Taking responsibility says, “I see my part in this, and I know how to create a more desirable result next time.”

This is empowerment.

Self blame says, “I screwed up and I’m going to punish myself for it.”

This is disempowering.

It leads to guilt, hiding, and bottled up emotions that make us feel stuck.

Self blame is actually just a defense mechanism to avoid facing the truth about our role in something, because our subconscious thinks it’s going to be too painful.

But this is a lie that keeps us trapped in a cycle of shame.

The truth is that facing it might hurt for a second, but it’s actually a huge relief to give up the burden we’ve been carrying.

Acknowledging our part in what happened is exactly what’s needed to create a better outcome.

Sometimes our part may simply be that we put up with a terrible situation for way too long, because we didn’t know how to leave, or that we deserved better.

Taking responsibility doesn’t always mean that we forgive someone or welcome them back into our lives.

It does mean taking back the power to create our own life by making different choices.

When we have “messed up,” we know exactly how to improve – if we can understand what we did, without defaulting to self blame.

Self responsibility is a powerful form of self love.

The post Taking responsibility vs. blaming ourself appeared first on Visionary Readings.

I truly honor all of us who have had to go through some seriously traumatic experiences.

And I do NOT ever recommend giving anyone unsolicited opinions about their own karma. (Really, it’s a terrible idea!)

And yet, if karma is one of our lenses into truth… into what’s so… into capital “R” Reality… does it really empower us to jettison it so we can feel better?

I actually don’t think it’s empowering or makes us feel good to imagine that none of our actions have any effect.

By rejecting the concept of karma we are literally saying, “I don’t believe in cause and effect.”

We are saying, “My actions have no fruit.”

We are saying, “It does not matter what I think or do today, I will die and be reborn and none of my spiritual development, transformation or effort will accompany me.”

In rejecting the notion that our NEGATIVE energy will follow us, we throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater because none of our POSITIVE energy would be able to come either.

We can’t have it both ways.

Either life is a meaningless, temporary adventure that ends when we die, or we are eternal beings who carry with us memories, imprints and soul trajectories.

As someone who reads Vedic Astrology charts (aka karma maps) all day long, and has the trippy experience of being able to accurately name what happened to someone in the past, with only a birth time to go off of, I can personally say: I believe we have a destiny.

I can see that there are predictable events that happen to us throughout our lives.

I can see that they aren’t always things we caused in this lifetime.

And I feel empowered by the idea that the choices I make today – the seeds that I plant – can ripple out into my life, other people’s lives, and future lifetimes.

I can’t tell you how many times an astrology client of mine has felt deep relief in knowing that a traumatic event was predestined from previous lifetimes.

That it wasn’t their fault.

That they couldn’t have changed anything.

That the karma has been done and that event is now in the past.

They feel validated, emboldened and renewed — not shamed, blamed or shut down.

Karma doesn’t mean “an eye for an eye.”

It doesn’t mean that if we were violated, we must have done the exact same thing to that person (or someone else).

It just means that we were somehow involved in causing another’s pain, and that this energy is returning to us to be completed.

It means there is an opportunity to close the loop, complete the circuit, and heal… forever.

To me, this knowledge is a profound gift of true seeing, not one to be tossed in the trash as a self protection mechanism.

I will never stop talking about karma, because it’s my lens into Truth, so please know that if you continue to follow me, that’s what will continue to flow through me.

And next time someone admonishes you for using the word karma to understand life, perhaps this explanation will help.

And yet, we should never weaponize karma or talk about it lightly. It’s serious business that causes people to feel all sorts of things, and by throwing it around carelessly, we will create more of our own negative karma.

I recommend discussing other people’s specific karma only in a formal, permission based container like a Vedic Astrology reading or other type of professionally guided session, in our domain of expertise.

The post Is talking about karma “victim blaming?” appeared first on Visionary Readings.

While these creations do not have self awareness, they do transmit our consciousness anytime someone interacts with them. They are doling out energy on our behalf, even if we are not aware of it.

