Mist. Cataract. Eclipse.

Mist  

To sit in a hotel room chair overlooking Niagara Falls feels surreal. A wide river flows into a cavernous crevasse. There is fallout. Mist. Lots of mist. And sound, like a roaring wind. The mist is ethereal...veiling the view at times, refracting color and light, other times.  Always in movement. When you walk close to the falls and perch at the rail, you feel the blessing of the river. The mist alights on you, the witness......witness to the immensity of this geologic situation.

The mist is an ever changing dynamic connecting river to sky. I imagine what it must have been like to happen upon the Falls hundreds of years ago, on foot or horseback. You first see the plume at a distance, rising above the trees. There is tension and anticipation when drawing near...at least I have always felt this. As a child, there was trepidation, and dreams of being engulfed by its immensity.

Today, towering casinos, high rise hotels, and an abundance of pulsing light vie for attention while the ever powerful, dynamically stoic, Niagara River flows on by. And its delicate mists sing of change and transformation. 

 Cataract 

Cataract (Dictionary.com): 

noun

1.

a descent of water over a steep surface; a waterfall, especially one of considerable size.

2.

any furious rush or downpour of water; deluge.

3.

Ophthalmology.

1. an abnormality of the eye, characterized by opacity of the lens.
2. the opaque area.

I have always been fascinated with the term cataract, describing the Falls. While the word waterfall conjures an idyllic image, cataract, has a darker, more mysterious feel to it. And how strangely curious that the alternative meaning speaks of obfuscation, veiling.

The river is wide and divided creating two spectacular and separated water falls, and a boundary between two countries. (I wonder how the river feels about its honorary role of separation? Do you think it likes the Canadians better?) From wide, level riverbed to plunging cavernous escarpment, this cataract is dangerous and majestic.

Originally from the Greek kataraktes, meaning rushing or swooping down, it became a simile around the 16th century for something that stopped the light from entering...a web in the eye. (For more on the origin and evolution of the word cataract check out World Wide Words.)

As a hotel patron with a sublime view of the falls, what webs my eyes are the glaring lights and distractions humanity has thought to include in the cataract experience. I would love to sleep with the curtains open and the river at my side, but the night-time circus that has become Niagara Falls, pesters. How does a "wonder of the world" cope with such circumstances?

Mesmerized, I sit with this spectacle and watch the swirling mist...at times thick enough to cloak the view across the river. The mist.........yes, this cataract has cataracts.

 Eclipse

Early this morning (October 8) there was a total lunar eclipse, at the opposite horizon from my view of the Falls. The moon takes on a red hue (blood moon) as the earth passes between sun and moon..... and is darkened but enhanced at the same time. It is said that during a total eclipse, there is a planetary pause, like the space between in breaths and exhales. It is an opening within which we can access the cosmos and harness powers for change. Certainly there is a big push for change in the global collective and I would guess, similarly in our individual lives.

photo by Denise Stottman

The moon represents the darkness in us, the madness we suppress. This ecliptic pause could see a bit of madness leaked out into the world.  (Like we need more madness!) The seers say that today's lunar eclipse occurs while our planet and solar system are in a potent energetic stew and at an apex of manifestation. Hmmm. What will we choose to manifest...we the blind madmen of the world? Curious.

 Oh My

The little synchronicities of this day have put me in a reflective mist. I think proximity to a cataract during a total lunar eclipse unleashes the beasts of the psyche. I will/can make no solid conclusions, but maybe some fluid ones. When one's vision is impaired other senses are heightened. Mist and cataract combined to heighten mine. Something was loosed in me. The eclipse saw to that.

I will leave you with the last little synchronicity....an excerpt from a poem that came to me today (Oct. 8), by Philip Schultz, called Afterwards.

Suddenly, 
regardless of what the Gods say, 

the present remains uninhabitable, 

the past unforgiving of the harm it's seen, 

while 
the future remains translucent 

and unambiguous 
in its desire to elude us.

