"If it is only a dream, why is pain so real?" "A dream head struck against a dream wall causes dream pain. A dreamer is not cognizant of the hallucinatory fabric of a dream until he awakens. Similarly, man does not understand the delusory nature of the cosmic dream of creation until he awakens in God." Paramahansa Yogananda

Friday, May 28, 2010

Ritual

"Ritual", Collage on poster board, 22.5"x15",$125
If you are interested in purchasing this collage please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

I was speaking with my dear friend Joe yesterday,
who is presently visiting Bryce Canyon National Park
in Southern Utah. I needed to get clear about the
editing on my brochure. I had it layed out and printed
a sample and it was WAY too wordy. As I edited it
and refined what I felt was the essence of what I
wanted to say I started feeling I was narrowing down
the people who would relate to it. He threw something
back at me something I believe I have said to him many
times over the years. I needed to think of the creation
of the brochure as a ritual, refining and initiating what I
want to pull in and the energy I want to put out. Who
knows if the brochure is even really a brochure? Maybe
it is a totem, that will either get published and read or
as some totems, get buried in the ground in order to initiate
the perfect outcome.

Life on the spiritual path is always full of surprises. I can't
even pretend to know anything and I like that. As
Joe says "They don't call it a mystery for nothing!"

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

More Transformation

"The Transformation", Collage on posterboard, 22.5"x15", $125
If you are interested in purchasing this collage please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

The last few days I have been at it again, stripping away
the masks. I was depressed and there were no stories
running around in my head. It was a new phenomena. As
I think I said in an earlier blog post my mind has quieted
lately and that has been a joy. But here I was, depressed
and quiet. Weird. I stopped every time I wanted to make
a story of the depression and just hung with the silence.
Then my friend Tara recommended I sit and ask what the
depression wanted to teach me. What a strange experience
that was. I sat and wrote and felt like I was channeling. In
fact the voices of my ancestors, the female side of my lineage,
were talking to me, telling me their fears for me. They were
close to old fears of mine so they were easy to take on. The
other strange thing that happened was that as soon as I realized
I was being projected on (I mean, supposedly) the depression
completely lifted, gone. Wow. Now that is to me all the validation
I needed that I was on the right track. Cool. You never know
what stripping away the masks is going to look like.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Prayer

"The Prayer", Collage on poster board, 22.5"x15", $125
If you are interested in purchasing this collage please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

Many years ago I went to a wonderful little church in the
living room of Paula Scott. It was called the Family Church
of Marin. It was Paula's own mix of Science of Mind and Unity.
At the time I went Paula was in her early 90's and I would
not hesitate to say Paula was enlightened. She was a very
important mentor of mine. I went 4 or 5 times a week if
you can believe that, I was like a sponge, I could not get
enough. I wanted what she had. If you have been in the
presence of enlightenment you understand.

Paula described prayer as talking to God about God.
Paula's prayer went something like this:

"God is perfect and eternal now.
God has everything now.
God is providing everything now.
God is loving, forgiving and freeing everyone,
everywhere, now.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord, God Almighty."

Wow I can't believe I remembered that! It has been
years since I have even thought about that prayer.
Just when I needed a prayer like that.

God is Love, God is Omniscient, God is Omnipresent,
God is Omnipotent, in other words the Divine is
everywhere present at the same time, is all
knowing and all powerful. That power is love.
The Divine as me is the Divine as you and so we are
One in the Divine. God is all knowing and can
therefore answer any question, any need we have
and can get through. These are all things I say to
myself as a form of prayer. Then I sit in silence and
listen to the small still voice within. I would love to
hear others' prayers.

Friday, May 21, 2010

What I do

"Four Families" Oil on canvas, 40"x30", $1500
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at Katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION
KATHERINE TREFFINGER
SPIRITUAL COUNSELOR, MENTOR, HEALER AND ARTIST

This is the second part of my brochure. I would love to hear any feedback

THE WORK
It is my intent to help others get in touch with their soul desires, assist in clearing the way for the desires to be allowed to manifest and share the tools for manifestation.

When I listen to someone tell the story of what they are experiencing in their life I listen as if I was hearing a night time dream, all of it up for interpretation. Through this active listening I help facilitate conscious recognition of what the enactments in the person’s life are about symbolically. In this way one can free themselves from these patterns, change the resulting manifest reality and come more into alignment with their Selves.

Over the years I have developed my gift as a spiritual mentor. I enjoy working in this way with others. I love helping others get free of anything that holds them back from their naturally fulfilling lives. I live even more fully in the light when I do this work. It benefits my spiritual growth.

