Welcome 2013!

Welcome 2013!

So here we are in 2013 and happy New Year to you. I hope you've had a good festive season, whatever you do at the this time of year, and are ready to start 2013 with a cheerful heart and renewed enthusiasm. Easy to say, not so easy to do when Spring seems so far away and the nights still draw in so early. In just a few weeks time we have Imbolc, a much forgotten festival, there to reignite our flame and celebrate the first signs of Spring. I will certainly be lighting a candle to begin bringing these ancient gifts back into our lives.

So what is this year all about? When I first heard all about Solstice 2012 about twelve years ago, I  believed there was going to be huge shifts and changes on a massive scale. As time progressed I began to see that this is just part of the human psyche and our desire for the dramatic. However, I do believe these shifts are happening although they are on a more subtle level and what we think of as over night transitions, or changes in a blink of an eye, is possibly more like 300 years in the bigger picture. This length of transition is what the astrologers and the I Ching foresee.

For me this year is all about choice. With my interest in the world of science, the quantum field and the Schroedinger's Cat theory has taught me that anything is possible. In fact, everything is not only possible, but actually happening all at once. It's up to us which road we choose. Happiness is a choice and soon as we decide to step through that gateway we can choose the positive road at every cross road, it all depends on how we choose to view it. 

When I was offered a healing which removed my creative block, in 2001, the first song I wrote, or rather received, in the form of a dream, was called 'Living the Days of Love'. Immediately I understood that is what we are doing now, it's not about the future. Now I believe the gateway is fully open and I intend to make this year a year of love.
To learn to totally love, forgive and thank yourself for your journey so far is not always so easy, but is totally necessary to move forward into a place of harmony with everything in your world around you.
I chose this journey 12 years ago and I am finding the process is constantly intensifying. What we view as 'bad' or 'negative' is totally a view we hold, not a truth. Understanding and letting go of the judgement we hold about deeds acted out from a state of pain is the only way we move forward. The more we can forgive ourselves, the more we can forgive others. The more we can love ourselves, the more we can love others. What might seem like a quantum leap only needs to start with a step and the first step is about believing that it's possible.
That is my mantra for this year: that the gateway be opened to begin this quantum leap to make 2013 the beginning of a whole new way of being.

Experiencing the Oneness

Experiencing the Oneness

Through much of my life I suppose I have felt on the edge of it all. I think many of us feel that way. A sense of missing out, of not fully engaging in all that life has to offer. It's a hard one for the ego for it is really impossible to experience everything in life. The thing to do, I have found, is to find appreciation of what you have done and find a way of dealing with what you haven't experienced.

Two things happened to me in the last month that really helped me with this one. First, in my last blog I spoke of a trip to the Scilly Isles and I how I saw the idea of riding the waves help in the broader aspect of riding the waves of life. While I was physically struggling with the rolling waves I stayed below deck for most of the journey, which is most unusual for me. At the end of the trip when my group met up I was told that dolphins had been spotted and how exciting it had been to have been able to see them. I was immediately disappointed that I'd missed this experience. However, I had recently finished Richard Bach's book 'One' in which he and his wife meet many of their alternative selves and how it teaches them that we are all just many aspects of the one and we can see and enjoy other people's experiences through them rather than feeling diminished by them. This really helped me let go of the disappointment.

A week or so later driving in Wiltshire my partner and I spotted some starlings in the field next to the road. Now I know that I always miss the beautiful displays that the starlings put on for us each year as I never take the time out to find them but always say how much I'd like to see them. We're all good at that one (as a saxophonist, if I had a pound for every time someone told me that they've always wanted to play the saxophone!) but here was an opportunity right in my hand. We quickly pulled over and though it only looked like there were a few little groups of starlings, suddenly they were all gathering together and flying over our heads into the field where we were stood. I immediately ducked, well with that many birds its always best to take cover as there's always going to be a few managing their waste disposal. All clear, so I stood up straight to the sound of the flutter of wings overhead which was amazing and although there were only hundreds rather than thousands the closeness of them and the display they put on was simply gorgeous. I was reminded how it is now known that there is no leader, they all just work as one connected body and it was breathtaking the shapes and kaleidoscopic visuals they created in the sky. 

