On the 4th Day of Christmas, My Soul Self Gave to Me a Smudge Fan and Sage

Incense, resins and botanicals are still used today in various Native American, shaman and indigenous ceremonies and rituals. The fragrant smoke purifies a room or space of negative vibrations. Incense is used for meditation or for simply scenting a room. The ancient Chinese believed that different scents induced different reactions such as tranquility and peaceful solitude.

Smudges are used to cleanse, purify, protect and remove negative energy. Smudges have been used by Native American and other indigenous people for thousands of years. The smudges most often used by Native Americans are sage, sweet grass and cedar. In central and South America, copal resin is also used. In the East, Frankincense and Myrrh resins have been used by Christians and Jews for purification and protection.

Sage, Cedar and Sweetgrass can be purchased and burned in small bundles. These can also be cut up and mixed together and burned. Sometimes these mixtures will contain Lavender flowers, as Lavender is used in love and healing rituals and promotes sleep and peace.

It is traditional to burn the smudge in something made of the earth such as an abalone, clam or oyster shell, a clay pot or flat or concave rock. These can be purchased at most metaphysical stores and some rock shops. Use a bundle of sage or pour a small amount of the mixture into the shell and light it on fire. Let the mixture catch fire and then gently blow out the flame and let the smudge herbs smolder. This will create a small stream of smoke. Now, you will use your feather or fan to guide the smoke around yourself or the room.

To Sage Your Home or Office:

After lighting the bundle of sage and other herbs and blowing it out, walk from room to room in your home or office, spreading the smoky mixture with your prayer feather or fan. Hold the shell in one hand by the edge. Be careful, for the bottom of the shell will be hot.

Use the feather to guide the smoke in a clockwise fashion into every corner of the room. Use the feather to guide the smoke and sweep the negative energy out. Say a prayer or set an intention for the smudge. For example if you are removing negative energy, set an intention to do so. Say and think it, while you are smudging the room. You may also ask for protection and purification while smudging.

Remember, you can also ask your Angels and Guides to help you clear the negative energy from your home or any space.

When you are done smudging the room, your home or other space, simply snuff out the end of the sage bundle or place a bigger bowl over your mixture in the shell and it will extinguish itself.

How might you use sage and other wonderful grasses and herbs to cleanse yourself, your home and office space?

On the 3rd Day of Christmas, My Soul Self Gave to Me the Gift of Meditation

There is nothing that has changed my life more than meditation.

When I take time each day to unplug from the world and plug into the Divine, my day flows with a grace and beauty that is both wonderful and affirming.

When I first began meditating, I would fall asleep. I’ve since learned that this is very common. Our teachers recommended that we honor the falling asleep. One teacher suggested that one reason that we fall asleep is because is because the ego is not interested in nothingness. LOL. Over time, this stopped happening for me.
One way to avoid falling asleep is to meditate when your body is not naturally sleepy. For this reason, early morning is a great time to meditate. My favorite way to meditate is to roll out of bed, go to the bathroom and then immediately take a seat in the big, comfy chair we have in our bedroom. I try to do it BEFORE checking email or Facebook, so that my mind is still clear.

If I am heading to the office, I meditate after I have arrived. I have found that a practice of 30 minutes is optimum for me. I started with 10 minutes, went to 15 and then to 20 and 30. I now do about 30 minutes each day. I meditate with a mantra, given to me by a teacher several years ago. Sometimes, I use binaural beats to help me get into the Theta brainwave state faster and stay there. My favorite are audios from Kelly Howell at Brainsync.

There are several other companies that offer binaural beats, as well. How does it work? Here’s an explanation from Kelly Howell’s website, www.brainsync.com:
Brainwave Therapy sends pure, precisely tuned sound waves of different frequencies to your brain via stereo headphones. In his EEG research, Oster discovered that when different vibrations, or sound frequencies, are delivered to the brain separately through each ear (as with stereo headphones), the two hemispheres of the brain function together to "hear" not the external sound signals, but a third phantom signal. This signal is called a binaural beat, and it pulses at the exact mathematical difference between the two actual tones. For example, a signal of 100 Hz delivered to the left ear, and a signal of 107 Hz delivered to the right creates a binaural beat of 7 Hz that in this case falls into the Alpha range.

