Follow Your Bliss

"Follow your bliss. If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open doors for you. I say follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.
--Joseph Campbell

"If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That's why it's your own path."
--Joseph Campbell

"Path maker-there is no path, we make our path by walking."
--Spanish poet Antonio Machado

Intentions

Here is some great info about the current growth period we are all in and the importance of setting some intentions right now! This is from Claudia's newsletter at www.moonsurfing.com. Go to her website and sign up for her free newsletter if you like the free info she offers below.

Five planets and one asteroid are all gathered in optimistic generous Sagittarius and that's a LOT of fire-power to put under your intentions... joy to the world indeed! This is BIG stuff... and the whole sky seems geared to support you in taking a risk to make your dreams and bigger picture of life come true. (If you've ever thought of buying a lottery ticket... now's the time.)

Here are just some of the gifts this planetary line-up brings...
Juno (relationships based on shared beliefs get new life), Mercury (enthusiastic thoughts and words), Sun (spiritual expansion), Moon (reach for it) Jupiter (wisdom, joy and whatEVER you focus on increasing and expanding), and Pluto (power and all its trappings) are ALL in Sagittarius telling you to take a risk... any efforts to leave the limitations of the past behind will be well-rewarded.

This is a multi-layered multi-leveled lunation... I have too much to say... too much universe to cover... so I'm going to try to put some of the huge news in a nutshell. I don't really think you can put evolution in a nutshell, but that's what this New Moon is really calling you to do... evolve.

The energetic build-up you've been feeling will be peaking just two days following this New Moon, two giants energetically speaking... don't tell me Pluto is a "dwarf" planet. Jupiter (good fortune) and Pluto (wealth and power) (also, death and rebirth) have a rare rendezvous. They last met in Scorpio on December 2, 1994, but they haven't met in Sagittarius since 1758!

To give you an idea of the power this pairing of planets can foretell...two financial giants... Bill Gates and Warren Buffett... had these two heavyweight planets united when they were born, so financial expansiveness marks their whole lives. However... you've got a personal window into this kind of expansion now... in all the ways in which you define wealth. Your imagination and your belief in what's possible are your only limitations.

By the way... giant Jupiter is about spiritual expansion and Pluto is transpersonal... meaning that it deals with collective evolution, so notice that both of these men are huge philanthropists. Likewise, your successful vision and each step you take to realize your big vision must be dedicated to the highest good of all concerned.

Look at the giant seed ideas you're planting now as a rose that will blossom over the next 13 years wih care and cultivation. Remember... whatever seed you plant now has greatness in it.

To add another higher greater momentous evolutionary layer... this meeting is closely aligned with the Galactic Center... considered the Sun of our Sun... the central point in our Milky Way galaxy. (Some also call it "the great attractor".) Exactly what this means is debated, but not really known. What IS known is that it's the center, it emits an enormously high level of energy, AND it represents a primary source of awakening and enlightenment. Remember, these energies are peaking now, but the effects will be very present through the first part of January. You are at a vital stage of evolutionary development... so get excited!

Yes, it's quite a super-charged wind-up to this "9" year... and to a whole 9-year cycle! Next year will be a "1" year, so the push to dump the old is happening to everybody and old beliefs and familiar patterns could be real bones of contention. This New Moon shows you where you still protect immature emotional needs and old ways of being... it's now time to overcome those old fears and grow up.

With such enormous energy and potential being beamed from the center of our universe, you could feel really scattered. Focusing your energy positively and constructively is super-important. Deep full breathing and connecting with spirit as nature are big keys.

Faith is your biggest ally now, so keep opening your mind and heart to become the powerful being you're intended to be. You mustn't let yourself get side-tracked...you'll find your lunar journaling process to be more indispensable than ever.

A whole cycle of shifts and changes continues to keep the volume turned up on your growth and possibilities. Jupiter moves into Capricorn, the lunar nodes change signs, Saturn backs up, the seasons change...and that's just a sample. I won't be writing a Full Moon ezine this month, but not-to-worry... our Sagittarius Lunar Journal gives you all the insider information you need regarding every cosmic happening, including an eclipse check-up, so you'll definitely have a handle on what's happening and how to use this exciting energy.

This is a super special New Moon for you Sagittarians, but Virgo, Gemini, Pisces, Cancer and Aquarius energies are also receiving special attention. That means that everyone has the opportunity to work the high side of this amazing energy...it's all a matter of focus. What a perfect time to empower yourself with a personal reading! It's also a wonderful gift of insight to give those special friends and someones on your holiday list.

The road is rising to meet you, but if you feel stuck, or have been ignoring all the signals, avoiding the challenges and gateways this year has brought, then this could be a real tense time. This time may seem more overwhelming than usual (wasn't it Charlie Brown who said... "There's nothing so terrifying as the burden of a great potential."?) Remember..."Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset, or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back."

