The Unicorn “. . . if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.”

What do you believe in? Are you aware of how much your beliefs determine your experiences? What stimuli make it into your perceptions and which are censored out? As we ride the Water Dragon through 2012, it's important to look at what we hold to be true and see how it impacts our reality.

Before we continue on with this week's card reading, I'd like to invite you to join me for tea and a FREE teleclass! Every 13th of the month, we'll take a 30 minute trip down the rabbit hole to explore, more deeply, the whacky wyrd wisdom of Wonderland together. SPACE IS LIMITED, so it's a great idea to sign up now to reserve your spot for the call. And please pass this forward -but not until you reserve your space first ; ) . CLICK HERE TO REGISTER <3 Now, sit back and enjoy The Unicorn . . .

Alice meets up with The Unicorn just after a break in the epic battle between the mythical equine and The Lion. Though the children’s rhyme indicates that The Lion wins the conflict, both creatures are apparently unharmed and it is the opinion of The Unicorn that he got the better of the feline beast this time around.

While discussing the day’s match, The Unicorn notices Alice and exclaims: “What – is – this?”

He can hardly believe what he sees. “It’s a fabulous monster!” he exclaims, excitedly. Eventually, after a few bits of reality testing (which is terribly subjective in Wonderland, you know), proclaims: “Well, now that we have seen each other . . . if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you. Is that a bargain?” And what a bargain it is.

To seal the deal, Alice, The Unicorn, The King and The Lion all share in some plum cake.

The Unicorn has pranced into your reading to remind you of the power of the mind.  There are plenty of times to be skeptical and to question one’s circumstances, the actions of others, the dogma of a nation or religion . . . And there are times when it is miraculously good to allow oneself to believe what might be assumed to be impossible, like Faerie majik and, say, Unicorns.  If the believing is for the purpose of expanding the limits of the mind and opening us up to that which is greater than we can possibly imagine, then the act of believing can be life-saving.  The Unicorn is a legendary mythical creature, but very real in the land of the looking glass.  At first, he has a hard time believing in Alice, until they both declare they have never seen such creatures as each other before, and in a moment of trust, they agree to believe in what they had previously thought to be impossible.  In the looking glass world, the White Queen tells Alice, “. . . sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!”  And maybe we could take the advice as well.  As long as we recognize that we are in control of the beliefs that enter our heads, it might be a beneficial practice to allow ourselves to think of and maybe even believe in things we wouldn’t normally fathom. 

We all hear about amazing new inventions and breakthroughs and miracles that occur out in this global community called earth, and it might be possible to manifest such miracles for ourselves if we could first allow ourselves to think differently. 

One possibility is to do the meditation on the manifestation loop suggested for the Alice card, and another is to simply spend some time each day imagining 6 impossible things before breakfast.  Go ahead, see what happens!

Meditation #1:  Get comfortable, preferably soon after you wake up, and allow yourself to connect with the place of dreams, day dreams, fantasy and fairytale.  Allow your mind to come upon the wildest wish you could possibly hope for, and when you have it, allow yourself time to imagine as many details as possible.  What is the weather like?  What are you and/or any other personas in the dream wearing, if anything?  What is happening?  Are the laws of physics the same in this world as they are in the ordinary realm?  What are the colors around you?  What do you hear?  What do you feel?  What do you smell?  Once you’ve created a very clear experience in your mind, allow yourself to shift, slowly to another impossible thought, maybe something that pertains to the world around you or a relationship.  You could fantasize about the perfect job, the best vacation ever, the most romantic moment imaginable . . .  Go ahead, indulge your imagination in 6 impossible things.  Notice if you have a desire to experience something that other parts of you are resistant to imagining.  Continue to do this practice, preferably journaling about your experiences, until something has shifted in the way you perceive the world.  It may be as simple as noticing that you are finding different ways to do old routines, or maybe you notice a sense of openness to new situations, or just a greater sense of creativity.  Whatever it is, give yourself the credit you deserve for strengthening your believing muscles, and if you ever, in the future, find yourself surrounded by skeptical thoughts, take a break and allow yourself to believe the impossible, if only for a moment.  Go ahead, and see what happens.

