Blog

A handful of sunflower seeds

Photo by Peter de Vink on Pexels.com

As I sit listening to the rain on my corrugated iron roof, I have one eye on my Washington Post subscription feeding through my email. On the one hand the rain…the wind howling a little at the corner of our home and the late afternoon sun on green grass, are worlds away from the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East. I am waiting for what my intuitive senses tell me is coming; an acceleration of the violence and bloodshed and the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza right now.

As I write this…from the safety of my Australian home and the gentle sound of that rain on my roof…I cannot comprehend the suffering that is occurring right now.

So much of the world is like a tinder box. Do I need to say one spark and the fire will ignite and grow? I don’t think so. We all know what’s at stake. We feel it and sense it.

In February 2022 we watched helplessly while Russian soldiers and tanks crossed the border into sovereign Ukraine, intent on a blitzkrieg and toppling its young democratically elected leader. The Russian Emperor proxy Vladimir Putin had longed dreamed of reuniting the former Soviet Union borders under his authoritarian reign. We then witnessed the courage and sacrifice of the Ukrainians, hundreds of thousands of lives lost, Ukrainian and Russian, on the fields where once sunflowers and blades of wheat grew.

I still have the t-shirt sold in a Ukrainian fundraiser, of an old woman standing in front of the Russian tank in defiance, hand outstretched and giving the enemy soldier a handful of sunflower seeds. “Put them in your pockets, so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here.”

A simple scene highlighting the pointlessness of war, death and destruction.

Unfolding now is yet another tragedy which the world of humanity could not stop. A terrorist organisation trained by the Russian Wagner mercenaries (most likely somewhere in Africa) and financed by Iran, with weapons from Russia, stormed into Israel and viciously killed hundreds of Israeli’s, taking some of them hostage in Gaza, holding both the innocent Palestinian families and the Israeli’s hostage in what some describe as an ‘open air prison’…the Gaza Strip.

Bombs are dropped indiscriminately now on both sides, no hope for a peaceful settlement, and nearby Arab countries like Egypt, Iran and Lebanon one step away from joining the fray. US warships are anchored at the ready, as a deterrent against escalation.

In the US, the opposition party is actively discrediting the current President of their country, spouting Russian talking points on Ukraine, and its leader, the former US president Donald Trump talking up the terrorists. One chamber of its Congress is paralysed, held hostage by the extreme wing of the GOP, unable to function. The US at a time when the world is on the edge of the precipice, is legislatively neutered and leaderless.

What hope have we got when the world has gone so terribly wrong?

In times like this, when the darkness obscures almost all of the light, I focus on hope. I focus on what I know…that the world is changing and that old myths, tokenisms and narratives that suit the very people that led us into the darkness, are being exposed.

I focus on the light of truth and I know that truth-telling leads to justice, and justice leads us to balance. Perhaps this balance is the gift from God, to peel away the layers of detritus to reveal the truth because when we have truth, we have clarity, decision-making and a way forward.

I made this video a few months ago, using the Angel Tarot. It is relevant to this blog and for this time. I hope it provides some comfort.

Understanding the energy ecosystem

Are ‘demons’ and ‘angels’ real. It’s not what you think…and yes I believe in higher energy beings (angels) and negative, lower energies however the interpretation and the ‘life’ you give these energies resides within yourself. 

My latest podcast began with a nightmare I had last week. Long black hands extending out of nowhere, seemingly, had firmly affixed themselves to my neck and were strangling the life out of me. I tried to move in this nightmarish state and couldn’t. Some people describe this as sleep paralysis. Something registered in some part of my being and in a split second, I fired white light from my own hands and said, “YOU ARE THE LIGHT”. Almost immediately, the black hands let go and I was free.

I’m sure Jung would unpick this nightmare and Dr Sigmund Freud would have a field day with it, as we say in Australia. Field days are agricultural fairs where all manner of agricultural equipment, food and people are located and congregated. It has always been a wonderful day out for rural families here. Anyway, back to the point of the nightmare, it revealed a couple of important things…firstly, I had control over what was attempting to strangle me…I was more powerful than I gave myself credit for…and secondly, I did not say I, I said ‘you are the light’.

