These next weeks I'll am fulfilling dreams so long ago dreamt they were for a time forgotten. As I look over the preparations for this retreat and facilitator training I am grateful and feel blessed beyond my wildest imaginings. The privilege of stepping out of time, as it were, into days and weeks of dance and prayer, of life revolving around the tribe and temple is an exquisite life transforming blessing. Yes there is work involved, yes I'll have to dig deep within, yes I am ready to be completely me!
Namaste
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, September 18, 2008
As the Seasons Have Turned
I've fallen out of the habit of sharing the journey in writing. There is only one way to remedy that, start writing and see where it leads me.
It's been a full summer, between company and maintaining the gardens. While I haven't gotten out on the water this year I have sat almost daily at the end of the pier in the harbour communing with water, landscape and the myriad of lifeforms you'll find by the sea.
A decision I made this time last year has reaped more change than I could have foreseen then. I wanted food from the gardening work I do so I planted what I hoped would be year's worth of garlic in one of the flowerbeds. Sticking to the decision to grow food in flower beds required some flexibility in planting patterns...no more straight lines for this gardener. Last Fall and this Spring I moved perenial flowering stocks into pots or gave them away to make way for peas, beans, brocolli, potatoes, chard, beets, carrots, leeks, onion, lettuces, peppers, cucumbers, zuchini and tomatoes.
It had been almost twenty years since I had maintained a big vegetable patch. I had forgotten the satisfaction and what fun the work is. I had forgotten what a blessing the whole experience of growing and eating food you've grown is.
In the beginning of July a new to me Barbara Kingsolver book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle -A Year is the Life of Food literally jumped off the bookshelf into my hands at the bookstore. Before I was half way through the book I knew I would be making a commitment to make at least 25% of what we eat come from within 100 miles of where we live this year...next year 50%. With that commitment my food shopping shifted from the grocery store to the farmers market and local producers, which turns out to be another community adventure/blessing I had forgotten.
As the need to preserve more food for the year grew, so did a decision to invest in a food dehydrator. When my sons were in school (in the 80's) I dehydrated fruit and fruit leathers for snacks for their lunches. The 2008 model is a wonderful machine...turning out beautifully colored,(with no preservatives)highly nutritious strawberries, blueberries, apples to name a luscious few. I'm loving the peach fruit leather the most...and the spaghetti sauce leather...which is kind of like pemmican but instead of being berry based it's tomato based. I better stop talking food or we'll all be going for snacks soon.
One source of energy and joy that has been an integral part of this year is the weekly Kundalini Trance dance with facilitator Davina Bailey that happens in the living room or the front garden when possible. We are a small group, usually no more than five women, sometimes two. The dance is a glorious way of affirming life on so many levels. Trance Dance has returned me to my dreams of myself as a dancer from my child and young adulthood and in so returning I feel and see myself youthing rather than aging.
Another weekly source of feminine companionship in prayer and meditation are the Vessels of Peace Prayer Shawl teleconference meditations on Sunday night. With much guidance from Grandmother Spider a sense of connection, of peaceful intention and love that this container of women create for each other and the world at large can not be fathomed through words, only through experience. My need to feel of service to a world in such need is being met working in community with other Vessels of Peace. We share the facilitation of the meditations, each of us answering a personal call to facilitate whose subject matter inevitably works for the whole. Magic!
And the foundation of this wonderful blessed life...Court and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary on Sept. 15th with a feast from our gardens. Yummy!
It feels good to count blessings...they increase with every count.
May your blessings be countless too!
It's been a full summer, between company and maintaining the gardens. While I haven't gotten out on the water this year I have sat almost daily at the end of the pier in the harbour communing with water, landscape and the myriad of lifeforms you'll find by the sea.
A decision I made this time last year has reaped more change than I could have foreseen then. I wanted food from the gardening work I do so I planted what I hoped would be year's worth of garlic in one of the flowerbeds. Sticking to the decision to grow food in flower beds required some flexibility in planting patterns...no more straight lines for this gardener. Last Fall and this Spring I moved perenial flowering stocks into pots or gave them away to make way for peas, beans, brocolli, potatoes, chard, beets, carrots, leeks, onion, lettuces, peppers, cucumbers, zuchini and tomatoes.
It had been almost twenty years since I had maintained a big vegetable patch. I had forgotten the satisfaction and what fun the work is. I had forgotten what a blessing the whole experience of growing and eating food you've grown is.
