Happy December!

It's been some time now since I've written! Time flies when you are having fun as the saying goes! I've been busy and that's always a very good thing. My office at Thorbecke's Fitlife Center is up and running. I've enjoyed seeing my clients there.

I have new Practical Reiki students and they are all doing so well! I enjoy teaching my PR students on a 1:1 ratio. I feel that they get more out of the experience (except maybe having more people than just me to practice on) and they are more open and candid with their experiences and their questions.

I am taking my Heart Math 1:1 Provider training and I am loving every minute of it! It is so rewarding to get the science behind all of the things that I have been implementing with my clients already. The heart is such a powerful part of our anatomy. When you understand all of the science behind why we feel and do the things that we do, it begins to make sense and fall into place.

I am really excited to finish this training and start helping my clients to relieve their stress, get into the zone (for my athletes) and to help coach them to better health! I enjoy the interaction with my clients on a 1:1 basis and this is a perfect fit for me!

My book is at the publisher ... I am excited over that! It should be out the first of next year and I am excited for that! Be watching for Heart Magick ... Where Healing Begins to be out on the market. It will be published through Balboa Press, a division of Hay House! Thank you Julie Meaker, you've been an excellent editor for me!

For all that follow my blog, I would like to give you a Christmas Gift of my ebook, Three Simple Ways to Relieve Stress . There is a link on my website that will download this ebook for you.

I hope that you all have a stress free holiday season and I hope to be writing more soon!

The Five Strengths

I was reading of the five strengths this morning in the Mahayana Instruction for the ejection of consciousness at death. It is interesting to read what the instruction is telling me and to realize what the true message is in the words that I am reading.

The way that you move into the moment of death is a reflection of how you have lived during all your years upon this earth. There is a need to practice the five strengths during your lifetime; the way that you conduct yourself now is very important to the way that you accept and move into the next realm.

While you are alive:

Have Strong Determination: Be open and let go of perceived hurts and injuries. See the beauty that is all around you, look for that beauty rather than looking for the ugly. As you practice this looking, it becomes easier to find, even if it is just inside of yourself.

Familiarization: Practice being open and letting go of the material things that hold you down, that keep you tethered to one space, one thought pattern, limiting your natural potential. Learn to accept the peace that is being you, being open, loving, and compassionate. At the moment of death there will be no reason for panic, only love is there to guide you through.

The Positive Seed: This is based upon trust in yourself. Trust that you have the ability to let go and to feel compassion for others. This comes from the second strength. As you practice and get familiar with letting go and actively building compassion for others and love for yourself the transition is peaceful and serene.

Reproach: When you realize that this identity that you are holding on to so tightly isn’t something solid and real, it’s easier to let it go. Walk with joy upon this earth at all times, be happy and at peace. There is no need to hold on to a persona that doesn’t bring you that happiness and peace. Realize that this is a journey that has a stopping point and it is the same point for everyone.

Aspiration: “At the time of death, aspire to spend all your future lives in the presence of your teachers and to do your best to benefit others forever.” I did write this one word for word as it is important. Remember, we are to practice these things during our lifetime upon this earth. I take this to mean that you shouldn’t wait until death to aspire to spend your life in the presence of your teachers and to do your best to benefit others forever, this begins here and now.

To bring it to a summation; see the beauty that is in all things around you; let go of the things that no longer serve a life of love and compassion; trust yourself; be yourself; give of yourself with love, compassion, and joy.

 

Opening the Heart Center

I’ve written on different occasions about the power of the heart to help you to heal. It is something that I’ve seen time and again, the difference that it makes when the heart is involved in the healing. It’s not an easy thing to come from the heart center for some people. They have shut their heart off because it hurts too badly for them to allow their heart to feel the emotions. I understand this, there are times that I wish I could shut my heart off and just move on without that deep hurt coming from the middle of my chest. 

I had to smile the other day when I realized just how powerful the heart can feel when it is moving in the right direction. I led a meditation on the heart. We were going through a breathing exercise to help us to feel the emotions that come to us and diffuse them in a loving and gentle manner. The technique that I used helps the Client fully feel the emotion so that it doesn’t leave a residue of some sort to later manifest in some form of physical or emotional problem. It is a very healthy way to deal with emotions and one that I hope they take with them into the world to develop and learn to deal with emotional issues on the fly. 

My smiling moment came after the meditation when one of my Clients was telling me that when I was instructing them to breathe through their heart center, she kept trying to breathe through her heart on the left side of her chest but she felt it in the center of her chest. She had no idea that her heart is located in the center of her chest, she always assumed it was on the left because of the Pledge of Allegiance! What a wonderful affirmation that she was feeling the heart chakra, heart center, open and develop. She told me that she had finally given up trying to breath from what she thought was her heart and just placed her attention on the spot that she actually felt everything. 

Opening the heart is a powerful thing. Learning to deal with all that life can send to us in a healthy manner is a powerful thing. It is never easy to open yourself up to the emotions that the world can create within you at any given moment. Learning to diffuse those emotions goes a very long way in helping you to maintain a life that is filled with balance. Balance brings health and happiness.  

I am very glad that I listen to those that guide me and decided to ask to lead the meditation that day. There were those that attended that needed this meditation and were ready for it. Those that couldn’t make it, I am assuming that this wasn’t the time for them to learn. The Universe does work in mysterious ways!

www.etherealtouch.com
 

Set aside Your Own Unease …

There are times when I get such an urge to write that I can’t do anything but follow that urge. The words spin around in my mind and I know that they are something that need to be put down on paper. 

I have a friend that is battling breast cancer at the moment. She made a comment that has triggered a plethora of words swirling about in my brain that I can’t seem to quiet. She has come to a false conclusion, and I think that it’s one that many might come to in her circumstance, but it’s false just the same. 

She began her journey with a mastectomy, part of the breast is still there, but the nipple had to be removed. In the beginning and all through the chemotherapy, even with the loss of hair, she had intimate moments with others. There was no problem with being any less of a woman, being broken, being any different than where she was before. 

She has moved on into radiation and up until last night, I wasn’t aware of how devastating the burns actually become when a person is going through radiation. It was an eye opener for me. I felt nothing but love and compassion for her; she is still beautiful, just very, very burnt at the moment. I know that those burns will leave. It’s the pain that I know is going along with those burns that brought the compassion to the fore and it was with nothing more than love that I offered to help. 

The comment was made that it seems those that had held her when she needed the warmth of a touch have disappeared. The conclusion came that it was because of the mastectomy, the hair loss, and the fact that the cancer had left her broken; I am here to say that it has nothing to do with her; it has everything to do with those that are staying away. 

It was not hard before, when the pain wasn’t so clear. They don’t know how to deal with their feelings and reactions to the clear vision of how much pain is involved. It is their broken self that is keeping them away, not hers. It’s easier to stay away until the burns heal, than to have to admit that they have no idea how to deal with the emotions that the helplessness fills them with. I will admit that there are probably some that are just superficial people, but the majority of the people that she surrounds herself with are very good and decent people.  

When the burns clear, they will return. In the mean time they live with their guilt, though it is buried deep. I am here to tell you that while it might be hard to know what to do in the face of another’s obvious pain, they still need you to deal with your emotions, set them aside, and be there with love and compassion at this time. Leave your pity at the door, as it isn’t pity that they need, it’s the simple love for another human that is required.  

Please, set your own brokenness aside for a moment in time and reach out to someone that needs it. It will make the world of difference to both of you.

3 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress

I am attempting to get "technical" here and I hope that it works! I have written a short ebook containing three simple methods to help reduce the stress in your life. I would like to make it available to those that read this blog free of charge. If I can manage to figure out how to embed it within this blog, you should be able to do that!

