The Making of Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance

See how editor, Danielle Rose compiled the art and writing from contributing artists and writers to create Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance, an anthology of art and writing that speaks to balancing the shadows and light within.  She takes us through the inception stage of the book, the program used to create the spreads, and how the file was rendered for proofing before being sent to print.  Plus get a sneak peek of the interior art!

Help us get this project rolling by preordering your copy today at www.mindkey.me/anthology --we guarantee it in your hands by the holidays... makes great gifts for anyone on your list interested in the beautiful, as well as the dark in life.

Having trouble ordering?  We've got you covered:

Juggler of the World, art by Dana Bree

Artist and designer, Dana Bree, has always been intrigued with questions of alternate realities, past and future lives, and our present course.

“I have always loved to make art, draw and paint what I see in real life as well as give voice and image to my dreams,” Dana said. “I have always had a very active, colorful and memorable dream life.”

Dana's artwork is a fantastic and bold melding of dream and reality, creating the perfect jumping off point for conversations about the metaphysical, spiritual and magical realms, which are often born of a similar melding.x

As an artist, Dana believes that a connection to, and an opportunity to discover new things with like minded individuals, is essential to her health, happiness, and creative progress.

The Master Juggler, as in "Yin and Yang"

“This has also allowed me to move forward into metaphysical realms with healing and helping others as well as myself,” Dana said.

Dana's art has been inspired not only by her dreams, but by the inspiring life she has led, running a lodge on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, diving in the Indian Ocean and managing a resort on a small island off the coast of Mozambique, and growing inspired in the concrete jungle of New York City.

In the Master Juggler, shown here, Dana brings together bright and contrasting colors to create a feeling of expansiveness—as is seen through the cosmos peeking out the juggler's window—as well as perspective as he looks upon the Earth as it juggles between the cracked egg and the 8-ball. The combination of the three in suspension represent the fragile nature of our existence in the universe. This image can be seen in its full resolution, full-color glossy beauty along with other inspiring art and writing in Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance, releasing this month.  Pre-order your copy today to ensure yours is in hand for the holidays.

Photograph of Dana Bree by Trix Rosen ©2014

To Dana spirituality is constant evolution. "I am continually discovering new ways of being, seeing, dreaming and feeling and knowing that all possibilities are a limitless state of being,” she said.

“I seem to be moving in more interesting circles and vibrations these days and it is reflected in my happiness and my art.”

Help us get our beautiful anthology off the ground by pre-ordering your copy today, and guarantee it is in hand for holiday gift giving this season by visiting www.mindkey.me/anthology

The power of simple words, images, and art: Ava M. Hu in Yin and Yang

Photography by JoAnna Schillaci

Yin and Yang poet, Ava M. Hu, is an artist and poet currently residing in NYC.  She designs her own clothing line called avalove with a shop in Artists & Fleas in Chelsea Market, NYC. She creates one poem, one metaphor at a time. Ava received the Amy Award from Poets & Writers magazine as best woman poet under 30 in NYC, and Jane Hirshfield picked her poem, Varanasi, as first place for the America's Review Poetry contest.

Ava M. Hu

She has submitted a number of simple poems for inclusion in Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance.  Ava's word choice is exquisite, eliciting raw, and often nostalgic emotion from a few short lines of descriptive language. She does this in all her pieces, whether describing the relationship nature and god, and how it reveals itself in the "Secret Mantra" of love, or representing in ten very short lines how one can achieve all they desire through observing the space, time, and poetry between the stars, between molecules of water.

As an undergrad at Sarah Lawrence College, Ava Hu studied poetry and sculpture. To Ava, there is a fine line between art and poetry, one a written metaphor, the other visual. 

"Her poetry is sparse, to the point and freeing," editor Charla Dury writes.  "Ava appreciates the lack of flowery words, the short concise thoughts and the questions that inflame your brain."

