spirituality
Using The Four Elements In Your Spiritual Practice
Our ancestors worked with the elements in their metaphysical and spiritual practices. The four classic elements are found in many wisdom traditions, while some also employ additional elements such as metal, wood, and spirit.
The four primary elements can be a meaningful resource in one’s personal practice. It is powerful in prayer, meditation, manifesting rituals, energy healing, divination, psychic protection, and self-care. For example, I use all four elements in my New Moon and Full Moon ceremonies. Depending on what I am working on, I also create specific rituals throughout the year focusing on one metaphysical attribute of a particular element and call upon that energy to assist me in my own life.
Air Energy
The element of air represents consciousness, intuition, understanding, and the mind. I call upon this element when I am attempting to figure out something complex or when I need to make a decision about something important.
To work with this element, I light an incense stick. Since the movement of air is not something visible, the smoke from an incense stick is a symbolic way to represent it. I then focus on the smoke and use an invocation to call upon the element of air.
I call upon the element of air to provide me clarity and understanding.
I invoke the element of air to elevate my consciousness above this fear
People often assume that intuition is the innate ability to know absolutely everything, especially about the future. However, authentic intuition is about knowing what we need to know regarding a specific situation. The element of air can awaken what we need to know without providing too many spoilers along the way.
Spirit Will Guide You Through Life’s Murkiest Fog
This time of year, I am usually way too busy to spend much time relaxing on my porch, but today, I just felt it was high time for some ‘me time.’ Yes, psychics and mediums tend to be great at giving guidance to others about the necessity for taking some ‘me time,’ but not so good about following our own advice.
It is always so calm and peaceful to just rock away in my favorite chair on the porch, feeling the energy of the ocean. It is a wonderful time for me to meditate and connect with my spirit guides and loved ones in spirit.
Looking out over the ocean, I observed some ‘sea smoke’ over the water. Sea smoke, also known as ‘frost smoke’ or ‘steam fog,’ is a type of fog that arises when extremely cold air moves over warmer water.
The sea smoke can become so dense that it is impossible for sailors to clearly see all the boats and yachts on their moorings. This is when one hears the tugboat’s foghorn guiding the big tankers safely to their destination. Although it is a strange, eerie sound, it is also reassuring to know the boats can find their way through the sea smoke.
As I came out of meditation, I noticed the sea smoke had finally started to lift. I could now see the red tugboats and the sun was peeking through the clouds. It looked like a slice of heaven to me.
Then the thought came to me how symbolic this beautiful sight was of life’s challenges and how we can overcome adversity more easily with the support and guidance of spirit.
Messages From My Totems
Do you have a specific animal, bird, reptile, or insect that keeps catching your attention? I am not speaking of your dog or cat or pet bird, but of those that you repeatedly cross paths with in nature, or even in your dreams.
Each one of us has at least one totem or spirit animal, and sometimes more, that show up in some way throughout our lifetime. The term totem comes from the Ojibwa word ototeman and was introduced in English in the 18th century to refer to a ‘designated guardian spirit animal.’
When our totems show up, the most important thing is to recognize what is currently happening in your life, or what thoughts are going through your mind at the time you see it. You may also notice that whenever you are in turmoil you tend to see this specific creature (or creatures) more than when life is going smoothly.
Each totem is a symbolic representation with a specific message. They warn us of danger, or help us make important life decisions, or comfort us when we are struggling, or just bring a confirmation or a sense of peace.
They bring to us whatever we most need at the time they cross our paths. It is up to you to just trust the energy you are in when you come across one of these beautiful creatures.
Three totems that have been present in my life at specific times are the Eagle, the Owl and the Wolf. Each offered me specific support I needed at that time, and they brought me reassuring messages. At times they have also inspired me with confidence, power and strength when I most needed it. Below are a few examples of what these totems have represented to me. Maybe it will help you identify, understand, and trust your animal totems.
Signs That You Have A High Vibration
Spiritually aware people know that it is important to achieve and maintain a high energy frequency to live a truly conscious, empowered life. Diverse spiritual practices, metaphysical techniques and lifestyle activities can be pursued to achieve this elevated state of ‘beingness’ and higher consciousness.
But how does one know for sure that all your efforts to raise your vibration are indeed successful? How do you recognize an elevated ‘vibe’ in yourself and others? Are there clear signs of someone having a high energy vibration?
Yes, there are indeed certain traits and indicators one can look out for to identify people with a high vibration:
Empowered. When a person with a high energy vibration walks into a room, everybody immediately takes notice of them. They have a powerful presence. Everyone will instantly light up and suddenly become more relaxed, friendly, happy, and joyful.
Healing. People seek you out others who have a higher vibration when they are feeling sad, depressed, anxious, or just need someone to talk to. High vibration people therefore often find themselves in the role of teacher, nurturer, caregiver, healer, or peacemaker.
Trusted. People with a raised vibration are often more easily and spontaneously trusted by others. Animals and children especially are naturally drawn to those who have a high vibration. Animals and children are sensitive to negative, low energies and tend to avoid it at any cost. If a crying baby or scared pet vehemently refuses to have anything to do with someone, chances are something is off with that person’s energy. Kids and animals prefer and only trust ‘light and love’ vibes.
The Selfless Flow Of Divine Love
Love is a divine spiritual energy. It originates in the divine heart of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The internal energy of his love is so strong that it emanates out of his body as love personified, in the form of the Supreme Goddess.
In the spiritual tradition of Bhakti, which is founded on the Vedas, a collection of religious texts originating in ancient India, the Supreme Goddess is identified by the Sanskrit term shakti, the primordial divine feminine energy, and the Supreme God as shaktiman, the divine masculine source of this cosmic energy.
She also bears the name Radha, meaning she who gives the greatest pleasure to him, whom she calls by the name Krishna, the ‘all-attractive.’ Together, they form the Divine Couple, an eternal reservoir of reciprocal divine love which ever increases.
Love is alive. It is a living, giving, and flowing force. Love, like God, is unlimited and ever-expanding. Divine Love offers its transcendence for us souls in this world to follow, serve, and ultimately return to our original, eternal spiritual nature.
Our spirit, soul or jivatma is therefore an expression of the primordial energy of the shaktiman, which emanates both from and for his love. Whereas Radha’s love is infinite, we individual souls are infinitesimal. We merely serve to enhance and celebrate with our supreme existence the Divine Couple’s infinite love, which in turn imbues our souls with joy.
One way our soul can serve the joy and union of the Divine Couple in this world is by allowing the spiritual energy of love to flow through our own heart to others. The beauty of true love is that it is never selfish and does not seek to satisfy the demands of the ego. Like a river rippling toward the ocean, divine love courses toward the one it fills with its own essence.
Divine Love Abides All
When we have love in our life we can keep negative entities away from us on the lower realms, as well as on the earthly walking realm. There are both malicious people and malevolent non-physical beings in this world. Divine Love protects us from their evil.
When we live our life with unconditional love in our hearts, and keep a calm mind and spirit, we are easily read by others as being very kind loving people – it shows on our faces. You sometimes can’t tell on some people’s faces if they are good or evil, because Satan, or the Evil One, is tricky and manipulative. The Bible tells us that Lucifer was a beautiful angel in the beginning, before he fell and became corrupt.
It is so important to live with the Divine Spark inside of us and be mindful of what we put into our bodies, as I’ve seen energy shift and people’s faces shift when they open the door to negativity and evil influences in their lives. Some are more susceptible than others. For example, people who abuse alcohol allow really low spiritual entities into their lives, to seek and ruin and destroy anything good that they have going on – especially by way of relationships. Some people should just stay far away from alcohol, as they become very aggressive and belligerent, and just not themselves when they drink. I have seen people ruin their lives because of alcohol.
Anything that can deter you from Divine Love is not of the Light. Everything is best in moderation. But for some the negative energy keeps them wanting more as the negative entities around them wants them to fail, so that they themselves can grow stronger while their victim’s life slowly goes in a downward spiral. In some cases, their addictions make them so depressed they even take their own life, and it hinders their soul from achieving soul growth in this current incarnation they are in.
Creating A Brand New Life
Many teachers, philosophers and authors have said the same thing in different ways. We create our own reality; we are the masters of our own destiny.
Some of my favorite books with this message include James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh; Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich; Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization; Mike Dooley’s Manifesting Change; Deepak Chopra’s The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: Bob Proctor’s You Were Born Rich; Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret; and Bud LaBranche’s audio recording What You Believe, You Become.
The average person has had access to this information for generations. For example, James Allen’s book was first published in 1903. If the universal Law of Attraction was indeed ever ‘a secret,’ it has not been so for at least a century. So, why don’t more of us apply it in our lives? Why don’t more of us take more control of our destiny and create the life we desire?
I think the first reason is that many people do not even think it possible. They choose to believe that life happens to them, instead of for them, and that they are merely meant to react to whatever comes their way in the best way humanly possible.
Others are so buried in the day-to-day chaos of their lives that they don’t have the time, nor the inclination to sit down and learn about a different way of living.
Then there are also those who believe that their life is simply pre-ordained, and they have minimal choice in the matter. For them there is no point in trying to get out of the rut in which they find themselves.