Feeling Blessed and Full of Grace

 

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March 25, 2011

At the beginning of the week, my inbox was full of beautiful writings about the Vernal Equinox, Ostara, and Spring and I had thought about offering my own thoughts on the new season.

 

The Annunciation

 

But a few weeks ago, as the Cherry Plums began to bloom here in South Devon, I noticed on the calendar the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25. The inner question marks bloomed in my soul like the Cherry Plums -- What is the experience of Inner Annunciation?  I’ve surrendered to the questions and today on the Annunciation I want to share the results of my wonderings .

As with the other Christian Festivals, I look for meaning and relationships that are esoteric, hidden, personal, evolved, immediate, even practical, and outside the traditions of institutionalized Christianity. I connect with the Festivals as true and archetypal models of how each of us can incarnate the divine, fulfill our destiny and manifest goodness in the world.

You might want to go here to read the various versions of the Annunciation from the Bible and the beautiful version from the Koran.  You will also find a gallery of Annunciation art - so many painters have found inspiration in the story.  Plan on giving your soul at least 5-10 minutes of the healing beauty of these images.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annunciation

 

The Results of My Wonderings

 

Archangels appear when a divine impulse will change the future of human existence or human consciousness. They announce, make whole, enlighten and protect the impulses living in our souls.  The impulse they attend to can be subtle and delicate or grand and powerful but the impulse is not personal and will impact more than an individual and more than the moment.

A virgin is pure, innocent and has yet to receive.  In each of us, in our consciousness, at any moment there is a place of virginity.  This is the place where we receive Imaginations, Inspirations and Intuitions. When we become aware of these divine impulses we often feel surprised and unworthy and wonder how this could be.

Immersed in the materialism of our modern times, it is difficult to realize in our humility that we are blessed and full of grace in these moments.

In your inner experience of the Annunciation, feel your way into an intimate connection to this festival.  Take a spring walk and quietly bend to your innocence.  Think back on your inner annunciations.  Consider how you let the divinely conceived grow in your inner womb until it is time to birth.

Blessings on the Blessed,

Lynn

A Sword to Protect Your Soul...forged in the heavens

Archangel Michael, is the spirit of our times.  The mood of our times is anxiety and Michael is the spiritual model and teacher of the courage, calmness and clarity that overcomes the mood of anxiety. If you are challenged by demons of confusion, overwhelm, uncertainty, fear, Michael’s spiritual sword can pierce your soul, filling it with light and strength.  This is a sword that brings grace, transformation and balance to your thoughts and actions.

Michael’s sword can appear in life in many forms.  I think Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring’s Trilogy is filled with the inspiration of Michael which is why I find myself rereading it every few years.  Certain music enters my soul bringing the sounds of courage to my soul such as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the Ode to Joy.   I feel the sword in the willingness of my clients to face and heal the traumas of a painful childhood. I find it in the compassion and encouragement coming from my friends when I stand on the edge of an inner threshold needing to make a choice that will change my life. 

Where do you feel the force of Michael entering your soul? 

Here is a powerful meditation verse to work with on Michaelmas 

and anytime you feel the mood of anxiety overtaking your soul.  

For the Michael Age
by Rudolf Steiner



We must eradicate from the Soul

All fear and terror of what comes towards us

From out of the future,



And we must acquire serenity

In all feelings and sensations about the future.



We must look forward

With complete equanimity to everything that may come,



And we must think only that whatever comes

Is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom.



It is part of what we must learn in this age:

Namely to live out of pure trust

Without any security in existence,



Trust in the ever-present help of the Spiritual World.



Truly, nothing else will do

If our courage is not to fail us.



