting what's been squelched is about wholeness...becoming whole again and bringing the gifts of that wholeness into relationship, parenting, work, and community.

Who, and what, kills the Magical-Divine-Nature Child that is so fundamental to wholeness, and to living from our innate joy of being? What is its opposite?

The out-of-harmony 'stern father' archetype -- the drill sargeant, Saturn, or the Herod/Pilate of the Apple Farms blog entry. This archetype appears in many myths, often slaying the child, or giving the child away, or demanding that the child renounce her magic and innocent and joy to conform and sacrifice her essential nature as a duty to the community.

The 'stern father' or 'stern leader'  is all about law and order, rules and regulations, conformity and standardizing, perfectionism and rationality. The magical, chaotic, creative, wondering, inquiring, spiraling, relational, associative  Child is an anathema to it. And that's what makes the Magical -Divine-Nature Child the perfect medicine for balancing (and healing) the out-of-balance Patriarch.

The Magical-Divine-Nature child is within, alive and well, if needing perhaps to be coaxed out, exercised, and let splash around in the puddles and play in the sun (or under the moonlight).

This is the magic that's dying to be born. It wants to be resurrected. It wants to play.

Blessings on the Way,

Jamie

* Photo/Image Credit - The beautiful work of Gilbert Williams/Gilbert Williams Gallery

Spiritual Awakening: Between Caterpillar & Butterfly

Yesterday I came across the spiritual-awakening story of a 'friend of a friend'. In his web-site bio, he'd shared a summary of his own spiritual-shamanic awakening, or more like one of the rungs on the spiral of spiritual awakening that have you ever-deepening and aligning with your authentic, true nature.

His story, like my own and those of others who have shared theirs with me, featured several 'typical' stages associated with spiritual or shamanic awakening or initiation. He spoke about how challenging it was to find mentors or teachers who really understood the journey, though they occasionally arose, like manna on his path.

While we have access to 'outlines' of the journey of spiritual or shamanic awakening -- like Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, or the Inanna story, or John of the Cross's Dark Night of the Soul story -- each person's process is his or her own.

We can know about the path, but experiencing it is something that is uniquely ours. It's like the hospice process -- it follows an amazingly clear outline, and yet how it unfolds, and how long it takes, is the mystery. Even so, sharing stories, and leaving breadcrumbs and lit-candles along the way, is invaluable as we and others make our way.

With the shifting energies now, more and more people are finding themselves on this path, whether by choice, calling, or circumstance. And so those breadcrumbs and lit-candles and stories seem ever more important.

We hear the saying about the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but we don't hear a whole lot about what happens in the middle of that story. We just get the beginning and the end. We don't hear the middle of the story, where the caterpillar dissolves into goo that ultimately reorganizes itself into a butterfly.

Similarly, in the journey of spiritual awakening or shamanic initiation, the 'lightning bolt' moments are followed by a dissolution of all that is false or out of alignment with that awakened blueprint. Literally, the structures of our lives begin to dissolve and fall away. And that usually includes everything we've identified ourselves with before that crumbles, despite our best efforts to grab onto it.

In our culture, this is made all the more brutal because, rather than recognize it for what it is, we judge it as failure or punishment. We move quickly from accomplishment to accomplishment, neither fully honoring nor understanding what's dissolved or what's in-between. And so we may easily get stuck in dissolution, or the stage that follows it, re-integration to a way of being and living that is more aligned.

I say this from my own experience, and I know that others have experienced it as well -- the awakening of new perceptions, and the dissolution of what once seemed true and solid. The uncertainty and chaos of it; the joy and relief of finding little flickering lights along the way. The sometimes painful unknowing of re-integration into 'butterfly'. The patience and trust needed as we flap our new butterfly wings, standing right where we are, until they become dry and strong enough to take flight.

Right now, we're going through this as a culture, as well as perhaps individually, with structures, institutions, long-held beliefs and ways of being and living dissolving. And there isn't a widely known context for it, as there was long ago or still is in some Indigenous cultures.

