On Becoming Unfinished from Mark Nepo

“I think I’m becoming unfinished.” Mark Nepo  wrote in Things that Join the Sky and the Sea

Sounds True Publishing
Bolder CO 80306
© 2017

** I really like this quote

From: page 2, Quieting the Thieves

…he stepped out in the rain…his “to do” list in his shirt pocket had become soaked from the rain, and the ink from the line items had all run together and become blurry…the tasks themselves had blurred, and he liked that interruption. Now they were unreadable and forgettable even though we often carry those lists right near our hearts, so important we think they are.

Now, he sees them as the thieves they are, demanding we have everything in order before we live, fingering them like worry beads. They are, in fact, the greatest thieves. As he feels the rain drops drip down his neck, he begins to sense that he, like his to-do items, is becoming unfinished, and he is good with that.

I like that. Let’s just take the bully out of our To Do lists and fuel them instead with our Spirit for life! Then the check mark we put beside the items will be worthy of its mark.

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Favorite Persons Janet and Catherine and Favorite Place, Catherine’s Studio

 

“I received many many gifts from staying with Catherine Anderson and teaching a Writing Down Your Soul workshop in her studio. A big gift was getting to SLEEP in her studio. Here’s my bed in one corner. What does this remind you of? Think Paris.”  Janet Conners

That is one high honor Janet Conner is mentoring the writer in many of us with our hearts aflame with purpose and divine guidance. She is SoulWriter.

Teaching us to listen to the Voice and record it on the page. I address my Voice as WHO — Whole and Holy One.

 

I am Writer – in – Residence….

…earning my AIC certification —  Ass In Chair.

Artemis, goddess of the heart sets aim on the words that come into being through us…

and Hestia…goddess of the hearth keeps us at home and creative in our writing.

My Hestia is at the loving Crone age and her fire still burns and guides…

Our Plug In For Writers Circle gathering of exquisite women feed the world and shape it into a better world for all in the books that will take seed in the near future.

 

Archangels Michael and Raphael and Angel Gabriel are present to help me during my “office hours” of creativity.

http://www.janetconner.com

 

 

Catherine Anderson of Charlotte NC  is a GRACE FIND for me. I was with her twice in her beautiful and sacred studio at her home, and traced the back yard labyrinth with my feet and the labyrinth of my writing and SoulCollage® cards with my heart and hands.

 

SoulCollage® gives wings to my words. The practice of this beautiful visual/spiritual/artistic practice was begun by Seena Frost and is world-wide now with thousands of facilitators introducing groups to the joy and wisdom building it brings.

 

I Am One Who Is….Blessed Baby.

I Am One whose Power Animal for the writer in me is the Tiger.

 

I Am One who helps you understand the difference between
crash landings and exploration.

I Am One who is grateful to be called to writing,
SoulCollage® and the quiet peace of the labyrinths
I have walked all around the world.

 

 

So Inspiring to be together, create and journal
our Wisdom within.

 

 

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Mystery

 

The Chinese character for mystery, or yugen, is the same character for mountain, which looks like an inverted T with two squiggles on each side of the vertical stem.

“The line is the mountain and the squiggles on either side represent the mist in the valley that invokes a certain anticipation of the hidden.”  (The Zen of Creativity, John Daido Loori)

We often associate mystery with the darker side of life, the unknown. Then in religion and art, mystery is actually light, itself.  I am interested in mystery today because I am attempting to “sort out” and “be with” a great mystery of loss which has befallen my friends, in a sudden and tragic death of a young mother and friend.

Being with this loss is indeed taking up all aspects of mystery — the terrible darkness it brought upon us and the light we must seek to go back to center and live from there.  Peaking around the next corner into the darkness is not my forte.

 

In his writing upon mystery, John Daido Loori,  one of the truly great Zen Masters, says:

“Mystery is the seed of discovery. The term ‘mystical’ means: ‘Having a spiritual meaning that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intellect. It is direct subjective communication that we can’t process intellectually. We can’t see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, touch it, or think it. It is very subtle and slippery, impossible to nail down or explain. Yet we’re somehow aware of its presence, and it has a real impact on us.”

