The longest day of the year

Merry first day of winter!

The crisp air and pale sky struck with crystal sun… the sense of cleanliness and clarity after a snowfall.  

The long cold days of winter are hard on me, but I must admit I do love the season.

Most of us forget that the reason we celebrate the “holidays” when we do is because they all (all the holidays we celebrate at this time of year) represent the “coming of the light.” 

We are entering into a period of cold and hibernation, but we are also moving into the brighter half of the year… and that starts today, on the longest day.  It’s all downhill from here, as they say.

So although we usually wait until New Year’s Day to make our resolutions, there’s no better time than now to begin bringing light into those darker places, and start thinking about what we want to grow there.  And since it’s all about longer days and more light (and yes, warmer weather, at least eventually) why not think about what you would like to bring in spiritually (or energetically if you prefer).

As the days grow longer, as slowly as they do, let that intention grow too.  Throw yourself into your physical resolution on January 1^st if you feel the need, but let your spiritual resolution grow slowly with the time, and let us go into the holidays knowing that what follows is a period of hibernation during which the light both outside and inside us will continue to grow.

Please share what you will be bringing in energetically this year, or any stories about how the longest days of the year has brought light to you now in the past.

Enjoy the darkness, for it too shall pass!

Good health is in the Spirit of food

Being so closely connected to nature, faerie and the elementals, and especially now as I apprentice my way to becoming a master herbalist, I am acutely aware of how we work with the spirits of plants and animals on a daily basis.  

As we breathe in the plants around us, we also consume them.  How unfair it would be to believe that the spirit of the plant is gone simply because we have plucked it from the ground.  In fact, many herbalists such as Robin Rose Bennett rely on the spirit of the plant to help our bodies heal.  Healing becomes more than just how the plant’s chemistry affects our bodies but how the plant’s spirit works upon us too.

The same goes for our food.  In my research and experience as a health writer I have found those who eliminate processed food, gluten, gone organic, or even raw, have had significant health improvements.  I believe this is a direct result of being more connected to the plant or animal consumed.  

Food that is overly processed is often more chemical than food.  Even foods and animals that are overly processed or bred for certain qualities lose the wild spirit that humans find so attractive in each other. Many with gluten sensitivities find that eating small amounts of heritage wheat - wheat that hasn’t changed significantly throughout the centuries - is completely tolerable. (CLICK HERE for an article I wrote on the extensive breeding and milling process for wheat).  The same goes for milk - this one-ingredient food undergoes significant processing between the farm and the grocery, stripping and adulterating the its life-giving qualities.  Again, I do not think it is coincidence there are those who have milk allergies who find no issue with raw milk.

Perhaps the physical and alchemical processing of food strips the spirit of the plant or animal to the point where we lose this essential benefit in our food, and maybe this is why our grandparents who ate eggs and bacon every day for breakfast and smoked a pipe for the better part of a century lived long and healthy lives despite the dangers science has discovered.  Perhaps it isn’t the physical attribute of the plant or animal that is the issue, but the fact that we have lost our connection to it.  

Although I generally I don’t condone smoking, smoking a contemplative pipe at the end of the day, possibly with homegrown tobacco, is a far more spiritual act than sucking down a pack of cigarettes smoked with little thought.  Similarly, gathering eggs laid by hens you have cared for, who have picked through the same garden from which you gather your vegetables, indicates a far higher level of connection to the egg than buying a carton from a hen house a thousand miles away.

Hunters understand the land their meat has lived on, it has breathed and eaten happily and healthily of the same land he (or she) has walked.  After the kill they must carry their meat home, and possibly process it as well.  There’s a far deeper understanding and connection in each bite after such work has been done.  (Read "why I eat meat")

Eating food that has been grown, raised or hunted solely by one’s self or one’s community might offer immeasurable health benefits, but can be fairly impossible in our society.  Since my belief is that the connection to the spirit of the plant or animal offers the greatest form of sustenance and healing, anything that heightens this connection may be sufficient to reap the same benefits.  

