Ganesh

MY MYSTICAL LIFE: BURNING MAN PREP AND A COSMIC CONNECTION

Posted on by Ruby Warrington

Seem like everybody is deep in Burning Man prep? I’m getting ready for next week’s super intense Virgo New Moon Eclipse… Club SÖDA NYC images: Katrin Albert

ruby warrington biet simkin club soda the numinous
Hosting Club SÖDA NYC with Biet Simkin and amazing Betsy LaFae

 

:: MONDAY ::
A reiki session with Jessica Brodkin—an energy healer I met recently who used to work for the CIA, and does stand-up comedy on the side. My kinda Material / Mystical gal! And as well laying like a TON of crystals on me (including a perfectly clear quartz Ganesh on my second chakra), what I loved about the way Jessica works is that she also provided a running commentary about what was going on. I really love the concept of reiki—a mystical healing energy that we can all learn how to channel? Yes please!—but since the effects are so subtle I can often leave a session wondering, did anything just happen?!

But as Jessica got my chakras spinning (fave takeaway: “I’m not sure how to describe this except to say your sacral chakra is now looking on fleek”), she also spoke highly intuitively about issues I’m currently facing, gave a cool book recommendation, suggested some crystals for me to work with, and helped me say a forgiveness prayer. Overall, I left feeling like I’d had a total energetic tune-up. Find out more about Jessica and book a session at Loveandlightservices.com

:: TUESDAY ::

Club SÖDA NYC! Biet Simkin and I had an amazing turn-out for our second big Soda event, which (of course) we had timed specifically to coincide with the Sun’s move into Virgo—sign of health, wellbeing, and service. This is the month to really connect to the concept of how a healthy body and mind allows us to most efficiently show up and do our dharma. And, as we head towards next Thursday’s Virgo New Moon, now is the perfect time to let any and all unhealthy habits (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual!) just fall way.

The 9/1 New Moon is also a solar eclipse AND Mercury will have just gone retrograde. Add in a formidable T-square (the Moon, Sun, Mercury and North Node in Virgo will square Mars and Saturn in Sag, and oppose Neptune in Pisces) we are talking some intensely karmic and unpredictable REBIRTH energy out there. I for one intend to be clean and clear and fully on my A-game!

club soda Ruby Warrington The Numinous
More Club SÖDA NYC vibes: a.k.a. how it feels to get high on your own supply

:: WEDNESDAY ::
Some of my most mystical moments are found in the experience of deep, soul connection with my fellow humans. Doesn’t it feel like MAGIC when that chemistry happens? In love, at work, and in our most precious friendships. I took two hours out for lunch today with a friend who makes me feel that way—and time stopped, the cosmos aligned, and it fed me more than a thousand hours of reiki. Heaven on earth.

:: THURSDAY ::
OMG. Got news that Cara Delevigne and her sister Poppy have ordered two of our Vinyasa sweatshirts to take to Burning Man. That is all.

Vinyasa Sweatshirt Black burning man The Numinous
Vinyasa shirt, $69

:: FRIDAY ::
In fact, for all you Burners out there, may I point you in the direction of some Numinous reading for your journey to the Playa. See you there next year!

How To Survive Your First Time At Burning Man

Is Burning Man A Spiritual Game Changer?

26 Life Lessons My Burning Man Experience Taught Me

Ruby Warrington Burning Man The Numinous

SHADOW EMOTION: HOW TO WORK WITH ANGER

Posted on by Erin Telford

Mars retrograde stirring up any suppressed…rage (um, Lemonaid)? You can use your anger as a powerful tool for transformation, says Erin Telford…

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Anger is my favorite shadow emotion. It’s powerful, it gets things done and it is excellent at creating boundaries and change.

But anger is also one of the most misunderstood and underutilized emotions. As women, we are socialized in both overt and covert ways to be nice, not make a fuss and not rock the boat. When we are taught by our loved-ones and by our culture to bite our tongue in service of keeping the peace, we can get very disconnected from trusting our feelings and from feeling safe to work with this emotion when it flares up.

