A Life Well Lived

A Life Well Lived

Funerals are never easy things to attend but yesterday I did go to one of the most beautiful funerals of a woman I will always admire and whose life I will always uphold as one truly lived with honour, enthusiasm and grace.

She didn’t have an easy background as a child out of wedlock in the sixties, with mixed raced parents whom she never met, she was brought up in care. Rather than this being a set- back my friend was one of the most upbeat, positive and enabling people I know. She used all her talents and experiences to help others in similar situations. As a social worker and musician she worked tirelessly to help those who were experiencing what she had experienced, whether it was children in care or people with multi-racial backgrounds. She worked continuously for refugees in Bristol bringing together her music, managerial talents and social work to create successful events and raising awareness.

When she discovered she had a brain tumour my friend battled with her illness with grace and humility and I always found her positive however ill she was. Though I cannot say I knew her well she has confirmed for me my belief that death is a doorway to a more extraordinary place, a place I have been lucky enough to glimpse for a moment, an experience almost impossible to fully describe. A place of such complete release and beauty, words cannot possibly get close.  For me the idea that there is nothing beyond life is not only extremely sad for those who chose to believe it but also makes a nonsense of science. Scientists know that nothing can disappear only transmute and we, without our bodies, are simply energy. Where does that energy go when we leave our physical bodies behind? The glow that those who journey towards death with peace and grace illuminate as they leave, show me that my experience is a truth. Life is a beautiful thing but just a stage like a cocoon from which we can emerge like a butterfly as we return to spirit and go home.

I know she is flying like a bird.

Casting your spell

Casting your Spell

This plaque can be found in the square in the middle of Devizes, a market town in Wiltshire. It tells a story of a Ruth Pierce in 1753 who was buying some wheat with three other women here in the market place. It says:
'One of these women in collecting the several quotas of money discovered a deficiency and demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good the amount. Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share and said she wished she might drop down dead if she had not. She rashly repeated this awful wish when to the consternation and terror of the surrounding multitude she instantly fell down and expired having the money concealed in her hand.'
On reading this plaque I couldn't stop thinking about it. I have come to understand the phrase 'casting a spell', the idea that with each thought we can truly bring that idea into being. When we utter or indeed write words, spelling the word, we are literally creating our world. The phrase 'careful what you wish for' comes to mind but the awareness of the power of prayer reminds me of the positivity of this action too. It is always so easy to get hooked into the negative aspect of an idea and this story certainly does. The idea of Ruth Pierce wishing to drop down dead if she was lying, knowing full well she was, is a harsh lesson to learn. I think it is time to choose a positive way forward, to choose to believe that we if create positive thoughts we can create a positive environment to live in.
As I feel that this year is a year of removing all old energies from our lives so we can step forward with new and clear energy, taking responsibility for our actions, past and present, is a very important step towards healing all aspects of ourselves. Realising that even the words we utter hold huge amounts of power is part of taking that responsibility. It's so easy to throw words away carelessly, words that can damage ourselves or others really makes no difference. To add as an after thought that 'I didn't really mean it' makes little difference as the spell has already been cast.
Its time to take that responsibilty, think before we act, think about the world we want to bring into being through words and deeds. Let's choose to build a better world knowing we all have the power to do so within us.

The Venus Transit

The Venus Transit

What does this mean to us? Everyone is aware of eclipses, be they of the sun and moon but rarely do we think about the occurrence of other planets coming into an alignment worth noting. Every one hundred years or so Venus steps between us and the sun and it happens twice with a gap of eight years. The last one happened in June 2004. I was lucky enough to know about it and have some old protective glasses left over form the 1999 eclipse and had a good look at it.
This year, having been the brightest star in the sky over the winter and making those beautiful conjunctions with Jupiter and the moon its only fitting that she should still be in our minds for this momentous event. The sun is literally going to illuminate and magnify its pure energy of love for us to feel even if we can't get to see it.
The year for me has been a highly energetically charged one and I am hoping that this is going to continue to make 2012 a full on year. I feel that if we are going to step into and embrace this new energy of respect and love to all with the understanding that we are all part of one body, one human race, we need to start behaving as one. To do this we need to fully respect and love ourselves. We can only do this if we completely clear out our closet of all negative ways of working and remove all old fears and pain. That means a lot of work for all but I feel that this event is going to fast track the way forward for many of us.
As usual the great British weather often gets in the way of our enjoyment of this transit visually but I think that perhaps that's part of it. We need to stop relying on our eyes and begin to feel with our hearts. We need to trust the wisdom our hearts have to offer and stop narrowing our vision by just using our eyes and begin to use our insight. Venus can do a great deal to help us with this, being the Goddess of Love and holding a very powerful tool that we have neglected to connect with for too long.
Please join me, even if its in your sleep and connect with this once in a life time occurrence.

