Plant the Seeds of Love

In 1985 religionists and Bible scholars from all over the world met together at the Jesus Seminars to determine what Jesus really said. According to their research, Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah. Jesus never claimed to be the only son of God. He is just the most famous one to use the God Power within. Their findings can be found in THE FIVE GOSPELS. The truth is he taught that we are all sons and daughters of God. We are all made in the likeness of God. Jesus was a human who knew how to use the God inside and that was the message to his followers - to be God and live God. I believe the quote goes something like - "Greater things will you do than I . . . " We all have this God power to create good and love. It is impersonal and responds to our thoughts or prayers. Every thought is a prayer and every thought is creative. It also responds to negative thoughts and there are too many examples of people with bad thoughts getting what they want. The phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" can be changed to "What would God do or What would Love do?" The meaning is the same. The more we take control of our thoughts and think what we want in our lives, the more we "DO" what Jesus or God would do. It is up to us to plant good seeds or beautiful and loving ideas in the fertile soil of our brains.

Who am I today?

September 6, 2010
Who am I today?

Not much has changed since last year as far as who I am and yet in some ways I change every day. Many people I know spent the high school years partying with alcohol and maybe some pot and having sex. For many the way to have fun is still to drink, smoke pot, pig out, and have sex. They are the same now as in high school. It seems a lot of them sadly have drank themselves into early graves.

The ones that went to college probably did the drinking and having sex too in greater degree. What the ones who didn’t go to college don’t know is that what they did in high school is pale compared to what the rest of us did in college. We all went through some sort of rights of passage just at different stages. We sowed our wild oats too.

Others had fun in other ways in high school – skipping class, doing somewhat stupid things, rebelling against authority in some way from breaking simple rules to breaking the law. The fun was in taking the risk, doing something daring. It was another expression of self-hood, another right of passage.

Unfortunately some of those who always followed the rules and always did what their parents told them may have passed away already at young ages. They never broke free of the invisible limitations that they grew up with. They never discovered their true self and lived. They died of broken hearts.

Some had inner peace when they were children and just seemed to be born knowing how to be happy. Those are the ones at the high school reunions that look like they are 18 while the rest of us look our age. They just always knew something that the rest of us have spent our adult lives trying to figure out.

And then others did the party thing for a while but have returned to their conservative upbringings – not drinking or doing drugs, not fooling around, and going to a church that fits their lives now whether it was the childhood church or perhaps they have ventured out so far as to change religions even though they approach them the same way their parents did the old church.

Who is Katherine Wheelus Dannels then? Well, I had my wild times when I was in college. I continued after college living the single life and ventured out across country to Sarasota, FL. I did my drinking at OU and some the first few years in Florida but gradually decided that I didn’t need alcohol to have fun. Even wine gives me an instant stomachache and sends me to the bathroom.

I explored many spiritual thoughts and ideas. I was a probation counselor for teens for a few years and then decided to go back to school to get a Master’s degree. Then I met my now husband and when I moved to Georgia, he followed. A few months later we married – almost 31 years ago.

There have been many divorces and remarrying in my high school class. There have been many very successful classmates. Many are busy with full lives and don’t communicate with the rest of the class. Others have stayed married but there have been infidelities and almost divorces. Others of us have struggled financially. We have all had our challenges.

NONE of the past shenanigans matters in the greater picture of life. The person I was in high school was very critical and judgmental. Many classmates know how my mom could be and I came by it naturally. But many others know the gentle loving man my father was. He had simple tastes and interests but his general philosophy was to live his own life and not look for negatives about others. If he made a comment about someone that seemed critical it was more of an observation, just a comment and not being mean. You could disagree with him and he wouldn’t get offended. He didn’t try to force others to have the same opinion as him.

My philosophy is to find the good in every situation. If it is challenging I see what I can learn from it. I believe where thought goes energy flows and that all thought is creative. I work on my thoughts all the time especially when my husband is being a typical Gemini. I enjoy walking in nature for fun and talking with one or two friends. I like to be around other like-minded people that want to enjoy life. I also like to be alone and quiet – a lot! I tend to shy away from people that complain, find things to criticize, and want to project their beliefs on the world. Now I am not immune to getting on my soapbox about certain things. I think life is to be enjoyed and that what we eat and think contributes to the way life is. Eating a standard American diet shortens life and ends up making a person dependent on medicines just to live, much less live happily.

If we are bitching all the time, we are putting energy into the things we are complaining about. I’d rather create beauty. I don’t do well with people who have nothing to do but hate and find fault, complain, and gossip. A wise young mother of ten said, “Have ten kids and you won’t have time to gossip.” I didn’t have to have that many children to find life is too short to waste it putting others down and judging them when I don’t know anything about their lives, or even if I do. Who am I to proclaim I KNOW how they should live their lives. I also know and believe that if there is something about someone else that is “pushing my buttons” I am projecting my own issues out and I need to go look in the mirror.

Whatever works for another person is all that matters. We are all doing the best we can to make it in the world. Life is beautiful one step at a time.

Praying When we are Grieving

by Katherine Ari, November 30, 2009

I have a large number of friends who have just lost loved ones in the last few months, especially in November. First, the former editor/owner of the hometown local newspaper passed away the same day as Michael Jackson. Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Patrick Swayze died. These were all icons in their own way. Another hometown death was Aunt Dale. Most of us who grew up there know who she was and what she meant to her family as well as hundreds of other people over the many years.

One of my classmates had several ailing relatives dying at the same time. Another’s dad died. At our reunion a beautiful mom in her nineties joined us. She passed last week quite quickly

A couple of Sunday’s ago, a close friend was crying at church. He told me his dad had died the night before. And it has been only 3 weeks since another friend of 20 years out here in Douglasville had his mom pass away. Yesterday, at church again, I hugged a friend, David Michael. I can’t explain what I felt but I knew something just wasn’t right. “What’s going on?” He knew he couldn’t pretend with me. “My dad died last week,” he answered me.

My home girl, Gem, lost her father-in-law Thursday, Thanksgiving night. On Saturday, my class website posted that a classmate’s wife passed away after a battle with cancer. And when I got home from church, I checked the website and found classmate Stanley’s cancer had taken his life too. And a young friend had a break up and 2 deaths in his family, one a suicide. There are a few more that have happened in the last few weeks.

So many people I care about are grieving. I’ve been on that road. My parents have both passed – 10 and 11 years ago. Doug’s Grandmother Nordquist died at age 89. Then his other Grandpa Roy at 95 and Grandma Eva died as 99 in February of 2003. Later that year, the most devastating death of all happened when his 48-year-old sister died the day before Thanksgiving suddenly.

The thing is most of us have some sort of belief in an afterlife. Most of us believe that our loved ones and friends are met by those gone before them and that they are no longer in pain, going to a new and better life.

Many people say to pray for them and pray to get through the sorrow, the hard times, the pain and grief. Prayer, like God as we understand God, means different things to different people. The atheist, and there are some among us, finds no comfort for their grief in the idea of talking to a mythical bearded white skinned man out there in the clouds in the sky. But their pain and grief are just as real as the fundamentalist.

My minister and teacher, Paul, was at a city hall type meeting and was asked to say a prayer. He thought about it. Knowing there were many belief systems represented there, especially traditional Christians, how could he “pray” a prayer for everyone? He started with, “What do I know about God?” So in order to make a statement that is for everyone, I have started with what I know about God or Love.