A Shared Perspective on Gender Issues

One woman's thoughts on gender issues----I thought this was very well written. The author is Devapriya, posted on the website Golden Age of Gaia in response to a series by the website director Steve Beckow, Eradicating Gender Predjudices. Many thanks!


We all have gender prejudices.  Often it doesn’t become clear, but simply the act of relating with someone from the other polarity brings a sexual component into the dance.
If the intent is to become sexual with each other, that’s fine, yet mostly that isn’t really the case. But we’re so used to reacting to the attraction and repulsion of the polarities that we unconsciously play out sexual games all the time.

Therefore, it’s so very relaxing to have a same-gender group meeting , the energy usually bound in the mating dance gets freed for more truthful Being-ness.

One difficulty I’ve repeatedly, and just recently, been experiencing in relating with men, is how easily ‘being love’ gets mistaken for ‘falling in love’. When I Am what I Am, with open heart, present, attentive, loving, my energy shines like a lighthouse.  It often triggers people’s heart and opens it for love.

A Being of the same polarity, a heterosexual woman or a truly gay man, will usually responds to this energy by taking a sip of ‘my water’, sharing One-ness in Many-ness once in a while, and using this nourishment to find their own light.

A Being in the other polarity’s vessel easily falls into the sex-virus state of, ‘ahh, a lighthouse… the light shines for me only… I need to have it…’, and starts hunting down the light that I Am instead of chasing their own I Am light inside.  It’s easy to think, ‘she’s so loving. She must be in love with ME ‘.

Arggggh…

Get the idea?  In essence, We Are Love.  When we vibrate in this state of consciousness, we are loving with our surroundings, no matter who comes.  Those who resonate with our energy share it, and our springs sparkle their waters even more, merging with the spring water of the other Self.

But we’re lost when we follow the light on the outside.  Be it a guide, a guru or a romantic partner, no outside source can be the spring to quench my thirst of One-ness.  Not for long, that is.

Another Self can only give me a taste, a sip; or can be a well for me for some time, reminding me of my own light, which transforms my waters into love consciousness;  and triggers the spring in mySelf to nourish me from the inside.

When we ‘fall in love’, we want to feed off the other spring, the other lighthouse.  We easily get lost in each other.  When we ‘rise in love’, we both feed on our internal springs, and merge our waters in a dance.

So, back to gender prejudice. As long as we’re not conscious, fully balanced and rooted in a non-polar androgynous energy, we can’t avoid the sex-virus polarity game.  We play with the other gender because we react to their polar outpouring.  (Or we consciously play, but [balanced interaction] can only happen, in my experience, when we’ve dropped playing the game altogether for some time.)

Now, instead of two Beings meeting, we have a man and a woman meeting.  And, according to our sexual preferences and judgments, we view them in a certain way, as potential mates, although we’re mostly aware that this has no reality.

Isn’t that silly? It brings with it many insecurities and lies, needs and demands,  and it feeds on our unconscious relating patterns with the other sex.  Women use it to get a higher paycheck from their male boss. Men use it to receive a favor from their female team member. And we all use it to feel accepted and worthy.

We use our sex drive and we play with these energies to satisfy hundreds of desires which have nothing to do with sexuality.  By this we reduce sex to an equivalent of money, using it as a payment for the fulfillment of our needs,  and never relating to a Being of the other gender as equal partners, but always through the glasses of the mating dance.

From my point of view, gender prejudices are only going to fall away when we’re able to stay centered and not move into our gender polarity whenever we meet a member of the other sex.  Except for the intent of a sexual meeting, when we don’t change our energy, thoughts and behavior anymore according to the other Being’s gender, when it doesn’t matter anymore if the other Self we commune with is male or female, then we finally become Human.

