Channeled guidance has a bit of a bad rap. People find it interesting, but vague. I used to be like this too, and have spent years honing my channeling skills so that what I bring through is practical and actionable. I honestly don't see the point of channeled guidance unless it's followed.

But following channeled guidance is a practice and a skill, and when I tell people that I let myself be guided in this way they don't really know what I mean. So I thought it would be interesting to show you how I do it!

But first, some context: every month, I work with my spirit team Avalon to channel a message on the energy of that particular month. The message is an invitation to do something differently, to consider a particular aspect of a situation, to shift your energy around a particular thing. I share the essence of this message with my wider community, and then send more detailed guidance on how to make the most of the energy available to members of The Elevator. I then also channel weekly messages from Avalon to support the monthly theme - these act as reminders and energetic pick-me-ups, needed because we all tend to forget the energy piece when life gets busy.

If you haven't heard me talk about Avalon before, they're a collective of spiritual beings that I've been working with for several years. Our work together is focused on bringing the magic and power back to the individual - because humankind has given their power away to society and perceived leaders. Avalon says that it's now time to take it back - the Earth needs us all to understand our role in co-creating what we call reality.

Avalon's monthly and weekly guidance brings you back to your magic and manifesting power. It re-connects you with your soul, your most authentic self. It helps you identify and choose the path that's right for you, helps you trust your inner knowing  and make decisions that will bring you closer and closer to your dream life. I follow them myself and to me they're the basis of soulsmart living.

As you'll see below, in this blog post I'm sharing what Avalon's message to us was for each month of 2021, and how I followed it in my own life. Note that I'm just sharing the general channeled guidance they gave, and that they also send over various practical tips and extra messages to help us work through the theme. We had lots more information to work with than what you see here, but I think that this is plenty to show you how following channeled guidance works in practice. 

I kind of wish that I'd taken notes on this during the year, but I didn't. So please bear in mind that I only had the idea to put together this blog post yesterday, and that I'm relying on memory - otherwise I would have included a lot more detail. Luckily, this year has been pivotal for me so a lot of it is still fresh in my mind, so hopefully you'll have enough in my example to see how helpful Avalon's guidance is to creating a life you love.

In January, Avalon's message was about choice.

They invited us to intentionally decide what we were CHOOSING for in 2021, instead of just thinking about what we wanted. They said that doing this set us up for a more empowered experience: we were taking charge of our reality from the beginning, being an active participant in creating it.

I chose for my dream life. For years, all I wanted was to leave my job, move my family to Ireland, and live a life of freedom and fulfilment. It hadn't been possible yet and I definitely wanted it more than anything else. We were kind of on our way when January started, but were still encountering loads of difficulties and facing a lot of uncertainty with this dream. I remember making a very conscious choice that it WAS going to work, deciding to really commit to it and not back down. Now, here I am, writing this from my new home in beautiful Galway 🙂

In February, Avalon encouraged us to stop hiding and venture out into the world.

This was the perfect message to receive as the energy shifted from winter into spring here in the Northern Hemisphere... it was time to leave the comfort of our homes, literally and figuratively. It was time to put ourselves out into the world in a bigger way, to be visible.

One of the warnings Avalon issued that month (they always specify what could get in our way) was to watch out for anywhere we were making that possibility of venturing out into the world conditional on someone or something else. This was of course the opposite of feeling empowered, it was giving control of our freedom away to something external. In a world that was still largely under Covid lockdown though, it was easy to say that freedom simply wasn't possible. But of course that was just an excuse - there was plenty of venturing that was possible anyway, even under the circumstances.

For me, the February message was an important reminder to focus on what I was choosing to create - our move to Ireland. It was so easy to worry that it would never happen, that it wasn't possible under Covid rules and restrictions. I didn't WANT to do it under Covid rules and restrictions - I'd had all these plans to say goodbye to friends, to re-visit places I'd loved during my almost 30 years in Belgium. I felt sad that this was being taken away from me - until I received Avalon's February guidance and took it as a sign to connect with people anyway, in person where possible but even online.

Obviously there are hundreds ways in which to interpret guidance to 'stop hiding and venture out into the world'. For me, the message was to re-connect with the outside, with people. And to focus on what WAS possible rather than worrying about what wasn't yet.

It ended up being a very connected month for me, as I rekindled friendships and made new ones. And it made me feel like I was ready to get back out there - very important when your dream involves moving countries, can't really do that without leaving the house!

In March, Avalon invited us to take something that felt off or misaligned, and to change our perspective towards it.

They wanted us to turn doubt into confidence, and perceived failure into success. They wanted to show us what was possible when you were willing to consider a different way of looking at things... because when it comes to reality creation, the observer matters, as does what the observer decides they see.

I'm not gonna lie, back in March my big dream still felt impossible. My husband and I had a mile-long list of things that needed to be done or needed to happen - and many felt really, truly impossible. We knew that our house had sold by then, so we were preparing the house for our move, and getting all the paperwork in order. Everything felt hard and like I didn't know how to do it. 

