by Lori Fields
Self-motivation flows from the importance we attach to today.

I am reading this amazing book called, “100 Ways to Motivate Yourself” by Steven Chandler and each chapter is a HUGE nugget of thought provoking, spirit lifting, energizing inspiration. This morning I randomly open the book to this entry, “Make today a masterpiece.” Chandler says that most of us live our lives hypnotized, thinking that we have all the time in the world to do what we want. When we live this way we end up sleepwalking past life’s finest opportunities. He states that the key to personal transformation is in your willingness to do very tiny things – but to do them today. Today is a microcosm of your ENTIRE life. What would happen to our behavior if we started thinking that each day when we wake up we have been “born” and each night when we go to sleep we “die.” In this way we only have each day to live our best life. We only have each day to create our masterpiece.

I am certainly guilty of wasting my moments and instead of creating a masterpiece I allow things to flop. I put off doing the laundry, I am distracted online instead of focusing my energy on my work, I veg out in front of the tv instead of paying more attention to my husband. I get caught up in my thoughts, overwhelmed by all the tasks I need to complete instead of taking action. I put off writing my blog bc I am not feeling at my best. But what if today were the only day I had to perform at my best? Well, I still might put off doing the laundry and cleaning the kitchen floor, but I certainly wouldn’t waste my energy on distractions and I wouldn’t waste an opportunity to be fully present for my daughter, my husband, and my passion.

So while I can’t promise that for the rest of my life each day will be a complete masterpiece, I can (starting today) really show up for myself. I can fill my spirit with an unstoppable internal motivation. Today I am going to live as if each moment represented my entire life. I will live each moment with my eyes wide open so as not to miss an opportunity. I will try to live hard so that I go to bed thinking “today, I was at my best.”

What will you do to create your masterpiece today?

Share it with us at www.realbeautyis.com

Author’s Bio
Lori Fields, clinical social worker and founder of the website www.realbeautyis.com
Expert in woman’s issues and on the beauty of embracing your imperfection. Has helped countless women increase their self-esteem and live the life they imagine.

The Real Beauty Is website brings together in one place the latest news, articles and inspiring stories. Our interactive forum allows women to overcome the obstacles to feeling good and to celebrate their beauty. At Real Beauty Is we are on a mission to help women let go of body conflicts and limiting beliefs about themselves.

On November 8th, we entered the next phase of our global evolutionary upgrade, known as the Sixth Night of the Galactic Wave Movement, according to Mayan scholar Carl Johan Calleman. It’s a demanding time, and a bit messy, as planetary birth processes tend to be. But is it cause for alarm?

Until recently, comparatively few people were interested in Mayan culture or ancient prophecies. The Mayan Calendar, popularized in the West by authors such as Jose Arguelles (The Mayan Factor), Barbara Hand Clow (The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind) and Carl Calleman (The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness) touched a relatively small audience.

With the release of the doomsday movie 2012, however, that’s changing dramatically. Now that the end date of the Mayan Calendar — December 21, 2012, on our Gregorian calendar — is a scant three years away, people are beginning to panic. Is the world going to end? Is this like Y2K, only infinitely worse?

It depends where we choose to place our focus. Remember that the collapse predicted when the clocks struck midnight on December 31, 1999 never materialized. Our culture thrives on fear, and this latest movie is pure Hollywood, calculated to thrill, chill, and rake in box office profits — not to educate and enlighten. For that, we need to go to the source.

The Maya are now sharing their prophecy with the rest of the world in great detail, in an effort to clarify exactly what is happening, and why. One vehicle is the film, Shift of the Ages, which explains what this unique era in human history is all about.

The key word here is “era”. This is a global birth process, not an event. We’re in the midst of an extraordinary evolution in consciousness. The December “end” date — indeed, the year 2012 itself — are simply markers, signifying the conclusion of a vast cycle of time and transformation. People all over the planet have been awakening in stages for decades.

Now, humanity has reached what might be termed an “uncritical mass” of awakened souls, who are helping to guide the shift that’s taking place worldwide. Time is actually speeding up as we make these changes, and the acceleration creates all sorts of strange “symptoms”, both in our bodies and in the Earth’s body.

Thus, what one might interpret as catastrophic — earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc. — is just Nature’s way of cleansing and clearing in preparation for the new, much as many of us are coping with headaches, muscle and joint pain, sleep issues, digestive disturbances, and a host of other weird physical, emotional and mental changes that are part of what a third dimensional human undergoes as we expand into beings of Light. Because that’s precisely what is happening.

We’re moving from water-based to Light-based bodies. It’s huge, exciting, scary, and real — and it’s happening to everybody, although at different times and in different ways. Imagine how the first amphibious creature must have felt when it crawled onto land and realized it could live in two environments. In essence, that’s where we are now.

So there’s no need to panic. 2012 isn’t the end of the world, just the end of a World Age, or time cycle. We’re becoming galactic beings of Light, stepping into our global greatness in a whole new way. Many sages throughout time have prophesied this dawning Aquarian Age as ushering in a Golden era of peace. We’ve voted for this as a collective, and are now emerging into the new. Let’s rejoice, and help our fellow travelers to adapt.

For further illumination:

∞ If you’re interested in learning more about the Mayan Calendar and how it can help you shift time awareness in your daily life, request my series of articles that chronicle my journey through the lens of indigenous wisdom. Please email Amara Rose with “Mayan Calendar articles” in the subject line and I’ll send them as Word docs.

∞ Sqrapple: don’t unravel, unfold

∞ Wake up and dream your world into being

∞ The art of awareness: painting your aliveness on life’s canvas

About the Author:

Amara Rose is a metaphysical “midwife” for our global rebirth. She is the author of the eBook series, What Shines: Practical Wisdom for Unleashing Your Inner Brilliance, available from RadiancePublishing.com, and offers spiritually-focused life coaching, e-courses, talks and CDs. Visit LiveYourLight.com to learn more. Contact Amara at amara@liveyourlight.com. To read additional articles focused on personal and planetary evolution, visit Amara’s Practical Spirituality page on Examiner.com.

