11/12/2025
This is my Mala. It's strange that I am saying this because when I was younger they were very popular and most people seemed to know what prayer beads were.
I made it many years ago from skull beads I found at a Ren Faire in Wisconsin. I strung 111 of them and made the counters as is required in our Tibetan Bon practices.
I've had to restring it several times over the years because I've said hundreds of thousands of mantra on this and there's only so much energy it can take before the cord gives. We do mantra for a lot of things. Prosperity. Healing. Growth of intelligence. Purifying bad habits and wrong views. Helping humanity.
In the mornings I usually go walking in the wooded creek across the street from me and say mantra on my mala. These days when people see me they can't conceive of what I am doing or what prayer beads are. They assume it is a dog leash and I am looking for a lost dog. They get agitated and demand where I last saw my "missing dog" while i keep saying whatever mantra I was saying. Meanwhile their own dogs drag them along, stopping only occasionally to demand their waste be cleaned up.
This morning it happened again and I recognized how sad it is. We have gone so far from what used to simply be called 'The Way' that people can't recognize a person doing spiritual practice. It's is such a foreign concept in today's world.
What's even sadder I realize is that I remember what it was like to go walking without a spiritual practice. I would walk and spin and worry. My attention would bounce all over like a fox chasing a squirrel. I was aware of every bit of discomfort and fear as it arose. I would get agitated and wonder what I could eat, drink, analyze, read or do to escape the stuff that was churning in me: anger, fear, desire, uncertainty, loneliness. Sometimes when I was in my 20s, I would stop into a bar and get drunk. I felt unable to handle what was arising in the world. My walks were haunted by things I'd regretfully said or did or opportunities I'd missed. I'd bounce between past and future, never breathing, never knowing what amazing things were around me. Feeling always that there wasn't enough in the world.
That's what a walk was like without spiritual practice.
Now, my walks have purpose and they bring wonderful new magical conditions into my life. They give birth to ideas and changes and help me to release things that need to be purified. They show reveal animal messengers, omens and signs. I highly recommend this to everyone. It's a much more satisfying kind of walk than the first kind I described.
And so, in appreciation for my wonderful Mala and the beautiful transformational walks it has brought into my life, I'd like to use it to do a reading for you for the day.(Yes, of course I can use the mala for readings too!)
This is valid for whenever you see this post:
*Raven
*Raven
*Falcon
What you've been wishing for has a price. There is great change happening in your world and there are forces making that change that you aren't controlling. (You might want to fix that.) The outcome will come quickly and with a cost so be aware that the cost is something you agreed to pay when you made the wish. What's unfortunate is that you weren't real specific about the deal: so, you may not like what you're being asked to pay.
My advice:
1. Get your wishes under control. Everyone of us has the right to wish for anything we choose but all wishes have a cost. (Regardless of the religion) Be sure if you're going to ask something that's bigger than you are to give you something you want that the price is amenable to you. Also, watch and listen to your thoughts and pay attention to wishes that are made hastily. As His Holiness, Padma Gonpo Rinpoche taught me: we are never alone. Something is always listening!
2. Focus on the solution to a problem not on making more wishes. Also, take some time to acknowledge and be grateful for wishes that have come true.
3. There's fast change happening in the world. Don't assume that things will be the way youve always known them to be. Make sure you're learning new things to keep up with the change. In most cases the change is taking out thing that are holding you back. Don't stand in the way, especially if you wished for new circumstances.
4. Take some time to get in touch with your mind, your heart and your habits. This change that is happening is supposed to shake you out of complacency so you aim higher for yourself. Maybe it's time to up your spiritual practice?
For some of you this change may be coming in like an earthquake. Message me if you'd like to discuss how to manage it and get a better footing.
Wishing you a fantastic mid week filled with spiritual practice, healing and happiness.
Lynx
