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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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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?

How Do You Stand Steady In The Midst Of Change?

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How Do You Stand Steady In The Midst Of Change?

Living Our Deeper Song

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

Living in today’s world is a little like surfing, you have to keep your balance. That means constant re-evaluation, shifting and thoughtful timing.   

Re-evaluate 

Are you happy with the way your life is now? Is your work stimulating and rewarding and satisfying? Are your relationships nurturing? Is there something you have always wanted to do that you keep putting off? What is missing?

 Shift

What do you need to rearrange in order to go in the direction you have identified? What do you need to do less of? How do you rearrange your time to focus your attention in this new direction? 

Thoughtful Timing

Do you make a sudden move or a subtle move? Are you just going exploring or are you ready to make a major change? When will you make it? 

Experiment and Explore

It’s OK to dip your toes in the water first. It’s OK to stay close to the shore until you feel confident. As you gain knowledge and confidence you can explore further afield.

How are your life surfing skills? Are you ready for the big waves? Are you ready to stand steady in the midst of change?

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I keep exploring and training for the life I choose to live.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Examine your life closely and identify the areas that need to change.
  • Go exploring for new fields to cultivate and new paths to explore.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Journey and Journal

I have begun a new journey of discovery to the Unseen World. I am using shamanic journeying and will share what I find, including new views and action steps for us to consider.  Do you have a new area you want to explore and how will you do that?

Reorganize Your System

I’m a good organizer but my system was scattered. I paused to reorganize. I rearranged my system of organizing my newsletter so I only have three places to look – the upcoming newsletter, a document of potential lead articles and a third document where I write what will go in the other categories. I can then work on one newsletter at a time and I have an easy way to add new ideas for future newsletters.

Pause to reorganize your system to make it simpler.  It will help save you time in the long run. Time spent rethinking how you access what you need is time well spent in actually saving time. 

Core Energy

The 17-year-old Med-Aide-in-training had brought me outside on a beautiful day. We sat at the edge of the koi pond and talked. There are mallard ducks that come back every year to breed in our enclosed courtyard and as we sat there talking, they came and got into the pond. They were five feet from where we sat. We watched them bathe and interact with each other. The female was a bit bossy. Then they sat on the edge of the pond in contentment. The 17-year-old and I continued talking as we watched and it did not disturb the two ducks. Then three people came over to the pond.  They didn’t stay long but the ducks got up and waddled away. It was then I realized how honored we had been.  The young med-aide and I were emitting an energy that made the ducks feel safe enough to come live their lives in close proximity.  It was a deep honor.

How does your energy affect others? Are you a calm, centered person to be around? Notice how your mere presence affects an interaction. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Inner Work And Our Work

It’s pretty easy to identify the outer work that needs to be done but the inner work is more subtle.

I’m getting a lot of help on the outsides – blood thinner, antibiotics – and I am building back my daily qigong practice.  When I get my shoe lifts, I will walk more.

There are several things I want to do on my spiritual level. Songs to above and below are being added to the songs I sing to the directions. I spend more time with one crystal each day. I’m exploring how my big skin drum would like to participate more, I play my kalimba longer, and I am doing more Unseen World work in the form of journeys.

How do you need and want to expand your inner and outer world to deepen your spiritual awareness and strengthen your body?

Accept The Boundaries Of Your Gifts

Make peace with the boundaries of your gifts. I see the overview in seconds and I don’t remember detail. I have honed that gift over the years and accepted that I don’t deal in detail.

Are some of you gifts strong and others not so well developed?  How do you work with and around those? 

===OUTER  WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

Follow Your Inner Calling

Sometimes our choices may seem odd to others but we must stay true to our inner calling.  Each life expression is unique and some seem more unique than others.

As I begin this new phase of my life, I am making unique choices.  I am raising my gaze and changing my direction and expanding and raising my purpose on earth.

It is not about the destination, it is about the journey and the lives I can touch along the way.

What is calling you? Where is it leading? Follow your inner calling and forge your new path.

How Have Your Past Choices Impacted Today?

