In the past I've posted about spiritual practices. Today I thought I'd share about my current favourite spiritual and magical resources, books and websites. :)
Books
The Map by Boni Lonnsburry
I've written about this before in my post about the Law of Attraction which you can read here:
https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html
I've had The Map since it came out in 2013 and it's one of my favourite LOA books. To be honest though, I haven't seen big dreams manifest yet but that could be because I haven't worked with my intentions daily. It is good though for inspiring me and helping to shift energy.
The Map is centred around intentions (you can read more in the LOA post above). You're supposed to say your intentions every day but I forget to do them that regularly. Now I'm thinking I should go over them and re-write them if I'm no longer inspired. You can read about intentions in this post: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/sample-intentions/
My favourite techniques in the book are Grateful For Now and Then, and Working with your Past Selves. Grateful For Now and Then is where you write 10 things you're grateful for now and 10 future things you're grateful for as if they've already happened. I don't think Boni writes about it on her site but here's another post she wrote about gratitude: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/gratitude-technique/
And the Past Selves technique is where you go back in meditation/visualisation and "meet" your past selves (child, adolescent and young adult) to talk to them about your dreams and see where they could be stopping you moving forward. There are more details in the book but Boni writes a bit about it here: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-map-2/
Boni also goes in depth about beliefs and how they can hold you back. I've done her exercise for changing Core Beliefs and they have helped me. If you're interested in reading more about beliefs here's a past post I wrote about them: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2015/11/beliefs-and-believing-loa.html
There are 7 steps in The Map: Step 1- Own your divinity (realise that you are a powerful creator who can create your reality), Step 2- Clarify your dream (get clear on what your dreams are and what you want to manifest), Step 3- Flow energy (do techniques to get energy flowing for manifesting such as the ones mentioned above), Step 4- Take action (take inspired action that feels good), Step 5- Look for response (take notes of any signs and manifestations and respond to them in a positive way), Step 6- Stay in joy (feel as happy as you can) and Step 7- Ask for help (ask angels, spirit guides etc for help in feeling better and manifesting you dreams/creating your reality). You can read more on The Map basics here: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/the-map-to-a-delicious-life/
Also there is an index on the right of the homepage listing the steps and linking to posts where Boni writes more about them. For more information check out the book. :)
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
I first got this book from the library last year and had it out for ages! I got my own copy last Christmas, lol. It's about how the mind is connected to the body and changing your thoughts and thinking positively to heal physical and mental conditions, and change your life for the better. It's along a similar line to the modern LOA books but this was originally written in 1984 (the year I was born!) lol.
Louise writes about how our beliefs and patterns can hold us back in life and cause problems, both physical (such as illness and health conditions) and emotional (relationship and friendship problems). There are exercises you can do such as mirror work and affirmations. One exercise combines both, where you look in the mirror and say a statement such as "I am willing to change". Another affirmation you can say is, "I am willing to release the need for...whatever the problem or addiction is, i.e. overeating, worrying, bad relationships etc".
Other techniques include forgiveness and visualisation. There's also a section from Louise's book You Can Heal Your Body where you can look up your problem and see the emotions that are linked to it and could be causing it. For example, eye problems may be because you're afraid to look at what's around you, what's going on your life. Or back pain could be because you feel unsupported in your life. There are affirmations provided for you to say. As I've mentioned before I have health anxiety and worry about my eyes a lot, so I try the affirmations related to eyes and for anxiety.
For more on affirmations you can read a post I wrote last year: http://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2016/09/affirmations.html
Louise sadly died recently but her legacy lives on in her books and Hay House, the publishing company she founded. She was inspiring because she turned her life around and lived to her 90s, enjoying her life.
You can read more about Louise and her work at the links below:
http://www.louisehay.com/
https://www.healyourlife.com/
www.hayhouse.com
The Good Energy Book by Tess Whitehurst
Tess is an author, energy worker, intuitive counsellor and feng shui consultant. She works with magic and spiritual techniques and has written several books. In addition to The Good Energy Book I have Magical Housekeeping and Holistic Energy Magic but this is my favourite. :) It's about energy techniques such as clearing, cleansing and shielding. Exercises include a daily self-clearing technique, a daily shielding technique, home protection visualisations and smudging rituals.
