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Kunzite (a.k.a. spodumene) has a gentle energy and a soft pink to lovely violet color. You may also find it in a soft green or yellowish colors, as well. It is a monoclinic crystal, classified as a lithium pyroxene.

​Metaphysically, its monoclinic structure makes kunzite protective and expansive. Expansive crystals are good to work with when you need to facilitate personal growth, and kunzite can help you grow emotionally. It can also help you protect your emotions, so it's a good crystal to carry with you when you're feeling emotionally unsteady.

Pink kunzite is a stone both of the heart and the head. It can help bring negative thoughts into your heart center to help begin to heal them. It can also help you grow and expand love energy in your life. 

Violet kunzite supports the expansion of intuitive or psychic energies as well as providing psychic protection. Green kunzite is similar to pink in that it supports both the mind energy and heart energy. Yellow kunzite strengthens self-esteem and can protect you against negative thoughts you have about yourself as well as negative self-talk. 

I talk a lot in my books and classes about transmuting negative energy to positive, but what does that really mean? Negative and positive are polar opposites; they represent polarity or duality, which is what we all enter into when we choose to become embodied as human beings. 

Negative and positive are also value judgments. In general when you ask someone, which is "bad" and which is "good", they will likely answer that negative is bad, and positive is good. And perhaps in our embodied experience of duality, this is often true. However, in ultimate reality, they are equal. For example, in electricity you need both positive and negative poles for currents to flow. In chemistry, you need both for molecules to attract to form matter. Our bodies are made up of matter formed from opposite polar energies, which forms the basis for one type of energy healing, polarity therapy. 

Taoism and other Eastern philosophies express the concept of polarity as yin yang, the balance and distribution of opposite energies flowing one into the other, each containing the seeds of the other. Both energies require the other to make a whole, and each has equal opportunity for expression in the physical world. Neither is inherently good nor inherently bad; both just are, and both are necessary when we are embodied.

This moves beyond philosophy and embeds itself deeply into our lives, although our value judgments often make the experience of duality uncomfortable for us. For example, we may deem sadness as "bad" or joy as "good" although they are both the same thing: emotion, existing on a spectrum. You can't fully experience joy if you have never understood sadness. 

So while we see polarity as a series of opposites with one side more desirable than the other, in fact duality is always a spectrum with one opposite flowing into the other in an endless cycle. Each expression along that spectrum has equal value. None are inherently good nor bad. They just are. It is how we choose to allow those qualities to express in our lives that truly matter.

I can provide some examples of spectrum energy to illustrate. Hot and cold are opposite energies in our world of relativity, but they don't feel like the same experience to us at all. With one of these energies, we shiver and bundle up. With the other we sweat and strip down. Hot and cold are the same energy. They exist as a spectrum, and while some of us may prefer one or the other, in fact both have equal value. Both are merely an expression on a scale we call temperature, and we can choose to some extent which expression of temperature we'd like to experience by the clothes we wear, what we eat and drink, how we move, and how we control the climate in the spaces where we live, work, and play. Neither hot nor cold are inherently bad nor inherently good. Both are necessary expressions of temperature that nourish the natural world and make it possible for varied life to flourish on our planet.

Here's another example: beginning and end. In our embodied experience, everything appears to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In fact, life is just this: birth, living, and death. This cycle continuously expresses throughout our lives in various ways such as idea-creation-usefulness-obsoletion (rotary telephone anyone?). These cycles repeat endlessly, over and over again as we move through our own process of creation that we call our lives. And often, we apply value judgments to the parts of the cycle; we see one part as good, positive, or desirable and its opposite as bad, negative, or undesirable. In doing so, we often fail to recognize that value judgments aside, each expression we chose of an energy always contains the roots of its opposite. For instance, endings always hold the seeds for new beginnings. Anger holds the seeds for forgiveness. Fear holds the seeds of love.

So when I suggest that you can transmute negativity into positivity, what I mean is this: your experience in each moment exists along a spectrum that we call duality. In those experiences, we often ascribe the qualities of "good" or "bad", "negative" or "positive", "desirable" or "undesirable". And we have the ability to choose how we quantify the experience and how we choose to allow it to express in our lives. To transmute negative to positive means choosing what you consider the more "positive" expression of a quality that exists on the spectrum. In other words, choosing the expression of joy if you find that more desirable than sadness, or choosing abundance if you find that a more desirable expression than lack. 

