Episode 41 - "Making Your Mark"

This episode is deeply personal.

It is the final card pull, the final Ogham stick, and the final episode I will record in the home and sanctuary Nathan and I created together.

This morning, I sat in the folly one last time, surrounded by the pathways, trees, and quiet energy we poured love into over the years, simply giving thanks.

The cards could not have spoken more clearly:

Smudge - clearing energy and releasing what no longer serves us.

Forest Song - nurturing the inner child with love and compassion.

Yew - death, resurrection, and sacred new beginnings.

Sometimes making your mark on the world isn’t something loud or grand. Sometimes it’s loving a place deeply while you are there.

As one chapter closes, another quietly begins.

Join me for this heartfelt episode of reflection, gratitude, release, and new beginnings.

As always, if you feel drawn to, you may donate to me via Venmo:

@John-Ginn-8

Please email stories, questions, etc. to lessonswithwesley@gmail.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome to Lessons with Wesley. If this found you, it was meant to. Take a moment to pause, reflect, and breathe. You're entering a sacred space of tarot, of oracle, meditations, oum, and soul-centered wisdom. There are no coincidences here, only invitations. Lessons with Wesley.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Hope y'all are doing well this morning, or whenever you're listening to it. Welcome to Lessons with Wesley. This is episode 41, Making Your Mark. This was the last pull in our home. The last recording, surrounded by the energy that Nathan and I have created. Y'all, the message, release, gratitude, compassion, death, and resurrection, and new beginnings. Oh my goodness, y'all. This I got teary-eyed uh doing the readings and working with Chat GPT and that beautiful image that oh my gosh. I asked it to create an image to match this episode's message, and it's just beautiful. I hope y'all see it there on um on the social media lessons with Wesley, either Facebook or Instagram. Not sponsored. But man, this is it. Not the it, not the end of lessons with Wesley, but the last one to record here in the house. But Nathan and I have been so busy, we've gone to Hatterburg three weekends in a row. Uh yes, we did hire movers, thank goodness. We're in our 40s, like we're not doing it again. But we did do some stuff on our own, like the attic clearing out. This ties into the episode getting rid of what we don't need or use or what no longer serves us emotionally. So we did that, did another trip, taking artwork and lamps, and outdoor furniture. And that was this latest trip. It's just and Nathan's side of the closet. It's just been we so yes, we have been moving stuff on our own and getting rid of stuff. So the movers show up next week, y'all. Next week, they'll literally load boxes and furniture. And we meet them there with the maw mouse. So oh goodness. But let's see, and last night, oh man, it was just we had a um it was Saturday, so I'm recording this Sunday. So last night, um the neighborhood, we have what we call like a family dinner gathering. We usually do it once a month. And this one was kind of it was another one, but it was also in honor of Nathan and myself, and just gratitude that the people expressed was just overwhelming. And and so it was a gathering of for the neighborhood for the certain people that just kind of used to come to these, but it was also they were throwing it saying, Hey, we love you, good, you know, bye. And there's always something we do at these. Jennifer, our lovely uh neighbor and friend, uh, we had it at her house. And so we always do this thing where, all right, we've been eating and fellowshipping and drinking, having a gay old time. Okay, now's the time where you need to share your favorite part of the day, and the rule is it can't be right now. Uh but that rule was broken last night, and that's what it started. But Lord, so many people were just forgetting about favorite part of the day and just saying wonderful things to Nathan and to myself, and the mark we made in the neighborhood and and in a beta where we live, Abida Springs, and it was just just it was unexpected, and man, and then oh, and luckily uh the people buying our house, wonderful couple, and it's going into another music family, and we ended up coming back to our house, and Nathan played the piano. He just did this gorgeous uh melody he just created um Mary Had a Little Lamb, because someone said the only thing I know how to play on the piano is Mary Had a Little Lamb, and they're like, Okay, and I I just sat there tearing up, just watching that beautiful soul. And and then I um we all sing a song, and I got to I said, Oh, what a wonderful world, because Jennifer was asking, What's that one where you do the you know the the voice like the guy? So she was talking about uh uh Louis Armstrong, and