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Transform Your Life With Mindfulness
In the midst of our fast-paced daily lives, marked by never-ending to-do lists and the constant barrage of modern distractions, it’s all too common to feel overwhelmed and stressed.
Finding moments of peace can be challenging, but there’s a ray of hope in the form of mindfulness. This ancient practice offers a haven of calm amidst the storm of our chaotic lives.
Mindfulness, the art of being fully present in the moment without judgment, is a profound spiritual practice for cultivating self-awareness. It encourages us to pay attention not only to our external environment, but also to our internal world of thoughts and emotions.
By incorporating mindfulness into our daily routine, we unlock a wealth of benefits that lead to greater fulfillment and happiness. And it doesn’t take much of a time commitment. It’s simply a matter of adopting a new perspective and appreciating the importance of each moment.
Mindfulness isn’t just a practice; it’s a habit and a way of life that leads to a calmer, more fulfilling existence. The following strategies are simple ways to incorporate mindfulness into your lifestyle and make it a permanent part of your daily routine. By embracing some or all of these practices, you can transform everyday activities into opportunities for self-discovery, self-improvement, and a deeper connection to the world around you.
The Ancient Art Of Scrying
When the evil queen in Walt Disney’s animated classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), says, “Magic mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” she is not merely admiring the beauty of her own reflection. Instead, she is practicing an ancient divination technique known as scrying. In this case ‘mirror scrying,’ also known as catoptromancy.
Scrying is the metaphysical practice of gazing into a reflective surface, such as a crystal ball, mirror or water, in order to perceive spiritual insights, spirit messages or clairvoyant visions of the future.
In most societies, since time began, people used different tools in attempts to scry for answers about the present and future. It seems to be human nature to want to know what is in store for us in the future. Often scrying was done in the confines of royalty or religion – reserved only for the privileged few deemed worthy to do it.
Scrying was often a practice learned and applied within a family, as children often watched their elders scry. People did not write down how to do such things in the early days. The secrets of scrying was handed down from one family member to another. However, this metaphysical practice can be learned by almost all people with some dedication, concentration and patience.
Many objects can be used to scry. Apart from the traditional crystal ball or mirror, one can also make use of a candle, water, ink, smoke, tea leaves, or even a glass of dark wine. In ancient Egypt there were sacred lotus pools used by priests for scrying. Shallow scrying bowls, carved from dark stone, have been found in many parts of the world. When filled with water, ink or dark red wine they too became ‘mirrors’ for scrying. The crystal sphere that many modern practitioners use is a more recent innovation. The earliest examples, used primarily for divination date, from about 1500 AD.
The People In Your Tarot Court Cards
In a psychic tarot reading, several court cards, also known as ‘people cards’, may come up in a spread. This can be challenging and even confusing, because the reader must now interpret not only the situational influences and circumstances revealed by the spread, but also the other people who are playing a role, or may still be involved in the matter.
There are many different approaches to interpreting tarot court cards, but my personal preference is to associate each card with an astrological sign of the zodiac.
There are 78 cards in a traditional Tarot deck. The first 22 cards are the Major Arcana and the remaining 56 are the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana are divided into four suits that correspond to the four classical elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.
The element of Air is typically represented in the deck design as swords, feathers, birds, or clouds. The element of Fire is usually represented as wands, batons, or staffs. The element of Water is represented by cups, chalices, bowls, or mermaids. And the element of Earth is represented as pentacles, coins, or stones.
Sixteen of the 56 minor arcana are the court cards. The court cards of each suit represent people who embody the personality, traits, or influence of the associated element. Occasionally, a court card may also represent someone who fits the physical appearance of a particular person card as depicted in the card’s design.
How To Do A Tea-Leaf Reading
When I do a teacup reading, I let my mind to run free as I interpret the symbols in the tea leaves for the client. There are standard traditional guidelines as to what different shapes may symbolize, but I prefer to let my intuition do the talking.
Interpretation of the tea leaves is subjective, and there is no one right way to do it. Different readers will interpret the same patterns differently.
However, there are some common symbols one will often find in the bottom of the cup include animals, human faces, and all kinds of everyday objects. Symbols grouped together can create a theme, and sometimes the tea leaves spell out letters of the alphabet or numbers.
Tea-leaf reading is also known as tasseography, tasseomancy or tassology. Tasseography is also done by reading wine sediments and coffee grounds. This divination practice possibly originated in China, where tea was first cultivated, and may have evolved from the Chinese traditions of divining the patterns left by the dregs of wine in a cup, as well as the patterns created by the smoke from incense sticks.
