Laura and Lena Ahlstrom at the Gala dinner for The World Childhood Foundation in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden and her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine of Sweden.  We had a lovely evening with Deborah Norville as the Mistress of Ceremonies with remarks by Geena Davis, and some amazing entertainment. The evening was really beautiful and more importantly, a way to raise awareness and money for a very important foundation that Her Majesty Queen Silva started 13 years ago.

To all of the mothers whose children are fighting in wars, and to mothers whose children are growing up with wars raging around them or with terrorism threatening their safety… wishes of strength, peace and hope for this Mother’sDay. I hope you will look at our website and join with us to make a difference. What if mothers started to change the world? What if it was possible for mothers to stand up and say NO to what they felt was hurting their children and their children’s future. Let me introduce you to Earth Heart Foundation. Dede Koldyke who has been serving mothers and children as a therapist and volunteer is my partner in this foundation. I hope you will look at our website, join with us on facebook and follow us on twitter – we can make a difference.

Let me share something that I recently read written by Joseph Campbell in his book, The Power of Myth: The Aztecs had a number of heavens to which people’s souls would be assigned according to the conditions of their death, and the heaven for warriors killed in battle was the same for mothers who died in childbirth. He then goes on to say that giving birth is definitely a heroic deed, in that it is the giving over of oneself to the life of another.

This month I am traveling to New York City to meet Queen Silva of Sweden at a special gala for her World Childhood Foundation. Earth Heart is having their First Annual Mother’s Day Celebration in Chicago on the day before Mother’s Day.

Watch my blog for photos!!

Every Mother Can Change Her World

www.EarthHeartFoundation.org

Mother’s Day is celebrated in every country in the world.

The first person to fight for an official Mother’s Day celebration in the United States was Julia Ward Howe. You may be more familiar with her name as the writer who wrote the words to the Civil War song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.

Howe was born in New York City on May 27, 1819. She was active in the peace movement and the women’s suffrage movement. In 1870, she penned the Mother’s Day Proclamation. In 1872, the Mothers’ Peace Day Observance was held on the second Sunday in June and the meetings continued for several years. Her idea was widely accepted, but she was never able to get the day recognized as an official holiday. The Mothers’ Peace Day was the beginning of the Mother’s Day holiday in the United States now celebrated in May. The modern commercialized celebration of gifts, flowers and candy bears little resemblance to Howe’s original idea. Here is the Proclamation that explains, in her own powerful words, the goals of the original Mother’s Day in the United States:

Arise then….women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts! Whether your baptism be of water or tears! Say firmly: “We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” From the bosom of a devastated Earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.” Blood does not wipe our dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace….each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Ceasar, but of God. In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without the limit of nationality, may be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient and the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

Since 1979, I’ve been the owner of a nursery and landscape company. My spiritual journey blossomed through my work in designing gardens. I have an affinity to discern the vibrational qualities of the plants, how they work together and how they affect us.

I live on a small ranch in a high mountain valley with my husband and trusted Bouvier. I have been told that the property has been a place of healing since ancient times and sits within a vortex. I write about what I see and feel from observing Mother Nature in my own back yard. The purpose of Soul Gardening is to give you, the readers, another tool to get through these changing and challenging times. I’m not a guru, I am a gardener.

Dear Ones,

May is the month that celebrates spring, in song, in Paris and especially in the garden. No longer am I searching for a hint of green on my morning walks. Instead, I am devouring the color throughout the valley. Spring green is bold and daring and full of energy. It jumps out from the landscape like a big bear hug from your favorite friend. The hues of the meadow differ from the green of the aspen leaves and the buds of the willows. Green, green, green, and I am hungry for all of it after a long white winter.