Another way of looking at this card is to consider the position of the Unicorn.  He is in a fabled battle with the Lion, and the two beasts continue to follow the same old nursery rhyme over and over without ever thinking about breaking outside the prescribed cycle of behavior: .  A very wise person, Albert Einstein, I believe it was, once defined insanity as  “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Now, if the Looking Glass world isn’t insane, I don’t know what is, and the never ending, never changing battle between the Unicorn and the Lion are a perfect example of being stuck in a crazy rut.  If we are looking to break out of an old habit, cycle, pattern of behavior, or something that continually arises in relationships with others or on the job, then we must allow ourselves the ability to think differently about them.  Similarly to the above meditation, allow yourself to connect with the Alice manifestation meditation, and you can also throw in this helpful meditation practice:

Meditation #2:  Allow yourself to call to mind a circumstance, behavior, or pattern you would like to change.  Instead of going into a mental process about how to go about doing this, allow your mind to relax and to hop down the rabbit hole for a moment.  Once you have arrived in the Looking Glass world, do a little check in with what you really want to see happening that is different from what you have now.  Don’t worry about the mundane details.  Focus on how you feel, mentally, emotionally, and physically.  If you are currently experiencing a loss of power in a situation, it might be helpful to see/feel/hear yourself with a lot of strength, confidence.  You are in the land of dreams and imagination, so you can allow yourself to pretend.  Notice how it feels to have a new experience.  If you are facing a daunting life change that currently makes you feel disempowered, imagine yourself navigating the circumstances with grace, wisdom, and mindfulness.  Keep practicing putting on new ways of being, like a costume change, until it doesn’t feel so much like a costume, and is more like an old familiar skin, and see how this new skin can guide you in your ordinary life circumstances into a different result than you could have even imagined before.

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The Dormouse “Wake up, Dormouse!”

Have you been feeling sleepy lately? As we move through great change, it can take a lot out of us. It is good to make sure that you are giving yourself as much rest as possible, eating foots that help you to renew and feel energized, and allowing yourself to be a bit slower as we are in the depths of winter. It is only natural to slow down a bit. It might actually leave you feeling more awake and aware during those waking hours. Why, just look at the Dormouse! He can't seem to stay awake through anything (not even the tortures that the Mad Hatter and March Hare put him through)! Let's take a look at what wisdom this sleepy creature has for us:

The Dormouse sleeps through most of the mania of the Mad Hatter’s tea party.  And though he is spared the confusion and frustrations that Alice faces during the musical chairs and non-stop nonsense, he is also being subjected to the whims and fancy of those who are actively participating in the mad Hatter’s party, and he is missing out on the magic and the wisdom that can be gained in such a chaotic convention.  His responses to the activities around him are not particularly appropriate, and are more like knee-jerk reactions to external stimuli.  Sleeping through one’s life does soften the hard spots, but then so much else is lost in the unconscious and passive passing through life, it is hardly worth it in the end.

The Dormouse has cozied up to take a nap in the middle of your tea party to help remind you to wake up in some way.  Dreams are an essential part of manifesting our reality, but if we do not birth it into the real world through our awakened states, then they can float out into the nether-ether realms and be lost for a very long time.

Sometimes, especially for the small Dormouse, it is easy to get lost in the comfortable restful state we take after a trying time.  It can feel so good to get away from it all, it is hard or even frightening to step back into the madness of the every day.

Take a moment to discover in what ways and areas you might need a nudge or a wake-up call to get going again.  Maybe this card represents someone in your life who is asking for that gentle shaking back into this reality.  From very subtle to very deep, there is a call to retrieve a part of ourselves or our community.

It may be that you have already received your wake-up call in the form of some eruption, such as relationship strife, an unexpected wrench in the works, an accident, or magical faerie intervention (they like to set up intricate chain-of-events madness to spin us out of our unconsciousness).  Don’t be so quick to judge these things as difficulties or punishments of any kind.  They could easily be the hot tea on the nose of the Dormouse; to wake up and catalyze into action that which has checked out into the unconscious world.

