The Story of The Auspicious Octopus
I woke early, the sky was still dark. As I walked to my car I saw the moon ahead, I kept her in my gaze the whole drive which took about a half hour. I arrived in the parking lot, this time I knew what to do. I parked my car and walked, following the line of seated folks that snaked around the back of the DMV. An empty chair awaited me, I took a seat and waited. I took out my book and began reading, noticing the folks that arrived after me. As the dawn broke and the light came, the line began to move. Eventually I got a number. Ticket #54.
I moved during the pandemic and this was my second attempt to get my driver’s license in time to be able to vote. It was early October, October 3rd to be exact. I had gone to the DMV earlier in the week, only to be turned away. I learned then that I had to arrive early, before dawn to get a number to be seen that day. Hence the early morning drive with the moon.
The whole process was seamless and I was in my car, license in hand, driving a couple of hours later. The sunroof was open, the windows were down and Trevor Hall’s Open Doors was blaring through the sound system when the words “Auspicious Octopus” arrived.
Auspicious Octopus arrived to me from the great blue sky on the wind itself.
This is the entry I wrote in my journal reflecting on that moment:
“The Auspicious Octopus came to me, in what felt like nowhere, but it was somewhere. Use your voice. Share your voice. Yes, I ask questions to others. Questions I have asked myself. Questions to lead them to knowing themselves.”
That is how she came, how she found her way to me.
What was I to do with her? What would she become? Only time would tell.
A few weeks later, following inner guidance and what was being offered to me, I purchased this domain name and smiled from ear to ear.
Around that same time, I began to explore what auspicious meant and I dressed up as an octopus for Halloween.
Conducive to success, favorable
Giving or being a sign of future success
Synonyms are: favorable, propitious, promising, bright
Months earlier, in April, I stepped out of my comfort zone to “lead” a mediation on Instagram Live. After, a family friend shared that she enjoyed the sound of my voice, so I began recording breath techniques and mediations for her. What began with one slowly started to spread. I shared the recordings with friends and family. I began to hold small circles where friends would gather to practice together in community. I held space for folks to join me and practice online. With each step I was expanding and pushing myself from my comfort zone and simultaneously sharing practices and techniques that were vital to my growth and instrumental in the peace and ease I was experiencing on a more regular basis.
Slowly, slowly, The Auspicious Octopus was coming into form. At the time though, this was not clear. It is only now, looking back that I can see through each step I took, I was finding my voice. Which is a process I am still engaged with.
What you find here on these pages are techniques, rooted in ancient technology, that have been generously offered to me. They have impacted, influenced and introduced me to so many aspects of my life in ways I cannot begin to put into words (although it is all documented in 104 journals that are being written into a book called In Her Wisdom). What I know is that they work. They worked for me, they are working for me and I am all about sharing them here with you in the case that they may work for you.
Share. To share. Share meaning to give to others, to enjoy jointly, to have a part in, to contribute to. Its like when you read a good book or try a new restaurant, you find a pair of socks that work for you or a new trail. We are naturally wired to share, to pass along to others, to support, to encourage and add to one another’s lives. And it is here, in this space that I am sharing. Sharing with you.
I am not perfect. These recordings are not either. I am an ordinary person like you. You’ll find that I am exploring sound, finding my voice, how to cue. You’ll also be met with love, the immense love and gratitude that pours from my heart and meets you through my warm, encouraging and compassionate gaze and smile. For I see myself in you. I see you in me.
Once it became clear that I was meant to share these teachings here with you, I began the process of “birthing.” At one moment, instead of writing out The Auspicious Octopus, I wrote TAO.
I stopped. My mouth gaped wide open.
TAO. The path, the way, the road. Guided by this intuitive knowing. This deep call within.
Yes, yes. The path of living and being in her wisdom, activating my own inner wisdom.
May you enjoy this inward journey, embracing yourself fully.
Celebrate being YOU!
I am celebrating the steps you have taken to show up and arrive here. Now.
Bowing my head to you.
In humility and service.
