 Spider-man: Homecoming is the most recent spider-man reboot. It is part of Marvel’s building to its most recent film, Avengers: Infinity Wars. This version of Spider-man is so much fun! Tom Holland plays Peter Parker hilariously, capturing the teenager-ness of Spider-man with all its ups and downs. His exploration of this character, his coming of age, his growth as a ‘superhero,’ allow us an opportunity to dive deep into the spiritual path and our own spiritual growth. Background: Tony Stark (Ironman) found Spider-man and introduced him to the world of superheroes during Avengers: Civil War. He needed additional help — a wildcard so to speak. He offered Peter Parker an “internship” that came with an amazing hi-tech spiderman suit. Spiderman: Homecoming begins after Avengers: Civil War. Peter has returned to the city. He gets to keep the spiderman outfit. It is new and sleek and awesome. Peter is unaware of all its capabilities, as they have not yet been turned on. Tony Stark encourages Peter to be a neighborhood spiderman. However, Peter accidentally comes across a gang that is selling illegal weapon made from alien technology. Spiderman decides it is his job to take down these criminals. And thus we begin the journey…. Spiderman: Homecoming Spiderman is returning home after fighting the criminals for the first time. Someone stole his backpack (where he kept his street cloths), so he must sneak into his apartment dressed as Spiderman. He sneaks in through his bedroom window, crawls across the ceiling, uses his web-slinger to close the door and silently drops from the ceiling. Unmasked, he turns around and finds his best friend sitting on his bed holding a Lego Death Star that they were going to work on, stunned. The legos drop from his hands and fall loudly to the floor. Aunt May yells, “What was that?” Peter yelling back, “Nothing….” Then he turns toward his best friend who says, “Your the spiderman from YouTube.” Peter pressed the spider-logo on his suit as he answers his friend. The spider-logo loosens the suit from Peter’s body and it drops to the floor. He steps easily out of it toward his friend. Our Spiritual Journey As I said yesterday, our spiritual journey is experience through our heart. However, many of us struggle with how to drop into our hearts. It is not something we are taught by our culture. We are taught in school to be logical critical thinkers. If we were and/or are church-goers, we most likely still did not learn how to drop into our hearts. You may have had that experience of being in your heart during worship or prayer. Most likely you were not taught how to do that. It just happened because of the moment of worship. So how do we drop into our hearts? For me, it was a journey of pealing aways layers of myself until what was left was my heart. As we grow up we learn to take on identities and personas that allow us to function well in the world. Identities and personas are qualities which we cloth ourselves with to keep us safe, to be how we think we should be in the world. They include anything from introvert/extroverted-ness to job-related to family-responsibilities and more. Here are some of the identities/personas that I have created throughout my lifetime, to give you are way to think about this: Pastor, Spiritual healer, Shy-quiet-invisible high school student, tomboy, smart, free-spirit, good-girl, mystic, contemplative. These identities gave me ways to be in the world. There is nothing bad about my various identities. When I stand in front of my congregation on Sunday morning, I dress myself in Pastor. It helps me step into the role, expectations and all. This is good. Yet, it masks Me. Pealing the layers: This past week as I have been out and about walking and exploring the natural world, I keep seeing snakes everywhere. Not actual snakes. Everything shows up as snakes: from sticks to wires. Snakes keep appearing in my field of vision. I have learned to take this as a message from Spirit. Snake Medicine Snake Medicine is powerful medicine that helps us peal these layers of our identities. When I created High Desert Essences, snake was one of the first animal essences I made. A bull snake literally dropped from the top of my window startling me out of a dream. That began the connection that lasted all summer, and created the essence. This is what Snake had to share with me: “People fear me because I bring transformation — huge life changing transformation. It is time to shed your old skin that is containing and constricting you. Each skin, each layer, each persona, each identity must be shed until you uncover your Light Body, your Highest Self. This metaphysical metamorphosis is key to your soul-volition, to the obtaining and experiencing of the fullness of your soul’s purpose in this life cycle.” Snakes teach us to shed our skins. Sometimes it is easy like spiderman pushing the logo and dropping his suit. Other times, it is challenging. You have to rub against rough rocks slowly pealing the layer from your being. The work it takes to drop the identity depends upon how important the identity is to your day to day life. Do you live that identity often? Have you basically outgrown