He goes on to explain how we can become aware of its presence.

“In order for us to perceive this subtle quality, three elements must be in place: trust in our spiritual practice, trust in the creative process, and most importantly, trust in ourselves. If any of these are missing, the whole structure collapses and we retreat into certainty. So we trust, even if we can’t explain or justify why we do what we do.” P 194 The Zen of Creativity

I had underlined the first part of this and made notes in the margin when I was first reading this book, probably over fifteen years ago.  After several moves, and still not having my categories together on ever-moving bookcases, I pulled it out today, thinking about Zen, Reiki and Japanese art because I am on the brink of an opportunity to take two workshops in Japanese flower painting and Wabi-Sabi collage next week. Which I am so excited about, I could pee my pants.

Also, because I am filled with grace to have come under Janet Conner’s (Janetconner.com) tutelage since Writing Down Your Soul, Lotus and Lily AND Intersection for Writers on-going instruction modules and books.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT SHE TEACHES …..THERE IS NO WRITING COURSE OUT THERE THAT I KNOW OF THAT INSTRUCTS AND INSISTS ON SPIRITUAL PRACTICE AS PART AND PARCEL OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS.

And her process for writing, to those of us listening and learning, goes directly to accessing that special mystical quality and writing from there….and trusting it. That is her belief and her brand. That is the sweet spot and her students are zeroing in on it. What fabulous books are being authored that are going to reside on bookstore shelves across the world and fly from the internet into homes awaiting their special gifts and wisdom.

SHE IS SO RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT. WE ARE  SO BLESSED, BLESSED, BLESSED.

Just how long did it take to grow the mountains? It’s a mystery, right? So many layers, so many changes, over time…over time. Just like a mystery. It is a mystery to me how my eyes fell upon this section  of the book, after having been out of my sight for so very long. But for me, this is a special seeding time. The field is ripe and the conditions are powerful and potent. I am about my purpose. I have been guided to my guides, here on earth and beyond. I am in good hands. Who’s hands?

Well, that’s a mystery.

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By Napkinwriter   April 24, 2017

Do you know me?

Well, I had all kind of picture computer glitches today, so I don’t have some of the photos I want to go along to introduce you to both Janet and me, but here’s what I have.

Welcome to Napkinwriter, a blog that will wet your appetite for the many stories to come. I really do write on napkins and way sooner than this, I should have had a napkin saver container to “bank” and collect my beginning ideas, words and images I penned on them over the past fifty years at least.   I’ve been writing Napkinwriter since December 2010. What will you see here?

Stories about extra -ordinary people who are in the world disguised as ordinary people; stories about the extra-ordinary days that are given to us all in gifts of “the moment” — one at a time. Stories of grace and angels among us that have touched my life in an unforgettable way. Stories of…..the Mystic Muse, who plays in my day and creates scenes in my nights that I must arise and give form and expression to. And I am going to leave that preposition right at the end of that sentence·

I am a writer by soul command, I am a writer in my personal life and in my professional life. I write to inspire and bring forth the beauty of goodness within each of us and all around us. My Personal Essence energy signature is: I Am Truth Seeker, Peace Maker, Love Giver. I am a beloved wife, mother and grandmother and my joy lies within this way of life. I Am a blessing and I Am blessed.

I work to bring the awareness of our spectacular being to all those I meet in my day; I am beginning to focus attention to the elderly, to hold high the vision; to caregivers, to rise above the challenges and be their High Self, and to include this global Shift movement in the healing powers of my Reiki Master Self, who is already operating in global healing around the world.

I’m glad you’re here. I hope we get some discussion going. Now it’s your turn.

It is NOW 2017. My how time flies. We have returned to our early-marriage roots and live in Lexington Kentucky.  I have lived the writing life for a long, long time both personally and professionally. But NOW IS THE TIME to heed a long- heard call to write a book titled “BEING FAITHFUL TO THE QUIET, Finding the Peace that Soothes Your Soul.”

