Maybe you’ve been daydreaming about moving to a new place, starting a business, setting a boundary, telling someone how you really feel, or simply doing something outside your usual box. Perhaps you just know that you’re being called to take action, but yet you just can’t seem to and so you may have become stuck, bored, or even depressed?

There is one thing that tends to interfere with living a full, authentic life. No, no, it’s not missing out on having a reading with yours truly. It’s the big bad Goblin of Fear!

First, I want to point out that fear itself isn’t a bad thing. At its core, fear is actually friendly. A natural act of love and self-protection, it’s a biologically-rooted system that’s working on our behalf 24/7 to warn us of possible threats to our life. Fear teaches us that our love of life is profound and hard-wired into our being.

But, here’s the rub: this survival instinct also doesn’t determine the difference between what is truly life-threatening and what we THINK might be threatening. And so, fear comes in countless different shapes and sizes and it plays itself out in all kinds of situations—fear of what happens if you take a risk, of putting yourself out there, of rejection, of intimacy, of flying, of heights… I could go on and on.

My point is that WE ALL experience fear. The important question isn’t whether you’re worried about something, but how you perceive and respond to those fears. Do you let them stop you from following your heart, from revealing who you really are, or from standing up for yourself? To live a truly authentic life and continue to evolve, it’s crucial that we “feel the fear and do it anyway,” as the popular saying goes.

The problem is that so many of us have been taught that fear is bad and so we try to avoid it at all costs. As a result, our fear grows into a Goblin, who then takes control and makes us a prisoner in our own lives.

If you’re familiar with my work, you’ve probably heard me talk about the Goblin before. I use the metaphorical character of the Goblin to represent the wounded ego we all have. As I talk about in my book, The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life, the Goblin holds onto what we’ve disowned in ourselves. The more you try to avoid “feeling the fear and doing it anyway,” the more you feed the Goblin of Fear. As he takes over your life, he just encourages you to find more evidence that your fears are real and persuades you to lock yourself in your “Me Bubble,” where it seems you can at least play it safe, no matter how bored, unhappy or powerless you might feel. He convinces you that you cannot accomplish your dreams, keeps you from living your truth, and tells you to not speak up. As he runs the show, you become disconnected from the Divine and your intuition and the possibilities before you dwindle.

Ultimately, fear isn’t something to avoid or even to conquer (as many “experts” tell you), but rather it’s an emotion to feel, experience, own, and love. Yes, LOVE! When you acknowledge this Goblin and send him love and compassion, you lull him to sleep and awaken the guidance of your higher self. With the Goblin quieted, you see that you’re truly never alone and that Spirit doesn’t give you anything that you can’t handle. You know that you really can “feel the fear and do it anyway,” for Spirit will support you every step of the way.

Exercise:

Make a list of all the things you feel called to do. It could be anything—find a new job, ask for a raise, speak up to someone, do something new, ask someone on a date, and so on. Then write down all your fears for each. When you’re finished, ask yourself whether each fears is truly valid. Do you see real evidence of failure?

Next, go through the list and send love and compassion to each of them.

Close your eyes and allow your intuition to guide you. What do you need to do to feel the fear and do it anyway? What parts of yourself do you need to embrace? Perhaps confidence, trust, or surrender.

Finally, challenge yourself to take action on one fear this week. Feel it and do it anyway! And, report back!

Please share YOUR advice on embracing fear. What’s worked for YOU?

In love and service,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the  love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people   you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a  free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many   giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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Oracle cards are one of the most powerful tools for tapping into the flow of Divine synchronicity. When you choose certain cards, they’ll reflect the state of your present, patterns and issues from your past that continue to influence your experience, and future potentials. They reveal what you may not see with your own eyes and empower you in making choices for your highest good. But, as with any method meant to engage the light, there is a shadow side to it.

When we become crazed about knowing everything in advance, or we look for signs at the expense of making rational choices, what should be a sacred dialog with the Divine becomes the shadowy, destructive force of oracle abuse.

Oracle abuse happens to the best of us. As humans, we long for safety, security, and to know that our desires and needs will be take care of. There’s nothing wrong with any of this and connecting with the Divine will only enhance and expand your experience. But, when your desire to know how things are going to turn out becomes an obsession and you do readings over and over, it’s no longer empowering. You hand your power over to the cards and take yourself out of the present, where all of your power is. You also unconsciously set yourself up for supporting lack in your life!

When you do too many readings out of obsession, you disconnect with the power of the Divine guidance and your intuition. If you’re familiar with my work, you’ve probably heard me talk about the Goblin—the metaphorical character I use to represent the wounded ego we all have. Your Goblin whispers fear, anger, guilt, jealousy, shame, and all sorts of other negative, limiting emotions. He is the part of you that acts out from beliefs of abandonment, self-denial, entitlement, arrogance, and self-hatred among other things. By keeping you focused on ego fears, he breaks your connection to the Divine and, as a result, your intuition. Oracle abuse is one of the Goblin’s trademarks!

I have a client who recently emailed me in a tizzy. She’d done so many readings about this guy she was dating, that the cards were now giving all sorts of mixed messages. One minute this guy was the Grail Night from my Wisdom of Avalon deck. Then an hour later she wanted to make sure he still had potential so she grabbed my other deck, Wisdom of the Hidden Realms, and picked the Sacred Union reversed. Confused by the mixed messages, she picked again and got the Hungary Ghosts reversed. Mad that she didn’t get the Grail Night as a confirmation that it was “correct” the first time, she went to my website and got The Goblin. Now, she was more confused than ever!

