Visions and Reflections Blog

3 Essential Daily Spiritual Practices for Empaths and Energy Workers

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500

If you are an empath, a healer, or an energy worker, you already know that the world feels different to you than it does to most people. You feel things deeply. You sense the emotions of others, the energy of spaces, the unspoken weight carried by the people around you. This is a gift — but without the right daily practices, it can also become an overwhelming burden.
The truth is, we are all energetic beings. Every thought, emotion, and experience carries a vibrational frequency. And as we move through our daily lives — through crowded spaces, difficult conversations, stressful environments, and interactions with others — we are constantly exchanging energy. Much of the time, we don’t even realize it’s happening.
Over time, these accumulated energies can leave you feeling drained, anxious, irritable, or emotionally foggy, even when nothing in your own life seems to be the cause.
For empaths and energy workers especially, this absorption happens at an accelerated rate. Your natural sensitivity and openness — the very qualities that make you so gifted at holding space and facilitating healing for others — also make your energetic boundaries more permeable. Without consistent daily practices to clear, ground, and protect your field, you can easily find yourself carrying energies that were never yours to begin with.
Releasing accumulated energies is not a once-in-a-while practice — it is a daily necessity. When we allow foreign or stagnant energies to build up in our field, it begins to affect everything: our moods, our health, our relationships, our intuition, and our ability to show up fully for ourselves and others.
The practices outlined in this post are offered as a guide to help you find what resonates and begin building your own daily clearing ritual.

Three Essential Daily Spiritual Practices

1. Releasing – While best done outside, this can be done indoors as well. Imagine a gold cord that leads from your base or solar plexus into the Earth. Visualize yourself releasing any residual or unwanted energies from your body and energy field through this cord down into the Earth, allowing her to support you in this. See her composting it back into clear, healing energy.

2. Grounding and Centering – This is also best done outside but can be done inside if necessary. Also known as earthing, stand with your feet on the ground and send a gold cord from your heart deep into the Earth. Remember your ancient connection with her and recognize her as your ally. Bring her ancient energy back up through that gold cord, filling your entire body to ground and center yourself.

3. Protection – There are many ways to protect yourself; do your own experimentation to figure out what works best for you. You can use a visualization such as seeing mirrors around you facing outward, reflecting negativity or psychic attack away from you. You may also consider carrying a stone or medicine bag to help with this. A black stone such as tourmaline is very good for this. You can also burn herbs such as sage or copal for protection. It’s a good idea to change your practice from time to time, incorporating different protection techniques on different days.

You may not notice a difference at first, but when you begin to do this daily, over time you will feel the powerful, subtle effects of this practice.

And if you find that you need additional support along the way, I am here. I offer energy work for both humans and animals, available in person and long distance — because healing truly has no boundaries.

Visualization for Leading Lost Animals Home

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500

As an Animal Communicator, I receive many missing animal cases. Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest scenarios to work through because, like a moving target, it can become a bit of a wild goose chase to locate an animal. While successful results are possible through remote viewing, it can be difficult because the animal tends not to stay in one place, and useful information may no longer be valid within minutes of receiving it.

Because of this, my animal communication colleagues and I will often offer a visualization to the caregiver to help guide their beloved animal companion home. It can be quite effective.

Typically, an animal does not leave without a reason. They need to feel safe in order to return, and this visualization can help create that sense of safety. If you know much about manifestation or magical practices, you understand that visualization is a powerful tool.

Here I share the:

Follow the Yellow Cord Home Visualization

Find a quiet space and center yourself.

Take three deep breaths in and out, grounding yourself to the Earth.

Imagine a gold cord leading from your heart to the heart of your animal companion.

Send a telepathic message asking them to follow the gold cord home.

Create a clear visualization of them being guided by this gold cord back to the location and door you wish them to return to.

As you do so, let them know that it is safe to come home and that you will do all you can to keep them safe.

Repeat this visualization several times a day.

If after a few days you do not see results, consider contacting me or another professional Animal Communicator for a more in-depth communication to discover what may be keeping them from returning home and how we can best help them find their way back, if possible.

During a consultation, I can also tune in to see whether the animal is still alive or has crossed into spirit, helping to alleviate questions or concerns around this.

I hope you find this information helpful.

If you need additional support, it is my calling to help animals and their human families in this way. If you have other concerns or simply wish to relay a message to your animal companion, I am here to help.

How to Know Intuition from Ego- Free Gift for 6th Sense Summit Attendees

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 12:00:00 -0500

At times it may be confusing to discern when you are getting guidance. You may ask, "How do I know when it is my intuition speaking to me?". This PDF is created to give you an understanding of the difference between your intuition and your ego. Take a look and begin to know when you are being guided and when your ego is being activated.

How to Get the Free PDF:
In order to receive the free PDF, please fill out the Contact form with coupon code "6thSense" and it will be emailed to you.

Group Metaphysical Energy Clearing- 6th Sense Summit- VIP Free Gift

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 12:00:00 -0500

Needing a little boost to start fresh on your journey to using the spiritual practices I have shared? This is your chance to get in on a very special group clearing.

To receive your Free Group Energy Clearing:
Please fill out the Contact form with coupon code "6thSenseVIP" and a link will be emailed to you.

The White Lions of Timbavati

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 12:00:00 -0400

The white lions of Timbavati South Africa are much more stunning in person than any photograph can reveal. Their divinity is more pronounced, their gleaming white coats shining in the sun, blue eyes sparkling. And those with the tawny fur and white lion gene are just as majestic. African elders tell us that Timbavati means the “Place where the Star Lions came down”.

I had been in South Africa for a few weeks already when, by some divine intervention, I was given the opportunity to meet the only white lions left living in the wild. Just before heading on my journey a dear friend told me of them and lent me the book, “Mystery of the White Lions”. She also connected me to someone who knew the author, Linda Tucker, Founder of the Global White Lion Protection Trust in Timbavati, South Africa. The white lions are believed to be of divine heritage and messengers of the gods. Timbavati is where the first ever white lion was born, four hundred years ago.

Reading her book, I had become enamored with the idea of meeting these holy creatures. The white lions are said to have come to earth to help guide humanity. Lions teach us to be fearless to be ourselves and to trust our intuition. I felt them calling me. But would meeting them even be possible? “Anything is possible.” I reminded myself. My intention was set and I knew I had to make it a reality.

I reached out to Linda for a meeting with the lions. After a few emails she responded. The retreat center was already at capacity and Linda was very busy but there was one option to accommodate me the following week. It was a room in a house alone, for a three-night minimum, at the cost to feed the lions each day. And remarkably, in all of South Africa I happened to be volunteering at a wildlife center less than two hundred miles from Timbavati. It was all in alignment. The universe had heard my wish and it was coming true! I made plans to go to Timbavati.

When at last I entered the lions’ territory, my guide Sibisimo drove us down the sandy road towards my house, before making a sharp turn and coming to a sudden stop. There before me was the white lion pride. Two large adult white males, a young tawny male and two white females casually sat together in the tall grass. They looked at us, unperturbed, and continued resting. I was in such awe. My eyes wept joyfully. It was hard to believe that I was living what I had dreamed of.

Each morning and evening I would go on lion patrol with Sibisimo. Arriving to the lion territory, just a few hundred yards away from the house I stayed in, there was a tall electric fence surrounding their homeland of many miles. It was his job to be sure that all of the lions were accounted for each day and to help keep them safe from poachers. Sibisimo held a large metal antennae, as long as our dashboard, out of the window to check the radar for signs of the lions nearby. Only when the signal was clear would we be safe to open the gate and enter. (Pictured here, Linda Tucker and I)

On my first lion patrol we found the pride almost immediately. Sibisimo stopped the truck and turned the engine off. They were about thirty feet away. Unexpectedly a young male lion stood up and started walking towards us. Sibisimo told me to slowly lock my door and roll up the window. Within seconds the young lion had walked up to my side of the truck, put his paw on my door handle and pulled to try to open it. Sibisimo was astonished, saying he had never seen one do that before. In reverence I sat watching the beautiful animal. The lion looked right back at me. Then he stepped a few feet away from the vehicle and laid down in the grass where he could see me better. We watched each other for several minutes. Sibisimo sat quietly as the lion and I locked eyes.

