little girls with dreams become women with vision

Happy International Women’s Choose to Challenge Day!

welcome, well come to day 38 of a season of peace, a most auspicious day as it’s the International Day of Women… it’s long been said that when 1000 women gather, heart consciousness, the divine human will be birthed. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama says that it will be women who transform the world… let us begin in this moment a new cycle of soul transformation, a moment of uniting heaven and earth and manifesting greater love on earth…

for what seems like most every moon of this incarnation, i am writing /singing/being the soul song of coming home to the heart which is how i choose to challenge myself, to go beyond, which is what i have to share with the children… join me in luxuriating in another medicine elder’s wisdom as we resound this poem of nina simons…

Shifting Guidance from Head to Heart

All the brilliant, innovative and effective solutions and strategies
won’t be enough to shift our collective course
without an accompanying — and radical — change of heart.

For me, what’s central to alleviating humanity’s strife
and addressing the devastation we are wreaking upon our mother Earth
is tending to an imbalance of the masculine and feminine.

Reclaiming the value of the feminine within each of us
is essential to bringing our human wholeness
to this time of revolutionary reinvention.

We have to practice loving, re-awakening and strengthening
the feeling parts of ourselves:
our intuition, our body wisdom,
our dreams and our deep listening.

As we re-enliven the inner knowing of our hearts
(understanding that relationships are far more important than
accomplishments, goals or tasks),

we’ll become better partners to ourselves,
each other and the Earth.

If we practice our capacity to be comfortable
with vulnerability, with uncertainty,
and with attending caringly to the cues and clues that surround us,
it will help us to re-synchronize with the world
and become more resilient, flexible and adaptive to change.

This is not about devaluing the masculine side of ourselves;
it’s about re-evaluating what a healthy masculine means.
It’s about reclaiming the whole of our dimensional humanity.

For me, I find I must begin with my inner self,
since what I see out there likely reflects what’s within me.
If I don’t, it’s far too easy (and not ultimately effective)
to blame others without cleaning, updating
and reorienting my own operating system, first.

I am practicing re-sequencing my inner voices
so that my heart’s instruction can lead,
and be supported by the plans, analysis,
structures and strategies my mind creates.

When I listen with my heart,
I am pierced with an empathic awareness
that calls me into action beyond what any amount
of learning, reading or mental understanding can prompt.

I am stunned by the power of women, and our capacity to heal.
Wise elders, friends and mutual mentors
among the women I am honored to work with
remind me to listen deeply to all my sources of guidance —
to seek assistance from nature,
from my dreams and intuition, to inquire of my ancestors,
and listen for responses, before determining a course of action.

This requires me to peel away layers of patterning,
of rushing to respond to prove my value through productivity.
It requires me to question old and deeply ingrained habits.

As I practice composting layers of acculturated learning
that I absorbed unknowingly through the invisible water of culture we swim in,
I wonder whether I will ever be free of it.
I realize I need to decolonize my mind,
and practice reclaiming and remembering other ways of knowing.

Along the way, I’ve discovered something about the feminine.
I’m learning that listening is not a passive act.
Life is teaching me that it doesn’t just require my ears.
I’m learning to listen with my belly, my dreams and my intuition.

Not only does it require actively attending to receiving guidance,
I’ve discovered I also have to ask, in order to receive,
and then wait — patiently if possible — for a response to come.

As I practice this —
with my inner self, with nature, with my body,
with ancestors, and dreamtime and intuition —
I find I have many more sources of insight or guidance
than I’d previously imagined or remembered.

