I could not lie anymore so I started to call my dog “God.”
First he looked
confused,
then he started smiling, then he even
danced.
I kept at it: now he doesn’t even
bite.
I am wondering if this
might work on
people?
Tukaram 1608-1649
Isolation
Separated by invisible crowns,
Disinfectant my eau de parfum
Reading the news
With one finger on the trigger
Of my hand sanitizer
While my cat traverses galaxies
On the windowsill
She (my cat) encourages me to stretch my arm out
Between solar systems
Allowing the magic of summer raindrops
To be captured in my open palm
Suddenly I see the sweet orange flicker
Of candles in my neighbor’s window
Dancing to the murmur of wind chimes
Anointing the night air
Somewhere between galaxies
I hear the soft chants
Of evening prayer
©️ 2020 Sacred SoulSongs, Love is all…MW 🙏
Cheers to dVerse (Looking out the Window) and host Peter Frankis. Thank you Peter for prompting us to provide our readers with a view from our window.
Greed manifests as egocentrism, misplaced desire, unhealthy attachments and feelings of entitlement that are not aligned with human rights.
Greed is an unquenchable thirst and void that seeks to be filled up by hook or by crook. Even when goals are attained, satisfaction is fleeting and chronic discontent returns.
Chronic greed infects personal lives, businesses, religious institutions and politics, creating a cycle of suffering and deprivation.
Hate manifests as senseless hatred, hostility, aversion or ill-will towards a person or group of people based upon their humanity, ethnicity, race, religion or socio-economic status (i.e. poor or unhoused people). Hate is the privileged expectation that one is entitled to feel homogeneous and comfortable at all times. A hateful mindset is frenetically pre-occupied with scapegoating, control and sameness.
Today we can see hate manifesting as hostility towards people who have a clear sense of mutual responsibility (abiding by pandemic protocols) and humanity (opposing injustice and inequality).
Self-hate denies ‘negative’ or uncomfortable feelings within oneself and projects it outward without rhyme or reason.
Delusion (in the Buddhist sense) manifests as cognitive dissonance, disharmony, misperceptions and ignorance of our interdependence. Everything is in everything else. Everything and everyone is interdependent on everything and everyone else. Delusion negates life-affirming lifestyles and actions.
If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either.
If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And the logger’s father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.
INTERBEING: THICH NHAT HANH, ZEN BUDDHIST MONK
Greed, hatred and delusion are ingrained conditionings that poison lives and civilization. Buddha described the three poisons as bonds, knots and fetters.
Clarity is the pathway to liberation.
Transforming the Three Poisons: Correcting toxic enculturations cannot be accomplished quickly or easily. It requires courage, perseverance and persistence.
By transforming the three poisons we can break the chain of suffering passed down from generation to generation.
It begins by recognizing a poison with calm resoluteness, be it within our own families, circle of friends or co-congregants in our religious community.
Through mindful awareness, we can discern how these deeply rooted poisons influence subconscious thoughts, speech, feelings and actions. The process of transforming poisons into acts of wisdom systematically erodes and disempowers the influence of the three poisons.
May it be so. With love and illumination, MW 🙏
©️ 2020 Sacred SoulSongs
This deck is called Dark Mirror. I don’t use it routinely, but every now and then we must tap into the shadow side to see what insights it has to offer. This can be a pretty intense and hardcore deck. The interpretations in the guidebook can be gloomy and doomy — but I go deep into them and emerge with my own understandings. I interpret from my soul and make them my own.
Calling the Storm is scary, but powerful!! This card is about calling in our power. It’s about calling in our ability to cope, persist and get down to brass tacks in the eye of storm. Sometimes we need to retreat to the storm cellar, but while we’re in the storm cellar we have to make wise and prudent use of all the resources we have stored up. We have to be resourceful and creative.
We tend to talk about empowerment coming from within, but we can plug into power from other people and things around us — our environment, nature, our community, our religious values, even ethical expectations.
Whatever provokes you, inspires you, pains you or angers you is a source of power.
When we see other people in a storm of pain, our empathy and compassion switches on our inner-generator. That doesn’t mean we can control the storm swirling around us — it means we can take power from it, face the reality of it, find strength in unity and batten down those hatches!
There will be calm and restructuring after the storm. The storm itself is opening up the skies for you and when those storm clouds break, there will be a whole new view.
Storms of life happen. Sometimes there are ominous signs that it’s on its way, sometimes it hits suddenly out of the blue.