I sympathized with my client’s longing to know the outcome. It’s very attractive when you have a system of a language that will tell you things that are hidden. But, it will send you down a rabbit hole of madness! I know from experience; when I first met my husband, I must have done at least ten readings and boy did those cards get nasty after awhile. See, I teach what I’ve learned so you don’t have to make the same mistakes!

Anytime you do an oracle card reading with anxiety behind it, that emotional state will also be reflected in the answer. If you keep asking the cards, they will start reflecting your obsession and hidden Goblins. So if you’re crazed and obsessive, you’ll get crazed and obsessive signs to remain that way until you bottom out. Oracles then act as catalysts, forcing you down the same path until you can’t take it anymore.

I don’t have to be psychic to know that you don’t want lack in your life, nor do you want to disconnect the power of Divine guidance. While I know my Wisdom of the Hidden Realms and Wisdom of Avalon cards can be so powerful it’s hard not to become addicted (just joking!), it’s important to know when to just say no and put away the oracle cards!

Exercise:

Whenever you do an oracle card reading, it’s important to come to the table centered and neutral. So, before any reading, ask yourself: “What is my mental state?” If it’s not centered and neutral, pick up your journal instead and make a list of your agendas. Ask yourself why you’re so anxious or obsessed, etc.

If you’re in the midst of engaging in oracle abuse right now, commit to not going back to your cards until you don’t care what insight you get.

Finally, take some time to meditate, which will help you get centered and detached!! Put your Goblin to sleep using my Goblin Meditation here.

In service and love,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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Written by Avia Venefica of www.whats-your-sign.com

If you’re browsing around Colette’s blog, a phenomenal resource for intuitive practices, odds are you’re familiar with remote viewing.  If you’re not, then a brief explanation of remote viewing is: The ability to gather information about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means or extra-sensory perception (definition from Wikipedia).

Why, as spiritual practitioners, would we want to remotely view distant locales?  Well, different strokes for different folks – each of us will have different reasons for incorporating this technique into our energetic practices.

Speaking for myself, I use remote viewing for several purposes.

1) I like to remotely view my peeps (friends, family, colleagues), just to check-in on their well-being.  Once I’ve honed in on their energy, I make sure they’re ok, and I send them extra beams of love and good tidings.

2) In my research of cultural symbolism, I’ve found remote viewing can be tweaked to hone in on a certain time-period too.  This allows me to travel to past and future locations around the world (and even other worlds) to gather information about symbolic meanings and origins.

With practice, all of us can launch an energetic flight plan through the ethers of reality in order to zone in on non-local destinations.  This experience is more enriched (and becomes more successful) when we ask our animal totems to help us with remote viewing.

The idea of spirit journeying with animals is nothing new to our ancestors.  Native North Americans did it (and still do), as did the ancient Druids.

These spiritually savvy people understood the nature of energy, and acknowledged the interconnectivity of all life.  From this stand-point, hooking up with animal kin is a ‘no-brainer’ because the heart of human and animal beat as one.

After years of ‘going solo’ in my remote viewing jaunts, I was struck with the idea to enhance the experience with my animal totems.  The results were remarkable.  It seems, my animal totems were quite willing and exceptionally able to focus more clearly on specific destinations in my viewing meditations.  Furthermore, insights were far more profound when viewing with my animal consorts.  For example, when invoking my bird totems, the length of time it took to get to my remote destination was cut in half.  Also, viewing through the eyes of my feathered friends brought about a bigger picture of the activity going on at the destination and time upon which I chose to focus.

In many ways, remote viewing with animal totems is much easier than going it alone.  Why? Because asking our totems to be our guides is synonymous to surrendering ourselves into their care.  This creates not only a symbiotic bond with us and our animal, it also encourages trust in our totems.
In essence, when we connect with our animals to view other times and places in our Universe, they become the vessel of our consciousness.  As a vessel for our awareness, our animals are free to fly, forage and race through the jungles of reality while we are their passengers, soaking up the sights along the way.

If you haven’t tried remote viewing with your animal guides, I strongly encourage you to do so.  I believe you will find the experience incredibly enlightening.  Enjoy and happy traveling!

Written by Avia Venefica of www.whats-your-sign.com

Imagine for a moment that you were born with a magical map that could guide you through your life. Unlike a typical flat road map that doesn’t change when you look at it, your map is multidimensional, unique to your soul, and—here’s the best part—you can interact with it. Your “life map” is filled with all the landscapes of all the places you’re likely to experience in your life—it shows the mountains you’ve climbed, the resting places you’ve stopped, and the battlefields you’ve trudged through as well as the probable landscapes you may visit in the future. At any point along your path, you can use your map to re-orient yourself, find your way when you’re lost, chart a new course, or point your way home. Wouldn’t you want such a powerful map? Doesn’t it sound like the greatest invention of our time?! Guess what? You already have this enchanted map at your full disposal within you. And, in my newest book, The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life (0rder below), which is set to be released on January 15, I teach you how to tap into the power of your map to shape your destiny and co-create a life of purpose and magic.