May we remember how to bring the wholeness of our humanity —
our deep listening; our patient observation;
our loving, powerful, tender hearts; our humble hands;
and our prayers —
to co-creating the conditions for thriving life.

magical moments

break the heart wide open

to flow in love with source wisdom

~

welcome, well come to day 37 of a season of peace… today is another of my favorite moments in the cycle of life when we rest in the in between times moon, the rainbow moon who sings a song of transformation, of transmuting dark, threatening clouds of pain, into rainbow colored arcs of joy…

speaking of clouds of pain and re-membering that not one of us is free until all of us are free, today the world honors the 56th  Anniversary of bloody sunday on the historic Selma to Montgomery Freedom March which directly led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the United States… the Poetic PEACE Pilgrimage bows deeply to and is greatly inspired by the countless peace pilgrims who courageously bear witness every day, who walk the talk of being love, peace, justice and harmony no matter the personal cost… thousandfold thanks for walking the freedom path and making justice visible…

eight turns around the sun ago on this special day, this day of celebrating the astonishing light of being, the rainbow moon of the in between times manifested a double rainbow foreshadowing the abundance field we all inhabit, the quantum field of transformation we are…

thank you rainbow woman for appearing in the sky promising of fortune’s smile  returning to the land, cosmic order restored with the birth of a thousand dancing stars…

Blessings from the Rainbow Trail

she who arrived attended by rainbows

under the fullness of the in between times moon

gifted with light’s radiance, like the sun she glows

with crystalline shafts reflecting the moon

~

under the fullness of the in between times moon

veils are lifted revealing the all that there is

sky father dressed in rainbow robes

mirroring colors of earth mother below

~

blowing sweet breath on the crystalline shafts

igniting combustible fiery light

she who arrived attended by rainbows

whispers creation into the dark night

~

and in the morning’s returning light,

the cosmos is colored in waves of delight

by the one who arrived attended by rainbows

gifted with radiance, like the sun she glows

~

for lailah

welcome, well come to the 36 th day of a season of peace,,. as the moon wanes and the temperature drops, let’s all get cozy and listen to an old hasidic tale of our soul’s conception and journey to birth supported by the angel (messenger) lailah…

it all begins in the roots of the tree of life where the soul is seeded and moves to the branches to ripen… when the soul falls to the ground, the angel lailah puts it in the mother’s womb serving as a midwife of souls… while the infant grows in the womb, lailah places a lighted candle at the head of the unborn infant, so he or she can see from one end of the world to the other and she teaches the unborn child the history of his or her soul…

when the time comes for the baby to be born, the angel extinguishes the light in the womb and brings forth the child into the world… in the instant the child emerges, the angel lightly strikes her finger to the child’s lips as if to say “shh,” which causes the child to forget everything learned in the womb and reminds us to listen to the deep self within, the soul, that always re-members…

may we all re-member our soul song and that “shhh” is to silence us so we can listen for el canto hondo, the deep self song…

IT ISN’T MORE LIGHT WE NEED, IT’S PUTTING INTO PRACTICE WHAT LIGHT WE ALREADY HAVE. WHEN WE DO THAT, WONDERFUL THINGS WILL HAPPEN WITHIN OUR LIVES AND WITHIN OUR WORLD.

– PEACE PILGRIM –

welcome, well come to day 35 of a season of peace, on this day of quintessence, the fifth day of magi-cal march, we honor this day when exactly eight years ago the Poetic Peace Pilgrimage was conceived as a daily breathing practice, a daily presencing practice of  being peace in every moment of eternity…

just days before International Women’s Day what image better to grace tis peace with than the inspiration for how to walk this pilgrimage…

may we all join together giving some of our time to make herstory…

her peace message still remains and still rings true: This is the way of peace – overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love. That’s still the message that I’m carrying after all these years. Well, you see, we haven’t learned to live it yet. The key word for our times is really practice. It isn’t more light we need, it’s putting into practice what light we already have. When we do that, wonderful things will happen within our lives and within our world.

may we all be empty vessels to be filled to overflowing with lovingkindness, peace passing all understanding and a bubbling joy arising from our inner river of being…

March Fourth Pilgrimage Re-Dedication

From today onward
Until the attainment of enlightenment
May I be willing
To live with my chaos and confusion
And that of all other sentient beings.

May I be willing
To share our mutual confusion
And work incessantly and humbly
To help and elevate everyone without exception.

