Monday, December 26, 2011

2011 Recap... Move forward - 2012 is waiting for you

We have entered the last week of 2011, Christmas has passed and now we are left with our thoughts, our accomplishments, our desires for 2011 and our goals for 2012. What were your goals for 2011? Did you accomplish them? Are they moving to next year? Did you realize there were some that do not belong to you but other people or conditioning playing in your life? Have you made space to create a new you in 2012? Have you put yourself first?

2011 was a peculiar year for me. I went into the Chinese woods and got lost in the Mandarin garden while trying to evaluate other decisions I have made in my life. Isn't it easier to focus your attention in something else than what's really ticking you? It's easier to get distracted or just focus 100% on something not essential while the other things that are wondering in your mind get to play and move around. The first part of 2011 was devoted to a Mandarin journey where I would be learning Chinese characters 24/7. If you know me, you know that when I put my mind on something, I do go 120% so I am not sure how we didn't end up having our full house revamped to look Chinese.... yeah you open the cabinet and you don't find rice, you find 水稻. The second part of the year was about finding myself again, getting out of the Chinese woods and finding the Priestess that was waiting for me to come back to her, to tell her that it's time to get back to business again. She was screaming "GET OUT OF THE MYSTS, I AM HERE, I AM STILL WITHIN."

I was very lucky to get to participate in a Queen Convocation by Rev. Ava Park, the presiding priestess of the Goddess Temple of Orange County in October and that rocked my world... yes, my 2011 goals/vision/plans got reshaped from October to now.... It was like getting into the twilight zone where I got to spend a lot of time with Lady Olivia Robertson and get a private ordination as ArchDruidess by her. Then, a few weeks after, I was participating in this seminar with Rev. Ava Park because Le'ema had invited me during 2011 Convocation.... One thing led to the next and my Priestess Queen self broke out of her cocoon and said "I AM HERE SISTER.... IT'S MY TIME" and let me vision and plan for 2012.

2012 is such a charged year with all the Mayan predictions and the feelings that the end of the world is nearby, just round the corner.... The message we get from society is "Panic!!!! Are you ready to die? The end is close" but in my mind the message is always the same... "Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is a gift. That's why it's called the present. ~ Queen of your Own life" so live today as if it is the last day of your life. Vision for the future but don't get attach, things always change, evolve and Goddess is guiding you all along. Your Divine Self what you need, it may not be what you want but it will be what you need to grow in this path, what will help you with your purpose in life, with your mission. Just let go of your need to control situations, let go of your thoughts, let your heart guide you and make 2012 the best year ever. You can live the life you are meant to live and not the one that others are telling you to live. Be strong, have clarity, and design the life you want for the year to come.

Many blessings )0(

Lady Carolina

Friday, December 23, 2011

New Moon In Capricorn and Winter Solstice

While I was reading about the New Moon in Capricorn in the Mountain Astrologer, I couldn't help but feel identified with the following paragraph:

"This New Moon encourages us to examine our traditions and fundamental way of life. Capricorn is symbolized by the mountain goat, and one of our primary challenges is to find and climb the right mountain, that is, to discover and keep moving toward our soul aspirations. We are conditioned from birth; our parents, education, culture, religion, country, and mass media all program us to see reality within certain bounds. Who we think we are and what we believe determine what we can do in the world. Capricorn and its ruling planet, Saturn, challenge us to become our own authority, our own judge of what is real, what is right and what are our true responsibilities." (by Sephanie Austin)

The question is what the right mountain in our lives is. It is so easy to get sidetracked and lose sight of our real purpose, our real goals, our real vision. We get bombarded with ads in television telling us what our goals should be, what we should aspire to acquire, what we should have to be happy but in reality, those are just visions from a marketing team whose main job is to sell you a product. We live in a world that is filled with data 24/7 and we are losing our connection with our spirit. We wake up in the mornings to get a cup of coffee and read our email or watch the news on television or read the newspaper. We live in a constant information overload that prevents us to listen to our soul and what its needs are. If we are not bombarded with should's and have to's from television or media, we always have our parents and society to reminds us how we should be, what we should have, how we should live. Our lives become a long list of conditionings that don't come from us, don't come from our vision, they come from other people's vision of reality. It is up to us to challenge those visions and create our own personal plan, our own personal list of attributes and things we need to accomplish to feel like we are climbing the right mountain and not somebody else's.

This week, in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrated the Winter Solstice. This day is the day when the light is the shortest and the darkness reaches its peak moment. Since the Summer Solstice in June, we have been walking in the darkness, going within and seeing what things we needed to let go of to create space for the new seeds that need to be planted. What do you want to manifest in the next cycle? What are your goals? What are your expectations? Did you face your shadow and let go of some unhealthy patterns that prevent you from growing and evolving? During the Winter Solstice we end the dark half part of the year and we move into the light part of the year. From that moment on, the days start getting longer and we start planning our goals.

