Another Update on My Dad

(More recent updates in comments, too…)

Hi, and thank you again to everyone sending prayers, love, healing and support to my dad, me, and my entire family. There are an increasing number of moving parts and decisions, so timing and outcome are very difficult to predict. I spent much of yesterday in conversation, emails and texts with my mom, brother, sister and my neurologist uncle, as my dad’s situation keeps shifting hour by hour.

David and I are packing and have arranged for an immediate road trip if needed; however, the original timing still works best for everyone if things ease up. Much of that depends on my dad’s decisions, which we are all trying to honor, giving him as much dignity and agency as possible, while also still looking out for his short term health and overall quality of life. His health situation remains quite complex, with competing priorities resulting in highly different choices right now.

I am at peace with my father and on very good terms, as well as able to communicate telepathically, with repeatedly verified results, so David and I are just trying to ensure that the timing of our visit provides the most support and least disruption for everyone — including my sister, Erica, who is currently shouldering most of the local responsibility, while also being a mom to my two nephews, who are very close to their grandpa.

My brother is considering another trip to PA, but again, the on-the-ground logistics and my dad’s pending decisions largely determine what would be appropriate, supportive timing. My mom’s holding up pretty well and receives a lot of support and encouragement from her church, too. Speaking of church, my sister is reading my dad’s speech to all five of the services, beginning last night. He was unable to deliver his own stories of the power of prayer in his life, but he’s very grateful that my sister was willing and able to do so on his behalf. I’m sure there will not be a dry eye in all five services!

In any case, I appreciate the ongoing care, support and concern from everyone here and elsewhere. In terms of sessions this week, there are potential scenarios in which everything’s perfectly fine in PA, and David and I leave with the original timing, in which case, all scheduled sessions remain as is. With so many decisions, personalities and shifts, I need to have the flexibility to travel at a moment’s notice, and so it’s possible that I might need to make last minute changes. In that event, I promise to reschedule as soon as possible. I’m not not-scheduling future sessions (in other words, I am scheduling future sessions) because there are trajectories in which this week through six months are perfectly fine, and other trajectories in which this week, three weeks or two months from now become chaotic.

Until my dad’s situation stabilizes, I will just need to be a little more fluid than usual in terms of scheduling. Thank you for understanding, and again, thank you for your care and concern. This will likely be my last update regarding my dad until we have a much better sense of which path he decides to take.

Much love and gratitude, Laura

 

Update on My Dad

Thank you to all of you who have sent continued prayers and energy healing for my father! Several people have recently asked for an update, so I’ll share what I can here. For those of you who want to add him to your own lists, his name is Steve Derbenwick.

My dad was really struggling before I wrote last week’s post requesting prayers and Reiki, but my parents both said they could sense all the prayers coming their way once he got re-upped on my mom’s prayer list and with all my amazing blog readers’ energies, prayers and intentions. Truly, thank you! We’re deeply blessed to have such a worldwide group of powerful healers, shamans, Reiki Practioners and Master Teachers, prayer warriors, love beings, and adepts sending energy to our family.

I did some shamanic Dreamwork with my dad on Friday, the 19th, and felt the situation shift even more, which my dad confirmed the following morning. He was still very weak but felt much more “here.” He also let me know that he had printed out my prayer request/tribute to him so that he could read it every day. He felt it would “strengthen him,” and he appreciated everyone’s loving comments. Just knowing that so many people he’s never even met care about him has really touched his heart.

According to my sister and mother, who actually see my dad on a regular basis, he’s still very, very weak. My brother and I have needed to become more involved in his care from a distance, as well, but I am grateful that my siblings and I work well together, honoring our own different gifts and strengths in order to help manage things as best as we can. Yesterday, my dad had a platelet infusion and a bone marrow scan, though he will not receive his results for another week.

