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…Our Daily Bread…

We are blessed, for we not only have bread to eat, but milk, meat,  fruit and drink. When I sit before a meal, even a simple peanut butter & jelly sandwich, I thank the wheat that waved in the wind, shining in the sun, taking up nutrients for my body to use. I thank the sugar cane and fruit of the vine for it’s flavor & sweetness. I thank the peanut, living underground, wrapped in the dust of our ancestors, growing so that my life may be sustained so I can bring truth to all. I thank the clouds that brought rain and the people who work hard to make everything come to fruition.

When we honor and acknowledge the gift, the beauty, the sacredness around us, it infuses our life with conscious gratitude that is a platform for compassion, openness and joy.  When we nourish our bodies it is important to be mindful of what crosses our lips. When we eat, it is not only for sustenance for life but for enjoyment of the gifts that this life gives us.

Be mindful tonight of the sources of your sustenance. Give thanks greatly so you can enjoy heartily that which you need so you can continue in your unique way, the gift that you have been bestowed. LIFE!

Today was a unique day in which I attended a funeral of a friend. If being loved is a measure, then his portion is going to be very missed in this world. I learned a lot from this sunshine smile hippie God-loving devoted family man. His death came at age 58; way too soon. He was someone who truly enjoyed his life. He rode his motorcycle to work everyday. He was always happy and so friendly. When I was seriously ill this man made my day with his kindness by giving me some pictures that he had taken & printed off his computer for me. It was the little things he did that meant so much to people. I had never attended a funeral with so many people. There were over 300 people there! The lady who works the counter at the local pizza joint where he would often have lunch even showed up to his funeral! That is someone who has made an impact on even the simple person’s life. It takes someone mighty special to touch so many lives and change them forever. We miss you! Thanks for all the good times, your kindness & generosity and your easy smile! You were your own brand of sunshine!

To balance my day I found out I’m going to be a new auntie! So the cycle continues. As the old and not so old, die away, there is a promise of new, emerging life, right at the brink of it all.

It is important to know that this life is finite. That fact denotes that we are here to do something important and we can’t waste time not getting the important things done. The trick is having your priorities straight and knowing what is important in this life.

Be sure and tell your loved ones how you feel about them. Take a moment and hug your child extra lovingly and extra long! Gaze into your partners eyes and really see them. Call a friend. Find your smile and share it. We can all be heart to heart if we really wanted to be. It all starts with some love in your heart that puts a smile on your face.

The first place to start is to create a sacred space. Find a place in your yard that you can devote making a Medicine Wheel upon the ground. It can be under a tree, in a field or even among a garden or lawn. The first stones you will want to start out with are the sacred 4 directions, North, South, East & West. Using a compass find due North and work from there placing South next, then West then East. Getting to know the different elements of each direction helps give balance & focus for each season. Honoring the cycles of the earth, life and the seasons is a way for us to find continuity and touchstones of connectedness and familiarity that bring comfort and delight.

Use this space to come to to pour out your heart, ask for guidance, give thanks for your many blessings and to open, ask & listen. Making an external symbol of inner sacred workings is a powerful way to raise consciousness and connect with the earth around you.

One of the great ways to connect with nature is to watch & hear the wind. We live in a valley and everyday like clockwork around 3 p.m. the wind starts up. Not only can I stand outside and hear the wind coming before it gets here but sometimes the wind is so high that it’s only in the treetops and not touching the ground. I have several wind chimes hanging on the porch that signal the wind or a sudden, unexpected storm.

Spiritually or energetically, I love to send heartfelt wishes to my loved ones far away. And I love to send random love & compassion on the wind to find an aching heart of someone in need. Wishing on the wind is a lot like praying but instead of sending it up you send it forward to be caught by an open soul, like an unexpected smile, heart to heart. Try to hear if the wind has a song,  memory,  wish or dream upon it for you. Don’t feel silly doing this. If you do feel silly, so what? Do it anyways! We have more to learn from the foolish than the wise! Emotions are energy in motion and even though they are intangibles, they are very real energies. Use them kindly, use them often and use them compassionately. Like a boomerang, they will find their way back to you.

Preserving nature is an integral part of being a spiritual person. Nature has so much to share and gifts to teach us if we will only take the time to stop, look and listen (or ask the right questions!) Be it as simple as letting a daddy long legs spider live in the corner of your laundry room, to feeding and watering the birds, your service to animals will bring you joy. One year we made a Christmas tree for the birds from a tree in our landscaping. We hung pine cones smeared with peanut butter and rolled in wild bird seed. We strung popcorn, suet blocks and apple cores. It was a thrill to see the birds all come and feast in the cold of the season. We felt peace knowing that they would be sustained throughout the cold winter. Not that nature can’t provide, but if we can supplement nature then wildlife can really thrive and do well amid the stresses of modern life.

