Why Ritual Is Important

Posted on September 29, 2022 by Diana Rankin

21 rituals to make your life better

Our ancestors knew the value of rituals. Anthropologists have documented the rituals of the ancient ones across cultures. In our modern day, psychologists who have studied the impact of rituals on people, have found rituals can impact our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Rituals give us confidence when faced with a challenging situation. Rituals help us during mourning the loss of a loved one whether by death or absence. Rituals help us celebrate important milestones in our lives like graduating from high school or college, a wedding, or other rites of passage. Rituals help us move to higher levels of our lives and deepen our spirituality.

Rituals even help us move through those times of transition when we have left the known to travel through the unknown before returning to a new known.

Following are 21 rituals (in 6 suggested categories) that you can do alone or in a group. Many of these rituals are interchangeable. For example, a ritual for Healing from loss can also be used for Looking for answers or Healing anger or disappointment, or rituals To celebrate also work for rituals To help you feel better, and visa versa. You can also adapt these rituals to best fit your needs and life.

Energy renewal

The more you become aware of energy and its impact on you, the more you will need to cleanse the energy.

  • Stand on Mother Earth and shake off energy after being around others. You can do this after work or time at the grocery store. Of course, always ask her permission. If she says no, move to another spot. That spot is healing.
  • Before going out among people imagine the Divine Light of Love coming into the top of your head and surrounding your body. As you move about feel the oval of light around you and a few inches out from you.
  • Shower. While the water washes over you, let go of any energy that is hindering you.

Healing from loss

  • Write a letter to the loved one to express your feelings.
  • Allow yourself to receive a letter from a loved one who is gone. Without judgment, simply write what words come to mind, then go back and read what you have written.
  • Take a warm bath and allow yourself to bask in the water’s soothing warmth. As the water fills, allow your emotions to come forward. Let the tears flow. As the water recedes, allow the emotions to go down the drain with the water. As you stand, feel your new strength that the water has given you.  

Looking for answers

Healing anger or disappointment

  • Draw a picture of your anger or disappointment. Use crayons or colored pencils. Put your anger/ disappointment into the picture. Once the feelings dissipate, burn the picture, letting go of any anger/disappointment residue. Give the ashes to the sky’s clouds and Mother Earth.
  • Walk and talk. While walking, talk to yourself about why you are angry or disappointed. If another person is involved, speak both sides of the story. Walk until you’re able to release the emotion. It’s best if you can walk in nature.
  • Change the energy between you and the other person. This video of mine will walk you through how to do so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GABcO7KJfqI&list=PLeQCCQwRvvvWlYAt-iuDzY91g5Pwka0ed&index=18

To help you feel better

  • Dance to a song that touches your heart.
  • Pick or buy a bouquet of flowers and put them where you spent time.
  • Scream at the top of your lungs until you start laughing. Only do this if you won’t be heard or scare someone.
  • Call a kvetch buddy. This is a person that you’ve both agreed will listen without giving comment when you want to just get it out.
  • Write out what’s bothering you in a journal. Keep writing until you feel a release.
  • Laugh. Just start laughing. It’s not always easy but do it anyway. If you can’t do it on your own, this video of Daisy and me might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mCu0-4iMQ8&list=PLeQCCQwRvvvXtIt1jUv3n1CEG-N889ort&index=2

To celebrate

  • Sing at the top of your lungs a song that celebrates you.
  • Call a friend to tell them and have them celebrate with you.
  • Tell the night sky how excited you are for you. Then the next day, tell the sun.

Before performing any ritual, state your clear intent. Wishing alone won’t make it so. A clear intent, following by action will.

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Daisy, Piper, and a Few Women The Way Dog Miracles Work

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Diana Rankin

For a few weeks I’d been thinking about bringing a dog into our home. When Daisy died, months past now, I knew someday I’d be ready again, but I didn’t think it would be until the spring. But here I was feeling maybe it was time, then yes it’s time, but do I really want to be taking a dog for walks and out for it’s needs with winter coming on? Then Allison called.

When Daisy was sick, I promised her she always had a home here. She could come back into body anytime she wanted. I explained that if she couldn’t find me directly she could find me through Allison, a long-time friend, one time Daisy’s foster mom, and owner of  Pawsavers Dog Rescue. “But I don’t want to be a puppy again, Mom,” Daisy kept telling me. “I don’t want to leave you.”

Daisy had a rough life as a puppy before living at Allison’s. I didn’t blame her for not wanting to skip puppyhood. I also wondered how she would find me, but I knew she would. We had a special bond from the beginning.