OK, I'm not as smart as I'd like to be, but I am trying! If you go to the link below it will bring you to my website. Fill out the contact form, include the the words "free ebook" in the comment section and I shall send you your free book! It might not be fancy, but I think that it will work!

3 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress

Peace Begins With You

I read something on the internet this morning that really started me thinking. There are times that might not be a good thing! The comment was made that the New Age Movement was going to fail. This comment was based upon the 60’s and the hippie movement that existed at that time. Their reasoning was that there was no lasting peace on earth created then and there won’t be any created now. The attempt is destined to fail and therefore shouldn’t be attempted again.

I was a girl during the 60’s but I have watched different things about the 60’s in documentaries. I was more than old enough to understand the conflicts of the Vietnam War, and I don’t mean the conflicts on the battle field, but the ones that existed here at home. I feel shame for the way that the soldiers were treated upon coming home by the Country that sent them to fight in the first place.

 In the name of peace, there were many protests that ended up in violence. Is this any different than attacking another country in the name of God? The peaceful sit-ins were designed to bring about conflict and most of the time they succeeded in doing just that, the conflicts became very ugly at times.

Today, people still do things in the name of peace that bring about so much violence that peace is never attained. Where am I going with this? I wonder myself ….

Mother Nature and all of the inhabitants on this Earth need to have balance for things to work as they should. Mother Nature has a way of bringing this back into balance, normally in a very big and blustery way, but balance is obtained once more, if only for a short period of time.

My Great-Grandma Whisler was brought to mind this morning while I was contemplating the words that I read. She was a person that inspired others to be just like her. She never judged anyone; she never condemned anything that others were doing. She was gentle and you always felt the love that she had for everything when you were in her presence. She didn’t need to have a sit-in for peace to appear around her. She didn’t need to protest a war, march at a soldiers funeral, stand in front of a bulldozer, or become a suicide bomber to get her message across. All she had to do was be herself, and she was pure, non-judgmental love. I wanted to be just like her as did countless others.

Peace comes one person at a time. It comes from the heart of each person and as that person begins living their truth, the next person wants to know how they can be like the first person. It becomes a ripple effect and it is achieved without blowing anything up in the name of peace.

It’s a hard thing to achieve, this state of pure love. Great-Grandma did and she did it way before this so called New Age Movement. The answers lie within each of us, look inside of yourself and find your truth. Live your own principles every day and live in integrity. Take things one day at a time and then the next and then the next. Soon, it will be a way of life. Never beat yourself up if you slide backwards for a day, but remember that you always start where you are and you have a limitless supply of fresh starts.

As Brad and I heard at the Battlefield of Custard’s Last stand “Power is in Peace rather than Peace is in Power”.

Of Hobbits and Light Workers

There are times that I get what some might call “strange thoughts” running through my head. I have been writing a book to enter in a contest, and it has brought all types of memories to mind.

It brought the thought of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, some of my all time favorite books, and how the quiet little hobbits ended up being the heroes of the story. They didn’t set out to do it. They just wanted their quiet little life to live back in the Shire. Things and circumstances kept appearing before them until they felt that fate or destiny was pushing them to the point that they could no longer deny that they needed to start out on their journey.

In their quiet way they became the heroes of the world, . They surprised all, including themselves, with the feats that they could accomplish when they had right and good on their side. They had their guides, Gandalf and Aragon, and countless others that appeared to aid them as they were needed.

I can’t help but think of the comparison of these little hobbit heroes to the Light Worker heroes of today.  There are many that had no idea that someday they would start to get those nudges to look beyond their own door and discover a world that they hadn’t worked in before. It’s hard to leave the comfort of our own little hobbit hole when the nudges become so strong that we can feel the hands on our backs, along with those pulling on our arms, trying to get us to budge from our comfort zone and move into the world that needs our particular area of expertise.

I have read of several that have made those first tentative steps out into the big world. I would be counted along with them. It’s not easy to leave that comfort and go, even if the guide is telling you that they will keep you safe. Gandalf was lost in Moria for a bit and eventually Frodo had to move on his own, or so he thought at the time. The truth was that he was never really alone as he always had those watching and working behind the scene to help him move on his way as safely as possible.

That’s the way it is for the Light Workers of today. It’s not easy stepping out and being who and what you are, but it’s needed, you are needed. There are the big names, Doreen Virtue, Louise Hayes, and Carolyn Myss to name a few of them, and they all started out the same place that you are now. They left the comfort of their homes and are a major source of help and inspiration to all of those out in the world today.

What will you do if you find yourself getting those nudges to leave your comfortable home and become the unexpected hero? Will you begin the journey? Will you go deeper into your hobbit hole hoping that they forget you exist? They don’t ever forget and they will come around again, can you dig deep enough to never be found?

The world needs these messengers of hope, healing, and optimism. If you are on the receiving end of this guidance, don’t fight it; just take that first step on the path. The world needs more unassuming heroes.

An Official Certified Crystal Healer!

I am soooo excited! I am officially a Certified Crystal Healer and can use the initials CCH after my name! I know that I'm a wee bit late writing this post, but I've been busy as my grandsons have been here!

I love working with the crystals and seeing the results that they bring. I am working with my Clients as to what crystals resonate the best with them. It was interesting to see a Client "testing" four different stones (all of the same type but different sizes and shapes) to find which one was perfect for her. There was no doubt which one she needed as it literally was felt within her heart. She said it felt like a jolt!

The stones do talk to those that need them. If you take the time to stop and listen, you can feel, if not actually hear, what it is that they wish to tell you.

I love working with these gifts from Mother Earth. The more that I work with them, the more that they teach me.

Thirty-Four Years ago Today ...

Thirty-four years ago today I married my best friend. I remember saying the wedding vows, "For richer and poor, through good times and bad, through sickness and health, I promise to love and cherish you from this day forward until death do us part." At the time, it was emotional to be saying those words, but the reality of what they meant had not sank in yet.

We have been through all of those vows. We have had hard times where money was tight and we pulled together and made it through to easier financial times. He was there for me when my Mom passed away and again when my Grandmother passed away. I was there for him when he lost his best friend and his parents as well. The bad times, but that makes the good times just that much sweeter and more appreciated.

Through sickness and health. I didn't realize that we would use this one quite as much as we have. He helped me through MS. He learned to clear IVs with saline solution to keep them from clotting, he learned to hook up the medications as well when I was on a five day solu-medrol run. He would have made someone a very good nurse, oh, that's right, he made ME a very good nurse. He took care of me and he still does. Some men would have ran from this responsibility, he embraced it and held to the challenge.

I am much better now, no more IVs for me! Now it's his turn to be the patient. Through sickness (or injury) and health, the full package. I find that when I am his nurse, things flow better and for that I am grateful.

I love him more today than I did the day that we said those vows, yes, even with the injury grumpiness! We are on a journey together and that journey continues. I knew from the moment that we went on our second date picnic, my three month old daughter in tow, that he was the one for me. I felt safe, loved, warm, and accepted.

I will not lie and say that there haven't been difficult times, but if you line the difficult along side of the happy times, there is no comparison.

Thirty-four years ago today I married my best-friend and I've never looked back. Thank you for always being there for me, for us. I love you.

Healing is a Team Effort

I have discovered that as I progress along my journey, I am constantly delighted by the things that I discover and learn. Things appear along this journey just as I need them. I no longer believe in coincidences, though there are times that I have to be patient in understanding why things happen.

I firmly believe that to be healed is not necessarily the same as being cured. While it's nice to be both, when you are healed and whole, the stress and worry over a cure is no longer there and the body is in a better position to deal with the task at hand without any distractions.

True healing comes from the heart center. It starts with the ability to love and accept yourself as you are. It means that you can look into the mirror at any given moment and embrace the person looking back at you.

