..."then as you were indoctrinated by the dominant culture, by your schools and family and place of origin, and all the ways that humans are moved away from higher vibration and individual experience into lower vibration and group thought, you began to understand the Universe less.

When the Universe spoke to you in messages and visions, you heard this language; but you began to lose trust. You questioned what you heard.

When the Universe spoke to you with energy and events and synchronicity, you noticed still, but you began to downplay what was happening. You didn’t trust, and you didn’t follow: you questioned or, worse, you scoffed or called it coincidence or “random.”

You forgot that magic is real, and that synchronicities are the way the Universe gets our attention whenever it is trying to nudge us into a new understanding or a new direction.

And then you got busy with all the things a life contains, and you stopped listening entirely. In fact, you forget you knew how to listen!

It took a long time, as you merrily went upon your way, addicted to distraction and doing, for the Universe to get your attention again."--Messages from the Divine

"The  ticking clock urges you to use every moment, to hold every moment in your hand like the precious commodity it is.

Every moment you waste being numbed out, bored, disengaged, distracted, unhappy, enraged . . . you do not get this time back.

Time marches forward, to encourage you to march forward also: be in your life!
Not by busyness or “to-dos.”
But by becoming fully engaged with every moment that arrives.

Fully here in this moment.
Fully here in the next moment.

Your whole life a beautiful string of pearls, an exquisite necklace of being.
And it’s all yours for the creating!

All you have to do is say yes, and move forward"--Messages from the Divine. 

"Once you have learned a lesson, you don’t have to repeat it.

Once it’s learned, you’re free.

The learning of a lesson—such as standing up for yourself, respecting yourself, holding yourself most dear, loving yourself—often brings big changes.

A relationship may end.
A job may end.
You might move.
Your lifestyle may change.

Change will come, when you are learning lessons.

And it is this fear of change that tends to make you hang back in the back row, repeating and repeating the same thing:

You might attract relationships that are humiliating or abusive... and stay in them.
You might go to jobs that are dull and boring . . . and stay there.
You might live in places that don’t resonate with you . . . and stay there.
You might have habits and addictions that keep you numb . . . and continue them.

You refuse to learn the lesson, because you are afraid of change. You repeat the lesson over and over, never learning it, because you are afraid of change.

And yet, of course, change is just how things are.
Learn the lesson or don’t learn the lesson.
But there is no escaping change."--Messages from the Divine

"...when you have faced failure once, twice, a thousand times in your life, something wonderful will eventually happen: you will lose your fear. And that is perhaps not just half the battle, but the whole battle for most of us in this lifetime.

No fear of failure.
No fear of loss.
No fear of shame.
No fear of death.
When you lose the fear of failure, you are set free.
This freedom may happen early; it may take you many years. Or you may glimpse it in the last breath you take.
The choice of when is up to you.

When you lose the fear of failure, you are set free."--Messages from the Divine

And now for the Beyond Words Sacred Egypt grand finale, created by my husband Dr. Steve Koc and set to music by our very own Martyrs of Sounds.

And finally, our beautiful touching farewell as we arrived at the Cairo airport and soon were to head to destinations all over the globe.

After these days together on the Sacred Egypt journey, we had bonded! A great spiritual trip is one where you relax, let loose, share, meditate, heal, cry, laugh, hug, explore and learn new things about yourself. All of that happened, and more. 

So it was sad to say goodbye, and we connected one last time with a lovely group OM led by James Twyman. Our voices rose together on the tour bus, and we remembered again: we are never alone. 

As we came down to the last days in Egypt, I started to feel uncertain. Everyone around me was having big spiritual experiences. They were having "aha" moments and past life remembrances and connections with other souls. 

It's true—some of this was happening for me, especially when it came to past life remembrances. But there was a feeling I couldn't put my finger on. It was a sense of anticipation, of that was supposed to happen, but hadn't happened yet. 

And time was running out! 

By the time we boarded the small plane to fly back from Luxor back to Cairo—once again over the vast Sahara— I'd given up. What I thought was going to happened, wasn't—and this was okay. I focused on my incredible gratitude for all that I had seen and experienced, and I let go of the need for some additional "aha", and I just relaxed on the plane and talked to the person sitting next to me. 

Of course, that was when it happened.

I was sitting in the middle seat.
The other person was sitting in the aisle seat.
Nobody was in the window seat.

Until someone was. 

All of a sudden, for no reason, I felt a presence had come into my awareness. Not like a little spirit. Certainly not a human. It was a gigantic guide—so big that his head did not fit under the plane ceiling, but extended up through the ceiling. He was huge, and his presence was as calm and steady and untroubled as stone, and he took his massive hand and held my wrist.  

I sat there, transfixed by literally everything, unable to feel or think, and in that moment, I felt all of this guide's presence and I heard something along the lines of "Everything  is okay." And then in the next moment.  "Be only you." 

A simple answer. But not simple to me.

In the puzzle of my own inner spiritual work it was the absolute key to something I had been working on for a very long time. 

And so we sat there, this gigantic guide holding my wrist, and the rest of the trip—witnessing the mummies in the Museum, back at the hotel, on the 12 hour flight back to JFK, and here back to Oregon, this guide has remained. He is with me here right now. 

So who is this new guide? There will be more to tell—and  in time, there will be a great deal to channel. But for now, it is enough for me to say that there are absolute miracles, all the time. 

For me, for you.
They never stop. 

I was thrilled on our Beyond Words Sacred Egypt trip, by a dance troupe who performed in the brilliantly ornate rooms of the Old Palace at the Mena Hotel.

It was a celebration!
There were drums and percussion and horns!
There were  lively dancers doing the Sufi dance of Whirling Dervish! 

Sufi dancing is super lively and very intricate—men twirl and circle endlessly, and as the dance gets faster and louder, their skirts become more colorful and then the skirts start to split and separate, so they are spinning above and below. 

Our group practically blew a fuse when all this activity exploded! Being Americans, we all joined in with what might best be described as the Egyptian version of  "La Macarena." 

We may not have been pretty, but we sure had fun!
​
It was a good reminder that spirituality is meant to be rowdy! 
We're meant to have fun and celebrate!
We're meant to dance and laugh and get wild!

If your life seems stuck, you will do well to call upon your inner Whirling Dervish.

One spin, and you're facing a new direction.
Two spins, and you've literally changed your entire perspective.