New Blog Site

Namaste Reflections is now being posted as Spirit Sounds. 
The new address is http://spiritualhealingtemple.blogspot.com/
Please update your bookmarks!  Note:  Namaste Reflections will remain online so that that previous blogs are archived for your use. 

Sacred Geometry All Around

This past week I attended a spiritual workshop on crystals.  As part of the workshop we were reminded of the significance of the fractal geometry that appears everywhere.  When I was in high school, I grew crystals from chemicals.  I remember my amazement at the precise geometric shapes that materialized in the liquid; from ground-up chemical powder, the proper geometric form materialized as the water evaporated from the solution.  The crystals grew into being much the same as new life forms within the womb.  

Walking through a garden I looked at the blossoms on the lilac bush and discovered that each tiny blossom is an equal armed cross.  I am told that if we look through a microscope at our bodily cells, we will see the component that holds our cells in place -- and over and over again, between each cell, that component forms the equal armed cross.  

Take time to notice the intricate design in the world around you.  Celebrate our Creator!  Know that each and every one of us was created as a beautiful Light Being.  Remember who you are!

Angels All Around

Yesterday as I embarked into my day, filled with unexpected challenges, I paused and lifted a prayer to God for protection for all that did not come to me through the Christ.  I prayed for the protection of the angels.  As I left my house, and pulled onto the road, I gazed on the horizon and was surprised by the flash of a clearly visible laser beam of light shooting down from the sky.  In awe I continued on my journey.  Shortly after pulling onto the highway, my eyes again drifted to the sky.  And there, magnificently in front of me, was a glorious angel formed in the clouds.  These were not ordinary clouds either.  These clouds held a lavender hue.  There was no mistaking that God was using the clouds to permit me to see the glory and magnitude of at least one heavenly host that She had sent to be with me.  I heard clearly that whenever clouds of this type appear that they are angelic. I was overcome by this Gift.  And, I was thankful that at least in that moment I had the "eyes to see".     May your day be so filled with the Gift, and may you, too, have the eyes to see!


Photo Source, Google Images: natureangel.com/Obama_Cloud_Angel_Photo.php
While the above cloud is not the one I saw, it is very similar. Mine had greater detail and magnitude. Pictured is the type of cloud I saw.

Prayer for Water

In the book, SoThat You May Be One: from the Visions of Joa Bolendas, there is a channeling shared that was given by the Blessed Mother, Mary.  This one called "The Third Message of Wisdom: Water for Life" is of great importance to us now, in the midst of the oil flowing into the waters of the Gulf.

In my prayers this morning, I was told that I must share this with you and ask you to enter into this prayer daily for the cleansing and healing of the ocean waters, the flora, the fauna, and creatures of the sea and shore.  The following is the prayer given by Mary:

"Kneel down,

and make the sign of the cross over the earth,

Rise up,

make the sign of the cross towards the sky adn say:

'In the name of Jesus Christ,

I ask you, God, to move fire toward the sky and let rain fall!'

Do not forget this in case of nuclear war.  Then the air is dry.

It will save millions of human beings and living creatures.

After this prayer,

wash yourself from head to foot.  Oil your forehead.

Go forth upon the earth again.  It is healthy to do this."

I was instructed to share this prayer with you, and to tell you that you are to include in this prayer, "I ask you God, in the name of Christ, to move fire toward the sky, to cleanse the sea, heal its broken floor, heal the flora, fauna, and creatures of the sea and shore, and let the cleansing and healing rain fall."

I was told that if we pray this daily, that it will save much for our planet. 

Namaste!

Lessons I Learned From My Mom and My Grandma

Lessons Learned from Mom
1. When your children are young laugh, play, and create with them!
2. There is always "a way" if you don't get "stuck the box". Be creative in all that you do.
3. Always have a dog and a cat. They can be best friends and a great blessing.
4. Believe in yourself. You can do it! Help others see that they can do it too!
5. Give your all to all that you do, and do it the best that you can do.
6. Never stop loving.
7. There is great joy in creating with the hands. From a piece of thread great things can be made.
8. Music connects with and flows from the heart. Every day should have music in it!
9. Great Cooking is an act of love.
10. Worshiping God is important. It is alright to worship in different faith traditions -- they all hold a beauty of their own.


