From the studio garden and the neighbors’ gardens—this morning’s harvest of ulu (breadfruit Maafala v.), maiʻa (banana), avocado, and calamansi (a citrus). Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
“Come, ye thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest home;
all is safely gathered in,
ere the winter storms begin.
God our maker doth provide
for our wants to be supplied;
come to God’s own temple, come,
raise the song of harvest home.”
– Henry Alford, 1810-1871
Return to Reiki.
I am always here for you.
Love never faileth.
~ Oelen 
Emmanuel Dagher’s article came across my desk this morning. I rarely re-blog, but I feel it is important information to share with you! Thank you, Emmanuel ~ Rebekah
My Dear Friend,
We have so much to catch up on! How have you been feeling lately?
There was a palpable shift that occurred after the 19th of February that brought many of us an overall sense of peace, even though there were a few days in between that still had some residual effects of Mercury in retrograde.
For those mindful that their reality is a direct result of their projected ideas/thoughts about it, those few days provided clear feedback as to what things we can continue to polish up, as we enter a gentler year ahead.
The Equinox and the Total Solar Eclipse
Beginning in early March, the energies start to build toward the equinox (spring for the Northern Hemisphere, autumn for the Southern Hemisphere).
This occurs on Friday, March 20 at 6:45 PM EDT (10:45 PM GMT). To add to this already exciting time of transformation, we will also be experiencing a total solar eclipse on the same day as the equinox!
So what does this mean for us?
The equinox serves as a doorway between the spiritual and physical world, enabling a powerful renewal to occur. This renewal elevates our consciousness to be able to seed greater love and wisdom into the very real, present moment.
It’s Divine Alchemy in its full glory!
The equinox is also a time when the creative gifts we’ve been nurturing throughout the summer and winter months can fully be realized and expressed, to inspire the kind of world we’d like to experience more of.
An equinox is an ideal time to:
If any of these suggestions feel expansive and joyous to you, know that it’s a confirmation that it may be time for you to integrate them into your life, so that you can make room for the fresh new blessings that are aligned with your heart’s desires.
In addition to the equinox, we will also be gifted with a total solar eclipse on March 20. This will magnify the equinox energies, which can feel quite intense for those who are quite sensitive or emotional.
To not be affected in a challenging way during this time, all that is required is that we be more mindful of our thoughts, words, and actions.
This will allow us to be open and available to the powerful energies of the eclipse and equinox, and work with them in a much more productive way. It will also help us to dissolve any lingering residue of resentment or discord we may still be experiencing.
During a total solar eclipse, meditating on the Sun strengthens our internal Sun (located in the solar plexus/stomach region), which represents our Divine power. This helps us to express ourselves more openly and freely, without holding back. It also helps us build confidence in ourselves, including our gifts, talents, and overall presence in this world.
So it’s safe to say that this month will be a time of great internal and external transformation that can be significantly pacified through mindfulness and spiritual practice.
Behind the Scenes
As we are all internally and externally shifting, there’s even more magic going on behind the scenes.
Have you had profound dreams lately? Are you remembering more and more of them?
Are you feeling waves of energy move through you that sometimes feel like electric currents running through your body?
Are you noticing more and more sparks (mini shooting stars) in your peripheral vision? Are you finding your appetite is fluctuating a bit more these days?
What about feeling a bit more sensitive to the people and experiences around you?
Our Spirit is now fully focused on lifting the veils within our minds right now, so that we will be able to understand, digest, and integrate our True Self into the reality of every present moment.
This is BIG! This is what IS anchoring a “heaven on Earth” type of collective reality.
For millennia, the conscious mind has conditioned itself to operate and function mostly in linear time. Now, with the help of our Spirit, the Universe, and all the Beings of Love whom we each resonate with, the mind is being taught how to thrive outside of linear time, so we can be at our most powerful.
What we are seeing in the world is the transition out of the “fear” that the mind created and got comfortable with, as a result of thinking it would lose its identity if it entered nonlinear time—that it would no longer exist.
However, our Spirit is showing our mind right at this very minute, that this belief could not be further from the truth of what’s really happening.
The mind is being shown how much more of its unique self it will get to experience when it is no longer confined by linear time, where it uses fear, lack, doubt, worry, confusion, guilt, shame, or judgment to cope with life’s challenges.
Our Spirit and the Universe are now opening the doors to ultimate freedom, where we are fully able to recognize our eternal, whole, and True Self once more.
To speed this process along, all that’s asked of us is to be willing to love and have compassion for our mind. The mind’s only mission was to keep us safe the only way it knew how, and for that we are grateful.
It’s also important to make sure we are well hydrated, getting plenty of rest/sleep, continuing with the spiritual practices that help us live in the present moment, and putting nourishing, real foods into our body.
This will support our Spirit with the blessings it is creating for us now.
As always, I am so grateful to share this journey with you, and am holding the space that this month is a phenomenal one for you!
