The Way of the Peaceful Vampire

Reblogged from "The Vampire Diet" blog on amazon.com for Kindle (I gave myself permission)


Of all the modern vampires, I have a real soft spot for the Cullen family in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. Their "coven" reminds me of that quote from Richard Bach "The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life."

My brother-in-law is family both ways. On the surface, he seems like a happy-go-lucky athlete. Every now and then, you catch a glimpse of the deeply thoughtful, loving intellect that lies beneath. During this summer's visit, he said something amazing.

He's quitting smoking. Thank goodness...cigarettes will kill you, and I'd like the dude to hang around for a while. This time he said he is "at peace" with the idea of quitting. There is no doubt in my mind that he will quit this time. There is an ocean of profound under that one statement. It's a deep idea that applies here too.

It is so easy to fall into the mainstream diet trap...to focus on food & exercise while forgetting about the mind and spirit. This blog has been taking that turn lately too. Time to throw some esoterica at you.

You can argue that being happy will bring a healthy weight from a purely physical standpoint. If you reduce stress, there is less adrenal gland interplay with insulin production, glucose metabolism, and fat deposition.

You can make the same case from a mental-emotional standpoint. Mind and body are utterly connected. A contented outlook, combined with good information and a sprinkle of self-awareness, can find the non-physical connections to what we choose to eat. If you figure out why comfort foods comfort you, or discover why you don't pay attention to what / how much you eat, then you can go a long way toward making a healthy change. That doesn't even touch the way mood, appetite, and brain biochemistry are connected.

But then there are the spiritual aspects that diet books, nutritionists and mainstream fitness 'gurus' seem to avoid. Being at peace with your decision to live a healthier lifestyle is truly important. In tarot, the 9 of Wands card is often associated with the idea of "acceptance". But not the way you might think. Like I tell my tarot clients, acceptance doesn't have to mean acquiescence. This isn't about giving up or giving in. It is about taking off the rose colored glasses and dealing with the reality of a situation - to accept it for what it is so you can deal with it...calmly, peacefully.

This card, and my brother-in-laws realization, is also very close to Dharma Drum Mountain's "Four Steps for Dealing With a Problem": face it, accept it, deal with it, let go of it. Being at peace with what is makes it easier to be at peace with what we need to do.

It is so easy to drop into a fearful, defensive stance when it comes to losing weight or quitting smoking. I told my brother (you can skip the in-law stuff as far as I'm concerned) that I was trying to cut out sugar. Later on he didn't offer me a sweet dessert when he offered it to everyone else. It's a small thing, but to me it was huge. It was quiet, peaceful acceptance of what I'm doing. I wish there was something more I could do to support and encourage him in his efforts. A little peaceful acceptance can go a long way.

That's where a family-of-heart, like the Cullens, give us a good role model. They have a accept what they are, and solve the problem through an ongoing lifestyle choice. Except for the occasional adventure with humans, hunters, werewolves and Volturi, they are pretty much at peace with themselves.

We welcome our heart-family into our lives, and the same spirit can help with our physical health. Instead of fighting obesity, we can welcome weight loss and fitness. Instead of fighting cigarettes, we can welcome smokeless health. It's a subtle attitude difference, but an important one. Marc helped me learn that.

Thanks man. I appreciate it.

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For a tarot reading with the author, please visit www.ModernOracleTarot.com. For Holistic Health and Stress Reduction tutorials with the author, please visit www.RondaSnow.com.

Daily Meditation Tarot Reading - Page of Cups

The page of cups has been turning up like crazy lately - different people, different times, different spins and circumstances. Our Page is trying to get something through! Here is today's take on the card. 


Page of Cups: "Dealing with old demons" (Diane Morgan)....

"The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubborn, persistent illusion" 

- Albert Einstein

Remember yesterday's quote from Richard Bach? Only you can control what effect and how much effect the past has on you today.


Turn that around for a minute...if you want to make a change, the result you want already exists in one future path or another. To improve your chances of success, try to do things so you don't dissappoint that already-successful future-you.


