Purr your Way to Peace

I'm noticing that besides us humans, all other animals lead pretty basic lives. They eat, they sleep, they run and play, they burrow or nest, they groom, they fly, swim, crawl or run, and lead their lives simply. They aren't "homeless", "jobless" or poor, they just are.

I have three cats, three hens and a dog. I can tell when they are content. The cats purr, the dog smiles and the hens make sweet sounds as they take their dirt baths in the sun. They all seem to get joy from a good nap in a sunny spot. In honor of the simple life of animals and pure, simple joys, take a nap today. Snuggle under blankets or bask in the warm sun without any guilt whatsoever. Pay homage to the animal in you. Live joyously without attachments or worry. Be completely content and purr your way to peace.

HEAL THY SELF

In 2008, I got sick with a funny little condition that made me shake, made my heart beat really really fast, caused me to lose weight and feel horrible. It was my thyroid, the butterfly-shaped gland at your throat that secretes a hormone that regulates the speed at which your body "runs". Too much thyroid hormone and everything speeds up, too little and it all slows down, energy, mood, bowel movements, you name it. So mine had gone haywire and had shut down, but before going completely down, it drained itself of all of its thyroid hormone reserves. I must have had a lot, because I was sick sick sick for three months.

Some good came of the situation. As the hormone levels approached "normal', I became sort of superhuman. Incredibly creative and courageous, I had visions and plans and ideas that I began implementing immediately.  I self published my first book, Perfectly Imperfect, and I began to make a documentary YOU, about the divine in you. I succeeded in making my family and friends very nervous with my joyous mania and ambitious plans.

Eventually, my thyroid drained completely and I became tired again.  The next year or two revealed a cycle of hypo to hyperactive thyroid that my doctor informed me was the norm for a case like mine. He said that eventually, my thyroid may need to be irradiated and shut down completely with all my thyroid hormone coming from a pill instead.  The last bad cycle was over a year ago, when my thyroid became hyperactive again. The doctor wanted to do a test that involved a radioactive iodine pill, six hours of fasting and a whole day of my precious time wasted. I was unhappy about this, so asked to have it pushed off for a month. During that time I had read about John of God and the channelling of healing entities that he does for anyone who asks this of him down in Brasil. I decided to call the healing entities to work on me here and now. I didn't need a channel. I could be the channel. I meditated every morning and every afternoon, asking for reversal of disease, a healing, loving energy to bathe all of my cells and for the lesson of the illness to be engaged.

I could feel it working. My throat area where my thyroid resides would tingle and warm with what I assumed to be the guides and entities that I called upon to work. Six weeks after I began this routine, my blood work showed a reversal of the condition and although my doctor told me I had gone "Rambo" on him by doing my own thing, he said I was a case for the books.  I told him I did it with meditation.

I call in the healer guides for any and all ailments now. I ask them to aid in the reversal of disease, to regenerate cells that are in need of repair, and to reduce inflammation when that is needed. I ask them to help with headaches, viruses,  injuries and I have sent them in remotely to help lots of different people. The trick is to know that they are there, and call on them for help.

I am lucky. I can always feel the healing energies working. Even if you can't feel them, know that they are there. You can help them by going inside too. Travel into your body, flow with your blood to every cell and if nothing else, thank each cell and organ for the opportunity it provides to you.

Sometimes we need the lesson of the illness to change our course in life, of to bring life in the body to a close. It's ok to not fight it when you know there is a reason, or its just not going away. Opening your heart, quieting your mind and listening will help clarify things.  You do not need to be an aimless victim when it comes to your body and what's going on inside. Much of the chronic diseases we suffer from come from us; from the way we chose to live our lives, express ourselves and use our bodies. The beauty of this situation is that there is a lot of disease reversal and healing that can also come from us, from our intentions, or energetic focus and our expression.  Ask and you shall receive.

February's Candle of the Moon is HEAL THY SELF.

         SUBSCRIBE TO CANDLE OF THE MOON

With love, from Shelley

What makes MY heart sing

Courageous vulnerability
Solitude
Intimacy
The starry sky
The moon in all of her phases
The way my body tingles when I meditate
Music
Talking to kids
Hands
Paint colors, gemstones, glue and canvases
Connecting with other peoples souls
Surprises
Laughter
Being goofy, being silly, being irreverent, being spiritual 
Beautifully written words
Passion of any kind
Love
Life in other forms
Connection through breath
Dancing
Playing
The ever changing moods of the ocean
The power we are just on the surface of tapping into
Yes
Soy wax candles with essential oils
Rocks, fossils, gemstones and the romance of earth's evolution
Making magic 
Really big white sharks

My Best Mothering

When I became a stepmom, I really didn't know how incredibly lucky I was. I had inherited two of the most amazing people as my wards. I have truly fallen into a deep, lifelong love with my children of marriage and of birth and find myself richly overflowing in love for all of them.

