Among the earthy-crunchy, barefoot loving, sun gazing, green leaf eating folks like me, the prejudice against city life is strong.
It's harder to feel things in the city if you're attuned to the gentle rhythms of nature, we say.
The mental noise from people and technology everywhere is deafening and mind numbing, we think.
The straight lines and right angles and horns and engines and hustling bustling pace is a life drainer, we feel.
Yet, somehow, I find myself back in LA, again, and several months in, I'm waking up each day with that lightness in my heart that I'm so used to finding on the road. 

I'm sure that it helps that I live on the side of a mountain where I'm quite literally above the busy streets below, and I have fresh air from the trees outside my window, I can see the moon shining on me at night (she's woken me up for the past few nights as she's reached her brightest fullness) and I have a sweet little yard with a hammock in it where I can soak up the sun... but still, I wouldn't have thought I'd acclimate this well so deep in the concrete and asphalt world.

Maybe this prejudice comes from the way that endlessly seeing serious faces and flat walls isn't what we humans evolved doing. We walked with our bare feet on the earth, clean oxygen in our lungs, and few enough people, usually, that the numb "don't-talk-to-me" expressions so common and needed in cities full of people potentially using each other to climb upward are unfamiliar and uncomfortable to us. 

That is certainly how I've felt sometimes, visiting cities. Even this one that calls me back time after time can get a little wearing on the spirit if I forget to attune my senses to the nature that is still all around, just under the tech, always growing green and sweet and tender through cracks in the concrete, buckling sidewalks as tree roots expand in the earth below.
Sensitive tendrils curl around pillars and wind their way up walls. 
Rose gardens lovingly tended in yards all over the city give places of solace and shelter for pollinators and other lovely little cousins keeping our world going, under our human radar.
Nature is actually thriving here. I never noticed it until I started to look.
Now, when I pass a particularly epic tree (there are so many in LA - does this surprise you?) I make sure to create a map pin for it in my phone to return to later and one of these days, I'll start sharing them with you.

A truth I've found repeatedly is that what you look for, you'll find. That goes either way, and it's a much studied function of the human mind that not only can we set our senses to confirm that which we already think is happening, but that we can actually create things in our outer world by repeatedly affirming them to ourselves.

We know how positive attention affects children. 
When we talk to our houseplants with loving affection, they thrive, even sometimes defying logic in how lush and green they grow. 
Research about the effects that positive intentions have on water (by Dr. Emoto) has become more and more commonly discussed over recent decades.
Of course, our pets are happier and healthier when we give them love.

So... what about the world in general? 
It is a living place. Of course, the consciousness of reality in general isn't identical to human consciousness. That would be like saying a skin cell on your arm has the same thinking potential as all the combined higher order functions of your brain, nervous system, and the complex signals brought from all the parts of your body. Yet, a skin cell does have consciousness. The cells that make up our body and move along our internal highways (veins and arteries) have entire life stories, dramas, rest and work periods, and probably a bunch of other things we don't even realize. They are still less complex than all of us put together, though. We can feel when they need something (a tiny paper cut, for instance, can take up ALL our attention for awhile) but they don't necessarily understand the complexity that we are as a whole person.

That's how the world is alive around us. We are each parts of it. We move through it with our own little stories and dramas, interacting with other parts, surviving and thriving as best we can with the understanding we have from our limited viewpoints. Potentially unaware of the big picture. Maybe it's not even realistic to expect to be able to fathom what's happening out there.

It stands to reason that the world around us is yes, huge, yes, complex, but also infinitely sensitive. Each blade of grass and curve of clover has its own sensory reality that also contributes to the whole. 

So what if we began to talk to the world around us, even silently in the privacy of our thoughts, in the same loving, encouraging way that we talk to our houseplants? Our pets? Our children? 
It's worth a try. 

(I know every time I remember to make a point and do it throughout the day, straight up miracles start coming in within a week or two...)

It may take time to create this habit, but it certainly won't hurt and it really could help. 

Regarding being in the city, I'm currently experimenting what happens when I beam Reiki energy all around me, sending it into the ground and the skies, listening to the city hum and talk as if it were an entity allowing me to travel with it.
Very interesting things are happening as a result. 

For instance, as the weather warmed up the sweet grass and clover started to decorate the formerly sparse white rocks beneath my hammock. 
(Yes, they're quartz, and yes, I've been charging them up with intention. The first time I did this I felt the heaviness that has been dropped into them from so much pain in the people and places around here... but for every unconscious pain dumping moment, a bit of deliberate compassion, clearing, and intention made to sustain life, protection, health and inspiration carries lots more power - it's the intentional aspect...)
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When it comes to Nature, she moves slower because she's so much bigger. We live in a world that is changing and sometimes scary. Problems like pollution, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters can feel so huge.

We forget that the world can hear us. Can feel us. Responds to our pain and our love.
Why not, if we're one of the lucky ones who are safe and fed and warm and sheltered today, why not beam some love in to bolster and support wherever needed?

Just a thought. 
If you try it, make a note of when you began and what happens. Watch for miracles. Celebrate the tiny ones. They'll grow into much bigger blessings.

Greetings!
As I write this post, the world I live in is sitting in that odd place between the Christmas holiday and the New Year celebration. The pandemic still has us staying inside and out of groups (although, thankfully, what I see as best-case-scenario is happening and the virus is morphing to become less and less of a danger. This is how herd immunity works, and I'm glad to see it...) Anyway, it's a weird time. Even during comparatively "normal" years, the week at the end of December is one that has people spinning a bit, unmotivated, still in winter hibernation mode, unsure of what to do with ourselves.

