Can Trees Be Elders?

Many visionaries, herbalists, and people on the medicine path are experiencing profound connection with the plant world. The plant kingdom is reaching out to us at this time.

In this thirty minute webinar you will learn about:

• Trees as sacred places that allow us connect to the ancestors and Otherworld.
• Trees as initiating elders available to all of us at this time.
• Practices to deepen your connection to tree wisdom at this time.

Join Merissa Lovett on Wednesday, March 27 11 AM EST at Shamanic Earth Medicine. Anyone who signs up here will receive the webinar replay and free gift.

3 Ways To Heal Your Heart Chakra

Are your empathic abilities running your life?

Or maybe you are seeing, sensing, or hearing spirits while asleep or awake?

I know how this feels. And it turns out that this can be caused by a lack of trust. Relating to your empathic gifts, helping spirits, and the different parts of yourself takes faith –  even a type of intimacy.

It takes the power of your heart. 

So I recently offered a free workshop with tips to heal and strengthen this important psychic center. The video replay is below,

I shared plant helpers, stone and crystal allies, and shamanic practices that nurture and heal your heart center. The livestream is 30 minutes long and the video has a link to the free gift.

3 Ways To Heal Your Heart Chakra Replay

Animal Messengers

Animals often bring spiritual gifts that help make our lives better.  I’ve been fortunate enough to receive many messages this way. It’s something that happens to many people and they might not even realize that it’s happening.

This can take the form of the animal crossing your path, hearing about it a lot, or dreaming about it.  Receiving a bird feather by finding one on the ground is also very powerful way of receiving animal messages.  Sometimes the meanings of these encounters are immediately known to you. However, if you’re having trouble seeing, hearing, or feeling the message, here’s a different way to receive it:

Sit comfortably after the animal has left, or during its appearance, and whistle rhythmically between your teeth or rattle if you have one.  Whistling rhythmically between your teeth can be done on the inhale and exhale. This makes it ideal for entering an altered state of consciousness.  Once you have achieved this, clearly remember the animal or tune into the animal’s energy that is still with you. You can ask for its message and receive much clear guidance.  

The other way is to pray for a dream explaining what you have seen, then watch for coincidences during waking life.. Some of these coincidences can be very dramatic and beautiful.  This is what many people call synchronicity. One of my animal guides was a black panther. I was introduced to the spirit during a healing. A few weeks later, I received a wonderful dream about this animal.  It was lying down and rolled over and stretched out its Paul torts me. I felt a strong sense of connection when this happened.

Later, I was visiting a small zoo where there were black panthers.  I clearly thought of that very empowering dream. As I was thinking of it, the black panther laid down, rolled over on its side and stretched out its paw, exactly as it had in the dream.  This reenactment of my dream strengthened my connection to this animal spirit.

Some animals with connections to deities

Some animals have been associated with deities for centuries.  If your spirit is connected to any of these deities, contact with these animal spirits can be a way of receiving communications from the divine.  A common example is the dove as the symbol of God’s love in the Christian and Jewish traditions.

Here are some animals that have been associated with gods or goddess is in many cultures:

Bear – gives courage and is associated with female goddesses, often mother goddesses, particularly in northern latitudes.

Deer –associated with gentleness and the stag is associated with male power in some cultures.  The deer was also associated with Jesus Christ for a while in Europe.

Eagle – associated with the sun gods or with the highest universal spirit.  Brings prayers to the divine.

Rabbit –associated with the Moon, with fertility, cleverness,success.  The hare was associated with the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring.

 

Working With Plant Spirits and Flower Devas

Plants are our elders and their magic is alive at the solstice! The plant kingdom communicates with us throughout the day, through our breath, our senses, and through our spirits. And relating to plant spirits is easy at this time of year. Here are some free tools to help you begin your journey into plant spirit healing: a video overview, and a downloadable e-book with video trainings and other helpful tips.

Plus, I offer you invitation to experience my shamanic coaching work with a free introductory session if you download the e-book below. Plant Spirits changed my life. I hope they will invite you into “the dream of nature” – as the healer Eliot Cowan writes.

 

 

 

 

Messages From Nature: Asking Yes or No

 

Photo by John Connelly

Resonating with the earth’s energy field.

Modern living does not encourage energetic connection with the natural world. The hectic pace of life makes it easy to feel stressed and alienated from nature.  Some healers, like Barbara Brennan, believe that our auras now often vibrate at a different frequency than the vibration of the earth.

