Imagine you're walking in open country. You come upon a vast Circle in an expansive, fertile field. Streams and springs are flowing into this sunny area, providing the optimal environment for life to flourish. This is not a Circle made by human hands; rather, it's a zone where the energy of the universe flows without restriction. The Circle is not made or run by people, though everyone and everything is included in it. You have your own permanent place here.

This Circle is home to satisfying relationships, meaningful work, inspired learning, endless resources and opportunities, laughter and creativity, and a prevailing sense of ease. Remember a time when you felt carefree, safe, energized and happy--maybe playing with childhood friends, or dancing with your sweetheart. That's the feeling: a pervasive sense of glad assurance. In the Circle, life is not a series of obstacles to overcome, it's a steady flow of opportunities.

There is no fence around the Circle, no admission gate, no entrance fee. Regardless of your age, your weight, the color of your skin, your gender, your education, your nationality, your financial status, or others' opinions of you--you already belong here. No person or condition has the power to keep you out. You alone can take yourself out of the Circle, but your place will always be reserved for you. Your place in the Circle never expires. If you leave, it's simply vacant until you return.

So come on in. Or you may find that you don't have to move at all; the Circle expands to include you. The Circle can be as expansive or cozy as you like. Set down all the baggage you've been carrying. Isn't it nice to be rid of that burden? Your shoulders relax, you take a deep breath, and your back uncoils. It's like getting into a hot tub at the end of a long trudge on a winter's day. The nature of the Circle is flow, and you are part of that flow wherever you are and whatever you do within the Circle.

Here are some reports of how it feels to be inside the Circle:

"I'm smarter, funnier, and I'm sure I'm better looking!"

"Colors are brighter and I feel alive, like when I hiked Mount Rainier."

"Problems really do become opportunities here."

"The only restriction on what's possible is how much good I can stand!"

For a moment now, purposely yank yourself out of the Circle. Stand at a distance, looking at the Circle while no longer inside it. Notice how you feel when you take yourself out and separate yourself. You may feel lonely, left out, invisible, or disconnected. Being outside the Circle may also feel familiar, while being inside may feel like a wild, unlikely fantasy. If you're used to struggle, ease can feel foreign and you may distrust it at first.

Now come back to the Circle and make yourself at home in the way that feels best for you. Honor your own pace; maybe step up to the edge, and just barely step inside. There's no wrong way to consent to becoming part of the Circle. Simply discover what works for you, Just know that you already belong and that your space is always reserved for you, no matter what.

The nature of the Circle is flow, so whenever you step into the Circle, you step into the flow. When you separate from the Circle, you're resisting the flow. Remember: there's no way to earn your way into the Circle because you already belong.

Entering the Circle isn't determined by your worthiness. It depends on your consent. Just check this out. What would it be like if you lived--all the time--as if you already belonged?

Notice this last bit. You're not just a consumer in this Circle. You are a generator, far more ingenious, inspired, and outrageously collaborative than you've ever imagined. The Circle is enriched because you're in it.

Let's be clear: the Circle is not a place. It doesn't have a time zone or a compass point. The Circle is a way of being--and we're either being in the circle, or being out of the circle. Most of us have embodied a way of being outside the circle. We've accepted an implied atmosphere of competition or combat, of domination and intimidation. To dominate or intimidate, it's necessary to create a sense of scarcity. Not enough thinking keeps us in survival mode, the reptilian brain on constant alert, scanning for threats, preparing to attack or defend. Not enough thinking preempts our higher brain functions, the ones that inspire us to innovate and cooperate. Whichever side we stand on in separation--victim or hero/martyr--we're operating out of separation.

Choosing to belong in the Circle is an act of sovereignty. We belong because we choose to belong.

Here's the practice:
Whenever you notice you've stepped out of the Circle, consent to come back in. Taking your place in the Circle means belonging to the flow of all life, drawing on its juice and vitality, and making your own contribution to it. Stepping into the Circle means hooking up your individual life force with a life force much bigger than yours--the life force that moves and fuels all things; the flow that constantly replenishes itself.

Repeat this practice several times, making it more vivid and visceral each time.

What if you always lived as if you already belonged?

======

Excerpted (and paraphrased in spots for space) from the book, The Trance of Scarcity by Victoria Castle.

