life review
My Spiritual Encounter With A Bear
Imagine venturing deep into the forest, sunlight streaming through the ancient trees. The air is crisp, alive with the gentle whispers of nature. Suddenly, a colossal bear emerges from the underbrush, its presence a primal force in the serene scene.
Well, chances are this isn’t just another wildlife encounter – it’s a potentially powerful spiritual experience, imbued with profound symbolism.
My psychic mentor and I once had such a remarkable encounter with a bear that brought me some deep spiritual insights.
The forest has always been a happy place for me, and for this particular long-term retreat, I rented a cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. One crisp fall evening, while my friend was visiting me and we were enjoying the tranquility of twilight on the back porch, a large black bear wandered into the back yard.
At first, we were both gripped with fear. Seeing such a powerful creature up close is both awe-inspiring and very intimidating! Fortunately, the bear paid us little attention as he calmly foraged for food, his movements deliberate and unhurried.
After the initial shock, we found ourselves mesmerized by his presence. I am always on the lookout for signs and synchronicities from the universe. Decades of spiritual work have taught me that nothing is accidental or random, especially when you are in the wilderness.
Tarot Forecast June 2024: The Lovers
This month the universe presents us with the The Lovers. This Major Arcana card predicts the energies of passion, choice, connection and relationships as the tone for the month ahead. The primary energies this month are harmony, balance and unity. The Lovers card represents a time of deep connection and self-discovery with yourself and others.
The Lovers card is rich in symbolism, encompassing themes of connection, choice, and duality. It can represent romantic relationships, partnerships, or a harmonious balance between different aspects of the self.
This card usually symbolizes deep emotional bonds, love, and harmony in romantic relationships. It can signify the beginning of a new relationship, the deepening of an existing one, or the reconciliation of differences. It also represents the magnetic attraction and chemistry between lovers.
The Lovers card sometimes indicates instead an important choice or decision to be made. It emphasizes the importance of making choices that are consistent with one’s true self and values.
It can also represent moral dilemmas or ethical choices, encouraging us to follow our moral compass and make decisions based on integrity and truth. It can be a call to evaluate and realign with personal beliefs and values.
It also suggests duality and the balance between two forces, whether masculine and feminine, conscious and unconscious, or different aspects of one’s personality. It emphasizes the need for harmony and balance in relationships and within oneself. It’s about finding a balance between desires and responsibilities, emotions and intellect.
Praying For Your Departed Loved Ones
A client recently asked me if there is any benefit to praying for a loved one who has passed away? Does it make a difference in their transition to their new plane of existence? Can it somehow assist them in their continued existence in the afterlife? Can they even hear us?
We can absolutely connect with the spirits of those who have passed on, although it may sometimes feelas if they cannot hear us. Whether we are praying for them, talking to them, or simply grieving for them, we are connecting with them on a spiritual level and they are hearing us.
In fact, praying for our deceased loved ones has a very positive effect on their soul journey and they deeply appreciate it.
Some people believe that when we die, we go to some blissful realm of perfect existence where all our problems and karmic debts are instantly resolved, or left behind on the earth plane for others to deal with or pick up the pieces. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Most of us will pass away someday with some unresolved issues, negative feelings, resentments, grudges, or regrets that we will need to continue to work on in the afterlife. Of course, some of us will have much more to work on than others. Just because we leave this physical world does not mean that we are free of all our responsibilities and no longer accountable for anything or anyone.
It is therefore helpful to send our prayers to departed loved ones to help them with whatever spiritual or karmic “baggage” they may be taking along with them on their journey to the other side. Although they may leave behind symptoms of illness or financial debt, for example, their spiritual ailments will still need to be healed.
Being Laid Off Can Spark Spiritual Growth
Being laid off from a job can be a profoundly challenging and disorienting experience. The experience tends to stir up a myriad of feelings, worries, and questions about one’s purpose, value, security, and direction in life.
But while job loss can be very unsettling and stressful, it also offers unexpected opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.
At its core, the spiritual journey invites us to explore the depths of our being and to seek meaning beyond the material realm. A layoff can serve as a catalyst for this exploration, prompting us to reevaluate our priorities, values, and relationship to work.