To nurture nature is sacred. To stop and reflect upon nature is truly divine.

Using your care of nature as sacred ritual is important. Caring for nature puts one in the role of responsibility, which simply means; the ability to respond. To respond to nature’s specific needs is essentially service. And to serve is to find your greatest joy. Find your joy in feeding the birds seeds & millet or nectar for the hummingbirds. You can make butterfly gardens and feeders too. I have a birdbath that at night also serves the nocturnal frogs, lizards and the occasional snake. I feed the wild birds seed and grain that I give to my chickens-cracked corn and wheat. We have a couple of doves who came the 1st year we began feeding the birds and they would always join in right next to the chickens to get their daily grains. The next year they came as a trio, bringing a new little fledgling to feast. We are blessed to live in the forest. This means also we have a forest full of animals & insects. Caring for their needs and fostering an environment for them to thrive in is a great joy and privilege. Caring for nature puts many important things into a perspective that fosters a greater awareness of the world around. There is magic in nature. From the tiny seed that grows into a towering tree to the beauty and form of a spider’s intricate web. Nature has so much to teach us, if we will only stop to notice.

One of the first sacred practices of the Native American Indians that I utilized was making a medicine wheel. A medicine wheel can be as small as some stones in sand on a desk top or larger stones in a garden, lawn or secluded area of the yard. Bring a compass and put marker stones at North, South, East & West. Some traditions acknowledge above & below without a stone marker. Each direction has it’s own character. Four is a sacred number representing complexities we find in nature & being. The Four Aspects of Human Personality-the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual; The Seasons-fall, winter, spring and summer; The Four Stages of Life-childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and elders; The Races-red, white, black and yellow; The Four Elements-earth, air, fire & water.

I will be posting more about making your own medicine wheel and the symbolism therein. It can be as simple or elaborate as you’d like. It’s a great way to acknowledge and build community with Spirit. Please join me!

All the seasons have important lessons to teach us. One of the main lessons in Autumn is that our abundance is here! It’s a time to harvest and gather. Time to bundle up, hunker down and keep warm. It’s a time to share. It’s a time to let go of what isn’t useful anymore. Like the trees do with their leaves; let all the old, withering stuff fall to our feet to fertilize, mulch and protect us thru the winter’s bitter cold & wind. Take stock of the harvest this season. Do you have enough to share or is it going to be bare bones? Native American Indians use to gauge the intensity of the winter by the size of the acorns on the oak trees. It’s time to shelter those less fortunate and more fragile then ourselves. We fortify the chicken coop with straw for warmth & comfort. We put draft stops at the base of the door to keep the chilly fingers of jack frost from nipping our nose & toes. We make hearty pots of thick soups full of nature’s bounty to sustain us. We burn wood for warmth. The glow mesmerizes and comforts us.

Fall is a time to let go of what isn’t working for us anymore. Whether it’s a job, a relationship,  or an attitude or outlook we no longer have a use for, or a unwelcome memory. Spread your limbs and let that which no longer actively serves you to fall away and serve you as fertilizer & mulch for what the new seasons brings. It’s not a time of loss. It’s a time of separating out that which works and that which no longer works for us anymore. Let the inner warmth and abundance of the season nourish & sustain us, heart, mind, body & soul.

Autumn is not the time to hang on to baggage. Though it is a time to go thru and find the slippers, sweaters, wool socks & jackets that we put away so many months ago. It’s the time to protect and hold, to keep safe that which will keep us best thru the winter so we can be again renewed in the spring.

So what is peace, anyways? Absence of war? Silence? Stillness? How do we find peace in a war torn world?

As Mother, war is the ultimate atrocity. It distills down the miracle of conception, creation, birth & child-rearing into a mere industry of human commodity for the consumption of corrupt peoples running powerful governments. It devalues everything we value most;  our children, the children of the world and the future. War is the ultimate disgrace and insult to life & humanity. Can the Mother find peace during war? She not only seeks peace, she seeks justice. She seeks a world where wisdom and grace supersede greed and destruction. She seeks this not for herself but for her children. She would gladly give herself in a pact to end all war forever. That is how far the Mother is willing to go. We will never find peace or balance as a whole until we honor the Mother and her creation as precious and sacred. It is only then that we will have the inner eye to our heart of hearts wide open and functioning as we were intended; intelligently, with thoughtfulness and prevailing compassion and peace. Now that’s is revolutionary!

