Dear God/ess, My friend Sheila, Astrology’s Astrologer, and I went to the Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg, Maryland, today.Ulysses came with us and as you can see in the picture, he was quite popular among the young people there.
Our Lady Gutalupe in the picture is the site of several major miracles in the recovery of Ulysses’ Cancer over this past winter. So to suddenly be visited by this group of energetic, athletic and happy adoring fans, who demanded to have their picture taken with Ulysses, felt like an omen of continued good health for this wonderful dog.
So I want to recognize this happy moment, and pause a moment to appreciate it.
Dear God/ess, The other day, I walked Ulysses to a popular downtown spot where there is always a water dish for the dogs who pass by. A woman was there, obviously a Lover Of Dogs. I told the Story Of Ulysses, as I do often, because I am gratified that he chose to spend a few more seasons in my adoring company. Our friend Jo-an recently passed due to a ravaging cancer, and for some reason, Ulysses did not die from his own ravaging cancer this past winter. So I tell Ulysses’ story, in order to give hope to people who love their animals.
This woman told me a story about her own dog who passed after 8 short years. She could not figure out why because she fed him only organic foods which she cooked herself every day.
The she realized the sad fact: She “treated” her lawn with chemicals to kill all the weeds, mainly the Beautiful Dandelion.
These chemicals could be killing her, as well. And her grandchildren.
This is not the first time I thought about this problem of chemical lawn treatment. It feels idiotic to me to decry the dangers in our environment when if every single person stopped treating their lawn, we would be much further along in saving Mother Earth than we currently are.
When we bought our beautiful farm 21 years ago, we were told that absolutely no chemicals had been used on the land for at least 10 years. So for at least 30 years, our land is rich in its own natural life force, undeterred by the stranglehold of “better living through chemicals.”
I would love to start a movement to stop the abusive practice of so-called Lawn Care. Dandelions are a powerful spring tonic and the flowers are rich in natural anti-oxidants. Even though I don’t drink alcohol, Dandelion wine is really an all around natural cure for whatever ails you, except, of course, for alcoholism.
Lawn care, after all, is an all out war waged against the beautiful Dandelion.
How crazy is that?
Let us pray for some Common Sense to the way we care for the animals, our children and ourselves as we live out the rest of our lives here on the Mother we call Earth.
Dear God/ess, Today we met an old friend of Tomaso’s and we had a refreshingly honest talk about our lives, especially the lives of this person and Tomaso and what they went through together over the years, especially 35 odd years ago.
The conversation reminded me of the old conscious raising days of the 1970′s: No idle gossip, just an honest assessment of where we used to be and how far we have come, as well as how far we still have to go, in a process of never arriving, simply enjoying wherever we happen to be.
I am also noticing more and more people around me being 60 something and older, sitting face to face with one another, trying to figure out their lives in relationship with each other and all the other relationships in their lives.
You don’t have to die in order to be reborn. We are always in a process of being and doing, of relaxing and producing, of ebbing and flowing.
There is no end in sight.
The day begins, and then it ends.
The dark night of the soul need not last forevermore. We need not hold on to the doubts we have always had about our lives.
Yes, we look back over a long life well lived. And yes we can learn to love all of it no matter what we’ve done or not done. We can change from a miser to a person who experiences new birth and a Life Of Love.
We can learn to lift up the sadness of the world through the eyes of compassion.
Dear God/ess, As I continued to contemplate the passing of our friend today, the Reverend Jo-an Glasse, I realized that Joan Adams and I had Jo-an on our radio show 9/28/10. Soon after, Joan decided to leave the show the beginning of 2011.
The topic of that show was “Death, Dying and Rebirth.” I had not taken the time to hear that show again– until today.
The replay of that show is at the top of today’s post.
The first thing that caught me by surprise was Jo-an’s larger than life laugh. Then I was taken by the expanded nature of the conversation.
I know that the subject matter of that show laid down the brick and mortar for the days and weeks ahead, as Jo-an suddenly fell ill and faced her own mortality.
Jo-an helps me face my own mortality, as I listen to her words.
Joan Adams wrote to me today after hearing the show again, and was blown away, as well. That show perfectly describes our philosophy of what it means to live, grow and flow into the opening at the close of our lives.
Another eye opening revelation came today when I realized that Jo-an’s voice was not recorded widely, if at all. Naturally, those who were married by her or had a funeral done by her may have video-ed those occasions, but they are in private hands.
So this radio show is possibly the only public interview we have of Jo-an. I was divinely guided to have her on the show. Blog Talk Radio did the rest.
Dear God/ess, Our dear friend Reverend Jo-an died early this morning at 0406. Ever since hearing the news, I’ve given up trying to function in the normal way people go about their days.
It has been a growth process for all of us who love her. And there are truly a great number of us who do.
Jo-an loved this Prayer Blog. She had her partner Sheila, Astrology’s Astrologer, read the prayers to her every day, after she got sick. Before that, she’d mull over them and discuss them with me, and I knew she appreciated them.
Jo-an was my mother’s best friend, and I kept feeling Mom’s presence around these last few weeks. This was my sign that Jo-an was readying herself for the passageway in uncharted territory.
This is the passageway that all of us will make.
Jo-an is a mystical soul. She felt and knew a great deal more than she wanted to tell. Her bottomless brown eyes told the rest of the story.
