As are many other people, I am affected by the waning sunlight available each day. I can feel my energies and ability to focus mitigated by the increasing darkness that shrouds my portion of the earth. From Autumnal Equinox in September through the falling of the leaves and the increasing chill, I eagerly anticipate Winter Solstice, which occurs tomorrow at 11:28 a.m. EST. As the sun reaches its lowest point away from me, the shortest sunlit day holds promise of the return of light. It does this according to the scientific, non-dogmatic reality of the workings of the Earth and the Sun. People since the beginning of time have held rituals and celebrations to entice the return of the sun, and to rejoice in its rebirth. Druids and other pagan groups celebrated by lighting candles and bonfires and gathering evergreen branches. In more recent times, the light celebrations of Hanukkah and Christmas have joined the merriment of the return of the sun, as one focuses on the miracle of eight days of light from one day’s worth of oil, and the other celebrates the birth of Jesus. On Winter Solstice, gatherings at Stonehenge and Newgrange mark the sunrise on this day as light pours through portals at dawn. As we are faced with a darkness brought on by the decisions of those whose motivations are grounded in anything but the light, it is time to focus on the return of the sun and base our motivations in hope, faith, and peace. You can celebrate tomorrow by lighting candles and meditating on the rebirth of the sun as it makes its way north to warm us, sustain us, and nurture us with its rays. Perhaps start making plans for a garden to plant after Spring Equinox, or renew your commitment to work in and through the energy of love. As we gather to celebrate the Winter Solstice, the bonfires in the night are external manifestations of the brightest sparks that we are eternally. Let us take this moment in time to renew our faith in that which is greater than we are but of which we are intrinsic and vital parts. May this returning light embolden us to face the challenges ahead and know that as spirits having a physical experience, we are eternal beings living in and of the light.
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The river flows past our cabin. It does not contemplate where it is going, or how it will arrive at some illusion of end. It just flows, carrying the debris from storms, or supporting the flocks of geese and ducks riding from one bank to the other. One day we watched a silent boat drift down the center of the river. It started a gentle pirouette that struck me as unusual for a cabin cruiser to perform. We boarded our pontoon and headed toward it, making a wide arc before sidling up and grabbing the rails. When we did, a disoriented man emerged from the cabin. He was obviously existing in the stupor between awake and asleep. With no apparent awareness, he started the boat’s engine and started back up the river. Somehow he kept the boat in the channel without drifting. We lost sight of him as he rounded a bend. The river guided him, I hope, to a safe shore. We later found out his was one of half a dozen boats whose mooring lines had been maliciously cut during the night. He was the lucky one. The rest were sailboats whose masts struck a bridge that passes over the river, breaking masts and damaging boats. Some repairs will go into the next season. And some boats may be beyond repair. We must trust the river will carry us safely through, even when we worry about the shearing of our masts. Those who cut our moorings will not know the ultimate impact such behavior will create, and neither do we. Will our masts hit a bridge and then, damaged, glide under and through, or will we slide past unscathed until someone helps us take the helm again? We have no choice right now about what is happening, but we do have a choice to allow the river to guide us safely to shore. Recently I was awakened to the loud retort of a gunshot. And then another. And then another. My weekends are often spent in the country at a friend’s marina where, from a duck blind, hunters are able to entice ducks and geese into their gun sights, shoot them, and then boat over to pick the carcass out of the flowing river. They do this in the very early morning hours, when the light of the rising sun turns the river’s surface into gently wavering pale gold, blue, and pink streaks that subtly bend the reflections of the bare trees. I dislike being awakened by this sound. It is very jolting, though less jolting than it is to the goose who was enjoying an early morning flight over the water. In warmer weather, we take a small pontoon down the river, enjoying the flora and fauna. I am wondering if this goose was one I would greet along the way. It seems that the ducks and geese form groups of multi-generational families that swim or sun together. There seems to be a close bond and a protectiveness toward the young who are taught well how to navigate the river, but apparently not how to avoid the hunter’s aim. I mourn the passing of each duck or goose as it is plucked from the river and think of their family, who will wonder what happened to their loved one. I am a mostly vegan. I slide sometimes into vegetarianism, but for the most part I avoid animal products, anything that had a mother and a face. I know there are many ways in which I am eating more healthfully for me and for the planet. I watched the movie What the Health?, among others of its kind, and was more convinced that my choices are the best ones for me. But I also think they are the best ones for the planet, not only because of the threats to the