KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

January 8 through January 14, 2024

The Capricorn new Moon occurs on Thursday, but the energy for fresh starts will abound all week long. There's a tendency for lots of talk and little action under Monday and Tuesday's Sagittarius Moon, but it's all part of the plan to bring us back into work mode, so let's not worry if we don't get much done. The Capricorn Moon is the aspect that will get us back up and running on Wednesday and Thursday, and we'll be able to catch up in record time, allowing us to tie up any loose ends from last year and put a stake in the ground for new enterprises. Change will be the theme as the Moon dances through Aquarius on Friday and Saturday, whether we are looking for a new job, home or relationship. Finding new ways to manifest our dreams is essential now, because as we know, nothing changes if nothing changes! Sunday's Pisces Moon will inspire us spiritually, so let's listen for that small intuitive voice within that is sure to direct us forward.

5 Ways to Manifest Outer Health, Inner Peace, and Beauty, by Dr. Debbie Palmer

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

We're all looking for balance these days. Juggling work, life, and taking care of ourselves is a full-time job that can very often sap our energy, enthusiasm, and health. I have experienced this struggle in my own life and see this every day with patients, too, who seek me out for help in achieving this balance.

I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that achieving balance is possible—without having to book a month-long yoga retreat or overhaul your entire life. This is why I wrote my new book, Mindful Beauty. It's a modern-day guide to living in mindful balance using simple tips—which don't take a lot of effort—to revamp your daily habits. The end result of achieving this balance is inner calm, vibrant health, and outer radiance.

As I talk about in Mindful Beauty, this balance can be summed up in what Ayurveda (the holistic healing system that originated in India over five thousand years ago) calls ojas ("oh-jus"). Pure beauty, says Ayurveda, is clear, glowing skin, silky hair, happy eyes, youthfulness, and even a pleasant smell. This is the result of inner and outer happiness and health. Ojas is considered the "sap of life," true inner and outer beauty and health that radiates from a relaxed, peaceful state. This state of balance is a result of finding peace in your life, but it's also a result of a nourishing diet, regular mindful movement, and restful sleep. That's what I want to talk about here: exactly how to manifest outer health, beauty and radiance, and an inner calm for longevity and true inner and outer beauty. Below are five ways to get started.

