Hello Sacred Ones,
I'm offering these transmissions and readings to support us through the holidays and this cosmic rebirth. In 2017 I will be offering Dove Oracle Messages at every new moon and full moon and also on special occasions. May all beings be happy and free <3
IT'S TIME TO GROUND AND CENTER
A wise country song once sang, "If you're going through hell, keep going."
It's time to move to the eye of the storm.
Move to the place of compassionate witness.
Let there be sacred space between you and the other.
Let our edges find the sacred symmetry between our universe and the universe of each sacred being.
Let our core find the sacred symmetry of soul with source.
This is a time of great awakening. As the light of our days decreases, we anchor in. We root deep. We take time to assess: do I need this for the journey? If it does not serve the highest good of ourselves and all beings than the answer is likely no.
Now is the time to go within. Change begins here. Make peace with your soul, and the whole world shall be at peace.
We are the point of power.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Just breathe. For the present moment contains everything.
ENJOY THIS 10 MIN GROUNDING PRACTICE + MEDITATION
My gift to you. <3 May you find your soul grounded and expansive this week.
Many blessings,
Jess
BEGIN AN INITIATION OF HEALING: GATE ONE AVAILABLE
Gain an understanding of an ancient pattern of healing and resurrection on this imaginative journey... (click image below)
TAKE A PEAK INSIDE THE TEMPLE AND HEAR SOME OF MY STORY
EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC OF THE SEASON
Join me for a Winter Solstice celebration in Fargo at Winds for Change at 6:30 p.m. (or join in on live feed wherever you are) to bless the 2017 year, to experience a sound healing, intuitive readings, meditation, setting of intentions and more <3 Click the image below to learn more.
2017 YEAR OF FAIRY WISDOM CALENDAR
(Haven't you looked at Donald Trump enough??) This sweet calendar comes with fairy inspiration and notes all of the full and new moons, plus the super eclipse next summer! Get one before they run out!
SO ORANGE IS GOING TO BE THE NEW BLACK
I think the Buddha was onto something when he said that what makes us one is our suffering. It's our attempts at denying the suffering that really creates all the problems. When we can't even feel the depths of our suffering, that we have to project it upon someone else in order to contain it, fears, self-loathing, self-hate, all this stuff can seep out of us and onto someone else because it can appear too big to contain, too other to own, too much of a threat to our ego and our present way of life.
Orange is the color of the 2nd chakra which is all about creativity.
Chaos precedes new life.
I had to find a baby picture of Donald J. Trump so I could reach beyond the walls of our mutual self-protection and practice to connecting my heart to another expression of creation. In my transmission below I find myself beholding a wounded little boy who was taught at a very young age to shut down his connection to his feelings in order to be a man. This is the soul of the man I want to retrieve for all of us, because it is also an aspect of our humanity and our collective consciousness, for all souls come from the one source of life.
The way through is to love all parts of self, for we are each a reflection of our wildest dreams and deepest fears.
DT's grown up image triggers that part of me that was able to deny my own suffering for many years, that part of me that knew how to push down my true feelings, wants and needs in order to fit in and go with the flow and find acceptance in the dominant culture. It reminds me of an overly critical voice I used to have, that treated myself with less respect than I deserved because I was complicit with a culture that devalued the feminine and things considered weak.
For years I blamed the culture. That was a part of my awakening. Then I had to begin to face my complicity. I had to look into the wound and face all the ways in which I devalued myself. I had to claim my sovereignty and move from my victimhood into power as I picked up the girl who was waiting for a hero, as I work on being the change I wish to see in the world rather than pointing out the faults of everyone else.
I have been learning how to love those "unlovable" parts of self for many years now. I understand how a wounded child can wall themselves off, putting the scariest faces in front of their most vulnerable aspects. If we can stop reacting to the walls of fear, we can learn to compassionately see behind the veil, behind the scary protective masks, the wounded child who is throwing a tantrum.
If I can be a good mother to myself, I can also mother other wounded children.
Each of us holds within us a sacred core, an inviolable spirit.
Each of us has sacred vulnerable edges that long to expand into the unknown.
May Jacob's ladder connect the sacred dimensions of soul and universe.
The shadow appears to be healed.
Great mothers, it's time to rise.
The opposites are designed to hold tension, structure, soul, spirit, light--not to war against one another. Children, be at peace with your brothers and sisters.
Once the suffering is witnessed with compassion, the dread dissolves and joy rises again. The Great Mother shows compassion for all who are brave enough to enter her chaos and witness her suffering, which is our own. For as we own our complicity, we can die to the old ways of life, experience transformation, and rise again. We are a part of an ancient story
Humanity's wounds go way back. Some of us have been working on healing them. Some of us are still focused on blaming someone else for our suffering and willing to do to others what was done to us as we find our way to more awareness.
Though it appears chaotic, this is the terrain of new life. We are indeed moving towards oneness; not the kind of oneness that forces conformity, but the kind of oneness that creates unity consciousness as it honors all expressions of life as an expression of our One Source.
Suffering cannot hide underneath the rocks anymore. It is out in the open to be seen so that all can be healed.
May rage lead to us to transform existing structures of hate.
May grief lead us to self-love.
May fear lead us to refuse to stay asleep in our lives any longer.
We are the ones we have been waiting for.
We are enough.
We were made for such a time as this.
Donald J. Trump as a toddler.
This is an oracle transmission I did last week after I was in a deep meditative state as I asked what can heal us now? I share the vision that came to me.
I'M EXTENDING ENROLLMENT IN THIS PROGRAM UNTIL THIS FRIDAY:
Visit HERE for all the details.
As I step out in this new role I plan to offer these special divine transmissions exclusively to my 2017 Annual Members.
A Silver Annual Membership includes:
A Gold Annual Membership includes:
Thank you so much for supporting me and my children so that I can continue to focus on being a clear channel for divinely transmitting during time of great awakening.
~ ~ ~
What does it mean to be an Oracle? It means to honor the very essence of the Divine Feminine nature, to be a vessel, a mouth piece for the Goddess. I recently learned about what happened to the Oracles at Delphi, how they were captured, raped, forced only transmit messages from the male God, Apollo. Hearing this story awakened my cellular memory. The days of women being forced to be a mouthpiece for patriarchy is over. The days of women being raped and silenced by patriarchy is over. The true meaning of virginity is about being whole in one's self. Not sacrificing soul and self for others, not forcing and dominating others to believe like we do. No longer must women be cut off from our spiritual heritage and forced to serve the patriarchy. We are returning to our right relationship to the Goddess. We are coming into sacred balance, honoring the yin and the yang, the sacred feminine and sacred masculine, while talking honestly about the shadows of both, so that all may be healed.
I AM THE LAND
When I was 13 I was raped behind the high school on a freshly laid slab of concrete. My therapist has suggested maybe not introducing myself like this. Some Native Americans have been given names that tell of their brave stories and triumphs. I feel I need a new name. Maybe: The Land that was Conquered has been Redeemed. It wasn't long after that fateful day that I had been renamed the "school slut." I was the new girl in a small town to which my military family had recently relocated. I quickly learned the power of stories and rumors to sweep us away from the truth as my peers and I were suddenly caught up in a myth that was much bigger than we were.
I was chosen, as many girls are, to hold the archetype of the "school slut" in the junior high imagination. I was the girl who was elected to usher the community into their deepest sexual fears and darkest wildest fantasies.
My ego identity wasn't well prepared for this new role. I was naive, weird, a mystical school girl who loved spending hours alone in her room reading Nancy Drew, listening to Amy Grant and speaking in tongues when I prayed. In public I was extremely shy. At home I was blissfully wild. I had only kissed a boy once and while it was magical, it was also completely terrifying. Still, I was at the developmental stage where it was time to break away from my family of origin and connect more with my peers--which was difficult because I was... different.
In this quest to connect with my peers, I focused on escaping my Queendom of Nerdom where I had reigned for many years and was addressed by the titles of "Prude" and "Goodie-Two-Shoes" by my constituents probably because my royal clothes included I LOVE JESUS T-shirts and I went to church every Sunday and Wednesday. This is the girl who begged her mom for contacts when her family got orders to move between 7th and 8th grade in a bold attempt to ascend the social ladder. She also stopped wearing those t-shirts and another myth came to pass: the ugly duckling became a swan who couldn't see herself very clearly.
I didn't tell my parents what happened that summer until I was 37 years old (just three years ago) in an effort to make amends and make some sense of the chaotic teen years that followed that incident which included an attempted suicide and being sent away to live with extended family in another state until the rumors blew over. In many ways my life has continued to echo this trauma which erupted something like a pipeline expelling barrels of toxins a day. I have grown up with parts of self and soul feeling helplessly dirty like the animals and the rivers and the oceans covered in black oil, as I tried desperately to clean up and hide this big mess which included a lot of self hatred and deep shame. That stuff can take years to heal. Many never recover.
~
I am revealing to you the trauma I am working to heal, not for anyone to feel sorry for me, that's not the point. I'm not the point. I'm just playing a role, just as you are, in a story that is much bigger than ourselves. I'm sharing my story so that we can remember our mission in the grand scheme of things.
~
My great grandfather was a circuit rider preacher. He rode his horse around to minister to the early settlers in the plains of the Dakotas. In one visit (sometimes annually) he would marry, bury, baptize, and absolve the whole community. Pastor Froiland also served in Mayville, North Dakota where my grandmother grew up. My ancestors had a homestead near Estoria, South Dakota. Like many around these parts, we inherited Native land in the Homestead Act. We received the land as "a gift from God" thanks to some crafty theological work called: The Doctrine of Discovery which contained the harmful ideas of Manifest Destiny. This doctrine basically declared white Europeans more holy than the earth based indigenous heathens, and gave settlers divine permission to dominate and assimilate the Native Americans, their children, their way of life, stealing their lands like the Hebrew people stole Canaan, doing evil in the name of God. See how these larger traumas echo throughout time.
~
When I was 13, I quickly learned how in my world the tender feminine body was grounds for seizing and dispensing. I felt used and thrown away like all the other plastic containers that are tossed into landfills. No wonder men retire and get depressed. We are taught that we are valued for what we produce, not for who we are. At a young age I learned that my inner world was not valuable to the dominant culture. I learned my role was to be object, not subject. What my culture did and continues to do to the Natives, it also does to me and you, for assimilation is its own kind of rape. It denies the beautiful diverse expressions of humanity. It denies depth, dimension, and soul for a 3D concrete reality that insists the highest law in all of creation is not love but: might makes right. We each must choose which law to obey, Divine Law or the ruling powers of this world which are presently bent on destroying creation. Things are a lot out of balance. (Trust me I'm a professional yoga teacher who knows balance when I see it.)
~
The spirituality I inherited from my ancestors was lofty and intellectual and disconnected from the body and from the earth. It had to be, for it bore the karmic consequences of being a part of the dominating and assimilating culture. My spiritual stories tell of being kicked out of the garden. The Natives do not, for they are the original caretakers of the garden.
~
My ancestors are hardworking, passionate people who fight for justice. My grandmother has made repeated trips to the Holy Land to advocate for Christian Palestinians and fight against human rights violations. (She's visited there over 18 times, and she's hard to keep up with even in her 90s!) My ancestors were upstanding citizens that pitched in to help their local communities as pastors, choir directors, and teachers who valued access to education and supported women's suffrage. As ministers they also forgave the settlers for their sins. But I'm not sure we are totally forgiven yet because the wounds of generational trauma still squirm under our stoic Scandinavian codes of silence. Wishing the problem would just go away does not make it go away. I know that the word repentance means "to turn around" and that true forgiveness restores and reconciles us with God and God's creation. True forgiveness heals. As I behold the stand off between police and Natives in Cannonball, ND, it is clear to me that many of my people are not yet reconciled and that there is healing yet to come.
