Category Archives: Magic

Creativity and Collaboration

Posted on by

Creativity and collaboration have been my words for 2013. They came to me as I was reflecting on the year 2012 and starting to tap into how I wanted to feel in the new year. I had no idea what it would look like but I knew I deeply needed both of these things in my life. The adventure that has unfolded has been an amazing one. I can honestly say I am glad I had no idea what a year of creativity and collaboration would look like. The best part of the journey is watching it unfold and if you had told me what I would do this year I wouldn’t have believed you anyway!

Creativity

My year started with my 30th birthday which I spent painting at a ceramics studio with friends. I used to do this all the time with a childhood friend but somewhere along the lines I became more and more self conscious about doing it right and not being artistic enough. I went to New Hampshire (my first ever solo travel as an adult) to take a workshop on playing the harmonium, which I have been doing ever since. I launched my own business website and starting blogging as well as moved into a new office space. I was featured on KPBS for the work that I have done with Laughter Yoga in the mental health system. My band had their first gig where I got to try out my leading lady skills; they’re a little shaky but it was SO much fun. I traveled in Ecuador for a month where I stayed with a host family and studied Spanish. To me travel is the ultimate in exercising your creativity when you do it right! I took additional courses in energy healing, meditation and angel card reading as well as taught my own Reiki class to a lovely group of healers. I completed my 200 hour yoga teacher training with my first yoga teacher ever. I got upside down for the first time in my 13 year rarely consistent asana practice for some rad perspectives on life and love.

Collaboration 

I have connected with some incredible people this year and even when looking back on things that didn’t work out exactly how I had planned, I know that everything is perfect! I was fortunate enough to collaborate with several people through harmonium. I played in as many yoga classes and events as I could and loved the warm welcome that I received when offering to play and sing for folks. I navigated a move and some family drama with my partner that made us stronger as a team and made me love him even more. I joined a group of lovely women in a new moon healing circle and reveled in setting intention with group support and love.  I planned a therapy group with a dear friend and while the group did not take off this year, we created an amazing bond that has helped me beyond measure. We supported each other in building our businesses this year and laughed and cried about life and love. I also have been working with another sweet friend on creating a community for mothers and babies. This project also did not launch in the way we originally expected but we have kept the vision alive and I am fully expecting it to blossom next year. This friend has also been such a beacon of beautiful light in my life; she is always sending me lovely words of support right when I need them. This year also came with a letting go of a vision to create a non-profit and open a healing center with a business partner. Perhaps rather than a letting go, it has been more of a not now and not in this way.  I worked with some incredible women in my yoga teacher training and know that this just opened the door to the beginning of ongoing collaboration with one another.  It may appear that I had more failure than success in this avenue this year but for every project that fell flat, in it’s place is a mutually supporting, loving and nurturing relationship. And, THAT is what it’s all about.

I am feeling a little melancholy about saying goodbye to this year but I am excited to bring in 2014. My words for this new year are Power and Balance. I can’t wait to see how they play out!

photo (17)harmonium meangel card certphoto (16)

Angel Cards and Ancestral Blessings

Posted on by

Last week I drove up to Pasadena for the Hay House “I Can Do It” conference and took an all day course in becoming a certified angel card reader. The course was led by Doreen Virtue who is the author of many books on working with the angels and a dozen or more decks of angel cards. If you are not familiar with her work and have any interest, she is definitely worth looking into. I started working with her cards around the time I started doing energy work. Her deck “Healing with the Angels” was available in my first Healing Touch class. We were invited to pick a card on our break and read the meaning in the enclosed book. I now use them in sessions with clients and on an almost daily basis for myself. I was, to say the least, very excited about the workshop. For the record, anyone can use the angel cards without the training, she just gave us tips to take our readings further.

The workshop was great, Doreen was amazing and inspiring and I met some very nice people. I couldn’t help but have one of those “how did I end up here moments?” though. I often find myself feeling supremely blessed but also a bit puzzled about my spiritual path. Sometimes it seems out of left field that I ended up being an energy healing, yogini, kirtan singer who reads angel cards. In my heart I know that all is perfect and that this is my path but still “how did I end up here?!” A memory was sparked for me and I thought back to the readings my grandma would give me when I was little. She would use a deck of playing cards and I am pretty sure used the Celtic Cross layout we learned in this training. She would tell me things based on the color and the number of the card or if it was a face card. I called her to ask about this and to let her know that she has (as I am realizing) inspired my path in many ways. She shared that her grandma read fortunes and that is where she learned it.

My great-great grandmother came to Idaho from Copenhagen, Denmark. We are not quite sure why or how she got here but in Idaho is where she met my great-great grandfather. Here I have shared the picture of the only belonging of hers that we know of. A book which she has so lovingly and proudly written her name in many times. Josephine Brikamine Petersen although my grandma tells me she called herself “Josephina Brigamina.” So, perhaps my path is not out of left field after all.  Of course, I already knew that but I love discovering this connection with my past. I plan to call in her guidance in my readings even though I’m sure she has always been there. My awareness continues to increase though and as Doreen says the cardinal rule of working with the angels is you have to ask them for their help. you can do itangel card certphoto (15)

El Colibrí de Alegría

Posted on by

There are 132 different types of hummingbirds in Ecuador. Since I have been back from my month long trip there I have seen one or two everyday. On my first day back to my day job I was looking longingly out the window during our morning meeting, honestly wishing I wasn’t there, when I saw a sweet little hummingbird outside. It made me smile and remember my great trip and all the joy and freedom I felt while I was gone. But, being back didn’t yet feel joyful and free. I have a great life with a lot to be thankful and joyful for but I was still focusing on the desire to be back on my trip. Anytime we are gone experiencing a new and different culture, coming back is an adjustment. In reality, we come back to a new version of our world seen through the eyes of all of our new experiences. The hummingbird was there to remind me to be joyful in this moment, to be present. These little birds now find me while I am out walking, leaving my place for the day or in moments where I need this reminder.

