Prelude to A Fool

As many of you know, I'm leading a Leap Into Life Meditation this Sunday at Moonheart where we will embrace the energy of first of the tarot archetype the fool.  This meditation came to me very clearly just before the last new moon.  I am very familiar with the fool, on many levels (you can giggle that's ok), so to be honest I didn't really feel like I needed to do a lot of prep work.  However, after having a lovely conversation with my dear friend Miki yesterday afternoon,  I realized that there was something that I was supposed to be doing in my life that I clearly had not acknowledged.  Interestingly, I hadn't made the connection yet, even though I had reached a slump when working on my website.  So, if you didn't know, I have been working fast and furious on my new web site to be unveiled later in February, and when I came to the part where this needed to be added, I had lost my inspiration or desire to keep going.  I realized after speaking to Miki that this is something I need to pursue, but needed to find a way to put it into words.  So tonight, before I went to sleep I thought, ok teacher use what you want to share with others.  I didn't do a full meditation with the Fool; however, I did call in the energy of the Fool with the intention that I would receive the creative ideas to go forth.  Since I wasn't specific about when and how I expected the information, the Fool or, perhaps the Fool's Muse, woke me around 3:30 AM.  So basically I got a four hour nap and since then the ideas and inspiration have been downloading.  Typically I fight this but I have decided not to so since I'm up, I may as well blog about my excitement right  And the alarm was due to go off right about now anyway.  Interestingly I had made a connection back to the Power Mask assignment I gave to the December New Moon participants.  Little did I know when I listened to spirits suggestion about creating masks that I was also creating a logo for a consulting service I'm supposed to offer.  Ooops, did I let the cat out of the bag...not too much....and the point is, that I listened to what my heart told me to share.  I did it without attachment to the result and within a month something brand new and exciting for me was birthed.

Oh did I tell you that the fool is about creation.  And also about non-attachment as the Fool is also about taking leaps of faith.  Often people say the fool is about no-fear.  I don't think that is possible, fear is a reality.  The truth is the Fool is about courage.  First the etymology of the word courage comes from couer, which means heart in French.  So in trusting our heart we can leap into life fully, not without fear but despite fear as we trust that we must take that direction.

So I guess the reason that I am called to write this blog is because even though I know ceremony and working with archetypes is powerful, when it comes in so strongly and clearly after a simple request, I am in complete and utter awe.  So I guess it's true that we teach what we need to learn and also to let you know that the energies around this full moon are certainly ramping up and the Fool is ever present and most definitely willing and able to work with you.

Interestingly the Fool is the first card yet is represented by the number 0 (zero).  Representing the circle of unity and as Oscar often says, in correlation with Hermetic principles "As Above So Below. As Below, So Above.  As Within, So Without.  As Without, So Within.  As the Self, So the Circle.  As the Circle, so the Self."  Also 0 representing "No-thing" - need I say more about the wisdom in that and non-attachment.

The other energy that is often associated with the Fool is Christ Consciousness.  And I stress consciousness and not what religion has interpreted him and his teachings to be about.  The pure consciousness of Christ is about unconditional love and forgiveness.  The most obvious association with the Fool is the clown, the trickster and the jester that was a key part of every royal kingdom since after all "laughter is the GPS for the soul."

So as I get ready to to go out into the world and get myself some caffeine and sugar in the form of chai, I leave you with this fool/christ consciousness/laughter like quote:
"Humor offers a revolutionary yet simple spiritual paradigm.  If you can laugh at yourself, you can forgive yourself.  And if you forgive yourself, you can forgive others.  Laughter heals and grounds us in a place of hope.  It fosters intimacy and honesty in our relationships with each other and with God.  And isn't that what grace is all about"

To give credit, where it is due.  Both quotes came from Ode Magazines, August 2009 Issue, which was dedicated to laughter.  Which coincidentally arrived just before my clowning trip to Costa Rica last September....oh I digress.