This means that our creations can create karma for us, since karma is created in both the energy we put out, but also the response that we generate.

If someone develops anger toward us because of our photos, those photos are creating a karmic bond between us and that person, whether we know it or not, or whether or not it is reasonable for them to feel that way.

Because of this, in many ancient spiritual traditions, fame is often regarded as more of a curse than a blessing.

All sorts of people put their attention on celebrities, and in all kinds of ways. One may be an adoring fan, but another may be obsessive or be projecting unwanted energy. No personal interactions are necessary to create these energetic bonds.

Most people aren’t equipped or trained to handle this much energy coming at them and it takes an accomplished yogi or shaman to transmute and channel it in a good way (an ability that was most likely acquired via diligent practice in many past lives).

The energy of other people’s thoughts about us is powerful, en masse, and can knock us off balance if we aren’t prepared.

This is why so many famous people fall apart and wind up having extremely challenging lives, despite their success and appearance of “having it all” from the outside.

We now live in a world where social media is King, and we are all aspiring celebrities in our own hall of mirrors.

There are no longer any geographical barriers to limit the number of people we enmesh with, and the amount of karma we can create in one lifetime is practically infinite.

We are in a cultural fishbowl where we don’t realize how embedded this desire to be seen is becoming in each of us. To be seen by as many people as possible is now entwined with our very survival. This will only deepen as time goes on.

The archetype that represents this new, barely-understood world is Rahu.

Rahu is the ever-moving point where the orbital path of the Sun and the Moon intersect, and is a key player in eclipses.

Rahu is a Hungry Ghost who always wants more but never feels satisfied. Rahu represents compulsive ambition, self-serving fame, ingenuity, imposters, subterfuge, unsolvable riddles, and things that are simply not what they seem.

The United States is in a Rahu “chapter” for the next 15 years and our President is basically the human embodiment of Rahu. We don’t have the birth time of this iteration of Humanity, but it seems we are collectively in a Rahu period as the epidemic of compulsively desiring fame is global.

So what do we do with this realization?

We stay awake, grounded and aware.

We tune into the frequencies of gratitude and anonymous service.

We surround ourselves with wise beings who can give us accurate and personal reflections.

We carefully consider what we are putting out there online and take time to understand and prepare for what it means to be seen and judged by many.

This doesn’t mean we should hide in a cave- we are inherently creative beings, and life is meant to be lived – but with this awareness, we can consciously choose what energies we are inviting into our field and the level we wish to play at.

The post Fame, Social Media and Karma appeared first on Visionary Readings.

I paused for a moment. Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could do whatever I wanted all the time, and have unlimited income?

This is a seductive and universally appealing vision. There are actually a few people out there who have apparently achieved this, which makes it seem even more desirable. (And they are probably inviting you into a very expensive mastermind so you can have the same results!)

But, upon further reflection, I realized that I didn’t want that at all. Here’s why.

Effort creates value. Creating anything of value requires that we apply consistent effort over time. This is simply how reality works.

When was the last time you created something of great value to others with minimal effort? (Don’t forget to count all the years you spent honing your craft or building your network).

But what about the people who seem to have money pouring down on them like a monsoon — while they go to the spa?

In those cases, one of these things is true:

A) This person does a ton of diligent work they haven’t told you about, yet posted a spa photo on social media accompanied by a quote about the ease of abundance.

B ) This person put the effort in during past lives and is now reaping the rewards.

Either way, we wind up comparing ourselves to these people without having all the data on how they created their abundance.

This matters, because life is truly about putting in the effort to alleviate the suffering of others, and giving more than we take. This is a key on the path to freedom.

When we receive the fruits of past life efforts, what we do with those rewards defines whether we are following our Dharma or just wasting good karma.

Despite what much of the internet marketing and feminine empowerment teachings tell us, life is not, in fact, about conspicuous consumption or the endless pursuit of pleasure (for its own sake).

