She arose before dawn and moved quietly through the house. It was dark outside and the rain was pelt against the windows. She did the dishes while the coffee dripped through the machine. With hot mug in hand, she sat cross-legged on the couch. After a few sips of coffee, she settled into position; legs crossed, hands on knees, back straight, jaw relaxed.

She let her mind drop down into the earth, visualized the red energy at the centre of the earth, and allowed it to fill her body with each breath. The voice of her teacher resonated in her head, “Don’t pull the energy; be receptive to it; be the receptive container; allow the energy to fill you.” With each inhalation, her body filled with the transformative red energy of the mother earth. Each exhalation washed away her fears, her anxiety, her grief and despair.

In her mind, she stood over her own body, which was stretched out on the floor, with a crystal wand in her hand. Her healing self used the crystal wand to cleanse each of her seven chakras. She spun the crystal over her own pelvis and visualized pure red light spinning there. Using the wand, she picked up any dark energy and released it to the ground.  She repeated this for each chakra; visualizing orange light above her belly, yellow above her solar plexus, green above her heart, blue above her throat, violet above her third eye, and white at the top of her head.

She had not done this for a very long time. She had been trained well; she knew how to heal her self and others, but she seldom took the time to use her skills. A modern woman living in a speedy age; working on a computer several hours a day; multi-tasking all of the time. It was hard to find the time….It was harder to quieten the mind. But more importantly, it was hard believe in the power of the old teachings.

It was easier to believe in the power when she was part of a circle; when she participated in healings while seated in a circle of women chanting and drumming together.  She had been the recipient of one of these healings and knew the power they had to change one’s life.  But faith is hard to hold on to in a material world; harder to hold when removed from a spiritual community.  And it had been decades since she felt part of such a community.