My beloved companion age 17 1/2 years passed over the Rainbow Bridge on August 13, 2012.  I held him in my arms as he passed and brought his body home to be buried in the Fairy Circle on my land.  That morning I knew I had to take him to the vet after nursing him along for two years.  I led him down to the garden where he stopped by the cosmos  bed.  The little green fairies began to massage his precious tender body.  He stood still for about 5 mins. turning a little this way and a little that way.  I believe they said goodby dear friend, see you in the ethers.  I miss him sooo much!  I don't miss watching him in his pain and embarassment. He had gotten to a place of living with shame each day.  It is a difficult ride to make.  Unfortunately, I have had to make it a few times before.  Now life is taking a definite turn.  I look back briefly but must continue on briskly meeting those who would join me.

Fire transforms whatever it touches.  It is the only element that can do thatl.  Born under the bright lights of the fire in the sky, the Aurora Borealis, I continue to be cast into the transformation fires throughout my life, like a lump of clay being shaped and smoothed by God my Creator.  My book, Born Of Fire, is a month by month diary of my journey into the darkness of near blindness and sickness, and into the light of healing and spiritual growth.  Although this diary covers thireen months, there are numerous tales and images of my life from birth through age fifty-eight.  I hope that, with my story, I have drawn a map that guides readers to heal from disease, destruction, and then to discovery.

My symbol

I just discovered a wonderful image of a cross known as the cross of Camargue.  It is over the door of the Church of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in Provence, FR.

It is made up of three symbols. 
At the top, the cross that is a sign of lived FAITH, decorated with cowhand forks, recalls our daily work.
The cross is rooted in the sailors anchor, a sign of HOPE amid the storms of life and the history of humanity.
The cross is surrounded by a heart, like an invitation to LOVE and to share with those who are near and those who are far away.

Here is the image of the cross:

Note: Change in address

Due to unsurmountable differences with Wildblue Satelite internet service, I have changed my email address on all communications.  Please note:  lewisdonna945@yahoo.com

My apologies for any inconvenience.  This is a challenging change since i have been with wildblue for a number of years.

Miracles all around us!!!

I was sitting under an ancient Live Oak Tree yesterday in Ocala, FL at the international Live Oak Horse Show preparing to eat a sumptuous tail gate lunch.  Joining me were dear friends Brent and Sharon, Sue and Graham and brother Gary.  An suv pulled in next to our picnic site under the tree and out stepped a young woman.  We were drawn to her and asked her to join us.  Although she declined lunch and wine, she did accept some yummy brownies and choc. brickle.  In the meantime, we discovered she was a holistic vet and a like-minded Light Filled individual.    What a grand reunion we had with our new friend Lynn.   We networked and exchanged cards and information with Lynn.  We were all uplifted by our reunion with another old soul healer.
Namaste
Donna/Deanna

Sunday in March!!!
Thought for this week:

If every life is a river, then it's little wonder that we do not even notice the changes that occur until we are far out in the darkest sea.  One day you look around and nothing is familiar, not even your own face!

The empty word, the broken phrase, the stumbling thought- these we place upon your altar O God!  Sanctify them with your truth even as you sanctify us with your truth.  Walk with us in the way that we take, lest our footsteps stumble in the darkness and we lose our way.  Amen

Motivation is the key!!

I have photos of me at the wheel of my 38' motor home with my eye lids taped open!!!!  There are times when we all have to reach down deep inside and come up with a solution.  Most of the time while I was living in the bus in the road, I would sit out a "tough time" with my eyes but sometimes I just had to leave.  Scotch tape works!  As I approach the 3 mos. mark since I received Botoxin injections, the spasms sneak in on me when I least expect them.  I have learned to compensate too.  I have learned to slow down.  I was always very energetic and did everything in a hurry.  I am fortunate that I can do several things at one time.  I also have the ability to be aware of what is going on all around me all of the time.  That is a gift as far as I am concerned and one I share with my eldest grandson.  I believe my son Matthew was also able to tap into many things at one time.  I shared my book title and a bit of my story today on the Blepharospasm Official site, on the bulletin board.  Hopefully, my story will inspire others who have BEB and Sjogrens Syndrome.

