Spiritual tools (12.7.14)

Good morning. Happy Sunday.

Ever had an experience that just felt icky? Ever been in the presence of someone and just felt like you had to get away from them? Conversely, you might feel pulled to certain places and people, or experience a feeling of peace or bliss when in certain situations. I've been experiencing more of these types of events lately.

Those feelings are part of an internal guidance system called intuition. And when those feelings arise, I listen. I didn't always listen to my gut, but over the years, I have learned to trust my higher self to guide me in particular situations. If I quiet ego long enough, I can hear the voice of spirit, which tells me which direction to go, whom to trust and what people to allow into my inner circle of loved companions. Life is better when I listen. I miss a lot of unnecessary "lessons" when I pay attention to that inner voice.

It seems as the world dissolves into a more chaotic state, my inner voice of reason, my intuition, is getting louder. I don't think this is by chance alone. I strongly believe the spirits are guiding me, keeping me safe, which I suspect they have always done. It is only very recently that the volume has been turned up and I have started to hear all sorts of interesting things. Let's say the spirit world is talking and I'm tuned in like a radio receiver. I don't always get words. Sometimes I get images, feelings and dreams. Sometimes I deliberately journey into that world and receive interesting premonitions that help me make better choices as I navigate this strange world.

I don't think this spirit connection is so unusual. It used to be the norm to our ancestral peoples. It would appear that more and more people are "waking up" and connecting to their spiritual selves and the abilities that are inherent in all of us. I believe that the Universe/Creator is helping us to adapt to a quickly changing world, and those of us who tune in and listen will be better equipped to deal with the coming changes.

It would appear that our environment is becoming more dangerous, simply because the climate is changing and people are changing. People are becoming more and more desperate as the world becomes a place they no longer recognize. The economy is still failing. In my opinion, the evidence would seem to suggest that the United States is on the verge of total collapse, which will send the rest of the world into a tailspin. As a country, we can no longer sustain the consumerism that has been brainwashed into our mainstream masses. Civilization as we know it is coming to an end. As a world we are on the verge of additional climate catastrophe. Something has to give.

Adaptation is key. We have to change to fit the changing world. That means we use all of the tools at our disposal (and no, I don't believe guns are tools). I do, however, believe that part of human evolution is spiritual evolution, which has nothing to do with religion. If religion is part of your framework, that's your thing, as long as you don't let the dogma cloud your spiritual reasoning. The spiritual path is very important as we face the challenges to come.

There is a reason why we are now awakening to these "tools" of spirit. These tools are not new, they are just underutilized and most of us are way out of practice using them. Perhaps you have noticed your own intuition becoming fine tuned, or you are hearing/feeling the spirits. Maybe you are having premonitions. Trust those things. They are gifts. Examine and evaluate them by all means, but take ego out of it and allow your higher self to make the final decisions.

Our ancestral spirits will help us and guide us as we walk this delicate path into an unknown future. We must honor and respect our guides and the help they offer. There are many spirits with us, and they are with us for a reason. Some protect us. Some offer us their wisdom and guidance. Open yourself to them. Listen. Meditate on connecting to your higher self and the messages will come to you.

How will you know when the messages come? How can we separate spirit messages from ego talk?

Spirit always guides us in the direction of love and compassion. Ego pushes us in the direction of self. Sometimes those things work together, but most often they don't. When we are competing or acting out of selfish ends, that is ego driving and our true self is once again asleep at the wheel. Ego is a tricky thing. Training yourself to be aware of it is important as you tune into the signals from the spirit world. Navigating the rough times ahead will be that much easier if we embrace our spiritual tools and learn how to use them.

Recognize your new awakening self and learn to use your abilities. Remember. It was always within you and it still is. Trust in your higher self.

Namaste.

Love to all.

~Rev. Kerry

Surrender into What Is and allow the teachings to unfold (11.2.14)

Good morning. Happy Sunday.

This week has been full of lessons, as most weeks are, if we take the time to notice, acknowledge and learn from them. Have you been accepting the gifts the Universe has for you?

I have seen a lot of owls as of late. They are in trees, on top of power poles, flying over fields, and even standing in the road. So I ask myself, what is Owl trying to say to me?

Owl is about discernment, and about seeing or hearing the things people do not say. Owl reminds us that if we stay silent and still for a moment, we may actually see what is really going on in particular situations. So, I tried that. Certainly I have received a lot of intuitions this week, but I'm pretty intuitive to begin with. What was amazing was how things have played out around me, as I tuned into my own feelings about things. It is remarkable how the Universe brings us the right messages at the right times, isn't it? By watching things unfold I learn about myself. The world is my mirror. Who do I want to be?

There have also been a lot of messages about surrendering to what is. It is time to stop fighting life and just let it be. "Go with the flow," as the saying goes. When we stop trying so hard to change things, to make things better, or what have you, and simply let life unfold as it will, the Universe tends to hand us exactly what we need for each given moment. Perhaps we missed it before because we were too caught up in our "struggle" or caught in the clutches of our old nemesis ego.

