Category Archives: Enlightenment

Chipmunks and Cow Pies

Leave a reply

The chipmunks are driving me crazy. They won’t let me sleep and when I sit down to write, there’s so much chatter I can’t think straight. Each and every one of the furry little beasts is jumping up and down in a fit of frenzy trying to get my attention. These aren’t real chipmunks, mind you, and they’re not spirit guides either. They are, instead, physical manifestations of my overactive mind. Let me explain.

For several weeks, I’ve been going to The Aesclepion Healing Center in San Rafael for a ‘healing hands’ class. Before getting to the chipmunks, though, let me point out that Aesclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing, was the son of Apollo. And it was Apollo that the Oracles at Delphi channeled in their trances. Yet another Greek connection!

In the first healing hands class, we were introduced to the basic principals of meditation. I’ve been avoiding meditation all my life. It’s not that I hadn’t tried, but every time I  sat down and attempted to relax and empty my mind, my body rebelled and I’d be up and moving within five minutes. So I was interested to see if I was ready to quiet my mind and find a way to access a higher state of consciousness.

We learned to set grounding cords to anchor us to the earth, to make our thoughts vanish by putting them in a rose and blowing it up, and to bring in the energy of the sun by imagining golden light coming in through our crown chakras. So far so good. If given a task of imagining something, I could keep my thoughts at bay. Maybe I could do this after all.

Before each class, the students at the Center gather to give and to receive healings and energy checks. After three classes, I had my energy checked by a perky blonde who looks like Julia Duffy in the ’80’s series ‘Newhart’. First she saw the color green around me. Every time I have a reading, I’m surrounded by green and I have yet to find out what this means. Then she said that she saw cow pies on top of my head (I don’t know what this means either), and a bunch of chipmunks scurrying around inside my head. According to ‘Julia’, the chipmunks are uninvited spirit guides, and they’re not happy because I’m not paying as much attention to them as I did in the past.

And she saw my father who’s been dead for over 20 years. He, too, was trying to get my attention, waving his arms saying, “I can help. Let me help.” At the time I understood this to mean that he wanted to help me with my healing hands class. Later I realized that his intention was to inform me that I could call upon him to help heal from the trauma of our past lives together.

So, I have a lot of work to do. I need to get the chipmunks under control, and I have to find a way to forgive my father. I would guess that those past lifetimes with him are the very reason I’ve been avoiding meditation in the first place.

 

The Source Weighs In

Leave a reply

Yesterday morning when I consulted my animal oracle cards, I drew CARDINAL. According to the author of the cards Dr. Steven Farmer, cardinal represents an imbalance between spiritual pursuits and the world of the senses. This was the third time this card had shown up in two weeks. Clearly I wasn’t ‘getting’ the message. Have I been putting too much pressure on myself getting ready to confront the Oracle? Should I just relax and spend more time enjoying ‘earthly pleasures’?  I decided to put my questions to the Source.

C: Dear Spirit, PLEASE advise. What should I focus on right now to prepare for my journey?

S: REST. You have been told over and over to rest. Your tendency is to overdo, overachieve to the point of exhausting yourself. You can’t help others if your energy is weak.

C: What can I do right now to restore my energy?

S: Meditate. Find the method that works best for you. I suggest something that involves nature. Imagine yourself in beautiful outdoor environment with trees, flowers and animals – all the things you love. Feel the peace in that sacred place. Let it saturate every cell in your being knowing that the energy from that special place will restore you and keep you strong.

C: How about animal spirit guides? I’ve felt connected to so many animals, but lately I’ve been paying special attention to ravens and butterflies, and at one time I felt a special connection to the buffalo. Is it helpful for me to look for strength from the animal kingdom?

S: All of these animals are indeed good for you. Please continue to watch for them and listen for their messages. But right now, you need to pay attention to the tree spirits. You have been seeing and feeling them for some time now, and you must recognize their power and let it flow into your being. Connecting with tree spirits can give you great strength. This is what you need at this time.

live oakTrees . . . I had been noticing them more lately. Driving through Larkspur recently, a giant live oak with arms reaching every which way caught my eye, and I made a special point to stop and spend time touching its bark and admiring it’s beauty. And I had encountered another huge oak tree in Sonoma not long ago, this one even bigger than the one in Larkspur. Thought to have been around when the first English settlers arrived in North America in 1607, this tree is currently home to numerous birds including woodpeckers, jays, owls and hawks and at least two active bee hives. An awesome entity indeed.