When I was struggling along in my near blindness to live a "normal" daily life, one of my neighbors called in the NC Assoc. for the Blind.  They soon came to my house to interview me.  I suppose to "see" for themselves if I needed their assistance.  Within a week after our meeting, I was provided with a large but portable tape deck where I could listen to books on tape.  The books were chosen from an enormous selection in a catalog.  It worked very much as Netflix does now but there was no fee whatsoever.  Those books on tape gave me much pleasure.   Then an appointment was made for the NCAB to teach me how to move about, cook, do ordinary household chores and care for myself in my new blind state.  Over the course of the 9 months I was blind,  I was interviewed for a seeing eye dog and a white cane.  As it turned out, I didn't need either.


My impressions of the NCAB were and are today very positive.  They were compassionate and caring people.  They responded quickly although they were not called in on my case for several months.  People helping people that is what this world is about.  Living in "right-mindedness"!

Some things to think about today

Jan Phillips wrote a book called God Is At Eye Level.  I love that title.  What a perfect way to bring people face to face with the Divinity rather than gazing off into the great beyond!  Something else she said in regard to creativity is a stigma we all face when we begin to create our art, our music, our pictures, our books etc...."Who Do You Think You Are"?   I have lived with that inner guilt nearly all my life.  The shame of being creative, of "wasting time" making art rather than making money.   I would ask that we all meditate on who we think we are.  Write about it, speak about it and verbalize who you are and who you want to be.  Forget the financial rewards.  Those will come later.  Picture yourself as a satellite dish for creative frequencies.  Allow your "dish" in your second chakra, you pelvic chakra number 2 (your creative/birthing center) to receive all the energies required to create.  Then you will know who you are on a totally grounded level, balanced and open to receive and to create.  Yes!!!!

Planting the garden

 This is the time of year when the new seed catalogs come in the mail.  A thought for today:  Help me to cultivate a positive, healthy, and vibrant mind so that I may cultivate happiness, generosity and kindness within me.  Help me be a good gardener for my body by providing rest and gratitude for my spirit.   Amen!

Credits

My brother, Gary, took my blog title photograph of the Naples Pier at sunset in Florida in December 2011.

amazon.com/author/deannacottrell

This is my new Author Central Page on Amazon.com

Today

I am grateful today for good neighbors, kind caring neighbors.  As I sit here in sunny Florida, my little home, the Locus Grove, in Hartford, NY is watched over by people who live nearby, who drive by with awareness.  Thanks one and all!!!

It's impossible to avoid adversity in our lives but there are always those around us who will reach out their hands and their hearts to assist us.  I have always lived in small communities where neighbors are ready to offer their help.  Last night, I heard of a volunteer fire department supplying wood for heat to an elderly couple who live in our area.   The Christ Consciousness that we need to bring about our ascension in this century is exemplified through actions such as this.  Offer kindness and compassion to others, it comes back to you magnified greatly.

In awe of human love,
Deanna

Sunshine but chilly today in FL

I have a small red book called A Guide for the Advanced Soul.  Each day I hold it in my hands as I align myself to my higher wisdom and ask for a reading that will enhance my day.  This is what I read today:

We are not here just to survive and live long....

We are here to live and know life in its multi-dimensions,
to know life in its richness, in all its variety.

And when a man lives multi-dimensionally, explores all possibilities available,
never shrinks back from any challenge, goes, rushes to it, welcomes it,
rises to the occasion, then life becomes a flame.  Life blooms!!!

2012 - Doomsday?

I found a website that I want to share with you:   http://www.seri-worldwide.org       I encourage anyone who has questions about the true Mayan Prophecies to go there and read the piece called, "What the Mayan Elders are Saying".  I found it to be not only enlightening but it reinforces what I have been feeling and sharing with others for a long time.  The media are using this powerful time of transformation to pad their pockets and create F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real).  More reasons to seek The Light and stay focused on Right Relations with others and with our planet.

Hope this Sunday brings you special moments of bliss!!!

