Grace Light Love Joy Wisdom Beauty Kindness Peace Compassion

Reflection of the Other

2011-12-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

I woke up the other morning with thoughts from a recent conversation on my mind and began to meditate on the judgment that surfaced about someone else’s behavior, someone close to me. I asked what the reflection of the behavior held for me. What I found in response to my query was that whatever judgment or disdain or anger or whatever feeling surfaces in my heart about another person is really what I am feeling about myself. In truth and Oneness, there is no “other”. What I define as the “other” merely serves as a reflection of myself.

Put another way, if the feeling exists in me, then it is mine, and it is about me.

My meditation then took me deeply and uncomfortably into a heaviness within my heart that held and felt those judgments that I was projecting upon another. Regardless of upon whom I project my dissatisfaction, I am the one who is feeling and experiencing the judgment and disapproval. So, again, here I am causing those feelings upon my own self. To cause those feelings upon my own being feels just like self disdain / hatred / judgment / criticism / punishment / etc. etc. etc.

When I asked myself "why do I hold myself in judgment?” an interesting response surfaced. "Because I keep doing these painful things to my heart!!!"

The wisdom of the Sacred Feminine recommends that we remain present with our feelings, including the ones that are the most painful, without judgment while holding them in love. As a conscious, non-judgmental witness we allow ourselves to experience our feelings wholly and completely. By experiencing the fullness of our heartache, anger, or discontent, and remaining a conscious witness to our true experience, love and consciousness serve to evolve our feelings into a higher state of expression.

This particular meditation became a very uncomfortable hour for me. My heart felt as though it wanted to “throw up” - to expel the goo of my judgment and disdain of myself. Yet, through the entire experience I was able to remain calm, assured that I was taking the swiftest route to liberation from self judgment available - through the heart and womb of the Sacred Feminine.

I have learned through my meditative healing experiences that repetitive thoughts ultimately become regarded as truths within my unconscious mind. I believe this to be true for all humans. As long as a thought remains alive and active it will continually attract more of its own vibration into our field of experience enhancing itself to become even more attractive to more of the same experience. This makes a great argument for doing whatever is necessary to dispel, dislodge, undo, erase, and un-create the excessive thoughts and belief patterns that lead us to judgment and disdain of ourselves and others.

Later that morning I received an email confirmation from Angelina Heart of twinflametruelove.com with this message:
"Soul Mates are part of your soul grouping – or soul family. They may derive from the original ray or soul fabric/family from which you were created, but they can also come from past life experiences in which you have formed a bond. As you evolve in this dimension, there are many soul mates who agree to act as divine mirrors. They have the ability to contain and reflect back to you both your shadow and your light, and as much of the divine Twin Flame energetic essence, or consciousness and love as you, yourself contain.
"They play any number of roles for you to assist your own soul growth – roles of lovers or partners, family members, friends, and enemies, and so on. You are the only real person in your play and these soul mates will faithfully reflect back to you what you are or those things upon which you hold a charge or judgment . They assist you to become consciously one with your Christ-self (also referred to as your higher mental body) and your I AM Presence (also referred to as your God Self). Soul Mates act as the means or catalyst by which you evolve as a soul."

It is through the Divine Heart and Sacred Womb that grace allows us to heal and transform during these most extraordinary times of soul advancement. Our honoring of the Sacred Feminine assists us immeasurably in our quest for true love, beginning with our self.

We are the hearts and hands of the divine.

2011-03-31T22:18:00.000-07:00

I have had an extraordinary day. Dr. Emoto's prayer has been so powerful, and we gathered in circle for the deeksha Oneness Blessing and again shared prayers for the waters of Japan this evening. I have this undeniable certainty of the power and authority that we, as awake humans, now have for affecting the waters of this planet, and through the waters, all creation. The mounting threat of radiation, solar flares, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanos is only one side of the coin when it comes to what is happening earth. We are like sleeper cells, now coming alive and awakened to the truth of our new reality.

Two weeks ago on the full moon we honored our sacred relationship with the water. Last weekend I brought the blessed water to an altar to the divine where we gathered to initiate several new Oneness Blessing Givers. When it began to rain on Sunday, my senses came alive with the awareness that all the power, prayer, love and intention of that altar, through the water, was now in each and every rain drop blessing our earth. These truths grow stronger everyday and I find that I MUST continue to speak them with gratitude and conviction. Perhaps the speaking of it expands our collective consciousness so that more and more of us "get" that this is really happening! The force of nature animates US as it does our earth.

Like the tide rushing to the shore, divine grace flows to and through us. We are the hearts and hands of the divine. Blessed be.

If You Want to Change the World… Love a Woman

2011-03-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

by Lisa Citore www.magdalenewomen.com

When a fairly spiritual male friend of mine who had finally found and was deepening into committed relationship with his soul mate confided in me he was thinking of being single again, and in the next breath expressed his latest idea for raising consciousness worldwide, I wrote this poem.

If you want to change the world… love a woman-really love her.
Find the one who calls to your soul, who doesn’t make sense.
Throw away your check list and put your ear to her heart and listen.
Hear the names, the prayers, the songs of every living thing-
every winged one, every furry and scaled one,
every underground and underwater one, every green and flowering one,
every not yet born and dying one…
Hear their melancholy praises back to the One who gave them life.
If you haven’t heard your own name yet, you haven’t listened long enough.
If your eyes aren’t filled with tears, if you aren’t bowing at her feet,
you haven’t ever grieved having almost lost her.

If you want to change the world… love a woman-one woman
beyond yourself, beyond desire and reason,
beyond your male preferences for youth, beauty and variety
and all your superficial concepts of freedom.
We have given ourselves so many choices
we have forgotten that true liberation
comes from standing in the middle of the soul’s fire
and burning through our resistance to Love.
There is only one Goddess.
Look into Her eyes and see-really see
if she is the one to bring the axe to your head.
If not, walk away. Right now.
Don’t waste time “trying.”
Know that your decision has nothing to do with her
because ultimately it’s not with who,
but when we choose to surrender.

If you want to change the world… love a woman.
Love her for life-beyond your fear of death,
beyond your fear of being manipulated
by the Mother inside your head.
Don’t tell her you’re willing to die for her.
Say you’re willing to LIVE with her,
plant trees with her and watch them grow.
Be her hero by telling her how beautiful she is in her vulnerable majesty,
by helping her to remember every day that she IS Goddess
through your adoration and devotion.

If you want to change the world… love a woman
in all her faces, through all her seasons
and she will heal you of your schizophrenia-
your double-mindedness and half-heartedness
which keeps your Spirit and body separate-
which keeps you alone and always looking outside your Self
for something to make your life worth living.
There will always be another woman.
Soon the new shiny one will become the old dull one
and you’ll grow restless again, trading in women like cars,
trading in the Goddess for the latest object of your desire.
Man doesn’t need any more choices.
What man needs is Woman, the Way of the Feminine,
of Patience and Compassion, non-seeking, non-doing,
of breathing in one place and sinking deep intertwining roots
strong enough to hold the Earth together
while she shakes off the cement and steel from her skin.

If you want to change the world… love a woman, just one woman .
Love and protect her as if she is the last holy vessel.
Love her through her fear of abandonment
which she has been holding for all of humanity.
No, the wound is not hers to heal alone.
No, she is not weak in her codependence.

If you want to change the world… love a woman
all the way through
until she believes you,
until her instincts, her visions, her voice, her art, her passion,
her wildness have returned to her-
until she is a force of love more powerful
than all the political media demons who seek to devalue and destroy her.

If you want to change the world,
lay down your causes, your guns and protest signs.
Lay down your inner war, your righteous anger
and love a woman…
beyond all of your striving for greatness,
beyond your tenacious quest for enlightenment.
The holy grail stands before you
if you would only take her in your arms
and let go of searching for something beyond this intimacy.

What if peace is a dream which can only be re-membered
through the heart of Woman?
What if a man’s love for Woman, the Way of the Feminine
is the key to opening Her heart?

If you want to change the world…love a woman
to the depths of your shadow,
to the highest reaches of your Being,
back to the Garden where you first met her,
to the gateway of the rainbow realm
where you walk through together as Light as One,
to the point of no return,
to the ends and the beginning of a new Earth.

