February D 2017
Cover Story
Metaphysics
22
66
JJ Virgin - Miracle Mindset
Health & Healing 36
2 Holistic Ingredients for a Perfect Weight
70
Personal Growth
Spirituality
78
42
82
Fear vs. Love? The Truth of Our Oneness
OM Living 50 54 60
Keeping Your Sanity in a Time of Political Unrest Your Journey Into the Future OMTimes Radio Spotlight Martha Tara Lee
Making Lilith and her Shadow visible again Discover Your Intuitive Language
Negative Habits We Can Discard Are We Safe? Look Inside Psyche for the Answer
World Vision 88
Seeking New Boundaries Is that Your No or Mine?
A Miracle Mindset by Dirk Terpstra “A Miracle Mindset” with Daily Gratitude In “A Miracle Mindset,” author and fitness expert J.J. Virgin shares with readers her unique view on a personal family health crisis. It is filled with
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the insight and honesty that OMTimes readers have come to expect from J.J. Virgin. Dirk Terpstra begins the interview. DIRK TERPSTRA: To be honest J.J., I googled you. I found out about the Virgin Diet, The Sugar Impact Diet, the quality protein shakes, meal replacement bars. I thought, ‘Hmm, that is interesting.’ I live a very healthy lifestyle, but I am not very focused on specific protein bars and all that. And then a very different book landed on my desk by J.J. Virgin, but with a very different message. The title of your latest book is “A Miracle Mindset.” You are basically writing about a very touching, but also a very beautiful story about a mother, her son, and life’s hardest lessons. It was very beautiful to see the rawness of life, to experience that and to feel that. So, I am very grateful that I could read it. Maybe you want to explain also to the people who are reading this, what inspired you to write “Miracle Mindset”? J.J. VIRGIN: So, it seems like a sideways turn in the road, but the reality is that when you really
think about you are healthy it is not just what you eat, it is not how you exercise. The biggest part of your health is your mindset, and I never really thought about it. I had been studying nutrition and fitness and functional medicine for decades and working on it for 30 years. But I had also been a student of personal development since I was 25. It just was a part of me that I never thought about. I used it in my work because, so often, when people are trying to get to the next level in their health, the thing that will hold them back is not strategy it is their self-worth. And you can never outgrow that, but it was interesting as I had a major crisis with my 16-year-old son. He was the victim of a hit and run, and was left for dead on the street, and we got to the hospital - he was air-lifted to our local hospital - and when we got there, the doctor told us that he had a torn aorta, which kills 90 percent of the people on the scene. He was hanging on by an onion skin, and he said, ‘It is going to rupture within the next 24 hours unless it is repaired. But we cannot repair it here, as it needs a very specialized surgery, and if Omtimes.com
2 Holistic Ingredients for Perfect Weight by Kathryn Remati
Is There a Way to Achieve the Perfect Weight? The spiritual perspective on weight loss strives for wholeness rather than perfection. It requires a balance between mind/body and spirit. We must consider the first four letters of the word HEALth to be
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reminded that healing all aspects of our selves is necessary to find our perfect weight. We need to heal with natural food, regular exercise, a mindful presence, and with the spiritual nourishment of self-compassion. Repressed emotions must also be addressed. We must let go of childhood wounds, resentment and anger that are often hidden in the layers of extra weight. Thus, we use this weight to cushion ourselves from past and future emotional pain.
What Can Impact Our Perfect Weight Efforts? We eat until we feel full for all the wrong reasons, often seeking fulfillment through food by eating when we are bored or emotional. Eating for any other reason than the need for nourishment has created a well-worn path of bad habits. Alternatively, if we have an abundant supply of self-fulfillment through self-acceptance, a creative outlet, a purposeful life and spiritual nourishment, then we are already “full” and satisfaction through food becomes less important.
Forgiveness, a feeling of contentment and peace are necessary for us to halt the habit of consuming more food than is necessary. Therefore, the two essential ingredients needed in a recipe for satisfaction are: meditation combined with affirmations. 1) Meditation: When we are peaceful, we are more powerful and effective at self-management. We don’t eat as a reaction to emotional or stressful situations when we are fulfilled by an inner sense of security and calm. Meditation is the path to inner peace, so why not use meditation as an essential instrument in our stress relief and weight loss toolkit. It can be as easy as closing the eyes, taking a few deep breaths to relax your body, followed by a silent watching of the inhale, exhale and pauses of your breathing. Ten minutes in the morning and evening is all it takes to relieve stress and become grounded in the present moment. Meditating in this way also has many benefits for everyday life, including a more mindful approach to consuming food.