As a healer, I do laying on of hands and distance healing. I am not at all certain what transpires. My impression is that I am working with clearing, unblocking, aligning and balancing the energetic and light body, often bringing these systems into more embodiment into the physical. Often, it is when I am doing this work, that I get some of my clearest information about a person.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Passing through and Passing on

In Memorium- Kathy Schiffman- Tootie
Photo by Sky Lanigan

When I was 29 I was told by the head of the Podiatry hospital
in San Francisco that I had arthritis in my feet and that I had
2 more years and I would be in a wheel chair for the rest of my
life. Needless to say I was devastated. The doctor also called
my place of employment and told them that if I kept working
the job (which kept me walking on cement) that it would cripple
me even faster. So my boss canned me. So now I have lost my job.
She told me to get an office job where I could remain seated.
Very fortunate for me I was invited to come live on some land in
Northern California that was completely off the grid and I could
spend my time walking on dirt instead of cement. I was in quite
a bit of pain so I went to the local health Clinic to seek advice. The
second time I went there the waiting room was packed and the
only place to sit was a wheelchair. So I sat there. Kathy Schiffman
came into the waiting room with my file in her hands and called
my name. I did not know Kathy, I knew of her as my friends
were close to her. I started to get up and she said no stay in the
wheelchair. I said but I can walk just fine. She shook her head
and proceeded to wheel me to my room and on the way bumped
me into walls and a cart and finally into the door jamb. When she
got me into the room she spun the chair around leaned down and
looked me in the eyes and said "Is this really the way you want
to spend the rest of your life?" Kathy, who I would later come to
know as Tootie had given me a HUGE gift, an awakening, I would
remember for the rest of my life. We all have decisions to make
and those decisions contain the seed of the power of manifestation.
I could either take the bull by the horns and walk my way into a
new reality or I could wheelchair through my life as a victim.
Through the assistance of healers like Tootie and my own
tenaciousness I healed my feet completely.

As I am now actively a healer once again I have told others the
story of my experience with Tootie. Saturday I was talking to
several people about death and how we feel about it and what
we think the death experience is like. I found out that afternoon
that Tootie had passed on that day. If it were not for Facebook
I would not have known. I have not been in touch with her for a
very long time. She was a brief relationship for me, just passing
through my life, but she was one of the most potent messengers
I have run into in my life. I am extremely grateful to her. She will
be greatly missed by her loved ones, which is a large extended
family. And I imagine her reveling in her new found freedom
in the Light and Love I see her as inhabiting.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Dreaming up a new reality


"Conception" Collage on poster board, 20.5"x15",$125
If you are interested in purchasing this collage please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

I am in the final stages with my brochure and this is the
first part, the statement. It is not new for those of you
who have been following the blog, but none the less, I
decided to post it in case anyone out there wants to
give me feedback. Thanks ahead of time.

"We are living a dream, or rather we are dreaming a life,
a very malleable “reality”. I have seen that the effect of
our observation, which we experience as our lives, can
be interpreted as a dream, giving us a key to our own
most hidden motivations and hence, our freedom. With
intention and presence, we can turn this life around and
create our dream life.

Each one of us, individually, is here as a wondrous
manifestation of the Divine. The Divine, through the
individual, is experiencing a diversity that only happens
through each one of us being fully the unique special
beings we are. We are Universes unto ourselves.
Every one of these Universes is essential. We are God
experiencing God and that is our one and only job.

Our deepest desires are our Higher/Divine Self
instructing us.

The desire for healing of the self is not simply a
self-serving motivation. There is a field of Energy,
of Intelligence that connects all people, animals,
minerals, plants, the earth, and the cosmos. What
we heal, liberate and transform we do for All. The
healing ripples into the field and affects the Entirety.

Learn how to best love you, and that love spreads
to All. It is quite simple. There is no better way to
help, anyone, anything, anywhere."

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

We are God experiencing God

"True Power" Collage on poster board, 20.5"x15", $125
If you are interested in purchasing this collage please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

I have been working on a brochure to advertise my spiritual work. Part of what I wrote pertained to a conversation I was having this morning so I read it to my friend. She loved it so much she wanted a copy, so I decided to post it today.

'Each one of us, individually, is here as a wondrous manifestation of the Divine. The Divine is experiencing completely diverse experiences that can only happen through each one of us as individual, unique special beings. We are Universes unto ourselves. Everyone of these Universes is essential. We are God experiencing God and this is our one and only job.

Our deepest desires are our Higher/Divine Self instructing us. It is my intent to help others get in touch with these desires, assist in clearing the way for the desires to be allowed manifestation and share the tools for manifestation.

The desire for healing the self is not simply self serving motivation. There is a field of Energy, of Intelligence that connects all of us, people, animals, minerals, plants the earth,and the cosmos. What we heal and free we do for All. The healing ripples into the field and effects the Entirety.

Learn how to best love you, and that love spreads to All. It is quite simple. There is no better way to help, anyone, anything, anywhere.'

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Nurturing

"True Beginnings" Collage on posterboard, 22.5"x15", $125
If you are interested in purchasing this collage please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

Today is Mother's Day and we celebrate the mothers. Like
many others out there, my mother has passed on and I never
became a mother. My mother and I had a difficult relationship.
Much of what mother has come to mean for me is the re-mothering
I have done with myself and learning to jump into the arms of
the Divine Mother. Today as an act of honoring mothering I
also honor the act of self-nurturing. How do I treat myself?
With love or judgment? Compassion or criticism? Harmony or fear?

