Fanning the Embers of Hope | Catherine Viel

By Catherine Viel, October 15, 2021

(Golden Age of Gaia)

October 14, 2021

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all…
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
~Emily Dickinson, “Hope” is the thing with feathers



I’m tired of being all doom-and-gloom-y. What can I do to cheer myself up?

I suppose that doesn’t sound terribly spiritual. It seems we usually say, how can I raise my frequency? How can I keep my vibration high?

I’m deeply grateful for those who consciously manifest the higher frequencies and diligently work on raising their vibrations. But at the moment, aiming for cheerfulness is the best I can do.

*****

Maybe cheerfulness is its own virtue, as revered as kindness, both under the umbrella of Love. I always think of what Suzy Ward / Matthew Ward relayed from God regarding expressing and embodying Love, which was, be kind. Apparently God is quite happy if we can manage to be kind, to each other and to ourselves. Perhaps the same holds true for being of good cheer.

Happy children and beloved, well-cared-for pets seem to emanate cheerfulness without any effort whatsoever. They’re having fun! They’re not fretting about people trying to inject them with killer substances.



They’re not worried because Los Angeles County has instituted a vaccine mandate so the demand to “show your papers“ will now follow Angelenos throughout much of their daily lives.

I believe Public Health has exempted grocery stores and drugstores from the mandate (which I’m pretty sure is illegal and unenforceable, but that’s another story). (1) Perhaps Public Health is not quite bold enough to starve people or prevent access to life-saving medications.

*****

See? The minute I start thinking about the world at large, doom and gloom spread from horizon to horizon. Like the yellow-brown smoke from the nearby Alisal Fire, that, we’ve been informed, is going to be smoldering for…months.

It won’t always be the raging, wind-driven inferno that it is now, but will shift into underground embers creeping invisibly from tree root to tree root. Under the right conditions, these hot spots flare up into new, dangerous, unpredictable conflagrations.

Darn it, where did that quest for cheerfulness go? I mustn’t let these external circumstances detour me.

*****



I’d love to easily and naturally radiate cheerfulness. I’ve seen that radiance in other people, even in these most trying of times. I have one friend in particular whose longtime job would flatten a less ebullient person. But not her. She makes her own good cheer.

I’m quite sure that the more I can retract the tentacles of my mind as they try to thread themselves through the outer narratives—all that doom and gloom—the more likely I’ll be to experience natural inner cheerfulness.

Despite circumstances that encourage fear and worry.

Should Santa Barbara County follow in lockstep behind Los Angeles County and begin requiring “papers please“ to go about daily life, I would have to deal with it.

Or not. It hasn’t happened yet…it may not happen at all.



Many are saying that this month is when some big events are set to occur. Perhaps coincidentally, a lot of mandates go into effect November 1 or soon after. The advice I’ve encountered is, don’t succumb to the pressure to get the vaxx, don’t quit your job, because everything is about to change.

That’s a cheerful thought. A hopeful thought.

I perceive an intertwining of hope with cheerfulness, like a braided rope of light. Being cheerful makes being hopeful easier, being hopeful can literally give me good cheer.

I can fan those embers of hope, blow gently to start the small, bright flame. Hold my hands up to it, treasure it, nurture it. Smile at it.

It can be the brilliant flame that never dies, fed by eternal, unquenchable embers.



(1) See, for example, information from Peggy Hall at TheHealthyAmerican.org, or the legal articles on AmericasFrontlineDoctors.org.