This is my main objective in all that I do. My Reiki, Crystal Healing, Vision Boards, and all the other tools that I have in my tool box are geared to helping you heal from the heart center. Like an onion, each person has layers upon layers that they have created around themselves as they've moved through their lives. To peal back these layers, we will work together as a team. This team consists of myself and my Client. The Client's medical/mental health practioners (if there are any) are also a part of this team.

Through both Reiki and Crystal Healing we can begin to break through the layers, making it easier for the body to respond to the treatments that are being facilitated by your physcian/mental health practitioner. At no time will it ever be a recommendation to stop any treatments prescribed by the medical community. We will work together in this process of healing. The physicians can cure you, we will work to heal you.

I offer to you a process to facilitate healing. Each person is unique in how this is achieved. Working as a team, we find out what will work for you. As each of us have our own individual and unique fingerprint, we all have unique and individual needs that have to be addressed in order to heal.

Reiki sends the eneregy where it is needed. It can relieve the symptoms, but the root cause of the symptoms needs to be cleared so that they do not return. This is where we go deeper, we allow the enegy to travel to the cause of the symptoms and we begin to heal at this very basic level.

Crystals are very powerful allies in this journey, they bring our bodies into sync with Mother Nature once again. Many of us have lost that ability to feel what Mother Earth provides. This is a big part of the healing process, learning to reconnect with Mother Nature.

Healing comes from the heart and it is pure love. Learning to love yourself is the ultimate goal for true healing. This is my goal for those that come to me for help. We are a team and we will work together to achieve this goal. It's not easy, but it is worth the effort. The tools are all there in my tool box and I will gladly share them with you. I will help you to start your own tool box so you will have what you need to heal.

Principles ...

As a Reiki Master and a Munay Ki Initiate, I have two sets of principles that I am to follow. I have both of these printed out and posted on my bulletin board. The Reiki principles are also on my bedroom mirror and I have them posted in my office. I read them daily and I make the attempt to follow them as well. I use the word attempt as like all those out there reading this, I am still human and I have my ups and downs.

So why do I, or anyone else for that matter, need to have a set of principles to follow? What's the big deal, just live your life as you see fit, why write something out? Writing something out, having it posted to look at, does make a difference. It gives you an anchor, something to look at and remind you of the principles that you agreed to live your life by.

The Principles of the Munay Ki are as follows:

Non-violence
Bring no harm to yourself or others

Truthfulness
Be true to your word, and let your word be true

Integrity
Do not steal, not even a glance; walk your talk

Moderation
Use wisely the life force within you

Generosity
Give more than you take, for nothing in the world really belongs to you

The Principles of Reiki are as follows:

Today I am free of Anger

Today I am Free of Worry

Today I work to improve myself with diligence and appreciation

Today I am kind to all Living Things

Today I am Thankful for all of my many blessings

As you can see, there are places where these two sets of principles are the same. The wording is different, but the intent is the same. With the Reiki principles, the word today is used as you only need to take care of today; it isn't intimidating to do something for one day. If they read, for the "rest of my life" I might not have even made the attempt to follow them! One day at a time. One day moves into two days, and then three. Eventually a series of days have gone by and the attempt was made each and every one of those days to follow the principles that I agreed to follow.

It is a good thing, having a set of principles to model your life after. In a situation that would normally become stressful and upsetting it is helpful to take a deep breath and think, "which principle might apply to the situation that I'm facing now?" Just moving your mind to that thought will take you from the trigged "normal" response to the situation and put you in a better place to deal with what is going on.

Principles can be a very individualized thing. You can follow those that come to you through the different paths of your life, or you can model ones that look and feel right to and for you. There can be only one or two, or you can have as many as you'd like. This is something that I am planning on helping others with, finding their own set of principles to live by.

Healed vs. Cured

My sister and I had a very interesting conversation yesterday. I was telling her about my thoughts on healing, that it comes from the heart and that in order for a person to be healed they need to be able to love themselves unconditionally. I should put in at this point that my sister is a Nurse-Practitioner, a very good one at that! She said that there is a difference between being healed and being cured. I agree!

To help you to understand what is meant by this I will give you two examples. The first woman has breast cancer and as part of the treatment, she has a mastectomy. Her breast cancer is cured and it is no longer present anywhere in her system. She never is able to come to terms with the treatment, in this case the mastectomy, and she becomes bitter and broken because she sees herself as broken. Has she been healed? Has she been cured of the disease, but left unhealed and open for new disease and unhappiness to filter into her life?

The second example is of a woman once again with cancer. This time, the woman is at peace with herself, her complete self, even the parts that have cancer. She is enjoying the life that she has, she moves through her life with joy, passing that joy and love to others around her. She eventually dies of the cancer, so it is clear that she was never cured, but was she healed? I believe that she was. She lived a life of peace and joy, even if she was living it with cancer, she never lived as a victim and she brought joy to all around her. It is a fact that all on earth are going to pass on at some point as it is the way of the Universe, we may not be able to control the way that happens but we can be healed at the very core of our being and live life to the fullest.

I have Multiple Sclerosis, I was diagnosed in 1992. I went downhill rather quickly; steroids and I became very good friends. I couldn’t walk without holding on to something; balance was not in my cards at that time. I went blind in my left eye. I have been numb from the waist down with bruising all over my legs and no idea how it happened. I have to laugh at the many, many times I have dropped something to the floor when I was attempting to place it on the counter, I had no depth perception at all. This was in 1992, 20 years ago. I was on IV meds for five days at a time; I came back down on Prednisone. I have had knee surgery as part of my thigh bone broke off and was floating around inside my knee cap. This was due to the large amount of steroids that I have taken in my life.

Most people would have no idea that I have an incurable disease, or a disease that has no cure known to the medical field at this time. I have “healed” myself; I have healed myself in the definition of healing given above. I still have an injection that I give myself every day, I will not stop taking the medicine until I am instructed to do so by my Neurologist, but I have healed.  I embrace the path that I have gone down and there are times that I can see where it has changed my life for the better. I have empathy for those with disease, I can understand the thoughts and feelings that they express in regard to what they are going through. I can honestly tell them that true healing comes from the heart and from the way we handle the disease. I have experienced this myself and I can talk to them from my heart and understand what they are saying with compassion. I also know when it’s time to move forward and not let the disease control them, but to have the Client take control of the disease.

I have tested “normal” for an eye test (I don’t remember if it is an EEG for sure) that I should not have tested normal on. I have MS and I have Optical Neuritis. These two together should make it to where I never test normal on this. They say it’s impossible; I have had more than one Doctor comment on my normal results. Does this mean that I am cured of Optical Neuritis? I think that I might be cured and I know that I am healed.

I hope to one day be cured of MS, as I heal more and more each day and get closer to that level of total unconditional love of self I know that the cure of this disease is getting closer.

I work to heal people and in their healing I hope that they are cured. It is a team effort, the Client, myself, the energy, and their Doctor or Therapist.  Healing comes from the level of the heart and unconditional love. I do not claim to cure people, but I do claim to help them to heal. There is a difference.

Healing from the Heart ...

I have a very firm belief that true, lasting healing comes from the heart. The Institute of Heart Math has done several studies on the power of the heart and I find them to be very interesting. Are you aware that the electromagnetic field of the brain can be measured up to a four foot circumference around the brain? Let's compare that to the electromagnetic field of the heart. The heart has a circumference of twelve feet around the heart! I wonder which one has more influence on things, the brain or the heart?

I have written that I work with my Client as a team effort. It takes a team at times to accomplish the goals that we wish to accomplish in our lives. Healing is no different. Lasting healing comes from a place in the heart center. I can help to clear your aura, balance your chakras, send energy to assist with a multitude of things, and we will see great progress. We will see a complete disappearance of the original conditions that you, the Client wished to clear up. I've seen this over and over again. It truly is a wonderful thing to follow the progress that is made as the team works together.