So I look forward to sharing the wisdom of the Fool with you on Sunday evening in person or if you can't be there, invite the fool to visit (I can give you recommendations if you need them) and let me know how it works out for you.

Wishing you a day filled with Light, Love and Laughter,
Lulu

Ceremony Gives Me Rose Colored Glasses (New Moon Jan. 2010)

As I mentioned in Facebook, I am still moon-toxicated from this month's New Moon.  Part of that means that I easily "forget my zip code" (which I'm getting used to and is fortunately less dramatic than pre-NewMoon) and most importantly I am filled with love and everything appears more beautiful.  Every New Moon Ceremony has been special yet this one holds the record to date and I have to thank all the participants for making that my reality.

Before I go into details of the ceremony I want to speak a little bit about the day after.  The next day, I had to leave the house at 5:30 AM for a business trip to Warwick, RI.  As the effects of the ceremony kept me alert for many more hours, I headed out for what I expected to be a 3 1/2 hour drive on about the same amount or less of sleep.   My mind was a little concerned, so I made sure that when I got in the car I put a little poqpo (protection of light) around myself and the car.  It also helped that I had my friend Laurie with me for 2/3 of the drive.  She had spent the night and lives up by New Haven so I dropped her off.  Good conversation and company helped.  As the sun started to rise, we would break up the conversation with a "Look at the sky"  or "Did you see that, the clouds are amazing". The pinkness of the sky as the sun rose and the actual sunrise was stunning.  It was hard to keep my eyes on the road.  After I dropped off Laurie, the beauty continued.  It truly felt like I was driving IN a painting.  I remembered having a similar experience after I had a road trip after the October New Moon, so the theme was a New Moon Ceremony the night before.  Hence the common deduction is, ceremony gives me rose colored glasses, I like it, and reinforces my desire to doing more New Moon ceremonies.

And in my typical fashion I let my mind wander and I recalled an experience many years ago in a ceremonial weekend with Oscar in Rye, New York.  We had an intense ceremony that was phenomenal; however, afterwards, I felt like I was spinning out and lost my zip code in a personally dramatic sort of way.  The next morning Oscar, looks at me and says, "How you doing Lulu?", as if he didn't know.  I was closer to home, but still trying to figure out my zip code and replied.  "Since you asked, I have a question.  The funny thing is that during ceremony my experience was great and I 'kept it together'; however, as soon as we closed the circle, I spun out and felt disconnected.  Do you have any recommendations?"  Oscar simply replied, "Be in ceremony All the time."  Of course, he included the Oscar belly laugh too.

I thought, "Very funny Oscar, hah, hah....not possible".  That statement has haunted me at times and, as time has progressed, I've re-interpreted the very wise Oscar as meaning, make your life a ceremony and that, yes, it is most definitely possible.  The benefits of the metaphorical ceremonial applications to life has helped me realize that life is truly artistry and I'm a co-creator of all this beauty.  We truly are in the kingdom of heaven, we just don't always re-member.  I'm guilty of forgetting at times, yet I know practice makes perfect, and  as I continue the literal ceremony, the metaphorical and literal applications to my life unfold more easily.

As many of you know, I gave each participant their tarot soul archetype based on their birthday.  There is the traditional Ryder Waite tarot archetype; however, since it was my intention for us to awaken our inner divine children, I chose to use the Inner Child deck by Isha Lerner and we called in an equivalent for each of us.  For example, my numbers add to a one which equates to the magician in a more traditional deck.  In the Inner Child deck, that is Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.  Personally, I have found her information and style quite profound.  In addition to what comes with the cards and is her workbook, what has truly made this profound is my continued personal exploration of the nursery rhyme as it applies to Lulu.

