Piper Runs with the Wind

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Diana Rankin

I love to run. When Mom throws my ball, I run after it. I catch it. Then I run back to her and tell her to throw it again. I get to run more and more. I run until Mom gets tired.

Sometimes when we’re walking down the lane after we get the mail, my leash jumps out of mom’s hands. Then I can run way ahead. And even run all the way back to Mom. It’s fun. But the most fun of all is when I run in the meadow.

Piper takes flight.

The meadow has lots of run to run. First I run all the way down to the end. That’s where the woods are. I used to be afraid of the woods. It’s just a woods so why be afraid? I’m not so much now. That’s because I’m brave. I also made friends with the faeries that live there. They promised to not harm me. They like presents. I leave them shinny things now and then. That makes them happy.

Running makes me happy. After I run all the way to the woods, I run all the way back to where Mom is. I pretend I let her catch up with me. She’s a human and can’t run as fast as me.

Sometimes I run so fast that my feet forget to touch the ground. That’s when the wind picks me up and we run together. That’s fun. The wind is my friend. It tells me secrets sometimes. Wind told me it’s easier if you run with the wind. It’s harder if you run against it.

Wind also told me this secret too. It said that it carries me because I let it. Sometimes it’s scary to not hold on. But when I’m running, I hear Wind whisper to me to let go. So, I do. That’s when my feet lift off the ground and Wind picks me up. And off we go.

It’s so much fun.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Piper Runs with the Wind

Accepting Change and the Yin-Yang

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Diana Rankin

Change is difficult for many of us to accept. Too often change means loss and in our Western cultural we’d rather only experience that which makes us happy. We want the up without the down.

The seemingly opposites of life are actually complementary of one another. There is no up without the down, no depth of shadow on a spring lawn without sunlight, no knowledge of happiness without knowing its opposite.

There is a wonderful story from the mythology of China that teaches us about both sides of life–the yin-yang. It is the story of Chang’e, the Goddess of the Moon and her husband Houyi the Archer. According to legend, Chang’e and her husband Houyi were immortals who lived in heaven and enjoyed all the privileges of that life. One day the ten sons of the Jade Emperor transformed into ten suns. Their intensity began to scorch Earth and her people.

Unsuccessful in stopping his sons, the Emperor summoned Houyi the archer, who used his skills to send an arrow to nine of the sons, but spared the tenth, so Earth would have warmth and light. Although the Emperor was pleased that Earth was no longer burning, he was not happy to lose nine of his sons. Instead of being rewarded for saving Earth, Houyi was punished. He and his wife Chang’e were banished from heaven and forced to live as mortals on Earth.

Chang’e, being the goddess that she was, did not accept this change gracefully.  When Houyi saw how miserable his wife was over the loss of her immortality, he being the hero that he was, left his home and began a quest for the fabled Pill of Immortality, so they could once again become immortal and live in heaven.

After a long and dangerous journey, Houyi finally came to the home of the Queen Mother of the West and Goddess of longevity and eternal bliss. As she gave him the Pill of Immortality, she cautioned him to give half the pill to Chang’e and for him to take half. “To take more than half is dangerous,” the great queen and goddess warned.

Houyi returned home from his adventure and stored the Pill of Immortality in a beautiful case. He showed the case to Chang’e but warned her to not open it while he was out attending to business. Well, you can imagine how curious Chang’e became. Here was this beautiful case with something mysterious inside. She held the case in her hand as though she could discern what was inside just by holding it. Finally, she could stand it no longer, and opened the case only to find not a rare gem or pearl, but a simple pill.

She took the pill out to examine it, touched it to her tongue just to see what it tasted like, and just at that very moment Houyi opened the door. Chang’e panicked and accidently swallowed the entire pill. Immediately she began to float upward . . . higher and higher and higher. Houyi took out his bow and arrow and started to shoot her down, but he could not bear to harm her, so he let her continue to float, and she floated all the way to the moon.

This is the way Chang’e came to represent the moon and Houyi the sun, the yin-yang, linked opposites that create the whole.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Accepting Change and the Yin-Yang

Piper Forgives Herself

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Diana Rankin

I’m a good girl. Really I am. Mom tells me so all the time. She never reminds me of the day I wasn’t a good girl. The day I sent my Yorkie sibling over the doggy rainbow bridge.