I will return to my first statement "lasting healing comes from the heart". As a Reiki Practitioner, I use pure love from my heart center to begin each and every treatment. It has to come from that place to be as strong and as effective as I wish the energy to be. My focus is on my Client, on what I sense and see, and for the time that they are in my office, they are my world. The treatments are amazing and my Clients have amazing experiences as well.

The one thing that I really want to get through to everyone is that until you can learn to love yourself, unconditionally love and respect yourself, things will still slip in and cause you new types of dis-ease. You will be back to see me with a different set of things that the "team" needs to work on. It isn't an easy thing, this learning to love yourself unconditionally. To love yourself beyond the level of words and have it be something that you know, deep within your own heart center, that it is the truth.

To heal completely you have to get to the point that you can look into the mirror at any given moment and love the person that you see looking back at you. This is not an easy thing to do by any means. I work myself not to cringe at that "baby belly" that I see in the mirror. It is part of me and to be healthy in all aspects of my life, I need to love that part just as much as I do my little feet!

I call this "Heart Magick ... Where Healing Begins". It's a team effort to get to this point of unconditional love, but we can all get there. When you love yourself unconditionally, the rest will start to fall into place.

Catching up

It's been a bit since I've written, am I getting a bit rusty in the writing arena? I hope not! I have been busy, though I'm not sure that's the main reason that I haven't written in a while. I'll work on the reasoning behind the action, it's somewhere floating around in my head and I will find it one of these days.

There is a new, revamped website up and running for Ethereal Touch. I will get all the quirks figured out sooner or later. I am also getting my classes set up to teach on the Internet as well as live in my office. The classes are fun and I've discovered that I love to teach!

I am on the "Faculty" of The Ohio Nursing League and am teaching Practical Reiki (8 CE's for Nurses) through the Reiki Awakening Academy. It was a bit of a smiling moment to see the OK come through and realize that my name is on this list. Who would have thought?

Where do I go from here? What direction do I continue in? I love what I do, I love the people that I meet and interact with on this path that I am on. It is something that is both humbling and rewarding as I listen to the words of appreciation and know that I've made a difference in someones life. I've been looked at and simply told "fix me".

Energy work is a powerful thing, it's an empowering thing. Working with energy and a Client is a team effort, the Client helps themselves as the energy moves through their own systems. It is empowering to know that you are helping to bring your body back into balance so that it can heal as it was meant to do.

I can give Reiki all day long to a person that doesn't want to get better, for whatever reason that might be, and while they may or may not improve, they won't stay that way. Give me another person that is ready for things to be better, the energy is received and the progress is truly amazing. It is a team effort, and the team is comprised of myself, the Client, and the energy that flows all around us.

I read a short statement the other day. It read "Empowerment through Knowledge". I like that statement. I completely agree, knowledge is empowering. Having an open mind to new ideas and understanding helps in gaining that empowerment. I encourage everyone to be like a sponge and soak up all the information that they can. Don't take things at face value that you are told, research what interests you, find the truth behind it for yourself and make it your truth as well.

Just a bit more ...

This is just a bit more on the amazing qualities of rose quartz. I have a client that I "prescribed" rose quartz to. I do this rather often to be honest with you, hand out rose quartz with instructions that the client needs to keep it close and hold it when things get hard for them to deal with.

This particular client sleeps with her rose quartz. She holds it in her hand, next to her heart as she falls to sleep. She finds it the next morning somewhere upon her body where it has rested for the night. She brought it in to an appointment the other day, very excited, as she had something to show me. Her rose quartz is "growing" a dark spot in the center of it! She told me that it is healing her, it is removing the sadness that has kept her from moving forward for so long. I agree!

Her state of mind is awesome these days and she sees the world with a new happiness and is ready to start being a vibrant part of it once again.

Never underestimate the power of energy work combined with the proper stones. It is amazing what can be accomplished. It is also amazing when you hear stories where the change is so dramatic that the family has noticed and will bring the client her rose quartz unasked for. They know that she is having a difficult time and the difference in holding the stones and not holding them is that dramatic! How cool is that??

My New Most Amazing Thing!

I have mentioned that I am taking a Crystal Healing class and I am really enjoying it! There are so many neat things about crystals and stones in general that I had no idea about.

A few weeks ago I had a Client in my office for an appointment. There was time prior to her appointment and I felt that she needed the calming effect of Rose Quartz so I handed her one stone for each hand. She sat and held them, not looking at them, for about an hour. At the end of that time, I was ready for her appointment and she went to hand me the stones back. She had the strangest look on her face as she looked at me and asked “these stones were pink when you gave them to me, right?” YES, they were pink! I looked at them and now they were white!

I did my normal thing when I come across something new that I’ve never seen or heard of before, I contacted Connie Dohan to see if she had heard of this before and what the cause was. Of course Connie had not only heard of it, but she has experienced it within her own practice. My client did indeed need the properties of the quartz, she needed it so badly that she drained the stones of their energy!

I asked if this could be reversed and Connie assured me that it can. I just need to return the stones to Mother Earth for a period of time and they will recharge and grain their color back. The length of time depends upon the depth of the drain to the stone.

Since this occurrence I have been learning more about stones and crystals in particular. All crystals are stones, but not all stones are crystals. It has to do with their molecular structure, but I’m not going to get into all of that here. While I was at Connie’s for my mentoring session I learned first hand even more about what can happen to stones during a healing.

I had no idea that stones actually absorb things from the Client. This was even true when the Client was me! Connie showed me where the Selenite under her table had collected black spots; these just scrape off so they don’t mar the beauty of the Selenite for long. Of course, the crystals are an entirely different matter all together!

They actually change just as the rose quartz did with my first Client above. They absorb and change as the healing progresses. I have taken the time to really pay attention to my crystals now on a before and after treatment basis. I have been able to actually show my Clients after a treatment the changes that have occurred within the double terminated smoky quartz that I now always place between their feet. It might be small changes or it could be big changes. Sometimes it is a new smoky “line” inside of the crystal, sometimes it is a beautiful new crystal shape. There isn’t always a change, and sometimes it is just a very subtle change.

This phenomenon both amazes and excites me! It is something that I can show my Clients that they can see with their own eyes. It helps to show that Mother Earth is working to help the healer heal. We work together, nature is designed to help us to be the best that we can be and when we work with her rather than against her, things just seem to flow a little bit better.  

This Month’s Reiki Share

It’s been busy the past little bit! I am learning so much from my Crystal Healing classes.  My teacher is a biologist and I am learning a lot of the “scientific” information behind why crystals work so well. It’s really interesting to me.

I held a Reiki Share on Sunday and as such I did a very simple demonstration of how energy works. I hoped that it would work as I planned, I hadn’t done any testing prior to the Share, but I knew that the theory was sound, so the demonstration should work just fine. It did!

I made up a crystal grid as I had learned during class. I made it a healing grid and I put it in the form of the eternity symbol. I did nothing more than lay out the crystals and let it be. Then I took a set of divining rods (the type used for finding water sources) and the premise is that as you walk towards the grid, the rods swing outward when they “sense” the energy from the grid.

With the grid just set up, nothing more, the energy field stopped at the edge of the crystals, no further out than that. Then I lit a candle that was sitting beside the grid. From that one small step, the energy was sensed a bit further out from the crystals.

My next step was to “charge” the crystals. I did this with a large crystal point. I ran it from the center stone to each crystal in the grid in turn, connecting them all together in an energy pattern. This created a much larger circle of energy around the grid. I had to step back further to be able to have the rods sense the energy.

