Whale As A Guardian

The Whale and the diver! This beautiful picture comes from an email from a friend in Hawaii.

 

I have been reading about the Sirians (from the planet, Sirius) and their various flights to Earth.  One of the common themes is that the Sirians are water loving, and that they, perhaps, brought whales to planet Earth, to monitor the oceans and to keep an eye on the land.  

In the picture above, Whale definitely seems to put forward a fin of friendship, even after all the thousands of years of whaling, and using whale for everything from food to aphrodisiacs.  Why has the whale never turned on man?  Well, perhaps one or two have, yet the species as a whole, has not.

What if Whale really did come from another place?  What if Whale is far more intelligent than humans give her credit for?  What if her sonar sounds can be picked up by a space ship?  What kind of reports is she sending home? Why do the whales tolerate us?

Our Ancestors lived in a world where everything had meaning – had a spirit.  Many ancestors believed that Whale was a God. Perhaps that idea is not so far fetched because Gods generally come from the sky.  And, maybe whales did descend.  

What purpose do they serve?  I think that they are Guardians of the oceans.  I believe they are meant to stop man from destroying the bottom of the ocean with digging, and mining.  I believe that they are constantly cleaning the ocean water as best they can.  

What do you think?

Blessings,

Judy

Parrot Circle

Australian Wreath.....is there anything more beautiful than nature at it's best!! This delightful circle was taken at Lamington National Park, west of the Gold Coast. They are native Australian mountain parrots; the red and blue kind are Crimson Rosella, and the red and green are King Parrots. They are feasting on sunflower seeds which were left for them.

How cool is it that the Parrots in the above picture have all the colours of the chakras?  I heard a quote the other day that zinged right through me.  It was, “All things are created perfectly in God’s world.  If it is not perfect now, it is still in the process of creation.”  I look at the animals in the world and know that quote is true.

Blessings,

Judy

Good Advice In These Quotes

 

                         Picture is of the fall colours from the Banff Summit 

  

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."  -Leo F. Buscagilia

  

"Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing."   -G. M. Trevelyan

I found these two quotes and felt that I needed to share them today, to remind everyone that what we feel guided to do is often what Creator needs us to do.  And, when we interfere with someone’s path because of our own limitations – saying that it can’t be done  -  we have no idea of the repercussions of our actions.

Be at peace and celebrate everything!

Many blessings,

Judy

Autumnal Equinox 2024

 

Picture taken by Judy Hirst along the Bow River channel in Fish Creek Provincial Park

Autumn has arrived and today we are in balance between the dark and the light.  It is a beautiful feeling to have come through the spring and summer with lots of vegetables from the garden.  It is a time to celebrate with friends and family and ask for an easy winter to come.

A Prayer For Autumnal Equinox

Mother/Father God, Universe.

Please guide us through the next six months 

So that we walk through each day with grace and ease and

With harm to none.

Please bless the food to nourish us and to keep us strong,

Allowing no illness in our lives 

And giving us strength to help others - humans and animals.

As I wander to different places, please support me in spreading

Peace and Kindness to all.

Aho.

********

Blessings,

Judy

    

“I Am A Rock “ Says Spirit

I had an epiphany the other day when I was thinking about Great Spirit, God, Source, The ONE, whatever name you wish to put on Spirit.  

I was day dreaming.  In my day dream, I saw pictures of Sedona and the great rocks there.   The one to the left is called ‘Spirit Rock’.  I have seen it.  I felt pleasure and comfort when I saw it.  

For years, I have had dreams about Uluru Ayers Rock.  I dreamt of it before I actually knew what it was. That is the second picture in this group.  It is in Australia, and, it is old.  This rock has been the destination of many a pilgrimage.

And, the last picture in the group is of Stone Mountain, outside of Atlanta, Georgia.  I was there in 2001, and my husband and I climbed the long way up, and down, and it truly was the experience of a lifetime!  

My epiphany was that many of us associate “God” with a rock.  Or, perhaps I should say that we associate spiritual places with rocks.  And, when I had this thought, I heard, “I am a rock”.  

I then heard, “And, I am everything else as well!”

What is interesting to me is that all of us resonate with the idea of God being a Rock.  In fact, if you Google Spirit Rock, you will see that it comes up millions of times, all over the world.

