KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

October 10 through October 16, 2022

There's a beautiful balance to this week under the Libra Sun, starting with Monday's energizing Aries Moon. This is a great day to get creative and be proactive in resolving any issues that have been holding you back! Things hum along smoothly under a Taurus Moon Tuesday and Wednesday, where we can turn out attention to restoring order in our physical worlds or attending to health and financial issues. Thursday and Friday are all about socializing under the Gemini Moon, and we'll also be able to do some great research and share new ideas with everyone around us. The weekend will reflect the vibes of the Cancer Moon, allowing us to focus on home, family, and relaxation. All in all, we'll find this to be one of the easiest weeks we've experienced in a while, with no major astrological aspects to distract or challenge us.

Setting a Clear Intention for the New Year, by Katalin Jett Koda

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

As the New Year approaches, our thoughts often turn to letting go of the old, making new plans, and forming New Year's resolutions. The New Year is our chance to reinvent ourselves, to take stock of what we have experienced over the past year and what we hope to welcome in as the seasons turn. This year in particular, with its incredible changes in the political climate, the economy, and encroaching environmental problems, turning within and finding our personal spiritual sustenance becomes all the more important, necessary even, to maintain a balanced and positive outlook as things, materially, may be crashing down around us. One of the best ways to begin our new year, a new project or plan or even one new day is by setting a clear intention. By taking time to do this very simple act, we can start to reprogram our entire lives with a positive outlook and clarity. Setting a clear intention in our day, and more specifically healing, is just one of the concepts explored in my book The Sacred Path of Reiki: Healing as a Spiritual Discipline.

Setting a clear intention is like shooting an arrow into the future. The more precise the intention is, the better the aim to hit your target. The purpose of setting an intention is the final destination and not the way we arrive. The journey usually unfolds in unexpected ways and being open to that makes it all the more interesting. We can set intentions for several reasons: to manifest abundance in our lives, to be more connected to a community that supports us, to change our livelihood, to open ourselves up to a more loving relationship. How this manifests specifically is not the important aspect of setting the intention. Again, thinking of our intention as an arrow, hitting a target, we look at the target, not the flight path. In the same way, once we have a specific intention we want to shoot into the Universe, we are calling that future, that dream towards us, pulling our destiny into the present moment.

When we decide to set an intention for our lives, it is best to do so in a positive, present and affirmative manner. We want to avoid negative intentions, such as "I will not eat sugar," but instead, "I intend a healthy and nurtured body." In this way we are affirming a positive existence, not cultivating a sense of guilt or inadequacy. For example, instead of intending more money to flow into our lives, we might try to set our intention in a more present and joyous way, such as: "I am loving the abundance in my life." This allows us to begin to shift out of a poverty mindset into one of abundance and wealth. Another way to look at this is, if you want more, desire less. Again we are attempting to pull our destiny, our deepest desires into a state of Nowness, of eternal presence that honors all of our being and our capacity to be overflowing with love and peace. We are shifting our way of looking at the world as a place that does not have enough for us, but instead is in a continuous abundance with us.

In my book, Sacred Path of Reiki: Healing as a Spiritual Discipline, setting a clear intention is the first of six Reiki Warrior tools. The Reiki Warrior philosophy is a way to incorporate deeper spiritual components into the healing practice of Reiki. In this way, the art of Reiki spills over into the rest of our life, promoting a balanced, mindful, and inner peace. By working with the first Reiki Warrior tool, we can set clear intentions throughout our daily life. For example, when I wake up in the morning, I dedicate the day to helping sentient beings, or others in a way that benefits them. This immediately gets me out of my head and ego and into the spacious, peaceful aspect of my being. I intend that beings benefit from my actions, my words and my thoughts in a way that promotes an over all sense of ultimate joyousness. Beginning the day with this does not always mean that each and every moment I have is blissful and perfect joy as, after all, we are working out various karmas here on Earth, yet it does become a gentle reminder that if I am not benefiting others, there is not much purpose to my actions, words, or thoughts.

As we move through life, often at a hectic pace, we may forget to stop for a moment and be quiet or still. To breathe even, really breathe, let alone set intentions. This is very important to begin cultivating in our life, in order to start accessing that stillness within. Setting aside a mere five minutes a day to simply breathe and be still is the first step to make before setting our intention. Choose a time in the morning or evening when you can be quiet for a few minutes to concentrate on your breath and then set your intention for the day or week or month. Make a habit of this, write your intention down and put it up where you can see it, allow it to become your mantra and then watch how it affects your life positively.

