Stepping into Sacred Space in North Texas

 

November 20 -22, 2015

 

The inspiration you seek is already within. Be still and listen. Rumi

Our first visit to North Texas!

This transformational gathering invites you into a new worldview.By stepping into sacred space you touch dreams, dialogues, oracles, and intuition—Wisdom’s whispers 

Space is very limited. Pre registration is required

An Evening with Isaiah: You are more than you can see

Friday November 20, 7-9 PM
Isaiah, a well-loved Invisible Presence, is a mentor and guide. Jo and Isaiah met in the late 1970’s. They invite you to join them for an evening of joy and laughter.  People report breakthroughs and insights—the result of Isaiah’s simple wisdom.
While this idea may seem strange to modern, scientifically trained minds, it is supported by experiences older than time. Spending time with Isaiah, invites you into transformational experiences.

Stepping into Sacred Space—Create Healing Alliances

Saturday November 21-22, 10 AM – 5 PM & Sunday 10 AM – 1PM
This time together encourages you to re-view your world and your place in it.
Welcome intuition and knowledge, seen and unseen as you
expand your relationship with Wisdom.
You are stepping into a sacred healing space,
learning new ways of listening.

Begin to realize that you know more than you know you know.

You are inviting healing alliances within your Self and with others. They change your experience of the world, and the world’s experience of you.

Details:
Pre-registration is necessary Space is limited to the first 15 people who register

For questions or to register contact Crow at <sacredtreeusa@yahoo.com>

 Jo Todd, PhD’s unique work blends spirituality, depth psychology, ceremony, and recovery. Drawing on more than 4 decades of experience she acts as a teacher, mentor and guide. This blended process is therapeutic and healing. It helps you deepen, expand, and enriches you: as you collect lost pieces of yourself. Some describe her as a spiritual mid-wife, birthing soul into the world one person at a time. In addition to being the founding director for The Healing Alliance in 1983, she is President of Jung Society of Austin and a member of the Board of Directors for the Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association. For more information about her current work see wwwjotoddphd.com
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Wisdom Circles

Excerpted From Isaiah’s New Year Message:
Will you risk, this year, being seen, heard, and valued?
That, of course, is the challenge you have been backing up from for years.
Not who should you be, how should you be, or even what should you be.

Musings:
In 2005 I was gifted a 3rd phase of the my “work”. It is a network of circles–Wisdom Circles. Negar Kidman created a fabulous page for it.  Alas, it is still blank.
Is this part of the Partnership? I am passionate about the idea of social as well as personal alchemy. We need forums, incubation places of new solutions. Wisdom Circles create a living practice–birthing the unexpected. They host alchemy, inviting a different world view.

Wisdom Circles

I am reminded of an Oracle familiar many of us. It was the Oracle of Delphi who said, ” To Thine Own Self be True”. As so often happens with Oracles, there are layers of meaning. It was years before I realized it was asking me to be true to my Self, and the way I could do that was to have my daily self be in service to that higher Self.

Maybe this year is a kairos, a perfect moment, welcoming breakthrough.

,

An Invitation

January 3, 2014!

Hello my dear ones,

Welcome and good day, and a Happy New Year to you all

All is well, regardless of how it seems, does that seem like a mindless thing to say, yes well perhaps it is.

It is a truth that lives happily in your heart,
that needs for you to turn your attention to how to live it into life.
It is a truth that calls to you, asking you to  make your contribution to right now.
It is a truth that asks you to stop the draining ideas about what is wrong with you, and focus on what is right.
It is the truth that says you are here for a reason –there is reason, purpose and meaning possible in each step and misstep along the way.
Does that mean there is not error, of course not.
Does it mean there is not evil, absolutely not.

But it does mean that beating in your heart, there is a knowing, a wisdom, and wholeness that calls to you – a space of grace, regardless of circumstances, a place of love.
Love filled  with enormous potentials and possibilities.
Is it effortless, not at all, but very nearly, in ways that sometimes defy understanding.
Is there struggle, sometimes.
Is there danger, often.
Is there failure?
That depends on you, do you continue, learn, love and laugh in the face of falling short.
Cry when it is there to be done.
Feel all there is to feel?
Tears as real as laughter and as valuable.