Men That Honor the Sacred Feminine

2010-12-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

Reverend Misa Hopkins
http://www.findingyoursoulpurpose.blogspot.com/

It was many years before I finally attracted men in my life that truly understood what it meant to honor the Sacred Feminine. Oh I certainly knew men that loved me as a woman and enjoyed many aspects of my femininity, but that is different than deep respect for the spiritual essence of the Sacred Feminine. In my experience, in order for a man to truly respect the sacred within the feminine, he needs to, however he might define it, respect the Sacred Masculine within himself. He must see and know himself as a sacred being.

Honoring the Sacred Feminine is not something you can learn to do in order to be politically correct around women who are exploring this nature within themselves. Typically, a man treasures a woman’s decision to discover more about her sacredness, when he has, at some point in his life, committed to uncovering his own sacred nature. While there are tremendous intersections between Sacred Masculine and Sacred Feminine, and ultimately it is all One, there are distinctions between these two Divine energies. Becoming aware of the nature of these two energies helps us in understanding ourselves—our own inclinations and impulses.

Women enter the depth of their presence with the Sacred Feminine through their wombs—something that obviously, men don’t have. While men can still access the Sacred Feminine energetically within them, the direct physical doorway does not exist. When women explore the depths of the Sacred Feminine through their bodies, they relate to the sacred through the experience of being pregnant, giving birth, mothering, having miscarriages, their cyclic emotions, shedding blood for their people through their monthly cycles, and eventually experiencing a new power as their ability to have children ceases. These are aspects of a woman’s daily reality and spiritual opening that a man can only experience vicariously. Women’s bodies and cyclic emotions are doorways to spiritual awakening unique to women.

In the Sacred Feminine, women’s bodies and emotions carry them into the vast and dark unknown, where all of life is held lovingly in its potential. This is the sacred in which all possibilities of life are honored without judgment. Imagine this womb of all life’s potential as the vast and dark night sky—an endless, cool, and wondrous place in which life explores itself through repeated acts of new creation. This dark and beautiful aspect of the Sacred Feminine is best depicted today in the statues of the Black Madonna. The mystery of these statues found throughout Europe is not a mystery at all when a woman remembers, through her own body and emotions, that the Sacred Feminine is the birthplace of creation.

On the other hand, men who choose to encounter the Sacred Masculine through their bodies have very different experiences. The Sacred Masculine principle is that of light bursting through the darkness—life longing to become and know itself. This light is hot, fast, explosive and blissful in nature. I believe most men can relate to this principle energetically as it pulses through their bodies. To know how to be with this energy is as vital for a man as it is for a woman to know how to be with her cycles.

Can a man experience the depths of the Sacred Feminine, or can a woman discover the passion of the Sacred Masculine? Certainly. In fact, in spiritual practice, this is part of the journey. Ultimately, especially if we age consciously, we embody the full expression of both sacred natures seamlessly. We become the Oneness. We become present to the One by first fully experiencing both.

One reason women like me have looked for men that could honor the exploration of the Sacred Feminine is that this sacred nature has nearly been forgotten on our planet. For thousands of years, we have recognized and held the masculine sacred principle as holy, while minimizing the very nature of the Sacred Feminine. That is perhaps why statues of the Madonna were painted black—to gently remind us that there is another aspect of the Divine nature to be remembered—the forgotten one—the Sacred Feminine.

In order for humanity to once again fully accept both the masculine and the feminine principles as sacred, many women today recognize that we must know and remember this Divine essence within ourselves. Only then will we give birth to sons and daughters from our deepest sacred awareness. Because we are remembering, we look to other women to help us rediscover the ancient practices that teach us how to be fully present to this vastness of loving space we can access through our bodies and emotions.

Men that honor the Sacred Feminine seem to somehow sense or know the significance of this exploration that their women are drawn to experience. They become our great supporters and protectors, perhaps because they have had the courage to explore the power of their own sacred natures.

When the women come to my home to experience ceremony in the Sacred Feminine, my husband has helped me get ready by honoring my need for extra meditation time, assisting me in putting the house in order, and adjusting our meal time to accommodate ceremony. He likes to be there when the women arrive to warmly greet them at the door. Then he quietly slips away, giving us complete and private space. If there is any outside activity that might disturb our space, he handles it. And when ceremony is complete, we call him to join us to share food. He never asks about our experiences out of respect for our privacy, but will gladly receive blessings from the women if it is appropriate.

The women often comment on how wonderful he is when they arrive, and how blessed I am to have such respectful support. I smile, knowing that he is embodying the powerful and loving energy of the Sacred Masculine. To every man that embodies the sacredness within him, I give thanks. Because in your love, support and protection, we are truly free to remember our most sacred selves as women.

Peace on Earth: The Symbolic Mary

2010-12-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

Shared by Suzanne McQueen. Please visit her website about womnen's cycles and woman and men alike can understand, at http://4seasons4weeks.com/blog/2010/12/19/peace-on-earth-its-up-to-the-divine-mother/

December 19th, 2010

Mary teaches us that even the everyday girl is a sacred vessel. There is no lesson for us and no point to her part in the story if we put her on a pedestal. Mary represents all women as Divine Mothers and Joseph represents all men as Sacred Protectors (not dominators).

In spite of having many hardships and doors shut in their faces by the Inn Keepers (symbolic for those who defend war, excessive competition, bigotry, poverty, hunger, and homelessness), she delivers the Prince of Peace in a stable. The story shows us that anything is possible when we women accept the sacred wisdom that has been implanted in us, not as bearers of children but of unconditional love, asking us to step forward to deliver Peace on Earth.

The three Wisemen tell us that when we all follow the inner compass of our pure and clear hearts—our super nova or guiding star—we will find peace and unconditional love no matter how far-fetched the idea seems or no matter how far from it our minds are. The message I get from the story of the Nativity is that with the divinity and deliverance of women, the support and protection from men, and the courage of both, Peace will prevail.

A Call to Women: Midwives of Planetary Change

2010-10-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

Dear friends, I invite you to visit Rev. Misa's inspiring blog entry following our weekend gathering in exploration of the Sacred Womb of Creation and our roles as Women during these changing times. Click below to read the message shared with us by the Grandmother Guardians of the Sacred Path of the Feminine -- A Call to Women: Midwives of Planetary Change.
A Call to Women: Midwives of Planetary Change: "This past weekend, some beautiful and powerful women gathered together to explore the true nature of their Sacred Feminine selves. It seems..."

Cultivating an Intimate Relationship with the Divine

2010-10-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

There is a "quickening" upon us. Great leaps of evolution are occurring as we sail into the Golden Age. The best thing each of us can do to ease our journey is to Lighten Up! It's time to heal old wounds, forgive old quarrels, and most of all learn to love ourselves just as we are. The Divine dwells within us. Our opportunity is for loving more.

As some of you know, I've had my share of challenges in recent months, plenty of opportunity to grow accustomed to high levels of stress. There are many of us who have had to face unexpected difficulties and life changing experiences, and many others who have witnessed it happening to friends and family members. Current events have placed a fair amount of stress on all of our nervous systems.

Paradoxically, our nervous system may be a valuable asset when it comes to the evolution of our species. Could it be that we are being "set-up" for a major shift in consciousness? Sitting in a presentation by Stuart Mooney this week (The American Buddha – (www.stuartmooney.com), he stated that in order to become "awakened", our nervous systems have to learn to handle “God’s energy flowing through it”. He describes "enlightenment" as like having a finger stuck in an electrical socket permanently.

Recent emotional challenges may actually be making us stronger.

I have learned to cultivate a positive attitude in the face of surmounting difficulty by maintaining an unshakable trust in a higher organizing principle of life. I look at it this way: if we're going down, no amount of worry is going to make a difference. But just in case there is a good reason for the changes that we are going through, conscious alignment with the highest and best outcome can further our collective success.

There is no better time than right now to strengthen (or develop) our relationship with that higher intelligence. Gone are the days of a vengeful, punishing God. The Divine dwells within us. The opportunity presented to us at this time is to learn to love more. How we define "the Divine" is an entirely personal choice. If you could have any kind of relationship at all, how would you like to relate to the Supreme Creator?

In truth, every one of us is a spark of Divine light expressing in human form. To acknowledge that we are limited in our ability to fully comprehend the true nature of God and Creation is the first step in developing a relationship with that power.