it? The challenging identities to drop are the ones we still use on a daily basis. Balance We do not need to drop all our identities. That would leave you raw and vulnerable. The invitation from Snake is to drop those identities that are keeping you from fully being you, that are holding you back, that are in the way of your growth. These are the challenging ones to drop because our minds want to hold onto them. These are the ones that when we release them, allow us to drop into our hearts. The more we are able to release limiting identities, the easier it is to drop into your heart. With each identity you drop, each layer you peal away, you will begin to notice that you feel more. You feel more connected to the natural world around you. You notice something that you did not notice before. Maybe you feel more awake. Greater awareness to your own feelings deepen. You are more alive! The more you are in your heart, the more alive you will feel and be. This weekAs you go through your week, pay attention to the various identities and personas that you cloth yourself with. Experiment with pressing your spiderman logo and dropping those identities. What happens? How does it feel? Do you sense yourself more open to Spirit? Can you hear your heart more clearly?
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 The spiritual journey is a conversation with Spirit and all that is Sacred, and our heart. It is a lifelong journey where at moments we are very much connected, and at other moments we feel extremely disconnected. How connected we feel directly relates to how connected into our hearts we are.
The spiritual journey is made from the heart. It is all about feeling our way through life instead of thinking. For many of us, this is a different experience. We are used to logical, critical thought when it comes to making life decisions. That is important. Trust your heart However, the spiritual life invites us to balance our logical, critical thought processes with our heart and feelings. Run whatever is coming through as logical through out heart. Does our heart agree? Is there resonance, dissonance, or not react? Trust your heart. Your heart knows at a deeper soul level what you need. Why? Because you heart is the residence of the Sacred within your physical body. It is the Center of who you are. It is the sacred space where heaven and earth come together. Your heart is your spiritual connection, your channel, your line-to-God. If you allow your heart to guide you, you will begin to notice that your heart is actually better suited to create the life you desire than your mind. Our hearts desire us to experience love, joy, peace and harmony. It will guide us in that direction, opening paths for us to walk to greater abundance, joy, laughter, peace. If we chose to be guided by our hearts, we will notice that our life choices begin to open up more possibilities for us in our life. Our hearts desire is to create a life experience that is beautiful, joyful, happy. When we make our decisions from our mind, we many times miss the paths that will bring us joy. Sometimes those paths look not so welcoming or are so tiny they look like a deer path not a walking path. The mind wants us to stay on the comfortably well walked path that will keep us safe. Yet, when we stay safe we sometimes miss the moments in life that open and expand us, that offer deep healing, that ask us to be more than we are — to grow and stretch. The heart's path The heart wonders. It loves to explore. It is adventurous at its core. Our hearts will chose the interesting, unique path that will brings us to beautiful vistas. It might be a challenging climb, but when we get to that vista it will be worth all the effort. This week, I want will be reflecting upon our spiritual life and spiritual journeys. I’ll be playing with Spiderman: Homecoming and how Peter Parker’s journey reflects moments within the spiritual journey. One aspect of learning to live from your heart is opening yourself to experience your spiritual journey, theological expansion, and more from places where we do not usually look. Popular culture offers us fun, hilarious moments and revelations for how Spirit works, if we take a moment to look through the lens of Spirit. Let’s have some fun with Spiderman this week….  When we are ready to fully manifest our co-creation in the world, Spirit asks us to fully embody it. Through embodying your co-creation, it is brought forth fully into experience in this world. This is something that Thor had to learn over five films (Thor, Avengers, Thor: Dark World, Avengers: Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok). Each film, he steps more and more into his power and identity as the god of Thunder. It is not until Ragnarok that he fully embodies and manifests himself as the God of Thunder. Thor:Ragnarok After he steps through the portal Dr Strange has made for him, he finds his father Odin. Odin dies and move on. Hela, his sister, creates a portal and appears. She is demanding that he and Loki kneel before her. (Remember, Hela is the goddess of Death and pure evil.) Thor loses his hammer Thor declines and throws his hammer. Hela breaks the