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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.

Time Change

There are valleys and then there's the Infinite Abyss. Kinda like the sky's the limit but with less shoot for the stars. I have seen dark days. Lonely days. Hazy daze. I have scaled Peaks real and imagined, I have seen towers crumble and rise. In the smokey, chalky, mi(d)st of it all it feels eternal. And instantaneous. Because it is at the peak that the trajectory changes. Plateau or descend, change is inevitable. It is the change that provides the perspective. Time measures change and as time passes (as things change) so does perspective. Leaves are not always brown. Trees are not always bare. Blossoms do not always bloom. Fruit does not always fall ripe to the earth. Seasons are the reasons for the Jesus.

Speaking of Blood Sacrifices….I've been loving my period increasingly over the years; beginning with a powerful conversation I had more than a decade ago with a dear friend. I'm encouraged by the stories of women in my world using my favorite period mantra, "I'm the Motherfucking Queen" during their periods or in moments of victory, triumph, power. 

Despite how incredibly inconvenient periods are; what with all the Jekyll & Hyde hormone shifts, inexplicable sensitivity to sound, people, looks, light, strangers, food, time, space, energy, any and all nouns, verbs, adjectives, and contractions, and especially dark matter all while attempting to mitigate feelings that are identical to that one scene in that one film except with uterine lining falling out of our vaginas and a piece of cotton as our only defense - where the fuck was I? Oh yes, despite being incredibly inconvenient, the period is a bloody riot when it comes to unseen power. I am the Motherfucking Queen. I rule and reign over my Queendom, tending to the Queen's Motherfucking Business. I See All And Know All. I summon you and you appear. I command my Reality. I foresee my day, my week. Your day, your week. It's all the same anyway. And I know this because I Am the Motherfucking Queen.

I shit and piss and bleed. All at once. And I'm still the Motherfucking Queen.

"Letting Go" or "Transitions Will Kill You If You Don't Learn to Like Them More"

"Letting go is like.....the hardest thing ever....until you let go. Then you realize that hanging on was the hardest thing ever and really, it was the transition that you feared most."

From sleep to awake
Vacation back to work
Menopause
Transsexuals
Season changes
Moon phases
Birthdays
Cradle to Grave
Becoming
Moving
Growing
Learning
Shifting
Turning
Burning
Yearning
And Churning

All transitions.
All change.
All discomfort and not knowing and newness and unfamiliar stuff happening.

Change is inevitable.
We invented time to measure change.
Change is more real than time.

With each breath, each passing day, change is ever upon us; on the horizon, down the street, in front of your eyes and you are it. Because you change. All day everyday. Change comes from within. Change your mind. Change your perspective. Change your definition of success. Change your furniture. Change the song that's playing. Even that millisecond of silence between songs offers endless possibilities : a shitty song comes on, a great song comes on, battery dies - no music, app closes unexpectedly....and that's just in the silence between songs. 

Let go of your expectation for change to be predictable.

It is the essence of change - of transition - that forces us into Faith, Trust, Hope, and Acceptance of what has been, what is, and what is yet to be.

FUCK - or - Time passes without permission

It's been so long.

There's plenty about which to write.

Tons of ideas spewing out of every orifice.

They make messes, but no sense.

Not yet.

But here is something.

Even if it is just a little thing.

Sometimes...

It's the little things...

that make the biggest difference.

Like the way a spark burns to flame

when it catches its breath.

Stand by.....what you seek is well worth the wait.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

it's tough to follow up on a post that outlines all the answers in life.

But like, if you can find any answer that doesn't boil down to the breath of life and death, please enlighten me with your question. i'm extremely interested.

but beyond that. or within that…within the B-R-E-A-T-H we've got it all: be, eat, art, earth, heart, beat. 

these are the PRACTICES of moving through our days and nights.

what makes us tick? 

what grounding practices bring us closer to earth? ...closer to self?

what satiates hunger?

what makes your heart beat faster? 

what calms your racing heart? 

what harmonizes the inevitable ebb and flow?

I suggest starting with the cliché as one's jump-off. Tried and true cultural proverbs accelerate the learning curve when applied to the lesson. In this case:

"Practice makes perfect."

Practicing the art of the breath. The art of food. The art of dance. The art of matters of the heart. The art of being a part of a community here on earth. The art of art - of creation and destruction…of inspiration and expiration. And still we are not beyond the breath…but knee deep in a practice of life and living.

My art is interacting with people. It's magic. It's more than magic. It's inspiration plus practice.

Whether it be from behind the bar of your favorite substance, or in every day conversation, or in the throes of a ritual. These are the practices that take up my days and nights. They pay my bills. Feed my face. Make my heart skip a beat. Inspire me to keep doing what I do until I finally expire.

-----------------------------------------

What are your practices? (Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Annual?) 
If "power increases with sensory attention," what do you do to increase the power in your practices? What practices do you do to which you give too much or not enough power?

It all Begins and Ends with the Breath.

From the first gasping breath to the expiring exhale and each respiration between, it is the breath that propels every single solitary thing one does and thinks and is....

I breathe, therefore I am.

It is the difference between a fetus and a newborn. It is the breath, the first cry for love and attention and warmth and comfort and nourishment of all kinds that is the difference between the happiest or the saddest day in a parent's life. For the first few weeks all we do is watch our little ones breathe, check to see if their bodies rise and fall to the rhythm of Life, worry about all the millions of ways they could possibly stop breathing, and do everything in our power to make sure none of those things happen.

It is the breath that is the difference between sleeping with your loved one...

 and sleeping with a corpse.

