Spiritual Constipation

Dearest Goddesses,

I apologize in advance for the metaphor, but I just couldn´t resist.

Being pregnant, I have been experiencing some issues with elimination – nuff said. So as I was feeling a little uncomfortable, I couldn´t help but relate that physical feeling to the emotional feelings that I´ve been having and I felt like it was more than physical - I was spiritually, creatively, emotionally constipated, stopped up, clogged, blocked.

The key is movement. That is certainly what we hope for when the issue is physical and I think it´s also the key when it goes beyond the physical. Movement. Physical movement, energy movement…Taking those baby steps.

SO – what is the solution? What is your spiritual, creative, emotional equivalent to eating lots of fiber and drinking lots of water? Remember, the key to feeling refreshed is movement – that´s the goal. What are you going to have to do / what are you going to have to give up in order to get things moving?

Fiberous food for thought.

Love to you,

Patty

Lost: Funny Bone – Reward Offered

Dearest Goddesses,

Over a year ago, I randomly made a list of the Goddess Oracle which is how I am presenting them. I am shocked at how they constantly seem to be showing up in my life. Uzume – this week´s goddess represents laughter. This weekend I turned to John and said that I felt like I had lost my funny bone. And then with the most intense sadness, I broke down and tried to recall the last time I had let myself go and just have a good time – to that core of fun. I was reminded of my lost funny bone when I was watching this commercial with all of these kids just playing in a pool – splashing. When did I stop laughing? When did I start taking myself so seriously? When did things stop being fun?

If you´re feeling like me – check out Uzume´s ritual – and take it on as a creative project. Write out the "story" of your life right now and then watch it play out like it was on a stage. (Extra points if you really do act it out – like a monologue). And then what if Will Farrell or Adam Sandler were the stars of your story?

And write a list of things that make you laugh – things that are fun. Or write out times when you remember letting yourself go and having a great time. And then recreate it. Start adding in some fun. FIND YOUR FUNNY BONE!

I know I am desperate to find mine!

Love to you,

Patty

Uzume - Laughter

The following is excerpted exactly from The Goddess Oracle by Amy Sophia Marashinsky and the illustrations are by Hrana Janto. For more information on their work, please visit the following websites:

Amy Sophia Marashinsky: http://www.amysophia.com/
You can download the meditations included in the ritual suggestions at http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

Hrana Janto: http://www.hranajanto.com/

Before the Rock Cave of Heaven

where Amaterasu Omi Kami, the Sun Goddess

had hidden her radiant face

where all the assembled Gods and Goddesses had tried

and failed

to lure her out

I stepped up to the Cave

with utmost seriousness

with grave determination

with proper decorum and a lofty mien

and with a bump and a bump and a bump bump bump bump

lifted my kimono and revealed myself in ways

that caused the mouths of the exalted ones

to water and fall open

Then I played puppet with my labia

and paid myself a little lip service

I heaved my breast over one shoulder

then the other over the other

and landed on my ass

with a bump and a bump and a bump bump bump bump

amidst the explosions of laughter and merriment

of the esteemed crowd

With breasts tied in a knot

my legs spread like a welcome mat

I called in the Spirits

and offered them my body

but they refused to take it

The crowd howled and laughed as I continued my dance

till Amaterasu Omi Kami couldn´t stand it any longer

and rushed out to see what was what

And thus did laughter

win the Sun Goddess from her dark cave

and bring light and warmth back into the world.

Mythology

Uzume (pronounced oo-zoo-may), ancient Japan´s shaman-Goddess, is credited as being the one to entice the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Omi Kami, out of the cave where she had hidden. Uzume did a bawdy dance making fun of shamanic ritual. She exposed her breasts, she played with her genitals, amidst the howls of laughter of the deities assembled. So loud and enticing was the uproar she created, that Amaterasu´s curiosity got the better of her and she came out from her cave.

Meaning of the Card

Uzume begins her comic dance in your life to tell you it is time to nurture wholeness with laughter. Laughter causes us to relax, enables us to gain perspective, helps ease us through difficulties. Have you been taking life too seriously? When is the last time you had a good laugh? Are you able to laugh at yourself in a gentle way? Perhaps life is challenging you with such ferocity that you find it hard to see the humor in your present situation. Uzume says that wholeness is gained when you choose to laugh and see the humor in all of life´s challenges.

