NZ Here I Come ... by Sandy Penny

New Zealand, Here I Come

by Sandy Penny

Tomorrow, I leave on my trip to New Zealand with the help of so many wonderful people who contributed to the process. I'm having a glass of wine and trying to wind down so I can get some sleep since I hardly ever sleep on an airplane, and a 15-hour flight is pretty long. I love that they now have a flight direct from Houston, and I don't have to go to Los Angeles to get my flight. Cuts about 4 hours off the total trip time.

So many of my friends and family came together to help me do this. My daughter loaned me a neck pillow and sleep mask and contributed to my travel fund. My son Matt got me a cell phone with International access and a better camera and bought me some sweaters and contributed to my ticket. Steven contributed to my travel fund. Nice to be surrounded by loving, supportive people. My friend Connie loaned me two great carry-on size pieces of luggage. I'll check one and carry one on. She also loaned me a shoulder bag perfect for stowing all those last minute "gotta-have-em" items. My friend Maria set me up with an Uber driver she knows for the trip to the airport. It took a Village to get this trip on track, but I leave tomorrow. Thank you, one and all, and thank you, my friends, who contributed energy to make this happen. Big Hugs. The magic just keeps on moving, changing and manifesting.

I know I will be doing some earth healing work with the whales, the earthquakes, the volcanoes, the solar grid, and helping prevent a tsunami that is building from the Antarctic glacier melts. Big work, amazing challenges.

In the spirit of that, I wanted to re-share the story of originally connecting with Norfolk Island while I was in New Zealand on my second trip. Back in 1995, here's how it all went down.



Norfolk Island, Sacred Journey ...

by Sandy Penny

When I was in NZ for the second trip, I called my friend Tamara (who I'd had other magical adventures with on the first trip.).  She said, "I just found this letter from Di on Norfolk Island to Jennifer on my floor.  Does our friend Jennifer know someone on Norfolk Island?"  I responded that I didn't even know where Norfolk Island was and had no idea.  Tamara said, "Well the letter just seemed to appear from nowhere.  It's one page of a multi-page letter, and it talks about the people on the island awakening to their spiritual senses and they are seeing energy vortexes.  They don't know what to do with all this new experiences and information."  Then she said the magic words for me.  "I think you need to go there."  I said I didn't have any money, that I was only a month from going back to Houston, and I couldn't imagine how that could happen, but this did sound like my guides and the way they work.  It felt very familiar.

An hour later, I got a phone call. It was Jennifer telling me that her friend DI from Norfolk Island was in town, and did I want to have coffee with them?  I said I thought under the circumstances that would be an excellent idea. We discussed what was going on on the island, Di said she also felt I should go there.  I proposed to her that if the people of the island really felt strongly about me coming that they would finance my ticket.  I would do a workshop in return for the ticket and I would work with the vortex energy with them and teach them how to work with it.  She said that probably wouldn't happen as they did not make decisions that quickly.  Ten days later, I was on a plane to Norfolk, 600 mile north of NZ in the middle of nowhere, a tiny little island, 5 x 8 miles and 1200 residents.

Once I arrived there, I saw the vortex between Norfolk and an even smaller island there called Phillip, just a rock in the ocean really.:)  That night, I saw the vortex in a different location.  Vortexes usually don't move like that, so I knew something was wrong with this picture. The next morning I sat down and connected with the land.  I called together the elemental beings of the wind, the sea and the land and asked what was up with the vortex.  They told me that the vortex had been put in place in Lemurian times in order to stabilize the rainfall on the island.  They told me that the island, up until a year ago, had a rain pattern of night rain only except for a few exceptional instances.  A year ago, earthquakes resulting from nuclear testing had jolted the vortex and split it in two.  One vortex was pulsing at night and one was pulsing in the daytime.  Neither vortex had the power to grab the clouds blown through by the Antarctic winds and hold them while they dropped their rain.  The job at hand would be to reintegrate the vortex so that the rain pattern could be reestablished.

I went to the Norfolkers and asked them if the information about the rain pattern was true, and if it had changed in the last year.  They said yes, they were known for this weird nighttime rain.  Good for tourism.  A year ago, the rain had just about stopped.  They were now in a severe drought causing them to have to distill and import much more water than normal. I was stunned and amazed.  The island was just too small to stop clouds on its own.  Even more amazing, I was told in meditation three names of people who would be on my team before I arrived, Chris, John, and Jamila.  They were all there and were part of the group who brought me there.  In fact, I was staying at Chris's house. John owned the house where I was doing private sessions, and Jamila was someone I had met online from Switzerland who flew all the way there to be a part of this after I talked about it to her online. Her decision to go happened after I left for Norfolk, so I had no idea she could make it there.

I was told to gather a group together and on Sunday, Nov. 18, 1995, we were to go out to Phillip Island and anchor the vortex through ceremonies I would be taught to do.  These people who were totally unaccustomed to this kind of thinking and acting were so supportive and enthusiastic to try whatever I suggested, that was incredible in itself.  Phillip was a restricted island because its ecosystem had been destroyed by rabbits, and they were trying to renew the vegetation on it.  No one was supposed to go there, but the day before the ceremonies, I did a reading for the man in charge of the replanting of Phillip, and we were allowed, 17 of us to go up there.  I am not in hiking and mountain climbing shape, and the heat and climb were getting to be too much for me.  I sat down and asked the powers that be to help me, to at least cool it off a little.  At that exact moment, a huge cloud moved in over the island and the temperature dropped 15 degrees in a matter of minutes.  It didn't rain on us though.  It was an impressive display, that huge black cloud just sitting there over us.  And there was no rain predicted.

We completed the ceremonies.  Three of the women who were with us conquered their fear of heights that day in order to be with us for this momentous occasion.  They had never climbed Phillip although they lived there all their lives.  I was psychically told that we had succeeded in the integration and that the rain was on its way ... Two days later, with no rain predicted, it started to rain and rained for four days straight.  All this can be verified by talking to the residents on the island.  I am sometimes called the rainmaker there, but it was all of us, and why it took humans to do it, I don't know.  We have functions that we don't know about as caretakers of this planet.  It was a most phenomenal adventure. -0-

I may get to go over there this trip too. It's shaping up now. Just following guidance, making my leaps of faith and traveling on a wing and a prayer.



Click the pic for more Sandy Penny Soul Candy memes ...

The Journey Continues by Sandy Penny

The Journey Continues by Sandy Penny

UPDATE 12/30/2016: I have already manifested the money to pay for the plane ticket and paid off my son's credit card. It only took two weeks once the energy and I aligned for it. I will be spending the month of March in New Zealand and doing some earthwork similar to what I did 20 years ago. Several people I worked with on my first journey to NZ will be joining me again. I can hardly wait. I'm waiting for my passport to be renewed, buying a new carry-on (my old ones are too big for the new standard) and generating traveling money while doing projects I love for the next two months. I'll be updating this page as life reveals itself. ~Sandy


POST: 12/12/2016: I told you previously that I would not be posting unless something big was happening. This post is the result of big energy.

I've been working at home, mostly helping authors and spiritual businesses get up and running on the Internet and social media for the 4 years since I returned to Houston from New Mexico. I was feeling like this is my life now, and all that travel was over for me. I'm retired, after all.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I got a hit in meditation that I needed to go back to New Zealand. Hmm. I talked with Karen Chant, one of my fellow travelers on my NZ journey in 1995 (so long ago), and she said she was feeling the same. She invited me to come and stay with her and do some earth healing. She said she knew some things that needed attention. I got that energy rush that comes when you know something is spiritually aligned. That's confirmation #1.

Then I started to talk myself out of it. Too much money, too many details, expired passport. Blah blah blah. Then I was scanning through TV channels and stopped to listen to a preacher who was talking about planting seeds. He said, if you ask for something, and the money starts coming in for it, you need to use it to plant the seed for what you asked for. If you don't, the money will dissipate. If you do use it to plant the seeds, the money will increase. I knew it was a message for me. I never listen to those TV evangelists, but this message was definitely for me. Confirmation #2

A few hours later, I found an email from New Zealand Air for a $400 discount on a ticket direct from Houston to NZ. OK, that was the #3 confirmation, but I had to buy the ticket the next day on Cyber Monday. I didn't have the money or a credit card. I asked my son if I could use his card to buy the ticket and pay him back before the trip. He said OK, so I bought a ticket, on a wing and a prayer. But this is always how my guides work. I'm spending a month in NZ from Feb. 26 to Mar. 28. Hope to see you, if you're around there. I might even make it over to Norfolk Island while I'm in that hemisphere ... If the funds show up for it.

