Dance, Beauty and Joy will Heal the World

An Important Message from my Shadow Self

   On Thurs. Feb. 24, several of us gathered for our monthly Shamanic Journey Circle facilitated by Jeannette McCullough (see past blogs for previous Shamanic Journey adventures).

   On our first of two journeys that evening, Jeannette introduced the idea of working with our Shadow Self and we began with a lovely poem from Rumi suggesting that we allow all aspects of ourselves, all emotions etc. to be welcomed "home" as an honoured guest. The question that Jeannette offered to us to use in our journey (if we wished) was "What, that could be helpful to me, am I denying access to my house?"

   Prior tot this particular journey, my impression of the Shadow part of myself was that it was the place where anger, grief, pain, guilt, depression etc. were stored. I thought of the Shadow as a place where I would hide away all of those "so called" negative emotions. 

   Imagine my surprise when my Shadow revealed itself as the place where I was hiding away the sensual, sexual, beautiful, joyful aspects of myself!!

   And it is true! I am actually very good at accepting and welcoming in the pain, the guilt, the depression etc.  I willingly work with these aspects of myself through therapy, writing, dialoguing and different forms of cathartic release. But to welcome in beauty and joy and sensuality and sexuality as being at least an equally important part of me? That was a big shift in thinking for me. And here is how it played itself out in my Journey:

JOURNEY NUMBER ONE



Sweet Wisdom

   As the drumbeat began, signalling the beginning of our journey, I saw myself climbing to the top of a huge willow tree -- a very special and sacred tree from my childhood . There I awaited the arrival of my Purple Dragon friend who would transport me to the Upper World (or the Space Station, as I know it) where my friends, particularly my beautiful Spirit Guide, Sweet Wisdom, would be waiting for me. I arrived and walked into the front door to be greeted not only by Sweet Wisdom, but also by a huge troupe of exquisitely beautiful belly dancers. The sheer joy and pleasure and sensuality that exuded from these  dancers was awesome to behold. They quickly drew me in, dressed me in the same kind of sexy flowing outfit that they were wearing and put me right in the middle of the dance. I joined in easily, the dance and the sensuality and the joy  flowing right through me. As I experienced the sheer pleasure of the movement and felt myself smiling happily, I realized that this is the part of me that I haven't been allowing to come "home", that I haven't welcomed in to my house. Here was my shadow expressing itself in this gorgeous dance, filling and surrounding me in beauty and sensuality like I have never experienced before. I experienced a feeling of contented happiness that I have never known before.

   In the midst of this extreme pleasure, something was "niggling" at me. I stopped and said to Sweet Wisdom, "This is so much fun and feels so good, I just want to stay in this energy. But, here we all are, having an absolutely wonderful time dancing these incredible Middle Eastern dances, while in reality, there is so much turmoil and suffering and chaos in the Middle East. Shouldn't I be doing something to help? How can I just dance and have a wonderful time while there is so much need in the world? I can't just turn my back on the people."

   Sweet Wisdom offered me one of her beautiful, compassionate smiles as she said,"It is the vibration of beauty and joy and sensuality that will bring healing to the people and to the World."

   As proof, she transported all of us to the Middle East where we continued our dance of beauty and joy and pleasure. As we danced, I saw the people being showered with the vibration of love and joy. The energy being stirred up by our dance looked like little rose quartz crystals and they were filling the whole area with love.

   We arrived back at the Space Station just as Jeannette's drumbeat changed to signal that it was time to return to Earth. My purple dragon friend was waiting and I climbed on his back knowing he would take me back to the treetop where my journey began. Well -another surprise. I didn't land on the treetop. I found myself "dropped" with a bit of a jolt, right in the middle of the Arabesque Belly Dance School here in Toronto. This is a school that I have gone to on and off (more off than on, I'm afraid!!). As I sat there in the middle of the floor where I had landed, I realized that it truly is time to allow the beauty and the sensuality that belly dance represents to me, to come "home", to express itself through me in whatever form it wants.

   I have come to the conclusion that every time any one of us dances or sings or expresses joy in any form, whether we are alone or with others, we are showering blessings on the Whole World.

   Love and Blessings to all,

                      Barbara 

  

  

Becoming "Wildly Wise"

Greetings to All You Creative Souls Out There!

