These last few days have been very uncomfortable for me, as if something is shifting but I'm not 'all in' with what the shift could mean. Like standing on the precipice but holding tightly to the wisp of a tree, unwilling to let go even though I know it won't prevent me from sliding down the hole.

I have heard that this a prevalent feeling right now, among those of us who work in the light. With Mercury Retrograde (what a retrograde it is) and the 11:11 stargate approaching, the shifting is palpable.

The big leaf maple still has some of her leaves. She has changed her colors to an almost strawberry blonde, with both red and golden highlights. There is some thought that she will be brought down this coming year, she just has gotten too big and dangerous for an urban city street. But I plan to enjoy her as much as I can until then. She provides welcome shade in the summer and opportunities for connections in the spring and the fall.

Kukui oil - if you have never heard of it - is the absolute best oil I have ever used!

While we were on Kauai I saw this oil everywhere. I didn't get the chance to use it while we were there - mostly was exposed to coconut oil and the like. I think coconut oil has a place in the human body, but maybe not necessarily ON the human body. When we got home, I did some 'research' on kukui oil. I was concerned about a couple of things. One, my hands were starting to show signs of aging. Two, my 'pregnancy mask' (the pigmentation on the face that usually accumulates around the cheekbones while pregnant) was getting darker. I read that kukui oil was a fantastic treatment for skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. I think I also read somewhere that it would lighten age spots.

I ordered some. I actually ordered some from two different places. I ordered some 'straight up' kukui oil from an organization called Maui Medicinal and I ordered some kukui body oil from Oils of Aloha. I started using these oils between 3 and 5 months ago. The impact on my skin is incredible.

Let me state at this point that I do not represent either of these companies in any way. I'm sure that there are other companies out there that sell kukui oil and I would encourage you to do your homework before you buy anything. This journal entry is just something that I have felt compelled to do for the last few weeks.

The pregnancy mask has almost disappeared. There is still some pigmentation there, but it is very light. My cheekbones no longer have that 'dirty' look. Another thing that I have noticed is that my pores appear smaller and I have fewer breakouts. This almost seems counter-intuitive - that an oil would prevent breakouts and blemishes. But whatever is in this oil has completely changed the texture and tone of my face. This is a real blessing to me, having grown up with serious acne problems, even into my 30's.

My hands do not have wrinkles in them any longer. Ladies - you know the ones I'm talking about. The wrinkles around your knuckles when you lay your hands flat. My skin is supple and smooth. I do not feel like I have 'old lady' hands anymore. I also had some darker spots, which I guess you could call age spots - and those have faded to almost nothing. I have a couple on my right hand that are still pretty visible but they are not as dark as they used to be.

Another interesting thing I have noticed about my skin is that it does not dry out. It stays moist all day long. I had a mole pop up on my inner thigh. I initially thought that it was an in-grown hair, but it developed into a bump. Since starting the kukui oil, the bump has flattened out and is now barely a dark spot on my leg.

Let me be very clear - I do not sell these products, do not get any type of reimbursement from these companies - I'm just your average jane consumer who wanted to share the benefits of these products with you! What I have come to know is that my body is more sensitive to the things that I put ON and IN it. And the kukui oil has been a real god-send. One other thing that I can report...my step-daughter has what appears to be eczema on her cheeks. She has been using the kukui oil, though not as regularly as me, and her bumps have lessened as well.

I love sharing information about good, solid products. I love encouraging people to use products that truly support their physical, mental and spiritual well-being. I apply the kukui oil even before I step out of the shower, before grabbing the towel. I'm fortunate that I live in an area where the water is still fairly free of large amounts of chlorine, so I feel comfortable doing this. If, however, you live in an area where the municipality treats the water heavily with chlorine and you do not yet use a filtered shower-head, please think twice about this process.

Life is....friggin hilarious.

I had an experience earlier this month that I have been trying to 'integrate' and understand. I'm not completely 'there' and I don't expect to be for quite some time, but as the days pass and my knowledge increases I come to know a little more than the day before. Duh. But it had to be stated.