Each one of us individually are here as a wondrous manifestation
of the Divine, experiencing completely diverse experiences that
can only happen through each one of us as individual, unique
special beings. Love yourself, love God. It is quite simple. How
we respond to ourselves affects all for we are all connected and
how we feel affects the entire field.

Today, as with everyday, I will open myself to the Love of the
Divine Mother, knowing that this expression of Love is all
pervasive, all knowing, all powerful and completely unconditional.
I am absolutely safe, nurtured, and provided for as I lay cradled
in the arms of the Divine Mother.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Rumi- Looking For Your Face



Today the blog would not cooperate with the post I intended. I surrendered and give you Rumi instead. He is much better at saying what needs to be said anyhow.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Gestation

"Gestation" Collage on poster board, 20.5"x15", $125
If you are interested in buying this collage please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

On September 6, 2009 I fell climbing on Mt. Fanny,
the mountain I live at the base of. I caught the edge
of my shoe and fell sideways. My ankle dislocated
breaking both bones on either side. I had to be rescued
and when I did get to the emergency room the doctor
said it was the worst break he had ever seen. I had
reconstructive surgery. For months I had to stay still
with my foot raised. Today as I write this I still sit with
my foot up. I am on the mend.

I do not tell this story because I feel attached to the drama.
Quite the opposite. In my cosmology this is a dream and
everything happens as part of the dream story. A seed
was planted that day. Nothing would be the same as I had
a new reality gestating in my psyche. June 6th will be 9
months from the fall. The birth is almost at hand and I feel
the shift taking place both internally and externally. My
mind has quieted, I have started doing spiritual counseling
and hands on healing after a long 'break'. As I take up this
work again I see a vast shift in the clarity of what is coming
through. My relationship to the information and energy is
direct and clear. I have succeeded in getting out of the way.
The last painting I did felt as close as I have ever been to
creating a visual of the voice of my soul. There are other
changes that are unfolding that I am not ready to speak of
yet. In the long run I am very grateful already for the
awakening that happened as a result of the 'accident' on
September 6th. And the birth time hasn't even arrived!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Telling Our Story

"True Wonderment" Collection of Janet Brown

"Start telling a better-feeling story about the things that are
important to you. Do not write your story like a factual documentary,
weighing all the pros and cons of your experience, but instead tell
the uplifting, fanciful, magical story of the wonder of your own life
and watch what happens. It will feel like magic as your life begins
to transform right before yours eyes, but it is not by magic. It is
by the power of the Laws of the Universe and your deliberate
alignment with those Laws." Abraham-Hicks

Every time we think about our lives we have choices about
the way we tell it. We can go down a road that tells a sad story
or we can go down the road of wonder and richness. In the past
I told a sad story much of the time and guess what!?! I kept
having a sad life. When I read Abraham-Hicks' book Money and
the Law of Attraction
I was stopped by the very first paragraph
which says
"Your money and financial assets; your body's state of wellness,
clarity, flexibility, size and shape; your work environment, how
you are treated, work satisfaction, and rewards-indeed the very
happiness of your life experience in general-is all happening
because of the story you tell. If you will let your dominant intention
be to revise and improve the content of the story you tell every
day of your life, it is our absolute promise to you that your life
will become that ever improving story. For by the power of the
law of attraction it must be!"

The day I read this I went off in to my studio and sat down and
re-wrote the story of my life and was amazed what a blessed
and magical life I came up with. Just my inner world alone was
enough for me to feel incredibly fortunate. Then there was the
beautiful place I live, the art that comes through me, the amount
of art I have sold, I just went on and on. Except for moments
when I wake up in the dark of night and the shadow has a hold
of me, I have never looked back. Life, as a result has been ever
improving.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Creativity

"Walkin Bear", Oil on canvas, 24x18, $540
If you are interested in purchasing this painting please
email me at katherine@katherinetreffinger.com

"Do you think that when Rembrandt was painting, he
stood there with a brush in his hand thinking, "Okay,
I wonder what my next brushstroke is going to be. If
I put it there then it may clash with that. I'm not quite
sure, but maybe two more centimeters to the right,
let's measure it. It might look better over . . ."
Creativity arises out of the state of thoughtless presence
in which you are much more awake than when you are
engrossed in thinking." Eckhart Tolle

For those of you following both of my blogs please
excuse my posting the same painting. I try not to.
However, the process by which this painting was
created was a spiritual experience for me and
therefore belonged on this blog. I had been trying
(the operative word) to finish a painting for a week
now that has been sitting on my easel. Saturday I
just stepped up to it and finished it. I was very peaceful
and my mind was quiet as I picked up a canvas covered
in paint that was no where near to being a painting. I
just started applying paint, mostly tinted whites and
didn't think about it. In a very short period of time I
had finished this painting. I have been trying (again the
operative word) for as long as I have been an artist to do
abstract figurative work to no avail. This painting just
arrived because I was as much in a state of no mind as
I attain at this point in my development (which I am
thrilled to experience).

Now the challenge will be to approach the next canvas with
emptiness, rather than expectations and fears that the
abstract/figurative work will, or will not, appear again.