Relationships can be that way too. As people around me end relationships, or reaffirm their love for one another, I can silently witness the unfolding of simple surrender. In this observation I can realize for myself how my life holds the answers to my own questions. The solutions are in the problems. Or maybe there is no problem at all.

I am lucky and blessed to share space with my small family, who teaches me continuously how to deal with myself. As I tend to them, I tend to me. When I surrender into motherhood, I become the intuitive mother who simply knows what is best for her children. When I surrender into my relationship with my partner, my expectations fall away and I can allow a friendship to be born out of our shared history and common goals. It becomes easier to see the path we walk upon when my vision is not clouded by unnecessary judgement. The past has fallen away and together we can share the current moment, realizing that those people we once were are no longer here. All we have is Now.

Surrender into what is. Practice discernment and choose the life you wish to participate in. It is a choice. When we struggle, the Universe is providing us with opportunities to look again. Perhaps it is time to let go of people and situations that bring negativity into the picture. Perhaps it is time to take a personal inventory and really examine the truth of who we are. Who do we wish to be? Is that the person we present to the world? Are we judging, or even elevating those around us to the point that we miss who they really are? Are we allowing our intuition to guide us so that we can make sound decisions based upon our Spirit's calling?

Give yourself some time away from people and responsibility and allow your inner self to guide you. Your Spirit speaks to you constantly, if you quiet the outside noise enough to hear it. It will never lead you astray. The Universe hands you messages to reaffirm what Spirit is telling you, in case you weren't listening closely enough.

Surrender into yourself and the spiritual being you are. Allow your Soul to guide you. Everything will be just fine.

Love and light to all.

~Rev. Kerry

Good morning ego (3.30.14)

Good morning. Happy Sunday!

Ever woke up to negative news, or had a bad day, or a bad week? I think we all have.

Sometimes it is difficult to have faith that the Universe is taking care of us. When things do not go as planned, perhaps we begin to lose that faith that everything is actually unfolding as it should. This is our ego thinking. It is our ego that is hurt or angered or disappointed.

When we look at things from the bigger picture and do not get attached to outcome, life begins to take on an adventurous and unpredictable quality. This may scare some people, and when we examine that fear, we realize it is still ego that is holding us stuck in old thought patterns.

Even as we try to push ego aside and open our minds to new ways of perceiving, it seems ego is still there, hiding in the background, whispering words of discouragement. At least in my own personal experience, this is the game I seem to play with my own ego.

I am not sure we can ever banish ego entirely from our minds, but maybe we can retrain it to work to our benefit. When ego shows up, we can remind it that we are not trying to destroy it, but instead would really like it if it could work with us instead of against us. We can remind it that we will continue to have faith in All That Is and know that even if it appears that events are not unfolding as we would like, it is all in perfect balance and we trust that the Universe will indeed take us where we need to be in life.

Maybe we could invite ego to help us in learning our lessons and allow our intuition to guide us as ego gives us an opportunity to test ourselves, again and again.

Ask yourself, is the little voice in my head ego nonsense, or is it something I should pay attention to? Most likely the fact that the voice is there at all means it is ego trying to exert its influence. In my experience most messages from our higher selves simply show up as a knowing, or a deeper feeling that will not go away. And, it usually comes without much thought. When we begin to think, we allow ego into the conversation. Not that it is bad to think things through, but it is important to determine if it is ego that is making the decisions, or if we are allowing the deeper, higher self to bring its "knowing" to the table. That's intuition.

When we trust our connection to Source and learn to listen to our intuition (voice of higher self), we come to understand that ego will most likely show up and add its own voice of doubt and self importance to the equation. As we recognize ego for what it is, it becomes easier to do so in the future as long as we remain aware that ego is present. Eventually it would be ideal to reach a space within where ego just has nothing left to say, or at the very least has become another tool on our spiritual journey.

Remember ego, like everything else, is just another part of ourselves, a piece of the Whole. We do not want to kill it--we simply want to tame it and bring it around to our new ways of thinking and living.

Good luck.

Love to all.

~Rev. Kerry

Wild horses and the power of spirit (3.23.14)

Good morning! Happy Sunday.

Intention and faith are pretty powerful things. Together they can create miracles in our lives.

This past week I've had some experience with both, with a little bit of spirit magic thrown in.

Since we have come to the San Luis Valley, the wild horses have had a great deal of symbolic meaning for me. Not only are they beautiful creatures wandering out among the sage, but they represent a wildness and freedom not often found in the modern, technological world. Every time I see them I am moved by their power. Every time I see them I think of the crazy, cruel wild horse roundups our government sponsors in order to reduce the numbers and allow more grazing land for the cattle our culture is addicted to.

