Voice

Happy Magnificent, Magickal, Marvelous, Mystical, Melodious, Merry, Magnanimous, Majestic Monday!  I don’t know about you but I have a bit of a feeling of “OMG February is almost over!” This month seems to have just whizzed by, don’t you think?  It just seems to be a tad of a blur of celebrations, snow and grey clouds, most interesting. However, with February passing by so quickly you know what that means?  Spring is Coming!!!! Whoot! Whoot!

Okay, I have a couple of questions for you this week that have been coming up in conversations with clients, friends and random strangers and they may appear heavy, but they actually aren’t.  

So let me ask you the first one.  Where do you Belong?  Where is the place, the space the whatever that really makes you feel like you Belong?  Now you maybe thinking to yourself, Jenny that’s a rather unusual question, but it really isn’t.  A few weeks ago we explored why the Ancestral DNA industry is booming and that’s because in our society that is more connected than ever via technology, we are more disconnected than ever from each other.  Most families don’t live in the same town, let alone the same country!

So let’s go back to the question of where do you Belong?

On Friday, I went to a talk given by Toka pa Turner, who has written the book Belonging is a Skill and she spoke of how, as we are growing up, we estrange pieces of ourselves to “fit in”.  I call this trying to put a square peg in a round hole. She then went on to say that when we reach adulthood we find a group, an organisation, friends or whomever that we resonate with and really feel like we “Belong” and then for one reason or another we are ousted, there is a grief, a loss – where do we Belong?  Many of us have experienced that pain whether it is in our family (if we chose to do or be different, our church, our spiritual group, even in a Yoga class!)  Toka pa recommends that we pull all those pieces back to us that we have estranged or distanced ourselves from to become whole and Belong to ourselves first and foremost.  In other words we Belong to Ourselves, that we become complete packages instead of searching for the piece that is missing. (Have to admit it reminded me a tad of people who post on dating websites “Looking for someone to complete me!)  

I found this fascinating as, with a big move and in a new place, I too have wondered where I belong.  I have been trying different groups, churches, organisations, events and all sorts. Some meet my need of “Belonging” and others, not so much, however the interesting thing is that I don’t feel unwelcome or alone.  In fact what I have realised (very similar to high school), I Belong in a plethora of groups and as long as I feel that I Belong in my body and in my own home.  Life is good. So where do you Belong?

The next question that came up this past while is “Where Does Your Voice Live?”  Now if your response is “Duh, Jen it lives in my throat, my vocal cords, geesh!”  I have an invitation for you, “Does it”?  

For myself I always thought that my voice was in my writing, in the things I created, in my home and on the side of the soccer pitch.  It wasn’t really heard many other places. My voice could be seen in the gardens I would create to express something inside, or maybe in a piece of healing jewelry I had created for a client or friend, it could be heard in the stories that I created for my kids as they drifted off to sleep, or in a piece of writing.  But didn’t that mean that my voice lived in my heart, head and hands and not so much in my throat?

This got me to exploring the throat chakra a tad more, as to me this is the glorious melting pot where creativity, self will and love pool with intuition and divine guidance and then emit out loud for all and sundry to hear.  I then talked to artists, makers, creators, speakers, healers, numb people and asked them where their voice lived in them. Is it just one spot, or can it be a plethora of spots. A lovely woman I met, who has a line of work that she thoroughly enjoys,  says that her voice is in her Yoni and her throat, but not in her heart or mind. Fair enough!

For myself, as I explore getting out of my comfort zone by joining a female acapella group (and apparently there is a concert in 4 weeks!), drumming and putting myself in front of groups of people I have never met before (which can be a delicious invitation for my introverted self to go hide in a closet).  I have found that my voice is in my heart, my creativity, my hands, my mind, my throat and my body.  So slowly and surely how I share my voice the deep inner piece of me is slowly coming out through fairly much every piece of me, which is really exciting, but in a way terrifying!  Interestingly enough our “choir” leader threw a new song at us on Sunday and my whole being went “Ahhhhhh” when I read the lyrics and I haven’t been able to stop singing it since.

Here’s the first verse:  “From our lips we are echo and mountain, In our eyes we are sacred and sun, By the grace of our hands, we’re the flame and the dance, In our hearts we are rhythm and drum.”

So let me ask again – Where Does Your Voice Live?  And how does this shape where you Belong?

Okay so I have most certainly chuntered on long enough, so with all that being said let’s crack on with the reading.  

When I asked the cards and guides who wanted to come and share this week I laughed when I saw it was The Oracle of the Divine Circus.   The reason I laughed is these glorious guides are playful, but deep.  They think outside the box and invite you to do the same. If you have never met these glorious guides, please let me introduce you.  “What is life if not a Divine Circus?  Life might seem ordinary at times, yet when we look more closely, it is bursting with creative diversity, constantly evolving, pulling rugs out from underneath our feet (usually just at the moment we think we have everything under control) and opening doors we couldn’t even see were right there before us  moment earlier. Life is magical, thrilling, sometimes strange and even scary. It can inspire you and touch your soul, inviting you to discover the unique magic within you, to dare to live it, to express it, to play with possibilities and embrace what sets you apart from the crowd. “

The crystals that came to play wiggled and woggled and jumped out as did the lavender (interesting).  We have Morganite – It cleanses the emotional body of stress and anxiety, old wounds and hidden traumas, and enkindles lightness within the spirit, as if a burden has been lifted, Blue Apatite – increase your appetite for life, Kyanite – by clearing the energy blocks clogging your fifth chakra, blue kyanite permits a better flow of energy to assist in self-expression and communication.   The wand at the top is Selenite which cleanses and amplifies.  

