Dolphins and Love

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/michelenergy/detail?.dir=/cbde&.dnm=5097re2.jpg&.src=ph

Dolphin energy helps us complete 2005 (a "7" and spiritual year) and helps us transition into 2006 (an "8" and transitional year).

Why dolphins?

If you look at the peacefulness on the face of the pic above, you can see it. This dolphin is in captivity and yet, is joyful and accepting of what is.

Dolphins are loving, caring, joyous, happy. They see that we're all connected. They're tuly enlightened creatures filled with wondrous mysteries. They are funny and witty and yet strong and powerful. Their energy helps to heal and create. They are like adult children, playful and exuberant. They want to help and serve at all times. They are remarkable creatures.

Is it wrong to hold them in captivity? Is this how they can serve on a different level? Is this their karma? Is it wrong to support those who have captured them by visiting zoos, marinas, aquariums? Or, yet, is this rescuing them from a worse fate from fishermen, prey? Are they helping humanity by providing a warm, loving energy even in captivity? Are they fulfilling their individual karma? Are they providing an example of how we all need to be?

On one level, it seems a huge misery to go around and around in a tank waiting for food, bored, nowhere new to explore. On the other hand, these jokesters and fun-loving creatures seem to love people and to entertain them. No matter what -- they always seem to accept where they are with complete peace and happiness. Perhaps, this is the biggest lesson of all for us. We need to accept our paths and follow the guidance as it is revealed. Perhaps, it's not just about acceptance but, more so, about embracing the path, too.

So whatever your path, whatever your purpose, embrace it, flow with it as a dolphin would, move into it as we enter this wonderful transitional year of 2006.

Happy New Year!

Starting Fresh for the New Year

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Today, we were drawn to pull a rune, an angel card, and a tarot card.

We received the rune "Grief" -- the angel card "The Guardian Angel of Children" -- the tarot card -- the Six of Pentacles http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/pents06.jpg

Grief is the sadness that lies in the heart. Grief is over some kind of loss, some hurt, some regret. Grief can be over some wrong that we have done to another. The Grief rune is telling us that it is now time to "tap into" the grief, bring it up into consciousness and let it go, then forgive and forget. Forgive and forget also means making amends where amends are due. If you have hurt someone, apologize -- then forgive yourself, too. If someone else has hurt you, forgive them for your own soul's sake.

The new year is such a wonderful opportunity to start fresh within ourselves. New Year's Resolutions created from the mind are easily broken. However, when you resolve from the heart, the changes happen naturally.

The Guardian Angel of Children, as her name describes, protects children, mothers, and those who work around children. However, we can call upon her to help protect and guide those who are at any new beginning. That can be a fresh project, job, way of being, resolution of change. She is a wonderful angel to help us when it comes to moving into the new year.

The Six of Pentacles has a man on it who holds a scale and he is giving to a miserly man. The pentacles on the card are unbalanced -- 3 on the left -- 2 on the right. Therefore, it insinuates that balance becomes achieved when you give something away. Balance is achieved this way, because what we give away from our hearts, comes back. We must cycle everything around. We give and get -- the great circle of life. Holding on to something tightly only ends up with our losing that object. This does not only relate to materialism and objects -- but also to love, kindness, caring. We must put love out into the world to get love back. We must respect to get respect, we must trust to earn trust, we must empower if we hope to be empowered.

So today -- we are being encouraged to tap into our own grief in our hearts, forgive and forget, ask for help from our angels as we move forward into our new phase of being, and be open, loving and kind to everyone who comes in our lives.

What a glorious way to usher in the new year!

Relationships and the Holidays

The Knight of Cups http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/cups12.jpg

Every card has a positive and negative aspect. The positive aspect of the Knight of Cups is he's a romantic, he's sensitive, kind, caring, imaginative. The negative aspect is that he is a dreamer and often deluded, blinded by love. Somewhere in the middle there's a balance.

This time of year can become very confusing in terms of romance and the Knight of Cups is telling us that we need to find the balance. The New Years (as well as Valentine's Day) put pressure on people to either couple up or be the perfect romantic on those days.

Let's start with new relationships. People are typically lonelier around the holidays. Two single people meet, and out of loneliness, end up together. They feel the pressure to have someone -- anyone -- in their life for New Years and Valentine's Day. By the end of February, they have broken up. Essentially, they have used each other, have they not? Their egos and their reputations led them to come together. It was not out of love. On the other hand, what about the new relationships that don't end up together on a New Years date or Valentine's Day because people deem it as inappropriate -- too quick. Perhaps, they have missed a wonderful opportunity to be together. Once again, done out of ego and not love.

