“when you live on a round planet, there’s no choosing sides” - wayne dyer

dear earth by katie daisy

When I was three years old I decided to take a walk on the metal bar on the top of our backyard swingset.

(one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' kind of decisions I still make sometimes decades later - ugh)

Within a few seconds I was lying on the ground flat on my back and unable to breathe.

I could hear my grandmother through the kitchen window just a few feet away and I wanted to call out to her but couldn't speak.

Just as I was starting to really panic I heard a man's voice say "blow" ... and I did.

(I somehow knew it was my grandfather's voice although he'd died a few weeks before I was born)

I hadn't had the wind knocked out of me as much as into me - what I needed to do was exhale.

I have felt like this for the last few days - I think most of us have.

This powerful ending to this powerful time period designed to wake us the hell up - has done its job.

We are all awake now. 

Tomorrow we have the much hyped Mayan calender end-date of 12/21/12.

As an armchair astrologer

(when I can wrestle my armchair away from Olive, who has spent the last few weeks dangling from it, head hanging dangerously close to the heater, ignoring the usual Christmas chaos in the studio - next year I'm getting her one of those wrist tape dispensers - if she can work her way into a bin of blue buffalo with her toenail, she can certainly work one of those)

I can tell you that there is an interesting astrological pattern that culminates this week - it's a test of faith, a fork in the road, a road toward a more spiritually enlightened future - a time of choice - a time of enlightenment.

(ie more light getting in - a lot more light actually).

Enlightenment isn't something we have to work at. It's something we choose in the moment when we choose love (soul) over fear (ego) - we either choose it or we don't - we don't have to work toward it - we don't have to do anything other than choose ....

(astrologically speaking this period is also the great remembering - why we are here, where we are from - we are all going to have access to a lot more information; nothing will be able to hide anymore - we also see the rise of the feminine and secrets being brought to light since there will be no more dark corners to hide in)

We were born to do this. We are here at this time in this planet's history to build a new world. The world (as we know it) is ending. The new one is up to us. We just have to commit. When we commit, energy is unleashed. Signs follow commitment. We will know what to do when we need to know.

(and this "signs follow commitment" thing is why when we are trying to make a decision and we are looking for signs to tell us what to do the signs just don't come - we have to commit first - this is a free will universe after all, we decide)

We don't get to have our dream come true until we have our dream.

What kind of world are we dreaming of? Some believe this change will happen in a moment. Maybe. It only takes a moment for a person to be broken open - for more light to be able to enter. There are certainly moments in our personal histories after which nothing is the same and the planet is no different.

When I look ahead to the full moon on the 28th though it looks like our faith is heavily tested so maybe this shift does not happen in a moment, at least not in a totally obvious way (or maybe the testing is for those of us heavily invested in more fear-based religious teachings). Then Saturn sextiles Pluto and demands "patience".

This transformation is slow but thorough; maybe there is no quick fix but no stone will be left unturned.

We change the world by changing ourselves. We change the world by choosing love over fear. We simply choose ... again and again ...

There is a live global webcast on Birth2012 and information on The Shift. Everything inside me is telling me that this Shift is the real deal - maybe some of you are resonating with this, too.

Anything we can do right now to focus on what we do want - love, joy, peace - helps to anchor in this energy. Throw a party. Smile (maybe not that big old crazy smiles where we show our gums and everything). Laugh- laughter is very powerful stuff. Whatever we love to do - this would be a good time to do it.

xo everyone

(also the 12/28 full moon is an 'oak tree' moon - the oak tree symbolizes strength, tolerance, eternity and wisdom - the tree of winter - the fruit of the oak tree is mistletoe so it wouldn't hurt to have a little in our homes now - also gives us a good reason to plant some smooches on those who wander underneath)

My Etsy Interview is Up Today!

My Quit Your Day Job Interview for Etsy is HERE - will post more about this later!

10 Lessons I Learned from 2012 ...

2013 calendar by f2images

I am starting my countdown to 2013 a little bit early because

1. I always get backed up (by orders) and sidetracked (by cheesecake) this time of year and 2. if we all ascend on 12/21/12 I want to have some of this down on paper

(or virtual paper anyway)

as actual proof that I really did come away from this amazing powerful year with some kind of insights. 