And then I remembered the very first time I witnessed a tree being cut down. I was five or six years old and the tree was a beautiful white-barked birch, so tall that I could hardly see its top branches. Hearing the roar of a chain saw, I looked up and saw the tree slowly begin to fall to the ground. I didn’t understand why this was happening. I couldn’t imagine that there might be a good reason for removing that tree – to my young soul, this felt like murder. I’ve thought about that tree many times since then. Maybe I’ve been connected to tree spirits all this time without realizing it.

Okay, I’m getting the picture: rest, meditate, connect with nature – especially trees, dance, drum, and forgive. I haven’t mentioned that last one yet, have I? It’s another one of those things that’s been coming up repeatedly in different guises. Forgiveness can be hard and it can be scary, but it’s really, really important. I will share that boogyman with you soon – I promise.

 

Waiting

3 Replies

 

Before I encountered The Pythia, I had been feeling that something was coming, but I didn’t know what it was nor how to find it. In the past, changes in my life had just ‘shown up’. But this felt different and it was taking a very long time. So I began looking for new sources of inspiration. When I found shamanistic practitioner Dr. Steven Farmer on Hay House’s website and learned that he was scheduled to speak in nearby Mountain View, I decided to go.
I’ve been passionate about animals all my life, but I’d never focused on them as spirit guides. If pressed, I would have said that my totem animal was either BUFFALO or RAVEN. A few years back, I was driving along a country road in Washington, and I saw a herd of buffalo. I felt compelled to stop the car and get out for a closer look. I walked up a long driveway to meet them, and they walked over and stared at me as I looked into their eyes. Standing there, the scene from Dances with Wolves where the buffalo are being slaughtered flashed before me, and I felt an overwhelming sadness. Remembering how I had run from the theatre sobbing, I wanted to promise them that nothing like that would ever happen again.
And then there were the ravens. On a trip to the Marin Headlands at the beginning of the year, a raven landed on a post very near me and started gobbling like a turkey. I wanted to photograph him, so I inched closer and closer. Instead of flying off, he just kept gobbling. I didn’t think too much about his vocalizations – I knew there were poultry farms not far off, and having once had a pet crow, I knew that these birds have the ability to mimic a wide range of sounds. But it was unusual.
So, I was excited to hear what Farmer had to say about animals as spirit guides. After talking about his experiences, he chose three people from the audience for readings and I was one of them. Given the choice of voicing a question or just receiving a general reading, I asked about my current confused state.
He invited me to select two cards from his deck of Spirit Guide Oracle Cards. I drew GROUSE and CHIMPANZEE. From these cards, Farmer explained that it would be good for me to engage in dancing and drumming to get my energy moving and to reconnect with the rhythm of life. And as I looked into the depths of his blue eyes, he said, “And I’m getting the word fallow.” He sounded confused, like he didn’t know the meaning of the word. When I prompted him by mentioning soil lying idle for a season, he told me that I needed to rest. I was trying too hard. The journey ahead could not be forced; it would emerge when I was ready.
Since then, I’ve consulted the Spirit Guide Oracle Cards daily, and similar messages to wait and to rest have appeared again and again. And today, during my writing session with Source, I encountered the same advice. More on that tomorrow.Before I encountered The Pythia, I had been feeling that something was coming, but I didn’t know what it was nor how to find it. In the past, changes in my life had just ‘shown up’. But this felt different and it was taking a very long time. So I began looking for new sources of inspiration. When I found shamanistic practitioner Dr. Steven Farmer on Hay House’s website and learned that he was scheduled to speak in nearby Mountain View, I decided to go.

Before I encountered The Pythia, I had been feeling that something was coming, but I didn’t know what it was nor how to find it. In the past, changes in my life had just ‘shown up’. But this felt different and it was taking a very long time. So I began looking for new sources of inspiration. When I found shamanistic practitioner Dr. Steven Farmer on Hay House’s website and learned that he was scheduled to speak in nearby Mountain View, I decided to go.

I’ve been passionate about animals all my life, but I’d never focused on them as spirit guides. If pressed, I would have said that my totem animal was either BUFFALO or RAVEN because of experiences I’ve had with these animals.

© 2009 Charlene Nevill

© 2009 Charlene Nevill

A few years back, driving along a country road in Washington, I spotted  a herd of buffalo. I felt compelled to stop and get out of the car for a closer look. I walked up a long driveway to meet them, and they walked slowly up to the fence to meet me. As I looked into their eyes, the scene from Dances with Wolves where the buffalo are being slaughtered flashed before me, and I felt an overwhelming sadness. Remembering how I had run from the theatre sobbing, I wanted to promise them that nothing like that would ever happen again.