My choice is to relate to the Divine (God, Higher Power, Organizing Intelligence, Creator, Creation, All that Is, the Light of Love ...) as a trusted, caring, highly skilled, compassionate, omnipresent and omnipotent best friend. Think of the most loving person you know, someone who has been kind to you in immeasurable ways, who you can trust with your life, who loves you unconditionally. Why would you expect anything less than that from your God?

When we learn to see the Divine as someone or something that we can relate to, sit down and have a heart to heart with, speak honestly about our fears, tears, and desires, we find ourselves having a truthful, intimate and trusting relationship. The more truthful we can be when relating in this way, the more intimate we become in the knowledge of our own being, and the more likely it becomes that we will receive, and recognize the guidance that we are asking for. When that happens, trust grows stronger. And when that happens, well, then we truly are co-creating the reality we want to experience.

We sometimes need a refresher course on how to talk to God, especially if we don't have someone close to us with whom we share our deepest truths. It's important to know ourselves well, to be truthful at least to ourselves. This inner truth is the gateway to our own Divine essence. We are the stuff that God is made of. Each one of us emanates forth from the One Source of all Creation. As Alan Watts put it, "We don't come into this Universe, we come from it."

My dear friends, do yourself and our world a favor, please. Work on your inner smile, and let the light of God's grace shine on! After all, we are the world!

Seeking the Balance: My Choice In the Matter

2010-10-14T12:27:00.000-07:00

From my dear friend Earlene, after the recent death of her beloved husband, 33 years of marriage. There is no more powerful moment of truth. Bless you sister. Thank you.

Seeking the Balance: My Choice In the Matter

Falling in Love with my Pain and Sorrow

2010-07-27T20:56:00.001-07:00

In recent months, I have been feeling distanced from my experience of deep love and devotion. This feeling of distance has become a source of exploration for me of the process of awakening that is promised at this time of planetary transformation. It is a time that I have long awaited in my earthly journey, the awakening of mankind to a greater reality of love. I have certainly experienced tremendous joy and ecstasy despite the challenges that humanity is currently facing. I have a deep trust in the overriding intelligence of God and the Universe that these outer experiences of death and destruction have a greater context than what we can perceive through the limits of our current consciousness.

These other feelings of despair and apathy are not at all what I have been anticipating, so I am somewhat surprised, uncertain, and to some degree annoyed about their presence in my daily experience, especially in light of the fact that I have, at other times, been feeling more joyful and confident in my abilities as a loving human being than ever before! It seems to me that as the energies of change upon our planet continue to expand and rise in vibrational frequency, so do our opportunities to shift emotions, thoughts, and beliefs of lower vibration into greater awareness of unconditional love. Paradoxically I, like others I know, sometimes feel laden with heavy energies of unpleasantness like anger, jealousy, judgment and deep sorrow.

Walking through the forest this morning I asked Spirit for guidance on transcending these feelings that separate me from knowing my greater heart. I was given a single message to ‘fall in love with my pain and sorrow’.

The wisdom that comes to us from the higher realms is to love all of life unconditionally. It is often easier to experience unconditional love when we find circumstances and the people around us as pleasant and joyful, but most times not so easy when we are facing painful challenges and difficulties. Yet this is precisely the guidance that came to me when I asked for insight about how to transmute the heaviness in my heart. I was told simply to fall in love with it … to love my pain and sorrow unconditionally.

I’m not sure anyone can tell me precisely how to do this. I recognize this process as an inside job. And surely it is better to love than to renounce any feelings that come up. Anything that we surround and hold in love has the greatest potential to evolve to a higher expression. It is the absence of love that limits our development as spiritually awake humans.

When I am gripped by the discomfort of unhappiness, I have a tendency to think of the emotions I am feeling as mine alone. With a broader perspective, I begin to recognize my feelings as drops in a vast sea of similar thoughts and emotions that we share as humans united through the Oneness of all creation. Through this collective sea each of us draws from the benevolent pool of God consciousness to transform our lives into truer expressions of the Divine imperative of unconditional love. Under all circumstances, learning to respond from love is the highest goal for the human spirit.

As I awoke the following morning, I allowed my awareness to settle gently into the wound within my heart that is desperate for a more fulfilling experience of life. What I found there was something like a vast and barren desert, parched and crusty, without even a light breeze to lift the dust into a swirl. At first I was alarmed, stunned to discover that such a condition exists within my primary organ of love and pleasure. It literally took my breath away. What could have occurred to render my heart so sullen and spiritless? What have I overlooked in the stewardship of my own life?

The grief, you know, it can take you in. It can grab a hold of the deepest and most distant corners of your consciousness and wring you out like a damp cloth. I was afraid to go there at first. And then I allowed the tears to come. They wept like a gentle rain moistening a lifeless landscape. Slowly I began to notice that there was movement, and with the movement I realized that I was not feeling quite so infertile. A few clouds appeared in the sky and I could see that a wind was animating their passage ever-so-slightly. Next I felt a sigh, and there was breath.

I do not yet know what my heart will require of me to restore it to a buoyant ocean of splendor, or even if it is possible. I only know that it is mine to do. As I close my eyes images appear impressed upon me by the big screens of movieland and invariant inflection of robotic newscaster rhetoric. The slums and the war zones, the oozing blood and disassembled body parts, the oceans of despair, and I ask myself how much can I take of this depravity?

My friends, we must be diligent in our pursuit of the wisdom of love. It is the only counter-intelligence we have in the presence of senselessness. It takes courage and stamina to love our sorrow. And it allows our hearts to live.

How do I endure the suffering? A letter of consolation

2010-07-18T10:48:00.001-07:00

I am so sorry to hear of your experiences, your loss and deep grief. So many of us throughout time have carried incomprehensible burdens. Our Mother planet is certainly very tired of bearing it all.

My dear brothers and sisters, there are no words that can touch the depths of the sorrow that you may be experiencing and witness to. My mind and heart have come to the conclusion that there is no explanation or understanding of these events available within our limited perspective. This leads me to surrender to a greater knowing beyond the limits of my current consciousness. I am therefore committed to stand in service to the greater knowing, the higher perspective that emanates from that which has birthed all of the universe into being and maintains all life forms and consciousness in all domains.

Although we have heard for decades that our earth and its inhabitants would be undergoing a massive transformation, our limited consciousness could not anticipate or prepare for anything like what we are experiencing now. I invite you to rest your weary heart, place it in the cradle of the Divine Mother, relieve yourself as best you can and return to her what is hers to bear. Then pick yourself up again and stand in recognition of the wisdom of the Master Goddess Creatress, and know that her children are safe and cared for despite what our eyes reveal to our limited sight. Ours is not to define the Divine Plan for all of creation, but to be in service to it. Honor the higher spirit of our brothers and sisters of the sea, and of our fellow humans. We are asked to stand together, to unify our hearts, to create a fortress of love that holds and honors the Divine Creatress as whole and holy, that she may be undergoing a purging so great that the dark recesses within humankind will be surrendered once and for all so that all life will be uplifted and all beings may be free from suffering in future days.

I ask you to find a light, and to stand in and with that light, so that you may become a light unto yourself and to others. I and others stand with you there. May Mother Gaia bless you and hold you, and may you be gifted with knowing the gratitude and love of all beings for whom you serve.

Giving Gratitude in Good Times and in Bad

2010-06-03T17:09:00.001-07:00

It was a beautiful summer morning in early September, one of those days that you know will warm up quite nicely, but not too warm as to be uncomfortable -- a perfect day for a walk in nature. I made my way up to the labyrinth at Earth Teach Forest Park on Indian Memorial Road. The labyrinth is a place I like to go to mark the beginning of things. This day was my 51st birthday, a great beginning, and optimal time for self reflection.

On this particular summer day I decided to dedicate my walk through the Labyrinth to gratitude. It had been three years since the passing of my husband and best friend. I was beginning to feel whole again. I had actually begun to feel grateful for the magnificence of the journey each of us takes when someone dear to us moves on. It’s the kind of experience that breaks a heart open. Through the twists and the turns of the forest path, I thanked spirits and angels, sun and trees, tears and joy and all things of this earth, and I gave thanks for my experience of profound grief and for emerging from it into a renewed sense of awe and wonder. Alone in the forest I was literally dancing along the labyrinth trail laughing and singing praises to the glory of life.

