Seasons of the Soul

Releasing the Sacred Feminine

Many years ago when women's liberation began, I noted something interesting. Twiggy was suddenly elevated to status as a top model and the little boy figure was encouraged in women, as if to take the complexity of the feminine out of the picture and relegate women to stick figures. I felt that the liberation movement got off on the wrong foot, trying to prove that women could be as good as men rather than asserting the gifts and abilities that are inherent in the feminine face of God to provide the counter-balance needed for full harmony in living. The result instead created two income families, raising the level of expectation and expense, and leaving a large number of people who were unable to achieve the same result with no place to go and no home to live in.

 

I have always looked for correspondences in what is happening and how marketing spins it to create an illusion that is unfortunately bought by most people because we are impressionable. Freud's nephew was the one who showed advertisers and those in power how to manipulate people, and it continues. The issue for women is to overcome the need to prove they are as good as men and recognize that we have a skill set that compliments men. It isn't about either/or...it is both/and. This is the era of the feminine rising, but women will have to see that they have within themselves a great and glorious capability that does not mean competing in the market place with males, but being the guiding light we were meant to be so that EVERYONE wins, including the children who have been relegated to day care and baby sitters. It is through women being the best of what we are that men will see the value that women tried to prove in the beginning. This is an educational process, and although I am happy to see that many men partake now of the care of our children, and women can be whatever they choose, there is definite room for greater in-depth understanding and respect for the roles we all inherently portray. Incorporating male/female within each of ourselves is important because we are a combination of all things. Respect for those traits are important. Now...in this time where so many women around the world are marginalized, the voices of the Sacred Feminine need to arise, reminding humanity of our greater possibility when EVERYONE is included as an equal player!

Becoming Stewards of the Earth

As we see the results of our lack of understanding of how the earth works, we are made aware that everything is intricately linked with everything else. The actions of one species affects others, and the natural balance of the earth is tilted when humans exploit the land, water, and air. When we adulterate our food supply and use chemicals that are remnants of WW II looking for a new lucrative market, we see that we have been assaulting this beautiful blue bauble in the sky under the misguided idea that we were given dominion over the earth.  

That self-serving term has done more damage than any other in harming our planet and our own lives and the lives of animals, forests, and waterways. We pollute with impunity, using the bible as our source of authority. Yet, when one truly investigates the translations done and the authorship of many of the books within the bible, one sees that everything was arbitrarily entered as the undeniable word of God and there were also many mistaken translations in the process. However, as we advance as civilization in our understanding...seeing the results of our hubris in attempting to "tame" the earth, we have to go back and wonder.

Dominion is a word associated with a warring mentality where dominating is part of the hierarchy of authority. This certainly describes the warlike nature of tribes throughout the patriarchal world. Yet, there is another word that truly represents the covenant between human and the earth, and that is stewardship. Stewardship implies an intelligent and responsible use of input to guide things into their natural good. It does not defile. It does not threaten. It does not destroy. It is a pure stewarding of life, knowing that the earth does not belong to us...it belongs to the Creator, and we are merely tenants who are given the right to live and tend all the areas of life in good faith and good stewardship.

To fully understand how this applies, two sites are included. One is from a more religious point of view and the other is from the Greening Earth point of view. Both lead to the same point...we are deeply in need of becoming the care givers to this planet that we are indebted to for life and sustenance. After all, without the gifts of the earth, we would no longer exist, and if we do not truly comprehend how important it is to change our ways in relation to this bountiful and beautiful place, we won't.

http://blog.tifwe.org/four-principles-of-biblical-stewardship/?gclid=CNmVnZSv970CFY17fgodTh0A4Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q52WJjeara0

Balloon, Balloon!

It was my birthday, and in came a friend with a beautiful balloon just for me. It had flowers and the words “Happy Birthday” on it. Balloon hovered in a corner with flowers and other presents, and each time I looked at it, I smiled. Balloon was tethered by a ribbon attached to a plastic heart that kept it from flying away.

My birthday was long over, but balloon kept its shape and stayed close to the ceiling as the weeks passed by. It was a cheery reminder of my special day.

One day, balloon was lower to the ground than it had been. I decided to let it live out its full balloon life and watched what would happen. Balloon lost a little of its buoyancy as the days went by.

