Dreams
Seeking Spirituality
During the years of private study with my teacher, Adyashanti, he used to speak a lot about belief systems and spiritual practices. I learned from him, among other things, that to believe something, as opposed to having a direct experience of it, are two entirely different things. If you believe something because you’ve been made to feel guilty for being a non-believer, or merely because you think it’s the ‘right’ thing to do, it’s likely that this belief will be challenged throughout your life.
However, if you have a direct experience that is of a spiritual nature, you’re more likely to remember it and the impact it had on you, and you are more likely to truly believe as a result. The direct spiritual experiences we have, whether through meditation, dreams, or psychic and paranormal phenomena, are the ones that help us grow as an individual and bring us into alignment with our soul.
Why is this? If you think about it, we are bombarded with information every day that our minds must either believe, memorize, and somehow apply. Our authentic state, soul or higher self, has a direct, intuitive knowing that doesn’t come from this information or thoughts triggered by the external world. This kind of ‘knowing’ comes from within. When we have moments where our ‘everyday mind’ is out of the way, either through a psychic vision, spiritual experience, dream, or simply a quiet, meditative state, we come back in touch with this original ‘inner knowing’ or ‘beingness.’
Some call this ‘enlightenment.’ According to my teacher, Adyashanti, and from my own direct experiences, true enlightenment is not something that can be learned, rather it’s the ‘unlearning’ of all thoughts we’ve taken in.
The Meaning of Houses In Dreams
We are all spiritual beings experiencing a physical reality. Our spirit, ideas, and emotions are ‘housed’ in our being. Dreams about houses are one of the ways our guides show us areas where we need to pay more attention. Houses in our dreams can represent either ourselves or others, if it is their house we are dreaming about.
Several years ago, I had a dream where I went to visit my paternal grandmother. She was an industrious, organized, and tidy woman. However, in my dream I was struck by how many odd little things were out of place in her home. Soon after, the family discovered that she was in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s.
Shortly before she died, I dreamed of her house again, and this time it was a jumbled mess. I have visited my grandmother and her house in my dreams more than a few times since she passed. I am happy to report that her lawn is now filled with blooming wildflowers, especially her beloved bluebonnets. The mustang grape vines, orange and peach trees are heavy with ripe fruit, and inside the house everything is once again neat as a pin. The lace curtains gently billow in the breeze and the scent of gardenias waft in through the open windows.
Sometimes our house in dreams is our house, and sometimes it is not. When I was going through a period of transition, for example, I often dreamed of a small house on the beach where I spent a great deal of time sorting out boxes of things. In my dream, I knew it was where I lived, but it was not my house. In my waking life, I was renting a room and sorting out all the material things I wanted to keep or let go of, but in my dreams I was sorting out thoughts and emotions.
Embracing Scorpio Season
Starting today, October 23rd until November 22nd, the Sun will be transiting Scorpio, which is the best time to increase your spiritual awareness and heightening your psychic abilities. The ‘veil’ between the living and the departed becomes ‘thinner’ during this time, and important messages are transmitted at this time through dreams, magic and meditation.
People and situations who are a hindrance to your personal growth and spiritual expansion, are often revealed and removed during Scorpio season, but only if one is willing to go beyond the surface and see something for what it really is.
The scorpion can creep up on its enemy and silence it with one quick hit from its poisonous tail. Scorpios are often a few steps ahead of everyone else, and are some of those most brilliant artists, performer, healers, and teachers, as well as very loyal friends… as long as you stay on their good side!
They are often feared, or envied by others, especially because they always insist on the truth, and easily recognize deception, insincerity and a lack of authenticity in others.
The mythical phoenix is also associated with this zodiac sign, because it signifies the death and rebirth of the self, in order to to transform the soul and become the best version of who you really are.
Regardless of your sun sign, the current transit through Scorpio is inviting you to release the old, so you can achieve increased self-love, and gain the understanding of what needs to be done in order to move forward. It can be emotional and painful, but worth the sacrifice in the long run.
Memorialize Loved Ones With A Remembrance Table
I have a remembrance table in my home where I display framed pictures of my grandparents, as well as some of the possessions they passed on to me. My eclectic collection also includes a few candles, angel figurines, some essential oils, Grandma’s favorite perfume, grandpa’s favorite cologne, as well as two trees on either side of the table, which I always decorate for the holidays.
