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Messages from Jeanne

#755 The Earth is a Garden

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Written by Jan Ketchel with a channeled message from Jeanne Ketchel.

Today I ask Jeanne to address the world situation. Already the news about the situation in Japan has dipped from the front pages of most newspapers and blogs, even though what happened there affects us all and will for decades to come, and most likely even longer. I feel strongly that it is wrong for us, especially in America, to slip back into comfortable complacency, to forget the truth of what has been revealed with the amount of radiation pouring into the earth, the sea, and the air. Locally, in New York State, there is a tremendous push to frack through the earth with deadly chemicals in search of natural gas, wreaking havoc on a par with what has recently happened in Japan. With the safety of nuclear power now in question on a broader scale, natural gas companies are pushing ever harder to sell their “clean energy,” which is absolutely false promotion. There is nothing clean about how they extract gas from deep inside the earth.

I ask you, Jeanne, why are people so cavalier about how they treat the earth? Why don’t we, as a species, care enough about nature to protect it above all else? Why are we so narcissistic when we need the earth to be clean and pure for our very survival? Don’t we get it?

Jeanne responds:

The earth is a garden, but mankind has forgotten this. A long time ago, the truth of the earth was turned under with the machinery that man developed in order to produce on a massive scale. In tilling for profit mankind killed the truth of Mother Nature’s intent and bounty. In essence, what is happening now is the fault of mankind.

Do not blame what is transpiring only on the greedy few, the profiteers, the moneymen, the commodity markets—for all of you are responsible for the decline in true agriculture and true garden tending.

How many of you truly appreciate the earth you walk upon? How many of you speak to the earth and to the wilds of nature? How many of you walk upon the earth with gentle tread and open heart, thankful for every breath of air you take?

Is it not possible to take in the truth of the devastation that man has wrought? Each one of you must face what you have done as well. You cannot place mistakes and negative decisions only upon a few. You must face what each one of you do each day, for you too are at fault no matter how pure your intent.

You see, that is the other truth. Man is but another beast who walks upon the earth, doing what beasts do; using, taking, destroying; yet in all cases is there symbiosis to study. Even the most destructible of creatures serves a purpose and so man must accept that his penchant to take, to increase exponentially, is natural, but that it will be challenged in some way, leading to a new level of nature development. But, and I say this in all certainty, mankind must use what he carries in his head–his advanced mind in alignment with his knowing and tender heart–to begin a new process, or dire circumstance will arise and change things for him. This is not a flippant warning of world’s end on my part, but the truth of the devastating split that has occurred over the past one hundred years and more, as mankind has divorced himself from nature; nature outside of himself and his true inner nature as well.

Have you not all been poor stewards? This is the first question you must answer in the affirmative. For if you suggest that you have been good stewards the world would look mighty different right now. It is not enough to sit in your comfy homes and declare the self an environmentalist, a lover of nature, a partaker in energetic alignment. You must all take greater action now. You must all participate on a wider scale.

I interrupt and ask Jeanne the following question: What do you suggest we do? What can people who, for instance, live in a large city do to help the natural environment that is so far away from the concrete jungle they live in?

Jeanne says:

Take responsibility for your own health. Everyone breathes the same air, drinks the same water, eats of the same foods grown in the same earth. It is not too far-fetched for all to demand that these three things, the air, water, and the earth itself, the soil that sustains all life, be unpolluted, be free of manmade chemicals, be pure and natural. Everybody eats, and this is the first place to begin the demands of change. Eat only that which is real, pure, and intentionally produced with sustainable practices.

Well, many would find that prohibitive. Organic, healthy, clean and chemical free food is often expensive and many people struggle just to put even the basics on their tables.

Jeanne suggests:

Nature reveals her truth

Yes, but with increased demand for clean food and refusal to purchase poisoned food, a shift in practices now so rampantly damaging would be forced. After all, if money is the bottom line, don’t spend your money on that which sickens you, you only injure yourself and make the poisoners happy. If mankind is indeed to survive diseases, cancers, and most physical ills, a change in what he puts into his body is the first step. To allow the self to simply decay due to the greeds of a few is but an excuse to not take responsibility for the self.

Do you, My Dear Ones, wish to decay, to become a widely spreading fungal entity rather than a human thinking, acting, feeling, breathing machine far more capable than you are now? How do you expect to evolve if you cannot use your time upon that earth wisely and properly? Remember, your time is of short duration upon that earth in comparison to most life. And yet, do you keep this in your awareness?

It is time for mankind to live consciously, to live in awareness of self and surroundings, to make demands upon the powerful so that they may face the truths of their own short life spans, and to take action for change.