There is one major dramatic choice I made fifty years ago that has made all the difference in my life adventure. I cannot imagine my life any other way because of that one major profound and dramatic choice. Other lives were deeply affected because of my choice but what I have learned and the number of lives I have impacted was meant to be. Trust your path. Trust your instincts Trust your journey.  It was meant to be.

You Can’t Turn The Unturnable

You can’t turn the unturnable. You can’t educate the uneducable. Those statements on a recent news show helped me reposition some of my concerns. I have only had conversations with two people whose beliefs were totally opposite from mine. What I saw was a person who read and followed only those sources that agreed with the ideas he held.  He was being drawn further and further down a non-inclusive path. I had never heard of any of those publications – they were special interest groups. It was not the main media. I don’t understand their reasoning or premise but I have now given myself permission not to try.

What brick wall are you up against? Recognize it and change directions.

Know Your Role

As I finished re-reading Michael Harner’s book The Way Of The Shaman, I realized that I was not ever going to be someone who works to heal others, although I did that as a Reiki Master Teacher in the 80s. I am going to use the shamanic work that I have learned primarily to journey and discover and share. It is good to know the boundaries of your work. 

I will use some of these techniques on myself for self-healing. But mine is no longer the role of healing others on the physical plane. Perhaps what I write and share is healing to others just as it is to me. 

Know the boundaries of the work you are to undertake and be content. My role is to explore and discover and share. What is your over-arching role?

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Accountability

We create our life by what we focus on and what we expect. Are you setting your goals and expectations high enough? Give that some thought.  

You are the only one who can shape your destiny. As your life unfolds, you chose your path and experience through your choices. When you want to change, you change your thinking, your expectations and your choices.

How would you like to shape your “next”?

===INSIGHTS FROM THE UNSEEN WORLD===

Guidance to Consider

What Am I To Share About The Unseen World?

I have begun to journey to the Unseen World to explore and to share what I find. I did not start in my Sacred Garden as I usually do, I started in the Chamber of the Seven Rays sitting between the Indigo and Violet rays and my guide was Gwen, my dragon protector. A blue butterfly wrapped me in golden threads for protection and sealed it with a butterfly kiss…. my new and unexpected Spirit Guide. I am to explore the Unseen World and share what I find. Here we go adventuring…

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Define Your Role

My role is changing as I follow this calling to explore the Unseen World. Elements in my shamanic journey work have changed for this adventure and I have a deeper core of journeying insights to stand upon.

Periodically pause to examine your role, check in with your inner guidance, and see how you are to alter your direction.

=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them.  She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle. – Tao Te Ching

What a powerful lesson about letting go – letting life flow around you while you stay steady at your core, focused on the messages and guidance from within.

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

Past issue of this newsletter and found at Insights Of A Deeper Song.      

Pas Podcasts are found at Deeper Song Podcasts

===INTENTION BLESSING===

May we hear and heed the call of the Divine Feminine. 

May we expand our hearts and our expectations.

May we walk the Path of Light with a sure foot. 

May we keep our gaze on the summit.

May we take this journey with a full heart. 

I entwine my light with yours as we move forward to guide the way.

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

How We Are to Create a New Consciousness

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Googleand the
Deeper Song Website

===CARA’S CORNER===

The Crossroads

I stand at another crossroad. Actually it’s the crossroads of three paths that I created for myself. Three directions from which to choose. I will ultimately explore all three but for now I want to go down one path to explore it more deeply. 

My mission statement is: “I help Transformational Leaders deepen our relationship with the Unseen World and expand our role in the New Consciousness.”

  • I will help Transformational Leaders as I explore the other two but I do not want to take time to work on the self-discovery stage.
  • “Deepen our relationship with the Unseen World” is a personal, introspective focus. I can do a lot of interesting work with the Unseen World and I will learn a lot.
  • “Expand our role in the New Consciousness” is very important right now and I’m no longer interacting out in the world except with this newsletter and the individual lives I touch here. Perhaps that is ending for now. I think that will be a secondary focus. I have to figure out my own role for myself.

