Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 30th, 2011

 

Everything

lost is found again;

everything hurt is healed again.

 

 

This truth has the power to retrieve a part of your spirit from the past.

It’s a mantra that’s strong enough to overcome past injuries.

This will be your constant thought today.

 

 

From the Paleolithic era, which ended more than 12,000 years ago, the Goddess appears to have been universally worshiped in a myriad forms across a wide geographical swathe, from Southern Europe to Siberia, around the Mediterranean rim to Egypt and down to Mesopotamia.

One prominent myth concerns Kore (later Persephone), the daughter of Demeter, Greek goddess of vegetation and death.

When Kore is abducted by Hades, god of underworld, Demeter searches for her, accounting for the death of vegetation for several months each year until she’s returned to Demeter.

The cycle of death and rebirth has clear counterparts for the Eleusinian Mystery school of Ancient Greece, where initiates went through rituals during which they died to old ways of being in order to be born again.

These lines from an ancient Kore chant amount to an expression of faith in the eternal reappearance of youth and abundance, the healing of old wounds, and the ability of humans to be reborn in the Spirit.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 29th, 2011

 

To heal the body,

first heal the mind.

 

 

Today is for observation.

Where does your mind wander naturally  – into fear or fantasy, humor or stress?

Follow your mind, and observe where it goes to feed itself.

Do you like what you see?

 

 

The interconnectedness of all life — of humans and nature; of the earth and the universe; of physical, mental, and spiritual faculties — is a given in most Eastern religions as well as in Native American beliefs and the primal religions of Africa and Australia.

Living in harmony with nature opens the way to environmental responsibility, and to respecting our natural human cycles, which are tied not only to the season, but also to our internal clock based on the diurnal rhythms of night and day.

Rising with the sun, going to sleeping a few hours after sunset, and eating foods that are locally grown and appropriate to the season are simple ways of attuning to the season are simple ways of attuning to the cycles of nature.

All these spiritual traditions also finda a strong link between physical health and spiritual well-being.

The more spiritually centered and balanced you are, the less chance you have to accumulate the stresses that are destructive of the body.

Negative mental states such as anger, jealousy, and dishonesty, which all spiritual traditions teach us to avoid, also cause severe stress and, ultimately illness.

By healing the mind of its destructive thoughts and impulses, we stand a much better chance of keeping the body whole and healthy.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 28th, 2011

 

The soul is on Earth

for its own delight.

 

 

Consider this amazing possibility: You incarnated on this earth just to experience the joy of being alive.

Do you even know what gives you joy?

Do something about that today.

 

 

Sometimes the simplest wisdom is the hardest to acknowledge — like the fact that pleasure and joy can be beneficial to your health.

When mystical poets such as Rumi and Kabir use objects of beauty and delight, like roses or wine, as metaphors for the Divine, they’re subtly linking the excitement of Earthly pleasures with Divine enjoyment.

Recent medical research seems to agree that what pleases us — beautiful music, delicious food, and soothing aromas — can also improve our health and help us resist illness.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 27th, 2011

 

Love is like a deep pool

that never dries up.

 

 

You have more to give than you realize.

The only expectation you should have in giving to others is what you expect of yourself.

That’s how you stay replenished.

 

 

Taosim is a supremely practical, Earth-centered tradition whose teachings and practices often reflect the natural world in surprising ways.

Many of the Chinese martial arts and exercise systems, such as qi ging and kung fu, are based on close observation of animals, birds, and insects.

The Tao Te Ching, the principale text of Taoism, hardly seems like sacred scripture at all.

Consisting of 81 pithy chapters — none more than a page, and some just a few lines — it’s full of practical advice couched in poetic allusion and metaphor.

It has probably been translated into English more often than any other Eastern text, each version subtly different from the others.

Chapter 4 begins, for example, in Robert Henrick’s scholarly translation, “The Way [Tao] is empty: yet when you use it, you never need fill it again.”

Stephen Mitchell,  a popular translator who doesn’t always know the language of the originals, renders the same line more freely: “The Tao is like a well: used but never used up.”

But both convey the same spiritual principle: Divine energy is inexhaustible; only our limited, time-based conception makes it seem finite.

Just as a well is replenished magically from the underground water table, love and grace that flow from a Divine source are inexhaustible.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 26th, 2011

 

Help others quietly, without

expecting gratitude or rewards.

 

 

Let the healing power of your spirit run through your hands as you reach to touch another, but say nothing to the person you help.

Learn to give invisibly.

 

 

When we move the focus of our attention from ourselves to others, we also remove an enormous burden from our backs — the need to satisfy our unrealistically high expectations.

As the Dalai Lama might out it, compassion is its own reward.

There’s no merit in helping others out of a desire for acclaim.

If recognition comes, that’s all right, but to expect it is to seek self-aggrandizement.

Modern authorities on the spiritual life, such as Ram Daas and Ken Wilber, have observed that genuine enlightenment always manifests as compassion (perhaps a better word for mercy), which goes hand in hand with a desire to be of service to others.

The benefit to yourself comes in creating a circle of compassion in which you will ultimately be included.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – by request

 

Whatever is

expose to the light itself becomes light.