It seems that I am hungry for green in all aspects of my life. My hand gravitates to the apple green sweatshirt and I cannot plan a meal without including a green salad. Spring is the time that we can begin planting the greens of our garden. Lettuces and herbs find their way into my patio garden in pots nestled within the early pansies and violas. Container plantings allow me a head start on the garden. The pots add color to my patio and I can easily cover the tender plants when the temperatures drop into the frosty zone. If you live in a more temperate climate, and most everyone does, growing salad greens in a container is a good use of space in a small garden. Additions of color with pansies or nasturtiums are both edible in salads and an unusual journey in culinary color and taste. Include herbs in your early spring container gardens. Combinations of parsley, thyme, basil, sage, and cilantro add pleasing textures to your planter and taste to your palette. You can become a home gardener with only a few containers on your patio and the containers will quickly add bounty to your table.

Here in the mountains, the spring days are filled with daily surprises. Each day I notice another piece of the garden revealing itself… a daffodil, the leaf of a peony, the tip of a fern. I spotted wild trillium in bloom on the forest floor and yet only a few inches of columbine are willing to brave the still frosty mornings. The chives are leading the pack at a full 4 inches above the ground and the mushrooms are soon to push forth. The warmth of the sun is coaxing the plants back into view. It is spring here and time to celebrate the return of life to Mother Earth. It is time to put on your garden gloves and get a little dirt under your nails. It is time to breathe in that unique scent of springtime green, the grass, the dirt. It is time to grow…and you just might, for it is spring.

With love to all of you,

Juls

Laura performed Amanda & Mazik’s wedding. What is marriage? According to mythology, it is the reunion of the separated twins. Originally you were one, but when you came to this earth life you become two in the world, looking for your other half. If we live a life of honor, if our hearts and minds are in sync, then we may be blessed with our counterpart. By marrying the right person, we reconstruct the image of God, and that is what a true marriage is.

How do you choose the right person?

Your heart tells you.

Your inner being.

That is the mystery.

You recognize your other self – you feel at home. You then have a witness to your life.

Marriage means the two are now one. Marriage is a relationship. When you make the sacrifice in marriage, you’re sacrificing not to each other but to a unity in the relationship. The Chinese image of the Tao, with the circle containing the dark and light interacting is symbolic of what a marriage is. And that is what you have become when you have married. Marriage is not a simple love affair, it’s an ordeal, and the ordeal is the sacrifice of the ego to a relationship in which two have become one.

May all the angels bless this union!

I have known and worked with Laura for over 20 years. She has been instrumental in my path of discovery. In truth, we have shared many lifetimes and have become dear friends in this one. She has helped me become comfortable with my gifts and brave enough to share my perspective. Over the years, we have shared many laughs and a few tears. I am honored to be part of her web site.

Since 1979, I’ve been the owner of a nursery and landscape company. My spiritual journey blossomed through my work in designing gardens. I have an affinity to discern the vibrational qualities of the plants, how they work together and how they affect us.

I live on a small ranch in a high mountain valley with my husband and trusted Bouvier. I have been told that the property has been a place of healing since ancient times and sits within a vortex. I write about what I see and feel from observing Mother Nature in my own back yard. The purpose of Soul Gardening is to give you, the readers, another tool to get through these changing and challenging times. I’m not a guru, I am a gardener.

Dear Ones,

Spring arrives slowly to the mountains but this year spring has arrived with a roar. The rains have persisted along with gray skies for weeks and I am longing for blue and sunshine. There has been progress, the garden is now mud instead of pristine white and the fields are showing the dried stubble of the fall pasture. The irrigation ditches are flowing again and Wellies are standard issue for my morning walks with Boo. The only stirrings in the plant world, that I have witnessed, are the few brave daffodils I planted next to the house on the south side of the garden. I did this on purpose, for my spirits need a little reminding in these early days of spring and so far it has kept me going. The daffodils are barely 2” above the ground but they signal hope for me that the cycle is beginning again. The rest of the garden is bleak with a layer of matted, decaying, aspen leaves covering most of the ground. Green has yet to arrive in my garden. In the lower elevations, about 100 miles south, I did see forsythia in bloom and daffodils in full glory, but here there is no hint of green.

