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J-1 Foundation For The Journey Within – Create Your Sacred Garden

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REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG
An Inner World Exploration

J-1 – Foundation For The Journey Within –
Create Your Sacred GArden

Within the inner world of your invisible self is a personal place of power and healing. It is a sanctuary for guidance, introspection, and spiritual deepening.  It is available to everyone.

Your Sacred Garden in your personal sanctuary. It is a place of self-healing. It is the starting place for meditation, for shamanic journeys.

It this episode, Cara Lumen, spiritual explorer and founder of the Deeper Song Community, leads you on a guided meditation to create this inner sanctuary for your own spiritual practice.

Using the ancient introspective method of shamanic mediations called “journeying”, Cara guides you to the inner realms where you create your personal place of refuge. Everything you find in your Sacred Garden is an aspect of you, a symbolic, metaphoric message from your inner self.

Whether you want to mediate for self-healing, a deeper understanding of your soul purpose, the well-being of our world, or insights and wisdom for your daily life, you begin your meditative journey in the sanctuary of your Sacred Garden.

In this episode. Cara will guide you in building a transpersonal bridge between the inner and outer world and help you uncover the treasures of your inner self.

In this episode: 

1. Discover the purpose of Your Sacred Garden. What is it, why you want to use it, how to create it.

2, Journey to your invisible worlds to create this sacred inner retreat.

3. Learn how to immediately add the Sacred Garden to your own spiritual practice.

Resources: 

Drumming Recording: For your personal practice, this drumming tape by Shamanist Sandra Ingerman will help you move gently into a receptive state for your journey. Your journey can be as long or as short as it turns out to be.

In this episode Cara use a Tibetan Hand Bell / Meditation & Prayer Bells / Dorje / Vajra – Medium.  There is a variety of these available.

Further Study: If you want to learn more about shamanism I suggest you begin with the book Awakening to the SpiritWorld, the Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation by Sandra Ingerman and Hank Wesselman, both of whom I have studied with.

You can also take courses from both Sandy and Hank at The Shift Network.

THE JOURNEY TO THE INNER WORLD SERIES

The first three podcasts should be listened to in order.  They lay the foundation.

J-1 Foundation For The Journey Within – Create Your Sacred Garden

NEXT: J-2 Connecting with your Power Animal

Listen to Earlier Podcasts of
Reflections of a Deeper Song 

Nurture the Garden Of Self

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Nurture the Garden Of Self
An Inner-world Exploration

Our strength comes from within.  Our ideas come from within.  Our entire life expression comes from within. Within you, accessible by your imagination, there’s a Garden of Self and we are each responsible for planning, cultivating, and harvesting our own crops.  

Intention plants the seed

Starting your Garden of Self is as simple as setting an intention.  

Today I plant the seed of Serenity in my Garden of Self and I will water it with patience, nurture it with silence, and harvest it throughout my day. 

Well, wow!  Let’s do more of that.

Today I plant the seed of Wisdom in my Garden of Self.  I nurture it with contemplation and mindfully harvest it throughout my day, picking one succulent berry at a time and savoring it.

More?

In my Garden of Self, I planted an acorn called “Cara” and it immediately grew into a giant oak complete with a bird’s nest, a rainbow parrot, a squirrel and a bunch of acorns that are future Cara trees.  

It’s a mature tree, as I am mature, but it has a lot of life and a great deal still to offer. Insights, wisdom, hope.

What will you plant in your Garden of Self?

The Fountain of Love

In your Garden of Self create a water source.  In the Sacred Garden where I begin each shamanic journey, I have three separate water sources:  a reflecting pond, a bubbling brook, and a waterfall.  So I was surprised to find a different water source in my Garden of Self, which is down the road from my Sacred Garden.  But a fountain showed up, a happy, bumbling, spray-sharing laughing fountain. It is from this Fountain of Love and Joy that I am to nurture the crops I plant.  

Build the support you need

You may need to provide a trellis for some of your crops.  A support system that encourages growth and the space to expand or elevate above the ground.  What in your life needs support?

