Still Small Voice

 There's also that Voice inside me. You know the one because you have it too. The Voice that urges me forward, onward in certain, steady directions. The Voice that says, "Turn this way." When I do, I face an incredible sunset. Or It says, "Leave. Now." I do and later discover that an accident occurred shortly after I left, blocking the route home. Or It says, "Not this one." I turn away, only to discover later that the person in question was not worthy of my trust.




The list could go on and on. You know that Voice. You've heard it. Sometimes in your ear. Sometimes in your heart. Sometimes in your dreams. My Voice sounds different from yours ~ which makes sense. We do not want to be confused by any overlapping messages.

We can name the Voice God or Goddess or Angel or Soul Companion or any of a thousand other names. That is of little import. How you or I choose to respond to that Voice is of the most significance. Do you listen? Do I respond? Do the voices around us drown out the Voice Within?

There is a story in the Bible of Elijah. He was distressed and fearful. God had sent him to Jezebel to give her an ultimatum. She was Queen ~ and had her minions scouring the Judean countryside for the prophet. He had good reason to be afraid. He wanted a sign from God ~ to hear God's Voice ~ reassurance that Elijah remained in good stead with the God of Israel. God sent a strong wind that tore up the land around Elijah, but God was not IN the wind. Then came an earthquake shaking the ground around Elijah, but God was not IN the earthquake. Then a ravaging fire, but God was not IN the fire. Then came a Still Small Voice. Elijah knew God was IN that Voice.

Sometimes, even when much is happening around us, listening for that Still Small Voice can keep us on track. I often have to cock my head to one side and listen. Or recognize It in the voice of another. Or be patient enough to wait.... to know It will speak sooner or later.

What has your Inner Voice spoken to you lately? Do you listen? Do you recognize when you haven't listened? What is it telling you today?

Build Windmills

I recently dreamed about windmills. I walked up the rise of a grassy hill. Although the sky was a swath of deep blue velvet with scattered twinkling sequins, the land was lit with an ethereal blue-white glow of the Full Moon. The earth sparkled with diamond dewdrops.

As I topped the rise, an expanse of mostly flat land lay before me. A river ran from the northeast to southwest, its banks lost from sight below low, chiseled cliffs. I caught glimpses of white-capped waves swirling along the line of cliffs.

The land was dotted with windmills of all ilk:

Old World brick buildings

They took a significant amount of space on the wide plain. Their large blades churned methodically, rhythmically, visible only as the large crossbeams slipped through the dark air. Their varieties were plentiful, amazingly beautiful across the land.

Midwest/Great Plains farm/ranch towers

These towers were most familiar to me. I spent my youth in the North Central states and saw them dotted across fields with dairy cattle gathering near their bases. Memories of that youth flooded through me as I watched the rotors blur in the moonlight.





new wind power generators

These triple-bladed giants towered over the other windmills across the open space. Their mobile white blades taking on the appearance of tilting praying mantis heads and upper appendages in the flashing dark-and-light.








As I watched, the wind strengthened, pouring forth with great gusto, until all the blades of all the windmills became a blur of intermittent light. I recognized this burst: the Winds of Change. This is a year of Change. News from across the world echoes that notion. My dream insistently prodded me to form the Distant Past, the Recent Past and the Present into a Windmill of Change to power me into the future.

What changes are blowing through your life now? Are you building walls? or windmills? Why have you made that choice? Do you experience one choice as more valid than another?

 

Be Fierce

I have a friend who has chosen a focus word of the year for the past decade. She challenged others to join her in the practice ~ and many have. I have repeatedly chosen not to do so. My reason? Words call to me all the time. They show up in my everyday life like dust-bunnies under the bed. Sometimes they gather together and bring a larger message; sometimes they puff out when the wind blows the right way.

Today, these words showed up: Stronger, Braver, Kinder, Unstoppable.... and their cousin: BE FIERCE.

How do I choose from among those incredible words? Personally, I don't. I let them all flow through the energies around me, let them settle in the corners of my mind. They throb through my veins into my heart. They find their own rhythm to speak to me ~ and I find the space and silence to listen.

This is the year I will be fierce. Yes. I feel it. The online dictionary defines fierce as "showing a heartfelt and powerful intensity." That's certainly what I've been feeling as this new year has begun ~ a powerful intensity leading me toward.... I'm not quite sure what.