The comforting thing for me when I saw this was “I guess Great Spirit  really is omnipotent.  She/he can be in many places at once.  And, it has been in many places for a long time.

  The idea of the “rock” is quite spectacular in its own way because the rock is so big, majestic, and so everlasting.  If I was a being that was trying to establish communication with a species that seemed to have difficulty communicating, I too would try to communicate through symbolic, living things like a rock.  

It now makes more sense to me as to why monks established monasteries on big mountains (rocks) to be closer to Source.  It also gave those people below them something to look up to and to communicate with, and to view as an intermediary to Creator.

 

We all got into trouble by using intermediaries because most intermediaries had their own agenda which seems to include power, riches, etc.   Being able to do one’s own communicating with the One Source has a big advantage in avoiding the politics and expense of using someone else.   

I wonder if all rocks carry great power, or if there are new rocks appearing.  

I look at the world wide fascination with crystals, or as some people call them, “rocks”, and I have to believe that Spirit is moving through “I am a rock” through crystals, as well.

I like that idea. 

Blessings,

Judy

Caring For Our Own

 Picture of illness from Microsoft Clip Art

In our Ancestors’ days, when someone became ill, the family cared for that person.  Usually, there were several families, (mother, father, children) living under the same roof, with grandparents or elderly aunts and uncles.  That meant that there would usually be someone available to do some healing and caretaking.  As well, someone in the family, or someone within walking distance, had a knowledge of herbs and would probably know the herbs required to speed up the healing.

The person with the healing knowledge was usually considered a shaman, medicine man or women, healer, or witch man or woman.  Note that in Roman and Celtic languages, the old meaning of witch was “one who knew of the earth”, or someone who knew about what grew and what was helpful.

In extreme cases of illness, families might pilgrimage, with the sick one, to a well known healer, or to a sacred shrine, to ask for healing from a particular god or goddess or saint or from Christ.  Now things have changed.  The healer that we go to is a doctor and the pilgrimage is to a hospital.  Seldom do we care for our own – we are all busy, with jobs, and cannot care for someone on a 24 x 7 schedule.  We trust others to care for them, and then are outraged when abuses take place, for example, as in abuse of the elderly in care homes.  

Instead of natural herbs being cooked and made into teas or salves or poultices, our ill are given synthetic products, in large quantities. The drugs react to each other, in many cases, and possibly are toxic to each other.  Unlike the healer/herbalist, the doctors getting samples and products from the drug companies may not know what the ingredients and the side effects are.

Why did we get to this place of not being able to care for our own? There are five reasons:

1. as the practice of medicine developed, people were taught that only doctors knew enough about the body to treat the body, and that people who used natural remedies were con artists.
2. as the industrial society required more people to work in factories or in other labour positions, people were taken out of their homes on a daily basis, and there was no one at home to care for others.
3. this problem of being out of the home increased through World War I and II, and because so many young men (and women) were killed in the wars, created a gap where there were not any children left to care for elderly parents. This created small nursing homes to care for injured and elderly people, left without family.
4. in the rebuilding of countries, through the fifties, sixties, and seventies, all able bodied people were needed to be in the work force.  Corporations were replacing “mom and pop” shops. Women were increasingly taking on what were deemed "male” jobs. Soon babysitters were required for children, and day-cares became the norm.
5. entrepreneurs, always watching for a service niche, realized that there was a market opportunity to care for children, the ill, and the elderly.  Hospitals with a dollar agenda became big business, as did personal care homes, and education.  Pharmaceutical companies grew up around the “illness” industry, for there is not the same amount of money or annuity in the “wellness” industry.

No, this does not make us bad people.  It does show how we have been manipulated by circumstances and by those looking to profit from those circumstances.  Perhaps it is time to take our power back!

Blessings,

Judy 

Take a Nap and Let God Do the Rest!

One of my friends sent this to me, and it made me think of all the times that I have heard, “Quit trying so hard!  You are getting in the Creator’s way.”  

This bear obviously has heard this before and knew when to get out of the way.

Laughter and blessings,

Judy

 

This bridge is on the Old Donner Pass Highway .