Great journeys,

Whitehawk

AND MORE @ http://anticareer.com

At home, out my back door, I noticed that the dish I fill with food for the local wildlife (as wild as it gets in the city) was piled high with snow.   Then, within minutes, I received email from a friend trying to connect with someone in Colorado, from whom she had yet to receive a response.  "He may just have snow in his dish," she said, refering to the satellite dish he uses for internet connection. 

Hard to miss "snow in the dish" coming up twice in such short order.  I pondered how much snow many of us likely have in our receiver, perceiver and/or sender mechanisms:  frozen thought forms, emotions, and even outdated ideas of who we are in the scheme of things, keeping us frozen in our tracks when we dearly wish or need to move forward.

We've crossed a threshold on the calendar; what better time to pour a catalytic stream of liquid Light into frozen old consciousness, and cross a pivotal threshold in life?  It's never too late to recreate.  The past is gone, and what's ours to do now is to create luminous thoughtforms of how we want our lives to be, and then step into those thoughtforms and feel how it will feel to actually live that scenario.   Flesh it out as much as possible (no scrimping on the crucial emotional component), then release it to set up an energetic that the "universe will conspire" to fulfill by way of inspiration for your next step, or "chance encounters" with helpful people, and the like.   Caveat: any conflicting thoughts that may subsequently arise need to be canceled and replaced with the desire again, asap, or they'll just reduce the established line of magnetic attraction to static.  Not helpful.

This is strategic synchronicity skill-building 101. 

Such ideas are likely well known to the readership of this blog, but some might be served by a reminder as I was, while pondering this snowy vignette. (Besides, it's been quiet around here lately!)  A microwave dish full of snow blocks useful communications, and a plate full of snow leaves no room for fresh sustenance.   Could be time to do some dishes. 

Wishing you a blessed, delightful, abundant new year ~

Whitehawk

A number of months ago, a young man, whose mother is a part of our healing community, crashed his motorcycle at high speed while fleeing the police. He had been arrested with drugs some time before, was on probation, and had missed his curfew. When he saw the police car checking him out, he panicked and took off.

As a result, many bones in his body were broken, including his entire pelvic region, and his body had turned ashen grey. His family and friends held a vigil by the hospital bed. That night, at our Poughkeepsie Gathering of the Healing Spirit Circle we entered into a powerful communal meditation and worked to see him healed and whole. I remember having a strong sense that this young man had a choice before him.

Along with his body being broken, and the risk of being crippled for life at age nineteen, the local authorities at the District Attorney’s office were determined to make an example of this young man. He was to be tried and sentenced to jail as an adult with no leniency.

Somewhere inside of him, however, this young man made a choice, and when he regained consciousness, his mother began to work with him. She told him that his thoughts and intentions, when aligned for his highest good, can create new realities and transform the most difficult challenges. She told him not to resign to despair, but to dare open to being healed and whole.

The young man remained in body cast, and was filled with drugs and anesthesia, but every day, in his active imagination he went to the beach and began to incubate a vision of what his life was supposed to be. The accident and all that led up to it had shaken him to his core, and he knew that not only his life, but his soul was on the line. So every day at the “beach” he opened to his aspiration, he saw his potential, and he began to get a sense of his vocation and its ability to manifest. Some months later, his young, vibrant body was remarkably knitting itself together. His broken parts were fused, he could walk with a cane, and the prognosis was for a full recovery. But there was still the issue of jail time. The D.A. was firm and determined to send him to prison for as long as possible. The young man, however, assured his mother that he would not go to jail, because it was not in the interest of his highest good. And every day he continued to visualize and affirm his highest good -- not just what “he wanted,” but the life he was meant to live.

Then, in November, our town had its local elections and a new group of legislators were swept into office. With this change in administration, the D.A.’s office willingly reduced the charges, so that the young man could be tried as a minor and not receive jail time.

In a recent conversation with the mother, I asked why she thought her son had succeeded in manifesting his intention. After all, so many people light candles, make wish lists, and try to make things happen, and they fail. His mother offered two principal reasons for her son’s success, and I am transmitting them here. 1) He believed that he was here to achieve his highest good. Once he committed to that, the visualization and affirmation process was empowered. It was not a game of ego-aggrandizement, but a statement of faith and inner truth. 2) He never asked “how” this would happen. When his mother would worry he would reply, “Ma, I’m not going to jail, it is not in my highest good.”

And there you have it, in my own back yard: proof that transformation is possible, that we can transform seemingly hopeless circumstances, and that we can take on the mantle of becoming who we are. As the New Year approaches, then, can we ask ourselves who we are meant to be, from our core? Can we dare open to our highest good and allow the universe to draw us onward toward the love, beauty, wisdom, and courage that are our birthright, toward the gifts that are waiting to be opened under the tree of our own life?