In my personal explorations, I read all of Isha's information, I also bought the original story in the Arabian nights and plan on watching the Disney version.  Sountracks if they exist can also be helpful.  Also to continue opening those child's eyes, that see life with wonder and awe, in you, I recommend seeing if Robert Sabuda has a pop-up rendition (www.robersabuda.com or via Amazon or your local children's book store).  I was introduced to this author through my friend Cheri and his books are amazing.  He didn't have one for my archetype but I bought some others anyway and they are amazing.  So as you can see when my inner child is awake, I get inspired and am easily diverted from my original intention of sharing how the ceremony went.   Before I do; however, it is important for me to stress the importance that you continue to nurture your experience from the ceremony like a new seedling.  As has been my experience, when you "consciously" put intention and effort into transforming your life, you receive abundantly and magically as well.

Let your experience continue to unfold.  It doesn't have to end here...let it continue by playing and exploring. I have chosen a playful approach, because it makes my life a little sweeter.   I also find that when your more playful and joyful, manifestation occurs seamlessly.  By using the children's version instead of the traditional, which is equally profound, for me the medicine is more like sugar and as Mary Poppins says and sings, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."  And I encourage you to find what makes it sweeter for you.

Mary Poppins also says that "anything can happen if you let it" and it is through the ceremony that we are letting our dreams come true, so back to the ceremony...

We had record participation.  Unfortunately, my ceremonial play room only fits 12 people so, I have expanded the ceremony to include dreamwork.  Well, I developed this aspect because of the space limitations and the fact that we all have very busy lives.  Just because the timing is inconvenient; doesn't mean anyone should miss out.  If you haven't figured it out, I'm a girl who wants it all and loves to share.  And most importantly and from a purely selfish perspective, I have friends all over the world, and I didn't want location of the ceremony to eliminate them from being able to play and pray along with me.  Besides time and space are just an illusion of the 3rd dimension, right?  So I give people the opportunity to do "like" ceremony in the conveniently comforts of their home prior to the new moon.  Don't get me wrong, I like the company in the room to.

The dreamworkers send me the seeds of their dreams before the start of the ceremony and they are ceremonially integrated.  And for those that are so busy that it is hard to do the dreamwork, if requested, I will call in their sombre/spiritual essence into the room.  Their sombre receives the ceremony and is returned to the respective owner when we are done.  I also know that the more the people that particpate, the louder the amplifier for our personal and global prayers.

Once the dreamwork, starts to be distributed the energy ramps up for me and it becomes more intense as we get closer and people are actually doing the dreamwork.   So for me the ceremony was really in high gear by Tuesday night.

In fact, Tuesday night I was awoken in the middle of the night with a little more information.  I realized that I needed to keep the ceremony going by not finalizing weaving of the garland of dreams until Saturday night.  I didn't know why at the time, but now I believe that is is because we needed to keep the loving juices open for the people of Haiti.  So I've also decided that aside from the distributing the tithing from the donations received to the Heart of the Healer Foundation (www.heartofthehealer.org) as originally stated, I am also going to tithe to a cause, still to be determined, that supports the people of Haiti.  So all of your donations are going to support "the work."  If your interesting in donating, there is a paypal link at http://www.lululovinglife.com/Lulu_Loving_Life/Thank_You.html  (Please note that if your called to check it out, most of lululovinglife.com is still under construction, this is small step towards it's creation)

Aside from the 12 of us in the room, we had the dreamwork participations of 32 people from all over the world.  Aside from the representation from many of the contiguous US states, we had participants in France, Holland, India, Puerto Rico.  There were 25 people who asked to have their sombres included with the lite version.  And this month, we also called in the essence of 11 children, and I believe that probably assisted our work most of all.  I love it!.  When I started to do this, I never tried to guess a number, but certainly didn't imagine this.  I also received feedback that many did sit ceremonially at the same time.  In fact, our participants in Puerto Rico took it on their own to meet as a group and feedback from my dear friend and hermanita Lymari was "OMG that was amazingggg!  I'm so exited, because i 
too, are very grateful that you shared this with us! I have a lot stories to share with you tomorrow but I can't wait to tell you I love you and give you a big bear hug!" As Lymari told me this morning, being in circle was like being a hug.  I'm sharing this feedback to reinforce what happens as more people come together in unity to plant seeds for positive transformation from their hearts.  I'm actually feeling more like spirit's pawn and because it's so much fun, I'm fine with that.  So if you want to share some of your feedback with the group, I encourage you to put it in the comments section of the blog.  If you want to share privately, you know my email.  If you want to chat and don't have my number, ask and you shall receive.