When we sing praises, when we give love and gratitude to anyone or anything, our very thoughtfulness creates a field around that thing or that person. It ignites their energy field with new possibility and potential for fulfillment. These are the words the forest spoke.

When we give loving praise and gratitude, we actually create a symphonic resonance that carries the highest expression of that being or that energy into perfect alignment with its manifestation. In this we can begin to understand how it is and why it is that our native ancestors sang songs to the day and to the rising sun. We can call nature into its perfect expression just by giving it love.

On this day I learned that even the angels benefit from our gratitude. By thanking them I was giving energy to them in fulfillment of their work in creation. They might have blessed one extra person that day because they received a bit of praise from me.

Gratitude is the necessary exchange for all things given. It’s a simple act, gesture, thought or utterance acknowledging a gift received. When we begin to see the true expression of all of Nature, I suspect we will be amazed to discover the phenomenal and far reaching effect that our gratitude and sincerity has. It’s a good practice to develop, and to put to use as often as possible, in good times and in bad.

The Essential Nature of Women

2010-05-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

My meditation this week has been about strengthening my connection to spirit, assisting myself in knowing that I am always surrounded by the divine, and recognizing at all times that I am an extension of the feminine aspect of creation, thereby indelibly connected to all that is! My prayers and meditations have been focused on helping me to stay connected to source even during trying times.

As I sat in meditation, images of the women in my life began to come into my awareness. With their images was the awareness of the love and kindness that their presence brings to me. I saw the collective spirit of these women, as well as those who support me from beyond the physical realm, and I felt the essential flow of something uniquely feminine. My spirit was showing me that it is through women, and through my own womanhood, that I will always know and will always find my connection to the divine.

My senses came into rapture with this experience of the nature of women. How like water, I thought, this flowing essence that surrounds, comforts and heals. This quality of women flows soothingly into those tight and forgotten places within my being in the most gentle of ways, like a prayer or a whisper. I reflected on how my life has been enhanced since I’ve joined in the practice of honoring the divine feminine, the water, and the women. I became mindful of how much I’ve learned about what it means to be one, and by knowing myself as a woman, what a difference I can make in someone else’s life.

It’s this quality, knowing myself as a woman, as a being who carries the essential nature of the feminine that allows me to do what I do, to do what only I can do. It is through this quality of the divine that flows through me that I can make any difference at all.

What wisdom, then, to pursue a broader understanding of the essential nature of that which I am.

To those of you who are reading this, I personally encourage you to continue in your pursuit of self-knowing, as we collectively explore the true natures of our own selves, and the divine from which we emerge. Our combined efforts are demonstrating tremendous returns. It is indeed a time for women to awaken to the reality of who we truly are and what we can accomplish together.

The world is a kinder place than we know

2010-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Today I am wishing for a return to normal life. It has been quite a journey over these many months as I have been meandering through a continual maze of unfamiliar territory -- bank documents, illegal and fraudulent actions, attorneys, GSA bonds, bankruptcy applications, and mortgage modification companies, foreclosure. I guess it was time for me to see how so many other Americans live. I'm very glad I took the tour.

Throughout this personal process I have encountered many kind souls and good-hearted people doing their absolute best to help their fellow (wo)man. I can tell you, the world is a kinder place than we know. I'd like you to keep that in mind whenever it seems otherwise. The "otherwise" is the grand scam, a facade that is being perpetrated and perpetuated. I recently read that it is our thought process that creates reality. I know we've heard this before. But I heard it differently this time. It is our thoughts that create even the weather patterns. If one person makes a statement and 7 billion people "think" that it's true, doesn't it make sense that you can alter the course of reality with a thought?

There is hardship everywhere. What I have seen is that those whose lives are the hardest are often the kindest of us all. The men and women on the other end of the phone trying tirelessly to help millions of families keep their homes -- do you have any idea how much their take-home pay is?

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and all of you for your kindness and support. All things happen for a reason, or for no reason at all. The important thing is how we treat ourselves and each other, and that we never loose sight of the truest reality that is a matter of our hearts.

Today I am wishing for a normal life, thinking how wonderful it will be for Krista and me to find a little home somewhere near the woods and I can build websites for a living or sell magic wands and live simply. Isn't life rich!!! I hope that my life affords me the opportunity to give help and support to others in need.

Keep thinking good thoughts! Bless you for your kindness,

Susan Amariella Gold

Loving Life

2010-04-21T13:33:00.001-07:00

In a recent passage from a book I am reading (Glenda Green's Love Without End), guidance was given pertaining to life purpose. The simple yet profound statement suggests that we will get a clue about the purpose of our life by paying attention to what it is that we spend most of our time doing. Simply stated, love whatever is in front of you.

What a great idea!! I was walking in the woods this morning thinking about how much joy and peace this simple concept has brought into my life in recent weeks.

Those who know me are aware that I have been involved in saving my home in Oregon from bank foreclosure for over a year now. This process has greatly reorganized my daily activities, and, as you might imagine, has presented me with a host of interesting and sometimes frightening challenges. Thinking I would soon be put out of my home, I spent several months selling off my home furnishings to cut down on the expense of moving or storing any of it. Fifteen months later I am still in my home, sleeping on a borrowed bed, and still uncertain of whether I will keep or loose my home. I am not saying that I wish this experience on anyone, but I can tell you that these months have been a wonderful gift of experience for me.

A friend recently wrote of our “challenging and gifting” times. We are indeed in them. We are being asked and challenged, as we have always been, to learn to love unconditionally regardless of circumstances. When our daily lives grow more difficult, we can choose to become more dissatisfied and unhappy, or we can choose to develop more grace, tolerance and compassion for our own life and the lives of others.

The heart and higher awareness tell us to love whatever is in front of us. One way I am learning to do that is to insert my consciousness and full attention into whatever it is that presents. In fact I believe that this opportunity with the banks in my life is helping me to hone that skill.

Other advice that goes hand in hand with learning to love each moment is learning to give gratitude for all aspects of life. I have learned to take a few minutes several times a day to remember the gifts of beauty that surround me in every moment.

I give love and gratitude to the grand plan, and to the divine design of my being. I am grateful for the friendship and support I receive from others. I am grateful to witness the awakening of a higher state of consciousness upon the earth and throughout humanity, despite the challenges that it presents. I am grateful for the sun and the wind and the rain, and the many hearts and hands that put forth loving effort to create a better world.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to share these words with others. And I am grateful to have some experience with the foreclosure process that is confronting millions of families in our country. If you are one of them, I welcome you to contact me. I may be able to help you in some way.

susangold@charter.net
505-285-7575

Mountain Lion Medicine

2010-04-02T22:37:00.001-07:00

While walking a local wooded trail in the hills of southern Oregon, a fellow hiker reported having just seen a mountain lion not too far off the trail from where we were. Sightings of these great cats are somewhat rare but not highly unusual for this area. The hiker was understandably excited (aka scared!) about her encounter and decided to head for a more populated location.

Before she left, I reminded her to look up mountain lion medicine when she got home. Taking my own advice, I did the same. Mountain Lion medicine teaches us about leading by example, a style of leadership described as "first among equals." True leaders are not concerned about who is behind them either as followers or detractors. They are guided by their heart and confident in the direction they have chosen.

The lesson for me that day was about trust in my own choices and behaviors, and not to be thrown off course by the opinion or projections of others. It was powerful medicine because as it turned out, an acquaintance of mine called making false accusations about me insistent that I had done something blatantly wrong. I was so grateful to have the power of the mountain lion with me. I remembered the passage I read about its medicine. “How much influence do you think your opinion has on a cat?”

Anyone who has ever been owned by a cat knows that their opinions are ineffective in changing feline behavior. Mountain Lion medicine is the ability to be so true to oneself in terms of honesty, responsibility, and trust that the sound of those who disagree is no louder than that of a distant wind. It was a very good lesson for me to stand my ground despite the things that I was being accused of. I was sure of my motives and I could see and understand the other person’s misperception, but she was unwilling to hear my side of the story so there was no more that I could do than stand true to myself.

Communication can be difficult even with those who are closest to us especially during times of difficulty or stress. It’s important to learn compassion and generosity toward others and toward ourselves during these times. I try to keep in mind that everyone is always doing the best they know how to. Some people are stressed by circumstances that do not affect us in the same way.