Projects started pouring in to finance the trip, more projects than I've had in the last 4 years. Books to proof, website to build, social media marketing, and someone I went to high school with wanted me to proof a book of short stories he just finished writing. I hadn't heard from him in over 40 years. Within a week, I had paid back over half the cost of the ticket. And the rest is almost in now. Just have to finish some of the projects and get paid. Working non-stop to do that. Planting all those seeds for what I wanted.

Then other kinds of synchronicity started showing up. People I hadn't heard from in 20 years since my first trip to NZ started surfacing on Face Book, and old connections that were part of the original trip started presenting themselves. I haven't had this much energy running since I returned to Houston. I guess I needed the vacation.

Also, when I was there in 1995, I met Cornelius Van Dorp, a doctor, whose book, Crystal Mission, chronicled journeys so similar to mine that even some of the same locations showed up. I tracked him down and made a connection. I brought back some of his books to the U.S. Now, it's available on Amazon. Crystal Mission. He's one of the people I reconnected with on FB. I just started reading his latest book, Corn Circles (Cornelius's experiences with corn circles in UK). The first crop circle featured was the sun rising over a pyramid. Most of my spiritual friends know that this is the symbol I've used for my astral address since the late 1970s. It's a meeting point for me and other seekers in the unseen realms. What's it doing in a crop circle, and why am I seeing it right now? All in Divine Order, I know.  It's all a part of pointing me in a direction, and although I may not yet see the full picture, I see the pieces flying in from all directions. 

It's very exciting. Please touch base with me on whether you are experiencing similar synchronicities. It's an amazing time, and you may hear from me more often right now while all this is unfolding. I'll be doing some earth healing work in NZ. If anyone lives there and wants to physically participate, let me know. I feel a gathering of energies to accomplish some really wonderful things. Calling All Daughters of The Rising Sun for energetic support in this.

Much love, good health and happiness to all.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Sandy Penny, The Pyramind

SandyPenny.com

Invocation for Our World Leaders

Invocation for the World Leaders 

by Sandy Penny

I thought it was time we all focused on some positive energy for the group consciousness. I hope you'll read this often and share it anywhere you want.
With much love for all concerned. ~Sandy Penny

May all our world leaders be blessed with wisdom, compassion, and concern for the highest good of their people, their land, and the whole earth. May they act only when it benefits all. May they feed the hungry, offer healing to the sick, and give shelter to the dispossessed. May they reassure the frightened, comfort the sad, and love the children. May they educate everyone and work toward their own enlightenment. May they hold a vision that everyone can embrace. May they always give more than they take. And may each day be a brighter day that restores our joy and faith.

~Sandy Penny,  2016

Happy Solstice Full Moon

Happy Solstice/Full Moon

I asked a question today of Spirit, and received some information that I felt should be shared. Have you noticed lately that people you thought you knew are suddenly exhibiting venomous sides of themselves? These included anger, accusations, blame, intolerance, maybe violent tendencies and general grousing. Many high vibrational people have facets that are now coming to light for clearing and shifting.

The light that is shining brightly now that is transforming this world into a more enlightened place is spotlighting where fear lives and where darkness hides it. Compassion may seem to be faltering, but we are all requested to hold a place for those who are living out their fears to step up and clear them. Fear is the root of all violence, physical or verbal, and finding what fear is activating negative behaviors is our responsibility as spiritual beings.

It is difficult to own sometimes that negative challenges arise out of our own fears so that we can clear them and move forward into a happier state of mind. And, usually, the way forward is through it. My little two year old granddaughter has a book that presents obstacles and then with each one, it says, you can't go over it, you can't go under it, you have to go through it. She loves it and yells Through It! every time. What a great lesson for us all to learn.

