Shields

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

In 2004 I was in an automobile accident that scrambled my brain. If I was in a quiet place, I was okay but my brain could not deal with noise and busyness. During this time, I tried to work as much as I could. My daughter-in-law would drive me to the office and come pick me up a few hours later. Because my thinking was slow if not scrambled, a co-worker began advocating with my supervisor for me to be fired.

Added to the daily struggle to accomplish basic tasks (showering, dressing, fixing a meal), this layer of stress was affecting my health and my performance at work. I did have my Shield of Protection but I wasn’t comfortable taking it to the office.

My sacred women’s circle sisters created these smaller shields for me. Easy to transport, easy to hang in my cubicle, easy for me to focus on their protecting energy when I needed to.

These shields are to me like another person’s lucky penny, four leaf clover or rabbit’s foot. I also have a small bag of protection stones in my car. One never knows when a bit of protective energy might come in handy.

In each of my Sacred Women’s Circle novels, the heroine faces a challenge. She either has her personal totem or her protection stones with her. And sometimes, she has both!

Do you have any talisman you carry with you or keep nearby?

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

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© 2016 Judith Ashley

Shield of Life

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

In 1994 I attended a William Glasser Conference in Dublin, Ireland. There I met colleagues from the Balkans. The Balkan War was raging and their once peaceful lives were in chaos. When asked what The William Glasser Institute could do, they said they needed support.

Funds were donated and used to purchase diapers and formula and other necessities like soap and shampoo that were in short supply.

A group of us went a step further and organized a small conference on the shores of the Adriatic Sea in Rijeka, Croatia. We paid our own way and raised additional monies to put on the conference for those who could come. In addition we volunteered to lead workshops and provide whatever counseling services were needed. Our group was received by the Mayor of Rijeka, one of our members was interviewed on a national radio program. A highlight was the evening the government minister for prisoners of war and torture victims spoke to us.

Shield of Life

I had a chance conversation with a professor at the local University. He invited me to speak to one of his classes. I also led a group discussion with a small group of women who’d braved Serbian fire as they drove from their homes in Dubrovnik (that had been bombed that morning) up the Dalmatian Coast to the conference. What an honor that was!

When Zagreb, the capitol of Croatia, was bombed (we were about 50 miles away), I went to breakfast and found colleagues I’d had dinner with were missing. No one talked about where they were. They’d just vanished—called back to the war.

That morning we were also ordered to leave the country. That was difficult but knowing that our being there actually put them at more risk than if we left. We were an easy target and to kill ten US, Canadian, Irish citizens along with Croatians who were leaders in their country was tempting.

The Mayor sent his van and driver to take us across the border into Slovenia and on to Bled. Traveling through border check points where the guards were armed was an event I’ll never forget. We were in Bled for a couple of days waiting until our flights back home left.

Sitting in an airport waiting for a flight with military tanks on the runway, armed soldiers carrying automatic rifles patrolling the concourse—I’d never had any of those experiences.

When I reached my home I was compelled to do something more.

Shield of Life with added feathers

Because of that trip I’m very aware of how quickly deep and abiding relationships can form in times of trial. I still hold in my heart many of the people I met over two decades ago. I still feel an instant connection when I see any of them at conferences. One of my favorite experiences was at the Edinburgh, Scotland conference when most of the women I’d met in Croatia were there. Tears of joy, of gratitude on both sides—they’d rebuilt those lives that had been so traumatically disrupted.

This is my Circle or Shield of Life. While the flowers are silk, everything else is natural (well, actually the silk flowers are made from the spinning of silk worms). Feathers do not always survive and so I've added two feathers before taking this picture. The black feather in the upper right quadrant is one I picked up in Scotland in 2008. What's magical is that when I got home, there was the exact same feather by my driveway. In fact this might even be that feather instead of the one from Scotland!

What life altering event have you undergone?

How has it changed who you are?

What have you done to honor that experience and that transformation?

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley

Shield of Protection

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

I became involved with Sacred Women’s Circles in 1993. About a year or so after our first meeting, we learned to make our own shields. The first shield we created was a Shield of Protection. It was a simple process in many ways.

First we meditated on the words ‘protection’ and ‘safety’. We’d already learned to make note of the animals who came to us more than once or who seemed to have a message for us.

I had my animals and could see in my mind’s eye what my finished shield would look like. It’s important to note at this juncture that I was in a circle where everyone had an artistic background. Several of them were painters, sculptors, etc. I may write but the idea of the Shield is to have a concrete visual to place in your house or office or yard, etc. Writing is not a skill that translates very well to a project like a shield.

However, as in all sacred women’s circles, I had support in creating my shield.

The hardest part to create was the “White Buffalo” in the center. Read this post and you’ll see why the “Snake” in the South was also difficult.

But perseverance won the day. With help from my circle sisters and sheer determination on my part, I was able to create a shield that to this day (easily 20 years later) is a source of positive energy in my home.

Because I did create my Shield of Protection, I easily created my Shield of Life. More about that shield next Monday.

What have you learned to do that has made another project easier?

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley

House Totems

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

All last month I blogged about Personal Totems and Power Animals. This month I’m at least starting out talking about another Totem: A House Totem.

In Lily, Book One of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, the heroine, Lily, is sensitive to the energy of the land. Her house totem (the energy of the land her house is on) is a dragon. The hero’s house totem is the Great Horned Owl. Jackson Montgomery, the hero, purchased a statute of the owl when on a business trip. He could see it on the mantle in his home.

A friend of mine had a custom screen door made that incorporated a Great Blue Heron. She told me it just ‘felt right’. And I agreed. There was something about the energy surrounding the doorway that, even if you didn’t believe in house totems or the land having energies, you felt ‘something’.

One of my circle sisters asked me to intuit her house totem. I sat on the stairs just inside the front door and closed my eyes. I asked the house totem to show itself and several animals trooped by but a white buffalo stopped before traveling on. A little later another white buffalo walked across my mind’s eye from right to left. When the third white buffalo sauntered across my mental screen, I knew that was the totem.

Interested in finding out about your house totem?

Try these strategies:

If you meditate, ask your house totem to appear during a meditation session. The key is that the animal appear multiple times (at least three).

If you don’t meditate, find a quiet space in your house/yard. Relax and let your mind wander before asking your house totem to appear. Again look for multiple appearances.

If you aren’t sure, then do the exercise more than once. If it is your house totem it will come back.

Sometimes we know what our house totem is because it “just feels right” and the same thing goes for our personal totem or power animal.

However, guard against pride. Every animal has positive attributes. In Lily she sees the badger face on the façade of the house. But the wife is not happy. She wanted something grander. After Lily explains what the badger signifies, she happily goes out to find it in picture, statute or other form.

Are you aware of the myriad personality assessment tools out there? Then you know that there is a place for every possible combination of characteristics.

Would you really want to live or work in an environment where everyone is the same? I know I wouldn’t.

And, if you have questions, just ask. I love to engage with readers of my books and this blog so please leave a comment with your thoughts about the topic of house totems and the energy of the land. If you have problems leaving a comment here, please email me through my website or leave a message for me on Twitter or FB and I'll answer you.

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley

My Challenges With A Double Totem

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

I’ve been blogging this month about Power Animals or Personal Totems sharing about my own, a snowy owl and snake. Yes, a snake And an owl!!!

Snake Bracelet

What was fascinating when I learned that? Not that I had a double Totem but that one of them was a snake. There was a time in my life when even a picture of a snake terrified me. I couldn’t look at National Geographic magazines because one never knew what would be on the next page. Visits to the Zoo never included the Reptile Exhibit.

It wasn’t always that bad. But as a child coming upon a garter snake in my backyard or the fields behind my house did startled me.

What brought on the terror?

When I was in fourth grade, I was chased by a group of boys who had caught a couple of snakes on the school grounds. Their idea of fun was to put the snakes down the neck of my dress. (This was in the fifties and girls did not wear pants to school not that that would have made a difference).

Since they were between the school building and me, safety did not lie in that direction.

I ran---
Down the sidewalk away from the school‑‑‑

Determined, they followed me‑‑‑

I was tiring and they were gaining‑‑‑

What to do?

I dashed inside the first doorway I came to‑‑‑the Mausoleum.

Empty. No people, no sounds, no safety.

Where to hide? I saw the sign for the stairs. Yanking open the door, I started down. When I reached the ground floor, the very bowels of the building, I turned down one of the aisles. Collapsing in a corner, I awaited my fate. There was nowhere else to go.

Surrounded by crypts, I wrapped my arms around my knees and sobbed.

I have no memory how long I was there before an older man, who I learned was the caretaker found me.

What happened next is hazy. I know he took me upstairs (by then I was hopelessly lost). Obviously I got home but I’ve no memory if he called my parents or I finally walked the ten or so blocks home.

What I do remember is that after that experience, my fear of snakes was so strong I became hysterical if I saw them in any form.

Top shelf is dragon cup with snowy owl and wizard below

The last time was when my seven year old son brought a rubber snake home and tried to show it to me. My friend, who was there at the time, heard me screaming and rushed to the bedroom. I was wedged between the bed and wall. My young son was having a great time terrifying his mom.

That life event showed me that I had to do something. I couldn't be that vulnerable. So, when an opportunity presented itself for me to learn NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) I jumped at the opportunity to attend an introductory workshop. So desperate to alleviate my fear of snakes, I even volunteered to be the subject of the evening. With my breathing fractured, my heart racing and my palms sweaty, I went through the process using the event of being chased by the boys with the snakes. To my great relief and gratitude, I left that workshop no longer terrified of snakes.

It isn’t that I want one for a pet but my heart stays calm and my breathing regular if I see one on television or in a magazine. Since I do not like thriller or many adventure movies or programs, the prospect of coming upon a snake is reduced. But I can once again leaf through National Geographic magazines.

What I find intriguing about all of this is that other members of the reptile family have not been sources of terror.

Not that I want to come up close and personal with a crocodile or alligator or a Komodo dragon but I remember being fascinate by chameleons as a child. Did you know that if you step on their tail, it comes off and they grow a new one? Geckos are another member of the reptile family that fascinates me.

What would have happened if I had not done the work to eliminate my terror of snakes years before I learn it was one of my Power Animals? My guess is that I’d never read about them and learn that they represent wisdom and healing and are a symbol of transformation (rebirth and resurrection) in many cultures.

Transformation: A snake transformed Adam and Eve’s lives in the Garden of Eden. While I have nothing that dramatic in my own life, my life has had several transformations‑‑‑times when an abrupt turn or out-of-the blue change/shift occurred. Some I’ve sought out and others just seem to happen.

I will admit I’m more involved with my Snowy Owl totem but I do not ignore my Snake totem. I have a snake bracelet (see above) and a couple of snake fetishes. However, I embrace the dragon and they are all over my house. Check back next Monday and see why.

Do you have a favorite animal? Or a least favorite? Is there a story behind that? Please share!!!

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley

Power Animal Lessons

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

I’m talking about power animals this month. My main one is the snowy owl but I have other animals

Dragonflies help Ashley fight cancer

that show up in my life with lessons for me to consider.

The Great Blue Heron flies through my life several times a year. The Heron’s message is about waiting for the right time – or patience. If you wait, it will come. The Heron stands stock still in water and the fish come to it! Not that I can sit at my computer and the words magically appear. But when I write it isn’t far from that.

For my books, vivid, lucid dreams (both day and night) are the impetus for my writing. It’s not unusual for me to be surprised at the words I see on the page as I type (yes, my high school typing teacher would be very upset with me because she taught touch typing – you didn’t look at the paper (waay before computers) when you typed).

Some days I don’t write because the story isn’t vivid in my mind. I trust that the story will come back to me and it always does. At this point I’ve written well over 750K words on these stories and there are more to come.

There are crows that live in a tree across the street from me. I see them everywhere in the neighborhood. Seldom (and I’ve lived in my house over 40 years) do they come into my yard. Crows represent the magical world of creation. It’s larger relative, the Raven, adds mysticism to the mix. To some of my readers, the spiritual practices of my heroines is mystical, magical…a fantasy. To others, their spiritual practices call to them and they want to incorporate the prayers and practices into their own spiritual lives.

Stellar Blue Jay snubbing me

Look around you as you go through your day. If you work inside but have access to a window, what’s out there? You may see pigeons if you work in a city. What thoughts cross your mind as you observe them? Seldom do you see a lone pigeon. They are a vocal bird. There are several varieties-think carrier pigeon’s used in war time to carry messages across or through enemy lines.

Maybe it is a neighbor’s cat sunning itself on your deck (mystery/independence)? Or Robins looking for worms in your flower beds (new growth).

Ted Andrews wrote the books Animal-Speak and Animal-Wise. These books are a place to start learning more about messages from the animal world.. He also has an audio program to help people find their Spirit Animal. Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams is another resource. Ms. Sams’ deck of cards is easy to use and the accompanying book gives information about the spiritual traits of the animals.

Use a piece of paper to keep track of the animals that catch your eye. Although I’ve not tried it, if you are into Google, you might even try checking that resource to find out what message is there waiting for you to decipher it.

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley

Power Animals

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

Last week I talked about the snowy owl mask my circle sister, Heather, made for me. This week I’d like to talk a bit more about power animals or personal totems.

There are formal ways to ascertain what your power animal is and also informal ways. Today I’m talking about the informal process. In some ways it’s as simple as asking the question: Are you a dog person or a cat person?”

In other words what animals are you drawn to?

I see red tail hawks no one else sees. They are an anomaly in a tree’s structure. While the red tail hawk is not my primary power animal, it is one of my animal totems.

I can also spot whales spouting when other folks miss them. I have a physical or visceral reaction to seeing the sleek black back break water. My breathing fractures if I’m so lucky to see one breach.

But what brings me the most comfort is the snowy owl.

My horse drum

This owl has many of the same characteristics as all other owls but it is more diurnal than nocturnal. In the arctic tundra there aren’t a lot of trees so some actually build nests on the ground (or on ledges on cliffs). I’ve only seen snowy owls in person a couple of times. Once was in a raptor rescue center and the other was when I flew into Logan airport decades ago and all these white birds were on the grassy areas between the runways. At that time in my life, I didn’t even know what they were—only that I was smitten by them.

If you want to find someone who can help you formally figure out your power animal, here are a couple of ideas:

Check with metaphysical stores near you. They may know someone who holds classes or helps people identify their totems.

Look for shamans. Again your metaphysical store may be the best place to look.

A process called “journeying” is involved. Journeying is facilitated by drumming so check out stores that sell drums (not the drum sets musicians).

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley