Echoside: Phoenix Rose

Lately a few people have mentioned to me the occurrence of "weird dreams," or dreams that are rather vivid and busy. Weird is a subjective term and means different things to different people, but I assure you that "weird" is quite normal in the dreamscape. Weird, strange, or peculiar dreams can be one of the best spring boards to dreamwork.  In my experience I have three different types of dreams: lucid, prophetic/psychic, and the typical strange dream we're all used to. I'll start by discussing my experience with lucid dreams because they require triggers. In lucid dreams I become aware that I'm dreaming.  I know that I am the conscious creator and if I feel the desire I can mold and shape things in the environment, including the people, places, and scenarios.  I can decide to sit on the ceiling, ride a bike through the air, or become another person. In my Strive to be Lucid post I mentioned that when you start becoming lucid you may startle and ...

Have you ever been really excited about a new tarot or oracle deck that you just received, but then you start working with it and you just don't seem to mesh well with it even though you really want to?  This has happened to me on a couple occasions until I learned what a deck interview was. It's important to learn how to best work with your decks. A deck interview is a spread that can help you determine the "personality" of your cards.  Instead of answering typical questions about you and your situation, you are asking the tarot cards questions about themselves. The point of doing this is to help you to work with the deck in a more meaningful way.  I learned the importance of this when I first started using Healing with the Angels oracle cards by Doreen Virtue.  I was new to working with angel decks and I thought I would use this to study the archangels.  For some reason all my readings and spreads were way off in left field, and I ended up feeling prog...

"To die, to sleep - to sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come..." - William Shakespeare, Hamlet In the quote above Shakespeare may have been referring to Hamlet's contemplation of suicide, I look into it further than that.  Death is often referred to as the big sleep, a dirt nap, including witticisms such as "there'll be plenty of time for sleep when you're dead," and we put our pets to sleep when suffering outweighs the quality of life. "Sleep, those little slices of death - how I loathe them." Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (misquote of Edgar Allan Poe) Why would we ever compare sleep and dreams to death and afterlife?  I am of the belief that this waking life is the real dream.  What we see, feel, experience in the dreamscape is actually closer to what is truly beyond.  Beyond life, beyond death.  The dreamscape gives us a window into the true nature of our core essen...

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." - John Lennon "All we see or seem is but a dream within a dream" -  Edgar Allan Poe Dreams have always fascinated me. I will be sharing my experiences in a new dreamwork blog series. I have been able to lucid dream from a young age.  Growing up, and in my adult years, I continue to work with dreams, interpret, read and learn what I can about dreaming, and the dreamscape. What does "working with dreams" mean exactly?  I purposefully do things in waking life to encourage things to happen in my dream life.  If there are herbs, crystals, foods, drinks, music, or meditation said to enhance lucid or psychic dreaming, you bet that I'm going to try it out.  I will discuss more of this in future blog posts. First thing I want to talk about is this particular crystal combination because I am thrilled with the results.  (Even though this is not necessarily the most important thing in ...

I have been thinking about this for some time now, as we are shifting to 5D consciousness, I had seen a group discussion on FB on the topic that since we are striving for 5D why bother working with the first 7 chakras when we should be working with the chakras above Soul Star. I did not partake in the discussion at the time (months ago, can no longer find where I seen it) however, I have went within and found my answers. Chakras 1-7 reside in the body, the Root and Crown bridging us to Upper and Lower Worlds, chakras 8-13 are in our Auric field First, before working with chakras 8-13 and above, I have some self-reflective questions.  What is the condition of your chakras between the Earth and Soul Star chakras? Are they functioning at optimal levels? Do you work with them everyday, or on a scheduled weekly routine? Are they under- or over-active, spinning out of control or not spinning at all? This is why we work with the "basic" chakras. Because a lot of people do n...

Today's featured deck is Steven D. Farmer's Messages From Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle Cards Back in 2014 this was the first oracle deck that I received.  Prior to that I only worked with tarot.  Oracle cards were a new-to-me thing.  I had asked the Universe for signs of my power animal, long story short, this deck popped out to me one day at Chapters, it wasn't even in the right section, which worked out for me! Septarian and Clear Quartz Crystals shown with deck Ladybug "This is a time of good fortune and abundance, so be willing to receive all good things in your life." The ladybug is small, yet mighty.  Things are happening, and quickly.  This card is definitely resonating with what I see in the collective.  The veil between the worlds, the separation between the physical and astral used to only thin during certain times of the year, such as Beltaine or Samhain.  However, lately the veil has been thinning over the years.  In a n...

Featured Crystal - AXINITE I was browsing some crystals at my favourite local metaphysical shop, and I noticed Axinte, which I have never seen before.  It is one of those stones that you can get lost gazing into.  It's is refractive, seeing it in sunlight is different that seeing it while indoors.  Hold a light up to it to see all the layers within it.  It reminded me very much of my fire agate ring.  Axinite, side one The info card said "Healing: communication, mind, fractures, organs, mental, physical.  Magickal: Brings spirituality into the world. The stone of friendship.  Helps develop psychic power.  Builds trust in hostile communities."  Sounds good to me. I studied it more when I came home and, as with any brown stone, there are  great grounding properties to it, and helps create connections to Gaia, Earth Mother.  It is recommended to use in crystal grids for healing and connecting with the Earth.  It res...