Hummingbirds represent joy, specifically finding the joy in what we do each moment. Their flying abilities are not rivaled in any other species of birds, they are fast, agile and daring. They remind us to grab joy while we can, as quickly as we can, and that if we are truly enjoying what we do we become light enough to fly.

Image by: Ama White Owl http://amawhiteowl.wordpress.com/

Image by: Ama White Owl http://amawhiteowl.wordpress.com/

Life Lessons from Yoga by the Sea

Posted on by

For 2 months this summer I had the great fortune of attending and playing harmonium in a yoga class at Sunset Cliffs led by my friend Renee Gauthier. It was absolutely lovely and something I looked forward to each week. The class will go through the end of September but I leave to travel soon and had my last class this week. Here are some things I learned or was reminded of about myself and life:

Everything happens for a reason and all in perfect time – I connected with Renee through my job but also discovered that she taught at the yoga studio where I practiced. If we had not met in the way we did, our paths still would have crossed. When I reached out to her to play in one of her classes she was creating the details for this event and thinking that she would like to have some live music. She said I texted her literally in the moment she was thinking about how great it would be to have live music in class. There are no coincidences!

Yoga + Ocean = Cure ALL – No matter how stressful my day was that day it all melted away as soon as I got to the water and got on my mat.

I don’t visit the water nearly enough – Why, oh why not? It’s so close and so beautiful. See above for more reasons why I should.

People want to share powerful life experiences – It was so fun to see how many people brought someone with them. Friends, neighbors, visiting family members all showed up to share yoga on the water in our beautiful city.

Change is constant – Each week the ocean and weather was different. Some days were clear and calm, others choppy and overcast. We had sunshine, cold, and even some slight drizzle. My body was different each week as well. Some days I felt strong and could do more challenging poses, other days I had to take it easy or could barely keep my balance.

Life is a learning process and mistakes are inevitable – I have only been playing harmonium for a few months and these classes were my biggest audiences yet. I am having a blast and loving every minute but I’m still a beginner and that means I screw up. It was a good opportunity to be able to recover from my mistake and keep playing. I got to practice this a lot 🙂

Put yourself out there anyway – If I was being cautious, which I definitely have been many times in my life, I would have waited until I felt more confident playing and singing to perform for people. But, I made the conscious decision early on to really jump feet first into this. I plan to work toward applying this to other areas of my life. There is just too much to lose when you hold back!

photo (1)photo (2)

photo

Ceremonial Magic!

Posted on by
Moon

photo by marema/Shutterstock.com

I started following the cycles of the moon just within the last year or so. Of course, I always knew the moon was up there and would occasionally wonder if it was full based on my feelings or the level of stress and chaos at work. But, I wasn’t really paying attention until recently. What a beautiful thing to be tuned into! Now I can’t imagine not knowing when the moon is new and when it is full.  During this time of awakening and increased awareness I have been a part of many ceremonies surrounding the moon, other changes in nature, and as a result of other spiritual practices (yoga, energy work, chanting).  I will soon get to have the great pleasure of attending my first blessing way to honor a friend having a baby.

I have hosted new moon, full moon and solstice events and am also involved in an ongoing new moon women’s circle. I really love having this in my life and recently realized that this now seems totally normal to me.  I hosted a bonfire for the recent supermoon and we ended up sharing a fire pit with some young girls and one of their boyfriends. I brought some pieces of paper for a releasing ceremony and some flowers to send out into the ocean as a wish. I led all of my friends through this but also invited our new friends to join in. The girls were so cute and really got into it. They commented how spiritual and powerful it felt for them and wondered how I had ever thought of something like this. At that moment I realized what a gift it has been for me to learn more about setting intention, creating ceremonies and being more in touch with the magical qualities of nature. I felt blessed that I could share it with these young girls who no doubt will remember it in the future.

I did not grow up doing things like this and realize that perhaps not many others did either. Aside from church, which I did not grow up going to either, we live in a society where formal ceremonies tend to happen at birth and death with just a few moments in between; weddings, graduations, birthdays. I know there are some exceptions and personally know a few people who grew up honoring life and mother nature regularly, but as a rule we are fairly disconnected. And frankly, those who were more tuned in may not have talked about it for fear of seeming weird.  I now see there is room for ceremony in almost everything and hope that perceptions of this are changing. I have a ritual that I do before and after working with clients, when I wake up, when I am asking for something and when something bad happens to someone I know or to the world. Some of these things are simple and subtle, others are more more complex and involved. And others are just downright playful, like howling at the moon with my sisters; a personal favorite! I try to do all of them with love, reverence and gratitude. I can’t say that I have never been called a weirdo, hippy or even a witch because of it but I don’t mind.

Zsuzsana Budapest, who identifies herself as a feminist witch, offers this definition of a witch:

“A witch is a woman or a man who considers the Earth a living, breathing, conscious being – part of the family of the vast universe – to be regarded and respected as God herself. To be a witch, you have to see yourself as part of God, who is present in, not separate from, us and all living beings” (p57, The Grandmother of Time).

I don’t know about you but this does not at all sound like the witches that most people picture. This definition is beautiful to me and definitely falls in line with beliefs that I have come to understand.  I happily embrace magical ceremonies into my life and look forward to learning more and sharing with others. What ceremonies did you grow up with and how can you bring more magic and nature into your life?