transformation

Confirmation from Bee and the “Backward” Message

Posted by Barbara Techel

After I did the weekly reading yesterday, throughout the day I kept revisiting the fact I really felt called to read the cards backward (from right to left, instead of left to right). If you’ve not watched the video yet and would like to pick your own card from the three I pulled as your personal message, you can still do that and watch here.  Then come on back to hear how the reading has expanded with a confirmation I received from Bee this morning.

The word reset has also been forefront in my mind the last few days. In part, because I believe that is what the last several months have been about regarding the bigger perspective as we’ve revisited in our own hearts what is important and how we are individually, and as a collective, going to move forward with all that we’ve learned since early March of 2020.

And there’s more we still may each need to be with and learn and what perhaps the rest of the year will be about as we make our way toward 2021. 

Thinking of the reading I did yesterday and the word reset it came even more into focus the reason I felt called to read the cards backward. As I made my way out to my writing cottage this morning I saw this bee on the siding near my screen door. While the temperature has dropped into the low 50s with a sharp northeast wind that has a bite to it, I realized bee was confirming my reading and my pondering the value of what reset means.

At first glance, it seemed Bee was stunned from the cold, which could likely be, but I also sensed that Bee seemed to be taking a pause to conserve its energy and adjust and adapt as a confirmation to the message I shared yesterday, and yes, also to what it was now facing in the change in temperatures.

I thought about my own life and how I’ve been doing my best to conserve my energy and adapt and adjust just like I have no doubt so many of us are doing. For me, I’ve been focusing on what I need to do to stay balanced while also taking steps to expand (clean up) things I need to understand for my own growth. I think for many of us, this is what we’ve been learning to do the last several months— each of us at a different level of experiencing and incorporating this new way of being.

So my ‘backward’ reading:

Again, normally I’d read from left to right, beginning with Bee, and the cards following representing a story in motion. But this reading I see as the great reset and why I felt called to read it backward from right to left. Because we are not looking at life in the same way as we used to and we are seeing things from different perspectives than before.

I do believe we are moving toward a time of more peace, harmony, and community, though yes, we still have some times of unrest to move through.

We are creating in many ways a new story and one none of us have experienced in our lifetime, but yet at the same time, this way of being has been experienced before. 

Turtle Spirit is helping us to stay in this new inner space that many of us have invested in the last several months and is encouraging us to not give up – to stay with it – that intentionally moving at this slower pace, though we’ve been so used to rushing, going, and forcing, and it can feel like we aren’t doing anything and that we are going against everything we know.

Vulture Spirit is reminding us that we still have things we need to individually and collectively clean up. While the big picture and the chaos out in the world can feel overwhelming at times, cleaning up what we can within ourselves, is what I believe is what we each need to be doing, in order that we can all collectively move forward. 

What I feel is so important to remember also is not to beat ourselves up inwardly for the past and the mistakes made, but to take what we’ve learned as the way in which we can best move forward – and so as the message on the Vulture card says – nothing is wasted because it truly isn’t.

Seeing Bee outside my writing cottage this morning was confirmation that this work with Turtle and Vulture guiding us is what is going to lead us to the sweet results. The reset is about valuing more than ever the beauty of pausing and reflecting on what we’ve learned and then sharing that wisdom in community as a way to begin to help shape this planet into a kinder and more peaceful one.

xo,

Barbara

 

 

A Book Review of a Book I Really Hope You Will Consider Reading

Posted by Barbara Techel

I want to first start by saying that I understand many have a fear of snakes. I did too. And I certainly don’t mean to cause anyone any angst. While my story of an encounter with a snake is included in my friend Dawn’s book, that experience truly changed my life for the better. Along with the depth of research and history included, plus other personal stories, I believe this book is so important to where we are now as a society and the chaotic times we find ourselves in and the potential this book has to help us heal and evolve.

I hope you will consider reading my review and also reading Dawn’s book.  xo, Barbara

MY BOOK REVIEW OF “AWAKENING THE ANCIENT POWER OF SNAKE” 

What I respect and admire about Dawn as a friend, writer, and mentor is what I’ve learned from her— and that is— the value and importance of stepping back and taking time to give serious contemplation to the ‘why’ of our fears as a way in which can lead us to a larger perspective.

And this book, Awakening the Ancient Power of Snake invites us to do exactly that.

Throughout my review, I’ve sprinkled a few passages from the book that spoke to me (they are in italics). Though, honestly, it was hard to choose as there were many.

So – full disclosure – my story and my encounter with a snake are included in the book. But here’s the thing—I almost backed out.  It was too much at the time— on many different levels— to bear the judgment I feared by sharing it.

I can’t say I ever hated snakes, but like many, I did have a fear of them. It was hard for me to even look at a photo of one. But one day I came across a mama snake and her four babies who were all perished. I still recall how I was moved to tears because it all felt so tragic.

This is when I learned how to dance with the wisdom of Snake and was thoughtfully and compassionately guided by Dawn.

“Learning from snakes isn’t necessarily about becoming friends, but rather about seeing them for who they are.”

Would I have been drawn to read this book had I not encountered a snake or knew of Dawn, or my willingness to explore what snake had to teach me?  Perhaps not.

But like my personal experience with a snake, which changed my life in profound ways, so too has this book elicited another shift and awakened another level of understanding for having read it.