While fostering Daisy, Allison often told me that I was Daisy’s forever home. Yeah, I knew that, knew it even before Allison said anything, but my house and heart were full. We were nursing the last two of our team of five rescue dogs. Lacey, a little Sheltie, was not doing well, and I wanted to make her last days on Earth full of love and attention. When she passed, Freddie, who appeared one day as a pup in my fenced-in back yard, was lonely. He was used to being part of the pack, not he was alone. It was time to bring Daisy home to help make Freddie’s final years better.

Daisy, a border collie and lab mix, became my constant companion. She often moved the cats off my lap on the sofa so she could put her head and paws there. We’d walk for miles along the country roads where we live. And she never met a stranger. On hikes, people would stop and pet her. There was something special about Daisy, like she was an angel of love. You just felt better in her presence. Then one day, while hiking with friends, Daisy struggled. It was her last hike. She could still play in the meadow, but when we’d walk down the lane to pick up the mail, Daisy would stop and look at me. “Mom, I ready to go back.” So, we put away her leashes, and let her play with the butterflies as I walked down the lane to get the mail.

It was hard saying goodbye to her, even harder watching her give up the life she had loved. She asked me to promise her I’d let her stay on the land, no vets. When I broke my promise and tried to take her to the vet, she knew what was happening, and bit me. (In Ohio a dog can’t be euthanized if she’s bitten anyone within ten days.)

After Daisy passed, I was sad, relieved, and mostly tired. I wasn’t ready for another dog. And then months passed, and Allison called. Out of the blue, a friend in dog rescue in Michigan called, “Do you by any chance know of anyone who would rehome a 9-year-old sheltie?”

“Yes. Send me a photo.” When Allison saw the photo, the little one reminded her of Lacey, my sheltie. My niece, Michelle, was here when Allison called and texted the photos.

“Let’s go get her right now!” Michelle said with such excitement I was ready to go.

“Let me talk to Lily,” I said. Since her two cat sisters died, she’s been the only cat, and since Daisy died, she’s been the only 4-legged one here. Although she loved Daisy, I wasn’t sure she would welcome another animal into our home.

The next day, I committed to bring Piper into our home as her forever home. Rehoming a dog is different than adopting from a rescue. Rescue dogs are usually thankful; rehomed dogs need to grieve and adjust. From the little knowledge I had Piper had lived in the same home for nine years. This wasn’t going to be easy. I still had reservations, yet it did feel right. So, I headed to the pet store to buy her a new vest and other essentials.

After leaving the pet store, I headed to Kroger’s to pick up a few groceries. So, few were the things I needed that I didn’t bother with a cart. Walking down one isle, while looking at the shelves and not the cement floor, I started sliding and going down. Guess I screamed. I don’t remember. I only remember sliding.

“Are you okay,” I heard a female voice. Then another, then a male voice, “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. I was lying on the floor. I didn’t know how I got there. Then I remembered the feeling of sliding downward. (I still don’t remember hitting the ground.) Anxiety kicked in. Was I hurt? I didn’t know. Julie, the first woman to me, stayed near me. She and her son sent others around me and the slippery spot. The gentleman went for a Kroger employee.

John, a manager, finally showed up. It seemed to take forever. Julie had helped me stand by then as I checked myself over. I wanted to leave the store, but I wasn’t about to leave this slippery spot on the floor for someone else to fall. “She fell really hard,” Julie told the manager. He just shook his head and proceeded to pull out paper towels to clean up the slippery. “It was a green grape,” he said, and I thought to myself, “Yeah, one a kid threw up.” You could see a two-foot-long streak where I began the slid before ending in the fall. There was way too much liquid for just one green grape. Still, I didn’t say anything. By now my anxiety was barely under control.

I kept telling myself to calm down. Being this anxious wasn’t like me, especially in a crisis, which is when I’m usually really calm. But it was in a crowded grocery store after a day of running errands. Being in stores has always been a challenge for me, especially since Covid. Julie and her son left, so did John after getting my information and I assured him I had no intention of suing Kroger’s.

After picking up the items I came into the store for, I walked outside, and breathed. By now my body was feeling the fall and all I wanted to do was get to my car and go home. I started questioning why I fell. I have good balance. Why was there a grape right there in the middle of the floor? Why was I the one who stepped on it just so? Was this about Piper? Was Daisy telling me to slow down, that this wasn’t her, that I shouldn’t let Piper come to our home? My mind was awhirl with questions.

As I reached the car, my anxiety was about as high as I’ve ever experienced. My phone, which was in my pocket started playing music. I had turned it off because once it’s in my pocket, the phone has a mind of its own. The fall must have turned it back on.

I pulled it out to turn it off. I stopped. Tears burst forth and I let out a full-voiced breath. There on the screen was Daisy running toward me. “Piper needs you like I needed you,” she relayed.

