THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR TURNS - IMBOLC - FEBRUARY 1st – 2nd

The sap is rising in the trees.  Leaf buds are ever-so-slightly swelling.  Under the snow-covered belly of the Mother Earth, the faint stirring of seeds has begun.  Bulbs are pushing up.  Snowdrops and crocuses are breaking through the snow.  You can hear the difference in the chirping sound your backyard  birds are making, and you know they are building nests.  Ewes and nanny goats are ready for lambing and kidding.  The Wheel of the Year has turned once more.  

Warming The Earth from Winter To Spring

Imbolc marks the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox.  It is the true start of Spring. - - a new awakening under the sparkling frost of the slumbering fields.  This is the time when the waters begin to melt and flow, a time for cleansing and purification.  It is the time when we notice the sun’s light lengthening and our own spirits grow brighter as well.  This is the time, in the Celtic tradition, to honor Brigid (pronounced Bride), the goddess of water and fire, and the patroness of poetry, smith craft and midwifery.  She brings us gifts of inspiration, creativity and healing.  She is the patroness of childbirth and she watches over pregnant women and mothers.

Now is when we start our Spring cleaning, not only of our homes, but also of our bodies and minds.  It is a good time for purification diets (particularly for the liver and gall bladder) and for new perspectives, ideas, plans and goals.  Like the newborn lambs and kids taking their first wobbly steps and suckling mother’s milk for strength and nurturance, we give life and light to our own visions and wisdom, and take the first brave steps toward manifesting them into reality.  We sweep away the cobwebs from the corners of our rooms and minds and clear space for the newness that is blossoming within.

Life In The Belly

The word ‘Imbolc’ is pronounced IM-oke, or IM-ulg, and has two common translations.  One is “in the belly” and refers to the belly of the Mother [Earth] where the seeds are stirring with growth.  This translation can be seen to mean “in the womb,” as it also speaks of lambs, kids and calves that are also “in the belly.”  The second translation  is “ewe’s milk.”  These translations point to the traditional honoring of mothers and healers, and all those who nurture us.

I don’t remember where this chant came from, but I find it to be lovely and completely within the spirit of the emerging Spring.  I like to go from room to room in my house, lighting a candle in each room as I go, saying:

I open

Gently open

To the divine inside me

I open

Gently open

To the sacred light

I wish you strength and warmth in the returning light of the sun.  May you have a happy and blessed IMBOLC!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR OF THE HORSE!

The Year of the Horse is a generally positive one! Here is what Theodora Lau, renowned Chinese astrologer has to say:

A lively and high-spirited year for all. Life will be hectic and punctuated with adventures. People will find themselves reckless, romantic and carefree. A definite time for advancement. We will find it quite agreeable to keep in step with the delightful Horse.

This will be a time when decisions and projects will be incorporated at high speed and with efficiency. Action will be the key word. Everything is on the go and we should take care not to drive ourselves too hard. It will be a rewarding but exhausting year.

Exhilarating yet frustrating at times, this year's pace will tax our reserve energies and leave us feeling depleted. It is a good time for letting off steam and doing all the whimsical things you ever dreamed about. Listen to your senses. The wind may be changing constantly, but once you have picked up the scent, follow your intuitions.

Planning and procrastinating will be shoved aside. The impulsive influence of the Horse, coupled with his self-confidence, will dictate our actions and emotions. Industry, production and the world's economy will be on an upswing. Tempers, too, may be a bit frayed in areas of diplomacy and politics. But good humor will prevail.

Brace yourselves, the volatile Horse will quicken our pulses and bring tension and stress into our everyday lives. The Horse's tempo is fast, his disposition sanguine but erratic. But in spite of everything, we will retain his common sense approach toward money matters. An excellent time to strike out on your own. There will be freedom of movement this year. Be brave, bold and shocking!

I WISH A HAPPY NEW YEAR OF THE HORSE TO ALL!!!

HALLOWEEN AND HONORING THE DEAD

Although it is mostly a children’s holiday in the U.S., in many cultures Halloween is the traditional time for honoring the beloved who have left us.  They have gone on without us, with the compassionate help of the Angel of Death, to their next experience.  November 1^st is the Day of the Dead, but the celebration happens the night before on Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve (like New Year’s Eve or Mardi Gras).  On this night, the Veil Between The Worlds is said to be very thin and the deceased can easily find their way back to earth for a visit.  This makes communication with them more accessible, or you may even see them – thus the familiar ghost costumes.  Some cultures set a place at the dinner table for the departed.  Others put out wine and cakes or cookies.  Most cultures light candles to make it easier for the spirits of the deceased to locate their homes and loved ones.

