Aug 31 2012

Cancer and Reiki

1st Place Spirituality & Religion–E Festival of Books Awards 2012

The Supernal Friends have found themselves surrounded by cancer patients over the past months. Cancer used to be a disease of “old” people. Today it cuts a swath across all age groups. It touches everyone. You probably know several people dealing with it.

As an energy worker, I sometimes feel overwhelmed when faced with these extremes of thinking:

Going “all natural”—Sometimes people walk completely away from medical doctors and begin a desperate search for health with supplements, strange diets, gurus, and begging me to send them healing energy.
Last resort—After all the surgeries, chemo and radiation have been tried, then people are looking for a miracle worker and I get a call.

In my experience, neither one of these scenarios are optimum for healing. Reiki and most natural methods of dealing with a health crisis are best utilized for accelerating healing and establishing better lifestyles. They work in conjunction with an overall game plan for better health.

Best Case Scenario

I’ve been working woman who has had breast cancer and has recently finished up all the surgery, chemo and radiation treatments. Her prognosis is good, but she has been seeking a boost back to wellness. She had a wound that would not heal for months. After one Reiki treatment, there was enough improvement, her doctor told her, “I don’t know what you’ve done, but keep doing it.”

Reiki energy treatments are ideal in this situation. After cancer treatments, the body is impaired and out of balance. It is full of toxicity. The patient feels exhausted all the time. Reiki serves as an infusion of healing energy. It draws on the Ever-Flowing Streams of light and color and envelopes the patient in these unseen, but very real energies.

As a Reiki therapist, I can “read” a body. As my hands travel over the head, trunk, arms & legs, I literally feel the hot spots. I know where there are problems. Like little Geiger Counters, my palms buzz over trouble areas. Often, I’ll get an image of an organ in my mind’s eye and work the area as I feel led. This is an intuitive way of tapping into information available in the patient’s energy field.

Sometimes I draw out the blockages to improve the energy flow. Occasionally I lay my hands on the area and concentrate on sending energy into the person. It’s certainly not an exact science, but then neither is traditional medicine.

A Reiki therapist works on the whole person. Even with a repeating client, each session can be vastly different. Emotions may be more at issue one week and I’ll suddenly “know” about a situation that needs to be addressed. Mind and body are so intertwined.

Cancer is so much more than a physical disease. It is a huge emotional experience. It’s a catastrophic event. People go from being themselves to being a Cancer Patient.

Energy treatments go through all the layers of imbalance and distress, both physical and mental to help people get to a better place.

Despite the pain of hearing about a teenager struck down by leukemia or the dear friend with a deadly tumor, my Reiki work is my way of making a positive difference. A half hour on my Reiki table is an oasis of peace and healing for my clients. That is their time to rest in the Ever-Flowing Streams. Sometimes they cry; occasionally they sleep; their pain is usually alleviated.

Healing is a process. Reiki helps.

Aug 20 2012

Visionary Fiction Leader, Jacob Nordby

One of the more interesting, creative genres emerging in the writing world is being labeled “Visionary Fiction.” Jacob Nordby is part of the vanguard of authors presenting New Thought philosophy in the fictional fashion. The Divine Arsonist : A Tale of Awakening is a sort of modern Pilgram’s Progress, featuring an American business man, Jacob, and his spiritual journey.

Jacob is a hard-driving type-A personality, reaching for the American Dream. He has it all–the growing business, the pretty wife, two great kids, a few extra pounds, and a growing sense of dissatisfaction. Enter Lucius, a mysterious messenger, challenging Jacob to meet him next week at his Idaho cabin. His life will be irrevocably changed. The choice is his.

Driven by inner guidance and a need to find Who You Really Are, Jacob takes the challenge. What unfolds is a mystical journey that strips him bare, literally and figuratively. His metaphysical experiences are the stuff dreams are made of. The guides he meets all have lessons to teach. He emerges from the harrowing, sometimes blissful, experience transformed.

