Archive
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.
MONDAY’S POEM: The Divine Feminine Speak
Last week I wrote of balance. I think it must be the Sun in Libra that has influenced my rumination since the New Moon in Libra last Tuesday. Here’s more on this subject:
The Divine Feminine Speak
Libra, the pivot point
Leads the way toward balance.
Liberation of purpose,
Leaning away from power,
The way forward is toward both.
The Divine Feminine restore purpose
Lifting to light, facing the Sun,
They do not see the shadow.
Evolution is a directed tale;
Progress is an upward spiral.
The Divine Masculine control power.
Offering the Moon, reflecting the Sun
They cast no harsh shadow.
Evolution requires strong force
To lift consciousness higher.
Balance is the key to all:
Not a static status quo,
And not a raucous mountain ride;
A gentle spiral toward the light,
A resting spirit through the night.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
A POEM FOR FRIDAY: Red Lion
I am publishing a poem today because we are moving rapidly into the New Moon in Libra; it occurs at 8:34 pm Eastern Daylight Time this evening. And with the New Moon I will cast an I Ching Gua (hexagram) to shed some light on the coming month. I’ll publish that here on Monday in lieu of the usual “Monday’s Poem”.
I published this poem not long ago in these pages. But given the context of the posts from this week I think it bears repeating. This week has been about alchemy and how we are all agents of transformation for ourselves and for everyone we come in contact with. Transformation does not come easily. It requires our attention, our effort and certainly our awareness. And sometimes it requires a catalyst, a philosopher’s stone, a Red Lion!
So, in this context of the alchemical transformation of human consciousness I repeat:
Red Lion
Some days the beast requires a leash,
Some ways the body must seek release.
There’s no chance of change in full control,
Transformation comes through Red Lion’s role.
Remember this warning, keep to the path.
Control the creature or suffer his wrath.
Don’t bind him too tightly, there’s energy need.
Give him his head, he wants to be freed.
There’s a delicate balance of domestic and wild:
Too much domestic, the mix is too mild:
Too much wild, the mix goes astray;
Isis knew the secret of this precious way!
PS: If you are in the Annapolis, Maryland area, I am beginning a new series of Qigong classes next Monday, October 7. Check details here.
MONDAY’S POEM: Karma
Through the past few posts I have written of my travels to Wisconsin for the annual “homecoming” pagent in my home-town of Blanchardville. All experiences have their lessons. All paths and destinies are driven by karma. With my experience of traveling back to the family farm of my youth still fresh, I reflect some of my musings in the following:
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.
PS: If you are in the Annapolis, Maryland area, I am beginning a new series of Qigong classes next Monday, October 7. Check details here.
MONDAY’S POEM: Balance
During this time of the Autumnal Equinox it is good to look for balance in our lives. I published this poem before, during another equinox. But it continues to speak to me and I hope it helps bring balance to your life during this time of equal light and dark. And the last line of this poem is fully in harmony with my last couple of blogs about “home” and “sense of place.”
Balance
Breathe in freshness,
The power of life in the Universe.
Breathe out love,
The acceptance of All in the Universe.
Consume deliciousness,
Every dish alive with energy.
Purge the waste without grief;
It is a meal for another.
Bring into the Universe all of You;
Your unique gifts are essential.
Let go of everything that is not yours;
There are others ready to serve.
Live your Life Purpose;
Your karmic journey is open.
Die as a Natural Human,
Fully embracing your sense of place.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
MONDAY’S POEM: Eanna, Goddess of Beer
Early on when I began this blog I was studying Inanna, Queen of Heaven and War for the Sumerians. The recent issue of Archeology had an article on the latest finds in Uruk, perhaps the oldest and largest City-State of Sumer. The article referred to Eanna as the temple to the Goddess and also referred to her as “Eanna.” I like the sound of Eanna and like to think of her as one of the earliest of The Divine Feminine. In a separate article in the same issue of the journal there is a craft brewery attempting to replicate a recipe for beer from Sumer. I am confident Eanna was not only Goddess of Heaven and War but surely of the harvest, and beer!
Eanna, Goddess of Beer
The harvest is in,
The golden grains
Carefully fanned
And filed by field.
The scribes record
In clay to remind
Through millennia
The wealth that mattered.
The brew is set,
The jars are new and clean
To receive and store
The precious liquid gold.
The set-aside
Is of the best,
Saved in perfect
Vessels marked.
The day of lowest Sun,
The longest night all year
Is time to commune and celebrate
Eanna, Goddess of beer.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
PS: Apologies to Ninkasi, the Goddess of Beer from about 5000 years ago, whose poem is the source of the recipe for Sumerian beer.
Monday’s Poem: The Moon
We had a New Moon in Virgo last week, the subject of a couple of my posts. And as I mentioned I am fond of tracking and very attuned to the moon. Grandmother has been the subject and object of many poets through the ages. I am not immune to her pull on my inner waters! So, to celebrate her waxing time, I offer this:
The Moon
The moon waxes
Reminding us of the
Fullness of time.
The moon climbs
Reminding us of the
Need for effort.
The moon shines
Reminding us of our
Inner work.
The moon wanes
Reminding us that our
Fullness ends.
The moon sets
Reminding us of the
Need for rest.
The moon hides
Reminding us of the
Inner dark.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Natural Language and the Power to Channel
In yesterday’s post I wrote about Natural Language as the language of the heart, a language that is accessed and used for inner searching and to listen for inner guidance. It is the language of poetry. It is the language of Natural or Indigenous peoples.
And on Wednesday evening Rosemary and I listened to the coverage of the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the “March on Washington” for which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his landmark “I have a dream” speech; a speech many people recognize as the most powerful and certainly effective speeches of the 20th Century! We not only heard and watched Dr. King deliver this speech in its entirety, we also listed to a lot of commentary on the speech and the commemoration of that speech and march. And once again we were both moved to tears at the power of it and the heart-centered nature of it.
It was a “natural speech”! The poetry, the cadence, the rhythm, the truth of the speech is spellbinding. And if you have never heard it or watched Dr. King deliver it, by all means look for it!
We both learned something new about this speech Wednesday evening as we heard Dr. King’s lawyer, who had suggested parts of it, interviewed. He reported that the latter part of the speech, The Dream sequence, was not part of the speech Dr. King had written to deliver! It was extemporaneous!
Clearly Dr. King was using natural language when he delivered that speech. He “tapped in” to some other realm to find and choose the words and speak them so eloquently. Rosemary and I believe he channeled that speech. At the end of the evening Wednesday we watched the recording again. And you can see the change. For the first several paragraphs of the speech, Dr. King refers frequently to the written words. He hesitates a bit here and there. He even seems a little uncomfortable reading the words and sticking to the text. And then he says, eyes raised to the crowd: “I have a dream.” And from that point on he moves comfortably into a pattern and a rhythm that will stand for all time as one of the greatest moments in oratory history.
How is this possible? Where did the words come from? Dr. King channeled them! They were given to him through some mysterious and mystical connection and he had the courage to say them. He opened his big heart and his deep consciousness and let the words come through.
And I think this is one of the greatest examples of the use of natural language I can imagine.
What do you make of Dr. King’s speech from that era? Does it give you “shivers” even today? I am so grateful to MSNBC for taking the time and having the courage to air this speech. For me it was both memorable and eye opening to the power and grace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Men and The Goddess 