Ritual is a truly powerful way to focus your energies now. Enjoy gathering some of the ritual tools listed in your lunar journal and allow your imagination and your feelization to soar, because your potential for manifestation is huge.

Earlier in this ezine, I mentioned the planetary alignment with the "great attractor". This means that your intentions can have enormous magnetism. As always, gratitude and a generous spirit gets your magnetic mojo working BIG time with those big intentions.

Gods Cofffee

God's Coffee

A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: Porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee.

When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the small gathering. "You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems."

He continued.. "Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups. Then you began eyeing each other's cups..."

"Now consider this: Life is coffee - Jobs, money and position in society are merely cups. They are just tools to shape and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live, often by concentration only on the cup we fail to enjoy the coffee that God has provided us. God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups. Enjoy your coffee!"

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.. So please remember: LIVE SIMPLY, LOVE GENEROUSLY, CARE DEEPLY, SPEAK KINDLY, LEAVE THE REST TO GOD. And remember -- the richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.

The Passion Test

Hello again,

I just found a website called The Passion Test: www. thepassiontest.com, which is all about giving you a wake up call on following your dreams. On the website is a little--as in short-- test you can take that will give you a few wise words of analysis on following your passion. And a few words of wake up call if you are not living the life of your dreams. Naturally the website owner is a speaker and writer, with a book out, and if you bet it is called The Passion Test, you're right. I haven't read the book, so I can't endorse it here, but I might check it out. I took the test and got a few good pointers, that's why I mention it here. So, the questions for the day: ARE YOU DOING WHAT YOU LOVE? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

Francine Marie-Sheppard
hello@francinemarie.com
www.soulspsychic.com

The Free Prophets Conference

Hello out there!

If anyone knows somebody whose house burned down, or who was badly affected by the Southern California fires last month, there is a FREE conference available to them this weekend, Nov. 10 and 11th. I put a few widgets (links) on my website to the conference websites. There are all kinds of great, inspiring speakers talking about creating the life you want, manifesting a rich life, following your passion and your dreams. The conference organization wants to offer the whole conference free to people who are distressed and need to be inspired to start over after the trauma they have suffered of losing their homes. Most people have to pay around $300 for the weekend, so Free is very generous. Please pass the word on to anyone you know out there who could benefit. My website is www.soulpsychic.com and there is a link widget to The Prophets Conference on several pages, and a phone number for Southern Californian fire victims to call on the Prophets Conference website. (I haven't figured out how to add a link widget to the blog yet, so if any of you can give me a tip on that!) I'll dig up the phone number for the fire victims and put it on here later--just want to get the word out.

Update: Just heard from The Prophets Conference people. At this point the people affected by the fires can just show up at the conference and be admitted FREE.

Be inspired!
Francine Marie-Sheppard
hello@francinemarie.com

Unfathomable Mystery

"Words, no matter whether they are vocalized and made into sounds or remain unspoken as thoughts, can cast an almost hypnotic spell upon you. You easily lose yourself in them, become hypnotized into implicitly believing that when you have attached a word to something, you know what it is. The fact is: You don't know what it is. You have only covered up the mystery with a label. Everything, a bird, a tree even a simple stone, and certainly a human being, is ultimately unknowable. This is because it has unfathomable depth. All we can perceive, experience, think about, is the surface layer of reality, less than the tip of an iceberg."

--Eckhart Tolle

What a delight to read these words by Eckhart Tolle this morning when I opened one of his books. I relate totally to what he has said here because it speaks to my experience of living life on a clairvoyant path.

The key to understanding the passage above is realizing how deeply entrenched we are in relating to our world with our "minds". This mind is only one aspect of our true selves, our energetic, spiritual self. We are in a human phase of evolution during which we are beginning to realize that there are other ways of perceiving the world and that there is so much going on beneath the surface appearance of things. We have trusted rationalism and intellectual inquiry and science to give us all our answers as to the nature of LIFE and organized religion to create our rules for living, when neither one can give us the "whole picture". We are beginning to discover that in fact we have the ability within each of us, to look deeper and to see further and discover our own truths. And therefore the ability to recognize for ourselves what is authentic for us, what holds meaning and value, what we feel connected to, and have faith in.

When you have the courage to look beyond the word of a thing, the name and facade of a person, there is an incredible amount of information and life force to explore and get to know. There is the unique story of every human and how it connects to every other story out there. There is the incredible life force of every object and how no object or thing is stagnant but like us, changing every second on a biological and energetic level. Yes, we are all an "unfathomable" and "unknowable mystery" but it is possible to peek below the surface of the words and symbols and be startled by the beauty of it all.

