Thank You To Cousin Elle Once Again!

Under The Milky Way Today - Great Music, Great Images!  --> Click for a wonderful video.

My cousin Elle, in California, is a Master at finding awesome content! I thank her daily for her prolific SHARE-ing!

Immaculee - An Incredible Story of Forgiveness

 Click here to read Immaculee's story---> A Must Read Story

Immaculee Ilibagiza has accepted the Humanity Team 2011 Spiritual Leadership Award. The incredible story of her forgiveness of the perpetrators responsible for killing her entire family, in a frenzy of blood-letting in the Rwanda genocide, will bring you to tears. You will marvel at her generosity of spirit. Learn how the deep, inner belief that she would be saved because she followed the words of Jesus, allowed her to emerge from ninety-one days of hiding, emaciated in body, but greatly evolved in spirit.

A Lotta Work, This Blogging Thing!

Wow! I like the look and feel of the re-design, but holy moly, what a lot of rigamorole to get it just right! Type, save, edit, save, insert, undo, move, crop, save, edit...........a person could spend WAY too much time on this if you don't get a handle on it right quick like!

But then again, the result is pleasing. I think I like it! LOL! GOODNIGHT!

THE STORY OF THE SEVEN SACRED STONES LOGO

By Serena Aubrey (Copyright, 2011 -- All Rights Reserved)

In the process of being developed, the Way-Finder Weekly (TM) came into being due to my return to school and the subsequent topics I chose to pursue as subject matter for my assignments. The topic for my first essay was Positive Thinking and the Law of Attraction, which led me on a two-year journey of discovery and enlightenment. Like Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret (2006), I found a wealth of uplifting material that drove me ever on to find more. There's no going back now; my purpose for this life I live has finally been revealed and I revel in the dream of sharing the knowledge I uncover with others.

Way-finding is a term I pinched from my cousin's graphic design website. One of the major contracts his firm landed was to create a coordinated system of signage and way-finding for a local district's parks system. Way-finding -- the term immediately caught my eye and became instantly and permanently anchored to my project; because that is what awakening and enlightenment is all about -- finding your way, discovering your purpose, deciding on a new path.

So the name of the planned publication had been divined, but now a logo was required. One that would appropriately represent the spirit and vision of the publication. I came upon a stone in, of all places, the laundry room in my apartment building. White and smooth, it attracted me enough that I picked it up. As I held it in my hand it became very evident to me that this was some one's thinking stone ; a personal talisman that had been worn smooth over a long, long length of time, rubbed between their fingers, probably as they contemplated inner questions. I felt as if I was being intrusive, that I had found a lost treasure that needed to be returned. I took it to the rental office and asked my friend Natalie if she would mind taking a digital picture of it so I could post it in the laundry room. She looked at me like, "Hmmmm, this tenant has lost her mind."

I explained to her that it was a thinking stone and whoever had lost it would miss it; that their spirit was likely now part of that stone. She understood THAT! Looking horrified she dropped it immediately like a hot rock (pardon the pun). She told me that if anyone came asking she would direct him/her to me. There was no way she was going to take a picture of that stone and risk contaminating herself with some one else's spirit.

At any rate, no one came a-calling for that stone, so it sat on my desk as I studied and wrote and planned and expanded my vision. I would pick it up and rub it when I was stymied by some aspect of my product development, and slowly that stone began to become my stone. An idea started to bubble in my mind about using it in the logo and soon I began to collect other small stones. I was thinking of an Inukshuk concept, but on a spiritual level. Inukshuk are a traditional Inuit means of establishing a trail on a barren, inhospitable Arctic landscape; the way-finding concept again!

The power of chakras also intrigues me. Belief in chakras, the seven energy vortexes of our physical and spiritual beings, dates back to early Hindu and Buddhist concepts -- that is some enduring belief -- almost 5,000 years old! And also a concept that resonates within me.

So, an inukshuk that incorporates the concept of the chakras. For the background I thought to use a piece of cloth that I have incorporated into a quilt I am constructing for my son. Black with silver flecks, it reminds me of a star-filled night -- the cosmos. The imagery seemed consistent with my intention.

Sylvia Browne, in her book titled Phenomenon (2005), wrote that talismans hold no real power. The power is completely centered in one's belief. However, having an outward sign of your inner belief helps one to keep grounded in that belief. It is an affirmation of what we have decided our inner truth is. And it is an indication of our intention to live a wholesome, healthy, enlightened life, mindful of the rights of all our fellow human beings to decide their own inner truth. It is an affirmation of tolerance.

And although I know these stones, are just stones, they are now my stones. And that makes them sacred to me. I would be bereft if I were to lose them now. I used that cosmos cloth (with a deep violet, velvet lining) to fashion a pouch I keep them in. I anoint them with oil, now and again, because the shine pleases me. I spritz them with my perfume now and again, because that too pleases me, that they reflect my scent. Do they now hold an energetic impulse of mine? I believe they do. If I feel energetically misaligned I place them in the chakra order I assigned them and I concentrate on releasing all tension from each of those energy vortexes and it brings me back to an even keel.

