So, you'd like to know the truth about the tarot?  Well, there are a couple things you need to realize first before we dig into that:

1. People always use the worth "truth" to mean a universal truth.  When in reality, most truths are personal truths, which only apply to the person having the experience with said "truth". Meaning MY truth and YOUR truth can be two, totally different things.
2. The tarot is older than anyone living at this time.  Something that's been around that long has probably had many uses and many "truths".  So today's truth?  Is not yesterday's truth, and tomorrow's truth may look nothing like today's.  So keep that in mind when you're dealing with something that nobody can agree on, like the tarot.  

Is it good?  Is it bad?

It's freaking glossy cardboard.  How can you classify a paper product as good or bad?  The only way you can is to say "depends on how you use it".  

If you take a tarot card, and shape it into a knife and stab someone with it, sure, it's super bad.  But if you're just opening the package, laying them out on the table, and playing around with them?  Who on earth is that hurting?

If you're a con-artist and you say to someone "I can see everything with these cards!  Just give me $200 and I will tell you it all!"  Then YOU are bad, not the cards.  That's where the misconception lies.  When we lay the blame on the tool instead of the user of the tool, that's where the problems are caused. 

If I give you a hammer, and you build a homeless person a house, that hammer is amazingly awesome.  But if I give you a hammer and you kill a homeless person with it, then yeah, that hammer kind of sucks.

BUT is it the hammer's fault?  It's just metal and wood.  Metal and wood cannot jump up and do bad things. 

But, but, there's the devil and death and other bad stuff on in them!

So what?  Those aren't bad cards.  Those cards (among the 20 others which are called "the major arcana") are archetypes, which are symbols for universal life.  Endings are a part of life (which is what the death card means).  Every single card in the deck is a reflection of universal life.  Every single card can be applied to every single person, and it will make sense.  You can't fear pictures, that's just silly.  And if the pictures are REALLY scary, throw them away and replace them from some other deck with neat pictures you like to look at.

Simple.


But, don't you have to be psychic to use them?

Pardon my words here for a second, but only ignorant people think this.  The cards are tools, yes, but for anyone, not for "special" chosen people.  And the cards are no more magical than that hammer you used to build that house above.  Do psychics exist?  I have no freaking clue.  Maybe, and maybe not.  But, what does that matter in relation to you using them?

But as a RUUist, I don't believe in psychics (because I don't believe in anything).  Am I okay with people thinking they are psychic?  Eh....not sure.   So many shysters out there looking for a sucker, and I don't approve of that at all.  Yet, which is almost worse, some don't even realize they're not psychic, and that's sad.  I know, because:

I used to be one of them.

Let me tell you a story....

I've been a tarot reader for over 26 years.  I used to believe hardcore in psychic abilities, ghosts, magic, and other junk.  Then one day, I got slapped in the face.

Granted, it was a metaphorical slap, but still, it kind of hurt.  I grew up my entire life with 2 certainties: I was psychic.  And my house was haunted (hell, I even wrote a book about it).  But then I started to learn about cold readings, and got really discouraged.  And then I wondered if anything I believed was true, so I stopped thinking about ghosts and guess what?  The hauntings stopped.  If I was actually being haunted, then me not thinking about it shouldn't stop it right?  But it did.  And that's when I reallly realized, it just wasn't true.

This turned my life upside down.  When I learned about cold readings, I realized that was exactly what I was doing in my readings that I was getting paid for.   I was the shyster!  But it wasn't on purpose...but the guilt was eating me alive, so I just put my cards away and didn't touch them again for almost a year.  How could I have been tricking people out of their money and not know it?  

But the truth was, I wasn't really tricking them.  The only thing I was tricking them about was how I was getting my information.  What I was doing true and real, because the way I read the tarot was never psychic at all.  In the 26 years I read the tarot, I only had a handful of people ever tell me what I said to them didn't apply, and yet not one of them asked for their money back.  So, why did my readings work?

Because of the way I read them.  

When I read them, I was not like Miss Cleo and told my clients a bunch of BS crap what "may or may not" have been real (most likely, may not).  I  counseled my clients with them, which is what I am best at.  I had clients all over the world (like Mexico, Australia, Europe, etc.) who contacted me on a regular basis to counsel them.  I made sure to tell them I wasn't a licensed counselor, I called myself a spiritual counselor...which I was.  But at my core?  I really did think I had some kind of psychic gift.  And that's why I felt so damn guilty when I finally realized I didn't.  And I felt like my entire life was a complete and total lie.

 But had I known?  Had I known I wasn't psychic and informed my clients that I wasn't?  I could have went on with my tarot practice without guilt.  But I was ignorant.  I didn't realize the truth.  


What is my truth?  


My truth now?  Is that the tarot is tool for everyone.  And it takes absolutely no psychic ability to read them.  And knowing how to read them is a gift.  Not from god or the universe, but from you.  You give yourself the gift of ability to do something when you work hard and hone your skills.  And the other gift you give yourself and your clients is: honesty.  You don't pretend to be something you're not.  You don't pretend to know things you don't.  The human mind is pretty suggestive, and if you go around suggesting something like, oh I don't know, that someone's husband is cheating on them (as I once did in my early 20's)?  You might ruin a marriage.  Or worse.  

