Nature

The above photo is of a park/water runoff storage at the end of my street.  Reggie and I walk by there every day and some days, the colors are so vivid and bright, they fill me with a sense of joy and energy.  I take photos of these same trees at different times of the day with the light on the leaf colors so brilliant.

When I turn to drive up to my street, the above photo shows the beauty of the trees and the area.  It makes me so happy to see the area where I live, to see the trees and the majesty with which they stand and display their beautiful colors and shapes.

Every morning when I walk a few more leaves have fallen off the trees, photo below, and I cherish them all, the ones that are still on and those that are laying on the ground. Some trees have released all of their leaves and are in a rest mode having completed their work for the year.  They have been vassals to be used by Spirit for our great enjoyment and well-being.

The trees remind me of a song, I Will Be, by Michael Gott and of why I came back to Earth after my second near-death experience.  The trees remind me that they, and I, am here to be used for whatever Spirit needs of me.  The below words touch me so deeply as does the music.

 

Here I am

A vassal to be used

Whatever Spirit needs of me

I will be, I will be, I will be.

 

Here I stand

My heart is here to serve

Wherever love is leading me

I will go, I will go, I will go.

 

Here

Here I am

 A vassal to be used

Whatever Spirit needs of me

I will be, I will be, I will be.

I was almost home from an early morning walk after the rain with the clouds still hovering over the area, when I noticed a heart-shaped opening with wing-like clouds, pure blue sky, and the sun back-lighting the clouds.  Spirit greeting me and blessing me with the message that I am always enfolded in wings on high in the Light.  It took my breath away and I stopped to just be with the moment.

And so, here Reggie and I are, vassals to be used, our hearts are here to serve wherever love is leading us, we will go, we will go, we will go; whatever Spirit needs of us, we will be, we will be, we will be.  Nancy and Reggie♥

 

Autumn began September 22 and evoked some changes in me as it always does.  These changes come from Spirit through nature as I am so deeply connected to it.  The above photo is of Mount Shasta with the autumn trees.  Nature-Speak by Ted Andrews has such a beautiful description of what occurs within nature, and within me, that I quote the following:

The autumn forces become active, in a manner that triggers opportunities for transition.  Its energies create a time to determine new values and make new decisions.  It is the harvesting time for what has previously passed; a time for purifying the mind and to begin the process of transmuting that which needs transmuted. …Every day of the fall is the time of holy preparation.  Archangel Michael is associated with the autumn season. 

During this time of the year, the energies can assist us in the following ways:

            ♥In purifying and transmuting the lower.

            ♥In overcoming obstacles and sewing new seeds        

            ♥In opening the inner temples of awareness.

            ♥In cleansing and purifying the heart chakra, the seat of much karma.

            ♥In more easily turning our attention from the outer to the inner worlds, thus aligning with spirits of Nature and the angelic kingdom.

            ♥In determining what still needs to be transmuted for the greatest growth in the coming year.

            ♥In developing harmony between the laws of love and karma.

            ♥In initiating a time of weighing, measuring, determining values, and decisions for the physical and spiritual life of the individual. 

            ♥In manifesting opportunities to reap the rewards of past sowing, and to sow seeds for the future.

In Ted Andrews’ book Animal-Wise, he provides the meaning of environments which gives me the opportunity to gain even greater insight into their role within my life, so I quote the following:

♥Deserts:  hidden life; adaptation; ability to use resources available; hardiness and struggles; purification.

            ♥Forests:  primal feminine; growth free of controls and constrictions; the unconscious mind; magnifying of creative forces.

            ♥Gardens:  Nature in miniature and controlled; abilities to create and nurture life; the opening of doors  to Nature.

            ♥Lakes and Ponds:  opening to the spirit world; an oasis; nourishment of body, mind and spirit.  Help us tap new waters within ourselves.  Enable us to bring forth the magic within the waters of our own being.

            ♥Marshland:  emotional stages of life; bringing fresh air into the emotional life; decomposition and new growth.