Established relationships also feel the pressure that they have to live up to a certain level of expectation in terms of parties, gifts, demonstrations of love. They have to book an outing at the finest restaurants, wear the finest clothing, buy the finest long-stem roses, the finest jewelry, the finest gifts, or their loved one will feel hurt, disappointed. Real love is a vibration that can not be depicted in material goods.

So, getting back to the Knight of Cups, he is learning that he must balance his dreaminess with his reality and it's nice to find a balance with our loved ones in that way. It's okay to be on Cloud 9 with your loved one. It's okay to have dreams and expectations about the future. Just keep checking in with your own reality of what it is all really about. Love has no expectations, obligations or limits. Love just is.

Tsunami Messages

Queen of Pentacles http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/pents13.jpg

Wow!

I asked for a card that would give us all a message for why the tsunami happened last year. I shuffled the deck -- pulled a random card and got the same card we wrote about two days ago: The Queen of Pentacles.

As we discussed, the Queens are symbolic of water, the Pentacles, earth. What better card for a tsunami -- water and earth!

Let's talk about the force we know and love called "Mother Nature or Mother Earth". Is she real? Does she exist? Is she a living creature or just an energetic being? If everything is a macrocosm and a microcosm then she certainly is alive. Think about this -- we have organisms that thrive upon us and we need them to live -- a parasitic relationship. This is the same for the Earth. We are her parasites. If the organisms on us are balanced, we stay healthy. When we are out of balance, we get sick -- we purge ourselves of toxins in some form or another. It's the same for the Earth. She purges herself of toxins via eruptions of volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.

The Queen of Pentacles is about balancing the material world with the intuitive world. We all have contributed to the destruction of this planet in some form or another. Even the recycling that is going on now is not enough. It's not even about the pollution, it's about arrogance, ego, hate, fear, violence. Who would want this negative energy around them? Wouldn't you do anything to shake it off if you were a loving, kind, caring, spiritual being? Mother Earth is loving and kind and nurturing. She is only attempting to protect herself (and her "children").

So, last year, she exploded and it happened on the most religious day of the year -- the anniversary of the birth of another incredible being -- Jesus Christ. She needed to cleanse herself and took many beings with her. It was not selective. These people were just there -- nothing personal.

Although some people of greater knowing may argue that Mother Earth was ridding herself of "darkness." There are areas on this Earth that are more dark, more ominous than others. Some people feel that bad things happen in certain areas to cleanse that area. Others might become very angry at these statements. Think about the places in the world that are imbued with anger and hatred and the cleansings that have come to pass, perhaps you can connect to your truths, deep within yourself, and understand.

However, there are lighter beings -- even in dark areas. These people will just know to get away. Off the coasts of Thailand, there were people who were so in-tune with nature, they heard the messages, and got to higher ground. They are the Mokens, the "sea gypsies", who live on the water and recognized all the signs that something was about to happen. They watched the water recede before the waves. They watched the dolphins swim away, the birds fly off, the animals stampede to higher grounds. What is especially interesting about this group of people is that they are incredibly advanced spiritually. They have no concept of time, no ties to materialism other than moment to moment survival. They don't feel worry and they have no "hellos" or "goodbyes" in their language. Though most would consider them primitive, they're truly more advanced.

Yet, the Mokens aren't special or unique. We all have this gift to be more in tune with nature and our higher selves. We can all connect to this -- it is there for our taking. We must chose this as consciously as we chose the home we buy, the job we take, the life we make. We must chose to be kind to others, kind to the Earth, conscious of how we treat others. This also means we must chose to rid ourselves of our selfish separate self, to endure criticism, to be open to change. We must truly care about other's feelings and helping each other. We can also live a life that is heaven on earth, happy, peaceful and joyous.

It is all for our taking -- right now at this moment.

So, perhaps, there are huge lessons about the tsunami for all of us. Learning that we must take responsibility for how we treat ourselves and this Earth, learning that we must care about other beings for our own sake, and learning that we have the power to connect to source via our higher selves for our own survival, as well.

Have a very happy holiday and peace be with you today!

What is Gift Giving?

Queen of Pentacles http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/pents13.jpg

The queen is symbolic of water energy -- intuition, emotion, feeling, caring. The pentacle is symbolic of earth energy -- money, materialism, growing, nurturing, groundedness.

The queen sits on a thrown, holding a large coin on her lap. She is motherly, intuitive, kind, caring yet, she enjoys the good things in life, and she is generous and giving at the same time.

This is a time of year for all of us to learn to balance our own materialistic needs and desires with the loving nature of being upon this earth, caring about others and giving generously from our hearts.

This is a time of year where giving does happen but it is often not coming from the heart. What is giving? What is a gift? Is it a gift if the person doesn't need that gift? Is it a gift if it's something that enables that person? Is it a gift if it's done because you just feel obligated? Is it a gift if you're always worried that the person will or won't like it? We live in a society where people are embarassed to say to each other -- "please don't get me anything" or "I'm sorry -- I haven't gotten you anything".

