Look at the One in the Mirror and Make a Change

It's 9-11-09, eight years after the terrorist attacks on New York. So much has happened since then. It was so surreal and you kept asking "Is this really happening? It just can't be real, but it is real. And what's going to happen next?"

We mourned. We came together and helped each other. And many, many good things have happened since then as well as many not so good. Many changes have come about because of it but it wasn't necessary to kill innocent people to bring about those changes. But people still don't get it.

Hatred never is necessary, but yet people still choose to hate, to be intolerant, to hold on to bigotry, racism and judgments, to work for separatism, to destroy, to act like they can tell others what to believe, what to listen to, who to love. But it is not just the "other" places. It is just as prevalent here in this country - in some cases more so. Can't they see that the very hatred they are angry about is their own hatred reflected back to them?

One of the Michael Jackson songs I continue to hear is the "Man in the Mirror". The best way to make a change is to change yourself. I personally like President Obama and I think he really is sincere. The medical system needs change and I ask readers, what are you doing to make the change? Fighting these new ideas is not helping unless you can suggest something better.

What are you doing to make the change about hatred and intolerance? Are you still being judgmental about people being judgmental? Am I? Are you giving love and respect because you want to be loved and respected or are you expecting it without giving it out? Do we stop anymore 9-1-1 attacks by war and more hatred or do we stop them before they happen by opening our eyes and making changes inside?

I hear people on Facebook looking for every reason they can to put our President down. I guess I was guilty of that with President Bush as I did not like his politics. (Although I would NEVER have been disrespectful if I had met him. He WAS the President of the United States, an honor.) These people who find loopholes in the health care ideas are the very ones that have suffered many health problems because the health care was not adequate for their problems.

I think of it like unions. There were these big companies that followed big plantation owners that got big and powerful by using/abusing the laborers. The unions came into power to protect the laborers. Then the power structure swung the other way. The unions became corrupt and too powerful. Either way, the government has had to step in. On the plantations, slave labor was wrong and eventually the society and the government stopped it - for then.

Big corporations and big medicine and big pharmaceutical companies have been making their money and the individual has suffered. The government is having to stop the Bernie Madoff's and the insurance companies but they aren't attacking the drug companies. Some effort to stop the current cheap labor also known as slave labor is coming around in the effort to stop illegal aliens from taking away the jobs of natural born Americans - but the real issue is SLAVE labor! But the media isn't saying let's stop slave labor because the politicians and lawyers and people with money like their cheap - slave - labor. They defend their rights to only want to pay a grown man $60 a day for hard work when they are getting $250/hour or more.

We are spending over $18,000 a year for insurance. The deductible is very high. Benefits have been reduced because our children are not in college and over the age limits. And we are healthy and spend less than $200 a year on health matters. But we have to keep the insurance because we might have an emergency even though we don't go to the doctor because we can't afford it because of the high deductible.

The corporations and high medical care have gotten us into these problems because of their greed. The government is stepping in to try to help the whole of society. You can label it socialized medicine or attack it because you are a Republican or a downright bigot. Maybe you talk a liberal talk but just plain walk a path of intolerance and fixed ideas you don't want to change. Your life is unhappy and unhealthy but you don't want to let that Black president come up with a new idea. It doesn't matter. You and I are all entitled to our own opinions.

But then that is a big part of why 9-1-1 happened. We ARE allowed to have our own opinions. We have so much to be grateful for. We have the government that will step in and try to do what it takes to protect the people of this wonderful country rather than continue to allow the government to suppress, control, and deny individuals their right of birth to choose and control their own destinies. We have all heard that, "You can't fight city hall - they make the rules and only they can change them." Well, that is the bottom line. City hall or the government itself is the only way that the government can change BUT we do have the way to get the government to make it change itself. It is NOT by hatred, more judgments, narrow-mindedness, and terrorist attacks. It is not by disrespectful behaviors liking screaming out at President Obama or teaching our children that is it okay to be rude to the President of the United States. It is not by telling more lies and undermining all attempts to make some changes by manipulating the media and the American public.

I'm looking at the one in the mirror. If you want to make a difference, look at the man in the mirror and make a change in what you see. Thank you, Michael, for reminding me what I NEED to DO.

Announcement

Katherine Ari, Wise Woman Guide is

OPEN FOR BUSINESS Monday September 7, 2009

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

Time for Woman to Come Together by Katherine Ari

Today is Monday, August 24, 2009.  Yesterday I did an Aura Feel Good fair at Inner Space in Atlanta.  I loved it.  I saw quite a few people and feel good about how it went.  I know I really want to see clients every day for half of the day and write my blog the rest of the day.  I also want to pursue organizing a Wise Women Society of mature women who use wisdom to work with other people - not ego.  

In the years to come, there are going to be lots of changes.  I am not really hung up on the fear of 2012 but there are changes happening everyday.  I believe strongly that the Wise Women play an important part of what is going to  take place in the societies as they will exist.

Too much of society has been dominated by the patriarchal or men.  The pendulum is swinging back to the feminine but we women have to consciously choose to create balance in the next worlds - not one dominating the other but equal authority.  It is really important for the women to support each other AS WOMEN - not women acting like men.  The calm wisdom of the older woman that keeps a clear head is critically important to big changes.  And we women ARE calm and level headed.  That also means that women as they reach maturity - usually after age 50 - do not listen to TV and Movies and other mass communication dominated by men that portray women as scatterbrained idiots that can't think for themselves.

As we come together and form a bond across the country and around the world, we gain confidence and support each other.  Down deep inside we have always known these truths but the vocal dominant part of society tries to tell us that what we know is NOT true. Now before my readers think that I am down on men, that is not the case.  I just know that it is really important that women have a voice because that voice is so important in these times ahead.  

I believe it is time to come together.  When two or more are gathered - I know what I know as a mature woman and if I am in communication with other women and we find out we know the same things, that makes what I know stronger.  Even if I step forward and speak my truths without anyone physically standing beside me, I know that they are there in spirit.  And we have to know about spirit.  It is One.

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

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

A Squirrel Story

Yesterday, my son went out into the yard to sit and think about what he wants to do next with his life. He discovered an injured squirrel who seemed to have a broken back and a small puncture wound. He and his dad decided to see if they could rescue it and at least protect it from the dog and cats in what appeared to be its dying process. They put on leather gloves but that wasn't enough. The little rodent bit through to Doug's finger and hard. Bleeding stopped and the squirrel was put in a wagon with a screen on top. At first we left it on the patio but our little part Russell terrier is a hunting dog - probably what happened to the squirrel in the first place - so they moved the wagon outside of the fence in the driveway as it was safer.

They gave it some water and our figs are ripe. Kyler put some figs in there with it. Later one was gone and the half moving squirrel had moved the others into a pile in the corner. Got up this morning and went to see if it was still alive. Although there was a screen tight on the wagon and towels on it to shade it and conceal it, the little guy was gone. It had taken one bite from each of the other figs and had somehow squeezed through a gap in the window screen. It is nowhere to be found.

I suppose the message it came to give to Kyler was complete and so was his presence. Did he go somewhere to die or climb up the tree? we don't know. Maybe figs are healing - for squirrels.