3 Step to Manifest Your Dreams

Posted on August 11, 2022 by Diana Rankin

Intention is at the root of the Law of Attraction, but so many misunderstand both, intention and the Law of Attraction. To benefit from the Law of Attraction, you must stand in the center of the intention and let life manifest through you. This is life creating itself from its highest order – your God/Spirit-Self.

This is quite different from deciding from the intellect that you want something, and then setting about to obtain it. It is where we begin, but it is only a beginning. The true master of the Law of Attraction aligns one’s self with the God/Spirit-Self, and the vision that comes from this alignment. Once the vision is clear, the intention comes into focus and the vibration of the intention brings forth the manifestation.

In other words, align yourself with the highest form of creation and your dreams will begin to materialize.

Utilize and remember these three steps to turn your dream into reality—

  1. Set the intention and step into it as explained. Use visualization to help you see your dream in action. Put yourself into the picture. Feel it taking place. The more you can live the dream in your mind the closer you come to manifesting it.
  2. Do the work necessary to bring your dream alive. The dishes won’t get washed if you just dream they are clean. A book won’t get written if you just dream about being a famous author. Or a cake won’t get baked if you just dream about it. What do you need to do? What ingredients do you need to gather? If you plan on baking a cake, make sure you gather eggs and flour, but not stones and leaves. Gather the right information and do the needed work.
  3. Surrender and let the energy do the work. This is the hardest and scariest part. This is where you have to face your fears about the dream. This is where you might learn you think you’re not good enough for the dream or that it’s too hard or that you can’t do it. This is the time to work through all those issues.

Surrender is not easy, but imagine you are baking that cake. At some point, you have to put it into the oven and let the energy of the oven take over. Then you have to listen for the timer to go off. Do not keep opening the oven door or the cake will fall. Do not forget to take the cake out when the timer goes off.

This is the time to listen carefully and use your intuition as to know when to act.

Bringing any dream alive takes dedication and desire. There’s no promise of easy but what is promised is that you can manifest that which your heart desires if you set your intention, do the work, and surrender to the process.

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When Soul Mates Meet, Fall in Love, and Crash 

Posted on July 25, 2022 by Diana Rankin

Your eyes meet across the room. Everything else fades away. All you can see is the other person, and you know you want to meet, have to meet. It is as though it is preordained, as though the gods are working their magic through the two of you.

You meet. You talk. . . . and talk and talk. Words between you come easily. Laughter comes even easier. And then you kiss and the world explodes. Nothing will ever be the same again. You feel like a teenager again. Life shimmers. You can’t get enough of each other. You are falling in love.

That euphoria, that love you feel for the other, makes everything in your life seem better. Everything is brighter, sweeter, even those few pounds you wanted to lose seem to melt away. This is as good as it gets, and you want it to last forever. The other one feels this same way, or so you thought.

 And then what seems like all of a sudden something happens, and before you know what’s what, you crash and burn. Your mundane lives, your human selves, with all your fears and insecurities and issues, push in and pull you out of the euphoria of new love. Your heart closes faster than it opened only a short while ago. You feel lost and alone and scared and hurt, and you don’t know which way to turn. 

This is where love—real love—begins. Not every couple is going to make it through, or past, this barrier, because this is where we get to deal with our own issues, stripping away our insecurities, soothing our fears, and becoming more of who we truly are. This is where we stop trying to make the other into who we want them to be, but instead learn who we are in this relationship. In doing so, we also must learn about kindness, compassion, understanding, and communicating.

This is where we embody love for ourselves as well as loving the other. This is where we learn if that deep soul connection translates into our workable relationship in our everyday life. It doesn’t always.

When it does, we must learn to nurture the third soul of love we are creating between us, as well as continuing to embody love for ourselves and for the other. We must continue to look at ourselves, getting to know our needs so we can with kindness and love communicate these needs to the other and hear the needs of the other. We must never blame the other for any disappointment of our own expectations, while also keeping within the healthy boundaries we have established for ourselves individually and as a couple. We must always continue to communicate, asking, answering, and most importantly laughing.  