We left the grid, candle burning, and moved on to our discussion on chakras. After allowing the grid to be for a bit, I checked the energy level once more, this time it reached almost across the room. This was a very impressive show of how energy works and how it can grow and build.

It was a nice afternoon. We all received Reiki Healing (even me!) in a group setting. I was very proud of my Practical Reiki Students, they are doing so well! They were able to sense the places that needed attention on the “client” with their hands in the body scans. It is exciting to see the sensitivity in their hands getting stronger.

Next month’s Reiki Share is going to be a continuation on the crystals grids, and who knows that else I might pick up along the way! It’s a fun afternoon of teaching, learning, and sharing this wonderful gift of energy that the Universe provides us.

My Trip ….

I had the best trip to Dublin, Ohio! It was a two-fold trip, the first part was to see Connie Dohan and take her metaphysical business mentoring workshop and the second was to visit my younger sister and her daughter. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip had I had the opportunity to plan it for myself!

I have met some of the most interesting people on this trip. They are all warm, sincere, lovely people that have nothing more than the giving spirit that seems to surround people in the metaphysical world. Elaine, her friend, and I all went to the Festival of Light on Saturday. It was a really enjoyable time there. I spoke with several different people, the smiles were genuine and the joy was very real.

I think that the most interesting person that I met there was Frank. I don’t know his last name, but he even looks like a “fairy” person in the flesh. Elaine had met him first and he was giving her a treatment when Elaine’s friend and I walked up and watched. I have never seen a person with so much joy surrounding them before. Frank is a very tiny person, Elaine said that he was smaller than she was, but personally I think that they are about the same size. He was wearing purple plaid pajama bottoms, a baggy knit sweater with some design on it, and a denim shirt beneath that. His attire fit him to a tee. His long ponytail and scruffy beard were also fitting for this elfin creature. He had a smile and a simplicity that touched the heart and drew people to him. As Elaine put it, Frank is pure joy and he just makes you feel good being around him.

I don’t have enough room to write all that I did on this trip, but I will hit some of the highlights! Elaine’s friends and I went to Yellow Springs, an energy vortex in Ohio that is somehow stuck back in time. The energy there was wonderful and the little shops were fun to browse through. We did have a purpose for going to Yellow Springs as we were attending a group meditation there. It is held once a month, normally on the first Sunday of the month, but I was lucky as they had changed it to the second Sunday for this month.

Once again I met some people that I won’t forget. Lisbet (and I hope that I got her name correct!) is an amazing woman. She is the one that leads the meditations. She is a writer as well and it made me smile to realize that she belly dances! Her favorite is tribal dancing, which I enjoy as well. Her sweet and sincere spirit made her another person that I feel blessed to have met.

I learned a lot at Connie’s house, both in ways to help my business move along and ways to improve my Reiki treatments. I also received Reiki treatments from Connie and this was such an added bonus for me! I got to play with Connie’s metaphysical toys as well, I felt like a little girl in a toy shop! Of course, one of my favorite ones was the one that she used on my niece. It was a fairy wand that lit up with different lights as she told my niece that she doesn’t get enough recognition for the good works that she does so she touched her with the wand and told her what a good person she is!

It was very sweet of Connie to invite my sister and her daughter over on the last evening for homemade pizza and aura camera time! That is the most amazing metaphysical tool that she has, the aura camera. Someday … well someday I would love to have one as well! I checked the prices out and decided that might be a bit down the road, but it’s on the list!

It was a wonderful, amazing trip. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I came away with so many good ideas and a business plan that will help to grow our Center. I feel more capable of doing the things that I feel called to do, to make it easier to help more people and continue with what I have begun. Life is good!

I Just Realized Something …

I was reading over some of my writings that have to do with different Client treatments and what was or wasn’t done during the treatment. I didn’t realize that I have switched from using the word “I” to the word “we”. That’s how strong it is, this guiding that I am receiving, that it isn’t an “I” thing, it is most certainly a “we” thing.

I am never alone when I have a Client in the room; I am never alone at any time as far as that goes. The more that I open myself to “hearing” what my guides are telling me to do, the more things that I learn in the realm that I find myself in. It is amazing to me, the things that I can learn when I am open and ready to receive the instruction.

I had to smile as I read things like “and then we picked up this or that and did this with it”. I hadn’t even realized until I reread my writings that I was using the term “we”. It’s an accurate term.

During a treatment the other day, a new Angel appeared. She was all dressed in pink. She told me that she has been there all the time; I just haven’t been ready to see her. She’s a powerful Angel that heals the Client of stress to the heart. She has a very calming manner to her and her smile is, well it’s angelic.

There is a union at work here. I am the person that the Client sees, but I’m not the only one that is there helping them to feel better. I am part of a team and it’s a powerful team! I am the least of the members of this team. I know that the team is huge and that I only know some of the main players. The quarterbacks and the receivers are the ones that I’ve worked with the most. Now I’m beginning to learn the names of all of those on the line that aren’t in the spotlight, but without them, we couldn’t accomplish the things that we do.

It’s such an exciting world that I’ve entered into! The rewards are huge. Those that come to me are the ones that should be there. It is a fit from the first. How they are led to be there is a journey all by itself!

I have three new Practical Reiki Students about ready to receive their certification. It’s been asked if I worry about competition. Not in the least! Every person is directed to the Reiki Practitioner that is right for them, there is no exception. The more Reiki Practitioners that are out helping those in need, the better that things will be.

The True Miracle …

I can’t tell in words the reality of how good it feels to know that I have made a difference in someones life. This week has shown me just how blessed I am in having guides that work so well with me and the loving light of the Angels that are always in the room and helping as I work with my Clients. This is a journey that helps others, but it helps me more than I can express.

To be able to see with my own eyes the progress that is being made by my Clients is huge! It can’t be denied. One came in to show me that her poor swollen fingers, swollen so badly from rheumatoid arthritis that they were painful and had no movement at all, have places that are no longer swollen. That she can actually pinch skin and move it! On top of the noticeable physical changes, her emotional well being has changed so much. She has energy, she wants to do things and her smile is so beautiful that I can’t help but smile back at her. Such is the miracle of energy work.

To have another come in the next day, again all smiles and glowing, such a transformation! To have her tell me that her week was amazing to her; that others have commented on how good she looks. Her outlook is so much brighter and clearer and she is embracing life at the moment. What more could anyone ask for?

The hugs and happiness of my Clients is a big deal to me. I don’t work alone, I’ve never worked alone and I don’t claim to be the worker of miracles. The true miracle is the miracle of the Universal Light Energy and the ability to work with it. To know and trust the things that you see and hear to be true and follow through with them are a part of that miracle. To be able to see beyond the scope of my physical eyes and understand (though I don’t always understand) what I see and know that the energy and my helpers will be there to assist, always there to assist me, is a big deal.

Thank you, my wonderful little sister, for encouraging me to learn about the gift of Reiki. It is truly a gift and my Clients are a gift to me as well. By helping them, I help myself. It is a win-win situation and it makes my world a very beautiful place to be living in.

My Birthday Thoughts

I was wondering if 53 is really old enough to have any profound birthday thoughts. I guess it doesn’t matter the age, anyone can have thoughts that seem, to them anyway, profound.

On this day I have the chance to look back at where I’ve been and ahead to where it is that I am going. While the past is very clear, my future is not all that clear. It is open to infinite possibilities and in that respect I am a very blessed person. I have learned so many new things about myself, about life in general, and about things that I am capable of when I decide to just be open to whatever comes along.

To go back in time, to see where I have been before and equate it with where I am now, it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around at times. The person that had to hold a wall while she walked to keep from falling over has moved on to a different arena. It’s as though she never existed but in a very bizarre movie. I know that she did exist; she had to exist so that she could fully comprehend the magnitude of where she was versus where she is today; where I am today.