What you are proposing sounds like it will take some time because many people are caught in just trying to survive right now. The world we have created, I admit, does not work for the vast majority, but really only for the few. And yet, it seems that what we have created in America is spreading like a cancer to other parts of the world, where ancient wisdom ruled until recently and now capitalism is making inroads, sickening human beings, reaping money over real food. In light of why we are really here, it feels wrong.

Jeanne responds:

I understand the dilemma, but you must all, My Dear Readers, fight against the stupidity of governments that do not work for you and declare that some things are just wrong. For what is a democratic government if you do not participate in some way–it becomes merely a tyranny and then, yes, everyone struggles.

Find your personal balance. Make your personal commitments to change the self, how you walk upon the earth, how you feed yourself and your family. How you think and formulate your opinions should not be based on rhetoric and mimicry, but only on heart-centered truth. You cannot dismiss that something is seriously wrong, so how can you begin making it right? And who do you choose to listen to?

Basically, I suggest that the best place to look for answers is inside the self. But do not simply sit and mull for too long. Make some pertinent decisions. No matter what your station in life, your situation, you can do something to change the world. You all have power; you must find and utilize your own personal power. Remove the cloak of despair, the negative thinking, the fear of not having enough, and do something positive for the self, for the air, the water, the earth.

Can you end today’s message with some advice about what is happening in Japan?

The circumstances surrounding the catastrophe in Japan is your wake up call, My Dear Ones. This is what you must recognize and then you must stay awake. Be careful now, for what comes next will be of utmost importance, for it will decide the future. Be careful how you treat the earth. She has been so careful of all of you and yet now she weeps and moans. Her painful cries must be heeded. It is time to listen to what she tells you.

The Earth is a Garden

Walk upon your Mother Earth softly now and ask her to tell you what to do. She will reveal her answers to those who can truly listen. Listen with your heart and you too will hear her speaking what is now the most necessary step. Keep purity in mind now for the earth, for the self. The human body and the body of Mother Nature both need it, since both encompass a far greater ecosystem that you can fathom.

Everything is interconnected; keep that in mind.

Thank you to Jeanne for this message today.

Most humbly offered,
Jan

Please feel free to post comments or respond to this message in the post/read comments section below. On our Riverwalker Facebook page we post daily quotes, comments, and photos, and invite discussions on the discussion board. You can go there by clicking the Facebook badge in the left sidebar. Please feel welcome, and thank you for passing the messages on!

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A Day in a Life: Illusion or Not?

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I ponder the world as illusion. While channeling Jeanne’s message on Monday, I reached a personal moment of enlightenment when I grasped the idea that the inner world and the outer world are the same, that both are real and both are illusion. Carl Jung once noted that the inner world was as real or perhaps more real than the outer world. This has always been my experience, more of an inner world person than an outer world person. What I experienced in that moment of enlightenment on Monday was, from a shamanic point of view, a shift in the assemblage point, a shift in perception. This is when the world, as we know it, suddenly falls away and everything is seen and perceived differently. When this happens we are in another reality, “seeing” the world as it truly is, in shamanic terms, seeing the world as energy. So with that in mind, holding onto the idea that both worlds are real and illusory at the same time, I went into my week.

On Tuesday, I sat down to meditate in my favorite spot, looking out over the trees in the back yard. It was early morning; the sun was beginning to rise, battling the clouds for prominence. I wondered what the day would be like, rain or sun? I meditate with my eyes open. I softened my gaze as I did my breathing exercises, holding onto the out-breath ever so slightly in an attempt to linger a moment in emptiness and detach from thinking. Eventually, by focusing on slowly breathing in and out, I reached an in-between stage, where the outside world dissolved into a blurred picture and the inner world went quiet. This is a moment of shift in the assemblage point.

Sometimes I can stay suspended in this in-between space for a few seconds, sometimes longer. It’s as if my awareness is a thin sheet of glass, suspended between these two normal states of reality. I say thin, because invariably something will interfere to bring me back and then both the inner world of thought and the outer world of everyday reality come snapping back into sharp focus again. On Tuesday it was a flock of crows flying into the backyard that broke through the thin veneer of glass.

“Oh, here come the shamans, come to distract,” I thought. “Don’t attach.” And the glass immediately shattered as I watched the crows land in the trees right at eye level.

“Don’t attach,” I said again, softening my gaze. As I did so, I noticed that the crows literally dissolved as the glass pulled up between the two worlds again, which obviously was enough to pull me right back to thinking, to trying to grasp what I was experiencing. Of course, I wanted to check out if the crows were indeed still in the trees. So I looked directly at the treetops and yes, there were the crows sitting right where they had been.