Meditation #1:  Sit comfortably in a place and time you feel free to explore, without distractions.  Closing your eyes is fine, but as a wakefulness practice, you can also choose to keep a soft gaze on something inspirational: sacred art, metaphorical imagery, surreal or dream images, an altar, or anything else you feel would be appropriate.  Start breathing gently into your belly, deeper and deeper with each inhale.  Imagine the breath starting at your center and moving to the very edges of your skin.  When this feels comfortable, do a slow scan from your feet to the top of your head.  Notice if there is any place that is feeling asleep, numb, or not really integrated into your body.  Send your breath to this part of your body and imagine the breath going into this part and expanding, as if you were blowing up a balloon with your inhale, from the inside of this stuck place.  Keep breathing into this place, and allow yourself to ask what may be needed to help this part of you feel safe enough to wake up and start moving again.  It may be a color, a sound, or simply placing a loving hand on this area and focusing the breath as a vehicle for love until the stuck point slowly dissolves.  If it feels easier to imagine a situation where you feel you are unconscious, visualize it as best you can.  Imagine that the breath is the energy you need to be completely energized and present within the circumstances.  Allow the breath to move you through what needs to be done, allowing the breath to guide you until you feel satisfied.  Take a moment to commit to yourself to check in, simply by closing the eyes and connecting with the breath, once a day until you have brought your full self into the situation.  5 minutes is all you need, but more time is also fine.  With each breath, imagine giving yourself the energy and motivation you need to be fully mindful and present with your circumstances.  Journaling about your ideas, dreams,  and changes in energy levels might be helpful during this time.

Tea Recipe:

¼ cup yerba mate

1 tsp. mint leaves

stevia to taste

Creatures on the Train Carriage “Never mind what they all say, my dear . . .”

 As Alice moves along towards the third square in the chess board of Looking Glass, she suddenly finds herself inside a train carriage that is stuffed full of all sorts of talking animals and other creatures.  They all speak a load of nonsense, and none of them have anything useful to say.  During the chaos, Alice thinks to herself, “Then there’s no use in speaking.”  But even this doesn’t keep the silly banter from rolling along unhindered.

They all seem caught up in wanting to fix Alice’s dilemma of not having a ticket, though Alice herself seems perfectly at ease with her situation, and the Guard has long gone. The crowd continues with their suggestions: “ . . . ought to know which way she’s going, even if she doesn’t know her own name!”  “She ought to know her way to the ticket office, even if she doesn’t know her alphabet!”  “She’ll have to go back from here as luggage!”  And so the unsolicited suggestions go, without any insight or consideration of whether Alice needs any help at all.  It is all rather maddening and such a waste of time.

This circumstance reminds me of a story a wise woman once shared with me.  It goes something like this: “A kind and gentle man was walking one day and came across a butterfly struggling to free itself from its cocoon it had been transforming within.  The man watched in fascination for a while, but soon grew concerned.  It seemed a very long time that the butterfly fought to free itself.  Finally, out of deep empathy, the man took out a pocket knife and cut open the cocoon to help out the tiny insect.  The butterfly quickly made its way out of the hard shell, but something was wrong with its wings.  They were limp and wrinkled.  The man soon realized, to his personal horror, that his act of heroism had actually caused the eminent death of this beautiful life.  It is in the struggle to free itself that the butterfly strengthens and develops its wings so it can fly.  In doing for the butterfly what it needed to do for itself, the man had alleviated his own discomfort and caused the death of what he loved.

Seeing the struggle of others can be hard on us because we empathize with human suffering.  Sometimes our acts of Good-Samaritanism make the world a better place, but when we act without insight and without permission, we can end up causing more harm than good.

It is wisdom to take a moment to think before taking someone else’s challenges into our own hands.  It is the challenges in life that help us all to learn and grow, and without them, we do not develop important skills and wisdom we need to advance to the next level.

Another wise person once shared a rephrase of an old saying: When you are in an urgent situation, “Don’t just do something, stand there.”  It’s good to make sure that the help we offer is actually helpful.  Again, asking permission, taking a moment to get a sense of what is actually going on, and recognizing (from wisdom, and from our place of truth) whether we are being called upon to assist.

The Creatures in the Train Carriage have rolled into your station to ask you to look at whether what you are doing is really helpful, or whether it is a way of alleviating your personal response to what you see around you.  The universe works in magical ways, and it’s good to have faith that the pieces will fall into place.  Sometimes the right thing to do in an apparent emergency is nothing at all.

Meditation #1:  Take a moment to relax and breathe deeply.  Close your eyes and allow yourself to call in the question at hand.  As you see the image become clearer, allow yourself to be outside looking in.  Allow the players involved to move about without your interference.  If it helps, call in angels, guardians, any sort of protector or helper and ask them to assist the situation and the people in a way that serves the highest good.  Continuing to stay outside of the scenario, allow whatever is out of balance or out of place to right itself without your help.  It may help to see this from an abstract point of view.  You could see the situation as if it were tiny pieces shaken up inside of a snow globe.  As you watch from the outside, notice how they gently drift into position, and the new image that comes together has harmony and equilibrium.  Ask yourself, once this image has come together seamlessly, what it is you felt you needed to do to make things better.  What were you hoping to accomplish?  It’s okay to be real.  Sometimes we feel a need to be acknowledged for hard work or a good deed, but if our needs for this get in the way of actually doing good, what is the point?  Use this meditation any time you are feeling pulled into drama of any sort.

