Monthly Archives: June 2023

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 196 – 6/30/2023

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how can it possibly be the last day of june? what a whirlwind this moon has been moving at the speed of light uprooting everything in the path expanding and strengthening the muscles of holding the tension while transporting us deeper and deeper into the heart of the leminscate, the stillpoint of creation where the generative energy of creativity creates creation in the blessed space between us…

today is one of my favorite days as it is the day of blessing the space between us, so, in this moment of eternity on the magical mystery tour of life as i go about polishing mirrors, i so delight in your being so courageous in meeting each moment whatever arises and being with the pain and the joy, the suffering and the ease and continuing with one more breath, one more step, one more moment of polishing… i live in the knowing that we can make it through any adversity if there is one other heart beating in the field syncing with ours… thankfully, this wild and wooly moonth demonstrated the veracity of this knowing… thank you…

the time is now, as we bless this space between us, for all souls to play our music and rejoice in the astonishing light of our being looking into the cosmic mirror and bringing to heartmind all buddhas, bodhisattvas, teachers, ancestors, beings devoted to creating a just world and roll all the virtues and merits into a huge gaia ball re-joy-sing in the astonishing light… now, bring to heartmind all your virtues and merit and dedicate this offering to all who suffer, fear and grieve seeing the suffering, fear and grief eased… thank you for sharing your astonishing light so generously as it lifts our sails geometrically…

as we close this circle of joining june, let’s take in these words of the Buddha”

“Live in joy and freedom, even amongst those who are sick or troubled. Live in joy and a peaceful heart, even among those in conflict. Quiet the mind and heart and find the sweet joy of living in the dharma.”

in this sacred moment of pregnant pause, imagine us sitting on a high dune with a panoramic view of the all that is poised on the edge, the verge of a new world – can you hear her breathing in a world of  unconditional love guiding us into justice for all building a rock solid peace beyond our most expansive and deepest imaginings?

hear the peace that passeth all understanding palpably calling us into deep silence…. listen, listen to the cosmic hum… listen, listen to our heartbeat’s drum… listen, listen for the sound of the bell syncing our breathing to the mantra, all is well… deep peace of the running wave to you, deep peace, deep peace, deep peace…

“The best, like water,
Benefit all and do not compete.
They dwell in lowly spots that everyone else scorns.
Putting others before themselves,
They find themselves in the foremost place
And come very near to the Tao.
In their dwelling, they love the earth;
In their heart, they love what is deep;
In personal relationships, they love kindness;
In their words, they love truth.
In the world, they love peace.
In personal affairs, they love what is right.
In action, they love choosing the right time.
It is because they do not compete with others
That they are beyond the reproach of the world.”

~ Lao Tzu~

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 195 – 6/29/2023

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at 21, i was given heirloom seeds of devocean… at 42, i planted the seeds saying a mantra over them daily about being a midwife of heart consciousness… at 63, i began devotedly tending, caring for, watering, chanting over these seeds in co-llaboration with Beloved… wonder what will be going on at 84?

thank you Beloved for breaking our hearts open ever wider empowering us to see through the eyes of love, to deepen in the ways of compassion, to stretch our capacity for patience and trust, to flow in the peace that passeth all understanding in this moment, this beautiful moment…

thanks  for pausing in this beautiful moment on our endless voyage deeper and deeper along the pathless path into the great unknown to honor our sacred pilgrimage of coming home to the heart in a moment so momentous as the whole planet goes through the great unraveling and turning, the cosmic dark night and rebirth when we are all called to listen for our soulsong and commit to being here as fully and openheartedly as we can…

in honor of this moment, i want to close with the 21st century bodhisattva vow, the eco-sattva vow with thanks to the ecosattva, Joanna Macy:

“i vow to:

commit daily to the healing of our world and the welfare of all beings

live on earth more lightly and less violently in the food products and energy i use

draw strength and guidance from the earth, ancestors, future generations and my brothers and sisters of all species

support others in our work in the world and ask for help when needed

to pursue a daily practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart and supports me in observing these vows“

thousand fold thanks for joining in this daily practice of clean-sing, polishing the mirror of our one heart, yes, we are all involved for we all live in the same field, we are family, communitas, sangha of the one heart of boundless love all breathed into life by the same spirit… deep, deep bows as we meet each moment more and more openheartedly…