Janet Conner is one in a star galaxy of my writing space who gives me what I need to stay connected to my writing avocation.  As it says in Terma, The Box

What do you hear when all has gone silent and the in spaces between the silence,  there is a call,…..ignore it if you must, but WHY PRETEND it isn’t there?

It is there…..I am not ignoring it…..and I am NOT pretending it isn’t there.

That is the writer’s life.

I was already teaching Write Now! which is similar to Janet’s Soul Writing when I met her on line and stepped into her writing instruction; not only writing but soul connection, as well.  When I met her, I was in no position to sign up for and pay good money for the privilege of learning from her. Here she was telling about her own starting point of near bankruptcy and I was actually still swirling from a bankruptcy.

But not only did pay and enter into her Soul Writing course, I went on to take her first Lilies and Lotus course, being attracted by the scripture “See the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor spin…” (and yet they are provided for)…..and for the last six years, I have done less toiling and spinning and found the riches of provision falling into our lives beyond what I would have ever imagined.  Now I easily imagine how I am loved and cared for, regardless of net worth.

Janet Conner

 

It wasn’t exactly free….this loving provision stuff. I did have to learn  how to forgive, not just once but that old 70×7 stuff.  And I learned from Theresa of Avila, as well. There was lots of other stuff too, but it was all good, especially the AIC degree Janet awards.

And it is amazing how all this  learnin’  dovetails right into what is important in my story of Being Faithful to the Quiet.  What a hoot!

A Note to me from Janet

 

So, I’ve had my time, now it is time to hear from Janet. This is one of my longest Napkinwriter posts ever.

 

A LETTER FROM JANET

exploring the fields of the soul . . . together 

Thinking about the writing life?
There are things to consider.
First, it’s a paradox.
Second, it will change your life.
Oh, and you’ll love it with your whole heart.
Deep soul explorers,

I get lots of emails from people who want to be a writer. They all say they can feel a book inside. They’ve felt the presence of that book for years, decades even. But they don’t know how to bring it to life.

I, too, felt a book bubbling up from inside. I, too, wanted nothing more than to write my book and become a professional writer. And I did. I wrote Writing Down Your Soul and I am a professional writer.

But I have a confession. The writing life is nothing like I expected.

It has turned out to be a bunch of big fat paradoxes tumbling over one another, leaving me surprised, startled, and often laughing.

So, if you have one of those books inside you, let me give you a wee taste of the writing life. My hope is that by time you reach the bottom of this letter, you, too, will be ready to say yes to the writing life.

First and foremost, you must understand that creativity is an act of surrender.

And surrender, as I’m sure you know, is a spiritual practice—perhaps the ultimate spiritual practice. Surrender plays out in the two biggest paradoxes of the writing life:

Paradox #1:
You are not the author of your book.

My publisher captured this paradox perfectly when I was behind schedule and she said, “Write the book that wants to be written.” (Oh, you can write the book that YOU want to write, lots of people do; but it won’t set the world on fire, and it won’t change anyone’s life, least of all your own.)

Which brings me to Paradox #2:
Your book writes you.

This is the mystical magic of creativity.

MC Richards, the world class ceramicist, described it this way: “The greatest thing the potter produces is not the pot, but the potter.”

Translated into the writing life: “The greatest thing the writer writes is not the book, but the writer.” In short, writing will change you and change you at depth.

What will change?

• The rhythm of your days. The flow of your days will shift until you find the natural rhythm that feeds your writer’s soul. It’s one of the most important things you will learn in Plug In for Writers.
• Your reading. As your reverence for the written word grows, you will no longer tolerate junk writing, junk ideas, or junk media. Discernment arrives.
• Guides and Guidance. You will realize you are surrounded by angels, messengers, and writing guides. Everyone and everything is your teacher.
• Connections. As you follow the dots between disparate ideas, paths will open that you didn’t know existed. That’s how you write something fresh, new, and exciting–and the publishers only want “fresh, new, exciting.”
• Synchronicities. The more you notice, the more they arrive, until life is flush with magical connections.
• Priorities. Time is sacred. You’ll find yourself stepping away from anything that feels like a sieve.
• Relationship with time. Kairos time will become your new best friend.
• Your writing guides are helping you all the time. I saw everything in Find Your Soul’s Purpose in my dreams.
• Access to theta. Once you know how to open The Intersection in the theta brain wave state, you will discover how to slip into the imaginal realm anywhere, anytime.
• Solitude and silence. You cannot write in chaos and noise. You will crave quiet. Most writers are born or become introverts.
• New Relationships. Friends who cannot see you as a creative writer will fade away. At first it will hurt, but new relationships will arrive.