Tulips and daffodils signal spring to me…even if only in a vase. I have been buying bunches of tulips and daffodils to give me that sense of springtime indoors. I love the shape and the colors. They just make me smile. I have come to enjoy daffodils for many reasons. In the fall, it has become my ritual to plant the daffodil bulbs in the fields. I spend a day walking about the ranch and planting wherever the soil is soft enough to dig a hole. I am kept company by my dog and the Canadian geese as they fly overhead on their journey south for the winter. Now, in April, the geese are returning but this time flying north and the daffodils are beginning to emerge from the earth.  

Spring is the element of air and the vibrational signature of compassion. The element of air is easily witnessed in the flight of migrating birds and the passing storms. Here, on the 45^th parallel, spring arrives late. While our daffodils are merely poking through the ground, the lower elevations have already experienced their beauty. Here, in the mountains, we must be patient. Here, we must find joy in the mud and search for that tiny sprout pushing through. Here, in the mountains, a long walk and a good pair of Wellies will get you through those muddy days of spring until it is time again to dig in the dirt.  Now if only the sun would break through with a patch of blue!

Love to all of you,

Juls

To schedule an appointment, please call (323) 654-9010 or email laura@laurabushnell.com.

No appointments can be scheduled through the website for this visit.

When I was a child, my great grandfather lived on the farm with us when I was 4 years old. He kept a bible under his bed. It was the only religion I had in my home for a short time and it was hidden. The mystery enchanted me. He read me the Psalms. On a spiritual journey since a young child, as I have told many of you – having no religion growing up – I was curious and hungry to know what it was. I had an interest in the Psalms, so I began to study them. There are so many bibles and so many translations. I found that I preferred the way the Hebrews viewed the Psalms.

They say: The mind in harmony with the way things are sees that this is a good world, that life is good and death is good. It feels the joy that all creatures express by their very being and it finds its own music in accompanying the universal rapture.

This is an example of the rapture:

Let the heavens and the earth rejoice,

Let the waves of the ocean roar,

Let the rivers clap their hands,

Let the mountains rumble with joy,

Let the meadows sing out together,

Let the trees of the forest exult.

~

This makes me think of Chief Seattle who was one of the last spokesmen for the Paleolithic moral order. In 1852, the US government inquired about buying tribal lands for the arriving people of the US and Chief Seattle wrote a marvelous letter in reply.

It starts out with:

The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us.

~

We have forgotten.

We have lost touch with the grandeur – the magic, if you will, of what we are.

~

William Thoreau says: It is not what you look at that matters but what you see.  This reminds me of what Jesus says in the bible: It is not the blind that cannot see. Yes. It is time to see- to see the blessings.

To call in your blessings:

1. See good and refuse to see anything but good. We must begin to see the blessings and focus on them and instill them in our families and friends.  We must live them as we nurture our bodies with healthy food and healthy thoughts.

2. Believe in good even if you do not see it. There are always those times when good is not as obvious. There are those days when we cannot bring ourselves out of our mind to see it. Sometimes it takes time to see the blessings in things. We deserve the time. It must come from within. I am sure you have done it yourself or had it done to you: you are having an experience that feels difficult- and you share it and that someone says, “oh, but it is a blessing!” Not yet it isn’t. The blessing is often the lesson learned as we drop the attachment of the ego, not before, and the soul needs the time.  Blessings are a very personal and sacred act.

3. Imagine good when you cannot think of it. Our imagination is a powerful tool. Remember, blessings come through you, not to you!

4. Your hands are how you receive. The color of blessings is gold….good as gold. All that you touch will turn to gold. In the Japanese Buddhist tradition of Mudras, the left hand is blessedness and the right hand is wisdom. Two hands together is a firm and sincere heart. Middle fingers out – an open lotus ready to receive.