When I first began doing readings some 22 years ago, I quickly realized that our lives aren’t linear experiences of separate events. Rather than focus solely on the events my clients had experienced or would experience in the future, it was much more helpful for them to also envision a map of their lives. When I showed my clients the unseen connecting elements of where they had been, where they were, and where they were heading, they gained a deeper understanding of themselves and their story and were more empowered to make better decisions. My gift as a psychic allows me to see the events, places, and people in your life, but as an intuitive counselor I also look into the intricacies of your life—the unseen patterns, hidden motivations, and family legacies that make up your map—and show you how you can create a life of more meaning and magic with this new understanding. I’ve now read for over 33,000 people across the world using this process and am always amazed and touched by the “aha” moments that come up for my clients during readings. I’ve also used the map-making process to navigate my way through my own story and thus become the change that in turn changed my life experience. So, I thought it was about time to hand you the magic wand in the form of my new book so you can also re-claim your power to direct your life!

If I were to ask, “Where are you?” you might instinctively reply that you’re “Lost,” or “Stuck in the mud,” or “Climbing a steep mountain of challenges.” These images are far more significant than figures of speech; they depict the intensity of our experience and the profound connection between our internal world and our outer environment. Inside all of us are psychological landscapes created by our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. When you become conscious of your inner landscape, you have the power to shape your experience by shifting the landscape within.

As I’ve often said, change happens from within. Rather than directly experience our true realities, most of us get stuck by instead reacting to our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about our current circumstances. To paraphrase the brilliant wisdom of Gandhi -If you want your outside to change, you need to go within and become the change you want to see in the world. By using the symbolic metaphor of a map, we’re able to step out of the confines of our left brain thinking and bypass our tendency to react to our experiences. In turn, we step into a place of authentic power where we can easily access our intuition, generate creative solutions for moving forward, and co-create in partnership with Spirit. We reconnect with the All That Is—the energy that flows through us and all living things. We see our experiences as part of something greater and meaningful and tap into the wisdom to make more empowered choices.

As you work with your Map, you’ll need to get to know your inner allies and challenges. Through visualizations and journal exercises, you’ll confront aspects of yourself that may be painful or scary to acknowledge. Yes, I’m talking about that shadow part of ourselves that we all love to hate—the Goblin. You’ll also meet powerful allies such as the Bone Collector, who supports you in claiming what is rightly yours, and the Gentle Gardener, who helps you grow all that you desire. Armed with greater awareness, you’ll begin to see that you’re on a hero’s journey of discovery and that magic and synchronicity is always afoot in your life. You’ll also see how your map intersects with others and learn how to transform your relationships and be of greater service to the world.

Can you tell how excited I am about this book?! Over the next few months, I’m going to do a series of blogs on concepts in the book. This first exercise will help you connect with a place of peace and happiness on your Map.

Exercise:

Pick a time in your life when you felt peaceful and happy. Then in your journal, describe the experience of your feelings as if you’re visiting an environment.

Here’s an example:

Christmas Day at age 8

The snow is falling softly all around me, touching the tip of my nose. As the wind sings, I happily skip to a nearby open pasture, my feet crunching on the wet snow. I arrive to the most beautiful land—a field with snow angels spread for miles and daisies poking up through the snow, too excited to wait for the spring weather. The angels sparkle with rainbow glitter from the shining sun above. As I dance around the angels, I know that all is well.

Now with this powerful place marked on your Map, you can return to it any time. Regardless of what might be happening in your life, all you have to do it close your eyes and picture this place and you’ll reconnect with that peace and happiness and infuse those feelings in your present.

In service and love,

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P.S. The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life is available for pre-order now!

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AND… when you buy the book, keep your order receipt. Because when we officially launch the book, there will be a ton of prizes and draws for great gifts from famous and sometimes infamous authors.

The GRAND PRIZE for the draw will be a “Spend the Day With Colette Baron-Reid” Personal Intensive. What’s that mean? You have Colette spend a whole day with you working you through her In-Vizion™ Process based on the work in her book The Map.

If you are part of our newsletter, you will receive the link to the gift’s page. If you’re not part of our newsletter…. why not? Join our newsletter by going to the home page this site and filling out the form.

TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK? No worries, buy the book anyway as a back-order and you still get a chance at the draw. Just provide us with your online receipt. Buy two books and we’ll put your name in there twice. Buy 10 books and you’ll get 10 chances at spending a day with Colette. And if you don’t win, you’ll still have 9 incredible life changing books to give as gifts. Your friends will thank you for it.

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And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

If you want to have a memorable holiday, one of the best things you can do is to give. Now, I don’t mean the kind of giving that involves spending loads of money on the latest must-have gadget. The giving I’m talking about centers on connection, love, gratitude, and experience. It’s about reaching out to others from the heart and nurturing your relationships—with loved ones, the Divine, and yourself.

Have you ever noticed how giving to others makes you feel? Whether you give your time, gratitude, love, or money, it takes you out of yourself. You expand beyond your limitations, out of your “Me Bubble” and wounded ego (what I call the Goblin) and into the All that Is. I know, I know—I talk about getting out of the “Me Bubble” a lot, but it can really change your life. Focusing on others combats depression, negativity, loneliness, anxiety, boredom, and a host of other emotions that keep us stuck and unhappy. When we give, we connect to the spark of the Divine that runs through each and every living thing. As we nurture and honor others, we do the same to ourselves. And, of course, we tap into our intuition and messages from Spirit.

