BeautyDialogues

Ceremony

My friend and colleague David Sibbet, sometimes known as TurtleBone (Blessed by the Spirits of Crumbling Trees) and called Sunseed Bardeen in other worlds, has written an exquisite post about the Solstice Ceremony I made fleeting mention of in my last post.

I invite you to read it, and absolutely promise that you be charmed by his storytelling and touched by the beauty of his images. Not only will you learn some details about this ceremony, which is exquisite in itself, but he transmits a deeper understanding of what all true ceremony is about.

The Religion of Love

My annual Solstice Ceremony with good friends in the Santa Cruz mountains was deeply fabulous.

It has become a crucial yearly ritual for me in which I take the time to BE in community, within nature; a kind of gyroscope through which I re-calibrate to my own internal clock and reconnect to my inner nature.

This year's gourd, above, painted by Sue Blondell (aka Lightning Dove) and this poem, below, recited by Paul Strickland (aka Woolly Mammoth) speak for me of the essential magic of this powerful event.

The Love Religion
by Ibn Arabi

The inner space inside
that we call the heart
has become many different
living scenes and stories.

A pasture for sleek gazelles,
a monastery for Christian monks,
a temple with Shiva dancing,
a kabba for pilgrimage,
a Medicine Wheel for the People. (ok, he added that line himself)

The tablets of Moses are there,
The Qur'an, the Vedas,
The sutras, the gospels,
And the teachings of the Old Ones. (this one too)

Love is the religion in me.
And whichever way love's camel goes,
that way becomes my faith,
the source of beauty and a light
of sacredness over all things.

Matilda is 12 Today!

Staying with the Spring theme, here's a photo I took yesterday morning of my neighbor's tree. Its freshness and delicacy reminds me of my beautiful Goddaughter Matilda, who lives in England and is turning 12 today. I am dedicating this image to her, with the wish that her life continues to be blessed, and that she is true to herself always. Happy Birthday, Tilda!

The Discipline of Peace

Every Monday night a group of us have been gathering in the Medicine Wheel in Third Life where we are guided through a process by the amazing FireHawk Hulin. Each month we focus on one of the eight directions, following a pattern called the Discipline of Peace, articulated by RainbowHawk and WindEagle of Ehama Institute.

These two wise teachers have written a book on this pattern, a handbook for creating circles of what they call the First Peace, peace within ourselves. My copy arrived yesterday. The multi-talented FireHawk designed it and I am totally enchanted by its beauty.

Here's what WindEagle and RainbowHawk have to say about the NW, the direction of the wheel our group is exploring this month:

THE UNIVERSAL RELATIONSHIP OF
CO-CREATION EXISTS THROUGH
CAUSE AND EFFECT

Through cause and effect the spirit
consciousness co-creates the Universe.

CONSCIOUS DREAMING
From the diamond of the true self,
step on the high path of
higher consciousness,
open to all potential,
align all thoughts, words
and deeds to be life affirming.

Co-create with the spirit of the Universe.

This year I made panforté

This year I made panforté* for a number of my close friends and neighbors, and passed them out on Boxing Day, the traditional day (in England anyway) to exchange neighborly gifts.

As I ventured out this morning on my beauty walk, I passed the homes of two others I realized I want to share my panforté with. One of them is my fabulous neighbor, John Paul, who so generously decorates his front garden for our collective amusement, even after he had one of his prize succulents stolen a few months ago. Here's a glimpse of his latest tableau.

*Panforté is a rich Italian confection - literally translated as "strong bread" it's kind of like a dense fruitcase - made of nuts and dried fruit, spices & honey. It's crunchy (nuts) & chewy (dried fruit & honey) & you have to slice it quite thin. This year's version had almonds and pistachios, figs, white raisins, cranberries, cherries, pineapple, apricots and candied ginger.

My Life is Ace

I've been working with amazing musician and intuitive Shaina Noll on a number of projects, including her blog which will be launched in the new year. Among her many talents, Shaina offers Tarot readings over the phone and after an incredible reading she did for me earlier this year, I wanted more.

When we first started working together Shaina had sent me one of her Life Path Profiles to introduce me to this part of her work, and my profile said that this year is a very important one for me, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Since it is about to be over (on my birthday - January 31st - make a note! :-), I wanted to see whether there was anything I should be doing to take full advantage of this unique moment in time.

Our session only lasted half an hour, but it seemed timeless and I felt I had received everything I needed. The two cards I drew - one for what I had already gained in this powerful year, and the other for what opportunities might still lie before me, were absolutely perfect and Shaina's interpretation answered my questions completely.

The first card I drew was the Ace of Cups. Aces represent a pinnacle of development in the specific area of their suit, in this case cups, which represents love and relationship. If you've ever seen this card, you'll know that its archetypal image of a fountain of water overflowing the bounds of an elegant chalice is a joyful sight to behold. And it spoke so beautifully to this last year, in which I have been granted so many of my heart's desires.

Here are my notes from this part of the reading with Shaina:
The Ace of Cups has to do with deep love and appreciation of yourself. It fills your heart with the sense of self-esteem, self-honoring. Aces are the tools of the Magician card, and as such what one expresses in the world can become a blessing to others (this is my deepest wish fulfilled). In terms of the question, cups being the suit of love, drawing the ace would say that the core blessing has to do with my capacity to be a channel for a clear and loving energy. This is something that I have now and will be enriched over time.

