Category Archives: Choices

Transitions and More Time for the Good Things

I wrote to you not long ago about my desire to step back from my publishing company (Idyll Arbor) to spend more time on work related to We All Have Souls. I asked for your help finding someone to take over the company. I appreciate your suggestions and I’m pleased to announce that Idyll Arbor has found the person.

Beginning next year Lori Barnes will be the co-president of Idyll Arbor, Inc. Lori has worked for Idyll Arbor over the last ten years specializing in our Pine Winds Press and Issues Press imprints. She is ready to take on the added tasks of developing and marketing books for recreational therapists and activity professionals.

Over the next few years, I will continue working here as we complete this transition. Part of this transition will include the relocation of the publishing company to the state of Indiana where Lori currently lives, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

When that is done, my plans become much more fluid. I’m hoping to spend more time writing, teaching, and healing. Perhaps I’ll even be able to travel more, depending on how the changes in our world affect those possibilities. As I figure out more, I’ll let you know.

Earth, Air, Fire, and Water

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Four elements.

Our lives change all the time. In the shamanic world, the big changes are often seen as initiations. I think the little changes can be initiations, too. How we handle changes is the biggest part of how we feel about our lives and ourselves.

This discussion is about change in physical reality. So I want to look at how we change when we take on the essences of earth, air, fire, or water.

Earth. Change is inevitable. When we try to stand solidly, when we are rock, change crushes us into dust. Or we crack like the earth splitting Continue reading and add your comment →

Solutions for The Divide in America

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There are many ways to describe the divide in America — political, racial, economic. But most descriptions do not lead to solutions. I propose a way of looking at the divide that might help us come together again.

I suggest that the most important divide in America is the divide about sovereignty. Many still wish to be ruled by someone or something else, but more and more of us believe we have an absolute right to choose for ourselves. Personal sovereignty is important and healing. It’s the “absolute right” part that is causing problems.

This is part of a larger picture. There is a nearly universal consensus among people doing soul-related work: We are in a time of great change. The basic structure of our world will soon be different and humans need to change if they want to continue to exist. I agree with this. Continue reading and add your comment →

Curses of Slavery 3 — Notes about Healing America

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This is part 3 of a healing I did. For more information about this kind of healing, please take a look the earlier post, “Curses of Slavery Overview.” In that post I describe the beings and concepts that were part of the healing and might be unfamiliar to you. If you start there, you’ll find links to the earlier parts of the healing.

The most important point is that we can’t fight evil in the present. We need to go back and clean up the past so the evil we are in dissolves. As this healing shows, dealing with evil in the past rescues lost souls and removes the curses that cause our battles today. When we remove past curses with love, we heal without causing more harm.

29 August 2017

Well, it took longer than “tomorrow” for me to be ready to work on this again. It’s four days later and I’m still not sure I’m ready. We’ll try.

I put on my armor, call my helpers, remind myself again not to touch anything. I am supported by psychopomps, Light Tangler, two sets of khuyas from my personal mesa and my healing mesa, apus, Daddy Death, the Norns, and Grandfather Rock. Others are looking on and will help if we need it. I take time to work with my ñawis.

In soul reality I am in the center of my circle, standing at my crossroads. Hoocha Eater Khuya removes the hoocha from the inside of the circle. I close the circle to the outside.

Tom: Rider, can we take this circle and place it around Woman?
Rider: Carry it with us? Use it as protection? Maybe. We can try. We stand at the center, at the crossroads. Woman stands at her crossroads. We make them the same crossroads.
Tom: I can’t make it work.
Rider: Neither can I.
Tom: The best I can do is to put them side by side. That’s not what we need. I guess we’ll just have to go to her.

Rider takes us there. Continue reading and add your comment →

River of Blessings, River of Sorrows, and “Come Away O Human Child”

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One view of the River of Blessings

I want to talk today about the River of Blessings, the River of Sorrows, and the poem “The Stolen Child” by William Butler Yeats. From these three elements I believe we can learn more about our souls’ purpose. The elements point out a path to a healthy soul and a well lived life… maybe.

I learned about the River of Blessings from Betsy Bergstrom <http://betsybergstrom.com>. When she teaches how to remove curses, she goes back to the beginning, where the curse was first made. It may be in this life. But most curses I have found go back many lives. At the moment a curse is created we can remove its power. The removal of the curse cascades through the generations to the present time, and beyond. I believe everything from the time of the curse removal to now is changed. Continue reading and add your comment →

President-Elect Donald Trump

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The United States of America has elected Donald Trump as its next President. The campaign’s power, determination, and connection to the wishes of the American people were very strong.

I hope we can show the same power and determination (with, perhaps, more humility) in getting out the message that We All Have Souls.

Now it’s time to renew our positive connections with one another. We don’t banish the darkness by being dark. We don’t calm anger by being angry. We don’t end hate by hating.

We need to find the spark of the creator in everyone and turn that into a flame. That flame needs to light up the shadows so we can see ourselves clearly. And admit that because we are human, the shadows will always be there.

We need to find the calmness to look at our deep connections. We all wish for safety and love, enough food and protective shelter, respect and acknowledgement of our worth. There will always be change, and fear of change. What we need to know is that when the change causes us harm, there will be someone there to help us.

Knowing that we all have souls points out clearly that each of us owes that support to everyone and everything in the physical and soul worlds. With that kind of support, we can continue to grow.

I love you all.

Garden Slugs vs. Highest and Best Good

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The question of highest and best good can be tricky in complex situations. And everything in the physical world tends to be tricky. I think about this when I have to choose between two ways of looking at highest and best good.

For example, slugs are invading my garden as I write this. When I ask the question of highest and best good for the system, what do I include? There’s me, of course. I want to include the plants and the food I’ll get from them. There are all the other animals and insects that are part of the garden ecology. And then there are the slugs.

Getting rid of the slugs is best for my garden and me, but probably not best for the slugs. For those of you who don’t know, slugs are migratory. In other words, if I move them away from the garden, there’s a good chance they will come back. They also hide really well Continue reading and add your comment →