2/23/2022 0 Comments Building An Altar to Your New SelfA soul retrieval ceremony brings back a piece of your soul that has been separated from you. When this piece of your soul returns, there are many attributes and qualities that are restored back to you that are useful and helpful for living a life of satisfaction. (For a basic rundown of how/why soul loss happens listen here Soul Loss: A Brief Overview | Apothic Energy on Patreon)
After a soul retrieval ceremony, it is a good practice to spend time getting to know this part of you that has returned. This helps to keep the energy of the ceremony alive, and it helps with integrating this piece of you that may have been missing since childhood. Below is one way to do this. Be sure to read through the whole document before beginning. Create an altar to your new self
Find a space in your home that feels like the right spot for an altar to be created. You might ask your house where the altar should go. Let the house know you want to be able to see it on a regular basis. This altar is a daily reminder of who you are and how you are growing. You want to be reminded of it often. Once you have found the spot, clean the area and let that space know it is becoming an altar. Let the space know an altar that represents how you are changing and growing is going to be set there. Every altar is different. There is usually a candle, but not always. A representation of light is important (twinkle lights, fake candle, salt lamp, or something else that glows). How you arrange all of your items is up to you. This space is a container that both honors and supports your healing. Where do the items go that represent who you are now? Where do the spirit guides go? This can be very elaborate or very simple. However your healing and the new version of you wishes to express itself is perfect. Some altars have tiers and levels. Some look like mandalas. Others are simply a candle with all the items in a circle around it. How the altar makes you feel is what is most important. When creating sacred space, it is a good practice to state that only those energies that are as great as self or greater and that have your most compassionate benevolent outcome in mind and heart are allowed in the space you are creating. Tending an altar Tending an altar is just as important as setting it. Altars are meant to be paid attention to. This altar contains the energy of your healing. It will help to support what has already been accomplished, and it will conjure more energy that will support the continuation of the process. How to tend an altar Let this altar know before or as you are putting it together that you would like to engage with it regularly. You might find that you put something living on the altar that needs to be watered. You may be placing items in a box with a cover that can be woken up each morning (take the cover off) and put to bed at night (put the cover on). There may be an arrangement of items on the altar that want to be rearranged every day. At the very least, say good morning and good night to the altar daily, thanking it for supporting your process. When to dismantle the altar As you move forward in your healing, there may come a time when the altar feels like it has served its purpose and it is ready to be dismantled. Do this in a way that is just as loving and intentional as its creation. Acknowledge each item, thanking it for how it has served you. Some items may wish to go back to nature. Other items may wish to be burned, buried, or placed in a river (always make sure what you are burning, burying, or placing in a water source is not toxic). Some items may be repurposed for other altars or as sacred items. Some items may be stored as keepsakes. When the space has been cleared, say out loud, “I am grateful to this space for maintaining the intentions of my altar. I now release the energy of this altar and return this space to what it is without my altar.” That space may ask for something else to be placed there or it may be content with being left open.
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Creating sacred space can be as simple as lighting a candle or as elaborate as building a church. Below are a few guidelines. The boundaries/filter settings for your container are important. Creating sacred space is not an all call for any spiritual being to engage with you. Be specific about who you are including. Honor through acknowledgment the space you are already in - your home, your land, and your community. Whenever we create portals or connections to the unseen realms we affect what is happening in our own reality and all that is connected to it. It is respectful to acknowledge that you are making a shift and to be clear about the intentions of that shift. I give a simple example below. Light a candle (optional) Sit or lay down with intention. Let your room know you are going to create sacred space to connect with the spiritual realms. Feel your body. Feel the weight of your bones in your body. Feel your muscles and organs heavy in your body. Feel your brain and your eyes. Feel the palms of your hands and the bottoms of your feet. Feel your breath. Say out loud who you are and what you are doing. “My name is ______. I ask that my compassionate, benevolent guides create a healing container for me and my body that is the perfect space for the healing I am asking for. Only those spirits, energies, and beings that are as great as self or greater are allowed in this space. Only those spirits, energies, and beings that have my most compassionate benevolent outcome in mind are allowed in this space. I am grateful to the spirits of my home and the spirits of this land that allow me to do this work in their midst. As I heal myself I heal my home, I heal