Bidden or unbidden, God is present.

C. G. Jung

To me, music is one of the endlessly compelling forms of the Divine.  But with four planets in open-minded Aquarius, I could never have a narrow view of so-called ‘spiritual’ music.   I figure if it speaks to your heart, moves you, comforts you, or just makes you fly, that’s plenty.

How could God NOT be present?

Once a woman called me who had been a resident of a meditation community for many years.   She said the group had very strict ideas of ‘dharmic’ music.  Certain chants and bhajans were considered godly, everything else profane.  Then she confessed her own guilty secret: each day she eagerly awaited the moment when she could flee to the privacy of her blue Subaru and rock out to the Stones.  She was so paranoid other members would see her that she drove several miles before she cranked the volume to the max and went to-tally, unabashedly out of control.

Under absolutely nobody’s thumb.

I told her I considered that tripped-out time in her car as profound and sacred as anything else in her day.  It held some mystical essence of how God Had Uniquely Created Her To Be Precisely Her.

And why should she pretend to be anything else?

So I’ve been drawn forever to to  vinyasa yoga classes that might play hip hop, jazz, funk, bluegrass, punk or rock as often as any kind of typical chanting.

And Handel’s Messiah might make me cry but in certain moods so will Lady Gaga, Missy Elliot, or Boy George.

If you’re an unfettered soul yourself who shirks doctrinaire rules and categorizations,  you might just love the following arbitrary and pretty darn random playlist.   I’ll be posting new stuff all the time, so stay tuned.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4EE824102F9FE18

Playlist

1. MC Yogi -- Ganesh is Fresh -- http://youtu.be/X3W2eewBTlo

Big fan of his music.  The best of Hindu bhajans overlaid with a hip-hop beat.  What could be better?  Plus he’s a super-sweet guy and a great , unpretentious yoga teacher if you’re ever visiting Point Reyes.

2. Florence and the Machine, Dog Days are Over, http://youtu.be/ghpP1o7HdvQ

Someone sent me this song right as I was coming out of a dark, arduous stretch of life.  It embodied the rockin’ elixir of optimism to me.

3. Boy George, Hare Krishna http://youtu.be/x94FyGiPhG0

Love the music AND the video on this one.  What a genius that gorgeous Boy is.

4. Tina Turner-Proud Mary http://youtu.be/GCCS5fixC70

A few years ago I found a Tina Turner wig at a consignment store around Halloween and had the most fun dressing up as her.  I guess I’ll always be part-Tina forevermore.  She’s a complete inspiration, musically and spiritually.

5. Grace Jones- Pull Up to the Bumper http://youtu.be/JtnFg0KOQcA

The ultimate musical genius-androgyne.  There will NEVER be another Grace.

6. John Lennon,  Instant Karma http://youtu.be/EqP3wT5lpa4

I adore the videos that John and Yoko made together.  John singing while Yoko sits blindfolded knitting the next round of karma is just too brilliant for words.

7. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Origin of Love, http://youtu.be/-YO9FpWX57E

I really consider the entire soundtrack and movie of Hedwig to be gender-bending, inspired madness about following your own truth.  But this particular tune, based on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave about the nature of Love is one of my top favorite songs around.  And the video itself is amazing.

8. Dr John, Right place, wrong time http://youtu.be/Ct4sVVqeoUE

LOVE this one.  No funnier, funkier song out there about Divine Order and timing

9. Suzanne Vega and Lou Reed  -- Walk on the Wild Side http://youtu.be/1AA2tq6u7T0

I love remixes, the idea that two things can be tossed together to create a third, larger than them both.   In a sense, that’s what happens in astrology every time you run a composite chart.   Of course, like some astrological pairings, some remixes are a disaster, but others totally take wing.  This particular one sent me to the stratosphere.

10. Nina Hagen,  Kali Durge http://youtu.be/XSI37ptmzSU

I could have probably posted twenty videos of Nina, the crazed German Mother of Punk Rock.  Love her or hate her, everyone who knows of her has an opinion.  My favorite song is Universal Radio but I couldn’t find a video.  Meanwhile, her chants to the Hindu goddesses are exquisite.

11. Chaka Khan  -  Ain’t Nobody http://youtu.be/6eDSIj_iozA

Actually there just Ain’t Nobody Around Like Chaka Khan.   So she has to be here.

12. Matt world dance http://youtu.be/zlfKdbWwruY

I love Matt and his unabashed, goofy, uplifting dancing all over the planet with anyone who comes his way.  When someone first sent me this, I think I watched it 42 times in three days, weeping every time.

13. Adam Lambert , A change is gonna come http://youtu.be/xrcAWtVhb0c

Adam is a rebel Aquarian musical god.  How can someone be so Divinely fabulous and talented all at once?