You may need to prune a plant in your Garden of Self in order to encourage the growth of one strong central plant.  Don’t be afraid to prune and let go. It will make the core stronger. 

My Cara tree has obviously been around for a while. Do I need to prune it?  Support a branch here or there?  Drop a few more acorns of wisdom?

Cultivate, encourage and support whatever you grow in your Garden of Self. 

Share your harvest

In the Garden of Self, you plant the things you need in order to elevate the vibration of your Body Suit.  

At some point, you are going to share your harvest.  Perhaps you will share a little.  Perhaps you will share a lot.  Who will you share it with?  How will you take it to market?  Who needs what you have to offer?

I’m dropping acorns of wisdom like a wild woman. Sometimes the wind helps me and carries them farther afield.  Sometimes they just drop to the ground and take root.  Sometimes they go to feed a bit of nature like a squirrel.  I just keep dropping seeds of Insight and Wisdom and let them fall wherever they may. What seeds are your sharing from the plant that is you?

Allow the cycles to unfold 

Gardens go through cycles.  Their needs change.  Sometimes they take.  Sometimes they give. It’s all part of the process of nature’s cycles.  Know where you are in the cycle and what you need to do/provide next. 

You may need rest in order to restore. You may be harvesting the best crop you ever produced.  You may be simply looking over the seed catalog to see what you want to plant.  Each stage is perfect.  Immerse yourself in it. 

Plant some experimental crops

You won’t know whether you like the crop until you harvest it and put it to use.  You don’t have to grow a lot of an experimental crop, but do plant enough so you can understand its needs, its demands, its preferences and how the final harvest nurtures you.  Even planting one seed and following it through its process can provide the information you need to make a decision on whether or not to plant more. 

Keep the Garden of Self nurtured

What does our Garden of Self need right now?  Where are you in the cycle? Not all crops will be in the same stages of readiness.  Give them what they need.  And remember one cycle leads to the next. So while one field is allowed to lie dormant in order to restore and replenish, another will provide multiple harvests.  Be aware of the difference and honor the process and the cycles.  

Intention provides direction and growth

Each day, pause to consider the intention you have for your Garden of Self.  That pause to balance and gain awareness will help you set an intention that will carry you forward in the most positive and productive manner.  Set an intention and let it unfold. Then follow the path that opens up. 

Deeper Song Affirmation

I tend my Garden of Self with conscious intention every day.

Deeper Song Process

  • In a state of meditation, journey to find your Garden of Self and begin to explore.
  • See what crops need to be planted.  What do you want to grow and encourage in your garden of Self?
  • Plant some staples, but perhaps start a few experiments crops.  
  • Tend your Garden of Self every day.
  • Harvest when ready and share what you have grown.
  • Look over the seed catalogs and plant some experimental crops….!

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

Unleash the power of your Sacred Garden

What Seeds Do You Allow to Grow in Your Garden? 

What Seeds Do You Plant for the Future?

What are the Foundations Stones Upon Which Your Build Your Life?

The Power of a Releasing Ceremony

Raise Your Vibration and Change the World. 

I help transformational thinkers
raise their personal vibration so that we, collectively,
can raise the consciousness of our planet.

To receive our weekly
Deeper Song Insights and Applications

Join the Deeper Song Community.

The Secret Garden

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insights-logo

As we begin to expand our inner work, this exploration of our Invisible Self, the Great Mystery, we want to create a launch pad, a Secret Garden from which we begin our exploration. It is part of our inner world, our Invisible Self.

Cara Lumen, spiritual philosopher, explorer, map-maker and founder of the Deeper Song Transformational Community help us sing a deeper song.  In this episode she explains how to create and use a secret garden of your imagination as a safe space for contemplation and exploration.

Everything in the universe is within you.  Ask all of yourself.  – Rumi

(7:35) In this episode we consider: 

1 – The Purpose of the Secret Garden

2 – The meaning of the elements in the Secret Garden

3- The Sacred Garden and healing

For Deeper Insights Consider:

Deepening Our Connection

How to Find Your Spirit Guides

Power Journaling

Your Body Suit and Invisible Self

Important Links & Mentions From This Episode

“Awakening to the Spirit World, The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation” Sandra Ingerman and Hank Wasserman

Members of the Deeper Song Transformational Community are Light Holders, Hope Shiners and Gatherers to our heart. Will you join  us?