A good case against the theory of reincarnation can be made based on the fact that few people are able to recall their former lifetimes with any certainty. Suspicion about a past life may flicker ever so slightly in someone’s memory banks but then be easily dismissed and forgotten. To catch fleeting memories and make sense of them, one has to be vigilant, look to connect the dots (clues) and be willing to set aside scepticism until truth can be determined.

In actuality, we hardly remember most of the events of this lifetime, let alone past lifetimes. I suppose the simple answer as to why we don’t is that all those simultaneous memories would be a bit disconcerting to say the least. Disconcerting or not, there are times when we want to remember; when we want to unravel the treads that have woven the tapestry of our current life and brought certain people into our arena.

If one dismisses reincarnation, the nature of relationships becomes a rather curious thing. Why are some people drawn to one another like opposing poles of a magnet? Likewise, why is any attempt to bridge the space between the repelling sides of two magnets futile?

My stepfather and I were in the later group, dancing around each other without ever touching. I often asked the stars in the night sky how a man could feed, clothe, school, entertain, and yet, not love me, something I desperately thought I needed.
I was well into my adult years when the answer came to me in a dream. As my body slept, I had a bird’s eye view of Ireland, the Emerald Isle. I flew over the northwest coast where the rock cliffs rose to hundreds of feet above a cold and treacherous sea. I saw a small thatched-roof cottage, my once-upon-a-time home, situated close to the edge of those cliffs. I observed sheep in the distance, far too many to count, corralled in by stone walls.

With dream intuition, I knew that the too-thin, ten year old girl sitting on one of those walls was me three hundred years in the past. There was a man in the picture as well, an uncle, in the typical Irish cap of the period. He carried a twisted cane.

As I watched from above, he grabbed me off the wall in a drunken rage and whacked me at the side of my knee. My offense was having lost sight of a incorrigible, younger brother who had been left in my care. Many such beatings had eventually left me with a crippled right leg. His ofttimes cruelty, and general failure to provide for his family, scarred my tender heart and left me without any hope for the future.

My stepfather, who was of Irish descent this lifetime, was my uncle in that past life. Like many Souls with unsettled debts, we were back together again, this time in America. Had we spent other lifetimes together that had led to the life in Ireland? No doubt. But I didn’t need to see them all. Replaying our history together in Ireland was the key to unlocking the current karmic dance.

In the 1940s, a military jeep overturned and badly mangled my stepfather’s right knee. The injury caused much suffering for most of his adult life. It was part of what fueled his drinking problem, his anger and jealousy. Watchful of his dark moods, our family lived in a state of uncertainty knowing we were always on the verge of some terrible upset.
No doubt his mutilated knee was karmic payback for the repeated blows he inflicted on the side of my knee. (The dream offered an explanation for the wariness I had for the cane he carried from time to time in this lifetime.) Beyond the crippled leg, a result of what goes around comes around, he also did something this lifetime that he had failed to do in Ireland; he provided for his composite family as best as he knew how. He often said that he was who he was and could not do any better than he did.

In later years, I understood that his lack of love did not have so much to do with me as with his nature; one he felt he couldn’t change. The reasons for that are a part of his private story. But needless to say, by providing for me in this lifetime, he paid a debt he owed. (I have my suspicions, however, that the cruelty he inflicted upon an older brother in this lifetime will cause the karmic dance to go on between the two of them. But that is none of my affairs.)

Of course, what is, or rather was, a part of my affairs, was to garner the knowledge that there are always two sides to every relationship. Before he died, gratitude and forgiveness took me to a place where I could finally love him without condition. I had learned that being loved was not so as important as being love.

The curtain of mercy that separates you from the past can be drawn back. How? By activating curiosity and putting a past life query out there to the great forming power of the universe, that’s how. Then wait and watch for the revelations via dreams, visions or intuition. But, the bottom line in all of this, as far as I’m concerned, is to live consciously, resolve our debts and not create more, and grow spiritually in the here and now. It’s all about the here and now, my friend, all about the here and now.

Author’s Bio
Jo Leonard is a spiritual adventurer. Her passion in life is to share the knowledge she has gathered after a lifetime of searching for God. She has traveled the world presenting consciousness-provoking talks and workshops to other like-minded seekers. A published author, her writings, both non-fiction and fiction alike, are spiritually insightful and inspiring.

She currently lives in Occoquan, Virginia with her husband and two Siamese cats and serves as a VP for a commercial printing company near Washington DC. You can visit her website at www.jeleonard.com Her new book, The Would Be Saint, is available at www.amazon.com

Do telepathy, clairvoyance and other “psi” abilities exist? The majority of the general population believes that they do, and yet fewer than one percent of mainstream academic institutions have any faculty known for their interest in these frequently reported experiences. Why is a topic of enduring and widespread interest met with such resounding silence in academia? The answer is not due to a lack of scientific evidence, or even to a lack of scientific interest, but rather involves a taboo. I will discuss the nature of this taboo, some of the empirical evidence and critical responses, and speculate on the implications.

Science and Psi – Taboo?

This is a MUST Watch video if you want to learn about scientific tests that have been done to prove / paranormal psychic abilities. This is a 90 minute Google Tech Talk from 2008. Seriously, skip Grey’s Anatomy or whatever and watch and learn… it
s a little dry at times, but it is a very interesting presentation. Google TechTalks are very innovative. Feel blessed for this knowledge. It will awaken some sleeping people.

