spiritual healing
The Transformative Power Of The Moon
Does your energy change for better or worse when there is a Full Moon? Every person has some notion of what a Full Moon means to them.
When the Moon is full, it has an energy pull and charging capability that is unlike the new or quarter moons. During a Full Moon, I usually find it difficult to sleep – no matter how hard I try. The energetic pull is powerful. This is when my mind is most active.
A Full Moon is in fact the best time to open yourself to receive healing or spirit messages, to recharge your energy, or set intentions for manifestation to transform your life for the better. Crystals can also be put out under the Full Moon to charge them up and bring new life to them.
The Full Moon is a time to breathe in the good, release what does not serve you, and allow the Moon’s energy to take lighten your worries and lessen your burdens. A simple clearing ceremony becomes ‘super-charged’ under a Full Moon. Write down what does not serve you: your hurts, your disappointments, your anger and so on. Then burn this list outside, under the Full Moon, while asking the Universe, Source, God, Spirit, the Divine to cleanse the energy from your being.
I live close to a lake and when the Moon is full, no matter what time of year, it reflects off the lake in its various hues and colors. I always take a walk to the lake to allow this energy to feed my soul. It uplifts my spirit and makes me smile. Gazing at the beauty of the Full Moon brings new energy to you if you do it properly.
The next time there is a Full Moon, venture outdoors, look up and contemplate her beauty and power. Ask yourself, how do you feel standing there under the Full Moon? Ask yourself what you want to accomplish or change in your life? You need not do anything further. The manifesting and healing powers of the Moon will carry your intentions forward.
Ritual In A Modern Spiritual Lifestyle
Rituals, rites and ceremonies are the oldest forms of spiritual practice and essential aspects of all religions and belief systems. A ritual is a meaningful or symbolic action or series of actions that has a standardized format or sequence and can therefore be repeated in exactly the same way by individuals, groups or even communities.
The metaphysical energy generated when we focus our intent using symbols, tokens and metaphoric activities during a ritual that has special meaning for us personally can be highly transformative! Whether you practice ritual in a group or solo, it can supercharge your manifesting ability and aid in any mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual healing processes you may be going through.
When some people hear the word ‘ritual,’ they tend to imagine darkened, smoke-filled rooms with mysterious people in long robes, chanting strange refrains perhaps, all choreographed with everyone knowing their roles. I’m sure there are people who practice rituals in this way and elements like incense and chanting can indeed be party of a rite or ceremony. But a ritual can also be more simply crafted in a way to fit into a modern lifestyle and everyday spiritual practice.
In my own practice, I created a little ‘altar’ for myself. A small sacred space where I have placed a few candles, some incense, crystals, feathers and a few other symbolic tokens which hold special meaning for me. I also added a picture of my mother and a statue of an angel given to me when my grandpa passed away. In this way I created a sacred space that has deep meaning for me personally and brings me into a spiritual mindset.
You don’t need to have a lot of room for this in your home. So, you can even create a small sacred space for yourself on the corner of a dresser or table top. As my practice has evolved, I now find that any spare surface or quiet corner in the places where I have lived can become a nook for little spiritual treasures that I find during my adventures. Once you start creating a sacred space, the Universe will send you little gifts to help you along.
Eye Gazing As A Spiritual Practice
Eye gazing is a powerful, ancient practice in which two people engage in a shared meditation practice during which eye contact is maintained for an extended period of time. Eye gazing is usually done for about ten minutes at a time, although it can certainly be any duration preferred.
Eye gazing can be used to access past life information, promote healing, connect to your higher self, guides, or angels, and almost anything else you can imagine. The eyes are the windows to our soul, and our soul is the singularity that connects us to everything else: the Universe, Source, God, the Divine. Eye gazing is also a profound manifesting tool we can use to further develop our ‘spiritual muscles,’ so to speak.
Before you include eye gazing in your spiritual practice, I recommend you read my previous blog on the essentials of eye gazing. Once you are more familiar with the basics, you can also apply the following guidelines to your eye gazing practice.
To use eye gazing for a specific purpose, you must set a clear intention beforehand, and then hold that intention throughout the gaze. You hold an intention by simply keeping a gentle awareness in the back of your mind that what you are seeing during the gaze is relevant to your intention, and trusting that whatever comes forward is always relevant.
It’s important not to simultaneously hold any expectations about what you’re going to see, or to resist anything that comes up spontaneously, just because you don’t immediately see its relevance or connection to your intention. Keep an open mind and be flexible and accepting in the flow of your gazing experience.
If you’re gazing alone, sit comfortably in front of a mirror, take a few centering breaths, and then state your intention out loud. I prefer to speak aloud in my spiritual practice whenever possible, as words are energy forms and therefore add a ‘weight’ to our prayer requests, intentions, and affirmations. State your intention out loud and ask Spirit to provide insight around this intention. Use language that feels right for you.
The Many Deaths And Rebirths In Your Lifetime
You have already died many deaths. Many versions of you will ‘die’ in this lifetime. And, many versions of you will be reborn.
Of course, you have also passed through the veil between this life and the next for many past lives. But in this case, I am referring to ‘deaths’ we suffer in this lifetime.
