Into the Mystic

Hallelujah! I have found it! That which seems to have eluded me most of my life has suddenly appeared! What great thing have I come upon, you ask? Thanks to one of my life-long teachers, I have found my line in the sand.  Webster defines the term thusly: thus far shall thou go and no further.”

I don’t like confrontation.  Never have.  In fact, my dad used to call me his little “peacemaker” because mediation came quite naturally to me (probably because I disliked the icky feelings  I picked up when people have “discussions”).  In general, I am a very “live and let live” kind of chick. (Well, except for political views and even then I endeavor to be respectful in discussing my views.) However, I found just where I draw my very own “thus far shall thou go” line and it took me by surprise (not to mention the individual on the receiving end of my sharp comments.) Yowza!

This was not the first time I’ve been judged on my spiritual beliefs and it surely won’t be the last.  About three years ago, I had an experience where I was deeply hurt by the words of another.  That someone could even think that I walked a path that was not of the Light really made my heart sad.  After all, I just wanted to help others in whatever way I was given to do. True, it may not have materialized in a way that “formalized” religions deemed acceptable but I felt that the way I lived my life spoke volumes about that path.

We all have tunnel vision about certain things and this is no exception for me.  In fact, I’d venture to say that this topic (spirituality and religion in general) lends itself to that same tunnel vision more than most things because it’s deeply ingrained in most of us from childhood up.  Even though I knew that my beliefs weren’t necessarily mainstream, I was unprepared for judgment on them and it really hurt.  But it allowed me to take a deeper look at exactly what I knew to be true for me and how it worked in my life.  As I say often on here, lessons are everywhere.

Three years and many life-altering experiences later, I no longer seek anyone’s approval on this journey for it is mine alone to experience and account for.  I know that I walk the path of Light as God has presented it to me.  And still, darn it all, I was stung by another’s very vocal judgment of it.  I reacted to their words in a way that was so out of character for me.  “You SO don’t want to go there with me.” I told them.  And at the same time, in my head, I could hear myself saying “Listen to you. Wow … that hit a nerve, didn’t it?”  Yes, it did hit one but not the one the other person intended.  What it hit in me was my line in the sand.

I will no longer accept ANY judgment about my path.

No one else is responsible to God for that path and thus it is of no one’s concern. Am I torturing little animals in the basement? No.  Am I spreading negative energy? No.  What I AM doing is seeking ways to connect with the God in and around all of us and using the gifts I have been given in this lifetime to assist others on their path.   In working through what was stirred up in me, I realized that we all want the path that will bring us peace.  I have found mine.  It is my hope that this other individual finds hers.

Memo to the Universe:  Lesson learned.  Thank you for the opportunity to grow.

Yeah, I really love her. With all my heart. Because this? True as the day is long.

If you have to force your faith and belief on others, then there is not a true place within your heart that contains the values you want others to have.

Surfing around the internets the other day I happened upon this blog called “Shift your Spirits” run by Slade Roberson. He speaks to his abilities this way:

I hear Voices…
In the context of psychic mediumship, the technical term is clairaudient intuition.

On a daily basis, I receive messages, warnings, directives — and generally carry on conversations with — an attending pit crew of entities which are best described as my Spirit Guides and Guardians Angels. I call them my Chorus.

I believe each and every one of us has a team of benevolent spirits assisting us, and that we can benefit from engaging and communicating with them.

Gee, that sounds soooo familiar! He calls his a “chorus” and I call mine “the round table” but it’s the same thing. His blog is filled with all kinds of interesting reads on topics as diverse as these:

*  Are you attempting to micromanage the Law of Attraction, limiting the Creator’s ability to deliver all the abundance you desire?

*  Your Meaningful Money Makeover

*  How Do Your Spirit Guides Respond to You?

I could spend all day reading through his blog nodding my head in agreement. In fact, that’s my mission when attempting to kill time at work this week! Shhh!

Tonight I came upon a post regarding whether one can be an atheist and psychic (interesting question, that). I love what Slade says about his role as a minister:

Just like anyone I meet on my path, my goal as a minister is always to communicate permission for you to believe what you will, and encouragement for you to create the world you want to live in.

