At first, you may not even see it coming. Until you stop – for just the merest moment – and take a look at your life from inside the eye of the storm.

From my own personal experience, here’s what it looks like on the outside.

At first, I was showered with gifts and praise for my descent upon the turmoil that had engulfed a senior manager. The project’s scope was ji-normous, and the tolerance for failure = zero. It would impact the entire large organization and redefine their way of doing business across the massive landscape of people, process & technology. It was the CIO’s #1 priority, and I assisted the Change Leader for this ambitious goal.

“Lift & shift,” my friends. Basically, “lift” the organization, & land all the employees with their direct manager, but switch-up the middle & senior leader layers. Go! Oh, and could you do that in 8 months, please?

Now that we’ve set the scene for the ever growing pressure-valve of this project, I saw people become unstable. In multiple ways. Including me.

Funny what stress can do; it takes our worst traits and amplifies them. Awesome.

For some, the need for perfection drives them to a pixel-tweaker level… Or, people are literally in tears because of the relentless changes, competing politics and priorities, and they are left to coordinate the mess with no direction. People start skipping lunch and dinner. They are in their office until 11 pm, or later. Rinse. Repeat. Or, more specifically, repeat until the very moment the ambulance is called to the office when someone has an actual heart attack.

I saw how the personality starts to shift; ever more angry, more frustrated. Their energy starts to shift, and their happiness and heart starts to lose its radiance. They become… darker, meaner. Well, downright nasty and awful. Dare I say, a monster.

In my own effort to try to protect myself from this toxic as hell environment, I did yoga, every day after work. Of course, it was all Sun Salutations. (Yoga Nidra, what?!)

Well, because I didn’t learn how to have balance in my life – i.e. REST. STOP. PAUSE, I ended up over-training and became even more exhausted. It lead to a personal breaking point for me, and I HAD to change. It was now more painful to stay in this cesspool that is my life at this point, than to break myself free and liberate myself of the fears of change.

Here’s my question to you: Do you recognize any of these the shifts in your world?

Might be time to take a look, my friends. The first step is Awareness.

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Recently, I was having a lovely conversation with one of my close friends. As we were talking, I heard scratching and flapping in our chimney.

No way. Are you serious?!

Ever so cautiously, I opened the fireplace doors (hoping that a bird would not fly STRAIGHT into my face) and peered in. I didn’t see anything in the immediate area. I looked up, and sure enough, there was a crow sitting on top of the open flue.

Great. How am I going to get him out of there? I did a quick research on Google for ‘how to remove a crow from your chimney’’ and there were several articles about building rather complicated contraptions out of cardboard that required you to go on the roof to basically air lift the bird out of the chimney.

Nah. Too complicated.

I think I can literally reach in, grab him and pull him out.

This is what I set out to do. I suited up with a shower cap to cover my hair, a bandanna to cover my mouth & nose, long sleeve clothes to cover my body and gloves. I reached in. After several failed attempts at getting a good grip on him, i.e. I was only able to grab one leg – I decided that I needed to take a stronger approach if I was gonna get this little guy out.

The crow and I needed some bonding time to get to know each other. He was clearly distressed so I let his heart rate settle a bit and slow down panting. I then used a chimney sweep broom to try to lift him up a bit so he could get out. That didn’t work, but it seemed to show him I was interested in helping him. I also talked to him and let him know that I was there to help him and that I wanted to get him out.

I decided the only way this was going to work was to try to grab him again and pull him down through the gaps in the flue. I told him that it was in his best interest to work with me and let me help him.

I contorted my body (yoga to the rescue – literally!) inside the fireplace, reached firmly in and grabbed his body. He started flapping around, and I was able to grab both legs.

Success!

Except he was flapping and cawing like crazy and I wouldn’t be able to get him through the flue opening.

I said to him, “You have to settle down and bring your wings back in, or I can’t get you out.” After a bit, he did settle down a little (maybe he understood I was trying to help him so he cooperated for a second). I took that window of opportunity and pulled him gently, yet forcefully down through the flue.