Perhaps that’s the lesson. When we have good intentions for another in our hearts, no matter what, the destructiveness stops…and we are free.

My podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Podbean and other platforms, and you can listen here: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-cm5hi-1449223

If you would prefer to watch the episode on my Youtube podcast channel @RandomSagePodcast you can do so here:

Dream space

Photo by stein egil liland on Pexels.com

Hello readers, viewers and listeners, I’ve just published a new episode of Random Sage which looks at dreams…why do we have them and what can they tell us?
Everyone dreams, whether they are conscious of it or not. Dreams can be prophetic, they can allow us to travel to the astral realms, and they can present a ‘psychological montage’ to us which helps us figure out everyday problems. Similarly, nightmares help us confront our fears. In this episode, I examine dreaming and ask the question: What do our dreams tell us?
You can listen on Podbean, on Apple, Spotify, I❤️Radio and many more podcast platforms. https://revealinglighttarot.podbean.com/e/what-do-our-dreams-tell-us/
For those who prefer to listen to podcasts on YouTube, I’ve set up a podcast channel on YouTube and the link is below.

I choose for me

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

Across Republican held states in the US and in other ultra conservative governments we see a common theme emerging…moves to restrict personal choice and erode democratic freedoms. It is a movement doomed to failure, not just because it is foolhardy for democratically elected governments and courts to remove historic rights, nor that it is a time when ‘people power’ is fated in the stars…it is simply because I choose for myself. I have always chosen for myself and I always will, one way or another.

Whether it is pro-choice v right to life, the ‘Voice’ referendum in Australia, trying to ban TikTok or expelling young black lawmakers in Tennessee, bipartisan leaders will reap rewards while extremist policy makers will ultimately taste defeat. You cannot hold back the future.

Many are afraid of these authoritarian moves but the evidence is there that the critical mass…the voters, will not stand for any erosion of rights. So why do they do it, or try to, choose for us? They do it because they think they can, until they find out they can’t.

I am convinced that electoral defeat will dog the US Republican Party until it begins to reform. Many already know that governments disconnected from the people lose elections. The Conservative Party in Australia is on its knees with the Australian Labor Party in power federally and in every state of Australia other than Tasmania. They saw the signs of defeat, yet in their arrogance they persisted in courting extremism for fear of losing their base. It cost them federal and repeated state elections.

The Republican Party in the US has arrived at the same destination…repeatedly defeated until they connect again with the will of the people and until they protect freedoms, not subvert them.

In this week’s podcast, I talk about freedom of choice, and governments accountable to the people, as well as a channeled reading on the beginnings of a new civil rights movement in America, which took its first steps into reality with the expulsion of two young, black lawmakers in Tennessee.

https://revealinglighttarot.podbean.com/e/choice-our-voices-the-tennessee-three/

In hindsight…

Just how much damage has ‘populism’ done to democracies across the world. It has played to an adoring crowd of conspiracy theorists, divided nations and, worse, given rise to a type of fascist thinking we haven’t seen since before the Second World War. Yet here we are again almost a century later, flirting with the adrenaline rush of emotive and reactionary politics at the expense of unity, stability and common sense.

In the US former President trump is under multiple investigations and potential indictments, while in the UK former populist leader Boris Johnson is before a Parliamentary Committee for apparently lying and misleading Parliament. In Australia, just after its recent election, it was discovered that trump ally Scott Morrison, had secretly been sworn in to multiple ministeries (along with his Prime Minister’s responsibilities) without his own Ministers knowing about it.

These leaders had many things in common…all have been accused of lying…the Australian Prime Minister falling foul of French President Macron who famously replied when asked if he thought the Australian Prime Minister was a liar…”I don’t think; I know”. The other commonality was they all came from conservative parties.

