Angels of Abundance

The wait is finally over! Angels of Abundance, the new book by Grant Virtue, is available now at Amazon and soon booksellers everywhere.

Angels of Abundance gives you clear and concrete steps to take to manifest the abundance that you need to fulfill your life purpose. God and the angels want you to live a life without lack and without want so that nothing distracts you from your mission.

This book is suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners alike.

Buy Angels of Abundance

A Holiday Gift to You

Happy Holidays Everyone!

This is my favorite time of the year. Throughout the ages, in nearly every civilization, winter has meant a great deal to humans. This is the time of the year where work in the fields would come to a close and people would spend most of their time with close friends and family.

In the far northern regions winter also meant long periods of time with little or no sunlight. This darkness was kept at bay with everything from roaring fires to simple candles.

It is no surprise that most winter holidays today share some of the same charataristics of the old days. We still celebrate through the use of candles, feasting, and spending lots of time with loved ones.

One particular winter tradition that has evolved quite a bit over the years is the exchanging of gifts. Despite what some may consider rampant commercialism I still feel that there is such intrinsic value in this energetic exchange. Our language, any verbal language for that matter, is so incredibly limited in its ability to properly convey complex emotions such as love and gratitude. By giving someone something that you spent time selecting you are essentially bridging the gap between emotion and language.

To show my gratitude to you, dear readers, for making this such an incredibly blessed year I would like to give you all a copy my book Living a Blessed Life. For the next couple of days Amazon has the digital copy of this book listed as free and I encourage each of you to take this gift while it is available.

Please click here to receive the book.

Again, thank you everyone and please have a magical, blessed and safe holday!

Grant Virtue

SpiralDance™Certification Workshop

Spirals are symbolic of life's journey, connectivity to the Divine, growth, releasing, rebirth, the movements between the inner and outer worlds, the cosmic dance of the universe. SpiralDance™ is the movement of spiraling, awakening and developing self-awareness and deep connection with your mind, body, emotions and soul. It is through dancing the path of the spiral that helps us delve within to the core of all things, connect with God Source, invigorate, discover, understand, accept, learn, obtain health and wellness.

SpiralDance™ dances the spiral by working with all elements Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Ether, connecting with All That Is; working all energetic bodies as well as the physical body on all levels; aiding one in discovering the body as a divine instrument of expression and creation.

SpiralDance™ was conceived when I left the professional dance world and discovered "traditional" dancing didn't suit me anymore. As my spiritual journey continued, I discovered there was not a dance class that allowed freedom of my spiritual expression. I still wanted to stay in shape, challenge myself and explore movement. I still wanted to dance! And I desired to dance deeply, satisfyingly, creatively, through spirit. I still wanted to keep the structure of technique so as to be safe, healthy and mobile while dancing. I desired to grow in strength and flexibility while keeping connection with Source.

My training as a Martha Graham dancer inspired me to dig deeper into the inner landscaping of myself and humanity. All those years of dancing inspiring, technically challenging contemporary ballets pushed me to open up my venerability and stretch beyond traditionally acceptable dance. In April 2008, dancing in a cramped tiny room, SpiralDance™ was born. Several months later, after some encouragement and support from a dear friend, I found myself teaching SpiralDance™ in Peru! How wonderful it was to see these people expressing, connecting and sharing through dance. This experience inspired me to continue SpiralDance™.

I am excited to share SpiralDance™ with you! Join me in Maui October 23-25, 2012 for the first SpiralDance™ Certification Workshop! In this workshop, you will learn the tools, techniques and philosophies that make up SpiralDance™. You will walk away with a profound learning experience of spiritual movement. Upon completion of this workshop, you will receive the certification necessary to teach SpiralDance™ classes.

I would be honored to dance with you!

For more information, please click here.

Blessings!

Melissa

The Magic of Samhain

Samhain (typically pronounced sow-when) is a Celtic harvest festival that was celebrated on or around October 31st. The finer points of this celebration has been essentially translated to the modern world as Halloween.

