Auto-Writing & Channeled Messages for Heightened Awareness: SPIRITUAL EXPANSION

The final theme from the night of auto-writing in one of the mediumship circles of last year: Spiritual Expansion.

… Is loving yourself & opening to all possibilities.  Spiritual expansion is flowing along the current & creating new currents.  Sharing with others like a rainbow, all colors blending and adding to the whole, yet singular and essential.  Spiritual expansion is growth and a trueness.  A welcoming of one’s self to one’s Soul.

Spiritual expansion says hello to today & tomorrow and yesterday, accepting them all as one and all integral — Spiritual expansion is forgiveness of what one thinks & overthinks, & loving all that one is.  Because all that one is, is part of All That Is.

Auto-Writing & Channeled Messages for Heightened Awareness: RESONANCE

Theme three from the night of auto-writing last year in the mediumship circle: Resonance. Now it starts to get interesting, with depth.

Resonance is the charcoal striking the paper striking the sand, putting the contract into the physical. Resonance is a wholeness with so much vast space being held in the arms of the universe. Not empty space, oh no —

It is full of clarity & joy and synchronicity. Wholesome, there is no doubt you know the way to go. You can embrace the next step as the universe & All That Is embraces you, even when you sleep, even when you are unaware, even when you are aware of the things you wish you hadn’t done.

Resonance is a combination of all colors, bright white light surrounding you and filling you so there is no doubt of what to do or who you are.

Resonance vibrates and raises your energy to the you you almost remember.

Auto-Writing & Channeled Messages for Heightened Awareness: EARTH

The second theme of our auto-writing experience from the previously mentioned evening circle last December: Earth.

earth|is|blue|green wide spacious flowing. earth is an ecosystem peace process growth, a chalkboard on which to draw one’s creations. earth is multitudinous, teaming with life & experiences. earth is an adventure, a playground, a mother and father; earth is child whom we must nurture.

we nurture earth and thereby nurture ourselves.

The pervasive feelings I encountered during the channeling of the Earth theme were those of subtle timidity, curiosity and an earnest desire to explore; I felt surrounded by a placid and gentle presence. The colors experienced, so appropriately, were blues and greens.

Auto-Writing & Channeled Messages for Heightened Awareness: JOY

I am no longer sitting the mediumship circles of last year. In January, my new job sent me a’traveling for weeks, another circle-sitter was taking some time off to sort through some personal life needs, and our mentor and circle facilitator was drawn to new projects near and far; basically, our other life events were taking precedence as we sent our energies out into the world. However, after my recent move a couple months ago, I came across some channeled auto-writing messages I had scribbled on scraps of paper while in trance state, from an experiment we conducted in one of the circles last year. I transfer them here, lest I lose them forever. And who knows, perhaps others may find a bit of inspiration in them, should they come across these pages one day.

We were given one to two word themes as a starting point. We then, in trance state, opened our awarenesses to other Beings since passed this world, asking Spirit to expound on each given theme. Most of us had experienced some form of automatic writing before, and were familiar with the suggestions given for enhancing the connections: just allow the information to come through without us censoring it or trying to understand it; keep writing, even if it seems like nonsense or we felt like we were making it up at first; relax and have fun with it — Spirit is often light, joyful and playful in heart! Our hands detached from our subjective minds as they free-flowed into words from Spirit. Some of the writings made more “logical” sense than others, but the feelings derived when re-reading what we wrote were distinct and warming. We were given four concepts in total that evening.

Following is my result of the first: “Joy.” The Being I connected with for this concept appeared to me as a young, carefree boy of about 5 or 6 years, full of wonder and presence. The setting was summertime, in a neighborhood playground/park-like environment. The timeframe was early ’80s — think red and white striped T-shirt and denim shorts, with a mop of straight, bowl-cut blonde hair falling in his eyes as he ran on the grass, eyes opening and shutting into the sun. A definite stream of consciousness, flitting from each visual and experiential possibility into the next.

ecstatic lush green lawns sunshine jump rope double-dutch swingset bouncing balls childhood childlike energy childlike open eyes running jumping smiling laughing

Yes, this one is very short and to the point. The other three themes soon to follow.

