Discovering My Human Design

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There’s this thing called Human Design. And I’m obsessed.

I got the book. I take the courses. I absorb Human Design content practically daily. I started offering Human Design sessions a couple of years ago since I love it so much. And I can’t help but filter everything I’ve learned about HD into my interactions and how people behave.

However, I did not start that way. It took two years from my initial introduction before I dove head first into learning all I could about it…

A darling friend messaged me one night in 2015 and said I ought to look up my Human Design to learn my energy type. Of course, my mind was like, “My what now?” … But then she told me I simply must look it up. That it had helped enlighten her about her own aura and energy.

I popped over to jovianarchive.com to input my birth information per her suggestion. The next thing I see is a human-shaped chart, containing both white and colored squares and diamonds, linked together with red, black, and white lines.

And I learned that the five different energy types are meant to engage with the world in specific ways, based on the shapes activated (colored in) within the chart.

While the rest of the chart was overwhelming and new… I knew I had to look into what it meant to be a “projector” energy type in Human Design.

Yep, that’s my chart!

When it comes to your Human Design,
your energy type, strategy, and authority are the best pieces to start with.

Then, when the spark of inspiration to learn about Human Design circled back around to me in 2017, there was no turning back! And I’m so excited to start sharing more information about it!

Before I dive in, here’s a bit about Human Design (HD):

Human Design is a conglomeration of ancient and modern sciences—an esoteric combination of astrology, the Kabbalah, I Ching, the chakra system, human biochemistry, and quantum physics. Through these foundations, your birthdate, time, and birthplace produce a Human Design chart.

This chart is called a BodyGraph, or what I like to call your “energy blueprint”.

In your energy blueprint, you get valuable information about your aura, how your energy works, your strengths, challenges or points of potential conditioning, and so much more!  

Basically, your Human Design bodygraph maps out how you’re meant to be your fully individual self in this lifetime. 

I see Human Design as a massive permission slip from the universe to be the most authentic form of yourself—who you would naturally be if conditioning hadn’t gotten in the way (but that happens to everyone, so don’t feel bad about that or if pieces don’t resonate right away, if at all!).

Understanding the different aspects of your Human Design can show you how to optimize your energy, your environment, and so much more—to be more aligned with who you really are.

You with me so far? 

Now I will tell you… Human Design is ridiculously layered, and I’m constantly learning more about it, and all of it is fascinating to me. I love learning about it, and I love sharing it with people.

That being said, there are only a couple of elements that you really need to know to start putting your Human Design into practice. In this, you’ll start to feel more in alignment with more ease and hopefully less resistance in your life.

The core aspect of your HD “blueprint” is your energy type,
which designates your strategy, or how you’re meant to interact with the world.

The other core piece to know is your authority, or how you best make decisions based on your chart’s characteristics.

Let’s break down the basic energy types…

From Jovian Archive

Manifestors –

The initiators of the energy types! Their aura is naturally repelling, but I prefer to say it feels self-contained–like a contained sphere around their body. The manifestor is one of the easiest aura types for me to intuitively feel when I first meet them. It literally feels like their energy stays within an invisible wall not far from their physical body, like a protective shield, that no one can penetrate without permission.

The manifestor’s strategy is to inform whoever might be impacted or involved in what they want to do. And then they go do the thing they feel the urge to do. They like to do things on their own since they have these urges that must be acted upon. They are the Regina George in the driver’s seat claiming, “Get in, loser, we’re going shopping!” And then everyone else can decide to either get in or get out of the way.

However, manifestors are also known as non-energy types since they lack sacral definition. This means they work best in short, powerful bursts since they have a motor center activating their throat, and then resting when they need to replenish their energy stores. I’ve noticed their creative bursts and restorative times operate a little like seasons, rather than on a day-to-day basis.

Reflectors – 

The mirrors of society, reflectors are. They are the only environmental type, which means the reflector strategy is to wait for the lunar cycle of 28 days before making any big or important decisions. They may feel different every single day based on where the moon is! They wait so long to make sure they feel the decision through their whole chart before centering in on their best choice.

Reflectors are distinct in that they have no active or defined centers in their HD chart at all. So, they are a non-energy type as well, meaning they should listen to and follow their flow of energy as much as possible. This means they are constantly sampling everyone else’s energy and seeing what it’s like to be all types of people. They are also the most susceptible to the day’s energies, and that’s why they need to wait a lunar cycle to land on a long-term affecting decision.