One morning, balloon was sitting close to the floor, restrained by its ribbon and plastic heart from going anywhere at all. I freed balloon from the ribbon and the plastic heart, and a funny thing happened.

Balloon traveled all around the living room. It gently bumped into a piece of furniture and raised itself above and glided over. As the heater went on, balloon would move here and there with the current of the heater. Suddenly, balloon was drawn toward a vent, and as I’d been watching, I was able to shepherd it away. It was the heater air vent, and balloon would have been stuck to that if I hadn’t pulled it away.

Balloon crept down the hall. It went into my office. It edged around my desk and to the bookshelves. It peeked into corners, bobbing in its graceful balloon like way.

I had other things to do. But just thinking of balloon made me smile. Later, I went into my bedroom, and there was balloon…sitting in the middle of my bed. It didn’t budge or go anywhere else. It just stayed right there as if to say, “Here’s where I will rest.”

Balloon is almost flat now. But I’m going to take it down to the local party store where they have hot air and get it filled again. Not now, though. I’ll wait til my birthday next year and have a ribbon with the plastic heart at the end tethering it again until it’s time for balloon to come to rest on my bed.

Balloon, Balloon…what a wonderful present!

When Seeking Ends by Dorothy Hunt

 A beautiful poem to remind us to come home to ourselves.

I can no longer read the Teachings

or visit those awakened on the path

who sit amidst flowers and incense

and eager seekers waiting for morsels

of Enlightenment food.

 

I can no longer sit on my black cushion

waiting for the moment to appear

when the big bang will occur

and blow this world of work and life

into the heavens of bliss.

 

I can no longer search for what is missing

nor can I say that I have found it.

I listen to the furnace blowing at dawn

and watch a feather dance before its music.

I work and eat and sleep and simply live my life.

 

I no longer wonder if I should dye my hair

or give up eating meat

or lose ten pounds before summer.

If I do, I do, and if I don't, I don't,

and who is there to care?

 

The sound of the garbage truck

chewing up the remains of my week

offers just as much stimulation to my soul

as a church bell or the song bird's melody

lilting from the distant hill.

 

My candles of devotion sit unlit

upon the alter to the gods,

the bell of mindfulness unrung

upon its hand-sewn cushion,

the incense resting in a drawer.

 

What has become of the one

who searched and chanted and read and prayed

and hoped for enlightenment?

She still laughs with her family,

sips champagne with friends, and sings in the shower.

 

What is life when the seeking ends?

Just what it is, nothing more or less -

an ordinary person doing ordinary things,

not wishing to be more or less,

content to simply be herself\

 

Change the Channel, Change Your Life

Are you as disgusted with the negativity being hurled at us every evening on the news and in the programs parading as entertainment as I am? If so, it’s time for us to make changes in what we are viewing so that we move out of fear based programming into a positive view of the many GOOD things that are happening, but are under-reported. After all, sensationalism panders to our basest instincts, and fear sells. Good news brings a sense of peace and calm…a restoration in faith that there is hope within the world. Yet, that doesn’t sell the drugs, guns, security systems, and all the other modes of self-protection devices that dire warnings do.

As you observe advertising on TV, you note how much we are bombarded by messages of needing this or that drug in order to control health issues. We are told the dire warnings for each by a melodious narrator as pictures of joy and happiness are paraded before our eyes. This is subliminal marketing at its most extreme, and it is interesting to note that only the United States and New Zealand allow drugs to be advertised on television to the public. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

I note that every time I turn on my computer and go to my home page, I’m bombarded by negative news through images that follow in short succession. I can’t turn off the screen shot fast enough, and keep noting that I should change my server…but I’m used to my service and have noted that all the other ones have the same exploitive news.

At any rate, as we find ourselves caught between a rock and a hard place based on the strategy of media conglomerates and advertisers, we DO have a choice. If we want to live meaningful and productive lives that are free of the latest killing, bombing, and other unsavory information, it’s up to us to change the channel and FIND the good news that is available, but not advertised. Here are a few selections to give you other views that are much more uplifting. Start watching the good news and see how it makes a subtle and not so subtle difference in your outlook on life!

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/   

http://www.dailygood.org

http://www.godvine.com/

 You can also google “good news” or “inspirational stories” and do the same on youtube.com The good stuff IS out there, we just have to dig a little deeper to find it!