That's twice in once wintery month... the local hospital was needed by both of us. Working in a hospital as long as I did in the 70's and 80's I'm fairly confident about the intake issues and access to care. I don't like dealing with a doctor I don't know at all, however. There is nothing better than a relationship built on respect and trust. Well whatever. The bone infection is being treated and I should feel much better in a few short days. I was benused by the self-intake process (two brand new machines - like keyboards - one already broken)... I still had to review all the information with a clerk and produce more than one kind of identification. This is counter-intuitive and a sad statement on the past abuses of our healthcare system.
Brian is doing much better after his cardiac care adventure. It's going to take until June to get all the follow-up tests requisitioned by the doctor who treated him. At least all of this information goes back to the family doctor. As difficult as it is to get in to see him, at least there is that relationship of trust building a foundation. While we both hate going to the hospital or the doctor, now that I sit on the patient side of the bedpan, I am grateful for good care.
Angeni has a summer job lined up, and that's a bit of awesome news. As we enter April, I am amazed that there are only about 10 weeks left in this school year. Harder still is the idea that in 5 months she enters her final year of highschool. I remember watching Brian walk with her to the school bus, when, having barely turned 4, she needed help getting up the school bus stairs. As she stands on the cusp of adulthood I marvel. How time flies - she was bareely out of diapers and here she is all grown up. Driving a car is next... then in 17 months she's off to either college or university. She would argue that soon we'll need diapers. (Sigh)
How time flies, and how important it is to stay healthy, vital and grateful. Peace and blessings.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Boundaries
I've always attempted to help people within the capacities I hold as teacher, minister, healer, shaman, artist and especially as a psychic medium... This is my work, and as such I must earn an income. Unlike spiritual care providers in the big churches, I am not on a salary or contract - my church work is pro bono and always has been. When big spiritual bodies have large congregations they are able to pay their clergy and there is no need for fee-for-service. I need to put food on the table, and Ontario Hydro won't let me pay my hydro bill with channeling for their staff. Spiritual service providers are professionals and necessary within society, no less so than doctors, lawyers or architects. This is truth.
In the history of my work, the line has blurred quite a few times between my "professional" self and my friendships. The outcome has been fine for most of these experiences of fuzzy lines. However, there are a few significant relationships that have ended with hurt and pain on both sides - and there is nothing I seem to be able to do about it except wrap the other person in a bubble of love and light. It means loving them from a distance because the relationship is broken. I've learned from experience not to chase people to attempt to heal things, but my lessons about personal boundaries have come late in life - too late for some of the friendships gone sour.
I chatted with one of my theologian friends about why this "broken relationship" phenomenon happens. Is it ego? Is it woundedness? Is it a maturity thing? Perhaps in my case it is the "adult child of an alcoholic father" scenario? He wisely reminded me that it is all those things... It started for me with the self-protective stance of a threatened child of an alcoholic father - I was the classic peace-keeper in the family, and thus said "yes" far too often to activities and circumstances that went against what I wanted/needed/knew was right. I know I carried the "yes person" stuff into my family and business relationships. I keep learning that lesson. I've actually been participating in life coaching in order to learn paradigms for recognizing the traps I allow myself to fall into...
My theologian friend is skilled at drawing from many spiritual teachings and brought forward the Buddhist thoughts on life being in constant flow - ever changing - impermanent. Pain is impermanent. Joy is impermanent. Indeed, I recognize from our talk that to appreciate awesome, long-term friendships one must suffer the pain of damaged, lost relationships! One doesn't know what one has until it is gone... Indeed. Spending time longing for the relationship to right itself is time wasted. It needs to be loved for what it was and respected for what it is...
So my boundary issues are still a work in progress - I bear the scars of the loss of many who were in my life and now are gone. I want to learn the lesson and the means to keep it from happening again. I hope it never does... no repeating this one, next time around. It is too painful.
Enjoy this last burst of winter - it too is changing and impermanent.