Meditation #2:  Starting the same way as in the previous meditation, allow yourself to see the situation you inquire about.  Now, take a moment to get grounded, feeling roots going into the earth from your feet and root chakra.  Once you are feeling connected to the earth, look to see what is going on with your question.  What is it you think needs to happen?  Recognize that your personal idea of what is right may only fit your personal agenda and may be bad medicine for the others involved.  Take a moment to ask what it is that you can do to truly help in this situation.  Let go of your personal agenda and ask from the heart without being attached to the outcome.  See if you get any new inspirations.  If an idea comes to you, sit with it.  Run it through the scene and see how well it works with everything else.  If it seems like it is helpful, take a moment to ask permission to act.  Really open up your heart and wait for an answer.  If you feel a sense of openness and expansion, then this can be taken as a sign that your selfless help could be handy.  If you feel a sense of contraction, then hold off.  And remember to ask permission in real life.  Good intentions don’t prevent us from doing harm, but asking permission can keep us out of trouble better than stepping in uninvited.

Maybe you are the one on the train, being bombarded by bombastic bids of advice. Take a moment to let it all go and see your own truth at the core of the babble:

Meditation #3: Sitting with a straight spine, close your eyes and relax. Breathe in even, slow breaths, filling up the belly and fully letting go on the exhale. Take a moment to think of all the advice, suggestions, hints, influences that are coming your way. If possible, see all of it as gifts; offerings of love and with good intentions. Maybe allow a moment of gratitude for all the people who are coming to assist you at this time. Now, imagine guiding all of these people and all of their words into another room where they can ponder and pontificate, philosophize and perseverate as they wish. Close the door behind them and witness the absolute silence that permeates your surroundings. Here, in this space, you can be with yourself, in peace, without the input of anyone else. Take a moment to just breathe in that sense of sanctuary and solitude. Now, as you let that sink in, connect with the place you feel your inquiry most (in your heart, your belly, your mind . . .). Ask yourself what feels right for you at this time? What is your next step? What guidance is wanting to come through at this time? Take as much time as you need to formulate a clear question, and then give yourself some time to open up (imagine actually opening up that part of you where you feel your question). See it opening up like a chalice to receive the answer, like water to quench a thirst. Notice what comes to you: sensations, visions, ideas, memories . . . these are the clues that will guide you to your highest wisdom and most effective advice. If it helps, take some time to make some art, do some dream-work, or some automatic writing to explore how your answer lies within the information that came up in this meditation. While others may offer helpful reflections, only we can discern what is best for us.


WANT MORE? If you're interested in how to really integrate the wisdom that's been shared here, and feel like you could use a bit more support in implementing these new perspectives, I encourage you to become a member of The Go Ask Alice Oracle website. It'll give you access to everything you need to navigate the topsy turvy ride we're all having together here on planet Earth. <3 www.GoAskAliceOracle.com

The Gnat “The little voice sighed deeply; it was very unhappy, evidently . . .”

Have you been distracted from something important by something that seems minor or maybe even completely elusive? You may have been visited by The Gnat.




The Gnat is a funny character.  Alice encounters him on the train carriage as she travels across the chess board of the land of Looking Glass.  The Gnat seems able to read Alice’s thoughts and makes suggestions, with its tiny voice, for Alice to express herself through bad puns that Alice doesn’t like one bit.  She suggests “If you’re so anxious to have a joke made, why don’t you make one yourself?”  The Gnat just sighs and seems terribly unhappy.

This aspect of The Gnat is a symbol of that annoying little voice inside of our head that has bad suggestions and distracts us from being present.  It doesn’t necessarily lead us into trouble, but it does lead us off our path of authentic action.  This voice usually shows up when we have been exposed to too much stimuli and haven’t had time to “download” it from our busy brains.  It also shows up when there is something going on that needs our attention, but we haven’t taken the time to sit down and really listen.

Have you noticed yourself talking aloud about what’s going on in your head?  Have you been tied up in thoughts about petty things?  Have you had the feeling of too many thoughts buzzing around inside your head?