In the beginning of July a new to me Barbara Kingsolver book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle -A Year is the Life of Food literally jumped off the bookshelf into my hands at the bookstore. Before I was half way through the book I knew I would be making a commitment to make at least 25% of what we eat come from within 100 miles of where we live this year...next year 50%. With that commitment my food shopping shifted from the grocery store to the farmers market and local producers, which turns out to be another community adventure/blessing I had forgotten.
As the need to preserve more food for the year grew, so did a decision to invest in a food dehydrator. When my sons were in school (in the 80's) I dehydrated fruit and fruit leathers for snacks for their lunches. The 2008 model is a wonderful machine...turning out beautifully colored,(with no preservatives)highly nutritious strawberries, blueberries, apples to name a luscious few. I'm loving the peach fruit leather the most...and the spaghetti sauce leather...which is kind of like pemmican but instead of being berry based it's tomato based. I better stop talking food or we'll all be going for snacks soon.
One source of energy and joy that has been an integral part of this year is the weekly Kundalini Trance dance with facilitator Davina Bailey that happens in the living room or the front garden when possible. We are a small group, usually no more than five women, sometimes two. The dance is a glorious way of affirming life on so many levels. Trance Dance has returned me to my dreams of myself as a dancer from my child and young adulthood and in so returning I feel and see myself youthing rather than aging.
Another weekly source of feminine companionship in prayer and meditation are the Vessels of Peace Prayer Shawl teleconference meditations on Sunday night. With much guidance from Grandmother Spider a sense of connection, of peaceful intention and love that this container of women create for each other and the world at large can not be fathomed through words, only through experience. My need to feel of service to a world in such need is being met working in community with other Vessels of Peace. We share the facilitation of the meditations, each of us answering a personal call to facilitate whose subject matter inevitably works for the whole. Magic!
And the foundation of this wonderful blessed life...Court and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary on Sept. 15th with a feast from our gardens. Yummy!
It feels good to count blessings...they increase with every count.
May your blessings be countless too!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
An Invitation to Our PRAYER SHAWL WEAVINGS: Co-Creating the Web of Connection With Gaia
Ongoing Sunday Evening Teleconference Meditations
Sunday evenings starting on March 23, 2008
5pm PT/ 6pm MT/ 7pm CT/ 8pm ET
Phone number: 1-712-775-7000. Pin: 408488#
Call duration: 45 minutes. No reservations necessary.
Missed a meditation? Listen to the last recording at
1-641-715-3409; access code 408488#
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Prayer Shawl Weavings meditation series is so named to honor and incorporate the sacred energy that was accrued through joining together in silent meditation during the 40 weeks of Doulas for Peace meditations in 2007. As our service as Doulas concluded, a call to continue to serve as guardians to the peace we had facilitated was felt in many Vessels of Peace hearts.
With the spring equinox, full moon, and Easter energies supporting us, you are invited to join in the emergence of a new circle of service -- a year-long meditation series beginning on Sunday, March 23, 2008.
It is our intention to be guided by the ways of the first peoples of our sacred home, this planet earth. We begin with the North American continent and its traditions of guidance from Spider Women and of calling in the power of the Four Directions. We start in the east, the place of illumination, spring time and creativity, and as the seasons turn, so will our circle to reflect the energy and teaching of each of the sacred directions.
Spider woman invites you to weave your own journey web. Open yourself to Her inspiration. Draw, write, collage, use found objects - whatever speaks to you. By honoring our own journey we support and honor the emerging consciousness of all humanity. One way to weave your journey web is to draw a web on paper . A 'web map' is a simple, visual way for us to depict the many 'nuggets of wisdom' coming through these calls, whether in meditation or during the sharing of stories and experiences. Each piece of wisdom recorded on our web map or in some other way becomes a precious jewel collected in our personal knowledge web. They are the jewels of our personal and collective talents, gifts, awarenesses, etc., that we have to share with one another. Watching them appear week upon week, is self-affirming, sustaining and supporting. The recording of them also allows us to guard, nurture, and enhance them. Using a creative process can assist us in understanding, and most importantly, grounding Spider Woman's feminine energy, the power of the small, in our lives. Read more »
One part of the Vessels of Peace mission states, "Our purpose is service to Divinity, Humanity, Earth." You are invited to gather in this new circle of service, co-creating the web of connection with Gaia. Please join as many of the calls as you are guided. We also encourage you to invite others to join with us as well. These ongoing Sunday evening teleconference meditations provide all of us with a sustained collective practice to deepen our capacity to hold sacred space as our service to "Divinity, Humanity, Earth."
