You Are Of The Earth

Buddhists believe that every human contains four elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.  These four elements make up our physical body, and allow us to feel the energies associated with each of them.  We will talk about those energies in a minute.  What is clear, is that these four elements can help us to stay grounded.  However, it seems that many people choose to be ungrounded, that is, they feel “spaced out”.  And rather than try to change this feeling, the individual seems to encourage the feeling.

          This great picture comes from www.meta-synthesis.com

When we feel “heavy” when we are walking or running,  or “sleepy” or “full” after a meal, then we are feeling the effects of our Earth energy.  The Earth energy is working to pull our bodies – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – back into the confines of our physical center.  Sometimes our bodies are not pulled back in all the way, so we feel “off center”. It is our Earth energy that allows us to taste and to touch.  When we feel solid, or stiff, or smooth, or hardness, then we are using our Earth element.

When we feel constrained and our movement seems stiff, or we seem without fluidity, then we know our Water element is blocked.  When we feel sticky and emotional and want to cry for no reason, or if we feel depressed, we are feeling Water energy.  Congestion and phlegmy coughs tell us that our Water energy is out of balance.  If we see people in need, our Water energy cries out to support them, to be in service.  It is our Water energy that allows us to see and to make assumptions or judgements around situations.

We know that when we hear things and feel the mental energy of our brain working that the Air Element is in play. Or, when we have visions, or words come to us unbidden, we may find that our Air Element is changing, and with the change, bringing us new information.  Those with a strong air element like to be entertained and to solve puzzles and quizzes.  When we are caught up in our Air element, we float on “cloud nine”.  Playing, pushing, pulling, and all movement are showing us how we use the Air element.

The Fire Element shows up as heat in our body, as passion and anger.  When somebody wrongs us, or we feel something is unfair, then we tend to “burn up” with rage or indignation.  We use the heat we carry to show love and affection, to show protection.  Healers talk about the amount of heat that is generated when they are working with a client. Attraction heats up with the Fire element.

We have all these great sensations that tell us so much about our bodies and that show us that we are in the present moment.  Then, we lose this information by getting into our mind, into our ego, and analysing the information so that the info of the present moment becomes useless. 

If you have some time today, meditate on the Nature of your body, and how the Earth changes may affect how your body feels in the Earth element.  Meditate on the Oneness, on finding peace in the present moment, and on the Ancestors, who have already experienced the circle of life.  Find a prayer that helps you relax, and that slows down your mind.  Allow yourself to be here, now, in the present.

Blessings,

Judy

Shark Swims In With A Message

Three different nights, I have dreamed of sharks.  I realized that they had a message for me, and that I needed to “dive in” and figure out what it is that Shark wants to say.

Sharks are by nature, loners.  They swim by themselves and only congregate when drawn by the smell of blood.  If Shark is in a frenzy, it will kill other sharks without consciousness.

 

 

Picture of a bull shark – the type of shark that appeared in my dreams.

 

Shark’s message covers several things.  

• Spend time alone and you will not become anxious or irritable.  Spend a lot of time with others that you have no respect for, and you will want to “bite off someone’s head”.
• Be aware that you are growing ever more sensitive to smells (Sharks smell one drop of blood in an ocean of water), and to vibrations and changes in vibrations. Sharks are able to determine where fish are by the vibration they send through the water when the fish is swimming.
• Shark is not able to float in water, and therefore shares this knowledge by telling us that we cannot float through life – we must keep moving or we will get run over, or drown. it is very simple.
• Water is often equated to the depths of emotion.  Shark can swim to great depths, and can also swim quite close to shore.  With Shark’s guidance, we can navigate the deepest, darkest emotions, and look at them dispassionately. 

May you enjoy “swimming with the sharks” in your dreams tonight.

Blessings, 

Judy

Celebrating Summer Solstice June 20 2025

Tonight, we celebrate the Summer Solstice with a gathering of our friends.  We begin with a potluck supper followed by ceremony and meditation activities inviting in the light.

Summer solstice is the longest day of the year and the time of the most light.  The feeling is glorious! 

Each of us in the circle brings an energy of happiness and light that can be shared with the others in the circle, and then can be broadcast out to where ever we wish the light to go.