“Okay,” I thought. “The crows are like these thoughts, flying into my mind and I must learn to let them go. I must learn to detach.” Again, I softened my gaze; focused on breathing, telling myself to let them fly past, just like the thoughts that were interfering.

“Even if those thoughts are attempting to grasp at this awakening experience I am having, it does not matter, let them go,” I said as I pushed everything away: thoughts, crows, trees, the inner and outer world.

“Just let it all go,” I whispered and, as the scenario played out, the thoughts flew away, the crows dissolved, and the thin sheet of shift, the glass, reappeared. I hung again in a moment of shift of the assemblage point, in inner silence, as the shamans call it, in nothingness, ever so briefly.

So, what did I learn during this experience? First of all, I experienced a volitional shift of the assemblage point, changing my perception of reality using a tried and true method: by meditation. Secondly, I saw the crows of thought and illusion dissolve into energy. If the crows are thoughts and thoughts belong to my inner world, I was able to underscore the moment of enlightenment I’d reached on Monday that the inner world and the outer world are both real and both illusion.

As I pondered this idea further, I thought about how thoughts are present only in the mind. In fact, they do not exist except in the mind, but they have the chance to become real when given form. In creative endeavors, as we paint, sculpt, dance, put them down in words and musical notes, as we write what we think, imagine, and discover, they manifest in this world of reality, no longer illusion but real. But until that manifestation they are illusion. These thoughts I now transcribe, though they existed in my mind, remained illusion until expressed in this form. They flew around in my head like those crows outside the window, seemingly real but not necessarily so, until this moment of landing, assembling into a long string of words that, hopefully, make sense.

I understand, in one sense, that my inner world, as real and important as it is to me, does not exist. And yet, I admit that it is extremely necessary, offering me the means to evolve, so I accept that my inner reality does exist. Even those very real crows existed one moment, but in the next dissolved, as I shifted my assemblage point so that the world of normal perception, reality, ceased to exist. At the same time, however, both the inner world and the outer world do exist; they are notches on the assemblage point. They are equally real, but equally illusion. But the thing to note is that our true awareness lies somewhere between or beyond those worlds, in the silence of that veneer of glass that is so hard to stay in. Does this make sense?

What I am getting at is that we all have these experiences. Our thoughts are simply thoughts, non-existent, present as energy inside us. If we can view them as such, we may be able to understand the idea of everything as illusion, but also as energy. When we hone that energy into something else, our thoughts become something different. They become tangible, expressed in forms that others can grasp, our personal experiences of illusion, of inner energy manifested.

Can we see the outside world in similar terms? The shamans say that our conjuring minds are responsible for the world of reality. We are taught from birth to see the world in a fixed position, and yet we all have had experiences of shifts in reality at some time or other in our lives, as Jeanne asked us to note in her message the other day. If thoughts are illusion, conjured by our mind, made manifest in the outer world, is not then the world of reality, conjured by this same universal mind, illusion as well? If everything we experience as reality at one time existed as thought, it stands that it can also dissolve back into its original energy form of thought, and thus, illusion.

As I sat and played with this idea the other day, dissolving the crows out of the trees one minute and placing them back in the trees the next I got it again, just how illusory the world is. My thoughts are nothing, the crows are nothing, I am nothing, but we are all energy. If we can hang just a little bit longer in that thin slip of world between the two illusions we may experience this sense of self as energy.

And why would we do this? As we shift our assemblage point, as we see differently, as our worlds dissolve, as we hold onto our awareness, we begin to train ourselves for the moment of death. This is what the Buddhists do, what the shamans do; they train their awareness for the moment of death. They learn how to hold onto awareness, how to stay connected to awareness of the self as energy so that, at the moment of death, they do not get caught in the illusions. They seek to hone the skills of awareness, so that they do not get caught in grasping, needing, desiring, in sadness or yearning for this world, which they have learned is but illusion.

According to these ancient disciplines, of Buddhism and shamanism, this is what we are here to learn. We are here to free ourselves from the endless cycles of being caught in the illusion that this is all there is. We are offered, with each new life, the opportunity to experience the moments of awakening to our true nature as energetic beings. This is what Jeanne was describing and asking us to note in her message.

Take note of the moments when the illusions of reality disappear, those aha moments when we experience life differently. These are the moments to keep striving for, to string together, until we fully grasp their significance and can volitionally return to them again and again. We must seek the space of thin veneer between worlds and thicken it so that we can stay in it longer. We must seek our true awareness and set it free in that in-between place; because that is what we will need to recall and hold onto at the moment of death.

The cool thing is that we are offered plenty of those moments of enlightenment now, in our present lives, in our present worlds. Try it. It’s fun!

Thanks for reading and passing these blogs on to others! Sending you all love and good wishes.

In awareness,
Jan

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Messages from Jeanne

#753 Who Is My Teacher?