In other words, are you willing to love life fully and experience it freely?
Are you willing to share pain and joy, life and death, hope and sorrow?
Are you willing to be fully alive?
Are you willing to pause along the way, asking what would you have me do, be and become?
Are you willing to step out of a comfortable place of knowing how you react, fall short, and survive?
Are you willing,sometimes, to step off the cliff into free fall, and sometimes not?

Can you redefine what is being asked of you.
Can you redefine what you think you know about yourself, and extend it far beyond what you think you are capable of today?
Can you simultaneously be willing to be both less and more?

Will you risk, this year, being seen, heard and valued?
That, of course, is the challenge you have been backing up from for years.
Not who should you be, how should you be or even what should you be.

Rather the question is will you be you?
Will you let others see you?
Can you be willing to do more that survive, or even thrive.
Can you contribute your unique gifts each moment of the day?

Sound too idealistic and naive? It is not. It is the great challenge of each life.
Simply put, will you allow the world and yourself to, more fully, know you? 

If your answers are yes, or even I’ll try, that is enough
Let us begin.  Happy New Day

Love and Blessings,

Isaiah & Friends

Life as a pilgrimage, or 2014 – a pilgrimage. Those are the topics I have been playing with for this year. Or even something as esoteric and exciting as Rebirth & Renewal–following Sacred Whispers.

It has been almost a year since I posted to this blog. At the end of 2013 I said I was going to post something for the first 30 days of this new year. Oops!

Today is the first day I could figure out how to sign on again! Do you ever lose pass words? There must be a secret of the universe about password retrieval. I guess that falls into being prepared, organized and something else. I know journey’s take preparation. It is usually the mundane things, like passwords, finding the right socks, and all of the daily tasks required for living in the world simply and successfully, that trip my up.

So when all else fails I usually turn to the invisible for guidance. Not immediately, it has taken 2 days in this case to remember I want to share Isaiah’s New Year’s message. Of course that means I had to listen, let go of my angst and figuring, and be still! I can feel Isaiah smiling as I step into that space with him again. We visited some with a dear friend on New Year’s day but that was different — more directed. If you are unfamiliar with Isaiah, he is a most amazing mentor and teacher I get to journey with. You will hear from him frequently this year, as well as others I imagine. Weaving the invisible into the visible is one of my challenges and joys.

I hope you will say, yes, I want to join in the journey and conversation–this year’s adventure. I want to add my voice! I love hearing from you.

Jo

Called or Uncalled God is present

Why care about Soul’s realm?

 

Soul’s realm is found by listening, seeing, and knowing differently

What is Soul’s realm? How to find it? Why do we care?What is it?

What is it?
Soul’s realm is hard to talk about.
It is invisible, mysterious, and often dismissed as unreal.
It is outside the limitations of time and space.
It is invisible, precious, and sometimes terrifying because it is unknown.
It is not measurable, or scientifically definable

Learning soul’s language invites an adventure,
a journey led by inspiration, dreams, and synchronicities.
Connection with it guides us to unimagined possibilities

Soul’s realm awaits everyone.
Experiencing it ignites a longing for more.

How do we find it?
Following whispers from soul’s realm soften either/or certainty, offering new points of view.
Paying attention to synchronicities discloses important clues about who we are.
Paying attention to symptoms reveals what has been too painful to remember
but too important to forget.
Listening to Oracles invites reflection and flashes of  insight.

This mysterious, invisible realm urges us to slow down,
experience Eros and Wisdom.
Soul’s realm offers a different sensibility, rich with feelings,
saturated with images, and poetic illusions.

Why do we care?
Connecting with Soul’s realm,
invites a different experience of life–
more complex beauty,
liberation of imagination, and embodied knowing.
We experience a more intimate awareness of nature and wildness.

Stepping into this kind of knowing,
crossing the threshold into soul’s unknown, shadowy realm,
offers us access to missing pieces.
Those discarded pieces that did not seem to fit, yet contribute to who we are.
Reclaiming these lost parts of ourselves offers new freedom.
A freedom to step out of the shadows and choose more life, and more love.