my land, and I heal my community.” You might like to build an altar for the sacred space you are creating. Gather items that represent the energy you wish to conjure and that feel supportive. Ex: Rocks, crystals, herbs, and other items that have healing properties; representations of the spirits you work with or would like to work with; a picture of yourself for the spirits to tend to (a smiling, happy, and healthy picture); a piece of paper with your intentions written on it. Literally any item can be worked with as an altar item. The energy you assign to the item gives it its power. There are some items that carry specific frequencies that I like to work with. Here are a few that I use. Obsidian for grounding and protection; selenite for grounding and clearing; black tourmaline for clearing; double terminated tibetan black quartz crystal for psychic protection; amethyst for purging grief; blue calcite for compassion, rose quartz for unconditional love; quartz crystal programmed for your specific intention; lavender; cedar; juniper. These are items that feel nurturing and supportive to me. You may find different items that work in the same way for you as these items work for me. Closing Sacred Space: Say out loud: “I bring this healing/meditation/ceremony to a close. I thank all the energies that worked with me to build this container. I am grateful for the help and assistance of the spirits. I send all of these spirits back to where they belong, to wherever home is. I release all those spirits who gathered to bear witness to this work or who came out of curiosity. I remove myself from this container and I close it. For all this good work, I say thank you.” #sacredspace #prayer #altar 1/29/2022 0 Comments Our Body Knows How To Pray
Out of the ordinary requests from the healing energies I work with are not surprising, and they are something I take note of as information or an indication of what might happen. The Goddess Isis has an altar in the corner of my room my client was to face towards. I asked Isis what was going on, but she did not give me any information. Only that my client's feet should be pointing in that direction.
I pulled the table a little further away from the corner thinking I would need to be able to stand there at some point. I still had some resistance and set the table up like I usually do with the head pillow in the corner. When Jenna arrived, I felt deep earth mamma energy from her. I knew right away she wanted to have a baby. As she sat down, I almost blurted out, “Oh, you’re trying to have a baby”, but I kept the words in. We began talking about her intention for the reiki session. She told me she was indeed trying to get pregnant and wanted this session to help align everything in her body so that pregnancy could happen with ease. After discussing the healing intention, I walked over to the table to show her which way to lay down and found myself switching the pillows around without even thinking. “Your feet will point towards this corner, and your head will be towards the window”, I said. I looked at Isis on her altar and asked the client how she felt about the spirit of Isis working with her. Often reiki clients only want reiki, so I had to be clear. I explained that Isis, amongst other things, was believed to have brought the wisdom of childbearing and midwifery to the humans in our earlier civilizations. Jenna said that sounded like what she was looking for. I set our intention and as we moved through the session, I saw in my mind's eye the vision of Jenna in labor and giving birth on my table. Isis was the midwife standing at Jenna’s feet helping her with this process. I was informed by Isis that Jenna’s body was still holding onto the soul essence of several children she had miscarried. During the session there were a few moments of emotional release, sighs and tears, that I encouraged. I could see that Jenna’s body was releasing grief. I did not share the imagery or the information with Jenna right away. I first asked if I could ask her a personal question. She said OKAY. “Have you ever had a misscarriage?” “Not that I’m aware of.” From Isis, I heard a very distinct question Jenna was to ask her body. “Jenna, I want you to ask your body if it has ever created and carried life. Do not look for the answer in your mind, look for it in your heart.” Jenna asked the question and immediately said, “I am hearing yes.” I explained to her that the information I was receiving about this healing indicated that we were clearing Jenna’s body of life force energy it was holding onto from previous pregnancies that had ended before she realized she was pregnant. I told her that I was being shown that her body still believed it was pregnant and was consequently not in the right alignment with creating any other embryos. The healing was essentially a process of her body energetically giving birth so that it could have a completion process around a loss it did not fully recognize it had experienced. There were several more emotional releases during the healing session. I also saw in my mind’s eye a spirit gently working with Jenna’s head to help realign the energy of her body. While I had my hands over Jenna’s solar plexus and her right arm, Jenna’s head was being moved slowly back and forth as if there was a massage therapist moving her head for her. When all was complete, the session was closed, and I gave Jenna a moment to collect on her own. When I returned to the room, Jenna was up and sitting in one of the room's chairs. I sat opposite her and asked how she was doing. Jenna was quiet and then said that she felt clear. She also asked if she had been moving her head during the session. I said yes, your head was moving from side to side. Jenna said that it felt like someone