Summer time: a time to enjoy the gifts of the season, to interact and play, and a time to tend to the garden - verbatim and figuratively speaking.

Whether you are a gardener or not, have you considered the garden of your soul? That metaphor relates to our self-care and the loving awareness that helps us to distinguish weeds from things we want to grow. We plant seeds with every thought, every action, even every non-action. Some seeds germinate quickly, others take more time to root and unfold. Seeds of negativity, such as resentment, living in the past, envy and doubt develop into 'weeds' that are often hard to eliminate. The most persistent weeds are the ones with deep roots and survival strategies. They grow underground, in the depths of our unconscious/subconscious mind. Awareness is the tool that exposes these pernicious weeds and stops them from propagating in the garden of our soul.

What are you planting today?

How does Great Spirit speak to us?

Sometimes we want God to communicate with us in grandiose ways. Maybe we want a clear message, written in flames on the wall and signed by God. In my experience, it rarely happens that way. Source, Spirit, whatever you want to call it, speaks to us in quiet, unexpected ways.

Today we had a meditation gathering in honor of Divine Mother. A beautiful meditation came through that touched everyone's heart.

Much later I went into the kitchen to clean up. I found a paper towel that had absorbed water in such a way that it created a perfect heart shape. Does Divine Mother speak to us through paper towels? I don't know. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

What are the 'weeds' in your life? Its's a matter of perspective.

Today I happily pulled weeds in my garden. The rain of the last few days have softened the soil and made it so much easier to pull weeds out with their roots.

Gardening has always been a meditatiive activity for me. Therapy for the soul, I call it. My work allows me to interact in meaningful ways with others, and sometimes I just need quiet space to restore my soul.

The Earth wobbles, the Solar System wobbles, and so do we!

Did you know that the Earth's whirling through space actually create cycles in the cosmic realm, moving us through the different ages?  This cycle causes the Precession of the Equinoxes. Hence we talk about the "Age of Pisces", or more recently, the "Age of Aquarius". There are cycles within cycles, rhythms within greater harmonics. The entire Solar System wobbles in a dance of celestial bodies who catch and swing each other. Earth - Moon - Sun - Galaxy: dancers that invisibly "clasp hands" on their cosmic journey through space. Why would we humans be excluded from that dance? It isn't always fun though to feel like we are being tossed around in space, subject to forces unknown.

Live in the Now, back when, or out there?

“For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion” –Albert Einstein

Is Einstein saying that our idea of linear time that segments our experience into past, present and future, is only an illusion? How does that view agree with the popular idea of ‘being in the now” as a goal of enlightenment?
Maybe what we understand as the present moment refers to our ability to attend to internal and external experiences at the same time. We would be here now, and at the same time access the eternal wisdom of our souls, accumulated over millennia. And we would have a vision of the future self. The choices we make today, every moment, along with the karmic journey of soul co-create the one we shall become.
At this level, enlightenment is no longer limited to the present moment: awareness would allow for recollection of one’s past, complete presence in the now moment, and a vision of the future all at the same time. This idea may sound illusory, but it is my personal experience that it can happen and is very real, depending on your definition of reality.

Kabocha squash soup

Since we are body-mind-spirit beings, I thought I'd share a favorite food recipe with you. It's perfect for the season, and in fact, I made it today for a vegetarian Thanksgiving feast.

So here we are, with approximate quantities (I never measure when cooking)

1 kabocha squash, medium size (~ 2 pds)

1.5 inch piece of fresh ginger

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped

handful of golden raisins or currants

handful of pine nuts

Wash and cut squash in quarters (that's the hardest part! May have to microwave for a few seconds to soften the skin). Scoop out sees, but do NOT peel the squash! The green peel adds most of the flavor, and it blends easily once cooked.

My husband Gary recently said to me: “the season of eating is coming up. How can we enjoy without guilt, without regrets?” Interesting, that we associate the Holidays not only with company, generosity, sharing and gratitude, but also with an over-abundance of food that makes us feel great at the moment, but sluggish and heavy afterwards.

What are your earliest food memories? How have your family traditions shaped your experience of shared feasts of eating? Many of us have happy memories of early childhood family gatherings centered around “breaking bread” with others. Sometimes we may connect with painful experiences connected to food.

A friend visiting from Germany commented on the multitude of choices our supermarkets offer. To illustrate her opinion, she pointed out that, for example, “milk” comes in so many varieties that the abundant choices create an almost paralyzing effect on the puzzled consumer.

Do psychic vampires exist? If so, what can we do to protect ourselves?

Yes, they do exist! Let's try for a definition first: Psychic vampires feed off the life force of other sentient beings.
Why would they do that? In my experience, the class of entities that feed off others are like parasites: they drain their host of life force energy, but may not even be fully aware of their acts. It is simply who they are, what they do. These entities are by nature parasitic, i.e. they need a host to support their own existence.

How do we attract psychic vampires?

When our auric field has been depleted by traumatic circumstance (illness, loss of a loved one, etc), we become more vulnerable to other beings. Also, in the case of accelerated personal evolution, the light we give off becomes more 'visible' to other beings. We are susceptible to become "food" for others that are lacking in life force energy and are looking for hosts to attach to. Many of these beings are not 'evil' by nature; they simply look for energy food as a means of survival.
What can we do to protect ourselves?

This time of year, spiders seem to be spinning their webs all day and all night long. Maybe that is why spider webs have become a symbol for Halloween: a little eery, reminders of invisible worlds; annoying when we don’t see them and run into that delicate web that seems to cling to everything. And who is really fond of spiders anyway?!

I appreciate spiders at a distance. My mother taught me never to harm one unless it is toxic and in attack mode. I have very little tolerance for black spiders, since I’ve gotten bitten a few times, and believe me, those bites are nasty.

When you have the opportunity to look at a spider web from just the right angle, against the sunlight, the beauty of its construction and magical fabric is breath-taking.

Our need to know

So many clients come to me with a need to *know*. “Will he come back to me?”, “when will I be financially secure”, “will I ever meet my soulmate?”
We all have a need to know. Dealing with the unknown can be very stressful, to say the least. I know that from own experience, for example when I was waiting for the results of a tissue sample, fearing the worst. The human mind is not designed to deal well with an uncertain future. Ego wants to take charge, and ego wants to know. Control, even if only the illusion of control, is what ego craves and demands.
When you consult a psychic or spiritual counselor, be aware of this need and how it might misguide you.