Monthly Archives: January 2021

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 26 – 1/11/2021

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every day is one of dreaming, every day is one of awakening… in this sacred first moonth of the new turn around the sun, we are perfumed in the essence of dreamtime carried by the energy of great mother bear through the dark tunnel into the sacred space of the dream lodge, the cave of the heart, the place beyond words, the primordial womb of  great silence, of pure consciousness, true emptiness before the world begins… here we rest in the gap with silence breathing us in and out… as we hibernate in this deep cave of imagination, a new world is forming in this watery womb, this ocean of being…

breathing in and breathing out, we return to our great mother in still silence to receive essential nourishment through the cosmic umbilical cord as she breathes us into life through the placenta of the void, the organ of great mystery whispering words of wisdom, energetic seeds that are ours to germinate, sprout and blossom throughout this turning around brother sun…

may we all be gentle with ourselves and each other as we journey along the path of  blessed darkness deepening into a spaciousness of silence, a consciousness of generosity and of the wisdom of the heart giving us the strength to awaken the dreamweaver within and be the ones we have been waiting for… all our relations one unbroken circle of radiant love illuminating the dark sky, revealing the wonder of dancing stars, sparkling diamonds born of the fires of purification, eternal flames mirroring the central sun, our one cosmic heart…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 25 – 1/10/2021

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after this, personally and collectively, turbulent first full week in journeying january, i really wanted to share an image capturing the astonishing light of being and i wanted to share some words of hope and inspiration… it seems On Being had the same idea and asked friend and teacher John Paul Lederach to offer a reflection… he’s spent his life walking with people in many cultures through violent conflict towards transformative change…

“A Stone of Hope

The images of this week remain seared in our minds. While painful, they will not and should not be unseen, precisely because they help us look more carefully at what peers back at us from our national mirror.

We are not looking at a fringe few. We are gazing upon ourselves.

The images reminded me of the action and the words of Zechariah when pondering the question, “What are these wounds between your arms?” With hands moving toward heart the response emerged, “the wounds I received in the house of a friend.”

We are a deeply wounded nation. We know from trauma studies that our bodies carry the harm, and that the deepest pain is always the one experienced closest to home. Our wider body politic carries, not just the pain of what we witnessed this week, we carry centuries of harm — incited, delivered, and received from within our house.

I have noticed that across a wide and deeply divided political spectrum, most everyone seeks to speak for and protect the Constitution, almost as if our shared document is a victim. I would offer that the deeper casualty lies with the loss of our basic social contract. We note its disappearance when toxic social dynamics spill into the mainstream of our collective life: dehumanization replaces basic respect; blame supplants responsibility; and violence is justified over dialogue.

We also know from settings of armed conflict and from our own exemplars in this country who never stopped building the more perfect union, that it is possible to reverse these dynamics. 

Perhaps Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. captured this better than anyone. He consistently appealed to guiding pillars that sustained the commitment to the social contract while pursuing long sought change for equity and equality in the midst of deep division.

His first pillar referenced the deep soul’s despair that waiting for change was no longer an option. The ploys and pragmatism of politics kept placing true equality just out of reach, deferred to the next election or into potential new legislative goals. Promises no longer sufficed. “The sweltering summer,” as he called it, could no longer accept the “tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” This temporal pillar required such immediate action — and act they did and so must we — that he referred to it as the “fierce urgency of now.”

His second pillar constantly reminded people that the struggle for equality and dignity unfolds by way of a long and difficult pathway. So significant was this temporal challenge that in his words, now etched on a national monument, the movement must “hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” Hope requires patience and persistence precisely because “the arc of the moral universe is long,” even as “it bends toward justice.”

In the midst of the temporal tension playing out between the fierce now and the long arc, Dr. King’s vision never wavered in the third pillar: the commitment to nonviolence and appreciation for our ultimate interdependence. Over and again, his imagination captured the understanding that while the past carries forward profound violation of dignity and the present continues to humiliate and divide, our future is shared. Calling this out in his “I Have a Dream” speech, he noted that across racial divides “their freedom is inextricably bound with our freedom” followed by the shortest single sentence in the speech: We cannot walk alone.

These pillars offer the way forward into renewing our social contract and reversing toxic dynamics.

Act on and walk into what you know to be true. Start local. Reach out beyond your comfort zone. Commit to nonviolence. Always protect the dignity of others. Walk together. In this the stone of hope is hewn.”

