Remembering Angeles Arrien 1940-2014

Yesterday I picked up the May/June issue of Common Ground, an alternative magazine I sometimes read here in northern California, and turned to the final page, Last Words. I found a quote by one of my great teachers, Angeles Arrien, and below her name, two dates with a dash between them. It took my mind several seconds to process what this meant. NO! Angeles can't be gone; she was only 74. She was in the midst of a teaching schedule for her newest book, Living In Gratitude. She's a pillar of wisdom. And now, she is an ancestor.

While so many have transitioned already this year, including my own mother, Angeles' death hits me hard, because it's out of the blue. Judging by the events planned for later in 2014, I imagine it must have been sudden. But though I've scoured the web, so far I've only discovered the date, (April 24^th) not cause. Not that it matters. She was obviously complete here.

What a gift this woman was, and what a gift she had: the extraordinary ability to meld anthropology, psychology and comparative religions to help those of us privileged to study with her learn how to live a practical spirituality, or as she referred to it, to "walk the mystical path with practical feet."

I took her Four-Fold Way Foundational Training at Esalen, on the ruggedly beautiful California coast, in January 1994. I'd read her book, The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary the previous summer, and the talk I attended then convinced me she had much wisdom to share. I enrolled in the weeklong training, though by the following winter I was deep into my awakening odyssey (disguised as serious illness), and could barely function on the physical plane. Nevertheless I made the 5-hour journey, and my emerging state of unreality probably enhanced my absorption of her teachings.

What I learned is how deeply Angeles embodied what she taught. The tenets of the Four-Fold Way are:

Warrior: Show up and choose to be present

Healer
: Pay attention to what has heart and meaning

Visionary
: Tell the truth without blame or judgment

Teacher: 
Be open to outcome, not attached to outcome.

I internalized these truths into a little sing-song: "Show up, pay attention, tell the truth and let it go!" It's a credo for living that serves us well throughout our lives.

What Angeles brilliantly modeled transcended the personal growth community. Her books and practices have found a place in corporate, academic and medical milieux, as well as the non-profit sector. When I think of her, some of the words that come to mind include authenticity, generosity of spirit, wholeheartedness. And joy.

Heaven has gained another angel, so aptly named. Thank you for shining your Light in my life, dear one. In boundless gratitude, blessings.

Grace Notes: Other Mothers and The Mother of All

I didn't send my Mom a Mother's Day card this year; she made her transition in January. I did send a trio of cards to a beloved 100-year-old friend who's been a spiritual mother my entire life, from the days when I'd paste my artwork on the kitchen window she'd pass on her way to work (and to which she'd respond in poetry), to our adult friendship spanning four decades. Ellie and her husband never had children, yet I don't think that's why so many "young people" (as she characterized those in their 50s when she was 92!) have adopted her as a surrogate Mom. It's because, by her very essence, she engenders the deep love and appreciation we associate with mothering.

I've been blessed to enjoy this kind of relationship a few times in my life. Another was with a woman whose husband I met in the park, not long after I'd graduated from college. He brought me home to meet his wife as though I were a flea market find, and the three of us became fast friends during the year before I moved to California. I was just launching my life at 22, and Sten and Ethel provided the support and encouragement I needed to thrive — right down to lending me their old car for the final weeks prior to my relocation, so I could get around town once I'd sold mine. Ethel had multiple sclerosis (MS), and her optimism and sunny disposition in the face of her illness seem even more amazing to me now. For her birthday that year I sent a singing balloon-a-gram; the center balloon was shaped like a heart. She told me this balloon kept its helium for weeks and followed her around the house! That's the power of Love.

Another spiritual mother for 26 years and counting is Louise Hay. An old friend gifted me with Louise's signature book, You Can Heal Your Life in 1988, the same year I was blessed to meet Louise in person when she held a "Hay Ride" event in San Francisco. Her breakthrough personal growth work has sustained and healed me on many levels since then. Louise is just nine months older than my biological mother, so in many ways she really does feel like my Mom.