 And if we succeed, we will come together in a lasting love that heals not only our lives individually and as a couple, but the lives of everyone who feels our love. That’s worth working for. 

But what if it doesn’t work between the two of you. What if you came together for the purpose of opening one another’s hearts to love, not just love from another, but love from yourself to yourself and all others?

Love will heal every wound, so  . . . what if we woke every morning and said, I love you? And what if we kept saying I love you to ourselves and to those around us and to the world all day long? What if these were the last words we said before we fell asleep at night? And what if we really, really meant these words? What if we meant I love you, not I own you, or I want you to do what I want, or I want to control you, or I want to put demands on you, but I love you and because I love you I value and respect you and I want to act in a way that shows I value and respect you? What if we were able to hear each other say I love you and not be afraid, but instead embrace and be grateful for that love, especially if that love comes to yourself from yourself?

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3 Ways to Enrich Your Life

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Diana Rankin

We all want rich, meaningful lives, and in these times of powerful and often conflicting energies swirling around us, living the lives we desire to have is not always easy to do. The following practices will help you instantly change the energy within you, which will change the energy around you. Over time, the practices will change the old patterns and help you move into living a happier, more fulfilling life.

  • Move into gratitude. When life overwhelms you and you don’t know how—or if—you can take the next step, move to gratitude. Start writing, or speaking aloud, those things for which you can find even the smallest feeling of thankfulness. Maybe it’s the sunshine on your face. Maybe it’s because you have a friend who cares about you. Maybe it’s because you have a memory that makes you smile. Maybe it’s . . .
  • Read a note to yourself. Write down a goal you want to reach and include why reaching that goal is important to you. Post the goal and its importance where you can read it often. When the going gets tough, read aloud that goal to remind you of where you are going and why it’s important to get there. Then take one step toward that goal—now.
  • Bless the other or the situation. When another person or a situation starts getting to you and the tape in your head is on repeat, stop the tape of ugly negativity by simply saying, “I bless (name of the person or situation)” and then bless yourself. You may have to bless the other person through gritted teeth when you begin. Do it anyway. Eventually you will feel forgiveness and even generously toward the other.

When we add peace and joy to our own lives, that energy goes out into the world. When others are in need of peace and joy all they need to do is to tap into the energy that is swirling around, that energy of love that you contributed to.

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When Did Your Spiritual Journey Begin?

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Diana Rankin

Can you point to a time when your spiritual journey began? It’s a question that came to me when an old high school friend and I reconnected on social media.

My friend wrote that one of my articles prompted him to ask the question. The article suggested to him my spiritual journey has taken place over many years. “Did it begin in high school?” he asked. Then jokingly he added, “Not in high school, I hope, where I was only concerned with hormones and sports.”

I haven’t yet answered because I don’t know when my spiritual journey began. Did it begin in high school? Has it been life-long? There are watershed moments, times of purposeful dedication and purposely accepting The Call. There have been times of knowingly jumping off the cliff into the abyss and times of quiet dedication and devotion. Have I led my life in quiet contemplation and meditation? At times, yes, but not always.  

I believe the spiritual journey asks of us more than we think we have to give and give us more than we think we deserve. Often I have banged and barged my way through life often paying a terrible price for my foolishness while at other times experiencing such grace I felt I could not endure the blessing for it burned away all that was unlike itself and there is an agony in that to the human being who, by our very nature tends to cling to the familiar while our souls cry out for the adventure and the growth within it even in the moments of fear.

When I most want to curl up, I am pried open and forced to lie awake, my very being, stretched wide to the limits until the terrible storm that whips across my heart is stilled and I am at peace once more. Why then, you may ask, would any human being take such a journey, and I answer, “Because we are human, and it is the human experience to remember the truth of who we are—the spiritual being having the gamut of the human adventure in all its glory and gore.

And in the end, in the end, some say, we shall all return to enfold ourselves back into the God Head, once again become part of Prime Spirit, evolving forever, washing us all clean of pain until there is only a love so profound and perfect, we only glimpse for the slightest of seconds its depth while here on Earth. Is that then what we strive for? To reach our original home and never leave. Perhaps.

