""Chaos exists as a state of unlimited, equal potentials. Artists impose order on chaos, pulling, from that unlimited and equal state in order to realize those potentials which speak most clearly to them. This makes them as much magicians in their own right as those who work exclusively with the energies of the Universe."
-Grace Gemini

Why help? *What* you do vs. *Why* you do it.

It is possible to be addicted to "helping people."
But seeing ourselves as "helpers" is an attachment to an identity, or ego-construct to which we ascribe a positive value that we do not feel that we otherwise possess. Thus by helping other people we are also fueling our own egos.
Helping people is what fills the void where self-worth *should* be.
When helping others is the only thing that makes us feel like a good person, we are really feeding an addiction.
We are using people to fill the hole in our own self-worth.

As long as we are in this ego-driven mode (being "helpful" because it's the only thing that makes us feel good), we will attract nothing but those who *need help*, and because the Universe can be very literal, they will always need help. In other words, since we continue to wish to "help", whatever aid we give will never be enough because we are perpetuating the idea that someone *NEEDS* help as opposed to the vision that that person is empowered on their own. You simply cannot help someone to NOT be the underdog, if you yourself are focusing on them as if they are.
By doing this, you are operating from a mind-set of scarcity, so what you will ultimately create is more scarcity.

So do we give up on being helpful?
Absolutely Not.
But what is important is WHY you do it. 
There are people who are so centered that they simply enjoy helping.  They *already* know of their own value and are not trying to make something up. They are helping from a place of compassion instead of a place of need.
I can't help but think that this is one reason there is such a high burn-out rate in social service and human service jobs (I did 10 years and that was enough). Like them, I was focused on fighting this injustice or that injustice and I got what I was focused on-more fighting and more injustice.
It's an interesting paradox that possibly the people most likely to go into this kind of work are the people who are the least likely to do any good and the most likely to burn out. 
( In my own defense I have to say that my career in Human Services took place 20 years ago before I changed my thinking)  But it is important to understand what your state of being is when you do. 

If you are *inspired* to help, it is a signal that you are within the Universal flow and whatever aid you do give will generate positive results.
If you feel *obligated* to help, chances are that this will not feel good to you, and that is an indication that your efforts will *not* generate anything but more effort.
Focusing on the problem, brings more of it.
Focusing on the fight brings more powerlessness.

Some people give energy by helping, and some take it away by doing the same thing. The difference is how balanced they are as people in their own right.
So be honest with yourself, and help people as long as it does not detract from your own happiness.
That is the only way you can attract those who can *truly* benefit from your help.

Let Go Of The Past

Someone I know is fond of saying that she is living the last ten years of her life over and over again; it's much truer than she knows.
It got me thinking about the last few years of *my* life--and the events that have
brought me to this point; and I realized that I am also "living the last ten years of
my life".
Every day, I spend time thinking about what has happened in that time, all the
mistakes I've made, hurtful things suffered at the hands of others, things I've
lost--just like this lady--and I have been forgetting one of the most basic of all
Huna principals "The moment of power is now".

As humans, we all live in linear time, which is really just a paradigm that forms the
boundaries around our lives so we can understand what is going on. In a nutshell it
means we begin at the beginning and finish at the end. "Power" is defined by the
amount of influence one thing has over another, therefore we have no "power" to
change the past (not yet, at least). Likewise, although we might have influence over
our paths, we cannot directly affect the future either. Well, folks, that leaves...you
got it...now.

The only moment of power we truly have is in this very second. So perhaps the
important question is not "what did I do then" but rather "what can I do now?". My
friend robs herself of power daily by dwelling on past mistakes and injustices. She
lets her experiences then frame her reactions to her experiences now. Her
relationships have suffered, she has not accomplished what she wants to do.
Likewise, she robs herself of power by worrying about what the future will bring
her. Notice I say "will bring her" because with this mind-set she believes that life is
something that happens to her. That sure as hell looks to me like she has given up
the steering wheel.
This leaves me with some interesting conclusions;

1) it is impossible to live in the present without letting go of the past (meaning; old
patterns that still hamper you).

2) it is impossible to plan for the future without living in the present.

3) the only influence the past can have over us is what we allow it to have.

4) Everything changes.

5) breaking old patterns is the key to living in the present.