Ava is happiest when creating—whether a poem, a clothing design, or gluing glittery planets together. Since a poet's work is solitary, Ava enjoys balancing that by working with others, like with the Nesting Project, where she helped build a forest filled with artists' renditions of nests for the Jivamukti Yoga School, raising money for Habitat for Humanity.

"I’m most passionate about is the moment creation happens," Ava said.

And she has certainly transferred this passion to the page, where it has the ability to wing up and stir emotion in the reader with an unlikely image, comparison, or starkness such as that which is found in some of the most beautiful aspects of life.

Ava is inspired by music, listening to a song over and over like a meditation while writing poetry.

"[Listening to music] I can be open, and listen the most, to the inner workings of the universe, or the heart, or whatever that place is where creation springs from," Ava said.

Charla writes about Ava’s poem "Question," one of four of hers featured in Yin and Yang. Charla said is best listened to as Ava writes, with music. "In it resides a brain twister, forcing your thoughts to wrap around concepts larger than yourself.  Meditate on them."

Read more of Ava's work by pre-ordering Yin and Yang: the Duality of Balance and have it in-hand in time for holiday gift-giving. Click: Mind Key Store or visit www.mindkey.me/anthology to order.

Find Ava online at and in Artists and Fleas in Chelsea Market at Avalove shop: 459 W. 15th Street, New York, NY 10011 and at www.avaloveshop.com and www.avamhu.com.

Nature reaches to the Cosmos with Elisabeth Ladwig in "Yin and Yang"

"In Dryad of Death And Rebirth, the photo captures yin," Sarah said. "Though her roots are decaying in the earth, without that death, new life cannot grow.

Hailing from the mountains of West Milford, New Jersey, Elisabeth Ladwig, an award-winning conceptional photographer and artist believes "that life’s mysteries fall within the parameters of scientific explanation, that science abides by the Laws of Nature, and that nature is magical."

This belief is conveyed through her digitally composed photography, each piece with elements of nature and with an anonymous subject, offering a variety of metaphors for the miracles all around us, and for humankind’s relationship with the Earth and with the Cosmos.

“Anonymity allows the viewer to take part in writing the story,” Elisabeth says, “and that story is going to be different for everyone.”

Upon finishing her studies in Graphic and Digital Design at Parsons School of Design in NYC, Elisabeth's artistic career began as a graphic artist in the music industry. It was this digital artistry that merged with a personal interest of collage art, morphing into her current work of photo compositing. Once an idea is born in her sketchbook, Elisabeth sets out to take the photographs she needs to create the image. Her creative process is variable and spiritually instinctive; often, an image is well on its way or even completed before its concept is fully understood, and that meaning may vary from one viewing to the next.

 Elisabeth's magical contribution to Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance, comes from "Out of the Woods," a collection of images that portray subjects who are not afraid to stray beyond their comfortable spaces, to transform, and to be seen.

Mind Key member and anthology contributor Sarah Loukos writes that Dryad of Renewal and Dryad of Death and Rebirth, truly represent Elisabeth's essence and connection with nature.

"Yang is shown very clearly in Dryad of Renewal, Spring. The woman in white spells out pure spring, perfectly."

View more of Elisabeth's work on her website elisabethonearth.com and in Mind Key's second Anthology, Yin And Yang Duality Of Balance.  This one-of-a-kind full color, glossy book is an inspiration of art and writing for those who are ready to embrace both the light and shadow side of themselves.

 Pre-order the book today at a limited-time only discount on www.mindkey.me/anthology

What if God were still making up his mind? Poetry by Gene Myers

Gene Myers lives his passion as a journalist, musician and poet. He started with a deep love of music—writing lyrics in middle school, frustrating his bandmates by neglecting the melody. In high school a friend finally said, "That would be poetry, Gene!"

