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Monday, 01 March 2010 00:00 |
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 Sometimes I think I publish this magazine just for my own benefit – my own growth. I find the lessons I am grappling with are often stated again in black and white in the articles I choose. This issue holds many ahas for me, and I hope also for you.
Overwork – that’s my middle name. See that Michael Lewin says that, “Constantly involving our lives in perpetual activism could be considered a subtle form of slavery which resists our spiritual growth and understanding”. Yikes! I’ve had inklings of late that I could have been growing more rapidly in the spiritual area if I had not had my nose to the grindstone so much and for so long – and here it is staring me in the face. And, as if to rub it in, he also says, “We must prioritise our lives and take them forward into a journey of discovery to find out who we are and our rightful place within this infinitely inspiring world of ours. Anything short of this is to waste life, to devalue it and miss the opportunity to reach out for an authentic, personal fulfilment and completion”. Okay – that’s it – I’m going to prise myself away from my desk at a reasonable hour in future (well, except at deadline times I suppose).
Then I’ve been tossing and turning for ages now about our ‘stories’ – those we make up as kids and brought into our adult lives to bug us and hold us back. Some would say we have to keep unravelling them and working on them, while others say they are just stories and to move on. Suzanne Stallard, in her story in Ripple, tells us in a simple statement that these stories come to the fore and influence us when we are under pressure and that, if we engage with our values, we can live our lives differently.
Suzanne’s thesis that we can live better lives by being cognisant of our values fits beautifully with Deepak Chopra’s foresight, “Once enough people get over their nagging doubts about whether human life is sacred, they will leap to the conclusion that the only sane way to live is from the level of the soul.” This is in his article in this issue of LivingNow.
Then Deepak’s article in the Ripple end of this magazine has so many hints (ten actually) for us all, and they also tie in with the story on overworking, Suzanne’s article and what’s more they totally fit in with Stella’s predictions for 2010 in her Stargazer column (also in Ripple). This is probably my favourite article of Stella’s – ever. Oh, and I was interested to see that this issue we have an article on art and energy (by Jennifer Goard) and also a much more arty cover than usual – so here I am fulfilling what Stella foresees too – and would you believe that I didn’t read her article before I chose the stories and the cover!
Why did I choose a cover like this? Over the years I’ve experimented with different styles of covers, as you know, but have rarely felt comfortable to use what I really wanted. I don’t care if I am choosing commercially senseless pictures any longer – I am choosing what feels right for me. After 20+ years of publishing this magazine, I reckon it’s time for me to express myself better through the pages. And that fits in with Deepak’s third point in his Ripple article – see yourself in the light – and also his comment in the LivingNow article, “Why should you believe that you are a paltry creature … the human self should rejoice every day that it has a soul, not because the soul gets you to heaven but because you are already there – and here at the same time … ecstasy is possible in the midst of so much fog and confusion.”
My wish for you this month is to clear your fog and confusion too – and I expect you will also find some of the means to do that within these pages.
With love
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Friday, 01 January 2010 00:00 |
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Abundance – such a difficult concept for us to master. We all hear and read different theories and some of us are left none the wiser, or even disappointed.
Same with relationships – what is the best way to conduct life while in relationship? Indeed, some of us want to know how to take the step to being in relationship.
These are the two themes that have emerged in this issue for your holiday reading – not only in LivingNow but also in Ripple News (flip the magazine for that). These are also the focuses of the human condition – and it’s probably through money and relationships that we learn our greatest lessons. (I hasten to add that abundance is not just money – and do read this article for a lovely exposé of true abundance.)
Why do we want to learn lessons? Well, I think it is the way to ‘come home to God’. In fact, Jason Shulman (The Instruction Manual for Receiving God – distributed by Brumby Books in Australia) says that coming home is completely ordinary, and “As we spiritually mature, we find that this ordinariness is our nature. We find that when nothing is holy, everything is holy. It is the ordinary world that is itself the glow of God.”
And why did I quote that? Because when we are feeling ‘holier than thou’ or even just that we need to be more spiritual or ‘good’, we tend to think of relationships (certainly sex) and money as being beneath us, something a bit tacky and tainted. However, if we agree with Jason, everything is holy. It helps to think of our everyday endeavours as reflecting the glow of God doesn’t it? For me, it puts a new slant on piety.