Celebrate small victories now, in this moment. Honor all the seemingly small accomplishments and headway made in inches, not miles. An inch is as good as a mile. All the dinghies, umbrellas, rain coats and life preservers count. You don’t need a yacht or battleship to make a difference.
Overwhelm. Overwhelm can be dangerous in a storm. Clarify two to four things you can feasibly affect and concentrate on them.
Support System. Plug into the power of like-minded people, communities and focus groups. What do you want your contribution to be? Every contribution matters. Your words, your life experience, your allyship matters. Sharing veggies from your garden for someone to have for their supper matters. Every thing matters.
*Reaching out for help when you’re deluged matters too!*
Be kind and patient with yourself. Write down what you’ve done, no matter how seemingly small it appears to you.
Prioritize your time and energy. When you say, “I don’t have time for that” it means “that” is not a priority for you. It’s a wake up call to define what your priorities really are. Write down three to six priorities and focus on them, with the most important at the top. Tackle one at a time.
Replenish yourself. Make good use of modalities that replenish you — such as nature walks, writing, spiritual practices, music, nutritious food, prayer, meditation, crystal work, vision holders, artwork, etc.
I’m here with my rainbow of umbrellas to shelter and comfort you! Love is all…MW 🙏
When I held my (pre-covid) Vision Board workshop, one woman said she wanted to attend, but she wanted one that would set atop her dresser, bookshelf or table-top. Otherwise she felt it would get tucked away in a closet somewhere, defeating the purpose.
Unless your vision board is framed to hang on a wall (you can use a cork board for pinning or chalk board for doodling your visions), they do tend to get tucked away.
The whole point of a Vision or Manifestation Board is have it somewhere where you see it every day and set your intentions on it.
Some people make them on their phones, iPads or laptops, but I much prefer a tangible vision board. Looking at it on my phone or iPad just isn’t the same.
I repurpose photo/greeting card holders to make table top, dresser top or shelf top Vision Card Holders. (You can paint your photo holders if you’d like).
How to: Cut heavy construction paper (in your favorite colors) to the card size that will work well with your holder. Glue stick pictures and words on them from magazines that represent your vision. Alternately, you can handwrite and create your own artwork with color gel pens.
I use no-heat laminating sheets and standard color paper stock cut to size, to make durable, sturdy and dustable Vision Cards. Seal your vision cards between the no-heat laminating sheets. One pack of laminating sheets makes numerous Vision Cards.
I recently saw blank playing cards on Amazon that are meant to be customized with markers. I imagine you can also glue stick images to them. Haven’t tried them, but it seems like they would work well for Vision Cards.
Since you can’t fit as much onto a photo/greeting card holder as you can a board, it helps to prioritize your vision and things you want to manifest. Boards tend to look cluttered and somewhat chaotic to me. Visually, I feel the Vision Card Holder enhances focus and clarity.
The single heart holders are available in packs, which you can group together.
You can also use them separately to make table-top Affirmation Cards that you can place around your home or rooms of your loved ones.
Another use would be a self-empowerment tree. Card examples: Boundaries, Self-Care, Safe Space, Comfort, Trust, Support, Personal Time, Play Time and so on.
You can put a different affirmation or vision on the front and back of each card, if your holder is viewable from different angles.
Happy manifesting!! With LOVE, MW 🙏
©️ 2020 Sacred SoulSongs – All Rights Reserved
The Unknown: Something old is coming to an end and something new is in the process of being formed and birthed. You’re feeling the gestation pains. Be especially patient and gentle with yourself during this time. The gestation process can’t be rushed, you just have to embrace the uncertainty and see it through. Living in the interim of uncertainty calls for courage, forbearance and trust. This is a particularly important time to reach out for support from kindred spirits. Uncertainty is a blank canvas waiting to painted with our truest desires. Uncertainty fuels creativity.
Affirmation: I trust in Divine Understanding and embrace uncertainty as a time for creating between the lines, until the next phase is revealed.
Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. When nothing is certain, anything is possible.
Mandy Hale
The Power of Support: You’re on a journey to becoming. Those that are there for you with their encouraging thoughts, insights, energies, compassion and pragmatic help are co-creating miracles with you. Closed doors begin to open through the power of support. Sometimes they open gradually. Sometimes they are flung open and catch you by surprise. Your support needs and your support system will change during different stages of your life. The power of support is a mutual exchange. Receive it, give it, co-create it.
