Born This Way...

I was a weird little girl. When I was small I had an “imaginary” friend named, Thomas, who went everywhere with me. I have a lot of memories of riding around in the back seat of my Mom’s car, enjoying long conversations with my magical friend.

When I was four Thomas gave me two important directives for my life. He told me that I am here to teach alchemy and that I am to go out into the world and teach only love.

Those two statements rolled around in my head my entire youth. My journey to becoming a teacher of alchemy and love has been a long and sometimes convoluted one. (I didn’t even know what alchemy meant until I was about 30!)

Over time, after being bankrupt, divorced, losing a house, getting my car repossessed, and struggling for many years with finances and, finally learning how to gain the financial “upper hand”, I naturally grew into being a teacher of alchemy.

But the teaching love part was hard.

I confess, I’m still learning about love and relationships.

One of the aspects of love that I have always struggled with is the notion of unconditional love. As child with huge religious fantasies and a deep love of martyrdom and sacrifice I cognitively understood the concept of unconditionally loving someone.

In my very dramatic mind, I could easily conjure up fantasies of being smacked in the face and then graciously turning my other cheek while whispering, “I love you” to my victimizer. (I told you I was a weird kid.) In my innocence, I thought that was how you unconditionally love someone.

Of course, that was before I learned to love myself. (Now I would lovingly kill anyone who treated me that way.)

When I became a mother, my understanding of love moved to a level that, still to this day, exceeds my cognitive ability to understand and certainly defies my ability to articulate. The love I feel for my children is bigger than my heart, larger than my body and stretches way beyond the rational confines of my mind. Mother Love is this unending ribbon of light and love that I will dance upon through all my days here in this lifetime and beyond…

But is it unconditional?

I think it is as unconditional as it will get in my limited human expression. I am certain that I will always love my children, but are definitely places that come from my own human conditioning that give me pause for thought.

For example, my Dad was the first person to go to college in his family. He went to Marshall University on the GI Bill while working full time and starting a family with two small children and taking care of a third child from his previous marriage. Working hard to get ahead is a big deal in my family.

I now have four teenagers living in my house. (Yes, they are all mine.) The oldest two are in college, one at a four year school and the other in junior college. I would be lying if I said that I am thrilled that my oldest daughter is choosing an Associates degree over a Bachelor’s degree. Oh, and did I mention that she’s moving in with her boyfriend at the ripe old age of 19???!!!

I’ve really had to wrestle with my own judgments about my daughter’s choices. And I feel guilty that I’m so thrilled about my oldest son’s success in college and I’m proud of his “A” average (…like I’m the one who did all the work to earn the A’s, right?).

And now, my youngest son, who is sixteen, is talking about joining the military and not going to college at all…more stretches for the human limits of my heart…

Aaaaahhh….but there is still My Great Hope…my middle daughter wants to go to M.I.T. and get a double major in engineering and design.

Please know that my tone here is kind of self-mocking. I don’t think that I love my children any less because of their choices but I do feel that I am still attached to how they show up for their own lives, like it’s really any of my business!!!!

And, I do believe that my judgments about their choices does lend a certain subtle “conditional” slant to the way I love them. (And yes, I can hide behind the idea that I just want what’s “best” for them and this is why I’m reacting, but that’s not really true. I do still have a charge on wanting to be viewed as a “good” Mom by others and, of course, we all know that “good” mother’s have children who get Ivy League educations and all the other mothers are just “average”, right?)

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Of course, I’m talking about my Mother Love which is the easiest and, arguably, the most powerful kind of love on the planet. If I’m still struggling with conditionality related to how I feel about my kids, imagine how challenging it can be to be “unconditional” with our lovers, our other family members and friends.

This is why I love Human Design so much! Human Design is truly a powerful tool to help you understand others and to see that so much of what we judge, criticize and even dislike people for, is often just an expression of their personal energy, or the dynamics of your composite energy and…

IT’S NOT PERSONAL.

Let me share some examples with you. (You might find that you have some of your own examples in your life, too.)

I have a friend who is extremely powerful by design. If you look at his Human Design chart you would see that he is all about bringing change to the world. He is driven by opinions, provocative, emotional, and he’s not designed to initiate. He’s a Generator with an undefined Throat Center and needs to wait to be recognized by the people who are ready to honor and value the change he is here to share with the world.

He’s also doubtful and suspicious by nature so he thinks most of what I do is Woo-Woo-Hooey.

Most people think this guy is an arrogant *****. But that’s because they don’t understand his place in the Human Puzzle.

Let me explain.

All of humanity is like an amazing puzzle with 7 billion (or more) pieces. A puzzle is only as beautiful as the conglomerate of its pieces.

If you have dogs or small children, you know that puzzle pieces get torn or otherwise mangled. (Or, if you are a Manifesting Generator with an open Root Center and the urge to complete the puzzle and your frustration gets the better of you, some pieces get sort of smashed into an incorrect spot because you can’t be bothered to find the right one…)

When the pieces of the puzzle are torn or missing, it affects the full expression of the puzzle. Each one of us is a crucial piece in the Puzzle of Humanity. And, even though in relative comparison, each piece seems small, we cannot come together and express the full magnificence of humanity if some of our pieces are torn or missing. We are all hugely significant.

When we don’t allow each other to be the fullest expression of ourselves as our Magnificent Selves, we, in essence, are mangling and tearing pieces of the Human Puzzle.

Here’s the deal.

Not everyone is designed to be nice. Some people are moody, emotional, provocative, bossy, critical, wimpy, nurturing, sweet, compulsive, impulsive, obsessed or lacking in focus by Design.