I was a good girl even then, but I made a bad mistake. A really bad mistake. I didn’t mean to hurt Yorkie. He made me mad. He stole my treat. I growled at him. A really big growl. I even showed my teeth. I didn’t mean to hurt him.

I’m sorry.

I had to leave my home. I lived in Michigan. It was a nice home. I had lots of love and toys and treats. We played ball lots and Mommie cuddled with me lots. I slept on the big bed and cuddled all night. I loved my life. But I had to go away. Now I live in the country in Ohio.  

Ohio Mom said my Michigan Mommie forgives me for hurting Yorkie. Mom said I have to forgive myself now. That’s important. I didn’t know how to do that. I asked her how. She said all I had to do was to love Yorkie. I could do that. Then she told me the really hard part. She said I had to love myself enough to forgive me.

Gosh, how do you do that? She rubbed my head and neck and my whole body. It felt so good. I wagged my tail and looked at her and loved her so much.

She lifted my chin and looked right at me. “That’s how,” she said. “Love.”

I wagged my tail.

“You’re a good girl. I love you,” Mom said.

I am a good girl. I love me too.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Piper Forgives Herself

A Blessing Creates a Higher Consciousness

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Diana Rankin

Blessing another, our food, a situation and ourselves takes us to a higher state of consciousness that allows us to experience life from a perspective different from that of the normal state of daily affairs.

Although there is some controversy within the scientific community about what happens in the brain when we bless, a twenty-year old theory backs up the experience many of us have every time we say a blessing. Scientists call the experience an increase in the gamma waves; I call it a feel-good experience.

With the help of EEGs, scientists have been able to measure gamma waves, which are the highest frequency of brain waves—electrical impulses that occur naturally in the brain. Gamma waves are associated with higher levels of intelligence and feelings of happiness, and an increase in a person’s feelings of compassion toward others. In recent years, commercial neuro-programming products have entered the marketplace to help increase gamma waves. Although I’m sure they are good, I haven’t personally tried any of these programs, have not felt a need to, because I continually experience an increase in happiness, alertness, and compassion every time I bless someone or something. And I am blessed to have numerous opportunities every day to say a blessing. So do you.

Begin by blessing whatever enters your body—food, water, tea, and so on. In workshops I hold where food is present, we always have a blessing of the food, the elements that helped the food grow, the animals that sacrificed their bodies to sustain ours, the farmers who grew the food, the workers who processed the food, the truck drivers who delivered the food, the groceries who stored the food, and so on. You get the idea. A blessing isn’t just a simple, “Bless you, and you’re off and running, although even a quick blessing is meaningful if said with heart.

Heart is important in every blessing. A blessing said with genuine gratitude, a feeling of deep thankfulness, seems to be necessary for me to experience the euphoria. Perhaps emotion is needed to activate gamma waves. Certainly, it has been in my life and it seems scientists are also finding this to be true. Well-known for his work in neuroplasticity—the capacity for the brain to rewire itself—Richard Davidson, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin, found an increase in gamma activity in Tibetan Buddhists monks during meditation. When the monks meditated on loving kindness, the gamma waves increased even more.

Living in the country allows me opportunities every day to increase my gamma waves by blessing animals in the fields, winged ones in the sky, and those along the side of the road. For the deer and field cats and great winged ones who bless my life as I travel along, my blessing is simple, “Thank you for being in this world and for blessing my life with your presence.” My blessing for those who have left this life is, “Bless you, bless the one who took your life, bless the ones who will partake of your giveaway, and bless me.” Those final two words are crucial to the blessing. They are the words that take us into a deeper compassion for ourselves, which, in turn allows us to feel greater compassion for all beings.

We don’t have to look far for something to bless. There is so much in life that calls for our blessing. Daily I bless my four-legged children for their wellbeing and thank them for enriching my life. I bless each member of my family, and each friend who is in my life. I bless the sun and thank it for warming me. I bless the rain for feeding the fields and flowers. I bless my office as I walk into it every morning. I bless the computer for working so well. I bless words for coming easily when needed. I bless each part of my body for good health and vitality. I bless friends and acquaintances and the clerk at the checkout. I bless the authors of books I read and musicians of music I hear. I bless my vehicle that keeps me safe, the mechanics who keep it running smoothly, and the battery and gasoline and roadways and every other driver on the road.

