Author Archives: Ananaia OLeary

About Ananaia OLeary

My life-long love affair with humanity has led me to a deep understanding of the workings of the human psyche, and perhaps more importantly, the authentic nature of the human spirit. Over 20 years of spiritual study and both personal and professional experience I have developed my capacity to perceive the subtle energies and spiritual presence, which operate just below the surface of ordinary perception. My journey has taught me that these subtle dynamics shape our lives on every level: spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. We may not perceive them consciously, but they impact us concretely. When we come together, you bring your willingness and wisdom. I utilize my skills as a shaman, healer, visionary and teacher and the transformational power of love to help you heal, evolve, discover and share your medicine gifts. As you release impeding energy patterns and mobilize your authentic gifts, life becomes more vibrant, harmonious and empowered. Let's collaborate!

Marigold Medicine

As Spring begins, my appreciation for the Green Nations is invigorated. Working with Plant medicine & Plant Spirits is a wonderful blessing. To celebrate & deepen this magical alliance, I'm opening to more connection and knowledge of these beautiful brothers & sisters of the Plant Realm.

Lately, Marigold has been coming on strong. What a potent & lovely member of the Plant clan. Marigold medicine connects us with the joy of the rising sun. On this chilly, I'm welcoming the warmth & beauty of Marigold Plant Spirit.

Marigold, also known as Calendula, has many traditional uses, including lip balm, skin-soothing salve, compresses and more.  Learn more

I enjoy working with Marigold at the energetic level. The Spirit of Marigold dances in the fields of energy, strengthening our electrical fields, inviting us to move beyond the superstition of the material. She beckons us to join her in the subtle realms just beyond our conventional senses. What a beautiful invitation!

Recently Marigold has been on the move in my healing work, flowing into tattered places in the energy field, helping to restore structure and revitalize flow. Thank you, sweet Sister, for helping me to look with fresh eyes, understand from new levels and deepen my healing wisdom. Your partnership is whole-heartedly appreciated.

Welcome Marigold to partner with you to strengthen you energy field and enhance your vibrancy. You can do this through meditation, shamanic journey, simple request or with Marigold flower essence.

Shine on, sweet Sister!

by Ananaia R O'Leary

When You’re Feeling Down, Look Up

Ever notice that, when times get tough, we tend to bow our heads & forge ahead, eyes lowered, chin tucked, jaw set? This posture compresses our upper chakras: Crown, 3rd Eye, Throat & Heart. Constricting these vital centers makes it more difficult to access the grace, inspiration & clarity needed to find solutions & a smooth pathway forward. Next time you're feeling stressed, relax your jaw, lift your head, look to the sky & welcome luminous possibilities!

by Ananaia R O'Leary

Opening The Heart

OPENING THE HEART

Benefits: softens and opens the heart chakra, enhances receptivity to nourishing energies and spirit support, helps you attend to what has heart and meaning, allows you to express your heart more authentically, strengthens capacity for compassionate presence.

Do this as a regular spirit practice, when you wish to be open and present with spirit, when you are feeling cold or close hearted, when you wish to show up authentically in the world.

Instructions:

1. Bring your hands to your heart chakra and rest your fingertips gently on your sternum.

2. With your hands, trace the shape of a heart on the front of your body from the center of your heart chakra to your navel. As you begin to draw the heart, inhale slowly through your nose. When you reach the navel, release the breath slowly out through your mouth.

3. Repeat this process 3-4 times. The last time continue to move your hands down the inside of both your legs, breathing out as you sweep the energy down your legs to your feet.

adapted from a technique from Donna Eden

Luminous Steps

"Why do you seek this?" I ask her, as she sits across from me, expressing the desire to develop her "psychic" abilities. 

It has been such a focus of discussion and attention that the question catches her unawares, and she laughs aloud in that wondrously naked laugh of hers. The one that reveals her willingness to expose the regions she has not yet explored. "That's a great question!"

We go deeper ... she breaths the question into my cuya, one of my stone helpers. It rests on the cloth of my medicine bag, holding undiscovered wisdom. The rattling begins. We are calling forth the spirits of Nature and Ancestors ... calling out her spirit, that which is luminous within her. The rattling continues and the stone begins to speak ... sharing flashes of history ... pain and impeccability, a soul contract to utilize her deep spirit power only in right-alignment ... peeling away the appeal of identities to unveil the purpose beneath. 

Expansion ... "I'm seeking expansion," she breathes again into the cuya, moving its placement within the ring of stones in my medicine bag. Now the stone draws us into the realm of visions, riding the sound of the rattle.  Here is Eagle medicine ... a medicine man embodying Eagle. 

He is chanting. The words form on my lips and die away, faltering on my inability to shape the unfamiliar sounds rising in my mind. He is showing us impeccability, absolute knowledge of Spirit-force moving through the world, through him. He is calling the spirits. They will answer him. He knows this. He has no doubt. Every cell in alignment.

Now he is dancing, leading a ceremony in sacred circle, sand beneath his feet, rocks rising around him. Others join in the dance ... a handful of human dancers and then the eagles. drawn by the power, like answering like. The eagles come! First one, then another, then flights of eagles soar in the sky above.  Night falls. Dancers fade away until once more he dances alone. Eagles wheel skyward, seeking nests in high places.

