Friday, January 9, 2015

Understanding, Recognizing, and Interpreting Signs

KALA - Freedom : There are no limits
- Everything is Connected
- Separation is a Useful Illusion.


Let's face it. 
We're all searching for a sign…not just any ol' sign... 
We want a Spontaneous Celestial Confirmation for anything and everything
from, "What do I wear today," to "Will I make it through today?"

And we search for and find signs all day everyday to assure us and guide us along the path.

Let's explore the nature of signs and discuss how to interpret these
mystical occurrences and maximize their effects in your life.

WHY DO WE SEEK SIGNS?

In direct relation to our uncertainty and our perceived value of the 
outcome of our unknown, we arbitrarily connect events and call them signs or omens.

That means we see signs when we don't know where to go or what to do and we apply increased
meaning to their occurrences depending on how much value we place on the outcome.

We carry trinkets and talismans. 
We wear lucky underwear and jerseys.
When we're hungry and thirsty we look for Golden Arches and Green Sirens.
We look for the exit signs to reach our destinations.

Signs let us know we're on the right track.

Our ancestors knew signs intimately; as we sought signs of food and water; 
we looked for animal tracks, broken branches, a shift in the way the wind blows.
A fresh hot steaming pile of poo suddenly changes the spirit of the hunt….
It's a sign! Food is near.

WHAT IS A SIGN? 

We'll look at the first few definitions for the noun for now:

"Sign |sīn|
noun
1 an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else: 
• something regarded as an indication or evidence of what is happening or going to happen
• [ with negative ] used to indicate that someone or something is not present where they should be or are expected to be
Medicine: an indication of a disease detectable by a medical practitioner even if not apparent to the patient
• a miracle regarded as evidence of supernatural power (chiefly in biblical and literary use)
• any trace of a wild animal, esp. its tracks or droppings: wolverine sign

ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French signe (noun), signer (verb), from Latin signum ‘mark, token.’ "

Note that the first listed definition of sign has to do with 
the PROBABLE presence or occurrence of something ELSE. 
I cannot stress enough to you the power of STATISTICS when interpreting your signs. 
It's the connection from the known to the unknown that we seek and a sign is a symbolic representation of that connection. Don't let desperation guide your vision. Open your heart and eyes to infinite possibilities, use everything as a sign always, and don't be surprised to find that you're already on the right path...


TYPES OF SIGNS:

Animals: Dogs, cats, insects, birds, beetles, squirrels, and even roadkill can be used as signs. Take a week or so to study the animal encounters in your life. Pay attention to their unique powers and how that power is reflected in your life.

Objects: Trinkets, charms, talismans, coins…any THING that MEANS anything to you in the moment that it matters.

Songs and lyrics from songs : From your playlist - less significant - or from a passing vehicle or radio -more significant, music and lyrics can appear in such a timely way it's difficult to ignore. Looking for an answer? Tune into the nearest radio for a personal transmission.

Colors: Discover or develop and use a system of colors and their meanings that suits your paradigm. Check out a chakra chart or use THIS BASIC CHART or create your own!!! I use colors that correlate with the principles of my shamanism:

White - Awareness
Red - Freedom
Orange - Focus
Yellow - Persistence
Green - Love
Blue - Confidence
Violet - Flexibility

Symbols: seeing a sticker on a passing car, or a heart in your pancake syrup, or the face of Christ in your toast are all SYMBOLS. They mean nothing until you see it and apply your own meaning.

Stones, Shells, Bones, Feathers, or any evidence of another thing: These are symbols of a thing that was there and is no longer. Look up the meaning of the thing that is represented and follow the connections. Feathers mean you're on the right path, shells indicate protection, bones are structure, etc….

Weather and Elemental Events: Meditate upon the elements and what they ARE and DO. Earth. Water. Wind. Fire. Each with its unique creative and destructive nature, observe the elements around you, tune into the frequency and hear the messages! Earth is unmoving, water flows, wind carries change, fire burns and brings life. Lightning illuminates. Rain cleanses. Thunder rumbles. Earthquakes shift.

Anything odd or out of place: Remember that statistics play a huge role in interpreting signs. Follow the weird connections. Trace them back and uncover what piqued your attention to that thing in the first place? Has your sign been there all along but only now you notice?

Any occurrence to which you apply meaning: It's your interpretation. Your uncertainty, your life path, your decisions, your dreams, your manifestations, your work, your journey. You decide how to receive and utilize these bits and pieces of information.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY SIGN IS MEANINGFUL AND HOW CAN I MAKE MY SIGNS MORE POWERFUL?

Sometimes we ask for a sign…
and wonder if each and every oddity is the omen we seek to move forward.
Sometimes we have a symbol in which we place our hope 
and it appears in the moment we need it most.
The sign is as meaningful and powerful as you choose.