(note: He WAS cheating on her, but it wasn't for me to be the one to tell her with my tarot...the signs were obvious, but she had to be the one who saw them....as a tarot reader, I could had explored the idea of why she thought he was cheating with her, and let her see it for herself and not tell her myself what was obvious.  It needed to be obvious to her.  He, in turn, used the fact that she heard it from a tarot reader that it "obviously wasn't true" to get her to believe him.  Which she did.  Ethics, my friend, don't use them properly and it could blow up in your face.)   


Am I telling you to use the tarot for others and run out to become a reader at the local fair tomorrow?  Sure, if you want to.  But, honestly, I think you should wait a second first.  I'd rather you use the tarot for you first.  Learn how to use these gorgeous and amazing tools for your own personal growth before you go read them for others.  But don't learn how to read them from the booklet, that never works.  And other places online will teach you how to read the meanings of the cards in a "psychic" way, which is kind of foolish if you ask me.  And yet other places will tell you silly things such as "wrap your cards in silk to keep out negative energies!"  Where is the scientific basis for that?  What studies have been done?  None, that's how many.  Instead, just follow my instructions below on how to read them for yourself. 




So, if the tarot isn't magical, how DO you read the cards?  

With your MIND!

Just kidding.

Well, actually, yes, it's really true.  You do use your mind.  And that's it.  You use common sense.  And, you have some fun with it!


Reading the Tarot RUU Style Step-by-Step  

1. Open your deck, throw away the plastic, and shuffle your cards.
2. Ask a question about what you want to know about (ask personal stuff such as "What do I need to know for (insert life subject here) in order to (insert life verb here)?"
3. Lay out some cards in any fashion you like.
4. Look at the pictures.  What do they say to you?  
5. Write your answers down and examine them.  Where do you see your answers?

  
And that's it.  No fancy business.  Just read the pictures.  Pretend the people on the cards are real people.  What are they saying to you?  Ask them your own questions.  See how they answer.  And write it all down. 

And you can use the tarot for oh-so-many things as a RUUist:

• Story ideas (character creation, plot, setting, almost anything in a story can be created with tarot cards....actually, since it works so well, I am surprised it's not the main use of the tarot today...go figure)
• Health issues (never a replacement for a doctor, only a possible explanation what in your own psyche might be at the root of the health issue--like "what's causing my anxiety?", etc.  You'd be surprised what you can figure out this way.)
• Shadow work (digging deep into those dark places in your mind that you normally dare not travel--the tarot, with it's pictorial representations of life experiences, can open up those parts to shed light where normally light doesn't reach...we talk about this more in depth in my "pay what you want" class below)
• Self-exploration ("Who am I and where I going?"  By using the tarot to ask specific questions to guide you in your self-exploration, you can delve into some pretty deep stuff--we cover this in class too)

So, the truth about tarot?

1. It's not magic.  
2. You're not magic.  
3. And everyone has the ability to use such a fun tool for themselves and others.  

Good luck and have fun, my fellow RUUists!  And go grab yourself a deck and see what you can find out : )




Let me know below if you use the tarot and how it works for you, or if you go out and pick up a deck for the first time and try it : )





If you want to a learn more in-depth way to learn about using the tarot for nonbelievers in a no-nonsense way, then head over to my sister site:


RainyDayTarot.blogspot.com

As a kid, we all probably had diaries.  We kept track of who we liked or doodled our names with the person we had a crush on's last name.  Mine always said "Jamie Posada".  Johnny Posada was a cute little boy in 3rd grade who every single girl had a huge crush on.  My diaries were filled with how much I wanted him to be my boyfriend and how cute he looked that day (too bad he didn't know I existed LOL)  I'd also keep track of when my friends and I were fighting or if Jenny's outfit looked cute or not on any given day.  Or information on the girl we all called "Miss Piggy".  Not because she was overweight, but because she was dating "Kermit", another boy in class (who I have no idea why we even called him Kermit).

Then we grew older and our entries change into our deepest, darket secrets.  Again, most likely, our crushes.  We thought those entries were 100% protected by that little strap that held that teeny weeny little lock with the teeny weeny keys.  And we guarded those keys with our lives.  Then maybe our little brothers or sisters found them and we had to find more secure places to hide them (like under our mattresses....yes, that's a great place to hide our secrets!).

But eventually, we outgrew our diaries, and found the spiritual nature of the journal.  

 A diary is where we keep our private thoughts about daily life.  A journal is a place to explore the deeper parts.

And when we find the deeper things to write about, we end up learning more about ourselves.  The act of writing itself can be extremely spiritual in the fact that by learning more about who we really are, we are learning about humanity as a whole.  And when we learn about humanity, we learn about the nature of life.  Which is probably the most spiritual thing you can do as a human.

Through introspective journaling, we can work out our thoughts and feelings, and even heal old wounds.  We can explore truths and non-truths, past loves and future romances, things we've kept inside of us and the things we keep outside that we never let in.