The thing is, most of us have never seen a healthy expression of anger. We associate it with road rage, throwing things at people, screaming, crying, cursing, fear, abuse, physical threats, danger, and out of control people. These are all examples of unhealthy anger. It’s not an emotion we appreciate so we try our very best to suppress it out of existence.

But it’s actually unexpressed or suppressed anger can get ugly. And beyond the stigma, all anger is, is a catalyst for change and an opportunity for some honest communication. Anger can actually work for you if you work with it.

Anger in its purest form simply says: “I don’t like this. Something needs to be different about this situation.” It’s a call to action! You don’t like it? Okay, change it!

One of the best examples of healthy anger is peaceful protest. This is anger put to work—a group of people turning their collective anger into action to create change. We are seeing this right now in politics, the environment, and human rights. It is impossible for anyone with a beating heart to turn a blind eye to what is going on in our world. We are riled up, expressing our opinions and getting involved!

We can all do this in our personal lives as well. Anger is a very powerful force and if wielded with grace and finesse, it can move mountains. Where we get into trouble with anger is when we push it down, causing it to build.

Anger is connected with the season of spring. This is because it speaks to the catalytic energy surge required to turn a seed into a plant, to push it’s little head above the soil and reach for the sun! Spring, our liver, and by association the energy of anger, are connected with upward and outward growth.

So what happens if your growth is inhibited? What happens when someone tells you “no”? A ridiculous new policy is created at work? What if you are simply just trying to walk down the street and everyone is in your way? You didn’t get the apartment or the job or the acceptance letter, a flight is delayed, a class isn’t offered, you didn’t get the promotion?

These are ways that an obstacle interrupts the smooth flow of our life. We don’t like obstacles. We don’t like no. We don’t like interruptions to our plans.

And so our natural reaction can be anger. Which is totally fine. We are upset.

But to deny this is to block our access our personal power. When we feel guilty about what we feel or label ourselves as being “negative” when we feel angry, we miss out on an opportunity to out-create our circumstances.

Rather, if we can sit with our anger, can look at where it’s coming from and why we feel it, we can polish it into a nugget of transformational gold. If we have been hurt or upset by another person, rather than lashing out, we can advocate for ourselves and clearly state our needs to that person. If someone continually disrespects or hurts us, you may need to use that anger to create a change in the terms of that relationship!

You may have heard that anger turned inward results in depression—an oversimplified expression, since depression has many roots and takes many forms—but there is some weight to it.

When we repress our anger toward a partner, friend, loved one or co-worker by not sharing our truth, we are betraying ourselves. We are inadvertently communicating to ourselves that our feelings don’t matter and we are not worth standing up for. Self-betrayal is the most painful betrayal of all and can decrease self-esteem and confidence—leading to depression.

So we stay snippy and unexpressed and we self-medicate even more or our tense up even more, or our digestion suffers. It doesn’t have to be this way. Use your anger as a call to action to change your circumstances.

Breathe it out. Dance it out. Run it out. Write it out. Scream it out (not at someone else!) Sing it out. Create it out. Talk it out. Paint it out. Boot camp it out. Express it out.

You have to feel it to heal it. You have to let it out to transform it. Just don’t be afraid of anger.

The more you know your triggers and can feel when it’s rising in you, the more gently and safely you can manage this emotion. Anger is so powerful and properly harnessed it can do so much for you. Think of anger as your inner Mama Bear, your inner Kali, and your inner badass.

And let it be fuel to create powerful change and transform your life.

