What You Need

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walking

Alexandra was visiting relatives this last week and her Uncle Joel was telling her about ‘The Twilight Zone’.   She had never heard of it and I have never watched it so we settled in to watch an episode together on Apple TV.   She randomly picked an episode from the first season.

In the episode an older man was selling matches and shoelaces to people in a bar.   If they refused to buy anything he would then proceed to give them “what they need” such as a bus ticket, spot remover or scissors.   A few minutes later that object would be exactly what they needed to get to a job, meet a man or save a life.    The salesman could just see enough in the future to change it a bit.   All was great until someone got greedy.   Once again the salesman new exactly what was needed.

My teachers always taught me that the Universe always provides what we need.   Not what we always want but what we need for our soul’s next lesson or experience.   I wouldn’t always have chosen every experience but yet it was what I needed.

I try to actively be in the flow and not worry about what is next—not an easy task and takes lots of trust.   I can get anxious about bills and children as the next person.   While I have been moving the last few months the Universe has provided for me and everyone around me.   I didn’t need the white microwave but a friend just moved and did.   She was looking at shelving for a closet and I had extra downstairs.   My contractors were out of work and I needed them to be totally available for the move and remodeling of the old house.  Every day I find the right person to love the extra things I have.   I in turn have the people and things I need show up.

The ebb and flow is fun to experience when you become aware of it.   Just watch for the subtleties because that is where the answers are.   I’ve wanted my next car to have better gas mileage since I’m out in the country.   I’m now driving a wonderful ’97 Maxima complete with hail damage and no radio but I’m having fun driving a shift again and getting great gas mileage all for the price of a title transfer and new windshield wipers.   I got what I needed—-the Universe provided.

Last week I watched a documentary “Craigslist Joe” about a young man who lived for an entire month just off of Craigslist.   He was a lot thinner at the end but he had found places to stay and travelled all around the country with no money just a trust that he could find what he needed and the kindness of strangers.

I’ve been using Craigslist this year too and have had many delightful encounters, a lovely new family for my dog, and a good home for a chandelier and exercise equipment.   I have a brand new massage table, two hundered moving boxes and the perfect bookshelf.

Step into the flow of the Universe and see where it leads.  All you need is an open heart and a giving hand to get started.

 

Houses Are People Too

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an old soul

I’m a Taurus and Taurans are house people.  I love being home nesting. You won’t find fashion magazines in my house but many home magazines.   Looking at beautiful homes and gardens is very relaxing to me.

I’ve only lived in three places since 1972;  my childhood home, a newlywed’s apartment, and the home where I raised my girls.   Three houses in 40 years—I’m definitely not a nomad.

A few weeks ago I had to move for the first time in 18 years.   I’ve had a harder time leaving my home than I could have imagined .   I knew for years I was going to move but I just didn’t know when.   That fateful day was tied to the wellbeing of family members for we have moved to a family home.  When my father-in-law died after a short illness my moving date became a reality.

The first week in our new home was a bit of a shock.   I missed my old home and life terribly and thought I would never adjust.  I felt I had move to “Wuthering Heights”.   The house was cold, dark and old and the wind howled.   Its owner of 60 years was gone and the house seemed very bleak.   It was my job to tell the house that its master would never be returning.

Every day it gets easier and slowly the house has become accustom to me and me to it.  I first met the home when I was 19 and it was 140.  Now I’m 49 and it is 170 and I know that I’m just the next in line of a long history and there will be others after me.

This home has seen much and has many tales to tell.   It witnessed the Indian Removal, the Civil War, the Depression, and the Tennessee Valley Authority turning the river to a large lake.   Now instead of a ferry going across a river there is a giant bridge and planes flying over head.  I know of at least one birth in the house.

I’m meant to be here and time will tell what role I play in its history and what role the home plays in mine.   We are forever linked together.