Pictured, Ingwavuma

His name was Ingwavuma and I recognized a relative in him. We were connecting in a way that was beyond my normal human understanding. And I was completely unafraid of him. I felt I knew him. We sat there for many minutes before Sibisimo turned the engine on to finish our patrol. Then Ingwavuma casually walked back to the company of his pride.

In those moments of connection and fearlessness, I knew I was being taught an enormous lesson in trusting my intuition. A lesson in lion heartedness, directly from spirit.

These days, I connect with Ingwavuma and his white lion pride often, sometimes requesting protection in times of danger, which I feel they bestow on me. But I am not unique, this kind of connection with animals and spirit guides is accessible to anyone who seeks it. Believing it is possible and letting go of any fear that it’s not possible, is the key.

If this article inspires you or you feel a connection with these special beings, I hope you will consider donating to the Global White Lion Protection Trust to help with the care and conservation of the species.

There All Along

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 12:00:00 Z

Click here to view the article on Natural Awakenings Atlanta.

I have been a traveler all of my life. I have traveled thousands of miles to have wildlife encounters. I have been to the Amazon where I have seen and heard the rare oropendola, a bird of beautiful color with an unusual song that sounds like it is underwater. It was an unexpected delight to discover that this beautiful bird existed! I have traveled to Africa where I have seen some of the biggest to the smallest animals in the world, including the tiny bush baby, with its large eyes peering at me in the dark from a small tree and the enormous rhino, stomping through the dirt, creating a cloud of dust around itself.

It is the same for me with spiritual experiences. I have traveled thousands of miles to participate in ceremonies with different cultures around the world. I have been blessed by Voodoo Orishis in a Candomblé ceremony in Brazil, sat with medicine people for vision quests in Colombia and been given a bone reading session by a Sangoma mystic in South Africa.

Each time I come home, I am already thinking of where to go for my next adventure. I cannot wait to leave again because I am so charged from the last experience that I am excited to experience something else new. So many times, I have traveled away from home to have these deep experiences. It has been the story of my life for many years now.

Over the years, I have sometimes wondered, why do I have to travel to find this? What if the experience I was seeking could be found right in front of me all along? If I paid closer attention, could I find this nearby more easily?

I recently had a eureka moment. I was in my backyard, listening to a sound that I have heard for many years. It was very close and I had always assumed it was a bird call. When I listened and looked more closely, I was delighted to discover that the sound that I have been hearing all of these years was not a bird at all but was a squirrel! Why had’nt I noticed that before? I began to wonder, what else have I been missing?

It was not until I met a medicine man here in Georgia that it even occurred to me that I could be a part of special ceremonies in the US. He had been living right here in the same city that I grew up in, for as long as I have been here. His community welcomed me in, having been right here in my own town all along!

This led me to thinking about all of the things that I may have missed right in front of me throughout my life journey. I always thought that I had to travel far away to have a unique wildlife encounter or to be in ceremony. How often are we seeking something that can be found in plain sight? If I took the time to notice more of what is happening around me, maybe I would have many more wildlife encounters, more spiritual experiences.

This realization has awakened me to a whole new outlook on how to experience the world. After all of these years, I am realizing that I don’t have to go far at all to discover new things or to have profound spiritual experiences. The medicine person I may have traveled so far to meet, was in my neighborhood all along! A special wildlife encounter can happen in my own back yard! I can explore right around me and have just as enlightening of a spiritual experience, or an exciting wildlife encounter, as if I traveled across the globe to find it.

Today, I am excited to explore more of what is already happening here in my own town, just waiting for me to see it.

Inspired by Panorama Ray

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 12:00:00 Z

Before the passing of my dear friend Panorama Ray in 1997, he created a massive collection of panoramic photos and folk art paintings. He was incredibly prolific, well known to the Atlanta art scene and a friend of President Jimmy Carter. His story is so big that its too much to tell here but this is what I will share for now.

Ray was brilliant. He created a technique with his 100 year old panoramic camera which he coined "movin' stills", where he directed his subjects to move as the camera moved, creating multiple ghost-like images of subjects in one photograph.

Several years ago I co-hosted an art event with Shawn McElroy, the current owner of PR's panoramic camers, showcasing what we could find of Panorama Ray's work, (all lent by owners of his original works). Hundreds of people and friends gathered in a small gallery to remember the legend and his art. After that we tried for a few years to acquire his collection, to preserve and share with the world, but just as we gained the access, our contact, Ray's son died. A real tragedy for the man and the art. After that, Ray's ex-wife made sure that no one would ever see the collection which has never been retrieved. Sadly it is lost forever.

There were at least 5,000 negatives of panoramic photos in the collection, taken by Ray of iconic Atlanta scenes, artists, musicians and actors from the 1990's, as well as images from around the world which included the great Giza pyramids. Losing his work has truly been a tragedy to Atlanta and to the world. Panorama Ray developed all of his photos in a dark room, and colored a number of them by hand. To this day his technique has not been replicated.

But the legend is not forgotten. And today I find myself using my iphone to create panoramas of my travels, learning the best ways to create gorgeous imagery through many mistakes. It is very different to create images with an iphone camera than the original panoramic camera because there is no tripod and no timer helping to keep the camera steady or to be able to direct subjects to move according to the movement of the camera. It's a huge learning curve but after two years of experimentation, I am at least getting an idea for how to create some beautiful still imagery.

This post is to share a few of the images that Ray created and also the work I am starting to do myself, inspired by the Legend of Panorama Ray. I am only just getting started but here are some of my favorites from us both. I hope you enjoy them.

This photo was taken on the rooftop of the Bus Stop, an artist collective run by Mitch Cherry who was another very dear friend of Panorama Ray. Mitch is the male figure on the left and was often a subject of PR's photographs.

Here is Mitch Cherry as his iconic Atlanta character Super Fly, carrying a pretend Olympic torch during the 1996 Olympics. Many of PR's paintings depict fantasy Olympic scenarios. Mitch still has a number of Ray's folk art paintings for sale.

I am not sure who the model is here but Ray's idea was in creating a Scarlett O'Hara character set against a modern day Atlanta. You can see how the model moves through the photos, directed by Ray who understood the timing and distance the camera needed to be able to create his "movin' stills". The photos were all done with film which, unlike digital, gives no room for retakes. It's a one time shot and every image Ray created was well executed.

I was another of Panorama Ray's regular models. There were 8 or so images created of me and other characters dressed in the first costumes I ever made, before I moved to New Orleans to pursue a career as a costume artist. This is one version of my Snow Queen, photographed in his little Cabbage Town studio. It was far too cold to be outdoors so we used the space we had as I walked and then crawled across his bed to get the shot. I later learned that the Snow Queen was the last panoramic that PR ever made before his passing.

I took this photo in Mexico on a beach where two foot waves came right up to our cabanas before crashing on the shore. After numerous takes, I got this shot from the water which is like an optical illusion, appearing as though the wave is about to wash over the whole beach.

This photo was taken in Jamaica in Flankers neighborhood, a pretty rough area of Montego Bay, where I found myself with a few new friends. The man in the middle is named Changa Changa and is what some have heard Bob Marley refer to as a Natural Mystic. He is one of few true rastas who live the natural lifestyle in Jamaica.

