Honoring Your Sacred Intuition
(Talk presented at Spiritual Unity Movement, North Hills, CA)

     We come to realize that we have what seems to be two minds: one full of reason and logic and one full of intuition and hunches. This latter mind holds in it an invisible stream of connection to our Source. It will be very important that we learn to keep this connection in the upcoming months and years. We are already being warned by our modern day prophets and sages that we are in a time in history that is heralding in what they call the “Shift of the Ages”.  It is a time of change in our Earth history as well as in our Global Consciousness. We are being given the opportunity to help in a unified human effort to re-pattern our human evolution from this point on.
   

Embracing Self-Compassion
(Talk presented to Church of Reconciliation)

     When I have thought about self-compassion, I was usually besieged by a strong sense of guilt. Isn't compassion something you feel for OTHERS -- not yourself? Isn’t it selfish to seek your own compassion? Even the Encarta World English Dictionary defines compassion as "sympathy for the suffering of OTHERS, often including a desire to help". But now I realize the ultimate importance of that word "self" attached to compassion. If we cannot assist ourselves in overcoming suffering, how can we help others? And yet I have seen this time and time again.

SANDPLAY THERAPY

An Invitation from You to Your Inner Self      Carl Jung wrote: "An emotional disturbance can also be dealt with in another way, not by clarifying it intellectually, but by giving it visible shape." Sandplay gives visible shape to messages from your Inner Self or Unconscious much like a dream does. The beauty of sandplay is that you can view the scene for as long as you like, take a photo of it and keep it for later analysis. Sandplay has an ancient lineage that is traced back to tribal communities like the Navaho who used sand paintings for healings. To this day, Tibetan monks create elaborate sand mandalas used in sacred ceremonies. In the 1950's and '60's a Jungian therapist, Dora Kalff incorporated Tibetan Buddhist studies, Jungian theory and the clinical work of Margaret Lowenfeld of England to create what is known in the present day as Sandplay Therapy. Participants are invited to select from a vast collection of figurines to create a scene in a tray of sand. By allowing the free and creative play of the unconscious, a healing process is triggered through the visible, three-dimensional scene. Through the sandplay creations, a person draws closer to wholeness. The playfulness actually breaks through to relating messages of guidance and healing to the concious self. It creates a link between the internal and external that allows for deeper inner healing. The sandplay sessions work well with children as well as adults. Madeleine prefers doing sandplay as a group session where everyone benefits from the sharing of various tray interpretations. Sessions usually last at least two hours. Participants have found them to be personally healing with messages that seem to reveal deeper meanings in the ensuing weeks and months that follow the session. To learn more about sandplay therapy go to www.sandplay.org.
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