The Heart of Faith

What is faith?  The dictionary describes it as an unwavering confidence or trust in something or someone.  I read an article recently, and I apologize that I don't remember the details, but it was talking about the phrase, "faith can move mountains".  The story was about a village that didn't have access to a hospital because a mountain stood in their way.  There was a man who had a wife that had an ongoing illness and he knew that he needed to be able to get a certain kind of medicine for her and that it was on the other side of the mountain.  So he set off to make a road going over the mountain and eventually other people in the village began to help.  Some might think this is a story of perseverance or a strong will, but what the story talked about was this man's faith.  He had such a deep faith that making a road over the mountain was possible and that he was going to be able to do it.  I think that it took many years, but it was his faith alone that inspired the help of other people in the village to help and to persevere.

I found this story to be really important.  There are so many changes going on and many people struggling and it's an old illusion that having faith is to believe that someone or something is going to come along and save you.  I don't believe this is faith.  Faith is believing that change will come and that you will know what to do to create this change.  Believing that you have the tools to create the change you need.  Trusting that you are enough and that the universe is here to support you.  Having faith that you are a part of something much larger that supports truth, justice, abundance and joy.

I actually have never thought about my faith until lately.  I'm actually just discovering what an unwavering faith I have when it comes to trusting that goodness will prevail.  I know it sounds cliche, but my faith in the universe and standing in one's own truth and the power of love has been the underlying current, the river or stream so to speak that has directed the flow of my life.  It has moved metaphorical mountains in my life and helped me get to where I wanted to go.  It may have taken years, just like with the man from the village, but my life is closer to being what I've dreamed of then ever before.  So here's to faith, an irreconcilable power that can move mountains
!

The Dark Mother

As an archetypal figure, the Dark Mother is one of the more powerful ones, in my opinion.  I stumbled upon her 18 years ago during my first trip to France.  Referred to as the Black  Madonna, she is found as a Madonna statue made of dark wood and highly revered by many seeking healing at the old temples and cathedrals.

I was raised Christian and the archetype of  Mother Mary, the way she was depicted by the Christian religion, had a powerful impact on me growing up.  Her gentleness, purity and obscure power conveyed to me as a young girl, that that was what a woman should be.  Not being exposed to many other kinds of archetypes as a child, this image of Mother Mary was the only image I had.

I have a much deeper understanding of the Mother Mary archetype than I did then and I love her power.  But all I can say is, I'm so thankful for having found the Dark Mother or the Black Madonna.  She helped to balance out my ways of being feminine.  She helped me to be okay, well more than okay, with the other side of me that was earthy, passionate and ferocious at times.  I had denied this part of myself thinking it must not be acceptable, but my search for sinking my roots deep in the earth and creating a passionate life and having a powerful voice brought me right to the feet of the Dark Mother.

It was one of the most powerful initiations that I ever encountered.  Her fierceness worked its way through me and helped me to change my life from the inside out.  She helped me to break old family patterns that inhibited my power as a woman and she helped me to mother my children from a very deep and intuitive place.  She helped me to face fear and to trust in the power of truth.

I've since helped guide many women and men through this initiation and it's been a joy to see each person find their voice, a deeper truth, and a creative life.  It's not an easy initiation because it challenges every belief system you have.  It forces you to let go and to get turned inside out.  But it's so well worth it.  While the Dark Mother is fierce, she's also a powerful earth mother that will nourish you to the very core. 

So if change is knocking on your door and you're having a hard time letting go and perhaps feeling a lot of resistance or fear, call on the Dark Mother.  If you're stuck in a situation that is difficult, hurtful, or seems too big for you to handle, call on the Dark Mother.  She will provide you with the strength and fierceness you need to overcome any obstacle and bring change to your life.  Blessings!

Spices as Medicine

I've always loved cinnamon and ginger.  When fall comes, I traditionally bake my grandmother's favorite molasses cookie recipe that's filled with cinnamon and ginger.  I usually add about twice as much of the spices as the recipe actually calls for.  They're so yummy and so very warming.  The perfect remedy for colder weather.  But there are a lot of other ways that I use cinnamon and ginger.