That may be raising a pot of tomatoes or an indoor herb garden, leaving it near the kitchen where it the plant’s spirit can be remembered at each meal.  It could be researching or meditating/sitting with the plants and animals you eat the most - whether physically or in spirit - to forge a stronger connection and understanding of them.  It could simply be giving thanks for each individual food on your plate, or acknowledging the different ingredients in your meal is all you need to increase the spiritual connection to your food and improve your overall health.

Want to learn more about how spirituality can improve your health?  Check us out tonight at 7pm EST on Blog Talk’s “Among the Realms Radio.”  Feel free to email me your questions, or comment them here and the panel will be sure to discuss them tonight.

The Story of Two Souls

...looking for more?  check out Blog Talk Radio's "Among the Realms" tonight from 7-9pm

Now more than ever there is an intense interest in soul mates as humanity experiences more and more of these deep and powerful connections.

Whether a soul mate or a twin flame, the meeting or connection is happening to serve or fulfill a purpose.  The purpose will be individual to the relationship.  Perhaps the two were brought together to experience something new, resolve past life issues, or to cultivate a specific talent or quality.

For this reason we may have many soul mates in a lifetime, dozens, or potentially hundreds over all of our lifetimes.   I believe there is a special spiritual bond between soul mates - usually the feeling that they have met before, or that they were "meant to be."  In our romanticized culture, this is often translated into a romantic relationship and “happily ever after,” but that is not always the case.

A soul mate relationship may be either romantic or plutonic.  Sometimes this depends on the specific work that needs completing, and sometimes there is a choice as to which work will be completed depending on the choice of relationship.  For example, soul mates whose purpose was to resolve old emotional baggage may shift their purpose to cultivating a talent in each other if they chose not to enter into a romantic relationship that brings the emotional issue to light.  This does not mean that the emotional issue will not be resolved (or the talent cultivated), it may simply happen in another way, in another lifetime, or the couple may find a way to work on both at the same time.

Twin flames are not the same as soul mates.  Soul mates were described to me as having come from the same “soul group.”  I liken this to your spiritual “tribe.”  Soul mates often reveal themselves in relationships of every kind and size, whereas in my experience, most twin flame relationships are often so intense that they manifest as romantic partnerships - if only in potential, if only for only a brief period of time.  

Twin flames are not your “other half,” as each soul is whole unto itself.   When we separated from the divine, the yin and yang of the combined essence also divided into to separate and complete souls.  They exist independently from each other, but together create something alchemical and intense. 

I’ve read that when twin flames do not incarnate together, one remains in spirit to guide the incarnated soul.  Often twin flames are together in some way or another to help each other gather the information, skills and tools they need to achieve their greatest purpose.  In our time of rapid awakening and change, twin flames are coming together more and more often in order to support and facilitate this change.

That is not to say that twin flame relationships are easy or peaceful.  In fact, they are often quite the opposite.  Twin flames see themselves in their partner, and that goes for the good as well as the bad.  Often this can be difficult to accept, and that is as it should be, because our twin is here to help us recognize and move through those things we have the most difficulty seeing or overcoming - sometimes through understanding and a gentle hand, and sometimes a bit more explosive or chaotically.  

Other reasons twin flames encounter difficulties is because one or both twins have an ego-forward attitude, there are conditions or expectations on the relationship, or one if the twins is simply not dedicated to or ready to accept their spiritual growth.

On the other hand, when these and other conditions are met (age, timing, etc.), the joining of twin flames can be heaven on earth.  Their purpose in coming together is always a greater good for the world.  When one or both twins feel that they need someone or something to help them feel whole, complete, or truly loved, then the twin flame relationship will deteriorate until both twins can come to a place of independence, fulfillment, and pure unconditional self-love outside of a relationship.

  Intense is the name of the game here.  The energy between twin flames is always going to be extremely passionate - for better or worse.  Sometimes this may turn away one of the twins, as such intense emotions can be difficult to handle.  When the intensity is turned in the direction of frustration or anger, chaos ensues.  

The key to a successful twin flame relationship is to always come from a place of unconditional love, gratitude and understanding, regardless of the situation.  Similarly, this represents an unconditional love, gratitude and understanding for oneself, an equally difficult task that is a frequent reason for joint incarnation and meeting of twin flames.

Do you have a soul mate/twin flame experience you’d like to share?  Post your stories or questions here and join us tonight from 7-9pm EST on “Among the Realms Radio” where we will be discussing soul mates, twin flames, and sharing stories of both.

Who are the faeries?

My last faerie blog did its best to define faeries and what they are.  The term “faerie” is one I use predominately to discuss a number of different beings - from elementals, to characters and archetypes from folklore around the world that fit into the energetic realm so closely intertwined with Earth.  

Why not use the spelling “fairy” people often ask - and my answer is that the term fairy tends to represent more-or-less a pixie-like character with wings.  Faery, on the other hand, represents a rather large contingent of energetic, earthy beings, many of whom simply wouldn’t be caught dead in a set of wings or pink tutus. 

Faerie artist and tattooist, Scarlet Sinclair, almost never uses “fairy.”  “Faerie” speaks to her of the Ancient Race, people of the hills, and nature spirits as well as views that incorporate that energy and folklore.  

Brian Froud's Tink

“I use “magick” (as opposed to magic), to separate the concept and practice of magick as a spiritual path and art from what most people know as stage magic and the art of illusions,” Scarlet said.  “‘Fairy’ makes me think of Tinkerbell and Disney’s versions of fairytale princesses, etc. To me ‘faerie’ is a way to describe and put faces on the spirits inherent in nature, whether they are tangible things in nature such as rocks or trees or flowers or unseen things in nature such as energy, emotions or magick.”

That’s not to discount the faeries of fairytales either - for they have their place too, as is becoming all the more apparent with the powerful resurgence of fair lore in popular culture over the past half decade.  

I also use “Faerie” to describe the realm in which these elemental, folk and archetypical entities exist - separate, yet parallel to ours on the same planet Earth.  

“[Faerie] is the place itself, but it’s also the spirit energies that live parallel to this world, closer to nature than we do,” Faerie artist Grace Ng Dung says.  “Faerie is the place, but also a sentient energy on the spirit plane that is really closely connected to nature and has a hand in natural forces.”

Within Faerie there are different hierarchies and Grace said that their systems for classification can be as complicated as humans’.  There are the Sidhe and the royals, as well as those we might consider more common.  Jessica MacBeth separates those who work closely with humans into groups such as the Singers, Guides and Guardians, and Faery Challengers.  I do not hesitate to include beings such as dragons into the realm of faerie, as they often play similar roles and are closely connected to earth via the elements.

Additionally there are the elementals who are part of and orchestrate the magic behind each working of nature - water, air, fire and earth.  Doreen Virtue believes that even within our own bodies we live with personal elemental faeries that are separate, yet a part of us the same as the essential flora and fauna we need to survive.

A Brian Froud Faery "Ilbe the Retreiver"

Fae is another term to describe the inhabitants of Faerie - not any different than faery - except of course, for when it is.

As far as classification goes Norwegian sculptor of the fae, Soso Erlenkamp also believes there are many different faeries, each of whom have taken on different roles. 

When asked faeries “role” on earth, Soso said that is about as difficult as asking what human’s role on earth is.  There are many different kinds of faeries and how each fae has taken its own role, she said.

“Maybe there is no simple answer to this. If I should pick out a common denominator [for all fae] it is the question of magic. Fae beings, not matter which type, are carriers of magic and without them the world would be a much more boring place,” Soso said.

 Learn more about the faeries and their role here tonight on Blog Talk Radio's "Among the Realms" radio station from 7pm-9pm.  I will be guest speaking on faeries as guides.  Call in or email your questions to Danielle@MindKey.me and I'll answer them live.