*** MAGIC ***

 I think my word for 2010 is  * MAGIC *

This year already feels full of possibilities & opportunities.
& I'm seriously working on reducing clutter, both at home & in the office
(& yes, need to get off-line & on task!!!)

I take part in an on-line 'conversation' group of women who respond to questions every few weeks. This morning, the gal who invited me to participate sent a personal e-mail quiring if the ~ 20# weight loss I experienced over ~ 8 months & mentioned recently had been 'mostly' from the switch to coconut oil.

While that's defiantly contributed, the switch to Gluten Free has played a big part as well! This is what I sent to the group:

yes, (much of the weight loss) seems to have resulted from the shift in oils (using coconut
& olive oil while avoiding others) in the spring, then going GLUTEN FREE in the summer!
I love having  a waist again :) The mainthing I notice if I get some stray gluten is bloating.
I use high quality digestive enzymes or vinegar in water with questionable meals.

My energy level is up, & I WANT to move/exercise more because of the extra
energy, I find myself craving 'bad' stuff (anything with gluten, high
fructose corn syrup, & unsaturated oils) tho I still love things like GOOD
chocolate, fresh fruits etc. Pomegranates - I will miss those when the
season's over!!

This link to Grain Damaged offers a good overview of gluten sensitivity.
(the gal who asked about my weight loss suffers from IBS, & this article focuses
on food sensitivities usually playing a huge role in IBS, with wheat/gluten being the main
cluprit!!)

Hmmm - I also got a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) membership this
year, with a local organic farm. I tend to buy local/Organic as much as
possible (I choose coconut as one of the 'from far' foods - still OG) but
having the CSA membership really cuts down on buying 'other' (non-organic)
food. & prompts me to eat more veggies, which we 'should' anyway!

So that's another slight shift. Since 'my farmers' use  water from their own well, the
veggies are grown fluoride free - & fluoride interferes with the body's
ability to absorb necessary iodine, while the chemical fertilizers used by
NON OG farmers cut the amt of Magnesium available.
One of my 'additions' this year is a good water filter - that removes the
fluoride! Sigh. Why do *they* have to mess with our lovely NW water??

& 'of course' cutting soy as much as possible from my diet has helped (my
dau still uses some in cooking, & it's also 'hidden' in lots of things)
since soy depresses the thyroid, & coconut balances it, the inclusion of
coconut combined with the exclusion of most soy tends to boost the
metabolism (unless one had an overactive thyroid, then coconut would help
calm it down!) & much commercial soy sauce contains gluten, so Chinese
restaurants are pretty much 'out' unless they're conscious & REALLY offer
gluten free (soy sauce free) options.

Many women start eating more soy during menopause, for the phyto estrogens
- but with the thyroid depression, I suspect that's tied to weight gain!

Restaurant eating has gotten much more selective - I'm a Virgo, & have
been 'health conscious' for years; going gluten free gives me the 'excuse'
to say "Aw, I'm grain damaged - can you bring me .  . . ." (a salad w
olive oil & vinegar - or no dressing, a soup not thickened with flour, not
something breaded or fried . . . )  & lots of nice veggies . .  .& watch
my friends scarf down a huge plate of something greasy . . . (fried in
un-saturated un-healthy oils to boot!)

****** so that's my personal 'formula' for having dropped ~ 20 # in the last 18 months. & people
have begun noticing - one of the NDs that shares our office asked how much I'd lost the other
day! Her husband has dropped 30# since going Gluten Free last spring; she & their teen son still
eat some, but much less than in the past.
"LIVING WITHOUT" mag has a list of 10 'Must Dos for New Celiacs' (I so like the term 'Grain
Damaged!)
1: Understand your disease - research!
2: Build a Medical team
3: Join a Support group (my dau's best friend is part of ours, I haven't gone yet)
4: Check your Pantry (read lables & toss. Segragate gluten-containing food if one or more family
members still eat the stuff!)
5: Stock the Basics, including some good GF mixes! - Personally, I enjoy having a 'larder' of flours
as well, so I can add play with tweeking recipes (like the chestnut scones!) but I've always been
a 'creative' cook!
6: Dust off your apron (& make some new ones!)
7: Buy a bread machine (my dau got one for Christmas that has a low carb/gluten free cycle
I'm more an oven gal, myself! But do have access to it! & a dear client brot me several GF mixes
as a Christmas gift!)
8: Patronize Local Businesses - YES! & if they accomodate you, TIP WELL & let them know you'll
return!
9: Don't settle
  This could be our motto for life - don't settle!! Breathe it in!
10: Exhale - relax - it will be all right - & even better!

Exhaling reminds us to - INHALE!
A psychic friend told me in a reading that when I found myself craving bread, to remember to
take a moment to breathe! That my body was craving more *fuel* - & to think of Oxygen first!
so go outside, hug a tree, & take a DEEP BREATH!!

Oh, dear!! Here's a link to an article on how agave nectar (which I use sporadically) is made!!
Guess I'm retiring that bottle!!

Harry Potter Camp

My grandkids are all attending 'Harry Potter Camp' at our church this week (VBS). I'm helping out in the preschool room, & with the sign language for the songs.

Here are Kakay 'n Em eating breakfast (black beans for lots of protein!) on the stairs. Gregory was still getting dressed, with his big coz. helping.

