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MONDAY’S POEM: The Unfamiliar
I sense we are in a transition period. I’m feeling a bit betwixt and between. We are just moving into June; spring seems behind us, yet it’s not yet summer. Some graduations are behind us, yet, many are still in school. We are well into the New Moon, yet it is just now showing on the Western horizon just after Sunset.
It is within this transitory energy that I came across a poem I wrote under similar circumstances several months ago. If you are feeling a little unsettled, perhaps approaching some as yet unknown transition, you too may resonate with this.
The Unfamiliar
Different, strange,
Dark, peculiar,
Low energy,
Unfamiliar.
Rest in this new
Environment.
Take it easy,
Let it ferment.
Adjustments come
To all who wait.
There is no rush,
Just hesitate.
Relax, just be;
There’s time to know
And when it’s right,
There’s time to go.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
New Moon in Gemini I Ching Divination
The Moon was exactly conjunct with the Sun, now in Gemini, at 2:43 PM Eastern time on Wednesday, May 28. Ah, I felt the energy shift as we moved through the New Moon. And the weather shifted, and the driving shifted…there were several accidents in the Annapolis area Thursday afternoon tying up traffic all over the region. Welcome to the shift!
As I do just after each New Moon, I cast a Gua, a six-line hexagram consisting of Yin and Yang (broken and solid) lines. I do this using a traditional yarrow stalk method and I use Taoist Master Alfred Huang’s The Complete I Ching as my guide into this deep and ancient text used for divination.
The hexagram I first received is pictured here. Its Chinese name is Shi He which Master Huang translates as “Eradicating.” Loosely translated this means “removing an obstacle to peace and harmony.” The removal or eradicating is done justly and swiftly. When we look at the two trigrams which compose the hexagram (the pair of three-line figures), we see that Li, or Fire sits on top of Zhen, or Thunder. This is like a thunderbolt striking swiftly to eradicate the obstruction.
The result of this swift action is good progress.
To complicate matters the second line (counting from the bottom) is a “changing line.” The I Ching is the “book of change” so it is good that there is a changing line in the hexagram. This indicates that things, events, energies are not static for the month. Changing the second line from a Yin line to a Yang line generates a new Gua or hexagram pictured here.
Kui is interpreted by Master Huang to mean”Diversity.” Its actual meaning is “to go against or oppose.” This happens when people have differing points of view. The I Ching indicates that this is a positive thing. There is strength in diversity. One Chinese saying suggests that we “seek harmony in diversity and good fortune will follow in little ways.” And I particularly like: “resolving diversity should be as natural as the clouds accumulating and bringing down the rain.”
So, what does this mean for the month ahead? How do these two Gua inform us and help us with the energies we may encounter through the coming four weeks?
Early in the month there may be an obstacle or two we need to deal with. But we can cut through this blockage as swiftly as a thunderbolt as long as we are justified in our action. Act fairly; consider all sides. Then swift action leads to good progress for the remainder of the month.
After the obstacles are eradicated we may encounter some divergence of opinion around some life issues. The advice here is to consider all sides (just as we need to do with the obstacle). The key is to seek harmony, to compromise in the larger issues, find common ground across the diversity and thereby gain strength.
These Gua offer good advice for any time: cut through obstacles and gain strength through compromise when opinions diverge. Good progress and auspicious outcome are the result in both cases!
Watch how you deal with obstacles that might pop up for you this month. And observe the diversity that appears in your life. Seek compromise and make progress!
Oh, and my friend and astrologer, Gloria Hesseloff writes this about the New Moon in Gemini: “Mercury, the ruler of Gemini wisely informs us that if there is any magic in the work it is…a shift in our perceptions!” She suggests: “‘THIS IS A TIME FOR SETTING A NEW COURSE IN LIFE’ Fear may arise as we make these changes. The opposite of fear is LOVE. Find a way to love what you fear!” Seems to me this approach is a great way to cut through obstacles and harmonize diversity!