If you have questions or comments, please contact us at info@vesselsofpeace.com
Blessing of Peace from the Vessels of Peace Core Circle
Nadya Richmond, Karen Latvala, Christina Brewer, Laurel Boyd
and Prayer Shawl Weavings Meditation Series Coordinator
Anne Cressy
http://vesselsofpeace.com/shawl.html
Sunday evenings starting on March 23, 2008
5pm PT/ 6pm MT/ 7pm CT/ 8pm ET
Phone number: 1-712-775-7000. Pin: 408488#
Call duration: 45 minutes. No reservations necessary.
Missed a meditation? Listen to the last recording at
1-641-715-3409; access code 408488#
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Prayer Shawl Weavings meditation series is so named to honor and incorporate the sacred energy that was accrued through joining together in silent meditation during the 40 weeks of Doulas for Peace meditations in 2007. As our service as Doulas concluded, a call to continue to serve as guardians to the peace we had facilitated was felt in many Vessels of Peace hearts.
With the spring equinox, full moon, and Easter energies supporting us, you are invited to join in the emergence of a new circle of service -- a year-long meditation series beginning on Sunday, March 23, 2008.
It is our intention to be guided by the ways of the first peoples of our sacred home, this planet earth. We begin with the North American continent and its traditions of guidance from Spider Women and of calling in the power of the Four Directions. We start in the east, the place of illumination, spring time and creativity, and as the seasons turn, so will our circle to reflect the energy and teaching of each of the sacred directions.
Spider woman invites you to weave your own journey web. Open yourself to Her inspiration. Draw, write, collage, use found objects - whatever speaks to you. By honoring our own journey we support and honor the emerging consciousness of all humanity. One way to weave your journey web is to draw a web on paper . A 'web map' is a simple, visual way for us to depict the many 'nuggets of wisdom' coming through these calls, whether in meditation or during the sharing of stories and experiences. Each piece of wisdom recorded on our web map or in some other way becomes a precious jewel collected in our personal knowledge web. They are the jewels of our personal and collective talents, gifts, awarenesses, etc., that we have to share with one another. Watching them appear week upon week, is self-affirming, sustaining and supporting. The recording of them also allows us to guard, nurture, and enhance them. Using a creative process can assist us in understanding, and most importantly, grounding Spider Woman's feminine energy, the power of the small, in our lives. Read more »
One part of the Vessels of Peace mission states, "Our purpose is service to Divinity, Humanity, Earth." You are invited to gather in this new circle of service, co-creating the web of connection with Gaia. Please join as many of the calls as you are guided. We also encourage you to invite others to join with us as well. These ongoing Sunday evening teleconference meditations provide all of us with a sustained collective practice to deepen our capacity to hold sacred space as our service to "Divinity, Humanity, Earth."
If you have questions or comments, please contact us at info@vesselsofpeace.com
Blessing of Peace from the Vessels of Peace Core Circle
Nadya Richmond, Karen Latvala, Christina Brewer, Laurel Boyd
and Prayer Shawl Weavings Meditation Series Coordinator
Anne Cressy
http://vesselsofpeace.com/shawl.html
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Dreamspell Calendar
I created a series of these glass on concrete for the garden, all abstracts that felt like they are their own universes. I'd like to put some of the crop circle symbols I've seen into this medium.
A fascinating old/new concept came under my radar a few months ago. There is a stone Mayan calendar decorating the wall next to where I sit typing. Court brought it back from the Yucatan fifty years ago. It was one of the few decorative items in the house when I moved in that didn’t end up at a garage sale. Like everyone, we’ve wondered what it really means, and how much credence to give those who claim it spells the end of time.
It was the words “Dreamspell Calendar” in a piece I was reading that started the search. I found that “a Dreamspell is "any agreed upon belief system which creates a continuing state of consciousness."
While I’ve long become accustomed to the idea of time as an illusion I’ve never spent any time studying how we spend time right now. The Gregorian Calendar that we keep time by descends directly from a Pope Gregory in the fifteen hundreds. Pope Gregory tweaked the Julian calendar that was imposed as law by Rome in it’s heyday upon her subject states. In effect, we continue to live under a law enacted two thousand years ago by a conquering nation, Rome to keep it’s subject states subjugated. And we’ve lived this way without question.
During my studies of the First peoples from around the world, from the Kalahari Bushmen to our Native American tribes I found many common links. Taking dreams for real is one and the thirteen moon lunar cycle another. I often wondered what North America would have look like now if the Christian Blackrobes had accepted the formation of a rainbow bridge between cultures rather than imposing Christianity. Now I’ve learned it wasn’t just the Christianity that conquered this continent…it was also the imposition of the Gregorian calendar.
Which brings me to that fascinating new understanding of the Mayan calendar and it’s prophecy about the end of time.
