Archive | Ruby Intuition

The Horror of the Schnorrer

I’ve been thinking a lot about schnorrers. For those who didn’t grow up with a shrewd Jewish grandmother, a “schnorrer” is a Yiddish term for a freeloader–a layabout who, no matter how charming, simply doesn’t earn their keep.

Most of us have been schnorrers at some point, have drained others of their resources and good will (emotionally or conversationally, if no other way). Goddess knows I have been. I was raised by someone who wasn’t especially interested in parenting so I learned early to extract from others what I should have been getting at home. It was a habit that lasted far too long. Into my 40s, even. And when I finally began to address these habits, I turned around and started attracting schnorrers to me like flies, perhaps to understand the pain I’d caused.

The evolution from transactional behavior to open-hearted exchange is a really challenging one, especially in a country that espouses a dog-eat-dog individualism that conflates self-possession with selfishness. But I’ve been working with this concept a lot, especially in my intuition practice, where I bent so far backwards to prove I wasn’t a con artist that I did myself great harm in the first year of the pandemic.

This last year has been one of learning better boundaries, no matter how tough it can seem, to build infrastructure that supports everyone. Not offering free guidance because ultimately it’s not free to me and my health. And not expecting loved ones to provide more care than they have to give. It’s about the transition from survival to thrival (yes, I know that’s not really a word) and I’m still learning how networks based on compassion rather than credit can exist, let alone flourish.

All to say that today I drew a new line. In the past I would have felt so defensive that it would’ve translated into anger at the other person. Today I did it lovingly, even if they didn’t experience it that way. I felt compassion for their unconsciousness, compassion for the part of myself that so anxiously needs others to be in agreement with me. All in all I still feel shaky. Isn’t that always the case the first time we exert a muscle?

Here’s Looking at You, 2022

I’ve never put much stock in the changing of the Christian calendar, but these days I appreciate all opportunities to reevaluate and reboot. To that end, I wanted to share the story of this image. First I saw it in a bookstore, then a friend sent it as a postcard to me, then I began to see the same phrase spray-painted around the city. First I read it as sort of Rodney Dangerfield bit. You know—“What’s a guy gotta do to get some love?” Then, a depressive cry— “Where is the love in this forsaken world?!” Finally, as the phrase kept showing up, I recognized it as a clue in a mystical scavenger hunt.

For I’ve had my fair share of hard times, and in my personal life it’s sometimes made me hard on myself and others. Even a little cynical for a professional intuitive. But as this phrase “where is the love?” appeared to me again, again, again, I realized it wasn’t asking me to ignore the grief, manipulation, greed, injustice I saw in the world. It was simply inviting me to also look for the love. To recognize the transpersonal compassion that is as elemental as gravity. The kindness that stubbornly flourishes like a weed in a sidewalk crack.

The more I looked for this love, the more I saw it—in the parks, in a stray cat’s trust, in the generosity of a child, in a friend’s patience with my vanities, in the movies I reviewed, in the river’s steady flow, even in the most annoying behavior of strangers and loved ones. Certainly I saw it in the enormous kindness you showed when my back injury immobilized me so thoroughly. And the more I was able to see this love, the more I was able to serve it.

Most of us have never before lived through such a period of instability and uncertainly. We have no idea what will happen next nor how it will end. But I do know that when we privilege love as a labor, an economy, a value, and as a guiding force, a utopia is as likely an outcome as a dystopia. Yes, even now. So I invite you to joining me in answering: Where is the love? Today my answer is: You, in your grace, resourcefulness, gorgeous imperfections.

May you shine in the light of this new year.

To chart your 2022, book an intuitive reading. I’m here when you need me.

Ruby Intuition Gift Offerings

As 2021 draws to a close, consider the gift of Ruby Intuition. During this year of great upheaval, I’ve been honored to help chart optimal paths and look forward to charting even more for 2022. Omicron may be ruining our best-laid plans but Zoom energy readings are proving at least as effective as my in-person sessions. They allow intense downloads to be absorbed in the comfort of your own space, and electricity is energy, after all.

Dream medicine sessions are also now available. Designed to decode the psychic messages sent by your highest self, these sessions draw upon tarot, breath work, and your own powerful intuition, help you distinguish between psychic and psychological downloads, and are also useful for those who don’t remember dreams but would like to start.

So book a session, gift a reading, give yourself or another dream medicine, DM, and feel free to share this post. I’m always grateful to reorient you and your loved ones with practical magic, kittens.

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy