As the first burst of brilliant light appeared from behind the darkened moon the crowd roared again and I dropped my gaze, feeling the warm glow on my face intensify. Emerging from the totality of the Eclipse, the sun’s powerful light illuminated the sky and we were once again returned to daylight, returned to our mundane reality and yet changed, renewed, inspired by the natural spectacle we had just witnessed.

As we go about our daily lives, we don’t usually think about the sun that much except perhaps when we’re playing sport or spending long hours on the beach. Yet there it is every day, illuminating everything around us. In fact, when we look at anything at all, we are only seeing the light reflecting off the object, we don’t actually see the object itself. By the way the light bounces off surfaces with varying densities we are able to interpret the shapes and forms which are familiar to us. Unfamiliar things are more difficult to see only because our brains have trouble interpreting the light patterns and there are even frequencies of light which we can’t see at all.

When we see coloured lights such as in a theatre or nightclub, what we are seeing is not colour added to a light, but rather the result of certain colours being blocked by the filtering of particular frequencies of light. Using a red filter over a light, for example, will block off the entire blue spectrum, making the object appear red and vice versa. However if you use too many filters on the same light source, you can block out all the light completely and be left in darkness. So in order to see something clearly we need to illuminate it, shine light on it and not just any kind of light, but the right kind of light.

As a Tarot Reader, I assist clients to see their situation clearly, to be honest with themselves and to release the filters and conditioning that we all collect throughout our lives. Sometimes we may view the world through angry red filters, convinced that life was designed just to irritate us. Other times we may carry happy, joyful yellow filters but be unwilling to look too hard at anything distasteful. Or perhaps we might view life through a cool blue detachment – nothing rubs off, nothing sinks in, nothing touches us…

By choosing to act from our moods, attitudes or past wounds we are filtering out certain frequencies in our reality and therefore we are only experiencing certain parts of the truth. That keeps us stuck in limitation, often repeating the same failures and hurts over and over again. In order to see the whole truth, we need the whole spectrum of light and that means shining the clear light of our awareness.

Have you noticed that sometimes you can walk around with the same old problem for days or months, looking for a solution or trying to find answers? Then suddenly it hits you out of the blue, “Aha” we cry, “that’s it!” Like a bright light has been switched on, all of a sudden we see the situation clearly and the answer is obvious. , “Oh of course,” we think, “I knew that all along, I just couldn’t see it…”

True wisdom comes from within and when it arises into our awareness, we recognise it instantly. However the answers that we are seeking are often hidden in the depths of our subconscious mind and that can be a kind of dark place where we may hesitate to go. Darkness doesn’t have to be scary though, as the darkness only exists where we are not shining the light of our awareness. You know what happens when you switch on the light – immediately the darkness is gone.

We all have the ability to see the truth clearly but the truth isn’t always convenient or comfortable. So we make excuses, start holding up red or blue filters and tell ourselves that’s just the way the world is. Fortunately that kind of avoidance doesn’t work for too long and if we are serious about our personal growth, we will start looking for where we have hidden the flashlight.

If we really want to discover the truth, to uncover all that we already know, the treasure hidden deep within our psyche, then we must use one of the greatest powers that we have. We must be willing to shine the light of our awareness and illuminate the shadows.

This article was published in Connect Magazine Dec 2012

Photograph by Ben Cooper

When we feel powerless to change the things in our lives we are unhappy with, we often brush them aside with excuses; “well that’s just the way life goes”, “oh well, you can’t have everything” or “life wasn’t supposed to be easy”, but these excuses wear thin over time. In our hearts we know that we deserve to have everything, we are entitled to fulfil our potential and in my opinion, we have a moral obligation to heal ourselves so that we may contribute our very best to the world.

We are truly blessed to be living at a time when there are so many healing modalities available to us.  We have a selection of modern approaches to health and healing to choose from as well as facilitators dedicated to reviving and integrating traditional knowledge from our indigenous ancestors.  On my own healing journey I have experienced at least 30 different healing modalities from bodywork to hypnosis, re-birthing, theta healing, many different forms of energy therapy and shamanic practices to name just a few, and I have found them all to be beneficial

What is important on the road to healing however is that you learn to discern the powerful from the frivolous. There are methods of healing which work at the core to bring profound and life changing results, and then there are those which just make you feel better for a day. An unfortunate side-effect of what I call the ‘happiness movement’ is that it can encourage us to ignore our deepest wounds, which is kind of like parking your car somewhere with a nice view and forgetting where you were headed in the first place.

Spiritual philosophy which encourages us to ‘rise above’ or ‘lift ourselves up from’ our own darkness is a band aid solution. True healing comes from being willing to face our own pain. The road to healing can be long and there are indeed times when we must take a break, be refreshed by some lightness or uplifted by some positivity, but again we must return to the real work of facing our fears, our resistance and our hurt.

It takes courage to acknowledge our own woundedness and all the ways which we have relived and recreated the same wounds in our lives. It takes strength to really take responsibility for our lives as our own creation, and it takes humility to truly own our mistakes and weaknesses. The payoff however, is a level of self-awareness and self-mastery which cannot be gained by just making ourselves feel better.

Often we are afraid that if we dig deeply enough we will uncover a world of horrible and scary things that we don’t have the tools to deal with.  We are afraid of being overwhelmed by our hurts and betrayals, stuck in our rage, drowning in our grief and all this may in fact be true.  We may be suffering so much that we don’t think that anything can ease our pain.  We may have tried everything and still not found relief. What can we do then with the hurts which seem beyond healing?  Where do we go when we can’t find anything that works?

Deep inside there is a fire burning, a fire that heals, a fire that can transform all the things which seem too big or too impossible.  Deep within your own psyche there is a council fire where the elders meet, a fire where your ancestors gather, a place where you can take your pain, your burdens, your grief and I invite you to go there.  Pull off the highway, get out of the car and walk towards the fire.  Here you can unload your troubles, here you can tell your deepest secrets and burn your deepest pain to ashes.  When nothing else works, go within and find the fire. Sit there with your tribe, your people, the ones who know you and love you. Now, look into the flames and see the healing you require.

This article was published in Connect Magazine Sept 2012

As the low vibration of the Om rippled across the room I watched the small group of figures begin to move in the dim light.  Some swayed gently from side to side, a few fiddled with the bandana securely fastened across their eyes, patting and pulling at it until it felt right, a couple shuffled their feet hesitantly.  This was the delicate part, the first few minutes in the darkness when the mind struggled against the loss of sight, reacted to the feeling of vulnerability that arises when we lose our primary sense of orientation, of control.

I turned my attention back to the stark brightness of the laptop screen and moved the cursor down the iTunes list until I found the track I was looking for.  As the raw sound of African drumming bounced out of the speakers I felt the group respond.  Feet began to move, hips began to swing and they were off, each on a sacred journey into the mysterious unknown.

One of the most common questions I am asked when facilitating a Trance Dance event is “why the bandana?”…”can’t I just close my eyes?”…”I promise I won’t peek”… and the answer I always give is, “no, it’s just not the same…”

Dancing blindfolded is the core structure of Trance Dance and it is designed not just to take you out of your comfort zone, but out of ordinary reality. When we don the bandana we remove ourselves from our daily thoughts and concerns, we take a mental break from the outside world and we focus within. There are practical reasons to use the bandana; it guarantees privacy for the group, it reduces the temptation to open your eyes and look around if you get tired, bored or you bump into another dancer.  When using a bandana, you don’t have to try to keep your eyes closed, the bandana does it for you. Covering your eyes with a bandana makes it easier to relax and let the music move you, to allow your body the freedom to express – but that is not all it does.

Something mysterious happens when we shut down our primary sense of sight - we open the doorway to our own inner world.  Connected by the optic nerve, our eyes are literally hardwired into our brains.  All day long our brain is processing a multitude of images, complex patterns of light, shading and perspective, negotiating the physical world and interpreting the meaning or significance of outside events. We don’t get much rest.  If your eyes are open, you can hardly choose not to see.  The only time we get a break from all this visual input is when we lie down to sleep and then our subconscious takes over, weaving our impressions into night dreams which we often can’t remember on waking.  It is no surprise then that we have scarce opportunity to discover and participate in the deeper workings of our inner life.

When we cover our eyes with a bandana made from a heavy weighted fabric, we disrupt the flow of light and information from the outside world, and our attention turns and looks within.  Now there are new images to discover, new patterns to interpret and new perspectives to understand. We are awake and our inner world speaks, sometimes in words, more often in stories, images, sensations. We discover our inner feelings; perhaps deeply buried pain from the past, the forgiveness required to heal, an insight into our own behaviour or meetings with ancestors or spiritual guides. Indigenous people talk of the Dreaming or Dreamtime and it is understood that this is neither a time in history nor a place in the outer world, but rather an ongoing function of the human psyche.  To dream is to create.  Conscious dreaming is conscious creation.  What is going on right now in your inner world?  What kind of dream is creating your life?  What do you find when you cover your eyes and look within?

When Raphael first came into my life he was still an adolescent; curious, full of energy and a little distressed about being seperated from the rest of the chooks.  Raphael had escaped the machete and kept his head – a feat which both of his buddies had failed to accomplish.  Their fate had led them straight into the soup pot, but that’s another story for another day. 

One night I was up late, energized by the bright moonlight beaming through the open house when a terrible squawking erupted outside and I looked out the window to see Raphael leaping, not quite flying yet, across the lawn at full speed with a huge wild pig in hot pursuit.  They tore into the bushes, screeching, grunting and crashing through thick branches and I was sure that the pig would make his kill.  But in the morning there was Raphael, scratching and pecking at the grass peacefully as if nothing had happened.  There was no doubt about it – Raphael was a survivor!

He soon became a regular part of the household; running out to greet me when I came home from work, climbing into the gramichami tree to roost in the evenings and sitting under the house, feathers fluffed up, making soft chook chook noises.  Then of course, one day it just happened. Suddenly, without warning I was woken up in the darkness before dawn to an unmistakable, impossibly loud crowing right outside my bedroom.  Raphael was all grown up and he was telling the whole world.

The crowing continued on into the day (Raphael was pretty proud of his new voice) and he enthusiastically hopped up onto the outdoor furniture as he experimented with height and vocal projection. As I watched his antics I started to wonder about our instinctual nature. I considered our behaviour - some of which is learned, but a great deal is instinctual and arises spontaneously from within. There is a primal intelligence encoded in our DNA, I remembered, a complex set of instructions for our growth and development. One day we are content with sitting on the warm earth going “chook chook chook”, the next day we are leaping from chair to table waking up the entire neighbourhood. It seems that our own evolution sometimes takes us by suprise.

An artist came to me for a tarot reading at the markets one Sunday and shared an inspiring story.  She was feeling tired one afternoon and lay down for a nap.  She saw a figure walk into the room, say to her “its time to wake up” and calmly walk out.  When she awoke she began to write.  Already painting as a hobby, she expected her story to evolve into something expressed on canvas, but she continued to write.  The day that I met her she had written three entire books which were on their way to publishing along with the cover art.

There are certain times in our lives when evolution kicks in.  Maybe we meet someone who inspires us to get started on a project we have only been talking about.  Perhaps we encounter the shock of illness or the death of someone close to us and it causes us to reassess our priorities.  Occasionally a ‘misfortune’ like losing your job or partner sets you off in a new direction.  Sometimes, if we are lucky, someone walks into the room and says, “its time to wake up”.

Raphael strutted up and down, stopping only long enough to find his balance before emitting another raucous crow. His body was tense with the effort, neck arched back, beak stretched wide and he drew the sound from somewhere deep within his feathered bony frame. As I watched his energetic dance, geometric spirals snaked into my vision. Twisting ladders led me down into a crystalline matrix and the crowing grew fainter, softer, farther away. I drifted through an intricate array of cellular constructs; floating spheres filled with coloured lights, angular structures which replicated themselves bigger and then smaller again.  As I travelled I felt all of my concerns and worries and stresses fall away.  It had been a busy year, heck, several busy years of working hard and striving to accomplish my own personal goals.  I felt like lifetimes were being stripped off me, layers of experience, perspective, existence, floating, drifting, flying……and then it stopped.  There was silence. Stillness. Presence. Nothing else.

I waited. In the void there is no time. Nothing happening.  Nothing at all.  Just peace.  The steady rhythm of breath.  It was clear – everything originates from here.  Every action begins in stillness, every thought arises from emptiness.  When we strip the canvas bare we discover a whole world of new possibilities waiting to be expressed – a new beginning, the chance for a fresh start. I sat there for a long time in perfect stillness, just being. The sky darkened and I felt the air grow cooler.  In my vision I saw a single point of light emerging from the darkness and it was then that I heard a familiar call from far far away. A wave of recognition washed over me. It was the raw sound of a rooster’s crow.

I was standing in the kitchen of a large troppo house in Darwin back in about ’95.  The spirtual life was pretty new to me then and I had just returned from a meditation circle held in a bamboo tipi in a backyard in Nightcliff.  There had been a lot of talk about following your intuition, feeling what was “right” for you and the magical synchronicities that occurred when you had made such a profound discovery.  I had nodded silently as if in complete agreement, drank some rather unpleasant herbal tea and eventually left after the obligatory group hug.

The moon was full as I cycled home and my belly was rumbling.  The only thing my intuition seemed to be telling me that night was that I was hungry and since it was nearly 9pm and I hadn’t eaten since lunchtime that didn’t seem like such a profound revelation. I arrived home to a quiet house and went straight into the kitchen. I had all the makings of a new Moroccan stew I wanted to try from a recipe book my housemate had found in the second hand store.  It was an interesting account of middle eastern cooking which was not as spicy as I had expected but rather relied heavily on cinnamon, cumin and ground coriander.  The recipe was simple enough and it wouldn’t take long to cook.

Garlic and onions went into hot oil, followed by some salted chicken pieces dusted in ground spices. Celery, carrots and diced tomatoes turned it into a stew with sprinkled black pepper to give it a bit of heat.  The pot was simmering and I started cleaning up, picked up the recipe book and discovered that the cinnamon sticks I had bought especially were hidden underneath. “Damn!” I thought, then shrugged, “better late than never”. I checked the book for quantity and found the recipe to be vague.  “Whole cinnamon” it said.  “Yes but how much?” I wondered. I pondered for a while…..too much could be too sweet, but not enough and the taste would be lost in the stronger flavours of the stew. 

I held a whole cinnamon stick in both hands, trying to decide whether to break it in half or not. I was stuck. It seemed like I stood there forever, completely unable to make a simple decision.  The recipe was new to me, the flavours an unusual combination.  I had never used cinnamon in a savoury dish before, what if I used too much? What if it completely ruined the stew?  I decided to break the cinnamon stick, then stopped.  I decided to use the whole thing, then hesitated. 

My hands were suspended over the pot, clutching the solitary cinnamon stick like my life depended on it when suddenly someone shoved me from behind.  I physically felt a hand in the small of my back give me a solid shove and I lurched forward, startled and dropped the whole cinnamon into the simmering pot.  I watched, mesmerized as it slowly sank beneath the juicy surface.  There was no going back now.  We were changed, that cinnamon and I.  Slowly my heart regained its normal rhythm and I settled back on my heels, eventually daring to look behind me although I knew that there was nothing there except the cat on the sofa giving me a strange look from across the room. “Yep,” I thought.  Intuition, huh?

By some magical synchronicity the stew turned out to be fabulous, and intuition never shoved me quite so hard again.  I slowly learned how to listen to the quiet promptings within, to follow my feeling and at worst, to take a risk on being wrong.  I had a good story to tell the next time I was sitting in that tipi and the nods and murmers of approval from around the circle didn’t seem so bad after all.  I was starting to become a believer, not to mention, an adventurous cook.

I closed the lid tightly on the last jar of chai, sticking down a circle of Christmas paper on the top and finishing it with a twirl of ribbon.  As I left the house I glanced over at the bamboo tipi and noticed that the grass was getting long inside. “Might need to mow that later, ” Intuition said quietly, “some friends might be coming over…”

I cycled through the crowded streets of the Red Light District, dodging drunks, dealers and tight clusters of stoned tourists who paraded through intersections completely unaware of traffic.  Their bodies moved forward but their heads twisted frantically from left to right as their eyes fixated on the scantily clad girls in the lace trimmed windows who smiled and beckoned enticingly  I made a right turn and instantly regretted it.  I was stuck behind a big mob of weekend revellers standing outside the doorway to a small theatre.  The weathered signage out the front boasted “3 Live Sex Shows for 50 guilden”.  A bargain surely, I thought, as I dismounted and pushed my bike through the stubborn crowd.

It was a girlfriend’s birthday and she had organised a suprise show for the guests which included me doing a little aerial acrobatics outside her second floor window.  I had gone to her place once already to rig up my gear and after climbing the long winding stairs to the very top floor, I crawled warily through the junk in her attic to reach the tiny triangular window which overlooked the canal.  It took a couple of hearty thumps to push it open and a gust of cool air rushed in to join me in the dusty room.

I leaned out and surveyed the hook which protruded out about a metre from the brickwork.  Dutch folk used these ancient hooks to haul furniture up into their apartments via the windows, since the stairs accommodated very little.  Even grande pianos were known to make their way into their new homes in this fashion, so I figured that the hook would probably hold a single girl like me.  I looped a climbing strap over the hook, attached my performance Silks (7 metres of flowing fabric which I was going to climb on later) and let the fabric fall, watching as it unfurled in the afternoon breeze.  So far, so good.  I looked down.  Crap.  The fabric wasn’t even close to the ground and it needed to touch the street by at least half a metre.  I was going to need a lot more gear.

So there I was, trying to get across town and back by sunset, pushing my way through the busiest part of the centrum to reach the ferry across to the north side and my rehearsal studios where I kept all of my equipment. It was an hour and a half’s ride at least and that was without this human traffic jam.  Where did all these people come from? A headache had grown on me thoughout the day. I was tired, getting hungry and increasingly upset as I jostled through the chaotic streets.  I felt a tension grow thoughout my body as I persevered on my mission and I started wondering if it was worth the trouble.  The world seemed to be working against me that day with one thing going wrong after another and here yet here I was, still pushing my way through this unyielding crowd. 

Suddenly there was a scuffle and I was shoved roughly to the side, my feet tangled in the bike pedals and I hit the street, falling hard on the uneven cobblestones.  I started to cry.  I didn’t even get up, I just kicked my bike to the side and crawled up to the wall, leant my back against the bricks and covered my face with my hands.  I’d had enough.  I didn’t even care anymore what was going on around me.  I just needed to retreat.  I decided then that I would cancel my show, tell my friend that it was too hard to organise and just go and enjoy the party. 

As soon as I made that decision I felt the tension release and I immediately started feeling better.  I wiped my eyes and got to my feet. I felt lighter, my headache had eased and miraculously the street had cleared.  It was bizarre, like there had never even been a crowd there. I looked around. A few tourists wandered by and the bouncer a few doors down was giving me a funny look, so I dusted myself off, picked up my bike and took off.

As I reached the waterfront I was feeling positive again and I paused at the ferry – home to get dressed for the party, or to the studios to get more gear?  I had promised my friend that I would do something for her, and I didn’t want to let her down.  The chaotic struggle in the street seemed like a distant memory, almost like a dream……..fkk it why not? I turned towards the theatre precinct and pushed my bike hard against the oncoming wind.