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 24 – 1/9/2021

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“I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole earth will become One Circle again.”

~ Crazy Horse ~

honoring Crazy Horse belatedly by one day day on the anniversary of his last battle in 1877 with his last vision shared with Sitting Bull a few months later during ceremony with Sacred Pipe, just before his assassination… a couple of years ago, i stood right on the land where he was killed and participated with native medicine elders in a healing riteuwell of deepest profundity…

on this day and in this moment of eternity, the universe is conspiring, breathing with us, breathing us into an amazing field of grace as venus trines mars giving us a breakthrough moment to catch the tradewinds… are you feeling the lightness of being? are you feeling that even with all the turbulence, hope is alive? we can do this, we can meet the challenges of this moment optimally by coming from a consciousness of an abundance of love and gratitude…

yes! this is the year for us to take flight

being dreamweavers of translucent, rainbow light

hearts soaring as one to unimaginable height

yes! this is the year for us to take flight…

on this ninth day of journeying january, the moon of dreaming, what is awakening in you, what beautyfull blissing is taking flight?

may we all dream and awaken to our medicine, our power, of weaving our light beingness into a seamless tapestry of lucid luminosity alive with love, liberation, compassion, wisdom, joy and the deep peace of the running wave…

shanti… shanti… shantihi…

 

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 23 – 1/8/2021

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as powerfully potent and turbulent as the last four days have been, both personally and collectively, on the sojourn into the cave of the heart, like Thay, i walk in peace feeling the spaciousness of the pathless path of heart… what an adventure it is to deepen with other sojourners on the buen camino into the pathless path of impermanence, uncertainty, loss and death of outgrown ways and to open to sharing in a collective dreaming process where we contemplate intentions for this turn of the wheel and listen for pachamama’s song arising from the womb of the earth…

ah, yes, this moment, this beautiful moment is just right for dreaming under the waning moon, for moonifesting a world of peace while our creative process frolics merrily… so, join me in attuning to this frequency… soften your eyes, deepen your breath, smile inwardly saying thank you, thank you, thank you for… all things bright and beautiful, rainbows, hope, sun and moon, stars and seas, friends and family, all our relations, love, peace, harmony, justice… re-membering our true nature…

~

“The creative state of mind … is, first of all, one whose interest in what is being done is wholehearted and total, like that of a young child. With this spirit, it is always open to learning what is new, to perceiving new differences and new similarities, leading to new orders and structures…

…to awaken the creative state of mind is not at all easy… it is one of the most difficult things that could possibly be attempted. Nevertheless… I feel that it is for each of us individually and for society as a whole the most important thing to be done in the circumstances in which humanity now finds itself.”

~ David Bohm ~

may we all awaken to our child heart, our seedbed of creativity, in each moment listening, listening, listening for the cosmic heart song… may the song reach us in our wildest and deepest places inspiring our howling with the wolves and the whales – all is well, all is well and all shall be well…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 22 – 1/7/2021

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at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

~ T S Eliot ~

~

now that in this moment of eternity we are still, i pray we will take many moments of reflection in keeping with what we’ve been called to do for the last many months of being sheltered in – to come into the eye of the hurricane where it is still and take a courageous look into where we’ve strayed so far from a path of heart and of wisdom… i posted the following psalm on election day four years ago and this year and many other times and thank each of us for taking it in with an open heart…

~

Psalm 15

Lord, who can be trusted with power,
and who may act in your place?
Those with a passion for justice,
who speak the truth from their hearts;
who have let go of selfish interests
and grown beyond their own lives;
who see the wretched as their family
and the poor as their flesh and blood.
They alone are impartial
and worthy of the people’s trust.
Their compassion lights up the whole earth,
and their kindness endures forever.

~

yes, may we utter this song again and again infusing the cosmos with a passion for justice pouring into our one heart with truth and compassion… all over the planet there’s so much suffering, all over the planet there’s so much love… our work is cut out for us… to summon every bit of courage, pick up our thread and re-weave the world with wisdom and wonder and stand in love and stand for love again and again…

may we all be bridge-builders, menders of brokenness, repairers of the breach, creators of beauty for wounded places… because we know in our heart in order to be whole, we must accept each of our parts as the beloved, yes each of the trillions and trillions of threads of the web of life…

thanks be for our ri-sing in this moment of eternity re-membering who we are – waves in the ocean of being, the sea of love energy in a wave…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 21 – 1/6/2021

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our Caravan of Re-Joy-Sing pilgrimage honoring our transcendent journey into light, our taking joy in transmuting shadows into gifts and our witnessing these gifts as dreams coming to us each night for the 12 nights of Christmas/the Festival of Illumination comes to a close after last night’s saunter across the desert guided by a constellation and our 12th night’s sun of the watery sign of Pisces…

last night,on the twelfth night of Christmas, my true love (Beloved Pisces) gave to me, a dream of… a pair of fish named Venus and Cupid swimming in the deep blue see of divine love energy demonstrating how to be fluid ecstasy in radical simplicity…

living simply, living freely, living in the moment, imbibing the living waters of the ever present moment, every wonder filled moment changing constantly, every moment sacred breathing into beauty, even with, especially with, the whole world seemingly going up in flames, re-member, that which does not burn, where death has no entry, here is the present moment in the center of the earth, the stillpoint of love, joy, peace and harmony…

trusting this day of epiphany dances you more deeply into reality where you listen to our one cosmic heart singing melodically entraining us all to clearly see each moment as guru, every moment to simply be…

~

i am/we are poetic PEACE pilgrim/s pioneering the updated 19th Century Oregon Trail into the 21st Century Rainbow Trail manifesting our destiny of awakening our one illuminated heart...

~i am/we are rainmaker/s re-treating into sacred space, the blessed land belonging to us, beloved community...

we are beings of the beautyway

dancing as stars in the sky above

painting with sand in the earth below

we are people flowing in harmony with the river below the river

always being love…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 20 – 1/5/2021

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i love this time of sojourning in the desert/ocean/sky of the heart and resting in the field way out beyond and way in traveling along the pathless path leading to who knows where… such a challenge and stretch today is with being evacuated from my abode in the wee hours of this day to truly i knew not where and being in the not knowing, the feeling of having been dropped on an alien planet, of being homeless and disconnected while still trusting in the invisible realms to deliver me to where i could truly say such a delight today is to celebrate great mother seeding the field for this turn’s cultivation… planting so many seeds of peace today along with harmony which brings rain to wherever it is needed and seeds of compassion and love and simplicity and generosity and wisdom and joy and beauty…

as our Caravan of Re-Joy-Sing honoring our transcendent journey into light, our taking joy in transforming shadows into gifts and witnessing these gifts as dreams coming to us each night for the 12 nights of Christmas/the Festival of Illumination continues sauntering across the desert guided by a constellation and our 11th night’s sun of the airy Aquarius sign proves to be the just right incubator for last night’s initiatory dream with the water bearer…

on last night’s eleventh night of Christmas, my true love (Beloved Aquarius) gave to me, a reality and dream of… my packing lightly for traveling with other pilgrims on this flowing odyssey along the rainbow trail which reminds me of an old story about the water bearer, gifter of last night’s dream, one of my favorite stories…

THE CRACKED WATER POT

A water bearer in India had two large pots, which hung on each end of a pole that he carried across his neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and one half pots of water to his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor, cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After 2 years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

“I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past 2 years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wildflowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

~

may we all embrace our shadows with warmth melting the ice into sparkling water of life being who we are and being there for each other… and, tonight, on this twelfth and final night of our light journey across the desert in search of the divine child, the inner inextinguishable light, the christed, anointed consciousness, may we awaken to our ever present inner eternal flame of divine light…

what seeds are you planting?

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 19 – 1/4/2021

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“PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO FIND OUT GOING TO THE MOUNTAINS IS GOING HOME; THAT WILDERNESS IS A NECESSITY.”

