Me & the Moon

Why Full Moon Offerrings? 

They are everywhere these days and have become a bit of a marketing hook to get people in the door.  But I have to tell you, from the bottom of my infinite heart, how deeply I resonate with the lunar energy and how my work came to be.  You see, it unfolded over time.  Years, maybe millennia, from a shared communal connection to the moon and her pull, her sway, to something much more specific and directional. She led me to uncloak information in the darkest of darks that came from many traditions over time and space and that required nothing less than to leap into her shadows to know the secrets that lie there.  My moon training is by no means traditional.  Although I have done my share of research and study through both Astronomy and Astrology to understand her waxing and waning and her continuous cycling.  I have also been trained to work with womens rhythms, their cycles and to understand the wisdom through reflection that the moon provides.  

But thats not even at the heart of my path, of my work.  I live in ceremony with the moon at all times and hear her whispers, and sometimes her desperate calls, as she directs me to work in specific ways through monthly patterns and flow.   It is absolutely not just about me showing up and “going with the flow” and being spontaneous.  I don’t work with the moon because its “cool” or “trendy” or even “fun”.  Its actually, an incredible service and an enormous amount of work to be fully present with her. Before each lunar event, I go deep into meditation to listen to and respect her guidance for that particular creation.  For this reason, no two moon events are ever identical AND it is almost impossible for me to script the details too far in advance. 

Her overall guiding message is to be gentle and nurturing for even as her work contains and embraces the shadow, we must remember that this life, that this being, is fragile and delicate and must be held with the utmost care and tenderness.  I use sound mostly now, but in the past I have used dance and movement and art and silence as my main tools.  The sound in collaboration with my Moon offerrings is very consciously crafted to move through cycles for connection, which, by my training and experience, requires the most reverential approach for establishing long lasting quality harmony within each person present.  This harmonizing requires an intimate knowledge of ceremony and discernment that cannot be learned quickly or superficially, but takes place over a long un-folding, over a lifetime, and many lifetimes.  

The moon, she is powerful.  And we would be best served by respecting and honoring her power with those who have dedicated themselves to guiding on her behalf. 

Blessings on this moon, and always.

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Thursday, April 19, 2018

Energy Musings.  Here. Now.

The energy of this moment.

What happens today, when you stop.  Just stop.  Like right now.  STOP!

Stop doing, stop trying, stop moving.  Really stop.  How long does that “stop” take?  As you ‘stop’, what parts of you have stopped?  what parts of you keep going?  Did you really stop?

Stop the excess.  The extra.  The “more than”.  Stop the thoughts, the mindlessness, the triggers.  Stop being lost.  Stop creating suffering.  Stop worrying.  Stop projecting.  Stop.

Then ask: What is essential?  What never stops?  What is vital to your being?  What is vital to this Earth?  What is vital to life as we know it?

We stop so that we can listen, see, hear, feel.  So we can notice.  So we can pay attention.  So we can create IN-tention.  We stop so that when we “go” we go forward with clarity, connection, calm, centeredness and true discernment.  We stop so can remember who we are, why we are here and what are work is.

Sometimes, we think of a stop as a “pause” or a “time in”.  But really, that pause must be a full on, no faking, 100 % STOP.

I remember once a cop pulled me over at a stop sign.  He noted that I came to a sort of “rolling stop” but not a full stop, and he kindly and patiently explained the difference.  A Full Stop is just that: giving your wheels the full amount of time to truly and completely stop.  And then waiting (like a full breath!) before you start again.   And when you start again, it feels like you are starting from the the very beginning.   Like when you first start your car in the morning. How long had I been mostly coming to a “rolling stop” at stop signs and not even noticed?  After that, I paid much more attention to stop signs.  I was grateful to this police officer for calling my attention to a place I had lost awareness.  Now, when I come to a stop sign, (especially the ones back in quiet neighborhoods where I find its easiest to sort of kind of roll to a stop-ish, and keep going because its clear no ones around…) I really, truly STOP.  This is my practice.  And it feels different.  I notice what it means to stop and what it feels like to start again from a place of really stopping.

When did we lose connection to what it really feels like to stop?

Today, re-connect yourself to the experience of truly stopping.  Throughout your day, as you remember to, whenever and wherever you are.

Stop.  Look.  Listen.  Then see how the very next moment unfolds for you.

Word of the Day:  Stop!

Song of the Day: Stop and Smell the Roses by Mac Davis

The cult of the new

I only need one Gong.  One Crystal Bowl.  One drum.  One.  Only One.  More than one confuses things, can create chaos or can shift the focus.  The mind, the being then is trained to want more, to desire bigger, to yearn for “better”.  Both in the one who is receiving the work and, more problematic still, in the one who is guiding the work.  By “better” I don Not mean in the sense of of what is truly best for us, but in a false perception that more is better.  that bigger is better.  that larger, that stronger, that higher, is better.  

Perhaps this is human nature. The tendency to get caught in the trap that we need MORE.  That somehow, in this very moment, we, it, they, us….. are not ‘enough’.  That somehow if only:  we had more money, a new job, a bigger house,  more trainings, more tools, better marketing… that we’d take off and fly and leap into the life of our dreams. 

 I am here to hold the space of understanding that includes the life of our dreams as it is here and now. This heaven on earth. Through the radical lens of acceptance.  Not through the lens of wanting, desiring or grasping.    We have lost touch with the most fundamental knowledge we possess:  the completeness of simplicity, the truth of this moment, the wholeness of our being which needs nothing more to be Full except this very breath.  In fact, I don’t even need the Gong, or the Bowl, or the Drum or any “tool” at all.  And neither do you.  All the work, the depth, the transformation, the shift, the release, that you long for, can be achieved by simply sitting in silence together. With one who knows how to guide in the dark and in the stillenss. I don’t even need any technique, no scripted visualizations or guided imagery, no mantra or meditation ‘style’, no book or quote, no message cards or fun games,  none of it.  That is the truth.  The only truth. Every tool we use is in essence an illusion.  The danger being, we can confuse the path itself for the ultimate goal.   We can confuse the ‘method’ of our choice for the end result.  Then we will be stuck forever, on this treadmill of thinking we are progressing, but really being stuck .  We might be stuck in an “ok” place and so that may feel “ok”.  And we might even register “ok” as ‘good’! But sooner or later, sooner or later, our soul remembers its eternal longing and realizes it has been tricked and this is when we truly wake up.  And I must tell you, it is a rather rude and shocking awakening. (set apart by the many false awakening that arise in ones life which are often described as “aha” moments) And in that moment, we understand that we truly need nothing and we let it all go, without any hesitation. And then, only then, do we really know what it means to fly.   

Wo-manifesto for a new world.

Part I.

I am weary of the masses.

of the places of the things of the activities of the drinks of the foods of the people

that are popular that are trending that are cool that are unique that are interesting

that are, “new”

I am wary of the multitude.

of the misplaced power in the perception of community

that is lacking any real depth, real connection, real “unity”

that at best, scratches the surface and at worst, totally distracts us

from the true work, the true change, the true collective.

I don’t want to chase the shiny objects, I don’t want the eye candy, I don’t want to feel clever and hip because because I do or have done the latest thing, because I know how to fill a room or because I have the most toys.  so there.

I don’t really care about any of that.  I don’t need to feel included.   I don’t need  approval.  My life doesn’t depend on societies conditions of success.

not anymore.

not anymore.

not this societies at least.

Pay attention to what is next.

to what color, to what season, to what style, to what animal, to what word, to what dance move, to what place, to what thing is suddenly what everybody’s doing now.

This is our drug.  Our collective addiction.

This is our prison.  Our self created cage.

This is our illusion.  Our mutual fraud.

And its time to come clean.

I’m ready.  And I’ve been ready for a long long time.

Are you?

Show me.

Let(’s) go.

Thursday, April 5th, 2018

Energy Musings. Here. Now.

Today!

How are you?  No…. really.  Move inside yourself, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and ask yourself “how are you?”  “how am I?”.  And then Listen.  Listen to your Self.  Listen the way you would listen to a dear friend.  With patience and true care.  With all your attention focussed on the listening.

At first you might get the stuff on the surface, the stress from work, the business of your days, the tiredness in your body, etc.  This, you probably already know, but still…. listen.  Then just keep asking “how are you?”  like a mantra repeated and just keep waiting, listening, patiently.

Ask your bones, Ask your tissue, Ask your cells…. How are YOU?  Ask you organs, your blood…. How are you?  Ask you mind (be ready for an earful!)….. How are you?  Ask you emotions, feelings, sensations….. How are you?  Ask your eyes, ears, mouth, nose, throat….. How are you?

Ask and ask again.  Without any expectations. Without any need to change anything.  Without any necessity to do anything. Just to listen and ask and listen and ask and listen and ask.  How are you?

Ask you breath…. How are you? And let the breath show you the breadth of its wisdom and knowing. Let it move through every part of you and reveal the inner landscape with its keen awareness.  Listen.  Listen. Listen.  Listen to the breath.  Really get to know, How you are.  And then keep asking, throughout the day:  How are you now?  How are you Now?  How are you now?  And notice, notice the shifting or rigid landscape that is your experience.  Notice what it means to be tuned in to you.  Notice and love and hold and be patient and kind.

How are you now?

 

Song of the Day:  Hello, I love you. by the Doors