Do You Need a Guru to straighten out your LIFE?

Today's subject - When to look for a teacher or guru.

Throughout our lives we are learning. We are gathering facts and if we are awake, we take those facts and experiences and integrate them into who we are - a compilation of those events, beliefs, ideas, and situations. Sometimes it is appropriate to find a teacher, someone who has gone before us or studied more than us willing to share their knowledge so that we don't have to re-experience everything. Teachers are good when from their heart they share their life experiences just because they want to. They sometimes can put into words things we know but can't express.

Now I am definitely not one of those people that believe that if someone is spiritual that they shouldn't get paid for what they are good at. Spiritual people do their best work when they can stay in the spiritual place all of the time but they have to pay bills and eat just like the average person that is just bringing home a paycheck - or not. And spiritual people can live comfortably and still be loving and real and "Spiritual". They don't have to be paupers!

The issue I have is the "teacher" or "guru" that doesn't do anything without an agenda. I'll help you if you promise to follow me, pay me this amount of money, be in my circle and do as I say.

The guru pulls in the person looking for new lessons and experiences and convinces them that they can't do anything for themselves unless they follow the guru's instructions. They tell the followers that there is only one way to do things and it is theirs. And if the participant questions the instructions, the guru and other members guilt this person who dares to question with all sorts of mind trips. This vulnerable, insecure person doesn't believe in their own abilities and this person takes advantage of it and convinces them they NEED to follow this group.

If your body says to eat, the guru or leader says no, you can't eat until I say so. No, you must do exactly what I say when I say it and by the way, have you paid your money so that I can fly back and forth across the country chasing women, I mean to do my work? How many such groups have women with money that are attractive but don't have any self-confidence?

There are all sorts of people doing sweat lodges. And I hear, "my leader has helped me so much!" It isn't the leader that helps you. It is what you find inside yourself when you enter the sweat lodge BECAUSE it is in YOU. And any water pourer that wants you to praise him or her for what a great lodge they did is on a major ego trip. If they are really letting spirit run the show, then the experience you have is between you and your understanding of God.

I heard recently how on some reservations when someone from the outside comes that the leaders make special effort to torture the outsiders. That is not what the sweat lodge is for. It is for cleansing and making contact with the higher power. If you need to purge some crap, it is not for the water pourer to decide. He/She is just there to pour water and do what spirit says.

I had a dream last night where this leader, a former person I associated with, was really determined in the dream to make it hard on me. He didn't like it that the first part of the "journey" did not give me any trouble. So he was going to make it harder for me to do the next part of the "test". I was further told that I couldn't eat until he said so by the others in the group. And then I woke up. I find that pretty profound. I WOKE UP!

It is my sincere goal to work with people to help them find their inner guru, their inner teacher to help them as they WAKE UP. I am not the final know all. I don't want to be. I don't want to take responsibility for your life. I want you to find it inside you - it is guaranteed at birth. You have the knowledge inside you to find your own way. I am just a guide, a helper, one who has traveled down the road at my own pace and found the beautiful clear lake at the end of the walk. I decide whether to jump in and when. I share love, experience, enthusiasm, energy. If my inner guide tells me to pick up oracle cards or pick up an animal book, it isn't for my benefit or glory. It is for the person seeking some answers, some direction. It isn't for me to judge or control.

I need income just like anyone else. A wise therapist told me once that most of the people that come in to her office she can "fix" in one session. And she did, but it didn't keep her in business. But she just couldn't keep people coming back just to pay her bills. In management organizations, they spend a lot of time teaching you how to get customers to come back over and over. So the full time guru is doing the same thing - keep people coming back to keep steady income. It is capitalism. I understand all of that. There just has to be a better way! I mean, is capitalism working for us these days in the current economy?

Seek your teachers who share knowledge, but be careful not to become dependent on them. If they foster that pattern, they may not be sincere. If you find a spiritual center that makes you happy, make it about the teachings - not the preacher/minister. I love this well liked spiritual lady in Atlanta who answers the doctor that tells her things she doesn't want to hear, "That isn't my truth." Know your own truth. KNOW YOUR OWN TRUTH!

Katherine Ari

Dreams and how to interpret them

Friday, August 21, 2009

On Sunday, I will be at the Inner Space at 185 Allen Rd., Atlanta, GA to participate in the Aura Feel Good day with other healers from 12 noon to 7 p.m.  Last night I dreamed of both a heavy snow and then of the ocean.  These are positive symbols, but I am not going into specifics just yet.  The point I want to make is that any dream can have general symbols, but each book on the market about dream meanings is subjective to the person writing the book.

For example, in one of my many books the color purple in a dream is regarded negatively.  But purple is a power color for me as it has always been my favorite color.  In my studies of astrology, I found that the color lavender, another shade of purple, is my soul actualization color.  I could never regard it as a negative occurring in my dreams.  

A dream symbol that is interpreted as a bad omen by one writer may be good by another school of thought.  And neither of them may mean to you what your subconscious is trying to tell you.  I may dream about flowers and gardens and "maybe" I am dreaming about my inner garden of Eden - but maybe, since we build gardens, I am just dreaming about my work.

On Sunday, I am presenting myself as the Wise Woman Healer.  I look at the list of the other healers who are focusing on one or two modalities and think about it.  Perhaps it could be a better way to attract people that are familiar with their speciality - but that just isn't my way to work.  My way is to work in whatever way my inner guide and inner "God" light tells me is the best way to work with someone.  It may be dreams or animal messages or guided visualization or something else. It starts with me finding out what the person I am talking to is seeking and then taking them in whatever direction their inner guide calls needs to explore.  

My dream, which had other significant symbols said to give joy and energy but also inner peace and quiet, to be creative, to follow my own unique spiritual path, and to show others how NOT to be afraid to take the inner journey.  I am beginning a new, busy and useful time leaping into the unknown. I am really excited, but a little nervous.  I know I will do well. 

I invite you my readers to come along on this journey with me - call, write me, or come to Inner Space - or even better yet, come to the Garden.

Katherine

Announcement and Dream and Affirmative Prayer

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

First – An Announcement:

Inner Space in Atlanta is having an Aura Feel Good day next Sunday, August 23.
I, Katherine Ari, am participating as one of the Healers. The way it works – people come from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and pay only $15 for 3 - 15 minute sessions with one of the Healers. There are many different kinds of healing workers that day. There will also be 30 minute talks by the healers. Since this is my first time I opted not to speak – but please come and request a session with me. Everyone who attends will fill out information forms and then the healers can contact you.

My work includes time in our private garden and is part of the treatment or session.
I am excited and hope to see you.


DREAMS

I dreamed about a row of evergreens the other night. The message of evergreens is to adapt to the situation whatever it is. In today’s economic challenge, it is time for each of us to adapt – to adjust how we do things and when we do things. Many occupations that have in the past been secure are not so secure these days. The thing is that prosperity and money still exist and we have to believe in prosperity – not lack. God made us all in the likeness of God. God IS prosperity and abundance. Everything we see is evidence of that because God made everything and continues to make everything. God made us and therefore we are also prosperity and abundance. It is REAL. Anything else is a false and temporary condition. But we must watch our thoughts. We create what we think about. Consciously, we must think about what we want to create – not what we don’t want – in our lives. And don’t forget to say thank you to others, thank you for the money we have and thank you for our abundant prosperity, thank you to God. These are the thoughts I choose to think today. And as they are a treatment I end my thoughts – and so it is!

Katherine Ari