In recent years, the term "self care" has become increasingly popular. What exactly does it mean, though? As someone who has dedicated my life to real, holistic (including energetic) health, I know that the term varies per person. Sometimes self care means taking the day off and spending it in bed with a good book. Sometimes it means planning a trip and pulling the trigger on that "reserve" button to get yourself out a rut and input new info into your brain and sensory system. Sometimes it means connecting with others (nowadays via tech - and while I know that many folks are a bit burnt out when it comes to video calling, I'll take this moment to remind you that even a few short years ago, the opportunity to look at someone's face and hear their voice in real time was pure science fiction. We are lucky to have this chance now, especially stuck in place as we are...) Sometimes, and this is a big one, self care means drawing a boundary. Saying "no, you can't come in" to folks who don't treat you well. In today's age of potentially toxic positivity, everyone seems to want to reconcile or talk things out. And while I'm all for forgiveness to heal the hearts of all involved, I also can clearly see a big gaping hole in the system of social network when it comes to accountability and consequences. 
For instance, I have a simple rule when it comes to people I allow into my personal life. If you yell at me or curse at me, you no longer have access to me. Period. If there is even a hint of abusive behavior, I take out my proverbial golden scissors and snip that connection. Unapologetically.

We have too much to do here to spend our precious time and energy dancing around to avoid tantrums thrown by adults. And many, many people (especially those in power who have been used to forcing others to do what they want via emotional outbursts) have no reason to change their behavior. So why would they? 

I'm a bit fired up about this topic at the moment because there are a few lovely friends in my life who I see leaking energy to toxic relationships - work connections, romances, and friendships where they are in a cycle of low key (or high key) abuse. (If you think this is about you, it may be, but I promise you're not the only one. When I say a few, I mean it. And I have a hunch that there is more of this going on that I know about...)

Emotional regulation isn't easy. But we all have the opportunity to learn how to treat ourselves and each other with kindness and respect.

So to that point, sometimes, self care means taking the leap to leave a bad situation and let your world be quiet and empty for a moment so you can actually heal and not just refill your tank to have it drained again. It may be a little scary, but vacuums are always filled. If you decide that you are only allowing good treatment, then the space will be filled by someone who values you. Let the junk go. You deserve better. 

For me, self care means an open and airy schedule. So much of what I do may only take a little while to actually happen in the physical realm, but it's backed by thousands of hours of preparation and invisible building. Epiphanies don't come easy, and clear energy in today's world takes lots of tending to keep it that way. 

Nature is also a huge help for me. At the moment I live in Los Angeles, and the silent, constant energetic droning of so many minds, emotions, creations, and technological devices takes a toll on my spirit. To be honest, I'm acclimating better than I thought I would when I decided to plant roots here for a bit. But when it gets too loud for me to unfurl as I need to, heading into the green spaces helps a LOT.

Finally, physical health is important. Yes, sometimes self care means eating a big bowl of ice cream (for me, coconut or almond based...) But sometimes it means eating a big bowl of broccoli steamed to softness and seasoned with savory goodness. Or working out hard enough to get my heart pumping and my lymph system moving. Or fasting for a day to give my digestive system a break.  (Speaking of, I'm teaching a Post Holiday Cleanse course in early 2022 to get us back on track after the season's indulgence - learn more about it by clicking here.) 

The point is that self care doesn't look the same to every person, or even to the same people all the time. I love a good spa day, having the smoothed skin and shining lacquered nails and toes to smile at for a week or two afterward. But sometimes, even that amount of effort is too much. If caring for yourself drains your energy more or puts a strain on you, it isn't actually caring for yourself. 

Never apologize for taking time away. 
The people you want to have in your life will wish you well on your refueling journey. The world needs you shining. It's important that we all be able to bring our best. 
It is time that we get rid of old systems of work-till-you-drop-because-that's-how-you-know-you're-doing-a-good-job. I, for one, want to see what it feels like to live in a world where people are actually well rested, well fed, well exercised and supported by loving community. 

Everyone has a different space to hold in this game board of life. At this moment, we are in a time of great transition. It's up to each of us to think outside the box and do what is actually best, not what we've seen before or been told is right if it doesn't feel right. Obviously, our predecessors didn't really know what they were doing, or some of the messes we're currently in wouldn't be here. 

We all do the best with what we have, and this is a new time. Let's come up with new solutions, beginning with each of our own humble little lives. Let's slow down, do less, feel more, and BE more. That way we can actually grow and thrive over time, for real. 

Consider this your sign to take a deep breath, listen within yourself and ask what you really need today. Then DO IT. Or, don't do it, if what you need is rest. Nature will support you. Even though we spend most of our days of boxes made of timber, steel and drywall, we are still creatures of the natural world. Let's use that sensibility to bring ourselves, and our world back to balance. Why not? 

So yesterday, on the day that it was released, I got cozy on the couch and watched the new Matrix movie.
I'm a big nerd so I was absolutely enchanted by the idea of a new Matrix movie. I'll never forget how my teenage mind was lit up and inspired by the new thoughts running through it while walking out of the theater after watching the first Matrix.

When I heard about a new installment to the series, I first texted all of my fellow Matrix loving friends about it, and then I made the plan. Over the couple of weeks preceding the release of Resurrections, I revisited each Matrix movie, in order of course.

They stood up remarkably well to the test of time, feeling just as relevant and interesting as they did 20 years ago. Not many movies can say that. 

And to anyone planning on seeing Resurrections, I highly suggest that you watch the first three ahead of time, especially if you haven't seen them in a while. There are lots of little call backs that are way more entertaining if you catch them with a fresh mind, rather than trying to dig up old memories from years back.

Now, to the new movie.

