You soul has a HOW and a WHY. Guess which comes first?

Posted: May 20, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: how, soul purpose, soul values, Soul Vows, What does my soul want, why, your soul wants five things | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment
Have you ever heard or read something so important, it felt like the words were alive and grabbing you? I have this experience all the time. I sit upand take notice because that is my soul recognizing something and nudging me to pay attention.
 
I wasn’t always this aware. For most of my life, I was sleep-walking under a powerful material spell. Lots of great ideas were undoubtedly whizzing past my ears and eyes, but I was so focused on making money that I missed them all.
 
Until one fall evening sitting on the floor in Charlotte Starfire’s living room. It was opening night of her 1992 Women’s Spiritual Empowerment course. I had no idea why I was there. Looking back, I think my soul was so weary of the life we were living that it gave me a hard  crack in the ribs and at long last I responded.
 
Suddenly a sentence flew from Charlotte’s mouth, landing on my chest so hard, I almost fell over. She said: “According to Theilard de Chardin, ‘We are not human beings trying to have a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.'”
 
Now that may not sound all that stunning to you, but to me this was a major revelation. Growing up Catholic, I learned that we are sinful human beings stuck in a “veil of tears,” struggling mightily to have a spiritual life. And if we don’t succeed? Well, the results aren’t going to be pretty.
 
In one sentence, Theilard de Chardin set me free. Free to enjoy life in all its dimensions–physical, spiritual, mental, emotional. No wonder I almost fell over. My soul, I’m sure, was singing hallelujah! She finally heard! She finally got it! Once my soul had my attention, she wouldn’t let go. She wouldn’t go back to silently watching me be miserable.
 
Mind you, I still got up the next morning and dragged myself to a job I did not love but felt I had to do. I still went through the motions. But the relentless drive to meet goals and post profits no longer felt important or necessary. Sales contests felt ugly. And when someone in the office told a creepy joke or made fun of someone, my heart hurt. I think it was my soul weeping, “Dear, this is not how we want to live.”
 
It took me a long time and a wrenching divorce to finally stop serving the wrong master and begin to create the life my soul and I want to live. It began with long daily rants wtih the Voice on the page. There, I found guidance and comfort. I discovered that I could ask for anything and receive it, sometimes within moments of placing the request. At first, I asked for money and protection. But once those core needs were met, my soul started pushing for something more.
 
It would not let me rest until I had a  moral code, a way of living, a personal creed. With my seven soul values etched in my heart and on my wall, life began to move rapidly. 
 
UPI gave me a column. Conari asked me to write Writing Down Your Soul. Invitations to speak poured in. One telecourse begot more telecourses, culminating in Your Soul Wants Five Things.  (You can read my Soul Vows on page 22 in Writing Down Your Soul. or on the Soul Vows page on my site.)
 
Having personal values completely changed my life. As it will yours. Having a personal honor code is like giving your soul bones. With those bones, your soul has a way to walk in this world, upright, firm, eyes forward, knowing exactly how it wants to live.
 
But where is it going? What is it walking toward? Isn’t that the great question everyone wants to know: Why am I here? What’s my purpose?
 
Margo Mastromarchi, the lovely angel guidance reader who provides angel readings for members of Soul Vows, says the first thing people want to ask the angels is, “What’s my purpose?” Lauralyn Bunn, the magnificent Akashic Record reader, reports the same thing. It’s the number one question burning in people’s minds. We know the materialistic spell doesn’t satisfy. We sense there must be something more, but what it is?
 
If your Soul Vows are your how, your soul’s purpose is your why.
 
We’ll explore your why in the new telecourse, Check the Box: how to discover and live your soul’s purpose. But if the number one question everyone wants to ask heaven is “What’s my purpose?” wouldn’t you think that your soul would want to clarifty the WHY before it selects its HOW? I would have.
 
That is, until I experienced how lost a why is without the fertile strength of the how. Let me explain.
 
I was given my soul’s purpose statement way back in 1996. At the time, I was focused on building a career as a human resource consultant. So when my purpose statement, “I use words to connect people to the light,” came through, I just stared at it. Huh! What does THAT mean? It made no sense to me, so I put it away. I didn’t have the “soul bones” to walk my purpose.
 
But when I declared my Soul Vows four years later, and started to really live my personal values, my soul bones got big and strong. I had grown the how for my why. I had the skeleton to walk upright into my soul’s divine purpose. And today what do I do? Why I use words to connect people to the light! And love every minute of it.  
 
So even though you are humanly itching to know your soul’s purpose, my hope for you is that you first find your how. And then, standing upright with powerful soul bones, you will walk firmly and clearly into your soul’s purpose–your why–and bring it to life!
 
Isn’t the adventure of being a spiritual being having a human experience amazing!
  