After that realization, Gene fell hard for poetry. Today, Gene is a columnist for the Haiku Society of America, and his poems have been published in journals such as Frogpond Journal and The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow Anthology.  Still, music never took a backseat. Gene's column, The Joy of Life, which runs in New Jersey newspapers, features celebrity music interviews that go deeper.  He always looks for melodies to accompany his poetry—even, he said, the most cerebral examples. 

And he has never stopped singing in the car or making recordings in his room.

"I realized in my day-to-day life, a torch is still burning for music and the idea of me making music. But I want to do it in the way that Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder occasionally did it," Gene said. "I can never detangle the two [music and poetry]." 

Gene's poetry is a blend of simple and eloquent arranged artfully on the page.  Editor Charla Dury reviews his work:

Photo by Charla Dury

"Gene’s poetry is a breath of fresh air. I realize the phrase is cliché, but his poetry is nothing of the kind. Gene makes you think. He brings every-day human interaction to the ethereal, describing succinctly the mood and emotion of the moment using poetry.

"In Gene’s 'A God Who Is Still Making Up His Mind' featured in Yin and Yang, the personification of God edges wonderfully on the sacrilegious and reminds me of Joan Osborne’s 'What If God Were One of Us,' bringing us all one step closer to the divine, or bringing the divine down to our level.

'A God who is still making up his mind
doesn't shave
watches a lot of TV and
Shies away from contacting his people'

"Gene’s God sounds a lot like a father who is world weary or an overworked mother hoping for a “me night.

"Gene believes the connection between art and life is everything, so why separate music from poetry?  Whether his news column, poems, or music, creating is Gene's way of relating to his surroundings, and to others more deeply. It's about communicating and sharing the real-life miracle of art."

"I only write when I think I have found something that is a worthy find, something to share with others. For me, that is the point, otherwise, why bother?"

Read Gene’s poem, “A God Who Is Still Making Up His Mind” featured in Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance.

Click below to pre-order your copy today and have it in-hand in time for the holidays.

How do you glisten? Artwork by Heather Taylor for "Yin and Yang"

Today, Mind Key writers, Tamara Rokicki and Danielle Rose, share their thoughts on anthology contributor Heather Taylor and her photography which is included in Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance, available for preorder today.

Heather Taylor is a mom first, but she refuses to let motherhood define her solely, and is continually creating, whether photography, art, crafts or food. 

Glisten Dichotomically by Heather Taylor

Tamara writes that in Heather's anthology photo, Glisten Dichotomically, shown here, Heather brings us an ethereal concept wrapped in raw natural beauty. 

"The spirit of the earth reaches out from the picture and allows us to connect with foliage, landscape and wildlife," Tamara said.  "I can hear the footsteps reverberating off the wooden planks of the trail, the cool air caressing my face as I take in the smell of sage and earth."

Tamara appreciates the yellow selection of the leaves, as she writes that yellow expresses energy, joy and happiness, and stresses the importance of positive vigor and contentment even throughout the coldest phases of our lives. Tamara is particularly struck by this message as we revel through autumn to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for winter by taking courage and inspiration from Mother Nature. 

This photo is also her son's graduation portrait, and it reflects Heather's passion for her family, who have inspire her to show the world the amazing gifts a family can bring and the legacy it can leave.

Heather's spirituality is essential to her as a person and allows her to see the world with a wide angle perspective. 

"I hope through photography to remind people to always look at life and the people you love with a different perspective sometimes," Heather said.

Glisten Dichotomically shows us beauty in all phases of life, and as Tamara writes, "that beauty around us is at its peak only when everything has a season.  It  is a reminder that the world follows the fecund cycle of life, blossoming and fading—a rebirth of the senses, passion, and life.

"Glisten Dichotomically highlights Mind Key’s focus to connect with nature and ourselves on a deeper level."

To view Heather's art and the work of other inspired artists and writers, visit www.mindkey.me/anthology today and help us fund this project with great discounts before its too late.