I think the reason I want to explore the Unseen World has to do with the seriousness of my recent hospital stay. I have begun to re-re-read Michael Newton’s books on Life Between Lives. His books are Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives (Llewellyn, 1994), Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives (Llewellyn, May 2000), and Life Between Lives:Hypnotherapy for Spiritual Regression (Llewellyn, 2004).

I kept writing down Michael Harner and I considered that an Inner Voice nudge. I just finished re-reading his book The Way of The Shaman. He preceded my two teachers Hank Wassermann and Sandra Ingerman. Joe Dispenza is a source for exploring the Unseen World but I’m pretty sure I am to do my own journeywork and report back. I will listen to my Inner Voice.

Does my process of exploration and discovery help you figure out where you go next and how you begin?

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

The Choice

Three paths open before me. I must choose one for now.

Three paths open before me. I must choose one for now. One leads high, one leads lower, one leads down the middle. 

Three paths open before me. I must choose one for now. One leads high, one leads lower, one leads down the middle.  I choose the higher road that feels more mysterious and begin my new journey. 

  • Cara Lumen, April 2023

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 Transformational Leaders

deepen our relationship with the Unseen World 

and expand our role in the New Consciousness

Please forward this newsletter to a friend and suggest they
Join the Deeper Song Community

Past Issues of this newsletter are being curated on my site on a page called Insights.

Our Global Deeper Song Community

Our Deeper Song Community extends throughout the planet. Welcome new Deeper Song Explorers. I’d love to hear of your experiences –  caralumen@gmail.com or let’s discuss on the Deeper Song Explorers!

Subscribe to this weekly Deeper Song Newsletter at www.deepersong.com

My Books

How To Design Your “Next” 

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How To Design Your “Next” 

Living Our Deeper Song

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

I had been living in Santa Rosa, California for 17 years and in order to afford the house I rented, I needed to have a housemate. One was not showing up this time. I suddenly knew that it was time for me to move and begin a new phase of my life. My daughter had said that when I needed physical help, I needed to come to Kansas City where she lived and worked.

I got online, looked at apartments near where my daughter lived, called her and told her I was coming. She checked out the apartments I had found and I rented one.  Within a month I was on my way moving from California to Kansas. 

What I didn’t know was what would unfold next. My daughter took one look at me and said I need knee replacements which I had never even heard of. In the process of doing that, I stopped earning my living as a Content Development Coach and it became evident that financially I needed to move into subsidized independent living where I could live on just my Social Security. This happened in the space of a year.

Give some thought to your   aaging process. Understand what you can afford. Anticipating how much help you need to manage physically is a whole other challenge because it definitely sneaks up on you. Then actively start designing the next part of your life. 

It was hard for me to give up my car as my eyesight diminished. It was a strong loss of freedom and independence. Then it became hard for me to walk to do my laundry or take out my trash. Notice your physical changes and be prepared to make a major change in order to have the physical help that you need. Find the people who are trained and willing to do that. 

Although I needed a lot of help to make this move, I have never wanted to be dependent on my daughter. Taking care of an older person requires physical stamina and a definite degree of skill. The people that are caring for me now are professionals who chose this line of work. Don’t leave the physical care you need as you age to your children. Keep on being responsible for your own life including your aging process.

See if you can identify what is important in your life and try to keep providing it. It was important that I get to bring two live plants to my new space. And if someone would give me a third plant with maroon leaves, I might even cry. Having that life around me is that important.

Explore all types of communities for seniors to determine the type of support you need and the social life you have in mind. My computer supplies so much learning and entertainment and connection with my friends that it is a cornerstone of my daily life. I am a loner so my computer is more important than any social activities a place may provide. Just know those kinds of things about yourself and honor them when you make your choice of a new place to live.  

Don’t try to stay in your home when you are no longer capable of taking care of yourself. My daughter and her husband live in a split-level house which is going to get harder for them to live in as they both age. 

Be clear about what physical support you need your new environment. I am being more productive with this extra physical support than I have in the last five years without it. 

They are not building very many more of these subsidized independent living facilities in the US and the waiting list can be as long as two or three years so make your choice and get on the list before you need it.

Decide what is really important for you and keep in your life as long as possible but not at the expense of your family. 