I know there is a power for Good in the Universe. It is the force behind all of creation, the beginning point of all that exist. It is present everywhere in everything all the time. It is available for us to use in our lives. It does its work through us and how we choose to use it creates our personal experience of life. Even someone who choose not to believe in a supernatural being can see that there is something that is the beginning that sets things in motion. We all know that the stronger our faith and beliefs are that we can create anything. One can say it came from me, it came from God working through me, or it came from God outside of me. I personally call it Universal Energy or God but for me it is not a man God. I believe; therefore I use the power for Good and for Love.

Many of us are sad. Many feel loss. My classmate Stanley was quite a character. A book about him would be funny and inspirational, but I don’t think there would be space enough to say everything and really tell his whole story.

Grief is a personal experience. We are sad because the physical presence of the one who has passed is gone. We lose the moments of sharing time with them, looking at their smiling faces, feeling their love in the same room. A part of us has gone away forever. Life brings us all sorts of changes in our relationships. With death, the physical one on one relationship is over and you can’t get it back. We cry – but that really is okay!

We want to say in our prayer, “God, I miss my loved one so much. I know they are okay but it still hurts me. I miss them. I wasn’t ready for them to go! I wasn’t done yet needing them in my life.” And when you get to this point, you can keep crying, complaining, and lamenting. When you truly believe in this ultimate power for Good we call God, then after you have cried until you feel you can cry no more, BE STILL. Let the Love you know is God, is this Universal Force come into your consciousness, holding you, healing you, cradling and nurturing you, and carrying you through a hard part of existence. And if you are atheist and grieving, you do know love and how it feels, so think of feeling Love. The part of the person who has left us that we long for IS love. We may have to cry a while but the memories of the love and joy will not leave. Love is infinite, unlimited by time and space.

When Mother died and even now, when I open my heart to what I know is God, is Love, in its purest unconditional form, when I feel sorrow and tears flow once again, I can feel both Mother and Daddy with me holding me tenderly. I still miss the conversations about food on Thanksgiving and football discussions. I miss a card and small birthday check on November 22. I do not deny that memories and longing don’t enter my mind because they still pass through at times. And I hear, “I’m right here. Happy birthday!” It’s Daddy’s voice whispering to my inner soul ears.

I am grateful for the love of those who have moved on to another life. I am grateful for their lives and how they contributed to me, to my friends, and classmates. We have all been so fortunate to have each one in our life. I don’t say goodbye. I say, “See ya!”

Thank you for Love. I know I will heal, that I am healing, that I AM healed. God as I understand God is with each of us all the time. Love heals what causes the pain. Love is unlimited. Cry but let go of the anger, the judgments, the fear, any of that with each tear falling down your face. Let go. Let God. Let Love fill you and make you whole. Know that everywhere in your body where you feel some part of you is now missing is filled with Love and always is filled with whole, perfect, complete Love.

And that’s what I know about God and grief and Love. And so it is.

Why Do Some People Have to Have Someone to Hate?

by Katherine Ari, November 17, 2009

On the Internet news, Ian McClellan, the actor, admitted that he rips out pages in hotel Bibles about homosexuality. His actions are what they are. There are many things in the old testament of the Bible that are really offensive. If a woman is in her monthly menses and sits on a bench or pew in the temple or church, she is to be stoned and anyone who sits where she sat is unclean and also should be stoned. There is something in one of the Old Testament books about divorcing and one shoe – really silly if you are going to take the Bible literally. Then there is the scripture that says if you go into another community and they do not have the same god as Jehovah, you are to kill, stone, and castrate the people. Let’s see how far anyone gets taking that literally.

But it is the fundamental Christians, followers of the New Testament, that are screaming and condemning homosexuality the most. They will even say they don’t like the Old Testament because of the killing and castrating stuff and really don’t spend much time reading those stories. But they pick out this page and interpret as a justification to hate homosexuality.

I am not sure whether this one is old or new – "If thy right eye offends thee, pluck it out. If thy right hand offends thee, cut it off" – but how many people can take that one literally? Not many, because if they did, there would be a very large group of Christians and non-Christians with only one eye and one hand and they would be sent to mental hospitals for hurting themselves. And we can even leave lust and sex off of the offensive actions of eyes and hand. Just eating something that is harmful to your body or drinking alcohol that destroys brain cells are offensive acts.

Jesus says, “If someone comes to your door and you turn them away, you are turning him away. If you turn your back on the prisoner in jail, you turn you back on him (Jesus).” And I believe with my inner soul that if Jesus as I know Jesus were to walk into the jail to see those who have made mistakes and have fallen short of the glory of God, he would not scream at them and tell them they were going to Hell for their mistakes. He would not be ugly, angry, or unloving to them. He would not be going to jail to make a point of their mistakes. The Jesus I grew up loving would show love to them. Even the stories of him on the cross next to the others that were criminals tell us of his love for them and his forgiveness.

I am not sitting in judgment – after all Jesus also said, “Let you among us who is without sin (missing the mark) throw the first stone” because no one is without sin. Even if homosexuality is a “sin” (I don’t think so) it is just another sin and Jesus would NOT act the way the religious right acts. WHY do Christians always have to have a group to hate? WHY?

Why do homosexuals want to get married? They simply want to be treated the same and regarded the same as everyone else.

After World War II, the “hated group” was communist. Society feared and hated Germans, Japanese, and “Commies”. The Klu Klux Klan hated black people and Jews all in the name of Christianity. Then the USSR fell and the wall in Berlin came down. Civil Rights were supported by whites as well as African Americans and the KKK was revealed as what it was.

Then the religious right went after the “New Agers” – a work of the devil. If you went into a Christian bookstore, there was a whole shelf of condemning books about their definition of New Agers full of hate, anger, and misconstrued ideas by people that just looked for something to fault. New Age was just a marketing term and NEVER any one kind of people. Anything that some Christians thought was different or against their beliefs were New Age and the Devils work.

I remember so clearly another parent at the Christian school that my sons briefly attended saying that she wouldn’t ever vote for Bill Clinton because he wasn’t a Christian because he didn’t believe in the death penalty and did believe in abortions. I thought to myself that I know many Christians who do not believe in the death penalty and DO believe in the right to choose. But her definition of Christianity included this slant. So many things in the so-called New Age beliefs were considered as non-Christian by some and not so by others. But they preached and condemned and judged and call names and got ugly. Again Jesus would not act that way. He wouldn’t.

The phase of bracelets and signs and billboards of “What Would Jesus Do?” or WWJD was really a good idea. Unfortunately, people wearing those bracelets justified those judgmental attitudes and mean hateful behaviors. They believed Jesus would do that. I don’t!

The anti-New Agers furor died down as any metaphysical group distanced themselves from the term. The occult groups, the Pagan, or Wiccans, distanced from those terms too. The Christians hating – an oxymoron, don’t you think? – needed a new group to go after. (I just don’t understand why.) Homosexuals are tired of the bigotry and being treated like they are second-class citizens. They want to be allowed to marry and have all the rights of other couples. But the vocal ones that find a passage in the Bible to justify their unkind attitudes and beliefs speak out against them, condemning their lifestyle, acting like someone made them God. But I am not God. And I don’t have the right to judge either. If the Jesus I believed I knew as a girl growing up in the Baptist church, (though Baptist is not my spiritual home today) were standing with me right now, with my gay friends, and my straight friends, we would all feel Love, complete Love, unconditional Love, infinite Love. May each of us think every thought, take every actions, and do anything we do with anyone we come in contact with as if Jesus or God, however we interpret the Divine Presence, is standing with us with every breath we take. For I know we all my heart and soul that Peace would be on earth if everyone lived their lives with this practice in their life.