    As some of you know, I am an avid fan of Rob Brezsny's form of astrology http://www.freewillastrology.com/

   I've been following Rob's weekly astrology column for probably some twenty years by now. Every week, those few lines of astrological wisdom that he offers me as a Capricorn impact my life and consciousness in some way. From my perspective, I think Rob is pretty much at the top of my list of "Wildly Wise" people that I know (although I don't know him personally).

   This concept of being "Wildly Wise" was not even my horoscope this week! It was the horoscope of a Gemini friend of mine but I was so taken by this idea of being Wildly Wise that it has got me redefining what "Wise" really means to me. Previously I think my "Wise Side" and my "Wild Side" felt somewhat at odds. Unfortunately, in my pursuit of wisdom, it was my Wild Side that got squashed.

   The final line in Gemini's horoscope for this week was "Study the wisest wildest people you know so that you too can be wildly wise." That line really got me thinking about some of the wisest wildest people I know and I realized that I do personally know a few people who fit that description. Previously I might have thought of these particular people as unpredictable, maybe even unreliable -- especially since I don't do, or handle, unpredictability or even spontaneity very well!! However, thanks to Rob's magic horoscopes, I now see and understand the beautiful balance and freedom that comes from being "Wildly Wise". In thinking about the "Wildly Wise" people in my life, I do know that they are the most Creatively Adventurous Beings that I know. And their form of wisdom is incredibly unique and exciting. So I am convinced. Wise and Wild belong together. Absolutely.

   What do you think? I'd love to hear your reflections on this one.

   In ending, I will allow my Devil Woman Friend to come out and inspire us.

   By the way, if you are into Tarot cards, the Voyager Deck has a beautiful Devil card -- it appears to be all about letting loose and celebrating. So maybe it is good to let the devil in us come out and play!

 Barbara

PS If you have been hearing the rumours that our astrological signs are "all wrong", check out Rob's website for the truth about that misinformation.

Celebrating Our Uniqueness

   Last Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010, I offered a lecture at Britten Memorial Church on "Awakening the Creative Spirit".





   What really came to me during that lecture and on reflection afterwards was how incredibly beautiful and unique every single human being is. Every one of us (regardless of race, gender, etc.) looks different, speaks differently, moves differently, thinks and sees the world differently, dreams differently, experiences differently. Many of us are frequently wondering,  questioning, exploring, trying to figure out what our true life purpose is.  Maybe all we really have to do is to fully embrace and express and celebrate our own uniqueness.

   Just as every snowflake that ever falls to Earth is different from every other snowflake that falls to Earth, so it is with human beings. All the individual snowflake does, on its journey to earth, is to express its incredible, unique beauty and then it unites with all of the other millions and billions of equally unique and beautiful snowflakes to cover the earth in  their (united) glistening white magnificence. A fresh snowfall can create a picture of beauty and harmony and peacefulness over the land that it covers. There is nothing quite like seeing the barren December trees covered by a coating of fresh white snow. All of those individual snowflakes originate from the same source. They come to Earth floating, sometimes gently, sometimes with an almost "vengeance" depending on the winds, as separate unique beings or creations.  Then they re-unite, as One, to cover the Earth. 

   Imagine if all of humanity could come to Earth expressing the full potential of each individual human being's unique beauty and  qualities, and then we (the individual human beings) could unite and cover the Earth in beauty and harmony and peace.

   Many of us who are on a Spiritual Journey or who are questing after Spiritual Awakenings, work very hard through meditation or other Spiritual Practices to feel and express our "Oneness" with Source, our "Oneness with all of life. And that is extremely important work -- to realize our connectedness with all that is. In order to fully develop compassion and love for all, we need to understand and feel that we are all from One Source (whatever our individual expression of the Source may be) and that what happens to one, affects all. In order to move past all of the ego trappings of fear and separation and greed and conflict, it is important that we each know and experience our interconnectedness, our Oneness. Once we know ourselves to be one part of the "Greater Whole", then I believe it is important to step back and look at and honor our individual gifts and beauty and uniqueness. 

   Our time on Earth is a time to know and experience ourselves as individuals who have come to express our individuality. If we could all see the special beauty that is in every face; if we could appreciate the unique and special sound of every human voice; if we could embrace, with wonder, the uniqueness of every human body, then each one of us could not only feel much more comfortable with who and what we are, each one of us could then proudly step forward to express our own magnificence and our own creativity -- in whatever way it wants to show itself. That will be different for every single human being, just as every snowflake shows itself differently. I believe if each one of us could be more fully who and what we really and truly are, then there would be peace and harmony and love on  Earth. If each one of us is totally embracing all parts and aspects of ourselves, we would automatically accept and embrace all aspects of "the other".

