It is Spring. The Earth is calling you.

I recently raked my beach and restored my Medicine Wheel after a long winter of storms, and waves and wind. As I raked around it, I noted that the pattern had been pushed to the East. Only those stones were scattered, calling my attention.

The Medicine Wheel teaches that beginnings begin in the East, where the Sun rises to each new dawn. Spring is the season of the East, and the time of change. It is the season of new ideas, and seeing the light. Spring is the season when all things begin to grow and awaken.

Yellow is the color associated with East (and the Goddess Oshun). In the Medicine Wheel, yellow is the color of the Path of Life, to begin the walk as a "warrior", to shine in all that you do. The energy to do and to begin the action of the mind and heart is located in the East. The sun rising in the East empowers each of us. The totems of the East include animals of wings and flight. Our words are given to the east that the smoke in the air or the voices in the air may be carried to Spirit.

I was mindful of this as I replaced the stones, noting I needed to bring down a few more quartz clusters  which had been lost to the sands of time, resting back in the Earth from where they were born. I thought briefly of my own grandchildren, yet unborn, digging the clusters up on some future sunny summer's day. I watched my own boys, now young men, raking leaves and carrying away debris and I intuited, "they are already here." I felt content, and at deep peace with the circle that formed in my consciousness.

Last night had a dream in which the Grandmothers came to my Medicine Wheel and replaced the East stones with glowing blue eggs. Bigger than robin's eggs and deeper blue, I thought about the flock of Robins that had been in the yard yesterday, they caught my attention because they were tweeting so loundly. In my dream I thought, "Oh I am just dreaming this because of all those Robins, I forgot to replace the quartz clusters..." when I got a sharp NO! and was promptly propelled into another dream segment.

I am not going to elaborate on the cast of characters who entered my consciousness, and who rose up from the depths of history to share their wisdom. I will not share what was contained within the blue eggs. But I will tell you that am I am still shaking. And I will also tell you that the Goddess in her many forms stayed with me, changing her face as was required by the incarnations of the messengers, to make sure I "got it."


Our environments have been degraded, climate affected, our life-sustaining resources are being depleted and ruined by human ignorance and human greed. I was shown how politics and even religion itself will be used as weapons of war, as a leverage to separate people and to pit them against one another in a great conflict, not over ideology, but over the resources of the world, and how the conflict will be masked. It will be clothed in the disguise of politics and religion, but in essence it will be a competition for and over access and distribution of resources.

We citizens of the world are entering a time of self-imposed difficulty and environmentally-forced change to balance it. The world’s resources are declining. Populations are growing. And as this is occurring, there will be continued competition, manipulation, and conflict and war. Ancient animosities will be aroused. Prejudices will be played upon and used by those who are ambitious within both governments and religious institutions. Human weakness will be preyed upon, and fear will be pervasive.

The Goddess of My Understanding intends for humanity to become united and self-sufficient within a Universe full of intelligent life. Human strengths will be celebrated, and love will be the way.

I do intuit that there are beings, and systems, both within and beyond this world who are awaiting humanity’s failure to do so. I believe that just as there are human beings awaiting the opportunity to intervene in order to take advantage of a weak and conflicted humanity, there are interdimensional beings also sitting in the front row seats watching the show.

And, I do believe that throughout time, The Goddess has been sent forward into the world for the protection and advancement of humanity. And I believe she has birthed again for the very same reason. To make sure my grandchildren come to dig those crystals out of the beach, that the lake remains pristine and its creatures abundant.

What is threatening our human family and threatening to send it into despair, threatening to undermine the well-being and survival of people everywhere is our own blindness. Our ability to be manipulated. And, our fear.

Humanity’s possibility to navigate these difficult times is very small unless we embrace the collective wisdom of the Divine Feminine. The possibility for humanity to avoid ongoing war, conflict and degradation is very small unless the principles of the Goddess are restored to mass consciousness. The promise for humanity to begin a greater future, a future that will be unlike the past, will be very small if  the masculine principals of control and consumption, coersion and conquer are left in place to guide us forward.

To those who will be tempted to take up arms in the name of religion or political advantage: You must recognize that your thoughts, your intent and your actions go against the Goddess’s will for humanity. They are in violation of what Mother Earth intends for humanity. Of what all Mothers intend for their children.

It is Spring. The Earth is calling you. The Goddess, Divine Mother, is calling you. You must only sit quietly, out in the sunshine, and open your heart to hear. Her voice has never been more clear. Each day is a good new day with a fresh beginning, a new start.

May you be blessed!

Divine Mother: A Meditation for the Spring Equinox

The Spring Equinox is the beginning of a astrological New Year when the sun enters the sign of Aries and begins a 12-month cycle around the wheel of life. It is a time when day and night are balanced, lending support from the universe and Mother Earth, to begin again in a state of perfected harmony. It is a time to create and bring form to your dreams and rejoice in birth and life.

Today, Sunday, March 20th, 2011 is the Spring Equinox this year. Throughout the year there are periods of time and windows of power that we can harness to power the changes in our lives that we are setting out to accomplish. In this moment we are watching a world out balance attempting to return to harmony. We are witnessing a rebirth.

The Goddess, the Divine Mother, is returning to our collective consciousness to guide us through the changes. She is Kwan Yin, Isis, Mary, Oshun, Lakshmi. She is You. The Divine Mother abides in the heart of every being, as the divine creatrix who has manifested multiple forms of consciousness as an adoration for Her beloved, the eternal formless Supreme Being - God the Father. In truth these two timeless lovers are not two rather, they are inseparably bound to play out their cosmic dance of love for all eternity.

I hope that you will take a moment to enjoy this beautiful Heart Meditation, "Light of Presence – Mother Divine." Today, open your heart and receive the aspect of the Divine which is known as Mother. Where there is love, compassion and mercy, see Her direct presence, always the present moment, always in service, in you.

To best experience the heart healing transmission watch full screen, with your awareness at the high (etheric) heart center.

May you be blessed.

The Goddess Speaks, May I be Blessed

I'm not easily shaken, it takes a lot to knock me off my center. And its usually the malicious (and not the miraculous) that does it. But 1/1/11 blindsided me.

I was doing a Merkabah (lightbody) activation for a student in Dubai (yes, you know who you are!) when I slipped dimensions to find not only myself and my client, a but a fairly large soul group, in past, alternative present, and future experiences all centered around a profound healing regarding our vocation as seers. It was so intense, and so profound, that I can say with absolute certainty, "I am forever changed."

I came to see that in the wake of the teachings currently called "The Secret" and "The Law of Attraction"  there are many people who (residualy) believe that everything that happens to them is the result of their own creativity, however misguided. But what they fail to see is that everyone else has created their reality too, and that the impact of that energy in the mental environment over time—the environment of thought and influence—is so much immensely greater by what everyone else is creating than what you individually can create, that to think that you can produce all these results for yourself simply by directing the will and the power of the mind is to ignore the will and the power of all other minds, many of which are still self serving and manipulative... and the key ingredient of manifestation from self realization.

This mass-produced assumption that our minds alone create certainly reinforces and is based on the belief in separation. (I wonder how, and who, advanced it in its current incarnation.) It does not take into account the effect that minds have on one another. It does not recognize the impact and the influence, and the energy of the mental environment. Though it may proclaim that everyone has the potential to recreate their experience, it does not take into account the fact that the mental environment is completely dominating for most people, to the point where very few people even have any original thoughts. We are simply recycling all the influence that we are absorbing and have been absorbing since the day we were born. And because human beings are essentially social creatures, we will always tend to associate with whatever group we identify with, whatever group we think is giving us promise, purpose, meaning and security.

The freedom of the mind then is really not possible within the mental environment. It is but a little light surrounded by millions of other lights. There is a forgotten component to "The Secret Teachings." And that is that the only way out of this predicament is for the mind to follow the illuminated heart, the mind of God deep within your inner knowing which the mindis intended to serve, because this heart is not influenced by the mental environment. It is the only part of you that is beyond influence or manipulation from any source. It is indeed this awakened heart, your Divine Essence that will create a new life for you, create a new reality and a new experience for you. Only it has the power to do this because it is unaffected by the mental environment in which you live.

You can’t make your Divine Essence want what you think you want. You can’t make Divine Essence give you what you think you must have. This awakened heart is more powerful than your mind. It knows why it is here. It is here on a mission because you are here on a mission. Unaware of this mission, you will keep trying to satisfy the deeper needs of your soul by acquiring people, possessions and experiences. And you will be in constant fear that you could lose all of these things, which are threatened by so many different things. It is a hopeless attempt at fulfillment.

I’m dedicating 2011 to healing and to teaching this simple truth through experiential practice. Yesterday, I saw the probable future of the past ignored. If humanity continues using "the motivations" that have gained us this position, these "advantages" and these calamities, well, the future of humanity is predictable and grave. And I have hope, I always have. So the Goddess spoke. And she did not whisper. She shook me awake... again.

In 2009, I was gifted the opportunity to witness an experiment in social ecommerce. I was a participant in the limited sense that I played the role of the new breed of savy e-merchant, and yet I identified mostly as an observer from the  higher perch of the spirit. I knew it was a lesson from the get go, so I studied it carefully. And I realized the metaphor in the play, holographically, that every calamity everywhere, in every time, began as someone’s good idea for themselves (and maybe others), and that every social system that has led to revolution, conflict, war and deprivation began in essence as a desire to improve someone's (self's/organizations/humanity’s) condition and to address injustices and inequities.

And consider this: Because the veils are thinning on this plane, and multidimesional knowing is becoming the norm, any business or social agenda that you propose, any political agenda that you espouse and that you further, will be opposed by some percentage of the population that sees your own agenda clearly, no matter how cleverly hidden. Even if you think you have the perfect solution, the great idea, the best arrangement with the least collateral damage, what are you going to do with all of those people who oppose you? What are you going to do with these people? Override them? Censore them? Subjugate them? Destroy them?

This is the inherent danger in people inventing schemes without the power and the presence of the awakened heart. This is the mind desperately trying to control life as the systems collapse in decline. This is the mind playing God in the world, positioning itself as the problem solved, the next big thing. You have only to look at those results in your personal, business and national relationships to see that in the end a few people are richly supplied, and everyone else is left in deprivation. And overall, our very humanity is being deprived; it is being degraded, for we are now living in a world of decline, new ideas and all.

The mind is creative. It creates fantasies; it creates nightmares; it creates scenarios; it creates explanations for the past; it creates new ideas for the future. Your mind was created to be creative. It is creative. But this creative power of the mind is meant to serve something greater than itself. Without its position of being in service to a greater good, the mind is self-fulfilling. It is self-serving. It is consuming. And it will struggle, and it will fight. It will blame, and it will condemn when it is deprived of its goals.

Today many people want both change and peace, and they do not see the contradiction in this. Change is not peaceful. It is difficult, challenging and upsetting if it is real change. And yet people want change and peace. They  who dispense the new ideas expect others who do not have what they have to be peaceful, to be peaceful and cooperative with one another... and follow without question.

Question everything you have been told tothink. I know that humanity must unite and cooperate for the preservation of the world, to prevent ever increasing war, degradation and decline in the future. There will be more people wanting fewer resources. Yes, humanity needs to improve its condition, and that is why this spark has been placed within each person by design. For only your awakened heart within you knows what will really work for you and how your efforts and your actions can lead to a beneficial outcome in the world. Ask your heart. Question your mind.

Certainly, reorienting the mind to create things of value and meaning is very important, and many people are becoming aware of this. They realize that they determine their experience to a great degree by how they evaluate what they see around them: how they associate themselves and how they disassociate themselves. They see the power and the potential of the mind in this regard.

However, what many people do not see is that the mind is meant to serve the greater power of the illuminated heart. If you are unaware of your spirit, this great power, the mind will be reckless, it will be self-serving, it will be judgmental. It will be a harsh and oppressive ruler in your life and potentially in the lives of others.

If the mind serves itself, it will be fundamentally competitive and destructive. It will always want more of what it thinks it wants and needs. Beyond meeting certain basic survival requirements, it will always want more. The more you want for yourself, the more you draw from the limited resources of the world, the more you deprive other people of their basic needs for survival.

So I will tell you all, that you cannot come up with a new idea, a new scheme or a new plan to resolve this fundamental problem without being heart-centered in your dealings. The Earth plane will no longer tolerate the low energetic signature of mind games. Only the awakened heart knows how to provide advancement, security and fulfillment for us. And only the awakened heart knows how to do this in such a way that it does not deprive others. And then and only then, your pursuit of safety, security and fulfillment will become beneficial for others because it is guided by the illuminated heart, your Divine Essence.

Your intellect, as creative as it is, cannot figure this out. It does not have this depth of wisdom. It is not connected to life sufficiently. It does not have the clarity and the comprehension to do this. That is because the mind is a vehicle of expression. Its source is the spirit, and the source of the spirit is the Creator of all life. Whether you are a religious person or not, whether you practice within a faith tradition or not, this is the fundamental reality of your life.

If you are unaware of the possibility of living from a fully illuminated heart, you will be constantly striving to get what you want and avoid what you don’t want, and you will be in constant judgment and frustration over the behavior and the thoughts of others and the condition of the world. And the end result is you will be nothing more than a consumer, and you will be adding nothing more to the world than more judgment and condemnation, adding to the fuel of conflict that is already raging here.

My prayer for 2011 is that I be used in the service of bringing the heart to the center of all matters... in business, in relationships, in the restoration of our Earth Mother and her children.

May I be blessed.

Once Upon a Time... Oshun

In 1996, as part of my Reiki Master candidacy, I set up
Reiki programs with several nursing homes in the area.
This was unheard of at the time. Through a community
outreach grant and the activities directors at a few of
the more prestigious places, I was able to send Reiki
practioners into the facilities to give Reiki to residents
free of charge. I had all kinds of documented studies on relaxation and pain relief which I presented to boards of directors, nurses, and MD’s.

I was also able, through Hospice, to attend transitions and provide services ‘til the end if requested. It was all very groundbreaking and heady stuff, and I felt that I was doing important work
bringing alternative and natural care to venues where mainstream medicine and ho-hum care was the norm.

There were newspaper articles about my work, workshops to give, CEUs for nursing staff, and my mastership was assured. I was really something! I could see my future. I had business
cards printed, ordered really nice state-of-the-art body work tables and was ready to set up a practice and hire the office help! So I thought...

One of my first clients was an elderly woman from the Dominican Rebublic ( I think). She did not know how old she was, although I would guess that she was in her late 90’s. She had come to the US as a teen and worked for several generations for a wealthy family from New
York City who summered here in Wolfeboro, the oldest summer resort in America. She loved it here on the lake. And so it was here that she was resting.

Nanny, as she was known, had cared for this family and their children, and now those children, in gratitude and love had made sure she would spend the rest of her life with the best care money could buy. She was a resident in the best nursing home here, with water views, and fine china, and good art in the dining room. Her bed linens were not issued by the laundry service, they were very fine, a European duvet was covered in embroidered eyelet lace. The exquisite antique furnishings in her room were obviously brought in from the lake house. And every week, I noticed a magnificent arrangement of fresh flowers by the window. Hotel lobby size, no carnations.