As well as clearing and protecting yourself, Tess writes about things you can do to protect and clear your pets, home and objects. There is information on clutter clearing and cleaning. (For more in depth information on those two subjects check out Magical Housekeeping). She also talks about personal spiritual allies such as angels and spirit guides and goes quite in depth on the subject of earthbound spirits, a topic which can be quite scary but she explains about them and gives you techniques for detecting and clearing them and protecting yourself.
I've been working with the self clearing and shielding exercises, although not every day! I find they do help me to feel better. I also do the home protection ones sometimes. My favourite chapter is No. Ten: Good Habits and Spiritual Maintenance which is about cultivating positivity by practising things such as forgiveness, identifying and releasing limiting beliefs, journalling and using affirmations. And Chapter Nine: Blessing And Fine-Tuning The Space. There's a Sweetness and Light Home Blessing (aka Sugar Cookies Blessing) which I plan to have a go at. I already did the oatmeal cookie ritual in Magical Housekeeping earlier this year and enjoyed it.
Tess also has a website (see below).
If you're interested in magic and Wicca then there are some resources listed on my other site The Seasonal Life (all about celebrating the sabbats and seasonal events): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/p/useful-websites.html
Leveraging the Universe: 7 Steps to Engaging Life's Magic by Mike Dooley
My current favourite LOA book! Leveraging the Universe started out as an audio programme and was later published as a book. It's by Mike, the founder of TUT.com, which sends out Notes from the Universe, daily encouraging emails. It's all about the Law of Attraction. I think Leveraging the Universe is good because it suggests both practical methods of achieving your goals (what Mike calls "old school") e.g. physically taking action and metaphysical/more traditional LOA type methods too, like visualisation and affirmations.
There are several exercises to do. A good one is The Triangle Exercise, where you draw a triangle and on the left side you write things you can do to achieve your goal/make your dream come true, then on the right you list what the universe can do to help you. So for me in the case of manifesting a relationship, things I can do are join dating sites and talk to men more, and things the universe can do are line me up with certain people and inspire me to try something new.
My favourite chapter is 4. Step 4: Leveraging the Universe where Mike suggests exercises such as writing a script you can read to help you visualise (a process called "scripting" by Abraham Hicks) and listing things you can do to help you prepare for your dreams coming true and to feel as if they already have aka "acting as if". You can read more about acting as if here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/acting-as-if-loa.html
I recommend this book for both practical and metaphysical ways to manifest your dream/s.
How to Be Well by Abby Wynne
How to be Well is by shamanic psychotherapist Abby Wynne. I first came across this book in a post by Jessica Dimas but I didn't end up reading it till almost a year later! I saw it in my local library a few months ago. I've been working with the book a lot and plan to get my own copy in the future.
Abby writes about how energy (both other people's and our own) affects us physically and emotionally. She mentions how you can form energetic ties to people you're close to and also pick up on people's energy and the energy of a place. There are exercises for cutting ties and clearing your energy. If you haven't heard about these subjects before, or don't know much about them then How to Be Well is a good place to start. However if you already know about energy it's still a good book for learning more. :) It explains how emotions, thoughts and stuck energy can cause physical and mental conditions, similar to what Louise Hay talks about (see above).
One tool that I've found very helpful is the Wellness Scale. It's where you measure how you're feeling on a scale numbered 1 to 10, 1 being really depressed and down, anxious etc. and 10 being really happy, positive and just feeling good. (Or the equivalent of that for you, what feeling bad and feeling good means to you). Abby encourages you to take a reading of where you are on the scale "from your body and not your mind" and there's a breathing exercise to do before you take a reading. I've found the Wellness Scale useful for seeing how I feel throughout the day.