At last I was truly experiencing this and just to bring home to me the reality and closeness of it all, as they changed direction one more time right over our heads we received a direct hit. My partner was splattered on his forehead and my gift was in my hair. Some say it's good luck. I don't believe in luck myself but I certainly felt very much in the heart of what life was offering me. We had to laugh.

I felt that my desire to investigate this issue, this problem of feeling left out, that others are getting more out of life than I am, was being answered. I was being shown how this feeling is a truly ego led view of life. That we need to learn to respect the ego and led it grow with experience rather than giving it a hard time for making mistakes. We can't all experience everything but when we accept this and stop feeling hard done by and less than we are, we can be open to allowing some really beautiful experiences in and live our one life to the full and enjoy the rest through the experiences of the other as an alternative version of ourselves.

Riding the Seas of Change

Riding the Seas of Change

My dad was in the navy in the second World War and always claimed it was the best time of his life. For years I struggled with this concept until I was able to grasp a wider view of what this meant for him. I realise that as I see him now at the grand old age of 89, an amazingly fit and healthy, easy going person in all senses of the word, I realise how his few years at sea stood him in good stead for the years to come. Unfazed by the great changes he has witnessed since the 20's he has been able to ride the seas of change with ease.

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to play with one of my bands in the Scillies. These are islands, 3 hours by sea off the coast of Cornwall and what a truly beautiful place it is. However, in September it is a lottery on what kind of crossing you may in encounter. As the waves threw the ship rocking from side to side, even after years of being brought up with boats as the love of playing on the sea never left my father, I felt the need to stay below deck and keep an eye on the horizon. As I concentrated on relaxing, it came to me how this had a much greater importance than merely handling a rough crossing. 

Aware that the universe is purely vibration from the very fast to the slow and dense, life is about riding these waves and at the moment we are being battered by the energy waves our sun is sending us as we are all shifting together. As the Earth is hit by these extraordinary waves from the sun so are we all affected. Now I know that if you are on the sea and the rise and fall of the choppy waves is making you feel sick the worst thing you can do is tense your stomach  muscles and try and fight the flow. The best thing to do is relax and go with it so you're flowing in harmony with the incoming energy. I feel this is what is happening for so many people now. The waves of change - which are actually beautiful if you prepare yourself in a way that allows you to let go of the old, however attached you may feel to it, and bring in the new - can be almost impossible to get to grips with if you create a feeling of fear, tension and stress. Trying to block the new frequencies arriving at our door is as futile as putting your hand up to stop a tsunami. 

As I continue to watch my father with great respect, I thank him for what he has unknowingly taught me ( a man who shows the way most effectively by his actions and not with words) and have found this year to be an extraordinary gift of challenges and changes, all of which I have managed to cope with so far.

Let's see what the next three months bring. Remember, though, don't forget to breathe and don't put up a struggle. Enjoy the ride.....

  

The Power of Music

The Power of Music

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream,

A dream you dream together is reality."

John Lennon

I don't really want to say too much about this subject really as it should speak for itself and so many have already said so much.

This is my life, as a musician, as a teacher and a healer. To me there is no separation and music does all the work. The vibrations and the places it takes you goes beyond anything else in this world except love and light. The thing about music though is that it brings people together in so many ways and the words remind us of this whether we are talking about harmony or good vibrations etc. To me everything, the universe, is made up of vibrations or frequencies whether it's light, sound, brain waves radio waves or solid beings such as ourselves and the earth which we all know vibrates with the understanding of string theory. The higher the vibration the higher and lighter the density and energy. All this carries its own wisdom and if we take time to listen it teaches us just by our connection to it. We just have to learn to join in and sing along.

I have had the good fortune to catch a wonderful television programme about Paul Simon's Graceland and the controversy it brought up. It was a beautiful story though hampered with issues from the start. All those old enough to remember those dark times of trying to resolve the apartheid situation in South Africa, although it is far from over like any political crises it takes more than a few years to heal, music certainly played its part. Paul Simon was severely criticised for working alongside the black South Africans as were the South Africans. They thankfully laughed at the politicians and said you can't victimise us twice! They all stuck to their guns and chose to write and play music that defined an era. They chose to write songs not of a political nature but about what they as brothers loved to sing about most, that has made the album timeless. 25 years on and Paul Simon recognised and apologised for going against rules that had to be upheld if the politics was going to work, but knew he had to do it anyway. The ANC are finally at a place that Paul Simon was at all along and recognise that the music rides above all politics, above race and all issues we humans choose to cling to and forgave him whilst also feeling humbled by the wisdom of the music the musician carries with them everywhere they go. It was a beautiful moment. Music can break down all barriers and create accordance, love and harmony for all those who wish to participate and sing the universal song together. I leave it to you if you'd wish to join in.