Their aura is gentle and also a little protective, so they don’t absorb too much energy from other people. The environment and community surrounding a reflector are critical, as this energy type reflects the environment and energies around it. If the reflector in your midst feels out of sorts, something is not right for them in the environment or the people nearby. They are very sensitive, so they need to be able to move around or choose to be around different people until they feel good.

Generators –

The builders and doers of the energy types! They are the only types who create that powerful, magnetic life force energy through their sacral center. While EVERYONE is meant to do work and other activities that excite them, the generator is like the light bulb that’s found the room it’s meant to be lighting up when they do work they enjoy. Everyone wants to come into that room!

Generators have an enveloping aura, and it’s particularly sparkly and magnetic when generators do what they love. Generators are meant to master their craft, get down in their process, and spend their days doing what they love. They often focus on one thing for an extended time. Generators are in it for the long haul when they are committed. They were the energy type the 9-to-5 mentality and work grind catered to. That being said, they are not meant to initiate.

Instead, the generator strategy is to wait to respond to the world around them. Whether it’s an idea, opportunity, or question that gets them excited to take action… Thus, responding to that stimuli! They’ll naturally get a physical yes/no response to whatever is presented to them through their defined sacral center. If it’s a yes, then they’ll have the energy to go forth and do it for hours upon hours. If it’s a no they feel, and they do it anyway, then their sacral energy will deplete and they will burn out quickly.

Life is meant to come to generators… as well as manifesting generators!

Manifesting Generators (MG) –

The beautiful energy type with the sacral base of a generator with the manifestor motor connection to the throat center. MGs share many similarities with generators. The enveloping aura, very sparkly and magnetic when doing what lights them up, and lots of energy to go and do all the things. They even share the same strategy of waiting to respond to what comes to them to get excited and act on it (or not).

The main difference is that the MGs are the multi-passionate multitaskers of the energy types. It’s important to note that it’s okay for them to quit things if they no longer feel lit up by them. They are very energetic and can get a lot done quickly (though they may skip steps). Their energy is meant to bounce from one exciting thing to the next as they feel lit up by them. This is opposite to the generator who optimizes their energy by knuckling into an enjoyable task for extended periods. MGs may or may not finish something before moving on to another, and that’s okay.

Projectors – my energy type!

Projectors are the guides of the energy types, and we come in the widest array of chart variations. We have a cone-shaped probing aura that is meant to see into others and situations easily. Projectors see what’s working, what isn’t, and how to make it work even better. We just need to ensure we have permission to offer advice, or else people will think we are a know-it-all bossy-pants (Hermione, anyone?). Due to our ability to home in and make things more efficient, we can get a lot done in a short amount of time. This is interesting since projectors are suggested to work for only 4 hours a day as a non-energy type. The rest of the projector’s day is supposed to be filled with enriching activities. Like learning about what interests us, making ourselves visible so people can find us to invite us in, and resting.

The strategy as a projector is to wait for the invitation to feel success. This means waiting to be recognized for your gifts and who you are, to be invited into opportunities. This is more for big decisions or those that involve other people, as opposed to day-to-day decisions… So, to enter into a new relationship, a new job, a new place to live (if moving in with someone), etc., projectors should feel recognized and have a clear invitation (whether physical or energetic) to say yes or no to. That’s how projectors use their energy correctly since they don’t have a motor connected to the throat and no sacral energy either. I’ve noticed that being recognized by others often means being able to recognize myself first.

These are the foundational points I gathered from my energy type (and the others) upon my first introduction to Human Design.

Since then, I’ve discovered even more of my HD that has helped me step more into my power and to trust my natural flow of energy. Let me tell you… It helps far more than you know!

Overall, I feel more comfortable in my own skin knowing that I naturally operate in this way. I love that this system can help me discover and experiment to find more alignment for myself. And I know that this system could help sooo many people. That’s why I’m so obsessed with learning more and more about the Human Design system and how we can use it as a powerful tool of self-reflection and empowerment.

And don’t you know, projectors are here to master systems too? 😉

There will certainly be more to come through my experiment in living more in alignment by following my Human Design. Stay tuned!

Do you know your energy type yet?

Get your birth date, time (as exact as possible), and your birth location… And head on over to one of the many Human Design chart generators for your free Human Design chart:

There might be a lot of information and the chart could look overwhelming.