Astrology contains great examples of this. In astrology, your "sign" is part of your karmic imprint. Each person is born with a karmic imprint, which are qualities that will express in your life making you the unique person you are. However, you are never "stuck" with the qualities you are born with based on your astrological chart. Instead, you get to choose how those qualities express in your life. For example, my sun sign is Sagittarius and my rising sign is Libra. Both of these have several influences on my personality, but for simplicity's sake we'll stick to a single one: both Sagittarius and Libra are often free-spirited. However, both Sagittarius and Libra can also be restless and easily bored. These are the opposite expressions of the same thing, and at different times I choose each expression. Sometimes, I am restless and bored, which is not an experience I enjoy. And so, when I find myself choosing this expression, I can transmute it from what I judge as its negative pole (restless and bored) to it's positive expression (free-spirited). 

Another example that shows up in my chart are the opposite energies of easily hurt and compassionate. One of those feels negative to me while the other feels positive, but in fact, one flows into the other. In my life, the ends of this spectrum are inseparable, and each is necessary for the other. The things that hurt me allow me to feel greater compassion. I need the hurt experiences to help me be more compassionate towards others and towards myself. Here's another: my chart suggests I am flighty and disorganized but creative and enthusiastic. Certainly both are true, but I choose the creative and enthusiastic expression more frequently because it feels more desirable to me than flighty. However, my creativity and enthusiasm often lead to my disorganization, and my flighty nature often is what sews the seeds for new creation. They are both expressions of the same energy, and each is necessary for the other.

So when I talk about transmuting negative energy to positive energy, what I mean is choosing that aspect of a certain energy that feels more desirable to you in the moment. Which expression of an energy do you choose in this moment? And realize, the expression you choose is neither right nor wrong; it's merely right for you right now. It can change from moment to moment, and sometimes the expression needs to change in order to serve your highest good.

I have two tattoos that remind me of this. On the front of my right shoulder, I have butterflies, which represent yin energy to me. On the back of my left shoulder, I have a hummingbird, which represents yang to me. Together, the two remind me of the balance and flow of the spectrum of energies and the importance of allowing the expression of both in my life. The energies join together and intertwine in a cyclical dance that shifts and evolves to continue to serve the highest and greatest good. 

I was talking with a friend this morning about ringing in the ears as a sign of psychic information, and it occurred to me a blog could be helpful. 

Everyone receives their psychic information differently. Many of the signs are subtle; we've learned to ignore things such as ringing in our ears because it mostly seems like an annoyance when it could actually be psychic information trying to get through.

Persistent ringing in the ears, often presenting as a high pitched frequency, can be a sign of psychic information. I've had mine all my life, and I learned to ignore it because it was just always there as background noise. I recommend this technique in some of my classes if you've always had this as I have: use it as a meditation focus. Instead of ignoring it, clear your mind and then focus on it. If your mind drifts, return your focus to it. Start with short five minute meditations and work your way up. Release expectations but be open to anything. It can be eye-opening (or ear-opening)  to try this.

I am also a medium. I hear from and communicate with dead people. One of my signs this is about to occur is I feel pressure in my ears. It feels kind of like the pressure you feel as you climb to elevation, but it's fuzzier. It's difficult to describe. When I feel the ear pressure, I know information or communication is forthcoming, so if I'm available in the moment, I stop what I'm doing and focus on it.

Another sensation I get just before I receive psychic information or when a spirit is present and wants to communicate is through my sense of smell. I smell something similar to ozone. There's an edge to the scent that smells similar to what the air smells like just before a thunderstorm or a lightning strike. 

Other signs include sensations in my body that don't make sense. I ask, "Is this mine?" If it isn't, then I focus in on that to see what information I receive. For example, I may feel as if my airway is constricted (although I can still breathe - it feels like a tightness in my throat), I may have a random ache or pain, I may feel sudden onset of dizziness, or similar. This is common with empaths, and it's important that, while we learn to receive the information, we also disassociate from it so we don't allow it to stick in us and become dis-ease. If we believe those sensations are ours, we often accidentally embody them until we become ill in some way. I find empaths often have a lot of health such as migraines, random aches and pains, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease, and other symptoms of illnesses that are often undiagnosable when you go to the doctor. 

