Tag: Meditation

Four Crows’ Journey

Morning Meds; 4 2 22

The moon hung in the south; her face exposed save for a sliver of shadow. Red embers rose from the bonfire and died in the night sky. Sap sputtered and spit with squeaks and whines as it boiled from burning branches. Flames of orange, yellow, and tints of blue chased each other to their tips. The smoke followed the wind drifting into the timber at the edge of Four Crows’ yard.

It had been a day of smoked loin and family favorites, foods brought by requests and need, with the meal finished, Four Crows’ family had divided into groups.

The teenagers, clustered like a pile of gerbils, scrolled their cellphones, each ignoring the others as they searched for human contact on their phones.

The adults settled around the kitchen table to complain about too much food and to enjoy a friendly game of cards, the volume of their voices increasing proportionately to the amount of empty beer cans accumulating in the trash. Their laughter and accusations of hidden cards and secret signals carried across the back yard to where Four Crows and the younger children gathered at the small bonfire.

The younger children had been bribed to the bonfire with Graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. Four Crows and the older children speared marshmallows and helped sandwich the charred sweetness between the crackers. Most of the grandchildren were finished and had tossed their sticks into the blaze, and in spite of an available washcloth, the younger children had already rubbed most of the stickiness of their s’mores onto their jeans.

“Tell us a story, Papa, surely you’ve had a dream,” requested one of the boys.

“Yes, Papa! Where did you go? What did you see?” asked another.

Four Crows finished wiping the worst of the marshmallow and grass from the youngest girl’s hands and tossed the washcloth to the oldest. Sitting back in his chair he looked into the faces of his brood.

“I dreamt of a white crane; she woke me from my sleep. She was silhouetted against a morning sky beneath the spreading branches of a huge cypress tree. The rising sun encircled her as she stood ankle deep in a shimmering pool of water. She was only there for a moment.

Later, when I meditated, I imagined her again and as the stillness settled in, I saw her embrace the sky and rise, her long wings gripping the air, pushing herself upwards. My breath began to fall into the rhythm of her wings. As she gathered more sky, I gathered more breath and as she pushed down, my chest emptied. Together we transformed, I became her, and she became me, we became one.

We rose through darkened clouds breaking into a dimly lit evening sky. From above our great earth, I could see a huge storm swirling beneath us blocking the lights from below. We flew on.

The sky grew darker as we journeyed past earth’s door, the stillness thickening with each beat of our wings until it became as thick as water. I watched our wings adjust, the fine feathers changing into what looked to be grey leather. We transformed from a crane into a huge manta ray swimming in an endless sea of black, and still we breathed as one.

In spite of the blackness I could still see, not with my physical vision, but with the consciousness of my being. Speckles of light danced in the dark like swarms of krill, each individual producing a spark. I knew that it was just energy biding its time, waiting until it was called upon to transform and shine.

Ahead I saw a shimmering sea, a mirage in the ocean of black, an endless sea surrounded by nothing, floating in the emptiness of time.

Each stroke of the great manta’s fins brought us closer till we reached its shimmering shore, and then, as if by magic, I felt myself return to my human form. My feet and legs formed beneath me, trailing down in a gentle arch towards the beach. The great gray fins dissolved as my arms returned to their accustomed form.

I took a couple of steps across the sand to regain my balance and lowered my arms to my side. I looked up and out across an endless ocean and oh what wonder I began to see. I instantly realized I was standing on sand made of crystallized time on the shore of the Infinite Sea of Possibility.

Fruitless Imaginings

Morning Meds; 4 2 19

Clinging to resentments, disappointments and regrets is like trying to run with a parachute attached.

They hold you back.

Fear on the other hand

blocks your way.

All of these are either past or future.

They are a memory or a construct of your mind.

They are an imagined event.

All change takes place in the now, for only now exists.

It is easy to waste our now’s on fruitless imaginings.

Potential Forces

Morning Meds; 4 2 20

In our world of dualism potential forces are always equal.

If all the ups and downs of change would stop, they would level out like a balanced tetter-totter.

One force may be more predominant due to change, but its equal counterpart is always available.

Where we choose to look determines which will rise to the top.

I Ching

Morning Meds; 4 1 20

I don’t know how many of us have ever consulted the I Ching with questions. I do at times of personal uncertainty.

For those unfamiliar with it, it is an ancient Chinese text, 17th century BC.

It centers around the progression of chance associated with the yin/yang symbol. It’s considered to be an Oracle.