so people I was singing, people were singing, and then I got to do the my Louis impression. It was great and and totally unexpected. So this episode, and that was my so in saying all that, that was my intent behind this episode was about what does someone need to hear. I said this is kind of all about yes, transitions in the last episode about following your compass. And it's just about uh uh and that was kind of what I was thinking. I was sitting out in the sanctuary this morning, and my folly was just about love, love, love, and gratitude and having grace throughout the day and obviously transitions and new beginnings, which obviously I know we all know is coming up because we're moving is a whole new thing. It's a wonderful move. I can't wait to be near my brothers and sister-in-laws and my nephews and Nathan's family. It's just it's a great move, but it's uh it's not really hard, but this this morning and and then working with this reading and then realizing that this morning was the last morning I was going to be sitting in my folly. Yeah, I could go out there another morning, but I'm I'm not. I I'm not. I I'll walk through, but I'm not gonna sit there and enjoy a wonderful cigar and coffee. Maybe I'll go out there tonight and have a fire even though it's hot. But maybe I don't think I'll have a fire out there, but I I wanna end I wanna end it. Oh, and I'm drinking water out of our fridge. You know, filtered water as I'm recording this, and I gave thanks and blew some blessings and chokeres into it. I bless you and you bless me as I was consuming it. Anyway, it's just been fantastic. And the fourth grade teachers, they took me out last Wednesday to the uh Chifuncta Brewery, and it's a trivia night, and they have uh and as luck would have it, my favorite food truck was there, Buddha Barbecue. Love that place. If y'all, any fellow listeners close by, they set up on Sunday mornings. He always sets up Sunday mornings in a Bita Springs at the farmer's market. Buddha barbecue. Oh, I had the pork nachos. So good. So that was great, and then I had my last lunch with the kids. The kids pay 50 gin bucks uh and they'll have lunch with me on their and I teach fourth grade, by the way, uh, fourth grade. Um, so they pay 50 gin bucks and they get to have lunch with me and they get a bag of chips. And it was I had 11 kids and it hit me. I'm like, y'all, y'all are my last group to have lunch with here where I work, and it was just so special, and I love it. And so next week, basically Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are full days with the kids, and then Thursday is a half day with the kids. And I always bring my Nintendo, we play uh Nintendo Switch, we play Mario Kart and Smash Brothers. They always think they're gonna beat Mr. Gen at Sma uh uh Mario Kart, it's like mm-mm, no, no, no. I was playing this before you were born. There's no way you're gonna beat me. They're always surprised. I don't know why. Um and so that's that, and that's goodbye to Abeda Springs Middle School. I've been working there like 12, 13 years, and yes, my first interview. I got my first job, I've got a new uh uh job lined up, fourth grade ELA. I love it, it's fantastic. I'm looking forward to that. It'll be a little nerve-wracking being the new person there, but do I let my true energy show now? Or do I I don't want to scare them away. Pull back, baby. Um let's see, so that's I mean, that's happening, but so bye to the school and to the faculty um, you know, that I work with. And I don't I have a couple of friends there, but I have a lot of acquaintances there, and a lot of wonderful acquaintances. But it's just another goodbye and new transition. But it's all wonderful stuff. It's just all wonderful stuff. But anyway, so are y'all ready? Y'all ready to get into it? Are you ready for the card pools to hear about the wonderful card pools that are coming up in the OM Stick pool? Alright, y'all. Here we go. Okay, so I had set my intentions and I smudge the place like I always do, and the first card is smudge, I love it, but I lit my Palo Santo wood, that's what I always use to clear the space and set my intentions to call in my spirit guides, um, my astral companions and love and light, and I call in um just I just say white light and positive energy only allowed. And so I set my intentions and I said, you know what? Being out in the sanctuary today and sitting in my folly, I said, I I'm going to use I'm going to use the um all my nature cards, like the like the wisdom of the elders. I'm going to, you know, to use that. Because that's just what I was out there in Mother Earth and just looking at all of the wonderful things that Nathan and I had created and worked with and cultivated. And I said, that's what I'm going to use. And then there was another uh deck that I have, which is the Enchanted Forest. I'm like, oh, that I'm using that hands down. And then, of course, I've