As time goes on, we may find we need more than five minutes a day, that we have the desire for a stronger practice to begin doing the deeper work of true healing. Healing is synonymous with change and often requires a closer look at our traumas, pain and suffering that we hold close to us in an effort to suppress them. When we are forced to strip down aspects of ourselves and let go the old to make room for new, we often fight change, having become overly attached to our habits. Resistance can lead to blockages and intense bodily reactions that can and do happen in the form of stagnation, illness, and disease. Although this is often incredibly painful emotionally and physically, this is also a moment of opportunity, a healing crisis as we say in the alternative healing world, a chance to explore what is most meaningful and gives us a true sense of wholeness and power.

As a Reiki Master who spent the last seven years working in India, I have encountered my fair share of people in a healing crisis. Often times when people who have health issues and are in a place of intense pain in their life, seeking healing in India is their last resort. I was fortunate to work with many people who had given up on Western medicine and were breaking out of the old system, their culture, and even their beliefs to try something new. Because of this, many of my clients were very open to the alternative healing in the form of Reiki and we were able to travel deeply to find the more significant sources of disease. The hands-on Reiki healing, use of symbols, chakra work, aura balancing, and revitalizing techniques are all incredible ways to work on all the levels of our being: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

In healing work the primary intention is of course health and wellness. This is accessed in Reiki when we begin our healing session for ourselves or others with our Reiki prayer. Placing our hands together in prayer position is the first step in setting our intention. This gesture also works like an offering, a bow of respect to the Reiki and the Reiki Masters that have come before us to initiate us into this incredible healing art. Pressing our palms together at our heart center also lightly presses points of the ten meridians that run through the body, activating the healing flow or Ki within. We then call on the Reiki Masters and Reiki energy to guide our healing session. This mentally enables us to surrender to the healing Reiki and allow it to pass more effectively through us, into our clients.

Over time, I found that the most powerful tool in the healing session is the action of setting a clear intention. On a basic level, this simply involves the healing practitioner taking the time before beginning the healing work, to intend wholeness, love, and clear light. But on a deeper level, as a Reiki practitioner, you can use the Reiki session to intend even more precise outcomes for your client. This must be discussed with your client, who will often come up with the intention themselves, when asked, for the session. I have found that the more specific the intention, the more precise the target, the more powerful the healing session. It is as if the words of intention are the power that works to open up the light and love of immense Reiki energy and allow it to pour through me and into my client, assisting them in the needed healing transformation.

We must also remember that each person's journey to gain wholeness is going to look different. By refining our intention into a more precise method, we have a better chance of benefiting the client. This may take a few sessions to determine and requires the effort from the client as well as the healer. For example, the first session may be the general intention of wellness and healing. Afterwards we may discover the client as a particular emotional problem with her father and we will intend working with that in the next session, which will most likely unlock the deep pain that is stored in the body. To close the session we may intend grounding and clearing to further the healing process in opening up to peace. We may do further work to intend the reclaiming of power so the client can move into a place of strength and harmony.

Also, it is important to remember that on a deeper level, each of is already healed and whole. We are each just trying to remember that we are indeed a being of light and love and it seems we have to journey rather far at times to remember this, reclaim our own beauty and power and then radiate it outwards to the world. At the end of each and every Reiki session, as well as at the end of my own day, I visualize my client or myself dancing in light, whole and full of love. I am remembering the aspects of our Self that is ultimately perfect and at peace, that is indeed not separate, not suffering but instead quietly still, immensely joyful and perfectly Reiki.

This season, as change winds her magic through the air, as we face an immense overhaul of our society and the world, let us try to intend a season of beauty and peace. Let us remember that we are indeed whole, that each of us is on that arrow flight path somehow, someway on an intense journey. That although each of us has very different ways of getting to that inner peace, to that ultimate joy, that is indeed the intention of all human beings and the intention of the Universe itself. As the New Year rolls in, as we welcome the turning of dark into light once again, let us sit down with loved ones and make an intention, set a clear intention of positive affirmation to enjoy our lives every single day.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2008. All rights reserved.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have attracted people who seem to be lost, down and out, sad and hopeless. I have always been the one to become friends with the so-called underdog. This has been such a draining experience that now as an adult, I have started to stay away from these people in my life. No matter what advice I give them, they never seem to want a solution. If I even suggest there is a way out, they will twist my words and tell me why what I am suggesting won't work. I am spiritually drained and feel like I'm wasting my time and energy. I don't seek these people out; somehow they just find me. I can't seem to get away from this. Please understand that it is never important to me if a person follows my advice or not. I also know when it's time for me to shut up and just listen. What is important to me is that the person who dumps the weight of their worries on my shoulders doesn't turn my attempts to help against me. Maybe my life purpose is just to be there for people who need a kind word or a hug. However, I am sick of being treated badly when I try to help. A woman I know actually yelled at me, calling me everything but a child of God when I offered to pray for her to find strength when she was going through a crisis. If I didn't know better, I would swear I wasn't talking to someone I'd known all my life, but to someone possessed! How do I continue to be a caring soul for people who don't seem to care at all? I'm exhausted!