But then again, perhaps we only reach there to leave again. After all, who can avoid the pull of the adventure whether it be the thrill of the open road or the unknown destination of life around the next corner—or galaxy—or dimension? Perhaps then, when we return to this adventure we call life, we begin where we left off, already on our spiritual journey.

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Chasing Rainbows

Posted on July 7, 2022 by Diana Rankin

I didn’t know I was chasing rainbows when I set off. I went to the post office to pick up the mail and wasn’t quite ready to head home. While at the post office, I walked over to the grocery and picked up a Snicker’s Ice Cream Bar and wanted to savor it before heading back home to the evening’s chores. A storm had moved through, and I could still see the darkness in the east as I stood amidst rain puddles shimmering with the sun’s sparkles.

Once back in the car, I headed east toward the storm. I hadn’t particularly planned to. I just kept on going straight instead of turning to go home when the time came.

This is rural country where the barns are bigger than most houses and the fences are built to keep the livestock in and strangers out. It’s where kids belong to 4-H Clubs and their chores begin before school starts and end after the sun goes down. It’s where you may not see much of your neighbors except to wave as they plant the fields or in times of trouble when there’s always a helping hand.

It’s a good place to live where loneliness isn’t a word you have time for, and depression is left to people who can’t watch the corn grow. I’ve lived here long enough that it’s pretty near impossible to get lost, but there are still a few surprises waiting for me as I wander these back roads, some of which are so narrow you can’t get a pick-up truck past a tractor without wheels going off the side of the road.

Not all the roads are that narrow. There are plenty of well-paved two-lane state highways. I live off one, but this night I was more interested in the narrow passages between rows of tall summer-fed corn, broken only by the occasional graveled lane that always piques my interest even though I know that at the end of each one is a house much like my own, which is in the woods at the end of a long lane that probably piques the interest of many a passer-by.

Mist skittered up from the road in front of me. Sunlight bounced against the mist, refracting rainbows of color while rain dropped against the windshield. Ahead of me was the actual rainbow with all her promises. I wanted to follow her arch to the end, but home was calling me back. Behind me was the west with blinding bright sun, and I couldn’t drive east forever, so reluctantly I said good-by to the rainbow and at the next road turned south, and then west.

As roads out here are wont to do, it twisted and turned back on itself until I was traveling with the sun shadowing my back and the rainbow coming up on my side. Soon the road came to a stop, dead ending into the state route I live on, although miles from my home. I turned west again, toward home. The sun had moved nearer its night setting. It was still big and bright, but more orange now, with its rays starting to color the clouds off to the south.

Once home, I stopped at the end of my land before heading into the woods that held my house. The sun was bumping into the horizon spreading with orange and pink, red and yellow, blue and purple. The western horizon filling and spilling across the sky with all the colors of the rainbow and filling my life content with those colors too.

The next afternoon I set off down the lane to pick up the mail from the mailbox on the other side of the lane. Droplets of rain dripped off overhanging branches, reminding me of the rain that had fed Mother Earth. As I looked ahead, a rainbow grew across the Eastern sky, its pastel colors sparkling in a sky of pale blue and clouds not yet sure if they wanted to be white or gray.

As I neared the end of the lane, I could see that the rainbow spanned the southeastern sky almost as far as I could see. And…and on the other side, the northeastern side, the end of the rainbow was right in front of me. It sparkled on the leaves of the trees and branches of the bushes and spread itself over the field. In splendor, I watched its dance of glittering pink-yellow-blue-white-golden sparkles as they swirled together in nature’s secret. Indeed, I had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

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The Balance of Giving and Receiving, a Story

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Diana Rankin

Giving and receiving is one cycle just as the in breath and the out breath are one.  Breathing in we receive, breathing out we give, one breath inseparable until the final breath that separates us from our body. When we live with a generous heart, we live in the balance of giving and receiving as one, neither only being the giver nor shutting down our ability to be the receiver.

Without giving and receiving as one, there is no balance. There is only the breath in without the breath out or the breath out without the breath in.

