The Success of Your Authentic Self – Richard’s Commentary

Rosemary and I just returned from our monthly gathering of the EQUAAC group we are part of. This is the Equality Anne Arundel County group who, among other things, worked for the passage of Marriage Equality in Maryland. It’s a wonderful, warm group of men and women, both gay and straight who happen to believe in “equality” in all things! Rosemary and I are always welcomed with open arms, hugs, kisses and big smiles. It is such a pleasure to be part of this group!

And one thing always strikes me when we get together: I can be my authentic self with these wonderful human beings. I don’t have to pretend; there are no pretenses; there are no hidden motives, no one trying to get an upper hand or convince anyone of something other than genuine gladness to be together.

Maybe this is a luxury of getting older. I can be myself no matter whom I’m with or what I’m doing. Why can’t it always be this way? Here’s Rosemary’s answer:

We forget.

We forget to reach inside ourselves for answers. We forget that we are ‘enough’ just as we are. We forget that no one else knows exactly what our Soul Contract with the Universe is and that we agreed to come into this world at this time.

I am forgetting less often! I am working very hard, through my various practices to remember who I am, why I’m here and to live with that level of authenticity. And it does take practice. The ego wants to pretend; it’s sometimes easier that way, less risky. The ego doesn’t always like authenticity. But inside there are better answers; “real” answers. When we go inside we do remember what’s important.

And it is a matter of remembering, as Rosemary points out in yesterday’s post. We all come in knowing and remembering our purpose, our true self and the true reason the Universe called us to BE, here and now. Society and our ego want us to forget. We go through our growing years and our “educational process” learning to forget! If we all remembered to fulfill our purposes society would be very different. And society, just like our egos, wants to maintain the status quo.

There may be stability in the status quo but I wouldn’t call it success. Where is the impetus for evolution if we all toe the line and forget our purpose? Where’s the progress if we ignore our inner truth and accept someone else’s judgment about that? Where’s the lesson, the gain, the success if we pretend we are something other than who we came here to be?

Our success can only truly be measured against our true purpose. We all know our purpose; we may have forgotten it but it is in there, inside. We came with blueprints; we can remember. It takes practice but it is there.

Rosemary’s clarion call is to “remember.” I echo this call! We are called to awaken to our purpose, to our authentic selves. What better time than now, this holiday season and at year’s end to take up this cause and remember!

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It’s Crystal Clear… – Richard’s Commentary

I love crystals. I have been enjoying them, working with them, carrying them, giving them for many years. And while many of the beautiful crystals can be clear, it is often the ones that hold inclusions, clouds, shadows, phantoms, figures, faces, occlusions and a variety of designs that are even more beautiful. And it is this embedded complex structure that can hold great meaning for us.

In her post, Rosemary speaks of two kinds of crystals, those found in the Earth and those we hold within ourselves. Both kinds are instructive and carry information for us – if we are willing to “dig” for it. Here’s what she says about the crystals of Earth:

Think of the crystallized belief as a crystal from the Earth. Crystals have a consciousness that has been created over millions of years. Humans have not been on the planet that long. What information might be stored in that crystal for you?

The “consciousness” of crystals is what we need to mine. Yes, first we have to discover them in the Earth, un-Earth them. Then we have to discover their meaning for us, the messages they bring.

The second type of crystals Rosemary speaks about are those crystallized beliefs that block the flow in our lives:

Now look at the crystals within you for the messages that they hold for you. What does stuck energy want you to know so that you can move forward and let the energy flow again?

Here’s the deal: the Earth’s crystals can help us break free of the crystallized beliefs we carry – when we are ready. This is the true “healing potential” of these crystals.