While I receive the physical symptoms as information almost constantly when I'm in large groups of people (I'm picking up everyone else's aches and pains), I do find this version of psychic information incredibly helpful in my energy healing practices because it tells me what my healing partner feels. I also have a technique I use when the physical sensations arise so I don't embody the symptoms. I ask, "Is this mine?" Usually it isn't. So I say, "Thank you for the information," and then I push the sensation down my center column, down my legs, out through my feet, and into the earth. 

Other sensations that could indicate possible psychic information include having persistent thoughts that suddenly appear in your head and don't change or go away (again, ask yourself, "Is this mine?"), emotions unrelated to my current experience, sudden knowing of verifiable facts you have no way of knowing, seeing things out of the corners of your eyes, having other visual disturbances such as seeing a shimmering similar to heatwaves, having strange tastes in your mouth that don't make sense in the current context such as tasting cigarettes or alcohol when you don't smoke or drink, or any other sensations that simply feel out of place. 

If you are experiencing a lot of physical sensations like I described above, it's important to have them checked out medically first to ensure there isn't a medical reason for them. Sometimes there is, and I'd hate to have you miss a medical condition because you believe your symptoms are psychic. However, after receiving the medical all-clear, then pay attention to the symptoms as they arise. Ask yourself, "What is this trying to tell me?" If you have time, focus on the sensation for a moment and see what arises. For instance, do you see flashes of images, receive persistent thoughts, or notice vibrations? Pay attention. Keep a journal and note what the sensation seems to be telling you. Then, say "thank you" and then "Not mine" and release what you're feeling so it isn't stuck in you.

It's important you learn to stop ignoring your signals, trust the information you receive,  and then release it. This is how you build healthy psychic practices while still protecting your own well-being. 

 

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Hotei (also known as Budai) is often commonly referred to as the laughing Buddha. He is jolly and joyful with a smile on his face and often holding symbols of abundance. In Japanese culture, he is one of seven Japanese Shinto-Gods - the God of Contentment and Happiness as well as Abundance and Luck. He's also the patron of children, bartenders, and fortunetellers. Perhaps with my psychic abilities, that last one explains why I've always felt so drawn to his image. Rubbing his belly is said to bring luck. Some believe he was also a bodhisattva (a person on the path to buddhahood). 

Hotei's image is often confused with the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, but this is inaccurate. Hotei is based on a wandering Chinese Chan Buddhist monk who carried a cloth sack. His names in Chinese and Japanese literally mean "cloth sack." He lived from 830 to 902 CE. It is said along with his worldly possessions, he carried candy in his sack, which he distributed to children to generate happiness. It is also said his main teaching method was laughter. 

Hotei is now a symbol of joy, luck, and abundance. It is especially auspicious if he is given as a gift to another, conferring luck and abundance on the receiver. Place him at or above eye level (never on the ground) in your home or business to cultivate joy and abundance. 

Have you ever been to a business where you've noticed a friendly-looking cat waving its paw? Usually the cat is placed right next to the register or in the store's entrance, waving at customers and beckoning them to do business.

This is Maneki-neko. His name in Japanese means beckoning cat, and he is a Japanese good luck talisman, although is use has become popular in feng shui, the Chiniese art of placement as well. His waving paw is actually a beckoning paw, inviting all to come in to the business where he is displayed to bring prosperity to the business owners. 

Maneki-neko originated in Japan's late Edo period, probably around the mid-1800s. One of the most popular myths about the cat is that a stray cat one day appeared in a merchant's shop. Although the merchant had barely enough to feed himself, he fed the stray and made it well. The cat was so grateful, he sat in front of the store to beckon customers inside, bringing the merchant prosperity.

The paw Maneki-neko is beckoning with tells you what he beckons. His waving right paw attracts monetary prosperity and luck, while his left paw welcomes success in the forms of clients or customers. While Maneki-neko is most commonly seen in businesses, he can beckon other types of energy you'd like to cultivate in your life based on his color.

• Red beckons positive relationships and romantic love.
• White beckons positive energy.
• Green beckons health.
• Gold beckons monetary wealth.
• Calico beckons all of the energies.
• Black protects and wards off dark energies.