He was out! I then quickly ran to the front door (with him flapping like crazy) and let him out. He immediately flew away. I was glad he didn’t seemed injured.

What an adventure!

I find this significant because it was the second time the Crow Community has come to me for help in the last year. Last summer it was an injured crow with a bloody wing that our dogs got ahold of. I wrapped him up in a towel and drove him to the bird clinic. They said that injured birds can’t be re-released so the best thing to do is to put them down. I said my good-bye’s to him and told him my Husky dog would help him with his transition. (My beloved Husky had died just a couple weeks earlier, so I was still very much in a grieving phase over that.)

And now this time, a crow was stuck in the chimney.

What does THAT mean?!

I got out my Animal Speak book and looked up the Crow Totem meanings:

Keynote: The secret magic of creation is calling

According to Ted Andrews, “wherever there are crows, there is magic. They are the symbols of creation and spiritual strength. They remind us to look for opportunities to create and manifest the magic of life. They are messengers calling to us about the creation and magic that is alive within our world everyday and available to us (Andrews, 131-132).

Crows black feathers symbolize the night. Black is the color of creation and the womb for which new things are born. It is the maternal color and thus the black night gives birth to the dawn of a new day.

I connected this to my recent events. Three months ago, I left my corporate day job and stepped out full time into my Tarot consulting practice. I’ve been very internally focused, as I work through old wounds, fears and self-limitations about going out on my own. I’ve been doing inner child work to process insecurities that have risen to the surface to be addressed. As I liberate my emotional self, I am setting myself free to grow and expand in the world.

I crave meaningful work and to help bring balance and intuition back into the business world.

I have been devouring all kinds of entrepreneur information, i.e. how to build social media strategy, launch products, overcome fear of rejection, etc. I’m building my team. I’m working with the awesomeUrsa Minor to crystallize my branding and develop a new website that reflects Samsara’s mission in the world. I am learning the in’s and out’s of blogging. I’m setting up tools & processes. BTW, props toEvernote!! (It’s a note capture program for the Mac).

I am learning to… create… and overcome limitations.

Like my crow friend in the chimney. I was there to help set him free when he was stuck. I feel the Universe has been giving me the right people I need to help me move to the next stage of my path.

Interestingly enough, we have astrological influences at play in helping liberate old wounds. I think this quote from Lynn Hayes from her Sunday Inspirations blog post on July 8^th is rather timely – You are the Custodian of the World Within Yourself:

“Venus squares Chiron today, opening up old wounds around our own inner beauty or personal value.  These old wounds are like trapped birds – they seek release which leads to freedom and the soul’s purpose.  Don’t trap your wounded places – allow them to fly free and lead you to your own freedom and joy.”

We currently have the asteroid Chiron in retrograde. He is known as the ‘wounded healer.’ In retrograde, these energies of deep wounds rise to the surface of our lives to have the light of understanding shone on them to heal them. I’ve been walking this path lately, and so have several of my friends.

Have you been working on any trapped emotional ‘birds’ lately? Have any crows been especially active around you? Did they have a message for you? Drop a line below and tell your story. I can’t wait to hear it and the insights you gained.

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Over the last week there has been a whole lot of hub-a-baloo over President Obama’s support for gay marriage. It is a very emotionally charged issue, which, personally – I struggle with why. In my opinion, any time two people share a loving, supportive bond, this is a positive thing. When this love is broken, or torn apart – great pain, anger and suffering ensues.

I had one simple question for the Cards. “What is the root behind the fear and hate around Gay Marriage?”

24 cards later – here’s what they had to say:

“Be friends with yourself. Be at home with your own mind and your own body.”
– Pema Chödrön

At the end of the day, this reading asks us to look – directly – at something we fear with great abandon. Ourselves. Deeply knowing and understanding the sexual motives that drive us. And the confusion, intolerance, anger and deviance that can get intertwined in it.

Our central theme is the Ten of Swords (reversed) which depicts a person stabbed and bleeding with ten swords stuck in their back.

Ready to dive in deep and take a look?