--Francine Marie-Sheppard
www.soulpsychic.com
hello@francinemarie.com

Miracles & The Big Bang

"The big bang is so preposterous," says renowned astronomer Allan
Sandage, co-discoverer of the quasar, "and the chain of events it set off
so unlikely, that it makes most sense when thought of as a 'miracle.'"

"For the sake of argument, let's assume Sandage is right. If the very
beginning of the universe itself was a miracle, then everything in it is
impregnated with the possibility of smaller but equally marvelous miracles."
--Rob Brezsny


Just for today, try to look around, observe your life and everything in it, and notice the
outrageous amount of small miracles.
As I wrote that, the sun suddenly came streaming through my window. Of course, that was just a coincidence, but I certainly welcome the warmth on this brisk fall morning.

Francine Marie-Sheppard
www.francinemarie.com
hello@francinemarie.com

Poem by Ghalib

Let the ascetics sing of the garden of Paradise-
We who dwell in the true ecstasy can forget their vase-tamed
bouquet.

In our hall of mirrors, the map of the one Face appears
As the sun's splendor would spangle a world made of dew.

Hidden in this image is also its end,
As peasants' lives harbor revolt and unthreshed corn sparks
with fire.

Hidden in my silence are a thousand abandoned longings:
My words the darkened oil lamp on a stranger's unspeaking
grave.

Ghalib, the road of change is before you always:
The only line stitching this world's scattered parts.

By Ghalib

Inspirational Quotes for Change

Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid.
-Dorothea Brande, Writer

If you play it safe in life, you've decided that you don't want to grow any more.
-Shirley Hufstedler, Lawyer

That's the risk you take if you change: that people you've been involved with won't like the new you. But other people who do will come along.
-Lisa Alther, Novelist

To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.
-Bernadette Devlin, Writer

Goals are dreams with deadlines.
-Diana Scharf Hunt, Writer

Your goal should be out of reach but not out of sight.
-Anita DeFrantz, Olympic Rowing Medalist

We need to remember that we are all created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.
-Maya Angelou,Poet and Writer

Making art is a rite of initiation. People change their souls.
-Julia Cameron, Writer

Be yourself. The world worships the original.
-Jean Cocteau, Writer

And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.
-Erica Jong, Writer

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
-Hellen Keller, Activist

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
-Anais Nin, Writer

The full life is filled with vulnerability, not defense....You face whatever feeling there is.
-Virginia Satir, Family Therapist

When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.

About Exoricism

The root to the word healing is in the word whole, and to heal is to engage yourself in becoming whole, becoming yourself. When you heal, at least energetically speaking, you are releasing what is not you and making space for you or your energy. With your energy you and your body are more capable of healing physically and energetically. It is easier to enter into a state of wellness with your own healing energy flowing through your aura, not somebody elses. I like to say wellness is that state when body, mind (awareness) and spirit are in harmony and in communication.
When an entity comes into your space through your body, there is less space for you to be there. Sometimes when you become that other energy we call that being possessed. Some other entity other than the one that came with this body (you) is in possession of that body or in control of it. There are many many reasons why this can happen and sometimes it is because an agreement was made, a spiritual contract, for that exchange to happen or "possession" to take place.
Exorcism is a form of healing where on some level that spiritual agreement is "renegotiated" and ended or in other words the "possession" is ended. When a person has lost their seniority completely to the foreign spirit and becomes the victim, sometimes they need help and turn to a healer who is capable of having seniority over the entity or spirit.

I do recommend that people seek help and that they take their healing seriously enough to want to find their freedom. They should keep looking until they find someone who can help them. Unfortunately in this day and age energy healing is still looked down on in many places and people with problems are invalidated and punished. If people were validated for their psychic abilities and intuition long before a problem develops, then we wouldn't call them crazy or losers for having a problem they are unable to to solve. They would have the certainty to be able to find a solution because they would know their problem is real. They could trust their perception and perhaps avoid falling victim to a creation that they are no longer in agreement with.

It is the absence of validation of spirit that causes so many problems--particularly the inability to have seniority over troublesome spirits. If we cannot validate that we are spirit, how can we solve a problem that we do not believe really exists? If a sensitive person is considered crazy how can that person function when he is no longer sure of what he is experiencing due to a lifetime of invalidation for seeing things that are not there. We cannot expect a person to have seniority over a spirit when we tell that person, in essence, that they do not exist. Because when you believe that spirit does not exist then you are also saying to a "sensitive"that they do not exist, because a "sensitive" knows themselves as spirit, and the world as energy first, and matter second.
The next thing you know, you've got a schizophrenic on your hands, lost between their experience/perceptions and everyones elses definition of the world.
And if that person loses seniority to another spirit, now they have an entity telling them they are crazy too so the entity can keep them away from a healer and channel through the body as much as they want.