What Do You Believe is Possible?

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What Do You Believe is Possible?

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

We get what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible. What do you believe is possible? It can be either a limiting belief or a very powerful freeing belief. For instance, I do not believe that my body can run a marathon because I never could at any point in my life (although walking all over New York City for 14 years has to count for something) but also because my body is old in this moment. But I do believe that my body can self-heal and restore some of its strength – enough to get back to normal things like standing up straight and walking perhaps without a walker. It’s very important that I have that belief. Or it won’t happen. So even though I am going through bumpy times with my body, I have to believe it is possible for it to restore and rebalance to some extent. No marathon running, but perhaps a comfortable walk down the hall. Or outside. 

How are your beliefs and expectations limiting you – particularly when it comes to what you believe is possible? Raise your sights. Raise your expectations and support the resulting change.

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I examine and raise the expectations I hold for what is possible in my life.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS

  • Notice an area where you are limiting yourself by what you believe is possible or not possible. See what you can change about those beliefs.

===INNER WORK===

Honor Your Daily Victories

You need to become your own cheerleading squad. You have to notice your daily wins and acknowledge yourself – no matter how small the win. One step at a time will get you there.

I’m trying to stand up more. It’s pretty boring to simply focus on standing up. I do notice muscle changes and posture changes as I work my body more. I look out the window and I sing a song of encouragement to my body. I just keep making up verses and listening to what my body tells me it needs and wants.

I want to make sure I learn Wuji Hundun Qigong and incorporate it into my daily practice. So each time I practice, each time I study the videos again, I get to acknowledge myself for a job well done, a step well taken. Notice your wins, notice your steps, acknowledge yourself. And keep doing the work. Honor your daily victories. 

The Power of Music

I love classical music. Not every day, but when I do listen I am fascinated by the imagination that not only created the themes but created the interlocking movement of the other instruments with amazing harmonies. I started to write that I didn’t have any idea how one’s mind did that except I do. Because that’s how I write. I get an idea and I turn and start dictating and out comes whatever wants to come out. I’m just not writing it down and creating harmonies and counter melodies with other instruments. 

I like soundscapes and I like jazz but listening to the intertwined intricacies of classical music is an amazing experience. A theme may be echoed by different instruments in solo places that show the true range of the instrument. I can hum along with the themes in a lot of classical music. 

Not too long ago I came across the online recording for the Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor by Camilla Wicks which has touched my heart for 50 years.  That led me to the recording/video by Hillary Hann of that same piece which is amazing to watch.  I want to look for videos of Yo-Yo Mah and his cello. 

What kind of music do you like to listen to and how does it make you feel when you do? Perhaps go exploring and go deeper into the style of music that calls to you. Be still and just listen. 

===SELF-HEALING===

The Inner Space You Live In

Everything we manifest comes from within. In order to change our lives, we need to work on the inside, our beliefs, our expectations, our choices. What is the framework you are building your life around? What beliefs are driving you forward or stopping you? All change begins within, in the universe of self-love. Notice what you get to appreciate about yourself, the gifts, the talents, the quirks. Notice what you’ve accomplished so far by the choices you’ve made. What changes do you need to make to enhance your future? What areas need to be improved?

I can’t tell whether I’m working on loneliness or depression but I’m basically an optimistic person so I need to simply focus on the things that excite me and challenge me and nurture me. Know yourself. Know what you need. Know what you have to give. Know what you want to do. And let your inner voice support you in taking the highest path. Lean to live in a space of grace, peace, serenity, balance and ever-deepening connection to self.

Maintain a Supple Spine

This is a most amazing, easy to do, and effective Qigong move. It was sent to me by my healer friend Christina Gerber: “I was watching a hip relaxing Qigong video and the way to keep the spine limber it is suggested, is to do the same move as we do for our necks.
Trace an egg in front of your pelvis. So you move down and back and up in front to trace the egg at your lower spine.”