Some people are here to experience all that life has to offer. Others are designed to stay at home and cook big pots of stew and kiss boo-boos. Some of us are designed for adventure. Others are here to maintain the status quo. Some of us have direction and we know it from the start of our lives. Others of us are here to experience all the permutations and directions that life offers us.

Some people are easy to get along with and like. Others are more challenging.

And we all play a crucial role in the Human story.

And being loved for who we are…warts and all…is something we all deserve.

The mechanics of personality and even the mechanics of how we interact in relationship are not personal. It’s just energy and we can’t necessarily control the energy.

Be we can control our response to it. That part IS personal.

I would not love my children with the same degree of openness and willingness to allow them to be the fullest expression of who they are if I didn’t understand their unique piece of the puzzle.

According to Human Design, my oldest son is subject to the expectations of others. He is also here to be a leader and a change agent. But I will never know if I really see him for who he is or as a projection of my own expectations. I have to work doubly hard with him to allow him to own his own accomplishments (and failures).

My oldest daughter is designed to learn about life through experimentation. Falling down and getting back up is crucial for her to become the very wise woman she is well on her way to becoming.

My youngest son is emotional, moody, romantic and nurturing. He is the Incarnation Cross of Laws and has a life story about taking care of others and preserving rules and values for the greater good of the whole. The military might be a great place for him to have a consistent way to take care of people.

My middle daughter is designed to question her lovability. She might really want to go to MIT or she might unconsciously know that would “please” me. As a mother, I am working hard to detach from her choices so she can make the right choices for herself, not the ones she thinks will make me love her more. I already love her madly.

And my baby is designed to be intense, manage and guide others and to think about things in new and unique ways. Her energy is very different from my other kids and I know we’re going to have a delicious adventure together!!!

Knowing these little tidbits about my children (and more…) allows me to support them in the natural unfolding of who they truly are and who G-d designed them to be. I am grateful for this knowledge because it helps me transcend my own parenting baggage and serve as a better steward for these precious souls who have entrusted me with their care.

As we enter the holiday season, I invite you to remember the Puzzle of Humanity and the unique role each one of us plays in completing the puzzle.

Take this time to ask yourself how you can love yourself, your friends, your lovers, your family and even strangers more deeply, more “unconditionally”. And then celebrate the immense and breath-taking diversity of All of Us.

Pretty frickin’ awesome, isn’t it???

Compassion

I’m a bit under the weather today with a high fever and a very sore throat.  Thank goodness my kids are here to help me with my rambunctious toddler.  I have had the luxury of being able to “crash” in bed for a few hours while my Motrin kicked in.

Today I want to share with you my second insight from our Sacred Ceremony this weekend.  This one is a little more personal and I hope that it speaks to your heart.

The first day of our ceremony, we went down to the ocean in Galveston, Texas.  We started at Galveston State Park, a reasonable developed ocean front park.  The park has toilets, “rinse off” showers and a nice little headquarters.

While Jim was filling the pipe and saying his prayers, a fledgling bird landed on the fence by us.  He was scraggly and kind of ragged looking.  He appeared hot and parched and when I observed him I was immediately reminded of the horrific photos I’ve been watching on the news about the drought and famine in Africa. 

It has been estimated that over 600,000 children alone will die from starvation and dehydration.  Many mothers will make 100 mile treks while significantly weakened by starvation and thirst with babies on their backs seeking resources to keep their children alive.

I’m not feeling well today and taking care of my child feels very difficult.  Can you imagine trying to carry a hot, hungry child across the desert while you yourself are barely able to move…?

During the ceremony I watched my own little daughter dance and leap around in the waves, her chubby, healthy little hands wide open, welcoming life into her heart and spirit.  When we were done playing in the waves, she took an almost 10 minute “rinse off” shower, enjoying the fresh water running over her head.  Then we returned to the car and drank fresh, cool water from clean water bottles.

Even though we are facing a serious drought, water is everywhere.  So is safety, food, shelter and air conditioning.  We are lavishly abundant, even if we believe we’re struggling economically.  We live in a reality that is extremely supportive, privileged and safe by global standards.

But we are going to have to make some radical changes if we want to keep living this way.  Balance and respect for nature were the messages that Jim got and shared with us in yesterday’s video and this is crucial.

But there is another piece that is also important if we are going to create a new Era of Sustainable Peace. 

We must be actively compassionate. 

I was reading a Facebook post yesterday that said something to the effect that “I’m happy now that I’ve stopped reading the news.” 

I agree that being happy and sharing a joyful abundant vibration with the world is also an important part of making the world a better place. Let’s face it, the world doesn’t need any more suffering.  But, ignoring reality isn’t going to change the world.  If you are solid in your joy, your inner harmony will not be destroyed by the truth of the outer world.  In fact, you could use “negative” news to serve as a catalyst for creating something different…something better.

I often tell my students that if you don’t know what you want in life, take what you don’t like right now and imagine it 180 degrees different. 

You can do the same for the news.  If you don’t like what you see on the news, imagine it 180 degrees different.  What would the world look like if we were all well-fed, educated, safe, healthy and supported?  Take a minute and imagine it. 

In my book, Inside the Body of God, (http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Body-God-Karen-Curry/dp/0982780346/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313514823&sr=8-1)  I write about how the human body is a perfect metaphor for the Divine.  There are parts of our body that are “helper” cells and other parts that are here to “detox” and “clean up” what is not healthy in the body. 

We are all like cells in the God Body.  Each one of us has a specific role and function and each one of us is equally important.  What if our role as lavishly abundant people on the planet is to “help” some of the other cells in the God Body?  What if we are to “detox” and “clean up” starvation, drought, war and poverty? 

The body is only as healthy as its sickest cells.  When we are ill, our body reacts to remove the sickness in order to restore health. 