We're all fumbling our way, reclaiming what wisdom we can find and leaving the breadcrumbs and lit-candles for others following after us. But with more and more breadcrumbs and candles -- stories, reclaimed wisdom, and practices shared, and circles and conversations created -- the path will be more and more gracefully navigable for others.

Do you have your own spiritual awakening journeys to share? Consider posting a comment...and leaving a breadcrumb and a candle lit. And if you're in the midst of your own journey, I'm happy to share what stories and resources I can.

Blessings,

Jamie

The Most Powerful 'Goal'

When I was writing my book, Big Vision, Small Business, at the start of the new millennium, I was intrigued (and a bit shocked) to find that several of the exemplary, successful business owners that I featured didn't set 'goals' or define mission statements. Beyond that, they didn't 'subscribe to a 'normal' business routine, nor did they believe that they had to 'work hard' to be successful.

One executive said he spent much of his morning in prayer and meditation, and asked, "How can I be of service today?" Then he went into his office and did the work of the day in alignment with what he described as 'conscious principles' of right-service and right-relationship.

Another prominent business owner said he got up, meditated and had a couple of cups of coffee, and then went back to sleep until noon. After that, he spent time in visualization and opening to vision, which informed his work for the rest of the day when he went into his office.

Several others said they aligned with Spirit through prayer and meditation, opened to vision and guidance, followed their 'yearning to be of service', and acted upon the guidance they received. One woman said, "When I'm devoted to being of service, I know that I'll have everything I need, including  whatever I need to meet material and financial commitments."

And, year after year, she did. She, and the others, noted that when they'd focused only on quantitative goals and bringing in revenues, they found themselves struggling in cycles of gain and loss, which lead them to explore 'a better, more inspired way'.

In the standard approach to business, this is still something akin to blasphemy. Yet here were several people who were not only successful in their businesses, but also happy and having a very positive effect on others.

Dr. Wayne Dyer -- whom most people would describe as phenomenally successful -- told an interviewer for a retail-industry magazine the same thing: He didn't set goals, including financial or other quantitative goals. Instead, he focused on how he could be of service each day, and followed the inspiration, letting it guide his action and knowing that it would unfold perfectly. He used his imagination to really feel the inspired ideas as 'already done'.

Needless to say, this is a radically different way of approaching livelihood and business in a Puritan-influenced culture where Type A, workaholic, and very quantitatively focused approaches are considered 'absolutes' for success. And yet there are a growing number of people who defy this assumption and live another way.

For them, the most powerful element is the desire to be of service, in alignment with Spirit (all were from different faith or spiritual traditions), and then valuing vision, using some aligned intentions, and acting on inspiration in alignment with deeply held values (which leads back to service).

In current times, when so many of approaches that we took as gospel are not working well (quantitatively or qualitatively), we're invited to explore 'better ways', even when those ways radically contradict long-held assumptions and fears about how things 'have to be done'. We have to face the survival fears that keep us locked into ways of living and working that are not just less and less effective, but are actually harmful.

We can experiment with it, asking at the start of each day, "How can I be of service today?" And there are many practices that help us to cultivate the required 'change of mind' and 'change of heart' -- and the alignment with Spirit and inspiration -- that guide us into inspired new ways of living and working that benefit many (and maybe even all).

The intention to be of service may be one of the most powerful 'success goals' of all. Pretty wild, eh?

Joyful Blessings,

Jamie

* Photo Credit: Thanks to Public Domain Photo for this beautiful zen-pond photo!

Our 'Imagination Lab' & Visions of Healing

Over the past year, and over the past few weeks, several themes have repeated themselves, putting themselves in front of me so I'd be sure to see them.

This is how it seems to work: We ask for guidance, and a flurry of 'responses' or clues arise around us. For many of us, including me, it takes some practice figure out how Life speaks to us, so we can learn to see and interpret the hieroglyphs placed on our path.