It is easy to do and I found it really strengthens your abdominal muscles. Give it a try.

Free Your Shoulders

Here is a powerful move from Daisy Lee’s Wuji Hunan Qigong class. Cross your arms and place your palms over the lung points on the front of your shoulders. You are going to gradually rotate your head. Tilt your head to the right with your ear towards your shoulder. Then move your head back by lifting your chin. Put your ear toward your left shoulder. Then put your chin to your chest. Repeat this four times one way and four times the other way. Go slowly and gently as you stretch your neck. You’ll be surprised how your shoulders also free up in the process. 

To release your crossed hands from your shoulders, gently extend your arms forward with palms up in an offering of gratitude to the universe.    

Willingness

We have to do the work. We have to experiment and notice the results we get. Build on that insight. I got immediate and fairly dramatic results from moving my spine in an “S” movement. Notice the results and then make choices based on what you find. Whatever it is you’re trying to add to your life, make a conscious choice to do it, practice it, experience it for several days if not a week. Notice what changed or didn’t so you can make new decisions about how to place it into your daily life. Explore, be willing to experiment, and add what works to your life. 

===OUTER WORK===

Go Where Your Soul Feels Nurtured

With the unfolding of the chaos of today’s world, those of us who are sensitive and aware need to hang out where our soul feels nurtured. Where is that for you? Is it in nature? Is it in music? Is it in writing something? Know what nurtures you and do more of that. It is your job to place yourself in places and situations and conversations that support your highest vision and your expanded awareness of all that is truly possible. Hang out where your soul feels nurtured.

Know How You Learn

As I set about to learn these 18 moves of Wuji Hunan Qigong I try various methods of learning that I have developed over the years. Do you know how you learn? Do you know the steps it takes for you to own an idea or concept? Is it easier for you to understand the overview than remember the details? That certainly is the case for me.

I am determined to own this system so not only am I learning physical moves but I am remembering a sequence. I’m taking notes. I’m watching the videos a lot. I’m practicing several times a day. What steps do you take in order to own an idea or concept, a new way of doing something?

I have a friend who remembers everything and even how to spell everything that she learns. I am the overview guy and not into details, so I have to create systems and practices that help me draw the detail into my big picture so I can use it and work with it.

Know how you learn and develop creative ways to help you learn. It may be speaking out loud, it may be drawing a picture, it may be moving your body. Experiment with learning methods until it’s easy to incorporate something that you want to learn into your life. 

One Step at a Time

A road is traveled one step at a time. A home is built one brick at a time. What steps do you need to take that will move you closer to your goal?

Do the work even if you can’t do it exactly how you want to. I cannot yet stand up to do Qigong very much. But each day that I try I make it a little longer and it gets a little easier. One step at a time will get you there.

I have a friend who is evolving from a professional job into her healing business as she prepares to retire. Her healing business is evolving and changing but she can put up a website even if she changes it so that she can ask people to join her list and keep track of how her offerings are evolving.

The step doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be a movement in the general direction. What new steps have you added recently that are guiding you toward your new goals? Do more of those. 

Offer, Let Go, and Trust

Do the work even if you can’t do it exactly how you want to. I cannot yet stand up to do Qigong very much. But each day that I try I make it a little longer and it gets a little easier. One step at a time will get you there.

I have a friend who is evolving from a professional job into her healing business as she prepares to retire. Her healing business is evolving and changing but she can put up a website even if she changes it so that she can ask people to join her list and keep track of how her offerings are evolving.

The step doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be a movement in the general direction. What new steps have you added recently that are guiding you toward your new goals? Do more of those. 

First of all, I live in a senior center in the conservative Midwest so the idea of wanting to share Qigong practices with the seniors here may be really out of line and far-fetched or even of no interest. But I wrote the Complex Manager and the Social Services Director telling them about the book Head-to-Toe Healing by Master Chuny Lin and suggested they put it in the library. I have a hunch the idea will not resonate even though I know the simple acupressure moves are a powerful way to have input on how your body evolves as you age. Sometimes you just put out an idea and let go.