Leading a coaching mastermind to coach other coaches to coach coaches and telling others that they should just believe they can have it too by posting to Instagram, and that their dream of constant, pleasurable indulgence will come easily, while everyone sips champagne on a boat in Italy — that’s simply not a value add.

All this does is drain the karmic bank account of hard-won, supportive energy. It’s a waste, because that energy could be used to help others who are truly suffering, which is how the coffers seem to get refilled.

Imagine that, in 1000 past lives, someone did diligent and grueling daily practices to increase their Shakti and their capacity to affect the world, and then in 2018, used it all up to blog about being rich.

This is what’s likely happening for certain people right now

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if we are Donald Trump or Mother Theresa – life is infinite, and will sort itself out.

But here we are, playing the game of life here in space and time – so how do we really want to do it?

If we want a fulfilled life where we feel in integrity with ourselves as humans, then easy is not the goal. Money is not the goal.

Value, service, contribution, beauty, truth, freedom, evolution – these are the kind of goals that are worth living for.

True pleasure, happiness, abundance and enjoyment are side effects of these things.

I’ve spent the last 18 months co-building a business and it’s been anything but easy. Exhilerating, fascinating, deeply fulfilling and extremely challenging – yes, but easy, no – and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’ve grown and learned through the challenges and struggles it has brought me. I’ve created value though my effort. I’m a part of something that truly helps people.

The process of birthing, whether enjoyable or painful, is a challenge because it’s meant to transform who we are at the core into a mother.

There is a reason why it allegedly takes 10,000 hours of applied effort to become an expert in anything.

Anyone can hang a shingle online declaring they are an expert at something, but… are they really?

Who do we really want to learn from?

So the next time someone tries to seductively sell you on the dream of “something for nothing,” I recommend walking away, because this person fundamentally misunderstands reality.

There is no such thing. We are always either giving or consuming, with every breath we take (not even our breath is free!)

Choose wisely!

~ Artwork by Paul Bond Art ~

The post Wasting Good Karma: The Seductive Myth Of Getting Something For Nothing (e.g. Millennial Wantrepreneurs on Instagram, MLM’s, And Coaching Masterminds) appeared first on Visionary Readings.

Their first inclination was to “take the other person down,” or to seek revenge in order to make things right.

I completely get it. Who hasn’t fantasized about having a triumphant victory against Evil incarnate after our core values and beliefs were trampled on egregiously?

I had two things to say to these people, and I wanted to share this message more broadly because I think it’s so important:

1) Revenge is unnecessary and hurts the avenger

The way karma works is that we’ve either already done something in this life or a previous life to deserve what just happened to us, or if we haven’t, life will take care of evening out the energy on our behalf. Regardless, we don’t need to do anything other than act with integrity, i.e. according to what our inner compass tells us in a moment of clarity.

If we take matters into our own hands and try to embody the law of karma ourselves, we will just create more of the same situation, on repeat. Most likely we will actually make things much worse, since it’s hard to accurately measure the far reaching repurcussions of our actions, especially ones taken out of spite.

It’s not that we have to pretend the other person is right, forgive them or spiritualize the experience. It’s just that we don’t need to DO anything fancy to right their wrong. If what they did was illegal we can press charges, report them, or do whatever is lawful and in alignment, but beyond that we risk harming ourselves.

If we trust reality, we can breathe through the experience and burn karma away instead of creating more of it, which will lead us into a more peaceful existence.

2) This anger is a clue to our next level purpose

If something makes us extremely angry, it’s because we care. We are passionate about it (the word passion comes from the root, “pain.”)

For example, I get so irked when I see people teaching and writing about things where they don’t know what they are talking about. Armchair “experts” make my blood boil, especially when it comes to esoteric wisdom.

I could go around commenting angrily on everything I see that falls into this category, which would certainly take a lot of energy and piss off lots of people.

Or, I could look deeper.

What this tells me is that I’m passionate about going deep and developing expertise and speaking truth.