~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 194 – 6/28/2023

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today, on the magical mystery tour of life as i go about polishing mirrors metaphorically, transforming dense unconscious energy into the refined energy of love, i delight being in this house of mirrors in the unitive field, beautiful mirrors as i look into every soul and see such radiance… thank you for being such a profound reflection of our sacred true nature… your lovingkindness, compassion, generosity, grace, luminescence, humor, sensitivity, presence, devocean, joy, peace, patience, passion, curiosity and on and on enrich and inspire me in this moment and every moment… thank you for being so courageous in meeting each moment whatever arises and being with the pain and the joy, the suffering and the ease and continuing with one more breath, one more step, one more moment of polishing, of clean-sing… thousand fold thanks and deep bows…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 193 – 6/27/2023

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“I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not ever complete the last one,
but I give myself to it.

I circle around God, that primordial tower.
I have been circling for thousands of years,
and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?”

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

~

i circle around, i circle around, the boundaries of the earth…

i have loved Berry’s and Rilke’s poems and this chant for so many moons, the feeling of expansiveness and liberation… for so many moments of eternity while deepening into stillness, i’ve also been deepening my practice of the three tenets of  the Order of Zen Peacemakers – not knowing, bearing witness, and taking action and this poem sings these tenets inspiring moving into them on a day when impermanence is rocking my everyday world re-heartening me to take  action by meeting each moment of eternity as a friend in ever-widening circles of wonder… join me – the still waters are clean-sing…

~

“To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.”

~ Joy Harjo ~

~

may every moment of our (w)hol(l)y meandering unfold in harmony as circle gathering space for nomads of the heart sauntering along the pathless path awakening to and singing the illumination we interbe…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 192 – 6/26/2023

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today is UN Day in Support of Victims of Torture around the world, Guantánamo has become a symbol of injustice, abuse, and disregard for the rule of law… originally intended to be an “island outside the law” where terrorism suspects could be detained without process and interrogated without restraint, the prison and military commissions at Guantánamo Bay are catastrophic travesties…

  since the prison camp opened in 2002, almost 800 men have passed through its cells… in addition to unlawful detention, many were subjected to torture and other brutal treatment… today, 30 men remain, nearly all held without charge or trial; dozens of these detainees have already been cleared for release by the U.S. military and national security agencies but they continued to be stuck in a quagmire in which no arm of government is willing to end the violation of their rights — and Guantánamo’s blight on our nation’s reputation and security…

it is long past time for this shameful episode in US history to be brought to a close… while they await our humanity, let us re-member ours with Thay’s poem, Please Call Me by My True Names…

“Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow— even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving to be a bud on a Spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that is alive.

I am a mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river. And I am the bird that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond. And I am the grass-snake that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate.

And I am also the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands. And I am the man who has to pay his “debt of blood” to my people dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. My pain is like a river of tears, so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names, so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up and the door of my heart could be left open, the door of compassion.”

may the door of every heart open with compassion…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 191 – 6/25/2023

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in honor of the astonishing light of being as a caravan of re-joy-sing…

A Community of the Spirit

“There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.
Open your hands,
if you want to be held.
Sit down in the circle.
Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd’s love filling you.
At night, your beloved wanders.
Don’t accept consolations.
Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover’s mouth in yours.
You moan, “She left me.” “He left me.”
Twenty more will come.
Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.”
~Rumi~

“When I run after what I think I want,
my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety;
if I sit in my own place of patience,
what I need flows to me
and without any pain.
From this, I understand that what I want
also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me.
There is a great secret in this for anyone who can grasp it”

