This all started because I did a Tarot reading for myself using a fun layout that looked at different aspects of my femininity. In each post I will share my reading with you and then expand upon the concepts that make up our Inner Goddess. We will cover:

• Mother
• Virgin
• Siren
• Sorceress
• Wise Woman
• Fairy Godmother
• Wife
• Hag
• Amazon

Let’s get started!

Mother – What do I nurture? What do I create?

VIII Swords – Swords represent intellect and communication. The number 8 denotes a completed cycle, but not quite ready to start a new cycle. I nurture communication and my intellect. Using these two abilities, I create the means for women over forty to see  which cycle they have come to the end of, and guide them through the transition to the start of the next cycle. The woman in this Tarot card is wearing a blindfold. I help women to take off that blindfold.

The Mother in Your Inner Goddess

Creation and nurturing is pretty much second nature to women. We are programmed to desire children and to nurture them. This ensures the continuation of the human race. Of course, the desire to actually have children is a generalization. Not all of us desire motherhood. But, it is safe to say we all want to nurture and create in our own ways.

Actually, it is more than a want. We need to nurture and create. When we are blocked from doing so, we suffer. I know all about this in both my personal and business lives. I was so blocked from creating ideas and nurturing people in one job, that my husband literally drove me to work each day with me sitting beside him crying.

My solution to this was to become very clear on what aspects of myself I love to develop. Well, I love communication. Not just nurturing communication between me with someone else, but nurturing it between other people as well. I also love to push my intellect to its limits, in particular finding ways to use my intellect to guide and mentor others.

After a gestation period, which involved the same highs and lows of an actual pregnancy, Silver & Grace was born. The Mother in my Inner Goddess is now perfectly content.

Take a look at the Mother in your Inner Goddess:

1. Is she happy and content, or does she feel blocked and unfulfilled?
2. What does she nurture, or what would she like to nurture?
3. How does she express her creativity?
4. Is there something she would love to ‘birth’ and watch grow?

Not sure of the answers to some of these questions. Ask her! She will tell you. After all, she’s a mother. She loves to give advice.

Discover the Incredible Power of Tarot

I love working with Tarot. It is a powerful tool to explore answers to life’s challenges or simply bring out wondrous information about yourself. It is also a very simple tool to use once you learn some very basic common sense concepts. I have created a guide to get you up and running reading Tarot quickly. Click here to learn the basics for just 99 cents: Tarot & Oracle Card User Guide.

Want to learn more and perform richer readings? Sign up for my fun and interactive online Tarot courses by clicking here: Tarot Online Workshops

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Having trouble communicating with your Inner Goddess to discover what to nurture and create? Let’s work together through my intuitive mentoring to bring you the contentment that comes when you are completely in touch with your passions. For details check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

It is a common state, but it is also an exhausting state.

Sanaya Roman’s book Personal Power Through Awareness is a guide for clearing away the fog. It is a how to book on living proactively as opposed to reactively.

It all starts with taking the time to be aware.

Aware of your own state of mind, allowing you to understand someone else’s state of mind.

Aware of your own energy flow, allowing you to understand someone else’s energy flow.

Aware of your own emotional triggers, allowing you to understand someone else’s emotional triggers.

Aware of your own body language, allowing you to understand someone else’s body language.

This book was a really important one for me. As an emotional intuitive, I run the risk of blending my energy and emotional state with everyone I come into contact with. We all do it to some extent, but emotional intuitives run the risk of becoming overwhelmed. It’s like being plugged into a huge machine that is draining our batteries at an alarming rate.

The techniques described in this book, however, provided me with instant results.

Take something simple like body language:

If you are leaning forward, you are giving away your energy and trying to push in on other people’s space. If you are leaning way back, you are avoiding their energy, and they are coming at you too strongly. When you are sitting or standing straight, with your shoulders square, you are most in your power, for that is definitely the position of balance and centeredness which allows you to control the energy around you.

After reading this, the very next day I had to sit through six hours of meetings. In these particular meetings I end up extremely frustrated and several of the participants invariably end up hostile to each other. I sat through the entire six hours upright with my shoulders back and relaxed. I remained serene for the entire time. And for the first time ever, no word of a lie, all the other participants remained calm.

Personal power through awareness? Heavy emphasis on power I would say!

Silver & Grace Approved Products

Personal Power Through Awareness has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent resource for women. It is available through Amazon.

Personal Power Through Awareness: A Guidebook for Sensitive People (Book II of the Earth Life Series)

For other approved products check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent, and real you

When we spend a lot of time in reactive mode it is often difficult to break the cycle and move into proactive mode. Need a helping hand to reach in and pull you out of the fog? I have mentoring packages to do just that. Looking for specific tools and techniques to live an aware life? Check out these fun workshops and courses.

In your day-to-day contacts, know that you do not owe anyone your time or energy. They are the greatest gifts you have been given, and how you use them will determine how much you will evolve in this lifetime. _Sanaya Roman

How does that quote make you feel? Did it make you feel uncomfortable? Was there some righteous indignation? As in “Of course I owe people my time and energy!”?

Really? Who do you owe your time and energy to?

Your children? Your husband? Your boss? Your friends? Your extended family members?

“Well yes!”

Okay, let’s look at the definition of owe.

To be under obligation to pay or repay. To be in debt to.

Hmmmm….

Now let’s look at the definition of gift.

Something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance.

I know that when I feel obligated I also feel really cranky and put upon. I am not acting from a place of love, but from a place of let’s get this damn thing over and done with. Not good. Not good for me and not good for the recipient.

However, when I am voluntarily giving I feel happy and positive. Good. Good for me and good for the recipient.

Now let’s go back to our list of people.

Yes, we absolutely want to, and should, invest time in our family, friends, bosses and co-workers. But how we do it and when we do it should be determined by us. We get to prioritize our time and energy.

Oh, this was a really hard lesson for me to learn. At one point I was trying to meet the demands of my children, my partner, and my boss … all at once! I was stretched so thin you could see right through me. Until one day I woke up and realized I wasn’t doing anyone any favours. Not to mention the fact that I was making myself spiritually and physically sick.

I learned to respond in one of three ways:

• Yes, I will be happy to help you with that right now.
• Yes, I will be happy to help you with that, but it will have to be later.
• No, this is not something I can help you with.

The hardest one, of course, was the last one. But, I realized that it is okay to say I am not the right person to help. It doesn’t make me less of a mother, partner, sister, daughter, or employee. It was simply an honest declaration that I am not the right person and someone else is.

Guess what happened? Everything I now do is fun, because I want to help. And magically that sense of fun transfers to the recipient. A good time is had by all.

Your time and energy are gifts. Choose wisely when to give them and who to give them to, and then enjoy the spirit of giving.

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on investing in yourself first and foremost? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
The Hardline Self Help Handbook: What Are You Willing to Do to Get What You Really Want?
The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

I know from experience that the thought of saying no to people can cause fear and anxiousness. Let’s work together to look closely at that fear and remove it from your life, freeing you up to truly enjoy gifting your time and energy. To learn more about my intuitive mentoring options, check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

Sanaya lists behaviours that she believes takes most people’s energy down. Here are my experiences with the energy drainers she identified.

1. Talking about mundane or negative things. Okay, negative things is a no-brainer, but it is interesting that Sanaya includes mundane things. Fascinating.

I used to be associated with a family that pretty much did nothing but talk about mundane things. The price of gas. Yesterday’s weather, today’s weather, tomorrow’s weather. Which grocery store was selling canned beans at the lowest price. Holy crumpets, I would leave these conversations with the life sucked right out of me.

Why? Because they went on and on about things they have zero control over! What an incredible waste of precious thought and energy.

Admittedly, in my previous, not so happy life, I was a bit of a yakker. Talk, talk, talk. Interestingly, the happier I became with myself the less I talked. I also generally walk away from small talk. The price of gas is what it is. The weather is what it is. And the two cents difference in a can of beans really doesn’t matter in the long run.

2. Reading articles in newspapers or magazines which speak of pain or struggle without a higher reason for it. That last bit is critical. It is energy enhancing to investigate a cause that you are going to invest effort in to improve. However, reading about pain or struggle just to read about pain or struggle is a guaranteed way to reduce your energy.

People are always shocked when I tell them that I do not listen to nor read the news. They think I am choosing to live in ignorance. In fact, I am very aware. I pick up the headlines just from listening to people talk. Really it all boils down to bad things happen. I know that and I do my part to make good things happen. But I can’t do that if I am carrying around every single horrific headline from the news.

3. Not listening to the flow of your body (not resting when tired; not being active when energy is there). I bet we all know about the energy draining effects of this one! Again, Sanaya puts an interesting spin on this with not being active when energy is there.

I have a perfect example of this. I went on a vacation to Colorada with a man I was dating. Colorada … mountains … hiking. The trip consisted of driving for hours in the car, sitting in restaurants, and visiting around kitchen tables. None of those things is wrong if done in moderation. However, we didn’t actually walk anywhere let alone hike. I have to say it was the most energy draining vacation of my life.

4. Thinking of past times you were hurt. We relive the pain and energy drain each and every time we put thought to a past hurt. The only way this is a positive experience is if we review the past hurt to find out our role in the incident so that we can learn and grow.

I take a pretty straight forward approach to past hurts with myself and with my mentoring clients. Acknowlege them, learn from them, move on. If you aren’t ready to learn from them, and that’s okay, just don’t even go there.

5. Fearing the future. The number one reason why I stayed in an unhappy relationship for so long was fear of the future. Actually, it is probably safe to say that is the only reason I stayed.

Will I find another life partner? Will I have enough money to live? Where will I live for that matter? What happens if something happens that I normally have a man fix, like a flat tire? I was so drained I couldn’t even contemplate taking action. Once I decided to look forward to the future, instead of fearing it, I was flooded with positive energy.

Just for fun, let’s flip this list around:

1. Talk about positive and relevant things
2. Read empowering and enlightening books and articles
3. Listen and respond to your body’s needs
4. Learn from your hurts and move on
5. Get excited about the future

Wow! Now that is truly energy enhancing.

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Personal Power through Awareness, by Sanaya Roman, has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent resource for women. It is available through Amazon.

Personal Power Through Awareness: A Guidebook for Sensitive People (Book II of the Earth Life Series)

For other Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

I have been there done that with energy drainers, and I learned through trial and error how to flip them around to energy enhancers. A time consuming process for me, but the good news is I have discovered more efficient methods. Do any of the top five energy drainers resonate with you? Let’s work together so that you are experiencing the top five energy enhancers instead. To learn more about my intuitive mentoring options check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

There the book sat until the Christmas break when a little voice said to me “Now Eliza! Now is the time to read The Source of Miracles.” So I opened the pages and proceeded to devour the book. Guess it truly was time!

The tag line of Kathleen McGowan’s book is 7 Steps To Transforming Your Life Through The Lord’s Prayer. I love The Lord’s Prayer. There is comfort in reciting it by rote. Generally only when I am in a church setting which boils down to weddings and funerals. Notice I say ‘by rote’ which means done as a habit and without thinking.

Which is exactly why Kathleen wrote this book, because many of us … many many of us … repeat the Lord’s Prayer as a habit and without thinking.

The Lord’s Prayer is a set of very clear instructions. Instructions that are relevant whether you are Christian or not. Kathleen walks through the prayer line by line exploring the message each line is giving us. She also combines the prayer with the Six Petal Rose which is a meditation labryinth found in the Chartres Cathedral. Each petal of the rose representing an aspect of living a life of love: faith; surrender; service; abundance; forgiveness; overcoming.

I am a firm believer that we can all create miracles through the power of thought. Kathleen uses the Lord’s Prayer to focus her thought on a daily basis, creating miracles small and large in her life. Since reading The Source of Miracles I have started and ended each day adding the Lord’s Prayer to my regular meditations and affirmations.

Has it made a difference?

It is a little too early to know about miracles, but I do know that I feel way more serene and positive and focused. And that in and of itself is truly wonderful.

Post Script: after writing this review I tried to give the book back to Jilly-Bean. She looked at me with a boy-are-you-silly expression and said “No, I bought that book for you. It is yours.” One form of miracles is friendship. Thanks Jilly-Bean!

Silver & Grace Approved Books

The Source of Miracles has the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as an excellent resource for women. It is available through Amazon.

The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life Through the Lord’s Prayer

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

We all have the ability to create miracles, but this is hard to do when we are surrounded with negative energy from situations and people. Let’s work together to clear away the negative energy, freeing you up to attract awesome people and events into your life. To learn more about my intuitive mentoring options check out Eliza’s Mentoring.

I want to map out my live. Not just figure out where I want to go, but plot out all the action steps for getting there. I guess it is the project manager in me.

What I have discovered, as I become a wiser woman, is that the harder I try to control the route to my destination, the more the journey gets derailed. ARGH!

Between Christmas and New Years, I was called to read a book that has been sitting on my shelf for months. Perhaps even as long as a year. A little voice said to me “Eliza, it is now time to read The Source Of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life Through The Lord’s Prayer.” I will be reviewing this book in full in another post, but today I want to talk about a chapter that jumped out at me. The chapter on surrendering.

Not surrendering as in throwing my arms up in the arm and giving up. Surrendering as in trusting in the process. This book specifically talks about trusting in God to choose the path to get me to my destination. Feel free, however, to switch up God with the identifier that works for you. The point being, there is a force larger than ourself involved in the process.