hammer with her bare hands (“Our sister destroyed your hammer like a piece of glass,” as Loki describes that moment later in the film). Thor begins to embrace embodiment Without his hammer, Thor struggles with his power. He must face the Grandmaster’s Champion (who happens to be Hulk) in order to win his freedom. During the fight, Thor gets pinned by the Hulk who is pulverizing him. Thor flashes back to his father and begins to embody lightening. Lightening starts to spark on his body and he lands a powerful punch sending the Hulk flying across the stadium. As he stands, he his eyes are glowing with lightening. Thor looks at his arms which have lightening jumping up and down them. He takes the first step in embodying his god of thunder-ness. Running at Hulk, he uses lightening to power him and lands a massive blow. Thor and Odin But it is not until the end of the film that Thor truly embodies God of Thunder (with the capital letters). Hela has him pinned. He flashes to his father in the afterlife for this conversation: Thor: Hela is too strong. Without my hammer I can’t… Odin: Are you Thor the god of hammers? That hammer was to help you control your power, to focus it. It was never your source of strength. Thor: It is too late. She has already taken Asgard. Odin: Asgard is not a place….. Asgard is where our people stand. Right now those people need your help. Thor: I’m not as strong as you Odin: No, you’re stronger. Full embodiment Then Thor returns from his vision and embodies himself fully as God of Thunder. He hits Hela with “the biggest lightening blast in the history of lightening.” Then using lightening he flies into battle to save his people, fighting Hela’s evil army. Lightening flying everywhere, off and from his body. Thor becomes the God of Thunder. This is the manifestation step in bringing our co-creations out into the world. We must become our co-creations, embody them in their fullness. What do I mean? In my own life, I work with affirmation statements. They are like my hammer. I use them to begin to focus myself and keep my focus on what it is I am co-creating with Spirit. Each morning I speak the affirmation statements. If something arises within me that undermines, shifts, corrupts, blocks the embodiment of the affirmation statement, I place my attention there and work through it, until I have released whatever that is. I pay attention to my inner world as I speak these statements. If joy is not present, then I spend time discerning whether this co-creation is going to benefit my highest self and the highest good of humanity. This helps me keep moving forward toward my life goals, toward wholeness. I have a dog, an example Well last week Spirit decided to test me, to see if I really was willing to embody my co-creation, my affirmation statements. I will admit this is a fun statement, meant to bring companionship and joy into my life. It arose in a workshop where we were writing statement that we want to create. I really do want a dog in my life. I miss not having that joy, hilarity, companionship. Every morning when I say that statement, my heart smiles. I laugh. I was out walking and a dog walked directly up to me. She had no tag, no collar. The dog was very well behaved, well trained — knew all the commands: sit, stay, stop, wait, get off the road, no. She was definitely lost and asking for my help. I decided to help. We sat down on the curb. I called the police to get animal control. It was wicked early in the morning before animal control opened. A nice person walking her dog gave me treats to keep the lost dog happy and listening. We had a blast waiting for animal control to come pick her up. She loved on me. I loved on her. When animal control arrived, I was so sad to leave her. Who knew you could fall in love so quickly? Spirit's question As I walked home, I heard “If no one claims her will you turn your life upside down to adopt her?” arise in my heart. I literally stopped in my tracks and replied, “What?” Again Spirit asked, “Will you turn your life upside down to adopt her if no one claims her?” I had a split second of overwhelm. Adopting her in this moment means: finding a new place to live, increasing my finances, buying furniture, dog expenses, and the list could go on…. Spirit waited. I took a breath and paid attention to my heart. “Yes” was the only answer there. Yes I would turn my life upside down to adopt her. After lunch I drove my car to animal control to check on the pup. She had been claimed. I felt this wave of sadness wash over me, even as I felt joy for her being reunited with her humans. But, Spirit was clear. If you really want what you say you want to co-create, you need to be willing to fully embody it — not on your terms or in your timing. No, you need to embody fully. Spirit will chose the timing. Are you willing to fully embody your co-creations so that Spirit can fully bring them forth in your life, in the world? You may have to turn your life upside down….  When I am working on discernment, I will sometime use a deck of cards. I’m not talking about playing cards. I am talking about oracle cards. I have many different decks depending upon what I am working on.