Who are the "other mothers" in your life? Mother's Day is a beautiful moment to let them know how much you cherish their love, their support, their wisdom. Whether they know you personally or are a public figure who's helped you via their planetary service (Oprah springs to mind), take a moment to acknowledge this gift. In the level playing field of the digital age we can connect with almost anyone, yet your thank you needn't be splashed across the social landscape unless you so choose. If you send your message via the quantum field, it will be received — at an even more profound level.

If you can and want to connect in 3D, that's always a delight. I'll call my 100+ year-old friend in the morning, and thank her again for shining her Light in my life.

Finally, there is our collective Mother, Gaia, in all her (wo)manifestations. During my awakening journey I realized how profoundly I yearned to nestle into the nurturing archetypal arms of the Great Mother. I found her in trees, in our animal kin, in metaphysical bookstores and sacred ceremony, and in the wisdom of those who had gone before me and could give a name to this longing.

Reaching our Light means daring a descent into the dark, to the ancient womb of Mystery that lives within each one, calling us to awaken and claim our power. Men and women alike are capable of this kind of birth, which knows no gender — only the willingness to open to the immanent truth of our being.

Everything arises from this awareness: how we move through the world, how we effect change, how we define what "matters" (which comes from the same root as "mother".) Uncloaked, we are cut from whole cloth — "material" in its original sense. When we abide in the Mother, who we are matters — and we are always Home.

Mother yourself, today and every day. That's the greatest grace note of all.

~ Much Love to you ~

What's Needling You?

Several times today I felt my clothes attack me. Once when I was out walking this gorgeous autumn morning. I plucked at the label on my shirt, and went on. An hour or so later I felt the stab again. The label didn't seem that rough, but it certainly was bothersome. I moved it and thought about cutting it out later. Then I visited my favorite consignment store, where I tried on both pants and shirts (hence removing all my clothing, and getting dressed again.)

Driving to the library, I felt that stab again. Perplexed, sitting at a red light I reached carefully to the point of pain and to my astonishment withdrew…a needle and thread! I burst out laughing. How is it possible that my pants (for this is the color the thread matched, though I don't recall mending them recently) made it through a wash and dry cycle, onto my body, then off and back on, all with a needle intact?

It's another example of Spirit's delicious sense of humor. At first I thought, "needle in a haystack," though no resonating images came to mind. But when I wondered what might be "needling" me, I had to smile. There are so many irritants vexing us these days, as Uranus and Pluto square off in the heavens and we face our underworld demons and rebellious, quixotic, breakdown/breakthrough events here on earth.

The key is to follow the thread to magical, mystical moments in positive expectation, unattached to outcome, unafraid. It's a tall order, and one we are all capable of stepping up to and into. We're swinging wildly between connected, congruent, 5D transparency and understanding, and 3D anger, disappointment, overwhelment. It's OK; it's all good. When life needles you, find out what you need in that moment, and thread your way to the next adventure. Haystacks have baled. We can, too: bundle with your besties, and carry on…

Why You Should Drop Out

Are you bone-tired? Have you been climbing mental mountains for so long your metaphysical metatarsals simply can't take another step? It's time to drop out.

While books such as Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In implore and inspire women to reach for the pinnacle of professional achievement, sometimes — especially now, as the planet awakens en masse and all systems wobble and shift as we do — the best move isn't up, or even lateral, but out. Into the green pastures of the unknown, to follow the still, small voice growing louder each day that you stuff it into practical have-to's and won't-waits. You don't, and it can. It's amazing how little the titles and trophies matter, once you remember and reconnect with your essence self.