   I hope this is not sounding "too preachy" but allowing ourselves full expression of who we really are deep inside is something I feel very passionate about. Our culture and our institutions have  put way too many restrictions and expectations on how we "should" think and be and experience and even what our bodies should look like. Many of us grew up, or are still growing up, struggling to fit into society's norms. That struggle to fit into an image or way of living that isn't authentic to our individual nature is Soul Destroying. It completely blocks the Creative Spirit and turns life into a struggle for survival. There is no joy or purpose in that kind of living.

   This is a "very hot" topic for me right now because I recently had a healing session that brought me back to myself as a young teenage girl when I struggled so hard to fit into the image of what a pretty, popular teenage girl was "supposed" to look like. Of course I failed miserably to "measure up". Those kinds of unfair, unrealistic, unhealthy expectations end up destroying one's confidence -- often for a lifetime (and maybe longer!). And that meant, as a young teenager, when life should be full of new discoveries and explorations of one's talents and dreams, I had no opportunity to discover and develop the gifts that I did have. All I could discover, in that kind of atmosphere of unrealistic expectations, was what I was lacking.

   The good news here is that it is never too late to reconnect with any part of ourselves from any past age and we always have the opportunity to explore and develop our gifts and talents. They (the gifts and talents) don't go away. They wait patiently until we are ready to go back and embrace them.

   When we can each find the courage to move out of "the box" that society or various institutions have tried to lock us into, then we can take that next step to celebrating all that we are. When we can know our "imperfections" to be perfection; when we can embrace our emotional "woundedness" as our creative inspiration; when we know for certain that nothing is "wrong" with us because we think or react differently than someone else; when we can know and see our own special uniqueness as the gift that we can here to free and express, then we know our purpose on this planet. That's what I think!



Done July 17, 2007 as I was just beginning
to recover my eyesight



   I'll just add one more thing -- I really believe that those longings, those cravings, those desires that we feel deep in our Hearts and Souls are simply the Creative Spirit's way of trying to get our attention so that we will express and create in the way that we, each, individually, came here to do. The Creative Spirit wants to flow and create throughout this World. The Creative Spirit is (to me) like the umbilical cord that connects us with our Source, our Creator. As we allow this Creative Spirit to flow through us, it will connect us to the Source of all Creation, and then just think how much more Creative Energy we can tap into!! In other words, cravings and desires are good. Let's pay attention to them.

   I could carry on about this for some time, but for now, I'll say Adios. To be continued...

  May we all liberate the Creative Force that is trying so hard to wake up through each of us.

   Barbara 

PS The very "unique beings" you see here throughout this blog are images that came to me during various stages of the healing process of my eyesight.

Shamanic Images and Creating a Container of Safety and Love

   I said I would begin to share some of my Shamanic drawings. Last blog you met my very powerful Medicine Woman Friend. This one is my Shaman/Magician/Clown friend. He brings with him a lot of magic.
    I was thinking about how I differentiate between my "Alien Friends" who have appeared in previous blogs and my "Shamanic Friends" who suddenly are demanding my attention. There is no rational answer. It is just a gut feeling. When I draw these images, I seldom begin a drawing with any intention of what I want to draw. I simply tune in to what colours, what lines and shapes, what combinations may want to happen and out come these wonderful beings. Once the drawing is done, then I just know if it is Alien, Shamanic, Spirit Guide or sometimes it is simply a reflection of part of me. Each has a distinctly different feeling to me.

This drawing to the immediate right is a beloved Shaman and Spirit Guide who has been with me since 1999. His name is Yaconi. He came to me while I was living in Mexico although this drawing or depiction of him didn't come out until May 21, 2007. I remember that date very specifically because it came to me the day before I received some shattering news. He knew I needed his presence. This was the first drawing I did that came from lines and angles. The symmetry I see in it amazes me even now because this one emerged during the time that I was legally blind. I could hardly see the lines I was drawing or the colours I was using and yet, somehow,  through it all, he emerged! After this drawing, I actually began craving geometric shapes and forms.  At that point I sent someone out to buy me a geometry set and as you can see from previous drawings, geometric shapes seem to be my Art Form now. Prior to that all of my drawings were much more flowing and round and free form. Now I love to see what comes out when I start playing with angles and lines. Drawing this way has a more solid and grounded feel to it. It feels to me like the energy is being contained in a very powerful way, as opposed to just hanging out there in an undefined way, somewhere in space.