~Rumi~

today, our caravan celebrates three years of gathering with each other to dance in the space of the sacred grove in the field of unitive consciousness with our sangha of boundless love… it is always such a wondrous moment of eternity… we invite you all to circle with us in a communion of spirit immersed in the soul song of our one cosmic heart to deepen into the ever expanding unfolding of the endless journey into infinite possibility…

let us come together by joining hands and dancing into the sacred grove sitting around the fire, the light and feeling the love geometrically progress as it passes from one of us to another, to another, to another… spirit loves light and water so nestled with our trees in the sacred grove in the unitive field, the field out beyond, let’s bring in water and deepen with an ori blessing which is a wonderfilled way to begin each day and is in keeping with the call to expand and deepen into consciousness which brought us together 3 years ago and keeps us together in every moment of eternity… take some water and put it on your 3rd eye to open vision and now move your hand with water to the crown opening universal consciousness, real-eyes-ation and now move your hand to the back of your neck to open creativity… we will sit here still with the sun in the portal of soulstice inspiring vision to come…

as we continue breathing deeply into our wisdom center one with our wise ansisters, bring attention to the base of the spine, the root chakra and the element of earth asking, what is my potential? now, move to the sacral, the element of water asking, how do I feel about myself? Move onto the soular plexus and the element of fire asking, what is this experience of commotion, chaos? let’s move on up to the heat chakra with the energy of channeling, of circulation and the element of air seeing the energy of commotion and chaos now being channeled and so now we move back down to the soular plexus which is now the energy of locomotion… what are you leaving behind? what are you taking with you into the rebirthing? breathing in deeply, we move to the throat chakra, element of ether and space where we express in thought word and deed out into the world and now move back down to the sacral witnessing how our raw emotions influence others and now move into the 3rd eye, the energy of insight contemplating what is one insight gained, the central insight among the many… we move back down to the root seeing that what was potential is now integrated… and so, we move now to the crown chakra, sacred space of real-eyes-ation… breathing in deeply infinite gratitude and chanting:

I Am the Divine Mother/She lives in me/ And everything she needs/Comes easily to me…

dear universe, thank you for blessing me with all the things I need the most, that I do not yet know are possible…

breathing in deeply 3 times, we open our eyes and heart and smile which inspires our internal love engine to drive the peace train, the caravan for all our relations…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 190 – 6/24/2023

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I’ll tell you the mystery of life,

Life is not a mystery at all.

It is a simple mastery of the self.

today is a delightful day injoyed in the company of a young being so full of self slowly coming into mastery of self as well as the 481st birthday of St John of the Cross, patron saint of contemplatives, mystics and poets… centuries ahead of the modern discovery of the unconscious, st john spoke of darkness, inner journeys, and the shadow self… his genius, his gift for the good of the whole was in living and speaking about the imperative of transformation of embracing the dark night of the soul and holding steadfast trusting in benevolent great mystery to lovingly bring forth the light… it seems such a synchronicity, such a meaningful coincidence, such a sign from the implicate order to re- member the father of the dark night leading to the light and here is that signature poem of his:

I.

“In a dark night,
With anxious love inflamed,
O, happy lot!
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.

II.

In darkness and in safety,
By the secret ladder, disguised,
O, happy lot!
In darkness and concealment,
My house being now at rest.

III.

In that happy night,
In secret, seen of none,
Seeing nought myself,
Without other light or guide
Save that which in my heart was burning.

IV.

That light guided me
More surely than the noonday sun
To the place where He was waiting for me,
Whom I knew well,
And where none appeared.

V.

O, guiding night;
O, night more lovely than the dawn;
O, night that hast united
The lover with His beloved,
And changed her into her love.

VI.

On my flowery bosom,
Kept whole for Him alone,
There He reposed and slept;
And I cherished Him, and the waving
Of the cedars fanned Him.

VII.

As His hair floated in the breeze
That from the turret blew,
He struck me on the neck
With His gentle hand,
And all sensation left me.

VIII.

I continued in oblivion lost,
My head was resting on my love;
Lost to all things and myself,
And, amid the lilies forgotten,
Threw all my cares away.”

this poem boils down the spiritual journey into 40 lines, a journey where for many years st john spent in darkness, in the cloud of unknowing with only his trust in a loving universe to sustain him… may all who see freedom of choice with our body temple as a human right continue to stand in solidarity, in direct action day after day and week after week to voice the will of the people to live free according to the imperative of right action… and, may we all re-member that when all seems lost, new life is right around the corner and may every moment of this journey of re-membering unfold into greater harmony…

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 189 – 6/23/2023

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way out/in the beyond

carried by the wings of love

heart breaks wide open

~

“There was a startling recognition that the nature of the universe was not as I had been taught… I not only saw the connectedness, I felt it.… I was overwhelmed with the sensation of physically and mentally extending out into the cosmos. I realized that this was a biological response of my brain attempting to reorganize and give meaning to information about the wonderful and awesome processes that I was privileged to view.”