That night I misjudged a move and hit the cobblestones for a second time, falling about 3 metres and landing hard on my right hip.  An ice-pack and a couple of glasses of wine and I was alright, but I was lucky.  That fall could have been a head injury, or worse.  In the morning we all watched in horror as the news revealed the first images of the World Trade Centre going down in pieces. 

I performed for another 10 years and never had another fall. I learned to never dismiss what the energy is trying to tell me.  If you feel like you are pushing against the flow, you are probably going in the wrong direction, and you never know what might be around the corner.  So when people ask me where I was on September 11, I tell them that I was just hanging around, learning a very valuable lesson.

I sliced through the pumpkin’s tough skin and felt the tip of the knife pierce it’s soft centre. A crescent moon slice fell away revealing a core of moist seeds.  They glistened in the soft afternoon light and slipped away from my fingers as I scooped them towards the compost.  I paused for a moment, looking closer.  One seed stuck to the palm of my hand, unwilling to follow its siblings into the tub of vegetable scraps destined for the garden.  It clung there, a pale yellow disc coated in slippery orange flesh, steadfastedly refusing to be banished from my grasp.  I smiled through my tiredness, “Do you have a message for me?” I asked.  I listened……nothing.  Well I wasn’t really expecting it to talk.  I closed my eyes and turned my attention inwards, and there she was.

She was a figure from a healing which I had performed earlier in the week.  She was angry, resentful and generally difficult to deal with.  She had been creating a lot of resistance, a lot of “don’t want to”. Refusing to participate in life, she had folded her arms across her chest and turned her back, pretending not to listen.  Her pain was palpable.  It had taken some careful negotiating to get her onside.  Eventually she had agreed it was time for change, time to move on and make room for something new to grow in the psyche.  She left me with a parting gift pressed firmly into my palm.  Her eyes met mine. “Remember,” she said,”one seed is enough.”  I looked down at my hand still cupping one solitary pumpkin seed, looked up and she was gone.

I stood still for a while, considering her message.  She was right of course. One tiny seed contains all the potential to create a vine, a plant or an enormous tree.  So too one small idea can become a worldwide success or take our lives in totally new directions.    We often talk about things we would like to do, changes we would like to make in our lives and then forget about it, going on with our busy lives unaware that our thoughts are planting seeds in the fertile ground of our psyches.  Then when we suddenly lose our job or get kicked out of our apartment we complain about the unfairness of life, forgetting how we wished for a new opportunity, a new house, a change, a fresh start.

Some thoughts grow weeds, they take up valuable space and choke the life out of our beloved creations.  Those thoughts go something like “It will never work”, “Its too hard”, “I don’t have the time/talent/energy/money/etc”.  Other thoughts are like sprinkes of sunshine that spring up row upon row of daisies “What an ingenious idea!”, “I love learning new things”.  And then there are those thoughts which are like magic beans, shooting up towering beanstalks that take us to the stars and beyond, “I wonder how I can do this better?”, “What else is possible?”, “Show me the way forward now”.

We often think that we need to have it all figured out, make sure that all our bases are covered, make sure that we have a backup plan.  We are taught to be sensible, responsible, cautious.  Valuable qualities indeed.  But we often forget that nature knows how to grow.  That seed needs sunlight, rich earth, water, yes, but it knows how to grow.  All the information that it will ever need is contained within, and the same can be said for ourselves.  We innately know how to grow, how to develop, blossom, age and eventually pass from this world.  We don’t need a backup plan, we need to be ourselves, follow our instincts and we need one more essential thing. We need to trust the process of life.