When we give without receiving, we feel safe. As long as I am giving to you, you are beholden to me; you must love me, because look how much I give to you; you can never leave me, because I give you so much, etc.

When we shut down our receiving, we also feel safe. I don’t owe anyone anything; no one ever wants to help me, but I don’t need their help; people always expect something in return; I don’t like feeling beholden to anyone, etc. When we treat giving and receiving as separate, we are not free to have healthy, balanced relationships. We are not living with a generous heart.

Recently, I was entering the checkout line at the grocery store when a lady pushed her cart in front of me. I veered and moved over to the next aisle. She then pulled back and also veered to the same aisle so quickly that I had to jump back. For some reason, she needed to be in front of me at the checkout lane, and I could either accept that and live with a generous heart or spend the waiting time in frustration. In that moment of time, I chose the former and stayed in the peace and harmony of a generous heart.

When we choose the generous heart, Spirit works through us in miraculous ways that are beneficial to us and to others. As it turned out, the lady did not have enough money to pay for her purchases. She was 66 cents short. I’m sure you know what happened next. I was able to give her $1, something most of us would do, but there’s more to this story.

Only moments before, I had been in a place of lack, feeling frustrated because of the need to watch what I spent because of a low cash flow. When the lady cut in front of me, my frustration intensified. When she cut in front of me a second time, I made the conscious decision to change my experience by moving into a generous heart. When we move into a generous heart, life becomes lighter and brighter, and our awareness heightens. (How many times has someone in front of us needed help, but our awareness was not lit by a generous heart, so we were unaware of the other’s need?) When I moved into a generous heart, I became aware of the lady’s need, and I was able to help.

“Thank you,” she said. Without looking at me, she asked for my name and address to repay me.

“Pass it forward,” I said.

She then turned and looked at me, and I saw her, saw the woman I hadn’t seen when I was caught in my frustration. Now I saw her truth, a woman beaten down by life. One side of her mouth drooped by Bell’s Palsy or a stroke. Her tee shirt was misshapen and hung loose around her neck and shoulders, which were hunched over in weariness. Our eyes met, locked, and love entered. I felt her gratitude in my heart, and my heart was lifted and filled with gratitude, gladdened that I had been at the right place at the right time to give $1 to someone who gave so much more to me in our Divine Dance.

Giving: out breath; in breath: receiving. Giving always comes back to us ten-fold. In the mail that afternoon, there was a generous check from someone who wanted to say thanks for helping him along his spiritual path. That evening a friend bought me dinner to say thanks for helping her through her dog’s illness. The next day, another friend paid my way into a festival, just because.

I didn’t say you shouldn’t have. No, I said thank you. I received graciously, which is as important as giving graciously.

It always comes around, this giving and receiving. Always.  Whatever we need, whenever we need it, is ours to receive and we are always in the right place at the right time to pass along that which we are to give. Always. As long as we live with a generous heart receiving and giving graciously.

Breathing in and breathing out; giving and receiving. One.

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 Creating a Home Altar 

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Diana Rankin

An altar is a focal point for your daily meditation and prayer. It is for the placing of sacred objects that have meaning to you and will aid with your devotion by holding the energy of your intent. Your altar does not have to be large, but it should be in a space that will be respected by all family members and where you can sit quietly and undistributed.

What should you place on the altar?

I have three altars, one in my home, one in the Eagles’ Nest where we hold workshops and gatherings, and a traveling altar for Sacred Circle and other away programs. My home altar is a small table on which I honor the two sides of my heritage-Celtic (Irish and Scottish) and Native American (Delaware). In the center I have a candle that represents fire, flanked by representatives of the wind (a feather), water (a small decanter of water from the sacred well of Glastonbury), stones from Ireland and the sacred land where I live, and a deer to represent those who live on this land and all animals. Placed around these objects, there are various items that hold special meaning.