That intensity, that fierceness, has shown up in my recent dreams ~ battles without anger or bloodshed, only abundant intensity, like a many-partnered dance with weapons. Or lots of people looking for a particular path and tumbling over each other to reach it. More circus-type tumbling. No harm done nor intended. Yet overflowing with intensity. I continue to watch how fierceness will play out in my life ~ and for how long.

What word or a group of words calls to you as this new year begins? Will it form a focus for your year? or for a particular length of time? Where is that word leading you? Are you willing to follow?

Cancer Full Moon

The January Full Moon is also called the Wolf Full Moon, referring to the wolves howling in the deep cold of winter. Wolves were more willing to come closer to villages to find heat and food.

This Full Moon is also the in Cancer. As it is connected to Pluto, the New Year begins with a powerful charge: Focus on what needs to shift, change, end or transform in your life. Let go and let the door slam shut behind you! Allow the old, fulfilled karma to depart ~ and with it, anyone or anything that is holding you back. Embrace the change that this Full Moon is bringing.

This is also a Grand Cross Full Moon ~ (Capricorn Sun opposite Full Moon Cancer crossing the axis of the North Node in Libra and the South Node in Aries) ~ which means that energy is moving. Even though there is change underway, do not make the changes impulsively. Follow the center path. Move forward decisively and with awareness and create the life you most deeply desire.

Change is happening deep within as well ~ and is manifesting itself through external events in your life. Balance your masculine and feminine energy to empower and support your creativity during this time.  Focus your intention and trust your feelings, your intuition.

What are you willing to release? to transform? How will you encourage your own creativity? What do you need to let go of? What do you most desire?

Dark Resurrection

Here we are. Once again within a day of the Full Moon. Beside us stands Inanna, Goddess of Going Into Dark Places.

The card reads: If you descend into darkness, you can emerge unscathed. What it fails to mention is that you will not emerge unchanged. So much time and energy is spent on being unscathed that it is easy to miss the changes.

The greatest power of Inanna is that She could descend into the Darkness ~ the Deepest Darkness, the realm of her sister Ereshkigal. Every step of the way, through seven gates, the Queen Moon had to remove every visible aspect of Her Queenhood.

Think this was easy? Maybe that it didn't change Her? I doubt anyone, including the Queen Moon, could walk into that Darkness and strip Herself of every vestige of identity and not be changed.

As I move forward into the New Year ~ through this first Full Moon ~ I recognize and acknowledge my own fears when I face Darkness in any of its myriad forms. I may be unscathed. Outwardly the same. Inwardly, I find a new and more complete strength, born from facing the fear and the darkness. Resurrecting into the Light of the new Full Moon. Rebirthing into the Light of the Sun.

What Darkness have you faced, or descended into? What change has it brought into your life? How do you embrace the change? Which Light will you emerge into? What will carry you forward?

Strength for the Day

My focus when drawing this card was strength... uncovering a particular attribute. Balance fits impressively well... I am grateful it showed up.

Message: Things are happening so suddenly and quickly that we must stay on guard and grounded at all times in order to handle the coming changes. If we do not remain as such, then all chaos will break loose within ourselves which will then manifest to the physical surrounding us. Be calm, stay balanced, remain grounded.

My plan: begin the year with strength ~ with love, grace and joy too. For Balance to arise as the focus this early gives me hope and makes me grin. Remain grounded. Yes. What a powerful New Year message.



What attribute do you seek as 2015 begins? How do you stay grounded? Is that important to you? Which of your values point you to that focus attribute?

Gift of a New Year 2015

Happy New Year 2015!

Approaching the New Year, I spent much time with family. The holidays overflow with busyness, preparations and plans for gifting and gathering. It's rarely clear what is the true focus of this madhouse time.

Now that 2015 has arrived, things are slowing down. The roar of arriving planes has lessened. The pre-holiday sales have given way to post-holiday sales to get rid of holiday items. Homes are settling back into routines free of visitors and parties.

This is the time to take a breath and consider what gift you want from 2015. What is possible? What is needed? What is wanted? What can expand, contract, allow in your life? What corners need clearing? What dark spots need lighting? What calls to be released? to be accepted? to be healed?

2015 holds much in store. Set the intention to look for the gift. Breathe. Open to the beauty, health, love that is being carried in on the New Year. Search your heart for what is most important and ask for the gift. The New Year waits to hear your request. Open to the Gift.

What do you want from the coming year? Do you have a wish list? What is your intention? How can 2015 provide you with support? Can you open and accept the gifting?