The Jewish Holiday Purim begins tonight, Saturday at sundown and is celebrated through tomorrow evening. It’s a highly festive celebration that invites us to explore our personal vulnerabilities as humans and to discover our innate ability to rise through them into a true empowerment! The holiday is a full-on fun celebration of reconnection with friends; celebrating the past and an invitation to create a better future!

If you're unfamiliar Purim, there are four basic parts to the celebration. Traditionally, the Megilla is read ~ that is the biblical Book of Esther who is the heroine of this story. As a Jew, she was living in a foreign land. Her beauty drew the attention of royalty and led her to become Queen. But Esther had to hide her Jewish identity. While Queen, she discovers that the King is planning to have all Jews killed due to erroneous information given to him by a man named Haman. Queen Esther has to dig deep within herself to discover her innate power to change the course of history. At risk of her own death, Esther cleverly exposes Haman’s true motivations to the King and the Jews are saved.

The story is about discovering one's inner strength. This Biblical Story isn’t about praying to G*d to save the innocent. Instead, Esther feels it is divine will that she has been put in a position to effect change. She goes within herself to unleash her innate power to confront the King and expose her Jewish identity even at risk of her own life.

Each person within the story has to confront him or herself in order to realize their true essence. It is easy to give one’s power to G*d or any external source as the characters of this story reveal. We can discover our innate connection to the divine and live consciously creative lives or we can live out a dependent fatalistic relationship with G*d that confines our pure potential. At Purim, we are invited to explore how we can avoid our internal power through blind faith instead of allowing the divine to be a resource for inner power and exquisite creative living! As I often hear from my guides "G*d will do for you, what you allow through you!" We have to participate in the process of allowing G*d or Divine Source Power to flow into our creative choices throughout each moment of life. And when we do, we move into the artistic dance of creating a miraculous and uplifting life for all concerned!

The second step in celebrating Purim is to give gifts to those in need ~ “at least one coin to two different people.” We are asked to give to whoever asks: regardless of who they are or what we think of them and/or their needs.

The third part of the celebration is Mishlaoch Manot ~ giving gifts of ready-to-eat foods to friends and neighbors. We share generously with those in need and give abundantly to our friends and peers. As we open to give so richly to life we consciously connect to the infinite flow of abundance always present to uplift, enhance and bless us all.

And the forth part of Purim's celebration is to PARTY!! And yep, it’s like a responsible Mardi Gras! We are even encouraged to drink...a lot! While I do not drink alcohol, I experience this invitation as a metaphor. When we allow ourselves to blur dualistic thinking, we have the ability to open to a love and joy that we may not realize is always there. By drinking into our soul self, into our divine nature we can feel the ultimate connection with all life. As we feel into the whole of life, we begin to see that we are all things, capable of all things and that we have the true power to create whatever reality we are willing to allow. We discover our true essence as infinitely connected to the Source of all creation and feel the exquisite well of love, joy, abundance and kindness that is ours to experience and share with all life.

Because Jews are one of the smallest religious groups on the Earth (less than 3% of world's population), it is fun to share my heritage and understanding of these rituals. Purim invites us to celebrate with full BLISS and abandon by honoring our connections to our innate power, to those in need and to all of our friends and community. This is a perfect metaphor for living a soul-centered life. Whether you celebrate Purim or not, perhaps today you can choose to spontaneously give to those who are in need, share abundantly with friends and neighbors, connect to your innate power and celebration the exquisiteness of life with FULL JOY!!

Simchat Purim! Happy Purim...Happy Day to all!!