Category: Reflections

Stepping into Joy

On By Alethea KehasIn Dreams, Memoir, ReflectionsLeave a comment

I love Denise Linn and her wisdom. Today these words of hers appeared on my FB wall, “When you step into your joy, you’ll recognize the need to release people that consistently make you feel anything less. Be your own fierce protector.”

The more light we let in, the less room there is for pain. Pockets of dense matter suddenly start breaking away. But, it is not always an easy process. In my last blogs I have  spoken of my struggle to heed the urgings of my guides and their messages that have often come through so strongly in my dreams and meditations. Recognizing that I have immersed myself and my family in an environment that I had tried to believe was premised on love and community, but was really dominated by the undertones of fear, has been difficult, at best.

These last few weeks I have struggled to break free. I have felt anger, sadness, guilt and remorse. I have felt alone, as the resistance extends to my family. But I have also felt the undertones of freedom and my own personal power. I know that sometimes relationships are meant to end, having served out their purposes, it is time to move on. Yet, sometimes we need to be “fierce” in our approach to break free from an environment that we now recognize as abusive. The other people involved will not see themselves in the same way we now perceive them, as they are still living in that place trapped by pain. They will often try to keep your ties firmly knotted, so that you remain in a place of less light. It makes them feel better. It makes their pain bodies feel powerful.

I also know that I have benefitted from these circumstances. Each is a lesson; a chance to grow and move to a place of more light and healing. More light seeps into the pockets of pain, breaking away the dense energy that has been trapped. I am reminded that when we are called to move beyond a place of pain, all parties benefit, even if it is not recognized. The worst thing we can do is to stay in an effort to protect the egos of others. We must have the courage to see beyond to the soul, realizing that when we act from the seat of our heart, we can only help the souls of others.

Consistency

On By Alethea KehasIn Energy Healing, Memoir, ReflectionsLeave a comment

If you eat one meal a week, your body will not be nourished. The same concept applies to our souls. We are each here to fulfill the journey we set out to follow when we decided to incarnate in this life. Yet, we often forget to nourish ourselves.

I have been inconsistent in feeding my soul this summer. With my children home, I have chosen not to focus on my own needs. Meditation has been sporadic, at best. On my children’s last day of school I got certified for Shamballa energy healing, levels 1 and 2. Ideally I would be practicing energy healing on myself every day, but that too has been sporadic. Then there is writing. Something I know I need to do everyday. A psychic once suggested that I at least try to journal everyday. Journaling has never been something I am happy doing, but she had a good point. My soul needs me to write everyday. I’m not doing that this summer.

So, I shouldn’t have been surprise last week (and I wasn’t, I knew the results before they came) when I had my TSH levels checked and found out they were rising instead of dropping. If we don’t heal and nurture our souls, our bodies won’t heal. They are our barometers for our spiritual health. When we experience dis-ease in the physical, our souls are crying out for nourishment.

The confirmation that my throat chakra was not spinning in a glorious blue wheel of truth was not a surprise, but it was a good wake up call. Sometimes we need to let things go and make way for our needs. Let the laundry sit another day. Let the kids watch another half hour of TV. Let the grass grow another day. Sit and listen to your soul and find our what it wants. Do it everyday and you will thrive.

Namaste

Free Bird, Fly

On By Alethea KehasIn Animal Messengers, Dreams, Gaia & Elementals, Memoir, ReflectionsLeave a comment

The lyrics of Lynyrd Skynyrd filtered through my dream ruminations as I walked the dogs  earlier this morning. Often, spirit spends me messages through songs. They are a blunt, yet kind reminders of the crux of my present state.

Last night I dreamed I was in an elevator. After the doors were closed and the button was pushed, I found myself drifting swiftly towards the ceiling until I hovered there alone. Everyone else’s feet were grounded as the elevator moved towards its destination. I panicked, asking someone to pull me down. Finally, the bellhop grabbed my legs and pulled me to the floor. When my feet were back on level ground, I searched my wallet for a tip. Intending initially to give him 2, 1 dollar bills, I pulled out a 5 instead. In her book, The Hidden Power of Dreams, Denise Linn writes that the number 5 is often indicative of freedom, “the number of the free soul, of excitement, and of change.” It is “self-emancipating.” (p. 206)

The messages from spirit could not be more clear. A week ago I saw Eagle during meditation. After flying freely through the heavens, Eagle landed upon a large, white oval egg. As I watched, this symbol of freedom and the egg it clutched between its talons, it rotated upon the air as though upon an invisible pedestal. “What do you wish to tell me,” I asked. Eagle replied, “I am incubating you until you are ready to hatch out.”

When I asked my guides to bring me to the under-world for healing, I found myself on a pond with my palms turned up to the heavens. Beneath me I was sitting on a pink lotus flower, its petals in full bloom. I was Sarasvati, her energy pouring through my palms. A large, healthy fish swam around me, leaping through the surface like a dolphin.

I have a dear friend in Savannah, Georgia. My friend is a transplant of the south, having grown up in the northeast. In the south she often finds herself the outsider. She is not only a writer, she is a mom and an environmental activist. We share these traits. While I have always shirked from confrontation though, my friend shines when she is “agitating the pot.” Her powerful, beautiful soul shines through in these moments when she stands, often alone, amongst the masses to voice her thoughts regarding perceived injustices. She was an instrumental force in shutting down a polluting power plant near her home. The victory resulted in the clearing of her son’s asthma. My friend is a testament to the power of the spirit. I find her power inspirational.

Often, it takes me long periods of bubbling silence until I finally reach the point of action. The water in the pot, nearly, if not already, boiling over. I have yet to achieve comfort in standing alone – in hovering above the crowds, secure in my wisdom. There are times though, when our souls call us to action; when silence is not the path to peace. Like my friend, I am often called to act when a situation not only concerns my own health (I mean this on a soul and physical level), but the health of my family. I have to trust that sometimes my vision extends beyond those around me, to the seat of the soul. This is a sometimes troubling “gift” I have had since childhood. When I was young and opened my mouth to speak my truth, I was silenced. The same fear holds me like an invisible noose.

The challenge for many of us, I suspect, is learning to speak with compassion and conviction. Oppressors of individual freedom most often have no idea that they are oppressors, as they exist within their own environments of fear. When we oppress others, our souls are crying out for our own freedom, yet our shadow selves will often take over and use “power” or physical force to silence those around us. Often those who are silenced are the souls who have been victimized many times in the past (or in traumatic past lives that they are still recovering from). They are easy targets.

The oppressors in my life have often been people I love deeply, making it exponentially more difficult to confront them and remove myself and my family from their toxic energy.  Sometimes their true souls shine through in the white light of love, but too often they are crippled within the darkness of pain. My efforts to “heal” them with love fail, as I learn it is not my path to change theirs. Yet, people must not compromise individual health and the health of their children, spouses, etc, by allowing a toxic relationship to occur. Even if we cannot shine a light of mutual understanding on these circumstances, we must have the courage to break free while still within the place of love.

Luminous Beings We Are

On By Alethea KehasIn Gaia & Elementals, Memoir, ReflectionsLeave a comment

My daughter, Ava, came into this world remembering. I hope she never forgets. Between the ages of 1 and 2 she fell in love with birds, remembering her wings. It was a game we played, especially her “Gampy.” Two souls on very different levels, teaching each other. She would sit on his lap in front of his computer screen, while he pulled up the songs of the birds she was learning. “What’s this one,” he would ask, and she’d identify the voice. For her second birthday I gave her a “Bird Party,” and she dazzled the guests with her ability to identify and name.  It seemed fated that my husband and I had chosen the name “Ava” for our daughter.  A being of the earth, but not bound to it.

When she was two, Ava traded in her passion for birds for a new love. Yoda. My husband had begun showing her nonviolent scenes from “Star Wars,” and Ava developed a crush on the adorably ugly green being. Again, we all jumped on board. I found her a Yoda costume for Halloween, my parents a back-pack for her birthday. When she turned 3 we urged the party-goers to hit the dark side of the pinata, which bore the taped figure of Darth Vader, to release the prizes held within.

As with the birds, I found my young daughter’s natural attraction to the essence of her existence fascinating and beautiful. Today, my wish is that each of you be reminded of what “Luminous beings we are.” – Yoda

Butterfly

On By Alethea KehasIn Animal Messengers, Dreams, Gaia & Elementals, ReflectionsLeave a comment

If I could I would paint you a picture, but I’ll have to settle for words. Right now, as I write, I also watch two robins work to build a nest out of my lilac bush.  I am reminded again of black and orange.