Part of our activity tonight will include this beautiful poem by Chandra Levy.  It begins with the words, “O Radiant sun”. The Sun pushes the light to Earth.  It is a great message for summer solstice.

A Nature Lover’s Ode

O Radiant sun

The pure light that you are, that I am

Bathe me, anoint me with the purity of your beam

I am Blessed and enlightened by our ecstatic union

Reflecting and enriching my inner realm

O playful, delicious breeze

Play me as a sacred flute

Accompanied by the strings of my delighted heart

Calling forth the Divine and harmonious notes so dear

Tantalisingly sweet, pure and clear

O creatures of creation

Delight and invite and entice me

With your myriad colours and manifestations of beauty

Sing with me that I may know your song

That we may harmonise and realise we all belong

O dearest Planet Earth

Our devoted Mother

Our precious physical home

May our frequencies align

With the sweetest and deepest of tones

May we peacefully respond, rejoice and revel

In our loving interconnection

Grateful for this life

Grateful for this love

Grateful for this resplendent reflection

By Chandra Levy

Blessings,

Judy

The Truth of Life Is In Our Hands

I was thinking about our hands and how we use our hands in healing sessions – we use them to comfort, to support, to transmit energy, to caress, to tap, and even to hold back energy.  Our hands often act, it seems, of their own accord.  This means that they act instinctively, and that they do not act from the brain.  Think about the number of times that you have said one thing and that your hands have done another thing – a variation on the right and left hand not knowing what the other is doing.  In fact, sometimes our brain does not know what our hands are doing.

Think about the times you are happy.  You will clap your hands.  You don’t think about it, you just do it.  Or, if you are sad, or excited, or extremely moved, you may fold your hands over your heart.  If you are scared, you may protect yourself by placing your hands over your stomach or belly; or, you may wrap    your arms around your self and and pat your arms to comfort yourself.  

When someone is hurting, we instinctively put our hands on their back or their head or their shoulders and stroke the person to comfort them.  We use our hands to wave at people, and show them we are happy to see them.  We even use our hands to salute to show honour to people.  When we mean no harm, we show our hands, palm up.

Nature gave us five digits on our hands.  Five is the number for getting things done.  The thumb is almost useless by itself. However, when we use it with the four fingers, we have a tool that allows us to dig, to pick fruit and vegetables, to make meals, to bake, to build, to sew, to create, and to love.
The hands, then become interesting because they will always show us, and others, exactly what is going on in our physical and emotional body.  And, that physical and emotional feeling may be quite different than what our mental body (mind, ego) is saying.  The hands show our gratitude to Creator, and gratitude to those around us, by the service that they do for our selves and for others.  Our hands are about life. The truth of our life is in our hands. And, that is a good thing.

Blessings,

Judy

On Love

 

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

Mother Teresa

One of the things that makes me the happiest in life, is when people come to our house and tell me that they love the feeling in our house; that they feel sad to leave our house.   I saw this quote from Mother Theresa and I believe that many people feel this way when they leave our house.

May you find people that feel this way in your life.

Blessings,

Judy

Suffering Is Not The Enemy

 

We are constantly encouraged to reject what is unpleasant, disappointing or difficult. 'What's all this suffering? Let's be happy! Have fun!' But our suffering is not our enemy. It is only through a relationship with my pain, my sadness, that I can truly know and touch the opposite—my pleasure, my joy, and my happiness.  - Claude AnShin Thomas, “Conceptions of Happiness”

Blessings,

Judy

Human Kind

 

The picture says:   Human Kind.  Be Both.

"We’re not meant to be vehicles of destruction, but rather the very embodiment of love & light and compassion, manifest."

I recently had an experience where people were not very kind to me or to each other.  I wondered why they were like that.  Then, I met their manager.  He was not nice to any one.  When people say that influence comes from the top, “people” were very correct in this case.  

What makes someone be unkind to those around him (or her)?  Is it their home life?  Is it that they think acting mean makes them powerful?  Or, is it that they don’t like people in general?  What ever the reason, I like to think that most people are kind and that most people want to help others.

