Nonsense Pure Nonsense

Sometimes I just want to write absolute nonsense. Do you ever feel like that? To be able to write whatever you want and it really doesn't matter anyway.

Okay... Yes... I am having trouble sleeping again. I really must get some more Lemon Balm. It helps me to relax so that I can sleep. I don't have this trouble often but lately with all of this creativity busting loose, that I don't even want to try and contain, it is making it difficult to sleep.

La la la la la... la la la la la... la la la la la la la... Oh sorry, went off in song for a moment. Do you know the song "Sing?" Every time I hear it in my head I actually hear the one that I heard as a child with the Spanish verses echoing the English. I must have heard it on Sesame Street. They always were great about showing diversity and still are. I have been seeing a lot of it lately with my granddaughter.

Music and dance, two of my favorite things... oh jeez, there goes another song in my head.

I must head off to bed. I have a lot of writing I am going to be doing tomorrow. I am writing a series of articles on how you can use the energies of Mercury Retrograde to your benefit. It has to do with working with shadow and all the different energies that are easier to handle if you learn how to dance with them. Lots of fun.

Much Love to you.

Empowering Actions During Mercury Retrograde

Recycle, Reuse and Reduce, we hear these words fairly frequently. Mercury Retrograde is a great time to take a look around and get creative as to how you can implement this further. There is much we can do to help Mother/Sister Earth. Being responsible for our environment can inspire others to do the same. Taking action that helps our community can be truly empowering.

Recycle

First, the most important step is to have a system, an organized area for the recyclables to be stored until you can either put them at the curb for recycling or take them to a recycling center. You don't want to add more chaos to your life by having them thrown here and there. It is best if it is in an area that is close to the kitchen or even in a lower cupboard or in the pantry. There should be one for paper/cardboard, plastic, aluminum cans and glass.

If you don't already receive curbside recycling you can call your county, find out if it is available, what they take and what they don't take.

It is handy to have a weekly schedule for a drop off otherwise your home begins to resemble a recycling center.

Reuse

I started saving the glass jars from the market to store left overs in. All this plastic is so bad for our health. You can even use them to freeze in, just make sure you don't fill the jar too full because it will break. I also use them to drink out of'; a glass is a glass after all.

Coffee cans can be reused for storing all types of gadgets. You can even decorate the outside of the can to make it look attractive. If you decide to put your large utensils in one, make sure you put the lid on the bottom of the can to prevent rust on the counter.

When you are feeling the urge to buy something, take a look and see if it is something that you can get used. You will save your pocket book and be giving it a good home instead of it ending in the junk yard.

Go through your house and look at what you are ready to let go of. Recycle clothes that you no longer wear to the thrift store or donate them to a women's shelter. I love that we have an animal shelter thrift store just down the street from us. I often take used items that I nolonger need and drop them off. I feel good that someone else will be able to use it and that the money will help the animals.

Reduce

When you are in the store and feel an urge to make a purchase, ask yourself if you really need it, really want it or if you can really live without it. We often make purchases because something or someone has told us we need it. But do you really? How much stuff do you really need? Is it ever enough? Are you just cluttering the outside of your life so that you can't see the inside? Having too much around can actually stifle your creativity.

The next time you are about to throw something away, ask yourself, is this something that can be recycled or reused in some way? Make the time to put it in the best place possible.

Much love to you on your journey.

Digging in the Shadows to Find the Gold

I am mining in the darkness to uncover/discover the gold within the shadow today. Some may say, "What the heck does that mean?" well it means I am looking at what isn't said, what people hold back, what has been suppressed.

My voice was suppressed as a child. Somewhere along the way I regained it but as a child I was afraid to speak. I was afraid of many things; getting in trouble, looking stupid, what was in the dark, what was under my bed, what may peer back at me through my window at night, the kids at school, and I was afraid I would always be sad.

Here I am 35 to 40 years later asking where is the gold within those experiences? Where is the gold in the sadness? Where is the gold of being afraid? Or where is the gold that was suppressed because I was afraid?

It is in the music I play with my native flute. It is in my drawings that are becoming more wild and bold. It is in my writing that will not be suppressed. It is in my voice for I will never be silent again. It is the juiciness that I discover every single day that I am willing to look into those dark places to see what I have forgotten that I used to love, that I used to be good at, that I used to dream of. It is the creativity of a life well lived with authentic purpose.

Delve deep. Discover/uncover for yourself what is waiting in the shadows. It isn't all darkness. There is gold to be found. There is your authentic soul to be remembered.

Empowering Your Creations with Authenticity

Sometimes when I feel creative I feel unsure about what I want to create, how I want to create it and what medium to use. I just know I have this burning desire that starts to show up as boredom or unease and builds until I can't stand not to create.

For me it often comes down to color and tecture. I love vibrant colors such as bold reds, blues, orange, yellow, and usually a dash of black. Texture has become so important to me. It must be soft or smooth. Unless of course it is a drawing, journaling or writing then it is back to being all about color.

When I look at my creations I see how infused they are with my authenticity. I may look at other art for inspiration but it always comes down to what I really like, what I really want to accomplish with my creations and what wants to be created through me. If I try and do something that isn't essentially me, it lacks luster. It certainly doesn't feel authentically me.

Explore something new -- Photoshop Photo Art Effects - Making Photos Look Like Art

Empowering your creations with your essential authenticity and you will be happy with what you create.

Looking into the Shadow

A couple of years ago I kept hearing that I needed to explore and integrate my shadow. I had no clue what that really meant. I went in search through books and the internet to discover what I could. I found this great piece "The Long Bag We Drag Behind Us" by Robert Bly (A Little Book on the Shadow p.17-21). This is a small bit from that piece,

"Let’s talk about the personal shadow first. When we were one or two years old we had what we might visualize as a 360-degree personality. Energy radiated out from all parts of our body and all parts of our psyche. A child running is a living globe of energy. We had a ball of energy, all right; but one day we noticed that our parents didn’t like certain parts of that ball. They said things like: “Can’t you be still?” Or “It isn’t nice to try and kill your brother.” Behind us we have an invisible bag, and the part of us our parents don’t like, we, to keep our parents’ love, put in the bag. By the time we go to school our bag is quite large. Then our teachers have their say: “Good children don’t get angry over such little things.” So we take our anger and put it in the bag. By the time my brother and I were twelve in Madison, Minnesota we were known as “the nice Bly boys.” Our bags were already a mile long."

I discovered excavating my shadow didn't just mean looking at the things I don't like about myself, but at things I had "put in the bag" because it made other people uncomfortable such as my creativity. I have pulled my creativity out of the bag. I now lovingly and playfully explore creativity through art, beads, yarn, fabric, collaging, and just about anything I can try. I am so glad I dared to look into the shadow.

May you journey into your shadow with courage and rejoice at your integration.

Much love and blessings,
Magdalene Althea Morgan - Dancing Shamanic Priestess -
Facilitator, Creatrix, Multi-Dimensional traveler, Transformative Bodywork Therapist. Dancing the Sacred & Creation into being.