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.  -Issac Asimov

“… Move beyond any attachment to names.” Every war

and every conflict between human beings has happened because

of some disagreement about

names. It’s such an unnecessary foolishness, because just

beyond the arguing there’s a long

table of companionship, set and waiting for us to sit down.

“What is praised is one, so the praise is one too, many jugs being poured

into a huge basin. All religions, all this singing, one song.

The differences are just illusion and vanity.

Sunlight looks slightly different

on this wall than it does on that wall and a lot different

on this other one, but

it is still one light. We have borrowed these clothes, these

time-and-space personalities,

from a light, and when we praise, we pour them back in.

mevlana jelaluddin rumi - 13th century

Practice moving beyond attachment by consciously using no words. You may have to close your eyes. We have a tendency to name and mentally say names of different things we see in our environs. For this exercise, let’s close our eyes. Have no TV or radio on. Make the sacred sound of the OHM, vibrating the ‘O’ in your chest, the ‘H’ in the throat and the ‘M’ on the lips. OHM carefully over and over until you become a vibrating tone of chest, throat, lip symbol speak. Say it until it makes no sense and you blur into the vibration. This is beyond attachment. This is the the place of wonder,  the child’s eye, that we can hope to distill down into an elixir that vitalizes our life. This is the gateway to the source of exploring the language of the soul. After doing this exercise, I recommend drawing a mandala or wheel of life. Find creative expression for the intangibles experienced and create so you can make your inner language manifest real for you to see.

Wage peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists
and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, memorize the words for thank you in three languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief
as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.

Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious:

Have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.

wage peace - judyth hill - september 12, 2001

What this poignant poem tells us is that peace begins with us. When we are steady in our lives, keeping at task. When we take time to enjoy the beauty is when we are most alive.

Breath in the peace that you can create in your life. Close the doors to the confusion, let the mind shuffle it all on it’s own to land where it may, far away from distracting you from the delights of your day. Have every step you take be a heartbeat for peace. Let every breathe you breath be the wind that brings us all closer to this vital goal.

When my son a baby, I remember being up with him nights when he wasn’t feeling well. I would rock him in the old rocker, long into the morning hours. I imagined the rocking of all the chairs the mamas were in, soothing their children, like some kind of magical weaving machine. As we all rocked, we created peace and comfort, like invisible threads knitting & weaving blankets of invisible comfort, uniting us all together, family human.

Doing mindful things like this puts us in a reflective and conscientious mode. We may be plodding along in our lives but we are leaving precious, silken threads of hope and sanctuary to gather around us.

Blessed are the rockers & peacemakers!

1 tsp of rose water (optional)
3 T. sea or Kosher salt
1 small bowl of spring or rainwater
1 clean glass container
a hand mirror
a small bell to ring in ceremony
1 storage bottle
Cleanse and sterilize the bowl and decanting bottle.
Insure that you have privacy.
Time: Night, during a Full Moon phase.
Place: Outside under the moon, or near a window that shines the light of the moon.
Set up your sacred work space with all the ingredients.
Take as many deep breaths you need to relieve the stress of the day.
Cast your sacred circle. Hold your arms outstretched in the Goddess position, arms out at the sides like you are cradling the Universe, palms up. Ring the bell 3 times saying:
Bathed in the cloak of the shine of the moon
At this timely full moon hour
I call upon the Ancient Power
I seek the presence of the Lady and Lord
To bless this water and make it holy.
You can substitute any words you prefer. The idea is to acknowledge the power of the universe as creative and holy.

Feel the energy move through you. Feel your own energy expand around you, uniting you with Divinity. Acknowledge the power the moon has on water through the tides and know that you are infusing the energy of life & healing into the water under the gaze of Her by the light of the moon. Take your time.

Add the rose water, if desired, to the spring water. Pick up the bowl of water, hold it toward the moon, and say:
In my hands I hold the essence of the Goddess, and all the abundance She gives in life. I cleanse and consecrate this water to Divinity that it may aid me in my sacred work.

Feel the energy of the Moon Goddess draw down into the water. You may feel a sensation. Honor sacred mystery through joyous prayer and uplift your heart, mind and soul into the bathing light.
Sit the water down and pick up the salt. Feel the power moving in your arms as you raise the salt toward the moon. Say: In my hands I hold the essence of Earth Mother, She whose abundance sustains all living creatures. I consecrate this salt to Divinity that it may aid me in my sacred work.