Harry Potter is a good example, for those of you who saw the movie "The Prisoner of Azekaban". He stepped out and sent his patronus to protect his hours-ago self and Sirius. He knew he could do it because he already had. 


If you feel discouraged, don't give up, just remember, you can do this...because somewhere out there in the big old time-space continuum, you already have.


I love this idea - but it isn't mine.  Please read Richard Bach's "One" for more inspiration! Let me know if you are interested in other reading suggestions like this one.

Cornerstones and Fulcrums

Reblogged from "The Vampire Diet"...continuing from Friday



In Friday’s post, we talked about ideas being the cornerstone of change.


The cornerstone I was thinking about for today is personal responsibility. It is nearly impossible to act differently unless you have some vague idea that something else is possible. On the other hand, ideas are motionless unless and until you act upon them. If you have an idea or a bit of knowledge, but do not change what you actually do, then ideas alone can’t be an agent of change. If ideas influence how you do things or how you make choices, then they are essential to change. They might attract other things that prompt change, they might set lessons in motion just by being ignored, but in the short term, ideas alone need a little help from our spine to made real.


One cornerstone does not make a building.  Just like a rock can’t make a lever without a stick. 


After thinking about it a little more, A lever would be a better mental-example than ‘cornerstones’ in this case. It was a start...ideas are so basic, so foundational, so needed to build something new. Ideas are the turning point, but more is needed.


Think about levers. We all learned about them in elementary school science. Or at least played on seesaws at recess. 


Ideas are the fulcrum...the turning point around which change begins. Personal responsibility a is the stick that gets stuff done, that makes the change actually happen. 


No matter what diet books we read, or what regulations are enacted, or what resources we have at our disposal, who is that picks up the fork or picks up the cup? Who is it that opens our mouths and who swallows? The same person who can change all of that. We are the ones who got ourselves overweight, and we are the only ones who can get as fit and healthy as possible. Knowing what to do is of marginal value until we take the responsibility for ourselves and do it. 


That is the concept that I was trying to crowbar into words last week when the perfect, elegant, simple expression of it fell into my inbox. That is where the Richard Bach quote comes in.

“It isn’t up to my parents to change my past . . . even if they want to change it, that’s not in their power. It is, though, in my power. I can let the past go! If it’s never our fault, we can’t take responsibility for it. If we can’t take responsibility for it, we’ll always be its victim.”

Richard Bach

The quote, I’m proud to say, is used with permission.


It isn’t in the power of books or support groups to change our past...or our future. It is in our power to let our past go, to take responsibility for our mis-judgements and do things differently. We may have eaten poorly, been sedentary and hand a hand in our own ill health. But we can let that past go. If we continue as we are, then we that past is in vain. If we change, then we instantly transform that past from a mistake into a life-giving lesson. If we take responsibility for both what we did and what we will do, then we are free in the here and now as well.


Have you ever seen a whining, victimized vampire? If that is part of the mythos, it is in a comedy or parody. Even in camp and satire show vampires as powerful, in control, and self-responsible. They own their atrocities, whether they regret them or not. In choosing to be healthier, we are letting go of the past and leveraging ourselves into a new and better direction.


I feel lighter already just thinking about it.

Cornerstones

Holey smokin' guacamole!

I feel like a kid who just got Superman's autograph. Or, if you are our neighbor Jane, a six year old that just met Batgirl.

Remember the other day when we were talking about soda regulations in "Since When Did Dracula Have a Nanny?" from "The Vampire Diet" blog? Less than 4 hours after writing that, I read a post from Richard Bach's Blog about his new book "Thank Your Wicked Parents". Even though the topic is different, the post had a quote from the book that suited our topic perfectly - except it was said with far greater kindness and eloquence.
I didn't want to just slap the quote into our conversation all willy-nilly. I wanted to be as courteous, respectful and well, legal, about it as possible. So not knowing what to expect or quite what to do, I wrote for permission to use it. Blow me down. Mr. Bach himself answered!