The test and procedure yesterday left him exhausted, but we’re all hoping he will rally enough to give his previously scheduled prayer testimonial at several church services tonight and tomorrow. My dad credits prayer with bringing many, many miracles into his life since his cancer diagnosis, and he wants to share his stories to help inspire others to participate in a prayer week at my mom’s church. My post last week describes some of my dad’s transition from total skeptic to open-hearted mystic, but it doesn’t capture the depth of feeling he has for being able to give back to those who’ve helped him.  My mom and sister have arranged a wheelchair for him and reduced the number of times he’s scheduled to share his story.

Even so, getting him there and having his voice strong enough to carry through the microphone, and his energy steady enough to do his talks remains a huge challenge. Any energy you feel called to send to support this process would be greatly appreciated. I’ve read my dad’s speech, and even though I’ve heard his stories before, it always starts the tears of Grace flowing.My dad feels this is one of the most important tasks he has right now, so I hope for his sake and for his listeners that he can share his story. If you knew my dad, you would know what an incredibly healing and generous heart-opening his desire to share such private stories with hundreds of people really is!

David and I made arrangements in case we need to change our travel arrangements to arrive sooner than our scheduled date in March, but so far, the original timing still seems Divinely orchestrated. We’ve even got synchronous house-sitters lined up. Thank you again to everyone sending positive energy to our visit. We’ve got special events on either end of the visit, too, all of which seem significant to the larger journey of everyone involved.

I know many people are ill, struggling or transitioning right now. Sessions are filled with people dealing with various intensities and life changing events. Clients, friends and blog readers keep privately asking me how I’m doing, so I’ll share a little here. Overall, I’m doing well, though, of course, a range of emotions flow through me in any given moment. Gratitude remains my dominant feeling, since we have already had an extra 4.5 years with my dad beyond his original prognosis. We’ve all used that time well!

I’ve also had the opportunity to observe many families dealing with crises, which makes me acutely aware of how lucky I am to have capable, caring and involved siblings who share similar ideas about what needs to be done when. This process has strengthened our three-way communication, and having watched our dad shoulder so much responsibility with his own mother, we’re all mindful of distributing responsibilities as evenly as we can, given our varying proximities and skills.  Thank you for including my whole family in your prayers, energy and intentions, because as any caregiver knows, the supportive roles need support, too!

Fortunately, David’s family’s ongoing crises that we moved to Goshen to manage have begun to ease, which means he has more energy and needs less support from me right now. Perhaps in anticipation of the increased focus on my own family, or maybe just due to the grey winter in Goshen, I’ve felt a deep need to cocoon myself in beauty. I feel fine for sessions and am actually enjoying them. But in my personal life, I need to go with the flow right now, so please excuse slower and much shorter responses to chatty emails.

Even before my dad’s health took this sudden downturn, I had withdrawn more into my permaculture design course, a lovely Druid course, and setting things up to support me writing books again, both fiction and non-fiction. This all feels good and perfectly timed, but with the increased family stress and responsibilities, it’s not a luxury. I need this inner time to rejuvenate myself, and I stay on path in order to walk through this time period with ease and grace.

I spent yesterday afternoon studying permaculture and drinking in the beauty of my new writing office. The windows overlook my snow covered gardens, but the snow didn’t stop dozens of birds from darting around the lovingly planted trees and shrubs. A robin visited me as I sat on my rocker, reading and smiling. Between the bright wall colors, gorgeous tapestry from sweet faery twin, Tania Marie, views of my growing food forest, and a magical mandala rug, yesterday transported me into the all encompassing beauty my soul craves. It’s chilly in that writing office, though, so I realized I finally have a perfect spot for one of those electric fireplaces or old fashioned electric wood stove heaters I’ve long wanted. I think the extra coziness of a fire element between rocking chair and computer desk will take that room over the Moon. 🙂

I’ll leave you with some of yesterday’s views from my rocking chair, as well as heartfelt gratitude for all the care and prayers of such wonderful, kind, and powerful blog readers. Thank you, thank you! Much love and continued blessings! ~ Laura

 

 

 

February 2016 Specials

Three days left of February Specials during this leap year … 🙂

Laura Bruno's Blog

I know many of you have been asking about these, so thanks for your patience. I only post specials as inspiration sparks. Here are the February 2016 Specials:

Sacred Soul Session

This is a new offering designed to help you reclaim and nurture a sense of the sacred in ways that foster your soul’s deepest longings. For some people, this might be a uniquely designed ceremony to release a past grief or regret. For others, it might offer a list of resources specifically tailored to you at this point on your path. For some people, it might mean helping you to utilize skills you already have in new ways that deepen your experience. For still others, a Sacred Soul Session might include general instructions about how to design meaningful rituals and select proper timing, so that you can incorporate ritual as a regular means of empowerment and healing. Without performing…

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A Druid’s Primer on Land Healing, Part II: Energetic Healing vs. Palliative Care

I’ve been meaning to repost this second part of the Land Healing series from The Druid’s Garden. As usual, Dana shares excellent examples and ideas. She and I have discussed the need for palliative care in some circumstances, and this is why I encourage people to tune in very deeply to the land before just assuming what needs to be done. My friend, Ella, also sent me a wonderful book called, “Sensitive Permaculture,” which also addresses when to heal land, and when to trust the land asking humans to go away. If we claim to love our Earth Mother, then we would do well to respect Her boundaries, Her need for rest, and Her desires to awaken different areas. I feel this series is one of the more important topics of our times. Thank you, Dana!

The Druid's Garden

In my post last week, I discussed the different ways that we might heal the land including physical land healing, healing human-land connections, and various forms of energetic healing. Today, I want to delve deeply into the  aspects of energetic land healing, and further probe the difference between energetic healing work and energetic palliative care. I think this distinction is critical for how to develop rituals and how to work with the energy of the land in various ways.

To do this, I’m going to share with you a few different kinds of sites in my immediate surroundings in Western PA and look at the circumstances under which these sites might be healed. In fact, I’m picking some of the worst sites I know of physically on my present landscape here in Western PA–I figure that if we can talk about land healing at the worst kinds of sites that…

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Magical Woodland by an Irish Castle

Another soul renewing walk, this one through a magical woodland by an Irish Castle. Thank you, Colette! All my senses drink in these photos, including their pregnant silence.

Bealtaine Cottage, Ireland

Stepping into a magical woodland can be one of the most healing and re-energizing acts of care for oneself.

This morning I ventured into the woods around Kilronan Castle and the mystical Lough Meelagh, a short distance from Bealtaine Cottage.

I’m glad to have brought my little camera, as am now able to share this enchantment with you.

This sacred place nestles into the valley that sweeps off towards Sligo and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Lough is dotted with Crannogs…ancient dwelling places constructed by ancestral forces on the Lough itself. You can just see this Crannog in the distance.

These were places of safety in times of a forested land where wild animals posed a threat and tribal invasions were part of life.

The Lough has risen high along the gentle shoreline, where moss and lichen hold sway.

Tree roots have loosened in the storm ridden rain and some have…

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PHOTO ESSAY: A walk in Nature, at winter’s end, with Shadow

So nice to have Ann K. back! What a wonderful, grounded, humble and deeply observant post. Indeed, “the only ‘correct’ approach to this beautiful world is awe and reverence.”

On a personal, related note, I’ve been on a mini-mission to introduce more evergreens to this sorry spot of Northern InDiana. I’m happy to report we have all of these green things and more growing in our yard now, and I’ve begun conversations with our city arborist to plant more evergreens around town to help mitigate extreme winter air pollution and provide some much needed color and beauty in this grey time of year. Every time I go on a walk, I make a special point to thank the blue spruce and other green beings for cleaning our air and brightening our landscapes. Tree friends are among the very best kinds of friends!

Timothy Glenn ~ 2016: A Call to Creatorship

My friend and colleague Timothy Glenn is back with a long awaited article about 2016. I find his timing interesting, given that many of the New Year’s tarot readings I did for people indicated that 2016 wouldn’t really ramp into “the new” until late February/early March.

With January’s Mercury Retrograde and all the other intense astrological alignments so far, this year has seemed like two steps forward and one back. Many people have begun to recognize and experience undeniable signs of positive change; however, until recently, those changes have often felt like eagerly peering through a fog while crawling on molasses. In her recent tarot video about yesterday’s Full Moon, Laura Daligan also mentions the sense of enormously hard work finally beginning to pay off.  In any case, Tim’s long delayed article seems right on time to me!

Your reaction or response to Tim’s article will depend upon the degrees to which you already embrace your own Creatorship in Love, realizing those degrees may vary in different settings and circumstances. I invite you to celebrate Tim’s message, but also to look at wherever it triggers you. Are you sick of all that drama? Do you hide from it? Or are you too busy creating alternatives — beauty, joy, love, peace, clarity, abundance, prosperity, and healing — to bother with anything else? Enjoy the journey! Here’s Timothy Glenn:

2016: A Call to Creatorship

Last year, the New Year’s article barely made it out in time for Chinese New Year. That turned out to be rather timely compared to 2016, primarily because there is so much going on and coming down the pike this year, that it seemed futile to attempt summarizing anything so massive. In addition, perhaps dealing with a persistent flu bug helped with the delay.

But the other day (in mid February) the vision for this article burst forth while doing a reading for a fun client from Australia.

2 + 0 + 1 + 6 = 9

Everything in our numerology system boils down to the skeletal structure of cycles of one through nine. Since 2016 is a 9 year, it will present us with lots of endings and lots of letting go. In many ways, this will manifest as the official major league industrial strength “Let Go” we have been talking about for decades.

The number 9 also corresponds with 9^th House/Jupiter/Sagittarius in our astrology, as well as the Hermit card in the tarot. An important theme here involves our ability to see the Big Picture. The Hermit’s view from the mountaintop might appear sufficient, but the panorama of 2016 will more than likely require that we pan the camera back off this planet and out of this dimension to get a glimpse of what is happening.

20 + 16 = 36

Card 36 of the tarot deck is the 10 of Wands. Often known as the burden card, it shows a man carrying a heavy load of staves to a village. Pythagoras regarded it as the journey’s end, when we can finally set down the burdens, most of which were never ours anyway.

Attitudes like anger and judgment will only bind us to whatever we don’t like. To achieve the Big Let Go, “All You Need Is Love”. For Pythagoreans of the inner circle, the number 6 has always carried the love frequency. As the first of the truly rare perfect numbers, 6 represents perfect love – divine, unconditional, infinite love. 2016 and 36 both contain the number 6, but 36 is also six sixes (6×6), or love to the second power.

A key part of any whole number is its cumulative. In the cumulative sequence, we add all the numbers as we count. For example, 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, so the cumulative of 3 is 6. Thanks to a discovery by the old German mathematician Carl Gauss (when he was a schoolboy, no less) we can use the simple algebraic formula .5n (n+1) to find that the cumulative of 36 is 666. To Pythagoras, 666 would indicate filling the third dimension with perfect love. No wonder the religious control freaks shrouded 666 in fear.

As an aside for the non-math folks: .5n (n+1) translates as one half of the number (for which you want to know the cumulative) times the quantity of that number plus one. In this case n = 36. Half of 36 is 18, and 36 + 1 = 37. 18 x 37 = 666.

And just for fun, 6 x 36 = 216, which is love to the third power, and numerologically related to 2016. Love is the greatest power, and 2016 may force the issue of demonstrating it.

The Year of the Tower

2016 obviously emphasizes the 16, represented by the Tower card. Here we see a tower being struck by lightning, and people falling from the tower. Any tarot cards that look “negative” look that way because humans have traditionally resisted integrating the energy of that particular frequency. This is especially the case when letting go is required.

The tower symbolizes our endeavors and achievements. So here we are in 2016 with a tower full of ideas, habits, attitudes, philosophies and teachings which may have been alright for where we have been, but which will only gum up the works for where we are going. Are we ready to let go of our very interpretation of life, the universe and everything?

The English poet William Butler Yeats loved the Tower card, because when its energy is playing out in your life, there is no way to remain the same. Yeats abhorred complacency and stagnation, and 2016 will not support or even tolerate smug belief systems and their stuck-in-the-mud behaviors. The hammer is coming down.

A Heads Up For 2016

The long phenomenon of Uranus Square Pluto has flung open the gateways for profound planetary shift, and even a quantum leap in evolution. We may soon find the video screen of life emblazoned with three words: mutate or die. Either we respond to this opportunity to ascend to our next level of evolution, or we go extinct.

In the old external world (often called The Matrix), we can see several extinction level events unfolding. 2016 will show us even more. We can also literally look for signs in the sky.

Although the old world control system has tried to hide the approach of a mini solar system, many of us have been tracking it as it draws near. What we are viewing fits the descriptions of a “dark star” known to some of the ancients as Nemesis, among whose planets we find the famous Nibiru. This has fueled the doom and gloom club to postulate extremely dire predictions. But instead of nibbling at such bait, perhaps we could let our addiction to drama fall out of our towers.

The Lost Book of Nostradamus predicted a “harbinger of doom” that would appear in the constellation Ophiuchus, which is where our telescopes first caught sight of the approaching mini solar system. Here the question arises: doom for whom?

Thou Art God

If the hammer truly comes down this year in a variety of ways, it will help to center ourselves in our true identity. Are you nothing but a struggling little human at the mercy of external forces? Are you what Proterrian jokingly calls “nothing but a pathetic little snotling from 3D Planet Earth”?

Whatever surprises burst into our alleged reality this year, we will have the opportunity to step into our Creatorship. Nothing exists but the one infinite energy field we have called God. Physicists like to call it The Field. We are all part of The Field. We are all expressions of The Field. There is nothing else to be. As Proterrian likes to tell us, “Thou art God. Now act like it!”

You are the Creator, and you have the right and the power to create your own life, your own experience and your own reality. 2016 is inviting all of us to embrace our divinity and make it Real, irrespective of whatever horror movies are showing “out there” on the screen of the holographic Matrix.

The aforementioned article for last year was called 2015: A Call to Choice. In 2016, the choice is clear: snotling or Creator?

Thou art God, and God is love.

Timothy Glenn

http://soulpurposereadings.com/

CALAN ~ Gwdihŵ Shoes

Happy music!

 

Stone Wisdom

I love this post! Such a great model of ways to engage our world. Thank you!

A Druid Way

With camera in coat pocket and a muddy 3-mile walk ahead, I set out to see what a Saturday afternoon in the 40s might have to show. I started to write “teach,” and that may be accurate, but as human instructors discover, to say “I taught them but they didn’t learn it” is problematic at best.

I call this stone wisdom because it is a teaching of the north, of the earth, of winter, of this day which is all these things. It is a day of thaw, which I will take for my divination. Thaw what is frozen, so the lessons may enter, so I can move with what they teach.

One thing I’ve learned in the class of this life is that I really need to pay attention, to bring all I am to the moment. That’s a gift to the teacher, as well as myself, that richly repays any cost.

But “all I am”…

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The Power of Graceful Receiving – #Blesstival

Beautiful! Thank you, Jamie. This goes right along with recently flowing themes. ❤

Sophia's Children

Hebe Giving a Drink to Jupiter, 1767, by Gavin Hamilton. Public domain image (date precedes copyright).

“Life is infused with spirit. When we receive deeply we’re receiving not just from an individual but from spirit itself.”~ Sobonfu Somé

Receiving deeply. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

And yet in a culture where we’re taught in many ways, from early on, that “it’s better to give than to receive,” we might notice that both giving and receiving suffer.

If what we’re sharing or giving isn’t graciously received, or worse, not even acknowledged, we know how that feels, yes?

Or if we feel we somehow don’t deserve to receive … there’s another one.

Similarly, I’ve noticed that if what we’re giving is thoughtless, perhaps out of a sense of routine or obligation, it becomes dry, like a desert, which affects how it feels to be on the receiving end of whatever that is.

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