Monday, buttered toast, and sneaky periods.

 I woke up around 6am, with a sneaky, weeks-early period. I don’t hate my period like I used to. I am much more wise about it, and the benefits of it. So, my attitude surrounding is it much kinder. I allow myself to rest the first few days instead of white knuckling through like I used to. 

But still, 10 days early? A month ago it was 17 days late! And I have been to the doc recently; I am not even in perimenopause much less ACTUAL menopause. Ah, well. I’ll learn what I need to from all the weirdness.

After taking care of blood-related things this morning, I made my tea (sweet, sweet English Breakfast) and a piece of buttered toast. And not Wonder bread, toast. Though, there is nothing wrong with Wonder bread, I prefer crusty Italian bread or a baguette. I like it to leave a million crumbs on the plate so I KNOW I ate real bread. And I like it almost-but-not-quite-burnt. So the knife makes that scraping sound when you spread the butter. You know what I mean?

I skipped yoga asana this morning, but I did some gentle stretches and breathwork, always do your breathwork, whether you get on the mat or not, BREATHE. It’s important to get the energy flowing well in your body, and your energy body, so you can start your day balanced. And with the breathwork, I also dropped into meditation this morning. It’s so sweet to spend some time with Spirit. To share some love with the world, to heal your body, to balance emotions, to gain some clarity. 

Yesterday, I did some sessions with my cats! Using what I learned this weekend, I spoke to all three (one at a time) and it was a lovely time. 

One of my older boys, Beetljuice, has been around a long time and said when he dies, he gets to be ‘something bigger next time’ and he’s looking forward to it. He calls my husband Big Man, and likes it when we call him Big Guy (he’s a stout kitty), and he told me he may be old, but he can still do his job well. And I asked him what his job is? And he said it was guarding me. He is also a healer and does healing work on all of us in the family. AND he has wings (in the quantum field, not in 3D). 

Zipper, my other old man kitty, has been with me since he was a tiny kitten. He was found with his sibling, by some studio mates when I has space in Lowe Mill, about 11 years ago. Those folks said I could have him and they let the owners of the record store there hold onto him while I drove over. When I got there, Zipper was in this little cardboard box on the shelf behind the counter and he looked so sweet!                                                                                                                  He told me yesterday that he came to this timeline specifically to live with me, and he was so excited when I finally showed up to the record store to pick him up. He told me that he doesn’t hate the youngest cat, but she makes him tired and he doesn’t want to ‘teach her how to be a cat’ (that will make sense in a minute). Zipper also said that he doesn’t like Eli having the basement bedroom because the door is always shut and he can’t go down there and hang out with Eli, and he misses laying on his bed and in his window. And he said,”Remember those couple years when I would lay across your chest to sleep every night? I was helping heal your broken heart.”  I cried when he said that.  He told me that next time, he gets to be a panther!

August, the youngest, was a bird in her last lifetime, which is what Zipper was talking about when he said he doesn’t feel like teaching her to be a cat, haha! She told me being a cat is better because she can jump. She said she doesn’t TRY to be mean or annoy the old men cats, but “when I see their tails going, I just want to jump on them!’ I asked if she’s happy with us (she was also a rescue kitty) and she said ‘Oh yes! The love is very big here!” (August also comes with me to do healing work in the quantum field sometimes.)

One of the other women in the animal communication class asked me to lunch one day this week, so I might have a new friend. Making friends as an adult SUCKS, it’s way more difficult that it used to be. And especially now, with what I do and believe and practice, I really can only relate to other women who are on that same wavelength. I can be friendly and hang out with anyone, I truly love people. But to connect deeply, can be a little…taxing? And I think I can be a bit much at first, because I can’t seem to small talk anymore, and I jump right into high-octane weirdness. I mean, I try to stick with normal stuff, but I always end up talking about spiritual things and I understand it can be ‘a lot’ for some folks. But that’s OK! We all have our people and being open about who you are and letting your personal freak flag fly is a good way to find your people! So I’m looking forward to lunch and gabbing about talking to animals and all the other witchy stuff we’re into. (My stepdad calls me witchy woman, since I’ve been doing Reiki on him and my Mom.)  

Let’s talk about the label ‘witch’. First of all, I don’t hate it. Here is why: when the witch hunts were happening, the people punished as witches were actually midwives, herbalists, spiritual and energy healers, intuitive seers, etc. And/or they were widows who refused to marry a man and give him the property she inherited from her late husband. Or she never married at all, or knew how to swim, or how to read. Or maybe she was too pretty, or too ugly, or she had a black cat, or was too loud and obnoxious. Any of these things could get a woman prosecuted for witchcraft. 

Using the term witch, for me, is a way for women to take back ownership of the word. And a lot of the things I do in my healing work would be classified as witchcraft back in the day, so if you wanna call me a witch, that’s cool. But I am not a practicing Wiccan or pagan. Some pieces of my spiritual practice intersect with some pagan practices, however, so I can understand the confusion sometimes. I make herbal medicine, I meditate and shamanic journey, I practice yoga and energy healing. I burn plants and herbs to cleanse my home, I set intentions and affirmations for myself.  I charge stones and water under the moon sometimes. 

Honestly, it doesn’t matter what other people want or need to call me. I don’t  label myself as anything, but when you have to tell others what you DO, I will call myself an intuitive energy healing practitioner or Reiki healer, to keep it simple. 

I was going to go off on labels and what we DO as opposed to WHO WE ARE, but this post is getting out of control at this point so I will leave you with this completely unrelated thought:     pie is unequivocally better than cake. Unless you’re talking tiramisu, which I don’t qualify as cake or pie; it is a magical thing in its own right. 

bye.

(I made that collage. You can see my gallery show at Lowe Mill in Huntsville, Alabama March 2-April 23)