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From our inbox to you from the Dark Pixie on “what it means to be an empath”

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An empath is one who is sensitive by nature, able to feel the moods of others and at times pick up their intentions, thoughts and more. Many empaths are lightworkers, if not all, which means that in addition to one’s personal life purpose, the empath is meant to serve humanity for the highest good of all. Likely, if you are an empath, you are drawn to doing just that in whatever capacity feels the most fitting for you.

At heart, empaths are kind, generous, loving and dedicated individuals, but many also have mischievous and solitary natures. Many empaths share a close bond to animals and nature because the vibration is a match more than with many people.

Living in the world as an empath can be challenging at times. An empath must shield and ground daily to avoid picking up unwanted energies. Care must be taken with relationships of all types because often the light of the empath is sought by those who have dimmed their own.

Another challenge can be found in the competing desires of wanting to help and serve versus needing solitude; balance must be realized but this can take many life lessons to accomplish. Most of all, an empath must remember to give themselves the warm love and compassion that they so freely lend to others, believing in themselves and embracing their life mission in every way.

About Joy:
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Jocelyn Joy Thomas is an intuitive empath with an Etsy shop where you can purchase readings from her. She has a few empath readings that she offers, including for love, career, and your spiritual path – check them out, fellow empaths!
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From our inbox to you from: DailyOm Madisyn Taylor on “seeing the bigger picture”

Seeing The Bigger Picture


BY MADISYN TAYLOR

 

We have created imaginary boundaries, sectioning ourselves into countries and states, forgetting that in reality we are all living together.

Seeing an image of the planet Earth taken from space inspires awe in many of us, since we can clearly see the connectedness of all of us who live upon this planet. We have created imaginary boundaries, sectioning ourselves into countries and states, forgetting that in reality we are all living together, breathing the same air, drinking from the same water, eating food grown from the same earth. We share everything on this planet, whether we are conscious of it or not, with other people, and those people are our brothers and sisters. Keeping a photograph or painting of the planet Earth in a prominent place in our homes can be a positive way to remember our interconnectedness.

Meditating on the fact that any sense of separation we have from one another is truly an illusion, we will naturally begin to make more conscious choices in our daily lives. The simple act of preparing food, or determining how to dispose of our refuse, can be done with the consciousness that whatever we do will affect all our brothers and sisters, no matter how far away they live, as well as the planet herself. When we foster this kind of awareness in ourselves out of a feeling of awe, it becomes easier to be conscious than to fall back into old habits of thinking of ourselves as separate.

When we contemplate the earth in her wholeness, we attune ourselves to the truth of the bigger picture, which is the Earth, and all of us, every one of us, living on her body. We are connected to one another in the most intimate way, because we literally share our living space. As more people become aware of the reality of our inter-dependency, things will shift in a positive direction, and much of the discord that we see now will give way to a more cooperative, loving conscious. This is happening already, so as our consciousness grows, we can join with the many other minds working to live in the spirit of togetherness.
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From our inbox to you from: Patti Wigington & Making Magic in Your Garden
Making Magic in Your Garden
By Patti Wigington
 

The garden can be one of the most magical places in your life. As spring approaches, let’s look at how to plan, create, and grow your magical garden, as well as ways to create specialty gardens, herb plots, and more!
Garden Folklore and Magic

The very act of planting, of beginning new life from seed, is a ritual and a magical act in itself. To cultivate something in the black soil, see it sprout and then bloom, is to watch a magical working unfold before our very eyes. The plant cycle is intrinsically tied to so many earth-based belief systems that it should come as no surprise that the magic of the garden is one well worth looking into.
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Plant a Magical Moon Garden

 

A lot of people don’t realize you can grow plants and flowers that bloom at night. Cultivating a moon garden is a great way to get in touch with nature, and it provides a beautiful and fragrant backdrop for your moonlight rituals in the summer. If you plant these lovelies close to your house, you can open the windows and take advantage of their aromas as you sleep.
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READ NOW

 

As spring arrives, our gardens begin to bud and eventually bloom. For hundreds of years, the plants that we grow have been used in magic. Flowers in particular are often connected with a variety of magical uses. Now that spring is here, keep an eye out for some of these flowers around you, and consider the different magical applications they might have. 

Magical Flower Correspondences

 

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Happy Winter Solstice… Joyuous Yule 2016

The following article is from “The Huffington Post”

HuffPost Religion Editors The Huffington Post

Darren Staples / Reuters
The Charnwood Grove of Druids gather for a public winter solstice ritual on Beacon Hill near Loughborough, Britain December 18, 2016.

In 2016, the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere will begin on Wednesday, December 21 at 5:44 EST. To calculate the turning point in your time zone, click here.

Officially the first day of winter, the winter solstice occurs when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. This is the longest night of the year, meaning that despite the cold winter, the days get progressively longer after the winter solstice until the summer solstice in 2017.

The winter solstice is celebrated by many people around the world as the beginning of the return of the sun, and darkness turning into light. The Talmud recognizes the winter solstice as “Tekufat Tevet.” In China, the Dongzhi Festival is celebrated on the Winter Solstice by families getting together and eating special festive food.

Until the 16th century, the winter months were a time of famine in northern Europe. Most cattle were slaughtered so that they wouldn’t have to be fed during the winter, making the solstice a time when fresh meat was plentiful. Most celebrations of the winter solstice in Europe involved merriment and feasting. In pre-Christian Scandinavia, the Feast of Juul, or Yule, lasted for 12 days celebrating the rebirth of the sun god and giving rise to the custom of burning a Yule log.

In ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated at the Feast of Saturnalia, to honor Saturn, the god of agricultural bounty. Lasting about a week, Saturnalia was characterized by feasting, debauchery and gift-giving. With Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, many of these customs were later absorbed into Christmas celebrations. 

Kieran Doherty / Reuters
Revelers celebrate the winter solstice at Stonehenge on December 22, 2015. Stonehenge is a celebrated venue of festivities during the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere – and it attracts thousands of revelers, spiritualists and tourists. Druids, a pagan religious order dating back to Celtic Britain, believe Stonehenge was a center of spiritualism more than 2,000 years ago.

One of the most famous celebrations of the winter solstice in the world today takes place in the ancient ruins of Stonehenge, England. Thousands of Druids and Pagans gather there to chant, dance and sing while waiting to see the spectacular sunrise.

 

Pagan author T. Thorn Coyle wrote in a 2012 HuffPost article that for many contemporary celebrants, solstices “are a chance to still ourselves inside, to behold the glory of the cosmos, and to take a breath with the Sacred.”

In the Northern hemisphere, friends gather to celebrate the longest night. We may light candles, or dance around bonfires. We may share festive meals, or sing, or pray. Some of us tell stories and keep vigil as a way of making certain that the sun will rise again. Something in us needs to know that at the end of the longest night, there will be light.

In connecting with the natural world in a way that honors the sacred immanent in all things, we establish a resonance with the seasons. Ritual helps to shift our consciousness to reflect the outer world inside our inner landscape: the sun stands still within us, and time changes. After the longest night, we sing up the dawn. There is a rejoicing that, even in the darkest time, the sun is not vanquished. Sol Invictus — the Unconquered Sun — is seen once again, staining the horizon with the promise of hope and brilliance.

 

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From our inbox to you from: DailyOm on “no going back”

Every Step Is Forward
by Madisyn Taylor

Sometimes during our spiritual growth we can feel as if we are going backwards, rest assured you are not.

There are times when we feel that we are spinning our wheels in the mud in terms of our spiritual progress. This can be especially true following a period of major growth in which we feel as if we’ve gained a lot of ground. In fact, this is the way growth goes—periods of intense forward movement give way to periods of what seems like stagnation. In those moments when we feel discouraged, it’s helpful to remember that we don’t ever really go backward. It may be that we are at a standstill because there is a new obstacle in our paths, or a new layer to get through, but the hard work we have done cannot be undone.

Every step on the path is meaningful, and even one that seems to take us backward is a forward step in the sense that it is what we must do to move to the next level. In addition, an intense growth spurt requires that we rest for a time in order to fully integrate the new energies that have been liberated by our hard work. When we feel we are not making progress, we can encourage ourselves to take a moment to rest. We can meditate more, feed ourselves well, and get extra sleep. Before we know it, we will be spurred on to work toward the next level of our development, and this rest will make sense then as something we needed in order to continue.

Once the sun rises, it doesn’t go backward but instead follows its path in one direction. It may appear to stand still for a moment in time, or to move more slowly at some point or another, but really it is steadily moving forward on its path. We are the same way, and once we have moved through something we can never really go back. We may be resting or revisiting issues that seem old, and it’s natural to feel stuck, but in truth we are always taking the next important step forward on our path.