Jacob Nordby is a gifted writer. He tackles difficult scenes–dream sequences, pedantic conversations, revelations–with a deft touch. He is especially adroit at description. He uses fresh analogies. The hills of Idaho come alive. Astral projection, doomsday visions, and other-worldly adventures are easily imagined. Even though much of the journey is supernatural, his main character remains very human.

The reader senses the real story is about to unfold as the new Jacob re-enters society with a greater awareness of what is really important in life. What sort of impact will the enlightened Jacob have on the people and planet? Perhaps, in a few years another installment of Jacob’s life will make for fascinating reading.

As value systems change and global awareness increases in the area of spirituality without religion, books like The Divine Arsonist will influence the world, one reader at a time. If there is hope for the world, it is in young people with vision, like Jacob Nordby.

Read more about Jacob Nordby at Your Awakened Self.

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1st Place Winner E-Festival of Words

Religion & Spiritualitiy

Aug 14 2012

Supernal Living with Dana Taylor

From Scared to Sacred: Lessons in Learning to Dance with Life.

Therapist Carol Woodliff demonstrates what can happen when “still small voice” whispers turn into full-blown lessons for abundant living. Using an interesting mix of channelled information and memoir, Woodliff provides an uplifting and entertaining guide to positive living.

Carol Woodliff is a shaman, healer, and hypnotherapist who has crossed my path in writing circles. Over the past couple of years I’ve come to “know” her through the social media. If I had to use one word to describe both her book and Carol Woodliff, the person, I would choose “authentic.” She has an authentic desire to help people heal and grow; she has an authentic hunger for personal spiritual growth. She doesn’t use hype or sell CD’s on how to become a guru in twelve easy steps. No, Carol, has experienced life-changing communications and used them to change her life. Her book…

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Aug 8 2012

“Miracles: 32 Stories”

You know you’re about to embark on a unique book when the cover page reads: “This book may be copied and freely distributed. Its contents belong to God; its work are His glory.”

Miracles: 32 True Stories compiled by Joanie Hileman centers on thirty-two people living in Maine who all were touched by God’s grace. Hileman does an excellent job of capturing everyone’s “voice” and writing their stories as if they are sitting in your living room sharing their lives.

The book is decidedly Christian in philosophy and features many people who were struggling through life and found their way to a better path by becoming followers of Christ. The people portrayed are generally middle class folks living in a small town setting. Some stories are anecdotal incidents such as “The Appointment” where a woman reluctantly keeps a hair appointment during the busy Christmas season. She winds up saving a choking child’s life and the appointment becomes divine intervention.

Other stories are much longer tales of despair and redemption. A sad commentary on our society is how many of the people in this book have struggled with drugs and addictions. They are the lucky ones to have found a way out.

“Losing Matthew”—Barbara’s story covers a thirteen year span about a mother who seriously messes up and loses her son to the foster care system, then to the biological father. I found her story of slow redemption especially moving. There were no instant miracles, but God never gave up on her, either. Barbara found God’s grace many times along the way, even after she stumbled time and again.

There are two suicides in the book. In both cases, family members receive supernatural encouragement to get through a devastating situation.

There’s an authenticity to this book that will undoubtedly resonant with many who will identify with the people who share their stories. Miracles demonstrates that life is not easy, but it can be filled with grace and joy, even in the most difficult of times. When people open themselves to Divinity—in these examples through the Christ Spirit—miracles do happen!

Aug 4 2012

“Dr. Barbara” exudes Spirit

Have you met “Dr. Barbara” yet? Dr. Barbara Ebel, M.D., is a physician and prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction works. Take a peek at her recent release:

Have a question for Dr. Barbara? Feel free to ask in the comments!

An excerpt from Younger Next Decade: After Fifty, the Transitional Decade, and what You Need to Know by Barbara Ebel, M.D.

Excerpt from Chapter 2 – Spirit

My husband and I have dogs, one of which is a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Chester. He’s a therapy dog, the star of a children’s book series, and my children say he’s so smart, “it’s scary.” A few days ago, we started out the day like usual. We got ready to walk and Chester sprinted around the house with a couch pillow that has become his. He politely ran up and down the hallway and whenever he stopped and waited, he placed the pillow between his paws and sank his muzzle perfectly on top of it. It’s always obvious he thinks better than to rest his canine head on the wooden floor.

