When my son Orion was growing in my womb, his spirit shared with me that one of the many blessings he brings is a “deepening of all I Love”. I have shared this before, and I see this truth, this blessing unfolding all the time. Many of you have known me for many years now. I’ve shared much about my passion and love for our beloved Earth and this love is again deepening even more as I am Mama to Orion.

Like many of you, I feel deep concern, distress, sadness and grief in the ecological turmoil and destruction happening in our local ecosystem and ecosystems across the planet. So many trees have died in just the past few years alone. The rising temperatures and extreme heat and now wildfires and smoke in the summers are a huge stress on all life, and I particularly am called to Trees. I see in the mountains, the older trees and forests that have each other are doing much better than the younger, more separated trees in cities, the countryside and valley lands. Older trees have more resilience and forests have each other to help one another navigate these changes.

What I find distressing is the continual cutting of forests when we so need these trees in the ground! How will new trees grow in this changing climate? We depend on the old and big trees and large mountains of forests to help life navigate a new way.

Listening and learning from the other than human life

In my ever-deepening love and growing concern, I feel a passionate yearning also building in my heart. I desire to learn as much as I can from all the other than human life.

As a human, I am here to Listen to the trees, the waters, the winds, to breathe the mountain airs, to feel the presence of bear, wolf, raven, to feel the coming of the salmon, to know when the rains are returning, to welcome the winter migration of the swans and the return of our resident eagles. I am here to hear the great horned owl at night and to be present when a visiting barred owl practically flies into my face looking into my soul with its midnight black mystery eyes. I am to stop and be still with the Great Blue Heron who flies into the Douglas fir tree right above me while practicing qigong, or sits just below my sit spot at the river silently waiting as I look into it’s golden ringed eyes in awe. I yearn to know our stars and Moon deeper and closer than ever before – to feel their twinkling tales as they shine upon the land and to receive the gifts of the billowing luminous white clouds drifting and opening to the brilliance of the full moon….as a magical “moonbow” rainbow slowly grows to encircle the whole moon! Being human is to truly be present with and listen to and learn from all life.

These are experiences I’ve been gifted lately, and I thirst for more. Our human world holds much beauty and has also gotten us into much trouble. I desire to listen to, learn from our other than human life as a way to be of service to all life. This is a yearning both my husband Nate and I are feeling.

As I do my daily outdoor qigong, my nature wonder wanders, my earthgym and animal forms in the forest and sit spot by the river, I’m listening and also asking for our solutions and vision for a new way going forward on our planet. On a recent wonder wander through the forest and by the river, I asked and received four pillars of guidance that I share below. I would also love to hear from you what you’re learning from the Earth and steps you’re taking for a new direction for humanity, for the health and wellness of our planet.

Four Pillars in moving forward…

Simplify. I am passionate about simplifying my life to what is most important. I’m finding this brings fulfillment of purpose, clarity, nourishment and love and harmony. This fall I participated in an online course called Uncluttered. It was awesome!!! While I have just scratched the surface in my uncluttering at home, I have found that not only does clearing things bring harmony and ease into our living spaces at home, it also frees up internal space for new creativity, clarity, insight and inspiration into my life! Yay!! As a past participant, I can offer my friends and family a 25% discount on the next course in January 2019. You can contact me for the code at  karen.dancingqi@gmail.com

Get outside and be outdoors as much as possible. Life and the living pulse of our Earth and all her creatures are outside. As our Earth is changing rapidly, for me to listen and learn as much as possible from Her, and to be a vessel to give back, I must be outside and in nature as much as possible.

I recently listened to a great podcast by David Abram, Magic and the Machine on Emergence Magazine podcast (thanks to my Mom for forwarding it to me! :)). In the podcast, he reflects on our undying urge to recreate a primal experience of intimacy with the surrounding world, offering notes on technology and animism in an age of ecological wipeout.

Write often. Share what you’re learning. I’m committed to writing – as it’s a way I learn and I feel we all learn from each other’s stories. As Plato said, “Those who share their stories shape society.” And, I’d love to hear from you what you’re learning!!  I will be posting new musings and learnings on my blog at least monthly.

