Shamanism

Unmasking Dark Energies: Recognising and Protecting Against Deceptive Power

Introduction

Not all who appear charming, wise, or spiritual act with integrity. Just as there are people who radiate love, loyalty, and compassion, there are others who mask selfishness, jealousy, and manipulation beneath a false exterior. These individuals, energetically parasitic in nature, can have devastating effects on the lives they touch. Recognising them is the first step toward reclaiming personal power and preventing further harm.

Recognising Dark Energies

Deceptive energies often come disguised. They wear masks of charisma, spiritual insight, or generosity. They may seem attractive, popular, or even enlightened. Yet behind the façade lies a pattern of lies, cheating, emotional manipulation, and exploitation. Their tactics include:

  • Using sex disguised as love to drain energy and exert control.
  • Isolating victims from friends and family, much like narcissistic abusers.
  • Running emotionally hot and cold – one moment affectionate, the next distant or cruel.
  • Exploiting projects or causes “for humanity” as a cover for personal gain.

Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they cloak their true nature beneath charm and apparent kindness, only to exploit those who let down their guard. Others experience this energy as being caught in a spider’s web, where every struggle only strengthens the predator’s grip until the victim is drained of vitality.

These behaviours align with what psychologists describe as manipulative and narcissistic abuse patterns¹. Gaslighting – a deliberate attempt to confuse and destabilise another’s perception of reality – is also common, leaving victims doubting their own memories, intuition, and sanity².

The Spell Effect

Many describe their entanglement with such individuals as being under a spell, a magnetic pull that defies logic. This effect has been compared to “psychic vampirism,” where one feeds off another’s energy³. The victim may notice synchronicities, telepathic impressions, or dream visitations, further confusing the mind and heart. In extreme cases, this energetic exchange resembles possession, leaving victims behaving in uncharacteristic or destructive ways.

Energetically, these dynamics can be understood as “cording”- where psychic hooks are formed through desire, fear, depression, or trauma. Such cords can be consciously cut through ritual, meditation, or sound practices, but often require significant inner work and external support.

Consequences

The aftermath of such relationships can be devastating:

  • Emotional exhaustion, confusion, and despair.
  • Disrupted friendships or family ties.
  • Prolonged grief and “dark night of the soul” experiences⁴.
  • Physical or energetic symptoms such as lethargy, depression, or suicidal ideation.
  • Trauma stored in the body, manifesting as chronic pain, digestive issues, or immune dysfunction⁵.

For many, this period marks a breaking point that requires deep courage, inner work, and sometimes spiritual intervention to overcome. Survivors often describe the experience as “reality altering,” with long-term impacts on self-esteem and trust.

Psychological and Spiritual Dynamics

From a psychological standpoint, these relationships often involve trauma bonding, where cycles of abuse are interspersed with intermittent affection, creating a powerful chemical dependency in the brain. Victims become addicted to the highs and lows, confusing pain with passion and mistaking control for intimacy².

Spiritually, dark energies operate from a state disconnected from higher vibrational sources. Like the “Dementors” in Harry Potter, they survive by draining joy and light from others. Cross-cultural traditions also speak of such forces – beings that feed on fear, suffering, desire, or life force. Dion Fortune’s early writings on psychic self-defense highlight how such entities exploit weaknesses in the aura or energetic field⁶.

Breaking Free and Protection

Escaping the web of dark energies requires both practical and spiritual strategies:

  • Boundaries: Do not allow them into your home, especially your bedroom.
  • Cleansing: Smudge with sage, burn incense, rearrange living spaces, and discard or cleanse any gifts.
  • Salt baths and sunlight: Equal parts salt and bicarbonate baths followed by sun exposure for at least 20 minutes helps cleanse and restore energetic balance.
  • Cord-cutting rituals: Visualisations of severing unhealthy energetic ties can restore autonomy.
  • Sound and movement: Drumming, chanting, or shaking the body can break stagnant energy.
  • Avoid alcohol/drugs: These weaken the energetic field, making one more vulnerable.
  • Ceremony and Support: For some, traditional Indigenous ceremonies or other spiritual practices provide powerful release⁷.
  • Therapeutic support: Trauma-informed counselling, bodywork, or somatic therapies help integrate the psychological aftermath⁵.

Family and friends may notice red flags before the individual does. Listening to trusted voices can help break through the fog of manipulation. Supporting someone entangled in such dynamics requires patience, compassion, and non-judgement, pressuring them often pushes them deeper into the web.

Transformation and Gifts of Survival

Though shattering, these encounters often become profound initiations. Survivors report:

  • Heightened discernment, able to “spot” manipulative energy quickly.
  • Greater empathy for others caught in abusive dynamics.
  • A deeper connection to spiritual guidance and inner strength.
  • A renewed commitment to healthy relationships based on respect, honesty, and integrity.

This is the paradox: dark energies break us open, but in doing so they can also illuminate hidden wounds, pushing us toward healing and awakening. Once you have faced and recognised them, you carry the strength and discernment to never be deceived in the same way again. Awareness becomes protection, and protection becomes freedom.


