When I received the report from DNA company 23 & Me that I am 2% Neanderthal, I was a little embarrassed. However, as I stood in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain I couldn’t be prouder. It was discovered that more than 40,000 years ago, Neanderthal drew symbols onto the cave wall, making this Northern Spain location the oldest cave art and use of symbolism in the world.
Ancient symbolism wasn’t just limited to Neanderthal. Shaman, medicine people, mystics, and sages throughout the time have always known that the soul communicates through the use of symbols, metaphors, archetypes, poetry, and mystical imagination. The soul seems to know human language is far too limiting to express the full spectrum of knowledge, insight, and revelation.
A symbol is not just an image; it’s like a door into our inner world through which we can access the energy and meaning that belongs to this sacred dimension of our self. However, a symbol will only reveal its magical nature if we approach it with the right attitude if we have the correct quality of consciousness. Symbolic consciousness is a way of working with symbols that allows their meaning and energy into our consciousness. It is like a key that is needed to unlock the real potential, the energy of a symbol.
The ancient art of feng shui is also the language of symbolism, archetypes, and mystical imagination. Although feng shui is a complex school of thought on how to direct the flow of energy so that it moves freely and organically, feng shui also uses symbolism to balance the yin and yang energy and the chi of any space.
A symbol is a mark, sign, color, word, or object that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by linking otherwise different concepts and experiences and are often used to convey other ideas or beliefs. A symbol becomes significant and represents something beyond its literal meaning when we animate that symbol with our personal beliefs.
Here are some common examples of everyday symbols:
The dove is a symbol of peace.
Elephants represent many things but the elephant with its trunk in an upright position is said to be symbolic for wisdom.
Incense is symbolically based on the scent. For example, rose would be for love and frankincense would be symbolic for money.
According to Irish legends, horseshoes are symbolic of luck especially if they are hung over one’s front door. Finding a horseshoe was considered a good luck symbol due to the value of the iron.
The Tortoise is one of Feng Shui’s four celestial guardians, which makes it an extremely powerful protective symbol. Perfect for the front of any home.
Bamboo is symbolic for many reasons. It represents growth and the number of stalks gives the plant different symbolic meaning.
The color red and the heart are both symbolic for passion, love, and romance.
Examples of Hand of Miriam (Hamsa) in contemporary IsraelThe Hamsa is important to Islamic and Jewish history in culture. It is a symbolic amulet for protection. Also known at the hand of Fatima, the Hamsa is a revered symbol of divine safekeeping, worn to dispel negative energy.
The Cross is a sign of infinite love.
Pigs represent wealth because you had to be wealthy in the Middle Ages to maintain many pigs.
The Lotus Flower is symbolic for an awakening.
Photo by Lerkrat Tangsri from Pexels
Symbolic consciousness has been central to our lives for thousands and thousands of years, dating back to Neanderthal. Consciously and subconsciously we are always striving to make sense of the world and our place in it. Through working with symbols we can have access to the energy and meaning that comes from our inner world while animating the flow of chi in our outer world.
It’s that time again when most of us haul a tree into our living rooms, decorate it, and then put gifts underneath it. But why do we do this, and when did this tradition start?
An evergreen fir tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God.
Nobody is really sure when Fir trees were first used as Christmas trees. It probably began about 1000 years ago in Northern Europe. Many early Christmas trees seem to have been hung upside down from the ceiling using chains (hung from chandeliers/lighting hooks).
The first person to bring a Christmas tree into a house, in the way we know it today, may have been the 16th-century German preacher Martin Luther. A story is told that one night before Christmas, he was walking through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches. It was so beautiful, that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas.
I think there are a couple of things we can learn from Christmas trees: be the light in the darkness, sparkle as much as possible, and it’s ok to be a little tilted. I feel Charlie Brown summed up my feelings about Christmas trees perfectly, “It’s not what’s under your tree, but who’s around it.” Indeed.
