The Warm Chill

It was a perfect spring day yesterday. Jake, who is as old as Croesus, sometimes just isn't up for any kind of walk. But I was able to persuade him to cross Lincoln Park, a distance of two blocks, so we could hang out in one of Capitol Hill's funny little triangle parks. Some are fancy with trees and benches, some not so much. Yesterday we settled down at the narrow end of the grassy triangle on Kentucky SE between Independence and Lincoln Park. I bet we sat there for an hour. I wasn't wearing a watch so I can't be sure.

Even in ancient old age, life has its pleasures. Jake's nose twitched as he sniffed the air, his eyes lit up as he watched squirrels and cats dashing around in the yards across the street. He lay out in full sunlight, soaking up the warmth into his old bones.

Actually, I did the same thing - well except for getting excited to see squirrels and cats. The blessings of just sitting, just being with a beautiful day like yesterday are many, they really are.

To all who celebrate it, many kind thoughts as you go through the ritual of Good Friday. For my fellow Jews, hunker down, ya'll. It's a long trek through the desert. To everyone else, happy weekend.

Questions of Faith

I am a person of faith, I am. Is it a perfect faith? Oh. My. God. Far from it. My faith is full of gaping holes. It is a landscape of tall mountains and sharp ravines. There are pure clear lakes, raging rivers and skanky swamps in the landscape of my faith. There are forest fires, volcanic eruptions. There are also peaceful meadows buzzing with chirping crickets, and clear skies spangled with stars.

Is my faith perfect? Hell no! But it is complete, it is whole. I wonder if I can explain this. As often as I believe wholeheartedly, I doubt wholeheartedly. As devout as I am, I speculate, wonder and dismiss. I shift my faith around all the time, reshape it to fit whatever state of mind I'm in. Some days I struggle with all my might to believe in anything. But there is never a day when I disbelieve. Does that make sense?

One thing I don't understand (probably because I've never achieved it) is perfect faith, something that never falters, not ever. I know there are people who have this kind of faith and I salute them even though I don't get it. There are even people whose atheism is flawless and perfect. That anti-faith faith blows my mind.

It occurs to me, though, that if my faith was perfect, I would not be so engaged in the dance of the spirit. There would be no need for the proverbial leaps of faith nor would I ever have to put my critical mind to the task of wondering. My faith is a worthy adversary that keeps me on my toes, makes me think and work every single day. I am so grateful for my imperfect faith. Thanks, God! I mean it, thank you.

Then What?

Buddha statue in Ten Penh, a fabulous DC restaurant. I'd had a couple of glasses of wine when I took the pic. It does evoke spirit guidance, though ... doesn't it?

You've figured out what you need help with, and you've contacted a spirit guide or two. What are you supposed to do then? Well, just as with any relationship, the next steps involve developing a rapport that works for you, finding a way of receiving guidance that doesn't creep you out and isn't too confusing, developing trust, etc. It's just like any other relationship. You have to work with it, you have to relate.

Some spirit guides stay with you forever. But sometimes relationships with spirit guides must end. During the time when I was doing so much shamanic work on the American Civil War battlefields, I was guided by "Bill" - an excessively polite spirit guide with a serious Southern drawl. He was sweet. When I stopped doing that work, Bill and I parted ways amicably. Another time I picked up a trickster spirit who had me convinced that because I could never trust his guidance, I would become very wise. What a load of crap, eh? When I finally shook myself out of that delusion, he was gone so fast that I believe the door did not hit his butt on the way out.

Spirit guides are not the end all and be all. They can not do everything and are not the answer for everything. I have three spirit guides who assist me in my healing work. But to do the work, I also had to go to massage school, pass the National Certification test, find a place to practice, and build my client base. If you've suffered some trauma and would like to heal, a guide can help you find the right psychotherapist or acupuncturist, or can help you figure out a way that you can pay for the therapy you need. As you can see I believe that working with spirit guides is a partnership. It doesn't work to sit around and wait for them to fix our problems.

I also want to say that you can lead a long, happy and successful life without ever contacting your guides. They will guide you whether you talk to them or not - ego is not a factor for these beings. They have guided you your whole life; they have guided you to read this post in fact. But they need not be acknowledged. All will be well.

Thanks for the wealth of wisdom via the amazing comments yesterday and the day before. If Grandpa passes along any more "recipes" I'll certainly share them. Be well, ya'll. Have a wonderful Wednesday.


Buddha statue in a window, facing the street. Interesting that the residents of this house look at the back of the statue. Very cool.

Spirit Guide Do's 'n Don'ts

This post is not about trying to convince anyone that spirit guides are "real." I've worked with guides for many many years and yet I still have my doubts about whether or not they "truly" exist. If you're curious to hear how I avail myself of what I think of as a human birthright to access a wisdom that's greater and more pervasive than rational function, read on. If not, that's great, too. I have no agenda.