It was a real joy for me to contribute as a presenter at the Shiatsu Symposium in Chicago in mid-October.  Not only did I have the great pleasure of introducing 40+ participants to their Personal Power Animals and showing them the advantage of giving a treatment using their “animal hands,” but I also got the rare opportunity to be a student in the other workshops.  One of the workshops was about using shiatsu in treating the grieving process.  I couldn’t help but think what a perfect time of year it was for this topic.  In Asian medicine, autumn is the season of the Metal Element, and the emotion connected with Metal is grief.  It was at this time of year I lost some of my most beloved – one of my best friends three years ago, my sister two years ago, and my most influential teacher last year.

Another feature of the Symposium was called “Dinner With The Instructor.”  It was an opportunity for participants to probe deeper on the subject of the class, ask about training, or anything in the field they wanted to know more about.  Instructors were told they could suggest a topic of interest that they would like the participants to bring up if they were interested.  I chose as my topic the lineage of Zen Shiatsu.  I realized that I may be one of the very few left alive in the United States who studied with both its founder, Shizuto Masunaga, and his Number One Disciple, Akinobu Kishi. 

When I was teaching at the Shiatsu Education Center of America in New York City in the 1970’s, I was one of four instructors who carried out the vision of the school.  Three of us – Pauline, Esther and I – took care of Master Masunaga when he came to New York to teach his week long seminars.  We were with him from breakfast until he fell asleep at the dinner table late at night.  It was such a privilege because we discovered that he would teach more of the essence of his work over food and drink than he did in the classroom.  Being privy to this made me hungry for more, but Masunaga lived in Japan and did not teach foreigners.

A different grouping of three – Pauline, Pamela and I – taught in Europe in countries where the school had students.  I had been to several countries many times and loved watching how different cultures understood and used the same information and techniques that we were teaching.  After a couple of years, students in Germany were complaining that we were not there often enough for them to advance their skills, which made me consider moving there.  Then Kishi came to New York.  He came only once, but I knew right away that I wanted to study with him.  He lived in Paris . . . and that was possible. 

By the time I was able to arrange to move to Europe, Kishi had moved to Germany.  That meant that there was a student body already waiting for a teacher.  I was able to stay for a couple of years because I had work to support me.  As is the traditional Japanese custom for student-teacher relationships, I lived in the same house with Kishi and had 24-hour access to his teaching.  It was a defining time in my life, and certainly the most fascinating and satisfying learning experience under the sun.  Kishi was extraordinary in his ability to accept life as it was, whatever presented itself to him, and to make the absolute best of it.  And he was a powerful healer of exceptional ability.  Being around him was an absolutely uplifting experience every day.  He has been the most significant influence on my practice – not so much in technique, but in how I understand energy and its movement through a life, the suffering and healing of a human being.

Kishi died in October of last year.  My “baby” sister passed two  years ago, and Pauline, whom I mentioned above and who was my good friend and colleague for 30 years, crossed over three years ago.  Esther died the year before Pauline and Pamela passed about 10 years ago.  There is no one left who shares that special part of my personal history that was so formative in molding the woman I have become.  And yet, I have some peace at this time of year because I know they are close.  And I know how truly fortunate I am to have had them in my life.  I am filled with love as I write this.  I feel my love for them and theirs for me.  And, even if there are tears in my eyes, there is a smile on my face and in my heart for all that love and for the sheer luck of having had them close.

On Halloween, what I have done for years to honor my loved ones is to light a candle at midnight and do a loving kindness meditation for my parents and ancestors.  I believe the energy that they invested in making their progeny was strong enough to live on.  In a certain way, I feel there is still a vested interest in my success and happiness.  So after sending love and gratitude, I sit quietly in the stillness, feeling so much love coming right back to me.  I sit . . . and I listen.  After all, if there is, indeed, a vested interest in my life, there may be a message for my future.  

This year, as well as including my ancestors, I will add my sister, my teachers and my friends to my meditation.  I wonder what inspiration they will bring!

May this Halloween bring your loved ones closer to you! 

MY STORY: FROM BEGINNING TO NOW (‘END’ IS YET TO COME)

All the practitioners I know in the field of healing say that, when they look at how they got to where they are, they can trace their choice of profession back to their childhoods.  I am no exception.  In my case, it showed up in the way I welcomed taking care of my four younger siblings, or how I would find a baby bird who had fallen out of its nest and bring it home to nurse into a fledgling.  I would feel so proud and joyful as I watched it fly away, sure that it would have a wonderful life.