Some people believe that on Halloween, and Samhain for that matter, the vail between our world and the next is at its thinnest. This means that it is more common to have "visitors" than any other time of the year. Some also believe that because the vail is so thin that our world is not quite as dense as it typically is and that magic is that much more effective.

The colours that are typically associated with this time of the year are Orange and Black. There is a good reason for this. Black is a very useful colour for dispersing negativity and absorbing that which is no longer serving us. Orange is a powerful colour for change. The ancients considered Samhain/Halloween to be the equivelent of our New Years Eve so the colour combination of Black and Orange can very literally be translated as "Out with the old, in with the new!"

This holiday try a simple manifestation spell. Regardless of your personal feelings about the accuracy of the origins of this holiday, even a cursury glance around you can tell you that change is in the air. The seasons really start to shift around this date that is palpable on both sides of the equator.

You simply need to obtain an Orange and Black candle, cleansing and dressing them if you are familiar with this rite and feel it is necessary. Hold these candles in your hand and into the Orange candle put your hopes and wishes for the new year. Into the black candle put everything that you no longer wish to be a part of your life. Light the candles and let the magic of your intentions work through them and yourself.

If you want to go for the extra bit of cheek, you may place those candles inside of a pumpkin and serve the dual purpose of entertaining your neighborhood. It makes you wonder how many of your neighbors are casting this very same spell while no one is the wiser!

This is of course a very simple spell and you may finetune it as you see fit, but it can be very effective all the same. Have a wonderful, and safe, holiday!

Grant Virtue

Candle Magic by Grant Virtue

Angel University is proud to announce the availability of the new DVD course "Candle Magic" by Grant Virtue.

Each new purchase of this course comes complete with a brand new copy of the Angel Blessings Candle Kit by Doreen and Grant Virtue.

This course will give you a solid foundation on how to use the candle kit, how to create a ceremony and the meaning and use of each candle color.

Dreams by Melissa Virtue

Rushing tidal waves.... an underground city.... dancing in a red skirt.... floating towards Egypt on a wooden raft... laughing wildly... crisp orange, yellow leaves spiraling around my face.... two paths before me....

Here I sit, with dreams of the night before weaving in and out of my reality, images dancing through my mind, spiraling through my body. I reflect upon their implication. Focusing on every image’s color, feeling, shape, glow, touch, I ponder, meditate, regard and disregard these layered meanings. I have been through the gateway, across the threshold, and crossed the bridge into dreamtime’s other worlds. Some worlds I have known before, others are very new to me. Allowing myself to float, dance, run and weave through these realms permits me to discover, taste, feel, create.... create. Shapeshifting through these other existences, I seek and find. I taste and nourish. I heal and remember. I trust my night journeys as they are pivotal in my growth and awakening.

For much of my life I have explored the mysteries of dreams, studying and seeking guidance from them. During my nightly travels, I invite an extraordinary guide to join me. He protects me and guides me. He teaches me to look within, to open to my highest good. He honors my level of learning. He is a gatekeeper, a magical weaver of dreams. He helps me discern and decipher the coded symbols of my night memories. He helps me journey to places I have been and thought I would not return. A beautiful advisor to me, he aids me in lifting the veils between the worlds. Who is he? Archangel Jeremiel, the archangel of prophetic dreams.

Before sleep, I call upon Archangel Jeremiel to join my magical night travels. He ushers in the dreams needed for healing, solution, and enlightenment. He keeps lower energies out and allows entrance to those for my highest good. If needed, Archangel Azreal and Archangel Jeremiel bring in passed over loved ones to generate healing. Supporting, encouraging, protecting and guiding me, Archangel Jeremiel delivers information that benefits my life’s journey. The Archangel of life review, Jeremiel will initiate past life dreams as opportunity for harmonizing ourselves and creating positive changes. Placing his stone, an Amethyst, near my bed amplifies my dream states. Decorating my room with his color, deep purple, charges my surroundings with his energy. Upon awakening, I call upon Archangel Jeremiel to aid me in deciphering the night’s harvest. Working with our higher self, Archangel Jeremiel wants us to enjoy our dreamtime. He asks us to allow ourselves this time of play, rejuvenation and joy.

Since a young age I have been fascinated by my night adventures. I always felt they were a part of my waking life and knew they held great significance for me. I would reluctantly awaken when they were magical and happily awaken if they were unnerving. Excited, I would discuss my dreams with my mother in full detail every morning. She would patiently listen, hoping this was only an hour worth of dream talk. On my magical night journeys, I felt I was traveling to places I had known and lived before. As I grew older, I realized these were past life dreams. I would travel to other worlds, communicating with other beings of love and light.

As an adult, I lived in New York City at a time where I underwent many transitions and transformations! My dreams became healings, informational downloads, resolutions to situations, dress rehearsals. I began to realize-remember- that these mystical excursions illuminate my inner truths. They aid me in crossing the thresholds to higher dimensions and celestial planes. My dreams can alert me to possible outcomes and future events. I have journeyed through the magical gateways to past lives, spiraled through the stars while astral traveling, created my awake state with lucid dreaming, and danced through various dimensions during my dreamtime. Always when being whisked through portals to other realms, listening to the magical language of the night, and allowing the songs of my soul to vibrate, Archangel Jeremiel (along with my dream guide) has assisted me in these higher awakenings, trainings and healings.

In my dream studies, I discovered night journeying was integral to the ancients spiritual practice. From the sacred Greek shrines of Delphi where dream oracles resided to the Buddhists temples where dream incubation reigned, all ancient peoples regarded dreams as sacred guidance and communication from Source. These ancient cultures would create ritual specifically for dream enhancement. The Celtic people would bathe with herbs such as lavender and clary sage to cleanse and prepare the energetic bodies for dreamwork. They would also drink mugwort to enhance lucid dreaming. The ancient Greeks would abstain from alcohol for three days prior to entering their dream temples. The Native Americans would burn sage, dance, offer moon ritual or attend a sweat lodge in order to increase dream states and peel away layers of illusion allowing truth to emerge. The ancients believed our dream state is our waking state.

Everyone dreams every night, although not everyone remembers their dreams. One can dream in black and white or in full color. Some people travel to higher planes and other stars. Some stay upon this earth plane traveling her different dimensions. Colors, environment, transportation and people are very important symbols within our night journeys.

Dreams are multi-layered. From the most mundane, simplistic to the most complex, all dreams are equally important. Depending on the type of dream, images will vary in hue and texture. The various types of dreams include: Situational, Lucid, Past Life, Astral Traveling. We each hold our own personal symbols within our dreamtime. For example, two people may dream of a red dress. Dreaming of the color red will resonate differently with each person. Red is the color of the root chakra-passion, security, survival, sexual organs. One dreamer may feel red is wonderful and resonates with their creativity, while another dreamer may feel red is uncomfortable and angry. The dress symbolizes how one is embodying red. Is it time to wear it and stand in your creative power? Or, is it time to remove the anger from your physical and energetic bodies? Symbols and colors are very individual. Therefore, we must “feel” out these colors and signs within ourselves. We do not need dreams dictionaries to tell us what these images denote. We hold the keys to our dreams and their meanings. Once more, we dream to awaken. Allow yourself to dream, to be, to become!

Dream Tip: Before bed, affirm the following: I enjoy dreaming and I remember my dreams easily. Upon awakening, keep a journal dedicated only to the recordings of your dreams. Enter the date, then journal any thoughts, feelings, colors, images you brought forth from the mystical, magical night of weaving.

Do you see that beautiful, luminescent door? Archangel Jeremiel is standing next to it waiting for you. Go! Your dreams await you.....

By

Melissa Virtue

Ten Simple Rules Out of Print

Hello Everyone,

Today "Ten Simple Rules For Living a Blessed Life" is going out of print. While the sales of the book remain strong in its various formats, there are a few things about the book that I would like to correct.

The book will return very soon with a new title, "Living a Blessed Life", a new cover and some new content. Most of the book will remain the same but I feel some areas need a bit more information.

Thank you everyone who has read this book. If you would still like the original format it will be for sale at Amazon and Barnes and Noble for a few more days before everything catches up with the retirement order I issued.

Grant Virtue

Just Right or Just Write?

In my relatively short time on this Earth, I have been lucky enough to meet and know many talented authors. Regardless of the genre they primarily write for they all share some similarities by necessity, but they can also show some rather stark differences as well.

When it comes to writing style every author is subtly different from one another in almost every area except for one. What I have found is that nearly every author can fit into two very distinct areas in regards to the way they put pen to paper, I call these two categories “Just Right” and “Just Write.”

“Just Right” authors tend to edit their work as they go along. They try to minimize drafts by getting it perfect the very first time, every time. They will spend an abundance of time on each page making sure that every word, every sentence, and every nuance is spelled correctly and is absolutely critical to the message they are trying to get across.

The advantage of “Just Right” is that they will have, more or less, a fully completed and edited book when they finish. The disadvantage is that they will likely miss their deadline. Also, since each chapter takes far more time to create they are much more likely to lose trains of thought and will have to be voracious note takers to ensure that they do not forget to put something down. They will constantly be interrupting their stream of thought so will have to take extra care that they do not get burned out or develop “writer’s block.”

“Just Write” authors take the approach of Daniel Farragut in the Battle of Mobile Bay and say “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” in their writing. A page they have just finished, in record time most likely, will be full of a jumble of ideas spelled completely wrong. They will, however and importantly, finish that page. The advantage of this style of writing is that these writers get down every thought that they mean to get down. They are not bogged down by editing so they just let the words flow. The disadvantages are that at the end of the book they will basically have to write another book with all of the editing that will be required. Of course it is possible to hire an editor these days for minimal expense, so this disadvantage can be mitigated by quite a bit.

Obviously there will be hybrid writers who tend to do a bit of both styles, but not get too bogged down by either. These writers are harder to classify but will tend to stick more plainly in one category or another with time.

I started writing with an old Apple //e hand-me-down, and as such did not have the luxury of a spell checker for quite some time. This initially forced me into the first “Just Right” category because I did not want to accidently miss a glaring error. However once I upgraded to a more modern device I naturally fell into the rhythm of “Just Write.”

Which category do you prefer, or feel more comfortable with?

Grant Virtue

Keeping Focus on your Writing

If you are anything like me sometimes it can be hard to focus on just one project at a time. Often it seems like while good ideas are ever plentiful actual time can be harder to come across. It can be all too easy to just try to cram a bunch of subjects into one book, painting, poem, story or whatever it is that you are creating. This can lead to a confusing mess for your audience to figure out and will ultimately take away from what you are trying to achieve.

There are a couple of tips to keep in mind that will help you with this potential issue. The first is to remember that the only deadline is yours. Publishers are generally very good about the amount of time that they give authors for each book, so you almost never need to rush. You have to take the time to refine your subject matter and really focus on what you are trying to tell or teach your readers.

The second thing to keep in mind is that you can write more books. If you have fifty topics crammed into one book, why not take a few of those out and just write more books? Sure it can be hard to juggle multiple books at once, but it is preferable by far than the alternative of having a disjointed book that exceeds its scope. Having multiple projects at once is also a great way to avoid writer’s block, as I illustrated in my previous article here.

The third is that the size of the book does not matter nearly so much as what it contains. Certainly there can be a lot of pressure to conform to the “standard” 50,000 word minimum but that really is up to you. Pumping up the word count purely for the sake of it went out with Dickens. Take a look at my earlier book “Ten Simple Rules for Living a Blessed Life,” for example. It is not a large book by any means, but it is also not supposed to be. It couldn’t very well be “Simple” if it came in at 300 pages.

By keeping your focus on the topic of the book as you outline it will help you not only create a book that people will love and recommend to friends and family for years, but will also keep lots of fresh new ideas in your mind for future books.

Lastly, just keep writing!