We don’t make very good farmers if we dig up our seeds to check on them every day.  We need to trust in the unseen growth that is happening beneath the surface.  We need to know that change is happening even when we can’t see the visible results yet, and we need to allow things to grow in their own time.  One of my beloved teachers who spent valuable time with Lakota people, used to talk about the healing that was known as “growing corn”.  In the work of soul healing, soul growth, in the sacred work of life there is no instant fix.  However if you plant a seed and add water, give a little attention, have a little patience, wondrous things can grow.

In the rich garden of your life, what seeds are you currently cultivating?  In the dark fertile ground of your soul, what is growing silently beneath the surface?

Although the sky was darkening, the air was still warm and the wind whipped in through the window as I followed the highway north.  A line of clouds sat on the horizon, their puffy silhouettes seemed soft and majestic in the dimming light.  As I rounded a curve I felt the presence of Spirit.  A tingle ran down my spine and I sat up a little, tuning in to my senses. I turned the music down and listened to the hum of the engine, the stillness of the evening. Up ahead I saw the clouds shifting, changing and then something new emerged.  A piercing bright light burst out from behind the clouds and spread like a luminous blanket across the horizon.  It flickered like white hot flames tearing at the sky, widening to reveal more and more light. 

I heard my name called and I stepped forward. “Welcome,” I was greeted and I stepped inside the brilliance - and I stepped into stillness.  Inside the white light the world looked the same, but everything was different. 

There was peace.  There was fullness, presence, a slowness that underscored the usual busyness.  There was a new rhythm like a continuous thread that linked all the beginnings and endings and happenings together and made them one. There was wholeness, and there was joy.  Heart expanding, unexplainable, indescribable joy for life, for God, for all of this. 

The white flames flickered, burning at the edges of reality, searing a hole through the status quo.  In their wake there was only peace, only perfection, only presence. It was like all the heaviness and heartache and wrongness in the world had been burned away. A thought appeared in my awareness, “this is Heaven”.  I turned my attention back to the road as the white lines glided past in perfect symmetry.

When I arrived home the dew was already thick on the grass as I unpacked the car.  The night air was cool and crisp as I switched on the computer to check my emails.  It seemed like everyone was talking about the Rapture that never happened.  Some guy had predicted the End of Days was upon us and he had been proven wrong yet again. Facebook was full of smart remarks about how the world didn’t come to an end, so therefore nothing must have changed.

I breathed in the evening air, sweet with the scent of flowering Happy Trees.  A flash of light sparked in my awareness. I Googled and quickly found what I was looking for.  It should arrive next week and will go nicely with my new paint work. Its a bumper sticker which reads:

“In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned”

In our modern world it is easy to forget our connection to nature and drift away from our primal, instinctual self.  We live in an age of technology where we are constantly juggling our appointments, commitments, phone calls, emails and text messages.  Even when we stop to rest there are usually a dozen thoughts running around in our heads, things to remember, plans and lists.  When you find yourself becoming scattered, stressed or forgetful, focusing on your breath is one of the surest ways to bring your awareness back.  Fresh Air is a source of instant nourishment and as you fill your lungs with deep breaths so you connect your inner world to the outer world and return to the present moment.  Air – where would we be without it?

The Four Elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air are the basis of the physical world in which we live.  We are created from these elements and from the Shamanic perspective, they influence not just our physical make up, but our personalities and behaviours as well.  We illustrate this every time we use an expression such as “she’s really grounded”, ” I’m burned out”, “trying to swim against the tide”, and “so airy fairy!”  If we take a look at the characteristics of the elements we can begin to understand ourselves better and discover tools for self-development.

The Air Element is made up of all the gasses in our environment, the atmosphere surrounding the earth, the winds, the sky and the spaces “in between” matter.  The Air Element represents the Mind; our ability to visualize, conceptualize, learn, remember and understand.  Computers, the internet, mobile phones and any rapid form of communication or digital technology are all gifts from the element of Air, as is plane travel, spaceships and one day – teleport!

