HAPPY B-DAY to 3

I went thru a period of painting yantras. I didn't know what they were at the time, I just painted what I saw. I painted a few for friends and this one belongs to my friend Dee. She is a fellow Reiki Master and friend for the past 20 years. It's her birthday, which she shares with my friends Doug O'Brien & Alaria. Dee has not met Doug, but I introduced her to Alaria, and Alaria to Doug. I met Alaria at a labyrinth party at Susan's. Small world! Doug & I go waaaaaay back to our fire-walking-woah-clapping-Tony-Robbins daze. Anyway, I'm wishing a HAPPY Birthday to all 3 & sending Reiki BLESSINGS thru the airwaves. :-) BIG LOVE, H.

Let's Talk About Death, Baby...

Me & chiro-sister Ruthie basking in the wisteria-infused air. GSF Alaria below:

Yesterday I attended the death midwifery workshop hosted by my friend Paula-of-Overall. She has a BEAUTIFUL home and center. Everything about Paula says WELCOME, and it was the perfect spring day on top of it.

So here are the basics of the seminar:

Just like we birth into the world, we birth out of it. Joellyn didn’t say it exactly like that, but that’s the gist of it. And just as we have a midwife to assist (if you’re lucky, you’d have my mother), we have someone at the end to facilitate our exit. Basically, it’s a matter of being present with the person and honoring whatever spiritual beliefs s/he has.

This class was for the very beginner who has no hospice experience. Chiro-sister Ruthie, Mum & I have all been hospice volunteers and have gone through extensive training. My GSF Alaria actually worked for Elisabeth Kubler-Ross back in the ‘80’s. So we were sort of waiting for the next part, but it didn’t really come. Still, we had fun—mostly at Mum’s expense. We were all gathered around in a circle with Joellyn demonstrating how she works with a client. Have I mentioned just how FUNNY my sister is? And when the 2 of us get together…anyway, Joellyn starts by putting on harp music. Mum turns around and gives us the eye-rolling I hate harp music LOOK. Ruthie gestures back, Oh, you’re totally getting harps on your death bed! [Side note here: ‘member that scene from Friends where Phoebe is leading Monica to her Happy Place and she says, “Just listen to the plinky plunky music…”]

Then Joellyn said that it’s important not to have lyrics in the music. So I started singing to Ruthie, You’re gonna die…and she sings back, It sucks to be you…

Joellyn told a story about working with a gang-banging assassin. She was making the point that it's important not to have judgement towards the person you're working with. Everyone needs someone to be there for them and often times people are alone. She was also pointing out the importance of staying grounded and present in this work. My mother raises her hand and in her most-proper-Queen’s-English says, “What if you don’t want to work with assassins?" Hahahahahaha! Ruthie whispers to me, Oh you’re getting harps and assassins, Mum!

On the serious side (and that was pretty much the tone for the most part, except of course for the Smartass Sisters) I thought about Dave Dobson, and the work he did in hospitals with burn patients and teaching pain alleviation techniques. I could hear him ask me, What would you do if you were in a hospital with a patient? Gain rapport Other-than-consciously and ask what s/he needs. So attending this workshop was a real inspiration to look into volunteering my time at the local hospital…

After we left the seminar, on the way back to Mum’s for tea, we stopped at Skymont where we grew up. She’s just across the road on the east side of it. I’m just across the river on the west side. So we walked around reminiscing. We took a few pictures—GORGEOUS. And I found my first 4-leaf clover of the season. Yay, me! All-in-all, a v. fun day!

Day of Rest: Death Midwifery Workshop

Death whaaaaaat? Death midwifery??? you may v. well be thinking. Well. My friend Paula-of-Overall is hosting this workshop. Having trained with hospice and being a hypnobirthing instructor, it sounded like fun. This is your idea of FUN, Hali??? Yeah, well. Mum has worked both sides of the spectrum and has always said that people die like they're born. Some people have an easy birth; quick and painless. Others are labored and drawn out. So we're off for a day of...um, whatever. My chiro-sister & fellow Ericksonian/hypnobirther Alaria are joining us. Woo-hoo!

INTUIT: DO IT

I was on my way to Hagerstown for the John Morgan Seminars when John called me and told me that he’d received an email from some woman claiming to be psychic. His name had magically appeared in her meditation that morning. He said, “So she’s coming to the seminar and I told her she could talk to you.”

I knew it was her when she approached the registration table—not a smoker, not a candidate for weightloss. Beyond that, she had that…glow. She’d been to a past-life regressionist two months ago and it opened a floodgate of intuition for her. It’s kind of like being given some gadget and not getting the instruction manual. Or wanting a gentle rain and getting a hurricane. Or being on dial-up and...well, you get the idea.

She drove two hours to get there expecting to see John. [Yeah, I know. If she’s that psychic, wouldn’t she know he wasn’t there?] She said, “I don’t know why I’m here. His name came to me in my meditation, I’d never heard of him, I had to look him up on the internet.” I’m standing there looking at her. Beyond her earnest searching, there is a core presence of Light. We all have it, some of us just shine more brightly. I said, “I know why you’re here. To meet me. But really, not me, because I’m going to introduce you to my friend Alaria.”

Alaria was sitting on a couch a few feet away. She’s a fellow hypnobirther, Reiki Master and Ericksonian student of Doug O’Brien’s. She’s also going through Spirit School, founded by Christen McCormack, a dear friend and mentor in intuitive healing. I’ve never been through the program, but have known Christen for 20 years. Psychic Girl needs some support, some guidance, some tools.

So I introduced her to Alaria and they happily talked while I went back to the registration table. My work here is done. Another mentor in healing arts for me has been Susan Wisniewski—who coincidentally teaches for Spirit School and is starting another set of classes tomorrow. Susan has a phrase that she’s used for years:

INTUIT: DO IT.

She even made bumper stickers. It means follow your intuition. No matter if other people might think you’re a nutjob. You might not get a WHY until you do it. Do it anyway. When we put a prayer out into the universe, we can’t define how something is going to manifest in our lives. We can’t place limitations or perameters on how it shows up. Her prayer of I need help was answered. But what a labyrinth she went through to get there, huh?

Just as I was finishing up this post, I heard, "Turn around." I did and looked out the window to see this GLORIOUS sunrise. Thank you, Spirit. I'm a big fan of sunrises and one of my favourite things when I lived on the Chesapeake Bay was to watch the sun rise on the water. I miss that. Here in the valley, sunrises are different. And the sun doesn't actually appear over the mountain until after 8 a.m. But I am getting some beautiful colours, for which I'm v. grateful. Have a beautiful day.