I hope that when the time comes where I put on the collar of a minister and carry that energy, I will count the above as one of my goals. Because to me, we are all on the path. In all different ways, we fulfill the calling of our soul as we understand it. Some may understand it through music, others find it through teaching and still others bring that soul purpose out as they care for their children with love and compassion.

If you get a chance to read some of Slade’s stuff, let me know what you think of it. I’m definitely interested.

Peace,
Lisa

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.

I don’t remember now where I saw this but it really fit me. Just because someone isn’t on MY path doesn’t mean all is lost. They truly are on their own path. Not mine, not yours but theirs. What I think about it is really irrelevant. That’s between them and God (Creator, Universe … whatever name resonates for them).

Had a nice, respectful discussion with a woman at work who is an Evangelical Christian and we both came to realize that our underlying beliefs are the same with one exception: she believes that Jesus Christ is the ONLY path to God (or salvation). It is my sense that there are many paths and that Jesus the Christ came to teach us how to reach a whole different level of consciousness as have other masters before him. I suspect this is a pretty big difference to her but not so much to me. It’s like choosing a road to get to your house. There are probably others but this road is the best choice for you. So, you take it. Nothing wrong with that. If I choose to take a different road, I will most likely end up at the same house. Neither is better, they both just are. (Again, to my way of seeing things.) We’ll both get coffee and cookies when we get there.

Anyway, just some random thoughts written in a random way.

Of the many spiritually inclined websites I read, Ann Albers is usually at the top of the list. In fact, her book “Bridging the Gap between Christianity and Mysticism” is one of the best I’ve read. For real. She knows how to take the esoteric and bring it right down into the physical and make it understandable.

About every two weeks, she sends out a newsletter with a channeled message from the angels who help guide us. This week, the message is about integrity. I copy it below with her permission granted in the newsletter:

This week we would like to speak to you on the subject of integrity. We do not define integrity by the arbitrary standards of mankind. Instead, we define integrity as the degree to which you align your thoughts, words, and deeds with God’s grace, and with the loving truth within your own hearts.

Integrity is so much more than being truthful with others. It is being honest with yourselves first. It is living in accordance withyour heart of hearts, one moment at a time. Integrity is living in the truth of your loving nature - choosing to love and honor God,self, and then as an easy by-product, others.

Integrity is picking up the phone only when you truly wish to hear from who is ringing you at that moment. Integrity is eating when you are hungry. Integrity is saying ‘yes’ when you mean ‘yes,’ and ‘no thank you’ when you mean ‘no.’ Integrity often involves politely declining an offer, or learning more often to say ‘yes’ to yourselves. Integrity is asking for help or praying to God for assistance when you are too tired or confused to handle the details of life around you. Integrity is sitting still, praying for God to enter your heart, and looking at your life every so often to make sure the choices you have made are serving your spirit. You will know if a choice serves your spirit because you will feel more loving, more inspired, and more uplifted. You will, as a by-product of choices that serve your spirit, truly serve the souls of others, if not their human demands. You will be in alignment with God and in alignment with self.

Nothing else will allow your life to flow easily and gracefully as earth continues her rise in vibration. Choose to align your thoughts, words, and deeds with your heart, and you will find that your life seems to flow from one moment to the next, wish support often showing up in unexpected fashion. Choose to live in denial of your hearts, dear ones, and you find that you will attract more struggle, negativity, and those who expect you to serve them rather than your own truth. To turn your life around, make one healthy choice in truth with your spirit, and then another. God does not keep score. God simply assesses where you are at now, and now, and again now, in relation to your spirit.

However big the changes you want to create in your life, each one begins with prayer, intention,and then choosing to trust the process of life as life reveals the steps to be taken, one moment at a time. Big changes in your future start with the smallest choices in integrity, right here, right now. It is hard, as a human being, to trust that such small and seemingly insignificant choices can ever lead you to your dreams, and yet dear ones, these choices are the pavers on the pathway to your dreams. Choosing to be in integrity one moment at a time is the only way you will ever ease struggle and open yourself to receive God’s gracious assistance in every aspect of your life.

