Want To Play A Game?

Ok, my lovelies, to celebrate the next round of the Practical Magic Business Circle opening in just 2 weeks time, I have something a little different for you… a wee game. Want to play?

Now, you may be wondering what on earth goddesses have to do with running a successful business in the 21st century. I know what a difference they can make, but if you’ve never worked with them before, I completely understand that the concept might seem a little strange. But here’s the thing…

The goddesses each provide a window on the world – a way of looking at things. And with each goddess comes a new perspective, a new angle. And so, in relation to business, the goddesses help us to understand our businesses in a deeply profound way, helping us to create clarity around what it is that we want for ourselves, for our clients, how to best deliver our gifts into the world, and how we want to create delicious growth and sustainability on our own terms.

For example, the goddess Freya, whose narrative tells us how she traded 3 nights of body for Brísingamen, the necklace of power, and was then publicly shamed for having done so, but refused to accept the shameful interpretation of her actions, helps us to feel into our hangups around pricing and around self-worth. She brings light to the places where we are holding onto shame, where we are still limited by our cultural conditioning. She also brings guidance on what it might mean for us to let that conditioning go.

Another example is the goddess Lakshmi whose energy helps us to find flow by finding a balance between creating the containers of our business (the structure, the offerings, the details) and trusting in divine abundance. The money can’t flow if there are energetic blocks in the way. Neither can it flow if you have not attended to the channels by which it might find its way to you and your bank account. So we call on Lakshmi to offer us guidance in this endeavour.

With me so far? Great!

So, what I wanted to try today was a wee game to give you an experience of how the goddesses can help you with your business right now. I’ve brought together 6 goddess readings to show you how goddess guidance can support you as you deepen your own understanding of your business, and how you can best manage, evolve, grow and celebrate your business.

Each reading includes a description of a vision that I had when connecting with her. In my visions I imagine a door, which I then open to see what it is that the goddess wishes to show me. (When you enter the Practical Magic Business Circle, you will be gifted a guided visualisation so that you can experience this magic for yourself!) I also include any words that the goddess shared with me, along with my own interpretation of the vision and the message. I’ve added a couple of questions that you might want to then explore in your business journal.

I really hope that you not only enjoy this experience, but that you feel beautifully met by the goddess you receive.

Ready to begin? Ok, here we go….

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Close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath… gentle, easy, soft. You may begin to feel your energy coming into sweet alignment with your body as you settle into the ground of your being. Slow and easy and effortless.

Now, bring to mind your business…. the experience of creating, delivering, tending, sharing. Let the energy of your business swirl through your body as it feels most moved to. You may experience this as images, sounds, sensations, emotions etc. You may be surprised by how it shows up for you – and that’s fine. We’re being really loose and free with our sensory experience here.

When you feel like you have connected deeply with your business, simply scroll down…..

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Take a moment or two to look at the different coloured squares above. Which one is yours? Try not to second guess yourself here. There is no wrong answer. Simply pick the square that is singing loudest to your heart.

Picked one? Beautiful. Now scroll down to read which goddess is stepping forward to offer you some business guidance today….

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Hathor

You have chosen Hathor, the Ancient Egyptian goddess known as The Golden One who was the goddess Egyptians called upon when they wanted to experience domestic harmony, romantic pleasure and financial abundance. In other words, when they wanted an experience of wealth.

When I opened Hathor’s door, or I should say when I *tried* to open her door, it was locked. However, I instantly put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a golden key. I inserted the key in the lock and turned it, and the door swung open. Inside was a relatively small room with only a tiny window high in the back wall with an iron grate covering it. It was dank and dark – like a prison cell. But piled up against that back wall, beneath the grate, was an enormous pile of gold bars. They were strewn haphazardly with no real order – just a pile. And as I looked at the pile, I was struck with the thought that if I were the owner of that pile, I’m not sure I would feel wealthy. Stored in a prison cell, uncared for, not making a difference to me or to anyone else, just a static accumulation… it held no real value because it wasn’t in relationship with the world. It was separate, apart, removed. I asked Hathor if she had a message for us, and she said…

“Wealth: define then receive.”

You’re being called to engage with what truly give you a feeling of wealth. What does wealth feel like, taste like, smell like, sound like, look like to you? Create a sensory definition. Look for examples in your life where you have felt wealthy.

