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Something new I’ve been doing for myself is putting more focus on my tarot cards. Tarot is not a parlor trick or a devil’s gateway.  It IS a way to connect to your intuition and see messages you wouldn’t otherwise see.

Recently I was turned on to a book called “365 Tarot Spreads: Revealing The Magic In Each Day”.  It’s a fun book with a tarot spread for each day of the calendar.  Now not every spread is applicable to that day – for instance, one day in mid October it was a spread for planning your wedding.  Uhhh…that one came to me about 14 years too late.  So clearly this book can be used as a daily “devotional” or as a spread reference using the glossary.

Boy wasn’t I surprised (insert sarcasm) when Facebook started advertising other Tarot products to me.  One of which I actually bought (are you surprised? LOL).  I bought the “Writual Sacred Planner” for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021.  It’s AWESOME.  It has space each day to do a 3 card spread and to journal about it.  

Last week’s 3-card spreads were all about “energy of the day, Focus on and Avoid”.  I attempted to do it daily but quickly realized that that wasn’t in my natural rhythm.

This week’s spreads are about Strengths, Weaknesses and Advice.  I sat down and did the whole week and it felt amazing!  Now I have a whole week of intuitional guidance and a way to warn my husband that Sunday may be a “down day” for me.

It’s freaky and encouraging to see these messages.  I love tapping into my intuition as a way to make decisions and inspire personal actions.  Trusting my intuition has not always been a skill I had.  But in recent years, I’ve surrendered to my inner knowing with great results and now it is one of the ways that I work my spirituality into my every day life.

I am so excited!!  I was contacted by a new person, let’s call her Jane*, who was looking for sound bath opportunities.  Oh, sound baths! How I miss you.  Unfortunately, due to COVID, my business has not yet resumed in-person services.  The close quarters coupled with the exposure risks and at-risk family members has kept my doors tightly shut.  

I have been able to offer distance reiki sessions and those have been wonderful!  I had not expected distance reiki to be so rewarding – but it is an amazing journey for both me and the receiver.  Sadly, that is the only service I’ve been able to offer in my private practice…until now!

Jane was wanting to book a sound bath for herself and her friend.  I quickly responded to her request with my regrets but told her that I was now inspired to figure out a way to offer a small group sound bath in a safe and socially distanced way.  

A flood of ideas immediately overtook me!  Carefully I picked through them and began working out the logistics of my newest experimental offering: Forest & Sound Bath for Two.

As many of you know, I recently moved – from the suburbs to the country.  My backyard is spacious, green and partially forested. I just knew right away that I had to figure out the logistics of doing something outdoors!

The idea of forest bathing came to mind.  How could I incorporate forest bathing and sound bathing? EUEKA! I will offer small group sound baths set up in my forested area!

Jane and her friend will be my first bathers in the new format and I hope they will quickly be followed by many more as the weather turns beautiful and the fall colors explode. 

*Name has been changed for privacy

Do you know that feeling of weight being lifted from your shoulders the first time you walk into a newly cleaned room?  All the toys are put away, no dirty socks or bowls to clutter the floor and surfaces.  The fresh scent of cleanliness clings to everything.  Your hard work has afforded you this peace and lightness!

Imagine if you could kick it up a notch.

Not only do our physical spaces need cleansing, our energetic spaces need cleansing as well!  Smudging is an excellent and accessible way to do just that.

Smudging is the act of burning incense, sage or palo santo in order to remove stagnant, negative or low vibrational energy.  Smudging helps to clear the air, freshen a room and move unwanted energy away.  Smudging is especially effective if the space is frequented by multiple people (ex: family members, clients, etc).

How do I smudge?  In the past I’ve been known to use incense and sage (both loose and in bundles, with and without other herbs). Currently I’m in love with Palo Santo.  Palo Santo is a tree native to Mexico and South America and has been used as a spiritual cleansing tool since the time of the Incas.  Go here to learn more. 

The first step (after physically cleaning the space) is to light your smudge stick.  Allow it to flame up and get a good ember started.  Frequently the smudge will naturally transition from flame to smoking.  If it doesn’t gently blow or shake the stick to extinguish the flame without extinguishing the ember.  Repeat as necessary throughout the cleansing process.

Once your smudge stick is putting off a strong stream of smoke,  take a moment to say a prayer, say a mantra or set an intention.  The intention should be simple, something like “cleanse and renew this space so that happiness and love can bloom here”.

After you are confident in your intention, begin cleansing yourself with the smoke.  Using your free-hand, a feather, a hand fan or other similar tool, “fluff” the smoke onto your head and face.  Continue fluffing the smoke down the front side of your body, return to the top and do the same on the back side of your body.  Don’t be too concerned that you can’t reach somewhere.  Again, INTENTION is the key here.  If you are preforming the cleansing with a partner, take turns cleansing each other.

Now that YOU are smudged, you may start with the room/space.  In a counterclockwise direction, waft the smoke into the top half every nook and cranny, all corners and sides.  On your second pass around the space, waft it into the bottom half.  During the third pass of the space, intend for the smoke to fill the whole room, floor to ceiling.

