• Magic is Real
  • What is Magic?
    • Monthly Magic Guide
    • Discovery Sessions
    • 9 Weeks to Magic
    • Special Events
  • Stories
  • Articles
  • Praise
  • FREE Gifts
  • About
  • Contact
Menu

Fleeting Connections

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
There is more. Live from there.

LET THE MYSTERY BE

Fleeting Connections

  • Magic is Real
  • What is Magic?
  • Services
    • Monthly Magic Guide
    • Discovery Sessions
    • 9 Weeks to Magic
    • Special Events
  • Stories
  • Articles
  • Praise
  • FREE Gifts
  • About
  • Contact
VIRGINIA_SPRING_2017-1533.JPG

Stories

Nonfiction storytelling that embraces the unknown. This is magical memoir: true moments grounded in reality. Nothing more. Nothing less. Energy science, spirituality, philosophy, & advice for magical living.

Gods & Monsters (or How I stopped being an atheist)

December 6, 2017 Virginia Richardson
gods&monsters.JPG

My History of Disbelief

My family always celebrated Christmas, but we never went to church. We were the kind of Christians who were only in it for the stockings and sugar cookies. Cultural traditions leftover from earlier generations of believers.

Nevertheless, I would occasionally end up in church - mainly when I slept over at a friend's house on a Saturday night. And one Sunday morning in high school, I found myself standing in a circle, holding hands with my friend and all of her Sunday school friends. In the circle, we were each asked to say why we were grateful to God. When they got to me, I was honest and simply said, I don't believe in God. They all bowed their heads and prayed for me. I rolled my eyes.

My atheism only became more dogmatic with age. In college, I read Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins and dedicated my studies to human evolution and laughed at pictures of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and for the most part, I genuinely believed that being religious meant that you must be some form of uninformed or unintelligent.

Meditation changed everything.

But after college, I started meditating, and the moment I started, I was hooked. I sat for twenty minutes every morning. I read Buddhist book after Buddhist book. I felt like I'd finally found a group of people whose beliefs aligned with my own. And as anyone who has studied Buddhism knows, these beliefs can be wholly atheistic.

But the more I meditated, the more agnostic I became. The more I got to know my own mind. I began to understand its arrogance and its ability to convince itself of certainty, and I became increasingly uncertain about everything.

I began simply watching and accepting my experiences without jumping to conclusions one way or the other. I began feeling new sensations - like energy moving through and around me - and I began having visions while I was meditating. I would see things or come to know things, and then they would come true.

And so I began to trust my intuition and sense that there was something happening much larger than myself.

But I've never been a joiner.

I stayed a part of the Buddhist community for a little over a year. I met with them once a week, made many friends, and went on a meditation retreat. But in time, I began seeing the holes in their organized system - in the same way I have seen holes in literally every spiritual community from the southern Churches where I group up to the Buddhist temple in Chelsea and even to the Brooklyn yoga and Reiki community.

Spirituality is like that. Belief is like that. It's easily twisted and exploited because the mind enjoys feeling certain. But in my experience, certainty is the death knell of truth, and certainty is the tool with which humans weaponize belief.

Of that I am still not 100 percent certain. Because kicking my certainty in the ass every time it pops up is maybe the most important part of my spiritual practice.

So I left the Buddhist community, and I've never stayed too long at any yoga studio or with any teacher because that's when I start to feel the complacency and the certainty settle in.

But within my allegiance to staying open to various beliefs and explanations, there is one thing I consistently honor, and that is my experience. Not my experience dressed up in interpretation and explanation, but my raw experience. Simply the comings and goings and thoughts and feelings, and within all of that, I have discovered something wholly unexpected. I have discovered gods and mystical creatures and beings from other lands. Or at least, I have seen them. I have felt them. I have been surprised by them.

The story I'm about to tell is simply one of countless experiences I've had through working with Reiki and meditation and tarot and shamanism and psychic channeling.

What it ultimately means, I am not certain, but I am certain that I experienced it.

The Muse

After a particularly disturbing dream that I simply could not shake, I received Reiki from the lovely Anna Toonk. During my session, I went on a little adventure. I saw it in my mind.:

I was wearing a yellow dress. My hair was halfway up. I stepped through a gate and into a garden with a lioness by my side. We found a large dirt tunnel in the ground. I crawled through it, and on the other side, there was a mansion with a lush green yard and expansive front porch. Tired, I sat down on the front steps. A woman came and sat next to me. She handed me a key to the house and a red ruby (after she did this, Anna placed a rose quartz in my same hand).

The woman told me that there was plenty of time and that I didn’t have to go inside yet. So I sat and relaxed and enjoyed the view from the porch. There was time for play, for singing, and for dancing. I watched the lioness in the yard. The woman sitting next to me felt like a goddess - a guide - so I asked for her name, and she gave it to me. Her name was Cleo.