I use the essential oil of cinnamon in my foot salves.  It's anti-fungal properties helps to keep my feet free of fungus and really helps to soothe and heal any cracks that I may have.  It's considered a "hot" oil, so using directly on your skin, without a carrier oil, could really irritate your skin.

I also use cinnamon when I'm feeling a cold come on.  I take a generous teaspoon of cinnamon and add it to some plain yogurt and eat it.  Cinnamon is anti-bacterial and anti-viral, so it makes great medicine to ward off colds and flu.  I also use a generous amount of it in warm milk before I go to bed at night.  It helps with digestion after a heavy meal and its warming quality helps me to fall asleep at night.  It also is a great agent for regulating blood sugar.  So if you have problems with fluctuating blood sugar, taking a teaspoon of cinnamon every day can really help.

Ginger is my other favorite.  Ginger candies got me through my early months of my pregnancies.  It was the only thing that would help me through morning sickness.  Just sucking on a small piece of crystallized ginger whenever I would feel nauseous was a life saver.  Those days are long past, and now I use ginger primarily because of it's such a great digestive aid.  It has a real warming quality to it and can kick start a lousy appetite, help relieve a bloated stomach, and help improve absorption of vital nutrients.  Used as a tea with a bit of lemon is great for sore throats and helping to clear your sinuses.  I added powdered ginger to my warm milk at night along with cinnamon and it really helps to improve my digestion so I'm not going to bed still trying to digest my dinner.

Ginger is also great for the kidneys.  This time of year, it's so important to give your kidneys what they need.  And that is warmth, darkness and pressure.  Winter is the time to slow down, stay warm and nourish your kidneys so they are well prepared for the burst of spring energy.  Kidney wraps are very common in many cultures.  Using an old scarf that you can wrap around your waist provides the subtle pressure that kidneys like.  Infusing fresh ginger and adding ginger essential oil to your favorite massage oil makes a great, warming oil to rub on your lower back where your kidneys are.

Anthroposophical doctors say that when children get ear infections that it's their kidneys that need tending to.  They recommend making ginger packs by grading up fresh ginger, placing it on the kidney area, applying a heating pad or hot water bottle and wrapping the area with a scarf or anything to hold it into place.  I've never tried this since my kids were never prone to ear infections, but I've heard it works really well.

Have a healthy winter!

The Healing Magic of Essential Oils continued.......

A couple of years ago I posted an article on the healing magic of essential oils.  Well, since then, I've become certified in aromatherapy and have continued to be amazed with essential oils and their healing capabilities.  When I first started using essential oils, it was primarily in my herbal salves to promote healing of all sorts of skin ailments.  Then I began using essential oils neet, or directly on wounds without being blended with a carrier oil.  And if you haven't read my previous blog entry on "The Healing Magic of Essential Oils", I encourage you to do so.  It's a great story about healing my husband's deep cut with lavender.

Lately, I've begun integrating the oils into my healing practice and have been using a variety of different oils on clients' feet.  One thing that I instantly notice is that they become more relaxed, their whole system.  The other thing that I notice is how the oils interact with opening up a person's meridians.  They seem to magically open up our energetic channels.  It's as if the body knows how pure the medicine of essential oils is and responds to it with such a beautiful openness.  I've seen people's chakras begin to open as well and respond as if in a lovely and intimate dance together. 

The oils are such wonderful facilitators for our systems to go into a deep relaxation where its innate wisdom of being able to heal itself can then take place.  I use them on my children, even though 2 are adults now, to help them to relax and to let go of their busy lives. 

On another note, I think this is worth mentioning this time of year.  During the winter months when our whole family is indoors more than other times of the year, the energy of our home can feel clogged at times and it can easily create stress for me.  I've found when I add a really uplifting oil like lemon, peppermint, or spearmint to a bucket or sink full of water and wash my floors with it, any stuck energy seems to dissipate.  The air is cleared just as if it was spring and I was opening all the windows and doors.  Aaaaahh, a welcome relief!

Have a magical and healthy winter everyone!