got to use my OM sticks. Definitely gotta use those. And I can't wait to talk about the OM stick when I get there. Okay, so here we go. From the Wisdom of the Elders Oracle deck. Now, this is by Sean Leonard, artwork by Tracy Metallic and Aaron Googou. The smudge card number 43, which is all about clearing energy. So I'm gonna read what's in the little booklet that comes with it. The billowing smoke, used in countless sacred rites and ceremonies, has been a prominent feature throughout many diverse spiritual practices here on Mother Earth. There is universal wisdom connected to the practice of using smoke for lifting our prayers up and through the cultural custom of smudging. Various medicinal plants, including tobacco, sage, cedar, sweetgrass, resins, including frankincense, myrrh, and copal, and sacred bits of wood as sandalwood and what I like to use, Palo Santo, or specifically used to smudge. This is done so with care. There is powerful energy connected to the smoke itself, and to the intention and words of the individual during the ceremony. The smoke used specifically in a smudging ritual is meant to spiritually cleanse a person, place, or object. Oftentimes, energetic clearing is needed in our energy, fields, or environment. When we feel unable to clearly hear and feel messages from spirit or when our space has become heavy or burdensome. If you've drawn the smudge card today, it is time to clear out some area of your life and to invite your ancestors in. Through the process of smudging and by learning to combine various sacred medicines, you can enhance the strength of your prayers, intentions, and ability to clear your space and energetic body. If you are currently weighed down by the heaviness of your life, spirit might be giving you a sign to smudge yourself and release what is no longer needed. It is important to incorporate the practice of smudging to energetically wash away the unwanted negative thoughts, emotions, and energy that do not serve you. And and like I said, I I do that every time I get ready. Uh, you know, I get ready to cleanse the space and just do a reading for myself, or if I'm doing a sound bath for someone, or if I'm doing um in like a Reiki session for someone, I'll do that. I'll I'll burn the wood and I'll you know clear the space. I've already done it for the new space that we're going in, so I've done that already. So, you know, if you need to take a moment right now, just press pause if you've got that sage or white sage or Palo Santo. Now I'm not an expert on smudging, but I do know that they say like white sage or sage itself kind of cleanses all energy, negative and positive. So I kind of like to use the Palo Santo just to focus on clearing negative energy. I don't want to clear away the positive energy that Nathan I've created in this space. So that's why I like to use the Palo Santo wood. I think the what does that translate to? Palo Santo is like heaven, heavenly wood, something like that. But anyway, so this card is about transition, not destruction or loss, but transition. It's releasing what no longer serves. The smudge card blessings in the next chapter of our lives and making space for the new energy. Um, and it's just about and just clearing the energy and just loving where you are, just loving the ordinary moments of your life, and just pulling those in and just uh transitions, not lost, folks, transitions, and the next card that came from the uh that's the enchanted forest oracle deck, and that's that's uh by the manufacturer Empath, E M P A T S Uh H. E M P A T H Soul, Empath Soul, so that's the card that I use, and this one it's all about nurturing your inner child with love and compassion, and it's the forest song, and I love that so much because I was literally kind of out there in my forest, and and it was I mean that what Nathan I call the sanctuary. I mean, that's it's all natural and wild, except we created pathways, and I brought in river sand and dirt and soil, and then packed that down, and then I brought in Zoizia grass and fertilized it and did weed and feed and just worked with it and blessed it and walked it. How many prayer meditative breath walks have I taken and just rubbed my hands on the wax myrtle and just breathed it in? And I was just like a child out there, and this card came up for a song, your inner child, just finding that love and just loving the moment of where you are, and just loving the energy that's around you. So as I sat there, yeah, trying not to grieve, but you can't help but grieve, but just giving thanks, and just mourning where what you're leaving, but also just loving where you're going and just honoring the memories and the healing that's taking place there and the growth, and and Nathan and I have gosh, we brought in five pond, no, six pond cypresses, ten uh cypress trees, um, that we I support the Arbaday Foundation, and when we started off, those little suckers