The cats often hold something in their non waving paw - usually symbols of wealth such as gold ingots or gems. These items further invite wealth and luck. 

In your home, place Maneki-neko in the prosperity sector, which is in the southeast. You can also place him in the southeast sector of your home office. In a business, you can place him in the window to beckon customers, in the prosperity sector, or near your cash register. At the register, face him into the shop (away from you) so he beckons the prosperity towards you. 

I've never been particularly drawn to peacock ore - also known as chalcopyrite. I mean, I always knew it existed, and I've even written about it, but it was never part of my personal collection.

So if I was somebody who believed in coincidences, I'd think it was a fun consonance that peacock ore showed up in the mail for me unbidden and unasked for not once, but twice on the same day in two separate packages delivered by two different carriers. However, I'm not someone who thinks that way. If peacock ore showed up twice in the same day, perhaps there's something in the vibrational energy of peacock ore I need in my life right now.

In the past few years, I've actually been drawn to peacock colors of vivid teal and purple. I even had highlights of those very colors in my hair for a while, and when we redecorated our living room a few years ago, I chose variations of blue from muted to dark with 4 peacock accent pillows. A few days before the peacock ore showed up, I also ordered an item from an artisan that was in peacock colors. Of course, until the peacock ore showed up, I made no connection.

Our soul sends us signals like that, and sometimes we just think of them as creative urges or imagination until something happens that finally causes us to recognize the pattern. Clearly there is something here in this energy that will support me on my path right now.

On the day the peacock ore arrived, I was working on an article about mysticism and the path of the mystic. The packages both arrived while I worked on it. And one of the alternative names for peacock ore is the Stone of the Mystic. Chalcopyrite has an orthorhombic lattice structure. Orthorhombic crystals are blockage clearers and cleansers. They can help unstick you. The primary colors in peacock ore - teal blue and purple - vibrate in ways that affect all three of your upper chakras -  throat, third eye, and crown.

Especially potent is the combination of the blue and purple. This can facilitate connection between psychic or intuitive vision, inspiration, and communication, which allows you to be better able to share your own unique and vision with others in whatever way you communicate, whether it's in writing, verbally, or through any other form of expression such as art or movement. As a blockage clearer, chalcopyrite can also remove energetic blockages so you are able to receive intuition and communication more clearly from your higher self and from higher realms. It truly is the stone of the mystic in the way it facilitates the process of receiving information from your higher self, guides, and even the Source, and it helps you create an effective means of communicating those inspirations with the world.

So why is peacock ore in my life right now? Recently, I've felt channels of inspiration open up far more quickly than I've been able to communicate them, and there are times I struggle with expressing some of the information and inspiration I receive. This is especially true with channeled information, which is of a high vibrational nature. While I receive the channeled information effortlessly, knowing when and how to communicate it and with whom to share it is definitely something I could be better at. 

My guess is peacock ore has come into my life right now to help me in this process. It is clearing blockages and opening me up so I can receive and channel more information and then express it in the way it needs to be shared so it reaches the people who need to hear it.

I'm always grateful when the universe provides me with such a clear path and obvious message. It helps me to continue my own spiritual growth in ways that I believe genuinely serve the greatest good. 

Mirrors in bedrooms are very common, but they can do wonky things with chi energy in a place that is meant for sleep and romance. 

The best advice is to remove mirrors from your bedroom - even the little ones. Mirrors bounce chi around, which can disturb sleep. They also represent the element of water, and one solid feng shui rule is to keep all water elements out of the bedroom, including mirrors or pictures of water lest the water douse the element of fire, which you'd like in a shared bedroom if you want to keep passion alive. 

Likewise, feng shui wisdom suggests if you have a mirror that reflects your bed in a marital bedroom, it is like inviting a third person into your relationship. If you're into that kind of thing, no worries. However, if you're not, keep this in mind: feng shui wisdom suggests a mirror reflecting the bed could cause infidelity in a committed relationship. 

I've known these mirror rules of feng shui for quite some time, but sometimes I play fast and loose with them because I believe I can adjust the energy in my spaces using other methods as well. Until just recently, I had a jewelry cabinet with a mirror on it in my bedroom simply because it was the only place I felt there was a good space for it near where I got dressed.

