Creating balance in our lives through the rhythm’s and cycles of Nature

Healing ourselves and the Earth

Each individual is always seeking a balance in their life, home, job and environment.  Nature and the Elements are a wonderful way to achieve this; yet many of us do not even take the time to sit in nature and receive the healing qualities it has. Eco-psychology values our intimate relationship with Nature and it healing potential.

All life has value and purpose.  We are all a part of the webring that connects and interconnects all life.  Think about this for a minute; most of us are already using nature as a healing quality from the natural elements we select for our home, office or outside in the yard.  Do you have a water fountain?  Do you have plants outside or in the house?  We invite nature inside our home and outside.  How do you feel when you are able to sit down in a park or outside on your porch and just listen to the sounds of the birds or the crickets as they create a harmony and dance the dance of life?  Does this relax you?  What do you do when you are juggling a million things at one time; most of us often state “I am going home and just turning it all off”.  Most of us will usually go within ourselves and use some aspect of nature to balance ourselves and re-create harmony in our mind, body and spirit.

Being in nature actually encourages us to see ourselves as part of the oneness of Life and to live in sustainable ways that care for Earth, our home and the well-being of all life.  Our ancestors relied on these rhythms and cycles to survive.  Change of seasons, weather, food crops; watching the animals provided all signs for our ancestors on each of the changes that would occur.  They were in tune with themselves and the cycles of nature to enhance and enrich their lives.

In order to feel connected to anything; we need to be connected to nature and feel the pulse. We need to feel more in harmony with our life and the world around us.  Nature has no labels, no judgment

The Purity of Balance

Within myself and within my environment there has to be an ebb and flow; if something outside of my environment is creating unbalance; then I feel it inside my body and vice versa.  So how does one achieve this harmony and homeostasis as within so without.  Know when to step in and correct when thinking on a 5 legged term (scientifically) and know when to let the universe guide you in my 4 legged thinking (intuition); this is the balance I use by means of nature and body wisdom.

“The most difficult phase of life; is not when no one understands you; It is when you do not understand yourself” Author Unknown

As we step into the active phase of the year, remember to balance rational logical mind with instinct and intuition. We have laid such importance on our logical minds that we have become used to ignoring our intuition. Learn to listen, to trust, and to act on your inner wisdom and bring your whole self back into balance.

Each of the elements also offers a unique teaching.  Earth’s teaching gives us the ability of foundation and taking things step by step.  Water’s teaching teaches us about our emotional realm.  Air’s teaching teaches us about intention and communication.  Fire’s teaching teaches us about transformation and balance.  Spirit’s teaching teaches us about each individuals Essence of who we are.

Let nature guide!

Spring Equinox

Celebrated March 21-22

Also known as Ostara or Eostar

The earth is starting to be reborn and all things feel young and playful.  Day and night are in equal balance and the young energy adds to your growing cycle. (Nurture your seeds)

How To Celebrate Spring

Spring marks as a time of growth, renewal and rebirth. Take some time to celebrate the new life that surrounds you in nature — walk in park, lie in the grass, hike through a forest. As you do so, observe all the new things beginning around you — plants, flowers, insects, birds. Meditate upon the ever-moving Seasonal Earth Teachings and celebrate the change of seasons.

As we step into the active phase of the year, remember to balance rational logical mind with instinct and intuition.  We have laid such importance on our logical minds, that we have become used to ignoring our intuition.  Learn to listen, to trust, and to act on your inner wisdom and bring your whole self back into balance.

• Go in nature and connect to the newly awakened nature spirits.  Feel the pulse of nature
• Create a shrine or altar which reflects your spiritual and sacred connection.  It may be in a room or in a garden.  Bring together things which will help you focus on balance, awakening and new life.
• Give your home a good “cleanse” spring cleaning and then go to the Spa and have some treatments!
• Plant an herb garden

Spring

Spring is the season we begin to sprout and grow.  Ideas, creations we have been thinking about are starting to come into fruition.  We become alive and wanting to go out into the world to share these creations we have been harboring through the winter months.  Our personal and professional lives can see this growth; if we have taken the right measures in the fall and winter months.  Spring is also about nurturing our harvest and ourselves.

Questions We Can Ask Ourselves

Are you ready to bring forth your idea(s) and creation(s) into the world?

Are you ready to step into your own power?

Will you be able to nurture your creations and yourself?

Is there anything stopping you from bringing forth your creations?

Signup for the Spring Equinox Teleclass its Free click here

Embracing Our Indvidual Path

By: Kathleen Gardenswartz

 (Great Article about letting go it coincides with each of the seasons)

We all have the opportunity to experience a personal journey to wisdom, beauty and success but it means letting go of expectations or wanting someone else’s seemingly polished life. Chuck all of that, embrace the unexpected surprises that color your path and be witness to your own miraculous transformation.

You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no path. Where there is a way or path it is someone else’s path. You are not on your own path. If you follow someone else’s way you are not going to realize your potential. The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. –Joseph Campbell

Are you ready to give up a life that’s been planned for you all these years? It’s a holding pattern, where you wait to be led down a worn and tired path of someone else’s choosing. It’s never easy to acknowledge that you’re stuck, hoarding a life that really doesn’t make you happy. It’s that white knuckle, holding on to perfection approach that keeps you from creating a blissful life.

Get uncomfortable; get messy to break free from cruise control and move toward that “darkest point where there is no path.” It’s where you’ll find a treasured life and just taking the leap gives you energy to keep moving forward. If it were simple, no one would watch the endless loop of Desperate Housewives, where all the glitter in the world can’t hide life drying up. Instead, shed yesterday’s skin and get busy concocting your own brew of bliss and happiness.

Your own adventure is a search for your undiscovered self. It’s a transformation in which your deepest powers are revealed and fiercest passions are ignited. It might not lead to security or money but it will give you happiness at reaching your potential.

So what if the ultimate trophy isn’t being at the top of the heap, but in discovering your potential and witnessing a miraculous transformation? Stop looking outside yourself for the answers and instead live from your center where your wild and unruly sense of self has been hiding all these years.

Sign up for Meeting The Goddess Within 1 Day Workshop or Full Weekend Retreat and this will give you an intro to how the elements can help you obtain your individual path!

Fall

Fall is the time we start to reflect inwards; as the summer fades we look back at the events that transpired in our lives during the year.  It is a time where we begin to reap the harvest we had started in the spring and put away for the winter.  This is true in our personal and professional life.

Questions We Can Ask Ourselves

Did our crops grow the way we intended them to grow?

Will you have enough harvest to last you through the winter months?

If not; were there some other methods we could have changed to have a better harvest?

Did we nurture our harvest or just plant the seed and expect it to grow?

Winter

Winter is the time when the days are shorter and the nights are longer; due to this we spend more times inside then outside.  It is the season where we spend the most amount of time reflecting inward and relying on our harvest from summer to keep us going.  We start to sort out the events from the year that no longer serve us and start to prepare for the New Year with new hopes and goals.  We normally start out with an open mind and full of ambition to assure ourselves of success.  Then somewhere between New Years and Spring we seem to loose the fire.  So how do we keep this fire going?

Questions We Can Ask Ourselves

Do I need to make changes to assure a better harvest?

Do I need to make personal changes in order to assure a better harvest?

Do I need to make professional changes to assure a better harvest?

What do I need to release?

What do I need to be opened to?

Spring

Spring is the season we begin to sprout and grow.  Ideas, creations we have been thinking about are starting to come into fruition.  We become alive and wanting to go out into the world to share these creations we have been harboring through the winter months.  Our personal and professional lives can see this growth; if we have taken the right measures in the fall and winter months.  Spring is also about nurturing our harvest and ourselves.

Questions We Can Ask Ourselves

Are you ready to bring forth your idea(s) and creation(s) into the world?

Are you ready to step into your own power?

Will you be able to nurture your creations and yourself?

Is there anything stopping you from bringing forth your creations?

Summer

Summer is the time that our seeds are growing and our at their peak time.  With the summer’s sun; full crops if we planted right in the spring; we are able to enjoy the warm rays of the sun to feed our soul; our crops are at their peak to nourish our body; We feel the freedom of air moving in and around us;  we have the action needed to enjoy the longer fiery day that fire helps us achieve.

Questions We Can Ask Ourselves

Do I have a full crop that I can harvest for the winter months?

Are my crops not growing to their full potential?

Can I see where the crops need more nurturing and tending if they are not growing to their full potential?

Do I have a balance in my life both personal and professional?

Interested in learning more?

My Ignite Your Elemental Powers Program or Meeting The Goddess Within Process will give you a better understanding and clarity in your life!

This video is amazing from Celestial Elf  here is what i was just emailed

The Lammas WickerMan.

The Druids Oath;
We swear by Peace and Love to stand, heart to heart and hand in hand,
Mark, Oh Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this our sacred vow!

Lammas;
The mighty wheel of the year has turned upon us once more,
And I give thanks for the bountiful harvest.

All hail the Sun, whose golden rays have bestowed magic
upon the growing fruits of our lands.
All hail the Sun He has ripened our fields And blessed us by grain without number..
This joyous time is the first harvest of Lammas!
So All hail the great Sun And He will come again.
And now all about us as days do shorten, we stand ready for the dark time ahead.
With corn stored in abundance against the cold darkness of winter
we face the bleak hardship without any dread.
So mote it be!

Lammas c. The Bard Of Ely, 2011.

Poems narrated by The Bard of Ely.
Welsh Translation kindly provided by Gareth Owen
Rheolwr y Theatr / Theatre Manager, Theatr y Pafiliwn / Pavilion Theatr

Lughnasadh also known as Lammas, First Harvest

Eve of July 31 to Aug 2

Lughnasadh (pronounced “Lu-na-sa”) the first harvest.  It’s the point in the year where focus turns from planting and growing to the harvest. Typically a celebration of the grain harvest. It takes place on the 1st of August, a date internationally agreed upon, or on the day of the full moon next to this date, if you want to celebrate when the ancient Celts probably did.

Since the Celtic day started with sunset, the celebration takes place on the evening before the calendaric date.

Lughnasadh marks the begin of the noticeable descent of the Sun into the darkness of winter. From the connection between the Earth (female principle) and the Sun (male principle), the marriage of the Sky Father (Sun God) with the Earth Mother we celebrated at Bealtaine, emerge the fruits of the first harvest of the year. Lughnasadh is a time of joy about the first fruits. It is also a time of tension, because the dark days of winter are coming nearer, and most of the harvest is not brought in and stored away yet

The grain Goddesses Demeter and Ceres are also honored.

While the weather is still sunny and warm, the mood of the season begins to change. We’re entering harvest time, which also becomes a time of personal reflection, introspection and harvest- something I’ve been going through a lot lately. Taking stock of our actions and deeds, events, things we’ve experienced, as well as our gains and losses. I once heard it said, “Each experience opens a window into ourselves, into who we were, who we are, and whom we are choosing to become.”

Questions to Reflect on:

What were you able to take reap from your first harvest?

Did your seeds grow to their full potential?

Were there other seeds that needed to be planted and were not planted?

This is the time to start to reflect inwards and evaluate your harvest

Signup for my free Teleclass

Introductory to Chakra Healing Level I

In this first class students will learn the Chakra system, what it is, how it effects us, colors of the Chakras, how to clear, balance and align them.

With hands on experiential techniques will also learn about energy, what it is, what is feels like, how do we use it.

Chakra 2

Going deeper into Healing with Energy

We will explore the Chakra System of the Body in a deeper way, learning about the auric field and techniques to clear the debris from the energetic field. We will learn techniques of grounding, and charging the chakras and energetic fields of the body.

Body Awareness Through Movement 4 Hrs

This class is designed for Self-Care for the therapists and non therapists. This class explores structured and non-structured movement explorations that involve thinking, sensing, moving and manifestation. The lessons attempt to make one aware of his/her habitual neuromuscular patterns and rigidities and to expand options for ability, from simple in structure that changes in our ability to move are inseparable from changes in our conscious perception of ourselves as embodied. Changes in the physical experience could be described as changes in our internal self image, which can be conceived as the mapping of the motor cortex to the body. This relates to the body image theory which plays a key role in proprioception (the sense of body position) aimed to clarify and work therapeutically with this relationship, with instructions that involved both specific movement instructions and invitations to introspection.

Creating Sacred Space 4 Hrs

Creating Sacred Space is more than how your room is decorated, what music you choose, although this course will discuss and address these issues, what this course will teach you is personal boundaries, demeanor, ways of greeting and treating your client and interacting with family, friends and business partners and the way you create space within yourself.

Definition:

What is the Summer Solstice?

The Summer solstice, also called ‘Litha’, marks the first day of the season of summer. It falls on or near 21 June.
(In the southern hemisphere, the Summer solstice is celebrated in December when the northern hemisphere celebrates the Winter solstice)

High Sun
The Summer solstice is the time when the sun reaches its northern most latitude and therefore appear at its highest in the sky at noon. At this time of year we have the longest day.

Warmer weather
The North Pole leans more directly toward the sun than it does on any other day of the year.

Lower and Lower
After the summer solstice the Sun follows a lower and lower path through the sky each day until it reaches the point where it is in the sky for exactly 12 hours again. This is the AutumnEquinox.

After the Autumn Equinox the Sun will continue to follow a lower and lower path through the sky and the days will grow shorter and shorter until it reaches its lowest path on the Winter Solstice.

At Litha, the sun is at its highest point in the sky. Many ancient cultures marked this date as significant, and the concept of sun worship is one nearly as old as mankind itself. In societies that were primarily agricultural, and depended on the sun for life and sustenance, it is no surprise that the sun became deified. While many people today might take the day to grill out, go to the beach, or work on their tans, for our ancestors the summer solstice was a time of great spiritual import.

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Happy Mother's Day

Why not celebrate the sacred feminine this Mother’s Day as well as celebrating your feminine ancestors and friends.  While doing some research on how Mother’s Day got started; I came across a very interesting article.  Now within this article it states on how Mother’s Day got started over 150 years ago and the irony of this is that it was started with an intention to help others.  Just like a Mother.  Here is the article.

Contrary to popular belief, Mother’s Day was not conceived and fine-tuned in the boardroom of Hallmark. The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and to the offerings ancient Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.

In the United States, Mother’s Day started nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She called it “Mother’s Work Day.”

Fifteen years later, Julia Ward Howe, a Boston poet, pacifist, suffragist, and author of the lyrics to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she believed they bore the loss of human life more harshly than anyone else.

In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother. Legend has it that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers.”

Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen like John Wannamaker, and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers. At one of the first services organized to celebrate Anna’s mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother’s favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother’s Day. In 1914 Anna’s hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday.

At first, people observed Mother’s Day by attending church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by sending cards, presents, and flowers. With the increasing gift-giving activity associated with Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis became enraged. She believed that the day’s sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit. In 1923 she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s Day festival, and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a convention selling carnations for a war mother’s group. Before her death in 1948, Jarvis is said to have confessed that she regretted ever starting the mother’s day tradition.

Despite Jarvis’s misgivings, Mother’s Day has flourished in the United States. In fact, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers

Researching Mother’s Day i cam across this article located on http://mothers-day.123holiday.net/

Visit www.naturescyclesto find out how to honor the divine feminine

Wheel of the Year

Beltane (Eve of April 30-May 1)

Beltane known as May Day celebrating in most regions on May 1; is about honoring Spring, Fertility and rebirth.  It is the time that Mother Earth renews herself and winter is behind us.  This celebration has many aspects with rebirth and growth.  In ancient times and in most cultures the focused was on rebirth and the growing season; the seeds we planted were beginning to grow to nourish our bodies and soul.  May was the month you would get married in to signify a new birth and union (it is today still a popular month to get married in) Maypole was born from this to celebrate the union of two individuals.  Some cultures as in the Romans they celebrated with many activities to honor their household gods; they had a festival of flowers (which they would wear in their head/hair); there was also sexual activity associated with this celebration which today still holds some negative feelings about celebrating this day.

This is the time to fertilize your seeds for your dreams and desires whether it is personal or in your business.  Nature has a divine time and if you listen to her and follow her; you will understand her and her ways.

Give Thanks to her and celebrate Beltane.  Here are some ideas:

• Go out in nature; (could be your backyard, park, patio – just get outside) listen and sit in nature
• Make an altar with your favorite things that represent growth and fertility (plants, flowers); Write on a piece of paper the new growth you would like to have in your life; Have a white candle on the altar to signify purity.
• Here is a pray I found on http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/beltaneprayers/qt/EarthMother.htm

Great earth mother!
We give you praise today
and ask for your blessing upon us.
As seeds spring forth
and grass grows green
and winds blow gently
and the rivers flow
and the sun shines down
upon our land,
we offer thanks to you for your blessings
and your gifts of life each spring.