In the US, they stopped counting former President trump’s lies. They are many and well documented…too many to list here. The former reality television star and self confessed ‘billionaire’ and ‘populist’ leader, left the US shaken, exhausted and unstable. Yet all of these leaders have been removed from power, whether by election loss or by their own parties. We are now only starting to pick up the pieces of their disastrous tenures.

Never again we say…flirting with unqualified and self absorbed leaders who stretch and strain our democracies…that’s in the past. Or is it? My latest podcast, Random Sage with Maryann from Revealing Light, tackles this question.

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-sd7y3-13c55f4

Remembering

Years ago when I was travelling back and forth on my daily commute to Canberra, past the infamous and mysterious Lake George, I had what can only be described as an ‘out of body’ experience. As I drove past the steep craigs and thick Australian bush, I ‘heard’ or felt the sound of a deep beat. It wasn’t perceived with my ears…rather my whole being. It was what I can only describe as the sound of the earth itself.

Lake George is an anomaly in Australia. It doesn’t have a known water source and is an endorheic lake (a drainage basin that retains water and has no outflow). Water seems to appear during the rainy season and recede during the successive hot weeks and months. I’ve seen it almost bone dry, and full enough to lap the edges of the highway. This day was clear with blue skies and sun. It felt like I was driving into a haze with a pulsating, ever-present, earthly beat. I shook myself out of this state, as I was driving. A little unnerved, I continued on my way to work. I never forgot that day.

Around that time, I had a dream I will also never forget. I was at Lake George and alongside me walked an Aboriginal Elder. He showed me a landscape that was destroyed, but in the distance, beyond the blackened and broken trees, was the lake. He pointed me to it, and I understood I was to cross that barren ground by myself and that, one day, I’d reach the water. I became aware that there would be trials to undergo, but that reaching the water was the goal.

As with most things that come from these rich esoteric realms, it takes time, and experience, to understand their meaning. After that dream and my experience at Lake George, I lost my dad, my mum and my sister, and I went through cancer surgery, chemotherapy and radiation – all within years of one another. Life dealt me huge blows and the opportunity to grasp hope and have faith that the lessons would reveal to me a sanctuary of understanding and wisdom.

We’ve all been in this place, and we’ve all had to climb out of it, stronger than before.

I wrote about my dream at the time. I know that place the Aboriginal Elder pointed to was a metaphor for coming back to my heart, changed yet renewed. In hindsight, the dream and the subsequent poem were prophetic.

Water giver

One day I remembered, what I was supposed to do.
I thought of the ground I had walked on,

This earth; this lifetime,
Across green fields, and dust, and fire,
Always towards the lake’s edge. To the water.

I walked beside a guide on my journey.
I didn’t look into his eyes; I feared that.

This Shaman.
I remember he pointed to the water,
A million miles away, across alien landscape,
Barren and destroyed by…I’m not sure.

I only knew I had to cross that wasteland,
With its dead trees and murky shadows,
To get to the water, for whatever his reason,
For pointing to it, as if I knew.

I remember now that water nourishes,
And quenches thirst. 

It carries things away,
Like words and thoughts, and experiences,

And leaves something new, and clear.

I crossed that barren land…like he said,
To find myself, and now to write these words.

Sunsets & memories

I was born in the flurry of an emergency. My mother who had pre-eclampsia when carrying me, was given Pethadine for the pain of childbirth. It just so happened that she was allergic to that…and so my birth became dramatic. My mum’s memories were hazy, but she did tell me it was very late in the afternoon that I was born. Later on, an astrologer friend did a birth time rectification on my natal chart and established I was born at 6.50pm. Our birthdate and place gives us which planets are in what signs of the zodiac, but a birth time gives us our Ascendant and places those planets in their signs in the zodiac’s Houses. This additional information tells us about the major themes (Houses) we are likely to encounter in our lives, and our Ascendant tells us how we present to the world.

Around 6pm in the summer months…I was born in December in the Australia…the sun is low in the sky. I have always been drawn to sunsets, perhaps because that is when I came into this world. Sunsets mark the end of a day. Metaphorically, they are about cycles drawing to a close.