Devapriya
Footnote:
(1) http://goldenageofgaia.com/2014/09/10/eradicating-gender-prejudices-part-15-2/

Maximum Potential

I wrote the title of this post months ago, then nothing more. I was at the time intrigued by the idea of maximum human potential--body-mind-spirit, spurred by reading Michael Roads book Stepping...Between....Realities. In the book he discovers his Body Elemental--the metaphysical aspect of his physical form. We all have one--a Body Elemental, that is. All creatures do. He named his Body Elemental MAX--for maximum potential--that state of being he sought and that he could really only achieve through communication and guidance with none other than MAX. 

 
In Michael's terms, maximum potential is the pinnacle of what each of us can uniquely achieve with a united body/mind/spirit complex..... a finely tuned homo sapiens.  I want this (I think), so it is time to consider what that means for me. I haunt myself at times, focused on my tendency to walk the well worn patterns and habits of my life. Are they worn out? Do they no longer serve me? As a friend (and Human Design specialist) reminded, for me, moment by moment is the only way to gauge whether my habits are still correct for me or not. My sacral inner authority (shall we call her MAXine?) knows what is best in every moment. Thinking will not get me there.


The Habits. MAXine says...

Kinder. Gentler. Put aside self blame and doubt, and sketch a bigger picture of the scene. My love of the drink (and now smoking cigars) has given me much pleasure over the years. It has allowed me a voice when I was too shy and insecure to speak. It allowed creativity to flow. It was a tasty crutch; an inhibition freeing mechanism. The stuff of ones social life. It was a balm and an interface between myself and a harsh ungentle world. It was a hermit's companion. It still is.

To balance this reverie, there are the not so great outcomes of drinking--and there have been plenty of them over the years. And sometimes I worry about this.  My mind says Alcohol and spiritual seeking do not mix.  MAXine tells me that she/we can be adversely affected by alcohol consumption, especially if it remains a crutch to bolster confidence or to divert attention from things needing to be addressed. Not to mention our liver......

Honoring the Body Elemental

So now what? We are back to the only place of really knowing--the moment and our inner authority. If I am asked in this moment whether I want a drink or not, the answer will bubble up before I have a chance to think about it. It happens instantly. I can take this answer as my truth and what I can commit to. No, I do not want a drink now, as I sit writing this post. Then again, if asked this evening as I am sitting in my garden, a different answer may arise. Easy and accurate.The only thing muddling this process is when the brain kicks in and begins to judge/manipulate the sacral response. If you have to think about it, you will not likely get a true reading. 

Addiction is mostly mental....so if MAXine says no I do not want a drink, but the mind overrides this (because a drink has always been our companion), we take that drink against our intuitive wishes--and therein lies a problem........ 


Maximum Potential

In unfocused moments I feel my pure innocent childhood heart/persona waiting for me to return to it. I can viscerally feel the lightness, and freedom there--the joy of life.  It seems maximum potential has something to do with enabling this reconnection to a higher/purer aspect of self. Moving towards the best you takes work, and dedication. Mind body spirit all at their purest/most refined, working in tandem will put me back into the flow of universal nature.

I sense a time ahead when alcohol will no longer play a role in my adventure. For NOW I will forge a greater relationship with MAXine, which means paying attention and listening to my inner authority.

The Camaraderie of Complaint

Waiting at the bus stop this morning was a woman I had never seen before. She engaged me with a statement about how the bus is never on time, and people have to be someplace at a certain time and cannot count on the bus system.  My knee jerk response was to say that the bus is usually late. As the brief conversation ended I thought about the exchange and realized, although I noticed the timing of the bus--on schedule, early, or late, it really never bothered me. It never felt like a complaint inside me until it emerged, prompted by this "Small talk".

So much of our small talk IS really small. Be it the weather or traffic, our local sports team or all of the little inanities of life--we seem to latch on to those little things we can agree upon--a casual bonding--woven in shared complaint. Especially with persons who are strangers to us, the icebreaker is many times "this bus is always late".

