DREAM YOUR BEAUTIFUL DREAM

Sonia, my doorkeeper guide, was a well-known artist in her time. Her artwork and clothing designs are still recognized worldwide and inspire many designers and artists today. She even recently had a retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, and the Tate Museum in London! I quite imagine that she is just as busy expressing herself from the spirit plane as she was while in form.

Sonia always told clients of mine (with me as her conduit) whom were frustrated in not being able to focus on what they were passionate about in life, “The more you do what you love, the more you will be doing what you love.” As simple and obvious as that sounds, we often think some big doorway of permission has to open before us first. This opening would be the signal from the universe that it’s okay to pursue our dreams.

In truth the evidence we seek is within ourselves. We must decide that whatever limitations appear before us are just illusions that we unconsciously create. On a broad philosophical level we can easily find agreement with this notion. To actualize our belief in our dreams and visions, however, requires a leap into that rarefied space of the unknown. The universe is a great blank canvas for the soul to express its’ complexity of memory, mystery, and desire. We know at the root-level of our being that we must express consciousness in some form. Spirit has often said that the form itself is irrelevant as long as we are inspired. As human beings, creative energy is inherent within us. It is the attentiveness to our soul-desire that is key. Otherwise, we are just ordinary cogs on the wheel of life.

The problem that I often encounter, in my own limited view and that of others, is the belief in linear time and space as absolute. I know it is radical for me to say what I have known since my first teenage mystical experience: that everything is God. Everything is perfect, and interconnected and completely magnificent. If we have eyes to see, that is.

I have always rallied against the ‘let’s save the world’ movement. Why? Because the ‘universe’ exists within me. We are each a microcosm of that which created and sustains all things. And it is perfect. If we each learn to dive within our own profound and remarkable spirit-selves, we are then co-creating that utopia we seek. But a utopia will never be bound to mundane form. It can only be accessed and expressed from our inner spirit.

In the 1980’s I studied with a Native American Medicine-woman named Oshinnah Fastwolf. She always said, “Dream your beautiful dream.” If everything that we are aware of is an energy fragment experienced in time and space, then that ‘beautiful dream’ can be the reflection of the macrocosm; our source. The source of everything that is, the source that is already perfect. This is how I choose to live regardless of the madness in the world around us. Am I ignoring the ills of the world? Quite the contrary; I am doing my part to ‘dream my beautiful dream’, and make the world around us just a little bit brighter.

Receiving Clear Guidance

How do we know when the guidance we are receiving is from spirit and not something we made up? This is a common question I’m asked by those seeking a more direct relationship with their guides. The simple answer is that you can determine higher guidance by how it makes you feel. Does the message speak to you at the soul-level (whether you like the message or not)? Does it answer an important question you are struggling to gain clarity on? Does it feel “right”?

In my book, Contact Your Spirit Guides (Schiffer Publishing), I explain that a message from spirit cannot be altered in the same way that we can change our mind with our own thoughts. If going somewhere important, I may change my mind about what to wear many times until it feels right. When I receive a message from my guides, however, it doesn’t change. The impression remains constant and it is up to me whether I choose to act on it. But it does not change. This is the clear distinction between our own thoughts and that which comes to us from a higher source. There is a certainty that comes with an impulse from the spirit world.

The same is true if we are sitting with a medium that is relaying a message. The communication must feel right. Another clarity-ensuring criterion is having a focused intention. When an individual sets their intention to seek higher guidance, it automatically creates a vehicle of receptivity. By virtue of our focus, a doorway of communication is established between us and that guiding presence.
I make it clear when sitting with my clients that the session is an exchange of energy between spirit and them. I also advise the client to prepare a short list of questions to ask the spirits during the session. Their questions are often answered by spirit before the client even asks them! The act of thoughtfully gathering questions before the session is the onset of direct communication with spirit.

The spirits do not show up only at the moment when the channel is available. Our guides are responding to our sincere inquiries from the moment we articulate them in our hearts and minds. The response can come in myriad forms and does not require a medium to access. Some people are simply uncomfortable with the concept of an intermediary and their guides will avail themselves of any avenue they can. There is an invisible presence with us at all times regardless. Trusting that presence is the key to receptivity.
© Asandra

Karma*: a step ladder for ascension

Recently I’ve had several clients inquire why the experiences they were having were so challenging. After all, didn’t the Guides promise that all was well in their lives? Weren’t they doing everything they needed to do to be on their higher path? Furthermore, shouldn’t all this ‘right action’ secure a path of ease and goodness?

