tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66921603728356591612024-03-08T07:58:51.568-08:00Walk Your PathThe outer pilgrimage provides the context and opportunity for inner transformation. Pilgrimages call on us to remember and connect with our longings, true desires, and our life’s purpose. The Path demands that we each walk our Path ~ and ultimately remember who we truly are, and live fully and contribute from our soul's purpose.
Walk Your Path ~ Weave Your Dreams ~ Live Your Purpose
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-21619641429005585562013-05-17T11:33:00.000-07:002013-05-17T11:33:07.061-07:0015 Days...The Spiral Is...<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The symbol of the Wise Woman tradition is a spiral.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A spiral is a cycle as it moves through time.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A spiral is movement around and beyond a circle, </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">always returning to itself, </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">but never at exactly the same place. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Spirals never repeat themselves.</span></div>
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<div style="color: #333233; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The symbol of the Wise Woman tradition is the spiral.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the bubbling cauldron.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the curl of the wave.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the lift of the wind.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the whirlpool of water.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the umbilical cord.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the great serpent.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the path of the earth.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the twist of the helix.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the spin of our galaxy. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the soft guts.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the labyrinth.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the womb-moon-tide mobius pull.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is your individual life.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The spiral is the passage between worlds: </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">birth passing into death passing into birth.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The path of enlightenment is the spiral dance of bliss.</span></div>
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<div style="color: #333233; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The symbol of the Wise Woman Tradition is a spiral.</span></div>
<div style="color: #333233; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Twelve is the number of established order.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One step beyond is thirteen, the wild card, </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">the indivisible prime, the number of change.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Walk a spiral, you will inevitably come </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">to the unique next step, the unknown, </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">the thirteenth step, the opportunity for change, </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">the window of transformation.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The thirteenth step creates the spiral.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Susun Weed</span></div>
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-89791911709876742522013-05-16T05:38:00.001-07:002013-05-16T05:38:25.307-07:0017 Days...Jitters and Feeling UnsureI haven't written for several days. I notice that I do this when I feel nervous, scared and unsure about what I am doing, how I am doing it, and the results that I am getting.<br />
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My belly is full of jitters...I keep taking small steps forward...most of the time.<br />
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I noticed yesterday that when I am doing what I've been guided to do, which is walk, share KeenFit Pole Walking with people - lead pole walking clinics, support people to order KeenFit poles, plant seeds for future classes and ways of sharing walking poles, such as through different organizations - then I feel clear, confident, aligned and connected. When I deviate from this, I feel scared, anxious and unsure.<br />
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When I see this, my mind kicks in and tells me that it's because I'm stretching and opening up to new possibilities that I am feeling scared and anxious. That this is good - good for me and blah, blah, blah.<br />
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When I feel good, and connected, it's because I am in my comfort zone, and that while it may be fun and feel good, it's not going to generate and create the results that I want, and most certainly, won't bring in any money.<br />
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As I write this, I am feeling how money is really one of my biggest saboteurs, and wants to lure me away from my truth and resonance.<br />
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Interesting to notice...<br />
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Gotta go...time to get ready for teaching a group of senior citizens pole walking...LOVE THIS!!<br />
<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-81925304321662336322013-05-11T05:34:00.000-07:002013-05-11T05:34:04.123-07:0022 Days Until England! Cornwall Calls.Friday morning...my father arrives today for a 10 day visit.<br />
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My father is 80 years old, and he is writing a novel. His first. <b><i>The Miner and the Viscount.</i></b> And I know it's not his last. It's become the first in a trilogy, <b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheCornishChronicle?fref=ts">The Cornish Chronicle</a></i></b>, a series of historical fiction novels based in 18th and 19th century Cornwall.<br />
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My father's family is Cornish, and he grew up in<a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=cl"> Liskeard</a>, in the eastern half of Cornwall, not far from Plymouth. My grandfather, "Granfer" was the editor of the <i>Cornish Times. </i> He then went on to school in Bristol and then onto Oxford University where he read History. I love that through writing these novels he gets to integrate his Cornish heritage and roots with his love of history and storytelling. <br />
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Last fall, he spent several weeks in Cornwall, exploring the sites and settings of his novel, such as the mines, manor homes, and pubs so that he could bring a real life quality to his writing and descriptions. I had just completed walking the next section of my Celtic Camino walk in France, and timed it so that I could come over to England, meet my husband in London, and then come down to Cornwall to be with my father and stepmother. While I was there, we visited Lanhydrock, a beautiful estate home south of Bodmin, Lostwithiel and Restormel Castle, Polperro as well as Liskeard, Wadebridge, and Polzeath on the north coast where my father had many of his summer holidays as a child.<br />
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He spent this winter re-writing and editing his novel, and including his hands on experiences of these places into his novel. It should be done this summer, with a view to self publish it at first. It's a great read, and very interesting and real. You can hear the miner's deep Cornish accents in their conversations, the homes of the "viscounts" has come to life since the edited descriptions have been included, and best of all, you get an exciting, interesting, dramatic yet real experience of life in 18th century Cornwall. His dream is for it to become a popular and much loved PBS mini-series, perhaps something like <i>Downton Abbey</i>! <br />
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Last October was my first visit to Cornwall in over 30 years. I spent a little time there when I lived in England for a year back in 1981-82, when I visited my Great Auntie Hilda in Wadebridge, and went to Port Isaac with my dear friend, Diana. While I knew that I wanted to spend my time in England more in the south where my families are from - Dad's family from Cornwall, and my mother's family from Somerset, I somehow forgot that was what I wanted, and ended up spending most of time in London and up in northwest England with my boyfriend's family. As I look back, I have to accept that it was all good, and that if I had been ready and able to deeply reconnect with my roots and ancestors, I would have. Perhaps it is something that I really need to long for and desire that is making it so important and essential for me to claim and own it for myself now. <br />
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No more giving it away. No more grafting myself on to other's roots, dreams, ideas of who I should and can be. <br />
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I am going home to walk the sacred and ancient pilgrimage paths of Cornwall and southwest England to reconnect with my roots, my heritage, my ancestors, my people, my land. <br />
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I want to have my own deep roots, connected on one end to the core of the Earth through the land of my peoples and connected on the other end into my core.<br />
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I am rooted, connected, alive and nourished. I know who I am. I trust who I am. I trust my Self. I know when I am on my path, and when I am not. I have the courage, awareness, and strength to know that right now, I am a pilgrim who walks to come home to herself. <br />
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-26842005202443391152013-05-09T05:36:00.002-07:002013-05-09T05:36:56.337-07:0024 Days to England - Matter Matters<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It’s not deep pockets that we need in order to manifest, but deep roots. It’s quite simple: The more grounded you are, the more easily you can manifest. Roots have both a masculine and feminine quality. On the masculine side, they penetrate the earth, pushing their way downward between rocks and soil. The feminine aspect of roots is receptive, drawing nourishment and moisture up from the earth to feed the plant. You must be able to do both— to hold your ground, deeply penetrating “what’s so” with your intention to create “what’s possible,” while also receiving support and nourishment from the world. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://sacredcenters.com/">- </a><i><a href="http://sacredcenters.com/">Anodea Judith PhD, ; Lion Goodman, Creating on Purpose </a>(p. 211)</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why I leave in 24 days to walk in England - to connect with my deep roots. I have lived my life and worked really hard to manifest, to act as if "matter matters", but it's like my container for holding and building is like a sieve. It is filled with holes, so that all comes in leaks out without my fully receiving it and using it to create and manifest. It feels like I don't actually get to the boiling point of full, complete manifestation. The energy leaks out before I get to receive the joy of fully completing a project or intention, as though I don't know how to contain or fully receive it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today is my daughter's 19th birthday. Funnily, enough she was born minutes ago - 5:19am - after an intense labor. I had dilated quickly, but pushed for over 3 hours. As I woke up this morning and reflected on being in labor, I remembered that I had pushed hard, yet very ineffectively for such a long time that I swelled up in a way that I didn't know was possible. I could barely close my legs after my daughter was born.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two aspects of this labor are relevant here. One is that while I thought I was pushing hard, I was actually working really hard, yet avoiding the kind of pushing that would go deep under the pain and effectively push the baby out. I worked really hard to avoid the intensity of bringing the baby down into the "ring of fire." I was terrified of that level of sensation and pain. I have created many ways to avoid intensity in my life. How we do anything is how we do everything. How I birth is how I live. I would rather drag something on that go into the heart of the matter, get really intense, clear, focused and committed. Hmm. Don't like seeing or revealing that one, at all. So in this birth, I pushed for a really long time, got painfully swollen and also became very frustrated and felt powerless to push my baby out. I didn't even know that I could do it another way. I was doing it the way I knew how, at the time. I didn't even know that there was a place that I was avoiding, a place that I could choose to go. In my following two births, I got to experience both being aware of this intense "ring of fire", and actually choosing to go there and go through it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Synchronicity - today is a full solar eclipse, also referred to as the ring of fire. I experience it as the point at which what wants to be birthed into experience stretches you to the maximum and transmutes you into a bigger, better, version of who you truly are. It is the moment of transformation when the fire burns through all that no longer serves and creates a pathway to receive and allow the new.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other aspect of this birth that was so revealing was that after my daughter's head was born, my body stopped pushing. It was as though all the pushing I had done to get her this far was as far as I could go. I had to go into "manual" pushing where I literally had to use my mind and will to push here out, with no assistance from my body. My body quit, and it seemed like an eternity for her body to born. Subsequently, because my uterus was no longer contracting, I hemorrhaged a lot of blood. I just leaked out all of the energy from giving birth. I could not contain it. It felt as though my life force was just draining out of me. It was. My blood pressure went down to 50/0. I was given drugs so that my uterus would contract and the bleeding would stop. I was given several bags of saline. The midwife painfully pinched the soles of my feet to keep me awake and in my body. And I didn't really notice how drained I felt...I just felt warm and oozy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hemmorhaged on some level at each of my births. I either bled out blood, or bled out energy, or bled out both. With my first son, I bled out blood and some energy. With my first daughter, I severely bled out both. With my second son, I bled out energy and no blood. With my second daughter, I bled out blood, but no energy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had no container to hold the energy, or to receive the energy from giving birth. Giving birth is a profound experience. As birthing women, we get to experience the ancient wisdom and power of our bodies taking over and bringing a baby into this world. We cannot think our ways through this experience. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We cannot give birth without our bodies, and allowing its wisdom to take over and be in charge of this process. In this, w</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e also get to experience the Divine and Sacred Feminine moving through us, using our bodies as a vehicle to bring in and birth life. This is profoundly transformative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet I could not contain or fully receive the energy, power and empowerment from these experiences. I got to experience a taste of it, only to leak it </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">out of me, leaving me depleted on a deeply physical and energetic level. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I then didn't have this energy to use and transform myself into a powerful, creative, goddess woman and mother. I was back in survival mode, using everything I had to take care of my baby, and children, and giving myself just enough to be able to do this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had I been connected to my deep roots, not only would I have not leaked out and hemmorhaged this sacred birthing energy, I also would have had the energy to root even more deeply to fully receive this birthing, feminine energy and would/could been deeply nourished and transformed by its deep wisdom and power. My container would have become stronger, more polished and even more cauldron-like! I would have believed in my capacity to bring to life and birth my dreams. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here I am today, 19 years after the birth of my first daughter, and nearly 12 years after the birth of my last child. My children are amazing beings, each of them in their unique and beautiful way. I am so honored and delighted to be their mother. I firmly believe that my children are not of me, but that they chose to come <i>through</i> me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My dreams, longings, and soul's desires are <i>of </i>me, and through me. Without me, they will not and cannot come through.</span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"What I desire, desires me"</span></i></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It desires, and needs me to call it forth, and bring it forth into this world. It is time. Enough avoiding the intensity, to power, the deep yearnings I feel inside of me. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enough leaking out my power and my capacity and ability to manifest and create. I am done with this. Done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I go to walk my path to connect with my tap root, to plug it back into the seat of my soul, to plug the leak, and to make my cauldron whole and complete again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The time is now for me to reclaim and reconnect with MY roots, my tap root. I am so deeply desiring to manifest and create in this world, and contribute in a powerful, and meaningful way to the new world that is emerging. I have to believe that my contribution is necessary and worthy, just as I believe that everyone's is, and to contribute my piece.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to be willing to walk my path, root myself, ground myself, contain myself so that I can build my capacity to receive, create, and contain, thereby increasing my ability to make solid and </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">create form</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, speak my truth, claim for myself, and honor and birth what I truly, deeply long for and desire. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Walk my Path ~ Weave my Dreams ~ Live MY Purpose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Solvitur Ambulando!*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>*it is solved through walking</i></span><br />
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-16753880431258642122013-01-30T07:02:00.003-08:002013-01-30T07:02:44.124-08:00Walk. Embody. Transform.<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been home from my last Camino, or Chemin in this case, for nearly 3 months - November, December and January. These months have been full and busy with the holidays, and as January comes to a close this week, I am becoming aware of subtle shifts within me. Who I am being and how I respond to certain situations and people is different than before. Is walking the Celtic Camino, this profound pilgrimage of initiation actually contributing to real-life transformation and change within me?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, really then, what is changing? What has shifted? How am I different?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have now completed the journey from Santiago, the first chakra of this journey, to Toulouse, the second chakra. I began the journey in October of 2010, and completed it two years later in October 2012. It is a long section of the Celtic Camino, approximately 1000 kilometers. As I visualize this journey from the first to second chakra on my own body, it also feels like a long journey, from my perineum up and around to my belly, the foundation of core and the trunk of my body. It also has felt the most weak, split open and unattended area of my body. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I feel into my lower belly, it feels as though a zipper has been zipped up to my second chakra. The split I have referred to in past blogs is healing. What used to feel like a metal sieve - cold, holey, thin, weak, now feels like a warm pottery bowl. As I write this, I have been holding my hands out in front of me, the tips of my fingers open and facing each other about 6 inches apart. I then bring my hands and fingers together, and allow my fingers to slide in together. My fingers naturally fit next to each other, and create a woven, seamless basket made out of my hands being brought together. Can you imagine what I am describing? This is what my lower belly feels like - a woven, seamless basket of lovingly held and cohered energy. Even the basket, or the bowl feels warm, strong and solid in and of itself. Both the container and the container feel strong, clear, and full of energy and love!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do not remember ever feeling this before. It's a new experience for me. I have something in me and of myself that feels different. I have a base, a place from which to root myself that is about me. That's it. My sense of rootedness and belonging now belongs to me, within me. It is no longer outside of myself. All of my life I have looked outside of myself, to my family, friends, school, society, to tell me who to be, how to be, what I want, how I should look...and I worked desperately hard at trying to do it all the way I thought I was supposed to. Now, my compass can look within and actually have a place to point to!! And, I can viscerally feel the difference.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had been told years ago that I had no core, no sense of self. I couldn't get it...what does that mean? With no sense of self, I couldn't even understand what having no sense of self meant! I was given homework to go for a walk by myself in nature 6 days a week for 45 minutes. I am recognizing that even then, 24 years ago, walking was a huge part of my healing and coming home to myself. I hadn't even put that together before. Walking. In nature. With myself. Wow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Walking has always been in me. When I was in my early 20's and living in England, I remember saying to myself that I wanted to walk the Devon/Cornwall coast when I was older and retired. At that point, that meant in my 60's! But it did mean that I was healthy, strong and vibrant enough - and able to walk - when I was "old"!! Hehe! Now, being older looks more like when I am in my 70's and 80's, but isn't it interesting that even then, the one dream I had for myself as an older person was to be able to walk this coastal path? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have allowed these 3 months of being home to be a time of allowing and integration. I have learned from past Caminos that it takes time to come home, and for the lessons and gifts of the journey to reveal themselves. No rushing, no pushing here. Reminds me of a paragraph from <i>Gifts from the Sea</i>, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it must not be sought for - heaven forbid! - dug for. No, no dredging of the sea-bottom here. That would defeat one's purpose. The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. One should lie empty, open, choiceness as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, while waiting for my gifts from the path, I have been fully engaged in my life, with my family, my business, and open to guidance, clarity, and direction. I have been writing, learning, listening, responding. I have also been very, very clear about what I want. I have been allowing and feeling my desires and longings. I am no longer willing to put them aside and forget about them. My desires have become my compass, and they are deeply rooted in who I am, what I want, and why I am here on this Earth, at this time, right now. They are actually the source of my power and my willingness, capacity and ability to create a life a value, meaning and contribution. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do I want?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to live in England. I want to move back and forth between the US and the UK with grace and ease, and no jet lag! I want to be paid to live in both countries, to put down roots in both countries, to create my life around both/and. I was born in England, moved here when I was nearly 3, and have spent my life in the US. But I feel deeply at home and connected to England. I wanna go home!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my big, deep desire and everything else falls under this, is created out of this. I see it like an umbrella, containing and giving shape, purpose and direction to everything else that I am about. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is something so powerful about allowing myself to truly, deeply want this, desire it, long for it. In the past, I would want it, then forget about it, be talked out of it, and let it go. How crazy, impractical, expensive is wanting to live in England. I mean, really. Why would you want to live in England? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because my heart and soul long for it with every cell of my being. I feel more at home in England than I do anywhere. The second that I stepped on the soil of England back in 2009, I felt this wave of "at-homeness" wash over me. I thought "this is crazy" - I'm in a train station in Kent. My roots aren't even from around here. They're in Cornwall, Somerset and Northumberland...but I'll tell you, this feeling, sensation, experience of being at home was with me the entire time I spent in England that year. Every moment, every step, every interaction, every shift of the gear with my left hand!! I may sound American, but I deeply, cellularly English.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No wonder I have experienced a questioning of belonging and fitting in. One of the gifts of these past 3 months has been to uncover in a very deep way the shadow side of my needing and wanting to belong, and how it has shaped and informed many of my choices and decisions. Becoming aware of this had actually freed me up from its grip. And today, I choose to belong to myself, and to be anchored and guided by my desires and longings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because this is what I've learned - what we desire, desires us. Our desires are the yellow arrows of the Camino, directing and guiding us along our life's path. It is listening to and honoring these arrows of desire that actually point us clearly in the direction of our soul's purpose, the reason we are here and how we most clearly offer and share our gifts, and be of service to this beautiful planet and her people. It's all right here, in us, in our hearts and souls. We just have to listen, honor and allow them to be. Because they will direct and guide us. They do show us the way, step by step.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I now belong to my Self. I have come home to myself, and am deeply rooted in my connection to Source, Spirit. It's not about England or America. It's not even about my family of origin, or my family by design. It's about me, and from this core of belonging to me, I no longer have to prove, defend, explain or enroll. I live my life in alignment with the yellow arrows of my heart and soul, and from this, I am the kind, caring, loving and compassionate person I've always longed to be. I am at peace within myself, and so am at peace with the world around me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I knew that longing was somehow transforming my relationship to belonging. The word "longing" is even inside of "belonging." And then I saw a quote from Tara Brach in <i>Radical Acceptance</i>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Longing, felt fully, carries us to belonging. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I continue to bring full circle the gifts, lesson, invitations, and healing of the pilgrimage of initiation from the first chakra at Santiago to the second chakra at Toulouse, I recognize that it has been a nearly 4 year journey to come home to myself and my desires and longings, to belong to myself. This is my core. This is the essence of who I truly am. And it is from this core, rooted in my feet, my first chakra and my heart, that my life can then spiral out from a deep connection to what is real, true and loving, and how I can most generously, sustainably and authentically be of service and contribution. It is the paradox of when I am most connected to myself that I can be of the highest service to others. And as Carolyn Myss says, when "paradox is present, so is the Divine." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suseya!</span></div>
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-56738149113676868172012-10-07T06:10:00.001-07:002012-10-07T06:10:48.162-07:00InitiationArrived last night after our 4th day of walking from St. Jean Pied de Port. In beginning our pilgrimage in St. Jean and walking east to Toulouse, we actually walked the most difficult 4 days at the very beginning. The Pyrenees have been to our right as we walked a total of about 80 kilometers in distance and through woods, corn fields, farms, villages and towns, and up and over many steep foothills and down into valleys carved out by creeks and rivers.<br />
