Monthly Archives: May 2021

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 145 – 5/10/2021

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welcome, well come to this moment of eternity under the waning moon almost new where we will conclude going a little deeper into Peace Pilgrim’s 4 Relinquishments with tonight’s focus on her fourth and last surrender or softening which seems a lovely opening for this new moon of embodiment…

“Now the last: the relinquishment of all negative feelings. I want to mention just one negative feeling which the nicest people still experience, and that negative feeling is worry. Worry is not concern which would motivate you to do everything possible in a situation. Worry is a useless mulling over of things we cannot change. Let me mention just one technique. Seldom do you worry about the present moment; it’s usually all right. If you worry, you agonize over the past which you should have forgotten long ago, or you’re apprehensive over the future which hasn’t even come yet. We tend to skim right over the present time. Since this is the only moment that one can live, if you don’t live it you never really get around to living at all. If you do live this present moment, you tend not to worry. For me, every moment is a new opportunity to be of service.”

so, let’s get comfortable and take a few deep cleansing breaths relaxing more with each breath, settling down and syncing into the rhythm of the waves of breath and then listening for and to feelings… ah, here comes peace, welcome peace and now here comes anger and we welcome it as well greeting it as we aspire to greet any guest at the guesthouse knowing they will not be staying a long and they do have a gift for us when we have the eyes of unconditional love to see… this feeling is not who i truly am but a cloud obscuring the always shining sun…

simply interbeing in this moment with whatever is re-membering we are children of the sun , the sol that never rises or sets, that always shines letting us know our birthright is to be peaceful and filled with lovingkindness serving in joy…

let’s seal this sacred space with the reciting of the poem for the seventeenth day of the forty days of cultivating peace = people emerging and cultivating equanimity and sowing the seeds of intention for the new moon….

“When the earth is in distress, it attunes itself with love and sends out a prayer.

The True One hears it, and with total ease is pleased to give Its strength and steadiness.

It sends a command to the Power of Rain, and the rain pours down in torrents.

The wealth of grain and corn grows thick.

A person cannot describe its value.

Oh Naanak, appreciate the Divine Identity.

You, Divine One, cause the life-giving food to be given to all the creatures.

Eating this, peace grows, and the cycle of pain comes no more.”

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 144 – 5/9/2021

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“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.”

~Hafiz ~

~

for this week’s installment of the astonishing light of being which falls on Mother’s Day, we have a wonderful astonishing light of mothering peace in the person of Julia Ward Howe…

many countries around the world celebrate mother’s day on the second sunday of may; in the United States, the origins of the official holiday go back to 1870 when Julia Ward Howe – an abolitionist best remembered as the poet who wrote “Battle Hymn of the Republic” – worked to establish a Mother’s Peace Day. Howe dedicated the celebration to the eradication of war and organized festivities in Boston for years….

a hundred years later, i would take up the same cause of tending the peace field holding the contention that it was the mothers that stopped the war known in the US as the Vietnam War and in Vietnam as the American War… so confirming to learn some decades ago that Julia had been planting the same seeds in the field a century earlier and that her call for women to arise remains electrifying one hundred and fifty-one years later… what an uplift that more and more of us are becoming aware of her proclamation for peace and the need to return to its original focus – that of promoting world peace…  on this Mother’s Day, honor your mother by contributing to the “great and general interests of peace” both at home and abroad… when 1000 mothers come together calling for peace, harmony becomes the frequency of consciousness…

may all mothers of invention feeling divine feminine energy rising within, no matter our gender, come together being peace now with the power to heal, soothe suffering, conjure courage and be the transformation…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 143 – 5/8/2021

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welcome, well come to this moment of eternity where we will continue going a little deeper into Peace Pilgrim’s 4 Relinquishments with tonight’s focus on her third surrender or softening…

“Then there is the third relinquishment, and that is the relinquishment of all attachments. Material things must be put into their proper place. They are there for use. It’s all right to use them; that’s what they’re there for. But when they’ve outlived their usefulness, be ready to relinquish them and perhaps pass them on to someone who does need them. Anything that you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions. We are not free.”

this third surrender of nonattachment is one i tend to through attention and intention continuously since our natural tendency of the mind is to cling to what we like and resist what we don’t like… there is another way, that of equanimity, the humble yet radical wisdom of simply letting it be, living in the eye of the storm, the center of the tao where we cultivate an inner quality of unshakability and care and engagement in each moment in a nonattached way, being in the world and not of the world accepting whatever is without judgment and from a space of receptive gratitude for the implicate order that is always for all our relatives and gifting us with just what we need on this mystery tour of life…

yes, what a mystery the great mystery is and such a place beyond words and such an experience of knowing/ not knowing as when back almost nine months ago, i was in that place of choiceless awareness of to be here or to be there and perfectly content with either way – ah… liberation…

let’s seal this space with the reciting of the poem for the fifteenth day of the forty days of cultivating peace = people emerging and cultivating equanimity….

