Your Guide to Self-Empowerment and Positive Change

The end of the year provides a wonderful opportunity to create a ritual where you release anything that does not serve you anymore -  any outworn beliefs or patterns. This ritual will help you get clear on your vision and any plans or goals for the new year.

1. Have a pen and journal ready.

2. Light a candle

3. Clear your space using smudge (the burning of sage, cedar, sweetgrass or copal), incense or Aura Cleanser.

4. Ground and Center * (See below for a grounding meditation)

5. Imagine that you can gently and safely float above your body, above your room then above the place where you live. From this perspective look over your life. Observe your day to day activities. Notice how you feel and what you see. Then ask yourself, “How do I feel about my life? What serves me and what hinders me? Are there any changes I would like to make?”  Now look towards the next few months and year and ask yourself, ” What would I like to see manifest for myself and my family in the upcoming months? Are there any dreams, visions or goals I would like to fulfill?”  When you feel ready gently return your awareness back to your body

6. Record your observations in your journal.

7. Now imagine a light emanating from your heart. Send this light to your vision. Surround your vision in a bubble of brilliant white light then send it out into the universe. Trust your Higher Power to guide you towards its manifestation.

8. Give thanks for all that you have.

9. Add whatever else you might like to this ritual.

*Grounding Meditation

Grounding is a simple exercise for connecting with the earth, as well as the universe around you. It is a helpful exercise for anyone to do as it provides protection and helps you be more present.

Stand or sit with your feet placed flat on the ground.  Line up your body so that your spine is straight and your chin is parallel to the floor.  Take a slow, deep, cleansing breath. Imagine that a golden light descends from above and enters your body through the top of your head. Imagine that this light makes its way down the center of your body. Imagine that it flows down to your hips, down your legs, then out through the soles of your feet, extending down to the core of the earth and anchoring your energy to the earth.

Next, imagine that you draw up the energy of the earth. You can imagine it as the color green. This energy enters your body through the soles of your feet and flows up your legs, up through the center of your body then out through the top of your head, extending up to Source above.

This is a basic grounding meditation. You can also create a bubble of protective white light around you by following the directions below.

Focus your attention on your heart center. Imagine a ball of white light surrounding your heart, small at first like the size of a baseball. Imagine that this ball of light grows larger so that it is about the size of a beach ball. Then imagine that it grows larger and larger until it surrounds your entire body, all around you, above and below you, extending out about three feet all around you.

You have now created a bubble of protective white light. You can imagine this light at any time throughout the day to form a protective shield around you. Try it out and see how it feels and works for you.

What rituals do you use at the end of the year? Please feel free to share here.

Namaste,

Susan

http://www.healingfromwithin.com

http://www.equinoxgifts.com

Recently I received news about Ted Andrew’s passing. Ted was the author of more than 40 books including the best seller, Animal-Speak, The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small. Although I never met Ted I knew him through his writing as his sensitive, generous spirit shined through his words.

Some people do not realize that spirit lives in everything both animate and inanimate. Ted knew this and wrote about the way of spirit in nature.  Now when I see an animal or bird I look up the symbolism and message in Animal-Speak.  As a result of Ted’s influence I pay more attention to signs from nature. Sometimes this requires quieting the mind and opening to subtler energies, similar to tapping into one’s intuition. Much wisdom can be gleaned by tuning into the power of nature.

Another author and teacher, Lynn Andrews, taught me about the spirit in rocks. I have always been drawn to rocks, pebbles and crystals. Lynn learned from her medicine teacher, Agnes Whistling Elk, that every stone has seven faces: sound, sight, scent, taste, emotion and awareness. In Lynn’s book,  Flight of the Seventh Moon.  I learned that rocks are like all living things except they are denser. Agnes taught Lynn that many rocks come from other worlds and that they can see a long way off. Rocks can provide a gateway to the crystal world to find answers to things. By learning to go into those gateways you could explore many things past and future.

I find this information exciting and wondrous. Because I am an intuitive who was born and raised into a family that reveres intellectual acuity I also find it validating. I have realized for many years that the analytical mind can only go so far. We need to balance that part of the brain with the more intuitive side that is tapped into the forces of nature, the spirit world.

Spirit talks to us in different ways. It is up to us to listen. I tune into spirit by going into the silence, taking walks, channeling Reiki and by connecting with the wisdom of Tarot. What methods work for you? How do you connect with spirit?

Blessings,

Susan

HealingFromWithin.com