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Posts Tagged ‘Men and Spirituality’

New Moon in Leo I Ching Divination

July 28, 2014 Leave a comment

I love New Moons. And I love working with the I Ching around these times of new energy, new beginnings, fresh starts each month (or moonth!). And I especially like this New Moon: both Rosemary and I are Leos. If you too are a Leo I celebrate you! And if you are not I recommend making some Leo friends!

One of the reasons I love the I Ching is because it works! I think my example this month demonstrates this beautifully. Last month the accomplished Gua, the six-line symbol of yin and yang lines (open and closed) that we ended the month with was Union. (See that post.) Among other things that symbol referred to partnerships, marriages. And it is significant that Rosemary and I celebrated our 31st Anniversary just as the Sun was moving into Leo on July 22. And, yes, we did commit to additional years of marriage (I’m looking forward to another 31 years!).

And here is the interesting thing. The Gua I cast for the Leo New Moon is Heng which means Long Lasting! I picture the Gua here:Heng-Long Lasting-C

Master Alfred Huang, author of my main reference text, The Complete I Ching, says this about Long Lasting: “The union of husband and wife should not be short lived.” From the Cancer New Moon when we celebrated Union we continue on this Leo month with the “Long Lasting of that Union”! And the I Ching decision is:

Long lasting
Prosperous and smooth.

No fault.
Favorable to be steadfast and upright.
Favorable to have somewhere to go.

The beginning of the month looks good. And we are about to begin a trip to visit family and friends, and to attend a conference; a combination of a work and play trip. Long Lasting seems to favor this trip.

It is a good time to look at partnerships, especially long-term partnerships. Renew them; honor them; celebrate them! And take this Gua’s decision to heart.

Now, notice that there are two “9 lines” at the second and fourth positions. These are changing lines; in this case the 9s can shift to 6s, from yang lines to yin lines. Master Huang suggests reading the lower changing line to derive the accomplished Gua. This yields Xiao Guo which means Little Exceeding. It is pictured here:Xiao Guo-Little Exceeding

An initial reaction to this Gua may be a bit negative. There are several warning components in the text, but the main message is more cautionary than negative. Part of the Decision says:

A flying bird leaves a message:
Not appropriate to ascend
Appropriate to descend.

This means it is time to pause and assess. Now is a good time to take small steps and make small adjustments. Reflect. It is good to do this with the Leo sun. We are in harvest time now. The Celtic cross-quarter day of Lughnasadh or Lammas is celebrated in early August. It is time to both reap the rewards of hard work and take stock of the supplies moving toward fall and winter. Be prepared for the coming shift. Note the symbol of the flying bird and the warning to descend. We are moving toward the descent of the season. After Lammas begin to notice that the days are growing significantly shorter.

And here is the good news: the mutual Gua which contains the hidden meaning for Little Exceeding is Da Guo, Great Exceeding! In this month of Little Exceeding, we can prepare for something big on the horizon. The harvest will be sufficient. Be ready for this Great Exceeding by tending to details and making the necessary small adjustment now.

Are you ready for the harvest? Tend to the details and celebrate Lammas; note the changing light as we move toward Equinox; and enjoy the warm and inviting Leo Sun!

A FRIDAY POEM FROM “RHYTHMS AND CYCLES” – Grandmother Moon (a reprise)

July 25, 2014 Leave a comment

It hasn’t been that long since I published this poem. But for you new followers, in case you missed it,  here it is again. And here we are again, sinking with the moon as she falls ever further behind in her race with the sun. I seem to be sensing the “death” of this particular moon, into the Leo sun, even more powerfully than usual. Maybe the Lion’s jaws are fierce and strong and Grandmother is falling toward them with more than her usual reluctance!

Do you feel the effects of the “old moon” a day or two before the new moon? Check in with your intuitive nature. The moon is there to support that feminine side of you!

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.

We Are Family – Richard’s Commentary

July 24, 2014 Leave a comment

I want to begin my comments with Rosemary’s ending to her Exploration:

This is important 21st Century work for each human being. Love yourself. Be Who You REALLY Are. Be the Light. Write your own story.

…and create your family; “we are family”! This is a lesson I have learned and continue to learn from Rosemary. It started over 30 years ago (we celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary yesterday!). We came together with kids; Rosemary had a daughter and I had two sons. From the very beginning we made a conscious choice, and from then on a conscious and valiant effort, to blend and create a “nuclear” family of the five of us. And it worked. Today our 30-something kids could not be closer if they were blood-related. We are family!

And we each have our extended families. I met Rosemary’s at her sister’s wedding. The vibe is dominated by Italian ancestry; my Norwegian/Swiss (northern) ancestry was welcomed in with open arms and big hugs. My cold northern blood melted right in to this southern love. Meanwhile my family remains pretty much in tact in Wisconsin – that Norwegian blood just likes it cold! I love them, visit (in the summer/fall) now and then. We are family!