“When the earth is in distress, it attunes itself with love and sends out a prayer.

The True One hears it, and with total ease is pleased to give Its strength and steadiness.

It sends a command to the Power of Rain, and the rain pours down in torrents.

The wealth of grain and corn grows thick.

A person cannot describe its value.

Oh Naanak, appreciate the Divine Identity.

You, Divine One, cause the life-giving food to be given to all the creatures.

Eating this, peace grows, and the cycle of pain comes no more.”

 

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 142 – 5/7/2021

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welcome, well come to this moment of eternity where we will continue going a little deeper into Peace Pilgrim’s 4 Relinquishments with tonight’s focus on her second surrender or softening…

“The second relinquishment is the relinquishment of the feeling of separateness. We begin feeling very separate and judging everything as it relates to us, as though we were the center of the universe. Even after we know better intellectually, we still judge things that way. In reality, of course, we are all cells in the body of humanity. We are not separate from our fellow humans. The whole thing is a totality. It’s only from that higher viewpoint that you can know what it is to love your neighbor as yourself. From that higher viewpoint there becomes just one realistic way to work, and that is for the good of the whole. As long as you work for your selfish little self, you’re just one cell against all those other cells, and you’re way out of harmony. But as soon as you begin working for the good of the whole, you find yourself in harmony with all of your fellow human beings. You see, it’s the easy, harmonious way to live.“

ah yes, everyONE, let’s take this moment of eternity to conspire, to breathe together, to feel the one body we are breathing us, each cell of the one body animating and opening to this moment of interbeing in devocean in the vast skysea of rainbow mystery… in the center of the tao, the medicine wheel, the stillpoint we experience true reality. true nature, a beautiful place to explore and inhabit more and more deeply and expansively…

from this sacred space, let’s recite the shabad that re-weaves the world for our 14th day… in joy let’s rest in open presence this moment, every moment…

“When the earth is in distress, it attunes itself with love and sends out a prayer.

The True One hears it, and with total ease is pleased to give Its strength and steadiness.

It sends a command to the Power of Rain, and the rain pours down in torrents.

The wealth of grain and corn grows thick.

A person cannot describe its value.

Oh Naanak, appreciate the Divine Identity.

You, Divine One, cause the life-giving food to be given to all the creatures.

Eating this, peace grows, and the cycle of pain comes no more.”

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 141 – 5/6/2021

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“Every leaf that grows will tell you: what you sow will bear fruit, so if you have any sense my friend, don’t plant anything but Love.”

– Rumi –

welcome, well come to this moment of eternity which i want to devote to a suggestion offered by a beautiful and wise soul… Desiree asked if i might return to Peace Pilgrim’s 4 Relinquishments focusing on one each night; loving that idea, here goes with the first surrender or softening…

“Once you’ve made the first relinquishment, you have found inner peace because it’s the relinquishment of self-will. You can work on this by refraining from doing any not-good thing you may be motivated toward, but you never suppress it! If you are motivated to do or say a mean thing, you can always think of a good thing. You deliberately turn around and use that same energy to do or say a good thing instead. It works!“

how i love that Peace Pilgrim’s portal into true reality was walking in nature where it became so clear to her as to all sages and poets and mystics that life is the love affair, that becoming poetry, surrendering the protective self in service to the true self is what it’s all about…

“Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving 
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.”

~ Derek Walcott ~

i want to close with another poem, the shabad of the forty day practice which Desiree had asked me to repost each day and for the last week i post this daily crystal and real-eyes i did not include the shabad…. here we are on day 13 of living into re-writing the destiny of our earth as we join together in our one heart in the sacred space of universal love…

“When the earth is in distress, it attunes itself with love and sends out a prayer.

The True One hears it, and with total ease is pleased to give Its strength and steadiness.

It sends a command to the Power of Rain, and the rain pours down in torrents.

The wealth of grain and corn grows thick.

A person cannot describe its value.

Oh Naanak, appreciate the Divine Identity.

You, Divine One, cause the life-giving food to be given to all the creatures.

Eating this, peace grows, and the cycle of pain comes no more.”

~

yes! peace prevails on earth…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 140 – 5/5/5

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Rainbow Serpent Spirit

most recently, i shared this image around the equinox in march and have been waiting for just the right moment to share it again and since this is 5-5-5 and right around the high holy quarter day between equinox and soulstice and a little birdie whispered that it’s the moment of eternity to celebrate the astonishing light of a being born on this date several years ago and he is the inspiration for sharing this image again, here we go… well, with just a little further ado… i love ekphrastic poetry and it seems the birthday boy does as well, so upon seeing this image, he penned a poem which i loved and promised to share with the invitation for all seeing this psychedelphic dream image of wisdom to share what this primal creatrix inspires in you…

~ 

“The Rainbow Serpent slides and slithers deep into our consciousness

Awakening mysteries of yesterdays and memories of old tomorrows,

Resurrecting iridescent dreams on waves of præsciousness,

Singing songs in the songlines and whispering of silent sorrows,

Swaying in rhythm to the mandapul melodies of lusciousness,

Writhing through æons of pain to show us that we need not wallow

In guilt of what was, or fear of what might be, in unconsciousness,

But learn the truth of who we are in Adaliya’s shimm’ring shadow.”

~ Stephen Comee ~

“Mandapul” is a recent name for the Didgeridoo in Arnhem Land; and Adaliya is an indigenous word meaning “Rainbow Serpent Spirit.”

~

thousand fold thanks, dear Stephen, may this be the most astonishing turn around the sun and may we all real-eyes the astonishing light of our interbeing and celebrate it every sacred moment of eternity…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 139 – 5/4/2021

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today marks the 51st anniversary of  Kent State, a day when students all over were protesting the war, a day that turned tragic with four dead in Ohio, a day that would lead to a general strike four days later when four million of us gathered to wage peace…

 today, let us weave these threads together, the threads of coming home to the heart and re-membering all those who serve peace by sharing the sage wisdom of a woman named Mildred Norman Ryder who inspired this poetic peace pilgrimage and me along with hundreds of others… on a New Year’s Day many years ago, she left behind her home, her family and her name, to begin what would turn into a 28-year walk for a meaningful way of life. Peace Pilgrim’s fearlessness, love and simplicity continues to inspire people worldwide. Hear her words on the four relinquishments, or what we might call today surrenders or softenings, that powered her way of life…

“IF YOU REALIZED HOW POWERFUL YOUR THOUGHTS ARE, YOU WOULD NEVER THINK A NEGATIVE THOUGHT.”
~ PEACE PILGRIM ~

“Once you’ve made the first relinquishment, you have found inner peace because it’s the relinquishment of self-will. You can work on this by refraining from doing any not-good thing you may be motivated toward, but you never suppress it! If you are motivated to do or say a mean thing, you can always think of a good thing. You deliberately turn around and use that same energy to do or say a good thing instead. It works!

The second relinquishment is the relinquishment of the feeling of separateness. We begin feeling very separate and judging everything as it relates to us, as though we were the center of the universe. Even after we know better intellectually, we still judge things that way. In reality, of course, we are all cells in the body of humanity. We are not separate from our fellow humans. The whole thing is a totality. It’s only from that higher viewpoint that you can know what it is to love your neighbor as yourself. From that higher viewpoint there becomes just one realistic way to work, and that is for the good of the whole. As long as you work for your selfish little self, you’re just one cell against all those other cells, and you’re way out of harmony. But as soon as you begin working for the good of the whole, you find yourself in harmony with all of your fellow human beings. You see, it’s the easy, harmonious way to live.

Then there is the third relinquishment, and that is the relinquishment of all attachments. Material things must be put into their proper place. They are there for use. It’s all right to use them; that’s what they’re there for. But when they’ve outlived their usefulness, be ready to relinquish them and perhaps pass them on to someone who does need them. Anything that you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions. We are not free.