~
As I behold the police in all their weaponry, I am reminded of my family's military life growing up on bases. I know so many good men, including my father, who are drawn to the military to serve their country with honor. I want to remind good men that honor is not found in blind obedience, that's why Jesus was always asking: whom do you serve? Because you cannot serve God and money. So use your honor and integrity and strength to truly serve the greater good and not the powers that wish to destroy that which is good. Honor and service to others is found in defending the sacred, so make sure you can truly discern what is sacred and what is not.
~
A long time ago I was asked to initiate people into the Underworld, at the time I had no idea that this initiation would eventually lead to a ministry as a healer. As a 27 year veteran Queen of the Underworld and newly Dove Oracle Priestess, I now understand that the fires and trials we go through of are not for damnation but transformation. What appears to us as impending destruction is merely the beginnings of birth pangs.
What appears to be a catastrophe, over time, becomes a strong foundation from which to live a good life.
-Dr. Rachael Naomi Remen
Denial will not help us through the birth canal that surrounds us at this time. Facing the pain and using it so that it can be transformed into new life will. I tell you the truth: it is sin and the ruling powers of this world that are out of alignment with Divine Law that will finally be destroyed and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. So keep doing what is right. For the second coming is near.
~
My hair is the same color as the golden prairie. My eyes reflect the cornflower blue sky which canopies wide over these Dakota plains. When the moon is full, I bleed. When I am excited or sad, I flow like a river. When I am pregnant, I bloom like the crocus in spring. I am intrinsically connected to creation. I am the land. The land is me. You cannot separate us. We were born connected. What is done to the land is done to me. What is done to me is done to my children and and my children's children for many generations to come.
~
When my children were born I began to worry about the water. What is in it? Is it clean? Is it safe? Mother knows why the waters are sacred, and why they must be protected. We are surrounded by water in the womb. We are surrounded by water in the body. We are surrounded by the watery atmosphere that nourishes our life. In its smallest expression, water is light, water is star stuff, tiny six pointed stars that remind us of who we really are. Mother knows that the health of our bodies and our babies is connected to the water
~
I am wearing my Grandfather's alb (there are a lot of Lutheran ministers in my family) and my Grandmother's ancestral jewelry. I am here upon this land where my Great Grandfather may have ridden his horse as he made his circuit. This is not my land, but it is my spiritual country. I am here to make amends for myself and all who wish to join me. For many generations we have been able to deny our connection to our bodies and the land. In this generation we cannot. The time has come to turn around.
~
My rape was but an echo of a much larger rape that is happening to the earth, and maybe this is why we as individuals are supposed to stay silent, lest we wake up and see that the rape of the earth is connected to the rape of the dignity of our humanity. For what we do to the earth and to others, we ultimately do to ourselves and to our children and to our children's children. The sins of the father are passed down to the next generation. But look, the time of rebirth is at hand. The veils are parting. We are beginning to see: we are one human family.
~
On November 3, 2016 I stood around the sacred fires at Standing Rock with over 524 spiritual leaders from across the country to present to the Native American Elders the Doctrine of Discovery to burn. "We were wrong," we declared. My body quaked with relief and I sobbed. Never before have so many people of different ancestral and religious backgrounds gathered together in peace, in prayer, unified in cause and love for one another and for the land.
Friends, this is not just going to go away: this is going to renew our world.
Young and old Native woman spoke with trembling lips and tears running down their faces, "We have been waiting for you all to come for a very long time. Seeing you all here, this heals us. We are so happy that you are here. We forgive you."
On that day I received absolution for myself and my people from the Native women as I stood in my ancestor's ministerial robes. Their tears washed the black snake of rape from my body, as they affirmed something that has been difficult for me to hold onto: if the land is sacred, then so is my body. So many years the slick toxins of self hate and shame polluted my body and kept me severed from my instincts. I am a conquered land no more. I am redeemed. As I receive their forgiveness I am invited to return to the Garden, to return to my body, and to return to my soul. And so are you.
Love,
Jessica
Dove Oracle Priestess at TARALOMA Earth Temple.
See what services I have to offer you here!
Introducing TARALOMA Earth Temple Mystery School On-Line Courses beginning in January 2016!
Learn more here.
WHAT TO SLAUGHTER, WHAT TO BREED?
These are high holy days marking the end of the harvest cycle. Long before Pope Boniface put a new twist on the ancient Celtic celebrations in an attempt to Christianize the nature religions in the 7th century by renaming this feast "All Hallows Eve" from ancient times people have marked this time of year with reverence and wonder. Later Martin Luther donned Halloween 'Reformation Day' grafting the Protestants into the tradition too. In The Episcopal Church we celebrate All Souls Day and All Saints Day at this time. No matter what your religious preferences, people throughout history and around the world agree that this is a time to celebrate the end of harvest time and to remember the dead.
I am scrambling to put together creative costumes for my children and dreading the influx of sugar and corn syrup in my home, I know it would be easy to miss the deep spiritual energy that is available to us during this time. As I was brushing up on my Halloween history, I also learned that the livestock were judged at this time as it was decided which to slaughter and which to breed. Who stays in this realm and who goes on to other realms. During this time, the veil between the realms is thin; we can make peace with those who have passed and take some time to prepare to face our own death someday.
Here is what I plan to do: I will take some time to sit at my altar and honor my relatives who have passed and ask for their guidance as I move into a new season of my life with the intention to honor them and bring healing to my family line. I will take some time to honor all who have died, all souls stuck between worlds, and offer guidance to the light. I will honor the earth as her energy is moving into the underworld. I will take some time to reflect on what needs to die in my life and what needs to be nourished into more abundance.