My first guide came to me long ago, during my 20's, in the form of sudden flashes of insight that arrived fully formed and were confirmed to be "true" by external sources. For instance, I used to read newspaper horoscopes but I always thought they were total crap. One day while I was taking a long walk, the "story" of astrology came to me from out of the nowhere. As a result, I decided to take a class. When I told the "story" of astrology during my turn in the first class (when everyone says why they're taking the class), the teacher's jaw dropped. She said, "Where did you learn that?" I was so taken aback that I lied, said I'd read it somewhere, but she shook her head NO. She told me it was an arcane astrological theory that was kept secret, only passed to astrological adepts at a certain point in their training. On the spot, I lied again - I said I had learned it from an old lady who grew herbs and was a healer, who had learned astrology from her grandmother. As it turned out, I wasn't really lying, I was describing my oldest spirit guide. That was thirty years ago. She has been guiding me ever since.

Sometimes they come to you the way my first one did. Sometimes, though, you have to ask for help.

If you want to contact your spirit guides, first of all think about what you'd like some help with. There are many presences or beings or intelligences or whatever you want to call them who will only waste your time, and of course there are some Really Not Very Nice intelligences that cause people all kinds of trouble - you do NOT want to get involved with a being who tells you to go shoot everyone at the mall. No. Do not go there, people!

Maybe you're chronically anxious and would love to avail yourself of some wisdom and comfort to help you learn a different way of walking through the world. Or you've moved from one job to the next but nothing satisfies and you'd really like to know your soul's purpose. If you've suffered losses or endured trauma, spirit guides can help you figure out how to heal from these experiences, and gather all the possible wisdom from them that you can. Got a problem that defies solution through the rational process? Ask. It'll happen.

I've never yet "met" a guide who can help you win the lottery; money just isn't a driving force in the astral plane. What a shame, yes? (Just kidding.) But for core human situations and dilemmas, they can be a great help.

Once you have in mind what you'd like to work on, then open your heart, ask silently, from your heart of hearts, for some help. You might have to do this a number of times - please be patient. It will happen if you're sincere and persistent. After you ask, you have to make space to "listen." You have to open your mind and heart, you have to become "empty" and curious. If you don't, then the tyrannical rational function will never shut up long enough to allow the great wisdom in.

Guidance comes in many ways, for instance as a daydream or a sudden flash. Some people "see" - in the mind's eye - a figure of some kind. Others "hear" voices. For some it is more a sensate experience of presence. For some people, guides come to them in regular dreams. It varies from individual to individual. Be open to however it comes.

The best and most universal place of contact with guides is in the shower. Neurologists have noticed that when the brain relaxes, insights come more frequently. Many people get their best ideas while in the shower, or put things together, solve problems, etc. I call it The Voice in the Shower. It is a very powerful guide. Here's an article from the Telegraph about the phenomenon. Or you could read about it here in the New Yorker article. I think what happens when the brain relaxes is that a channel opens so the greater wisdom can enter.

There are probably thousands of guided meditations out there on the internet that will take you to a place in the imaginal realm where you can meet your guides. Use your skeptical mind when investigating these possibilities, please! The internet is full of bulls**t as we all know.

When you do make contact with a presence, it's always a great idea to ask his/her/its name. Open your mind and wait. The first name that comes to you is usually the right one. But if your intuition sends up a red flag, ask again. Be demanding - this process is like a job interview. You need the right guide, believe me. Watch out for trickster guides who can not help you and will just confuse you.

Here are some things spirit guides should never do:

They may not command you, tell you what to do. Guidance is about suggestions that often come in the form of riddles or puzzles that you have to work out.

If they suggest acts of violence or ill will, send them away. Guides must always suggest acts of compassion and peace.

If they invoke in you a sense of paranoia - by telling you, for instance, that someone is "against" you, get rid of them.

If they want to be your lover, then this is not a spirit guide but some other kind of intelligence that wants to syphon your life force for their own purposes. You are human - if you want a lover, find a human lover, please! Cross species sex is always gross!

To send a spirit guide packing, be polite but firm. In your mind or out loud say, "Thank you for coming, but I will not work with you. GO!" Say it like you mean it, they'll leave.

This post is way too long. I'm sure I forgot certain bits I meant to put in here - when they come to me I'll add them into the comments section. Questions? Thoughts? Judgments?

Grandpa's Spring Tonics

I have spirit guides. I do. I used to be embarrassed to admit this, and even now, decades after the first one of my gang contacted me, I still have my doubts about whether or not they are "real."

The skeptical mind is a good thing, a necessary thing, I think anyway. True believers who never have a doubt about their faith are the kind of people who can be convinced to fly airplanes into buildings, to kill themselves "for God."

Nope, mine is not a pure faith. However, after "listening" to, and working with these spirit guides over time, I have gained access to a lot of wisdom, creativity, healing techniques, comfort and life guidance that is not available from more conventional sources (like classes, books, friends, family - all of which I also learn from every day).