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Written by Jan Ketchel and including a channeled message from Jeanne Ketchel.

Recently, while reading one of my favorite books, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, one that I dip into quite often, I came upon the chapter regarding the need for a teacher or master in order to maintain a proper spiritual practice. According to Buddhist tradition everyone needs a teacher, for how can you know you have reached the true nature of mind if you are not guided in some way by someone who has gone before?

I have never liked the idea of a master and I just could never personally accept the idea of a guru. But as I read this chapter I began to worry that I might not actually be doing my studies to the fullest. As I read a little further, however, I learned that the Buddhist teachers would often speak to the old masters who appeared before them in visions. They sat and spoke for many hours on end, listening to these masters who had lived in ancient times, in one case described as the second incarnation of Buddha. Eventually, these teachers begin to sound like the masters. They channel them. The author describes his own students coming up to him after a talk, telling him he spoke with the voice of his own teacher, long dead.

I laughed when I read this, my worry about having a teacher immediately melting away as I realized that I have had a teacher for the past ten years, a very good one: Jeanne! She has been most present—receptive, challenging, confrontational—pushing me to evolve. I have indeed been her pupil and gone through many stages of growth with her gentle and sometimes not so gentle prodding. I suddenly felt so much better, experiencing a real aha moment. For some reason, I had not fully grasped this idea before. Although I have always called her my teacher, in this moment I got it. She is my guru and as much as I have never liked that term, as much as I could never imagine myself aligning with a guru per se, I now acquiesce to the fact that she is indeed my master teacher.

I began to ponder the idea that we all have a master teacher or guru somewhere in our lives. We may not recognize this teacher in those terms, because the terms themselves don’t really matter. But what I also finally realize is that I did indeed need a guru of some kind to help me get where I am now. I was so caught in an old world that it seemed it was the only one that existed and I could not have gotten out of it without some help. And, I still need a guru to teach me how to continue evolving.

In The Tao of Physics Fritjof Capra writes on page 88: “A Bodhisattva is a highly evolved human being on the way to becoming a Buddha, who is not seeking enlightenment for himself alone, but has vowed to help all other beings achieve Buddhahood before he enters into nirvana… not simply to enter nirvana, but to return to the world in order to show the path to salvation to his fellow human beings.”

When Chuck read this statement to me the other day we both immediately recognized Jeanne as a Bodhisattva. Her messages from the very beginning have stressed that she is present to help others to awaken to the truth that all things are energetically interconnected and alive. This is her mission and that of her group.

Today, I explore with Jeanne this realization that struck me as funny at first, but then as fascinatingly true, that she has been my guru for the past ten years, and an excellent one at that. I am deeply grateful for all I have learned as her pupil. I have stayed connected to her through many uncertain and painful moments of self-discovery and awakening. Through it all, she sat calmly as I made my way back to her again and again asking for help. Over time I learned that she always had the answer, in some form. And indeed, as I evolved, I learned to channel and now her voice flows through me quite easily, though I had to go through many seasons of doubt.

I truly believe that she is available as a Bodhisattva to others as well. Several people have told me that she guides them and I am so happy whenever anyone reveals this. I know how good a teacher she is. And since it is her mission I can only hope that others will find the strength and innocence to reach out to her too.

So, I ask all of you to investigate the possibility that you may already have a teacher in your life. Perhaps one that is very much alive, or perhaps one you speak to as I do Jeanne, in quiet moments of inner work and study.

The Buddhists, Hindus, Shamans, Quantum Physicists, and others agree that what we consider reality does not, in fact, exist; that it is illusion created by our needs, desires, and fixations, and that true reality is an interconnected web of energy. We are all part of this interconnected web of energy, one nature. Within this framework we all have access to the masters, teachers, and gurus who are just waiting to guide us to understand energy and the oneness of all things; the Bodhisattvas who are ready to help us understand also how everything we perceive as real is not really there.

I have learned through my work with Jeanne to dissolve the world of solid objects into flowing energy. Through the practice of meditation I have more deeply grasped what I have learned over the past ten years as her pupil. And each week, as I write this blog, I am challenged once again to accept Jeanne as a Bodhisattva and appropriately express what she teaches.

Today, I ask her to offer us a teaching along the lines of recognizing or finding a teacher. I know that we all have access within; that we don’t have to look too far outside of ourselves. So, I ask Jeanne: How can we all recognize the voice of our true teacher? Can you also offer some guidelines on setting a practice in place with the teachers we already know and trust? As our world changes rapidly now, I believe we need to connect with our inner and outer teachers and guides more than ever. There is a pressing need for spiritual practice based on energetic interconnectedness. Because the truth of nature is that we are all the same.