As I just posted to Healing Journeys, a LinkedIn group in which a member asked whether listening to heart or mind is more important, "My mind ruled my being for the first third of my life. I think much of this is cultural; such mental, control-oriented focus is a Western construct. Then a protracted health crisis catapulted me out of my mind (literally, out of my linear perception) and onto my path of awakening. I began to heal/whole (from the same root, hale) as I opened to my connection with All-That-Is and remembered the truth of who and what I am: spirit, embodied. On the far side of my dark night of the soul I created LiveYourLight.com to 'midwife' others on their transformational journey. 



"Now the entire planet is waking up, and it's one wild ride. The greatest gift we can give one another is compassion and Love, holding the space for each other's process and offering resources and support where practical."

Downtime is essential for this to happen; you must allow yourself the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical space to marinate in deep soul memory, free from the distractions and constraints of the mundane. Some of those who have been wayshowers for decades are turning inward now to replenish their own wells, to serve the whole not from constant travel and teaching but by restoring their chi, so that what they radiate nourishes the collective, allowing others to witness their example and use it as a touchstone for their own journey.

Jasmuheen, one of the spiritual leaders who has been invited by Divine guidance to withdraw for the next several years, writes in her last global message: "This is not a time of fear or uncertainty regarding the current changes in our world, for all of this has been long predicted and will be rewoven for the good of all in the fullness of time. It is our time now to nurture ourselves, to feel other rhythms that are also here for us, of great peace and contentment, and to gather together if and when we are called there to share in heartfelt ways."

Remember, too, that difficult or strange emotions you're feeling are not necessarily yours; this mass awakening is throwing a huge amount of toxic residue into the atmosphere to be transmuted. To ground and clear, plant your feet on grass, drink lots of pure water, spend time in Nature, celebrate yourself, and LOVE with every fiber of your being. You are one with the All, and this is a magnificent time to be alive on Earth!

So if you're feeling overwhelmed, and the idea of sitting on a Bored of Directors is as appealing as a marathon flossing session, I invite you to allow yourself to drop out. Relinquish your grip on the big E (expectation, from self or others) and lean in to Life with a capital L. You are never alone, even if choose to spend extended time with your own company in order to rest and renew. The world (and all our technology and social media) will be here when you e/merge (energy and emotion merge). As one of my favorite poets, David Whyte, writes: Everything Is Waiting for You.

Say What?

Does it feel as if we're living in "perpetual retro"? That is, life simulating Mercury in ongoing retrograde, which frequently scrambles communication? Mercury is NOT Rx now (that happens next on November 6) but/and, it can sure seem that way, as we navigate the dreamwalk towards galactic synchronization. Here are a few personal verbal snafus from this past week: 

• Called a health clinic to speak with a doctor referred by an acquaintance. Reception said he wasn't accepting new patients. I acknowledged that I knew this, and simply wanted a 3-5 minute phone consult to ask for an appropriate referral. I left my name, phone number and email. Later that day I received an email from the physician saying he had been told I wanted an appointment, and he wasn't taking new patients at this time.
• I scheduled a mobile locksmith (who WAS accepting new clients :-) to change my vehicle's door lock. On his initial visit he inspected the lock and key to determine the right lock to purchase, and made note of the year, make and model. When he arrived to install the new lock, he had purchased the wrong kind, and we needed to reschedule.
• A local bakery makes gluten-free, fermented breads that are for sale at natural foods stores. Since the bakery is local, I called and asked the owner/baker whether I could buy from him directly. Certainly, he replied. Which of the breads did I wish him to hold for me? I described the one I preferred. When I arrived that afternoon, my preferred bread had all been delivered to the health food stores
• To be fair, I did this, too: went to buy Kleenex and a writing tablet, and was frustrated to find the store out of the large size tissues I wanted for the second visit in a row. Picked up a packet of Post-it notes, paid for them and left. A few days later I realized, um, that it wasn't Post-it notes I'd meant to purchase ...

