Over the past few months I have been asked many questions about Smudging/Saging for cleansing negative energy. I decided to write just a few basics down from my own thoughts and experiences by using this beautiful technique. Smudging or Saging is a technique of powerful cleansing that comes from Native American Traditions. Through smudging we are using the spirits or elements of sacred plants to drive away negative energy and bring balance back into our lives, living spaces and our physical bodies. Smudging clears away the psychic, intangible subtle energies that gravitate to us and do not leave of their own accord. This energy can pull us down physically and mentally, making us tired, agitated and in some cases causing physical illness. The spiritual cleansing of smudging is a unique, beautiful, ritualistic way of bringing balance back into our lives. When I smudge or cleanse an area or myself, I use white sage (this is just my personal preference,) and sweet grass. Sage drives away negative energy, spirits, and influences. The sweet grass then attracts and brings in the positive energy once the negative has been cleared. This is for basic simple clearing and balancing,,, in some cases there are stronger herbs/incenses used. To smudge, you use a bundle of sage, there are many types out there to choose from, so find what speaks personally to you, an abalone shell or another heat proof dish to catch ashes and a braid of sweet grass. Loose leaf sage can also be used, again it is personal preference. It is always good to open windows and doors and allow the freedom of air to flow through as you smudge. Light the sage and let it burn for several seconds then gently blow the flame allowing the smoke to billow from the herb. I usually begin at the Northern side of a space and work clockwise (again personal,) as you slowly move about the space moving the sage in a circular motion, set your intention firmly,,, you can call on whatever Deity your personal faith allows or that you are comfortable with to help guide you, you can call on the elements of the plant,,, Angels, guides, God/Goddess,,,again this is your own personal choice,,, State your intention for all negative energy/entities/spirits to be cleared from your space and that they be returned to their "right and perfect place." Say your intentions firmly, whether they be out loud and spoken or in your mind,,, know that they will be followed,,, when your have done the whole space, thank your Deity's for there presence, guidance and help, then sit in silence and reflect on the peace and tranquility you have brought to your home/business or wherever you may be. You will be amazed at the lightness and the feeling of serenity that smudging can bring, it is a beautiful ritual that brings you to focus. Namaste, Dodie Clelland SAGAPS Case Manager/Investigator/ Sensitive "Stop, listen, breathe, you may just hear creation speak"
I had the pleasure of attending an SRV (Scientific Remote Viewing,) workshop this past weekend and I must say to my surprise it was a very unique experience, so I thought I would share with you all a bit about this scientific method of reaching the psychic mind. As a natural sensitive I was honestly not sure about this method and how it might interfere with my normal abilities. I had some trepidation about combining "science," with "psychic," abilities not knowing if this process would be crossing lines and confusing the way information usually comes to me. Surprising to me it did the exact opposite. Scientific Remote Viewing: Underpinning all of the research for SRV is the hypothesis that all humans are "Composit Beings," meaning we possess two fundamental aspects, that of a body and a soul. The soul in SRV is called the "Subspace Aspect," of a person. The thought is that as composit beings (in our physical bodies,) the physical stimuli of our five physical senses tend to dominate our awareness. Our five senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell, overshadow the more intuitive awareness that originates from the "subspace/soul," aspect of ourselves. Our soul voices are deafened by the noise of our five physical senses. SRV uses specialized techniques to break through the noise. These techniques focus on shifting a persons awareness away from the physical five senses ever so gently toward the "subspace/soul," aspect. Once a persons awareness is no longer focused on the physical side of life this happens naturally and automatically. An SRV session starts with a form of meditation (transcendental meditation is widely used) where the conscious mind meets the unconscious mind and unlike my usual way of receiving information which normally I would only go into an unconscious state of mind, the two worked together, which was a very different feeling and way of receiving. Once meditative state is achieved, it is followed by a very precise form of protocols to gather information from a set target. It is a natural process for a deeply settled mind. While in a deep, relaxed mind the remote viewer allows their mind to roam across the fabric of the Universe, and the results are usually very exact. SRV is a scientific tool for connecting to the "soul mind," it was used by the military for over 20 years, and to this day "The Farsight Institute," based in Atlanta Ga. is continuing the research and development of the science of consciousness using remote viewing as it's primary research tool. As I started the SRV workshop I thought I was in for trouble, that a strict set of protocols might unsettle an already sensitive mind/soul. In fact it opened a realm of possibilities and abilities that I had not yet accessed and gave me a way to trigger my mind into accessing the information I was seeking, I would recommend this learning process to anyone who wishes to strengthen the abilities that we are all born with. Dodie Clelland SAGAPS Case Manager/Investigator/ Sensitive "Stop, listen, breathe, you may just hear creation speak"
