"Man has no property in man; neither has any generation a property in the generations which are to follow" - Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, Part First Every person on this planet has a set of values that they live by, even if they have not been defined. We are ruled by one or two, maybe a combination of a few, but they will determine how our lives are expressed.  When asked what their values are, most people will list "love" as number one and then rattle off the standard, trite responses without real examination of whether those values are apparent in the woven fabric of their life's spectrum. For me, I knew freedom was high on the list yet I hadn't realized how much until the last few years when put through the wringer by God. My spiritual wayfaring has centered specifically around the finding of that freedom. For most of my life, I felt confined, without air, smothered, watched, and owned. Yes, owned. It didn't become apparent until I gave myself to God...

In the New Testament (Mark 5:21-43 & Luke 8:40-56), there's a seemingly simple story concerning a girl who has died and a woman who touched Jesus' robe for healing. On the surface, it's about receiving miraculous healing by having faith in Jesus. But, as I was reading this passage today, I realized some details in it that offer a more profound deliverance, for me at least.  The woman has been afflicted with an unending menstruation for twelve years at this point. Twelve years of being a woman of child-bearing age yet without the ability to conceive due to this abhorrence. On the other hand, we have a girl dying in the intro and dead upon arrival that happens to be twelve years of age. Dead when the woman's menses stopped.  What I realized about this story is that it's not just about two females but one. The fact that the story has been told as one, linked through Christ's actions, reveals the integrity of the two females' indivisibility. As Mark 4:12 sta...

" It was the Constitution that welded them together politically, legally, and economically,  but it was nature that provided a transcendent feeling of nationhood ." When I read the profound introduction to Andrea Wulf's Founding Gardeners , I couldn't help but find comparisons between the time in which Benjamin Franklin was constantly sending seeds back to America for the cultivation of a future independent nation and Washington uprooting all native British trees and shrubbery from his land to the homesteading and off-grid living explosion that's happened in the last 20 years. Yes, there's been talk originally of another civil war but, lately, more of a united movement of a quiet revolution that's happening on both sides of the aisle.  Pre-American Revolution was an ever-increasing, tension-building intensity between the British Empire and the colonists. Most of us were taught that the revolution was fueled by the amplified raising of taxes but, in reality...

Narcissists leverage your greed .  I came across a video one day on narcissism that had me floored. The host, Richard Grannon , explained narcissism from a point of reference I've never been exposed to before. Using the movie Renfield , he offers a picture of this psychological disorder that hones in on the crux of the manipulation technique. What is it that a narcissist seeks? As my first line indicates, they seek what you are greedy for [3:40] and then use that to trick you "into being complicit in your own servitude" so you'd have no one to blame but yourself [7:55]. I don't know about you but that's rather revelatory to me.  For those of us who have dealt with the narcissist, what are we greedy for? Well, in familial and romantic relationships, it's usually love and affection, to be seen and heard, and to be valued. When it comes to business relations, however, it may be the standard money, prestige, and title or merely acknowledgment and appreciation....

  For most of our lives, we rarely wonder how language was formed. It's not until someone comes along and starts playing with word choices, phrases, or phonemic sounds that we begin to understand the strategic game that is language. For example, the word "syntax." As I was writing my page on Transmutation Mythology , I incorporated a phrase I'd never heard of before: Sin Tax. I'm sure you can easily see what led me to "syntax." But, do the two correlate? When I wrote of the "sin tax" I referred to the  sin offering  of the Old Testament. As a redemptive confession, the sacrifice here was meant to purify us of any transgressions. A payment for our sin. A tax, by definition, lays a burden upon and accuses all at once. It asks, "How much do you want to be worth?" For the one who asks the question (even if it may be the egoic 'I') has already determined your devaluation as if it was there from the beginning. A sin means to be with...

