Today is the Equinox Gateway.  It is another opportunity for those of us wishing to shine our lights brighter and willing to release more of our old ‘stuff ‘ to have a little sacred ceremony for ourselves with our guides and angels, and other lightworkers if we wish to, in order to receive another of the many downloads of New Light offered to us from those Light Beings overseeing and helping us with our ascension.  If you are willing and ready to receive this Light today, all you need to do is ask your guardian angels to assist you, sit quietly (if it is in Nature wonderful, but it doesn’t have to be)  and set the intention to receive the Light for your Highest Good and for the Highest Good of the universe and give gratitude.  It will flow into ALL areas of your life. Let it flow through you and out to the world.  If you are not ready – there are many more opportunities ahead.  I create a sacred ceremony for myself at these times with my angels and guides, yet usually it is not elaborate, although it can be if you so choose.  Your intuition will guide you as to what is right for you.  Simplicity is key for me.

Sacred ceremony is different from sacred ritual.  When I was in California in 2006 to participate with other lightworkers from across the world in the Angel Therapy (R) Practitioner’s course, we were instructed to release anything blocking our authentic selves – and – if we were unwilling at the time to do this – then we would have to return in the future  – as we would not be certified.  I was ready and therefore participated in the shamanic release sacred ceremony facilitated by one of my teachers, Dr. Steven Farmer.  It was not only life-changing for me, it was a sacred experience that I will remember the rest of my life as it was beautiful, moving and I entered into a shamanic trance as I danced around the fire with my rattles (on the beach)  with the Pacific Ocean as backdrop – and fed my ‘obstacles’ to the fire!  It was an elaborate and amazing experience and led by a very skilled and experienced shamanic practitioner.  Dr. Farmer is also a Soul Healer, ordained minister and psychotherapist so of course he brought his own special EARTH MAGIC to the ceremony that was one-of-a-kind.  Sacred ceremony is one-of-a-kind and that is what seems to mainly distinguish it from sacred ritual.  Dr. Farmer discusses the differences between sacred ceremony and sacred ritual in his fascinating book EARTH MAGIC.  “This collaboration with Spirit through inspiration is primarily what distinguishes a sacred ceremony from a sacred ritual.  Sacred rituals are just as valid and they may be employed by practitioners.  They may instill a sense of Divine presence, yet what sometimes happens is that the structure and accompanying dogma may override the opportunity to deeply feel the penetrating presence of God. ”  Facilitating a sacred ceremony means being open and ready to messages coming in from Spirit that suddenly changes the structure or form you planned.

This past Ides of March (March 15th in the Roman calendar) I facilitated a sacred ceremony for a group of women who responded to my workshop/fundraiser for a stray cat, Salome, who came into my life looking for help in finding a permanent loving home.  I found a home for Salome with a woman who rescues cats and I wanted to finance Salome’s spaying and adoption process.  Hence, the Animal Totem Workshop sacred ceremony I created and facilitated in Salome’s honour.  Having learned from Dr. Farmer, I allowed myself to create a loose structure that would turn-on-a-dime with messages from Spirit.  Surprisingly (actually not so much!) the entire ceremony and day was guided and we all were inspired and deepened our connection to the natural world.  Animals in particular.  The day was a full one.  I employed my sacred ceremony intuitive skills as well as a wealth of knowledge that I had gleaned over the years from my experiences with animals in the North where I was raised and also particularly from my experiences on Vancouver Island, and in Hawaii and Honduras where the spirit of place allows for easy realm shift.  My years of studying the works of D.H. Lawrence helped immensely.  I feel that Lawrence was a master naturalist.  We practiced our metaphysical skills, meditated, connected to our animal guides, danced, chanted, told many healing stories to each other and joyfully and reverently shared in our circle our deepening connection to the natural world, especially animals, through Spirit.  It was magical.  Men were welcome; however, none attended.