If this is sounding familiar, then try the following meditation and see what arises:

Meditation #1: Sit comfortably with a notebook and pen by your side.  Make sure you will not be interrupted by noises or anything else.  Close your eyes, and just breathe.  Notice what thoughts come up as you start to relax.  If the thought that arises seems trivial, let it leave your mind with the next exhale.  Imagine that you are opening up your brain and allowing all of the little niggling voices, thoughts, reactions, incidents, anything at all that doesn’t serve you, to flow out with each exhale.  Imagine that you are cleaning house in the proverbial attic and letting go of old information that no longer needs to take up space.  As these thoughts go, just acknowledge them and continue to release.  If something really important comes up that you don’t want to forget, write it down in your notebook, and get back to the meditation. The goal here is to get to a point where you can just sit with an empty mind, but this may take a very long time, and many different sessions to accomplish.  Of course, the rewards are amazing.  Imagine a getaway to a deserted island with no phone, no internet, no interruptions whatsoever.  Just you and bliss.  Now imagine achieving that state of bliss by simply sitting and breathing.  This is what is possible if you give it enough time.  Don’t get down on yourself if silly thoughts come up to interrupt the peaceful nothingness.  Just take a deep breath and let it go, and focus on the new moment of nothingness in the now.  You’ll see that that buzzing little voice goes away pretty fast when you do this practice.

As Alice and The Gnat magically exit the train and find themselves in a meadow, Alice sees that The Gnat has grown considerably and he introduces Alice to the Looking Glass insects.  There are all sorts of fantastic creatures, like the Bread-and-butterfly, the Rocking Horsefly, and the Snapdragonfly.  These make-believe insects live on all sorts of silly things, and Alice worries what would happen if they couldn’t find the special foods they need to eat.  The Gnat informs her, quite bluntly, that they die, and Alice asks if that happens very often.  The Gnat replies, “It always happens,” very matter of fact.

Insects have a much shorter lifespan than larger creatures like ourselves.  They are born to accomplish certain things, and then they pass on leaving room for the new generation.  This aspect of The Gnat is to offer a bit of perspective. Taking a moment to ponder upon this way of living might offer you some insight into how you do things now, and how you might do them differently if you had much less or much more time.  None of us have much control over hour lifespan, and few of us know when our time to transition will come, but we do control how we use the time we have.

Take a moment to sit with your query using the following meditation:

Meditation #2:  Sitting comfortably, relaxing and breathing steadily and deeply into your belly, call your query into mind.  Allow it to be as full and complete in details as possible.  Notice who and what are present.  Now, imagine that you had the lifespan of an insect to deal with the situation at hand.  How would you handle things?  What would stand out as most important?  What would you choose to let go of?  How would you interact with the different players involved?  Once this process feels complete, take a moment with the query as if you had limitless time.  How does this change how you would act?  Do your priorities shift?  After this process feels done, come back into your current state: the unknown.  Recognizing that you do not know how much time you have here, what do you want to accomplish in your situation?  How do you want to go about doing that?  What do you want you and the people around you to feel like when this has come to fruition?

Finally, The Gnat, like many of his kind, is annoying, but ultimately harmless. There was a wise man who once said that if anyone doubts the power of small things, try meditating in a room with a mosquito (or even a buzzing gnat). Recognizing that we are letting relatively small things keep us from healthy and positive action is important.  Think about the size of a gnat (almost invisible), compared to the size of someone like you, and take a moment to think about what a big impact this tiny stimulus or incident is having on your life.  It’s time to gain some logical perspective on your query:

Meditation #3:  With eyes closed, imagine your query or challenge as a little gnat buzzing around.  Notice it’s almost insignificant size in relationship to you.  But notice how much distraction this tiny invader is causing.  Take a moment to really drop in and ask yourself: “Is all of this commotion really worthy of the tiny significance of the situation?”  Sometimes just recognizing how much we are allowing ourselves to be derailed by unimportant things helps us to free ourselves from what previously felt like a large burden.  Really check in on how much weight you have unintentionally given this circumstance.  Is it realistic?  Or can you reduce your distress by stepping into your own personal power and recognizing that you’re bigger than the “problem” you face?


When I'm not exploring the wisdom of Wonderland, I am helping women to break through old wounding and pain and turn it into power and passion. Visit me at www.TheGoddessEmerging.com for more.

2012 Going Down the Rabbit Hole “In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.”

If you haven't heard a great deal about all of the predictions, especially the doomsayers prophecies of the end of the world, then you've been even more deep in Wonderland than me!

The economy, the weather, political injustice, social unrest . . . there's got to be a limit to how bad it can get. Well, here's my 2 cents worth.