To apply the principal;
I think that people often miss out on some of the more valuable interactions in life
by looking at one thing but truly seeing something else--something whose image is
generated by patterns created by past events.
Take each day as it comes. Don't hold yourself back from trying something
because something in your past gave you pain--this limits you and steals your
power.
See things as they are now, not what you think they might become or as they
"should be".
Coincidentally, I've recently been contacted by a few old acquaintances from many
years ago. I'm not sure what they're expecting, but I feel that it's important for me
to say the following;
See me as I am now. I made many mistakes. I was trapped in the past and by the
future when you knew me but that doesn't mean I love you any less. If I offended
you or hurt you, by word or deed then please forgive me. I am not now what I was
then, please give me the benefit of the doubt and take the time to get to know me
again.
I have learned a lot. I am a much more valuable person because of it. I will have
skills that will benefit you and I give them willingly in appreciation of your
friendship, and I will not ask for more than you can give.
Give me a chance, moment-to-moment. Don't look away to the past.
Realize that fear of dealing with me comes from you and coming from you can be
conquered by you.
Don.t see me as I was, don't picture me as you would like me to be. Be with me
now, in this moment thus preserving your power and mine.

Are you? Am I?

Someone on a dating site recently told me that I was “Emotionally Unavailable” because of the way I worded my profile.
Specifically, he took issue with my identification as “monogamous” and “seeing someone” relative to the fact that I still had a profile on the site in the first place.  He said that by maintaining an active profile, I was doing nothing more than “setting up other men for eventual disappointment when they find that they can not occupy a place in (my) your emotions”
This guy has no idea who I am, and so this kind of pissed me off.  But he struck a nerve-and after my shock at the strength my own reaction, I took another look at myself.
Was it true?
My partner (for lack of a better choice of labels) is not monogamous, and I accept him completely and without reservation.
Being monogamous myself, this means I get challenged emotionally.  
A Lot.
It’s not easy to be brave, or to stay positive; and sometimes frankly I get frustrated.  Sure, I could conceivably go searching for someone who thought exactly the way I do.  Perhaps I’d even find him, and maybe it would be pleasant.  Add that to the other issues involved in living my life-financial, health, and emotional  woes included, and maybe it *would* be easier to function by shutting down completely. 
But I don’t.
I asked myself “What would it be like to have an easy life?”
And my immediate thought was; “But where’s the growth in that?”
Where’s.
The.
Growth.
In.
That.
I chose this relationship, as I’ve chosen many other things in my life, in part for the growth it provides.  I choose because I see and understand that there are many different ways of living a life.  From his comment, I see that “Mr. Unavailable” sees things in more rigid terms.  If A is correct, then B is incorrect-so to speak.  There is nothing really wrong with that, but I have a different perspective where both A and B are correct, nothing is really exclusive.
I’ll be the first one to admit that monogamous and non-monogamous creates an unusual pairing.  My partner and I catch static from both sides. It takes some work.  In order to communicate my needs to someone who is occasionally focused elsewhere, I need to be in touch with my own feelings.  I need to know what stems from a situation and what might be concerned more with some insecurity on my part.  I need to be alert and sensitive to his signals when perhaps more space is needed.  I need to be adept at identifying the thought patterns that do not serve me, and finding the things that I really enjoy doing to stay centered.
In other words, in order to function on all these levels it is absolutely essential that I remain aware and open emotionally
I have to have the strength to realize who I am and admit it, even though it might be more comforting to bow to outside pressure, or fool myself into believing that I’m something I’m not.  And I see my partner for who he is, though it may be tempting to soothe myself with the thought and false hope that somehow I could “change” him.
Sure, I’m scared. I could get hurt.  But I’m learning as I go.  So is he.
So far, so good.
So, you see, Mr. “Emotionally Unavailable”, I understand where you are coming from.  I understand that your comment was an expression of fear-nobody wants to get hurt.  And hopefully now you see that my profile here is less of an attempt to “set people up for failure” and more of a testament to my belief in the value of all individuals to add to a life-even if it’s not sexually.
It’s not easy, but I do it and have faith that whatever happens will be for the best.
Can’t be more open than that.

The Gift. Happy Holiday's To All

An older story, but still relevant.  I hope you Enjoy it!



A little boy sat on the living room floor with legs crossed, deep in thought.
Colorful scraps of paper, glittering confetti and curling ribbon attached to pieces of Scotch tape lay crumpled and strewn in chaotic piles around his knees. He stretched out a slippered foot and sullenly kicked at a bit of the stuff, turning it
over with his toes. The call of discarded wrapping paper shown red, green and gold. It glimmered cheerily in the lights of the tree and the fireplace, but did nothing to brighten his mood.
Another happily squashed wad of paper landed nearby and the boy looked up to the source of the litter. All the other family members had already opened their presents, and how it was his mother's turn.

