It's easy to forget that we are all perfect in our own design. Sometimes we muck it up with habits and choices that do not serve us.
When Covid-19 first started, we all jumped into panic-mode praying—pleading for help and protection to get through this challenging time. Now as almost a year has flown by, sometimes it seems that nothing much has changed. There’s still turmoil and fear and more hard work ahead. Even the prospect of a vaccine is taking so long. Is anyone really listening to our prayers?
I can tell you a definite YES! But you won’t get anywhere just sitting around and waiting for an answer.
Think back on the times when your prayers might have been answered. Then begin noticing how your prayers are being heard. Has a new book been gifted to you that somehow revealed a solution you were praying for? Has a complete stranger recently come into your life and given you much needed guidance? Did you drive by a sign or billboard that offered the exact advice you were seeking?
God moves in mysterious ways. So, it’s best to simply pray and not expect the answer to show up the way you think it should. Remember what your grandmother preached: “You don’t always get what you want; you usually get what you need.”
Our job while here is threefold. First, like a mountain that is steadfast in meeting the elements, we are called to face the wear of time, so we can reflect and endure the truth revealed. Some say this is doing nothing. If so, it is a noble nothing that in time reveals everything.
Second, like a river that is relentless in how it carves its path to the sea, we are called to bring what is true into the world. Some say this is our vigilance for justice. If so, this is a noble doing that in time honors everything.
And third, like a tireless seeker who finds God in the smallest pebble, we are called to care for everything in our way. Some say this is impossible. If so, this is the noblest errand of all—to go nowhere like a mountain and everywhere like a river until we turn nothing into everything with the small lift that some call love.
By now, you have probably heard someone say … “Oh, It’s Mercury retrograde”. When Mercury Retrograde is about to begin many people begin to “feel” the energy shifts – possibly without even knowing it – as it moves in. Now, I’m not an expert in Mercury Retrograde … nor am I an astrologer. I’m a psychic medium and someone who is sensitive to energy … just like you. I notice when the energy shifts … especially the strong shifts. When I feel things are off a bit, I tune into the energy (and look at the calendar), and I usually discover that Mercury is retrograde … then I take a breath, look up how long it will be in retrograde … and then plan to move forward at a slower pace – knowing that it always has something to teach me. Not that I always love this … but I can either hit my head against the wall, pushing and forcing OR go with the flow of Mercury in retrograde … and embrace its teachings. Which do you choose?
So, what is Mercury Retrograde?
I am so thankful that my life did not work out the way I wanted it to, the way I had envisioned it, the way I had prayed for it, the way I had intended. Thank God that my life didn’t bend to meet me in my limited lens of perception.
Mark Twain said famously:
"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."
The day I figured out why I was born, interestingly enough, was New Year’s Eve 2002/2003. On that day, I had a direct experience with the Divine. I experienced God, The Divine, The Beloved, as an infinite ocean of love. No judgement, no criticism, no forgiveness - just love in its purest form. Since that day, I have been no longer able to deny why I am here. I was shown very clearly that we are all connected to this love, every single one of us.
“For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it,
if only we’re brave enough to be it.”
—Amanda Gorman
With these words, in her inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb,” Amanda Gorman opened the door wide so that the light could shine in, in all its radiance and power. Her words echoed out from the podium around the world and across the centuries. Standing invisible beside her were immigrants and enslaved people, civil rights activists and suffragists, Parkland students and pacifists, poets and day laborers. All those who have envisioned a freer, more compassionate world and lived and died for it were there in spirit to witness a shift in consciousness becoming visible at last.
Unless there is actually something dangerous happening in this present moment, being fully in the moment brings a release of stress.
The wounded self is addicted to focusing on the past or future – ruminating about the past, perhaps with regret – and worrying about the future – trying to control it. If you notice your body while you are ruminating or worrying, you will notice that your body is tense. The tension is your inner guidance letting you know that your wounded self is in charge and you are abandoning yourself.
When you notice this, shift into being in this present moment and notice the peace and relaxation that floods your body.