In truth, we are not abundant until we are all abundant.  Starving, dying children on the planet need our help.  For example, f they are not given foot, they may become vulnerable to militant groups who WILL feed them.

And train them to shoot guns and commit terrorist acts.

The pain and suffering of a mother who loses a child or children to starvation impacts us all, even if we are not aware of it.

How different would all of our lives be if the whole planet was abundant?

As lavishly abundant people with water bottles and “rinse off” showers, we have an obligation to do what we can to share our abundance with the world.  In a world where water and rice are precious, precious commodities, a dollar can save a life.

We must take care of each other.  We cannot turn away from our Divine Siblings. 

If you’d like to start making a difference today click here:

http://www.wfp.org/

More soon!

Love,

Karen

Surrender!!!!!

The call from Spirit is powerful and always exciting when it’s confirmed and echoed by other people.  I was first inspired to invite Jim Tree to Texas to conduct a sacred pipe ceremony after receiving a very powerful dream.

In my dream I was standing on top of a mountain plateau overlooking a lush green valley.  My two-year-old daughter, Ayelet, and Jim were with me.  We were standing around a large fountain that we could not possible reach across, yet, in my dream, the three of us were able to reach across the circumference of the fountain and as soon as our hands connected, water began flowing from the center, overflowing the edges of the fountain and creating a waterfall into the valley.

Later that day, Ayelet, who is by nature a precocious imp, began to chant, “Jim Tree is coming.  Jim Tree is coming” over and over.  When I shared all of this with Jim, he decided that, in spite of the warm temperatures, it was time to fly to Houston and get to work. 

The prospect of ceremony is sometimes tricky.  There is a temptation to want to direct ceremony, to use it as some form of “magic” to create what we want.  But the true purpose of ceremony is not for us to dictate the end results, but rather for us to align with Divine Order. 

It’s kind of ironic that as our consciousness evolves, we move from being “victims” of our consciousness to surrendering to Divine Order. 

There are four stages in consciousness evolution. While we like to think linearly, the truth is all of us go back and forth through these stages of consciousness evolution and it is quite normal for you to experience several stages of consciousness simultaneously. 

This is the nature of evolution.

The Four Stages:

Stage One:  Your Reality Creates You
In this first stage of consciousness, we are deeply conditioned by the collective, the world around us.  Our beliefs, our thoughts, our actions all flow from a belief that our creative capacity is limited to creating a reaction to the world around us. 

Our creativity is in navigating our way through challenges and situations that we feel powerless to control.  Who we are, what we feel, what we create is dependent on luck, fate and is all determined by a source outside of ourselves. 

For most of us, our conscious evolution journey begins here.  Our goal in this first phase of awareness is to begin to clear our conditioning, old patterns, thought forms and habits that keep us entrained to a powerless mentality.

Stage Two:  You Create Your Own Reality
During Stage Two we begin to remember our true creative capacity.  We learn that our thoughts, our emotions, our mindset, our beliefs and our expectations create our reality.  Using the basic "grammar" of creation, we begin to create something new and desirable in our world.

This is the phase taught to us in the movie "The Secret".  It is during Stage Two that we focus on our personal reality and move more deeply into a state of abundance consciousness.  We learn to focus and control our minds and master our emotions and use both to deliberately and consciously create.

Stage Three:  We Co-Create Our Reality
During Stage Three, after experimenting with deliberate creation, we begin to realize some very important things:

1.   There is a greater force helping us create and sometimes things work out bigger and better than we intend.  Miracles happen to us every day and we give up having to know "how" something is going to happen.  We begin to take bigger leaps of faith with our creative capacity.

2.  Sometimes things don't turn out at all like we intend but there seems to be a Divine Plan playing itself out.  Sometimes we don't know why a creation "fails", but we begin to understand that, in spite of this, the Divine Plan is good and the results are part of something bigger than ourselves.

3.  Our awareness of our creative capacity deepens and we realize that everything in our outer reality is created by us.  The things in our personal reality are personal creations and the things in our global reality are a result of projections in collective consciousness. We co-create our reality with our Divine Siblings.

4.  We come to realize that, as creative beings, if we don't like our collective creation, we can join together with our Divine Siblings and with intention, co-create something different.

This more expansive understanding of collective consciousness and the power to co-create, compels us to join together in the face of challenges on the planets, like earthquakes and oil spills and co-create in consciousness a different and more abundant outcome
.
Truly, this is an exciting stage for us to enter into.  Just go to Facebook or any of these social media forums and see the growing quantity of opportunities for you to join with your Divine Siblings and co-create an abundant New World.

Stage Four:  God Creates Reality Through You
The fourth stage marks a complete return to your natural state prior to being conditioned.  It is a state that is created after all your old beliefs and conditioning is released and is maintained by three key creation tools:

1.   Meditation is vital for Stage Four.  Meditation, in whatever form works for you, keeps your channel to your expanded awareness and Divine Intent open and flowing.

2.  Maintaining a prayerful state is also important in Stage Four.  Each moment can be expressed by gratitude and an acknowledgment of Divine Order and abundant perfection.

3.  A clear intention to allow the Divine to work through you helps keep your energy and attention focused on being present to the Divine working through you.

In the Fourth Stage, you realize that you are a uniquely created being and that your highest purpose in the fulfillment of the Divine Plan is to express the truth of who you are in the fullest way possible.  The Self in its pure, unconditioned state is intended to serve God by manifesting its full potential into form.

Each moment in this phase is a moment in the flow.  You know that you are fully supported and you simply obey the truth of the moment and your awareness if finely honed on the Now.  There are no worries, no fears, no lack, only faith and complete surrender.