Yesterday morning my body needed to rest, so I placed my cloudy head against the pillow of my couch. Right side facing down. The side that ached. But, in truth it seemed my entire body was out of balance. I thought I might throw-up. I thought I might faint. I thought I might have a migraine. I had just read my mother’s email, which said nothing upsetting. Still, my body reacts to her energy. Long before she sends her words I know when she is thinking about me. Recall “Weight of Water”.

As I rested, drifting in that space between waking and dream, a picture flashed inside my brain. From a branch filled with deep pink blossoms, a butterfly emerged with orange wings veined in black.

I’ve been thinking a lot about butterflies since I began to see them appearing in the forest two months ago. The first butterfly I saw was brown with ivory tipped wings. It was so early, only the 20th of March.  I thought for sure it was a fairy, only realizing later that it didn’t matter. Weeks turned into months, as I watched more butterflies appear and follow me along my walks, heedless of the dogs, even Rosy who joyously tried to chase them into the shadows.

Butterfly is perhaps the most overt symbol of transformation. An earthbound caterpillar slowly eats its way through vegetation, growing until its body is ready for change. Inside the womb of a chrysalis the caterpillar’s body dissolves into a sea of cells that reorganize to form a new being. Colors dissolve and new colors emerge. Wings form. The creature that emerges, although of the Earth, is no longer bound to it. When it desires to, it can take flight and experience the unencumbered element of air.

What though, of the vision sent to me as I rested my unbalanced body?  The pink blossoms I see as the chrysalis of the heart. From the pink womb of the heart our true selves are born, and when we allow them, they emerge. My butterfly was orange. The color of the 2nd, sacral chakra, the seat of our basic emotions and our creativity. When it is imbalanced our bodies react. Our minds cloud over. When it is humming with health, it allows us to create from our truths.

The butterfly was veined in black, symbolic of the source of all creation. When I asked my guides what they wanted me to learn from this vision, they told me it was time for me to “Wake up that which was latent.”

Letting in the Light

On By Alethea KehasIn Energy Healing, Memoir, ReflectionsLeave a comment

Last week the heavy energy that had been accumulating in the form of humidity where I live, was released by a night of tremendous thunderstorms. Structures shook with the power of lightning, as the clouds and wind brought the rain back to the earth and lifted dense energy to light.

The next day I felt lighter, in fact I felt so light I knew I was not completely grounded to the Earth. That is the trade-off of too much light. It can leave us feeling as though we could easily drift into the heavens. Not by accident, it was a turtle that brought me back down to Earth. Turtle is the animal symbol of Mother Earth, and the teacher who shows us how to join Heaven and Earth inside of our bodies. There it was in front of me as I walked the path in the woods with my dogs. A small snapper stopped on its way. I couldn’t help but pause, knowing that there was a message in this unexpected creature, and as I did, the dogs too took notice. In a flash, the turtle jumped to meet the sniffing nose of Daisy, and as I watched my dog retract in pain, I followed the drip of her red blood as it met the Earth.

I was back on this plane.

We, as souls incarnated as humans, face the challenge of balancing the elements inside of our beings. Too much air and we lose our ground; too much earth and we feel heavy; too much fire and we feel rage; too much water and we are over-come with emotion.

Today, I asked my guides about light and realized as I transcribed their words that we each, individually, have the ability to bring light to our shadows and heal the wounds we accumulate through our lives and store within our cells. Not long ago I was convinced I needed someone else, a trained healer of energy, to heal my centers of pain. Perhaps I did need this catalyst, for soon after I started paying attention to moments when the intellect gives way to the soul. In my sleep and in my meditations, my body let in the energy of light, and healed the pain lurking in the shadows.

These were dramatic moments, like the sessions I had with the energy healer. There are though, I’ve come to realize, many ways to bring in the healing energy of light. Months ago, I started tuning into the energy of trees, and felt my body bounce each time I passed large pines and oaks while I walked through the forest. When we laugh we release heavy energy and let in the light. Sometimes the act is involuntary, like a sneeze, or a good cry.