Lessons Learned From My Grandma
1. There is deep peace in being with those you love. Be with them often.
2. Always offer food to those who come to your house. It is the heart of hospitality.
3. Great Cooking does not need a recipe. It comes from the heart.
4. Do the unexpected. Paint!
5. Call forth the artist in those you love. There is joy in painting.
6. Let your words flow forth -- be a writer!
7. Winter is a beautiful season. Embrace the gift of being "snowed-in".
8. There is great purpose in all that happens. It is not for us to understand.
9. Spend time every day in devotion and meditation with God.
10. Never lose your joy -- even when your heart breaks.

Deep Peace

It amazes me that it has taken me 50+ years to finally stop and just be beside the waters.  And, oh, what a wonderful deep peace that brings -- a gift from God.  If you have not yet permitted yourself to receive that glorious gift, do it today.  Take an afternoon, better yet, take a day! Find a quiet peaceful place to sit near the waters and allow its vibration to be one with yours. 

Joy

Everyday we communicate with words.  Yet, how little we think about those words and what they really mean.  For instance -- what is the difference between happiness and joy;  between saddness and sorrow?  I have not turned to the dictionary to see what it has to say -- this I speak from my journey. 

Happiness and saddness have a more fleeting nature.  How often do we think, "I would be so happy if .....";  but, do we think, "I would be so joyful if . . . "?  I don't think we do say that, because so often happiness is conditional, and its opposite sadness is conditional.  Certainly, we have known people who could be sooo happy one minute, and sooo sad the next.  The conditions change and we move quickly from happiness to sadness -- as I think about it, it is much like the weather! 

Joy and sorrow are different.  Joy and sorrow penetrate deep into the heart -- they are connected to God.  I can be filled with joy and sorrow at the same time -- they are both attached to Divine Love.  When we reach a state of being that is "Joy", it is very difficult to ever truly leave that state of being.  Why?  Because to leave it, we must disconnect from the Divine.  When we feel "sorrow", we are acknowledging that Divine Love within us that we hold for God's Creation, and we are experiencing a small taste of Divine Sorrow.  Sorrow is Love overflowing in tears of the heart.   

Check your emotional barometer today and see if it registers happiness, sadness, joy, or sorrow.    Consider what that means. Reach out to the Divine.   And then, watch for God's Joyful Surprise in your life! 

God's Creatures

This morning as I sit and consider the wonders of the universe, I gaze upon my golden retriever, Grace, and my my siamese cat, Royal.  The two lie curled-up together at my feet.  Peacefully, Grace rests while Royal with eyes closed, blissfully washes her.  It is a routine that happens at least once every day.  The relationship between these two creatures is truly beautiful.  There is much to be learned from the creatures that surround us.  May we all have this peace and caring for those we encounter.
Blessings of Light!

After Easter

Isn't this time of year wonderful!  Easter arrives and we celebrate the darkness being overcome by Light -- the Light of Christ in the Ressurection!   And, as if to shout, "Yes!" out of the brown decay of winter, the flowers burst forth.  Be reminded of God's presence in your life when you see the flowers of spring!

Celebrate the Light of All Faiths This Easter!

As we are nearing Easter, let us celebrate the Love that the Creator has for all of us!  Let us celebrate that this Divine Source, whether known as God, Goddess, Christ, Adonai . . ., has met each of us where we are, and in that meeting in Time faith traditions have grown.  God is so awesome, so BIG, so all encompassing, that we cannot begin to comprehend all that She is, and all that He has been and will be in a Time that has no beginning and no ending.  But, what we do know is that we are greatly Loved by the Divine Source.  We know that there really was a man named Jesus who walked this earth, that he is Jesus, The Christ, and that the Christ is there for us!  We know that while all do not agree on who Jesus was, most traditions recognize that at the very least He achieved Enlightenment;  many see Jesus the Christ as an Avatar -- not the only one, but one who was truly God walking among us; and, for traditional Christians, Jesus is the Light, the Way, our Savior. 

This Easter, let us celebrate that Light of the Divine that has touched humanity throughout this planet, planting seeds for faith traditions that have grown into our world religions. 

Let us Celebrate that indeed God Is With Us!