It is the breath that involuntarily fuels the flame of our spirits, that connects our minds and our bodies and literally moves the blood through our veins. It is the breath that regulates the heart and the things of the heart; our thoughts, fears, hopes, dreams, ambitions, doubts, solutions, and facilitates the very ability to conjure up a meaning for any of these things.

If the breath is our LIFEFORCE and we breathe roughly 20,000 precious respirations a day - how much more can one do for one's self when one takes a few deep and meaningful breaths throughout the day?

In a previous post on Psychic Powers I briefly got into the connection between the mind, life, and the breath, but let us explore that concept further here:

In Sanskrit, Greek and Latin we find the definition of Breath is the Vital Force, the Psyche, the Spirit, the Wind and the Air. In the Bible it states that God spoke the heavens and earth and the mountains and the sea into existence and Genesis 2:7 says, that God "breathed the breath of Life" into Adam to create the first human creature....

The French word for the "mind" is l'esprit which looks a lot like the words spirit and respirate....

The words inspire and expire have two definitions - one dealing with New Ideas, Beginnings, Creation and one dealing with The Conclusion of an Idea, Endings, Death - the other definitions are the inhale and exhale of the breath, respectively.

In Maslow's hierarchy of needs the most fundamental to our existence is AIR.

The breath connects us to the present moment. It cools our anger and allows us to make a better decision. It helps us focus on the task at hand. It delivers us to our inside self when we seek an answer not easily found.

As if a perfect reflection of our existence, the breath resembles the ebb and flow of the tide, the phasing of the moon, the daily and bi-annual journey of the sun across our sky and horizon...

The breath, by its very nature, is the answer to all things.

========================================================

Here are two Breath Exercises for you to try:

For Balance - using your right thumb to close your right nostril and your right ring finger to close your left nostril, begin by closing your left nostril and slowly inhaling through your right. Stop at the top of the inhale for a moment, release left nostril while closing right nostril, exhale through left nostril. Now inhale through the left nostril, stop at the top of the inhale, release and exhale through the right nostril for one cycle. Repeat 9 more cycles and reap the benefits of balance!

For Sleep -  using your right thumb to close your right nostril and your right ring finger to close your left nostril, begin by closing your left nostril and slowly inhaling and slowly exhaling through only your right nostril. Do this ten times total and notice how your thoughts change. Now switch nostrils. Slowly inhale and slowly exhale through your left nostril while holding your right nostril closed. If you can get through 5 cycles of this without falling asleep, call me!

Everything In Its Own Time

I've been doing a lot of living and not a lot of writing.

Part of the trouble is that these two things often happen in different tenses.

The other trouble is that writing requires the kind of hindsight that only time can bring...


The challenge now is to write and live at the same time.
To abandon the verb-tense agreements and not reconsider my actions through the perfect lens of time and distance and change.

Maybe it's the transitional season that is Fall - maybe it's the recent death in the family...
Maybe it's that Mercury is in retrograde again or residue from the last full moon or
the fact that it's my half-birthday....


It's probably all of the above, none of the above, some combinations of the above and
additional things that I'm either not listing above or considering.


In the midst of so much change - one thing remains and continues to fill my heart with hope
and love and ambition:

I love Los Angeles. The more I explore this amazing city and its inhabitants, the more in love I fall.
Every botox job gone awry, every implant, every expensive vehicle and every snotty transplant that
thinks their East Coast town is soooooo much more genuine than LA -
(the number two market in America and home of our country's number one export: ENTERTAINMENT) - every pothole, asshole, and hole in the wall inspires me to be present, move forward, and maintain my strong sense of self.

I am grateful for new challenges, new chapters, new days, and new ways of seeing and being.

Plan Your Month (LIFE) with the Moon....

http://www.astrograph.com/learning-astrology/phases.php


Here's an easy-to-read-and-understand guide to the moon's phases.
It might help explain what's happening and why;
and give you a better idea of how to make the most of the
inevitable changes brought about by Moon.

Imagine being in a tribe of about 25 or so people on the night of a New Moon.
Huddled around the fire all is well, but beyond y'all is Infinite Darkness of Nothingness.
The landscape is invisible and full of every possibility that only The Void can bring.
Enveloped in the Black Womb of Creation and Destruction you know Fear and Hope
it is the Beginning and End of All Things.

....Before God said, "Let there be Light," there was first
the Deep Dark Nothingness from which Light and Life spring forth.

Now imagine a couple weeks later when the Full Moon
lights up your whole world and everything that was once hidden
around you is illuminated and nothing is unseen or unknown.
It is as if the Sun is out at night and you can run, jump and play
through the night without doubt or fear...there's an obvious correlation here.

Moon controls the very tide, it is by the Moon that we plant and harvest.
By the Sun we are given Light and our ever-changing Night Light....
Yet Moon reminds us of the Feminine in Her Constant Change, guiding
the Ebb and Flow of Humanity...Moon reminds us of the Breath in Her Full Moon Inhale
and Her New Moon Exhale and each and every phase of the waxing and waning
process....Moon reminds us of Life in Her Brightest Moments and Darkest Hours.

-----------

It's always been a dream of mine to go into space and to the moon.

Would you go to the Moon?
Do you have any Moon rituals?
Do you notice any personal patterns that go along with Moon's phases?
Do you only think about the Moon once in a Blue Moon?

The Principle or The Vision?

Once I asked my Dad...

"Papa? What's more important; the principle or the vision?"

He considered it for just moment and responded:

"The Process."

-----


And I'm certain that it's both.
...and either and neither all at the same time and never....to varying degrees.

It's a beautiful ballet and a brouhaha of sticking to your principles, maintaining the vision, and committing to the process that brings about the greatest and most satisfying things in life.