Lisa

Susyn:

Even though you feel these needy people somehow find you as opposed to you seeking them out, you are the one who will have to set new boundaries. All sorts of people will seek us out if they think we will give them our energy, money, time or attention. It even happens in the spirit world; once entities realize we can hear them, they come out of the woodwork to try to talk with us.

Your empathetic nature and understanding ways make you a target for people who want to dump their troubles on someone. Further, you are correct: they don't really want someone to advise them, they just want someone to listen to them.

Metaphysically, they are stealing your energy. As you focus on them and give them your undivided attention, they are absorbing invisible power, which ends up making them feel better and you feel worse.

If you were to leave your house unlocked, you'd be inviting a steady stream of thieves to come in at all hours and take whatever they wanted. That is why you have to be the one to put the lock on the door and quit inviting needy individuals to take your energy but ignore your advice.

This is easier said than done. If you have been a sounding board for your friends and family, they will probably not take kindly to the changes you are about to make. However, with time and practice, you can minimize their constant drain on you.

When they come to you with their problems, the following new approaches should help you create a different outcome. You can listen for a limited time and then respond with phrases such as, I'm so sorry to hear that or I understand how you feel. Notice from these examples that you are acknowledging them but not giving any advice. Once you start giving advice, these people will think you are trying to control them or influence them, like the religious-phobic woman who reacted violently to your offer to pray for her.

If they insist you offer them advice or tell them what to do, your answer should be I really don't know or You'll have to decide for yourself. You can respond to requests with a simple statement such as I'm sorry, that won't work for me, without giving a reason why. If you give a reason, they will try to pick it apart, so simply repeat this statement until they give up.

I agree it is exhausting to be carrying the burdens of so many people. You can still be a caring soul in the world while setting up new boundaries to make sure your own needs are your first priority. When you take care of yourself in this way, you'll actually set a good example for others on how to live a healthy life.

*****

Mata Maya:

You are frustrated because you are assuming that these people think and operate the way you do. These people don't really want your help or your advice, what they want is your energy! What you describe is a typical energy vampire dynamic. This doesn't make these people bad or even ill-intentioned; in fact, I have yet to meet an energy vampire who was conscious of what they were energetically doing.

Most energy vampires hook people by getting them to care, for they learned at a very young age that the easiest way to get others to send them energy is by making them feel sorry for them. While you are listening to them and wracking your brains for a way to help them, you are giving them your life force energy, so even though they reject your ideas, they end up feeling better while you end up feeling worse.

To break this pattern, you'll have to stop making these interactions all about them, and instead, make them all about you - at least on an internal level. As soon as you find yourself caught up in this old pattern, stop and chuckle to yourself on the inside, as though saying to yourself, Aha! I recognize this old pattern; here we go again!

Once you become conscious of what is really happening, you can decide if you want to give your energy away or not. Since these people don't really want your help or advice, you would be wasting your time and energy trying to give it to them. There is a lot of information out there on how to handle psychic vampires; if you search the 'net, you're sure to find a lot more.

Next, realize that because of this past pattern, you've started to expect people to dump their problems on you and react negatively when you try to help. This is probably what led to the crazy experience you had with the lady who yelled at you. To break this cycle, you will have to pull your attention away from what has happened in the past so you can work with the law of attraction to manifest what you want to experience instead.

When you find the old pattern cropping up, withdraw your energy from it. This may make people mad because you are refusing to let them steal your energy, but knowing that you're simply choosing to reach for a healthier level of experience will help you remain calm and stay strong.

The more you focus on what you do want in relationships, the more your course of experience will begin to shift. Instead of hoping other people will change, focus on changing yourself. If you give your attention and emotional energy to what you want, that is what will begin to grow in your experience.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.