Scientists have actually discovered that giving does wonders for our brains…. even more than receiving! In fact, giving is in our genes In recent brain scanning studies, scientists have scanned the brains of people who were given or won something and then repeated the same scans when the people gave to charity anonymously. The same regions of the brain that are associated with the reward and the good feeling you have when you get something yourself, like money, were the same areas that were activated when you give. And, not only were the same areas involved, but in fact they were more activated when you give than when you receive! Likewise, giving activates the areas of our brains which are not only the most recently evolved, they are still evolving. Some scientists believe that donating and giving more often in various ways is not only going to support our own brain’s evolution, but is also good for our future as a world community.

So, what to give? Here are my favorite meaningful holiday gifts.

Make a donation!: What causes are closest to your loved one’s heart? Why not make a donation to charity in their name? You also might donate your time to your loved one. Is there something they need help with? Or, perhaps plan a special picnic or hike that they’d love. In my last blog The Spirit of the Holidays: How to Beat the Loneliness Blues, I also mentioned my rewarding experience volunteering at a soup kitchen one Christmas. When we’re in service to others, we nourish our world. So, as a gift to yourself and your community, spend some time at a local hospital chatting with patients or volunteer at an animal shelter.

Make a God Box: God Boxes are one of the best tools for helping us stay in the present and cultivate more peace and connected with our higher selves and the Divine. And, they make great gifts! First, get a box. You might decorate a plan wooden box, or you can even go out and buy a nice box. Just make sure the box reminds you of the person you’re giving it to. Then, all you need is some nice paper for your loved one to write their worries, wishes, and feelings and give them to God. And, please note, when I call this a God Box, the word “God” isn’t meant to have a religious connotation. In this case, “God” represents whatever resonates most for your loved one—a higher power, the universe, the All that Is, Spirit, etc.

Create a CD of moving music: OK, I know “mixes” are so 90s. But, whenever I make a CD for someone with downloads of songs that I think will speak to them, they just love it. You might even do a mix of meditations. (I have some great meditations in my store. I highly recommend The Sound of the Sun.)

Oracle Cookies!: Another one of my favorite gifts to give is oracle cookies. Everyone likes some kind of cookie, so why not make them an extra special batch with added love, inspiration, and guidance! You can either do fortune cookies with handwritten oracle sayings inside, or you can make sugar cookies and use icing to write messages on the top of the cookie. I love to use my Wisdom of Avalon Oracle Cards and my Wisdom of the Hidden Realms Oracle Cards to write the fortunes and messages. I’ll just pick a card and write whatever comes to mind. It might be one of the words on the card or a sentence of guidance from the guidebook that comes with the card.

If you’d like all the great details about getting messages from fortune cookies, I wrote a whole chapter on the topic in my book Messages From Spirit. Here’s a fun fortune cookie recipe that I’ve personally tested.

Ingredients

• 1 egg white (to represent the foundations of birth)
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract (to represent the sweetness of life)
• 1 pinch salt (to preserve and to represent the infinite soul)
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (to represent the power of the earth and to give manifest form
• 1/4 cup white sugar (to represent the sweetness of life)
• 1 teaspoon of milk (to represent nourishment)
• 1/2 teaspoon of water (to represent the ebb and flow of life)
• 1 Tablespoon of butter (to represent abundance)
• Fire (stove – to represent the activity and creativity inherent in all things)

Directions

Remember to focus on the intention of love and gratitude as you make this recipe!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or put some oil on a cookie sheet. (Or, 2 sheets if you have it.) Write fortunes on strips of paper about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.

2. Using a large white bowl to signify purity of Spirit, mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Add milk, butter, and water and then set bowl aside. Then in another bowl, using a wooden spoon to connect the process to the natural world, mix the flour, salt, and sugar. Finally, blend the dry mix into the egg white mixture.

3. Place teaspoonfuls of the batter at least 4 inches apart on one of the prepared cookie sheets. Tilt the sheet to move the batter into round shapes about 3 inches in diameter. Be careful to make batter as round and even as possible. Do not make too many, because the cookie have to be really hot to form them and once they cool it is too late. Start with 2 to a sheet and see how many you can do.

4. Bake for 5 minutes or until cookie has started to turn a golden color around the outer edge of the circle. The center will remain pale. While one sheet is baking, prepare the other.

5. Remove from oven and quickly move cookie with a wide spatula and place upside down on a wooden board. Quickly place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded edge across the rim of a measuring cup and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside. Place folded cookies into the cups of a muffin tin or egg carton to hold their shape until firm.

Remember, even if your cookies don’t look like they do at a Chinese restaurant, they will be perfect just as they are. And so yummy!! Your loved one will love them!

In service and love,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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When you’re clairsentient, or what I like to refer to as a person who feels too much, the holiday season often brings about a double whammy of highs and lows. As I mentioned in my last blog, The Spirit of the Holidays: How to Rise Above Old Family Patterns and Dramas, everything gets triggered during this time of year—old wounds, tensions, patterns, regrets, addictions, destructive habits, and so on. As all these thorny emotions simmer around us, those of us who are clairsentient often end up being unsuspecting passengers on a wild rollercoaster of emotions that don’t even belong to us.