There is a glorious visualisation to tune up all your chakras, however, if that doesn’t resonate for you.  All good, just take a glorious deep breath in through your nose and sigh it out through your mouth. As you breathe this way for a minute or two I invite you to see right at the base of your throat where your collar bone joins, a glorious pool of clear blue water.  See the levels and layers, see your voice in this glorious pool and breathe it in. See where your voice expresses itself in your body and then when you are ready, invite your voice whether it is is in your hands, heart, throat etc to pick the card or cards that resonate for you.  Yes?

Let’s go.  

Did you remember to pick?

Then let’s go have a look, yes?

CROWN OF THE BUTTERFLY BAMBINI

Just as nature imbues the butterfly with an innate ability for radical transformation, so too do you have natural instincts within, guiding you to grow in dramatic, utterly life-changing ways.  Progress is your perfection. Growth is your attainment. Do you shun what you have been or mistakes you have made? Or instead, do you wear your ability for transformation as a sacred crown of power?  

Transformation is an ability, an art, a sacred power.  It requires an ability to go through the death of an old self, to be reborn again. That death might be an identity, a lifestyle or career, or an inner sense of self that no longer seems enough to truly reflect who you are becoming.

It requires both strength and flexibility, to be like bamboo, to bend without breaking.  Are you willing to let go of what you have known, who you have been, without judging it, except to understand that you are outgrowing your past and becoming your future in this very moment?  This takes great courage whilst flexibility of mind allows you to believe there are other possibilities in this life beyond what you have already experienced. The strength gives you enough courage to bear the loss of the known and the terror of the unknown, perhaps even turning that terror into excitement for what may be.  

Don’t dream small dreams, for you are capable of far more dramatic and colourful creations.  Trust in the magnificence of what you are becoming, the expression of the transformational intelligence and power within you.

DUKE OF SHADOWS

Cunningly clever am I, helping you discern the truth from the lie.  I remind you that half truths may seem to be whole, yet in the shadows is information yet to be known.  When the time is right, the light shall be bright, and confusion will give way to understanding.

You are being invited to be patient.  This is a cautionary card, not to inspire concern, but rather to inspire curiosity.  There is more to a situation, person, opportunity, or even an apparent absence of activity or success, than meets the eye.  You could imagine it being like the universe has another card up its sleeve and is yet to show its full hand. A process has been set in motion but is “under the radar” of your awareness.  Something is happening, even if that doesn’t appear to be the case. But just like a seed starts to grow into a plant, deep in the earth, apparently invisible and yet very real, you are being subjected to invisible but real forces of growth and healing at this time.  

Because you cannot know what you don’t know, you will need to wait for more information to come to you.  So if what you see, sense or feel is negative right now, don’t believe it! Things are going to shift and change and there will be a surprising twist in your life.  Though you don’t see it coming, another piece of your life puzzle is going to reveal itself soon. It will help solve a difficulty or question you have been holding in your heart.

OUT OF DARKNESS

Something that has been troubling you, something dark within you or in your life, is about to become something else.  You won’t see it coming, but when the time is right (and it soon will be), out of darkness will come new life. A seed of new life is growing.  Perhaps you cannot see it or feel it because the seed begins its journey to new life in the darkness, hidden, away from sight and away from light.  This seed is destined to bring new life to a situation that might seem to be dying, a fresh perspective to a stale problem.

When the time is right – and that is fast approaching – the seed will push through, rise up and reveal itself.  It will no longer be just a seed, but a shoot that will grow into a plant and can then flower and bear fruit. It is not a question of whether or not it is going to happen.  It is going to happen. It is just a matter of time. Whatever struggle or challenge is in your life or your heart right now, trust that it is going to work out. Not only that, but the very thing that seems to be darkest in your life, the most troublesome, is actually going to be what brings forth a beautiful gift of new life.

In a strange way, it is actually trying to help you.  It is assisting you in being ready to receive and experience new life, for something new to be born in you and in your life.  This might be the realisation of your own inner strength, your courage, the development of belief in yourself, confidence to trust your instincts or some other gift yet to be understood.

In time, you’ll see that those gifts – developed in order to get through the darkness – helped you step out of the darkness and into a whole new life.  Soon you’ll see there was an opportunity and even a blessing hiding in the troubles of your past, just waiting for the right time to transform itself into light and life.

Well delicious lovely, wishing you such a glorious week of exploring where you Belong and to whom, possibly.  And most certainly as we head into March, and Spring approaching with the upward thrust of energy and growth, using and finding your voice and allowing it to be expressed throughout everything you do, think, create, be, say, touch. Sending you sunbeams, daffodils and big hugs.  See you next week!