All we need is the morning.
As long as there is sunrise,
then there is the possibility
that we can face all of our misfortunes,
celebrate all our blessings,
and live all our endeavors as human beings.
Spirituality is something that has become
necessary in these troubled times.
Yet it is inherently superfluous.
We need it to remind ourselves,
to bolster ourselves,
to integrate ourselves,
to fulfill ourselves.
If we could simply acknowledge
the mystery of night
and the glory of morning,
we would need neither civilization nor spirituality.
At its simplest, life begins with dawn.
That is blessing enough.
All else becomes fullness immeasurable.
At dawn, kneel down and give thanks
for this wonderful event.
We may think mornings are so common
they are unworthy of veneration,
but do you realize most places in the cosmos
do not have mornings?
This daily event is our supreme goodness.
Greet the dawn.
That is your miracle to witness.
That is the ultimate beauty.
That is sacredness.
That is your gift from heaven.
That is your omen of prophesy.
That is knowledge that life is not futile.
That is enlightenment.
That is your meaning in life.
That is your directive.
That is your comfort.
That is the solemnity of duty.
That is inspiration for compassion.
That is the light of the ultimate.

~ Deng Ming-Dao ~

~

experiencing an intense cold in this moment of eternity in the northern hemisphere amplifies viscerally this samhain portal and the deepening into the dark, into the cold … i awaken gratefully this morning because i awaken and i actually feel better; at this point on the pathless path, i take nothing for granted, perhaps more accurately, i aspire to take nothing for granted – enough NDEs lead to that understanding and to the commitment to reverencing each moment as sacred gift, especially in the troubled times, and to be all that we can be to align with source energy to co-shape a world of peace and harmony founded on justice and guided by love…

blessed bee…

~

today may be the most intense day of shedding what no longer serves, join me in a long moment of eternity sharing a wonderful practice to begin and end the day with, a wonder-filled way to luxuriate in reverence by being gratitude, a way the Haudenosaunee open every gathering… this is a shortened form that i’ve been given permission to share…

Greetings to the Natural World

“Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people.

Now our minds are one.

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

We give thanks to all the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms- waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water.

Now our minds are one.

We turn our minds to the all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.

Now our minds are one.

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting of thanks.

Now our minds are one.

Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.

Now our minds are one.

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are honored by them when they give up their lives so we may use their bodies as food for our people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.

 Now our minds are one.

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many people of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.

Now our minds are one.

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds-from the smallest to the largest-we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

Now our minds are one.

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help us to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.

Now our minds are one.

Now we turn to the west where our grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We are thankful that they keep those evil things made by Okwiseres underground. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.

Now our minds are one. 

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.

Now our minds are one.

We put our minds together to give thanks to our oldest Grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of woman all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.

 Now our minds are one.

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to the Stars.

Now our minds are one.

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring teachers.

 Now our minds are one.

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.

 Now our minds are one.

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

Now our minds are one.”

blessed bee…

~

“Do not be daunted
by the enormity
of the world’s grief.
Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated
to complete the work,
but neither are you free
to abandon it.”
~ The Talmud ~

still in the radiation of the new moon and partial soular eclipse, i awaken today with all of the sneezes from yesterday settling as cold in my head and begin as i love beginning each day with opening the heart and luxuriating in a love that breathes me throughout the day… one of my last communions of the day is attending online the 33rd Annual Salem Peace Lecture…

love the synchronicity of this peace lecture on doing away with nuclear weapons coming right in the middle of the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis and what a gift to spend an hour with a being who’s devoted his life to medicine – the medicine of peace and of listening and dialoging and taking action which Dr Hafland called us to repeatedly as he outlined the perilous place we are in now after a couple of generations of thinking we no longer were in danger of destroying ourselves with nuclear weapons… even though we are in such crisis now, we do have the ability in ourselves and our communities to take action to take us beyond the brink and as the Talmud proclaims, “we are not obligated to complete the work but neither are we free to abandon it.” our lives and the lives of all relatives depend on it…

i’m going to turn in early tonight as rest is such a good medicine, and now, may we all rest in:

SWEET DARKNESS

“When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.
It’s time to go into the night
where the dark has eyes
to recognize its own.
It’s time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you
can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will make a home for you tonight.
The night
will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.”