I always find peace in a sunset. A stillness as activity winds down. I use this time to ride my ebike and I enjoy the gentle rays of the sun and the quietness in nature. As I was riding, literally into the sunset, the other day, I came across a ‘murder’ of crows. About 20-30 of them perched on the huge light pole of the oval I was riding around. All was quiet and I realised they were watching the sunset…and me…from their lofty perch. As I headed for home, they suddenly took flight and flew with me to a nearby tree. The crow is my spiritual totem. I paid my respects to them, and rode home as night fell.

Whether it is riding a bike, or taking a walk, the opportunity to become one with your natural surroundings deepens reflection and allows you to be in the ‘flow’ of the experience. You will never find this consuming media in your lounge room just before a sunset.

Sunsets are a gift.

Chiron, the wounded healer

On January 4th, the moon sextiled (harmony and flow) Chiron. The Sun was also squaring (conflicting) Chiron. Depending on when you’re reading this there will be different astrological movements and patterns and aspects, but I want to talk a little bit more about Chiron because I believe the placement of Chiron in our astrology charts tells us about one of the most important aspects of our life’s purpose…healing.

For those who know nothing about astrology, Chiron is the wounded healer. Chiron was named after the centaur in Greek mythology who was a healer and teacher however could not heal himself. We all have Chiron in our charts and wherever this placement is, there you will find an indication of your own greatest healing powers, and also the source of your own wound. In my natal chart, Chiron is in Pisces (empathetic, mystical, intuition, psychic senses) in my 9th house which is the home of Sagittarius (learning, higher knowledge, intellectual and spiritual adventurers) which explains why I ended up using my psychic abilities in a career which metamorphosed post cancer journey. I encourage you to find a good astrologer and have a look at where your Chiron is placed in your natal chart; what sign and house because it will tell you a lot about the kind of patterns that reoccur and are present in your lifetime. For me, Chiron in Pisces in my 9th house tells me that both intuition and analysis will guide me. Equally, I can recall many, many times in my life where my I didn’t trust my intuition even though it screamed at me for attention. I wasn’t confident enough in my own strength back then even though I knew with every fibre of my being that something beyond (or within) myself was pulling me in such a way that I couldn’t ignore it. I just couldn’t necessarily explain that to anyone else in logical ways. As I navigated my way through cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2015, I drew on my intuition and quest for knowledge to devise a map of how I would travel though tough treatment to reach a destination of ’cured’. Sometimes I used logic; other times intuition. It was a complete inner and outer process to heal and learn. After cancer and confronting my mortality, I had learned to trust my intuition.

So here is what I want you to do today…find out where your Chiron is and address the wound because you shouldn’t need to go through a lifetime not understanding who you are, what your blueprint is in this lifetime, and how you can find your strength by understanding your weakness, your Achilles heel. Most importantly, understanding and becoming confident in your ability to connect deeply with others through your own experiences with your wound patterns, because Chiron shows us where we have healing powers as a result of our own deep spiritual wounds.

Sometimes you can best connect with your intuition by asking what is it that I need to know today and by feeling into that intuition and to that emotion hunch. That’s when you can apply your logic to it. I know the two don’t necessarily fit, but if your logical, conscious mind is telling you to do one thing and your intuition is screaming at you to do another, what are you going to do? You are not going to sabotage yourself by ignoring that huge voice in your head, and in your heart, because you fear whatever the warning is your intuition is allowing you to see in that present moment. If you ignore that screaming voice within, you simply sabotage yourself.

We don’t need to live constantly and permanently with our ’wound patterns’. Make a choice to take advantage of, and receive, the gift that spirit has given you…the gift of healing. That is your birth right.

Some of our most powerful intuitions will arise with matters of the heart. I believe that intuition…psychic senses, were given to us as a highly evolved navigational tool to move through this lifetime. It is the one thing that can lead to our independence because it is the highly evolved part of us; that spiritual know how and connection, that most of us aren’t even aware is there.