Check out more from the interior of "Yin and Yang" by clicking the image to the left, and our other reviews:

Kevin Hall's Using Light by Night

Striking the balance: Barbara Steingas' story of having it all, but in moderation for Yin and Yang

author Barbara Steingas

Award-winning author, inspirational speaker and radiant life coach, Barbara Steingas, has shared personal story of finding balance in health in Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance.

Barbara's passion is helping others optimize their health and vitality. She assists people in finding the pieces they need to solve their personal health puzzle through coaching services, talks, workshops, and her writing.  All three of her books represent different facets of whole-body, whole-spirit health including, "The Healing Puzzle," her personal story of "overcoming a chronic illness through unconditional love," and "Germans are Funny, Too!" which helped her embrace the emotional side of growing up with her "cuckoo kraut family."  She has also written "Solving The Crohn’s & Colitis Puzzle: Piecing Together Your Picture of Optimal Health & Vitality," which is designed to help the reader quickly identify ways to improve their own picture of optimal health by effectively outlining the seven body, mind/emotional, and spiritual strategies essential to her own healing puzzle.

Art by Alma Lucia

In her piece, "Everything in Moderation," Barbara tells the story of how she seesawed between healthy and unhealthy eating habits on a weekly basis. This bouncing from one extreme to another lasted for many years, and she believes it was a determining factor in why she eventually developed Cohn's Disease, which affect's the body's ability to digest and eliminate food.

Particularly because her story begins in college, when students are stressed, out of sorts, and focused on personal appearance, the piece is resonant with so many who have struggled not only with their weight, but their eating habits and their overall health.  It speaks not only to women, but also to men who struggle with striking that balance between what is right for their bodies, and their emotional health.  Without this crucial balance, everything suffers.

Barbara is in the process of transitioning to a full time author, speaker and coach to help guide more people in finding their missing healing puzzle pieces to in order to live the life they deserve and fully shine their radiant light to the world.

"My mission is to have people shine their lights fully and be the radiant rays of light and love that they truly are," Barbara said.

Read Barbara's story of balance, and many others, in Mind Key's Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance available for pre-order now... the perfect holiday gift for anyone trying to find health, happiness and balance in a beautiful and inspiring way.

To learn more about Barbara, her books and her coaching services, visit www.steingasbooks.com

Using Light by Night by Kevin Hall: From "Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance"

This week we will be sharing some of the beautiful artwork and writing included in our upcoming anthology Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance.  We hope that you will consider supporting us by pre-ordering a copy of this book at great prices before it is too late.

In "Using Light by Night," Dr. Kevin Hall talks about his struggle with life's curveballs.  In his medical practice Kevin encompasses a wide variety of modalities for health to create a wide-angle vision of what’s happening.  So, this wide-angle applies in his essay as well.

“There are people that looked up at the starts and just saw stars, then there are those that looked up and saw constellations,” Kevin said.  “I’m a constellation seer.”

Kevin approaches both health and life from the understanding that there is “an accessible greater intelligence that we can tap into and draw from.” 

This intelligence offers a place to still our minds and hearts, Kevin said, so we can view our thoughts and emotions from a distance, creating a new perspective for how we feel and think. He brings this new optic into his writing, sharing his perspective with others through his words as well as his practice.

Photography by Danielle Rose

“Once you’ve done that and shared that," Kevin said, "you’ve changed this greater intelligence for everyone else.”

In "Using the Light by Night," Kevin tells of his transformation through the darkness to recognize the light in each daily trial.  Yet Kevin does not try to trip the reader into believing that these "lessons of darkness" are easy to love. 

Instead, he writes that, "I now recognize that my dark period may be the result of my success at my recent growth and my need to grow still."

Kevin's journey to appreciating the shadows of life is ongoing.  He is learning to allow himself the opportunity to feel distraught, victimized, and at times under siege.  He has learned to accept these moments as ones to slow down, rest and regenerate under the onslaught of life… while at the same time accepting that this does not always happen as gracefully as one might like!