When you sit or stand with your back against a tree, you may begin to feel more relaxed.  Barbara Brennan suggests pine trees because their auras pulse in a similar rhythm to a human energy field. If you are sensitive, you may even feel a shift in your vibration.  You are beginning to attune your aura to the earth’s energy field.

Augury is another way of harmonizing with nature. The intelligence of the earth communicates with all of us.  Synchronicity and omens from nature are a way of tapping into this. Often, taking a few moments to ask questions of the natural world will help you to relax. This becomes a form of centering.  It allows you to become part of nature.

Yes/No questions

This simple approach has helped me many times with very complicated problems.  It helped me a great deal when I was trying to find a place to live during a very challenging time.  The yes or no interaction with the natural world kept me in the moment and gave me step -by -step guidance.  It also helped to ground me when I felt I didn’t have time to use other forms of divination. Each time I practiced it, the inner feeling of knowing corresponding with the synchronistic natural event, made me feel more connected to the healing energies of the earth.  And it gave me excellent guidance.

In the beginning, some people may feel more comfortable asking yes or no questions.

First, center and ground yourself in your favorite way.  Then, while in a meditative state, ask your question. An easy way to do this is to observe a tree branch on a calm day. If a wind moves the tree branch, the answer is yes.

Or observe a calm body of water or a clear sky.  Either one can become a blank canvas for your answer to appear in the form of an unusual event.  If a fish jumps out of the water, that is a “yes” reply. Likewise, if a bird flies across a clear sky or the sun suddenly breaks through cloud cover in a way that is unusual, that is a similar signal.  Of course, you will choose the markers that are meaningful to you.

As you practice this, a  powerful thing will begin to happen.  Your gut feelings, psychic gifts, and the natural world begin to synchronize.  This creates a feeling of spiritual communication between yourself and the earth energies.  This is the truly important aspect of this practice.

If you’re having trouble determining yes or no:

Sometimes it helps to ask the universe for a sign that means “yes” to you.  People who dowse with a pendulum often do this to get started

You may feel blocked or scared and can’t get a clear answer. You may want to take a few moments to attune to nature. Then ask if this is a good time for nature divination. Once you receive your answer, ask your question or wait until you receive a positive answer.

If you enjoy this practice, you are welcome to join us at Shamanic Earth Medicine, a community of of shamanic dreamers, practitioners, changemakers, and earth healers.

DO YOU SECRETLY INDULGE IN CHOCOLATE?

Cacao pods

Do you binge eat chocolate? Or call yourself a “chocoholic”?

Chocolate dependency can actually become an addiction. One woman, who checked into a food abuse treatment center, claimed that she ate unhealthy amounts of chocolate daily.

But what if we discovered that chocolate is a ceremonial drink? One that can heal and open our hearts?

Cacao or chocolate can be approached in this way and become a blessing and medicine.

I’ll be talking about this and more in my upcoming webinar series:

4 Power Plants You May Take For Granted: How to Respect Your Relationship to Coffee, Tea, Tobacco, and Chocolate

11;30- noon EST from Monday to Wednesday 3/19-3/22.

Did you know cacao, coffee, tobacco, and tea are sacred plants, each used in ceremony by their parent cultures? In this 4 day webinar series, Kirsten and Merissa Lovett will explore these teaching or “power” plants, their potential to create addiction when misused, and their healing power to transform addiction when related to in a respectful way. Each session is 30 minutes long, and anyone who registers will receive a sacred practice to work with each plant.

Learn how to:

• Recognize power plants as channels for spiritual work
• Understand why their addictive potential is a symptom of misuse of their power
• Use each plant in a healthy way
• Understand how traditional cultures worked with the plant
• Build a spiritual connection to each plant

Start the solar year with a better relationship with these powerful plant helpers.

IS TOBACCO REALLY AS BAD AS EVERYONE THINKS?

Many of us see tobacco use as a “nasty habit” or as a harmful addiction. And with good reason. According to the US Government website Tobacco Free, more than 16 million people already have at least one disease from smoking. Smokers die 13 years before non-smokers. It’s the leading cause of illnesses that could be […]

via IS TOBACCO REALLY AS BAD AS EVERYONE THINKS? — Now Moment Journey

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO COFFEE?

Coffee flowers and immature fruit.

Many of us are. We can become dependent on coffee: need to drink more cups to feel truly awake or feel irritable if we stop drinking it. If you feel, like David Lynch, that even “bad coffee is better than no coffee at all”, you’re not alone. Even the great composers J.S. Bach and Beethoven were probably coffee addicts.