How can your readers recognize their teacher? How does one begin to listen?

Here is what Jeanne says:

As you know, Jan, often the best moment to access your spiritual advisor is at a moment of despair, collapse, calamity, at the moment of breakdown when an old self is breaking apart. At such a moment, when the old rules you have set for yourself just cannot uphold your world any longer, you are open and ready for contact. However, breakdown or abruptly painful moments are not the only time one has access to the beauty of true life. In a moment of joyful enlightenment the way is cleared as well. In moments of clarity, in brief seconds of “getting it,” whether it be a personal issue finally falling into place or a universal issue finally making sense, at such moments the energy of each one of you is attuned and in alignment with all energy.

These moments of enlightenment are brief, so fleeting that it is almost impossible to hold onto them, profound though they may be. It takes a whole string of such moments, for the most part, before one learns to grasp onto them as the most meaningful moments in a lifetime.

How often, I ask each of you, have you had such moments of clarity, whether blissfully delivered or painfully presented? And how have you dealt with them? Have they faded away, been forgotten as you have gone back into reality? I ask that you each make a note, mental or otherwise, of all of these moments in your life, the moments of magic, of mystery, of clarity and of enlightenment. How many times have you, in fact, already been prodded awake in your life?

I guarantee that everyone has had more than a few such moments. However, so used are you to sleeping through life that the cloak of slumber quickly snuggles you back into the illusion of normality and you forget that you have experienced oneness with all things.

The first challenge to the self in your quest for a teacher is to become alert to your wake up calls. Become a student. Note how these wake up calls come to you and how you have received them in the past. Recognize them as wake up calls and train your awareness to become more alert by reminding yourself throughout each day, to remember, remember, and remember this: I am a being who is energetically connected to all other energy; alive or dead we are all the same. Remember this always: We are all the same energy.

In putting together your moments of awakening to the greater picture of the self as energy you will eventually string together enough moments to build a practice upon. A practice must be in tune with your everyday world. No matter what your situation you can begin a practice, because the practice is within. You carry the tools of your practice always with you. The first tool is awareness. And this is what you will hone as you remember. But you will also hone it by utilizing it daily to gain new moments of enlightenment. Even a simple instruction to the self to notice how the events and signs in your world seem to line up is a way to begin. What are you being shown each day that you have been missing?

Placing your attention on a new means of being in your life, by remembering your moments of awakening while asking yourself to stay awake for a little bit longer each day, should work to further you on your path.

Do not worry so much about who your teacher may or may not be. A teacher will not reveal him or herself as such. It is not how a true teacher works. He or she will never say: “I am your teacher.” This is something that you alone will discover when you are ready to realize it.

I interrupt the channeling as a moment of enlightenment occurs!

Yes, I concur with you Jeanne. Although I have spoken of you as my guide for ten years now I have sort of relegated you to an inner place, a guide related to my inner work, but now I more fully recognize you as my master teacher. I have achieved a big moment of enlightenment today, at this moment, as you help me to more fully grasp that my inner world and outer world are one. You have been asking me to more fully integrate them, to awaken to the fact that I must live outwardly what I have learned inwardly. This is another big aha moment. I thank you and ask if you have anything else to teach us today.

Jeanne continues:

A teacher will be of your own discovery. Only you will energetically be able to align with and determine the process and the teacher that will awaken you. This may take some trial and error, but the end result will be enlightening!

I ask that you begin to more fully accept yourselves as energetic beings. It is difficult to face your death if you consider it the end of the self, if you consider the self only as flesh, blood, bone and organs. But, if you consider the self as only energy you will have a far greater opportunity to push ahead to accepting death as life. They are one and the same. Keep in mind that you all die a little each day as you forget those moments of awakening; you die energetically.

In pulling yourself into alignment with energy you gain life; you gain the awareness you need to navigate through the lifetime you now inhabit with far different insight than in past lives. If you are truly ready to evolve, the concept of the self as energy will not puzzle you for long because you will experience it. Then you must be open to the truth of such an idea as the one true fact of life. That is how you will discover who your teacher is.

In conclusion: Practice remembering. Practice remaining aware.

Do not be angry or disappointed if you can only hold onto a moment of awareness. It is enough for that moment. But then ask the self to notice the next one. Do not give up. Eventually you will wake up more fully. And each day, and even each night, you have the opportunity to do it again!

Stay connected to the idea of everything as energy and you will have learned the beginning teachings that all Bodhisattvas must learn. Start with that!

Thank you to Jeanne for this lesson today.

Most humbly offered,
Jan

Please feel free to post comments or respond to this message in the post/read comments section below. On our Riverwalker Facebook page we post daily quotes, comments, and photos, and invite discussions on the discussion board. You can go there by clicking the Facebook badge in the left sidebar. Please feel welcome, and thank you for passing the messages on!

