Tag: #magic

Living Maya Time – The Trecena of Tijax

The serpent brought me a lot of wisdom these past 13 days. Wisdom that is seeding knowing. Knowing feels different than believing. The difference is subtle, but profound, much like the energy of Kan. It’s innate and is best understood through experience. Ix Cacao was my chosen experience. I’ve completed 19 days of a 21-day cacao immersion. Traditional preparation and ritual formed our courtship. The Mayan energy of the day informed our meditations. Her magic invited me to feel my innate wisdom. So gentle, so sweet. My heart has been opened in the most delightful way through knowing this sacred plant. Pure bliss. Insights delivered easefully. A joyful practice that I was eager to engage with each morning. Echoing my rib adjustment and the attic excavation, Madame Cacao showed me that healing can feel good. More of that, please!

The trecena of Tijax invites us to put the wisdom we’ve acquired from Kan to use. Tijax purifies and excises whatever creates imbalance. It represents an obsidian blade and embodies the archetypes of both the surgeon and the holy warrior. Its power is best wielded with discernment. Through our presence and experience during the Kan trecena, we embody the wisdom necessary for discernment. Ideally, it tempers our blade.

With the arrival of Tijax, we are nearing the end of the cycle that began in January on 8 B’atz. Discharging and releasing any energies that are not serving us creates space for sustained healing and growth. Healing that liberates and nourishes. Writing is part of my release process. If I can access my vulnerability, my prose teaches me things about my experiences that my mind dismisses. Tuning into how I feel is key. Cacao and her teacher, @sacred_wellness_by_zuli, inspired a new level of feeling within me. It has changed me. I feel softened. A sense of innocence and hope have been restored.

I intend on harnessing the power of the obsidian blade to create permanent space for these new found feelings. Cutting distorted ideas about pain from my psyche. Editing old stories from my mental playlist. Purifying my heart of cynicism. I will be drinking cacao and I will be beginning a creative journey called Dream Weaving with my editor and soul sister, Lee Mayimele. It’s a journey into vibration, attunement and elevation according to her. I can’t wait to see what we create together in the coming cycle. Getting rid of anything that will impede the process with the tenacious energy of Tijax.

Trust yourself, you are so very wise.

Cara xoxo

Living Maya Time – The Trecena of E’

Kawoq ushered in a chorus of women that I have planted seeds of relationship with over the past few years. They all showed up eager to be watered. It should not have been such a surprise. The energy of the midwife and the rainstorm had been my conductor. She eased me into my labor with a quiet meditation retreat with my friend Cathryn. A once-a-year date to spend the weekend together doing something creatively empowering. It left plenty of time for leisurely meals and lots of conversation. Nice and easy.

The contractions got my attention when I got a call from my new sister, Maat. “I got my dispensary license! Remember you told me when we were in the Dominican Republic that you would take care of the taxes, right?” I did, but had forgotten. She would be my first cannabis client. Family and in an aligned business. I really couldn’t say no, especially after what my family had been through. Kawoq encouraged me to breathe. You got this she said. You’ve studied the law. You’re the best person for this work. She is so wise.

Transition came with a request from a client I had not worked for in a while. A delicate project, closing a family business and preparing the final tax returns. But also, something else.  “I’ve seen the ceremonies you make for yourself online and I want you to create one for me and my husband for our anniversary.” Ashley is an artist. She ran for the City Council of Carmel – by – the -Sea and I was her campaign treasurer. We connected immediately. I got paid to learn a ton and collect money while drinking wine and eating cheese at all of her fund-raising events. It didn’t even feel like work.

I was surprised, but completely intrigued by her request. Almost immediately, I got a case of imposter syndrome. Am I qualified to create a Mayan’ish fire ceremony for someone else? I decided to just start and see what took form. Checking their anniversary date, I saw that it was today, 1 E’. Time to push.

My New Creation

E’ is the Nawal of the road, the journey and the new path. It nurtures and expands the new life birthed during the Kawoq trecena. Ideal energy for a ceremony to initiate a new financial direction. This was all I needed to fuel my creativity. Everything I needed was there. I didn’t need to buy anything. I just needed to allow the process to happen. And I had SOOO MUCH fun doing it! Equally fun was delivering it to her. She had gifted me one of her sculptures after the campaign. Now I was able to reciprocate.