After the session, I googled Cleo and goddess. That's when I discovered that Clio (with an i) is the Greek muse of history and poetry and like all muses, a goddess of song, music, and dance. In Greek, her name means “to make famous."

I also learned that there is an asteroid named after her - spelled Klio. I looked to see where it fell in my astrology. It aligns with my Part of Fortune - a significant point in everyone's chart denoting fulfillment and abundance - and on the day I saw Anna, Klio was passing through Scorpio, which is, of course, my sign.

I was never aware of the muse Clio before researching her. Yet somehow, while I was on the Reiki table, I saw a woman named Cleo. She told me about the timing of my life (history) and encouraged me to relax and enjoy life through play, dance, and music. As a writer, this inspired me and helped me understand that I didn't have to rush. That my book would come.

And thousands of years ago, there was a civilization of people in Greece. They believed in nine muses - all goddesses of music, song, and dance. One of them was the muse of history and the goddess of poetry. Her name was Clio.

The most real things in this world.

In my visions, I have met gods and goddesses, fairies, titans, mermaids, dragons, griffins, wooly mammoths, dinosaurs, and so much more. I don't claim to know the source of what I've seen. What I know is that I've seen them. They have come to me without my asking and without my believing, and they have opened my mind to the possibility of their existence.

When I was a little girl, I snuck into my parents bedroom a few weeks before Christmas. Tucked beneath my mom's hanging shirts, I found the gifts I had requested from Santa. A few days later, I told my sister what I'd found and told her that I didn't believe in Santa Claus. A few days after that, my parents got me a present: a sleigh bell (like in The Polar Express) and the book Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.

The book includes the letter sent to a New York newspaper 120 years ago by eight-year old Virginia O'Hanlon. She lived just eight blocks from where I currently sit, and after her friends told her that Santa Claus wasn't real, she wondered what was true, and she asked, is there a Santa Claus?

What follows is an excerpt from newsman Francis Pharcellus Church's answer to her question:

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge...The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

And he was right. We can't conceive of everything. We can't be certain, but we, we can keep our wonder.
 

 

 

 

In Stories Tags atheism, buddhism, christianity, christmas, wonder, goddess, myths, ancient greece, reiki, psychic, meditation, mindfulness, spirituality, belief, god, muse
← Small Miracles (or How strangers help you and sometimes that's all you need to realize there's good in the world)The Purple Ribbon (or How my grandfather's ghost gave me a ritual to help my life ) →
  • Philosophy
  • Science
  • Spirituality
  • Stories
  • Tips

RECOMMENDED READING

recommended reading

FREE tarot guide

Just once a month because I respect you, your time, and your privacy, always.

Thanks!  You'll now get a new stories, updates, and promos directly in your inbox once a month. Click here to download your free tarot guide.


STORIES ON THE BLOG

Stories
The Bright White Light (or What is enlightenment and how do we choose it?)
The Bright White Light (or What is enlightenment and how do we choose it?)
Brave Magic (or How prayers get answers, everything is connected, and sisterhood is real)
Brave Magic (or How prayers get answers, everything is connected, and sisterhood is real)
Fleeting Connections (or How science and spirit explain the world)
Fleeting Connections (or How science and spirit explain the world)
Foxes, I Learned (or How I became engaged and decided fate is real)
Foxes, I Learned (or How I became engaged and decided fate is real)
It’s a Good Tuesday (or How angels are real and you should listen to them)
It’s a Good Tuesday (or How angels are real and you should listen to them)
My Return to God (or How Reiki reshaped my beliefs)
My Return to God (or How Reiki reshaped my beliefs)
Small Miracles (or How strangers help you and sometimes that's all you need to realize there's good in the world)
Small Miracles (or How strangers help you and sometimes that's all you need to realize there's good in the world)
Gods & Monsters (or How I stopped being an atheist)
Gods & Monsters (or How I stopped being an atheist)
The Purple Ribbon (or How my grandfather's ghost gave me a ritual to help my life )
The Purple Ribbon (or How my grandfather's ghost gave me a ritual to help my life )
Monkeys Eating Kix (or How to harness your power through the magic of storytelling)
Monkeys Eating Kix (or How to harness your power through the magic of storytelling)