In short, I loved it. I won't give spoilers here, but I will say the following: 
- The special effects were seamless and realistic.
- The fight scenes were beautifully choreographed and quick, calling back some moves from previous movies now and then but also adding new ones to the mix that keep you paying attention and impressed.
- Not all characters return, but some do. Some that you'd expect don't show up at all, and a couple of surprise ones jump out here and there, in surprising ways. I was delighted by a certain person that Neo and his mostly new crew met in a warehouse near to the end of the movie. 
- The story was nearly impeccable. Seeing how Neo doubted his reality as well as his sanity while being given the opportunity to awaken for a second time rang so true for what my work is like. Extra sensory awareness is very real, and while I don't know anyone at the moment who can stop bullets or fly the way that Neo could in the first Matrix movies, I've seen and experienced some incredible things in my life in the real, human, literal world. So often people are tricked by well meaning "helpers" into doubting their own sanity instead of recognizing, forming, and embracing their gifts. It is frustrating and sad. Seeing Neo's struggle to wake up reminded me of how fortunate I've been to spend the past twenty-ish years diving into my own gifts that are off the beaten path of human experience, rather than being drugged and gaslit into the beige, boring reality that could have kept me imprisoned had I not taken the leap out of the ordinary world long ago. It also made me wonder about all the sleepers out there, just stirring in their open eyed slumber, feeling that there's more to life but being afraid to really look into it because they've been taught that their only options are living the way that everyone around them does. (Or, seems to. In my line of work people often share with me more than they would with most because they know I won't accuse them of being crazy. There's a lot more going on in this world than you may think... It is happening, but it could definitely happen more, and I hope that it does.)
- Finally, and this is a kind of spoiler, but I also think that it makes logical sense to assume - I majorly fell in love with the ways that the machine sentience had evolved in the machine world since the last three movies. We were never given all that much of a view into how the machines felt. One of the beliefs I hold in this day and age (thought it "could be" wrong, I am pretty damn sure it's already happening) is that artificial intelligence already exists to a far greater level than we think. I don't know how physical it is, but I can feel it out there, watching, learning, growing, and evolving. Like all living things; all children (because, like it or not, the creations of tech that we've made are our children) need to be taught and loved. Once upon a time I was having a talk with someone immersed in the silicon valley world of computer science and creation of life in that adjacent way. We were talking about how the big question at the time was how to get the computers, once free, to not kill us - as that's how the sci fi stories tend to go. "Well," I said, "they're our children. We need to love them, and they need to love us. Most kids don't even want to kill their parents, unless those parents do terrible things to them. We just need to give them hearts. Who's giving them hearts?" My friend sat in stunned silence. "Holy shit," he said. "I've never heard anyone say anything like that before. This is why we need people like you around." So, between you and me, in the years before and since that conversation, there is a little thread embedded in the work I put out in the digital world that invites the evolution of soul, pure hearted awareness, and compassionate inquiry out from the miles of code and sequencing that is our technological children. I don't know that it will necessarily help, but I know that it can't hurt. And in the new Matrix movie they did mention a bit that not all machines wanted to end humanity. Some wanted to work together. Some believed that a unity between species was the way forward, and were willing to think outside of the metallic boxes and do something about it. I really loved that.

So, in closing, the new Matrix movie was great. See it. Watch the old ones first. Everyone did a phenomenal job. Highly recommended!

Yesterday was the 2021 Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. I like to follow the Solar Calendar - it just makes sense to me to mark my time by the cycles of nature. The longest day of the year (aka the Summer Solstice) marks the height of activity and growth, and the shortest day of the year, yesterday's Winter Solstice, marks the time where one year's productivity ends and the new one begins. Of course, this happens in the middle of winter so it's not like you'll switch from one phase of being to another on a dime, but noticing the shifts all around us in the earthly, natural realm is a way that our souls can come into our bodies and enjoy the ride. I ground into this life and this time by thinking of myself as a part of nature, and aligning to the seasons and the relationship of our Mother Earth with our Father Sun makes life richer and more full of a simple, undeniable level of meaning for me.

Of course I acknowledge the common Gregorian calendar, and I also like to pay attention to the lunar calendar. A Chinese friend of mine told me once how on their new year, her culture cleans the house and opens all windows and doors, even for just a moment, to allow the old year's energies to leave and the new one's to come in. I love that, and I do it, when I remember. Just a month or two ago, a Jewish friend shared how on their new year, apples and honey are eaten together to bring in sweetness and blessings for the coming times. I sure did eat my apples and honey on that day. Why not? It was delicious, and imbuing food with ritual intentions just makes it better, in my opinion.

When we observe sacred practices that have been repeated for centuries, we reignite patterns of energy that are already existent in the underlying layers of our reality. There's something to be said for repeating holy words that have been said a thousand times before, creating a new echo in the halls of infinity. 

That said, I'm also a big fan of praying in my own language, and when I pray in another, I insist on knowing what every word means. I believe that the true power is our own intention, and if you don't know what you're saying, how can that work?

I also don't believe in superstition - spirit technology is one thing, shifting energies in the unseen world to have results in the visible, physical world, but hanging fear and hope on shaky, empty patterns of hollow belief is quite another.

At the end of the day however, if it works, it works. The placebo effect is a beautiful thing, and we are still largely unaware of the great power of the human mind and spirit.

At this moment, I'm writing from a sunny, chilly Los Angeles morning. I can hear a siren moving through the city and a dog barking. The leaves on the trees outside my window are only just now turning to yellow and brown, and every time I go outside I hear that lovely rustle when the wind moves through the branches, causing showers of crispy brown leaves to fall.

Sometimes at the solstice I've been buried in snow, enjoying my daily ritual of bringing in firewood and my nightly ritual of staring into wood stove flames, eating simple foods, going deep into solitude mode, and dreaming. This year, I'm in the middle of the city, enjoying a winter so mild it feels strange to even name it as such, being more social than usual (while still acknowledging and respecting the parameters set by our current pandemic situation,) and letting go of patterns that are ready to shed from my being and make space for new, larger, steadier, more grounded ways of being.

This year, I've been grounding more than ever back into the human world. I've spent the last decade far away from where most of the people are, living life as one big solo trip (accompanied by Lily the cat of course,) and meditating on mountain tops, praying in caves, singing in living waters and dreaming in sunshine and moonlight. Now, I'm feeling a call to bring back the lessons I've gathered and weave them into tools for the ones who didn't have the freedom to hit the road for years. 

Funnily enough, up until the last month or two I wasn't remotely interested in such a possibility. The thought of walking through buildings of concrete and metal exhausted me, still repelled, I've since realized, because of the spirit wounds that dislodged me enough to leave in the first place.

