Engaged Spirituality & Mystic Activism

Moving to Sophia's Children

Greetings!

Much is happening and quickening in these times, and it becomes ever more vital to stay centered and connected to that which is unchanging amidst that which is changing and transforming at lightning speed. Individually and collectively, particularly those of us in Western cultures, are being called to release the ways that are no longer working or appropriate and move into new paths and more conscious, connected ways that respect the dignity of all Life, all Being.

In-the-world mystics and spiritual transformation agents are being called to new territory and consciousness, too, while needing to be oases-of-Spirit and the calm at the center of the storm, wherever we find ourselves. This delicate balancing act requires deep practice and coming into community with kindreds and seekers alike.

More and more I'll be sharing insights and practices through my Sophia's Children blog, allowing an easier focus than multiple blogs allow. I invite you to join the list for Sophia's Children, and share your own stories and comments there as well in an unfolding dialogue.

Visit Sophia's Children and join me!

Blessings,
Jamie

Intuition and Energy Management for Work, Life & 'Crazy Times'

Without healthy intuition and energy management practices, we might easily find ourselves feeling murky, unclear, confused, tired, and anxious. It might seem as if things are 'stuck' or 'leaking energy'. These 'lower vibrating' states of being make it difficult to access our higher guidance, vision, sense of abundance, wellbeing, intuition, vitality, and momentum.

With good practices, we have easier access to our intuition, Higher Guidance, inspiration, vision, and a greater sense of motivation, calm, and response-ability -- not to mention greater mastery over our 'thought and energy habits'.

Needless to say, right about now these are VERY good skills and practices to be able to call upon!

What we'll cover in this tele-seminar:

This 75-minute tele-seminar will review foundational energy and intuition practices for:

* clearing our energy field,

* disconnecting from and clearing disruptive energy from others,

* connecting with Source,

* accessing vision, intuition, and higher guidance to navigate change, challenge, and conscious co-creation, and

* using life as a 'mirror' that provides clues about your energy field and what's needed at any given time.

Date/Time: Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 2:30 - 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time U.S. Audio-class version of this tele-seminar will also be available.

Learn more and register for Intuition and Energy Management for Work, Life and Crazy Times Tele-Class.

Learn more about Ivy Sea's other tele-classes, including 'The Way of the Feminine and Abundance' and 'Imagination Lab: Using Your Imagination-Power to Energize Purpose and Vision'.

Blessings,
Jamie

Embodying the Divine Feminine

Greetings!

As we all feel the increasing pull into a new era and a new way of being -- and feel the old paradigm slipping away, sometimes from beneath our feet -- we find ourselves ever  drawn and invited to remember and reclaim the Divine Feminine capacities within us.

The Ways of the Divine Feminine are just those needed to re-member a more harmonious way of existing, being, creating, knowing, and relating. And these capacities are vital to awaken and embody for personal and collective healing and wholing.

Join me for the first of several 'Embodying the Divine Feminine' tele-gatherings -- this one scheduled for Wednesday, January 28th (though you can register and receive the audio if you're unable to attend the 'live' call).

In the first Embodying the Divine Feminine, we'll look at fiery aspects and effects such as joy, passion, creativity, inspiration and other capacities that are birthed from the fire wellspring of the Feminine.

You'll find more information here.

Blessings,
Jamie

How to be happy in a recession

The following is from an article by Deepak Chopra, MD, in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper (Nov. 19):

"But as the economy contracts, we must resist our natural reflex to contract with it. Instead, we need to do the opposite. Expansion is the best way to survive any crisis. ... Fear deprives people of choice. Fear shrinks the world into isolated, defensive enclaves. Fear spirals out of control. Fear makes everyday life seem clouded over with danger."

We all know this, yet as we are 'in the world', we must make the choice again and again between fear and Love and let that choice guide our thoughts, words, and actions. That's practice.

Read the full article at the Chron.

Blessings,
Jamie

Graceful Power and Our Amazing Opportunities

Greetings, all!

I recorded the latest InspiraLogue audio today, and was joined in dynamic dialogue by  Barbara Wilder, healer, teacher, speaker, writer, and author of Money is Love and Embracing Your Power Woman.

Barbara and I took a joyful dive into graceful and courageous transformation, power dynamics, Love, Grace, and the great opportunities facing each one of us. And, as always, we had a lot of fun.

In these times of tremendous change and 'existential anxiety', conversations like these serve as 'good medicine.'

Pour some tea, pull up a chair, and listen in for inspiration.

