Lourdes

I had a beautiful experience while meditating last night. As part of my meditation, I went to a "safe" place. I decided to let my angels and guides decide where that might be. I found myself at Lourdes, France, the site where, in 1858, Bernadette Soubirous saw the visions of Mother Mary and received counsel from her. I saw myself as simultaneously at the grotto and in the chapel that sits on top of it. I felt joy for being in this place. No personage appeared with a message, but I think being in this place was a message in itself. This is a holy place and a place of healing.

I had been to Lourdes before on one of my trips to France. I made a pilgrimage there alone while my husband was occupied with other business. This is a place where the ill and infirm come to seek healing. The town sells rosaries and bottles in which to collect water from the grotto. The streets are filled with people in nursing uniforms pushing wheelchairs and even an occasional gurney toward the holy sites of the grotto and the chapel that sits above it. There are places near the grotto where these pilgrims can be bathed in the waters of the grotto.

While in Lourdes, I went to the grotto, collected a bit of the water in one of those souvenir bottles, and then went up to the chapel to say a rosary. I had brought my beads with me for just this purpose. I am not Catholic or officially even Christian, but I do believe in Christ, and this seemed like an appropriate thing to do in this holy place.

The "Kinesthetic" Body

I've been playing Journey to Wild Divine and having a great time at it. This game uses biofeedback as part of its control system. One of the exercises within the game is done without the sensors, but it seems to have its own feedback.

The exercise starts out simply enough. The player is asked to raise and then lower his arm a few times, paying attention to the sensations of the movement. Then it starts getting interesting: the player is asked to raise and lower his "kinesthetic" arm, recreating the sensations of moving the physical arm. (What the game called "kinesthetic," I would call "etheric" or "astral.") So I moved my "kinesthetic" arm and was able to have some sensation of doing so. The player is then asked to do the same with the other arm. When that is done, to do the same with both arms. Then the player is told to raise the physical arms while leaving the "kinesthetic" arms by one's side. Then the player is told to move the physical arms down while raising the "kinesthetic" arms and to continue moving the arms in opposition like this. The game's instructor says that one might feel the arms crossing each other as they move. I must say, I was rather excited to discover that I did indeed feel a sense of increased electricity as the arms crossed paths.

While the game does not expressly say so, I would think that moving the "kinesthetic" body independently of the physical body like this is the beginning of an out-of-body experience, astral projection, or remote viewing. This is an exercise I want to continue working with to develop a greater sense of the "kinesthetic" movement and better imaging of it.

The Celestine Prophecy

Friday I went to see a preview showing of The Celestine Prophecy at the Learning Light Foundation. I hadn't read the book, so the story was all new to me. Actually, in my mind, the story isn't the most important part. It's the Insights that make it worth the while. The story is just a background for presenting them. I especially liked the parts of the movie where they depicted auras and the exchange of energy. This energy work is a lot of what we do at the Learning Light Foundation. It is fundamental to both psychic ability and energy healing.

So far, I am more feeling than visual when it comes to sensing an aura. Several years ago, I actually did see a couple of auras. I was working at doing so with intent once when I was at the bookstore. I saw a lady browsing the stacks. I saw around her an amazingly beautiful yellow glow. The other time I saw an aura, it was spontaneous. I was driving down the street when I saw a man and boy walking together. A brilliant white glow surrounded the boy. It just doesn't do to have such spontaneous experiences while operating a motor vehicle! I was so startled by the experience that I haven't seen an aura since. Perhaps it is time to try again. I think before I do, I would like to speak with my psychic development instructor about how to prevent being startled again by a spontaneous experience.

There's another set of questions that has arisen from The Celestine Prophecy. I went online to see if I could find the Insights. (I knew they'd be there, and they were.) I found on an unofficial site mention of energy coming from food. My understanding of it was that the energy mentioned is what would best be called chi energy. It is the same type of subtle body energy that is responsible for the aura. To get more clarity about the reference, I went to the bookstore and found the section where this was discussed. According to the book, the energy is most efficiently assimulated when food is eating mindfully and with appreciation. Prayer or blessing of the food helps to prepare us to do this more effectively. My questions are:

1. How does the assimilation of chi energy from our food relate to the problem of overeating and obesity?


2. Do we overeat to compensate for inability to gather chi energy to us in other ways?


3. If so, how can we improve our way of gathering chi so that we do not feel the need to overeat?

Actually, I think I have an idea what at least part of the answer to #3 might be. First For Women magazine had another one of those astounding headlines on its April 3, 2006, issue: "THE FAT JUST FALLS OFF." This time the article was about a breathing exercise that is supposed to produce physiological changes condusive to weight loss. This is actually right in line with the energy-raising breathing taught in the game Journey to Wild Divine. (I'll discuss the game in my next entry.)