Examples: Ocean Oracle Cards, Ascended Master Oracle Cards, SoulCards, Angel Cards, etc. I have found that I am drawn to certain decks for certain types of discernment or specific time periods in my life. How do I use them? Well, that depends upon what I am working on… For healing: When my partner and I separated and ended our relationship, I spent the first 6 months working with SoulCards and allowing those cards to guide me on my healing journey. I would spend time meditating on the images of the cards, journaling and then allowing a poem to arise within me. This journey with these cards was intensely healing and transformational. When I look back at the poetry of that time period, I am deeply moved. For discernment: At the current moment in my life, I am using Ascended Master Oracle Cards. This is a new deck for me. Each card is drawing of one of the Ascended Masters with a phrase, their lesson, on it. Each morning after I meditate, I hold the deck, fill my entire being with what I am seeking discernment on, begin to shuffle the deck and allow myself to pick the card I am most attracted to. (Note: I keep the images hidden from me when I shuffle and pick.) What I have found with this deck is that Spirit is speaking exactly what I need in day to focus on. What do I mean? Well, I have been driving very hard, focused and pushing myself to my limits working on writing up the medicine of my many animal and flower essences for High Desert Essences. I created an unrealistic plan and was pushing myself to keep it. My body was overwhelmed and exhausted. I went this weekend to my friend’s loft for a mini-retreat. The plan was to focus on a 5 essence set from Tent Rocks. Well, that did not happen. I picked up the cards, shuffled and the first card I picked pertaining to “What do I need to do today?” was Nurture Myself. Every muscle in my body scream YES!!! Please do that… I accomplished nothing other than rest and chilling that day. That card knocked me out of my work-a-holic identity where I ignore my body. I may have worked myself into sickness. But this gift from Spirit was a reminder that I needed to slow down and care for myself. Each morning since, I have begun the day with this deck. They continue to offer beautiful healthy focuses for my day, reminding me to follow Joy and Love as I continue my life path. Sometimes we need to use images to allow Spirit to speak to us. Find yourself some oracle cards that speak to you and see what happens…. Spirit will come through loud and clear! Tust me.  Last week Cooper Hawk decided to teach me a lesson in co-creating: maintain focus and do not worry about looking like a fool!
I came out of my house and was headed toward my car. I had my hands full of all sorts of stuff. I was on my way to Starbucks to write blogs and do work. As I arrived at my car, something in my peripheral vision dropped out of a tree. I looked up and there on the ground was a fluff of feathers. It looked like a pile of feathers with no form. I put everything into my car and headed toward the pile to see what was up. As I got closer, Cooper Hawk looked at me and took off. In her claw was a mouse. I called out to her, “Way to go Cooper Hawk. Nice job.” Off she flew to have her lunch. I sat with what I saw that day, pondering it, wondering what that was all about. As I was meditating on it hours later, I heard, “Keep your eye on the ball. Stay focused.” Ok. Stay focused on our co-creation. Then more came, “Stay focused so you can pounce, leap at the appropriate time.” Right, there will be a time when the launch, the manifestation is NOW. We need to be vigilant and ready when that moment presents itself. One more thing arrived, “Don’t worry about how your pounce looks to others. It will bring what you are looking for.” Right. Because as Cooper Hawk flew away I was also like wow that was a unique hunting technique. Drop like a fool. It looked really rough. She looked worse for wear. But she did succeed. Lunch was hers. As I ponder this for St Paul’s, what comes to mind is that as we continue to co-create our vision for worship, spiritual and faith formation, justice and outreach we need to keep our focus on the three words that have continued to arise as the core of our mission: diversity, welcome, progressive. As we create our strategic plan we need to be sure that it reflects these three words. Keep focus. Don’t worry about how it looks when we launch again. When that moment comes for us to get the word our about St Paul’s, we need to have an internal freedom to allow Spirit to move fully. No worries if you have the ‘right’ words. No worries if that worship service went ‘well’. No worries if those who are watching, participating, witnessing see what we do as organized and put together, or chaotic and free-form. If we keep focus, stay vigilant, pounce at the appropriate time, we will come up with the mouse for lunch! We will attract those who will enhance and grow the mission and vision of St Paul’s. Again, all we have to do is trust in our abilities. Trust is Spirit’s co-creative guidance. Trust in the seeds that are planted each time we spread the word. Trust in the organic nature of spiritual grow and awakening. Keep focused and Trust. How will you embody Trust this week? How are you keeping focused on your co-creations?  When I lived in Taos last year, I lived in a place where magpies lived. I arrived and found two pair of magpies who loved to hang out on the patio off my bedroom. Over the nine months that I lived there, they taught me about what happens when we accept Spirit’s invitation of hospitality.
One morning they decided to greet me loudly from the patio wall. I awoke to their shouts and felt this request for breakfast. Being me, I went and found some nuts and fed them. Well, that did it. They soon had me trained to feed them breakfast! When I would go out for a walk, they would be hanging out in the trees. They would call out to me like, “Hey human have a good walk.” I would greet them back and head out for my walk. As I returned they would greet me, “Hey human welcome back.” I would return the greeting. Our friendships grew. One couple decided to nest outside my kitchen window. We worked out what they needed to feel safe and secure. I hung cloth to give them privacy from the activity of a kitchen. The dining room patio became their room. I would go out and check on them. They were patient, watching me as I checked on their babies. It was beautiful to watch them grow. I found myself caring for the magpies on the road. I provided nourishment for them. I laughed with them. Chatted and hung out with them. Encouraged their hilarity and zest for life. Protected them as much as I could. My place became a safe haven for magpie. When I left, I had 26 magpie coming to breakfast every morning. Word got around about this safe haven on Blueberry Hill. Here is what they taught me. Hospitality is a huge part of growth, especially church growth. If my place was not welcoming and nourishing they would not have come. But because I offered a place that was safe, welcoming, nourishing the numbers continued to grow. It was like the magpie were telling and bringing their friends to this human who took care of them. It was an awesome and sometimes overwhelming experiencing. When we answer Spirit’s call to care for God’s people, growth is organic. Word gets out. Hey, check out that congregation that is totally welcoming. I heard about this church down the road where you are completely safe and welcome to be fully who you are. They take care of you! As we are preparing our vision for the new St Paul’s, hospitality is key. As we prepare our strategic plan and action items, each needs to reflect the depth of the spiritual discipline of hospitality. How is our worship offering hospitality? How is our spiritual formation offerings caring for those who are seeking a deeper connection with Spirit? How is our mission and justice work creating a safe nurturing place for people, caring for their needs? In all that we do, Spirit continues to invite us to steep our ministry in hospitality. How are you providing hospitality this week? on Sundays? to your neighbors?  This is the moment. You have accepted Spirit's invitation and knocked on the door to enter deep into Spirit's dwelling. Spirit offered you deep hospitality and accepted the invitation to help you -- to co-create. As Spirit prepare the co-creation, you were invited deep into inner healing and growth work. Once Spirit feels you are ready, She creates the portal for you to step through. You are invited to step through and embody your co-creation.
