Pink Coyote

Season of the Owl + Friday TeleLounge

There's something in the air this season. Literally. In uncanny keeping with my previous post on Spiritual Relationship in This Dimension, Owl seems to be showing up and giving one hundred eighty-degree nods to the notion that we are closer to the spiritual realms than ever. Playing in conversation with non-dualism keeps bringing me back to something affirming: matter is not so seperate from spirit. Maybe not at all. Owl's cheerleading anyone who is comfortable traversing both realms and serving the higher good. She's all brow chakra in the indigo night air. Her questions are about what motivates...

 

It's personal for me, my developing relationship with Owl, because of recent events giving me the opportunity to observe what's going on in community and in the world. There seems a thread of commonality, and I'm deeply intrigued by it. Owl is typically thought of as the nocturnal one who travels between this dimension and the spirit world as if they are one. She is a guide for journeys taken into the darkness for good reason. However, she's not limited to her application around Halloween/Dia de los Muertos/Samhain. She seems to be omnipresent now- showing healers, lightworkers, warriors, magicians, and those working with subtle energies that they can access that "thinned veil" sensation more regularly.

 

I ran across an article by author Doreen Virtue while I was looking for some sort of confirmation that I'm not the only one sensing this:

The world is different than we’ve ever experienced. The veil is so thin that it’s essentially gone, and we can see the truth clear-eyed: We’re now aware of the “man behind the curtain” in terms of the low-frequency money-changers who only care about acquiring more money and power and who seem hell-bound to drive us all into a wasteland of chemicals, sterile plant seeds, limited human rights, and an authoritarian one-world government and currency. -Doreen Virtue

 

So much awareness. Combined with trust of one's intuition and trustworthy guides, it would seem that the application is one which serves as a checks and balances system for what motivates one's work in the world. Owl is here to help.

Is Owl connecting with you this season?

What is she asking you to look at about the work that you do in the world?

What are you championing, and what is at the root of that cause?

What potions are wanting to be created? Healing remedies? Crafts? What magic can be made all winter long?

 

Owl as a totem or guide teaches us to hunt for that which truly sustains life, and the life-death-life cycle. She teaches us not to fear the dark, or the winter cycle, or letting go. What works? What isn't working? What's already gone that can be emotionally released on the coming Winter Solstice?

 

I'll be talking about the work that's being done in the world and how Owl medicine plays into it. Join me this Friday at 2pm Pacific to listen in and do a bit of Q & A. These calls are really loose, fun and affirming...and FREE.

Missed the call? Listen to the recording here!

Spiritual Relationship in This Dimension

Something I've been giving a lot of thought to lately is how I know my loved ones. Losing a young soulmate during a young relationship takes a toll on a soul, and so it seems reflexive for any person to inquire more extensively in order to stay connected. We know one another in the physical world so well: touches, kisses, snuggles, hugs, conversations, but to know someone's spirit is to be able to interact with them on a level that takes us beyond this dimension together.

I was surpised to be approached by a sweet and gracious intuitive counselor to ask me if I would like her to conduct an energetic session on behalf of Morgan, my spirit dog that crossed over several weeks ago. I wasn't sure what to expect and didn't have hopes about what would come. What really took my breath away in the end was Bridget's compassion for those who leave this physical plane. She brought up something very simple, but so needed, which was to know Morgan outside of her body. Writing it brings me to tears because while I feel I do, I would have said that indeed, I did, I wish I'd brought more of that consciousness to our relationship when she was here. I, of course, as humans are apt to do, must have believed she'd be with us a long time like our other fur babes, somewhat sheltered creatures that they are these days. And so much of my experience with her was of innocent and daily joy. Because her passing was so sudden, the loss of her was like a blindside-the kind I've seen friends and family experience, but had no real way to relate to yet.

Bringing this wisdom back to the hearth, with the experience and new vantage point I was carrying, has found me digging a little bit deeper into the impermanent aspects of connection that I have with others-listening for essence rather than showing up at the level of face-value. Being a mother to two young children, life can be rife with fears. In fact, I just read the scene from Harry Potter tonight in which Mrs. Weasley encounters the boggart, (pesky buggers that take the shape of ones biggest fears), who appears as each one of her children in succession having died. It reminded me, yet again, how much quiet fear we can carry when anticipating the physical loss of a child or beloved. We don't dare speak it (for fear of laws of attraction?). We can really get eaten up by these fears, to the detriment of the time that we do get to spend with our loved ones. I find that I can't even go there, it's so erosive- though I know too many for whom this is reality. 

What I'm seeking out when I interact with my loved ones now is to see them in a spirit way, the way that they might always be, in or out of matter. I'm only just beginning to flex this muscle in a truly conscious way, but it's had a way of easing things already. I can see that I am less fixed on what is in front of me, and more enamoured with the way someone moves through the world. I imagine the essence of my loved ones, and it lightens my heart.

Being human can be challenging on a body and a mind. We come bursting into the world with a stew of personality, going on to gather imprints from childhood, develop ethics that grow out of experiences, gun-shyness from the lessons we've learned, medicative obsessions,and beautiful strengths, too-a tangled, and equally worthwhile mess of humanness. We are most commonly perceived by others based on how we present in this dimension. And rightfully so, we have to be responsible for these aspects and how they affect others. Yet, spiritually, we are actually none of those things. What must we peel off to let spiritual substance shine?