FOLLOW ALONG ON INSTAGRAM

for daily stories, horoscopes, DIY rituals, and more

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today’s energy reminds us of the biggest love lesson there is. One that’s good to remember everyday. Check out my latest for @drunkyoga at the link in my bio, and have a wonderful day! With or without a romantic relationship, love is always around and worth celebrating, especially when it starts with you. ❤️
.
.
.
.
.
#vday #valentines #galentines #love #horoscope #horoscopes #magicisreal
#writer #scflpbhdtr #witch #witchesofinstagram #psychic #reiki #tarot #astrology #healing #wellbeing #selfcare #selflove #spiritual #coach #lifecoach  #wellness #motivation #inspiration
Enlightenment is accessible to all of us all the time. What separates you from enlightenment is your own sense of worthiness and your courage. Over the holidays, I rewatched The Neverending Story and was struck by the scene with the seven oracles. In the movie, there are obstacles you must cross in order to reach the oracles, and you can only cross them if you trust that you are worthy of the knowledge and if you are courageous enough to face your true self. As I watched this, I was like “ahhhh!” because yes, this is so true. The oracles represent enlightened knowledge, access to truth and knowing, and you can only receive their wisdom, this wisdom when you believe that you are worthy of receiving it and when you face all your sh*t. That’s why I work with people one-on-one. Yes, I teach them tarot and Reiki and channeling and crystals and all sorts of spiritual tools - the basics of which could be taught in any group workshop - but at the end of the day, the tools are just tools. Intellectually knowing how to use them doesn’t mean you can use them well. In order to become truly empowered, you have to do the deep shadow work to face yourself and discover your own worth. So while on the surface I’m teaching about all these tools, what I’m really helping you do is face your true self and understand your own worth so you can access the knowledge and become the oracle. It takes courage. Which, for me, is my overarching intention for life. That’s why it’s written on my left wrist, at the base of my hand that receives. We must have the courage to receive truth, love, and all the wonderful things the universe wants to give us. Yes, it can be scary. Life can be scary. The goal is not fearlessness. It’s heart-centered strength. It’s courage. ❤️
.
.
.
.
.
#courage #strength #faith #empath #intuition #oracle #enlightenment #guru  #magicisreal
#writer #scflpbhdtr #witch #witchesofinstagram #psychic #reiki #tarot #astrology #healing #wellbeing #selfcare #selflove #spiritual #coach #lifecoach  #wellness #motivation #inspiration
On Sunday, when I was in the midst of my “I hate this diet I don’t want to continue why am I continuing seriously why?” breakdown, I looked back at February’s Magic Guide, and reread these words, and I was like, “Oh yeah! I said that! How am I doing this to myself?” Granted, in the guide, I was talking about dancing, but really, we trap our bodies in so many ways. We trap them in rigid routines and uncomfortable homes and toxic relationships and windowless offices and too-tight pants, and we trap them in diets. This is exactly what didn’t sit right with me about Whole 30. It’s the thing that made me message my dear friend on day 2 and say “this diet does not align with my spirituality.” Still, I continued. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just dealing with sugar withdrawal. But my soul was clear on day 2, and the longer I stayed on it, the murkier that clarity became. In fact, something REALLY interesting happened. While maintaining the strict Whole 30 diet, my system basically reverted back to who I was when I lived with the mindset of scarcity, when I felt deprived, when I feared I wasn’t enough, and when, as a result, I tried to control things and make them perfect. This, to me, is the energy of Whole 30. And after 1 week of living in that energy, old health problems returned - things I hadn’t dealt with in YEARS - and I felt less connected to myself. I struggled to write, and I found myself thinking that I needed to stay on the diet to please my fiance. And this is NOT our relationship at all. We are fiercely independent people and support each other 100. But on Whole 30, here I was - worried about him, not me - and while that’s not who I am now, it’s very much who I was when I struggled to love myself, when I feared that by fully being myself I would drive people away, and when I was too scared to be the one to walk away myself. The diet’s energy bled into so many parts of my life. An incredible reminder to free your mind by freeing your body. And that’s what I’ve done. I’m sticking to the parts of Whole 30 that I enjoy, but I’m not letting it trap me. If I check in with myself and my body wants some bread, I’m eating the damn bread. ⚡️💪🏼⚡️
THIS WEEK :: SUN ☌ LILITH + MARS ☌ URANUS + MARS ➙  TAURUS :: Were you recently forced to face your doubts, your fears, your self sabotage? Yeah, me too! This was part of last week’s Aquarius new moon. It planted the seeds to help us break free from any external/internal shackles, and now, those seeds are ready to grow. Be WILD, INDEPENDENT, FIERCE. Yesterday, the sun and Lilith perfectly aligned in Aquarius, and they’re still working together today, helping us all identify with our inner wild woman. She knows she deserves to be here as she is. She is unashamed of her desires. She enjoys her body and her life to the utmost. She is free, unfiltered receptive energy, and she supports you. You can be exactly as you are - no limitations - and receive EVERYTHING from the universe. This is ABUNDANCE ENERGY. You are enough in your wild, messy, au naturel state. Expand and take up space. On Wednesday, Mars perfectly aligns with Uranus in Aries. This is BOSS ENERGY. As in, you are your own boss. You do you. 