What do I mean by ‘living a spiritual life’? Well, this is living life with a reliable, stable, resilient, active, dialogue with the inner self. It is that connects us with spirit, with past over love ones, with the upper world, and with realms that we can’t see, touch, feel and hear with our outer self if we are leaving a mundane, earthly existence. We weren’t meant to be so limited. Instead, we were always destined to learn how to develop our inner and psychic senses.

Our fears stop us from living that divine, spiritual connection. It’s a connection that gives us so much more. It allows us to navigate tough times, and to manifest as much abundance as we are capable of in that present moment. It’s also our fear of loss of control; loss of that concreteness that is so associated with mundane living, that stops us from fully embracing the spiritual beings that we are and that we are meant to be.

At any given moment in time, we can embark on a magical journey of living spiritually. We can step forward into that journey without knowing where we are putting our feet, because intuition is our guide. Learning to hone that intuition, to fully utilise that intuition, is what will likely guarantee our steps forward in an unknown territory.

Today I urge everybody who might be reading this regardless of the time, the place, the year, to take that leap of faith…to see the world through the child’s eyes and navigate their way forward into a spiritual life. You will not find instability, rather, stability. Being your own spiritual guide will ensure you have everything you need, including the healing of any ancestral patterns and you will have your opportunity to understand your vulnerabilities, the lessons that you need to learn, and that is when you start to evolve into a spiritual being; that is when you start to live a spiritual life.

Channeling occultist Aleister Crowley

As a clairvoyant and medium, I have channeled many people on my Youtube channel, Revealing Light Tarot, Astrology and Spirituality. They have been people who have achieved great things in their lifetimes and have struggled, as we do…the channelings more powerful for their humanity, their contribution and their flaws.

It was with some apprehension that I channeled a request, not something I usually do, for occultist Aleister Crowley. Like everyone else, I had bought into the hype surrounding his name…and to be fair, Crowley himself encouraged this. I’m not sure what made me persevere and do the channeling…call it curiosity and something more…a vague suspicion there was more to Crowley than met the eye, beyond the hysteria and fear he seemed to engender.

I did the barest research before the channeling. Date of birth and death, a brief description of his life…his parents and the tarot deck which he co-created with Lady Freida Harris – the Thoth Tarot.

I went into the reading without too much awareness; and I emerged after my channeling with a new understanding of his intellect and contribution to spiritualism. I’ll let the channeling speak for itself.

Happy Halloween and Sahmein readers. There are mysteries and magic that remain hidden in the darkness of ignorance, just waiting for some light.

The art of tarot

I’m not sure how long the idea to hand paint my own tarot deck has been brewing. It’s a bit like when I write…it is there in the back of my mind before the timing is right to bring it forward. In any case, I got serious about this huge undertaking sometime in 2020.

I had always loved art and colour, but my technique was rusty. Where on earth would I start…where I always start, with learning and relearning. I spent over a year in art classes, brushing up on what I remembered from senior school and learning about colour, composition, perspective, blending with acrylics and painting with watercolour and Indian Ink. What a journey it has been…an absolute love despite the daunting task of attempting to hand paint 78 tarot cards.

Most tarot decks are created with imagery and graphic design. There are a few beautiful hand painted decks, and you’ll know them when you see them. The late Poppy Palin’s Everyday Enchantment Tarot is one. When hand painting, there are no shortcuts. Each card is literally a painting. So while it’s challenging, hand painting my tarot is also incredibly meaningful. It is also done from pure creativity, and that process allows for psychic ability to flow. It allows for many pathways and directions and the choices I make in these cards incorporate not only traditional tarot meanings, but a clairvoyance too.

Simply put, hand painting my own tarot deck has been, and is, a labor of love for me that draws together such creativity and spiritual connection that it generates anticipation that is quite unexpected.

The Chariot…the small boat leaves its safe harbour, and while the wind whips up a storm, there is promise in the journey ahead.