This morning I did my tai chi forms outside, with my bare feet finding balance on the uneven ground. With martial arts forms like tai chi (yoga also does this), we bring the red energy of the Earth Mother into our bodies, drawing it up through the soles of our feet as we plant them firmly on the ground. It is an active event. The breath is the vehicle. When we breathe in we draw energy into our bodies and disperse it throughout our cells. The body moves with the breath, which exhales from deep within, drawing the toxins out of the shadows and dispersing them into the air. In doing this we find our power. We become charged with light energy, with our feet still firmly planted on the ground.

Each of us has the ability to be our own energy healers. Taking the time to listen to your spirit and finding the method(s) that work for you, will bring unquestionable benefits. It’s not something, as I was reminded today, you can do only on occasion, but ideally, a daily practice. What makes your soul lighter? Is it singing, writing, painting, dancing, gardening, or cooking and eating healthy foods? Or something else? Most likely there will be many answers that come to you. It’s worth the exploration.

What I heard

On By Alethea KehasIn Memoir, Poems, Reflections2 Comments

This afternoon, as I walked through the woods, I thought about fracking. I thought about how my home is, in part, warmed, by the act of splitting the body that gives me life.  A year ago I created this poem by erasing words from an article I had read online (also know as an erasure poem).

“The Great Shale Gas Rush”
(an erasure poem adapted from the  above titled Businessweek.com article by Jim Efstathiou Jr. & Kim Chipman)

Homes sit atop debate
noise. Muddy water pouring
from taps, chemicals
in a neighbor’s well. A
beautiful rural area

Fracking

smash rock
free gas
clean energy shale rush
creating jobs and fluid
spills overwhelm
plants

A radioactive river
struggles to hold
authority

It’s impossible to miss
the power

While I walked today, I also thought about communities of people reconnecting to the Earth they have forsaken. I saw them in the fields I passed, meditating and mixing their energy with the Earth’s. I am reading a book called Desert Sojourn by Debi Homes-Binney, a memoir about the author’s 40 days of solitude in the desert of Utah. There is a reason why people return to the source of their cells for answers to the questions that trouble their minds. I can’t tell you how many times the woods have healed me.

And I thought about that great floating island of plastic in the pacific, too large, most think, to manage. Yet, I can’t erase the images of albatrosses dead from starvation, their stomaches bloated with bottle caps. “Anything is possible,” a friend told me today during an unrelated conversation, “our only limitation is belief.” If I can fix my body, surely we can fix our Mother’s.

Signs

On By Alethea KehasIn Gaia & Elementals, ReflectionsLeave a comment

When I was in college at Bowdoin I took an anthropology class taught by a very bright and energetic professor. One day the professor told us a story about the artifacts that she had collected and displayed on a shelf in her house. They were from all over the world. Many were old, carrying the energies of countless hands. One day, as she stood in her room with them, all of the stone figures fell towards her, landing in a circle around her.

I was very much a skeptic in college, having yet to open myself up to awareness. Still, I secretly believed my professor. She was down-to-earth and incredibly bright. There was no indication that she was trying to pull the wool over our eyes, but rather take it off. If I had been taking the class now, I wouldn’t have batted an eye.

I spent this afternoon pondering the fairy figurine (see photo below) that is perched on a shelf beside the window I face when I type on my computer. I always face the figurine to the right, towards my etched glass of two dancing fairies. When I looked up from typing my emails earlier today it was facing left, 180 degrees, its outstretched arm beckoning towards an orchid. I was the only one home today (but just to double-check I asked my family later if they had moved it. No). I dusted the shelf yesterday, and as I always do, faced the fairy to the right. I knew someone was trying to tell me something.

Maybe I was supposed to water the plants and give them some fertilizer. So I put a few drops in the can and gave the houseplants, including the orchid, a drink.  I was just covering bases though, clearly the fairies were trying to communicate with me. Heck, even my dog knows they’ve been trying to get my attention for months.

I just had to figure out what it was. I started by asking Doreen Virtue’s deck of Healing with the Fairies cards and drew “Environmental Awareness.” Anyone who knows me would not be surprised. I guess it’s time to buckle up, listen and pay attention, which is what I did for the rest of the afternoon. Here’s to another leg of my journey! Stay tuned…