"Oh John! It's Beautiful!" she exclaimed with delight. "I have wanted something like this for just the longest time!" She held the box in her hands, lovingly pulled out the expensive bracelet inside and held out her arm to her husband who was
sitting next to her on the couch. "Put it on me, wont you dear?"
The diamonds winked and twinkled on her wrist as her hands moved across the various boxes and packages still arranged in neat piles within easy reach. One by one the festive wrappings were torn away to reveal their wondrous contents. There was a big, fluffy bathrobe with matching slippers in just that shade of blue that matched mother's eyes from sister Amanda. They sat on the boxes of matching note-cards, pen and address book from Grandma which were covered in pansies; his mother's favorite flower.
There were pearl earrings from Aunt Julia, and a new, fine leather brief case from brother Jim. At last there were only two items left. The woman smiled as she reached for a tall, square package; this one wrapped neatly in silver paper covered in blue stars. The box was topped with a loopy blue and silver ribbon so huge that it nearly covered the entire top of the box. The whole family oooooohed and ahhhhed over the magnificent wrapping; but that was nothing compared to their reaction when the box was opened. Inside the beautiful paper, swaddled in confetti and bubble-wrap, was a china plate.
This was not just any porcelain plate, but a very expensive and delicate one. It had cranes painted on it. Oriental ladies fanned themselves and strolled under blossoming cherry trees, across a bridge that spanned a lovely little river. Water lilies floated in the water, and their blooms were painted in colors so delicate that the little boy thought he could almost reach out and pick one. The inside of the plate was creamy white, and the rim was painted in gold that shone brightly in the light of the
fireplace.
"This is too much," said mother. She ran her hand over the edge, taking in the smooth coolness under her fingertips. She turned the plate over in her hands, watching the way the light played across the translucent finish.
"I have never seen anything so beautiful!" she cried. "This is the best Christmas ever!" She stood up and gently lifted the plate and placed it on the mantle in between a pair of silver candlesticks. She stepped back to admire it and smiled. Then she sat down once again and reached for the last present.

This package was different from all the rest. It had a bow made from many bits of different colored yarn that was tied around wrapping paper made from a brown paper grocery bag. Stars and swirls of color were drawn all over the paper in crayon; the artist seemingly determined to use every color in the crayon box. This box was not wrapped as neatly as the others; its corners were not perfectly crisp and the tape stuck out in places. Nevertheless, she lifted it gingerly into her lap and opened it with care.
Inside the rather sorry-looking wrapping was an even sorrier-looking item. It was a pot made of clay.
"What's this?" she asked, lifting the pot from its box and turning it over in her hands. "Is this for me?" The poor little pot was thicker on one side than the other and was painted with bright yellow and orange flowers that could only be described as "noisy". The rim of the pot, if indeed the pot had a rim, was painted blue with yellow spots. There were thumb-prints dried into the bottom and it didn't sit quite straight on the table. It leaned to one side in a way that looked
to the little boy as if the clay had partially melted.  Mother held it out at arm's length, blue eyes scanning the lumpy clay. "Did you make this for me?" she said, smiling to the little boy.
"Yes", he nodded looking nervously at the floor. He had spent a whole afternoon on it. His eyes traveled to the mantle where the china plate sat, gleaming regally.
"But it.s not very good". He said.
"Not very good?! Well I think it.s wonderful." Said mother. She reached out and ruffled the boy's unruly hair. She carried the little pot to the kitchen where she placed it on the table. It wobbled just a little, but otherwise stayed put.