You can get Head-to-Toe Healing by Master Chuny Lin on Amazon or at springforestqigong.com or chunyilin.com. If you get on his mailing list, you will get one of the moves by email every week. 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Trust The Universe

The package arrived. I actually thought I had ordered three small Mookaite points, but here was one Mookaite Tower that was absolutely gorgeous with all the colors that Mookaite carries. It was fabulous. What also arrived in the package was a small quartz crystal in a purple net bag. It was a gift from the vendor. When I sat down to meditate with the Mookaite tower, I found it is a communicator – a very powerful one. It will guide me in expressing the ideas that surround me. When I picked up and held in my left hand this small half-inch quartz crystal I was blown away by its power. I have many powerful crystals but this one may be the most deeply powerful I’ve acquired in quite awhile. We’re talking half inch here. I’m going to keep it in its purple net bag so I don’t lose it. This is worldly wisdom and a depth that makes me want to cry. It is guidance in this time of turmoil. It is wisdom and intuition and sacred meaning. It is a small quartz crystal given as a gift by the vendor. I will figure out a way to wear it around my neck all day. It’s a reminder to me of the power of the small stuff, the power of the shifted gaze, the power of the high intention that will make more positive change happen. We’re talking a half-inch crystal here with a huge impactful message. Take your guidance where you find it. Trust it.  Act on it.

Listen To The Reassuring Sounds of Nature

There is something so reassuring about the rustling of leaves or the sound of a bird call or the steady rhythm of rain drops on the window. There is a calming rhythm in the sounds of nature. We should pause to listen more often. Listen to the silence. Quiet your mind and simply be.    

Sit in nature with your eyes closed and see what you can identify. I live in a part of the country where there are crickets at night although I haven’t been outside at night for a long time. And there are lightning bugs. And don’t forget the powerful phases of the moon. Notice the small leaf emerging from the bush. Is there the sound of water in the nature where you are? Close your eyes and listen. Feel the energy of nature. Feel the all-encompassing power of nature. Let it seep into your body and restore and replenish and heal you. Connect with nature, it has many gifts to offer you.

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGS===

Hang Out With Like-Minded People

Are you aware of the people around you that pull you down? What do you do about it when you figure that out? Do you excuse yourself and go find happy people to be with? Do you turn off the news? Be aware of what brings you down and avoid it. Find your personal version of a happy pill.

Do Not Make Rules For Others

No one likes to be told what to do. We all want the ability to make our own choices and live our own lives. Besides that, your way is simply your way, it is not anyone else’s way. We each live our own life according to our individual consciousness. It is not the consciousness or beliefs of another person. So we have no right to tell someone else what to do and what you suggest will not fit with their version of their own life. Be aware of the structure you try to impose on others around you and ease up on them. We are each walking our own path in our own unique way. Honor that.

===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===

Build on the View From Each New Step

I added one lower spine straightening exercise and it brought such powerful and immediate results that a whole new view of what is possible has opened up. Self-healing really feels not just possible but closer to happening. 

Each step you take, each path you explore, changes the view, the outcome and the possibilities. Perhaps at the end of your day, take time to look back over the new choices you made and see if you can tell the difference they are making. Perhaps keep track of the changes you make during your week and at the end of that week, journal and notice what shifted and what changed. My experience with the spine-straightening exercise was so profound and so immediate that it changed my expectations of what is possible by a whole lot. And I, of course, am doing that exercise more often throughout the day.

Notice the effects of one small step. One shift. What changes? What new doors open? What path are you now going down? Notice change and be willing to build on the new possibilities it suggests. 

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Dismemberment

Dismemberment is a shamanic practice in which you go to your Sacred Garden and ask your guides to help you release what no longer serves you. They will lead you on a dismemberment journey. You may find yourself in an ocean where everything washes away. You may evaporate into thin air. Your guides help you release everything that you are. Then they help you make conscious choices about how you want to reassemble. Trust them. 

Sandra Ingerman recently pointed out that what is happening in today’s world is that we are going through a dismemberment. That means we have to be prepared to allow everything to cease to exist and a whole new version of ourselves and our world to reassemble. It would be a good thing. I wonder what that would look like. Guess we’ll find out given time.