Affirmation: I gratefully manifest the power of support and understand when my support needs have changed so that I may seek out appropriate support systems.
Support creates confident, generous visionaries.
Following My Truth: Your inner Truth is a light guiding you down the right path for you or telling you when it’s time to take an unexpected detour. Most of us think of the path as the focus, but detours are crucial when you’ve outgrown familiar paths or they are no longer helpful to you. Your truth may not reverberate or sync with others who want you to align with their truths. Keep in mind, you’re the only one that has to trust in your truth, which spirals inward like a labyrinth. Listen to others and observe their truths in action, but don’t ‘go along to get along,’ unless you get a “yes” from your voice of inner-truth. Until you tap into what you truly want to say “yes” to, you will say yes to too many things that drain your power and energy.
Affirmation: Listening mindfully to my inner voice of truth helps me to respect myself, balance my “yes” energy and live a self-unified life.
I want my inner truth to be the plumb line for the choices I make about my life — about the work that I do and how I do it — about the relationships I enter into and how I conduct them.
Parker J Parmer
When doing a reading, the cards pulled are always interrelated and interconnected.
©️ 2020 Sacred SoulSongs / Sacred Paths and Detours.
SoulSong blessings upon you, MW 🦋🙏🦋
As an eclectically spiritual person, I find solace and gems of wisdom in many different belief systems. This Bhajan came to mind when reading today’s cards.
Many of you wonder which beliefs to follow,
Many are torn this way and that,
not sure what to think.
You do not need ancient tomes to know me,
You do not need houses of prayer to speak to me,
You do not need holy books to find me.
I am inside of you,
All around you,
I am the animate and the inanimate.
I am a verb and I am a noun.
I am female and I am male.
I am mystical and I am mundane.
I am supernatural and I am flesh and blood.
Man has created an image,
Trying to find what he could not see.
Trying to give voice to a vastness beyond his grasp.
My emanation does not arise from books.
Or volumes of instructions interpreted by man.
I am the Higher Consciousness of Womankind,
Mankind,
All kinds.
Do not feel conflicted.
There is no prescription for prayer,
No ritual you must perform,
No vow you must take,
No ‘one true faith.’
Simply embody sacredness,
And you will find me there.
I am The Infinite
I am Without End
I am The Place wherever you are on your journey.
I am aware of the voluminous intricacies,
Man has attributed to my desires,
But they do not move me.
I am the Goodness of your deeds,
I am the Genuineness of your heart,
I am the Kindness of your tongue,
I am the Integrity of your work.
My words are inside of you.
You speak them in your way,
In your own unique manner,
Eloquently or ineloquently,
It does not matter,
As long as you are sincere.
Your humanity is my voice,
Your sacredness personifies my presence,
I live and breathe on earth,
With you…
Through you…
Because of you.
© 2020 MW – All Rights Reserved
Update: The lovely Jane Sturgeon has solved the mystery of the vanishing comments on my last post. It happens when updating an older post from the original classic editor to the new block editor. Very frustrating since many of us found the new block editor to be an unnecessary, impractical and troublesome change. 🙁 Comments bring the blessing of caring individuals and community into our lives. When we lose them we lose an energy exchange between us and cherished friends.
Anger As My Sacred Ally really spoke to me, since (in my life experience) many women have been taught it’s not okay for us to express our anger. Anger is considered unbecoming a girl or woman, which leads to many years of repression and toxic shame. Repressed anger is a poison. It festers deep in our core like an infected wound.
Just like happiness and joy, anger is a valid human emotion. We were created to feel a full spectrum of emotions (‘positive’ and ‘negative’), for a reason. Healthy anger is our internal alarm system. It alerts us when something or someone is not in our best interest or dangerous to our well-being. Denying or failing to honor our anger over-rides our internal alarm system, which is hard-wired to our visceral instincts.
Anger, when used wisely, manifests the protective power of self-preservation and healthy boundaries. Misdirected anger (spewing our rage on anyone in our path) or raging uncontrollably to anyone trapped into listening, is not productive or constructive. We have to know how to harness the magical power of anger to make it work for us.
I use my anger as a burning flame, to burn off that which no longer serves me — never as a destructive form to harm myself or others. Affirmation: I listen to the messages within my anger and use it as a force for good.