  I learned something today. Well... maybe I should say, a truth was spoken to me today. Did you know God is a perfectionist? Huh. When we look out into the world, we find chaos, mess, ridiculousness, inconstancy, lies, and darkness many, if not most, days. In short, a facade. A deception. But, what lies beneath? God does. He and I have been working on an art piece using watercolor pencils. And, yes, I'm only the vessel in all this. My hand moves on his desire, chooses the color of his desire, and becomes more firm or soft according to his desire. My consciousness moves over to allow Spirit to flow through me. Thoughts may still flow through my mind but I have no idea, for the most part, what happens from moment to moment in regard to the flow of movement. Some of the colors have extended to the edges of the paper and though the pencil keeps slipping off the paper, my hand continues to fill in color until dark and rich, according to his will. In my mind, I speak words like "Yo...

We've all heard of astrology influencing the character. Perhaps, many of us also know Myers-Briggs or even the Enneagram. But, if you're anything like me, you've either never heard or just come into awareness of Human Design. Somehow I came across it over a year ago and the more I delve into it, the more a rabbit hole it becomes. Someone recently (on a Reddit post) stated that it's a theory, not science, which might be the best way of looking at it. It's a very good theory though, perhaps rather genius. On the surface, it's like our introduction to astrology - rather generalized for the masses and can work across the board depending on how we're feeling that day or how we're choosing to identify. However, like Human Design, the more you delve into the details, conjunctions, nodes, planets, and day-to-day minutiae, it becomes more apparent that it holds validity.  My purpose today though is not to get into whether or not Human Design can be authenticated ...

  Most of the ills of the world could be prevented if we'd just let others be. Almost from the time we are brought into this world, we are inundated with others telling us who we are, without care for our inherent right to individualism and soul authentication. I was pondering the other day on a story I was reading about a man with a burning desire, who cultivated that burning desire into his son which allowed that son a life of richness, wonderment, and creation (which was what the burning desire was.) But how many of us are flooded with support and enthusiasm from those around us for whatever burning desires we may have as children? Imagine living your whole life with that desire, having quashed it due to others' negative words, and finally making the decision to enact upon that desire. All of a sudden, those negative people from your childhood attempt to be your biggest supporters. Rather ironic. (Or, alternatively, they demand you conform and if you don't, you are ostr...

  I've had different understandings of what the subconscious is over the years. Originally I thought of it as those thoughts and ideas that lay buried within us that motivates us, causing emotional responses or actions from us. When I became knowledgeable of Dolores Cannon's work in Quantum Healing Hypnosis Therapy, the idea of the subconscious became more equated with the Divine Self of the I AM. The first known use of the word was by the English essayist Thomas de Quincey. In his use of the word, it is argued by Markus Iseli that current usage has it confused with the definition we have today of the unconscious. Iseli claims de Quincey uses the word in such a format that indicates “implicit thought, automaticity, implicit perception, and implicit motivation" ( Source ). What this entails then is thought, action, or reaction is based upon a developed, habitual, and, therefore, known response to how things are supposed to operate. It doesn't matter if it's true or...

  Sometime in my twenties, I wrote a mission statement. I found it. Surprisingly I still like it and do my best to adhere to it, though I'd strike commandment #6, mainly due to the word "ought." That one's right up there with "should." Follow the desires that align with your heart/mind/body/soul complex and you need not worry about the oughts. Do you have a mission statement? What would yours look like? Mission Statement I am committed to fulfilling my creative potential. By utilizing my core beliefs and values I shall endeavor to live a spiritual life that inspires and transforms. The core beliefs and values are: freedom, honesty, faith, love, creativity, spiritual growth, discipline, generosity, gratitude, happiness, health, silence, ritual. My purpose: Survival – to provide the basic needs for my physical survival by making money, having healthy food to eat, having a comfortable home in which to live, and having a car as needed. Relationship – to de...

  You know that feeling like you've been wearing a leaded vest and then one day, you just decide to take it off? Yah, that feeling. The feeling of lightness almost sends the body and mind into an apoplectic fit. I'm having one of those moments right now. Though I have been known to go on the offense in a vicious dog attack mode in the past, for the last couple of years, for the most part, I've been pretty even-keeled due to the wonderful effects that qigong has on me. To clarify too, the only time I have gone on the attack was when someone had taken their bullying, words, or behavior too far. It was always when I was at the end of my rope. (And, mind you, I always mean what I say. Even in anger, I believe in absolute truth as well as absolute love.) There was one time I remember that I had been bullied for months by a coworker that I finally snapped so hardcore that the entire office was like "Oh, shit." I never lost my cool. I've spent the last year centerin...