Jan's Blog

A Day in a Life: Crow Energy

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I set my intent a long time ago to become psychically aware, not to become a psychic per se, but to become aware of the signs and synchronicities in my life that were showing me things I might not have noticed without this intent uppermost in my process of transformation. Today, I write about the significance of the crow as a sign of this intent manifesting in the world. As Jeanne mentions in her message on Monday, we must use the outer world to the fullest in order to grow, and I have found this to be one of the truest statements and especially useful in doing inner work.

In his book Animal Speak, Ted Andrews says this about the crow:

“The first noticeable characteristic about this bird is its striking black color. Sometimes it will have hints of deep blue and purple on the feathers as well. Black is the color of creation. It is the womb out of which the new is born. It is also the color of the night. Black is the maternal color and thus the black night gives birth to a new day. Although the crow is a diurnal or daytime bird, it reminds us that magic and creation are potentials very much alive during the day. The crow, because of its color, was a common symbol in medieval alchemy. It represented “nigredo,” the initial state of substance—unformed but full of potential.”

As I wrote about last week, in recounting our experiences with the death of our dog in On the Wings of the Crow, a crow made repeated passes over the house, a sign I noted as the energy of our dog moving on to new life, the transformation from one state of being to another. Had I not been deeply immersed in the process of my original intent—to become more aware—I might have missed the opportunity to round out the experiences of that day in such a satisfying and transformational manner.

The crow has continued to show itself. In fact, in our rural neighborhood, crows are some of our most vocal neighbors, posting themselves as sentinels for other crows and birds, but for their human neighbors as well. I have learned to pay attention to the noisy crows. More often than not, if I hear a racket of crow energy I can be pretty sure that something of interest is happening in nature. If I am alert, I know I will be treated to a little magic. Paying attention to the crows has become one of my personal educational processes as I seek to train my awareness, so it was not unusual for me to take note of the cawing crow outside the window on the day of Spunky’s death.

It was lovely to have the warmer weather over the weekend, rainy though it was. The twenty-four inches of snow still covering the ground, having accumulated since last December 26th, melted away as we watched the winter weary lawn reappear and the first green tips of the daffodils peak up from the cold ground, letting us know that spring was not far off. It was drizzling a little on Saturday, though warm enough to be outside for a nice long walk, but then, on Sunday, it rained—torrentially. The wind blew all day and all night, and then the rain changed to freezing rain and then it started to snow. In the middle of the night I heard the loud cracks of branches breaking in nearby trees and ice crystals pelting against the windows. Up at five-thirty we were astounded to see the ground covered, blanketed in snow again, our hopes of an early spring dashed.

Once again I armed myself with my trusty snow shovel and headed out late in the day on Monday, after a full day’s work, to clear what snow remained on the driveway and pathways. It was still cold, only the top layer of snow had melted during the day and I was left to remove the thick layer of ice I had heard falling through most of the night. I was not feeling especially happy about undertaking this task yet again, now getting quite tiresome after a full winter of weekly snowstorms. But the sun was shining and when I looked up into the branches of the oaks and maples the late afternoon light coming through their ice-covered branches was beautiful against the still blue sky. Squinting into the light, the glistening branches turned into thin fingers of refracted light and rainbows of color danced before my eyes, and this lightened my mood considerably and the work wasn’t so hard after all.

A big black crow flew overhead, cawing loudly, as I shoveled and I noted its presence and once again thought of our dog Spunky and an incident that happened just a few days after her passing. I had gone to the woodpile to get a load of wood for the woodstove. Stepping out the basement door I heard something scrambling on the other side of the woodpile, out of sight. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it sounded big. I thought an animal was most likely rooting through the compost pile, taking frozen bits of food scraps, scrounging for something edible. I surmised it had been a hard winter for the animals with the thick frozen snow cover and so I did not want to disturb whatever might be feasting on whatever our frozen scraps could offer.

I quietly crept up to the woodpile, but whatever it was must have heard me coming, for I heard a quick scurrying. Not knowing what to expect, a little wary, I waited to see what might appear. Suddenly, I heard a heavy shuffling and a loud bark, as a large crow spread its heavy wings, staggered off the compost pile, and flew into a nearby tree. It landed on a branch, turned and looked back at me, cawing loudly, almost barking, its body bobbing up and down, looking and acting very much like a dog vigorously barking an excited greeting.

“Oh! Hello there, Spunky!” I said, without hesitation. “Nice to see you again. I see that you are well.” The crow responded with more happy barking caws as it watched me load up my wood sack with logs and, as I turned and headed back into the house, I noted that one of Spunky’s favorite little outings was to sneak off to munch at the fresh compost, rotting banana peels one of her favorite treats.