So that's what I applied Avalon's guidance to - I reminded myself of all the hard things I'd already done in my life and affirmed that I can indeed do hard things. Doing this helped me so much - I didn't go down the 'I don't know' spiral, which always ends in despair. Instead, I was able to tackle the things on my life one by one, collecting more and more proof that I was capable of doing them. Well, at least some of the time, I'm still human and I was still working through a lot!

April's channeled guidance was to tap into the energy of love, the most powerful and transformational force there is.

Avalon urged us to re-write our stories from a place of love, and to approach whatever was happening in our lives from a place of kindness. They reminded us that love is the essence of who we really are, and so we become more of our true selves every single time we choose love. They gave us several ideas for how to practically live more from the space of love, and I really wanted to follow their guidance...

But it was super hard for me, just as we were nearing our big move and I was fully in hustle mode. I was definitely not feeling loving towards anyone involved in the complicated process of selling our house, nor was I feeling loving towards myself - there were so many things I'd messed up already! So I started small. I noticed that I was telling the story of how horribly I was handling the move... and I tried telling a kinder-to-me version. I'd been suffering from a mixture of depression and anxiety by that point, and so maybe it was ok that I wasn't as even-keeled as I'd like. Softening towards myself made it easier to keep moving forward, which was super important at a time when there were still a million things to do.

May brought a surprise - the monthly guidance came not from my spirit team Avalon but from the Faeries.

To me, this was absolutely magical, as the Faery energy was one of the things that drew me to moving to Ireland in the first place. Unexpectedly, the Faeries' message was of commitment - they invited us to re-commit to something that we wanted but had lost sight of. 

Here's what I wrote in my email delivering the monthly guidance to Elevator members:

For me, it's clear that I need to re-commit to ease & flow. Things have been pretty hard going in my life, and I kind of got trapped in the 'this is just how things are' mindset. This month, I'm re-committing to my belief in the possibility of ease and flow no matter what, and to my belief in magic and energy. I'm no longer simply accepting what I see around me as ultimate truth, and will be reminding myself that I have the power to shape my reality.

That focus on re-committing to ease and flow saved me. I'd lost sight of the fact that that's what I wanted, and everything felt hard again. The monthly message reminded me to keep choosing for what I desired, for what felt good to me. May was the month when we moved out of the house we called home for 12 years, and started our Irish adventure. Although nothing about this was easy, being reminded to look for the ease and flow helped. Whenever we encountered a problem or obstacle (and there were still tons of these!) we identified the right next step by looking for ease and flow. The Faeries' guidance gave us direction and for that I am grateful.

Avalon was back in June with a reminder to tap into our creative genius.

They talked of connecting with something that we truly wanted to create, or even something that we felt wanted to be created through us. They asked us questions about how creative we thought we were, and what we'd learned about being creative as children.

I reeaaallly wanted this to mean that I would finish the book I'd started writing 4 years ago. We'd left Belgium by this point, and were living in an Air BnB in Ireland, looking for the house that would become our home here. Maybe it's because the first half of the year had been so hard and crazy busy, but all I wanted was to get back to some kind of normal. This included working on my business, doing readings, creating workshops, and of course writing.

In retrospect, it was crazy to think that this transitional period was when I'd have the headspace and creative energy to finish a book. It reminds me of new mothers-to-be planning what they'll do with all their upcoming free time during maternity leave . 

By the end of the month, I realised that, at least for me, Avalon's message was about my creative power, as in my manifesting power. They often use the word 'creativity' to talk both about creative projects and manifesting in general - it's the same skillset. I didn't write a single word of my book,  but I DID identify and buy a house, which was the foundational piece of our life here in Ireland. So even though I kind of misunderstood the message, I could see how June's particular energy played out in my life anyway.

In July, Avalon invited us to ground in the changes that had occurred in our lives over the past months.

They wanted us to take some time and settle into the transformation. This was a month of taking stock, recognising how far we've come and understanding that we were now in a completely different space and energy than a few months before.

For me this message was obviously about grounding into my new normal - living in Ireland. Except that I spent the month at my parents' house in Poland, negotiating the details of buying our new home. Nothing felt settled and yet Avalon said to settle. This one took some effort, for sure!

It was worth it though. Eventually, I started seeing just how much we managed to achieve and create over the past months and even years. I leaned into the feeling of pride and excitement. I tried to imagine what our lives would be like from that point onward, what was now possible for us.  It still felt like an in between month and involved a lot of frustration, so focusing on taking stock and grounding in transformation was most welcome. 

And others in The Elevator appreciated this settling in period too! There was so much change happening for everyone, Avalon's monthly message was a great reminder that transformation is a cycle, and you can't keep moving forward all the time. Sometimes you have to take the space to let the energy settle, so that your energy system can catch up with what you've created. This is important because it helps you build on top of your success to date!

August's energy was about vulnerability and authenticity.

Avalon's invitation was to be ourselves, to have the courage to be honest about who we are and what we want. For some people in The Elevator, this was about staying true to themselves while spending time with family. For others, it was about stepping into a new level of authenticity at work or in business. For me, everything was still about my big move!