Till next time,
Miraculously yours,
Emmanuel
©2009-2015 Emmanuel Dagher All Rights Reserved www.emmanueldagher.com You are absolutely welcome to share and distribute these forecasts with others as you feel guided. Please make sure to keep the integrity of this article by including the author & source website link.
Hardly anyone talks about it, this thing called aging. I think it’s because when we’re younger, we don’t consider getting older. Others, yes, like our parents, but not us. Not me! And to listen to others talk about their aches and pains—oh, please.
Notice I said “older,” not “old.” I learned to say it that way from my cousin Elly, who was born six months before I.
Today I’m going public, and I’m talking about aging for those who might benefit.
As it happens in our Western health care system, our family is assigned a primary care physician. Like all doctors, he has many patients, and the system allows him to spend only 15 minutes with each, whether or not all your questions are answered.
Oh, I know it’s possible. DH had a good experience in Hong Kong, for example, when he had appendicitis on a trip, but in Hong Kong they were much more efficient. Here, it can be time-consuming in the long run (lots of 15 minutes) and frustrating to get care.
I decided to ask for another PCP through my gynecologist. She said she couldn’t be it because she was a specialist. So then, I thought, how about a gerontologist? Can I be ahead of the game and start seeing one now? I remembered the time I (tried) to get care for my aging father and how by luck, after being sent to department after department (including a “hospitalist” who I asked, because he was wearing a flower lei, if it was his birthday, and he replied, “No, it is my last day here!”), a gerontologist came to our aid. She was the most compassionate and informative of the lot.
My gynecologist was helpful. “Let’s see, how old are you, 66? You know, past 65 I think you can.” I’ll give the system credit for that. She referred me to a geriatrician, that’s what they’re called, I learned.
My issues were physical signs that to me appeared suddenly. Thinning skin, dull hair, brittle nails. (In the meantime I found a supplement containing biotin to address just that.) Soreness in my hands; arthritis or something else? When people spoke to me, responding too often with, “What?”, and having to turn up the TV volume. Some trouble with my balance. And taking longer to speak my words because my brain seemed slower to find them; memory loss? I’ve already had my right colon removed successfully for a large but benign tumor.
When the “new” department phoned to confirm the first appointment, they made sure I knew to bring someone with me, that I brought a health care directive, etc. This freaked out DH who said to me, “This is not the end game for you. Why?” I replied, “Of course, it isn’t, but I want to be proactive and cover all my bases. I want a baseline for the future.”
Checking in as a “youngster,” I explained my reasons for the visit with the receptionist, who informed me, and the doctor confirmed: a geriatrician is a specialist and cannot be my PCP. But wait.
While an assistant gave me a memory test (my memory in their terms is fine), the doctor invited DH in to start the conversation about why she likes to talk to families. In my case, she was concerned that we have our finances in place, meaning, if one of us becomes unable to function normally in the future, does the other have access to money if needed. Not when we die, but if we become ill.
When I walked into her office to join the conversation, she confirmed my hunch. “Did you practice at (another hospital) before? [She had.] You are the one who took care of my father, and the only one to give us satisfactory answers!” Yes, the same doctor, who at that time explained to me, “It’s not a perfect system, but it is a system.”
While she cannot officially be my primary care physician, in fact that is what she has become. I am so grateful. She ordered all the necessary tests for me. As a result, I found that I have lost some of my hearing, and I now wear a very smart and hi-tech hearing aid in both ears. It’s takes practice to learn how to wear it, and I trust the person who is fitting the device for my needs.
Next, tests found that I am deficient in Vitamin D. The doc said even in sunny Hawaii people become deficient in D.
For the pain in my dominant right hand, I was sent back to my assigned PCP, who said it is tendonitis in two places, but one unrelated to the other. What do you do, he asked? “I paint.” Then stop painting, he said. What?!! Personally I think, if it is indeed tendonitis, it is from too much computer, that is the unfortunate side effect of today’s technology.
Or, an emotional cause. For that, my geriatrician was compassionate and suggested psychotherapy. I have been there and done that. For now I prefer talking to my cherished friends and family first. Perhaps Reiki or lomilomi or acupuncture.
This week I go in for hand therapy, referred by my PCP, and next week sports medicine. Sports medicine because of some numbness in my arm.
I asked DH, why is it that you are older than I, but you don’t show as many signs of aging. He reminded me that he just had new “eyes” installed, a result of cataract surgery in both eyes. 😉 You see, I am not alone, and neither are you!
It’s time to hit the Resume Play button of my life. The elves have left to help someone else.
Indeed, it feels like a brand new life. The 12-month year for me starts on my birthday this Friday. Then I’ll turn 66. With much gratitude I say good-bye to 66 years (especially the year 2014) and say hello to today.
Since DH’s birthday on Dec. 20—we had a little party here on the 21st—so much has occurred, I really don’t remember exactly what, nor am I able to put the events in chronological order. No matter. That was yesterday.