As I shoveled the driveway, I noted again the large crow, and acknowledged its presence as that of the energy of Spunky: energy transformed, still viable, still present, still seeking connection. I also noted that I no longer feel doubt creeping into my experiences as I did in the past. For the longest time doubt was the greatest petty tyrant and I was forced to deal with it again and again. In my interactions with Jeanne, in my personal encounters with phenomena of energy and magic, it would immediately sweep in and hurry me back to the world of solid reality, asking me to test my experiences against the rational mind, what the seers of ancient Mexico call the foreign installation. It took a long time and many battles against the foreign installation, against the world of solid objects, before I was able to suspend judgment and fully release my attachment to an old perception of reality and fully embrace a different reality, different means of perception, and finally to release myself from my ego’s embarrassment and dismay at the birthing of my psychic abilities.

Now however, after having dealt doubt so many deadly blows, it rarely creeps up on me. Now freed of its heavy depressing cloak of reality I can fully enjoy the magic of the world I elect to live in, the world of all nature. I can look into the magic of light dancing through the ice-covered branches of the trees and hear the barking crow and connect to the energy of all things, myself included.

Every time I go outside now there seems to be one large black crow calling more loudly than the others. I greet its energy and thank it for showing me once again that my intent to notice is working for me, my desire to understand the interconnectedness of all things is being given priority within that intent and that desire, and I thank my innocent self for taking the journey that has allowed me to get to this place. For I feel free now, open to life in a very different way. Without the petty tyrant of doubt I am indeed free to experience the magic, but I am also free to keep taking it one step further, into deeper awareness.

Open to learning more about how the world of energy works, I look forward to each moment of each day, taking note of what I read, what I hear and see, and how in alignment with nature I am becoming. In noting how synchronicity works, in paying attention to what comes to greet me, I continue training my awareness, my psychic abilities; the ability inherent in all of us.

I take the sign of the crow as meaningful and I listen to what it has to tell me. As Ted Andrews also writes about the crow:

“Wherever crows are, there is magic. They are 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.”

Be open to the magic, and without doubt embrace your own psychic abilities; take note of what life presents, and without fear embrace the energy of interconnectedness.

If you wish, feel free to share or comment in the Post Comment section below. And don’t forget to check out our facebook page at: Riverwalker Press on facebook. And you might also note the synchronicity of the quote for the day on our facebook page that Chuck selected, quite in alignment with what I have written about today, unbeknownst to both of us. Synchronicity in action!

Thanks for reading and passing these blogs on to others! Sending you all love and good wishes,
Jan

NOTE: Animal Speak by Ted Andrews, and many other books of interest are available for purchase through our STORE.

Messages from Jeanne

#748 The Undeniable Energy of Now

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Written by Jan Ketchel and including a channeled message from Jeanne Ketchel.

Once again I humbly accept this role as channel as I sit down with my open notebook. My intent today is to pass on the message I receive from Jeanne as clearly and straightforwardly as possible.

I have been feeling the intensity of the energy that has been sweeping the world, aware that it is a time of great and volatile change and that we humans cannot stop it. Our choice, it seems, becomes one of whether or not we flow and change with it or whether we choose to continue denying its existence and refuse the evermore pervasive and apparent call. The call is no longer in the distance, a mere whisper on the shore, but a loud shout blasting in the ear. Though, I admit, even in the presence of this undeniable shout, it is possible to hunker down and resist, living as if nothing is happening, yet, as we do, the old structures just keep crumbling. We feel this both inside and outside. Can we allow ourselves to resist the old and ride this new wave of change? The tide has already come in; this is the undeniable energy of now.

Even as I have personally struggled with my attempts to stay in the moment, the world outside has constantly called me to notice. “Notice this moment,” it says. “Note this, it’s important.” And I cannot deny that those moments of note have indeed proven to be more than simply moments of heightened awareness or scribbled notes on a page, they have been cataclysmic.

It is indeed a time of forceful energy, a time of change that I feel will not let up. And we are being asked, simply because we live now during this time on earth, to not only take note and warn of this energy, but to actually enact change, to ride its power, beginning with our own lives. I, personally, cannot accept the status quo nor pretend that life will go on as it has in the past, or uphold old lies, for whatever reason. It is no longer possible for me to do so.

Are you moving forward with the energy too? Or are you going to be buried under the sands of the old times? These are the questions to ask. I truly believe that this is what we have to face now. Personally, I am being forced to accept the truths that are daily revealed to me, and to keep moving at a sensible pace, in step with the times. I feel it is the only thing to do. I must gather my fears and move forward. I have experienced cataclysmic changes in the past and I now go forward with the lessons I have learned; number one being that, in the end, I will be forced to go anyway. I would rather go forward with awareness, alert, actively participating in the unfolding of a new world than wake up one morning not knowing where I am. I like awareness better than oblivion.

