Pope Francis Speaks up for the Environment

When I was a kid, our local church was on a hill near the ocean. The wall behind the altar was made of glass and through it we could see the sky, the trees, and birds, squirrels or even dogs running by. We were in nature without being exposed to the elements. Every Sunday I tuned out the priest (oops!) and took in the view instead. I don't know if I believe creationism but if I did, it would make more sense to meditate and pray in nature. I find that my intuition is louder when I'm sitting in a park, and energetically it also becomes very clear that we are all part of one living breathing ecosystem. 

Somehow we've lost sight of the fact that hurting the planet ultimately hurts us as much as it hurts the environment. This is why I was thrilled to read Pope Francis' Environmental Encyclical last week, an  open letter imploring all of us to take better care of the planet. He starts by referencing St Francis of Assisi, whose name he took, as a prime example of  respect for non-human lifeforms. Pope Francis also condemns the view that we own the Earth and have the right to pillage it's resources. We've been doing it for centuries without any thought for the consequences, which he also lays out:

Climate Change and Pollution: Here he highlights the damage that fossil fuels are doing to the environment and calls on our governments to look for other, sustainable sources that won't wreak havoc on the climate. He also mentions environmental toxins that make people sick and all of the trash that our society creates (though population control isn't mentioned). I think this point has to be tackled at a macroeconomic level although I wouldn't underestimate the voice of the public. It's a shared responsibility we all have, especially when we consider our consumption habits and "brand" loyalties. 

The Water Crisis: This is a hard one to wrap your head around, if you think that 70% of the surface area on the earth is water. Fresh drinking water can be hard to come by in some parts of the world, putting human survival at risk and also increasing the cost of our food supply. Also, growing up in California we were constantly told to be mindful of our water consumption because of the droughts. I learned to appreciate rain so much that living in drizzly London for five years felt like a dream.

Loss of Biodiversity: I'm a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio's Facebook Page, and even though I love his movies, it's the environmental posts that grabbed my attention. Elephants are in danger of extinction because of the illegal ivory trade, and a lot of that ivory finds it's way to the US through legal misdirection. We know and love elephants so we're moved to action, but as Pope Francis points out in his encyclical, there are plant and animal species that we're not even aware of, and they are likely being wiped out by commercial developments that affect our rainforests and oceans. We don't really know what the implications will be or how it will affect that "global equilibrium"  

Quality of Life: Our social structures are also affected when we deplete the earth's resources and build cities that grow into the tens of millions of residents without proper planning for water, transportation, clean air and waste management (especially common in developing nations).  I can attest to this as my hometown has more than 20 million inhabitants and being near one of the few parks is a huge privilege. We need fewer cars on the streets and better urban planning when it comes to new developments. Not being able to drink water without boiling it is also a hassle, so we buy twenty-gallon jugs instead. 

I don't know enough about sustainability but I'm keen to learn. So far Netflix and blogs have been my main source of inspiration. There's a great Ted Talk where the speaker starts by Googling "paradise" and he comes up with pristine nature scenes. There's a reason so many of us crave holidays on a remote beach or in the mountains. We have (or had) that, but our way of life is pushing that paradise further and further away. Spending time in nature can also be healing on so many levels and we are shooting ourselves in the foot by trampling our surroundings and pretending that nothing is wrong. 

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Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to unlock your intuition. 

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Active Meditation

Today I finally went back to the gym and did a full session. First time after my fainting spell earlier this week. The last time I joined a gym I felt totally intimidated by the place and stopped going when the sun came out again. London parks are so much more appealing than indoor training rooms! To make it worse, the gym lost my "notice" sheet so they went on charging me. We haggled over it for months before they admitted their mistake and stopped harassing me.

Now that I'm going to the gym my body feels more alive and energised. At least in the evenings when I get home from the gym. Waking up the next morning is so tough! But overall I feel much better. I'm releasing the toxins that were held in my bones and muscles, and the emotions associated with them as well. Its also nice to get in shape again and work on a little bit of muscle tone. Not so much weight loss, my holiday in Mexico took care of any excess pounds. Evidently I've been in the UK long enough to lose touch with the flu bugs that give flavour to our delicious national cuisine. And I ate a lot of it LOL 

So the toxins are going out, out out!

