Year In Review

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REMINDER from Mano:

Everyone has spiritual guidance at the first of the year, and daily as needed. All you have to do is ask. And TRUST what your thoughts unfold in your mind.

REMARKS from Barbara:

I live in gratitude for Mano and my council’s guidance. They have refined my process of tuning in for the past 40 years. My first process was to close my eyes, open the Bible or another Holy Book, point to a word on the page, then try to figure out what was the guidance being offered. Next Mano led me to the Tarot Cards, which I still use today and is much easier.

REMEMBERING Mary Jane:

She has written some blogs on her process of looking for a way of guidance.

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YEAR IN REVIEW

Blog #116

I always take the last week of the year to review my life experiences, look to guidance on what is to come next year. This gives my council Mano, Rama, and Joseph, the opportunity to close areas of focus from last year and reveal areas they want to open and focus on this coming year.  Things are changing in my life after spending the month of June in and out of the hospital, living the whole month in deep sleep. I was pulled out of this deep sleep on June 28 when a very large masculine physical therapist pulled me to a sitting position and said, “Pull yourself up Barbara.  You are a strong woman, Pull yourself up. You are a strong woman, Barbara.” This statement was repeated at least 10 times until I thought, he is right, I am a strong woman, I can do it. As I pulled myself up, holding on to his large muscular arms, I felt life move back into my body. In some magical way I feel that he saved my life.

A few days later my family moved me to the mountain to live in my new home and I began slowly returning to normal as I lay on the couch during the day and in bed at night. I returned to normal during the Holy Days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And now in this last week of the year I am looking ahead to the guidance my council is revealing to me.

The revelation started last week while drinking ceremonial tea, drinking from a small tea pot and drinking from small cups 1 inch in diameter. This ceremony opens my heart to Mother Earth and Mother Tea, the elements and elementals of nature that guard the Mother Tree and the tea processing process.

I have been enjoying Ceremonial Tea for the past 9 or 10 years. All tea originally came from China. It has slowly traveled the world to be grown in many countries and now, next to water, is the most popular beverage in the world.

Some of the ancient tea trees still growing in China are said to be thousands of years old and She still offers her leaves to heal, nourish, and stimulate her children. The tea that comes in tea bags has had a special way of processing so it can immediately release its flavor into hot water.  Locals call tea from this processing method ‘Tea Dust’.  Processing leaf tea for celebration, ceremony, everyday use, the tea is processed in a way to maintain the vein of the leaf. I feel maintaining the vein in the leaf, in the processing is what holds the magic and presence of The Mother Tea Tree.

I am in love with leaf tea. Each morning I close my eyes hold the little cup in both hands feeling its warmth and envision myself sitting high on a mountain in China in front of an ancient tea tree. I call her mother and sit in her presence sipping her offering. I am always blessed. After this little Tea Ceremony with the Mother I start my day in love and feeling loved.

Life in 2023 will be much like past years before the fire. All I do is in service to Mother Earth. I feel it is she that called me to the Mountain. One morning in 1985 while living in San Luis Obispo on the ranch, I was sitting outside watching the stars leave and the morning light return. I listened to the song of birds waking up and singing their celebration of life. Then I heard an audible voice say, “Barbara, I don’t need you in San Luis Obispo any longer. I need you on the mountain.” When I told Jim, he was in agreement. We put our house on the market and moved a year later to the mountain. This year gave us time to transform a mountain cabin into a Charming Cottage with sky lights to bring light into the rooms and two fireplaces to bring heat into the house. I painted flowers around the roof edge, copying mountain cottages I saw when we traveled through Europe. 

My council tells me 2023 is to allow the ‘strong woman’ to come forth within me. To work in my studio and spend time in the Amphitheater.  A few years ago on my end of the year review Mano led me to a term I had never heard before: Wabi-Sabi. I loved the flow and feel of the word in my mind. When I first read the book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, and Philosophers, I felt like I had been a stranger wandering in a strange land. Being introduced to the term Wabi-Sabi, I then understood why I loved driftwood, collected stones, and shells to place on my window sill. Why I ‘wall papered’ my living room with barn wood planks. My art was different, one teacher said the way I paint was as interesting as what I painted. I don’t totally understand what he meant but it felt good and ok to be me.

I had learned earlier in a class that my style of clothing and design was ‘eclectic’.  And now recognizing and identifying myself with wabi-sabi was another road to self discovery and self acceptance.

This gave me permission to follow ideas, intuition, whatever made sense to me, and it didn’t matter if others did not agree or understand. It freed my soul to be me.

This next year I am to follow another guidance I received years ago to become a soul infused personality. All in service to Mother Earth and her angels and elemental children.