A sample prayer for Stage Four might be:

I am an emissary of the Divine.
I am a child of Light.
I am an unlimited aspect of the Universe.
Because G-d is abundant, I am abundant in all ways.
Because G-d is powerful, I am powerful in all ways.
Because G-d is creative, I am creative in all ways.
Because G-d is all-knowing, I am always clear.
Because G-d is omnipotent and omnipresent, I am always in the right place at the right time fulfilling my Divine Purpose.
I pray that each moment, my hands, my body, my mind, my spirit, my Light and my essence be used in the service of the Divine.

A sample intention for Stage Four might be:

I intend to joyfully allow the Divine to easily create through me each and every minute of my day.

We all bop between the different phases, but you will realize that as your consciousness evolves, you tend to spend more time in one particular phase.  

As we stand on the cusp of our time together in ceremony, let us keep in our awareness that we are in partnership with each other and our beautiful earth.  It is our responsibility to flow with the changes in a way that is harmonious and in alignment with what needs to happen to restore us all to balance. 

We might see rain.  We might receive messages that help us understand our role in serving as Stewards for a new Era of Sustainable Peace.  We might gain insights into what we need to do to take better care of ourselves, our earth and each other.

No matter what the outcome, we will be humbled by the magnificence of the Divine (as always…)

Please join us in consciousness on Sunday, August 14 at 10:30 am Central Time.  During this time we will be at Hamilton Pool in Austin, Texas finishing our ceremony.  Please hold the intention that we all align with restoring balance in our lives, our lifestyles and in alignment with the Earth and all of her precious resources and inhabitants. 

We’ll be sharing photos, videos and more insights and updates along the way!

Love,

Karen

The New Normal

We are 32 inches behind in rain fall here in Texas.  The weather people are calling it an “exceptional” drought.  That may or may not be true depending on which books about global warming you read.  Many experts say that this may be the “new normal” as we see shifts in global climate.

It’s hard when we face things that are “not normal”.  Our old patterns and habits often don't meet our new needs and we're left confused, frightened and overwhelmed.  


It doesn't have to be that way.  On Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week, I will be accompanying Jim Tree-Gilmore as he conducts a traveling Sacred Pipe Ceremony.  There are many inspirations behind this journey that we will both share.  As we begin the preparation for this journey, we will be blogging as well as sharing video and photographic updates.  


On the final day we invite all of you to join with us in setting an intention to align with Divine Order as we seek new ways to navigate the "new normal" of our planet.  Our intention is to deepen within all of us the awarenesses and energies necessary to promote community, sustainability, compassion and a new era of peace on this planet.  


I hope you will stay tuned and join us!


Below is the first installment of our blog postings.  Today's message if from Jim.  Enjoy and please feel free to share with others!


*************

As we get ready to start on our journey across parts of Texas in response to a call for ceremony, to hopefully get assistance for the extended heat wave and drought that is currently scorching much of the central United States, I wanted to share some of the information with you all that will help you in your participation in this event.

First, why are we doing it? It is not just because there is a desperate need for relief here, that would apply to much of the US right now for many reasons. Drought, flooding, extended heat waves, (today we are at day 38 of continuous plus 100 deg. F in this area of Texas) destruction from winds, storm, tornadoes…and soon hurricanes. So, once again, why here and why now?

The answer is simple, but also the key to understanding the nature of all effective ceremony. This intervention was not instigated by me or any other human, but by Spirit through the messenger of the Sacred Pipe. As with all ceremonies that I conduct with this ancient Sacred Pipe, I wait until I receive directions and information before I attempt to set out on such a course. I began to feel the tug of the messenger about a month ago, a tug that I have become familiar with. Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do during August was to take a trip to Huston Texas…I live in the mountains of N.W. Montana where today the temperatures are in the high 70’s…not the 108 plus we are experiencing here today. But, when The Boss says go I go.

So I began to pray and ask for guidance as to the timing of the trip and through circumstance, coupled with inspiration, bought the ticket to fly down. There have been several confirmations to encourage me that we are at the right place at the right time to do this ceremony. (I want to invite you if you have not already heard it, to listen to my teaching about how to release the full power of ceremony. You can find a free recording to download or listen to at this web site, http://www.jimtree.com/booksandrecordings.html just scroll down to recording # 4 and enjoy)

So now that you know what is required to have a powerful and effective ceremony, let me give you some more understanding of the history and workings of a “Traveling Pipe Ceremony.”Remember, Nicholas Black Elk of the Lakota said decades ago, “The power of a ceremony is in the understanding of it.”

There are many different kinds of Sacred Pipe ceremonies; most where you smoke the Pipe right after you fill it. But there are some where you fill it and then put a plug in the bowl to protect the prayers that have been put into it because you will not be finishing the ceremony by smoking it until sometime later. 

Examples of this kind of ceremony would be during a Sundance, some sweat lodges and what we call a traveling ceremony. (In the old days it was called a walking ceremony because after filling the Pipe it would be carried to the final destination by someone who took special care to not let the Pipe come apart or that any of the mix in the bowl might spill out. The Pipe was not carried on horseback because of the increased chance of a mishap.)

In this particular traveling ceremony, we will fill the Black Thunder Pipe, a Pipe that is directly connected the the Thunder Beings who control the weather for the Great Mystery, at the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, TX., where the bowl will be plugged with sage after it has been touched to the ocean. This is to connect the ocean water with the Pipe which will, as we travel on, connect to the sky water and then to the earth water. (The ceremony ends after we smoke the Pipe near Austin on Sunday morning and touch the tip of the bowl to water that comes up from the aquifer there in a special sink hole that has been a sacred site for centuries.)

