Friday, August 31, 2007

I Have Learned So Much

I
Have
Learned
So much from God
That I can no longer
Call
Myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,
a Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself
With me

That I can no longer call myself
A man, a woman, an angel,
Or even a pure
Soul.

Love has
Befriended Hafiz so completely
It has turned to ash
And freed
Me

Of every concept and image
my mind has ever known.

~Hafiz

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Stunning images from NASA

Mandala images and circular patterns naturally occur in nature. Here are some spectacular images from NASA.




If you believe that God is omnipresent, then you believe that God is within us. And if God is omnipresent and within us - then so are the stars. Look inside. This is within... the vastness of space... the bright beauty of light... passion and fire.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Breathe

Breath is life and change, a basic connection between the inner and the outer. It is a flowing bridge between life and death. Every breath is rebirth, inspiration, a letting go of the old. Breathing is a constant source of energy, a continuous affirmation.

Change your breathing and you will think differently, and this change can be created by choice because breathing is one of the few bodily functions that can be voluntary or automatic.

Here is an easy breathing exercise:

Fix your concentration in the middle of the forehead. See a radiant jewel there. Watch and observe what happens as you inhale through your nose - pulling your diaphragm in, and exhale through your nose - pushing your diaphragm out.

Repeat this process 6 or 10 times.

What happened?
How do you feel?

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Catharsis

There is a great furnace in you just waiting to be lit
Strike a match in that cold black hole

Do you hear the ether ignite? Now you know what hunger is…
Break the chair you’re sitting in and stoke that fire

Run around like a crazy person and throw in everything that isn’t you

There is no fuel shortage here!

~Grace Gibson

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Your work

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.
~Buddha

Friday, August 24, 2007

When grapes turn

When grapes turn
to wine, they long for our ability to change.

When stars wheel
around the North Pole,
they are longing for our growing consciousness.

Wine got drunk with us,
not the other way.
The body developed out of us, not we from it.

We are bees,
and our body is a honeycomb.
We made
the body, cell by cell we made it.

~Rumi

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Circle Makers

"It's only flattened corn..."
Doug Bower, 1991

Doug Bower, assisted by his pal Dave, made his first circle in a Hampshire wheat field sometime during the summer of 1978. They made it on their hands and knees with a four-foot metal bar normally used to secure the back-door of Doug's Southampton studio.

"I'd always been interested in UFOs and flying saucers", he remembers, "...so I thought I'd make it look like one had landed." Whatever initially inspired him - divine guidance, the 1966 circle in a Queensland reed-bed, close to where Doug lived at the time, or simple ale-induced prankishness - the leap from provincial trampler to extraterrestrial super-force was swift.

Doug's daytime work-bench doodles transmogrified by night into gleaming sun-blessed articles of faith. This genius - fast-possessing others - couldn't be re-bottled.

Thousands of circles have since appeared world-wide in wheat, barley, oil-seed rape... grass, oats, linseed, peas, maize, mustard and rye... Gradually, inevitably, the circles grew appendages; curled scrolls unravelled into straw-perfect aisles; simple circles' sets became cathedral-like floor-plans - vast temporary sacred sites morphogenised the Gaiaic cry of nautili, whales, serpents, snails, scorpions, and spider's webs.

Equally spectral were the people who studied them; a veritable zoo of new-scientists, cerealogists, ufologists, vicar's-voiced dowsers, orgone revivalists, channellers, and myriad mystics, all seeking phenomenal genuineness in one form or another.

That genuineness proved elusive. Once wrapped in darkness with the warblers and the rabbits, cold air hitting the throat like mint as they raced around and around and around in decreasing spirals; dew-soaked wheat whooshing and splaying under skidding rollers, crunching under planks; ever-widening swaths laid flat as a mat in their path; Doug, and his many imitators, have since retired unseen.


Visit the Circle Makers website for more great information, pictures, and other cool stuff

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Zephyr

"...though unmoving, cold and breathless, I heard the world breathe into her great lung - the breath of all pain taken in, held in love and released to wind as pure as peace...”


~from "The Ravening Wing"
by Grace Gibson

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The soul is

The soul is a breath of living spirit,
that with excellent sensitivity,
permeates the entire body to give it life.
Just so,
the breath of the air makes the earth fruitful.
Thus the air is the soul of the earth,
moistening it,
greening it.

~Hildegard of Bingen

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Cosmic Chalice

Host unlimited photos at slide.com for FREE!