These two events during this week allow us to sit down and draft the plan for the next six months o longer. It is time to determine what the right mountain for you is, what do you want to climb this next year and how that mountain relates to your soul purpose instead of the conditioning you have been living under all your life. It's time to go away for a little time and see clearly because in that clarity we will be able to create the life that we are meant to be living and not one that is put in front of us to live.

Many blessings,

Lady Carolina

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Today could be your last day - Live Fully

Yesterday I was in the movie theater when my heart went into one of its cycles. A little over three years ago I was diagnosed with a heart condition that makes my heart go faster even when I am sitting and it feels like I am running a marathon while sitting since my heart can go up to 150 sitting. It's a crazy feeling and makes me very uneasy since when it was diagnosed I ended up in the hospital and that experience was quite traumatic. This condition is treated with medication so when I got home took twice the amount and hoped for my heart to get out of the loop it was in and start acting normal. When I woke up this morning, the heart rate was still quite high so I took my medication again and try to relax. I started planning when it would be the time that I would go to the hospital if it did not go down since by that time, I've been with 120 heart rate for 10 hours and I was starting to feel dizzy. It was in that moment when I started thinking about my life and how I had been spending my time. If I were to die today, would I have devoted the amount of time I devoted to stress and drama in my life? Would I feel I have lived fully and with passion? Would I feel like I spent too much time worrying about the future instead of enjoying the present moment? Had I put work before loved ones? Had I put stress about stupid things before enjoying the sun and the fresh air?

Luckily, my heart went back to normal before the deadline I had placed to go to the hospital and I tried to relax the rest of the day. I was feeling drained and exhausted but in the afternoon I had the feeling that I needed some fresh air so I went outside and sat next to the trees. I started thinking again about how many times we take life for granted, how often we don't enjoy the simple things in life because we are worried about other things. I sat there watching two kids playing. They were having so much fun. I remember when I was a child and played like that. We don't need to stop enjoying life when we grow up, we need to remember to be thankful for what we have and the most important thing we have is our lives because if we are dead, we are no more. As I watched the kids the song "I hope you dance" by Lee Ann Womack came on and the lyrics were just perfect for that moment.

"I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'
Don't let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder, where those years have gone?)"

As I listened to this song and watched the kids playing, I thought about the times I may have decided to sit down instead of dance. Sometimes I feared the mountains in the distance and I had thought to take the path of least resistance but in the end, I know I don't want to regret the past so I will dance and I will take action to live each day like it is the last day - make each day meaningful, filled with love, passion, happiness, and gratitude.

Blessings,

Lady Carolina

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Never too late to say Thank You

I wanted to write this blog on Thanksgiving but somehow it did not make it through so I started thinking... Do we really need one day to give thanks and is it ever too late to say thank you? It is great to have a day to remind us that we have so many things we should be grateful for ~ the air we breath, our health, our home, our loved ones, our jobs, and so many other things that can make it to this list. Sometimes people get depressed and they can only see the bad or dark side of situations and they forget to be thankful for all the blessings they have and the most important one is being alive.

I'll be honest here, I have been dark, I have seen only the negative when I was facing a low point, but most of the time, I look around and I am grateful to be living in the United States where so many things we take for granted are not a given in other countries. When I hear stories about people not being able to buy certain currency in the country I was born, people dying of hunger in the world, women mutilated in countries where women are seen as less than men, I know I am very lucky to live where I live where I can express myself just the way I am. A Priestess, A Goddess Woman, a Queen. I am thankful for the fact that my family has always supported my path and I've never had to hide my beliefs. I am thankful for the many teachers I have had in my path and all the things I have learned from them. I am thankful for being able to connect with so many wonderful people.

It is always tempting to see the grass greener on the other side and look at others and say we would be happy if we had this, or if we were that, or if we could do this, or we can buy that. It is up to us to realize that happiness comes from within not from without. If we don't start feeling happy just for who we are, we will always be looking for outside things to make us happy. The same happens when we are looking for answers and we look outside ourselves without realizing all the answers we need are inside us already. Our higher spirit knows what we need, it's just up to us to stop looking outside for what is within and so close to us.

The other day when I was thinking about gratitude I remembered when I was reading the book the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra and the Law of Giving. In that Law, Deepak expressed how we should always give something when we go visit a friend or we come in contact with anybody. No matter what it is, it could be a flower or a prayer, it does not have to be something expensive. It is the gesture that matters because it will attract more positive things to us.

The same concept applies to gratitude and giving thanks. We can always find something to be grateful for. The sunny day, a warm day during the cold winter, the taste of chocolate, a nice meal with loved ones, among many other things. Make a point of be grateful for all the good things you have in your life and more will come to you. Like attracts like. If we want respect, we should be respectful. If we want to be loved, we should be loving. If we want people to be grateful to us, we need to express our gratitude ourselves. Start today. Say three things you are grateful for every day either when you wake up or when you go to bed. Try it and see how it works.

Blessings,

Lady Carolina