Love. Love your son and family well. Love is the strongest force in the Universe and marks my way forward, and I believe our collective way forward. 

www.karenjoyfletcher.com

Karen Joy Fletcher is giving a workshop at the 2019 WOW Conference
Sat, Feb. 16th, 2:30 - 5:30 pm.
The Power of Play & the Wonder of Wandering

​At my monthly Afterlife Meetups I talk about how to recognize and respect your IGS—your Intuitive Guidance System—not necessarily how to connect with or speak with or hear from Spirit on the Other Side. I did not even know that I was a medium or that I was capable of being one until my husband died five years ago. Now I understand that the only thing missing from the equation was my own conscious awareness. In other words, I had no idea that my depression, my anxiety, my panic attacks, and my fear were all related to stuffing down who I really was—and that this included listening to my own gut as well as my ability to talk to the Other Side.
I was taught that I was hypersensitive and overemotional, that these were bad things and things that needed correction.
I felt I needed to fix everything and yet I knew I was incapable of fixing anything.
I felt that I was responsible for everything, and yet I was unable to take responsibility for anything.
I felt that everyone else must be to blame for what I saw as my world of ills and pain, yet I blamed no one but myself.
I was aware of everything, yet I was aware of nothing.
I was completely self-absorbed, yet I was completely absorbed by the energy of the collective consciousness.
I lived in judgment of myself and judgment of others because I could never see my way out of the black hole where I existed.
I was locked in the blackness as if it were made of steel.
In essence, I was a living, breathing mass of contradiction.
There is no reason to live like that once we know the truth of who we really are: Vacationing Angels. That is why I stand before you today: to offer another perspective, one I have been blessed to receive. That is my sole purpose. It is my soul’s purpose. It is why I forced myself to walk through the pain of losing a loved one and through the dark night of the soul until I could come out the other side and stand here. And if I can be present and speak words that resonate with even one person, for one second, for one moment, and help that one individual live in more joy and understanding, that is all I need to continue.
And to all of you who are brave enough to step out of the blackness of questioning, doubting, fear, trepidation, worry, or any other place of spiritual, emotional, mental, and/or physical deprivation…bravo.
While being a medium is awesome, compelling, real, immediate, and beautiful, and while it helps me and those I channel information for and through (Spirits in human form on this side and Spirit Beings beyond the Veil), my true objective to help others join me in living a happier life as a Vacationing Angel.