The other aspect is that you can't change what you don't acknowledge. If you are in denial, you cannot claim the power that comes with knowing yourself and addressing the heart of your fears. And, by the way, if you are seeing it around you, it is also in you. That's the law of attraction.

Today is the summer solstice/full moon where I am, and it's a powerful day for a message like this. What is showing up in your life asking to be released, transformed, owned or claimed?

Darkness is a cycle and has its place in the world, but light always returns, and right now it is at its peak. If you live where this is the winter solstice, it is time to delve into your darkness and give thought to the seeds that are deeply growing within so that when the light strengthens, you are ready to grow.

Love to you all.

Sandy Penny, WritingMuse, sandypenny.com

The Gateway is Open

I once told you I would only publish this blog when it was really important. This is it.

A couple of days ago in NM, photographs of this amazing gateway began to appear. It is formed by ice crystals and is a very unusual phenomenon. I had been feeling an energy shift, and when I saw this photo, I could feel its power. I began visualizing going through this gateway, and I wanted to share it with you in case you want to do the same.

Are you ready? It's time to go now. We are in the midst of another big shift. It's time to leave all the petty little challenges behind and move forward into the powerful spiritual manifestation of who you truly are. The Central Sun is charging up the crystals within us all. The clarion call has sounded, the Diamond Crystal Gateway is open. Embrace it. Live it. Be it. In Joy.

You don't have to win the lotto, you've already won the greatest riches ever, yours for the taking. Yours for the making. Yours. (period)

~Sandy Penny . Sundra . Walker Between the Worlds . Infinite Light in the Omniverse

By the way, this is not the first time the gateway has been activated. It was also activated in January of 2014. Watch this hypnotic video from then. Some say this is just a weather phenomenon, but it's up to you to feel the energy. Try this: Repeat "infinite spirit, infinite wisdom, divine love, I am." continuously to build the energy. 

JUST IN - another view of the amazing NM Gateway with a link to the story.

PEACE GATHERING: At the end of this month, James Twyman, The Peace Troubadour is gathering a people from all over the world. He'll be on the ground in Syria with over 2000 monks praying for the area, world peace and for the children of Syria. If you'd like to join in from where you are, here's the link to sign up and get the updates. Exact time will be revealed the day before the meditation.

http://www.jamestwyman.com/

Laymen's Guide to Quantum Physics

Laymen's Guide to Quantum Physics

The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

In the late 1970s when I first read this book, not many everyday people were talking quantum physics, and Gary Zukav's book was lumped into the metaphysical category. Now it is in the science section of bookstore everywhere. He based his writings on the following premises, that if you can't explain it to people, then it cannot be of much use.

The main concept that changed my life from this book was that consciousness affects matter, and the way you think affects more than just the way you see a thing, it actually changes the thing you think about. That sounds like a chaotic way for things to be, and we know chaos is a very active principle in the universe.

Gary explained that when matter is broken down past molecules and atoms, you can observe the basic building blocks of matter, quarks. When quarks are observed, they seem to behave the way the observer expects. They may behave as particles, streams, strings or whatever concept you come up with. Think of that and ponder what ramifications it has on the world as we know it. If quarks make up all matter, what makes different objects? Consciousness is the obvious answer. What makes a chair a chair, a table a table and you you?

Anyway, it was and still is a mind-blowing book that more and more people now comprehend. It changed the way I live my life, the way I speak, the way I act, the way I think. It gave me great responsibility for the life I live, and it gave me hope for the greatest rewards I could conceive and believe. It is one of the great secrets of the universe, and it's laid out for all to understand. It's the Matrix Unraveled. Dive in and see what it brings to you. I'd love to hear your thoughts.  ~Sandy Penny

Explore and Buy on Amazon:

Vision Quest

MY VISION QUEST 1997  by Sandy Penny

Connie dropped me off at the Native American Vision Quest land near Crestone, Colorado in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I checked my canvas bag, two bottles of water, a blanket, a small native drum with a feathered drum beater, a candle, a sage smudge stick, and a box of matches. That's it. I would spend the night at the medicine wheel in the middle of the high desert by myself. Not many people knew about this place. Small tracts of land around Crestone had been donated to all kinds of spiritual groups. As she drove off, I had a twinge of fear, out here in the middle of nowhere, alone, what was I thinking? And then I quieted my mind and aligned with the reason I wanted to do this. I wanted clear space, nature and aloneness to open myself to my true purpose and to receive information on what's next for me. After the amazing trip to New Zealand, it was difficult to settle back into my life in Houston. As much as I wanted to have my kids back in my home, I didn't have a home right now, or a way to support them. I needed some clarity.