Now the initial shock and hard work of moving is over I will start the next chapter of my life. I have grieved for my old home and have lingering sadness that my babies have flown from the nest.    So I’m going to spend the summer listening to the home and land and see what secrets it wants to share and what it wants to experience next because homes are people too and this one is a very wise old soul.

The Goddess

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Isis

Isis the winged Egyptian goddess

Most little girls spend a great deal of time playing princess, at least mine did but what about playing goddess?   I always gave The Goddess equal time with bedtime stories and songs.  I wanted my daughters to see that the Divine was equally feminine.   We even named our cats after goddesses.   Alexandra innocently told her Church of Christ preschool teacher that she loved the Goddess and was immediately gifted a Bible to set her straight.

The Goddesses in Every Woman was the first book I ever read about Greek goddesses and Jungian archetypes.   I was enchanted and amazed that I could be described so exactly using Greek mythology—I had to know more.

Twenty years later the goddesses of the great world mythologies are part of my everyday consciousness.   I have statues of my favorites to remind me of their characteristics that I want to explore and embrace in myself.    When I need courage I call on Athena,  when I’m enjoying beautiful music I think of Hathor,  when I am maternal I see Demeter and Isis in myself, when I need to protect myself Sekhmet is right by my side.

My trips to Egypt were like going to meet these amazing friends and allies in person.    When we study the Goddess and honor the Divine Feminine we bring those stories to life and live the sacred traditions.   When we balance the patriarch society with love for these goddesses we are embracing our own complete self of an integrated masculine and feminine.  A few blog posts ago I wrote how the story of Demeter and Persephone was recreated in my life.   My gallery has a picture of my encounter with the Goddess Sekhmet.  I have another blog post about Athena in Nashville.

Athena, Demeter, Isis, Sekhmet, Hathor, Selu, Brigit, Freyja;   these Goddesses are the names and characteristics of energies that we can use to become whole and grow spiritually. Our human nature relates best to names and faces and so we have gifted our goddess our projections and needs and they gift us back courage and love.  Read up about a goddess in a tradition that calls you, Native American, Egyptian, Celtic, Greek, and Norse.  Think of her as a friend and helper on the spiritual path.  Call on her knowing you are calling those characteristics and strengths in yourself.

Crystal the Pink Bunny

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Easter bunnies

On Easter Sunday my friend Stacy showed up at my house dressed in a light pink sweat suit. The first words out of my mouth were “Oh my, it is Crystal the pink bunny.” Stacy had been moving and it was the only thing she could find to wear that morning and it was very appropriate for the holiday. Crystal the pink bunny has been a friend for 18 years. She is the imaginary friend of my younger daughter Alexandra.

Alexandra walked and talked very early and hated being a baby. Her body just didn’t do what her brain already knew how to do. It made her very mad and she screamed hours a day in frustration. She was only two when she started to talk about Crystal the pink bunny. A “Harvey” like giant friend who went with us everywhere. I had to drive around the block and open the van door to take Crystal with us when we went to school. Even Alexandra’s preschool teachers were friends with Crystal.

When Alexandra was about nine my friend Rachael, a Medium, came to visit for the first time. Earlier that day my daughters had been trying to work out the music to The Pink Panther, they had hand written it on musical staff paper and it was on the music stand in the living room. When Rachael saw the music she knew that it was a sign from Russell, the young son of her friend Gwen

Russell had passed away many years before but was such a strong spirit that he communicated easily through Mediums and was always sending signs of his presence. Russell’s symbol is the Pink Panther and his latest communication was there on my music stand.

That evening as I learned more about Russell I realized that Crystal the Pink Bunny wasn’t an imaginary friend after all but Russell communicating with Alexandra. At two she was much too young to know about the Pink Panther so she thought he was a pink bunny and I can see how “Russell” could sound like “Crystal” to her.