And there you have why I have fallen in love with blogging and the Internet. Through the 'net and his kindness, I was able to have a short conversation with one of my all-time favorite authors! Online information can be fast and loose and unedited and of questionable quality, but at other times it is an unique opportunity to meet lovely brilliant minds we never could have met in person. I've always wanted to thank Mr. Bach directly, personally, for the gift his books brought to me at a time when I needed them the most. What a privilege to be able to do just that...and get permission to quote him too! Talk about frosting on the proverbial cake!

Here, Mr. Bach gives us an example of one cornerstone to real change. What does it take to make a real change - to take steps along a newer, truer, more genuine path for ourselves? One thing is, simply, ideas. How can you go in a different direction unless you get the notion that other possibilities really exist? Words and pictures are the bones and lifeblood of ideas. Without language and/or images, ideas can be ghostly, boneless things. Making a change based on ideas without language is like trying to capture morning fog in a butterfly net.

That is how Mr. Bach's books helped me. That is how I hope my books might someday help someone else. I had vague ideas, but I didn't quite have the language to really understand them much less live them. It felt like trying to grab a handful of an icy mist. Then I read "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah", and several others like "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" by Gary Zukov, "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra, the "Tao Te Ching" and more. "Illusions" was certainly a favorite among them, which led to reading his other books, like "Nothing by Chance", "Stranger to the Ground" and of course "Jonathan Livingston Seagull". When they were published, "The Bridge Across Forever" and "One" were on my bookshelf before they were in paperback.

Now I had a conceptual vocabulary, a skeleton, for those not-quite-formed ideas from before. Books like these wrapped that icy mist in language, transforming it into solid crystals- strong, unshakable things pointing the way to a better path that had been there all along.

Ideas like these are a cornerstone for change. The solidified ones are the best ideas to build upon. Meeting like minds, and exchanging ideas turns fog into foundations and imagination into feathers.

This is the role that modern vampire lore plays in "The Vampire Diet" blog. It helps to crystallize our ideas about healthier eating. The modern vampire imagery makes that new path more visible and, hopefully, more fun. For the "Modern Oracle Tarot" blog, the tarot cards themselves serve the same purpose. The words and images associated with the cards show alternatives we might have otherwise missed, and makes the ideas we already have clearer and stronger.

If you get a chance, I wholeheartedly recommend reading "Illusions" or any of Richard Bach's books, and please do take a moment to check out his new website and new book at www.RichardBach.com.

I have a busy weekend being dropped in my lap, so we'll get back to the quote part of building cornerstones on Monday.

Before I forget to mention it - the blogs might be a little erratic during the summer, but I'll try to keep to a Monday through Friday posting schedule as best as I can. Have a great weekend! More on Monday.

www.RondaSnow.com

Watcher Redemption

Some call it 'the watcher'


Eckert Tolle describes it as the "I" when he thought "I can't stand myself anymore"


Richard Bach describes a time where there was a mental flight instructor of sorts ticking off good things and bad things he did handling an emergency landing.


Wayne Dyer alludes to this part of ourselves when he says "Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul" (via www.brainyquote.com)


Be it the "watcher", our soul, our higher self...however you think of it, that part of ourselves is often our own harshest critic.


At least I'm that way, pretty often. Ate a bunch of Ben & Jerry's and potato chips on Monday. Have been spending more time than I thought it would take on some paperwork. Today I've had ham and broccoli for lunch, walked 3 miles and a brainwave about the paperwork.


My watcher is doling out a little redemption at the moment. 


May you and your watcher have a supportive, productive day.

You Are Awesome!

You. Yes, you - the one looking at the screen reading this. You are awesome!


Have you ever had an idea or belief that sort of just hovered at the edge of your consciousness like an icy fog early in the morning? Have you ever had belief or idea that is real, but not quite a palpable, integrated part of your daily life? 


New ideas or seldom used beliefs are like that for me. And really good books are the cold front, the gust of wind that changes the icy fog into piles of real snow. The best books that come through my life are the ones that crystallize those delicate, foggy ideas that dance on the edge of your mind, and hide just past the corner of your eye.