Early last year, as I was in the shower (a Top Ten 'aha moment' locale), I realized (with some horror) that I was adeptly rehearsing some worst-case-scenarios in my mind. The visual was there, the soundtrack was there, and the feeling was there. My own little creative laboratory, in which I was energizing the least desirable outcomes. Yikes (which is what I think I said then, along with a couple of other colorful words!).

And double-yikes when I realized I had a much easier time, at that particular moment in my life, 'rehearsing' the least desirable scenarios than desirable ones. I knew that it stemmed not only from being well-trained in 'contingency planning', but also from walking a deeply challenging path for several years -- a real Dark Night of the Soul that left me bracing for the next impact and dreading the next loss. I also knew that using my imagination that way was, how shall I say it, not helpful. At all.

So I vowed right there and then to shift that pattern.

Since then, the big themes that keep arising for me are: the Divine Feminine, presence, Divine Love, and the more conscious, deliberate use of our gifts of imagination (including thought, feeling, and word). In the past few weeks, these themes have been reverberating like a quickening drum beat.

In the ancient Mystery Schools, as with many Indigenous wisdom traditions, the imagination or 'the dreaming' were considered powerful Divine gifts. We envision, and then enliven that vision or dream with words, thoughts, and feelings. In this way, we co-create our experience, individually and collectively.

What we experience individually reflects our predominant imagining or dream theme, tinged by the collective dream, which is what we notice around us, as culture, as what's in the news.

The Mystery School adepts and teachers knew how important it was that we vision, dream, and imagine from a place of Divine Love, rather than fear, because we're powerfully creating from one or the other.

Though it has been many centuries since the Mystery Schools were nearly exterminated, with the surviving teachers and teachings going 'underground', each of us uses these Divine gifts every day. We may think or say that we don't have time to vision, or daydream, or imagine, but what we're really saying is that we don't allow the time to do them consciously. The default programs, usually fueled by fear, are constantly running behind the scenes, and we notice them when we begin to pay attention. Just like I noticed in the shower that day last year.

Now, those Mystery and wisdom teachings are resurfacing, prompting us to take another look -- to get more conscious with our co-creating habits. We may see or hear these messages coming from new interpretations of Jesus's teachings, or the many translations of the Tao te Ching or Rumi's poetry. The messages might arise in emails or a conversation about Abraham-Hicks teachings, horizon-walking physicists, or the resurfacing of the 'New Thought' teachers from the mid-20th century. Or they might arise in our own dreams or consciousness, as themes or words or phrases.

Regardless, we're being asked to remember, and to create and co-create more consciously, more joyfully, in alignment with Love rather than fear. We're being asked to envision and imagine more desirable scenarios, knowing that what we experience begins in the imagination (and even what we imagine ripples outward, energetically, into the collective energy field).

So as I reflected last week in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, with the photos of destruction and mayhem and suffering, I was reminded not just how important it is that we notice and acknowledge the suffering, but that we go from there to holding a vision of healing, thriving, and wholeness. Holding and energizing an active-vision of healing and love is a powerful gift and a service we can offer from a distance.

The same holds true for all of our imaginings, whether they apply to aspects of our personal lives (including work, and how we work); the circumstances of a friend of family member; or as our imaginings apply to the local and global community. Align with Divine Love, and imagine well.

Blessings on the Way,

Jamie

* Photo Credit: Thank you to "Extasis-Pintrodefuego" for the Creative Commons use of this beautifully imagined and created image!

Earth, Connection & Holding the Paradox

Today is one of those days when it's a challenge to hold all that's coming in energetically, psychically, and via the media.

After two very restless nights, and hearing from other women that they've experienced the same, I'm reminded of just how connected we are with what's going on with the planet -- particularly how our bodies, energy fields, and psyches pick up on major Earth events. I remember resonating deeply with this idea when I heard and read Llewelyn Vaughn-Lee speak to the deep feeling-connection women in particular have with the planet.