After meeting Rachael, Alexandra was able to understand what she saw and heard and no longer crawled in bed with me every night. We had many interesting conversations about what she saw and I was careful to protect her from places and situations that might frighten her. As she got older she chose to put away that side of her and just be a very normal teenager. She still has razor sharp intuition and I’ve always encourage her to use that skill. Mediumship will come back when she wants because it is her choice, not an outside force, closing those channels for the time being.

On our 2005 trip to England Alexandra met Russell’s parents Gwen and Alfie and they shared stories. Gwen wrote a book about her experiences and it is a beautiful story. Russell still shows up occasionally, not as a pink bunny but as the Pink Panther. A few months ago I was a bit sad and I went off to a concert to cheer myself up, the first thing the performer talked about was how his next selection was featured in a Pink Panther movie, I knew that was Russell with a big pink hug for me.

Russell by Gwen Byrne

pink-panther-posters-with-love-hearth-image

My Cosmic Twin

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Anne

My Twin Anne

In everyday life I have two brothers and a sister, but in my cosmic world I have a twin. I wrote earlier about my cosmic mother Rachael, her daughter Anne and I were born the very same day.

The synchronicities between our two lives are really very stunning. We were both born April 28, 1964, 9 hours and 11 minutes apart. Anne was born in New Zealand, and I was born in New Jersey—we came in on the same boat but got off in different ports. Anne was two months premature and wasn’t expected to live. She must have had a good reason to be born that day.

She is Anne and my first name is Nancy; they are the same name and mean “grace”. We are both married to men named Hamilton. My husband’s first name is Hamilton and her husband’s last name is Hamilton. We both had Mastiffs—a very unique and extra large breed of dog. Rigby and Roo looked exactly alike.

We are both trained as school teachers. Anne had a wonderful career as a teacher and became an administrator. Anne and I both made pottery as a hobby. We both have two daughters but Anne also has two sons.

Sadly Anne died of cancer a year ago today. I think about Anne often and sometimes feel that I need to live extra fully for her. I wanted her to know that I will take care of her mother and be there for her beautiful daughters. I wish I had the chance to spend more time with her but at least I spent the night at her house twice and she was a wonderful cook and hostess.

I didn’t know her well, but yet I did, as I heard many stories from her mother. Anne will always be part of my life; you can never be separated from a twin much less a cosmic twin. Two babies born the same day but separated by half a world somehow met and are friends and have so much in common. I know for sure the Universe has a plan, nothing is by chance.

John of God

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John of God     photo by Karen Leffler

Guest Post and Photos by Karen Leffler

As the perpetual pilgrim will tell you, there are times in our lives when the Heart simply must have its way; and it does!  Sitting alone in a little Nevada City, California coffee house, never would I dream a life altering occasion was about to begin; a decade’s journey into Love Unknown, raw pain unrecognized and freedom to co-create with our Divine Self. A chance encounter with another Realtor who had just come back from The Casa De Dom Inacio de Loyola (The House of St. Ignatius of Loyola) and told me a wild story about a full trance medium, John of God. This man allowed spirits (dead folks who once lived on this earth) to occupy his body and mind while his consciousness ‘slept’ as he vacated his body. To this effect, millions of people around the globe had in meditation at the Casa and healings unimagined by many, especially those from our Western culture. Skeptical, my mind was racing, trying to find the nearest exit when my eyes welled up with tears. How this impacted my heart, I do not know, but the next thing I knew I had committed to meeting her doctor fiancé in two weeks in Abadiania, Brasil.

Wearing white, as is the custom at the Casa, we walked past the mediator in the medium’s current and turned to walk up to a man on a raised platform sitting next to an altar. Emotions were flying within me, and yes, some fear as to what I was about to encounter. Brought up to the father orpai, as they are called, who was occupying John of God’s body, it seemed the occupying spirit, Dr .Augusto, knew me, and, I, on one knee, looked into a fathomless universe in his eyes. The only other time I had ever experienced such Unconditional Love was with Satya Sai Baba 30 years before. I had fallen into the heart of God. He said in Portuguese, “I am helping, do not worry, I am helping”. I was told by the translator that anything could be asked for. It was just as I had been told with Sai Baba so long ago.

