The Great Lakes Retreat 2018 was nothing short of incredible!  I felt so blessed to be invited back for my 3rd year of teaching and offering readings, Soul Songs, and photo sessions and I truly enjoyed spending time with my GLR family.  This retreat has been held for over 35 years and not only is it a big spiritual family reunion, it could also be called Camp for Grown-ups or an annual Pajama Party.  Either way, good times are to be found everywhere...and did I mention that I felt so blessed?!

This year the format was different but it allowed for some real magic to happen in the midst of constant motion for me.  Everything I do....I did it last week, and some of it all in one day, from one thing to the next!  I taught classes that ranged from the business side of spirituality to past lives and mediumship.  I moved from mornings in class learning to my room to grab my cameras and props to a quick lunch where my creative mind for photo sessions was starting to crank.  Then I went into either a reading/Soul Song or into teaching a class, then to dinner followed by two more photo sessions creating images in that lovely golden light of evening, then a little time to visit with friends in my jammies, then clearing my memory cards, charging my batteries, and getting my handouts lined up for the next day.

Tired yet?!

It is in times like these that I am grateful that I have those 5 planets in Libra!!  It is also in times like these that I feel blessed, supported and guided by Isis and my family of Egyptian neteru (Gods and Goddesses of Egypt).

Magical messages in the shower

Two of the courses I taught were the course material for my upcoming online courses (Egyptian Archetypes for Better Relationships, and Past Lives and You...both coming this fall/winter) and it was really wonderful to offer them to a "live" audience.  Those classes were HUGE and it was a wonderful confirmation that yes, I was on the right path....that people were hungry for this information and that the neteru were guiding me every step of the way.   

My lecture was about what it means to be a modern day Priestess, another subject near and dear to my heart.  With my Iseum alive and active it has nurtured my connection to Isis and my devotion to her has grown so much deeper as She guides me and teaches me, sometimes lessons that are not always fun or easy or desirable.  But I keep trusting and listening and surrendering to the magic that She is brewing for me and it has been worth it every single time.

During the morning before my lecture I was tuning in to Isis to know exactly how I needed to begin and She wanted me to sing the Morning Prayer while I played it on my harp.  I could feel her presence with me as She shared with me to create sacred space during my talk.  She wanted everyone to feel as if they were transported into Her temple and back into time.  While I was at breakfast, the woman who would be announcing me came to ask how she should introduce me.  I said that she could just read what I had written in the bio.  She then tells me that while she was in the shower asking for guidance on that very thing and asking for something humorous to say she kept hearing that no....that I was a beautiful soul who offered beautiful music to the world for healing and that it wasn't supposed to be a high-energy/funny type of space. 

I couldn't believe how perfect that was...that Isis made sure to let her know that She wanted this sacred space for my lecture!  I had several people after the lectures tell me how touched they were by my words and presence and how they could see a light above me and the wings of Isis behind me and that Her energy became me, that it was as if She were talking through me.  I believe She was.  

Magical Massage

Because I was lugging around two cameras and a bag most of the day my sweet shoulders were getting tight and tired and so I treated my Self to a massage.  Ahhhh!  So good!  When I was finished and heading back to my room I stopped by the table that had oracle cards spread out for us to pick one for the day.  Even though it was the end of the day I decided to go ahead and choose one since I had forgotten to that morning.  My card?  Massage!  True story!

Retreats are for magic

So many things can change from one year to the next and for me, I am in such a different place than I was this time last year.  I've decided to frame it in a way that it's not better, it's not worse-r....it's just different and that's ok.  I've honored where I've been, what I've been through and who I've become even when I didn't always know what that might look like on the other side, and the journey has brought me little bits of magic along the way to make the hard parts easier to get through!

I share all of this to say that retreats can be a great way to create space for magic to happen because you get out of your routine and out of your own way.  You actively shake things up and that alone invites magic into those new spaces.  Although I have another year now to wait for this week-long retreat in central Michigan, I love having a few retreats planned in the meantime...and I hope that you will be able to join me!  Our 4th annual Women of Spirit Retreat is this November and the way things are coming together for the workshops, you won't want to miss it!

Tell me some of YOUR magic moments.....

In the comments below, please share with me what YOU would invite the Universe to share with you on a retreat...or how you've been blessed with incredibly magical experiences in your daily "retreat" time....I'd love to hear about it!