Love Is

In  my quest to find the answers to life's biggest questions, the question "What is love?" is perhaps the most difficult to answer because it is so ubiquitous. To answer the question with the statement "love is" just didn't satisfy my hunger to really know and define love.

The reductionist in me had me looking at love under the microscope of life. The visionary in me broadened my view to include all of creation.  Everywhere I looked, from the tall to the small, I found love.  Yes, love is all there is but what is all there is?

In Glenda Green's book, Love Without End,Jesus Speaks, she talks about adamantine particles, the fundamental particles of creation that respond only to love. These particles are smaller than atoms, or protons, neutrons, and electrons.  Perhaps they are even smaller than bosons and leptons.  Whatever their size, if they respond only to love, then love commands the universe.

Moving up to the atomic level, hydrogen is the simplest of all elements, containing only one proton and one electron.  It is the most abundant element in the universe.  Our sun is mostly hydrogen. Some researchers have even speculated that hydrogen is the memory stick that plugs into the akashic records. It is because of hydrogen bonding that DNA is able to "unzip" and replicate.

At the molecular level, lets look at water because of its association with emotion and its ubiquity.  Our bodies are approximately 70-80% water similar to earth. Water is made of mostly hydrogen and it is hydrogen bonding that is responsible for many of water's unique characteristics, including its ability to structure itself. 

Researchers have found that water responds to love.  Dr. Emoto's ground-breaking research with water shows us that water holds memory.  He and other researchers discovered that the emotion of love structures water and forms a beautiful crystal when flash-frozen.  Structured water, as I am writing about in my second book, is the key to the transference of information throughout the body.  Love our water, love ourselves is one obvious conclusion from this research.  What does it mean to "love" our water or anything else for that matter?  I am back to where I started.  What is love?

Love is an emotion.  We innately know what love feels like to give it and receive it.  Since emotions are energy in motion, and all energy has a frequency, then love must be a particular frequency.  Once again, our words are literal; the term "good vibrations" is often associated with love.  Love is a good vibration.

According to Dan Winter, the feeling of love is the result of the harmonic wave pattern created in the heart, which in turn affects how tightly your DNA helix is braided. A magnetic X, as he calls it, is produced in your heart's electromagnetic field. The magnetic rush you feel when you are close to someone you love is the result of this magnetic X.  Your DNA braids its strands according to the golden mean ratio and this produces the emotion of bliss.  I would say that is a good vibration.

Drunvalo Melchizedek says love is the golden mean ratio - the harmonic expression of nature.  Perhaps Karen Carpenter was right.  "...all you get from love is a love song."  The harmony of love permeates all of creation creating a symphony whose purpose is to blissfully give praise to the grand architect of it all.

How do you define love?  Please share your definitions of love and while you are it, please send love to water.  Water is so important to all of life.  My love to water and to you, my readers!  Thank you.

Tipping Point

Lessons come in various sizes and shapes, generally wearing a clever disguise.

After being immersed in an intense death phase and forgetting what seems to be real is an illusion, I went out job hunting.  My 3-D visible financial resources are low and I thought going back to what was, the 9 to 5 routine, was the way out.

One day I went to a job fair and had a screening interview for a manager position.  The interview went well and I received a call that night for another interview the next day.  Prior to the second interview, I checked my email. I received an email from my website contact form with the subject line, "Remembering Your Divinity" (part of the current title for my next book).  A woman was asking when my second book would be available as she wanted to purchase it!  Would I betray the book if I took this job, which would require much more than an eight hour day?  Had I forgotten my divinity?

The interview went well even after sharing the nature of my, yet to be completed, second book.  Perhaps having this job will provide the money to publish the book, I rationalized.

I moved to the next stage of the hiring process, a critical thinking test which I passed.  When I received a call from the company on my birthday informing me they forgot to schedule me for the personality portion of the testing, I immediately noted the timing.  Here I am on my rebirth day, as I call it, taking a personality test.  While taking the test, I asked myself, "Just whom do you wish to rebirth Joan?"  In other words, will you answer from your heart or will you give the answer you think the company wants?  Still true to myself,  and to my amazement, I "passed" the personality test.

On to yet another interview with some hospital managers with whom I would be working if I got the job.  I was half way through the interview when I realized I didn't want the job.  It became crystal clear that I would be selling my soul for money.  In that moment, I realized how much I needed to write the book and how much I love writing it!

