Meditation must be a daily discipline. Give me ten minutes a day, much better than one hour on the weekend....it is all about intention. Spirit is not governed by time. We created time! There is no time in heaven. Ten minutes of focused meditation can be like ten hours...

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk, practices and teaches mindfulness. This is a meditative state where the mind is controlled, not allowed to run off with thoughts of the past or future. It is all about being in the moment. As a single homeschooling parent, I found it difficult to sit down and meditate for an hour. Inevitably, whenever I set time aside, something else took precedence. What I can do, though, is practice mindfulness throughout my day. Loading the dishwasher, washing the windows, cooking, I look, listen, smell, what I am doing. It takes practice! The more you do it, the better you get. It will improve the quality of your life, I promise.

You are not your thoughts! Your thoughts are created by tiny cells in your brain shaped like a peanut. Our brains evolved this ability so we would be able to exist in the world without fear. Do not let thoughts dictate your life to you. There are of course things you must think about, but allocate a time and place for that.

At 14, I had my first major "crush" on a boy. He was 17, one of the counsellors at the camp for the mentally handicapped where I volunteered for the summer. Camp Sundial was in a beautiful setting in rural New Jersey, surrounded by corn fields. Instinctively daydreaming, for several weeks I imagined I would wander away from the group at lunch break, to the edge of a field of corn. There, in my dream, he would find me alone and kiss me. When it actually happened exactly as I imagined, I understood what a powerful force desire and the mind can be. (EB)

Creative Visualizations

Creative Visualizations are a form of meditation. The key to successful creative visualization is to do it often, running the same "info-mercial" in your mind over and over. Remember, in the Chinese way, in order to create a natural flow where your imaginings are possible, it must be a daily discipline. (Use post-it notes to help remind yourself).

Creative visualizations are personal, like your fingerprint. I can suggest books to read and visualizations I use, but you are far better off creating your own. Besides, it is fun making it up as you go! You, your spirit, your energy knows better than anyone what works best for you. You may not realize it, but practice will give results. The important thing is to start.

For Grounding

Grounding is essential when working with the Tarot. Grounding creates a healthy, balanced mind, body and spirit. Everyday I practice grounding exercises. In the morning, I wake up, throw my feet on the floor and imagine I have roots connecting me to the earth. In the shower, the water becomes a white light, infusing me with health and happiness. Later, I will sit quietly, breathing slowly and deeply, imagining again I have roots.

As I breathe out, my roots travel down to the center of the earth. They connect with the fiery center of earth, the Qi energy, the life force of the planet. With my in breath, I draw the Qi of Mother Nature up my roots and into my body. The earth has an endless supply! The light, the heat drawn up, it fills and expands my being. The energy passes through my skin, surrounding me with light. Then, I open the trap door at the top of my head and the earth energy flows upwards to the Milky Way. Once the earth Qi connects to the Milky Way, the starlight Qi is activated and flows down into me... through me... to the center of the earth. I am the conduit, exchanging Qi from heaven to earth.... then I draw the energy down three times before I shut the top of my head.

Now I am infused with Qi from heaven and earth. I can pass it through my palms for healing. I gather and condense it to a ball in my "lower heart", or "lower dantien", below the navel. From here I send the Qi up my spine to my head, creating a halo. I will wear my halo, remember my halo, throughout the day. The halo visualization is useful when trying to banish negative thoughts or repel someone's vampiric energy.

Some Visualization exercises

To Quit Smoking...

Imagine your heart has swords in it and pull them out. Do it often, whenever you think of it. Allow your imagination to play, swords become scissors, knitting needles, knives, chain saws, etc. Once removed, the heart warms up in a green to blue light, with rainbows and doves. Play with the imagery to heal and strengthen the heart.

To Conceive...

Get acquainted with what happens and how it all looks at the moment of conception, imagining the sperm traveling to the egg and penetrating it to create life. The divine moment of creation! Imagine yourself pregnant, or expecting, happy and relaxed.

For Healing...

Imagine the part of the body you want to heal. On the out breath, push out brown/grey/black, unhealthy light. On the in breath, draw in white/blue/green/rainbow light, infuse the organ or body part with light.

More Grounding...

Sit or stand against a tree. Become one with the tree, feel love for the tree, let the tree love you back. Imagine your roots join with the tree roots. We have so much to learn from trees! I practiced this meditation as a young girl without knowing what I was doing. Trees can help you see auras.

Go out at the "blaue stunde", or the blue hour, in the early morning or evening, when the light is "blue". It is the best time to practice seeing aura;s. Blur your vision as you look at the tree and you will see a light surrounding the tree, the aura, the energy, the Qi life force.

Trance Work

In my experience, the easiest way to go into deep trance is through hypnosis, with a past life regression. It was 1989 in Berlin, I had my first regression with a therapist. She invited me to lie on the massage table. She then began to massage my feet, instructing me to relax. As my breathing became slower, I became more relaxed, and I noticed that my body felt very heavy, like a dead weight was on my chest.

Suddenly, the weight lifted, I felt weightless, as if I no longer had a body. It was not uncomfortable, only odd. Luckily this was accompanied by a feeling of extreme well being. She instructed me to imagine I was in an elevator, to choose a floor. From there, it was like watching a movie that was far more real than any movie I'd ever seen. Wonders emerged from my minds eye.

I was in paradise! There was Adam and Eve and the tree and the snake. My name was Lillith. In the back of my "thinking" mind I was questioning my "dream". I asked her, "Am I supposed to believe I was Lillith, Adams first wife?" (Lillith has been written out of the current bible.) "No, no, no", she replied, "You are having an archetypical dream, just go on with it." Later she explained this was a dream many people had when they did this type of trance work. The possibilities that dream opened in my mind are endless and immensely valuable.

Since that time, I have had many past life regressions here in Ireland with some wonderful therapists. I have seen what happens when we die. I have seen Heaven! It's beautiful and joyful, with an overwhelming sense of home...belonging. Death is simply a transition from one way of being to another. The lives and stories I have seen all relate to my personal life, I often meet souls who I know now in those dreams, I recognize them from their eyes.

This work has been an invaluable help on my own healing journey. I would recommend anyone to try it out for themselves.