Once composed enough to drive home, I started the car and headed for the parking lot. As I pulled away, the sun broke through parting dark rain clouds. I opened the sunroof and breathed in the rained-fresh air and bright sun. I no longer had a question about whether Piper should come to live with us. Daisy had spoken, and the answer was clear. Daisy didn’t have to come back as a puppy, but was she Piper? How could that be? Piper was nine, which was about how many years ago Lacey, my last sheltie died. But Daisy only died months back. I was pondering all these questions. Then Allison called.

She reminded me of what I had told her years before. As animal communicators, we had often worked together on finding lost dogs or cats and relied on one another for help communicating with our own 4-legged kids. When a person or one of our believe pets dies, they may return as a spark with another. Our human minds want the whole kid, not just a spark, so we don’t grasp how an animal—or a person—can be a spark. We have the DNA of our ancestors, and so can animals.

“Daisy did so much spirit work with you. She grew so much in this lifetime,” Allison, the animal communicator said. “She has more to do in spirit before she’s ready to fully come back, but she’s guiding Piper.”

Tears of truth flowed as my heart opened fully to Piper. She must be one special little girl to have Daisy as her own doggy spirit guide.

I pray Piper will be with us for many years (Daisy was 16 and Lily is in her 20s.) but if she is only coming here so Daisy can help with her transition in a few years, it’s still right. I wondered about the fall? And the anxiety? Why did they happen? It finally came to me the fall turned my phone on to the perfect video of Daisy that I took years ago. I never would have seen that video  had the phone—and Daisy—not sent it to me. The anxiety? I was going from one place to another that day. What better way to slow me down and send me home than to shut me down.

I think of Allison, my niece Michelle, Dawn, Allison’s friend who introduced me to Piper with a simple message to Allison to ask if she knew anyone who might want a 9-year-old sheltie who needed to be rehomed. And I think of Daisy and Piper, and the miracle that brought us all together.

Update: Michelle, now Auntie Michelle to Piper, and I met Dawn last Sunday. Piper now lives with us, and all is well. It’s quiet here in our country home where she is the only dog and where she has a special angel to watch over her. Thank you Daisy.

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Use Words that Are of Service to You and the World

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Diana Rankin

To be of service to the world with our words begins with the words we say to ourselves about ourselves. Do we use kind words or harsh ones? Do we tell ourselves how well we’re doing or are we always berating ourselves for not being enough?

To use words in service to yourself-

  • Listen for any words you use to beat up on yourself and change them to positive words. Every day make a point to give yourself positive reinforcement. Tell yourself how pretty/handsome you are, how perfect your body is, how bright you are, how helpful you are to others, how successful you are, what a positive influence you have on the world, etc.
  • Let the last words you say to yourself before falling asleep and the first words you say when awakening be, “I love me, and it was/is a beautiful day!”

To use words in the service of others-

  • When angry, stop and breathe before speaking and ask yourself, “Are these the words I want to represent me?”
  • When you hear another’s hurtful words, remind yourself that the other is speaking from his/her world view. Refuse to allow the other’s words to hurt your heart. Keep strong boundaries, but do not respond in kind or defensively. Instead, respond firmly and kindheartedly. For example, you might say, “Although I respect your opinion, I feel hurt by the choice of words.”
  • Make a point to speak to all others with kindness, even when disagreeing.
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Why We Need to Pay Attention to Our Thoughts and the Words that Follow

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Diana Rankin

Since we’ve been knee high to a grasshopper, we’ve been taught to be aware of the words that come out of our mouths; that they have the power to hurt as well as to heal. Although it may sometimes seem like it, words don’t come out of nowhere; they begin with a thought so perhaps that’s where we need to begin – with our thoughts.

Of course, it isn’t possible to monitor our every thought. The average person has nearly 50 thoughts per minute, 48.6 to be exact. That’s 700,000 thoughts a day, according to the laboratory of Neuro Imagining at UCLA. That’s a lot of thoughts and each one affects our personal world and the world at large. Every thought we have is going out into the world, beaming out from us, following us around, and affecting everyone and everything we encounter. Don’t take my word for it. Test it out in your own life. How does the world treat you when you’re feeling really good about yourself and life? Do others seem to be kind and loving and the world a bit brighter? How about when you’re out of sorts? Does the world around you seem to conspire to get in your way? Think about it.

I’ve noticed in my life that when I think I need to move faster, I grow impatient. Even if I have plenty of time to get to where I’m going, or even if I have nowhere to go, when I start thinking that I need to hurry along, I get impatient. And I get a visceral reaction. My body tenses; I feel rushed and soon start feeling aggravated. My outer world is reflecting my inner thoughts and my body’s reactions to those thoughts. Drivers cut in front of me, forcing me to brake and slow down; anger and stress rise in me; no one is friendly, and everyone seems to be grumpy. I’ll grow increasingly ill-tempered and so does the whole world around me. It’s a mean, harsh, depressing place that I’ve come to, and it all started with that thought that I needed to hurry.

