Written by: Gina Murdock (She/Her)
Now, more than ever, we need to nurture our nervous systems, our energy resources, and strengthen our spirits so that we have the inner fortitude to know, feel, believe, and be inspired into action: to dream a better dream of our future for ourselves, our earth, and each other. All action, all inspiration, and all creativity begins with a dream, a vision, or the spark of intuition. When we begin nurturing trust and connection to our bodies, inner knowing, and sacred truth, we begin to feel safe and held in ourselves. From there we are able to access a deeper knowing and a direct experience of peace and deep relaxation. From that place things begin to flow. As a practitioner, my goal is to hold space to affirm, facilitate, and unlock an individual’s potential for self-empowered healing and inspiration. The practice of Reiki & Tarot are ancestral gifts, tools, and portals that aid in personal and collective healing and embodiment. These modalities meet you where you are in the present moment and bring you one step closer to feeling trust and conscious engagement in the process of co-creation within our interdependent reality from an inspired place of expanded love, liberation, and joy.
The Gentle Power of Reiki
Reiki provides a space for energizing, resetting, and attuning ourselves to the possibility of flowing towards our most sacred and beloved good. A Reiki treatment is a gift of self care, the experience of deep relaxation and a direct energetic re-connection to sacred intelligence and unconditional love. Reiki promotes the process of relaxation through a direct connection to source, whether that be personal, physiological, emotional, spiritual, energetic, or expanded/quantum. Reiki treatments activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest) and reduce the sympathetic nervous response (fight or flight). In a world on fire, at war, in peril, and facing an undeniable paradigm shift on every imaginable level, one of the most important things any individual can do is to access a state that promotes rest, recuperation, comfort, and, the ability to digest and discern information, truth from lies, and to access and fortify our grounded, clear sighted (clairvoyant), inner strength. Some of the many benefits of parasympathetic dominance include de-stressing the body and reducing overall anxiety levels. When the parasympathetic nervous system is online the vagus nerve directs and sends energy and information between the brain, heart, lungs, and all of the peripheral and visceral organs which aid and assist in optimal system functioning, healing, and balance. Ancient, Sacred, and Vitalist traditions recognize that healing can occur on many different levels. Spiritual, energetic, and quantum medicines provide nourishment and restore harmony at the source: the energetic field. Conscious Energy is the building block of all reality.
Keys to Illuminated Knowing
Tarot is a reflective tool and a visual language used to illuminate and empower personal story and meaning in times of uncertainty or in moments of deep curiosity. The archetypes and symbols in the cards correspond with the natural world, the world of spirit, elements, ideas, and dreams; they are representations of the building blocks of our reality and our deeply held beliefs. In a reading, we engage in a ritual conversation focusing on the reflective mirror of the cards and the influences of the present moment. Engaging with these topics has the power to assist or aid in change work, affirm or shift perspectives, or rewrite chosen paths and old, outdated stories. When a student of tarot reads for others, they are sharing the language of the cards with a questioner. The student doesn’t know the “right” answers, and they can’t tell the “fortune” of the questioner; rather, they illuminate, affirm, and expand the questioner’s personal sense of self-knowledge and empowerment by broadening and liberating their perspective through story, symbol, and myth. In moments when we feel lost, disconnected, unsure, or uninspired, the gift of tarot can offer a reminder that we are all our own magicians, creators of our worlds, masters of our energy, directors of our thoughts, healers of our emotions, and keepers of our spirits. The illumination that a reading brings has the power to light up the consciousness, creativity, and inspiration of the querent by revealing tools and affirmations to encourage more aligned choices.
Gifts From Our Ancestors
As we engage with traditions like Reiki and Tarot we are in direct contact with a lineage of strength, love, and support from our ancestors and everyone who has come before us, who have allowed us to exist in this form today. The consciousness and intention of love, liberation, joy, and care is fortified through these practices. Even though the contemporary tradition of Usui Reiki originated in Japan, the practice of energy healing is ancient and widespread throughout human history across the inhabited Earth; and even though the illustrations on the first tarot deck were first printed in 13th Century Europe, the myths and symbols that built tarot are rooted Ancient Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, Islamic, and European Alchemical traditions and have counterparts with Ancient Mesoamerican traditions. These practices are part of our birthright and our heritage no matter what our ethnic or cultural lineage is. These are folk arts passed down through generations, usually through oral histories and initiations. The farther you are able to look back into history the more direct ancestral connection you would undoubtedly find that links your existence to every corner of life branching out from our shared Mother Earth and our Universal & Celestial origins. We are kin to the Earth itself and to all beings. Knowing that we are a family interwoven in conscious creation is both comforting and confronting. We have to face the pain of betrayal and the deep wounds we are collectively inflicting on our expanded family and ourselves through the illusions of separateness and the fears of superficial differences. Our ancestors dreamed of us when they worked towards healing, and they passed down many tools and traditions to aid and support our personal and collective healing. Coming into a relationship with those processes, lineages, and heritages for yourself is a step towards honoring and protecting the responsibility of our shared interconnectedness.
Like ether, let us remain undivided and not become narrow and unyielding,
Like earth, let us help and share the burden of all.
Like water, let us flow untethered and quench the deepest thirst.
Like fire, let us eliminate the unnecessary and unimportant.
Like air, let us silently become a lifeline for all. – Stephanali Patel, excerpt from Spiritual Ecology
To schedule an appointment for Reiki, Tarot / Intuitive Guidance email: info@elementspgh.com,
call 412-587-6020 or schedule here.