When I look underneath that, I also see that I am secretly mad at myself for not sharing more publicly, because I have a story that “there are other people who have even more expertise than me,” which is the shadow side of my belief.

There will always be someone with more expertise than me, so I need to loosen my grip on that point of view! And at the same time, there is still validity in there to mine for my truest expression.

As it happens, my most popular article online is in Elephant Journal and denounces shitty astrologers who write BS horoscopes to get attention and business.

5 years later, people read this article and book sessions with me because they resonate with my point of view.

This is a healthy and productive way to channel my passion into my purpose.

I can use my passion and anger to find my voice.

As an entrepreneur in a sea of information, my voice needs to be unique to catch the attention of those who want to work with me. I need to stand out, not blend in, in order to be remembered.

This is how to use anger and passion in a good way.

How about you? What pisses you off that is a clue to your deepest purpose?

The post The Artful Use Of Anger – Channeling Passion Into Purpose vs Getting Revenge appeared first on Visionary Readings.

“There is no destiny.”

“We all write our own story.”

“Anything is possible for you right now.”

Over the past few days I’ve read similar variations of this statement from multiple personal development teachers, psychics, tarot card readers and yes, even astrologers, and each time it made me cringe.

As someone who spends most days reading astrological horoscopes, i.e. maps of individual people’s destinies, I’ve got the idea that something different is true.

Not only do I know that we each have a destiny, I want to share this revelation with everyone because it’s the key to leading a happy, successful life.

How do I know that destiny exists, you ask?

Because of retrodiction.

Prediction is foretelling the future. It’s hard to prove that it works because questions like, “Did the prediction affect the outcome by influencing the subject somehow?” start to come up. For example, if I look at your birth chart and tell you that you are going to find $10 tomorrow, you’ll start looking for $10 bills everywhere and are more likely to find it.

Retrodiction is knowing the past. It’s easy to prove because if I just met you and I start telling you about specific events and experiences from your past, something’s clearly going on. If I give you a Vedic Astrology reading in which I say that you got divorced three years ago and moved houses when you were five years old, there’s no way I could have known that, unless…

…Unless destiny is real.

How could the past be predictable unless some of the events in our lives are fated?

Believing in fate is not very popular because it implies that there are things in life that we can’t change, which we’ve been told isn’t true. We can change anything if we put our mind to it and take action, right?

No. No, there are things we definitely cannot change, such as:

– The gender, race, country, socio-economic class and domestic situation that we were born into. We can’t go back and decide to be born differently.

– The preferences and choices of the people around us. For example, if our country elected a president we dislike, we didn’t choose that and we can’t rewrite history and change it.

– Hardwired behavioral patterns from our past traumas, attachment styles, and deepest wounds. We can work constructively with these things but we can’t change the fact that they happened.

Someone of can come get a reading from me at any time in their life and I can see these types of things in their chart.

If there are things we cannot change about our past, we might consider that we also have a default future, aka a destiny.

Do we have free will? Absolutely. Can we apply our free will anytime we want to? Not exactly.

While the future is not written in stone, it does depend on our mindset and our actions.

The idea that we can create our destiny is partially true.

Our thoughts determine our conscious actions and unconscious reactions. Our state creates our thoughts. But what creates our state?

Certainly things like exercise, diet, sleep, our overall health, our experiences and our thoughts (it’s circular) create our state. We have some control over some of these things some of the time.

Do you know anyone who claims to have total control over all of these things? I don’t care who it is, I’m here to tell you that they are lying to you. No human being is choosing their state, thoughts and actions 100% all of the time (or even close).

In some blessed moments we are making conscious choices according to what we want for ourselves. In other moments we are asleep at the wheel and acting by default.

Those default reactions dictate how our lives unfold.

One way they tend to occur is in the most emotionally charged and dramatic moments when we are unable to control our most basic instincts.

When we think that our survival is threatened our conscious awareness tends to go out the window. Our ancestors, traumas, wounds and unconscious memories act through us. We have a lapse in critical judgment and say mean things to a loved one, abruptly quit a job, or eat things that are bad for us.