The very last question of this week-long ordeal was, "Do you know Joy Cerio?  In the moment I didn't realize the real significance of what he had asked and responded in the usual 3-D manner.  It took but a second after my conventional response for me to understand what the universe was asking me. Just add a pause after the word joy (Cerio being my last name) and I think you get the picture!  Am I living in joy?  Will this job add to my joy?  No.

The next day I was notified I wasn't chosen for the position.  Of course not.  My heart was not in it.  I didn't choose the job so why would it choose me? 

What the experience showed me was that I was not trusting even though I thought I was. As my friend Mark David wrote in his novel The MoonQuest, you either trust or you don't.  There is no in between.  I clearly was not trusting.

I did some automatic writing for myself during this never-ending interview process.  I wrote that I am at a tipping point.  Why not?  2011 may be a tipping point for all of us.  Since I wrote this, I have heard this phrase used in various articles and by various reporters describing current events.  What huge change inside me is about to happen that will forever change how I operate in the world?

In the shower this morning I played a mind game.  I asked myself a series of "what if" questions.
What if I'm really not "from here?"
What if I came here with a divine purpose?
What if every choice I have made so far has provided the ideal experiences to support me carrying out my divine purpose?
What if the past eight years of soul searching and clearing, of unfolding who I really am, was not only for me but had a greater purpose?
What if I totally trust the universe will provide for me?
What if I defy logic and concentrate on finishing my second book instead of looking for a 9 to 5 job?
What if writing this book is part of my divine purpose?
What if I follow my heart in every moment?
What if I remember my divinity?

Sometimes we know something so deeply we miss the forest for the tree.  Saying these words tripped a switch within all of my cells and opened a new neural pathway in my brain.  Sounds like a tipping point to me?  Perhaps now I will live in joy.

As I continue to process this latest "ah ha" moment, I also continue to surrender to the moment of now.  Everything happens in the glorious moment of now.  Even tipping points.

As Dead as a Door-nail

"The Marleys were dead to begin with - as dead as a door-nail."  So begins The Muppet Christmas Carol.   My name is not Marley and I'm not a Muppet, but I am "as dead as a door-nail."

As this year is coming to a close, my life, as I have known it, it also coming to a close.  I am in a death phase.  Doors of all kinds are closing.  It is time to let go of everything.

During my last trip to Sedona, I reluctantly went to a full moon ceremony with a friend who wanted to introduce me to the owners of the retreat where the ceremony was held.  Participating in the ceremony was like pulling teeth for me - I just didn't want to do it.  I understand the power of ceremony and I had my fill.  "I don't need to tie a prayer bundle to set an intention", I thought.  The owner who was leading the group was clearly a well-polished showman who, from what I had seen earlier in the evening, doesn't walk his talk.  "Enough of ego-driven charlatans too!"  I couldn't wait to leave.  I reached my saturation point.

The next day I realized why I needed to go to the ceremony.  I had to feel totally done with what going to that ceremony represented in my life, that my days of spiritual seeking and learning at that level are done.  I let go of all attachments to what I think my spiritual work is or even doing any more spiritual work.  I took a good long look at my life and woke up from some delusions.

This death phase has lasted so long and been so painful that all I can liken it to is a spaghetti western where a cowboy was shot and is taking his sweet time to die - twirling around, kicking his feet, and taking some long and painful last gasps.  If I were a horse, someone would have put me out of my misery by now.  It's a good thing I'm not packing a six iron.

I feel empty like someone picked me up and shook me upside down to get the last whatever out of me.  I am hollow.  Spent.  Kaput.  There is no more to give and at this moment, nothing to do.  Perfect timing for a mercury retrograde period, don't you think?

In this strange spiral sine wave of life, I just hit the bottom of the trough.  The good news is, of course, there is no where to go but up from here.  Since much of November felt like a slow death and here we are into mid December, my concern is - how long is the trough?  Oh and next week is a full moon lunar eclipse on the solstice!  As Charlie Brown would say sarcastically, "Joy to the world."

Christmas is usually a time for miracles, light, and birth.  I think we may need to wait until Epiphany for the birthing of the new since mercury doesn't go direct until December 30 and the new moon solar eclipse is on January 4.  Yes, we should all have our own epiphany by then!

Meanwhile, I'm allowing all of the last remaining gunk to come up and out and making friends with my death phase.  Out with the old and in with the new!  