With reverence and gratitude,
Sara
The Birth of the Logo
I am always charmed when I look back and locate a journal entry, one that I have written years or months before and locate some inner wisdom, a seed that was once planted, whose beautiful fragrance I am meeting now.
Looking back, from this lens of now, I see this is how The Auspicious Octopus has come into form.
While in India, I met the Ten Great Wisdom Goddesses, the Dasha Mahavidyas. One day, I was meandering in Tapovan and my eyes fell upon an image, a painting hanging on the wall of shop. I was drawn in, drawn towards. It had alluring quality. I sat under the gaze of this image with the shop owners sharing a chai and sweets from the Holi celebration the day before. When I inquired about the piece, something didn’t feel right. Something wasn’t aligned. As I shared my experience with Corinne later that day, she asked me, “how does the goddess present herself to you? How does she want to be expressed through you?”
I balked. All of the stories of “not” showed up. Not an artist. Not creative. I do not draw, I heard myself say. Slowly, slowly, over the years the question lingered and with gentle encouragement and inqiry from Corinne she began to take form. Slowly, slowly. First in my head, then into a drawing. She transformed into ‘cut out’ pieces and then she sat. Idle. In a folder. Waiting for the time. Her time.
Sometime in February 2023, I was called to sit with her again. To open to folder and ‘assemble’ her, bringing her into form. It was simple. Quite unceremonious. I placed her in the center of the planets, at the center point of the celestial realm I had at my altar. There she was, in all of her radiance. Her bright fiery self, her tongue long, her eyes wide open seated on a lotus of flames emerging from love itself, suspended in the great blue ocean of bliss. Around this time, I began to see clovers, clovers everywhere. It was the new platform we used at work. I saw them growing in the aloe plants. We were approaching St. Patrick’s day and clovers were on flags outside houses. I saw them as tattoos, in drawings, on packages.
I know it was her continuous gaze and her ferocious love that has guided me here, to sharing this with you. Sometime, in mid August, it was revealed that I was to create this site and share this which has been so generously shared with me, with you. At the same time, I had been invited to share the teachings of the Dasha Mahavidyas with a Beloved Jeanette. While on the beach, oceanside, I opened my journal from my 100 day sadhana with the Goddess and gasped. My breath was taken away and I laughed and laughed, laughed. There, in an entry from April 2022 was sketch, a drawing that had been revealed to me while in sadhana. A merging of the Auspicious Octopus in the shape of a clover!
After the initial flying high energy of excitement and delight, I became grounded again and it was then, when I received the message to contact my cousin Aly. Clovers appeared when I asked my grandparents to deliver me a sign, a message, a signal that they were with me, guiding and supporting my way on. I asked to see clovers and clovers I saw, they were everywhere. In fact, I saw one yesterday for the first time on a piece of art my niece drew for me back in 2020 around the same time Aly took on a 100 day challenge to draw a new piece each day. It became clear that Aly, my cousin with whom we shared our magnificent grandmother, if she was willing, would be part of the birthing process, part of the creative process of bringing this, The Auspicious Octopus into form. And she has. Joyously! All that you see here is an expression from Aly. Created from loved herself!
Jai Ma!
Very special thanks to Aly who created, recorded and complied this time lapse and Mena who composed the music to accompany The Auspicious Octopus as she emerged from the void to grace us here, in her radiant form.
*You can find Aly @edensoutpost and Mena @menalabib
How This Site Came Into Form
I have known that The Auspicious Octopus would eventually come into form although the how and when were not clear to me. I sought to control the process. Asking and inquiring with folks, thinking I was receiving messages and signs, wondering if maybe this is the way I should go. Without clarity, I stopped. I stopped asking and sat. Slowly, slowly I was beginning to see pieces come together. In a vision I was shown doors opening and something sliding down a ramp into my lap, I realized it was my book In Her Wisdom, a collection of entries from my 103 journals written over 27 years. (There is a section dedicated to this in the heading). Reading entries from these journeys is work, one in which I have to remain rooted and grounded in the now. Fully present. And I KNOW that the only reason I am able to share these inner workings of my mind with you now, is through the work I have done to meet myself fully. All of myself. While I have always been interested in getting to know myself and learn more about myself, the techniques that I learned while studying with Anand Ji at Sattva Yoga Academy have propelled me forward. With clarity the intention of The Auspicious Octopus became clear- to share the teachings that have been generously shared with me, with YOU. The next question arose, who? Who is worthy of helping bring this site into form?