One of my spirit guides, an old dude who calls himself "Grandpa," recently passed along a couple of great recipes for tonics that address springtime malaise. I offer them here for you, too. Take 'em or leave 'em.

GRANDPA'S "PRAYER" FOR INSOMNIA

In the following order, bring these things into your mind one by one. As they come to you, let yourself actually feel, in your heart, the gratitude, love, and happiness.

20 things you are grateful for
10 people you love
5 things that make you happy
1 place or landscape where you feel completely at home

For that last one, imagine yourself there. Bring every detail into your mind and heart.

Say AMEN out loud. Grandpa says you can laugh if you want.


GRANDPA'S HALF/TWICE SPRING CLEANSE

For at least a week eat/drink twice as much of these things as you usually do:

Water
Apples, pears, berries
Radishes
Bitter greens (arugula, etc.)
Parsley
Lemonade
Olive oil

At the same time, eat/drink half as much of the following as you usually do:

Caffeine
Sugar
Alcohol
Wheat
Dairy Products
Meat

..........................

Some people think I'm a few chips short of a fish dinner because I claim to have spirit guides. I don't know, maybe it's true. But I'm so grateful to the gang for all their help and all their wisdom. What would I do without them?

Micro Seasons

Springtime is beginning to mature. It has definitely left the newborn phase and is moving now into infancy. Spring, right now, is like the little chick when its fuzz falls out to make room for feathers, or like a human baby when the umbilical stub falls out, the eyes open fully and develop a definite color. Yep. Springtime is moving through its developmental cycle.

Even the birdsong is developing, changing from the newborn spring sound of cooing doves and an occasional robin to the massive chorus it will be in a few weeks when the migrating birds move through. That morning sound is so like the moment when the half-assed bleating of a newborn human becomes that full throated infant shriek that sends new parents into a panic.

Just now I was about to make the mistake of saying that we humans are more like nature than not like nature. Ummmm ... we ARE completely, 100% natural, even if we like to think of ourselves as distinct. Hello! Yes yes yes we worry and fret and think and pray. We shape for ourselves very fancy environments with our opposable thumbs, but how is that any different than the magnificent creations of ants, bees, beavers, birds (and so many other species)? When I see a perfect robin's nest I am always in awe that they can create such perfection without instructional DVD's or Crazy Glue, without thumbs - without hands of any kind for heaven's sake.

The cherry bloom has passed its peak. Brand new green leaves are appearing alongside the blossoms. I saw the first tulips just yesterday. Spring is maturing. And the circle of the seasons continues. "Onwards & upwards" is a universal phenomenon, oh yeah!



Inadvertently I caught my brother, the Capitol, in this pic. I was holding the camera almost at ground level so it was impossible to see all I was capturing. Very cool.

The Waiting Room

Purgatory is the condition or process of purification in which the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven.

That's what the Critical Care Unit I visited this past week felt like: a processing center, a waiting room, a place beyond time and outside of "normal reality" where patients teeter between this world and the next. The patients themselves are utterly fragile, strapped in to their high tech beds, hooked up to monitors and intravenous tubes. There's so much machinery around them, so much stuff dripping into their arms, down their throats, that I couldn't help but immediately think about the Borg. That wasn't very compassionate of me, was it?

The electric hums, ticking, beeping and other rhythmic noise would drive me crazy over time. The patients are so out of it that it probably doesn't annoy them. I felt for the nurses, though, who are healthy, caring people. I can't for the life of me figure out how they do their jobs, day after day. Wow.

As it turned out the nurses seemed relieved to see me - don't know why. I didn't ask and they didn't offer any reasons why it was OK to break hospital rules. Maybe they do it all the time, I don't know. They left me with my client for about a half hour, watching, from the other side of the room. Who knows what his family told them. They seemed curious.

My client was already on the mend by the time I got there, breathing without the respirator, thank God, but he wasn't alert enough for normal interaction. I sat next to him for a few minutes, let my hand rest on one small square of his arm that wasn't hooked up to anything. I talked to him for awhile, the same way I talk to ghosts, I noticed. I can't remember what I said, but my tone of voice was congenial, I think. The whole time I sat there I could not locate his energy field, something that ordinarily is quite palpable and robust. Where was his energy? Maybe I'll never know.

When it felt right to do so, I stood up, traced the schematic pattern of soul retrieval over his body (three times just to make sure), after which I did some of my shamanic "dancing" - slow motion movements that I believe have an impact on energy flow, though - who knows? The nurses were very entertained and maybe that was the most positive effect of my visit. Cheerful nurses give better care, I bet.

My client will recover fully, they say. He's out of critical care now, in a regular hospital room. He is conscious, eating, speaking. It was a close call, but he's going to make it. Thank God.

Be well, ya'all. Stay out of critical care, you hear me? I mean it! OK.