Today we stand at the opened portal. Are you ready? You are not going through empty handed. Spirit provides the tools and skills you need, teaching and instilling them within your heart. As Thor prepares to step through the portal Dr Strange reminds him, "Don't forget your umbrella." A bit about Thor's umbrella/hammer: It is a tool Oden, Thor's father, gave him to harness, focus and use Thor's power as God of Thunder. It is not his power. Thor's Power is embodied in his whole being. Thor learns that throughout the film Ragnarok. Tools for Co-Creating Spirit offers us the tools we need to harness, focus and use our Power to manifest our co-creation. These tools are not our power. Our Power is found in how we embody the Light of God, how we emanate Compassion and Mercy in the world. The tools (our umbrella/hammer) helps us reflect and radiate our embodied Compassion and Light. I define myself as a spiritual healer in the world. I seek to radiate the Sacred's Love and Light fully in the world. In my personal healing business, Weaving Sacred Spaces, I use the tools of High Desert Essences, crystals, drum healing, Reiki Sacred Light healing, mentoring, spiritual direction and more. These are tools and skills that help me emanate and radiate my medicine to those who are seeking healing. These tools help me reflect the Sacred's Love and Light. In my role as pastor, I use the tools of prayer, worship, sermons, blogs, protests and rallys and more to proclaim God's unconditional Love and Justice. There are tools that reflect and radiate God's Love and Justice. You are Spirit's tool I am experience myself as the pillar between heaven and earth through which Spirit's healing Light flows. Standing in my Power as a co-creator with Spirit means I fully embody Spirit's Love, Light, Justice. It means I stand strong as a pillar and open myself to letting Spirit flow in and through me. Stepping through the portal is deciding to stand in your Power intentionally and to allow yourself to be Spirit's tool of healing and justice in this world. What do you think? Ready to step through and join me?  When Spirit agrees to co-create with us it can feel very disorienting, evening knocking you off balance. It requires a willingness to do our work, to release limiting beliefs and surrender our sacred cows. Thor: Ragnarok As we continue reflecting upon the interaction between Thor and Dr Strange, we shift from them sitting, talking and Dr Strange agreeing to help, to a string of scenes where Dr Strange continually shifts the environment making it difficult for Thor to keep his balance. Dr Strange has agreed to help Thor locate his father, Odin, who has been exiled to Earth by Loki, Thor’s adoptive brother. As Dr Strange prepares the portal that he will send Thor through to retrieve Odin, he moves himself and Thor through a variety of movements. They begin by going from sitting and chatting to standing by a bookshelf while Dr Strange checks on information he needs, then to the other side of that room. Thor is completely off-balance, stumbling with as Dr Strange shifts the energies. From the other side of the room, Dr Strange observes Thor and says, “Oh, we don’t need that.” forcing an energetic shift again. Thor responds: “Will you stop doing that!” Then Dr Strange realizes that to create the portal he needs a hair from Thor. Thor is unwilling to give him his hair. Dr Strange shifts around and steals a hair from Thor’s head. Then we moves them to the bottom of a stairwell and begins to create the portal for Thor. Thor tumbles down a few steps, stands and responds, “We could have walked.” Co-Creating with Spirit It is a hilarious scene. Yet, it is a beautiful metaphor for how co-creating with Spirit can sometimes feel. Spirit’s job in co-creating is to bring you to, prepare you for, and create the portal — that moment your co-creation is ready to be manifested. Spirit takes you there and then it is your choice to walk through it. (More on that tomorrow.) The journey to the portal is one that shakes things up, causes dis-equilibrium, creates discomfort, often times requires something from us, and in the end feels so quick that we feel like we are running to keep up! Making adjustments In the first part of the scene Dr strange is checking to see if he needs to make adjustments for Thor’s Asgardian physique. When we first begin to co-create with Spirit, we find that we need to make adjustments in our lives. These ‘adjustments’ include doing inner healing work, shifting priorities, opening our hearts and space for Spirit’s work, adjusting our attitudes and expectations and more. What you adjust depends upon what you you are co-creating. No matter what, there is an adjustment you will need to make. Open yourself and be willing to do it. Releasing your Sacred CowsThe Dr Strange says to Thor, “Oh, we don’t need that.” There are things that get in the way of co-creating with Spirit — that create obstacles and blocks, such as limiting beliefs, unrealistic expectations, fixed perceptions, and our need to be in control to name a few. These must be dropped, released and healed inorder to move forward in co-creating. Dr Strange then needs a hair from Thor. Thor is unwilling to give it. Thor holds his hair sacred. You may bump up against a sacred cow in your life. You may be aware of what that could be, or you may need Spirit to bring awareness to it. Whatever your sacred cow is, are you willing to sacrifice it for this co-creation? Because Spirit will ask that of you. To move forward, you will need to hand