Daily Spiritual Practice

Why is our daily personal spiritual practice important?
From my own perspective a daily personal practice keeps us grounded in our work, less stressed out, and more connected with the Divine. Yet, life happens and there are those days when even the best of intentions go awry.

Friends have said that “not practicing seems to make a critical difference in their lives, they begin to notice feeling out of sorts, drained, disjointed, stressed out, a disconnect, edgy, and that something is lacking.”

Due to our very busy lives, it may seem difficult to cultivate a daily practice, yet the very act of lighting a candle, opening and listening for guidance can have a profound effect on the rest of your day. These simple acts can open doors that once seemed closed.

“Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart – a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water – I accept with joy.” – Bhagavad Gita

Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us. – Rose Arizmendi

Precious Jewels & Zen

“The path of life may sometimes seem to be rocky and filled with difficulties, things that give trouble. Yet the longer we practice our compassionate heart meditations, the more we begin to understand that those sharp rocks on the road are in fact like precious jewels; they help us to prepare the proper condition for our lives.

The rocks are different for each person. One person might desperately need more time alone; another might desperately need more time with other people. The sharp rocks might be working with a nasty person or living with somebody who is hard to get along with. The sharp rocks might be your children, your parents, anyone. Not feeling well could be your sharp rock. Losing your job could be it, or getting a new job and being worried about it.

There are sharp rocks everywhere. What changes from years of practice is coming to know something you didn’t know before: that there are no sharp rocks – the road is covered with diamonds.”

– Charlotte J.  Beck and Steve Smith – Nothing Special: Living Zen

To Practice This Today: Reflect upon an event in your life that at first seemed unpleasant but turned out to be a blessing, and share that story with a loved one.

Dream Time

During this time of the year our dreams become more vivid and sometimes easier to recall. Maybe they are inspired by the change of season that in turn inspires us to withdraw into deep contemplation and reflection, or something not yet fully formed in our consciousness.

Either way we know that deep magic is at work within our dream time. Our dream images shift, merge, draw apart, and then dance together again. The themes of birth, growth, death and rebirth re-playing themselves over and over again.

Dream work is as old as humankind and often a source of untapped wisdom and information. By recording our dreams, sharing our dreams, and creating our own dream dictionary, we enter a rich world of self discovery.

Based on a dream a few years ago, where an old woman was showing me a deck of Dream cards she had painted, I began creating Dream card images based on my dream imagery. The image above is one of them.

The old woman stressed how important it was for each person to make Dream cards of the images given to them in their dream walk, and that the dream images would open them to the wisdom teachings of their ancestors.

For more information on dreams go here.

“The Iroquois believed dreams were messages from the God within, and by sharing their dreams they came into contact with the sacred power, Orenda.” Orenda means “Tribal Soul on the Right Path.”

Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us. – Rose Arizmendi

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life

One very important symbol in almost nearly every culture is The Tree of Life, with its branches reaching into the sky, and the roots deep in the earth, it dwells in the three worlds, a link between, heaven, the earth and the under world.

In the Celtic tradition, trees were considered to be the ancestors of mankind, a connection to the world of the ancestors and spirits. These living entities were doorways into other worlds.

For the Celts the most sacred tree of all was the Oak tree, representing the axis mundi, the center of the world. The upper world of the tree represented the realm of the gods and goddesses, the middle world the realm of the living, and the underworld the realm of the ancestors.

Trees are believed to carry messages and blessings to the other realms, so why not select a favorite tree and give offerings for healing, love, peace, and prosperity.

The offerings may consist of  hanging prayer flags,  small strips of rice paper or colorful ribbons with Reiki symbols or prayers written on them. You can then hang these on the tree branches and your prayers will be carried on the wind out to benefit your friends, family and the world.

We have a lovely old oak tree in our back yard  and it is sanctuary and home to many small creatures so we place small gifts and offerings for the animals that live and nest in it’s branches throughout the year. Offerings usually consists of bird food, slices of fruit, bread crumbs, and nuts for the squirrels.

Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us. – Rose Arizmendi

Trees Talk

Did you know that trees talk? Well they do. They talk to each other, and they will talk to you if you listen. Trouble is you don’t listen. But I have learned a lot from the trees: sometimes about weather, sometimes about animals, sometimes about the Great Spirit.   Tatanga Mani (Walking Buffalo) 1871– 1967

Physicist Ed Wagner has found evidence that trees talk to each other in a language he calls W-waves. The speed of W-waves measure about 3 ft per second through the air. They travel much too slowly to be electrical waves and they don’t seem to be electromagnetic waves at all.

He describes them as an altogether different entity. He goes on to say that people have known that there was communication between trees, but they explained it by the chemicals trees produce.

Building a personal relationship with trees, deepens our connection to Gaia. They carry great wisdom and if asked in a respectful way, they will share their ancient wisdom and knowledge with us.

Everyday Goddessing  is about sharing magical techniques and sacred wisdom with other beautiful Goddess women. I believe that within every woman there is a goddess, a wise woman, beautiful, creative, powerful, with a deep soul, and that everything we need and are looking for is already inside  each of us. – Rose Arizmendi