One day during my mediation it became clear. I knew instantly that the being who was going to help me ‘birth’ The Auspicious Octopus was someone who I worked alongside on a daily basis. Her presence is strong, generous, loving, and compassionate. She is dedicated and mindful. She is hard working and committed. She is devoted and acts from a place of service. It is through her grace and natural talents, that which comes to her as gifts, that you are accessing this site.
This has been a labor of love, creative expression, nourishment (YUM), learning and a lot of FUN.
Thank you, Ellie! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for saying yes! Thank you for contributing to and providing space that is dedicated to the nourishment of others. Thank you for supporting us, this, “our Dear Octopus” and this birth!
You can connect with Ellie @ellieeasts
Jai Ma!
A Note About Personal Responsibility
Rebecca first introduced me to the idea of Personal Responsibility in regards to my own practice, when I sat with her in her Opening To Love circle. The words written here are based on a foundation that she shared with me. You’ll find them in written form on the Introduction to the Practices page as well as under the Personal Responsibility heading. These are not only words, they are an invitation. An invitation to look deep within yourself and take total ownership. Rebecca has a unique gift in offering words that guide me to a deeper understanding of myself. It is quite magical. She sees something in me that I have not yet seen and in a loving way, she crafts words and moments, inviting me to take a step and before I know it, I am there. I’ve ‘crossed the bridge,’ as she shares and am able to see myself and the world around me in a new way. I trust that you too will begin to see yourself and the world that surrounds in a new way. As one of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves and others is the gift taking full responsibility for ourselves and our actions. Thank you Rebecca for finding a way to invite this responsibility in a graceful, clear and direct way.
You can find Rebecca and her offerings @purepresence
Hari Om
With Gratitude
I continue to hold my heart full of gratitude for each and every opportunity that has been presented in front of me, for me to learn more about myself and grow. Immense gratitude radiates from my heart for EACH and EVERY individual who has graced me with their presence in my life. Some folks have been part of my life for long periods of time, others short interactions. I know that I am a sum of each and every relationship that I have shared and that every individual has influenced me and taught me something about myself. With this being said, there are a few of you, without whom this, The Auspicious Octopus would not be here in form. Thank you for encouraging me, holding me, having the hard conversations with me and seeing me when I couldn’t see myself . Your love and grace, your steadfast commitment has enabled me to face myself fully and share this here with you.
Abbey, Alma, Aly, Ann Marie, Corinne, Ellie, H.P., Jeanette, Katrina, Lauren, Lisa, Michele, Michelle, Rebecca, Ria, Sophie, Sydney, Wendy
My Family who has held me in ways I can not fully put into words. Thank you, Mom, Dad, Laura, Pam, Colby, Sarah, Lydia and Eden
For every teacher that I have had, in life, on the mat and on the cushion
Sallie, look where we have come. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey.
Anand Ji when I look into my heart, I locate immense love, a vast, expansive love. I meet you there.
Jai Ma. Jai Guru Dev. Om Namaha Shivaya.
THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME FULLY AND FEROCIOUSLY.
It is relevant and I cannot pass this opportunity to bring attention and my gratitude to Saraswati. I was deeply immersed in a Vishuddha Sadhana, a throat chakra practice that was holding me for a while, when the Auspicious Octopus arrived to me through what is called shruti. I have known that this life’s journey is focused on me accessing and using my voice. Sharing myself with you here is a step on a long, long journey of self discovery. It is time for my voice to be heard!
Copyright © 2023 by Sara Lynn Lashbrook
This site is a true labor of love. It has been created from my heart space with an intention to share the techniques and tools that have supported me on my journey. It represents a commitment of love and devotion to myself and YOU. Please respect the sacredness of this material and my journey by honoring the copyright.
All rights reserved.
No part of this site may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact Sara Lynn Lashbrook at sara@theauspiciousoctopus.com.