If not for old photographs, I might have a hard time believing you were ever a blind baby or costume-wearing toddler, or that your first words were in Spanish. My baby is gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in the foot taller than me man you have grown into. We read the news outlets and you have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in your opinion of them or disagreeing with me on anything actually. You need razor blades, shower gel, and privacy, and yet it does seem like yesterday when you would waddle into my bedroom and sing, “Eyes and ears and knees and toes, knees and toes.” It had been my privilege and honor to share every day with you, every lacrosse game, teachers visit, science fair, ROTC performance, and award presentations.
Regrets? A few. I wish I would have gotten mad less but then I would never have heard you say, “Calm your crazy ass down!” Which, as you know, makes me howl with laughter.
Victories? A few. You know how to dance, rope, and ride. You have a heart for service and your work with the military vets continues to inspire me. Not only is your first language Spanish but you embrace the culture.
You know that our attempt to understand or define God is not only ridiculous but also ego-centered.
You know there is a space, a place, beyond our five senses that Christians call heaven and hell; Buddhists and Hindus call it interval between lifetimes; and Aboriginal people call it the unseen world. Your faith in what lies beyond your five senses is being replaced by the experience of it.
You have your own agenda, you have for years. It’s not my agenda, not what I would choose, but you have more courage than I do. You don’t allow someone else’s fear-based version of life to interfere with yours. My respect for you escalates. You are going to be all right.
I hope you fail and mess up sometimes because that means you are trying new things.
I hope you understand the darkness, bad days, guilt, frustration, anger, and pain; all of these are catalysts for growth and will push you to better places when you step into them.
I hope you always believe good days are always coming, and that life is too short to play small. And I hope you carry my admiration, respect, and love with you always.
As your childhood comes to an end, it seems my work with you is complete, or you with me, since it was you raising me these past 18 years.
Go well, Samuel Luke, my son. Go knowing that your father and I will be here, setting you a place at the table for one of our family dinners, and Panzer will be laying in front of the kitchen door, waiting for you to return, as we all will be.
Breakups are horrible during normal times, and these are far from normal times. This unprecedented time has been testing couples greatly and is bringing underlying issues to the surface. For whatever reason, you’ve determined that your relationship just can’t survive this chaotic time period. For some the pandemic created a need for deeper connections, others see it as the time to end failing relationships. Either way, here are some strategies on how to gracefully and respectfully let go of a relationship so that you can continue to grow while contained.
Artist Carrie Fell
None of these suggestions may be the key to unlock your burden and perhaps guilt, and that’s ok. That magical key may not even exist but here are some ideas on how to start.
Let your partner go with love and compassion. If possible have a face-to-face conversation with your partner or a Zoom call if you are in quarantine; to wish them well and let them go respectfully. Thank them for something specific they brought to you and share how they made a difference in your life. If your partner is not willing to speak with you, still have the conversation as if they are in front of you. This is important because the chi of your words is releasing that gratitude into the energy that surrounds you.
Gather up any items from the relationship. Get a container and fill it with old photographs and any gifts that were received. All of these items contain the chi of the partnership and they need to physically be removed from your space. I suggest that you do not throw anything away – yet. You never know what may happen. Give the box to a trusted friend to keep.
Take an Epsom salt bath. Soaking in a relaxing Epsom salt bath has cleansing abilities and can help clear away any negative feelings or negative energy that surrounds you from others. And, this will keep you grounded. Salt, after all, comes from the earth.
Buy a new mattress if you can. We spend hours and hours a night on our mattresses and they hold a great deal of chi from our relationships. If you can’t buy a new mattress then flip the mattress and do a sage clearing. Burn sage all around the mattress and the bedroom and open up the windows and doors and release all that chi.
Spend time alone. Before you move on to your next relationship, embrace the pain; spend time alone reflecting on what happened, and take some needed time to heal. Spending time alone will leave you better, not bitter. No one can piece your heart back together for you, be strong enough to do this for yourself. If you can, your patience and perseverance will definitely pay off.