The perfect example is people who either do or do not believe in crystals. First, the crystals are real, they exist just as any other form of matter exists. So, I believe in the existence of crystals. Second, they hold information; their very structure, often extraordinarily complex, is information. Third, we can read and interpret that information, use its meaning in insightful and intuitive ways. OK, this third point may be touching on a belief. Fourth, using the interpreted information to clear blocks, clear or modify the internal crystalline structures we want to release, is clearly a belief. And so are those blocks, holding us back from fulfilling our true purpose, beliefs. Clearing those blocks means adopting new beliefs, e.g. the belief that crystals can be effective in the healing process.

crstal spiralI have been working with a specific set of crystals for over a week now. (Pictured here) And I find myself opening up and flowing more than I ever have. I attended a “crystal meditation” the other evening with an array of crystals, crystal and Tibetan singing bowls and meditative sounds. I went into a deep and long “bliss state” as never before. Not only are crystals helping me clear stuck beliefs, they are helping me understand the deeper nature of reality.

One more quote from Rosemary:

Everything you need to know is available. You just need to know where to look and how to interpret what you find. Start with what you know are energy blocks. And be ready for the energy leap of personal growth to follow the crystal clarity!

Everything I need to know about reality is available. Crystals are real. Crystals heal. For me this is “crystal clear.”

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PS: Are you looking for “crystal clarity”? Guidance is available from many dimensions. Rosemary is continuing a series of teaching and channeling experiences for everyone! If you have spiritual questions, if you want to hear messages from other dimensions, if you are curious about life beyond this physical, three-dimensional world,  if you are curious about the energies of 2014, join us for a unique experience! Come with your questions; this opportunity is interactive. Rosemary will teach and channel for part of the time and answer your questions at the end of the evening. Join us online or in person; check out the details here.

The Agony of Angst – Richard’s Commentary

Rosemary suggests there may be some pain involved in this evolutionary process we are finding ourselves in the middle of. There is always pain in not knowing. And there is so much we don’t know. When it comes to our evolution we certainly don’t know how it’s going to turn out; we don’t even know for sure that the human race will survive the process! But there are way-showers; through the millennia there have been people who emerge as prototypes for where we are headed.

But we are here now; and many are struggling with this angst of not knowing. However, there is hope and Rosemary offers a thoughtful prescription to calm the angst as we move through as standard bearers ourselves in the evolutionary struggle to emerge from the cocoon of our old ways.

Her first remedy: decide what you can control and what you cannot. You may have noticed that this post is late today. My usual deadline for posting is 10:00 am Eastern time. But I needed to make a priority choice between getting the post out and our grandson’s school holiday concert. And backing up from that we had an event at our home last evening that went much later than expected. So I chose these events over sticking to a hard and fast blog-post schedule. I can control my time and my priorities and flow with those choices. And I can significantly reduce my stress level by remaining flexible.

Rosemary’s second remedy: make sure that your spiritual life is on the path that you wish to journey. The event we hosted last evening that ran late pushing my schedule and delaying this post was our monthly Spiritual Exploration Group. Normally we gather this group at a local restaurant, but for this one everyone brought food to share and we visited the subject of Crystals and how we interact with them. One of our members is an extraordinary keeper of crystals and he set up a spiral and grid in our meeting room for this event. I have included a picture here that poorly captures hiscrstal spiral creation and the “music” of the crystals. The evening of presentation, discussion and meditation was powerful and moving. The crystal spiral and grid had messages for each of us and seemed to offer support for our journeys.

The third remedy: Stay connected to other people. Both Rosemary and I have building community as part of our soul purpose. Our Spiritual Exploration Group is just one of the ways we are doing this and staying connected. We have brought this group together by invitation; we are very careful to invite those who are curious, exploring, growing and evolving with us. Our motto for the group is “we come together for discussion, not dogma.” We are open to all topics and any thoughts, experiences and observations are welcome. Last evening’s discussion, as an example, was free ranging from the approach to choosing crystals (or they choosing us) to deep meditation on what the crystals have recorded during their long history and what they have to tell us. Everyone had experiences to share.

The fourth remedy: Remember that you are a part of the evolution of all humanity. Holding this perspective is a good way to work through the “agony.” This work is not for the faint-of-heart!

Lastly, you are not alone. We are all in this together! No one can evolve by themselves. And no one needs to suffer the agony of angst alone. Set your priorities, look to the inner, spiritual journey, gather together to share the process and remember the great work we have been called to!

And thank you for doing your part in the work of evolution that all humanity needs at this time!

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Assess the Necessity – Richard’s Commentary

Rosemary asks some tough questions in her blog-post yesterday. The key here is to review our values, especially with the question: “how much is enough?” in mind. Rosemary’s challenge: it is important to decide consciously what is a necessity in Your Life.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I ask this of myself is health. I have been struggling for a week with a debilitating pain in my shoulder. I brought this on myself, raking leaves like a madman a week or so ago. And I felt reasonably good doing it. I did and do realize I’m not 40-something any longer. I took my time and only did the front yard. And I expected some stiffness as an after-effect. I did wake up with a few sore muscles the next day. And then it got worse, and worse. Yesterday, over a week later I was almost unable to move without pain. And I realized health, feeling reasonably physically well, is close to the top of my list of necessities.

Of course, clean water, healthy food, clear air, warm shelter, reasonable clothing all contribute to the healthy body; anything that supports my necessity of health by definition is a necessity.

While I was forced to slow down and rest in relative stillness with my sore shoulder I reached for my books. Ah, if I can’t be moving about, bustling about, getting things done, then I can always take time to read. I discovered another necessity: reading material. (And if you were to visit Rosemary and me in our home you would quickly realize how necessary books are in our lives!)

And as many of you who have read my posts may remember, I write three pages of long hand notes every morning as recommended by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way. Pen, ink, paper are consumed in my practice. Necessity? This one is on the thin edge. I use my page writing to tune into my inner self, my intuition, and I use what I write, at least in part, as a guide to the rest of my day. Do I need to write it down? Does the process of writing promote the information that comes through to me? Of course there are other ways to receive or get in touch with these intuitive insights. And maybe there is no real need to record the information that comes through. So, maybe I have found a line here.

The point is to “assess.” What are the necessities in your life? How much is enough? It’s a good exercise.

But then Rosemary switches gears a bit when she says:

Humanity is evolving and each of us must step into our power, our empowerment, our Purpose. YOU ARE ENOUGH, just as you are, today!

And you have enough. Assess the necessity of everything in your life. Does it serve your Purpose? You might be surprised at the answers you get when you ask this question!

Wow! I am enough. I have enough. And whatever is serving my purpose is what I need! Health? Check. Books? Check. Pages? Check! My pages do serve my purpose, so they are on the necessity side after all.

Assessing necessity with Purpose as the backdrop is the more meaningful way to answer the question, “how much is enough?

Meanwhile my shoulder got so bad I asked Rosemary for help. I am living with, partnered with a healer! And I finally got around to asking for a healing! As I write this I am feeling much better. We both picked up that my pain may have been triggered by raking, but something else was allowed in, something physical and also something spiritual. The physical is like a viral attack, like a cold in my shoulder; I’m treating it like a cold. And the spiritual? Rosemary detects that my heart-mind center is opening. More on that later!

Do the necessities in your life support your purpose? You’ll feel great when they do!

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You Are The Alchemist—Richard’s Commentary

The message from The Divine Feminine Rosemary posted yesterday is a heavy one. It lays on each and every one of us a substantial responsibility. Being an Alchemist is no trivial undertaking. And the statement here is we are all Alchemists in our very beingness, in every thought, word and deed!

Here’s the responsibility The Divine Feminine hand us:

Each of you who sees these words is a transformation artist in every moment. Every word that you speak has the power to transform the hearer in some way. You can speak with love and concern and em-power the other person, or you can speak harshly and increase their feelings of low self-worth or self-esteem.

Even your thoughts have the power to affect another person. If someone speaks to you, and your thoughts are not supportive, you are sending that lower energy vibration to the speaker. If, on the other hand, you really listen and see the essence of the person and not the circumstance they are describing, then your thoughts can help that person to experience a higher vibrational energy and feel that support.

Heavy! But anyone of us who reads these words knows they are true. Anyone who trusts in the power of manifestation, the ability to turn thoughts into things, the Law of Attraction must realize that these powers apply to our relationship with others just as The Divine Feminine point out in clear terms.