In the history of my work, the line has blurred quite a few times between my "professional" self and my friendships. The outcome has been fine for most of these experiences of fuzzy lines. However, there are a few significant relationships that have ended with hurt and pain on both sides - and there is nothing I seem to be able to do about it except wrap the other person in a bubble of love and light. It means loving them from a distance because the relationship is broken. I've learned from experience not to chase people to attempt to heal things, but my lessons about personal boundaries have come late in life - too late for some of the friendships gone sour.
I chatted with one of my theologian friends about why this "broken relationship" phenomenon happens. Is it ego? Is it woundedness? Is it a maturity thing? Perhaps in my case it is the "adult child of an alcoholic father" scenario? He wisely reminded me that it is all those things... It started for me with the self-protective stance of a threatened child of an alcoholic father - I was the classic peace-keeper in the family, and thus said "yes" far too often to activities and circumstances that went against what I wanted/needed/knew was right. I know I carried the "yes person" stuff into my family and business relationships. I keep learning that lesson. I've actually been participating in life coaching in order to learn paradigms for recognizing the traps I allow myself to fall into...
My theologian friend is skilled at drawing from many spiritual teachings and brought forward the Buddhist thoughts on life being in constant flow - ever changing - impermanent. Pain is impermanent. Joy is impermanent. Indeed, I recognize from our talk that to appreciate awesome, long-term friendships one must suffer the pain of damaged, lost relationships! One doesn't know what one has until it is gone... Indeed. Spending time longing for the relationship to right itself is time wasted. It needs to be loved for what it was and respected for what it is...
So my boundary issues are still a work in progress - I bear the scars of the loss of many who were in my life and now are gone. I want to learn the lesson and the means to keep it from happening again. I hope it never does... no repeating this one, next time around. It is too painful.
Enjoy this last burst of winter - it too is changing and impermanent.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
You just never know...
A strange end to a wonderful "Spring Break" week. Started last Saturday cleaning the house extensively (basically did spring cleaning for 4 days) in anticipation of the arrival of cousins Brent and Ann from Guelph. Also on Saturday Angeni set up a huge drum kit in the office - she's never played drums and the band is going to Nationals in early May! The four-leggeds are not fans of loud percussion - neither is my ticker... Saturday night was a rolicking channeling class.
Angeni did her camp counselling job in Wyebridge aall week, and steadily developed a quite nasty cold. Ann and Brent arrived and we did a bit of sightseeing... there were some wonderful meals and good chats. Even the dogs behaved... well sort of... We bid our guests "Adieu" on Saturday. Angeni was supposed to go to Comic-Con on Saturday but that fell through. Actually that was probably a good thing because she was getting very ill... Class number 3 Saturday night was amazing. Zener cards, special dice and psychometry. Fun!
Finally we come to today. Brian awakens with cardiac issues. We spent the day in hospital and just arrived back home tonight at 11 P.M. He's been very diligent about the diet, the meds - everything except daily exercise. So he feels lucky to have pulled through this one. There are tests and things yet this week, but the bottom line is he had to lose 25 pounds and walk 30 minutes every day to build heart strength and stamina. Despite the hospital visit when we came home there was still the weekly garbage to get ready to put out in the morning. The drum set must be hauled out to the van and returned to the school first thing.
Anyway I am grateful for all the blessings this week, especially Brian's positive outcome from this major health scare. Life is strange and good. Cheers!
Angeni did her camp counselling job in Wyebridge aall week, and steadily developed a quite nasty cold. Ann and Brent arrived and we did a bit of sightseeing... there were some wonderful meals and good chats. Even the dogs behaved... well sort of... We bid our guests "Adieu" on Saturday. Angeni was supposed to go to Comic-Con on Saturday but that fell through. Actually that was probably a good thing because she was getting very ill... Class number 3 Saturday night was amazing. Zener cards, special dice and psychometry. Fun!
Finally we come to today. Brian awakens with cardiac issues. We spent the day in hospital and just arrived back home tonight at 11 P.M. He's been very diligent about the diet, the meds - everything except daily exercise. So he feels lucky to have pulled through this one. There are tests and things yet this week, but the bottom line is he had to lose 25 pounds and walk 30 minutes every day to build heart strength and stamina. Despite the hospital visit when we came home there was still the weekly garbage to get ready to put out in the morning. The drum set must be hauled out to the van and returned to the school first thing.
Anyway I am grateful for all the blessings this week, especially Brian's positive outcome from this major health scare. Life is strange and good. Cheers!
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Spooks in Motion
I am so stoked about the latest Psychospiritual Development class - for a number of reasons. I've been teaching this topic for a very long time (nearly 40 years). For a good 30 years I've occasionally added resources to the teaching notes, but I've not had to update the material completely until the last few years. I just did a massive re-write for this class, adding terminology and descriptions of cutting- edge technology. The massive escalation within technology has really raised the bar. Gone are the days we had a hand-held thermometer, flashlight, film-based camera and tape recorder. (If you were lucky you had access to a Faraday cage.) Now there are Mel meters, SB-11 "Spirit boxes", Frank's boxes, laser grids, ovulus boxes, motion sensing kinetic viewers, trifield meters, infra-red, and the list goes on... We can use our computers to filter out the noises in EVP's and hear the words spoken. ITC (instrumental transcommunication) was a huge deal in the 1970's and 80's with the work of Metascience and the "Spiricom" machine. Current technology totally eclipses Spiricom. Technology helps eliminate fraud and reduces the guesswork of field analysis. I'm so grateful to be around watching the emergence of this field I love so much...
And yet... the more things change, the more things stay the same. I was channeling for someone the other night, alone in the house. I worked with the client over Skype and we had quite a session. Just a few minutes after, I heard the studio door open. The bells on the door jangled loudly and the dogs went ballistic. I called out to see if if was Brian returning - no answer, and the door slammed shut hard, very hard. Was the person in the house or gone? I freaked, calling out that I had already dialed 911. Not hearing footsteps, I called on guardian angels and headed into the studio. As I entered I smelled cherry pipe tobacco. The only person I knew who smoked this tobacco was my grandpa Pigeon. I checked the door and indeed it was unlocked, to my dismay. I scoured the studio, checked for thefts, and went into my storeroom (formerly the garage). No flesh-and-blood person. This bothered me all the next day. I finally asked Brian to dowse: he determined it was a spirit, wandering in, attracted to the fact I was channeling. My grandpa stopped the intrusion. The issue? I had not closed the circle after being with my client on Skype!
Wow, did I feel stupid. No tech in the world replaces the protocols associated with the acts of mediumship. 1t could have been 1865 instead of 2015. My experience would have easily been prevented if I'd practiced what I preach to students: when you open a circle, CLOSE it, so the spirits know your boundaries! It's a big lesson I shared with the class last night. Keeps me humble!
Anyway, I'm delighted to have family coming to visit us this week, for the first time. Angeni is working all week as a camp counselor, and we're spring cleaning in anticipation of the visitors. Growing up we did not interact much with cousins, even though we all lived in Guelph. Now, in our golden years we're changing that paradigm. Gotta love family.
Have a wonderful spring break! Blessings.
And yet... the more things change, the more things stay the same. I was channeling for someone the other night, alone in the house. I worked with the client over Skype and we had quite a session. Just a few minutes after, I heard the studio door open. The bells on the door jangled loudly and the dogs went ballistic. I called out to see if if was Brian returning - no answer, and the door slammed shut hard, very hard. Was the person in the house or gone? I freaked, calling out that I had already dialed 911. Not hearing footsteps, I called on guardian angels and headed into the studio. As I entered I smelled cherry pipe tobacco. The only person I knew who smoked this tobacco was my grandpa Pigeon. I checked the door and indeed it was unlocked, to my dismay. I scoured the studio, checked for thefts, and went into my storeroom (formerly the garage). No flesh-and-blood person. This bothered me all the next day. I finally asked Brian to dowse: he determined it was a spirit, wandering in, attracted to the fact I was channeling. My grandpa stopped the intrusion. The issue? I had not closed the circle after being with my client on Skype!