I experienced two sessions with an intuitive healer. From those sessions came the confirmation of something I have known in my soul but did not have the confidence to accept as fact: I am a healer. A gifted healer.

It's a calling. And if you know anything about callings (if you don't, read "Callings" by Gregg Levoy) you know that they don't usually go away. This one has been stalking me for a while - and there were days when I thought I was ready to answer. Like the time I took the Reiki class. That was three years ago. There have been many other attempts to 'answer the call'. Trying to decide whether or not I could quit my job and attend Bastyr University. Spending hours on the internet researching different healing modalities.

Each time I was convinced that I didn't have enough brains, or have enough time, or have enough money...but I couldn't escape that burning desire.

I am heeding the call. I will follow the signs. I am scared but encouraged. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds over the next few days, months, years!!!!!

I received this message yesterday as part of the newsletter for Clarity International. I think it's a great example of how we are capable of being 'in the world' and still maintain our energy as catalysts for peace.

My dear friends,

I want to thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement.  We appreciate them.  The family that I have in Lebanon lives in the north, and is thankfully far from the shelling and overall conflict.

This entire situation has really forced me to think about peace, and what it means to me now.  I reflected a great deal on our walk to Jerusalem, and the message of peace that we embraced.  I had said then that peace is a choice, and that ultimately the power to create peace in our world rests in our moment-by-moment choices for peace.  This belief has been challenged and tested many times, and all I can tell you is that I am more convinced than ever that this is the way.

To the Croatian girl who watched her friends being raped in a Bosnian prison, I spoke about the choice to forgive.  To the Italian friends of a priest kidnapped and murdered in Peru, I spoke about the choice to love.  To the Christians who demonized Muslims, the Israelis who demonized Palestinians, and many more, I spoke about the choice to be open and tolerant.  Every time I was turned away while seeking help, I reminded myself about the choice to trust and seek the light in every person I met. 

Those same choices remain before us.  It's easy to fall into the drama and emotion of the situation in Lebanon and to allow the images to shape our views of right and wrong, good and bad.  It's difficult to be in a place of non-judgment.  These blatant images are pulling me to judge, and to feel angry and vengeful.  However, I have learned that by focusing on those feelings, I am feeding them.  By placing my energy and attention on the conflict, I'm feeding the conflict.  I'm attracting more of what I don't want.  For this, I have stopped watching all television reports.  I no longer engage in political discussions, hearsay or speculation.  I walk away or change the subject.  I am choosing to place my attention, and to use my energy, differently.

And although it's difficult to do, I'm trying to maintain an emotional distance and see the situation from a higher perspective.  I believe that Lebanon, like the rest of the world, is going through a process of tremendous change.  This change is for the good of all.  This change is bringing about a heightened consciousness for peace and moving all of us towards balance and harmony.  It is bringing us all to a point of choice, asking us to choose who we are with respect to conflict.  I choose to BE PEACE.  I choose to believe in the peoples' light, not their darkness.  I choose to believe that all actions are motivated by ignorance and fear, not by malice or so-called evil.

  

The greatest lesson I learned from my pilgrimage was that when I change my perspective of the world, the world around me changes.  It is a moment by moment, experience by experience CHOICE.  That is the work of peace.  It is inner work.  And it is hard work.  It is the work of changing our beliefs, of casting away thoughts of fear and judgment, so that our true light can shine.

That is my greatest wish in writing to you - that you allow this light to shine.   My contribution to peace right now is to hold on to the light of peace and love, and radiate it powerfully into the world, and especially into that region.  We can all do this - through meditation, prayer, visualization, intention, and many more techniques.  By focusing our collective energy on peace, I believe we can create it.

Thank you all for listening.  I hope this message resonates with you and compels you to new thought and action.  If there's interest in doing a group meditation, where we all agree to focus our energies at the same time from wherever we are, please let me know and I'll try to coordinate something that works across continents!  Please feel free to distribute this email widely.