Brad tells me that I haven’t cured myself yet. I understand that as I have an incurable disease, that doesn’t mean that I have any intention of being any less than what I am capable of. I believe that the mind is the strongest part of any person. The things that can be accomplished when a person really puts their mind to it are nothing short of amazing. Miracles happen at that level. I believe in miracles, I don’t think being cured as a miracle, I think living a full and wonderful life; helping others with Reiki, continually learning and growing, regardless of my age, that is the true miracle. Deciding that age has no relevancy to what I can or cannot accomplish is a miracle. My medical records have no part in this, it’s me being all that I can be and loving every minute of it.

I have been blessed to see first hand what energy work is capable of doing. As a person progresses with treatments I know that the energy has made a difference. I have had a client with rheumatoid arthritis come and show me that her fingers aren’t as swollen as they have been for so many years. She could pinch the skin and it was loose, she hasn’t been able to do this for a very, very long time. Is she cured, no, is she better, yes!

Smiles are a very good indication of how things are going, so are hugs. I judge my life on both and I receive a very large amount of both of them, smiles and hugs. On this day, I couldn’t ask for anything more than what I already have. The future is filled with promise and bright sunshine. I have a family that I love very much. My life is filled with people that bring out the best in me. Happy birthday to me and I truly expect to have many, many more of them.

“The Orion Mystery”, a Review of Sorts

I just finished reading a book called “The Orion Mystery”. It was a very interesting book and I learned things that I had no clue of before. The book was recommended reading for me by an influential guide to my spiritual journey. I took it with me on our vacation to California, enjoying the ability to relax and read. This wasn’t the type of book that you could relax and read without paying attention to what it was that you were reading!

We stopped to have dinner with friends on our trip. They were interested in this book as well as it dealt with the Egyptian pyramids. They had made a trip there two years prior to this and had actually walked in some of the areas that were being described in the book. They gave me more insight to the things that I had read up to that point. I had never been able to pick the constellation of Orion out in the sky before, I can now. The link between the Pyramids and Orion is amazing to me.

There is a lot of very specific jargon in the book pertaining to longitudes and latitudes, meridian lines, angles, the movements of the stars, and a religion that I had no idea of its existence, the stellar religion. I wish to learn more of this religion after reading this book.

While in California, we spent a lot of time outdoors. The sky is so vast from the desert, it seems as though standing there in the dark, I was one with the sky and the stars. Orion stood out clearly; I found it on my very first glance at the night sky. I wondered at the thoughts that went through the minds of the Egyptian people as they stood, all those years ago, and watched the night skies. They were very observant of the stars and their movements.

The pyramids at Giza hold a new meaning for me. I look at them differently than before. I will always marvel at them, but to realize the full magnitude of what they represent is almost more than a mortal mind can comprehend. The night sky, built on mother earth. The magnitude of that undertaking is huge. All those years ago, way before the birth of Christ, they had it figured out. They understood what they were looking at and the Egyptians matched it, star for pyramid, upon the earth. The river Nile runs as the Milky Way, it’s truly amazing.

As I stood and felt the night sky around me, watching the stars rise and move across the sky, each star appearing slowly as the night deepened, I could almost feel the awe that went through the Egyptians as they put things together. I feel in awe of all that I have learned. I miss not having that huge expanse of sky at the moment as I am back home in the Pacific Northwest with the clouds covering the sky.

I highly recommend this book to any that are interested in the meaning behind the Pyramids. I will never look at the constellation of Orion again without thinking of the Pyramids and the amazing understanding of the Egyptians that built them.

This is a bit of a post script to this blog entry. I received a gift last night for my birthday and it mentions once again the “star people” in reference to Native Americans. Until last night I hadn’t put things together, but both the Egyptians and the Indian tribes looked to the night skies in religious beliefs. When I set sacred space for the Munay-Ki, it’s “Father spirit, leader of the Star Nation” that I ask to help set my sacred space. It’s an interesting thought and one that I shall have to think upon a bit more.

The Ability to see Takes More than Just Your Eyes

It is amazing to me that I became a Reiki Master only last May. That means that I have not been a Master a full year yet - my how things change in such a short amount of time! When I first started to learn Reiki I had no idea that I would literally “see” things. I realized this possibility when I did my first self-healing. I saw pictures in my mind while giving Reiki to myself. I didn’t know about Clairs at that time and had no idea what this meant, but I went with it.

Then I started giving Reiki to other people and that was the first time that I heard the word “Clairvoyant” used in describing myself. I had to absorb this a bit and then decided that they were incorrect. Did I ever have a lot to learn at that time! I started seeing all sorts of things while giving Reiki after that. I would see things in metaphor. These would normally be things of an emotional origin. Of course there was the time that I kept seeing flashes of wedding veils and wedding rings, I had to ask after the treatment if my Client was getting married! I should have known, well I guess I did know, they were getting married and hadn’t told anyone about it yet!

In the beginning I saw things that I didn’t understand. With Connie Dohan’s help I am beginning to understand the things that I see when it comes to the medical as well as the emotional realm. The newest metaphor was a paw that kept coming up. It was a different type of paw each time, but it was always from the underside of the paw and the claws were always curved as if ready to strike. This led me to ask my Client if they were having little prickly type pains anywhere on their body. They were! They had been having prickly pains like pin pricks on the top of their head. Sometimes the deciphering takes a bit, but sooner or later I can figure it out. I am getting much better at just telling the Client what I see and letting them tell me what it means to them.

I am seeing more and more animals all the time as well. I now have a reference book to grab close to hand to understand the significance of the animal that wandered through. I had to smile as one Client had two different animals wander through, but when I looked them up they both came from the same animal family. The meaning was the same but it was reinforced by the two different animals.

I feel that I am slowly but surely being led in a certain direction. The things that I am starting to deal with came to me slowly but oh so very surely. There is a reason that I am learning about certain types of healing that were never introduced in my Reiki classes. There is a reason that I have met the people that I have. These are people that know what I am describing to them and they know how to deal with it. I don’t think that it’s the ordinary run of the mill stuff that is coming through my doors, but it is not boring stuff.

The ultimate compliment to anyone in this industry is to have a Client crying tears of happiness after a treatment because they no longer hurt. Reiki energy is available to everyone, we all can be attuned to the energy and channel it for the greater good. I cannot stress enough how good it feels to know that you can truly help someone that feels they have lost all hope in ever getting better. To be able to give in this way, to be able to learn more and more how to work with this wonderful energy along with the other modalities that I am learning is fulfilling. I am not alone when I work with a Client; I am surrounded with loving, helping, healing guides. I listen to them and I no longer question what I hear. Do I believe in miracles? I feel the fact that we are living and breathing is a miracle and a blessing, so I would guess that the answer is a very resounding yes.

I am learning …

I have discovered that there isn’t anything normal about giving a Reiki treatment. Each and every one of them are a new experience.

I am learning by leaps and bounds how to deal with these new and different experiences that I am coming up against. What might have scared me even a few short weeks ago is very quickly becoming the normal. It is more that the abnormal and unusual is what the new normal in our little Center is!

I am teaching Jen and Julie Practical Reiki. I think that this is a very good addition to what we are doing as there are times it takes more than just me to do the energy work. Julie is taking a class for her continuing education credits on Massage and Energy work. I am really excited about that, what an addition to what we are doing here!

Jen is busy writing up her meditation classes as we now have people that are interested in learning how to meditate.

I have discovered that if you are truly open to whatever the Universe has for you things move in a hurry. I no longer question anything, I just go with it. There are things in this world that you can’t question, they just are. When you decide, and yes it is a decision, to let go of the doubt and judgment, the doors open in your world and the most beautiful things can appear before you. Of course, we all need to remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not all out there might agree with my assessment of what is beautiful!