My sense is that there is subsidized housing everywhere but because the Boomer population is coming up, there will be a scarcity unless they build more. Go exploring and see what will work for you. The waiting list can be several years, particularly as the older population proceeds to grow faster than the community is being built to support it.

Take a close look at what do you want to have in your life during this next stage of your life. Then go exploring until you find the perfect place for you to move to next. Design your own future living experience and make sure you have the assistance and care that you need as you age. 

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I go exploring to find new living opportunities and thoughtfully design the next phase of my life.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

  • Do some very specific assessments of your current physical, emotional, and financial situation to begin to assess your future housing needs.  
  • Literally make a list of what you want in your future life and prioritize it.
  • Begin to network with your friends and relatives to find out what types of independent living or assisted living are available. Go exploring and perhaps get on a list or two.
  • Begin to visualize how you want this next phase of your life. Do you want to be with people? Do you want to have access to learning? Do you need to be in nature? Identify the aspects that appeal to you and prioritize them.
  • Network to get recommendations. Go exploring. Check out a few places and get on a few lists if something appeals to you. Imagine yourself in these various situations and begin to select the elements that you want in this next portion of your life.
  • Know yourself. Know what you need emotionally and physically. But also listen to what your family describes as your limitations.
  • We have control even as we need more help. Go exploring while you are physically able to examine potential living spaces and then get on a few lists and see what unfolds. Take charge of your future as you age. But be honest about what you truly need.

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

How To Create A Ceremony

A ceremony can be simple or elaborate. It begins with establishing the purpose of your ceremony. Do you want to release or receive or honor? 

A ceremony begins with an intention.

A ceremony can be focused on releasing something, blessing something, changing something or honoring something.  Or a ceremony can be made in order to attract something into your life. Set your intention. What is the purpose of your ceremony? 

Create Sacred Space 

Preparations for your ceremony can be simple or elaborate. It can be indoors or outdoors. Set your intention to create a sacred space and let your inner voice help you arrange it accordingly.

Decide on the form the ceremony will take. 

If it is a ceremony of releasing what form will the releasing take? 

Will you burn something or tear up a piece of paper? Will you dissolve something in liquid? Would you blow it out on soap bubbles? What symbolic move will you make that indicates you are releasing whatever it is you choose to release? 

If it is a ceremony of honoring or attraction, what are your offering or attracting? 

Is it a blessing? Is it an affirmation? How are you going to express your intention to attract something different into your life or into a situation? 

Open Your Awareness

Choose your intention, focus your awareness and set up your sacred space. Think of this as creating a small receptive surface to focus your ceremony.

When you’re ready to begin your ceremony, place yourself in a state of receptivity. You might begin by taking calming centering breaths. You might use a mantra like AUM. You might light a candle or use flower essences. Create your own method for bringing yourself into the heart of the ceremony.  Let your inner voice guide you. As you proceed with your ceremony, trust the nudges you get from your inner voice. Whatever images and ideas that show up are meant for only you to interpret.

You can sing. You can play music. You can state affirmations. This is your ceremony. Craft it so that it speaks deeply to you.

If you move into a meditative journey, go to your Sacred Garden, trust what shows up. They are metaphors only you are to interpret. Ask for the guidance and clarity that you seek. 

Journal to Go Deeper

When you take time to write about your experience, it captures your surface awareness and allows you to explore what lies beneath it and move more deeply into the more subtle message and insights that you received. 

Before you close your ceremony, pause to review your experience and notice what has shifted within you both energetically and in your expectations.

Close the ceremony with gratitude

When your ceremony is complete, bring it to a close with gratitude. Offer gratitude to your metaphorical guides that offered you insights into the universe and large.  When you feel complete, honor the energy of the items you used in the ceremony by placing them carefully away in a sacred place. 

Create ceremonies for many purposes.

Honor the Solstice or the Equinox with ceremonies you design. 

Create ceremonies to release. Release worry and anxiety. Release energy and ideas that no longer serve you. 

Create ceremonies to attract positive energy to a situation or circumstance. 

You could create a ceremony to begin your day, to end your day, to begin or end your work,  to honor a family member or friend, or to attract positive insights and ideas to help you move forward. 

Ceremonies can be simple or elaborate. Set your intention, create your steps, and conduct your ceremony with strong intention. And then watch the results that manifest.

Take Time for Contemplation

Contemplation is about thoughtfully and mindfully considering an idea or topic by examining it from various angles to see if it is still aligned with your goals, your philosophy, and the path you have chosen. 

It is a good idea to thoughtfully contemplate your profession, your relationships, your health, your spiritual growth, and your role in the world on a regular basis. That means you take time to look at each of those areas from different perspectives to see if you are going in the direction you want to go and if you are taking advantage of all the new opportunities that are presenting themselves. 

As we move along our lives, we are presented with new concepts, new opportunities, and new possibilities. New objectives appear and we must make adjustments and course corrections to make certain we are aligned with our innermost awareness and goals.

Make time to contemplate various aspects of your life, to make certain that you still want to go in the direction you’re going, and decide what you can do to change that direction if you choose.

Look closely at your profession to see how it is changing, what new opportunities are opening up and decide if what you are doing still resonates with you. Re-choose and make a course correction. 

Look closely at your relationships – your friendships, your professional interactions – to make certain they are nurturing, rewarding and aligned with your current goals. Change what is necessary. Look closely to see if that change needs to come from within you.

Go exploring to see what new elements you might add to your spiritual practice that would bring you deeper insights, greater understanding and new adventures. Explore the new paths that have opened up and create and adjust until you find the right balance for this point in time.

Take time to rethink and re-choose on a regular basis. Perhaps align these moments of reflection with phases of the moon or the seasons, but several times a year look closely at where you are, what got you there, what has changed, where you want to go next, and what you need to do to make that happen.  Then re-choose, take action and move forward. 

Answers From Within

Your inner voice is your best friend. It can help you figure out what to do next. It can give you answers to a problem. All you have to do is turn within, and ask and listen. Do you do that? 

Trust the answers. Follow the thoughts and insights to receive the guidance you seek. That’s your inner voice speaking to you. Learn to interpret it. Learn to trust it.

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Surrender and Accept

Sometimes things just need to be the way they are. We have to accept that and we have to move on. It doesn’t mean you don’t try to change something but it does mean you recognize when changes are not going to happen and accept it.

That may mean that you have to change some plans, perhaps even a major focus. It may mean that you have to put off a dream or get busy and make it happen now. We do need to think big. We do need to use our imagination to explore new possibilities. We do need to vision. We need to feel our own creative ability as we move through life, but we also need to recognize when change is not going to happen and move around it or through it or beyond it.

How Well Are You Caring For Yourself Emotionally?

Emotions are subtle. They begin as small pokes and nudges but sometimes they get out of hand and we can we find ourselves out of balance. 

How do you do an emotional wellness check? I think you need to create your own system but there are certain aspects of your emotional and over-all well-being to keep track of. Here are some I thought of. You may want to add to it. Perhaps begin by rating these on a scale of one to 10 – 10 being very satisfied 

  • Overall Happiness
  • Physical Well-being
  • Feel appreciated/loved
  • Mentally stimulated
  • Interestingly interactive with the world
  • My impact in the world
  • What action steps will I take?
  • Satisfaction/Contentment

Answer these for yourself before you read on. 

Here’s what I discovered. This is what is true for me at this point in time. 

Overall Happiness – 8

I am very happy considering my body is still recovering from hip replacement surgery and my whole body is a bit grouchy. But I am in a good place to live and I’m experiencing an extremely positive response to the kind,loving, caring people around me on the staff. My mind is my best friend and entertainment. We stay very busy.  

Physical Well-being – 3-4

At this moment in time, I’m doing major body healing but there are still a ton of things that need to keep healing. I am gradually being able to stand up straighter than I have in years and that’s calling for all sorts of physical adjustments. And I still have to contend with my diminishing eyesight both physically and psychologically. It looks like there is a lot that still needed here and a whole lot of work on my part to heal my body. 

Feel appreciated/loved -10

I have a few longtime friends that I speak with regularly online that nurture and support and stimulate me. We are important in each other’s lives. My move to long-term care has put me in contact with a kind and loving and smart staff and I am having some of the most stimulating interactions of my life. 