The past few weeks we have been looking for land. We finally concluded that it is going to be a long time, if ever that any bank is going to finance another house for us (see fracking, foreclosure in church farm blog). We thought we had found a nice piece that maybe we could just pay cash for (tax refund) but it was bank owned and the bank had decided to sell all five lots they are holding as one investor deal. So, we almost did that, wondering if the same bank would approve us for financing, because that was the only way it was going to happen. We went back and forth on this, trying to offer them cash for two of the lots, as the taxes per lot were incredibly high. No deal. We finally offered them cash for one lot, but the person handling the deal would be out of town for the week. (Funny how the Universe works. I laughed when I heard this, thinking this whole thing couldn't get much harder.)

Meanwhile, I began my course on core shamanism, which is an ideal fit for me, combining spiritual ecology with the other dimensions and spirit worlds that I feel like I have had a foot (or a toe) in since I can remember. One of the main things, of course, is to see the world from a shamanic perspective. So I do my cleansing ritual daily, and think back over the symbolic moments in my own life when the other side of reality showed itself and seemed to weave itself into the fabric of my regular world. We also made dream catchers (not related) as a home school activity. But, it turned out to be more related than I thought, as my son and Richard had bad dreams, exactly the opposite result of what the dream catcher is supposed to do.

What was going on? As I began to see the spiritual side of it and trust my intuition, I knew I must have dishonored the spirits somehow with our crafting of the spiritual tools for our own amusement. This is not how it should be, at least not now. So, I gathered the kids, the dream catchers, the sage and my energy and held a small ceremony asking for forgiveness. We also thanked the spirits for their gifts and asked for their guidance in keeping our dreams where they were supposed to be. I had faith that this was the right thing to do.

It seemed to work. No more bad dreams, and I felt better inside. I had quickly learned that this new path I walk on is a powerful road down unpredictable avenues where reality is not quite what it seems or is expected. But that's all part of the shamanic journey, isn't it?

We must be careful to honor the spirits in everything we do if we expect their compassion and guidance.

The next day I found another piece of land that we could afford with our cash in the same area as the other parcels that the bank held. The Realtor in communication with the bank on the five lots had just e-mailed us to tell us someone else was interested in all five lots. Hmmm..... The new piece of land was a better deal, and had much lower taxes because it was not part of that other development. In fact, we had the opportunity to buy the piece for back taxes, but as the owner had it listed with a real estate firm, we decided to make a cash offer instead, allowing him to pay back the taxes, the Realtor to make a few dollars and the owner to keep what was left. More people could benefit that way.

The owner countered, of course, but it was still within our range, so we accepted and we are now a few days away form owning 40 acres just fifteen minutes outside of Alamosa.

The best part of this whole story? The acreage is in a place that used to be known as the Wild Horse Ranch. The land was divided into the Mustang development. When I noticed this small (or huge) detail, I knew this land would be ours, that the spirit of the wild horse was showing itself to me once again and the symbology of this totem animal is very much still with me, creating miracles as I open myself to a whole other reality where magic happens.

Intention and faith. A very powerful combination.

Open yourself up to the possibilities and the miracles will appear. Life becomes an adventure that is a joy to live as we give ourselves to the power of our Spirits and trust in Source/the Universe.

Love to all.

~Rev. Kerry

Instinct and Intuition (3.9.14)

Good morning. Happy Sunday!

Yesterday we went to the Sand Hill Crane Festival in Monte Vista, Colorado. The cranes started arriving in mid February and their stop over lasts through March, before they head farther north. But, during the months of February and March, (and again in the fall) the fields and skies in and around Monte Vista and Alamosa seem to be filled with these enormous, long-legged birds. It is a sight. As they fly they make this strange rolling honk sound, and the farmers' fields become feeding grounds as the big gray birds fill their bellies before heading north. The first time I saw them, we came down to the valley (to Blanca) to buy straw bales from a farmer who raises barley. Barley seed heads are one of the cranes' main food sources here in the San Luis Valley. His field was full of the cranes that November as they made their stopover before heading south to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, where they overwinter. It was pretty amazing to see them out there in that field dancing, strutting around, and making their strange crane calls.

Nature is pretty powerful, isn't it? All of the wonderful birds that fly to the wildlife refuges in the San Luis Valley are following centuries old patterns of migration that ensures their future survival. And, they do it by instinct. We could learn a lot from the animals around us.

Keeping that in mind, our own journey this past week has been interesting as we pursue a new place to relocate. There have been some outright clear messages about where we are not able to go, and some other messages about where it might be okay to stay awhile. I have decided to trust in the Universe and allow the events to unfold as they will.

If I allow myself to trust my spirit and my own divine connection to All That Is, like the migrating cranes, I will eventually find the place I am supposed to be, whether that's for a season or for the rest of my days. And, as I release my ego and bask in my own intuition and instinct, I might just hear the call of my own spirit--the singing of one among the many that make up the Universal song that will lead us all forward into a better world.

Love to all.

~Rev. Kerry