On with the ceremony....we started with the traditional opening of the directions calling in the unseen forseen forces and the wisdom of the respective guides.  And here is a photo of the pre-ceremony altar set up.

Attendees announced themselves and their nursery archetype to the altar.  I then called in the dreamworkers and their archetypes, children and lightworkers.  Needless to say the room was truly full.  So the attendees could get an idea of the dream-workers and truly weave the circle, I read a sweet story of my Dutch friends experience of sharing the dreamwork with his wife and 2 daughters.  We started with a journey to surrender all that no longer serves us.  To ensure that we truly surrendered, each of us washed our hands with the water in the white pitcher and bowl, surrendering as we looked into the eyes of our representative divine child (one of my favorites from Alex Grey), reminding us of our true essence.  It looks really cool in the dark, highlighted only by the altar candles.

We were all squeaky clean after this.  With the intention of providing compost/fertilizer for our dreams, the bowl of cumulative water from the individual cleansing was placed beneath, the white bowl that contained the dream-workers seeds and the blossoms for the garland of dreams.

We then went on a journey.  We opened our hearts and allowed our inner child to jump out and join us.  We spent time communing with our inner child and discussed our dreams.  We then called in our nursery tale archetypes to advise us on how to best achieve our soul's dreams.  We thanked our guides and had our inner child return to our hearts.  And since our hearts our open, our inner divine child is far more accessible to us on a regular basis.  Basically just a thought away...

We blew our dreams into a cup of water from a pitcher that was already pretty charged with the prayers from all.  We then embodied our dreams by drinking the water.  Each of the attendees put their seeds on a piece of people and they were added to the white bowl that contained the seeds of the dream-workers.  We then offered prayers for any of our friends or family that is in the need of healing or assistance and surrounded them with munay/unconditional love.  We also offered to prayers and unity to our global family in Haiti.  We closed the circle and ended with the acceptance of sweetness in the form of chocolate prasad that was juiced up from the ceremony.  Dream-workers, yours will be in the mail, but hope you had some already to let the spirit world know that you are ready, willing and able to take sweetness into your life.  No reason to wait.

The room was still humming when I returned from RI and it smelled so sweet, truly like a garden.  I'm sure sewar q'enti, the royal humming bird, that bestows joy and bliss upon us, was feeling well fed so that in ayni and sacred reciprocity you should be receiving in abundance.  In fact, there was still some water left in the pitcher of water that was used as part of the embodiment of our dreams.  I finished it off and I have to tell you it was even yummier.  

Saturday, evening I followed through with my promise of weaving the garland.  I took each of your seeds and transferred them into a garland woven on a gold-colored thread.  I included the one orange gerber to represent our communal and global prayers. 

I placed the garland in the center of my altar so that your prayers are anchored on earth as they are in heaven.  I just placed it down around the center piece of my altar and it "coincidentally" took the shape of a heart.  Yes this falls into the "I can't make this stuff up" category.

While your dreams were being further anchored and so that no part of your intentions goes to waste, I ceremonially transformed your dreams through the element of fire.

Once the ceremonial transformation was complete I took the cleansing water out to be offered to my favorite heart tree outside my apartment.

And I took the prayer ashes and garland to the East River, the NYC from of the Ganges.  Where I offered the ashes and garland.

...and it was well received... it was well received and quickly head off to the light.

Power Masks for Power Manifestors

So after letting ourselves die at the New Moon in December, we were born anew.  We came out with a blank slate capable of creating anything we wanted.  We unveiled that blank slow and were given the opportunity to create the mask to model our true selves.