When people ask me about step parenting, or parenting at all, I can only stress that separation of child from parent to get the perspective that your children are truly their own people, not an extension of you. If you give them the respect of knowing this and encouraging them as you would a beloved friend, you will have that. A child who grows up to be your beloved friend. Or, in my case, two beautiful daughters, to whom I did not give birth but whom I adore with all my heart, who count me as "beloved and cherished friend", no matter what.

Everyday Magic

The Joys of Flirting

I remember reading something about Libras when I was a kid. It said "you are a flirt! You love the boys and they love you!" I had a really hard time believing that. I was incredibly shy.

Something must have snapped in eighth grade though, because from then on out, it's been flirt flirt flirt.

When I say "flirt" I mean brush with intimacy, toy with connection, tease and play in ways that reveal the beauty and worth of another being and have my own luminous self revealed to me as if a mirror is being held up. I love to flirt. I love to look people in the eye and smile. I love to respond when I am addressed. I love to make a human connection. I also love to flirt with animals. Every time I go out for a paddle, I flirt with the white sharks that I hope are present. I invite them to do the dance of intimacy (without getting too close). Being a married woman, I know how to keep a flirtation from becoming a breech in my marital contract, so I ask the sharks to refrain from a physical connection. It excites me to know that they are there. That we share the same waters. That we are both inhabiting the planet in the same space and time.

Flirting is one of the joys of being human. It is a playful attraction, that with women, results in deepening friendship and with men, results in a strengthening of my femininity. The key to ideal flirting, is to respect the tension of polarity and not succumb to the pull of attraction.For the real joy is in the tension, not the connection. It is the mirroring that we all need.

In marriage, we flirt, but we are also so connected to each other that the figurative mirror gets all fogged up.  We can't as easily reveal the best of ourselves to our mates and have that beauty shine back. Therein lies the beauty of the seasoned flirt. She knows how to play with others, so she maintains her femininity, bringing confidence and allure to her relationship. It's fun!

My advice to you is to remember that the fun is in the tension of the spiritual connection, not in the physical connection. Real flirting does not lead to infidelity, it leads to souls being mirrored and love being shared amongst any and all. Even sharks.

General Flirtation

Whitey, my love

Flirting with nature

Flirting with BFF

Flirting with DANGER
 (note sign that says "KEEP OUT")

Marital flirtation

This represents an actual affair I have been having with the Milky Way since
 I was about four.
I'm always wanting to be closer, needing the promise of a
"next time" and
 willing to go to almost any lengths for an encounter.

Why I Do It

 Why do I do it? I do it for love. I create because that is what makes my heart sing. When I'm in the shower, often ideas pour into my head. The inspiration lightens me and I am driven to create again.

 And again.

The years go by and my list of creations grows. I don't do it for fame, fortune, acknowledgement. I do it for me. It brings me JOY to create. It brings me JOY to share.

I share with my kids. We create together.

People ask me to create for them. I do. With a joyous heart.

I love to share my joy.

Dying a Little

I have been picking up information from all different sources like a sponge wiping up a mess of experiments in a lab. I assume it is all for me, from my guides* and I'm absorbing it.

 I have been struggling for a long while now. Holding on to a fractured and failing marriage because I refused to even consider divorce. I will not divorce, I have told myself over and over again. It is too painful for the children. Too painful for the couple. Too painful to admit that the whole thing is just plain broken.

 Last week, during the most tumultuous full moon I have ever in memory experienced, I was brought to a place where I could finally see that divorce might be the better option. The "d" word only came up after hearing a beautiful talk from an artist who's name I can't remember. He said something to the effect that we are faced with "little deaths" all the time in our lives. Death of any kind scares us (in our society). We look at it as such a negative, something to avoid at all costs, something to run the other way from. We also loathe deaths in the form of job loss, economic uncertainty, any possible shake up of our fragile ways of life. But this wise person reminded me in his talk that it is the struggle to avoid the little deaths that holds the suffering. When we let go of the struggle, surrender and trust, we are released from pain and we float with ease into the next phase of life. If we die physically, we know that indescribable feeling of love and serenity that so many NDE-ers have described. If we surrender in trust when our job or home or loved ones are lost, we find that we are taken care of, in ways we could not imagine. We just had to surrender to get there. From the little death always comes a re-birth. Always.