Recently, we had some visitors from another realm come into our house with some off-putting, heavy energy. I'm not a fan of uninvited spirits hanging out in my home so as soon as I became aware of the energy, I did an energy cleansing. As I was walking through the bedroom with my palo santo, this cabinet that has been there for a few years started to give me a really bad vibe. I felt impelled to get it out of the bedroom right away. Now it hangs around with the other water elements in my bathroom. Problem solved, and perhaps not surprisingly, I've been sleeping better since its removal as well.

There is an exception to the no bedroom mirrors thing. You can have one on the inside of your closet door, but keep the door closed. 

If you're struggling with sleep or the energy in your room feels off, try covering or removing mirrors. There's a good chance it will allow the chi to settle, and you'll sleep better. 

For years I was able to write off my intuition as imagination. I would have incredibly powerful thoughts, images, and feelings, but I always told myself, "Oh you just have a vivid imagination." And it's true. I've always had a vivid imagination. As a kid (and sometimes as an adult), I channeled that into stories and poetry I wrote, silly songs I made, or funny comments and jokes. When I played with friends, I was always the one leading the fun with games I made up on the spot. 

And then there were the imaginary friends. They came and went from my young life; children, adults, people of all colors and shapes. People with funny accents. And animals. Lots of animals. The thing was, all of these friends of mine were even more vivid to me than the alive people I was surrounded by. They popped in when they felt like it - early morning, middle of the night, at school. And when I went new places, I met new friends. Some places, like when I was in the hospital for a week following an emergency appendectomy, had way more friends than others did. But I learned my friends were upsetting and off-putting to the real people in my life, and so I kept them to myself.

I was also a vivid dreamer. I still am; I always have been. As a child my dreams were so vivid that when I woke up, I often couldn't remember for a few moments whether the dream was real or the me who was in my bed waking from the dream was the real one. I remember one dream so vivid I got out of bed in the middle of the night, walked downstairs to my parents' bedroom, and told them I was ready to go home now. I remember how upset I was that they wouldn't take me home or even acknowledge that I wasn't home.

I learned quickly there was a right time and a right way to share my imagination, and there were most definitely wrong times and wrong ways.  And so, while my imagination remained just as vivid as it always had, I kept it to myself unless I could find a "positive" way to express it in the "real" world. I also discovered that how I thought about it changed; what had once felt like such a natural part of me now felt like a deep, dark, dirty secret that I needed to suppress and make go away so others wouldn't think I was weird.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I was labeled an "anxious child" as soon as I was school aged. I was filled with fears and anxiety all of the time. I cried easily, and when I was around groups of people, such as in school, my emotions were all over the place. It was like emotions zoomed through me, tumbling and jumbling all together, one on top of the other, wrapping around each other in a messy cacophony. 

My thoughts also tumbled and jumbled, with one thought layering over another. My mind was never quiet. I could be doing my math in class and thinking 20 other things at once. My senses were also overactive. It was as if I could hear people down the street playing music, feel even the slightest change in air pressure or temperature, or smell someone smoking a cigar from miles away. Physically, I also felt strange sensations moving through my body, sometimes several at once. A quick pain in my big toe that happened whenever a certain teacher was near. A sore back arose whenever I was in my first grade classroom until the day my teacher took a leave of absence to have back surgery. Pain to the head. Pain in my teeth. Pain in my stomach. Some of it was fleeting, coming and going as people approached and then walked away, and some of it lingering and setting into my body.

The only place where all of that noise was quiet was in my bedroom in my house on a quiet street in a quiet neighborhood. In my walk in closet at the very back, there was a quiet, dark nook behind the chimney where I could go and sit and just be. There, I could escape into my dreamy world without the noise of random pains, strange sensory input, and layers and layers of thoughts. My imaginary visitors still came while I was in my bedroom. My "imagination" still kicked in. But the rest was blissfully peaceful and quiet, and I could channel my vivid imagination into writing or daydreams. I could focus. If I wanted to escape even that, I could do so by taking a deep dive into a book. I became a lifelong reader and writer as a way to shut off the noise and focus my mind.

I'm certain a psychologist would read the above and offer a diagnosis or two; something such as ADD, sensory integration disorder, a mood disorder, or even schizophrenia. But the truth is, I was none of those things. What I thought was my imagination was natural, unmanaged psychic ability running rampant through my life.