People who are strong in the Air Element are good communicators and are often witty, quick thinking and inventive.  However too much Air can make you argumentative and overly analytical. Airy people can be quite ingenious, often coming up with brilliant ideas but when out of balance can also be spacey, impractical and vague.  Air needs support from the Earth element to ground and stabilize, so remember to walk in the park or dig in the garden when you feel your feet lifting too high off the ground.

Airy people tend to say what they think and sometimes say too much.  I find it a good practice to watch the clouds change in the sky and remember that although you might not be able to see the wind or your words, they both have significant effect. Take a moment to consider the way you communicate with others – is it more like a gentle breeze or an approaching cyclone?

The ability to be objective, logical and intelligent are all great gifts from the Air Element as are clarity of perception, clear communication and rapid comprehension.  When these qualities are out of balance we can become too detached, judgemental or aloof.  The sharpness of the mind needs the gentleness of a compassionate heart or we risk becoming cold and indifferent.

As you go about your day today, take notice of how you breathe and how it changes throughout the day.  Is your breathing deep and full, quick, tight, irregular?  How fully do you embrace the Air element today?

This article was written for Connect Magazine edition #80 May 2011

If we take the time to look around us, we can see that our attitudes, values, personalites and perspectives are reflected in our urban culture. Our art, movies, inventions, fashion and politics all express the way our society thinks and feels. When we look at nature, we see the roots from which we have grown and the evolutionary steps which we have taken to become who we are now.  The Four Elements are the basic building blocks of organic life and from the Shamanic perspective, they influence not only our physical form but also our personalities and behaviours.  We intuitively know this and we have some colourful expressions to prove it, such as: “he has a short fuse”, “keeping my head above water”, “salt of the earth” or “building castles in the air”.

Consciously connecting with the elements can help us to understand ourselves better and provide us with a tool for creating change, balance and harmony in our lives.  Lets take a look at the Fire Element.Fire is quite different from the other elements because it is a chemical process and has a life similar to our own – it appears from seemingly nowhere, it feeds off organic matter, it grows, requires air to breathe and when it is done it dies away, having made quite an impression in its short life.  The ability to harness and utilize fire is one of the most significant evolutionary steps in the history of human development. Fire can warm and nurture us, like the welcoming hearth fire and cooking stove.  A gently crackling fire is reassuring, restful or even romantic.  Left unchecked however, Fire can become destructive, easily consuming all in its path and reducing the most glorious mansion, love, relationship or best intentions to ashes.

Fiery people are well known for being energetic, passionate, dynamic, sexy and charismatic.  They can also be quick to anger, frustrated, jealous, spiteful, competitive and in extreme cases – violent. Fire is expressive in nature and can become explosive when contained for too long.  Unexpressed Fire energy, particularly unexpressed anger will cause depression as the Fire is turned inwards and feeds off the essential life force of the self. Therefore it is important to give your fiery energy the appropriate environment in which to burn, perhaps by honestly expressing your feelings, engaging in physical exercise or competitive sport,  a passionate debate, dancing all night long or painting up a storm.

The Fire element also brings us the gifts of ambition, motivation and creativity.  If you are strong in the Fire Element you will have drive, determination and commitment but you must be sure to pace yourself so that you don’t burn out before your plans are realised. If you are deficient in the Fire Element you may become apathetic, unmotivated or unable to turn your ideas into actions. Fiery people are natural leaders and can be extremely inspiring but too much Fire can become pushy, domineering and impatient. To maintain balance within yourself, remember that the Fire Element can be cooled with Water and steadied with Earth, however the Air Element will only further fan the flames!

Fire has the power to transform all that it touches, and can teach us how to use alchemy within ourselves. Symbolically we can use fire to purify the self, to burn off the dross in our lives as well as to melt and merge conflicting aspects.  We can use fire to warm a cold heart, to invigorate a depressed spirit and to ignite a spark of interest. Whilst building a bonfire on the beach is spectacular, meditating with a candle is an equally powerful and effective way to reconnect with the Fire Element.  As you gaze deeply into the flames, what does Fire have to teach you today?

This article was written for Connect Magazine edition #79 April 2011