Speaker: Dean Radin
Dean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and four-time former President of the Parapsychological Association. He holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a masters degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and GTE Labs, mainly on human factors of advanced telecommunications products and services, and held appointments at Princeton University, Edinburgh University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, SRI International, Interval Research Corporation, and Boundary Institute. At these facilities he was engaged in basic research on exceptional human capacities, principally psi phenomena.

Put very simply, your Akashic Record is the energetic recording of your soul’s journey since your beginning. It is everything about you, all around you, and within you. It is everything you are, have been, and the potentials you are yet to become. It is a special field of energy that permeates your entire being. It is not something separate from you, but an integral part of you. I believe the Akashic Records are living, changing “documents.” As you change, heal, and grow, your Akashic Records are ‘updated’ to reflect those changes.

As you can imagine, your Akashic Records hold an infinite amount of information. There is no end to the information you can explore about yourself and your relationships with others when working in the Akashic Records. The information is always presented to you in a loving and compassionate way from your Divine Spiritual Family (father/mother God/Goddess, God/Goddess, Spirit, Universe, Source, Ascended Masters, Archangels, loved ones, etc.).

There are specific beings/energetic aspects that specialize in the energy field of the Akashic Records, and I call them the Record Keepers. I believe that in the end we are all ONE. So when I refer to the Record Keepers as “other beings,” I also understand that they are just another aspect of me, from my perspective, and another aspect of each of you from your perspectives. For ease of discussion purposes I may refer to them as “beings” or as “energetic aspects.” So these beings, the Record Keepers, are also a part of your Divine Spiritual Family. These Divine beings have always been at your side eagerly waiting to assist you. Out of respect for your free will, they do wait until you initiate contact and ask for help. Using the method taught in this book is really just assisting you to create a user friendly way of asking for guidance and receiving it!

The information that is obtained from your Akashic Records is a direct result of your questions.

Your questions guide the Record Keepers and Ascended Masters to the “right” energetic space to retrieve the answers that you are ready to know. Notice the key words ready to know. . .

Sometimes we think we are ready to know something, but in reality we are not. In those times, the answers seem to elude us, only to become crystal clear in the oddest and most unlikely moments. Or as I like to say, in the Divine right moment!

Imagine an infinite apple orchard full of apple trees which are chock full of apples. Each apple holds the key to different experiences your Soul has had, and each tree represents themes that you have experienced throughout your Soul’s journey. When you want to know a certain piece of information, you have to come up with a way to direct the Record Keepers to the right tree and then to the right apple. By choosing the right apple, you will get the information you are seeking, which will facilitate your healing and growth.

The Record Keepers are the energetic aspects that tend to these immense apple orchards, and when you ask a question it helps to guide them to the correct tree. The more specific your question, the closer you get to the specific apple that holds the piece of information you are seeking. The potential for healing occurs when you are able to really get down to the “core” of an issue, the seed of knowledge and wisdom that is hidden within the specific apple. Often the awareness of the core cause of an issue is enough to create the energetic shift that results in a healing.* Other times you will need to put into practice the insights that you were given in order to manifest the energetic shift in your Akashic Records. Putting it into practice could be as simple as making a new choice when confronted with a repetitive pattern. *healing: A shift in energetic frequency to the next higher level of divine love and light, which may manifest in the spiritual, physical, mental, or emotional realms.

There is an unlimited potential for healing when working with the energy of the Akashic Records. The extent of the healing itself is directly related to your level of commitment and intent to heal yourself.

Once you set your intent within yourself that you are ready to do your inner work, the Record Keepers readily come forward to assist you as best they can. Like all other Divine aspects of energy the Record Keepers radiate upon you the energy of Divine Love and provide guidance when you ask or when you make it known in some way that you want help. Your Divine Spiritual Family would never interfere with your free will. Therefore, you must initiate the connection and ask for what you want or need. They are eagerly awaiting your initiation and are ready to respond. Having a strong, clear connection with your inner wisdom is more than a gift. It is a Divinely-given right. You do not have to earn this special talent. It is not something that is only for the chosen few. It is for everyone who takes the time to make it known that they want it!

As a co-creator of your reality it is up to you to initiate change in your life.

First you must ask for help, then you must be willing to put to use the information you receive. It is always your choice; but if you don’t put into practice what you are learning, then nothing in your life is going to change. You know the old saying, “the definition of insanity is to keep doing what you have always done and expect to get different results!”

Our Divine Family of Light sends us messages and guidance all of the time. It is up to us to either acknowledge those messages or ignore them. They plant the seeds of light and knowledge, and wait for us to nurture those seeds. They wait patiently as we allow those seeds to mature into wisdom. They also watch with infinite compassion and acceptance if and when we choose to squash those seeds instead of nurturing them! They radiate us with the same loving energy even if we choose to make the same old choices and create the same old patterns, essentially ignoring any guidance they were trying to provide. That is what free will is all about. You always have the right to choose without worry of being judged by your Divine Family. The main purpose for working in your Akashic Records is not to receive mandates about what to do with your life or how to live your life, but to provide you with the information, knowledge, and wisdom you need to broaden your perspective, allowing you to make healthier choices. In other words, working with the energy of the Akashic Records provides you with the support you need to grow and evolve personally and spiritually.

When you have clear intent that you are ready to heal all aspects of your life, then your true work begins.

Spirit responds to your requests to heal and provides you with the opportunities for growth. Each time something comes up for you in your life that pushes your buttons, it is Spirit’s way of providing you with an opportunity for growth. It has always been this way. The difference is that now you will have the ability to go into your Records, dig around, explore, and uncover the core of the issue at hand. Once you have uncovered the core issue, you are able to begin the healing process.