~ David Whyte ~

what a powerful moment of eternity! we are now in the samhain portal and in eclipse season coming on this day of lunar samhain with the new moon in intense scorpio square to intense pluto and a partial soular eclipse, so, “get your big girl panties on” for the wild ride of the next fortnight… on this darkest night of the moon as we draw down the energy of luna, we light a candle and gaze into the fire, the inner fire we are always living in the midst of with to purify, and to transform…

the portal of samhain with the veils so thin for the next couple of weeks amplified by the two eclipses is a perfect moment to plant seeds that will blossom and grace the transformed path, the moment to look inside deeply and ignite every wild cell into luminous light and a perfect moment for dancing in the void… yes, eternity is nearby, revelation is at hand… nothing to hold onto, simply be open to what is in this moment, the only moment, the eternal now…

as we open more deeply in this moment to the lamp, we begin a journey on this new moon of the creative fires of imagination sauntering through portals into the unknown with our soulful self as compass to map the way as we ask , what is going up in smoke? how is fire teaching us who we truly are and inspiring our being more fully SELF?

in this moment, this eternal moment, drawing down the dark moon, we breathe in deeply earth mother’s love…

standing silently in our sacred heart center, breathe out expansively to the moon above

listen intently as the wind whispers soulfully, singing us home to the river below

in this moment, this eternal moment, open with abandon to the fire of inner glow

always present lighting the way, always present every moment of the day

great mystery, thank you for breathing us into presence…

thank you central sun for coloring the cosmos in rainbow arcs of radiant love surrounding us, bathing us, transmuting us into pure light essence

radiant beings of  the great turning of the ages…

blessed be in this moment of eternity of a treasure trove of riches – it’s another moment to celebrate the astonishing light of our interbeing, Diwali – the Hindu Festival of Light, global oneness day and on this very day 77 years ago, the UN was founded and two years ago today Honduras became the 50th country to ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons with 50 as the magic number for this treaty which is a huge milestone in the decades-long effort to eliminate nuclear weapons and it officially entered into force 90 days later in January 2021…

thanks be for more nations of the world adding their voices to the chorus demanding the elimination of nuclear weapons thus paving the way for a world of peace which is the future we want – a world free from threats of mass destruction – and is on the tip of our consciousness… as more and more people around the world take up the cause of delegitimizing the arsenals of the nuclear nations, we must hold nuclear-armed nations to account for these weapons are the most urgent existential threat to human and all other sentient beings’ security…

may we continue to stand together in love and hope re-membering ourstory is built on compassion, sacrifice, courage and loving kindness as we listen to the whispered wisdom of this prayer:

“Let our standing be a mindful gesture:  mindful of the ground on which we are standing, the one little plot of land on this earth not belonging to one nation, but to all nations united.  It is a very small piece of land, indeed, but it is a symbol of human concord, a symbol of the truth that this poor, mistreated earth belongs to all of us together.

As we stand, then, like plants standing on a good plot of ground, let us sink our roots deep into our hidden unity.  Allow yourself to feel what it means to stand and to extend your inner roots.

Rooted in the soil of the heart, let us expose ourselves to the wind of the Spirit, the one Spirit who moves all who let themselves be moved.  Let us breathe deeply the breath of the one Spirit.

Let our standing bear witness that we take a stand on common ground.

Let our standing be an expression of reverence for all those who before us have taken a stand for human unity.

Let us stand with reverence on the ground of our common human endeavor, joining all those who stood on this ground, from the first shaper of tools to the engineers of the most complex machines and institutions.

Let us stand with reverence on the common ground of the human quest for meaning, side by side with all who ever stood on this ground in their searching thought, in their celebration of beauty, in their dedicated service.

Let us stand in reverence before all those who on our common ground stood up to be counted, stood up – and were cut down.

Let us remember that to stand up as we have now stood up implies a readiness to lay down one’s life for that for which one stands.

Let us stand in awe before those thousands upon thousands – known and unknown – who have laid down their lives for the common cause of our human family.

Let us stand and bow our heads, because we stand under judgment.