And there are so many ways we can accomplish these tasks:

• The meditative state of freewriting, as in Julia Cameron's Morning Pages, can serve as brain dumps that clear out the muck from within so we experience more bliss in our daily lives without anything weighing us down. Check out 750 Words for an online program based upon this idea. 
• Guided prompts can lead us to places we've never thought possible.  Places we'd never have thought of on our own.  Check out this list of 15 self-discovery prompts. 
• You can write a letter to the person you're angry at.  You can be horrible, and mean, and say things you'd never say in real life.  Then either throw it away or delete it.  And and then rewrite it with a clear head, if sending it is something you need to do.  Or you can keep an Unsent Letter journal, which is a place you can store all of your unsent letters.  This is a type of journaling because it gets out your anger, and reduces great amounts of stress in your daily life 
• As a RUUist, you can write about common beliefs in the world, and how you apply RUU principles to them.  Like "Is there a god?"  You can journal about experiences you've had up until now with "god" and how it differs coming from a place where "god" can mean anything, rather than some dude sitting up on a cloud watching over us.  You can write about how science can be spiritual or any one of these spiritual prompts from a previous post.  
• You can write about an illness and how it's changed your life for the worse and for the better.  

Journaling isn't just for young teenage girls, it's for everyone, including men.  We can write out our lives in a way that we can't speak about it.  We can figure things out and become better people after doing so.  

Many years ago, I once wrote a horribly sad journal entry about how much I hated the world, and all the people in it.  I was so sick and tired of being treated like there was something "wrong" with way I live my life (or actually more so, my personality), that it all just built up and came out in a journal entry.  When I wrote, I took every single person who ever hurt me in my life (and that I was still letting hurt me because of my anger) and basically told them to "fuck off".  Then as I wrote, and wrote and wrote, I started understanding how terribly messed up those people were, because of the terribly messed up things that they experienced in life.  And then something I never expected to happen, happened: I started to forgive them.  I started to see life through their eyes and understood why they were so mean or so angry or selfish.  And I started to see that I wasn't a sweet little princess either.   I did, with some of them, have a part to play in my own hurt.  Some, like my parents, no, that wasn't my fault, but old boyfriends and old friends...I wasn't as innocent as I was portraying to myself.  I wasn't the only victim.  And upon realizing this, I could let my anger go.  My huge list, came down to two people: one was an ex boyfriend who used to hit me and one was my mother.  Those were the two I had to work on forgiving and letting go of the pain they caused me.  All the other ones were just in the past.  And I could finally accept that.  

Journaling is one of the most healing things you can do for yourself.  And being in touch with my own inner spirit like that, healed me more than any therapist ever did.  Not that therapy isn't great, because it is, but journaling should be something we're taught from day one, that all humans on earth should do.  We'd all be a lot more mentally healthy and we'd deal with life's ups and downs in a more productive way if we had.  

Sitting down each day, pen in hand, in a quiet place (or somewhere with headphones and good music), is a spiritual retreat in itself.  Taking time for you to record your feelings or even just what you ate that day or what the weather is like, is "you" time.  And that, my friend, can make all the difference in your life.  

Do you journal?  If so, do you keep a written one or an online one?  If not, what's holding you back?  One woman I once knew said she was scared of her kids finding her journal if she died.  I say, so what?  Let them know you.  Leaving journals behind for others to read can help them mourn you after you're gone as well as know who you really were.  But if that idea scares you, get a lock box to store them in and hide the key.  Because in reality, journaling is just for you, and you alone.  Nobody has a right to read your private life without your consent.  But at the same time, feel free to give consent to those you truly trust.  

But I honestly hope you consider getting a journal if you don't have one already.  You can get a spiral notebook, or a fancy expensive one.  It doesn't matter what it is, it just has to feel right to you.  Just grab your book, get a cup of whatever you like to drink, go to a private place in your home, outside, or in your own mind, and write.


I promise, you won't be sorry.  



Tell us about your journaling journey below!  And you might be a future of  All Sorts of Journals in the near future :)

Shamanism isn't technically a religion, but more of a practice, kind of like Buddhism.  And, like Buddhism, there are many wonderful things that can be taken from it.

Let start first of with:

What do shamans believe?

First of all, shamans are seen as the bridge between the afterlife and the here and now.  They are the messengers, the healers for both man and earth.  And most traditional shamanism believes in order to be a shaman, there is a calling.  You aren't supposed to able to choose to be a true shaman, you have to be called to do it.  For most, it's a severe sickness or getting pretty badly hurt, or being born with a deformity.  But for neo-shamans (the new kind that anyone can be), it can be sicknesses that linger or traumatic events, such as fibro, childhood abuse, chronic pain disorders, etc.   And when you accept the call, usually the sickness or pain gets better.  Traditionally, you'd have to be of the ethic origin that the tradition of shamanism (like being from a Native American tribe) you are following, but I don't honestly see how race would be a barrier when your supposed spirit doesn't have a race...

Shamans believe that the reason you are sick is because your soul is lost.  And they can travel to the spirit world through trance to find it again and make you well.

But that's not the only role of the shaman, but in the indigenous world, it's a very, very important one.

In today's world, we live fast paced.  We never stop to check in with ourselves.  And practicing some shamanistic ways can help us do that.