In Blessedness,

RJ

Early on, Rick encouraged me to contribute some writing in this space, and I have shied from doing so. Recently, though, I’ve been feeling, observing, and experiencing a few things along a certain theme that I thought I'd share, before the maiden year of the AoA blog closes out. So, while Rick is busy manifesting elsewhere, here’s my offering to the Alchemy of Abundance crucible – involving a manifestation journey of my own. Perhaps there's something in it for you.

For over a year, I’ve had a slippery hold on a vision for a project I’d like to manifest. Like most creative projects in "this Now," this one involves a website. In fact, the website is the core aspect; the sun around which numerous planets and satellites would revolve in mutually supportive alignments. The mere expanse and complexity of this project intimidated me, and moreover… the working title I had for it didn’t ignite me. This might not block most people, but I realized recently, looking back at other creations, that I seem to need to name a thing I want to call forth -- its signature, or mantra, so to speak -- before I can successfully manifest it. So the project kind of sat there, orphaned, burdened with a boring name.  

These past couple of months I’ve given more attention to this situation, this name issue, and spent more time focusing on the nature of “the being” trying to come into manifestation. What is trying to emerge here? Who would the primary players be? What is the important service I’m feeling called to provide by way of it? What is the primary theme that is up for me that I dearly want to energize through this expression? I keyed in on the primary theme (not as easy/obvious as one might expect) and then a primary word, and then played with that word, in all kinds of forms and pairings with other words, for several weeks. THE name remained elusive. On occasion I thought I might be on to something, only to find that the domain was already taken, or the vibration just didn’t quite resonate in some other way. On and on.

 Last week: a breakthrough...

 I finally invented a word that had all the elements I was searching for. It clicked for me, and I committed to it. Got the domain (one of the bennies of coining a word: no one scooped me :). As it happened, the next day I had a standing date with a highly creative and intuitive friend to brainstorm this project, which until then had been limping along with its un-sexy, cold-oatmeal label. I tentatively unveiled the new name to Peter; he loved it. He instantly “felt into its field” (an interesting process to see), and worked out the numerology for good measure. He gave it his enthusiastic thumbs up, wants “in,” and he may well be a connector to other collaborators for the project. We spent a few hours brainstorming a rough blueprint for the website.  

The next hurdle: how to manifest this awesome, highly sophisticated, complex website without the funds I’d need to engage a stellar web developer? Fund-raising is not, shall I say, my greatest gift. Peter, bless him, said something that rang brilliantly for me. He said, “Pray to it." My first response was -- I blanked. “Pray to… ?”   I didn’t get it in the first few seconds. He went on to suggest I “pray to” the newly-conceived entity (the name of which I'm not ready to divulge), asking it what it needed and wanted, to be “brought through” optimally.  

I lit up, feeling this piece was Major. I began talking to the god of ******  immediately, and I have to say, this process marked an energetic watershed moment. I felt a luminous new “soul” stirring in the heavens, and, in response to my celebration of, and love for, this new entity and all it could become, it is “gathering” as surely as a magnificent cloud forms in the sky, or a yearned-for baby gestates in the love-drenched chamber of its mother’s womb. For me, it’s taken on a joyousness almost as exciting as the prospect of sacred union with a new lover.  

Ok, maybe not that exquisite. But definitely life-affirming.  

The very next morning, I visited a community website I frequent for non-local kindred connection. The first thing to greet me was a new post from a web developer offering her services GRATIS to people in our cyber-pod who want to develop community-encouraging websites. I emailed her, explaining the breadth of my “baby” with its community-building aspects, half expecting to scare her off… or at least hear back that it was too much for her to consider without remuneration. To my amazement, she countered that she’s up for it, and is now awaiting my next move (a complete design blueprint). We shall see how this goes, but so far -- since creating the all-important name for this “big step” for me -- the universe has responded with grace and amazing ease. The rightly named concept seems to have a certain magnetism to it; it is attracting what it needs to move forward. So the next chapter of my odyssey could be called Dreaming it Awake, as we evoke this entity through the causal plane – the imaginative realm -- into physical Form.  