Sacred Journey, Crossing the Threshold to Change beginning February 5th, 2013
Over the past 18 years, I've made several journeys to sacred sites all over the world.  I found immersing myself in the energy of these ancient spiritual power centers to be life changing.  My travels were healing, transformational and filled with magic.  What would take years to bring to consciousness with traditional therapy, the energy I encountered at sacred sites facilitated healing and consciousness at a much faster rate.  Often, traditional therapy offers us an intellectual understanding of our healing process, but doesn't always result in embodied and tangible change. My experiences at the sacred sites were life changing in the most authentic and tangible ways.

My friend Edith Allison accompanied me on many of my journeys.  It was wonderful to share these experiences with a friend and colleague to compare notes with and to support one another through out our journeys, both at home and afar.

A couple years ago, we were feeling the need to make another journey, but due to time and financial constraints we weren't able to go.  So we decided to create our own sacred journey while staying at home.  We integrated into our days, (we were each in our own separate homes), certain key components that we have found to be instrumental in creating a sacred, magical and life changing space.  We chose to have our journey last three weeks basing it on the studies that it often takes 21 days to change patterns.  Everything we did to create this sacred space/journey was strategically integrated into our normal day to day routine.  In other words, we didn't take a vacation from our lives for three weeks.

This journey proved to be one of our most sacred journeys.  We experienced the magic, the transformation and the healing we were looking for.  And aside from the great food and wine we've experienced on our other trips, this journey offered us everything we could have imagined and more.  It is for this reason, we have begun offering this type of sacred journey for others because we know first hand how powerful an experience they can be.

I hope that you can join us for this next sacred journey, beginning February 5th, 2013!  We've consciously chosen this time of year to align ourselves with the energies of the earth when our new ideas still lay beneath the surface but are beginning to stir.  Let's breathe life into our new ideas, hopes and dreams to make them a reality this year! 

Natural Remedies for the Cold and Flu Season

If we were truly living in rhythm with the Earth, we would all be hibernating right now.  Not necessarily in full hibernation like bears, but we would be spending our days at a slower pace, gathered around the wood stove, working on crafts, enjoying a bowl of hot stew simmering on the stove and using last summer's harvest stored in our root cellar.

Spending our winter days at a slower pace while deeply nourishing our body and soul is not an option for most of us.  Instead we are continuing the same work pace and added to that is shoveling snow, bringing in firewood and partaking in holiday cheer.  It can wear on us, weakening our immune system and leaving us susceptible to colds and flu.

So although we may not have the option of hibernating this winter, I thought I'd pass along a few natural remedies that I use to help myself and my family stay healthy.

Cinnamon Bark, cinnamomum verum

 The essential oil of cinnamon bark is a powerful healing agent being an anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and an anti-inflammatory.  It's been used for treating all different kinds of ailments for the past 1700 years and was one of the the first herbal medicines listed in Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, Europe's first official guide to medicines.

The best way to use this oil is to add several drops to a carrier oil, such as jojoba or almond.  I put several drops in one of my salves that I make.  Using the salve or oil to keep your hands soft during the winter months will not just help your skin but it will kill bacteria and other germs on your hands as well.
Warning:  Cinnamon bark essential oil is one of the few oils that should not be put directly onto your skin unless it's been added to a carrier oil or in a salve as mentioned above.  Otherwise, it may cause skin irritation.  It should not be directly inhaled for the same reason.

The other way I use cinnamon is with the spice.  If I feel a cold coming on, I will mix a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon with a tablespoon of plain yogurt.  I'll do this a couple of times during the day and it really helps to keep an oncoming cold at bay.

Lemongrass, cymbopogon flexuosus
The essential oil of lemongrass is another wonderful oil that is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal.  Used frequently to treat respiratory and bladder infections, Lemongrass has been found to be highly effective in killing bacteria found in MRSA Staph infections.

MRSA originated in hospitals, making it highly resistant to standard antibiotics.  It has now been found outside of hospitals and has proven to be quite fatal.  I encourage you to read the following article, written by David Stewart, PHD on his findings with the effectiveness of essential oils for treating bacterial infections, particularly MRSA.  Essential Oils and MRSA Staph Infections, Part 2.