No matter where they may fall on the grand landscape of  literature, a really great book is one that gives important ideas something to grip.  A really great book takes ideas, gives them a voice and a vocabulary, and turns foggy notions into a tangible, knowable,  speak-able ideas.  As Christopher Fleming ("Dead Famous", www.unknownmagazine.com) puts it "believing is one thing, knowing is another".  A good read can take a foggy notion or a poorly defined belief and turn it into knowing. 


There have been a number of authors that have given me that sort of experience. Most are well-known names: Richard Bach, Ted Andrews, Michael Newton's "Journey of Souls", the Tao Te Ching and many more. I just finished a book that can go into this special section of my Geek Girl's Bookshelf...."Witchlight: Witches on Parole" by Debora Geary (www.deborageary.com).


If you need it to be just fun, lighthearted brain-candy, this book can do that. This book has everything I like from the "Modern Witch" series and adds a secret surprise inside. 


I'm not surprised that the author is a knitter (www.ravelry.com). She takes themes like self-discovery, self-acceptance, personal responsibility balanced with fun and knits them together in a burst of color and wraps the story around a core group of realistic, wonderful, relate-able characters. This books adds yet another thread to the pattern - the role of a mentor and the way they learn from the students as much as the students learn from the mentor. Substitute "master" for "mentor" (not really different in this case) and this book very much resonates with my long-past experience teach martial arts. She reflects something very true, which would be plenty for any book to accomplish.


But there, wrapped in the heart of the book, is an epiphany.


In one scene, a group of friends are talking about how an old  mentor had profoundly impacted Jenny, who. in her turn, has just become a mentor for the first time. Then a nine year old healer-in-training in the room hits us with this:


"He helped you be awesome"


Which in turn made Jenny realize they could indeed help her new protoges "find their awesome too".


"Sure," the young healer agreed. "It's what witches do."


Witches, bakers, knitters, healers, mentors...writers: That really is what they do. It doesn't matter if they teach martial arts, do tarot readings, help healing, or create a fun bit of fiction...the what isn't nearly as important as the awesome. The point of writing, teaching, healing, being a friend or just walking around on planet Earth  is to help people "find their awesome". What more loving, compassionate thing is there to do?


And there is some kind of awesome in all of us. We just have to find it. It can be anything...writing a good book, knitting a soft sweater, baking yummy cookies, doing a tarot reading - anything. The true test of finding your awesome is if it helps others find theirs too.


You. Yes, you. You there looking at a screen reading this - you are awesome!


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Addendum: I don't know who created the happy clipart in this and other posts. I found it in a "public domain"  + play search on Google. Whoever you are...thanks!


www.ModernOracleTarot.com

Today's Tarot and a Favorite Quote: Death Card

Death is a difficult subject both in Tarot and in Life. This quote pretty much sums things up.

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, 

the Master calls a butterfly"

~Richard Bach

Life, Lemons, and the 10 of Swords

10 of Swords: The ashes of our tradgies is the birplace of our phoenix. Rise.


The 10 of swords isn't an omen of doom.The 10 of swords is an important card ... maybe one of the most important of the minor arcana. It touches a universal theme that has been ensconced in proverbs, adages, posters and mugs throughout the ages:


"Into every life a little rain must fall"


"Plan for the worst and hope for the best"


"Life is just one darn thing after another"


"Sh** Happens"


"Fall seven times, get up eight"


When (when, not if, you'll notice) life hands you lemons....


The 10 of swords isn't some movie occult evil prediction of tragedy...it is a reminder that no life is perfect, tragedy and defeat does happen, and asks us to think about what we well do when it does happen.


"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands" ~ Richard Bach


Another point of the triumph-from-tragedy, phoenix-from-ashes aspect of this card is the number 10 itself. It is the highest number of any card suite. It represents fullness, even excess. It is the tipping point where one thing begins to become its opposite. The 10 of swords is the tipping point, where tragedy can become triumph. It is the oven where we can turn those lemons into meringue pie.


Wishing you a lemonade kind of day


www.rondasnow.com
www.ModernOracleTarot.com