It makes sense to release all that does not work and replace it with a new form that does. We are building a new world and first we have to clear the space. 

What would a new world look like? There will be great support for each other. There will be many people on the high road helping others to raise their sights and join them on the highroad. There will be kindness and inclusiveness. No harm will be done to anyone or anything. What will it feel like as a person living in that space? There would be less individual striving and more choices for the overall good of all. 

I’m a pretty self-focused, independent woman and I’m not sure how well I can do that. But I would definitely do no harm. And that’s a good place to start. Make certain that the choices you are making today harm no one. Begin there.

A Bigger and Broader Perspective

Try to see the overview. Try to see the brighter perspective, the path it is opening up, the journey we are on. Let go of how things were and how things are. And begin to look for how things could be, might be, will be, and set your sights there. Focus your work towards that expression of wholeness and oneness and inclusiveness.    Expand your vision to embrace a bigger and broader perspective.

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

Expanding Awareness

Are You Afraid of Change?

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Google

and the 

Deeper Song Website

===CARA’S CRNER===

Embrace the Possibilities

I have made three new changes in my life this week and I’m getting very powerful results. I am practicing Wuji Hundun Qigong every day and I’m only on class one. I added five new crystals to my altar to work with – a Golden healer, Blue Kyanite, two Mookaite, and a small gift quartz. I added a new lower spine-straightening exercise. And I have walked the halls two days running. And amazing things are happening. 

What is working for you that is making a change that you need to do more of? Keep experimenting, keep doing the work, keep noticing results, expect positive change. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Build on the Small Changes  

The change was immediate. The step that created it was very small.

The change was immediate. The step that created it was very small. Notice change. Notice what prompted it.

The change was immediate. The step that created it was very small. Notice change. Notice what prompted it. Awareness + choice = change.

Cara Lumen, July 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.    Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,
Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song    

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

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Explore The Rewarding Path of Change

By

Explore The Rewarding Path of Change

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
 The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

I’m not exactly in limbo but there is change occurring all around me and I don’t know where it’s leading or what my role is to be. I can’t force it. But I keep looking for ways to help it be revealed to me.

I pulled some tarot cards to get some answers. The first one I drew was “changed and possibilities.”

“Possibilities” is a door opener.  It is a game-changer. What do I need to let go of or do more or change in order to open up new possibilities? Sometimes all we need to do is sit still and contemplate the changes and openings in the new path that show themselves.

We must explore.  We must identify what calls the most to us and walk down that path a bit to see where it might lead. See how it feels. See if it’s a direction we want to go in. We must be willing to change.

We must explore our new interests deeply enough to have a sense of the possibilities it opens up. Their potential. The direction it will lead us. The gifts it will bring. We can’t always identify what opportunities and challenges a new choice will bring so we need to stay alert as we travel the path and keep making changes, keep exploring, keep questioning. We need to know how it feels, what changes would be possible and where they might lead. And with each step, we must reevaluate the new perspective it reveals. Consciously explore each developing new pathway, make your choice, and move forward. We must be persistent in our search, resilient in our exploration, and patient for the path of change to be revealed. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I stay open to change and the new possibilities for me to make a difference. 

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Keep a lookout for new concepts and choices that open up new possibilities. 
  • Explore those that call to you. 
  • Draw them into your life and go exploring.

===INNER WORK===

Create a Shamanic Ceremony for Guidance

Several things will influence the experience you have creating a ceremony. You will get better with practice over time.

The first is the skill and life experience you bring to the table. 

There are many ways to design a ceremony. It can be short or long it can be elaborate or simple. Explore different forms of ceremony and perhaps identify several that are applicable to different situations you find yourself in. 

My major form of ceremony is a shamanic journey. I journey all the time. My process is very simple. I decide on the purpose of my journey.  It may be guidance, it may be self-healing, usually I have a question and seek clarity. 

Begin your ceremony by centering yourself. I could play my flute or look out at nature. Or close my eyes and focus on my breathing.