Every issue I recommend articles to you. I can’t help getting enthusiastic about them – just as well I suppose seeing I’m surrounded by them. There are some fabulous write-ups in Ripple this issue, plus the LivingNow articles are juicy, sexy, useful, informative, entertaining and even amazing – you’ll definitely enjoy them.
We’re supporting a project called Living Values – please see the amazing write-up (again about manifesting – and what a manifestation that was!) in Ripple on pages 4 and 5. We’re also very proud to be doing a joint venture with Chip Richards (author of the healing sounds article from last issue and of ‘Remembering the way of miracles’ in this issue. This joint venture is a very cheap on-line interactive 33-day course. Please see the details on pages 3 of Ripple and 5 of LivingNow. If you want better manifesting powers, and if you want to relate better, then this is for you (and me).
Have a wonderful summer and we’ll see you again in the March issue.
With love,
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Dear fellow travellers (November 2009) |
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 17:29 |
 Hello Don’t you love the way that Divine coincidence occurs throughout all life? Readers often tell me of the coincidences between what they read in LivingNow and their own experiences. It happens with the articles too. This issue we have two very disparate stories – our usual Stargazer column by Stella Woods and an in-depth look at religion versus the feminine by Venetia Somerset – both, without any prior planning, looking at the same ideas.
Venetia says: “The feminine principle was securely stowed away in the figure of the Virgin Mother, where it could be worshipped, especially by celibates, without any sexual taint. Woman as a powerful sexual being was nowhere to be seen.”
Stella says: “We have few models in Western culture honouring the sacred nature of sexuality, its transformative healing powers and its connection with the divine. This situation has resulted in the madonna-whore complex whereby spirituality and sexuality are seen as opposing energies.”
And Venetia quotes Eckhart Tolle: “If the balance between male and female energies had not been destroyed on our planet, the ego’s growth would have been greatly curtailed. We would not have declared war on nature, and we would not be so completely alienated from our Being. … The sacred feminine was declared demonic, and an entire dimension largely disappeared from human experience.”
Speaking of declaring war on nature, the swine flu vaccination looms closer. It is now mandatory in some countries in Europe where some people have had adverse effects. Please ensure you make an informed decision, or, better still, write to your local Member of Parliament asking why Australia cannot wait half a year, until next flu season, as we will know by then what has happened in the Northern Hemisphere. I know from previous experience that many of us writing to the MPs definitely causes a stir. The latest website to come to my attention, presenting lots of data, is healthymoneyvine.com.
And here’s another vitally important thing to stand up for – home birth. It is about to be outlawed. Even if you are not personally concerned about it, and have not experienced its beauty (see the article in Ripple News 001, Home birth article), this is another example of the bureaucracy being out of touch with Mother Earth and taking away our rights. Please write to your politician about this too – just add a P.S. on the bottom of your swine flu letter. Lethargy is allowing the erosion of our freedom. (This ties in with the article on p.5.)
Last month I overlooked something important to tell you, and that is that we are monthly again after all. It was old news by the time I wrote my editorial as I had told so many advertisers and also readers who had called up to protest that they wanted the magazine as regularly as previously. So, for those who are still scratching your heads, it’s official. We are monthly, and back to our 11-issue per year schedule. The holiday months are still combined – Jan/Feb. Sorry to confuse, and thanks for your great support.
The other omission last month was that we didn’t publish a ‘bio’ at the end of Jost Sauer’s article. He wrote, in his inimitable style, about the 24-hour chi cycle, adding fresh information to his treatise of 2008, which we serialised and then published in our Annual (which you can buy at select newsagencies or from our website). Last month’s article is also on our website, and please see Jost’s website for details of his books and workshops: jostsauer.com
Speaking of our website, have you seen it lately? From 1st October we have had a new look – excellently provided by Magedata – and it’s waiting for your free listing on the directory. Everyone gets one free directory listing – start by creating an advertiser account. Of course you can also buy bigger listings, web pages, banner ads and calendar listings.