And with each blessing, I also bless myself. You might have noticed—and you would be right if you did—that with so much time spent blessing the other there is no time left to spend in complaining, so the gamma waves just keep growing and growing and blessing me as I bless you.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A Blessing Creates a Higher Consciousness

Piper’s Labyrinth Walk

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Diana Rankin

I got to walk the labyrinth. Well, maybe I ran. The labyrinth’s in the meadow. It’s a special place.

Mom walks the labyrinth sometimes. She says it’s a sacred walk that helps you love more. It’s fun to walk the labyrinth. It’s not necessary for dogs though ‘cause we already know how to love a lot.

I like it because it’s a bond with my ancestors. Shelties are Shetland Sheep dogs from the Shetland Islands. That’s part of Mom’s ancestors too. She calls them Celts. That’s why the labyrinth is like the ancient Celtic labyrinth. It’s seven circles. When you get to the center, you turn around.

Piper runs to catch up.

I let Mom get way ahead of me. That’s ‘cause I have to stop and smell the critters that live here. There are mice and frogs and spiders and even deer. Lots to sniff. Then I run and run around the circles to catch up with Mom. She laughs at me. Pats me on the head. Tells me what a good girl I am. Then she keeps walking all the way to the center of the labyrinth.

The center is kind of boring. Mom stays there for a while, then we get to walk the circles again. This time they get bigger and bigger instead of smaller and smaller. They get smaller on the first walk. That’s when we’re walking into the center.

We stop when we come out of the circles. We bow. I know how to do that. That’s to say thanks to our ancestors. Then I get to run ahead. I have to beat Mom to the house. But wait. There’s something here I have to sniff first. This is a whole new smell. I don’t know what this is.

Oh no. I’ve been busy sniffing and Mom walked ahead. How can she do that? We’re not in the labyrinth anymore where I can catch up really easy. I have to run and run and run really, really hard to catch up. I bark at her. She smiles at me. That means I’m a good girl. I am.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Piper’s Labyrinth Walk

Phillip’s Wisdom on Anger

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Diana Rankin

Phillip: Anger is a form of fear. Fear is the opposite of love. To truly know the appreciation of love, fear must be known.

            Do you not judge evil by that which you call good? Is it not in the weighing one against the other that you find balance? It is when you have felt hunger that you most appreciate food and when you have known thirst that you most welcome water to drink.

            If you know only love, this is good, but it is in the full experiencing of live that you know and understand life.

            It is for each to find the balance. In doing so, judgment must be laid aside and all is merely seen as the experience.

Posted in Phillip's Wisdom | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Phillip’s Wisdom on Anger

Piper’s Fun Day

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Diana Rankin
Sometimes the trees tricks Piper.

We played ball today. It was fun. Sometimes Mom pretends she throws my ball. I run and run after it, but she’s still holding my ball. When she does that, I run back to her and scold her. No fair. She shouldn’t tease me like that.

Sometimes when she throws my ball it hits a tree and flies away. Sometimes Mom throws my ball just so. That’s when I jump really, really high and catch my ball while it’s still flying. I like that. It’s fun to catch a flying ball. Sometimes I don’t catch it until it lands. That’s fun too. When I catch my ball, I run back to Mom so she can throw it again so I can run after it again.

I always take my ball back to Mom so she can throw it again.

After we played ball, we went out to the meadow. There’s lots and lots to sniff in the meadow. That’s where the deer like to play. I can see them from the window in the house where I live. There are lots of squirrels too. And bunnies and raccoons and birds and animals I don’t even know the names of.

Mom started to walk into the woods. That was really scary. I pretended to be busy sniffing at the edge of the woods. That way I didn’t have to go into the woods.  There are really scary things in the woods. Like fairies. Sometimes I hear them whispering at night. And the moon. The moon is really scary. It’s really bright in the trees. And the trees. They like to dance with the moon at night. Who knows what else is in the woods.

The woods is really scary. I’m going to stay right here at the edge.

Mom said okay. We didn’t have to walk in the woods. The paths needed clearing anyway. Winter storms made them dirty with those dancing trees that left branches all over the place.

