Regain Your Hope
What Do You See?
The Maiden – Eternal youth and creativity
The Bird – Freedom and the soul
Note: The bird in the card illustration is a scarlet ibis, a sacred creature
Water – Resourcefulness and healing
Nudity – Purity and truth – Maiden accepts herself for who she is
Fertile land – abundance and good fortune
Pouring water – energy, love, and joy moving through life
Stars – empowerment
Getting to Know You
The Star inspires you as you release your past. Get comfortable with your core purpose. You are in a moment of choice, and the Star brings hope to your world. This card validates your path. This is a good time to have faith. You can trust yourself to appreciate what the universe offers you now.
The Star brings good fortune, good health, and healing.
For now, explore the light you bring to your surroundings. How does it shine for others? How do you help them find their way?
The Star uses the energy of your mind, body, and soul. Accept that you have many stars in your life and on your path. Use them all!
With the Star, your strength gives you a diamond core. What does this inspiration feel like? What can you do to make your success the best it can be?
The star offers a cosmic alignment where everything is balanced in your universe.
You know who you are and what you were born to do.
This is especially important as your health improves and your healing continues.
You are at a moment in time when you keep moving forward. You have hope.
Explore the light you bring to your surroundings. How does your light shine for others?
Your Star energy calls on the energies of your mind body, and soul. You have many stars in your life & on your path. Use them all.
Your Star energy gives you a diamond core. Think about what changes can you make to insure your success is the best it can be.
Story
The year was 2013. I was struggling to write my first memoir. Enrolled in Gotham Writers, I rode the bus to a weekly class in the city.
Things weren’t going well. I had never written much before and I was having trouble making my story believable. My fellow classmates, savvy NYC residents, just weren’t connecting to my life in a small-town food pantry.
My grandmother entered the picture. She stayed with me from page one to the very end. “Take this down. Get this down now. Write this.” Her instructions produced a coherent book that people were willing to read.
When I remember the magical moments, I think about the last time my Grandmother spoke to me. I stood beside Stuart Kline in the Bread Alone Coffee House in Woodstock, when Dan Leader, the owner, came up to me with a request.
“I need someone to colect surplus bread at my bakery and take it to the Food Bank in Albany daily for food pantries. Do you know anyone?”
“I’m sorry I don’t. But I’ll ask around.” That should have been the end of the story. But, it wasn’t. There was more…lot’s more. With that remark, I had a flash.
Lily Dale Cox Thurman, my grandmother spoke to me one final time. She didn’t whisper in my ear like she usually did.
On this morning, she spoke clearly, focusing on my first visit to the food pantry that morning several years ago.
The Star Card energy reminded me that hope and inspiration waited to help me. I only needed to believe in myself and tell my story with authenticity. That energy carried me through to the end of the book. The message was to connect to my inner light.
When the Star Card appears, inspiration surrounds and empowers you so you can live with purpose and positivity. Good fortune and optimist flow. Here comes a new and happy phase of life!
I saw her there that morning in our midst. Her presence was clear. There weren’t three of us in the conversation. There were four. She made her wishes known then, and I couldn’t stall around any longer. Her presence was clear.
“Write that down. Get it down now. You can do it.”
Trust life and set new goals for the future because opportunities for your personal and career paths are opening up. The Star shines on education and creative activities. There can be an interest in all things mystical.
An inner, renewed sense of self-belief helps you overcome recent traumas.
It’s up to you to see opportunities coming into your life. Investigate them!
The Star connects you to loved ones on the other side. Remember that someone is looking out for you.
You are able to achieve your goals. With the Star you understand what these goals should be.
Consider not only where you’re going but those who will be coming after you.
Life Changing Rituals
The Star supports you as you reflect on the success of your own future path. How do you describe your star self now? Where will you be in five years?
This is definitely the time to schedule at least five Reiki sessions
Meditation
Go to your private and safe space. Get comfortable. If you want,play some soft music, light a candle.
Breathe in and out now as you relax. Allow your breathing to become even and regular.