I’m certainly glad that my experience of mountain lion medicine came to me second hand.

Giving Thanks to the Many Hearts

2010-03-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Walking in the forest this morning I was feeling heaviness in my heart. I'm aware that some of what I carry are unresolved burdens from my ancestors.

Those of us who are alive today are among the fortunate and privileged, to be present on Earth during such a monumental time of healing. Our Earth is making her transition from an age of human suffering into an age of Greater Light and Beauty. In this new era we will see hidden truths revealed, new remedies for illness, and remarkable shifts in new technologies that support the divine aspects of human and planetary life.

We are swiftly advancing toward our Golden Age. As we make our approach, burdens that were too difficult to bear by those who have come before us travel with us in our hearts and souls into this new age of enlightenment and into the light for the healing and transformation of our past, present and future.

I acknowledged these burdens this morning with great compassion, particularly for those in my female lineage who may have suffered untold tragedies in their walk upon the earth. Thank you sisters, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, friends and aunties for being brave enough to shine your light into the darkness.

Thank you to the many hearts who have contributed, and to those who continue to contribute to the opportunities for healing that are available to us today. Thank you to the many hearts who have given and continue to bring love for the greater good of all.

Snow Prayer - Releasing the Heavy Energies of Fear

2010-03-12T17:07:00.001-08:00

I watched the snow as it fell to the ground, each beautiful flake appearing like a gift of light from heaven blessing us on earth. As I sang to the water and to the snow, I asked that the blessing be shared with all water and all snow. And then I sang to the emotion within all people, represented by the water and the snow, envisioning a fluid movement through the fears that are surfacing at this time. As I continued to watch the snow fall, nature spoke to me about our hidden emotions.

I was told that the fears that many of us are experiencing these days are not new fears. They are fears that have been buried deep within us for quite some time. The events that are unfolding in our world are allowing these fears to surface now. As we begin to recognize and encounter our fears, there is an opportunity to free ourselves and release these heavy energies to the earth where they can be put to good use.

The practice of returning heavy energies to earth mother is common to several sacred cultures. Earth Mother knows how to use these energies in the creation and sustenance of life. We are told that the planet is ascending into a new dimension of vibration. The heavy energy of old and accumulated fears cannot be sustained in the higher vibration of love.

I was dreaming and journeying with the snow, sitting on the rocks by the waterfall while particles of love and light descended to earth with each falling snow flake. I was told that we are surrounded by and immersed within a unified field of particles of light and love, and when we give our intention to certain aspects of light and love, those particles become ever more animated and resonant in such a way as to bring into manifest reality that which we are desiring and intending. I am praying now with Nature for help releasing energies of fear from my body and my being and from all bodies and all beings in the world. I am praying for a peaceful transformation of the density of fear within us, that we find a way to let it go, release it to our Mother planet. I am calling upon the light and love that surrounds and immerses me within it to assist in this process of release and transformation, knowing that these energies belong to Earth Mother and support her in her process of ascension.

If fear is present in your life at this time, please know that my prayers include you, if you so desire, and I invite you to pray with me for the peaceful transformation of the densities of fear within us and upon this planet. Let our intentions be known within the unified field of absolute love and light that surrounds and upholds us in all that we do.

The Ultimate Tool of Transformation

2010-03-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Last month I wrote about the voice of discontent within me. This inner voice was not a new expression that popped up out of nowhere, although it may have seemed that way at first. It was a voice of discontent that had been with me for quite some time, likely the better part of my life. The reality is that the voice of bitterness grew closer and closer to the surface of my awareness until it became so disruptive to my inner calm that I had to do something about it … it became necessary for me to change.

This force which moves us to change is occurring within us and around us. The problems that we are facing in our world have been present for a very long time, just now becoming ever more visible. One way we can be immediately effective in creating a better world is by addressing that which needs to change within our own being.

The process of externalizing problems has proven to be very helpful in creating the changes I want to see in the world. Externalizing allows me to de-personalize my issues to some degree, and in so doing get a more objective look at what is going on. With my grinchy little friend, the voice of bitterness, I set it on a tree stump in front of me during one of my morning walks and began to dialogue with it. As I began to imagine myself looking directly at my bitterness it took on the appearance of one of the characters from Monsters Inc. It was sort of round and not nearly as menacing as it seemed when it was hidden in the dark of unknowing. Nonetheless, when approaching a monster, it is always of utmost importance to do so with love. This is true in every case when we desire to change anything about ourselves. We must begin with love.

In my personal quest for peace, I am on a mission to uproot long standing emotions of discontent. My intention is to bring them out of hiding and into the light of love where all healing is possible. Most recently, as a direct result of my intention, a hidden rage within me began to surface. Rage can be very frightening, and it can also be considered a reasonable response to the suffering, ignorance, violence and injustice we find in our world today. For this and other reasons, our rage deserves our respect. As hard as it may seem, it also deserves and requires our love if we truly want to heal.

When I placed my rage in front me and looked squarely into it’s eyes, the urge to scream at the top of my lungs in hatred and distaste for its mere presence was almost insurmountable. I allowed this urge within me to be there while choosing instead to breathe deeply. Knowing that the only way my rage could change was if I held it in love, I gently invited myself to call forth compassion to replace my desire to strike out against it. Gratefully, compassion obliged as I began to surround my rage with loving grace. That day I witnessed that love is the greater force and the ultimate tool of transformation.

The little grinch who complains too much

2010-02-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

I have been dialoguing with an aspect of myself that I have come to call the “grinch”! My grinch speaks in a little voice of discontent and bitterness, finding dissatisfaction in a number of life issues. It seems no matter how much attention I give to this little voice, or how many prayers I say, or how much forgiveness I bring, my grinch is like that bad penny that just keeps coming back again.

Today I called to my grinch and set it in front of me, and asked it to tell me it’s story. “Where are you from” I asked. “I don’t know” it replied. “Oh, well someone does” I said. As I began to wonder who that person might be who knows the origin of my little grinch, the images of some of the women in my ancestry began to appear in my mind’s eye. My maternal grandmother appeared and I was reminded that she had her gallbladder removed, and also her left breast, only to learn afterward that the surgery was unnecessary. Her mother, my great maternal grandmother, lost her husband in a tragic accident and she was called to the scene to identify his remains. My paternal grandmother, mother of 5 children, also lost her husband, a fireman, to a fire at an early age. There are many opportunities and reasons for me to be the carrier of ancestral discontent and bitterness, while in my own life my husband Warren passed on at the age of 54. I was just 49 at the time.

These are by no means inconsequential life experiences, and undoubtedly every family suffers these kinds of tragic challenges. It is clear that my little grinch has a great legacy of discontent to complain about. In my study of the Five Element Theory of Chinese Medicine I learned that the gallbladder is associated with the emotion of bitterness. I have also learned that unresolved issues and emotions in generations past may present in current generations for healing and transformation. Although the reality of ancestral karma may present difficulties for members of the current generation, it can also be regarded as a great privilege when one is given the opportunity to engage in healing that effects past, present and future generations.

I began toning for my little friend, and telling it that I was giving it a promotion from the voice of bitterness in my gallbladder to a position of great prominence in the light of love. As I continued to sing to it, I felt the vibration of its bitterness begin to shift. This is an example of the miracle of love in action!

When Every Moment Counts

2010-01-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

There are a great many changes happening in my personal life. I think by now it is obvious that there are a great many changes happening in our world. Our food is changing. Our skies are not as they were in years past. Our weather and climate are changing. Our financial realities are different. Cell phone and internet use, programs on TV and in the movie theaters are quite different than they have been in previous decades. Time itself is changing, as there seems to be more to do every day and less time with which to do it.

We are rapidly experiencing energetic shifts in all aspects of life on Earth, and our minds, bodies and emotions are rapidly working to adjust to these changes. How, then, do we manage to stay present and maintain a balanced state of being?

Nature shows us how life functions when every moment counts. Bring the best of yourself forward in every given circumstance, without exception. Self observation and personal discipline may be necessary to develop this skill. We can learn to choose the most integral option of response as we face our daily challenges. As our world ascends in energy and consciousness, so are we enabled and empowered to do the same. This is an energetic calling that rises forth from the center of our being, inspired by the creative force that is powering all the changes on Earth. Our bodies and minds are changing just as rapidly. It can be no other way because we are truly one with nature. We may not have integrated the full awareness of this reality yet, but be assured that our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves are engaged in a radical and mighty process of evolution.