A new path is emerging. One where my spiritual practices intersect with my business services. Fertile ground for more of my authentic self to emerge. I am feeling an exhilarating excitement building. The energies of this Trecena will also be supporting my journey to San Diego. My husband and I are visiting our daughter and one of our sons. I’m so excited to squeeze them both. Travel is auspicious for the next couple of weeks. Inward journeys are also supported. I’m starting one of those too. A 21 day cacao immersion. Can’t wait to meet Madame Cacao more intimately.

Bon voyage on your journey, I hope it surprises and delights you.

Cara xoxo

Living Maya Time – The Trecena of Kame

In my zeal to stand up tall and do what is right for the community, I’ve managed to pinch a nerve. It feels like there is a knife lodged alongside my left shoulder blade. The benevolent and hard-working energies of the Aj trecena had me sorting a life time of memories in my parents’ attic last week. Most of it had not been touched in nearly twenty-five years. Feeling strong and healthy, with a desire to better use the spaces that three generations are now occupying, I dove in eagerly. Perhaps I over did it? It felt so good to be moving all day, to spend time with my mother and to create at least the possibility that some of it can be let go of.

Kame is the energy of death, rebirth and transformation. The Maya view time as circular, not linear. Time is a cycle and death is part of that cycle. As the saying goes, “Out with the old and in with the new.” Kame is also the Nawal of the ancestors. An ideal day to honor your deceased loved ones or ask for their guidance.

While physically challenging, sorting all the stuff in the attic was the easy part. The hard part will be confronting the past. The unrealized plans and dreams. Your own unlined face and the faces of others that are no longer with you. Kame will bring the ideal energy to support this process if one chooses to engage with it.

My Nana and my Mother

Some prayers to the ancestors wouldn’t hurt either. I’ve already created a special spot on my alter for my Nana for this trecena. My Nana was a minimalist and an immaculate housekeeper. She was also a bookkeeper. My Mother’s Mother holds a very special place in my heart. I inherited a lot of her habits and skills and they serve me every day. She’s my perfect ally for the potential this trecena offers our homestead.

The roses we planted two seasons ago are finally flourishing. My Nana loved yellow roses. Every year on her birthday my grandfather would buy her a dozen yellow roses. The glory of summer flowers is a powerful reminder of how life is constantly renewing itself. Growth and renewal are the natural outcome of death and destruction. It’s the alchemy of life and it’s the energy of Kame. May you find comfort in the cycles of your life and in the wisdom of your lineage.

Eternally yours,

Cara

Living Maya Time – The Trecena of Aj

Upon return from our Ajpu Heroes Journey, we are met with the benevolent authority of Aj. Our lessons and our visions must be integrated into daily life. Practices are made not just imagined. Art is created not merely visualized. Abundance must be sown as well as planted.

Aj is representative of the cane or staff of authority that is carried by the Elders. It reminds us to stand up tall for what we believe is right for us, our family and our community. Brave and reliable Aj fuels our stamina to bring our dreams into reality.

I’ve been living intimately with the energy of Aj for over 23 years now. The ultimate foundation to my vision of the divinity in all that is. Together my husband Richard and I have amassed vast spiritual wealth and created a thriving tribe. Heaven manifested on earth is the potential of the energy of Aj following the journey of Ajpu. It’s not always a smooth ride, but the adventure and the destination are definitely worth it.

Richard embodying his Nawal of Aj – Connecting the Heart of the Sky to the Heart of the Earth

These days, sleeping deeply and peacefully represent a manifested heaven on earth for me. When I finished my first book, Many Gifts – Seeing Beyond the Setbacks, I thought I had reached my happily ever after. I’ve now realized there is no happily ever after. Just cycles. Always more cycles.

I’ve come to find great comfort in the cycles of human existence. It’s become my anchor and it all started when I began studying the Mayan sacred calendar or, Cholq’ij. The Calendar found me when I decided to tell my story. It led me to my Editor, Lee Mayimele. It’s asking me to consider writing my next story. To heal through writing and collaboration. Aj will be my counsel as I look within for my answer.