I wonder how to change this. I have been noticing this tendency for a while. Harmless? Maybe, but the quality of our interactions combine to form the background hum of our daily life. Every little statement of how life is less-than, notches the field with a little disharmony. Instead of playing the complaint game, can we find other ways to connect with others? Can we find a positive statement when handed a downer? Perhaps we can all pay a little more attention to what we put out into the world.

This partly sunny morning was beautiful--the air fresh and the birds singing. And the wait was not long at the bus stop--#25 arrived right on time.

"from beast to angel"........

"It is a great ascent that the human attempts in third density, to move from beast to angel, from a mute and unspeaking love to a supernal, wordless expression of love. In between those two lies the third density and in that density you have the forgetting that allows your voice to be uncertain; that allows your mind not to know; that allows your heart to make foolish choices and then to experience change because of them."  The Daily Q'uote for March 20, 2014

 I have been thinking about neutrality. It is said that in the higher realms, beings operate from a place of neutrality--a neutrality of emotion and a discernment, which is judgement's evolved state. They* see a bigger picture, a truer reality than we can. They know why we do the things we do. They see the greater purpose behind it all. In our quest to go from beast to angel, how do we (here and now) begin to operate from a higher perspective of neutrality? Is it achievable? Do we even want to?

WE, living a life, struggle to balance emotion and logic--the two sides of our brain-coin.  I have found that as I grow and expand my awareness, there is less drama, more peace and a greater perspective on situations and incidences. I become less reactive and do not as easily choose sides in a battle. At first glance, this does not really help those struggling around me. To look on the vicious act, the cataclysm, the crisis, the famine, the VICTIM with a calm neutrality seems at odds with the status quo. It seems unfeeling and uncaring! But in the way energy works in this world, getting dragged into the maelstrom of negativity only adds to it. Like attracts like. So does this mean we are indifferent to human suffering? What is the best way to help?

IMHO It seems that holding a central place of seeing and understanding, of acceptance yet of change for the good of all, is a monumental task. It takes the highest perspective one can manage. I picture it as sitting amongst the clouds seeing the world-play below. This is my perch of neutrality. Every now and then I dive down to take a closer look, to involve myself. It is then that I can exercise my human emotions, use my powers (emotions are powerful) for good, so-to-speak. Discernment tells me if I have a pony in this race, if I can help the situation. Wisely choosing where to invest our precious emotional energies enables a greater adherence to our central place of balance--providing stability all around us.  For me, that is the best way to help.

Now I know that most of us live every day with challenges up close and personal. The cloud sitting analogy is fantasy, but we can practice neutrality with our family and friends on a daily basis, choosing to be the stable and compassionate being for all we encounter. We add only what we choose energetically, to a situation--not reactive, explosive, emotional detritus, coming from a place of imbalance within our selves. To get to this place one must do the inside work of self discovery. Developing/recognizing/remembering unconditional love for yourself and others is doing the good work. Done over a lifetime or many, it is not easy!

Unconditional love. Unconditional love is the ultimate form of neutrality. It is the ground of being. It is the canvas on which all of existence is painted and also the space that holds the canvas and that which sees it. The Creator. Un-conditional--no conditions attached to this love. No judgement. Neutrality. It becomes clearer that to maintain a neutrality in life is a very nuanced thing. But worthwhile and ultimately, primal.

Remembering. I know that we all have different missions for this lifetime, and neutrality may not seem to be the way to go, but a higher perspective can almost always help. The beginning quote (that appeared as I was writing this), speaks of a forgetting. Do we forget so that we can transcend the forgetting? Do we go on the wagon, cutting ourselves off from the bliss-filled realities of the higher dimensions so we can experience an even higher high when at last we remember? Is this the way an angel gets high?-}

A long leash. The enrichment of a soul seems endless--this forgetting and subsequent remembering--puts another growth ring in the cross section of our soul trunk. Having the higher perspective of neutrality is enabled and supported by the remembrance of our greater being. So this beast-angel says, she is jumping off the wagon. Grant me my bliss, please, even as I remain tethered to this life. I soon will be a cloud squatter holding a long leash of neutrality for the collective world in which we live.

