Archive
MONDAY’S POEM: The Most Popular from 2013: Karma
For the end of 2013 I did a scan of poems I published here on Mondays and discovered the most popular one, by the number of “likes” was Karma. Here it is again; and thanks to all for your following and reading through the year!
Karma
There’s always more to burn:
Fuel to feed the great fire.
Travels through life in the mire
Lead to more lessons to learn.
Brothers of three generations
Differ in extraordinary ways.
Their life-paths twist through a maze;
Destinies driven by their limitations.
Karma is complex to unwind;
The source is a tangle of lives.
The weaving together of so many tribes
Forms a patchwork, one of a kind.
When love is the thread for the stitches,
The patterns emerge in fine hues.
The patchwork of reds, purples, blues
Renders a tapestry depicting life’s riches.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
And, have a safe, wonderful, happy and prosperous 2014!
PS: Next year will be wonderful! How do I know? Because I listened to a message from The Divine Feminine channeled by Rosemary on the Winter Solstice; and they offered guidance and advice on what we might expect in 2014 and how to approach the year’s upcoming energy. Expect more change! The transformation continues! If you missed the message it is now available as an MP3 recording for a modest price; check out the details here: Winter Solstice Message
MONDAY’S POEM: Homecoming
I found this poem in a notebook stored from another time. I had written it for our daughter for Christmas exactly 20 years ago . She was coming home from school; and I remembered some of my own homecomings from when I would return from college.
And here it is Christmas again. Many will be coming home; perhaps there will be some resonance with this:
Homecoming
Sitting in the car
Outside the door
Emotions racing
I hesitated.
I knew all would
Be the same.
Nothing changed.
Not all was good;
Not all was bad.
Mixed – like life
I faced my future,
Opened my door,
Stepped out,
Breathed the fresh,
Unchanged country air.
I glanced around,
Saw the familiar
Scene remembered
For so long now,
Beyond remembering.
Time mingled with
Space – things froze.
I broke the spell
With a shake; stepped
Forward toward
The door with the
Weathered knob
And turned it open.
The threshold seemed
A barrier, not an entry.
A gateless gate from now
To the past; to the future?
I needed to know!
So I crossed over;
Inhaled the sameness;
Devoured the love waiting –
I was back home.
©1993 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Have a very happy “homecoming”!
MONDAY’S POEM: What is Reality?
I ended last week with an exploration of reality. Today’s poem is part of that exploration. I love what both the Heart Sutra and Chapter 11 of the Taoteching have to say about emptiness and form. They say it better than I can ever hope to but here, joining my experience with the magic of crystals and these wonderful sources of deep wisdom is what I have to offer on the subject:
What is Reality?
Is it in the crystalline structure of quartz,
Laced molecules frozen in a matrix
Of beauty, depth, meaning, space and time?
Is it in the atoms of silicon and oxygen
Who breathe life into shapes, designs, pictures,
Faces, vibrations and voices echoing through time?
Is it in the structures of the atoms, whirling bits
Of nothing winking in and out of existence,
Vibrating from nothing to something to nothing in no-time?
Or, is it like the spokes of a wheel that disappear
Around the spinning hub, a matter of perception?
What is real, the spokes or the empty hub?
The still spoke is real. The spinning spoke is not real,
Beyond perception. Form is no other than emptiness,
Emptiness no other than form!
Prajna Paramita!
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: The Crystal Cave
In my meditations I have been doing a lot of traveling lately. There are two ends of the journey, both caves. I wrote about one last Monday. Here’s “part 2” of that poem:
The Crystal Cave
The hollow in the Earth
Is but a gateway to the
Ocean voyage through the
Stars to a distant light
That is just here.
It is a stargate linking
Earth hollow echoing laughter
To the Crystal Cave echoing light,
Reflected light from numberless
Points on the Ocean of Light.
Floating in the very center
Of the Ocean of Light in the
Very center of the Crystal Cave,
Light beings of pure consciousness
Gather expanding their radiance.
The songs of their light echo through
The vastness carrying the
Sparkling ship on its return voyage
Through that stargate to arrive on the
Near shore of the hollow in the Earth.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: The Cave
On November 18 I published Journey that begins “Beyond the cave.” Today I thought I’d give you a glimpse into the cave!
The Cave
The hollow in the earth
Where it all begins.