Now that we have moved through October and Samhain/Halloween has passed, I am wondering how many of you out there felt the very sheerness of the veil at this time. It seemed everywhere I turned people were telling me stories of seeing people they had lost, or having unexplainable things taking place in there homes, and just having a much bigger sense of awareness that we may not be alone as much as we think. I was very pleasantly surprised though when several of these people were actually skeptics of the Paranormal. Those of us who work in this field (even the skeptics) tend to have some type of awareness or belief for some reason or another as to why we are searching but I often wonder how surprising it must be for those who have no belief at all, have never experienced something that they cannot explain away, to suddenly face the unknown, to suddenly have that moment when we they just have to say wow, I can't believe what just happened. I myself cannot remember a time when I did not just "know," so this truly is an enigma to me. I would love to hear of some of those "aha!" moments, so if any of you out there have any to share please do so. The veil is still thin and the and the presence of those on the other side is still extremely strong, so if you are feeling a pull, feeling a special connection with a lost loved one, just enjoy the moment, acknowledge that you feel there presence and that you are happy they have blessed you with it, because more than likely they are just letting you know you are loved......... Dodie
"Stop, listen, breathe, you may just hear creation speak"
Our dreams and hopes can only become reality if we ourselves believe: I recognize that there is one omni present Divine energy of love that defines all things. I am an expression of this divine energy, I am a divine child of God/Goddess. I am that I am. I accept abundant love, this essential energy fulfills my dreams automatically. I am grateful every moment for the fulfillment of my desires. Blessings.......may all your dreams become your reality! Dodie "Stop, listen, breathe, you may just hear creation speak"
Most people who meditate or do yoga, tai chi, any type of method of clearing the mind body and soul, believe in some form of grounding. Grounding connects us to the earth energy to our basic mortal self. While meditating we have a tendency to float up and away from our earthly bodies, by staying grounded we can focus our energy on a specific goal that we want to reach through our meditation practices. The Buddha sat in serene and humble dignity on the ground, with the sky above him and around him, as if to show us that in meditation you sit with an open, skylike attitude of mind, yet remain present, earthed, and grounded. The sky is our absolute nature, which has no barriers and is boundless, and the ground is our reality, our relative, ordinary condition. The posture we take when we meditate signifies that we are linking absolute and relative, sky and ground, heaven and earth, like two wings of a bird, integrating the skylike deathless nature of a mind and the ground of our transient, mortal nature. -Sogyal Rinpoche There are several methods of grounding, one of the most popular is the visualization of becoming a tree, a solid stoic part of nature, you imagine roots forming from beneath your feet and growing deep into the earth, you can release all of your tension through these roots and let them be transmuted by Mother Earth herself, and also allow her to return energy up through the root system and throughout your body, this grounding method can be extremely powerful at times and very effective. Here is a method of grounding that I learned a few years ago from my beautiful teacher and friend Atreiya. She developed this particular form of grounding for those of us who had a hard time staying directly in the earth energy. Sit in a comfortable position, if possible have your feet connected to the ground/floor. Quietly close your eyes, uncross all limbs and sit in an open position, relaxing all muscles. Take in 3 to 5 deep cleansing breaths, with each breath feel your muscles, starting at the top of your head ending at your feet, just release and let go of all the tension they are holding. With each exhale just feel your body relaxing deep into itself. Now begin to visualize a beautiful ball of light just above your head, this can be any color, the color that presents itself to you is what you need at that moment, slowly focus on this ball of light, expand it and enlarge it, then just let it be. Now visualize another ball of light just below your feet, and repeat the same process. Once you have both balls of light gently spinning above and below, you are going to connect them to one another. Atreiya always calls this, "connecting Heaven and Earth through our bodies." Gently imagine the top of your head (crown chakra) Opening, then slowly pull a beam of that beautiful light down from the top ball. Bring this light down through your crown, feeling it penetrate every cell in your body as it passes through. Bring it down through your face, your neck, shoulders, arms, hands, torso, down your legs and out your feet to connect with the ball of light below you. Let this light fill your whole body with peace and serenity. You then repeat this process by bringing the beam of light from the ball below upward through your body in exactly the same way, connecting it to the ball of light above you. Now sit in this energy for a few moments, feel it pulsate throughout your body, touching every part of you, then slowly expand the light outside of your body and into your auric energy field, take 2 to 3 deep cleansing breaths and with each exhale expand the light into a ball of protection around you. You are now grounded and ready to meditate, or communicate with the sentient beings around us :) This is only one method but I can tell you from great experience that it can be an extremely effective, personal and physical experience, if anyone decided to give it a try please do let me know of your experiences, I would love to hear about them! Namaste, Dodie Clelland SAGAPS Case Manager/Investigator/ Sensitive Sources: Atreiya Owner: Spirits Child Metaphysical shop and healing center Sogyal Rinpoche/meditation "Stop, listen, breathe, you may just hear creation speak"
