In this newsletter:

+ Attachment to our story
+ Halloween (Samhain)

Attachment to our story

We all have a story. How did your story begin? Were you the first born, middle child or the baby? Did you play sports? Dance? Were your interests artistic or technical? Did you have a lot of friends or only a few? Was your family religious or was religion not important? Did you like school or hate it? Overall were you the good girl/boy or the black sheep of the family? Can you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? What about your parents? Were they one of the following?

·         too involved in your life;

·         not involved enough;

·         self-involved;

·         distant or withdrawn;

·         overbearing or protective;

·         abusive (mentally, emotionally, physically)

·         an enabler (one who allowed the abuser to abuse)

Are you the child of divorced parents? If yes, what was your relationship like with the parent who raised you vs. the parent who didn’t? Did one of your parents die while you were little or were they very sick? If yes, how did his/her death or illness affect you? All of these factors and more sum up to comprise your story. Your story is entirely different from anyone else. Your story is unique to you. If you have siblings, your story will be different from theirs because we all have different perceptions.  Our story creates our reality, thoughts, feelings, expression, experiences, etc. Our story is who we are and who we are revolves around this story. As we get older, and enter adulthood, we are faced with the fact that life isn’t easy. We see that things don’t work out the way we planned they would. The life we envisioned for ourselves doesn’t seem to be within our grasp. We wonder:

·         Why can’t I find the man/woman of my dreams?

·         Why can’t I find the career for me?

·         Why am I not successful?

·         Why am I constantly drawn to meet the same people?

·         Why can’t I have/earn more money?

The reason why our lives are unfulfilled is because we cling so desperately to our story. Most people don’t realize that their story is what is inhibiting them. Attachment to story is subconscious yet conscious thought. We know the problems we were raised with (conscious), but we often don’t see how deeply those problems affect us (subconscious). Sometimes our story is so embedded within us that we can’t see that it is what is holding us back from experiencing life fully.

Think about your life for a minute. Have you found yourself unable to make changes or shifts in your life because of your past? Are you still haunted by comments your parents made? Did they tell you that you weren’t good enough or worthy enough? Are you afraid to make your own choices because you never had their guidance or support? Do you feel paralyzed? Do you feel like you can’t make any choices in life without asking your parent’s permission? If yes, maybe they were too involved in dictating your life.

You may think of your relationship with one or both of your parents as difficult, challenging or disappointing. You need to know that you chose your parents before you came here. You chose them because they were able to teach you the lessons you needed to learn. Lessons that you felt would help you in your spiritual evolution. Of course you don’t remember choosing your parents or the lessons you needed to learn from them. The question is: what did your parents teach you? Can you look beyond the pain, disappointment and tears to see the gift or the teaching they gave you? What have you learned by being their son or daughter? What knowledge or message did they impart to you that you’ll pass along? How will you pass that message along? When you can see the gift, you can begin to loosen the attachment. Until you do this work, you’ll never see that attachment to our story keeps us SAFE! Attachment to our story allows us to blame others instead of looking at ourselves. Attachment to our story allows us to remain contracted and small instead of expanded and full.

Often when I work with clients, we will discuss issues regarding their story and the importance of ‘doing the necessary work’ to make their lives better. “The work” can involve a number of different facets. Each client’s work varies with their level of openness and willingness to move ahead.

Ask yourself - - Am I willing to begin to let go to the attachment to my story so that I can live the life I dreamed for myself? I hope your answer is ‘yes’ because the work begins and ends with you and your commitment to your unlimited potentiality.

Our story, whatever it is (and we all have one), is JUST A STORY. It is nothing more. It only defines or confines you, as you allow it. Think of yourself as a painter. A wonderful painter! YOU are the painter, YOU hold the paintbrush, and YOU pick the colors. Each day begins as a blank canvas. YOU have a choice to start a new life every day. Ask yourself, when you get up tomorrow: “What am I going to paint today?”

Halloween 

Remember being a kid and going trick-or-treating? I do. The air was crisp; the leaves were all yellow, orange and red. I remember apple cider, candied apples and the smell of a fire burning in someone’s fireplace. I remember trick-or-treating so vividly. I’d walk along the sidewalk with a pillowcase full of treats. My friends and I would kick leaves out onto the street and laugh and joke while going door-to-door. I love autumn. October has always been my favorite month of the year. I’ve always loved Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday of the year. As a child and also as an adult it was so much fun to get dressed up. I’d start planning from Labor Day what I wanted to be for Halloween. I always had cool costumes. I was a witch, a cat, a flapper, Minnie Mouse, Raggedy Ann, Wonder Woman, etc., but my favorite costume was a York Peppermint Pattie. I really liked that costume. I made that costume. What a labor, but it was a labor of love. That year I entered a costume competition in a local nightclub. I got nominated as best costume, but lost to a girl dressed like a box of condoms. Yes, she was a condom box and quite popular with the guys in that nightclub. Quite inventive, but not the type of costume I’d wear.

Anyway, Halloween or Samhain (pronounced SOW-in or SAM-hayne) has been celebrated differently all over the world for centuries. Everyone knows this is the day of the dead and yet for years I couldn’t understand why I was so attracted to this day. Why was it so important to me? Over time, I found the answer. Halloween is one of two days during the year when the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds is lifted. On this magical day, communication with ancestors, spirits and departed ones is very easy. Given that I’m a psychic and that I work with this realm all the time, I could see why it was my favorite day of the year.

In the Celtic tradition, this day was celebrated by leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps. Others lit candles and left them in windows to help guide their spiritual ancestors home.

Throughout Ireland on this night, each household would extinguish its hearth fire. They would wait for the Druids to light the new fire of the year. Since the belief was that the gods drew closer to Earth at Samhain, many people gathered on the hill at Tlachtga. People would cast personal objects in the large fire. These objects symbolized wishes or requests for healing. At the end of the ceremonies, brands were lit. These brands were used to re-kindle all of the home fires. This new flame was significant. It marked the realization of the new dreams, projects and hopes for the upcoming year.

In the Wicca tradition, Samhain means the ‘end of the summer’. Wiccans believe that the dark half of the year begins on this holy day. That belief is synonymous with the Greek myth of Persephone who must leave her mother for four months each year to live with Hades in the underworld. According to the myth, Demeter, Goddess of the bountiful harvest and the mother of Persephone, grieves while her daughter is away and as such the earth becomes barren and cold.

Spiritually the story of Persephone has always been indicative to me that winter is a time for us to go within and reflect. Winter gives us an opportunity to review our lives, shed what no longer serves us and release what holds us back from fulfilling our pathway. In essence, winter allows us to find who we are in the dark so that in the spring we can embrace the light.