Mentally stimulated -10

This is a very important area for me and I’m really good at making it happen.  I am going to have to get very creative in order to work around my diminishing eyesight. This is an opportunity for me to get really innovative.

Interestingly interactive with the world – 10

I’m doing the work. I keep listening to understand the overall direction our planet is taking. I know that more and more of us are recognizing the light within ourselves and are raising our vibration so others can see that soul light in themselves. This is inner awareness work and I am consciously expanding it.

Impactful in the world-10

I am doing daily energy and contemplation work to impact the world. I explore and write about ways to be in the world. I encourage others to be active, aware Light Workers in raising the consciousness of the planet. And I have a strong and fluid spiritual practice. I continue to deepen my own awareness and share those insights with others. I know I’m changing some lives but I actually don’t know to what degree. This journey of mine that I share with others is for my growth as well as to stimulate a deeper awareness of choices in the lives of others. I’m not actually impacting the world at a rate of 10 but my intentions are high and I’m giving my all. 

Satisfaction/Contentment- 8

This is all up to me. If I am not satisfied and content, what am I going to do about it? What do I need to do more? Less? Differently? I’m focused on healing my body. I’m trying not to be scared about my diminishing eyesight. I have great friends online who are loving and nurturing. 

What action steps will I take?

I have four areas of focus – my physical recovery, my mental expansion/simulation, my spiritual expansion and how I can help change the world for the better. I am active in all of these areas.

What did you discover when you took this quiz? What steps will you take to expand your life experience? 

===OUTER WORK===

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

How Thoughtfully Do You Fill Your Day?

How do you fill your days? Do you make mindful choices? You go with a spontaneous flow? Do you live deliberately in each moment? Or are you kind of a free spirit floating through your day? 

Being both deliberate and spontaneous can make for a fun day. I deliberately read my email every morning but I spontaneously stop and write in this newsletter when an idea from what I’m reading calls to me. I interrupt my day often to explore ideas through writing. 

In my depressed days before I moved to long-term care, I’d waste hours on Spider Solitaire and reruns. Now that I am happier my days are much more interesting and productive.

Continue to explore and learn as you age. Perhaps you expand a hobby that you have enjoyed all your life – maybe even turn it into an income stream. Perhaps you now have time to volunteer to help a cause that is dear to your heart. Notice how you spend your time and see how you would like to adjust it. 

What do you want to learn? Do you want to learn to play a musical instrument? I’m playing my drums and thumb piano. Do you want to study a specific topic? I want to finish the Joe Dispenza’s book and read the third Michael Newton book about life between lives. I’m taking Deng Ming-Dao’s newest Tai Chi class. There is a great deal of exciting work for me to do there. And I keep getting nudges. I’ve begun to reread some of the books I have found meaningful in the past. I’m adding more mindful movement to my day that will help my body strengthen itself. I would like to listen to more classical music. I would like to journey more.

How do you spend your time? Does it deepen your awareness, or expand your knowledge or lead you down a new path? Examine how you spend your time and see if it is producing the results you desire. How thoughtfully do you fill your day and what changes do you need to make? 

Are You Sharing Your Gifts With Others?

We have been given gifts in our life to help us live an impactful life and we have gifts we are to give to others. Are you aware of those gifts? How are you sharing them? What is changing as a result?

I have been a metaphysical explorer for a good portion of my life and that continues today. 

I feel I am at the beginning of a new phase of exploration but that’s all I know. I get little glimmers but no major light how shown up to show me the way yet. What is calling to you? And how are you exploring it and how are you turning to share it with others?

Put Yourself Out There

I have begun to sit in my wheelchair in the doorway of my room that leads into the hall. I’m doing it because I can move my legs back-and-forth to free then from the stiffness of sitting. But the benefits have been unexpected. I have begun to meet some of the residents. I’m also going to greet more of the staff who probably know me better than I know them even though I have a list going in an effort to keep track of everybody. 