Many of us experienced sleepless nights and energetic agitation just before, during, and after the devastating earthquake that struck in Haiti, with the heart-wrenching loss and upheaval being experienced there now by the people of that country. A recent report expects more than 100-thousand people are feared dead. The AP news story on the tragedy -- in a bizarre clue as to where the Western mind is -- included this sentence: "Even relatively wealthy neighborhoods were devastated."

With assistance, aid, and waves of prayer for love and healing coming in to Haiti from around the world, both the horror and the deep beauty of Life reveals itself. It also reverberates the message that we are all connected -- what happens in one part of the web of Life affects us all.

And right next to that article on the news sites was "Bank CEOs say they're sorry, but defend bonuses." What a juxtaposition! In the article, Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, said, "I do think the behavior is improper. We regret the consequence that people have lost money in it." Then, the article continued, "he defended the firm's actions as "exercises in risk management."

Oops, sorry that we caused a lot of people harm and loss. Sorry that we reneged on good-faith agreements and executed usury to cash in on people going through the longest recession since the Great Depression even though we could have chosen differently. Sorry that we indulge our own greed and 'risk-and-power addictions' to the detriment of the common good. But hey, ching ching, we're doing well. It's just a 'risk management exercise.'

One of the interesting things about these stories appearing simultaneously is the contrast they reveal -- one, an outpouring of compassion and humanity in response to people experiencing devastation, suffering, and loss; a unified focus on the common good, of being of comfort and service. The other, an example of Western Mind Disease* (that the acronym is WMD is telling), caught up in greed, lacking empathy, and a marked disregard for common good.

So what about all of this, so it's just not all waily-waily indignation?

One of my teachers, Andrew Harvey, asked: "What breaks your heart? What makes you angry?" This, he said, guided you to heartful sacred activism. I took it a step further and asked, "What do these things have in common, and based on that, what am I willing to stand for?"

And another 'inspiration mentor', Caroline Casey, asks, "And so what is the reciprocal blessing you'd give for those who make you angry?"

The devastation in Haiti breaks my heart.

The largely avoidable losses suffered by so many people in the wake of financial-industry malfeasance breaks my heart.

The arrogant misuse of power and casual disregard for people's dignity modeled by the Big Bank CEOs makes me angry, because they could have elected to create humane, common-good-centered policies that would have helped avert many of the losses and much of the suffering, and they didn't. Instead, they gambled not just with the peoples' money, but with peoples' lives (lost homes, businesses, livelihoods, wellness, and some who committed suicide over their losses). 'Oops, sorry' doesn't cut it.

And what am I willing to stand for, based on that? Embodying and supporting the shift in consciousness that inspires right use of power -- power with, not power over -- and a sense of humanity, of connection, of heartfulness and wisdom, of the dignity and sacredness of all life (and all beings, including human beings), and of our taking back our own power and sense of value as the Divine expressions that we are, and expressing that in creative ways that benefit all.

The reciprocal blessing? May the Big-Bank CEOs and their colleagues find themselves blessed with a renewed sense of their connection with all beings, and may they be filled with a deep remembrance of the sacredness of Life and the dignity of all people, and all beings.

How about you?

Blessings on the Way,

Jamie

* Thanks to Phil Rogacki for the 'Western Mind Disease (WMD)' phrase and insight!

* Photo Credit: Thanks to Fdecomite for the Creative Commons fantasy land fractal.

That's the spirit...

Old era: Lone Ranger, Isolated Molecule, Island Unto Yourself, Do it Yourself, Competition, Win-Lose, Separation, Us-Them

New era: Lone Ranger, Tonto & Silver (Lone Ranger wasn't 'lone' after all!), Community, Collaboration, For the Benefit of All, Connection, We

And one song on the New Era soundtrack:

Lovin' It,

Jamie

The perfect time for power-intentions.

If you're feeling a little bit behind in setting your intentions and resolutions for 2010, you can relax. Not only can you cut yourself a little slack because of 'accelerating time' (which means, blink, ten days have passed), but also because later this week opens a several-week period considered to be an ideal time to focus in on your new year intentions.