Research shows that parts of the brain and eventually large areas of the brain begin to resonate sympathetically with this "phantom" binaural beat. This is known as the Frequency Following Response. Subsequent research determined that a binaural beat frequencies drive brain activity into specific brain states. Thus, effortlessly and naturally, your brain activity slides into rhythm with this binaural beat, becoming organized and coherent. Within minutes, the sound frequencies start to balance the left and right hemispheres of your brain – creating a remarkable state called hemispheric synchronization and driving the electrical activity of your brain into powerful states, normally unattainable. Flashes of creative insight, euphoria and a deep sense of calm is often accompanied by this extraordinary brain state.

Brainsync has a collection of 4 audio tracks that will take you from beginner, Alpha frequencies all the way to Delta, in just 4 weeks. It is called Sacred Ground and is available on their website www.brainsync.com and Amazon, as a CD or audio download. This is a fantastic program that I have used for about two years. Here is a description:

This is the perfect all-in-one program for all levels: from the beginner, who wants to be led gradually into deeper levels of meditation, to the more experienced listener, who wishes to have a variety of music and brain wave states available in a single program.

Week One - Relaxation and Grounding - Alpha Window Frequencies
Week Two - Relaxation and Release - Alpha & Theta Window Frequencies
Week Three - Opening Higher Consciousness - Theta Window Frequencies
Week Four - Deep Resonance - Theta & Delta Window Frequencies

There are other types of meditation, as well, including the use of a mantra, which I mentioned earlier. Primordial Sound Meditation (PSM) is a silent practice that uses a mantra. The mantra you receive is based on information provided to your teacher or guru and is not to be uttered allowed or shared with anyone else. My mantra is personal and specific to me.

Another type is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and these classes are often taught by physicians, nurses, social workers, and psychologists. This technique uses breath awareness and body scan. For breath awareness, you focus your attention on the inhale and exhale. Body scan is a process of focused attention on your body, starting at the toes and working up to the top of the head. You can also start at the top of the head and go down the body. As you focus on the body part, you relax that part and the practice takes you deeper within. This may be done seated, lying down, or walking.

Zen meditation or “Zazen” means “seated meditation.” It comes from Buddhism, and is done through observing both the breath and the mind. This is usually taught by a teacher and sometimes chanting is involved.

Transcendental Meditation (TM) was founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who trained many famous followers like the Beatles. It uses a mantra or series of Sanskrit words to help the practitioner focus during meditation. You will want to train with a TM Yogi to learn this technique.

Kriya Yoga is another form of meditation, brought to the West by the Indian mystic Paramahansa Yogananda. Kriya is an advanced Raja Yoga technique of pranayama (life-energy control). Kriya reinforces and revitalizes subtle currents of life energy (prana) in the spine and brain. The ancient seers of India (rishis) perceived the brain and spine as the tree of life. Out of the chakras flow the energies that enliven all the nerves and every organ and tissue of the body. The yogis discovered that by moving the life current continuously up and down the spine by the special technique of Kriya Yoga, it is possible to greatly accelerate one's spiritual evolution and awareness. If you are interested in this form of meditation, you will want to train with a Kriya Yogi.

"By the definite science of meditation known for millenniums to the yogis and sages of India, and to Jesus, any seeker of God can enlarge the caliber of his consciousness to omniscience to receive within himself the Universal Intelligence of God." — Paramahansa Yogananda

If you want to use guided meditations, this is totally acceptable. Kelly Howell has a number of guided meditations available and so do a lot of authors, such as authors and spiritual teachers from Hay House or Sounds True. Just go to these websites and search for meditation audios. Deepak Chopra and his Chopra Center host a meditation challenge several times a year. There are lots of meditation tips and sources. Let your angels and guides lead you to the style that is best for you.
Don't worry so much about the experience you are having or not having during meditation. As the saying goes, “Just do it!” If your mind wanders or if you drift away, gently bring your attention back to your mantra, your breath or back to what Wayne Dyer calls the “gap.” The gap is nothingness.

Don't struggle or beat yourself up if you don’t feel you are “doing it right.” Meditation is all about letting go and allowing everything to be. Remember the Beatles song, “Let it be”? Don't try to control your meditation experience. An advanced meditator will allow her mind to do whatever it wants. If thoughts come in, imagine them as leaves in a small stream and see them float off. Or, you can imagine thoughts as clouds floating by in the sky. Soon, you will see that as you allow these thoughts to float by, you begin to allow things in your life to “float by,” as well. Very cool how this works.