Raven © 2009 Charlene Nevill

Raven © 2009 Charlene Nevill

And then there was the raven. On a recent trip to the Marin Headlands, a raven landed on a post very near me and started gobbling like a turkey. I wanted to photograph him, so I inched closer and closer. Instead of flying off, he just kept gobbling. I didn’t think too much about his vocalizations at the time – I knew there were poultry farms not far off, and having once had a pet crow, I knew these birds have the ability to mimic a wide range of sounds. But it was unusual.

So, I was excited to hear what Dr. Farmer had to say about animals as spirit guides. After talking about his experiences as a former psychotherapist and sharing stories about his travels with shamans and his encounters with animals, he chose three people from the audience for readings and I was one of them. Given the choice of voicing a question or receiving a general reading, I asked about my current confused state. He invited me to select two cards from his deck of Spirit Guide Oracle Cards. I drew GROUSE and CHIMPANZEE. From these cards, Farmer explained that it would be good for me to engage in dancing and drumming to get my energy moving and to reconnect with the rhythm of life. And as I looked into the depths of his blue eyes, he said, “I’m getting the word fallow.” He sounded confused, like he didn’t know the meaning of the word. When I prompted him by mentioning soil lying idle, he told me that I needed to rest. I was trying too hard. The journey ahead could not be forced; it would emerge when I was ready.

Since then, I’ve consulted Farmer’s Oracle Cards daily and similar messages have appeared again and again. And today, during my writing session with Source, I encountered the same advice. More on that tomorrow.

 

You Always Take Yourself With You

2 Replies

In response to the news about my upcoming pilgrimage to Delphi, my friend Gary suggested that there’s ‘no need to travel to the dusty realms of the world’ to find enlightenment. I’m sure this is true. In cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension, neurosurgeon/rock star/superhero Buckaroo says, “No matter where you go, there you are.” And my former boss at Tiffany & Co. used to say, “You always take yourself with you.” I think the idea here is to look within instead of running around trying to find what seems to be missing in our lives.

But what of desire? When I graduated from high school, my best friend and I jumped on a Greyhound Bus headed for California. I can’t remember what inspired this trip, but I think it may have been my cute second-cousin Jeffrey whom I had met on a road trip with my parents. What I hoped to accomplish by seeing him again, I have no idea. But no matter; I think my friend and I just needed to experience the world outside our conservative Midwest suburban environs.

Charlene and Karen

At the Claremont

So after saving a dollar each week for four years, we bought our tickets, packed our bags and were off despite parental admonitions. I don’t think we even met up with Cousin Jeffrey. But we learned that we could take care of ourselves and we found out that we could do it without much money. Having spent almost all our savings on our tickets, we decided to bring Carnation Instant Breakfast, powdered soup, and crackers with us. I remember gazing through a restaurant window in Denver at chickens turning slowly on a rotisserie longing for a hot meal that didn’t include soup. But we didn’t starve, and we returned with our virginity intact in spite of our encounter with two cute guys we met at the Claremont Hotel in Oakland.

I guess I could opt for hours of meditation instead of traveling to Delphi. Who knows? I may come back having felt nothing. If that happens, dealing with disappointment will be an adventure in itself.

 

A Conversation with Source

Leave a reply

To prepare for my trip to Delphi I’ve started doing ‘deep soul writing’. Inspired by Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God, I decided a while ago that if Walsch could access Source, so could I. But it wasn’t until I read Janet Conner’s book, Writing Down Your Soul, that I actually started doing it. After following Conner’s four steps (show up; open up; listen up; and follow up) and practicing for a few weeks, I asked Source what to expect from my trip and I got answers! As is common with this process, my pen wrote as if possessed.

C: Dear Spirit, PLEASE: (Conner suggests finding your own name for Source and using it along with some kind of an invocation each time you sit down to write.)

“If it is helpful for me to know what happened to me in Delphi, please let me see it.”

S: “It is not time yet.”

C: “What else should I be looking at now to prepare myself for this trip.”

S: “Make yourself as strong as you possibly can. You will be tested mentally, emotionally and physically. Only by preparing will you survive this test.”

C: “After this experience, will I know what my mission is? Will I have access to Source to guide me?”

S: “You know what it is you are to do, but you need clarity, you need strength and confidence. To prepare, continue to absorb the writings and experiences of others who have been tested. Follow their lead and know you will be protected by everyone around you.”

C: “Is there anything else I need to know or to do at this time?”

S: “Be still and let information come. Record all your thoughts and your dreams. Know that the dreams and the voices that have come are leading you along your path.”

This was pretty amazing – a bit ominous, but encouraging nonetheless. I’ve been writing every day since this conversation with what Conner calls The Voice, but nothing else has come through yet, at least not in writing. But when I asked (implored is more like it) the Source for courage to pull the trigger on this trip and for inspiration to start this blog, I got answers of a different sort. More on that tomorrow!