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Ho’oponopono: A Hawaiian Forgiveness Practice
Forgiveness is the end result of a deeply emotive process of coming back from the devastation of trauma and betrayal and into strength once again. You’ll understand anger’s profound connection to real forgiveness and you’ll understand the true definition of mercy: mercy can only arise from a position of strength that gives you the ability to harm, tempered by the ability to control your impulses and choose not to. -Karla McLaren from “The Language of Emotions” *The following is an excerpt from the book “Dreaming of Cupcakes: A Food Addict’s Shamanic Journey into Healing:” Harry Uhane Jim is a Kahuna, healer, and teacher. He is the author of…
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Samhain Gifts from the Ancestors: Healing Inter-generational and Historic Trauma
“It is liberating to consider that when we heal an ancestral pattern, we are not only freeing future generations, but healing backwards through time, liberating all those souls who were left unresolved, unforgiven, and misunderstood.” -Toko-pa Turner from “Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home” As Samhain approaches and the veils between our world and the spirit world grow thinner, I’ve been sensing my ancestors surrounding me. I am more deeply recognizing the incredible gift of life I was given through them. Because they lived and survived the times they were born into, I am here. What resilience I have inherited! I’ve also been reflecting on the tremendous responsibility I…
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Shamanic Healing Work with Crystals
Throughout the history of humankind crystals…have been highly valued by spiritual leaders, healers, and scientists…Crystals can help activate and facilitate… transformation [in human consciousness] through their ability to amplify and balance energy fields such as the one surrounding your body…Physical form in essence is comprised not of matter, but of energy…Crystals and gemstones have extremely high and exact rates of vibration which can be precisely manipulated to augment, transform, transduce, store, and focus other rates of vibration…These same vibrational qualities of crystals can be used to modify thoughts, emotions, and the energy fields of human bodies and other physical forms by first effecting change on the subtle energetic level–just…
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Dreaming: A Vital Aspect of Intelligence
There is a world behind this world. The old cultures used to be in constant conversation with it through the sacred practices of storytelling, dreaming, ceremony, and song. They invited the Otherworld to visit them, to transmit its wisdom to them, so that they might be guided by ancient momentum. But as we succumbed to the spell of rationalism, the living bridge between worlds fell into disrepair. As fewer made the journey…we forgot how to find the Otherworld…Though we often think of materialism as the drive to consume, purchase, and accumulate stuff, these are really just the symptoms of an underpinning rationalist belief that nothing exists beyond the physical…
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Book Review – Pagan Portals: Seeking the Primal Goddess-The Magic and Mystery of the Hearth Fire by Mélusine Draco
Book Review Pagan Portals Seeking the Primal Goddess The Magic and Mystery of the Hearth Fire by Mélusine Draco 96 Pages The opportunity to review this book peaked my curiosity due to my recently growing interest in studying ancient goddess cultures within European traditions from historical, anthropological, and archaeological lenses. Draco’s book is an interesting blend of locating the goddess across history as well as in modern pagan practices. I especially enjoyed the sections on the hearth fire’s connection with the goddess and–in my interpretation of this section–an undercurrent of feminism that has endured through the ages. The images that sprung to my mind of women tending sacred…
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The Transformative Power of Telling Your Story
(artwork by: Francene Hart) We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains. That’s what I want–to hear you erupting. You Mount St. Helenses who don’t know that power in you–I want to hear you…If we don’t tell our truth, who will? -Ursula K. Le Guin Folks often tell me they don’t know how or why I share such personal things in my writing with the wide world. Aren’t I scared of being judged? Aren’t I afraid my heart will get squashed by the insensitive people of the world if I tell my story? The honest answer to…
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What to Do with Faith Loss
(art by Lucia Heffernan) “Everyone has the perfect gift to give the world and if each of us is freed up to give our unique gift, the world will be in total harmony.” -Buckminister Fuller Someone asked me a question the other day. She wanted to know how I deal with loss of faith (something she’d been struggling with for a while). The Oxford Dictionary of English describes faith as a “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” I’ve been a proud idealist most of my life. And I’ve believed strongly that there is always a solution to every problem. One, incidentally, that would magically align with…
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Pandemic: A Ceremony from the Universe
(art by Aman Dalal) What if the universe is trying to get us to slow down? To stop producing. To stay home and let the earth breathe a little without all the extra pollution we cause daily. To take a step back and realize how we really impact earth and one another. That we aren’t as significant or in control as we think we are. A virus can come through and wipe us all out but earth will still be here. We are all connected. Just like we can spread a disease, we can also spread love, kindness and positivity. Use this time for reflection of your contribution and…
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Earth-based Tools for Allaying Emotion Contagion
Emotions are…older than spoken language, and simply put, they are smarter than words, they’re deeper than any technique, and they can help you in ways you cannot imagine…Emotions are not created out of thin air, and they’re not created by your thoughts (emphasis mine); emotions have evolved over millions of years to help you understand and respond to the world. Emotions exist within you, and they are evoked, not created, by specific stimuli. -Karla McLare Recently, I was traveling and watching the news from one of the busiest airports in the United States when I saw that the World Health Organization had declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. As…
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Book Review – The Hidden Goddess: The Quest for the Divine Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition-from Asherah to Mary Magdalene by Laurie Martin-Gardener
Book Review The Hidden Goddess The Quest for the Divine Feminine in the Judeo-Christian Tradition-from Asherah to Mary Magdalene by Laurie Martin-Gardener 104 Pages Evidence of Goddess worship goes back 25,000 years. In this book, Laurie Martin-Gardner presents well-researched evidence of the goddess’ wide worship among early Hebrew people citing archaeological and Biblical evidence. In the 1970s, evidence came to light that began to show that the mother Asherah was honoured alongside the father Yahweh. Although this evidence remains highly contested among traditional Hebrew scholars that view Yahweh as the one and true god, this makes sense when linked with what we know about ancient Hebrews who saw life…