I use lemongrass essential oil the same way that I use cinnamon.  I add it to my oils and salves that I use through out the winter.  I particularly use the essential oil of lemongrass in a salve that I regularly apply to my youngest son's feet.  He has severe scoliosis and is therefor susceptible to pneumonia.  Using essential oils in the form of salves or body oils and massaged into the soles of the feet is a highly effective way to strengthen your immune system and fight germs.  The soles of our feet have many points that correspond with all the systems of the body, and using essential oils on the different points creates an electrical charge that helps to clear blocks both physically and emotionally.

I also use homeopathic remedies and although remedies are selected based on the individual's constitution and the characteristics of the illness, there are a few that I always have on hand.  If you have children, you may especially have seen the following types of symptoms.

Fever
Bright red, flushed face and glassy eyes with red lips signifies Belladonna.
Red, circular patch on the cheek, particularly the left side, signifies Ferrum Phosphorous.

Cold
Clear, watery mucous, and tearing eyes signifies Alium Cepa.
Thick, yellow/green mucous, non-burning, fearful mental state signifies Pulsatilla
Lethargic with body feeling very heavy signifies Gelsemium

Sore Throat
Swollen, sore and with pus filled spots on the tonsils signifies Mercurius.
Burning sensation combined with chilliness, thirst and fatigue signifies Arsenicum.
Beginning stages, tongue with red dots like a strawberry signifies Belladonna.

I also integrate many plants high in antioxidants and vitamin C into foods that my family eats.  Elderberry syrup poured over pancakes, mixed in plain yogurt or added to a cup of tea is a great way to increase your vitamin C intake.  Autumn Olive berries are higher in antioxidants than pomegranate and makes a delicious rose colored jam.  Echinacea root boiled in maple syrup is sweet tasting and generally well liked by children.  We also will freeze the root and take bits of it to chew on when we're feeling ill. 

Along with the many wonderful natural medicines available to us, nothing beats nutritious meals, plenty of rest and relaxation to stay healthy during the cold winter months!

The Changing Times 

anchoring in the new energy

There is tremendous change happening and personally, I'm experiencing it in a variety of ways. I especially feel chaotic energy as things are shifting and changing seemingly more quickly.  As a new energy is being revealed, relentlessly moving humankind through an initiatory passageway, many people I've worked with are experiencing a loss of a familiar structure or foundation whether it be income, relationship or perhaps even their homes.  For some people it may be experienced as an emotional letting go.  Old patterns surfacing, an upheaval of grief or a deep frustration that your life is not how you want it to be.  I've heard of an increase number of people experiencing weight gain, vertigo, sleeplessness, unexplained physical discomfort and pain.  I've experienced the chaotic energy of change reflected in my home as I struggle to keep up with the clutter and unfinished projects. 

From what I understand, these are all symptoms of a monumental shift that is taking place on our planet.  Our multidimensional selves are shifting in a variety of ways to become aligned with a new Divine blueprint.  And it can be unsettling to say the least.  I have had mornings where I wake up feeling as though I've been working all night.  Other mornings, I feel completely energized and well rested.  I've also noticed an increase in sensitivities and have had to pay more attention to setting healthy boundaries so as not to get over-stressed and worn out.

I've been paying attention to what helps me to stay centered and grounded during this time and would like to share these tips in hopes that for those of you who may be having similar experiences may find some relief and support.  First, taking some time for myself, whether it's just a few minutes to sit in silence helps to clear my mind and touch upon my own deep truth.  Maintaining some sort of rhythm that provides consistency to your day helps balance the chaotic energy of change. Even if it's a simple ritual of making a cup of tea or reading a favorite verse upon waking or before going to bed helps.   Going for a walk outdoors has also helped me to bring a sense of peace and letting go of fear and stress.  Using my favorite essential oils, particularly fragrances such as lavender, that help relax the emotional body and mind have also been very helpful.  I also know that in the past, using Bach Flower Remedies help as well.  I believe the new energies that are entering our consciousness at this time has a higher vibration that is more aligned with the vibration of flowers.  So it makes sense to me why essential oils and flower remedies can be very helpful during this time.

For any of you having similar experiences, I hope these tips help.  And if you have other things you've been doing that you find helpful, please feel free to share.