Love and Good-Juju Blessings,
Jamie

The Power of Your Word

These days, it's vital (and deep practice) not to get caught up in the mass-hallucination of what's gone horribly wrong (and it's a compelling case!) -- and the collective fear, anxiety, and 'ancestral dread' -- but rather to cultivate and revere a vision of what's possible, what's beautiful, what's abundant and Earth-friendly -- and where that's been the case in our deep history and ancestral memory -- when we're in balance and right-relationship with all that is.

We know that matter follows energy, be it the energy of our beliefs, thoughts, words, or actions. In this way, our word is magical, acting like 'strange attractors' around which matter organizes itself. Wherever we allow our thought and energy to focus, or to languish, we'll see that reflected in our experience, or our perception of it. As in martial arts traditions, we strengthen whatever we focus on and give our energy to.

Recently, a shamanic-practices teacher reminded us that if we don't begin each day with an intentional choice of what energies and Spirit helpers we want to call in and align with, we'll find ourselves calibrating to the predominant thought-stream of the masses. And she asked, "And what do you think they're thinking - what do you think the primary energy is focused on?"

Mother Theresa of Calcutta, not long before her death, also emphasized the 'deep practice' of minding one's word, energy, and focus. When asked if she'd attend an anti-war rally, she said, "No, but when you hold a pro-peace rally I'll be there."

It's a powerful choice, to see what is and to choose to orient towards that which is beautiful, joyful, well, harmonious, loving, in right-relationship, and benefiting all beings. And don't forget the spirit of playfulness and joy - the Trickster and Wild Woman can be divine allies in times such as these, showing us how to combine playfulness with revelation and wise action.

We can cultivate our energy focus, intention, and word-power in our morning and evening rituals, and in small ways throughout the day. While seemingly humble, it's a powerful contribution and service.

Blessings on your Way! Love, Jamie

Culture, Crisis, and Opportunity

Greetings, allies and co-creators!

I just posted a new Ivy SeaZine themed 'Culture, Crisis, and Opportunity'. Here's an intro and the link to the full article.

In these times of change, when systems and institutions seem to be crumbling, and fear and anxiety seem intense, it's helpful to remember that seeming crisis can also be an open door that invites us to unparalleled opportunity.

We have a choice in how we see and perceive -- crisis or opportunity, limitation or an invitation to unveil hidden potentials and capacities?

Rather than isolating ourselves -- which is a 'default reaction' when we sink too deeply into fear and anxiety -- we can choose to open up, expand, seek allies both seen and unseen.

Often, even a shift in our perception invites a whole new range of synchronicities and openings before us, and we're able to see what wants to be born even as something else might be dying or falling apart.

The old systems, organizations, ways of working and so on are wanting to crumble because something else wants to be born. There is never death without something else being born, or rebirthed anew -- energy is constant; it just changes form.

Read the full SeaZine on Culture, Crisis, and Opportunity.

Blessings on the Way,
Jamie

From Fear to Grace, and Grace Arising

Greetings, fellow traveler.

I've posted two new articles in two of my other blogs:

'Grace Arising' is in my Sophia's Children - Divine Feminine blog.

And 'From Fear to Grace' is in my blog at Gaia.com.

Follow the links and enjoy.

Blessings,
Jamie

The Power of Little Work in Challenging Times

No matter where we look or listen these days, it seems that signs and stories of fear, anxiety, and gloom-and-doom are plentiful. Amidst this 'boom of gloom and doom', as Jonathan Cainer calls it, we're also called upon to be ever-mindful of what we allow ourselves to get caught up in, because it has an effect on our clarity of mind, thought, and action.

What 'ripple' we want to send forth becomes a focusing question for our practice. What effect do you want to have on others during these times (or in general)? What do you want to add to by way of your energy, focus, thought, and action? How do you want to invest your energy?

Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker called it 'the little work', and there are similar concepts in various traditions. The gist is that small things can make a big difference, just as a small pebble tossed into a pool sends out ripple after ripple to the broader body of water. So, too, do our primary thought patterns and energetic imprints, and of course, our actions themselves.

We always think that it has to be some 'big action', worthy of our 'five minutes of fame'; something that saves the world (assuming that it has to be 'big' in order to do that). And yet just as days of made of minutes lived one by one, big effects can accumulate and ripple outward by small gestures, acts of loving-kindness, and even just being loving-kindness.

If we assume that we are not the isolated beings that we've been taught we are, and know that we are all connected through the air we breathe and a morphogenic energy field that connects us, we have a new understanding of 'being the change'!

Buddha said that 'with your thoughts you make the world.' Many indigenous peoples understand that our thoughts and beliefs contribute to a dream that we live as 'reality'; they know that by changing the 'dreaming', we change the 'reality'. Again, sages and masters from many traditions and philosophies echo this sentiment; it's wise guidance.