Clearly, walking this evolutionary road with one foot in 3D and the other wavering between dimensions can frazzle even those whose model equanimity. A handful of excellent resources for remaining grounded on Earth when our head's in the clouds:

• Mastering Alchemy with Jim Self;
• Barbara Hand Clow, whose books, especially The Mind Chronicles: A Visionary Guide Into Past Lives and The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind transfigured my consciousness;
• Starchild Global, whose creator, Celia Fenn, travels continuously from her home in South Africa, stewarding awakening rituals and events worldwide. If you're near New York City in December, her 12/12/12 and Winter Solstice events are highly recommended;
• Gillian Macbeth-Louthan's Quantum Awakening site and monthly newsletter, bringing through visionary guidance since 1986!
• The Reconnections through Daniel Jacob, always amusing, timely, penetrating in their insights.

And of course, my monthly enewsletter, What Shines, which quotes frequently from these and other superb sources, is your one-stop destination for practical inspiration and information.

Please let me know how else I may serve you! I'll have some warm bread waiting, right after I get off the phone with the doctor.

If It Ain't Necessarily Broke…

I always find it amusing how supposedly "inanimate" objects — notably my car — mirror what's happening in my life. We ARE all One, and that includes our machines, even if they don't appear sentient. The latest: I sprained my left ankle several weeks ago although I didn't recognize this at first, since I've never had a sprain before. I walked blithely around until I noticed it was swollen to the size of a baseball. Since then, I've been wrapping it in an Ace bandage each morning.

Last week I brought my trusty old Toyota (now 20!) in for an oil change. When I returned, the mechanic said, "Houston, we have a problem." It turns out the left front CV boot is leaking and needs to be replaced, something I've done several times before. The right boot is OK. It took me five days to connect the dots and smile. I suppose when I take my car in for the repair, the mechanic will "reboot" it? Too bad my own ankle can't mend quite so swiftly!

But what of symptoms that don't result from a hard fall (like my ankle) or old age and wear (like my car's CV boot)? If you're feeling unexplained and seemingly unexplainable symptoms, such as tingling or crawling sensations on your fingers, arms or legs (as I did in the early '90s), take heart: it may be part of the upgrade to 5D.

Daniel Jacob and The Reconnections say this is the nature of human transformation: "During these times of rapid change, more and more people find themselves dealing with neurological 'disease' states, such as pain, numbness, tingling, and the like. The Transformation of which we speak will often manifest itself as a series of small changes in nerve conduction and brain activity, which will seem (to some) like mishaps or mistakes of nature. 

"Whenever human progress is hindered, or physical limitation moves a person from one set of priorities to another, humanity feels driven to go and 'fix' the situation, as though something has gone wrong. There are no mistakes, in spite of how desperate conditions might appear in a given moment.

"The human body, as a vehicle, is programmed to FOCUS INTENTLY on a set number of persons, objects, and situations. Other sensory data, which generally flows all around you, is blocked from perception — filtered by what you think of as your 'five senses.' In order for you to allow in more data as it flows all around you, it is sometimes necessary to break apart some of your existing 'perceptual software,' so new software can be installed...

  

"What some might consider a trauma can also become a GRAND OPENING for parts of yourself which will guide you, and expand your Soul to new heights (and depths) as you begin to view things through new eyes and listen with new ears."

This is how it was for me. On one level, I was actually ill and needed to detoxify. Yet the detoxification process in 3D also served as a spiritual awakening, as I released crusty, toxic thoughts, beliefs and behavior patterns that no longer served who I was becoming. I discuss this unfolding in depth in my signature story, Learning to Live My Light.

These are the days of miracles and wonder, as Paul Simon sang so presciently years ago. I just finished reading a novel called WWW: Wonder about how the world is changed and blessed by a consciousness that spontaneously arises from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web. It may not be so farfetched … after all, the web itself would have seemed fantastic sci-fi just a few short years before it was created.

So if you're experiencing odd tingles or similar symptoms, consider transmuting this disturbance into "tingly with anticipation." And while contacting a health practitioner is always prudent, your healing prescription may involve singing, dancing, and opening your heart to the improbable more than ever before… Blessed Be!