Soulful Woman Guidance Cards
Time For Fallow is a very timely message. Time of fallow embodies many qualities of the winter season throughout all seasons. Winter is a sacred season when Mother Earth is hushed and seemingly dormant, yet the roots are alive, intertwined and soaking up nourishment beneath the surface of the frozen ground, readying for a spectacular rebirth. The Quietude of Winter is necessary to prepare for new growth and new fruit. Our Wintering Seasons can occur at any time of the year.
I honor my time of fallow as a nurturing time — a time to rest in the nurturing darkness. Affirmation: Creative manifestation occurs more easily when I have nurtured myself and honored my time of fallow.
Self-Renewal: This card is about clearing out stagnant or unhealthy energies to make room for the new. Decluttering our lives is a liberating and cleansing experience. Whether it’s decluttering our homes of ‘stuff’ to allow the positive chi to flow freely or understanding when we need to release a relationship, decluttering is a powerful form of self-renewal.
I allow my energy to guide me in what to keep and what to let go. I release the energy of what I need let go to the Universe with a blessing. Affirmation: As I clean out old energies, I have more space for what wants to be birthed in my life.
When doing a reading, the cards are always interconnected to each other. We can see how Anger as My Sacred Ally connects to Self-Renewal and Time For Fallow.
©️ 2020 MW
May your journey always be safe and your path illuminated. Love is all..MW 🙏
Dear friends, this was one of my old posts from 2007. It had 15 or so comments on it, but when I went to edit a few typos, add an image and shorten it, it updated to a current day post and all the comments vanished!! I lost words and presence and energy that was very precious to me when this happened. 😭😫😭 Please be aware this could happen when updating an old post. I had no idea it was even a possibility! Any insight into this mystery would be greatly appreciated.
A time capsule from Romancing the Crone, year 2007.
This post is about the use of the word “victim.” I’ve been reading a lot of negatives lately attached to use of the word as a way to identify one’s own lived experience.
Apparently, we’re all supposed to use “survivor” or “thriver” (a popular new word) instead. Both those words are perfectly good words and I fully support their usage. My heart jumps for joy to see survivors using the word “thriver.” Thriving is an incredible state of being!
! I just have a problem with criticism of the word “victim” when some of us feel it’s the best word to frame what happened to us.
The word “victim” isn’t disempowering to me, it’s a fact. I was a victim of abuse, medical malpractice and domestic violence. To say I was not a victim of egregious abuses of power doesn’t feel right for me. Unfortunately, I’ve heard I ‘shouldn’t’ use this word from people trying to reframe my experience, perhaps to make it more comfortable for them?
A victim of a crime, atrocity, or tragedy is someone who is harmed by people or circumstances beyond their control.
The terms “accident victim, crime victim or victim of a natural disaster” appear to be perfectly acceptable — why should abuse victim be any different?
“Survivor” is the reality of surviving a traumatic event. It doesn’t mean we are thriving, but hopefully we’ll get to that point.
I use “survivor” because I survived it. I also use “victim,” because I was a victim of heinous abuses of power on the part of the perpetrators. When I frame it that way, I feel it puts the onus on the perpetrator, where it belongs. When others tell me to change my word, I know their intentions are good, but it feels shaming to me. It has unintentional shades of shaming imbued into it.
Have you ever felt shamed into not using a word or words that felt very personal and purposeful to you?
Peace, love and empowerment, MW ❤️
I think that “victim” means to have experienced something not of one’s own choosing and not as a consequence of one’s own behavior.
Signmom Cycles of Transition
It’s not necessary to deny another’s reality, in order to affirm your own.
Anne Wilson Schaef
What you want, wants you — Do you dare to believe that what you want, wants you? Have you been taught to repress or down-play your heartfelt desires? The message in this oracle is to trust in yourself. Don’t settle for ‘make-dos’ that sell you short and deny your joy and passion. Make a list in your journal of what truly inspires you. What is your true passion? What dream or life-goal do you want to manifest? Maybe you want to work with animals, make artisan soap, or do something newly creative? If you have a person in your life who is shutting you down, discouraging you or invalidating your desires as a “waste of time” or “pie-in-sky” you must assess that relationship as well.
Healing affirmation: “What I want, wants me and I will allow myself to receive it. So be it.” Repeat as needed.
Seeing the true you — Sometimes we allow others to be our mirror. This oracle is here to tell you have been allowing others to define you and dictate your inner-narrative. It’s time to surround yourself with people who celebrate you and reflect you more faithfully. It’s time for you to step back from anyone who is muddling your belief in who you are and who you want to be. Get out your journal and emotionally unpack how they are responding to you. Are you taking on the reflections of others as your internal mirror? Are you allowing them to project what is in them onto you?