*They are we--really a higher aspect of our physical selves, the oversoul, the spirit guide.

Thanks to L/L Research (see link above) for the quote- Q'uo channelled by Carla Rueckert

The Magic of a Garden

I recently gave a presentation at the ISU Winterdays Conference in Grunberg, Germany. Now, I am not a natural storyteller, rather I am an introvert. So when the opportunity to speak came to me, I reacted as if this was a vast burden. I panicked--I moaned--I
doubted myself.  But as the days went on I realized what a gift I had been given. 

We are all, at this time, learning the most intimate ways of ourselves and others we are in relationship with. Going forward, self doubt is not an option--it is a debilitating drain of energy that hinders us from being all that we can be, in and for the world. This was a lesson for me to learn. I could either move forward in a steadfast way, or.....continue on, hiding my light under a bucket as my mom always used to say. 

Instead of focusing on the terrors of public speaking I began to see that there was a way to convey a deep message to those plants-women and men who came from across Europe to participate in this horticultural conference.

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog knows that I am on a conscious path of spiritual awakening, that consumes my everyday life. And I am a gardener, self taught, with a deep love for nature. While at first I did not think I had anything to say of worth to this European group of serious plants people, I realized that the only thing I could talk about was my passion for gardening and a greater spiritual connection that could be nurtured within a garden.

My nervousness became excitement and anticipation and acceptance of the challenge: how to craft the message visually, how would it unfold over the course of an hour+, choosing words with care so that they would stimulate and not deter my connection with the audience. The best thing about the process, for me, was that I really learned I was not alone in this undertaking.

I sat in meditation many times to ask for guidance, to ask for inspiration, to implore the greater wisdom of nature to speak through me--to tell its story. I also found inspiration in the words of Michael Roads, initially through his book Conscious Gardening, and others who have mined their hearts in pursuit of a greater knowing. My presentation began to unfold, following my garden's awakening through the months, revealing what magic there was to behold in it in every seeming moment.

In very few circles, talk of communicating with plants would be accepted as a natural thing. My audience was an unknown with only one real certainty--their love for plants. I was hoping it was enough of an opening through which nature's message could flow.

In Germany, now, at the conference, my talk was scheduled for Sunday morning, a perfect time for spiritual reflection! Between high level talks on Friday and Saturday, I wandered the landscaped grounds, lost in the moist greenness of a mild European February. I was drawn to a solid weeping beech tree and stood in its embrace for a while, asking for it's help. I knew it had deep connections to that energy which I hoped to channel in my presentation.

Sunday morning arrived and I was strangely at peace. Suffice to say, the presentation was an overwhelming success-- a magical energy flooded the conference room that morning. Hearts opened wide--people hugged and laughed and there was a sense of awe that something special happened. I know that my pleas for help were heard and I was simply a portal through which "the magic" emerged. This wonderful experience has touched me deeply--has changed me in a profound way.

Here in the U.S. we have yet to emerge from the longest coldest winter I can remember. There is a momentum building within the population that I can feel--a hunger to be outside, a longing for spring. And perhaps subconsciously for many, there is a growing need for quiet communion with our planet and the realization of our fundamental connection with her. As Michael Roads says:

Nature is an expression of conscious intelligence . . . as are we! We just don't live that way anymore. We have lost our fundamental connection with Nature, with truly living life and, sadly, with our quintessential Self.

We are one body--planet earth and all who dwell on and inside of her. It is urgent that as many of us as possible realize this--NOW. Love yourself and it is easy to love all of earth. Perhaps as we emerge from this hard winter, we will be inspired to plant a garden and/or become more in tune with the MAGIC of the natural world. Let the living begin!