A lovely desktop wallpaper for your enjoyment.
Blessings!
-oOo-

This image is hosted at Slide. When you download this wallpaper, the word "slide" is not going to be anywhere on it. To download, click the image. A window will open to the photo page at Slide. Right click the picture and choose "save target as". Save the picture to your "My Pictures" folder. To set it as wallpaper, open your "My Pictures" folder, right click on the mandala image and choose "set as background". Enjoy!
If you have any problems, let me know, and I'll do what I can to help.

Desktop wallpaper by Shirley Gibson

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Medieval Mandalas



Mandalas by Hildegard of Bingen



Hildegard of Bingen lived in the Bavaria about 900 years ago. She is one of the relatively few mystics in the Christian world. Hildegard was also a poet, abbess, musician, artist, healer, scientist, theologian. In fact she was true renaissance person a few centuries before the renaissance.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen was born into a family of free nobles in the service of the counts of Sponheim, close relatives of the Hohenstaufen emperors. She was the tenth child, sickly from birth. From the time she was very young, Hildegard wrote, she experienced visions. In fact, the only surviving tale of Hildegard's childhood involves a conversation that she held with her nurse. Hildegard described an unborn calf as "white... marked with different colored spots on its forehead, feet and back." The nurse, amazed with the detail of the young child's account, told Hildegard's mother, who later rewarded her daughter with the calf, whose appearance Hildegard had accurately predicted.

Perhaps due to Hildegard's visions, or as a method of political positioning, Hildegard's parents, Hildebert and Mechthilde, offered her as a tithe to the church at the age of eight. Hildegard was placed in the care of Jutta, the sister of Count Meinhard of Sponheim, just outside the Disibodenberg monastery in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of what is now Germany. Jutta was enormously popular and acquired many followers, such that a small nunnery sprang up around her.

Upon Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard was unanimously elected as "magistra," or leader of her sister community. The election would lead to the significant move, executed in the midst of great opposition, of twenty members of her community to her newly-formed monastery, Saint Rupertsberg at Bingen on the Rhine in 1150, where she became abbess.

Hildegard realized that keeping her visions to herself was a wise choice, and confided them only to Jutta, who in turn told Volmar, Hildegard's tutor and, later, scribe. Throughout her life, she continued to have many visions. In 1141, she received a call from God, "Write down that which you see and hear." She was hesitant to record her visions, and soon became physically ill. In her first theological text, 'Scivias, or "Know the Ways," Hildegard describes her struggle within:

"I didn’t immediately follow this command. Self-doubt made me hesitate. I analyzed others’ opinions of my decision and sifted through my own bad opinions of myself. Finally, one day I discovered I was so sick I couldn’t get out of bed. Through this illness, God taught me to listen better. Then, when my good friends Richardis and Volmar urged me to write, I did. I started writing this book and received the strength to finish it, somehow, in ten years. These visions weren’t fabricated by my own imagination, nor are they anyone else’s. I saw these when I was in the heavenly places. They are God’s mysteries. These are God’s secrets. I wrote them down because a heavenly voice kept saying to me, 'See and speak! Hear and write!'"

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Love

From Discover Meditation here is something really nice for today:

The Secret Key

Description:
Love is the secret key. It opens the door of the divine.
Truth is hidden as love in the deepest core of your being.
Truth is not logic; it is an explosion of love.

How do we find it?
Through facing the unknown.

Normally we seek the known. Mind seeks the known. Mind is repetitive. It likes what it already knows. The unknown brings up fear. By finding the courage to face the unknown, you discover the art of meditation, the art of dropping the mind. Even if you drop the mind only for a few moments, you can look at the unknown and this is what makes you wise.

When and Where:
Any opportunity you get to face the unknown - face it. Notice the mind coming in trying to create logical outcomes - and let the mind pass by. Allow yourself to rest in the unknown, without fear, with trust that all is well.

Benefits:
Love makes you wise, but never knowledgeable. The known is the mind, the unknown is the divine. Love comes through the unknown, with the unknown, as part of the unknown. To move into the unknown requires tremendous courage. You are rewarded with wisdom and understanding.... the greatest wealth possible.

-oOo-

This is from: Discover Meditation Training
You can sign up for these weekly inspirational messages
by visiting the website.
She also has a travel site: Discover Travel Fun

Monday, August 13, 2007

Salvation

Dragged from your cell at night -
beaten, suffocated, shamed…
You forget what it is to be heroic;

you forget what it is to be whole
You betray your friends and testify

against all that you hold closest to you
Thrown like trash back in your cell you say

…all is lost…

I sit in the dark with you and whisper
Good, now I have you all to myself…

~Grace Gibson

Friday, August 10, 2007

I've been thinking

I've been thinking about that old Zen conundrum: what's the sound of one hand clapping? My personal opinion--nothing. You don't have two hands, you don't have any clapping. It's as simple as that. Stars, galaxies, clapping hands, what's the point? The point is that we all need somebody, whether you're a supercluster or a little proton, a yin or a yang. Everybody is hooked into everybody else.

