Lunaea Weatherstone's Blogue

The colors of attraction

It's definitely summer here at Lunadoon: the bottle-brush plants outside my kitchen window are coming into bloom. As an adult, I've always tended to dislike plants that were native to my hot southern California childhood, preferring my dreams of misty English gardens and delicate blooms that depend upon the coolness of my more northern clime. But the sea breezes and fog that allow for such flowers don't make it up here to the forest, and the delicate flowers tend to faint in the heat (me too!). Because my soul thirsts for color and blossom, at this time of year especially, I'm happy to greet whatever shows up. And the bottle-brush plants don't show up alone -- they bring their hummingbird friends too.

I love hummingbirds for their intensity. Intensity of color, of focus, and the tiny power-tool whirr of their amazing wings. They love the red of the bottle-brush and come zooming through the dark green forest when the sun lights up its scarlet fuzziness. Years ago I was the bright bloom in the deep woods: standing out on my deck admiring the view, I was suddenly dive-bombed by a flock of hummingbirds, drawn to my vivid fuchsia dress.

Today, looking out at the bottle-brush, I'm thinking about the laws of attraction, how we draw to us what we need. The flowers need the hummingbirds, so they have learned to be red. What do I need in my life, and what "colors" in my spirit do I need to manifest or reveal to draw that to me? The spring green of abundance, the cerulean blue of peace, the saffron gold of friendship, the bubblegum pink of playfulness? Colors appear in our auras, they say, and perhaps the energies that align with those colors are attracted and linger when those colors shine clear.

My soul-colors have not been terrifically clear of late. I'm realizing that one thing I definitely need to attract is right livelihood that is more in line with who I am, more integrated with the other work I do as part of my sacred vocation. I love my service as priestess and teacher and tarot counselor. But what I spend most of every day doing is copyediting. I've been a freelance copyeditor for about 15 years, and I'm so blessed to be able to support myself doing that. I get to work at home, I have a good reputation and clients who return to me, and I take pride in doing my job well. The disconnect from truly right livelihood comes in the content of what I'm editing. I've somehow snuggled into a niche of expertise in things I have no real interest in: computer technology and criminal justice. I do get books in other subjects from time to time, and I grab on to them hungrily: a book on positive workplace communication, another on political activism, an encyclopedia of gospel music... But so far in my editing career, these have been rare, and now I'm intensifying my intention -- hummingbird intense! -- to attract work to me that speaks to my spirit, not just my bank account. After all, books on tarot and art and spirituality need to be copyedited just like books on Unix and firewalls and criminology, right?

So I am offering a visualization, and you all are witnesses to it. I was once in a church for a memorial service, and after the service as people were gathering to leave, a hummingbird flew in the open doors and became confused, unable to find its way out. Flying to the sun-illuminated stained glass windows, it flung itself against the colors that wouldn't yield. To draw it down to safety, my friend Callista held up a bowl of sugar water and stood very still in her deep red dress, offering herself as a flower to the tiny bird. And amazingly, it came down to her, and my former partner Marc was able to catch it gently in his hands and release it to the sky. That image of Callista holding up the sugar water is now what I visualize for myself. I clothe myself in the colors of attraction and offer up the sweet water of my faith. I envision work flying to me that is perfectly aligned with the things I love and have to offer to the world. I see myself giving back with joy in ALL of my life's work. I trustingly invite help from anyone who can help me manifest that! And I encourage you to also see yourself as the perfect flower for the perfect life you want to attract for your perfect self.

Falling into the Goddess's arms

Yesterday I was doing some Yuletide decorating and something happened that has given me food for thought. I was putting a picture up over the mantle and wanted to secure it with a nail, but the height was just out of my reach. So (stupidly) I got the flimsy kitchen stepstool and put it up on the brick fireplace surround. I stepped up, then up onto the stool, took the hammer and nail in hand, leaned forward to tap in the nail, thinking, "I should call [my sister] Lynn first to tell her I'm doing something dangerous, so if I don't call her right back she'll know I've hurt myself." But I didn't, and the next thing I knew, I indeed lost my balance and fell. Miraculously, I fell in a small space between the sharp-edged bricks and a sharp-edged heavy marble coffee table, missing open boxes of glass Christmas ornaments by a fraction of an inch, landing flat on my back on the wood floor and knocking the loveseat back about three feet to slam against the wall. I still had the nail in my hand.

God to God

Some years ago, I went through a time when I was very hurt and very angry with someone close to me, and I had no way to communicate or work it through directly with him. Counseling about it, praying about it, ranting about it to friends -- nothing worked, nothing gave me what I most craved, which was peace. My fury and my pain were eating at me, damaging my spirit. And then a very wise friend said to me, "Ask your angels to talk to his angels." What an amazing blessing that little sentence has been to me ever since. The idea of handing over my inner turmoil to a higher being, who could then have a nice chat with the other person's higher being, is amazingly soothing to the soul. Whether I am feeling the "angels" as the best part of ourselves or actual otherworldly beings or deities -- it's all the same in terms of the comfort that comes with trusting that it will be attended to on a higher plane than my limited humanity can comprehend.