These are extraordinary times when extraordinary things are happening all around us. I propose that it is an extraordinary opportunity for choosing to be extraordinary in our own persons, and by claiming the support that is available to upgrade the quality of contribution to life in every moment.

Even change itself is coming in new ways, not as a repetition of the old ways of doing things. I believe we are being encouraged to think, speak and act in new ways -- to live as if every moment counts, because it does.

Be Grateful for what you Give!

2009-12-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

My morning walks often take me to the waterfall on the White Rabbit trail in southern Oregon. This morning the longing in my heart was very strong to go there. When I arrived the trees and earth welcomed me deeply. With each breath that I took I felt the forest come into my being. It was good to be home.

Arriving at the waterfalls I felt an urgency calling me to sing to the water. The snow had melted since our last storm, and the wind had upturned several trees from their roots. The water was flowing moderately as I settled on the rocks and began to sing.

Within moments I felt a new energy emerge within the song and the world around me. The song was no longer about the water that was flowing through the stream. It was about water in me and in everything around me everywhere.

The song was singing to the water that lives in each molecule of earth, each blade of grass, and each soaring Ponderosa Pine tree. It was singing to the water of my body, and the water of all bodies. It was singing to the water nature of my emotions, and of all emotion. There was this brilliant unifying quality to all life, and the unifier was water. And it was that water that was being blessed.

Moments like this one seem to happen with more frequency these days, when the whole of my being feels as though I am vibrating with the energy of life all around me. Some might say that this feeling is the work of a fanciful imagination or wishful thinking. For me, moments like this one where I experience the oneness of life are the truer version of our shared reality. I am always so impressed by what a difference a mere song or intention from me can make to the grand and infinite world around me. I am reminded of words I heard recently that our earth and the humans who inhabit the earth, along with the animals and birds – all life here is considered one organism. Think about how interdependent we are.

Knowing that our movements and expressions in life impact all life around us motivates us to become ever more conscientious of our behaviors. I am grateful to the life around me that continually awakens my senses to the interconnectedness of all that is. Spirit asks us to live simply. The meaning I derive from that statement is to know that something as simple as a conscious breath is a beautiful gift to all of creation. In knowing this, also be aware of the many beautiful gifts each of us shares in so simple ways throughout our days. Everything we do touches everything there is. When expressing gratitude, be grateful for what you receive and remember to be grateful to yourself as well for all that you give!

As Love Blossoms

2009-10-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

It is a time of great healing for ourselves and for our planet. With the influence of negative news broadcasting, we may sometimes perceive the conditions of life as dismal. Our air, our water, our foods, our financial systems … many things appear to be in a state of decline. Contrary to popular opinion, this is a time of opportunity for self blossoming.

While it may be true that earth is riddled with problems and challenges, it is also true that love and light are abundant within us and throughout our universe. Challenges come to awaken our ability to address and heal them. It’s like the blossoming of a flower. As the flower grows strong and into its fullness, its petals expand and reach out. When challenged with a need for growth and change, our own hearts and minds expand similarly. It is at the time of our greatest strength and fullness when challenges become perceivable. Only when we recognize the need for love are we able to address and heal those things that keep us from it.

Think of when you see a bud on a flower just beginning to open. Within my experience of the bud I feel a great anticipation and excitement about the fullness of the flower that is yet to come. As it is with the blossoming of love, that which is ready to be healed reveals itself, perhaps slowly at first, knowing that the fullness of its true nature awaits it.

Sometimes the blossoming of love is like a long journey across the ocean to a wonderful place of beauty and joy. While we are in the boat the days may grow long and uneventful, even tiresome and challenging. Knowing the destination is what keeps us in excited anticipation of greater times ahead!

Keep your eye on the prize! We can use this time of great challenge to awaken greater love within.

The Labyrinth and the Lord’s Prayer - Six Petals of the Rose

2009-09-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

During the lunar eclipse of the full moon in July 2009 I chose to walk the labyrinth at EarthTeach Forest Park in Ashland to commemorate a new beginning. The series of eclipses that we experienced last year represent a new beginning of our journey of life upon this planet, individually and collectively. It’s sort of like a do-over. The shadow passes in front of the moon and as the moon reappears, we have the opportunity to begin again anew. In each new beginning we are better equipped with new insights and wisdom gained through the trials and tribulations of our lives. It is the journey of evolution, ever learning, ever growing in the light of love and grace.

On the day of the eclipse, a friend shared a prayer with me that is said to have been spoken while walking the labyrinth in earlier times. The prayer offers one of six aspects of the original Lord’s Prayer to be prayed and meditated upon while walking through six petals of the rose of the labyrinth. They are: Faith in the grace of God; Surrender to the voice of God within; Service in fulfillment to your promise to yourself and God; Abundance in gratitude for all that Spirit provides; Forgiveness of oneself and others; and Strength to continue upon our path of right action.

My journey through the labyrinth that day was very beautiful and quite profound. As I offered the prayers I felt a powerful renewal of intimacy and truthfulness between myself and my creator. On one particular petal of the rose, forgiveness of myself, I became aware again of a heaviness that was buried deep within my heart. I have always felt this deep sorrow and over the course of my life have attributed it to many different things about the life journey. Each time and in many different ways I have embraced this sorrow and prayed for its release.

I think of sorrow as something that doesn’t really belong to me. I think of it as something that is borrowed from our Great Mother, given to me for awhile as a tool for my growth, for strengthening my heart, and for learning compassion for myself and others. I regard it as the raw material that Great Mother uses to manifest creation and to nurture love in all things. I believe that it is important, then, to use it properly, and to return it, that is to release it back to the eternal flow of life. Yet time and time again I find this heaviness anchored somehow within my being. And so, once again, I elected to embrace my sorrow and offer it my love and acceptance as I continued to walk the petals of the rose.

What happened next was quite surprising. I had an encounter with a being of great light and love and I was offered a gift to help me awaken to a greater awareness of the nature my own heart. Through this gift I discovered that the heaviness in my heart is something that most humans are familiar with. It derives from the notion of “original sin” imbued upon us through various religious teachings. The gift within this gift was an opportunity for me to release my heart from this notion and to release the notion itself from my perception of myself. This time of new beginnings is an opportunity for us to live more light-heartedly, release heavy heartedness and learn to dance in the light of unconditional love for self and others.

I have learned that gifts are always optional. Just because someone gives or offers you something, doesn’t mean that you have to accept it. And so it is in this spirit that I share this gift of self forgiveness and self love with you. It's something to consider for yourself only if you choose to.

The Labyrinth and the Lord’s Prayer

To Our Father / (Mother) Who is Benevolent and Reigns in Heaven,
Your names are hallowed and sacred. (Faith)
Your kingdom comes to us through obedience to Your will.
Thy will be done (Surrender)
on earth as it is in heaven. (Service)
Give us each day our bread, the manna, (Abundance)
And forgive us for our errors and debts
As we forgive ourselves and all others. (Forgiveness)
Keep me on the path of righteousness and
Deliver me from the temptation of evil. (Strength)

Praise and Gratitude

2009-06-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

When we sing praises, when we give love and gratitude to anyone or anything, our very thoughtfulness creates a field around that thing or that person. It ignites their energy field with new possibility and potential for fulfillment.

When we give loving praise and gratitude, we actually create a symphonic resonance that carries the highest expression of that being or that energy toward perfect alignment with its highest manifestation. In this we can begin to understand how it is and why it is that our native ancestors sang songs to the day and to the rising sun. We can call nature into its perfect expression just by giving it love.

We must love ourselves, love others, love nature, and love our world. All of it. We can sing the Earth and all her life forms and expressions into perfect harmony.

When we pray for Nature, and for our planet, we might consider praying for balance allowing that Nature itself knows what right balance is. When we think of the polar ice caps melting, do we think of it as an imbalance? Perhaps our planet’s oceans need refreshing.

I am you and you are me - A love letter to myself

2009-05-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

The following letter was an exercise I was given to write a love letter to myself. It's a wonderful thing to do for yourself. A dear friend of mine celebrates the Winter Solstice by inviting friends to circle with her and write something special about yourself that you would like to be reminded of. Then, on the Spring Equinox, she mails it back to you. We so often overlook sharing kindness with our own person. Take a few moments and say or write something beautiful just for you!