And we must seek this awakening within ourselves



Every morning and every evening.

~~~~~~~~~~***********~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks ago I was researching gem elixirs on the web and I found an unusual one made from a meteorite.  At the time of Michaelmas, September 29, there are many iron meteorites falling to earth.  As I read the description of this essence and the story of the keris, I felt the image of Michael.  I have copied it below and included a photo of a keris and its scabbard. 

Meteorite Gem Elixir

A journalist friend made us aware of Kosta Danaos’ book The Magus of Java – a personal account of the Greek Martial Artist’s journey of finding and studying under a Chinese Taoist master on the island of Java. A chapter of this book is dedicated to telling the story of the authentic Javanese Keris, a particular bladed weapon that many Javanese consider to be magical. Kosta delights the reader with his first-person narrative of a demonstration of spinning and moving kerises he witnesses. In Kosta’s sequel to The Magus of Java, his teacher explains: “a real keris must be forged from a meteorite!” In response to Kosta’s question why this is so, the Sifu explains: “Because only a meteorite can contain the yin energy of the talisman. Any keris that truly has power has been forged from a stone that has fallen from the sky.” We were, of course, intrigued. If this explanation holds true, we should get some highly unique performance from an elixir made of such an iron-nickel meteorite as is used for forging a keris! And so we set out to acquire a meteorite from a private collection, only to dissolve the beauty in sulfuric acid…and to produce one of the most remarkable elixirs we’ve ever made.

For Personal Transformation: Meteorite energizes and warms the third eye and upper tan tien. It enables the recognition and change of unwanted thought patterns and strengthens one's willpower.

For Medicinal Purposes: Meteorite affects particularly the brain and the hypothalamus, assisting in overcoming mental fatigue. Meteorite has a relaxing effect on tension or cramps of the digestive system and to a lesser degree of muscle tissue while at the same time it is highly energizing. Meteorite is a choice preparation for those athletes who want simultaneously alertness, relaxedness and a toned and primed-for-action mind and body.

Michaelmas and Continuous Improvement

Archangel Michael's gesture is recognized and attended to each year on September 29th. Michael carries the sword that points to, penetrates, and slays evil. The great works of art in sculpture and painting are always dramatic and active.

In the course of the Inner Year, now is the time to focus on evil. We want to find a clearer, more conscious relationship to evil. Most of us want to avoid this work. Many of us would rather enjoy the entertaining depictions of evil and trust the heroes of novels, movies, plays and TV shows to do the dragon slaying for us.

But, the Michaelic gesture does not demand dramatic deed. It is more often subtle, nuanced, small as a snowflake, raindrop, grain of sand or sunbeam.

And in the realm of time, it appears continuous and endless - think of how many continuous snowflakes it takes to make a blizzard, raindrops to make a monsoon, grains of sand to make a coastline, sunbeams to light the day.

Dragons, particularly the little ones living in our souls, have a way of only playing dead for a glorious moment, before rising up with new vigor.

So, what good is the sword of Michael? More important - how do we find the strength to wield the sword continuously?

To provide an answer I am going to send you to another blog. This post was in my inbox today and I read it before beginning my writing for the morning. The dragon of postponing my work caught me, seduced me, overcame my better self - or so I thought as I clicked on the email.

Presentation Zen is one of the most inspiring blogs I read on a regular basis. Garr Reynolds is a master of design, writes very well and knows what matters in many cases. He has lived and worked in Japan for most of his adult life and often shares the wisdom of Japanese culture as a source of good design. (Michael is constantly admonishing our souls to design a good life.)

Reading Garr's post today was not an avoidance of my task for the morning, but the inspiration for it. He writes about "kaizen" the art of continuous improvement - or, in my eyes, the subtle sword of Michael.

Read Garr's post here.

Garr offers 15 tips for continuous improvement in presentation design. Use your imagination to experience the tips as possibilities for continuous improvement in design your life as a Michaelic gesture, as ways to continuously find the dragons.

Please make comments below. Thanks.

I intend to write a few blog posts on evil over the month of October.

Michaelmas - The Soul's Season of Dragons and Courage

Michaelmas is September 29th and in the Christian liturgical year reflects the Equinox in the natural cycle of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere it is the beginning of Autumn and the overcoming of light by darkness. Our soul's natural task at this time of year relates to the inner experience of the struggle between inner light and inner darkness.

This is the festival of the Archangel Michael. Michael is the Protector/Warrior, the Dragonslayer and the being of Cosmic Intelligence. He is the Face of God. Islam, Christianity and Judaism revere Michael.



Sadly, in our modern world little attention is paid to Michaelmas and our souls suffer for it. Michaelmas gives us courage. Michael protects us. Michael is a model for facing the darkness, demons and dragons within our souls and our material world. Michael represents the intelligence to move out of our personal stories and into a pure relationship with our destiny. Michaelmas gives us the strength of will to face moral development, inner growth and the incredible redemptive power of forgiveness. We can slay dragons and we can tame dragons and we can actually know the difference between the two deeds.

I became aware of Michaelmas when I was 37. My children had just begun their Waldorf Education and so had I. Waldorf Schools celebrate Michaelmas as a festival recognizing the strength of will in the human spirit. The celebrations reflect on the slaying of the dragon. I didn’t quite know what I thought about this festival or the Archangel Michael but part of me, my soul, wanted to pay attention. Now 23 years later, I am writing about Michaelmas and the Soul here in my blog and this Tuesday evening, I will be giving a Michaelmas talk in NYC.


As this blog indicates, I feel the importance of awareness of the cycle of the seasons of the soul. The soul’s reflection of Nature gives our inner life and our practical life in the world an invaluable organizing principle, grounding framework and cosmic flow. There was a time when the human soul was innately and naively sensitive to the spirit living behind and within nature. We then evolved a capacity for the intellectual mastery of the world, the denial of the creative forces of spirit and the domination of nature. Now we seem to have evolved to a place where we are willing to consciously reconnect, to choose to attend to the spiritual forces living in nature and the spiritual freedom living in our own souls.

I live in Jersey City. It is urban with a capital U. Jersey City is an extension of New York City. But Jersey city is also the home of Liberty State Park - 1,212 acres of nature on New York Harbor. The park faces the Statue of Liberty. Liberty State Park is one of the amazing places on the planet. Earth - water, air and fire (the sun and the torch in Lady Liberty's hand) are present in vast expanses and surrounded by spectacular manmade, earth bound structures and institutions.

At least five mornings a week I spend an hour walking in the park - the boardwalk along the bay and into the salt marshes and meadows. Nature nurtures my senses and my soul on these mornings. Now the meadows are filled with Michaelmas Daisies and the rich golds, reds and purples of early fall.

How aware are you of the relationship between the thresholds of nature and the thresholds of soul that exists at this time of year? What do you feel living in your soul? What kind of energies and emotions do you feel? Nature is beginning to drive you away from the outer environment and into the inner environment of your soul life and your relationship with darkness. How do you meet your inner dragons, your inner darkness? What kind of Cosmic Intelligence can we connect with to move us compassionately and courageously through this inner journey? Michael waits to give us some guidance and direction.

Here are some thoughts I have on these questions.


What are your dragons? How do you slay them as protector or tame them with cosmic intelligence?


How does the Michaelic Spirit live in you as courageous will?

Many of you are warriors. You are fighting battles, moral battles with moral dragons. You will attack lies and oppressions and you will defend rights and innocence. You do noble, incredibly noble, deeds, or, perhaps, you only think noble deeds and for some reason find little force to carry out that which you feel such a strong impulse to achieve.

Often you are one of the wounded warriors. You were wounded in your initiation into the battleground of the soul or you are wounded in the course of your moral and personal battle engagements. Yet, somehow, you sustain your inspiration and your commitment. Your heart rings true even though your actions fail to give evidence or truth or power to your imagination.

Before you condemn yourself, find self-compassion. Look at your wounds. Look at your needs. Michael is a friend of our souls. He represents self-compassion and urges restorative gestures. Michael’s sword serves self-compassion. You can ask Michael for guidance.


With our economic drama and potential devastation, in the US and worldwide, how do we restore our moral economy? Is this not a time to call upon the Michaelic forces of courage and cosmic intelligence?

We are facing challenges and questions that many of us have never considered. Our times are making moral and inner demands of our consciousness and soul life so that our material life begins to reflect our inner truth, beauty and goodness.

Michael can give us guidance as we think about materialism, greed, consumerism. Michael can give us courage as we wonder how we adapt to the threats and realities of dramatic changes in our material lives, how we witness and respond to changes in the material realities of our neighbors and the world. We, the world, are on a threshold right now. How we cross this personal and global threshold will be a Michaelic tale of strength or weakness.


So I realize I have moved between the personal, the collective and the cosmic in my writing. I have not made it easy or comfortable for you. I wish that Michaelmas was a time of comfort. It is not. Michaelmas is a time when we confront dilemmas and confusions. We must face dragons, inner dragons in our soul and outer dragons in our social, political and economic environments. But Michaelmas also declares the role of intelligence, compassion and courage.

Take time this season to consider your relationship to Michaelic courage, Michaelic compassion and Michaelic intelligence.

Here is a video I created for the International Day of Peace - September 21. From a Michaelic perspective every day is a day we need to bring a conscious sense of peace to our thoughts, feelings and deeds. The audio on the video is a beautiful expression of John Lennons's Imagine. I tried to capture the mood of the lyrics in the visual images. Look at the video and bring an awareness of your sense of the making of peace during the Michaelic Season.


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