Power increases with sensory attention.

Can you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell your sign?
Take note. What senses can you use to interpret your sign?
Identify those symbols and their meanings.

What senses are missing?
Focus on the missing senses…Imagine what you can't assess.
Can't see the wind but you know it brings change?
Close your eyes and imagine what beautiful dreams are being delivered to you in the breeze.

Can't touch the Eagle but you know it connects air and land and sea and stands for creation, swiftness,
dignity, and wisdom? Imagine yourself flying with Eagle as he guides you to new heights, ask Eagle
your question and imagine him providing the answer you seek.

Using the moment your sign appears to imagine a solution using the symbols available is the secret to uncovering hidden answers.
Since all the answers are already inside of you, creating a flexible symbol system helps you decipher your deeper wisdom.


HOW TO INTERPRET SIGNS:

1. Identify the uncertainty that brought you to recognize and apply meaning to your sign.

You wouldn't see meaning if you didn't seek it.

2. Approach your sign with the 6 questions: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, & HOW?

WHO are you in the moment your sign appears? 
Gauge your needs, assess your countenance.
Are you really just hungry and looking for a sign for food?
Don't even begin interpreting life's cosmic coincidences until
you are breathing slowly, fed, watered, and secure.

WHAT is your sign?
What is it? Stumble on a lone Queen of Diamonds card stuck in a bush?
Look up the meaning of the card and the meaning of bush. Apply those meanings.
Animal? Look up your animal totem meaning.
Object? What does the object represent in general? To you? To your situation?
Number? What does your special number mean in general? What does it mean to you?

Star Stuffs has a great animal totem dictionary.
This lady has an extensive page of diverse symbology resources.

Keep a journal of signs for a week, lemme know what happens!

WHERE were you and WHERE was your sign when you saw it? 
Up high? 
On the ground? 
In a puddle? 
On the concrete? 
In the dirt?
Did you almost trip over it?
Did it fall into your lap? 
Use the elements available to apply meaning.
All of these details increase the power of your sign.

WHEN did your sign appear to you?
Day? Night? In a dream? At work?
Were you asking for a sign?
Or did your sign evoke a hidden uncertainty?
A sign also tells you what's ahead.

WHY do you seek a sign?
Why this sign? Why right now? Why is this here?
Why am I here? Why am I seeking an answer that
I already have within me?

HOW does your sign appear? 
What color is it?
What shapes make up your sign? 
What's around it? 
Who put it there?
How does it relate to your fear/doubt?
How do you feel upon encountering your sign?

3. Build a vocabulary for interpretation:

-Cross reference your set of symbols by looking up even minor encounters. Check for patterns.
-Read about geometric shapes and colors and their prescribed meanings. Start to see these symbols in everyday life and practice interpretation as a form of meditation of being present.
-Keep it simple: Birds fly, fish swim, cows herd…Do you need to fly and gain a different perspective? Need more water in your life? Need more or less community? Use the simple symbols and meanings first and allow the answers to surface from deep within you. The symbols help to communicate the inner knowledge of all things connected without the illusion of time and space and allows the human person to conjure information from the source of infinite light/life/breath/brilliance/stardust that is all things and nothing.

Once you begin to understand what your symbols mean, you can ask the Great Unknown for a sign
and within moments you will notice something that eases the uncertainty rather than grasping thin air for meaning…and then you'll rest in the peace that everything is a sign that point to the fact that you exist and you are you and that's what's so special about all and none of us. Because Separation is a Useful Illusion….as in….Separation lets a stapler be a stapler and a kitty cat be a kitty cat. They're both black and sit on your desk while you work, but without the illusion of separation you might as well be the pixel that ends this sentence. Symbols tell the tale, signs move the story along.


SUMMARY:

-Signs are everywhere all the time.
-What makes you notice them is your uncertainty and the relative value of the outcome.
-Fulfilling the fundamentals (air, water, food, shelter) makes you less desperate for a sign 
and more keen to statistically unlikely connections, more open to different answers.
-Interpreting signs is a fun, easy, and useful practice for 
easing uncertainty and choosing a course of action.

Signs are not answers. They are items, events, and occurrences to which 
we apply meaning in accordance with our beliefs about what is probable and what is possible.
Signs may guide us, give us confidence, provide a glimmer of hope in a dark time, 
but the most important task is the positive interpretation of sign occurrences and application of their unique and loving meanings that you derive. Maximize encounters by increasing knowledge of symbols, being present with timing and context, and paying attention to those statistically unlikely, seemingly unconnected glitches in the matrix. 
The power is in the practice. 
Truth lies in paradox.

Remember that you are already perfect and already doing it all perfectly. 
If you need a sign to remind you of that, take a breath. 
And another. And another. And another.
Breathing is a sign of life.



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