Update, for a point of clarification: Yes, I am a Reiki practitioner, following the traditional Japanese teachings.  However, not all I write about in this little blog of mine, nor the links I may post, relate to Reiki.  Auto-writing, for example, and channeling or mediumship — definintely not Reiki in any shape or form.  There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstandings out there about what exactly is and is not Reiki, and there are Reiki practitioners who have learned and/or include such additional focuses to be inclusive in their Reiki practice.  But they are not.  For more information on Reiki as practiced from the traditional Japanese perspective, please refer to my short explanation of Reiki, to an overview of how I shifted my practice to be based on the Japanese teachings, and to my teachers’ site, The International House of Reiki.  Just want to make this very important distinction.  More to come in future posts expanding on this topic.

The Proof is in the Practice

Last October, I embarked on two distinct (yet very related) practices that have since changed my life. And not just internally changed — I mean, I have specific physical repercussions that continue to emerge even today. But the physical effects are actually the later manifestations of actions that began as new a-ha’s of understanding in the mind — they are just the effects of specific thoughts, words and actions I have started re-programming in myself.

The first practice stems directly from the Reiki Shinpiden course I took with Frans and Bronwen Steine of The International House of Reiki. This course changed everything about how I understand Reiki as a practitioner and now teacher (as it has for everyone I’ve met who has taken this course) — the Steines have done tremendous work on themselves in accordance with the true, pure path of Reiki, and have dedicated themselves to bringing its roots to light for those of us who first learned Reiki as it evolved (or as some may say, devolved?) in the West. They have helped clear away the brambles of confusion about what Reiki really was in its origins and can be today, and I felt so much lighter and clearer and more focused after that weekend course. I will not delve too deeply into my experience with Shinpiden, other than to recommend that other Reiki practitioners of Level II or above take this course with the Steines when they are presented with the opportunity, and to also comment that because of this course, my personal Reiki practice now breathes with me. It is not stagnant; it is an ancient tool I can access for my own growth and empowerment. The more I practice and work on myself, on a daily basis with commitment and discipline and understanding, the more I can access the Reiki energy within myself, and clear the flow of my energy stream.

Word of the second practice, outlined in a book, arrived to me first via my friend, Sarah, last summer, but I chose then to put off reading it, for whatever reason. During Shinpiden, a fellow classmate mentioned the same book Sarah had raved about, and I knew it finally was time to read it. This book is The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life, by Geshe Michael Roach. Somewhat controversial in traditional Buddhist circles due to its unconventional approach to Buddhist principles, primarily because Roach packages the message with a (very non-Buddhist) material bent to draw in a Western, non-Buddhist audience (along the lines of “Want to make more money and be more successful? Then understand and implement these principles into a daily personal practice.”), the book nonetheless helped me understand very clearly how the universe, and energy itself, works with us and our actions, words and thoughts. I had an interest in but only periphery understanding of Buddhist principles (via limited studies of what Master Usui brought to the system of Reiki), so being able to read about these Buddhist principles as they can be applied in our Western society of ingrained commercialism and business truly opened an entirely new understanding and application for me.

That is understating this book’s impact on me, though. The teachings in this book have gripped me in such an awakening, and as I started applying them as I read, I began to notice subtle, and then not-so-subtle shifts. First these shifts occurred only in my mind. I started paying attention to my thoughts much more than I used to (and I am normally on the introspective side to begin with), but more than just acknowledging each thought running through my mind, I started transforming the kinds of thoughts that would arise. A message at the core of this book is that reality can be perceived in many different ways, depending on one’s perspective. What I may perceive as “bad” may be perceived by another as actually quite a good thing for them. So essentially, effects are neither good nor bad. They just are. To take this a step further, whatever I perceive right now is based on a past thought, word or action of mine. If I did something good for someone in the past, I will at some point be able to see and perceive someone doing something good for me. Or if I acted out of anger toward someone in the past, I at some point will perceive someone acting out of anger toward me. For another example: if I want to be successful in my endeavors, I should recognize and express gratitude as much as possible (sound familiar, all those following “The Secret”?). And these past actions (and our current actions now that later become “past” actions!) magnify and ripple out like waves on a pond — kind of like the power of compounding interest when investing money, only in this we invest energy! And I can take full responsibility for my reality, by first understanding the nature of how this works, and then implementing the principles and monitoring myself. Since I do not want someone to be angry toward me, I can cultivate a peaceful, compassionate mind that bypasses anger. Instead of allowing myself to become upset or angry because of some external circumstance, which puts me in the role of victim, I can instead understand situations as 1) effects of my past actions, and 2) opportunities to end the cycle of violence and plant positive seeds for my own (and others’) futures. Even more, I can then consciously plant positive seeds (what Roach calls “Imprints”) to cultivate a positive perception of my reality for the future. To me, this concept sums up the true meaning of a word that has been thrown around incorrectly under other definitions and confused the hell out of many people, including me: Karma.