How you can use shamanism in your own life:

1. Meet your spirit animals through vision quests.  Are spirit animals even real?  Who cares.  Most of us are drawn to a certain type of animal, perhaps for subconscious reasons.  And by "journeying", maybe we aren't actually going to the spirit world, but our own subconscious, and while there, we can learn why we love this type of animal so much.   Also, certain animals represent certain things to the human psyche.  Dogs are loyal, cats are independent, as are birds.  Snakes can mean death and rebirth, at the same time they can mean being sneaky.  If you find your spirit animal, google it and see what it might mean to you.  (note: some people believe we have 3 totem/spirit animals: shadow totems (what we fear--mine's a snake), life totem (those that stay with us our entire lives--mine's a dog), and a journey totem (those that are here to teach us what we need to during a certain time period, there can be many through out our lives--at one point, mine was a moose).  
2. Journey to ask questions and get answers.  Do you have a burning question you want to ask?  Something you need an answer to?  Then use journeying to find the answers.  It doesn't matter if you get the answer from your own mind or from "somewhere else", the point is, you get an answer that satisfies you.  If you have a question about a health issue, maybe you can find an answer?  Not to be used instead of healthcare, obviously, but just as a helpful thought.  
3. Using divination techniques for fun and insight.  Throw some runes & use a book to interpret their meaning.  Does it apply to your life?  If so, see if you agree with the advice.  If not, throw some more and see what you can come up with.  Play the tarot and see what the cards say (keep checking back here because I will eventually include a link to a FREE Tarot Reading Class for RUUists)  Or deal out some oracle cards and read what you see.  Just have some fun and see if anything sticks! 
4. Have you always wanted a different name?  Journey to ask what your spiritual name is.  Now, I did this, got nothing, and then went to bed and had a dream about my true name.  I wrote it down, and then lost it.  Yay!  That's just how I roll.  So if you want an answer to something, don't always expect it to come while you are journeying or asking, or even when you're conscious.  Answers can come at anytime, anywhere, so pay attention.  
5. Do you have a calling in life?  Is there something you're ignoring for favor of either making more money or because you're stuck in a broken down cycle?  Like keeping a low paying job that isn't going anywhere in favor of living your dream?  Find a way to live your dream on the DL (the down low) until you can live it fully.  Don't throw away something your heart yearns for just because others think it's stupid or because you don't think you can afford it.  Shamans believe that by ignoring your calling you can create disease in your body.  Well, in Western life, if you ignore your dreams, you will get depressed, which can cause a whole slew of health issues.  So maybe they aren't that far off with their thinking?  Don't ignore your calling: live it, dream it, find a way around the obstacles, and get it going!  

As RUUists, we are not here to make light of other culture's practices, but to learn from them and take what makes sense to us, and leave the rest.  Shamanism, just like Buddhism, and every other practice of different cultures, offers many things that can be helpful in our lives, even if we don't believe in them.  Remember; belief is saying "Yes, this is definitely 100% true!"  While entertaining the idea of these practices is saying "This is interesting, I am going to try it out and see what sticks!"  (and by sticks, we mean something that is interesting enough to give a second-or third-or fourth thought to).


Challenge #3:

Live your dreams, baby!

Pick something that you love to do or yearn to try, and make more time for it in your life.  Playing a musical instrument?  Writing stories?  Baking?  Opening a dog kennel?  Whatever your dreams are, find a way to take a baby step towards making that your goal.  Do some research, compare prices, or actually do a little of it here and there.  Just do it!  Let's stop putting our callings on the back burner, and get it out into the open, shall we?  So this week, just work on figuring out how you're going to put more of it into your life.

If you many callings, then pick one or two or three!  Just start living in line with what you feel you're meant to do.

What if you don't know your calling?  Then go take some classes.  Do some internet research.   Try some hobbies on for size.  Or take a new job that sounds exciting.  Sometimes we have no idea what we're meant to be or doing, until we're doing it.

See you next Sunday!  Good luck!  And have fun with it! 


Read more here: 

Totem Animals
More Totems
Wikipedia Shamanism

Books:

Quest by Denise Linn (this book is chock full of vision quest information)
Animal Speak by Ted Andrews (this is full of information about spirit animals)

Videos:

Shamanic Journeying Music
Meeting Your Alley guided journey
Meet Your Power Animal guided journey
Connecting With Your Spirit Guides
Meet Your Spirit Guide

Faith is not a commodity, we either have or we don't have -- it is an inner quality to that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.  -- Sharon Salzberg, Faith

Recently I found my copy of "The Life Organizer: A Woman's Guide to the Mindful Year" by Jennifer Louden.  This it the first quote on the workbook part of the book.  I had to ponder the idea of "faith" for a minute before I realized how to make it work for me.

As a RUUist, I don't have faith in a deity.  I am what you'd consider a mindful, and (trying to be) peaceful atheist.  So, faith is a word I can have a hard time with.  But today, as I sat down to think about it, I really do have faith, it's just not the type that actual religious people have, which is usually to describe it as "belief without proof".  

So, what is faith to a RUUist?  Actually, it's the exact opposite of religious faith.  For one, I have faith in my husband.  I have faith in all he does.  I know he's an amazing writer and will definitely make it both the movie biz and the novel biz (he's a screenwriter with a few movies under his belt and a novelist).  I not only have faith he will make it because he has a work ethic and some amazing talent, but also because he's proven to get both published by a major publishing company (which was later pulled due the entire line of fiction being pulled) and he's got several screenplays that were made into short films.   Two, I have faith in his love for me because he proves it every single day, as I prove mine for him.

I also have faith my children.  If they set their minds to do something, they will achieve it.  They've shown me this time and again.  And I have faith they will keep this up and do great things one day (although they are doing great things just by existing <3).

I have faith in myself.  I know I can do great things if I would just apply myself (hmmm, I sound like every single report card I've ever received).   I know this, because I've proved this in the past, to myself.