August was the month we moved into our new Irish home... which didn't look like what I wanted it to look like at all. I worked with Avalon'a August message a lot throughout the month, to sort out what I really wanted out of my new life and what I truly valued in a house and home. There was a lot in my energy system that wasn't mine, especially family expectations I'd adopted as my own desires.

For me, having the courage to be honest about who I am meant standing up for what I chose in my life. I'd left everything the world told me was success behind and opted for a life of simplicity. Many people around me saw this as a step down, and I started looking at it in that way too. Avalon's guidance helped me really OWN what I wanted for myself and my life, and to cut cords with other people's opinions and expectations.

In September, Avalon told us to follow the sparks of creativity and inspiration.

Part of this was understanding what we need to do to be able to do this - when life feels overwhelming, it can be difficult to get into an inspired energetic space! One of Avalon's guiding questions (they always send several with each message they deliver),  asked us to make a list of what inspires us, what gets our creative juices flowing, to be used when we felt lost, uninspired and disconnected.

Honestly, I didn't do this, and regretted it. September was a difficult month of adjusting to a new house, country and environment for me, and I could have used that list for sure! I felt completely uninspired about my own future. It was liked I'd achieved everything I ever wanted and life had nothing more for me. I have to admit that I couldn't follow Avalon's guidance in September because I couldn't feel any sparks of creativity or inspiration. If only I'd followed their guidance at the start of the month and made that list!

October's invitation was to create order wherever there was chaos.

The idea here was to put in place systems and structures that support us and help us thrive. Avalon's mission is to bring the magic and power back to each individual - they say that collectively we give our power away to others and that it's time to reclaim what's ours. Reclaiming our power means taking a stand for ourselves and the life we truly want to live. The order we were invited to create in October was meant to help us do this, to create support so that we can thrive and live our best lives.

Avalon was very clear that the kind of order that was required in our lives was very much based on our own needs. They encouraged us to say no other people's systems and ideas for what an ordered, well-structured life looks like. This was really the most important piece of their message - to work out what kind of order we individually need.

To follow this guidance, I spent the month experimenting with structure and order in my new live. I realised that I'd been trying to re-create my old life in this new physical and energetic space... and this didn't work because I'd changed and my needs changed along the way. I had to take the time to work out what systems and schedules worked for my new life, not try to pick up where I'd left off when I left Belgium. 

Let me add that this was the perfect message for October, the last in an energetic cycle. November 1 is considered to be the Celtic New Year, and I always feel this energy of new beginnings around that time. Which makes October an ending - Avalon wanted to make sure that we finish the energetic cycle with the right kinds of structures to support us, so that we could step into the new cycle on strong footing. Paying attention to their guidance helped me land in my new life so that I could build the next phase on a strong foundation.

Unsurprisingly, November's channeled guidance from Avalon was about a new beginning.

The actual message was about death and rebirth, which meant that November was to be another transition month, with as strong a focus on what we're leaving behind as on what we want to experience next.

I always run a live round of the Visioning Quest at this time, to tap into the new beginning energy and get soul guidance on next steps. I found that this was the perfect time for this, with so many people ready for a new chapter and not wanting to wait until the start of 2022.

For me, the year always starts in November... though the month doesn't have the same energy as January at all. It's more a month of visioning, of dreaming, of being honest with yourself about what you want. Because Avalon phrased their message as death-and-rebirth though, I spent more time than I usually would releasing what wasn't coming with me into my new chapter (Avalon gave us ways to do this). In effect, I feel more ready than ever for the calendar to change to 2022!

And lastly, in December Avalon invite us to be in the energy of wonder and curiosity about the future.

At a time when many of us would be trying to plan our perfect year ahead, Avalon say to exchange planning for wondering. 

Here's exactly what they say:

It is important that you finish this year in an energy of positive expectation about the future. It is important that instead of trying to control what will happen next or over plan, you focus on staying open to good fortune, miracles, infinite possibilities. The start of a new year has a magical anything-is-possible energy to it - take advantage of this energy instead of stifling it with goals and targets. If anything really WAS possible, what would you choose?

How am I applying this message?  By being really aware of where I'm trying to control what comes next. I'm intentionally wondering about next year instead of planning it. Does this mean I won't have a list of goals? Of course not, I'm still me! 😀 But I'm not trying to micro-manage 2022, I'm not deciding what I'm doing when. It's actually a much nicer energy to end the year in, and I'm grateful for Avalon's perspective.

And there you have it - this is what a year of following channeled guidance looks like.

Honestly, I don't think I could have gotten through 2021 with as much joy and ease as I managed to squeeze in without Avalon's messages. They help me to go with the flow of energy, to remember that what I can see with my eyes isn't all there is to reality. They help me to find my own answers when everyone seems to have an opinion or when I don't know what to do. They keep me connected to my soul, my most authentic self. And they help me trust in my own inner knowing, which is invaluable in a world where no one teaches us that.

If you would like to experience this kind of magic too, you can join us in The Elevator here.

Love and soulsmart vibes,