I took all this in. I thought of my struggle to not let my marriage die. Then I surrendered.  When my husband came home, I opened up to him like I had nothing left to lose. I told him everything I wanted in a husband. I told him I wanted a soul mate. I joked about his next (trophy) wife and how I felt sorry for her because she would have my daughter as a step child. He said there would be no new wife. He said he wanted me. I told him he would have to show me, words weren't doing it for me any more. Actions. Be my mate. Be my friend. Be my partner. Confide in me. Love my soul that inhabits this ever-changing body. I surrendered. I was willing to let the marriage die, but it has been reborn. From the stagnant ashes, it feels new and alive. Even if it didn't, I believe the surrender freed me.  Whatever  is dying for you, I hope this helps you to release the struggle and surrender to the little death. The rebirth will undoubtedly be amazing.











* Your guides are a team of etheric entities who travel with you, in support of you, at all times. They have know you for lifetimes, eons even. They are always with you, providing support and love as well as information. One need only ask, and be open to receive. Try it.

Looks vs. Life

What's more important to you, how you look or how you live?

 It seems like a constant struggle, but my answer is definitely, "how you live".

 I find it challenging to be gentle with myself 100% of the time. It is so easy to fall into a pattern of self examination that includes comparison of myself to others, or myself from another time. I find my compassion for others to be much greater than that I have for my own beautiful vessel, which has served me so well. I should hold nothing but gratitude for all the adventures it has permitted me to experience and all the sensations I have been able to feel. I am so lucky! I have been forced to look at my vessel from other people's viewpoints and defend it vehemently, for it is the witness to my struggle. It bears the marks of my journey, which I would never trade.

My gibbous moon. Is it waxing or waning? I'm not sure.
Does it matter?

I believe that our bodies have the ability to wax and wane, lighten and fade, show smooth spots and pockmarks, much like the moon. Any moment you take a good look at your body, it is just a phase; a day, out of a month, in a year, traveling through the galaxy, and never really in the same place twice. We should gratefully notice this physical partner to our journey in this lifetime.

.

My sweet 16 year-old crescent. I thought I was fat because of the strength and mass of my thighs.  This  is the only picture I have of me in a bathing suit without a towel wrapped around my waist.

My full moon, shining brightly, in all her glory,  with all the light of the sun on her body.  Living!

Moon

The Moon yesterday pulled my skin off and left me looking at what was underneath. You know the experience of not seeing something no matter how hard you try, then, finally, it becomes visible to you and you can never return to the "not seeing it" stage? That's what happened.

I saw a lot of underneath stuff. Of myself and my relationships, especially my marriage. I can never go back to not seeing. I have been changed. We have been changed.

The Joys of YES

Saying "yes" to things you otherwise or in the past would have declined for various reasons is very very empowering and can be quite fun. I, for example, said yes to a party last week that began at nine PM on Thursday night. A SCHOOL NIGHT. I am not a night person. I am typically asleep at nine PM. I don't really like staying up late on school nights when I have multitudes of commitments scheduled for the following day. I was, however, enticed by the aspect of fun promised in this unique get together, organized by my friend, Lisa.

A few years ago, Lisa had a chest x-ray that revealed a tumor in her lung. I had the pleasure of being close to her during her surgery to remove a lobe of her lung and then during the many times her collapsed lung needed to be re-inflated. I was close by during chemotherapy sessions that insured that any secret cancer cells that had migrated from the lung would be obliterated. I used every trick in my book of magic; crystals, reiki, gentle head stroking, laughter, love, compassion and a listening ear, to help in any way I could to move Lisa through this time of illness.  It was truly a pleasure for me to be there for her.

What I loved about Lisa both before and after her experience with cancer was her ferocious Joie de Vivre. She planned and executed vacations to exotic locales like Viet Nam and Thailand, Rome and Tel Av iv, New York and London. Lisa's family vacations were like ours. All family, all adventure to anywhere she felt the desire to visit. What spirit! I could identify.  So when her invite came," By Royal Command of her majesty the Queen" to stay up all night and view the royal wedding of Prince William and Katherine Middleton, while wearing your wedding gown, bridesmaid's dress or penoir set, I only hesitated for a few minutes to think about it. When you have faced mortality, it's amazing how you respect the time you have to play.

I had a fantastic time at Lisa's party. Slept only a couple of hours but was not wrecked the next day. I actually gave a full reiki session at nine, served as back stage crew for my daughter's play performance at noon, and then say the play again from the audience that night. It was brilliant! Saying "yes" was a green card to fun! I advise you to not limit yourself based on your old patterns and what you think you need. The universe will stretch and bend all around you to accommodate your needs if your vibration is joy and you ask for the extra help.







Lisa wore her wedding dress for the first half of the party then changed into this gorgeous gown later. She put her veil on for me though, since I missed the photo -op of her in her full bridal regalia.

The kids were fantastic in their play! I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Kieran was a brilliant "Dana" in Sideways Stories From Wayside School

I just happened to have this gown in my closet.
I love a great gown and most especially....an opportunity to wear it!