1. Find a way to connect with your inner you every single day. I cannot stress enough the importance of taking time to nourish your soul. We eat three-plus meals a day to feed our body, but what are we doing every day to feed our soul? A soul-nourishing "diet" is as important to our balance as food is. While once-a-week yoga or meditation is great, we must begin to incorporate soul-nourishing habits every single day. When I explain this to my patients, they immediately think they have to meditate for thirty minutes every day and explain why they don't have time for it. But you don't need thirty minutes and you don't even need to formally "meditate." I do meditation at my desk during my lunch break and sometimes it's no more than five minutes. But in that five minutes, I focus on my breathing—which nourishes my inner self—reducing heart rate, lowering stress, and giving me a boost to get through the rest of the day. You can also practice walking meditation in your workplace, home, or even the grocery store. (See more about this later.) There are plenty of meditations in Mindful Beauty that you can do, too, if you want help getting started. A simple morning moment of gratitude—being thankful for things that are going right in your life—is sometimes all it takes, too. There's been research that shows that having a sense of awe and gratitude for things in our lives can lower levels of inflammation in the body. Inflammation is a precursor to disease—which is why keeping levels low in the body is so important. Nourishing our inner selves is a key part of living a healthy life today: when we feed our soul, we strengthen our physical being, too.
2. Eat plenty of plant-based foods. When you eat a diet closer to the Earth, as the Mediterranean cultures do, your body responds with more energy, better sleep, and healthier, more radiant skin. Why? These foods—like fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, legumes and beans, and whole grains—have more key nutrients like fiber, vitamins B and C, and calcium that the body needs to thrive. This doesn't mean you have go vegan or vegetarian. In fact, I recommend that patients eat lean meat like poultry regularly and limiting red meat. Fish is also important as part of this Mediterranean-style of eating. This step doesn't have to be overwhelming: simply adding one or two plant-based food to every meal and snack during the day is a good way to start. For example, with breakfast, add an orange or grapefruit; with lunch, add a side salad or greens to your sandwich; with dinner, be sure that half your plate is plant based. A handful of almonds or walnuts as a mid-day snack is another option. Once you start adding these foods to your diet regularly, you'll find that you want to experiment more with plant-based recipes (I offer a few of my family's favorites in Mindful Beauty). You'll notice that these simple changes will result in you feeling more vibrant physically, and also feeling better mentally: you'll be more energetic, more confident, and more invigorated to take charge of your life.
3. Move with mindful intention. When I suggest to my patients that they exercise regularly, so many of them explain that they already go to the gym for a sweat-inducing bout of cardio. As I tell them: there's more to movement, however, than just working up a sweat. So many people today are on their phones—either talking or listening to music—or watching TV while they're exercising. While this definitely helps pass the time, I also suggest shutting off your devices once or twice a week and, instead, focusing on your breathing. That is mindful movement. While a good cardio workout is important for heart health and overall physical health—as well as reducing anxiety and boosting mood—mindful movement achieves balance on a deeper level: you're working out your body while nurturing your inner you. Our brain waves shift from the analytical beta waves (that are important for getting our to-do lists done) to calmer alpha waves (which are important for feeding our soul and our daydream states). One of my favorite ways to move with mindful intention is simply walking outdoors with my phone silenced. Walking meditation, or "forest bathing" as it's been called, makes us more mindful in the present moment and sustains elevated states of this mindfulness the rest of the day when we're not walking. Yoga, swimming, running, biking, and really any form of exercise can achieve this elevated state of mindfulness as long as we're focused on our breathing and the rhythm of our bodies and not our devices.
4. Create a night-time sleep ritual that works for your life. Developing a ritual at least an hour before bed every night will ease you into sleep, helping you to fall asleep more quickly and stay asleep longer. So many people have trouble sleeping today and I attribute so much of this to the digital world that surrounds us 24-7. From a scientific standpoint, our devices emit something called blue light, which has been shown in numerous studies to interfere with the production at night of the sleep hormone melatonin, particularly if you use your devices too close to bedtime. When darkness falls, our body's natural reaction is to produce melatonin, which makes us feel sleepy. But in our modern world—where we're doing work at night on our computers, checking social media late into the night, watching TV, or texting—our bodies aren't producing the amounts of melatonin we need to get to sleep and stay asleep. So my advice to patients is always: shut off your devices at least one hour before bed. Give your body time to produce melatonin and to ease into sleep. Other bedtime rituals can include five or ten minutes of meditation, calming yoga asanas (like shavasana or legs up the wall), reading quietly from a physical book (i.e., not an e-reader), or just sitting quietly drinking a cup of herbal tea. In Mindful Beauty, I also include crystal and bedroom feng shui tips that may help with sleep. What works for each person, however, is different. The important thing is to find a ritual that works for your schedule and start to incorporate it every night. You'll notice that you feel calmer overall—all day long—and sleep better. A good night's sleep is so critical to better health, both mental and physical, and overall radiance. You can have a strong inner you, but without sleep, you can't have a strong outer you and overall balance.
5. Develop a consistent skin-care regimen. The skin is the largest organ in the body and needs regular care. Eating a nutrient-rich diet feeds the skin from the inside, as does moving regularly (this boosts circulation, which provides skin cells with much-need oxygen). Drinking enough water is also important; it keeps the skin hydrated and radiant. Just as establishing good habits in other aspects of your life keeps you in balance from the inside, though, so too does creating a consistent skin-care regimen keep your skin in balance from the outside. Washing skin twice daily, exfoliating (to get rid of dulling dead skin cells), and hydrating skin are basic steps that everyone should incorporate every day. I give many more details in Mindful Beauty, particularly about what to look for when choosing products, but starting here is an important first step. If you're experiencing skin problems like eczema or acne, I recommend that you see your dermatologist, but I also recommend putting into practice the steps that I recommend here and, in more detail, in Mindful Beauty. The skin is usually one of the first places to exhibit signs of imbalance in the body. Helping to get the body back into balance typically has a positive effect on skin conditions, as so many of my patients have experienced. This is why, as an osteopathic board-certified dermatologist (one of only several hundred in the country), I incorporate Mindful Beauty strategies into each one of my patient sessions.

Something important to remember: each of us is unique and beautiful—even though we sometimes don't feel this way. Manifesting beauty and uniqueness comes so much easier once we nourish ourselves from the inside out. These strategies and so many more in Mindful Beauty can help. Wishing you a soul- and body-nourishing journey to your best self!

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2020. All rights reserved.