            ♥Meadows:  abundance and fertility; balance of life; place of silent and soft growth; nourishment.

            ♥Mountains:  power and loftiness of spirit; discovering our own spiritual powers; outward expressing and assertiveness; overcoming obstacles for spiritual attainment; communion with spirits 

            ♥Oceans:  the subconscious mind and the primal feminine; the womb, mother, and woman; new tides and depths of possibilities.    

            ♥Plains:  openness and freedom; journeys to new homes and possibilities; sensitivity and exposure to new winds and to subtle changes.

            ♥Rivers:  creation and the flow of time; gatherings for quenching thirst (spiritual or physical); process of evolution at play; past and future at play. 

            ♥Valleys:  fertility and new life; a neutral zone for developing our creativity; mythical home of priest and priestess.

In looking at the moves in my life, I went from the plains to the mountains, to the desert by the ocean, to the mountains with forests, lakes, meadows, rivers, and valleys, to the coastal mountains with the forests and ocean close, again to the desert, then back to the mountains with forests, lakes, meadows, rivers, and valleys.  In each place I have had a garden around my house or as many pots with ferns and flowers as the porch would hold.  As I write this, I feel such love from these places enfold me that it brings tears to my eyes at the tenderness with which I am held.  They are so grateful that I recognize them and embrace the sacred gifts they so generously give.  Spirit is reflected to me and all in so many reverent and magical ways through Nature.

With autumn, activities that I have been doing for the last three years are changing.  For a while, I am stopping everything, just to allow myself to become still and see what Spirit brings for me.  It is holy and sacred to me to just be with Spirit each moment to listen without the busyness of doing.  I enter the inner temples to purify, transmute, and open in a deeper, clearer way.  I emerge with a wholeness that is soft, simple, and genuine.

Autumn is the time I feel the strong call to go to Mount Shasta as I immerse myself with all of nature there communing with Spirit.  A peace embraces every part of my Beingness like the end of day in the valleys.  This peace renews me in ways that nothing else does as I traverse the meadows, marshlands, lakes, rivers, forests, and mountains of that area.  I am infused with the love of Spirit that is like first morning rays of the sun peeking over the mountain.  At day’s end, the cool breezes flow through the darkening forests to bless and caress me with their gentle touch, their fragrant smells, and the sounds of all moving into stillness for the night.  Just as it becomes dark, I like to walk into the edge of the forest just to be in the silence as it opens up a space that becomes so still when I am there.  It welcomes and invites me to bask in its presence.  It is a magical time together with the forest and all therein.

Like the leaves falling off the trees, I lay down the cares of life and say a prayer of gratitude to Spirit for the many gifts to me, known and unknown.  Like the trees, this is a time to rejoice in all that I created in the past and trust that the seeds planted during autumn  will flourish in the future.  I watch a leaf float by me from the Headwaters of the Sacramento River and wonder where it will go.  Spirit will take it to where it can become different and thus help another to grow.  I see me in the leaf.

Oh, how I love nature with all of its seasons and reasons, and how grateful I am that I have such a deep connection to it that fills my life with meaning in ways that uplift to create a mystical and magical world.  The photo below is of trees in the City of Mount Shasta.  Thank you Spirit!

Reggie loves autumn also as he bounds in the leaves that fall from the trees, flinging them up in the air as he looks for wee ones to chase.  He gets so excited when we go to Mount Shasta as there is so much new for him.  He likes the cooler weather when he walks along the rivers and lakes.  The forests have so many wonderful different smells and sounds that draw him.  Being on leash in the forest and along the rivers and lakes hampers his explorations, but he trusts that I keep him safe for a reason.  He is happy just to be in this beautiful sacred place.  Autumn with Spirit in nature wherever we are blesses each of us in ways known and unknown, and we delight in the mystery.  Nancy and Reggie♥

Hurricane Florence has our attention now as do other hurricanes around the world.  Wiktionary defines hurricane as:

 A severe tropical  cyclone in the North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or in the eastern North Pacific off the west coast of Mexico, with winds of 119 km/h (74 miles per hour) or greater accompanied by rain, lightning, and thunder that sometimes moves into temperate latitudes.