Healing affirmation: “I hereby release myself from any conscious or subconscious contract I have made with another, that gave them power over my sense of self. I release myself from their power over how I perceive my body, mind, truths, goals and creativity. I accept myself in divine love and release all external projections draining me and distorting my self-image. So be it.” Repeat as needed.
Click Page 2 below for a rewarding and rejuvenating Releasing and Manifesting Ceremony.
You are experiencing losses right now. The shape of the way things were is dissolving. Everything feels as if it is slipping from your grasp.
You have no choice but to accept the process of letting go. There are subconscious choices being made. You are creating new worlds. Energies are shifting, as life as you once knew it unravels from your hands.
Do not despair. You are building new alignments. All the shame you have hoarded will be released and scattered to the four winds.
You are on a journey to expansion. Boundaries are restructuring and reforming into new shapes.
Go into the deepest part of yourself. The part you have kept small and protectively hidden from everyone in your life.
You will feel our presence by your side as you let your hidden-self guide you into a long-awaited dawning that will help us to peel away the callousness, vanquish the scourge of negligence and usher in the age of rebirth.
Spirit Message © 2020 Mother Wintermoon / RTC
Dear friends, over the years I’ve received message from Spirit that are intended to go out to the universe to reach anyone that needs to hear it. If a message speaks to you, it is meant for you. This Spirit Message, Labels, came to me in 2006, but they are timeless. They have no expiration date. I’ve included the card of the day.
There are many labels put upon you
Labels attempting to cloud your vision
And create storms of self-doubt.
I see you constantly striving for approval
I know how difficult it is to just be in the world
And hold onto your loving life force.
I can see all your self-limiting beliefs
Imposed upon you since birth
I can see your perceived faults and failings,
Residing in your heart.
I can see the crushing doubt
Placed there by the cruelties
You have undergone on your earthly journey.
I can see them impeding your vision
Weighing down your spirit
Shrouding your light.
Look into the eyes of your destiny
They are Divine eyes
Created to bring the vision
Of rightness into a broken world.
Awaken to the memory of who you are
See yourself as we always see you…
Pure.
Whole.
Newborn.
Spirit Message ~ © 2020 Mother Wintermoon
I have not read the “Just Be” book pictured, but I LOVE the cover!!
Dear friends, when you feel you might need to release someone from your life, but need more clarity, write down the following questions. It helps to see the words and your responses, instead of trying to sort through a tangle of emotions in your head.
Take your time (as much as you need) and answer the questions thoughtfully.
Candles
Loofah
Himalayan Sea salt
Body soap
Gemstones: rose quartz, carnelian, red jasper
Red Jasper is used for courage, wisdom and healing the spirit. It is a talisman of warriors and a promoter of justice, protection and determination. Red Jasper was called the blood of Mother Earth by Native American tribes who used it to stimulate health and re-birth.
Carnelian promotes action, courage, clarification of goals and the confidence to move forward as needed.
Rose Quartz is the love and heart stone, with strong vibrations of joy, hope, faith and heart-healing.
Cleanse them of any negative energy they’ve picked up before using, by burying them in the earth (points down) or placing them under sunlight or moonlight overnight. (A full moon or cloudless day is best). You can also use a brook or stream to cleanse them quickly (submerge for one minute) under clear, running water. Once cleansed, hold them in your hands and imbue them with your self-care energy and intentions.
Light your candles and sit comfortably in a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed. You can sit on rug or a comfortable chair with a small table in front of you. Hold the red jasper and carnelian in your partially opened, upturned palms. Breathe deeply and call in the energies of self-love, self-care and acceptance.
Next, place your red jasper and carnelian around you on the rug or in front of you on the table. Pick up your rose quartz and hold it over over your heart.
Now envision yourself standing on a bridge with the person on the other end, facing you. Feel the cord that is tying you to that person and visualize cutting the cord. You may also cut a piece of yarn or string during this part of the ceremony.
Afterward, visualize both of you saying goodbye, turning and walking off of the bridge in opposite directions, onto paths leading away from each other.
Alternately, visualize the other person as a balloon you’re holding and lovingly let go of the string, allowing them to fly free to live their life, while you remain grounded in your self-care, with both feet firmly on mother earth.