environment of factory animal farming, but also because I think taking the life of an animal is against the benevolent idea of “first do no harm.” It is against the idea to treat each being in the manner in which we would wish to be treated. And then I think of the harm we do to each other on a daily basis and while I recognize this place as a massive school in which we learn lessons both positive and negative, I cannot help but think at some point we should progress toward kindness and move up to the next level of understanding. Be the change, Gandhi said. We need to embrace the idea of a more peaceable kingdom. Now. Be the change toward kindness. In all things, first be kind. As we seek an awakening of a diverse and empowered new paradigm for America, we need to consider what that might mean. We will have to widen our perspective and understanding of what diverse means, and how diversity manifests on this planet. Although we can look at diversity from its broadest meaning, i.e., the diversity of the plants, animals, rocks, landscapes, etc., when we address the issues of diversity we narrow it to its human expression. We can look at the widest aperture of that diversity—one person sings, another dances, one builds structures, one grows plants—each and every person is diverse, an individual expressing their unique being. When we look at groups of people, we look at them as being classified by race, color, religion, gender, sex, national origin, or a combination of these and other diverse characteristics. Our laws state we cannot discriminate based on these qualities, but there are certain individuals and groups who discriminate against each other based on these traits. One of the most astonishing aspects of this past year was to find how much hatred and animosity there is by certain groups of people against other groups of people. Exposing the dark underbelly of the country was painful to watch, the darkness that skims below the surface of what until recently expressed itself as a moderately polite society. The divisiveness that has been engendered needs to be examined, its roots and causes, and we need to work to mitigate and heal these different perspectives. Someday, we will discover and embrace that we really are spirits having a physical experience and our differences will be accepted as nothing more or less than aspects of lessons whose actual purpose is to teach us compassion, empathy, and love. Blessings! We are being challenged, and the lessons are difficult to grasp. Cultural changes are happening rapidly. The time is now to become part of the solution and heal the inequalities and pains. We are not helpless. The things that are occurring are doing so so that we may learn new lessons, take different steps, reach out to different ideas and people, plug into the All and raise a great energetic sparkling cloud of love. It is time for our empathy and compassion to precede us into a room. Let people know we are here as healers, led to this time and space to continue the journey that started with the moment the Creative Spirit brought us into this plane to live, to learn, to love past reason. The reports in the news speak of a rising of the matriarchy. The time of feminine healing, a healing that was once the norm before the energy was wrested away and used for lesser purposes. We are watching a readjustment so that the Goddess can edge into this space and place her hands in blessing. It is time we join into a reawakening of the energy that birthed the world, and in that energy we can overcome the strife and challenges that are assaulting us. Of course we need a balance of the masculine and feminine vibrations. This is required. But the angry dominance must end in all its forms and expressions. It is time to find balance. Enter the energy this balance brings, join hands, overcome the darkness, live our beautiful and blessed lives as the spiritual beings we are. Namaste! As a medium and intuitive consultant, I have given readings to people for many years, and I often wondered if there was a technique I could create and share to empower others to communicate with the spirit that is their essence, with their spirit guides, and with loved ones and teachers on the other side. As a writer who uses writing to receive guidance and inspiration from spirit, I was led to develop Intuitive Writing. While there are many techniques for getting glimpses of your life plan and purpose, intuitive writing asks you to take control of accessing this information for yourself by using writing as a means to open the communication pathways with both yourself and with the plane of spirit. It helps you develop your writing so you can both be inspired and informed. And, it provides you with a convenient record of the process so you can continue to learn and grow in order to live your chosen life. My next Intuitive Writing class starts Thursday, October 5, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. and continues on October 12 and 19. The class will be held at Mythic Treasures, 274 N. Goodman Street, Rochester, NY, in Village Gate. The cost is $60, which includes a copy of the book Intuitive Writing and a composition notebook to help you start your journey. Please contact me (call or text) at (585) 755-9922 to reserve a seat. The class is limited to 10 people so that each may get individual attention. I am very pleased to announce that I am once again offering classes and seances at Mythic Treasures in Village Gate, at 274 N Goodman Street in Rochester, NY. Please check the schedule below and call or text me at (585) 755-9922 or e-mail thewitt3@gmail.com to register for a class or seance.