Surrounded by Angels Unaware

Isn't it curious that so many of us go through our days unaware that we are surrounded by angels who are there helping us and waiting to really help us if we would but ask.  I speak to this from my own experience of growing-up in a United Methodist tradition where angels seemed to only come into "life" at Christmas when we presented our annual Christmas Pagent and so many of us wanted to get to wear those wings!  Yet as we read the story of Jesus presented in the Bible, angels were certainly present with Him throughout his entire story.  And they were actively there -- helping Him, ministering to Him, and yes, even protecting Him.  Why is it that this fact in the Bible -- and with so many others in the Bible is so ignored in the Protestant church -- or at least in the Methodist churches that I was part of ?  

As we have just spent several months communing with angels in our worship services at the Spiritual Healing Temple, I have come to know them.  I am so thankful that over these past few years my spiritual path has shifted to allow me have the angels become a truly real part of my life.  

If that has not happened for you yet, take time this week to quietly sit and focus on the angels.  Invite your Guardian Angel to speak to you -- you might be surprised by the glorious being who walks with you!

Living Waters

In sacred texts we read of the blessing of going to the "living waters" -- those deep springs that flow filled with a freshness that brings renewal to the body.  Indeed, whenever we come to meet the Divine in meditation and prayer, we allow our spirit to go directly to the ultimate Living Water -- to be filled, cleansed, renewed, and yes, even reborn -- a new life springing from the waters of God.  How can we say that we do not have time -- have life -- for this?  What could possibly make us believe that anything is more important than going to those Living Waters over and over again! 

May you find your way this day to the Living Waters, that you may be refreshed renewed, knowing that indeed you are a precious child of Mother God who is loved beyond measure.

Joy in the Journey

Hope

My mother left her home and traveled to another part of the country to be near me and filled with hope that someone would be able to find a way to restore her and remove her from a world of intense physical pain.  During the time she was here, she opened her heart to come to know God on a level that she never had before.  Over the months her health deteriorated rapidly, and by January she had lost her ability to do most things, and was in excruciating pain most of the time.  On February 17 she left this world of pain to be in the glorious Light of Creator.  Following her death I was filled with great sorrow that my mother's hope had not been fulfilled.  You see, I was defining a release from pain as being accomplished by a medical procedure.  But, tonight as I listened to Michael Card singing  Joy in the Journey, I suddenly realized that God had answered her prayer by lifting her out of this world of pain and by carrying her home --home to a place of pure love and light-- a place free from pain.  Indeed, her hope had been realized!  God always answers our prayers -- and often in ways that we do not expect. 

I share the words from the song:

JOY IN THE JOURNEY

There is a joy in the journey

There's a light we can love on the way

There is a wonder and wildness to life

And freedom for those who obey

And all those who seek it shall find it

A pardon for all who believe

Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind

To all who've been born in the Spirit

And who share incarnation with Him

Who belong to eternity stranded in time

And weary of struggling with sin

Forget not the hope that's before you

And never stop counting the cost

Remember the hopelessness when you were lost

There is a joy in the journey

There's a light we can love on the way

There is a wonder and wildness to life

And freedom for those who obey

And freedom for those who obey...

Whisper

I received the following in my email this morning.

I share it with you!

Click on the link below.

http://home.att.net/~mcp3_2000/_classics/013/whispers.htm

Renewal in Spring

Spring

Pouring

Rain

  Into

New Glory!

Renewal!  God's Gift!  Spring!

Power of Words

Looking at this picture, I am struck by the seeming pleasure of the moment that this threesome is sharing.  I can imagine that they are sharing "words" with one another that bring forth the energy that manifests in the closeness exhibited here.  Words are most powerful, and they carry an energy that can quickly become the fuel for the fire that raises our vibration  -- be it vibrations of love and joy, or vibrations of anger and sadness. 

Why is it that we so quickly forget the very real power in words that we speak in our walk with those around us -- at home, at work, in worship, wherever we might be.  May we never forget that it was  from the Word that all creation came into being; and that we, too, are made in the image of God with the power to create for good or for bad with the words we use. 

Imagine yourself gathered with those in your daily walk and being observed as you share your words -- what would your picture look like -- love? joy? happiness? sadness? 

As we enter into this new day may all of our words carry the power of creation for the love and joy of God!

The Heart of Music

The music pieces we love are the memories we cherish.  They are the family, the spiritual life, the dreams of our lives.