Deanna

Your Energy System and dis-ease

Today I went biking and as always my thoughts turned to topics I could tell you about.  I was prompted to write this particular blog today because I heard the story of a friend's passing.  Many people ask me about the human energy system and how it really effects the physical body in the here and the now.  I will make it simple for you.  We all have an energy field which is of a higher vibration so it remains invisible for the most part.  It acts as a protective barrier and also as a history of all that has ever happened in this life and others.  There are energy vortexs that supply the earth's energy to your endocrine system, your nervoous system and therefore your organs.  Our energy comes from our sun and also from the earth's core.  We get energy from the foods we eat as well.  We are  guaranteed 100% energy but if one or more of the energy vortexes becomes congested or damaged, that portion of our energy is not available to us.  For instance, there are 7 common vortexes.  There are many more but we won't go there in this writing.  If you should have a "broken heart" or a deep grief event, you will more than likely feel the pain in your heart area and probably your throat. Grief is expressed through the throat vortex as well as the heart area.  If the grief goes unexpressed in both or either of those areas of the energy body, in time, there a disease will develop.  Often chronic shoulder pain, neck pain, upper back or the more serious heart dis-ease and breast cancer. The thyroid and throat area may be affected.  Unexpressed thoughts and emotional pain repeated over and over in the mind of an individual will bring about some form of disease.  Unexpressed anger will do the same but will show up in the liver, gall bladder, stomach, pancreas and small intestines.  The eyes may also be affected.  The entire physical body will be affected because if you have two blocked vortexes of  30% , then your energy level and level of protectiion is only 70%. 

None of us can avoid heart break or pain but we need to realize the necessity expression.  Covering up our emotions and suppressing them with powerful medications only delays the process.  Energy clearing, repair, alignment as well as talk-therapy will help.  There are currently many effective modalities that are readily available to much of the population.  Check the credentials of the therapist, ask questions and speak to other patients.

I hope you will comment with your questions on this topic.

"You don't have to earn a miracle, just be open to receiving one or many." 
  quote by Christel Nani

Deanna

Wednesday thoughts

I wanted to share a few thoughts on illusion.  Somethings to think about throughout the day:

Every illusion is an assault on truth!

Resentment is the emotion that goes with complaiining and the mental labeling of people.  It adds even more energy to the ego.  What you react to in others, you strengthen in yourself.  Non-reaction to the ego in others is one of the most effective ways not only of going beyond the ego in yourself but of dissolving the collective human ego.  Non-reaction is not weakness but strength.

Walk on,
Deanna

Welcome!!!!

Please feel free to comment and communicate!  I will answer any questions you post as honestly as I can.  Please share your special thoughts, prayers and insights with all of us on this blog.

Remember:  When you walk in the darkness, wear your best clothes!!

Deanna

Born Of Fire: A Yearlong Diary Of Transformation by Deanna Cottrell is in book stores and online now

Born of Fire:  A Yearlong Diary Of Transformation by Deanna Cottrell is recommended reading for anyone on a journey of spiritual enlightenment.   Join me on this blog! I want to hear about your journey thus far. 

Deanna

Born Of Fire: A Yearlong Diary Of Transformation is "alive".

Welcome to my new blog spot!  I hope you will pick up a copy of my new book that has been twelve years in the process.  But isn't that what this journey is about??   I welcome questions, feedback and comments on your journey. 

You may wonder where the name I have given this blog came from.  Let me tell you about it:  For many years after I left my hometown because I had married and moved to Vermont, I had a repetative dream.  It was very dark and as I looked out the windows towards what used to be my Grandmother's farm until the fire took it away, I see a dark figure holding a lamp aloft.  I can see from the light cast on her features that it is an elderly woman (I think my grandma),she is dressed in dark clothing, has white hair and wears a scarf tied over her head.  I am very torn in my dream state since I want to go to her and comfort her.  The dream ends.  But over the years as I have aged and become an elderly woman myself (Grandma is long ago passed), I realize that the woman in the darkness with the lantern is me.  My desire is to be the light in the darkness for all those who are seekers.

Live in the Light friends!

Deanna