welcome to the first day of this moonth of fleeting february, the first day of black history moonth when the family and friends of Tyre Nichols are burying this beloved being beaten to death by the police on his way home and the third day of a season of peace… a moment, a day to begin anew and call in the spirits asking to be with us in these turbulent times as we witness so much collapsing all around us… in this fleeting moment, let us breathe deeply from our earthmother who loves us so as we float along the river of life less traveled… a river inviting our wholehearted presence, our wholebeing essence, our complete trust, our suspending doubt when in places unknown and in uncertain circumstances and travel way into the deepest recesses of the holy vessel, temple of love we are, everything is…

let’s amplify the first day of black history month with re-membering the greensboro sit-in, a courageous moment that grew into a revolutionary movement…

in the late afternoon of Monday, February 1, 1960, four young black men entered the F. W. Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina where the friends could feel the invisible line of separation between the shopping area open to everyone and the dining area that barred blacks from taking a seat.. they knew, as all blacks in the South did, that stepping over that line might get them arrested, beaten or even killed but all four moved together in silence and sat down at the lunch counter to take a stand…

“It took a few moments for anyone to notice, but the change within the freshmen was immediate. The Greensboro Four, as they would come to be known, had not embarked on a deep study of Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha, his method of nonviolent action, but they experienced the first change it intended to create—a change that takes place within the people taking action. Just as the African American community of Montgomery, Alabama, following Rosa Parks’ arrest in 1955, discovered their power, the Greensboro Four experienced a transformative strength.”

the four students politely asked for service and were refused with the white waiter suggesting they go to the “stand-up counter” and take their order to go, which was the policy for black customers… by now there was no sound in the dining area, the voices of white patrons were hushed with just the clink of silverware audible as the four sat in silence as if they were in friends meeting or at a church service… eventually, a police officer entered the store and spoke with the manager and then walked behind the four students and took out his billy club pacing back and forth behind the activists, hitting his night stick against his hand but he didn’t speak or escalate… the activists began to understand the power they could find in nonviolence as they realized the officer didn’t know what to do, and soon left..

the last person to approach the Greensboro Four on that first day was an elderly white lady, who rose from her seat in the counter area and walked over toward them and sat down next to the four students and told them she was disappointed in them saying, “I’m disappointed it took you so long to do this.”

by simply taking a seat at the counter, asking to be served, and continuing to sit peacefully and quietly, the Greensboro Four paralyzed the store, its staff, its patrons and the police for hours that monday afternoon… when the flummoxed manager announced that the store would close early, the young men got up to leave feeling victorious and would be joined in the coming days by hundreds of students sitting down to take a courageous stand…

let us follow the beautiful examples of Tyre’s mother calling for peaceful protests as the way to honor her son and the elderly white lady and commit our energy to… being there for each other in peace and love trusting in beloved to carry us across the wild deep blue sea to a shore we cannot see, trusting beloved to carry us into the true refuge of great mystery’s unfolding grand design and to act from that grounding in the love we are to create a world of justice…

in this moment of new beginning, will you join me in weaving into now a just world of love and peace? i also invite you to engage in peace and love with daily ultradian healing breaks, sacred pauses to come home, returning to the deep restoring breaths that reset our being back into balance… thousand fold thanks…

what a confluence of riches today…  the first day of the moon of fledging february and it’s imbolc, the first day of the new year of the ancient earth rhythms calendar and it’s the first day of chinese new year celebrations and the first day of black history month and the third day of a season of peace… still in the energy of the potent new moon on this day of imbolc, in the belly, it’s a beautiful moment of eternity to plant new seeds and to check on those already planted… let us honor our new beginning with our soul’s intention for deepening and expansion… in our new life, we commit our energy to… peace, love and joy thanking beloved for carrying us across the wild deep blue sea of clouds that never die to a shore we cannot see, trusting beloved to transport us into the true refuge of great mystery…

in this moment of new beginning, as we see and bee a just world of love and peace, let us close this ceremony with a favorite poem, this one penned by the poet/painter who only wanted to paint sunlight on the walls of life, Lawrence Ferlinghetti…

~

Instructions to Painters and Poets

“I asked a hundred painters and a hundred poets
how to paint sunlight
on the face of life
Their answers were ambiguous and ingenious
as if they were all guarding trade secrets
Whereas it seems to me
all you have to do
is conceive of the whole world
and all humanity
as a kind of art work
a site-specific art work
an art project of the god of light
the whole earth and all that’s in it
to be painted with light

And the first thing you have to do
is paint out postmodern painting
And the next thing is to paint yourself
in your true colors
in primary colors
as you see them
(without whitewash)
paint yourself as you see yourself
without make-up
without masks
Then paint your favorite people and animals
with your brush loaded with light
And be sure you get the perspective right
and don’t fake it
because one false line leads to another

And then paint the high hills
when the sun first strikes them
on an autumn morning
With your palette knife
lay it on
the cadmium yellow leaves
the ochre leaves
the vermillion leaves
of a New England autumn
And paint the ghost light of summer nights
and the light of the midnight sun
which is moon light

And don’t paint out the shadows made by light
for without chiaroscuro you’ll have shallow pictures
So paint all the dark corners too
everywhere in the world
all the hidden places and minds and hearts
which light never reaches
all the caves of ignorance and fear
the pits of despair
the sloughs of despond
and write plain upon them
“Abandon all despair, ye who enter here”

And don’t forget to paint
all those who lived their lives
as bearers of light
Paint their eyes
and the eyes of every animal
and the eyes of beautiful women
known best for the perfection of their breasts
and the eyes of men and women
known only for the light of their minds
Paint the light in their eyes
the light of sunlit laughter
the song of eyes
the song of birds in flight

And remember that the light is within
if it is anywhere
and you must paint from the inside
Start with purity
with pure white
the pure white of gesso
the pure white of cadmium white
the pure white of flake white
the pure virgin canvas
the pure life we all begin with

Turner painted sunlight
with egg tempera
(which proved unstable)
and Van Gogh did it with madness
and the blood of his ear
(also unstable)
and the Impressionists did it
by never using black
and the Abstract Expressionists did it
with white house paint

But you can do it with the pure pigment
(if you can figure out the formula)
of your own true light
But before you strike the first blow
on the virgin canvas
remember its fragility
and remember its innocence
its original innocence
before you strike the first blow

Or perhaps never strike it
And let the light come through
the inner light of the canvas
the inner light of the models posed
in the life study the inner light of everyone
Let it all come through
like a pentimento
the light that’s been painted over
the life that’s been painted over
so many times
Let it all surge to the surface
the painted-over image
of primal life on earth

And when you’ve finished your painting
stand back astonished
stand back and observe
the life on earth that you’ve created
the lighted life on earth
that you’ve created
a new brave world”

my soul honors your soul/our soul… i honor the place in you/in us where the infinite resides. i honor the light, love, truth, beauty, joy and peace within you/within us…

namaste, beloveds…

welcome, well come to this new moonth of free at last february, a moon of celebrating black history in addition to a season of peace… i’m a little late in posting this peace as it seems i’m not the only one in my sphere that can die and come back to life… yes, this laptop seemed to be dead as a doornail in this fifth week of being evacuated from home but it seems it was only in a coma and now has risen from the ashes just as we will…

now, such a holy synchronicity that black history month begins on the anniversary of the greensboro sit-in, a courageous moment that grew into a revolutionary movement…

in the late afternoon of Monday, February 1, 1960, four young black men entered the F. W. Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina where the friends could feel the invisible line of separation between the shopping area open to everyone and the dining area that barred blacks from taking a seat.. they knew, as all blacks in the South did, that stepping over that line might get them arrested, beaten or even killed but all four moved together in silence and sat down at the lunch counter to take a stand…

