And The Raven Spoke To Me Of Hope

As we begin our time together today,

I'd like you to focus on being very comfortable as you listen,

Sitting in a chair that has a solid back,

Possibly raising your feet onto a footstool,

Or lying down as we begin to talk about hope.

And the other thing I would ask you to do is to use your two hands in placement on your upper chest,

Left hand,

And on the midline of your body,

Just beneath your ribcage with your right hand.

And then allow your shoulders to relax into that position,

Feeling the warmth and comfort of your hands against your body.

Closing your eyes and just taking a moment with me now in stillness and quiet before we continue.

Breathing slowly in,

And slowly out.

Letting your exhale be longer than your inhale.

And slowly out,

And slowly in.

And slowly out.

And then making any further adjustments to remain comfortable as you listen.

And the Raven spoke to me.

Raven will soar ahead of you in your images and prayers to deliver healing energy to the person to whom you are directing prayerful thought.

And in the blink of an eye,

Thought and its powerful energy can be used so easily to help and heal,

To deliver kindness and love to the spirit of another who is suffering,

To help them find a sense of peace within.

Take a moment now to think of someone who needs help and healing.

Surround your mental picture of them with kindness and love.

Help them in their suffering to find a renewed sense of peace within.

Thought carried with the speed of light or images of the rings of the Raven soaring ahead of you,

Delivering healing energy simply to the person in your thoughts.

Close your eyes and it is done.

Where there is light,

There is hope.

And where there is hope,

There is light.

And the Raven spoke to me.

Raven will teach you to shapeshift during a difficult time such that you can absent yourself from a situation for a time and detach emotionally from it.

Hope is that elusive quality of mind that is always present as an invisible survival skill that we automatically draw upon without thinking when it is needed the most.

Even in the midst of great tragedy,

The lightness of hope is present within us as we move through whatever heaviness is felt in the moment to a better outcome.

Sadly,

Hope is dashed by those who insist that hope is denial.

There's absolutely no hope in such a sentiment,

Nor is there even one ounce of positive energy.

The thing about hope is that it is filled with positivity and therein lies Raven's message about yielding to hope when it is needed the most.

Hope is our spiritual nature's life raft within us that we cling to desperately even when hope alone cannot save us.

The magical idea that it might save us just might be enough to do exactly that.

For when we give up on this life raft,

We simply give up.

Our positivity sours and sourness discolors our vision of the future.

Even then,

However,

Destiny might step in to save us.

For hope is all around us,

Just as the air we breathe is all around us,

If we allow it.

For hope gives us life,

Just as the air element gives us life.

Hope lives within each of us.

So that even when we do give up,

Someone close to us may be able to affect a change to save us from whatever it is that threatens us.

A change in perspective,

Perhaps.

This is where the shape-shifting comes in and the magic.

The next time you feel as though all hope is gone,

Listen for Raven's Call reminding you of something different.

Raven's Call,

Camouflaged in the presence of a friend who understands or someone who just stops by,

Unplanned or any other magical form of serendipity.

Allow Raven to lighten your spirit that you might rise up internally and fly once again,

Supported by outstretched wings of hope to hold you fast and comfort you.

It may be a new direction or an ability to understand a certain reality.

Cling to those wings and soar in their energy of light.

For where there is light,

There is hope.

And where there is hope,

There is light.

And the raven spoke to me.

Raven,

Through its flight,

Enriches the air element,

Lightens the soul,

And yields hope when it is needed most.

Caught by the quiet,

I wait and I wait and I wait and then I forget.

These extremely sad words were shared with me in a nursing home moment of deep meaning and clarity by my very dear aunt who suffered with dementia during her last two years of life.

Although she may not have recognized me,

She was able to communicate to me after some time of my just sitting in front of her,

Holding her hands and looking into her eyes,

The eyes of her soul,

Able to communicate how she felt within her illness.

In these only words which she spoke during my entire visit,

It seemed as though she felt saved from the awfulness of waiting by forgetting what she had been waiting and hoping for.

As sad as this seems,

Perhaps her soul was lightened because of her forgetting.

And the raven spoke to me.

Raven will offer strength when needed by visualizing its full and powerful wing spread.

Caught by the quiet,

Sometimes it feels as though it is always there like a friend.