Start with your energy type, strategy, and authority. 

That’s all you need to start embodying your true self for a clearer sense of who you are and how your body communicates to you.

Then come back and tell me what your energy type is!

***

One of my favorite things about doing readings is recognizing how folks are already living in alignment with their Human Design—so magical!

Want a Human Design reading?

Watch Your Breath to Boost Creativity & Heighten Your Intuition

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woman sitting on brown stone near green leaf trees at daytime

When it comes to enhancing your creativity or intuition—because the two work together synergistically—you don’t need elaborate rituals or fancy tools to tune into these natural abilities you have available to you.

Here’s all I want you to do to boost your creativity… Simply watch your breath.

Sounds silly or too simple, right?

Watch your breath. It’s such a natural body behavior that often we don’t stop to think about how we are breathing.

Did you know that your breath indicates what’s happening in your body?

When your breath is deep and flowing naturally, do you think your creativity and intuition might flow more easily to you? It most certainly does!

When we are stressed or scared, how we breathe directly reflects that—by showing up as rapid, shallow, or inconsistent—and also reinforces those feelings.

So, this practical action step is to stop and observe how you are breathing—to see how the flow of energy is coming to and through you.

So, I challenge you to set a reminder on your phone every 3-4 hours to check on the state of your breath. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.

Silently observe and notice how each breath feels as it enters your nose or mouth, how it travels down your throat and into your chest and lungs, and how your body opens up to receive that life-giving oxygen. Feel every step of your breath through your body. How does it feel for you at that very moment?

And assess… How is your breathing?

  • Where does your breath go: into your belly, expanding your chest, or raising your shoulders?
  • Are you restricting your breath somewhere—not breathing as deeply or in short bursts?
  • Does your body feel stiff? Are you holding your belly in?
  • Do you find yourself actually holding your breath sometimes? I have!

Then, take a few deep breaths until your body relaxes into its natural breathing rhythm again.

Air, just like creativity and intuition, is energy. And it’s abundant and available to you.

Everything is energy. How you let it flow into you will directly reflect how you breathe. So, pay attention.

Return to your breath as often as you can. Simply bringing awareness to your breathing can help you develop more of an awareness of how your body feels throughout the day, how your intuition is speaking to you, and how your creativity wants to move through you.

When you remember to focus on the breath, you focus on the energy flow in and out of your body.

Now, imagine when you breathe in, you breathe in creativity and intuitive connection to the greater divine.

And that’s when your abilities open up more… Give this exercise a try and see how it opens up your capacity for creativity and intuition.

***

If you like this exercise, I have a gift for you! Get your free guidebook of 9 Ways to Romance Your Creative Muse here to amplify your self-care routines to court your creative muse into working with you more consistently.

Featured Edit: The Supporting Class

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The Supporting Class

By Suzette Rivers

SERVICE: Developmental Edit + Proofread

Suzette came to The Intuitive Editor in the fall of 2023, when they were seeking editorial help in how to structure and frame their poetry book so it had a cohesive flow. They also wanted to make sure it was clear in its messaging while still respecting their creative voice.

Suzette self-published their collection of poetry in December 2023. Available at Barnes & Noble online.

What inspired you to seek out editorial support?

I sought out editorial assistance/proofreading because writing poetry in my own voice was easy, but making it clear what I wanted to say to others was harder. This way, I didn’t have to journey into the world of publishing and sharing alone.

Why did you choose The Intuitive Editor to help you with your book?

The Intuitive Editor has been a good friend of mine for many years. She has proven to be creative, generous, and kind, and I knew that she was the right person to trust with works precious to me. Everything posted on her Instagram shows that she is the type of person I wanted feedback from.

What was your favorite aspect of working with The Intuitive Editor?

I appreciated the emotional response The Intuitive Editor provided! She was able to tell me how my writing made her feel and that helped me stay motivated. I also learned a lot about grammar I didn’t quite understand before and that was wildly helpful.

In what way do you feel The Intuitive Editor helped you most?

I feel like she showed me how to use my own intuition to figure out where “proper grammar” was necessary in poetry and where I could do as I wished for creative reasons.

As someone with a past of being prolific in writing poetry (more than a year of writing a poem every day) and who studied the format extensively in college, I was so excited when the opportunity to work on a collection of poetry arose.