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We have met many vaches (cows), and brebis (sheep) and many wonderful, warm and welcoming local people, yet have encountered only two pilgrims after we left Mauleon, a young retired couple from Ontario whose were originally from Quebec. Even I could tell that their French was different, yet a natural language for them. They were on their way to St. Jean from Toulouse - having walked the path from our destination. Interesting timing of our paths crossing, given that we were wondering if we were actually going to Toulouse at that point, or were perhaps considering another destination of Conques, for its homage to Sainte Foy. <br />
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One of my experiences of the Camino, or le Chemin, and perhaps most simply, the path, is that the "path guides and provides every step of the way." This couple from France reminded me that my journey is to Toulouse, despite temptations to go elsewhere! Yet what I also know is that Conques will be on the way from Toulouse to Orleans...She has made that clear!<br />
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I already have a major blister on my right pinky toe that I am taking good care of. Just yesterday, I noticed that my legs started to reveal symptoms of "walker's legs" - a rash on my calves, swelling, intense tenderness in my feet. I thought I was just tired and out of walking shape. I did not prepare for this pilgrimage like I have for the others, either with the distance I walked or the weight I carried. I allowed my busy life to dictate my daily activities, rather than center my life around my daily walks. I should know better...walk first, and then else falls into place and alignment...with joy and ease. <br />
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We walked into town last night around 6:00, and then walked around town, which here means going up and down many steep hills into the different sections of town, until after 7pm looking for a hotel. There were many "manifestations" happening here last night, but our "Oloron Ange" helped up to find a sweet room with two windows at l'Hotel de France, across from la gare, the train station. He was worried that it would not be nice, as it was only 40 euros (my euro symbol does not work on this portable keyboard), but it is quite fine, and the older woman who owns and runs the hotel is lovely. SHe actually has a scarab on her necklace - I am longing to ask her about it!<br />
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Last night I think both Beebe and I were ready to call it complete. My feet hurt so badly, my legs were so tired and I couldn't remember why I was even doing this! Beebe too was questioning whether or not to continue. After a hot shower and delicious dinner, I knew that no matter what that I must walk this journey - by myself, with or without Beebe. I had felt concerns coming up over the past couple of days about walking this by myself and didn't know why I was having them. Now I understand...this is a journey that I must take. It is my soul's journey.<br />
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Ultimately I am walking from the first chakra of Santiago, up through all seven chakras to Rosslyn. I walked from Santiago to St. Jean 2 years ago - basically, I have been in between the first and second chakras for the past two years, and yes, this is what has been reflected in my life through my challenges, choices and processes.<br />
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I have now embarked on the journey to Toulouse, the second chakra, and quite honestly, I am not surprised that this has been the journey it has been so far for me! This is a challenging chakra for me - relationship with creativity, sexuality, finances, pleasure - and so no wonder, I want to get off and just have it come easy. I don't want it to be hard, grueling or challenging. I just want it!<br />
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To begin this journey with the hardest and steepest challenges is perfect. My commitment and will were being tested...how committed are you to receiving the gifts and beauty of this powerful and beautiful chakra? How willing am I to receive, period?<br />
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HOW WILLING AM I TO RECEIVE?<br />
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As I type these words, they seem to be the gift of this journey, and the question of the initiation...these past 4 days were the initiation, just like O Cebreiro was on my first Camino in 2009. My first day was up this strenuous and beautiful mountain. For most pilgrims who walk to Santiago from St. Jean, the Pyrenees are their initiation. One of the qualities of a true pilgrimage is the "initiation". While we do not know exactly what form it will take or how it will look, we can open ourselves up to receive it and give thanks for its presence, for its gift is the blessing of the pilgrimage itself.<br />
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I am so blessed and grateful to be on this pilgrimage of the second chakra.<br />
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Thank you.<br />
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Suseya! <br />
<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-iT8DSusV5E0/UHF_SOtaN6I/AAAAAAAABjg/srBMQF-aGsQ/s640/blogger-image--1481878495.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-iT8DSusV5E0/UHF_SOtaN6I/AAAAAAAABjg/srBMQF-aGsQ/s640/blogger-image--1481878495.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bwZNczY_nPI/UHF_SxGcR4I/AAAAAAAABjk/oZlxoz91GUg/s640/blogger-image-1080674015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bwZNczY_nPI/UHF_SxGcR4I/AAAAAAAABjk/oZlxoz91GUg/s640/blogger-image-1080674015.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-trcwkN2Y0mU/UHF_TcyTApI/AAAAAAAABjw/ZpcVSKqwt10/s640/blogger-image-102483820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-trcwkN2Y0mU/UHF_TcyTApI/AAAAAAAABjw/ZpcVSKqwt10/s640/blogger-image-102483820.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-hFaEtjlQKRg/UHF_UABXVoI/AAAAAAAABj0/L4WK_5_32ns/s640/blogger-image--1702795884.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-hFaEtjlQKRg/UHF_UABXVoI/AAAAAAAABj0/L4WK_5_32ns/s640/blogger-image--1702795884.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dSf4lX64DiM/UHF_U9P7riI/AAAAAAAABkA/ALQ_hyevCR0/s640/blogger-image--1670867426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dSf4lX64DiM/UHF_U9P7riI/AAAAAAAABkA/ALQ_hyevCR0/s640/blogger-image--1670867426.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ge93aSq5IUA/UHF_VlZ4WVI/AAAAAAAABkE/5JJIjPvHvz0/s640/blogger-image-26193678.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ge93aSq5IUA/UHF_VlZ4WVI/AAAAAAAABkE/5JJIjPvHvz0/s640/blogger-image-26193678.jpg" /></a></div>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0Oloron-Sainte-Marie Oloron-Sainte-Marie43.194134 -0.61146tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-5457648558770972362012-05-07T20:16:00.001-07:002012-05-09T11:17:57.817-07:00Sarah,what do you do?I was asked this question yesterday. Today, as I took a lovely walk in the rain,I found myself stating out loud the answer to the question.<br />
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I answered, "I weave women's pelvic/belly wisdom into sacred circle, sacred pilgrimage and sacred commerce. I co-create with women in sacred circles to embrace our worth. I walk with women in sacred pilgrimage to embelly our wisdom. I work with women in sacred commerce to own our wealth.<br />
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Together, we embody the divine Feminine, become WEALTHY* women, and transform ourselves and heal the world. <br />
*<br />
Wise <br />
Evolutionary<br />
Abundant and authentic<br />
Loving<br />
Truthful, team player<br />
Heart-centered and healthy<br />
YourselfSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-38761388906174060872012-02-17T21:09:00.000-08:002012-02-17T21:09:58.535-08:00Pilgrim of the Sacred and the Wealth Path...part 2.And then, of course, there is also the other journey, that of the WEALTHY** Woman Enterprises and in particular, the WEALTHY Woman Pilgrimage. This is the WEALTH path. This is the journey I have embarked on to on to claim, cultivate, and embody my relationship with wealth, finances, and money. This is the path where I have to deal with the mundane, the practical, the financial, money - this is the path I had avoided, and had hoped that I could continue to avoid for as long as possible.<br />
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Yet, as much as I have tried to avoid, my soul pulls be back to this path. I am called to claim and embody my WEALTHY woman with the same force and intensity as I am called to the Camino. The path to claim WEALTH is actually as deeply a spiritual path, if not more so, than the Celtic Camino. Even as I type that, I know that truthfully, actually, for me, they cannot be separated. They are reflections of each other, and cannot exist without the other. As I walk one, I walk the other...they work in tandem, each reinforcing and informing the other. They are like two sides of the same coin...it is not even an issue of either/or...it only can be both/and.<br />
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In fact, I was invited into WOW ~ Women Owning Wealth, as I was preparing to leave on the first leg of the Celtic Camino. Synchronicity?! Of course. While I walked, I questioned Spirit every day about why this path, why this vehicle, why me? And every day, I worked to understand, to surrender to this path. I drank Body Balance, the product I would be sharing every day, and as I shook it in my water bottle, I demanded big answers. All I got was "Drink your Body Balance." It wasn't until I returned home, and realized how great I felt that I was willing to dive into my business. And even then it took me a little while to get why this business, this model of doing business, this community, this company - are the sides of the river, the structures and the support for my pilgrimage. (Truthfully, I am still "getting it"!)<br />
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My business, exists within this collective called WOW - Women Owning Wealth. My success and growth, both personally and professionally, is really because I am an intricate part of this amazing community of vibrant, lit up, pleasure-loving beings who believe that a planet full of healthy, alive, nutritionally sourced, and spiritually supported human beings is what we all need! <br />
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In WOW, we practice Sacred Commerce. In other words, we work together as a community, with our businesses supporting and contributing to each other in powerful ways. We work inside of a common agreement that everything we do is sacred, an offering to ourselves and each other, and in deep service of the awakening of the planet. We are partnered with Life Force International, an impeccable, family-owned company that was born out of love, integrity, and a commitment to service.<br />
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Life Force manufactures Body Balance, a 100% raw, organic, whole food liquid product made of a blend of 9 seaweeds and aloe vera juice. Body Balance is ecstasy for the cells, an elixir for the spirit, and an activator of the body’s natural, healthy state. It is like drinking chi every morning by giving your body the most potent nutritional support there is! And the most beautiful thing about it is that it is just FOOD. So we source the body the way it was designed to be sourced--with highly absorbable, nutrient dense food. In WOW, we also claim that Body Balance is "nourishment for spiritual transformation."<br />
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So how is my journey with WOW and Life Force related to the Celtic Camino pilgrimage? <br />
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This company chose to market their products using the direct (or network) marketing model, so that people could be generously compensated for sharing a product that they love. Out of the Life Force compensation plan emerges the rank attainments, or milestones that reflect the destinations of the WEALTHY Woman Pilgrimage. They are labeled with names of the precious metals - Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, and then as one progresses along the journey, one steps into Diamond, 1-Star Diamond, 2-Star Diamond, 3-Star Diamond, Crown Diamond, and ultimately, Royal Crown Diamond.<br />
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In the past year, I walked quickly through Bronze, Silver, and Gold into Platinum. I compare these rank attainments to Santiago, Leon, Burgos, and Ste. Jean Pied de Port. Going Bronze felt similar to arriving in Santiago. This was my initial demonstration of getting on the path and committing to the Pilgrimage. Walking through Silver and Gold was like walking and arriving in Leon and Burgos, beautiful cities along the Camino with stunning cathedrals of their own. Wonderful places to visit, rest for a day or two and appreciate the beauty, but not a destination in and of themselves. Ste. Jean Pied de Port is a little town just inside of France in the foothills of the Pyrenees. For most pilgrims who walk to Santiago, this is where they embark on their 800 kilometer to Santiago. As I am walking "al contrairio" or the other way up through France to Scotland, this was a destination in the middle of the first leg. To walk to Ste. Jean, I had to walk up and over the Pyrenees. The day I walked over was a very windy, dark, and challenging day. The wind would literally blow me off the path, unless I anchored down and held my ground...just like going Platinum! And just like I have been hanging out at Platinum since last June, I feel like I have been hanging out between Santiago and Toulouse in Ste. Jean Pied de Port for the past 16 months, wanting to walk on, yet waiting to claim the next leg of the journey to Toulouse. <br />
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It is a journey for me, and I believe many of us, to truly claim and own our WEALTH. We have been taught to split our spirituality from money, wealth, the material. One aspect of this journey to heal the split between these two realms, and recognize that they too are two sides of the same coin. Also, I believe that most women have been taught to separate from their divine feminine strength, wisdom and power. This is a journey to reclaim all of this.<br />
