The peoples of the world are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love
I seek to serve
I seek to heal.
I reap my due reward of light and love from my pain.
My soul controls the outer form and life and all events
My soul brings to light
The love that underlies the happenings of the time.
I am open to receiving vision and insight about life’s greater purpose.
I am open to revelations of things to come.
I demonstrate inner union
And I break down outer walls of separation.
I give thanks that love is prevailing.
I give thanks that more and more people are working towards love.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Does the Blue Moon Have A Spiritual Significance?
Today's full moon is at 10 Sagittarius while the sun is at 10 Gemini. The full moon will occur at 1:04 GMT on June 1st in London. It will still be May 31st in the US and other countries west of London. These countries will experience the second full moon of May. When there are two full moons in a month it is called a blue moon. Countries east of Britain, for example, India, Australia and Japan will have a blue moon on June 30th.
Some people wonder if the blue moon means anything spiritually. I am not aware of any inherent spiritual significance of the blue moon. This is because the blue moon is not caused by the moon's relationship to other planets. Rather, it is an arbitrary creation for our time keeping purposes.
This full moon all over the world will particularly affect people whose birthdays fall on May 30th, May 31st and June 1st as well as Dec 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The natal sun of these people lies on the full moon axis.
People born in October-November 1927, July 1942, April 1943, January 1957, April-May 1972, October-November 1986 and April 2002 will be particularly affected by this full moon which falls on their natal Saturn. The effects lasts for only two weeks.
Some people wonder if the blue moon means anything spiritually. I am not aware of any inherent spiritual significance of the blue moon. This is because the blue moon is not caused by the moon's relationship to other planets. Rather, it is an arbitrary creation for our time keeping purposes.
This full moon all over the world will particularly affect people whose birthdays fall on May 30th, May 31st and June 1st as well as Dec 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The natal sun of these people lies on the full moon axis.
People born in October-November 1927, July 1942, April 1943, January 1957, April-May 1972, October-November 1986 and April 2002 will be particularly affected by this full moon which falls on their natal Saturn. The effects lasts for only two weeks.
The Strange Story of A Teenage Girl Named Kathryn
I don't know why I asked her that question.
"Do you like your name?"
"Yes," the teenager said.
"Do you mind sharing the story behind your name?"
"No, I don't mind," she said. "I love the unique spelling. Kathryn spelled with a K and a Y. My mom gave it to me. It means "Pure""
""Ekaterina is Gree," I said.
"Yes. It's Greek....I've something else to tell you."
"I'm all ears," I said.
Kathryn paused and continued after a long silence.
"My mom was adopted. When I was two years old she found her birth mother. My grandma told my mom that she didn't name her before she was given for adoption. She had wanted to name her Kathryn. The same name my mom had given me. That's another reason why I love my name."
I listened to Kathryn, speechless.
"Do you like your name?"
"Yes," the teenager said.
"Do you mind sharing the story behind your name?"
"No, I don't mind," she said. "I love the unique spelling. Kathryn spelled with a K and a Y. My mom gave it to me. It means "Pure""
""Ekaterina is Gree," I said.
"Yes. It's Greek....I've something else to tell you."
"I'm all ears," I said.
Kathryn paused and continued after a long silence.
"My mom was adopted. When I was two years old she found her birth mother. My grandma told my mom that she didn't name her before she was given for adoption. She had wanted to name her Kathryn. The same name my mom had given me. That's another reason why I love my name."
I listened to Kathryn, speechless.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Revisiting the White Buffalo Calf Woman
Mind-body connection and honoring Mother Earth
Psycho-spiritual and socio-political interpretations
A friend called me the other night and asked me if I was going to the Peace Pipe ceremony. I asked her what was the Peace Pipe? She said it is a native American ceremony. "You'll like it," she said.
It is amazing how your friends know what you will or will not like.
I was alone in this evening, so I decided to attend the Peace Pipe ceremony.
A large buffalo skin that served as an altar covered the center of the meeting space along with four bundles of native cloth for each of the pipe carriers present. I did not know what was in the bundles.
Star of David, a college professor and shaman who had toured Europe to lead workshops led the meeting. The only person I had met before attending the meeting was Sun Woman. Yet as I entered the room, I felt as if I already knew all the participants.
"It seems I've seen you before but I don't know where" was a comment I heard from almost all of the other participants. Most of them were involved in healing or counseling work.
After the drumming and singing, Star of David and those who had their own pipes told their stories. Venus retold the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman.