The biggest surprise of all is that the writing life is a mystical life. Writing is a mystical practice.

I had a delightful confirmation this week in an angel consultation with Margo Mastromarchi. I was seeking guidance on something that has been revealing itself since the New Moon. (I’ve been hinting at this in previous letters, but it’s still unfolding. I promise to explain as soon as I get my own hands around it.)

In the consultation, I asked who was helping me and the answer surprised me: Mother Mary. I asked how she wanted me to connect with her. And Mary answered, “in your writing.”

Her words makes these typing hands feel even more sacred and blessed.

In the end, the writing life is about love.

Love of the message you are blessed to share.

Love of the readers you are blessed to serve.

Love of the written word.

Love of books themselves.

Love of your books.

Love of your writing angels and guides.

Love of your writing and publishing village.

Love of the life you have been given.

If you are called to live and love the Writing Life, please join me in my once-a-year LIVE global telecourse Plug In for Writers. It is unlike any other writing workshop or seminar or retreat.

Come visit the course page and see for yourself. We open Saturday April 29.

Plug In for Writers 2017

When you register by Friday, April 28, you will receive 23 sessions and access to my entire Publishing Village for $30 per session–even less for returning members. That’s $15/hour! That’s crazy, I know, but I sense there are many feeling the call to the mystical life of the writer. And nothing makes me happier than to teach someone how to open The Intersection and step through that door into The Writing Life!

To living and loving the Writing Life,

Janet

To find out more about Janet’s courses and magnificent books, and  with her new one on Soul Purpose, and her radio show on Unity on-line go to her website:    http://www.janetconner.com

More on the Plug In for Writers 2017, go to:

http://janetconner.com/successful-writer-entrepreneur/radio show on Unity on-line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Heard and Written Down

I am taking care of some things in my Creativity Room and I came across a message I once heard and wrote down. Here it is from five years ago:

“You are a gentle channel of peace. I have branded you and seared you with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Just like the rain outside and the song you love in church, you:

Rain down, rain down, rain down God’s love on God’s people.
Rain down, rain down, rain down God’s love in your heart.

The earth is parched with loneliness and pain and you feel that pain in yourself and others. It is the Oneness in your message that has always healed your pain and that message is not yours to keep.

People are wanting to be drenched in that message and you are to go out and play in the puddles of my love and splash them up upon my people. You are afraid of being a prophet by your message is not prophesy. Your message is about what is. People don’t need to know about the future. They suffer because they do not know the present — which is where I Am in their lives.

This is where their joy and Truth are. This is what I have taught you and you have learned it. This is the rain of beauty that can soak into others’ lives through who you are.  Choose in love. I Am there. This will be fine.

From: my Writing Down Your Soul Journal — 2011

 

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The Subject Tonight Is Love

Photography by Christine Whitelaw (c)

I was introduced to the poems of Hafiz by my writing companion/mentor/friend, Janet Conner in Writing Down your Soul, in her books and e courses and her on-fire essence of purpose and intention in your personal life.   http://www.janetconner.com

Christine, too, quoted Hafiz on occation and the poem she selected below gives us a glimpse of her acceptance of the “impermanence of the body”.

She posted these words on March 20, 2014 by dadirri7 — Christine completed her travels of this mysterious existence quite abruptly on July 2, 2014.

She wrote:

“More on life and death from Hafiz: do you like the idea of being simply “a midair flight of golden wine”? 

Deepening the Wonder  by Hafiz

Death is a favor to us,
But our scales have lost their balance.