As I got older, I developed strategies to manage my vivid imagination. I was able, for the most part, to suppress it and keep it at bay so I could at least give the appearance of being normal. In suppressing it, I was able to focus and block all of the information out as background noise. I did very well in school and then went on to college where I discovered that living in a dorm with so many people around constantly made it far more difficult to suppress the noise of my imagination because I had no safe, quiet space to which I could retreat as I'd had with my childhood bedroom in a single-family home in a quiet neighborhood. It was in college that I started running. I went to college in Eastern Washington, and I would run for miles in the early morning or evening, venturing far out along roads winding through wheat fields just so I could have some peace and quiet. On the weekends, I often hopped on my bike and headed out to a nearby wildlife preserve where I could be alone with my thoughts and feel blessed peace.

I managed in this fashion for more than 30 years. It was an imperfect science, but I learned to find spaces of relative quiet and calm where I could recharge, but it was difficult. I struggled with anxiety and my health was a mess, my body filled with constant aches, pains, and illness. It wasn't until I started to explore the spiritual, metaphysical, and paranormal that I started to make sense of my life and all of the experiences I'd had since I was a child. I began to realize that what I'd believed all of my life was my imagination was actually intuitive information. And as the realization dawned, I started to test this theory to see if it held water. What I noticed was that when I actually focused in on the thoughts and the feelings and the sensations, I received very accurate information about all sorts of things from aches and pains other people were experiencing, to deeply understanding others' emotions, to receiving accurate information about people who had died or things that were happening in the world. 

As I started to recognize that what felt like imagination was, in fact, intuitive information, I developed genuine strategies for sorting, processing, and working with that information. I also developed strategies of self-care, spiritual hygiene, grounding, discernment, and energy work that were healthy and constructive. I learned to channel all that information into healthy outlets, how to act on information that needed more exploration, and how to release information that was just there because I was there to receive it. 

With that understanding and effort, the last 15+ years of my life have brought profound changes for me. I no longer struggle with anxiety. I am able to be calm and focused. I am genuinely happy and feel a sense of purpose and joy for the life I have been gifted with. But it took work to get here, undoing years of social and religious conditioning about the acceptability of my gifts. It took me several years just to acknowledge my gifts to other people and be exactly who I was in their presence without trying to hide my gifts or worrying about they might perceive me as crazy. 

With some people who have been very close to me my entire life, it's still a work in progress. While I don't hide my gifts and it's clear by reading practically anything I write that I have embraced my gifts and believe in them 100 percent, there are some relationships where it is still never acknowledged. I don't hide it, but they don't particularly want to know either. I'm okay with that. I am who I am, and I have the gifts I do. I love them and accept them regardless of what they may feel about my abilities, but I won't hide them or feel ashamed or embarrassed that the Source has given me these gifts any longer.

As I've written this, there's been a persistent voice in the back of my mind telling me this: "Tell them this is a portrait of a psychic child. Tell them to understand this so they can help their own psychic children through non-judgment, guidance, and unconditional love because it is a challenging and lonely path to walk as a child when the people around you are unable or unwilling to understand you." 

And so, I acknowledge the voice by sharing that with you, since that wasn't where I thought I was going with this blog post. I was going to point this out: psychic information very often feels like imagination, so I offer this suggestion: Sit with it. Feel it. Allow it. And ask yourself how the information can serve the highest and greatest good. Then, act on it or release it, but don't ignore it. Never ignore it.

Even if it is imagination, it comes from somewhere. Look at all of the art, beauty, and advancement that has come from "imagination" and ask yourself this: where did these truly spectacular ideas come from? Did they originate in the firing of neurons responding to chemical signals in the physical brains of humans, or were they somehow Divinely inspired, coming from a source of higher intelligence into the energy field of a human creator who acted on it to create great beauty? 

We belittle imagination, telling people things like, "Oh it's just your imagination" as a way to calm them or make them think differently. However, there is no such thing as "just imagination." Imagination is a higher function. It's a force for creativity. If it feels like imagination, it's probably inspiration. Don't let anyone talk you out of it. Don't let anyone take it away. Don't dismiss it yourself. Your intuitive self has things to tell you, and listening can not only change your life, but it can serve the highest  and greatest good for the universe.