Read Kevin's piece, and many others in Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance.  Please consider supporting us by going to www.mindkey.me/anthology and placing a pre-order this week so that we can get our first print run off the ground… And check in during the week for more reviews and images from the book. 

Thank you for your support!

Check out more from the interior of "Yin and Yang" by clicking the image to the right, and by reading our other reviews (more posting throughout the week):

Heather Taylor's Glisten Dichotomically

The energies and power of the New Jersey Highlands

The Haunted Wood--Photo by Reiki Ruth Amarante

Nestled deep in the New Jersey Highlands, between what is now known as the towns of Mahwah, Ringwood, and Sloatsburg, NY, is a secluded mountain with mysterious lore.  Therein resides a melding of cultures from Native American to Irish, German and African American, as well as a rich mining history, historical moments in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Stories claim the Natives called the area "The Haunted Wood."

To Ringwood Manor graveyard--by Claire T. Dunn

Due to the geography—steep and often craggy mountains rich with iron ore—the largely inaccessible Haunted Wood was a haven for runaways, escaped slaves and others.  Its perimeters were settled early in our country's history, but predominately for the iron ore.  Even today, the heart of the Haunted Woods remains unpopulated. Descendants of the area's first settlers, many of whom became working members of the eighteenth century mining community, still live on this mountain.  Much of it is now parkland with many trails, but no roads run through.

Full moon over the Haunted Wood--Photo by Bobby Lynn of Stonetown Arts

This area may have once been a haven for hideaways, but even today, it is easy to get lost here—camera crews find their batteries dying quickly, and the unwary hiker will find the same goes for flashlights and phones.  Cell service is rare. Even compasses have been known to go a little crazy. Perhaps these strange occurrences are due to the magnetite, iron ore, and large number of underground streams, but some believe there is more to it.

Stories of time slips abound here. Visitors have recounted walking for hours along familiar paths that should have ended after only a few minutes, whereas others have heard and seen figures from centuries gone by in the distance.

There is belief that this secluded area of New Jersey is one of three powerful energetic vortexes in the region.  There are a number of instances of orb photography from the area, a quantity of ghost stories and sightings, and some belief in supernatural activity.

In these three photos from Ringwood Manor, Carrie Sheehan captures a light orb that follows her as she changes angles

Ringwood Manor, one of the most famous icons of the Haunted Wood with a history dating back to the Revolutionary War, has a number of ghost stories, although most of them likely stem from the property's rich history--something rare in our relatively young country. This State run park hosts tours during weekends in October to fund restoration on the site while sharing the manor's rich historical value.

Ringwood Manor--Photo by Alisa Daven Banta

Even I have felt the power of the ghosts on this land.  Once, during a hike through the Ringwood mines, I found myself overcome by fear of being pushed into one of the deep chasm mines.  I backed against a tree, stunned, clammy, and unreasonably afraid.  After un-freezing myself, I backed away and ran wildly to the trail. Later, I learned that Hope mine, although small, had been the resting place of many a miner and that evil spirits were often felt there.

Where have you felt the pull of the otherworld strongest?

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Confessions of a Ghost Hunter

There are really ghosts, spirits, whatever you wish to call them.  How do I know?  I’ve had conversations with them.    

After taking a paranormal certification course, I went on several “ghost hunts”.  Though initially reticent, I finally began asking questions in an empty room using a tape recorder, video camera, and K-2 meter. Although I wasn't speaking to a “human” being, I seemed to record real interactions with something otherworldly. The heck with those TV ghost programs, I’ve heard my name called and what sounds like guinea pigs squealing. I've since learned that angels sound like that because they vibrate at such a high frequency.  Soon after we got our black lab Watson, my Jack Russell named Jake passed away.  For a few months after, orbs would appear in pictures of Watson taken by several different people and several different cameras.  In the one taken on the sofa I swear I can see Jake's face in two orbs.  Orbs haven't turned up lately in pictures.  I can only presume he has moved on after spending some extra time with us.