I'm guessing that many of us hobnob with the unchanging aspects of *essence* in this community of artists, parents, healers, and medicine keepers. It's certainly spoken of plenty. I seem to know a few folks who seem to be blessed with this kind of vision naturally, unencumbered by the constraints of mortal coil. Children are particularly good at this kind of seeing.

Each event or lightbulb that wakes us up a bit is another opportunity to move closer to what a spiritual quality in a living being looks like in ourselves, and cherished others- and our fundamental relationships to them.

What extracted core can we acknowledge that is most meaningful?

How can we perceive authentically in order to let some of the superficial go?

This Weekend: 2013 SouLodge = Free Medicine Animals & Totems e-Guide

I'm totally not a Black Friday person in any sense of the word. I've already lazily eaten leftovers, sloughed about in my slippers, and unplanned my day.

I shan't leave the house. But I do love giving things away for free, (and so many of you turned up for the giveaway!) that it occurred to me that it would amazing to offer you my Medicine Animals & Totems e-Guide though the weekend, so that you can get started connecting with your helpers before we begin on January 1st. The guide is packed full of inquiry and information to bring you closer to the Earth, whether you live amidst nature or urbania.

Here's a bit about the e-Guide, free with your purchase of SouLodge Annual through Sunday:

Medicine Animals & Totems e-Guide is an abundant range of information designed to introduce you to new ways of interacting with the creatures that show up in your dreams and in the world around you. It's focus is to help you discover your power animal(s) and take you through a technique called journeywork, a method of meditation in which to meet and commune with your guides. It covers a wide range of tools to help you see and think symbolically, and to help you step outside of linear thinking in order to make soul connections with your spiritual allies.

Creatures are all around us: in the air, on the Earth, in the trees, underground. There is a growing fascination for how the animals can teach us to walk closer to the Earth, as well as help us gain insights about our individual human condition as we experience it day-to-day.

The 15 page e-Guide includes:

• Introduction to Animal Medicine Video

• Observing Animal Behavior & Interpreting Animal Behavior Worksheets

• Smudging Ceremony Video for creating sacred space for your journey meditations

• How to Journey Video with links to shamanic drumbeats and Mindful Bear app

• Journey Prompts Worksheet

• 30-Minute Podcast by Pixie, which contains insights into how to work more deeply with your totem(s), and answers the most common questions about walking a path close to the Earth with medicine guides from the creature realm.

• Resources for furthering your study with animal totems

**When you purchase your subscription to SouLodge between now and Sunday night, be sure to note in the Paypal comments, if different, what email address you would like your PDF of Medicine Animals & Totems to be sent to, so that you get it without issues.

Happy post-Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm so beyond grateful to all of you who come here shining your light so brightly. It truly does feel like building a big fire each time Lodge is held. Watching you walk up and stand in circle feels like ((**solidarity rising**)).

Bowing to the sacredness and power of a woman willing to excavate her own soul to find her wholeness....

Love, Pixie

 

 

2013 SouLodge Membership Giveaway

photo a gift from the spirited hands of sweat lodge sister, Amy.

***THIS JUST IN***

Thank you all for entering the giveaway-your words are such a contribution to me and to each other about growth...so many gorgeous declarations and clarity in the comments! It is always a bit heartbreaking not to throw open the doors and welcome the flood of you in at once. I chose seven winners because I just couldn't stop at four....blessings to ALL OF YOU precious and sacred people, and thank you for sharing the light of Lodge with your friends. I hope to see as many of you as possible in the coming year. The dark age is lifting! 2013 holds so much promise for integration and movement toward beautiful wholeness and illumination.

The seven seats go to:

marissamoondaughter

sarah naeserian

rhonda

jeanette house

fiveoclockdanceparty

playcrane

susan: please send the friend's email that you'll be gifting to and cc her on it.

Will you all please send a message to me at [email protected] so that I can add your name to the annual roster? Welcome to SouLodge, ladies! I hope that it serves you well and adds spiritual and creative dimension to your year. SO much love!

********************

Sisters! This is your chance to hop on board the SouLodge train and ride for free. Do you know about the change in format for next year? 

Here's the skinny from the website:

Annual SouLodge membership delivers monthly SouLodge teachings from nature to your inbox on the 1st of every month. Here's what you can expect:

On the first of every month of 2013, you'll receive the following in your email inbox:

• Medicine Wheel Animal Guide teaching corresponding with the season/direction
• Video guidance for working with the monthly medicine animal teacher
• Journal prompts for taking the work into your soul and integrating
• Journey guidance for retrieving messages from your totems, guides and messengers
• Original Team SouLodge MP3 Drumming/Music to accompany your journeywork
• Podcasts
• Guided meditations to compliment/contrast the free-form style that is shamanic journey work

There will also be seasonal crafts, rituals, altar projects and ceremony sprinkled throughout. Addition to the high-integrity, private SouLodge Facebook group brings to you a community discussion forum. This is an excellent place to share your journey work and questions, as well as connect to women on a creative, spiritual, healing path.