I have been privileged to be invited to participate in Mayan ceremonies in Guatemala and allowed to photograph some of them. This panorama is taken at the Shrine of St. James during St. James Holy Week. My mentor Dolores sits at the altar on the rightwith the head of shaman of the community, receiving a blessing from St. James. Some of the community medicine people sit around the room, waiting for the Dressing of St. James ceremony to begin.

Here is an image from my time volunteering with wild macaws in the Peruvian Amazon. It was my job to climb to the tree tops to collect the macaw chicks from their nests, to be sent down by a bucket on a rope and be checked by the vets. You can see here that the bucket is being cradled between my legs, preparing to send them down the 70 feet to the forest floor below. A magical experience indeed!

This final image, taken in Hierve el Agua, Mexico, shows me looking down at my feet and up over the limestone pools then across the valley. I just wanted to demonstrate here how creative one can get with a panoramic view.

I have many more images but these are a few of my favorites so far. I am excited to keep experimenting and hopefully be able to replicate Panorama Ray's technique for "movin' stills". I will never be as good as the original but one can always aspire.

My Favorite Wildlife Photography

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 12:00:00 Z

Here are some of my favorite images of the animals I have captured on my travels in the past decade. Please enjoy!

A white egret with its catch of the day in Turks and Caicos.

A splendid quetzal also known as the Plumed Serpent Diety, in Santiago de Atitlan, Guatemala.

A Titi monkey peers as me through the trees in the Peruvian Amazon.

I came upon a roseate spoonbill bathing in Crooked River State Park, St. Mary's Georgia.

Sometimes birds in captivity can be aggressive towards the other foul. This one wears blinders. It was captured in the Guatemala City Zoo.

An infant vervet monkey inspects my vintage camera at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa.

After my last Sundance I was sitting on a beach on Lake Michigan when I was blessed with an encounter with two juvenile red foxes playing together several feet from me. It was such a treat to be so close to them.

While volunteering for Guacamayas in Flores, Guatemala, a spider monkey and her family sat in a tree watching and posing for me for more than a half hour. A rare accurance and such a gift!

The Encounter

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 12:00:00 Z

In the early 90’s I was at a festival in Arizona in a forest where it was said that an alien abduction had occurred. The movie “Fire in the Sky” had been made about it.

There I met an angelic type being who called himself Dragonfly. He sat on a blanket with my friend and I, and we were immediately mesmerized by his deeply loving nature. As he spoke about interacting with ETs, others were drawn to him too. He told us that that night he intended to meet a mothership craft on the top of the mountain that we were on. He invited us to join him. My friend and I decided to go because we wanted to spend more time with this fascinating person. And somehow, we knew that it would be an adventure no matter what. Several of us left straight from there.

At the top of the mountain, we all sat around a fire late that night talking. Out of the blue, the girl sitting beside me looked up and said, “I don’t understand it but something strange keeps happening to me lately. My ear is turning into an elf ear.” and she reached up to touch it seeming quite alarmed.

In disbelief and at her encouragement, I reached over to touch her ear myself. I could feel it growing into a point between my fingers, like that of an elf! She was shapeshifting! I asked my friend to touch her ear to be sure that I was not imagining it, and she felt it too! Everyone sat in complete amazement but no one else attempted to come take a look. I don’t actually remember anything about the others who were with us.

Soon the girl’s ear went back to normal and we all became very sleepy. We could not stay awake and everyone fell asleep on the ground around the fire. When we woke up at sunrise, the mother ship had not appeared and Dragonfly was still there with us. Still in awe of the previous night, we all walked down the mountain together, deep in contemplation.

At the bottom of the mountain, we parted ways and I never saw Dragonfly again.

I recently was asked to share my experiences with a psychic friend who was writing an article about UFOs for her blog. I told her I had seen many but I had never had contact with an ET, to my knowledge. For some reason I shared this story with her and she said, “That was an alien! She pretended to be surprised by what was happening to her to not give herself away. You have had contact!”. And in that moment, I thought she was probably right. I had never considered that before! I began to wonder if Dragonfly was an alien too.

After all, I had been led to this mountain top by this mysterious man named Dragonfly (the symbol of the Dragonfly means transformation) to look for a Mothership UFO. So, they knew that I was open to these ideas. I had also believed in the existence of fairies my whole life, so perhaps they somehow knew that seeing an ear shapeshift into that of an elves’ may be particularly intriguing to me or less disturbing.

It is only just starting to set in now that it could have been an actual encounter with an ET. Which makes me wonder if it has ever happened to me other times that I am unaware of. Within a year or so of that same incident, I met two other individuals, on separate occasions, who appeared to be more than human, angelic like. Even if they were angels, are’nt those ETs too, not being from this planet? I have to wonder what else may have happened on the mountain once I was asleep. Have I been visited other times?

Whatever the case, I learned a huge lesson that night that has helped shape my life. That is, if shapeshifting is possible, then could’nt anything be possible? It is a moto that I have lived by ever since.

Los Hongos Sagrados or How I Was Guided to the Home of Magic Mushrooms

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 12:00:00 Z

For weeks before leaving the US to go to Mexico, I had been getting a strong call from Spirit to work with psilocybin mushrooms for helping others. I had not felt called by such a powerful plant teacher since my work with Ayahuasca, more than fifteen years before. I was not even sure that it was something I wanted to do. However, I have learned to listen when the Universe sends a message this loud and clear. But if I was going to, I wanted to approach it from the most respectful way possible.

I told my guides that if that’s what Spirit wanted me to do then I would but only under two conditions: 1) That I am led to be in ceremony with a medicine woman of the culture it comes from and 2) That she (as a representative of her culture) gives me permission to lead the ceremonies. I was following previous guidance to work with medicine women only, and not men for a while, but I knew no one to go to about this.

The connection would have to happen organically.

I am in absolute awe of how perfectly and quickly the universe lined this up. Within a few days of being in Oaxaca City I spoke with only one person about this calling, a woman who had just come from the mountains in the area where the mushrooms grew. She said that it was mushroom season there now and that they could be picked fresh from the forest. How auspicious! She told me about a medicine woman who had done a te mescal (ceremonial sauna) for her, thinking that there might be a connection there for me. I followed the lead and booked two nights at the Air BnB in San Antonio, Oaxaca.

Since I am not new to this plant teacher, I had already been preparing for the ceremony for several days, just in case the opportunity presented itself. I was the only one staying on the property at that time. Knowing that a te mescal may not have been an option, I requested it anyway. When I arrived, late in the afternoon it was ready to go and was waiting for me. I instinctively felt that I had landed in the right place.

The next day I spoke with Mari, the manager, about the possibility of doing a mushroom ceremony with a medicine woman. She told me that her mother, Marcella, who had done the te mescal for me, was a Zapoteco Curandera (Zapotec Medicine Woman), who led these ceremonies. However, she said that it was impossible to set up a ceremony on such short notice. Mari said that there was a lot I had needed to do to prepare for this ceremony and that it was difficult to find the maestro mushrooms in the forest on such short notice.

Assuming I had missed my chance, I then asked to speak with her mother through a Spanish interpreter, to find out how to better prepare if I came back in the future. It was important to me to not make any assumptions and to be respectful of her culture and the plant medicine.

Through our interpreter, I explained to Marcella, that I had been guided there, to where the mushrooms grew, and had been preparing for the possibility of doing ceremony for a few days. I said that I did not want to do them on my own, as most westerners did when they came there, because it was important to me to respect her culture and this sacred plant teacher in the best way possible. I related that I was being called to sit in ceremony with a medicine woman of the lineage and to get her perspective on what the universe was guiding me to do. I said that I knew it may not happen this time but that I wanted to be prepared if I came back.