How to Defy Gravity

With Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Franciscan priest Richard Rohr has written an eloquent book about the journey to self-knowing that's decidedly non-religious; a refreshing loom of spiritual authenticity on which to weave your own awakening odyssey. He gives voice to that which doesn't translate easily into language, so powerfully and truly that from the Introduction alone, I was nodding with inward recognition. I wish I'd written it!

In the Coda, he quotes Thomas Merton with a poem written a decade after his fabled The Seven Storey Mountain, when Merton had moved into his own "second half." The piece encapsulates the essence of Rohr's offering with such spare significance that it will be a deep acknowledgment for those on the far side of the journey, who understand viscerally what it means to own "poverty" as success ~ and an inspired meditation/guide for those yet to travel and unravel:

When in the Soul of the Serene Disciple

When in the soul of the serene disciple
With no more Fathers to imitate
Poverty is a success,
It is a small thing to say the roof is gone:
He has not even a house.

Stars, as well as friends,
Are angry with the noble ruin.
Saints depart in several directions.

Be still:
There is no longer any need of comment.
It was a lucky wind
That blew away his halo with his cares.
A lucky sea that drowned his reputation.

Here you will find
Neither a proverb nor a memorandum.
There are no ways,
No methods to admire
Where poverty is no achievement.
His God lives in his emptiness like an affliction.

What choice remains?
Well, to be ordinary is not a choice:
It is the usual freedom
Of men without visions.

Your Essence is Enough

Today's my birthday, and I gave myself the gift of a phone call to one of my dearest friends back East, Ellie, who is 97.5 years old and, after a hip fracture a year ago, is once again walking up and down the three flights of stairs to her apartment. She is a spiritual beacon for me, and for many: whenever I call, there's sure to be someone else there, basking in the sunlight of her love.

I phoned her yesterday but she wasn't feeling well, and as I hung up, I beseeched Spirit, "She's lived such an exemplary life, and been through the broken hip; why is she still here when she's so ready to go home? Please make her transition easy and full of grace." And the message I received in response, which I shared with her today when she said, "In 2013 I'll be 100!" is that she is still here because she's helping to anchor the Shift of the Ages in this watershed year for humanity.

With her usual humility, she thanked me for my kind words and said she isn't able to do very much these days, but she thinks of me so often. I said that's exactly the point: it's not in the doing, but in the being, that she serves.

Our thoughts come first. Ellie sits in her small comfy home and radiates the love in her heart as she always has, which is why, after nearly a century and with no offspring of her own, she has, as she said to me today, "More friends than I can count." She calls herself lucky; I call her loving. People want and need to be in her energy field.

She is my ultimate role model. I don't know if I will ever attain the level of selfless Love for all that she expresses simply by living her life, but I feel very blessed to be the recipient of this essence. She thanked me for the gift of the call, saying she felt so uplifted, and I said, "You see, we are modeling where humanity is growing: giving and receiving are one in truth. I am so uplifted from talking with you as well!"

This is my birthday gift to you: know that, as you live the Love that you are, you are enough. Radiating the beauty in your soul is all that's required, though it's often a tall order. What we do in the outer world doesn't matter in the end; only Love is real. Your essence is enough.

Beltane: Celebrate Your Planet, Yourself

In the West, we often water down our sacred days to become mere children's celebrations: Samhain, ushering in the dark half of the year, becomes a specter of itself as Halloween; Imbolc, heralding the return of the light on February 2nd, morphs to Groundhog Day; Beltane becomes a chance to dance around the Maypole.

Yet the deeper meanings reflect our lost connection with natural rhythms, with seasonal shifts we actually embody. READ THE REST!