Once upon a time, there was a famine, and the native people who lived in the plains sent two of their young warriors to hunt for buffalo. The two young men saw a moving object that they thought was a buffalo. As it came closer, they discovered that it was not an animal at all. Rather, the most beautiful young woman you can imagine was coming closer to them, hair tied with buffalo fur, dressed in white buckskin with porcupine quills, a huge bundle in one hand, and a fan made of sage leaves in the other.
"Oh my God, what a beautiful creature!" the first warrior said.
"You're right. This is the most beautiful woman God created," the other said.
"Can't pass up this one."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to have sex with her," the first warrior said.
"Are you nuts, Dude?" the second warrior asked.
"Just can't resist this baby." The first warrior replied.
Suddenly, the beautiful young woman stretched her arms. In the heat of desire the first warrior embraced her. The two were wrapped in a whirlwind. Clouds covered the sky. When it was all over, only his decaying body and bones remained.
The beautiful young woman turned to the surviving warrior. She told him that she was the goddess come to end the famine. She told him to go back home and let the people prepare to receive her.
Four days later she appeared to the people as she had promised. She taught many things. She showed them how to use their sexual energy to create. She left them the sacred pipe. This was to remind them that their breath was holy--that the pipe can guide and console them. She taught them to honor the earth along with everyone and everything in it. She taught them to pray. She said that the sacred pipe was a symbol of peace and harmony for their interpersonal relationships. It would bring understanding between husband and wife. It would unite the community in peace and love.
She taught the women, then the children, then the young men and then the elders. After that, she left them the sacred pipe. Saying "I will come back again," White Buffalo Calf Woman went away.
This is what this story speaks to me. I have identified two layers of meaning.. I see it as psycho-spiritual metaphor and also as socio-political call to reason.
As a psycho-spiritual metaphor, the two warriors and the White Buffalo Calf woman are three aspects of me. I see the story as symbol that shows how the different parts of me mind, body and superconscious interact. The part of me that is primal, irrational, dominated by my senses is the first warrior. The White Buffalo Calf Woman is my superconscious, the spirit of God within me. She indulges me in my intense desires without judging me. She leaves me to experience the consequences of my actions. The surviving warrior is the cautious and discerning part of me. It sees beyond appearances, honoring the mystery of my true self. This recognition and honoring of the mysterious power of my higher self empowers me. When I discover this most beautiful power within me, instead of keeping it a secret to myself I tell others about it. I am sent back to my people to save them from their famine. The connection of the discerning self with the pure self is a transformative process in which the discerning self becomes an agent and emissary of the Higher Self. This partnership manifests as power that the community cannot but obey.
As a socio-political call to reason, the two warriors represent two attitudes towards human inventions and technological breakthroughs. White Buffalo Calf Woman is our technological advances. We can use these technological advances and scientific discoveries to rape Mother Earth. We can also use them to honor and respect all that is. Our choices lead to life or death.
The White Buffalo Calf Woman story is a hopeful one. If we choose to use our technologies in a way harmful to the Earth, the Great Mother will give us our wish. We will self-destruct. But the whole Earth will not be destroyed. There is always a second warrior, that One who will save the world, that one who will leave the legacies of our discoveries for posterity, the community of the future dying of hunger that sent us ahead to go hunting on their behalf.
Thank you, Sun woman, for inviting me. Thank you, Star of David, for leading the group. Thank you, Venus, for telling the story. Thank you, lady with Palm Fronds. Thank you, Louisa May Alcott. Thank you, all visible and invisible ones who were present at this Sacred Pipe ceremony.
Psycho-spiritual and socio-political interpretations
A friend called me the other night and asked me if I was going to the Peace Pipe ceremony. I asked her what was the Peace Pipe? She said it is a native American ceremony. "You'll like it," she said.
It is amazing how your friends know what you will or will not like.
I was alone in this evening, so I decided to attend the Peace Pipe ceremony.
A large buffalo skin that served as an altar covered the center of the meeting space along with four bundles of native cloth for each of the pipe carriers present. I did not know what was in the bundles.
Star of David, a college professor and shaman who had toured Europe to lead workshops led the meeting. The only person I had met before attending the meeting was Sun Woman. Yet as I entered the room, I felt as if I already knew all the participants.
"It seems I've seen you before but I don't know where" was a comment I heard from almost all of the other participants. Most of them were involved in healing or counseling work.
After the drumming and singing, Star of David and those who had their own pipes told their stories. Venus retold the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman.
Once upon a time, there was a famine, and the native people who lived in the plains sent two of their young warriors to hunt for buffalo. The two young men saw a moving object that they thought was a buffalo. As it came closer, they discovered that it was not an animal at all. Rather, the most beautiful young woman you can imagine was coming closer to them, hair tied with buffalo fur, dressed in white buckskin with porcupine quills, a huge bundle in one hand, and a fan made of sage leaves in the other.
"Oh my God, what a beautiful creature!" the first warrior said.
"You're right. This is the most beautiful woman God created," the other said.
"Can't pass up this one."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to have sex with her," the first warrior said.
"Are you nuts, Dude?" the second warrior asked.
"Just can't resist this baby." The first warrior replied.
Suddenly, the beautiful young woman stretched her arms. In the heat of desire the first warrior embraced her. The two were wrapped in a whirlwind. Clouds covered the sky. When it was all over, only his decaying body and bones remained.
The beautiful young woman turned to the surviving warrior. She told him that she was the goddess come to end the famine. She told him to go back home and let the people prepare to receive her.
Four days later she appeared to the people as she had promised. She taught many things. She showed them how to use their sexual energy to create. She left them the sacred pipe. This was to remind them that their breath was holy--that the pipe can guide and console them. She taught them to honor the earth along with everyone and everything in it. She taught them to pray. She said that the sacred pipe was a symbol of peace and harmony for their interpersonal relationships. It would bring understanding between husband and wife. It would unite the community in peace and love.
She taught the women, then the children, then the young men and then the elders. After that, she left them the sacred pipe. Saying "I will come back again," White Buffalo Calf Woman went away.
This is what this story speaks to me. I have identified two layers of meaning.. I see it as psycho-spiritual metaphor and also as socio-political call to reason.
As a psycho-spiritual metaphor, the two warriors and the White Buffalo Calf woman are three aspects of me. I see the story as symbol that shows how the different parts of me mind, body and superconscious interact. The part of me that is primal, irrational, dominated by my senses is the first warrior. The White Buffalo Calf Woman is my superconscious, the spirit of God within me. She indulges me in my intense desires without judging me. She leaves me to experience the consequences of my actions. The surviving warrior is the cautious and discerning part of me. It sees beyond appearances, honoring the mystery of my true self. This recognition and honoring of the mysterious power of my higher self empowers me. When I discover this most beautiful power within me, instead of keeping it a secret to myself I tell others about it. I am sent back to my people to save them from their famine. The connection of the discerning self with the pure self is a transformative process in which the discerning self becomes an agent and emissary of the Higher Self. This partnership manifests as power that the community cannot but obey.
As a socio-political call to reason, the two warriors represent two attitudes towards human inventions and technological breakthroughs. White Buffalo Calf Woman is our technological advances. We can use these technological advances and scientific discoveries to rape Mother Earth. We can also use them to honor and respect all that is. Our choices lead to life or death.
The White Buffalo Calf Woman story is a hopeful one. If we choose to use our technologies in a way harmful to the Earth, the Great Mother will give us our wish. We will self-destruct. But the whole Earth will not be destroyed. There is always a second warrior, that One who will save the world, that one who will leave the legacies of our discoveries for posterity, the community of the future dying of hunger that sent us ahead to go hunting on their behalf.
Thank you, Sun woman, for inviting me. Thank you, Star of David, for leading the group. Thank you, Venus, for telling the story. Thank you, lady with Palm Fronds. Thank you, Louisa May Alcott. Thank you, all visible and invisible ones who were present at this Sacred Pipe ceremony.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
The Great Invocation Revised
I still remember the blue paper it was printed on. I still remember the the connection I felt when I read it nearly 30 years ago in an African village. Over the years I have memorized, forgotten, and analyzed it. And now I feel I have overgrown some of the words. I have revised it so I can connect even better with it. Here, then, are my updated version of the Great Invocation with the hope that the words will touch the heart of someone in the global village just as they moved me when I was a teenager.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Light streams forth into the minds of all people,
Light descends on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Love is streaming forth into the hearts of all people,
The whole Earth embraces the Cosmic Christ.
From the center where the Will of God is known
Purpose is guiding the little wills of all people,
The purpose which the Elders know and serve.
From the center which we call the human race
The plan of Love and Light is working out
And it is sealing the door where evil dwells.
Light and Love and Power restores the Plan on Earth.
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Light streams forth into the minds of all people,
Light descends on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Love is streaming forth into the hearts of all people,
The whole Earth embraces the Cosmic Christ.
From the center where the Will of God is known
Purpose is guiding the little wills of all people,
The purpose which the Elders know and serve.
From the center which we call the human race
The plan of Love and Light is working out
And it is sealing the door where evil dwells.
Light and Love and Power restores the Plan on Earth.
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