The impermanence of the body
Should give us great clarity,
Deepening the wonder in our senses and eyes

Of this mysterious existence we share
And are surely just traveling through.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,
Hafiz would call for drinks

And as the Master poured, I would be reminded
That all I know of life and myself is that

We are just a midair flight of golden wine
Between His Pitcher and His Cup.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,
I would buy freely for everyone in this world

Because our marriage with the Cruel Beauty
Of time and space cannot endure very long.

Death is a favor to us,
But our minds have lost their balance.

The miraculous existence and impermanence of Form
Always makes the illuminated ones
Laugh and Sing.

(from The Subject Tonight Is Love, poems of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

http://www.amazon.com

My last words on Napkinwriter from Christine were posted on June 28, 2014,  five days before she passed in response to my post on our 3 day family vacation on Mackinac Island in early June.

http://www.napkinwriter.wordpress.com/
Just for the Family Record, June 28, 2014 archives

dadirri7

what a fabulous holiday Sue, I loved the butterfly house, and the pic of you three in rain gear … truly such fun and love to remember!

 

We entered into our friendship through words…blogging…..and our hearts met across time and space, her in Australia, me in Michigan;

Through the permanence of words, we now transcend the impermanence of the body.

I remember the fun and love of our friendship.

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New Visions in My 2013 Sunflower Mandala

I have put my 2013 Sunflower Intention Mandala on my computer as a screensaver. Today, I sat down to enter a Peace in Our Hearts and Around the World entry. I gazed at the screensaver with “soft eyes” as I said aloud and breathed into each condition I am practicing in my life this year.

In the middle of this practice, I saw a new image in the sunflower. All the “mandala style” buds at the center of the sunflower became people looking inward toward the center. And just now, I made and corrected a “typo” as I typed the word, funflower, for SUNflower.   The name of my 2013 Intention Mandala IS My Year of Joy and Fun.

We are now into the last two weeks of September and my life is living up to the name of this 2013 Intention Mandala beyond my wildest expectations.

This Intention Mandala comes from the teachings of Janet Conner. Her books, Writing Down Your Soul, My Soul Pages Companion Journal, and the lotus and the lily, and her workshops for mandala instructions have graciously and prosperously guided the way I approach my daily life.

The manifestations of good I list for this year are not in sight on this image because I have rightly focused on the center of the mandala where the conditions are stated. As Janet points out… once I have listed the manifestations I want to see in my life, I can forget about them; they will come about when conditions are sufficiently met.

I have no reason to doubt this, as my larger than life manifestations I’ve listed on my two previous mandalas are all realities in my life today.

Before stating the conditions I am willing to live by, there is an important inner process of looking within and looking back and recognizing the gifts that were present in hard times and with hard lessons learned. That takes a respect for the quiet and a courage to live and let live, and let go and release anything not serving my good today.

The next step is a big one — and requires even more courage — forgiveness.

Forgiveness, the ultimate gift to myself! At any cost, worth the price of admission — admission to a freedom in the present, leading into a worthy future. Forgiveness of anything and everything, anybody and everybody, and most of all forgiveness of self.  Always a work in progress. But I am ever more mindful of the benefits and the quicker release of grudges and resentments. I’ve come to know, it is just not worth it to hold onto them.

Now, I’m ready for those conditions I was reading aloud this morning:

I practice radical self-acceptance.

I allow Truth.

I move in the world.

I love in the spaciousness of my heart.

I sit in silence.

I serve in compassion.

I Am in Joy for I know all my needs are met. My life is filled with Abundance of every kind and it reveals the Awesome Power of God.

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SPINNING GOLD

  To know that you have enough is to be rich.
~Lao Tzu

Artist: Paula Nicho Cumez

GUEST BLOG –  from the facebook page of Janet Conner, The Soul Directed Life and author of Writing Down Your Soul and The Lotus and the Lily, and WDYS Journal and Your Life Pages Journal

SPINNING GOLD
~By Lore Raymond
SOUL SHARE SATURDAY

In a special Thesaurus should you search for synonyms for the words grace, gentle, creative, and risk-taker, you will find the name: AFSANEH NOORI. ♥ While creating an all day workshop to honor women visionaries three years ago, her name kept being suggested as a possible honoree. After meeting her, it was clear why I wanted to share her inspirational story and why people (like me!) instantly loved and connected with her: Afsaneh radiates light and love from a deep well of compassion from knowing what it’s like to suffer, struggle, and surrender in order to not only survive, BUT THRIVE. ♥

Born in Iran, she moved to the states with her family and into an entirely new world after the Shah’s departure. Afsaneh now draws upon her 20 years of organizational transformation consulting experience as well as her personal journey towards self-discovery to coach her clients in welcoming change. Women learn to successfully navigate the uncertainty of change by understanding the nature of it and trusting the process of life.