Notice the orbs flying near and around Vera and Watson. Vera believes she can see the face of Jake in one of them

If you go our website you can see and hear lots of similar evidence.  

What I love most about Ghost Hunting is the group of people I investigate with.  No one ever runs out of a building screaming when something scary happens.  In fact, quite the contrary, everyone runs toward what’s happening.  We do a Blogtalk Radio show every Wednesday called Among the Realms during which time we discuss ghosts, spirits and so much more.  Other paranormal discoveries I have made include cryptozoology (you know Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, Jersey Devil), quantum physics, UFOs and elementals and faeries.  

So how does a lawyer of thirty years go over to the dark side?  I don’t really know, but listening to some of the strange stories clients have told me over the years was good training in keeping an open mind.  

I’ll keep investigating for as long as I can.  I know I have spiritual guides and helpers that watch over me.  I recommend training (ECRIPT can help with that) and investigating as a pathway for you to better understand yourself and your relationship to the world.  

To learn more about Vera and the paranormal visit www.mindkey.me/community and listen to Among the Realms every Wednesday night.

Hunting ghosts in your backyard--A kid-friendly craft

Getting in touch with your paranormal side sometimes means having a little fun with little ones.

These cute little ghosts are great to make with kids-at-heart of all ages and look great swinging from a tree.

You will need:

White tulle,
scissors,
elastics,
rubber bands or thread,
fishing twine,
a black marker.
 

Cut about an arm's length rectangle of tulle.

Fold the rectangle in half long-way, then in half again.

 

Pinch the folded end to make the head of the ghost

  

Use an elastic, rubber band, or string to secure the pinched end at the "neck."

 

Finishing touches:  Using the holes in the tulle, thread a length of fishing twine through the ghost's head, and use the sharpie to add eyes.






Now your ghosts are ready to hang from your favorite haunt.

Loving spirit contact

As a sensitive psychic and tarot reader, when your own loved one dies, you don't really think of using your gift. You are just like anyone else, you just lost a loved one and are sad and at a loss.

On the day of my own Grandfather's wake, Everett Henry Casson (my Grandfather), was at the funeral home awaiting our families’ arrival. I am never early, in fact, I’m usually late but, for some odd reason, I was the first one there. I was 20 minutes early. I walked through the doors and the Funeral Director asks me who I was there to visit. I tell him that I'm there to visit my grandfather, and the man informs me that I’m the first one and that I can wait for the others in the sitting room. I told him i would be fine and would like to go in. He said ok. I walked right up to the open casket and looked at my grandfather.

Out loud I told him that he looked wonderful. I didn't even realize I had spoken. The Director came up to me and asked if everything was ok? I told him he did a great job with my Grandfather and that I would like to be alone with him.

I pulled up a chair right by the casket and told Pop-Pop how much I would miss him and how much I loved him. Then, all of a sudden, I got a weird feeling that he was there. I wasn't scared, I just knew.

So i said, “Pop, if you are here, stand by the head of your casket.” I just kept asking him to stand in different places snapping pictures with my iPhone 4.

He was there and he heard my words. They are around us. Just talk to them... they can hear you.

I still miss him every day.

(All photos are real. None have been altered in any way. The blurred area is where I asked him to stand, and he did. You can tell how half is blurry half is clear in the photo.)

Editors note:  This blog gave us numerous issues: from strange HTML cropping up, to images rotating, to previews not loading. Three separate writers and editors had to work on it... and we're still not sure if it's running correctly.  Take that as you will...

In a Nutshell: All about the Darkness

Darkness has always been associated with the scary, frightening or evil. The light, on the other hand, seems to represent goodness, comfort and ease. 

Mind Key writer, Rebecca Godina sums it up in her blog Embrace the Dark, when she said: "We have been taught to fear the dark. After all, our myths inform us that is where the monsters lurk."

But what of those peaceful moments at night? Those sweet dreams, or midnight trysts?

Destruction is often represented by darkness, Rebecca said, and destruction represents change, and change can be scary.  But it doesn't have to be this way.

"Imagine how much more painful the process of transformation would be if it was done in the full light of day," Rebecca said.

After all, in Three Reasons to Love the Darkness, Tara Ann quotes Anne Frank in saying, "Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness."

Some of the points Tara makes for loving the dark are the body's need for darkness to create the sleep-inducing, disease-fighting hormone melatonin, and how the  so-called "Dark Ages" spawned huge advances in literature, music, art, architecture, education and more.

"There is no better time than the orange veils of autumn to evaluate (or perhaps reevaluate) the lighter or darker half you need to achieve wholeness," Tara said.



In this time of great change, indigo children are the souls born to pave pathways through the darkness for future generations.  They are considered the spiritual warriors of our time.

In Battling the Darkness as a Spiritual Warrior, Ara MacDonald shares with us some of the astrological implications of being born into the energy of a spiritual warrior.

Being misunderstood, having intense childhood experiences, being labeled troublemakers, rebels or ADD are all examples of warrior initiations of our time, Ara said, particularly those directly related to the spiritual awareness of an indigo child.

"The true warrior energy is about protection of creatures, people and beings that can’t protect themselves, and it’s about defense rather than attack," Ara said.
As we move into the darkest half of the year, explore the dark and light sides of the human dichotomy by supporting Mind Key's newest Anthology, "Yin and Yang: The Duality of Balance," a beautiful, full-color glossy coffee table book great for holiday gift giving today.

Battling the darkness as a spiritual warrior

In this time of great change, indigo children are the souls born to pave pathways through the darkness for future generations.  They are considered the spiritual warriors of our time.

Indigo children, so called because of the predominant indigo color in their aura, often undergo periods of great turmoil and personal stigma, and must accept and embrace the shadow side of themselves in order to transform the the world into light. 



Ara MacDonald explains the astrological implications of being an indigo child, and what it means to be a spiritual warrior.



"Spiritual warriors encounter the urge to fight, but the spiritual side asks if it’s a battle worth fighting… having a battle with self to discover the answer," Ara said. 



The indigo children are born with an aspect of Scorpio somewhere in their chart. Scorpio energy initiates the death of the ego, Ara said, particularly accepting and integrating the dark side of nature into the whole being.



"The true warrior energy is about protection of creatures, people and beings that can’t protect themselves, and it’s about defense rather than attack."





Indigo children, predominately those born within the years 1983-1995, have a double dose of this Scorpio warrior energy, Ara said. They were born under another warrior sign, Pluto, which rules the sign Scorpio. The planet Pluto represents transformation and transmutation of selfish desires into proper use of power.




"Western culture has a warped view of what a warrior is," Ara said.  "They’re looking at the warrior energy the wrong way and they want to shun it.  That’s part of the initiation of being a spiritual warrior, to be attacked, traumatized, beaten down.  Not having support.  That’s how they become spiritual warriors."



Historically, a warrior—both the physical and spiritual variety, such as shamans—were ceremoniously initiated. Sometimes this took the form of a spirit quest, being bitten by a poisonous snake, or taking plant medicine.  In our generation and culture, Ara said life does much of the initiation for us.

Being labeled as ADD, being misunderstood, having intense childhood experiences, being labeled troublemakers or rebels are all examples of warrior initiations of our time, particularly those directly related to the spiritual awareness of an indigo child. Depending on how "well aspected" Pluto is can determine the intensity of the initiation

."

A lot of people have had a hard time understanding that energy, so they don’t want to delve into it, but you must acknowledge and accept them, and integrate [that energy] into our beings so we can be fully understanding and accepting of who they are."


If this first stage of initiation can be considered the "death of ego," then Ara said the next stage is self-training. For the spiritual warrior this often happens like the first stage—internally, and alone.




