In Aryaloka’s sacred forest space,
The presence of the Stupa and Shrine
Change the energy of the landscape.
Trees and stones become softer and energized,
They feel our reverence and respond in kind.
Category: god
A Chance to Meet God
I see each meeting, one with the other, as a chance to meet God.
I believe the Lords reside within us, each and every one of us,
The good, the bad, the saintly and the liars.
Each person I meet holds the keys to eternity in their inner being, they belong inside the shelter of
The essence of Krishna consciousness, Christ consciousness, and God consciousness that lives within them whether they know it or believe it or not.
When I look for it – in their eyes- I can see that spark of belonging in even the darkest of souls and know
Know that I am meeting the God consciousness within them and
Maybe really seeing them for the first time.
Blessing of the Saco River
River Blessing, June 20, 2016
The continuance of life
The renewal of its essence.
From sea to sky
From sky to mountain
From mountain to river
And from river back to the sea,
A continuous loop in the process of eternity.
Water is the giver and sustainer of life, it is the softness of gentle drops on sweet summer leaves,
and the raging fury and unstoppable force of a flood.
It represents a manifestation of life, a confluence of the forces of nature; a mystery with its truth below the surface. It flows where the land allows it to and always returns to its source, as do we.
As the bearer of water and life, we honor its place in the circle of truth, and pay tribute to its never ending gifts.
We gather here together to give thanks for its beauty and the peace it brings to our souls and hearts with our gifts of the earth and samples of the bounty its sweet water brings.
(My ladies and I ended our annual blessing ceremony by dropping flowers and herbs into the Saco River. It was a lovey way to spend a summer late afternoon in the company of the setting sun and full solstice moon).
Summer Solstice/Full Moon 6-20-16
Longest day and shortest time of darkness. Magic in the moon light and peace in the secret of its knowing.
A secret to share with everyone but for now, only known by those among us of like mind, of those awake enough to behold the truth because it is a truth without words, a knowing in the soul, a connection to all there is but with no attachments.
A trust in the cycles of life, the rhythm of nature, the dependability of the cycles that Divine Mother brings. She has laid in waiting, has been patient with our neglect but now it is her time, a time of new awareness, a time of a rebirth of the mother knowledge, a time to rejoice in her beauty and truth.
In this day of less darkness, let us see the meaning in the seasons, let us feel the vibration of Mother’s truth, let us believe in her promise in the light of the moon that she will never leave us in darkness and let us honor her in our hearts and share her love and truth with one another to become for all time sisters/brothers and lovers of the beauty of her truth and of the right of all beings to exist in the bliss of the conscious life.
Let us make a vow, a promise to her this evening of shortened darkness, to be her children and partners in the process of waking the unconscious to an appreciation of Mother and of each other and to make this world the place she has always dreamed of.
Join me in drying her tears with our hearts in honor of all she unselfishly and joyfully gives of herself. The blessing of day light and moon shine, of love, death and rebirth, a never ending cycle, dependable in its truth and continuance, a chain never broken, a perpetual loop of manifestation of the unmanifested through and because of our consciousness.
With Mother to guide us and hold us in her heart of compassion, we cannot fail and can assist her in bringing forth a new earth, one of compassion, truth, beauty and peace for all beings and all time. This is the promises in the moonlight and star shine of this magical evening.
Please Join me in silent meditation and feel the message of the bells and gong as we offer our gifts of the sweetness of life to our sister the river and our mother the earth, a taste of the fruits river’s gift of water brings us and a tribute and thanks to our Divine Mother for the beauty and flavor she adds to our lives.
A Valuable Part of Two
The heat of a summer day softens and slips silently
Into evening twilight.
The shifting shadows and cooling breezes of evening chill my being and
Bring an acute awareness of sorrow and emptiness to my state of mind.
This subtle, soft twilight is lonely and empty now
But was beautiful at other times and under other circumstances in my life.
Twilight holds tenderness and acceptance of love in times of loving but
When love is missing or withheld, twilight is punishing in its loneliness.
A solitary stroll through the garden is a waste;
There is no joy in relaxing in the rocking hammock alone.
Light sadly leaves the landscape and drains the world of color
Just as this lost love drains my soul and heart of color.
The trees along the edge of the clearing blend into a fortress wall,
Locking me out in my loneliness.
Fireflies blink on and off but evade my eyes behind the fortress of trees
and the stark cold moon light accentuates my solitude by throwing only one shadow behind me.
In better times, when I was not alone, the deepiening twilight was a magical time,
Full of love and acceptance.
We walked the garden paths together, basking in the glow of the moon
And soaking in the softness of star-shine.
Our shadows moved willingly behind us, hand in hand,
And fireflies lit our way home.
I want to go back to that time, back to being a valuable part of two,
Back to the times of softened days that faded into loving nights of passion and acceptance.
I need you take me back there, please…
As Only He Can Do (this piece is about a wonderful friend I had who passed away)
((“That which is to be taken away
First must be given” Tau Te Ching
Lau Tzu
I suppose that means I can’t lose what I never had.
But didn’t I?
The loss of nothing would be painless,
Not filled with missing and sorrow for what could have been.
Doesn’t the very missing and feeling of loss prove that I did have it?
If he didn’t give it, how could I have had it?
But I did because it was given in soft subtle ways,
In after thoughts of kindness, in tender touches and looks.
In words only half spoken but completely felt.
I am not a fool, I didn’t imagine him, he was real as were his feelings for me and mine for him.
He said he felt the love in my touch, I could feel it in his too.
Such a strong connecting could not be denied, made up, faked.
Only words can be misunderstood as they are always left to interpretation by the receiver which interpretation is not always what the speaker intended.
Did I misunderstand? Did I not get the correct message?
I don’t know, and now it is too late.
I am confused by the words vs. the feelings.
The meaning behind each is complicated,
Sometimes stark and cutting to the bone,
But in other ways and days softer and ambivalent.
Maybe I saw too much, maybe I viewed only what I wanted to see,
Accepted only how I wanted it to be.
But he was right, it was complicated, too many others involved, too many decisions to make and then, as if to save him from the hard choices,
He was gone, never to be here again, too late to ask, too late to know.
Death became a saving grace, a way out, a reprieve, a new beginning.
His last words to me, “you and I are all there really is” will always haunt me,
What did he mean?
Maybe when I lift the veil and step to the other side, I will see his warm loving smile and feel his gentle hands on my face and he will take me in his arms once again and explain it all as before,
As only he can do.
Always Alone
I’m lying in a hammock,
Sideways,
Staring at the canopy of trees above my head.
Their branches interlaced like the fingers of lovers in an act of passion.
They sway with the gentle breeze,
Each variety with its distinct leaf waiving and dancing to its own tune.
Above and beyond the boughs lies a deep blue sky, dotted with plumes of soft whiteness
Each drifting and changing with every second, never the same from moment to moment.
I watch this scene as the sunlight slowly turns to dusk.
The sun-powered breezes fade and the forest yawns and folds in on itself and sleeps.
I should do the same
But the magic of the transformation of day into night fixes me to this spot.
All form is erased, sky and forest become one, stars twinkle above and fireflies twinkle below as reflections of one another like sky in water.
Buzzing insects sounds are silenced and
A different cast of characters takes over the night shift.
An owl awakens and his hooting echoes between the sleeping trees,
Others answer in kind.
I hear the fox’s footsteps through the dry leaves and
Goosebumps cover my neck at the sound of his bark.
Less vocal creatures slink and stalk through the forest night
Taking their turn at life.
And me, I don’t fit into either cast,
I exist equally in both worlds but am not a participant in either and
Therein lays my sorrow.
I am only a watcher and always alone.
Rain
The sound of rain takes me to a place of inner peace as the
Rain falls in sheets and slides down the roof over its edge in a curtain of water.
Tree leaves dance with the weight of the rain and
Flowers wash their faces in its freshness.
The sky is lower on rainy days and
Holds us close and grounded.
Sounds are muted and muffled and
Light is defused in grayness.
But it is not a sad and depressing grayness,
But a soothing and peaceful shade
Full of the necessity of sorrow.
A rainy day is soft and dark. It begs us to stop, rest and be mindful of our surrounds and loves.
It reminds us to take the time to be lulled by the patter of rain on the windows
Into a place of inner stillness,
And there remain, content to just be and accept what is.
I Must Wait
I have to wait, just wait,
There is nothing left to do.
Tonight is cold and dark,
I must wait for the sun.
My love is intense and passionate,
I must wait for its object.
My mind is confused and alone,
I must wait for a friend.
My heart aches and pines,
I must wait for a song.
My life is a series of waits,
But my soul is tired of waiting.
Time must slow down,
So I can catch up.
And when I do, all of the waiting will have been for nothing,
Because I will find that it is all already here.
Freedom?
In 4.5 months I will retire, it is a time to keep and mark.
The days numbered waiting for freedom but really, will it be such a change?
Now has its own freedom and always has and
I have the freedom to be here now.
The now holds nothing but is everything.
This space, this elegant space is here with me now. Always is and always has been.
But in 4.5 months I will breathe a sigh of relief anyway as my perceived waiting for time will have ended and time will fill my time and I its.
It is telling me to put away the other stuff and come and be part of it with my whole self. It is not something I will do for the I of the surface but for the I of my true being.
I need to be able to participate fully in the now, in the glory of being, with all of my being.
Will it be easier in 4.5 months? I don’t know.
Probably not, unless I chose it to be. Waiting for things never makes them so.
For everything happens in the now, there is no past to look back on, no future to look ahead to
It is always only now… So I guess I should stop waiting for the time to pass, it doesn’t,
There is but One moment fading into now, into now, into now…
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