Message from Intuitive Massage: STAY ON PATH

“Lynx is the guardian of the secrets and, more importantly, the knower of the secrets.”

– Totem & Power Animals, A-Z

Have you ever heard of a soul-massage?

I hadn’t. But when I was asked recently if I’d be interested in receiving a complimentary “soul-care intuitive massage” and writing a blog about my experience, I said sure!

I didn’t really know what I was in for…but I figured it was likely going to be a positive, relaxing experience. Well, I got a lot more than I bargained for. But when it comes to matters of the soul, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

The massage was by Lisa Meikle, founder of Bodacious Living by Lisa, a beautiful boutique spa in Nanaimo, BC.

Before our session began, I asked to use the bathroom and Lisa pointed it out to me. But when I went to slide open the pocket door to go inside, the door wouldn’t move. I told Lisa the door must be locked.

“It can’t be,” she said. “There’s no one in there to lock it.”

I tried the door again. Still locked. Lisa came over and tried the door herself.

“Well,” she said. “That’s odd.”

To which I smiled and said, “Maybe I’m being locked out…spiritually, I mean? Maybe I’m here today hoping to find answers that I’m not meant to know yet?”

After using the upstairs bathroom, we began our session. It was in two parts: the first part was a meditation and intuitive reading in a pretty little room – a sacred space – complete with candles and cushions. Tranquil, serene, peaceful…that’s what I felt the moment I pulled back the curtain and walked in.

I put my glass of water on the floor in front of a sculpture of the Divine Feminine and Masculine then sat down. Lisa asked me if, for the intuitive readings, would I prefer to pull cards from decks about goddesses, angels and/or animal spirit guides?

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Let’s do goddesses and spirit animals,” she suggested. “I don’t use the animal cards very often, but I am feeling that we need to with you.”

She placed several different decks of cards in front of me, to pull cards from, then left the room. I pulled a few cards (but didn’t turn them over) then just sat quietly, waiting.

When Lisa entered the room again, she walked over towards the door near me but didn’t see my water glass on the floor and kicked it. The glass shattered. It was a water glass…it should have broken into a few pieces at most. Not this glass – there were tiny shards everywhere.

“I am SO sorry!” I said. “I shouldn’t have put that on the floor where you couldn’t see it.”

“No, no, no,” she said. “It’s not your fault. I just…it’s just weird, that’s all.”

“Do you know what a broken glass can signify?” I asked. “Spiritually, I mean.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“It’s supposed to be a portal to the other side,” I said. “When a glass breaks, apparently that means the spirit world is very near.”

“Ahh…” she said with a smile. “This is going to be a very interesting session.”

And it was. The next 90-minutes flew by and most of what Lisa read to me resonated strongly – either for personal or professional reasons. For the purpose of this blog, I will just share the information pertaining to the animal spirit card I pulled: Lynx.

Likewise, there are times when we are not meant to know something because it is not in our best interest.

After the intuitive reading and discussion, I had the actual massage and it was lovely! The purpose of having a massage right after chatting about intuitive matters is to help the ideas discussed really sink in…to our psyche.

I left Lisa’s spa feeling relaxed, focused and significantly calmer. I also felt tremendous clarity on a few matters I had been grappling with, mainly to do with my writing. Some questions – pertaining to my personal life – remained unanswered.

But my experience didn’t end there. The next day, I was driving in my car, flipping through radio stations and I heard a woman telling a story. The woman was First Nations and she was telling the interviewer about the time she was walking down a mountain trail and could sense an animal was watching her…and walking huge circles around her. She couldn’t see the animal nor hear it, but she knew it was there. The animal finally revealed itself to her, from a distance…and it was a lynx!

I stared at my car radio…kay, that is weird.

The woman then told the interviewer that after realizing a lynx had been circling her, she practically ran down the rest of the mountain. And at the very bottom, she found a sign that read: STAY ON THE PATH! DO NOT LEAVE THE PATH! THIS IS AVALANCHE COUNTRY.

I looked at my car radio again, even more weirded-out.

Then, I kid you not, the woman said to the interviewer: “I knew it was a very special experience I’d had but I didn’t know what the lesson or message was. I still don’t. I’m not even sure why I told you that story…on the radio yet!”

“That’s because the message is for ME!” I yelled at my car radio, like a lunatic.

And what, exactly, is the message?

That I need to smarten up and STAY ON MY PATH.

Lynx is always circling…there to help me (as a writer/storyteller) determine which secrets need to be kept and which ones need to be revealed – and when.

As for the answers to my personal questions? Well, just like the locked bathroom door…the answers will be revealed to me when the time is right time – and not a moment sooner. But in the meantime, I need to stay on the damn path!

Now…whether this was, in fact, my “Lynx spirit guide” communicating to me – through the radio (!) – doesn’t matter. What matters is that I got the message.

And at the risk of coming across as flakier than a Jamaican patty 🙂 I’m sharing it in this blog because it’s a good reminder to all of us to stay on our path. It is SO easy to get overcome by the waiting avalanche of distractions (such as the damn phone) that can keep us from focusing on – and appreciating – all that really matters in our lives.

“The quiet teachers are everywhere. When we think we are in charge, their lessons dissolve as accidents or coincidence. But when brave enough to listen, the glass that breaks across the room is offering us a direction that can only be heard in the roots of how we feel and think.”

– Mark Nepo, “The Book of Awakening”

For more information on Bodacious Living by Lisa, please click here.

If you’re in the Nanaimo area and are interested in receiving a soul-massage, I highly recommend it. Lisa also offers a wide variety of other spa services such as facials (I had one a few weeks after my soul-massage and it was delightful), pedicures and manicures. Lisa also has a great selection of skin-care products available.

Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her regular weekly blog, please sign up here.