Continue your meditation breathing for more minutes.
After a few minutes see yourself relaxing from your feet up toward your head.
As you inhale and exhale, notice your feet and then your legs as they feel relaxed and calm.
In a few breaths, you feel your abdomen as it becomes soft and relaxed. This relaxation continues up through your body until, finally, your torso is quiet, calm, and relaxed.
You begin to look around you and realize you are resting in a quiet garden. You look around yourself and notice the area. You see the trees, shrubbery, and flowers in this place. You take note of the air. You smell the clean air. You see a calm blue sky with puffy clouds above you.
You look around and notice a pathway. You decide to explore this pathway. As you walk along, you feel the ground underneath your feet.
Soon, the path takes a turn to a more private space with a bench. As you walk along, notice how it feels to move along the path. Notice what your thoughts and feelings are about what you are doing and where you are going.
The path takes another turn and you see a comfortable bench which seems to be waiting for you.
You walk over to the bench and sit.
Looking around, you see the plants – the flowers – the trees – the sky. Taking a deep breath of appreciation, you realize you are here to absorb some knowledge about your abilities and your future.
As you look around, you notice how it feels to be here. You understand that this is a place which exists to give you answers to your questions. The guidance and wisdom is here, waiting for you to see it and understand it. This is the gift of the space where you are.
You take a few moments to process your gratitude. You feel much calm now. You feel that you know the way now.
You also know that you can come to this space any time you want. The answers you seek are waiting for you when the time is right.
As you become more relaxed, you breathe in relaxation for your heart, your lungs. Your arms, hands, and fingers relax.
This relaxation moves up to your neck and shoulders.
Breathe in and out rest and relaxation.
You thank your body for the work it has done for you. As you inhale gratitude, you are also exhaling fatigue.
You breathe deeply and relax. Finally, your breath moves over your entire body as you relax completely. You relax more and more as you feel more and more calm and grateful.
Your breath and gratitude work together to create a circle of relaxation.
You are refreshed, relaxed, and feeling better. You are relaxed in both your body and your mind.
You breathe quietly for a few more moments and then make small movements. You open your eyes – ready to return to your day.
Thank you for reading this article!
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Thurman Greco
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
GETTING TO KNOW THE MOON
The moon affects everyone and everything on the planet. If you don’t believe me, think of the high and low tides of our oceans.
Beyond this, women’s menstrual cycles are connected to the moon.
Go one more: We refer to the maiden, the woman, the crone. The maiden is the newborn crescent moon. The mature woman is the full moon. The waning moon represents the crone.
Speak with policemen, emergency medicine employees, warmline workers, and you’ll hear how people act differently during the time of a full moon.
The moon focuses on dreams, feelings, instincts, and intuition. Sometimes, you may focus on your rational mental activities, ignoring your inner feelings. Problems occur when you ignore the things that the Moon finds important.
When this happens, the Moon brings things to the surface. While this may be painful, it can also be healing. One thing for sure – the intuition the Moon sends you is a strong message that you already know the answer to your question.
However, overthinking as well as other thinking can cause more questions – especially as you travel into the unknown future which causes disorienting perceptions. What happens is this: the situation is not really changing. What is changing is your perception of reality.
When you realize that you cannot return to the world you once knew, you can be shocked – to say the least. You cannot see your life in the same way again.
This is big stuff and it’s also scary. The Moon brings you front and center with low self-esteem, your oppressive background, sexual identity issues, and everything else you’ve been taught to run from. PTSD, past traumas, mental illness, drug addiction, disabilities, gender issues, and anything else that needs a slow approach, and nonlinear healing.
The message of the Moon: Do not be afraid of the dark. After all, we’re all part of it. The Moon card is emotional, intuitive, and healing.
Reach beyond your fears. You are safe.
Explore your subconscious while you find healing in your shadows.
If the influence of the Moon seems to be too strong, some grounding exercises can keep you in your body. If you don’t know any or if they don’t seem to be what you need in the situation, then Reiki is a reliable option.
