A labyrinth on Winter Solstice Eve

Labyrinth, Theosophical Society, Wheaton, IL (photo from website: https://www.theosophical.org/)

December 20th doesn't get much love.

Mind you, it IS a busy time.  Especially busy for me this year, since my lovely husband and I just wrapped up a show (the 80th anniversary performance of the old-time Chicago radio classic, "The Cinnamon Bear" - a huge labor of love for him that occupied much of our energy for the last month or so), and now I have a raft of voice-over auditions my agents are sending for end-of-year campaigns, plus final holiday "business and industry" (cards, last-,minute gifts, figuring out which tipsy spirits to purchase for an upcoming shenanigan), plus maneuvering through a list of distractions as long as a daisy chain of a hundred Elves on Shelves.

I needed a bit of quietude.  I needed to decompress.  And I needed to dial in to Spirit for the Big Day tomorrow, Winter Solstice, then soon to follow Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (and Festivus.  Let us not forget Festivus). So I was delighted to find myself, between errands and an audition, near my own personal Hogwarts, The Theosophical Society in Wheaton, IL, and recalled they have quite a beautiful little labyrinth on the premises.  And it was whispering my name with not just a little bit of urgency.

Quite often, when you enter a labyrinth, you come with a question, a request of Spirit, or to concentrate on something.  Walking to the center of the design, you're often encouraged to work through something, to let go of something.  Then, once you arrive at the center, you center, give thanks, then you exit as you came, all the while either thanking Spirit or filling the space that you emptied with a new energy or purpose or goal.

I did a little bit of all of the above. I won't go into my personal details, but I at first came with a particular problem.  I was then told, in no uncertain terms by my angels and guides, that it was small potatoes and would be taken care of in a timely manner and all was well.  No, for me, I was to concentrate on a bigger picture goal of peace, love, creativity, and connection with Spirit.

And, upon exiting the labyrinth, I realized I have a new tradition to incorporate into my seasonal festivities. December 20th, Winter Solstice Eve, shall now be deemed Labyrinth Day.  Since Solstice itself is filled with so much power, I think starting your work with Spirit a day before is a perfect way to set the stage for the Shortest, Darkest Day, the day when we go within, start to germinate our goals and Life Art for the new calendar year, especially those things that will start to bloom and grow in the Spring and Summer.

So walk a labyrinth. Start your own tradition of connection to Spirit. May that connection only grow and deepen during these dark, quiet months ahead.

Peace.

"The Mystical Mouse" has been published!

Ever wonder about the REAL magic behind the attractions at Disneyland? Curious about the inspiration behind such treasured rides as The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean?  Care to learn more?  Well, lookee here!:

It's here, it's here!  I'm thrilled to announce my newest book, "The Mystical Mouse" has been published through Theme Park Press and is now available through Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1683900936//ref=cm_sw_su_
dp?tag=bob0e9-20

Yep, it's available in print and on Kindle, but order the print version and I'll autograph it for you - which is a lot harder to do on a Kindle.  Just sayin'. Plus, you'll want to see the amazing cover art by talented artist Jim Martin up close.

And ... if you purchase a copy THIS MONTH, by golly, I'll not only autograph it for you - I'll give you a free tarot reading! Oh, yes indeed!!

Happy October to all!!!

The "betwixt and between" time.

Took a walk in nature at the Morton Arboretum, my church. It's the time before everything turns golden.  It's still in green, yet gold and crimson and rust are edging their way in.  It's one of my favorite times of the year: the locusts have gone back into hiding, squirrels are doing their squirrely thing, the air is crisp-yet-balmy, and the sun seems entirely happy to peek out.

It feels like everything is in that "betwixt and between" right now. We've endured some physical devastation in the South, in the West, and throughout our country we continue to endure a spiritual, emotional kind of devastation.  Yet I truly feel that we're hitting a cosmic "reset button" these days. Things that need tending to are getting tended to, in some ways big time, in some ways whether we like it or not.

So we breathe.  And we ground and center.  And we ask ourselves, "What is that green that needs to change to gold in our lives?" Because things that begin must end, and in so doing, may be the place where golden alchemy of spirit and self begins.

Many blessings to you.

"What the heck does being a quaintrelle MEAN???"

I get this asked a lot.  Sometimes people proudly say to me, "You know what?  I looked up 'quaintrelle' and now I know a new word.! So thank you, because I had no clue. I thought it was some sort of a mollusk. Thanks for getting me curious." And that's really great. I'm glad to help people expand their vocabulary.

But sometimes they just leave it at that. And that makes me have a sort of faint smile, like if you just smelled something pleasant, but it wasn't extraordinarily redolent; it was fleeting, something left tangling in space.

Friends, there are enough "almosts" and "partiallys" and "um, sortas" out there to (almost) fill up a stadium. I figure it's time to explore the fullness, greatness, the tapestry of possibility again.  And that's why I coach. And I coach the art of the quaintrelle to all. Yes, by definition, a quaintrelle is a woman who "emphasizes a life of passion expressed through personal style, leisurely pastimes, charm, and cultivation of life's pleasures". But it can be anyone, anywhere, who wishes to reach beyond the ordinary, the "almosts" and "just enoughs". To sit in a brilliant tapestry, like the woman in Klimt's masterpiece, "The Woman in Gold" above, a tapestry of their own creation, woven of beauty, art, life, creativity, and passion.

