Author: monicachaffee

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Leo New Moon Total Solar Eclipse

Are you curious what to do with the New Moon Leo Solar Eclipse in Leo energy right now? Maybe you’re already on top of things or maybe you’re trying to figure it all out. Here’s my perspective and insight on how to use this energy for your benefit and to help you leverage your personal development, new projects, or upcoming goals and creations that you want to attract in your life.

The Leo personality is one of excitement, fun, passion, joyful, child-like wonder, brave, leader and loyal. Sun rules Leo, which also represents the areas in your life that you need to let shine. The time to hide and reflect is over and now comes the moment that you come out of your shell and really show the world who you are as a person and to take confidence and pride of who you are and what makes you stand out from the masses. Leo is your power and purpose to live/lead your life from what’s important to your heart and soul.

The new moon is the ideal time to reset new intentions and manifest or attract what you want to create in your life. The clearer you can become with these intentions, the more likely to see the payback of this new moon solar eclipse energy. New moons are a time of fresh starts. These new goals you set for yourself now will greatly influence your next 6 months and you will see the transformation of your goals within the next 2 years because of the energy of the solar eclipse.

The Solar eclipse energy is so interesting to me to be working with right now because we are also in a Mercury retrograde (going internal and slowing down, thinking about how we perceive and receive information and how we express ourselves and our awareness). Solar eclipses blot out the sun, leaving us in shadow. So, whatever we have hiding in shadow will likely surface at this time. Not every person is going to feel this intensely as the next. It really depends on what is going on in your birth chart and where Leo is located on your birth chart. So, whatever thoughts, emotion, or feelings that you have been avoiding, hiding from, distracting yourself with will come up at this time. We all have shadow sides (things we hide, even from ourselves) that we might or might not know about. That’s ok too. We all work with our shadow self when we are ready. As we go through our journey of life the shadow will creep in and we have a choice to deal with it in a healthy way so that we can progress as healthy individuals. If we choose to ignore those shadow aspects they typically come back to resurface as negative emotions that aren’t that pleasant to deal with. I mean, that’s why we avoid them in the first place.
So, use kindness and compassion for yourself when handling the tough stuff. Solar eclipse energy brings about a massive shift because we become deeply self-aware and there is an enormous amount of power when we look at aspects that aren’t working in our lives and discover ways to transform our personalities. Huge shifts will happen.

Some exercises to do for setting intentions to leverage your personal goals include:
-writing down on paper what you want to attract in your life no matter how crazy big or small they are. Write everything down.
-image yourself already having what you have. This is a form of visualization that can be helpful in receiving messages in how to attain what you want.
-In your mind’s eye (3rd eye) call upon your future self and as them for guidance.
-create affirmations to counter balance the shadow side negative talk that might surface.
-think about how you want to feel when you have this goal and work on aligning yourself from feeling, rather than thinking.
-spread joy, kindness, and gratitude wherever you go to raise your vibration and act from your greatest good.

I really hope this helps you get in connection with the solar eclipse Leo energy coming up this August 21, 2017. Happy New Moon!

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The Modern Empath

What exactly does the term “empath” mean? You may be hearing it a lot lately as people get in touch with their Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine sides. Intuitive types use this term often to help describe someone who gets overwhelmed with their emotion or who is highly sensitive. Taken from Dictionary.com, an Empath, from the root Empathic or Empathy, is the psychological identification with the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of others. Yep, being an empath involves more than simply feeling empathic towards someone. Think of it as more of an absorption of emotion, positive or negative.

Here’s how you can identify with being an empath:

-senses the energy of a person or a crowd
-has trouble being in highly crowded places
-deeply impacted by violence in movies, TV shows, or the News.
-can feel what someone feels without the other person saying.
-does not like drama
-strangers talk to them like a best friend would.
-feels drained, even with ample sleep
-needs solitude and alone time

There are various types of empaths, just as there are many different intuitives. Here are a few:

-feeling others emotions-individuals, groups, or collective nation
-feeling others physical ailments, like back pain, arthritis, muscle soreness, headaches, congestion, heaviness around the heart, gut issues, tight neck or shoulders, foot pain.
-feeling the energy of plants “horticultural empath” who can sense the needs of plants.
-feeling the energy of animals
-sensing energy of food-if someone made something from love or anger, the energetic vitality of the quality of food: organic vs. conventional or quick food.

Empathic people can easily get overwhelmed, and I’m sure you can see why. If you are a sponge and all these energies are coming toward you, the amount of energetic smog that you need to sift through and release can get incredibly tiresome.