Ritual Suggestion: Journey to Uzume

Click the link below to download the meditation for Uzume for $1.50

http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=67

Find a time and a place when and where you will not be disturbed. Sit or lie comfortably with your spine straight and close your eyes. Take a deep breath and release it with a "ha, ha, ha". Take another deep breath and lift your shoulders up and down three times as you exhale. Take another deep breath and release it with a "ha, ha, ha" while moving your shoulders up and down as if you were having a good laugh. Take another deep breath and, as you exhale, see, sense or feel the Rock Cave of Heaven. Take another deep breath and, as you release it, see yourself standing in front of the cave. Enter the cave. It is warm and pleasant. A small dancing sun appears before you to light your way through the darkness of the cave. You follow the dancing sun, enjoying its playfulness, becoming more relaxed, more at ease. The sun leads you to the light at the end of the cave where you step out into the Underworld. There you are met by Uzume who warmly walcomes you with a big smile. She takes you by the hand and leads you to a stage area with some cushions in front of it.

She sits on the cushions and gestures for you to do the same. She asks you what you need. You tell her you need help seeing the humor, the comedy, in a particular situation in your life. She agrees to help you. As you give her the details, the entire situation is played out before you on the stage. Once you have finished, she claps her hands twice and the entire scene is replayed as a comedy, complete with clowns and your favorite comic actors. It is very funny and you find yourself laughing and feeling light and carefree. When the scene is finished, Uzume claps and the scene vanishes. You thank Uzume and she asks you for a gift, which you give to her with an open heart. She escorts you back to the cave entrance where you are met by the dancing sun. You and the sun dance your way back through the cave, feeling energized, refreshed, revitalized and as light as air. At the cave entrance you take a deep breath and come back to your body. Take another deep breath and, when ready, open your eyes. Welcome back!

Open to Receive

Dearest Goddesses,

I sure am glad that Kuan Yin is our goddess this week to remind us to have compassion for ourselves and others. I had this awful dream last night that I had my baby but then forgot about it – didn´t feed it or anything and when I finally realized that it had been sitting there silent and hungry and dirty for like 2 days, I rushed to feed it – horrified more at what a lousy mom I was – not that this poor child was hungry. So Kuan Yin reminded me to show myself compassion and fear will manifest in many ways!

I went to one of my favorite books today – Living with Joy by Sanaya Romin for inspiration. I asked Orin for some guidance and for a message that perhaps my goddesses needed to hear and this is what came to me. I hope you enjoy…

This excerpt is taken directly from Living with Joy by Sanaya Roman, Chapter 10 – Opening to Receive.

"Imagine, if you will, that you are a king, and your treasury is fill. In fact, you have so much you do not know where to begin distributing the wealth. All of the people in your kingdom are walking around saying how poor they are, but when you offer them your money they act as if they do not see you, or they wonder what is wrong with what you are offering.

I look out and see the storehouses all over – untapped, unused and even unrecognized. You have hard the expression "Heaven on Earth." There is nothing that stops you from having it, except your ability to ask for and receive it. What are these storehouses? What things lie within them that we would love to pass out?

One is love. We do not measure growth as you do (career advancements, more money, etc.). We look to spiritual evolution, which includes joy, self-love, the ability to receive, reframing the negative into the positive, the refinement of the ego, a willingness to embrace the new, and the ability to work together for a common purpose.

There is so much love available it is as abundant as the air you breathe.

Do you ask for love? The more you give and receive love the greater your spiritual growth. Every moment you spend focused on something that is not working, thinking of someone who does not love you, makes you like the men who turn away from the King´s money. You always have the opportunity to think of times you were loved, imagine a future of abundance, and thus partake of spiritual wealth.

What do you think of? Every in-breath takes you up to the world of essence where form is created, and on the out-breath you send to the world your wishes. Every time you recognize the love you have, you increase it. One of the laws of receiving is that recognizing when you have gotten something increases it in your life, and every time you do not acknowledge something you make it so much harder to have more sent to you.

The more you focus on what is wrong, the more wrong you will create in your life; the more it will spread to other areas that WERE working. The more you concentrate on what is right in your life, what is working, the more other areas of your life will work. It is the same in receiving. The more you acknowledge how much you are receiving, the more you will have."

Open to receive ladies – you deserve all that life has to offer.