References

  1. Brown, B. (2016). Disarming the narcissist: Surviving and thriving with the self-absorbed (2nd ed.). New Harbinger Publications.
  2. Forward, S. (1997). Emotional blackmail. HarperCollins.
  3. Masters, J. (2018). Energy vampires: How to deal with emotional vampires and energy drainers. CreateSpace Independent Publishing.
  4. May, G. G. (2004). The dark night of the soul: A psychiatrist explores the connection between darkness and spiritual growth. HarperOne.
  5. van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
  6. Fortune, D. (2001). Psychic self-defense. Weiser Books. (Original work published 1930).
  7. Atkinson, J. (2002). Trauma trails: Recreating song lines. Spinifex Press.

Nocturnal Communion:


When the Dream Lover Comes Bearing Fire

“Dreamtime lover comes to me,
helping me to clearly see
all I truly need to know—
your love for me you always show.

Guiding me to do what’s right,
giving me strength and insight.
Physically separate but living as One,
teaching me what needs to be done.

Knowing our love only grows and can never end,
as you assist me gradually to my Self mend.”

Have you ever woken with your body humming, breath quickened, heart strangely full? A dream so vivid, it left you aching—or glowing—with something you couldn’t quite name?

So many whisper it quietly:
“I had the most intense dream last night… but I can’t tell you. It’s too much.”

But I say, tell me everything. Because these dreams? They are sacred. They’re not just about sex. They are about energy. Integration. Memory. Reclamation.

We give this energy so many names: sexual energy, creative energy, Kundalini, God, Goddess, Great Spirit, Divine Union, Reiki, Seichim, Universal Life Force. But they are all rivers feeding the same source – the wild current of life itself. And its most ecstatic, alchemical expression? Orgasm. There’s a reason we cry out “Oh God” in those moments of deep pleasure. It’s not blasphemy. It’s a soul-deep remembering.

In dreams, anything becomes possible. We may find ourselves in the arms of a stranger, a past lover, someone we’ve never touched in waking life, but who feels as familiar as our own breath. Sometimes we merge with spirit beings, ancestors, archetypes. The forms may be surreal, symbolic, or shapeshifting, because dream lovers aren’t always literal, they’re invitations.

Invitations to reunite with soul threads. To embody the Lover, the Serpent, the Priestess, the Healer. To meet ourselves in forms we’ve long silenced or disowned. Often, it’s not about the person at all, but what they represent. Power. Passion. Tenderness. Permission. The dream body remembers what the waking mind forgets.

And let’s name the deeper truth now: soul-level communion is real. These dreams don’t always stay contained in the psyche. Sometimes, they’re shared experiences. If you’re thinking of someone with strong emotion, longing, desire, even grief, that thought becomes energy. It moves. It reaches. And if the other is attuned to you, they may feel it. Not as a conscious thought, but as a subtle frequency. A stirring in the night. A dream they can’t quite shake.

This is the intelligence of the soul field. Where time and space dissolve. Where lovers remember each other through the veil.

These dreams often arrive during times of emotional or energetic opening. When we’re grieving, creatively blocked, repressing desire, or navigating a threshold, these dreams come as messengers. They bring healing. They activate dormant parts of the body. They offer closure, clarity, confirmation. They reignite our connection to joy, to power, to the sacred yes of aliveness.

Even dream-orgasms, yes, they’re real, can be profoundly healing. Especially if touch, pleasure, or intimacy has been absent in waking life. And yet so many carry shame. They wake from these dreams wondering, “What’s wrong with me?” Especially if the imagery was strange, forbidden, or “inappropriate.” But erotic dreams don’t come to shame us, they come to liberate us.

We’ve all dreamt of partners we wouldn’t choose in the light of day, same-sex lovers, celebrities, even people from our past we’d rather forget. But dreams are symbolic. They’re the soul’s poetry. They speak in images, sensations, and metaphor. And they ask us not to judge, but to listen.

What part of me does this represent?
What wants to be felt, healed, or reintegrated?
What am I being invited to remember?

Erotic dreams are not just about sex. They’re about wholeness. They’re about power reclaimed. They’re about love, sometimes for another, often for the self. And sometimes, they are simply about joy. And that, too, is sacred. So next time your dream lover comes bearing fire, welcome them. Feel what wants to be felt. Honour what wants to be healed. And if you wake with tears, a sigh, or a sweet ache that lingers into the day, know this:

It wasn’t just a dream.
It was a remembering.


📚 Further Reading & Exploration

  1. Robert MossConscious Dreaming
    On dream travel, soul connection, and shared dreaming experiences.
  2. Barbara BrennanHands of Light
    A classic text on energy fields, cords, and how emotion/thought affects others.
  3. Anodea JudithWheels of Life
    A deep dive into chakras, creative/sexual energy, and inner integration.
  4. Toko-pa TurnerBelonging: Remembering Ourselves Home
    On the sacred art of dreamwork and returning to the soul’s truth.
  5. Clarissa Pinkola EstésWomen Who Run With the Wolves
    Archetypal stories that explore feminine psyche, longing, and reclamation.
  6. Mantak ChiaThe Multi-Orgasmic Man/Woman
    Taoist teachings on sexual energy as sacred and transformative force.
  7. Rupert SheldrakeMorphic Resonance
    A scientific view of non-local connection and shared fields of experience.

© Cheryl O’Connor, 2014 & 2025. All rights reserved.
Please do not reproduce without permission. Sharing with credit and a link is welcome.

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🌕 Ever had a dream that left your soul stirred and your body buzzing?
I’d love to hear. Drop a note in the comments or share this with someone who dreams in symbols too.

Breathe, Feel, Heal: Remembering the Wisdom Within

“Dreamtime visions speak to me of the truth within,

Wisdom, Healing & Knowledge of Self to me they bring,

Helping me to know the true essence of my Soul,

enabling me to consciously experience

I AM …. One with the Whole.”

There is a life force running through all things. Some call it God, Spirit, Nature, Love, or Universal Energy. The name is less important than the feeling it brings and the healing it makes possible. When we remember this force, we begin to remember who we truly are.

For me, this energy first introduced itself through Reiki and later deepened with Seichim—two distinct yet connected frequencies of the same sacred current. Reiki is often associated with the Japanese lineage, while Seichim flows from Ancient Egypt, through the teachings of Sekhem and the energy of the fierce and compassionate goddesses Sekhmet and Kwan Yin.

Where Reiki is the wave flowing in, Seichim is the wave flowing out. Together, they form a complete cycle of energetic restoration.

A Multi-Layered Being

This healing work finds deep resonance with the Anthroposophical perspective of Rudolf Steiner, which sees the human being as a fourfold being:

  • Physical Body: The visible body, a map of our accumulated experiences and emotions.
  • Etheric Body (Energy Body): The life or breath body, responsible for vitality, healing, and rhythm. It thrives on sleep, air, water, nutrition, and nature.
  • Astral Body: The seat of memory and emotion. When the etheric is weakened, the astral can push through into the physical and cause dis-ease.
  • Core Self or “I AM”: The indwelling essence of who we truly are – divine, wise, and whole. This is not a “higher” self-perched on some pedestal, but the deepest truth of our being, right here, embodied. The notion of a “higher” self can often reinforce hierarchical thinking rooted in outdated paradigms. In truth, we are not reaching upward, we are remembering inward.

Further expanded by Barbara Brennan, this system includes seven energetic layers beyond the physical—each interpenetrating the other:

  1. Physical Body
  2. Etheric Body
  3. Emotional Body
  4. Mental Body
  5. Astral Body
  6. Etheric Template
  7. Celestial Body
  8. Ketheric Template

Each is linked to a chakra and vibrates at a unique frequency. Some healers also experience more than the standard seven chakras.

Blockages, Breath and the Map of the Body

In Reiki, Seichim, and Body-Based Counselling alike, imbalance and illness are seen to originate from energetic blockages—areas where life force energy cannot flow due to past trauma, grief, fear, suppressed emotions, or limiting beliefs. These imprints are stored in the subtle layers surrounding and entering the body.

When breath and awareness are consciously brought into these wounded areas, subconscious memories surface, and with them, release. In this process comes healing, insight, and a return to flow.

Brennan observed, “Illness is a result of imbalance, and imbalance is a result of forgetting who you are.” Others such as Baginski and Sharamon see symptoms as messages needing to be heard, accepted, and integrated before true healing can occur.

While approaches like CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) may assist some individuals in reframing thoughts and behaviours, they often stay in the mental realm. Deep transformation, however, often requires feeling, not just thinking. Jamie Sams says to feel is to heal. When emotion is acknowledged and expressed, the energy that has been held or suppressed is free to move again.

The Healing Power of Breath

When our bodies become stressed from pressure or anxiety, the adrenal glands release adrenaline. This hormone increases our heart rate to prepare for a fight-or-flight response. While this is a natural survival mechanism, it has side effects—particularly on the breath.

When we are anxious, our breathing becomes shallow. This reduces oxygen intake and can lead to fatigue, panic attacks, emotional distress, headaches, muscle tension, and even exacerbate conditions like PTSD.

Breath is life. It delivers oxygen to our cells and removes carbon dioxide, a key toxin. You can live without food or water for a time—but without oxygen, only minutes. Breath is also how we move life force energy. When pain is present, intentional breath can ease it. As infants and children, we naturally breathed into our bellies. But over time, many of us begin to breathe only into the upper chest, especially under stress.

Chest breathing results in irregular, rapid breaths. This reduces oxygen flow and limits the body’s ability to exhale toxins. The result? Fatigue, anxiety, and disconnection. The good news is: this pattern can be unlearned.

The Benefits of Cyclic Deep Breathing

  • Stimulates the lymphatic system, aiding detox and healing.
  • Strengthens immunity by supporting the body’s self-healing capacity.
  • Balances brain hemispheres and calms the nervous system.
  • Reduces anxiety and helps regulate emotional response.
  • Can be practiced anywhere, at any time, with no tools required.

A Gentle Word on Limitations

If you have asthma or another respiratory condition, cyclic breathing may not be appropriate. Please seek medical advice before practicing.

What Is Cyclic Breathing?