Hindu Essence of the Chakra In this article I am going to try to cover some basics on the Hindu/Tantric/Yogi names and meanings of the chakra's as requested. Please know that this is not my area of expertise my own knowledge was limited to basically the Hindu names and the associated elements and emotions, but I did do the research and I think have come up with some interesting things to share. I will post my references at the end of this article so those of you who wish may continue learning. In Ancient Hindu Teachings the Chakras are seen as beautiful Lotus Flowers, (Anahata) each with different symbols representing many things. As these Lotus move up the body the petals also grow in number as it ascends the life energy upward through our bodies energy centers. The Chakras also each correspond with an element, sound, breath, plane of existence and many more. We will cover just a few of these at this time. Hindu believe that through meditation/yoga, a person can activate the Chakras and awaken there life force energy which is called, "Kundalini." The Sanskrit meaning for Kundalini is, "coiled like a snake." This energy is said to lay dormant in the first Chakra, with very few people ever coming to the realization that it exist. As we raise our consciousness through meditation we awaken and activate this sacred energy, it moves up the spine clearing everything on its way and can sometimes be an extremely powerful physical presence. It is very important for a person to fully understand this energy before releasing it, for sometimes it can be overwhelming and uncomfortable for the novice practitioner. Below I have put together a quick (hopefully,) guide to the Ancient Hindu names and brief meanings of the Chakras, or Lotus Energy Centers. Although they are similar in many ways to the more modern new age Chakra meanings, the ancient meanings to me at least were much more in depth and the original names are beautiful. I will begin with the first Chakra (base or root) and work up to the seventh Chakra. Muladhara Chakra (base or root) Located at the base of the spine this Chakra is the root center of the physical experience. It represents Mother Earth, the four directions and four dimensions. The goal of this Chakra is survival and the human experience. It's plane is the physical plane, it has four petals and the element is Earth. Svadhisthana Chakra (sacral) In the ancient teachings the aspects of this Chakra are creation, procreation and family. It's vital breath is "Prana," is resides in the astral plane, has six petals and it's element is water. Manipura (solar plexus) This Chakra is considered to be the life force Chakra. It is the "seat of fire," in our bodies. This Chakra correlates to longevity, immortality and power in the ancient teachings. Its vital breath is "samana," it's plane is the Celestial Plane, it has ten petals and the element associated is fire. Anahata (Heart) The place of pure balance, this is what I perceive the meanings of this Chakra to be. It is the connection between the three lower Chakras to the three upper Chakras. This Chakra was said to help us release attachments to the physical world. It's vital breath is Prana. It resides on the Plane of Balance, it has 12 petals and is associated with the element of Air. Vishudda (throat) In Ancient beliefs this Chakra is the union of all five elements. Earth, Air, Fire and Water dissolve into Akasha (spirit.) It is also considered the Chakra of communication, with or without words. The vital breath is Udana, the plane of existence is human, it has 16 petals and its element is Ether (Akasha.) Ajna (Brow or Third Eye) Ajna represents the Conscience. There is balance between the solar and lunar energy bodies, it brings insight into the future and is the center of Clairvoyance. Sahasrara (Crown) This Chakra is known as "Lotus of a Thousand Petals." This is where immortality is achieved. It is said that here we can achieve a trance like state and enter the space between Hemispheres. The ancient teachers believed that by reaching a state of living in the Sahasrara Chakra you no longer will be confined by "human belief systems," you will attain an ascended state of awareness such as Buddha, Shiva, Shakti and many others who are believed to be Ascended Masters. You can achieve an ascended state of pureness. There is an abundance of knowledge that can be learned concerning the Chakras. Each have a story to tell in the Hindu/Yogi traditions I recommend researching them. Whether it be the traditional and ancient essence of the energy or the more metaphysical new age way of relating them to life the Chakras are a part of us and we a part of them, working with them, acknowledging them, and learning as much as you can will help you in every way to become a more balanced, peaceful person who can find serenity in every way. Dodie Clelland SAGAPS Case Manager/Investigator/ Sensitive References: "Stop, listen, breathe, you may just hear creation speak"
Hey everyone, as I was sitting here putting together the last article on Chakra's, I thought it would be a really good idea to post and ask those of you who are following our blog what you would like to learn/read about. Do you have any areas of interest that you would like us to explore? We are very open to suggestions and if we don't have the answers we will do our best to find them for you! So please let us know and we will try to accomodate all of your needs :) Blessings, Dodie Clelland SAGAPS Case Manager/Investigator Sensitive "Stop, listen, breathe, you may just hear creation speak"
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