Then there are the times (most of the time thankfully) where I feel the deep satisfaction of having a day full of clients who tell me how I’ve helped them and where writing flows magically, and I come into the evening hours feeling the energy of the day. Doors are opened for me; everyone smiles and is friendly; traffic moves at a comfortable pace; life is joyous, and I am filled with gratitude.

I’ve noticed this in my life, how my attitude is changed by my thoughts and my thoughts change my world. So, I watch my thoughts, not all 700,000 a day, but the ones I can catch, the ones I can say to, “Hey, I don’t like what you’re creating in my life so get out of here,” or, “Hey, you’re creating what I want in my life, so let’s have more thoughts like you.”

I’m not saying it’s easy to monitor my thoughts or to make a point of changing them once I am aware of what is going through my mind. I am saying the effort is worth it to me. I like being happy. I like having doors open for me and people smiling at me. I like having clients tell me I’ve helped make their lives better. I like living in a world of love instead of one of fear and anger. It’s worth it to me to make the effort to watch my thoughts, changing them when necessary for an attitude adjustment. It’s worth it to me to be a beam of love, of joy and gratitude, of kindness and compassion, of understanding and acceptance. It’s worth the effort to me because it’s what I want for my life. Don’t you?

I think we all do. We all want a life lived in grace where love is more exciting than the latest violence captured on the news or in Hollywood; where we take more pleasure in just being than in griping about politicians; where we speak out against injustice in a way that forms solutions instead of yelling fearfully the same rhetoric that only those who agree hear; where we go to bed at night with satisfaction in a day well lived and wake with excitement for the day that awaits. I believe we all want this, and I believe we all can have this world. It’s a simple as listening to our thoughts and choosing to rewrite them for our own good and the good of all.

Thank you for making the effort to help create a better world one person – one thought – at a time.

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Sitting In the Mist Between What Was and What Is to Come

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Diana Rankin

In the Western/American culture in which I live, we are impatient. We do not like being in the space between what was and what is to come. Sitting in the Irish mist, I call it, because it reminds me of time spent in the patience of Ireland when I could not see around the next curve in the road or in my life.

We don’t like those time after something has ended and before the next begins. We want it now and we want to know the whole picture, not just the beginning. But life is full of those spaces between here and there, between what was and what is to come. Seldom are we shown the second step until we actually take a first one, which we are only shown after patiently spending time in quiet of the mist. We must have patience with everything unresolved in our lives and try to enjoy—even love—the questions we must ask ourselves.

Rainer Maria Rilke in Letters to a Young Poet speaks elegantly of spending time in the mist, those moments of needed reflection that help us let go of that which was and grow into that which is to come.

I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Where I live in a rural woods, patience comes easier for me than it used to when I lived in the city. Perhaps it’s age as well that allows me to sit quietly and watch the morning mist rise from the farm fields on the other side of the trees, green and golden and browning from autumn’s approach. Perhaps even, it’s a bit of wisdom that allows me to reflect on that which was, to heal and clear its wound or un-attach from its joy, so when the time is right, I can move into the next phase of my life, allowing the next creation to unfold in divine time instead of my timetable.

If we are able to allow our lives to unfold naturally rather than push, that which comes is ready for us, as we are ready for it. What comes then is right for it is created by our dreams and built by our patience.

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Love or Fear; It’s Your Choice

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Diana Rankin

In the 1970s I began studying A Course in Miracles. Rich with a spiritual depth I longed for, I found a home for my heart. Although complex (and at time I found myself arguing or in disagreement with the course) I also found one concept that drew me to its simplicity. Still, it would take a lifetime and the study of many other texts and teachers to come to understand the complexity of that one concept that stayed with me – the concept that every emotion we have is one of love or fear.

Love or fear, I still love the simplicity of that, of having two choices. Whatever emotion I’m experiencing at the moment, I can ask myself whether this emotion is coming from love or fear. Is this thought that is creating the emotion coming from love or fear? Is this action I am taking coming from love or fear?

It’s pretty easy to figure out which emotions are fear based and which are love, but some emotions are more complex, and may take digging a little deeper into. For me, I use my heart as the diving rod – if the emotion warms my heart, chances are pretty good that it’s one of love; if it doesn’t warn my heart, but instead takes me deeper into the emotion or into an alternative emotion that doesn’t feel good, chances are it’s a fear-based emotion.

Let’s look at a few common emotions and their complexities.