when we were building this house, there were ten little twigs that Arbaday sent me, and now they are just growing, and I just can't wait till one day, because we'll be back in Nebita visiting friends and for different reasons, and I can't wait to you know ride by and I mean if the people keep the sanctuary, I know they want to keep the folly, uh, but hopefully they'll just fall in love with it as much as I have. But just the nurturing that we've done, and just sitting there, just taking it all in and knowing that the the nature and the frogs and the snakes and the turtles that are out there, you know what we've created, it's just magical, and I just love it. And I was enjoying my coffee and my cigar out there one last time. And the Owem stick, y'all. The Owem stick, by the way, I think I might have said it, but new listeners, if you didn't catch that episode, these Owem sticks, which is the Irish ancient Irish uh alphabet, and each OM has a character, a mark on it, and it stands for a certain tree, and that certain tree has a metaphysical property and meaning. But I made my 20 the OM set that I have, it's it's 20 sticks, and I speaking of the little twigs, uh, literally six years ago, y'all, six years ago, have grown, and I was doing some uh work on trimming on the trees, and and I said, I want to make myself my own Oum set, and I used this beautiful cypress tree that Nathan and I planted and cultivated and watered and weedied and took care of and blessed, and I would just grab its leaves on my walk and just rub it across my face and just breathe it in. This energy that we've shared back and forth. I trimmed some of the bigger branches at the bottom, and I made my OM stick set, and so that's the last Owam stick pulled today from that beautiful sanctuary out there we've created just means so much to me. The hands, my hands that I've cut and sawed and used my my um like my burning kit and burnt this symbol in there with love and meaning and message and power, and yet it speaks to me one last time, and hopefully reaching y'all and speaking to y'all, and how this is out there in the quantum and this simple act of planting this little twig, and look what's come out of it, how it's being used, and y'all, the Owam stick is the you, and it stands for death and resurrection, folks. And there it is, the perfect, the perfect closing moment. You doesn't mean the end. Death is not the end, folks. It's not. It means something sacred. We have completed this cycle so something new can begin, and there is a wonderful new resurrection coming, this new journey that we are on. We're not leave, we're not leaving empty-handed, y'all. We're carrying wisdom, love, energy. It's all about energy and frequency, y'all, and intentions and the memory that we've created in this space. And just what a wonderful. I mean, so what I did, the same way I pull a card pull, I'll I'll shuffle, I'll do some Reiki energy over it, just focusing, and I'll split the card into three piles, and I put my hands and I automatically just feel or see in my mind's eye which set I want to grab the left, the middle, or the right. And I did that with with the uh wisdom of the elders and the enchanted forest. And I focused my energy on my OM set, and I pulled, I was like, no, go here to the bottom right, and I pulled that stick, and I had three, and I don't I didn't know what three I had in my hand. But Ugh I just did the same thing. I just hovered those three. So I mean it it out of those three, it could have been any one, but those three out of 20 I just chose and I put them down on the left, middle, and right, and I focused and I just held my hands over and I just put them down. I just knew exactly which one to grab. I don't even know what the other two were. I didn't even look. Maybe I should have looked. What it could have been, but no, and I just put the other two back and grabbed them like the U. Perfect. Death and resurrection. And how beautifully that just went along with with the other two cards, and about what Nathan and I are going through. And even the neighborhood, the mark we made in the in a beat up, but the neighborhood. You know, they're losing us, but they're getting, you know, someone else. They too are gonna go through a transition, meeting new people, and it just I love how it's all connected. Oh, mmm. Oh folks, if you've enjoyed this episode, gotten something out of it, just like, should subscribe, not subscribe, just like, send it to someone. So this morning, folks, I sat in the folly one last time, just giving thanks. The card spoke of clearing energy, compassion, and death and resurrection. And I realized something. We often think making our mark means something grand, but sometimes it simply means loving a place well while you're there. Nathan and I planted love here. We walked these paths, built this sanctuary, blessed this home, and now we carry that energy forward. Gaia bless you.