Tea itself was first introduced to Europe in the 17th century and thus tea-leaf reading spread to other parts of the world. Among the first Europeans to embrace the practice were the traveling Romani people, who sometimes offered is as a door-to-door service. Tea-leaf reading also became popular in Victorian times as a parlor game.
Like Tarot reading or scrying a crystal ball, tea-leaf reading is a divination method for accessing the universal consciousness via the subconscious mind. Slowing down the rational, analytical mind allows us to focus on our intuition to receive divine guidance.
Divining With Dowsing Rods
I have always loved working with my dowsing rods and have used them in various ways over many years. I have used dowsing, for example, to track down missing car keys, find lost jewelry, and locate various other household items. However, yesterday was a dowsing first for me.
I received a call from a friend whose husband had mysteriously lost his partial-denture plate. Apparently, he has the habit of frequently taking it out and then leaving it lying around in unusual places in their home. Of course, it irritates my friend, both from an aesthetic and hygienic point of view, but she has never been able to get him to be more conscientious with his false teeth!
Well, yesterday, his dentures were nowhere to be found. They had searched everywhere inside the house, until their four-month-old terrier-mix puppy sauntered in with soil all over his face. It was obvious that he had recently buried something.
The search for the missing teeth was thus taken outside to their large fenced off plot with its many olive trees and shrubs. The needle in the haystack was nowhere to be found. As a last resort, I was eventually called in to assist with my dowsing rods.
It took me about 20 minutes to locate the missing teeth. The dowsing rods took me directly to an area that was being prepared for planting. Once I reached the spot, all I had to do was sift through the soil with my fingers, and ‘voila’…the missing teeth were restored to its rightful owner!
The Empowering Symbolism Of The World Card
The World card in the Tarot remains one of my firm favorites. I am all for personal and spiritual growth, the completion of cycles, and new beginnings. The World represents exactly that: the ending of a cycle and pause in life, before the next major cycle begins with the fool.
The journey from the new beginnings of The Fool to the fulfilling endings of The World is a constant evolutionary process in our everyday lives that is represented by the sequence of the 22 Major Arcana cards of the Tarot. The World is the 22nd trump and therefore final card of the Major Arcana.
I have reflected on the imagery of the Rider-Waite version of this Tarot card in great detail. Rider-Waite is probably the most popular and universally recognized Tarot deck. The illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith at first glance appear simple, but the details and backgrounds feature abundant mystical symbolism.
The World pictures an empowered figure within a wreath – traditionally a symbol of victory, success, achievement, and eternal life. The figure holds a wand in each hand, which is reminiscent of the Magician card and the Two of Wands. However, while The Magician holds only one wand, the two wands in the The World card represents fulfillment, wholeness, balance and coming full circle.
The card is framed by four animals on the diagonal. The depiction of these four creatures parallels the four animal symbols used in Christian art to represent the four Evangelists, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The four animals also represent the zodiac signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, the four fixed signs in Western Astrology, which in turn represent the classical four elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Air.
Cleansing Rituals Are A Vital Spiritual Practice
Energy cleansing should be a key component in our regular spiritual practice. To achieve and maintain a state of higher consciousness and enhanced spiritual awareness, we must constantly aim to purify and rebalance ourselves mind, body and soul.
Purification rituals are traditionally practiced in many world religions and various spiritual traditions embrace tangible cleansing rituals as a way of communing with and manifesting the Divine energy. Water-based rituals of purification are practiced, for example, in the Baháʼí faith, Christianity, Hinduism, Indigenous American religion, traditional African spirituality, Islam, Judaism, Mandaeism, Neopaganism, Shinto, Western esotericism, and Wicca.
It is no accident that animals also clean themselves regularly by grooming their fur or feathers. Nature instinctively understands that ‘cleanliness is next to godliness.’ Mother Nature also cleanses herself throughout the year with changes in the weather and the succession of the seasons.
I’ve never been much or a ritual or ceremony person myself, but I have come to embrace the need for a regular energy cleansing routine as I have grown in my own spiritual and psychic awareness.
For many years now, one of my go-to rituals is a simple spiritual cleansing bath with Epsom salt. I find it is a wonderful practice to realign my energy flow and restore inner peace and harmony. Nothing beats a proper ‘soul detox’ every few days.
Another practice I’ve adopted of late is chakra candle work. I often use these scented candles to jumpstart a client’s cleansing process, or cleanse and rebalance my own energy. The candle for each chakra is infused with its own combination of essential oils. The heart chakra candle is my personal favorite. It’s laced with sandalwood, jasmine, and rose essential oils and really packs a punch!