It has a spectacular view of Donner Lake and  Donner Pass on Route 40.  A bear was walking across Rainbow Bridge ( Old Hwy 40 at  Donner Summit , Truckee ) on Saturday when two cars, also  crossing the bridge, scared the bear into jumping over the  edge of the bridge. Somehow the bear caught the ledge  and was able to pull itself to safety. Authorities decided  that nothing could be done to help Saturday night so they  returned Sunday morning to find the bear sound asleep on  the ledge.  After securing a net under the bridge the bear was tranquilized,  fell into the net, lowered, then woke up and walked out of the net. There is a moral to this story; this old bear made  a wrong move and found he was hanging by his nails. Somehow  he was able to pull himself up onto the ledge where he saw he  was in a very bad, impossible situation and what did he do?  Yep, he took a nap and sure enough, God took care of the  situation while he was asleep.  The moral of the story is that when confronted with a bad  situation, sometimes the best solution is to take a nap and  let God take care of the rest.

Take Time To Contemplate

The word “contemplate” means:  

1. (v. t.) To consider or have in view, as contingent or probable; to look forward to; to purpose; to intend. 
2. (v. i.) To consider or think studiously; to ponder; to reflect; to muse; to meditate. 
3. (v. t.) To look at on all sides or in all its bearings; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study.

I was surprised when this was the word that the Angels gave to me to work with today.  For me, contemplation is what I do all the time when I am thinking about a problem, a writing issue, or a “how to” problem.  In fact, I think most people contemplate all the time.

The Angels laughed at me when I expressed this idea.  Their idea of contemplation is tied in with meditation, and thinking about God or Great Spirit, and wondering how to live one’s life more gently.  I have mentioned before that the First Law Of The Universe is “Harm No One”.  This is a tough one for humans to follow, especially those in religions that believe in annihilating all the non-believers.  Our training has been to be competitive and to believe in the survival of the fittest – Darwin’s theory.  We think that we must beat others down.  

The Angels are working with us to help us see that we are all needed to be part of life, and that we can grow to understand this idea through contemplation (or meditation).  The Angels work with individuals and with groups to have the idea of force and fighting removed from the consciousness.  

When we contemplate, we are in the present moment, and we will not need to resort to force to achieve an end.

May you have a wonderfully contemplative day!

Many blessings,

Judy

Feel the Silence

God is the friend of silence. See how nature... trees, flowers, grass... grows in silence. See the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.

Mother Teresa  

There seems to be an extreme push from the heavens, for all of us to be in silence.  Creator seems to be looking to have us experience Oneness.  Whether we do this through silent observation, prayer, or meditation, the result will be an expansion of consciousness or awareness, of all that is around us.

Try it!

Blessings,

Judy

Great Horned Owl - Spirit ANimal

  Image from http://wdfw.wa.gov 

I was driving out of the parking lot at Fish Creek Park after teaching an evening workshop, when a big Great Horned Owl flew out of the tall grasses beside the road and across the hood of my vehicle.  I had already slowed to almost a stop so the big bird was safe.  It flew up into a tree close by the road and looked down at me.  It then hooted.  I started driving again.

As I drove home, I wondered about the message that Owl was sending me.  As I filtered through what I know of Owl, I realized that she has some unusual capabilities.  First, her eyes face forward while most birds and animals have eyes on the side of their head.  So, to allow her full range of vision, she is capable of turning her head ninety degrees either way which gives her the appearance of being able to do the impossible – to turn her head completely around.  

Second, she can fly silently because of the setting of the feathers on her wings.  Most birds fly with a flapping noise.  This silence gives her the mysterious ability of seemingly to appear out of thin air.  Owl is also associated with Athena, the goddess of wisdom.  And, because of their unusual characteristics, Owl is also considered wise.

Third, Owl has very keen hearing and can hunt a mouse by sound alone, simply by listening for squeaks and for scampering sounds.  Owl’s ability to hear so well has created a mythology around its ability to hear humans and to hear human thoughts.  Some say that Owl hears one’s cry for assistance and brings down wisdom to help the person in need.

Owl is a loner bird. After she raises her young, and trains them in the hunt, she and her mate go their separate ways until the next mating season.  Being solitary, much like a monk or wizard, also gives the Owl the air of being wise and contemplative.  Our Ancestors believed that Owl could fly into the heavens and talk with the Gods and Goddesses so that Owl had no need of other company.