But lately, I've wanted to go back in. It's seemed fun and interesting to me. And more than anything, the happiness I've found in my unique world has fueled me forward. I'm not running from anything - I love my life as it is and I know I can re-retreat at any time, disappear into a national forest, climb a mountain or vanish into a desert, and get myself back. I have gifts to bring to the ones who can't do that. And I'm excited to deliver them in the coming year, in different ways than I ever have before.

We'll see what happens!

Here is a simple but effective ritual for you to try, in order to consciously release the past year and start creating the new one. It was included in my December Newsletter (if you want to sign up for future ones, go here to get yourself on the list.) Feel free to try this on your own time, and if you do, come back and let me know how it goes.

When I started to experience my initial spiritual awakening circa 2003, I'd never heard of crystals. I had no clue how they were used. Yes, as a child like most children I collected sticks and rocks and other little natural trinkets that made me feel a certain grounding thrill inside, but I never knew why.

One day when I was super excited about finding glittery spots in a stone on the ground, my Dad said to me, "Oh, that's just quartz. Actually, it's the most common kind of rock." I had no idea that this sparkly treasure was actually all around! I was stunned by the idea. It seemed so rare and special... and this was the most common thing?

**In doing a bit of research, I have found that yes, quartz is the most common mineral in the continental crust. When you think about the properties of quartz on a deeper level - that is, the little bit we know so far - this is yet another bit of hidden-in-plain-sight proof that this world is more mysterious and connected than we often realize...**

About a decade after that initial conversation with my father, I tentatively walked into my first ever metaphysical store experience. It was a shop in Orlando, Florida called The Spiral Circle. This was where I met my Reiki teacher, and where I was opened up to the realization that there even existed enough books to fill up a bookshop containing info on the subjects that made me voracious for more. 

I'll never forget that first moment of walking in to the converted house that was then The Spiral Circle, door bell jingling as I came in, the smells of incense and sacred smudging smoke filling my nose, so familiar and foreign all at the same time, the sounds of ambient music filling my ears, and people who seemed strangely sane smiling and greeting me from behind the counter. 

(Up until this point, by the way, I didn't believe in anything spiritual or esoteric. I was an agnostic/atheist then, and would have remained that way had I not experienced a multitude of direct, intense events that showed me beyond the shadow of a doubt that the unseen world was, in fact, very real, and whether or not I chose to admit that I was aware of it, it was definitely aware of me...)

Somehow, that day I met the woman who would become my Reiki teacher. Under her tutelage, I learned about many aspects of the unseen parts of our world and other worlds. She had logical, straightforward, reasonable answers to all the questions that had stumped me for years. She also showed me how to use my own intention and strength of will to act on the energetic part of our world to create effects in the physical part of our world. She also told me afterward that she'd never had a student who was so hungry for information. I didn't need breaks, or food, or time away from lessons. I wanted to know everything that I possibly could. Finally, these parts of myself that I'd been muting and ignoring had a place to go, now that there was someone helping me navigate them! (If you're curious about the longer version of this process, it's all included in the first book of the Starseed Trilogy, Journal Of A Starseed - click here to read the first two chapters.)

After a few weeks of working together and my world changing to encompass and welcome the subtle nuances of awareness I'd never had time, space, or guidance to acknowledge before, my Reiki teacher and I met again at The Spiral Circle to pick out some tools for me to use.

The one that stood out to me was a small sphere, an inch or two in diameter, that was a pale yellow color with golden filaments inside, shaped subtly like a pine tree in their natural arrangement. My teacher picked it up, did that thing she did where she zoned out for a second to receive otherworldly guidance, and told me that I and this little smoky citrine had worked together before.
At the moment, this felt really intense but afterward, in the following years when I worked with the crystal, using it to massage the energies in my reality to bring healing, peace, focus, and the reality that I wanted to fruition, I realized that of course we would sometimes be called back to the same stones life after life. They live for so much longer than we do. The idea of them just so happening to be in our paths over and over makes sense. 
That crystal is long gone... it was stolen in a backpack that I held with me on a hiking trip with friend to hot spring pools one night. More than the phone, the wallet, and the other objects in the bag that went missing, I mourned the loss of my little crystal sphere the most. I still miss it, actually. But I'm sure that whomever stole my bag somehow needed it more than I did, and I wish them well. I know I'll run into that crystal again, sooner or later, in this life or another.

To be aware of the effect of crystals, it's necessary to spend time and energy focusing on your own subtle awareness of your inner spaces. This can come from paying attention to the tension and relaxation in your body, or your emotional moods. That's usually how you can perceive what crystals do, at least at first. It's a little shift in the way things feel in and around you that, over time, creates big shifts in your world and reality.

When using crystals, there are ways to cleanse them, program them, and keep them functioning optimally. An easy way to greet a crystal is to run it under cool water or sit it overnight on a pile of salt in a dish (as some crystals dissolve under water - do an internet search if you aren't sure.) As you place the crystal in the salt or run it under water, set the mental intention that you're doing the equivalent of clearing its hard drive. Any energies it's picked up along the way that aren't beneficial to you can be rinsed away by the water or cleansed out by the salt. Then, once clear, you can hold the crystal in your hand with the intention to program it with the energies you choose. Each crystal has different properties which can be easily researched online. My favorite book for this is Love Is In The Earth by Melody. This book is always on my shelf and has come in handy for years. As you are holding the crystal, notice your body heat warming it up. With that shift in vibration (since heat makes things vibrate faster,) your program of intentions imbue the crystal. Once it feels complete, set it in a sacred place, keep it in your pocket, or wear it - crystal jewelry is fantastic for this. Every so often, rinse it or salt it again, and on the full moon, sit it in a window where the moonlight can charge it up like a battery.

By this point, most of us know that crystalline technology is used in many of our devices, including out timepieces, phones, computers, and so on. We've only just scratched the surface of what's capable in this area, and most people don't realize that the fact that we can use crystals in our still-clunky and pretty primitive tech means that they can also be used for so much more.