The other way our default actions work is through natural talents and inclinations. We can’t help but be good at what we’re good at. In some cases we worked hard and had the discipline to become talented, but where did that drive come from? It is a quality that already existed within us. We become successful, we develop a good reputation, and we think we did it.

We have the power to choose how we act and react in every moment, but the odds can be stacked heavily against us or in favor of us, and what we are trying to accomplish isn’t random either.

Only by knowing the ways we are shaped by our destiny can we begin to have true free will.

Thousands and thousands of years ago ancient rishis (“seers”) in india realized this and discovered a correlation between destiny patterns and the movement of the planets against the backdrop of the stars. They saw how our astrological birth charts show the way we are “seized” by certain planetary energies, causing us to do predetermined things.

The system they developed, Vedic Astrology, is one of the ways we can begin to know ourselves better, to understand how we are wired so that we can apply more and more of our free will in every moment. We can see why we are drawn to make certain choices and then take a step back to decide if we really want to move in a certain direction.

We all need someone who can shed light in the darkness, hand us a map, and lead us through the places where we are most blind.

A great Vedic Astrologer can be that person for you. I would be honored to be that person for you.

If you want to discover your destiny and find your free will, you can go here to learn more and book a Vedic Astrology Reading.

The post How Your Destiny Can Set You Free appeared first on Visionary Readings.

It’s kind of a weird concept that the movement of the planets against the backdrop of the constellations somehow determines how your life goes.

On the surface, it seems like a strange belief, but if you dig deeper, you’ll discover that the arrangement of the planets represents what’s going on within you. Their location, relative to earth, is like a signpost – in this infinite universe – of where you are in time and space, and that includes your inner and outer landscape.

Consider the idea that when you were born, you had a destiny.

You came into the world at a specific time when the situation on the outside could match the energy your individual soul had inside, and that set you on a particular trajectory.

That’s what your astrological birth chart shows – exactly what energy you had as you began this lifetime, via the placement of each planet, house and constellation.

The energy you came in with interacts with the energy around you for the rest of your life, and that’s what makes astrological predictions possible.

You can see how your chart is going to play along with the current and future state of the planets in the sky and then get a sense of what’s most likely to happen in all areas of your life.

You have this predictable destiny because of karma.

Your karma is the collection of actions you have taken throughout your multitude of lifetimes. According to many Eastern philosophies, you are given a certain portion of your total karma to experience in this lifetime.

Karma can show up as specific events in your life but it also reveals itself as deeply engrained patterns in your physical, emotional and intellectual mind.

These patterns are usually very hard for you to see on your own, and can cause you to take unconscious actions that perpetuate them, which means you are living your life according to fate.

Once you can see the patterns and you know how your karma is influencing you in this lifetime, you can begin to go beyond fate and experience free will.

Free will can only be exercised when you have awareness. You don’t truly choose the things you do unconsciously – that’s why they are so predictable.

If you want to become free, you need to understand where you are bound and develop this awareness. As you untie these knots and begin to make conscious choices you will be liberated.

Sometimes there will be events you can’t change. But you can always improve your ability to respond to them in a way that creates more peace and joy for yourself and others.

My feeling is this:

Why wait any longer to get yourself on a better trajectory? What is more important than understanding your karma and becoming free?

It’s why I’ve chosen the path of helping to shed light on the hidden forces guiding people’s lives. It brings me so much joy to walk beside my Vedic Astrology clients as they have those big, life changing “a-ha” moments about the patterns that have been running them, and then to watch them choose a better way.

If you’d like to understand your karma via your birth chart and learn how to become more free, follow this link because I’d be honored to do a Vedic Astrology reading for you.

Let’s liberate ourselves!

The post How To Use Your Karma To Become Free appeared first on Visionary Readings.

Discover the truth about horoscopes here.

I share an unpopular opinion that might surprise you…

The post About That Horoscope… appeared first on Visionary Readings.