Breakups are deep and raw and there’s no easy way around them. Leave your partner in such a way that allows them to believe in love moving forward and give yourself time to mourn. By ending things with empathy integrity, love, and compassion, you’ll set an example for how they should expect to treat others and be treated in the future. And if that’s not good chi, I don’t know what is.
Life is about balance. The atom, which is the fundamental building block of all matter, always strives towards a balance of positive (proton) and negative (electron) charges. If it cannot maintain balance within its own structure, it forms clusters that maintain balance with other atoms and molecules are formed. The point being, that even at the most fundamental level, the universe seeks to maintain balance.
Nature’s endless dance is all about maintaining balance in the natural ecosystem and in the species present on the planet.
Why should humans be exempt from this grand cosmic interplay?
Of course, we are not, but we do let ourselves get further out of balance than is healthy at times. In these instances, we would be wise to bring ourselves back into harmony by identifying those areas, which are becoming polarized.
According to Taoist philosophy, the universe was created as a result of the combination of creative yang energy and receptive yin energy, the two building blocks of energy. Yin and yang are two sides of the same coin; one can’t exist without the other. We, humans, have a right hand and a left hand; a right leg and a left leg, both sides are needed for balance.
The yin yang energy is always striving for balance. Too much yang results in rushing active energy, too much yin results in passive stagnation. Each of us is made up of both yin and yang energy, also known as masculine and feminine energy. The left and right hemispheres of the brain are another way yin and yang energy is expressed in each of us. The right hemisphere is the feminine yin side, which gives us intuitive and abstract insights. The left hemisphere is the masculine yang energy, which controls analytical and logical reasoning. It’s easy to think yin and yang energy as female and male, respectively.
However, yin and yang energy show up in many other ways. While men usually do have more yang energy and women have more yin energy this is not always the case. Gender and sexuality are only one facet through which yin and yang are expressed through people. Other ways are: intuitive – rational; soft- strong; introvert-extrovert; soft- strong; calm-excited. If striking a balance of yin and yang energy is not achieved, then we have disharmony, which can lead to anxiety, lack of focus, worries about the future, depression, stress, and over or underweight, etc.
Stress and illness are nature’s way of telling you that you’re out of balance. The cure is simple.Balance can be re-established by receiving what was given in excess. Take the time to nourish yourself, to nurture yourself.
There are many ways to find your ways back to balance, below are some suggestions:
Reach out to nature – take a walk or a hike and absorb the chi of nature into yourself with every breath you take.
Nutrition – look for foods that are fresh or organic. Avoid anything with a label because the chi has been processed out.
Water –Water will rehydrate you and help flush out any toxins.
Meditation – find a time each day to quiet your mind.
Bodywork – energy modalities like acupuncture and reiki will help to release the physical manifestations of stress and move your chi energetically through all the meridians lines in your body.
Tai Chi or yoga – movements help to balance body, mind, and spirit so that you will be able to recognize disharmony before it gets out of hand.
It’s that time again when most of us haul a tree into our living rooms, decorate it, and then put gifts underneath it. But why do we do this, and when did this tradition start?
I think there are a couple of things we can learn from Christmas trees: be the light in the darkness, sparkle as much as possible, and it’s ok to be a little tilted. I feel Charlie Brown summed up my feelings about Christmas trees perfectly, “It’s not what’s under your tree, but who’s around it.” Indeed.
If not for old photographs, I might have a hard time believing you were ever a blind baby or costume-wearing toddler, or that your first words were in Spanish. My baby is gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in the foot taller than me man you have grown into. We read the news outlets and you have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in your opinion of them or disagreeing with me on anything actually. You need razor blades, shower gel, and privacy, and yet it does seem like yesterday when you would waddle into my bedroom and sing, “Eyes and ears and knees and toes, knees and toes.” It had been my privilege and honor to share every day with you, every lacrosse game, teachers visit, science fair, ROTC performance, and award presentations.
As your childhood comes to an end, it seems my work with you is complete, or you with me, since it was you raising me these past 18 years.