What a world we live in. Maybe one day there will be exorcism specials for $19.99 at the spa and it won't be such a scary thing. After all, most programming for fear is just a lie that found it's way into your space for one reason only: to control your behaviour. If we really validated spirit and the ability of all persons to achieve spiritual healing, versus trying to control who is healed and who has the knowledge or the"Truth", well, a lot of not so nice entities would have a lot less playground space in the world.

That's all I have to say about exorcism today.
Francine Marie-Sheppard
www.francinemarie.com
hello@francinemarie.com

About the Mandalas

I started painting these watercolor mandalas when I when to a very special conference in October of 2004. It was a gathering of tribal elders, healers and grandmothers to create a Council of Indigenous Grandmothers comprised of wise women from around the globe. I attended the pre-conference where the women were getting together and then the conference where these Elders were meeting with western women leaders like Gloria Steinem for discussion and healing. It was a remarkable week where we were treated to prayer rituals from many cultures at sunrise and sunset and the wise and healing words of many people. The was dance and celebrations too. Anyway, sometimes in the late evenings or early mornings I would pick up my paintbrush and start painting a mandala. These were not the type of painting I was used to doing, but I finally understood their power in creating a meditative and calm focused vibration. Each of the mandalas I painted that week represented to me, one of the grandmothers. Every one in while I find myself wanting to paint another one. It's very relaxing and as I said, meditative. I definitely recommend it. They don't have to be perfectly round or symetrical either to have power. Funnily enough, since I never got around to getting a compass drawing thingy, I just take various cups and saucers from my cupboard to pencil in some circles of varying sizes on my fresh page, and then just go from there with no particular design in mind. Sometimes I just think about the person the mandala is inspired by, sometimes I just follow my own tastes in colors and see what emerges. Some of my mandalas remind me of certain chakras.

Francine Marie

The Psychic Training Cruise!! To Mexico!!

Hello ---Calling all people out there interested in developing and owning their psychic abilities!!

I'll be hosting a fantastic and fun cruise to the Mexican Riviera with my colleague and fellow teacher Debra Lynne Katz next year which will focus on clairvoyant training and psychic development. This ship will be a fun atmosphere to celebrate being spirit and enjoying abundance. You are guaranteed to increase your confidence about your natural psychic abilities. All levels are welcome. We sail on March 1st, 2008 from Los Angeles California and return March 8th. The majority of the curriculum will be taught on the days we are at sea and there will be plenty of time for port excursions, socializing, meditations, spa treatments, gambling games, yoga, shipboard shows and an abundance of all-inclusive delicious food. There will be a variety of learning experiences with a focus on clairvoyant development. This adventure promises to be an incredible, memorable week spent among like minded souls having fun learning, creating and celebrating. All you shy psychics and sensitives out there, this is a safe, grounded and fun time to come out and meet people just like yourself and have some fun learning tools that can help you navigate the world and enjoy your clairvoyant reading ability.

Hope to see you there!

If you'd like more info, email me at hello@francinemarie.com, and check the website www. francinemarie.com where I'll be posting all the details. You can read more about Debra Katz, author of You Are Psychic, The Art of Clairvoyant Reading and Healing, at www.debrakatz.com.

Please don't hesitate to give either of us a call. Our numbers are posted on the websites.

Have a blessed day.

Francine Marie-Sheppard
www.francinemarie.com
hello@francinemarie.com

Introduction to my Blogs

Hello,

This is the blog for Francine Marie-Sheppard, professional clairvoyant and psychic skills development teacher. I'll be posting occassionally about things related to being a psychic explorer in this wacky wonderful world we live in.

If you'd like to know more about me and you haven't checked my website it's
www.francinemarie.com.

I have two other blogs which you might be interested in.

I administer the FREE clairvoyant advice column, www.askeve.blogspot.com for my friend Eve Applebiter, known as Eve-She-Who-Knows, a psychic wonder woman of a certain age who graciously answers questions sent to her from her fans, friends and the simply curious. She can be reached via email if you want to ask her a question, at EveApplebiter@hotmail.com. All replies are confidential and fictional names substituted for real names if your question is used in the column.

My other blog is a teaching blog for clairvoyant students and people interested in psychic skills development. This blog is available through my website with password access only for students and clients of mine. The blog has psychic tools, stories and articles on it. As a student you are encouraged to ask questions and make comments and use the blog as a resource. If you are interested in psychic exploration and would like to check out the clairvoyant training blog, just drop me note vie email at hello@francinemarie.com. I teach a long distance clairvoyant training program and local classes as well as the occassional psychic camp and weekend workshop. Keep in touch or check back www.francinemarie.com for up and coming special events. I wish you good luck and lots of fun on your clairvoyant adventures.

Francine Marie-Sheppard
www.soulpsychic.com
hello@francinemarie.com
www.askeve.blogspot.com