Wow, did I feel stupid. No tech in the world replaces the protocols associated with the acts of mediumship. 1t could have been 1865 instead of 2015. My experience would have easily been prevented if I'd practiced what I preach to students: when you open a circle, CLOSE it, so the spirits know your boundaries! It's a big lesson I shared with the class last night. Keeps me humble!
Anyway, I'm delighted to have family coming to visit us this week, for the first time. Angeni is working all week as a camp counselor, and we're spring cleaning in anticipation of the visitors. Growing up we did not interact much with cousins, even though we all lived in Guelph. Now, in our golden years we're changing that paradigm. Gotta love family.
Have a wonderful spring break! Blessings.
Sunday, March 08, 2015
So, another beautiful day, with just enough hints of spring to make me giddy. I'm also still basking in the glow of a fabulous Psychospiritual Development class last night. We covered a lot of territory, and the mood was great. I'm looking forward to the next 9 weeks... As the weather improves I'm considering taking the students who wish to develop it, for a day of dowsing. One needs warm, dry weather for a dowsing class. There are two forms of dowsing I teach: geomantic dowsing (earth-based) and radiesthetic dowsing (the body).
Anyway, I am happily designing a quilt featuring Kateri Tekakwitha. The quilt is a commission by an old friend, for his daughter. I want to depict Kateri in less of a traditional, religions manner. I have visions of her with stylized wings, floating in a sunset skyscape. I'm contemplating whether to include a lily. She was known as the "Lily of the Mohawks". I am drafting my pattern on bristol board, taped into a larger piece with packing tape. It's a large picture - this is a queen-sized quilt. I've struggled with her depiction for months, but the form that's evolving is both peaceful and powerful; it makes me happy and that's what counts. The artistic process is so personal, containing so much of Self; it's difficult not to get strangled by emotional tethers. My "life coaching" helped me work off those tethers. I proceed with grace.
May your week be beautiful and playful. Peace.
Anyway, I am happily designing a quilt featuring Kateri Tekakwitha. The quilt is a commission by an old friend, for his daughter. I want to depict Kateri in less of a traditional, religions manner. I have visions of her with stylized wings, floating in a sunset skyscape. I'm contemplating whether to include a lily. She was known as the "Lily of the Mohawks". I am drafting my pattern on bristol board, taped into a larger piece with packing tape. It's a large picture - this is a queen-sized quilt. I've struggled with her depiction for months, but the form that's evolving is both peaceful and powerful; it makes me happy and that's what counts. The artistic process is so personal, containing so much of Self; it's difficult not to get strangled by emotional tethers. My "life coaching" helped me work off those tethers. I proceed with grace.
May your week be beautiful and playful. Peace.
Friday, March 06, 2015
Spiritual Teaching Assistants
So, I go to bed early last night, and spend some time writing and editing some materials for a book. It's a beautiful full moon, of "Weighs the Truth" and I'm aware of how bright the room is... In my Type-A left brain, I could move forward with another project because I'd completed all the prep for the upcoming class. Or so I thought. I fall asleep, and at 02:30 I am awakened to a message that the information I need for the Psychospiritual Development class is not complete; I am missing the "Metascience" information, a book list and some score sheets for the old Duke University parapsychology tests. Hmmm. Agreed.
I thank the guides and teachers for the information, but I didn't need to hear about it in the wee hours. One of the things I spend significant amounts of time teaching students is about the ethics of channeling and personal boundaries. In the training I received, it is never alright to spontaneously walk up to a person and say "I'm a medium and I have a message for you - do you want to hear it?" Usually this is done in a public place when the recipient of the message is caught off guard. My teachers advised, rightfully, that this is an unethical breach of their boundaries. What I wouldn't do to another, I don't want to have happen to me - I don't want messages imposed upon me when I'm sound asleep and have not opened to receive. It is a reminder to put up protection. I try to teach students to "start out as you wish to continue" in the channeling relationship.
Brian and I rectified the missing documents, as per the helpful messages. I was pleased that all the copies of student notes were already made - I just updated them with a few additional sheets of information. We've got the white board and easel, the room is set up and new white board markers purchased. I've retrieved all the books and tools we need. I'm pumped, and ready to go. The ancestors know they need to be patient until tomorrow. It's all good...