Now Serpent awakens, slithering up from her subterranean home, moving with messages from the Earth Mother. She writes across the circle beneath the feet of the lone dancer ... danger and wisdom combine. Each footfall must be impeccable now. He curves his shoulders, moving deeper into the dance. Welcoming guidance, allowing it to flow over and through him. Mantling him. Infusing him. Empowering him for the spirit-dance. He is moving without hesitation, each foot perfectly placed, avoiding Serpent's coils.

Night deepens. Heart deepens. He is drawing on guidance now .. no longer from fear, but from love. Careful. Careful, lest he injure this sweet serpent ally. It is love that guides him ... deeper purpose emerges: We are invited to seek spirit guidance ... not simply to ensure the safety of our path, but to ensure that each step is taken in love, with respect for All.

We emerge from the dream, energies dancing across my medicine bag ... across the space between us, around us. She is aligning ... Eagle above her head, Serpent beneath her feet ... aligning with spirit, with love ... expanding ... luminous.

~ Ananaia R O'Leary.  Thanks to my spirit sister for permission to tell her story. 

Evolution: Journey to Love

You didn't come into this life whole and perfect. You came in as a work in progress. You may be born with a brand new body, but it's inhabited by a soul that has been journeying through lifetimes.

What is the purpose of this journey? Evolution.

Evolution toward what? The full revelation of love-in-action. The long arc of our evolutionary future stretches so far before us that its ultimate endpoint may be beyond anyone's imagining. Yet, when you look with the eyes of Spirit, it is possible to follow that future thread to a time when human beings fully embody love. Gaze even further and you may glimpse a world, perhaps a galaxy, in which humans, collaborating from love, create harmonious solutions and luminous innovations beyond our dearest dreams.

As individuals and as a species, we are on a path toward this full embodiment of love. Every moment of every life, we have been on that journey. In the course of that long sojourn, we acquire some history. We enter this life with a soul record of all we have accomplished. This soul record is a part of our energy field, which holds all the wisdom and abilities we have developed and are in the process of developing. In our new body, we need to reconnect to this reservoir of experience and activate it at our conscious operating level. When you turn your hand to something new and discover you have a natural knack for it, you are tapping into this storehouse of wisdom.

In addition to carrying forward our accomplishments, we also bring with us unresolved challenges. We have been learning about love by trial and error. In the process, things can get sticky, often painful. When we hurt, we tend to hunker down to lick our wounds. When we are unsure how to proceed, our progress is stymied. If we are unable to resolve these challenges, we bring them forward into our next life. Wherever this painful inertia exists, healing is needed. As we heal, we relieve paralyzing pressure and regain our evolutionary momentum.

Healing is an essential, ongoing process, but it is not the endgame. We emerge from each healing experience more resilient and empowered to express love through our own unique medicine (our gifts, abilities, positive qualities.) Then what? Beyond healing there is growth, bountiful opportunities to realize more of our authentic potential. This is where the journey gets juicy. Here we are free to build our confidence, strengthen our talents, hone our capacities and widen out into new territories of exploration and self-discovery. Here we refine our ability to share our gifts impeccably with the world.

Evolution is a joyous experience. As we evolve, we flourish: love flows, wisdom grows, intuition deepens, synergy happens. We learn to express ourselves more authentically, collaborate more effectively and create more harmoniously. We become medicine women and men, building a better world through the power of love.

~ Ananaia O'Leary

Synergy: Our Next Evolutionary Step

What would happen if humans learned to work together harmoniously?

That is not possible, you say? I challenge that. Past precedent is not proof of future possibility. Humans are a collective species. We are expressly designed to live and create together harmoniously. We simply have yet to fulfill our design. Throughout human history, we have been striving to do so. Our progress has been hampered by the fact that this has largely been an unconscious process, driven by our Spirit and unrecognized by our Ego. Now is the time we can engage consciously. When we do so, the way forward is smoothed and accelerated.

To achieve this, we need to heal distortions in our consciousness, develop our ability to access and honor our inner wisdom, evolve untapped capacities and learn to live from love. As we heal and grow, we discover that medicine harmonizes with medicine. Why? Because medicine sources from the Creator consciousness at the core of our being. This consciousness creates for universal good. When guided from this Source, we create for harmony. We create from love.

Synergy is the magic that happens when two or more come together to create from love. When people share their authentic medicine, amazing things can happen. Each person’s medicine has the potential to compliment and augment the medicine of others. We can create harmoniously together without contention or competition, drama or dysfunction. Synergized medicine yields results far greater than the sum of the parts, exponentially expanding our ability to resolve challenges and enhance our collective quality of life.

What would happen if humans learned to work together harmoniously?

Miracles.

We have a lot of evolving to do before we can do this consistently. Evolution is an inside job. It doesn’t happen “out there.” Transformation is up to you. You can heal the distortions in your consciousness, learn to access your inner wisdom and progressively bring forth your authentic potential. You can create from love.

A tall order? Certainly. But if you are willing, it will happen.

It will not be achieved overnight. It doesn’t need to be. We are on an evolutionary journey to co-create from love. As your journey unfolds, life sweetens, joy increases, harmony flourishes and grace flows. You don’t have to take up this challenge alone. Human beings are not meant to operate in isolation. Join me. It is time to say “Yes!” to synergy.

~ Ananaia O'Leary