Cyclic breathing is a technique to calm the body and mind during times of stress, anxiety, or fear. One simple and accessible method is based on the Ho‘oponopono rhythm:

  1. Sit comfortably, feet on the ground. Place your hands on your lap or your belly.
  2. Notice your breath, just as it is.
  3. Then begin to breathe in for a count of seven.
  4. Hold for a count of seven.
  5. Exhale for a count of seven.
  6. Hold again for seven.

This is one round. Repeat it seven times.

You may also modify the count to suit your capacity. For example:

  • Inhale for 3, hold for 3, exhale for 3, hold for 3.
  • Or: Inhale for 3, hold for 3, exhale for 5, hold for 5.

Breathe slowly and gently, always staying within your comfort zone.

With consistent practice, abdominal breathing becomes natural again. You’ll notice your belly rising and falling as you breathe—just as it did when you were a child.

To support this, try practicing three times a day, or as needed. Repetition is key. Studies suggest it takes around 21 to 30 days to form a new habit. But the benefit is lasting: your body begins to remember the way home.


Enter, Exit, Behold: The Body Speaks

Body-Based Counselling draws on these same principles, using methods that access subconscious information directly through the body. Artistic therapies such as:

  • Clay work
  • Watercolour painting
  • Movement and gesture
  • Colour exploration

These tools bypass the analytical mind. Through simple yet profound methods like Enter, Exit, Behold, clients can step into a bodily sensation or pain, observe what wisdom it carries, and exit with the insight and resource needed for integration, without being overwhelmed or re-traumatised by the original emotion.

This process allows even unspoken or inexpressible emotions to be seen, shaped, and shifted. Pain takes form in clay. Breath is freed through movement. Colour returns to drawings that once looked lifeless. The intangible becomes tangible. Healing begins.

Real Lives, Real Healing

Here are a few examples that reflect the potency of these approaches:

  • A woman preparing for breast surgery received six sessions while also working with a naturopath. Just before the operation, scans revealed that the lumps had vanished.
  • A pregnant woman, leaking fluid after a medical procedure, came to me in a vision asking for help. I sent healing and saw the hole in the sac close. Two weeks later, she had stabilised.
  • A newborn boy with lung issues was hospitalised. After a brief hands-on healing session, he was released the next day. He later grew into a healthy twelve-year-old.
  • I lived with knee pain for seventeen years after a traumatic accident. Following my Reiki and Seichim attunement, I released grief I didn’t even know I was carrying. The pain disappeared.

The Counsellor’s Role

Just like with energy healing, true transformation in counselling comes when the client is ready and willing. The counsellor or practitioner simply creates a safe and sacred space, offers guidance, and teaches tools. But the work, the choice, the healing, comes from within.

Permission is essential. Unless a person asks, the energy cannot flow to them. Healing respects free will. When someone is ready and willing to receive, the field opens. Our role is to hold the space — not to push or fix, but to witness and support.

We do not fix. We empower. We do not impose. We invite.

Signs of Change

Change reveals itself in many ways: a client enters hunched, disconnected, anxious. After the session, they stand taller, breathe deeper, feel lighter. Art becomes more vibrant. Clay forms soften. Colour returns to the canvas. Their posture changes. So does their presence.

That is healing. That is remembering.

“The energy knows the way. All it needs is your yes.”


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© Cheryl O’Connor 2025

Images sourced from the internet – sources unknown.

RECONNECTING WITH OUR INNER CHILD

Within the confines of being told we have to “grow up,” we lose ever so much. Our conditioning is such that as children we begin to learn to fear the world and just about everything and everyone in it, hearing more often “don’t,” than “do.”

The inner child begins to shut down and off to a world that was once magical, full of adventure, imagination, play, fun, beauty, excitement and sheer delight. Just watch any child as they start to explore the world – all is new and exciting. The feel of grass underfoot, the raindrops dripping, the love of singing, dance, water play, mud, creativity and laughter just because they are happy and want to have fun.

When expressing anger or frustration they are often told don’t behave like that and are these days sent to the naughty corner. When parents fear they will fall from the tree they are climbing or fear whatever else they do, or tell them what they experience is not “real,” when they are taught to seek approval from others at such a young age, are told things about themselves and the world by adults they fully believe because the adults said so, are yelled at, hit, abused and so it goes on, all that joy, excitement and sheer delight with just the pure magic of being alive seems to disappear. Lost and seemingly gone forever as life becomes nothing more than a “job” full of adult responsibilities, concerns, worries, anxiety, conformity and fear which then leads to illness, addiction, depression, reckless behaviour, more abuse and sadly in some situations the taking of one’s own life.

I was once told as a child, only children can enter “The Kingdom of Heaven.” This terrified me at that time because I figured once I became an adult – straight to “Hell” I would go, forever. In many ways, we do go to Hell though because due to the adult behaviour around us and the beliefs and projections which shape us we lose conscious awareness of all that is childlike.  Yet we are also told we need to be childlike to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

The ability to make friends easily, to trust, to have fun unless we are drunk, stoned or participating in other activities that bring momentary pleasure from outside ourselves all goes. If we were feeling joyous and broke out in song on the morning train commute, for example, we would be given strange looks like something was “wrong” with us. So we conform, we play the game the adults around us play and we do indeed lose a huge part of ourselves along the way.  Many become miserable and bitter, negative, resentful, spiteful, manipulative, greedy, needy, liars and haters who try to desperately control others around them. Each day becomes a chore to drag oneself through and many literally start looking like robotic walking dead.