Take a moment now and imagine that your interpretation of God or the sons or daughters of God are in front of you with open arms and looking you in the eye. Don’t you feel it – Love - too? What Would He/She do if you turned toward another and then gave them hate and condemnation? Personally, I think if you turned back to look in the eyes of the Divine presence you would see tears.

What’s In A Name?

November 17, 2009
by Katherine Ari

I was named Mary Katherine when I was born. Most of my life I have been called Kathy. I always preferred Mary to be pronounced Marie. A few years ago while doing a regression therapy, I came to recognize that not Marie but Ari was the name I was drawn too. What Ari means is another story.

Over the years I have read about the meanings of names. Certainly numerology is about your NAME more than your birthday like Astrology. I could see myself as Katherine, a renaissance person like the queen. I am a person of many talents and always independent. But the name Mary is the universal mother, the mother of God or Jesus, always the mother. I did not want to be Mary. I resisted the image of “Mother Earth” though often others tried to say that was how they saw me. “No, no, no! I don’t want to be that.” I would answer.

I didn’t marry until I was 29. For most of my twenties I didn’t have any desire to marry much less become a mother. My astrology teacher in my masters degree program taught us to do charts and in my fourth house I either would not have children or have no trouble with children. That was ironic in itself because by then I was married and pregnant with my first child. The spiritual action of marriage had also brought about the biological urge to have children – though even to this day I am not really a baby person. I went on to have three children and we have an unofficially adopted son making it four. I would have had another but Doug said no.

We had our children and made a life in an old house in Douglasville, GA. The house was surrounded by numerous kinds of oak trees, elms, sweet gums, pines, apples, cedars, a redbud and a dogwood, a mimosa, and we tried peaches. I have always loved trees. I spent my childhood having trees as my only friends along with my cat living in the country without any other children for neighbors. I felt a bond and communication with them even when I didn’t understand I was communicating with them and they with me. I do not deny that I have hugged many a tree, cried under many a tree and let them help me with my pain, danced with them, and heard them cry when they were damaged or cut down.

Years ago when the children were young, we were doing some work with a Native American teacher. He taught me that each area of the forest or even our yard has a head tree. There are grandmother and grandfather trees. He challenged me to go around in my yard and determine which was the head tree. The head tree is not necessarily the oldest or the biggest but I would discover that there are different kinds of leaders among the trees. Each tree in a yard has a function that forms a little sub-ecosystem. On my own I learned how to tell the feminine vs. the masculine trees.

I know you are asking, “What does this part of the story have to do with names?” Keep reading.
On one side of my house in the driveway is a water oak, a 110-year-old Grandfather Oak. At that time, there was a red oak, a 200 year old Great Grandmother Oak on the other side of the house, the west side. In the middle of the back yard was another Grandmother oak. The two oaks on each side of my house were guardians of the house and I felt that the red oak was the head tree. I went to the other grandmother oak in the yard and I looked at her. I said you just want to be the tree that provides shade and love. You don’t want to be the “mother” of the yard, the grand - mother. And I felt she agreed with me.

One morning in 1991, I went outside with my little Maltese dog. The sky was very unusual. There was a storm coming in from Birmingham but the sun had just come up from the east. The colors were vivid, strange. Spring flowers were coming up in an area that was garbage when we moved to the house in 1984. Everything looked so pretty. I spoke to the Great Grandmother, the mother tree of the yard where all the baby birds and squirrels lived. “Grand-mother, you are so wonderful and beautiful this morning. I love you so much. I hope you will be with us for another hundred years!”

As clear as if someone were standing right in front of me I heard a voice say, “I’m leaving soon.” A rush of fear passed over me. “Where did that voice come from?” I looked at her and I knew, KNEW it came from the tree. “Oh no, I hope not. We want you around for a long time. We love you so much and you are so important to us!”

“Soon, Granddaughter, very soon.” This internal voice coming to me was so real and sad. I felt tears well up in my eyes but then I went on about walking the dog and returning inside the house.

I went back toward the bedroom to get dressed. It was about 8:30 a.m. and Doug came running through the house. “This storm looks really bad. We should move to the hallway – quickly!” We got the kids up, grabbed the inside dog. The wind was loud and strong. Two tornados were passing over our house and we heard a large boom. The house shook and then we heard rain running into the house. The shaking was over and all we heard was loud rain. We got up to look where the rain was coming in. “Oh my God, the red oak was not there. She had gone down. But when she fell, she went north and wrapped around the back of the house. Twelve other trees went down on our property, all going towards the east, the direction of the tornado. But if she had done that, she would have fallen directly on the house, destroying the house and killing all of us.

“She told me, Doug. She said she was leaving soon,” I told Doug as I cried. Wow, she told me. I heard her. She told me! I felt like I had lost someone dear.

I felt she was the leader of my yard and she was gone. There was a young oak that I thought would be the new leader of that side of the yard some day, but when she fell, he held her until the tree people could get her safely to the ground without hitting the house. He was damaged beyond repair and a few years later fell to another storm.

I was well settled into parenthood and home schooling my children. I loved being their parent and had even gotten to the point of liking other children. I was walking around the yard and I felt that the Grandmother Oak in the middle of the yard had changed. She was clearly the new feminine head tree in the yard. Feeling sure of myself and like I “knew” the truth I said, “Well, Grandmother, I see you have assumed the role of the mother of the yard now since the Great Grandmother is gone.”

With a gentle bit firm voice she spoke to me. “It was not me that was not ready to be the mother, granddaughter. I am now what I was then.” And as if she and I were saying it in unison, the next thought to come through my mind was, “It was me that was not ready to be the mother, the earth mother. And now I am ready. I am ready to embrace being Mary, the eternal mother. I WAS Mary. I am Mary – (but I am even more Ari). But that IS another story and the name means something different.

What does your name mean? Do you embrace it and live the full potential?

The Faith of Tim Tebow by Katherine Ari

Readers who follow football, especially college teams, will know the name Tim Tebow. Mr. Tebow is a senior at University of Florida. Two seasons ago, Tim won the Heisman Trophy and almost won it again last year. Watching him, he didn’t think Sam Bradford of Oklahoma would beat him and watching him this fall season, he wants to win it again this year.

Tim is also on the number one college football team in the nation and it looks pretty definite that his team will be in the BCS or national title competition again this year. Personally, I think that it was the University of Tebow that beat Oklahoma in the BCS the first of this year – not the University of Florida. Tim leads the team and pushes himself and the team hard to play smart football and defeat all of their competition. It’s working again this season.

I am an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma and Sam Bradford. I hate to see Florida win – over and over. Sam won the Heisman last time and people think he is a bit arrogant but it goes with the trophy and being that good. No one but other winners can tell them how to handle that much fame. So I try to dislike Tim Tebow. The harder I try, the harder it is to find fault in him. He is strong and a good player in all respects. He is a leader on the team and according to the media, off the field too.

Tim is the son of a missionary family. Tim gets a lot of press traveling with his religious family and ministering to people in foreign places. It isn’t that I want to follow his religion. I don’t. It isn’t that I believe that he is favored by God because of his faith. It is his faith, his absolute belief system that carries him all the way.

I don’t believe in a God in the sky or a white bearded man that judges and picks favorites. I believe that the Universal Force that is called God acts impersonally. Whatever we put in our minds is what we get. All thought is creative because it goes into the mind of God that is in all of us. Tim Tebow believes so strongly in his religious beliefs without doubt that he creates that which is in his mind. I will be totally surprised if he does NOT win the Heisman again this year. He had a concussion two weeks ago and everyone prayed for his swift recovery. He believes in those prayers and those prayers got him ready to play again last Saturday.