I really could go on; this topic brought up so many other vignettes that would fold beautifully into this article, but this is a blog, after all, where “concise is nice.” So I’ll wrap up by sharing that this naming thing has opened out into incentive to audit other areas in my life, as I scan for fragments that might be dangling like amorphous orphans; neither embraced nor even acknowledged because they haven’t even been identified (named) in ages, withheld from their next level or mode of expression… just occupying neglected space beneficial to neither them nor myself. I’m watching now with fresh eyes for forgotten skills and dreams to re-identify and call forward if appropriate, or relationships that haven’t been honored or nourished; “not bothered with.” Maybe there’s an innocent soul in here somewhere waiting to be called home if I’d only remember and speak her name; re-calling my childhood nickname was poignant. Acknowledging that she IS STILL an actual living, buoyant entity, still seeking her outlet, but energetically trapped behind some door of my conditioned/conditional adult psyche provided a powerful shift.

I'm just now also recalling Rick's Bad Vilbel CD, in which he chants, "What's in a name?" in the male's meditation. Apparently, I'm recently finding -- or remembering -- Quite a lot!

I wonder if you were to scan your life on a search and rescue mission for such golden nuggets, and named them (realizing them again), and asked what they wanted or needed to serve their evolutionary journey (perhaps honoring them for the first time), what might unfold next?

Just thoughts…

~Whitehawk

PS -- Of possible interest -- One of the shining spirits at the recent Prophets Conference in LA (besides Rick of course ;-) was Lynn Twist, the author of The Soul of Money. Lynn's keynote on sustainability and abundance was quite moving and thought-provoking. A few audio files of her are available for listening at the Global Dialogue Center website; you might enjoy them: www.globaldialoguecenter.com/collections/moi/lynne-twist-moi.shtml. She speaks on Money, Sustainability, Abundance and You. Her website is linked there as well. As far as perspectives on our relationship with money -- and humanity's priorities in general -- Lynn's observations are worth looking into.

Greetings all,

As you may be aware, Rick will be appearing at the legendary Prophets Conference in LA the weekend of Nov. 9-11, and also leading a post-conference workshop on Monday, Nov. 12. The conference theme is "Manifesting a Rich Life," and it features many of the top author/teachers in the field of manifestation, abundance, living the life you'd love, and so on. The intention is to pick up where "The Secret" left off -- meaning, to approach "abundance" from a higher perspective, to balance the more material aspects highlighted in the wildly popular book and film. To see the impressive array of presenters who will be joining Rick at this event, please visit http://www.greatmystery.org/events/la07.html and look around!

I'm also announcing a special courtesy being extended to you by the conference organizers. If you're interested in attending, and would appreciate a beneficent "nod" from the universe signaling a big YES you should be there, perhaps this is it: There are a number of tickets available to Friends of Jarow at $100 off the regular price of $295 for the 3-day pass. This pass grants you entry to every presentation for the duration of the conference. Many messengers, many inspiring messages! (Post-conference workshops not included in the 3-day pass.)

To claim your 1/3 off weekend rate, you must register by phone, as this offer is not available via standard online registration channels. So, call 888-777-5981, and if you get voice mail, leave a message stating your interest in the special discount for Friends of Rick Jarow, along with your contact info. They will set you right up.

The Prophets Conference is also extending an unprecedented offer to Californians whose lives have been seriously impacted by the recent deluge of fires.

If you have suffered major loss in the CA fires, first let me say you are embraced in the thoughts and prayers of we who have witnessed this unfathomable phenomena from afar. Certainly it is understandable that all your energy and efforts would be focused on regaining some semblance of order and stability in your life.

AND.

If, by the time the weekend of this conference nears (Nov. 9-11), you find that you could really use a distraction in the form of high-vibe encouragement and support to help you align to what you want to bring in NEXT in your life (a clean slate is an invitation for "fresh content" if ever there was one) ... the Prophets Conference would welcome you to attend any or all of their Manifesting a Rich Life program at no cost. This would be arranged by phone: 888-777-5981. Tell the conference office that the management team of Rick Jarow extended this invitation to you on behalf of the organizers. Again, this offer is exclusively for southern Californians who've suffered extensive fire loss.

May your journey forward unfold in grace and ease!

Whitehawk

I did this everyday, and maintained focus, noting also that the workshop was doing quite well without the CD. On the last day as I walked in and closed my eyes, Athena placed the CD in my hand. Someone in the nearby Art Barn had seen the poster, remembered seeing the CD in some bin, and returned it. 