Playshop Preview – Richard’s Commentary
This week I am commenting on Rosemary’s video for the week rather than her “Exploration” article. I have several reasons to make this adjustment to the blog.
We are, as I write and as I post, under the influence of the “dying Moon.” What I mean by this is the Moon is nearly conjunct with the Sun in Gemini. We are in that period when the Moon loses her race with the Sun falling farther and farther behind until she falls right into his light. She is exactly conjunct with the Sun at 2:43 PM Eastern time today, Wednesday, May 28, 2014. I know this because I looked it up in my Playbookthat I created during Rosemary’s Possibilities Playshop last January.
I follow the Moon cycles very closely. I know the Moon influences me and I need to correlate those influences I feel with the Moon and where she is in her travels. This careful tracking is a way for me to be both grounded in my body and to understand the effects of the Heavenly bodies, the Moon being the closest, on my physical being.
And after I created my Playbook during Rosemary’s January Playshop I now have a tool to help me with my tracking. Here’s how I use my Playbook:
First it is a guide to the Moon cycles. We laid out 13 “moonths” – this is the number of New Moons in a year. The New Moon marks the beginning of each moonth. In thePlaybook the New Moons are designated with pages of pictures and words pulled from magazines chosen intuitively and glued onto notebook pages. Other intuitive tools are used to create a “map” to the year. This map then provides a loose guide on what to expect as the year unfolds.
Second it is a journal in which I record key events, feelings, thoughts and how these correlate to the pictures and words mapped out for the year. There is always meaning and this correlation activity provides deep insight into the passing moonth.
Third I record the I Ching Gua I cast for each moonth in the playbook. I have been using the ancient Chinese method of divination, the I Ching, as a means to receive an intuitive understanding of the energies I can expect for each moonth. I cast a six line hexagram just after each new Moon asking the question: “what does this next moonth have in-store for us?” it is always insightful. And now with my Playbook it always correlates in some fun and surprising ways with the pictures and words I chose for the moonth back in January!
Fourth I very much enjoy the surprises planted in the Playbook. This is especially true as I move through the year and get farther away from when I created the Playbook.The “play” involved in the process is becoming much more evident as the year spins out and the “predictive” nature of the Playbook becomes ever more clear. While predicting the future is not the intent of this process it nevertheless does have that quality. The correlations between the words and pictures (and other surprises placed into the book) and events as they unfold each moonth are both exciting and even a little uncanny.
And there is a fifth use for the Playbook: it actually becomes a means to manifest the year. It is similar to a “vision board” but more fun. As in creating a vision board attractive pictures and words are pulled from magazines. But then for the specific moonths the pictures and words are selected blindly, intuitively, from a large envelop. Intention rather than conscious choice guides this process of aligning the pictures/words with the calendar.
Rosemary’s Possibilities Playshop is a fun process, but even more importantly the resulting Playbook becomes a highly useful tool for the next year. We all had such a good and productive time during the January Playshop that Rosemary is offering a mid-year Playshop for those who missed out on the first one.
The next Possibilities Playshop is scheduled for Saturday, June 14, 2014, from 10:00 to 2:00 pm Eastern time. If you are in the Annapolis, MD, Washington, DC area you can attend in person. We are also recording the event so if you can’t attend a video course will be available shortly after the live event.
Rosemary’s website has all the details and a way to register. The early bird pricing for the event ends on May 31. Check it out soon!
MONDAY’S POEM: Move into Freedom
It is Memorial Day here in the US, a day we set aside to remember those who died in war; as we say, those who fought for our freedom and fell in battle. It is a time for flag waving, speeches, gestures of thanks for the veterans.
It is a day to consider our freedoms and be grateful. I also remember those who refused to fight and their freedom to do so; William Stafford comes to mind. And I remember our living veterans who remain under-appreciated and under-treated for their sacrifices.
And it is a day to consider all of our ancestors and all the sacrifices they have made that we might live free. With that let us:
Move into Freedom
Freedom – Joy, Joy – Freedom
Can these qualities
Be found, be felt
Separately?