Now the last: the relinquishment of all negative feelings. I want to mention just one negative feeling which the nicest people still experience, and that negative feeling is worry. Worry is not concern which would motivate you to do everything possible in a situation. Worry is a useless mulling over of things we cannot change. Let me mention just one technique. Seldom do you worry about the present moment; it’s usually all right. If you worry, you agonize over the past which you should have forgotten long ago, or you’re apprehensive over the future which hasn’t even come yet. We tend to skim right over the present time. Since this is the only moment that one can live, if you don’t live it you never really get around to living at all. If you do live this present moment, you tend not to worry. For me, every moment is a new opportunity to be of service.”

may we all empty ourselves to create a vast spaciousness, a field out beyond for planting seeds of peace within and service dedicated for the benefit of all…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 138 – 5/3/2021

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“Instead of resisting to changes, surrender. Let life be with you, not against you. If you think ‘My life will be upside down’ don’t worry. How do you know down is not better than upside?”

~ Shams of Tabriz ~

in the days of Rumi, when you traveled, you traveled in a caravan and spent the night in a guesthouse, Rumi asks us to look at our own heart like a guesthouse graciously entertaining all emotions while not identifying with or attaching to them… Rumi would have us ask, “What is the state of your heart, what are you entertaining this moment of eternity?”

and so when joy comes to visit, we welcome joy warmly knowing joy will be moving on with the caravan, this beautiful guest will pass onward… when the next guest knocks at the door, can we welcome sadness as graciously, as an old companion who has visited many times re-membering that sadness like joy does not stay and does pass on as well…

are you able to be this magnanimous with your own heart? know you are a solid, rooted tree of life with arms outstretched to the heavens… we are made in the image of love and this is our work to be and become more and more radical love, rooted love grounded in the deep earth and reaching into the ever expanding vast skysea…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 137 – 5/2/2021

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this is the moment of eternity to celebrate the astonishing light of being… so, please join me in the grove in that field out beyond and deep within to gather ’round the fire being as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves contemplating in this still open portal when the veils are so thin, the three quest ions of el canto hondo, the charged particles that seed the creative imagination catalysing the co-creating of the more beautiful world that already breathes us into the life more abundant…

what enlivens me wildly in this moment?

what is my soul longing deeply for now?

what’s wanting to flower?

we are invited in this moment of the mery, merry month of may to pick up our threads as merry pranksters, merry people, mermaids, mermen, merbeings and join the caravan of re-joy-sing being the impeded stream singing…

thousand fold thanks, relatives for shining your astonishing light so brightly that others may see their way home in the dark…

in closing, this contemplation is a gift of love offered and dedicated to source in appreciation for the gift of life more abundant, eternal life… may this gift in honor of teachers of love, Scott, on the second anniversary of his moving into the great beyond and Hailey and Grandad on this day when their ashes were reunited to seed the field of abundance, bless their safe passages and may this gift return blessings a thousand thousand fold with the most expansive and deepest good for all…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 8 – Day 136 – 5/1/2021

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well come, welcome to the first day of may, to may day, to global love day, to international workers day, to this high holy day of  bealltainn (the gaelic spelling) which means bright fire…

in days long ago, the people would light bonfires and shepherd sheep and cows through the night to green pastures… halfway between equinox and solstice, this day has been celebrated as a time of fertility and abundance heralding the start of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern…

what better way to start the merry merry moonth of may than by seeding our fertile, creative imaginations in the transformative field with three quest ions, three charged particles, sending us on a quest for the metaphorical holy grail, the sacred cup of the beloved overflowing with love…

what enlivens me wildly in this moment?

what is my soul longing deeply for now?

what’s wanting to flower?

as we dance around the maypole, the tree of abundant life, may we dance these quests and deepen our earth grounding with every breath until we arrive in the core of our being, sacred space of honoring all our relations…

here in the watery womb of divine mother earth, the stillpoint of creation, we saunter along the transformational pathway of changing consciousness, transmuting the microcosmic mystory into the ever-expanding macrocosmic mystery, source of all being…

may we be filled with more and more love and connection and union throughout this alchemical portal, this gateway of bright fire and may we be filled to overflowing throughout the merry, merry month of may and the magical mystery tour of life with divine love and light emanating from great mystery’s wellspring… the ever flowing river below the river of joy, ocean of peace, sea of love energy calls us to re-member we all come from the goddess and to her we shall re-turn…

deep bows and boundless gratitude for the beauty of the earth and for all the children of the earth dan-sing into sacred balance and union within the one heart…

blessed bee, beloveds…