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This is a journey of initiation and embodiment. I walk to initiate the lessons and healing of the particular chakra, and then I return home to live into those lessons and embody the transformation. As I heal, transform and grow, I then attract the lessons and experiences which reflect the next chakra. Sometimes the Camino comes first. Other times the WEALTHY Woman pilgrimage is first. Right now I am being called into the second chakra through my experiences of the WEALTHY Woman pilgrimage. I am also being called back to walk the comparable leg of the Celtic Camino, from Ste. Jean to Toulouse. Even this week as I have been writing this entry, I had a conversation with a fellow peregrina, or perhaps I should say "pelerina", to explore the possibility to walk together next fall!!<br />
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As I wrote above, I walk with one foot on each path, and I cannot walk one without the other. They are seemingly parallel, but at their core, they are deeply connected and intertwined rooted in the teaching that WE ARE ALL ONE.<br />
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Suseya,<br />
Sarah <br />
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(**I capitalize WEALTH because I see WEALTH as an acronym. Wealth can trigger a lot of reactions in people, just like money can. From my core, I believe that wealth is a powerful concept that when we expand our understanding of what it truly is, it can become one of the cornerstones in our foundations.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">A WEALTHY Woman is:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>W</b>ise and intuitive</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>E</b>volutionary, <b>E</b>mbodied</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>A</b>bundant and <b>A</b>uthentic </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>L</b>oving and <b>L</b>uminous <b>L</b>eader</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>T</b>rusting and <b>T</b>ruthful; <b>T</b>eam player</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>H</b>ealthy and <b>H</b>eart-Centered</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 1in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Y</b>ourSelf with outrageous and total acceptance.)</span></div>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-89750302140815854342012-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:002012-02-15T10:08:57.876-08:00Pilgrim of the Sacred and the Wealth Path...part 1.I am on a journey, one foot is in the sacred world on the path of the Celtic Camino, a sacred pilgrimage from Santiago up through France to Rosslyn, Scotland; the other foot is in the practical world of the WEALTHY Woman Pilgrimage to claim, cultivate, and own my wealth. <br />
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I used to think that they were parallel paths, but have now realized that they are intricately interwoven, like the strands of DNA. These paths embrace and entwine each other to create a beautiful chord that connect us from our root to our divinity, and serves as the bridge between the spiritual and material worlds.<br />
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Each of these pilgrimages is a path, with a destination, goals and layovers along the way, as well as a road map with guides, arrows, directions and support along the way. Just like on the Camino, everything you need is on the path. You just need to ask, be open and receptive, and allow yourself to receive the guidance, direction and support.<br />
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As I've written before, the Celtic Camino follows a sacred configuration 0f seven pre-Christian sites from Santiago de Compostela, Spain, up through France to Rosslyn, Scotland. This sacred configuration forms the route of a “pilgrimage of initiation” used by the Druids and Christian mystics in their search for true knowledge and enlightenment. These 7 sacred sites actually correspond to the 7 chakras of the human body, the first or root chakra being Santiago and the 7th crown chakra being Rosslyn.<br />
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It seems that I live into the issues of the chakra before going on the related leg of the journey. When I return home, I simultaneously complete and heal the chakra, as I move into the issues of the next chakra.<br />
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So, I walked from Santiago to Ste. Jean Pied de Port in the autumn of 2010. In essence, I have walked from the first chakra part of the way to the second chakra, located in Toulouse, France. Since returning home in November 2010, I have been completing the issues, challenges and lessons of first chakra issues, and in turn, living into the issues of the second chakra.<br />
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In Carolyn Myss's words,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">The second chakra is your center of personal power, creativity, sexuality, and finances. Issues of physical survival, control, and one-on-one relationships are at the core of this energy center...The Sacred Truth (of the second chakra is) "Honor One Another." Every relationship you develop, from casual to intimate, helps you become more conscious. No union is without spiritual value."</blockquote>So what I have been doing these past 16 months? I have started my own business, WEALTHY Woman Enterprises, and have been growing it steadily over the past year. I have surrendered to my marriage. I have been doing deep pelvic floor and bowl massage and healing, both physically and emotionally. I am part of a beautiful circle of women who are exploring our "wild feminine" together through the book of the same name. These are the big reflections of the past year. There are many small reflections of the second chakra journey as well. Together, they are a profound reflection of my issues and challenges with my personal power, creativity, sexuality and finances, and how I show up in my relationships, whether with my husband, Steve, my mother, my finances and business, and most importantly, with myself.<br />
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Next time...my WEALTHY Woman Pilgrimage as the other reflection of the "pilgrimage of initiation"...Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-47643647886089822222012-01-31T22:07:00.000-08:002012-01-31T22:09:51.971-08:00I Claim my Sovereignty...and my Wild Feminine!This is my 40 day daily practice - to walk our labyrinth and with my staff (that I am borrowing from my son who at 15 years old no longer uses this gorgeous carved wooden staff he bought at the Renaissance Festival years ago), I declare "I claim my Sovereignty." As I plant the staff three times on the stone in the center, I can feel my declaration ripple out in the cosmos, rearranging not only my cellular structure, but also the energy patterns of the universe. My world and myself are being profoundly rearranged, realigned, and reorganized.<br />
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I visited Portland, Oregon, back in October as part of a northwest college tour with my daughter. We spent a couple of hours at Powell's, the famous bookstore that takes up a whole city block in downtown Portland. We set our timers and agreed to meet back in an hour. We both wanted to just wander and get lost in all of these beautiful books!<br />
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<i><b>Wild Feminine</b></i> by Tami Lynn Kent fell off the top shelf and into my hands just as I started to wander...the title immediately grabbed my attention, but the subtitle,<i>"Finding Power, Spirit, & Joy in the Root of the Female Body"</i> sealed the deal. I knew I had to buy it, and while I had many books in my growing pile, I knew that I was not going to deliberate about this one.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bxVBZNJFHE0/TyjXHk3SVKI/AAAAAAAABaE/bWp9j7GBTp4/s1600/wf-new-cover2-189x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bxVBZNJFHE0/TyjXHk3SVKI/AAAAAAAABaE/bWp9j7GBTp4/s1600/wf-new-cover2-189x300.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The premise of this book is simple, and yet so profound.<br />
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"When a woman found the wild feminine in her core, she was radiant and wise in her own unique way." (p.9)<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">When we restore the internal pelvic landscape, the capacity within our female bodies that supports the presence of the feminine, we witness a return of the feminine to our lives. When we recognize her essence in teh root of our bodies, the feminine will no longer be invisible and endangered...Recovering her full range in our feminine core, we receive sustenance from the <i>wild feminine</i> at last. (p.11) </blockquote>As I began reading the book, I realized that the author, a physical therapist who developed "Holistic Pelvic Care, was sharing her approach to the wild feminine through our pelvic bowl, and that much of her work and healing was through an inner physical exploration. She was actually talking about going into our pelvic bowls from the inside, through our yonis.<br />
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It actually made so much intuitive sense that my world opened just in reading the first few pages, much less the first chapter! In fact, I have only read the first chapter!<br />
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But, since early December (so for over the past 2 months) I have actually been seeing a physical therapist who specializes in the pelvic floor, and I also invited my dearest friends to join me in a <i>Wild Feminine </i>book group!<br />
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We met for the first time last night and we have scheduled 7 more gatherings over the next 2 or so months, including a full moon overnight celebration in early May up in the mountains. It came together so beautifully and gracefully, as though She had a hand in it Herself. I am so honored to be in this beautiful circle with women in their 50s who all felt as though serendipity brought them to this book and this circle as the container to return them to their core, and to their pelvic bowl.<br />
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And then there is the profound growth, transformation and coming into my womanness that is all apart of the inner pelvic floor work. I will share more about this tomorrow.<br />
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Suseya!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-64636126492067971742011-12-14T05:29:00.000-08:002011-12-14T05:29:35.388-08:00I am a WriterIt has been a long while since I have written in this blog. I have been writing - every day, but I have been writing on the iPad that I received for Christmas last year and using a wonderful app called My Writing Spot. I promised to write every day, no matter what. So that is what I have done for the past year.<br />
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A year ago, I attended a writer's workshop with Kathleen MacGowan, author of <i>The Expected One </i>and several other beautiful, amazing books. I have connected with Kathleen over Facebook and appreciate her work and her presence. The nugget that I received from The Writer's Grail workshop was that to be a writer, one has to write. Period. Kathleen and Philip's suggestion was to write, even for 5 minutes, every day. EVERY day. So I made that commitment, and for the past year (the workshop was a year ago this past weekend and when I received the book, <i>The Source of Miracles, </i>also by Kathleen and mentioned in my blog from last December) I have written. Every day I write. It is just what I do. No matter what. It is my sacred daily practice.<br />
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I am a writer. I write...therefore, I am a writer. <br />
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I am also in the midst of a very profound journey with my business and partnership with Life Force, and WOW- Wo/men Owning Wealth. I have stepped into leadership, residual income, and wealth in a way that I have not done before. It feels like a journey very similar to that of the Camino...they actually reflect one another beautifully. <br />
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I saw that my last blog was written in February and I shared about my decision to become a conscious network marketer. It has actually expanded greatly from that - I actually practice Sacred Commerce in partnership with an amazing community of women and men, WOW, and Life Force. I experience the structure of this business of network marketing more as a collaborative business model that is an infinite series of connected and interrelated concentric circles. Core to these concentric circles is a profound spiritual and evolutionary path that we each step on to when we step into this business. To grow and expand in this business is to be on a sacred path that ultimately brings us home to ourselves - to the highest, biggest, brightest, best version of who we each truly are. <br />
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I am totally committed to this path of Sacred Commerce, and right now, it demands most of my attention and time. I am committed to creating financial freedom for myself and my family while supporting others to have the same opportunity for health and wealth as I do, and it is my focus and highest priority commitment right now. Why do I even need to write this right now?<br />
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Because I had made a commitment to write my book on the first leg of my journey with the Celtic Camino this winter, and as I began to really settle into that task, I realized that my focus is on building a business, not writing a book. I can write every day, but can I write an indepth book and build a rapidly transforming business at the same time? Do I really want to?<br />
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My commitment is to write. I am a writer. But is my commitment right now to write a book? <br />
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Out of this question, I realized that I wanted to return to this blog. I like writing here. I feel as though I am writing to someone. When I write to "write a book", I write differently. I feel like I am not so much in a relationship, and so I become more concerned about the wording, how I say it, does it sound right? Here, I write, and know that if I need to fill in some details with research, etc., I can and I will and I will come back to it. When I write a book, I feel like I have to have it all right there the first time. Here, it feels intimate and more like a sharing and connecting from the heart.<br />
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So, today I return to this blog and share my ongoing Camino journey, and how my life and work at home reflect each other. It comes down to this for me, and in Sue Kenney's words: When the Camino ends, the journey begins.''<br />
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My life, all of our lives, are a sacred and profound journey. This is my invitation to you - to live your life as a sacred journey, woven together by your sacred dreams, sacred partnerships, sacred sexuality, sacred commerce, and sacred purpose.<br />