The next card, answering my question "What's the core opportunity from now through the end of this cycle?" was the Ace of Swords. The Ace of Swords is a powerful-looking card with a mighty sword held directly upwards, cutting through a layer of clouds into a crown of brilliant light. The suit of swords corresponds to mind, and in my case its potential for achievement would most likely be in the sphere of writing and communication.

Here are my notes from this part of the reading:
Inspired Communication penetrating the clouds into the realm of spirit. The capacity is to be an inspired channel for the clearest possible energy. This ace is a card of the mind, and offers the opportunity to open my capacity for language even wider. To open my mind to a realm of communication that is more significant than any I have achieved before. It suggests an element of ease, where things just come naturally. It augurs a time when I can ask for support & guidance from Spirit, and receive it directly.

There was more, about the family of cards that support these two and how they work, but the gist was that these two aces offer an increased capacity for a clear heart and open mind to come together and communicate in a unique and powerful way.

This made me very excited, because I am going to be working on a series of videos for the World Café throughout this next month. Video is a medium I have little experience in but a strong intuition about, so I can't wait to see what comes out of me!

But mostly I wanted to share this because I think Shaina is amazing and I wanted you to know about her, in case you too would like to explore one of these incredible readings with her. (If that sounds like something you or someone you love would like, use this address to contact her: insights@shainanoll.com)

Heart of Leadership

This month's Thought Leader Gathering was explicitly about the Art of Leadership. I say explicitly because each of the TLGs supports and promotes leadership in some way, but in this session it was the focal topic.

Regular Thought Leader Gathering conveners FireHawk Hulin and Pele Chadima were the Conversation Starters and they hosted a session from the 6 month Leadership Journey they've designed with alternating sessions between their home in the Santa Cruz mountains and the Thought Leader Gatherings.

Drawing on the timeless wisdom of Medicine Wheels, FireHawk and Pele introduced a powerful exploration of four different aspects of a human being; the Adventurer, the Healer, the Warrior and the Creator.

I was pleased to have been invited to create the "beauty" of this month's altar along with Grace Gamboa and Janet Aguilar, and blessed to have two special friends join me at this event - Lisa Berg, who was visiting from Santa Fe, and my home-girl Mariah Howard, who brought her talents as a visual listener.

Global Celebration

One of the thrills in the aftermath of this election has been the excitement with which the news of Obama's win has been met abroad. My in-box is full of jubilant congratulatory emails from friends around the world and it's so joyous to see television coverage of people dancing in the streets of Kenya and naming streets after our new president-elect.

The photo above came from Ricki Bascombe in Paris, where Barak has a 95% approval rating, reporting on the massive celebrations there - launching red white and blue balloons and drinking champagne as gospel singers sang "Oh Happy Day" and thousands of people shouted "Yes We Can" in French.

My Country

photo by Marxchivist, from Flickr

As some of you may know, I spent 13 years in England fairly recently. I loved England. I love her still, that green and pleasant land will always be home in my heart, but at some point I knew I had to return to the land of my birth. Not only because I wanted to see my niece and nephews grow up and spend time with my mother as she lives into and through her 8th decade, but because my country was in such trouble (ok, I admit it. I also had a wicked craving for blueberry pancakes and maple syrup, but that was secondary; honest!).

In Europe, news of America comes mostly through the distortions of popular media and let me tell you, we look pretty bad. There is absolutely no coverage of citizen dissent or alternative views and after a while I began to question my own memories of the country I had grown up in as a somewhat low key rabble rousing radical. Even though I'd held the same views when I lived in the US, I felt like a coward criticizing her from far away, distance and shadow projection giving me the illusion I had no responsibility for what all with eyes could clearly see was wrong.

I came home in 1999 because I wanted to make a difference and address some of those wrongs. Because I wanted to be one of the voices here speaking out and sharing the positive change movements that have always been part of the idealism and drive of this country; my country.

I was in Europe during the last election returns, and I was a little surprised to see how my own abject loss and disappointment over Gore's defeat was felt just as keenly by all around me. The world clearly has a stake in the US elections, and this one more than most as the world's threatened fortunes are linked ever more closely together.

On this day, the day of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, I am filled with the anticipation of a change for my country and for my world. I'm voting for the change Barak Obama is standing up for - a change from war and corporate interest and the trickle-down theory of economics, to a healthy international and national relationship of respect and equality and the belief in the goodness and integrity of regular human beings. For green energy and a primary relationship with the earth that sustains all life. For education and health coverage (God, I miss the National Health Service!) and a way of living that respects natural limits on spending and protects our long-term interests without dismissing others'. That's the kind of change we can live with, wherever we are.

So on this day, in tribute to Obama and the creativity and optimism he inspires, I wanted to post one of my favorite videos from his campaign because it makes me tear up for gratitude and pride in the human spirit.

May our common humanity and the spirit that inhabits it carry us through this day and guide us in all the days to come.

Social Networks

E-Learning guru Jay Cross has written a fascinating post about an Aboriginal painting (note: not the one above) that he saw during a recent trip to Australia, and his reading of the imagery - comparing it with social networks and the politics of change.

But the fun doesn't stop there! Jay's readers continued to analyze the image in their comments and some valuable insights emerged. The whole post was an excellent example of both the power of art to convey meaning and the way we evolve meaning through the power of networks.