May 23, 2024

My time in Ireland has been powerful. Yes. It generally is. But the amplification of the Ancestral Wisdom Portal has profoundly shifted and intensified sacred connections and
relationships. So many levels and layers and at some point it will be the right time to share more. But at every level and layer it’s all about increasing our capacity to hold and share the Light…the wisdom voice of Divine Spirit.

I was talking with a dear friend in the States yesterday. While I’ve been staying away from the news while I’m here, she’s been following the toxic political landscape. It’s hard to avoid. And again the question came up about what one can do in the face of the traumatic anger and hatred raging through the collective consciousness right now. She reflected that what we are doing is so vitally important. While it seems that holding and sharing our Light may not seem to be active resistance, in fact it is. 

I created this graphic a while back and think I’ve even posted it in a blog. Seems right time to share it again. Sometimes it’s important to affirm and nurture our intentions for a world with more love and joy and peace and Light.

Beannacht,
Judith 

May 12, 2024

Tomorrow I head to Doolin for the first of the Gatherings. As the mystery and magic opens before us, I know we will encounter many unknown blessings. Including the strangers we will meet. I don’t anticipate writing posts for the next while so I offer these words from one of Ireland’s most amazing wisdomkeepers.

What a gift, this journey of sacred unfolding!

Beannacht,
Judith

May 11, 2024

Just one more. For now. I couldn’t resist.

Martha and I enjoyed the Gort River Walk today. The river flows through the center of town and the community has, through largely volunteer efforts, reclaimed the banks of the river as a delightful walk.

Along the walk, we encountered this bench.

The sign reads:

The ‘Happy to Chat’ Bench.
Sit here if you don’t mind someone stopping to say hello!

Moksha. Sometimes you do need to give it a rest.

Bennacht,
Judith

May 10, 2024

And in the end,
the love you take,
is equal to the love you make.
Paul McCartney

Getting ready to travel through airports, the common counsel sisters share with each other is to shield up. I get it. The energy, especially in US airports, can be tense and irritable at best. For those of us who don’t spend much time in such public places, it can be jarring. However I find a more effective approach is to just turn up my Light.

After my time here in Ireland with TaETay in March and our conversations around the Irish moksha energy, I’ve come to think of this as going all Irish on people. Perhaps better to
think of it as going all moksha on people. Basically shining that sense of oneness on people. And I find that if I hold that shining just a bit longer than expected, they respond and the energy shifts.

The End was the last song recorded by all four Beatles and Paul’s lyrics seem a poignant reflection on their time together. For some they may reinforce a belief that love is somehow transactional, getting and giving love in equal measure. But it’s not. It’s reciprocal and the difference is important. When I shine, when I give love to others, it’s not about expecting love coming back in equal measure. But I do find that when I increase my shining there is an increase in what comes back. And that’s rather the point.

In these tense and tumultuous times we often wonder what we can do. We can make moksha. We can shift the energy around us and in that shifting we call to the Light that we all hold that we may all shine our Light a bit brighter.

Beannacht,
Judith

May 9, 2024

Moksha
Interdependence
Oneness

Arriving in Ireland today, I anticipated these encounters, these moments of moksha, a term from my spiritual community that holds the energy of belonging together. An energy that I find rooted in Irish heritage and manifest in how the Irish interact with others. Sometimes as simple as eye contact that says ‘I see you’, a brief yet meaningful interaction. This started last night when we boarded the plane for Shannon Airport. As I made my way down the aisle to my seat, a man held my gaze for a moment, nodded, and said, “You look happy.” I was. He saw me and was compelled to acknowledge me.

There was a sense of moksha from the customs agent who stamped my passport, the agent who pulled me aside to scan my bags and joked about whether I was bringing cannabis into the country, and the men at the Hertz desk where I collected my rental car.

 I thought I recognized the checker at SuperValu where I stopped for groceries on the way to the cottage, but after 24 hours of traveling I was a bit foggy. She spoke first. “Don’t I know you? How long are you home for this time?” And it turns out she does as her partner had helped haul the massive cast iron cooker from the cottage several years ago. And we had a lovely conversation with no concern about those behind me in line, as I find is the way with conventions here. It’s about being together in the moment and people are generally patient with that because they understand the importance of moksha.

I have often assumed this sense of moksha comes in part from the Brehon Laws, the ancient codes and agreements about how the Irish were together in community, in right relationship with each other. Those were the codes that stated the many specific requirements for hospitality. And codes are still present in the people today. I actually had a lovely conversation about this with my seat mate on the plane who works as an audio engineer for the Irish television station and remembered an Irish speaker friend of mine starring in a recent movie.

