Mojo Monday ~ Cracks In the Universe

Mother, teach me how to see
The shining lights of stars,
The faces of the Ancestors,
In worlds both near and far.

Show me how to welcome
The visions appearing to me,
Seeing the truth in detail,
Unraveling each mystery.

Walk me through the Dreamtime
Of altered time and space,
That I may share those visions
With every creed and race.

Doorkeeper of all dimensions,
I seek your Medicine ways
Of how to earth my visions,
Seeing truth, inside me, today.

~ Jamie Sams from "Looks Far Woman" chapter
in The 13 Original Clan Mothers

Wings and fins.  They have been appearing in unexpected places lately.  I don't always pay attention to signs or my muse.  I get caught up in the daily routine and my focus starts to narrow in on work and a busy family calendar schedule, which has me jetting off to play volleyball on Monday nights and shuttling my sweet twin daughters to softball practices and games twice a week.  All of this is after eight hours a day of supporting social workers, families and children at a foster-adoption agency.  On many a evening I just want to kick back and do some Netflix streaming with the hubby, in lieu of checking in with the oracles or my muse.  Yet if I stray to0 far from the creative energy within things also start to feel off kilter.  I know that on a soulful level it is important for me to make time for quiet, for reflection and for pondering.  Listening to my intuition and my creative impulses is also key for me to staying in touch with my soul.  It is through my writing, my art and the courses I take, that I am reminded of the deeper meanings to life and also of a spiritual web that connects us all.

There are several things that I turn to to keep me connected to the muse and spirit.  The first is creating the space for writing and creating, be that painting, collaging or some other form of creative outlet.  Fortunately I have writing commitments that require me to write at least three articles each month.  Those commitments can be a taskmaster at times (monkey on my back so to speak) but there can be a gift in discipline and accountability.  There have been months where the written words have flown easily and sweetly from my mind and heart over to the page.  There have also been weeks and months when I have procrastinated and struggled to get the ideas flowing, the stress growing as deadlines loomed over me.  In the end it comes down to making the time and doing it even when it feels like work.  Even when it is hard I still feel drawn like a moth to the flame, to compose words like music on a page into some form of lyrical story.  I am grateful for the results of showing up, even when I don't always feel like it.

Painting, collaging and general ol' creativity is another great love.   That I may go days and weeks without playing in the art room seems mad, but that is the reality from time to time.  If there are extended time frames when I am not playing and creating I now see that this coincides quite regularly with feelings of lethargy, sadness, boredom, general malaise and so on.  Here is where being involved in a journaling class can give me the kick in the ass I need.  Its like my muse has this wicked sense of humor and entices me to sign up for something, even when the practical office manager in me is saying, "But you already have too much to do my dear, how ever can you make the time for this class?  Get real."  Fortunately the muse is very persuasive and manages to lure my inner artist to retrieve the credit card and sign up while the office manager is busy doing taxes or organizing her files.  It is so worth it too, for I have loved, loved, loved, the several Storywalking courses that I have taken with Jenafer Owen.  The current one began on March 1st and is called Storywalking: A Very Daring Tail.  Click here to read more about the intriguing details and take note that the next course begins April 21st.  These courses have forced me to be more in touch with the muse, my intuition, symbolism, signs and creative visions.   

One of the recent activities we were asked to complete in The Daring Tail course involved an Oracle.  If you want to try it out for yourself visit the Oracle here and write down what it has to tell you.  Visit it three times in row, recording each cryptic message.  Then sit with it.  Ponder it.  Look up the true definition of key words.  Be surprised sometimes to learn that words can mean something other than you thought.  After much reflection how have you translated the message of the Oracle?  Let me share my recent communication.

It has grown more obvious to me how, when I am closed off and in task master mode, that I can be oblivious to noticing the nuances of spirit.  When I slow down and open myself to creative spirit the influx of synchronistic images or words can be profound.  In January and February I had felt like I needed a break from any new commitments and had abstained from taking any on-line courses.  I was still in the mode of not taking anything new one, but at the last minute I signed up for The Daring Tail course, which started on March 1st.  

There is a theme regarding mermaids and sea life in this course.  Once I was signed up I had several occasions to note that mermaids and sea life images had been showing up around me for several weeks, but that I had not noticed.  A couple of weeks into the course I also remembered how I had just read the novel The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd only a couple weeks prior.  Even in the prior December Storywalking course I was astonished when flipping back a few journal pages to discover the funky mer-creature I had drawn, as well as my companion animal from a guided meditation, which was none other than a while who had a very specific message for me: "We are going to plumb the depths...and swim among the stars."

Lastly, one other way this past year that I have seeked out greater vision and communion with spirit, has been by participating in a personal Vision Quest with a spirit guide.  One of the inspirations for the journey is the book The 13 Original Clan Mothers, by Jamie Sams. Each month I am to read the assigned chapter and create my shield.  My shields took the form of prayer flags and that particular vision came to me the first day I spoke with my spirit guide.  There are also additional monthly assignments to complete.  The journey began last June and will come to a conclusion at the end of my 13th month. I will admit that sometimes I have felt like throwing in the towel. Sometimes I have felt like an imposter.  Sometimes I have questioned if I am doing enough and/or doing it right.  Yet I have committed to the journey and have grown to embrace that it is mine and is not to be compared to the journey of another.  This Vision Quest has also pushed me to reside in a space of greater spiritual reflection.  

Storyteller ~ my first prayer flag from June 2013.

What are some ways that you stay connected to source?

Do you have regular creative practices that
feed your soul and keep you inspired?

Have you ever noticed that if/when you drift away
from doing those things that feed your soul
that you start to feel down, blue and disconnected?

Any words of wisdom about how to keep your soul fire burning bright?

"Looks Far Woman is the Clan Mother who is the 
Guardian of the Fourth Moon Cycle, which falls in April.  
The full spectrum of pastel colors is connected to the 
Clan Mother's cycle, because she carries the 
Medicine of Prophecy, see the truth in all colors.  
She is the Doorkeeper of the Crack in the Universe 
and the Golden Door of Illumination that 
leads to all other dimensions of awareness.  
She stands at the Crack in the Universe 
and safely guides all human spirits taking Dreamtime journeys 
into the other realms and then, back home, 
being present and fully conscious of their bodies.

This Clan Mother is a Seer, an Oracle, a Dreamer, and a visionary.
She teaches us the validity of our impressions, dreams, visions
and feelings as they exist within our inner potential.
Looks Far Woman instructs humankind on how to unravel
the symbols found in psychic impressions.
She shows us how to see the truth in every vision we receive
in the tangible and intangible worlds.
In her wisdom, Looks Far Woman assists every seeker
in finding the seeds of personal and planetary prophecy
that the Great Mystery planted inside all human beings."

~ Jamie Sams from The 13 Original Clan Mothers