Stepping Up Feels Like…

At some point in our career, we begin to realize that we are far from where we started and yet so much more is possible. The ongoing shifts and changes of the expansion or our human consciousness has continually brought a barrage of awareness to my inner world. I am continually amazed as I watch people waking up to their greater potential, realizing that they are so much more than what they have been taught, nay trained, to believe. And for the changing tide to include those who have been marginalized for their independence of self, and for showing us how freeing it is to be, well, our Self.

I think the hardest part for me has been to not stop doing the inner work; to remove my own masks instead of others. In the past year I have realized the losses as well as the gains. I have reclaimed and disclaimed parts of myself or the stories I tell myself. I have released the past and welcomed the unknown future. But over all, I have gained the awareness of what Gandhi and all the other great philosophers and teachers have reiterated over time, and that is: to change myself is to change the world. And sometimes that when we do so, we step up to the tasks at hand even though it feels like we are taking a step back or down. Because when we do, we allow others to fill in the space we held, to shine up front and hold that special feeling while we become the solid ground.

Over the years I have purchased and read through a library of esoteric knowledge, both historical, theoretical and contemporary. Books, essays and texts written by diverse authors and artists who like myself are daring to dive into the realms of shadow and light all the while stumbling through the labyrinths of the inner realm to peel back the layers to get to one’s inner truth. Not the truth of this life, but that deep question of what is the Soul and why does it want to be me?

One never knows at what point in the process that the final deep-spiritual-dumpster-dive takes place. When that dark night of the soul occurs. But when it does, everything that was is finally peeled away leaving just the spark of what began, the eye of Source seeing itself as You. It’s hard to describe because it is different for each of us. But I can tell you that you will know it when it hits. You find out that you don’t really care about, well, things. My realization was that I am the glove the Soul is wearing to write its experience, an avatar, a proxy. This body, albeit a temple or house for the Soul, is what allows the Soul to move, taste, touch, feel, and play in the great organic realm we call our Universe. Whether I read cards at fair, dance skyclad in the moonlight, or offer intuitive healing, I do so for the personal-reality of the Soul. I walk forward aware there is a past but only the present matters. The future is written today, so make sure I Am Today and the future will birth from there.

There is definitely a period of re-connecting to the life you temporarily stepped away from and then returned. For me, I’ve let go my competitive edge, my delight to have a front table and my goal to write books, speak at conferences and create tarot decks. Instead I comfortably find myself feeling great joy in helping others to aspire to higher heights, to welcome their own intuitive gifts and release the binding cords of indoctrination and named descriptions. Just like welcoming my graying hair, oddly adjusting weight and waist, and the emergence of laugh-lines, I welcome stepping up to the plate to share my lessons-learned and hold space for others to expand and reach for the stars of their personal heavens. For I lose nothing in doing so, but instead gain everything.

One of my favorite memories of when I was younger, was to meet an older gentlemen who lived at and offered guided trail walks and talks in Yosemite Park. He must have been in his eighties at the time and was an honorary ranger. He lived there in a small cabin with minimal furnishings. But in his eyes was the world and the smile of life. In the short time I listened and shook his hand, I felt deep inside that here was a man who had so little in his cabin, but the universe showed in the sparkle of his eyes. His presence was so peaceful that it mesmerized me, and told me that he saw so much more than any words could describe. I have always aspired to be that person; to shine from within with an inner-peace, that knowing, a presence of place. This is what I see as stepping up. Because our presence is enough to shift anything.

And so I close this writing with these thoughts and questions: What would stepping up feel like to you? What are you willing to release to gain? How deep are you willing to go to Know Thyself?

Grace

 

 

 

The Giving of Thanks, Includes For-Giving

This is the first holiday without family and friends. The loss of a lover last year and the anniversary of my mom’s passing has brought me to this moment of realization; thankfulness and forgiveness.

Each of us experiences during the year the wondrous giving from friends, family and even strangers. You know, that much-needed smile from the grocery clerk, the playful wink from the barista, the gift of a free coffee from someone you don’t know for up-righting the latte stand’s sign. All of these events fill me up with a connectedness to my fellow beings. And yesterday, in the pet food store, I turned to see a wiry-haired pup share a canine smile. We are surrounded by reasons to receive and accept the thanks for being in the universe as well as those that we share for and with others. But this is also a time for a giving we often forget; For-Giving.

Throughout the year we are transgressed upon and transgress on others; the Earth and our cohabitants, you know those human and non-human. When we are feeling unthankful, we shun or turn our backs; we back-give our presence. To for-give is to turn around and show face, to forward give our presence. This is the gift our pioneers received during their traverse across this continent from those that had built a life and knowing of the land; the Indigenous. The first meal of shared food and insights offered new hope and carried them forward into the next seasonal cycle.