RITUAL 

Take your favorite oil, put a drop on your heart and rub counterclockwise.

Say to yourself, this is the way it is.

Give yourself permission to be in the NOW with greater clarity and joy.

“Life Magic is about reclaiming whats natural. When we don’t use our magic it is like not using a muscle. It needs to be awakened and exercised”.

Facts about Laura Bushnell:

Lives in: Los Angeles

Family: Lives with surgeon John Miller, three grown children, dog Magi

Profession: Spiritual teacher and healer. Her book “Life Magic” is translated into Swedish

Age: 58

Wake up the magic inside of you!

Do you feel that life is a bit prosaic sometimes? After 50, there are a lot of us that experience an increased need for spiritual seeking and we feel that time is more precious. We visited Laura Bushnell-the magic lady- and asked her how we can create more magic in our lives. And we received three spiritual exercises to give to our seeking readers.

Who is Laura Bushnell?

Laura Bushnell is often called “The magic lady”. SAhe is a spiritual teacher and healer who has become the favorite of both company CEO’s and in Hollywood. –I for example help them to decide what date they should start shooting a movie, that is, when the energies are more favorable for a big project. Laura is visiting Sweden, invited by Katarina Mannheimer, psychodynamic therapist and also an accredited Journey-therapist. Katarina’s own spiritual seeking led her to Laura Bushnell a few years ago. It is not uncommon that spiritually “skeptic” professionals like doctors and psychotherapists turn to “the magic lady”.

–Doctors sometimes contact me when they have difficulty diagnosing a patient.  I can feel where in the body the problem is located.

Laura had her first spiritual experience when she was five years old.

-I come from a family without any religious traditions, but a seasonal worker who visited our farm in Idaho left behind a picture of Jesus. When I hung the picture on the wall in my closed I was overwhelmed by a bright light and Mother Mary appeared before me.

Laura started to “see” as a child and very early she started comparing religion with “a small, small fence surrounding a grand idea that is not measurable”.

At times Laura has lived with native tribes to learn more about their spiritual traditions.

Since she was 18 years old she has made a living from doing spiritual work.

-For 40 years I have been doing what I know naturally, and it makes me feel  very blessed.

Both in the US and around the world I meet wonderful people and I get to help them achieve what they desire and long for in life, that they are happy and that they find more love in their lives.

To the readers of M-magazine Laura says:

I am 58 years old myself and I know that many women of my age are longing for economic security, good health and hope to age in a gracious way.

Women that care about their spiritual side are usually more joyous, playful and they look both younger and more alive.

They feel a large acceptance in relation to their aging and inner peace really does influence the way we look!

3 magic excercises:

1)     Before you get out of bed in the morning, rest for a while and imagine that all the organs of your body are smiling and that they greet the new day. This makes you smile when you get out of bed! The challenge is to do this even during difficult times. But I want to emphasize that we learn through joy as much as through pain!

2)     Wear a bracelet with a meaningful message, like a stone or a chrystal. Touch it like a religious person would a mala and repeat your longing to yourself.  The day of the interview Laura is wearing a bracelet from World Childhood Foundation, founded by queen Silvia of Sweden.

–I like it that your queen does something good for the world and I would like to remind myself of all childrens right to a childhood.

3)     Many religious traditions use so called mudras to strengthen prayer or meditation. If you have tried yoga you might have been sitting in a lotus-position and you might have had your thumbs and pointers touching each other.  The thumb stands for our human nature and the pointer stands for finding your path and mission in life. Another variation for meditation and prayer is to fold your hands in a reversed “V”. If we sit with our hands folded like this during 24 minutes it will increase our metabolism, says Laura Bushnell.

What stone carries your longing?

More happiness and joy— diamond

More peace—-amythst

Attracting love—– rose quartz

Attracting money—–citrine

Increased creativity—–aquamarine

Healing the past——-ruby

Self confidence and courage—–agate