A STORY
Dr. Longmore, an Emergency Medicine specialist, had an office in Woodstock located in the little group of offices across the street from the Playhouse. He practiced by himself, without a receptionist or nurse. His patients included every category of residents in Woodstock: the elderly, the rich, and the homeless. Artists, local residents, musicians, and writers anyone else in between.
They went to him with their health issues and he treated them with dignity and respect, whether or not they had money. Most of the artists had no money so, when he treated, they brought over paintings.
Dr. Longmore finally had one of the best local art collections in the area. Then the paintings and sculptures, given to him over the years by artist patients with no money, disappeared from his office after he was arrested.
On the street, the real story remains a mystery. The FBI report referred by hydrocodone. The stories in the paper didn’t read like a whole story or even a piece of a story.
Dr. Longmore and I knew many of the same people. He healed them. The food pantry fed them. Even without trying, I knew more or less who was on what. How could I not know? I saw them every week under fairly intimate circumstances. Faces, gait, arms reveal much. Hour-long waits in a crowded hallway reveal much more over time.
I only knew two people on Oxycodone. And, one of those two was trying to sell the stuff. So they can’t blame Dr. Longmore for that.
He got six months house arrest, three years probation, two hundred hours community service, and fined $200,000.
The real punishment went to the poor in Woodstock who now have nowhere to go for a doctor. It puts a lot of pressure on the Healthcare as a Human Rights group.
His office sat empty for the longest time, the building at 104 Mill Hill Road. I think of Dr. Longmore every time I pass by. I remember his beautiful art collection, all the people he served, all the good the man did for the people of Woodstock.
The first tenant was a beer hall: Reynolds and Reynolds served specialty beers and delicious, locally sourced foods.
The current tenant offers yoga, IV vitamin therapy and wellness promotion.
For me, it doesn’t matter. The building is a monument commemorating those in Woodstock who unfailingly give of themselves.
While the Moon Card doesn’t land on every reading, it does show. In Woodstock, many people are in the lineup. Each time I pass by the building. I’m reminded of yet another person who qualifies for commemoration for giving lifestyle.
Many Woodstockers are remembered for giving much, asking for nothing. Recognition for a job well done does not always happen with the Moon. People should be honored in some way for a job well done – even if only in memory.
Even with the Moon out there, names and faces bubble up from my memory. They ride in on their own energy, as if the people are volunteering or working once again for the community and those in it.
When I see the Moon Card, I offer gratitude. My community is what it is today because of the individual efforts of each person I remember, plus of the efforts of many people I never knew.
We are not alone in our pain
FOCUS IN
Your journey can nourish and heal. Meditate, journal, practice yoga or Tai Chi, foster interconnectedness with others.
Place your hand over your heart and offer soothing touch and forgiveness.
MEDITATION
Go to a quiet place, one that is private and safe. Sit in a very comfortable position. If you want, light a candle, play healing music, or place a favorite stone or rock in your space.
Focus your attention and awareness on your breathing. Become aware of your inbreaths as they bring healing and positive breath to your lungs and body. Notice the outbreaths releasing toxins and stress.
Follow your inbreaths and outbreaths as you become more peaceful and relaxed.
As this happens, you come to understand that you have power and energy to conceive and create your life. Your reality is your reality.
You understand that it’s not important to worry about what others think of you. Your self-acceptance and self-approval begins within yourself. You know that your own path is the one that is right for you. This happens with your open mind and clear conscience.
You see that you are free from the past as you live in this present moment.
Self-love and unlimited potential create your reality. Self-love and unlimited potential build your outward reality.
You no long allow negative and limiting thinking.
At this time, you accept joy, happiness, and unlimited love.
Relax now, for a few moments as you follow your inbreaths and outbreaths. Feel how the healing, relaxing energy fills your consciousness.
You take your journey inward and connect with your inner healer.
After experiencing a few more inbreaths and outbreaths, you know it is time to return to your day. You know you can return to this meditation any time you want.
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