For your altar, you will want to find those objects that are sacred to you. For example, if you are a Christian, you might place a photo of Jesus or a statue of Mother Mary on your altar. If you are a devotee of a guru, you would have a photo of that person; a Buddhist might have a statue of the Buddha. You could leave mala beads, a rosary, or other prayer beads on your altar. You might add a medicine bag, tobacco, and sage if you follow Native American tradition or a sword, Celtic cross, or Bridget’s cross to honor the Celtic tradition. You could add stones that came from sacred land, crystals, and seeds. A shaman’s altar includes replicates of the power animal(s). If angles guide and protect you, place statues or photos of angels on your altar. Whatever items you place on your altar should be used only for this spiritual purpose.

You may choose to cover your altar with a cloth of natural fiber. I use a piece of leather for two of my altars and leave one without cover and use the natural wood of the table. Burning incense or sage cleanses and adds a focal aroma to your meditation.

Once you have your altar set up, you may wish to spread tobacco over it, burn incense or sage and ask the Divine Spirit to bless your altar. As you sit at your altar in meditation and prayers allow your heart to heal any sorrows you hold in your heart, whether private sorrow or that of the world.

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Are the Words You Say to Yourself Helpful?

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Diana Rankin

Words have a powerful effect on us, especially those words we either use against ourselves or to show love and acceptance of ourselves. To be loving to, and accepting of, ourselves begins with the words we say to 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 –

  1. Listen for any words you use to beat up on yourself and change them to positive words.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 is/was a beautiful day!”
  4. When angry or disappointed with yourself, stop and breathe, and then ask yourself, “Are these the words I want to say to me?”
  5. 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.
  6. Make sure you don’t take in any harmful words others may say to you. Just rewrite their words in way that reinforces how great you are.

Compassion for others begins with compassion for ourselves. Watch what you’re saying to yourself and let the self-love flow.

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Phillip’s Wisdom on The Power of Words

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Diana Rankin

A word, or phrase, chanted over and over imprints on the human brain and becomes the person’s reality and truth. This takes place at a subconscious level, so the person is not consciously aware of the programming of the brain that is taking place.

This chanting effect increases in intensity when done in a meditative state when the mind is quiet and receptive; when chanting in a group where the group energy increases the intensity of the chant; and when spoken aloud because audio input is perceived more strongly by the human mind than is thought alone. This is true regardless of whether the human mind perceives the word or phrases to be positive or negative as judged by your society.

Each word or phrase carries within it an energy vibration that seats within the human at a cellular level and is passed along via the DNA from other life experiences and through family lineage. To change the energy of the vibrations of the words that are already seated requires transformation at a cellular level. The body and brain must be rewired, which requires a conscious desire, a spiritual reawakening, and a cooperation between the human and spirit. All three must be undertaken by the human in a conscious effort to improve the individual’s life awareness and the collective’s. What this requires is an awareness of one’s self, an acute appraisal of one’s thought, and an honest monitoring of one’s words.

This undertaking is not easy for many individuals but eventually at some point within the eternity of the multiple life span the task will be taken on for this is the way of evolution if the human species is to receive the full spectrum of the human experience.

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Living Life as a Prayer

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Diana Rankin

For years my prayer was to live my life as a prayer. It took many more years to come to understand what that meant, and had I known, I just might not have prayed so hard . .  . or even prayed that prayer at all. Yet I’m deeply grateful I did.

Although I can’t say that I live my life as a prayer all the time, what I can say is that I’ve come to some glimpse of understanding of what it means to live my life as a prayer, and in those precious moments of grace, I feel the beauty and experience the divine ecstasy of Being, and it brings me to my knees in gratitude.

What does it mean to live life as a prayer? It means seeing the Beloved in everyone by looking beyond the human flaws and seeing the other’s spirit. It means knowing the other is there because we have called them to us to help us heal worn-out patterns and move into a greater self. It means having reverence for all nature and respect for all beings. It means finding sheer joy in the simple movement of every day and living with gratitude for that which is. It means living with compassion instead of anger, trust instead of fear, and truth instead of drama. It means living and breathing and being Love.

It means living fully the human experience from the deeper spirit with a profound knowing that all life is unfolding as it is to unfold, and although we may not understand the bigger story and may even suffer in our not understanding, we know, we know there is something so much greater than we are at this moment and we are content to sit quietly within this great mystery and just be full and complete.

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