What I love about poetry is that every little thing can be an intentional choice, and sometimes that means using a line break instead of a comma or period or omitting punctuation altogether. I also love how wordplay is part of the poetic game.

It was fun to point out opportunities to play with these aspects to add further dimension and intrigue—to draw the reader into the intended meaning (or contrariwise, make them ponder it further). The poet gets to make the call for what they want—just like any other author!

It was a pleasure to work with Suzette! I was honored & delighted when they first came to me to help with their book of poems. I loved finding pieces Suzette wrote I deeply related to (there were a lot!) while I helped them frame and order the poems in a way that added a dynamic flow to the book as a whole.

Thanks for your kind words, Suzette, and for trusting The Intuitive Editor with your poetry! Wishing you all the best on your publishing journey and beyond!

Suzette Rivers

Author of The Supporting Class

@suzieneverlands on Instagram

Photo by:
Kylee Ogzewalla / Wonderglass Photography

What a Little Star Can Do

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flowers on opened book

When I tell you this blew my mind… It BLEW. My. MIND.

Now, before I sit down to edit any client’s book, I have a little ritual I partake in. Goes a little something like this…

I take a few deep breaths. Maybe I move my body around a little to release any stagnant energy. And I go to my crystal collection. I pick out whichever crystals feel supportive for the particular book I’m working on. Each time, my little crinoid fossil star wants to be included when I’m editing.

Every time.

Considering I’m a bit of a crystal junkie, I feel like I should have known the significance of this little star-shaped fossil, but I didn’t. I just liked that they were ancient fossils in the shape of stars and they were quite affordable, so I got a few.

Right before a recent book reading—not to be confused for reading a book, but an intuitive reading for someone’s book—this crystal was like, “Pick me!” Just like normal.

When I do the intuitive readings, I share which helpers (crystals, plants, songs, etc.) come along and what their properties are, and I realized I never actually looked up what these little crystals meant.

And when I looked it up, I found this:

“Fossils are thought to be a wonderful tool to assist you in moving from the old to the new and to be receptive to the fresh, innovative forces that are available to you. Fossils may assist you in your quest for transition, transformation, and personal growth, helping you to understand the process of change. They may also help you instill quality and excellence in your environment.” – Source

Um, WHAT? I didn’t even know this, and I love how supportive this little fossil is for the work I do—which is literally to take something and transform it into its best form. I take books and content from their previous form to a polished form while offering a fresh perspective on how to elevate their words and stories.

And me being me, I do my best to instill quality and excellence in everything I do, particularly when it comes to my work.

But how cool is that? That the stone I’ve been selecting for my editing work is perhaps one of the most perfect stones I could have found to support me in it. What a fun discovery about a little stone that’s been part of my work process for the past couple of years!

I also love that these crinoid star stems—which stem from ancient fossilized sea lilies—have also been known as fairy coins. I’d believe it. 😉

Are you a crystal junkie like me?
What crystals do you feel drawn to all the time?
And have you looked up their spiritual/metaphysical properties yet?

Fun little practice if you haven’t tried it yet…

Word of the Year ~ 2024

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Boy, do I love a good tradition…

And there’s one I’d love to share with you here today:

Picking a theme word for the year.

Originally, I got this practice from Stratejoy’s Holiday Council in 2013. I did HoCo for a while, and ever since, this practice of choosing a theme for the year has stuck with me.

Since then, some of my Words of the Year have been:

Action, Trust, Reveal, Coddiwomple, Gumption, Surrender, Sovereign

And it’s always been so fascinating to see how the year turns out and see how the patterns of that theme arise…

Action was the year I took the leap and moved to New York.

Trust was the year I had my spiritual & intuitive awakening while working as a live-in nanny on the Upper West Side.

Reveal was the year I discovered what I was desiring in my life, shared a singing video each day for 100 days, and met the man I would end up falling utterly in love with.

Coddiwomple was definitely a year of “playing around” and finding out, from a part-time job at a fitness studio, and lots of travel.

Gumption was the year I went all-in on freelancing life as a writer/editor, claimed my emotions, and started standing up for myself more.

Surrender was the year of leaning into my human design as a projector, letting myself be surprised, and sinking into the good times by being more present.

Sovereign was the year I homed in on the business I truly desired to build and wrote the bulk of my mermaid novel.