was moving it for her. I smiled and said that yes, a spirit had been working with her head and neck during the healing. Jenna was noticeably moved. I told her that I believed her body now had the space and the freedom to create and hold new life. Jenna said that she felt that way too. I let her know that because she and her body were so ready to heal, the spirits were able to provide great depths of restoration at a physical and soul level. The healing session felt like an answer to a prayer her body had been praying for. Jenna shared that it felt like the session was serendipitous and like something that seemed to come together at both a conscious and unconscious level. Jenna shared that earlier in the week for some reason she decidedly chose to have reiki. She had heard about me through her acupuncture clinic, reached out that Friday, and saw on my Instagram that I just happened to have an opening the next day (on a weekend day that I rarely work on). When I sent Jenna the articles about what to expect during a reiki session, the articles just happened to be articles I had written when I worked for an acupuncture clinic - the same clinic that Jenna goes to and had received the referral from! Our bodies have a voice. I believe that when we are listening to our body and to the spirits that are carrying the answers to our prayers, the solutions we are looking for show up without resistance, with great ease, and with all the signposts pointing towards the results we need. Even when it looks like what we are doing is a bit backwards, trust will point us in the right direction. #reiki #pregnancy #energymedicine #healingarchives 7/29/2021 0 Comments Cord Cutting ToolThere are times in our lives when we must tend to/prune our relationships with people, places or things or end our relationship with them completely.
One way to do this in a good way is cord cutting. For details in cord cutting read here. When doing this kind of ceremony, it is helpful to have a tool specific to the task. The right kind of cord cutting tool for you can be created or found. Essentially, what you are looking for is an object that looks and or feels like it can be used to sever something. Items that come to mind are rocks, crystals, sticks, or something more literal like a blade. As this is a metaphysical tool, I tend to enjoy using something that I can ascribe a metaphysical property to that makes it feel different than how it works in ordinary reality. For my cord cutting tool, I use a quartz crystal that I imbue with the intention that it will act as this kind of severing implement. If being more literal works for you, stick with something like a pair of scissors or a knife. Keep in mind that you will be holding this tool close to your body. I suggest that if you use a blade, that it be a dull blade. Asking whichever object you choose if it wants to be a cord cutting tool is important. This is a conversation held in the in-between spaces. You can certainly ask outloud if an object wishes to work with you in this way and asking quietly, internally, from the heart space is good too. Using your heart is both a good way to ask for and receive information. Listen with your heart for the answer. It may be an automatic yes or no that you hear your heart say, or it may be more of a sensation of either acceptance or repulsion. Once you have found an object that wants to work with you, it is time to create it. The creation portion of this work will include an imbuing/programming of the object’s energy. It may also include adorning the item with certain embellishments or symbols that make sense to you and the task you are assigning it. When creating a cord cutting tool, whether it is a literal object or less literal, it is important to clear the object of any energy that it is holding. We want to bring the energy of the tool to a place of neutrality. For instance, if you are using a pair of sewing scissors, you want to clear those scissors of the “sewing scissor” programming. Found or purchased objects may carry energy from previous owners, those who handled it before you, or the environment it has been sitting in. 7/29/2021 0 Comments Cord CuttingWe get attached to people, places and things. As we move through our life, we create energetic connections to the world around us. Sometimes these connections are healthy and good. They allow us to bond to individuals and create good relationships with our places of employment, our community, our practices, and other areas of our lives that we are committed to. These kinds of cords allow for a continued exchange of life force that feeds the relationship. Sometimes these energetic connections become unhealthy and they work against our well being. A romantic relationship or friendship might begin to carry anger or sadness, an employer may begin to treat us unfairly, a community may hurt us, or a practice might become more of an addiction rather than a tool for balance, rhythm, or restoration. Having an energetic connection that feeds what is unhealthy is like keeping a dead or dying part of a plant connected to what is still vibrant and living. Cutting unhealthy cords to people, places and things allows for vitality to go to the places that are most beneficial. Like pruning a plant, in cord cutting we remove the places that are dead, dying, or sick. This kind of energetic pruning creates shifts in our ordinary reality. Problems may become solved more easily, behaviors can shift, and relationships that need to evolve or end entirely are possible results from cord cutting. Sometimes cord cutting helps something that has come to completion to fully end. Perhaps we have moved on from a job or we have broken up with a friend or lover. Maybe we have moved from one location to a new one or