Podcast catch-up: The Elements, Dolphins, Spirits & Tarot

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January has been a bumpy ride over here (more on that later). Right now I want to catch you up on what’s been happening over at the podcast, just in case you’ve missed this months’ shows.

January 11th show

The elemental new year shifts this week on February 4th. In this conversation with teacher, oracle, five elementalist and Chinese Face Reader Megan Potter, we talk about the impact the elements have on our year both personally and publicly. You’ll learn how to figure out which year you’re moving into and how best to work with its energy. Listen to this one ASAP if you haven’t already.

Listen here

January 18th show

Author and healer Belinda Farrell and I had a delightful conversation about ancient hawaiian healing methods, forgiveness, swimming with dolphins, releasing grief and her book, Find Your Friggin’ Joy. If you’re curious about Huna healing, Reconnective healing, Ho’oponopono or want to hear amazing stories about dolphin intelligence, this is the show for you.

Listen here.

January 25th show

If you’ve ever felt like you received a sign from a dead loved one but you weren’t reeaaallly sure if you were making it up, this show will have you in full body goosebumps (or happy tears). Intuitive advisor Liv Lane has seen angels and spirits since she was a little girl. She shares stories of messages sent from the other side and talks about specific ways spirits attempt to reach us. Co-author of the new book Infinite Purpose: Care Instructions for Your True Calling, she also talks about the way Spirit took the reins and how it is impacting magic-makers everywhere.

Listen here.

February 1st show

I’ll be honest and say for a long time I didn’t want anything to do with tarot cards. They felt dark and heavy and a bit scary to me. But I also know how valuable they can be as a tool for clarity in the hands of a talented reader. This week’s conversation with Theresa Reed, a.k.a. The Tarot Lady, answers all your (okay, MY) tarot questions and then some. We talk a little about astrology too. It’s a fun one. If you’re new-ish to tarot, this is for you. If you’re a seasoned reader, check out Theresa’s website, where she has a ton of offerings to help you go pro (or just get better at whatever you do!)

Listen here.

Sending you love and wishing you ease this week,
Alana

P.S. Create Your Magical Life listener numbers now place it in the top 9% of podcasts, according to statistics provided by Libsyn, the world’s largest podcast hosting company. To quote my friend Liz Lamoreux, “Holy Cats!” HUGE thanks to all of you who’ve been listening and sharing the show with your friends. I’m humbled and awed. 

Oracle Sunday: Balance – a scale or a stove?

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I’m not a big believer in the traditional sense of balance – the scales evenly positioned in the middle of two equal weights. I relate to the more precarious balance of a ballet dancer in the middle of a series of difficult turns, or the juggler on a board atop a barrel keeping all his balls in the air: fighting for center, always changing, awe-inspiring when done well.

I remember reading someone’s blog post (it might have been Chris Guillebeau) about balance being like the burners on a stove. It’s almost impossible to cook with all four (or five) burners at high heat. Something will end up charred and stuck to the bottom of the pot. But you can work with two at high, one at medium and one at low for a while, then switch them as necessary. This makes sense to me.

This week’s card, the Angel of Balance, wants  you to take a look at how you’re spending your time and energy.

Are you too focused on one thing? Are you being pulled off-center and weighted down or does the energy around you feel vital, alive and busy-but-fun? Do you need to turn the burners up in one area and down in another?

Only you can tell. Take a breath, turn inward and listen. You’ll know.

Over here I have three burners on high and one struggling to stay lit. But after today, one goes way down and I’ve scheduled self-care time for Monday before I turn the heat up on another.

That’s the juggling act.

It can be different depending on the time of year or the time of day. But overall, you want to be taking care of and honoring your needs. You want the internal and external demands to match as much as possible. You want to go hard when you need to and rest when you can.

The Angel of Balance is here to remind you it’s a fluid process and the most important thing is to stay in touch with your needs and honor your choices.

I know this is a lesson I’m constantly learning. What about you?