I've been blessed with the opportunity to sit with many Mayan elders, hear the insights of many of our wisdom keepers, participate in The Shift Network's training, lead by Barbara Marx Hubbard to become an Agent of Conscious Evolution, and have sat in deep meditation with all of these pieces of information.

What comes through strongly as I watch the pieces come into place is that we have set ourselves up in a system of existing that just isn't sustainable. Our great ideas, not fully thought through to how they would impact humanity down the road, have set us up with lifestyles we can't afford and perspectives that keep us separate from the Source of life. Whether one believes that's a sacred Creator or simply the elements that make life happen, the practicality behind it all works out about the same.

We have set ourselves up for something that just can't last, and, thank goodness, it is starting to come apart. So, what happens, in life, when one way of being no longer works? It collapses and something new emerges. So, in a way it really is the end of the world . . . as we know it to be. AND it is an amazing opportunity to allow something much much better to emerge.

The work that I do with myself and in groups and one-on-one is all about allowing that which no longer serves to move along, and discovering what wants to emerge that is much more beautiful, harmonious and an expression of sustainability and authenticity (www.TheGoddessEmerging.com). We've got some serious housecleaning going on to make space for a new way of being in the world.

We could focus on everything that is passing away and get caught up in mourning over it, trying desperately and ineffectively to cling to it, and feel sorry for everything we have to let go of OR . . . we can choose to focus on what is being born. Basically, we can be the morticians or the mid-wives. I think it's a lot more inspiring to be a mid-wife, personally.

So, whether you resonate with any of this or not, we're all going down the rabbit hole of 2012 together. It's bound to be interesting if nothing else. So, here's the reading for the beginning of this most infamous year . . .

Well, this is where the journey begins, isn’t it?  Alice, without really thinking, follows the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole and finds herself falling for a very long time: “Down, down, down.  Would the fall never come to an end?”  But of course we know she does eventually make it, astonishingly in one piece and not much worse for wear at that.

This is the beginning of Alice’s adventures in the nonsensical land of Wonder, and the Rabbit Hole serves as her magical portal into this mysterious world.

You, too, are about to face a rite of passage, your very own rabbit hole, so to speak.  It may be spoken of as a Shamanic Journey, a Journey into the Underworld, the Hero’s Journey, an Initiation, or simply meeting up with the subconscious mind. 

No matter what level or form you come to it, you will be jumping down a Rabbit Hole of one sort or another.  You can either do it as Alice does, full speed ahead without fear, checking the shelves for orange marmalade as you go, or clawing and kicking all the way down.  The former seems to be a much more pleasant option.

You are facing a major shift in your consciousness that will very likely lead to a transformation of life and mind-altering proportions.  So grab your satchel, some tea cakes and sandwiches, and let the journey begin.  No need to go looking for it; you are already on a path that will inevitably lead you into a whole new world, or maybe even another dimension.

As I said before, it may be as fundamental as meeting up with your subconscious mind, but that is no small task, and the consequences could shake the whiskers right off the White Rabbit.  So hold on tight and breathe deeply. You are in for the adventure of a lifetime.

Meditation:  Relax as best you can, getting comfortable and gently closing your eyes.  Breathe deeply.  Don’t force it, but allow the breath to deepen and slow down.  The breath is one thing you can’t live without, and when we are present with it, it offers deep healing and wisdom.  So take some time just to breathe.  When the breath feels naturally deep and slow, just check in with your feet.  Feel how they connect with the earth.  As you breathe, imagine roots coming out of the bottoms of your feet and growing and digging into the earth, spreading out and branching into all sorts of directions leading downward.  As the roots grow and go deeper, you can feel a sense of strength and grounding.  Like a well-rooted tree, strong winds can’t topple you.  Now, breathe into the space between your eyes, where the pineal gland is (also referred to as the third eye).  Imagine the color of the midnight sky and then breathe into the top of the head, thinking of the color violet.  When you exhale, imagine letting go of any blocks (mental, physical, emotional or energetic) that may be a burden on your transformational journey (even if you don’t know what they are).  Just feel the sense of relief and lightness as you exhale and let go of these blocks.  Continue to breathe into the third eye and the crown of the head, visualizing the colors indigo and violet.  If you find yourself being shaken by your transformational journey, just sitting and breathing, giving all of your awareness to your breath can get you through.  A very wise shaman I know has just one piece of advice for when the journey is difficult: “Respira”  Breathe.  Just breathe.