Among other groceries, I picked up a pear and almond loaf cake. Although I’m not eating much sugar these days, such a pastry is required when neighbors stop by for tea as Mick will tomorrow. It’s just what’s done, a rule of hospitality that was strongly confirmed by my Irish seat mate. 

Moksha moments. All this in my first day here. And I look forward to more. Many more.

Beannacht,
Judith

May 8, 2024

Heading to Ireland today. While I never like leaving my husband and our home for an extended time, I will so enjoy being in the more gracious collective energy of the Irish people. I look forward to time with the wisdom that emanates from the land and ancestral energies, wisdom that shapes stories of hope and possibility.

In these toxic times, we need all the wisdom stories we can find. 

Beannacht,
Judith

May 7, 2024

The light of your being

More to the point, what did Jesus say?

After I published the Waiting & Faith post, I received a lengthy comment. It was filled with compassion, conviction, and concern. And it counseled me to find Jesus in my life. When I mentioned this to my husband, who grew up in an evangelical Christian home, he made the predictable comment about wondering whether Jesus was lost. Old joke. Yet in a sense, he is very much lost to us.

Scholars tell us that the Bible was written by forty different people, across three continents, over nearly 2,000 years. In the writings, there are voices and perspectives of scholars, shepherds, kings, commoners, fishermen, tax collectors, doctors, and priests. There are adaptations with political and community control agendas. Scholars suggest the actual teachings of Jesus are best found in the gospels. Yet even the gospels have been shape shifted over time. 

In his translations of the original Aramaic texts, author Neil Douglas-Klotz offers an authenticity and new understanding that is quite amazing. Here is one example, the contemporary gospel verse followed by the ancient text translation.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16, King James Version

Let the light of your being,
the consciousness of knowing
your real Self,
radiate and illuminate
the human beings
you find before you,
as well as the
community of voices
you find within.

When they see and feel
your atmosphere of ripeness,
your ability to act
at the right time and place,
they will be reconnected in praise
to the song and harmony
of the Parent of All,
the nurturing Force
that re-creates the cosmos
each moment,
unfolding a universe
of sound, vibration, and light.

There is such beauty and harmony and resonance when we hear the true voice of ancestral wisdom

Beannacht,
Judith

May 6, 2024

It is one of the commonest of our mistakes
to consider that the limit of our power of perception
is also the limit of all that there is to perceive.
Charles Webster Leadbeater

If the doors of perception were cleansed
everything would appear as it is, infinite.
William Blake

Challenging perceptions has been a theme in both my healing and spiritual journeys. 

In our Ireland experiences, we are constantly reminding ourselves that, as Chief Sealth said, we have not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Replacing our culturally conditioned perception of web domination with one of surrendering to and being one with the web seems both ongoing and essential to stepping through the veil to connect with the Sacred Alliance. We’re getting there. It’s glorious! And it calls us to a very focused intention.

My healing journey was a reminder of the rigidity of our cultural conditioning, especially when those culturally conditioned perceptions becomes institutionalized. As in medicine. 

My medical team was, and for the most part remains, flummoxed by the healing protocols I chose and the healing that has happened. Even when presented with medical evidence, they don’t seem to be able to take it on board. In my case, the evidence was there from the beginning that the protocols were working. The first scan in August showed a concern for cancer in my lymph nodes. A followup scan in October indicated no concern for this. Blood draws were showing no cancer in my blood. And a chest scan showed no metastasis which they strongly assumed would be present. But they seemingly couldn’t see or acknowledge this. Their medical perspective seems to hold no place for protocols beyond the cut, poison, and burn protocols. Even dietary changes and supplements are shrugged off as inconsequential. 

Talking with a friend, she commented that perhaps my healing journey might change some things. Might open their minds. Well. That would be wonderful and I will be interested to see if that happens. But the doors of perception don’t open themselves and we have to be open as well. And, as I know well in this spiritual journey, that takes some work.

But when the doors are open, everything is infinite. And worlds open to us.

Beannacht,
Judith

Exactly. As I was finishing this post, my husband commented on the zebra. Four zebras escaped while being transported across Washington state. One, caught here on a trail camera, has now been rescued but was many days alone in a landscape filled with cougars. Flooding Facebook during that time were photoshopped images of the zebra in various ridiculous locations. Dennis noted that only one he read showed any concern for the welfare of the zebra. Which is both sad and a comment on how we see nature for our entertainment and amusement. 

