A Real Testimonial

Yesterday, I went to a trade show that I go to every year. It is a metaphysical show which is perfect for the work I do and I look forward to going every year. One company that I absolutely adore has not been at the show for the past few years and was there yesterday. I have known about this company and the work they do all over the world since 1996 when I used to be a part owner in a metaphysical store and healing center for a few years. We sold the healing tools they make which helps others to shift and heal by the high vibrations emanating from the crystals, metals and sacred geometric shapes used. They are not cheap but something you will have for life. My then-boyfriend (now husband) actually purchased my first tool from them from my own store as a surprise for me.

This is an American Buddhist organization, non-profit, of course (they help feed and care for people as well as build new monasteries and are rebuilding the destroyed ones in Tibet) and I am not a Buddhist (I am a Universal Spiritualist, not defined by any one religion) but I am so drawn to the incredible energy that emanates from all of the monks and from the tools themselves. I won’t go into all of it now but I decided to gift myself a new healing tool for not only myself but to use in my healing practice.

The person who designs and blesses these tools is called Buddha Maitreya – a reincarnation of the Buddha, Krishna and the Christ among others. He has been recognized by the Dalai Lama and has a Tibetan title, too – His Holiness Jetsun Gyalwa Jampa Gonpo. I have been told that he is here once again to help shift humanity, integrate the soul into the body (this is the most basic of definitions by me) and has been here doing the work quietly for some time now. He emanates his teachings through these different healing tools and even has them in small jewelry form, too. All the money raised goes to help others, of course.

Being non-religious, I just connect to the high, loving frequency and am so excited every time I can spend time with anyone in this organization. It’s hard to explain but if you are sensitive to energy, you will feel it right away (even if you’re not, I have seen so many people drawn to these tools over the years). Of course the tool I wish to have the most is this large, geometric design called the Solar Cross that wherever you hang it, that space (and beyond) will emanate energy like a monastery – a very high frequency. Someday I will have one.

When I got home last night and showed my husband and 4 year old what I brought back, as soon as I took the healing tool out of the case, my son’s eyes got so big and he immediately grabbed it from me with both hands, clutched it to his chest for a few seconds then pulled it away and looked down at it feeling it all over and says, “God is in this”. Michael and my jaws dropped and we were like “what did you say?” and he again said, “God is in this.” I literally was like holy sh*t, my kid immediately picked up on the connection to the living Buddha. Of course it’s real and powerful.

What a pure state of being a young child is always in and to be able to connect in just a few seconds of feeling it I can’t tell you how blown away I was. Besides that, I think we have only mentioned the word “God” a very few times because we say it more as Great Spirit or the Universe or Nature or something of a more open connectedness to spirit and less defined by society and all those different religious connotations placed upon certain words. So for him to pick that word really amazes me (unless he’s learned it at school which is possible).

I think any child would pick up on this but I know my son is very attuned to this already. I’m glad I can help guide him on his path and have these tools and many other things around him while he’s young and still so connected to the spiritual realm. It’s so easy and natural for them at this age but it does start to fade around age 7. I’m really excited to hear what else he is going to enlighten me with on this topic in the future.

Oprah Trying The Vegan Way

Oprah is doing a 3 week cleanse by eating a vegan diet (prepared by a chef, of course). Recently, she had a woman on her show named Kathy Freston who wrote the book, Quantum Wellness which is about conscious eating – eating a (cooked) vegan diet and having a daily spiritutal practice. The plan is to eliminate caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten and animal products from your diet for up to 21 days to jump start your “inner makeover”.

Oprah said since reading A New Earth and doing the classes online with Eckhart Tolle, reading Kathy’s thoughts on “conscious eating” struck a nerve with her. She says, “How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?” You can read Oprah’s blog posts about it.

While I think this is truly phenomenal because she is a woman who inspires millions and will wake people up to the reality of unconsciously eating factory farmed animals, a mostly cooked vegan diet for someone who is overweight or has certain health problems is not always the best. I looked over her menus and saw just a few raw vegan dishes and, in my opinion from having my own health issues, raw vegan is the optimal way to healing your body AND being spiritually conscious with what you are eating. It doesn’t have to be 100% raw, but at least 60% or more. And Oprah has a thyroid condition and should not be eating soy products at all. Soy is not really that good for the body and there is much documentation out there about this (google it if you don’t believe me) and there are several dishes with tofu, tempeh or soy milk that she is eating.

I hope if she decides to stay on a vegan path that her buddy Dr. Oz (a cardiologist), who eats lots of raw foods and has his own personal raw vegan chef, will inspire her to take her conscious eating to the next level. (Dr. Oz interviewed Joel Odhner, his chef on his XM radio show last year). Go Oprah!

Endangered Species Day

The third Friday of every May has been declared Endangered Species Day. It is a day to educate yourselves and your children about what animals and plant life are on the list and what simple actions you can take at home to help make a positive change for endangered species and other wildlife and fauna all around you.