We walked back to the house. I asked if we could play ball again. But we went inside. I ran to the treat bin. That’s what I do when we go inside. I always get a treat. Treats are almost as good as playing ball. Maybe they’re even better.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Hazel’s Angels

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Diana Rankin

It was in the mid-1990’s when I was attending Jean Houston’s New York Mystery School that I met Hazel and her angels. She was a lady of a certain age by then but during World War II Hazel was a still a young woman.

During that war, Hazel felt called to gather all the angels she could muster and send them off to help the soldiers. Hazel sent angels to soldiers on the battlefield to keep the fear away. She sent angels to the hospitals to aid the injured and angels to those who left their bodies to aid in their transition.

When the war was over, Hazel often explained, there were a lot of angels out of work. “When in need of help, call on my angels,” she would say. “They need to be useful.”

Hazel is among the angels now. I’m sure she is walking around heaven instructing her angels where to go whenever they are needed. But let’s not make Hazel do all the work. Our world needs Hazel’s angels, and she needs our help, so let’s call on them now.

Let’s ask Hazel’s angels to move into the middle of wind and rain storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes and flap their wings to dissipate the heavy clouds and calm the winds. Let’s ask them to soothe the flood waters and to stop our earth from shaking from earthquakes.

Let’s ask the angles to hold their wings over the humans, animals, and winged ones to protect them from Earth’s fury.

Let’s send the strongest of Hazel’s angels to work alongside the rebuilders of the homes and businesses, to give the humans courage, strength, and the materials they need.

Let’s call on Hazel’s angels to bring rain to the drought-ridden lands and sunshine to the flooded areas. Let’s send those angels with fire hoses to bring rain to all the fire-ravaged places. Let’s ask Hazel’s angels to hold all those in Turkey and Syria who were caught in the earthquake, to help them heal and rebuild their lives.

And let’s send the most compassionate of Hazel’s angels to comfort all who have lost loved ones in the storm-tossed weather and angels to greet all who have left their bodies to make their transition smooth and loving.

Let’s close our eyes and visualize the Divine White Light of Love moving into our bodies and out from our heart chakra into the world and holding our planet in the Healing Light of Love. And let’s give our love and gratitude to Hazel and her angels for all they do to help heal our world and all of us.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on Hazel’s Angels

Piper Makes a New Friend

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Diana Rankin

I made a new friend. His name is Rusty. We went for a long walk together. He’s older than me. He’s bigger too.

Rusty isn’t my only doggy friend. I’ve also made friends with Murphy, Juno, and Vinnie. Rusty and Murphy are boys. They’re different than Juno, Vinnie, and me. We’re girls.

I like Rusty. He’s nice. He likes me too. I could tell. But not right away. At first when Mom told me we were going for a walk with Rusty and his Mom I was a little scared. After all, Rusty’s a boy and boys are, well you know…they’re different. Sometimes they’re pushy and big and scary.

Photo by Constance Gilhooly, Rusty’s mom

At first, I thought Rusty might be scary. I saw him in his car. He looked really big. When he jumped out of his car, I saw him run toward me. I was only scared for a just a little bit. He sniffed my nose. I sniffed him back. That’s when I knew he liked me.

How could he not like me? I’m so pretty. And I’m sweet. Yes, yes, I am. Well, most of the time anyway.

Since he liked me, I decided to like him back. So, we went for a walk together. We walked around a ball field and over a covered bridge. The wood on the bridge made scary, creaky noises. Rusty said if the bridge died and we fell into the river, he knew how to swim. I do too, so we’d be okay.

We had to cross a big street. That was scary. But Rusty said he’d protect us, so it was okay. Our moms helped too. Rusty had to protect us again when a great big dog barked at us. He jumped up on his fence and barked and barked and barked. I started to walk faster. Rusty told that dog to stop barking at us or he’d take care of things. He would have too, but his mom stopped him. So, we kept walking.

Sometimes Rusty stopped to smell something in the grass. And sometimes he stopped to lift his leg. That’s how boys pee. Girls are daintier about such things.

It was fun walking with Rusty. He’s different from my doggy girlfriends. That’s okay. He’s a boy and boys are different from girls. It’s nice to have a boy dog as a friend too.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Love and Our Sacred Wound  

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Diana Rankin

Love brings us together with our soul mates, those we’re drawn to via chemistry and mutual attraction. We often forget that love also brings us the sacred wound. What is a sacred wound and what is its connection to love and our soul mate? you ask. Here’s what Phillip, my spirit guide has to say about the sacred wound.

