The Art Of Communication Part I

How We Listen and Hear

Communication is essential for every species on Mother Earth. It’s used for organizing a hunt for food, locating group members, mating, in play and in some cases for singing. No matter what the species, some form of communication is going on through vocalization and body language. Some animals may not ‘vocalize’ in the way we think of it, using sound vibration such as a cricket’s legs or lobster’s claws. But clicking, tweeting, howling or with words, communication is still going on all around us. The more complex the communication, the more room there is for miscommunication.

Which brings us to humans. Thanks to our ability to rationalize, we have often made a mess of communicating with others. We start at an early age trying to decipher tone and body language. We realize quickly what love, compassion, laughter and anger sound like. But even when we’re young it can be hard to distinguish between anger and frustration or compassion and love. Our elementary school teachers are often good at showing compassion, but many young children can’t distinguish that kindness from love, in the similar form that we receive from our parents. And body language is totally confusing with all of its subtleties, no matter what age you are. So we use our rationalization to read into what we hear or see and try to interpret the communication the best we can. Continue reading →

Today’s Tarot Meditation Drawing: Nine of Pentacles

Feb8

Mystic Faery Tarot by Linda Ravenscroft

A little hug can go a long way. Don’t expect others to know you need one today. Ask for it. And if there’s no one around, snuggle with your animal family, or hug your favorite stuffed animal. Or sit down and give yourself a hug. Showing compassion for the self is just as important as showing compassion for the ones you love. You have put a lot on your shoulders, including pressure to move forward and reach your goals as quickly as possible. The drive might be admirable, but sometimes it comes at a cost that you may not be willing or want to pay.

Additional Insight:

Everything happens in its right time and space. When you push to hard you risk missing out on the blessings that come you way during the day. You risk losing the things that are most important to you in your life. And you risk achieving your goal, but not having the full satisfaction of success because of what you’ve lost along the way. Balance is the key to all things. Sometimes it doesn’t mean walking away from the work, but rather putting your drive on the right tasks. When problems arise, do what you can to correct them. But when they are minor, don’t approach them with a major effort. Deal with they are, put them aside and move on. You’ll be able to come back to those minor issues later if needs be. Or you may find they’re really not that big of a deal after all and you can live with it. No one is perfect. Not even you. And no one expects you to be. So why do you?

What Is Pagan Metaphysics?

Feb7

Science & Spirit In Balance

A View of Metaphysics from a Pagan Perspective.

Physics is the study of the observed world. What we can see, observe and determine from watching the reaction or interaction of tangible things.

Metaphysics is the study of the unseen world. That which we believe exists. The word “meta” means higher and beyond. Here we’re talking about the concepts beyond physics.

Thus metaphysics is the study of the world beyond physical observation. In this definition Metaphysics is a philosophy of physics that tries to solve the questions that material science cannot. It is the study of life beyond physics, between physical and spiritual observations. Where did we come from? Who are we? Why are we here? Continue reading →

Today’s Tarot Meditation Drawing: Seven of Swords – Inverted

Feb7

Mystic Faery Tarot by Linda Ravenscroft

Wash your hands of the whole mess. You have tried to help and support, but your efforts have gone unheard and unappreciated. You can do no more and continuing to put your energy into the issues that others face is only draining you. So let it go and walk away. They are hold you back and keeping your dreams from moving forward. Let it go and change the snails pace to good steady jog for the long haul. After all, you deserve to put your energy toward something that will be appreciated.

Your actions may have been expressed out of love and compassion, but even with that kindness some simply aren’t ready to listen. You can’t learn their lessons for them, you can’t give them guidance when they’re not ready to move forward. At times, walking away is best for them and even more so for you. So use your frustration to good use and leave the matter all together at their feet. It’s not your baggage to carry, or solve. Instead, use your positive outlook to improve your own path. Take the time to search within, learn about your own spiritual path, how you can use that to empower your dreams and bring excitement into your life. At least you know you’ll appreciate the effort you put forth for you.

Unraveling the mystery of consciousness

Feb6

This is an interesting article that I thought was worth sharing.

Unraveling the mystery of consciousness on CNN. An article by Antonio Damasio, Special to CNN.

Antonio Damasio, author of “Self Comes to Mind“, published by Pantheon/Vintage, is a professor of neuroscience and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California. He spoke at the TED2011 conference in Long Beach, California. TED is a nonprofit dedicated to “Ideas worth spreading,” which it makes available through talks posted on its website.

Of course this is a discussion from the point of view of physics and not metaphysics. But give science a little time to catch up with the wisdom of the ages that many walking a spiritual path understand and accept. Continue reading →

Holding Respect With Love

Feb6

The Key To Successful Relationships

It seems today that our society has created an environment that makes it near to impossible for people to find deep loving and long lasting relationships. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks marriage and divorce rates in the U.S.