The smiling faces of generations of tanned, blue-eyed blond children filled the room in silver frames. Some on horses, some with tennis rackets, in caps and gowns, and some, in wedding gowns, all with Nanny.

She had her hair done every week, and she wore matching Laura Ashley gowns and robes and wore an expensive gold watch, little diamonds in her ears. This was no one’s servant, this was someone’s beloved mother. This was a queen. Now I realize her room and her body, a temple to the Goddess, but how could I have known then? Even they who built it, and maintained it, did not know.

Several strokes had left Nanny with garbled speech and little mobility. She did not mix with the other residents nor did she take part in activities. And although her mind was still pretty sharp, her frail body was withering, and she waited for the spirits of ancestors of her Dominican Republic family to come for her and finally bring her home. I never met her New York family, although I suppose in the end they came for her too.

Nanny did not want the clergy to visit nor did she want the dog lady to bring in the great golden retriever who lavished affection on the residents. She did, however, want an appointment to see the healer.

And that was me.

In those days I was very professional. I would play whale songs and flutes on my little portable CD player and focus on hand positions, carefully listening with my hands. I never brought crystals with me. Never spoke of spirit guides. I was careful not to come across too witchy or new-age. I was after federal grant money, after all.

Nanny was just bones in her bed to the untrained eye, but my hands sensed amazing life force contained in that little body. It was very different energy from any other of the nursing home residents which usually felt very flat, depressed or depleted. I was awestruck at her vibrancy! At
the end of our first session she smiled and said, “thank you Oshun.”
“Susan,” I said.
“Oshun.”

Of course, I assumed (because of her disability or English as her second language) could not
say Susan and what did I care? She was peaceful, not in any pain and she enjoyed our time together. She wanted me to come back. My ego was gratified. I kept notes, documenting it all for an eventual grant.

Each time, I tried to tell her that my name was Susan (soon to be famous Susan, friend of Deepak Chopra and Bill Moyer, right!) And each time I came to give her Reiki treatments she thanked Oshun. Susan. Oshun. Susan. Oshun.

I came to see that her vibrancy was very heart centerd. It was her love force. It was the children she cared for, the beauty of the lake that she loved. Her gratitude for being loved, for having loved. Her life force was her love force. I wrote that down. I was profound!

Toward the end of her life she seemed to gain a little strength, and one day she reached out and took my hand. “Oshun,” she said and I felt a wave of energy shoot through me. Try as I might I could not flow anything to her. Some Reiki Master.

She wanted me to return though and I did but I was beginning to doubt my abilities.

From that day forth I was on the receiving end with Nanny, and luckily I was just wise enough, and just open enough to finally accept it without guilt or judgement. I changed. I remembered.

Why my conditioning and discipline as a Reiki Master Candidate didn’t get in the way remains a mystery. But I allowed the mystery to unfold and Nanny continued to thank Oshun. Then one day, while browsing thru a book about Tarot card decks at Barnes and Noble I discovered that Oshun was a Goddess!

I was able to tell Nanny that I had discovered Oshun and that I understood what she was trying
to tell me. I studied. It was all very different, yet so familiar. I told her about Venus, Istar, Kali. Yemayacame to me in dreams. Oya, Oshun. I began to understand.

Oshun’s holy day is September 11. I told Nanny that was my birthday. She nodded, she knew. She told me pieces of the stories of her remembering. I told her there were similar stories in the Hopi tradition, Zen wisdom tales, and Bilblical parables. She knew. I knew.

She would take my hand and give me her gift. The transmissions were always the same, very distinct energy, although they lasted only a few seconds. An hour long Reiki session seemed ridiculous, infantile, when this energy could be passed in an instant. I began to question everything I knew about spiritual and mind/body healing modalities, including Reiki. It was apparent that I would become a Master of Nothing but Questions.