Love to you,
Patty

Fighting Against What Is

Dearest Goddesses,

Talk about standing in your own way and giving yourself permission to be successful. I´ve been feeling a bit displaced here in Atlanta. While I didn´t have a TON of friends in Costa Rica, I was VERY lucky to connect with a few awesome likeminded people that I loved being with. I haven´t really had that opportunity / given myself that chance here in Atlanta and I find myself comparing every experience to the past. While I worked with some very wonderful ladies, I didn´t develop close relationships with them where I would want to hang out beyond work and I wasn´t really meeting anyone outside of work – other than the occasional person introduced to me by John. I couldn´t help but CRAVE (desperately) what feels like a once in a lifetime connection that I felt for the people I worked with at Legacy. (Ladies – can we please get together somewhere in the world and start a new school?!!) And of course wanting to get back to New York to be with my world back there. BUT – simply a change in location is not going to be what I need exactly to fulfill me. That´s got to come from within. And trying to recreate past experiences is just a disaster of unfulfillable expectations that I´d rather not experience.

So, in the spirit of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the song Love The One You´re With, I have decided to start loving Atlanta – and since I know that Atlanta is loveable, it´s up to me. Just as I´ve been focusing lately on reasons why it might not be the place for me long term, I can instead, choose to love it. I can´t help but be reminded of the three lessons that the Brigadier General had for me that day.

1. Give yourself permission
   
2. Adapt for success (it hasn´t looked the way I wanted it to look and I haven´t found my Legacy or WE with powerful, creative women)
   
3. Fail Forward – get out there, talk to people instead of waiting for new friends to coming knocking on my door.
   

Now, I have a VERY EXCITING announcement to make. My gloriously gifted, talented, creative, inspirational friend Rowena Murillo has FINALLY opened her Etsy shop and is selling her AMAZING art series called Flying Girl. You will be floored at how connected you are to just about every one of her paintings. And FINALLY she is allowing us to purchase them from her! I was lucky enough to order some prints for some loved ones for Christmas and was so impressed with the quality of the prints. They were simply fantastic. Go visit her new shop and pick out some gifts for your friends and family – you will NOT be disappointed. Besides the fact that they are TOTALLY UNDERPRICED at only $18 a print right now. I´m so excited that her work can finally be shared with the world! And I noticed that a lot of the prints available on etsy are new ones I haven´t seen before – so be sure to check out her blog for more of Flying Girl…www.warriorgirl.blogspot.com.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6493421

Challenge: Where are you holding on to how you think things should look? Where are you killing off present happiness by comparing your experiences to the past? Where can you give yourself permission to succeed in the here and now and allow yourself to adapt instead of fighting against what is?

Love to you,
Patty

Kuan Yin - Compassion

The following is excerpted exactly from The Goddess Oracle by Amy Sophia Marashinsky and the illustrations are by Hrana Janto. For more information on their work, please visit the following websites:

Amy Sophia Marashinsky: http://www.amysophia.com/
You can download the meditations included in the ritual suggestions at http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

Hrana Janto: http://www.hranajanto.com/

I made the vow

and kept my word

I reached enlightenment

but rather than pass over

to the state of eternal bliss

I retained human form

till all beings attain enlightenment

Keeping human form

enabled me to know more deeply

the pain others experience

Because of my deep feelings

because of my understanding

of misery and suffering

because of my decision

I am called The Compassionate One

She Whose Name Alleviates All Suffering

But wouldn´t you prefer to wait

feeling what others feel

suffering what others suffer

knowing their pain as your own

wait till the end of all suffering and pain

till all beings attain enlightenment?

For me there was no other choice.

Mythology

Kuan Yin (pronounced koo-wan'yin), or "she who hears the weeping world" is the Chinese Buddhist bodhisattva of Compassion. She lives on her island paradise of P'u T'o Shan where she is said to grant every prayer she hears. She is so powerful that even the mention of her name will ease suffering and hardship. Choosing to remain in this world after having attained enlightenment, Kuan Yin has vowed to retain human form until all beings attain enlightenment. In Japan she is known a Kwannon.

Meaning of the Card

Kuan Yin appears mercifully in your life to tell you it is time to nurture wholeness with compassion – compassion for others, compassion for your loved ones, compassion for yourself. Do you find yourself feeling irritated or apathetic to the suffering of others? What keeps you from your compassion= Do you allow yourself space and ease when you are less than your idea of perfect? Do you find yourself wanting to hurt others because you have been hurt? Do you fear opening your heart to the plight of others because it will hurt you? Compassion is the ability to listen deeply and allow others and yourself the space to go through what needs to be gone through and to feel what needs to be felt. Kuan Yin says the way to alleviate your suffering is to develop compassion for yourself. From that compassionate placed within, you can manifest compassion without.