Movement – Stillness, Stillness – Movement
Are these states
Opposite, echoes,
Independent?
Letting go, holding on
Can these acts
Serve, supply
Together?
Let go,
Move into stillness,
Find freedom,
Be joy!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Grandmother Moon
We are well into the last quarter of the Moon cycle today. The New Moon in Gemini is coming up on Wednesday. I always feel the Old Moon as she loses her race with the Sun and “falls” into Him. It’s a good time to let go of anything that is no longer serving. Give it to Grandmother and she’ll take it with her to her temporary grave.
I wrote this last year with the Moon Cycle and especially the “dying Moon” in mind.
Grandmother Moon
She is dying into the arms
Of the Father.
She is old and worn,
So close to his breast.
What will you give her
To offer the Father?
Her emptiness can hold all
You have to release.
Are your standards so fixed
To forgive and forget?
Let fly the high-horse
To Grandmother Moon.
Release your regrets
To her skinny white arms.
She’ll fold them and hold all
To burn with her heart.
In three days she’ll appear
Reborn and renewed.
Look to the west for the joy
Of her face and rejoice.
You too are new!
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Who is Your WHO? – Richard’s Commentary
Rosemary’s question this week is:
WHO is it that you are serving?
My first reaction to this question is to think about my Qigong students; they are my clients and I do feel that I am serving them when we are in class together, when I am leading them through a form, focusing on breath, gathering and storing Qi for health, well-being, and peace. The beauty of my “who” is I am serving myself as well. I am doing the research into Taoism, the basis for the effectiveness of Qigong. I am going through the form with my students, leading myself to health, well-being and peace. And I am working with the forms on my own as well, practicing the forms every day. I continue my research and reading on the subject to go deeper so I can take my students deeper.
In response to Rosemary’s statement:
If you don’t take care of your own health, no one else can do it. You know this. You accept this. But what about your spiritual and psychological health? Your emotional health? Your mental health? Are you serving yourself by taking care of yourself in those areas?
I can feel pretty good, right? Qigong covers all these aspects of my life. Qigong contributes to my health. And the study of Taoism supports my spiritual and psychological health. Reflection on the Five Elements, the basis for Traditional Chinese Medicine, helps me work through my emotional and mental issues. Through all these levels I am serving my students and I am serving myself at the same time!
If only it were that simple!
Everything I’ve written above is true. And Qigong does help my students and me work through issues. But what about others I serve?
What about Rosemary? She is my client as well. I support her business,TheScientificMystic.com, through managing the technology to operate the business, handling the finances, and helping her with the messaging and marketing of her services. How am I doing with that?
Here I can’t be quite as glib with my answers! Sometimes I grow impatient that Rosemary doesn’t work to my schedule! Whose business is this? Sometimes I get frustrated with the procrastination. But I am a great procrastinator! And too often I get bogged down with the technology rather than focusing on what drives the business – Rosemary’s talent!
So, I need to take Rosemary’s advice here:
My work is to build a relationship in which I support them.
My work with Rosemary is to create the best possible business relationship we can have in order to best serve her, as my client!
And I need to do this analysis for all of my relationships. Everyone is a “client” of everyone else. It is important to nurture client relationships and it is vital to nurture all of our inter-relationships.
Who are your clients? Are you nurturing them? Are you nurturing every relationship with others as if they were your client? Are you nurturing the relationship with yourself?
What a world it would be if this were the case!
MONDAY’S POEM: Forgiveness
This is an area I continue to work on in my life. It’s likely an endless task. Of the five elements from Traditional Chinese Medicine, wood is my dominant one. An aspect of this is I am quick to anger. The balance for this is forgiveness. And it starts with me!
So, for all you wood-type people out there:
Forgiveness
It can only begin inside;
Self is forgiven.
And what is inside?
The mirror of All.
It extends to the other;
She is forgiven.
Is She inside?
Om, Namaste.