I would love to hear some of your ideas to commemorate this sacred time in the comments below and also what you plan to release and what you plan to nourish. (Tonight is the new moon! A potent time for seeding intentions!)
One thing I have put a lot of energy into over the past year is studying and practicing the way of the ancient priestess as I began a Dove Oracle Priestess program. My sisters and I discovered many old fears which have needed to be slaughtered along the journey as we were initiated beyond many taboo thresholds to reconnect with our core feminine essence and unique sacred nature. Through hours of studying ancient esoteric mysticism and refining my meditation practice, I have discovered an opening to the 'thin places' and I have experienced divine guidance coming through with more grace and ease. My training will end on the Winter Solstice on December 21 where I will come into the world as a Dove Oracle Priestess. If you are in the Fargo-Moorhead area I hope you will join me for this special event (details to come!).
Enjoy these pictures from our last retreat, and explore www.taraloma.com to discover how my ministry is unfolding with several new offerings for 2017.
The light in me salutes the light in you! Have a blessed week <3
Jessica
From the photo shoot: Sacred Wood Nymph, A Year of Fairy Wisdom 2017 Calendar, standing on the chopping block used for gutting fish.
SOAP BOXES & CHOPPING BLOCKS, WHO IS RIGHTEOUS?
(Excerpts from a sermon preached this morning at Shepherd of the Moravian Church, Fargo, ND)
What does it mean to be righteous?
People used to stand on top of soap boxes in the public square (to make themselves taller) and to sway the crowds politically. We have many such metaphorical soap boxes today: the podiums of the debates, social media, even this pulpit—though I’m pretty sure I'm tall enough for everyone to see me without any extra help. We must be careful when people take to these places of power and assert that they are right and someone else is wrong, for when we create the soap box for preaching rightness we consequentially participate in creating it’s opposite: the chopping block. A truly righteous person who stands up to speak the truth will only put their own sin on the chopping block—not a group of people, not strangers, not their enemies.
For to be righteous is to be fully integrated as a human being. To be righteous is to be made whole. To be righteous is to be healed from the illusions about ourselves and others. To be righteous is to be able to see clearly one’s own wrong, ones one shadow, one’s own sin. For our mistakes and our sins can be our greatest teachers. For once we know better, we are able to do better.
Once we have tasted of that inner holy sanctuary and been in the presence of the Holy of Holies, once we have been looked upon by our beloved and seen fully for who we really are, once we have been loved beyond what we feel we may deserve, once we have tasted this grace and this joy, then we know to be righteous is to be humble.
The New Testament gospel text for today in the book of Luke show us two characters: which of these are righteous? The Pharisee believes he is righteous and he goes about declaring all of the ways he has followed the social norms, the way he has followed the laws, the way he is righteous according to human standards… less than human actually, because he is enslaved and possessed and blinded because he has confused the powers of this world with the divine. He has conflated them. He cannot see his own sin. He cannot see his shadow. He cannot see the ways in which his actions harm others because according to this Pharisee only he is righteous and he looks with judgment upon others. He has not integrated his shadow. He lets other people hold his shadow, he lets other people take the blame for the consequences of his actions, in order that he may FEEL righteous, but he is not righteous.
In modern day psychology this is called projective identification: this is when you gaze upon a person and for better or worse they illicit a strong response within you, usually before you know them very well which makes ample room for the projection of self. Usually a part of self that we are uncomfortable with and haven’t been able to integrate yet within our own self-consciousness. (In broad strokes: if it is a positive projection we idealize them, if it is negative we demonize them.) We gaze upon someone else and those things that remain untended within, those sheep which have not yet come fully into the fold to receive the love and acceptance of the Good Shepherd wander off among the wolves. Parts of self wander off to the chopping blocks.
We have cast off our sins upon others so like the Pharisee, we may FEEL righteous, but those of us who blame others in order to feel better about ourselves are often those who feel most cut off from the love of God. And in our panic to make things right, we grasp for control in order to ease the anxiety. A fellow yoga teacher reminded me recently: we can justify anything with the mind, but the body doesn’t lie. If our righteousness depends on us rationalizing our superiority to others, then it is not righteousness we have found: but the ancient chains of slavery that we have been trying to escape since the Hebrews fled Egypt. If our righteousness depends upon rationalizing our superior to others, we are still enslaved because we have confused the powers of this world with the divine. We have conflated them. And we cannot see our own sin.
So do not use others to hold your sins. Do not objectify others. Do not allow others to serve as scapegoats to hold our own shadows. Do not enslave yourself to sin. The old ways have passed. No longer can we place our sins upon a scapegoat to rid us of our anxieties. Jesus has already agreed to become the scapegoat for all of humanity’s sins. Our mistakes are here to teach us. Once we learn from our ways of wrong, we are free. But we cannot be free unless we are willing to face our sins.
Jesus says that he goes to prepare a banquet before us and that ALL are invited. This means not only all parts of ourselves, not only each one of us, but every living being that has sprung from the light of source, all are welcome home.
Who is righteous? The righteous receive the invitation to return home, to enter the holy of holies, to walk through the sheep’s gate. The righteous hungers and thirst to be in the presence of the One Most High. The righteous have beheld the sin of turning away from source, of betraying self, of betraying soul, of betraying God, of betraying the earth, of betraying other people, of becoming complicit in acts of evil that lead to destruction of creation, that lead to years of traumatic pain, the righteous are able to behold the immensity of what we done in our consciousness and unconsciousness.
The righteous are able to behold and to beat our breasts and say ‘oh god have mercy on me, what have I done? How did I trade in this beautiful gift of life, of soul, of light? How did I trade in my inherent dignity and divinity to act like a monster? How did I trade that in to live a half-life? How did I trade it in to settle? To compromise?’… not the kind that aids in human growth and peace, but the kind of compromise that actively works to keep people unconscious, that actively works to wound others, that actively works with systems of power that want to prey on the weak and exploit the small, with powers that actively want to destroy the earth and treat God’s creation as if it’s a garbage can.