We stand under judgment, for ‘One is the human Spirit.’  If we are one with the heroes and prophets, we are also one with those who persecuted and killed them.  One with the henchmen as we are one with the victims.  We all share the glory of human greatness and the shame of human failure.

Allow me to invite you now to focus your mind on the most inhuman act of destruction you can find in your memory.  And now take this, together with all human violence, all human greed, injustice, stupidity, hypocrisy, all human misery, and lift it all up, with all the strength of your heart, into the stream of compassion and healing that pulsates through the heart of the world – that center in which all our hearts are one.  This is not an easy gesture.  It may almost seem too difficult for some of us.  But until we can reach and tap with our deepest roots this common source of concord and compassion, we have not yet claimed within our own hearts that oneness that is our common human birthright.

Standing firm, then, in this oneness, let us close our eyes.

Let us close our eyes to bring home to ourselves our blindness as we face the future.

Let us close our eyes to focus our minds on the inner light, our one common light, in whose brightness we shall be able to walk together even in the dark.

Let us close our eyes as a gesture of trust in the guidance of the one Spirit who will move us if we open our hearts.

‘One is the human Spirit,’ but the human Spirit is more than human, because the human heart is unfathomable.  Into this depth let us silently sink our roots.  There lies our only source of peace.

In a moment, when I will invite you to open again your eyes, I will invite you also to turn in this Spirit to the person next to you with greeting of peace.  Let our celebration culminate and conclude in this gesture, by which we will send one another forth as messengers of peace.  Let us do this now.

Peace be with you all!”

amazingly, this prayer was not created for today’ but was led by Brother David Steindl-Rast at a gathering of spiritual leaders forty-eight years ago on the 30th Anniversary of the United Nations, October 24, 1975.

let us stand together in peace for peace re-membering our birthright is of  compassionate lovingkindness…

thousand fold thanks for the weird/wyrd people, creative rebels, imaginal cells of real-eye-sing… those astonishing lights of being who rekindle our flame by setting their lives on fire and fanning the flames of and for all relatives in the field… it has been said that when living in a dark time such as we are living in, it is the creatives, those with the courage, the heart to follow their weird/wyrd, their genius, their sacred call, to devotedly give themselves to the soul song that inspirits, these are the ones, the ones awakened to the mystical level who thrive in the dark times; the good news is that we all have the potential to real-eyes our true self and dwell in true reality, yes we can all break free from the matrix of domination, conquest consciousness and come home to the consciousness of humility and wisdom and wonder and beauty and love and peace and joy and harmony of great mystery…

i love that this quest ion of following your weird/wyrd that showed up so emphatically as i began my seventh decade this go around is resurrecting even more emphatically as i take flight into the eighth decade with the energy of infinity as the melody… one turn around the sun ago i vowed to begin a podcast: follow your weird/ wyrd which hasn’t ripened into fruit yet though i have been lovingly cultivating the soil the last many moons… in this sacred moment of eternity, let’s come together now and conspire, breathe together deeply as we visual-eyes ourselves in the most sacred of spaces, the crystal we are and embody the energies of this blessingway:

~ Beatitudes for the Weird ~
by Jacob Nordby

“Blessed are the weird people
—poets, misfits, writers, mystics
heretics, painters & troubadours—
for they teach us to see the world through different eyes

Blessed are those who embrace the intensity of life’s pain and pleasure,
for they shall be rewarded with uncommon ecstasy.

Blessed are ye who see beauty in ugliness,
for you shall transform our vision of how the world might be.

Blessed are the bold and whimsical,
for their imagination shatters ancient boundaries of fear for us all.

Blessed are ye who are mocked for unbridled expression of love in all its forms, because your kind of crazy is exactly that freedom for which the world is unconsciously begging.