During our meeting, Marcella told me that someone had brought her fresh hongo sagrados (psilocybin mushrooms) from the forest the day before and that all though she had not been planning to be in ceremony that night, sometimes she is called to be at a moments’ notice. She said that now was one of those times and that if I wanted to, we could start the ceremony in an hour and a half. I could not believe what I was hearing! I truly was not expecting anything! Then, realizing how perfectly things had aligned, I of course said, “Yes!” to the opportunity.

After our meeting the translator told me that all of the medicine people leading ceremonies in the area were men and that Marcella was the only woman. Marcella also said that it was highly unusual for her do a private ceremony and that usually she did them for groups. All of this information was even more confirmation for me that I had been divinely guided to her.

The mushroom ceremony that night was very special, quite gentle. Even though Marcella and I did not speak each other’s language, we connected deeply. I remember feeling like she was a sister to me and that we had known each other for a very long time. She was only six years older than me. I felt so much love from her and the medicine and I knew that they were supporting me in moving forward to offer the ceremony for others seeking healing. Using only my eyes and heart to communicate with her, I returned the love as deeply as she shared it with me.

The next day the interpreter spoke for us, confirming what I had intuited the night before, that I was indeed supposed to work with the sacred mushrooms to help others and that Marcella supported me in this.

Los hongos sagrados are a powerful modality that I can now offer those seeking deeper healing. At this time my guidance is that I will do this ceremony for no more than two or three people at a time. Guiding it is not something that I will take lightly. It will be given the respect it deserves, as are all of the ceremonies I lead and the traditions that they come from.

Despite not being fully sure that it was what I wanted to do, I am so glad that I listened and followed the call to work with mushrooms. Whenever, I have done that I have been guided to be where I needed to be and with whom. Over the years I have learned that when the universe asks something of me, I have to pay attention. A calling that strong is not to be ignored. The best thing to do is to just trust and go with it.

Celebrities and Spirit Possession

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 12:00:00 Z

When I love an artist or musician, I will spend a lot of time learning and researching about them. Over the years, I’ve come across stories of some of my favorite celebrities who appear to have dealt with spirit possession. These people are typically incredibly talented and ultra-intelligent. It makes me wonder how this happens to some people and not to others. It appears to be artists and creatives who are most often affected.

David Bowie is one of my favorite musical artists. Did you know that when he created Ziggy Stardust, he actually became that character? It was as if this space being had taken him over. He started to feel schizophrenic as though his thoughts were no longer his own. When that became too much for him, he promptly quit the show, giving his band only a couple of days notice that he was ending the tour.

What about the story of how Jim Morrison believed he was inhabited by a Native American spirit? His story is that as a child, driving through the desert with his parents, they arrived within moments of an accident on the side of the road. His father got out of the car to see what he could do. Little boy Jim Morrison sat observing this when he notices a distinct change in himself. He felt the spirit of the deceased native man enter his body. He believes he carried it with him his entire life.

Jim Morrison was a terrible alcoholic, and could be quite cruel. On more than one occasion his actions, while on stage, incited riots that carried out into the streets. I sometimes wonder if drinking was his way of trying to control what was happening inside of him. Or perhaps did the spirit drive him to drink so much?

Regardless, Jim Morrison became one of America’s greatest poets and rock ‘n’ roll icons. He was certainly one of my favorite musical artists growing up. Maybe having the spirit in him is what helped him to do that. Despite his brilliance and fame, he actually lived a bitter, tragic life.

Have you seen the documentary “Jim and Andy”? Well, if you’re curious about spirit possession, this is one that you will want to see. It’s about how the spirit of Andy Kaufman appears to take over Jim Carrey’s body during the filming of “Man on the Moon”, the movie about Andy Kaufman. Jim Carrey starts to behave like Andy, at times being insolent and often very odd, even when he is off set.

It was much more than getting into character. Jim himself felt as though the spirit of Andy Kaufman was sometimes in control. Luckily, it was only a temporary conundrum but he says it changed his life forever. “I didn’t black out, but the balance was way in Andy’s corner,” said Carrey, who went on to win a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the film. “I broke (character) a couple of times on weekends and stuff, but pretty much from when I woke up to when I went to bed, the choices were all his.”

The more I learn about spirit possession, the more that I find these stories fascinating. Especially when it’s about ultra-creative personalities.

Kindred Spirits

Wed, 10 May 2023 12:00:00 Z

Published in Natural Awakenings Atlanta for the column Walking Each Other Home, May 2023

Have you ever had a connection with someone that you will never forget, then in an instant they are gone forever? It has happened to me a few times. Sometimes it lasts for a moment and sometimes only a few months. All of them made me wish for more time with that person.

The first time that I can remember it happening was on a subway in Atlanta. A man sat on the train across from me. We happened to look at each other and our eyes locked. We both stared at the other, not understanding the connection or what to say. Intuitively I felt I had known him in some former life as a dear friend or lover. I cannot explain it any other way. It was like what they call “love at first sight”. Yet I was only fourteen and he was perhaps twice my age. I knew that it was not an impulse I could act on and I could feel that he knew it too. All we could do was hold our stare and try to remember some timeless connection. Then the train came to a stop and he was gone. It was such a vivid interaction that I have never forgotten it.

A similar connection happened to me in Morocco. I had just boarded a banana boat heading back across the river, when I saw a girl on another boat that was just docking. She had the most striking eyes and we looked at each other, unable to look away. She was with her family and they must have noticed our connection too because they smiled back at me and began gesturing toward me. Neither of us spoke the others language but we both knew what the other was thinking, that we were old friends, somehow connected. As my boat drifted away, there was nothing I could say. We both smiled and the moment was gone.

Sometimes it can happen as a result of some trauma. On one visit to Guatemala, I was in a small boat crossing Lake Atitlan when it was suddenly rocked by severe waves appearing out of nowhere. Everyone on the boat was frightened as we thought we would capsize. Sitting beside me was a Mayan woman about my age and she instinctively grabbed my hand for comfort. We held onto one other as if we were each other’s savior, both of us practically in tears. I felt such a closeness, as if we had known each other all of our lives and were afraid we may not live to see each other another moment. We held each other that way until our boat reached the dock. And then, not knowing how to speak the others’ language, we both laughed and hugged goodbye.

The last time it happened there was actually time to become friends with this kindred spirit. I had only met Mar in Ecuador right before Covid hit. We were both volunteering at a zoo and became instant close friends. After our volunteer time we stayed connected on Whatsapp. It was a very hard time for Mar because her elder aunt and uncle had died early of Covid in Ecuador and she could not be there to help them. She had already been going through a difficult time in her career and had gotten depressed. I did what I could to be supportive but I could not be with her in person since she lived in Berlin. I tried to keep in touch with her but the pandemic was taxing on me and sadly I did not reach out frequently enough. Then one day she vanished from WhatsApp. I had no other way to reach her. It was an unexpected loss in a time where I had lost so much already.

I keep this picture of us near to remember this sweet soul named Mar and our special friendship. I understand now that it is so important to hold those golden connections close when they come into my life again. The next time it happens I am not going to let a language barrier stop me from reaching out. I never want to miss the opportunity of having such a rare and deep spiritual connection with someone again.

Psychic Protection and Clearing Techniques

Tue, 02 May 2023 12:00:00 Z

There is always more to learn. Lately, I’ve been doing a deep dive into researching psychic protection and psychic attack. I have a regular practice, but I’m finding it’s good to know a few different methods for different situations. I reached out to a couple of fellow psychics to see if they had any other suggestions.

I got a lot of great feedback and some reminders of techniques I had forgotten. Victor Paruta, a renowned psychic medium interviewed on Gaia TV, was kind enough to share a book with me, written over one hundred years ago by a good witch, Dion Fortune. It’s fascinating to read from a historical view point and also very informative.