Please continue meditating, even if you do not see immediate results. Sometimes, it takes months to get into your natural rhythm and sometimes it take years to really relax into realizing the power and benefits of meditation. Meditation teacher Pema Chodron says that the students who come to her and want to quit are on the verge of letting go!

Over time you will develop a love for the peace that you feel, as you go into the emptiness, the “gap”, or whatever you want to call it. So celebrate the moment when you want to meditate and leave the world behind for a few minutes a day.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas, My Soul Self Gave to Me Rose Quartz Crystals

On the 2nd Day of Christmas, My Soul Self Gave to Me Rose Quartz Crystals for healing my heart and opening to more love in my life.

Rose Quartz is one of the first crystals I found when Steve and I began collecting crystals in 2001. I loved the pale pink color and the variety of options: beads, pendants, rough stones, jewelry, carved angels and skulls. You name it: Rose Quartz is available in many, many forms and is very inexpensive. What I love most about Rose Quartz is how it heals the heart chakra. It also fosters love on many levels, including Self-Love!

“The fair and lovely Rose Quartz, with its gentle pink essence, is a stone of the heart, a Crystal of Unconditional Love. It carries a soft feminine energy of compassion and peace, tenderness and healing, nourishment and comfort. It speaks directly to the Heart Chakra, dissolving emotional wounds, fears and resentments, and circulates a Divine loving energy throughout the entire aura. Reawakening the heart to its own innate love, it provides a deep sense of personal fulfillment and contentment, allowing one the capacity to truly give and receive love from others.[Raphaell, 82-85][Simmons, 331][Hall, 236]
Called the Heart Stone, Rose Quartz may have been used as a love token as early as 600 B.C. and is still an important talisman of relationships. It is quite effective in attracting new love, romance and intimacy, or in developing a closer bond with family or friends. It supports connection within groups and community, and carries a high spiritual attunement to the Earth, Universe, and the Divine. [Eason, 50][Simmons, 331][Hall, 236]

Source: http://www.crystalvaults.com/crystal-encyclopedia/rose-quartz
(Books used for the description are shown in parentheses by author’s name.)

I use Rose Quartz in a number of ways in my life:

1. Carry a small piece of Rose Quartz in my pocket. I make sure that it is a smooth stone.

2. Wear a pendant of Rose Quartz.

3. Wear a bracelet that has Rose Quartz beads.

4. Drop chunks of rough Rose Quartz in my bath. Wonderful as a skin softener and it also heals the physical body. One source said it’s good for wrinkles!

5. Use Rose Quartz to heal my heart by lying down and placing a piece over my heart chakra.

6. Use Rose Quartz in a crystal grid for healing on mental, spiritual, physical and emotional levels. Rose Quartz is a great stone to add to any grid.

How might you use the healing properties of Rose Quartz in your life?

To learn more about Rose Quartz, I recommend books by Adrienne Goff, Judy Hall, Philip Permutt or Katrina Raphaell.

On the 1st Day of Christmas, my Soul Self gave to me

Over the next 12 days, I’m going to share wonderful gifts of healing that you can give yourself. The very first one is my all-time favorite gift:

THE GIFT OF SELF-FORGIVENESS

What a gift! When I am truly ready to forgive myself for past wrongs, omissions and any other things for which I have judged myself, a cascade of healing can begin. How do I begin the process? My favorite vehicle for Self-0Forgiveness is Colin Tipping’s Radical Self Forgiveness:

https://www.radicalforgiveness.com/

Go to Colin’s website and download FREE TOOLS for Radical Self-Forgiveness. His worksheet and tutorial will take you through the steps. He also has a book on Amazon and an audio on www.soundstrue.com. In Colin’s own words:

“If you have a tendency to be hard on yourself and make yourself wrong a lot of the time, then this is the strategy for you. Radical Self-Empowerment is a combination of Radical Self-Forgiveness and Radical Self-Acceptance.

Even though the core technology is the same as Radical Forgiveness, we treat Radical Empowerment as a strategy in its own right, given the difficulty people experience when trying to forgive themselves or find love for themselves. It also has its own set of tools which I recommend you use if you find it difficult to accept yourself just the way you are.”

Are you ready? You may begin in small ways to forgive yourself. You can add crystals to support you while you are forgiving yourself. A few that work really well for forgiveness are:

Rose Quartz
Rhodonite
Rhodochrosite
Chrysoprase
Apache Tear

You might wear a rose quartz pendant or get a piece of Chrysoprase to carry in your pocket. I enjoy getting beads of the various crystals and making bracelets that are easy to wear.

You can also add essential oils to support yourself. I feel that the crystals and oils work together to hold me in a loving embrace, while I do the forgiveness work. doTERRA® has a new blend called Forgive! Or, you can use Bergamot or Thyme essential oils. Get a good quality essential oil like doTERRA® or Young Living® or Aura Cacia®, which is available at Whole Foods.

So, the next time you do something that you feel is a “mistake” or something you’d rather you hadn’t done, stop and:

1. Breathe
2. Go inside and connect with your HEART
3. Say: “I Love you and I forgive you.”
4. Take another deep breath and look around you. Find something for which you can show appreciation. Anchor this in your heart.
5. Inhale or apply your favorite essential oil to feel supported as you heal and release.
6. Carry a crystal or wear jewelry made with your crystal(s) for additional support.

You did it. What a great gift you gave yourself today!

PJ Spur pjspur@gmail.com www.soulrevelations.com

Boot Scootin' in Heaven Now . . .

My favorite uncle passed away last week: Clarence Simpson of Amarillo, TX. He was 93. We shared a birthday month (November) and a love of red cars (he had a red Firebird once and I drive a red Toyota now!)

One of his daughters read a beautiful chronicle of his life at the service. The Chaplain said he asked the family for some stories to share and that most of them said that the best stories about Clarence wouldn’t be appropriate for the service!
So true! He was a bigger than life cowboy who lived each day to the fullest. He was telling stories and dancing until the day he died. He won many dance contests, in fact, and you can see a video of him dancing on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azkfPSzNMTo

That’s the Boot Scootin’ Boogie and there’s another one with “Waltz Across Texas” if you want to check it out.

Here are some of my favorite stories about Clarence Thomas Simpson.
1. First of all, his name wasn’t really Clarence Thomas Simpson, although many people called him “CT” for most of his life. (I knew him as CT) When he went to join the Army, they asked him for his name and he told them, “My name is Clarence Simpson.” The recruiter asked for his middle name and he told the guy he didn’t have one. (My mother doesn’t have a middle name. Her mother didn’t have a middle name. Don’t know the whole story on this!)
So, the guy kept pressing my uncle until he just blurted out: OK, My name is Clarence Thomas Simpson. They wrote that down and it stuck for the rest of his 93 years. He also had the nickname “Pinkie,” although I don’t know the origin of that. I’ll have to ask my Mom.
2. He was played football and was valedictorian of his class at O’Donnell High School in O’Donnell, Texas. He won a full scholarship to Texas A & M. However, the summer after graduation, he had appendicitis and had to be hospitalized. By the time he recovered, he had missed the start of the school year and lost his scholarship and chance to go to A & M. Instead, he joined the Army.
3. He wasn’t really 93. When he went to join the Army, he lied and said his birthday was November 10, 1921. He was really born in 1922. He lied so that the Army would enlist him.
4. He had two TVs at his house and during Football Season, he would turn on both, each one turned to a different game. One was on one end of the living room and one was on the other. His chair was in the middle of the room. This way, he could monitor two different games at holidays.
5. My sisters and I spent a week at his farm several summers when we were little. I have fond memories of riding Jim Jump and Queenie, two of the horses he kept at his place on River Road. We also played in the water at a neighbor’s house. She had a Water Wiggle. You know, one of those water toys that have been deemed unsafe for today’s kids. We had a blast with it! One of my favorite pictures of me is in a chair at CT’s house, holding a huge stuffed animal that belonged to my Cousin Judy.

6. He raised cattle and would sell cows to individuals for food. My Mom bought a cow or half of a cow many times over the years. Once or twice I bought the other half for my family. It would be butchered, packed, quick-frozen and we would drive to get it. Once, my Ex-husband and I went to get our beef and drove out to the ranch to see him sell cows on a Saturday. Some Asian families were there and they bought the cow and butchered it right there on the spot! Really! It was incredible to watch. Interesting and unsettling at the same time. Not nearly as much fun as seeing my Ex-husband eating “calf fries” later at my Uncle’s kitchen table! Poor guy was from California and had no idea of the origin of such a delicacy! Hey, they were battered and chicken-fried and my Aunt made great country gravy!
7. CT had a heart as big as Texas. He gave money, cows, packages of beef and sausage (he traded out with a guy who raised pigs) to families and single parents who needed help. He and his wife took in 3 or more young girls who didn’t have families and raised them as their own.
8. He took the place of our Grandfather when ours passed away in 1968. He was Granddad, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy all rolled into one and he always looked out for my Mom for quite a few years. Then, when he moved into the VA Home, my mom began to check on him and look out for him.
9. He gave one last gift. After the service and the graveside festivities (Bugle playing "Taps", Gun Salute, Folding of the Flag and Presentation of a Flag to each of his three children) we went to a local diner for lunch. CT had eaten at this diner at least once a week in his hey day and daily after the death of his wife Barbara in 2000. After he moved into the VA Nursing Home, he would treat visitors to meals at the diner, whenever people came into town to see him. It’s called Youngblood’s and is a café inside the Stockyards in Amarillo. After we enjoyed chicken fried steak and yeast rolls the size of Rhode Island, we got up to pay and were told it was taken care of. I thought that the café took care of it because of what a loyal customer my Uncle was. But, I learned later that HE paid for it. He left notes in his will for his son that he wanted to take everyone who came to his service to lunch! So, even after his death, CT Simpson was a most generous man! Can you imagine: thinking ahead, making this decision and the plans to do such a kind and generous gesture?

That’s the kind of man CT Simpson was, is! He IS a most generous Soul!

Yes, CT was a colorful, generous man, who lived a long and full life. I’m sure he’s already joined a dance contest in Heaven and is charming the ladies!

I love you, CT! So glad to know you and call you my Uncle! May you rest in peace.

Angel Messages . . .

Here are the angel messages from our group last night:

1. Revisit some of the music you grew up with to heal childhood hurts.
2. As the weather gets cooler, walk barefoot in the grass and enjoy nature.
3. Put your passion together with your skills and talents and claim your life’s work.
4. You will also benefit from getting away to the beach or camping at the lake. The water is good for you.
5. You need some R & R! Take some time away to recharge and you’ll come back ready to rock & roll!
6. Someone from your past may be a key to future career success. Be open to the signs or new opportunities.
7. Slow down and smell the roses. What’s your hurry?

I always love it when the angel message that I hear and record compliments something that Steve shares in his live, “shoot from the hip” messages from friends and loved ones on The Other Side. Last night, I was recording what my angels whispered to me about a young man (See #3 above) and then Steve began to say, “You’re involved in music, aren’t you? Not just making music, but producing and recording.” Then I could instantly ”see” how his passion and his skills and talents were going to come together. The smile on his face said it all! Have you ever noticed how someone glows when he talks about his passion?

As always, I share these bits of guidance in the knowledge that someone else can benefit from a tidbit that resonates. So, name it and claim it!

Over the weekend, I was thinking about families and the term “dysfunctional family” came into my mind. “What is the opposite of dysfunctional?” was my next thought. Well, “functional,” of course.

However, do we want “functional” families? Doesn’t that sound very clinical or utilitarian? And so I began thinking about what adjectives I wanted to consider for MY family.

Balanced
Happy
Trusting
Loving
Generous
Supportive
Peaceful
Harmonious

When I thought of the word “harmonious,” I looked it up in a thesaurus and also saw “symphony” or “symphonious,” which means:

an interweaving of themes, or harmonious arrangement

Isn't that amazing? An orchestra is various pieces.



Many different kinds of instruments. You don’t often hear of a band of all clarinets or an orchestra made up of only violins or only tubas. Yet, how often do families want each member to fit into a mold and be just like each other!

Yes, in an orchestra, there is a variety of instruments and each is encouraged to be unique and make its own special contribution to the group. You don’t play a clarinet the same way you play a tuba or a piano or a violin. The sound that comes from each instrument is different, as well. Yet, when each is played, the sounds blend together to create beautiful melodies.

So, today I pray for healing and harmony for my family and families everywhere!