Inspirations: Ritual & Celebration

When we play, we are lively, as in ‘full of life.’ In that happiness, we connect. In depression, we disconnect, and grow stagnant. Growing joy and contentment is no small job. Maybe it never was. With over-ripe angst, anger, and confusion , bliss is not a luxury. Consciously cultivating solace is a worthy job. We don’t realize what we lack until its lack reaches a tipping point, like becoming silent to finally be heard. We would not take time or energy to grow delight if we were not drowning in its opposite. Personally, having done battle with various levels of depression, I am steeped in this tipping point. Falling into dark waters is easy, pulling oneself out to re-generate is difficult…a Scorpionic task. Shakti Dance has been growing from these emotional re-boots. My Yoga Practice enhanced mind and body, but emotionally I could not find deep emotional nurturing. When I combining dance, song, and deeper connections within the Practice, happiness moved like Pluto’s scythe through the depression. The emotional-body, particularly the heart-body, needs jbliss in order to obliterate old patterns, and master new. As we overcome the entrenched, forging space for the unknown, we move more deeply into true Self. The exciting part is we don’t where the dance leads. Perhaps it is Elliot’s “still point?” Perhaps it is the ability to see with wider vision? Perhaps it is overcoming rooted-sorrows? It is not only the dance itself that creates new muscle, it is the intertwined flow of Asana and music that magically massages subtle body levels. It is in joining with others to create momentary community, for how can we possibly step into dance and not have the stranger beside us grow warm and fuzzy? We do not have barn raisings, nor do we sit together at births, or… Read more »

As the earth held her moment of perfect balance between night & day, a tiny band of brothers circled a fire to celebrate. We stood as witnesses, called as our ancestors had been called to celebrate ‘The Queen,’ to partake and believe in her mysteries. In this last breath before tidal waves of change create different lives, and ways of being, we cradled ourselves in a time-out, gathering to be present for one another, and to honor Gaia’s edge of autumn. We chanted with voices bound in common desire. We painted symbolic faces that reflected the polarity of light and dark. We offered bodies through Salutations. Finally, we drank the Queen’s health, and ours, with rich, red wines. We did all we could to please her, to pay homage to her beautiful resilience, that she might see herself loved, As rituals go, it was not remarkable for its size or grandeur. It was not remarkable for literacy, or beauty, except for the night herself. Perhaps it lives on only in the memory of those present. Or, perhaps that fire, that brand of brothers, that ritual, are still moving out, touching hearts minds away, making other ritual possible, prompting other celebrations that treasure and sustain Gaia’s seasons and cycles. Perhaps, once again the ancestors move through us as guardians Asana: Malasana/Garland Pose. There are several variations, but the classic description is to squat down as low on the haunches as possible, with the feet together, heels down. To move it into more advanced levels, widen the knees, move the trunk forward between knees, and take the hands around shins to clasp behind the back. On an exhale, extend head and chest forward, and rest head on the earth/floor. Clasping a strap is helpful in learning this pose. Health Notes: This pose… Read more »

Let us evolve as the heavens instruct: At sunrise, burst with light upon a new day; at each monthly new moon, surrender to the darkness of renewal; at the four seasonal crossroads of Solstice and Equinox, set road-maps of intention, and re-balance. Heaven and earth propose opportunity after opportunity for new life. Jim Harrison said, “Listen to the gods. They’re shouting in your ear every second.” As the ancestors knew, relationship to Gaia’s innate wisdom is paramount to earthly survival. We ignore her directions and gifts at our peril. The faster she spins, the greater our need for her proffered moments of re-charge: morning birth, new moon dying, quadrant shifts to point the way, and in between, passion. When we throw ourselves deeply into life, we must take time-out for regeneration. We are of the earth as well as on the earth. She is our mother and instructs brilliantly, if we would but listen. In these fading days of summer she says rest. Lin Yu-T’ang wrote, “If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.” This is the Yoga of balance, the Yoga of strong Practices. Asana: Hanumanasana/The splits. This is a lovely pose to do on the grass, sinking toward the soil, contemplating great thoughts, and surrendering the ‘shoulds’. Prop the legs and groin with soft pillows if the muscles are not yet long enough. They will be with practice. Try to keep the hips flat, facing front, back leg rotated in. Bring hands to the heart in the Angeli Mudra and offer Mother Earth her moment of gratitude. Health Notes: This pose lengthens and strengthens abductor muscles of thighs and groin, helps with sciatica, and gives one a sense of being young again. When did you first do… Read more »