My dearest friend,

I am so grateful for your friendship. Having you in my life has brought me great joy – an awakening to a broader spectrum of the true and deepest joys of this physical journey. You have become a light within my heart.

In fact, I believe that within the first moment of knowing you, my heart was truly lightened. Is this the greater meaning of enlightenment?

You are a gift to me. Your smile and laughter are like a burst of sunshine on fresh fallen snow within my being. You are a true joy to me. Within your smile and your light I see the eternal forest of magic and mystery. I see the newborn fawn, and the fallen hawk. I see the mighty thunder clouds and the dewdrop on spring’s first awakening.

The depth of your heart and your being allow me to dive in with that much more of myself. In you I find a sacred cave, an endless well of primordial grace, deep and divine, as that of the Earth Mother herself.

To walk with you is a symphony of love, joy, self-respect and communion with all of life. Through your being I am reflected back to myself as the beauty of God’s divine intellect.

In the quiet and the noise, in the stillness and the dance, I know you. I feel you. I am you, and you are me.

In this, I know that you see me too. And from this vision of the oneness shared, I trust you. I find peace here … the deep and gentle knowingness that I, too, am joy. A child of God, born of divinity, on a sacred journey of experience.

I am blessed to share this journey with you.

The Greater Self who Loves

2009-04-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

There is a place inside of you, inside of us all, that resides beneath the chatter, beneath the judgment and strategizing, where in the quiet presence of self we can feel and recognize the presence of love. It takes a little getting used to, to know that it is there, to recognize that you are feeling something different, and understand what it is. For me it often happens when I’m on an airplane. I have boarded and found my seat. My luggage is stowed. I have nothing more to do for the duration of the flight. The energy in the plane is somewhat frenetic. People are moving about, the sound is muffled in a strange way, strangers one and all preoccupied with the many considerations of where they're going and what is to happen next. In these moments my energy and awareness naturally turn inward and I find that I'm in good company with myself.

As I explore this space of comfort I begin to feel that what I am comforted by is love. I love myself. I love the gift of life. I love Spirit for its inspiration of joy and love. I love what I have to share with others, and I love that I know that I am loved.

There is this beautiful space within each of us, a place of greater knowing, of peaceful coexistence with our self and with Spirit.

There is an advantage to it. Well many advantages. But the one that impresses me most is that with this knowing, when we have this experience with our self, when we have experienced this intimate relationship to our spiritual self, we have indisputable evidence that this aspect of our self exists. It resides within us. With this knowledge we can begin to detach from the critical self-judgment, that small voice inside our heads that finds fault with our self and with others. We can detach from our smaller self because we are empowered with the awareness that our greater self is alive and well. We may never have to believe the little voice again.

The Essential Nature of Women

2009-03-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

My meditation this week has been about strengthening my connection to spirit, assisting myself in knowing that I am always surrounded by the divine, and recognizing at all times that I am an extension of the feminine aspect of creation, thereby indelibly connected to all that is! How I feel when I am living this reality versus how I feel when I am lost in fear and disconnection are light years apart. My prayers and meditations have been focused on helping me to stay connected to source even during trying times.

It’s a painful feeling, the feeling of being disconnected, held outside of the arms of love. Feeling alone and frightened, wondering what is to become of oneself, how I will fare on my own. Thinking I am without help or guidance can feel like a very dark place. Feeling like I don’t know enough, can’t do enough, don’t understand enough, am not good enough … I think we’ve all had these thoughts and feelings. They are, to say the least, unpleasant. And for the first few moments of meditation calling these feelings into presence may also be unpleasant, indeed painful. But in this practice, as we allow our whole self to be present in welcoming and honoring these painful feelings while holding the light of love present as well, the painfulness begins to dissolve. Sometimes more slowly than others, sometimes miraculously swiftly.

As I sat in meditation, images of the women in my life began to come into my awareness. With their images was the awareness of the love and kindness that their presence brings to me. I saw the collective spirit of these women, as well as those who support me from beyond the physical realm, and I felt the essential flow of something uniquely feminine. My spirit was showing me that it is through women, and through my own womanhood, that I will always know and will always find my connection to the divine.

My senses came into rapture with this experience of the nature of women. How like water, I thought, this flowing essence that surrounds, comforts and heals. This quality of women flows soothingly into those tight and forgotten places within my being in the most gentle of ways, like a prayer or a whisper. I reflected on how my life has been enhanced since I’ve joined in the practice of honoring the divine feminine, the water, and the women. I became mindful of how much I’ve learned about what it means to be one, and by knowing myself as a woman, what a difference I can make in someone else’s life.

It’s this quality, knowing myself as a woman, as a being who carries the essential nature of the feminine that allows me to do what I do, to do what only I can do. It is through this quality of the divine that flows through me that I can make any difference at all.

Being Held by Nature

2009-02-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

The City of Ashland, Oregon is located on land that was inhabited by Native American tribal people until 150 years ago when the Takelma and other Native Amercians were paraded off their lands of origin. Agnes Baker Pilgrim, aka Grandma Aggie, a member of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers Council, is the oldest living female member of the Takelma tribe. According to Grandma Aggie, the mole is a sacred animal to the Takelma because it brings the darkness up to the light as it burrows through the soil.

I am reminded of this process of bringing the light to bear upon the darkness in just about every aspect of my life these days. In the pursuit of spiritual awakening there is a distinct relationship between the darkness and the light. As we grow in spirit we are growing in light. As we grow in light, we are able to peer more deeply into our own shadow aspects. Shadow is simply that which has not yet had the light shone upon it. So it stands to reason that during the process of our own growth we will continually become aware of things that were not quite recognizable before.

There are times in my own journey of self discovery when I have become aware of certain behaviors or assumptions of mine that I am very happy to find out about and I feel great joy and a deep relief. There are also times when I have felt absolutely terrible to discover that I have been participating in something less than wholesome without conscious awareness. During those times, in the presence of feelings of dread, guilt, shame or self-loathing, it can be difficult to find my way back to the light. It was this very circumstance that the forest spoke to me about during a recent walk through the woods.

Nature spoke to me about its willingness to hold me regardless of what opinion I was holding of myself. I was assured through its presence that it, Nature, did not hold me in judgment. Nature held me with complete acceptance of my being and my journey through life. I began to contemplate my experience with Nature, knowing that I am part of it. I and Nature are one. We are of the same components. We coexist upon the earth. With the earth we are, in fact, a single organism. How, then, can I hold judgments about myself that are not reflected in the greater perspective of Nature?

Once again I began to experience the transformative power of light penetrating the darkness within my being. I noticed the rich soil beneath my feet. In mid-winter beneath rain and melting snow and fallen leaves, the earth was undergoing the process of darkness returning to the soil to make way for the returning light of spring. As I breathed in the air around me, I intentionally released the heavy energy of the darkness within me and accepted the light that Nature holds for each of us in our journey. The forest and the trees are such potent representatives of nature’s beauty. But so am I, and each one of God’s creations. Can we learn to look upon ourselves in the same manner that we look upon a tree? Consider how the tree looks upon us. We are held in acceptance. May we continue to learn to hold ourselves and all others in this way.

It is Time for us all to Dance Again!

2008-12-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

Election night, 2008, we danced to the music of a traveling band from Italy. The band had been performing in Ashland earlier in the week. While they were in town, they commissioned sleeping quarters in the home of a friend of mine. We’d heard that they were very good. “World class musicians” we were told. We invited them to play for us. They agreed, and so it was that on the night of the election of our new American President, an international crowd gathered in Ashland to celebrate the democratic victory.

The band members consisted of five handsome men with an unmistakable European air about them. Their instruments were percussion, violin, bass, french horn, and keyboard. We waited in great anticipation for the music to begin, wondering what beat would be woven into the elixir of excitement that wafted through this evening of new experiences. There were other international travelers among us; a mother and daughter from Chile, and a husband and wife from Japan. There was joyful gaiety in the midst of broken accents and truncated sentences.