As with the water, imagine the energy of the Moon Goddess infusing Her energy in the salt.
Pour a little salt into the bowl of water and stirring, say: Ancient ocean, river, rain waters, that feed all life, our ancestors and been our very tears. Cleanse us as you have before.
Repeat this process twice more.
With the bowl in your left hand, receiving and the mirror in your right, sending, reflect the light of the moon off the mirror and into the bowl. After a few moments say: This liquid is now sacred and pure and dedicated to the Lord and Lady. It is full of healing, inspiration and beauty.

Sit the bowl and mirror down and hold out both of your hands, palms down, over the bowl above the water.
Let the vibrations of your body come alive. Open your third eye chakra and imagine a glowing purple flame surrounding the sacred circle. Form an open triangle with your hands over the water and feel the sacred energy flow through you into the holy water. Feel the energy flow from your head down through your arms and up from your feet and out from your arms. When you feel complete, slowly lower your hands and say:

So mote it be
With the free will of all
And harm to none
The healing of this sacred water has begun

Ground your energy by placing your hands upon the earth.

In making your Holy water you can be as discreet or ceremonious as you are inspired to. Bring a friend or 2 or more to share the joy of gathering the healing energy. Even if this is new territory for you be inspired and do the process to your comfort level of participation. You will be so pleased with the results!

After decanting your holy water use it as desired. Some suggestions-put in an atomizer or spray bottle and use on yourself and your space. You can use it to seal letters or postage stamps on letters to loved ones. You can spray a handkerchief or cloth and let dry and use yourself or send to a loved one. Add a few drops to lotions, creams or aromatherapy sprays. Pour some in a favorite dish or vase to put on your altar or shelf. Apply to pulse points: ankles, wrists, neck, temples. Use a dab to genuflect or even anoint your rosary as you pray. Add a few drops to a tub or foot bath for bathing in. If you like to explore your creativity, use the holy water to make rose petal beads. And if you are really inspired, you can make a rosary from your beads.

The idea is to infuse the sacred into everyday life and acknowledge our own individual divinity and ability to create healing.

I have recently began scrap booking for my family, creating heirlooms that will live on and be passed down for generations. I do my task with great love and interruption from my 4 year old daughter. Each time she approaches me I bravely smile and put down my task to turn to her and ask her what can I do for her with a big smile on my face. She interprets my face as a reflection of her own joy, reassured, and goes off for a while to make her way thru her day. I am so glad to be her fount of smiles & encouragement. I know she will also be that for the world. It in these small tasks that we create not only peace in the world, but love, happiness and satisfaction with our lives, flawed as they may be.

Father, Mother, God,
Thank you for your presence
during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.
Thank you for your presence
during the bright and sunny days,
for then we can share that which we have
with those who have less.
And thank you for your presence
during the Holy Days, for then we are able
to celebrate you and our families
and our friends.
For those who have no voice,
we ask you to speak.
For those who feel unworthy,
we ask you to pour your love out
in waterfalls of tenderness.
For those who live in pain,
we ask you to bathe them
in the river of your healing.
For those who are lonely, we ask
you to keep them company.
For those who are depressed,
we ask you to shower upon them
the light of hope.
Dear Creator, You, the borderless
sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the
world that which we need most—Peace.

prayer - maya angelou

The greatest gifts we can give is our time, attention and love. When we are in this space of giving both giver & recipient are gifted. The moments a mother takes to tie her toddler’s shoes and give a wink and a smile. Spouses hug & kiss goodbye. A thoughtful phone call to brighten somebody else’s day. A sincere smile. It’s these simple moments that shape how we approach life. When we take the time to go to task for someone, and do so joyfully, you instill deep worth and self respect. When our day has began with a spring board of blessing we cannot help but pass that blessing on to the world we touch. This is how we truly change the world.  No matter how the day batters & bruises us, when we have that base of support, nothing the world can do can stop us from refueling our love from our source, the touchstone of strength.

‘We do no great things. Only small things with great love.’ ~Mother Teresa

Children, everybody, here’s what to do during war:

In a time of destruction, create something.
A poem.
A parade.
A community.
A school.
A vow.
A moral principle.
One peaceful moment.

maxine hong kingston

What did you create today? Were you fraught with inner turmoil or did you find your gaze towards something beautiful, creative, imaginative? Peace can be as simple as writing a card to a friend who needs a heart and hand to hold. Keep your eyes on an ideal, even as we drudge the the detestable duties and mundane tasks of a seemingly ordinary day. Sometimes when we close the door to the inner sanctuary and let the work be processed without our input amazing revelations can come to fruition.