Now I know my thoughts, words and deeds are not always of the purest form. In fact I am going through some moody moments in these last few days as the Moon wanes to the extreme just before conjoining the Sun exactly at 8:34 pm Eastern tomorrow, Friday, October 4. At that exact time the Moon becomes new, reborn. But now as I write she is in her Waning Crescent Phase and nearly “gone” from the sky. What does this mean? For me I get lethargic, heavy, I feel a little under the weather, not ill really but not well either. It’s as if as the Moon goes into the shadow of the Sun I move into my shadow time. And my mood reflects this shadow.

I write from this shadow time and ask “how am I to be a catalyst for the uplifting of others; how am I, even in my thoughts, to help another experience a higher vibrational energy?

Fortunately The Message not only states the challenge to be The Alchemist, it offers the solution to my concern:

Your first obligation, however, is to transform yourself into the person you were born to be. Are you living the life that your essence is asking for? Are you being your true self and not a persona required by others around you?

And:

As your consciousness evolves, so will your vibrational frequencies. Keep reaching for greater awareness, greater understanding of the world around you and where humanity is evolving. Pay attention to your thoughts and ask about the ‘light content’ of those thoughts. Are you thinking at a high frequency of light or do your thoughts feel heavy and dark?

Well, my thoughts may feel heavy and dark at the moment as the Moon “dies” into the Sun. But at least I am aware of this. And with this awareness I can perform some alchemical magic around this time: I can honor the Moon, let the experience of the final phase of her waning wash through me, and look forward to celebrating the New Moon as she is born tomorrow evening. I can meditate on the cycles of the Moon as they represent all the cycles in our lives. And I can reflect on these cycles as they mirror all the cycles within me, even the waxing and waning of moods!

Awareness is the key. It is the first step forward as The Alchemist to bring more light into the world!

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NEWS FROM ROSEMARY

bipolar nebulaAh, Autumn is in the air! Well, first thing in the morning it’s a little bit cooler and I saw 1 leaf drop. I do love Autumn when the weather starts to cool off and there’s a little crispness in the air. Hasn’t happened yet here in Maryland but I look for it every morning.

The New Moon on September 5 brought in some exciting Virgo energy for us all! Remember that the New Moon energy, like the Full Moon energy, starts influencing us 3 days before and 3 days after the actual event. That’s 7 days of impact for each New and Full Moon. This New Moon energy is asking us to take inventory of our lives, use our gifts, and discard anything that is not in alignment with our soul intention, our Soul Purpose.

I may sound like a broken record but it really is time to live your Purpose in the world! What are you tolerating about your life that is keeping you from doing just that? If it is not knowing your Purpose, then learn it. Whether you schedule a Scientific Hand Analysis session with me or a reading or go to an astrologer or a numerologist or a counselor, let your first question be – What is my Purpose?

In line with the inventory that this New Moon is directing, Richard and I have been examining the structure of our business and our work and taking stock of the best ways through which we can reach and help more people. The changes are coming soon. We’ll be offering a Conversation with The Other Side in September [date to be announced shortly] and it will be available in person in Annapolis and online as a video conference. If you’d like to know how to attend a Conversation FOR FREE, check it out here: Information.

Welcome to our new MuseLetter readers! If you haven’t seen last week’s issue, the message was ‘Happy Birthday to YOU!!!’ I hope you have all been celebrating your re-birth every day!

May this week bring you JOY in place of every ‘tolerance’ that you clear away.

Happy Birthday to YOU!!! – Richard’s Commentary

And I can also say Happy Birthday to the Moon today! She is new in Virgo. This just occurred at 7:38 am Eastern time.

Do you celebrate the New Moon each “moonth”? Are you aware of the phases of the moon and her travels through the night sky? The Ancients paid a great deal of attention to this goddess of the heavens. She lighted the way of night travelers, guided the seasons and times to plant, provided a calendar, effected tides and seafaring, and offered a rhythm to life and the basis of myth and wonder.