Once completed, you’ll feel lighter and more at peace.
To dissolve any residual negativity, write down any unresolved feelings. Now, bury the paper, which will allow the relationship to slowly fade away and return to mother earth.
For more immediate cutting of the cord, dissolve the paper in salt water, using the Himalayan sea salt.
End the ceremony with ritual cleansing (ablution) by taking a shower or bath. Ablution is used in Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and other faith traditions to spiritually cleanse and renew.
Soap up and gently scrub your body with a loofah. Use a wash cloth if you don’t have a loofah. Wash your face and shampoo your hair, massaging your scalp. After your ablution, relax with a cup of herbal tea (no caffeine) and listen to calming music — nothing jarring or intense.
You can repeat the ceremony if you still feel some residual cording to the person, allowing a day or two of recuperation in-between.
Self-care is not selfishness, it is self-preservation.
Peaceful journeying, Mother Wintermoon 🙏 Bio
We’re all familiar with the story of Adam, Eve and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. By choosing to eat the fruit GOD forbade them to eat, it is said that Adam and Eve chose awareness of evil, over innocence.
After one bite, they were instantly flooded with the knowledge of evil. That one defining moment changed everything in their world.
In mainstream religion we are taught that Adam and Eve committed a sin of great consequence by eating the one fruit in the garden that GOD forbade them to eat. Period. The story is told as an absolute.
When we dive into Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism) however, the Mystics explain that eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was NOT the real transgression — eating the fruit before it was a holy time to do so, was the real sin Adam and Eve committed.
If I substitute “holy time” for “right time” the message is the same.
The Mystics said if they had waited just three more hours, they would have been able to consume it on Shabbat (the Sabbath) and sanctified it as a holy, healing act.
If they had waited, they could have made the blessing (Kiddush) over the fruit on Shabbat and blessed both the consumption and the fruit.
What are my takeaways from the mystical insights? For sure it’s about the benefits of timing and self-control vs the liabilities of impulsivity and instant gratification.
I also see a message about Gratitude in the form of blessing the food we consume, instead of gulping it down without a second thought.
GOD never said they were forbidden to eat the fruit until the end of time — according to the Mystics, they were simply forbidden to eat it prematurely.
In business college, we learned about the importance of timing and sensitivity to our environment when launching a new service or product. A poor grasp on either could prove disastrous for a company launch or an entrepreneur.
“Timing is everything,” as the old saying goes.
The Kabbalists believed each person had to reach a certain level of maturity in mind and spirit before seeking to acquire deeper levels of spiritual knowledge. To do so before we’re ready could prove to spiritual disastrous.
Four Sages entered Paradise — Ben Azai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah (Acher) and Akiva ben Yosef. Ben Azai glimpsed and died. Ben Zoma glimpsed and went mad. Acher cut down the plants. Only Rabbi Akiva entered and came out in peace.
Paradise refers to intense mystical investigation. Only Rabbi Akiva was mature and grounded enough to handle it.
As freshly created beings, Adam and Eve were nowhere near mature enough in mind and spirit to receive the knowledge of Good and Evil.
I like what Rebbe Nachman said about not exceeding the spiritual capacity of our present moment.
Sometimes a person’s goals and desire for holiness are beyond his capabilities. Therefore, he must control himself. He must limit his yearnings and fulfill – simply – whatever service to God he is capable of in that moment. Then he must pray to be led on the proper path for his level by serving God with joy and simplicity.”
REBBE NACHMAN
The Kabbalists said we gain an extra soul (neshama yetera) on the Sabbath, doubling our capacity for spirituality and receipt of the Divine Light. Shabbat is a protective and restorative time, therefore it would have been a protective and restorative time to bless and eat the fruit. Even GOD was restored on the Sabbath.
©️2020 MW, RTC 🙏 All Rights Reserved / BIO
The fruit is said to have been figs, pomegranates or grapes (woody vines are called “trees” in the Hebrew Scriptures). Apples were not indigenous to the region.
I’ve been a student of authentic Kabbalah (not Madonna/Hollywood Kabbalah) for many years and it has given me a whole new perspective on biblical teachings. I have a lot more where this came from. I’m also a student of Sufism, Zen Buddhism and Taoism. I read oracle and angel cards. I enjoy discovering the parallels between all mystical traditions.
1) Set aside designated time. Compassionate Communication is the life-blood and cornerstone of every relationship. If your cornerstone is feeling neglected or pushed aside, designate set a day and time once a week for Compassionate Communication.