In time the holidays passed as holidays do, and the little boy grew up as little boys do. Through the years, the beautiful china plate with the cranes and ladies on it stayed on the mantle; and the little boy.s mother dusted it once a week. When
people visited, she always took them to see the mantle where the plate stood between the candlesticks.
"This is my beautiful china plate", she told them. "I got it for Christmas but we mustn't use it. It's much too delicate." The company nodded solemnly and moved on.
When the children grew up, and left to start families of their own, Mother and Father decided to move to a smaller house. The beautiful china plate was lovingly and carefully wrapped up in its bubble-wrap and confetti and placed into the new
attic along with the candle sticks, and other boxes filled with photo albums and baby clothes that had long been outgrown. When the little boy, who was not so little any more, came to visit he found the old, lumpy clay pot filled with apples
and sitting on the dining room table. The noisy little flowers were faded now, and somebody had glued a little piece of cork to the bottom so that the pot no longer wobbled. "I didn't think you had kept this", he said thinking sullenly back to that morning with the tree and the china plate, where was that plate anyway?
He looked around.
No plate.
"Oh dear!!" Mother laughed. "I don't know what I'd do without my little clay pot!"
She removed the fruit and turned the pot over lovingly. "It still has your little thumb prints here all over the bottom! This pot used to have all my paper clips in it. Do you remember when it sat on Father's desk?"
The young man nodded.
"And I planted grandma's pansies in it, before they got too big in the Spring."
She went on, "And last Summer we filled it with sand and used it to prop open the
screen door! I kept my gardening supplies in it this Fall and it held down the paper
on my desk when I was working on the Christmas cards. Last week I had it filled
with pens and pencils by the phone! This pot has been the best present I've
ever gotten, and you made it for me all by yourself!"
The young man smiled and put the pot back on the table. He took a bite out of an
apple, then, whistling happily, he followed his mother into the kitchen for something to drink.

On Meditation

"Many people think that meditation is the process of training the mind. I prefer to think of it as a process by which we learn to percieve with the heart without the conscious or unconscious judgement and self-editing of the human mind. When someone says "keep this in mind", I think "Take this to heart" because I think that the heart is really the seat of Human intelligence and the key to global consciousness."
-Grace Gemini

Positive Thinking is an oxymoron

A dear friend on Facebook posted this article:

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/25/positive_thinking_is_for_suckers/


 I was moved to post an answer, then again inspired to post it here.   Enjoy!

 ***********************************************************************************
The assumption that all people are at the mercy of their cyclical, negative thoughts with no hope in sight is very typical of Western brain-centric ideology. I agree that to approach the concept of happiness from that perspective is an uphill battle on wheels.
However, from a Spiritualist perspective-my perspective- thought exists to be used as a tool to generate the feelings of happiness that we aim for. This is why affirmations don’t work for most people. We can stomp across a stage or read positive statements til we’re blue in the face but if we don’t feel them; and more importantly train ourselves so we carry the positive feeling until it becomes habitual, they won’t work to make us happy. The less effort; the better. This “short circuits” those ruminant patterns of thought that can sabotage us. ( meditation is a great tool in helping individuals break these habits)

Author Gregg Braden has a very interesting story about his visit to a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery where he asks the abbot t about the importance of all the paraphernalia around the monks during their prayers. He was told that all the accoutrements are meaningless since they exist to generate the feeling, and “The Feeling is the Prayer.”
http://unslavedmedia.net/unslavedmedia/watch_video.php?v=Y4YKNMSAAOA8 (check around timer 8:18)

A good book that approaches this subject is called “The Heart’s Code”, by Author Paul Pearsall. Pearsall describes the American belief in the superiority of the brain, and puts forth a very convincing argument that it is just this kind of “positive thinking” that keeps most of us from the happiness we seek. He states that for most Americans, any kind of sentiment- and by that, I mean what is felt, not purchased from Hallmark- makes us very uncomfortable.

Happiness is effortless.
This is not to say that it does not take some focus to get there. Those who achieve it are those who have conditioned their "ambient thoughts" to a place of neutrality and acceptance-with a healthy dose of your Buddhist "non-attachment".

Where modern Spiritual seekers run afoul of concepts like the Law of Attraction, “Motivational Speakers” or The Secret, is by

1) Aiming for something that they think will make them happy (instead of aiming for the happiness itself)
2) assuming that it is the words alone that will give them the outcome they desire.

Therefore, Secret behind the Secret, and what I think Burkeman is saying here, is that what you are, in effect, reaching for (though “reaching” may be too active a word in this context) is the feeling of well-being in spite of the prevailing circumstance. When you are already enjoying the feeling, suddenly the outcome doesn’t mean as much.
Whatever gets you there is irrelevant.