Here is a link to the PDF of Psychic Self Defense by Dion Fortune, if you would like to read it yourself.

Psychic attack can happen to the best of us, especially if you don't know what to expect. Just going through your day, you can pick up random energy from people you pass by. It’s good to make a regular habit of clearing you space. Based on the conversations I had with my colleagues, I came up with a list of things that would be helpful in clearing yourself and your home. These tasks can also help protect you from any future issues energetically.

I hope you find them helpful!

Make a line of salt or salt water around the outside perimeter of your home, setting the intention for creating a safe sanctuary and releasing anything that does not belong.
Think about the fung shui in your home and if anything needs to be moved. Like if you have a couch with its back to a door, that should be moved to face the door.

While you are clearing, have ceiling fans going or something to create a wind effect to move the energy.
Burn sage in each room, going in a clockwise manner, making sure to get the smoke into cabinets and closets. Be sure to clear all openings, windows and doors. It's a good idea to have a window or door slightly open so that the spirits/energies have an easy way to get out.
Put a line of salt under a door mat at your front door, so that it cannot be seen.
Find an amulet for protection that can be put over your front door.

PSA: About Wildlife Volunteering

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 12:00:00 Z

Wildlife volunteer work takes a special breed. Living conditions are not great. It’s usually in remote areas away from any city and you witness many painful things. Yet there is also so much joy and beauty that comes with it. Knowing you are doing something for animals and being in their presence is why I have loved doing it for the past twenty years.

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE using a compost toilet, taking cold showers, waking up at dawn, riding a motor bike, being bitten by leeches and mosquitos or maybe even a scorpion, sleeping under a mosquito net with open walls to the jungle, having no air conditioning or heat, having a subpar mattress and bedding to sleep on, washing your clothes by hand, sleeping in a dorm with shared bathroom, not being able to choose your menu, being in a culture where almost no one speaks your language, losing electricity and being without internet access, witnessing humans in the poorest living conditions, seeing the hardest parts of wildlife exploitation and endangerment, or seeing domestic animals in the worst possible conditions, hard work (including getting dirty cleaning poop from enclosures, working in very hot or cold conditions and doing dangerous tasks like climbing trees), then this is NOT FOR YOU!

IF YOU CAN HANDLE ALL OF THAT AND YOU LOVE being with animals, seeing animals in the wild, doing tasks that help the proliferation of wildlife, seeing some of the most beautiful natural places in the world, being in the wilderness, learning about new cultures, eating exotic foods, helping communities, being a steward of the environment, being around people who are happy to be alive and interacting with traditional people using very few words, then this is PERFECT FOR YOU!

BEWARE that some projects are only a front to make money and do not actually help the animals. I have especially heard of this happening in Thailand with the bathing of baby elephants where they work long hours during the day and then are brought to a “sanctuary”. Here the volunteers get to do simple tasks which make them feel like they are doing some good, not knowing the animals are captive exploited workers. So, vet your volunteer organizations well before you decide to support one.

If you too want to make a real difference for animals, you may consider trying wildlife volunteering yourself. To get started, I suggest this great resource www.volunteerworld.com where you can find projects and check the reviews. You can also take a look at this document I have created of wildlife volunteer projects that I have worked for and my experience with each, for some initial suggestions of where to begin. Wildlife Volunteering Opportunities

And here are a couple of videos from my early years as a wildlife volunteer, to give you some inspiration. I am sure you could get a good laugh from my earliest folly when rescuing baby ducks.

Being a wildlife volunteer gives me more joy than I ever imagined it could. It feels good knowing I am actually doing something to help wildlife.

Mayan Spirit Voice Recording- Guatemala

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 12:00:00 Z

Here is a sound bite from a recording I made of a spirit voice while in a Mayan Shrine on Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala. In the clip I am talking with my mentor and asking way too many questions, as usual.

You can very faintly hear the ancestor's voice whispering incoherently throughout until the end when when we both stop talking and the Spanish word, "Excusima." is heard very clearly in a ghostly sounding voice. The English translation is, "Excuse her." which my elder believes is him saying "Excuse this woman for asking so many questions." Lol! My only intention when recording it was to have it as a reminder to myself of my elders teachings but I inadvertently got this amazing spirit voice as well. I did not know it was here until I went back to listen to all of the recordings six months later.

Although I am talking too much, it feels like confirmation from the ancestors that I was in the right place and am on the right path learning from the Mayan lineage. It also felt like it is something important to share with the world. That is why I made this video, to be able to share this sound clip. This recording is done during my first initiation, which are a couple of the pictures in the video. I was given permission to take photos and audio recordings by my elders there. I asked permission of the ancestors to share this before doing so as well. I have not shared the images I have taken in these ceremonies until now. And I do not share the names of my mentors and shamanic teachers as I feel this would be a violation of their privacy.

The recording was made as a voice memo on my iPhone. It is so clear that it is certainly paranormal. And any one who knows me knows that I love to study the paranormal. I even became a certified Paranormal Investigator as a side hobby. I needed to post a video to be able to post a sound bite and so I picked these photos, avoiding photos of people in private ceremonies other than myself and my elder. The sound clip only recognizes mine, my mentor and the spirits' voices. The recording is special to me for a lot of reasons. I wanted to share it because I believe it is proof that there is a spirit realm which the ancestors and our spirit guides can communicate with us from.

Connecting with the ancestors and these Mayan elders has been a powerful experience. It is wonderful confirmation that I am on the right path. I am eternally grateful for this connection to my ancient roots and to the Mayan Grandmothers who see who I am. I give thanks to them and to all of you who have trusted me and who have supported me on this path.

Matiox Wopila

Aliens?! Really?!

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 12:00:00 Z

First of all, I think it is quite ignorant for us to believe that with so many stars, galaxies and universes out there, we are the only intelligent life here. I don’t believe in trying to convince anyone that ETs exist but I do like to share my own experiences.

I saw my first UFOs standing on a dirt road in the Arizona desert when I was twenty-one years old. It was not quite dark enough to see the stars but just above a nearby mountain sat a bright light in the sky. I pointed it out to my friends and we looked at it perplexingly. Moments later, two more lights rose up from behind the mountain just below the first one. They all sat in the sky forming a perfect triangle together for several seconds, then suddenly, staying in formation, they shot across the sky over head and out of view at lightning speed. We were sure of what we had seen but nothing rational could explain it. We were convinced that they were spacecraft.

I have seen them several other times as well. Once in Hawaii when what looked like a shooting star fell over head followed by another in the exact same place and pattern, disappearing immediately. Another time when on vision quest, I stared at the sky and was thinking about the White Buffalo Calf Woman, who is said to have arrived to earth on a meteor. As I thought of her a star began to move slowly in the sky, then turned at an angle going across the sky in another direction and then turning again moving in yet another direction. It was very high in the sky, had no flashing lights like a plane and did not move in a straight line as satellites do. I knew it could be nothing else but a UFO. On a visit to Plaza Blanca, New Mexico I felt a very strong sense of Star Nation energy but saw nothing until I got home and looked at my photos. Three of them had large bright green spots that looked otherworldly and compared to nothing in the rest of the landscape.

These incidents seem to be occurring more and more frequently lately. A few years ago, I was at a party at my best friends’ house in New Mexico standing around a firepit with several others. My friend had just said to us, “We are literally all made of stardust.” And at that most what appeared as a meteor, from the direction we all happened to be looking, shot across the entire horizon. It was probably ten or twenty times longer than any shooting star I have ever seen. How coincidental for it to happen at the very moment she had said that!

