KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

May 19 through May 25, 2025

The highlight of this week will be the Sun’s entry into Gemini on Tuesday. As the sign most famous for communication, exchanges of ideas, and reconnecting with others, we’ll enjoy four weeks of heightened interactions and the chance to surf the educational highway for new information. Monday’s Aquarius Moon will kick off the change, encouraging our innovative and inventive sides to emerge. With a shift to Pisces on Tuesday, the Moon will awaken our spiritual side, adding an air of intuition to the mix for a few days. The Moon dances into Aries on Thursday and casts a dramatic flair into the atmosphere, but as excited and happy as we are, we will want to avoid making statements we can’t back up or promises we can’t keep! Things settle down considerably over the weekend, as the Taurus Moon brings us back to earth and Saturn moves into Aries to ground our movements as well as our thoughts. That’s not a bad thing though, as a bit of reality mixed in with all the excitement will keep us from moving to soon, or in the wrong direction.

Five Ways to Add Joy to Your Life, by Emily A. Francis

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

I have been speaking about joy as a key emotion, one that the body stores, for quite a few years now—and I have a different offering for you about joy and how it is experienced inside your body. Happy is one thing, but joy is something felt deep within the entire body and muscle memory system. Take for example the smell of perfume or cologne that your first great-love used to wear, the smell of a cherry tobacco pipe that your Grandpa used to smoke, or the leather car seats of a new car. Notice how, when something tickles your olfactory senses, you are instantly transported back in time to a place where you felt a height of emotion. Your whole body gets involved. Joy is deeply felt inside when we remember it and when we experience it for the first time.

Joy doesn't just come in the loud moments. Joy shows up in silence. It shows up in the quiet as well as the excitement, and, most of all, in the present. Even if you are reliving memories and re-experiencing moments of joy, you are taking them from the past and bringing them exactly to the present. It's a moment of getting still and sitting with the joy as it comes. That's when you close your eyes, take it all in and savor it for everything that joy is.

Joy is not a buzzword. It is an emotional experience that opens up the senses and nourishes your soul. It ignites your muscles and your mind. While I would love to make this a simple list of things that could add joy to your life, which I will, I want to invite you to find joy for yourself that isn't easily listed. Joy is deeply personal and heartfelt. Finding a bit more joy in your life requires you to put yourself out there into new adventures and new experiences. As I list five ways to add joy to your life, I will ask that you add to this list as you read and see what comes into your thoughts as something you want to discover. Joy comes with purpose, and taking a chance and switching up the regular moves with a few side steps, skips, and twirls. So, let's dive in!

1. The biggest and easiest way to add joy to your life that I can offer is to take a trip. Gifts don't have to come in boxes; they could just as easily come as adventures. Change it up and give yourself permission to use some of your savings and see a part of the world you have always wanted to see. The amount of tickling that this will do to all of your senses is beyond description. Seeing other parts of the world and how other people live opens us up and expands our perception of the world. It's an extremely sacred gift for yourself; take it when you can.
2. Take a new class somewhere near you. Whether it be a cooking class, cake decorating, dance class, photography class…whatever it is, it requires you to step to the right and get out of your comfort zone to elevate your own daily experiences of life. Once you start looking for one, you'll be shocked at how many things have been right down the road from you all along. If you've been contemplating doing something like this, this is your sign to go for it.
3. Change up one of your meals a day. This idea comes to us from the Mediterranean. Food is magic if you know what to do with it. In the Mediterranean, the key is to simplify it. You don't have to learn some new elaborate recipe at all. I'm talking bread, olive oil, cheese, and maybe a nice glass of wine or a mocktail if alcohol is out of the question. Take small, simple, ripe foods that are currently in season and make a little charcuterie for yourself or for whomever you would like to share a meal with. Slice up some fresh bread and take a small amount of olive oil and stir into it some fresh herbs such as rosemary, basil, and thyme (this is the trifecta of spices in Malta) and then sprinkle the herb-infused olive oil over the bread and eat it as is, or lightly toast it. Add some fresh greens and top it with some fresh feta and maybe some pomegranates since it's that time of the year. Top the greens with the same herb-infused olive oil. No need to have to do more than that one drizzling! Something so simple and delightful will immediately make you slow down and be intentional with your meal practice. It's about being present in the food and to the experience as the food enhances your awareness of taste, touch, and smell.
4. Make a date with someone important to you. If you've been meaning to call your best friend or family member, pick up that phone and schedule a date. Go have coffee or tea or wine. Go make that date a priority. Meals are not meant to be eaten alone, and neither are your coffee breaks. In the Mediterranean this counts as a whole meal, going for coffee. It's slow-paced and satisfying. It's stimulating conversation and it elevates a regular day. I do this so much more in the Mediterranean than I ever did back in the United State. All the time, people ask me to meet up for coffee, and I've finally started taking them up on it. It turns out that my days do seem just a little bit more alive when I do this. We are hard-wired to crave human interaction. Stop hiding behind that keyboard and go get your coffee on.
5. This one comes down to you. The other suggestions all asked that you expand in some way and add more or do something out of the ordinary. Joy can come in the smallest and simplest of ways. This one is all about you. This calls for you to sit still for some part of every day for at least seven days and see what you notice about yourself. Learn to take some time out and get quiet so that you can hear yourself think and feel your feelings. It's a time of simple self-reflection and checking in with yourself so that you can ask yourself questions and be clear enough to listen for your natural responses. We spend so much time being told what to think, what to buy, and what to do with almost every aspect of our lives. We are consumed by the outside world so much of the day. I'm asking you to sit still with no distractions for however long you want to be still in some part of each day and then notice how that affects your whole system. It will open a pathway for joy. Let it in.

