She knew the time had come for things to change. Others were just waiting - waiting for this ‘crazy time’ to be over and for things to get back to “normal.”               
       This, she knew, was never going to happen. She knew there would be a new normal and that new normal would be much different than before. She thought now about the simplicity of living in the cottage in Ireland.
      When she first arrived and walked in, it felt immediately right. A small and simple living room with a wood stove for heat, deep window sills and a table for crafting or writing. A kitchen with a tiny gas stove and fitted with the very basics for making and eating meals. A mini refrigerator to hold a weeks’ worth of food. Upstairs two bedrooms with skylights, each furnished simply with a bed, dresser and table with lamp. Blankets for warmth and one pillow each. The bathroom held a tub with a hand held shower - the hot water came on demand twice a day for one hour and supplied enough to get clean but not enough to be too indulgent with soaking. Perfect really in every way. The simplicity of it felt refreshing to her, it felt like she knew how to live this life.
        Outside the little cottage lay the inlet to the sea, hills and woods for walking and a deep sense of peace that now rested in her heart remembering. Chickens for fresh eggs and a garden with kale even in winter. What was there to do there - the chores of living, bringing in wood, feeding the animals, making a fire, doing repair projects or cleaning, writing or creating, taking long walks to breathe in the sea, making meals, and waiting for night to fall and stars to light up the sky.           
     She knew this was the life she wished to live again, a life she'd no doubt lived before, only this time she would leave her Western ways behind more fully and dwell in the now. This ‘crazy time’ had made her recognize that everything in life that mattered was there in the nature of that simple life. She would create it again.
     Yet she also knew that creation itself was changing. That to create meant to go into the void and to see it there, bring it to you, not try to create it from matter as she had been doing much of her life. The do-ing was going to become be-ing, at least for her and some of the others around her. As for the rest she did not know what would happen to them. For if one resists the change, it is always more difficult to move forward.
​          And moving forward in the 3D world, trying to “make” things happen, doing doing doing just wasn’t going to work anymore. The energy for that time was shifting, was ending, she felt that. Creating was going to come from someplace else, a place where you didn’t have to work for it or fight for it or compete for it, you just had to BE it. The insatiable need to consume, to go and do was being questioned by the gods and found that it has no more validity anymore. She knew the time had come for things to change.

​My Birthday Prayer
Today I felt moved to tell you something. On this day, July 18, I was given the gift of life in this body just as all of you were given also. With it came the chance to experience all that life offers and a body to do it with. A body that pumps blood on its own, a heart that beats on its own, breath that moves in and out even if I don't remember, eyes that see, ears that hear - all of this intelligent magnificence that houses a space for my soul. And on this day, I ask that you remember this - right now, if you are reading this, ,you have life coursing through your own body. I ask that you enjoy it, appreciate it, love everything with that beautiful heart of yours, and remember your own divinity and power and grace. Remember that everything you really need, you don't have to go looking for, because it's already inside of you. I am grateful, so grateful today for you and for me and for the all of it all. Blessings and hugs. Rose

     With all the explosion of information we are being bombarded by every single day, telling us (rightly) how to protect ourselves in these challenging days, the truth is that LOVE is still our best defense.
     Defense is not a word I equate with Love certainly on most days, but an outpouring of love, genuine heartfelt Love just now is what is being asked of us. This I truly believe and hear from the Angels and guides all the time, when in the stillness of my own heart.
     The heart is where Love resides and it cannot reside alongside of Fear. Fear replaces Love and therefore Love remains, I repeat, our best defense.
     Perhaps it is also a good time to sit with and examine what these fears are rooted in. When we have those moments when we are being propelled forward by fears, take a moment or moments to sit with fear, hold its hand and ask it what it’s doing here. What is the purpose of fear? Is it fear of death or the death of those around us? That is a real fear, indeed. However as much as we try to shy away from it, death is an inevitable part of life.
     Did you ever watch an animal when they are close to dying? Do they seem fearful? Animals are not afraid of death for they know it is only the death of the Spirit, not the death of the spark of life within them. They are never fearful of dying and nor should we be. Instead if we wish to LIVE and live fully, we could choose to instead embrace LOVE as our guide, LOVE as the emotion of choice. Using LOVE as our best defense against fear, not actually against dying because we are all headed in the same direction eventually, the death of our bodies. LOVE never dies, it is eternal just as our own Spirits are eternal.
     The Angels ask that you turn to them as they are filled with LOVE and waiting to remind you of that same LOVE that resides within you. Keep HOPE alive, keep LOVE alive and see how much of it you can access within yourself today. Watch for my next meditation where we will access the LOVE of our own hearts with Reiki and our animals.
     The light of LOVE in me sees and honors the light of LOVE in you. Namaste.

Today I met a goose

While at Longwood Gardens today, one of my favorite neighborhood walking spots these days, my intent was to get some exercise, be part of the natural world and do some writing. As I approached the pond near the Italian gardens, I saw a flock of geese grazing the field next to me.
Kathleen, my animal Reiki teacher, has spoken often about sharing Reiki with animals every day, meditating with animals every day. I don’t currently own any animals (although this will change when we get our new home!) so sharing with the natural world of animal beings seems quite…natural!
I stood on the walkway creating a Reiki space around me and opening up to the geese sharing it with me. I noticed almost right away that one goose had a significant limp on one leg (his right). I decided to gently walk into the grassy area where they were nibbling and sat on a tree stump a little ways away from them. 
I went into a space of stillness and meditated on the flow of Reiki. When I looked up again, all of the geese were busy nibbling away except for one. He was sitting apart from them on the grass, very still, not eating, just nestled in on the ground. 
Immediately I had a knowing that he had stopped his grazing to receive the energy. At that point I wondered if it was the hurt bird. I did not know as I hadn’t been watching them.
After about 10 minutes or so, all the other geese looked up and began walking in the direction of where the sitting bird was. The sitting bird stood and stretched his right leg behind him holding it out for a few moments. Then slowly, he joined with the others, turning and starting to nibble while walking in the opposite direction. It was the hurt bird, I saw as soon as he moved. Still limping yes. Maybe a little less than before, but in either case it was so beautiful to see that, in such a short time, we connected and he accepted and received Reiki. That was quite clear.
Understanding the ways of animals and communicating more deeply each day with the natural world is something that will captivate me for the rest of this lifetime and then a few more. xxx