Empowering yourself to handle anything that comes into your field serves as the greatest defense against the energy vampires or other things that may come your way. You must have the tools to ground, release, and recharge your batteries.

Empaths tend to drain themselves easily. They are great listeners and so everyone, including strangers, loves talking to them, telling them their life story or dumping crisis after crisis. Setting boundaries becomes fundamental as you explore your way through the energies coming at you. Differentiating between your feelings and the feelings of someone else can also get problematic if there lacks a strong system for standing up for what you need. Grounding and recharging becomes critical. Then, managing what comes into your space-TV, music, news, friends, etc becomes just as important. You can control what comes in, at least most of the time.

GROUNDING
Grounding activities include hiking, walking, dancing, yoga, Tai Chi, Capoera, Karate, pranayama, acupuncture and deep tissue massage. Basically, anything to get the energy flowing with your feet touching a surface constitutes a grounding activity. When you ground your energy you have the foundation for your light to surround you and firmly hold that auric space. Instead of holding space or others you now have the power to hold your own space. That can change everything!
I often use a grounding visual meditation that I call “Charged to the Earth’s Matrix.” Start seated or standing with your feet completely planted to the ground. Barefoot is preferred, but not required. Feel your sit bones connected to the chair if you are seated. Sit or stand up very tall, feeling the crown of your head pulling upward to the heavens as your feet press firmly into the Earth. Start to pull white light down from the cosmos through the crown of your head, through each chakra points, forehead, throat, heart, belly, lower belly, base of pelvis, feet and down into the core of the Earth. Keep breathing deeply while at the same time drawing the light through each point and into the center of the earth. It might take some time to get through each body part and into the Earths’ core, but just breathe with it. Once you hit the center you will know. Then, take the Earths’ light and bring it back up pulling up around your body like a tubular curtain, all the way up to the cosmos, once it hits the toppest point, bring the light back down and allow it to travel down your body once more to the center of the Earth. Repeat 2 more times for a total of 3-5 times. This exercise is intensly powerful and effective for grounding and shielding at the same time.

BUBBLE OF LIGHT
Once you are grounded you can start to amplify your own energetic source. One useful way to use light as a form of protection involves the bubble of light. Imagine your white light coming from the back of your belly and bringing itself forward out of your body and enveloping your entire form. You have the power to expand that light outward when you see fit. You can also envision your body or even someone else’s body, wrapped in white cotton balls or pink cotton candy.

CALLING UPON YOUR TEAM
Your team, comprised of ancestors, archangels, guardian angels, spirit guides, spirit animals, gods or goddesses, Divine source, and your higher power are there whenever you need them. How do you call upon your team? Ask them to help you guard and to help you release.

RELEASING ENERGY THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU
My number one method for releasing emotional blocks or someone else’s stuff that I don’t want to hold onto anymore is always soaking in salt. I do this at least once a week. If it works for athletes’ sore muscles, I’m sure it helps with pulling out energies that are in my auric field.

Sage is another tool you can use on a daily basis or if you’re feeling drained and need to clear away some heaviness. Light a small piece and wave it around your body, hands, and feet.

Using essential oils is also useful, in particular, Rosemary, Sandlewood, Cedarwood, PaloSanto, and Patchouli.

Crystals that are great for protection include Black Tourmaline, Obsidian, Jet, Hematite, and Tigers Eye.

Stones that are critical for releasing include selentite and kyanite.

Remember, empaths need solitude and alone time to recharge. Remove yourself from a situation if you gut is telling you to get out. No explanation is necessary.

As you release energy set a clear affirmation: I release all energies that don’t belong to me, making space for light and love. I am strong in my foundation and only allow for what’s good and best for myself and the collective whole.

Lastly, as you release the energy that you are not wanting, like anger or jealousy, make sure that as you let that energy go it’s also being transmutted and transformed into positive light. You can use your minds eye to imagine the energy dissipate into purple healing light to travel back to Mother Earth or back to the Cosmic Council.

You have the ability to empower yourself with anything that gets thrown your way. Empaths will always pick up energy from others and we have the capability and intuitive adaptability to ground ourselves, move that energy through us, and then fully release and clear our spaces to start anew. The potential rests within each of us.

With love,
Monica

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Chocolate Tart

Easy Paleo Vegan Chocolate Tart

Summer Recipe Perfect for the 4th of JULY cookout!