The last time I saw space craft I was on my Vision Quest in South Dakota. I had been learning a lot that year about the different species of ETs that many people now believe to exist. I felt like they were reaching out to me and one of my prayers was to have contact. I could feel that they wanted to teach me and I was eager to learn from them. I saw many shooting stars the first night. Then on the second night, as I lay in the grass looking up at the sky I saw a shooting star that was then followed by another in its exact path. That too was followed by another, and another, and another, until I had seen twenty seven “shooting stars” in that exact spot and pattern, one right after the other in a matter of a minutes’ time. I was told telepathically that I was looking at a star gate.

So yes, I believe in UFOs and ETs. My experiences have shown me that they exist. They are very real to me and no one can convince me otherwise. I think it helps that I have always been open to the idea. I also have begun to wonder if perhaps I came into my deeper psychic awareness so effortlessly because they have been helping me all along.

I believe that the majority of them want to help humanity and are doing what they can. Humanity is only just beginning to be open to the possibility of extraterrestrial life and I can only imagine what we can achieve together once we accept their presence and invite their help. If you have not had an experience before, perhaps if you open your mind a bit more, then you will start to see them too.

(Photos are from Plaza Blanca, NM. Notice bright green spots (and large orb in photo below) which I believe are the presence of Star Nation energy.)

Desert Awakening

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 12:00:00 Z

Coming from a family of nature lovers, I was taught early to respect all plants and animals. A deep connection with nature gave me an understanding of the concept of mother earth growing up. I considered the earth a relative of mine. I felt the most at peace and most confident in myself when I was in nature. Whenever I was outdoors, I felt safe, like I was home.

When I painted my first art car to look like the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, I did not know that I would live there in just a couple of years. As a child I had dreamed of visiting the desert, knowing that I had some kind of connection with it.

When I went to the Sonoran Desert for the first time it was a magical experience. A friend and I waited for our hosts to finish a ceremony as the wide-open landscape of Arizona began to settle down for the evening. The deserts’ many aged saguaro cacti reached their prickly limbs toward the sky. In one direction we could see the sunset, coating the horizon in pastels. Another direction offered a beautiful rainbow and from another, a magnificent lightning storm brewed in the distance. I knew in that moment that this would be a very special place to me.

Later that summer I attended an arts festival in the mountains of Arizona. That’s when I met a young couple who invited me to visit their goat farm outside of Tuscan. We became dear friends. I helped around the land, compelled to stay as long as possible in that magnificent landscape. Soon I was invited to live there. Young and eager to explore life, it was an appealing offer that I could not resist. My home was a broken-down school bus surrounded by ancient cacti. A giant century cactus grew just outside of my door. It was said to bloom only once in the span of its’ one-hundred-year life.

Though the desert was considered a dangerous place to some, to me it was nurturing, almost gentle. My spirit felt at home there. I could feel my connection to the earth getting stronger. The Sonoran Desert inspired me to learn everything I could about it. I wanted to know about all of the plants and animals that resided there. I began to explore how to make food and medicine from the prickly pear, barrel cacti, and chaparral trees. I quickly became aware of how healing this surreal landscape could be. It was sacred. It was such a nurturing feeling to be connecting with the earth in this way. She was becoming more like a mother to me than I had ever felt before.

Living there had piqued my interest in spiritual practices. I poured over books on earth magic, shamanism, yoga, and herbalism. I met the psychedelic toad of the Sonoran Desert who shared visions with me of my ancient connection with planet earth. Standing in the desert with friends one quiet evening, I witnessed my first UFOs. Beauty and magic seemed to seep from the deserts’ pores. I felt a deep love for the planet I called home.

My time in the desert had ignited a strong connection with mother earth and a newfound interest in my spirituality. My dreams became lucid and my intuition was keener than ever. One night the century cactus outside of my bus bloomed, the only blossom humans would see from it in one hundred years. I believed it was mother earth’s way of saying, “I love you.” I felt her encouraging me to continue to follow my new spiritual path of loving, worshipping and respecting all of nature.

As a child, I had always felt at home in nature and now I trusted my intuition on a deeper level. Just as I had known that I would someday live in the desert, I knew that communing with nature would continue to be my spiritual path. Loving and connecting to the earth is the best way for me to be close to Great Spirit and my divinity. The earth is my temple. And she continues to nurture and inspire me just like a mother should.

Jungle Trekking with Guatemalan Wildlife

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 12:00:00 Z

Sometimes all you need to tell a story are the visuals. I recently got to spend several days in the Guatemalan jungle communing with nature and photographing wildlife.

It was incredibly lovely!

But honestly the bugs were a nightmare.

Was it worth it?

Yes! For me it is my greatest joy to be among the wildlife. It means that I am willing to put up with bugs, heat, sore feet and all!

Here are the results of what I was privileged to see.

Wild quetzal outside of Santiago, Lago de Atitlan

Spider Monkey and her baby

American Crocodile

Grey Fox

Great Blue Heron

Spider Monkey Family

Gartered Trogon, relative to the Quetzal

The rare and elusive Agami Heron, no one has ever seen its nest or chicks

Mated scarlet macaw pair

A Sundance Family

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 12:00:00 Z

The Sundance is a very powerful Native American ceremony. For me it’s certainly the most intense ritual that I participate in. The dance is hard on our bodies. It’s emotional. It can be painful. But we believe the prayers are powerful too. Believing that our prayers are making even the smallest difference makes it all worth it to me. And that’s why we sacrifice our energy and sometimes our flesh. We do it because we want to help humanity and help mother earth. We want to help all of our relations.

What I love about my Sundance family is that they are taking it seriously. There is no messing around. They’re not just posturing. Anyone who is a true Sundancer is all in because they wouldn’t do it otherwise. The people who I sundance with are very committed to this way. They put themselves, their lives and their families through great sacrifice to be able to practice these ceremonies. They love and support one another and they pray hard together.

The Sundance is said to be one of the hardest ceremonies in the world. It is a prayer ceremony but it is also a piercing ceremony. It is four days of standing, dancing and praying in the sun or rain with no food or water. The men, and some women, are all pierced in the chest, back or arms, then connected to the Sundance tree with a rope that will eventually be pulled from the skin. If you didn’t trust these ways or have such a deep desire to help, you wouldn’t do the ceremony. It’s just too hard. No one would do it unless they believed it really counted for something. It’s a way of giving back to the earth in the form of commitment, prayer and blood sacrifice.

I am blessed to be able to say that we have wonderful Sundance leaders of high integrity. Our female Sundance leaders are strong women. We have a very gentle Sundance Chief and male Sundance leaders. In a spiritual tradition where men are often tough love leaders, who frequently belittle women, even saying we cannot be medicine people, it is refreshing to have these gentle male souls as our guides. All of them commit to leading the dance for many years.

When I first started, I did not know any of the other dancers. I felt like an outsider. But soon bonds were formed. In last years’ dance, I noticed how the Sundancers would look into each other’s eyes when they spoke to one another. They called each other family. At first it took me awhile to understand why. We do our best to be present for one another with the same goal for healing in mind. In Lakota it is called “Cante Wanji La Cannunpa” or “One heart, One mind, One prayer” and means being connected with each other in order to create the strongest intention for healing.

It takes that for the ceremony to be strong and safe for everyone present, not just the Sundancers. Understanding “Cante wanji la Cannunpa” helps to better understand the interconnectedness that occurs between us. And its’ how I came to understand what it means to call each other a Sundance family.

Best Friends

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:00:00 Z

My best friend in high school was my perfect friend match. Our friendship was one of the most important relationships of my formative years. Ironically, she was the complete opposite of me. We dressed different, she shopped for clothes in malls and mine came from the thrift store. We were from different backgrounds. I came from a poor home and she was the daughter of a doctor. She was a cheerleader and I was President of the Art Club. We were even of different races and from opposite cultures. Despite all of our differences, Angie and I became the best of friends.