Since the fire and for the last nine days, New Year’s Day and Sunday excepting, a professional after-fire cleaning crew has been at the studio, removing soot and odor from everything inside the structure. Four to nine people at a time, depending on the tasks. Such hard workers. I called them elves.
What a blessing. This morning, when I awoke, the din of the four air scrubber machines was gone. I could hear the birds and the surf again. The air smelled sweet. I had slept soundly through the night. I could look forward to a day with no visitors (perhaps?).
I can’t find any-Thing, but I know it is here somewhere and that it is clean!
“Sorry, we rearranged your things,” one of the elves said smiling. The cool thing is, I like the rearrangement. When I go through my things systematically in one direction to find something and come across something I don’t need any more, I toss it into the trash or set it aside to re-bless someone else. And, truthfully, I don’t need much.
In a new setting, I can keep only what I need or what brings me joy!
Some of the things are in cardboard boxes because the elves did a partial “pack out.” It was obvious to them the next step was a kitchen renovation. The result is “out of sight, out of mind.”
The clichés have meaning: “Every dark cloud has a silver lining.” “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” “Fire purifies.” “Out with the old, in with the new.” “Let it go.”
To keep my feet on the ground and because I like to honor commitments, I’ll resume teaching and writing in a few days, but that’s it. I can say Aloha to the past, start over, reset, choose to (re)act in a new way to events in my life and create a different and joyful experience.
Thank you, dear friends. I’ll certainly keep you.
Mango Collage, 22.25″ x 22.25″ hand-dyed tissue paper on canvas
Mangos and more mangos! I am experimenting with a different art medium — collage with hand-dyed tissue papers. Here is my third piece finished yesterday, a diptych composed of two panels. I plan to put both into one frame for the square shape shown.
The big mango tree in the corner of the studio garden cooperated this year by bearing luscious fruit that we are enjoying. We are able to pick the mangos before the cherry headed conures get to them. That and the color palette of tissue papers that I had on hand inspired the work.
Managing the thin, flimsy papers with glue, water, and X-ACTO knife is tedious work and messy. At times it is carving paper, either wet or dry, being careful not to poke a hole in the canvas! In the end, I love the effect of layering and the jewel toned quality of the finished collage.
My colleague Susan Rogers-Aregger taught me how to create with this medium. She learned it from Gloria Foss, our late oil painting instructor and mentor. Together they wrote Paper Dyeing for Collage & Crafts (Honolulu: Belknap Publishing & Design, 2004; ISBN 0-9723420-3-6).
Susan has scheduled her next paper-dyeing and collage workshops for February 2015 in Kaneohe, Oahu.
Aloha, studio fans! Makahiki season is open in Hawai‘i and it’s the reason there’s been a gap in my posts.
As with some other cultures, Makahiki is the time—between now and January or February of next year, when Makali‘i (the Pleiades constellation) is overhead at 8 p.m.—to take a break from working and warring, the time to give thanks to a successful harvest/year, the time to enjoy the success, and the time to play!
Many folks don’t realize it’s perfectly all right to relax and do nothing, especially with today’s fast-paced-because-of-technology lifestyle. Since coming home from Italy I’ve felt a little out of sorts, not centered. I’ve decided to observe Makahiki and quit thinking too much about what project I’m doing tomorrow. Right now I’m feeling more comfortable arranging to spend good times with friends and relatives. As it should be.
2013 has been an incredible year of expansion and growth for me. I admit much of it was planned, that is, I intended to have new experiences and learn new skills. But the outcomes—after I’d planted the seeds and released them to the Universe to nurture—were so very surprising, so delightful, so supportive of my wish to create. It’s made me a believer of how to live a happy life.
Just a few more notes . . . I promise you, the hard part is over. The next few weeks will be fun.
• The final week of my “Hana Hou: Then & Now” fine art show with co-exhibitor Tamsen Fox at Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden. We just enjoy more visitors and sales through Nov. 29, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Then we uninstall. If you live on O‘ahu, I hope you will have time to see it.
• Several music gigs singing Christmas music to various audiences around town. Rehearsals with the choir are pau (finished). Now we just perform and enjoy.
• The kids and grandkids—Miss Marvelous and her younger sister who turns 2 this week—will be home from Italy for December and through the New Year! That will be fun. All grandparents can relate to that! This past weekend DH set up the toddler’s bed. We can hardly wait to greet them Hawaiian style with lei.
• Teaching: I’ve found a new classroom that can accommodate more students in my future art and Reiki classes. Excited to make the final arrangements soon. Meanwhile, a wreath-making workshop led by Yours Truly is already scheduled for Dec. 14 in Kāneʻohe. Let me know if you want to attend!
• Eleven, I just counted 11, celebrations and parties are logged on the remaining calendar for 2013 so far. How fortunate. I look forward to socializing with my relatives and friends, young and older, from near and far, from school days to my newest relationships.
You see, why work when we can play? Let’s take a little rest. We are so lucky and so blessed. I am very grateful.
Rebekah’s Studio 
Recent comments