Money makes the World go Around

Money Makes the World go Around

Four years ago it was explained to me that Pluto, the planet or rather ex-planet as it has now been demoted, entered Capricorn in 2007. It was also explained that Pluto holds a very special energy. It represents our shadow aspect of self. From its distant place in our cosmos it is not interested in us as individuals only as a global community. As it has journeyed through the previous signs it has offered us many challenges. In the Eighties Pluto entered Scorpio, its ruling sign. Scorpio is all about transformation and deals with the taboo aspects of our society, ones we do not like to face like sex and death. Highlighting the shadow aspect of this sign, in the Eighties we had to contend with the tragedy of Aids on a global level.

In the Nineties Pluto slipped into Sagittarius. This is the sign of finding your voice; your truth. This is the journey of the spiritual quest. In this time we had to deal with Fundamentalism and this reared its head throughout many of our religious cultures it seemed. In the summer of 2006 Pluto entered Capricorn: the world of business and wealth and we had the collapse of Northern Rock. Then Pluto retrograded out of Capricorn and everyone breathed a sigh as it was believed that it was just a blip. 2007 and Pluto re-entered Capricorn fully and the world recession began. As the banks and the City did its best to prevent the walls of their castle from crashing down, such is their power that they can create any illusion to make it look good. However their smoke and mirrors could only last for so long before some began to look behind the veil and see through the trickery. This month the news has been filled with many being brought to account. What will the future bring?

Pluto stays in each sign for about 17 years and it pulls no punches. It cares not for the king, nor the peasant, only that the light be held up so that all the shadows are illuminated for what they are. It is our choice as a community to let this time be one of change for the good, sweep away the energy that does no service to us as a whole and rediscover what money and wealth really offers.

For me money is an energy, something that if it is allowed to flow in and out without blocks then there is always plenty for all and the river can flow to all our doors. The problems start when we forget to go with its flow, living in a place of fear then people begin to hoard their money, damming the river so those living below the dam go without. The energy of fear is the main block. It causes people to either grab all they can at any cost or buy into the idea that there is not enough and go without.

At the moment there are dams all through our system. Though the big ones are at the top so that many live in poverty while few have wealth beyond belief, as a community I believe we can let the positive energy rise through our pyramid of wealth by letting go of our fear at the bottom of the pile. We can start to release the grip those at the top have on our financial system and bring those castle walls down. If we choose not to buy into the fear of recession but learn to value only what we need, we can start building a truly wealthy society.

The God Particle

The God Particle

For so many years now I've been following the journey that the world of science has been taking. The ups and downs, the truths and untruths, it's been a bumpy ride but one that has led it down a fascinating path. I, for the last thirteen years, have held strong in my belief that science and spirituality are hunting for the same answers and are saying the same truths but just using a different language and working in a different time frame.

With the entrance of quantum mechanics into our general sphere of understanding and the impossible realities that it holds, the idea that the answers could have anything to do with what the ancients have been teaching for so long has seemed out of the question. Slowly, slowly however, many scientists have been able to bridge the seemingly huge divide and bring God into their understanding of science at the risk of great ridicule from fellow colleagues.

My journey has led me to understand that science, however, amazing has removed the 'story' from our lives, reduced our world to a set of facts of figures and stripped us of meaning, of making sense of who we are and our place here. Now with the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle also known as the God Particle (I love that!) I am reading headlines such as 'Higgs Boson binds the universe, but humans give it meaning'. Hooray, I say! 

It is certainly up to us to retrieve what we have lost, help us, as a society, to rediscover the meaning in our lives and remember what we're all about. The Ancients have always understood this but in our journey to try and fathom how it works in our new speak, the language of mathematics and physics we have, like teenagers, forgotten, in our excitement of discovering a new way to look at the same story, to listen to our elders. As our new wisdom grows, scientists are at last able to look at the bigger picture, see beyond their formulaes and bring that sense of oneness to all things.   

This is a very exciting time !

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.