Those of us with the intuitive gift of clairsentience are able to feel or sense subtle forms of energy. As empaths, our feeling sensory is extremely heightened, and we can psychically tune into the emotions around us, whether from a person, a place, an animal, or even an object. We pick up on body language, tone of voice, body movements, hidden meanings of what is spoken and not spoken, underlying emotions around us, and even insight into past, present, and future life occurrences. Some of us are born as clairsentient, but we can also develop this intuitive sense as a means of self-protection in the midst of difficult childhood experiences. This gift enables us to be great listeners, healers, lovers, friends, and leaders. But, it also makes us psychic sponges; we soak up others’ anxieties, worries, fears, and anger and then feel as if all those emotions are our own. Without the right tools, we tend to get so full of others’ “stuff” that we in turn tend to struggle with mood swings, emotional eating, weight gain, anxiety, depression, and/or exhaustion. As if all that isn’t enough to weigh us down, all the swirling emotions make it difficult for us to connect with our intuition and Spirit’s messages.

If you’d like to get a better idea on whether you’re clairsentient, take a moment to look over the following questions:

1. Do you tend to pick up on the moods around you?
2. Do certain people leave you feeling drained, unworthy, and/or even physically ill?
3. Do others, even strangers, frequently pour out their feelings to you?
4. Do you often feel compelled to fix other peoples’ problems?
5. Do you tend to turn to food or addictions for comfort?
6. Do you often feel an urgent need to start snacking (especially on sugary and heavy foods) around 4 p.m.?
7. Do you care more about others’ well being than your own?
8. Do you tend to feel anxious or overwhelmed when you’re in a crowd of people?

If you answered yes to four or more of these questions, you’re likely clairsentient.

In a world that focuses on facts and science, those of us who are empaths often second guess ourselves and wonder if it’s all in our head. It’s not! In fact, as humans we’re biologically wired to feel empathy for others. Neuroscientists actually recently discovered “mirror neurons” in the brain, which fire when someone engages in an activity or merely witnesses someone else who is engaged in an activity. In other words, when we see a homeless person, we’re wired to put ourselves in that position and feel compassion. Even without this new discovery, the proof is in the pudding and it’s important to honor whatever is your unique experience.

So, how do you get off the wild rollercoaster of others’ emotions? As a clairsentient who struggled for years with extreme sensitivity to the energy around me as well as emotional eating, I know firsthand what works. I’ve also personally experienced my fair share of the emotional ups and downs and weight gain that often comes to people who feel too much over the holidays. Here are the most important steps you need to take:

Get grounded: Grounding yourself involves making a conscious connection with your true essence. It’s about nourishing your connection with Mother Earth and getting out of your head and into your physical senses. When we’re grounded, we’re most connected with Spirit and our intuition. On the other hand, think of the popular expression “spaced out,” which happens when we’re preoccupied with some emotion and leave out bodies. When we’re spaced out, we’re like an astronaut in outer space, floating along at the whim of others’ feelings.

My favorite activity for getting grounded is spending time in water. If you heard my HayHouseRadio.com show last week, I mentioned my daily ritual of swimming or taking a bath at 4 p.m. each day. The late afternoon is typically the most difficult time for clairsentients, especially when it comes to emotional eating. At that point we’re so full of others’ emotions that we attempt to ground ourselves through food. Spending time in water at that time is one of the most powerful things you can do to prevent emotional eating and moodiness and reconnect with your true essence. Another good way to get grounded is to get out into nature each day for a walk or some relaxation.

Recognize what is yours and what is theirs: As you go about your day, check in with yourself and ask where your feelings or cravings are coming from. Are they yours? Or, are they coming from someone else? This is especially important if you find yourself in the midst of any family dramas over the holidays!

Boundaries, boundaries … and more boundaries: Did I mention boundaries? Make a list of the people, places, and situations that tend to drain your energy and commit to limiting your time around them. Likewise, notice what leaves you feeling energized and commit to spending more time in the around those people, places, animals, and situations.

See the gifts: Remember your clairsentience is a gift and makes you uniquely you. So, embrace it! Take some time to journal about how being empathetic makes you special. Think of how you’ve helped others, how your psychic sense has helped you, and what gifts you’ve brought to the world.

Meditate: Meditation is an invaluable tool for getting centered and back in tune with yourself and your intuition. Through meditation, we’re able to better distinguish between our true emotions and all the other stuff that is being projected onto us. So, commit to spending at least 10 minutes a day meditating. I highly recommend my Tree meditation for centering yourself.

If you’d like to get all the tools you need to conquer the emotional eating and weight gain that so many of us clairsentients struggle with, I’d love to have you join me for my new live online program, Weight Loss for People Who Feel Too Much, starting December 15. I specifically created this online seminar and support forum to guide you through the holidays as you face the most difficult time of the year for weight gain, emotional overload, family issues, and food frenzy. For more details, click here.

In love and service,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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Are you struggling with a problem or a decision and at your wit’s end about what to do? Do you feel that you’re at a crossroads, but don’t know which path to take? Would you like insight into all areas of your life, from health and love to career and finances? Do you keep going to friend after friend, or even psychic after psychic, for advice?

Well, have no fear, the oracle card queen is here! And today I’m going to teach you how to use oracle cards to get profound guidance into whatever is happening for you now.

Since I first started using divination cards in my personal life and in my professional readings with clients, I’ve been devoted to finding the best ways to glean insight from the Divine through them. I’ve now been using and studying oracle cards for eons and think I can easily call myself an expert. I’ve even created two popular oracle card decks, Wisdom of the Hidden Realms and The Wisdom of Avalon, and am now working on my third deck, The Enchanted Map of You Oracle Cards (being released this spring).