For myself I had to “grow up” very quickly, leaving home at only 14, and life for me became a matter of survival for many decades. Survive I did, ever so much, but it was just that – surviving, not thriving.

We speak of “The Journey Home” and how we are all on the same journey back to conscious awareness of all we once knew before it was shut down because of fear and conformity.  For myself, it took decades of Self work and inner child work to reach where I am at within myself now, which feels like “home” to me

Some of the tools I used along the way which can help are:

  • Pay attention to what your dreams and daily synchronicity are telling you.   If you don’t know – learn.
  • Spend time alone in nature.
  • Use your dominant writing hand to ask your inner child a question, swap hands and wait for the answer to be written.  Go with the very first thing that comes, do NOT think oooh that’s just nonsense.
  • Do not doubt what others told you was “just your imagination” – whatever you experience is real for you because it is YOUR experience.
  • Try to remember things you used to LOVE to do as a child and MAKE time to do them on a regular basis.
  • Run with your gut feelings about anything and everything – don’t pay attention to your logical doubts and fears which have been instilled in you by others.
  • Pay attention to any memories or feelings that come – especially those which create an emotional reaction and ask yourself “Where is this TRULY coming from?”  Wait patiently for the answer to come to you.
  • Parent your own inner child.  Most of our inner children are scared, lost, angry, hurt and confused and often feel like they have been abandoned, which they have been. Mine was SO angry and hurt it took months of solid work for her to even feel safe enough again to just start dialoguing with me.
  • Don’t blame, hate or punish your parents for the damage done – they did the best they could with the awareness they had, they still are and at some stage we all have to actually accept responsibility for ourselves and start to parent our own inner child.

As a child, I wanted desperately to live “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” It was however quite literally a journey into,  through and out the other side of Hell to follow my own yellow brick road, but it was worth every single step to reach “home” and the “Kingdom of Heaven.” That isn’t some place in the sky as so many of us were told it was, but is within each of us and fully accessible to all of us by reconnecting with our own inner child.

Cheers, Cheryl.

© Cheryl O’Connor 2014.

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PELICAN – UNSELFISHNESS & RENEWED BUOYANCY

Pelicans were once considered to be very magical and powerful birds. Contrary to some beliefs they do not store fish in their bills, they simply use their bills to scoop fish up. Should Pelican be a bird that is crossing your path it may be prudent to reflect on how that may provide you with some insight into your own behaviour. Are you one who stores anything you do not really need to be storing? Are you using what you already have? Are you digesting that which you are given or are you storing it? There was once a story told of how a Pelican harmed its own breast with its bill in order to feed its own blood to its young. This is where the unselfish self-sacrifice symbolised in this bird has come from and it also contains a Christian connotation.

Pelicans always make room for others of their kind and will nest in such a way that there is room for all. They also work together when fishing. As a team they manoeuvre fish into shallower water so all may enjoy a meal.

Pelicans are very large birds and whilst they appear heavy due to their size they float exceptionally well and are buoyant. Often they will descend into the water from a great height at speed and then magically pop up on the surface of the water. Air sacs which are located under their skin assist them to do this and they are totally unsinkable due to those air sacs.

These birds speak to us of the ability to bounce back, become buoyant ourselves and to rest regardless of what may appear to be the weight of life circumstances. Pelican teaches us that no matter how heavy or difficult some situations may be in our lives and no matter how deeply we plunge or fall we are all able to rise to the surface again. Their medicine is that of knowing how to rise above life’s trials and tribulations.   Another story about Pelican speaks of how they once lived in the desert and they adapted by feeding upon Snakes.   Whilst they may appear to have difficulty taking off at times from the water they succeed and this relates to us having the ability to free ourselves from emotions that might otherwise weigh us down. Pelican medicine is also showing us how we can avoid being overcome by our emotions to the point they debilitate us.

Grab your free copy of my Dreamwork Booklet at http://bit.ly/CheocoNews when you sign up for my monthly Newsletter.

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#Cheryl O’Connor.
#Holistic #Counsellor, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in #Dream #Analysis/#Conscious #Dreaming & #Shamanic Journeying.
* #Reiki/#Seichim Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis #Meditation.

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© C. O’Connor 5 August 2015.

BADGER MEDICINE

Someone recently asked me about the symbolism of Badger. As many will know I don’t partake in the this definitely means that scenario like Dream Dictionaries and the like do. There is however very generalised information floating around based on other’s perceptions of what a particular symbol means which, if you are experiencing that particular animal or thing crossing your path you can have a read of. The danger with Dream Dictionaries and the like is that NOTHING will mean exactly the same thing for every single person on the planet.

The information I share in relation to the “Symbolism of Animals” comes from personal experience either in ordinary or non-ordinary reality, or, if that particular symbol/animal/energy/medicine has not yet crossed my path sources I use for info that I share with you, which I write in my own words, having read all the info I have access to, come from people like Jamie Sams and Ted Andrews.