But as you can see, for those of us who walked away from actual religion, we tend to put our faith in things that have proven to use that they are possible.  If my husband had never written a word and just started out, would I have faith he'd actually get someone to make movies out of his screen plays?  I'd hope, but that's not the same thing as faith.  Since people have made movies out of his writing already, I have faith there will be more in the future.

But having faith where there is no proof?

I don't even understand that concept.  

When my son wanted to make his own forge, I had no idea if he could do it.  I mean, he's made other things, but a forge is a pretty hefty idea.  I knew could probably do it, but have faith that he 100% could?  To be honest, I just was glad for him to have a project work on and hoped he would not destroy my brand new fire pit! LOL  I put no faith in his outcome, because it didn't matter to me if he actually made one or not (though I hoped he did, because he really, really wanted to).  But then he did.  And it worked.  And it was awesome!  So now, I have faith he can make anything he sets his mind to.  And he has made other things since, always following through until his goal is finished.  His brother has that same tenacity, and they both blow my mind daily with the things they can do.

Proof provides us the faith of another's (or our own) ability(ies). 

My ex-husband once professed his faith that we'd stay together forever.  He 100% believed we'd last (I think he was lying, but whatever LOL).  He put his faith into me where I did not deserve it.  I was not happy.  He knew I wasn't happy.  I told everyone I wasn't happy, including his own family.  But yet, he stuck that misplaced faith on our relationship for no good reason.  We fought like dogs: we yelled, we screamed, we swore, we were horribly mean to one another and yet he thought we'd last forever.  In what world does that show you the proof that you need in order to put your 100% faith into it?  He ended up with me moving out and him living alone for awhile.  If he would had been paying attention, he would have seen it coming and been prepared for it.

Be careful where you put your faith.  If you don't have any proof, then there is nothing to place it in.

Now with my second marriage, I can safely say I have faith we will last forever.  The proof is in the daily pudding: we don't fight, we might get annoyed and complain at each other or get grouchy, but we always talk it out, we always admit to our faults, and we always say we're sorry.  Not only that, we're both always evolving and changing together, which is why so many marriages fail: they evolve and change apart.  Now, what if we didn't last forever and I had put my faith into us?  What if he found a young hot blonde go run off with?  Well, a) that's not in his nature LOL and b) I'd eventually have to accept it.  Would I have been wrong to put my faith in our marriage?  No way.  Faith doesn't mean you're always going to be 100% right.  Nothing is 100%.

Because faith doesn't mean you should be attached to the outcome.  It just means you have applied the scientific method to your situation and come up the most likely answer which is supported by factual data.

The scientific method goes like this:

• A) you have come up with an idea and asked a question (Is he the right guy for me and will we last forever?) 
• B) did your background research (I did google him before we met to make sure he wasn't some crazy stalker or something LOL) 
• C) construct a hypothesis (yes, we get along pretty well, and will hopefully last forever, but let's test this out and see) 
• D) experiment (after 11 years of little ups and downs, we've leveled out and know each other pretty well and are BFF's) 
• E) analyze your data (we get along so well, love doing things together, we communicate instead of fight, we raise our kids on the same page, we support one another through everything, so yeah, I'd bet on us...it's a pretty sure thing) 
• F) communicate your findings ("hey sweetheart, we're staying together until we're old and gray and have walkers!"  "sure but you're 6 years older, so you'll get old first!" he'll say back to me...and he'd be right on that one LOL) and THEN you can put your faith into it.  

So while I can't predict the future, I'd say my marriage is safe bet.  My ex's bet was lost, because he placed all of his money on the wrong horse (neigh!) and didn't even stop to look around to see what his odds were.

Faith is an easy bet.  It's not even a gamble.  If it's a hard bet and you'll probably end up losing?  Don't put your faith into it. Just don't.  Just wait and see.  Do some more testing.  The scientific method applies to every single situation in your life, not just science (well, life is science, so maybe everything is always science??).  Ask a question, gather information, make an educated guess (not a blind guess!), then test the crap out of it.  I don't mean to force human beings to go through silly tests, just pay attention.  If you are sick, is the person there for you?  Or do they force you take your sick butt to go get your own meds while they play video games?  If you need help, are they always there?  Or are they always nowhere to be found or always have an excuse?  That's what I mean.

This doesn't apply only to relationships, but jobs, and life choices, and everything else in your life.  You can test out anything, if it doesn't work, that's fine.  But if it does, and consistently does?  That's when your faith is deserved.

There are no wrong choices, only experiences to be had.  But there are wrong things to put your faith into.  But if you feel comfortable and aren't paying attention, then you might get the rug pulled out from under you.

Why faith?

Because what you can honestly put your faith into you don't have to worry about.  You have to work at it, always, but you don't have to second guess it.  Knowing something doesn't mean you become attached to it.  It just means you don't have to wonder too much about it anymore.  You can just live in the knowing, and work to keep it going (hey, that rhymes!) because you know it's true (for as much as you can say anything is "true").  Because the scientific method told you so!  Ha!

So as RUUists, we put our faith into things that have proven themselves true to us, whether they are people, jobs, life experiences, etc.  We don't sit around and put faith into things that have no proof.  That's what organized religion is for.  And cults.  And that shiz?  That ain't for us.  We're "proofers" (not truthers!).  Show us the pudding, pull out the truth, and maybe we'll put our faith into it......