There Is Only One Story

If you are, or ever have been an avid film buff or book worm, like I used to be you soon come to realise that there are only so many stories to be told, only so many songs to write, before you come back to the same idea.  I watched Eat, Pray, Love for the first time this weekend and was astounded at how much it mirrored my life. The journey to the golden city as I have called my story is the idea that we are all going home.  The journey to the heart space is where we all want to be but we feel like we have been banished from the garden of Eden. How to we get back in?

So many films tell this story, I don't want to bore you with an endless list but the obvious ones like: The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Superman, Star Wars, they all tell the story of the meek, the small or the outsider finding their inner power by the initiation of the 'heroes journey' and returning home.
With so many stories about children leading the way, Harry Potter for instance always knows better then his teachers, or women trying to find their path I wonder if the male population doesn't feel slightly pushed aside. At the beginning of my journey to finding my way 'home' about 12 years ago I was told it would be the children leading the way. This is because as they have only been here on this Earth a short time they haven't been shut down by our limiting thoughts and cynical ways. The only way back to the garden is with an open heart and an open mind. Unfortunately we have been told for so long to believe in only what we can see and touch and not what we can feel we have lost all connection with our trust and faith in love and the vast energies and truth that we can discover with that connection. These are all feminine aspects and although we all carry both masculine and feminine energy within us I feel many men feel it is unmanly to connect to this world. The pain this causes in shutting ourselves down to these beautiful feelings has left many of us feeling bereft and in the wilderness. We blame ourselves and then do not feel worthy of returning home, like the prodigal lover.

I feel it is time to let go of all our fears, open ourselves up to all the possibilities life offers us and open the doors to our hearts. All these films are here to show us the way. I'm hoping that if our male energy cannot respond to the more touchy feely films on offer then maybe the disaster film is the way in. Humanity loves to believe in the doomsday idea of transformation, but I feel 2012 is a year of opportunity not an end. What the disaster movie does offer, however, is the chance to enter the idea of proving ones worth and solving the greatest problem we are facing, whether it is a meteor or global warming or simply overpopulation we have to make this world work for all of us. Unfortunately the answer isn't with technology or explosives, although technology will come into play after the shift has been made. First we have to learn to step back into our hearts, discover compassion for everyone and learn to live harmoniously within ourselves and so with our whole global community. We have to fall in love with ourselves and forgive ourselves before we can go home.

This is the message in all these films, whatever the scenario, or the setting or who ever the hero is, there is only one story and one journey. Let's hope we all make it home soon.

The Creative Spark

As a musician and writer the search for the creative spark is a lifelong quest. Understanding how we reach that place of illumination has always fascinated me especially after connecting with Chrissy Philp and her beautiful study of the brain as a map of the cosmos in her book ‘The Golden City’. My interest in balancing the worlds of science and spirituality are colliding with great force at the moment and Jill Bolte Taylor’s Ted talk about having a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain and the gifts that brought her, together with the article in the Guardian recently which was an extract from Jonah Lehrer’s ‘Imagine: How Creativity Works’ (pub. Canongate Books) have greatly enriched my journey. In Lehrer’s piece he discusses the idea that before the insight, the left hemisphere has to have given up all hope of finding what it has been looking for. In that moment of dispair it stops ‘trying’ and quietens so that the right hemisphere can be kicked into action. I feel this will resonate with anyone who has had any moments of insight of creative inspiration.

The Changing Face of Europe

 

No one said this year was going to be easy and for me sometimes a slow deep breath is a good way to begin any process. Its so easy to launch into something head first and realise may be there was perhaps a better approach. With Greece struggling to put its best foot forward I do worry when the media uses so many images to mirror pre-war Germany with songs from ‘Cabaret’ for instance. I think we need to be very careful to learn from the past not just remember it and so recreate it.

Well spring is truly here, the blossom is nearly over but the wind and rain is making us think we’re still in March or have we skipped to November? Our weather has never been good at sticking by the book but this is surely raising some eyebrows once more. I think it’s important to remember that the sun’s activity is very powerful at the moment and this has been felt all over the world with earthquake and volcanic shifts. Whatever energy the sun is shifting this is always felt by the Earth and so we cannot help but feel it too. We need to acknowledge this and recognise that we may be affected in more ways that we might realise. This does not remove responsibility of our actions but helps us to understand ourselves and any unusual behaviour that might be shown. Remember to enjoy the ride.