From modern research we know that life would be very different, if it existed at all, if it weren’t for our moon. Her influence on the planet and our lives is profound. So, I pay a lot of attention to her phases and my interaction with her. If you’ve been reading my posts for a while you’ll know, for example, that I cast an I Ching Gua (a hexagram of yin and yang lines) at each new moon to divine an energy for the up-coming month. (I’ll post that tomorrow.) I also celebrate the new moon as a new beginning, as a birthday of sorts, very much in keeping with Rosemary’s message this week. So, on this new moon day consider her advice:

Happy Birthday to YOU!!! Today is your birthday. You get to choose who you are today, right now, in this moment. You don’t even have to be the same as you were when you woke up this morning. OR you can decide that you like the YOU who woke up and you re-decide to celebrate YOU! Either way, it’s your birthday today.

It is a good time to start something new. I’m going to plant some fall vegetables in my garden today. And Rosemary and I are going to review our business plan and model to determine what’s working and what can be improved. It’s a new day as well as a new moon!

And this new moon is in the sign of Virgo. This too has special meaning. A dear friend and astrologer, Gloria Hesseloff, titled in her newsletter for the New Moon: Work is Love made Visible, using a line from a poem by Kahil Gibran. The Virgo Moon calls us to a higher work. Gloria writes:

Virgo energy challenges you to release any obstacles to finding your sacred work.  Integrating this goal with the radical changes that Pluto and Uranus are demanding of us right now,  ask yourself, “What changes do I need to make to my daily life routines and patterns (Virgo attributes) so I can be an instrument of the Divine?

Virgo energy asks you to become highly competent in a skill that is of value to others.  Then generously offer it as your high service.  Your specific gifts are truly needed at this significant moment in history.

Today is your birthday! Celebrate with me as I celebrate this New Moon and “the first day of the rest of my life”! We are always at choice. I choose to make my love visible through my work.

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ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Today is Your Birthday!

My “Two-Minute” video for the week: Today is Your Birthday!

Protect Yourself – Richard’s Commentary

This week’s message from The Divine Feminine was powerful, practical and personal. They are very methodical in their prescription for self-protection. Their message coupled with my recent experience with Sri Karunamayi during this past weekend celebration, known as Guru Purnima, offers a lot of material for my posts at the end of this week. And it is all coming from the Goddess!

The Divine Feminine listed specific areas of our lives in which we need to consider ways and tools to protect ourselves:

  • Protect yourself from fear
  • Protect yourself from apathy
  • Protect yourself from the energies of other people
  • Protect yourself from negative thoughts and limiting beliefs
  • Protect yourself from misguided choices

This is quite a list! Each item here deserves a separate blog post but for today and tomorrow I am going to focus on two and the related tools to protect against these negative forces that can so easily derail our good intentions.

The first area I’d like to examine in some detail is apathy. I think this force is attacking many people in this country and even the world. I don’t want to get into politics or the economy or institutional stagnation here, but let’s face it: for the most part our governments, our elected officials and our own constituency is bogged down in a state of paralysis that I believe is born out of apathy. We are stuck in a spiral of petty politics and an uncaring economic system that seems to be in steady decline. And who is out there to raise the banner of protest against this apathetic state we’ve sunk to? “Where is the Outrage?” read one blog-post recently! The so-called “middle class” is the “poster-child” now. But does anyone really care about the real middle-class?

How do we protect against apathy? The answer lies in Purpose! The Divine Feminine say we each have a Soul Purpose. We are incarnated at this particular time in history with a distinct purpose to fulfill. We are each a unique part of the Divine Plan of Love and Light. And we have a “collective purpose” as we move deeper into the 21st Century so full of potential for Divine Transformation. We all must find our purpose, and we all must commit to that purpose and live lives of purposeful action. This is the way out of apathy. Whether we, as individuals, as a community or a powerful Nation, are to move beyond ourselves and into a New World transformed by the energies of change swirling around us, is a choice; it is our choice.

How do we know what our purpose is? There are many ways. For one it is written in our hands. The blueprints for our life are with us from before birth, stored in our fingerprints; and our hand-prints show us a map, not only of where we are going but where we have been. Find someone to read your hands and reveal your purpose. Then move firmly into that purpose and away from apathy!

