Archive
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: Hello Grandpa
Last Monday I posted my poem “The Journey” about a trip I often take. On that trip I almost always see my grandfather’s skull. Sometimes we talk. This is one conversation:
Hello Grandpa
I see him on the sandy
Floor of the cave I visit.
He is nothing but bones now,
Just a skull, really,
Grinning there, guarding.
“Hello, Grandpa. I love you.
And, thanks for being here.”
He laughs through that grinning
Maw, hollow eyes alight with fire.
I can almost hear his whisper:
“No place to go! I am everywhere.
Good to see you too!” Eyes flare.
“You are grandpa too!
How’s that going?
Are you getting the hang of it?”
I stumble and look back.
These are no idle questions.
“It could be better. You are a
Perfect model. It starts with
Loving me as you loved me!”
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.

Walking Through Doorways
It’s been a busy week! Walking through doorways of opportunity can occupy a lot of time. But when opportunities show up we have to respond or be left behind, at least as far as The Divine Feminine are concerned (ref: yesterday’s post).
My first door opened when I got serious about Qigong. I’ve blogged about this, my experience with Bridget Hughes for well over a year now, then my work with her teacher, Jeff Primack, culminating in certification to teach Qigong, and then launching my first two classes which begin next week. This is exciting enough! And yes, there is a bit of fear surrounding this; who am I to think I can teach Qigong! Well, I walked through the flaming doorway of opportunity, changed my mind about my ability (a long time ago I was an effective teacher of math and science) and announced my classes! I even have people signing up!
It seems that once opportunities show up and we say “yes” other opportunities follow. Last week I posted a recording of my message from The Other Side (post link). The main part of that message was from a Shaman Guide who basically told me to “access the shamanic world” more often. Well, I have followed this advice and have taken several journeys over the past week. And I have received guidance that with no uncertainty holds open a doorway of opportunity to get out there and do for others what I have been able to do for a few and have been hiding from for years now.
It is not cool to claim to be a Shaman. In the world of Shamanic Healing using traditional indigenous technologies that are millennia old, people don’t choose to be shamans, and when they are chosen they don’t necessarily walk around with a shaman’s badge pinned to their robes. If I feel a bit trepidatious about my Qigong classes imagine how I feel about this guidance to work with people using shamanic approaches to healing! This work is not for the faint of heart. I have a lot of training and I have a lot of warning that this is no easy path to follow.
But sometimes these doorways of opportunity, no matter how high the flames lick the posts, are easier to walk through than resist. And with that I revised my business card format and they just arrived fresh from the printer. Here it is:
And the byline, “Shaman of the Heart,” is not a label I choose for myself. A dear friend, mentor and teacher, Baeth Davis, called me this a couple of years ago. That’s a long story but the short version is I have all loops for fingerprints which means I am in the School of Love, my Lessons are about Love and my Purpose is Love; hence the title!
I am standing in this burning doorway ready to leap through. I trust there is someone on the other side who has a hand outstretched to me to welcome me and perhaps even to reassure me. But this time of opportunity is not waiting for me. It is waiting for no one of us.
Are you ready to step or leap through that doorway of your opportunity? Do it; join me!