Blessings,

Judy

Ten Commandments From Bertrand Russell

 

The Poster says:

1. Do not Lie to yourself.

2. Do not lie to other people unless they are exercising tyranny.

3. When you think it is your duty to inflict pain, scrutinize your reasons closely.

4. When you desire power, examine yourself closely to see why you deserve it.

5. When you have power, use it to build up people, not to constrict them.

6. Do not attempt to live without vanity for this is impossible, but chose the right audience from which to seek admiration.

7. Do not think of yourself as a wholly contained unit.

8. Be reliable.

9. Be just.

10. Be good-natured.

***************************

I saw this poster and realized that it is quite close to the shamanic code.  After more scrutiny, I realized that it is close to many codes, including the code of the Knights of the Round Table.  I realize that it is not exact.  However, I find it interesting that several codes are so close.  I wonder then, why so many people feel the need to be bullies or tyrants.

What are your thoughts?

Blessings,

Judy

Lion on Love

                

One of my friends sent me this picture.  I looked at it, and thought it was great, and then deleted it.  Then, when I was “Stumbling”, I came across the picture again.  Again, I thought it was great, and hit the button to move past it.  Everything moved, and then shifted back to the picture.  Ah!  I realized that I was being given this picture for a reason.

I sat with the picture and meditated.  I used the mantra, Loving Kindness, to relax and move into that place of peace and stillness.  I was hovering in that place where thoughts come up to you, and you simply wave them away, without really seeing them.  And then a much larger, dark figure walked into my meditation silence.  He coughed to draw attention to himself.  I looked at him, and said, “Can I help you?”

The Lion moved into my consciousness, fully, and said he had some information for me.  I settled back and said that I would be glad to hear it.  He began speaking.

“We often hear in the great whispers that go around through the air, that you two leggeds do not think that we love.  Love, as we understand it, is when you totally commit to protect and to honour those charges around you; that you realize that without them, you would feel lost and perhaps incomplete.  We lions love absolutely in the nature of our kind. 

We are different than two leggeds because we do not intentionally plan treachery – to hurt or to kill – the ones we love.  WE work to protect them. 

And, so it is that we are different.  We say to you, “judge us not as dumb beasts”.”

                                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Blessings,

Judy

Duck Says “Sink or Swim”

Often, in life, we are given situations where we must choose to either move forward and make a change, or where we choose to let life circumstances defeat us.

Several days ago, someone that I love dearly received chastising about a situation that he was involved in.  The chastisement seemed out of proportion to the seriousness of the situation.  It reminded me of the put downs that many of us received from our parents (fathers) in our early lives.  The tone of the chastisement was along the lines of “how can you be so stupid”, and “I am so much smarter than you”; put downs that we now all realize are about power and not about any constructive coaching or team building.

As I was thinking through the situation, and feeling thankful that I was no longer in that corporate situation, I saw the picture below, from Spirit, and realized that Duck had a comment for me. Duck is a spirit animal that brings many messages to humans, messages that are often ignored.

The comment was “sink or swim”!  From the moment that Duck is born, she must make her way through the grass down into the water.  She is not safe on the land from Fox, Hawk, Coyote, Snake, Racoon, Weasel, or even Cat or Dog.  When she gets in the water, she is not safe from Turtle, Fish, Eagle, or other predators.  Yet, she swims! She does not give up.  To escape those who would diminish her, she simply swims faster until the time comes when she can fly, and then she flies faster. 

Life, Duck says, is about getting on, and not getting down.  Life is about finding the flow, and staying in the current, and keeping moving.  The nature of things is about moving and change, and never giving up. Life is about loving one’s self enough to keep trying.  

And that, says Duck, is the meditation for today – sink or swim.

     Ducks from amolife.com 

Many blessings,

Judy

Nature’s Beauty

Often, we go through life looking for perfection, especially in Nature.  What we miss is the beauty of all that surrounds us because we are looking for something that is our perception, and perhaps, not the truth of Nature.

I love this short story that illustrates the beauty in Nature, and how we must accept all of Nature to be in keeping with the harmony of the Earth.

                        @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Nature's Beauty

A priest was in charge of the garden within a famous Zen temple. He had been given the job because he loved the flowers, shrubs, and trees. Next to the temple there was another, smaller temple where there lived a very old Zen master. One day, when the priest was expecting some special guests, he took extra care in tending to the garden. He pulled the weeds, trimmed the shrubs, combed the moss, and spent a long time meticulously raking up and carefully arranging all the dry autumn leaves. As he worked, the old master watched him with interest from across the wall that separated the temples. 