Still daylight, but with dusk approaching, I walked down the path to the sacred circle. Laid out like a Medicine Wheel with rocks marking 12 points on the circle, a metal placque on a stone at the entrance said Circle of Love. Around the outside of the circle were four stone domes, one for each element and dedicated to a purpose that suited the element: Earth for Healing, Wind for Communication, Fire for Transformation, Water for Emotional Release. I chose Wind for Communication. I had been working with the wind in NZ and on Norfolk Island, and it was a powerful experience.

The stone domes were stacked structures with no mortar holding them together. They resembled igloos and had a little crawl space entrance. Once inside they were big enough to stretch out and lie down on a packed dirt floor cleared of pebbles and raked smooth. The communication dome had a hole in the top where you could see the stars at night. After choosing my dome and spreading my blanket and putting my bag inside, I lit the smudge stick and waved it around, omming and singing Love and I are one, Love and I are one, we're one, we're one, we're one, we're one, Love and I are one, then going through other things I am one with, like earth, people, until I felt complete.

I returned to the Circle of Love. Walking into it and circling around it, smudging it with the sage. I stopped at each of the four directions, beginning in the east where the sun rises, I acknowledged my intentions in coming here. East, south, west, north. To align with my ancestors, to call in my spirit guides and teachers, and to listen to the wisdom beyond my small self, to align with my highest and best future. I called in my ancestors who love me, and acknowledged and thanked all the four direction meanings: Colors of Humanity: Red, Yellow, Black and White. Stages of life: birth, youth, adult (or elder), death. Seasons of the year: spring, summer, fall and winter. Aspects of life: spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical. Elements of nature: fire (or sun), air, water, and earth. Animals: Coyote, Eagle, Wolf, Bear and many others. Ceremonial plants: tobacco, sweet grass, sage, cedar. After making the full circle, I sat and meditated on the South stone until it began to get dark.

I exited the circle and crawled into my dome. I stuck the smudge stick into the ground so it could continue burning, lit my candle, drank some water and picked up my drum. I began drumming and chanting, inspired with Native American sounding chants as I called in the sacred singers. After some time of chanting, perhaps and hour or so, I began to hear all kinds of native singers and chants. I heard other drummers, and I could see beyond the dome. I could see a group of Native Council members taking their places at the 12 stations on the medicine wheel. There was a fire burning in the center of it. And there were circles beyond circles of native americans joining them, drumming and chanting. I was told I could be present at the council powwow, but I had to stay in the dome and continue drumming. And I did.

Finally, I was asked what I wanted to know, and I asked, should I follow the native path, learn the traditions and teach others? I was told that I am not on the native path, the red path, this life, and that I should return to the city. My purpose was to be a bridge between the modern world of technology and the many different spiritual paths. That I am not on any of the ancient paths, but creating my own path from all that I have learned through many lifetimes. That I am to hold a vision for what a future world can be, with compassion, love, joy, creation, and healing. That I am a creator, and I should share what I know through my writing. That I am a teacher who will help shape the next world, and that it is very important that I stay true to what I know in my heart.

I gazed at the stars through the hole in  my roof, and I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. I awoke to a bluebird flying around and around my dome tweeting loudly and continuously, like it was my alarm clock. I could see it pass over my dome over and over, non-stop twittering. "Ok, ok," I said, "I'm up." It flew off in acknowledgement. I drank some water, crawled out into the bright morning light, took a few deep breaths of the pure, mountain air and went for a walk around the grounds, remembering the eventful night.