I will leave you with this song from Barry Manilow, "It's Just Another New Year's Eve."  Let's take a moment and pat ourselves on the back for making it through this intense year.  Enjoy my friends.  May 2011 be kind to all of us.

Knocking on Heaven's Door

Where did this year go?  It felt like time stood still for a month or two in early summer and then the rest of the year went into hyper drive.  Anyone else feeling this?  I know things are accelerated in Sedona and this feels different than my other Sedona sojourns.  

This past week I felt an energy at my back gently nudging me forward.  Call this person, get this session, see this friend, go here, do this.  Today I took a moment to think about what I intended for this visit to vortex heaven and what I asked for since I arrived.  So far, everything I intended and asked for I've gotten in short order.  In three short weeks, I have received life-altering bodywork, read a couple of books, watched about 7 informational DVDs, given several healing sessions, made a new friend, reconnected with several friends, received several messages, and this coming week may be the crowning glory, literally.  I have scheduled several powerful events for this week that I know will change my life forever.

A friend of mine who channels shared a powerful and personal experience with me this week that I needed to hear.  She shared some messages for me and said I may have a similar experience.  Much of what she said confirmed what I was feeling and some sent me into a tailspin.  I know it is time to embody my divine essence.

We are near the apex of our current spacetime spiral.  Just as a vortex of water accelerates the further down the drain it travels, we are being accelerated through this zero point, into the next dimension, and onto the next spiral cycle.  What happens when we break one plane of existence and enter the next?  Our consciousness changes so dramatically that we no longer feel like the same person.

I thought the main purpose of this ninth journey across the country was to write my second book.  To my surprise, what I realized today is that the book is writing me.  Until I energetically catch up with what the book requires, I can write no further.  Until we can "catch up" with our divine essence, we can progress no further with this level of consciousness.  We've gone as far as we can go.

So here we are knocking on heaven's door feeling empty and spent, like an empty rocket booster hurdling through space.  The thrust for our "past" life is gone.  As we pass through the eye of the needle, zero point energy, we lose all sense of time and place, if you haven't already.  It is no man's land, true limbo, zero point. We also refuel for our next life's journey through spacetime as we pass through this enormous amount of energy.

Each of us has a preprogrammed launch time into our new/next lives.  We remain in limbo until the countdown is complete and liftoff occurs. 

For now, my stare is like a deer in headlights, I have forgotten much of the past, and feel like I am on perpetual autopilot.  Limbo land is unnerving, seemingly unnatural, and this too shall pass.  

The Home S t r e t c h

We made it through the 10-10-10 gateway.  Woo hoo! The way I felt over the weekend I was ready to pass through the "big" gateway, if you know what I mean!  Thankfully, I feel better, strange, but better.  Now what?  

After a physically challenging and spiritually powerful weekend with my friend and owner of the house I am renting, the energy shifted big time.  After she left on Monday, I received phone call after phone call from various Realtors scheduling appointments to show the house, which was sold last month and then the buyer withdrew her offer earlier this month.  In this "clear as mud " energy we are in, the only clarity I came up with is, don't plan on staying in this house for too long...whatever that means.  

The same day, I received an email about a conference next week in California that I had wanted to attend when I was back in New York.  Not knowing where I would be on this ninth trip across the country, I had put the conference out of my mind.  Now I am located within a day's drive of the conference and I have a friend near-by with whom I could stay. The location of the conference is within another day's drive of where I also considered going on the following weekend. I think the universe just started turning over the cards from the 52 Pick-Up.  As I was speaking to my landlady Tuesday morning and saying I had asked for clarity about whether to stay another month, an A-1 Express Moving Van drove past!  (I live on a dead-end street with very little traffic.)  Bingo!  Another card just appeared!  Move 'em out rawhide! 

When a friend asked for my latest take on the energies, what came out of my mouth was we are in the home stretch.  Whatever is coming to us now, and it does come to us, is preparing us for our final descent as we embody our angelic nature.  While we are "back stage changing into our new costumes", the props for the next act are moved onto the stage.  Act 999 will begin when every prop is in place, every actor dressed and ready to go on stage, the orchestra tuned and on the same sheet of music, the lighting crew is ready, and the audience is seated and waiting with great anticipation.  

If you have ever been a part of a theater production, you know how many details go into producing a play.  Just imagine all of the details that need to be addressed in order for you to enter the next "stage" of your life.  And we're not talking about small town theater.  We're talking Broadway!