There is a strikingly similar feel in the vocal work I am doing now. I used to do more free form vocalizing and sounding -- just allowing the sound to flow. That can be wonderful and freeing, just like drawing freely without boundaries. But there is something about creating a "container" that, for me, brings the energies (be they vocal or artistic) together in a much more powerful and grounded way. In my Artwork, the container is the geometric form itself. Everything is contained within a framework of lines and angles. In my vocal work, the technique, Speech Level Singing, is the container or the framework for the voice. The constant repetition of scales and vowels creates a solid and safe pathway for the voice to travel through. One constant focus in this vocal technique is on strengthening the vocal chords and using them in ways that are healthy and safe.  Simply sounding and vocalizing freely, while it could feel wonderful and exciting in the moment, and could at times, take me into expanded levels of consciousness, it could also, at times, leave my throat feeling scratchy the next day. And sometimes my jaw would feel even tighter and more clenched the day after I had been "way out there" with my voice. I think  my psyche just wasn't ready to move so quickly into that level of feeling "way out there". So I could end up feeling quite ungrounded and sometimes I would react by feeling more closed down afterwards and by feeling my voice retreat somewhere deep inside of me.

I find it really important, in my own personal journey, to move step by step. Whenever I just "leap in" to something  (as I have tended to do in the past), especially something that is consciousness expanding, I tend to just as rapidly "leap" back out, often in a more closed down state.

Just as any houseplant needs a good, solid container filled with nourishing soil in order to thrive and bloom, I believe it is equally important for us to create a solid container for our own journey and spiritual awakening (and "vocal awakening" in my case!).

Many of us come from a culture that values instant gratification. I've never seen the way of instant gratification work on the spiritual journey. We can't just "move into the light" and expect to stay there without first embracing our "so called" darkness or woundedness and creating a container of safety and love for our physical and emotional selves. We can't just "push" our voices out there to sing and sound if the surrounding nerves and muscles are not ready to handle that. The voice needs a solid container to move through. Even my Artwork now does not want to be just "hanging in space", dispersing its energy. It wants the container of lines and angles to support and contain it.  

This blog was going to be more about my Shamanic experiences, but this idea of "creating a safe and loving container" for whatever we are learning or experiencing seemed to be more urgent at this point. I'd love to hear any responses or thoughts about this idea.

I wish you all many blessings for your current journey and challenges. May your container be filled with love and acceptance and lots of joy!

Barbara

May ALL Voices Be Free to Sing and Express

*** Because Shamanic Journeying may not be familiar to all who read this, I will explain more about my experience with it in my next blog or you can read more about it on Jeannette McCullough's website (see below).

***In previous blogs I have posted some of my drawings of my Alien Friends. This drawing is one of my very special Shaman Friends. I'll introduce you to more of my Shaman Friends in my next blog.

A Remarkable Vocal Healing

Last night, Thurs. Oct. 28, I attended our monthly Shamanic Journey Group led by Jeannette McCullough (http://www.shamansong.ca/). My journey experiences were a continuation of the work I had started on Sun. Oct. 24 at the "About Face" workshop. (See previous blog). It seems as though that 8 year old child in me still needed to be healed and listened to. I decided to allow the 8 year girl that I was to be in charge of my journey last night.

Just before we entered into the journey I asked for a healing for that 8 year old part of myself. I asked for healing of the trauma that had shut down her voice and I requested direct healing of her voice.

As the drumming started, signalling the beginning of the journey, I saw my 8 year old self climbing to the top of her very favorite tree. It was a huge gorgeous willow tree that I used to climb as a child. From the top of the tree, my Hawk friend picked me up and, with me on her back, she flew me to the edge of Earth's atmosphere. From there, my Purple Dragon Friend picked me up and flew me to my beloved Space Station where I go most of the time when I take these Shamanic journeys. Transporting me to this Space Station requires real teamwork!! However I can also just close my eyes in meditation and be there. Or I sometimes do travel there in my nighttime dreams. But the journey with Hawk and Dragon is half the fun of going there too. I love to fly on the backs of these powerful allies of mine.