Blessed are those who have endured breaking by life,
for they are the resplendent cracks through which the light shines.”

may we all be blessed to be weird/wyrd devoting ourselves to embodying this manifesto for mystics as we wander in wonder throughout and within the crystalline clear light of the boundless skysea of love energy…

and, may we be weirdness/wyrdness, daimons for each other giving strength and consolation fully real-eye-sing that the cup of life is a cup of sorrow that opens the compassionate cup of joy warming the cup of sorrow that opens our one heart ever wider to the compassionate cup of joy endlessly…

giving birth to imaginal cellf

dewy wings warmed by the sun

waxing with moon, rising from sea

free and easy wandering throughout infinity

soaring and singing throughout the multiversity

always resting in the still silence of the cavernous heart of luminosity

~

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

~ Wendell Berry ~

~

ah yes, chaos gives birth to a dancing star, to renewal, to cosm, to cosmos, to implicate order…

“As is the human body, so is the cosmic body.
As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind.
As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm.
As is the atom, so is the universe”
~ The Upanishads ~

~

thank you chaos/primordial space for gestating a  dancing blue star down the birth canal tunnel through  a long dark night with  moments of questioning would there be light… a long dark night to contemplate flow and how to proceed when it’s a no go… a long dark night of staying present, of trusting, of surrendering until the sun rises and reveals the way to be in flow… breathing in, inspiring; breathing out, releasing a dancing star…

aloha! beings of the blue star light, beings of the chaotic, turbulent long night, beings of the cosmic/human body mind spirit soul, being that turns lead into gold integrating interbeingness into true self/cellf…

loving, serving, re-membering that when we merge our internal rhythms with the rhythms of creation, we develop effortless grace in our movement and are able to slide into our perfectly ordered, choreographed dance of life…

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”

~ Kahlil Gibran ~ The Prophet

did you awaken as i did in this heart space to this moment re-membering the universe in each moment is making us an irresistible offer? thousand fold thanks, Desiree, and everyone for conspiring to gift with so many moments of savoring this potent space between us of initiating the cosmic wedding and weaving the threads of  eternal presence into the lush field of the divine matrix… an infinite moment after moment, truly, of love after love…

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 ~

today, as on many days, i luxuriate in some sacred moments of eternity to reflect on what a wild ride the last many moons have been; especially, the last 25 moons have been so bounteous with so many days of life being upended calling for a re-invention, a new way of living this wild and precious ever unraveling unfolding in such mysterious ways dan-sing along the rainbow trail, the pathless path we call life…

i re-member today one of the recurring tsunami dreams that dreamed me one moon shy of nine years ago… i was driving over a bridge with my mother when suddenly a tsunami appeared out of nowhere, now here… immediately, i am swimming in dark water knowing i must find my mother who is not a strong swimmer… after what seemed an eternity, i surrendered real-eye-sing all i could do was go with the flow… instantaneously i was transported to paradise and then to our family beach cottage where i found my daughter… i knew i had to call my siblings but it was the last thing i wanted to do, to confess that our mother was lost at sea…

as i waited for my siblings to answer the call, i felt movement behind me and turned around to see my mother standing there in my nightgown with my hair and smile – best miracle ever with the tidal wave of destruction transforming into a tidal wave of miracles… what a powerful cosmic reminder of the creatively sustainable form of ptsd: presen-sing, trusting, surrendering and divining this sea of love energy we are… let us all breathe into the stillness of this sacred space as peace flows through in the rhythm of the mighty waves of life here to teach us and show us the way… boundless love and gratitude…

“When we merge our internal rhythms with the rhythms of creation, we develop grace in our movement, and without thought or effort we are able to slide into the perfectly choreographed dance of life.”

~ Sherri Mitchell ~

hell yes! sherri’s sage words reflect the intention and quest i(‘m)on and live into with every breath – what will you do this sacred moment of eternity with your one wild and precious life to merge with the rhythms of creation?

it is also such a gift to have the words credited to Emma Goldman singing me as well, “It’s not my revolution if i can’t dance to it.” yes, in these topsy-turvy times how necessary to be in communion with imaginal cells as we face into a collective dark night filled with challenges calling us to deepen into the common union of our one heart, the community, the common unity of dwelling with each other surrendered to love…

we are in such an intense inflection point, moving from a false consciousness of fear and separation to the true reality of  love and unity… can you feel this new world breathing? breathing us into deeper ensouled presence? can you let go so deeply courageously leaping into the creative fires of the cauldron that you are transformed and purified into the heart of great mystery?

so, now i’ve turned the tables on you and asked of you the same question that lives me – excited to hear how you are living your life more and more in concert with creation…

yes, our true nature as imaginal cells is dan-sing us  home together…