It’s made up of 64 Hexagrams, each one has information about what is taking place and offers wisdom on what would be the best way to respond to situations.

You toss three coins, six times and record the results. Each toss creates a line either solid or broken. The six lines determine the number of a Hexagram.

Each of these six lines can change and lead to a new Hexagram that tells where the change is headed depending on one’s action.

It also offers suggestions as to what a wise person would do. The number of possible answers is staggering, yet it is amazingly accurate.

It was written by a very patriarchal society, so you have to overlook the biases that accompany that mind set.

I asked this morning, what’s going on in the world?

Tossing the coins, I got Hexagram #49 (Revolution) (Molting), and it is changing to #24(Return), (The Turning Point)

#49 Revolution, I can’t include the whole thing, here are some parts.

The world is “Molting” in a political sense, as in the great revolutions connected with changes of governments.

Fire and water are trying to destroy each other.

Fire below and the lake above combat and destroy each other.

The forces of light and the forces of darkness, eventuating in a revolution of seasons.

Two lines are changing to form Hexagram 24, Return (the turning point)

“After a time of decay comes the turning point.”

It is not brought about by force, the movement is natural, arising spontaneously.

Societies of people sharing the same views are formed. All selfish separatist tendencies are excluded, and no mistake is made. The light that was banished returns….

How can throwing 3 coins 6 times come to this answer in a 252-page book with lots of many options that cover all kinds of subjects.

Don’t know if it’s right, but it sure can catch your attention.

Thank you I Ching.

Let’s share our love and wealth, stay safe.

Angelo

Morning Meds; 4 1 22

Angelo, the trapeze artist, clinging to his swing, leapt from his perch.

Arching his way across the ring he watched his partner release a swing and push it towards him.

When the empty swing reached Angelo, he let go of the swing he was holding with one hand and reached out grabbing the other swing.

Then all motion stopped.

High above the sounds of the gasping crowd hung poor Angelo, one hand clinging to each of the swings.

In a moment of doubt, he failed to release the first swing that had carried him to the next.

Suspended in place, dangling, he tried to decide which swing was the best one to believe in.

In the process of transcending beliefs, you can’t fully embrace something new till you fully release the old.

It can be a harrowing experience.

Old beliefs die hard, but once we can truly let go, we can feel our momentum return.

So, for all of us who are transitioning spiritual beliefs, hang in there.

It gets better.

Making Lists

Morning Meds; 4 1 21

Imagining yourself as you wish to be will produce the most accelerated growth.

Criticizing yourself for how you are not will lock you in place.

Practice successfully living your dreams in your mind, so you can successfully live them in the flesh.

It’s always more about letting go of the old than it is about acquiring something new.

If you were to make two lists.

one containing things you like about yourself and another of things you don’t, which would be the most beneficial to think about all day?

If you were a package, which list would you be more liable to label yourself with?

Learning to love ourselves removes all blockages.

Two Unaware Butterflies

Morning Meds; 3 31 19

If we humans were compared to a pair of unaware butterflies who were having a conversation about their lives as they reviewed them in the hereafter.

One butterfly to the other,

“Remember gazing off to the heavens waiting for sustenance to be provided, while the whole time we were standing knee deep in sweet nectar?

“Yes,” laughed the other butterfly.

“We wondered when and even if help would ever come.”

“Seems funny now, all that worry when the whole time we were standing in a nectar smoothie.”….

The sweet nectar is within, not on a faraway delivery truck experiencing scheduling problems.

It is up to us to realize that we have all we need at this present moment.

It is within our internal eternal essence.

So,

grab a straw,

slow your breath,

quite your mind

and slurp.

Pollen From Earth

Morning Meds; 3 31 20

Mortality discarded

Humanity rises

An exodus from Earth

Like pollen from a flower

Drifting back to Source

Endless life continued

Erased memories regained

All question answered

The grand plan re-explained

Karma results updated

Original identities restated

Everyone gets reacquainted

Extended families united

Familiar lovers embrace

Together in a familiar place

Climate of love

Forgiveness abounds

All hostility gone

True purpose renewed

New choices shared

Gathered as one

Waiting to come

Ready to return

To a floating blue ball

to be a flower anew

We are like flowers spending seasons of time here on earth.

This is looking like an early and extra bitter winter for a lot of people.

May the interlude between this winter and their next spring be as wonderful as always.

Stay safe, let’s share our love and wealth.