~ Tibetan Prayer from Light the Flame ~

~

it seems so perfectly fitting on this day of marching forth in this moment of confusion and chaos falling on the thirty-fourth day of a season of peace to journey to the garden of zen and breathe in this mountain, surrendering all distractions and clearing the path to come home to our one heart, our true refuge in the midst of madness… thousand fold thanks for this path of devotion, thousand fold thanks for the courage and encouragement to be wholeheartedly here, thousand fold thanks for lighting the way…thousand fold thanks for your overflowing grace today…

many of us marching forth in these uncertain times despair not for we are unwavering, resolute knowing we are made for these times, these chaos cycles which call out the best in us…

“The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth

is not that we are on the way to destroying the world –

we’ve actually been on the way for quite awhile.

It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep,

to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves

and each other.”

~Joanna Macy~

listen, take courage as Howard Zinn elucidates the right way of being in these turbulent times…

“An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places- and there are so many- where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

now, take peace with the words of Desmond Tutu…

“You and I are made for goodness. You and I are creatures who were made for transcendence, were made for love, were made for caring, were made for embracing one another… And that is what is going to prevail.”

today, on the magical mystery tour, i delight being in a house of mirrors, beautiful mirrors as i look into your soul and see such radiance… thank you for being such a profound reflection of our true nature… your lovingkindness, compassion, generosity, grace, luminescence, humor, sensitivity, presence, devotion, joy, peace, patience, passion, curiosity and on and on enrich and inspire me in every moment… thousandfold thanks and deep bows…

~

deep dark mystery

dances with infinite luminosity

in spacious emptiness

~

welcome, well come to a most auspicious day… 3-3, day 33 of a season of peace under the energy of the waning moon where we reflect as we dissolve more and more into the vast oceansky…

and, yes, carl, living in a spaciousness of solitude, silence, in deed, comes alive in such mysterious ways as i reflect  on this sojourn in the quantum field of deep dark mystery where i saunter along a path unknown, a dancing with infinite luminosity resting in the gap, in the sacred space of silence, the stillpoint…

in this field beyond words, beloved appears to breathe us alive, inspiring we hollow reeds to open to being conduits of divine flow responsive to taking one more step, encouraging our sitting tenderly in the moment with our feelings, our ancestral feelings, our descendants’ feelings all merging in the one cosmic devocean of now…

in this solitude, in this divine alchemical flowing temple, the daft (divine alchemical flow team) transmute our shadowlands into gardens of grace… watered by our tears, we blossom like flow-ers opening to the light and revealing the sparkling jewel, the polished star pearl of the sea, radiantly resting in the center of the bloom…

here in the deep void of great silence, in the dancing stillness of great mystery, we stand at the portal of a brave new world where we’re called to courageously let go the old and break our one heart wide open to expansive, creative  space for birthing to the new… do we have it in us? of course we do, in this knowing we can all relax into enjoying this ride on the wild side…

“WE MUST UNDERTAKE THE STRUGGLE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD, WHEREVER WE MAY BE, BECAUSE WE HAVE NO OTHER SPARE OR REPLACEMENT PLANET. WE HAVE ONLY THIS ONE, AND WE HAVE TO TAKE ACTION.”

  ~ BERTA CÁCERES ~

welcome, well come to day 32 of a season of peace and the 2nd day of women’s herstory month in a moonth i’m naming magi- cal with emphasis intended on the magi, the wise, syllables of magical as we shine a spotlight on the women magicians who inspire changes in consciousness as they create, co-create the even more beautiful world, the ecological civilization…

i had intended on beginning with one of my favorite magicians – Harriette Tubman and then it was going to be Billie Holliday until i real-eyesed it was the fifth anniversary of Berta’s murder and knew she’d be leading the way…

co-founding the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) created to defend the Lenca community – one of Honduras’ largest indigenous groups – against corporate takeover of their land and natural resources, and to protect their culture and the environment, Cáceres was tireless in her efforts for her land and community… since their founding in 1993, COPINH has stopped nearly 50 logging and deforestation projects, plans for 10 hydroelectric dams and with other indigenous organizations successfully lobbied the Honduran government to ratify ILO Convention 169 on the Rights of Indigenous People, and also succeeded in gaining funding from the government for health centers and schools in Lenca communities…

today, as we mark 5 years since Berta’s assassination, we honor and remember her and her extraordinary life and legacy… Berta was someone who refused to be silent, who refused to cede or go into exile despite the violence she was up against… clear about the causes of the injustices of the world, she did not hesitate to name those responsible… her ability to explain and relate complex global phenomena to everyday realities made her an exceptional leader; the dignity with which she treated every person she met made her a phenomenal organizer who made the connections between struggles seem obvious and imparted wisdom as she energized those who listened…