What Owl’s message is, then, is that it is okay to be alone and by one’s self.  Contemplation is okay.  Simply following one’s own needs and harming no one is a way to be in service.  As well, learning to use one’s gifts in the quiet times is a good way to determine if the gifts are to be used in service to mankind in a direct way or in the indirect way.  

Owl does bring a touch of magic to our lives.  Enjoy her visits.

Many blessings,

Judy

Listening To The Guidance

  

One of my teachers said to our group that when we pray, we are talking to God (or the Universe or Great Spirit, or whatever you want to call the Energy that you talk to. And, when we meditate, God talks to us.  I find that my guidance comes through meditation, through Nature, through random messages from different people, or, from very specific words that seem to just show up.  However, there have been times where the Angels or Guides had to go through different people to get to me because I was not listening.  Sometimes, we get so caught up in doing that we forget to listen.

Quite a while ago, I was caught up in my own little drama of work and getting things done, and, I was not listening or meditating or really doing much spiritually.  One day I got a phone call from a lady.  She identified herself and then told me that I did not know her.  However, my Guides were not able to get through to me with a message so they asked her to deliver it.  The message was that it was time for me to pick up the book that my friend Ruth gave me about a year earlier.  I was to read the book, cover to cover, and then act on it.  The message included a notice that I really needed to start meditating for at least 15 minutes a day. 

I was stunned!  This lady could not know about my friend Ruth, or the book, and that I hadn’t read it.  I thanked the caller, went and found the book, and read it.  The reading of the book and practising what it said set me on a new path of spiritual work.  I am grateful for that day.

Blessings.

Judy

Reiki and Healing

                           

The part of healing that western medicine seems to ignore is the energetic healing of the body.  The beauty of the energy healing practice, like Reiki, is that it heals the physical, the emotional, the spiritual, and the mental (mind).  Energy practitioners will tell you that when one of these areas is out of balance, you are not well because you are out of balance.

The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy." (from http://www.reiki.org/faq/whatisreiki.html)

There are many Reiki practitioners and there are several schools of Reiki.. all good.  Reiki classes are available to those who wish to work on some self healing. 

I love the creed... Just for today:

• I will not anger
• I will not worry
• I will be grateful for all my blessings
• I will work with honesty and integrity
• I will be kind to all living beings

These are wonderful goals for all humans.  Several friends have this poster printed out and stuck on their bathroom mirror so they can repeat the mantra each morning.

Several years ago, on a Saturday morning, I was in a bicycle accident when the trail we were riding crumbled beneath me and dropped me and my bike about eight feet down into a creek bed, amongst trees that had been chewed off by beavers.  I dislocated my shoulder and had massive bruises and several pulled muscles.  Four Reiki sessions over Saturday and Sunday had me mobile and able to go to work on Monday morning.

And, at the end of November 2022, I had some surgery.  One of my friends volunteered Reiki sessions to help smooth over the worst of the discomfort.  Each time she did a session - I was restricted to no visitors so it was distance healing - I went into a deep sleep and woke up feeling refreshed.  It was wonderful!

Remember, the information in this blog  is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider for a medical condition.

However, if you are stuck and healing is slow, you may want to try out Reiki.

Many blessings,

Judy

Facts About December

 

                                                 Winter snow - Picture by Judy Hirst  

 It is December and Christmas is very close.  Do you know the following things about December?

1.  The Moon celebration is called "The Moon of Long Nights".

2.  During this time, the water is believed to be revitalized.

3.  The event of Winter Solstice, held on either December 21st or 22nd depending on the length of the year. This honours the longest night and the return of the Sun Goddess, Lucina.

4.  Our Ancestors thought that December was a time to  endure, for the elderly to die, and for the world, and their life, to be reborn.

5.  During this cold time of December, our Ancestors spent time on introspection and renewal - weaving new clothes, creating new tools, honouring the Gods and Goddesses.

6.  It is common for people to use this time as time of purification.  People have saunas and roll in the snow. Others participate in sweat lodges.  Some simply steam.  The hot and the cold are the balance to purify our bodies.

7.  The trees that we honour at this time are the family of evergreens - pine trees will be decorated for Christmas

8. The colour traditionally associated with Christmas was dark red.

Many blessings,

Judy