Wake up oh sleepers and rise from the dead, and the light shall shine upon you again. Come Lord Jesus, restore us, renew us. We behold what we have done to ourselves and others, we behold the pain we have inflicted on others, we are not afraid to descend into the truth of our being and to behold the depths that we find there, we walk with courage knowing that you have walked this way before us, and as we descend into the truth of our being, we will not lose love. New life may be painful, but we will be transformed, it may be scary, but ultimately as we make the hard journey of becoming conscious of waking up to the powers that God has given us to co-create and to bring into existence divine love on earth. We know that we walk this journey not alone. We walk it with the saints who have gone before us, we walk with Jesus our teacher and friend, we walk with with Mary and Mary Magdalene, we walk with the Holy Spirit, we walk with all the women and men who have hungered and thirst for righteousness for ages and ages, we walk together with eyes wide open to the horrors that we face, to the pain of humanity, to the systems and structures of power which continue to enslave us.
We open our spiritual eyes now to behold any place in our life that is in need of forgiveness and healing and we open our heart to receive the light of love pouring into our bodies now.
We receive who we are. We receive the soul of ourselves into our bodies. We declare that our bodies have been created as temples of light to shine the One Most High who lives within us. If you wish to receive a healing integration, say your full name, first middle and last or your baptismal name, say it three times inviting the light of your soul, that part of the divine which broke off and became you, to live fully in your body, and to expand into the world for the highest good of all beings. You are also a face of the divine. Receive who you are. You are the one you have been waiting for. Come Lord Jesus come. Lead us into the holy of holies, lead us into the temple of our bodies, keep us awake, keep us conscious and learning.
May the angels surround us as all the righteous people of the world rise up with humility and courage and love as we invite Divine Love to reign within us and upon the earth now and forever.
Amen.
OUR VOICE IS OUR GIFT TO OUR COMMUNITY
This past week I have been so inspired by the number of women stepping forward and giving voice to their stories. Many of us suffer from throat chakra issues stemming from childhood trauma or the long history where we were taught at a young age things like: children are seen and not heard. In the past women have been threatened with exile or death for speaking our wildly unorthodox truth. Some of us have learned to speak so soft it feels like we are yelling when we are talking at a normal range. Others have learned to "stuff it" until we explode in other unhealthy ways. Others have learned to lower our registers so that we sound like a man in order to be taken seriously. But now more of us are stepping out and honoring our truth voiced from the depths of our bodies in our naturally higher pitched registers. We are freeing ourselves from the history of constraints placed upon women. And as we give ourselves permission to be free, we free those around us too.
I have been at a retreat all weekend and my intention coming here was to have a break through. And boy did I.
So here's a strange thing: when I was a child I spoke in tongues. This is an ancient tradition that I was taught stemmed from the early church, but it is actually found in numerous spiritual traditions around the world. In ancient Greece those who spoke "divine language" or "glossolalia" or "light language" were afforded high social status because they were thought to have the ability to commune with the angelic realms. (Today I think it's mostly dismissed as weird, which is why I rarely share this fact with others. But I'm learning to embrace my weird especially when it resonates with soul.) I received the gift when I was about five years old when my family attended a charismatic church that met in an old theater in upstate Rome, NY. I recall using this language a lot by myself as I played in nature, or spent time alone in my room praying to God. It seemed very natural to me as a child and I truly felt as if I were talking with God in a language that only he could understand. As I grew older I sort of forgot about it until I went on a mission trip to Mexico in college and a teacher spent some time with me helping me to remember how to do it. From then on into my adult life I usually found myself speaking in tongues sort of automatically when I was alone and super worried about something that I didn't know how to fix. I would offer it up to the divine with these mysterious prayers that just seemed too deep for human words until the burden was released.
Have you ever experienced one of those moments where you just knew that you had to speak? Have you ever felt that some force beyond you was prodding you to open your mouth because something had to be said? Have you ever just opened your mouth in these moments without knowing exactly what it was that was going to come out of your mouth and trusted these totally improvisational moments? (I remember Jesus telling his disciples not to worry, that the Holy Spirit would give them the right words at the right time. Talk about learning not to have control issues!) I have had this urging happen a few times in my life, usually while gathered in a spiritual community and collectively contemplating together as we seek higher wisdom. When I get a message to share, usually what happens is my heart begins to pound so hard in my chest it feels as if it might explode if I don't listen to the call and speak. My mother taught me that this was an experience of the Holy Spirit, and to listen to my heart in these moments. (Yeah I totally rebelled. But I also listened :P). Each time it has happened I am usually totally surprised by what comes out of my mouth because it's usually something beyond what I could have conceived. I know that it is from a higher source because the community responds with a deep resonance. The words that poured through me during these experiences had always been in English. That was until yesterday.
I was in sacred circle with my sisters and we had brought ourselves into a deep meditative state where we were collectively listening for wisdom to guide us into deeper understanding. We were asked to speak as we felt inspired and I knew I would only speak if my heart started to pound. I listened as many sisters shared beautiful inspirational messages and I thought I might just sit this one out. But then it happened. My heart began to pound. This time with more intensity than I ever remember. And this was new: I had my eyes closed but I could see a bright light descending on top of my head. It ignited my whole body with so much energy I thought I might explode if I didn't release something. So I opened my mouth. And I spoke. In light language. It was an ecstatic experience.
My sisters and I didn't understand the words that poured forth, but we resonated with the feelings. Several sisters began to cry, another told me she felt like a huge purge was happening, I had tears running down my face. It felt like there was a collective release of old trauma. Talk about a cleanse! I was totally surprised that the light language came out. I was surprised how it affected my sisters. I was surprised because I brought a secret gift into the world and instead of being shunned it was received with grace and it benefited others.