If we view our individual lives as a soul-path that is rooted in non-time, then the journey isn’t confined to what transpires between birth and death. The viewpoint our Guides have is the larger overview. They see as us the soul-beings that we are whereas we see ourselves predominantly as our current persona. This is why their perspective can be so helpful. Our inability to see this expansive point of view could be referred to as spiritual tunnel-vision. In other words, a karmic experience (which is neither good nor bad), is one that is rooted in our distant past. That past, however, is generally too far back for us to fully understand how it impacts us today. Therefore, when our Spirit Guides assure us that all is well, they are speaking from this overview of our soul-journey. They know that we will make it through our current karmic journey and advise as such. We are the ones that define reality from the dualistic perspective of good or bad.

The path of awakening is not about an existence free of karmic challenge. Quite the contrary, karma allows us an evolution of soul growth. Even the most difficult trial can be turned into clarity and wisdom. This is really the point. If we understand that the higher soul-path is the purpose of our lives, we can more readily accept our individual karma and use it as a step-ladder for ascension. To think that we are miss-stepping because everything isn’t perfect in our lives is missing the point. It is important to view karma positively and not as some sort of punishment.

No one is exempt from karma. Keep in mind, however, that the karmic agenda is soul-based, not personality based. Therefore, the soul is in agreement with this journey even if the persona objects. When we face our karma, the inner strength we arrive at is immeasurable. It changes us at the cellular level; this is real ascension. It doesn’t come about just because we do the right prayer, meditation, yoga, service, etc. Ascension happens when we don’t resist the limitations that are before us. If you were hungry but objected to having to prepare food and eat it, you wouldn’t survive. We accept these basic needs of the body. It is the same with the karmic journey. We must embrace what it brings us, both the easy and difficult aspects.  Ultimately the embrace of our karmic journey is a cleansing of the soul and an awakening of consciousness. Like it or not, it is the thread that holds a human reality together.

*karma: in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, the quality of somebody's current and future lives as determined by that person's behavior in this and in previous lives
 

The silent warriors of peace

In some ways, a new year is just another 365 days in a string of continuous days. There are, however, cycles of nature, and the movement of the planets and the stars. To me, these things have greater meaning than clocks and calendars. Nevertheless, we all like a fresh start, and the advent of a new calendar year is exactly that. Furthermore, there are larger energetic cycles we may not yet be able to discern or measure. Spirit talks of these things when they refer to our personal and certainly, global, evolution.  We are clearly living during a time when the collective evolution does not yet meet at the higher planes of oneness. Neither do most of us walking a path of awakening. The essential difference is that we have the awareness to know that there is more and aspire to be in that awakened state increasingly.

We are the pioneers, willingly or not, of this evolution. The key is to pay attention to our inner journey and not look outside (in what many think is a fixed reality or “the world”) for a confirmation of growth. Growth happens within and the external will catch up when there is enough collective momentum for it to manifest in form. Sometimes I encounter a client or friend discouraged by the confusion, violence, and ignorance in the world around us.  When we look within, however, consciousness is the most resilient thing; it’s always there! This is why we need to be vigilant in our soul-work. We are the silent warriors of peace.

Many of us will probably not see peace in our lifetime on the external plane, but we can experience peace within our soul in every moment. This is like building a structure one solid brick at a time. Do we want a grass hut that can be blown away by the wind, or are we patient and persevering so that our entire lives are dedicated to the (inner and outer) work of the truth? Ultimately, we are eternal and the work we do in this life (both inward and through expression outwardly) when dedicated to the path of wisdom, light, and peace, will change the world around us. Yet, each moment is the moment to know that truth within and to hold that energy for others as best as we are able. So, with that said, I wish you a fulfilling and inspiring 365 days ahead!
Peace,
Asandra

Contact with the Divine

I had one of those brief moments last night before drifting into deep sleep where I make contact with the divine. These are exquisite and unintentional experiences when I find myself entering into infinite space. Although it may be brief, any amount of time communing with the infinite is infinite! Distractions that rob me of this feeling are like litter in an otherwise beautiful landscape.