💯. No compromises. No sacrifices. Total trust in your inner authority. No one else has a say about what you do or how you do it. Be ASSERTIVE while learning how to be RECEPTIVE. You can be both a fierce, free, sexy go-getter AND a wild, receptive, intuitive being. You are balancing the two, and this energy sticks with us even as Mars moves into Taurus on Thursday. This grounds your energy and drives you toward sensual pleasures, but still, Uranus encourages you to let your rebel loose. Perfect since Uranus rules Aquarius, and this is the last week of Aquarius season! As we prepare for the sun’s shift into Pisces next Monday, Sunday throws us A LOT. Venus and Saturn create tension as you learn something new about how to give and receive in order to fulfill your life’s purpose. And Mercury, Neptune, and Jupiter leave you feeling mentally fatigued as you process big TRUTHS courtesy of Chiron in Pisces, which is giving you a final lesson before it leaves Pisces after a 9 year stint. Expect this lesson to be about spirituality and oneness. The full moon arrives next Tuesday. We have a lot to integrate before then! Just be with it. This is when you are free. ♒️✌🏼✨
My fiancé asked to do the Whole 30 diet together, so here I am - Day 7. And while there’ve been times when I’ve chosen to exercise more and eat healthier, I’ve never done any trendy diet because they don’t feel right to me. I resist rigidity and move toward freedom every chance I get, and this doesn’t mesh well with having a strict diet. I want JOY and PLAY, and food is one of the many ways I experience this. I love exploring new foods, fostering an ambience with food (like on cozy, marshmallow-filled hot cocoa days), and indulging in the many sensual pleasures I get to enjoy because I have a body. I. Have. A. Body. And I want to celebrate it, not punish it. And while eating too much sugar/grain/etc. can be used to punish yourself or push away your emotions, I find the extreme of swinging the pendulum the other direction and completely limiting these foods is equally punishing. It feels like a way of pushing away LIGHTNESS and ABUNDANCE, and I think it may be triggering some past life famine memories. But we all experience our bodies differently. While many people have relieved their chronic health issues with dietary changes and found more freedom for themselves by restricting certain foods, I healed mine through prioritizing emotional satisfaction and listening to my intuition, and this week, while restricting my diet, I had a Reynaud’s syndrome episode for the first time in years. And get this - in my astrology, my 6th house of health is ruled by Cancer, which is ruled by the moon, which means my health is ruled by my emotions and intuition. And my 1st house, which rules my body, is ruled by Aquarius. This means I don’t naturally feel at home in my body or here on Earth. I’m more attuned to spiritual planes and crave freedom. So it makes sense that I can shift my health by shifting my emotions and that I long to preserve my freedom and the earthly pleasures that help me feel more at home in this body. If you want to know more about what dictates your health, check out these two houses in your chart. As for me, I’m sticking with the diet for now, but the only why I can find is “commitment.” 🤔
Guess what? When you’re aligned with the universe, you cannot fail. And guess what else? You’re always aligned. You’re always where you’re meant to be, but when you gain awareness of this and trust that the universe always has your back, then magic takes over your life in the form of synchronicities, healing, and things magically coming together. As evidence, I offer my most recent business fail and how it wasn’t a fail at all. In September, I had the a-ha moment that I didn’t want to work with people in person anymore, so I decided to go virtual. Going into 2019, I knew I still had 2 months on my contract for my space in Chelsea, and since I was paying for it, I figured I might as well use it! But for what? I decided to try something new - a group astrology training. The response? A lot of people messaged me from other places in the world, bummed the training wasn’t online. Here I was, trying to go BACKWARDS on my intention to stop in-person work just to make something make sense rationally and the universe was like “Nope!” And no one signed up. The course didn’t happen, which turned out to be a good thing because my mentorship program got booked solid through early March, and between that and wedding planning, the astrology course would have kicked my ass. Then, I learned in January that there’d been a miscommunication and my Chelsea contract was actually ending at the end of January - not February! So I couldn’t have hosted the Jan-Feb training in person anyway! The universe was shaking its head at me like “This isn’t going to work. We’re just going to help you out and have no one sign up, but we’re also going to give you everything you asked for.” And it did. Despite the astro course “fail,” I still made in January the exact figure I’d been holding in my mind as coming from the astro course, and then last night, I ended up hosting a group astro event. Only afterwards did I realize that the universe had just fulfilled my desire to have fun teaching a group of people about astrology! The universe has your back. It rarely fulfills things exactly as you expect, but if you surrender and trust, it will deliver everything you truly desire. 🌟

astrologer-and-columnist-at-horoscope.com

free-tarot-guide.jpg

Stories, updates, and promos. Just once a month because I respect you and your inbox, always.

Welcome! More magic will be coming your way once a month, and now, click here to download your free tarot guide!


© Fleeting Connections™ 2018