We are blessed to live in this time where it is safe to come out into the world and share our truth now. This was a powerful lesson for me this weekend. I remembered that I belong to something greater than myself and by surrendering to the ever present mystery that is unfolding, by offering our gifts in service to others, by sharing our stories, our song, our voices, we become a part of the collective healing that is so needed at this time. When we heal ourselves, we are healing the world. When we are brave to speak, others are encouraged.
May you all be encouraged this week to let your soul speak in all the ways that the spirit calls you!
Love and light <3
Jess
Stay calm during the election chaos and join me everyday on Facebook to practice peace within and send love and light out to the world.
Have a great week!
29 Day Meditation to Election Challenge: Mission, to Elect Our Highest Selves
Hello Sacred Ones,
Welcome to a new week! Yesterday in meditation I received a powerful instruction to guide people in meditation each day until the election. I've decided to offer this on my Facebook page where I will be going Facebook live at some random part of the day, every day from now until November 8 to offer a time to connect to source, deep peace, higher wisdom and stable calm. Connecting to this energy will help serve our communities as we remain tuned in to the river of life that is always flowing beneath whatever chaos surrounds us. Studies have shown that group meditation significantly reduces crime rates. Committing to this practice will transform yourself and your surroundings The more of us commit, the more change we will effect. Whether you are doing your own personal meditations or using the guided meditation I offer below or following me on Facebook live, know that each time we take time to tune in we are strengthening this force of peace among us for the highest good of all beings. As we commit to harmonize with these higher frequencies, we will be contributing to the global peace movement in powerful ways. This will help us dissolve and see more clearly through the many illusions being thrown at us to keep us living in less powerful reactive, knee jerk trauma fields. Instead we want to elect LOVE into the offices of our higher consciousness and into our communities in the next month--this is the true power of the universe! When we do this work internally, the outer world must match our internal world. As we manifest peace within, we will manifest it in the world. As within, so without. As above so below. I offer this gift in service to my spirit guides, my highest self and in service to humanity as we journey through the birth canal of our human awakening. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow on Facebook!
Om Shanti. Deep peace.
<3 Jess
A GIFT FOR YOU: 12 MIN MORNING MEDIATION
TRANSMUTING THE TYRANT ENERGY: WISDOM FROM THE UNDERWORLD
Where does inspiration find you? This week's oracle inspiration came to me this morning in the shower. The shower is a great place to cleanse our energy fields and come home to the center of who we are in relation to the divine. I usually get a few key ideas, then I meditate and ground myself in my body and allow myself to begin to speak off the cuff. I often don't know what I'm going to say until it comes out of my mouth! I used to see this as a handicap (because it has gotten me in trouble on a few occasions!) but I am learning now that this can be a way to transmute divine information when we are prepared to allow the flow to come from our highest sources of wisdom into the deep soul of the body. The more I practice, the more flows! This week's transmission focuses on how to transmute dominating and controlling energy to serve our highest good:
SACRED WOOD NYMPH, A YEAR OF FAIRY WISDOM
Enjoy the wisdom of Daphne the Wood Nymph in 2017 with this playful calendar created to heal sexual trauma and initiate us into the healing found in frolicking with the vulnerably powerful feminine. 10% of proceeds will support RAINN. This calendar includes dates of the new and full moons and the mega solar eclipse so you can attune your life and seed your dreams with the cycles of the universe. <3
PAPER CRANES: A COLLECTION OF POEMS
Writing helps me transmute dark energy. Compiled from over ten years of work, this book includes prose that cover a range of embodied feminine experiences, from love, loss, spirituality, motherhood, death and rebirth. My book is also available on Kindle.
The light in me salutes the light in you! Have a great week <3
SHARING VULNERABLE TRUTH
SONG OF THE WEEK: SILENT ALL THESE YEARS (Cover)
Here's to those who have been silent all these years <3 This is a cover of one of my most favorites songs by the most lovely, my absolute favorite artist, Tori Amos.
YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THE STORY OF THOSE WHO HAVE LIVED THIS
-Tori Amos
Order a copy: Sacred Wood Nymph, A Year of Fairy Wisdom The pictures for this project were taken during a vulnerably healing photo shoot where I frolicked with the energy of Daphne the Wood Nymph as a way to release sexual trauma. I created this project with the intent of finding a way to return to feeling more safe and at home in my body.
SACRED WOOD NYMPH, A YEAR OF FAIRY WISDOM: Healing Sexual Trauma with the Energy of Daphne
How do we "capture" something in a sacred way? Rather than living out of old modes of domination and oppression of the weak within our world and within ourselves, Daphne the Wood Nymph invites us to play again and heal as we dance with our own gentleness in the beauty of the natural world to which we all innately belong. She allows us not to capture her body, but images of her tenderly free and intrinsically feminine spirit.
During this sacred play I learned that Daphne knows the way to unlock the healing wisdom of the trees. In the myth, Apollo chases Daphne to rape her, but Gaia saves her wood nymph by turning her into a Laurel tree. Laurel wreathes are crowned upon the true victors because Daphne teaches us the true power of vulnerable femininity. Daphne's energy softens our compulsion to subdue nature and our own souls so that we may learn how to return to the sacred joyful, playful, balance of masculine and feminine energies, of the yin and the yang.
This project is a celebration of my 40th year and the healing that is possible for victims of sexual abuse. (I'm sending so much love and light to my thirteen year old self: we made it so much farther than you ever imagined! Good work us!) Yoga and meditation practice has been a vital part of my healing journey. That and the work of Detoxing God, which I'll be talking about more soon! Learning how to stay present in the moment, within my body and compassionately witnessing whatever fears and joys it is feeling rather than detaching, dissociating and zoning out has taken years of practicing deep incarnational healing work that I am honored to share with others.