The Record Keepers are waiting with anticipation for you to begin this personal and spiritual journey. The moment you made the conscious decision to read this book, they were able to move even closer to your being. They have always been at your service, but were unable to interfere. When you chose this book, you were sending a message to them that you are ready, willing, and able. In response to your actions, they are able to step closer. They want you to learn how to connect with them and your own inner wisdom more easily so that they may be of more assistance to you during this time of growth. Self discovery, spiritual growth, and personal growth are all important parts of your healing process. Through your connection with your Akashic Records and your Divine Spiritual Family, you will experience deeper and deeper levels of self-empowerment and self-direction as you discover the euphoria of going within to connect directly with your Divine Source.

With each visit to your Akashic Records, you have the potential to heal another piece of yourself. With each healing/shift of energy, you feel more and more complete and whole. The more complete you feel, the harder it is for anyone or any situation to knock you off balance again. You are able to maintain longer and longer periods of peacefulness and centeredness each and every day.

With each visit to your Akashic Records, you also come to understand more and more of your true nature, your Soul and Spirit nature, your co-creative God/Goddess nature. The work is not always easy, but it is definitely worth it.

Find out more about how you can learn to access your own Akashic Records by visiting www.SacredInsights.com

Kathy Karlander is the resident “Expert” on SelfGrowth.com for the Akashic Records. Her gift lies in helping others to better understand the nature of Who They Are, and why they are here. Find out more about her classes, services, and products at www.SacredInsights.com

The Seven Universes

A good friend of mine, who is older and much wiser than I, recently brought forth to my attention, a 70+ year old book of essays called, “The Urantia Book”. He has been studying these papers for many years and wanted to share them with me. So far, I have been blown away by the content within these pages.

Since the book is over 70 years old, you can actually download The Urantia Book for free since it is in the public domain now… there are also many great audio readings out there. Since this book has over 2000 pages, my preferred method of digestion of these texts is to read along while listening to the audio of the books. This helps me gather the messages more thoroughly, as the material is quite heady.

What is The Urantia Book?

The Urantia Book is not a complete religion. It does not have a clergy, a creed that one is required to believe in, or rules of behavior that one must follow. It is a book which has spawned two organizations, now called the Urantia Foundation and the Urantia Fellowship. The book is used by individuals of many religions as a spiritual guide.

The Urantia Book is

• for people interested in life
• for people who want something more than mere religion
• for people who would like to discover their highest spiritual and personal potentials.

The book states that Urantia is an ancient name for the planet earth. It is a large book with over two thousand pages and almost 200 individual essays that reveal information about:

• God,
• other supernatural beings
• the history of earth and of the rest of the universe
• the development of humanity
• the history, message and purpose of Yeshua of Nazareth, (a.k.a. Jesus Christ)

Why You Need to Know About The Urantia Book

Making good life decisions—the exercise of true wisdom—requires insight into the context in which the decision or choice is being made.

The Urantia Book provides a comprehensive overview of the context in which we live our daily lives — historical, social, personal, intellectual, spiritual, and material. It provides important background information that will deepen, enrich, and strengthen your relationship with God, empower you to prevail in your struggles with the difficulties of daily life, and enable you to participate creatively in the much-needed spiritual transformation of our world.

By integrating science, philosophy, and religion into a coherent world view, the Urantia Book enhances the meanings we derive from our life experience, equipping us to live our lives relative to positive, creative spiritual values in the midst of difficulty, chaos, and uncertainty.

I have just begun the journey of pouring through the 2100+ pages of The Urantia Book. In fact, I had been reading a PDF and listening to the audios, but last night, I picked up an actual copy of the book and listened to the foreward and read along. It appears that we have a long journey ahead of us as spiritual beings and I look forward to exploring all this universe has to offer.

If The Urantia Book intrigues and resonates with you, may I suggest you download the PDF of the book and grab the corresponding audio reading to listen to, as you read. The words and concepts are SO intellectual, that using both senses is really the only way to go.

Other information sources:

	A list of Urantia Book related websites is at: http://ubwebsites.com/ They list major sites, introductory sites, locations where the complete text can be downloaded, translations, discussion books, etc.
	A list of web sites that form the Urantia Book Readers United Resource web ring is at:http://www.webring.org/
	Norm DuVal has a “Urantia Foundation Truth Site” at: http://www.freeurantia.org/ Their site is “dedicated to religious freedom, ‘unceasing exposure’ …of Urantia Foundation’s sophistries, and resistance to Urantia Foundation’s religious tyranny and persecution against believers of the Urantia Revelation.”
	A Urantia Reflectivity Circuit lists a directory of Urantia book study groups, social gatherings, book reviews, etc. See: http://www.ubook.org/
	Locations of Urantia study groups can be obtained from the Urantia Foundation or from theFifth Epochal Fellowship, 529 Wrightwood Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614 (312-327-0424).
	Urantiabook.org maintains a list of reader email lists and study groups athttp://urantiabook.org/
	A book which is critical of the Urantia Book but contains interesting historical references is: Martin Gardner, “Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery” Prometheus Books (1995). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
	The Fellowship of Readers of the Urantia Book maintains a very extensive WWW site at:http://www.ubfellowship.org
	UBtheNEWS is an independent project by Urantia Book enthusiasts. It explains corroborations between the Urantia Book and subsequent scientific discoveries. See:http://www.ubthenews.com/

The 5 Animal Allies of the Pachakuti Mesa

Across the world shamanic traditions have flourished and persevered in times that have been favorable to them and also those during which their existence was deeply threatened. Yet, in spite of attempted eradication and the wider prevalence of cultural amnesia, many practices of this global lineage have survived – often greatly transformed through their adaptation to the shifting sands of culture.

Despite changes in appearance and the frequent adoption of aspects of the “new” religions and belief-systems that have accompanied the transformation from hunter/gatherer, pastoral, and subsistence cultures to agricultural and urban life-styles, core shamanic beliefs and practices continue to sustain people throughout the global ecosphere.