Grant Virtue

Frustration and Understanding

How many times have you ever driven to work and have had to swerve to avoid hitting a seemingly suicidal bicyclist or pedestrian? It is okay to be honest, it has happened to us all. When it does happen it can be very scary and also very frustrating. It can be hard to understand why someone could appear so unaware that they would get in your way like that.

What you may not get right away is that to that bicyclist and pedestrian you are just as scary and frustrating. It is all too easy to forget that other people are acting and reacting to pretty much the exact same stimuli as ourselves. While from your perspective you couldn’t see how they didn’t see your car but you may be completely blocked by parked cars to the pedestrian.

So how do we avoid frustration when these situations are not only inevitable but nearly impossible to prevent? Perhaps the easiest way is to simply recognize that the other person saw the same thing but from a different point of view. No one but you can possibly have your exact perspective so we must give leeway to others. The most effective way to gain understanding with our fellow humans is to emulate them for a time. Try riding your bicycle to work or the grocery store once a week, or go for a long walk in the evenings. You will quickly see that motorists can be just as likely to display suicidal (and even homicidal in some cases) tendencies as the bicyclists and pedestrians that used to get on your nerves.

I use the example of transportation only because it is universal, but this applies to all areas of life. From time to time we find people that we consider to be annoying, but we must still strive to find a place of understanding with them. They are really no different than us, they are just living their life as they see best at that present moment. Chances are probably very high that they find you just as annoying and frustrating anyhow, so any sort of grace that you show can come back to you. Every time we overcome these frustrations and find peace with our fellow people we are making the world a better, more tolerant place to be in. Less frustration in your life means a happier, healthier and ultimately longer life.

See you on the road!

Grant Virtue

Ten Simple Rules at Shining Lotus

Hello everyone,



Today I will be hosting a discussion about my book "Ten Simple Rules for Living a Blessed Life" at Shining Lotus bookstore in Denver Colorado.



Throughout this discussion I will illustrate what the ten simple rules are, and what benefits we can gain from each one. I encourage the group members to share their experiences with these rules and what blessings they have each received.



At the end of the discussion I will ask everyone to come to this blog in a week or month and let me know which rules they have added to their life and the experiences that have come from them.



If you were not able to make the discussion you are still very welcome to participate. Just in case you have not had a chance to read through the book, the list of simple rules is below:



1. Forgive

2. Exercise

3. Pray

4. Give

5. Create

6. Work

7. Relax

8. Learn

9. Socialize

10. Dream



Thank you everyone, especially those of you who took the time to come out to Shining Lotus and have this discussion with me,





Grant Virtue

The Power of Gratitude

In my opinion one of the most wonderful holidays in North American tradition is Thanksgiving. No, I am not talking about the overindulgence, the football or the typical family arguments that holiday can produce. What I am referring to is the act of saying what you are thankful for.

When we announce what we are thankful for to the universe either in public or private, we are in essence fine tuning our lives. For one we are letting our creator know the things we enjoy and that we really wouldn't mind some more of that. Secondly we are becoming happier people by focusing on the good areas in our lives, rather than the not so good. Nearly everyone would rather be around happy, positive people so having a grateful outlook on life can lead to better jobs, new relationships and more connectedness in general.

The more you can focus on what it is you are grateful for, the more you can learn to ignore those things that you are not so grateful for. By tuning out these negative areas of our lives we are taking back our power from them. We are drawing our line in the sand and letting the world know that if they want to get through our wall, the way is through happiness not anger.

Keeping track of what you are grateful for is a very useful and uplifting experience. A gratitude journal is a fantastic way to go about doing this. It can be as complicated as an iPhone app (yes, they do have an app for that) or as simple as a moleskin or blank sheet of paper you've divided up into different days. Nearly everyone I know that uses a gratitude journal, myself included, will tell you that after as little as thirty days of writing down what you are grateful for your life will start to show dramatic and wonderful changes.

What have you got to lose? Try starting a gratitude journal today and see what sort of blessings you can bring into your life. You may just find that you are grateful for more than you realize.