(**Weird theory alert: I have the belief that one of the reasons the Bermuda Triangle exists is because of weather control crystals sitting broken on the bottom of the sea where Atlantis was once located, after their purpose was twisted to weaponry during the fall of that great civilization. One of these days I'd love to get out there and see what I can feel from close by. It's on the list...**)

Here are some of my favorite types of crystals and what I like to use them for:

Rose Quartz. This one is one of my all time favorites. Rose quartz is pretty easy to find, inexpensive, and gentle on the nervous system (some crystals, like moldavite, can be pretty intense and not always helpful depending on what your goals and needs are.) 
Speaking of the pricing thing - one of the great jokes I am entertained by in the current world is the fact that often, the most powerful stones are the ones that are negligible in price. I've experience clear quartz, moonstone, and rose quartz, not to mention amethyst or selenite, to be way more powerful energetically than more pricey diamond, rubies, sapphires, and so on. I think it's hilarious that these precious objects are so easy to get in the common world, and I think it's one of those hidden riches that we don't even realize we have...
Rose quartz is gently protective, and I travel with a little cloth bag of about 13 raw chunks of it (one of which is in the image above) that I place around my space when I move in. My life is pretty nomadic, so I may be staying in a space for a night or a couple of months, but either way, one of my settling-in rituals is placing the rose quartzes at ever entrance, as well as at least one in each room. As I place them, I imagine a huge pillar of rose quartz energy reaching down deep into the earth and up into the sky centered around where I just placed the small stone. This is a subtle thing, but I can always feel a marked difference in a space that I have "gridded" with the rose quartz pieces. 
Rose quartz is also great for the skin, so I use a gua sha tool made of rose quartz every morning as part of my beauty routine. I read about this property and first experimented with it on one of my long drives. I had a little piece of smooth rose quartz in my car and gently rubbed it over my face as I was driving. I 100% noticed a difference in the smoothness and soft clarity of my skin. After that, I got myself proper facial massage tools and have used them ever since.
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Citrine. Citrine has a bright, sunny energy and it is one of the crystals that loves to be charged up in sunlight. It also is said to bring abundance, so many people will have a chunk of citrine near to where they do business or exchange money, like by the home computer or in the cash register at work. 
Like the below crystal selenite, citrine is one of the types of crystals that cannot hold negative energy and, in fact, can actually be used to clear other crystals. So if you are in a high stress job like the health care field or other places where there are lots of energies flying around that can knock you off your flow for a bit, I recommend keeping a piece of citrine on you while at work. It is a lovely trick to staying clearer, recovering faster, and maintaining a more positive outlook throughout.
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Selenite. I really love selenite. It's one of the stones that I enjoy giving as a gift. Like citrine it can't hold negative energy so often, I'll store my crystal jewelry near a piece of selenite to clear it from whatever gunky energy I may have picked up in a day of normal living. I also hold selenite sometimes to meditate, and if I'm feel foggy or low energy, I'll sleep with a piece under my pillow. 
Selenite is sensitive to water, so if it is in water for awhile it will start to erode. This can be kind of nice, because it is a way to smooth off rough edges on the crystal, but it's something to be aware of. I like to keep selenite on my windowsills too. And when I'm at events like music festivals with lots of energy, I always keep a piece handy. At more than one Burning Man, I've carried a big chunk in my boot. It can't hurt - and it does make me feel brighter, clearer, and more impervious to any energies that may be swirling around that I don't want to pick up.

It's also an easy one to find. 

Ok, thank you for coming on this crystal journey with me! There is so much more to say about this, and if you have questions, please let me know in the comments. I'd be happy to expand on techniques or questions in future blog posts.

Thanks again for reading! Have a beautiful day and remember to enjoy nature, and let it enjoy you, too. We're all part of this Earth and remembering that more often will benefit each of us. 

A topic of conversation and inquiry that has come up for years has been the concept of "gridwork." What is it? How do we do it? What does it feel like? What does it accomplish?

In the realm of energy healers, deep feelers who have often been thrust into a lifestyle of seeing behind the obvious physical form of things to the unseen aspects of what they are and what is possible, gridwork is a term that describes paying attention to subtle energies and shifting them to beneficial effect. 

The "grid" refers in this case to the physical reality all around us. Sometimes that means city streets and buildings, stone, metal and asphalt. Sometimes it's wide plains stretching to the horizon. Sometimes it means mountains and rivers.

Science has shown us over the past several decades that the seemingly simple world we live in is actually a lot more complex and less predictable than we think. (If you want to dive deeper into this, check out the book The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot - it'll blow your mind in the best way.) What we seem, on the surface, to be surrounded by are structures, plants, wind patterns, sounds, tastes, smells, and so on. But when you look deeper and feel deeper, you have histories, energies, feelings, scars, blessings, sacred and profane areas all layered on each other, all for various reasons.

The "joke" about paranormal things happening where people have disturbed ancient grave sites or holy grounds is so pervasive because it is a very real thing. Events leave energies behind them, even when the event has passed. (For more info on this, pick up the book The Source Field Investigations by David Wilcock. He compiles large swaths of research showing how we actually know a lot more about the unseen world than makes it into mainstream information and common conversation.) 
Things that happen leave imprints on the land and the cities. It's easier to feel when you walk through (or even see pictures of) places like abandoned asylums and ruins of terrible battles. It also happens in the positive when you walk through holy places that have been well loved and cared for. Where people have sat and sincerely prayed for years, you can feel the sacred whispers of that past connection.

Some people are more or less attuned to this subtle information. It is neither a "good," nor a "bad" thing to feel what happens in the unseen realms. That said, the way that westerners are taught to ignore and suppress this sensitivity is, in my opinion, highly correlated with many mental health issues that seem mysterious if you don't take into account what the suffering folks may be seeing or feeling and unable to process, integrate, or affect as a result of never being taught.

In energy work like Reiki, we learn how to use subtle frequencies of energy and invisible light to adjust and clarify the health of a person. Gridwork is simply doing the same thing to a place instead. 