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Fear Vs. Love? The Truth of Our Oneness by Andrea Mathews
Fear and Love at Odds with Each Other For years now we have heard, from many of our most prodigious spiritual leaders, that fear and love cannot occupy the same space, for fear is not love and love casts out fear. Therefore, many of Omtimes.com
have spent those years trying desperately to rid themselves of fear. We think that that act will somehow cleanse them to be the true spiritual beings that they are. I know it will feel like sacrilege, but what if it isn’t true? What if it is not true that we should get rid of our fear in the name of love? What if love is big enough to contain fear?
The Truth of Our Oneness with the Divine We find the origin of that belief in the Bible. It is 1 John 4:18, and it says: “Perfect love casts out fear.” It goes on to say: “…because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” If you believe the Bible to be inerrant, then this must be true. If you believe that the Bible is a translation of many translations and therefore, difficult to read as final truth,
then we can look at other possibilities. Those other possibilities include the idea that what is being referred to here is the lack of trust in the truth of our Oneness with the divine. If we truly have that Oneness, then fear of punishment is unnecessary. But that does not mean that fear and love cannot occupy the same space. In fact, it is possible to so love the Self that one fears something that will harm it. And that fear is a healthy fear.
Fear - Instinctive and Motivating It is the fear that one has when one is standing in the middle of the street and there is an 18-wheeler flying right at us. This fear will motivate us to get out of the street. This kind of fear is instinctive and essential to our well-being. There are many kinds of metaphorical 18-wheelers out
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Keeping Your Sanity in a Time of Political Unrest by Susan Schueler
Volatile Mix of Political Unrest and Social Media Political unrest seems very prevalent. The old adage about not speaking politics at polite gatherings seems to
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have gone out the window with our social media today. Regardless if you voted for Trump, think the current travel ban is protecting you from a terrorist attack, believe a wall between Mexico and the U.S. is a complete waste of money, or that Obama had a bigger turn out for his inauguration than Trump; one thing is certain, these are tumultuous times in the United States, and everyone has an opinion! After recently reading some posts on Facebook that caused my hands to shake and sweat, all that encompassed my angry thoughts were “how could someone actually think like that?” My fingers started flying across the keys with angry retorts, but then thankfully, my non ego driven soul took the wheel. It asked me, “ Is this byplay between the two of us really going to allow him to see my side?” (N0.) “Change his opinion?” (No.) “Then why does this bother you so much?” Hmmmm, good question!
Political Unrest - A Projection of Our Reality If one thing is true, it is that what we believe and feel is actually a projection of our reality. So until we decide to change this reality, our opinions are going to stay the same. Therefore, arguing with someone over what each other feels is right or wrong, is truly a moot point. Only we can change our own reality. That being said, how do we move forward with social media today, and not let the opinions of others negatively affect us and our energy? Especially if you are like me and are very sensitive to the feelings of others, as well as the collective consciousness.
Reacting and Responding - Choose Wisely The truth of the matter, however, isn’t really the issue between two people holding different opinions. The problem today deals more with how others (including my
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Making Lilith and her Shadow Visible Again by Yael Elohim
Continuing Our Look into Lilith’s Role Lilith, representing everything the ‘role of mother and wife’ does not, fell into shadow as a result of obligation of the feminine to the masculine. The previous OMTimes Magazine article, Lilith, shadowing the feminine dilemma, covered this. Omtimes.com
However, she embodies another shadow part of humanity as well. She stands as a metaphor for the inner constraint of freedom, which has been the result of the patriarchal system and its masculine focus on the form and its tangibility. Lilith’s deeper meaning makes us aware of a deeper layer that would allow us to experience more (inner) freedom.