that sacred cow over. Surrendering Unlike Dr Strange, Spirit will not steal it from you — rip it metaphorically out of your head. She will wait patiently for you to chose to hand it over, with intention and surrender. Do you trust Spirit enough to surrender your sacred cow, that thing you hold most important in your life? During our recent church retreat, Anna shared this reflection as we were discussing church growth and worship: “I need to be willing to let go of the most important parts of worship for me, so as to make room for new people and their needs.” We need to let go of our sacred cows so as to make room for something new and unknown — the co-creation that we are seeking to manifest. The act of surrender opens us to experiencing the unknown with curiosity, with an adventurous state-of-being, with a deep trust that Spirit’s co-creation will be more amazing that we can conceive. Preparing to launch your co-creation As Spirit is preparing the portal that will manifest our co-creation, we do deep inner work. We face our fears and release our sacred cows. All this work is intense. When we arrive at the portal we may definitely feel like we have tumbled down a flight of stairs! We may feel like we have run a marathon. “Really, we could have just walked” may fill our hearts. Are you open to taking an dis-equalizing, shifting, sacrificial surrendering journey with Spirit? It is not a comfortable one. Yet it is a rewarding one. Standing in front of the portal of our co-creation, feelings of awe-inspiring, excitement, adventurousness and more will arise in our hearts and souls propelling and enlivening us to manifest our hopes and dreams. And because you are co-creating with Spirit you have been prepared to step through and let your Light fully shine!   Another movement of Spirit in the co-creating process is to be sure we are being nourished and cared for. Spirit knows that we do the work in ordinary reality and that that work can be hard, challenging and exhausting. So, Spirit is sure to offer to nurture us for the tasks ahead. #Thor:Ragnarok It’s like that scene with Dr Strange and Thor. They are sitting together ready to talk. Dr Strange: Tea? The tea suddenly appears in Thor’s hands. Thor looks at the mug and responds: I don’t drink tea. Dr Strange: What do you drink? Thor: Not tea Camera zooms in and then out. Thor is now holding a mug of beer. He looks at it a bit surprised and then begins to drink it. It refills when empty. Spirit Nurtures us even when we do not know what we want. Sometimes we do not know what we need to feel nourished and cared for when we are co-creating. But no worries. Spirit knows. Spirit knows what we need to nourish our bodies, minds, spirits, and souls. All we have to do is be willing to open our hearts and accept the offering, the nourishment when it is offered. Can you give us an example? Sure. I have been working hard at being a scribe for my High Desert Essences, my line of flower and animal essences. In prayerful meditation I learned that each essence wanted to share its medicine in the form of a first person proclamation. This is completely out of my comfort zone, having not done this before. I did receive a procedure to follow, steps to take so that I would be able to open and hear the proclamations as they were being given. I have been working at this over the last week, five essence a day, gaining confidence as I go. This morning I was exhausted and not sure I wanted to give my day to this co-creating activity. There is a point each time I do this where my body says no more. It needs me to rest so it can integrate the healing each essence offers. This leaves me quite tired. The nourishment On my morning walk Cooper Hawk swooped over me. Not one, but two. I had not seen two before. Siblings. Playing and energized. Calling to each other. I stopped to watch and absorbed their energy, confidence and joy. I took this as a sign that I was to work on my essences today. Between each essence, I am to go out into the natural world and be. This allows my body to adjust and align to the energies of the next essence I am working with. Each time I went out today, Cooper Hawk was present. Each interaction was different, reflecting and preparing me to listen to the essence I was about to work with. By the end of the morning I felt like Spirit showed up as two Cooper Hawks to cheer me on (literally, they were chatty), encourage me, and nurture my spirit. I had no idea what I needed today as I began my day. Spirit did! Spirit gave me exactly what I needed to continue our co-creating of High Desert Essences. All we need to do is be open and ready to embrace how Spirit nurtures us and cheer us on. If you don’t want tea or beer, Spirit might just send a hilarious pair of young Cooper Hawks and completely transform your day! How did you experience Spirit’s nourishment today? (Spiritual direction is an experiential practice and discipline that teaches you how to recognize Spirit's presence and nourishment. Through this powerful time of slowing down, you learn to align your heart with Spirit’s and enter into powerfully transformative co-creation. Contact me if you would like to learn more and experience this practice.)   Know who you are, even all your blurry parts... Knowing who we are, our identity, is key to our creating abilities. All our identities, not just the one at the core of our being. Each identity we express out into the world holds beliefs that can, and often times does, affect how our co-creations are manifested in the world.