Mark your calendars, set your event alerts, turn off all distractions and commit fully to it.
Each person is allotted an equitable time to speak from the heart, without interruption. Decide how long each person will have to speak. You can use a timer app that plays a pleasant tune when the allotted time is up. This technique teaches everyone involved how to actively listen and also speak their personal truths within a safe environment.
Sit comfortably facing each other.
2) Begin with a positive affirmation. Open with a prayer, verse, or blessing that expresses the goals and desires. You may choose to write your own (taking turns with the other person or people involved) or select one from any source of your choice.
3) Discuss one or two topics at each time. Each person gets one or two topics of their choosing to discuss. You or your loved one/s may feel the urge to air a ‘laundry list’ all at once. Trying to tackle it all in one sitting is overwhelming and counterproductive. Opening the gates can become a flood. Keep in mind, once you establish it as a weekly tradition, it alleviates the feeling of having to get it out all at once. A weekly tradition holds space to progressively work through all that needs to be worked through or communicated.
4) Learn how to effectively express your feelings. We sometimes expect a loved one to just ‘know’ what we’re feeling and why. You may feel ‘anyone would feel this way in my shoes,’ and be frustrated when the other person doesn’t get it. Use your new tradition to practive voicing why you feel the way you do, as opposed to simply recounting the event.
5) Practice using non-defensive language. Use “I feel” or “I felt” [when this happened] instead of “you did” or “you made me feel.”
6) Clarify your needs. Articulate what your needs are by verbalizing what is weighing on you, followed by what you need to be done differently.
7) Allot time for questions at the end. Give each other the opportunity to clarify and reaffirm what the other person needs, by asking compassionate and non-accusatory questions. No blaming or shaming allowed!
8) Write down things you wish to discuss in advance. Setting a designated day and time for Compassionate Communication gives each person time to collect their thoughts and journal what they want to speak about ahead of time. This allows each person to be more present, grounded and centered during the interaction.
9) Close with a positive affirmation. Close with a prayer, verse, or blessing that you (and/or co-participants) have written or selected from another source.
©️ 2020 MW, RTC
I wrote about HSP back in 2007. (Please see the original for HSP details). Today I want to revisit the topic, to reflect on the epiphanies I’ve had on the matter. As I write, I set my intention on bringing people together in the spirit of mutual support and healing from the toxicities we are fed. May it be so.
Have you ever been told that you’re “too sensitive” or that you “shouldn’t think so much,” particularly by people who strike you as too insensitive or who perhaps should think a little more? You may be what is known as a “highly sensitive person,” or HSP.
By Elizabeth Scott, MS
The term Highly Sensitive People/Person (HSP), describes those of us with a heightened degree of sensitivity to spiritual, physical, emotional and social stimuli. Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) is another term sometimes used to describe it.
If you have the gift of high sensitivity, you have been labeled as “over sensitive,” too sensitive,” thin skinned” and other names that probably caused you to feel bad about yourself and your gift.
Being outside the box has always been a problem for those who don’t fit the mold or ‘societal ideal’ of how we should be.
When people say you’re “too sensitive,” “get over it,” “grow a thicker skin,” they are imposing negative, shaming words upon your person.
When people say “It’s all in your head,” or “you’re just imagining things,” they are gaslighting and invalidating the core instincts that keep you safe and allow you to self-care.
Being Highly Sensitive isn’t an ‘over-reaction,’ a fault or a failing. It’s simply our natural state of being. We were created this way.
Highly Sensitive People have an innate ‘sixth sense’ and greatly heightened sense of perception.
We are strongly attuned to vibes and energy fields and can easily read a room or a person, sensing undertones and subleties others don’t notice.
We are highly sensitive to noise pollution which has been proven to be damaging, even when we aren’t consciously aware of the impact.
Noise pollution is a modern plague. Our society is beset by noise, which is intrusive, pervasive, and ubiquitous; most important of all, it is unhealthy.
Louis Hagler, MD, and Lisa Goines (2007 Southern Medical Journal papers)
Even ear-safe sound levels can cause nonauditory health effects. noise affects sleep, fetal development, and the psyche.
Wolfgang Babisch, PhD, scientist, German Environmental Agency
Studies have found that noise pollution causes and exacerbates depression.