September 26: Seance---Please join this gathering of spirits on both sides of the veil as messages of love and guidance are given to those in attendance. Cost: $20 October 10: Crystal Grid Workshop---Learn crystal gridding to enhance your life and change the world. This workshop discusses crystals, their properties, and the power activated when we create a grid to actualize our desires. Cost: $20 October 5, 12 & 19: Intuitive Writing---Who are you? Why are you here? What is your path? How do you fulfill your destiny? When will you finally start actualizing your life? This three-week course will help you to use writing to creatively and intuitively access knowledge about yourself, discern your life story, and live the life you are meant to live. Learn to free yourself from expectations, communicate with your own unique spirit, and receive the inspiration the universe has available for you. Required Supplies: Composition notebook and comfortable writing instrument. Includes a free copy of the book Intuitive Writing. Cost: $60 October 31: Seance---Please join me for this special Halloween seance. Cost: $20 Fear begets fear and fear grows into distrust and hate. Refuse to live in fear and those filled and acting out of hate bred in fear are rendered powerless. Know that although this incarnation is one of many and bears the illusion of brevity, that which makes us unique and at the same time connected is permanent, never ending and breathed into being in that first manifesting thought of the Creative Spirit. Dispel the darkness of fear by letting your spirit shine with the healing and nurturing energy of love. From: Simple Gifts: Daily Meditations with Spirit, http://a.co/3biwGVA I am very pleased to announce that I am once again offering classes and seances at Mythic Treasures in Village Gate, at 274 N Goodman Street in Rochester, NY. Please check the schedule below and contact me at (585) 755-9922 or e-mail thewitt3@gmail.com to register for a class or seance. Payment is due at the time of registration via PayPal.
September 7: Crystal Grid Workshop---Learn crystal gridding to enhance your life and change the world. This workshop discusses crystals, their properties, and the power activated when we create a grid to actualize our desires. Cost: $20 September 14: Chakra Cleansing---Feeling Frazzled and Exhausted? Chakra Cleaning will remove the dust bunnies from your chakras, leaving you energized and focused to enjoy the new year in renewed physical health and spiritual vitality. This class will explain what chakras are, what functions they have in the auric and physical bodies, and how to keep them clean so our energies can flow unimpeded, thus helping us to maintain optimal physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. We will discuss the colors and crystals that are associated with each chakra. Cost $20 September 26: Seance---Please join this gathering of spirits on both sides of the veil as messages of love and guidance are given to those in attendance. Cost: $20 October 10: Crystal Grid Workshop---(See above) Cost: $20 October 5, 12 & 19: Intuitive Writing---Who are you? Why are you here? What is your path? How do you fulfill your destiny? When will you finally start actualizing your life? This three-week course will help you to use writing to creatively and intuitively access knowledge about yourself, discern your life story, and live the life you are meant to live. Learn to free yourself from expectations, communicate with your own unique spirit, and receive the inspiration the universe has available for you. Required Supplies: Composition notebook and comfortable writing instrument. Cost: $60 October 31: Seance---Please join me for this special Halloween seance. Cost: $20 I had stoically decided that I was not at all interested in the eclipse. My dad, a geologist and sometimes consultant to NASA, had made sure I saw an eclipse when I was a young girl, and how many eclipses does one need to see? Or so I thought. Then, for a reason I did not realize at the moment, I decided I needed to be present for yesterday’s eclipse even though in Rochester, NY, we had only 70–73% coverage. I had not thought to get the special glasses, because I had not thought I would need them. Someone kindly let me borrow his several times during the time of “totality.” I was grateful to see the small bright sun partially covered by the small dark disk, and thought, well, that is something one does not see every day. I was not prepared for the shift in the energies I felt immediately after the event and I can’t exactly put my finger on the source but it was a wave of nurturing, sustaining energy, and I ascertained immediately that there are other waves of this energy coming over the next few days as the event itself recedes. So the thing is that I contemplate these moments on the path as a mystic is supposed to do, and I realized this was another reminder to look at everything as one. Everything has an impact on everything else and the movement of one thing, the change or shift in the paradigm of one thing, impacts something else, kind of how a billiard ball when it hits the next billiard ball makes it move. So, perhaps these wider, cosmic events are contrived by the Creative Spirit to make us move in a certain direction. An eclipse is a natural occurrence that causes no harm and brings people together to watch it. And this is very interesting to me because as a mystic it never dawned on me to think about this in this way, to contemplate the larger meaning of something like the eclipse, although I know a shaman, for example, who recognized that the eclipse was a sign of a shift that is occurring. And what are these energies that are being released? Is it the energy of the eclipse itself or the energies that are part of the attention being given to it? And that’s the thing that should be looked at. Where are these energies coming from? They seem to not only be positive, but they seem to be impelling us to change, asking me to change. It is very odd. This is one of those unexpected moments and it is a very strange feeling I am experiencing, after a week of dynamic shifts and changes on my own path. I am beginning to realize the broader importance and impact of my belief that we need to embrace the concept that we are One under One Sky, as we were today watching the eclipse. And I sense that this new energy will impel us to work toward a greater change for the greater good. To learn more about One Sky Mindfulness Center, please join me at https://www.facebook.com/OneSkyMindfulnessCenter/ |
Tobie HewittWriter, Creative Mystic, Teacher, Consultant, Public Speaker Archives
March 2019
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