We can identify these dramatic changes, transitions, shifts, or ‘deaths’ in our astrological chart. Your Saturn Return, for example, occurs around the time of our 30th birthday. Our Saturn Return forces us to take an honest look at everything we may have been avoiding until now. It forces us to make much needed changes and improvements. It is the ending of our youth and the birth of our new adult self.
We do not remain the same person throughout our lifetime. Our goals, ideas, and life lessons all serve their purpose until they are phased out to let in new information, new ideas, and new opportunities for growth. If we do this right, life keeps changing us. We continue to grow and expand.
For this purpose, it is wise to interact with people who have different beliefs, practice other religions, and have other political affiliations compared to our own. And more importantly, to really listen to them. We must allow all the information in and trust our intuition to let our beliefs and understanding of life continuously evolve.
Our life experiences constantly challenge and change our ideas, goals, and views. We are constantly shedding our old skin. Just as our body changes every day we are alive, so does our soul. We take in every experience, whether we know it or not. It’s like adding ingredients to a recipe.
Embrace these deaths and births along your life path. They are needed for your soul growth and spiritual expansion. I’ve witnessed over the years some people really fighting change and resisting growth…and it always makes them miserable. Fluidity and acceptance are spiritually essential. Simplicity will bring you inner peace.
Less Stress, More Meditation
We do our best to not be in a state of constant stress, toxic environments and unhealthy situations. We try so hard to keep our life in a state of contentment and happiness.
We intuitively know that if we keep our stress levels down, we sleep better and we think more clearly. Being in a state of zen is our original state.
When we are at peace, we are more able to hear that inner voice telling us what to do, and not do. It is what I call our inner GPS. We can hear it much more clearly when I we are centered and grounded, and not stressing.
I have found that only through meditation can I fully achieve this state of ‘less stress’ in my life. Of course, we can never eliminate stress completely, but meditation does empower me to achieve that state of contentment more easily.
After many years of practice, I can even achieve this within a few moments by simply focusing on my breath. But it is best when I take a good 30 minutes to go through my meditative steps. This includes breathwork and visualizing my body relaxing from my toes to top of my head.
During my destressing meditation I also take some time to send out love, light and peace to everyone that I know and love, including those who I don’t necessarily like very much. I also visualize the things I want to manifest in my life.
Stay True To Your Own Best Karma
You may have heard of someone ‘getting their karma’ for something bad they have done, or of wishing bad karma on another for their transgressions. Most people use the word ‘karma’ in this negative sense, usually believing that a person that hurt them will be on the receiving end of the same hurt (or worse) because of their deeds.
But wishing negative karma on another is a dangerous practice. What we think, say and do tend to come back to us, instead of another person. So, when you say something like, “Oh, I can’t wait until they get their karma and someone breaks their heart like they broke mine,” you have in fact declared it for yourself (again).
Karma happens when it happens. Never, ever wish it on another in a negative manner. Your thoughts, words and actions determine what you attract to yourself.
Karma can instead be invoked in an amazingly positive way. Wish everyone good things, positive actions, and uplifting results in their life – even those who wronged you.
Congratulate that person who got the promotion that you wanted. Offer the person who stole from you a blessing. Forgive the person who broke your heart and wish them only happiness in their future life.
This will open the flood gates of good reactions to your actions. There is a cause and effect for everything, so the moment you choose to you’re your thoughts, words and actions all positive and loving, that is what you will attract in return.
Empowering Life Lessons From My Abusive Father
My father Jim had to grow up quickly in the tough pre-war years. He was the eldest of six children and he did not have an easy childhood, nor tolerant parents.
But life became even more challenging for Jim as he reached adulthood. My parents were married at the age of 21 and had three kids by 23, and another baby at 34.
Jim faced many challenges. As a result, to vent his frustration and process all the stress, he often took it out on those closest to him, namely his wife and children.
Let’s just say my father was not always the ideal husband and parent. It became so bad by the time I was an adult that he would do whatever he could to disrupt my life and my family in any way that you might imagine. The sad part was that he actually wanted to hurt us, as doing so gave him a bizarre sense of satisfaction and control over those closest to him.
I first became fully aware of my father’s desire to disempower his kids when I was about 22 years old. The year was 1982, and jobs were very hard to come by in the United Kingdom in those days. I had an office job but wanted something better. So, I decided to attend school for a year to learn shorthand and typing at the local technical college.
One day, I asked my dad if I could get a ride with him to college, because I had to sit an important exam at 2pm that day. He said I need not worry, as he would drop me off in plenty of time. But then he proceeded to make every excuse not to leave the house!
By quarter to two, I started to panic, as I could not possibly walk or catch a bus from my house to the college with so little time. At ten minutes to two, he finally agreed to take me to sit the exam, but then when we got in the car, he said he needed to go to the garage for gas. I looked at the fuel gauge and saw the car’s tank was full.
I suddenly realized he did not want me to sit the exam, as he did not want me to pass it and better myself and become more independent. Thankfully, his sabotage attempt failed, as I did pass the exam and went on to get a higher paying job.