This week’s post will be short(ish)… and a day late, too, apparently :)
Friday night, August 14th: It’s been a very busy week and I’m feeling pretty drained and not entirely well. It became clear to me yesterday that I need to take a break and recharge.
A lot of wonderful and powerful things are going on and there is some serious momentum building. I feel very strongly and intuitively that we must all remain extremely present to what we are feeling and choosing over the next 1-2 months. I want to be sure I listen to my body and take good care of myself so I have the necessary strength and focus in order to hold the space and light for what’s to come. For that reason, I have decided to take it easy for the next few days and just go with the flow.
As I’m writing this, we have a New Moon in Leo, which has to do with aligning ourselves with our soul’s purpose using originality and creativity. There is no doubt that we are in transitional times and it is up to us to make it possible for our passion and our purpose to shine through us. Because there is such turbulence in the earth’s energy now, this will sometimes feel like it takes the utmost courage to do but, if we are to make it through to the next level, we must be steadfast in our commitment to practicing Self-Love and inspiring and assisting others to do the same. Choosing to be in alignment with our passion and purpose through trust and intention is, by far, the path of least resistance.
In last week’s post, “All Hell Breaks Loose”, I said that this title came to me intuitively. Thinking about it now, it feels like that title also means that things are being shaken up all over the place so that the denser, darker energies of what no longer serves us will be shaken loose. When we begin to identify what these lower vibrational aspects of ourselves are, we can either let go of them consciously and willingly or we will be forced to let go of them. However, once we acknowledge them and they are “out in the open” they will be bathed in the light of awareness and, therefore, no longer have power over us. We will no longer be burdened and will, therefore, be free to move forward, at lightening speed, into the next phase of our journey.
I really like the idea of this New Moon symbolizing the opportunity to line up with our passion and our purpose in a fun, creative and much more expansive way. This means allowing ourselves to think outside the box and not limiting our vision to what we’ve already been doing. We need to think about what the next level for us is going to look like and begin the process of creating it for ourselves. This might mean that the universe will drop opportunities into our laps which may seem sudden, outrageous or impossible, but I am encouraging everyone to follow their inner guidance, go outside of your comfort zones and follow up on them anyway. If you never explore the possibilities, you will never find out what can happen.
For instance…
This week, I made some amazing discoveries about what the next, logical evolution is for me in terms of how I will serve my community and live my purpose.
I think I mentioned in an earlier post about my morning practice of setting intentions. It started as a bit of an experiment because I am happiest and do best when I have variety in my life and my spiritual practice is no exception. Since I’m in a very “practical” and “direct” phase right now, I haven’t been feeling like I want to sit in meditation very often and, when I do, it’s more spontaneous than planned. Instead, just “getting to the point” of how I want to show up each day by closing my eyes and previewing my day with intention has felt really expedient and empowering.
And it’s also working.
In the past couple of weeks, among the many intention statements I make to myself each morning, I have also been asking to be shown how I can “serve”. I haven’t been any more explicit than that… I’m just asking for the path to be shown to me.
This may sound funny, but what I’ve noticed for a little while now is that my ideal way to spend time would be to sit on my porch, watch the world go by, do some work or read a book and just hang out with various people… exchanging ideas and talking about philosophy and love and the earth and relationships… forming a collective, of sorts, where we all hold space and light for one another and share our journey together. They might be strangers walking along the street, or friends popping by for a chat, or my kids, coming and going, or my clients attending sessions, but the image I have had is that there is a very strong, vibrant column of light coming down through my front porch and it’s about me just staying centred, in that place, and holding space and light for others… and they for me.
And, more and more, I feel that I’ve actually been doing just that.
I’ve been feeling so aligned with that “column of light” (that seems to live on my front porch) that, this week, some pretty miraculous things evolved.
In fact, I heard myself say today (to a StudioBe AirBnB guest, who was drawn to the energy and light of StudioBe all the way from Bordeaux, France) that StudioBe and my new home, only a few blocks away, have both seemed to amplify my own light energy somehow. I’m not sure how that is happening, but I am definitely in full alignment with the energy of these two spaces and it is causing me to attract more and more wonderful people and experiences in to my life.
Of the many miraculous things that happened this week alone, one, in particular, is pretty huge. I won’t go into too much detail about how it came about (although it is a pretty amazing story) because I’m already late for Kirtan, so I’ll get right to the point…
One of the members of the Self-Love Sisterhood recently became engaged (yay!) and she asked me if I am licensed to officiate weddings. I told her that, sadly, I was not, but that I was incredibly honoured that she asked me to perform her wedding ceremony.
I mean…
WOW!
I can’t think of many things that are as much of an honour as that.
And, in that moment, something happened to me. I had never, ever, thought of becoming an Officiant before but a the idea just felt “so right”. For many years now, I’ve been aware that one of my core beliefs and values is that it is my duty and privilege to attend all Life Cycle Events, such as weddings, bris’, baby namings, and funerals/shivas. No matter what, I make these events a priority to attend because I feel that doing so is part of honouring the human experience and my way of affirming that our lives, and how we live them, really matters. I have never thought much about it to articulate it beyond the fact that I simply feel it is “my calling” to attend these events. So, to imagine myself actually officiating at one of them, for someone I care so deeply for… well… like I said…
It just felt so right!
So, I told her that I would investigate it, just in case there was a way I could do it, or at least be involved in some way.
This past Wednesday, by some miracle, I discovered that there was a way that I could become licensed to perform wedding ceremonies. In fact, I could become what is called a “Celebrant”. Not only that, but the founder of the incredible organization I stumbled upon took a great deal of time with me and explained, in detail, what is necessary in order for one to become licensed in Ontario. He was also very clear about the fact that their organization does not accept just anyone. Candidates must meet some very specific criteria in order to even be considered for training.
But here’s the kicker…
I’m not sure if you are familiar with the rules about who is permitted to perform wedding ceremonies in Ontario, but it is ONLY judges, city clerks and the clergy.
What this means is that…
I, Tracy B Richards, am on my way to becoming a member of the clergy.
And I’ll leave it there…
Happy New Moon!