It is important that we appreciate all that the year has given us; both the highs and the lows. For this is how we see the journey and archive the learned skill-sets we have gained. This is how we met strangers, learned to trust the inner compass more, or even discovered that we are built for tougher seas than ever imagined. 

The upcoming shifts and changes that are the confirmation of the next phase of the universe spiraling ever forward and upward, will bring highs and lows. Now is the time to look back and thank that barista, grocery clerk, to toast all those that rescued those in need, whether human or not.

Now is the time to be thankful we live in a time of people reaching out to help each other across the expanses of land and sea. Now is a time to review our past transgressions to others as well as those received and ‘for-give’. Now is the time to cease the judgement, release them from the imagined mental and emotional prisons we placed them in thinking that this would resolve our pain and sorrow. Now is the time to realize that it takes all of us to heal and uplift all of us. Each of us by forgiving and thanking both ourselves, our friends, our families and those strangers that we don’t understand their actions or pain, is the amazing magic of an ancient prayer called Hooponopono, when we do it with love and without judgement. For love is what allows us to evolve.

It’s good to share food and time with each other. It is wonderful to be thankful that loved ones that were overseas are able to return home. For when one of us suffers, we all suffer. We are all connected by that great spiral of growth and expansion gift us by Source. And it is this connection that we can ripple our intentions to heal, help, and hinder; it’s up to each of us to hold awareness of our actions.

So as you gather, and prepare to hunt-and-gather (that predator shopping ritual), remember that this annual event is one of the closing events of the year; when we give thanks for what we received. But lets complete the circle to add for-give, to turn, turn, turn around and give-thanks forward again to ourselves and others. It breaks the karmic tension, turns the wheel of fortune, and opens our hearts to love again, heal again and receive again. For when we shun each other, we cannot receive from each other. Now is the time to be full-of-thanks, for all, by all, and in hope and love.

Photo: Google Images
Sodahead.com/Gaia

I thank you for reading this blog over the past year.

I thank those that bypassed it for others.

And I thank the internet for challenging my efforts to share, yet continuing to be here that I may share.

Grace Sequoia ~ A Wild Dryad, In Service to Spirit

My Personal Oubliette

Each of us has a place where we push into hiding, something about ourselves. Here we place our skeletons, covet our gold pieces and label them ‘precious’; our personal Arkenstone. It is also our personal conflict of the inner sanctum of the Me. We become Smaug to our secrets and create that discord we hope no one will hear in our song; after all we must always show a proper face to the world. After time passes, we often forget these buried bits of self that is until we begin the alchemical process of becoming The Philosopher’s Stone.

By this time, we have built an elaborate Labyrinth of twists and turns to hide these hidden gems, treasures of the deeper-self, now coated in masks of imagery so that we no longer recognize the core of the pearl we hold so dear in our eyes. Those grains of life-sand that so irritated, hurt, and shamed us, that caused discord in our life, now lie hidden by the opalescence of reflected light.

During some of my recent self-work, I reluctantly but still spiritually dumpster-dived into the depth of my arcane past, found some forgotten parts-of-the-self. I encountered in my oubliette, a French word for where we put things to forget, and found things I believed no longer existed and was unwilling to accept as belonging to the woman I have become; because one of the hardest things to embrace is our frailties, our errors and our mistruths.

As we each delve deeper into ourselves, we not only heal the you of You, but the collective consciousness of the life-experience you have lived up to now. For those that embrace past-life experience, what we have been carrying along as inner wisdom, can be in truth our inner errors; false gold and fake pearls we call treasures. Those past lives that seem so cool and exciting to discover, may in truth be the gained wisdom of our missteps, results of unspeakable choices and painful experiences.

In order to continue our quest for our personal holy-Grael, we soon learn that we must change the world from the inside, to ‘be the change we wish to see.’ It has taken years and life-times to build my treasure kingdom, and it has been a painful yet rewarding experience to open each closet to remove those skeletons, sweep the cobwebs and let in the light of understanding. Each hidden realm and dungeon I encounter a dragon that hordes, an oubliette that seems empty until I shine my light to find tattered tales, false beliefs, masks of misperceptions and least expected, that which causes my deepest fear, my fallibility. Here is where I found my connection to all is no different than any other being, we are all one great light of presence, already connected to the whole I call Source. And that my life experience is just that, an experience; a role my Soul chose for this life experience. Each person is another way to be me, for in truth, many of you are experiencing roles I have already experienced, albeit I did it my way, through my own method of experience. And my fears are the amalgamation of all that society, culture, family and peers have imprinted upon my memory from their own suffering and sorrows; misery loves company, after all.

So, as I continue to open closets, raise my lantern to the level of my eye and I walk from one dungeon to the next and peer into each oubliette, I challenge my Soul to reveal each hidden bauble of falsity and fear I have hidden deep within so that I face my shadow, shine my light, and expand my presence. To be the Philosopher’s Stone requires patience with the alchemical process, willingness to surrender to truth, and no longer hold precious the masks we wear for our life-experience role. It is our Soul that set the stage, wrote the play, and continues to direct the story; that is if we are willing to surrender to the bigger picture instead of the line-by-line details our ego craves to act upon the stage it sees.