I was very happy that my sister was one of the participants.  Gillian added much to our gathering by agreeing to my request to read from a book she gave me for my birthday in 1983 that became part of my consciousness.  She set the tone with a passage I selected from WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES (Clarrisa Pinkola Estes, PhD)  This reading reminded us that even our most wounded instincts can be healed.  We can reclaim our Wild Woman and regain balance:  ” … we resurrect the Wild Woman in our natures, over and over again, each time the balance tips too far in one direction or another.  We will know when there is a reason for concern, for generally balance makes our lives larger and imbalance makes our lives smaller.” (pg.254)  Estes quotes from a poem by Charles Simic, with its ultimate teaching for us all: ” He who cannot howl, will not find his pack.”  So, we howled and communed.  Our pack was small but vital!  Sam Keen, author of FIRE IN THE BELLY, recommends Estes’ book for “men who dare to run with women who run with the wolves.”

We discussed the fears that emerge when women open up to the Light and reclaim their powers. A study of ‘her story’, elucidated by Diane Stein, reveals that as the christian church’s misogyny ( I put small c because I do not believe most Christians follow Christ’s teachings) increased, men began to enter healing in Europe and from the 5th to 10th centuries organized and controlled what had previously been a woman’s skill and purged women from it. ( THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE AND SELF-HELP editor Malcolm Hulke).  Diane Stein states: ” Women who were trained in healing in the old ways, usually the only ones providing medical care for their villages, were burned at the stake for being successful healers… The witch hunts eliminated competition from women who had greater knowledge and a more successful rate of healing.  It was a political ‘final solution’ to put men in control of women and of healing.  With nine million women dead by the end of the Inquisition, the campaign all but succeeded, sometimes leaving only one woman alive in a village.  The few women midwives and healers remaining by the eighteenth century were ridiculed and discredited for their knowledge, as male doctors took over their practices.  These early doctors continued to have less knowledge than the healers and far more failures.  Unlike the women healers, their services were restricted to those who could afford to pay, leaving many without healthcare at all.” ( ALL WOMEN ARE HEALERS by Diane Stein).  The first act of Dr. Doreen Virtue and Archangel Michael when I participated in the Angel Therapy (R) course – was to cut our etheric cords ( with our permission) attached to these fears in ALL directions of Time .  I still cut mine almost weekly, having been burned at the stake in a past life as a ‘witch’.  Thankfully, while they were greatly outnumbered by women – we had some enlightened men in our class who allowed us to give ‘voice’ to our truth – as some of them had been women in past lives!  It takes courage today for both women and men to reclaim and practice ancient healing techniques; however, as our conventional western healthcare system erodes and as the misuse of antibiotics has created so-called  superbugs more people are exploring ancient ways of healing in conjunction with modern medicine.  Realizing that they  are both useful.  People are aware that they need to become engaged in their own healing and some people such as a retired truck driver in the UK  ( who developed a lotion that resists MRSA while trying to help his wife) are exploring for themselves solutions to current medical issues such as superbugs. Many women are ‘remembering’ and returning to ancient techniques such as herbs, Reiki, acupuncture, shiatsu, and reflexology and others while also broadening and refining the ‘old’ ways.  This work also includes those of us working with animal spirit guides and animal medicine to empower and heal.

I have been working with my primary animal spirit guide for quite a number of years and I am a certified Reiki Drumming Practitioner & therefore I did a Reiki drum healing for our ‘pack’.  We discussed the importance and imperative of knowing our spiritual allies.  They each have their own energy signature and gifts and can help us with guidance as well as protection and healing.  Once I had made the decision to offer the workshop I was marinated in the energies of 19 animals (over a six week period) who came to me in ordinary reality, non-ordinary reality and visions and dreams and offered their help and gifts.  I am deeply honoured and in awe.  Thank you!  I shared some of the amusing incidents that occurred with our pack.

At our sacred ceremony we honoured and celebrated the horse as it is currently the Year of the Horse in the Chinese Astrology calendar.  Lily Choo says that the “arrival of the Year of the Horse is a time to reconcile differences, let go of grudges, and sincerely wish everyone peace, health and happiness.”  We did just that!  We gathered in our circle and joined in a closing prayer of thanks to Mother Earth and to all of her inhabitants – animals and otherwise.   It was a lovely sacred ceremony and now I will accept the new Light that is offered all of us today, through the Equinox Gateway.

Love,  Monica