 

 

Invoke Divine Light to shine within you and reach into your shadow areas.

Allow the healing power of this Light to dissolve all that wounds your spirit, and so restore your health.

 

 

When St. Paul wrote his Letter to Ephesians, he was encouraging his new community of spiritual seekers to avoid “works of darkness” and to expose such deeds wherever they found them, because “when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible” (5:13-14).

The imagery of light is common to all the mystical literature of the world, because saints and mystics have said repeatedly that what they experience as direct communion with the Divine is so often characterized by blinding light.

Paul would know; his conversion took place after he was literally struck blind for several days.

The deeper meaning of Paul’s statement is that by placing ourselves in the light and exposing our thoughts and actions to the light — whether we imagine that as the Light of God, Buddha nature, the Universe, or our own inner Light, our Highest Potential — we eventually convert our very being to Light.

As the Buddha and the book of Proverbs agree, what we think is what we become.

Indulging our darker impulses leads only to dullness and confusion.

Keeping our thoughts and actions in the light both lightens our load and lights our way.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 25th, 2011

 

The root cause of all disease

is a negative attitude about

taking care of yourself.

 

 

How do you define “taking care of yourself”?

Create a new self-care practice today.

Observe you comfort level when it comes to being good to yourself.

Discomfort is a wise teacher.

 

 

The Ayurvedic tradition of India teaches that the main reason we get sick can be reduced to a lazy or perverse mental attitude, which lead us to ignore the basic principle of good health.

That can mean not only eating the wrong foods and ignoring the cycles of nature, but also failing to control our negative emotions.

As we now know, thousands of years after the wisdom of Ayurveda was first gathered, the stress caused by anxiety, overwork, anger, and grief creates even more damage to the body than a poor or inapropriate diet.

The Greek Christian mystics believe that our negative traits and emotions, which they call “elementals,” accumulate around us and reinforce themselves, gathering ever more negative energy in a kind of downward spiral.

Yet even though we know better, we sometimes act as if we’re not worthy of a truly healthful, supportive life, as if we don’t deserve to be taken care of.

The cure is simple: Pay attention to everything you do that has the potential to affect your health, from food to stress.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 24th, 2011

 

A cheerful expression brings

joy to the heart, and good news

gives health to the bones.

 

 

Here’s a task: Be the bearer of only good news today.

In living out this task, note whether you find it difficult to maintain.

And if so, discover why within yourself.

 

 

The healing value of a kind glance and positive reinforcement was known to the ancient Hebrews over 3,000 years ago.

It shouldn’t seem at all odd that people living in a culture with far fewer distractions and monumentally less information to master could bring their minds and hearts to focus on what really matters, and generate wisdom that is supported by recent medical and scientific research.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 23rd, 2011

 

The healthy person lives

in harmony with nature.

 

 

You create harmony by making choices that feel right to both mind and heart.

Consider one choice you need to make today — no matter how insignificant — and make it harmoniously.

 

 

The interconnectedness of all life — of humans and the universe; of physical, mental, and spiritual faculties — is a given in most Eastern religions as well as in Native American beliefs and the primal religions of Africa and Australia.

Living in harmony with nature opens the way to environmental responsibility, and to respecting our natural human cycles, which are tied not only to the seasons, but also to our internal clock based on the diurnal rhythm of night and day.

Rising with the sun, going to sleep a few hours after sunset, and eating foods that are locally grown and appropriate to the season are simple ways of attuning to the cycles of nature.

All these spiritual traditions also find a strong link between physical health and spiritual well-being.

The more spiritually centered and balanced you are, the less chance you have to accumulate the stresses that are destructive of the body.

Negative mental states such as anger, jealousy, and dishonesty, which all spiritual traditions teach us to avoid, also cause severe stress and, ultimately, illness.

By healing the mind of its destructive thoughts and impulses, we stand a much better chance of keeping the body whole and healthy.

 

Healing Oracle Cards – Nov 21st, 2011

 

Speak or act with negativity,

and pain follows. Speak or act with a pure heart, and happiness follows.

 

 

Be mindful of being positive in all you say and do.

Know that each of your thoughts and deeds has the power to heal you — and those around you — so watch them closely without judging.

 

 

Indian religion is well known for its doctrine of karma, an immutable law of cause and effect whereby every thought and action has consequences, either in this life or — according to the lifetime.

The Buddha, who grew up steeped in the Indian worldview, developed a somewhat different understanding of karma and reincarnation, but he also clearly understood the potentially negative impact of the mind on our lives.

The Dhammapada, a collection of the sayings of the Buddha, begins: “All states have mind as their forerunner, mind is their chief, and they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a defiled mind, then suffering follows one even as the wheel follows the hoof of the draft-ox.”

And, he added, “If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, then happiness follows as one’s shadow that does not leave one.”

A similar insight was voiced about 500 years before the Buddha in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Proverbs (23:7): “As one thinks in his heart, so is he.”

But no one understood better than the Buddha the power of the mind to shape our emotional states and subsequent actions.

For that reason, almost all schools of Buddhism teach some form of meditation designed to get us outside of the thinking mind, to break its stranglehold over our ability to exist joyfully in the moment.