Embrace the supportive and wise energies over the next thirteen days. Your dreams are possible, but you must take action and you must do so with integrity.

You can do it!

Cara

Living Maya Time – The Trecena of Kej

It feels and smells like Summer in Carmel Valley and I’m loving the slower pace. The Ix Trecena has been filled with garden patio lunches with friends, a day at the spa, lazy afternoons reading and a lot of ice cream. I have really been feeling the benevolent magic of Mother Earth and I’m relishing every minute of it. I’ve also been diving deeper into the mysteries of the calendar.

I was inspired by Diana Paez (@divineservant) to look at the cycle that contains my birth Nawal from the lens of my Tree of Life. The Tree of Life, or Mayan Cross, shows where our supporting energies influence our own inherent energy. Similar to an astrological birth chart, the energies, or Nawals, are calculated based upon your date of birth. There are eight Nawals that surround the birth Nawal in your tree. Each one influences different aspects of your life. I have always thought of my Tree of Life as a static forecast of the energies I would experience during my lifetime, but never as a complete cycle that I could engage with every 260 days. Like a mini lifetime every calendar cycle. A condensed experience of the influential energies of an entire lifetime in just 28 days. Another opportunity that the calendar offers for introspection. This is part of the beauty of this system. It encourages self-exploration rather than defining what you are.

After a few calculations, I discovered that my next mini lifetime cycle was beginning today on the eve of the Kej Trecena. The Kej Trecena will include three of the Nawals in my Tree of Life. A significant energetic influence that I had previously overlooked. Despite my daily encounters with the deer that graze our property. Kej means deer in the Kiche language. It’s the spiritual leader of the calendar and also the guardian of the four cardinal directions. While Ix is often thought of as the Nawal of Mother Earth, Kej is the Nawal of the wilderness. Kej carries great strength and the ability to inspire. It sees the potential in everything.

Kej days and all the days of the Kej Trecena are powerful days to be outdoors in nature. The forest may deliver powerful spiritual wisdom over the coming thirteen days. I am glad that the divine weather is promising to continue so that I can tap into the innate wisdom of the natural world. Summer and my birth Nawal will both be arriving with the next Trecena of Ajpu. I will be celebrating at the Lake this year. The energy is building and it feels celebratory. The darkness is fading. My light is returning.

In Love and Light,

Cara

Living Maya Time – The Trecenas of Imox and Ix

Today begins the Trecena of Ix. We have been journeying through the Trecena of Imox for the past thirteen days and I’m ready for the shift. Imox holds the energy of the collective consciousness and rules dreamtime. It can be a little intense, especially for empaths and sensitives.

I had the opportunity to participate in a workshop that was in perfect alignment with the energies of Imox. Rest and Digest was offered by a childhood friend of my daughters and was an invitation to slow down. Just what I need in late Spring. We were invited to keep a dream journal and record our dreams each morning. On the night of the full moon, our leader planted a collective dream seed and we imbibed a devotional dose of blue lotus tea together.

The blue lotus was more subtle than I expected, but it was effective. Sorting through the images and impressions of my dreams is challenging for me. I tend to view the world from a very linear perspective. This serves me well in my waking life, but not so much in the spirit realms. Blue lotus flower gifted me with three dreams in response to our dream seed, “What does true nourishment look and feel like in body, mind and spirit?”

Blue lotus showed me an image of myself sitting in meditation listening to a recording of my own voice. In the next scene, my husband scooped me up and carried me across the room effortlessly. I felt held. My daughter joined me in my final vision. She was offering me a tube of the body butter that I buy from a local herbalist and which definitely makes me feel nourished.

Ix will be our guide for the next Trecena. Ix is often described as the Nawal of Mother Earth and embodies the energy of the divine feminine. Ix gives us the opportunity to connect with the spirit of the Earth. It rules alters and sacred sites. Ix invites us to communicate directly with our mother by making prayers and offerings of gratitude to her at her natural shrines. Ix is also associated with magic. Through our prayers and our offerings of gratitude we are able to connect to the magic of the planet and creativity.