And then we have our ultra-extended family that spans the globe from here north into Canada, east to Europe, south to Australia, west to China. We have grandchildren here in Maryland, another on the way in California. And then there are our adopted grandchildren/god-children spread all over from England to Florida and far beyond. Our younger friends with children just seem to know: we are family! (Of course, the children know it immediatedly!)

We are about to begin a fun trip to Florida for a work-related conference in Orlando next week. On the way (we are driving) we will stop in Raleigh, NC to visit with our youngest child, catching up with that part of the nuclear family and his delightful girl friend. Then it is on to Brunswick, GA to visit long-term, but not seen in years, friends; and even though there is a serious back injury in the picture here, we are compelled to spend the night – “you are family.” Then it is on to Tampa to visit more friends and one of our adopted grand/god-children. After the Orlando conference it is on to Amrit Ashram to visit a nephew and Gurudev. We are family!

And my story goes on. It is still unfolding. We have more family members to meet; they are out there waiting for us. As Rosemary says:

…write a NEW story! You have permission. You are Lady or Lord Creator of Your Own Truth! Love yourself enough to be the creator of a fine life story. Be the ancestor of a legacy that makes you proud and smiling today.

Be the love. Be the light. Go meet your family; they are out there waiting for you! Be the ancestor of a legacy! And remember:

We are family!

ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Be the Family You Want to Have!

July 22, 2014 Leave a comment

Rosemary’s  “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Be the Family You Want to Have!

MONDAY’S POEM: Inner Life

July 21, 2014 Leave a comment

We are approaching the time of the Sun in Leo! If you are a Leo, as Rosemary and I are (same birthday: August 2) then you understand the exclamation point! If you aren’t a Leo find a Leo friend!

The Sun moves into Leo tomorrow, July 22; one characteristic of Leos is they know things like this, even if they aren’t into Astrology! (They also use a lot of exclamation points!) And, if you share the same birthday with someone close, like a spouse, then you tend to celebrate birthdays for much longer than a day!

The only point of all of this (besides announcing my birthday) is that I wrote this poem when the Sun was in Leo in 2011. Enjoy! And don’t be surprised to see more Leonine poems here over the next few weeks!

Inner Life

There is a secret to this
Inner Life:
It is reflected in the outer.

To find peace in the world
Still the heart,
Still the mind.

To find abundance in the world
Enrich the Inner,
Fill the heart
With Love.

To find wisdom in the world
Still the mind,
Fill the mind
From Source.

To find joy in the world
Reach inward
Fill the Heart-Mind
With radiance!

©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.

A FRIDAY POEM FROM RHYTHMS AND CYCLES – “The Future is Now”

July 18, 2014 Leave a comment

Rosemary’s Exploration, posted today on her blog (look for it here next Wednesday), is about choice, about choosing our family, our life, our Truth. It’s about rewriting our stories the way we want them to be lived and told.

I came across this poem before I read her article; they seem to go together. All time is NOW. When we live in the present every moment is a moment of our choosing. Dream into your own reality!

The Future is Now

If the future is now
Dreams are now.
This is Dream Time.

And is the past now?
Forgiveness is now.
This is the lesson.

Now is only now,
Past time, Dream Time,
All one now.

©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.

The Moon and YOU! – Richard’s Commentary

July 17, 2014 Leave a comment

Do you pay attention to the moon? Right now we are being inundated with rain here in Maryland, so I can’t see the moon. But I know she is waning after fullness last Saturday. We’ll soon be coming up on last quarter and then a week later a New Moon. The cycle repeats reminding us of rhythm. Moon cycles are like breaths; she swells from newness to fullness as with a two-week inhale, and then shrinks from fullness back to newness on her two-week exhale. She reminds us to breathe with her: big, full abdominal breaths.

As some of you may know I cast an I Ching Gua on every New Moon. A gua is a six-line hexagram made up of yin and yang(open and solid) lines. (My last post about this can be found HERE for the last New Moon.) I do this for a number of reasons but the key one is I am curious about what new things the New Moon is bringing in, especially what the energies, specifically the energies of change may offer during the month between the New Moons. It is fun to go back over the month and the “reading” of the I Ching to see the correspondences between the reading and actual events! I am amazed at the accuracy!

Another tool I use in conjunction with moon cycles is my Possibilities Playbook I created during Rosemary’s January Possibilities Playshop. My Playbook is a 12-month notebook filled with pictures, phrases, themes and other guidance that I intuitively chose to go into my book in January. Of course, the book is laid out according to the moon phases. Now I record plans, events, feelings and senses of how unfolding reality aligns with what I set in motion in January. This tool is like a “vision board on steroids.” The pictures, words, phrases are pulled from magazines not with desires, hopes, plans in mind but how I want to feel. Looking back on the process I had no idea why certain pictures appealed to me. Now as I examine the pictures in context of what is actually happening I get it! And I am continually amazed!

