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July 7, 2014

Love Oil. ~ Mary Schlaphoff

aquarian_ insight via Flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/83430952@N07/13715463153/

Embarrassing but true: I’ve been fascinated by psychics for a long time.

Maybe a little too fascinated.

It started the first time I encountered a five-dollar palm reader in her folding chair on the sidewalk in my Dupont Circle neighborhood of the time. Sure, she said a few vague things that were a good bet to be true about most of the 24-year-olds who lived around there.

But she said some more specific things that turned out to be accurate—not the least of which that I had met a soulmate and was about to fall in love. At that moment, feeling lonely and not especially hopeful, I couldn’t imagine who she was possibly talking about.

Once this fortune came true, though, I couldn’t imagine that there was ever a time that I didn’t see it coming myself.

Lately, love and relationships have been a topic on my mind again. I’ve put in a lot of effort seeking answers, internally and externally, regarding what’s important in this arena and how best to find it. Naturally, I’ve consulted a few spiritual readers along the way.

Some of them have given me specific advice about certain people and events; other insights have been more puzzling—but the strangest things will connect if you’re looking for a way to connect them.

Case in point: a shamanic soul reader informed me that there was a time in one of my past lives when I was adept at blending essential oils, knowing exactly what kinds attracted the energies I needed. I was advised by this psychic to, among other things, reinvigorate the skill in this lifetime.

I decided I needed to swear off the psychics for a while and start trusting the guidance from within a little more.

One recent evening, uncertainty started to get to me again. I wandered over to a local store that sells classic tools and talismans of fortune telling, like crystals, tarot cards, sage, etc. The staff kept asking me what I was looking for, and I said nothing in particular, hoping that some kind of answer would appear.

When offered tarot readings twice, I held myself back. No, I’ll see what comes, I thought again. Then an employee came up and said, “Have you heard about the essential oils we mix here? I have a feeling you’d like the ‘Love Oil.'” It seemed auspicious enough that essential oils were the very thing offered to me on my search for encouragement, so I bought a little bottle. As he checked me out, the cashier said, “I hope you don’t mind that I consulted the [tarot] cards about what you needed, since you didn’t seem to know.” He also told me that for best results, I should put the oil in my hair. All of the hair.

So here’s the thing you might be asking after all that. Do I really think that I mixed essential oils in a past life or that the Universe was speaking to me through them? Who the heck knows.

And if you think I’m a little crazy for even entertaining the idea, I don’t blame you. Do I really think that the “Love Oil” is going to help me attract my soulmate? Well, no. But in a way, yes.

No, I don’t think that the key to happiness lies in tarot cards or essential oils. Dabbing a few drops of perfume on your wrists or in your hair (any hair) is not the shortcut to manifesting your heart’s desires. There’s no substitute for the deep work of discovering your soul’s purpose, letting go of your fears and putting real love into action. That has everything to do with your willingness to put in the effort over a lifetime (or many).

But belief and intention must precede action to make it effective. In my heart, I know deep down that my slowness to attract the right relationship is due to a lack of faith. Until I face down my doubts, I’ll continue to have the same results regardless of what I do or how good I smell.

Here’s the thing, though: the simple act of seeing that bottle on the shelf each morning, picking it up and taking a moment to reflect as I drop it on my skin is a valuable reminder.

It’s a reminder that the Universe wants us to have connection and love in all the many forms in which they come; that sometimes kind strangers will help you find what you need when you’re not sure yourself what it is; that even the most accurate psychic in the world can’t predict what we will do with our own free will.

What only you can know is being spoken by your soul.

As I learned through that first psychic encounter, often what we want is right in front of us if we’re willing to let ourselves see it. Spraying my hair each morning reminds me that I am taking steps to dispel the fears and doubts that hold me back.

And each day I think that, I’m bringing myself a little closer to the faith that sets us free.

 

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Editor: Renée Picard

Image: aquarian_ insight via Flickr

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Mary Schlaphoff