The journey to the center,
The space of origins.
The skull, the hollow ring
Of laughter lighting the
Empty eyes with the flame
Of the echoed fire.
The journey, cycles within cycles:
Fodder to food to energy;
Far flight, running, hunting, swimming
Shape-shifting through the chain.
The conference, the High Self
Acting as Guru – Guide for
The long return to source,
Cycling back to the beginning:
The skull, my Guru
Always laughing at life,
Echoing the mirth I feel
At my own stumbling progress.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
PS: The New Moon in Sagittarius is tonight, Monday December 2 at 7:22 pm Eastern. I’ll be casting an I Ching Gua to read the energies for the coming month. Stay tuned!
MONDAY’S POEM: Surrender
It’s been a heck of a week since my last poem post on Monday – quite a “journey”! But I am coming around and accepting the journey openly and with excitement! Stay tuned! Meanwhile I can only recommend:
Surrender
It is a struggle to let go
of everything that holds life
Together.
The ego doesn’t release easily
without a fight for its life
Together.
The pain of release can hold
on for years, life times, all
Together.
The call to surrender is not one
to follow a path of ease, but
Another.
The path of wisdom and compassion
for all sentient beings is distinctly
Another.
It is a path the ego rejects
out of blind fear of death, yes
Another!
Surrender; choose death for joy!
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Journey
Inner work. Intuition. Practice. Here’s part of the work, exposed for all who have ears:
Journey
Beyond the cave
Below the lake
Deep in the heart
Of the savannah
There is a gate.
Beyond the gate
Blow through space
Deep emptiness
In a Universe
Toward escape.
Beyond escape
Below the Star
Deep in the Soul
Of the Light Body
There is a Seed.
Beyond the Seed
Fed by the lake
Raised by the Star
Of the brightest light
There is a Man.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Horse
Last week Rosemary began her Unlocking the Mysteries of Intuition class. As an opening and centering exercise she led a guided meditation. She is a skilled hypnotherapist and because I am so attuned to her voice and inflections she always takes me deep. I had a wonderful journey if all too short – we did have to get on with the class! Today’s poem was inspired by my visions during that meditation. Past life? A small view into the Collective Unconscious Mind? My own wild imaginings? I don’t care about labels, just the experience!
Horse
Warm breath, herbal, green,
Envelops like an aura, a cowl,
A halo of golden light
Holding promise of travel.
Son and horse know dawn light
Brings them closer to horizon.
The Sun beckons, looms large,
Fire growing, welcoming.
Home moves on with the herd.
The grass follows that golden light.
Horse follows grass, Son
Follows Father, horse, light, love.
Warm fire, dried dung pungent,
Smokes the red Sun of dusk
To burnt metal glow.
Hobbled horse nips tender edges of green.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Hamsa
A while ago I offered a poem on the breath. It was inline with my approach to Qigong breathing. I got good feedback on that poem and even published a bookmark for use in my Qigong classes. That poem is here.
Last week I wrote about the happy discovery of Hamsa as both a way to breathe and a mantra meditation rolled together. My practice of Hamsa and my Qigong breath poem inspired today’s offering:
Hamsa
Inhale
Expand
Belly out
Ribs out
Spine straight
Head up
Ham…
Sa
Exhale
Neck free
Shoulders down
Chest in
Belly in
Contract
Pause
Be…
Ham
Sa
I Am
That!
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Molting by the Light of the Moon
On Friday evening, here on the East Coast, we experienced a very powerful full moon in Aries and a Lunar Eclipse. As I wrote here that Friday morning the effects on me were substantial. I came through the experience renewed; today’s poem reflects the experience and results.
Molting by the Light of the Moon
The Great Moon swells
To her fullest magnificence.
She takes on all we have to give her
Stripping us of the surplus, refuse.
It can be a painful time
Of loss and grief and letting go.
Like snakes their skin and crabs their shells,
We twist and scratch to transform.
In the midst of the molt
We are left wounded and vulnerable;
This is a rough and dangerous time
To release the old and trust the new.
And then we crawl
Into the light of the Full Moon,
Hardening shells, thickening skins
Armoring once again a New Self.
The shadows recede
Hiding no longer the threats once held.
The night sky bright light encouraging,
We stand taller in New Minds.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Men and The Goddess 