Afsaneh’s latest offering is the Serenity Gatherings for Women. In the SGfW – Sacred Shell painting, women meditate, balance their energies, set their intentions for what they want to manifest, form an affirmation based on their intention, chose a word that describe their intention and paint a Reiki blessed apple snail shell to hold their intention.

Sue’s expression of gratitude for Afsaneh and her work. Namaste’.

Website: www.ChangeThrivers.com
Page for her art: http://www.changethrivers.com/category/afsaneh-art/
Other FB pages: www.Facebook.com/ChangeThrivers and www.facebook.com/ArtByAfsaneh

— with Therese Tappouni and 6 others.

 

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Janet’s Writing Down Your Soul

Welcome Sophia-Sol

Because I am very, very short on time and very, very, very tired and I am committed to taking care of myself, I am going to go to bed shortly. But not before I introduce you to another one of my muses — a very special one, one you may want to get in contact with too.

I met Janet Conner a little more than a year and one-half ago in an introduction story about her in the front of Daily Word published by Unity. The story was about how traumatic and dangerous events of her life had brought her to writing to God!

That’s right. Writing and writing and writing. Lots of complaints. Lots of rants. Lots of demands. She sat alone on the floor of her home, frightened, not knowing what to do to take care of herself and her son, and she continued to write. Soon enough her writing turned into questions — to no one in particular, but being schooled in “the letters” she knew when she wrote a letter form and began with ….Dear_________, she had to fill in the blank.

So she wrote “Dear God,” and continued opening her journal writings that same way. She filled more than one notebook in short time (she had a lot of complaints!), so she just got another…..and another…….and another.

Then something happened. She began to hear “answers”…..to questions she had posed that day, or the day before or the day before that and she started writing them down in her book too. It became such a regular event that she “heard” someone talking to her while she was busy writing that she eventually had to give this someone some of it’s own space in her book.

She decided that she would write Dear God on the right hand page of her notebook and just to humor herself or “it”, she would leave the left hand page of the notebook for ………….GOD.

The rest of that story is in her published book, “Writing Down Your Soul.” But it is only the beginning of many other stories, which is why I am introducing Janet to you. She is genuine, sweet, honest, unafraid to tell you the most “unbelievable and suspect” things about how we are connected to this Universal Source Being through our hand and pen.

At the time I met her, I was not new to journaling; I was well practiced in that type of writing and many others; I had experienced “automatic writing” in many ways in my professional writing and my personal writing. I taught workshops, “Write Now!”and weekend retreats where women’s writing flowed from their heart, down their arm, through their hand and out their pen, and they stared in amazement at what resulted on their papers.

But I met Janet at a time when old possiblities and desired dreams had not succeeded and I was closed off from them. Outer appearances would say I had lost a lot, financially and personally, and on one level this was true. But here comes Janet into my life at a critical time when I needed to keep on believing in the good, the true and the beautiful. That there was a plan for me and that plan held good and she could help me show me the way if I would let her.

I did. She is a wayshower Muse. I kept it pretty quiet, but I read and studied her book and there were many truths in there I was immediately comfortable with. I signed up for her first “Lilies and the Lotus” class about provision and vision because I definitely needed to keep on believing in provision and abundance, regardless of appearances. Like the lilies, I needed to neither “toil nor spin.”  In her class I created my 2010-2011 Mandela of “Free-Falling into Spirit”.  All of its abundant promises have come true in my life within the last twelve months.

I still write in many different venues, but I do continue my Writing Down Your Soul daily journal. I, too, have a page on the right hand side, and WHO (Whole & Holy One, revealed to me) has the left-hand page.