One of the animals listed, the Grey Wolf, has technically been “delisted” several weeks ago. This, in my opinion, is a travesty. They need the protection from our government because it is now open season on hunting these wise and beautiful creatures who help to keep the balance of the forest and the health of the herd of other species such as elk.

I have a deep, personal connection with the grey wolf. One summer, when living on a ranch in the mountains of CO, (the same location where I met my husband and got married), I had the chance to live with and bond with a 3 year old grey wolf named Cloud that was the pet of one of my housemates. The wolf and I bonded immediately and he soon started following me around everywhere and even wanted to sleep in my room at night instead of with his dad. This did not go over well with my housemate but he worked a lot and different hours than me so I soon became Cloud’s surrogate mom.

This wolf was so smart, loving and playful and really acted as my protector, too. One day, Cloud and I went for a hike down to the creek nearby which was about 1,000′ lower in elevation so I could harvest some plants that grew there to make medicine. I got caught up in the plant world, kept wandering and wildcrafting and when I was finally done we started hiking back up and I realized, I was lost deep in the forest! I had lost the small animal-made trail we followed down. It was late afternoon, it would be getting to be dusk soon and I was worried because of the bears and mountain lions that also lived in the forest and I had seen them on occasion on the ranch property before. I started running up the mountain since I was more than an hour away from home.

Cloud wasn’t worried, he was happy being out on our adventure running with me like one of his pack and I kept saying to him, “we need to go home, where’s home?” He was the one to eventually lead me back towards the ranch, running off in one direction and stopping to look back at me as if to tell me “this way”, with his sense of direction being much better than mine!

My housemate and Cloud eventually moved out of state, I offered to adopt Cloud and my housemate said no way. I was very sad over them leaving but what a gift I got in spending so much quality time with such a magnificent animal. I will never forget him.

The northern rocky mountain states such as Montana, Wyoming and Idaho have it out for the grey wolf. The plan is for killing off 39% of the 732 total wolves that live in the wild. Many are the collared, reintroduced to the wild adults and are highly tracked and studied since wolves were exterminated to extinction in the wild.

Earthjustice and 11 other conservation groups* filed a federal court lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision to remove the northern rockies gray wolf population from the list of endangered species. They also filed a request for a preliminary injunction in order to reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves until the court issues a final decision on the merits of this case.

The injunction states:

“We maintain that wolves should not have been stripped of federal protections so soon because they are not yet recovered in the Northern Rockies region and the state management plans currently in place are woefully inadequate, not based on current science, and do not ensure the long term survival of the Northern Rockies gray wolf.”

“Since delisting, a spate of wolf killings by a variety of methods—pursuing wolves long distances with snowmobiles, shooting wolves from the roadside, and lying in wait for wolves at state-run elk feedgrounds—demonstrates the need now, as much as ever, to protect wolves under the Endangered Species Act.”

In Native American teachings, the wolf represents the supreme guardian, the teachers, the wisdom keepers. They are loyal, family oriented, playful, loving, wise beings. They kill to survive and feed their children as other carnivores do. They don’t take more than they need and keep the sick, old and frail animals they prey on from suffering a long, strung out death of illness or starvation.

I hope you can take action and give some support – even just signing an online petition to help protect this amazing animal from cruel, senseless murder.

*Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Friends of the Clearwater, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands Project, Western Watersheds Project, and Wildlands Project.

Mother Gaia

It seems to me that we are all on some level yearning deeply for that true connection with the Earth that we once had all the time – for some of us it is way back in our ancestral memory and for others, not that long ago. In many different religions, there are ceremonies tied to the cycle of life, of birth and death, planting and harvesting throughout the calendar year. We humans still yearn (consciously or unconsciously) for the tribal community, of gathering and preparing, sharing the bounty of our hard labor and amazing at the splendor of the vast beauty that surrounds us all over this planet. This desire is innate in us as humans, has been a part of our way of life for millennia.

Throughout it all, all the choices we humans have made both good and bad, our Mother Gaia has been there for us, caring for us as her children, always providing for us if we could just open our eyes and truly see. Perhaps then we would not be making such harsh, greedy, worthless and destructive choices so often that are disrespectful and hurtful to her and in turn, ourselves.

Maybe this year, we can all try and take some time to tune in to Gaia and try to talk to her and hear what she has to say. Sit quietly on the Earth somewhere you like and offer her your thanks and ask a question or two. She is there, alive and present in every moment and would love to talk to you. Even if you hear nothing back, talk to her and keep trying – one day you will. Honor her in your daily life by planting something: flowers, houseplants, vegetable garden. Be kind to our fellow creatures who are her children, too.

Whatever happens in the future for us here on Earth, the cycle of life will continue. She is not going anywhere and will welcome us back again and again. Her love is unconditional. Our greatest wish for Gaia and for ourselves should be Peace On Earth. If we all could keep that thought in our consciousness and say it out loud or to ourselves everyday, it will happen. Our thoughts do create our worlds and if enough people think Peace everyday, it will happen. Healing can and will occur.

Photo from Mythic Images