It is important that we know who we are teamed up with in the spirit realm when we are doing ceremonies like this. In this case the spirit that has been assigned by the Great Mystery to assist us is one known as the 5^th wind, or the whirlwind. The Thunder Beings are in several different forms, all being what are often called contrary spirits. There is a name for them in every tribe,The Lakota call them Heyoka, the southwest tribes call them Hohocum, the Tsalagi (Cherokee) call them the "Ayvdaqualosgv". No matter what the name, they all work with the weather in various capacities. The whirlwind is the younger brother to the 4 winds of the 4 cardinal directions. Those winds are stable and only come with specific jobs from their assigned direction. i.e North wind brings the winter wind, etc.

The 5^th wind however has no assigned direction or defined action. He comes in the form of the dust devil, the tornado, the cyclone and the hurricane. He comes from where ever he wants and travels in whatever direction he wants. I believe this is why he has been assigned to help us. We need unusual intervention with the weather. We need gentle continuous rains and winds to cleans and refresh the scorched land. We do not need, from our human perspective, a hurricane but it is not up to us what to even pray for. This is directed by Spirit as well. So, we do not come to the ceremony with preconceived ideas of the outcome, but to take our part along side of the spirits that will attend, the 5^th wind in particular, and add our part of being in harmony with the great circle of life.

As a form of confirmation and encouragement from the Great mystery, there is a group of people up in Montana that held a drumming group last Sunday. At my request they drummed the prayers for the ground water in Texas and asked for assistance from the 5^th wind. They were in a teepee up in the mountains and there was no wind outside. As they drummed the prayers into our mother earth there was a dust devil suddenly just outside the door of the Teepee, a very good sign.

So as you prepare to join in on the privilege of being part of the traveling ceremony I want to remind you to have a humble attitude and be sensitive to nature for direction in your individual part of this ceremony. Follow your intuition and the confirmations shown through nature all around you. It takes all of us doing and saying the right thing at the right time to have a good effect on this situation. Please be encouraged to write in your comments and massages received to this blog site so we all can share in your contribution.

In closing I will share a bit of the recent history of the Thunder Pipe and some traveling ceremonies that we have done.

7 year drought in Colorado, Montana and Arizona. In the spring of 2003 I was directed to do a traveling ceremony for Montana because of the drought there. I loaded the Pipe up on the Flathead reservation at the canyon where the Thunder Bird has her nest, plugged the bowl and traveled 200 miles south to a spot on the Bitterroot River just south of the Great Medicine Tree of the Salish. I finished the ceremony there by smoking the Pipe while standing in the river then touching the bowl into the river and pointing the stem to the sky to re-connect the earth water to the sky water. I was told that it would start to rain in 48 hours and would continue until fall. It did.

In the summer of 2005 the Midwest was in a drought. I was told to go to the annual Gathering of the Pipe keepers in Pipestone Minnesota in late July and teach anyone I met who were called by the Thunders the ceremony I was given to seek for rain. Usually at a gathering like this there might be 1 or 2 people who have been called by the Thunders, through dreams or being struck by lightning or who have died and come back. There were 11 there! We gathered by the 3 maidens at the sacred quarries and I passed on the template of the ceremony as it was given to me. 

We all filled our thunder pipes and then plugged them to travel back to our home in every direction, one all the way to Hawaii. The clouds formed as we left and it rained for some days in Minnesota, but the clouds also followed every one home except for a woman who lived where they were having flooding. In her area the rains stopped and the floods went away, in every other case the rains came to the drought areas and refreshed the land.

Of course there was the big drought in Australia several years ago, the worst in over 100 years. I suggest you watch the u tube video about that one to save my poor fingers from typing anymore. http://www.jimtree.com/australia_video.html

The point is that this ceremony today is another that the great Mystery has called for and we are being asked to take part. Let’s do our part and contribute the unique gifts that we have been given to bring balance out of chaos, if it is not too late.

In closing I feel I must say that even though we are asking for rain and cooler temps, also for moderation in the upcoming hurricane season, it must be realized that the weather over the last 2 years in now the new NORMAL! We will have to adapt but this is also a way for us to learn how we as a race can help shape the new normal.

Blue Sky!
Jim Tree-Gilmore

What Are You For?

My oldest son has an internship working on a documentary about the Gulf Oil Spill. He’s been asking me some great questions about consciousness and “being” in the world.

Last week he asked me a really good one. He said, “Mom, you talk a lot about where you put your energy and attention creates growth and results in your life. So, I was wondering, if you put your energy into fighting something, like for a good cause…say, for example, against the death penalty, are you actually helping or adding to the situation?”

What an important question!

We are at such a crucial time on this planet. We seem to be done clearing old patterns and traumas from the past. We’ve gotten a great start on collectively evolving our consciousness. I mean, you can buy the book ,”The Secret”, at Walmart!

As Lightworkers, we’ve fulfilled a lot of what we came here to do.

But now we are in an amazing and powerful place. When we remove old blocks, habits and patterns, we clear a space to create in an unlimited way. I’ve actually had a lot of friends and clients tell me that they feel overwhelmed and kind of lost in the vastness of the possibility of what we can create.

Our blocks, traumas and contrasting experiences have served us well by creating limits to make creation easier.

But, for many of us, getting rid of limits has left us with kind of a void, a vast potential filled vista that isn’t offering much for us to push against and define our creative space. It can feel sort of like being wrapped in a big amazing blanket of expansive nothingness.

And we are very well-trained to push against something.

It takes practice to create without resistance.

Remember Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice? If not, here is a reminder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XChxLGnIwCU

It takes a while for Mickey to learn to use his magic correctly.