For me, I have felt wealthy when my just delivered healthy newborn was placed in my arms. When my beloved has gifted me with a beautifully thoughtful compliment. When I’ve closed my eyes at a concert and let the music fill me up. When I’ve opened the mailbox to find a personal handwritten letter. When my favourite author has released a new book and I can download it straight away onto my kindle. When I stand on the edge of the sea and listen to the birds cry overhead. When I share laughter with a soul sister. When I drink really good red wine. When I work with clients whose energy sings the same heart song as my own. When I say thank you and feel it all the way down to my marrow. When one of my children makes me a cup of tea, handing it over to me while kissing my cheek and whispering, “I love you, Mum” in my ear.

Hathor invites you to define wealth for yourself, search for experiences where you have felt wealthy and then move into a place of conscious receptivity, so that when you find opportunities to recreate that experience, that feeling, you can accept it with open arms.

Once you’ve defined it, ask yourself how you can weave the experience of wealth into the fabric of your business.

For example, I have a playlist of gorgeous music that I play while I work. I have a small pile of crystals that I frequently fondle sitting on my work station. I have an A5 Filofax that I use to schedule all my appointments in. Where I sit, I can look out at a beautiful view. In the structure of my offerings, I build in generosity, presence and space. I hire quality equipment that I love to work with. I light beautiful fat red beeswax candles on my work altar. I schedule in self-love, time with soul-sisters and time to care for my kids’ needs.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the sense that I take this kind of thing seriously! If I live from a poverty mentality, then that will be my experience of life. If I live from a place of wealth, then that will be my experience. For me, the choice is simple.

So, my lovely, how are you weaving the experience of wealth into your work? What does wealth feel like for you? What does Hathor want you to know about your business?

Pachamama

You have chosen Pachamama, the pre-Incan goddess of the earth. The mother that holds us all in her embrace and provides the ground beneath our feet. She is here to remind you of the support that is always available to you. Can you feel it?

When I opened Pachamama’s door I was instantly right in front of a huge tree. I could trace the roots going down deep and I instinctively knew that they were watered by the underground spring of truth. I wrapped my arms around its broad rough trunk, and laid my cheek to its bark. I feel the fortification of truth running through the very fibre of the tree. And I feel strengthened just by its proximity. I ask Pachamama if she has a message, and she says…

“Find strength in truth.”

On reflection, I have felt my weakest, my most out of alignment, when I’ve not been connected to my truth. She reminds me that I don’t need to buy into another person’s perception of myself – another person’s truth. My roots go deeper than that. I know my truth. I know who I am. I know my own worth.

And I need to let this strengthen me. Because the alternative would lead to a dissolution of self, a pulling back, a diminishment of my expression. And I didn’t come into this world for that.

Life is so incredibly brief. Find strength in truth, stand strong, release your roar and dance with life. Because, to quote Howard Thurman, “the world needs… people who have come alive”.

In our businesses, this truth will keep leading us back to our own individual resource of compassion, courage and commitment. It helps us to shrug out of the old second-hand clothes of business “truths” that are passed down to us from older thought paradigms, so that we can clothe ourselves in the ever-radiant soul garments of authentic self-expression.

What business “truths” have you bought into that are just not serving you? Is your own truth being challenged in any way currently? And if so, how? What does Pachamama want you to know?

Baba Yaga

You have chosen Baba Yaga – a wise crone goddess who takes no nonsense, and calls it as she sees it. She won’t handle you with kid gloves, but that’s because she knows that you are stronger than you think you are – and she believes in you.

When I opened Baba Yaga’s door, I saw a patchwork quilt. It was so beautiful, with each square unique from the rest. All the squares stitched together covered a huge expanse, and my vision moved up and up the length of it until I saw a little girl tucked into the cosy folds of its fabric. Her grandmother was tucking her in, stroking her hair from her face, and kissing her forehead. I whispered to Baba Yaga, asking if she had a message for us, and she said…

“No regrets.”

She then expanded on this to tell me that every experience that I’ve had in my life so far has led me to this point. If I were to remove even just one of those experiences and replace it with another, the whole picture of my life would be altered.

So, she’s asking you to shift into a place of acceptance and to look upon the whole of your experience as your life’s quilt. Every square has served its purpose, bringing untold wealth into your life. And as for those times that you look back on and really struggle to find peace with, just remember that sometimes the gifts available to us in those times are the most significant. Moving into acceptance will allow you to fully receive those gifts. Accept. Receive. Release regret.