Sometimes I feel lost, confused, or completely topsy-turvy. Life throws us all curves once in a while. That’s when I need guidance. Unfortuantely, if I’m anxious — which is often the case when I’m confused — I keep spinning round and round from one old, unworkable answer to the next. I can’t seem to find a way out of this impasse. At least not with my conscious, analytical mind. Luckily, that’s not my only option. Instead I’ve learned that I can tap into my unconscious — my inner wisdom — for new perspectives on my motivations, my emotions, and my thoughts. Because who knows me best? I do, of course!
So how can I access this mysterious realm of insight? For me the answer is divination. Reduced to its essence, divination is a means for answering questions that makes active use of intuition. It employs a variety a methods for getting in touch with out-of-the-box thinking. You’ve probably heard of tarot cards or the I Ching. Maybe a friend has even offered to cast runes for you.  All of these are divinations that work with pre-programmed answers to your question. The good news of divination is that it’s no longer “one size fits all.” There are many techniques that work for different individuals’ unique experiences, thinking styles, and desires. I’ve captured 40 of them in my new book The World is Your Oracle: Divinatory Practices for Tapping Your Inner Wisdom and Getting the Answers You Need (Fair Winsd Press: 2017).
Historically, people used divination to answer their pressing questions. Perhaps the most famous example was the Pythia of Delphi, a priestess who accessed her inner wisdom from her shrine in ancient Greece. But there were other sages just as renowned in other parts of the ancient world. Dedicated to the goddess Hecate, the sibyl of Cumae (near modern-day Naples) was the most celebrated of Roman seers. She reputedly lived in a cave and, according to Virgil’s Aeneid, wrote her prophesies on oak leaves and left them at its entrance. During biblical times, prophets like Joseph interpreted dreams for oracular insight. And ancient Chinese psychics cast oracle bones and read wisdom from the patterns created.
Using divinations such as these can help us in many situations: when we need inspiration, when we need to make change in our lives, when we need to manifest a new creation, orwhen we’re simply perplexed. I’ve found that a good oracle puts me in touch with myself. It lets me discover my motivations, feelings, and thoughts about any question that I’m exploring. It also helps by alerting me to my hidden wishes and fears – those aspects of my personality that might sabotage my conscious choices unless I take them into account. Oracles can provide me with the information I need, warn me of possible dangers, and inpire my creative work.
What I’ve also learned is that divination is a co-creative process. No matter the technique, a divination depends on our particular perceptions and ways of approaching the world, tendencies that affect not only what we notice in our divination, but also how we interpret it.  When I led a nature divination workshop in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum a few years ago, I learned that this can even be a question of internal differences within an individual.  After we arrived, I asked the group to ground and center, remind themselves of their oracular question, and then look around at the marshland where we had gathered.  One woman decided to ask two questions rather than just one.  She stationed herself on a boardwalk overlooking the marsh, closed her eyes and asked: “How can I find the time and energy to enjoy my life, given the fact that I am extremely busy with work right now?”  When she opened her eyes, she immediately noticed the gaps between the swaying grasses and rushes in front of her and realized that she, too, could be flexible like these plants.  She could go with the flow and fit pleasure into the small breaks and lacunae in her work life.
Then she closed her eyes again and asked: “What should I do about my nephew?”  Opening her eyes on the same scene less than a minute later, she noticed a large tree in the middle distance that appeared sturdy and deeply-rooted.  Yes, she thought to herself, I can provide this teenager with the kind of stability this tree represents if I open my home to him.
These two divinations reveal the extent to which an oracular insight depends on a querent’s co-creation. Because she was looking for different types of feedback, at the same place and at almost the same time, the woman in my workshop noticed two very different images.
You can use this technique to answer one of your questions as well:
• First, create a “how” or “what” question, like my student did.
• Then, decide in which natural area you want to perform your divination.
• Once you’ve arrived at your chosen site, meditate for 3—5 minutes in order to ground and center yourself. Let your meditation create a space separate from your everyday life and a mind-set free of your ordinary, analytical thinking.
• State your question under your breath.
• Breathe your question into your surroundings and let them affect you. Let the sounds and ambience of this place transport you to greater receptivity. When you feel ready, open your eyes.
• Notice what draws your attention. Is it an animal, a plant, a cloud? A mountain in the distance? Waves lapping against the shore? Or leaves scudding over the surface of the ground?
• Interpret the object that caught your eye, asking what it means to you? You may need to ask this question several times until the answer resonates with you. This experience of resonance or rightness may come as an “aha,” as some sort of visual “yes,” or even as a feeling that the answer simply “clicks.”
• Thank your oracular object for its wisdom. Expressisng gratitude acknowledges your link with the interdependent web of all existence, with the world as your oracle.
As my student’s experiences show, divination can put you more in charge of your life. Like her, using a divination can help you find your own insights. Sometimes it can even deepen your curiosity about each day’s small miracles and let you experience a greater sense of wonder. But most importantly, it can help you find answers to the questions that life poses and become more confident in your personal choices.
​
- Originally published (in a different version) on ElephantJournal.com (https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/11/divinations-not-just-in-harry-potter-heres-how-you-can-use-it/ ) 

