Platform 9 3/4 or A Place to Start

Wow, what a week. I have felt such sadness at the loss of first David Bowie, and then Alan Rickman. Two beautiful, creative souls.

Death is inevitable; no one is leaving this life alive. So, it is permission to live and live deeply, fully, radiantly. Do what calls to your heart and makes you sing. Do things that put a smile on your face. Be weird, be silly. It means you are really being yourself. It is a gift you give to those around you, when you show up being you.

It's been 5 years since my gran died. The sadness I feel will always be with me, but I feel this has shaped me into a better, kinder, more compassionate person. After my gran died, I sort of became obsessed with Harry Potter. In my grief, I didn't think too much of it. After I started feeling less sad and overwhelmed, I finally thought to ask what the message was concerning HP. Well! I heard, "Learn to see the magic in everyday life."

I struggled with this; I just didn't understand. I see how bodies are miracles walking around each day. I see Nature and feel Its beauty is a gift. I have a loving family. But the fact of the matter was, things in my life just weren't working. (How did I know? I asked myself if my beliefs were workable, meaning, did I get the end results I desired?) I've had to cultivate emotional focus -- hard to do, for me. I've had to change my happiness set point; the default setting left me feeling really low each day. So what was all this about?

I bought a book, 'On Becoming an Alchemist,' about 6 or 7 years ago. I could seriously never make it past the first chapter. But in August, I picked it up again, thinking to donate it. Lo and Behold! I began to read and noticed the name Harry Potter appeared. Okay, I thought, let's pay attention.

Harry's first challenge on his path to becoming a wizard was finding Platform 9 3/4. In the non-magical world, it does not exist.

So where is it?

To an alchemist, The Between, is a magical place. Platform 9 3/4 represents The Between. Most of us don't think about what lies between us and anything else. But here is the deal;  The Between is a sacred container for your own relationship to Life. If your relationship to Life sucks, you are putting your bad attitude and negative beliefs into that sacred container and you are just getting more of the same negativity and 'tude. Who wants that?

We cannot change anyone or anything outside of ourselves, so the place to begin is within us. Look to your own beliefs about the things you don't like and question those beliefs.

To a Spiritual Alchemist, the Philosopher's Stone is your own open and loving, transformed and transforming heart.

Become The Body of Love

Embodiment is such a weird thing. We get so hung up on random things that don't really matter. We allow past events to control both our present and future lives. When what we really want is to be happy. To feel loved, loving and lovable. To see ourselves as healed and whole.

I've been exploring the notion of self-expression and what that really means to me. I am putting down everything I've thought about it and everything I think I know. What I bump up against, repeatedly, is the concept that I shouldn't. Don't make people feel uncomfortable. Keep things "nice." (Which is Not Real.) Don't rock the boat.

Somehow, self-expression has become about other people. The exact opposite of what it's meant to be.

The truth is, to me, that we are each a fractal of the whole. And each perception is valid. Each has a place. Each has a say. We get to see the ways we are still holding onto pain in our collective consciousness.

So, as the wheel of the year has turned, I let go of all that no longer serves. Of everything that has, up till now, come to fruition. I make room for the new and I plant the seeds for what wants to grow in me and through me in this coming year.

I choose to walk as a vessel of Love. I will let Love live and grow in me and through me and express Itself outwardly. Whatever that looks like.

A new adventure has begun