When we apply this wisdom to our businesses, we can see that the challenges we are facing in our business, in either the past or the present, are truly gifts that are leading us to a deeper understanding of who we are, how we want to show up in our businesses, who it is we’re here to serve and how we can best do that.

One of my most challenging times in my own business arose because I wasn’t taking care of my most important asset – myself. I over-committed. I over-delivered. I over-estimated how much I could do and I under-estimated the time & energy needed to live up to that over-estimation.

Bringing awareness, acceptance and releasing regrets, I was able to start tending to my needs and integrating self-care into the very fabric of my business. One of the greatest gifts I’ve given to myself in my business to date.

What gifts have you received from your more challenging experiences? How are you consciously choosing to release regret? What does Baba Yaga want for you to know about your business?

Oya

You have chosen Oya. This Yoruban goddess of the winds helps us to speak out our truth and step into our role as leaders. She’s an exceptionally strong goddess who invites us to create positive change and be assertive when we need to be.

When I opened Oya’s door I was instantly surrounded by many many people. I’m briefly beset by a feeling of claustrophobia as the crowd is so close and all around me. We are all moving slowly in an anti-clockwise direction, and I am shown what we look like from above – a mass of people moving in a circle around and around. Back on the ground, I am compelled to move against the direction of the people, and to cut through and make my escape. Pushing and stumbling forward, I eventually find myself outside the crowd. I turn my back on them, and start walking. I ask Oya what her message is for us, and she says….

“Go your own way.”

It’s easy to do what everyone else is doing. It’s easy to be a follower. It’s easy to be a part of the crowd. But Oya is saying that there is another way. There is a way forward that doesn’t require you to do the same old same old – a way forward that is uniquely yours.

And so you are being gifted with an opportunity today to do your own thing. However that may look. However that may sound.

Oya, for me, is very aligned with the energy of my business beliefs. There is something in me that really struggles to do what everyone else is doing. It’s not a compulsion to be a contrarian. It’s not an act of rebellion. It’s more a drive to please myself. And what I’ve discovered is that others are served when I please myself. I cannot tell you what a revelation this has been for me!!

What does your way look like and where is it leading you? How are you leading? How are you following? How are you pleasing yourself in your business?

Danu

You have chosen Danu, the Irish river goddess of knowledge who is the mother of the Tuatha De Danann. For me she holds the energy of the teacher – she reminds us that we learn much when we teach others. When I taught at university I experienced this first-hand, understanding my subject so much better through the act of teaching it to others. This is the gift of Danu – the flow of knowledge resulting in shared wealth and prosperity.

When I opened Danu’s door to today, I found myself in an artist’s studio. There are large windows where a pure quality of white light streams in, glancing off the body of the model that is reclining as still as a statue. I hold a paintbrush in my hand, and I approach a canvas that already holds the image of the woman in front of me. Another woman steps up behind me and begins to advise me on how to proceed with my painting, and as she speaks to me I notice that the woman in the painting is me. I look up and I see the model is me. And I look behind me to my teacher, and I see that she is me also. Upon this realisation, I look back at the model, and this time I see that she is wearing a delicate celtic-design silver crown. I ask Danu if she has a message for us, and she says….

“Self-knowledge leads to sovereignty.”

The willingness to enter into self-reflection, to explore the many facets of you, is often the first step in moving towards truly owning your own identity, your own power, your own desires. You are the subject, the student, the teacher as well as the expression of self in a state of constant creation.

Danu is telling you to stop seeking for the teachers that you think are going to inform you of yourself and your place in this world. To stop searching for the gurus to explain your existence. To release attachment to the belief that anyone other than you is the authority, the expert, the master of your own life.

Yes, there will be those who hold keys for you. They will give you information. They will be your cheerleaders. They will open your eyes to new possibilities. They will facilitate paradigm shifts in your thinking. But only you can unlock the door and take the steps beyond.

To use another metaphor, those you see as teachers can give you a map and a compass, but how you choose to traverse the terrain is all up to you. And the learnings that you will receive “on the ground”, so to speak, are some of the true treasures of this life – and they are both unique to you and ubiquitous.

Today, I’d like to invite each of you to consider what it is that you are teaching through your business. You can explore this through the following writing prompt, “I usually describe myself as a _______________. But really, I’m teaching my clients…”

To give you an example, here’s what I wrote about my goddess guidance work…

“I usually describe myself as a goddess guide. But really, I’m teaching my clients how to love, accept, honour, explore, integrate and celebrate all parts of themselves – including and especially those parts that they believed were unacceptable, unloveable. And the goddesses support the process.”

And when I read that back over, I realise the truth of the wisdom that we teach what we are here to learn….

What are you teaching? Who have been your most important teachers in life and why? What does Danu want you to know about your business?

Rhiannon

You have chosen Rhiannon – the Welsh horse goddess. Her story tells us that, one day, a prince was riding through the woods and saw Rhiannon. He instantly fell in love with her, and began to chase after her. However, her horse was quicker than his, always staying a little further ahead, until he was exhausted and despondent. So he called after her to let him catch up. And she did.

When I opened Rhiannon’s door, I was met with thick fog. Where I live, a thick sea fog, that we call the haar, rolls in off the North Sea and blankets the land in dense cloud. The kind of fog where you literally can’t see more than 2ft in front of you. And this was the same kind of fog. Then, out of the white, appeared a woman with long blonde hair. She was wearing long white robes and so she seemed both apart from and a part of the fog. She was holding the reins of a white horse, and she was gesturing for me to climb onto its back. I did so, and she gave me the reins, before whispering in the horse’s ear. The horse then begins to gallop through the fog, and I cling on, my body lying low to its strong, powerful body. I ask Rhiannon if she has a message for us, and she said…

“Trust your desire.”

What would it take for you to truly own and allow your desire to take you forwards to whatever it is that you truly want?

When I feel into this message and Rhiannon’s energy, I actually feel quite sad. I can feel the weight of conditioning, my own and that of so many many others, that tells me that desire is not ok. That it needs to be squashed. That it’s not reliable. That it’s selfish. That it’s disruptive. That it’s the source of great unease.

And then I think about the times that I’ve trusted my desire and let it pull me towards that which I *really* want. Desire as divine GPS pulling me along my path, supporting me to become the fullest expression of myself that’s possible in this lifetime. And I know that I can let that conditioning go. I can desire. And I can trust my desire.

When we engage our desire in the creation and development of our businesses we find that we have an incredibly powerful tool at our disposal, which, when we work with, has the potential to change everything. Everything.

When I began my business, I knew what I desired and what I didn’t desire. I desired space to write. I desired communion with like souls. I desired the sovereignty that would come from earning my own money. I desired to continue learning from the goddess. I desired to work with absolute integrity, authenticity and compassion. I desired to make a difference. I desired for my work to support me in the relationships that are important to me. I desired to work from home. I desired to hold online sacred space.

When it came to creating offerings, I have only ever created that which I first desired for myself. The Practical Magic Business Circle is a case in point! I desired a space where women at all stages of business development could come to in order to connect with the goddess, to create magic together, to explore the entrepreneurial possibilities, to foster the growth of a mastermind goddess-style.

And so I developed it. And they came. Because they desired this too.

So, my lovely, what is it that you truly desire for your business – what do you really want? Don’t question it. Don’t suppress it. Own it. Claim it. Allow it. State it. And then begin to explore all the ways that you can fold that desire into the very fabric of your business.

What do you desire? How can you best express this desire in your business? What does Rhiannon want you to know?

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So. honey, how’d you get on? Each and every one of these goddesses offer guidance into such delicious deep enquiry – and when we bring that depth to our businesses we can be truly astonished by the insights that we receive.

What you might want to do is to take the questions from your goddess and begin exploring them in your journal. Or, even better, take yourself out on a business date. Grab your journal and head to your favourite place – a garden, a cafe, a pub. Treat yourself to a yummy beverage – some mint tea, perhaps, or a glass of Malbec. And then journal out your responses to the questions. Maybe even script out a “question and answer” conversation with the goddess that you chose. Something about changing up your environment can really spark new ideas, new perspectives, new thoughts.

And if you want to go even deeper?

If you choose to enter into the Practical Magic Business Circle, I will prepare a virtual altar for you which includes a goddess that I have intuitively connected to you and your business. This goddess will be your special guide for the next 13 weeks as you engage with your business. I work with 78 goddesses, and each holds special wisdom for the circle sister they step forward to meet. Which goddess will step forward for you?

To claim your place in the Practical Magic Business Circle, simply click on the link below, and you’ll be taken to a page where you’ll receive all the details and the various payment options. We officially open on the 9th March; however, I will be adding circle sisters into the secret FaceBook group next week once I return home from France.

I want to claim my space in the Practical Magic Business Circle!