Today Ruth stopped by on her way down the hall. Ruth is 94 and told me there are several people here are in their 100’s and one who is 104. I get to change my vision and start planning what I want to do for the next 12 or 13 years. That’s a long time.

Another person stopped by whose husband used to live here.  She is now leading some of the volunteer activities several times a week. I’m not a huge fan of group activities but it was lovely to see how touched her heart was by this place of service she has created for herself.  

Two of the staff members went on a hunt for my navy blue cover with sleeves which has gone to the laundry and had not come back. We have name tags on everything. Leah from laundry remembered that she had put it in the closet of someone named Carol since our names were similar. We found it. Those were some of the adventures I had simply because I chose to put myself forward and sit in the hall and speak to whomever passed by.

What small steps can you take in your life that would change your experience simply because you placed yourself in a different environment? Go exploring and see what gifts you receive. 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Forgiveness

Who do you need to forgive? Who would you like to forgive you?

I made an unusual choice 40 years ago that impacted my children and they have not forgiven me. However, if I had not made that choice, I would not have been able to explore and travel the deep path of service to others that I have been on for 40 years. I have been following my inner voice and have made some very dramatic changes all my life. 

Who do you need to forgive? Why? Who are the people that you wish would forgive you? 

I have followed my deepest calling all my life because it has been so strong in me. Many of the people in my life have no idea the depth of passion that drives me because my choices are not something they would ever consider doing. 

My life experience has been that I come together with people who share a current mutual interest and when those interests change so does our friendship. 

It makes sense that even family members do not all like the same things. Our job then becomes to find figure out how to love them and at the same time give them space to follow the unique path they are called to take. 

Who do you know in your life who has made unusual choices that you have not forgiven them for? Is there anyone in your life who has not forgiven you for a choice you made from the core of your being?  

Look carefully at the grudges you hold. Let them go. There was a reason that lesson came into your life. Did you get it? 

I know that my choices have been unusual but they were done with passion and commitment and a deep sense of being called along a particular path. I have a deeper song to sing and I can only do it if I am free to follow its call. 

There are people who don’t approve of me or of my choices. But I answered my own strong calling and continue to deepen my song. 

Give people space to answer their own calling.

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

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

What Are Your Priorities?

How do you prioritize the events of your day? How do you prioritize the tasks that you undertake? The fun times you schedule? What is the criteria by which you choose them?

Entertaining my mind is usually my top priority but healing my body from my hip replacement is a close second.  

Do you choose the task because it is easy? Because it has a timeline? Because it is more fun? All of those are reasons we give ourselves to prioritize the elements of our day.   

You have to decide. Sone people do the hardest things first. Some people do the fun things first. What are the qualities by which you prioritize your day? Give that some thought.   

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

Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations 

The Upper 10%

I’d be willing to bet that everyone who reads this newsletter is in the upper 10 percentile of intelligence. That makes us responsible in this world in a way that others are not.

Sometimes that makes it hard to find friends because we have to find other ten-percenters. Sometimes it makes your choices seem unusual to the other 90%. We have special work to do, unique places of service to fill and high examples to set.

Knowing that you are in the upper 10 percentile is not about being special, it is about being responsible for holding up our light to show others the way. It is about saving our planet, exploring the higher path and marking the trail.

===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===

Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future

Care For Mother Earth

Our home is Mother Earth. She supplies the air we breathe, she supplies us with water and food and air to sustain us. Because we no longer live close to the land, we sometimes forget that caring for Gaia is our responsibility every day.  

What kind of a footprint are you leaving? Are you stomping around cluttering litter on the land? Or are you moving mindfully in nature?

I know what it’s like to live in a city where there is only concrete beneath your feet. I lived only a block away from Central Park but I remember walking five or six blocks to Lincoln Center to be able to see a full moon. But in California I could watch the moon from my front stoop.

I now live in a retirement center where the rooms encircle a garden tended by master gardeners and a Koi pond to meditate by when the weather is warmer. There is a bird feeder outside my window and I can watch the sunrise and feel the sun on my body all morning. A few days ago, I saw a very large raccoon walking up the sidewalk.