“Snake: protector of our psyche and champion of our eventual awakening.”

I was blown away by the in-depth research and rich history Dawn shares about Snake – something that as a young person I was easily bored by or didn’t understand.  But as I’ve grown older and wiser, I’ve come to realize the utmost importance of understanding our history and even more vital, the relation to it as to where we are today as a society.

Reading about the ancient wisdom of snake and goddess— and how that part of our history has been pushed down and even looked at as evil at times, had me vacillating between angry and sad. But it also had my respect for snake deepening even more and how they can guide us to not only evolve individually but as a planet if we open our hearts to these teachings.

“The challenge is to see snake as it really is. By accepting the challenge we may discover far more about both snakes and ourselves than we might ever imagine.”

There have been times in my life where I thought I was nuts because of how I see things in a way that perhaps others don’t understand—and then even more so when I was challenged to go deeper into my psyche because of my encounter with a snake.

But I’m grateful to snake for initiating me, for the other stories in Dawns’ book that were even more confirmation of the healing powers of snake, for the abundant wisdom Dawn has personally gained and so generously shared, and the wide array of research Dawn has included to help us understand snake through myths, history, dreams, science, and so much more.

“I think everything the ancients and alchemists knew about Snake is true and needed now—today, more than ever. Snake’s wisdom is vital to us during this time of planetary upheaval and profound paradigm shifts. As noted in the introduction, “Snake appears in the collective dream when change is most desperately needed.” And that is where we are.

The global transformation we are currently experiencing (which feels like a madness and destruction to so much of the world) is part of an immense shift, a move from rigid patriarchal rule to a more balanced consciousness that reunites nature with spirit, sacred masculine with sacred feminine, and more. Snake’s expertise in bringing together that which is separated and disjointed—something that is essential right now to our survival as a species.”

Lastly, though I initially had great fear around my story being included in this book, I’m now honored to be a part of it. Over the years I’ve come to deepen in respect for all animals (not just the cute and cuddly ones). I believe at the core of my heart, animals are some of our greatest teachers and are here to help us heal and evolve. It’s when we can look at those we consider scary, even repulsive, that I’ve personally gained some of my most profound teachings, and for that, I consider it a great honor to not only be a part of this book but to also share it with others.

Thank you to Inner Traditions Bear & Company for an advanced reading copy.

Here is a wonderful video from Dawn talking about why she wrote the book. Also for more information about the book and Dawn’s other books and her work visit her website, Animal Voices.

Snake Goddess Intuition Doll pictured above is by artist Maria Wulf.

Putting Myself Back Together Again through Meditation

Posted by Barbara Techel
I took this photo mid-morning today. I love the blue hues I see in the snow.

I had some interesting insight yesterday morning when I sat in meditation. The more I’ve pondered it the more I’ve come to appreciate what it did.

First, a little of the back story. On Saturday afternoon my father-in-law was admitted to hospice and by 10:30 pm that evening he had made a peaceful transition. While he’d not been well for a few years now, it still felt unexpected and it all happened quite quickly.

It brought back many memories being inside the hospice facility where I paid many visits with my special wheelie dog, Frankie when we were a therapy dog team many years ago. We volunteered there for three years and the perspective I gained there was life-altering in a beautiful and profound way. One of the key lessons I learned was to ‘leave my baggage at the door’ before entering. Our job was to be one hundred percent present for the patients and families we met.

I remember how scared I initially was to do this type of work – to be with those that were dying. But what I’d come to understand, which was vital, is that they were still living. I’d come to experience being part of hospice as a true honor and privilege to be allowed into the rooms of those that were in their final stage of life.

Now I was on the ‘other side’ of things as my father-in-law was making his transition. I was among the family members as we sat vigil in his room. At one point, witnessing the deepest of compassion and caring the nurses were lovingly extending to my father-in-law and the family, I was overwhelmed with emotions. It truly is such sacred work they do.

As to be expected with all the emotions flowing it leaves a person drained of their energy. Along with the family activity the next day at the home where John grew up, the energy was running high with much that needs to be done as a funeral is planned.

Being one who needs lots of quiet time, and sensitive to energy, by Sunday evening when we returned home my energy was depleted. I was eager for Monday morning to get in some meditation time as one of my go-to’s when I need to refill my well.

I chose a meditation called, Whispering Thoughts on Inside Timer which provided ambient sounds that said it would “guide you into a state of inner calmness and bring you back to your true nature, your inner self.”

Once my thoughts quieted down, I saw my spine in my mind’s eye. It was crooked with many zig zags. I then saw my hands on either side of my spine. They started at the bottom near my tailbone and began to gently compress inward on either side of my spine. As they did this, I saw my spine begin to relax and straighten.

After several rounds of this, I then saw my hands gently smooth out my spine beginning at the top and running them along the top of my spine and extending this motion all the way to the bottom of my tailbone. This happened for several minutes.

As I’ve pondered this and how I feel today, the straightening of my spine as it came to me through meditation, which was so relaxing and soothing, was a way in which I was calming my nervous system. It also helped to restore some of the energy that had been depleted.

My meditation practice evolves and continues to teach me new things and this one I’m feeling much gratitude for. The difference in my practice these days is I have learned to trust that what is happening is real and I’ve learned that tuning into my body and taking note of how I’m feeling is a guide to help me during difficult times.

xo,

Barbara