Grant Virtue

Candles and Focus

There are times in our lives when we need a little divine intervention. Sometimes our lives can head in directions that we would rather not go and we would like to take definite steps to change this direction. This is where the power of prayers, rituals, and manifestation comes into play. We all know that during those practices we must keep our focus on what we want without distraction to ensure that they are as effective and accurate to our wishes as possible.

However it is precisely at those temporarily chaotic times in our lives that it can be so incredibly hard to concentrate and keep the focus that is necessary. When our minds are so focused on all the things that are going wrong it can be downright tricky to get ourselves to focus on those good things that we want to bring into ourselves.

Fortunately for us we have at our disposal a very useful tool in the form of candles. Candles work as a focusing device in two very distinct ways. The first is that you can "pre load" as it were the intention you wish you put out into the universe during a time when you are not distracted by other problems. In this way you do not have to worry about focusing your energy on exactly the right thing at the right time. Much like a battery allows us to carry energy around with us for when we need it, so too can a candle act as a portable prayer or spell for later use.

The second way that candles can be focusing tools is the very fact that they are real objects. You can pick up a candle, hold it your hand, select the color that you would like to use and work with it. Having this physical reminder of what you are trying to accomplish can work wonders in keeping your mind on the task at hand.

Everybody needs a little help sometimes, and candles can be that help for you today. For more information about candles as focusing devices and tools for spiritual growth please see the "Angel Blessings Candle Kit" by myself and Doreen Virtue, available at Amazon and fine bookstores everywhere.

Thank you,

Grant Virtue

The Power of Prayer

 An excerpt from "Ten Simple Rules for Living a Blessed Life" by Grant Virtue available at Lulu.com:


"It is a very fortunate time to be alive because after a century long schism spirituality and science are once again
beginning to reconcile their differences. Both the new spiritual teachers along with some particularly enlightened scientists are starting to realize that they are both saying the same things, just in different ways. Not
all that long ago, as human development goes, it would have been a very rare case for a doctor or scientist not to acknowledge the hand of our creator in the human body and our natural world. That did eventually change of course, and the atheist movement sprung up rather suddenly. While that movement is still unfortunately going
strong, we are at last seeing a reversal of that trend in scientists themselves.

Evidence the fact that studies on prayer have been conducted in fairly rapid fire succession in recent years. Larry Dossey M.D., author of such works as “The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary
Things”, has this to say on the subject “In 1993, only three U.S. Medical schools had courses devoted to exploring the role of religious practice and prayer in health; currently 80 medical schools have instituted
such courses.”

At this point it would be far safer to say that it is proven fact. rather than mere theory that prayer can and does have an enormous positive impact on our lives. Now you may have seen the results of a couple of
studies on prayer that stated there was no effect at all, or worse that it even seemed to cause harm to the person who was praying. he fact of the matter is that there is a tremendous difference between cold
mechanical prayer and real, devoted and heartfelt, praying. Just as in all other areas of our lives we cannot simply go at this halfheartedly and expect dramatic results."

How To Live a Blessed Life

Hello Everyone,

As promised previously, I would like to make an announcement that you may enjoy. I would like to present my new book "Ten Simple Rules for Living a Blessed Life" published by Angel University.

You can find the new book here and very soon it will be available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. This short book is packed full useful tips to living a more blessed life and I am very excited about its release.

Enjoy!

Grant Virtue

First Angel Therapy Practitioner Release of 2011

Hello everyone,

 I am pleased to announce that the first ATP DVD home course release of 2011 is happening right now. The numbers are very small, but we will release another two this month. We are keeping this release small so that we can focus on a much bigger release in March.

 Because of our travel schedule there will likely not be a release in February. We will be off ensuring that all of the preparations for the final in person ATP course in Hawaii are going well. As always you can find the currently released items on our PrestaCart shopping cart at http://www.angeluniversity.com/classes

 Thank you everyone,

Grant Virtue

P.S. Please stay tuned for a big announcement in the next few days!