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A Time to Grieve
You know there are no coincidences. Everything is in flow, in divine order. The other day I wrote briefly about reading “The Smell of Rain on Dust”, the latest book by my most esteemed teacher, Martín Prechtel. This lovely little book is all about “Grief and Praise” – its subtitle. As I said the other day I’ll write a complete review of it when I have finished savoring every word. But in the meantime I am struck that I have chosen the perfect time to be reading it. It is time to remember how to grieve!
It is with humility and the deepest respect that I offer this riff on Martín’s work. These are his thoughts that I heard from his lips as I sat learning at his feet and I read in his marvelous book. And I offer it to you as a way to cope with a world that seems off the rails. It is only love that can right the wreckage.
A Time to Grieve
We seem to drift, as a nation,
Ever more deeply into violence and divide;
More killings; cops killing “innocents” –
“Innocents” killing cops.
There is an emerging frenzy to this senseless,
Escalating violence. It is so much, so intense.
It is maddening.
And it is not clear where it will end; or when or how.
Martín knows how.
He has spoken and written about it over and over.
We as a nation – as a so called culture –
Have lost the ability to grieve.
In fact this ability has been taught out of us!
Go shopping instead!
This is always the remedy. Consume more.
Eat up the world to mask the grief.
Hide our losses and sorrow
And desperate need of relief through grief
In our purchases.
Salve the wounds over with stuff.
Feel better with that latest broach –
Pin it on over your heart as a shield to hide behind.
Pin together the tatters in your broken heart.
Pretend it is whole; mend the tears
And choke back the tears.
For Heaven’s sake don’t embarrass yourself
With any display that would reveal your vulnerable soul.
That will not do!
There is no comfort there; only in more stuff.
How else do we keep the wheels on this economy
That promises protection, plenty, prosperity for all
And that pursuit, so elusive, of a happy life?
Grief is equally elusive as happiness!
We are not allowed to grieve.
Three days off for our dearest family members.
Take your own time for friends. Then back to work;
Produce so you can consume more.
No, we are not eating the world! There is always more.
Oh, and there will always be poor. Jesus said so;
And he was right about everything.
And they killed him too!
Never mind the poor; they are not worth dying for.
They are not worthy of our life style.
It will end in one of two ways:
We may kill one another as the violence escalates
To a new world war – a Global War on Terror
Brought to you by terror. Fight terror with terror –
It is the American Way. Our violence begets more violence.
It matters not how it began – it only has a violent end.
Or, we may remember how to grieve.
We can go to the sea and cry a river to fill it.
Weep for the deaths.
Weep for the brutality.
Weep for a society gone so wrong.
Weep for the wars.
Weep for the enemies “following orders.”
Weep for the loved ones whose bones we stand upon.
Weep for us, victims and perpetrators alike.
We are all in this together;
And we will never get out alive!
And when we have wept that river
Flowing to the sea, it might then be time to
Remember something else:
Remember the love that brought us into existence.
Remember the beauty of the world.
Remember the generosity of the Universe
Offering enough and more!
Remember to offer in return our praise and gratitude.
There is a cycle to the loss and gain,
The constant flow of less and more.
Know wherever we are in this cycle
It will continue.
There must always be time for grieving
Because there will always be loss.
Life is loss.
There must always be time for praising
Because there is always gain.
Life is love.
Live life to the fullest in grief and praise!
©2016 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
NEW MOON IN LEO: Three Haiku
Three New Moon Haiku
Moon Death
Mourn the losses deep!
Moon death carries them down.
But wait; look west. Birth!
Moon Dark
Rest through the night deep;
No struggle, no pain – Moon dark.
Light returns – renewed.
Moon Drift
Celebrate the gain.
Moon drift carries her beyond.
Light breaks to the west!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
ROSEMARY’S NEW MOON NEWS
Happy New Moon in Cancer!
Today’s NASA picture comes all the way from Pluto and the New Horizons Spacecraft.
Emerge
Iceberg
Submerged.
Waiting in silence,
Keeping ships
At a distance.
Old moon
Submerged.
Melting to nothing,
Lighting no path
For homecoming.
Shadow
Submerged.
Covering up proof,
Offering the lies
As if Truth.
The Light
Lets all emerge.
Lifting the shadow,
Lighting new moon,
Melting the ice.
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
How exciting that we are getting pictures of Pluto from close up? Wow! As we learned with the Hubble Space Telescope, what we can see from Earth can be distorted by the atmosphere. But having a spacecraft camera travel that far to take a close up shot is very exciting. What will we learn?
Yesterday’s New Moon in Cancer happened at 9:26 pm Eastern Daylight Time. This means that the Sun and Moon are together in the sign of Cancer and the Earth’s shadow covers the Moon so that it does not reflect Sun’s light. The Dark of the Moon is a special time of potency. We, on Earth, are receiving pure Moon energy – feminine, nurturing, emotional.
We are invited to ask ourselves ‘What feeds my soul?’ Look at your values and how they are being demonstrated by how you spend your time. Do you need to do some adjusting in your priorities, in your schedule?
In addition, Mercury, Mars, Uranus and Pluto are playing together in the second half of July to give us a chance to make the visions of the 60s about peace, equality and the environment become grounded in the 21st Century. What can you do?
Remember that the New Moon is the time to invite something NEW into your life. What are you ready to welcome? Maybe it’s time to get rid of limiting beliefs and think new thoughts. As always, Rosemary is available to help you figure out that next step beyond the blocks that hold you stuck. Email her for more info on private sessions:rosemary@thescientificmystic.com
This is a special month for our family! We have two grandchildren having birthdays, Makayla (18) and Tristan (1). What a joy grandchildren are! And we get to celebrate with both of them! And on July 22nd Rosemary & I celebrate our 32nd Wedding Anniversary. We will celebrate all of these special days!
Essential Oils Class: FREE online class on Thursday, July 16 at 3:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Kiyla Fenell will be joining us from Tulsa, OK to teach about using Essential Oils in your daily wellness regimen. We’ll be sharing story after story of ways people are benefiting from using Essential Oils and how you, too, can replace your medicine cabinet with natural plant medicine. More details here and the link to register (a recording will be available but you must register to receive it):www.thescientificmystic.com/essentialoils
Sneak Peek: This Fall we will be offering a free telesummit, exploring with successful entrepreneurs the spiritual practices that keep them centered and balanced. Stay tuned for more info!
If you enjoy these posts from Rosemary’s MoonLetters, please share them with your friends and invite them to get their own copy. When you Subscribe Here you also receive a gift from her, a 7-minute meditation to help you ease out of tension and stress!
A FULL MOON POEM: Rhythms
Here on the East Coast there is a full moon in Capricorn tonight at 10:22. As some of you dear readers know, Rosemary and I celebrate the cycles of the moon, paying special attention to this nearest “heavenly body” as she moves through her phases affecting the planet and all of life in so many ways. We’ll be publishing the MoonLetter later today (subscribe here) but in the meantime, to lead up to this “big moon” I want to share my poem for the day (and her):
Rhythms
Full moon rising,
Climbing as a goat
Up the mountain of the sky
Riding high, beaming Sunrays
Back to Earth, light for the Dark Way.
Half-year passing,
Fading as a flower.
Ripening fruit-time in full force
Nourishing Earth energy pushing
Life to feed the seed to feed life.
Old man rejoicing,
Vigorous as a stoat,
Living the dream, dreaming life
Back into fading years
Shedding no tears, full force rising!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A Friday Poem: It’s All Just Lies
Yesterday’s post from Rosemary’s Exploration was all about truth and Truth. It seems as soon as we find a truth for our lives we discover a hollowness to it that we then seek to grow beyond, to find a new truth to stand on. And then a shift occurs and we are seeking again.
In pondering this seeking through layers of “truth” today’s poem “wrote itself” out of my musings:
It’s All Just Lies
The stories we tell ourselves?
We make them all up!
What if I told you your stories are crap?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
The illness, the stress, the difficult life?
We make them all up!
The suffering, meltdowns, tales of strife?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
The happy places, the glade, the glen?
We make them all up!
This life, that death, new birth and growth?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
The Qi, the flow, yin and yang?
We make them all up!
Even the Dao, the ground of all being?