He does not inspire me to change religions. He DOES inspire me to believe in what I want to create in my life. He believes so strongly, so completely with no doubt, in his beliefs. There are no doubts. He creates exactly what he believes in. We all have that ability. We can all show that kind of faith. There is no place for doubt because if we think doubt, that is what we will create. I strive to have the absolute faith and belief that creates what I want in life. “Tim, you are a fine example of faith helping you to create exactly what you want. It isn’t that I have to believe the same dogma you believe.” It is that I need to believe in my own beliefs with that same amount of unfaltering conviction. I declare that I put into my mind what I want to create and nothing else. And that is what Tim teaches me and everyone else.

Racism - Jesus was NOT a White Man

Racism – Jesus wasn’t a White Man
October 14, 2009
Katherine Ari

I grew up in a traditional Baptist home in a small town in Oklahoma. For the most part, the Choctaws and other native people were respected but people of African descent were treated unfairly and a few other words much worse.

We sang, “Jesus loves the little children of the world. Red and yellow, Black and white, they are precious in His Sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” I believed that and when my love extended to the African American fellow students, my mother and dad got upset. I felt I knew Jesus, that I had a personal relationship with Jesus. I believed then and I believe now that if he walked among us he would be loving to everyone.

The idea of being unkind and hating someone because they have skin that is a different color or different hair or different anything is absurd to me. To hate someone whose ancestors came from a different country is even more ridiculous because Americans ALL came from different countries and continents.

The fact that this intolerance is carried on in churches, in people who act all religious, righteous, and pious while practicing racism or other intolerance, like towards gays, toward anyone different with different beliefs is incomprehensible. Jesus would not do that. A friend once said you could take the Bible out of many churches and they wouldn’t know it was gone. Jesus would not preach hatred and bigotry. Jesus would love everyone. Jesus is humble and kind. If someone walked in and said he was Jesus and then acted angry and hateful, he would be kicked out of the church as a pretender.

I do not believe I am better than anyone else. It seems so many fundamental groups and individuals need someone to hate, someone to judge, someone they think is not as good as them.

No one has my skin color, my hair, eyes, lips, and genetics. All humans have blood, bones, muscles, and similar parts but there is one thing we all have in common. Everyone wants love. Loves takes many forms. We desire it. We seek it. When we feel it, we know it. Real Love is the same for everyone – even atheist. They may not believe in a man-God out in the sky, but they believe in Love. This One Power, Love, is God. And if Jesus is the son of Love and we are the sons and daughters of Love, then we must Love. If you hate, you are not living God or Jesus in your life. People who feel insecure in their own lives look for someone to put down. “Well, at least I’m smarter or prettier or something better than that person, that kind of person.” If Jesus were standing before me right now, he would love me. He would love my neighbors, black or white or Mexican or Gay – everyone. “What would Jesus do?” What would Love do? - Love. Remember, if you are really honest, Jesus was not a White Man. If you turn your back on dark skin, you may be turning away from him.

Find Your Own Ceremonies

Today is October 12, officially Columbus Day, a holiday for banks and the mail. Columbus did NOT discover this country as he never set foot on North America and how can you discover a country populated by over 20 million people? But it sedgeways into another topic - that of Native Americans or the people that met the boats and the Spirituality of their lives.

In the news this weekend, there was tragic news of 2 people dying an a pseudo Native American sweat lodge ceremony. No one should ever die in any kind of sweat lodge ceremony. Ego, personality, carelessness, irresponsibility, sexism, and other such human errors can enter any sweat lodge whether it is an elder or a non-native pouring the water. I was not there and so I am not going to get into judgments, but I do KNOW that something was out of balance.

This ceremony to me is about going into a rebirth situation and the experience is between the individual and Spirit. It is for Spiritual healing of the person's soul. It is the job of the leader to pour water AND pay attention to everyone in the lodge. If he or she wants to sweat for their own "stuff" they should not be leading. When the leader is totally turning it over to Spirit, Spirit or God will tell them that someone is having a hard time and needs assistance - and I have been in many lodges and every leader I have had ALWAYS knows. Their outside ego may have been ass holes or a mess but inside they turned it over to Spirit.

Many ideas float around about what the rules are. One time, a woman came to a lodge of another elder I know and pitched a fit because the lodge wasn't built out of willow. But in Georgia, most of the red willow has died out because of some kind of disease caused by pollution. My own understanding of the ceremonies was that the people of a particular area developed it in tune with their particular circumstances. That's why, the people in this area did not do above ground sweat lodge ceremonies. The inipi hut made of red willow was not called for here. Spirit did not lead them to do that. When the lodge is built that way it is a Western lodge used mostly on reservations.

There were ceremonies that developed over time and done the same way but they had to be flexible because sometimes Spirit would say - do it this way this time. As a way to express this, three summers ago, we were hit by a drought. We had water shortages and had to adapt to the situation. Today, we were awakened all night to rain, rain, and more rain to an area that was hit by a flood in September. Rain dance ceremonies were more than successful - too much so. The elders would not continue to do a rain dance for more rain if it was flooding because they always did a rain dance.

Several years ago, we wanted to build a lodge on some land owned by a friend of ours. We wanted to do it Cherokee style and put it in the ground. There were books out then about a couple of celebrities that built houses out of discarded car tires. They packed them inside with clay and then covered them with adobe mud. The days came when we were about to create our own style of lodge - down in the earth and someone dumped a whole load of tires along the side of the road. We don't have the same kind of clay as New Mexico or Arizona, but we have Georgia red clay. Doug collected the tires and put them in a circle around the chosen area and as he dug the red clay he packed it inside the tires and then outside - adobe style.

We listened to the land and the other world spirit helpers that showed up to help us. We built it totally unique to the needs of the land around us. It actually was the second one we built there. The first we did Western style and had to use poplar saplings. It didn't work very well. But the one in the ground that was three feet high at the highest point with an almost flat roof was powerful. You crawled on your knees into it like a birth canal. Over the time we used it, we had several water pourers. No one ever died or got burnt but one woman insisted there was a scorpion in there that stung her. I kind of think that the difference of the lodge for that land instead of a traditional red willow Western lodge was too much for her. But the leader was a Native American elder and he did not have any complaints about our lodge.

I have gone the route of teachers and I honor and respect their ceremony. It isn't that I do not believe in the old ways. What I believe in is listening to Spirit and I believe in helping others listens to their own inner guide. As some people find their most rewarding Spiritual food a traditional Christian church, some people find God in other ways. One friend sat in my private garden and said to her it was such a Spiritual experience that it was a cleansing ceremony. "This is a lodge!" She said. So I believe in praying and listening to Spirit and letting Spirit tell me what ceremony to use. Maybe it will be the same as the indigenous people because Spirit is Spirit - all the same Power and maybe it will be different. A Cherokee man by the name of Chief Two Trees said being Native American is believing that God is in everything and being in tune with nature.
There are many "elders" and traditionalist that would disagree with that. They expect their students and followers to follow their rules. But that's like saying that there is only one set of rules for worshiping God and anyone that does not believe THAT set of rules will go to hell.

Elder Jeni Pearlsong told me if any elder pressured me to take peyote to speak firmly and say that is not my truth. Every elder that poured water in a sweat lodge I was in did it differently. That does not mean that anyone was wrong. But a lodge where people died and others were sent to the hospital - that was beyond personal differences. Mistakes were made.
But I wasn't there and it is not my place to lay judgment on what happened. I am sorry for all involved.

