Tag: life

Deeper than thought…Breathe

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There is one way of breathing that is shameful and constricted. Then, there’s another way: a breath of love that takes you all the way to infinity. ~Rumi

Even in this apparent chaos and turmoil, in this vital time of great change, letting go and feeling into a new skin, we can breathe. We can inhale deeply into and beyond all that seems disruptive, deceptive and disorienting. The inhale carries us into the quiet, the stillness unperturbed by any noise of this material world. We can inhale so deeply that our focus on anything external to the self ceases. We become captivated (in a sense) by a boundless peace; a knowing that accompanies this, that ‘this’ is Truth. We slowly become uninhibited; shed daily experience like water from a duck’s back and are free to embrace presence, the present moment, every minute detail existing here but previously invisible to the preoccupied mind. With the deepest inhale illusion is shattered and love cascades in an endless outpouring of Life. It is as simple as that, one breath to reacquaint one self with eternal, infinite now.

The practice is simply this: keep coming back to your breath during the day. Just take a moment. This will give your mind a steadiness and your breath a gracefulness…. There’s so much to let go of, isn’t there? Your nostalgia and your regrets. Your fantasies and your fears. What you think you want instead of what is happening right now. Breathe. ~Rodney Yee, Yoga: The Poetry of the Body

Puerta del Cielo

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Puerta del Cielo: Door to the Sky, Doorway to Heaven

As the fly bangs against the window attempting freedom while the door stands open, so we bang against death ignoring heaven. ~ Douglas Horton

Passing by a small church near Chapala and Mission recently, I was intrigued by their sign welcoming parishioners into their space. In large letters it said, Puerta del Cielo. I thought what a beautiful invitation, to rise above the clouds, the mundane, the daily travail and soar! Free to roam, to experience peace and leave the noise behind; to walk through this ‘door to the sky’. We look up instead of focusing our attention on the details. We breathe in the spaciousness and feel the expansion. We find our doorway to heaven. Now heaven is a word, unlike sky, which has as many interpretations as there are people (and then there may be some people for whom heaven does not exist). Heaven exists according to our idea of perfection; that can change over the years as we complete the fulfillment of desires. The doors are endless or at least as numerous as are our wants.

The doorway to the sky though, is the fast track. The sky can have its moods but it is always sky and we can reach for the sky or in other words seek the limitless, boundless, infinite and eternal nature of reality in a conscious manner. This means only that we are aware of a desire to dump anything that prevents us from walking through (symbolically of course) the one door. Sky, is rarely open for debate or religious interpretation. Things show up on the field of sky. Clouds come and go. We do not need however, to have our vision obscured by them. As John Butler relates:

‘Look up and go above the clouds forget about the mind.’ (4.22.20 video How to Overcome the Mind)

Butler further points out, from his idyllic village in the United Kingdom, the organic ever flowing nature of Nature that is and has been for millennia regardless of storms, rapids, extremes in temperature etc. As Nature, human beings are more than capable of the same patient, persistent, persevering qualities as that which exists all around us that has no mind. We deal with apparent catastrophic events and survive. Some would say and thrive…that quality that pervades “all things” is Truth of our Nature. The mind is a handy accessory.

The mind as we know is a very useful tool. However, when it garners control, as happens frequently due to old habits and patterns, we are confining our selves to experience only a part of this life that unfolds endlessly. Opportunities to create are limited by the mind!

At this time we can challenge our beliefs, habits and those perceptions (some that we are not even aware of) that have shaped our reality. Every day we can look for all those signs that show us the ways in which miracles show up. And, it might behoove us to redefine the word miracle or to newly establish, deep in the recesses of mind that miracles happen for everyone, at any time and anywhere. We are not victims. Everything that occurs here is an expression of our own design. What an opportunity to evolve this species beyond the victim mentality; to take responsibility for our own health and well being!

