self-help
Seeing The Spiritual Essence In Others
My world was turned upside down when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For seven agonizing months in 2005, I became his caregiver, managing the extreme emotional and physical toll of his illness.
Even the hospice staff, experienced in end-of-life care, commented at the time that my father was not an easy patient to care for. Their observation confirmed my own feelings on the matter and highlighted the unique challenges of the difficult karmic relationship I had with my father.
Throughout this stressful time, I held out hope for a miracle. I felt compelled to seek guidance, but unfortunately Spirit revealed a timeline of six to twelve months. This devastated me at the time, but I’ve since come to accept that arrivals and departures are part of every soul’s journey. Spirit was simply confirming a poignant truth: at some point we are all called home to the spirit realm.
Despite his resistance to any form of treatment, my father allowed a trusted colleague of mine, a master in his healing modality, to visit our home weekly for body alignment sessions. These sessions became a turning point — not only for my father, but for me as well.
During their second session, my healer friend shared an observation that struck a deep chord. He sensed an immense amount of bitterness and resentment in my father, energies he had perceived without any prior knowledge of my father’s emotional state or life history. He then offered me a piece of wisdom that changed the way I viewed not only my father, but all of my relationships: “Try to see only the true spiritual essence that is your father.”
Ask Spirit For Patience This Holiday Season
The holidays are supposed to be a time of joy, togetherness, and celebration. But for some of us, it can also be a time of tension, distress, and intense emotions.
Instead of being a time of gratitude, love, and connection, for some of us the holidays mark the resurfacing of old family conflicts, unresolved tensions, and the weight of others’ overwhelming expectations or criticisms.
These challenges often lead to frustration, sadness, anger, or feelings of being overwhelmed, turning what should be a time of love and belonging into one that underscores where our relationships with loved ones are most strained.
At this point, asking spirit or your higher power to help you cultivate the virtue of patience becomes a powerful way to stay grounded and centered.
Patience isn’t just about enduring difficult moments; it’s about being aware of those moments and choosing to respond with grace and dignity rather than impulsively. When tensions rise — perhaps during a family dinner where conversations may become heated or awkward — it is easy to fall back on old patterns and habitual responses. Asking for spiritual support and protection in these moments, however, can provide a higher perspective and an empowered response.
Whether it’s through a silent prayer, a few deep breaths, whispering your favorite mantra, or simply making a conscious call for help in your mind, spiritual presence can help you pause, step back, ground and center, and approach the situation calmly and with more compassion — for yourself and others.
Cultivating A Thriving Garden Of The Mind
Your mind is like a fertile garden, constantly nurturing and cultivating the seeds of thought you plant each day. Every waking moment your ideas, beliefs, and perceptions take hold and gradually grow into the mental landscape that ultimately shapes your reality.
If you could take a walk through your “mind garden,” what would you find? Would you see sturdy, thriving trees of faith, hope, and positivity, their roots deeply nourishing the soil of your thoughts? Perhaps vibrant, radiant flowers of joy, abundance and well-being brightening the landscape?
Or would you find brittle branches of lost dreams and dry, withered remnants of unfulfilled hopes? Perhaps the creeping weeds of negativity and doubt smothering your true potential, casting shadows over your hopes and ideals?
I actually do this visualization sometimes as part of my morning meditation practice. I imagine walking through my inner garden, tending to my thoughts and beliefs, nurturing them with faith and positivity, fertilizing those that are flourishing, and pulling out the weeds of doubt, fear, or negativity that had somehow taken root and are no longer serving my highest good.
I also ask for divine guidance, calling on God, my guides and loved ones in spirit to help me recognize innate talents and growth opportunities that I might have overlooked or neglected. Perhaps there are hidden seeds within me that still need to be planted or nurtured. With intention, I also visualize planting new seeds of goodness, self-empowerment, and spiritual expansion.
The Spiritual Significance Of 555
Have you ever noticed how a certain number keeps popping up, almost as if it’s trying to get your attention? It may appear on receipts, license plates, or clock times – seemingly random places, yet it keeps catching your eye. Numbers are a powerful way for spirit and the universe to communicate with us.
Numbers have their own frequency and vibration, each conveying a unique message or symbolic meaning. Even in Tarot, numbers can play a crucial role in interpreting the energies and themes in a spread.
By paying attention to the numbers or number sequences that appear in our lives, we can gain valuable insight into the influences at play, empowering us to act with greater intention, awareness, and certainty.
The number five holds powerful mystical symbolism in various spiritual and esoteric traditions. In Hinduism, for example, the god Shiva has five faces representing the five senses and the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether). In Islam, there are five pillars that form the core of Muslim beliefs and practices. In Christianity, Jesus Christ is said to have received five sacred wounds during his crucifixion.