Lesson #10 - There are not enough people in my life. 

Now, I am normally a little detached - I think this comes from a lifetime of people either really liking me or really not liking me very quickly after meeting me - their feelings having no connection to how nice or friendly or kind I am to them that I can see

(I blame my Scorpio rising sign for a kind of annoying intensity and my Nell-like Appalachia/NJ upbringing).

This "not enough people" thing has come up for me in many ways over the past year. Most recently I saw an old coworker at the store. When I worked with him he talked to his wife on speaker phone eight times a day. She always sounded absolutely FRANTIC about something, and when they hung up she would shriek, "Oh, I love you so much!" Every time. In the same tone of voice I would use if George were being dragged off by the Taliban. This is the main only thing I remember about him.

He was going on and on about all these people I used to know because apparently he still knows them and I was thinking ... why are none of these people in my life anymore (of course 10 minutes into this conversation I was thinking about slamming my car door on my head which is probably another reason there are not enough people in my life - short. attention. span.).

Anyhoo, that's all I have learned at this point - no idea how I am going to get more people in my life - yes, I realize I just said "get people" the same way others might say "get a pepperoni pizza" and yes, I realize this could be part of my problem, too ...

Christmas Countdown - Upcycled Puzzle Key Rack / Keychain

I turned this adorable vintage Peanuts puzzle into a handy hanging key rack in just a few minutes!

The total plus is that I get to carry my keys on a keychain shaped liked Snoopy's ear

(hubs is not so happy with the shoe, but the maker always gets first choice with things like this - it's a universal law ... like gravity)

All you need to have your own little keyrack is a wood tray puzzle (the puzzle has its own cut out holder), eyehooks, washers, keyrings, velcro, glue and a drill.

It doesn't get much easier than this.

Get yourself an awesome tray puzzle (preferably Snoopy - trust me, you need Snoopy for this one) - I got this puzzle from RetroRocketBaby then remove the pieces, add a sawtooth hanger to the back (you might want to measure for this, I like giant sawtooths so I can just eyeball them)

AVOID MY MISTAKE - be certain your hanger goes into the tray border or it will pop through into your puzzle area and your pieces will not lay flat

Glue the pieces you will not be using as keychains into the tray. Drill holes in your 'keychain' pieces and add a washer and eyehook. Add velcro to the back of your keychain and the corresponding velcro to the area of the puzzle that holds that piece.

Voila! Puzzle/Key Rack (if you are lucky enough to get to carry around Snoopy's ear you will thank me for this one) - if you have a lot of keys you may need a long strip of velcro (or get rid of those keys you don't use - hubs says it's bad for your ignition to have all that weight hanging there anyway)

Etsy Gift Card Giveaway on EcoKaren! are ya' feelin' lucky ...

A few of us on Team EcoEtsy donated some moula to EcoKaren's Hurrican Sandy Relief - she was able to purchase and donate 20 heaters to Sandy's needy!

Karen is now giving away 2 Etsy Gift Cards that can be used in any of the following donor shops:  
Polarity, Uncorked, Zosimos Botanicals, Wild Dog Studio (Olive is begging for a playdate here!), BeJeweledNH, FashionGreenTBags, and Herbanluxe

You can enter HERE

Manifesting for Makers - Part III (continued) Connection - the service to others part of manifesting / our calling

print by Jon Van Gilder

See previous posts in this series HERE HERE HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

"Do what you love and the money will follow."

YES - but it is not always a connect the dots, straight line  kind of thing. Life will absolutely support us doing what we love but we are not here to make money doing what we love.

We are much bigger than that.

We are here to make a life doing what we love.

We are here to do what we love that serves others. We serve others by doing what we love - this sounds like a circle because it is - the point of power is with us.

This serving others thing isn't about martyrdom and self-sacrifice because we are totally over that.