In 2002 Report 23, Number 22 they presented one of the last statistical reviews of American marriages. Among the findings in the report: unmarried co-habitations overall are less stable than marriages. The probability of a first marriage ending in separation or divorce within 5 years is 20 percent, but the probability of a premarital cohabitation breaking up within 5 years is 49 percent. After 10 years, the probability of a first marriage ending is 33 percent, compared with 62 percent for co-habitations.

But they don’t explain what happens to second marriages or co-habitations. I personally fall in that category and I’d be interested in knowing what the statistics show. We’ve been together 10years and we have a son. We have no plans on changing our co-habitation into a legal marriage. We had that license in the first relationships and both of those failed. Maybe they’ll cover that in the next decade. Continue reading →

Today’s Tarot Meditation Drawing: King of Pentacles

Feb6

Mystic Faery Tarot by Linda Ravenscroft

Your plans are coming through, your search for success is playing out well, but be careful you don’t get to arrogant about being right. It took a lot of help for you to get here and others deserve some credit as well. You had a nice celebration last week; so keep it going and remember to give a pat on the back to those working with you. Those good vibrations will keep the ball rolling and continue to pay off this week if you do.

Additional Insight:

It’s going to be a good week if you allow it to be. That means making sure your positive energy of good will plays out in your actions and words. Being grateful to others isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s an indication of understanding and appreciation. All things are related and connected, whither in a personal way or professional associations. When you appreciate others you share that good will and they in turn will be more inclined to share your name and good actions with others. You’ll be surprised by the number of people who will give you a call out of the blue and want to be associated with you too.

Give it a try. You’ll be glad you did.

What Is A Spiritual Expert? – Part I

Feb5

Walking The Path of A Minister, Healer, Teacher & Spiritual Leader

Lately I have been spending time reading and learning from other spiritual teachers around the internet. In general this has been a very interesting experience as I believe we never stop learning and we can discover much about ourselves and our world by opening our views and exploring other ideas and knowledge. But I also noticed that many ‘ministers’ feel the need to categorize people in to the do’ers vs. those who refuse to see.

I don’t understand the need to pass judgment over a group of people simply because they don’t fit into ‘our’ paradigm of what a spiritual person is or should be. Everyone is in the right place and time for their path. If you believe that, then how can you justify passing judgment on others? Perhaps the judgment needed is of your own thoughts, actions and reactions.

Now that perspective is itself a judgment. I’m not saying that making judgments of others is a bad thing. We do that everyday from judging the weather and deciding what cloths to wear, to judging a situation and determining how to proceed.

The judgment I’m talking about are those made that condemn others for their choices by individuals who claim to be spiritual leaders of their chosen belief system. A minister of any faith, be it a Pagan Priestess, a Metaphysical Minister or, in my view, anything in between or outside those paths, inspires and empowers.

Continue reading →

My New Blog!

Feb4

I’m excited to welcome you to my new blog!

We’re rolling out my new blog this weekend. I feel like a little kid with a new toy. I love it! The team did a great job with the design and set up. And I love that we were able to use my Merlin and bring the wolf more into the picture.

Basically we’ve upgraded my static author’s site and created this interactive version. Now I can share the topics, comments and insights that have been stuck on Facebook, out here in the open world. We began the set-up a few days ago; our official ‘established on’ date was February 1st, 2012. So I’ve been able to add the messages for the daily Tarot Meditation Drawings and the additional insight that’s usually be secluded on FB.

I’m looking forward to the days and months ahead. To sharing news, information, questions & answers. I hope you’ll be a part of the new site and get as much out of as I know I will!

Many Blessings –
Spring

The Mystic Faery Tarot

Feb4

By Linda Ravenscroft

Many have asked what tarot deck I use for the daily drawing. Right now, I use the Mystic Faery Tarot by Linda Ravenscroft for the daily drawing. You can learn more about this deck @ Amazon.com. I love this deck. It has great detail and imagery that provides the symbolic messages one needs to decipher the insight from a tarot card.

Here are a few examples of the deck.

"Believe In Yourself, Even When No One Else Does."
~ Harvey McKay ~
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“Take a chance on faith. Not religion, but faith.
Not hope, but faith.
I don’t believe in hope. Hope is a beggar.
Hope walks through the fire and Faith leaps over it.”
~ Jim Carrey ☆ 2014
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“I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less. And I am one of the seven billion human being. Basically we are the same… your emotion, my emotion, your mind, my mind.., same physical. So I always look [at it] that way. We are the same.”
~ Dalai Lama 2012 ~
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"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
~ Bruce Lee 1971