I ask that Jeanne speak of this inevitable and incredible change that is being forced upon us all. How do we deal with this energy? How do we accept our vulnerabilities while also allowing ourselves to fully embrace our talents, strengths, and the life lessons we have learned, so we can make good choices for our personal lives, in alignment with the changes sweeping the entire world?

Jeanne responds:

Each one of you must look inwardly and decide what you can handle at this moment in your life. Your immediate reactions may be to either be too soft or too hard on the self and this may not aid you in your search for guidance. I suggest a modest and honest assessment of the self be given some attention.

The task then becomes to pull out both your strengths and your weaknesses and lay them side by side. Pick up what strengths you are most comfortable utilizing, in both innerly and outerly activities, and walk on with them in hand, and put the others in your pockets for future moments when their time of utilization will become apparent. Having noted your weaknesses, do not attach to them, for they will no longer guide you forward. But, be fully aware that they will follow after you, seeking to pull you back.

This is a grand time of transition. As Jan notes, the energy is not going to baby you but push you all to honesty, to self-exploration, and toward growth that is unprecedented. It is a time that will catapult, if allowed to become the fuel of forward movement rather than the fuel of grinding halt. Do you wish to fly now? Or do you wish to be buried deeply in the old world of stagnancy?

A new wind is blowing and it may be almost too much to bear. It may be difficult to breathe in the face of its tremendous force, but when all is said and done, it will have changed everything, and this is what you must all keep in mind. The truth is: the world itself is changing and there is no stopping it.

It takes great courage to pick up your weapons of strength and move on. You may not be well acquainted with these weapons. They may have been kept modestly hidden and little used. But it is time now to learn their worth. I do not speak of weapons of strength that have thus far proven useful in the world. I do not speak of ego-related or personality strengths, but only of inner spiritual strengths. So that is your first priority: to figure out your spiritual strengths and bring them to your hands and tongue and utilize them. Speak from your inner voice of truth, keeping your actions in alignment with this new voice.

Here are some questions to ask that may help in this process:

What is truly necessary in your life now?
What change are you personally being confronted with?
Where is your current direction taking you? Is it right, in alignment with the inner spirit that seeks to utilize and act on its true strengths?
Where are your weaknesses, and how can you fight against them when they intrude on your progress?
How can you get your mature inner spirit self in the place of guide now?
Can you dare yourself to live from a new and deeper inner self?

These are questions to ponder personally, even as you ask these of the world around you. As you see the toppling of old dominant attitudes and conventions—whether they have worked or not—note, truthfully, that they are coming down. So what comes next? More of the same? I don’t think so. The energy of now is not conducive to more of the same. It will simply knock down the flimsy attempts at reconstruction; for the old structural dynamics hold no inner strength against the forces of such change.

I do not mean to alarm with my use of such stark metaphor, though in actuality the truth is there: change is tumbling the old status quo, and is more in favor of continued toppling than reconstruction of the same.

Place yourself in the middle of that change. Accept that it is change at all costs, unstoppable, inevitable, necessary. And then decide how you want your future to unfold. You have the power of choice and there are really only two from which to choose.

First choice: Keep trying to rebuild, uphold, reconstruct an old life after each storm.

Second choice: Follow your heart and go for the true personal and spiritual life, unendingly unfolding before you.

For, in truth, life will go on no matter what happens. You must decide what you want that life to look like. What is most important, and how do you see the world around you unfolding over the next few years? Can you keep up with it? That is the challenge: Can you keep flowing, remaining modestly and humbly in alignment with your inner truths and strengths?

Do not be too soft or too harsh, as I said. Do not either be too lenient or too critical, too naive or too rational. There is a way to be pragmatic and yet in balance with the deeper truths of the self and the times you live in. It takes awareness and a heightened sense of alertness to the energy. It involves remaining aware of trends that are not conducive to true growth, getting to the moment when you make the ultimate decision of whether you want to be further enslaved or be free. Either way, change is coming. And I can guarantee, it will not be as you want, but it will be as you need: transformative.

Thank you Jeanne and all our guides in the universe! She is letting us know that challenging times are inevitable and no matter what we choose to do we will be confronting some scary stuff. The outcome will be pretty much the same however, so how we opt to ride the changing tides is the only choice we really have. Do we flow or do we flounder?

Please feel free to post comments or respond to this message in the post/read comments section below. And thank you for passing the messages on!

Most fondly and humbly offered.