Tonight I felt motivated to cook myself dinner after the gym. I hadn't cooked in a while and it turned out very very badly. My healing skills are definitely better than my cooking. I bought big button mushrooms and left them to simmer in olive oil, a touch of salt, balsamic dressing and Tabasco. I also bought little chicken strips and grilled them on the stove with Nando's Peri Peri sauce. Somehow the supermarket Nandos sauce is nowhere near as good as the real thing in the restaurant. The chicken was done cooking before the mushrooms, and I made the mistake of pulling the mushrooms out when they were soaking in juices. 

My mom tells me that mushrooms are dry to start out with, after about 10 minutes they release tons of water and you have to leave them until that water dries up. Its not bad for you if you don't, but it doesn't taste so nice (at least not the way I like em!) The chicken was going to burn though and I didn't think to leave it covered so I took the mushrooms out, tried draining them by putting a plate over the top of the pot and letting the water run out in the sink. 

The thing about not cooking is that you don't bother buying the proper kitchen utensils. Last week I didn't have a ladle to pour soup with, and today I didn't have a stringer thing to drain my mushrooms. Sometimes I think the only thing that keeps my blog from morphing into a magical healer blog is the fact that I don't cook. All of the cool witchy bloggers spend tons of time in the kitchen. I have however, spotted a Goddess here and there when working on clients. 

I try not to label things, we don't know enough .... 

But I digress. Evidently if you poor wet soaking mushrooms onto a plate with chicken, the meat will soak up the water and become very mushy. It was like eating soup on a plate. If you ever want to thank me for a free healing session, buy me lunch! The only good thing about this whole ordeal is that I was 100% focused on my task, so it counts as a working meditation. Meditation is about being grounded in the moment and not letting your mind drift. I was very focused on the cooking and forgot all about the outside world.  

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Reiki hugs, Regina 

A Pagan Priestess

I had been looking forward to last week's Angel Intuition class for days, weeks even. It was Uriel's turn to lead the class. He's the Archangel of Fire, prophecy, mysteries, magic and many other things. He also helps us discover our soul purpose and our spiritual identity. It's a big thing to look forward to! 

Rather than jump into the opening meditation, our teacher began by asking how we planned to use our skills. Did we want to become professional psychics? Would we be interested in giving healing messages from the angels?  Angels are known and accepted all over the world. We read about them in the Bible, they are on hundreds of Hallmark cards, and with the likes of Doreen Virtue there are also dozens of books on angel channeling, angel healing and angelic influences. In the Bible angels can even come across scary, for example Archangel Michael casting Lucifer out of Heaven. 

But aside from that, most of the angelic references are warm and fuzzy descriptions of love, comfort, and reassurance. All of this is true, but in my experience angels are also strong, powerful and vibrant beings. They are result oriented, for example I wouldn't call on Archangel Michael unless I wanted him to do something tangible for me.  It can be as simple as delaying a train so that I won't miss it. And when he doesn't delay the train, he delays the meeting that I couldn't be late for. True story!

With this in mind you can imagine how invoking Archangels every week brings disruptive change to your life. I missed the first week with Michael, which was just as well because I’ve been calling on him for two years. Gabriel was direct with his “communication” messages and Raphael was brilliant from a healing and grounding point of view. This week was Uriel's turn, and he's known for helping us find our soul purpose. This is why the class started with a discussion on our vocational interests, rather than a healing meditation.  

So how does this fit into my life? Technically this is a psychic development class and though I do enjoy it, I'm not keen on pursuing it professionally. Maybe it’s because I stress out when I'm put on a spot, but more importantly, I have little patience for questions about the future, jobs or relationships [oops!]. 