We make it all up.
It’s all just lies!
So, where is the truth, what is real?
Keep looking my friend;
Believe nothing you feel!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
FULL MOON IN SAGITTARIUS/FULL MOON POEM
We experienced a full moon this past Tuesday, just after noon Eastern Time. We are still in that energy (three days before and three days after). Here are Rosemary’s thoughts and feelings about this particular Moon Energy:
“The time is here to drop stress and reach for enlightenment. Bring more light into your life. Focus not on the darkness that might be around you. Instead, BE the brightest light in your own environment.”
This Full Moon finds us getting ready for the official arrival of Summer. Here in the Northern Hemisphere things are heating up. The days are longer and longer.
It’s an exciting time of graduations, school endings, weddings and Summer celebrations. People want to be out in the sunshine.
And with this Full Moon (Tuesday, June 2 at 12:18 pm Eastern Daylight Time) the Moon is reflecting the most sunlight that it reflects in its cycle. The Moon is in the sign of Sagittarius, where straight-shooting truth is the order of the day. The Sun is in the sign of Gemini which is all about communication and the sharing of information.
Where can you shine the light on some truth that may have been hiding in the shadows? Are you ready to reveal something about yourself and how you feel? This Full Moon invites you to release what is no longer serving your highest good. Release, too, the ‘stuff’ that has been clogging up flow in your life – clutter, things, houses, jobs, people. Move aside what is holding you back and leap forward.
If you have a Vision for your life or business or relationship and are looking to turn that Vision into a Reality, then join theMaster HeartMind Program and learn the tools that you need to create a Roadmap to your new Reality! We have a limited number of spaces available in this group program where you can access your Vision, Clear your Blocks/Limiting Beliefs/Negative Thoughts, and develop your Plan to take the next step forward. The details are all here [LINK] and I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the benefits of joining this great group of people as we create plans to Live Your Richest Life™. Send me an emal with any questions: rosemary@TheScientificMystic.com
We are starting the program soon so reserve your space now!
And here is a poem for the full moon:
Full Moon’s Peace
In some ways La Luna
Can drive one mad.
Her voluptuousness
Brings on crazy or sad.
Admire her swelling
As she rises to East.
Her blush is Sun’s shining
As he sinks to the West.
Release the fullness building inside;
No need to hold it, let go of pride.
There’s no more to say, nothing to do;
Just open, exhale, flow with the ride.
And with each breath, deepen, release.
Empty to wonder, sense the ease.
Let her absorb the stress and pain;
Float on the wave to Full Moon’s Peace.
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Happy New Moon in Taurus! Celebrate with Haiku
For this New Moon I’ve written three Haiku. The bull does like his beauty, both light and dark!
Moon Death
Mourn the losses deep;
Moon death carries them down.
But wait; look west. Birth!
Moon Drift
Celebrate the gain.
Moon drift carries her beyond.
Light breaks to the west!
Moon Dark
Rest through the night deep;
No struggle, no pain – Moon dark.
Light returns – renewed!
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
And here, from Rosemary, is all the New Moon information for the next couple of weeks, as we move into this waxing moon phase:
“When the Moon is dark it is inviting you to shine your light into the world. Be the beacon of light that is needed to show the way. The light is within you.”
Are you ready to claim who you really are? To claim how you really feel? This is a great time to shed the shells! Be YOU, fully YOU, just the way you are, which is PERFECT!
And if there is anything that you are looking to bring into your life, send out your request now, during the energy of the New Moon. Stay in gratitude even when you don’t control the timetable. Let your gratitude grow while the Moon grows from dark to Full in the sky.
This is also the start of a 3-week period where Planet Mercury goes retrograde – it appears to travel backward in the sky. Mercury represents communications so be careful. Check those emails and tweets before you send them. Read and re-read contracts or, better yet, wait until after June 11 to sign them. Others will be distracted, too, so pay close attention to your driving and drive defensively.
This, too, shall pass. Creative people often find Mercury Retrograde periods to be inspiring so take some time to go inside and explore.
