divine
Smudging Your Home To Clear Negative Energy
It’s a good idea to cleanse the energy in your home once a week, in my opinion. I do this with smudging, going around the perimeters of my house asking the powers that be to bless and protect my home and those who dwell in it. It helps to keep negativity and toxic energy out.
Smudging is an ancient shamanic practice and a ceremony practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Americas, which involves the burning of sacred herbs and resins. The smoke is believed to neutralize negative energy – as it clears it takes the unwanted, toxic energy with it, releasing it into another realm where it can be regenerated into positive energy.
I have also attended Catholic church ceremonies several times in my lifetime. They always start with incense at the beginning of a service. I like to describe it as ‘cleaning the negativity and toxic cobwebs’ that have accumulated. Yes, homes collect all kinds of energy over time, just like dust on a lampshade. And it needs to be cleaned! Every home benefits from a frequent smudging.
I especially like to always smudge after any negative encounter that may have taken place in my space – literally anything negative, be it the presence of an actual person, a bad dream, or telephonic argument with a loved one, I like to clear out that energy, as it makes my home brighter and lighter. As a highly sensitive empath, I just love the feeling of fresh, peaceful energy in my home.
On smudging days, I first dust my home and clean it, always with the windows wide open. Then I smudge myself, before smudging my home. I cleanse my own aura from my feet up, then go back down in a swirling motion all around my entire body. I use both hands when doing this, to evenly move the smudging stick around me. I visualize my aura being cleansed completely.
Do It Anyway
No matter what we go through in life and with who, we always come back to the same place… a familiar place of being alone. The thought occurred to me the other day that we come into this world alone, and we go out alone.
Though we may be surrounded by others, at the end of the day, we are still alone when we go to sleep at night. Even if we are married, or in a relationship with someone who sleeps next to us, we still enter into the sleep state or dream state, alone.
Have you ever noticed that people who are comfortable being alone, have somehow mastered being alone without being lonely? There is a true comfort, freedom, and delight in being by oneself, alone. When we are alone, we can take an honest inventory of our life, who we choose to spend time with, and also decide how we wish to spend our time.
The relationship arena seems to be one of the most challenging areas of life. We all fall into traps and pitfalls that can steer us away from our natural state of happiness , which we come home to when we are alone. However, relationships also seem to provide a fast track for our own personal growth by revealing how we interact with other people.
Our relationships point out areas within ourselves that may require growth or increased self-love. Simply put, relationships show us exactly where we need to focus on to come back to a state of wholeness.
Choosing A Spiritual Path With Heart
There are many blind choices we make when we are too young or inexperienced to make the best decisions for ourselves. We are born into a family, or raised in a culture, for example, with its unique traditions and beliefs, or lack thereof, and we are usually quite susceptible in our youth to these influences.
In the process of becoming an adult, the questioning of such beliefs and traditions leads us towards who we will become, to discovering what truly resonates with us, and what does not. But this is something we may have taken lightly in our youth, and therefore needs to be looked over several times in our life to find out with real sincerity what is truly calling us.
It is possible that being born in a traditional Christian home, for example, we felt constrained and limited, even small and powerless, ultimately causing us to reject all dogmatic religion. For someone else, brought up maybe in an atheist home, the search for God or faith may bring a profound sense of empowerment and life purpose that nurtures their life. It all depends on us as individuals, and how we process our own reality.
Carlos Castaneda writes in The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, “Before you embark on any path ask the question: does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him.”
Near-Death Experiences Teach Us About Living
Near-death experiences have been in the public consciousness for some time now. The experience itself is rather universal across different cultures: a feeling of peace and serenity, as well as a glimpse of the world beyond, before returning to this life. Each of these experiences has a lesson to be learned for those still living, no matter who the survivor may be.
Maybe the most widely reported feeling by those who have had a near-death experience (NDE) is a renewed sense of purpose and meaning. A mundane life may lack these qualities (we think) until a brush with death reminds us why we live, and for whom – ourselves, our loved ones. Additionally, even those who previously said they were not spiritual may find themselves more drawn to the Divine and the mysteries of the Universe following a NDE.
Your Angels As Your Co-Creators
When we think of angels, we typically think of spiritual wisdom, guardianship, personal serenity and metaphysical insight. But did you know angels can also aid us in our creative pursuits? Have you ever heard of being inspired by a muse or divine inspiration? That is the sure sign of angels at work.
Two Archangels in particular, Jophiel (Beauty of God) and Uriel (Fire of God) are known for their association with creative inspiration. If you’re a creative person feeling stuck, or at a loss, call upon these angels for their assistance.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to create a vision board with a series of images and sayings which relate to your personal creative hopes and dreams. You may also include these two angels in your daily meditations or prayers. Or try writing an open letter to them. They are always listening and willing to help, but only if we call upon them for assistance.
Pay Attention To Your Dreams
I believe that all dreams have some level of meaning and value in our lives. Dreaming is not only the way the subconscious deals with our time-space, physical reality, but they often also have psychic or spiritual significance. I am a strong advocate of paying attention to our dreams, rather than just relegating them to the sidelines of our human experience.
Even our so-called ‘pizza dreams’ can hold significant meaning in our life. Pizza dreams are highly realistic and very bizarre dreams that we often believe actually happened when we wake up, despite them being outrageously improbable. They are called pizza dreams, because of the urban myth that we tend to have these disturbing dreams after eating too much pizza before we go to bed.
In working with dreams, the best thing you can do is to keep a record. Always keep a dream journal on your nightstand, or near your bed, along with a small, soft light and a pen. Whenever you awaken from a dream, write it down as many details as you can remember. This may initially only be a few key moments from the dream, but if you make this a habit you will eventually begin to remember more and more details from your dreams. Write everything down, no matter how weird or peculiar it may seem.
There are a few key things to remember when you begin the process of interpreting dreams. Firstly, intuitive dreams use symbolic language. There are a few general archetypes within dreams that are common symbols connected to the collective unconscious, but many symbols within dreams are usually individualized symbols. Continue reading
Your Intuition Is Always Right
We are often told to follow our instincts, or trust our ‘gut.’ But what does it really mean?
From a psychic perspective, intuition is the sixth sense, the way we are able to perceive things beyond the scope of our five senses. Some people call it the ‘little voice’ within. We all have it, and unless we use it on a regular basis, it may not be as sharp as we need it to be.
If we fail to listen to our intuition, we may find ourselves making poor decisions, which often lead to confusion, misunderstanding, and strife. Then, when it is too late, we often wonder why we didn’t go with our intuition!
It is often said that the first instinct is usually right. That ‘little voice’ we are hearing is actually the voice of the Universe and the Divine speaking directly to us. Whether or not you follow a particular spiritual tradition or religion, cultures around the world have always had an understanding of this phenomenon. It is also the concept behind prayers and mantras being answered directly. When we speak directly to the Divine, it speaks back to us. Its intent is always benevolent, so, even if the answer is no, or isn’t what we’d hoped for, it is in our best interest to take it to heart. Continue reading