Like all divination tools, oracle cards have a sacred purpose to help you connect to the vast flow of Divine synchronicity. When you choose certain cards, they’ll reflect the state of your present, certain patterns and issues from your past that continue to influence your experience, and future potentials. Oracle cards act as a mirror, beckoning you to dig deeper into yourself and your experience. They are a system of metaphors that are archetypal to the broader human experience. In other words, when you touch an oracle deck, you connect with the All That Is and the potentiality in the collective.

Oracle cards are best used for sacred guidance to assist you in making choices that are in your highest good. They are not best used for fortune telling or for yes or no questions. Rather, they’re designed to help you as you seek to understand yourself and your purpose. In life, we’re all going to face certain experiences and challenges we need in order for our soul’s to grow. Oracle cards can act as helpers, illuminating your path as you go and helping you make choices in your highest good. You still need to be present and take responsibility for shaping your experience.

I could keep going on about the intricacies of using oracle cards, but then we’ll be here all day. Plus, nothing beats hands-on experience. So today I thought it would be fun to teach you how to do a 12-House Reading so you can connect with Spirit and receive guidance into all areas of your life. This unique 12-card reading links the wisdom of the Divine with the 12 symbolic houses of astrology. Through it, you’ll get insight into each major area of your life. So, grab your oracle deck and let’s get going.

Exercise: Do your own12-House Reading!

Ritual is important when it comes to doing oracle readings. Oracle cards are sacred and should be treated with reverence. So, make sure you have some time away from interruptions as you do your reading.

Before you start any reading, you must empty your mind. You must let go of any desires for certain outcomes and surrender to the All That Is, trusting that Spirit will give you the guidance that’s in your highest good. I highly recommend meditating before you begin.

After your mind is clear and you’re completely at peace, hold your cards. Close your eyes as you feel them in your hands and connect with Spirit. Say a prayer to Spirit and to bless the reading. Here’s an example of what you might say:

Dear Spirit, I invoke your power of love and discernment as I use these cards to guide me along my path and for the manifestation of my true purpose for the greatest good. Please show me what is best and true for myself and others. Blessed be. Amen.

Now, shuffle the cards as you focus on your life and experience. Cut the deck into three piles; then put the back together or fan the cards out in front of you.

This spread forms a circle of 12 positions, each of which relates to a house of astrology and an area of your life.  You’ll begin by putting the first card on the left and then moving counter-clockwise. As you go about the reading, I encourage you to bless each position.

With your dominant writing hand, let your intuition guide you to choose the first card. Put it face down on your left. Take your time as you continue through all 12 positions.

Below are the 12 positions and what they each symbolize in your spread. As you turn over each card, think of how it relates to that area of your life. In addition to consulting the guidebook that accompanied your deck for insight, use your intuition and imagination as you look at each card. Write down your thoughts for each area as you go along.

1. The Self: personality, environment, how others see you (Aries).
2. Finances: self-worth, resources (self esteem, value systems, attitude to security, as well as possessions). Resources in terms of security, money, mental attitude or spiritual support. (Taurus).
3. Travel and Communication: local travel, relatives, speculation, logic, mental powers. Information coming. No surprises. (Gemini).
4. Home Life: siblings, family, parents, environment, old age, the physical body, the end of an issue. (Cancer).
5. Creativity, Passion, and Love: creative expression, children, sports, romance, pregnancy, artistic pursuits, .love affairs, self expression (Leo).
6. Work and Health: emotional and physical health, employment, service, domestic routine, diet, breaking habits, duty. (Virgo).
7. Partnerships and Marriage: professional and personal partnerships, legal matters (Libra).
8. Inheritance, Death, and Sex: endings and beginnings, joint finances, legalities, sex, legacies, transformation, beginnings or endings. (Scorpio).
9. Travel, Education, and Spiritual Connections: dreams, travel and long distance journeys, higher education, religion, law, philosophy, social institutions, long journeys. (Sagittarius).
10. Career, Public Image, Ambitions: profession, reputation, how your community sees you (Capricorn).
11. Friends, Hopes, and Goals: wishes, fears, aspirations, love received, friends, humanitarian efforts (Aquarius).
12. Fears and Hidden Burdens: restrictions, secret fears, enemies, dangers, subconscious mind, inhibitions, hidden things. (Pisces).

After you’ve finished, please share what you learned with us! And if you’d like to learn more about doing oracle card readings, I talk about all the intricacies in my on demand seminar, Instant Insight: The Easy Way to Access Divine Guidance Using Oracle Cards. In the guidebooks to Wisdom of the Hidden Realms and The Wisdom of Avalon, I also talk more about how to ask a question and teach you how to do a single, three-card, and five-card reading. And, be sure to join me on my Facebook page to get my daily card reading!

In service and love,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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A few years ago I was out having dinner with a good friend who was visiting from abroad. It was fall and we ended up at a restaurant with squash soup on the menu. We both ordered some, which the waiter brought in large white bowls. As we began to gobble down the yummy concoction, I started to see shapes forming in my bowl. I peered into the bowl and along the brim to see a clear shape of a swan, followed by a pumpkin, and then a baby. My main personal animal totem, the swan represents transformation and clairvoyance. The pumpkin jumped out at me, signaling Spirit wanted me to use the soup as a medium. And, I took the baby to represent something born new. Before dinner I’d actually promised my friend that I’d do a reading for her using coffee grounds when we got home, but it seemed Spirit wanted to speak to us through the soup instead. So, I told her we’d do the reading using our squash soup.