It is not enough to just look at the symbolism of one particular thing or animal, it is about actually integrating the qualities of that symbol – for all that exists is energy and to “carry medicine” of an animal it HAS to consciously become part of who you are.

We are all, at the core, connected to all that exists but there is a massive difference between knowing something theoretically/symbolically and actually experiencing and also bringing the energy of particular traits or your own personal “medicine” by way of your totem animal/s or Spirit animals, into being by way of literally becoming one with that animal’s particular medicine.

If anyone has questions about all that, if it is not making sense to you, I am more than happy to answer your questions as best I can.

Today’s animal is Badger. Enjoy the read – Cheers, C.

BADGER – AGGRESSIVENESS.
Badgers may look cute but they are far from being meek and mild. Notoriously vicious animals they will attack with powerful aggression. They are easy and quick to anger and will pounce with great speed. Their “medicine” is of being aggressive and the ability, along with the willingness, to fight for whatever it is they want.

They have been known to tear their opponents to shreds if that opponent doesn’t have an equal amount of aggressiveness. Many powerful Medicine Women contain Badger Medicine as Badger is also the one who has the responsibility to be the caretaker/keeper of medicine roots for in Badger’s home burrows they are aware of all the roots which are Mother Earth’s healing herbs.

Roots ground “negative” energy by way of allowing and transforming illness to pass through the physical body into the earth as neutral energy, thereby healing the body. Folk who contain Badger medicine are very apt and quick to act should a crisis occur as they are not prone to panic.

Those who contain Badger medicine very easily and quickly express their feelings not caring what the consequences may be for doing so. They may also be aggressive healers due to the courage they contain to facilitate healing by unconventional methods for it is the result that matters, not the process. They will use whatever means necessary to ensure healing occurs, even in relation to the critically ill.

They can be vicious gossips and they may also appear to others to have a chip on their shoulder when they are out of balance. They contain perseverance and will not give up in relation to what they want to achieve. They are often the “boss” as they get the job done and they are certain of what they are doing.

Badger’s appearance could indicate that you are not being confident/aggressive enough but it is a balanced aggressiveness that is required. It is not necessary to rip other folk to shreds. It could be an indicator that you need to aggressively assert yourself in relation to your own healing by removing any and all barriers that are impeding your progress. Further it may be a sign that you need to cut the dead wood out of your life. Badger appearing may also be an indicator that you need to become more grounded and centred in your body/in your life.

Badger could also be relating to expressing your anger in an unhealthy way. It can be a reminder that all anger directed at you from other folk is really anger towards Self which is being dumped onto others. Anger also stems from fear and usually behind fear is pain and so if you are angry it is prudent to ask yourself why am I angry and what am I afraid of. It could be necessary for you to engage in reflection and uncover any feelings or thoughts of helplessness as well.

Badger medicine can be about a need to heal the physical body with roots and herbs. It speaks of a need to find proper balance, to be more aggressive if you have been too shy and have been letting others walk all over you.

It can, generally speaking, be about you needing to take control of your life and to take action as inaction usually leads to pain being experienced. If you are feeling angry it calls for a time for you to do whatever is needed, without harming others or self, to release your angry feelings. These feelings can also relate to jealousy and envy.

Essentially contrary Badger is trying to teach you about some of the holes you can fall into in relation to shyness or insecurity as well as projected and vicious aggressiveness towards others which you really need to stop projecting onto others and deal with, within yourself. Badger medicine always calls for action to be taken, whatever the present situation is you are dealing with.

Copyright. C. O’Connor. 1 August 2015.

Grab your free copy of my Dreamwork Booklet at http://bit.ly/CheocoNews when you sign up for my monthly Newsletter.

*´☾☆☽`*•

#Cheryl O’Connor.
#Holistic #Counsellor, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in #Dream #Analysis/#Conscious #Dreaming & #Shamanic Journeying.
* #Reiki/#Seichim Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis #Meditation.

Website @ http://www.cheocoenterprises.com

My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop

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Image credit: Pixabay.

INTERVIEW WITH COREY POIRIER – CONVERSATIONS WITH PASSION!

Hi folks, if you missed the Interview I and other very inspiring members of The Wellness Universe participated in, you can have a listen here.  Radio Interview with Corey Poirier

Many thanks to Corey and The Wellness Universe founders and members for all they are doing and bringing into the world.

Love and Peace to all – Cheers, C.

Copyright. C. O’Connor.

Grab your free copy of my Dreamwork Booklet at http://bit.ly/CheocoNews when you sign up for my monthly Newsletter.

*´☾☆☽`*•

#Cheryl O’Connor.
#Holistic #Counsellor, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in #Dream #Analysis/#Conscious #Dreaming & #Shamanic Journeying.
* #Reiki/#Seichim Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis #Meditation.

Website @ http://www.cheocoenterprises.com

My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop

Facebook: http://bit.ly/FBCheoco
Online Shop: http://bit.ly/Cheocoshop
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/linkedincheryloconnor
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/pinterestcheryloconnor
Google+: http://bit.ly/Googlepluscheryloconnor

Proud member of The Wellness Universe: www.thewellnessuniverse.com #WUVIP

Image credit: Pixabay.