 

It surprised me that hurricanes have specific locations.  I ask myself if these are human or Spirit created hurricanes.  What came is that they are related.  Right now, in our nation there are people “hurricaning” for a variety of reasons.  Patti Henry, M.Ed., L.P.C. in her book The Emotionally Unavailable Man, describes “hurricaning” (slightly edited by me in parentheses) as:

 

Raging — hurricaning — is addictive.  It chemically alters your body.  It pumps in tons of adrenalin so you can actually get a rush or a high….  Then after the hurricane, they often crash into exhaustion…. If you are raging at your partner on a regular basis (or the government, politics, police, gas prices, etc.) — hurricaning — you are actually experiencing a drug addiction.  And, like alcohol or cocaine or marijuana or Xanax, adrenalin addiction is destructive, not only to your marriage (family, friends, work, church, social life, etc.), but to your body.  Some people call it the Type A personality where a person is explosive, short-fused, intense.  Study after study shows these people have more heart attacks, more strokes, more accidents.

 

It is like the Hurricane Florence now swirling out of control, affecting, damaging, or destroying everything in its path with its high winds, massive amounts of rain, lightning and thunder.  There is intensely escalating energy, vibration, and frequency from large numbers of people around governmental and political issues involving the nation with focus at the capital on the East Coast that goes out into the atmosphere.  My theory is that it connects to the weather systems in the area and the result is Hurricane Florence.  For the last few years I have observed humanity and the weather patterns that occur.  When I see huge swings in weather, I wonder what is going on with humanity and find there is frequently a correlation between intense issues and the weather.

 

To me this is a call from Spirit to stop our hurricaning and bring ourselves to a place of peace.  A place of peace that is inside me, each person, group, organization, government, and so forth so that the energy, vibration, and frequency that we each emanate does not affect the energy, vibration, and frequency of our nation, the weather, etc., and in turn, the world.  Spirit is inviting us to create a world in which we live in harmony with our differences, so that we create weather systems that are mild rather than extreme.

 

I observe the weather in the Nation and notice that the middle of the country does not have extreme things happening like the West and East Coasts do.  Yes, they have some weather occurrences like storms and tornadoes occasionally, but not to the degree that the coasts do.  The energy, vibration, and frequency of the people in this area appears more stable and more secure in who they are and how they live.  Spirit so clearly reflecting back to them the mirror of what they knowingly or unknowingly send out.

 

This took me back to a time in my life when I was hurricaning and Spirit could not reach me.  I would go on and on about something that I thought needed to be changed, repeating over and over my strong opinion to whoever would listen.  It was attention getting, powerful through the intensity, and made me feel important.  It was addictive.  It seems to me it was also a form of verbal and emotional abuse, whipping with my words and emotions, with little regard for others.  It was a learned pattern that Spirit and others helped me unlearn.  Once changed, my relationships with everyone and everything improved and all aspects of my being relaxed and became softer, my life joyful and peaceful.

Today, I have my opinions and view on things that are private and mine only to share with very few and then in a normal manner.  I have no desire to hurricane any more.  Issues get addressed when needed, then I let them go.  It matters to me as I know it matters to Spirit, that I create a world of joy and harmony for myself which, in turn, helps create it for all.

 

Reggie hurricanes with his barking when squirrels taunt him from the top of the porch rail.  He barks and barks about his upset with the squirrels with his little body all tense and focused.  The neighbors do not like the incessant barking, nor do I.  He has to be stopped at times as he will go on and on until I knock on the patio door, go out, and bring him in.  He has been in this home three years and is now responding well when I knock on the patio door as he stops barking.  This keeps his body energy, vibration, and frequency, and all around him, calmer and in a happy place.  Spirit reminding us to stay in alignment as we are creating our world each moment.  Nancy and Reggie♥