The second area I’d like to address is misguided choices. The Divine Feminine advise trusting our intuition and accepting the choices we make and the lessons that come with them. The choices guided by intuition take us on the path of greatest growth. But for men this is not always the easiest thing. The old cliché is to trust “women’s intuition.” But what about we men? The key here is to learn to meditate and to practice meditation as a life-long commitment. Meditation helps us get deeper in touch with our own inner selves. This is where intuition lives, inside! And I have found that the more I practice going inside to look for answers the more I can trust the answers that come.

The Divine Feminine offered very practical ways to protect ourselves from these five negative forces arrayed against our expansion of consciousness and our contribution to the evolution of human consciousness. The key is to do the inner work to develop the self and find the True Self in the process!

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PS: If you are searching for someone to reveal your Soul Purpose and read your hands, Rosemary is both highly trained and exceptionally skilled through years of experience. For more information Click Here

PPS: I will be offering more detail on meditation and developing intuition in tomorrow’s post on my blog: MenandTheGoddess.com

Love and Life Purpose – Richard’s Commentary

The heart of the message from The Divine Feminine channeled by Rosemary for this week’s Mystic Message is:

The work of the enlightened ones and all spiritual students who wish to support the evolution of human consciousness is to spread the high vibration energy of Love into the energy grid of the Planet. This energy attracts assistance from other realms to amplify the energy on Earth.

I would like to think I am a “spiritual student” and certainly wish to support the evolution of human consciousness. And yet I seem to fail so often in so many ways! Or do I? Here’s this week’s story:

I “lost” my sunglasses. They happen to be an expensive pair that I like; I’ve had them for several years and have taken very good care of them. My first reaction when I lose something is to begin a frantic search. Searching with no results leads to frustration. The longer the search the greater the frustration. And when the long search is fruitless, frustration turns easily to anger.

The anger is self-directed. I am at fault for misplacing/losing the sunglasses. I am further at fault for wasting all the energy in the search, then the frustration, then the anger. And though the anger is self-directed, it is not necessarily self-contained. It spills over through a bad mood. Everyone around me experiences my loss!

After much consternation a night passes without their appearance. My temper is vented in my “morning pages” and through writing out the story a perspective begins to emerge: this is a small loss, my frustration and anger are over-blown, there is a lesson here, the Mystic Message this week is about Love, beginning with self-love.

Ah ha; there can be no love without first loving one’s self. And self-directed anger over small errors is the antithesis of self-love. Directing this anger-energy into the grid of the planet is the antithesis of what a “spiritual student” needs to strive for; and it likely “attracts assistance from other realms” that I would rather not attract!

The trouble is I’m an Enneagram type 1, “The Perfectionist.” And I really struggle with this pervasive characteristic, or motivation in myself. Sometimes it is a harsh, unforgiving task-master riding on my shoulders. I want things, events and people to be correct, to go the right way, to be smooth and cooperative, to follow rules…to be perfect. And when things, events, people go awry, I too easily move to anger. And where is the love in that?

There are many lessons in this story. The main one I choose to take away today is one of “awareness.” And I am practicing this lesson, it seems, on a moment-to-moment basis (and maybe that’s the point!). It is time to become fully aware, moment-to-moment!

A few days ago I offered the story of Tenno and his umbrella on my blog. Did he get angry with himself when he failed to answer  Master Nan-in’s question about placement of his umbrella? No. He simply surrendered to his need for more study and practice – 10 years more!

After writing these thoughts down in my “morning pages” the day after my loss, I felt better. I accepted the lesson and my imperfection. I realized my anger-energy was pointless and wasted, maybe even damaging! I let go of the sunglasses. They had served me well; it was time to move on. It was time to practice love!

That evening I found the sunglasses, buried in a chair I had been using. My relief tangled with my realization that I had learned another (again) lesson on love. If I had started with love, even self-love for attracting a valuable lesson, I would have saved myself a lot of time and dark energy, and maybe I would have found my sunglasses earlier in the day!

I remain a “spiritual student.”

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