6 tips to feed your soul

Posted: May 17, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Fear, feed your soul | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yesterday I was interviewed on the Change Thrivers radio show with Afsaneh Noori. We talked about how deep soul writing can be a loving helpful tool for anyone experiencing change. (In other words, everyone!)

At the end, Afsaneh asked me to share a few tips for listeners. Here they are. I thought they might be helpful for everyone, not just the Change Thriver audience.  Because we all experience change. Change is life. And we all want to and deserve to not just survive change, but find the music of our souls within it.

Six Soul-Feeding Tips

  1. Give yourself the gift of STOP. The one gift we can all give ourselves is the gift of time. It can be just a few minutes, but for those five or ten minutes, get off the go-go train we ride all day and just be still. Deep soul write or meditate or just sit and breathe. Allow. Allow your inner knowing, that wise loving Voice, to speak to you. In the silence, you will find your way.
  2. Pick up a pen. Don’t wait until you’ve finished reading Writing Down Your Soul. Take a breath, set your intention, address the Voice by name and begin. (The seven steps to get into theta are at the front of My Soul Pages, the companion journal to Writing Down Your Soul.) It’s a life-long conversation. You can start it today whether you know all the ins and outs or not. Release any expectations of what it “ought” to be like. Just begin. You’ll find the Voice is a loving, gentle presence and is oh so happy you’ve come to talk. (You can find lots of tools to help you build a deep soul writing practice at my website, including the Thirty-Day Guide to Writing Down Your Souland a 45 minute teaching video on the Seven Steps to Get Into Theta and more)
  3. Ask for guidance. Ask for guidance on the page in your deep soul writing, in your mind, in your prayers, as you’re falling asleep. All day and night long, ask for help. Help will come. It may come in forms you didn’t expect, but it will come.
  4. Pay attention. Everyone has innate spiritual intelligence, we just don’t use it. By starting to become aware of your spiritual intelligence, you strengthen and expand it, just like a muscle used in exercise. How do you exercise your spiritual intelligence? Pay attention to your intuition, your gut feelings, your emotions, synchronicities, books and messages that come your way, invitations, dreams…. There is no end to the ways guidance works with us once we begin to pay attention.
  5. Maximize your natural time in theta. As we awaken from sleep each and every one of us moves through the theta brain wave state—the only state in which we have access to break through thinking and true creativity. So use it. In the morning, lie perfectly still, don’t open your eyes. Just lie there and allow information and ideas to flow to you. Train yourself to lie still for longer and longer periods of time. Any question can be solved just resting in theta.
  6. Go on a media diet. Especially if you are in a fearful state right now or prone to pick up other people’s fear. The media and our political systems are designed to keep us afraid so we’ll turn to them to tell us how to stay safe. Fear is the absolute worst thing for your soul. Your soul is not naturally fearful. It is not afraid of life; it chose life. So help yourself by stepping away from the waves of things to be afraid of coming over the TV and internet and radio. If you can’t limit all TV, at least don’t watch any news before bed. (And keep in mind this is from someone who worked for and loved CNN!)
  7. Eat lots of “soul food.” In place of your media diet, feed your soul with lots of rich spiritual books and practices. Listen to loving uplifting messages. Read mystical poetry. Write down your soul. Pray. Sit in nature. Be still and know that you are loved.

There are undoubtedly more things you can do to feed your soul, but these will get you started.  Please share your favorite “soul foods.”

Writing Down Your Soul’s mythical owl icon gets a name

Posted: May 11, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Icon, My Soul Pages, Owl, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
The Owl’s name is….
 
Last week, I invited you to submit names for the sweet, mysterious owl who graces the cover of the brand new companion journal to Writing Down Your Soul–My Soul Pages.
 
 
 
Soul writers have waited two years for this special journal to hold their conversations with their divine Voice. I imagine most of us would have been content with any image, but when this mythical owl landed on My Soul Pages, he transformed what was just a cover to a mystical experience with a deeply meaningful icon.
 
 
If you missed the story of the owl and the icon, I created a “Meet the Owl” page on the website.
 
 
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Within ten minutes of sending that newsletter, my inbox was bubbling over. Forty of you looked deeply into the owl’s eyes and sent me the name you found there.
 
Sometimes you gave me a meaning, sometimes you just sent what you heard. Here are a few to give you a sense of the diversity.
 
Eli = my God
Majiah
Serena
Metamorphosis
Horace = keeper of the hours
Lucia = light
Nichodemus
Winston
Balthazar = one of the 3 wise men
Ora = pray (in latin)
Veritas = truth
 
Most names were singletons. Except for these three, which were mentioned 3 or 4 times each:
 
Whoo
Sophia = divine wisdom
Sol or Solomon
 
I didn’t enter the contest, but the very first time I picked up a pen to say thank you for this owl, Whoo came out. It seemed to me that the owl’s role is to constantly ask us whoo are you, whoo are you becoming, whoo are you afraid of, whoo are you at the soul level…, so I felt a little partial to Whoo.
 