My natural inclinations were undeniably influenced by being brought up Catholic (being half Irish and half Italian, was there any other option?).  As a child, I loved the incense, Gregorian chant and the ceremony of mass.  It was all in Latin then, so no words got in the way of my experience.  I absolutely loved Jesus.  I wanted to be a healer like him.  Even as young as 6 or 7, I was impressed by the way he could talk to people and have them realize that they could think and do things differently, that they could be loving and helpful . . . to themselves and to the others around them.  His laying on of hands, healing lepers and bringing back the dead, touched me in a profound way that went beyond the awe of the miracles.  I went to mass and communion daily throughout junior high and high school and prayed to be of service.

I went to a catholic college and chose a major that was called Speech Correction because I wanted to help people express themselves.  However, the nuns there were so nasty that I stopped being Catholic.  I decided to find out what spirituality had been like before it was institutionalized.  That was very enlightening because I discovered that indigenous cultures honored all of God’s creation, not just a hierarchy of church officials.  They did look up to their elders and leaders, but all their voices were heard.  And, unlike churches, women had the trust and respect of their tribes and clans, and were just as likely to be the leaders as men were.  This gave me a new sense of possibility.  I understood that even a woman could make a significant contribution to society.  [That might seem strange to say, but it was quite a revelation for a young woman coming to adulthood in the mid -1960’s.  Afterall, I had grown up in the 1950’s, and the movement for Equal Rights for Women didn’t even start until after the Equal Rights Amendment passed in 1972.]  I was inspired!

My inspiration was put on hold, however, because I married a pretty macho guy at the age of 21.  The Women’s Liberation movement hadn’t happened yet.  Several years later I marched for women’s rights, divorced, and moved to New York City to study Shiatsu.  Now I was living a life of my own choosing . . . and it was fantastic!  I was an enthusiastic and dedicated student.  I organized study groups so that I could be “in it” day and night, and I practiced on people all the time.  The school I was enrolled in was so pleased with my attitude and aptitude that they hired me to teach the beginning levels before I graduated!  They also hired me to work in their clinic after graduation. 

I met fascinating people and worked on stars from the movies, the ballet, modern dance and Broadway.  I learned yoga.  I became a Buddhist monk for a short time (or, as I like to say, a “monkette”).  I was sent to Canada and to several European countries to teach shiatsu.  Some amazing healers from Japan came to our school.  I found one of them to be so astounding that I moved to Germany to apprentice with him for two years.  Besides being an internationally reknown healer in the shiatsu world, he was a Shinto priest.  Shinto is the ancient indigenous spirituality of Japan.  He taught me much of what I know about healing, both on the physical and esoteric levels.  Just being being in his presence was an uplifting experience for everyone around him.  He worked “miracles” on those of us who studied with him. 

By this time, my own reputation was growing internationally.  I was recruited back to the United States to design nationally certified shiatsu programs in massage schools, community colleges and acupuncture colleges.  I did this over a period of 18 years in five states and many institutions, and loved spreading this beautiful work from coast to coast.  During this period, four national certifying agencies hired me as their subject matter expert (SME) for on-site visits at various schools to assess the eligibility of their programs. 

This was a very exciting and prolific time in my career.  From all across the country, twelve other practitioners and I envisioned a national professional organization for Asian bodywork that was distinct from European and American style massage.  We realized our dream in 1989 with the formation of the AOBTA (American Organization for the Bodywork Therapies of Asia).  I wrote the initial draft of the educational requirements for student clinic, and chaired the committee that brought it to completion.  Next, in the mid-1990’s, several of us worked with the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) to develop a national exam.  It took over a year and was a BIG accomplishment for our profession . . . and so satisfying.    

Throughout all these  years, there remained a continual inner drive to increase my understanding and skill set.  I wanted to know everything about what it means to be human, and how we become happy, healthy and wise.  I studyied with American chiropractors, European osteopaths and Asian acupuncturists.  I furthered my knowledge and practice of Asian medicine by on-going  personal, professional and tutorial relationships with my most influential teachers.  Sadly, they have passed on.  I miss them. 

Some of my most gratifying and fulfilling courses of study and apprenticeships have been those with native healers of different cultures.  I feel so fortunate to have been taken into such magnificent worlds of wonder – and to have been shown how to lead others there.  These are the realms within the human potential where spontaneous realizations and unexplainable remissions happen, where the mind is at peace and the soul rests in the silence of deep joy.

Yes, I have been lucky.  I have visited these worlds . . . admittedly, only for moments . . . but repeatedly.  My inner drive to sustain the stillness, the peace, persists.  And it is my sincere and heartfelt desire to share that space with those who want to know that experience for themselves.