One day I asked her how she did that. Her answer was simple. “Love you.”

Nanny passed with her hand in mine. I felt her go in a flash of love. She simply became love. In one instant, like light, she was only love. I will never fear death because Nanny showed me how to do it. She was simply restored.

But she gave me lots to fear and and lots to get over in life. She set me upon a path where I confronted my ideas of what a Master is and is not. What a healer is. What spirituality can be. What life is for. What threads connect us all.

Search, abandon. God, Goddess. Create, dissolve. Intellectualize, forget. Finally, all that was left
was the power of love. And the Spirit of Oshun.

Much of this story remains untold because there is no language suitable for miracles. I hold much experience sacred in silence where it belongs. Nanny is one of my greatest teachers, and I have been blessed with some profound ones. Nanny was Priestess, Healer, Teacher, Friend.

I share this story primarily because I want you to keep your heart open, especially when you think you are on the path, doing the do, walking the talk. When you think you are it.
That’s when you need to get ready to re-evaluate in a big way.

Whenever you interact with anyone, remember, by design, each one of us has a profound gift to give another just at the right, life-altering moment. I might have become just another Reiki Master with a massage therapist and accupuncturist sharing space in a strip mall if I had not met Nanny. That's what I wanted to be! That was my highest calling, a dream come true! I never would have become an ebay psychic or swam naked with dolphins and study with Taino elders, or create Oshun Spirit Fragrance Oil, or...

And, I might have even feared an ancient tradition or two, locked in judgement and a false sense of superiority, if I had not embraced the appearance of Oshun in my life.

Like I said, I was just barely wise enough to not let ego and emotion get in the way of a life altering experience. Nanny joyfully possesed Oshun’s dancing spirit, I saw her fully present in the last breath of a tiny, crippled woman. I saw the Goddess in her, I know.

So, instead of becoming a Master I became a student.
Oh, I had the certificate, but it was more of a birth certificate than anything else. The Goddess had taken my hand, literally. She had awakened me to the power of love.

In the hours I sat with Nanny, gazing out her big picture window at the lake, looking at her framed photographs, smelling her roses and lillies, smoothing her beautifully coiffed hair, I also sat with Oshun. With beauty. With harmony. With the love emotion of the initiated. With the knowledge that love is the only question, the only answer, the only prayer.

May you be blessed!

Image credit: www.gods-heros-myth.com/gallery/jessica/oshun.jpg

Dance a Tremendous Dance, that's Oshun Spirit

When you need to start thinking tremendous thoughts, start dreaming tremendous dreams - and then get out there and live life the way it was intended to be lived - dance that life into being in a super duper tremendous way, with flowing joy!

That's Oshun. That's the Spirit!

We all yearn to live tremendous lives; the lives we have dreamed about, lives where our fondest wishes come true. It's only natural to want the best life has to offer. Yet, if asked to choose a word that best describes the lives we are presently living, odds are pretty good that 'tremendous' would not top the list. In fact, it probably wouldn't make the list at all.

Truth be told, most of our days fall well short of tremendous. And that's something that needs to change.

We are born to live terrific, ecstatic, sensational, absolutely extraordinary lives. That's right; our Creator wants our lives to be nothing short of amazing. We are each born to live remarkably incredible lives where we consistently reach the unreachable, touch the untouchable and do the undoable each and every day. We are each artists, dancers, lovers, creators!

I know it's tough to keep your spirits up when things start dragging you down. And it's hard to dance when you are constantly bombarded with problems and difficulties. But dancing is a must if you truly want to live a tremendous life.

Well, here's the good news. It's all right here, ready when you are. That's right; everything you have ever wanted, anything you'll ever need is right here. The Goddess is ready to take you anywhere you desire, ready to make your life all that it could be and more. Flowing joy!

So what are you waiting for?

“I am the honey-sweet voice of the waters.
I am the flowing of a woman's skirts as she dances her life.”

May you be blessed!