MY UPCOMING RADIO INTERVIEW WITH COREY POIRIER – THIS WEEK!

I’ve been invited by Corey Poirier – Award Winning Speaker, International Best Selling Author and TEDx Featured Thought Leader to be interviewed this Thursday, 3pm EST, 4:00pm5:00pm in UTC-03 on his Conversations with Passion Radio Show which will be airing a special LIVE episode where he will talk about the brand new THRIVING book and will welcome members of the thriving Wellness Universe to the show to talk about purpose, passion, creating content, impacting lives, and more.

You can listen in on Thursday at the applicable link = http://www.blogtalkradio.com/conversationswithpassion/2015/07/02/conversations-with-passion-meets-wellness-universe-meets-thriving

For folk in Australia this will be happening LIVE on Friday morning at 5am.

Guests will include Wellness Universe Members Heather Lang, Phoenix Ivey Sierra, Cheryl O’Connor, Robert Clancy, Beth Bracaglio and Di Riseborough.  For those of you in Australia this will be happening on Friday at 5am.

Huge thank you to The Wellness Universe and Corey Poirier – looking forward to chatting with Corey. Whoo hooo, yee haa and high five all round 🙂 Yes I am excited, can you tell?

Cheers, C.

Image: Copyright Corey Poirier.

SWIMMING WITH CROCODILES

I am in an upright position, in murky water when suddenly a large Croc comes at me from behind – mouth wide open about to swallow me for lunch. I’m not ready to die yet and certainly not as this ones meal so I grab its top and lower jaw with my hands and spread them even further open, breaking its jaw in the process.  It disappears back into the murky darkness it came from but not before we have rolled around for a bit as they do when instinct requires them to do the death roll once they grab their prey.

The scene changes and I am now walking on stepping stones across very clear water, the weather is sunny and all seems good and right with the world.  Abruptly the stones are no more and there is a concrete wall/barrier in front of me.  I want to keep moving in the direction I was heading and the only way to do that is to step around the barrier and then swim.  I see land ahead and know this is where I need to reach.  For what reason I do not know, I just know I need to keep moving to reach the land.

As I enter the water it is crystal clear and very beautiful.  The temperature is lovely and I am observing myself swimming as well as feeling myself swimming.  I can see that the water below me changes colour from totally clear to a darker blue towards the bottom as I look at it from above my body.  It is very deep and on the bottom lay maybe 5 crocodiles, one in particular is a very large one who I believe is a male and is very territorial.  I sense they all think I will make a tasty dish as they all start rising slowly upwards whilst I am swimming.

The biggest one, which is closest to me, definitely has me in its sights for supper and is getting closer and closer to me as I am moving towards the land.  I reach the earth close enough to stand and as I go to stand he takes a  very large snap at my heals.  He misses, I step out of the water onto the land and start walking away from him.  For some reason he retreats back into the water.  I find that most odd as normally crocodiles have no hesitation in coming up onto the land if they are after a feed.

The whole time during all of this I experience no fear.  It all seems rather matter of fact and whilst I find it odd he didn’t chase me onto the land I sense there is some sort of invisible barrier he cannot get through.  His domain is totally the water and for whatever reason he simply cannot come out of the water which means he can neither harm me any more, nor can he follow me.

It was at this point I was back in my bed wondering what the heck was all that about.  It was about 2am and so I got up, made a cup of tea and pondered the experience.  I could not make head nor tail of it really.  I figured water/emotions – murky emotions, not seeing something clearly and then very calm, clear and able to see.  For me crocodiles represented primal instincts, ancient instincts even, fiercely territorial, amazing survivors and I know they can move quicker than any snake I have seen move when they choose to.   That was about as far as I got with it as things in this physical reality were needing my attention.   I didn’t forget the dream at all I just put it on the side burner of my awareness figuring it will make total sense at some point.

Fast forward oohh maybe a week or so and events unfolded that at first left me feeling really upset due to the actions of another and nope I didn’t stay silent about what they had done which was, from my perception, rather sneaky and deceitful and it was certainly not their place to do what they took it upon themselves to do.  I had my say and they clearly did not wish to discuss the matter so that was that, they disappeared back into the space from which they had emerged.

I made a phone call to try and find out what the heck was really going on as none of what this person was doing made any sense to me at all.  I waited for a return call and received nothing until about a week or so later when another called me – had a short rant and then hung up in my ear.  This was the person who was closest to me in this situation.  There was no opportunity given for discussion, no questions asked, no room for a response to be given and heard and whilst it all “should” have upset me I didn’t feel anything much except relief that given the message they conveyed to me I would NEVER have to deal with this person ever again who I had been dealing with for some 45 years.

I felt nothing for the first time in all those years that was even close to wanting or needing to ring them back and ask what the heck was going on, write to them and ask any questions, nor did I feel any need to even try to defend myself nor give them a piece of my mind.  Nothing, zippo, nada.  I could clearly see that this was their “stuff” not mine and that it would not matter one bit what I said or did none of it would make any difference as it wouldn’t even be heard given the emotional state of the other person. (In hindsight the large Croc who could not come up onto the land for they were stuck in their emotional “stuff” i.e. the water.) It was quite literally my best option to just remain silent and yes to walk away entirely from the whole situation.