May 5, 2024

Magic is spiritual fact
made manifest in the world.

I mentioned that I’m not inclined to name this healing a miracle. I understand it does seem miraculous. But I prefer naming it magic. 

True magic has nothing to do with spells and formulas, wearing the proper clothing, or lighting the right number of candles. True magic is Spirit manifest in the world. And because we are all Sprit, we are all born with creative energy and magic potential. It is through our connection with Spirit and spiritual realms that magic becomes manifest. It is an energy that moves with us and through us when we are in a place of sacred connection. It’s not an energy we own or control. It’s only possible when we merge with the Sacred Alliance of earth, ancestral, cosmic, and otherworld energies. 

I’m reminded of the time a colleague rang me to say he’d been approached to join a tour of women who were traveling to Ireland to heal the stone circles. The arrogance of that is staggering on so many levels. But it’s so very human as we have been long conditioned to see ourselves in dominion over the natural world and spiritual realms. 

When people ask me to what I attribute the healing, I’m very clear that it was and continues to be an alliance of sacred plant medicine, earth energies, spiritual prayer, and ancestral energy. I’m very woven with a mystical Irish ancestor and I felt her presence throughout the healing journey. Yes, I claimed agency in the healing. But it was agency within the alliance.

Merging with the alliance was more easily possible because this is the essence of what’s been unfolding in Ireland. In the gatherings and the spiritual experiences, our focus has been letting go of ego and surrendering to the merging. Trusting absolutely that it’s all in the highest good. And magic, high magic, is being manifest in our time in Ireland. 

Magic. Much more glorious than miracle. It’s becoming the music of my life.

Beannacht,
Judith

May 4, 2024

Apocalyptic
Imminent disaster.
Momentous.
Catastrophic. 

So above, below.
So within, without.

No question. There is an apocalyptic energy that lands with a cancer diagnosis. Like a powerful storm, it blows through our lives, turning our worlds upside down and challenging our foundational beliefs. 

Dancing with my personal apocalyptic storm, I was more acutely aware of other storms. Dark clouds of anger, fear, pain, and grief raging through the collective consciousness. Fiery winds of climate change blowing around the globe. Storms of accelerating intensity. I’ve written before about how these times have been prophesied by wisdom elders in cultures around the world. It seems we are now in the bridge time between one collective consciousness and another. A battle for the soul of humanity looms large in our landscape. 

Dramatic? Yes. Too dramatic? Not from where I stand.

Now. Let me be clear. Yes. There are amazing and wonderful things happening across our nation and around the world. Like many, I subscribe to the good news letters and relish the stories of hope and possibility. There is much to celebrate and I hold fast to that.

However, I hold both the energies of hope and deep concern. John O’Donohue wrote that holding such duality is an Irish characteristic although I would suggest it’s true for many beyond an Irish heritage. As I take nourishment from the hope, it strengthens my resolve to stand with the Light in these times. I believe we are called to withstand the storms by rooting ourselves more deeply than ever in the spiritual energies of love and joy and peace. In the Sacred Alliance of earth, ancestral, cosmic, and otherworld energies. 

Rooting myself more deeply was among the gifts of my personal apocalypse. One act of faith in my journey was to know that I would be going to Ireland this year, something the medical teams said would not be possible. There was only one among the tumor board I met with that really heard me. In his chart notes the surgeon wrote: She will decide what treatment best fits her. An important consideration is always one’s life and passions and commitments. She leads pilgrimages to Ireland for spiritual growth/development for people. She will reflect and contemplate the different options and decide what best fits her goals. Pretty remarkable for a surgeon. I still wonder whether him being second generation Irish and his wife being first generation was an influence. 

Standing with and holding the Light is indeed my goal. And I am so deeply grateful to be on this journey more deeply rooted than ever. I know that it is indeed time to be mythic. For the work is not yet finished, nor is it doomed. As it is now with the sacred sisterhood, I was in the middle of writing this post when a sister shared these words of Teilhard de Chardin. On one level she didn’t know what I was writing or even that I was writing. On another level, she clearly did.

No, the work is not yet finished, nor is it doomed…
The only danger would be to hope too little, and to trust insufficiently.
If ever you have the impression of any shadow, just laugh at it.
There is light, and only light, in front of us. 
Teilhard de Chardin

May there be only light in front of us.

Beannacht,
Judith