Find a way you can communicate with nature every day. That may mean standing at the window to observe the subtle changing of the seasons. It may mean taking a walk in the woods. It may mean taking a few moments before you get in the car to look up at the sky, to look at the trees, to listen to the sounds of nature. And of course, spend a few moments in nature when you return in order to change the rest of your evening.

Are you aware of the footprints you leave on the Earth? You know how to do this. Carry cloth bags to hold your groceries so you don’t use either plastic or paper. Convert to solar power as soon as you possibly can.  Consume organic food so you don’t support businesses that used pesticides that harm the environment. Help others to become aware of their role in protecting Gaia. Be a visible protector of Mother Earth. 

What percentage of people who you know are consciously and actively caring for the Earth? It is much fewer than those who are mindlessly harming it. See who you can educate today in a way that will help them take better care of Mother Earth. And keep doing the work yourself. 

=== ===THE UNFOLDING DIVINE FEMININE=== ===

Explore and Interpret the Guidance and Messages of the Divine Feminine

The Young Women of Today

The news today is that young women of today are depressed. There’s more detail about that but I want to talk about the fact that the Divine Feminine has actively begun to emerge and is this future of our world. There is much work to do and they are depressed. Does their future seem overwhelming? Does it seem impossible? Or does it even seem futile? This is not true of a majority of young women but there are enough that it made the news. 

There have been many times in our history where women have stepped forward to take the lead and make major changes to raise our status and influence in the world. This teenage population has many strong women that have already opened the path before them. There are very strong teenaged activists stepping forward – both male and female. What do they know intuitively that perhaps we do not? My belief system is that in between lives we choose exactly how we want to live and what we want to accomplish when we come out of the plant.

I’m still working to help expand the influence of women in our world primarily by writing these messages of encouragement to both men and women who are more active than I am. I see our role as continuing to explore the possibilities. I see us as a growing circle of light workers who are finding each other and are being bolstered by the presence of other light workers that we can recognize.  It’s one thing to raise your light and your intention and another thing to go out and do the work and make stuff happen. I’m at the raise-my-intention to insert energy into the world stage of participation. 

There’s a lot to overcome. And I’m sure we have more battles to fight and win. But we will win and we will continue to change the world and bring in more of the qualities of the Divine Feminine.

Where are you on this path? What is your role? And are you stepping into it?  

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

Expanding Awareness

What Makes A Friend A Friend?

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Googleand the
Deeper Song Website

===CARA’S CORNER===

Recognize Where You Are Now. Do Not Backtrack. 

I was truly excited over the idea for about 48 hours. I was going to turn all my books into audiobooks. Then I found out how complex it is to create an audiobook. It’s not like a podcast that you can edit and post yourself. But I sure had fun for about 24 hours dreaming this possibility. 

It’s good to dream. It’s good to dream big. Your imagination is good for you and you need to get carried away with an idea periodically in order to make sure you still can.

But here was the catch – don’t go backward. However much I might like to have some of my books in audio format, that is not where I need to spend my time and energy. I am to continue to move forward and explore new pathways and leave markers for others to follow. My job is to keep exploring and keep sharing what I discover and figure out in the present moment of my evolution. It was a huge realization for me.

How do you choose to use your time – going back over the past or moving steadily towards the future?

I know that I’ve shared this before but when I became a Reiki Master teacher in the 80s, they asked each of us what we wanted to do with the Reiki. The person who spoke before me said “I’m going to help all the poor people by giving them Reiki.” And I knew immediately with my choice was. I said “I’m going to help all the people who are already flying high to fly higher.” And that has been my role for 40 years. I had to keep going and flying higher and inviting others to join me. 

Keep your eye on your goal. The overarching core purpose of your life. I am a way-shower and I have to keep exploring. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Calling

The idea was so intriguing it pulled me totally off track. I even wandered down the wrong road a bit.

The idea was so intriguing it pulled me totally off track. I even wandered down the wrong road a bit. Until I realized I was going backward not forward.

The idea was so intriguing it pulled me totally off track. I even wandered down the wrong road a bit. Until I realized I was going backward not forward. But I heard the call in time. I took a shortcut back to the main road and started moving forward again. 

– Cara Lumen, February 2023

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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