In numerology, the number five is associated with the planet Mercury, which symbolizes communication, intelligence and adaptability. The Hierophant, the fifth card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot, represents tradition, authority, and spiritual guidance. The pentagram, or five-pointed star in Paganism and Wicca, is a powerful symbol associated with protection, balance, and the five elements. The human body has five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell), five fingers on each hand, and five toes on each foot. This connection to the human form adds to the symbolism of the number.
How To Navigate The Sun’s Debilitation In Libra
The current debilitation of the Sun in Libra is causing challenges and disruptions in various aspects of life. In astrology, “debilitation” refers to a planet being placed in a sign where its qualities are weakened or limited.
When the Sun is debilitated in Libra, the usual energies are diminished according to the qualities of that sign. This astrological event therefore weakens the Sun’s influence in terms of authority, recognition, and personal power. As a result, many of us may experience unexpected changes in our careers, relationships, and personal lives until November 15th.
In Vedic astrology, each planet has a sign where its natural qualities are considered at their weakest, called a “debilitated” or “neecha” state. The Sun, which symbolizes our core self, vitality, ego, and sense of purpose, represents the energies of confidence and assertiveness. In Libra, however, the Sun’s qualities are tempered, tending toward compromise, diplomacy, and harmony.
The placement encourages us to prioritize cooperation over independence, as Libra’s emphasis on relationships, balance, and the perspective of others mutes the Sun’s usual assertive radiance. As a result, we feel more compelled to seek balance and harmony over confidence and assertiveness, and less inclined to take center stage or make bold, self-directed moves. Instead, there’s a focus on harmonizing with others and considering their points of view, which can shift the typical expression of personal power.
The debilitation of the Sun in Libra can be both empowering and challenging, requiring us to balance our individual goals with our relationships, and to examine where we may be overreaching for the sake of peace. While the Sun’s weakened state can feel limiting, it also offers a time to consider how cooperation and mutual respect can enhance our lives and strengthen our purpose from a place of unity rather than individualism.
Unstuck Your Life By Transmuting Your Origin Story
Do you feel that no matter what you do, your life experiences seem to be stuck on repeat? Are you living the same scenario over and over with a different cast of characters? Or maybe even the same cast, but going through the same problems over and over with no change? If any of this sounds familiar, you may need to revise your origin story.
We all have an origin story. It is a set of deeply held ideas and beliefs that shapes how we see ourselves and our place in the world. It is the story of that we constantly repeat when we talk about ourselves or think about our life experiences. Internally, we use it to define ourselves, and externally, we use it to present ourselves to others.
Our story of origin comes from family, early life experiences, and the choices we made about ourselves as we grew up. While it helps define us, it can also become a prison, limiting our growth and repeating unsatisfying patterns in what we manifest.
In my work as a psychic consultant, I often find in readings that many people are held back by their origin story without even realizing it. When we hold on too tightly to our chosen narrative, we become trapped in cycles that prevent us from evolving into the version of ourselves we truly want and deserve to be.
An origin story differs from a limiting belief in that it is more about the construction of our identity and personality – who we are and how we want to be in the world. It can be more difficult to identify and deconstruct because it is such a strong part of our personal identity. However, it is similar to limiting beliefs in that it is important to explore and become aware of it because it can hold us back and create very unsatisfying life experiences.
How To Embrace Your Shadow Self
Most people tend to shy away from acknowledging their dark or “shadow” side when it comes to spirituality.
In fact, the tendency to avoid the uncomfortable aspects of the self is due in large part to our religious or spiritual background. Throughout history, most traditions have encouraged people to suppress, deny, or transcend their human flaws and shortcomings in favor of higher ideals such as purity, salvation, or enlightenment.
This reluctance to face the shadow within continues to this day, with modern spiritual and metaphysical communities often favoring light, love, and positivity while largely ignoring the messy, difficult, and painful aspects of the human experience.
But by avoiding the shadow within, we deny ourselves the opportunity for a deeper understanding of our soul’s purpose and untapped possibilities for personal and spiritual growth.
According to Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist who pioneered the concept of the “shadow” in psychology, “one is not enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Enlightenment isn’t about avoiding the shadow. Instead, it’s about facing it and integrating it into our being.
When we face the shadow within, we reclaim parts of ourselves that hold immense power, creativity, and insight. By delving into the deeper truths of our shadow selves, we can unravel the unconscious patterns that dictate our lives, allowing for true healing, transformation, and enlightenment.