So if we allow ourselves to get caught up in, rather than just being aware of or witnessing, the waves of gloom, doom, fear, anxiety, scarcity, and the intolerance, panic, and fear-based reactions they often open us to, we are contributing to that dynamic or 'reality'.

This is a discipline for all on the path, whether the 'path' be spiritual or philosophical at its center. And it's a significant challenge and deep, deep practice for those of us who are more sensitive to subtle energies, and/or more empathic in Nature.

In challenging times we are called upon to deepen our practice to a more aware and conscious presence and ripple effect. However we do that, whatever our practices -- the ones that helps us to see and witness compassionately but not go over the cliff, and instead cultivate a loving-kindness that is centered in Grace, faith, patience ... whatever words we prefer to use that infer a ripple effect that we'd like to contribute to and an energetic dynamic and 'reality' that we'd like to live in with our fellow human-and-other-Beings.

There is a wonderful practice called 'the inner smile', and there are also meditations, visualizations, affirmations, powerful conversations, energy and vibrational healing practices, flower essence and oils, sacred ritual, movement, mindfulness, and other practices that allow us to act on the intention to cultivate and ripple out healing and heartfulness, and a spaciousness that allows something more beautiful, joyful, and graceful to grow.

It can seem impractical, but as history and our wisdom teachers have reminded us and reminded us again, it's infinitely practical. With our thoughts we shape our world; with our choice we create dream-realities of Heaven or Hell.

And this can give us hope that the loving-kindness and conscious attention we bring to simple, seemingly small, everyday things and thoughts can have a big effect.

As Gandhi said, "As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves." Because he knew that the world 'reality' is just a reflection of us.

Joyful Blessings,
Jamie

Strong at the Broken Places

The world breaks  everyone, and afterward
      many are strong at the broken places.
                      ~ Ernest Hemingway

There are times when, due to some circumstance or series of events -- often involving a deep loss of some kind -- we get broken open. Something within us, or something in our lives that we considered 'unbreakable' or 'all-important' comes crashing down or splitting apart, and we find ourself living with the uncertainty of broken places.

Just looking at the headlines -- if we're not already hearing the same thing from friends, family members, clients, readers, etc. -- we see that loss and brokenness is a common theme these days.

I understand this deeply now, having been through a cycle of 7 years which featured losses which seemed, prior to this time (and even sometimes during it), unimaginable, from the loss of several immediate family members, including my father and grandmother, to the loss of several beloved cats who were dear family members and long-time companions; to business and financial losses due to outside economic forces and personal and family wellness crises; the end of a long marriage; and the loss of my community and proximity to dear friends when I was called East from San Francisco to help with my father's hospice care and then remain in closer proximity to family for awhile.

All of this unmade me -- a common term in spiritual traditions that still include the Wisdom of navigating the Dark Night and the cycle of Death that is part of Life. Such deep change breaks open the Mask, the false identity, the 'who you thought you were (supposed to be)'. It breaks open how you thought things were supposed to be, and challenges you to your core to remember.

Like our kindreds in other places in the world, we in our Western, American culture, experience loss regularly, and our ancestors knew it well. Yet, despite that experience and knowing, we don't have a refuge for authentically, openly experience loss and grief in a culture that shuns and shies away from it, that treats it as a 'failure' because our collective awareness has traveled so far from the wisdom of Life-Death-and-Renewal that our ancestors knew so well.

And so many people suffer losses in isolation, which magnifies the grief because it's a full-on experience of the loss of connection that resides beneath the losses that take place on the surface of our lives.

Now, with so much that seemed 'sure' threatened, along with the natural cycles of life and death of those among us, there is a call to remember the Wisdom that can help us navigate this 'underworld' more gracefully and with an awareness of connection and the ongoing Nature of Life.

This is how we grow strong in our broken places, and how we come to see that which challenges our certainty, and that which undoes and unmakes what is familiar to us, is also the very thing that reveals the place where new life grows. We meet that which is truly 'beyond death', while honoring what it living and what has passed out of our familiar, day-to-day life.

The broken places are rich and fertile, where our lives -- inward or outward -- may have become stale and lifeless in some way. We're cracked open to allow for new, fresh life.

Leonard Cohen, in his song "Anthem", writes:

Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in.

If we allow the broken-open places, without scurrying to try to fill them in or hide them, we not only allow ourselves to experience fully what has passed -- what we've lost -- but we also allow the Light to shine in and illuminate all that is there, Heaven around us, all of the time. And in our deep-feeling and deep-experiencing of loss, and the full acknowledging and honor of what's passed, we open ourselves to deeper Joy and a deeper ability to connect, reach out, in a joyful compassion and intimacy.

Blessings on the Way,
Jamie