In many spiritual traditions, adversity is seen as an opportunity for growth and transformation, a chance to deepen our connection to the divine and uncover hidden aspects of ourselves.
Being fired is an invitation to surrender to the flow of life. In our modern society, we often cling to our plans and expectations, believing that we are in control of our destiny. However, a layoff can shatter this illusion of control and force us to confront the uncertainty and impermanence inherent in existence.
In the face of this new uncertainty, we have the opportunity to surrender our ego and trust in a higher power or cosmic intelligence to guide us on our path. This surrender is not an act of resignation, but rather an act of faith, a willingness to let go and allow life to unfold as it will.
Psychic Guidelines For Mercury Retrograde
Many people are familiar with the astrological transit known as Mercury Retrograde, which occurs three or four times a year, and how it affects our lives with communication mishaps, technological glitches and misunderstandings.
What is less well known is how it affects psychic reading. Over the years, I have noticed the influence of this astroligical aspect in many of my psychic readings during retrogrades. Since we are currently in the midst of another Mercury Retrograde, I thought it might be a good time to explore this phenomenon in more detail.
If you are unfamiliar, Mercury Retrograde is an astrological phenomenon that occurs when the planet Mercury appears to be moving backwards in space. This is actually an optical illusion caused by the Earth’s orbit overtaking Mercury’s closer orbit to the Sun.
We are currently halfway through the first Mercury retrograde for this year, which will last until April 25. The next two retrogrades for 2024 will be August 4 to August 28 and November 25 to December 15.
In astrology, Mercury is the planetary ruler of communication, travel, and information processing. So, when Mercury is retrograde, these areas of our lives tend to be most affected. People often report experiencing miscommunication, travel delays, and technical problems during Mercury retrograde. During this time, you may also feel that your life is on hold or that your goals and plans are not progressing. Continue reading
The Inner Truth Of External Clutter
We are almost a month into the new year, the time when most people begin to flounder in their resolutions. For me, resolutions are like empty promises, so my only resolution every New Year is to not make any resolutions.
Instead, I try to simply live my life with a few consistent rules. I have found that staying true to these personal and lifestyle guidelines eliminates the need for major resolutions each New Year.
Clutter is a big one for me. I make it a point to clean out the clutter in my life on a regular basis, whether it is physical, material, emotional, or spiritual.
Material clutter is the easiest to deal with because it is tangible and visible. It is hard to ignore a pair of shoes that you never wear anymore and have to move around in your closet over and over again.
It is also hard to ignore all those old clothes from another era that you have held on to in the hope that one day they will come back in style. Equally difficult to deal with are those old spice jars and other pantry items past their expiration date that you should have thrown away years ago!
These small lifestyle annoyances may seem insignificant on the surface until you consider that material clutter goes hand in hand with mental, emotional and spiritual clutter. The way we live, the way we manage our environment, and the way we organize our outer existence are a reflection of our inner being. The resulting clutter then becomes a recurring pattern that leads to more clutter, chaos, and dysfunction in our lives.
The Golden Power Of Silence
I took my early morning walk today along a path surrounded by an olive grove on one side and almond trees on the other. In the background the beautiful hills seemed mystical in the early morning mist.
The only sounds that broke the silence at this early hour were the chirping of birds and the bleating of baby goats playing on the small farm opposite my house. Occasionally they were interrupted by their father, who seemed to keep them safe by nudging them into a particular corner of the property.
In these moments of peaceful silence I like to have a dialogue with spirit to receive some guidance or direction for the day, as well as answers to questions I may have about my life and work. But today I felt guided to simply contemplate the meaning of silence.
There are many forms of silence, some less peaceful than others. For example, there are the ‘elephant in the room’ or ‘cold shoulder’ moments of silence when there is awkwardness between people. There is also the ‘poker face’ silence, when someone pretends to listen, but in reality has mentally withdrawn from the conversation. We also fall silent when we are perplexed or confused. Sometimes we keep silent to avoid possible misunderstandings.
A very powerful form of silence occurs when we are deeply engaged in an activity, alone or with others. Everything else seems to fade away as we concentrate on the task at hand.
And of course the best kind of silence is when we are in communion with spirit and the cosmos. In these moments we feel completely at peace and connected to others and the universe. This silence nourishes the soul and gives rise to divine inspiration and spiritual insight.