When I reached the Space Station, I was greeted by my Beloved Guide, Sweet Wisdom (my drawing of her appears in a few of my past blogs.As she took me inside, I was surprised to see both of my parents there, along with my grade 3 music teacher. There was also a grand piano and my current vocal teacher, along with his voice teacher, were also there. I started doing my vocal exercises with my current teacher and as I did that, I felt the support of my  parents and my grade 3 teacher in a really nice way, but somehow it just didn't feel like enough.

   Then Sweet Wisdom made a cushy little bed for me right on the piano bench. As I lay down on it, (remember I'm only 8 years old in this journey, so I fit quite nicely on that bench) my parents and grade 3 teacher started grooving to the drumbeat and dancing around me. Then my Dad (who had always been a very quiet man in real life-- the youngest of 13 children and son of a pretty dominant mother, so he likely had no voice in his growing up years) started making some beautiful low, growly, guttural sounds with his voice. As he began to explore these sounds, I saw his face light up. He really started to come alive and enjoy himself.

My mother also began to make a variety of sounds with her voice. (In "real" life my mother never sang. In fact she often said to me, "You're just like me. You can't hold a tune." My mother was orphaned at 11 years old and had no say, no voice, in her upbringing.) Then she just stopped at the foot of my bench and began to sing, full out, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Her whole face and body came alive as she did that. She was totally transformed into a beautiful, confident, vibrant woman in that moment.

To see both of my parents looking happy and joyful and to hear the beauty of those voices really did something to my heart and soul. In listening to them I felt my own voice finding its freedom. I didn't have to do a thing or make a sound. All I had to do, and all I wanted to do, was listen to the voices of my parents as they sang and sounded. For the first time ever, I was truly hearing the sounds of my parents voices. And I was being filled with the joy and the fun and the happiness that was pouring out of both of them.

What I really came to understand in that moment was that my parents and my teacher didn't deliberately set out to shut down my voice. They weren't against me expressing myself, even if that is what it felt like to me at that time. But in "real life" they had no voice. They weren't allowed to express. So how could they give me what they didn't have? Simple. They couldn't. None of us can give what we don't have.

Allowing them to find their voices and express themselves so fully (as they did in my Shamanic journey) allows my voice to be free.

I really believe that in healing and freeing ourselves, as we can do in these kinds of journeys, we also heal and free those who came before us. Perhaps by healing ourselves, we can actually influence past generations. If our parents had no voice or means of expression, it is probably because their parents were cut off from expression and so on .. back through generations. I believe that we can be influential in healing those in spirit (as my parents, grandparents etc. are). 

Last night felt like a huge vocal healing not only for me, but also for my parents and I did feel that healing energy travelling back through many previous generations.

I am very grateful to this group and to all groups like this that allow people to explore their inner worlds in a way that is safe, comfortable, supportive and accepting.

Thank you Jeannette, for offering this to us and thank you to all who are openly and courageously embarking on this journey of healing and conscious awareness.

May we all be free to express the beauty and love that is in our Hearts.

Barbara

Let ALL the Children Sing!!!

Greetings,

   This past Sun. Oct. 24, I attended an absolutely wonderful and inspiring workshop "About Face". It was a day of exploring (through creative writing, sharing stories, mask making etc.) the "face" that we show to the world and the "deeper face" that we may show only to ourselves. The facilitators were two very creative women: writer Teri Degler (http://www.teridegler.com/) and visual artist Shelley Yampolsky.

   This is one of Teri's books "The Divine Feminine Fire"

   In one of the writing exercises, a very important story emerged for me and I did share it with the group. Although it was my own personal story, many of the other people did identify, in their own way, with it. And I think there is  a larger message in this story. So I'm calling it

                                    Let ALL The Children Sing!   

In the workshop, Teri guided us into a visualization where we were instructed to remember a time and experience in our younger lives that forever changed us in some way.

Immediately I was back in Grade 3 with Mrs. Self (yes that really was her name!). She was our music teacher. As I remember her from a child's perspective, she was quite tall, grey hair, somewhat of an imposing and intimidating figure to a little child. I still remember her white dress with black flower designs on it. She came into the classroom this one particular day and one by one, she made each child stand up and sing Do Rey Me.....I remember being terrified as my turn came closer. I had not even been allowed to speak up at home, never mind sing!! Vocal expression just wasn't part of my growing up experience. And any minute now, this teacher was going to make me stand up and humiliate myself by trying to sing, when I couldn't.