My grandparents really enjoyed the holidays. They especially celebrated Halloween and Christmas, their two favorite holidays of the year. The other holidays were also a great time to be at their house, but Halloween and Christmas were always the best!
I believe having a remembrance table, or ancestor altar, really helps to connect us with our loved ones, after they’ve crossed over. I personally don’t worship my ancestors, but I do honor them. You don’t just have to make a remembrance table at a loved one’s funeral, or at weddings or family gatherings. You can make it a permanent part of your home decor, and have it there all year long.
I love the idea of the remembrance table because a funeral should not be the only time you celebrate the life of a deceased loved one. It’s a great way to honor them and the wonderful memories you have to create with them when they were alive.
I’ve put special photographs from different times in their life that were especially joyous and memorable. Family was everything to them, so many of the pictures also include other relatives, such as uncles and their other grandchildren.
Making Sense Of Distorted Dreams
Life spins on its axis much too fast to form an accurate opinion, but not fast enough for you to interpret logically. The life you ‘think’ you are living exists in a realm of unimaginable chaos, before you are capable of determining what you decide it means.
Although you invest quite a bit of time, effort, energy and mind power trying to decipher the meaning of various circumstances, the actions of people, the cohesiveness of situations, the illusive events have changed position before you arrive at any coherent explanation.
Formless and indistinguishable the oblique form filled existence rests in motion, but not in the way you comprehend the word ‘rest.’ As it continues to spin, the tilted, spiraled form materializes into something of a more recognizable shape, but the something you observe is totally different from what it actually is. By the time your eyes fixate on any semblance of it, it has already moved into another direction altogether.
You cannot look at it directly and live. You see it out of the corner of your eyes as it passes by. How foolish is your mumbo-jumbo chatter! You are altered by the mere observing of it, as it is altered by your observing. It spins, it spins, and it spins. While at the same instant, you are spun into the identical manifestation you are so futilely trying to examine. Life, you along with it, constantly attracts, repels, repositions, then releases.
The form created and destroyed in the process reveals its circumvented boundaries as the life you perceive you exist in. In other words, life is so distorted and smeared from your mere observation of it through your eyes alone that the comments you make regarding ‘your circumstances’ are no more than an “…empty brass clamoring symbol…”
The Spirit Rituals Of Life – Part 1
I recently had the opportunity to spend time in a cabin out in the woods. The best part for me was the bonfire at night, while listening to the wisdom of my spirit guides.
I had hoped to enjoy solitude there, but it turned out there were other folks staying in cabins nearby. I was on this three day vacation in the woods to meditate. I had planned to go on this trip alone to get some deeper spiritual insight into what brings true fulfillment in life.
I also knew in my heart I did not have to go to an ashram far away in India, or some other exotic destination. I knew in my heart going into the woods that true contentment and happiness can only be found from within.
Blessings come to us when we are willing to listen to that still silent voice within. Spirit always meets us halfway. The first blessing came on my first day there, when I learned that the people in the neighboring cabins were all leaving and I would have the place to myself soon, except for the people who run the camp. But they were far enough away and I could finally enjoy some serious silence and seclusion.
The first night was simply magical! If I walked a little ways from the cabin, I could see the entire sky lit up with stars. I walked to the camp store to purchase some odds and ends, and trekked back to my quiet spot in the woods to get a bonfire going. Then I just relaxed, peacefully watching the flames. I was surrounded with the elements of fire, water, air and of course earth.
The Phenomenon Of Out-Of-Body Experiences
An out-of-body experience (OBE) is a phenomenon that can happen after surgery, when we experience severe trauma, during meditation, astral travel, and so on. They are also associated with near-death-experiences (NDE). It is usually characterized by a feeling of leaving your physical body, or observing yourself from outside your body. I have experienced this phenomenon several times in my life.
Reports of OBEs vary from person to person, but they often involve the sense of floating above one’s body, or looking down on yourself. You may also see a bright light during an OBE, and sometimes colors and a warm, pleasant sensation. Some people see deceased family members.
In my experience an out-of-body experience is a unique opportunity to step outside of our physical existence into the spiritual realm. Sometimes we experience this because our soul needs to ‘restart.’ So, when you are in a state of meditation, or when you are feeling relaxed, or sedated after surgery, this may happen to realign the body and soul.
Part of the soul’s purpose is to keep the vessel (our body) alive. Our soul is connected to a silver cord, much like an umbilical cord, which keeps things intact, so that we can always come back to our body after an OBE.