14. Michael Jackson- Man in the Mirror http://youtu.be/iwu3D-Luo-E

Michael.  Just cuz.  Even when others try to do this song, no one can fully capture it.

15. Keb Mo, You can love yourself http://youtu.be/UISlKqKm6o4

I have given this song to so many people who were dealing with heartbreak.  Says it all.  Just try and be sad once you hear it.  Just try.  Drop me an email if you can still pull it off.

16. Cyndi Lauper- Girls Just Want to Have Fun http://youtu.be/gULOioi0GpU

Love, love, love Cyndi’s unstoppable exuberance.  I saw her a couple years ago at the Greek Theater in Berkeley with the B-52s.  Talk about someone who knows that age is a complete and total illusion.

17. Annie Lennox and David Bowie,  Under Pressure http://youtu.be/zNG2z4wWkhA

A duet made in androgyne heaven.

18. Earth Wind and Fire- Shining Star http://youtu.be/7XIMuUBVuWM

I remember first hearing this song in the 1970s when I was still a teen.  I could feel the holy essence of Love that EWF was transmitting.  I’ve adored them ever since, particularly this song which I figure has a secret astrological subtext.

19. Chaka Khan and Mary J Blige, Disrespectful http://youtu.be/LK1ndpimAiE

Check out the astonishing vocal power of these two musical divas joining forces.  And the message about knowing your own worthiness and inner love.

20. MC Yogi- Give Love http://vimeo.com/9366405

One more beauty by MC Yogi.  I don’t think he’s ever made a song I don’t love.

21. Starry Eyed Surprise http://youtu.be/Msef24JErmU

This is just one of those songs that always, always makes me happy and want to go dance all night.

22. KD Lang sings Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah http://youtu.be/P_NpxTWbovE

This has always been a favorite songs anyway.  But once I found the video of KD singing this with her sublime voice in all her butch-glam seductive beauty, well…how could it not be included?

23. Ella Fitzgerald- On the Sunny side of the Street http://youtu.be/H0grl8rKUiw

Just because Ella is Ella and no one else will ever be Ella.  And it will invariably lift you out of any ‘mood’ if you let it.

24. RuPaul and Elton John http://youtu.be/TDqPpbqSnAI

Oh man, I just LOVE this one.  I could probably write a PhD thesis on all the things I love about what happens when these two characters get together.

25. Betty Bowers http://youtu.be/OFkeKKszXTw

The people behind Betty Bowers are hysterical geniuses who let homophobia dig its own sweet grave.  Don’t miss this one.  Then send it to anyone who still doesn’t support Marriage Equality.

Love is love is love.

26.  Everliven Sound -- Que Sera http://youtu.be/VMGVJAP35cc

Spiritually uplifting hip hop, what a find. I was shocked see that only 160 hits were on their account. Unknown genius. “I put my faith in God and float with this alchemy, I put my faith in God and embrace what’s ahead of me.

27. Dancing with Myself, The Donnas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl8BCrY_sg8

Viewed from the perspective of nondualism, when are we ever NOT dancing with ourselves?  Don’t we just encounter the One, over and over?  Not sure that was Billy Idol’s original meaning but…what the hell, that’s why I love this song.

28. It’s Raining Men, with Martha Wash and RuPaul http://youtu.be/APqD2mfKPCI

Someone wrote in the YouTube comments, “I didn’t know Mother Nature was a drag queen.”  But actually I already did.  This is the one video I might go to first on a really, really bad day.  How can you not become ecstatic?  Soo incredibly campy and perfect in every way.  And check out Martha’s voice.  OMG!

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I know without doubt that a Force of Love exists that can guide, help and interact with each of us in the most intimate and practical way no matter what the conditions.

If only we know how to invite It in.

My overriding passion for inviting and dancing with this Force eventually gave birth to this book.

By the time I began the Examiner column in 2009, I had spent 25 years giving nearly 30,000 readings to people from all over the world.  I saw that even though each situation was unique, the questions in most hearts were similar.  “How do I stop worrying?  How can I know that things will work out?  How can I feel safe?”  And often, “Why do I feel so alone?”   Though there are ways to look at an astrology chart or tarot cards to foretell cycles of relative ease or challenge, I felt that particular information itself could never begin to address people’s deepest needs and longings.

So I began to weave into sessions what had transformed my own life, the principles of Divine Order and Source gleaned from reading Francis Scovel Shinn, a metaphysician from the 1940′s.  Divine Order says that the perfect solution to any problem is already selected if you allow yourself to be guided; Divine Source says there is a natural Universal Abundance that knows how to meet every need.   Harmonizing with this Force of Love–call it the Shakti, God, Goddess, One Mind, whatever you will–is the golden key to everything.

If a state of radical openness, acceptance, and attention is held.