MBS in Sydney and Melbourne this month – see their details on the inside front cover and in giveaways on our website. I will be speaking at each one and hope to meet up with you there: Sydney on 7th at 4.30; Melbourne on 21st at 5.30. Interestingly, I’ll be speaking about coincidence in these talks.
I hope you have some beautiful coincidences in the coming month.
With love,
P.S. Wow – talk about coincidence and synchronicity! There was a problem at the printer’s and we got kicked off our schedule. I was not prepared to let the magazine come out too late and so was frantically trying to find another printer at the last minute. However, because of pre-Christmas catalogues, the heat-set printers are all full up. So at the last minute, we have moved to a cold-set printer. You may not have known the difference, but looking at the different product you have in your hand, you will see that the paper is uncoated. Heat is necessary to set the ink on shiny paper. So, we quickly upsized all the artwork, added this P.S. and whizzed off to print. If it looks a little odd, it was because it was designed for our regular smaller size. Maybe this was Spirit manoeuvring us back into this format…? |
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Thursday, 01 October 2009 00:00 |
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Welcome to our first ‘upside down book’ – LivingNow on one end and Ripple News on the other.
Ripple News is intended for greater focus on networking and making a more personal connection between advertiser and reader. We seem to have lost some of this of late. Many of us don’t speak with people as much as we used to. You know what it’s like – bash out a quick email or a text and that’s that! I know Ripple News is still not actually talking with people, but a well told story does speak to the hearts and minds of others. As you are a reader, I hope you will give me some feedback about this. You can do so on the LivingNow blog on our new website (new from 9am, 1st October).
See that we have a great giveaway on our new website, and we also have easy to use templates for making your own website (a ‘proper’ one with up to five tabbed pages), a fabulous new calendar, and of course stories and directory as usual.
As for this issue’s LivingNow stories, there is quite a bit of focus on the unseen worlds. It seems to me that, with the rapid approach of 2012, we are all asking for information about the invisible realms, and so it is my intention to give you more good, grounded articles on these topics.
This issue I could not fit all articles in these pages, sadly, and so I am quoting from a couple of omitted ones here, as they introduce the subject beautifully, and we hope to publish more from these people in the future.
First Dr Mark Abriel’s words. He’s a chiropractor from Byron Bay and also a keen photographer – and many other things.
“Ancient earth cultures have as part of their tradition the knowledge of other kingdoms, ‘parallel’ worlds that co-exist side by side with our earthly realm. Physicists today search for a universal understanding that would bridge the presently conflicting theories of the very large (gravity) and the very small (quantum mechanics). Author and television presenter, Dr. Brian Green, of Columbia University, and other scientists, believe they have found a ‘unifying theory of everything’ in String Theory, which states that there are 11 parallel universes making up reality, composed of fundamental tiny vibrating ‘strings’. Dr. Brian Green states, in the documentary, The Elegant Universe, that reality may be a lot stranger than any of us have come to think.
“According to anthroposophy, and the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, and others, ‘parallel earth’ worlds are filled with mountains, rivers and lakes, and inhabited by beings of finer vibration than human.
“Celtic lore calls them ‘faeries’ and pixies. Western tradition would describe them as angels. In ancient Indian philosophy, these beings are known as ‘devas’. These devic beings are said to distribute pranic or life force energy to the soil and plants, without which life could not exist.
“According to ancient traditions, when these higher vibration beings appear in our world, they are said to often manifest as intense pulsating balls of light.”
Cedar Rivers, a psychic counsellor and facilitator of sacred circles and spiritual wisdom groups, known to many in connection with Celtic Gardens, has this to say about the subject:
“Beyond the third dimension of gross matter lie innumerable life-forms living in the higher vibrational frequencies both here on Earth and in the Universe. They emanate the frequencies of love and joy.
“Humans have explored the length and breadth of every country on Earth; we have walked on the moon and invented technology that enables us to explore the far reaches of the galaxies. Now even ‘ordinary people’ can be open to new opportunities and we don’t have to travel anywhere to find them. When we are open, willing and welcoming, beings of light simply come to us.
“Approach all beings from the invisible realms in a state of soft enquiry and always, always trust what your intuition tells you. They are a gift and are part of our training to become more present with multi-dimensionality. We are approaching a grand new world where curiosity, intuition, gentleness and imagination may well prove to be our greatest allies.
“Advanced camera technology has introduced them to us and many who are heightening their abilities of clairvoyance, telepathy, imagination and intuition are interacting with them without the aid of cameras. Readers will be aware that humanity is on the brink of a huge leap in consciousness and that we are now set to make profound discoveries within the non-material worlds of inter-dimensionality, which may turn out to be the new frontier.”
With love
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LivingNow editorial Aug-Sep 09 |
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Wednesday, 29 July 2009 21:25 |
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Dear Fellow Travellers
Well, we’ve turned the corner. Thanks for your help and good energies in this amazing process where I went to the bottom with my negative thinking, and then sprung up again when I decided to think it would be okay after all. Of course there was more to it than that. In that process of going to the depths I discovered more about my bottom line of not trusting Spirit. Indeed I discovered just how hard my ego self was holding on and trying to run the ship from the point of fear, and because I could not trust Spirit, but I didn’t trust myself either.
I found that, if I acknowledged my ego instead of trying to banish or suppress it, then I had a partner for my spiritual work. I would often bring an imaginary stick-figure of a fearful ego self into my heart, hold it there and tell it that I knew it was working from within its job specification in trying to protect me, and I appreciated that, but right now was a time to let the control and fear go so that Spirit could do its work. This process I would sometimes have to repeat dozens of times a day.
Then one day I found myself saying, ‘I trust God’, and got instant calm and relief. I’d love to know if that works for you too. If you feel to try it, please comments at the end of this article and then everyone can share in the discussion. If not trusting in God is your bottom line also, then I know it will work. I wonder just how many of us have that lack of trust as a result of incarnating here. I found out that my lack of trust happened when I felt abandoned here at birth. Maybe we all feel that…
So many other things I discovered about myself in this process as I dug deeper and deeper into my ‘stuff’, knowing that my negative thinking was contributing to the downward spiral, but unable to pull myself up out of it. It can all be summed up by this quote from Jason Shulman, The Instruction Manual for Receiving God, p.85:
“Ultimately, healing involves unlearning the patterns that block our natural openheartedness from shining forth. We don’t need help to open our hearts. We need help to get out of our own way. … What we have to unlearn is that we need something from the outside in order for us to be worthy. What we have to unlearn is that we need to be a thing rather than a walking, breathing, process – a flame that lights the world because it is simply being itself.”
I am very excited to announce the soon-to-be published Ripple News – creating the ripple effect in this niche – and where you will be able to catch up with what’s happening and who’s who in the holistic scene. It contains the People Pages that used to be in LivingNow and also write-ups of ‘People, Places and Products for Your Path’ and of course display advertising. Oh, because it is monthly, and because LivingNow is now bimonthly, you will find Stella’s astrology column in Ripple from now on. Please look for it in the third week of each prior month where you normally pick up your copy of LivingNow. I hope you will soon become a staunch enjoyer of Ripple News as well as LivingNow.
In the meantime, enjoy this issue in your hands. Some of the stories are very deep and may require reading twice, but they are worth it. Drs Bruce Lipton and Joe Dispenza are touring the East coast soon (sorry WA people) giving day-long talks in Sydney and Melbourne and a couple of evening talks in Brisbane. They have cutting edge information about this same topic – mind and the influence that the subconscious programming has over desired outcomes. If I’d heard them last year I probably wouldn’t have had to go through my stuff this year – but I guess I had to learn the hard way. Anyway, you have an opportunity to skip the ‘stuff’ and go listen to these guys. Read their articles in this issue and see for yourself if they could be onto something. Chris is giving away 50 Bruce Lipton DVDs (The Biology of Belief ‘LITE’, RRP $40) to the first people to register in each of Sydney and Melbourne. (They will be given to you on the day of the event and cannot be swapped for any other product or cash.)
So when you register mention in the comments box that you came through LivingNow. You can register at www.chrishooper.com.au/cgi-bin/shop.cgi?page=events/lipton-dispenza.htm
With love,
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