As time goes on I find myself increasingly needing to limit the stimuli that I allow into my energetic space. By that I am not referring to my literal living space, but rather the space within where my consciousness absorbs information.

This includes anything that is not of the higher Ascension path. Although I cannot offer a clear definition of what the Ascension path is, I can say it is that which inspires and aligns oneself with that infinite, expanded consciousness. This can be almost anything, and it is as individualized as we are.

It is perhaps easier to say what it isn’t: anything that makes us tired, angry, sad, fearful, compromised or inauthentic. The true path never asks us to compromise what is innately known. It is the path I follow daily as best as I can.


Copyright @ Asandra

Confessions of a reluctant Medium: 30 Years of service

I have always referred to myself as a reluctant Medium. Although I beseeched the universe to show me my higher work more than 30 years ago, I did not imagine it would be in the form of a full trance Medium. When Spirit contacted me to do this work, I was not only uncomfortable with the oddity of a disembodied entity taking over my body speaking in strange accents, but no one in my immediate environment supported me through the process. With the exception of the Spirits that is. After all, I did make a prayer in my heart to whatever is that all-knowing-energy in the universe to show me my path of service.  That all-knowing-energy was apparently listening.

Durga 5, mm monoprint, Asandra

In the early 1980’s I was living in New York, working as a graphic artist for a print shop in the pre-PC era. I designed magazine ads, brochures, fliers, etc. One day my co-worker, Sal, a rough-edged photographer whom manned the front counter, walked up to me and thrust into my hands a dog-eared copy of The Prophesies of Nostradamus. “Read this!” he commanded before walking away. Sal was a man of few words, but what was particularly odd was that this event was seemingly arbitrary. There was never a conversation about Nostradamus or prophecies that precipitated his action. 

Michel de Nostredame, known as Nostradamus, a 16th century seer, is renowned for making remarkably accurate predictions about world events centuries before their advent. One of these predictions described two huge fireballs that would come out of the sky and hit two tall towers in the “New City.” He detailed the destruction, death, and chaos that would result.

I was stunned. Nostradamus was talking about the city I was living in! The dire vision he described rattled me to the core. It was at that very instance that I put forth a prayer from my heart to whatever higher presence was listening, and asked for some way that I could make a contribution to better humanity. I had been on my spiritual path since I was a teenager. It never occurred to me that there was more to ask for - until that moment.

I wrote a letter to my spiritual teacher and asked to be shown the way that I could serve but never received a reply. Instead, through a series of circumstances detailed in my book, Contact Your Spirit Guides (Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2011), I was led to the work I’ve been doing for 30 years as of this writing.

I was not only giving up a prestigious salaried job as an Art Director for an art market magazine in New York City, but also venturing into the uncertain world of self-employment. Before the days of internet no less! Because I was uncomfortable with the idea of channeling (despite the fact that I know that spirit is loving and wise), I decided that if the guides wanted to work through me, they would have to bring the clients to me. That, I surmised, would put an end to this whole channeling nonsense! Furthermore, I made it a point to not tell anyone about the fact that I had begun to do this work. Somehow, despite my resistance, clients found me. And continue to sit with their Spirit Guides through me by word of mouth 30 years later. 

Of course now we have the internet, but if you go to my website, http://Asandra.com, you will see that the channeling work is discreetly sandwiched between art, writing, and news. You will not find images of angels trumpeting horns, cosmic intergalactic gateways, or mythological spirit-creatures adorning my website. And you will definitely not find an evangelical-likeness of me bathed in images of rainbow light! 

Quite the contrary; channeling is hard work. It is my primary livelihood and it has been for 30 years. It is challenging work not only because of the energy demands of allowing these evolved beings to come into my form and present their wisdom through me, but also because it is a path that does not allow me to slack off. It keeps me focused, disciplined, conscious, organized and grounded (yes, ironically!). Although I resisted this path (and maybe still do a little), it has helped me to grow and evolve and most likely pay up a ton of karma. 