This last year, when the word was Anchor, found me grounding into routines that felt nourishing, supportive, and energizing so I can act in my life and business with more flow, ease, and excitement in every day…

Because, ultimately, I want to build a life I don’t have to escape or take a vacation from. I’m intent on having it all work together in a harmonious flow that allows priorities to shift as they need, depending on the season I’m in.

Each year I hope to grow and follow the flow of where my energy craves to go. I don’t expect each year to be the same, and I genuinely look forward to all that’s to come. It’s all a process, and I aim to make it a joyful one as often as possible.

Choosing a word that feels like the kind of energy I want to embody for the year feels like a great way to challenge myself, and give myself a direction, if not a focus, to harness my energy for the coming months.

And I think I’ve zeroed in on my word for 2024…

SHINE

I don’t know how this word hasn’t come up before now. “Shine on” is my sign-off on my emails—but it’s kept popping up the last couple of months. The themes that keep showing up for me astrologically speaking would also be supported by such energy.

Right now, I see Shine as a guiding light toward allowing my insights to be shared more often (since I’ve been in a “hermit” period of processing), putting myself out there more in my business, and perhaps even in other ways (music again maybe?).

We are all meant to shine, as stars do.

And I think this year feels like a good year for just that.

(And now I can’t stop hearing “Girl You Shine” by Aaron Carter… Anyone remember that song?)

***

Have you ever picked a word or theme for the year? How has your experience been?

If not, and you’d like to, here are some questions that might help guide you in the process of creating a word bank to select a word from:

  • What was your biggest accomplishment this year? What would the next step or accomplishment from there feel like or look like?
  • What did you feel like you craved in 2023 but didn’t quite attain or experience?
  • What kind of energy do you most want to embody and experience in 2024?
  • What are you most looking forward to this year? What kind of energy or emotional state would support you in that experience?
  • Is there a word or phrase that has followed you around lately (songs, movies, random conversations)? And is it an energy you would like to carry with you this new year?

Remember to also check the thesaurus for synonyms of the words that come up to see if any others spark your attention!

If you’ve already picked a word/theme for this year, I’d love it if you dropped me an email or comment to share!

No timeline on this, you can pick your word of the year at any time.

Now… Let’s rock 2024. 😉

Give Yourself Grace

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Say you work for three months on a concert, only to fall ill the day before the performance…

Say you have plans to take a trip, only the night before you leave, a tragedy befalls a dear loved one and you must be there for them…

Say someone breaks a promise, doesn’t follow through, or leaves you hanging in a critical moment…

Say you committed to something, but then the time came and you just felt like you straight up didn’t want to anymore…

It’s okay to offer yourself grace in that moment.

This post has been brewing within me for a couple of weeks, since I missed the last weekly post.

So, I feel like talking about grace. But just what is that?

What does grace actually mean?

As a bonafide dictionary nerd, here you go, courtesy of Merriam Webster:

grace – noun

ˈgrās 

Honestly, grace has a lot of definitions so I’ll sum it up for you…

From divine assistance, to approval, privilege, favor, reprieve, charm, ease, or prayer…
Grace can be many different things.

But the kind of grace I’m talking about… is that where you honor and accept where you are in this exact moment so you can embrace what you need in that moment, and let that be okay. To face whatever moment you’re in with love and compassion, maybe even a higher perspective.

Because… life happens and the things we work or plan for don’t necessarily pan out the way we expect or want. Life has so many twists and turns that change and conflict stares us in the face probably more often than we’d like. And when that happens, the best thing you can do is offer yourself grace.

What else can you do, really?

Offer yourself the ease of accepting the moment as it is and moving with the information you have at that time, rather than trying to force an agenda that may or may not be right due to unforeseen circumstances or shifts in the wind.

I hope you offer yourself grace when things get hard, because sometimes facing difficulty is crippling, and just the fact of knowing it’s a challenge can be enough to deter anyone.

I hope you offer yourself grace when things shift on a dime without notice, upsetting plans and expectations.

I hope you offer yourself grace when sudden illness takes you off your planned track.

I hope you offer yourself grace when someone else seems to present a roadblock or gives you frustration.

And I hope you offer yourself grace even in the little moments where you question if the next step is the right one for you.

Grace is always there. And it wants to help you embrace where you are.

(Even if you think you should be doing something else… I know all creatives like to come up with anything else than to write their book. )

Because, in the grand scheme of things, what else is there to do than accept your present moment exactly as it is, no matter where it falls in your timeline?

It’s all about just being here now.