“It took a few moments for anyone to notice, but the change within the freshmen was immediate. The Greensboro Four, as they would come to be known, had not embarked on a deep study of Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha, his method of nonviolent action, but they experienced the first change it intended to create—a change that takes place within the people taking action. Just as the African American community of Montgomery, Alabama, following Rosa Parks’ arrest in 1955, discovered their power, the Greensboro Four experienced a transformative strength.”

the four students politely asked for service and were refused with the white waiter suggesting they go to the “stand-up counter” and take their order to go, which was the policy for black customers… by now there was no sound in the dining area, the voices of white patrons were hushed with just the clink of silverware audible as the four sat in silence as if they were in friends meeting or at a church service… eventually, a police officer entered the store and spoke with the manager and then walked behind the four students and took out his billy club pacing back and forth behind the activists, hitting his night stick against his hand but he didn’t speak or escalate… the activists began to understand the power they could find in nonviolence as they realized the officer didn’t know what to do, and soon left..

the last person to approach the Greensboro Four on that first day was an elderly white lady, who rose from her seat in the counter area and walked over toward them and sat down next to the four students and told them she was disappointed in them saying, “I’m disappointed it took you so long to do this.”

by simply taking a seat at the counter, asking to be served, and continuing to sit peacefully and quietly, the Greensboro Four paralyzed the store, its staff, its patrons and the police for hours that monday afternoon… when the flummoxed manager announced that the store would close early, the young men got up to leave feeling victorious and would be joined in the coming days by hundreds of students sitting down to take a courageous stand…

welcome to the first day of this moon of the flowering field of february falling on the eve of the holy day of imbolc and the third day of a season of peace… a moment, a day, a moon, a year, a decade to begin anew and call in the spirits asking to be presented with doors that open as wide as our heart to our new path of discovery, of awakening unfolding along the road less traveled… a road inviting our wholehearted presence, our wholebeing essence, our complete trust, our suspending doubt when in places unknown and in uncertain circumstances, our letting go of any and every thing no longer working to open the space of the flowering field way out beyond and way in the deepest recesses of the holy vessel, temple of love we are, everything is…

we honor our new beginning still under the glow of the cosmic moon of transformation and celestial synchronicity with our soul’s intention for change… in our new life and story for this decade, this turn around the sun, this month, this day, this moment we commit our energy to… being there for each other in peace, love and joy trusting in beloved to carry us across the wild deep blue sea to a shore we cannot see, trusting beloved to carry us into the true refuge of great mystery’s unfolding grand design…

in this moment of new beginning, will you join me in dreaming into now a just world of love and peace? i also invite you to engage in peace and love with daily ultradian healing breaks, sacred pauses to come home, returning to the deep restoring breaths that reset our being back into balance… thousandfold thanks…

my soul honors your soul/our soul… i honor the place in you/in us where the infinite resides. i honor the light, love, truth, beauty, joy and peace within you/within us…

namaste, beloveds…

welcome to the third day of a season of peace and welcome freely flowing february and the new beginning you bring… a moment, a day, a moon, a year to begin anew and call in the spirits asking to be presented with doors that open as wide as our heart to our new path of discovery, of awakening unfolding along the road less traveled… a road inviting our wholehearted presence, our wholebeing essence, our complete trust, our suspending doubt when in places unknown and in uncertain circumstances, our letting go of any and every thing no longer working to open the space for spirit to freely flow…

we honor our new beginning still under the glow of the cosmic moon of transformation and celestial synchronicity with our soul’s intention for change… in our new life, we commit our energy to… peace, love and joy trusting in beloved to carry us across the wild deep blue sea to a shore we cannot see, trusting beloved to carry us into the true refuge of great mystery…

in this moment of new beginning, will you join me in dreaming into now a just world of love and peace?  thousandfold thanks…

my soul honors your soul. i honor the place in you where the infinite resides. i honor the light, love, truth, beauty, joy and peace within you…

namaste, divine beloveds…