 

Card copyrights belong to their respective authors, artists, and publishers, and are used for example purposes. I encourage you to purchase the deck(s) that speak to you and get to know them on your own.

Oracle Sunday: Be Here, Now

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From The Enchanted Map Oracle Cards by Colette Baron-Reid
From The Enchanted Map Oracle Cards by Colette Baron-Reid

This card is a reminder that we cannot live in the past nor in the future. They are ghost lands. The only place we are alive is in this moment, right now.

The past holds memories both beautiful and painful. We can spend a moment there but then we have to come back to now. Longing for what used to be keeps us as stuck as defining ourselves with our victim stories. We can’t live there anymore.

The future – a place full of hopes and dreams and fears – is just as ephemeral. Keep dreaming, keep taking action towards those dreams, but don’t live there either.

Live here. In this moment.

Be present with your crying child or your dying parent or your excitement, your joy, your hunger. Be with whatever life is handing you. Breathe into it and know that you have the tools to stay in it, to grow through it, to fully experience it.

Let the lessons of the past inform your present. Let the hopes for tomorrow guide today’s choices. But above all else be here, now.

If you find yourself escaping your life on a regular basis, it might be time to dig a little deeper into why. What’s wrong with what you’re experiencing now? What do you want instead? What’s one little baby step you can take today toward that desire? Will you take it?

Here are three simple ways to come back to the present moment if you find yourself checking out.

1. Breathe deeply and engage your five senses. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you taste? What do you feel against your skin?

2. Doodle, draw, or color in a coloring book. This is a great way to bring yourself into this moment, even if “art” isn’t your thing. Don’t try to figure it out in your head. Instead follow your impulses with no attachment to what the final picture looks like.

3. Do something physical. Dance it out. Shake it off. Do some pushups or a sun salutation. Wiggle your body. Roll around on the floor with your kid or your cat. It doesn’t matter what you do. The point is to get out of your head and into your body.

Once you’ve found yourself back in the present moment and before you re-engage your mind and move on, ask yourself a simple question. Something along the lines of What do I want to do now? or What does my body want right now? or What can I do next that will keep me in this moment? Whatever comes to you is fine.

Repeat the process as necessary. Try to enjoy it. This is it. This is what we have. Now.

Card copyrights belong to their respective authors, artists, and publishers, and are used for example purposes. I encourage you to purchase the deck(s) that speak to you and get to know them on your own.

P.S. Want some help remembering to be here, now? Check this out. So fun.

Mantra Wednesday: Have fun

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Make room for fun

In yoga last week we were crouched down in crow pose, our arms stretched out in front of us, doing breath of fire and staring off into infinity. My beautiful teacher invited us to picture the light from our hearts breaking apart any barriers to living our purpose. In the middle of picturing my heart chakra busting things up like a Star Wars movie I felt a huge grin bubble up to my lips.

Oh! I remembered. I get to have fun doing this!

Kundalini yoga can be really hard work. As can the dedication to personal and spiritual growth. You get to hang out with your shadow, stare into the not-so-niceness of your ego, dig in the trenches of emotion. Starting and growing a business isn’t for the feint of heart either.

I tend to be more serious than I need to be anyway so I welcome a reminder to lighten up.

Working with my clients is fun (SO fun!). Figuring out marketing strategy (because it’s not my strength) makes me want to crawl under the covers. Reading or playing with my daughter? Fun. Getting her ready for bed when I’m exhausted too? Not so much. Life is like that.

So the mantra this week – the reminder and the invitation – is to bring fun into the places where it doesn’t naturally exist. And to add more fun to your to-do list.

In the world of the 9 Star Ki, a system of Chinese astrology I use with my long-term clients, one of the ways to diagnose the health of someone’s Fire element is to ask them “What do you do for fun?”

So what do YOU do for fun?

Leave your answer in the comments for inspiration, or share your struggle if you’re temporarily fun-challenged. We’re all in this together.

Here’s to making room for it all.

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