Phillip’s Wisdom

The Sacred Wound: A Conversation with Phillip

This is a question and answer session I had with Phillip about the sacred wounding.

Q. Phillip, what is a sacred wound?

A. It is the wounding the soul agrees to take on when entering human life for the purpose of healing the wound and evolving the species.

Q. Does everyone come into life with a sacred would to heal or is it only something that some of us take on?

A. All souls have a sacred wound, but not all recognize this to be so.

Q. How do we know what our sacred wound is?

A. It is written in the patterns of your life. Study these patterns and the sacred wound will reveal itself when the human being is ready to commence with healing.

Q. What are the types of sacred wounds we should look for?

A. In your world, the most common are abandonment, which springs from the physical or emotion abandonment of a child by one or more parent(s); lack of a sense of self, what you might call a lack of confidence in the self’s ability to live and thrive in this world, which comes from a lack of nurturing and encouragement during a child’s developmental years; depression and other mental illnesses, which is an inability to connect with the true spirit of the individual that is caused by childhood trauma and/or imbalances within the physical brain; and addiction that causes the individual to withdraw from life because of a lack of skills and brain function to cope with their own sensitivity, which is often caused by the shock of a new soul coming into Earth life or an older soul who has experienced this before and wishes to work on the healing of this wound.

The soul sets up the conditions for their life in accordance with what they choose to experience. For example, if a soul chooses abandonment as the sacred wound, that soul would choose to be born into a family where one or both of the parents leave the family through death or other means, is emotional unavailable, unavailable due to illness, or that soul might choose to be born to parents who are unable to raise the child, so the child is raised by another family with whom the child has soul ties.

Q. Can past lives influence the sacred wound we choose before we enter Earth life?

A. Other life experiences most certainly influence the soul’s choice of what to experience in this life. There is not always a direct correlation in that [for example] the abandonment wound does not always mean the individual was abandoned in another life experience, although that may be the case. It also could be that the individual abandoned someone and now wants to atone for that act, or that the soul just agrees to experience this wounding for the sake of helping the healing for all souls who experience it.

Q. Can this healing be completed in one lifetime?

A. Most definitely, but not all will do so. Before healing can take place, there must first be a recognition of the wounding, and then the desire to heal must follow. When there is a desire to heal, the means of doing so are given as they are able to be received and acted upon.

Q. How long does healing take?

A. Healing takes as long as it takes. The better question is to ask how does a person know if they are healed? The answer to this question is that when one is healed of the sacred wound the pattern that perpetuates the behavior that springs from the wound no longer rules the person’s emotional behavior.

Q. What happens if we ignore our sacred wound?

A. Those who ignore, or are unaware of, the sacred wound live more from the human self rather than from the deeper spirit self. This is not to say they never touch the deeper spirit self, but that most of their emotional responses are from the human self. 

Q. How does the sacred wound affect our relationships? 

A. Attraction for the other may come from the sacred wound. If this is the case and the wound is neither recognized nor healed, the relationship may be quite rocky and harmful rather than one of harmony and accord. It also is possible to have a normal relationship throughout a lifetime and be unaware of the sacred wound. There are many individual factors at work here.

The relationship between what we will call soul mates is a longing for a uniting with Spirit. These are the relationships that may work only on the deeper levels for the healing of the sacred wound in one or both individuals. These are often the relationships that stories and poems are written about. They are relationships that may not work for the coming together in the everyday life.

There are also relationship that work on the human level, but do not have the depth of the spiritual soul connection. If the couple stays together, they may or may not have the need to heal the sacred wound.

There are those couples who have both the deep spiritual connection and lives that work together in the human world. These are the sacred relationships where soul mates have come together to help heal the world at a greater level than they can do alone.  
 
Q. What happens if two people come together who have the same sacred wound?
A. This depends on the growth of both people involved. These can be the most rewarding, but also the most difficult relationships. If healing has taken place, these are lasting relationships that can make the biggest leaps in healing the wounds of the world. 

Q. Is there anything else I need to ask at this time on this subject?

A. This information is complete for a starting point at this time.

Thank you, Phillip.

Thank you dear one.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Love and Our Sacred Wound