It wasn’t until the next morning when I was thinking about how this person always seemed to “thrive on getting a bite” out of others by stirring the pot, having a dig at me about something or the other over many years and how I had always bitten when they had behaved like that, that I literally stopped in my tracks due to a spine tingling, arm hair raising OMG ahhh haaa NOW I know what the dream was about.

Often it is the situation we scout future in The Dreaming to see what lays ahead and often the future will appear to us totally symbolically like this all did.  It really does pay to keep a journal and ensure you write down even just tiny snippets if that is all you recall.  Dreams like, it seems to me, to be mysterious and intriguing and often you have to play detective to grasp logically what they are really telling you.   Hence my total dislike for Dream Dictionaries and the very definite this categorically means that.   Crocodiles when they have turned up in the past have meant very different things to what these ones were symbolic of. This is why it also pays to keep and A-Z Index Book in which you can write down what certain symbols mean to you as the meaning of them is revealed to you in different contexts.

As for my crocs, may they swim happily ever after together and find peace within themselves, as I continue to walk my path without their presence in my life any longer.

Cheers, Cheryl.  

 

  • *´☾☆☽`*•

#Cheryl O’Connor.
#Holistic #Counsellor, Author & Writer.
 
* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.
* Creative & Artistic Therapies.
* Specialising in #Dream #Analysis/#Conscious #Dreaming & #Shamanic Journeying.
* #Reiki/#Seichim Treatments & Attunements.
* Isis #Meditation.
 

Newsletter Subscription @ bit.ly/CheocoNews – All subscribers will receive a 10% discount on their first initial consultation for any of my services along with 10 pages of awesome tips and tricks to help you start deciphering the language of your Soul, your dreams, as well as the symbolism of what appears to you daily.

 

Website @ http://www.cheocoenterprises.com

My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop

Facebook: http://bit.ly/FBCheoco
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Proud member of The Wellness Universe: www.thewellnessuniverse.com #WUVIP

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UPCOMING EVENTS

CONSCIOUS DREAMING WORKSHOPS – 11 APRIL, 18 APRIL & 4 MAY

INSPIRED LIVING FAIR – 12 APRIL.

In all Workshops we will be:-

Undertaking a Drumming Journey which will enable you to connect more strongly with your Power/Totem Animal. We will be visiting healing places and places where important dream messages you have forgotten will come to life in your awareness and we will also be looking at creative ways in which you can begin to decipher your dreams enabling you to turn nonsense into total sense which, in turn, assists you to create the life you want for yourself and provides you with more inner guidance for your life.

We will also be exploring fun ways in which you can more clearly understand the messages life is sending you and we will be covering very generalised symbolism in relation to some of the more common archetypal energies/symbols.

For your comfort and for grounding purposes after the journeying work it is suggested you bring a water bottle, a small snack and for your comfort you may like to bring something to cover your eyes.   You will also need to bring some writing/drawing materials. Lee is kindly providing yoga mats for you to lay on at Earthlee Angel Therapies.  If you are attending any of the other workshops you will need to bring something to lay on.

Anyone under the influence of alcohol or drugs will not be permitted to participate. It is also suggested you only have a light meal  prior to a Workshop.

11th April – Earthlee Angel Therapies – 7/171 Station Road, Burpengary.  1.30 to 3.30pm – $50.  To book please call Lee on 3142 2818.  Deposit is $10 to secure your booking.
12th April – I will be at the Inspired Living Fair, Kallangur Memorial Hall, Anzac Avenue, Kallangur from 9am to 4pm where I will have a stall.  With me I shall have some of the Steiner based Dolls and Toys my mum and I make and if all goes to plan also some artwork and other items from Terry Saleh.  You can check his work out here http://www.salehart.com
18th April – Conscious Dreaming Workshop at Wantok Multicultural Centre, Old Petrie Town, North Pine Country Park, Kurwongbah from 10.00am to 12.00pm.  Cost is $50 and payable at http://www.cheocoenterprises.com one week prior to secure your booking.

4th May – By invitation of the Paranormal Awareness Community I will be facilitating a Conscious Dreaming Workshop from 6.45 to 8.45pm at the Mango Hill Community Centre, Chermside Road, North Lakes.  Cost is $30 and payable at the door.

If you have any queries please contact me.  Cheers, Cheryl.

Copyright – C. O’Connor 2015.

•*´☾☆☽`*•

#Cheryl O’Connor.

#Holistic #Counsellor, Author & Writer.

* Cognitive & Body Based Counselling.

* Creative & Artistic Therapies.

* Specialising in #Dream #Analysis/#Conscious #Dreaming & #Shamanic Journeying.

* #Reiki/#Seichim Treatments & Attunements.

* #Isis #Meditation.

* Proud member of The Wellness Universe – www.TheWellnessUniverse.com #‎WUVIP

Newsletter Subscription @ bit.ly/CheocoNews – All subscribers will receive a 10% discount on their first initial consultation for any of my services along with 33 awesome tips and tricks to help you start deciphering your dreams, as well as the symbolism of what appears to you daily.
My book The Promise, Skype & Email Consultations Available – bit.ly/Cheocoshop