Within the Peruvian Andes and coast the synthesis of millenia-old shamanic practice and modern religious belief is found in both the traditions of the paqokuna and huachuma curanderismo. These traditions have, to varying degrees, incorporated elements of folk Catholic belief, cosmology, ritual, and liturgy. While this certainly ensured survival in a changing and persecutorial environment it also points to the wisdom of recognizing the inner syncretic nature of the shamanic universe as a principle of action.

The salient feature of both the highland paqokuna and coastal curandero traditions is their focus on the ritual and ceremonial mastery of the mesa. In each case the mesa is an altar-like collection of shamanically invested artifacts arranged according to the teachings of the lineage and the personal insight of the healer. Though somewhat different in form, both traditions engage the culturally acknowledged powers of the natural and ancestral worlds through the mediating instrument of the mesa.

Through propitiatory ritual and invocational ceremony, states of contact are reached with these powers in which balance, health, prosperity, and fertility are restored within the community. Underpining all practice is the recognized law of ayni, as it is known in the highlands, in which it is understood that there exists a delicate state of interdependance between all levels of the physical and spiritual worlds. Perhaps best expressed as the “Law of Right Returns,” or, more colloquially, “today for me, tommorow for you,” the notion of ayni succinctly encapsulates the knowing that within the intricate matrix of interdependance that is our universe, an inbalance is created when a return “payment” is not offered for the intervention of the spiritual realms. Since practically everything within indigenous and shamanic culture is seen as a result of actions and dynamics taking place within the spiritual realms, one of the primary pursuits of a people becomes the maintainance of proper “payments” to those “causal” realms. The person for whom this becomes a specialty is the paqo, pampamisayoq, and altomisayoq, or the curandero depending on their tradition.

Shamanic Practice

The Pachakuti Mesa itself originated through Oscar′s many-year apprenticeship with his personal mentors in Peru, maestro curanderos don Celso Rojas Palomino and don Benito Corihuaman Vargas. Emerging from his apprenticeship within the coastal huachumero and the highland paqokuna traditions, the Pachakuti Mesa embodies distinct elements from each of these specific traditions of medicine practice.

The wisdom of these two lineages, representing related yet disctinct ancestral cultures, creates an organic structure that serves to anchor the vast array of shamanic practices existing to serve life from the personal dimension to that of the community, while harmonizing these with a global vision and the celestial sources of guidance and support. Strenghtening this ancestral heritage and cross-cultural relevance are insights drawn from the world′s many wisdom traditions and the growing understanding of quantum dynamics and consciousness.

Following its original birthing from the cultural and shamanic lineages of Peru, the applied practice of the Pachakuti Mesa has evolved through its service to non-indigenous Western culture. It has become a true repository for the unfolding experience of its dedicated practitioners and community. The Pachakuti Mesa can truly be said to be a continual birthing of the wisdom of sacred community dedicated to a shared Earth-honoring path of service in which the ancient nourishes the present, birthing the creative expression of contemporary practice.

Pachakuti Mesa Healing Service

The mesa is the instrument by which the mythic power of prophetic time and the profundity of the three cosmological worlds is harnessed in practice. It is the medium of translation for the spiritual wisdom and understanding of the Andean cosmovision, allowing them to transform into practical applications and effects within a community.

A mesa is the consecrated arrangement of ceremonial power objects that make up a curandero′s “tool set,” and is also the point of focus for the spiritual forces engaged through ritualized action. It is simultaneously the seat for spiritual vision and the multi-fold powers of creation, and by being the locus of intention is directed by the healer. Two elements in particular come together within the mesa, blending into its unique form: the transmission of traditional wisdom given by the teacher and the idiosyncratic initiation that characteruzes the individual path. From the integration of these two sources of inspiration a healer′s mesa is born.

Travis Wright's Pachakuti Mesa

The Pachakuti Mesa, as an embodiment of global earth-honoring service, integrates within its primal structure the five alchemically venerated elements of the universe: earth (Allpa), water (Unu), wind (Wayra), fire (Nina), and the fifth transcendent element which is produced by the harmonious intermingling of the originating four – the aether (K′uychi). Each of these elements is focussed in one of the five directions of the quadrangular mesa – South, West, North, East, and Center – and is embodied by one of the five primordial powers of the Andean cosmovision: Pachamama (Earth Mother), Mama Killa pronounced Mama Key-yah (Moon), Wiracocha (Creator), Inti (Sun), and K′uychi (Sacred Rainbow). When these powers are united by vision and intention – lovingly anchored within the physical repository of the mesa – the Pachakuti Mesa blossoms as a transformative agent within the world.

Each of the directions of the mesa hold a particular archetypal form, energy, and healing medicine, arranged according to a dynamic understanding of the mythic and energetic universe. They therefore provide a vehicle for the initiatic apprenticeship of the fundamental forces of creation and, more importantly, the means by which their transformative presence is directed in the world. As an experiential mirror of the dynamically self-aware universe the, Pachakuti Mesa contains within itself both the map and the mapmaker, and ultimately becomes the primary source of instruction and guidance for the healer.

The Power of Ritual

Beyond the base structure of the Pachakuti Mesa and the aligments contained within it, it is the unique experience of the healer that determines the shape it assumes. As a continuously unfolding source of initiation and a reflection of the soul experience of the carrier, the mesa itself will naturally evolve and transform over time. Indeed, a mesa can never remain static – to do so would contradict one of the fundamental experiences of creation: all is in motion. While a mesa will hold certain patterns over time, it must ultimately be recognized as an expression of transformation itself, which cannot be boxed within a static form.

