It was another beautiful Monday with the family on Clubhouse! Thank you to all who joined if you didn’t get to join us this week, we’ll be back next Monday and you’re always invited. Follow me @iyafunlayo now and you’ll receive a notification when we start.

Yesterday at Orisa Prayer and Meditation, we paid homage to the ancestors and spoke of the importance of being willing and able to do and say what needs to be done and said. Change is not always easy, and it’s not always cute. We spoke on how some of our ancestors had to make hard choices in their moves toward self actualization. As we reflect, we’re invited to ask ourselves: Are you willing to do what it takes to get free even when it isn’t easy? Are you willing to make the necessary cuts to ensure you’re working with a winning team?

During our time this morning, as an example of doing what needs to be done,  I shared that I’ve been a trained lifeguard since I was a teenager. And do you know the FIRST thing they teach you in lifeguard training? How to break free of a drowning person who is too panicked to follow your instructions and is grabbing onto you. Why? Because if you don’t break free, not only can you not help them, but they also run the risk of drowning you, too. As harsh as it may seem to push someone who’s seeking safety off of you, sacrificing yourself by letting them pull you down will not help either of you.

This weeks messages come from the “Tree” card, which corresponds to the seven of hearts (from the Grandma Baby’s Black Gold Lenormand deck). This card encourages us to seek harmony this week and to consider reciprocity at every turn. Are you giving thanks for all of your blessings? Are you appreciating the earth on which you walk in the water that you drink? Are you showing the gratitude if I says we are always to show? Are you caring for yourself in a way that honors you–including setting healthy boundaries? Each of these are questions the “Tree” card asks us to answer within ourselves.

And then, the perfect crystal ally for this week revealed itself! Lepidolite, which is a go-to for stressful times, has a gentle energy that works to soothe and calm the nerves and also to help bring gentle acceptance of hard truths. It is THE stone for making peace with saying what must be said and doing what must be done. It encourages us to slow down and relish each experience, even the challenging ones, for each moment contains great lessons. It’s great used in meditation or simply placed in the bath with you or carried in your pocket. Rub it and pray for Obatala’s peace and calm to descend, for your Ori to open to accept what is meant. Don’t have a piece? That’s alright, focus on an image of it or bring it into your consciousness to call on its soothing energy.

I’m grateful for you always and wishing you an absolutely fabulous week. I’ll see you around our weekly events. Ire gbogbo!

~ Iya Funlayo