Sound simple? Well, it kind of is. But to really understand the concept and the whys of it all, I do suggest you read the actual book, which delves much deeper and into more areas than I just did in my simplistic overview. Roach outlines many different areas on which one can focus, and recommends that we work with a few at a time, and keep track daily, and even more than daily, in a notebook, our progress. Not to judge or feel bad, but to really track ourselves, in each moment.

I feel like so much has shifted since I read The Diamond Cutter and started consciously implementing new imprints. And to tie this back into my new understanding of Reiki as a personal practice, this truly gave me a greater depth of understanding of Reiki’s first precept, “Do not anger.” This book has quickly become a number-one handbook — as my friend, Sarah, says, this book should be required reading by anyone who has a life — or basically, everyone!

Between Shinpiden and The Diamond Cutter, my perspective, and in turn, life, has truly changed, and the way I approach everything is so much lighter, with so much greater awareness of imprints and present actions. From even the first day I started implementing not only what I learned in Shinpiden, but also 3 of the principles I focused on from the book, I started noticing the difference. Impacts in my daily life: My life (some aspects of which I used to view as an annoyance and with not just a little frustration) started to feel so much simpler. People whose actions and words once had a tendency to really get under my skin soon became…still there, with them probably still acting in the same manner as before, but my reaction became so much more compassionate, and so much more focused on my own actions and what I bring to the table in each moment. I started to feel that in taking responsibility for every moment as a co-contributor, I could be so much more empowered — and free — to create the positive side I wanted. I let go of attachment to specific outcomes of what I thought I wanted, and instead just focused on what I could control — my thoughts, words and actions, and how to more closely embody the Reiki precepts and the principles of The Diamond Cutter.  Two months later, after I had decided (after reading The Diamond Cutter) to not run from my job, but to stay and work on myself instead, a recruiter called me, seemingly out of the blue. “Oh, I’m not looking for anything right now,” I said, and meant it. But I listened to what she had to offer, in case something sounded right for a friend. And then she mentioned what could be a dream job for me in my design field. It was a stretch from what I was doing at the time, but it was something about which I was and am passionate, and something I can be really great at.

And now? Now I am working at that dream job. I’m working on myself with my daily practices: those from my new Reiki studies, and the tracking of my thoughts and words and actions in accordance with principles outlined in The Diamond Cutter. And I am re-reading the book again.

A New Focus: Explorations in Mediumship

A few months ago, after receiving impressive messages from medium, fellow Reiki Master and friend, dyAnne Irby, I decided that this was a path I, too, wanted to explore, and began studying mediumship with a wonderful mentor, Dr. Lauren. I am delighted that I can navigate my schedule each week to sit in the circles. Studying may be a misleading word choice, though; I am not exactly studying — at least, it doesn’t feel that way! Studying mediumship is not a formal application of mind and intellect. Instead it is an experiential release of the intellect and a connection with instinct and intuition, and of course, with energies of Spirit. Instead of studying books or specific, unyielding rules of procedure, I find myself experiencing and exploring not only other energies of the highest good “out there,” but also myself. I am strengthening not only the awareness of just what my energy feels like, but also strengthening and expanding the energy itself. I am awakening my powers of awareness and subtle, detail-oriented observation, am strengthening my meditation practice, and am deepening my awareness of myself and my connection with my guides and with Source / All That Is. I am truly re-awakening my Self.