With love and light,
Mony

My back was giving me fits yesterday so I stayed home from work. But when I was able to get up and walk around, I watched the leaves fall from the big-leaf Maple in our front yard. Some of them fell quickly to the ground, while others would get caught on a gust of wind and would be carried around the yard for a miraculous ride. The helicopters were falling as well. It was such a magical moment, watching the leaves fall from my window.

Today, while walking out to my car for lunch, I heard a frog. It stopped me in my tracks because it is not typical to hear frogs in the parking lot. I followed the sound, as did another colleague - and we located not one, but two frogs, hiding in the grape ivy, lowly croaking. Another magical moment.

It has been an interesting few weeks for me. This journey started around the first of the month. I was graced with the opportunity to have a healing session with a wonderful intuitive (MR). I saw her in two separate sessions. The information that she shared with me was sorely needed, like rain in a parched land, and the physical experience was a blessing.

I am called to be a healer. I am called to shine my light. If I choose this path, I will be able to help many people. Now I just need to figure out the 'how'. Or not. I think that I can stay awake and alert and watch for signs which will take me down the appropriate paths. Or not. :-)

Shorlty after my session with her, I had a karma clearing with a gentleman (KI) she recommended. I had no clue what this experience was about - but after speaking with him, I realized the importance of this gift. Since that experience, I have had very vivid, visual dreams. Some are repeat dreams that I have had at different times of my life. None of them have the same emotions attached to them as previously experienced. I am told, and I believe, that this is the result of me working out issues of my past lives. I have less anger in me than I did before. I also am experiencing my spirituality in a much different way.

It is really difficult to explain right now. For the first two weeks, I realized that I wasn't experiencing my spiritual life in the same way. I felt a kind of separation, but not between myself and God. It was weird. I mentioned this to MR and she suggested that what might have happened was that my spirit was more integrated with my body than before, and the lack of separation now allowed me to experience my spirituality in a more subtle way. That seems to fit, although I know there is still integration taking place and it will probably look/feel different in another few weeks.

As we head in to 11/11 and the energies of the planet continue to change, I'm interested in hearing about experiences of others who live/work in the light. For instance, I am experiencing a keener sense of the beauty of nature. I have always heard the birds, but I hear them more easily now, even in a city-scape. I'm intrigued by seismic information and seek out those occurrences frequently. Something I was inclined to do before, but not with the same sense of curiosity I now possess.

What things are shifting for you?

Last evening, I had the occasion to drive to the beach and experience the setting of the sun. An experience that I have sorely missed of late. I first saw the beginnings of a spectacular setting while driving through downtown - at which point I decided to drive over to the beach. I arrived just in time to observe the sun setting over the mountains in a most gorgeous and memorable way.  I sat and just enjoyed the moment. Observing the colorations of the sky. Cherishing the feelings that were washing over me - both old feelings and new. I wrote down some thoughts and then decided to go 'round the corner.  As soon as I got around the corner, I realized that the real magic had just begun. I stopped again. I got out of the car. I stood at the railing and watched the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life. The deepest, richest reds...reflected on the water. The cool breeze blowing. The silhouette of the mountains serving as a backdrop. I wept. A gentle, deep and cleansing shedding of tears. I am so thankful to have had that moment and it will stay in my memory until my dying day.

www.solari.com

For one complete day, the planet will be in a prime possession to have our intentions, our desires, our thoughts brought into the realm of possibility - x 1 million. It is extremely important that those of us who walk and live in the light be very clear and intentional about our thoughts that day.

Mission-1017 requires approximately one million people to focus on
positive,benign, good willed thoughts for themselves and the Earth and
Humanity on this day. Your thoughts can be of any nature of your choosing, but remember whatever you focus on will be made manifest in a relatively faster than anticipated time frame. To some the occurrences may almost be
bordering on the miracle.

Will you change it?

Today it is very clear to me that we who are carriers of light, who bear peace in our spirits, are called to hold that energy steadfast in the face of these most disturbing images and words coming from other parts of the world. We are not to shut off or shut down, we are to stand steadfast in the light and hold the energy, create the space for the good and the light to shine through. Because light does outshine darkness.