Further research has shown that all humans process noise pollution subconsciously as a danger signal that triggers a fight-or-flight response in our sympathetic nervous system. It works insidiously to raise our blood pressure, increase our heart rate and activate hormonal changes that ramp up anxiety and toxic stress.
If you’re highly sensitive to sensory stimuli, your danger signal is in high gear and the effects of noise pollution are greatly increased.
The loss of quiet is “literally a loss of awareness.” Quiet is tragically disappearing and most of us aren’t noticing.
National Park Service senior scientist and sound specialist Kurt Fristrup, PhD
Highly Sensitive People have always noticed and perceived it as a “loss of awareness.”
Unfortunately, we are trying to live and function in a society that prides itself on the ‘boot strap’ mentality and disdains those who don’t have a ‘bootstrap.’
Being honest about our sensitivities and vulnerabilities, is viewed as a weakness in a society that upholds toughness and stoicism as an ideal.
I’ve even had a few high volume, raucous, disruptive and contentious people invade a spiritual space I provided and specifically created to be a gentle, serene, peaceful escape from the harsh dissonance of the outside world.
To add insult to injury, some dude told me I should be fine it because HE would be.
Another word for energy drains is “tolerations.” We live in a society that expects us to tolerate what is intolerable for us and berates us when we ‘fail.’
My goal is to my honor my High Sensitivity with sensory boundaries and find my kindred spirits. Keep teaching the ways of quietude. We all need a soft place to land.
Know this beloved ones,
‘Over’-sensitivity does not exist!
Your sensitivity is a blessing.
It is intuition
It is instinct
It is awareness
It is boundaries
It is protection
It is strength.
Your sensitivity was bestowed upon you
By the Highest Good
To be the keeper
Of the highest good.
Embrace the divinity of your sensitivity
To honor it
Is to embody
The greatest gifts of all…
The gift of Self-Care
The gift of Clarity
The gift of Self-Trust.
©️2020 Mother Wintermoon, RTC
I thought I’d do an evolving sequel to my 2007 post, The Divine Masculine: Reunification.
Is it easier to see GOD/The Divine alive in living creatures than it is in inanimate objects — such as mountains, snow, ice and stones?
Kabbalah teaches that the Divine is in everything animate and animate — every individual element is GOD or contains the Holy Essence (Sparks) of GOD.
In Kabbalah, the Divine Sparks are in everything animate and inanimate — e.g. a person, an animal, a tree, a water droplet, a stone, a flower, a mountain, a blade of grass… or all of the above in plural form.
There are numerous names for GOD in Hebrew, because each name represents a different spiritual energy that is GOD. GOD is every-thing and no-thing. GOD is ONE and GOD is also multi-dimensional. The name for GOD in Kabbalah is Ein Sof — which literally means “Without End.”
In Pantheism GOD is everything and everything is GOD. All of Nature and all of Nature’s creative energies are GOD, as is all visible and invisible matter. Divinity fills the universe, simultaneously infinitesimal and infinite, from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy. GOD is both tangible and intangible energy.
If GOD is ALL or GOD is ONE, then isn’t GOD also Feminine, Masculine and Neutral (Genderless)? On the Kabbalah Tree of Life (Etz Chayim) GOD has Female, Male and Neutral Emanations. The Neutral attributes balances the Male and Female.
If GOD is ALL then GOD can be parsed into everything that exists individually as well as collectively.
If GOD is ALL, then GOD is also Sun, Moon and Stars. If GOD is ALL then GOD is simultaneously Polytheistic.
The ALLNESS of GOD can be broken down to its individual parts. Is the sum greater than the parts? Are the parts greater then the sum?
2+2 = 4 and 1+1+1+1 = 4 — in math, the sum is equal to its parts.
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E) is famously quoted as saying “The sum is greater than its parts.” Actually, he didn’t quite say that. A better translation from the Greek would be “The whole is not the same as the parts.”
Is the ONENESS of GOD greater than the sum of its parts, or is the sum simply different? I think ‘not the same’ has a much truer ring to it.
I don’t see that many separations in religious, mystical or spiritual belief systems, although I can clearly see the separations that are human-made.
If GOD is Oneness and ALL, doesn’t that also mean that GOD/Divinity is Every-Thing that exists individually and collectively?
Everything is in everything else.
Interbeing: If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And the logger’s father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.
INTERBEING / THICH NHAT HANH / ZEN BUDDHIST MONK
May your journey always be safe and your path illuminated, MW 🙏