The Seven Sacred Stones are arranged thusly:

Crown Chakra

Brow Chakra (Third Eye)

Throat Chakra

Heart Chakra

Solar Plexus Chakra

Spleen Chakra

Root Chakra


CLICK HERE to read the second part of the Seven Sacred Stones story:
An Outward Expression of the Practice of the Presence of God
Honouring the Elements

SACRED JEWELRY - A Digital Catalogue of Mysticism

To view the entire Ka Gold Jewelry Collection, and to purchase your favourite pieces, please click here.

The Seven Sacred Stones: An Outward Expression of the Practice of the Presence of God -- Honouring the Elements

Last Weeks post offered an explanation for the Sacred Stones Logo. This week I offer an expansion upon why the stones may be considered sacred, and why these particular seven stones honour the four elements that sustain humanity.

Over the past two years I have come to understand that spirituality is in part a study and contemplation of the natural law and order of the Universe; that it should include a deep and abiding honour for the four elements that all life on earth depend on. The elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire sustain life, can destroy life, and can re-build life. It behoves us, as mere humans dependent upon these elements, to both respect and honour the forces that nourish our existence.

Carrying and safe-guarding these Seven Sacred Stones has helped me to cultivate a deeper perspective of the reality of our existence. These rocks that were found and claimed as my spiritual talisman are........ancient. These rocks have been here, on this planet, since the beginning of time. They are part of the original Creation. They are millions of years old. Compared to the mere five decades I have walked this planet, these Seven Sacred Stones have far more history than I; they have been gathering up and resonating out, the living current of the Creator's life impulses for ever.

Consider the possible history of the white stone, the one found in the laundry room of my apartment building(with a predominantly Oriental tenant-base); it likely was brought here from another country. Perhaps an immigrant brought it along from their homeland. That immigrant would have held that stone in his/her hand on their journey here; rubbing it in their fingers as they wondered what their new life would be like, as they worried about leaving all they knew behind. Those feelings of hope and regret would have left a psychic imprint upon that stone, just as now, the intention of my hopes are transfered to it as I sit at my desk, writing articles and planning the development of an enterprise.

These Seven Sacred Stones have an energy within them. A power to change an attitude. When I appointed this set of stones as my personal representation of the Earth beneath my feet, I began to consider all the wounds we inflict upon this Mother Earth that sustains us. As I walk my sons's dog I am no longer able to walk past garbage. I carry two bags now when I walk Mr. Hugo the pug: one for his waste and one for the waste carelessly thrown on the ground that I happen upon. It takes mere seconds to bend down and pick it up.

The surfaces of these Seven Sacred Stones are very smooth; so smooth they remind me of the perfect skin on my babies. As new-borns I would hold them and rub my forefinger along the soft, soft smooth skin on their cheeks, arms, or back. The touch was soothing for both the baby and myself and helped create the deep bond so necessary for a psychologically healthy baby, while generating an incredible feeling of protectiveness and profound caring deep within my heart and soul.

I find now that the bond between myself and these Seven Sacred Stones has stirred a similar protective, caring attitude towards this greatly wounded planet we live on. I gently rub the stones and consider what I can do to improve our relationship. I contemplate the great Universal currents that keep everything orbiting and operating according to the natural order created in the beginning of time with the Breath of the One, upon his Word.

So are they just stones? Not any more. They are now my personal connection with the Great Force at work in the Universe, helping to ground me and keep me congruent with the Will of our most Gracious Creator. They are what Lay-Brother Lawrence (a humble kitchen servant in a 1600's Carmelite monastery) called, the Practice of the Presence of God. They are what will keep me consciously mindful of what I need to do to clean up, protect and nurture the ground beneath my feet. And if I am mindful, perhaps my neighbours will be too, and their neighbours too....................

CLICK HERE to return to the WRITER'S PAGE

FOLLOWING THE LEAD OF EXEMPLARY LEADERS

By Serena Aubrey (Copyright, 2011 -- All Rights Reserved)

In JESUS, CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom For Visionary Leadership (1995), Laurie Beth Jones wrote:

Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the greatest leaders of our time, personally supported a number of students financially. I once read an article that said a young man remembered getting checks for $75 per month, made [out] and signed by Eleanor Roosevelt on her personal account. He said he received those checks for years, even after she ceased to be the First Lady. It would have been much easier for her to refer him to some giant scholarship committee, maybe even write him a nice recommendation letter. However, she was personally committed to education and supporting students she felt were worthy. She supported more than twenty-five students out of her own personal funds.

On December 9, 2010 the Wall Street Journal podcast, digits, interviewed Jason Franklin, adjunct professor of philanthropy at NYU. Franklin is also the Executive Director of BOLDER GIVING, an organization whose call to action is: GIVE MORE. RISK MORE. INSPIRE MORE. Their mission is to inspire and support people to give at their full, lifetime potential (http://www.boldergiving.org/).