But it wasn’t my choice. It was Michael’s. This is how I give out all the scholarships for my courses. I write the name of everyone who asks for a scholarship on a little slip of paper, bless each one, and take a little bucket of names to St Michael’s Shrine in Tarpon Springs. That’s what I did today.
 
Before I drew a name, I had a chat on the page with the Voice. I asked, “What are the gifts of the owl?” Here they are:
  • presence–the owl is completely and fully present
  • welcome–the owl always welcomes us with this greeting: “Beloved, I am here for you.”
  • listen–the owl listens with ears we cannot see
  • absorb–the owl takes our story so we can be free of it
  • cleanses and clears–as the owl absorbs our story, a new clean fresh space opens up inside us for something new
  • transmute–the owl transmutes our understanding and our experiences to a new level
  • asks–the owl asks us to remember and see who we truly are
  • respond–the owl always responds, we are never alone
  • lift–the owls lifts us and moves us toward our wholeness
  • sees–the owl sees the way, sees the story, sees the boulders, sees the light within the boulders, the owl sees it all; the ows sees us as the angels see us: whole and holy divine sparks of life

These gifts poured quickly onto the page. As they were ending, a “letter” arrived. I think it’s for you:

“Dear One, dear Beloved Writer,

A name is a fun thing, a place to put your mind for a moment, but my name is One, is All, is Love Eternal.
I am the eye into the light, a way, a path, a knowing.
I am a symbol of Who you are becoming.

You come to me. You call me and I am here.
Your witness. Your ear. You listen with one ear.
I listen with another. I hear God.

With one eye I see out and with one eye I see in.
Both are necessary.
You are here in this place, this space, this beautiful earth.
You are living your story. You came with a story.
You are walking your story, and you will someday
relinquish this story.

In between, come and share it with me.
I hear you and I hear goodness, I hear beauty, I hear joy.
I see you and I see limitless potential.
I see you as Michael sees you, as Spirit sees you–
so you can recognize yourself,
if will only look through my eyes.

Come see. Come see who you really are.”
 

Well, by the time that flowed onto the page, I was a little pool of jello. Anything I was worried about before I entered Michael’s was gone, gone, gone, and I was ready to reach in my little metal bucket and pull a name. Yes, the Owl had said his name was One, All, Love Eternal, but I’d promised to pick a name…

But life with Michael is always a hoot. (Pun intended.) I reached in and pulled out TWO strips of paper entwined in each other so tightly, I had to work to separate them.

When I got them open, I laughed. There were two names;

Sophia–the name for the feminine face of divine wisdom and
Sol-Solomon–revered as the wisest man who ever lived.

Our owl has a sense of humor! He/She wants us to know that it is indeed all things, a complete whole, and it really is a vehicle to wisdom.

Several people suggested these names, but the names on the two slips that came out of the bucket are:

Sophia–Susan Heffron Hajec in Michigan 
Sol–Karen Loucks in Indiana

Would you please both send me your physical addresses and I’ll send you a signed copy of My Soul Pages. I’ll also send you the 50-minute teaching video, Seven Steps to Get Into Theta.

If that weren’t enough mystical joy for one day, we’re opening the Sacred Circle for Your Soul Wants Five Things in a few hours! Whew!

To get your own copy of My Soul Pages with Sophia/Sol on the cover, either visit The Store or click here for Amazon. The journal will be in your favorite store any day. Call and ask them to order it for you.

Then, let us all know what the owl has to say to you!

My Soul Pages has a mysterious OWL on the cover

Posted: May 5, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Animal messengers, Icon, My Soul Pages, Owl, Writing Down Your Soul | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment
My Soul Pages, the matching journal for Writing Down Your Soul arrived–with a stunning owl on the cover. This is not an accident. It’s not an accident that it’s an animal or an owl in particular. And it’s no accident that this owl is more than an owl; it’s an icon.
 
This cover is a mystery–a sweet divine mystery. Let me tell you the story, because this owl is not here just for me; he’s here for you, too. And his message is huge.

I first learned about animal messengers in a “Women’s Spiritual Empowerment” workshop with Charlotte Starfire in 1992. She taught us what she learned from Sun Bear, the great Native American teacher: animals have healing
messages or “medicine” for humans. All we have to do is notice the animal and ask for its teaching. After she explained this idea, Charlotte led us on a meditation to a favorite outdoor place. For me that was a forest. Then, Charlotte said, “Look. Your messenger is here.” Instantly a fox came out from behind a tree. Huh? A fox? I’d never seen a fox in my life. 
 
