welcome to this new moon of meditative march which auspiciously begins on the full moon and on the final day of celebrating Losar with Chotrul Duchen, the day of miracles when it’s a day to offer light…

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

yes, 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…

om shanti, shanti, shantihi…

a new moon, a new beginning, a new astrological turn around the sun… how i love this moon of poetry, this moon i call awakened april begins with holy fools day for whom travels in a more awakened way than the holy fool?

 

traditionally, the fool card in the tarot is associated with the numbers, 0 and 22… at 0, the fool symbolizes life force before manifestation; at 22, the fool has sauntered the 21 keys of the major arcana completing a full cycle of awareness and experience and now steps beyond into a new dimension of limitless potential as a free and easy wanderer, an awakened pilgrim…

 

as we walk home together this awakened april, may the words of   this wild irish poet inspire our pilgrimage…

For the Traveler

Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.

When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.

~ John O’Donohue ~