***

If you know what music it is that you can't bear to hear, you'll know what memory it is that you haven't come to peace with yet.

from Listen With the Heart by  Joan Chittister

When I read these words, I thought how true it is!  Music reaches into the deepest parts of our inner being.  I have been profoundly touched by music.  In fact, it was music -- the music of Michael Card -- that broke the "stone" around my heart and released my soul to reconnect with God many years ago.  His music still touches me in a way that most other music does not.  Emmanuel by Michael Card brings me to tears of joy as I am reminded of that moment of stepping into total bliss and joy and awe as I for the first time had the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the heart to know the Light of Christ -- God with us -- in Master Jesus.  That moment totally changed my life.  How beautiful to be brought back to that memory in the heartbeat of music! 

And, yes, there is that music that brings me painfully to other moments that need to be healed -- that, too, is God's Light shining, speaking.

What heartstring is music strumming in your life?

Blessings of Light!

Rev. Mary Ann

Listening to the Body

Do you ever have aches and pains that just won't go away -- that seem insistant on being with you for more than just a day?  Have you ever considered if your body is trying to "tell" you something?  Over the last couple of decades I have come to appreciate that this is what is happening.  And, I have been able to go even a step further -- I know that it is really my body being used by God to get my attention and make me listen to what She has been saying to me. 

In one case I suffered from double vision -- but only of light producing images -- for several months (I had been told earlier in prayer to leave my job; I had not done so as I was in a very good job and making a very good salary).  When I finally resigned from the job, the double vision went away and I was contacted to enter into my first church as a minister.

I have come to understand that when God speaks, we are expected to listen and to follow.  Sadly, we often do not have the ears to hear, and so we suffer, not understanding that God is there.   I have learned to ask -- is this pain or this dis-ease  something that carries a message from you, oh God, to me? And, when I ask and listen, I always get an answer.  It is not always the answer that I want to hear.  That does not matter -- but, what does matter is whether I do all I can to walk at one with God. 

Sometimes we overburden ourselves with all that is presented us in this world.  It can be harder to know and understand what to do when so much is tied to the heart.  It is then that we especially need to sequester ourselves to be in total communion with the Divine.  The answers will come -- but not necessarily as we expect or when we expect.  But, when we finally "know" and listen and follow there will always be deep peace to follow -- and maybe, just maybe, that pain will go away.

Be a companion with your body today and see if it is speaking to you!

May Light fill your day!

Rev. Mary Ann

A Blanket of Light

In Art -- White is Light

A gift falling around us

God's Light -- snow on snow.

No Coincidences

This morning as I stood gazing from my kitchen window, I saw a beatiful cardinal perched within the bare bush across the yard.  There were no other birds there -- only the cardinal.  As I looked at this beautiful red bird, I thought, "Seeing this bird now is no accident;  I must look up the meaning of this bird appearing now."  As the day unfolded, I forgot about the bird -- my mother being very ill and possibly on the verge of passing.  But, tonight as I reflect upon this day, I "see" more clearly. 

My mother's favorite bird is the cardinal! 

And what does it mean when the cardinal appears:  To know that what you do is important.  That certainly is a message that was given to me by my mother. 

Thank you, cardinal, for appearing today.  Thank you for reminding me that everything that I do is important and has purpose.  And, thank you for your message that when I see you, I will know that Mom is sending her love to me. 

Yes, there really are no coincidences if we have the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the heart to know, and the wisdom to understand.

*********************************

(Mom' Cookbook will be available in limited quantities during her Calling Hours. For convenience, I have also loaded this document on our ministerial website. The web address is http://www.interfaithhealingcenter.org/MF_RecipeBook.pdf )

Petals from God

We invite you to center and meditate on this image, seeking God in the flower.  And as flowers come into your life, find the message that God is sending to you in that gift. 

Blessings!

Rev. Mary Ann

The Divine Circle

It does not take long to "see" - once the eyes are opened - that once we willingly step into God's Light, that we have stepped into a Circle of Light that cannot be broken.  It is one of the most wonderful gifts bestowed upon us by the Divine!  Mysteriously, people with the expertise we need, suddenly appear in our lives;  that resource we need and don't know where its coming from, suddenly appears!  All that we need to do the work God has called us to do is provided for us.  There is a strange peace that settles in because, perhaps for the first time in our lives, we KNOW that we are not alone -- that God is with us every step of the way.  And then we wonder why it took us so long to say "Yes!" to God.  Take time today to breathe in the breath of God, bask in Her Light, say "Thank You, God" and know that you are a beautiful being of Light much loved by God!