At other times,

It feels like it is always there posing as a friend,

The quiet.

A sought-after space by those who chase,

A deadening place for those who wait.

The spiritual journey is one of awareness.

Awareness suggests we think outside of our ego self,

Aware of our own awareness.

It is here that we find the quiet always there like a friend.

Meditation helps us to become aware of our awareness,

Aware of our potential,

Our full and powerful wing spread.

And having reached this stage,

We begin to live within a state of wholeness,

Referred to in some circles as non-dual.

This is the healing space in which we see all of our connections and experiences being a part of us.

We are in them and they are in us.

We can extend this way of thinking beyond humanity into the animal kingdom,

Especially when we look into the eyes of a pet,

Possibly seeing ourselves reflected back,

Or into an existential view of nature,

Suggesting that we are in the elements of nature and they are in us.

We are never alone.

The quiet is always a friend.

It is the space of expansiveness within the mind where Raven spreads her powerful wings and we become aware of all of this.

Non-dual living is living with awareness of ourselves as being a part of all that is and all that is as being a part of us.

A place where I am in all that is and all that is is in me.

A place where you are in all that is and all that is is in you.

A place where kindness becomes a way of being.

A kind place where the quiet is always a friend,

Possibly even in dementia.

A place where hope is always present and quite possibly a reality.

I am in the mists of time.

I am in the silent sounds of waters.

You are in the mists of time.

You are in the silent sounds of waters.

We are in the thunderous sounds of oceans.

We are in the gentle breezes and the tumultuous hurricanes.

We are in all that is.

We find ourselves only as we awaken to this level of consciousness,

This level of consciousness that understands that we are in all that is.

Here,

Healing is in the past.

Healing is in the present.

Healing will be in the future.

For there will be times when we forget that we are in all that is.

And then something will guide us back to the place inside of us that remembers when time began.

And we will once again know that we are in all that is.

We are each a part of divinity.

We are in our friends and in our enemies.

I am in you and you are in me.

Together we engage in this journey.

Together we answer the call to return to the source of all that is.

The joy awaiting to be expressed.

The love and hope available to all.

Living within hope is where the light is.

Living without hope is where the darkness is.

I choose to believe that all will be well.

The raven through its flight enriches the air element,

Lightens the soul,

And yields hope when it is needed most.

And the raven spoke to me.

Raven offers continual expansiveness in thinking by soaring above the earth and seeing beyond and teaching you to do the same.

Connecting with nature beyond time and space.

Hope that lies in goodness past is hope that thrives in future cast.

Hope that warms the soul outcast is hope that yearns in hearts unmasked.

And the raven spoke to me.

Stare at distant clouds across the sky.

Raven's wings will take you there.

I stare at distant clouds across the sky.

An infinite stare I've known before.

I could be eight or 80.

A timeless stare that feels like home.

A familiar stare that's mine alone.

I see the future and the past.

I see all the things that last that know the very wise within.

Marking details of where I've been.

The clouds reveal this silent truth in my momentary stare.

They share this truth with me in deep recesses bare.

Deep recesses unexplored.

Still and silent recesses bravely born.

Slowly awakening recesses bravely worn.

Satisfied with where I've been.

I stare at distant clouds across the sky.

A familiar stare that feels like home.

A timeless stare that's mine alone.

A lasting peace for me to share.

Raven's wings will take you there.

Remember the absence of form and activity allows space and time to awaken our deeper senses which oftentimes remain unexplored or even wondered about by those who need form and activity to define time and space.

Therefore allow Raven to help you open to an expansiveness of thinking and being where you can feel rhythm counter to the obvious beat or lose yourself in the breath of inspiration or imagine yourself beyond the playground of your dreams.

And the Raven spoke to me.

Raven's call which can be heard from a great distance will help you give voice to your need for self-expression carrying your message well beyond you and into the mists of time.

We are in the metaphoric mists of time my friend.

We are in the silent sounds of waters.

The thunderous sounds of oceans.

The gentle breezes and the tumultuous hurricanes.

We are in the clouds and in the rain.

We are in the sun-filled sky above the clouds and in the rainbow that follows the rain.

We find ourselves when we awaken to this expansive reality that we are in all that is and all that is is also in us.

Next time,

And the Raven spoke to me,

We'll be speaking about light.

Until then,

Namaste.