As mentored by don Oscar, the Pachakuti Mesa is a ceremonially consecrated imaginal map of the universe, an archetypal cosmic landscape, which “energetically” anchors both seen and unseen dimensions of the anima mundi (i.e., World Soul) before the shamanic practitioner. It is a beautiful container of spirit, and it is also a soul-infused artifact of the material world. It is a living, dynamic pattern upon which and within which we can consciously do our transformative personal and planetary healing work. As a global community of Pachakuti Mesa Carriers we embrace this ancestral lineage not because it is superior to all other traditions, yet because its effects are healthfully liberating and aesthetically graceful. It is a visually dramatic and sensually rich millennial heritage, which appeals to those who resonate with the healing power in natural patterns, earth rhythms and cosmic cycles. It is also a syncretistic shamanic tradition, which is openly tolerant and widely inclusive of diverse cultural ideologies, religious beliefs and all world wisdom paths. In essence, the Pachakuti Mesa is meant to be a pristine reflection of the individual practitioners ontological sense of belongingness within the Great Sacred Web of Life.

Via Don Oscar Miro-Quesada

If you’re not relating with God at the level you’d like, or if you’re just plain “stuck” when it comes to praying, below are some suggestions you may want to consider. If you wish, you can incorporate one of these suggestions into your current prayer practice, or you can use one or more of the suggestions to help you begin talking with God if you haven’t already done so.

Here are a few suggestions to help you talk with God and deepen your relationship.

* Begin with gratitude. Tell the Divine about those things in your life you’re really grateful for.
* Express yourself wholly and fully to the Divine. Don’t leave anything out. Hint: If you feel you need to keep something from God, that’s a great item to tell God. Don’t worry, you won’t be hit by lightning; God already knows anyway, but just wants to hear it from you!
* Be highly communicative. In other words, don’t say to God, “I’m mad.” Tell God how you got so mad, how you feel about being so mad, what your anger makes you want to do, etc. And if you’re mad at God, be sure to mention that little tidbit as well.
* Listen closely. Allow the Divine to reveal itself to you. Put yourself aside for a few minutes and just allow yourself to be fully absorbed with God. Learn more about God, like you would when forming a new friendship with another person. (I have to laugh, because in my first draft of this article I accidentally typed “unlearn” instead of “learn.” I think there may be merit in that typo. As a child, what did you learn about God that keeps you feeling distant from the Divine? Be open to “unlearn” childhood beliefs that no longer make sense today.)
* Allow for spontaneity in how you pray and talk to God. What feels good one day may not be your best choice the next day.
* Bring all of you into your conversations with God, not just your mind and your thoughts.
* Pray in a way that you enjoy the time you spend with God.

And here are just a few more thoughts from me to you about prayer:

* Your prayers and the way you pray do not have to comply with the wishes or expectations of others.
* Choose or create “prayers” that help you feel one with–or at least closer to–the Divine, not prayers that inflict more feelings of separation between you, the Divine, and your own inner Divinity.
* Prayers that come spontaneously from the heart are wonderful and every bit as valuable as carefully crafted prayers, including those written by others/”experts.”

In summary, prayer does not have to be hard; it can be a very natural process. Prayer is simply the process of letting God get to know you better, while you get to know God better.

Remember, God wants to be with you. You are not a bother–no matter what you choose to talk about. No subject is off-limits. Interact with the Divine frequently, and trust your relationship will grow and unfold naturally. Expect to hear/see/experience God in your life. Expect it as the norm, not the exception.

And above all, remember that anybody can talk to God. There is no reason for you to feel you can’t. No matter what “you’ve done” or “not done,” God is still there for you!

Author’s Bio
Arleen Hannich, MA, is a Spiritual Facilitator. She provides Divine Presence, Inspirational Messages From Spirit, and the Oneness Blessing to individuals worldwide who wish to live authentically and joyfully. To receive her Free Ezine “The Divine Connection” and her Free Guide “Feel Your Emotions and Create a Life You Love,” visit her website at http://www.ArleenHannich.com

Thomas Metzinger is the Director of the Philosophy Group at the Department of Philosophy at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz.

His research focuses on philosophy of mind, especially on consciousness and the nature of the self. In this lecture he develops a representationalist theory of phenomenal self-consciousness. A Foerster Lectures on the Immortality of the Soul presented by the UC Berkeley Graudate Council.

Listen and Watch additional lectures Foerster Lectures on the Immortality of the Soul

Is letting go a means of Liberation? If Liberation is a process, how does it work and what do fear, anger and pain have to do with it?

What do we do when we are experiencing fear, anger or pain? The first thing is to actually notice and acknowledge what we are feeling. Next look where in our bodies it is vibrating. If we can do this we have immediately stopped being the emotion and it is now something happening, in a particular place, that we can be present to.

Where we find the emotion vibrating in the body we will find tension. This tension is the physicalizing of resistance we have to the feelings. The feelings are ‘past’ held by resistance in unconsciousness. Our resistance and denial then are directly reflected in the tension and holding in our bodies. By choosing to stop holding and allowing the body to open, we begin both the release of our resistance, and can also become conscious of the denial.

As the holding is largely subconscious, we first need to become aware that we are actually doing it. In the Living Liberation meditation practice, the aim is to develop an ongoing process of deepening, softening and opening, while remaining alert and attentive. ‘Holding’ will be reflected in different levels, physically, emotionally, mentally and other energetically subtler.

When we become conscious of a pattern of ‘holding’ on any level and begin to release and let go, there will be a corresponding softening on the other levels of our being. At different times engaging in the release process will begin at different levels, none is better than another. Each of us may also find a particular level an easier point of connection, some people it’s the physical, another emotional or mental.

Ideally whatever the initial point of connecting, we will develop the ability to follow its thread all the way through our ’system’ releasing on every level. As we are largely so mentally dominant we must be aware of the tendency to stay only on a mental level with our awareness. As we become more sensitive to the feeling level of our experience and can connect and release from here, the more thoroughly and effectively the release will be.

Softening and opening is not something that we do, it is what happens when we release the tension of holding and begin to let it go. We begin the movement from ‘doing’ to ‘being’. Where there is tension in the body we are doing something already, we are tensing, contracting, ‘holding’. Relaxing – softening and opening, is then stopping doing what we are doing already to maintain this holding.