MATERIAL GIRL, MYSTICAL WORLD: MARGARET NICHOLS

Posted on by Ruby Warrington

Happy Friday! Here’s what went down in Ruby’s Mystical Week, and an intro to the magical Margaret Nichols, founder of NYC’s Urban Oneness Blessing and truly cosmic coach. Her mission? “I want you to be enlightened. Like Buddha. Like NOW”…

Margaret Nichols leads the Oneness Blessing in NYC. Read more at Thenuminous.net!
Margaret Nichols: “A fashionista in kind trying to spread sparkle…”

Happy Friday Numis. So who’s counting the hours until Mercury goes direct at 2.17pm ET tomorrow? Despite going into this retrograde phase with some serious positive intentions, much like last week the past seven days have been characterised mainly by missed appointments and a total inability to concentrate on anything useful.

But it was also the week I attended a Dinner With The Dead, hosted by Mama Wolf Kelly Cutrone and spookily accurate psychic medium Thomas John :: caught up with the rest of the planet and started reading Lena Dunham’s brilliant memoir Not That Kind of Girl :: embraced the major drop in temperatures and got back into my local Bikram studio for my “winter” yoga season (my kind of central heating) :: and fell in absolute lust with Andrea Fohrman’s Moon phase jewelry (see below).

Moon Phase charm bracelet by Andrea Fohrman. Read more at Thenuminous.net!
Moon Phase charm bracelet by Andrea Fohrman

I also interviewed this week’s Material Girl Margaret Nichols, and got a peek into her Mystical World. Margaret actually reached out to me about contributing to the site, sending a link to a post she wrote for the Huff Post titled Why Martinis and Meditation Mix. Hell yes! But when she talks meditation, this girl knows what she’s talking about.

A graduate of the Oneness University in India, Margaret has led a weekly Deeksha / Oneness Blessing in New York City since 2007. Billed as “spiritual solutions for your modern life,” Deeksha is a sanskrit word for gift. And the gift of the Oneness Blessing is a neurobiological change in the brain that, when complete, enables the senses to be free from the interference of the mind. Basically a different kind of Orgasmic Meditation, this is often accompanied by spontaneous feelings of joy, inner calm and a connection to the Oneness in everything. Yeah, you might want to check it out.

Margaret Nichols has led the Oneness Blessing in NYC since 2007. Read more at Thenuminous.net!
Margaret Nichols has led the Oneness Blessing in NYC since 2007

Plus she’s totally gorgeous, and is offering a FREE 21-day guided meditation course starting next week! This is her stuff…

:: MATERIAL GIRL ::

My label: I love my fashion to be an expression of my environment and how I’m feeling, with a deep bow to all being sacred and shining our light. Right now there is probably more Yumi Kim in my closet than anything else. Fun, fresh and flirty with some edge. Fantastic silks that feel great on my skin.

My shoes: My feminine is truly expressed within my shoe collection (which is a gentle way of saying I have far more pairs of shoes than I actually need). Two more pairs have entered my closet within the last month. Luxe leopard print classic pumps? I feel like I will have these forever. If I’m spending or being gifted something of exquisite quality, I want it to be timeless on all fronts. And for every day easy Sole Society has super fun styles.

Margaret Nichols's Jimmy Choo leopard print pumps. Read more at Thenuminous.net
Leopard print pumps, Jimmy Choo

My fragrance: 10 years ago I bought a black jasmine oil in a Mysore marketplace in India and I haven’t been able to find it again since. If you find some, let me know! Bvlgari Black Jasmine is the closest I can find to it. (This and Trident gum are probably the only chemical things I regularly put in or on my body.)

My jewels: I recently travelled to see John of God and was so taken by the experience, I immediately ordered some earrings infused with the “Casa” energy from Brazil. Daily, it’s a mix between my mother’s gold bracelets (vintage) and my tulsi mala beads, blessed from Oneness University that I give out when I teach.

Margaret Nichols gives out tulsi mala beads blessed at the Oneness University when she teaches in NYC. Read more at Thenuminous.net!
Tulsi mala beads

My pampering: Yana Herbal Beauty. I’ve been going to Yana (as have many notable New Yorkers) for 14 years. She gives the best facials (Russian-style: NO joke) in the city, with all handmade, natural ingredients and has amazing small batch, local, natural products to take home.