Ritual Suggestion: Journey to Kuan Yin

Click the link below to download the meditation for Kuan Yin for $2.25

http://deepspiritualnourishment.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=50

Find a time and a place when and where you will not be disturbed. Sit or lie comfortably with your spine straight and close your eyes. Take a deep breath and release it slowly. Then take another breath, breathing deeply into your heart, and release it slowly while feeling your heart expand. Take a deep breath and release it with a sigh from your heart. See, sense or feel yourself inside your heart. Hear your heartbeat pulsing around you. Inside your heart is a rainbow bridge. You step onto the rainbow bridge and begin to cross the great waters. As you travel the bridge, you become more and more relaxed. The great waters are serene and calming, the bridge itself is a delight to walk on, the air is refreshing and pleasant.

On the other side of the rainbow bridge lies Kuan Yin´s island paradise of P'u T'o Shan. She greets you as you arrive and hands you a beautiful flower. As you inhale the flower´s fragrance, you feel your heart open. She takes you by the hand and leads you through the rich, lush, fragrant vegetation to her pavilion. After seating you with care and consideration, she washes your feet then serves you what you need to be served. She asks you to tell her your troubles and you do. She listens deeply and attentively. You feel nourished and loved at the very core of your being. You feel completely and utterly heard, seen, listened to It feels wonderful and deeply healing. You feel lighter and more at ease with yourself. Sit with Kuan Yin until you are ready to return. She takes you back to the rainbow bridge and embraces you. You thank her and begin your way across the bridge, feeling recharged and revitalized. The trip back across the rainbow bridge is short and you arrive back in your heart. Take a deep breath and, as you release it, you come back into your body. Take another deep breath and, as you release it, open your eyes. Welcome back!

Caring for the Shepherds

Dearest Goddesses,

One of the other major things I took from the Brigadier General´s presentation was this story she told about reconnecting with one of her classmates from West Point a few years ago. They were exchanging emails and this woman had told her that there were three things that she focused on during her four years at West Point that allowed her to get through that difficult time. Survival, Survival, Survival. Reflecting upon her classmate´s words, she thought of Maslow´s hierarchy of needs (I included a copy from Wikipedia below). That when you are focused on your physiological and safety needs – essentially your survival, there is no way to step into the higher levels of thought to truly make a difference for yourself, an organization or even the world. You don´t get to the love/belonging level or achieve confidence in esteem or self-actualization.

I know that I have been stuck in that cycle of focusing on that worry, the "what ifs", the "what are we going to do ifs", etc. And all it´s really done is keep me present in the idea of scarcity and of not enough. This cycle of fear is very powerful and one that I think the whole world is experiencing right now which ultimately does not serve the greater good.

 

And related to this idea, for those of you who might be like me in a sort of "what is my purpose" state – the second speaker at this event I went to was full of energy – Lily Winsaft – and she described this time in her life when she was searching and searching for her purpose and after months of actively searching, she woke up in a cold sweat with the possibility that maybe, just maybe she didn´t have a purpose and then what has all this searching been for?! And after the shock of that idea washed over her, she felt a sort of freedom – that if there wasn´t some divine purpose set out for her, well then why couldn´t she simply take matters into her own hands and make one up! And so she decided that her purpose would be to inspire others to see the greatness in themselves.

Jack Canfield has an exercise to get to our own inner purpose or mission statement. List three times in your life that you had the greatest experience of joy. What did you experience at that time? (freedom, love, compassion, passion…) And to take note that our emotions are a good gauge for when we are on track – if we have goosebumps or are feeling passionate, etc. we are generally on course. If we´re bored or resentful, we´re off course. And that out of this, you can come up with your own mission statement or own purpose for your life. In working with a heart surgeon and going through this exercise with him, he listed his three times in his life when he experienced freedom and they were all in his personal life (playing with his grandchildren, etc.) Jack asked him if there were any times that he felt that at work, and he listed two times – once when he operated on a man who couldn´t afford to pay him (but was reproached by his partners) and when his skills allowed him to save someone. Both of these people would most certainly be dead without him. Other than that, he felt a lot of pressure – that there would always be a need for his services, but he couldn´t possibly help everyone. Jack asked him a question – If you were faced with a patient who would die if you did not operate on him, but that you would die if you did what would you choose? He said, of course, I would not operate on him. Well, you need to get that sometimes by not doing, you end up taking care of yourself and allowing yourself to be fully present to more people than if you simply gave and gave and gave. And what he came up with as a mission/purpose was "to bring joy, compassion, happiness and freedom to people in the world and experience it myself in the process."

And remember…"sometimes the shepherds need caring for too." Another gift of insight from the Brigadier General.

Love to you my shepherds.

Patty