In a quiet place, I use my imagination to go to my Sacred Garden and ask for guidance. The images that show up are mine to interpret. They are my spiritual guides speaking directly to me. The first three times I journeyed I saw nothing but a campfire and only sensed others around it. Be patient with yourself as you learn to journey. And don’t be surprised with the form it takes.  Trust what shows up.

The second contributor to your ceremony/ritual is your relationship with the unseen world and the guides that show up which deepens over time. 

I have a resistance to angels and when one started to appear in my journeys, it was only her feet and the tips of her wings that I could see.  It took awhile for me to let her in but now the Angel With The Golden Wings is often present to guide me on my journeys.

Trust the images that appear and trust how you choose to interpret them. All of these images are metaphors for only you to interpret. If you are not clear, ask them for clarity.

What you do with the guidance you receive is also an important influencer on the effectiveness of the rituals and journeys that you take. Do the work. Explore the suggestions. Let your guides help you unravel the question you’ve asked. 

Be willing to believe what you see. Be willing to listen to talking rocks and fly on the backs of big birds and communicate with dolphins. Listen and interpret whatever images and thoughts and ideas show up and trust your interpretation. Keep practicing and you’ll get better at it. This is one of the ways that the inner world speaks to you.

Always give gratitude for all the guidance and awareness that you’ve been given. Your guides are there to be helpful.  Thank them for their insights and wisdom.

Keep a journal. Take notes right after you have your journey or ceremony. And be aware of any changes and ideas that show up in the days and weeks that follow. Record those too. It helps to clarify the overview.

Our shamanic work comes with the obligation to honor the power and spiritual magic and not take it lightly.

Know that you are safe. 

Have a clear intention.

Treat the experience with great respect. 

Add a shamanic journey as one of the forms of ceremony in your spiritual life and gather to you the insights of the inner world.

You are responsible for your own experience.  Keep exploring. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Trust the Stillness

How much time do you spend in silent stillness? There is no better place to heal and regroup than in the silence of our inner world. I don’t mean sleep, I mean meditative stillness.  A time when you go within and create space for your inner wisdom, your inner guidance, to make itself known.  

The form that guidance takes may vary.  Allow it time to evolve.  

I was to lead a segment in a Zoom call.  I had an idea.  As the days progressed, I got ideas for different versions the experience could take.  I explored them as they came up, taking them a step deeper or in a slightly different direction.  I trusted my inner voice to take me in the right direction.  I gave the concept space to evolve and trusted the process. 

Set an intention and then sit with it.  Notice what comes up without judgment.  You will know when to choose and what to choose.  Let the stillness nurture and clarify. 

(It turned out to be a powerful experience for all of us on the call…)

===OUTER  WORK===

What Makes Life Meaningful?

The facets of your life that are meaningful in the moment change over the years as your life changes, as your focus changes, and your expectations change. What is meaningful for you right now? My mind is meaningful. Without it for me there’s nothing because it’s entertaining, it’s informative, it’s creative, it helps me reach out to others. 

Do you have a gift that you particularly enjoy or find meaning in sharing? Do you need to do more of it? Do you need to find a broader audience to share it with? How are you using your gifts? Who are you sharing them with? And how can you widen your reach? 

What Do You Want?

What do you want? What are your priorities? Is it your health? Your relationships? Your work? Your future? Choose one and begin to do some active work on it – both inner and outer. That means visualization. How could it unfold? What does that look like and feel like?  How will the choices you are considering affect others? The world? Your own life? Take a few steps.  See how it feels and where it is leading you.

Perhaps you need to work on not just what you want, but what you need right now in your life. That could help you sort out your priorities. Do you need friendship? Do you need money? Do you need better health? What is your main need right now and what are you doing to make it happen? 

On the physical plane, I want my body to feel better. On the spiritual plane, I want the world to feel better. I can work on both of those. But I need to know that I need them both and I want them both, so I can choose the right steps to take and the right beliefs to hold to help it come into being.

Make a list of a few things that you want and then prioritize them. Pick the first one and design three steps to move you forward in your awareness of its potential and impact. Your future is yours to design. It is yours to create. It is yours to cultivate. Choose in alignment with the highest good of all. And get to work.