As our waiter looked on with curiosity, I prayed to Spirit to speak to us through the figures and reveal a message for my friend. Then I asked my friend to turn her bowl three times clockwise and then turn it over on her dinner plate. (At this point our waiters curiosity turned into obvious frustration!)After letting it sit a few minutes, I asked her to hand me the plate with the overturned bowl. Then I turned it over and proceeded to read the images on the bowl, just as I would have done with tea leaves or coffee grounds.

My friend was shocked by the accuracy of everything I was saying. Even I was amazed at how easily it was to connect with Spirit through the soup. We were both excited at my newly created oracle. But there was one thing that didn’t seem to resonate with her. I got an image of a stork and a cradle, which of course led me to ask her if she was pregnant or trying to have a baby. Flabbergasted, she vehemently denied this. She was seeing someone new and they’d only just begun a physical relationship. Babies, she said, were not on her mind. I saw the relationship had great potential, but didn’t mention more about a baby.

The next day, my friend called me in hysterics. After we left the restaurant, she couldn’t get what I said about the baby out of her head. So she bought three pregnancy tests on her way back to her hotel.  She took them one by one and they were all positive! She was indeed going to have a baby. The soup didn’t lie!

My idea for the soup oracle actually stemmed from tasseography, the sacred art of reading tea leaves or coffee grounds. Tasseography, which is also know as tasseomancy, has been used by cultures all over the world since ancient times as a way to seek deeper knowledge of the will of the Divine. My father actually used to practice tasseography with leftover coffee grounds. He used to tell me that the soul, and mind need to get together to know the whole picture. In the case of tasseography, your intuition combined with your capacity for symbolic thought and the physical substance and shapes can result in a profoundly accurate reading.

While substances like soup, tea leaves, and coffee grounds might seem so simple and everyday, they are still sacred mirrors through which you can connect with the Divine. Spirit is within them just as it’s within all of life. As long as you pray for a message, you can engage Spirit anytime and anywhere. I talk in more detail about this in my book Messages From Spirit. You can also use this method with any kind of thick liquid, such as thick hot chocolate, mashed potatoes with gravy, and even oatmeal.

Exercise:

Get an oracle from your soup!

Ideally you’ll want to exchange readings with a friend or get a group of people together for this exercise. In tasseography, the cup or bowl is traditionally read by someone other than the person eating or drinking the substance. It’s always better to have an objective perspective, and this also engages the bridge between the consciousness of the two people. Whenever I’ve taught this form of divination in workshops, participants always love passing their bowls around to each other for insight. So, get together some friends for a fun lunch of soup reading! (That said, if you’ve tried but are unable to get a partner this week, I invite you to try it on your own until a friend is free to join you.)

Here are the steps:

Get or make some pureed soup such as pea or squash. You can also use very thick hot chocolate. Next, get a white soup bowl or mug and put it on a plate.

Start with a prayer to Spirit and thank the soup for it’s nourishment. (I know it sounds funny to pray to the soup, but no laughing!) Remember Spirit is with all things. Envision the life energy within your substance and see it connecting with your energy and moving out to connect with all of the Universe. Then ask Spirit to reveal a message to you through the substance.

After you eat or drink your substance, turn the bowl clockwise three times. Then gently turn it upside down towards you and onto the plate. Let the bowl sit upside down for a few minutes until the contents have dried.

Now switch bowls with your partner or take turns passing the bowls around your group. You’ll see patterns along the bowl and plate. What do you see? Remember to allow your awareness to expand and engage your oracular consciousness. Your intuition will start to recognize the symbols. Use your intuition and tell a story as it unfolds through the symbols. If you’d like more insight into the meaning of certain symbols, my book Messages From Spirit includes an extensive symbol dictionary that will help you with your reading. And of course, chat about what you see with your friend or group!

Be sure to come and tell us what you experience with the soup oracle!

In service and love,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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I thought it was time for us to spice things up and have a few laughs! After all, it is Mercury Retrograde, and I think we all could use a few chuckles. So, I’m going to share some funny tales of my own experiences as a psychic intuitive and talk about a few of the lessons we can all keep in mind during life’s ups and downs. Today, let’s the tackle the spicy subjects—sex and love! Ready?

Before I met my husband Marc, I kissed my share of frogs. Just as my career started to take off and my phone started ringing off the hook, my love life took the most bizarre turn.

First there was the conservative Jewish guy who seemed nice and down to earth. We could chat for hours and had the same sense of humor. Even though I was raised Christian, I was still worthy of his interest since my mother was Jewish. When we first got around to discussing my work, I told him I was a psychic. But, things took a dramatic turn when a few months later I mentioned that I was teaching a “You Are Psychic” class and wouldn’t be able to meet him for dinner. He threw a bit of a tantrum and said his parents wouldn’t approve of my work. I never heard from him again.

But don’t worry; I soon met a really hot firefighter. We saw each other from across the room just like in the movies, and that was it. He really, really liked me and he was cute. Yet, he turned into a frog the minute he saw some tarot cards on my kitchen table. He sped away saying that his mother also “saw” things and she was completely crazy.

Still I persevered! Next I met a wine steward. Though I’m a recovered alcoholic, I still somehow thought I could make it work. I mean he was so handsome and he did mention that he meditated and was into astrology; so of course we would fall madly in love. Ha! At first I thought it was great that he’d ask me about my abilities, but he and his friends soon began relating to me as if I was a 24/7 psychic hotline. He’d ask me what he was thinking or for insight at the most inopportune times. So, that was the end of that.