Many of us who were abused at a young age or dependent upon our abusers (or fed lies by the media that taught us to devalue our natural body and purchase our salvation from toxic systems of oppression) we internalized the critical voices of our abusers for our survival because we were dependent upon them and could not break away. This is a common symptom of trauma survivors. When it would overwhelm the still fragile developing ego to consciously see and name the abuse around us, the conscious knowing of abuse hides and goes inward causing dissociation and fragmentation of the self. This work is about un-fucking ourselves from that cacophonous nightmare and sorting the seeds of our thoughts as we own the ways in which we have unknowingly participated in our own self destruction. This work is about the ongoing learning to cultivate deep unconditional self love and care as we reconnect with our original wholeness. This work is about showing young girls that ageing is not scary, that our bodies are never ugly, especially not after having babies <3. This work is about liberating wisdom and beauty so that these essentially feminine energies incarnate us as embodied sacred geometrical pieces that belong to the human family throughout our entire lives.
Special thanks to my partner and probably the only photographer I could trust to take pictures like this, Grant Swenson, who has cheered me along this healing journey, and made me feel safe enough to come out of the woods (and frolic naked in them too!) <3
It is my hope and intention that this calendar will unveil the illusions about softness equating to weakness, and weakness and things feminine being of lesser value (and thus must be dominated) kind of thinking in our culture. Instead let us move into the work of creating sacred shelters for humanity to flourish in our natural environment, for children and vulnerable populations to have access to healing communities of compassion and healing centers rich in good clean earth (where other people can frolic naked too because it is so healing!!!). This calendar also includes new moon and full moon dates with times to seed your intentions for co-creation and manifestation of intentions with the lunar cycles. May this work soften our hearts and awaken our bodies to the fairy playful and fiery feminine spirit that has the power and strength to heal and transform our world as she invites us to return to the sacred balance.
Presently I have a small batch of five copies available. $10 of each purchase will be donated to RAINN, Rape Abuse & Incest, National Network.
Shed a little light in your world this week, sacred ones. Come out from under that bushel!
Namaste,
<3 Jess
-Paige
"Jessica Z’s prenatal yoga class is nothing short of wonderful! There is no pressure, and I always get a relaxing and thorough workout. She supplements with everything from visualization and singing to calming chants. I really enjoy the atmosphere created in her class. I enjoyed prenatal yoga because while my body was taking a new shape to carry the baby, my weight was shifting and as baby grew it would create different tension spots in my body. Jess’s class really helped stretch these muscles and ease my body aches. Yoga also helped lower my overall stress level and provided a space for quality time with my body and baby. Jess helps to make the class about more than just the postures. It’s a truly safe and comfortable environment and a great way to connect with other mamas! I am so grateful for her dedication and commitment to yoga and teaching"
Check out Jessica's Prenatal and other yoga classes at Mojo Fit Studios in Fargo, ND or schedule a private lesson, intuitive reading, Reiki session and more by visiting TARALOMA Earth Temple's SERVICES.
Welcome to a new week! The light is decreasing and change is in the air. It's almost time to nest into the darkening days ahead. See how you can utilize this time for growing into your soul potential:
YOGA POSE OF THE WEEK: MOUNTAIN/TADASANA
As we move into fall we are in Vata season. The wind is picking up, the leaves are beginning to turn and fall from trees, change and transformation are all around us. Vata energy is etheric, creative, and expansive. With all the changes of new school schedules and lessening light, we can feel a little spacey if we're not careful to re-ground. Mountain pose is one of the most fundamental postures in yoga because it teaches us how to hold the strong grounded energy of the lower body with the soft open expansive energies of the upper body. To begin, place your feet hips distance apart. Ground down into the legs by lifting the toes and engaging the muscles of the lower body. Pull in the knee caps, tighten the glutes, squeeze the muscles at the base of the spine, tuck in the low back slightly and engage the core muscles. Draw this rooted energy up the body into the heart. Allow the arms to simply hang at your side. Chin is slightly tucked so the neck is elongating. Envision light surrounding your head and expanding into the air around you. Allow yourself to feel equally the strong contracted yang energy of the lower body and the soft expansive yin energy of the upper body. Hold for 3-5 minutes.
SONG OF THE WEEK: AWAKE MY SOUL
Visit my SERVICES page to purchase yoga videos, meditations, and one-on-one sessions.
The light in me salutes the light in you! Have a great week!
<3 Jess
So, why am I drawn to the mothers of the goddesses? Persephone, Athena and now Isis.
Many of the goddesses Jessica and I have met together feel like daughters to me. I find that really interesting.
Is she drawn to daughter goddesses? Or do I resonate more with the mother goddesses because I am a mother of adults, and in my Crone years?
Artemis is a goddess with whom my daughter fiercely resonates. Our tiff over the Artemis blog nearly derailed this project. It’s ironic that in my rant against Artemis, I didn’t check out her mother.
Her name is Leto, by the way. Leto conceives twins, Artemis and Apollo, after her hidden beauty accidentally catches the eye of Zeus. Leto’s only myth story is her pregnancy and journey to find a place to give birth, because the goddess Hera was jealous and caused all lands to shun her. Finally, Leto finds a floating island, so it is not considered land, and she can give birth. This is her only one active mythic role. After Apollo and Artemis are grown, Leto withdraws, to remain a dim and benevolent matronly figure upon Olympus, her part already played. How sad is that? Yet I identify with her.
I digress.
Each new goddess blog post begins (for me) with days of reading and studying books and online sites. I usually go down several goddess rabbit holes as I find things that interest me.
This time is no different. Once again, I’m drawn to Isis’ mother.
Perhaps the problem is my goal, the purpose for my role in this project. I’m looking for my Mother God. I’m looking for her activity in the world before She was cut down and desecrated by the sin of patriarchy.
I’m looking for the strength and wisdom of The Great Mother with whom I can relate intellectually and emotionally, but also find rest in her arms as a daughter.