While all of the support crew and cast are doing their thing, we wait for our cue to enter stage right.  Indeed.  We will enter this stage of lives right.  The magic, majesty, and mastery of this next stage is beyond our wildest dreams.

For now we wait until the next cue card appears...and then the next...and the next... While we are coming around the home stretch, it sure feels like a s t r e t c h.  The universe asks us to stretch a little bit farther than we ever have and then asks us to stretch even more.  Time feels like it has been compressed and stretched at the same time.  Things move quickly now compared to the speed at which we were accustomed and it feels like it is taking FOREVER.  How is this possible?

While we are in this no man's land of the home s t r e t c h, I thought this might cheer you up a bit.  Remember the Looney Tunes Cartoons?  You may feel looney tunes by now!  I know I do! 

52 Pick-Up

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  Has Dickens reincarnated or what?  It seems we are all having a "dickens" of a time riding these swells.  They have been anything but swell.  

I don't know about you, but this fall equinox/harvest full moon kicked my butt.  One minute I have a sore gum and then it's gone, or rather the pain shifted to my jaw and sinuses.  My neck feels like I have a cervical collar around it and I have to move my entire body to look left or right.  My mid back needs some serious TLC and then there's the emotional stuff.  Oh joy.  Fear reared its head again over the last couple of days.  How will I survive this insane ride?  Then I am overwhelmed by the feeling of just wanting to go home only I don't know where home is.  If home is where the heart is, I'd better fine mine soon!

In twelve short days, the house I am renting, which is for sale, was viewed, offer made and accepted, and then the buyer changed her mind.  Am I staying or going?  Where am I going?  For a while I thought I was going to Sedona with a friend but my heart tells me no.  Planning even a minute from now is too far into the future.  I'm "planning" to teach Reiki over Columbus Day weekend and who knows?!  October 9th and 10th might as well be a thousand years from now.  What is clear is that the universe is DEMANDING we BE HERE NOW!  Live in the moment ...or else.

I went for an early walk the morning of the equinox.  The full moon still glistened over the calm ocean.  As the sun came up over the mountains behind me, it outlined each puffy cloud in pink.  A boat heading south oddly stopped for several moments in line with the moon and myself.  At that same instant, a huge flock of seagulls flew directly over my head.  It was so powerful.  I thought, things must be lining up for me.  

It seems the universe is playing 52 pick-up with us, but its arranging the cards before they land, lining everything up for us down to the last detail.  Since it is arranging the cards before they land, we can't see what arrangements the universe is concocting for us.  Shuffle, reshuffle, and shuffle again.  Once the cards land, we turn them over one at a time.  Each card contains a clue that leads us to our hidden treasure. 
 
So when you take your weathered and weary body to bed tonight and before you pull the covers over your head, remember the universe is conspiring for you.  It is taking care of all the arrangements you need to create the life of your dreams.  Sweet dreams.

Magical Mystery Tour

My trip to the Pacific Northwest continues to be filled with synchronicity.  Whenever I've needed anything, I asked for it and it appeared.  Manifesting in the moment is just plain FUN.

When I got into Wisconsin, it was time to get the oil changed for my Highlander, which I affectionately call Higher Love.  As I was driving on Interstate 90, I saw a Walmart near my exit and thought I could get the oil changed there.  When I turned the corner toward the hotel, there on the right, within walking distance of the hotel, was a place to get the oil changed.  Sweet.  Even sweeter was the grocery store and the Panera Bread Company across the street.  I love Panera's salads and coffee.  I was good to go!  What a welcome site after driving all day, which included rush hour traffic in Chicago.

I had never been to South Dakota so of course I wanted to see Mt. Rushmore.  A good friend of mine who also knows the road life all to well, put me in touch with a friend of his in Rapid City.  She was delighted to open her home to me and even gave up her bed for the night.  Cool.  I dropped off my things and headed for Mt. Rushmore.  Just as I entered the visitor's center that faces the monument, the friend who connected me with my host for the night called.  He asked, "Where are you?"  I said "I am looking at Mt. Rushmore as we speak."  He said, "How interesting to call you right at this moment so my energy can connect with it since I never stopped there."  We laughed and talked about the significance of these four great leaders of freedom and our connection to the energy of freedom.