What have you put your faith into?  Have you ever put your faith into something only to lose it later?  If so, how did that effect you?  Or did you have it work out?  Tell me your stories below!

I thought it would be a good idea to stick with the Buddhist theme this week by talking about mandalas for this Spiritual Tools Series post.  Not only seeking them out, but also creating your own.

A mandala is described as a drawing or map representing the Buddhist or Hindu universe, by About.com's Helen South.  

What does this mean? 

The literal translation in Sanskrit means "circle".  Traditionally, when you draw the outer circle, that represents the spiritual universe.  Then inside you use other shapes to represent other things such as  squares to represent the earth or the physical world, rectangles as heavenly doors, and sometimes even entire deities to represent whichever faith you're honoring.  

Although today, mandalas are everywhere, and most have no religious connotations whatsoever.  But since we're coming from a more spiritual place to create our mandalas, we'll forgo the cutesy "kitty" cartoon style type that is seen today in so many places.  

Instead we're going to make something more personal, something that represents our spiritual journeys, even if you consider yourself an atheist.  Because mandalas are not religious, unless the person making them are coming from a religious tradition themselves, and creating the mandala to represent said religion.  Anyone from any faith can make a mandala.  I will say the world has definitely strayed from the spiritual aspect of them, as we can tell by the quality of drawing in mandala coloring books you can buy on every rack you see.  While these are fun to color in and play with, they aren't true mandalas, because the intent behind making them was not for spiritual expansion, but to make a coloring book picture (although each have their place in the world).

So let's get to it, but first, I'll answer a few questions:

What shape can I make my mandala?

Any shape you want!  They can be free form or the traditional circle style, or you can put them in a triangle.  And the meaning of each shape can mean whatever you want it mean, also.  Our mandalas will be representatives of our own spiritual universes, inside and out.  So they can take on the shape of a star, a circle, a landscape, or totally abstract and freeform.

How big does my mandala need to be?  

As big as you want it.  You can put it on an ATC sized card (artist trading card) or on a huge canvas (or use sidewalk chalk to make one in a parking lot!).  

But I can't draw, how will I make one?

Good news!  You don't have to have a lick of artistic talent in order to draw one.  Not one iota or a single bit.  That's why I made this for beginners.  Even a seasoned artist can use these directions and make one, but so can a total beginner.  You can be very exact in your drawing (I will include a link below to one that is drawn with tools) or you can be go total willy nilly on it.  Making mandalas is for everyone and anyone who wants to draw one, ages 1-1000, any gender, artistic talent or not.

I still don't get how drawing circles and other shapes is considered "spiritual".

Well, let's put it this way: just the act of creating something is spiritual.  Creation is what most religions are based upon, is it not?  Creating anything at all is a spiritual act.  Growing your own food, creating dinner for your family, creating art, building a house, making a birdhouse, etc.  All of these are spiritual acts.  Why do we create things?  In order to nourish ourselves and others.  So creating something in order to nurture is the most spiritual thing you can do.  

Then we have repetition part of mandala creation, which is a meditative act upon itself.  Other repetitious meditative acts are things such chanting, knitting, coloring, rosary beads, counting, drumming, etc.  Each one has their own spiritual benefits, such as lowered blood pressure (calming effects) and visualizations.  And drawing geometric shapes, over and over again, can have the same effects.  And, after you're done creating your mandala, you can use it while you meditate for even more desired spiritual effects.  

Any more questions?  Just post them below! 

So?  Let's get to it!



Creating Your Own Mandala


You download the Creating Your Own Mandala Worksheet here (the circles are not perfect, but hey, it works! LOL)

And you can access the video of how to use the worksheet here:

Creating Your Own Mandala Video from RUU




Here are some other great videos on how to draw mandalas:

*How To Draw A Mandala*
*How to Draw a Mandala (with tools!)* 
*A Beginner's Guide to Mandalas*
*Interesting Mandalas (drawing doesn't start until 5:33 or so)*
*My all time favorite mandala creating video*
*Zentangling a Mandala**Mandala Project Part 1 of 3* (parts 2-3 are accessible through this video)

(This week's edition was supposed to be about developing a nightly routine, BUT my computer decided to die with all my information on it, so I am posting this one instead.  I apologize if you were looking for the nightly routine blog, but rest assured, it will be up soon!)

Silence is revered as mastery in many religious traditions.  Monks who take a vow of silence are seen as masters of themselves.  They not only are silent, but live in silence as well.  It takes a lot of discipline to be able to be comfortable with this.  Many of us fill our days with useless noise and useless words.  We need words to fill the void, unable to deal with what the silence brings.

“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” --Ambrose Bierce

But what does it bring?  For some of us, it's anxiousness.  I, myself, have tinnitus and total silence brings a "wooshing" sound in my ears, like static.  This can drive me absolutely crazy sometimes.  But when I let in natural sounds, like rain or birds chirping from an open window (or going outside) the sound stops and the anxiety goes away.  But barring physical issues like mine, the silence can bring us into our own thoughts.  It can bring us clarity.  Reverence.  Reconnection.  Stillness.  Joy.

“Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or make excuses.” --Brian Tracy (one of my favorite non-fiction authors)

Though sometimes we are not always ready to hear them or deal with what silence can bring us.  Sometimes that clarity is sorrow.  Grief.  Loneliness.  Remorse.  But every single thing we experience from silence is something to learn from.  Good or bad, it can bring us to a better place at the end of the time spent with it.  But for some, it's it's just plain fear.  I think that's why so many people fill their days with noise: the TV is constantly on or the radio or some other distraction.  People also fill up their days with non-stop talking or talking about things that don't matter.  Trivial things or gossip.  They are afraid of what silence might bring.  They fear they won't matter anymore, that people will enjoy their silence more than when they speak.  Or that they will be the ones who won't like themselves.  Or that things unsaid might be important and bad things will happen if they don't say them.  But the truth is, there will always be time to say what truly needs to be said.  You just have to pick a better time to say them.

“Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.”--George Eliot

I once read an article many years ago about this woman who went to go visit her old friend who lived deep in the woods, on land inaccessible by car.  I do not remember how they planned it all, but I know her old friend went to meet her by the roadside to show her the way onto her property.  It was quite a long walk, too.  The old friend lived off the land with her significant other.  They hunted, and gathered plants and berries and other wild growing things in the woods.  They also grew their own veggies on their land.  Without electricity or gas, they had to can a large amount of their crops for the winter.  They grew their own grain and made dense, heavy, non-yeasted breads (this always sounded delicious to me).


When the woman who was writing the article got to the destination with her friend, she talked non-stop.  She wanted to know everything about how they lived.  I have to admit, I'd be the same way, as it's a pretty interesting thing.  But her friend just stared at her.

 “Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” --William S. Burroughs

She said something like "Words are spoken too much in this world.  We need to think carefully and then ponder the weight of our words and only speak when we have something to say that is better than silence".  (I stole that last bit from a meme I saw last December.  It struck a cord with me because of this article I read so many years ago because it was so similar.)

So the woman was taken aback, but then thought about it, and realized her old friend was right.  Why did she feel the necessity to fill the silence with constant words?  She accepted her friend's ways, and did as she was asked and spoke only when she had something important to say.  She took this teaching and applied to her life back home, as well.  And her life changed tremendously (more spiritually than anything).

So many of the wisest people speak the least.   

And why do we think that is?  It's because they ponder and think before speaking (not something I am so good at myself LOL).  They realize most words are unnecessary.  Unlike most people who think of something and then immediately say what's on their mind, wise people observe, listen, and ponder, and then and only then, eventually speak.  And not only that, they speak as few words as possible.  I, myself, haven't met too many of these wise people in my lifetime, but I have met a few.  And those people have left a profound effect on me, that will last for the rest of my life.  

So, let's check out this week's challenge, shall we?

Challenge #1:  

Let's get silent.  


In Denise Linn's book "Quest", she talks about dedicating a day to silence.  Now, I know not everyone can dedicate an entire day, some of us have jobs where have to talk.  But, you can try a few hours, or both before and after work.  But, if you can put aside an entire day, you will get the most out of it.  You can even ask your whole family to participate!  (Isn't that a dream?  Quiet kids for a whole day?)  And if they can't participate, you can do it on your own, you just have to be clear to your family (and anyone who engages you) that you can't talk for an entire 24 hours.  And no writing things down to communicate (that means NO social media or emails, also).  Denise suggests making a note card that says "I have taken a vow of silence, so I cannot speak" to show to people when they are asking to you talk to them.

 “Speak only if it improves upon the silence.”--Mahatma Gandhi

Now, this doesn't mean you can veg out with Netflix all day, either.  No TV, no internet, no news (and this includes the radio), no reading books.  If you feel yourself going a little mad, then go for a walk.  Notice things.  Ponder.   Reflect.  Do some yoga.  Meditate.  Hula hoop (or if you're like me, attempt it, fail, and the laugh at yourself).  Relax in the sun.  Commune with your higher-self.  Create art.  See what you can hear in the silence.  Pick any random daily tool (only the silent ones) to do during your quiet.  But don't fill your day up so much you have no time to just sit with yourself.  Silence should calm your mind.  Only use the active tools when you need to (I have a form of severe anxiety, and being active keeps it at bay).

Learn to love silence. 

After your day is up, think about how it went for you.  Were you able to keep to it?  Did you like it?  If so, how can you incorporate more silence into your everyday life?  How many times did you want to say something?  You can keep track of that on a whiteboard or a notebook during your day of silence, so that you can see just how much you actually speak.  When you see it on paper, you might be astonished by how quickly it fills up.  So many trivial words are spoken daily by most humans.  What did you notice that you wanted to say, and didn't, that wasn't worth saying at all?   I bet more than you think right now while you're reading this.  It's really hard to understand something that we're born to do.  We're taught to talk as toddlers, but we're never taught how much to talk, or are we taught what we should be talking about.  We're a world of speakers, not listeners, or observers.

“Always have something to say. The man who has something to say and who is known never to speak unless he has, is sure to be listened to.”  --Dale Carnegie

Write it all down in a notebook or computer.  Do this challenge as much as you can in the coming months, and see how each time is different.  Do it in different seasons and compare, also.



If you take the challenge, please come back here and let us know how you did and how it made you feel.  We'd love to hear about your experiences.

Come back next Monday for more spiritual nourishment!  

Buddhism is the path of radical acceptance. 

What do Buddhists believe?