For several years we had 'Suess Camp' - the gospel according to Doctor Suess, with examples for kind living coming from several of his stories.

I recently noticed someone calling her spiritual 'blend' the 'braided path' - Buddhist, nature focus pagan, & New Thought Christian; I like that, having often called myself 'buddhist/pagan/christian!' & I adore books about magic, elves, awakenings, & people struggling to make 'good choices' . . .

So I'm wrestling with some of the references to 'God is real, magic is make-believe!' well . . .

From the healer & "Mystic's" point of view, it would be nice to tone down the emphasis on 'what's real & what's not' The Harry Potter books are novels, for sure, with one author, but magic & magical thinking are part of chidhood's heritage, in my view.

A number of teachers I've studied healing with see auras, have seen or connected with fairies, 'know' when someone is ill etc, & were told by the dominant culture that wasn't real! I especially enjoy when I receive a 'dream teaching' that is later validated! It's often taken folks years to reclaim their gifts, & learn to express & utilize them.

When I was receiving Buddhist teachings & was given a name - Drugma Chodron Wong Mo, I had a hard time remembering what it meant - "dragon depository of the Dharma, powerful mother." Whew, what a mouthfull!
The week before, I'd had a reading from a mother & daughter, who called me a 'wisdom keeper.'
So I dreamed - dharma, wisdom teachings (wong); depository - keeper (or place something is kept)! OH!! In my dream, my buddhist teacher broke it down & explained it to me, word by word. Dragon was drugma, mother: mo. It's remained vivid ever since, tho I don't use it as my 'name,' it's part of my 'definition.'

Roselyn Bruyer (Wheels of LIght) re-learned to see energy fields (auras) when her sons (4 & 5) saw them. Her mother (who had been frightened by Ros's childhood abilities, & told her they weren't 'real') became a 'believer' the night her appendix burst, after the boys said "The fuzz around grandma's tummy is orange!" (she began asking 'how does my fuzz look?)

Eric Vormanns, brought up in Ghana, was a bit luckier, in that his gifts were recognized - he also sees auras, (he calls me 'the butterfly lady') & could see sickness & predict recovery or death - but his grandma would tell him not to tell folks what he saw! He calls his healing modality 'spiritual' or 'etheric' healing, it's done off the body, & especially effective in aiding recovery from burns or working with pets.
A teaching Eric offers parents - it's our job to help our children express & use their gifts for good, & to notice weaknesses & help children overcome them. A very gentle, good hearted man. I've taken 3 classes with him, & recall recieving a 'message' for one gal from her departed mother. Eric told the other students 'it's OK for her to recieve that message - she's working on sending energy with her harp - the rest of you, concentrate on physical information!'

Dora Van Gelder Kunz, who helped develop Therapeutic Touch grew up in a family that saw fairies & natures spirits, & many of us work with those energies to help rebalance our beautiful blue green planet. In her booklet on Christmas & angels: Dora wrote: "We must remember that the whole earth is thronged with hosts of superphysical beings, angels and archangels and all the Company of Heaven, who stand for the most part at a higher level of evolution than ourselves and who are responsible for the guidance and control of the maniforld processes of Nature. It is their thoughts and feelings and activities which play so important a part in the creation of that peculiar atmosphere of good will so noticeable at Christmas; and at this time of the year the whole earth thrills with the wonderful forces outpoured by the angels."
I've offered workshops in how to connect with & work with nature spirits in gardening, & certainly received messages from them. A friend who 'sees' once asked me if I 'saw' my entourage of 'little ones' -

A few years ago, a harpist friend I was visiting was concerned about her daughter's belief in Fairies - which had caused a ripple at school. Rosie was 5 or 6 at the time.
In the AM, the principal met with us (informally), & as they talked about the 'incident,' when she & another child argued about the 'reality' of fairies, he commented 'It's a belief, & no one can tell someone else what they do or should believe! Now, at school, it would be helpful not to try to convince each other one way is right & the other wrong!'
Rosie was particularly upset, as she had recently seen 'Peter Pan,' & felt each time her friend said 'fairies aren't real!' one died! Her child care provider called Reiki (hands on healing) 'fairy energy' & I'd once been asked to do 'fairy energy' on Rosie's knee, when she'd twisted it at a harp camp! She was running around in no time (as her mom said, 'she was really hurt & limping!')
I was so relieved by the principal's comment - what a lovely way to look at it! 'Belief' in magic, fairies, energy systems are just as valid as any other belief, & just as deserving of tolerance!

Since both the principal & my friend & her family happen to be Jewish (it was a Montessori school in a college town & multi cultural), they were well aware of the danger of dictating belief. & isn't God involved in everything - including these 'full sensory' abilities that most of us have supressed??

I tend to feel more than see, which is helpful in my work - sometimes feeling in my own body where the problem lies. Gifts can certainly be developed for good or ill - that's the message delivered by Rolling's books, & the message I think we want to get across :)

When Alyssa (now 9) was 5, I was working with Doreen Virtue's fairy cards, & asked Sis if she 'saw' fairies - she described little darting lights by the rosemary bush - much as Doreen described them! Later, when my daughter came to pick her up, Alyssa scolded: "Mom! You didn't let the fairies know you were going to walk on the grass!" (one of Doreen's sug) - to which my magical daughter responded: "They know I was going to - the fairies aren't stupid!"