We’re kind of in the same place. We have tremendous creative powers but if we aren’t properly trained to use them, acting consciously with correct alignment, we can inadvertently create something different than what we intend.

It can be very subtle, like the difference between fighting against something versus working for something, or preventing something bad versus creating something good.

But these subtle differences can manifest vastly different results even if the intention is similar.

When we fight something, we are, first of all, resisting something. Resistance is a form of creative energy. When we resist something, we’re giving the resistance a LOT of energy and, if where we put our energy and attention is where we get results…AND we’re focusing our energy and attention on resistance, what are we getting more of…?

You got it! RESISTANCE!

Whew!

I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet. I’m going to be posting a lot of short creation “tweakers” over the next few weeks, to help us strengthen our creative core “muscles” and practice our magic to speed us towards mastery.

If you are fighting against something, you are energetically fighting for it. You are adding more energy against the “it” you’re fighting against because you are resisting it.

Instead of fighting against something, ask yourself what would you rather be experiencing instead. What would you like to have happen on our planet? Take your time and really see it in your minds eye and feel it in your heart.

Then find evidence that what you want to see is already happening.

Express your gratitude for what you have discovered and then continue to see the evidence that what you want is already here waiting for you right now.

This week has been a nasty week in the news. We have financial challenges, violence, drought and starvations and just downright mean militant behavior. It’s so easy to point fingers and be against what has happened.

I invite you to rethink your focus. Instead of blaming or resisting, take a few minutes to remind yourself that you intend to live in a world where all earth inhabitants are safe, well-fed, loved, nourished, supported, educated, celebrated and cherished. We intend to live on a planet where there is ample food, water, shelter, clothing and being healthy is a natural and normal state. We intend to live in a world where people honor diversity and love each other because each one of us is a vital piece of the puzzle of humanity.

Then search for evidence that this is already happening. Put your focus there. Express your gratitude and keep holding that vision.

If we are to create solutions to the challenges facing the world, we have to start first by getting our minds in order; creating the RIGHT thoughts that are in alignment with the POSSIBILITY of right action to follow.

Your thought forms and consequent words can create massive change. Imagine the power of people coming together with the intention to set things into motion by speaking and spreading empowered thought…

Our responsibility is to steadfastly focus on what we want to experience and then allow Divine Mind to create the inspiration and the circumstances for possibility into action. (Divine Mind is much better at working out the details!)

Here’s a cool link to the website of a friend of mine. His name is Jim Tree and he is a powerful prophet and spiritual teacher.  Check out his predictions and then think about what kind of a world you want to live in. Our unified creative thoughts be powerful positive catalysts to a new world of sustainable peace for everyone.

http://www.jimtree.com/index.html

Enjoy!

Love,

Karen

Freedom is the Right of All Sentient Beings

Happy Fourth of July! A celebration of freedom…

Planetary transits these last few weeks have left many of us wondering about our personal contributions to humanity and questioning how we can make a positive difference in the world. As we move towards the new moon and a powerful solar eclipse and finishing up solar transits in the Gate 15 (The Love of Humanity), the Gate 39 (Provocation) and moving into the Gate 53 (The Gate of Starting Things) in Human Design, our intention has been to start acting in ways that restore the flow of abundance in our own lives and in the world around us.

It is a time of renewing our commitment to making a positive difference in the world and truly expressing and invoking compassion for each other.

The news has been a nice example of this energy. On CNN.com they have been running a series of stories about human slavery in the world. Did you know that there are an estimated 10-30 million slaves on the planet at this time?

Horrific stories about rape being used as a weapon of war all over the world have also been featured prominently in the media. I have been reading these stories and working with my stunned amazement at the capacity human beings seem to have to treat each other terribly. (Of course, I also believe that our capacity to create an abundant world for everyone is unlimited!)

You may be wondering why I would read such stories. Many of us are taught by our spiritual teachers to ignore the news. It’s not “happy” and lowers our vibration.

Truly, I understand that.

But, I would also argue that nothing can lower our vibration and “take away” our happiness except our own consciousness. You can choose to be happy no matter what your situation and no matter what you read or even experience.

And, if we ignore what’s really going on out here, we miss an opportunity to create change.

One of the first books I ever read about awakening our creative potential was a small book by Charles Fillmore, one of the founders of the Unity Church of Christianity. Frankly, I don’t even remember the title of the book but in it he wrote about the power of what he called “denial”.

Charles Fillmore limped for most of his life as one of his legs was significantly shorter than the other. He had to wear special shoes and orthotics to compensate for this difference in leg length. During the course of Fillmore’s life, he “denied” that his leg was a problem and his leg actually grew several inches so that his limp was barely perceptible by the end of his life.

The principal of “denial” was an integral part of Fillmore’s teaching. Basically, Fillmore taught his students to deny that problems are real and consequently, the possibility of experiencing something different than the perceived problem can manifest.

I think there are two kinds of denial.

The first kind of denial is the dysfunctional kind of fear-based denial that keeps us from looking head on at a problem and handling it with faith and confidence that we are fully supported and there is an elegant solution (i.e. miracle) available to us. Sometimes we don’t want to see challenges because our mindset and belief systems are such that we don’t think we can handle the problem.

The real danger of this kind of denial is that it puts us into a kind of la-la fairy land existence that doesn’t empower us to make good choices. With this kind of denial, we can’t use the “negative” emotions from this experience to clarify and deepen our intentions to create something different.

Fearful denial is very different from the second kind of denial which is not so much “denial” as it is simply shifting your attention to a different aspect of a challenge and then focusing on a solution. You “deny” the situation your attention and energy, not as a way of avoiding it, but as a way of focusing on something better, a solution or ways to make change.