When he had finished, the priest stood back to admire his work. "Isn't it beautiful," he called out to the old master. "Yes," replied the old man, "but there is something missing. Help me over this wall and I'll put it right for you." 

After hesitating, the priest lifted the old fellow over and set him down. Slowly, the master walked to the tree near the center of the garden, grabbed it by the trunk, and shook it. Leaves showered down all over the garden. "There," said the old man, "you can put me back now." 
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many blessings,

Judy

Sheep Says Count Your Blessings

 

Picture of sheep comes from www.animalspapper.com

Last night, I could not sleep!  I tossed and turned, and I tried all of the different mediations, breathing exercises, and mind calming techniques that I knew. (And, I know a lot!)  At 3:00pm, I finally tried counting sheep.  

I saw a path, with me sitting on the fence, counting the sheep as the sheep filed by in single file.  I was on sheep number 15, and waiting for sheep number 16 to appear.  She walked up the path, and stopped and looked at me, and began to talk.

“Why are you sitting on that fence counting sheep?  Why don’t you come and walk with us out to the pasture.  Why don’t you enjoy nature instead of simply sitting perched like a bird?  Does counting sheep really make you feel sleepy?  Don’t we all look lovely and white? We get better colours when we walk in dream time with people.  Yes, you are dreaming – you are actually in that in between state, between true awake and true sleep.”  

And she paused for a breath and started again.

“There are four hundred and forty-three sheep in this flock.  Our job is to help people fall asleep.  We all signed up for this task because it is one of great service, and by being in service, we sheep are all allowing our souls to evolve – some of us faster than the human souls, I might add.  This is a fun job. We see all sorts of people around the world that have this particular past time.  We do not often get to Africa, China, Russia or South America.  We used to be confined to Europe, and then to parts of North America.  I have been to the Alps, the Andes, the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, and even to the depths of the Pacific and the Atlantic to work my special brand of magic sleep!  

You humans are so funny.  Sometimes we have a good chuckle at your experiences that cause you not to sleep.  Everything has happened before, and everything will happen again.  Everything that happens to you has happened to one of us in the flock, at one  time.  What we dream time sheep have learned to do is to look at each of you humans and your experiences, and then bless you and your experience.  That blessing is actually part of the magic that we work.  When you are feeling low, we suggest that you count your blessings.  

Do you know that a blessing is anything that benefits you?  It may be food, water, a hug, finding a penny, listening to music or meeting someone incredibly gifted like all of us sheep.   If you move through the blessings, and count them, you will find that you have so many in a day, that you simply take them for granted.  It is the nature of this world to provide you with blessings.  Blessings are bestowed out of love.  Why don’t you try counting your blessings now?  Sleep child!”

*************************

It seems to me that the dream Sheep are extraordinary, and are actually Spirit Animals assigned to work with us.

Blessings,

Judy

Welcome June 2025

Happy Duck Walking In The Rain 

June is the time of hot sun, growing, and enjoying.  Our Ancestors scheduled several celebrations that lead up to Summer Solstice, generally celebrated on June 20, 21, or 22, depending on where you are in the world.

One of the celebrations, held June 1st or 2nd, was a gratitude celebration that honoured the Goddess of Growing Things, and the Sun God for helping things grow.  The day and night was filled with fun, thanks, and love.  In fact, many couples married on this day.  And, now couples marry all through the month of June. 

Nature gets in the act because so many birds lay their eggs, and even hatch them during June because this gives the young a chance to grow to maturity before fall, and the cold, set in.  If the bird is migratory, then the young have time to prepare for the flight. 

This year, the Ancestors urge us to be more prepared for the fall and for the cold.  They say that the summer will be short, and that the cold will come early. In Calgary, we still have cold even though during the week the temperatures reached 28 degrees Celsius.  Perhaps it is time to stock up on staple goods, flashlights and batteries, or even candles and matches.  Set aside a store of water.  Being prepared is not just a Boy Scout motto.

Blessings,

Judy