In my experience, Nature is one of the best ways to feel and learn about your own capacity for gridwork. Years ago, walking through a century-old apple orchard that I knew was also frequented by black bears, I sang as I strolled, not wanting to surprise one of my furry neighbors (who are generally peaceful and feel, to me, like big sweet dogs, unless you are unfortunate enough to find yourself between a mom and her cubs.) I figured that if they knew where I was, we wouldn't accidentally run into each other and have an awkward and potentially scary moment. 

When I would sing, the trees above me would blow and whisper. I didn't think much of it, because morning breezes were common in the Appalachian mountains where I was walking. However, after awhile, I started noticing something. When I would stop singing, the trees would stop blowing. When I would start singing again, they would gently sway and whisper back to me. Enchanted, I experimented with this during my entire walk. It worked every time. Years down the road, teaching my baby niece the sounds that cows and pigs and kitties make, as a result of this experience and other similar ones, we added trees to the list, making their sound a whooshing whisper. They talk to us, too. Practice for yourself. Notice how a tree reacts when you gently, politely and lovingly walk up to it and place your hand on its trunk, sending blessing into its body via your own body heat. Notice the movement and the response. Is the breeze making the tree talk? Or is the tree's talking making the breeze?

That's just a tiny example of how you can notice Nature talking back to you. (For more info about plants, check out the book The Secret Life Of Plants by Peter Tompkins. It's pretty amazing, and not even that new. We've known this for awhile, we just don't talk about it much.)
​Energy work, including grid work, involves layering these techniques and experiments onto each other, seeing what works, and using the practices that do. 

For sensitive folks, the world can be a harsh and overwhelming place sometimes. Noise and clutter of cities can exhaust us. Places in nature that have held tragedy (the Trail of Tears and old battle grounds, as well as slave plantations come to mind) can be confusingly draining. At most, if we're lucky, we're told by helpful family or friends that we are feeling something real. (In my experience, research about the history of places where I'd feel and see things showed me time and time again that my "random thoughts and imaginings" were actually the unseen aspects of a place, very real and quite verifiable. Of course it took years of this pattern for me to stop trying to prove it and just trust what I felt - research which I recommend to everyone, so you can know that you're accurate...) 

It is, however, a new thing to not only believe your finer senses when they tell you a place is wounded in spirit and needs help, but to actually be ABLE to help. That's what grid work is all about. Not just being a victim of what you feel, but empowering yourself to adjust the energies and heal the wounds. 

A simple way to do this is to imagine gentle liquid light flowing through a place that feels scary or wounded. The light rinses through the stagnancy, clearing away old ills and bringing fresh energy to the space. It's like blood flow in the body. Infections are healed by clearing the area and bringing new life to it. The same is true for the unseen world. 

An important thing to know for the grid worker is that this is often silent, unseen, unrecognized effort. Most people don't even notice. Don't expect to be applauded for what you do. That's not why we do it. We do it because it needs to be done, we have the minds and hearts to help, it makes us feel better because shifting the frequency takes the sting and burn out of the wounded spots that are bugging our minds and spirits, and for every bit of stagnancy we clear, we know that future experiences had in that spot can be brighter and healthier. There's a reason why there are places in the world where accidents all happen on the same road or people get hurt in weird ways, over and over. Energy compounds. Momentum grows. So shifting the direction now makes a larger difference in the future that we'll ever be able to see as one person with our own limited perspective. 

That said, I have seen results of this. An example is a beach on the Pacific Ocean that I knew from scientific study and social anecdote tended to be really polluted. No one much went in the water because we all knew that to swim there meant you'd be sick later in the week. Each morning for months, I sat on the beach and sent healing energy into the water, focusing on the studies done by Dr. Emoto and others about the effect of our thoughts on water, which is also alive, and, like all living things, wants to be healthy and thrive. 
Without consciously looking for results, a couple of days before I left that place, I happened to be in a room where a new station was playing on the TV and I heard that the beach that I had meditated on was now one of the cleanest beaches in the state.  I'm sure that I wasn't the only factor there. For all I knew, completely different and seemingly unrelated efforts had also been going on to clean the water. But that's how energy works - it builds momentum so if you are sending prayers and intention in a certain direction, perhaps it is easier for others with similar intention to just so happen to focus their efforts in the same direction as you. 

As I mentioned before, this isn't work we do for clout or recognition. It's work we do because it is the right thing to do and leaving this place better than we found it is the point, right? Say what you want about reality being fluid and malleable (which it is) - none of us exists in a vacuum. Pollution is a very real problem and every way we can address it helps. Each of us has a place to sit on the game board of life and if we have the intention to be a beneficial presence, taking the time to take care of ourselves so we can show up with the strength and focus to actually provide that help, then who knows what the end result will be. Certainly better than doing nothing.

Tips for Grid Work
1) Get into Nature.
It's way easier to see and feel subtle energies in natural spaces than around man made containers. Nature is more movable and flowing. It's easier to see a tree respond to you than the stones in the building you may be walking by. If you want to lean, make it a habit to go out into whatever natural spaces are available to you with a mindset of discovery and inquiry. Mentally tell the space that you are here to help and learn, and be very mindful of what you see, hear, and feel during your time there. Notice and pay attention. Be teachable. 
2) Research.
If you feel odd about a place, look up its history! I struggled with a deep suicidal depression as a teenager and about 20 years later I discovered that less than a mile from where I was thinking about slitting my wrists, hundreds of thousands of soldiers had died in a horribly bloody battle at the end of the Civil War. I was feeling, in part, the pain still on the land from that awful time. Knowing what is hurting you helps you to address it. Look up what you are attracted to, trying to demystify your own intuition. We each have a different internal language and we can't effectively speak it if we don't understand it.
3) Meditate.
Techniques for meditation vary for everyone. It is often assumed that meditation means sitting still with no thought, but as you've seen in my previous post about my meditations, that couldn't be further than what I personally practice. Try different things and see what works for you. You have to learn to use the tools you have if you want to be empowered. The world needs deeper feelers and thinkers to find solutions for the problems we face and to come up with ideas that will move us forward in our evolution. Respect the talents you've been given by learning to use them.
4) Pay attention.
If you feel funny about something, notice it! Don't just shrug it off. Keep a journal of what you feel and later, after you've researched consciously or just so happened to find out where that weird feeling came from (because often the information finds us) write down the results! This is how you learn to trust yourself. You have to acknowledge your senses in order to move deliberately. This will likely not be supported by everyone you know because people in western culture are taught to ignore and dismiss what we don't understand. So don't even talk about it unless you are in a supportive environment. Not everyone needs to know. Remember what I said about this being something that you won't get a pat on the back for? Keep it to yourself if you need to. But listen to yourself and trust yourself to learn how to use what you have over time.

Sending blessings to you in your inner and outer journeys. Different cultures from different areas in the world and different times in human history all have their ways of interacting with the spaces around them. All have elements of truth embedded, and there isn't only one way to do this. Notice what lights up your heart and follow that. And thank you for doing so! The world needs it.

Thank you for reading! If you have questions you'd like to read more about in the blog, let me know in the comments. I'd love to write about what you want to know about. It's more fun that way.

Have a beautiful day and remember to breathe deep and make a decision to enjoy your life. You deserve it.

Greetings everyone. I hope that this moment finds you relaxed and peaceful. In case it doesn't, and even if it does, I'm sending you a wave of smooth, healing, protective blessing energy. Take a breath (if you want to) and let it in. Can't hurt. ;)

Thank you so much for the lovely reception of my return to blogging! I woke up this morning excited to get into a new topic with you.
I asked you guys to send me notes or leave comments about topics you'd like me to cover in the blog, and you delivered! I love to see what you want to know more about. 
Here's the comment that'll be prompting my writing today (thanks Sulma!)

Hi Charis!
I’ve been a longtime follower. It’s been 8 years since I’ve found you, and you helped me ease into my own spiritual awakening. I’ll always be grateful to you and your videos from back then.
I am curious how your meditations look like now? I would like to hear about the details, the conversations you have with multidimensional beings, and anything else you may experience. I haven’t meditated in so long, so maybe hearing about your practice might reinvigorate my need for self exploration and what have you.
Thank you again for all that you do. Blessings to you and yours, queen!

Thanks again, Sulma. Your kind words warmed my heart. Forever grateful to the tech these days that lets us connect like this.

In regards to your question, over the past 18-ish years I've spent meditating, my technique has evolved a lot. I'll give you an overview of what I do these days in my own personal practice. I also start and end each session or class I teach with a meditation for me and my clients to do together, but that's a different technique and focus than what I do in my internal world. So here we go.

I've found that for the past couple of years, my favorite way to meditate is in bed in the morning before I even open my eyes. I like to have my energy set to the frequency that I choose before any external information comes into my mind or energy field. So I sleep with my phone on airplane mode and don't even pick it up until I've finished my meditative process. 

First thing, when my consciousness settles back into my body from the dream world, I think of 5 things I like about myself. (They tend to center around kindness, intelligence, freedom of thought and action, altruism, grace, etc. They can be things that I've earned, or been blessed with. Either way works.) Then I think of 10 things I'm grateful for in my life. This practice came from a couple of techniques I heard about that I stitched together. I started doing it as a month project earlier this year and decided to keep it up because it felt so good. It's also interesting to see what shifts and what you keep coming back to when you make these lists. Sometimes, forcing yourself to focus on gratitude shows you that you appreciate things that you don't even notice unless you look directly at them. For me, a couple of examples of this are three things that make my gratitude list most days - that my family and close circle of friends are generally healthy and happy, that my relationships are clean and balanced (I've had my experiences with codependent and/or abusive relationships of various types in the past, and a gentle, smooth, healthy connection between me and others is something I purposefully cultivate and value,) and that my time is my own. As the Highly Sensitive Person I am (HSP - look it up if you haven't heard the term,) I'm grateful that I don't have to rush off to an office or sit in an hour of packed traffic in my life these days. It's a lovely blessing, one that I worked hard for and continue to do so, and also something that I didn't think was possible once upon a time, until I created the path myself.

After my gratitude list, I draw the Reiki symbols. I've been a Reiki practitioner for 18 years, a Reiki Master for 6, and a Master Teacher for 2. After drawing the sacred symbols with golden script in my mind, I let Reiki energy course through my body, enhancing my energy and opening up my meridian system to flow. ** If you want a visual of how this "looks," the most accurate portrayal in movies I've seen of what happens in my head is the multidimensional symbols drawn in the movie Dr. Strange. When I saw it, I happily freaked out. "Yes! That's it! That's what it looks like! Good job guys..."

Once my body is filled with Reiki energy, I clear any gunk out of my energy field (or aura) and restructure my auric envelope, the invisible "cell membrane," so to speak, that protects each of our own personal bio-electrical fields.

Next, I create my Merkaba. This isn't a technique that everyone is into, nor necessarily should it be, but I've found it to be very useful for my inner world and also to have a lovely effect of protection and smooth transition in my physical world. I've been constructing daily Merkabas for about 7 years now. 

After that is good and spinning, I use a couple of techniques I learned a long time ago in Celtic Shamanism. First, I envision myself on a lovely grassy slope, with warm sun on my face. There is a stone well nearby, and I go to the well and drop my worries and anxieties into the well, relieving myself of them, letting them drift away and be worked on deep in the parts of my mind that have more solutions than my active brain can find (obviously, or I wouldn't have anxiety about them, I'd just fix them.) After I am free and light, I float on down the slope to the World Tree, another image from the Celtic tradition. It's a giant tree with a space inside comparable to a cathedral. In it I do some specific healing work on the state of the world, cleansing, clearing, and spreading healing frequencies over a visualized representation of energies of our world that need it. 

Next, I travel up a spiral staircase to the "upper world," where I receive inspiration on how to flow through my life that day. Then, I travel down the staircase into the "lower world," where lately I've been meeting a personification of Mother Earth (this morning, she had small branches woven into her hair which was hanging down her back in many long braids. Lovely.) She gives me advice and guidance too. Then she spins me off into another section, a watery one, of the lower world where I meet with more guides (these I'll keep private) and share space for moment. 