Well, it’s actually okay, let’s just use this one tip to change your relationship to the ritual of your morning coffee. Before drinking your morning coffee, stir the four sacred elements of earth, wind, fire, and water into your cup to create greater health.  

Coffee is a sacred power plant and superfood that can help you connect with the divine. It’s been used this way since the Sufis discovered it centuries ago.

I’ll be giving you more tips and tricks just like this in my upcoming webinar series:

4 Power Plants You May Take For Granted: How to Respect Your Relationship to Coffee, Tea, Tobacco, and Chocolate

11;30- noon EST from Monday to Wednesday 3/19-3/22 at Shamanic Earth Medicine.

Did you know cacao, coffee, tobacco, and tea are sacred plants, each used in ceremony by their parent cultures? In this 4 day webinar series, Kirsten and Merissa Lovett will explore these teaching or “power” plants, their potential to create addiction when misused, and their healing power to transform addiction when related to in a respectful way. Each session is 30 minutes long, and anyone who registers here will receive a sacred practice to work with each plant.

Learn how to:

• Recognize power plants as channels for spiritual work
• Understand why their addictive potential is a symptom of misuse of their power
• Use each plant in a healthy way
• Understand how traditional cultures worked with the plant
• Build a spiritual connection to each plant

Start the solar year with a better relationship with these powerful plant helpers.

Transforming With Star Energies

 

Do you feel better when you look at the stars?

In the mid 1990s, I discovered my connection to star energies when I began to follow the Mayan sacred calendar, which has a strong connection to the Pleiades and the planet Venus. I began to dream frequently about Sirius, the Pleiades, Alpha Centauri, and the Milky Way. I experienced a healing where my “homework” involved my partner pouring a bowl of starlight and moonlight infused water over my head each morning. This water helped me in a very profound way.

These experiences intrigued me. I discovered that astrology is not the only type of star wisdom. I began to realize that stars are a very important energy to connect with, a type of spiritual medicine.

Star wisdom has evolved from the time of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, when we used the stars as a type of “clock” that helped us decide when to gather different types of food. In some cultures, like Peru, star divination is done to predict the success of the harvest.

According to Andean mysticism, every person has a special star.  This star guides and energizes a person.  For Westerners, the star may be known through a dream, divination, or it might just be one that you feel very drawn to.  Peruvian healer and cultural anthropologist, Theo Paredes, says that star energies connect a person to the “Cosmic Father”. Joan Wilcox says that the guiding star is a type of spiritual guide.

I have been working with star energies for almost 20 years. On February 15, I am offering a free online introduction to Transforming with Your Guiding Star. It is a half an hour long from 11:30 to noon. Learn to:

• Become more of your authentic self and help manifest your goals.
• Discover some traditional views on stellar ancestry
• Heal and balance your lightbody.
• Working with stones and crystals to enhance your connection to star energies.
• Practices to work with stellar energies at different times of day or the month.

Anyone who signs up here will receive a free recorded replay of the event, plus a video with a special Meditation with Your Guiding Star that will empower your chakra system. I look forward to sharing this with you!

2018 is a Justice Year!

 

2018 is an “11” year (2+0+1+8=11). And for those of you who read tarot with the Rider Waite Smith deck, the eleventh trump card is Justice. A Justice year is all about maintaining inner balance while being in good relationship with others and the earth. This may feel overwhelming, given how much imbalance is in the world right now, but I have always loved this quote from Dr Martin Luther King. Jr.:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

In the Crowley Thoth Tarot, Justice is called “Adjustment”. This is a key component in our interactions with society this year. It helps to be aware of what is unjust, be honest about how we can respond to it, and maintain balance within ourselves. All of this demands almost constant little adjustments. The goals we start out with in January may be very different by June. Feedback from others will also be important, as long as we remain true to ourselves.

Justice also connects to the astrological sign of Libra. One of Libra’s shadow sides is getting along with others at all costs. It is necessary to understand that no one wants this kind of justice. Listening to others and listening to ourselves is paramount this year.

Because maintaining this balance can be so tricky for me, I am including one of my favorite three card layouts. You can use this one with either tarot or oracle cards:

First Card: What is in balance?

Middle Card: What is out of balance?

Third Card: What restores balance?

Of course, the World Tarot Year card is only half of the equation. There is also each individual’s tarot year card. This card represents your personal mission for 2018. Balancing the two cards can help you plan your projects for the year.

You were born with a spiritual mission that will be accelerated this year, and will also be strengthened by your relationship to the world’s energy- if you understand where these energies are going. Discover how your individual path flows with our collective journey.