Fear. Whenever I post a political comment on my social media, I can expect those in disagreement to argue with me and everyone who agrees with me. I do my best to catch any nasty remarks or name calling, but it still hurts my heart to even read these comments.

It’s easy to pick up the writers who are coming from a place of fear, fear of dying, fear of not everyone believing as they do so everyone else is wrong, fear of being caught in a storm, etc. We are seeing fear all over the world but especially in the political scene in the US.

Anger. This one’s easy to spot on the surface. Anger is usually fear based. I’m not getting my own way. I remind myself of this every time I get frustrated because my computer refuses to do what I want it to or the line at the market is moving too slow or you’re not listening to me, or . . . well, you get the point.

But anger can have a positive side. It can be a motivator to take action. There are things in this world that do need to be healed and changed, and anger at injustice can get our attention. But, if we stay in the anger and act out of that anger, we leave the space of love, where we are propelled to speak out strongly and calmly and take appropriate action against the injustice, and instead of yelling from our ego, angry, wounded self (Look at me! Look at how great/right/strong/smart than you, etc. I am!, or This is so scary! We’re all going to die; they are wrong, and we are right, and so on) we need to pause, breathe, and ask ourselves if we really want this for our lives.

Bottom line: anger is fear based. Let it spark you, and then move into a space of love where you can really make a difference.

Grief. This too is a complex emotion. Grief comes because we’ve lost someone or something we love. Grief doesn’t warm our hearts, but thoughts of loving that which we lost does. I find with many of my clients that if we can separate that which comes from love in the grief and that which comes from fear, grief can be purer and actually warm the heart. This is not to say we stop thinking about the loved one or even stop missing them. It is to say that love helps to heal the hole in our heart and gives us the courage to live.

How do we separate that which comes from love and that which comes from fear? Wondering how we will take care of our lives without that person is an emotion that comes from fear, for example.  Thinking we will never love again or that we will never heal or being angry because the person is gone or grieving to the point of being unable to honor the loved one enough to live our greatest life are all fear based.

Opening our wounded heart to make room for greater love for ourselves and the world is love. Love is creating something that honors our life and that of the loved one, as well as all life.

It is our human self that must grieve, and it is healthy to allow ourselves to go through the healing process. Too often, however, we get stuck in the grief, afraid that if we let go of our grief, we are also letting go of the loved one. If the loved one has died, it is much easier to communicate with each other once we let go of the heaviest grief. In my practice as a psychic medium, I see this over and over. This is true if we are grieving for a loved one who has left our life through a broken relationship or if the loved one has left us through death of the human body. Moving out of fear of loss and into a state of love helps us let go for purer communication with the other and with ourselves.

Like magnets, our thoughts are drawn to, and draw to us, more of the emotions we experience, and in doing so strengthens both our personal emotion and the collective emotion. Why then do we so often choose fear instead of love? It’s easier to follow the crowd, which tends to be fear based, then to think for ourselves. Look at our movies and television shows, even the daily news. We are bombarded with tragedy and horrific events – and possible horrendous occurrences – every hour of every day. Even before the world of technology, there were dangers in the world that we had to be aware of to survive. Fear is inherent to the human existence.

So is love, which is drawn from our deeper spiritual selves and lives through our human selves as much as we allow it to. We underestimate the power of love because we often misunderstand love. We think of love in human terms and what we gain from it rather than understanding that love is the highest of emotions that asks us to give all of ourselves to it.

Fear fights to make things happen, asking us to make value judgments according to our personal world view.

Love ask us to become love, holding ourselves and one another accountable while allowing the creation and unfolding of life that expresses greater compassion, understanding, respect – love – for all life in all its expressions.

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The Energy and Grace of Abundant Prosperity  

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Diana Rankin

To have abundant prosperity in our lives requires a mix of both the mundane and spiritual. As we are both human and spirit, we need a balance of harmonies to be the energy and grace of abundant prosperity. The following suggestions are to help you find—and keep—that balance.

Honoring Money Too often we equate money with greed, but money can be a spiritual source. It can help our lives be more comfortable and it can help many, many others. We need to recognize that money is a helpful tool, that there is nothing inherently evil about money, and having a lot of money may allow us to serve even more. Money buys medicine for the sick, food for the hungry, homes for the homeless. Money allows research to find answers to help humanity live in more harmony with all life and build a brighter future for all the children of the world.

Greed and misuse of money is a fact of the reality of our world today, but do not put your concentration there. As someone on the spiritual path, keep your focus on how abundant prosperity can help make your life and all life better.