Joy doesn't have to be some life-changing, explosive experience. It can be felt in a multitude of ways as you open up to its presence. Joy is a sacred energy, and it usually comes with its best friends, purpose and gratitude. To add more joy to your life, simply be open to noticing it when it shows up. Things show up when you do!

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2023. All rights reserved.

Throughout my almost 45 years, I have had dreams in which I can fly. I know these are normal for most people, but the experiences I have don't quite match the experiences I've heard about from others. I can clearly remember being taught how to fly as a child INSIDE my home. I remember how I would push off from the corner and how excited and happy I was to be floating! I don't know who was teaching me. I have dreams that I'm either flying or that I'm somewhere I know isn't this realm. I'm certain I'm never alone during these times, but I don't recall names or faces of anyone. During one particularly troubling dream, I recall traveling with others and participating in a battle with a demon - an actual fight in mid air. I know this sounds crazy, but it felt like so much more than a dream. Do you believe astral travel is real? What do you think the purpose of it is? Is this just my way of escaping life or finding more excitement?

~Tanya

Susyn:

I do believe in astral travel and have had experiences similar to what you describe. In fact, this phenomenon has been documented in every culture throughout the ages.

Though we have limited knowledge of this subject, we have all at least been exposed to the idea that time, space and our physical world are not as solid or static as was once believed. When you consider that time can seem to go quickly or slowly and our physical worlds are constantly changing, the idea of our spirits leaving our bodies to travel to other places does not seem so far-fetched.

Many people experience the initial stages of astral projection as having the ability to fly or a sensation that they are falling back into their bodies after an astral journey.

The fact that you remember doing this from a very young age suggests that you may have practiced astral travel in a past life, and thus come into this life already well-versed in the art. Though it seems you donít know the people you encounter on these travels, they may very well be spirits youíve known before.

The higher purpose of astral projection is to experience life from a soul-based perspective. You describe battling a demon in one of these adventures, which indicates that you are aware of the struggles occurring in the spiritual realm and are participating in them. Many of your travels will be subconscious; though it seems you project on a regular basis, you may only be remembering a fraction of these experiences.

Rather than this being something you do to distract yourself or attempt to live a more exciting existence, it is simply a natural expression of your soul. Because your travels have been somewhat random, it may seem like this is a way you try to escape from the reality of your physical life. As you develop your gift, however, you will be able to pick and choose where you travel, whom you interact with, and what you accomplish.

For instance, you may have a loved one far away who is struggling with an illness or some other problem. With your gifts, you could travel to where they are and look in on them. You could also program yourself before bedtime to visit a place you have never been before. Once you master control of your projections, the possibilities will be endless.

To master this art, you simply need to set some boundaries and learn how to direct your astral projections. Because this is something you have done all your life, moving it to the next level shouldn't be difficult. I encourage you to keep up with your astral journeying and learn more about how to gain control of these experiences.

*****

Mata:

I do believe in astral projection; I've experienced it myself. In fact, I read your question with some excitement, for I too have very vivid memories of attempting to fly as a young child. I remember being about four years old and insisting to my family that I could truly fly. They laughed and told me I must have been dreaming, but I knew it was more than a dream.

I would stand on something like a bench or large piece of furniture, leap into the air, and flap my arms like crazy. I could get airborne for several seconds this way but I always ended up back on the ground. I did remain suspended in the air for far longer than would have happened if I had been attempting this in the physical, however. I've read and heard about many other people who have had similar experiences.

Your question also reminded me of my little nephew, who used to tell us about how he would fly to other places at night. He told us there were certain other people there, none of whom he knew when awake. He also talked about how sometimes, he would just jump up and down, touching the ceiling for fun. He could not understand why he was unable to do this when awake.

As for why we project, it just comes naturally. The astral is a very familiar place; when we aren't incarnate here on Earth, we are all able to travel to and through other worlds. I suppose asking why we have out of body experiences is a bit like a dolphin asking why it is able to leap and fly through the air above the ocean: it is simply part of our nature and our universe.

I love to think of all the little children in the world who have not yet been taught that flying (and all sorts of other wonderful things) are impossible. I love to imagine them knowing that they can fly and having all sorts of spiritual adventures simply because they are still so fresh from the spirit world and so open to any and all experiences.

If you had quit your job and were spending all day, every day, in bed, trying to get out of your body, then I might think you were trying to avoid physical reality. That is clearly not the case. Spontaneous out of body experiences can happen for all sorts of reasons. When trauma is not involved, it may simply be that your vibration is at the upper range for the physical dimension, so it is easy for you to slip up and out into realms that are close in vibration to this one.

It has also been my experience that sometimes, our higher selves bless us with such experiences to prove to us that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience instead of physical beings who may seem to have spiritual experiences now and then.

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.