(and if we're not - we need to be ... fast - life just doesn't support this way of being in the world anymore - the old paradigm of giving away our power and authority to others - of expecting someone or something to save us or us trying to save others is part of the old energy system)

Doing what we love that serves others too, agrees that we are all in this together - one of the principal teachings of a Course in Miracles is "there is only one of us here" - in this way everything we do effects everyone and everything else.

Does this mean that if we love to let's say, knit, that we will be able to make a living with our knitting?  Well, we will be able to make a life with our knitting (and the 100 other things we are passionate about most likely, it is not such an all or nothing journey).

If a girl's called to knit, then that girl should knit. Not knitting because it won't pay the electric bill is playing small and we are here to play big - knowing what we love and doing it expands everything. Life will send us a way to pay the electric bill. Life will support our following our passions to the extent we contribute to the world.

 (and yes, it may be a through our own Etsy shop selling scarves and a part-time job at the local bookstore during the day so we can knit at night while we watch American Idol because who knows how our work at the bookstore will touch our life and the lives of other people)

Many people I know are looking for ways to be of service these days - wanting to make a living doing something totally outward focused - helping other people, doing what they are called to do. The world is moving in this direction and it is moving in this direction because we are.

This direction, for now, still includes money. If we see the world as a corrupt place or money as a corrupting force in society (it isn't)  - we need to be looking at how this is so in our own life. How are we allowing ourselves to be corrupted by money? We change the world by changing ourselves.

(ie doing things we are not in alignment with to make money or save money - I am not liking the word 'save' these days, substituting the word 'invest' feels more in alignment with the new paradigm - we are investing in the future, not saving for a rainy day, for example, also the words making a living referring to making money has to go away, too)

Also I will add for anyone who is open to this way of thinking that I have seen many maker's  charts and often artists and healers come into this lifetime with a disconnect from money - from lives where they didn't need to deal with that energy and so have never learned to - lives where they were taken care of or unhealthy or lived in communal situations or have taken vows of poverty in previous lives - note - if this sounds like something you might resonate with it can never hurt to ask your higher self to seek release from this vow - a friend told me it felt like a rock rolled off her back after meditating on release.

When we raise our vibration; everything raises with us (the only one of us here thing). The tide isn't carrying us, we are the tide.

To recap this manifesting thing - 1. We practice compassion (nonjudgment with others and ourselves)

2. We don't have to know what you want (thinking we have to know this is what gets so many of us stuck) - we just have to know how we want to feel. We focus on the things we already have that make us feel this way. We set our intention.

Vision Board TIP - I used to be very big on vision boards and have had a lot of success with them- I always start my vision board with pictures of what I already have in my life - things I am grateful for and am already in vibration with, so for example if I want more recognition (still working on releasing this one) I would start the board with images of ways I have been recognized - cards from my daughter, thank you notes, awards, articles, blah-blah - I would get myself into the vibration of that and then add images of this in bigger ways to my board.

3. We don't have to make things happen, we just have to get out of our own way (this isn't about laziness or inaction - this is about getting to a place of compassion and alignment with the vibration we want and using the law of attraction to bring to us what we need; what we are here to manifest, what is truly ours).

4. We focus on the part of this that supports others.
5. We release our attachment to the outcome.
6. We take action on the things that come into our life.

(and recaps suck because this sounds like bull$hit and I really hope the posts said more than this)

Anyhoo, this series is a bit all over the place - I took too long to write it and with with no time to go back and read and edit, it feels a little wanting to me - I hope someone can get something useful out of it anyway - I  have to wrap it up until after the holidays because life is starting to get a little bit... well, bat $hit crazy actually (excuse my Jersey again). The hurricane seems to have blown away 3 weeks of my life along with the little town of Mantoloking and I am still playing catch up ...

Tomorrow is a lunar eclipse and a full moon and I'm hoping to do a post about that - heads up though!

The Hopi Prophecy

To my fellow swimmers:

here is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift,
that there are those who will be afraid,
who will try to hold on to the shore,
they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know that the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
push off into the middle of the river,
and keep our heads above water.
And I say see who is there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history we are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves.
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

For we are the ones we have been waiting for.