My movie: American Beauty, Amelie, Avatar. What the Bleep Do We Know was also a game changer for me when it came out.

My food: At home, I’m 90 percent vegan, all natural everything. Green juice daily for the better part of the last decade. Years ago, my best friend used to call me the most cleansed person on Earth. But I also love to travel and love to eat out and have gotten way more relaxed about it than I used to be. In my fridge on an average day you are most likely to find: avocado, raw coconut water, all sorts of greens from the farmer’s markets and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

Juice Press raw coconut water in the fridge of Margaret Nichols. Read more at Thenuminous.net
Juice Press raw coconut water

:: MYSTICAL WORLD ::

My awakening: Yerba Mate and some incense to clear the morning and say hello / tap into the Divine, before settling into Chakra Dhyana – a simple mediation that aligns all the chakras. I lead myself, depending on how much time I have.

My sign: Sagittarius. Through and through.

My mantra: In Sanskrit: Om Sat Chit Ananda – “I am existence, consciousness, bliss.” In life: “How you do one thing is how you do everything.”

My healer: Vikaz. Whenever anything goes wrong, I process it out as much as I can, and then these guys are my first stop. As in, halt life, do not pass Go, visit immediately. They are incredibly intuitive miracle workers. Definitely not your traditional chiropractic.

My reading: Right now it’s Wild by Cheryl Stayed. Although not a “spiritual” book, I think her Tiny Beautiful Things should be mandatory reading for everybody on how to be a generous, beautiful person. Oneness by Rasha and Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda are also always nearby to be picked up.

My transformation: Oneness University in India is where are my teachers reside. It’s literally the magic kingdom and led me to everything. In NYC, Ashtanga Yoga New York with Eddie Stern and his crew of teachers offers authentic Mysore style self-practice of yoga. It’s about as advanced as you can get if you need it, although they welcome every level. It’s also home to the only Ganesh temple in all of Manhattan – an incredibly pure and absolutely gorgeous space and a rare sanctuary in Manhattan.

Margaret Nichols visits Eddie Stern's Ashtanga New York. Read more at Thenuminous.net!
Visit AYNY.org

My home: West Village, pre-war details, cozy meets glam with a touch of the Far East and dosed with Love 24/7. If I could afford him, my bestie Adam Hunter would do my decor.

Find out more about Margaret and her work at Margaretnichols.com and @magsnichols

NAILS BY MEI: NOW AGE NAIL ART

Posted on by Ellie Burrows

In mystical iconography, our hands represent protection, healing and peace. In New York City, they’s also a blank canvas to display your spiritual leanings, says Ellie Burrows.

From Hamsas to Ahimsa to Mudras, the hand is ubiquitous in the world of sacred iconography. Considered a highly mystical appendage, it can symbolize protection, healing and peace. On a more material plane, the hands are a dexterous double act that allow us put food in our mouths, wear cute jewelry and communicate with rapid speed on tiny little devices.

And while some of us wear our heart on our sleeves,  I wear my spirituality on my nails. Just like I adorn the walls of my house with images of Ganesh and Guanyin to feel connected to a divine presence, I decorate my nails with little totems too, so I can connect with that energy on the go. It’s like a little wink from the universe every time I watch a set of miniature hand-painted Avalokitesvaras opening a door, or the planets swiping my Metrocard through a turnstile.

What began for me as an indulgent and rather flashy hobby has become a meaningful way to make a statement. The hands will always symbolize the sacred, but I like mine to also display it.

New York Numis! Manifest the metaphysical on something physical, and schedule an appointment with fairy-like Miho Kawajiri (@ciaomanhattan2012). Nails by Mei is a genius, a gifted artist, and the truly best in the business.

@ellieburrows

 

 

 

 

Miho Kawajiri, aka Mei, master of Ellie Burrows’ mystical nail art

@NUMINOUS_BOOKS