This is certainly a positive manifestation, but I would have been quite alright if the CD had never been found. I had released attachment to outcomes every time I had simultaneously visualized the CD, for I refuse to be a sniveling complainer before the vast universe just because I did not get what I wanted.  

On the other hand, I had also made posters and placed them in strategic places alerting the community about the CD. I had done everything I could do to maximize the possibility of its return, and then I let it go. 

There are times that we will not get what we want. It is that simple, and it is guaranteed (just as there are times when we will). A CD is a minor object, of course, compared to larger issues: people coming back into our lives or not, our health coming back or not, our opportunities returning or not. What is relevant to me here, however, is the way in which we ultimately choose to live out these various dramas. Are we are becoming clear, free, noble, compassionate, and big hearted through our process, or are we slowly sinking into a grimaced posture of antagonism and complaint? The open hand does not ask for a hand out; it asks to receive the Grace of What Is, and such a small opening can turn a poisoned landscape into a paradise.
 

Friends:  Rick’s Advanced Manifestation Program’s cover has been animated (or perhaps "energized" would be a more apt descriptor) by its creator, German artist Eleonore Weil.  To see it come to life, click the Play arrow.  Perhaps ride the images toward your own manifestation goals.

Enjoy... Whitehawk

(The Advanced Manifestation Program may be purchased at
www.soundstrue.com, www.amazon.com, and most bookstores.)

Among other things, we have been exploring on the BLOG the relationship between “loving what is,” and moving toward “what can be.”

Recently, I had the privledge to spend some time at Light on the Hill, a wonderful retreat center in Van Etten, New York, run by Larwence Muscat and Alice McDowell. I have been coming regularly to Light on the Hill for over 12 years, and during that time, I’ve witnessed an extraordinary manifestation: the conception, construction, and execution of a wonderful building, the “Inner Light Lodge,” that holds a powerful sacred space for workshops, can comfortably lodge over 30 people, has a first class kitchen, a breathaking view, and a palpable aura of luminescence all around it. Since the Lodge was completed over a year ago, various groups have flocked to the center, which is powerfully facilitating high quality of consciousness transformation work.

I know how many people dream of building holistic centers, and I know that Omega Institute’s workshop, “How to Start a Holistic Center,” draws huge numbers of participants each summer. But I also know how few of these dreams ever materialize, and how those that do materialize often wind up struggling with, and cowtowing to, the money economy that they wished to rise above. One thing I have noticed about Alice and Larry over the years is that even as their center grew, they were not consumed by it. They remain relaxed, open, and receiving to all who come by. So I asked them one evening about this question of manifestation in terms of the Lodge.  

Alice answered that when the vision of “what can be” takes birth within the “loving of what is” there is an alignment, and not otherwise. In the case of Light on the Hill, someone repeatedly asked them to consider building the Lodge. I find this very significant. Many people wait for an etheric vision or an inner voice, but the voice of manifestation often comes through someone else. What have people been asking you to do? This is one barometer of aligned direction.

Next, they opened the idea of the Lodge to the community. They did not hide their light under a bushel, nor try some anonymous marketing blitz; they appealed to their community. A board was created and the combined energy of committed individuals began to bring in the resources necessary to undertake this long term, expensive task. On more than one occasion, Larry observed, the money has run out, and there was no foreseeable way to continue the project. Each time, someone literally stepped up:  a person at a party, someone else, then the former local firechief showed them how to get through the complex zoning laws, etc. So, while moving toward what can be (the board had meditated together, envisioned the center, hired an architect who worked with them, etc.), what is was never lost site of.

This is the Alchemy of Abundance, where there is a constant creative flow between what is and what can be, where what can be is seen and felt to be emerging out of what is. To be in the right place at the right time becomes a viseral sensing and response.  This is the Alchemy that inspired Rosa Parks to refuse to remain in the back of the bus; it is the alchemy that inspired Ella Fitzgerald to declare “I will sing” in a talent show at the Apollo Theater in which she was billed as a dancer; and it is this creative drive that gives us the sense of what is “right” in our life, of what direction is flowing from our life in an organic and progressive way.  Like A Light on a Hill.

RJ

The former blog has been retired, and this blog will be a focal point of development in the weeks and months to come.  The anticareer website will also be undergoing some renovation... and meanwhile, much of that info (as well as new content) is here as well -- see the tabs up top for options.

And so, friends, energize your vision and intention for a life that fills your heart & soul... and share your adventures here with us!

All the best,

Lauriel (the soul at this blog's dashboard)