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.

Uki’s hide-away

There once was a magical place, an unclaimed space between gardens. Fences delineated the properties around this 3x3ft no one’s land. It was open only on one side, our garden. Why were the boundaries of the three properties coming together not drawn more consistently? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care.

Whew, a pretty heavy topic for a small blog, isn’t it!

The topic of our destiny has filled countless volumes of philosophical and religious treatises over centuries, even millennia. How can we address this topic in a genuine yet simplified way that allows us to feel empowered rather than overwhelmed by the deep questions that arise?

Do you ever have 'blah' days?

Do you ever feel out of sync with your soul, your purpose, life in general? Loving ourselves on those days may seem particularly difficult. Minor irritations can grow into big deals and emotional outbursts. Then we find ourselves apologizing to others or harboring resentments or having the blues... I think those days are a part of being Spirit having a human experience. It's no use fighting, since resistance only makes things worse. There is a moment of awakening when one realizes that . . .

Meditation - it's not what you *think* - but it can be *easy*! Here is how.

Have you had the desire to add meditation to your busy life for its known benefits, but have felt intimidated by the countless methods and 'have-to' you encounter? So many people deeply desire to access the peace of mind and calmness that they know is awaiting them by means of a meditation practice. It's a little like a new year's resolution: we start with the best intentions, and then we discontinue, because life seems to be filled with more important demands on our time. Meditation seems almost like a luxury we can't afford to give ourselves. And besides, what method to choose among the countless ways that promise great results?

Tonight is a Full Moon. I tried to capture its beauty with my camera, but the Moon eluded my clumsy efforts. Using an older, rather basic camera, I tried it this way and that way. The moon just laughed and hid behind the tree, or morphed into a luminous egg, or appeared like a tiny firefly against a fuzzy dark night sky. So I gave up and just took in the Full Moon’s beauty with my eyes.

Sometimes we take pictures with our heart. Technology may fail us, or be absent in the moment we most need it. The heart is always there to anchor the frequency of beauty and unique moments. Images that are stored in the heart can’t be erased, they don’t fade, they cannot be copied. A lesson in being more present to the moment, rather than giving in to the illusion that we can just file away certain aspects of life, to be visited at another, more convenient time?

By the way, the Moon’s face seemed to be half-smiling, half pensive tonight. Is what we observe in the outer world really just a reflection of our inner state? More food for thought…

Have you earned your Angel Wings yet? Does that thought frighten you a bit, since you might have been told that only upon our death do we earn our Angel Wings? What if you did not need to do *anything* to earn or deserve your wings, because you already *are* an Angel? Whoa, even scarier, isn't it?

We have all received so much programming from well-meaning people that wanted to orient us toward being good, kind, deserving humans; bless their heart for their intentions!  AND, is is not also time to discard some of that programming that pushes the impossible goal always just out of our reach? What if we feel we are never good enough, loving enough, deserving of God's love enough to just BE? I suggest that this is the time to simply drop the conditioning and claim our highest good right now. If not now, when? If you are not measuring up to some extraneous and/or internalized standard, when will you ever be? Do we really need to transition beyond the veil before we can embrace our inherent goodness, our angelic essence? I say "do it now"! Angel wings feel wonderful, de-lightful, soft and loving, and they literally help us unfold.

Can you accept your angel wings now? Not out of false arrogance, just with a heart full of gratitude for the magnificent spiritual being you already are? If so, I congratulate you. If not, I send you my love and compassion so that some day soon you will accept your truth and trust your heavenly wings!