It's a turbulent, scary world out there. Feeling creatively stuck, unfulfilled - that's just scratching the outer shell of most of us. For many, there's a darkness of spirit which digs deeper, where there's no color, no flavor.  While you might think that one shouldn't even think about working art and beauty and texture and aroma and deliciousness into your world right now, while you may be just trying to earn enough to provide, just enough to get by, my answer to that is, "Why wait to explore, to embrace beauty, to delve into the energetic level of creating and expressing?" What we focus on expands. Why not plant a seed of beauty, allow it to germinate into something transcendent, something that will enhance your life, the lives of those around you, the world?

Contact me. Let's set the beauty in motion.

The perfect time for some life coaching is when it's the perfect time.

It's not like something is gonna hit you over the head.  The message may come along subtly.  There might just be a "feeling", or a "knowingness" that something needs to change.  Listen to those little echoes.  They're wise.  They may be angels, or you, or the barometric pressure, but they're wise and they're letting you know it's time.

Time to unstick, ungoo, unfetter.  Set some new plans in motion, create some goals, instigate some dreams.

I life coach.  I use tarot cards while I coach, or I don't - it's really up to the client.  I find the cards act as springboards to creative possibilities.  It's truly a lot of fun.  You should give it a try sometime.

Like now.  When that echo comes through.  When it's time because it's time.

Awaiting the magic in the Kingdom to ignite.

I finished up the writing at the end of last month. I attached the manuscript to an email to my publisher,  breathed in a deep rush of air, and hit "send".  It's out there now, in a kind of author limbo, a reality only to myself, said publisher, and my husband, who read it and loved it.

When you finish writing a book that became your close friend for several months (several caffeine-fueled, sometimes draining, mostly exhilarating months) and you send it off, you loosen your grasp on that child's hand, sending him off forever into the world, no longer your baby, embarking upon the vastness of the world of readers, reviewers, and fellow writers. My "kid" is out there and I hope you embrace him, consider him wonderful yet quirky yet brilliant yet engaging.

When I get the go ahead from the publisher, I'll starting shouting my book from the mountain tops. And this blog, and Facebook and Instagram and all their compatriots. Until then, gaze lovingly at the above photo of Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland.  And know that, just for now, it's living in the tallest spire, sequestered away in safety, waiting to be freed to the world, to become a part of it, and to, hopefully, keep the spirit of Walt's magic alive in all who read it.

When Archangel Michael steps in, and makes like Cher in "Moonstruck".

Archangel Michael does not suffer fools.  Archangel Michael goes straight for the jugular.  Archangel Michael will hold you to task.  Archangel Michael will tell you to "Snap out of it".  Don't be fooled by the above image, depicting a delicate Daniel Stevens-type of Michael.  Michael will take your hand, hold it firmly, and squeeze it a bit until you cry "uncle!".  Don't worry, it won't hurt you, it will wake you and push you into the light.

We're riding along on New Moon energy right now, the moon waxing and building, so it's a perfect time to build on what you wish to manifest, to grow things, to work on the projects you wish to create and embellish.  You build during this time, rather than remove or banish.  So imagine my surprise when, during a walk today (in nature, my church), I began praying to God and received what I only can describe as an angelic intervention.

While walking, I felt a swirling energy all around me, streaming up from my feet, through my torso, to above my head.  And it whirled and vibrated and energized me to the point of tears.  Tears of gratitude.  Because this winter season has been tough on me emotionally.  I'm very done with the greater Chicagoland area, for many reasons, but especially during the colder months.  I hibernate. I withdraw. Hibernating can be restorative, unless it's more "hidebernating".  And that's what I'd been doing: holing up under a blanket, in hiding for much of the last 5 months. Which has been interesting, since I'm currently in a play, have been rather active (because of other people, not by my own volition).

Then my mind's ear heard that it was Michael interceding.  Michael, not even allowing my usual chat with my guardian angel and spirit guides, but taking a firm stand.  Michael letting me know I'm on notice until I shake out of the gloom. Michael letting me know that the work I need to do right now is too important to escape from. Michael encouraging me, like a stern-but-loving parent, to use the New Moon energy to start building and growing again.

The details are too personal to share here, but I will say I was given a mantra to repeat every day.  I was given tasks to accomplish.  I was given three things to work on, to nourish, to reconnect with.  Like the beautiful little flower babies pushing through the dank bed of dead leaves and detritus, it was my time to be reborn.  No excuses, no "almosts", but full-out energy, movement, and drive.

And, unlike my usual connections with archangels, he has not left to do other work.  He is still present.  He won't let go of this connection because he deems it to vital right now.  So, my usual conversation with the angels of "stay if you will, go if you must" has been overridden.  I am to breathe with this.  I am to learn from this.  I am to work with this. I have been given absolutely no alternative or choice.

And I am to share this on my blog.  Today.  Right now.

My request to you: whether you connect with Michael right now or not, find three things you can grow, you can nourish, you can bring to light.  Work with them every day, especially during this waxing moon energy, which culminates in a Full Moon on April 10th.

See what wants to push up through the leaves.

Baby New Year 2017, with your little linen diaper, your jaunty top hat, your shrill little noisemaking horn - I like you already!  Your kin, the turbulent 2016, is old, weathered, withered, and bowing its head in shame.  Truth be told though, your older sibling gave me some really beautiful gifts, like a trip to Chopra to study meditation in silence, a deeper commitment to my spriituality, trips to Disney, a Harry Potter-themed party (wherein I cosplayed Sybill Trelawney NON-STOP), a wonderful turn as The Princess Puffer in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", and directing a readers theatre version of "A Christmas Carol".  Many outings were enjoyed, parties planned, friends reconnected with.  I thank 2016 for those gifts.  But I can't forgive the darkness of November, the tears shed over those left to the ages.

2017 is a "One" year, which indicated new beginnings.  2017, I send you toddling into the joyous ether, grateful for the new, clear horizons.