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Buen Camino!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-15061049103154694562011-02-01T07:47:00.000-08:002011-02-01T07:47:43.100-08:00The Camino Continues to Guide and ProvideBack on 9/9, September 9th, before I left for the Camino, I asked "I wonder what the Camino will provide today." I was working with my mantra, "The Camino guides and provides (for me) every step of the way." I knew in my heart the truth of this statement, even as I questioned and doubted whether or not it was "okay" for me to affirm this. Was I somehow using the Camino, relying on it in an inappropriate way? Was I being selfish? Self-centered?<br />
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Even with these doubts and self-concerns, I knew that this mantra was a profound reflection of my relationship with the Camino. After being on the Camino for the month of October, I actually love the Camino more deeply than ever, and I also know and accept this truth, the Camino does guide and provide every step of the way. <br />
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After I wrote that blog, I let the question go and got on with my day. A few hours later, a dear friend and former coaching client, called me to see if I was interested in finding out more about something she was doing. Hmmm....my first question was "Is it network marketing?" I could feel my resistance rush to the surface. Yes, of course, it was. Damn. I love Kate, I love what she's up to in life, and I knew that I wanted to explore being a part of it. But, I did not want to do network marketing. I had vowed ten years earlier to never do network marketing again.<br />
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And then I remembered my question that morning. "I wonder what the Camino will provide today."<br />
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In that moment, I knew that I had to be open. What if the Camino knew something that I didn't know? What if this was my opportunity to receive something that was actually what I had been looking for all along but didn't know it? What if I didn't know it all?<br />
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I could feel both dread and excitement when I went to meet with Kate a few days later.<br />
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As much as I felt concern and reluctance, I also felt an opening and a receiving. I had decided to trust and allow the Camino to provide for me. I couldn't dictate what form the support would come in. One never knows. What I did know then, and know even more deeply now after another month on the Camino, is that the Camino always provides what you need, not what you want.<br />
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Something felt right from the very beginning about this opportunity, yet to hedge my diving in, I knew I needed to experience the products. Fortunately, the flagship product of Life Force International, the company with whom Kate was partnering, also comes in a little packets, so I took 45 or so little packets of Body Balance with me to drink while I was walking the Camino. They weighed next to nothing (very important to a pilgrim!) and they were so easy. Every afternoon, when I had been walking for 4 or 5 hours, I poured a packet of Body Balance into my water bottle and as I drank it, I would ask the Camino, "Is this business opportunity with Kate and Life Force in my highest good? Am I to do this business? And if so, at what level?"<br />
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Every day this was my afternoon ritual and request, and every day I felt a quiet, warm yes. I really liked the product and how it made me feel. Everyday I felt stronger and more nourished, and while I couldn't distinguish that feeling from what I was receiving directly from walking on the Camino, I knew that something in my body was being deeply nourished. I never saw or felt loud, bright neon billboards proclaiming that "YES, DO THE BUSINESS!" and truthfully, thank goodness. I am sure that this kind of response from the Camino would have raised every resistant hair on my body! Instead, it was a gentle and warm feeling that stayed with me and grew with each day that I walked. <br />
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When I came home from the Camino, one of the first calls I made was to Kate. Even in the midst of re-entry, I knew that I wanted to do this. I saw that in building a business that provides residual income, I could fulfill my dreams to walk the Camino every year , I could lead groups of women to walk the Camino and not have it be about the money and be the make or break about whether or not I got to go, I could travel, I could pay off debt, I could contribute to my childrens' college educations, and I could live in England part time. I could make my dreams real, and not have to depend on anyone else to make them happen. I could become 100% responsible for living and manifesting my dreams to the fullest, and in doing so, I could provide others with the same opportunity for making their dreams real as well. <br />
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Also, I loved the products and the company and knew that if I was to do this, this was the company that I wanted to partner with. I had several crucial must have's to ever consider network marketing again. <br />
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<ol><li>I had to love the products, it had to be a simple, straightforward product line that could appeal to anyone.</li>
<li>I had to respect the founders of the company and their leadership style. No "messiah" worship culture.</li>
<li>The company needed to be solid financially, founded on a product that provided great results and grew into network marketing, rather than a company that wanted to be a network marketing company that then found a product to sell.</li>
<li>I wanted to love my upline, and not be put under anyone else.</li>
<li>I wanted a generous and supportive payout plan where I could start making money right away.</li>
<li>I did not want any hidden, upfront investment costs. I wanted straightforward and above board.</li>
</ol><div>I got all of this with Life Force and Kate.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Thank you, Camino.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I have now been actively doing the business since the beginning of the new year, and getting my feet wet in December. I achieved the first level of accomplishment in January, and with bonuses, I may receive a check for over $500. I have quite a few friends who are using the product and experiencing great results. I am excited. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I get the vision of what a network marketing business can provide. To not only imagine that I can walk the Camino annually and make the pilgrimage from Santiago to Rosslyn one stage at a time, but to also have the means to financially support my dreams, is a dream come true in and of itself.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I have big dreams. Big dreams require me to be willing to take courageous action and to be open to more than what I know to be true or possible. I get to - have to - be open to what the Camino provides. I know that the Camino wants me to walk it. The Celtic Camino needs me to walk it, and to heal the split and create heaven on earth. This is my contribution, my soul's purpose. And so, I get to receive the support and guidance to fulfill my soul's journey. My purpose happens to be a journey, a sacred pilgrim of initiation that requires that I am in the world and integrating the lessons of initiation in my life. I am a modern mystic, a modern pilgrim, who receives the challenges, lessons, initiations, and support from the Camino that are also reflected and experienced in my life. As on the Camino, so in life. As above, so below. As in Heaven, so upon Earth. I walk the Camino, and then return to my life, my world, and to society. There is no split between the Camino and my life. I live and walk them both, fully engaged. </div><div><br />
</div><div>And so it is that I have become a network marketer with Life Force and my dear sister, Kate. Together, we are co-creating Women Owning Wealth (WOW), a powerful new culture within the network marketing world, where women get to re-claim this powerful feminine way of doing business. Within a circle, we create and manifest out of relationship, a community of women co-creating abundant health and wealth for themselves and the planet.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Thank you, Camino.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Suseya!</div>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-53350184537089069872011-01-05T09:09:00.000-08:002011-01-05T09:10:08.116-08:00Walking in the cold wind this morning but it felt so good! Using my walking sticks brought me right back to the Camino.<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TSSl8EgvzYI/AAAAAAAABVg/ZBsNGxiJut4/s1600/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FSU1HMDAwMDUtMjAxMTAxMDUtMDg0MS5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-708117"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TSSl8EgvzYI/AAAAAAAABVg/ZBsNGxiJut4/s320/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FSU1HMDAwMDUtMjAxMTAxMDUtMDg0MS5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-708117" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558750291503861122" /></a></p>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerrySarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-39360923351695878922010-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:002010-12-13T19:46:09.741-08:00The Lord's PrayerToday was my first day of living into the spiritual practice of the Lord's Prayer, as offered by Kathleen McGowan in her book, <i>The Source of Miracles</i>. Early this morning, I decided to begin the practice with a walk at a labyrinth about 10 miles from here that is outside and made of rounded stones with sand, and is a replica of the Chartres labyrinth complete with the rose of the 6 petals in the middle of the labyrinth. I spoke the prayer as written in Kathleen's book before I started into the labyrinth, and then once I reached the rose, I moved around the petals saying the lines that correspond to each petal, and focused on the first petal of "Faith" that correspond to "Our Father, in Heaven, May Your Name be Hallowed." Much of the petal of "Faith" focuses on our divine mission and our willingness to commit to fulfilling that sacred mission. <br />
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Now I have experienced high levels of resistance to, actually rejection of, anything to do with Christianity, "Our Father" languaging, Jesus Christ as a God, the patriarchy, and the Church. So I do not undertake this practice lightly. Even considering the Lord's Prayer has brought up for me all the reasons I left the Christian church in the first place. It has been thirty-five plus years since I was an acolyte in the Episcopalian Church and involved in the teen youth group. This all said, I trust Kathleen and her heretical approach to Christianity, Jesus Christ, and more importantly, Mary Magdalene. Out of this trust, I decided to be open to the Lord's Prayer and experience it for myself. Yet, as I said the Prayer out loud for the first time, and especially with focusing on the the first two lines which include the words, "Our Father", I seriously questioned and doubted both the prayer and myself as I spoke these words. I was very nervous that I was giving away my power and stepping back into the patriarchy. I felt strange, challenged and even anxious.<br />
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However, as I moved through and around the labyrinth, I received very clear ideas on how to lead my local pilgrimages in the new year. While I had already had the idea of focusing the pilgrimages on the 6 local labyrinths, I wasn't sure how I was going to do this, or what the context for these pilgrimages would be. It became crystal clear to me that it will be a weekly pilgrimage over 7 weeks, that focuses on the teachings of the rose of the 6 petals, and complete with the teaching of Love, as in the center of the rose, returning to the first labyrinth that we visit. It also seems appropriate to start and finish with a Chartres labyrinth that has the rose of the 6 petals in the middle. <br />
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Moreover, I have had a great day today. I have viscerally felt as though I have aligned with a loving force much greater than myself, and that Love is now working through me. In one day. I worked with Kate all morning as we deepened our collaboration and creation of Women Owning Wealth; I got to have some amazing conversations in the afternoon; and then I went for walk at one of my favorite trails that is most like the woods for me, with its deciduous trees, a creek, and wide open fields. In my conversation with a dear friend and co-creator, Ingrid, I shared that I felt as though I had just conceived and am now newly pregnant with multiple babies - the book I am going to write, leading sacred pilgrimages in both Europe and locally; the Cornwall tour with my father in June, Women Owning Wealth with Kate - at least these are the babies/projects that I am aware of right now! While each baby is its own unique and complete creation, they are each intimately related to each other, and the health, well-being and growth of one both affects and contributes to the health, well-being, and growth of all the others. During these next 9 months, I am going to grow and nurture these projects and give birth to a beautiful book, a successful business, an engaging tour, and both local and international pilgrimages.<br />
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Ingrid and I also talked about the balance and necessity of both the masculine and the feminine. It is no longer an either/or, or one or the other, or even one over or on top of the other. It is the sacred marriage of the masculine and the feminine that is necessary for the healing of our planet, our world, our lives, and our hearts. <br />
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As I walked, I reflected that I had just declared my multiple pregnancy. As I felt and accepted this, I realized that today I had also spoken the Lord's Prayer with intention for the first time. I had said a prayer that invoked the sacred masculine through the profound words, "Our Father". I had invited the divine masculine, Our Father, to assist and support me to live true to way of Love and to fulfill my sacred mission. In saying the Lord's Prayer, I had both invited the masculine energy of providing that which I asked for, and I had received it. Within 6 hours, I declared that I was pregnant.<br />
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This may be some of the magic and the mystery that Kathleen was referring to when she talks about the power of the Lord's Prayer. In her words, she says that this prayer is "now, as it was when Jesus lived, the incorruptible formula for personal and global transformation." <br />
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Both the synchronistic recognition of my "pregnancy", and my moving forward with, committing to and "owning" my projects - my babies - is the first miracle I have received in the sacred practice of the Lord's Prayer. Kathleen says in her book that the Lord's Prayer is the "most powerful tool for changing your life - and changing the world - that you will likely ever encounter." That's a hefty claim, and I'm open to the possibility that there may actually be some truth in it.<br />
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The journey continues...<br />
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Suseya!<br />
SarahSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-25506248774121760632010-12-12T12:39:00.000-08:002010-12-12T12:39:05.625-08:00The Writer's Grail - I am a Writer.Yesterday I attended the Writer's Grail Workshop (this is the first one and they will be offering more in 2011. <a href="http://www.writersgrail.com/">www.writersgrail.com</a>) in Denver with Kathleen MacGowan and Philip Coppens. I loved it. I loved getting to meet and connect with Kathleen and to own that I AM A WRITER. I am a writer because I write. I now expand this declaration to include that I AM AN AUTHOR. <br />
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While I was working on an exercise yesterday at the workshop, I shifted my role as author to the center of my soul's mission. Even as I put this on a piece of paper, something didn't feel completely right to me. I realize that PILGRIM is at the center of my mission. As I own and embody who I am as a pilgrim, very closely connected is my being an author and writer. Perhaps they are inseparable. Hmm...<br />
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There are many people, including Kathleen, who have known that they have wanted to be a writer since they were a child. Not true for me. It has been since I have stepped into being a pilgrim that the writer in me is asking to be birthed. Perhaps like divine complements, they co-exist with each other, and do not exist fully by themselves. Until right now, I have questioned whether or not I can still be a writer since I haven't wanted it forever, yet as I write this, I realize that my desire to be a writer could not be seen or felt until I became a pilgrim and connected with the Camino, and the sacred art of pilgrimage. For me, being a writer is as much about what I want to write about as it the craft of writing. <br />
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Today I begin a 21 Day Commitment to write for 5 or more minutes every day. This is spiritual act of my living into, or perhaps more truthfully, living out of that I AM A WRITER. <br />
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My writing my book about the journey of the Celtic Camino is one of my deepest priorities for 2011, and my intention is to have the first draft of the book completed by May 31, 2011. In June, I return to England and spend my summer traveling, with the intention to walk the next leg of the Camino from Puenta la Reina to Toulouse in September. So to have the book completed before I begin my travels will be a send off to the next leg of my pilgrim journey.<br />
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Thy will be done.<br />
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Suseya!<br />
SarahSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-72533340474903853282010-12-09T05:42:00.000-08:002010-12-09T05:48:02.554-08:00The Journey Continues...I have been home for 5 weeks now - home for as long as I was away on the Camino. Sometimes I feel as though it takes me as long to re-enter as the time I was journeying. This time I have been allowing myself to re-enter more slowly and quietly, with my desire to be present with my family and friends as the central intention. I am in the midst of clearing out my office and creating it with an openness and space to allow in the new unfolding of my life. I moved all the stuff out on Sunday, and here we are on Thursday with most of the stuff still sitting on my family's dining room table. While I can take note that I am up early and sitting in my office to write (which means that a certain level of creation has occurred - I have taken out 2 chairs for clients to sit in, and moved in just one comfy chair for me to sit in while I read, write, talk with clients on the phone, and ponder), I am very aware that I do not want to automatically move all the stuff back in. My focus is shifting - I actually moved out my notebooks from coaching school - I am claiming my coaching and what I do know; my notebooks from Own It Sister! - I am releasing and letting go of the past 2 years of my life and allowing the new venture to come in; my notebooks filled with notes from old clients - I no longer want to coach clients one-on-one. My bookshelf is now in a prominent, accessible place (before it was on the other side of my desk and hard to get to). I am including my books on the Camino; Mary Magdalene and the Divine Feminine; Celtic wisdom and spirituality; money and wealth; and some of my most favorite reference books, by authors such as Carolyn Myss and Barbara Hand Clow. These books clearly reflect the direction I am preparing to head in 2011. <br />
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One of my intentions and desires is to write an engaging and magnetic book on my pilgrimage on the Celtic Camino. While there is a lot to sort out and to become clear on, I am receiving quite clear impulses on the content of the book. For now, I have titled the book, <i>A Woman's Pilgrimage on the Celtic Camino: Healing the Split and Walking Home to Wholeness</i>. On Saturday, I am attending a workshop with Kathleen MacGowan and her partner, Phillip Coppens. Kathleen is the author of <i>The Expected One, Book of Love, </i>and<i> The Poet Prince, </i>3 novels that have resonated with my knowing about the true story of Mary Magdalene, the sacred bloodline, and the sacred Feminine. I am so excited to meet her, as I have been developing a relationship with her over Facebook. It is a joy to be in communication with a bestselling author whose books I love and respect on many levels. <br />
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Connected with this intention is my deep desire to return to the Camino and to walk and lead a small group of women on the next leg of the journey from Puenta la Reina and the Eunate Church along the Camino Aragones over Somport Pass along the Via Tolosana to Toulouse.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TQDd2f5Q13I/AAAAAAAABU0/9dTMw9SEVWY/s1600/CIMG5056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TQDd2f5Q13I/AAAAAAAABU0/9dTMw9SEVWY/s1600/CIMG5056.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eunate Church, where the Camino Aragones joins the Camino Frances<br />
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</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">Another intention is to assist my father to market and lead a tour in Cornwall in June based on the historical fiction novel that he is writing on 18th century Cornwall. I am so excited for him and what he is creating at 78 years old, and I truly want to support him in any way that I can. Plus I get to be in England again, with him, in Cornwall, and assist him to lead a small group on a journey. How great is that!</div><br />
My third intention is to build a strong and collaborative business that generates a powerful residual income for me and my family. My big dream is to be able to live in Colorado <i><b>and</b></i> England and to be free of location for my income, to be able to travel, walk and move as I desire, to create from my deep feminine well of creativity, abundance and prosperity, and to be able to offer and share this with others. I want other people to live their dreams and to get to create from a powerful, and empowering place within themselves that both reflects and infuses the new paradigm of co-creation. No more doing it alone, no more struggle, and no more living small and out of fear and lack. I left that back on the Camino. I am owning what I want, and have committed to living from my deepest and biggest desires and dreams. Want to join me?!<br />
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I had to put away my Own It, Sister! notebooks so that I could live into and embody owning it! No more just talking about it - now is my time to live into what owning it really means, what it looks like for me, and to express it fully in my life and into the world. I am committed to the new paradigm of co-creating with the feminine power that has been denied for thousands of years. I have denied it in myself, both personally and globally. Every time I do or say something to look good, or right, to others, I deny myself and my true and inherent beauty, gifts, talent, and purpose, and in turn, I deny it in others. Every time I play small, or from fear, I deny it. Every time I avoid my fears, I deny it. Every time I sidestep, I deny it. I even have to own that I have denied it, and to stop denying that I have denied it.<br />
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Now is both my time and opportunity to recognize all that has stopped me and kept me small and name it, see it, hold it, let it go, and from this, choose. Choose fear, or choose love. Simple. Choose, and choose again, and again, and again.<br />
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I walked with fear on the Camino - much of these past 5 weeks has been about my deeply recognizing that I chose to walk with fear on the Camino. That has been the Camino's gift to me - the recognition that I <i>chose </i>to walk <i>with</i> fear. I am not fear, but I did have it right there along beside me (or in front or behind, but never out of sight). I walked 500 kilometers with fear, so that I would know, in an experiential and embodied way, what it looks and feels like for me to walk with fear and what the consequences of that choice is for me. So often, I placated, I pleased, I kept quiet, I acquiesced. I doubted myself and I hid behind the fear. <br />
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To walk the first leg of the Celtic Camino with fear is an essential catalyst for my walking home to wholeness, for only when we recognize that we have split and are separate, can we feel our longing to be whole and connected.<br />
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The journey continues...<br />
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Suseya!<br />
SarahSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-45000543601531730772010-11-16T08:09:00.001-08:002010-11-16T08:09:54.788-08:00Walking my Camino in Colorado. Simply, I love to walk. It is truly a gift for my body and soul.<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TOKs0wvD4lI/AAAAAAAABUU/NiovIMw82HA/s1600/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FSU1HMDAxMzgtMjAxMDExMTYtMDkwNy5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-794789"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TOKs0wvD4lI/AAAAAAAABUU/NiovIMw82HA/s320/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FSU1HMDAxMzgtMjAxMDExMTYtMDkwNy5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-794789" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540180514054595154" /></a></p>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerrySarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-62405627479773112972010-11-16T04:57:00.000-08:002010-11-16T04:57:24.728-08:00In-SyncnessBeen home for ten days now, and the re-entry process continues to deepen. Each day I am more here, more present in my body. I got to spend time with Grace, my youngest, on Saturday. It felt as though we had to come back into sync with each other. We started off somewhat at odds with each other, not quite sure what to do or how to even decide what to do. Fortunately, by the end of our time together, we felt aligned and open with each other, and were laughing and enjoying ourselves. <br />
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This experience with Grace helped me to name the state of being "in sync" with someone, or even something. It can just be the way it is with someone and usually that person becomes one of our dearest friends or partners. Sometimes, you have to create it with someone, or re-create it. Grace and I are usually very in sync with each other. Yet, given my 5 week absence from her, we have to cultivate our in-syncness again. Nothing wrong, but very important to recognize and honor that my 9 year old daughter has had to learn how to be okay with me around her, calibrating her rhythm, her energy, her being. And so our need to simply spend time together, focused on each other and our relationship, and to get back in sync.<br />
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In sync. Dictionary.com defines sync as "harmony or harmonious relationship." It feels good to be in sync with others - these are the people whom I am drawn to and want to be with. <br />
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Who are you in sync with? Who are you not? <br />
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Going away for 5 weeks gives me the opportunity to confront this. I notice that it can be something I take for granted, sometimes something I long for with someone but can't quite seem to find; at other times may have with someone and then lose it, and am then not sure how to get it back.<br />
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As I reflect on this, being in syncness is something I spend a lot of time on, and is one of my prime motivators. Hmm...perhaps we all do. Perhaps not. It seems that being in relationship is so important and necessary for all of us.<br />
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While I walked on the Camino, I felt very in sync with myself. Something in the very act and process of walking supports and connects me so that I experience an in-syncness that is comfortable, harmonious, and nourishing, both on a physical and a soul level. I realize that I crave this feeling. I long to walk for hours every day. I love to walk for hours every day. While there are certain terrains and environments that I prefer, I also am happy to just walk. On the Camino, I loved the wide open meseta as much as I loved the rolling green hills of Galicia. Perhaps each occurred at exactly the right time for me, and part of walking is the acceptance of transition and change, even as reflected in the environment around you. <br />