There are lots of reasons to pay attention to the moon cycles in your life. Certainly gardening and farming, fishing and boating are activities influenced by the moon. I was pleased to learn, during a tour of Napa Valley a few years ago, that at least one vintner, Grgche Hills Estates, uses the phases of the moon for planting, pruning and harvesting. As they say: “Committed to natural winegrowing and sustainability, we farm our five estate vineyards without artificial fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, rely on wild yeast fermentation…”

The moon has so much to offer us if we let her into our lives. Think of all the songs we would miss if not for the moon! Pay attention. Note the days on the calendar when she fill, empties and goes dark for a time. Keep a diary of how you feel in relation to the phases. Note your dreams and if they are influenced. Be aware of peoples’ driving and how it changes with the changing moon. You too may be amazed at what you find!

ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: The Moon and YOU!

July 16, 2014 Leave a comment

In honor of the coming Full Moon, here are excerpts from a message I channeled from The Divine Feminine about the Cycles of the Moon:

“Dear Ones,

We would have you look at the Moon, and understand that Moon energy is a part of every person on the earth. There’s a reason why this heavenly body is so closely aligned with what is happening on the Earth planet. One thing is that the Moon, in its travels around the Earth, affects every person on the Earth. It really touches every life on the Earth. It touches every plant that grows on the Earth. It touches all the waters. So, understanding that you are seeing the Moon and the Moon is working on you, is energizing you, but it is also having an effect on everything around you, allows you to demystify this heavenly body into something that is important in your life. It’s not just something to look at out there.
It definitely has a place in an understanding of the energies of your body, and of the planet. But those who choose not to acknowledge it will have, what we would call, “hiccups” in their life; hiccups that would cause them to move in one direction, and then have this slight veering, one way or the other, and not understand what it is that is causing that. So, we would say the best thing to do is to pay attention to these Moon energies and to accept them.

So, when you see the New Moon, for example, and you understand that that is the time, the dark of the Moon, is the time when the most feminine energy is coming to the planet, and anyone on the planet is receiving this feminine energy and the ability to be in feminine power: nurturing, supporting, offering, that kind of feminine power…

So when that energy is happening at the New Moon, you take advantage of opportunities for your creativity to be expressed.

Now what happens two weeks later at the Full Moon is that the fullness of whatever opportunities you have offered from the New Moon can now come to fruition, but also they have demands for the next level. So you have, essentially, those two weeks of the waning Moon in which to decide which parts of that you will beef up or support towards the next New Moon; which parts you need to let go of. And the other things that are in your life at Full Moon start to be illuminated. The Full Moon is the most reflection of the Sun’s energy that planet Earth receives. So, at the Full Moon time you have the light of the Sun and you have the light of the Moon hitting you at the Earth. So, what is this? This is like having a lantern, like one of your laser flashlights, to beam the light on what it is that’s going on in your life.

What is inside of you? What, energetically, do you need to proceed? What do you not need? What is it that is hampering you so that, two weeks from now when there is another opportunity for a new Moon, and an offering from the feminine side, what is it that would keep you from stepping forward? What is it that would become an anchor, a proverbial ball and chain on your ankle to prevent you from really leaping forward; really flowing forward?

And when you start to ask the question that way, it becomes very easy for you to say “I no longer need that in my life. It does not serve me if, in the course of this time, it will prevent me from moving forward the way that I need to.”

So, at the Full Moon making the decision about what it is you’re ready to release is the first step…”

Do you have the Full Moons and New Moons marked on your calendar? The energies affect us for 3 days before and 3 days after each event. Try marking this for the next month and notice how you feel around these special times.

We are Earthlings learning to live in this Solar System. Here’s to your journey with the Moon!

The Divine Feminine via

 Ro Pic Sig

ROSEMARY’S INSPIRATION: Do You Pay Attention to the Moon?

July 15, 2014 Leave a comment

My “Two-Minute” Video for this Week: Do You Pay Attention to the Moon?

A FRIDAY POEM FROM RHYTHMS AND CYCLES – “The Molt (Molting by the Light of the Moon)”

July 11, 2014 Leave a comment

Tomorrow is the full moon in Capricorn, when the moon is exactly opposite the sun, still in Cancer. As always I pay close attention to the moon’s cycles; she and her movements around the Earth affect us in so many ways. I like to be aware of these influences, not to look for excuses for my feelings and behavior but to understand them and modify them as appropriate. Sometime it can be like shedding a layer of skin!

The Molt (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, of letting go.
Like snakes in their skin, 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 out
Into the light of the Full Moon
Stiffening shells, thickening skin,
Armoring once again our New Self.

The shadows recede
Hiding no longer the threats once held.
The night sky bright light encouraging,
We stand taller in new Minds.

©2014 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.

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