Recently, I interviewed Portland-based palm reader Clay Faulkner for an article about palmistry for LoveToKnow. I learned a lot - it is a fascinating human science, and Clay was able to do some basic palm reading over the phone. What he told me about my palm was uncannily accurate. 

​If you ever have the opportunity to have your palm read from a seasoned pro, I'd recommend it. You can start with the article (linked above), which can give you some basic info about your own palm.

Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay ​

Green chlorite is in quartz combines to offer a powerful detoxifying effect. The chlorite detoxifies and invites you to clear out old energy to make way for new energy, while clear quartz amplifies and strengthens those properties.

I was drawn to this stone when I visited one of my many favorite rock shops, Terra Stones in Astoria, OR. Then, another piece of chlorite in quartz showed up yesterday in a subscription box. I've never had any chlorite in quartz before, so clearly there's something in the energy of this stone that is for me in my life right now.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I've also been purging. For the past several days, I've gone systematically through drawers, closets, cupboards, shelves, and bins and ruthlessly thrown out anything that I feel no longer serves me or suits my current energy. It's been an intuitive process - if something doesn't make me feel fantastic, or if it weights me down, I get rid of it. With each item I throw away or donate, I feel new sense of spaciousness. I had so many possessions I was holding on to that just didn't matter to me.

I also burned old paperwork there was no reason I need to save...things like old bills, and court papers from divorce and child support battles. These are energies from the past, and holding onto items that still support that energy keeps part of me planted there.

I've rid myself of many items with, I'm sure, more to come. Many are things I once felt I needed because that's what responsible adults who had reached a certain "station" in life had, for example, certain types of art objects and china. Other things I'm ridding myself of are associated with unhappy memories in my life, hobbies I dabbled in but gave up, and so much more. I no longer have space in my life for these things I once had that were the accoutrements of a life that never really felt quite like mine.

While I've purged physically, I've noticed an emotional and spiritual quickening, as well. My life feels lighter. I feel ready for and open to new energies I choose to cultivate in my life. I've shed the things I thought I was "supposed" to do and be so I can revel in a space where I am being and doing what I choose.

What do you have that's holding old energy? Is it time to cleanse and purge? Is it time to make space for the most vibrant, joyful, and alive you that you can be? 

Today I'm feeling mighty clever and full of myself, as I've hit on the perfect crystals post for the season: a post about crystals with a holiday theme! 

In my books Crystals for Healing and Crystals for Beginners, I offer tips for finding the right crystals for you. If they call to you, and if they feel "right" when you hold them, then chances are they are the right crystal for you. It's an intuitive process that asks you to check in with your Divine guidance system to determine whether this crystal will serve your highest and greatest good. And naturally, pretty much any crystal that calls to you will do just that; it will serve your highest and greatest good if you select it with the intention it does so.

But what about when you're shopping for someone else? How do you go about selecting the right crystal for them?

The good news is the process is the same as choosing a crystal for yourself, only the focus is on them instead of you. Before you enter a crystal shop, take a moment to move into your heart center, and then visualize that person. State the intention (you can do it in your head if you're standing in the middle of a busy store, although in a crystal shop nobody is going to look at you funny if you state your intention aloud) you will find a crystal that will serve the highest and greatest good of that person. Then see where you're drawn, hold the crystal in your hand while holding the person in your heart, and notice if it feels right. It's that simple.

Image by Marie Sjödin from Pixabay ​

Image by Christine Sponchia from Pixabay ​

Our experience of life comes from the stories we tell. In the moment, there is only what is happening right now, but then our egos step in to shape and mold the events of now into a narrative we believe. The second we start telling these stories, we disconnect from the truth of what is. In any moment, we are without limits. We have the potential to draw any experience we wish depending on where we place our focus and intent. But the second our egos start to tell the story about the moment, the vast and unlimited beings we truly are become small. Our Divine beings are infinite, but our egos convince us we are tiny.

Any event or any moment just is. There is no judgment about that moment, only pure experience of whatever we are doing, being, feeling, and noticing. However, in the hands of the ego looking back, that moment of pure experience becomes something else altogether. It becomes a story we tell ourselves or others through our thoughts and words. That moment, which was pure, is filtered through all of the lenses through which we see the world. It goes from pure experience to pure narrative as we tell and retell the story of that moment. In the retelling, the story is disconnected from the truth because the truth is that in that moment, it was pure experience, and now we've added context and subtext. We've assigned motivation and meaning that have everything to do with how we see the world and nothing to do with the pure, simple truth of a moment in time.

The ego looking forward also tells stories. None of us knows what the future will bring, but it doesn't stop us from projecting. We worry and fret. We create scenarios. We tell a whole story around something that hasn't even happened yet and in doing so, we create the filters through which we will very likely experience that moment when it arrives because we have generated expectation, which acts as a magnet that draws that very experience to us at lightning speed.

We all have stories, and those stories become our experience because thoughts--whether negative or positive--attract energy of a similar vibration. So here's my suggestion for a happier life. Try to stay in the moment and in the experience. Notice when ego starts to tell stories. Do those stories make you feel good, or do they make you feel bad? Are the stories even true? Why do you need to perpetuate those stories after the moment has passed or before the moment has arrived? Do the stories somehow enhance your experience? Notice your stories as they arise, but don't own them. While you may believe they are yours, they aren't. The are merely your ego sharing its agenda. Notice them and let them drift away. Then, decide the experience you chose to have and focus on that, instead. You alone determine your experience of every moment as it comes. You alone decide which stories you attach to it, and in doing so, you alone determine your experience.

Image by Bessi from Pixabay ​

My December newsletter is available. Click the image to access. Or scroll to the bottom of any of my web pages and sign up to receive it in your inbox.

In this issue:

• Blue topaz
• Crystal grids
• Dream symbol: water
• Tips for better sleep
• Questions to ask a psychic
• Balsam fir essential oil