While I truly believe that any time is a great time to set or revisit intentions, vision, and resolutions (which I prefer to call 'dedications', as in 'what am I willing to dedicate myself to'), I also believe that there are particular times or 'portals' in which the macro-energies are especially supportive.

The upcoming power-portal begins on January 14-15 -- a new moon (always a great time for intention-planting), a solar eclipse (magnifies the other energies), and a few other juicy happenings in the macro-speres of influence that reverberate for weeks or even months into 2010.

Since these 'power times' are powerful, and have an effective on us whether we're consciously working with them or not, we may as well work with them consciously, with a greater focus on intentions, thoughts, and a vision that feel energizing and positive to us. The alternative is to default to old habit, old beliefs, and old 'culture think' that feeds off of fear and scarcity belief, and we can read the headlines or feel the knot in our guts to see where that's gotten us.

Said another way: Later this week is actually a particularly great time for consciously tuning into and refining intentions and dedications for the coming year! (I'm in a bit of a swirling space with the shifting energies right about now - can you tell? My power-intentions are getting shaken and stirred in the cauldron of creative potential. Yee ha!).

Given that now offers a great opportunity, let's stop clinging to the side of the pool, climb up to the high diving board, walk together towards the very edge, and prepare to take the most beautiful, elegant dive into new and wonderful possibilities for 2010.

What gets you there? Intentions, vision, aligned thought and focus, which flow into inspired, graceful action (and get you through those few gnarly, growling twists and turns).

Make some space on your calendar for Thursday and Friday (I'll be doing it, too!), and open to the intentions that really want to live in and through you in the coming months -- that come from your very heart and soul, not just old thought-forms from the memory bank of yesterday and yesteryear. Write them and imagine those intentions taking shape, until you've got them worded and envisioned in a way that stirs your heart and passion and energy in the best of ways.

And then let them evolve into (or from) a full-fledged, whole-bodied vision that pulls you forward, that invites the mighty forces to come to your aid, and that gives you a new, fresh sense of commitment and resolve. Something that feels really, really delicious.

Happy power-intentioning! Want some extra guidance and inspiration? See the link below.

Jamie

Photo credit: Thanks to Carlitosway85 for the Creative Commons fiery fractal image!

Don't feel like going it alone? Send along an email to schedule a session or series (see the special new-year offer!), or register for the upcoming Vision & Manifestation tele-series and good-juju manifestation tele-circle, to focus and empower your new year's power-intentioning and visioning!

Rituals for a new year & new decade

Happy 2010 and happy new decade!

We ushered in the new year and new decade with a powerful full "blue moon" and a lunar eclipse. Did you feel it? Pretty powerful energies, and the timing makes these events a sort of "power portal" as well.

And that means an even better time than usual for powerful rituals that really help us to 'let go of the old' and open to new and wonderful possibilities and perspectives. Rituals can be powerful both personally, and for our group or business as well.

Not all that long ago, I would have told you that I wasn't the ritual type. Yet this very decade that we've just ended gave me the gift of recognizing and experiencing how powerful conscious ritual can be. And fun, joyful, magical and satisfying, too. As I bridged the old year and decade with the new, rituals were an important feature.

The Double-Oh Decade - 2000-2009

I don't know about you, but as I looked back at the last decade -- 2000 through 2009 -- I was pretty amazed at all that took place, both for me personally and also collectively. And that 'look back' was part of -- and inspiration for -- several powerful rituals. I'll share a bit about them, in case they're helpful as you release the old and open to the new.

Time Magazine called the 00s The Decade from Hell, recounting a historical blend of global and national events that affected many people around the world. Pretty dramatic, and they give their reasons.

For me, the 00s decade was a blend of heaven and hell, amazing grace and blessings woven in with some of the steepest challenges of my life. The last decade started off with my own 'near death experience' -- coming face to face with my own mortality and the resulting shockwaves that rippled  through the following years, unhinging my ideas about myself, what had motivated me up until then, and my sense of connection to my vision, inspiration, motivation, and the Divine. That's the short list. There I was, bobbing along in 2000, and suddenly got sucked into the abyss -- the Inanna Journey.