I knew Connie would be coming soon to pick me up, so I went into the dome to put everything back in my bag. There on my blanket was a cobalt blue spray bottle labeled Essence of Isis and Ra. I sprayed it all over me and breathed in the refreshing and intoxicating fragrance. I knew I had not brought that with me. I didn't even own that particular essence, but I knew the woman who made them. When Connie picked me up where she dropped me off, I showed her the bottle and said we should go visit Catherine, who makes the essences. She invited us in for a cup of tea, and I showed her the bottle and said it had appeared in my dome during my Vision Quest. She said, "Oh, I wondered where that went. I just made it last night. It must be what you need right now. These essences often have a life of their own. Keep it." So I did.

[P.S. - I returned to the vision quest location a year later, and all the domes had been demolished by bears. Eeek!]

My Life Manifesto

My Life Manifesto 
by Sandy Penny, 2-2-2015

I never wanted to compete with others, only with myself. Even as a child, I wanted to create cooperation, not competition. Growing up with nine brothers and sisters was competition enough. I wanted to learn something new every day, and I have. I have always strived to be better at the things I choose to do, to improve processes, to innovate, to organize. I have always endeavored to leave a job better than I found it. I subscribed to the old adage, if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. I intend each day to ask myself if I'm living from love or fear, and to always choose love.

I hope, when I leave this world, that I have had a positive impact on those I've known, and that I have done as little harm as is humanly possible. I intend, every day, as Ghandi advised, to be the love I want to see in the world, to treat others with kindness, compassion and respect. I intend to leave every person with whom I interact feeling better than when we met, without attachment and expectations. If one person has been helped by me, if I have lifted anyone's suffering, made anyone smile, then I have lived a life worth living. And, for myself, I want only to be the highest and best expression my soul intends for my earthly life, knowing that when I leave this world, I feel complete with each and every sacred relationship I forged, and every relationship is sacred.

I commit to using and fulfilling the purpose of each chakra, each energy center within me, to express the colors of the rainbow that is me. I open myself to the golden connection that is my crown chakra, that I may bring more spirit into matter. I connect with the source of all light and open my inner and outer vision that I may see myself, others, my life, and the world clearly and through the love that manifests all creation. I connect with the source of all words and align my voice with the voice of love and joy. I align my mind with the universal consciousness that I may raise my thoughts to higher realms and transcend all negativity of the human consciousness, that I may think in more creative ways, that I may inspire higher thinking through all that I touch, that I may express right thought, right speech and right action for each and every situation I encounter, that I may share wisdom when needed. I clarify and align my feelings and emotions with unconditional love that I may create sacred partnerships throughout my life, knowing that all relationships are sacred and deserve love and compassion. I align and restore my physical body to the perfection in which it was created that I may walk this earth, strong and healthy, and follow my own path on my own journey of spirit flowing into matter and matter returning to spirit, a conduit of love, light, joy and completion.

As I awoke this morning, these thoughts were running through me, and I wanted to write them down, to remind myself that this is my life creed, and that I intend to live it fully, and I am. I am a spark of infinite love emanating from the unlimited stream of love divine. I am a bubbling spring of joy and wisdom to quench the thirst of all who drink it in. As I intend, so shall it be, for intention inspires action, and action creates and manifests. I am creator, manifestor and the artist of my own life.

Divine love, through me, blesses and multiplies all the good I am, all the good I have, and all the good I share. And so it is, and I am grateful.

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My Life Affecting Books

Someone on Facebook today asked me to list the top 10 books that have affected my life, and it set me to thinking back about that. As I reviewed my life, and I came up with a list. There are literally hundreds I could have mentioned, but as I meditated on it, these are the ones that stood out for me. Hope you enjoy them. Love to hear your comments or your own list.

10 Books that Affected Me and My Life

by Sandy Penny

Click any book cover to go to the Amazon information/buy page.

1. Hansel and Gretel by The Brothers Grimm. My brother Curt read this to me about 1000 times at my request before I could read. It is still my favorite book about empowerment. The children triumph over evil by cooperating and outsmarting the witch. 

2. The Bible because it gave me a base for morality and taught me the golden rule, the law of reciprocity. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And it has some great epic stories. It also made me examine my beliefs in light of all the different interpretations people had of this book.

3. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale because it taught me that I could change the circumstances in my life by changing the way I think about them. Being more positive leads to a more successful life. I read it when I was 10 years old, and it made perfect sense to me and changed my life.