I feel like that’s one of the biggest lessons one can learn, and I think that’s definitely one of mine.

You’ve got your feet moving five feet behind while your mind runs three paces too fast… Instead, stop. Get your feet underneath you, take a breath, and land in your body, mind, and spirit now.

Because now is all you’ve got.

Now is the moment you can give yourself grace.

Now & Then, Then & Now

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black and white typewriter on table

Have you ever paused to look back and see how far you’ve come?

If you haven’t, this is a practice I recommend at least once (or every 9, 10, or 12 years—those are a few life cycle period lengths). This could be through an old blog, journal, conversations with folks, or even just reflecting on what you knew then versus what you know now.

I think you might surprise yourself.

A few days ago, I found myself in a rabbit hole of my blogs from way back when (10-13 years ago), and I found myself laughing, face palming, and thinking, “Gosh, did I really have no shame in sharing this?”

Is it weird that I found Young Me quite hilarious? I hope I still have some of that humor hanging around because I don’t think I realized how funny I was—I was just having fun, sharing my performing, dating, and life antics.

However, I also found that Young Me still had some wisdom to share, like why I decided to break up with the scale because I realized weight is just a number and not an actual indicator of health, wanting to keep music in schools because creativity is essential for kids’ wellbeing, being honest with kids/teens about what protected sex actually is and means because the state I lived in had one of the highest numbers of teen pregnancy in the country, and a few other posts that had my eyebrows raised in surprise because I wasn’t sure I remembered writing them, but clearly I had.

Even though I’ve always felt relatively smart because I got good grades and was one of those weird kids who actually liked school, it’s always reaffirming to have something you said come back to you in a way that shows how wise you were, are, and can be.

This is helpful because oftentimes I don’t remember what I’ve said or written, which is why it helps for me to write things down for posterity.

One of the challenges of being a medium where you just channel energy through you constantly—you barely remember what you’ve said but others do!

Also, how fun is it to have that kind of archive or time capsule to show you how you were then so you can clearly see how you are now. How you’ve grown. How your interests or passions have shifted or deepened. How your view of the world has changed. How you choose what is no longer for public consumption (ahem, Young Me, we may need to have a talk, ha—I still have compassion for you, though!).

Because… We aren’t meant to stay the same. We are here to change, to shift, to adapt. We are meant to grow, to understand more of what we ultimately desire to experience in our lives. As we move through life, we are faced with choices, roadblocks, detours, pain, loss, newfound delights, and all kinds of relationship shenanigans… And all of it shapes us as we go along.

It’s like we can’t help but change one way or another. And there’s always something new to learn from our experiences as we go.

So, that also means it helps to have grace and compassion for who we used to be… Because if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be who we are now.

And that feels like a powerful thing to remember right now.

Message from the Lunar Eclipse

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When was the last time you said yes to yourself

Taking action on that instinct

Doing something just for the heck of it

Just because it’s fun

When was the last time you said, “Screw it, just do it!”

Removing the thought from your head

Moving from pure instinct and desire instead

Just because you can

When was the last time you refused to hold yourself back

Banning restraints from fearful thoughts

Battling doubts and anxieties you combat daily

Just to not stay in one place

When was the last time you trusted yourself to make the call

Knowing you’re your own ultimate decision-maker

The only one in this world who knows what you do

Who can decide for you

Sometimes you have to say no to someone else

in order to say yes to you.

And sometimes that’s the biggest lesson

you will ever learn.

Say yes to you today.

You deserve it.

~ Channeled from the Hunter’s Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Aries, October 29, 2023

Message on What Connects Us

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person holding world globe facing mountain

Sometimes I’m utterly captivated by how magical life can be.

The Magic of Being Human

It’s magical that we are living, breathing beings who are here on Earth… to just live. To grow. To experience the world. To experience each other. To carry out and share our unique gifts.

Animals simply live in the moment, and that’s something humans forget how to do. We don’t remember how to live in the moment. We know how to live for the future, and we know how to live from the past, but being able to just sit right now, here in the very moment we find ourselves in… Sometimes that’s the hardest job of all.

But that’s just it. That is our job. Our job is to return to the present. Our present moment.

To be with our breath, to be with our feelings, to be with whatever it is we are doing at that exact moment.

There’s nothing wrong with that; in fact, there’s everything right about it.

And we are so special. We may not be the only life form like us in this universe, but… Humans are special. We are on Earth for a reason at this time.