On Repeating Numbers

 I've seen so many sites and it seems that a whole lot of people have put a whole lot of time into "defining" just what these numbers mean-books, websites, pamphlets, angels, specific meanings, blogs. wow.
Some of the "meanings" aren't really that positive from my perspective, "Your agels aren't with you" or "brace for change"-and sometimes that brings me down; so I decided to do it this way;
I told the Universe that coming across repeating numbers is simply an indication to me, sent by my higher self, that I'm ON THE RIGHT TRACK.
Thanks to all those people who spent so much time and effort in breaking it all down, and I'm sure that it works for them, but I'm not going to worry about what 9's mean, or if I prefer 3's to 5's-if I see them, I just know I'M DOING THE RIGHT THING, and I smile.
I have noticed that since I decided that, they are coming up a LOT more often!
I think I did the right thing.
:)

When Life Gets Rough, Remember Why You Are Here.

You’re here to *learn* things.

Not to know things.

That’s a very important distinction.

You’re not here to *know* lessons-you’re not here so that this information magically appears inside your head.

...

It was the *process* of learning that was important to you, with all it’s delays, issues and effort and pain. Have faith that everything you experience is a part of that learning- the reason that you are here.

The journey *IS* the destination. So relish it.

So What Did You Really Love?

So, What Did You Really Love?

Let’s say that you go to a restaurant.
This place advertises that it serves the best nachos on the East Coast.  It’s advertised in the menu, and it might even be on that little lighted board that they sometimes put out on the sidewalk to catch the eye of people passing by.  You may have had them there before, or known someone else who just raved about them!  Either way, you are smiling on your way in the door.
When you get to a table, you feel pretty good!  You’re *really* looking forward to this meal.   And when you’re in a mood this good, everything else in life just seems to line up too.  So you sit down, and order the nachos, the waiter says “Coming right up.”
But they don’t show.
So after thirty minutes or so, you might ask again about the status of your order.  And again the water apologizes and says, “Just a few more minutes.”  This goes on for the better part of two hours, and finally you ask to see a manager who tells you “Oh, sorry-you see, that was a special occasion, we don’t make those any more.  In fact, we fired the chef who did, and the owner has such a thing against that jerk that we will never ever serve nachos again just because they remind the owner of the chef he didn’t like.  Sorry-but if you had asked, we would have told you so it’s really your fault for wasting your own time so don’t go thinking that you’ll get any discounts on something else.”
If the restaurant does not offer you what you wanted, and is unwilling to work with you-what do you do?
Do you continue to sit there, hoping that SOMEDAY they *might* decide to serve them again because they used to do it?  Do you blame yourself for believing in something that was promised to you. Perhaps you think that if you had been a better person, they might have made them for you anyway?  You might sit there, remembering the time you had the nachos, and order something else; pay more-enjoy it less, and think that you were lucky to have had nachos once and you should settle for what you can get now.  Some people might grab the menu, point to all the things advertised and yell “YOU PROMISED!”  Maybe they think that will guilt the manager into producing the food.
But that’s really sad.
You want to get up and go to a place that promises what you want-and comes through with those promises right?
Why then, do we hold ourselves in relationships that no longer come through with what was promised in the beginning?
When you ask someone why they remain in a relationship like this, they are likely to say, “Why, because I’m in love!”
But that begs the question-if what you are in love with is no longer a part of the menu-or what was offered is not, in truth, available from the partner-or never was; then just what do you love now? (not then, but now?)

You love the illusion of what you were being offered.  You love the memories.
You loved the way you felt.
Sit down for this one-
You loved the WAY YOU FELT.
You loved your vision of them.

BUT YOU DO NOT LOVE THEM.

You wanted to be with them because you felt better about yourself when you were.

But now you no longer feel good about yourself.
So now what?

The key is to realize that feeling good about yourself has NOTHING to do with them.
What a partner may do, temporarily, is motivate you to connect more strongly with your Inner Be-ing and it’s that CONNECTION TO YOURSELF that makes you feel good. Returning to our poor friend at the table, what happens is that eventually the menu changes.  The person changes.  And you are left without access to your connection, sitting around waiting for something to change so you can get it back.
Realizing that what you once loved no longer exists is hard.  You feel like a fool.  You want to do *something*-anything-to get back to that good feeling place you were once in.
This is a hard truth for many to stomach-no pun intended.  But the truth is; the ONLY one responsible for your connection is YOU-and once you practice a little, you can make that connection yourself, BY YOURSELF, any time you want regardless of who is with, or not with you.  And via Universal laws, once you are able to Love yourself-you will see that love reflected back to you in the people around you.
To put it as clearly as I can (at the moment):
You do NOT fall in Love with people.  You encounter people who remind you to fall in Love with yourself. And if they no longer do that, let them eat cake.