Then there was a smart and wonderful lawyer who would shower me with compliments, flowers, and chocolate. After several romantic dates, he invited me to his house in the Bahamas for the weekend. We sat at dinner planning our trip but things came to a dramatic halt when I mentioned I worked as a clairvoyant counselor. (Considering my recent dating experience at that point, I decided to avoid using the word “psychic” since it seemed to set off alarms!) The lawyer freaked out and I fled from the restaurant as he was insisting that he needed to save my soul.

And the singles parties! Don’t you love to hate singles parties? I usually avoided opportunities for small talk, but my well-meaning friend talked me into going to this swanky party one night. At this point, I was tired of the reactions people had to my work as a psychic. My friend said she told the other people I went to a private school growing up and had lived abroad for a bit. So, I tagged along. But then it curious partygoer got word that I was a recovered alcoholic who conversed with a giant angel and sometimes talked to dead people. All I could do after that was munch on the chips and pretend to be fascinated with a few pictures on the wall, until I could finally leave.

While talking with callers on my HayHouseRadio.com show, I often tell them to pay attention to red flags and the patterns in their lives. I’ve taught what I had to learn. At the time, the men I was attracting mirrored my inner conflict with being psychic and worthy of a stable committed man. You may also wonder how I missed the red flags. Indeed, my desire clouded my intuition. All of these frogs were also pushing me to do some work on myself. I go into detail of how you can clear you intuitive filters and get out of the haze of desire in my book Remembering the Future. When I finally paid attention and did that work, the payoff was beyond my greatest dreams.

By the time I had met my now husband Marc, I’d thrown my hands up in the air but was also comfortable with all of who I am. And, he was well worth the wait. Not only did he not run for the hills at the mention of the word psychic, he’s alright with doing dishes!

So, here are some of the lessons I’ve learned about love:

If you truly want an amazing healthy relationship, you need to love all of who you are.

When you keep attracting the same type of person, remember you are the common denominator. You have to take a look at YOU, not point fingers at them.

Have faith. Spirit knows what is in your highest good and has a plan for you that is yours alone.

Let go of attachment and trust. What is yours can never be taken away.

And, keep a sense of humor. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t taken all these men and their behavior so seriously.

Exercise:

What lessons have you learned about love? Take some time to journal about your partners, both past and present, and what message they have for you. Then look for a little humor in the experiences that didn’t turnout as you wanted.

Ask Spirit for a message: Close your eyes and get quiet for a few minutes. Then ask Spirit for a message for you about love. Write down whatever comes to mind through your intuition.

And, share your stories and lessons with us!

In service and love,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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From August 20 through September 12, Mercury is retrograde at Virgo, the sign of fine-tuning. Mercury Retrograde happens three to four times per year, when the planet Mercury slows down and appears to stop and move backward. It’s an optical illusion, since there is forward movement, like speeding by a slow-moving train—as it recedes, it appears to go backward. The purpose of Mercury Retrograde is to review and revise our life and our connection with reality. In many ways, this time helps us prepare for the future by propelling us to re-align and re-evaluate our plans and ideas. Since Mercury rules communication, things most often go haywire in that area—computers go on the fritz, miscommunications abound, and the internet goes down. For example, right before my radio show yesterday, the internet went out in my house! Of course, we worked through it and the show went on, but frustrating things like this are common during the Retrograde. Communication impacts almost all areas of our lives, whether business, relationships, or health. So Mercury Retrograde can be a powerful and frustrating time.

Generally, retrograde planets present us with a series of events over which we seem to have little or no control, relating to the sign in which the retrograde occurs. For example, this Mercury Retrograde in Virgo presents different conditions from a Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn, which will happen in December. Virgo is an earth sign and often considered detail oriented, methodical, analytical, quiet, perfectionistic/critical, and work focused. So this retrograde is likely to bring up details in all areas—for example, past problems you need to reevaluate and let go of, business errors that need to be corrected, or details that need to be taken care of for the future. It’s a great time to tie up loose ends, go over things again and again, and read the fine print. It’s also important to be clear in your communication and not take any thing that’s said to you to heart. Minor frustrations may add up, especially in the work place. Delays are also common during any Mercury Retrograde—so give yourself extra time.

Ultimately, the next three weeks are time to focus on words that start with “Re”: review the details (even the small ones), reassess what’s happening in your life, relate to others in a clear manner, rest and relax (even in the midst of a frustration), and rejoice in the good fortune in your life now.

Exercise:

Review the details of your life! Take some time to journal today about everything that’s happening in your life now. What do you need to let go of? What things have you been putting off? What are you most thankful for? I also recommend doing some of the journal exercises in my book, Remembering the Future.

Create a new calming ritual for this retrograde. Perhaps you’ll commit to sitting quietly by a tree each morning or eating breakfast in bed. Or, you might decide to take a bath or go for a walk each night. Just choose something to commit to doing for the next three weeks that will help you stay grounded and at peace. If you’re “too busy” slow down, breathe. Make order in your home as a ritual exercise, breathing slowly repeating the affirmation “ all is well, all is well.” You’ll be amazed at how great you’ll feel.

And, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Mercury Retrograde. Please share them with us!

In service and love,

And please, if you found this information useful, then spread the love and use the Share This link below to share this post with people you know, facebook or twitter.

Become part of our wonderful community with a monthly draw for a free 15 minute reading with Colette, our newsletter, and so many giveaways. Go to the HOME page and join now!

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