Sometimes we might concentrate so much on our spiritual lives that we overlook the wonders of being present in our physical form. When we are more aware of the fact that our bodies are also important in terms of our personal growth, we may find it easier to nurture them. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through human touch, for a loving, comforting touch allows us to access the part of ourselves that yearns for a sense of oneness with the world around us. Even simple forms of touch connect us not just to our bodies but also to the energetic presence of other people.

There are so many ways to incorporate touch in our daily lives, one of the easiest being a heartfelt embrace. Just making a point to hug someone on a daily basis and really feel our energy pass between each other can strengthen the bonds that keep us together. Hugs help us heal any hurt or upset we may have recently experienced by letting us release into the moment of the embrace and realize that no matter what happens to us, we have someone in our lives who supports and cares for us.

Another nourishing form of touch is massage. While we may think of massage as a luxury, it is actually an ancient form of healing that enables us to open up our energetic pathways in order to receive unlimited energy from the universe. It doesn’t matter whether a simple massage comes from a loved one or a massage therapist, but by giving ourselves the gift of massage every once in a while, we are doing something healthy and beneficial for our bodies. Massage helps our bodies activate their own restorative powers, creating a wonderful way to engage fully in our own healing.

Letting ourselves take advantage of the healing nature of touch creates space where we can truly live in and experience the world through our bodies, allowing us to completely immerse ourselves in the loving sense of joy and wonder that is our life.

The God Nebertcher said: "I am the creator of what hath come into being. I myself came into being under the form of the god Khepera. I came into being under the form of Pautti, I formed myself out of the primeval matter, I made myself out of the substance that was in primeval time."

Nothing existed at that time except the great primeval watery mass called Nu, but in this there were the germs of everything that came into being subsequently.

There was no heaven, and no earth, and the god found no place on which to stand; there was nothing in existence except the god.

And Nebertcher said, "I was alone." He first created himself by uttering his own name as a word of power, and when this was uttered his visible form appeared [Creation came into being – the visible and invisible universe].

He then uttered another kind of word of power, and as a result of this his soul [ba/ka] came into being, and it worked in connection with his heart and mind [ab].

Before every act of creation Nebertcher, or in his visible form Khepera, thought out what form the thing to be created was to take, and when he had uttered its name the thing itself appeared in heaven or earth.

To fill the heaven, or place where he lived, the god next produced from his body and its shadow the two gods Shu and Tefnut.

Thus joined with Nebertcher/Khepera they form the triad, for the "one god became three." [one god having three aspects]

The next act of creation resulted in the emerging of the Eye of Nebertcher [the Sun-disc later identified with Râ/Horus] from the watery mass (Nu), and light shone upon its waters.

Shu and Tefnut then united and together they produced Keb, the Earth-god, and Nut, the Sky-goddess. Then the Eye, the sky-disc giver of Light, befell a great calamity becoming obscure, it ceased giving light.

This period of darkness is known as the night, yet to compensate for this recurring inconvenient period of darkness, God made a second Eye [the Moon] and set it in the heavens. The greater Eye ruled the day, and the lesser Eye the night.

One of the results of the daily darkness was the descent of the Sky-goddess Nut to the Earth-god Keb each evening.

The gods and goddesses that were next created were the five, namely, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Neferhor, and Nephthys.

Osiris married Isis, and their son was called NeferHor; Seth married Nephthys, but their son, Anpu/Anubis, gain no mention.

Osiris became the great Ancestor-god of Egypt, and was a reincarnation of his great-grandfather.

Men and women were formed from the tears that fell from the Eye of Khepera [Sun-god] upon his body [the old Egyptian word for "men" is very close, in form and sound, to the word for "tears"].

Plants, vegetables, herbs, and trees owe their beingness to the light of the moon falling upon the earth. [no mention of the creation of the "beasts of the field"] God then created the children of the earth and creeping things of all kinds.

The men and women, and all the other living creatures that were made by Nebertcher/Khepera, reproduced their species, each in his own way, and thus the earth became filled with their descendants as we see at the present time."

It can be very challenging to maintain a positive attitude and a measure of faith when you are in the midst of difficult times. This is partly because we tend to think that if the universe loves us we will experience that love in the form of positive circumstances. However, we are like children, and the universe is our wise mother who knows what our souls need to thrive better than we do. Just as a young child does not benefit from getting everything she wants, we also benefit from times of constriction and difficulty to help us grow and learn. If we keep this in mind, and continue to trust that we are loved even when things are hard, it helps us bear the difficult time with grace.

This period of time in history is full of difficulty for a lot of human beings, and you may feel less alone knowing you are not being singled out. There are extreme energy changes pulsing through the universe at every level and, of course, we are all part of the growing process and the growing pains. It helps if we remember that life is one phase after another and that this difficult time will inevitably give way to something new and different. When we feel overwhelmed we can comfort ourselves with the wise saying: This too shall pass.

At the same time, if you truly feel that nothing is going right for you, it’s never a bad idea to examine your life and see if there are some changes you can make to alleviate some of the difficulty. Gently and compassionately exploring the areas giving you the most trouble may reveal things you are holding onto and need to release: unprocessed emotions, unresolved transitions, or negative ways of looking at yourself or reality. As you take responsibility for the things you can change, you can more easily surrender to the things you can’t, remembering all the while that this phase will, without doubt, give way to another.