Sometimes I think about what made us so close. How were we alike? We were both artists. We both loved comedy and loved to laugh. We were both individuals, not part of any clique. We were both responsible teens and fiercely independent. Each with single working moms who were not able to be around much, both of them trying to make ends meet, while raising spirited daughters.

Our friendship began when we both became friends with this girl in middle school and we all started hanging out together. We quickly realized she was a bully and quit spending time with her, becoming inseparable friends ourselves. I have to admit I am grateful to that bully because without her I may never have had the chance to get to know Angie.

One of my favorite things about having her as a friend was the laughter we shared together. I have never laughed consistently so hard in my life with anyone as I did with her. It was the early 1990’s and Eddie Murphy was huge. We were so smitten with him that we bought all of his standup comedy cassette tapes and memorized them. We were constantly in fits of laughter, reciting Eddie Murphy jokes to each other.

Like our friendship there was even an irony in this. We went to a high school where we saw a lot of the issues and characteristics that Eddie made jokes about. He laughed at white people and black people. With me being white and her being black and also going to polarized Decatur High in the early 90’s, it was relatable. Too bad that the other kids could not see the humor that we did.

Neither one of us really fit into any one group in high school. She got made fun of by some kids who said she was trying to be white because she wore nice clothes and was well spoken. I was often snubbed because I loved 60’s rock and dressed like a hippie. From my perspective, most of them were without individuality of their own. Neither of us was interested in being in a popularity contest. We both felt free to just be ourselves.

We lost touch for nearly thirty years but recently have been reconnected. It’s like we have started from where we left off. We are still so different but also so much alike at the same time. Her openness, non-judgement and care remind me of why I loved her so much back then. She helped make me who I was then and she still does today. I love my friend Angie to the moon and back! I am so happy to have her in my life again!

Madre Ayahuasca

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 12:00:00 Z

(This story was written around 2006, soon after my first Ayahuasca ceremony. At the time, very few Westerners knew of this plant teacher and I was among the first to bring the medicine and Ayahuasqueros (the shamans who navigate the spirit world through this plant teacher) to the US.

As I am reading this again for the first time in so many years, I sit crying tears of joy. I am reminded that the medicine predicted so many things in my future that are now happening. I remember what an incredible healing tool it was for me and how it gave me the jump start needed to truly begin my own work as a healer and animal advocate.)

I first read about Ayahuasca about fifteen years before ever coming into contact with it. I was so fascinated with its potential healing powers and the access to the spirit realm that it was claimed to give, that I decided then and there that one day I too would experience this sacred plant teacher.

Ayahuasca, a psychotropic plant from the Amazon, which has been used for eons by shamans, is called “medicine” because it is used for the healing of one’s soul. A shaman I met once said, “Ayahuasca can restore us to the health that we want so that we can be free to fully live.” Ayahuasca is not addictive and even in Peru today it is being used in special clinics to help treat drug and alcohol addictions.

Little did I know, when I first learned of it, that this ancient medicine would change my life forever and lead me toward my soul’s true path. I did know, however, that it would be a very powerful experience and that I was not going to go looking for it but instead to let it come to me when my spirit was ready for it.

The opportunity came in the summer of 2006 when my best friend invited me out to San Francisco for a ceremony. Together we had read about Ayahuasca years before so I was excited to share my first experience with her. The shaman was a curandero from Colombia, South America.

For about two months before the ceremony, I took time to focus on what my intention for working with the medicine was. I knew that this was important to receive its the full benefits. I understood that the medicine could teach you in many ways and at times it will force you to visit your deepest fears to work through them, or to relive past experiences to work through the trauma that had not been dealt with.

My intention was to better understand what my life purpose was and to have a closer connection with Spirit and Mother Earth.

That first night of ceremony I had many beautiful visions and realizations. I visited the cosmos and other dimensions. I remember seeing the shaman dancing around the fire and I could not take my eyes off of him. His work mesmerized me and I could relate to him somehow. I felt like it was a thousand years ago and I was watching him work magic. I knew I had been a part of the same ritual in some life long ago.

When the night was done, I knew that I had much more to learn. I did a second night of ceremony and it was one of the most enlightening experiences of my life.

I met Mother Earth that night. I fell in love with the universe and I was blessed with so much love. Love like I had never experienced before or even knew existed.

It was almost dawn, hours after the others in our circle had finished journeying when suddenly the medicine began to work in me. It started when at one point I felt stuck like I needed to get something out of me that was stunting my growth. It felt like something very negative but I felt I could not get it out alone. The Ayahuascero came over to me and began to rub Agua de Florida on my forehead, over the third eye, and on the area above my heart. At first, there was a very hot burning sensation and I kept asking him to cool me with the water. The sweet flowery smell of it was very soothing and then I began to cry deeply. I felt myself releasing years of pent-up emotion through my tears and then with my laughter. Then I felt my third eye open up and a golden light, like of the sun, began pouring into me. Finally, my heart blossomed, like a lotus flower, and generous amounts of love streamed into my being from the heavens. It was the most beautiful feeling I could ever remember having. I knew the healing was a blessing that occurred only because I was so open to it, and that my soul had wished for that connection with spirit for a very long time.

That night the mother vine Ayahuasca spoke directly to me. She told me that my soul’s true path is the ability to heal and that soon I would use it to help humanity in its spiritual evolution. She said that the artwork that I do and my work with rehabilitating wild animals would be the catalyst for this in years to come. From there she also gave me many messages to give to my loved ones, including the shaman, things I could not have known about them otherwise. They all welcomed these messages and agreed that they were much-needed advice and encouragement. Whenever I have journeyed with this medicine in ceremony, I can hear the gentle voice of the Mother guiding me, encouraging me on how to continue on my souls' true path.

After several minutes I became more aware of the world around me, outside of my own experience, and I realized that I had been so filled with emotion that everyone in the circle was looking at me. The shaman decided that after such a release I needed grounding and he had me get into the cattle tank that had been filled with water for our afternoon swims. I was very reluctant, being so uncomfortable with the cold, but he reminded me of our talk earlier when I spoke with him about wanting to be free of my fear of the cold. I remember feeling everyone sending their support to me as I finally lowered myself into the chilly water and began to relax into the feeling of being in the cold. Even the birds seemed to congratulate me by singing to me across the forest. And I sang back. (I heard one bird that I have never heard before and would only hear again when I began visiting Guatemala. I believe it was a premonition.) I relaxed and said out loud, “It feels like embryonic fluid, like being in the womb….only I don’t remember it being so cold in there.” And everyone laughed.

Once my cleansing was over Maestro Alberto told me that it was time for me to go get dressed, that the ceremony was over and everyone was waiting to eat. I got out of the tub and hobbled over to the yurt to put on dry clothes. I felt like a cavewoman, crouched over as if I could not straighten my back. It was as though I had gone through a rebirth and was getting into balance with my new being. I knew I had just been healed more than I had through years of therapy.

I had so many epiphanies in that one experience that it is impossible to detail them all here now. But after that night I began to notice many subtle changes in myself: more self-confidence, better communication and the ability to express emotion more, among other things. Since then, I have not feared the cold like I used to either. Madre Ayahuasca has truly been a blessing to me and I will forever be grateful to this sacred plant medicine for her healing and leading on my path as a healer.

In Love With Guatemala

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 12:00:00 Z

Have you ever fallen in love with a place? I am so in love with Guatemala that it hurts to say goodbye. There is a special energy that I feel when I am here, like a cosmic connection that has been with me for eternity. I have felt this in other places but nothing so strong as this. I have also never felt so welcomed in a place, by its people and the land, as I do here.

Every time I have visited, it is like I have come home. I have had incredible spiritual experiences each time I have come here for over twenty years. The first time I ever visited here I was told that I was a witch and could speak with the ancestors by a Mayan Time Keeper, before I really knew what it meant for myself. In the past year I was invited into the Mayan Tzutuhil spiritual community through an initiation ceremony recognizing me as a Medicine Woman. I have been doing the work of a healer for many years now but how validating it feels for this ancient culture to recognize this in me as well.

I have been here for two months because this time I was visiting to make plans to move here. Sadly, I have come to the realization that I cannot live here. I’ve had to be honest with myself and recognize that there are too many factors that do not fully support my dreams in life. It’s heartbreaking. It almost feels like I’m cheating on a lover to go back and live in Atlanta. But I have to be true to myself now, just as I listened to my intuition to come here and explore this possibility.

Unlike a lover, I know that Guatemala will be here for me whenever I want to come home to her. And when I return it will be just as special as before. I don’t feel like I can stay away for long. She is in my blood and always has been. I am eternally grateful to the Tzutuhil for their acceptance and love. And I love Guatemala for all of the experiences, lessons, and beauty she has shown me.

Until I return, much love to you Guatemala! You are forever with me.

Thank you! Matiox!

Connect With Your Psychic Awareness

Sun, 26 Feb 2023 14:00:00 Z

All of us are born with psychic ability. It’s just a matter of remembering how to use it. Relearning how to be psychic can be natural for some, an ability they are “born” with, even showing signs as a child. Others are not aware of their gifts until they are much older. And others never learn to tap into it. Just like anything, it takes practice to do it well and authentically.

There are many ways of being a psychic intuitive. Some have more abilities than others but we are all capable of anything. You can be psychic and not be a medium but if you are a medium you are also psychic. Telepathy, remote viewing, astral projection, pyrokinesis and psychic surgery are all forms of psychic awareness. There are medical intuitives, dowsers, animal communicators, diviners and energy healers, plus so many more.

I had been having psychic experiences since I was a child but it was’nt until my adult years that I was able to remember those events and see that my third eye had been open my whole life. When I discovered animal communication is when my psychic intuition really kicked in. My love for helping wildlife brought me to a teacher in South Africa who showed me I had the natural ability to communicate telepathically with animals. Once I started to experiment with the technique she showed me, I saw that I had been doing it naturally throughout my life. The only difference was that now I had a very specific technique to be able to gain more accurate and deeper information.

However, to get good at it took a lot of practice. I took Wynter’s (Animal Talk Africa) courses. The last assignment was to turn in twenty case studies. I was very diligent, wanting to be sure of my own ability as much as I hoped my clients were. So, I did eighty case studies to come up with the twenty I felt confident enough to turn in. I wanted my readings to be so accurate that it could not be denied by myself, my teacher or anyone else that I was communicating with the animal. That meant getting a lot of information that could be verified. I put the condition on myself that the reading would have to be at least 75% accurate to pass my own test and for me to feel assured that it was authentic and not made up in my mind. It was a lot of work but it gave me the confidence to trust myself and to be able to do it well.

In the process of getting my certification as an Animal Communicator, I came across a number of blocks that would stop me in my course for weeks at a time. But I was determined. I had volunteered all over the world helping wildlife, searching for the best way to be of service to them. It was all I wanted to do and when I discovered animal communication, I knew that it was how I was meant to serve animals.

That process, of becoming a practicing Animal Communicator gave me confidence in many ways. After a few years in professional practice doing psychic work and mediumship for deceased animal spirits, I wanted to meet other psychics, so I started selling my crafts at a local psychic fair. After a couple of months, the woman who ran the psychic fair said she thought I should start doing readings for people too and encouraged me to join the fair as a psychic medium. It’s funny that I was still questioning myself because I had been leading sweat lodges for a few years and the ancestors were already talking through me, giving me messages for the people in ceremony with me. I had even had a human spirit come into one of my pet psychic sessions and communicate with me.

Wanting to be sure that I could do this well and accurately, I began doing online zoom sessions with anyone who would volunteer. From the very first session I could see that I was just as capable of doing readings for humans as for animals. I spent a month doing sessions daily until I was sure I knew what to do before working my first psychic fair as a psychic medium for people. It gave me just as much joy to serve people in this way as it did to work with animals.

You may have had experiences that have you wondering if you are psychic too? We all are. You just have to learn to trust your abilities and then practice to get good at it.

Believing it is possible is half of the challenge. Removing blocks that shut off your abilities is next. And then taking the time to do the practice is what will help you to prove to yourself that you can do it. Don’t be afraid to try. If it’s something that calls to you, it will be one of the most rewarding things you can ever do. It will give you great joy knowing that you are doing something that can truly be a service for helping others.

Silver Balloons

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 12:00:00 Z

When I was a girl, maybe 9-12 year old, I had a remarkable incident happen to me…twice. In our front yard landed a large silver balloon. It was just like the ones from Andy Warhol’s art, only a little more deflated having been in flight beforehand. It was taller than I was, and almost as big as our VW bus. It came down from the sky and into my front yard. It happened again awhile later.

I did’nt know what they were but I knew magic had happened, though it felt perfectly natural to me. They seemed like some sort of sign meant just for me. Perhaps they were signs from my angels, telling me, “We are watching you and we know you are a true believer in magic.” With all that is going on with these odd balloons in the skies lately, I now wonder if they were some sort of craft. Whatever the case was, it helped me to believe in the paranormal. I started to experience more unexplainable incidents in life, yet each time it seemed completely natural for such things to occur.

All my life I have had magical and unexplainable experiences. I have learned not to try to figure them out. The great mystery is vast. It’s not always meant to be understood.

Princess Bride True Love

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 12:00:00 Z

Once upon a time I was granted true love. A love so deep that I felt it spanned lifetimes. A beautiful love like nothing I have experienced since. I call it “Princess Bride true love“. We had a deep kinship that I thought would be everlasting but when it was lost, I knew the feeling of a painfully broken heart. It literally felt like my heart was broken on a physical level, as painful as anything could be.

Now thirty years later, he sometimes still comes to me in my dreams at night. The lucid dream is so strong that my heart longs for that kind of love again. Most of the time when I dream about him, I am just as deeply in love as I was then, reminding me that true love is not a fairytale. But at the same time, I know it is just a dream and I wake up hoping that someday I will experience a sweet love like that again. The dream makes me remember that though true love is rare, it is real and totally possible.

In the dream I get to feel true love again but I also have to feel the loss upon waking up. It’s beautiful and painful at the same time. I do not wish for him to come back to me in this lifetime. We are different people now.

When I knew him, he was compassionate, creative and a brilliant musician. He loved to be outdoors, wanted to explore the world and to experience new things just like me. But he was risky and lived dangerously at times. Addiction tore us apart. He became more interested in getting high than in loving me. Heroine became his wife and his life. He was drawn to people who would shoot up with him. He never asked me to do it with him and never did it in front on me, trying to be respectful, wanting to protect me from it. For that I am grateful. But he told me never to ask him to quit and I obeyed for fear of losing him.

It was such a tragedy to see his depth and talent wasted on the most mundane thing. I think he felt heroine was somehow a tool for spiritual awakening because he could find nothing else to do that for him. He once told me that it was the closest way that he could get to God.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had told him to stop. What if I had told him how much it was hurting me? What if he would have stopped for me? Maybe we would still be together. I realize now it was selfish of me not to ask him to quit. I was so afraid he might leave me for heroine that I never asked him to. When in reality I could have lost him to an overdose.

I understand how addiction works now. You cannot tell someone to stop and expect them to do it. They have to decide on their own. Even if they do stop for you, they can easily slip back into it because they did not quit for themselves but only to make you happy.

The love lost was tragic but I am grateful that I got to experience “Princess Bride true love” for a little while. I have no regrets. Everything happens for a reason. I still believe it’s possible to find it again. My only wish is that the next time I find true love, we are both spiritually mature enough to treat it as the gift it truly is.