I went with Jo-an when she gave one of her last weddings, in the spring of this year. She managed to perform the wedding with much bravado, befitting the Leo Performer that she was. In fact, she just turned 87 years on July 23.
Jo-an was a feminist in life and now too, as I feel her magnificent presence. She loves her daughters and her female friends. She also loved Tomaso, whose male/ female qualities are well integrated into the Renaissance Human whom he is.
A feeling of emptiness widens in our hearts at times such as these. We fill the emptiness with nothing but love. Jo-an was saying the last few weeks of her life that the Love she was feeling was Huge and Uncontainable.
So we allow the emptiness we feel to be exactly as it is, and we allow it to expand into the Universal Void. As we do so, it transforms into something else. It joins with the wind and the rain and the aurora, the Owl and the Oak as the leaves prepare to make their seasonal change.
We rest awhile in our joy and we remember the grief which really is joy’s shadow side. We cry real tears.
We know that life is short, and we will not be far behind.
Dear God/ess, The trip to see Mother Meera yesterday was challenging, because we kept getting lost. So it was truly a contrast of stressful, hot driving lifted by the simple blessing of a living Saint.
There were 300 people there, and we all meditated for the three hours until everyone received their blessing.
As mentioned in yesterday’s prayer, Mother Meera is an incarnation of the Divine Mother in Hindu tradition, and Mother Mary in Christian tradition.
Therefore I was not surprised to feel a profound sense of bouncancy in the physical body, akin to how an astronaut must feel in outer space, as well as a sense of freedom from needing to control outcome of any situation, and a detachment from what anyone else is choosing to do.
The reality of such a person as Mother Meera alive in this world today is an example of a phenomena that David Hawkins MD described in his book, “Power VS Force.”
He said that highly evolved people place a healing balm in the vibrational field in the Universe. People like Mother Meera prevent the destruction of the human race because of their ability to raise the energy from hate, revenge and vengeance to one of Pure Love.
People like Mother Meera also raise the vibrational field of those of us who are in their presence. We are inwardly changed by taking the time to seek them out.
Dear God/ess, Today is the unofficial first day of summer here in the USA, Memorial Day. We plan to celebrate by picnicking, playing with Ulysses The Dog and his only doggy friends, Majesty and Fenwick. Ulysses doesn’t necessarily “like” these dogs, but he does politely ignore them.
Many human friends of Ulysses will be guests at our party, and Ulysses loves them all. I will sit back and enjoy the show!
I hope to see my first lightening bug of the season tonight. The Blue Heron Farm Spiritual Retreat Center has the most beautiful lightening bugs on the Planet. This year’s rains will make the lightening bugs a joy of the senses. I always call the lightening bugs Christmas in June and July, because of the brilliant lights that seem to be mimicking the solstice.
Then come the crickets, the joy of auditory senses. Long summer nights listening to the crickets is a hypnotic experience of depth into the inner sanctuary of the mind. I believe the lightening bugs and crickets are sprites and fairies telling us how to be free.
See and listen to these elusive beings and other-worldly messengers. They will tell you exactly what you need to do. They are the bearers of inspiration and delight!
Dear Godess, I want to tell the story of Ulysses but since I do not know the whole story, and more needs to evolve regarding the miracle of the healing journey, I will just say that Ulysses is living another day as we take care of him and love him.
I also think that we will learn about the true nature of healing and healer from this experience. Tomorrow is undoubtedly going to be another snow day, and Ulysses, Tom and I will snuggle and watch the snow together, with no where to go. Ulysses loves to go to one of the rooms in the barn which we remodeled last summer. Now we heat it with a beautiful old Shenadoah stove. Ulysses plops right down and goes into a deep meditative trance, refusing to leave the room. Watching snow fall: a transformation experience, but only if you have no where to go.
We all have unfinished stories, unfinished lives. Often our stories are told prematurely and we have to retell then again.
Often our stories are best left untold, because silence and emptying the mind of the drama surrounding the story gives greater peace of mind.
But we can always tell our dog and cat any story at all, and she will accept it, unconditionally.
Believe it or not, one of the most powerful healing gifts you can give your sick Companion Animal is to pin a note to her blanket, written by her Guardian Angel!
My Ulysses, pictured her with Trouble The Dog, is ill with Lymphoma. I give him daily Mechano Magic Treatments, (a prayerful massage) along the spine, organically prepared food, prayer and meditation, –but the note upon the blanket is making him act almost normal today!
Dear God/ess, This past week has brought up emotional turbulence in the hearts of all Americans. Emotional thought patterns are tapping unhealed wounds within us. This is a tremendous opportunity to see what needs to be healed within ourselves.
Something new can be molded and sculpted from this growth potential whenever such pain rocks our lives.
This is a good time to take care of ourselves with great care. We need to look at our energy levels and nurture them with love. We need to take care of the physical to excel in the Spiritual.
Any vibrational disruption we have is probably not rooted in the present moment. The disruption inevitably arises from a past wound.
Bringing self to the present in a spirit of Love will overcome the overwhelming shake up that arises from within in response to apparent outside circumstances.
The inside is out and the outside is in, say the Beatles in one of their songs. One reflects the other, without separation.
This is why it is so important to assume responsibility for what we perceive to be someone else’s fault and ask the question, “What part did I play?” How can I change my life so I am 100% more loving?
What part did I play? This is a question often asked in Recovery Circles.
This whole country needs to go into recovery. As we take care of our own spirit, the spirit of this country will grow stronger, too.
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