I spend time daily within my own ceremonies. Many times the wild life in my area talk to me. I listen to their calls and sometimes my personal Spirit guides take me into ceremony. I have not been led to a sweat ceremony for many years now. I believe it is because I spend so much time in ceremony in my own way. I do highly encourage anyone that considers going into a sweat ceremony to ask many questions. It is a good idea to learn with an elder or two first, one that HAS been taught by Native American tribe elders that really, REALLY knows what a sweat lodge is about. It isn't about seeing how much heat you can take - if that is what you want go to the gym to the sauna. No one should ever go into any kind of ceremony without knowing what it is about. If they can't tell you, maybe they don't know. And the participant should know what is in integrity. You go in to have a personal connection with the earth and Spirit but it is really important to have that before hand to know when it is safe and when it is not, when the water pourer knows what they are doing. Beware of water pourers looking for followers and supporters. Their motives may be less than altruistic.

And here is another caution. Just because you have sweated with someone before does not mean that today, if it is a sweat lodge day, that person IS in integrity. Ask questions or check out your inner feelings and pay attention to those inner red flags. I am not going to call a name but here is why I say this. There was an elder who poured water in our earth lodge. He was in integrity and did a powerful lodge. A few years later I heard that the local Native leaders had to put him into the VA hospital or else have him prosecuted for molesting young girls in his lodges and giving greenhorn wannabes peyote. His own personal ego issues had interfered with the integrity he had when he lead our lodge. He has not been heard of around here since.

Find your own cermonies you do in your own private home. Don't let anyone make them wrong. Believe in yourself but it is okay to learn from others. One man can say oh no, do it this way - my way. The next will tell you something different. You have your own understanding of say a dream and what it means to you. You feel good about it. Then that elder or man that wants you to follow them comes along and says No, this is what it means. If you learn to Trust your own inner guide you probably won't even discuss it with a teacher or guru.

And that is what is on my mind today.

Wrinkles are Magnificent

Wrinkles Are Magnificent by Katherine Ari, September 30, 2009

It’s still so unbelievable Michael Jackson died even though I feel I understand why. He hated aging – I hear that – but when you don’t get to the point of accepting where you are now and loving where you are, you just don’t live. The media does more to foster eating disorders and premature deaths than people realize. Aging gracefully – rather than beautifully – is the catch phrase. Wrinkles, age spots, gray hair or no hair, and weight redistribution are considered unattractive. Certainly, they are rather annoying. But an old tree or a huge old rock are magnificent because they have endured. The bigger the tree the older it is. It is honored. Why then can’t humans be honored for their ability to endure as they age rather than shunned and put down. Our priorities are mixed up. And as we age, we get caught up in the imbalance as well. We get discouraged and frustrated that our bodies, our faces, and abilities are not what they were when we were young. No one else seems to believe we have more now than in the past.

The old oak is stronger and gives more to the environment. We do too. We are the “rocks” of society. We have stories to tell. Our age characteristics are like the layers of bark on a tree or sediment on a rock. The whole of who we are and what we know lies inside. A tree or a big ancient rock has much to tell us if we listen. So too do the elder humans. But the trees stand in their place, quietly storing more layers, more stories, more history, more wisdom. If someone comes along and asks them, they will share – if the seeker listens with their heart. And we humans will share also. We know things. As my husband Doug Dannels said in a video about his sculptures of old people’s faces, “The wrinkles are marks of our experiences.” They are good things. They are beautiful.

If I were standing near MJ when he said aging sign were ugly, I would have taken him outside to my own garden. “Look at this oak tree and look at this small pecan seedling. Which is more beautiful, more magnificent, more important for the earth?” Would anyone choose the seedling? No, I think not. Everything in nature is connected. Everything has a season and increases in importance as age increases. Humans should become more valuable as they age – not less valuable.

I suppose a stag deer that lives beyond the normal age in the wild might be tough to eat. An observant hunter would see its maturity. He might still pull the trigger for the prize of the beauty of its antlers but not because the meat is desirable. But do we want to be eaten and mounted on someone’s wall as a trophy? If the buck has dropped his antlers and the hunter recognizes his age, he won’t shoot him even if it is still in hunting season – but most of the time when antlers have dropped it is NOT hunting season.

On the PBS series about the history of the National Parks, people came in and started cutting down the ancient Sequoias. Through the efforts of John Muir and others, they are protected. Signs of age in a tree, a giant rock, or a human are notices in big letters – Behold, mature age. Stop. Listen. They have so much to give and are beautiful. They are wise and contribute so much to the strength, stability, and health of the earth. Honor them. Respect them. Marvel at what they have endured and accomplished and be proud they have blessed you with their magnificent presence in your life!

Mistakes and Moving Forward

MISTAKES and Moving Forward

Everyone makes mistakes. That is called being human. Many things others do are regarded as mistakes when there is just lack of understanding. Unless any of us are as famous as Michael Jackson, no one can know what his life was like. I remember a person once that told my parents all sorts of things about me that were nonsense because the person did not understand what we were doing.

People read things that are assumptions by a reporter in the newspapers or magazines and then gossip about what they read – not knowing the whole story and what really happened. They tell others and they tell others and each time the story is repeated, it changes – we all like to tell a good story. Do we all remember playing the game of Gossip when we were kids? The end story was always different .

The story may have been years ago but these talkers keep talking about what they think they know wanting to sound important not thinking how their words are hurting others and in turn hurting them. But these are mistakes also and we all make mistakes.

I think about some times when I lost it, or had a meltdown. I don’t like myself very much for being so over the top. Of course, in a heated argument we justify our behaviors and say that the unkind things we said or did were justified or provoked. But is it ever okay to spew hurtful words or do anything to invade the space of another being? [It doesn’t have to be another person as it could be a pet or even a plant.]

We are tired or stressed out. We don’t think clearly and do something unkind or inconsiderate. Sometimes, the act is so bad that the consequences are major, even life changing. But life goes on and one has to move on. It isn’t easy to forgive yourself and then there are those pesky gossips that just won’t let it be in the past. I want to yell at them – let the PAST go people – see me or see us as we are now and see how much I have changed. I know I have grown. I know what I did wrong and I am committed to not repeating those errors again. But if I bring up the past trying to get them to let it go, then I am guilty of living in the past. I am whole, perfect, and complete and I live in the now with love. I learned from my mistakes and grow. Today I am loving and kind and artistic. I move on!

Story - I sit under my trees and Attract others to Me

Many years ago, over ten in fact, I had a meeting with an elder named Grandfather Jerome. He would go into his kind of meditation or trance burning the sacred herbs and then tell his visitor what his inner voice told him to say about the person. Grandfather said, "I never do anything to get people to come to me. I just sit under a tree and they come." That was the message.

I have said to many that I have the tree and I am sitting under it. When are THEY going to come?

When am I going to get followers and supporters of the blog? When am I going to see people in my garden office where I can share my love, energy, talents, knowledge, and experiences to help people realize what is inside of them and how to manifest it in their lives?

A couple of weeks ago I did the Aura Feel Good Day at Inner Space in Atlanta. I was pleased and saw several people. The day is set up for the Healers to see people for 15 or 20 minutes and in that short time I found the most effective way to show them my work was to use Soul Cards by Deborah Koff-Chapin. Soul Cards do not have any set story or meaning. The picture drawn has YOUR story and interpretation. I felt really good about using them. The short time was enough but longer time is even better.

I came home and after resting from the big day, I did my own cards - a past, the present and the future. My present had me sitting petting a small lizard like dragon. The future card had me releasing a person like dragon through my words - releasing the fire dragon of creation from me and for anyone who comes to me. I am ready for the future card. I have petted the dragon within my "cave" long enough. It IS ready to be released into fruition.