Some of my long-time callers were actually people with years of spiritual practice of one kind of another, yet they often felt confusion, fear or worry.  Even if they meditated, chanted or practiced yoga, they didn’t always have practical tools for aligning with the Divine every day.

Others had either grown up in doctrinaire religions that left them spiritually alienated or were just confirmed cynics on the whole topic.  But I found that sometimes even the most ironic or skeptical people could use the techniques in this book and witness surprising miracles in the most seemingly mundane areas of life.

Anyone can learn how to move with these Divine principles.  Eventually the individual ego’s drive to ‘make things happen’ falls away, replaced with a relaxed, trusting openness to answers as they spontaneously arise.  These tools are truly accessible to anyone, and grow markedly stronger with practice.  Synchronicities and magic unfold with more and more frequency, strengthening one’s innate trust in the process.

One only needs to be willing to be

Outrageously

Open.

Well first,  here’s the Table of Contents.  What the heck.  The book is adapted from columns originally printed on examiner.com so some of the titles might look familiar.  But everything is edited and changed quite a bit from those days.  And each chapter contains four or five subheadings that I’m leaving out here or it would be the world’s absolutely longest T of C.

1. R U My Mother?

2. Shopping with God

3.  When You Know the One, Anything Can Come

4.  Follow the Inner Lead

5.  Giving it All Up

6. Be What You Seek

7.  The Holiday Emergency Survival Kit

8.  When in Doubt, Clean

9.  Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear

10.  Own Your Power (or Someone Else Will)

11. Romantic Kismet

12. Mundane Miracles and other Mysteries

13. Contestants Must Be Present to Win

14.The Higher Octave

15. Be Who You Are, Really

16. Be What the World Needs

TRYING TO FUNCTION (WITHOUT GOD)

Learning to surrender to a very sophisticated Deity has been the single most important lesson of my life.
Shirley MacLaine

Lose your inhibition, follow your intuition, free your inner soul, and break away from tradition…
Black Eyed Peas

When I was in ninth grade my friends and I played a certain game for months on end. No matter what someone said we just added the words “during sex.”  Such as, “She loves to eat anchovy pizza (during sex).”  Or, “He always forgets to do his math homework (during sex).”  For whatever reason, this never failed to send us into gales of hysteria.

But then, we were fourteen.

Now I find myself in a new version.  Have you noticed how some people will rush to discourage a certain goal?  Or at least let you know how futile, exhausting or expensive your attempt will be before you even start?

So in my revised game I always take their words and add “without God.”

As in, “It’s impossible to find the right job in this economy (without God).”

Or, “You’ll never be able to find parking there (without God).”

I can’t tell you how well this works.

I happened to turn on NPR during a mind-boggling interview with an ‘efficiency expert.’  He had written a book on procrastination with forty-four ‘critical steps’ to be followed in his Act for Success plan.  I was soon giggling so hard I had to pull the car over at the corner of Clay and Divisadero just to be safe.  Even the poor interviewer sounded flummoxed.

He asked, “So you’re telling our listeners they must follow all forty-four steps?”

“Absolutely.  Every single one,” the expert intoned, “in the proper order. Otherwise it will not work.”  And he began to fire off the list again.

My head was spinning like a bad carnival ride.

“Well,” said the interviewer.  “To be honest, that’s all a bit daunting.  Isn’t there a simpler way for people to begin?”

“No.” the expert said gravely.  “As a master, I devised this plan scientifically.  And of course, if people are confused, they should take my seminar.”

Of course.

Wiping away tears of laughter, all I could think was, “Yep.  He’s a master of how to overcome procrastination (without God).”

I remembered how life was indeed a weary road before I let the Divine lead the way.  I ran from one self-styled ‘master’ to the next with my problems.  The combination of a delicate nervous system and a good dose of ADD made my life often derail.

But at some indeterminate point, perhaps more from exhaustion than evolution, I pretty much gave God control.  And though problems still come, solutions usually follow in fresh and novel ways.

The other day I met an interesting writer in a cafe.  We started discussing the book proposal I’d been stuck on.

She offered, “Well, I could help you do it.  These usually take about thirty hours to create and I charge $250 an hour.”

“Wow, are you kidding?”  I gasped, doing some quick calculations.  “That’s over seven thousand dollars!”

“Well, I do have a handy flexible payment plan,” she said.

Then I remembered.

That’s what a book proposal costs (without God).

When I demurred and left, I sat in my car and invoked Divine Order with my full heart:

“If You wish this written, I cannot do this on my own.  You know my limits.  But the perfect route is already selected, so if this is Your Will, fling open the doors. If this is meant to be, please bring the right help..”

Within a month a writer friend of mine in New Mexico serendipitously emailed me one of her own proposals.

“Hey, you popped into my mind tonight,” she wrote. “In case you’re still working on that thing, just use mine like a map.  You’ll finish in no time.”