Have you ever heard of something called a "walk-in?" My friend said that someone told her that she had one. She said it was when another spirit came into her body to inhabit it for the rest of her bodily life. I asked her what the difference was between a walk-in and one's own spirit growing and changing. She didn't give me a very clear answer. I looked for information regarding this subject and found nothing. If you have heard of this, I would like to know more. Thank you,

Concerned and Confused

Dreamchaser:

To understand what a "walk-in" is, first we need to understand that our physical body is not really "us" - it is just a vehicle for us to use while we're here on Earth. It is very much like someone who is driving a car. When we see the driver, we understand that this person exists whether or not they have the car with them at the time. Well, we exist whether we have a physical body or not. When our physical body dies, we will continue to exist without it.

Most people understand that each physical body is "owned" by someone, and this person is attached to their body until the body dies. If nobody was attached to the body, then it would die. This is one of the reasons babies don't move in the womb before "quickening" - nobody has yet become "attached" to the body. Like a car without an engine, the body cannot work without a soul "powering" it.

Walk-ins are beings that have spiritual work to do in the physical world, but for a variety of reasons, do not need or want to spend the time it takes to grow up in a new physical body. When a person has finished his or her life's lessons and would normally die at that time, in some cases they allow another spirit to "walk-in" to the physical body that they are leaving behind.

In this situation there is still one physical body and one spirit attached to it, but the spirit now inhabiting the body is not the same one that was born into it as a baby. Obviously, this can mean that the person may seem to have a personality change, which can sometimes seem very severe. This is in fact one of the ways we can tell if someone is a walk-in. They will usually be much more compassionate, loving and spiritual than they were before.

Naturally, this tends to create problems for friends and family, as they simply cannot understand what has happened. While it may be emotionally painful, in this situation, it may be best for them to understand that the person they previously knew is, in practical terms, no longer physically alive on this plane. It is often not much easier for the walk-in. He/she inherits the memories and situations of the prior occupant of the body, and may take some time to make sense of all of this.

So the difference between a walk-in and one's own spirit evolving is that in a walk-in situation, our spirit/soul actually goes to the Otherside. We leave our body. Normally, at that point, our physical body would die. For all intents and purposes, we are now dead as our spirits are living on the Otherside, but our physical body remains alive and animated by a walk-in spirit who wants to take it from there in order to learn needed lessons.

Has your friend changed DRASTICALLY? Does she seem like a different person?

I wish you continual understanding.

*****

Astrea:

Dreamchaser explained "walk-ins" to me a couple of years ago. Until then, I hadn't really considered that possibility. Once she educated me, I was SHOCKED to see how many ignoramuses INVITE those soul suckers into their lives.

I frequently see signs on beauty salons and other businesses announcing "Walk-ins Welcome!" It gives me the HEEBIEST OF JEEBIES! I NEVER go into any of those places! Even my daughter-in-law, who is a Fundamentalist Christian, is terrified of walk-ins, because in her church, they believe in Demonic Possession, and have a long tradition of driving out demons, walk-ins and other evil spirits who are bent on taking people over for their own benefit. Of course that's what she tells me. I can't go there - I might burst into flames.

Without speaking to your friend, I can't tell her if she is possessed by one of those creatures or not, but I will say that in my experience, it's very rare for the person who is in a body now to know or speak about the possibility of being a walk-in.

Walk-ins are SNEAKY critters, and they try to BLEND with the personality of the person. The last thing a walk-in wants is to be NOTICED by others, so it does seem odd that she could tell you that she has one or IS one - however you want to put it. Regardless, she BELIEVES that is happening to her, so here is something that might help you help your friend.

To get rid of a walk-in, honor St. George, the famous dragon slayer. His Pagan counterparts are Bellerophone and Sigurd the Dragon Slayer of Norse legend. These three heroes are the personification of the Sun, and using the waxing power of the spring Sun can banish any demonic force.

For this ritual, you'll need a gold candle and a drawing of a dragon. It's best to do this outside when the sun is shining brightly, and after April 23, because that's when the Sun is gaining power.

Cast your circle and call in your corners. (For protection, I urge you to do this before ANY kind of ritual. If you don't know how, there are a million books on the subject.) If you or your friend knows the name of the walk-in, write that down on a piece of paper. If you don't, "Demon" will do.

Place the name beneath the dragon. Light the candle and visualize this walk-in taking the dragon's shape. Picture the light and heat from the Sun burning up the dragon. Set the name and the drawing of the dragon on fire with the flame from the candle and watch the fire diminish its power. Send what is left of the ashes to the Sun by scattering them around inside your circle.

Pray in your own way for freedom from this demon. The walk-in's power will diminish as you watch the wind take the ashes.

Release your corners, undo your circle and walk away from the walk-in forever!

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.