It’s been too long since I spent time with my outdoor alter. My husband expanded the alter for me earlier this Spring and my traditional Mayan candles have finally arrived. It’s time for a fire ceremony and an offering. The ancestors are restless. They are ready to celebrate and I am their hostess. It’s going to be MAGICAL! Ceremony always feeds my soul and grounds me. I highly recommend it. I do like a fire, but you can do what ever is meaningful to you. Treat it like a party.

Happy Celebrating,

Cara

Living Maya Time-The Trecena of Aq’ab’al

Our faith has been renewed during the Trecena of T’zi and now we are ready to see the glimmer of a new dawn. In the Kiche language, the word aq’ab’ means night. When combined with the suffix- Al, it suggests change and the beginning of a new concept. The new concept may not be completely visible yet, but it has been conceived. It begins its gestation period today.

The T’zi Trecena has genuinely restored my faith. So much so that I accepted an invitation to go on holiday this week, just as my busiest season has begun. After so much grief, celebrating with family in a tropical destination felt like the perfect medicine. Knowing that I have such a capable assistant to help me catch up when I return, sealed the deal. My son has already found new ways to make my business run more efficiently and, perhaps more importantly, he is really ENJOYING it!

Traveling always gives me a new perspective. Although it is not necessarily recommended to travel during the closing days of the solar year, it has allowed for an even deeper introspection for me. I have met new parts of myself and expanded my view of what is possible for me.

Yesterday we met the new Year Lord, or Mam, 13 Iq. This is a powerful combination that will be influencing the energies of the day for the next solar year. Iq is the breath of life, the hurricane and our words. Combined with the tone of thirteen, we may be able to hear the voices of our ancestors more clearly. We can also expect change to come in unexpected ways. Like the wind, the energy of Iq can change rapidly and if we are not grounded, we could lose our footing.

For a hint as to what may arise, it may be helpful to review what occurred the last time 13 Iq sat in the Year Lord seat. This would have been the time between March 1973 and March 1974. The Watergate hearings happened during this period as well as a major oil embargo. I remember quite vividly waiting in line for gas during this time, sometimes for hours. I was only a girl, but the memory is etched into my brain. Given the current political climate in the United States, it seems quite likely that we will experience dramatic and sometimes uncomfortable change in the coming months. Breath work may be your best ally to weather the upcoming storms. Iq rules the breath and breath work has become a part of my daily practice. It’s transformative and I highly recommend it.

In Peace and Love,

Cara

New Earth is Here! We Just Need to Tune Into It

Hello Family,

This Sunday I had the privilege of attending the Autumn Harvest Fundraiser for the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States and when I saw the flyer for this event, I knew it would be the perfect way to celebrate and honor the indigenous people that have lived here for thousands of years.

The event was held at one of Carmel Valley’s most beloved businesses, Hacienda Hay & Feed. Hacienda has been around since the 1940s, but like many small businesses, it closed during the pandemic. When the new owners heard that the land was for sale, with the condition that it be sold to locals, their vision of a community gathering spot emerged. Hacienda still sells hay and feed, but now it’s main focus is to provide a space for local organizations, artisans and musicians to connect.

Intrigued by this marriage of the old and the new, I arrived with an open heart and a curious mind, ready to explore NEW EARTH.

Eckhart Tolle describes NEW EARTH as, “a world where the egoic state of consciousness in its insanely dysfunctional manifestations, both individual and collective, has dissolved or at least subsided, and where humans no longer create unnecessary suffering for themselves, one another, as well as other life-forms on the planet.”

If we go exclusively by the information we are offered by mainstream media, then we might conclude that NEW EARTH does not exist and is not even possible. I disagree. NEW EARTH is here, we just have to tune into it.

Tuning in can be as simple as taking fifteen minutes to be in nature at the beginning of your day or as immersive as attending a community festival like I did this weekend. You will be amazed at what others are creating if you take the time look.

Witnessing the stories of the Esselen, hearing their music and sharing a traditional meal with them was profoundly moving. Learning that 1200 acres of their ancestral land had recently been returned to them, through the cooperation of multiple organizations, made my heart swell and soar in a way that I did not know was possible. I am now CERTAIN that we can create NEW EARTH, together and in community.

I invite you during this Thanksgiving season to be present, grateful and open to the possibility that humanity can heal, that we can learn to live together peacefully with each other and MOTHER EARTH.

IN LOVE and GRATITUDE,

Cara

Election Day Total Lunar Eclipse (Blood Moon) on November 8, 2022.

Hey Everyone

Are you planning to vote next week, or have you already mailed in your ballot? I just realized that on November 8, 2022, on the day of the election that will decide whether the Democrats or Republicans will control Congress for the rest of President Joe Biden’s four-year term in the White House, we will also have a Total Lunar Eclipse. This is the very first time in the history of the US that we will have a total lunar eclipse on election day.

Full moons are about CLOSURE and COMPLETIONS, and Eclipses signify important periods of CHANGE and TRANSFORMATION. 

For some reason, the Ascended Master St Germain and his powerful Violet Flame keeps coming into my awareness when I think about this Eclipse. Some esoteric groups credit him with inspiring our founding fathers to draft the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as providing the design of the Great Seal of the United States. He is associated with the color Violet, which is a combination of blue and red (aha! there’s the connection). Healers and alchemists have used his powerful Violet Flame to bring about energetic balance and spiritual transformation where it is needed most. 

I’m wondering which areas of our lives need this most right now….Well, this eclipse is on the financial axis of Taurus/Scorpio and Mercury will be in Scorpio too, opposing Uranus. These energies indicate shocks, surprises, instability and sudden shake ups and with Jupiter being where it is (on the world axis), anything that is revealed will be BIG NEWS. 

To top that all off, we will also have a Square between Saturn & Uranus = seismic activity: earthquakes, volcanoes (literally and figuratively) and Pluto (symbol of transformation) is moving through the last few degrees of Capricorn. This represents a breakdown of top-down structures such as governments. Organizations with low vibrations such as greed, dishonesty etc will fall hard. 

Wow, that’s alot right? We will have to wait and see what happens, but I plan to invite all things Violet and Light into my world during this time. 

As I close my eyes and begin to dream-in heaven on earth, I will be sending you so much VIOLET love, 

Cara – Seeker of Magic, Spreader of Light

Words Matter-Meditations on Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. entered the world 120 years ago today. He is probably best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath, but he authored many other books during his lifetime. A total of 33. Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. Affectionately known as, The Salad Bowl of the Nation, Salinas made its fortune, after the depression, on “green gold” and it remains an agriculture town today.

Salinas is also where I keep my office and I am reminded of Steinbeck on a daily basis. I am blessed to have a fantastic view of the Steinbeck Public Library. The front of the library is flanked by a statue of Mr. Steinbeck and an immense boulder that is inscribed with one of his quotes, a favorite of mine, “Books are the best friends you can have. They inform you and entertain you and they don’t talk back.”

Books do not talk back, but they speak nonetheless. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his realistic writings that combined sympathetic humor and keen social perception. He told stories that many in the Salinas Valley would rather not be told. The Grapes of Wrath, his acclaimed and prize winning novel was banned by several local schools. His books were even burned, both in the city of Salinas and other cities throughout the country. They were condemned as obscene.

Today this same community celebrates him with one of the largest literary museums in the United States dedicated to a single author. His birthplace and childhood home is a restored Queen Anne style Victorian that now houses a charming restaurant and gift shop. His name graces not only the library, but also the post office, an elementary school, roads and even part of the highway, not to mention numerous businesses. He is our most famous native son.

It’s hard to imagine a time when his books and his ideas were not only unpopular, but actually outlawed. It inspires me to speak my own truth every day and reminds me that peoples perceptions can change in time and when offered another’s point of view.

But…first we must use our words. We must speak our truth. Our very own, uniquely us TRUTH! No matter how unpopular. That’s what I intend on continuing to do. I invite you to join me.

In love,

Cara

P.S. I have just submitted my Audiobook for its final review before publishing! I expect it to be available early next month.