I am so excited about the difference that essential oils are making in our lives! I recently twisted my knee and went right to the oils for relief. Swelling was minimal and I attribute that to swift and frequent application of the oils. We’re still filling the diffuser with a combination that makes dealing with allergies a thing of the past, even though the pollen is so heavy that we’re getting the car washed all the time. If you are living a more natural life then essential oils are the way to go. We’ve replaced our medicine chest with oils and I believe the plants are where our healing energies can be found. Would you like to join me online to learn more about what we’re doing with essential oils? Send me an email and I’ll let you know:rosemary@TheScientific Mystic.com
Are you a spiritually-grounded Conscious Entrepreneur who is not yet making the income that you would like to make? We see a lot of people like that who would like to know how to be spiritual, of service to others and profitable at the same time. And we want to help. So we’re offering a FREE teleseminar on Thursday, May 21 at 8:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time/5:00 pm Pacific. We’ll be sharing ‘3 Keys to Being Spiritual and Profitable.’ We’ll send you the call-in information so mark your calendar and register below!
Set your intention today for the energy of the New Moon to assist you in bringing you into the life of your dreams!
The Hubble picture today celebrates the 25th anniversary of this magnificent “light gatherer.” Here’s more info:
APRIL 23, 2015: NASA and ESA are celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope’s silver anniversary of 25 years in space by unveiling some of nature’s own fireworks — a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars called Westerlund 2. The cluster resides inside a vibrant stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. The comparatively young, 2-million-year-old star cluster contains some of our galaxy’s hottest, brightest, and most massive stars. The largest stars are unleashing a torrent of ultraviolet light and hurricane-force winds that etch away the enveloping hydrogen gas cloud. This creates a fantasy celestial landscape of pillars, ridges, and valleys.
May 20 – FREE Essential Oils Class, Severna Park, MD LINK
May 21 – 3 Keys to Being Spiritual and Profitable, a webinar at 8:00 pm Eastern LINK
June 1-2 – Red Elephant Flight Club, Orlando, FL
Enjoy the energy of this Taurus New Moon. And be aware of the Mercury retrograde period!
A New Poem from “Rhythms and Cycles” – Barns
I have been neglecting this blog and you, dear readers. It seems Spring is blooming in so many directions, with out-of-control growth, that some ground needs to lie fallow for now.
But this past Sunday evening an event triggered lots of “stuff” for me, including today’s poem from my collection I’ve called “Rhythms and Cycles.” I’ve published many here before but none quite so personal as today’s.
The barn on my family’s farm caught fire and was destroyed together with several other smaller buildings and all the contents. Blessedly no one was injured and the homes are both safe and sound. The wind was from the north blowing all the burning debris across the highway and into fields to be safely snuffed out.
Here is a picture of the farm as I remember it from my younger days:
And my poem:
Barns
Many red, some white, even
Orange and green,
Old barns paint Wisconsin’s
Countryside.
Norwegians, Germans, even
Some Brits
Raised barns tall, building
Statewide.
Turn of the century came
Famers, cattle and plows.
Indigenous woods and grass lost to
The immigrant tide.
And the tide sweeps along as
Farm patterns change.
Old barns don’t serve now, their time
Set-aside.
They tumble and fall, rot from the core;
Old barns neglected even catch fire,
While those who remember sense something
Has died.
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
And a picture from Monday, April 27, 2015:
Pictures speak volumes!
FULL MOON NEWS/FULL MOON POEM
Today is a Full Moon Day. Did you notice? A bunch of snow fell on the Mid-Atlantic region. We got about 6 inches here in Maryland. This may not sound like much if you live in Buffalo or Finland. But it is enough to bring our community and the region to its knees. Most offices were closed today, including Federal offices in Washington!
Growing up in Wisconsin I do remember a snow day or two during my entire school experience. Even the University of Wisconsin, Madison shut down one day while I was there. Maybe we were tougher then!
Today I’ve been lazy! I have literally felt this Full Moon through my entire body. I’d like to think I’m becoming more sensitive to the heavy energies surrounding Full Moons. Maybe I’m just getting older! Whatever the case it is good to pay attention to moon cycles as both Rosemary and I have been blogging about lately.
And yes, I am getting around to publishing poems here. Today’s is a bit of fun I poke at myself as I groan about the effect this Full Moon is having on me:
Full Moon Symptoms
Sinuses swell with the flooding tide
As the Sun and Moon move into
Opposition
Fluids flow and pulse at every level –
Molecular, cellular, twisting tissues, stretching
Compositions
These are Full Moon symptoms –
The pressure, pounding surf – no
Dispensation
Relax, move into the flow, honor
These sensations, even the pain. Accept the
Compensations
©2015 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Not sure what those “compensations” are! Maybe it’s permission to take an afternoon nap.
Here’s more Full Moon News from Rosemary:
Moon Message
“Be at peace with yourself and the process of your unfolding. You are a member of the team that is responsible for the unfolding Cosmic Plan and you know who you are to be so that everything can unfold as it is meant to develop. Tune into your Inner Wisdom and be led by what you know about yourself. Turn off the voices of others and listen to that voice inside that really KNOWS you. Be who you really are.”
Moon News
Happy Full Moon! The Full Moon happens on Thursday, March 5 at 1:05 pm Eastern Standard Time. At this time, the Moon is in Virgo and the Sun is in Pisces, opposite to the Moon. The Full Moon is the time in the Moon’s cycle where the Moon reflects the most light to the Earth from the Sun.
Crystals love to be bathed in the light of the Full Moon. Put your crystals out where the Moon can shine on them. (Or, in the case of those of us in the grip of winter, out in the snow or inside where the Moon’s energy can enter through the window!)
Bathe yourself in this Full Moon energy, too, by visualizing yourself drenched in Moonlight, if you can’t actually sit outside on the night of the Full Moon.
This is a time to let go, to release. From the day of the Full Moon until the New Moon the Moon is getting smaller in the sky, or waning. As the Moon appears to diminish, because it is reflecting less of the Sun’s light, we are invited to let go of old energy, thoughts, beliefs about ourselves and the way the Universe actually works.
Take out your beliefs and examine them under the light of this Full Moon. Do they serve the person you are becoming? Are they leftover from an earlier time that doesn’t fit with today?
What have you been thinking about doing that is blocked in some way by hidden or unconscious blocks? You might need some help to uncover these but now is a great time to let go of those blocks, release anything that is holding you back from expressing your excellence.
Get rid of ‘stuff,’ too. Clean out your closet. Give away clothes that don’t make you feel great when you wear them. (I am collecting clothes for the Light of Truth Center clothing sale so let me know if you would like to donate what you are clearing out!)
Do a ritual and meditation around letting go. Now is the time to do it!
FRIDAY’S POEM FROM RHYTHMS AND CYCLES: Winter Solstice
This past Wednesday Rosemary and I hosted a meeting of our Consciousness Exploration Community for sharing some good food and excellent conversation. Our theme for the evening was sharing something meaningful about the holidays; a story, a song, a poem. So I wrote today’s poem which also fits my “Rhythms and Cycles” theme very well.
I hope you have wonderful memories of your Holiday Celebrations and are making new ones this year. Be sure to share them!
Winter Solstice
They say we are on a spiral journey;
We spin on the Mother,
Spinning around the Father,
Spinning at the edge of a Milky Way
Wheeling along the fringe of reality.
The effects of this circling seem small:
Summer Solstice spins through Fall
And on to deepening Winter.
As light recedes in lowered sky,
Spirit dips so close we feel the Love.
The cycle is grounded deep in Mother’s core,
The energy follows graceful lines of
Magnetic force, lifting consciousness
Along soft grooves of innocence,
Natural paths of vision and expansion.
Spiraling Consciousness follows
These graceful lines of attracting energy,
Mapping courses for the Transformations
That continue to carry us higher,
But never away.
Earth bound and sky grateful, we rise,
Ever seeking, always believing there is more;
We are more.
We stretch our plastic minds beyond,
Resisting brittle breakage on our destined way.
Each turn reveals more, creates new
Perspectives, new vistas pulling up,
Onward to next dreams, exposing
Even then, the next turn, inevitably ahead
Around the bend.
Solstice deep to Solstice high
We spiral from choice to choice
Knowing the journey, seeking
The cycle through consistent course, yet
Rising through transformation with every change.
©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Men and The Goddess 