There are chapters about healing yourself, healing your relationship with others and healing your inner wounds. I like the grounding and In Gratitude for my Body exercises (which are in Chapter 3: Healing your Relationship with Yourself). I also like the ones for reclaiming your power from other people in Chap. 4: Healing Your Relationships with Other People. And Chapter 5: Healing Your Inner Wounds has some good exercises, such as one for releasing built up emotion, (Clearing out your Inner River), Healing an Inner Aspect of Yourself and forgiveness. I've done Forgiveness: Part 1 but haven't completed Forgiveness: Part 2 yet.
Chapter 6: Maintaining a Good Baseline Wellness Score contains tips for mindful eating, watching what you say, watch and listen to, having a daily spiritual practice and meditations. As I've mentioned before in my post on spiritual practices, I don't believe you should force yourself to do something every day but it definitely helps to have some kind of regular routine of spiritual exercises. Abby finishes up by writing about LOA.
This is a good book for learning more about and working with energy and healing yourself and your body.
Websites
Tess Whitehurst
This is the website of Tess, the author of The Good Energy Book (see above). It's full of posts on magical tips and techniques for celebrating the Wiccan/pagan sabbats aka the Wheel of the Year, quick and easy spells and rituals, and energy clearings. As well as written posts there are videos where Tess guides you through meditations or clearings.
Here are a few of my favourite posts and videos:
http://tesswhitehurst.com/always-time-for-magic-5-little-ways-to-fit-magic-into-your-possibly-very-busy-life/
http://tesswhitehurst.com/my-20-best-magical-and-holistic-beauty-tips/
http://tesswhitehurst.com/quick-thorough-aura-cleansing-meditation/
https://tesswhitehurst.com/quick-air-element-meditation-for-clarity-and-calm/
Amina Makhdoom
I discovered Amina's site Lunch With Cinderella last year. It's about the Law of Attraction. Amina is known as the Sunshine Manifester and she believes in manifesting with ease and having as much fun as possible, 0% Effort, 100% Return. Every year she runs the 30 Day Joy Challenge where you focus on a goal you would like to manifest and then every day for a month you do something that brings you joy. The idea is that concentrating on what makes you happy helps things flow into your life.
I first did Joy Challenge by myself in June 2016. My goal was manifesting a relationship. I saw some progress quite quickly but it didn't work out in the end. This April I did it live with Amina and others in the Joy Challenge Facebook group. I had another relationship goal and it didn't manifest for me unfortunately. But I did have a secondary goal of a new family car and it turned out the current one could be fixed! So while I can't say your dreams will definitely come true if you take part in Joy Challenge, I would say it is worth because it's a fun experience and I did see some progress. And some others saw their dreams come true. Amina likes to give out prizes and this year we all got a Louise Hay I Can Do It! calendar for signing-up! I also won a Joy Box during the challenge, which consisted of a reiki candle, Anita Moorjani's Dying to be Me book, Flying Wish Paper, a Choose Joy silver ring and a paperweight. Plus I took part in an exchange where you offered free gifts to people. I sent a participant Adeline Yen Mah's Watching The Tree which is one of my favourite spiritual books, and I received Pam Grout's E-Cubed. It was definitely a fun experience and I'd like to do it again next year. For more on Joy Challenge visit this link: http://www.lunchwithcinderella.com/30-day-joy-challenge.html
Notes On Bliss
Notes On Bliss is run by Elyse Santilli. She blogs about spiritual and personal development subjects like self love and forgiveness, manifesting and abundance, beliefs, feeling happy, meditation and creating miracles in your life. I especially love her post about how she changed her life. You can read it here: http://notesonbliss.com/how-to-change-your-life/
And these are some more of my fave NOB posts:
http://notesonbliss.com/ways-to-manifest-your-desires/
http://notesonbliss.com/get-the-universe-on-your-side/
http://notesonbliss.com/miracles-now/
http://notesonbliss.com/who-you-really-are/
Hope you enjoyed the post and found it useful. :) What are some of your favourite spiritual and/or magic resources?
Photo: Lancing Beach. Copyright Moonsparkle 2017.
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