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, a beautifully written tale of a woman triumphing over adversity at a time when few options were open to women. It represented courage, strength and acceptance of people's faults. I read it when I was a teenager, then again in my 20s, and again recently. And each time it was powerfully emotional.

5. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a deeply felt and compassionate tale of the plight of migrant workers. It portrayed the hard lives of these workers and taught compassion for the workers of the world. It also inspired gratitude for what I have. Growing up poor in a family of 10 kids, it was easy to relate to. I read it in 8th grade, and a few more times throughout the years. Some find it heavy and depressing. I found it uplifting and inspiring.

6. Helping Yourself with ESP by Harold Sherman because it awakened abilities within me that I had always known were there, but did not know how to use. No longer in print. Gave me the stair release meditation that led me to my room (womb) of power that I still use to clear my energy and connect with my higher self, guides, teachers and spirit beings. Sherman was an inspirational speaker, a well-known sports writer and avid explorer of metaphysical life principles. I corresponded with him a few times throughout the years, and he was friendly and helpful every time.

7. Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East (series), reinforced my experience of life as magical, mystical and miraculous. Taught me to trust my intuition and the unseen beings I interact with. The mysterious beings with magical powers still infuse my life with wonder.

8. I'm OK, You're OK, simple transactional analysis for relationships. It taught me that we can disagree and still respect each other's points of view. We do not have to make others wrong in order to have our own opinions. Very popular in the 60s/70s.

9. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield . This was the first spirituality novel that hit the New York Times Best Seller List and stayed there for two years. It chronicled the way many spiritual paths unfold and incorporated it into an adventure novel. It appealed to both men and women. I taught classes on the principles expressed in the book because it was the exact way my path unfolded. It let me know that masses of people are awakening to their own spirituality. It was a beacon of hope and a map for exploring personal spiritual growth.

10. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by by Leslye Walton. It is so poetically written with such deep emotion and poignant style about a girl who is born with wings, and the women in her family who have experienced their own ways of being different. A lovely book that keeps me returning to the characters again and again, wondering how they're doing.

That's the list that came to me today, and it runs through my life like a golden thread of inspiration. There are many many more, and I'll explore some of them on my new blog:
http://myfavoritespiritualbooks.blogspot.com/.
If you'd like to get updates for these books, just go to the blog and sign up for the updates

Click book cover to go to the Amazon Page for my novelette, Covenant of the Dove.

Sandy Penny - click the photo to go to http://sandypenny.com. 

Click the banner for Sandy Penny's Fresh Eyes Proofing - final proofing for your novels.

Journey of The Frangy Pangy

The Frangy Pangy (Frangipani, Plumeria)

My daughter Andrea was about to graduate from high school, when her friend Allison gave her a cutting from her favorite plant, a frangipani (plumeria). She told the story of her aunt giving it to her when she was a little girl, and she called it the frangy pangy (with a hard g) since she could not pronounce or remember frangipani (plumeria). It was a lovely gift signifying years of shared connection with Andrea.

Unfortunately, my daughter was about to go off to college thousands of miles away and could not take the frangy pangy with her. I lived in an apartment, and definitely did not have a green thumb. So, when Andrea asked me to take care of the plant for her when she went away to college, I reluctantly agreed. I valued the energy that went into the gift. But, with a deep sigh, I hoped I would not kill it as I had so many plants in my past. If only I had the my mother's green thumb.

I lived in an apartment in Houston, Texas, and luckily had a drive-up parking space right to my front door. Unfortunately, my patio was all cement with no plants. At first, it didn't bother me, but it was not inviting people into my home. I had a change of heart and realized that I needed to connect with the earth energy by growing plants, in honor of my mother's amazing green thumb. When she was alive, I constantly rejected her efforts to engage me in digging in the dirt. Not my thing. Not my thing.

After discussing it with my friend Sue, whose family was really into gardening in their urban yard, she agreed to help me choose native Texas plants that would be easy to care for and require little of me to beautify my patio. I got a little bit excited. I bought a two-seater covered porch swing, because I had always loved swings and moving, never sitting still. And I found a wonderful wrought iron table with a rose in the center and a rose in the back of the chairs. So sweet. I found a couple of stained glass windows in wooden frames to hang from cup hooks to reflect the lovely bright Houston sunlight.