Inner Wandering of the Feminine During the rise of the patriarchal traditions, one part of the feminine chose to support the masculine approach and its designing style of creation out of obligation, and while doing so, she retreated. The other part, that Lilith represents, felt restrained in her freedom and fled to escape reality. This lead to Lilith’s wandering. Deep down, this created a struggle within the feminine, as the previous article explained. The masculine’s focus on form and tangibility led to something else as well. A person’s own-form, the race or color and the individual identification were placed above the others on a value scale. The outer perception - the outside - disconnected from the inner perception - the inside. Things perceived as tangible and visi-
ble oppressed the non-tangible or non-visible, pushing it into the background, the shadow. It ‘disappeared’ and therefore was forgotten. One wasn’t conscious of it anymore, leading into inner wandering.
Throwing Light onto the Inner Shadow Fallen into shadow, Lilith and her qualities ‘disappeared’, literally and figuratively covered up by both the feminine and the masculine. This suppression enlarged the dark side of Lilith’s fire such as her anger and eagerness for wanting to be free from ties (independence). The reconciliation between both parts of the feminine and the masculine is initiated by bringing Lilith’s qualities out of the shadow, thereby shedding a light on them, and reconnecting them. Only through awareness can we bring these wounded parts into our conscious and start the process of healing. However, Lilith represents more shadow. We can compare her wandering with the ‘inner wandering’ humanity experienced during the earthly experience of duality and disharmony, the periOmtimes.com
Are We Safe? Look Inside Psyche for the Answer by Courtney Marchesani
We All Want a Safe Place in Times of Chaos Chaos, vitriol, and heated emotions rule the day, or minute, if we plug into social media. With the highly controversial election season passing, we also find ourselves grappling with our citizenry marching closer toward Civil War.
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One doesn’t have to look too hard to find evidence of this; Native Americans protect their water and sacred grounds at Standing Rock, the largest women’s rights march occurs on the capitol, and cities like Seattle, Chicago, and New York designate their streets ‘sanctuary cities’ for immigrants. American angst and intolerance are high. Fundamentally we want truth, justice, freedom, and safety. Our belief systems run the gamut, which makes our nation great – the freedom to think and believe the way we want. However, when times are so powerfully uncertain the fabric of reality bends. We fill in the blanks with fear. As this insensitive and toxic climate continues, it leaves many of us feeling hopeless, helpless, and confused. Hence, our senses are flooded. We search for meaning and security in places filled with a vicious discord, which throws us into a collective fight or flight.
Turn Inward with Psyche and Dream the Future In order to have more clarity
and understand what is truly happening around us, we must look within. We must trust our own psyche for guidance and protection. Prior to World War I, Carl Jung had a visionary experience of a coming conflict. In the vision, which he described in his book, Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, he saw rivers of blood covering the land between the North Sea and the Alps. While a vast majority of society was denying war was brewing in Europe, Jung listened to his inner voice. He instinctively knew it was coming. He peered into the true reality through his psyche’s warning. The psyche is a self-regulating system that maintains balance between conscious and unconscious thought. It is also the faculty in our dream life coordinating a sense of balance in our waking life. As a potent healing force, it uses the theater of the mind to cleanse emotionally disturbing content, work out intra-psychic conflicts, and heal through the energy of theta states. Thus, the psyche will never give us something Omtimes.com
Seeking New Boundaries – Is That Your No or Mine? by Kathy Custren
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So many of us seek to define new boundaries. It seems to happen all the time no matter how we define our world or even our larger cosmic
universe. When we get right down to the words we use in setting various boundaries, it can be very enlightening. One of the first impressions of seeking new boundaries, to me, was in history class. Remember studying the great explorers who sailed on mighty vessels? Names like Magellan, da Gama, Balboa, Drake, and Hudson, are all in the pages of books for pushing the boundaries of ‘known existence.’
Broadening New Boundaries of the Mind Speaking of books, there are plenty of examples written of some fantastical stories that push the boundaries of the mind. Wild imaginings by Lewis Carroll of Alice going down the rabbit hole stick with us to this day. Books and stories of fiction in the skilled
hands of the writer can take us on wonderful journeys beyond our limited experiences and the boundaries of our imagination. And those imaginations happen naturally. Add mindexpanding substances (such as Ayahuasca), drugs (such as LSD), or alcohol and other substances that can be smoked, and our mental boundaries can be bombarded by all sorts of images, energies, and archetypes. If we stay conscious enough to explore them, of course.
New Boundaries in Science and Cosmic Events Today, there is more connection being found in the new boundaries of science and matter. Music and frequency teach us we can push the limits of what
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