Our soul knows the answer to these questions and if we made a consistent effort to connect with our Higher Self, we’d see things clearly. I’d rather point clients in this direction and give them an intuition book. If they’re already on this path, the occasional psychic reading will give confirmation for what they already know. The responsibility ultimately lies with the client, and having connection to HS will let them listen to  advice without losing their  personal power. I'm still forming this opinion, but it will shape my approach to psychic readings in the future. 

So what's left? I really enjoy healing, and there is more to this than energy work. A good-channeled message can be as therapeutic as anything else. The good news is we were given an opportunity to explore all of these topics in last week’s class! The teacher put us in pairs and told us to ask for a healing message. The classmate I was working with was getting over a bad flu. It was the first time she had been out in a week and the teacher suggested that I give her an energy healing if it felt appropriate. 

The first thing that popped into my mind was an article on the side effects of energy work, one of which is dehydration. Water is charged with energy and emotions, just think of the Suit of Cups in any tarot deck. It also enables the flow of energy through our body. If there is too much energy work going on we run the risk of becoming dehydrated. My classmate was getting the flu because she wasn't drinking enough water to bankroll her energy requirements. Drink more water - a simple yet effective healing message.  After this quick reading I gave her a potent mini-healing, focusing on her immune system and on her grounding. 

Now comes the fun part!   

As I mentioned earlier, I had been asking for clarity on my soul purpose and my career. By career I mean anything that takes up enough of my time and energy to become a full time job and part of my personal identity. The questions I've asked myself include: do I want to be a mom, a wife, a career woman, a healer, a psychic, an author, a friend, or even a free floater? My soul knows the answers, but  insecurity and ego get in the way. Intuition tells me that I am not interested in climbing the corporate ladder for "height's sake." I'm still on the fence about marriage and family life. I absolutely love healing but I’m still a newbie so the role it will play in my life is unclear. And then we've already established the fact that I am not keen on exploring psychic readings for $$$.  Despite my blog title I don't think of myself as psychic in the traditional sense. I like to think that I see and hear things when I am grounded and energetically open. The only difference is that I now try to make this part of my daily routine.

Like I mentioned this was Uriel’s week and I was hoping for some answers. My classmate started by telling me that she'd seen a past life of mine. It was a very detailed vision and it took her a few minutes to collect her thoughts. She had seen me as an old woman drawing water from a stream in Mexico. My classmate – let’s call her Rachael - had been to that spot in her travels and she identified it as sacred space.  She went on to say that I had been a source of strength and wisdom for the community in that incarnation. I was some sort of priestess, and worked very closely with water. She saw me drawing a bucket from the stream, and sharing it with the community as a tool for protection and healing. 

It was a reassuring message and I was fascinated by the glimpse of my past. I could see the scene through my brow chakra, and though I couldn’t see myself the vibe was very clear.  At this point out teacher interrupted Rachael and asked her what the reading meant for my current life.  The message was that I have all off that ancient knowledge in me and I just had to unlock it. Finally, she closed the reading by telling me she saw a crescent moon on my forehead, representing the priestess aspect of that life. The word she used was Crone, I had look online but I’m not sure how to interpret it. Would love to get your feedback on this one! 

The whole reading fits in one heavy paragraph, but there is a lot to think about in terms of what it means for my life. When I started out writing this post it was called Medicine Woman but I've been moved to call it Pagan Priestess. Not that I’m pagan in this lifetime, I do feel in my heart that there's a God out there. And though I apply selective amnesia with the Church’s doctrines, my belief system is loosely based on Catholicism [almost like a movie adaptation that has the same characters, but a different series of events]. 

Even so, the image of the Pagan Priestess has a spiritual connotation that I am drawn to, not to mention a strong feeling of empowerment. I really enjoy healing and will continue stick with it, but looking back on the reading I get the feeling that even energy healing will be too narrow in scope. We'll see how it goes, for now I am still defining what I stand for and how I want to live my life. I'm being pulled in a new direction, but given this reading the it may not be so new after all. 

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Reiki hugs, Regina