We went to the plant nurseries, and discussed what would be the easiest for a non-gardener to maintain. I wanted plants that required little watering, no feeding and would be hearty enough to withstand my lack of knowledge and lack of interest in plants. I loved that they were beautiful, but I did not want the burden of too much care. Pretty soon, my patio was an awesome oasis of green energy. Neighbors who had never visited me in two years of living there started to stop and chat with me, and I thanked the plants for that.

I bought a thriving aloe vera plant, which I always think looks like a native American headdress. I always call them my shaman plants because they look like feathers. They were easy to grow and practical for healing purposes. Great to heal burns and cuts and itchy things. I would sit on the swing and enjoy the beautiful, bountiful green space. Proud that I was making the effort to connect with the earth energy.

Anyway, back to the frangy pangy. The frangy pangy was in a plastic bucket without too much soil. I watered it when I thought of it, and Houston's humidity was good for it. But, after months of loving care, it was not really thriving. We had a heavy summer rain, as Houston is likely to do, and I set the frangy pangy on the ground outside and below my cement patio, so it could enjoy the tropical moisture.

The next day, I went out to move  the plant back onto the patio, but it was gone. Oh, no, my daughter's legacy plant had been stolen. I was devastated. I did not want to tell Andrea that the plant she had entrusted me with was gone. So, I didn't tell her. I decided to wait until she was next in Houston to break the sad news.  And that would not be for months.

Several months went by, and I forgot about the frangy pangy. One day, I was watering my plants on the patio, which, by the way, were thriving. and I was amazed at that. As I rinsed excess water off the patio, I noticed the frangipani (frangy pangy) lying on its side below the patio and behind the plants where I had originally set it to catch the rain water. I could not believe it. All these months later, and there it was, right where I had put it originally, but laying on its side. And it looked exactly the same. I was flabbergasted, but so grateful, because I had not mentioned it to Andrea, and she had not come home for a visit. She knew nothing about the missing frangy pangy.

I picked it up, and it was still in the  original plastic planter. The next day, I bought a nice large painted clay planter, and filled it with organic top soil. I replanted the frangy pangy in the new planter, and set it back up on the patio with my other now thriving plants. For a girl with a black thumb, I was doing ok. It immediately started making new plants.

Andrea never knew it went missing, but I understood, from a spiritual point of view, that plants, like all of us, have their own destiny. Sometimes crystals disappear for months and return later. Sometimes our prized possessions cannot be found and spontaneously return to us. But, that is not the end of this strange story.

A few months later, I moved to the Houston Heights. I no longer had a patio, but I wanted to honor the plants in their new environment. I had a big, beautiful fenced front yard, so I placed the covered patio swing in it, and surrounded it with the plants that had been on my patio. Since it was a very shady yard, it worked perfectly with the plants I had chosen for my shady patio. They seemed very at home in the new environment.

A couple of months later, the frangy pangy bloomed, after two years, for the first time. I was thrilled. The plant that had gone away and returned, was now letting us know that it loved its new home. How exciting.

A few days later, one morning, when I went outside to have my coffee on the swing, something felt wrong. I could not immediately identify what was wrong. Later, as I sat there, looking around, I noticed the frangy pangy was gone. I could not believe it. It had grown to the size of a small tree and was full of blossoms. It was heavy and not easy to move in the large planter now housing it. And, even more, the gates to the yard were locked. How could this have happened? Was there a plant thief?  Or was something mystical happening again?

I was so sad. Finally, the frangy pangy had bloomed, after two years and a huge move, and now it was gone. What was I supposed to tell Andrea?  I tuned in to it spiritually, and was told that plants, like humans and other types of beings, have their own paths, their own lives, and we cannot truly own them. They are friends along the way, and if they leave, it is not our karma to track them down. If they return, it is because they choose to.

I have visions of the frangy pangy bringing joy and healing to all who encounter her. I don't know where she went, but I trust in the concept of All in Divine Order. She brought me joy, she brought my daughter friendship and loving energy, and all who saw her benefited from her beauty.

Sadly, she did not return this time. I hope, some day, I will see where her journey took her, and I believe it was a path of joy for all who knew her.

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