Berta Cáceres, Presente! and Muchas Gracias!!

in this moment of eternity

we are river beloved mirroring reflection

we are full moon waning channeling glow

we are grandmother gaia dreamweaving creation

we are heart open wide radiating flow

~

we are full moon waning channeling glow

awakening the beings in the realms below

we are heart open wide radiating flow

rippling love circles in a magical show

~

awakening the beings in the realms below

breathing in deeply the cosmic flow

rippling love circles in a magical show

breathing in deeply the cosmic flow

~

we are river beloved mirroring reflection

we are grandmother gaia dreamweaving creation

breathing in deeply the cosmic flow

breathing in deeply the cosmic flow

~

i’ve been pondering what to name this march and was so tempted to go again with mutating march as a year later we are still so immersed in mutation and i was equally tempted to go with miracles of march and meditative would be so right as would musing and mesmerizing and on and on and then at the last moment i got that magic, change in consciousness, could encapsulate the mutating and the miraculous so welcome, well come to day 31 of a season of peace on this first day of the new moonth of magical march and its treasure trove of riches as we are still celebrating the energy of the miracles buddha bestows at tibetan new year…

  “The Light of Smiles

I will light the match of smiles. My gloom veil will disappear. I shall behold my soul in the light of smiles hidden behind the accumulated darkness of ages. When I find myself, I shall race through all hearts with the torch of my soul-smiles. My heart will smile first, then my eyes, then my face. Every body part will shine in the light of smiles.

I will run amid the thickets of melancholy hearts and make a bonfire of all sorrows. I am the irresistible fire of smiles. I will fan myself with the breeze of God-joy and blaze my way through the darkness of all minds. My smiles will convey His smiles and whoever meets me will catch a whiff of my divine joy. I will carry fragrant, purifying torches of smiles for all hearts.”

~ from Metaphysical Meditations
by Paramahansa Yogananda ~

may we all travel in an awakened way with hearts wide open and filled with lovingkindness… may we be well and peaceful and at ease and happy…

blessing the space between us

as we journey into mystery

the pilgrimage to our one heart

~

i’m breaking tradition today on this trifecta plus day of riches desiring to stay in the flow of the tibetan days of miracles and in the glow of the moon of our coming home to ourselves; so, welcome, welcome to day 30 of a season of peace on this twenty-eighth day of free at last february when we bless the space between us amplified by the flow and the glow and this is our day of celebrating the astonishing light of being on this beautiful day with, the energy of love and light with the sun shining on the energy of  tenderness, the crucible of our interconnectedness with the courage to say yes to creator, creation, creativity, the creative process…  with all the turbulence in the outer world, i’m so called by source and an almost five month old being to come into the dream cave, the grand canyon of stillness to be chanting thank you for all our relations who always see and be the sun shining to light the way…

thank you for walking home with me … this moonth also brings an especially touching poignancy to the space between us as this journey into mystery, this pilgrimage into the tiny space of our one heart, the void, the sacred space of emptiness is such a deep dive into the stillpoint of creation…

surrendering to the beloved and trusting in the tenemos of great mother to support and nourish us, we summon the courage to leap into the unknown and relax into the organic, rhythmic flow of the mysterious dance of life…

holding hands in the dark, feeling the waves of our one beating heart, we witness the birth of the new, the promise of every inbreath followed by the re-joy-sing of every outbreath… for in our coming together in the sacred space of our cosmic heart, we change everything, we are transformation dancing to the tune of el canto hondo, the deep soul song… stillness flowing, singing, re-joy-sing… be love, be loved…

 thousandfold thanks for being an astonishing light of being… seeing the best in others, spreading lovingkindness virally…