Membership for the January-December 2013 calendar year is $99- NOT per month, but for the entire year.

What we're doing here, women, is CREATING CULTURE. Thank you for your awareness, and for your contributions to a healing process that is nothing short of global.

SouLodge 2013 will be like receiving twelve virtual medicine bundles over the course of the year. Maybe a bit yummier. ♥ 

*Leave your comments, and this time I would love to hear about what kind of support you require to shine spiritually, creatively. Don't be shy, now. The giveaway for four spots will close on Wednesday afternoon PST. Share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and let me know how many times to enter you.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm so grateful for this sacred community of healers, seers, seekers, creatives, renegades, mamas, lightbringers, gatherers, space-holders...all of you.

Primal Healing: Ivy's GF Apple Bread

Things have been a bit rough around here this week. Unsurprisingly, we've all been getting on each other's nerves a fair amount, navigating that tender thread between acceptance and resistance, immobility and charge. I've been wanting to bake bread in a sacred way, I don't know why it's been calling to me for so long. I have this fantasy that if I can just knead some dough, punch it down, watch it rise, and then fill this house with the scent of it before dousing a hunk of it in the stew I was making...that perhaps some primal sort of healing will come of it. This is my relationship to bread. Holy sacrament. Willing to hold out for the really good stuff.

I suggested this to the kids yesterday, as their Dad made the long drive home empty-handed from the eleven day hunting trip (He did finish A Moveable Feast; leave it to Hemingway to cost me my winter albondigas...) and we were as restless as ever.

"Hey, who wants to bake some bread?"

They sensed my desperation.

Mumbles were issued.

Being a novice baker, I needed them to be in on the deal, lest I have to manage their disgruntlement while waiting for the perfect rise. Ivy shouted out that she'd make Apple Bread, which I wasn't even sure I'd ever heard of, but with her willing to do it (on her terms, of course), I leapt to defunk our spirits with baking medicine.

We began with this simple recipe and made four mini loaves that were pretty awesome:

Then we had to modify the recipe for so many of our friends who are gluten-free, and because I think Ivy might have a wee gluten sensitivity. (She often breaks out in little red bumps around her mouth and chin after eating things like pretzels and crackers, so we do a fair amount of gf for that reason). 

We cut the sugar by a quarter and added maple syrup, subbed out the flour, added more apple in larger chunks, and spiced it up a bit more. The one large loaf took nearly 60 minutes to cook, (the batter could've been shared with a mini loaf pan or two), and the four minis took about 28 minutes. Ivy did all of the mixing, which was really simple, wet things in one bowl and dry in another, then blend & bake at 350.

I didn't get to punch anything, nor test my essentially non-scientific chemistry skillset, but it was a fantastic way to create our way through the big feelings week with a bit more grace and laughs than we'd been having. Even Miles, who has been hit the hardest by the loss of his "best dog", had two slices and dispensed generous compliments to the young mixmistress and her eager assistant.

Thank you all for your cards, gifts, sweet sentiments and love. Loss is something we all face and it is made softer and more graceful by deep compassion and connectedness. THANK YOU.

Day to Night: Farewell to the Faery Queen

You have no idea when you give life to someone, a stray dog or your own children, that you are also giving them to death. We don't want to carry this idea. We want to carry the forever feeling of our bond in life with silent fear of what that will look like when things unfold as they inevitably will. We want to live our daily lives mostly avoidant of the fact that night follows day and death follows life. What I seek, in all of this SouLodging and soul-working is meaning, a home within myself-something that has room for it all: the night that will always follow the day, and the death that will always follow a life. It isn't easy.

You'll have to read this post to appreciate where I'm coming from tonight. In a strange and sudden, unexpected twist of fate, we lost our Morgie early Saturday morning to a complication with tetanus.

Befriending all of life (and it's dark companion) and juicing it for all of the beauty I can stand to hold is all that I can do. Morgan fought to stay with us, at just three years old, seemingly knowing what a wake she would leave behind, and I fought to keep her alive. Letting go is never easy.

Morgan crossed over on the exact same day that Blue did three years ago. The week was full of uncanny symbols: Samhain, Halloween, my crawl from the womb of the Mama into new light, a shedding of shadows, a Black Widow that appeared and disappeared several times, unusual dreams of Blue, and of my grandfather who crossed that prompted my mother to gift me with a black Wolf pelt two years ago.

What I wanted Morgan to know, and what I wanted to feel, as I scraped up every shed hair off the front seat of my car, and placed them into the pouch I'd tossed into my purse on the way to the canine neurological center, is that I WILL CARRY HER. That her life was so meaningful to me.

I want every loved one in my life to know this. 

Sweet Morgan, Morgie Lee, Morgan le Fay, of the mysterious and magical shadowy faery realm, you ruled our hearts here. Now you and Blue can run the heart show on the Other Side. Make them laugh as you did for us here. Dazzle them with your charm and your energy. Take everything that you need for yourself, like the great Oak, and give everything back to them in spades, as you did for me, Dark One.

Sister.