What we “deny” with this kind of denial is that pain and suffering of any kind is in alignment with Divine Abundance. We deny that rape, torture, slavery, oppression or poverty (to name a few) are fulfillments of our abundant potential. And we allow that there are other more abundant realities for us to manifest.

We also affirm that we have faith that something else is possible and we are empowered to create a new reality. This is a denial rooted in the understanding that abundance is the promise of the Universe. We operate from a place of complete trust and surrender to the true abundant nature of the Divine, knowing that a miracle is always at hand.

Some of the stories I read this week were very moving. One in particular was about a group of students and journalists who traveled the world with the mission of simply listening to the stories of war-rape victims all over the world.

These compassionate souls quietly held space for victims, not even necessarily sharing their stories with others. They just listened, turning each victims recounting into a sacred moment ripe for transformation. Many of these women (and men, btw) had been silent about their stories for years and this sacred sharing moment was the first time they had ever told anyone what had happened to them.

One of the many (many, many) reasons I love Human Design is that there is actually a complete, extensive energetic circuit in the Human Design body graph (Don’t know about Human Design? Check it out: http://www.humandesignforeveryone.com) that is all about the energy for sharing stories.

The human mind before the age of nine is designed to learn about values and the world through stories. In the archetype of humanity, we are designed to share our stories together to create a collective tapestry of all the rhythms, colors, experiences and adventures of mankind. When we stop listening to stories, our tapestry gets dull and monochromatic. We lose the depth of who we are.

Another essay I read was about rape victims during the Holocaust. In their book, "Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust”, authors Sonja M. Hedgepeth and Rochelle G. Saidel, share the stories of women who were horrifically raped during the Holocaust. While the stories and, obviously, the experiences of these women were beyond traumatic, the trauma has only been amplified by the Jewish academic community who has declared these stories as being “insignificant” because the numbers of rape victims pales compares to the number of people murdered…(???)

After years of keeping their stories to themselves, these victims are again being silenced.

When we silence victims, we not only delay their healing, but we also cut our collective consciousness off from a vital piece of the human creative process.

We have gotten into a funny habit in the metaphysical community with our denial of all things “negative”. We only want to hear “happy” things.

That’s nice. But if that’s what we’re working with, we’re missing a whole spectrum of reality and blocking our capacity to grow and evolve.

It’s natural to want to feel good. Feeling good is a prime directive of life. But when we experience pain and trauma, we can’t just leap to feeling good right away. Sometimes we have to get there step-by-step and the only way we get there is to work through our emotions and our stories.

And it doesn’t always look or sound pretty. (Or happy.)

Have you ever had the experience of trying to talk through a challenge with a friend and they shut you down, trying to get you to refocus on the positive?

I even know of a “technique” taught by a very influential personal growth “guru” that involves taking your attention off of a challenge and problem until a better solution appears.

Now, I know I’m walking on shaky ground here so keep rolling with me here.

There is a difference between a real story and a habitual patterned retelling of an event that you have allowed to define you. Sharing the story of your trauma is different than calling yourself a survivor of your trauma.

If you call yourself a Rape Survivor or an Incest Survivor you are stuck in your story and it isn’t a story anymore. It’s an identity. If your trauma has become your identity, then you are not evolving your story. You are trapped and each re-telling only anchors the story in your neuro-biology.

But simply telling your story, moving through it and giving yourself a chance to discharge some of the emotional energy around it, is crucial to the healing process. Emotions are energy in motion. If we aren’t allowed to freely express ourselves, the emotional energy doesn’t go away. It just shifts around, building up in the physical body or manifesting as challenges in other areas of your life, repeating in cycles until the energy finally shifts.

Being heard can be a powerful way to release the emotional energy of pain and suffering.

The Hopi Elders teach us that one of the first steps in creating a template in consciousness for a new Era of Sustainable Peace is for us to take care of each other and our relationships. I believe that to invoke this new era, we must first and foremost live with compassion for each other.

Listening is the primary step necessary to live compassionately. When we hear each other’s stories, our hearts open and our natural caring for each other grows.

Not only that, when we listen (Btw, did you ever notice that when you take the letters in the word “silent” you can make the word “listen”?), we become aware of the dark boundaries of human behavior. These stories inspire us in consciousness and in our physical realities to create a world in which these kinds of tragedies never happen again. Our rules and laws, heck, even America, is here as a result of the contrast people experienced.

If the European Americans had not experienced religious oppression, they may not have ever sought to create a new country where religious tolerance is legally protected.

If we don’t listen to stories about war crimes, rape or slavery (or other stories with a “negative vibe”), how are we going to know what needs to be nurtured, protected and evolved? One person’s nightmare can be the catalyst for a collective dream; the initiating sequence for the possibility of change...something better…

Sometimes knowing what we don’t want, is the best way to get clear about what we do want.

Yes, the trauma of your CNN.com news page can be draining and heartbreaking. And, of course, if you are already struggling with your own well-being, you don’t have to read each story word for word. You must take care of yourself first.

But what if there was a way to read the news and be empowered by it? What if you read the stories and, instead of cringing and turning away, you used these stories to clarify what you do want to see in the world and took a moment to hold a space for each story and each person who is a part of the story and then hold an intention or a vision of what you’d love to see manifest into form in the world?

Here’s an example. Right now Syria has been featured prominently in the news. There has been a tremendous amount of government sponsored violence and murder. Take a minute and imagine a Syria where all citizens are safe, where government is for the people and by the people and the police are trustworthy souls who genuinely want to uphold laws that are fair and democratic and everyone is empowered and abundant.

You don’t have to know how these things will be created. Enough awareness and contrast will create an energy in the world that will initiate the sequence of evolution, revolution and change. Your intention is an important start. Nothing has ever started on this planet without starting first in someone’s mind with a vision and an intention.

So, I end this very long blog post with this short gratitude.

Thank you to all of you who have honored the world with your stories. Thank you to all of you who have experienced trauma, oppression, repression, slavery and other horrors. Thank you to all of you who have listened and transmitted these stories to the world.

Without your stories and experiences, the possibility for real change would not exist.

Remember that where we put our energy and attention is where we get growth and results. Celebrate your freedom this weekend and the possibility of freedom will grow for the whole world.

Let’s hold a vision of every human being on this planet living in joyful freedom!

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” - Optimus Prime, from the movie Transformers

Love,

Karen

LARPing, Anyone?

I was working with one of my new website clients a few weeks ago.  In my Sacred Website program I always start my clients off by encouraging them to visualize their ideal business, how much money they want to make, how many hours will they work each week and how it will feel to really be living their business dream.

This particular client, not unlike many of my clients, reported to me that she was having trouble imagining her ideal business.  She said she was so locked into old beliefs about working hard for money that it was just impossible for her to really visualize a business that was easy, profitable and fun.

This email is NOT about business, so keep reading…

The real problem here was not related to her business.  My client is suffering from a malady that afflicts many, if not most of us.  She had lost touch with her imagination.  The density of life had seduced her away from the realm of pure creative potential and rooted her in the linear world of “possible”.

Imagination is a natural part of our brain function.  In fact, our imagination is the vehicle for our learning in our early years.  Through stories and images we master basic concepts and even more advanced things like values and morals. 

When we are young, our creative capacity rules our world.  Have you ever had dinner with a four-year-old ballerina or Davy Crockett?  Young children truly live in the imaginary realm.  They aren’t just dressed up as ballerinas or wild-west heroes, they ARE what they are imagining themselves to be.

But, pretty soon on our journey of life, we get knocked down for dreaming too much or too big. How many times were you told to “get real” with your life?  When did you first get the message to pare back your dreams and be…realistic? 

Think about it.  If someone calls you a “dreamer”, it’s not necessarily a compliment, is it?

But, if we’re not dreaming, how will we stretch and grow beyond our current reality?  Take a minute and look around the room where you are reading this blog post.  Everything you see started first as a thought or a dream in someone’s mind. 

You’re probably reading this on a computer, right?  If you are my age (or a wee bit older), if someone had told you, when you were 15 years old, that someday we would be typing messages to each other that would be delivered instantly on tiny, hand-held computers, would you have thought they were dreaming? 

We can only create to the extent that our imagination allows us.  And if we imagine beyond what our logical minds or our experience allows us, we are deeply conditioned to believe that what we imagine is “impossible” and therefore not possible for us to live or create.

We even have expressions such as, “I can’t even imagine…” and “impossible dreams…”

When we stop dreaming and allowing ourselves to imagine beyond our current life’s circumstances, we become like caged birds who accept that their cage is their home and natural habitat.  We forget the flowers, insects, sweet fruit and sunshine.  We accept our jail as reality and what we allow ourselves to experience becomes very dense and limited.

It’s no accident that when dictators and other totalitarian regimes take over a country, often the first thing they outlaw is art and any other forms of creative expression.   When we shut down the imagination, we no longer dream of what it means to be free, or abundant, or joyful, or fulfilled, or powerful, or…the possibilities are only limited by your imagination…

The nature of the caged bird is to sing and dream of life beyond the cage.  It is the consciousness of our dreams that create the golden templates for a new reality.

Not only for ourselves, but ultimately for the whole world.

Can you dream of a world that is limitlessly abundant, where all people have enough food, shelter, are safe and supported in fulfilling their Divine Potential in every way?  Can you imagine a world of limitless possibility and abundance, an era of sustainable peace with resources that easily shared with everyone?

We can only create to the degree to which we imagine.  Even that’s a bit limiting.  We believe that we can’t create beyond what we can imagine.  It’s an artificial boundary we’ve set for ourselves in the conscious awareness of our current reality.  What if we were creative beyond even our wildest dreams?

Think about this for a minute…

What if you could imagine a reality that was unbounded by the “possible” and deeply rooted in the realm of “miracles”? What if we all held a belief that the non-linear and seemingly “impossible” was merely a daily occurrence in our reality?  And that we didn’t have to know the “how” of something to make it possible?  That all we had to do was imagine a potential outcome and trust that the “how” would be revealed to us in magical and amazing ways?

It could happen…

In the meantime, let’s all LARP.

For those of you who are older than 20, like me, LARP is an acronym for Live Action Role Play. 

It’s a new concept for me.

Two weeks ago I picked my oldest son up from college and drove him home.  On our way home, we passed a field full of tents and picnic tables.  Grown men were running around with large foam rubber swords chasing each other around and having a pretty darn good time, it looked like.

As we drove by, my son yelped, “COOL…they’re LARPing!!” 

“LARPing?” I asked. 

“Live Action Role Playing,” he replied, rolling his eyes at me.  (At what age do they stop rolling their eyes?)

I’ve thought about this LARPing thing a lot since then.  I think it’s a pretty cool concept.  Dress up and pretend you’re doing something fun, creative, delicious, passionate and juicy.  Use your imagination and play hard with a bunch of like-minded people.

I’ve decided to LARP my imaginary life. I'm thinking this has to be a powerful way to help me remember my creative potential.  

In my game, I live in an abundant world where the Universe perfectly conspires to bring me opportunities, circumstance, and synchronicities that perfectly match my abundant vibration.

Want to join me?

I have lots of room for my Divine LARPing Buddies!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_189859161062113&ap=1

Love,

Karen