I still get to pick the destination. As a matter of fact, I need to be very clear on the destination and be able to explain concretely how that will make me a better person and help other people. But I have to surrender the route to a Higher Power.

I am not one for letting anyone tell me how to do something. As a matter of fact, I have the horrible habit of taking a Screw You attitude. So, as I was reading along my initial reaction to this Higher Power dictating how to get where I am going was resistance.

Until I got to the part that made me realize I am not being dictated to. Rather, I am partnering up with God. I state clearly where I want to go, then I open myself up to divine inspiration on how to get there.

The following affirmation literally leaped off the page at me:

God is my business partner. Everything I need and desire to live my bliss is available to me through God’s investment and support.

Okay, now we were getting down to brass tacks. God is my business partner. Well, as a business woman this totally made sense. In a business everyone has a different role. Mine is to figure out where I want to go and why. The Higher Power’s role is to figure out how to get me there.

Brilliant! All I have to do is surrender that role to God.

And what better business partner to have than the Ultimate Creator?

I can’t think of one. Can you?

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on partnering up with a divine source of inspiration? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Source of Miracles: 7 Steps to Transforming Your Life Through the Lord’s Prayer
Spiritual Rags to Spiritual Riches
The Message: A Guide to Being Human

For other Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Before we can even surrender to how the journey is going to play out, we need to be crystal clear on where we want to end up. Quite often this is easier said than done on our own. Working together through my intuitive mentoring we can figure out exactly where you want to be, and why you want to be there. To learn more about my intuitive mentoring options check out Eliza’s Mentoring or contact me using this convenient form.

I make magic art studios where women can rediscover the gift of their unique, authentic voice and are encouraged and supported to express themselves fully, wildly, passionately and creatively without fear, shame or judgment.

Wow! I was over forty years old before I felt free to express myself fully, wildly, passionately and creatively without fear, shame or judgement.  And holy crumpets, it feels great!

Chris Zydel is this week’s Woman Who Makes a Difference who is on the same mission as I am. A mission to guide women to their own unique, authentic voice.

I met Chris in Twitter land. One of us made a comment and the other responded. Using 140 characters at a time, we discovered that our life paths were similar enough to be eerie. Especially in terms of the journey to love ourselves first and foremost leading to finding the perfect life partners who love us for us.

We both have transformed that journey into a passion for helping other women along the same path. I do it through words, Chris does it through paint.

That’s right, paint.

Chris runs Creative Juices Arts and facilitates Wild Heart Painting workshops in which women are encouraged to express themselves through art. But not controlled I am going to paint an apple art. Art drawn from deep within and intuitively inspired.

Beautiful and expressive, Chris is one of a handful of women I consider my soul sister.

I encourage you to experience the creativity of Chris’ wild heart. You can find her at:

Contributor to the free inspirational eBook – Women Who Make a Difference
Visit her website – Creative Juices Art

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on tapping into your passions? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond: Reach Your Full Potential and Make the Money You Need
What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life?: True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half of Life
The Message: A Guide to Being Human

For other Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Are you ready to fully express the real you without an ounze of fear, judgement or shame? I have walked the path to authenticity and am here to guide you along your own path. To learn more about my intuitive mentoring options check out Eliza’s Mentoring or contact me using this convenient form.

This is what I came up with:

• curling up in front of the fire reading a book
• leisurely weekend breakfasts
• no laundry piled up
• no ironing piled up
• a place for everything and everything in its place
• quiet, intimate planning and visioning sessions with my husband, Marc
• not feeling rushed in the morning
• knowing bills are paid and debit is gone (except the mortgage; I accept that) and money is in the bank
• designing and creating jewelry
• working with my mentoring clients

I asked myself what was preventing me from doing each item on my Serenity List.

Turns out in a number of cases it is because I simply don’t make time for them. Which is rather silly because why on earth would I not make time for activities that create calm and contentment? Should they not be top priority?

In other cases it was warped thinking. Like making the ridiculous decision I would only make jewelry as orders came in. I was cutting off a necessary creative outlet by putting constraints on it.

In a few cases I don’t have full control. For example, three of us live under the same roof. If I tried to make two ‘drop and discard’ males put every little thing back in place I would drive myself insane.

Finally, I asked myself how I can increase my serenity in 2012. I came up with the following solutions:

• stop whatever I am doing 30 minutes before bedtime to curl up and read a book
• set the alarm on the weekends (allowing for a bit of a sleep in) to allow time for leisurely breakfasts
• do the laundry and ironing at the same time every day to create a routine
• do a walk through of the house each day for a quicky tidy up, ignoring the rooms that the males dominate
• during Sunday morning leisurely breakfast do some planning and visioning with Marc
• develop the habit of getting up the same time every weekday to ease into the day
• update and review business and personal finances once per week
• always have a piece of jewelry on the go
• trust that the Universe always guides women to me for mentoring

Incredibly simple tweaks to my daily routines that will benefit my peace of mind one hundredfold.