~Geoffrey Neighor, Northern Exposure, Duets,
1993

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Live your life

A lovely desktop wallpaper for your enjoyment.
Blessings!

-oOo-

To download, click the image to enlarge it. Then right click the image, select "save picture". Save the picture to your "My Pictures" folder. To set it as wallpaper, open your "My Pictures" folder, right click on the mandala image and choose "set as background". Enjoy!

Desktop wallpaper by Shirley Gibson

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

I have loved in life and have been loved.

I have drunk the bowl of poison from the hands of love as nectar,
and have been raised above life's joy and sorrow.

My heart, aflame in love, set afire
every heart that came in touch with it
My heart has been rent and joined again;
My heart has been broken and again made whole;
My heart has been wounded and healed again;

I wept in love and made all weep with me;
I mourned in love and pierced the hearts of men;
And when my fiery glance fell on the rocks,
the rocks burst forth as volcanoes.

The whole world sank in the flood caused by my one tear;
With my deep sigh the earth trembled,
And when I cried aloud the name of my beloved,
I shook the throne of God in heaven.

I bowed my head low in humility,
And on my knees I begged of love,
"Disclose to me, I pray thee, O love, thy secret."

She took me gently by my arms and lifted me above the earth,
And spoke softly in my ear,

"My dear one, thou thyself art love, art lover,
and thyself art the beloved whom thou hast adored."

~Inayat Khan

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Bright and Beautiful

Mandala Art by Cat Stone

"Carnival Bubbles".

"Goddess"

"Imbolc"

"Litha"

"Peace"

Aren't these gorgeous?
You can find them for sale at deviant art. More originals are for sale at this little shop. She also has a great website, chaoticat.com - well worth browsing. I found all kinds of soul food and eye candy.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Mandala Mondays

From Jakk's Magic Beans Workshop comes this really cool idea.

"This is my not-so-secret mission to spread the word that we are NEVER too old to color. Trust me, coloring mandalas is the best kind of coloring of all! It is a peaceful project that can support and enhance well-being by relieving stress. I love to create mandalas for you to color, share and enjoy. One mandala can be colored a million different ways, so why not color a mandala a day?!"

Simply download the free PDF coloring book quality copies offered on the site, and treat yourself to a fresh box of crayons, colored pencils, or markers.

Please submit your colored mandala (scanned or photographed) to be posted to the Monday Mandalas album in the Gallery and you will be automatically entered into the monthly drawing for a chance to win a pair of colorful Jakk's Magic Beans Workshop earrings.

Isn't this a cool idea? Why not support Jakk and have some fun playing and coloring, and then follow through by actually submitting the mandala? Who knows, you might even win something really nifty! The mandala at the top of this post is today's Monday Mandala, lovingly created by Jakk, to get a really good copy of it to color, visit her site and download the pdf.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Expansion

What’s that you are complaining about?
Your legs are cramped and restless?

Maybe you should climb out of your crib
And stretch them out for a change

The air in this nursery isn’t really air
Let’s sneak out the window and climb down on sheet ropes

You want to drive your daddy’s car on the freeway?
No, not even that is free enough!


~Grace Gibson

Friday, August 03, 2007

In the act of healing

In the act of healing, symbols work upon the patient who is vulnerable, open, and ready to experience them. He identifies with them in the form of the sacred images... They transform him and allow him to partake of their hidden power.

~Donald Sandner

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Om for your desktop



"OM"

Aum (OM). The basis of all sounds; universal symbol-word for God. Aum of the Vedas became the sacred word Hum of the Tibetans; Amin of the Moslems; and Amen of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians. Aum is the all-pervading sound emanating from the Invisible Cosmic Vibration; God in the aspect of Creator.

~Paramahansa Yogananda




This desktop wallpaper uses
art from Sari Magic.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

We have not come here

We have not come here
to take prisoners,
But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.

We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.

Run, my dear
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.

Run like hell my dear,
From anyone likely
To put a sharp knife
Into the sacred, tender vision
Of your beautiful heart.

We have a duty to befriend
Those aspects of obedience
That stand outside of our house

And shout to our reason
"O please, O please
Come out and play."

For we have not come here to take prisoners
Or to confine our wondrous spirits

But to experience ever and ever more deeply
Our divine courage, freedom, and Light!

~ Hafiz
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