perhaps we are letting go of a bad habit. In this instance, we want to cut cords that might still be feeding that past relationship so that we have all of our energy going towards what we want to support and be in connection with. In the instances where we do not necessarily want to end or extricate ourselves from a circumstance or situation, removing the unhealthy cords gives our relationship and commitment to something the best chance it has to be as healthy and vibrant as it can be. It allows us to show up for our relationship as the best version of ourselves without the energy of whatever is not a match for flourishment. In the instances where we want something that is coming to or has come to completion to fully complete, cord cutting is the energetic equivalent of taking your name off the utilities; cleaning out your desk at a former workplace, or asking for your sweatshirt back from a former partner. It’s the final housekeeping detail that allows for there to no longer be any engagement or interaction with what you are moving away from. Let’s talk a little bit about the energy that makes up the cord(s) we are removing. Both our own energy and the energy of whatever we are corded into make up the cord. There can also be energies entangled in these cords that are not a direct participant in the relationship, but they do affect the relationship indirectly. For example: a cord between you and a job will have your own energy and quite possibly one or more of the following - the energy of your boss, the energy of the workplace, the energy of the field you work within, and the energy of what you believe about work and financial stability. You can let your mind wander and find many other energies that may make up that cord as well. It’s important to understand that when we are cutting cords, we are only working with our own energy intentionally. All other energies involved are to simply be released. How other energy is managed is up to whomever or whatever that energy belongs to. We can ask that the energetic realms tend to the energies that are being released in a good way so that it can be retrieved by whomever it belongs to. It’s important not to ask for anything on behalf of someone or something else without permission. When cutting a cord, it’s a good idea to ask that our energy that was feeding that cord be removed and cleared of any sickness and returned to us. In this way, we are not letting our energy simply go away or be returned to us still vibrating with the energy of the unhealthy connection. We are retrieving it and restoring it. It is in this space that we can ask that the energy in the cord that does not belong to us be handled in a good way and returned to who it belongs to. Sometimes this process can be thorough and complete in one sitting. Some relationships may require a repeat of this ceremony before we feel like the energetic attachments are thoroughly gone. If this ceremony does not feel like enough, there may be stronger attachments or other connections that need to be looked at. I see the kinds of circumstances where we get stuck in our own energy maintenance much like I understand how a surgeon cannot do surgery on himself. Just because a surgeon knows how to do surgery, doesn’t mean he can tend to himself in the same way he can tend to another person. Seeking out the care of an energy medicine practitioner is a good way to ensure that attachments you wish to clear are done so effectively. An experienced and well trained energy medicine practitioner will be able to see what you cannot see and will be able to navigate and untangle energy that has come together in a more complicated or involved way. 4/13/2021 1 Comment NightmaresDreams carry the messages of the unseen realms.
Some believe the gods, the universe, source energy, our higher selves use our dream time as a way of bypassing our conscious mind in order to get to us directly a message we might otherwise dismiss if received during wakefulness. We hold our dreams as magical and mystical because the scenarios played out are often outside of the realm of our ordinary reality. It is the space where the gods use our imagination to personify and amplify our greatest fears. Through our dizzying obsession with and denial of those things we do not want to see unfold we give fodder to the gods to play and work with in their musings around how to help the humans integrate their shadows. Pre-creating our world through our fixation on what we dread (and I assert that denial is just as potent as preoccupation) traps our time lines into the currents of what we would least like to experience. Our dreams show us our worst visions as our addiction to foreseeing/denying the worst outcome surges vitality into their manifestation in our minds. The gods know what they are doing. They know in order to be set free from us, our nightmares must first be felt and seen. Why? So that they can leave us. How does this work? How to release ourselves from forecasting a future held in tides of dread? Spaciousness. Allowing for there to be more than just one outcome. Instead of anchoring into our reality the nastiest circumstances our frightened egos can conjur by persistently paying attention to them or ignoring them, let them instead fly free. What do I mean by this? Honor the option that our anxiety presents as a possible outcome by looking at it and allowing it to be just that. A possibility. One of many. Suppressing it will only serve to snare it in our system. Let the dread rise up to its fullest strength and then watch and feel it dissipate in the knowingness that there is an infinite field of potentials that are just as likely. Surprise happens every day. Let yourself be surprised. |
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