These kind of antics progressed. We left the house with all the dogs and walked the empty country roads with woods flanking us on both sides. Chester, who is unleashed, sprinted a short distance into the woods to do his business. On his emergence, he grabbed a stick and rushed over to present it to us. He dropped it at our feet and then coaxed me to dig a carrot out of my pocket for him, but then darted off again to taunt a deer who watched us with curiosity. If the weather is cool, then Chester’s motions are exaggerated, and his energy seems to pop from a bottle. This particular day I watched with my usual fondness but blabbered my appreciation of him to my husband. “He’s so happy – his tail never stops – he still has the exact enthusiasm he had his first year – he still plays like a puppy.”

I went on with my descriptions about Chester and then added. “You know, he’s seven and a half, and with big dogs the equivalent of one dog year being similar to seven human years is even more. Actually, he’s coming up to about my age. Fifty-eight. And look at him.”

My husband mulled this over and said. “He’s got spirit.”

Yes, that’s how this smart dog is living his whole life – with spirit.

The perfect word. If we humans carry a vitality and an enthusiasm for life, and an understanding of this gift called life, and if we experience our existence as much as possible with a positive outlook and joy; well, I think that’s called spirit.

Have you ever noticed the difference between someone’s attitude who’s living life to the fullest versus someone who is just going through the everyday motions? I noticed it with my own mother. As she grew older, she became more socially active and independent. Into her seventies and eighties she looked more gorgeous than ever. She actually looked older in her fifties. Her spirit had developed and everyone around her saw and felt it.

Now, just another word. You may be saying. “Sure, that’s easy in principle, but you can’t have spirit when you have a half-dozen big problems on your plate.” You are partially correct about that. But take it from someone who’s been told “you’ve been through hell and back.” Life does have its ups-and-downs. Do everything you can to weather those times – purposeful distractions got me through – and remember that inside you is a fundamental spirit that no one can take away that you must take every opportunity to flourish. Water yourself like a rose, from inside.

Bio:

Barbara Ebel is an author of fiction novels, children’s books, and Younger Next Decade. Since she is a physician, she sprinkles credible medicine into the background of her novels and her operating room scenes shine since her specialty is anesthesiology. However, her characters and plots take center stage. She wanted to pen Younger Next Decade because of the specific fourteen subjects/chapters and refreshing ideas she wanted to present to women and men over fifty.

Please visit her at http://barbaraebel.weebly.com for more information, books, video trailers, and a separate page for Younger Next Decade: After Fifty, the Transitional Decade, and what You Need to Know.

Jul 28 2012

“From Scared to Sacred” by Carol Woodliff

From Scared to Sacred: Lessons in Learning to Dance with Life.

From www.CarolWoodliff.com:

“In From Scared to Scared, I share the beautiful poetic lessons from that Voice and honest personal essays reflecting on living that wisdom. It is a journey that is funny, touching, mystical and grounded in the question, “How do we live those spirit teachings and be compassionate with our human self at the same time?”

Have you ever felt the whispers of your heart and then felt they just weren’t practical?
Have you ever thought, “The spiritual teachings by many New Age writers sound really good but how do I actually live them?”
Have you ever longed for a real discussion about how we love being human and be our highest spiritual self at the same time?

I did and this is what I share with you in From Scared to Sacred. It is just a small transposition that changes the word scared to sacred. It is similar small shifts in our consciousness that allow us to move from living ruled by our fears, to living in sacred connection to our highest and most authentic spirit. I invite you to join me in this exploration and listen to the whispers within your own heart.”

“Life isn’t a test. It is an opportunity for our spirits to experience our humanness in this wonderful dance we call life!”

This is a great book to use as a daily devotional, taking a chapter a day to get off to a good start.

Learn more at www.CarolWoodliff.com. You’ll be glad you did!

Dana Taylor