Now more than ever, intentional community has become more essential to our spiritual health and well-being. Because of our current realities, we are all searching for new ways of connecting and creating support for and with each other. Trust me: It’s quite a challenge for any living thing to grow in isolation — even some gardeners believe in the concept of “companion planting,” whereby seedlings thrive when they have neighbors nearby!
Over the past months, I’ve often thought of this quote from Game of Thrones: “In the storm the lone wolf perishes but the pack will survive.” It can feel like we are in a storm right now, turbulence of a world gone off-kilter. We cannot go it alone… we must reach out to each other!
At some level, you already know that’s true (which is why you are reading this… There are no accidents!). We are designed for relationship. But in our current age of digital overload, spiritual seekers express three main concerns or blocks to pursuing intentional connection and community.
See if any of the following sound familiar to you:
The LAW OF UNITY is a foundational principle in my life.
I enjoy discovering the obvious. Personal experience has always had the most meaning for me.
Historically there is a belief it is possible to attain oneness or transcend material experience.
Awareness of the Unity of all creation is this same oneness.
Everything is Oneness. We cannot be out of oneness. We cannot journey to oneness if that is where we already are.
Distinctions can be made in basic dictionary definitions of Oneness and Unity.
ONENESS - the fact of being one single thing.
UNITY - a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one.
When one catches a glimpse of duality in the many forms of the manifest world as Unity in wholeness, duality reveals the beauty of Oneness in Everything.
The Law of Unity was originally called The Law of Alchemy.
EVERYTHING IS SACRED, NOTHING IS SPECIAL.
Are you wondering whether your path is the right one? Let me share a story that may help you. It’s about a time when I questioned whether mediumship was for me. I had a crazy day at my regular job and was heading home on the subway hoping for a second wind to do some readings that night.
As we lurched out of the station, the seat next to me remained empty. I shrugged and opened the book I was reading. When I looked up again, I saw an elderly nun.
“Hello, young man. You have a nice face. Is that seat taken?”
As she sat down, I noticed she had the kindest eyes I’d ever see. “My name is Sister Agnes, but most people call me Aggie." After I introduced myself, she asked if I could guess her occupation.
“You’re a schoolteacher,” I said with a smile.
Every Sunday evening, over the last three months I have been co-teaching a class that focused on manifesting with the phases of the moon. We also helped each student discover their natural intuitive abilities, and we explored their natal charts in traditional astrology.
My portion of each class was the psychic piece, the other instructor shared the main concepts of the Moon and other planetary energy.
One question kept coming up for me. Can you separate nature, nurture, free will, fate, karma, and the natal birth chart; or is everything jumbled together in a cosmic mix of destiny?
Some believe a natal chart provides an owner’s manual for your best life.
I’m not so sure. Your astrological chart provides many valuable possibilities, but your free will can change everything. This means the stars and planets have lots of wiggle room in how and what they might indicate about your journey on Earth.
Have you noticed that innovations and technology are happening faster than ever before? Processor feeds are compounding and batteries sizes are doubling. Technology has reached a critical mass, and it is evolving and expanding at a rate that is startling. In that same way, the momentum you’ve been building in your life, in your own personal evolution is compounding as well.
Humanity has entered a decade, a window of time that is a giant possibility zone, a golden period of time within which we have the capacity to consciously choose to be ourselves in every moment and to opt out of the collective experience of suffering that has been dominating our beloved brothers and sisters for a long time.
There was a battle ship out in the waters, and the captain was out on the bridge and observed that he could see lights and there was another ship in the distance, so he said to the signalman “Please send the message that you need to change your course by 20 degrees.” And so they got a reply back immediately, “you change your course by 20 degrees”. So then the captain said to the signalman again, “You tell whoever that they are to move the course... It's a directive by 20 degrees.” And the message came back, “you move by 20 degrees.” Finally, the Captain said, “You tell them that we are a battleship and to move their course by 20 degrees.” And the message came back, “we are a Lighthouse.”
A lighthouse. Immovable. Unshakable.
“What should I focus on this year?”
“What really matters to me?”
“How can I best prepare myself for the path ahead?” and
“Will there be lines for toilet paper again?!?!”