Since we aren’t usually aware that we are ‘holding’, and it is the result of deeply entrenched habits and a physical response to the feelings held in the body, it is important to practice ‘letting go’ regularly and diligently.

The holding patterns that we notice when we pay attention to the feelings of tightness, tension and resistance in the body are there all the time, our bodies are ‘holding’ in this way all the time, and probably have been doing so for a long time. The process of the body letting go of these deep patterns of holding isn’t likely to be a speedy process; it will take time and continued attention and commitment. It is though in my experience and opinion the process of Liberation, available in every moment.

Ray Baskerville is a healer meditation teacher, certified hypnotherapist, yogi and proud father. He has worked as a healer, taught meditation and yoga worldwide. Ray is also the creator and editor of lifedivine.net an online magazine for yoga, meditation, spirituality and personal development. Please visit for more free quality articles like this.

I had lost course,\n\nbut now I have found -\n\nonce again-\n\nmy metaphysical oarsman.\n\nReady to paddle,\n\nfull steam ahead,\n\ninto the river of life-\n\nthe stream of existence,\n\nand the ocean of the universe.\n\nRow with me,\n\nas together….\n\nWe unlock the secrets;\n\nOf Being.\n\n\n

image credit: allposters.com

Karma, held within us as unresolved, unhealed or incomplete past, manifest as external reflections through the law of sympathetic attraction. The degree of intensity of the internal energy of the karma and it’s layers of emotional and mental energy will exactly be reflected by the intensity of energy that manifests as our life circumstances. When we are ‘present’ to our triggered response to the reflections of our karma, we allow the held energy to move and therefor transform. When we aren’t present to it and run our defense and denial scripts/stratergies we perpetuate denial and deepen separation

Each time we don’t allow any movement of the triggered feelings, we not only increase denial of what is held,  but we also increase the intensity of the external reflection necessary to vibrate what we are holding. We bury things still deeper, so we need a stronger force to reach them. And if we continue in the pattern of denial, then an external circumstance will eventually come that will be so powerful that we will be unable to deny.

Life will not be indefinitely denied, and will always be seeking a means of moving and returning to movement and expansion. And so it is that ‘accidents’ come about in our lives, and so it is that disease comes can about. They are both examples of life asserting itself, and its need – indeed it’s nature – to seek movement and evolve.  Our entire system, including the body, is designed for evolution, and therefore for self-healing; it is a self-healing system, when it is allowed to function without our resistance. We could say that the process of spiritual evolution is the surrender of resistance that maintains separation.

So life in its very nature, is constantly providing us with the circumstances for our liberation, for our healing. The journey of our healing, reclaiming, re-unifying all in us that is separate, and our spiritual evolution are one and the same – evolution in consciousness. There is nothing else going on – regardless of what anything appears to be or looks like or is believed to be. There is nothing but the ongoing process of liberation, the evolution of consciousness. Integrating this understanding brings us to a place where we can increasingly eliminate our resistance to, and align with, the process of our own healing and liberation.

Because we don’t want the experience of feeling what we are holding and deny it being there, the way that we view the places of separation in us – and the behaviors and beliefs arising from them – is largely as what is ‘wrong’ with us; where we fail; aren’t good enough, are unlovable….. We often feel if we could just get rid of or ‘fix’ such places in us we’d be fine; or possibly, more often, if someone else got rid of the reflection of them in themselves, that vibrates them in us, we’d be fine.

The out-picturing of this can be seen in the collective reflection of our attitude towards ‘appropriate’ emotional expression and the need to appear to be ok, be in control and to ‘understand’ or ‘know’. We fear the power of the feelings we are holding within us, we fear their ability to make us out of control. We fear that such an uncontrolled emotional state will prove we are as unlovable as we secretly believe we are.

THE SHIFT TO COMPASSION

When we can shift our perspective of awareness, and get beyond the appearance of symptoms of separation, and recognize them as arising from wounding, and as us where we have abandoned ourselves, where we are suffering, then the possibility of compassion towards ourselves and therefore to others is born.

We are so unpracticed in any real form of self-love that we need to practice.  Always the requirement of us is to go below the surface go inwards into ourselves to seek the truth of what is within us and why. Only our committed courage and self-honesty will be powerful enough to penetrate the patterns of denial, and release what is held.

Eventually, we get to a point when we can welcome the arrival of reflections that resonate with separation within us. We see that it is where we meet the ground of our liberation, where we are offered an opportunity for the healing of our wounds, and for unification of separation. The places of separation are the means of our liberation.

We can conclude then that our Karma is like a blueprint of our evolutionary pathway, our healing and spiritual process. Karma is the internal map of our process of Living Liberation, that life will present to us.

Ray Baskerville is a healer, meditation teacher, certified hypnotherapist, yogi and proud father. He has worked as a healer, taught meditation and yoga worldwide. Ray is also the creator and editor of lifedivine.net an online magazine for <a href=”http://www.lifedivine.net/” title=”">yoga, meditation, spirituality and personal development. </a> Please visit for more free quality articles like this.

Inherent within life, and its great mystery, there is a mechanism to facilitate the expansion of consciousness. This we will call the Law of Sympathetic Attraction or as it is more popularly know now the ‘Law of Attraction’.

We commonly know the law of sympathetic attraction as ‘like attracts like’. However, less obviously but equally important, the term also covers the principle that ‘opposites attract’ – opposites being the polarized extremes of the same principle.

In the creation of karma – that which we are holding in denial, in separation, in sub-consciousness as karma, is held at the particular vibrational frequency at which movement was stopped, for example pain, fear or rage. Even held still, that which is denied is held in the magnetic energy field of the emotional body, albeit disconnected from conscious awareness.