There are such moments in life, when, in order for heaven to open, it is necessary for a door to close. ~Jose Saramago

New Moon May 22, 2020 2 degrees 5 minutes Gemini 10:39 a.m. PDT

Gemini in general: Gemini represents the energy connection within creation. It is described as the “light of “inter-play,” meaning that it is Gemini that reveals the basic duality of manifestation, the relationship of spirit and form. All souls, as individual entities come into human incarnation as vital entities through Gemini. It governs the breath of life, the movement of spirit in form. In Gemini, the relation between soul and body emerges in which the body or form serves the soul. ~zodiacrealm7.wordpress.com

This New Moon deepening our awareness of Self in physical form. I am That, not the body/mind.

The mineral cell salt potassium chloride is specific to the sign Gemini. Gemini rules the nervous system, lungs, shoulders, arms and fingers.

From Truth Serum News 01 31 2018

“The mineral cell salt Kali Muriaticum (Potassium Chloride) is the mineral worker of BLOOD that forms FIBRIN and properly diffuses it throughout the tissues of the body…

In our veins and blood, fibrin makes up for 3 in 1000 parts of both.  When the molecules of Potassium Chloride (Kali Mur) fall below the standard needed amounts, the blood fibrin thickens.  This causes what is known as pleurisy, pneumonia, catarrh, diphtheria, etc…

When the blood circulation fails to throw the thickened fibrin via the glands or mucous membrane, it may stop the action of the heart, or what is known as a heart attack.  Embolus is a Latin word meaning “little lump” or “little ball”.  To die of Embolus or heart failure means that the heart’s actions were stopped by little lumps or balls of Fibrin that are clogging the auricles and ventricles of the heart. When our blood contains the proper amount of Potassium Chloride (Kali Mur), fibrin is functional and the symptoms above do not manifest.”

Check out the full article for details. It would seem like a good time to make sure your potassium chloride levels are optimal.

The most outstanding feature of this New Moon is it’s exact conjunction to the fixed star Mirfak, the brightest star in the Perseus constellation. Perseus is the hero who slew the gorgon Medusa and saved the princess Andromeda from being devoured by a sea monster. To accomplish his task Perseus was given the winged sandals and helmet of Mercury (ruler of Gemini) that provided him with intelligence and the freedom to fly.

This New Moon represents the rising of the hero who helps to rid humanity of an ‘evil’ that robs one of full expression. The gorgon Medusa was famous for turning anyone who looked at her to stone. Gemini is the breath of life and the movement of spirit in form. It is the interplay of spirit and matter and the interconnectedness of all things. During this New Moon we have an opportunity to nurture the seed within that is the hero ready to challenge all that denies us deeply desired human connection and freedom of expression.

Other aspects of this New Moon chart are a grand trine to Sun/Moon from Saturn/Pallas Athena and including the asteroid Juno, goddess of relationship. All in air signs, Gemini, Aquarius and Libra respectively—mobile, open and flexible in their attitude toward change. For Gemini change is the way of Life. Aquarius by nature is change and Libra promotes change for the perfect relationship be it with a person or the environment or space.

Saturn (focus, responsibility, the task master) conjunct asteroid Pallas Athena (wisdom, strength, creativity) will keep us on track as we rise up, look up and reach for the sky and disengage our selves from the fear and anxiety that has enveloped us for the last two months. We do not want to sacrifice human relationship for fear of a virus that, as Dr. Zachary Bush points out in a recent video, is only one of numerous viruses that are already in our systems that due to healthy immune systems do not affect us.

We can rise up, touch the sky and keep on going.

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Pulling down the Heavens (Qigong exercise for clearing energy)

This exercise clears and builds energy in a simple yet powerful way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iChfo6WudcE

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“The immanent Reality alone is. It is infinite.” ~Ramana Maharshi Teachings of Self Realization by Robert Wolfe

Our true nature is infinite. And even in this stressful, demanding global situation we are creating healing. Humanity has infinite resources, abundance, intelligence, compassion and LOVE. No matter what appears to be going on all around us, the cure is rising out of omniscience. Each of us can reach deep into our own knowing to find peace, calmness and the strength to overcome and all the while supporting a collective rising into well being.

This New Moon at 4 degrees Aries is a good occasion in which to envision a strong society guided by our passion and intention for balance and harmony. We are the solution. We are the creators.

#78 Paradoxes

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From Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu and through the eyes of *Ursula K. Le Guin

Nothing in the world is as soft, as weak, as water;

Nothing else can wear away the hard, the strong and remain unaltered.

Soft overcomes hard, weak overcomes strong.

Everybody knows it, nobody uses the knowledge.

So the wise say:

By bearing common defilements you become

a sacrificer at the altar of earth;

by bearing common evils you become a lord of the world.

Right words sound wrong.

*Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and essays. She has received many literary awards and is internationally well known.

The Tao Te Ching is possibly 2500 years old. The first copy Ms. Le Guin knew belonged to her father, a first edition 1898 copy by Paul Carus. It became a part of her life as a child as it was a frequent reference book of her father. She lived with this book her whole life.

Beyond Resistance. Approaching 2020

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Resistance is a widespread phenomenon in biological, social and psychological domains of human cultural development. ~Nandita Chaudhary

Though there is truth in the above statement, it follows that this wide spread phenomenon is part of the ever evolving nature of existence and that we constantly are moved toward greater awareness and less resistance. This is evident all around us. Global movements that suggest opening and embracing with compassion and the desire for the well being of all beings. Has always moved us, though slowly, by greater numbers.

Justice, discrimination and benevolence. These fine qualities of which humans are capable are familiar to us, known to us. That which is not in abidance with these qualities seems quite clearly, out of place; an imbalance that hurts. Tired of the pain we open and in opening we address our fears, the basis for the resistance; we free all.

The last month of 2019 feels pivotal in our journey. We do not cower in the tempest but bravely stand guard for what wisdom tells us, is the only way to go.

Peace on Earth is every day. What does the dawn illumine? From the perspective of this year’s end we find the rather important asteroid Pallas Athena moving through Sagittarius and for the first weeks of December, conjunct to the Sun. What does this mean? Pallas Athena is the goddess of wisdom, protection—standing tall for ‘the highest good’. She leapt fully armour clad from the brow of her father Zeus. An adult woman, she is a warrior and yet has overcome aggressiveness. Creative intelligence guides her and to see all forces united rather than divided through war.

Athena stands for justice and the pursuit of Truth. The peoples’ needs are considered rather than those of the individual. With Pallas Athena in Sagittarius there is noble intention and faith and trust in this intention to align all with the single purpose of realizing our undivided Reality. From this arises great compassion. Athena in Sagittarius carries us into 2020 as a marker for our higher intent. How does this affect us on the individual level?

There may be a fire burning within you; an ember that sparked awareness in recent months (or years) that now consumes fear and old patterns of behaviour. Ready to confront all resistance and be free of all limitations we are the spiritual warrior whose mission it is to obliterate the illusions to which we are attached. Everyone has Pallas Athena in their chart. We are all the hero/heroine prepared to stand tall for the highest good.

For each of us to fulfill our quest it is necessary to release one of our deepest encumbrances; that of self judgment. So many wounded children struggling to be adults. Such compassion for our hearts in their state of emotional distress. How to accomplish the letting go?

Acceptance is the key to a peaceful existence. Creating a deep mental state of being that rejects nothing is the best form of refuge there is. This means you allow yourself to be as you are. This does not mean complacency. It means actively cultivating the ability to allow yourself to receive the grace of being. ~Judith Hanson Lasater, Yoga Journal

Grace informs us that nothing is lacking, nor can we add anything to what is already perfection. In my simple existence is perfection. If I care to argue with that it is not Truth but the ego putting forth recommendations that have no significance to what is. What others have to say is again the ego (most of the time) on its way to self satisfaction and self perpetuation—all illusion as neither are permanent, will cease to exist. Bring no lasting joy. So much suffering would be ended if we all knew that everything we do is in perfect alignment with what is and could not be otherwise. Every thing we do is a learning process. We cannot be judged for wanting to grow and evolve. “Mistakes” are inevitable.

We circle and circle and circle fearful of the dive that carries us deeper, through the illusion, the patterns of conditioning (ancient and persistent) toward the mighty pulse of Reality that is the life force of all things. If all that I have on this seemingly perilous quest is an intention to be open, to hold out my hands in order to receive, my doing is ended. There is joy knowing that there is no effort required. “I” cannot make a mistake. There is no need for judgment.

With deepest and most sincere intent we embrace these powerful opportunities to embrace Self and one another until we have crossed the great divide. Peace on Earth is the dawn of every day. It pours forth from our hearts—one heart and is not extinguished. This is our prayer as we close 2019 and prepare to step into New Being.

This New Moon 11.26 7:06 a.m. (PST) at 4 degrees Sagittarius: Is in the 12th house of spirit, where all dissolves into the essence of Truth. We no longer seek, we have found. Each one of us will have an aha moment that propels us into 2020. It may feel like a Tsunami or it may feel like a gentle breeze tugging at fall leaves that willingly give way to the changing of seasons. We continue to ‘rise’, the continuing cycle sees us freer; fewer limitations.

The New Moon conjuncts the ascendant (7degrees Sag.) from the 12th house. What we bring into being at this time is a deep well of Truth and knowing. Beliefs are let go. Knowing is different than knowledge that gives a sense of pride. It is without thought that we feel an abiding peace and joy. It is that Truth. The ascendant represents what we contain and reflect on entrance into duality. This New Moon contains and reflects Truth. That is the Archer’s mantra–”I seek Truth”. What is that Truth, lest we lose sight of the goal? Truth is abiding awareness that has no beginning and no ending; that there is no separation. We understand the nature of duality and so are home.

We talked about Pallas Athena at the beginning of this article residing in Sagittarius (presently 7 degrees Sag.). It exactly conjuncts the ascendant and this New Moon. Our highest aspirations gain altitude and the warrior within will not be denied rising above. This brings us a great sense of fulfillment and satisfaction (point of fortune also at 7 degrees Sag.). It is where we most want to be.

The Archer’s flaming arrow never misses its mark. Its mark is everywhere and sets our hearts afire with desire for simple Truth. As the flames burn away what is superfluous one feels a deep sense of peace. Simplicity of ‘what is’ allows us, after a very long time to rest and Be. The joy resounds. No wonder that these Sagittarians are known for their wonderful sense of humour. They get it!

In this season of giving thanks we may express gratitude for the many synchronicities that place us in the right place at the right time. When we are open and without resistance we feel the Universe moving through us in miraculous ways that we, on some level, know can not be otherwise.

Good Monday Morning…still here?

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…are you still here?

in this beautiful light that accentuates all of your best qualities?

the only qualities that speak to my heart.

I watch as tears roll down your cheeks and a smile reaches up to the sky.

Wings spread, we fly

and in outstretched hands layers of

human reaction,

mountains appear,

immovable.

Yet time has a way of eroding

everything but the truth.

New Moon August 25, 2014: Stripped to the Bone

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fish carcass for august new moon blogNew Moon August 25, 2014 @ 2 degrees Virgo 19 minutes
05:33 a.m. EDT 02:33 a.m. PDT

In slumber the shadow crosses slowly a desolate landscape. Stunning is the austerity.
One cannot help but be affected by the stillness; the lack of distraction. Where in this dream do I fulfill my desires? The thought goes out a long way but ricochets back to me from distant boulders. Where in this place do I find my desires? I do not find that I want anything and yet I see the landscape unfolding with magnificent curves, sharp edges, soft contours and a horizon that is finally at the end of the limitless sea—perhaps. This I do not know. But ‘it’ goes on. Has nothing to do with what I want. A vulture rises from behind a high outcropping and makes big circles in the sky searching for something that has died, spirals above me. The shadow disappears.

Contributing to a vision that includes only the bare necessities is sharp insight into what serves a higher purpose. Once again the feeling is ‘being stripped to the bone’. The result is feeling raw but it doesn’t take long before a sense of wild freedom replaces vulnerability; freedom from duty and responsibility for anything other than focus upon inner peace, the stillness that we encounter when perched upon a rock in the desert in waning sunlight.

A time to allow intuitive gifts to carry one into deeper levels of expression that demonstrate a commitment to what is beyond thought; being motivated by impulse. The impulse that drives all of us forward no matter how daily life is manifested or what appears upon the big screen. Thus there is freedom to be present and enjoy the moment.

No worry or concern for what should or should not, might or might not be. Only clear insight as to the nature of existence.

The messenger is not an individual alone on a mission to establish truth in the chaos. The messenger is the collective dream that desires to know the Love that we are, the inner peace that is. The message rises repeatedly from whatever is occurring in this moment. The message sings to us, dances about us, lands heavily at our feet, wafts temptingly in our vicinity as it continues to flow in and out of experience that is limited by our sense of physicality. Let go of all belief, become the song, the dance, the air that I breathe and the impulse for home beats with such regularity all else falls away as it changes, moves out of time and disappears. What remains is the true nature.

Stripped to the bone the door flies open and the heart is free to pour forth Love into Love into Love. In the golden light my tiny shadow looms large and then in an instant is gone.

This New Moon stalks me like a cat, the vibration of its silent steps jarring awareness of all that looms about me in the dream. With laser precision I eradicate symbols and images that have long kept me prisoner here. Naturally words dissolve and every belief I have ever had lets go and tumbles out of memory. In the morning we all marvel at this spectacular sun rise.

august new moon 2014 chart

 

 

 

 

Good Monday Morning…Sweet Surrender (con’t)

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Tripping Over Joy

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God

And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.”
― Hafiz, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

I wake up for nine days with the chin of an eternally optimistic chocolate Lab resting on my hand or arm, with tail wagging and bright eyes imploring, “let’s play!” Because she is the sweetest and most well behaved critter on four legs, I surrender to the hour, 6:15, throw on some clothes, harness her up and we explore the neighborhood–new to me and always new to her no matter how many times she has sniffed that patch of ground.

She doesn’t know me but loves me regardless and I don’t know her but the feelings are mutual. It is the wonderful thing about dogs and I personally am grateful for a little extra LOVE this week! Thank you Lily.

Good Monday Morning…for the love of…

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…this glorious moment, this presence and our heart, the jewel that provides us everything.

The Stairway of Existence

We are not in pursuit of formalities or fake religious laws,

for through the stairway of existence we have come to God’s door.

We are people who need love, because love

is the soul’s life, love is simply creation’s

greatest joy.

Through the stairway of existence, O through

the stairway of existence Hafiz,

have you now come, have we now all come,

to the Beloved’s door.

–Hafiz, from a Year with Hafiz by D. Ladinsky

Good Monday Morning…for the love of…

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 Intoxicated by the Wine of Love.
From each a mystic silence Love demands.
What do all seek so earnestly? ‘Tis Love.
What do they whisper to each other? Love.
Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts.
In Love no longer ‘thou’ and ‘I’ exist,
For Self has passed away in the Beloved.
Now will I draw aside the veil from Love,
And in the temple of mine inmost soul,
Behold the Friend; Incomparable Love.
He who would know the secret of both worlds,
Will find the secret of them both, is Love.

–Farid ud Din Attar

   …the heart that leaps all bounds, expresses joy and sadness, rounds the bend and meets us face to face with light so beautiful that tears flow; the ocean spreading itself with ease and grace as every inch of us, every cell within us explodes with rapture–freedom to be that here! what a gift–thank you dear Vanessa.