This morning I asked What Do I do Next and again pulled out the cards? How do I bring people to me and make income? I asked for two cards. One card pulled me to pick it first. I turned it over and there she - I was sitting under that tree with a Higher self face coming from my hand reaching out to many hands in the tree (of Life?). It is amazing - there is the same image of me sitting under the tree helping others.

But one of the things I realized as I pondered this message is that I have always turned to the oaks in my garden but have somewhat ignored the other trees and shrubs. Outside my office door is a Grandfather Elm, several sweet gums, a pine, a red bud at the foot of the elm, cherries, azalias, honeysuckle, Nandina or heavenly bamboo, maples, and a palm tree.

I take the messages from ALL the trees. I sit under them especially the elm with my hands open and the next card is a beautiful woman - light being or angel - giving out wonderful, loving, healing energy, a picture of who I want to be and who I am. I love what I can do and I want to share it with others.

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

My Feelings about Past Lives

My Feelings about Past Lives
by Katherine Ari August 11, 2009

The idea of Past Lives is in many religions and spiritual philosophies. Even in the early Christian religion, it is told, the concept was voted out of the Bible at Constanople in 533 A.D. What I personally have found working with both adults and children and in my own personal journey is that it is possible. It is also possible that there is a Universal Thought out somewhere in the ethers that for reasons unknown, we as individuals tap into for our own growth.

The lesson of someone else’s life is sometime a lesson for my life today, here and now. Sometimes this “memory” seems to be a genetic memory. People feel they are related to someone now that was a relation in a previous lifetime.

To me, it doesn’t matter if it is a stream of Universal Thought or we are actually living another lifetime using lessons from a previous life. I believe the importance is what comes up when I am regressed or if I hypnotize someone is something pertinent to the now consciousness. But it has frequently been more though the bigger picture may take a few years to understand and manifest.

According to some laws of karma, easy past life recall is a sign of good karma – you get to remember these things. I guess I have some good karma because it comes to me like something that happened five minutes ago.


My first experience with past life recall was in 1979 shortly after Doug, my husband, and I became a couple. He knew an elder woman with a traditional Pentecostal background who did psychic past life regressions. Midge would hold a personal object of the people she was working with. She held a silver bracelet of mine and something Doug had made like a small sculpture.

As soon as she closed her eyes, she saw an ancient village. I was the matriarchal leader and Doug was my husband. I had died and his love for me was go great that he would not allow anyone to touch my body. He was slowly pulling a ceremonial platform through the crowd of sad people to a burial location. The platform was heavy and my body was lying on it as he pulled it by a rope. She started crying because she saw such devastation.

When she began to describe her vision, I saw it too. I was tall and thin with long fingers on graceful hands. I say my husband, my daughter who would take over for me, and my people. For a long time I carried this vision of a place before recorded time, but it also may be a future village after our earth, as we know it goes through some major changes. It doesn’t matter. Time is NOT linear. It is circular.


I remember many things about that life. When I focus on it, I remember more details. One story is about my daughters. They were both beautiful. One was strong and would become the leader after my death. She was healthy, confident, and very fair with her decisions. The people would follow her guidance.

The second daughter was delicate and beloved by all. She needed extra care and attention all of her life and protection. Her older sister loved her as much as everyone else and understood. There was never any jealousy because she received so much attention. She was an angel and was only allowed to be on earth in the family for a short time, dying young. We mourned her passing for a long time because at the time we didn’t understand why she had to leave so soon nor why she was so special.

The young girl has returned to a human existence many times. It is her job to bring special lessons to a family and friends. She never grows old enough to live as an adult, dying young each time.

Two years ago at the International Centers for Spiritual Living Youth Seminar in August 2007, we did an exercise called “Finding you Perfect Partner”. Caitlyn was my perfect partner. We only had about 20 minutes together but she touched my heart so deeply that we were forever connected.

The following Easter morning, Caitlyn died in a car accident. I cried desperately over and over for a long time. How could a 20-minute connection to a beautiful young girl be so profound? Why did it hurt more than I could explain?

One day, I knew. Caitlyn was my angelic daughter. Once again, she had come to earth to experience a brief human life, touching everyone in her life. Somehow knowing this bigger picture about the special angels eased my grief for both lifetimes. I am so blessed.

Time to Control the Changes we Want to be in our Lives

Today is Sunday and our speaker today at the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta was the Reverend, David Barrett. He talked about the changes we are all growing through these days. The economy is going through changes and challenges. Most of us are having to take a look at our thinking and how we spend our money - as well as how we make it.

Change is guaranteed in life. Many people, as he brought up, want things to go back to the way they were. When we were going through water shortages during the recent drought, we were told to stop wasting water, conserve, and do things differently. Many people made some conscientious changes. Many people believed that things would improve and they could just go back to the same old habits and wasteful behaviors. And those are probably the same people wanting to go back to the way things were with their jobs and the economy.

But you can't go back. Changes are here. Wake up.

I was moaning one day how I hated getting old. And a woman younger and at that moment, wiser than me said, "Consider the alternative? If you don't get old, you are dead." We are making changes. We are shedding the old ways and ideas. We are creating waste products that when spread around are like manure on the garden. Quoting David again, "if we spread the manure and create fertile ground to grow something new, what do we get if we don't take control of what goes there? We get weeds and more chaos."

We are at the opening to grow something new in our lives. It is up to us to choose what we grow and take control of our growth. If we focus on lack and struggle, what are we going to grow? If we focus on love, abundance, gratitude, and a new economy, that is what we receive.

Let's take control of our growth and from the fertile ground let's grow something wonderful and beautiful. It's time and it's up to each of us to create the kind of world we want today and tomorrow.

Katherine Ari

What is a Spiritualist?

Spiritualist
by Katherine Ari July 24, 2009

As readers navigate around my blog, there is a section to the upper right about me. A storyteller is pretty obvious, but some ask what is a spiritualist? A Native American elder told me many years ago that being Native American meant being in harmony with Nature and being connected to God or the Great Spirit in everything you do. In the Bible of the New Testament, Jesus taught two great rules – to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, The Golden Rule, and to love the Lord thy God with all your heart in everything you do. Being connected to God in everything I do and to love God with all my heart is the same thing to me.

For most of my adult life, I have been studying religions and spirituality. The most important thing I have found is that in all religions or belief systems there are common truths. These truths are interpreted differently by different people, and different dogmas or religions evolve. The problem arises when one group decides their understanding is the one and only way to understand God. We have separatism and wars and hatred and judgment – all things completely in opposition to the basic teaching to love God in every thing we say, think, or do.

For that reason alone, when I say I am spiritualist, it does not mean dogma. It does not mean that I subscribe to a particular set of rules or requirements. I am not going to preach at anyone or judge or condemn. I believe if you have a chosen religion or church that makes you happy, then that is good. If you have a church but don’t always agree with what they say or find yourself going but coming home angry or feeling guilty, then perhaps you should find another spiritual home.

Yes, I use this blog to talk about my own ideas and interpretations. I have a traditional upbringing and know a lot about scripture from the Bible though. And as you can find any scripture in the Bible to back up your beliefs, you can also take anything I say in my way and go to the Bible and find it says what I say. I do NOT believe in literal Bible. I believe in the metaphorical meanings of scripture as well as teaching or writings from other religions. Again, Truth is Truth.

Everything I do and everything I think and everything I say is Spirit led. Even when I write animal stories or essays, the decision to write that story or post that story is because of an inner prompting that I consider my inner God voice. For some reason I am compelled to share that on that day.