I am a bit hesitant to speak or write of mediumship to the general public, as it seems the general (mis)conception is that it is a hoax (if dismissed or pooh-poohed) or a very dark — even “evil” — work (if taken seriously). On the contrary, though, I regard this work (in which we define what we will accept, which is always only the very highest and most loving connections), and even death itself, as very gentle, connecting, loving and expansive. If the unknown is what really frightens us about that which is “dark,” perhaps connecting with Spirit, our guides and those who have passed to their next arenas of consciousness will help us light our own way, and allow us greater trust, presence and peace in each moment.

The beings with whom I have connected have been regular people, with very distinct personalities, strengths, positive traits, and challenges. Usually, it is their challenges that they were in their human bodies to address, and to learn to turn into strengths. Some have expressed sadness about the way they lived, and about certain choices they made, yet they usually now look back upon their lives and choices with wisdom and perspective, great and necessary lessons learned for their next time around. Some are joyous, and retain the playful, even mischievous qualities in the otherworld that they displayed with zest while living on Earth, eager to make connections with those of us still here and to spread their inspirations even yet — to be bold with life and to go for what you want. (One such being with whom I connected was so vivacious of energy, even in the otherworld, that I radiated such beaming joy and could not have erased the wide smile plastered across my own face while delivering his message if I had wanted to!) My grandmother has come through more than a couple times to other mediums for me, and despite the negative feelings of hardened disappointment she held when she was alive, she always conveys the loving message to be true to yourself, to know who you really are underneath the outer shell and societal constructs, and most of all, she always conveys so much love for me. Actually, all of the beings seem to hold this love, for everyone.

Mediumship for me, while it allows for connection with beings who spent time as humans and have since passed, in the end is not really about the Spirit that has passed (although it is very interesting to learn of its Earthly experiences, lessons and messages, particularly if someone present knows the being — and then for that person, the experience probably does become about bringing light to their relationship, along with any needed completion or closure). Rather, as I described above, it is about how we can connect more deeply with who we are at Soul level, and with strengthening our connection with All That Is. Yet (and by definition) it does require that connection with the being as a way of fine-tuning our channel. Sitting in chairs, we start the circle by connecting our feet to the earth, and our third eyes to Source. The heart center becomes the pivot, and I send energy from my heart center into the earth, all the way down through the building floors, down through the subway tunnels and into the crust, intertwining my energy with that of Earth who sustains us. I imagine the energy to be an infinity symbol, with my heart at the center. The energy flows down into the earth in a circular motion, and returns back up toward my heart, bringing with it energy from Earth. I then send energy from my heart center and the Earth up in the infinite figure 8 to Source. The cycle continues and flows back to my heart center and scoops into the Earth. Blending with the Earth and Source is quite lovely — very serene and centering. We also make a heart connection with the other members of the circle to combine our unique energies for a warm and loving circle. We mentally state what we will accept and what we will not, and then request connection with a being who once lived as human on Earth to make herself known to us. At this point, it becomes about fine tuning our awareness to catch all of the identifying details: Is this person female or male? How old and from what era did she live? Where did she live — an urban area? Rural? What can we determine about her personality? How did she live her life? How did she pass? And ultimately, what is her message — why here, why now?

After receiving this information mentally, one by one we describe the being with whom we are sitting. The people sitting as mediums tend to bring their own life experiences and strengths to the circle, as well as their energies. For example, my background in fashion design brings me great attention to detail — particularly to being able to describe the clothing in which the Spirit presents herself — down to the print of her shirt to the cut of her jacket collar to the etchings on her gold-colored metal buttons. (Who knew my fashion background would come in so handy when approaching matters of Soul?!) Details such as these help locate the being in time and space, for more specific identification. Often the messages given have a direct correlation to situations we are experiencing in our own lives. (I find this similar to how I attract Reiki clients who are relating to specific situations that I once went through and for which I can offer more intimate understanding.) I usually find myself leaving circles feeling I have just received the missing piece of information that kept barely eluding me, or feeling uplifted and aligned with All That Is and synchronized with my path for this life.

Mediumship — Connecting this life with passed life for a better future, and facilitating greater mindfulness and awareness. This is unfolding to be a wonderful expansion of my personal growth.