The Twelve Days of Xmas and the Prelude

This of course will not be a traditional reflection as I've given up on religion in general and Jesus in particular, ie: god isn't what you think and Jesus cannot save you. That being said however, I read several wonderfully thought provoking pages this morning in the Celtic Spirit which I feel compelled to share with you. Share because one of the references mentioned taking time and space to be who we are. To actually push aside the pressures of an often frantic season and reflect on who we are or who we wish we were or in fact who we portray ourselves to be.  For me it's been a difficult year: a sister and former husband dying, a four year relationship ending, a weight loss regained and wine consumption beyond the parameters of  personally acceptable. I say this out loud because to me they seem difficult, then I compare it to any current news topic (just pick one, Ferguson, Garner, CIA Torture Report, Immigration Reform, Ebola, Any Country in the Middle East, North Korea....the list tumbles off the page),  and my life is a piece of cake in comparison. But it isn't of course, just like your life probably isn't either. We are forever trying to solve some pressing issue deep within us, sometimes making headway, sometimes failing. The key is to keep coming back.

Somehow taking time to create this entry, when I have a list a mile long to prepare for a house full of festivities, just seems like something I should really do. Something which brings me back to what I really enjoy, which is writing. And just when I'm sure I read an email and this appears One of the important opportunities of this solstice and new moon is to work on releasing all disappointments, regrets and dissatisfactions from the past year.  It's all tied together, it's a circle, we are one human family on one planet earth.....

So...my intention for these next few days is to share some of the insights from this book, which,  toward the end of December, focuses on the solstice, hearth & home, and being human. Those would be the 12 days of xmas. Two days prior, the topic is suspending your disbelief and what gifts do you really want. I'm particularly interested in 23 December when the focus turns to coming home, the preparations we make for family and friends. Perhaps you will have, or take, the time to read and reflect on your life, your family, your beliefs. For me, there are some calming and restoring inferences to temper my conflicts both personal and global. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

The 12 days plus 2 which I've chosen are December 19th through January 1st, and have no real connection to the art picture above , the song or the Christian references...it's just a title.

You may now click on this link Twelve Days to read the entries. I did not get them completed however as I became ill, posting only the 19th thru the 28th.  Perhaps it will be complete by next season!

When Wrongs Fester Without Justice

The time is long past for change.  We must admit what is taking place and take action. To say we are mistreating the poor and the black and the brown is an understatement of outrageous magnitude.  I sit here in my white skin and my white neighborhood and I'm ashamed to be living in a country where so much injustice is taking place. My only recourse is to care and continue to press on.  Once again I take a stand:

Slavery by Another Name

8 December from "The Celtic Spirit" ~ another timely reading.

          Revenge

Three incitements to revenge: screaming of female relatives, and seeing the bier of their relation, and seeing the grave of their relation without compensation__triad from Laws of Hywel Dda

Both the Welsh laws of King Hywel Dda (HOO'wel THA) and the Irish brehon laws understood the deep-seated nature of revenge upon people who receive neither compensation nor apology for their wrongs. 

When wrongs fester without justice, revenge raises up its own host to deal with things. When we are pondering the causes of terrorism or vendetta, we should remember that these abuses arise among a people when appropriate compensation or justice is denied. The causes of revenge lie deep in the human heart: a need for revenge is evoked by loo, grief, anger, the inability to gain compensation or redress, the bold-faced behavior of the guilty, the desire to cause a like injury in the guilty "so they can see what it feel like."

Revenge can be maintained beyond the grave and cascade from generation to generation down the bloodline until all descendants are likewise infected by the disease. When revenge enters the bloodstream of a whole nation, then we face a situation that has defied boardrooms of arbitrators and peace-brokers. Proponents of terrorism seek redress on behalf of countries and nationalist sensibilities that they perceive have been abused or neglected. Terrorists are fueled by ancestral appeasement: they are no longer individuals with ordinary concerns but the living incarnation of ancestral revenge feuds. 

If peace and reconciliation are to be brought about, the wronged party must be listened to seriously and the source of the injury must be investigated by impartial witnesses. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the matter, the release of forgiveness is the only sure balm to revenge.

How has revenge been a factor in your own life and that of your ancestors? What solutions have been found to be acceptable?

Are we going to let this continue?

 

 

 

The images of  police brutality were so horrific and I did not take time to positively verify so I have not posted them. I recommend you take a look however, the reality of their suffering is beyond my comprehension and very possibly yours.....

The Practice of Being Human

The following passage is from an old reference of mine called The Celtic Spirit:

Integrity in Work

Whether we work for an employer or are self-employed, whether we have retired or are taking a sabbatical from work, the integrity of our actions contributes to the universal web of life. If an employer begins to bend the rules for his own benefit, then his staff may be tempted to follow his example. One person's actions may affect the company in such a way that certain positions or products are canceled, for who robs one, robs all. Occupations that strip the earth of its resources or leave it polluted are easy to target as culpable of gross theft and planetary vandalism, yet the actions of everyone living enable such results to some degree.

To be in right relationship to our universe, a certain integrity and code of practice in our work and actions is necessary. Most of us have no explicit code by which to steer, but what we value is revealed when we consider why and for whom we are conscientious in our work and actions. Surely it is not only our employer or fellow workers who inspires us to do well but those who consume or use what we make, or our families who are supported by our work.

Hands that work are the partners in manifestations of the unseen world where in Spirit (by whatever form or forms we recognize it) is the keeper, maker and inspire of all that is. Any code of practice must first apply to the sacred source of spiritual inspirations to keep its actions pure, to operate from the highest motives, to irrigate all work from the wellspring of integrity.

What is your code of practice for your occupation and your actions in general? 

This is offered as a moment of reflection as we move into the holiday season. Those of you who happen on my blog are likely the choir. We believe we are giving this life our best shot. May we simply take time once in a while to dig a little deeper into our "wellspring of integrity." The example we set with our  considered thoughts, words and actions may very well be our greatest contribution.

What does it mean to be in right relationship to our universe?

Approaching the Solstice

Winter Farm_Brian Kuether Studios

December

Month of December ~ the shoe is covered with dirt:

Heavy the land, flagging the sun;

Bare are the trees, still the muscle.

__anon. Welsh Poem

To Quieten Our Mind

 Wishing to share thoughts with you but totally preoccupied with weeding my flower beds!  Here is a post a friend on FB posted...10 Great Reasons to Meditate.  I think I like #6 best...or maybe 9.  Enjoy....or relax!

On time with your Self

Spring view from my 2nd floor window

Sometimes it actually happens: being on time with my Self.  This morning, before reading Solar Seal White Wizard I posted this comment:

Yesterday, In my neighborhood the trees burst forth in spring green, and today was the first morning I woke before the birds and the cat with a desire to actually get up! Windows are open, the air is warm and moist. I think winter is over. Natural Time clocks have reset.

"Being receptive to your inner autonomous sense of timing ~ being on time with your Self~ assures you will naturally be on time with your outer reality; Enchantment emerges from receptivity to the expanse of the present moment."...actually does happen!...sometimes.

The Lunar Tone for Today is #12 the cooperation of individual ~ community ~ individual ~ the collective....hand and glove working together.

That's it for today.  The birds are singing like crazy, it's 6 a.m.....time to get outside!

Arise, then, women of this day!

Mothers' Day Proclamation: Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870

Mother's Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons. 

This link will tell you of her activism

 Julia Ward Howe ~ 1819 to 1910. 

Below is the Proclamation she wrote in 1870 .

          ......................................

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,

whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by

irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking

with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be

taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach

them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another

country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From

the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance

of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons

of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a

great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,

to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the

means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each

bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,

but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a

general congress of women without limit of nationality may be

appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at

the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the

alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement

of international questions, the great and general interests of

peace.

Julia Ward Howe

Boston 

1870

Seeds

Untitled

Dawna Markova

May I, may you, may we
not die unlived lives.
May we choose to inhabit our days,
to allow our living to open us,
to make us less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen our hearts
until they become wings,
torches, promises.
May each of us choose to risk our significance;
to live so that which comes to us as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which comes to us as blossom
goes on as fruit.

2009  My Seeds
Zora, Me, Alison (w/Scarlett), Hillary holding Stella

This poem crossed my path this morning.  I read it at dedication ceremony when we mixed the ashes of my parents together and put them into the ground in Gunnisonville Cemetery.

1944 ~ Columbia, S.C.

Here are a few of my favorite photos
of my Mom and Dad.
With pictures following
of Alan and Gail.
Our family of seven
has been reduced to three. 

1952 ~ Palmer House Hotel ~ Chicago

1980 ~ Gulf Shores, AL

1978

2006 ~ Thanksgiving Day


Alan Bryce Henry ~ September 3, 1957 to May 19, 1979
LeRoy Jerome Henry ~ September 15, 1923 to December 15, 2007
Lois Ophelia (Butts) Henry ~ January 23, 1922 to February 7, 2008
Priscilla Gail Farrell ~ July 18, 1949 to March 31, 2014

....and that which comes to us as blossom goes on as fruit!

2013 ~ Scarlett, Zora, Stella

Detached or Dangling?

At first blush this affirmation seemed an encouraging lofty ideal, but the more I thought about it the more complicated it became.  What is this assertion actually saying?

It strikes me that owning nothing is not detachment in the first place.  Owning nothing likely has more to do with lack... of income for starters, of education, of access to a living wage, of a support network (family, friends or community), of good health, of luck.  It might also have to do with lack of....energy, ambition, encouragement, self esteem,  hope.  All of these being an essay unto themselves.

So owning nothing might not be the focus here, but detachment, and if so, from what? Are we to detach ourselves from persons, places and things?  Distancing ourselves from people, does that eliminate love, friendship, family?  Can we be attached to kindred spirits and yet be detached? Where might the line between attached to the point of suffocating and detached to the point of nurturing be? Do we carry on, marching to our own drum and avoid friendships of people, care nothing about our partners, children or parents. And what about the death of a person we are attached to, do we slide into a deep depression, toss them aside with the attitude...people die all the time.   Do we give a wide berth to the security of place: home, church, community or even loving a vacation spot or treasured vista?

And what about things? Detachment to the point of not going into deep depression when something is lost...as in stolen, broken is not as difficult a task as losing someone. ( Death takes a toll but it too can be calmed with time and does not own us.) However all too often we can become attached, desperately, to things, as in possessions or the accumulation of them.  And attached to actions, beliefs, efforts, can also destroy our lives if their intent becomes contrary to the general good of humanity....which too is up for widespread disagreement!

Being owned, ourselves, by our own attachment to situations is a personal demon we continually struggle against. Or perhaps we don't struggle, but simply flow with the current of time and events and become the person we are with little resistance to our circumstances.  And sometimes we are happy. And sometimes we are not.

Which brings me around to my on going frustration with the citizenry..that being us!...being owned by big money. Big money which seems to own our Democracy, which maybe was never a democracy in the first place, we just were to naive to notice. Hasn't the top 1% been the ruling class all along? Which is the third topic for another conversation!

I would like to think I'm owned by a few important values and have solved a few of my own attachments. I have no answers, only dangling questions for your own thoughtful minds.

Blue Spring

One of my favorite Solar Seals is  the fourth archtype, Yellow Seed ~ Kan described by Ariel Spilsburg in her Mayan Oracle, "all seeds hold the holographic power of their completion." We've gone from Imix~birth; to Ix~breath; to Akbal~dreams; and now Kan~ flowering.

In just the few days this blog has existed I've learned the difficulty or life span of a flowering!  Know I will continually be working on this site but the unlikelihood of a daily post is becoming a reality.  I hope you will read the Pages which continue to grow.  Each of us have a unique ability to glean our own inspiration from the thoughtful words of others.  We are a complete flower from the day we are conceived.  All we have to do is bloom as the blue flowers of spring:

Chionodoxa luciliae (glory of snow)

anemone

lungwort

It has been a bit of a blue spring as we have waited not so patiently for the earth to warm. Today it seems everything is growing, desperate , more likely determined, to get on with it.  Perhaps we have something to learn ....

mystery lily

These flowers are all in my yard (however the images are from the web!)....and does anyone know exactly what the white flower is...note it does have a white stripe in the leaf??? ...and it has not yet blossomed, just curious.

Established in Being, Perform Action

A wonderful combination of energies today.  Established in being, perform action, Imix, Red Dragon while affirming ourselves, we embody the highest qualities of internal and social architecture, Crystal Tone 12.

This Seal starts the cycle over again. We are free to shake off any lingering residue from the past few weeks, re-establish who we are. Begin again.  However the tone today, being the high number 12, what they are calling complex stability,  adds the powerful consideration: embody the highest qualities of internal and social architecture.

Marc Chagall ~ I and the Village

Such a powerful statement is likely to leap out at you as it did for me...My life has been a bit bumpy the last few months, a couple of completely irritating incidents. Totally unbecoming language flew from my tongue. Anger lashed out as I sought to defend my point of view.  How frustrating when we lose control of our Being. Guilt, sorrow and more anger ensued as I instantly recognized the impropriety.  One of the difficulties we all share in these kind of situations is ego! Each on our own path! Cooperation is infrequently the focus.  We then have to suddenly regroup, tend only to our own architecture, take small correcting measures to regain a modicum of grace. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

This blog then is a forum to explore once again the meditations and affirmations piled up in books around me. Gather insight, perform action. By creating these writing in a public forum instead of ranting in private journals the time and effort required to compose and edit my thoughts seems to allow for a deeper reflection and a chance at balance.  I trust this endeavor might give you too...a moment of reflection...as we continue toward a better tomorrow! Ahau and Amen.

Master Your Senses

Master your Senses

What you taste and smell,

What you see and what you hear.

In all things be a master

Of what you say and do and think,

Be Free.

Are you quiet?

Quieten your body.

Quieten your mind.

Be of your own efforts.

Waken yourself, watch yourself,

And live joyfully.

Follow the truth of the way. 

Reflect upon it.

Make it your own.

Live it.

It will always sustain you.

         ~from the Dhammapada

Tower of Intention

I may have just a quick note today, it has to do with codes, symbols, repetition of affirmations, Bible verses....

As you will have noticed, I've taken up reading the 13-Moon Calendar.  Today the tone is nine. Without looking at the reference the words came to me "Tower of Intention", the reminder ...what we put our attention on grows stronger in our life.

Ego Above All

No matter what we focus upon, it will begin to influence our everyday thoughts and actions, be it work or play, politics or religion, exercise or couch potato.....How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives.  We are hugely influenced by what we think, see and do...

The key would be to notice and decide....how's that workin' for ya?

One of my favorite affirmations Master Your Senses will be the next separate post.

The Harmony of Spring Rain & Twittering

As in song birds not tweets.

Cacophony?

I had to repost this piece of artwork (I stole from the post of a FaceBook friend) so you could see it larger as it seems to represent what crossed my mind this morning:

Key word today is Harmony (8): The essence self (5)  plus the energy of the trinity (3).  This particular trinity consisting of one...self or purpose; two...bonded to another or a challenge; three...moving forward into service.

Harmony then is Love Made Visible!

As I listened to the twittering of the truly hundreds of birds in the neighborhood, their songs were not harmonious, they were cacophonous!  So I just listened, felt the light rain on my face and heard a dozen different songs, not competing, certainly not in the harmony of my thinking, but never the less in harmony with the morning dawn.  They were singing in the rain.

Just like this picture originally titled " Burden of Dreams" we have a lot on our minds. We are bombarded from every direction with to do lists, kids schedules, relationship dramas, fantasies, regrets about the past, and worries about the future. We make it nearly impossible to center ourselves in the present and be in harmony with ourselves, let alone those around us.

Orion Nebula

So consider this when a brief moment of mindfulness descends upon you...Allow the twittering to become songs, take a breath of fresh air and imagine humanity, our world and our universe as One. We and our tweets are not the center of the cacophony but a speck within the immensity of the crystal galaxy!

Those wonderful moments when all else falls away and harmony overtakes us,we are... Love Made Visible.

Challenging? No Kidding!

Moving right along with the Mayan Calendar, today's glyph:

Yellow Warrior
"Fearless is not a reduction of fears, but rather the capacity to go beyond fear...discovering fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart."

Now just wait until you read the recommended  approach to accomplishing this.  Honestly if you are looking for a serious belly laugh this should do it because it is quite a list. Naturally all the points are to be well recommended, but talk about Great Expectations!.....here goes:

The spirit of the Yellow Warrior invites us to:

• access divine guidance
• circulate fresh analysis of our convictions to assure they represent our truths
• question our assumptions
• confront uncharted terrain
• exercise keen awareness
• embrace challenge by recognizing is as the ever-present gift of growth
• understand obstacles as opportunities to strengthen ourselves
• apply mindfulness, precision, and will
• question all appearances, reference points and information to gain deeper insight and intelligence
• question and confront fears in order to release their hold and transcend them
• apply one-pointed focus and determination cautiously proceeding towards goals while remaining unweighted by expectations

I guess the point of this blog is to express my own reaction to passages which inspire me to carry on and improve, not just exist.  This particular glyph is one of the three that travel with me (you might want to determine your own glyph info from the Star Root Day Calendar to grasp this) and it's in the location of Challenging.  No kidding.  The last point listed, ...cautiously proceed toward goals...unweighted by expectations...is the real challenge. 

Every moment we face opportunities to make a choice about our reactions, whether it be a person...family, friend or foe...or political or religious differences of opinion...or something as benign as traffic or cold coffee.  To keep from freaking out every other minute we need to go back to the ...softness of the human heart.  Go back to our own heart, take a breath, and proceed.  I'm not saying be trampled upon, but make mindful choices.  Our expectations of others are generally huge, or at least mine are.  It's the hardest thing I have to accomplish I believe.  We just want others to be like we want them to be....and they might not want it also!  They are already them.  You are already you.  I am already me.  We have to back off and figure out a way...to be...peaceful....whether it be a relationship, a family, a neighbor, a community, or a country.

Tone Seven:  Channel ~ Inspire ~ Attunement
"Seven has its unique symmetry relation to 1 and 13, the alpha and the omega of the Mayan number harmonic.  At the center of the pattern, 7 represents the magic by which the whole holds together."

Humans are resonant beings...whatever energies we are exposed to, we have the ability to resonate with, or vibrate at like frequency with.  Notice how our moods can be influenced by the channel on the radio and the emotional , physiological, or mental states which are evoked by the music's vibration, By accessing keen perception of energies and vibrations, we can be more selective of what we bring into our field of play.  This discernment directs us to find our own state of right-alignment within any situation as well as surround ourselves with what inspires us.  Our mystic power is the strength of our personal attunement!

So you can see how matching up Tone Seven with Yellow Warrior today, given we have now read this info, we might be more prepared to tap into these resources.  When faced with a difficult situation there is a chance we might remember to think of tone seven and simply step aside and avoid it completely or if we choose to confront uncharted terrain, we will proceed realizing how our own emotional state needs to remain in balance as the situation may be likely to change our vibrational energy in a heart beat.

All of this is simply working at becoming more aware of what we are doing, as often as possible.  Think before we speak.  Walk with grace. Smile.

A step into the Mayan Calendar...Starroot...and Dreamspell

I am Cimi Ten ~ White Planetary World Bridger

The Mayan Calendar where you can find your personal combo as well as the daily combination is a rather convoluted affair with tones and glyphs, kin numbers, harmonic and a Tzkolin grid.  It is however fascinating and moves you through a never ending combinations of...progress.  It's like two wheels, one with 20 cogs and the other with 13.  They continuously match up differently as shown here on this site 13-Moon Natural Time Calendar.  (don't let some of the artwork freak you out :o)

I followed these readings quite 'religiously' for some time, then it fell away as many things do.  With the recent deaths of my sister and former husband I've found the need to return to reading which gave me purpose and allowed reflection and inspiration.  Of course the day I decided to begin again was my own planetary birthday Kin 166.  Today however is Blue Eagle, tone six (these writings are taken directly from the 13-Moon Natural Time Calendar):

Tone 6 Rhythmic:   Organize - Balance - Equality
     "Music is behind life, and rules life; from music springs all life.  The whole creation exists in rhythm and in a general phrase, it may be said that there is one common source of human disease; and that is disorder in rhythm." - Hazrat Inayat Khan

Blue Eagle:  Creates - Vision - Mind
     "The journey towards perfections means rising above limitations; rising so high that no the horizon of one country or one continent only is seen, but that of the whole world. The higher we rise, the wider becomes the horizon of our view" -Hazrat Inayat Khan

So we have Blue Rhythmic Eagle....sounds like rise up singing to me.

Sticks and A New Dawn

Looking at the budding oaks I realize how I prefer open branches to the leaf covered, hot summer canopy.  The air is fresher, the sky more visible, there is a freedom.  An odd fear swept over me as I thought of yet another change.