After I enjoyed viewing the information movie and pondered the monument one last time, I left thinking I would head up the Black Hills.  Something made me stop and head back to Keystone.  It was a warm day and I knew I need more ice for my cooler.  I pulled into the first shopping plaza and saw a shop sign "On Eagle's Wings" gift shop.  Eagle is one of my totems and I recently thought about using that name for one of my ventures.  As I was speaking to the owner of the shop, a police car and ambulance drove by.  There were motorcycles galore since it was the week of the Sturgis motorcycle rally.  The shop owner said it must be another accident.  He added that someone was killed in an accident the day before.  I thought about my decision not to go up the mountain and was grateful I paid attention to my intuition.  I asked the gentleman if he knew where I could get some ice.  He asked how much I needed and I told him I have a small bag in the car that I would like to fill.  It happened that he also ran the coffee shop next door and gladly filled my bag full of ice, no charge.  Ask and you shall receive.  Okay, I would like to do laundry so I asked for a laundromat.  Just less than a mile down the road was a clean laundromat where I could purchase detergent and get change.  Yeah!

One of my favorite drives on the trip was the drive to north gate of Yellowstone.  The road follows the Yellowstone river, which is the longest free-flowing river in the US.  As soon as I could pull off and get to the river, I did.  I wanted to put my hands and feet in the river that symbolizes being in the flow.  I continued driving toward the hotel, which was just outside the gate.  I pulled into the hotel, checked in, and unloaded the car.  As I made my way to my room, a storm hit.  The wind was bending the trees and the rain was coming down in side-ways sheets.  Perfect timing.

The next day I drove into the park to see Old Faithful.  I stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs and a couple of other pull-offs along the way.  It happened that the same day I was in the park, two fugitives were seen in the park and were armed and dangerous.  As I wanted to continue on and not spend another night there, I decided to go to Old Faithful and turn around and head back.  I pulled into the large parking lot for Old Faithful and stopped at the rest room before heading to the geyser.  Just as I made my way in between people to view Old Faithful, it went off!  Perfect timing!  It usually takes about an hour or so before it goes off again but I didn't have to wait!

While in Washington, I stayed about 25 miles from downtown Seattle.  Before I arrived at the hotel, I had the thought that there should be a Trader Joes in town.  I went out in search of Chinese food and ended up heading back toward the hotel.  On the left I noticed a plaza and there on the sign was Trader Joes!  Just next door to Trader Joes was an excellent Chinese restaurant.  Think it and it appears!

I stayed in Medford, OR for a couple of nights while I checked out Ashland.  Nothing seemed to click either day and it felt like I needed to go to Mt. Shasta.  I noticed a flier for the Mt. Shasta pyramid.  The flier talked about tachyon energy and zero point energy which I am writing about in my second book.  I called and left a message, intending to experience the energy that same day. Shortly thereafter, the owner called and scheduled an appointment for that afternoon.

After my activation in the pyramid, I went back to the hotel.  I had no feeling of where to go the next day.  I had messaged a friend on Facebook who I met in Sedona.  She lived in Dunsmuir and I thought she was moving to Ashland.  She answered my email and was indeed in Ashland.  We spoke over the phone and I headed back to Ashland the next morning.  Before we met, I saw a room for rent on the board at the Co-op.  Ashland is a college town and the landlady usually rents her rooms to students for six months but the students would not be arriving for a couple of weeks.  On my way to the house, I thought of asking to rent the room for two weeks.  She was in agreement with that and I had a place to land while the next thing showed up.

I met with my friend who told me a mutual friend also lives in Ashland.  We met at the park and had fun reconnecting and realizing we have similar interests.  After checking out numerous apartments, my friend told me her mom is renting her house on the Oregon coast.  Her tenant just happens to be moving out this weekend, when my two weeks are up.  The house sounds like a perfect retreat.  More magic!

I was in Medford today doing some shopping.  I was feeling it is time to get my haircut but being new to the area, I wasn't sure where to go.  After I finished my lunch, I was going to go to a styling salon I saw as I was pulling into the plaza.  As I was leaving, I could not turn left to head towards the budget styling salon.  So I decided to head toward the mall.  It was my first trip to the Rogue River Mall.  I pulled in and headed toward the right which was near Penney's.  I said this is where I will park.  I got out of the car and headed toward the door.  It was the door to the salon!  I guess this is where I will get my hair cut!

When you follow your heart, remain in the moment, commit to being in the flow of your creation, and pay attention, magic happens.  Ask and trust the answer will show up. 

The beach house is on Gold Beach...I wonder what magic my heart has in store for me there!