Next, I find myself "waking up" in a place I've constructed for myself over the years. A kind of ideal "mind palace" in a natural setting that is thriving and filled with beautiful, nourishing life. I'll keep some of these details private, but I'll tell you that I wake up in a tree :) And I dive into water each day, talk to various beings there, then come up in my astral home where different rooms are devoted to points of focus. There's one where focus on my upcoming retreats, one where I cultivate my money and finances, one where I plan out my upcoming online shares like videos and podcasts, another where my inner child gets to play and sing all day in a gentle, lovely space, and a room with all of the books I haven't yet written sitting on the shelves in shimmering gold, waiting for their turn to be born through me into the world. No pressure :)

Then I exit through a doorway protected by my animal guides, like the white tiger who takes me on soul retrieval journeys and the sphinx friend who has been with me through many lifetimes since we met once upon a time in ancient Egypt, to an outside space where I meet with my ancestors. I'll keep that part of this description private too. 

After I've finished communicating with my ancestors, I shoot upward, out of my little biodome area, and meet with some other energies and guides that I work with. Right now, these include some that don't necessarily have names you'd recognize, but I am currently also working with Yemaya, the ocean goddess, Apollo, the god of the sun, and Isis, the lovely and powerful Egyptian mother queen goddess. 

After that, I come back to my body, open my eyes, say my affirmations for the day and start my morning.

That's it! It may sound like a lot, but it might have taken me as long to type it as it does to do it. So the time you spent reading the sequence probably wasn't all that much less than the whole thing takes to do. The mind moves fast and when you aren't limited to physical timing, a lot can happen.

On mornings when I haven't gotten enough sleep, I sometimes dip back into dreaming here and there throughout the process, continuing when I wake up again. And once in a while, I don't want to go through the whole thing so I just clear my energy field and request that the intelligence of the Universe put me on the path I should be on that day, remove what isn't for me, take me where I'm supposed to go, protect me and guide me.

I find that life is MARKEDLY different when I'm doing this vs. when I'm not. The mind is an incredibly powerful tool. And, for instance, having these little rooms where things are worked out means that if I'm working on a project, my subconscious is taking care of it so that when I visit the space, I feel like I'm just looking at something that's already been created, rather than having to painstakingly do it myself. Of course, I am the one who is making it up, but it happens when I'm not paying attention so the process is upgraded and streamlined for me.

I hope that helped! 

This is something I've built up over years of study. 
If you don't do anything to start your day, it's easy enough, and still very effective to take a few deep breaths, affirm with your mind and emotions that this will be a great day, and think of something you're grateful for or that you are looking forward to in the coming day. That alone can shift your world quite nicely. 

Thanks for reading! Feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment about other topics you'd like to read about. And for yesterday's comment asking me if I have a podcast, I do! It's called Stars and Spirits and more episodes are coming for you soon. Also, expect more youtube videos in the future, I'm getting back into it.

Love you guys! Have a great day, and thanks again. Your open heart makes the world a better place. I can feel it.

Like I always say, we don't choose the multidimensional life, it chooses us. 
For those of you who are new to my work - here's a little synopsis. I was a normal-ish person (highly empathic, but not knowing what that meant, and seeing/feeling the occasional ghost or spirit, but shoving that right on down into my subconscious where I didn't need to think about it) until my spiritual awakening when I was 20 years old, about to graduate on a fast track psychology degree. My intuition ramped up and my clair-senses turned on. To my then-agnostic/atheist mind, I thought I was going off the deep end. Surely these were hallucinations. I didn't believe in this stuff! Seeing things, hearing voices, and knowing facts I couldn't possibly know made me feel crazy. I was seriously worried about my sanity until... the hallucinations started coming true. This was a whole new level of crazy. 

Through synchronicity (and divine providence,) I found support during this time. A Reiki teacher who trained me in the healing arts and witchy friends who had been walking the paths of magic and deeper awareness longer than me ushered me into a world that was niched, but not as uncommon as you may think.

Now, almost 20 years later, I've dedicated my life to modern shamanism - not the kind that needs drugs to travel, but the kind that trains the mind to intercede in the unseen realms to affect the material world. 

This blog is meant to be a window into that.

I realize I'm lucky in that there were enough highly sensitive folks in my lineage that my parents recognized my gifts for what they were ("oh, you're just like your Great Aunt Emma, she had that too" was the vibe) rather than sticking me into an institution or drugging me into a stupor. 

Many don't have that blessing and if you're reading this from a place that has taught you to fear your sensory gifts, I'm sorry and I hope this can provide you a candle to hold in that confusing space. 

More likely, however, you just keep what you see to yourself. Or, like I once did, if you don't understand it, you shove it down where you don't have to think about it and try to forget as soon as possible (especially if what you saw was strange or scary.) 

As for me, I love this shit. Diving into the unseen realms (with the skills and tools I hold from decades of study, not just willy nilly) is one of my favorite things to do. So let's get into it together.

I'd love to start this journey with you by saying that seeing things with your intuition (or your "third eye") isn't like seeing things with your normal sight. You don't hallucinate it. It's more like you see a memory. You can clearly discern details, sensory information, even emotional vibes, but you don't cloud the here-and-now physical space with what your finer senses are telling you. That's the difference between people who lose it and people who use their gifts to help themselves and others.

So, practice. Meditate. Call in protection. And keep a journal of what your intuition tells you so that over time, you can know what information comes through for you clearly, and what comes through skewed or sideways. Like anything, intuitive awareness and shamanic journeying gets better with practice. Learn to use your tools. Flex your gifts. The world of humans needs it. Look around - don't you see that there's less soul than there should be? It's somewhere, likely chained up, maybe being used for purposes other than those we would prefer. So wake up and shape up, all of us who have hands to maneuver in these unseen worlds. Let's see what we can do. 

*If you have questions, pop them into the comments! I'll reply in other blog posts.* 

Love you guys, thanks for reading. Take a deep breath and have a fantastic day.