5 simple steps to increase your serenity for 2012:

1.  list all the situations you can think of where you feel completely calm and content
2.  ask yourself what is preventing you from engaging in each of those situations
3. list what you can do to increase the number of times those situations occur
4. make the necessary tweaks to your daily routines, and finally
5. revel in the glorious sense of calm and contentment

I know I will be!

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books on increasing your self of well-being? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self
The Hardline Self Help Handbook: What Are You Willing to Do to Get What You Really Want?

For other Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

Embracing the fun, sexy, intelligent and real you

Let’s work together to create serenity in your life. Not just once in awhile, but feeling calm and content every single day. To learn more about my intuitive mentoring options check out Eliza’s Mentoring or contact me using this convenient form.

What Do I Make?

I make connections and spark communication between others. I discover the light within and find ways to turn it on; illuminate. I hear what the whole person is saying and then assist them in hearing what is being said. I see the DIVINE and push to reveal.

I see the DIVINE and push to reveal. How beautiful to see the divine in people, and then to reveal it.

Patricia Hamilton is this week’s Woman Who Makes a Difference and a very active member of the Silver & Grace community. Each of her comments, either here on Silver & Grace or over on Facebook, pushes us to look for the divine.

I met Patricia way back in my early days of online writing even before Silver & Grace came to be. As new bloggers, we were hanging out at the virtual home of blogging den mother, Barbara Swafford of Blogging Without a Blog. From there both Patricia and I left the comfort of the blogging nest and flew off on our own.

Patricia grew her own blogging home, Patricia’s Wisdom, where she pushes her readers to think. As an ordained minister, often this thinking pushes us in a spiritual direction.

Of the Silver & Grace key words — fun, sexy, intelligent, real — the word that jumps out at me for Patricia is intelligent. She has a keen analytical mind. The results of her analysis are then transcribed beautifully into articles that push us into our own analysis.

I encourage you to get to know Patricia. I know she loves meeting new people. She can be found at:

Contributor to the free inspirational eBook – Women Who Make a Difference
Visit her blog – Patricia’s Wisdom
At her business – Wise Ears

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Looking for books by other women who will push you to dig deep? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

Ugly as Sin: The Truth About How We Look and Finding Freedom From Self-Hatred
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
The Hardline Self Help Handbook: What Are You Willing to Do to Get What You Really Want?

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.

I make safety FUN! That may seem like a tall order but it’s true … I make it exciting and fashionable to wear a molded piece of plastic on your head. For over 5 years, I have been creating Tail Wags Helmet Covers for bike, skate, ski, snowboard and toboggan helmets. The goal, of course, is to encourage more children and adults to wear their safety helmets. Until the number of preventable head injuries is down to zero, I know I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Does she ever have her work cut out for her! Just look at the number of people biking down your neighbourhood streets without helmets. In Canada, children legally must wear a biking helmet, but once they hit their teens this law no longer applies.

Karyn is this week’s Woman Who Makes a Difference and I am thrilled that she is part of the Silver & Grace community. Karyn’s own life was saved by a helmet when she suffered a very serious ski accident. This was life altering for her, and she turned this event into a passion. A passion she promotes through creativity and an awesome sense of whimsy.

I met Karyn when she approached me to become a Silver & Grace contributer. She has since become a regular guest author covering a wide range of topics from the lessons learned from Girls Weekends to the importance of exercise to prejudice that sadly still exists today.

Out of the four Silver & Grace words — fun, sexy, intelligent, real — the key word I have for Karyn is intelligent. She is a life long learner, creative thinker, and philosopher. This shows up in her business, Tail-Wags Helmet Covers, and her writings.

I would love for you to introduce yourself to Karyn. You can find her at:

Contributor to the free inspirational eBook – Women Who Make a Difference
Visit her website – Tail-Wags Helmet Covers
Read her blog – Karyn Climans

Silver & Grace Approved Books

Interested in reading about other passionate women? The following books have the Silver & Grace Seal of Approval as excellent resources for women. They are available through Amazon.

Unstoppable in Stilettos: A Girl’s Guide to Living Tall in a Small World
The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
Shmirshky: the pursuit of hormone happiness

For more Silver & Grace approved books check out Eliza’s Recommendations.