Because we aren’t perfect. No human is perfect. We are human and humans keep “humaning” all over the place. You know what I mean…

Earth is the ultimate school for our souls. It’s like graduate school. It’s hard. It’s not easy to be human. It’s even harder to remember that there’s a glimmer of something greater inside of us because of our human-ness. We forget Who We Are, and thus we forget how much power we have. We forget what our essence is.

“You have forgotten who you are and in so forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become.” – Mufasa, The Lion King

You see, humans came with these incredible bodies, minds, and systems—all functioning together to carry us through life without much of our notice or control.

In being human, we are called and challenged to remember and rediscover who we are on the inside—something we discover through learning how to just Be.

Not all of us will have that specific path or goal in mind, but quite a few of us will remember the very essence of our Being in this lifetime… And what a magical thing that is! An awakening is happening on a wide scale, have you felt it?

Humans have so much potential and we don’t even know half of it, I don’t think. As humans, we came here to experience life through all of our senses. There’s so much to experience, so much to learn, so much to see, to hear, to feel, to express…

The human instrument in all its forms is magical. Just for living.

How can we not believe that the possibilities are endless due to what we are capable of when we stop to think about it?

Even for those of us who experience suffering, trauma, or other chronic issues… The potential is still very much there.

The potential for love being the most important.

That’s the essence of everything—love. It’s so simple and yet so powerful.

Love is what binds us all together. Love is the primary undercurrent of the universe.

That’s why they say love is everything and love is all you need because it’s built into the fabric of your very Being. So, it’s natural for us to seek out that which makes us feel connected to that sense of love—joy, peace, contentment, relief. We recognize it and our souls relish in being reunited with such pure energy. And love can be most felt in the present moment.

And when you do that, when you align with love in every moment you can…

The road opens up for you. Love always lights the way.

After all, love is the basis for all the magic in being human.

I hope this gives you pause to remember what it truly is to be human. To find the magic in your human-ness. To embrace your senses, your feelings, your experiences, and your present moment as you learn to trust and follow the love even more.

A Revealing Solar Eclipse

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eclipse digital wallpaper

35 years. I’ve been alive for 35 years as of Friday.

More and more, I’m noticing places in my life where I’ve been skirting responsibility, apologizing for choices I’ve made that actually feel good for me (despite going against what people expect of me, even myself), minimizing the work I’ve done, and even avoiding stepping up where I really need to step the eff up and do the work, instead of just procrastinating and waiting for something to happen to make it happen.

And it’s not always easy to see where I’m not stepping up. I have blindspots, just like everyone else. So, I’m grateful now for the awareness I have, and the people and experiences that illuminate them for me.

Because when you know better, you do better.

Hopefully anyway.

It’s all a work in progress. Even 35 years in… All I know is that I expect it to get better from here. And that also means that I need to do what I can to make myself better—to learn, grow, keep my mind and heart open, and take action as I need to.

The call to stand up in myself, for myself, and toward the life I want is like a blaring fire alarm right now. Like I conceptually know the things I need to do and why… and now it’s like they are demanding the care and attention I’ve been avoiding giving them.

Change is coming, though it may not be visible to anyone else right now. Just know this…

Your age is not an expiration date, ever.

You can always choose differently. In fact, I’d expect it if you’re constantly learning and growing. Life is meant to challenge us to reveal where our path truly lies. It’s okay to shift as more becomes illuminated for you.

There’s always room for growth and change.

And there’s still time for you to write your book.

Must be these new moon solar eclipse vibes landing right on my birthday/solar return triggering all this… Whatever the reason, I’m here for it.

Here are a few questions to see what might be revealing itself to you right now:

  • What pieces of your past are bubbling up to your attention? Ask them why they are coming to your awareness now.
  • What have you been avoiding? Why?
  • Where are you hoping someone else will swoop in and take care of it? Why?
  • What are you procrastinating on? Why?
  • What/who do you need to forgive so you can let go and move forward?
  • Where are you being hard on yourself? Why?
  • Where can you offer yourself more grace and compassion?

And finally… Put your hand on your heart, breathe a few times, and ask:

  • What does my heart want me to know right now?
  • What is it my soul asks of me right now?

It’s a great weekend for introspection with the solar eclipse yesterday, so feel free to muse or journal on these questions. I know I have been.

See you next time.

Onwards and upwards!