A Walmart Tale

Several months ago, while I was sitting on a bench waiting for a friend to complete her shopping at Walmart, I had a chance to chat with a lovely older lady who was sharing my seat.  We discussed our day and it came up in conversation-as it often seems to between perfect strangers and I- that she had been having a bad time recently and I said, ” I’m so sorry to hear that.  Do you have anything pleasant to focus on at all?”  Unfortunately she answered “No.”
So I gave her my bracelet.
It was a silly thing I had made, a coil-wrap wire bracelet with bright beads and charms on it.  It had a little guy in a space suit on one end and a charm of the space shuttle on the other and I chose the beads because they reminded me of planets.  I said, “Well, now you can say that you got a gift from a complete stranger!”  And she smiled.
A few days ago, I was at Walmart again, and a somewhat younger lady was at the pharmacy waiting in line with me for medicine and I happened to look at her wrist and noticed my bracelet.  I asked her where she got it, and she said “My mother gave it to me.  I was having a bad day and she said she got it from an angel on a day when she was having a rough time, and it would make me smile when I looked at it too.”
Everything is working out just the way it’s supposed to.

Sometimes...

"Sometimes, a Soul mate comes to teach you something you need to know, but sometimes a Soul mate’s job is to let you go so you can experience something alone, then reconnect and help you heal again after the lesson has been learned."
-Grace Gemini

A Thankless Job

Last night, I did a distance healing for someone who I know will never thank me for it.  I opened his heart chakra, pulled out all the gunk and replaced it with Love, Peace and Clarity.
I think it worked.

There is no Hate.

"We Love. We are Love. We can't help but Love, and in a Universe of attraction all the can happen is that we allow Love in our lives or we do not. Hate is the disallowing of Love."

-Grace Gemini

Fear

"Fear is what takes us out of the present moment. When you are afraid, you are thinking about something that has happened, or worrying about something that may happen.
When you are out of the present moment, you are off your path. Your mind will play tricks on you. The rational mind will begin to search for reasons and evidence to support the fear it feels. You become reactionary instead of responsible.
Don't worry about this, it happens from time to time. You are always able to stop, take a breath and re-focus on the present moment. You are always able to begin again."
-Grace Gemini

Truth and Lies.

When people lie, it often stems from shame, fear or guilt. Shame comes because we can't, or won't except the truth.  Fear occurs when the truth is something we might not want to hear.  Guilt happens when we expect that the truth will hurt another.

But the problem is that all words carry energy; lies, especially so.  Even if the person being lied to does not know on a conscious level that they are being lied to, they do feel it; and that energy eats away at the foundation of the relationship.

So, step into your truth.  Take responsibility for the choices you've made.  Act and speak with integrity.  Do not focus on the opinions or actions of others.  Letting go of dependance on the feelings of others brings you freedom.  You will no longer be bound by the fear of loss.  You will be free of having to maintain the lie.  You release the shame that comes when you know you have not acted properly.  You will be liberated from the fear of discovery.  You will be free of worry about who knows what information and you will have no potential shame at being "found out".  You will no longer have to pile lies on lies to maintain the status quo. 

Be equitable with others, but above all with yourself. And be aware how a torrent of suppressed "truths" about another may in reality be unresolved issues you have within yourself.  Understand how our "rational" minds can often deceive us.  Being honest is about allowing ourselves to feel vulnerable.  As with all paradox, this contains great power for transformation because only then are we genuine in our dealings with others; and only then can we change resentment into connection.

"Manipulation is trying to convince a person that your opinion of them is more important than their opinion of themselves."
-Grace Gemini

The Story As A Tool For Creating Reality

Stories have been used since the beginning of humanity to impart information and to entertain. As a Shaman, and conscious creator, I write stories to help illustrate certain concepts.   Shamanism recognizes that the "story world" is akin to the "dream world", and as such, is just as real as the physical reality you exist in at this moment.   But have you ever thought about why the story, as an entity in itself, has become such an integral part of human development?  Sure, we often identify with the characters in a story as other facets of ourselves.  We like to see them succeed and imagine that we are the ones coming out ahead.  If we are not presently "ahead" then we might prefer to see their struggles and relate them to our own.  In addition to, and separate from, the archetypes and characters, we are also drawn to certain themes, or "plot lines" (such as boy finds girl, loses girl and finds girl again, or the Greek model of tragic figures who fall and then rise again) over and over again because there is something about the reality that they create which speaks to us on a deep level.  The story structure itself becomes the archetype, and because this resonates so strongly with humans, it makes the information conveyed by the story that much easier to remember.