Here is the first to do so, perhaps this will encourage and inspire you to do your own.  I'll be updating this file as people share their masks (if they so choose to do so).  Yes this is one person.  She made a first attempt and decided it did not reflect what she wanted.  So remember don't be attached to the outcome, it's only true for the moment.  I did ask her to name her mask or the process it's called Awakening

AWAKENING

Courage

Mirror of Truth

Face of Self

Olea in the RAMA Garden

Yes Santa Exists and He Plays The Sax....

So you may want to know how I know this.  Well, I witnessed him myself at the Union Square Subway Station.  I was actually having one of those days yesterday.  When I got to the subway, I realized I left my cell phone home and had to start over.  I had even put my dress on inside out but didn't realize it until my niece pointed it out while we were at my office Christmas party.    I may have started out oblivious but that shifted once I was in the presence of Santa.

I had just gotten off the L train and then climbed the stairs to the uptown side for the N/R/W/Q line.  I walked to the spot I go to because it will drop me off where I want and sitting there was Santa.  Well it took me a bit to make the connection that this was Santa right away, at first he was a sweet man playing the sax.  Then I put the pieces together.   He wasn't in one of those cheesy velvet costumes like the ones for salvation army.  He was wearing a RED hoody and look at that beard.  

So you tell me...is this Santa or what.  I was so excited and he was playing Silent Night on his sax.  Which was ironic because it was far from silent in the subway and it wasn't night either.  And people kept walking unconsciously as if they didn't notice him.  I would have that it was a dream or some shamanic vision; however, my trusty blackberry gave me proof.

It only makes sense that  Santa would need to chill before the big night.  After all he's about to go on a 24 hour bender with the reindeer.  And giving out all those gifts across the world in 24 hours can be pretty stressful, Santa needs his downtime too.  For me this is proof that you can't force the magic; however, if you open your eyes it's right in front of our faces.

5 Days into Solstice

In the New Moon, New Life playback,  email you should have received the update from the Wed. evening ceremonial and a link to the earlier blog with pictures immediately following...and the process continued.  

On Friday, after I sent off the ceremonial gifts to the dreamworkers.  I was called to put the remaining red carnations into a basket to create a cushy bed of hampi (good medicine) for your prayers.  I already had the compost from what was surrendered and I then added your dreams which I used the fire of tranformation as well.  All ashes were mixed together...as it is all energy.  I then placed the ashes onto some papers that had all of your names.  I used that paper as a blanket that was then wrapped around the ashes, blessed with some Young Essentials Joy and then adorned with some buds from the carnations and sweetness.

Look at How Precious that Center Bud of New Life Is?

I was then called to put a small symbolic piece of the veil to cover it as we were going into the solstice ceremony and would unveil it at that point.

Followed by the placement of the garland of dreams...nothing can veil that.

This sat in the North of my mesa until I packed the next day to head to my dear friend Laurie's.  We had scheduled some play time before the solstice ceremony which she had planned.  I got up to her home in Connecticut just before the snow.

As you would imagine, we did not drive to Grafton to the Peace Pagoda, but held the ceremony in her home, which is truthfully like a Peace Pagoda anyway.  Laurie orchestrated a beautiful ceremony in which the basket of new moon prayers was woven.

The beautiful despacho made by Laurie

First the veil was burned with the intention of removing any obstacles from keeping us in a co-creative relationship with the unseen forces and wisdom of the natural world.

I then offered the blanket of ashes...and then we adorned the despacho.

To which we added all the petals and sweetness from our basket. 

Which was then blanketed with paper cranes, symbolizing spiritual justice

We were ready to feed the fire with our despacho filled with gratitude and grace

And well received it was...one would think that this was enough but "coincidentally" I had forgotten the wedding bouquet in the NW (source of manifestation) of my mesa.  So on the Solstice (today) I walked to the East River and offered the bouquet.  I unbound the ribbon around it, as our dreams needed to be free.  It was well accepted by the river and I practically had to chase it to get the next shots.  As part of the bon voyage, I didn't have rice, but offered some paper heart confetti.