It flows to the beloved;
Yes, They are forgiven.
Can the truly loved do wrong?
The very heart of All.
It moves to the murderer;
Even He is forgiven!
Is He inside?
Oh, yes, my son.
Even He is you.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Wounded Man
This is an interesting poem I came across for today. I wrote it in the Spring, four years ago. It seems to fit the Rhythms & Cycles collection as we all go through the highs and lows of life.
We are all wounded in some (or many) ways. So I write. And perhaps I’m feeling a little wounded now because I haven’t been writing enough lately. How are you wounded? And how do you treat that wound? We have to take care of ourselves; then each other!
Wounded Man
Wounded healer,
Heal thy self.
Recover that lost piece
Which bleeds in some far place.
Wounded warrior,
Come home now.
Soothe thy fevered brow
And sing songs of peace.
Wounded High King,
Rule in peace.
Strengthen thy green land
And love your people free.
Wounded poet,
Write thy verse.
Create the song of peace
To heal the Warrior-King.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
What’s Your MESSAGE? – Richard’s Commentary
One of the catch phrases we heard at the Suzanne Evans’ Be the Change Event a couple of weeks ago is “turn your mess into your message.” This can be an interesting approach to answering Rosemary’s question! What does this mean?
If we examine our lives we will no doubt find some “messiness” under the surface. We all live with stuff. These messes, this stuff, is what Rosemary and I have called “lessons” over the many years of writing these articles, and publishing Rosemary’s Ezine. In fact we are here on the planet to learn lessons, right?
So, as we learn these lessons maybe it’s important, even part of our purpose, even our whole purpose, to share what we learn from our lessons – our messes! Our mess can become our message. This is story telling with a purpose.
But this advice needs to come with a warning: “Be sure your mess is cleared up, and be sure you have learned this lesson well, before you share the message you have gained”!
There’s a corollary to this approach to finding your message: we often learn what we are to teach; and the best form is mastery is to teach what we are working to master.
When Jeff Primack certified me to teach Qigong, his advice was to go out and teach the forms as soon as possible. “The only way to master the forms is to teach them.” Now, I was still shaking from the experience of being watched, judged and corrected as I “taught” the form to my little training group. Picturing myself teaching a group of strangers, even friends, was not a scene I was ready for! But I was soon offered the opportunity to lead a group and I have been teaching regularly for over a year now. Have I mastered the forms? No. But I am moving in that direction! I turned my messy form into my message.
Rosemary’s questions are the place to start to find your message:
Sit with yourself for a few minutes and ask yourself these two questions:
1) What is MY MESSAGE to the world? And, then,
2) Am I living MY MESSAGE in my daily life?
Or backing up a short step you could ask: What is the MESS that I have worked through in my life that would be helpful to share with the world as my MESSAGE. But only share that message if you are living that MESSAGE in your daily life!
The real trick is in the answer to that second question; you must be living that message to be effective in sharing it. In my case I practice Qigong almost every day. I am currently teaching three classes a week, attending a fourth and practicing in between. I am “living Qigong.” And Qigong is only part of my message!
So, look at your messes – the ones you have worked through, learned, even mastered – and ask if the world will be a better place if you share that mastery. Your message is there!
MONDAY’S POEM: Rosemary’s Music
Yesterday was Mothers’ Day here in the US and we celebrated Rosemary with a nice grilled steak dinner with daughter, son-in-law and one of the grandkids. Sons called from west and south. It was a good day!
This poem from a few years ago recalls a memory triggered by Rosemary’s playing her “baby grand” in the Colorado house, the music sailing high through the two story foyer. I may not have ever shared this with her, so for Mothers’ Day here it is:
Rosemary’s Music
She plays beautifully
Pulling notes from some
Magical place to ring in
Ears sensing brilliance.
She speaks wonderfully
Offering words from
Another dimension to sink in
Mind thinking in awe.
She gives generously
Bringing gifts from Source,
That deep well of abundance,
Heart feeling gratitude.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Men and The Goddess 