But it is the story itself-meaning the creation of information based on the imagination- that has a much more powerful meaning in the inclusive Universe.  

Life is a story:

Look at it this way,  each moment you exist is the next moment in the continuing adventures of you.  If you were to take a few moments to examine your life as you have experienced it to this point, you would see certain themes, habits, illustrations, actions, reactions, feelings and patterns emerge- in other words, a story.   Your story is utterly unique to you, and is playing concurrently with any number of other stories generated by the people around you.  You may play a major character in some of those stories or be relegated to a minor, supporting role.  But your own story exists as a complete and self-contained vibration and this is what gives you such power in it.

The Story As Magic:

Telling a story involves all 3 components of creation; Physical mind (the body-mind), The Thinking Mind (the Ego), and The Higher Mind.  This is similar to what those practitioners of Magic might call "Intent-Focus-Belief"-Identification of the desire, the focus of energy on the desire and the belief that the desire will come to fruition. 
Law of Attraction fans may define the process as "Want-Ask-Allow"; The Thinking Mind identifies a desire and focuses attention on it while the Physical mind (tied to the body-mind) summons up deep feelings and passion about the subject which are taken and interpreted by the Higher Mind, which in turn takes care of the details and arranges the circumstances needed to bring that desire into manifestation.  Run-on sentences aside, both are simply different ways of referring to the same thing. ;)
When seen in this context it becomes clear that all "spells" are simply ways of convincing the practitioner that the present story (the reality of the moment)  has, in effect, been re-written into a story which is more representative of the practitioner's desires.

The Story As Creation:

When we put forth a particular story, is it said that we are vibrating at a particular frequency.  You support and sustain this frequency by living your story- behaving and believing in such a way that supports your vision.    Something as simple as looking at your life as it exists now, in other words, the story that it represents; and deciding to change the story, can have profound effects on what you experience in reality.  This is another tool that has been given to us, "hard wired" by the Universe to help us become conscious creators in our own Lives.  You may be happy with your story as it is playing out, or wish to make changes.  If you wish to make changes, then envision your story as you would prefer it to be and live as though it has already happened.  You can do this because you have ultimate control over your own story, even to the meaning you attribute to the events occurring around you.  

The Story is Meaning-less:

All events, all stories, are neutral.  They have no intrinsic meaning in and of themselves.  It is the observer who assigns the meaning to the circumstances and therefore, it is the observer who can choose to change the meaning that they had previously assigned.  If someone doesn't call you when they say they will, how many of you choose to believe that it means they dislike or are avoiding you?  How many of you will choose to believe that it means they simply lost track of time?  What you choose is determined by your habitual beliefs (belief is a vibration).  If you choose to assign a positive belief and meaning to an event, then that event must ultimately serve you in a positive way because you have changed the vibration.  

Life does not write your story, YOU write your story.  You have only to imagine it, and trust that your Higher Self knows the way to make your story happen.  

Change the story, change the vibration and change what is being attracted to you.  

                                                     

Labels Are Limits

Some time ago, a friend of mine told me that the Priestess of his Wiccan Circle had confided in him that she was an Agnostic. Then she said to him "Now, tell me where the power is in that."

An answer sprung to my mind instantly and involves the following;

One of the 7 basic principles of Huna (the Shamanic tradition in which I was trained)  states "There Are No Limits", meaning that the only true limits that exist are the ones we put in place for ourselves. Another states that "The World is What You Think it is" meaning that we create our experience of reality from our own thoughts.  More recent information, coming from the field of Quantum physics indicates that the basic components of matter (as we currently are able to define them) respond to human thought.  

It is our vibration which determines what we see, experience and attract to us- and having a definition of a thing within that vibration influences that thing to conform to a certain framework.

The word "Agnostic" was coined by the 19th-Century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley. He made up the word from the prefix a-, meaning "without" or "not", and the noun "Gnostic" which comes from the Greek "gnosis" meaning "knowledge" in the esoteric and spiritual sense.

Huxley was often labeled by outsiders as a "Gnostic", a group of his fellow contemporaries, or "intellectualists" as he called them, who had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction. But Huxley considered himself to be "...a man without a rag of a label to cover himself with.."