What is God? God is Love. God is the Creative Force in the Universe that is the beginning and end of everything. It is everywhere in everything. In the Science of Mind, those three sentences in some form are the first step of a Spiritual Mind Treatment or Affirmative Prayer. They are also Truth and rarely would any positive religion disagree with those words. The argument starts when the next thing another group says is that God is angry, vindictive, biased, spiteful, conditional, and condemning. For me, God is Love and anything fear induced is NOT God. You cannot feel God if you feel fear.

I do believe, I know, that we are all here on a spiritual journey. We are here to learn and to grow. We are here to feel Love and to give Love. I suppose the atheist would disagree, but then I really don’t know. I must admit that because I have always had some kind of belief in a power that created the universe – something had to get things started somehow – that it is really hard to understand atheism. The ones that make it on the news are usually very angry, argumentative, and stressed out because the reasons that ARE on the news is because they are fighting for their rights. I am open to discussion about the subject because I would like to know what that means to the atheist.

My “About Katherine Ari” column also includes Life Coach. My approach to coaching or guiding is first and predominantly Spiritual. I love to work with young adults and older as well helping them find their path and making decisions that will help them fulfill their reason for living. That is always a spiritual journey to me, and most of the time, when I am working with someone, they feel that way too. Sometimes I get intuitive impressions. Sometimes I use Oracles, Tarot, Spirit Guides, Hypnosis, Past Life Regression, Celtic or Shapeshifting, or Numerology to add to my directions or suggestions. Ultimately, the answers are within each individual. I am NOT a guru or Know-All teacher. My goal is to help others find what is inside. I don’t have all the answers and I am still learning myself.

I ask, “What are you looking for? What do you want to learn? How can I help you on your life journey?” I am a Wise Woman Spiritual Guide and I draw from several different techniques or modalities – whatever works for the moment and time. When there is a next time, the client’s dreams may be the focus and the next, a profound contact with an animal or bird. And maybe I just need to let you talk and process.

I remember one time over 30 years ago going to my own therapist and spending the whole time talking, over two hours. I ended saying I didn’t feel like I did much work that day, just rambled on and on. She said, “No, you were processing a lot and I am impressed with what you are learning on your own. You are doing great.” I left and drove home thinking about what I had been talking about and realized she was right. I was beginning to see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and it really felt good having someone to listen and let me do what I needed to do for my own healing and growth.

I have been very fortunate to work with other spiritual helpers and teachers. But then since everything I do IS spiritual, then everyone I meet brings me a spiritual lesson – even when I don’t think that is the case at first. There is always a spiritual lesson.

Everything I do is Spirit Led.
I do not subscribe to any dogmas or set of do’s and don’ts.
I take a spiritual approach with my clients and my writing but do not try to convert anyone to my beliefs. I share them and listen to their beliefs.
There is One Great Universal Power in the Universe and everything is connected to that. This Power is everywhere all the time in everything and it is so magnificent that it can “speak” to me in my ways and I am open to receive the message of the One Power, but I do not believe it is a man out there in the sky.

I am a Spiritualist.

Animal Totems and Messages - how do you know?

Animal Totems and Messages

by Katherine Ari                                                                                    July 16, 2009 

I was in two of the big bookstores this week, Barnes and Noble and Borders.  I also surf the books online at Amazon.com and other book sites. I have several different Animal Card decks and books on animal symbolism and the messages they bring us.  As I look at what is out there, I see whole books on how to find your totem.  I want to sell my stories like the next person and would love to have them published and on the lists and shelves, but when that happens, I hope I have enough really informative and entertaining information that I don’t have to take five hundred pages to say what can be said in one page. 

By knowing the secret messages of animal behavior, they can help us in our lives.  A single animal or a group of animals may come to us to give us certain messages.  When you are paying attention, it may happen more often. 

I love animals and love nature.  I have many pets and I have a beautiful garden in my yard where I recognize the wild life inhabitants that live in harmony with me and my family.  I have other encounters hiking, traveling, and even unexpected ones at the grocery store or the mall.  I believe that the animals I dream about are real encounters just like the ones I have when I walk out the door. 

There are lots of ideas and theories and beliefs about what constitutes a totem or special message.  I know what is significant to me, and that is the key to answer the question of how to find your animal totems.  What does the animal mean to you? 

Let’s take dreams.  If you dream about a snake and you are petrified of them, the dream animal means one thing.  I’m not upset by snakes and so if I dream of one, I pay attention to the kind and the circumstances around the dream.  I use books by Ted Andrews and Jamie Sams as well, and several others.  Sometimes, certain animals, especially particular birds, are not in the spirituality books like those by Andrews or Sams.  So I take the general information about birds or mammals and then go to a National Geographic book or internet site to find out more.  I take all of the information and write it down, study it and then combine the meanings with what is going on in my life. There are certain questions to ask yourself.  You must always be discerning when applying meanings to your own life.

This is VERY important.  No meaning is set in stone, and no animal encounter necessarily means the same for you as it does for me.  The following are some questions to ask yourself.  Are there animals, birds, insects, sea life, etc that you are particularly fond of and always have been drawn to?  My favorite pets as a child were cats and I always loved black panthers, played with frogs, dogs, and encountered snakes.  I am definitely a black panther person.  Today, I have regular contact with spiders, dragonflies, cardinals and robins, crows, frogs, cats, dogs, deer, butterflies and hummingbirds, and hawks and buzzards. I love parying mantises.  When I encounter an animal or bird that is not a usual encounter or just plain unexpected like in dreams, I look them up because they usually appear to tell me something about what is going on at the time.  And that is one page with an answer about animal totems and messengers. The way I can help you is if you write me about your animals or wildlife contact I can help you find the meaning that is for YOU. (Okay, that was an advertisement and invitation or request for you to write me; I admit it!)

Katherine Ari’s Wildlife Encounters July 15 - 17, 2009

by Katherine Ari

 

            It is a regular thing for me to have encounters with crows.  They do all sorts of things to get my attention.  We do not have ravens in Georgia, which are bigger crows, so if the crow is a really big crow, I get out my books and study ravens as well.  The other morning, I was awakened by a bunch of average sized crows in my trees over my bedroom raising a ruckus.  Sometimes such a commotion means there is a hawk, or owl, invading the neighborhood, or that that greedy Great Blue Heron is about to land in my yard to eat my pet fish.  They know I do not welcome that intruder and they do their best to chase him away or at least tell me his has landed on the roof of the house or garage.

I got out of the bed, slipped on some sandals and went ahead and let the dog out.  She would chase the heron away if it was in the yard.  I saw no hawk or heron but they were hopping around from tree to tree until they were sure I saw them.  Ted Andrews says in Animal Spirit Pocket Guide to expect unexpected magical help with obstacles or problems at hand.  My own magic is calling and I will answer the call AND with several crows, I interpret that to mean in several ways or a big way – lots of motion.  I do have some obstacles in my life right now that need some magic or unexpected help.

I was out in the yard yesterday walking the dog and two of my cats when I had this beautiful magical encounter with a black and yellow swallowtail butterfly.  It wasn’t just that there was a butterfly in my garden.  He flittered around everywhere I walked.  “New love and joy are coming.” (Andrews) I should get ready to dance the Dance of Joy as I easily go through a new transformation.

The last dream I had last night included three animals, though one was not exactly identifiable.  There was a dog or really a fat puppy that was also a baby that was dependent and needy but growing healthily very fast in the dream.  I was caring for it and it grew strong and wanted to get out of the box to play.  It could talk as dream animals often do, and it was more like a growing baby.  Babies for someone my age usually mean new ideas or projects that will flourish if I nurture and care for them correctly. 