Please adjust your settings … lessons from a sweat lodge

When I was still living a typical Type A existence and dealing with an increasing array of perplexing physical symptoms, a healer suggested I participate in a sweat lodge ceremony. I'd never done anything like this before, and was not only skeptical, but a bit afraid of being in a small, dark, enclosed space with strangers, submitting to extreme heat and incantations (so I imagined) in an effort to purge my body of malaise.

But I signed up, and went. We were instructed to enter the lodge in a specific order. It was understood that once the flap to the lodge was closed, no one else would be permitted entry. READ THE REST!

Untying the "Nots"

"We learn the rope of life
By untying its knots."

~ Jean Toomer, novelist and poet

"Surrender, Dorothy!"

This is one of the more memorable lines from the movie classic, The Wizard of Oz, writ large across the sky by the Wicked Witch of the West.

Surrender is also one of the more misunderstood stages of the spiritual journey. It doesn't mean to give up or give in, but to open to something beyond; to acknowledge, honor, and allow the energy that moves through us free reign. It's about letting go of what you know, how it "ought" to be, what you think you should do now. Instead of relinquishing your freedom, I envision surrender as more of a "Yield Right of Way" sign. The one you're yielding to is your own higher Self. READ THE REST!

Scared to Sacred: A Subtle Shift

I'm a great fan of subtle shifts: scared to sacred, nowhere to now here, density to destiny, accumulate to appreciate (OK, maybe that last one's not that subtle!) The point is, when we take a second, objective look at what we may have unconsciously pushed away out of fear, the results can be quite surprising.

Take the number 13. Conventional wisdom says, "Bad luck! Steer clear!" Yet if we explore 13 in depth, we access the sacred.

I've posted 50 articles to my Practical Spiritual Examiner page in the last month. There's a lot to explore. Please visit often (I'm posting new content daily, or nearly so) and leave your comments directly on the articles themselves. I look forward to your feedback, and promise to respond.

∞ Blessings ∞

Remembering 9-1-1

When the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, I was galvanized to action. The following poured through me that morning:

This IS a Test!

Several days later, I sent out the next message:

Radical Evolution

Intriguingly, this poem/chant came through me 5 weeks prior to the event ~ a clarion call for these times:

Spiraling Home

Wishing you all much peace, love and breathing room in our over-full lives as the energy continues to amp up ∞

10 Principles of Spiritual Optimism

I've just finished reading Why Is God Laughing? by Deepak Chopra, who's certainly one of the more prolific as well as diversely talented authors on the planet today. This book is written as a parable, with The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism as a sequel/summary. Here's the essence:

1. The healthiest response to life is laughter. (Antidotes fear and sorrow)
2. There is always a reason to be grateful. (Antidotes victimization)
3. You belong to the scheme of the Universe. There's nothing to be afraid of. You are safe. (Antidotes insecurity)
4. Your soul cherishes every aspect of your life. (Antidotes feeling undervalued)
5. There is a plan. And your soul knows what it is. (Antidotes meaninglessness)
6. Ecstasy is the energy of Spirit. When life flows, ecstasy is natural. (Antidotes inertia)
7. There is a creative solution to every problem. Every responsibility holds the promise of abundance. (Antidotes failure)
8. Obstacles are opportunities in disguise. (Antidotes inflexibility)
9. Evolution leads the way through desire. (Antidotes hypocrisy)
10. Freedom is letting go. (Antidotes attachment)

Why Is God Laughing? dovetails beautifully with my July newsletter: Recess and Reassess, which I wrote prior to reading it. See how synchronicity keeps us always in flow?

Blessings and laughter to you ~ as Mike Myers says in the Foreword: "Comedy is a candle."

The Spiritual Dimensions of Obama's Leadership

One of the most lucid explications of who President-elect Obama is and how his ascendancy catalyzes human evolution:

The Spiritual Dimensions of Obama's Leadership

His presidency opens a collective door for the United States and for the global community; our job now is to walk through it with grace and joy, continuing to hold high the vision that illumines a new world.