First a brief story in quotes: “I want to write a novel about Silence," he said; “the things people don’t say.” [Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out] "So, the sounds emerging from us are ultimately a manifestation in our physical experience of the thoughts we are having. These thoughts are coded through symbols by way of our past experiences and memories. That coding is produced from something, for how else do we translate language into symbols? Therein lies the truth: we are the coding." [Jarrod Byrne Mayer, The Architecture of Sound and the Alchemy of Transcendence] "If you do not run your subconscious mind yourself, someone else will run it for you." [Florence Scovel Shinn, The Complete Works of Florence Scovel Shinn] “When you connect to the silence within you, that is when you can make sense of the disturbance going on around you.” [Stephen Richards] First off, if you want to read a story of sound and/or silence, I cannot say enough about J...

Cicadas, if you take the time to listen to their song, have a very rhythmic calling - almost like breathing, in and out, in and out. Their sound resonates from within their corrugated exoskeleton or tymbal, a drumlike buckling and unbuckling of muscle contractions. In their night’s drumming circle, it is only when an outside influence intrudes upon their territory that the sound stops and must begin anew. Fireflies have a similar rhythmic pulsing particularly when in chosen alignment with other fireflies in the area. In truth, all of nature has this natural rhythm (including humans, think circadian rhythms.) Throughout history, the indigenous people have employed drumming to evoke a heartbeat-type rhythm to help align the tribe to the Earth. Essentially, it is used as “a map or blueprint” particularly for shamanic rituals in guiding souls through the various stages of consciousness or spirit world, and back into their physical bodies. It is said by the indigenous that dis-ease or illne...

Lately, I've been mulling over the "herd mentality." In marketing, the herd mentality is an extremely useful tool to use and understand. Essentially, we buy things or buy into ideas when our herd does, or the herd we wish to align ourselves with. The opposite also has its power - when we do not desire to align ourselves with a certain group, we shun those things and ideas that represent them. My first remembrance of being led by the herd mentality came in elementary school, perhaps in 3rd grade. Many a day, I would sit on the bus next to, or close by, a girl one year younger than I. She had the curliest sandy-colored mop of hair with horn-rimmed glasses, so shy and quiet. I considered her a friend but, I regret, she may not have felt the same about me. There was this moment that vividly sticks in my mind of briefly becoming a part of a group of bullies. See, she had lice. Quite noticeably too. Hopping lice. Honestly, I think a part of me was fascinated - I had never seen...

Do you ever feel like you're just going in circles? Those cycles of the same kinds of people or the same kinds of situations that keep coming over and over and though we finally take note and start dealing with them in different ways, they still keep coming into our lives over and over and over. It's like the movie Groundhog's Day . Different day, but the same situation. I've had the same character come into my life over and over. No matter how I attempted to change the situation with the repeat selfish, callous character by trying to understand and learn compassion for them or attempting to avoid them like the plague, it always ended the same way - being run roughshod over. They say that we humans are caught on the karmic wheel - constantly being reborn into a new life until we FINALLY understand the lesson that we are meant to learn. This concept seems to also occur on a smaller scale, within the life we currently live, in cycles of situations and/or characters that...

"It's called wayfinding, princess. It's not just sails and knots. It's seeing where you're going in your mind, and knowing where you are by knowing where you've been." - Māui, Moana   "...knowing where you are by knowing where you've been." A beautiful line that caught my attention while watching Moana (Yes! Finally I have seen it!) For years, I have kept detailed journals that analyzed every incident or person that frustrated me. I wanted to know the answer to the ultimate question, "who am I?"   "Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle." - Lewis Carroll   It wasn't until I reread them last year, however, that the understanding of where I've been versus where I was currently and was headed came with any enlightenment. Sometimes, we need to have the visual set before us to understand the enormity of our life choices or indecisiveness to see the change, stagnation, or cyclical repetitiveness....