When the meditation ended, Charlotte introduced us to the Medicine Cards and Animal Speak to learn more about our messengers. Fox, it turns out, is a master at protecting her children. Fox became my teacher and her loving guidance helped me protect my son during the divorce. I began to notice foxes everywhere. I saw fox art and fox statues and even real fox tails. And just in case I doubted she was with me, foxes ran across the road in front of me three times. Bless you, fox.
 
I’ve been hyper sensitive to animal messengers ever since. My osprey showed up the day I knew I had to leave my marriage with the critical message “fear not.” Grasshopper–giant leap forward–was my companion last summer. (When Your Soul Wants Five Things came through in January, I finally understood her message.) In Costa Rica, a vulture landed on the ground and walked around me until I told him I understood his message of forgiveness. The moment I said thank you, he flew off. Gwynn Kelley was beside me when it happened and once she got over the shock, she realized vulture had a message for her, too.
 
So it’s no accident that the matching journal for Writing Down Your Soul has an owl on the cover. Of all the animal messengers, owl is the perfect symbol and protector of deep soul writing. Here are a few insights about owl from Medicine Cards and Animal Speak.
  • represents clairvoyance
  • sits in the East, the place of illumination
  • can see in the dark
  • sees into the soul
  • sits on Athena’s shoulder whispering truth
  • symbol of higher wisdom
  • aids in seeing the whole–not half–truths
  • brings messages in dreams
  • helps befriend the darkness within
  • eliminates anything unhealthy
  • has superb vision, detects subtle movement
  • yellow eyes symbolize the light of the sun, shining even in the dark of the night
  • flexible neck aids in becoming more flexible

Our owl is a mythical interpretation of a barred owl. The barred owl is a master vocalist. And what are we doing in deep soul writing? Why, activating the Voice! Here’s the barred owl’s stunning song.

If My Soul Pages had a regular owl on the cover, that would be amazing enough. But our owl is so much more. He is an icon–an icon that came in direct response to a deep soul writing request.

Last June, I was in Portland for several events and stayed with my brother Larry. When he went to work, I poked around his living room for something new to read. I found two books on icons. Larry is deeply attracted to the earliest othodox religions and has lots of icons on his walls. I read two books on icons and learned that icons are instruments of prayer. To help you go deep, the eyes of an icon do not match. One eye looks at you and one gazes inward or upward to draw you to the divine. 

I stared at the examples in the book. Sure enough, the eyes did not match. Here’s a famous one of Christ from the 6th century. Even in the tiny space of this newsletter, you can’t miss the unusual unmatched eyes.

I closed the icon book, picked up a pen and wrote, “Dear God, I want an icon!” (I thought I was asking for an icon for my office wall Luckily, Spirits thinks bigger than I do.) 

Two weeks later, Jan Johnson, the president of Conari Press sent an email with an attachment of My Soul Page’s cover. I said a little prayer that I’d like it, opened it, and saw the owl for the first time. My eyes when right to his eyes. They didn’t match! The cover is an icon! This owl is not only the symbol of wisdom, he is an instrument of Spirit, leading us out of ourselves and into divine dialogue. Could there be a more perfect symbol of writing down your soul? My hands rushed to my heart and I cried.

The first shipment of My Soul Pages arrived last Thursday. The first copy is on my altar, the second went to my son, and then I mailed copies to all the members of Your Soul Wants Five Things. On Sunday, I brought one to yoga to give to Charlotte Starfire to thank her for introducing me to animal messengers so many years ago. As I handed it to her, the women in class stood around exclaiming: “Oh! I saw that the moment I walked in. I felt compelled to look at it, walk up to it, and touch it. What is that!”

If I’d had ten copies with me that night, they’d all be in new homes right now. Our owl radiates so much loving energy from both his wise owl-self and his holy icon-self. He is a double-blessing. I keep him on a stand next to my computer where he gazes at me all day long.

I feel our owl needs a name. I named my osprey guardian, Gabriel and love talking to Gabriel by name. But I don’t feel I should be the one to name our owl. He’s here for all of us.

So, I welcome you to sit with the owl, stare at his eyes, read about him in Animal Speak and Medicine Cards and other resources. Deep soul write about him. (I say “him,” but you may feel feminine energy.) Ask the owl what message it has for you.

And if you hear a name, please send it to me. I’ll put all the names in my little metal bucket and take them to Michael’s shrine next Wednesday, May 11, and ask Archangel Michael to pick our owl’s name. The person who submits Michael’s choice will receive a signed copy of My Soul Pages and the Seven Steps to Get Into Theta video.

What did the Owl tell you?