Well, I’m not sure about the last question (I sure hope not, though…Charmin for all!), but I do know where you can turn for some guidance about what the Universe has in store for 2021: Oracle Cards!
Doing an Oracle reading can help you set your intentions for the months ahead, as well as where you might want to turn your attention, where challenges might be waiting, and how to effectively move forward.
I’ve been working with divination tools for over three decades (yes, I know… I started when I was four… 😉 ). I sensed early on that there was more to the world than what I could see and touch, and these tools offered me a way to explore and discover more about the Divine nature that unites us all.
“Mystics see that everything has a spark of energy and potential. This thought alone elevates the mundane and makes everything transcendent, while still being grounded in our earthly reality.”
Renewal is inevitable and it’s a universal law of creation. Everything is in some phase or state of renewal at all times, and human beings are no exception to this natural law. Looking to the nature of a butterfly — a larva that within its cocoon that rests, grows, gestates, and comes to be a butterfly as we see them, flying on beautifully ornate wings — tells us how renewal works. It also tells us that some phases of this ongoing cycle do not always feel good, even though we can survive and thrive through all its various phases.
I have learned through personal experience a long time ago, that surrender, and I mean complete and total surrender, is actually the only way to fly. I’ve traveled all over the world and have met people from all walks of life, and have experienced things that are just beyond the mind that I never could have imagined. All in all, my life has been a journey that has been unfolding with this perfection and synchronicity, even in this moment.
Letting go is how you access freedom. Letting go of your version of life allows you to experience life in its totality. I used to want things, I used to pray for things, I used to believe that things were going to make me happy, and that having things was an answer to something that was feeling inside of me that I didn’t want to feel, until one day, I realized I was praying for all the wrong things.
We spend all of our time intending, praying and envisioning for ourselves, for things we think are going to make a difference in our lives, only to discover that once we get them, they don’t make a difference at all.
Does a “spiritual journey” sometimes feel like something only special people with magical access or a whole lotta time, money and emotional space get to do, or even think about?
I remember feeling like that at times in my life, especially when I hit bottom from alcoholism 35 years ago (yup, just turned 35 years clean and sober a week ago!).
Around that same time, my parents had just literally lost everything – their house, whatever money they had saved – and I felt like we were all drowning. I honestly thought any kind of spiritual connection for me was irreparably broken and whatever God there was operating in my life, was following me around with a fly swatter.
But this, too, was part of my journey. I was being called to surrender to Spirit, to learn the dance steps, and to follow along.
And so, let me assure you that no matter what is going on in your life, however you may have been let down, whatever temporary outer conditions may have you believing you shouldn’t or can’t or don’t deserve access, that you 100 percent HAVE your own spiritual journey. Hello! In fact, you’re already on one right now!
What a miracle you truly are!
The Source that makes all living things in the Universe is also the same Source that’s inside of you. This Divine Source interacts and is connected with the whole of you, which means your body, mind and soul.
To honor your divinity, to live a spiritual and physical life of happiness, serenity, abundant health, and to experience a loving and successful relationship, it’s important to understand and get to know your true essence—your soul. You must begin to reach inward to meet your soul, to move through all the layers of what’s been built up inside and around you over the years.
If our heart longs to see a shooting star, that day will come when we’ll see one blaze across the heavens. If we keep looking for physical gold, by panning a stream or breaking through rock, chances are our search will be rewarded, but when we seek the more valuable gold of real self-knowledge, we are guaranteed to find it. It is there in abundance just waiting to be uncovered.
Opportunities for self-study — and the changes these discoveries yield — present themselves endlessly, with new ones arriving with each new moment. The key point here is that if we don’t undergo the changes within ourselves that we say we desire, it’s because we are not awake to these unfolding opportunities. In other words, our attention is on something else. It’s easy to have our attention sidetracked in this way. The truth is that even though we may feel a strong pull in the direction of self-study, and long for the special freedom it alone can grant us, there also exists quite often an even stronger pull away from it.
Join Panache Desai every morning and for support in reconnecting to the wellspring of calm and peace that lives within you and that has the power to counterbalance all of the fear, panic, and uncertainty that currently engulfs the world.
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