Through the law of sympathetic attraction, the separation in us, attracts to us a reflection of a corresponding vibrational frequency to that at which it is held. The purpose being, that the external reflection of what ever it is that we are holding in sub-consciousness, is attracted to us to create a vibrational resonance.

When the external manifestation comes, the resonance begins to vibrate what it reflects within us (that we are attempting to hold still). In vibrating, what is held within us is caused to move. When it moves we begin to feel it: and when we feel it we can become conscious of it; when we are conscious of it, we can then be present to it. We can then allow it to move, and allow it the expression it needs to resume its movement and transformation into expansion and life.

We release what we are holding by allowing the feelings to move – by feeling and expressing them in appropriate ways. Allowing them to move, allows what is held in denial of life to resume the movement in the expansion and evolution of consciousness; and to be transformed from the fixed frequency and form in which it was held. As we experience such release, understanding often arises from the feelings of what was held and the scripts and behaviors that have been wrapped around it, and thus the subconscious becomes conscious.

KARMA (Subconscious) > REFLECTION < Resonating / Vibrating > MOVEMENT > RELEASE > HEALING > UNIFICATION > LIBERATION (Conscious)

In this way we can reclaim those places from sub-consciousness and separation, and re-unify them into the entirety of our being. Not only do we liberate the energetic life-force that is held still as denied feeling, but we also liberate the energy that is required to keep holding that place still. So, we reclaim our life-force, our ‘power’ and become that much more present in and to ourselves.

REFLECTIONS OF SEPARATION

The experiences we have in life, that come to us where we experience pain, separation or suffering of any kind, are reflections of places in us where those energies and patterns are held. We couldn’t feel what we feel, unless it was already within us to be felt. Our feelings do not come from outside, they are not created by the external circumstance. The external is not the cause of the feelings; it is simply a reflection of what is already held within us; it serves as the ‘trigger’. It is in fact the mechanism of our healing, the means of our liberation. The external, however painful is putting us in the place where our liberation can occur, right here, right now in the present moment.

Equally, all the unified experiences that life brings us – be they joy, harmony or love – are reflections of what is within us. Scripts arising from separation like “I’m not good enough” or “I’m unlovable” often do not allow us to fully receive, accept or believe the unified reflections, as us.

Very often what is held within us, is painful, traumatic, uncomfortable, distressing, terrifying, all the things that we didn’t ant to feel and probably still don’t. So when an external reflection begins to resonate with those places within us, and we begin to feel them, habitually we put even more energy into holding them still and we put even more energy into denying those feelings. In doing this, we add more energy to what it is we are already holding. So the intensity, the quantity of energy that is held increases, and the energy needed to hold it still, and prevent us from feeling it, increases. We tie up more life force, more of our power, and give it over to denial, give it over to sub-consciousness and lose even more presence. This is how Karma perpetuates and holds our awareness in unconsciousness.

Nature's Balance

Being in balance in all areas of our lives is a perennial topic for discussion and contemplation. Often we may find ourselves over-committed, under-rested, over-fed yet under nourished, generally or very specifically unhealthy in some way and the key to clarity and wellness turns out to be that magic word – Balance.

Finding balance in a world where we are either pushed or pushing to be performing at our peak 24/7 365 can be a major challenge for many of us. It’s important to Take Back Control of your own life. To remember that you and you alone are responsible for creating your own reality and that you have the power to change what isn’t working can be the greatest gift you will ever give to yourself.

Start right now-are you willing-right now- in this moment – to take a time out? – To come back into balance? We are taught by some of the greatest of teachers to literally “stop the world”. It is our world, our creation, and we can and do have the power to stop everything right here, right now and ask some soul searching and very serious questions.

The first question you might ask yourself is this – When was the last time you took some time just for you? Not just a day off from work but some serious time out – 3 – 4 days, maybe even a week or two that is totally and completely unscheduled – time to reflect, to journal, to meditate, to rest, to review your life, to see where you are and where you’ve come from, to decide, really consciously decide who you are and who you want to be, to see where you are and where you really want to be going.

When we make the choice, the conscious decision, to stop, to take a time out and to deeply contemplate our passions, our purpose, our soul’s journey, we may find that there are some changes that need to happen and soon. Change can be very frightening for people and yet it’s the most natural thing in the world. Nature herself is a perfect example of the ever changing nature of our universe. All too often we busy ourselves to the point of exhaustion and collapse, merely because we are afraid to face the necessary steps that we need to take in order to change our lives, change our world and bring things back into a place of balance.

In the Peruvian Tradition of the High Andes we are taught about a concept known as Ayni. Ayni is a way of living in the world that is in balance with our own nature as well as with the natural world around us and all of our relations. The native peoples believe that we are all connected and strive to live lives of balance and communion with all that is.

A simple way to start the process of breaking through to balance is to track for yourself your own natural energy rhythms. Using a calendar and a scale from 1 – 10, each day mark a number for that day that is a measure of your energy level,. For example today you might be feeling very lethargic, not really wanting to do anything – maybe today is a 2 day. Tomorrow you might get up and feel all full of “piss and vinegar” as my mom would say – ready to take on the world and accomplish mighty feats – tomorrow might be a 10 day. When you have tracked your own energy for a month or so (at least 30 days is recommended) you then have a picture of your own flow – perhaps during the full moon you are totally charged, later in the month might be your down time. Chart the flow and begin to match your commitments and activities to your own true nature. Don’t say yes to that party when you know if falls on a day when you will likely be in the 2 zone. Go for it and book three appointments with clients and host a dinner party on your usual 10 day. Just bringing some consciousness to your own energy will start you on the road to balance. Make it a prayer – Lord may I bring a little more balance to my life and to the world today and may I begin with me.

Amethyst Wyldfyre, MsD Is a Multidimensional Metaphysician with a thriving practice in the Merrimack Valley of Southern NH – she can be reached through her website at http://www.amethystwyldfyre.com