One of my demands the other day that I wrote down in my journal was that more of the angelic realm get involved with me and I wrote, “including you, Archangel Michael, get down here right now”.  Now I’m not really sure where angels come from but Archangel Michael is very special to Janet, and shortly after I wrote that in my journal, she was heading out to his Shrine in Tarpon Springs, Florida to help her pick the winner of the “Name Her Owl” contest for the Icon that is on the cover of her book and her newly published Writing Down Your Soul Journal pages.

Her Newsletter just released two winner’s names: This is what Janet wrote:

But it wasn’t my choice. It was Michael’s. This is how I give out all the scholarships for my courses. I write the name of everyone who asks for a scholarship on a little slip of paper, bless each one, and take a little bucket of names to St Michael’s Shrine in Tarpon Springs. That’s what I did today.

Before I drew a name, I had a chat on the page with the Voice. I asked, “What are the gifts of the owl?” Here they are:

• presence–the owl is completely and fully present
• welcome–the owl always welcomes us with this greeting: “Beloved, I am here for you.”
• listen–the owl listens with ears we cannot see
• absorb–the owl takes our story so we can be free of it
• cleanses and clears–as the owl absorbs our story, a new clean fresh space opens up inside us for something new
• transmute–the owl transmutes our understanding and our experiences to a new level
• asks–the owl asks us to remember and see who we truly are
• respond–the owl always responds, we are never alone
• lift–the owls lifts us and moves us toward our wholeness
• sees–the owl sees the way, sees the story, sees the boulders, sees the light within the boulders, the owl sees it all; the owl sees us as the angels see us: whole and holy divine sparks of life

These gifts poured quickly onto the page. As they were ending, a “letter” arrived. I think it’s for you:

“Dear One, dear Beloved Writer,

A name is a fun thing, a place to put your mind for a moment, but my true name is One, is All, is Love Eternal.
I am the eye into the light, a way, a path, a knowing.
I am a symbol of Who you are becoming.

You come to me. You call me and I am here.
Your witness. Your ear. You listen with one ear.
I listen with another. I hear God.

With one eye I see out and with one eye I see in.
Both are necessary.
You are here in this place, this space, this beautiful earth.
You are living your story. You came with a story.
You are walking your story, and you will someday
relinquish this story.

In between, come and share it with me.
I hear you and I hear goodness, I hear beauty, I hear joy.
I see you and I see limitless potential.
I see you as Michael sees you, as Spirit sees you–
so you can recognize yourself,
if will only look through my eyes.

Come see. Come see who you really are.”

Well, by the time that flowed onto the page, I was a little pool of jello. Anything I was worried about before I entered Michael’s was gone, gone, gone, and I was ready to reach in my little metal bucket and pull a name. Yes, the Owl had said his name was One, All, Love Eternal, but I’d promised to pick a name…

But life with Michael is always a hoot. (Pun intended.) I reached in and pulled out TWO strips of paper entwined in each other so tightly, I had to work to separate them.

When I got them open, I laughed. There were two names;

Sophia–the name for the feminine face of divine wisdom and
Sol-Solomon–revered as the wisest man who ever lived.

Our owl has a sense of humor! He/She wants us to know that it is indeed all things, a complete whole, and it really is a vehicle to wisdom.

Several people suggested these names, but the names on the two slips that came out of the bucket are:

Sophia–Susan Heffron Hajec in Michigan
Sol–Karen Loucks inIndiana

From Napkinwriter again:  So Archangel St. Michael, to my way of thinking, has appeared at the side of Susan Heffron Hajec, the Napkinwriter.

To get your own copy of My Soul Pages with Sophia/Sol on the cover, either visit The Store or click here for Amazon. The journal will be in your favorite store any day. Call and ask them to order it for you.

Writing Down Your Soul   is in itsTHIRD PRINTING with a new cover to match the stunning cover of My Soul Pages, the companion journal

http://www.writingdownyoursoul.com/tp40/page.asp?ID=267484

Janet has so many things continuing on you may be interested in. Look her up on her website.

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