Ideas and Discipline

I get tons of ideas. They crowd my head. They crowd my day, they crowd my work. I love them. But I continue to develop criteria by which to choose and measure the usefulness of an idea. 

Not all ideas are yours to do. They may be an idea to give to someone else. They may be an idea to be done at a later time. Don’t let yourself get so crowded with ideas that you don’t act on any of them. Learn to be selective and choose the ideas that take you the furthest in the direction you want to go next.

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Above and Below

More and more healing practices that I come across begin by connecting deeply with Gaia and bringing up her powers, then turning and connecting with the cosmos, your Soul Star, Source. We bring both of those energies into our humanness and use them to release, restore, repair, and rebuild. I sometimes feel those energies coming from above and below turning into a counter-clockwise spiral, releasing, repairing, and replacing all throughout the column of my body. Use your imagination and take time to bring the energy from below and from above where you do your self-healing work.

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGS===

Work With Another Light Being

When my daughter retires in a few years she wants to move into animal healing using energy techniques like Reiki. I’ve connected her with a friend of mine who is a very gifted animal healer. She will have an example and a mentor and a guide as she moves into her new field.

I have a small group of women that I interact with regularly and each time I do, I find insights and meaning and often new steps to take to enrich my own life. Do you have that kind of circle of friends? Start with one person. Find a friend that is on a similar track and arrange to talk on a regular basis, to encourage each other, and to share what you have learned.

I have a primary longtime friend that I was paired with when we were in one of Sandra Ingerman’s shamanism classes and we have continued to talk weekly for five years or so. We have grown alongside each other. We have supported each other in that growth. We know each other’s patterns so we can be supportive.

You will have different friends for different facets of your life. Encourage that. Explore that. Expand on that. In my case, I’ve introduced those friends to each other. They have developed their own relationships.

As you grow, your friends will change. Allow that to happen. And seek new friends that will help you move higher on the new path that you’ve chosen.

===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===

Adventure and Potential

How do we know our potential if we don’t go adventuring? If we don’t try new things? Or explore new venues? How much exploration are you doing currently? Do you go a little way down the path you’re on to check out what else is there? Are you turning and exploring a whole new path? Will it take you on an adventure that will lead you places you cannot imagine? Be aware that you must continue to explore. You must adventure down unexplored paths and look around and see what calls to you.  When you go exploring you will find a new adventure and your greater potential!

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Choice

There sure are a lot of us on this planet making a lot of different decisions, going in a lot of different directions, not at all in harmony with each other. It’s kind of a mess. I suppose it’s a growth stage. Each person trying to expand and find their role. Some are more aware of the consciousness of the earth and some have more compassion and empathy than others. It’s an eclectic collection of people all here on the same planet and we are not working in harmony. 

We must consciously define and follow our own path, our own heart. We must constantly strive to take the higher path – the path of inclusion. Not everybody’s going to be on that path. But we must continue our journey on the highest road we can find and keep making conscious choices for the highest good of the most people.

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

Expanding Awareness

Journey to a Chamber of the Seven Sacred Rays

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Google

and the 

Deeper Song Website

===CARA’S CORNER===

Building My Web of Life

As I look around to see how my “next” will unfold, the lesson of the spider calls to me. She weaves her world from within herself and builds on what she finds around her.  She also can’t see so she works only from vibration.  Hummmm. I want to create like a spider.

I am probably forcing my search for what I am to do next. In fact, I’m pretty sure I am. So if I take a lesson from the spider, what do I do? 

I am patient. I pay attention to what is inside of me. My thoughts, my urges, my insights. And I wait patiently to discover where I might apply those ideas. It’s the patient part I’m not too good at. But there is a serenity and surety and resilience about building on what you find around you and building from within you. I will keep practicing.

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

The Nudge

One idea.  One nudge.  I explore.

One idea.  One nudge.  I explore. I experiment, I imagine. I vision.

One idea.  One nudge.  I explore. I experiment, I imagine. I vision. My new path opens up, my new calling unfolds, and I move into a new adventure!

Cara Lumen, February 2022

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

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