Once the room has been cleansed three times, say your intention/prayer/mantra again and close with the appropriate closing (amen/so mote it be/namaste/etc).  You may now extinguish the smudge stick our let it continue to burn out naturally.  Keep it safe from surfaces by resting in on/in an abalone shell insulated with salt or sand.

Congratulations, you now have a physically and energetically cleansed space.

The following is a list of useful tools for smudging.  If you are local to me (Stafford, VA), I can recommend a local metaphysical boutique to pick up your supplies.  Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know this shop existed when I began smudging so I found most of my initial supplies online.

Supply List

• Sage, incense or palo santo sticks
• Lighter
• Abalone shell with salt or sand in the bottom
• Large feather or hand fan

Mindfulness…a practice? A lifestyle? A buzzword?  What the heck is mindfulness?

Well recently I’ve been traveling through some personal growth opportunities (read: growing pains).  Throughout this time, some themes keep popping up: self care, meditation, mindfulness.

We all know we need to spend more time on self-care, especially if you’re an empath, a mom, a business owner, a person who deals with mental health, a person who is a care-giver. *ding ding ding* That’s ME!  So let’s just set that one aside for a moment.

Moving on to meditation.  I recently watched a documentary that outlined some distinct differences between meditation newbies (me) and those who were advanced in their meditation practice.  Aside from the obvious “stress response”, there was an interesting “pain response” difference between those two groups.

This tells me that meditation changes our brains physically as well as emotionally and spiritually.  *Check* need to do more of that!

If you’re interested, check out “The Mind, Explained” on Netflix, the episode titled “Mindfulness”

So where does mindfulness fit into all this?

Mindfulness, in this context, is defined as:

a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

As much as I need to be practicing my meditation, right now in this growth period, I NEED to be focusing on MINDFULNESS even more.

This morning, as I was lying in bed with my darling children on either side of me, I began feeling tension, anxiety, frustration.  Not at them, by any means…it’s just a side effect of my situation.  So I turned to google to find a mindfulness exercise I could use that was appropriate to how I was feeling.

Some mindfulness exercises ask you to take notice of your surroundings or make note of gratitude/blessings.  But I knew I needed something more internal.  Something to address my emotional mindfulness that was causing physical manifestations.

Thankfully, I quickly came across this exercise on PsychCentral.com

STOP.

1. Stand up and breathe. Feel your connection to the earth.
2. Tune in to your body. Lower your gaze. Scan your body and notice physical sensations or emotions. Discharge any unpleasant sensations, emotions or feelings on the out breath. Notice any pleasant ones and let them fill you up on the in breath.
3. Observe. Lift your eyes and take in your surroundings. Observe something in your environment that is pleasant and be grateful for it and its beauty.
4. Possibility. Ask yourself what is possible or what is new or what is a forward step.

If you find yourself being reactive, try the following steps:
Pause and take one to three big breaths.
Say “step back.” ( You don’t have to physically step back, you can just do it in your mind.)
Say “clear head.”
Say “calm body.”
Breathe again. Say “relax,” “melt” or “ease.”

In that same documentary I mentioned earlier, there was a section on mindfulness (surprise!).  A monk described his challenges with anxiety.  Through mindfulness, he was able to separate himself from his anxious responses and reactions, he observed the anxiety as a neutral party then “made friends” with the anxiety.  It didn’t cause the anxiety to disappear, but it did allow the man to live more fully in his experiences having a better understanding and handle on his anxiety.

Have you ever heard the quote “Give it to God” or something similar?  I have just realized, for me “mindfulness” and “Give it to God” are the same thing!  This realization made me feel amazing!  I now have a tool in my toolbox that feeds my soul and my body! I’m super enthused to use it…often.

This practice will not alleviate me from my anxiety, depression or growing pains.  But, hopefully, it will give me a better prospective and stronger personal skills to live my best life.  

Now please excuse me, I need to STOP and then get some self-care Reiki flowing to help me ground, recenter and elevate! 

As of January 2018 I have a brand new space set up in my home dedicated to Reiki!

Surrounded by warm wood tones, dimmed lights, the flickering of candles and the scent of essential oils the space is an oasis from the every-day hustle and bustle.  This is a sanctuary of healing and relaxation.

Because I use the space exclusively for Reiki sessions multiple times a week it has built up an eddy of Reiki energy that you can feel when you settle into it.  as Joao Antao Marques states in an article titled “The Sacredness of a Reiki Space”, “Personally I consider my Reiki room as a sacred space and prepare it accordingly.”

My preparation includes:

• a grounding and gratitude meditation
• energetic cleansing of the space, table, tools and myself
• selecting relaxing music and essential oils to support my client’s needs
• setting a specific intention for the space and the Reiki session
• inviting spirit guides meaningful to my client to be a part of the session

My sacred Reiki space is prepared for every client, every time.  Creating a space that is unique to you each time you come into my Reiki room will allow you to relax more and be even more open to the transformative Reiki energy.