Many people, dying of cancer, MS and so many ‘incurable’ diseases had come here as a last-ditch effort to find a healing. Many had. My longing was to know God within me; to live and breathe God’s Love. The interpreter asked if I was truly prepared for what that might mean. Of course, I was not or I may never have asked. In time, I came to understand I had been unwilling to do the deep inner work required for such transformation. I do not remember much of what was said that morning, other than Dr. Augusto’s gentle command, “Sit in my current room and go to work”. My memory is only of the deep Presence of Love and overwhelming tears of recognition.

There were no rules for meditation, contemplation or prayer. Yet, I could feel the spirits (there are hundreds of thousands working on the spiritual realms there) working with me, using my inner framework to guide me through those ‘aha’ moments of fledgling self-awareness. In ‘current’ (meditation) we are a ‘corrente’ or chain of bio-electric energy used for healing. Each of us uniquely experiencing aspects of ourselves long forgotten or denied. Visions, clairaudience are common place amongst the meditators at different times. I experienced sorrow, joy, and profound gratitude on this new path. My service had begun, but, who would believe I would-be told I was a professional photographer (I had an instamatic around my neck at the Casa) then have the privilege to write about the spirits and photograph John of God and the healing ‘energy’ at the Casa for the next ten years.

photo by Karen Leffler

Karen Leffler

Freelance photographer-videographer

http://www.johnofgodphotos.com

http://www.karenlefflerphotos.com

karen@johnofgodphotos.com

Demeter and Persephone

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demeter

Demeter and Persephone

We think we are a modern society but really we are still greatly influenced by the Ancient Greeks, in our architecture, literature, theater, politics, education, philosophy and psychology.   Although the Greeks got their knowledge from the Egyptians, our modern culture more commonly credits the Greeks.

The gods and goddesses of Greek mythology are the reflection of the human psyche both ancient and modern.   Our culture may have changed but the drama of the human mind and heart is still the same.  Love, jealousy, war, peace, hate, envy, gluttony, joy, sorrow are still played out everyday by everyone on the planet.  Myths are stories that express these emotions and experiences.

I too have played my roles in these timeless Greek tragedies.  My heart is my stage and my relationships my drama.   I was told many years ago that the archetype of Demeter was very prominent in my life.  Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and the mother archetype.  Being a mother was all I ever wanted and it came very naturally to me.   I enjoyed my role as Demeter and happily stayed at home to take care of my girls.

What I didn’t realize was that the myth is not just about Demeter but Persephone and Demeter.   In the myth mother and daughter are bound together.   When Persephone was abducted into the underworld by Hades, Demeter searched for her ceaselessly and made a bargain with Hades to get Persephone back.

When my eldest daughter Caroline was a teenager Hades also abducted her to the Underworld of depression.   I went searching for her and found her and through years of difficulty and love I was able to help her find her way out.   When we were deep in this underworld journey I realized that as a Demeter I had to have a Persephone or the drama would not be played out.   I never told her about this drama but it helped me to see our challenge through a larger story.

It wasn’t until my daughter’s second year of college that the difficult times seemed to lift for good.   That summer she found a beautiful buff colored kitten near a local coffee shop.   She brought it home and since we name our female cats after goddesses, she decided to call her Persephone.   Unconsciously she had transferred that archetype to this kitten so she could now take on a different role.  The cat Persephone is oblivious to the part she plays.

Now my daughter is Athena the warrior goddess of wisdom, taking on the male dominated world of math and science and thriving.   I will continue to enjoy my role as Demeter, knowing I have done my part but now I too enjoy other roles like Athena the warrior, Artemis the sister, and my husband’s favorite, Hera the wife.

Good books on Jungian archetypal psychology:

The Goddesses in Every Woman and

The Gods in Every Man by Jean Shinoda Bolen

persy

Persephone Jane