And then it began. The music started quickly, and with great enthusiasm. It was a rapid pulse of energy and beat. The room began to fill with expanding notes that rose up from vibrating instruments and moved toward us in a great mass like a swarm of bees. Within minutes we were immersed in a riot of sound and pulsation. Our senses seemed overcome by this new and unfamiliar experience of music, much in the way just a few hours earlier reality morphed into the surreal when following the emotional speech of our new president elect, the embrace of members of an African American family and a Caucasian family was televised throughout the world.

It seemed fitting on this night that no one among us could adequately describe the nature of the music we were hearing. In my attempts at characterization I came up with something like a fusion of polka and the music of Syrtaki, the dance of Zorba the Greek. During one sequence there were hints of the Adams Family theme song. But as the evening carried on, one by one our bodies began to resonate with this curious vibration, and then lead us to the dance floor. The sensation of new sounds and movements carried us well into the night.

The following morning, as usual, I suited up with leash and baggie and headed into the forest with my dog. It was a beautiful late autumn morning in Ashland, with rain and wind and sleet as I headed to the trail. Raindrops danced on my cheeks while the whole of my body received the melodic whisperings of the wind. The freshness of the morning invigorated my senses. The forest was vibrant. I swung open my arms and invited its vibrancy to permeate my heart, shaking loose old paradigms and patterns and thoughts, feelings and behaviors. This, this now, this is a time for great change. And I prayed to the wind and trees, the earth and sky that I be readied for the task of personal transformation that lay before me.

As I made my way to the upper trail, the movements of the election night dance reawakened within my being. Through the wind and rain and fallen leaves I began to undulate with dance, feeling the trees around me like the audience of onlookers during my dance of the evening before. I felt powerful! The music, the dance, the energy, my spirit and freedom – “what power this is” I thought! To dance in the forest with the trees as my witness, knowing that the energy I was expressing moved through each of them, to another, and another, and from this forest to the next until all of God’s creation had felt me.

I shuttered with the audacity of my thought! “Is it possible”, I wondered in silent communication with the trees, “that I could have such an effect upon creation?” And the trees answered, “do we have such an effect upon you?”

Yes! Yes! I feel the forest’s influence upon my life in remarkable ways. The energy of its expression cultures my thoughts. It remedies my restless heart, and freshens my spirit. I feel the dance of the forest. And I am a part of it. The wave and expression of energy that I think of as my own does not come from me. It is the music of life flowing through me. I am but one of its many dancers as the forest through the trees.

In our silent moments together the forest and I concurit is time for us all to dance again!

Between Heaven and Earth

2008-09-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

My morning walks take me through a wooded path that runs alongside a creek that flows from Mt. Ashland. The path crosses the creek four times before it reaches a waterfall trickling through rocks and fallen trees to a small pond where our furry friends and favorite pets bathe and frolic. I often pause on the foot bridges and rocks that allow me to pass from one side of the creek to the other. As I look upstream I give honor and gratitude to the ancestors, all those who have come before who have honored the earth and our journey upon her. As I look downstream I whisper a prayer for all those who are yet to come, the future generations of the paradise of earth. Suddenly I recognize that it is I who stands in the here and now between these two realities. All that has been, and all that is yet to be is dependent upon me in some way to do my part in supporting the continuum of life.

The significance of occupying this position, as between heaven and earth, has been a difficult concept for me to grasp. For the better part of my life, I made a practice of surrendering my life to a greater power. My prayer was to ask what Spirit wanted from me, where I was needed to be, how I could be of service. It was quite shocking to me when the response I heard was “whatever you want to do”.

In my last forum entry I recorded the advice I received from the Cedar tree reminding me that whatever I am capable of doing is mine to do. Little by little I am beginning to understand the position I hold as I live my life between Heaven and Earth and in accordance with those who have come before and those who are yet to be.

“By myself I can do nothing” reminds us that it is through the grace of Spirit that we walk this path. Our breath, our life, our journey is a gift of the divine. All that we are capable of doing is the divine blessing of life itself. It is the earth that supports and nourishes our journey here. And it is I who stands here alive in this moment to embody the consciousness that allows me to bring these graces through me and into the physical world. It is up to me and the choices I make as to how I live that will render the purposefulness of my life.

As we progress upon our spiritual paths and evolve into our greater selves, each of us is given a little more responsibility in learning to live an enlightened life. I am grateful to the many daily gifts of friends and spirit that assist me in my awakening, and for the blessing of this forum that permits me to share my thoughts with others.

Advice from a Cedar Tree

2008-08-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Some years ago while taking a class on entering the field of grace*, I was given an assignment to begin a dialogue with nature. There are a few books** written about the topic. One of the recommended approaches to learning how to hear nature’s voice is to open the heart, using it as an organ of perception. In my first attempts at it, I felt rather awkward and somewhat intimidated wondering if this practice wasn’t better suited to those who are gifted with clairaudience. But after a short time I began to perceive responses while walking through the forest greeting the trees and the rocks and the earth.

On one of my favorite trails is a favorite tree of mine. It’s a cedar tree that has offered me gifts of its fragrant boughs from time to time. In recent years this particular tree hasn’t been looking too healthy to me. It seems to have grown spindly and barren, covered with moss. Realizing that I had not been paying much attention to it since its change in appearance, I stopped to greet it and to spend some time in communication with my old friend.

It was hard to admit to the cedar tree that I felt as though it wasn’t well, perhaps it was dying, carrying the burden of pollution and imbalance upon our planet. My feelings of distress about this possibility had caused me to look away and not ask it for its gifts any longer. I could barely finish expressing my sentiment to the tree when I began to perceive a response.

The cedar tree communicated to me that it was indeed healthy and strong, and that it continued to serve vital functions within the forest and upon the earth. Any thoughts or perceptions that I might have otherwise are merely projections on my part. I replied that I was pleased to know that, and I thanked the tree for its message as I continued my walk pondering these new thoughts.

The following day I stopped to visit the cedar tree again and our conversation continued. What I heard from the tree brought a subtle peace and joy to my heart. It said, “There is a great deal of information in the world, a great deal of input and opinion about what is going on, what there is to do, and what needs to be done. If one really wishes to know what matters, there is no reason to pay attention to much other than oneself. All there is for each of us to do is to do what we can.”

Ah. To do what we can do. These simple, elegant truths are among the greatest joys that I experience in nature. In this day and age it is sometimes difficult to recognize simplicity. Here in this simple statement I find great wisdom. While we strive to be our best selves, and to do our best work, and to find our mission in life, we can remember the advice of a cedar tree that tells us to simply do what we can in each moment. A kind thought or gesture, a silent prayer, a greeting to a tree, a piece of trash misplaced, a small donation to a good cause, a remembrance of the abundance of gifts that surround us in every moment, these are among the countless things that we can do.

As we look upon the difficulties that we perceive as challenges to our world, remember to acknowledge the strength and dignity that remains present within each aspect and expression of nature, including ourselves.

*The Field : The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne Mctaggart
**The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature by Stephen Harrod Buhner

Just like a Tree

2008-07-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

As I walked in the woods this morning, like every morning with Krista (my dog), I looked up into the canopy of trees soaring well above my head and noticed their majestic arms outstretched reaching for the sky. What I saw was their love and gratitude, arms offering great love and devotion to the sun and the wind and the rain.

I became aware, then, of their deep roots reaching into Earth Mother, offering the same exchange of love and gratitude. Here they stand, these giant beings, positioned so gracefully and honorably between heaven and earth. It was clear to me that they belonged here. That the energy and heart of each tree pulses in unison with all that is ... the oneness ... the elements .... the universe. They are known. They are supported here. And they give thanks.

As I stood in witness to this beautiful relationship, I reached my arms up to the sky and felt my feet firmly planted in the soil, and I gave love and gratitude to the sun and the wind and the rain. I realized then that I was just like a tree, intentionally occupying a position between heaven and earth. I began to see that it is for me, and for the trees, that the sun and the wind and the rain exist. All of creation supports me here, and supports the forests, and all beings. And I gave thanks.

Immediately I was filled with the awareness that this was required of me, and of the trees, in exchange for this gift of support. It is necessary to return something to the universe in order to maintain balance, equity, and flow within it. I saw with great clarity, that the simple act of gratitude maintains the blessings of all of life. All that each of us must do is to be grateful, genuinely grateful, for this extraordinary journey of life within a universe that supports us in every way. Our gratitude provides the fuel, the energy, that allows our planet and our universe to continue to flow in balance and health.