In a short week I have seen things that had I been introduced to them at an earlier time, I would have said either I was crazy or you were. Guess what? No one is crazy. Things are what they are and sometimes it takes going a very long way out of the box to help others to heal. Don’t ever question what your intuition is telling you, it probably knows much more than you do.

An interesting thing happened in Meditation …

It would appear that living with a Benevolent Being means that my life is not boring! Yesterday we had a public meditation. We actually had people there that were new to meditation and we really made their first time memorable!

We have a friend that has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She is a level one, the best level to have if you are going to be diagnosed. The problem is that her tumor is too big for a lumpectomy and she has decided to do a mastectomy. Our meditation was geared towards sending her love and healing.

From the moment I started into my meditation, she was there. During the first song, she was dancing alone first with white light shining down upon her, then water poured over her head, I knew that it was cleansing her. Suddenly, Julie, Jen, and I (along with several people that I didn’t know) were dancing around her. It was a very specific dance, one that I don’t know, but it was beautiful. We danced until the end of that song.

The second song began and so did a new segment of my meditation. I was only observing, but my friend lay upon my massage table up in my room. She looked so peaceful! Suddenly, a very large Angel appeared at her side. I even flinched a bit as it was such a large Angel. Then more Angels appeared. They were giving her Reiki, their hands were everywhere and she glowed a beautiful golden color. They very gently rolled her to her side and placed an amethyst pyramid upon the tumor. They continued to send her energy and it appeared as though there was an opening beneath the pyramid. They removed something, it started out red with a golden cord wrapped around it and then it turned silver with scales. What that means I have no clue. Then that song ended.

The third song began and so did a new section of the meditation. Again, my friend was there. She was in a field of the greenest grass filled with daisies. Her face was radiant and she was dressed in a goddess type gown, sleeves flowing as she danced. She didn’t dance alone. There was a man there with her, though I couldn’t tell what he looked like or who he was. They were dancing a beautiful dance together and soon we joined them, though we kept to the background with our dancing. She and the gentleman stopped their dance when they reached a high spot in the field. They gently held hands and watched as the sun set. The peace that I felt was immense. I heard the words very clearly that she will be very happy and at peace. Then I heard the words “it is done”. I thought that this was the end of the meditation and I was getting ready to take off my blindfold in anticipation of it being the last song.

Suddenly the loudest noise went off, startling everyone present! We all jumped as the heater, for whatever reason, starting sounding like a fire alarm! I jumped up and unplugged it quickly and everyone looked a bit rattled by what had just happened. I think that I may have made mention that I was glad that it was over anyway, not really sure on that as I did think it was over. Jen, who leads the meditations, said that there was one more song to go for this meditation, it really wasn’t over! We all started laughing as it seems, something decided it was over for us and made sure that we were startled into finishing. I told them that the words “it is done” came to me moments before the “alarm” went off. Now they say that it’s my fault, in a very loving and laughing way. The general consensus is that it was done on purpose by a Benevolent Being. The work really was “done” and we needed to end the meditation. It was interesting to listen to what each of us saw as we were tracking with each other in several parts during the meditation. We all danced in circles, purple and gold showed up for each of us as did the Angels.

I really hope that our new meditatee doesn’t think that happens all the time!

Once again, I am reminded …

Once again I am reminded to be careful of what you ask for. I have been aware for sometime now that there will come a time that I will be performing a service to people in the form of a medium. I have already had it happen a few times, but never because I have “asked” for it.

I am getting more comfortable with this side of things, not so afraid of my own shadow. I decided the other day to just ask the question, is there anyone/anything out there that has a message that they would like for me to pass along? To my surprise, there was.

I knew who the message was for before I knew who was sending the message. I know this person, the one that was to receive the message and I thought that I knew who would be sending a message to them. I was corrected very quickly as my assumption was wrong. I didn’t understand the first part of the message at all; the second part was easy for me to understand.

I didn’t pass it on for a bit at first. I got caught up in the debate of if I should or if I shouldn’t. What if the person receiving the message thinks I’m crazy (I do worry about that a bit), what if it upsets them? Finally, with a bit of prodding by those that seem to be around me at all times, I sent the message to the intended receiver. I realized after I did, that I had changed the pronunciation of a word to the way that I would pronounce it, not the way that I received it. I changed that as the word that I heard was the exact way that the person sending the message would have said it.

The message was apparently timely. The recipient needed to hear the words that were sent at that moment in time. They gave peace of mind and heart, along with an interesting twist that I will keep private. That had to do with the bit that I didn’t understand.

I am getting more comfortable with the things that are appearing in my life. I will continue to get more comfortable.

Reiki … Broadening my Horizons

I am having another Reiki Share tomorrow. It was supposed to be last week, but the weather here was not nice and I postponed it. It makes me smile when I realize that even though I haven’t really advertised this event, at all, I am already aware of several people that are coming to it! Most of them are new attendees. I like that as it is a chance for me to spread the understanding of energy work to those that are interested and give them a feel for what it is all about.

I was directed, in a way, to purchase two books the other day. I love them both. One is a book to help teach Reiki, in a very simple form, to children. The other one is for giving Reiki to animals. My granddaughter was here when the books arrived. Her comment during our conversation on children learning to give Reiki was, “I’d rather just have you give me Reiki Grandma.” That made me smile. I explained to her that it was a very simple way to give yourself Reiki if you felt the need. Maybe you were nervous about a test at school and wanted to be calm and relaxed. Maybe your tummy was a bit upset and you wanted it to feel better so that you could stay at school. Even when you were home, you could help yourself if you weren’t feeling so good. She agreed that maybe it had merit, but she would still rather that I just give her a treatment as it puts her soundly to sleep!

She laughed as we were going through the book on giving Reiki to animals. There was a picture of a goat receiving a treatment. It happens that she has a pet goat named Lucky. She said that she would love to see me giving Reiki to Lucky, she even though that he might need a little as he is rather hyper-active!

These are new directions that my Reiki practice has moved. I look forward to learning, teaching, and practicing Reiki in these new ways. One thing about my life anymore, it’s not boring!

Do Dreams Show Our Purpose?

How to begin this writing … well, I had a dream last night. That should be a good place to start. It was actually more like this morning than last night. I remembered sitting in a room with several people that I didn’t know and a few that I do know. The ones that I knew were Jen and Julie, the rest of the people were strangers. We were discussing the building that we were in and what part of it Jen, Julie, and I were going to use. Once we left the room where we all were, the building was a disaster!

Strange things happened as they seem to do in all dreams; disconnected at different places within the dream. There were children in my dream; several children. At one point we were putting on skits. Julie and I were helping the kids and it was a different skit in each room. The rooms weren’t completed, but we were working on them.

Then we were back in the same room, once again with people that I don’t know, and they were telling us that the child welfare people were coming to inspect the facility. I remember that we were worried as we weren’t ready to be inspected; we were still working on getting things ready! It never occurred to me to wonder why the child welfare people would want to inspect us at all.

Julie, Jen, and I were sitting at a very big counter that looked out over a large, open, wooden floor that reminded me of our dance floor, only much bigger. The counter reminded me of the one in our current Center, again only much bigger. We were giving each other readings and surprisingly enough, eating. For some reason I started opening doors at the side of the dance floor, there were several, and discovered that one of them opened into a bathroom. I was excited as there was a normal size toilet, but there were also facilities made small to accommodate children. I showed this to one of our dancers and she was very excited as she loved this bathroom. She said it was much better than the one that we had now.

Once again we were in the room with the people that I don’t know. With us were more people that I don’t know, but it didn’t take me long to realize that they were from the Child Welfare place and were discussing their findings. The Owners (as I take the first unknown people to be) were asking the official people to please just take into consideration what they had been telling them. They were answered with a “we are listening and you heard our response to plan A and you will be getting a response to plan B soon.”

For some reason, at this point I asked if I could say something. They all looked at me and I began a very impassioned speech and I have no idea where it came from! I told them that I was a Reiki Master and that my purpose there was to administer Reiki to the children. In this capacity I would never interfere with any medical treatment that they would be receiving. I told them that I was not a trained counselor and that I didn’t plan on taking the place of one. I told them that I was a very good listener though, and sometimes having someone to listen to what you have to say brings healing on its own. I told them to look around them, to see the beauty that the facility was setting in, to hear the peace and quiet that surrounded them. To know that just the setting would start to bring healing to the shattered lives of these children. I asked them to look beyond the state of repair that the building was in and to see the bigger picture of what we represent and what we can accomplish. I woke up after this speech with a sense of purpose.

Do our dreams tell us things as we sleep? This isn’t the first time that I’ve heard that I will be working with children, though it is the most impassioned message that I’ve received. The future holds many possibilities and I am very aware of that. All that I can do is trust and follow where I am led. I have asked to be used in anyway that helps to bring peace to the World. It will be interesting to see where the road and the journey lead me.

It Takes a More than One Tool to Heal at Times

It's always interesting that about the time you think that you are doing everything that you possibly can to help with a situation, you discover that you didn't give enough credit to one important piece of the puzzle. I injured my knee, or I think that I injured my knee though I don't really remember how, early last August. That would coincide with about the time several things were changing in my life.

The pain comes and goes, it can be very painful at times, especially if I sit in one position to long. It wakes me up at night and I can administer Reiki to myself and the pain goes away. It isn't fixing the problem though, as the pain will return and wake me up again.

I have tried to send Reiki to the cause of the problem, again, I haven't managed to make it better. I discussed my knee with my Neurologist at my last appointment and while he doesn't think that it's related to my MS, he did say that he would refer me to the orthopedic that did my knee surgery when a piece of my thigh bone fell out and was locking my knee cap. It is the same knee that is hurting again.

The doctor that he referred me to was supposed to call me and schedule an appointment, to date I have not heard from him. So I have continued on with my waking up at night in pain and administering Reiki so that I can go back to sleep again. OK, I admit that there are things that I know to do that can help and for some reason I just wasn't do them. I took the "You are Energy" class the other night with Connie Dohan and the reminder came to me loud and clear. I had another tool that I could add to my Reiki to help with my knee.

I was reminded about Louise Hay and her book "You can Heal Your Life". I have her book and I've directed others in its use, but here I was, not using it myself! So I looked up the affirmation for joint pain. The pain represents changes in direction in life and the ease of these movements. Wow, I can understand this one! Everything thing in my life has been changing directions since I became a Reiki Master. The affirmation that goes with the healing of the knee pain is "I easily flow with change. My life is Divinely guided, and I am always going in the best direction." I began saying this mantra yesterday when I finally caught the missing piece. I actually had a dream of myself writing out affirmations for clients on a prescription pad and then signing it. It seems as though I am in need of the first "prescription".

My knee already feels better. It isn't locking up when I sit and I didn't wake from pain last night. I didn't think that I was having any problems with this change in my life direction. I guess that maybe I might have misjudged that just a bit! I think that I need to add a notepad to my office as there might be a Client or two that will need an affirmation to recite.

Mother Nature shows her power ...

This past week has flown by and yet, I've gone nowhere. The snow that was predicted arrived. The first days were fun as it seemed that our house was the meeting point for the family. I don't mind that. It reminds me of the past, when it was my kids that were the young ones, leaving all the snow covered clothing in their wake. Now it is my grand kids. The puddles of melted snow on the floor will always dry up and go away, the memories created at times like these, will be with me forever.

We had some really great sledding days, and yes, I even went out for a bit on one of those days. Then we woke to an ice storm. There was already 22 inches of snow on the ground and now the ice was coating it. The trees took on an unnatural look, though it was beautiful. The leaves, limbs, and needles were all coated in ice, some of them are coated in ice still. It was if I was looking at the beauty of nature through a glass covering. It was silent outside as nothing was moving.

Then it started. The trees breaking from the combined weight of the ice and snow. Standing outside, there was an eerie silence then off in the distance I could hear the pop of the branch as it broke and the crash of several more branches that were broken as it made its way to the forest floor. Another would break, once again changing the silence to a moment of sound, quickly to dissipate once more. There were no cars running, no birds singing, no cows mooing, there was nothing but silence broken by destruction. This was something that Mother Nature had manifested, no man could make it stop, no man could fix this, hug all the trees that you wanted to, they were still going to break and crash to the ground.

It was a lonely sound, this popping and crashing. It was magnified by the very quiet that surrounded it. The sledding stopped this day, no one knew what branch would crash to the ground next and it was too dangerous to take the chance.

Today, we are cleaning up. There is still snow on the ground, though now the rain has begun. We have over a foot and a half of snow still on the ground. The limbs are still falling as the rain is making the snow even heavier and the trees can't bear the weight. Next will be flooding, the water has to go somewhere and nature will have her way. The beauty has gone from the snow. It will take weeks to repair what Mother Nature did in just a few days and still continues to do. She is a force to be deal with, more powerful than anything that man can conceive of.

Fear is a Learned Behavior

I wrote in an earlier blog of my fear of the unknown in the spiritual world. I am fine with seeing people that have passed on, spiritual beings that want to help, and the Angels when I am meditating or giving Reiki treatment. At other times I wrote that I am afraid that they might actually appear before me! I have had a few close encounters lately and I’m working through them.

My girlfriends and I had decided that I must have had some type of encounter in my younger years that has caused a blockage for me in this area. I no longer think that this is the case. During the past few days I have heard a message no less than three different times. That message is that fear is a learned behavior. The message has come from different sources, but it is always the same message. The Angels are very good at sending messages if you are paying attention.

Upon thinking about this, I have realized that I did learn this behavior. My Dad has told stories all of my life about different spirit encounters within his/my family. They have always been told in a manner of a scary bedtime story, not in a way that would instill a sense that this was a normal happening. I can clearly remember one such encounter as I lay in bed and listened to the steady footsteps coming up our stairs and I kept thinking over and over that whatever it was, please go into my sister’s bedroom rather than mine! The footsteps did go into her bedroom and I will never forget the look in her face when she walked into my room about 15 minutes later and told me what happened. She was white with fear and I slept with a night light for the next five years. She insists now that it was a bad dream, but unless I was part of that bad dream, it was a very real encounter.

So, my fear is a behavior that I have learned. There have been a few things that have come to light in the last few days about what I fear in meeting in the Center. It is interesting to note that I have been unable to get into the Center since these things have been revealed to me due to a snowstorm that we are having. Do I think that the snow was created just for me to have time to deal with this fear? No, I don’t think that I have that much power, but I do believe that the timing of everything was set to coincide with the storm so that I have time to work through this fear before I next go to the Center.

A learned behavior can be unlearned. I have the best possible help with the unlearning of things. I have been reminded daily, several times a day that I am not alone. Archangel Michael is always with me. I have asked for guidance and help and he is there to do that. He has made a personal appearance, standing beside my bed and I knew that he was there as I saw him. I had no fear. My poor dogs on the other hand were beside themselves as they couldn’t get to me due to the gate that keeps them in the dining room area.

I am working on this fear thing and I believe that it will be at a much better level by the time the snow dissipates enough to go back into the Center. I can not move forward with where I need to be, until I unlearn a behavior. I fully intend to do that.