As a daughter, Isis was beloved from birth. As goddesses go, she is tenacious. From as early as 2600 BCE until today her reign, which began simply and humbly, has grown to usurp most of the high-ranking goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon. For nearly 3000 years her power, majesty, wisdom and responsibilities grew exponentially, to seat her on the throne of kings, mother of kings, even mother of Ra, where, by the time of Christ, she reigned not only in Egypt, but the whole of Mesopotamia and even Rome. Not only that, but she was so popular, her image as the Mother of God, suckling her god/son was usurped by the Church in their images of Mary and the child Jesus.
Unlike other Egyptian goddesses, she spends her time with her people teaching corn grinding, bread making, spinning and weaving. Isis is also passionate that her people are literate and she is worshiped as a goddess of medicine and wisdom. Not only, back in the day, was she “the assistant” to the pharaohs at their funerals, and attributed with the resurrection of Osiris, but she now is also considered the protector of children and goddess of childbirth!
Go Isis! I wonder what your mother is like?
Her name is Nut. (okay, don’t laugh). She’s one of the oldest Egyptian deities. The Sky Goddess. Her headdress is a pot (part of her name), which alludes to a uterus. She receives the dead into her arms, and her image is found on the inside cover of many Egyptian coffins. The image is strikingly similar to that of Isis with her wings and seating position.
Beautiful, isn’t she?
The most prevalent images of Nut are of her duty as Sky Goddess. Her brother/husband, Geb, is the Earth God. Which is fascinating because most other cultures associate goddesses with the earth and their male counterparts with the sky. Nut is beautifully adorned with stars covering her nude body, hovering over Geb, her feet and hands touching the four corners of the earth.
Each morning she births the Sun and Moon. They travel across her body and are swallowed up in the evening. The stars drift down her body throughout the night. If I drew a mandala, her yoga pose would be Downward Dog.
She is one of a handful of the most ancient Egyptian deities.
Her titles include: Coverer of the Sky, She Who Protects, Mistress of All, She Who Bore the Gods, She Who Holds a Thousand Souls.
Here is the birth story of her daughter, Isis, and Isis’ siblings:
Some myths interpret the image of Nut and Geb, as Sky Goddess and Earth god, in continual intercourse before she births her own children. Ra, the Sun god fears another will take his throne when he discovers Nut is with child. He forbids her to give birth any day of the year. In those days, one year was 360 days. Nut, being wise, consults with the god of Wisdom (Thoth) who devises a plan to gamble with the Moon god, Khonsu, whose light rivals that of Ra. The bet is: If the Moon god loses, he gives up some moonlight to Thoth. The Moon god loses so many times, that Thoth now has enough moonlight to add five extra days to the year. Since these days are not part of the regular year, Nut now has extra days to birth five children! After their births, Ra, in his rage separates Nut and Geb for eternity.
Nut also protects the ordered world below from the chaos above. She is friend and protector to the dead, who find rest in her. It is believed she draws the dead into the starry sky and refreshes them with food and wine.
“I am Nut, and I have come so that I may enfold and protect you from all things evil.”1
To my own children: How I wish that were me.
1. "Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead", Sir Wallis Budge, NuVision Publications, page 57, 2007, ISBN 1-59547-914-7
Download the Isis Coloring Mandala.
Go to the beginning of our coloring journey.
SOUL EXPANSION REQUIRES LAND CONNECTION
This week I had the opportunity to travel to Cannon Ball, North Dakota and see for myself what was going on. Here are a few of the highlights:
SUPPORT SACRED STONE CAMP HERE
One of the speakers said what many of us were thinking: this isn't just about a pipeline. This is about the people of the earth, all people, uniting in a common cause to protect the land and all creatures who depend upon the land for the benefit of all of life. This is about turning the tide. This is about waking up to our participation in self-destruction. This is about humanity ascending into a new golden age as we return to an ancient way of life that unfolds in the sacred balance causing widespread healing, true emerging wisdom, and deep reverence for all living beings.
As a descendant of Norwegian immigrant settlers who lived on the Native American's land after they had been forcibly removed, I have benefited in having access to power and social advancement from the horrors done to the Native American people; my own healing requires that I make reconciliation with this dark history beneath my feet. Soul expansion requires land connection. We simply cannot afford to ignore the backs and blood we have built our lives upon any longer. We need to learn from the wisdom of Native people who were the first care takers of the earth. (I want to write in the Native American elders for president!)
Many of us were raised in a religion and a culture that valued intellectual ascent. But trying to ascend to God without connecting also to heart and gut is called Spiritual By-Passing. It's a common practice in many forms of religion that actually causes repression of soul (while pretending to do the opposite). Listen to my confession and deep convictions about the healing path forward for many of us in this week's Oracle Vlog:
SONG OF THE WEEK: TERRA
This seven minute song poured out of me one day (gosh ten years ago now!) I sing it to get myself grounded in the truth of my being.
YOGA POSE OF THE WEEK: HALF LOTUS/ARDHA PADMASANA
Half Lotus is a great yoga pose for meditation. Sit cross legged and draw one foot onto your thigh or knee (or just stay in a simple cross legged pose, you may also sit on a blanket or use pillows to support your legs if your hammies and hips are tight.) Draw your shoulders back as you open your heart and slightly tuck in the low back to lengthen your spine. Tuck your chin slightly to practice Darth Vador breathing (or Ujjaya breath) to focus your mind. You may use a mudra, or a fingering position that helps circuit the energy through your body such as pressing the index finger into the thumb which symbolizes the ego in submission to the divine. Practice sitting for 10 minutes a day and work your way up to 45 for life changing results.
Practice meditation for 20 minutes every day.
If you're too busy to meditate--you should practice for an hour
-Zen Saying.
In remembrance of all who lost their lives on 9/11 & in gratitude for all of our service workers <3
Be the change you want to see in the world. You can do it!
The light in me salutes the light in you, namaste, namaste!
Love, Jessie