~

in the quotation above, astronaut Edgar Mitchell shares an epiphany from outer space travel, a shift in consciousness that has been called the overview effect… after many days/moons/turns around the sun/incarnations of inner space exploration, traveling at the speed of light toward ultima thule, the great beyond, the overview effect is now living me and in this wondrous state, i feel i have crossed the rubicon and sit perched in a nest high in the heavens and deep in the buoyant sea with telescopic vision empowering a 360 degree view of the cosmic web in that field out beyond right and wrong doing where we float in grace, in sacred space in awe of true emptiness, the vast spaciousness of being free, a light wave of infinity, dancing rainbow mystery…

i’m seeing us all injoying deep pausing in the last few days of the soulstice portal and attending to some polishing the mirror:

to that end, we can call in the Divine Spark Invocation to awaken the divine spark  and create a cosmos of peace and harmony within and without…

inhale: our whole being concentrates

exhale: the heartmind becomes empty and open

we invite divinity from earth

our true existence radiates light

we receive divinity from heaven

this divinity is within us

the divine opposites are unified

our true self emits divinity to all our relations

the light spreads to each relative

the divine self resonates within re-membering the divine self and that we are all divine…

namaste and deep bows

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 188 – 6/22/2023

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Honoring World Rainforest Day!

today on World Rainforest Day – a day encouraging action and awareness to protect the world’s rainforests – stop, take a breath, and reflect on our intimate relationship to the life-giving power of the Amazon rainforest and all that she provides for us as the lungs of the planet…

i love this image, even more, i love seeing pachamama as a rainforest showering us with breath, giving us life… so, let’s take this moment to feel pachamama  breathing us through our one heart flowing right into the stillpoint, our ground of being, oneness… in this sacred space, we open our hearts in rhythm with beloved’s flowing breath and feel the suffering and the joy of the cosmos and in the silence hear the whispers of what’s ours to do with our out breath…

i love this image, this metaphor returning to me on this day of pilgrimage when i’m re-membering the conception of the poetic peace pilgrimage over a decade ago as a daily breathing practice in rhythm with flow… i love this image, this metaphor returning on this day of pilgrimage when i awaken in wonder and awe of  great mystery and of bearing witness to the medicine of these cosmic lungs…

thank you, pachamama , for giving us these organs of breath, may we steward more and more response-ably and sustainably…

some invitations for stewarding lovingly:

Be grateful: To start with, action to protect the rainforests must begin now. Before we unmindfully cut trees to build our homes and offices, we need to take a deep breath and thank the rainforests for being the lungs of the planet. A real-eyes-ation of this might make us switch to more sustainable ways of development…

Contribute: We may also offer monetary and voluntary support and contribute to organisations that work to preserve the rainforests…

Eat a meat-free meal: Cattle farming contributes significantly to deforestation. Eating a meat-free meal can go a long way. We can start by going vegetarian for a day, week, month or a year…

Pass on palm oil: Rainforests are being cleared to expand palm plantations. Passing on palm oil and choosing products with alternate oils can be one small step that we can take on our part…

Spread the word: Creating awareness to preserve the forests can be one small act of kindness that we can show for the benefit of all…

may we re-member we are part of the earth as the rainforest is the womb of life from where we emerged with answers to questions we have yet to ask…

“The silencing of the rainforests is a double deforestation, not only of trees but a deforestation of the mind’s music, medicine and knowledge.” ~ Jay Griffiths ~

Poetic Peace Pilgrimage – Year 10 – Day 187 – 6/21/2023

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“Empty yourself of everything.  Let the mind rest at peace.  The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.  They grow and flourish and then return to the Source.  Returning to the Source is stillness, which is the way of Nature.  The way of Nature is unchanging.”  ~Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching

~

how i love this day of soulstice and standing still with the sun

re-membering life is a pilgrimage to the inner sun, sol, soul,

the city of gold in the heart within the heart, sacred space of radiance…

holding the treasured wisdom of our true value and how the world always goes on…

~

as the wise pilgrim moon waxes on this soulstice with so much to celebrate and commemorate: in the southern hemisphere we breathe in the shortest day while in the northern hemisphere we breathe out the longest day… are you feeling gaia breathing in rhythm with light waves? are you feeling the earth of your being breathing in the waves of light? as we stand still with the sun, i invite your pausing with me and reflecting on some quest ions… who am i? what do i want? what am i here to give? what am i greatfull for?

today, the veil between the worlds is so thin, a magical day to see through the mists… to return for the divine union between heaven and earth to occur… a sacred moment of the divine masculine spirit pouring the luminous light all over the cosmos as we celebrate sacred father energy freeing us to enter the vast unknown, to stand still with the sun…

let’s gather together now in the sacred grove in the field of trutopia under ancient oak trees, nurtured by the ground, the living green grass under our feet, to honor the longest/shortest day of the year… witnessing the pain of our earthmother, today we celebrate Her saying prayers of healing, for the world and for all Her children…

“Beloved Creator, Beloved Mother Father, Beloved Beauty, 
On this sacred day Beloved Creator, We the humans of the Four Directions, Ask for your sacred blessings. You have brought us to this moment Beloved Beauty, The longest day of the year, & You have shown us our path. We have a path to travel Beloved Creator, & We are asking for your blessings, As we travel on this path Beloved Beauty. We are here to be in prayer with you, To ask for your blessings, To ask for your protection. As we pray Beloved Creator, As we journey down our path Beloved Beauty, We bring out our offerings to the sacred altar of the Universe. Beloved Beauty, You bring to us the longest day, & The shortest night. On this day we celebrate around the globe, Having been celebrated for eons. Thank you to the spirit of all our ancestors, I stand here before you, Holding the spirit of the fire in my heart. Beloved Beauty, Bless us with your beautiful, beautiful light. I know you are with us Beloved Mother Father, To bless us & to carry us on this sacred, sacred day Beloved Beauty. In the name of all of the spirit of nature Beloved Creator, The spirit the Earth, The spirit of the sacred Waters that helps us in the the growing of our gardens. I ask the blessings of the sacred Sun, & I ask for the blessings of the sacred Wind, The sacred breath. That it comes together in harmony, For the sake of all the people, Beloved Creator. In the name of all this Beloved Creator, In the name of the great mystery Beloved Beauty, I thank you from the bottom of my heart,& I thank each & every one of you listening in the four directions. Let us form together a beautiful circle of light, Circle of prayer, Circle of intention, & Circle of huge gratitude for the sacred beauty of Life. In the name of all the beauty around the globe, Beloved Creator, I thank you.”  ~ Blessings on this sacred Summer Solstice Day,Grandmother Flordemayo
~ 

“We join with the earth and with each other.
To celebrate the seas.
To rejoice the sunlight.
To sing the song of the stars.

We join with the earth and with each other.
To recall our destiny.
To renew our spirits.
To reinvigorate our bodies.

We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery: for the healing of the earth and the renewal of all life. We join with the earth and with each other.
To bring new life to the land.
To restore the waters.
To refresh the air.

We join with the earth and with each other.
To renew the forests.
To care for the plants.
To protect the creatures.

We join with the earth and with each other.
To create the human community.
To promote justice and peace.
To remember our children.”

~ From the United Nations Environmental Sabbath ~

~

may we re-member as we stand still with the sun that in each of us, there’s a little of all of us, there is only one of us here and in the most overarching sense, we are all refugees, all desiring beloved community, a refuge in the storm… as we take a sacred pause and stand still, may we reflect on the transformation we are being called to leap into shifting from a culture of war to one of peace, the beloved community of ubuntu, of compassion and care…

in this moment of eternity, this moment of the astonishing light of our being, may we all awaken to our sol, our inner radiance of divine love…