Thor:Ragnarok When Thor meets Dr Strange, with a voice of amusement, he says, “So Earth has wizards now.” Dr Strange’s response, “We prefer Master of the Mystical Arts.” Thor continues to play with, or more accurately, accidentally breaks an object on the table. Then we turns to Dr Strange and says, “Alright wizard, who are you and why should I care?” True confession right here and right now: Sometimes this is my inner response to Spirit, especially when I do not recognize Spirit as the one standing before me. This is a demanding question from Thor — one that goes deep. Who are you? How do you define yourself? When we co-create with Spirit we need to know this — who we are. How do you define yourself? Who are you at the core of your being? What are the beliefs that you hold about your identity? These are all important questions for us to reflect upon so that as we co-create and stuff (obstacles, negative thought patterns, blocks, limiting beliefs) arises in our hearts and minds, we are prepared to deal with them. If we have no idea of who we are and what beliefs govern our identities, we will stumble and fall, we will be stopped in our creating tracks. Why should you care who you are? As we create, who we are reflects out into the Universe. If we are hiding dark damaging secrets those are reflected out into the Universe as aspects of our creations. For example, remember my post on Odin and his secret daughter who basically destroyed Asgard after his death? Odin did not face the who he is. He hid his history, his ambitiousness, that time period when he went conquering. He painted it over. Instead of teaching about that time in Asgard’s history, he let it fall out of memory. No one remembered then. No one knew Hela, the goddess of death. So, by not fully owning who he was, Odin destroyed his very own creation. We must do our work to know who we are so that we do not accidentally destroy, corrupt, side-track, derail what we are working at creating. When we know who we are, we are able to heal our wounds so that they do not unconsciously pop-up out of nowhere and negatively affect our creations. Why should you care? We have seen what happens when the one creating does not care. Look at how our country is falling apart. We have leaders in Congress, Senate, the White House who care only for themselves and their friends. We are watching this type of creation bring about a moral and ethical vacuum that is destroying the very fabrics of who we are as a country, as a people. I know that whatever I create, I want it to be for the benefit of the highest good for all. I want my creations to be forces of good in the world — empowering and healing those who come in contact with it. So I am very aware that I need to care deeply about how my creation is experienced and perceived in the world. So when someone asks me who I am? I will answer. Ironically right before I sat down to write this, I sat next to a woman in Starbucks reading a book by Parker Palmer. We were talking and she asked me who are you? If you had to say who God is in one sentence how would you say it? These two questions led to a fabulous conversation, which I am sure I was meant to have. Seeds were planted. Now Spirit will continue growing them. How would you answer the question? Who are you? Why should you care? |
AuthorPastor Jocelyn Emerson weaves together her training as a Light and Energy worker, Reiki master, spiritual director, and Pastor with her life experience as a mystic and contemplative to offer a space of trust, safety, and honesty to support you on your life's journey. 
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