Like Inanna, the journey strips all layers of 'worldly identity'; she dies to her former sense of self and is born anew. Hence, the 'hell' part of it.

'Hell' tends to stick with us mentally, energetically, emotionally, and physically. That's where the 'clear, release, and let go' rituals are vital as we begin new cycles of experience and expression.

Inanna's Journey, and  my own, also featured the ascent from the Underworld, stumbling back above the surface with parts of your psyche wiped clear, and finding your way in the "three-dimensional world" with a completely different worldview ... that hasn't fully taken shape or become conscious.

So my walk through the mid-to-late part of the recent decade included just that: an ascent from the depths, and literal re-membering, and then learning to walk in the world with an emerging new perspective. In the more recent years, and this past year in particular, I've slowly been able to see more of the journey with the blessing of hindsight, even as I continue to emerge.

That hindsight perspective also highlights the grace, the blessings, and the many ways that Underworld journey reshaped me, carving new valleys and opening new facets of my being that had been long protected or locked away.

The rituals I did before and following the 'blue moon eclipse' new year featured both -- a recounting of all of it, a releasing and letting go; noticing what I appreciated, what I gained, and how I grew; and also noticing what habits of thought, energy, and behavior were no longer serving me.

New Year Rituals - Emerge & Take Flight

Letting go:

In many spiritual, energy, and shamanic traditions, you have to 'empty' before your cup can be filled anew. To try to move forward without releasing what's no longer needed, is like trying to walk forward with cement blocks tied to your feet. You can do it, but you never quite get the momentum you're really needing. I learned this the hard way!

So one ritual, or one part of your ritual, might begin with releasing and letting go, to prepare the 'container of You' to receive something new and even more wonderful, and that which is more appropriate for you at this stage of your journey. This can be specific, or more general, or include both.

All three of the rituals that I did between New Year's Eve and yesterday included some facet of letting go to make space. One ritual addressed it specifically: I wrote down the radically abridged version of 'my story of the last decade' and then burned it. As the last bits burned to ash, I literally felt a heavier energy lifting out of me. No joke; it was palpable. Try it (remembering to burn it carefully!). You could also dissolve it in water or bury it in the earth for a slightly slower metamorphosis.

Coming present:

This is straight-forward, if very counter to where most of us spend our time (in the past, in the future). Coming present is coming into your body, into the present moment and life as it exists, and releasing all judgment or resistance to what is. This puts you present, with a sense of allowance. Eckhardt Tolle's work is a good guide on this if you need some inspiration.

Why is this important? Again, I learned the hard way, so can just share what I've experienced. You've no doubt heard the saying, "What you resist, persists"? Very true. See above for 'cement blocks' reference; resistance wastes energy, wears you out, and as the Borg on Star Trek NG say, is pretty much futile.

In ritual, you can do your release, and then come present by proclaiming, "I embrace my current reality as it is, releasing all judgment and resistance, and coming fully into the present."

Looking forward:

Once you've cleared space and come present, you're ready to open to new vision and manifestation intentions that aren't bogged down by old stuff. We know the importance of intentions and vision -- we can manifest only what we can conceive of and envision. Our thoughts, words and actions flow from this wellspring.

The delicate part of visioning and manifesting is having a balance of the specific and having a sense of releasing expectations and outcomes. And every teacher I've ever had -- for good reason (again learned through trial and error!) -- reminds us to always include "this or something better, for the benefit of all, and under Grace."

Making it Yours:

If it calls to you, shape a ritual or series of rituals that really allow you to release the old, come present, and open into a beautiful new cycle of experience and manifestation.

And if you'd like some help with that -- individually or for your work or business -- I'd be delighted to help you craft something or even lead you through a visualization or two.

Blessings for a wonderful, blessed, joyful 2010. May this be the start of the Decade of Heaven on Earth, and may it begin with each of us.

Jamie