When I was young, I kinda liked spiders... at least the daddy longlegs that used to be around the trees near our home. As I grew up, I developed a pretty strong fear of them, not sure where that comes from yet, but I'm working on it the best I can. The past few weeks, I've seen more than my share of spiders and done far more than my share of screeching and jumping around like an idiot with fear, so yesterday when I saw the latest spider, I'd reached my wits end.

My heart breaks anew each day as I watch the news. The magnitude of this oil spill is as yet to be determined as is the extent of the damage it is causing the environment. With even more poisons being pumped into the ocean to break up all of the oil, this disaster grows more ominous still. There is no way to truly know how this will effect the ocean and all the life in it into the future.

Monday I took a trip with my husband and his parents to Galveston. Traffic is always pretty rough driving to and from there so when it started slowing down a little, I came up with a little chant to keep it moving. It worked well for us so feel free to use it some time if you have the need.

I used to speak of coincidences as if these things happened without a guiding hand. Now I refer most often to what I like to call synchronicity. What I'm talking about are all those little moments that seem like happenstance. Like finding someplace you were looking for when you don't really know how to get there, but somehow in your wanderings, you run across the very place... Or when you meet someone who turns out to become one of your dearest friends in a place neither of you have ever been before... Or when you find the very thing you're looking for when you've stopped looking all together.

It seems these days that this happens quite regularly in my life, more than it used to. It could be that it only seems that way though, because I recognize it better. I never truly recognized the guidance of the divine in my life before 3 years ago... Yet now to deny it now seems quite ludicrous. Looking back, I see that it's all these little moments that seemed like chance, that have led me to where I am.

All of the most important moments in my life are examples of synchronicity. From finding the one person who could truly understand me (who is also now my husband) in the last place in this country I'd ever want to live... to delving into a very rewarding spiritual journey because of an e-mail I wasn't supposed to get (or at least that wasn't the intention of the sender)... or meeting our dearest friends in a place we nor they had ever been before. And most recently, finding an exciting new witch store when we didn't know how to get there or even remember it's name.

While at the time, these things seemed like chance, looking back I see how much the divine had to work to get me to those moments and I am grateful all the more for that divine guidance. I will not refer to this as coincidence again, because it is really more accurate to call it synchronicity.

The seas, the sky, the dancing flame,
The earth beneath my feet...
The fish, the birds, the creeping snake
And all the lovely trees...

Magic lives in all these things
Each connected to the other.
Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
All gifts from our Great Mother

By Amethist Flame

Being an empath can be a double edged sword at times. On one hand it can be a great tool of insight into what others are going through, but sometimes, their emotions can be overpowering, and it can be difficult to tell their emotions apart from my own.

All of my life, I've had times where I cried for hours for reasons unknown to me. Now that I've learned a bit more about what being an empath is, I'm more able to identify the causes of these emotional breakdowns. When global tragedies occur, although it still effects me, I'm more in control of myself and I can shield my self some what and lessen the effect.

Over all though, I view it as a gift. I don't want to shield myself too much because I value this connection I have to what others are dealing with. It gives me insight and allows me to be more supportive of those I care about and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

Self-doubt has been a major stumbling block for me for most of my life. I struggle with it more at some times than at others, but it manages to rear its ugly head all to often still. I'm learning ways, more and more, to move past these times and they're duration is shrinking slowly but surely.

I find it helps in times like these to reach out to close friends. Getting positive feedback from them helps fuel my forward momentum. However, there are times when I must simply trudge forward on my own, even if at a little slower pace. It's continued forward movement that is important. Once I've pushed through, I usually start to see the results, and my confidence is renewed.

What I'm getting at is this, friends support and personal determination are the best tools I've found in moving past my own self-doubt. I hope this can help others move past theirs as well.