Birth is a messy process. We are right there in the middle of it. The crown of the head of our new collective human species is out of the birth canal. Will we actually birth this new species of human? I am calling them Homo Compassion-Wisdom Sapiens.
Will they actually take form on our planet and begin their stewardship of wise compassionate care of the one interconnected Web of Life that all beings and Mother Earth are part of?
We sit at a moment during the birthing process where there are many challenges. It is messy, painful and the tendency to distract, check out, or turn away in fear is strong.
We have all co-created the figures on our political stage. They are each playing a role in our collective birth. They function as mirrors, reflections, shadows, and archetypes for our personal and collective transformation.
This rebirth of the homo sapiens creature into the Homo Compassion-Wisdom Sapiens creature has been slowly happening over the past five thousand years. With the dawn of dualistic, power-over, hierarchical, and patriarchal thinking and the actions that arise from those mind states, we buried the divine feminine energy that lives in each of us and our collective. Home Compassion-Wisdom Sapiens has a dynamically counter-balanced embodied masculine and feminine. Personally and collectively.
Homo Compassion-Wisdom Sapiens is not a dualistic 'either/or' species. They are a multiversal 'both/and' species. Love is the glue that binds the Web of Life they steward. They base their actions on power-with, mind/body connection, and heart-centered ways of being.
The patriarchal system is dying a painful death. The players on the stage are there to evoke us to expand, grow, transform and transmute fear. Fear is the glue that binds together the patriarchal way of being.
We all get to choose how to engage with these players on the stage in front of us and with the emotions they evoke in us. We are not the audience. We have and continue to co-create their and our scripts. We can grow, deepen and expand to see more of the stage than just where they occupy. This is where novel ways of being for the new Homo Compassion-Wisdom Sapiens creatures live.
Imagine you are looking at a tv screen and this is what you see.
 
E
V
______________
Looking at this screen, we can make very little meaning. Our focus is very narrow.
Through embodiment practice, opening your heart to deep care and connection, and choosing fearlessness you can begin to grow and see a wider screen. This is now what you can begin to see.
 _________________________E
V          E
__________________________
By continuing to focus your intent on how you want to feel---connected to life, with compassion for all beings, and ease and fluidity of moving through life, you begin to expand again. Now more comes into view on the screen. This is what you experience now.
___________________________________
B      E
 
L          O          V          E
____________________________________
You realize the screen and stage of life are much bigger than what you see and experience now.
Love is the glue that binds together the one interconnected Web of Life for Homo Compassion-Wisdom Sapiens.
Will you be a mid-wife for our own collective birth?

​

There are a myriad of benefits from releasing past-life energy that no longer serves us. This healing can lead to improved health, wealth, and harmonious relationships.

Healing and releasing past-life energy allows us to remove the blocks and self-limiting beliefs we’ve created from hundreds or even thousands of incarnations, along with the associated emotions stored in our etheric bodies. We’re able to align more fully with our Higher Self and Guides, and move more fully into life purpose and larger soul mission.

Past-Life Regression is especially well-suited for individuals experiencing anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, depression, disease, or chronic physical and/ or emotional pain.
It is contraindicated for individuals with schizophrenia or DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder).

Regression Healing is a marvelous technique to raise one’s vibration to the fifth spiritual dimension and higher. We can complete lessons associated with any karma and transmute it, and adjust or end any soul contracts that do not serve us in this lifetime. The benefit is to allow individuals to move quickly to a more loving, peaceful, joyous place in life!

Join Wendy at her WOW workshop on Sunday, Feb. 18th. Check it out here: Registration Information and Schedule

Wendy Rose Williams is a Certified Spiritual Teacher, Past-Life Regressionist, Reiki Master Energy Healer, author, and host of “Soul Wisdom Radio: Living Your Joyful Life!” on TransformationTalkRadio.com
Visit WendyRoseWilliams.com

I am beginning to understand. The alchemy of training, toning, musing with my muscles and what it means to grip, grin and ground and pull as one muscle.
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So much time is spent floating…floating in our thoughts, floating in worries, floating down the roads in cars, floating over the earth in buildings, houses, or along in shoes. Where is the connection?

Our heart does more than just pumping blood through our body. The heart continuously generates a sequence of electrical activity with every single heartbeat, and we can record this on paper or display it on a monitor by attaching individual electrodes to a machine that can amplify and record an EKG or ECG (electrocardiogram).

I bury my face in the moss and take a deep breath. Oh my goodness! My heart smiles and I take in another breath, and another and another. I start laughing as I keep gulping in breaths of sweet mossy Earth. I love the smell of our Earth! It smells like someplace from my childhood, probably the woods behind our home…I can’t pin point it but I know and love this smell. I laugh aloud in sweet connection with this precious, delicate yet spongy moss. Stella stands patiently with her black and white furry head titled to the side as she watches me from her perch on the mountain forest trail. She waits for me yet again on our descent from a steep, cold, icy and glorious climb up Mt. Dickerman in mid November.