  ~ John Muir ~

~

our Caravan of Re-Joy-Sing pilgrimage honoring our transcendent journey into light, our taking joy in transforming shadows into gifts and our witnessing these gifts as dreams coming to us each night for the 12 nights of Christmas/the Festival of Light continues as we saunter, walk on holy ground or coddiwomple, travel in a purposeful manner toward an as yet unknown destination.across the desert guided by a constellation and our 10th night’s sun of the earthy Capricorn who once again proves to be the just right incubator for last night’s initiatory dream with the surefooted goat…

in honor of mountain goats and sacred mountains singing us home, i love showcasing last night’s dream gift with an image of Maria dancing in the shadow of a mountain and when we listen intently, we hear her singing, “The Hills Are Alive with the The Sound of Music” and the music flows freely through us inspiring dreaming in the rhythm of sound waves…

on last night, the tenth night of Christmas, my true love (Beloved Capricorn) gave to me, a dream of… the sound of music, hills coming alive, goats dancing, goatherds yodeling, impossible dreams transformed into i’m possible intentions, our starting at the very beginning of this new decade, this new year, this new moon (month) of waking up… and you, what dream did the goat gift you?

may we all flow in love’s frequency…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 18 – 1/3/2021

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through loving you, i love all our relatives

by being peace with you, i am  peace

peace before me, behind me, below me, above me, surrounding me, immersing me, within me

walking home together the peaceful rainbow trail, peace deepens and expands in the cosmos

~

our Caravan of Re-Joy-Sing pilgrimage honoring our transcendent journey into being and becoming ever more radiant light over the twelve days of the Feast of Incarnation, our taking joy in transforming shadows into gifts and our witnessing these gifts as dreams coming to us each night for the 12 nights of Christmas/the Festival of Light continues as we saunter across the desert guided by a constellation and our 9th night’s sun of the fiery Sagittarius…  once again, the sun sign giving the gift proves to be the “just right” incubator for last night’s initiatory dream with the Sagittarian Archer, Wounded Healer/Healer of Wounds, Transformer of Shadows into Light…

on the ninth night of Christmas, my true love (Beloved Sagittarius) gave to me, a dream of… riding the wind into great silence where everything/no thing is still like a numinous coiled rainbow serpent resting in the gap right before the arrow of love, the most powerful intoxicant penetrates and awakens the inner jewels of the core to come alive, to open to being a spiraling, sparkling rainbow wave of pure delight, a confluence of colors and frequencies merged into an arc of waves, a bridge uniting all opposites…

thousandfold thanks to the archer of love, the laser beamer of light for turning the darkness into clear sight, for initiating the transcendant function to re-con-soul us, bringing us back into our true nature of peace …

let us close with Black Elk’s vision of all that is as related, as one, and the archers bringing the healing balm of true understanding, of radiant light of love and peace…

“Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I saw in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all forms as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy.

Then as I stood there, two men were coming from the east, head first like arrows flying, and between them rose the Daybreak Star. They came and gave a herb to me and said: “With this on earth you shall undertake anything and do it.” It was the Daybreak-Star herb, the herb of understanding, and they told me to drop it on the earth. I saw it falling far, and when it struck the earth it rooted and grew and flowered, four blossoms on one stem, a blue, a white, a scarlet, and a yellow; and the rays from these streamed upward to the heavens so that all creatures saw it and in no place was there darkness.”

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 17 – 1/2/2021

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making every moment of eternity a moment of peace and harmony is the intention and seed energy i am planting with every breath and every step as we co-create a cosmos where peace and harmony are built with justice, with balance, guided by love and compassion…

on this second day of seven days of rest, our Caravan of Re-Joy-Sing pilgrimage honoring our transcendent journey into light, our taking joy in transforming shadows into gifts and our witnessing these gifts as dreams coming to us each night for the 12 nights of Christmas/the Festival of Light continues sauntering across the desert guided by a star and our 8th night’s sun of the watery Scorpio once again proves to be the just right incubator for last night’s initiatory dream with the Scorpion Goddess, Serket’s amazing transformative medicine of turning a sting into a healing, a shadow into a gift…

on the eighth night of Christmas, the Feast of Incarnation, my true love (Beloved Scorpio) gave to me, a dream of… being held in a home where a chalice was offered and it overflowed onto something precious and i felt stung by the possible ruination of something i treasured after so many days of feeling the constant barrage of waves and waves of watery light so frequent that i could scarcely catch my breath… Enter the Scorpion Goddess to anoint the field of chaos and move us into the stillpoint where we breathe in and breathe out from a deep place of peace at the bottom of the sea…

thousandfold thanks to the company of angels protecting us all as we traverse the challenging initiation of communion that moves us to that mythical field out beyond wrong doing and right doing to a symphonic frequency wave field never before heard, the sound of the many bells as one bell silently ringing us home guided by love to the deep peace of running waves…

may every moment of eternity be a sacred gift woven around our cosmic heart of wonder…