“We are now at the end of the Dreamspell of history (time) and at the beginning of the Dreamspell of galactic culture. This means that we are coming to the end of the belief in the male dominant, warrior hero, fear and separation paradigm. And we are preparing to move into the love based, artist hero paradigm of natural time. All we have to do is change our view of time and open ourselves to the love that is inherent in us all.
Time is both spiritual and physical simultaneously. This is why it is the 4th dimension. It serves to bridge between the physical and spiritual because it operates within both.
When we are born we are not asked what calendar we want to use. We simply have one imposed on us by the people who have come before us. Time is a mental concept in reference to the way we perceive it. We simply have to change our minds and time will change. In fact, it will revert back to its natural state. This act alone will begin the movement of our culture back into harmony with nature”.
For more information a link…
http://www.lawoftime.org/2012/13step-peace.html
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Embodying Our Fairy Tales
I was reminded of an incident out of my life earlier today and felt prompted to write about it.
I am reminded of being a six year old girl with a new library card discovering the fairy tale section of the Public Library. After a few years of reading I dreamed often that I was a princess and a movie star.
Fifteen years later Tawny Tigress the Girl with the Million Dollar Legs felt that childhood dream come true at Pandora's Box burlesque theatre in Ottawa. The lights, the band, a silver sequined gown with flowing white cape and rhinestone jewelry stepped straight out of that dream. I was three months pregnant and this was to be my last show. My body was blossoming and I was radiant.
I could hear the booming of Goddess laughter over the beat of the drums as I walked the length of the runway stage. I heard “be careful what you wish for” and I laughed too. I loved how my dream was coming true. Laughing and joking with band and audience I danced the strip tease show of my dreams that night.
I’ve never put this story to paper before and I’ve learned much by doing so. Thank you for being there to share it with.
I am reminded of being a six year old girl with a new library card discovering the fairy tale section of the Public Library. After a few years of reading I dreamed often that I was a princess and a movie star.
Fifteen years later Tawny Tigress the Girl with the Million Dollar Legs felt that childhood dream come true at Pandora's Box burlesque theatre in Ottawa. The lights, the band, a silver sequined gown with flowing white cape and rhinestone jewelry stepped straight out of that dream. I was three months pregnant and this was to be my last show. My body was blossoming and I was radiant.
I could hear the booming of Goddess laughter over the beat of the drums as I walked the length of the runway stage. I heard “be careful what you wish for” and I laughed too. I loved how my dream was coming true. Laughing and joking with band and audience I danced the strip tease show of my dreams that night.
I’ve never put this story to paper before and I’ve learned much by doing so. Thank you for being there to share it with.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
A Full Heart
We've been home for a day and a half and so much has happened it feels forever ago since we started on our journey to take Paige home for the wedding. Right now, while words are still beyond me, this picture of Jarod and Jeannette speaks of what was for me, the event of a lifetime. My heart is full.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The Dreams of a Truck Driving Grandma
After reading David Wilcocks essay about interpreting dreams yesterday afternoon I remembered my dreams of last night this morning. I was driving a truck, something I love to do. Then I realized it was an eighteen wheeler with an emergency brake problem. I was easily operating the air brakes something I’ve never learned to drive in physical time, but parking was an issue because of the e-brake. That meant taking great care about parking for loading and unloading.
The truck is a visual representation of my spirit body. (Can you see Honors the Gentle Breath of Spirit in gold lettering on the door with me?) The e-brake problem refers to the addictive substances, like caffeine and nicotine that I flirt with. I am functional as a truck but constrained by an e-brake that can not hold me back on the hills, or situations where I need to hold back my weight and the weight of the load.
I am delighted with such a clear message from my dream self…I’m going in the right direction, loving the scenery and the road itself. I had no clue as the driver what the destination was, that was unfolding as we went and I was comfortable with that. I will take the truck into my favorite mechanic and have the e-brake adjusted or replaced if necessary.
I’m traveling next weekend to see Jarod, Jeannette and Paige in Vernon, B.C., a two ferry and seven hour drive. I have a wishing well that Court made as a wedding gift to deliver which means I’ll be driving the pick up instead of the RV. That makes it time to start planting the dahlia collection I would ordinarily have planted weeks ago. While I have acted like it’s too cold, the iris’s, poppies, lilies, columbine, hollyhocks, bee balm, nasturtiums and such have more than popped out of the ground, they’re growing to beat the band.
(I can't find the link for that Wilcocks essay on dreams...when I do I'll post it.)
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Polsom Park Rose Garden, Vernon B.C.
The Wedding Party