"It doesn’t matter how it happens, as long as you are going through your spiritual truth," Ara said.  "It’s battle with self, it never ends.  The point is to keep on training and… it gets easier. Once you accept your power, working with it and transforming it, then that feeling of being alone starts to vanish and you meet other warriors."

********************************************

Ara has been studying astrology for the past 20 years, and has been teaching others in the art for the past seven. She also reads tea leaves, tarot cards, palms and charts. She can conduct a phone reading in tarot or astrology. 



Ara is preparing to write her first book on the energy generations, including the indigo children.



Contact Ara at fortuneteller69@yahoo.com or visit her on Facebook to receive a reading or learn more about taking one of her astrology classes in the Crestone area of Colorado.

To learn more about the Indigo Children and other astrological archetypes, listen to Ara's radio session on "Thinking Outside the Box" or check back soon for more blogs on the topic.

************

Click here for a look at Mind Key's new Anthology featuring Darkness and Light!!

3 Reason to Love the Darkness

Now that autumn has cast its shadows on us, here are a few points that may lead you to love the darkness a little bit more, for we should all take a moment and, "Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness." - Anne Frank    

1. Darkness Is Healthy.
 Our bodies produce the hormone, Melatonin, to help us sleep. According to a May 17th report from Bill Blakemore of ABC News, scientists discovered that only when there is complete darkness can the body produce enough of this hormone.

Even if there is a little light around your bed, say from a street lamp shining through your window or from an exceptionally bright alarm clock, this tells the body to stop melatonin production.

Melatonin also aids us in fighting some huge diseases such as breast and prostate cancer. Our power to fight the common cold can become an issue if we don't spend enough time in the dark. "Even watching TV turns on other immune system hormones that should be active only in daytime. They get depleted, and you're more likely to get a cold," Blackmore states.

So why play Russian roulette with the body's need for sleep and total darkness? We need to completely shut down to survive. The dim and cabin-fevered days of Fall and Winter offer us plenty of opportunity to give our bodies the sustenance that it needs from darkness.

2. The Dark Ages Were Actually Awesome

The period of human history, from 476 AD to 1000 AD, was known as The Dark Ages. Petrarch, an Italian Scholar, coined this term in the 1330s to refer to the weakening of Latin Literature. The term was later used by the people of the Enlightenment (18th century) to refer to earlier periods that weren't so "enlightened".

Overall, the time period isn't completely deserving of a name with a negative connotation, so now it is referred to as the Early Middle Ages. Here are a few things that made the Dark Ages not so dark, according to Jamie Frater of listverse.com.

The Carolingian Renaissance - welcomed advancements in literature, writing,    architecture, and music (particularly Classical music). Checking out the art work is highly recommended.

Algebra was born! Ok, maybe this isn't the greatest thing to come out of a presumed  "dark" time, but like it or not, it's still a notable achievement.

Universities flourished - The University of Bologna was the first to grant degrees    starting in the year 1088. Even though universities did not admit women at that time,   convents educated young women using The Classical Education system developed in the universities of The "Dark"Ages.

Historical examples of light coming from a perceived state of darkness.

3. The Yin and the Yang
 There is no better time than the orange veils of autumn to evaluate (or perhaps reevaluate) the lighter or darker half you need to achieve wholeness. Find who or what may give the Yang to your Yin or the Yin to your Yang once the carefree days of summer are gone. As Tao Te Ching beautifully asserts...

 "When people see things as beautiful,
 ugliness is created.
 When people see things as good,
 evil is created.
 Being and non-being produce each other.
 Difficult and easy compliment each other.
 Long and short define each other.
 High and low oppose each other.
 Fore and aft follow each other."
 So why can't the dark be as alluring as the light?

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Explore the darkness in each of us with The Mind Key Project's new Anthology: Yin and Yang the Duality of Balance.  Click here for more information!