On the other hand, we all have different ways of accepting gifts. Some people feel people owe them and they are due a gift or gifts. They are insulted if the gift isn't worth a certain amount or of a certain quality. They would never say it to the person's face but they will say it behind their back. In relationships, gifts are "expected". Relationships might end because of a gift. If the husband/boyfriend doesn't give a necklace worth a certain amount of money, the wife/girlfriend may leave to find someone who will. Workers expect a certain gift amount/tip/bonus and they will leave that position if it doesn't come to pass. The flipside of all of this is feeling uncomfortable receiving a quality gift. Sometimes, people feel uncomfortable receiving any gift of help at all. This is purely arrogance as we all need help.

This time of year can bring a lot of stress. They feel obligated to buy a certain number of gifts. They have their family, relatives, co-workers, friends. It becomes such a huge burden. It's just expected -- how would it look if they didn't deliver? Then, there are huge sales to lure shoppers. Everyone is shopping at the same time and the parking lots, stores, cashiers are jam-packed. The commercialism of the season is festive, yet the energy of the season is angry. People become nasty, selfish, abusive. Many people are depressed, especially single people. Some people have no family, friends, jobs. Some people have recently lost a loved one. The message in the air that we all keep hearing is peace on earth, good will toward mankind, but the energy is each man for himself and what a burden this season is.

Everything comes back down to balance. The Queen of Pentacles is balancing her loving, kind, caring, nurturing nature with her gift of giving. We all need to learn to check in with ourselves and find out if we're giving out of love or out of obligation. If we're giving out of obligation, then is it something that can help enhance this person's life, not just feed their ego. We can learn to avoid the negativity of the season and spread the messages of peace, love, joy and happiness. We can transform like the Grinch who suddenly opened his heart and shined with loving light.

We all have it in ourselves to know the difference. We all have the ability to give the gifts of the season. We all have the power to be the Queen of Pentacles.

Happy Holidays!

The Gifts of the Season

II of Swords http://images.google.com/images?q=Two+of+Swords&hl=en

Two's are about partners, polarities, and choices. After the foundation of the Aces, a couple is formed with a two. However, that couple can balance us or hinder us -- can be a perfect opposite or can block us. It's a choice that we often must make.

The swords are pure air energy. Air relates to the mind, the heart, the thinking and knowing capacity. The perfect balance is the mind and the emotions working together.

The II of swords depicts a woman seated in front of water. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she bears a sword in each hand. She is also blindfolded. This card is about blinding oneself and blocking one's heart with too much mental activity. Typically, it is the "stalemate" card but it is so much more meaningful.

We all must learn to take off our blinders and open our hearts. The woman in this card sits in front of a body of water, perhaps representing the emotional body. We think too much, are controlled by our minds, thinking we are listening to reason and, yet, don't fully trust our emotions. We block ourselves from loving others. We need to trust that all is meant to be.

In the bigger scheme of things, this is a wonderful time of year to start to change ourselves. We work on our bodies, our weight, our appearance. How many of us decide that the new year should bring spiritual enlightenment? And besides -- that's just a catch phrase. What does spiritual enlightenment even mean?

To sum it up, we all need to be kinder to others. This time of year is so hypocritical -- everyone is preparing for all the splendors of the season and yet are so unkind as they shop. It becomes such a huge burden and we're giving out of obligation for the most part -- not out of love, so we become angry and vent it on others. Perhaps, we should all consider that it's ok to just give the gift of love and caring this season if that's what we need to do?

Caring, giving, loving, being kind, all come from within. Once we all understand that what we put out into the world comes back then we will all be careful of our actions. Once we understand that we have no choice but to take off our blinders and open our hearts and trusting the balance of our mind and our emotions, all will come together. This is a wonderful time of year to change the important aspects of ourselves, and with that -- all the rest will change too.

Balancing Life

Today is the

II of Pentacles -- A man juggles two coins around a figure 8. In the background, the waves hold two ships. http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=Two+of+Pentacles

Finding the balance in our material world is an endless struggle for all of us. We must go to work, we must be with our loved ones. We must pay bills. There are huges struggles and demands that we are constantly juggling. It never ends -- therefore, the figure 8 on its side is actually the infinity sign. Always a struggle to balance and always waves and obstacles that come in our way.
This week's obstacle in terms of work and balance is the transit strike. There are egos and politics everywhere. I have no sides either way but do feel compassion for those who have bills to pay, families to provide for, responsibilities to take care of, medical treatment to get or give. Somehow, however, we will get through this.

The II of Pentacles shows us that we have the talent, the ability, the "smarts" to know how to balance all of it -- and when we do -- our ships do come in!