Sanctuary

"Become the sanctuary you seek." Jack Kornfield
Today create a safe place within and sit on a rock by the flowing stream.
May all beings, including myself, be safe and free from harm.

Use all circumstances to wake up

"We can let the circumstances of our lives
harden us so that we become increasingly
resentful and afraid, or we can let them
soften us and make us kinder and more
open to what scares us. We always have
this choice." Pema Chodron
Resource: The Places That Scare You:
A Guide to the Power Path of the Heart

Offering the Mandala

Sedona

Offering the Mandala

Here is the Great Earth
filled with the smell of incense
covered with a blanket of flowers,
the great mountain,
the four continents,
wearing a jewel of the sun and the moon.
In my mind I make of them a paradise of the Buddha,
and offer it to all sentient beings everywhere.
By this deed may every living being,
experience the Pure World.
(sorry, but I've lost the author of this offering)

Coming home to yourself.

Winter cycle altar

Hope you are exploring the conditions for awakening. I'm posting some of the things that work for me.  Creating a safe, peaceful place to meditate is important for me. I have an altar that changes and evolves. It is always in the same place and has the same basic elements. Candles, a bell, water, a green plant and a rock or mineral representation. I have a fabric covering (this changes with the cycles) and a male element and a female element for balance (this can change too). So for the winter I chose a white silk fabric. I have a black sitting Buddha, a gift from a friend. He is serene, from Thailand. I put a picture of White Buffalo Calf Woman to remind me of the Oneness with all of Life.  I like the Native American basket (a feminine element) which reminds me to be open and receive.  In the center of the altar is the Gohonzon. It is closed. Inside is a scroll of the Lotus Sutra in Japanese characters.  I open it when I sit to meditate.  I love sitting at the altar.  It is like coming home to myself.  Coming home to my True Nature.

My cat Gracie loves to sit at the altar too

 

Experiment with setting up a place to come home to yourself.  Inside or outside in your garden.
I came upon this altar (below) on a hike.  People left lovely objects as an offering. Kind of a communal altar.

 

My Grandmother had an altar in her bedroom.  I can remember the smell of the candles, the statue of St.Anthony, a picture of her brother Eddie who died in the war, and her rosary.  It was a Sacred place too.  I wonder if she felt the same way I do when she sat there?  Probably.

Create the conditions for awakening

Slide Rock Sedona Arizona

Theme:  Create the conditions for awakening.
Start at the beginning.
Meditation.  Create a space for stillness.  Sit there twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. 

 

Like tilling the soil before planting

meditation and stillness

are the fertile ground

for awakening

See what grows

 

Wake Up!



Boyce Arboretum Superior Arizona. Picture by Joyce

Create the conditions for awakening

 

This is the theme I've chosen to reflect on this coming year, 2015.  I've learned, from past years, you never really know what the theme will teach you as it accompanies you on your Earth walk.  But I like it!

I'll be exploring what it means to be "awakened"; and what are the conditions I can create that will foster wakefulness?

 

 

Wakefulness is the way to life

The fool sleeps

As if he were already dead,

But the master is awake

And lives

 

He watches

He is clear

 

How happy he is!

For he sees that wakefulness is life.

How happy he is,

Following the path of the awakened.

With great perseverance

He meditates, seeking

Freedom and happiness.

 

So awake, reflect, watch

Work with care and attention

Live in the way

And the light will grow in you.

 

By watching and working

The master makes for himself an island

Which the flood cannot overwhelm."

From The Dhammapada. Rendering by Thomas Byrom

 

Full Moon in Cancer

Full Moon over the McDowell Mountains

Sunday, January 4, 2015
Hope you enjoy the Full Moon tonight.
I'm fortunate to live in a place that provides a beautiful view of the Moon, stars and planets most nights.  I am thankful.
I've been writing a lot lately.  I bought a new journal to begin 2015.  Journaling is a wonderful creative adventure and healing tool.  A journal is a place where you tell your story, write down your dreams, and uncover the truth about yourself.  I highly recommend creative writing as a path.

So this is what came through this morning: 


Old Wise One

\Prayer Flag

pitch your tent
in my joyful heart



Grand Canyon Raven



Wise Woman

Athena graced my home and the First Friday table.  A ritual which I cherish each month.
The invocation:
"I light this candle and offer appreciation to the Divine Feminine
who holds all beings in her tender heart
and uncovers joy in all of lifes' circumstances
I pray this home will be filled with Her presence and light
Welcome Queen of Wisdom."
I felt a soft energy of peace fill me and my home.

The day at the hospital visiting patients was powerful.  I met an 88 year old woman who was the Wise Woman you here about in mythic stories. She told me her life story and about her losses which started at about the age of 75. But her list of losses was a list of all the people and experiences that she loved throughout her life.  Her husband who had died from Alzheimer's disease. the loss of the enjoyment of the symphony because she could no longer hear; the loss of her ability to get around because of arthritis in her legs. She told me how she was ready to drop her body and move on.  She was not bitter or sad, she was happy recounting all the wonderful relationships in her life.  Then she said this: "I'm not a religious person. I was born a Lutheran but church just wasn't for me.  I was not gifted with faith. My gift was joy. I found joy in everything. In people, in the symphony, in dogs and cats. Even the rain makes me happy and joyful."
When I lit the candle last night at home I offered appreciation to the Wise Woman who shared Her wisdom and joy.

There is a Wise Woman inside of you too.
She resides in a joyful heart.

First Friday

Grace Cathedral Labyrinth, San Francisco


 

We begin a new year on our Sacred Earth walk.  I've posted a link to help you find a labyrinth near you.  I hope you find one and discover its' gifts.  A labyrinth is a wonderful tool for reflection. "An inner map of knowing in women."
*Resource: Walking a Sacred Path. Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice by Lauren Artress

New Year New Day New Beginnings

Dawn 2015

I had a Sacred Dream

Butterfly flew into my consciousness

She brought clarity

 

I could see in a Sacred Way

Her message:

We (You) have never left the Garden

Love abides

It can never be diminished

So you wonder why I walk around all day

with a slight smile on my face?

I know this precious truth:

I carry the Garden in my heart

 

 

And She holds me

In Her branches

Grandmother (Sedona)