This week has brought up a lot of rage in me because of the political scene. I am particularly filled with frustrated fury at the smears and lies and all the ugliness coming from the Republican vice presidential candidate. It hurts me to think that she might believe what she is saying. It hurts me more to think that she doesn't believe it, but says it anyway. It hurts me that other people might believe her. I've written here before about how I've been working hard to keep coming back to compassion and trust, and I still am. Tonight I realized that I need a little more help. I need to ask my angels to talk to her angels. I need to ask my Goddess to talk to her God. So tonight, as I do my evening devotions, I am envisioning Brigid and Jesus (that great community organizer!) working together to heal the hatred, to open hearts to the truth, to make people strong and wise and able to see clearly. I invite you to do the same, however you see your own source of the sacred. We will add to the peace, soul by soul, angel by angel.

Keep calm and carry on

This is a poster I have on my office wall, right where I can see it all day long. It is a reproduction of a WWII poster from England, which a bookstore there found in a box of old books (to get one for yourself, click here). The simple poster was undoubtedly designed to be seen from a distance, from a bus or across a busy London street. In my tiny office, it seems to yell the calming words at me, as if to be heard through the busy and constant rush of doom and negative information coming in from so many other sources. Joanna just reminded me that we do need to stay informed. We can't be in denial about the bad things that are happening in the world today. We do need to be vigilant, be active, be strong. And we do need to keep calm. And carry on.

Let the sun shine (political)

I'm going to talk politics here for a moment, from my own place on the political spectrum, which is liberal edging toward magical-revolutionary. If your politics go the other way, please know that I truly wish you peace.

Change I can believe in

Every morning as I start my day, I light devotional candles on a little office altar beside my desk. Above that altar hangs a beautiful image by Shiloh Sophia McCloud, the Goddess endlessly pouring out the waters of love to bless and heal the world (you can click the picture to see it larger). My daily devotions have extra fervor these days, as the political circus tears at my heart. It's a sad fact, but I expect some professional politicians to tell lies, distort truths, manipulate the gullible, ridicule those who seek to make the world a better place. I can usually let that roll off me. What ties me in knots and makes me despair are average people, my fellow citizens doing the same thing. I know the media is seeking such people out and presenting them as if they were the majority. I have a little quote taped to my computer monitor that I hope is more true: "Contrary to what you might see on TV, the world, in our experience, is generally a happy place, and the people here are almost universally likable." That's my experience too, and I'll bet it is yours. I want to tune out the negativism and seek out more signs of hope and real change. I will work to keep my own heart open, and to pour out the waters of compassion to those who are caught in fear, greed, and short-sightedness. I pray daily that loving care for the earth, for other people, and for the future will become a priority for everyone. Blessed be.

The Restoration of Avalon

Tarot counselor and generally lovely person James Wells has started a new monthly tradition of praying a Goddess rosary on the 13th of each month, and I wanted to share it with you all, so that you can join in as well. (To receive James's monthly tarot newsletter, you can email him at workeroforacles@yahoo.ca .) Here's how James describes the Goddess rosary, with his suggested prayer:

On the 13th of each month, I'll be offering a goddess rosary.  Feel free to join me in my space (or wherever I am at the time) or to join me energetically by praying the goddess rosary in your own space on the same day.  The larger intent for these prayer times is for the restoration of Avalon (i.e., the consciousness that Avalon represents) and the honouring of the Divine Feminine in our world.  This is for personal and planetary healing, peace in our world, and so forth.  Please add your own intentions to these. 

I ask that people pray FOR things that are evolved, constructive, and rooted in love, compassion, and peace.  Please do not pray AGAINST anything, as that would be divisive and not in alignment with the peace and healing of Avalon.

Below are the prayers I'll be using, but feel free to use your own.  The beads I use are created by Lunaea Weatherstone, but feel free to use whatever works for you.

At opening and closing, I make the sign of the triple moon, while saying:

In the name of the Maiden, and of the Mother, and of the Crone. Blessed Be.

On the larger/divider beads:

O Infinite Mystery, whose energy resides in all that is, help us to breathe one holy breath and create an inner shrine of wholeness. Give birth to your reign of unity now. Live through us the divine intent of love, peace, and compassion. Grant us daily nourishment of mind and body. Erase the inner marks of our mistakes, as we cleanse our hearts of others' mistakes. Don't let surface things delude us, but free us to live our true purpose with joy. Thank you that you are the beautiful, eternal Life Force that brings all of this to fruition. Blessed Be.

On the small beads:

Hail Mother, full of grace, power is with thee. Blessed are you, Queen of the Universe, and blessed is all of Creation. Holy Mother, Maker of all things, be with us now and always. Blessed Be.

On the chain, at the end of each section of small beads:

Glory to the Maiden, and to the Mother, and to the Crone, who is, and was, and shall be for ever. Blessed Be.

Thank you, James, and thank you for mentioning my rosaries (I'll be adding some new ones this weekend). I'll be joining in the prayers on the 13th of each month, adding my heartfelt energy and blessings, and I know that every bit of light and love we add to the world truly does make a difference.

But I Gotta Have Faith

(And yes, please do sing the George Michael song along with me: "Faith-a-faith-a-faith!") A very wise woman I know emailed me commiserating about my forced move, saying that she was also pushed from home to home to home until she finally got what she feels is the lesson about it, in her case the Buddhist idea of impermanence and non-attachment. I work on non-attachment myself, but like Karen Blixen in the film version of Out of Africa, "I like my things." (Including my Limoges, even though it can break.) My own lesson this month seems to be less about attachment (I may feel different about this when it's time to pack) and more about faith, something that is deep in me, but that may waver a bit at the upper levels.