And Inti (the sun) was shining on the river laying a path that you will see the bouque flowing towards...

and our love and dreams, merged with the essense of water and fire!!!

The transformation is complete!!!

Photos From December New Moon

So last night was fabulous new moon and wanted to give you a glimpse...those that chose to participate got an email with description.  Besides, a picture says a thousand words.

Wedding Bouquet and Basket of Dreames

  Garland of Dreams

Source of Manifestation (dreams and divine child/True Self)

                  

 True Self Veiled   True Self Unveiled

                                  

God Helps Those Who Helps Themselves...

Before I get into my story, I am providing a Lulu warning: If the word God is not one you would typically use nor are you comfortable with, please feel free to substitute what is significant to you, e.g. Spirit, I Am, Self, Universal Truth... Although I am known to use nicknames myself, (some which are not included in the previous examples:)) for sake of this article, I'm sticking to the "G" name. And if none of those terms work for you, but believe in the power of love, use love. Actually I may like that more, “Love helps those who love themselves,” but that may be a different article.

I must have been channeling my mother at Sunday's New Moon ceremony, as I typically cringed in my youth when I used to hear her say “God helps those who helps themselves.” It was something my mother used to say to get my lazy ass into action. Yet it came out of my mouth as a complete and utter truth. I also never expected to blog about this either, yet I’ve learned to like to expect the unexpected.

Monday morning, as I was driving through some very beautiful fall foliage, I began to reminisce about the ceremony and what a gift it was to share the ceremony and to be trusted to pray for people's dreams to come true. Then I drove through a 5 mile patch of cloud and the lightening bolt of illumination hit me. Perhaps the clouds led me to think of heaven and that lead me to repeat the title of the blog to myself and I said "Hello! Of course God helps those who helps themselves, because in truth we are just microcosms of the macrocosm that we call God. So us helping ourselves IS UNDOUBTEDLY God doing the work. We are co-creators with the big cheese." Not only did I re-recognize this truth, as this wasn't new to me, but I also clearly saw how ceremony helps embody this statement as well as the three critical components to manifestation.

I've always known this but this time it gave me shivers. The shivers was not only over the truth that we are microcosms of the macrocosm and hence co-creators which is extremely empowering, but it was also that I felt the agreement and nodding heads of all levels of my being. When I say, all levels, I mean my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. In this case my entire being said yes; however, there have been times when I don't get agreement on an idea or intention. I’m sure you all know how the tug of war feels when the mind says, yes but the heart says no. The same disagreement can show up in our physical body as well, which can really stop us in our tracks.

In cases where I have disagreement, I often find that the manifestation doesn't happen or worse if it does happen, it doesn't stick and then I'm disappointed. Or worst of all, it comes in a little wonky and then I'm befuddled and disappointed, a futile combination. Some of that is the clarity of the intention and a big part of it is that we have to be "all in," to use a poker metaphor. So in ceremony we work with all levels of the being and set our intentions to fulfill our dreams from the place of alignment and not just one of the multiple levels.

I said there are three parts to successful manifestation. So the second critical component (and the part of the discussion in the ceremony in which I channeled Mom), is that a catalyst or action is needed. If you want a job, you need to make some calls or send out some resumes. And the most important action we can ever take is to ask for help. It really does take a brave person to ask for help. In ceremony, we are asking for help from God and the unseen forces.

Oops, there's actual another component that I like to most every ceremony with, which is with some chocolate or sweetness. Not only does chocolate help activate the dopamine in our brains to make us happy, but we are symbolically also showing god and the spirit world that we are willing and able to take in all the sweetness that life has to offer. OK it's yummy too...the chocolate and the ceremony that is. And I have to say, I have had some interesting occurrences since Sunday. Try some ceremony, you may like it.