I thank the guides and teachers for the information, but I didn't need to hear about it in the wee hours. One of the things I spend significant amounts of time teaching students is about the ethics of channeling and personal boundaries. In the training I received, it is never alright to spontaneously walk up to a person and say "I'm a medium and I have a message for you - do you want to hear it?" Usually this is done in a public place when the recipient of the message is caught off guard. My teachers advised, rightfully, that this is an unethical breach of their boundaries. What I wouldn't do to another, I don't want to have happen to me - I don't want messages imposed upon me when I'm sound asleep and have not opened to receive. It is a reminder to put up protection. I try to teach students to "start out as you wish to continue" in the channeling relationship.
Brian and I rectified the missing documents, as per the helpful messages. I was pleased that all the copies of student notes were already made - I just updated them with a few additional sheets of information. We've got the white board and easel, the room is set up and new white board markers purchased. I've retrieved all the books and tools we need. I'm pumped, and ready to go. The ancestors know they need to be patient until tomorrow. It's all good...
Sunday, March 01, 2015
Birthday fun
Tis the night before my birthday... I came to bed at 6:30 and am wide awake at just about 11:15. Hmmm... It was a quiet, gentle day and I did some channeling this afternoon for a grieving friend. She's in a better place and that feels fabulous... it always does...
We set up my studio for the Psychospiritual Development class scheduled to start next weekend. It's been awhile since I taught channeling and I'm quite excited! This week I prep the notes and pull together all the materials for the students. The connection with Spirit is fleeting if one doesn't work at it, like any good relationship worth having in life. I know there are times I've let my relationship lag a bit, and then suddenly I'll notice that I feel adrift - even lost. At other times I've been more in touch with people in spirit (and angels) than those in this dimension! I need to keep a happy medium... ha ha, a funny. Happy medium.
Anyway I'm aware of something in the air - the earth - called the "quickening". This was an old Spiritualist term for a vibrational boost we get when connecting to higher vibrating realms. I also feel it when the energy starts to shift within the earth. The trees are waking up. In the next couple of weeks the sap will be flowing and the snow banks dissipating into the ground. The melt is supporting the water table. I feel it, usually after Valentines, so it is a bit later starting this year. Whenever it comes, I'll take it! The winter is winding down and the beasts will be stirring towards nesting. I love the birdsong and the early flowers.
I've wondered about this coming year - my 58th - and ask myself how to manifest "the new". I know in my heart something is coming... it has familiar elements, and yet is going to push my boundaries. I welcome it and am grateful for the abundance in my life. Bllessings and peace, friends. I'll have some carrot cake and toast you all!
We set up my studio for the Psychospiritual Development class scheduled to start next weekend. It's been awhile since I taught channeling and I'm quite excited! This week I prep the notes and pull together all the materials for the students. The connection with Spirit is fleeting if one doesn't work at it, like any good relationship worth having in life. I know there are times I've let my relationship lag a bit, and then suddenly I'll notice that I feel adrift - even lost. At other times I've been more in touch with people in spirit (and angels) than those in this dimension! I need to keep a happy medium... ha ha, a funny. Happy medium.
Anyway I'm aware of something in the air - the earth - called the "quickening". This was an old Spiritualist term for a vibrational boost we get when connecting to higher vibrating realms. I also feel it when the energy starts to shift within the earth. The trees are waking up. In the next couple of weeks the sap will be flowing and the snow banks dissipating into the ground. The melt is supporting the water table. I feel it, usually after Valentines, so it is a bit later starting this year. Whenever it comes, I'll take it! The winter is winding down and the beasts will be stirring towards nesting. I love the birdsong and the early flowers.
I've wondered about this coming year - my 58th - and ask myself how to manifest "the new". I know in my heart something is coming... it has familiar elements, and yet is going to push my boundaries. I welcome it and am grateful for the abundance in my life. Bllessings and peace, friends. I'll have some carrot cake and toast you all!
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