According to buddhismbeliefs.org, Buddhists believe that life exists only for itself.  There is no "meaning of life" other than to be happy.  The entire religion is all about removing suffering, which is what the man who's called Buddha found out, after becoming "enlightened", and then started the entire movement.  There are many reasons why a human suffers, according to Buddhism, the biggest one being attachment.  So to combat this, they practice the idea of non-attachment, which means detaching yourself from either an outcome of a situation, a person, or anything else that is around you (true non-attachment is detaching from the outcome of everything, not just one thing).

What does it mean to detach from a person?

This is the one of the hardest things for people to imagine.  Like "how do I detach from my spouse or my children?  Doesn't that mean I don't love them?"  

No way! 

Detaching from a person is not removing yourself from them or their life or your love for them.  It is removing yourself from the outcome of your relationship from them.  It's also removing the idea that you two are two separate people.  In attachment, according to About's Buddhism teacher, you need two things: you and what you're attaching to.  Non-attachment comes from the wisdom that nothing is truly separate  What is, is.  You can't lose someone who was never yours to begin with.  As human beings, we kind of claim ownership over those we know.  We get jealous when they spend time with others or ignore us.  We call them "our spouse/child/friend/family member/etc.", when in reality, they are not ours at all.  If they move on without us, we cry, we scream, we fight, we feel like we're losing what was once ours.  But when you adopt the idea of what Buddhists believe, you realize they were never "ours".  Attachment means a type of ownership.  Non-attachment gives those people the space and ability to be themselves, and gives you the space and ability to let go of any control you might think you have over them.  

So basically: 

Non-attachment = Giving up control 

Which is exactly what radical acceptance is.  You cannot control any outcome, so therefore if you let it go and give up that control, there is no reason to get upset or angry when something happens that is out of your control. 

We humans want to control our lives, and we want to control how others affect our lives.  But we can't.  

Back in the day, my ex-husband used to try to control me and my husband through our children.  He would get them every Friday night, and while he had them, he'd never make them brush their teeth, show them rated R horror movies with naked people in them, and let his wife's kids treat my kids like dirt.  Every Saturday, they'd come home, tell me everything that happened, and I'd call him and scream at him for an hour.  This went on every single week.  He was making our lives a living hell.

Eventually, I had to learn: there nothing I could do about it.  I did call child services about some things, but they were no help.  

So I had to let it go.  

The next time the kids came home, they'd tell me about what happened, and I just said "He won't listen to reason and you know how to brush your own teeth, do it or don't do it, it doesn't matter.  As for the movies, you kids can walk out of the room.  I am not calling him about it.  As long as nobody is getting called names, or is getting hurt, there's nothing I can do to change what's going on over there."  

Pretty soon, they stopped dreading going over there as much, and eventually found a way to get along with their kids.  And my husband and I reaped the rewards of having happy kids.  Now, things DID start happening eventually over there I could control and my ex ended up giving up his rights to the children, but the point is: pick and choose your battles--only try to control what you CAN control and as long as no one is getting hurt, just fix what you can from your end and leave the rest be.  

Did I like the fact he was going against the rules on purpose by showing them rated R movies?  No.  But that's not illegal.  So there was nothing I could do about it.  I just tried to educate the children on what they saw, informed them to leave the room when possible (if they felt they had to) and that was it.  Getting angry and yelling at him told him that he was winning this "control" issue.  He WAS controlling me by pissing me off.  So, when I stopped getting angry, the movies died down and he stopped caring so much and eventually stopped seeing the children all together.  


All of this can be applied to every single situation in your life also.  Your job.  Your house.  Your bills.  Your everything.

If you can't control it, then why worry about it?

One more story: I have a pretty severe anxiety disorder, I have since I was born.  So about 11 years ago I had to have surgery on my nose for a deviated septum.  I'd had surgery once before, about 14 years ago, but that was emergency surgery.  But this time I had time to prepare.  So, how do you prepare with anxiety?  You honestly can't. 

But I did do one thing: I told myself  "I can't control this, and being anxious now will not help.  I will allow my anxiety to rise when I am being wheeled into the operating room".   Even laying in the hospital bed, I was just complaining about being hungry.  Being anxious when nothing is going on wasn't going to do me any good.  Now, this was the one and only time I could control this....my anxiety usually won't listen to reason.  But I ended up not having one bit of anxiety, until they wheeled me in.  What was the point?  I couldn't control what was going happen, and at that point, nothing was going to happen until I was in that room.  So why fret?  

It worked.  But ask me to day if that would work, and I'd have to say probably not LOL  But the next time you are scared, tell yourself  "Don't be scared until I HAVE to be."  When you have a right to be scared, then be scared all you want.  There's nothing wrong with fear, when it's applicable.  But beforehand?  Tell yourself it's not worth it.  Granted, if you have anxiety, it might not work, but for the rest of you, just try it and see.  

So, today's Challenge #2: 

Be like Frozen, and let it go.  Let the outcome go.  Just pick something you're worried about, acknowledge your feeling, and then let it fade away.  Say "I can't control this, so why worry?"  Let it go.  Record your experience in a journal if you like. Sing the song "Let it Go" in your head if you like each time you do it.  Just, do it.  And see how much happier you can be when you realize: if you can control it, it isn't yours to worry about.  


See you next Sunday!  And this week, just let it go.  

 Read more here: 

About.com Buddhism   
Interesting interview about Buddhism
How non-attachment sets you free
buddhismbeliefs.org/
Religion Facts: Buddhism