Being an Astrologer, I am fascinated by questions of fate. I am engaged and delighted by an endlessly revolving relationship to the cosmos, especially to the Sun, giver of life. Weaving and un-raveling around those relationships reveals that God is, indeed, in the details. During the days of the Summer Solstice, as earth ‘stands still,’ the longest day in the northern hemisphere, we are invited to cross un-seen thresholds, to stop, re-assess, and intuit the divine. When day moves on forever into night, ask, “How can I call the numinous to live within, for surely it is the matrix of mid-summer’s eve?” The four seasonal cross roads, or quadrants of Equinox and Solstice, are moments when ancient bones are more aware of time-traveling. June 21st is not only a moment to celebrate earth’s relationship to the sun, but to call up old imprints of sacrifice, fire, and ritual, memories when we groveled at the feet of Gods for good weather, strong crops and profitable animal husbandry. Old bones remember when we knocked at the door of fate, begging tender mercies. We remained dependant upon ‘fate’ for centuries, no eons, and those memories die hard. Perhaps as moderns, we remain more dependant upon fate than we wish, simply having small desire to admit we are not in charge? This week of the Summer Solstice, I am reviewing not only earth’s relationship to Sol, but mine to earth, and to the celestial bodies with their electro-magnetic influence over earth. I am ‘standing still’ to contemplate my part in the cosmos, if indeed I have a part….How far does that influence reach? Is my light dependant upon the sun? How much? What is the level of my control, or do I need to make sacrifice and beg mercy of the Gods for my… Read more »

Come May someone, somewhere begins walking to Pomp & Circumstance. The hymn of graduation hums along for all, it is simply more audible in certain lives. Just as Ma Nature graduates to full-bloom- glory come spring, we fling off old garb, open windows, and show intimate skin, to take next steps. Revealing ourselves anew is an alchemical process for it demands constant participation. Just as school requires we show up for class, do homework, kiss up to the teacher, and finish exams to graduate, we must rise and shine to bloom and grow time and again in order to transform. We must become the gardener and the flower, for as in any scientific experiment, the outcome depends as much on the involvement of the observer/gardener as the flowering-one. We too must do homework; till the soil/soul, fertilize the roots/ mind, reveal the heart of our colors, and kiss everyone who takes a moment to admire our effort. If we do not stand at the window for sunrise, or lie under the moon as she traverses her heaven, we have no knowledge, or use of their power. There is no alchemical change within, and if we hope to transform our world, if we treasure being beautiful-beings of courage and joy, then we must experience the radiance. It is hopeless to read, and intellectually understand these things, just as insight without emotional connection will not move us toward our next graduation. We must be greedy for the full, bloody experience…the demands, surprises, and gifts, or we wilt, faded, repressed and unfulfilled. This is a time of enormous graduations, of re-wiring, and re-configuring old skills, old thinking patterns. If we do not hear faint strains of Pomp & Circumstance as we step up and out each day, then we’d best run back, and… Read more »