Create a Relationship with Money What is your relationship with money? I’ve learned over the years that I get bored with money, so to have abundant prosperity, I’ve had to change my attitude. I’ve had to make money fun and I’ve had to change my attitude to convince myself that money is good, and it brings me great happiness and allows me to serve others with greater devotion. If I’m worried about paying the mortgage, I can’t serve my clients as well as when I know all that I need is provided for. One allows me to serve from a fullness of my heart; the other from a place of lack.

Like any relationship when we are concentrating on the goodness of the relationship, more of the goodness manifest in our lives.

Staying In Integrity with Money Be honest with yourself and others. It’s that simple and yet it can seem so difficult at times. Whatever we owe—to an individual, to an institution, or to the government—we must pay.

My bane is recordkeeping for taxes. Quite frankly, it’s a pain to keep meticulous records. People pay me for psychic readings and coaching sessions by check or credit card; Sacred Circle donations are in cash. It would be so much easier if I didn’t have to take time to report this money, to add it all up at the end of every month and again at the end of the year, and to pay taxes for that which I don’t support in my heart. But it’s not about the tax man and me. It’s about my telling the Universe I am grateful for all that I have been given this year and that I can afford to pay that which is asked of me. I don’t pay any more than is asked of me, but I must pay what is asked or be open and honest about choosing to not pay because I am taking a stand, and be prepared to pay the consequences.

Live with a Generous Heart and Collect Your Debts Be generous; allow money to move in and through you, and at the same time, respect yourself and money enough that you collect any money owed to you. If you cannot collect the debt, then make a conscious decision to write it off and change the energy from a debt to a donation.

Practice the Practice Create your vision boards, read magazines about wealth, and practice the tools that help you manifest. Dig into your attitudes about money and change them to ones that create wealth instead of pushing it away. Go pretend shopping, learn about investing, join or start a money-making club, write yourself large checks (don’t cash them) and post them where you can see them, go for a walk and chant an affirmation, and when you visualize money put yourself in the vision. Keep practicing until you become the vision and embody abundant prosperity.

God is your source By whatever name God/Universe/Spirit/Love/Energy/Mind, this is your source of all abundance. No other. You may think your job is your source, but your job may end. You may think a person is your source, but not so. God/Universe/Spirit/Love/Energy/Mind, this is your source of all abundance. Remember this.

Be Practical Live within your means while you are cleansing and clearing and changing your attitude to allow you to manifest abundant prosperity.

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What to Expect Along Your Spiritual Journey

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Diana Rankin

As we develop on our spiritual journey our lives change in unexpected ways. Following are 15 reactions to expect as you progress on your journey.

Before reading further, please note two highly important details:

  1. Never be in a hurry. Going too quickly can cause the loss of connection to reality. Remember we must function in the third-dimension world. Stay balanced.
  2. Never, never harm yourself or another in the name of spirit or allow another person or spirit into your life if they are harmful. Stay in a place of love.

Common reactions on a spiritual journey:

  • The feeling of walking on air. As we bring more of our spirit self into our human life, we experience more of our ethereal body. This can result in a feeling of not touching the ground.
  • Feeling overwhelmed or even irritated when around others. You are becoming more aware of energy. Everything is energy, so as you begin to feel the energy of all that is around you. This can cause stress until you learn to protect yourself and balance the energy.
  • Sleep changes occur. You may need more sleep or find you sleep less. Dreams often become more vivid. The dreamtime helps us release emotions that we’re unable to deal with while in the awake time.
  • Stress, sadness, even a feeling of death can occur. As we awaken, those issues our souls contracted to heal come up for healing. Our human selves may not want to give up an issue, which can cause inner conflict and stress. Feelings of death come from the human ego holding on while the human spirit begins to deepen.
  • Weight gain, especially in the abdominal area. Call this the Buddha belly. It’s a protective measure the body takes on.
  • Feeling taller is common. You may find yourself ducking as you walk under a doorway or people three feet away apologizing for bumping into you. Your energy is growing.
  • Wanting to be alone, away from people. You need more time for self to study, to just sit quietly, to walk in nature, to listen to the stillness, to meditate and pray. Look at the life of any spiritual master and you’ll understand their need to spend time in solitude.
  • Body pain is a sign of blocked energy. Heal and release the blockage and the pain disappears too.
  • Colors appear brighter. That which once seemed solid may look transparent. You are seeing with eyes of truth; you are seeing what truly is, not just what the human eyes are able to see. You are seeing auras; you are seeing energy.
  • People leave your life, work changes, your place of residence may even change. As you grow, you will attract into your life, that which best serves your life. That which no longer serves your life will fall away.
  • Feeling more emotional. Change in our lives, even welcomed change, is not always easy. You are now dealing with an influx of higher energy, which can bring forth emotions that at times may feel overwhelming. You may cry at a sunset because it’s so beautiful or feel a deep sadness at a news story.
  • Seeing shadows is a common phenomenon. You are seeing the energy and may even be seeing the energy of loved ones in spirit world.
  • You may also see dots of light swirling around. The dots are energy flying around that you’ve become aware of.
  • A light may shine down from above and into the top of your head. The light at the top of your head is your own light shining and filling up the body.
  • A sense of disorientation may occur. You no longer fit in where you were but don’t yet know where you do fit. It may take time to for your tribe and place of belonging to appear.

