Happy glorious Monday! Here the temperature has dropped and it is brrrrrr – frigging chilly! But the sky is blue and the sun is out, so that more than compensates for having to warm up the vehicle and bundle up like the Michelin Man. How has your week been? Are you getting overwhelmed with the holiday season or are you pacing yourself?
Yesterday we lit the second candle in our lovely homemade Advent wreath – this is the candle of Hope (it’s also the celebration of the light of plants – plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance). Now the word “Hope” has never been one of my favourite words as I find it is used far too much i.e. – I hope the kids do their chores, I hope I win the lottery, I hope the cat doesn’t cough a hairball on the clean laundry………. So the word Hope always felt a bit banal to me, so I went exploring and reading and really like this definition, it is one I can get behind:-
“Hope is a feeling of trust, a security, and a reason to keep going. It is a passionate desire of our heart. It is a feeling of expectation and a longing for a certain thing to happen.” – Verity Russell
I love the sense of a feeling of trust, security and a reason to keep going and also that it is heart based, not head based. Test it out this week and see if it resonates for you, so when you use the word Hope conjure up the feeling of trust, security and passionate desire.
So with Hope in mind let’s get centred and ready to pull, okay?
Gently close your eyes down and take a long, luscious slow breath in – hold it, hold it and release it as a sigh – letting any busy-ness, stress or confusion flow out. Keep breathing long and deep and see in your mind’s eye a gorgeous winter landscape. The snow is deep but firm and such a pristine white that it reflects the light of the moon and lights up the landscape. As you walk out on the snow, hearing the crunch under your boots, you can see the trees are all adorned in snow crystals and their boughs are ladened with last nights snow – it’s as if they are all dressed in sparkly white outfits and ready to attend a ball.
Standing in the middle you look up to the night sky and there are stars starting to peek out and the moon is a glorious crescent suspended against the dark night carpet. The air is fresh and crisp and as you breathe it in you can feel it tingle all the way down to your toes. Standing still in this silent snowscape you bring to mind the Hopes you have, those Hopes that you have a passionate desire for. They could be relationships, work, children, water, peace, a romantic love – whatever they are for you. As you think of the first one, cup your hands in their cosy mitts in front of your face and whisper your Hope into them and then throw it up into the air. Keep doing this, whisper each Hope into your cupped hands and then throw it up to the sky. As you release the last one you look up to the sky and you see that each Hope has taken on a different colour and it is as if the Northern Lights have appeared just for you. The colours dance, stretch, expand and move – showing you that your Hopes have been heard and are being acted upon. Revel! Revel in the colours, the validation, the pure joy of the moment and smile. When you are ready take another deep breath in and whisper – Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Take another deep breath and slowly come back to your body and open your eyes.
TRUST YOURSELF
You are wise. You know how to grow, even without knowing how you know.
Like the ancient forests, spectacular galaxies and the acorn that becomes the oak, there is natural intelligence for growth that is beyond logic and reason. It just happens. You are growing. You really are. Don’t doubt it. Even if you don’t see it yet, remember that so much is happening when the seed is still unbroken in the ground. It’s gathering up all its’ might, power and force that it will need to push above the soil and burst up into the light. Trust yourself. You know how to grow. Don’t over think things, it won’t help you. Don’t worry so much, you are doing a great job in this game of life. When you trust yourself, you relax and you can heed your own wisdom, insight and messages much more clearly and easily.
You have a big destiny this lifetime and much to experience. Sometimes you make the error of judging something that is unpleasant as negative or a mistake. It isn’t. It’s just part of your great hunger for experience.
Don’t resist any points of instability in your life. This even applies to your most treasured relationships or creative projects. That instability is just a growing pain because more consciousness, more love and more light wants to infiltrate and pervade all parts of your life. Choose to flow and grow.
THE WORD WANTS TO BE WRITTEN
You might have been taught that creativity is something you have to work hard to access, or that finding your life purpose is so difficult that you must search high and low for it. Or creating a living doing what you love is impossible.
Yet what you are is within you and wants to come out at every available opportunity. You don’t have to struggle so much. It is more about allowing space for it to manifest and to let the energy flow. The effort is in getting out of the way, not in making something happen. As for being yourself, that is the foundation from which your life path and joy will reveal itself. Being yourself becomes easier when you give yourself permission to love, honour and accept yourself in all circumstances, especially the ones where you might be more tempted to reject and judge.
What you are dreaming of or seek to manifest, is actually very natural for you. That is why you want to do it. Now it is about chipping away at the walls of shame, perhaps with a defiant “Who the hell cares, I am here and I am going to love myself anyway.” Release old emotional wounds and break away from any restraints to unconditional self-love.
What you want to write, sing, dance, create or become is you. It is natural. Drop your defences, get into the grit and confront the power than any old shaming has had over you. It’s finished now. It is time for you to be naked with yourself, acknowledge how gorgeous you are and get on with your work. Life is urging you to do so, because the work wants to happen. What you want to create, wants to be created. Step firmly over any remnants of the past that have been in your way and stay on your path.
FOCUS ON THE LIGHT
A tremendous force of light is gathering around you. It is attracted to the purity of your intention to create from your heart. As your intention grows, so does the light. As the light grows, so does your intention. Magic wants to happen for you now! The synchronicity, perfect timing, opportunities and information that are needed will seem to be drawn right to your door. You may start to feel as if you cannot walk outside without stumbling into something helpful, wonderful and inspiring.
It is best to stay focused on your heart and intentions. Just allow all else to happen of its own accord, without making it mean anything too personal. Simply let it be the workings of the great light of love, flowing through a pure heart and touching the world. Even if the light that is drawn to you and flows through you has some dazzling effects, you don’t have to get caught up in it.
Don’t be distracted by other paths around you at this time as you are too close to succeeding on the one you are on now! Diluting your energies, in the pursuit of too much will slow down your success and the world needs your light to shine sooner rather than later! In time you may diversity and explore other ways to express yourself but for now, build what you are working on and know that success is coming swiftly.
What a glorious reading! I loved how all the cards worked together. So remember to practice Hope this week and to be gentle with yourself and others in this holiday season.
