BeautyDialogues

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.

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.

On the Mountain

All those who live in my region are blessed by the presence of a sacred mountain, Mount Tamalpais, who shelters and graces us with her presence. She was sacred to the Native Americans who lived along these shores long long ago, and she is sacred still to those of us who know her.

I was driving over this very mountain Sunday on my way to Bolinas, and I had an experience that I wanted to share with you here. But before I could write it, I found myself in my Medicine Wheel circle on Second Life telling the story:

"It was one of those foggy wet days we get here (when we're lucky :-) and everything had that rain-drenched glow - all the colors standing out rich and deep like river stones in a glass of water. There were streams crashing white against the dark rocks that held their banks and trees like arcs of green tinged with a still lighter hue; prism drops of rain-light falling from them."

image by Eric in SF, found on Flickr

"It was so enchanting. I was lost in admiration and just so grateful, feeling the gift of this world - experiencing the infinite beauty of each tiny part. I heard myself think, "Darn! I wish I had brought my camera!"

But then I realized that it was a blessing, this time, not to have it and instead to feel the record of that perfect drive etched on my skin, captured in my eye's membrane instead of the camera lens. In that moment I felt the full power of my work as "Record Keeper"; the sacred work of keeping my eyes open, keeping them clear so I can see the beauty in this life and share it with others."

So, on this day I didn't bring my camera, and that triggered the epiphany, but there are many ways to record the beauty of this world, and I plan to try as many of them as I can. That's part of my work as a Record Keeper, a Light Bearer.

We light-beings are precious to each other, and to those around us, especially in these times - our light is truly needed now. Here is my prayer for all of us: May we be strong and clear. May we see the beauty around us, even in these days of darkening and fear. May we become beacons of light, sharing the beauty & clarity we see with those around us. And may they too be strengthened by our vision.

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)

Yellow

The blaze of yellow
Vincent
mistook for God
reveals again
its sacred name.

~ David Whyte, from "The Painter's Hand"
(click here to read the full poem)

Mary Oliver's Poetry

Las night I went to hear the legendary poet Mary Oliver read. It warmed my heart to see the hall packed for this white-haired woman whose philosophy after all is so simple - kindness and attention to beauty are its main principles.

When asked about her daily practice, Oliver said she wakes every morning to witness (my word) the dawn and give thanks for another day, then she eats breakfast, takes a walk with her dog Percy, and works for 3-4 hours, at which point she is tired. Hers sounds pretty much like a perfect life to me.

Mary Oliver is one of those old-fashioned wordsmiths who doesn't use a computer - she writes her drafts and revises them on a notepad before transcribing the finished work on a series of old typewriters (if they stop working she lets them rest under her chair for a few weeks, when, she says, they are almost always miraculously healed and ready to go again).

From her latest volume, Red Bird, "Invitation":

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude–
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

The red bird motif runs through this sweet book of love like a red thread of inspiration, ending finally with the poem Red Bird Explains Himself.

Lily

Most commonly an image is used to illustrate text, but in this case I think the image is the main event, and anything I could write would be secondary (click on it to see a larger version).

Is it speaking to you too? What do you hear?

Be the Change

I get occasional mail from KarmaTube sharing inspirational videos, and this one was so good I wanted to share it with you here on the Beauty Dialogues. It's 2 minutes of pure 'Yes We Can", set in a traffic jam in India.

Be the Change! Do that seemingly small thing, and see what happens...

Co-Creation

The always delightful Barbara Marx Hubbard has an intriguing theory about why we sometimes "click" with each other in such profoundly generative ways ...

I've often experienced the thrill of creative communion she talks about, and I love the provocative twinkle in her eyes when she names it as she sees it. Of course we'd all be feeling pretty good too, if we'd stimulated as much vocational arousal in the world as she has. :-) What a Beauty!

Doing "Nothing"

Out and about on this morning's beauty walk, I happened to ask a neighbor about his holidays, which he said he'd spent pretty much "doing nothing". That sounded like absolute bliss to me.

I've been reading David Lynch's Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, and in it he says it takes up to 4 hours of uninterrupted time, most of it quite literally doing nothing, to produce just one hour's worth of creative output.  His book is a poetic and scientific inquiry into that "nothing" - specifically training ourselves through meditation to "dive deep" for the big ideas that fuel a creative life. He describes the bliss on the other side of meditation as a "thick beauty".