Although Huxley believed that what was "truth" was manifested in the physical world, he would not adhere to any one specific theory or philosophy about things unseen.

The Shamanic Traditions believed that we do create what is our truth in the physical world every day. But in resisting any particular philosophy or dogma we keep the possibilities open.  

That is the key...

By refusing to "label" himself--i.e. take up an association of belief to the exclusion of all others--he was also not excluding possibilities.

To project this a bit further, we could say that he believed that anything might be possible.

My friend's Priestess, by considering herself Agnostic, was also functioning in the belief that anything is possible--and going back to Reality Theory, and "The World is What You Think it is" we know that to believe something is possible, is all that is needed to make it possible.

That is the essence of true magic, this is the true meaning of power.

My friend's Priestess was indeed very wise. 

Living "In The Moment"; The Structure of Reality

There is an ancient, Buddhist sayiing that goes;

"When you take care of each moment, you take care of all time."

Many people equate this saying with the popular phrase "Live In The Moment", and more fatalistic individuals or those devoted to non-attachment often define it as enjoying what is because there is no guarantee of more.

We look at time and envision a string of moments, occurring one after the other from some distant beginning to some equally distant end.  Modern physics, however, has put forth the theory that time does not exist in the way we have traditionally thought of it.  They surmise time as an endless series of moments which all exist simultaniously, in the same place.  Each moment, is then, a self contained parallel reality , and distinguished from it's neighboring moments by a difference in it's vibrational frequency.  What we see as "moving through time" is in reality a steady series of shifting from vibration to vibration.

Suffice it to say, that Reality as we percieve it is more like a series of film frames that click  into place one after the other.  Click-click-click-click  we are here, here, here, here.  Each moment, really then, is all there is since there is nothing technically "before" it and nothing technically "after" it.  When you believe something to be true, your vibration, or frequency can be said to be in harmony with that reality, and so the vibration of the next frame pulls you towards it (The Law Of Attraction).  Each moment is it's own parallel reality and the version of "you" which buys into the belief of its existance moves to that next moment and you feel as though you are moving through "time". 

Even what you might consider to be "past" or "future" lives are all happening concurrently.  The Human mind creates the illusion of time in order to understand what it observes.  As I said before, human beings must learn by relating a thing to another thing.  Separating time into past, present and future allows us to hold one up against another and say "I like this", or "I didn't like that".  Once we determine a preference, changes can be made, but MORE than that--

The Expanding Reality

When a preference is expressed-consciously or unconsciously, ANOTHER parallel Reality comes into being that takes into account the preference and exists, in its own self-contained vibration.  If you want to change your reality, you must first change your vibration in order to be pulled towards the reality which exemplifies the kind of experience you want.  The simple act of wanting it, imagining it or desiring it creates it.  Everything that exists today, began as a thought, which began as a preference-I'd like a better way to do X, I would rather have Y.  This is the way our Universe expands, through thought as focused by the mind (see note "The Ego Is Not The Enemy")  By having your preferences, you act in concert with the All That Is in creating expansion in the Universe. 

"Living in the moment", then means to, in a sense, see the SAME MOMENT from a different point of view, so it is your perspective that is shifting, not the segments of time.   Indeed, we shift through billions of parallel realities every second. The time it takes for us to shift one vibration is sometimes referred to by physicists as "plank time", but I'm not blessed with an intellect which can wrap itself around the finer points of theoretical physics so I just won't go there.  ;)  (if you are interested in more on this subject read "The Field" by Lynne McTaggart (sp?) )  Each moment is different from its neighbor in such an infinitessimly small way that are barely aware that we are shifting at all.  But if, in that moment, you can somehow change your patterns of belief, you can be drawn to a different perspective of that moment which creates a different Reality.

This structure of the reality shifts (no pun intended) the responsibility of change to the individual as the changes we create in ourselves and our beliefs are the way by which we experience the reality that represents our preferences.  We do this by "taking care of"- or evaluating each moment according to what we believe and what we want.  The Shamans were aware of this.  There is a Huna principal that says "Now is the moment of Power".  

We cannot change our past, and we cannot act directly on our future.

The only period in which you are able to act is in that self contained moment.  In our human existence, we have only now in which to institute any change.  "Time" is Now.  If you desire to make a change, you must do it now, and in doing so, you are indeed addressing "all time".

Indeed, there is nothing else.