When my turn came, I stood up and, scared as I was, I tried my best.

It wasn't good enough.

All the children who could sing the scale well were allowed to go with Mrs. Self and sing in the school choir. The few of us who could not sing had to sit back down at our desks in total humiliation. Those of us who were left behind were given some math assignments to do while the other kids got to go to the auditorium and sing. Eventually they (the singers) were given the opportunity to perform in the school concert, watched by their proud parents. The rest of us were simply left out to suffer the pain our voices being silenced: the pain of "knowing" that the sound of our voices was unaccepatable.

At that moment, I became "The Child Forever Silenced"!!

Until..........Many years later -- actually at age 58 -- I could no longer stand to have my voice trapped so deeply inside of me. Although I had been facilitating  workshops and giving the occasional lecture, just the idea of standing up in front of people and allowing my voice to be heard had been difficult and traumatic. And I never attempted to sing, unless I was certain that I was alone and no one would hear me.

Finally, a series of events pushed me to find a vocal coach/singing teacher. Just about a year and a half ago, I started searching for a technique and a teacher that could help me. Man was I lucky!!! I found an excellent technique called Speech Level Singing (which you may have read about in my previous blogs) and I found a highly qualified teacher (Brandon Brophy, 3rd Voice Studio) of this technique here in Toronto.

About a month or so into my lessons with Brandon, he had me make some "bratty" "nasty" sounds, some of which were done with sticking my tongue out. These were done to help me connect with, and develop my Chest Voice. Prior to this work, my voice had been weak and disconnected so in my vocal practice I have focused a lot on developing a strong connection with my chest voice and getting really rooted in the depths of my voice. Those "nasty" sounds helped me to do that. And...they also had an added benefit! One day, during my lesson with Brandon, I was making "Na Na" sounds, as bratty as I could manage. With some of the bratty sounds I even got to stick my tongue out. As I was doing all that, Mrs. Self appeared right in front of me! The image of her felt and looked so real that I almost felt as though I could reach out and touch her. Imagine my satisfaction at being able to stick out my tongue and say "Na Na Na" to her in my brattiest voice!! In that beautiful "Na Na" scale that I was practicing, I could feel the child in me coming forward and saying to her "You will never silence me again. I'm letting this voice be heard and I don't care if you don't like it." It was a beautiful cathartic moment.

This whole idea of not allowing children to sing is nasty and cruel. I hope and pray that this is not happening at schools any longer.

I am very grateful to have found a voice teacher who, from the very beginning (when I really didn't have any singing voice, to speak of!) taught me with such enthusiasm, as though he never doubted for a minute that I could learn to sing. And now it is starting to be so much fun to let my voice out and to allow it to make all of these wonderful sounds, and yes -- I am even beginning to sing -- a little bit!!

And one day, I will get to perform in that Concert.

                                         *********************************

Thank you Teri and Shelley for an incredible workshop and for allowing me to share my stories (with  my strong, connected voice!)

Thank you Brandon for being such a skilled and patient vocal coach and for helping me feel safe and comfortable in letting my voice be heard!

Thank you to the therapist who has been so willing to listen so patiently and attentively to many, many of my stories over the past three years. Thank you for introducing me to the joy of making music and sound and thank you very much for helping me to find the courage to look for a vocal coach.

Thanks especially to that 8 year old, grade three student that I was (and still am somewhere deep inside!). Thank you for waiting so patiently all these years to finally be able to free your voice and tell your story.

    
I'll be back soon. "About Face" has stirred up a few stories that I want to share!

May we all sing our own special songs in our own special way.

Barbara

A Message from My Artwork!

I was going to title this "A Message from My Alien Friends" but I know that some people get a little nervous at the idea of "Aliens Among Us". However I highly recommend the book of the same title. I believe that there are Beings among us from many other dimensions and I totally believe that they are here to love, help and support us. Ruth Montgomery, the author of "Aliens Among Us" came to that same conclusion a long time ago.



On Sat. Oct. 2, I was at a gathering of very open minded people -- Spirituality in Health Care Network. http://www.spiritualityinhealthcare.net/ I had a chance to chat with a few people who were interested in my Artwork (which has started appearing in my last 2 or 3 previous blogs and the images you see here are also mine). I was talking about the fact a number of the images that are coming through in my Artwork seem to me to be "Alien Friends" or friends from another dimension. Many of these same Beings have also appeared in my night time dreams and journeys and some of them are the central characters in a story that I have been writing (or perhaps it is more accurate to say this story is being written through me!) for the past two and a half years. Whenever I attend our monthly Shamanic Journeying group, my journeys always take me to the Space Station where I meet with my Alien Friends.


At this gathering on Oct. 2, one woman asked me the question, "What is their (the Aliens) message to us?" Because I have had innumerable in depth conversations with these Beings and every conversation is loaded with insight and inspiration, I was hard pressed to think of one message that I could impart from them. Plus up until now, my connection with them has been largely personal. But now I do feel like I am being asked to start bringing their wisdom and insight into this reality.


When this same woman then asked, "Have they come to warn us?" I immediately and emphatically said "NO! They have come here only to love and support us. They have come to nurture and inspire us. They are Beings of pure unconditional love and compassion. That is what they are offering us."


Once I got home, I reflected again on her question and my emphatic "NO!" to her suggestion that they might be coming to warn us. I looked around at the images of these Beings (many of which are hanging on my walls) through new eyes. What I saw and felt was Pure Unconditional Love and Support. And great inspiration. They have not come with any complex message and, despite my many hours of dialoguing with each one of them, they have not come to pass on more words and definitely not more dire warnings. Few of us (seekers) need more of that anymore. But I don't know anyone who doesn't need to be loved and cared about on the very deepest levels. And that's what they bring to us.


I have already introduced you to Sweet Wisdom in past blogs, but I feel compelled to bring her love and wisdom and great inspiration in once again to share with the World.


I know there are many of us who have made great heroic efforts to stay on a Spiritual Path, to be the best possible Human Beings we can be, to serve the greater good of all......... And I believe we should be commended for all of our efforts and every one of us should really appreciate ourselves for all of the good we have brought to this Earth (I suspect you wouldn't even be drawn to these kinds of blogs if you were not a spiritual seeker or healer of some kind). Yet our world is still full of conflict. And, if each of us were to be really honest, I suspect that many of us, no matter how dedicated we are to our Spiritual Path or practice, still at times, experience our own inner conflict and "so called" negative emotions. And I also suspect that repeated warnings, being hard on ourselves, feeling guilty or inadequate, being judged or judging ourselves are not going to help our situation or the Greater World situation. So ...no....my Alien Friends do none of that. And they actually have nothing to tell us. Their only desire is to love and support us.


And perhaps, once we accept this love and support into the very depths of our cells, into the depths of our heart and Soul, into the very depths of our Being, then we will be able to love unconditionally. It is through unconditional love that Peace will reign on this Earth.

Few (if any) of us, were raised in an atmosphere of pure unconditional love and acceptance. Just as it can be challenging for us to love and accept without judgement, it was probably even harder for our parents to do that. So we enter into adulthood with that child part of ourselves still crying out for love and compassion and acceptance. And yet that love is there, all around us, if we can only open the door to allow it in. If my Alien Friends can help offer that love, then I happily share that energy with all of you. If my experience with my Alien Friends inspires you to connect more deeply with your own source of unconditional love, be it Angels, God, Buddha, Jesus, Nature or other "Friends" that are just waiting for you to let them in, then that would be wonderful.


However we experience or access that unconditional love, let's just all find a way to allow it to sink into the deepest recesses of our body, Soul and psyche. Let's imagine the Infant that we were being filled and surrounded with unconditional love and compassion. Let's offer that same love and compassion to the Child that we were, and to the Teen-age part of ourselves, and the Young Adult that we were, up until this present day moment. Let's offer absolute unconditional love and compassion to the person that we are right now in this very moment. And let's even offer that love to the person that we will be in ten years, twenty years....... We have the power to actually pave the road to our future with unconditional love and compassion. Imagine walking down that road.


I'm imagining now, a planet where everyone is radiating unconditional love and compassion. I know planets like that exist. That is the atmosphere that surrounds the planet that my Alien Friends come from. Imagine our Earth being one of those planets.


Until we meet again -- Love Yourselves, Love the Earth and all of her Beings.




Barbara