The hot summer deters me from turning on my oven. Being a SF/DF/GF girl (95% of the time), I enjoy scouting perfect cold recipes that take are quick and easy to make. Here it is my friends. I found this on Pinterest as a Key Lime Pie and I changed up the ingredients, screwed it up by using kiwi one time, and then finally got it right. Other options for the filling could be altered to your tastes or whatever is in season, like strawberry “cream”, mango, peach, or peanut butter/chocolate/banana combo. Play around!! The best part about the pie is that it’s healthy, tasty, and fast to make for a last minute BBQ!

Everybody, have fun & stay safe!

The Crust:

12 dates

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 cup ground flax seeds

1 cup unsweetened coconut

The Filling

2 cans of full fat coconut milk (scoop only the fatty part that collects at the top. If it’s all incorporated together and has not separated, use only 1 full can)

2 avocados

4 tbls raw cacao powder

1/4 cup maple syrup

garnish with raw cacao nibs and unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions:

Put all ingredients for the crust in a food processor until all of the ingredients are like a fine and evenly processed. Using your fingers or the back of a measuring cup, press it evenly into a pie pan.

Put all the filling ingredients into a blender. Then fill the pie. Top it with some garnish, or leave it clean. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. And then nosh until your hearts content! Enjoy.

 

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The Intuitive Mind

Each one of us is born with the innate gift of intuition, The Sixth Sense. Nope, it’s not just a cheesy movie. The sixth sense is the gift of knowing without having all of the information. Empathic people would describe it as more of a feeling. There are a variety of different intuitive abilities out there and we, as spiritual beings in human form, lose how to gather this information and use it in our everyday lives.
But we all have it, I promise you!

Have you ever:
-Known who was calling you before looking at your phone?
-Thought of a person who then emailed you moments later?
-Knew about a situation before you were told?
-Could feel when someone needed your help?
-Knew what someone was going to say to you before they told you?

Intuitive messages can come through thoughts, feelings, sounds, smells, visions, and dreams. We all have the ability to gain more awareness and use our intuitive gifts to help guide us in our lives.
So, if we are born with it, how does it go away?

As infants and into preschooler years our intuitive mind opens up and stays receptive to the information coming in and going out. Kids act as sponges that soak up all that we teach and what they see in the world around them. I am convinced that they “see” so much more than we do simply because they have unbiased egos.

Once children enter grade school, the intuition shifts because we are taught to shut it down. “Don’t be silly, there’s nothing there.” “Stop daydreaming.” “There’s no such thing as ghosts.” Children who were once receptive begin to question and doubt their inner voices. Doubting our own inner wisdom is psychic suicide.

Reprogramming our doubt into trust takes persistent work because sometimes many years pass before we regain that intuitive mind back. I believe doubting what we see as adults is natural because we want to have logical explanations, however intuitive knowledge isn’t always logical. Sometimes messages that come take weeks or months to come into fruition or make sense to the ego mind. This instant gratification world that we live in makes the intuitive mind seem painfully slow! Can I have answers please?! Allowing to feel and be receptive egoless beings becomes crucial to regaining the intuitive knowledge and wisdom that lies dormant within.

To tap into this knowledge we must TRUST, ALLOW, and BE STILL to listen to our inner voice guide us to our pure understanding.

Thank you for reading,
Monica

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The Lure of the Tarot

The Lure of the Tarot
My first Tarot deck was the Waife deck given to me by a boy that I have lost touch with. We were 11 years old. Far too young to be playing around with the Tarot, but I was mesmerized by each card and studied the images with intensity. There was an immediate pull and I kept going back.

I remember laying out card spreads and reading the meanings without actually understanding or grasping what it really was all about. I just knew I was drawn to the energy of Tarot. Who knew that 20ish years later I would be creating spreads for people and helping them seek clarity?

The tarot helps reveal divine knowledge to a current circumstance happening in present time or even events that have happened in the past. The client typically has a question (that can’t be answered “yes’ or ‘no’) and the reader decides upon the card layout. The cards drawn by the client gives clues about what is going on in the clients’ life. Sometimes the question is answered an many other times the cards draw out Truth about what needs to be addressed immediately.

The process fascinates me. Intuitively, subtle emotional and physical elements are revealed until the Truth steps forward. Then it is up to the client to decide what to do with that knowledge.

I am opening my schedule up for clients who seek intuitive guidance. Please feel free to email me and we can set up an appointment for Tarot, oracle, or pendulum readings.

Namaste,
Monica

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Motivating Mantras

lavender sky

I’m finally back to teaching yoga. Not as a full time gig because my children are still little, but enough to keep my yogi toes wet and yogi mind nimble.

My maternity leave gave me a much needed sabbatical to reset and recalibrate my mindset. The short time away made me question: What keeps me motivated?

Now that maintaining a healthy lifestyle jumped to the forefront, I realized that I need constant reminders of why I do what I do.

Why do I love teaching?

Why am I so strict with my diet?

How can I incorporate essential “Me Time?”

Without these questions/motivators all my hard work can be easily sabotaged at my own volition. Do I want pizza? Fuck yes, I want pizza! Now what? Remember the larger picture and I think about the woman I want to be. She is a woman who is self-disciplined and wants to teach her kids that creating what you want out of life takes work.

So what keeps me motivated to teach yoga?

My self practice because when I practice, I am walking my walk. When I practice I discover uncharted nuances of a pose or of how breath moves that I can then pass on to you. I love to see other people excited to move their bodies freely and without pain or discomfort. I love to see other women accept and adore their bodies no matter what age or size. I want to give someone the gift of exploring their bodies potential.
I keep my body active and strong to be healthy and show others that any body holds the power to transform.

Why am I so strict with my diet?

I’m an all or nothing kind of girl. I learned the hard way with alcohol that my willpower and ability to make good choices gets trashed the second I give in to alcohol and sugar. Yes, sugar! There’s no such thing as me having one drink or one cookie so therefore, I have no room for either in my life. OK, I might have a cookie as a special treat. I DO eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and protein and I also admit that I can get bored with this, so I look for inspiration online, television shows, or restaurants. Being adventurous with food and loving to cook really helps me with exploring options so I can feel satisfied. I remind myself, as an intuitive, my abilities thrive when I’m nourishing my body with high quality foods.
I nourish my body for fuel and focus.

How do I find “Me Time?”

This is tricky with two little kids. I take me time every chance I can. Early morning tends to be my best option or I ask for some time in the evening to be alone. It’s important for me to have solitdude and sit with my own thoughts because in being alone comes major self discovery. Sitting silently, meditating, or just being quiet to hear your own thoughts, connects you back to yourself. To do this I unplug and desensitize from social media, the TV, and phone, then my mind can relax.
I give myself the gift or relaxation to become a better me.

So there you have it. Also, and this is important, I remind myself to have fun and not take myself so seriously because I am, as we all are, a work in progress. Nothing happens over night.

Xoxo. Namaste,
Monica

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Starting with purpose.

There are many people out there who look forward to and enjoy New Years Eve (NYE) and there are those who detest it. I fall somewhere in the middle. Actually, I used to love it because it was an excuse to drink, but now that I’m on the wagon, I’ll be practicing my alcohol free mixology. Amateurs show up on NYE and for someone who is in recovery, I loathe amateur hour.

BUT, the idea of evaluating and contemplating the completion of one year and the anticipation of goal setting and visualizing the next upcoming year, makes NYE full of hopeful, optimistic possibility.

2015 was filled with surprises (OMG, I’m pregnant!) and a couple of tough moments, but as a whole, I feel good and complete with what 2015 presented me. What will 2016 bring? I know now that I’m all set with surprises. What I really crave is solidity and strength.

Someone in one of my online groups posed a question: What is your word for 2016? Instead of a resolution you think of a word because words hold vibrational power and can set the tone for the year. For instance, in 2014 my word was fearlessness and I came out of the psychic closet and admitted to myself that I needed sobriety. Both of those instances forced me to meet my fears.

My word or words for 2016 are foundation, purpose, and abundance. What are yours?

Stay safe, everyone! Happy New Year!

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Transitioning into the psychic mind

A year and a half ago I came out as a psychic intuitive and medium. The past two years of preparation and transition have been amazingly soul seeking and has served as an educational springboard to my psychic intellect. I listen intently to my spirit guides (like when they told me I needed to quit drinking in order to fully step into my potential). I was terrified my gifts would then become overwhelming, as I typically used alcohol as a means to dull the psychic noise, but instead my gifts became direct, clear, and more manageable. Probably because I could see what was a message and what was ego attachment. My connection to the other side strengthened and I found it easier to connect as a medium.

