Tag: #writer

Living Maya Time – The Trecena of Ajpu

I am welcoming my birth Nawal, or Nima Q’ij from 4500 feet this Trecena. The Sun feels hotter up here and Heaven feels especially close. Spending the week of the Summer Solstice at our favorite alpine lake has been a family tradition since 2006. Connecting with the magic of nature always feels more accessible at altitude. Mount Lassen offers a grounding force to the wild energy of long summer days on the lake. My birth Nawal Ajpu embodies this energy of the Solstice and I’m delighted to have the two arrive during the same week, right in the middle of my Mayan Cross this year.

Kej came in strong and fast for me last Trecena. The stag is not known for being a gentle teacher. A violent purge followed by the retrieval of some long forgotten adolescent memories. I’m still processing it all. It has indeed felt like a mini lifetime, or at least a life review. My intention to engage with my own Mayan energies was answered with wild enthusiasm by Kej. Not only is this energy strong with in my own Cross, but I discovered that my husband, business partner and closest friend were all born during the Trecena of Kej. I look forward to diving into our combined energies as I further my studies with this amazing system for living.

Sunrise stillness greeted me this morning as I prepared for ceremony. I had forgotten how magical this time of day is. An ideal spot nestled between two boulders of volcanic rock, overlooking the lake became my alter for the celebration. A distinctly masculine energy that invited quiet and reverent prayers was my constant companion. The cards echoed the vibe, advising patience and persistence. Each Nawal was called. Offerings were made to the fire. The spirits were fed and so was I. It was the perfect way to initiate the energies of Jun Ajpu.

My Sunrise Ceremony Welcomed a Fire Sprite

Ajpu is the hero’s journey and the path of ascension. It represents the divinity in all of creation. It is also Father Sun. The Trecena of Ajpu is the ideal time to connect with our spiritual path and higher purpose. The Summer Solstice is arriving Saturday in perfect alignment with this Trecenas energy. A magical day to honor Spirit and celebrate the light. I hope you are inspired to create more divinity in your life over the next thirteen days. Life is sacred and so you are you.

In radiant LOVE,

xoxo

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 Q’anil

The Trecena of Q’anil began on April 25th and finishes today. Another Trecena I am studying in retrospect. The Nawal Q’anil represents the ripening of the seed. It is associated with planting, natural cycles, creation and the harvest. It is the Nawal of farmers. For me, it has been an opportunity to reflect and to plant new seeds for the next cycle. The day 1 Q’anil hosted both my niece’s and my new sister’s birthdays this year. Numbers are the language the Universe uses the most to communicate with me. Numbers always have my attention.

The Q’anil Trecena also hosted the one-year anniversary of my sisters passing. It’s strange what we will remember after a traumatic event. I remember that it was the day of the Kentucky Derby. We happened to turn on the television just as the race was finishing. The same thing happened this year. A small reminder of how much had changed during the last solar cycle. I still forget that my sister isn’t here anymore. I will have something that I want to share with her, something she would enjoy or find amusing, and then I remember. I don’t cry every day anymore, but her absence is still noted. There was an ease between us. She saw me in a way no one else did. We were twins.

The closing of one cycle always welcomes a new one. Crafting a plan of study so that my son can become my business partner, not just an employee, are the seeds I have been planting. Intentionally expanding my business to accommodate his blossoming skills has also been part of my sowing.

This year also brought me a new, bonus sister. My step mother reconnected with her foster daughter a number of years ago and last year they formalized their relationship when Linda adopted Maat. Maat organized the tropical vacation during the Trecena of Aq’ab’al and it was love at first meet for me. An only child, Maat welcomed me enthusiastically, as though we had known each other for a lifetime. My wealth, my harvest and my abundance have always been my family. The energy of Q’anil illuminated that for me over these past thirteen days.

Tomorrow will welcome the Nawal of Imox. For some, this represents the beginning of a new calendar cycle. Imox is the Nawal of the oceans and the collective consciousness. It can be seen as the moment before creation. An opportunity for the seeds that we have planted in the last cycle to germinate. A time to visualize a new dream.

Happy Dreaming,

Cara

xoxo

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

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

Cultivating Presence in the Chaos

Hello Friends,

It’s been a minute. How are you doing? Truthfully, I have not been doing so well this past month. I am struggling to stay present and grounded. It’s felt like I am in the spin cycle of my washing machine.

My Dad’s health has taken a turn for the worse. His cancer is back and he is on life support. We have said goodbye four times now. I am clinging to a life raft of hope, but my grief threatens to breach the surface each time there is a new update. I now understand how cruel this disease can be, how the suffering expands and diffuses from the victim into the family.

My grief manifested in my lower back. I woke up and I could barely move without excruciating pain. Spirit was sitting on me and was not going to let me up until I felt some of the feelings I had been repressing. The pain in my back invited me to cry, so I let it flow. I sobbed and I shook. I wailed and I screamed. I gave my grief, anger and frustration full license to express.

I felt a release, but my back was still out and I began to wonder how I was going to get up to use the bathroom. Life was still there, insisting that I participate even though I couldn’t move. Sometimes the only thing we can do is be where we are and have compassion for ourselves.

Sweet Surrender

For me that meant spending the entire weekend in bed watching Hallmark movies and eating cannabis edibles. I ignored my task master mind that told me I was being lazy and that I could surely find something productive to do while in bed and I SURRENDERED. And guess what? I woke up Monday morning with no back pain at all.

Sometimes what we need in order to cultivate presence in the face of chaos is to just have mercy on ourselves and allow ourselves to just be human. We don’t have to do it all, every day. We just need to show up and meet ourselves where we are. I invite you to do this the next time life throughs you a curveball.

In Peace and Love,

Cara

P.S. There is a new moon in Leo on the 28th. It’s a perfect time to set new intentions for fun, creativity, romance and entertainment.

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.