IMAGINATION OR ILLUSION?
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Imagination or Illusion? This is the question, I think that is, really awesome to ask when we're in Mercury Retrograde moments, when we're in eclipse season moments, because I think, for me for example, when it's Mercury Retrograde season and eclipse season, I get all these really strong creative impulses that I feel like I have to act on immediately, and actually, those creative impulses might be coming in for me to just ground and land into them a little bit and not really act on them immediately. I have to laugh a little bit here, because I'm saying this to you, but it's really something I need to put into practice for myself and remind myself to do. Just because it comes in, doesn't mean I need to act on it right away. I think that imagination is incredibly important for us. You know, we have this beautiful quote that has been given to us from William Blake, "Imagination is eternity," and I think that's so incredibly true, you know, imagination is eternity. I think when we start out on a spiritual path and we get really clear insights about different things in our lives, I think one of the things a lot of us more skeptical, pragmatic ones do is start to doubt ourselves. "Is this real? Am I just making this all up?" And I wonder if we get into a place of presence where, maybe it doesn't matter so much, if it's real or imagined. Maybe reality and the imaginal realm is actually occurring all at the same time and all at the cusp of the present moment. I really feel as though it's... there's something about imagination that comes with non-attachment. There's something about imagination where we just allow ourselves to experience it. We have the invitation to experience the present moment. I feel that imagination is one of the great gifts of being human and being here at this time, and denying ourself that gift, and only having the faith and trust in what we can see and touch and hear, I think robs us of a very natural gift of what it means to be a sentient being at this time. And I think imagination is also like a spark of inspiration. When you hang out with the most inspired of our population, the children, you notice that they're very easily in that place of imagination -- imaginal play, imaginal story-telling, imaginal art creation, imaginal song creation -- and that's a very natural and beautiful place to be. I wonder why, as we get older, we become so calloused that we have to -- or we believe that we have to -- deny ourselves of that experience. I think it could be really profound or amazing if we could allow ourselves to stay in that imaginal space, but how do we know the difference between imagination and illusion? I think that imagination comes with that presence -- you know -- when a child is done playing, they leave behind that imagination and go into the next thing, right? Illusion -- there's a stickiness to illusion -- and illusion, a lot of times, is wrought with tethers either to the past or to the future. If illusion is bringing a stickiness towards the past, perhaps it's also coming in with a very strong sense of victim consciousness or scarcity consciousness. If it's too attached to the future, perhaps it's coming in with a really strong sense of anxiousness and a needing to prove who we are or what we identify with in one way or another so others will perceive us in one specific way. I actually think that the moment that we adhere to any one specific way of identifying ourselves, we immediately come into a place of illusion, actually. And now, you know, there's so much focus on identifying ourselves, you know, "what's your image?" "What's your brand?" "What do you want to be defined as?" "What do you believe in?" "What do you adhere to?" Identify yourself. Identify yourself. Identify yourself. And I think that that need to constantly identify ourselves does push us more and more into a place of illusion, and therefore, also, separation and when we are more separate, we are just very susceptible to not feeling worthy, not feeling enough, you know, we become very susceptible to being controlled. What's worse is that, the more we adhere to illusions of our identity or illusions that we feel we have to believe in in any regard -- in the past or in the future -- we can really begin to come into a strong place of judgment -- of ourselves, of others -- and, I think, illusions will always bring us into traps, you know, and there's a lot of traps out there for us. There's a lot of traps out there for us. You watch, you look close, you'll see them. You'll see that there's a lot of traps out there. So, my sense is that imagination is that initial spark of inspiration, and it's a place that we can visit and allow ourselves to experience, just like presence is. And the more that we allow ourselves to be in and experience presence, the more we are able to come and go from that place of imagination. So, I want to encourage you to be really aware of illusions you carry. Even if the illusions you carry is telling you that you are the incarnation of some great being or something like that -- you know, that's still an illusion and adhering to the past. So, I want to encourage you to be aware of illusions that you carry because this keeps you really separate from experiencing the absolute bliss that is available to you within the energy of your own imagination.
One of the most powerful, beautiful, and clear places I have ever been for healing is Lago D'Orta in the mountains of Northern Italy. Facilitating this retreat among the the baby foxes and the beautiful bees is one of my favorite parts of the work I get to do in this lifetime.
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The retreat is already filling up so if you are interested in being activated by the elements, I invite you to join me where the crystal clear waters meet the divine mountainside for our sixth annual Element Retreat.
IN-PERSON MEDICINE READINGS
I have a limited number of in-person Medicine Readings available on my upcoming travels to Los Angeles, New York, and London.