Our lives are interweaved with life transitions leading us into new experiences and deeper knowing within our spirit minds. Each transition, no matter how big or small, offers us a glimpse of secret insight into our vast inner knowing. Whether the transition is starting a new school, having a baby, leaving a job, or getting married, these experiences present to us a giant platter of emotions and expose our vulnerable soft spots. How we react and respond to these heart opening emotions becomes the very source to examine with a realist magnifying glass to catch and observe our repeated behaviors and patterns of thought that either elevate us into our fullest potential or keep us stuck in our fears.

The patterns of our emotional thought making process divulge the roots of why we keep repeating behaviors, some which are fantastic, some we need to release and let go. Letting go is a true challenge. The moment I knew that I needed to let go of my drinking patterns I thought my world would crash all around me. I thought I would lose friends and that my family wouldn’t understand the reasons why, since I was able to hide it pretty well from everyone. It took me at least 3 years to muddle up the courage and just drop the habit, my coping mechanism. The truth is, I couldn’t trust myself when I got drunk. I couldn’t trust my intuition or my behavior. I had a sweet young child who now understood that the glass of wine on the table was mommy’s and every morning I would wake up feeling like dirt and promising myself I would not drink, until 6 pm rolled around and I would go get more of my coping juice. On my 36th birthday I decided I didn’t want to go one more day obsessing about alcohol. That was it. Suddenly, I was ready for my transition.

Since then everything has shifted for the better. My psychic gifts keep developing and growing, I have greater spiritual connections with my friends and family and what’s even greater, I am adding another small human to my family! Yes, another big transition awaits! No matter how big or small your current transition may be, take a few deep breaths, find your support, your close circle, your tribe, your family and stay in it. Connect to your emotional self. If ever you want to reach out to me for extra support, please feel free to email and set up an appointment for an intuitive reading. Transitions tend to be the best time to seek clarity and answers.

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Summer Days

fireworks

Best Days of Summer

Walking through the woods the other day I noticed the layered canopy of green in the trees and at the same moment my son said, “These trees are cute!” The trees smiled at us and we smiled back.

Summer finally showed up to the party and the warmth of the sun opens my eyes to a newfound clarity to devote well needed time for rejuvenation and reconnection to the sacredness around me.

When you’re out and about mingling with the business of the world, acknowledge the beauty in nature wherever you see it, the beauty in people and the beauty in yourself. Give yourself time to rest and to admire the surroundings, the sounds, the aromas, and the sensations of summer. Give yourself permission to bask in the warmth of summer and to nourish yourself in its bounty.

Yesterday I took Ben to the beach for our first trip of the season and I knew from the start it would take a toll physically on my prenatal body. The one-mile walk to the beach was easy as we were both excited to be outside and see our friends, feel the ocean breeze, dance in the sand, and immerse ourselves in the water. There were many moments of Ben running away from me as fast as quickly as possible. The most poignant moment was when he bolted into the water and ran to these two women playing volleyball. Ben wanted to play with these, may I say drop dead gorgeous women. I allowed him to play and flirt for a couple of minutes before asking, why don’t we get your ball? We walked back to our chairs, grabbed the ball, and ran back to the water, but he didn’t want to play catch with me, his mommy, the woman who birthed him. He would much rather throw the ball away from me, and then watch me run get it for him. Was I not fun? What was the problem? I was getting annoyed and hurt.

After a minute of being annoyed because my son would not listen to me, I just decided I could make this a bad beach day or a good beach day. I sat down in the water and just allowed my son to throw the ball where he wanted, to play with other kids that he was interested in, and enjoy watching him be his fun social self. By the end of the day he was ready to leave the beach without any drama. I asked him did he have fun? He answered, Yeah! I wuv vu mama. My heart melted.

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Spirit Warrior

tarot

The Spirit Warrior

A spirit warrior is one who seeks the knowledge of herself, bravely & fearlessly, embracing her shadows and her light source. She balances both with beauty & grace, knowing the deeper she exposes herself to herself, the deeper she can connect to those who need her and the deeper she can connect to her Inner Wisdom, her Divine Self, her True Self.

She confronts each challenge as an opportunity for growth. She sees all people as teachers of life and she listens intently to the heartbeat of her soul, which vibrates separately than her own. She shows her truth, her valued vulnerability, whole-heartedly without expectation of acceptance, nor expectation of rejection.

She uses her intuition as the most sacred key to unlock any door that presents itself, for it’s that inner wisdom that guides her into her precious journey of self-awareness.

I call forth your Spirit Warrior. I dare you to fearlessly accept all beautiful and complicated aspects of your spirit and KNOW that all changes you want to make in your life stem from your own power of intention and intuition. You are your greatest life Force.

Peace & Light,

Monica