Stepping into Soul’s realm invites wonder and vibrant energy.
It encourages each of us to celebrate our unique gifts.
It invites us to take our unique place within the web of life

 

Walking the Spiral

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

T.S. Eliot
Four Quartets

I love this poem. I used it for the end of my dissertation, and for so many other times and places of return.  The idea that we will arrive where we started, and know the place for the firs time. Initially this idea was very distressing.

I used to say, “Well I guess I just have to keep doing it over till I get it right.” It was a statement about falling short. I graded it as a failure at the game of life.One day, a few months after my return to Texas, I once again found myself doing the same old thing. I was disappointed in myself. Here I was again.

Then, I felt my invisible teacher, Isaiah, smiling.What is it, I asked. “Do you not yet see,” he said, “Step back for a moment and look differently. Ask yourself, is this exactly what you have done before? Have you not yet realized that you bring all of the information, all of the experiences, and a somewhat different perspective to this now. Your journey is not an endless circle, rather, you are walking on a spiral. You continue to change and grow bit by bit, step by step, because of your willingness to look, see, and hold your Self more consciously.  Awakening may come with a blinding flash of insight, or gradually as you come to more of your self. Whichever it is you still need to continue. Taking small steps forward, listening for guidance, building bridges and weaving Wisdom into the spiral dance of life.”

With all this in mind, please read it again.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

T.S. Eliot
Four Quartets

It is pure alchemy isn’t it?  Your thoughts?

Awakening

One morning, early, in California, I was refreshed by allowing Gaia’s rhythm to wash over me. Do these sounds sooth you in some strange way, the way they do me? We could be any where in time saturated by peaceful harmonies.

Can you take a few minuets, step into timelessness, and allow yourself to slow down. Allow your breathing to slow as you pause to listen. Can you hear whispers of Wisdom, urging you awake, as you come to your Self?

It is a moment of pure alchemy as what is above and what is below join birthing a new day, and a new me. How about you can you step into the possibility?

Enjoy

 

Here it is! Val Inman offering her insights. She is the first Voice in Voices: A new project at The Healing Alliance. What do you think?

Yikes the format got scrambled when I reblogged. It is easier to read at thehealingalliance.worpress.com

 

The Healing Alliance

What do you do
When you see a roadrunner
Walking
or 4 hawks flying?
Protecting a sacred mission

Or clouds showing
Pictures that are
Answered prayers?

Serendipitous happenings
Bring a smile to my face
As I am shown
There is always
So much more

Val Inman
July 24, 2011

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Walking Soul’s Spiral Retreat Series: What inspires you?

Stepping into Sacred Space: Welcoming Inspiration

A weekend retreat inviting you to pause and listen deeply.

What inspires you, gives you the fire to take action?
What stops you?
What is required so your dreams and longing
find form and are fulfilled?
What happens if you set aside time excavate buried dreams and dream new ones?
Can you see what keeps getting in the way?

Do you dare take the next steps
to live into the unique space belonging only to you,
listen for whispered secrets, and unlock forbidden passages?

Come, lets ask these and other questions together.
We can meet in sacred space, honor wisdom by listening, as you
respond to imagination’s call.

Welcoming Inspiration is the first 2012 Walking Soul’s Spiral Retreat Series
Spring
Friday April 20  7:00 – 9:00
Saturday April 21 10:00 – 5:00
Sunday April 22 10:00 – 3:00 ish
 

Each retreat is self contained but is ideally experienced as a part of a year-long practice-series. The retreats are designed to be intimate, in-depth experiences.
Each Quarter a retreat re-focuses and encourages small steps and unexpected leaps.
Summer– Celebrating Creation – July
Fall– Embracing Reflections-October
Winter -Honoring Completions- January
Facilitator: Jo Todd PhD

Registration:
Each retreat $225.00
4 retreat package includes a 10% discount $810.00
We accept paypal, credit cards, checks
Retreat sessions will be at The Healing Alliance, Austin, TX
To reserve for place or for more information please contact jotoddphd@gmail.com or  call 512-680-1540