You can go with the flow of God’s love through you, communicated by your truth in each moment, or you can resist it. Love always wins dear ones. Surrender to love - choosing one moment at a time to check in with your heart of hearts, to find its most loving and honest truth, no matter how seemingly mundane or meaningless. This will lead to unexpected surprises, magic, miracles, and the joy of living in truth and in love in each moment.

I especially liked the section about how living in integrity means saying yes when you want and no when you want. Being true to yourself and your needs is important to carrying the light because if you are running around feeling full of angst and resentment, there’s no room for the light. (I say this from experience, alas.) This: “Integrity often involves politely declining an offer, or learning more often to say ‘yes’ to yourselves.” is a lesson I have recently been given and it was a hard one. I don’t like to disappoint others and I really don’t like going back on something I’ve agreed to do. Yet, when my inner self was screaming at me to step away, I could do nothing else. I didn’t like what I was hearing from that inner self but I could not ignore it.  And so I did what I was given to do and feel better about being true to myself while working hard to detach from the result.  Am I glad I did it? Yes.  Was it hard? Yes.

So, think about what it means for you to live in integrity.  To truly ‘walk your talk’.  I am learning to trust that voice inside and each day, I walk a bit straighter on my path.

(You can sign up to receive Ann’s newsletter by going here.)

… when I get info from my guides (whom I refer to as my “Round Table”) - it usually starts with me writing to them about whatever is bothering me and when I finish, I hold onto my pen and let them speak. Here’s our conversation from last night:

Me:

Dear Round Table,

I need your help, please, on this. I don’t want to fall into a ditch so help me avoid going down that road. Also, please let me know if the ML thing is mine to do. Thanks, guys.

(ha! as an aside, I have no idea what I meant by the ML thing. Maybe they will tell me.)

Their response:

Dear Lisa,
Be assured we are here and available to assist you as needed. However, he is right when he says you have to want to do it and no one but you can motivate that part. It is true your pattern has been one of ease but perhaps that is no longer what serves you. It does not bring you closer to your husband and it allows you to remain in ruts you don’t like. Then you get frustrated and sad and feel hopeless.

We tell you that the way out is step by baby step in this arena for in this arena you are but a babe. In others, you are a master. Seek balance in all things and sometimes you will find the scales adjusting as needed.

Love and Peace to you.

Can you feel the different flow of energy in what they write? They always feel very gentle yet firm to me. Very gently empowering me to listen to my heart and soul in all I do. Sometimes they write a lot and sometimes, as in that one, not as much. I never know what will flow out. Honestly, I could look away and watch tv and keep writing because it is not my conscious mind that’s flowing.

Nifty, hey?

From this wonderful site, a definition of channeling:

Channeling is a means of communicating with any consciousness that is not in human form by allowing that consciousness to express itself through the channel (or channeler).

We live in a multidimensional universe. Michael teaches that the physical plane is only the first (and most dense) of seven planes. The next plane is the astral; we dwell on the lower astral plane before birth and after death. The other planes are the causal, akashic, mental, messianic, and buddhaic. The planes will be discussed in detail in Chapter Twenty-Seven, “Planes of Creation.” For now, let’s just say that these planes aren’t really separate from our lives here on the physical plane. Through channeling, we can make conscious contact with higher planes. We can also communicate with beings who are physical but nonhuman, such as devas (nature spirits), dolphins and whales, and extraterrestrials.

Most commonly, the term channeling refers to communication with spirit guides, who are astral, and with high-plane teachers, such as Michael, who are on planes above the astral. (Michael is on the causal plane.) Although the universe contains an infinite variety of consciousness that could theoretically be channeled, in practice channels usually tune in to that with which they have a meaningful connection and which is well-suited to the channeling process.

What I mean by coming out of the closet is that I am saying openly now that I am a channel for guidance by teachers and ascended masters in Spirit. As I look back at my journals, I see they’ve been talking with me for quite some time but it was really only about four or five years ago that I began to really pay attention. And I find that the more I pay attention to what they are saying, the more guidance I get. It is my agreement with them that I relay the information exactly as it is given to me. Early on, I didn’t care for some of their word choices and started to change them. Oh my. They didn’t like that at all. I’ve come to understand that when receiving a message for others, it matters not if the message makes sense to me. Or that I like the word choice or subject matter. Because the message is for the other, not me. It will make sense to them, even if I feel like “uh, whatever” about it.

I am going to be talking more about it here in this forum in the coming months because I’m seeing now that this is really a big part of my path and my work. More on that soon.

When I entered Sancta Sophia Seminary, I was told that the journey would stir up things that had been dormant and it may not be an altogether pleasant experience. Yes. Well. This is true. And what I’ve known about for some time but recently presented itself to me was that I absolutely despise discipline and other people telling me what to do. I know this is a common issue for many and only one of a trillion reasons I would never have done well in the military.

It’s not that I am a rebellious sort (I don’t think) but in trying to talk it out with myself, I realized that I have some old, old fear of not being good enough. (Good enough for whom or what, I don’t know at the moment.) So, as soon as someone sets some rules on me, I automatically want to disregard them and do it my own way. And I do it even if I don’t know what I am doing. I’m smart, I say to myself, and I know a better way of doing it. So, I get in there and muck around with whatever it is, just doing my own thing. Some times, often times, I have messed it up.

One of my jobs in recent memory comes to mind. I was bound and determined to do it my own way. And found myself in a ditch of major proportions, refusing to ask for help. REFUSING. I would not let anyone know that I had messed things up. It was only when I was felled by some weird flu thing and had to take off a few days was I found out. And the shame! Oh, the shame of others knowing how I had messed up was overwhelming. I ended up resigning from that job late on a Friday when everyone else had gone. I could not bear to see them again.

Here I am, four years later, with this knowledge forefront in my mind as I begin another job and a separate opportunity to move forward on my chosen path. In the latter, I am chafing at having to do things in a way that a) isn’t my way and b) often seems inane to me. I am realizing how narrow my perspective often is and how stubbornly I cling to it. And it isn’t a nice picture.

What’s it about? I’m not really sure at the moment. Part of me struggles with perfectionism, particularly in my work life (really, if I’m honest about it, ONLY in my work life. I seem content to settle for mediocre/half-assness in my personal life, which is not a fun admission.). It’s very important to my ego to be seen as intelligent, on-the-ball and good at what I do. Which is why my ego took such a beating at this last job. Because I was juggling too much and refused to ask for help, so much slipped through the cracks that I looked completely incompetent. Even to myself, I looked that way. It was hard to be in that space.

(I am totally depressing myself here. Can I stop for now??)

Lead us, O Lord,
from darkness to Light,
from the unreal to the Real,
from death to immortality,
from chaos to Beauty,
from the individual to the Universal,
from the many cycles to the One Life,
from outer manifestation to the Sacred Space.
Amen.

When I was at the village in October, we had a day long workshop given by Katherine James, Ph.D. (my advisor, btw) on Esoteric Insights to Death. Present at this workshop was someone I had never met (well, there were LOTS of people I hadn’t met!) but I was particularly struck by Risa. Her comments during the presentation showed amazing depth and knowledge of the Wisdom Teachings and added significantly to the discussion. Tooling around the Sancta Sophia site, I noticed that the weekly astrology readings and commentary were written by Risa. So, I’ve started reading them to see what each week’s energy may bring.

This week’s forecast for Libra said this:

You may have been thinking of how to help those in sorrow, who need care and thoughtfulness, kindness and understanding. In the month to come you will reach out to those in need in a more spacious manner. All judgments of others, especially family members, you will find are not useful to you. Nor are they Right Human Relations. Something teaches you this.

A confession: In the past, I have been a very judgmental person. I am less so now but constantly have to be conscious of those thoughts seeping into my mind and heart. I realize, as Wayne Dyer has pointed out, that judging someone is not at all about them but about my need to judge. My need to feel “better than” someone else. I know I swing from feeling vastly superior to everyone (ha! I know. Isn’t that sad?) to feeling like a piece of crap (sad as well). Who I am lies somewhere in the middle, most days. Do I have gifts and skills that make me a cool chick? Yep. Do I have things about myself that I need to work on? Oh yes. I’m thankful for being conscious of those things and making my way forward. Continue Reading »