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When I walk, I move at a speed that is natural and aligned with my body. I move only as fast as my body can move. I could run, but there is something about the speed of walking that feels inherently "right" for me. The contrast of this is when I fly in an airplane. My body is moving so fast with the help of another vehicle, and I cannot keep up with it. So I arrive at my destination and I have to come back into my body. You then add time on top of that and you have jet lag! Part of the in-syncness for me in walking is that I move with my body and stay connected. For me, walking is connecting and deepening. I actually deepen my connection with my Self and my body. I do not have to re-connect when I am done walking at the end of the day. The oppposite is true - I am more connected and in sync with myself. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">~ A true pilgrim is one who takes the lessons gained on pilgrimage </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and applies them to their lives when they return. ~</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">How do I bring home this deep rooted in-syncness? How do I continue to cultivate it? How do I be the pilgrim at home? How do I bring the essence of pilgrim into my life at home?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">I walk.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"></span></span>I just realized that for me, <b><i>a pilgrim is one who walks/moves to re-align, re-cognize, and re-connect with the truth, core, and essence of oneself.</i></b> As we walk, we cultivate a very real experience of being in sync with ourselves, our Self, our Soul, God, the Divine. We get up, we walk; we eat, we walk; we share with others, we walk; we take care of our bodies, we walk; we sleep, we walk. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Every day I must walk. I may not get to walk for 6 or 8 hours. No matter. I must walk. I must allow myself to walk, no matter what. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">How is that I can walk for hours a day on the Camino, and then I come home and can forget to walk everyday? The responsibilities of life at home; the more structured time; money; tending to others, the home, work - I allow all of this to call me away from walking, from myself. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Walking to re-align, re-cognize, and re-connect with the truth, core, and essence of oneself is what makes me a pilgrim, every day, no matter where I walk or for how long. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">So I make this commitment right here and right now. Every day I walk as a pilgrim. Every day. No matter what. I walk with the intention to be in sync with mySelf. I have my boots, my walking sticks, my back pack with rain and snow gear, and most especially my pilgrim heart with me at all times, so that no matter where I am, I am prepared, ready and willing to walk. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Suseya!</div><div style="text-align: left;">Sahara</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</span></span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-29997819297787505472010-11-10T05:52:00.000-08:002010-11-10T05:52:12.106-08:00Just Changed the Name and Address of this BlogI just changed the name of this blog, and the url address as well. The title no longer felt right or appropriate, and it felt really important to have "Celtic Camino" as part of the title and the address. So now the url for this blog is http://celticcamino-pilgrimage.blogspot.com.<br />
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Thanks for bearing with these changes.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-50944024827509745172010-11-10T05:29:00.000-08:002010-11-10T05:29:58.616-08:00Each stage is only accomplished after an appropriate period of intense and spiritual preparation.How does "Asking New Questions - Creating New Answers" relate to the Camino?<br />
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My intention for this fall was to walk the first leg of the Celtic Camino, from Santiago to Toulouse, which also reflected walking from the first chakra (Santiago) to the second chakra (Toulouse). In walking this journey, I would begin to heal the split that starts in my first chakra and metaphorically continues all the way up to my seventh, or crown chakra. As I have mentioned many times, I have a physical split in my belly that begins right around my second chakra and goes up above my third chakra.<br />
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The book that inspired the journey of the Celtic Camino, <i>Rosslyn - Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail</i>, written my Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins, describes the journey as a sacred pilgrimage of initiation.<br />
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<blockquote>Celtic pilgrims who worshipped the Earth goddess journeyed from Iberia to Scotland via the seven planetary oracles, associating the alignment of the spirit senses within themselves to the corresponding alignment of the Earth chakras...The pilgrimage is not simply one journey encompassing each of the seven sites, but a series of journeys made in a predetermined order, starting with the Druidic oracle at Compostela, representing the base chakra, then moving northwards to each site in the alignment before culminating in Rosslyn, representing the crown chakra. <i> Each stage is only accomplished after an appropriate period of intense and spiritual preparation.</i><br />
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</blockquote> I italicized the last sentence because of its pertinence to my experience.<br />
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While I thought that I was walking to Toulouse this fall, I know that it was perfect for me to only walk a part of the way, and also to walk the Camino Frances to St. Jean Pied de Port, rather than walk to Toulouse via the Camino Aragones and Somport Pass. I have not yet completed the "appropriate period of intense and spiritual preparation" to be fully initiated into the second chakra. I was not ready to walk all the way to Toulouse.<br />
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What I was prepared for was to walk from Santiago, and to move up along the path toward the second chakra. All the work that I have been engaged with over the past eighteen months or so, and with fully engaging and committing to healing the split has been the intense emotional and spiritual preparation for the journey I have just returned home from.<br />
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Carolyn Myss (www.myss.com) talks about the first chakra as the foundation for emotional and mental health, and about how our connection to traditional familial beliefs support the formation of identity and our sense of belonging to a group. The issues that can often come up out of first chakra imbalances usually have to do with a concern about belonging, and a fear of abandonment, and also an ability to provide for life's necessities and to stand up for oneself. The sacred truth of the first chakra is that "All is One" and that you are connected to all life.<br />
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Leading up to my pilgrimage this fall, I got to confront my first chakra imbalances and challenges. My commitment to undertake this journey triggered events in my life so that I could address these issues. I confronted my making decisions that people I cared about had issues and judgement around. I made a decision that was for me, and did not include others to come along and be a part of. I had to confront my fears of being abandoned, unloved and unaccepted in making this decision to go on the Camino, again. I got to stand up for myself. I got to experience that even though I may make unpopular choices and decisions, and even though this may make me different from others, that underneath it all, WE ARE ALL ONE. This fundamental, sacred truth of the first chakra is actually what supports us to be fully ourselves and to express our uniqueness, because no matter what, we are connected to each other, we are one, and even bigger than that, ALL IS ONE. That every choice I make and every belief I hold exerts an influence on the whole of life, and given this influence, don't I want to contribute with the most positive, loving, compassionate, and creative choices and decisions that I can make? <br />
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This is what propelled me from Santiago to St. Jean!<br />
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I got to live into, actually walk into, this understanding and this healing. I have come home feeling more clear, and more able to communicate directly and clearly. I have written a few emails that have required some direct communications, and I have been able to write what I really wanted and needed to write. No not saying what I need to say, no apologies, and yet done with love and respect. I am not sure that I would have done that before the Camino. I am also more clear about what I truly desire, and what I want and need to do and accomplish. I have moved more deeply into owning both my dreams and responsibilities, and I standing up for myself as well as my ability to provide for life's necessities and life's dreams and desires. I am excited to be home and to get to step into fulfilling all of this. <br />
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In the walking, I also knew that I was not ready to walk the Camino Aragones over Somport Pass to the Via Tolosana to Toulouse. I could feel my resistance and fear to undertaking this part of the journey, especially so late in the season when albergues were closing for the season and snow was likely to be in the Pyrenees, especially at the higher altitudes. It wasn't just fear and resistance. It felt more like I was being guided to let go of what I thought it would/should look like and allow the authentic, and "rightful" journey to be walked. When I listened to and allowed this picture to emerge, everything fell back into balance and into flow again. The Camino guided and provided every step of the way. My commitment was to listen, honor and heed this guidance.<br />
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Coming home the next challenges and preparations are revealing themselves. I am being prepared for the next journey, this time to Toulouse and the site of the second chakra. <br />
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Visiting by car and getting to touch and see the Eglise Notre Dame la Dalbade in Toulouse sewed the seed for this next leg of the initiation. I knew it was perfect that I had missed the hours when the Church would be open. The sacred places that have been closed when I arrived there are calling me like magnets to come back another time, when I am prepared and ready to receive their gifts. I specifically think of Ermite de San Nicolas, the Church at Eunate, Camino Aragones, Via Tolosana, and Toulouse and the Eglise Notre Dame la Dalbade itself. <br />
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Toulouse is calling me, the second chakra is calling me...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eglise Notre Dame la Dalbade, Toulouse 2010</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eglise Notre Dame la Dalbade, Toulouse, 2010</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Carolyn Myss says that your second chakra is your center for personal power, creativity, sexuality, finances and one-on-one relationships. The sacred truth of the second chakra is to "Honor One Another" and to recognize that every relationship I develop, from casual to intimate, helps me to become more conscious. No union is without its spiritual value.<br />
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How perfect that Steve and I are opening to asking new questions and to co-creating our relationship and our lives in a more balanced, co-creative and actually more intimate way...all the issues of the second chakra, of course! Through Steve, I am actually being invited into all the issues of the second chakra, and that I get to deepen and develop my relationship with him, money and work, and ultimately, with myself, and my creativity, sexuality, and power.<br />
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The journey continues...as my dear pilgrim sister, Sue Kenney, has so wisely said, "When the Camino ends, the journey begins."<br />
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The next leg of the Celtic Camino journey begins. And I choose to continue on the path of this sacred pilgrimage of initiation. Thank you, Celtic Camino. Thank you, Spirit.<br />
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Suseya!<br />
SarahSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-12965403325558495742010-11-10T04:21:00.000-08:002010-11-10T04:21:42.036-08:00Asking New Questions - Creating New AnswersEvery day that I am home from the Camino, I am stepping more fully back into my life here with my family, Steve, work, and finances. Yesterday Steve and I got to spend the day together. We walked into town, ate breakfast at Lucille's, strolled on the Pearl Street Mall, walked home via North Boulder Park, where we lay in the grass and looked up at the clear blue sky until we fell asleep. So nourishing to just get to be together for a chunk of time during the day. For us, being together during the day means we get to be with each other at our best awake hours, and when we like to be with other people. For me, I like to be alone in the early morning hours to sit quietly, write and read. At night, I am just ready to go to sleep. So daytime dates are a new thing for us and I really enjoy them. We are talking about how to create this for ourselves on a weekly basis.<br />
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One of Steve's take-aways from my being gone was that he really wants us to become better partners in creating and living our lives. We are both independent people and we now know that we can do just fine and manage our lives, and the kids' lives, without the other one there. In some ways, it's actually easier. The bigger challenge is how do we co-create together? This must sound so funny. I mean, we have been married for nearly 24 years and shouldn't we have figured this out years ago?! <br />
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Many years ago a psychic shared an image of us as parallel train tracks who live with the illusion that off in the future and distant horizon, the tracks merge and come together. So we just keep doing what we've been doing in the hopes of that one day, some day, our tracks will cross and we will experience true partnership and intimacy. <br />
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We have lived side-by-side for a long time, and it has been comfortable and acceptable for both of us. Somehow, it's what we've known how to do. Most likely, it was modeled for us by our parents. It has been fine, especially since we were both immersed in it. It has been the water we have been swimming in for all this time. But my going away for five weeks creates an opening and a shift, and both a possibility and an opportunity for change.<br />
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Steve's request to transform what and how we co-create, co-manage, co-parent, co-habitate provides us with the context to re-enter with each other differently. His speaking it created a new question for us to live into. <br />
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Have you ever heard that our lives are a reflection of the answers to the questions we are asking. I love this, and realize that this opening is changing the question that Steve and I have been asking for the past 20 plus years. <br />
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It could be so easy to just fall back into the unconscious questions that we have been asking and what is known and familiar, but we both know we want something different. While I had not yet put into words what Steve voiced yesterday, I knew as soon as he started to talk about it that we were on the same page. I even told him that at breakfast. We are coming to this page from different perspectives and experiences, but we do both want the same thing, or at the very least, are both open to asking some new questions about our relationship and the lives we are creating together. <br />
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The funny thing is we had talked about co-creating something different for ourselves and our marriage 24 years ago when we first got married, and again when we were pregnant with our first child. And then life happened, and our baby was born, and more babies were born and without realizing it, we fell into what was known, what was safe, and what had been modeled for us. <br />
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I know for myself that my maternal instinct and hormones took over as soon as I became pregnant. I had always assumed that I would be a working mother when I had children, but while I was pregnant, I worked in a daycare center for babies and toddlers. This experience radically altered my whole perspective. No way was anyone else going to take care of my child(ren). I wanted be with him, take care of him myself, and much to my own surprise, become a stay-at-home mother. I also wanted to nurse my baby, on demand, from my breast, without having to pump, do bottles and the whole gamut. My desire and mothering instincts took over, and any and all thoughts of Steve and I equally sharing the whole work/financial/child rearing thing went out the window. <br />
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All that was okay while we had babies and the children were young, and for us that was quite a while. Four children, born over a span of twelve years, had me being at home with young pre-school ages children, or pregnant and nursing for a long time. In 2000, just when I thought I would be going back "out into the world", I unexpectedly became pregnant with Gracie, and experienced myself pulling back into the home and the coccoon of pregnancy, nursing, being with a baby, then a toddler, then a pre-school aged child, as my other children were dealing with elementary school, then middle school, then high school.<br />
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Here we are - Andrew is nearly 21 years old, and Gracie is in fourth grade and in the midst of the 9 year change. She is growing up from a young child to a blossoming girl who's just on the very far edge of beginning to prepare to take the next leap into adolescence. Not a teenager yet, but also not a young 6 year old either.<br />
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So, the times they are a-changing. My children are growing up. Steve and I are growing up. I fully realized while on the Camino that I am no longer a younger person. I am now a woman in my 50's, and Steve is a man in his 50's. We are no longer in our 40's and it feels very different. Nothing wrong or bad, but important to acknowledge that our 50's are a new era for us to live into and own. The time is now to ask new questions and to give ourselves a new context out of which to co-create our lives. <br />
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Suseya,<br />
SarahSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-31947555570341992812010-11-09T04:37:00.000-08:002010-11-09T04:37:45.485-08:00What I Bring Home from the CaminoBeen home just over 3 days now. Yesterday I slept - I took a 3 plus hour nap during the afternoon, and then slept from 8:30 to nearly 4:30 this morning. The heaviness that was hanging on me since Thursday night has lifted. I feel more clear, more here. I am home!<br />
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I went for my first walk since being home yesterday morning with Steve. Perfect timing in every way, and the sun was out. A golden autumn morning that turned into wind, dark clouds and rain right after we walked. As I walked, I could feel my body move within itself. What had become stagnant sitting on the plane for 12 hours, flying at superfast speeds, and then feeling jetlagged for 3 days, began to move and shift to release its grip. I felt even more tired when I got home from the walk, but I knew it was the stagnancy moving through. I love to walk. Have I shared that before?! I simply love to walk. Walking is my quiet space, my meditation, my home. I love to walk alone, and I love to walk with loved ones and friends. Getting to walk with Steve yesterday gave us a chance to have a deeper conversation about my Camino, for him to ask me good questions, and for me to ponder and reflect on what he was asking me. Walking slows us down, and allows us to move and travel at a speed that our bodies inherently and naturally move. I feel integrated, whole, and connected when I walk - to myself, my Self, the person(s) I am walking with, the Earth, and Spirit.<br />
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Steve asked me several really good questions, one of them being "What are you bringing home from the Camino?" Good question. What am I bringing home?<br />
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Wow...I just had to go and visit my emails, Facebook, and my calendar to let that question percolate. I could begin to answer it yesterday while walking, but to answer it here and now by writing it feels like a daunting task.<br />
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I may have to spiral around with thoughts and impulses that come up so that I can get to the core of the question and the core of my answer.<br />
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I am bringing home that I am a peregrina, a pilgrim. I love to walk. I love to walk the Camino. I love the Camino. I mentioned in an earlier blog that last year I fell in love with the Camino, and this year I got to develop a deeper relationship with it and cultivate a deep love. For me, the Camino is magical, profound, magnetic, resonant. I just love walking the Camino - every day in every way. It resonates deep within my body, and deep within my soul. It just does. It just is. I couldn't even begin to explain why or how. It just is.<br />
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This admission of my love for the Camino is opening up my desire, actually my Desire. Feeling into how I feel about the Camino is offering me the opportunity to feel, and know, and acknowledge, and own - what I truly, deeply desire from my heart and soul. I am re-connecting with my Desire.<br />
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For me, right now and in this very moment, this is the essence of what I am bringing home from the Camino. My Desire. The Desire and longing, and wanting, and dreaming, from inside of me, from my Self and my Soul. Not what others want for me, or what I should want, but what I want and Desire.<br />
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The split between me and what I desire is healing. I can now feel, and know what it is that I desire. I don't have to push it away, minimize it, disregard it. I can just accept and acknowledge it, actually allow it to just be.<br />
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Desire is how our Soul communicates to us. It is the guiding light that shines the next step on our divine path for us. Without Desire, we have no rudder to steer or keep us on our path. Each and all of us has a sacred path and task that is ours, and only ours, to fulfill. How can we truly know, deep within our bellies and our being, what our sacred task is without Desire? It shines the light and illuminates the path, the way to fulfill the sacred task(s).<br />
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More to be explored...<br />
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Suseya!<br />
SarahSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-30629271571623143642010-11-02T23:28:00.000-07:002010-11-02T23:30:06.139-07:00View of Notre Dame from our hotel room as Paris wakes up!<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TNEBbsc_LnI/AAAAAAAABL8/dk_V9EvAxmM/s1600/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAxMzUtMjAxMDExMDMtMDcyNC5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-706140"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TNEBbsc_LnI/AAAAAAAABL8/dk_V9EvAxmM/s320/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAxMzUtMjAxMDExMDMtMDcyNC5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-706140" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535206992315887218" /></a></p>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerrySarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-1045179990137101752010-11-02T07:10:00.001-07:002010-11-02T07:10:39.333-07:00The pilgrimage shifts and changes, and continues to guide and provide.When you come off the Camino, the pace of life inevitably picks up. For 25 days, we walked at most 25 or so kilometers a day, over 6 to 8 hours. Since we rented our little Renault car on Saturday evening, we've traveled about 600 or 700 kilometers in the same amount of time. We have driven down along the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean Sea, and now are over east of Marseilles. That's a lot of ground covered in a very short amount of time.<p>A very different pilgrimage from the Camino, but still a pilgrimage. What are we doing in France? We are following an inspired path to honor and explore the sacred feminine, yet in a different way from when we walked. Now, we are visiting specific sites that offer us a very specific connection to the sacred feminine. When we walked the Camino, every step was for the sacred feminine. It was a more inward journey. It felt like each step was an invitation and an invocation.<p>On the train to Paris:<p>Last year I walked the last 170 kilometers of El Camino de Santiago and then traveled by train the Celtic Camino. I traveled from Santiago up through France to Scotland in 9 days. This year I walked for nearly a month and only got to the border of Spain and France from Santiago! It's all so relative - time and distance wise. <p>When you travel on a pilgrimage by car or train, the destinations become what is important. The space in between is just somewhere to travel through. The pilgrimage becomes about the experience of being at the destination. <p>When you walk the pilgrimage path, the time and space inbetween is the pilgrimage. Walking slows the experience down to a pace that demands that the time and space expand to become the experience itself. Walking is the pilgrimage. The destination is a part of the experience, a guidepost along the way, and is not, cannot be the experience itself. You get up, you walk, you eat, you walk, you sleep, you walk. That's what you do, you walk. The journey is in the walking. You get up to walk. You eat to walk. You sleep to walk. You move to walk. It's so simple. <p>I love to walk. I loved getting to walk for 25 days. I. Just want to keep walking...and walking. I deeply appreciate the simple act of walking. I get to experience all of who I am when I walk - who I am as divine, who I am as human; my fears, doubts, and concerns - my love, faith, and trust; my thinking and my thoughts; my movement and my feelings; my aches and pains, my joys and gratitude. All of me shows up when I walk.<p>The walking creates the journey, and the journey is the pilgrimage. The space inbetween, the pause in between the breaths, is the journey. <p>Walking is a natural pace for our human bodies. Yes, we can run to move faster, but on a very basic level, we can only move as fast as our bodies can walk or run. This reality opens up the time-space dynamic so that we can experience what is occurring in the moment, both internally and externally, fully.<p>When we start to move more quickly than our bodies can move on their own, such as with the help of a bicycle, car, train or airplane, we have to focus on the destination. We cannot experience as fully the moment the more quickly we move. And the faster we move, the more important the destination becomes. Not to say that we cannot enjoy the travel, but travel is the means to the end, not the end in and of itself. <p>Getting to experience this dynamic of a walking pilgrimage immediately followed by a car/train pilgrimage now twice, I am profoundly aware of how different they feel to me. While I can appreciate the gifts and qualities of both, and have received so much from both.<p>So, for the past three days, we have been traveling by car from Saint Jean and Bayonne, to Lourdes (unexpected stop on the pilgrimage), Toulouse, Saintes Maries de la Mer, Arles, and Saint Maximin la Sainte-la Baume. The focus was certainly on the destinations, and the time is between fully supported our intention to be at these different wonderful places. <p>I will share what each of these places was about for us and why we chose to go to each of these places another time. As we head to Paris for the last leg of our journey, there is a perfection and a completion with our experiences over the past few days. We were blessed to still be guided and provided for by the Camino. Magic continued to occur, angels showed up just as and when we needed them, and awareness and understandings impulsed for both of us. Somehow, both pilgrimages were necessary for the whole experience. One without the other would have been incomplete. Two complementary aspects that are working together synergistically to create a more profound whole. <p>But that's for the next blog.<p>A bientot!<p>Suseya,<br>Sarah
<br>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerrySarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692160372835659161.post-48112161167131816982010-11-02T04:59:00.000-07:002010-11-02T05:00:00.365-07:00Standing on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea at Saintes Maries de la Mer. Connected with Sainte Sarah in deep and unexpected ways. The journey continues...<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TM_9QBfvSAI/AAAAAAAABLw/vRt1OwXar3s/s1600/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAxMjgtMjAxMDExMDEtMTExMS5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-700366"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kCXr8I9EaE8/TM_9QBfvSAI/AAAAAAAABLw/vRt1OwXar3s/s320/%3D%3Futf-8%3FB%3FSU1HMDAxMjgtMjAxMDExMDEtMTExMS5qcGc%3D%3F%3D-700366" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534920918782920706" /></a></p>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerrySarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15783085167502802983noreply@blogger.com0