forgiveness – Cara Carozza

Living Maya Time – The Trecena of Ajmaq

In a divine wink from the Universe, I am a little late in getting this blog published. I am feeling my humanness. I had a particularly frustrating day yesterday. I had no capacity to write. This Trecena celebrates and offers us the opportunity to reflect upon what it means to be human. It invites us to find forgiveness for ourselves and for others when we embody those less than desirable qualities that all humans possess. The Trecena of Aq’ab’al brought the new concept of JOY in for me. I discovered my inner girl while sliding down waterfalls, zip lining, dancing and just FROLICKING. Returning home to confront my business was sobering, but not unmanageable. Not until yesterday. Yesterday found me impatient, exhausted and frustrated. What happened to my joyful girl? SHE WAS HAVING A TEMPER TANTRUM!

Today as I contemplated the theme of the next thirteen days, I had to giggle. To be human is not to be perfect or to feel good all of the time. The Mayan word Maq represents the veil that obscures our perception of Ajaw (God). This veil is what makes us human. According to the Mayan creation story described in the Popul Vuh, when the Gods fashioned the first humans, they created them without the ability to see the consequences of their actions. In doing so, humans must make mistakes to learn and expand their consciousness. Through reconciliation and forgiveness, we can achieve enlightenment. When we recognize that each of us is on our own journey, we can have compassion for the actions of others. We learn to respect the process of life as a human being on planet earth.

Since I lost my twin sister, I have struggled to forgive myself for not reaching out more and checking in on her during her last days. I knew she was struggling with her mental health. I had struggled with my own mental health the previous year. I had learned that I had to find the answers within to find my joy again. I expected her to do the same. Her suicide was a complete shock to me. She was taking steps to make changes and then SHE WAS JUST GONE. In the space of three months, she completely lost her center and felt unable to go on. I will always wonder if there was any action or words from me that would have kept her here with us. But, on this timeline she is gone and it serves no one for me to withhold forgiveness from myself. To be honest, her despair overwhelmed me. I was protecting my one inner peace which was quite fragile and I was serving the clients in my business. My tank was empty.

I will be taking as much time as I can for introspection in the coming days. Our birthday is later this month and it will be my first year celebrating without her. I want to arrive at the day in a place of wholeness that honors myself as a human, as a twin and now as a woman who is still a twin, but is now walking alone.

May you find forgiveness and compassion for yourself and others this Trecena.

Cara

Happy Mayan Solar New Year!

Hey Everyone

Yeah you read that correctly! I’m wishing you Happy New Year again. The Solar New Year happened yesterday and is a very important date.

In Mayan culture, there is not just one calendar. The Macewal Q’ij or Ordinary Days calendar is a SOLAR CALENDAR consisting of 18 months that are each 20 days, totaling 360 days in the year. There is a closing cycle at the end of each solar year. This period is only 5 days long and is called Wayeb’ or Tz’ipin Q’ij.

I’ve just observed the period of Wayeb’. I followed the prescribed guidance for each day and wanted to share this with you as I have found it so beneficial. I’m thinking that if you feel guided, you could use the information below to do a 5-day Wayeb inspired “retreat” at any time of the year. The process is just lovely.

Day 1 : Introspection. Light white candles and invoke the Creator and all Higher Energies into your space. Review the previous year and set an intention to purge and detox for the next 5 days.

Day 2 : Recognition of Self. Light purple or white candles and invoke all the Great energies again. This is the day to forgive and also to ask for forgiveness for things we have said and done & also for the things we have left undone. Remember to also forgive yourself! Ho’oponopono mediations are a great way to do this.

Day 3: Acceptance. After the days of Introspection and Recognition of Self, it’s time to accept all that the previous year has brought and release anything that no longer serves us. I wrote down my thoughts and feelings and then burned them in a small fire ceremony.

Day 4: Definition. The past three days have allowed us to identify who and where we are. Now it is time to plan for the new year. You know how therapeutic I find cleaning and decluttering. I spent the day cleaning my home, throwing out old items and doing a space cleansing with a great big home-made smudge stick.

Day 5 : Emergence. This is the day we reflect on the last couple of days of retreat (yes to my journal!) to slowly emerge from the “cave” as Mark Elmy of The Four Pillars puts it with new reserves.

Generally speaking, it is thought that our fate for the next solar year is decided and sealed during this 5 day Wayeb’ period. The end of this period is known as The Seating of the New Mam.

11 E’ will be the dominant energy for the coming year, with WILDCAT as the energy carrier. I hope to share more with you.

May your Solar year unfold with grace, my friends. I’m sensing wide open paths inviting us to explore that which our hearts need most.

Take it easy,

Cara

Powerful Chord Cutting Exercise for Toxic People

Hi All

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so generous. I’m not really talking about generosity in monetary terms – that I don’t regret at all. The more I have to share the more Source gives me to share. I’m referring to my emotional generosity with people who I need to let go of because they are not good for my mental and/or emotional wellbeing.

I’ve found myself in a couple of situations lately that were sucking my energy. This imbalance caused an environment for opportunistic lower vibration emotions to arise (anger, fear, resentment, disappointment), ultimately manifesting physical pain in my body.

My gut said Cara you need to cut X off! This is toxic, but I defaulted to my childhood response: One more chance. Maybe she has/will change. The problem with that response is that it places the responsibility in the other person’s court. It was time to take my power back!

A friend reminded me that I had all the tools, resources and experience to purge the things (and people) that I did not want in my space. She was right. Sometimes all we need is that little reminder to get back on track. So, I whipped up some AURA-CLEARING magic and cut those toxic chords. Ahhh, the relief was so good!

Now that I am feeling light and generous (in a good way) again, I thought I would share two of my favourite tools with you:

Smudging: Smudging is a great way to energetically cleanse your aura and physical spaces. Traditionally a shell is used to hold the smudge stick made from either white sage/Palo Santo and a feather is used to spread the smoke around. Visualise your space filling up with white light as the old energy lifts away with the clouds of smoke. You should feel relief immediately. I also find it useful to declutter and clear out any physical remnants of the person in the space I am smudging.
Hoʻoponopono: Hoʻoponopono is a Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. The prayer goes like this: “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.” Now I know this may seem counter-intuitive to be saying a prayer of love and thanks to someone who has caused you pain but trust me, it works. When we are able to release the negative emotions that come up every time we think of the person, we free ourselves of any guilt or shame too. That is a powerful exercise! I also find it soothing to say these words out loud. It fills me with so much love. You can be grateful for the lesson and wave goodbye at the same time, right?

Well friends, I hope this helps you. Do remember that as we clear out the negative, we raise our vibration. Things that are drawn to our new vibrational frequency will naturally come into our field and that is when we can manifest with ease.

I wish you peace and high vibes,

Cara