We like to think our spiritual journey is one of ease and fun. After all, isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing, progressing along our spiritual path while in human form? Yes, we are, but that doesn’t mean easy. Rewarding, oh my yes! But easy, no. After all, we’re human. When did we every think change was easy…even that change that we crave.

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Moments of Joy: Good People and a Prayer Answered

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Diana Rankin

Sunday afternoon, after running errands, I wandered toward home via backroads as I often do. A blue sky full of giant white clouds was overhead with bright sunlight flowing through the sunroof. It was a glorious day. Earlier storm clouds darkened the day, and they would again, but for the moment, the joy of the sunlight was with me.

Along the way, I stopped at one of the beaches along Indiana Lake, about 20 minutes north of my Ohio home. A breeze had kicked up, and the sun was giving way to moist clouds, so I stayed in the car with the windows and sunroof open and enjoyed the peace. Across the way, children played with parents and grandparents. Their laughter, muted with distance, flittered over to me and gave me pleasure.

I pulled out my journal and wrote for a while, then took a walk along the beach. The sun had faded and daylight wasn’t far behind. It was time to head home.

As I pushed the button to start GC (short for Golden Chariot, my Rav4), the only noise was a tiny little grrr. Trying it again and again didn’t change the situation. Pulled out the phone and AAA card, but first I needed to verify my location. The sign said, Fox Island, but was that just the name of the beach? Could AAA find me? Did I also need to know the name of the town? Was I in Russel’s Point or Lakeview or one of the other towns around the lake?

I walked over to the playground and asked the family where I was. One of the women asked what was wrong. When I told her, one of the men asked if I had jumper cables. I didn’t. They didn’t either. By this time, I was growing anxious. Tears were forming as I called AAA and listened to the voice telling me that they were understaffed, so I’d have to wait. Dinner time was approaching and people were leaving, including this family who was trying to help me. My mind went to the dark place of AAA won’t be here for hours and this old lady will be out here alone as night approaches.

I know, I know better, but that’s what happened. So…

I walked back over to GC while still on hold with AAA, and I said a prayer. “Please send help now.” As I finished my prayer,  I heard the gentleman give me a shout out. “Hold off. We may have a solution.” After he checked all three of their family vehicles, he then asked others in the park if anyone had jumper cables. As it turned out, the only other visitor to the park was a women with her children. And she did have the needed cables.

The man put the cables in place, while Mindy, the woman with the cables, comforted and instructed me. Pressed the start button. I did. But was only answered by that little grrr. Try again. Grrr. Try again. Grrr.

One of the women from the family came to add comfort, and to suggest I close the car door. She also noticed the overhead lights were on, which was probably what caused the battery to die to start with. I flipped the switch to the off position but nothing happened. Then my finger hit the light, and it went off. And GC started right up. Purr went the engine, the sound I’m used to hearing.

In all the years I’ve had GC (more than 200,000 miles since 2009) I never pushed against the lights to turn them off. They always went off automatically or when I would slid the switch to the off position. Well, I learned something new. A good experience, but what made this an especially meaningful experience was how hard these strangers worked to help me.

I offered a little money for their trouble, but no one would take the money. “There are still good people in the world,” the one women said as she looked directly at me with full love in her eyes and a smile on her face. I told her that it’s said that for every good deed you do 10 will come back to you. I sure hope that’s true for this family.

The family left as Mindy stowed the cables. She then walked back over to me and handed me her phone number. “If you ever need anything, give me a call. I don’t know everything and I may not have the answer, but if it will help, call.”

I waited for her and her children as we all left the park together. Mindy on her way home and me to do the same.

The roads were wet from the storms that had passed through while I was receiving the kindness of these new friends. Red Tailed Hawk flew across my windshield as I rounded a curve, then off to the east, where the storms had flown to, was the rainbow as big as the sky itself.

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3 Levels of Soul Pain and the Depth of Healing

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Diana Rankin

We are both human and spiritual beings. The spiritual part of who we are lives in joy; the human part of us experiences the joy . . . but to experience the joy, we also take on the experience of a whole set of human emotions, some of which we judge painful. We just down right hurt, and we don’t like it. Whether the suffering comes from grief, an illness, disappointments, or a myriad of painful experiences, we hurt and we hurt deeply and sometimes we can’t understand why the pain doesn’t seem to lift.