I realize this doesn’t fit most people’s concept of what a channel is. I remember once telling a skeptical man (who later became my enthusiastic client) that I am a “professional medium.” He had some lovely spontaneous experiences of channeling energy and didn’t understand how this could be considered a profession or job. He argued that channeling is a natural thing where we let the energy through us and it lifts us up to a higher frequency. I tried to explain to him how it is different when it is your occupation. Imagine channeling on a regular basis for people you don’t know. Imagine channeling whether you feel up to the task or not.  Imagine channeling for people that are sometimes very distraught or even on their death bed. Imagine channeling over the telephone or Skype for people that live in a different culture than you are familiar with.  Imagine channeling for people for whom English is not their first language. Imagine being tired or just simply not in the mood. This is where ‘professional’ fits in. I do it because it’s my job, my commitment to the higher universe, my karma, and my soul-journey. I give 110% every time and value every client that comes to me.

Of course the challenges equal the benefits, and it would not be a soul path if it didn’t ask so much of me while simultaneously bringing rewards too numerous to mention. There is much more to be said about what it means to be a Channel for the spirit world, but I will save that for my memoirs, “I thought you would be tall; confessions of a reluctant medium”.   

Stay tuned.

Asandra
© 2014

A few bumps on the climb-out

Transition, Solar Plate monoprint, Asandra

In 2009 I was on a commuter flight from North Carolina to Florida. As we were preparing for take-off, the pilot speaking in a charming southern drawl, informed the passengers of our flying conditions. There would be, he stated, “. . . a few bumps on the climb-out.”  Nobody seemed to notice this declaration but me. I do not like turbulence and this was certainly a benign way of preparing us for the stormy flight conditions we were about to experience.

We are born into this human experience unwittingly acquiescing to whatever the karmic weather conditions might be. The journey of cause and effect is neither good nor bad. It is a sometimes baffling combination of positive movement in our lives as well as frustrating challenges. Accepting this undisclosed karmic agenda can be hard. We resent our circumstances; blame our parents or other authority figure, feel sad and hopeless, or any other form of subconscious resistance. I know these resistances first hand and yet, still often find myself either resenting or feeling sad about the most challenging hardships that I have faced my whole life. That is how I know it is karmic. Same issue, different circumstances. It follows me everywhere I go, forcing me to deal with it over and over again. I surmount it, become free, only to have life hand me another episode in a new form. 

We all suffer these karmic ‘bumps’ that knock us about on ‘the climb-out’ to awakening. It is easy to see the patterns in others, but mine, although unchanging in their essence, still disrupt my serenity like mischievous elves determined to trip me up. Invariably, when I finally rise up above my personal turbulence, there is a sense of regret that I once again fell for the trickery of the mind. How could I not see this so clearly?

What, then, is the answer to this unconscious habit of falling prey to our core patterns time and again? I can almost hear a telepathic cacophony of light workers chiming in with a myriad array of solutions. Clearly there isn’t one singular answer to this inquiry, but there is a one-size-fits-all remedy: surrender. We can all relate to the need to let go of control and hand our challenge, desire, fear, etc. over to a higher power.

Most people think, however, that this letting go process is a sign of failure, defeat, or powerlessness. It is not. To walk the high road of consciousness, we need to walk in harmony with Source. Along the way life’s turbulence can throw us off balance. One of my first experiences of a California earthquake left me feeling dizzy and ungrounded. The seemingly solid earth shook my heavy platform bed with a roar that sounded like a freight train charging through my bedroom. There wasn’t an advance warning. I had no choice but to ride that uncomfortable earth-wave for its’ short, but terrifying duration. 

Living for two decades in a hurricane-prone climate helped me to psychologically prepare for an unpredictable weather season. I figured out that if I called on the spiritual energy that symbolizes storms, acquiescing to its’ power, that I was then ostensibly under its’ care. I could ride out even the most dangerous tempest knowing I was being protected. This is a form of surrender. When I did this, I felt empowered and safe. Did that make a hurricane less intense? No, but I was on the other side of fear, and could then witness the journey from a place of respect and awe. Like the charming pilot declared, there will be “some bumps on the climb-out,” but it doesn’t mean that we won’t arrive safely at our destination. Bumpy ride or not.

© Asandra 2013