For those who are brave enough to read on, let’s examine the suffering, pain and rigidity of beliefs surrounding gay marriage. In the Tarot, swords equate to our mental processes. Since the card is reversed, it gives us a window of opening up. It asks us to wake up – look around, and question why some people hang on very tightly to the belief that marriage equates a woman and a man – only.

It is interesting that I just listened to a teaching by Pema Chodrom on Fear and Fearlesness, where she discussed the seed, the tiny window to compassion is understanding of ourselves.

Since we are on the topic of gay marriage – let’s examine this thought another way: Why would someone fight against the union of two people who love each other?

I agree with a friend of mine who once said “Sexuality is a scale, not definitive poles. People can be all the way heterosexual to all the way homosexual and everywhere in-between.” I completely agree. It is a path to get to know yourself. Sometimes it requires you to be brutally honest (like ten swords stuck in your back painful) with yourself. True. To. Yourself.

This means knowing your preferences, likes and dislikes. What do you enjoy?  Are you willing to open up your mind to examine all the possibilities? What *truly* makes you happy? And, dare I say… arouses you?

How scary is THAT? What if it goes against established ideologies that influence your thinking and (in many cases) behavior? I had a friend back in Chicago who I thought was gay. However, he was a very devout Catholic. At a pretty young age (early 30’s) he was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer, which is horrible. When I examine this from an energetic perspective, I believe it is a tragic symptom of a deep conflict over that part of his life.

Denying our true desires can lead to all kinds of miserable places. Sickness and divorce are just a couple unfun examples.

The divorce rate (among heterosexual couples) for the first marriage is 41%, second marriage 60& and 73% for the third marriage. Retrieved from DivorceRate.com.

Most people don’t put down as their reason for divorce “sexual orientation.” This is a very personal, private space. However, I bet a good percentage of them have discontent in this arena as part of the underlying roots of dissatisfaction.

Why do we allow institutions and the media to dictate opinion regarding very personal and private decisions about who we love and can partner up with? Can we unlock our minds form this mental prison?

In the past two weeks, I am glad to see conversations ignite and people fighting for recognition of love, no matter where they reside on the scale of sexuality.

If all religions teach love and tolerance, then how can it deny people the right to love each other? Unless, of course, it is dictated by their rules?!

Again, examine it for yourself. Don’t rely on an external opinion. Ask yourself what could happen if people who are LGBT are not allowed to express their fullest potential to love according to their needs and desires? What do we think will happen? (Sara Whitman. Pray Away the Gay).

I applaud those who stand up and fight for the right to have the same civil rights as heterosexual couples.

People who are living in the light of their radiant truth are able to accomplish great things for society (heterosexual and homosexual). Truly, it is about liberating ourselves.

And this, funny enough, can be one of the greatest things we fear.

Guess what? You have ever right to be happy. No one can dictate to you what you need to be fulfilled. Like that small window Pema Chodron talked about, get to know yourself. This will build strength & confidence for you to live happily and independent what other people may think.

That tiny light of truth begins to expand and over time, concrete truths begin to shift, even within yourself.

TarotGeekyDetails

Central Theme: Ten of Swords (reversed), Three of Pentacles (reversed), Seven of Cups, Sun, Moon & Princess of Pentacles.

Resistance: Five of Swords, Four of Pentacles, Princess of Cups, Two of Swords (reversed), High Priestess, Ace of Swords, Magician (reversed).

What happens when we deny ourselves? Eight of Wands (reversed), Lovers (reversed), Hermit (reversed), Nine of Swords, Ten of Cups (reversed).

How can we fix it? Chariot, Empress, Four of Wands, World, Ten of Wands (reversed), Eight of Swords.

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I cover topics such as:

• What is Tarot for Business? I explain my take on how the Tarot works and how I apply it to business challenges & opportunities;
• How does the Tarot Work? I discuss how I feel Tarot is not that different from photography;
• Why are people afraid of Tarot? I give 3 reasons why I feel the word “tarot” can make some people cringe and how to overcome negative stereotypes.

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