It is because we are healing on multiple levels, and as we heal, we are help to heal and evolve the world. This is big stuff. I mean BIG stuff.

Let’s start with the multiple levels. On the first level, we all have childhood issues, some of which are horrendous; some of which come from that which we understood as a child, but when revisited as an adult, we can see through different eyes; some of which hurt us as children because we were so innocent and unable to protect ourselves, but all of which we—as a soul agreed to take on, which brings us to the next level.

At this level, we visit the soul line. This is every life experience we have had so far and are yet to have, all of which can be healed and rewritten. In our travels through our multiple lives, we have had experiences where we have been harmed or have caused harm to others. Either way, we­­—as a soul—may have chosen in this life to heal the harm by experiencing it for the understanding of it, or because we were unable to heal it in other life experiences and are now taking it on again for healing.

The next level is the healing of ancestral wounds. We carry within us the genes of our parents and their parents and the parents of their parents, and so on. We are the collective DNA pattern of all our ancestors going back to the beginning of time . . . including the ancestral patterns of all our ancestors throughout all our lives experienced by our soul.

My heritage in this life is Celtic, Irish and Scot-Irish, and Delaware Indian. The ancestral healing is that of betrayal. I have seen this played out in my life. Looking at my life from my soul’s story, I understand why I chose my family. My father abandoned our family when I was two and my brother only a couple years older. Although I lived with my mother part time and full time when I was older, I lived much of my early childhood with my grandparents while my brother lived with our mother. My human self has struggled with abandonment issues while my spiritual self understands the healing that is taking place as I continue the healing on the human level.

As I heal these abandonment issues from my childhood and grow to understand they were chosen by me as a soul so that I might help to heal my ancestral patterns of betrayal, I am able to release any suffering that has come about because of feeling abandoned or betrayed. At the same time as I heal my pain that the little girl Diana suffered, that the young woman Diana suffered, that I suffered, I am also helping to heal all women and men who have felt abandoned and betrayed.

How can this be? We are all connected. Go back to the ancestral healing, all the way back. If we trace our DNA, which science is now able to do, we find amazing connections among people. As science advances, we may find that we all come from a common genetic ancestry. But that’s only one way we are all connected. We are also connected in the Divine Energy, that which all is made of. Whether we call ourselves light beings, God seeds, or spiritual beings, we are all part of the Divine Energy, which brings us to the importance of being aware of how we live our lives.

Think of your brain. Now think of a thought as being a streak of energy, like a lightening shooting across the sky. Every time you have a thought, this streak of energy shoots across your brain. After a while, your brain has grooves worn into it from the same type of thoughts, which have formed a thought pattern. Once a though pattern is set, it is harder to change because every time you are in a trigger situation, your thoughts automatically run toward those grooves. These thought pattern grooves are from experiences in this life and from your ancestral lineage. But is doesn’t stop here.

We also carry the DNA of our gender and of our nationality. Again, if we look at our lives from our human viewpoint, we feel the pain of gender issues and societal-regulated roles. Seeing these issues from a soul perspective, we are better able to understand our role in the healing. One of the greatest examples in our lives today is that of Malala Yousafza, the 14-year old girl in Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban when she was walking home from school because she had dared to speak out and act for the rights of girls to be educated. As a human, her suffering is unimaginable, as is that of her family. As a spiritual being, she may understand she is helping to heal and evolve the need for education for females in this part of our world.

We are all on this planet with a soul mission to heal and evolve our lives and in doing so we heal and evolve our world. We heal by changing our patterns, at times one breath and one step at a time. This is not easy work we do, but it is what we have come here to do. It is the work that takes us to joy.

The patterns of pain go deeper than our individual lives, but we experience the suffering in our human lives by our involvements and our direct relationship to the patterns. Because of the depth of the pain and the depth of the pattern, healing takes time and work. Indeed, it is the work of our lives, and although often challenging, it need not be unbearable. Certainly, some pain is more difficult to heal than others. We can heal fairly rapidly from the loss of a job, but not from the excruciatingly painful loss of a child. Yet even with this unthinkable grief weighing heavy on a parent’s shoulders, many have used the grief to reach out to help others.

This is the healing. As we heal, we can then reach out to help heal others. We cannot heal the other, but we can provide tools for the other to use, a shoulder to lean on and a hand to hold, and an understanding of the other’s suffering from one who has been there. We may not always understand our pain or the suffering of the world.

We may never do anything we think is helping to evolve the world, and yet every time—every time—we exchange a moment of pain for a moment of joy, we are changing the old patterns and healing the suffering by evolving our world one breath, one step, one thought at a time.

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