When the ‘moveable feasts’ of Passover and Easter tango together, religious rituals fill the air, and tastes of childhood linger on the tongue through matzo, or peeps. The sour and sweet of holy ground offers both guilt and redemption. It can open the numinous, or close down possibility by orthodoxy. Religious roots can send us on trajectories into unknown spiritual quests, as well as the crazies. Passover and Easter are called ‘moveable feasts,’ not because we go from meal to meal visiting family, but because they were created by the timing and turning of earth in relation to the heavens. This was not a precise science. Planetary orbits change, and we set calendars by this heavenly movement, revealed year by year, much as religious bias has grown, slowly, layer on layer. Pesach, or Passover, originated on the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. Easter took its timing from Passover, setting itself on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, after the vernal equinox. Easter, based on the Gregorian calendar, not on the actual astronomical full moon or equinox, was set by the Catholic Church, mandating an automatic equinox on March 21. Religion superseded God to dictate when and how. More tied to ancient roots is the Orthodox Church, which uses the same formula, but bases its timing on the Julian calendar, instead of the Gregorian. This sets Easter on the actual astronomical full moon and equinox for Jerusalem, instead of the Gregorian auto-pilot of the western calendar. Eastern Orthodox celebrate the death and resurrection of Easter after Jesus entered Jerusalem and held Passover. However we celebrate our moveable feasts, may religion free us, rather than enslave. May our beliefs rise and twine from heart and mind. May we return to what is ancient and powerful within, connecting us… Read more »

This equinox calls us to grow our inner light as powerfully as we respond to the the outer transformation of spring. Those of us who have been in snow’s lock-down, become joy-crazy with the warmth in this light. Even if we have not been held in repressive freezes, it is time to release the dark weight of fear. Whether dancing through daffodils, or surfing San Onofre, the inner flame of this spring’s re-birth calls us all. A friend just sent me the following ‘cycle of awareness.’ Perhaps we can use it as a catalyst for our mutual growing light. We cannot go on as before. The earth cannot support our darkness. We cannot withstand the bleakness. We change or die. Here’s a kick in the butt toward change: The Seven Day Cycle of Equinox 1ST Day: Releasing Old Patterns 2nd Day: Releasing Old Emotions 3rd Day: Releasing Old Problems Day of Solstice/Equinox: meditate on New Energy, Ideas, Directions for current or coming projects 5th Day: State or re-state Personal and Global Dreams 6th Day: Dreams and Expectations for the next 3 months 7th Day: Set a single habit in place for on-going processes of Self-Realization During first 3 days– write 2-3 items to release for each day, then tear or burn the papers upon completion of meditation/ritual. Write 2-4 items for manifestation at the Solstice or Equinox, then for following three days, Meditate on what you Desire to Manifest. Keep these papers in a sacred place for the coming three months until the next cycle begins. Asana: Urdhva Upavistha Konasana/ Upward Facing Open Angle Pose. You can move into this Pose from rolling back and forth on the spine, with knees curled at chest. Roll up to sit on Sitts bones, slowly extend bent knees as far as possible. Grab… Read more »

Thoughts & words stolen from a day of magic when America stepped out from under dark clouds. I hear the heartbeat of this land again….lub-dub, lub-dub. How far we wandered from that sound, from our true song. In the darkness of frightening cycles, the gifted come to help us grow new heart-muscle, and stronger voice. Their ears opened before ours, hearing far off clarions of hope. Lub-dub, lub-dub…”Swing low sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home, swing low sweet chariot…” Now, we begin to hear the will, the hope, and the way of ‘optimism with realism.’ “Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free, tis the gift to come down where we ought to be” The old rancor, the old wankers, even the old lions are leaving because this new frontier asks we step up, step out and grow big-hearted again. It asks we link arms and march on together. “Seventy Six trombones led the big parade, a hundred and six clarinets… ” Every last one in ‘this patchwork-quilted country’ heard a new song today. Some of the grand old lions are ready to pass the torch. They have taken us as far as they could, and honor haloes their shedding manes. Others, inherited their blind obtuseness and simply play out their tuneless time. We let them. We allowed their soul-less song to be ours. The keening winds of sorrow and challenge are our inheritance. Now we own responsibility in switching course, sounding the alarm. Lub-dub, lub dub….. “From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli…” We are touched by memories of other hard times, blood memory of ancestors moving through us. Lub-dub, lub-dub….”Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come…” You see it when someone smiles, touching… Read more »