A dog is about being faithful and protecting the new ventures.  I can have success by choosing the right companions or relationships for these ideas.

So then I was carrying the puppy to another space and found us riding on an elephant.  It was going around some body of water and we had to walk over some water that had a fish that was about 12 feet long surrounded by various sizes of smaller fish of the same variety. And of course water is about emotions and the life force itself.

The encounter with the fish was very brief but still significant. I cannot identify the exact kind of fish but I remember the shape and sizes.  In Andrews’ book, Animal-Wise he has a drawing of a Barracuda.  The mouth of my dream fish was not the same and I can interpret that to mean it was not as threatening as a Barracuda would be.  Its body shape was a lot like a Florida tarpon fish – but tarpons are not in that book.

The main meaning of the barracuda is to go my own way and not follow the group. The younger ones may school as they grow and then they break away when they are ready to hunt alone.  Then they put themselves in the position to take advantage of whatever presents itself – in my case, opportunities expected or unexpected.

I was looking at books at Barnes and Noble about starting businesses.  The book I was looking at was about blogging and the author had somewhat of an authoritative and judgmental attitude.  It was written two years ago.  I suppose that the whole blogging experience has many avenues and ideas.  What works for one kind of business or blog does not necessarily apply to another entry.  Across the board blanket instructions and proclamations apply to the writer’s own experience with his/her field of interests. I think the barracuda that was too big to be in the school of younger fish and needing to break away was a good image for me as I start these new ventures.  I just need to do what I think I need to do and follow my own way.  We could even say I need to break out of the box or the race consciousness of the “crowd”.

Then there was the elephant.  An elephant is not native to this continent nor is it something that most of us see on a regular basis.  When I was a child, I lived next door to two or three winter quarters for some circuses.  Two of them had elephants.  I DID hear and see them daily.  I remember always being impressed by their strength and gentle power. 

They may not live all over the world these days, but they have myth and stories about them in many societies.  In India, there are several of the Hindu gods that are connected to elephants.  They originate in India and Africa today.  My dream animal, as well as the ones at my neighboring circuses as a child, was an African elephant, large with ears different from those from India.

They have great sexual power.  They have a great sense of smell that tells us, “Do things smell right?”  My sense of smell can help me open other energies and otherwise inaccessible worlds. They use their ivory tusks to dig that symbolically means knowledge of plants and roots.  Part of our business is working with plants and rooting new cuttings but I also work with others to find the “root” of the challenges.

Elephants have lots of fantasy tales about them like they never forget.  Well, that isn’t true, but if someone harms them, they might not forget the offender and even seek revenge.  But one thing is true is that the elephant societies are usually females unless it is the mating season.  They travel with three ages of females, young, adult and wise old ones that are their leaders.  They take care of each other and do grieve when one dies. 

The final message for me is to own the Wise Woman status of my maturity and to be strong in my own unique self.  I can draw ancient wisdoms, strength, and power by reclaiming my primordial royalty (Andrews).

I am beginning this new venture blogging and striking out in new directions.  I have my faithful protectors riding with me (the dog).  I am ready to go my own way without staying with the younger “school” of fish (the big fish).  I remember thinking the big fish was 12 feet long which could mean             12 days, 12 weeks or 12 months.  It could also mean 12 something else.  I need to go my way and use my Wise woman knowledge.  I can expect transmuting joy (the butterfly) and magical energies from unexpected ways to help with the obstacles (my loyal crow friends).  I need to trust “what smells right” or doesn’t.  I am strong in my own self, my wisdom, my power and my primordial royalty, past life experiences and respecting traditions and others and doing what is best for everyone involved.  I put life coach on my new business cards, but I think Wise Woman Guide fits me better.  No, it is not a familiar in the world of advertising, but then, neither am I.  I am quite comfortable with who I am.  I DO feel a lot of joy being me.

AFTER THOUGHT - Do I need these messages to be successful or to know what to do next on my Life's journey?  No.  Do they tell me something I don't know?  No.  They reassure me and the confirm what I do know.  They encourage me to continue on in the direction I am going.  They tell me I am doing what is right for ME.  And I am aware that they are working with me on these experiences and challenges.  Sometimes, when I get so caught up in the process, I miss things.  They will usually tell me to remember the whole picture and maybe even show me some new or better ideas.  I am grateful for their signs and messages and glad to know "they have my back" because they do, they really do.

God is The Eternal Presence of Perfection

This week, I have had contact with several friends including myself that are dealing with some serious health issues.  I love to turn Ernest Holmes in the Science of Mind to help me get a better idea.  The following comes from what he says about Tumors and Cancer on pages 234-236 but it applies to any ailment or disease.  Where there are quotations, I am quoting text by Holmes.

 

God is the Eternal Presence of Perfection

 

There is One Universal Mind we call God.  God is not a man out there in the sky.  It is a Presence that exists everywhere all the time.

“There is but One Mind and we are in it.”  Out thoughts are in it too and whatever we think goes into it and it then acts on our thoughts.  In the Native American cultures, the elders and leaders taught that every thought is a prayer.  It is not a concept that is exclusive to any religion or spiritual practice.

If we have destructive emotions, desires or ideas that are allowed to become default habits, they may grow into a bodily condition or disease.  “Disease without thought could not manifest, no matter what the disease may be.”

It doesn’t mean that the health issue arises because I am thinking about a particular ailment.  I may be constantly fearful or angry or self-critical and it manifest in my body as acne or a tumor.  Sometimes worrying about a disease like “there’s cancer in my family” can create the effect depending on how much “thought” you give the “fear”.

“Erase the thoughts of a false growth or false condition,”  Holmes says, “and the effect or manifestation will be healed.”  Declare, “Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.”  The “Heavenly Father” in us is the Eternal Presence and Perfection.  A false growth can be a tumor, cyst, kidney or gallstone, or even warts or acne, or it can be a chronic disease. 

I know there is nothing for these false conditions to feed upon.  Today I do not believe in anything but whole perfect and complete health.  My body has healing power!

Declare – “Divine Love within me removes from my consciousness every thought unlike God (or Good).”  God is perfection and God sustains and nourishes my body.  Everything in my body comes from this One Creative Mind.  I work with this Presence in me to create only health.  My thoughts are about great health because that is what I want.  If I think about disease or pain or false growths, I am feeding them.  I nourish and feed Perfect Health.

I eliminate any depression, misunderstandings, maladjustments, or frustrations in my life.

God is all there is and God creates the divine order.  God expresses perfection in my body and that is the only thought I allow in my mind.  God is a part of me and it “forever cleanses, heals, and renews every organ and every atom in my body after the pattern of perfection.”

I freshen my thoughts.  I have faith and trust the perfection of God in my life.  Perfect Principle produces perfect accretion in my body.

Everything is made from God’s creation.  Let it only allow that creation to work in perfect health and manifestation through my/our body.  Divine Spirit implants perfect, whole and pure health.  That is what I think about – anything else is eliminated.

Spirit in me is perfectly and completely manifest.  Every shadow of erroneous conclusions is wiped out. I focus on the Truth which sustains vitality.

I know that when there is pain or other symptoms because of these things going on it is hard to keep our thoughts on this perfect health.   I met a lady one time who got rid of her migraines by saying, “God doesn’t get migraines.”  I say over and over, “God doesn’t experience pain.  This pain is NOT God.”  My faith is strong.  I know this is true.  If I dwell on pain or discomfort, I feed it.  I feed “God doesn’t have any pain.”  The pain goes away. 

These thoughts end with my gratitude and thankfulness for my health and vitality.  I then release these Truths and know they are the thoughts working through my body.  And so it is.