May you find your personal oubliettes, shine your light bright, face your shadows and embrace your role with the gusto your Soul hired you to play.

When Trees Fall – Life Cycles

Embracing Life’s Cycles Through Dryadic Wisdom

Last week I released from my life, a former partner of 20 years. He was one of those people that filled space with his eclectic presence while sharing darting glimpses of an impish nature. Although we differed in taste of a variety of things, we did share a unique perspective of life; it’s bigger than you experience, while small in your mind. Our life experience is where we gather the bricks we lay to define our perspective, to limit interaction, and create the windows and doors for future experience.

As I reminisce over events passed, determine the destiny of possessions no longer needed, I see the culmination of an individual’s evolution of philosophy, expressions and dreams. Spread throughout a realm of personal domain, books, music, art and day-to-day living provides a macrocosmic viewing of a person. And yet, each piece offers a microcosmic viewing of the individual inside themselves.

The process of cathartic release through cleaning and clearing of once prized possessions, has brought to my attention, the way I gather and collect the ‘things’ of my mind’s desirous habits; my music, art, foods and belongings; all things to adorn my castle of being. And I have begun to question the truth of my choices. Not a judgement of its beauty, but of my intention for obtainment. Why this? Why that?

One of the great lessons of living and walking on our Celestial Mother’s belly, is to remember that our organic avatar, the form we wonder about in – that truthfully belongs to her – isn’t the one that collects, gathers and possesses anything; it is our mind-personality. Our body could care less about that Andy Warhol poster, Sprig-green wall color, or the style of furniture and fixtures we proudly show to friends and family. It has no concept of whether this food is trendy, tastes good or looks nice; again it is the mind-personality that discerns. For somewhere at some time, we experienced something, gave it value and gathered into our realm of living.

Our mind, divinely woven into a three pound collective of cellular weaving and winding, is divided into two halves joined with a dance hall in between. Here is where we learn to merge the dance steps with the feeling of dancing; the form with function, the linear with organic. It is the library of our life, carefully catalogued into various sections and departments, an on-demand system for the personality to reach into at a moment’s notice to respond and discern the ‘what happens next’ part of our life. Our fiber-optic network which we rely upon for lightning-fast response, streams as much as possible and as fast as possible, all sensory input associated with the summoning issued. Problem is if the file is empty it, grabs the next option available, leaving us with a bewildered expression.

His passing also brings into focus the cycles of our life. We are born into freedom and it slowly recedes from us through that pavlovian process we acquiesce into from preschool onward. If we are lucky, if our friends and family allow our individuality to freely expand and express, we grow wings of empowerment and soar to our Soul’s content.

Tonight is a night of tarot, where I meet my adopted family on the earth-realm, and embrace the spiritual family of my past life connections. While we divine and intuit through the cards, I wonder if he will share his reclaimed freedom and offer insights from the realm of Source’s mansions and gardens. Will I see the major arcana of Death/Rebirth? Or will the Priestess appear showing a return straight up the Tree-of-Life back to Source? Will one of the minor arcana appear such as two-wands, mastery of personal domain, or an archetype such as one of the Thoth Princes showing Tiphareth is his destination and return to that Buddha, Christ, Zen energy of the Solar Son presence. Either way, I am excited to see the outcome; to use the cards as a tool to learn more, experience deeper, and celebrate that joyous cycle of returning to the IAM before returning back for a new ME.

So, to all who are walking through transition, are helping those in transition or consider what the winter of life holds, worry not my friend…here is some dryadic wisdom to help.

We are the human trees that walk the Earth, and as such we they are kindred souls of the four
elements; we are of the fifth. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enlil referred to trees as ‘divine beings’ for they are as close to holding a soul as the Natural Order can conceive. We are the Solar presence of the human-tree; four forces using the four elements for expression, powered by the Sun of the Son of Source. We are the Sons and Daughters of the Cosmos, also divine beings.

So remember….

• All seeds carry the unabridged blueprint from time immemorial, so do you through your genetic material and more importantly your Akashic records ~

• All saplings reach for the sun, embrace the moon, dance in the wind, and weather storms, they are built for living, so are you, you just might have forgotten how powerful and wondrous you are ~
• A tree or forest does not compete with itself or each other, they weave and reweave for stability and continuity, so can you be the master-weaver of your life-fabric of expression ~

• Trees honor their presence through the lust to express, without question, without worry, the final outcome is the gift they share when they release, so know you die daily and rebirth in each morning – a new day of potential presence ~

• When a tree falls, they actually surrender to the Great Mother, it is a celebration and all of its knowing, recorded in the cellular structure of its heartwood, is released into the archives of the grand matrix of Earth, so will you share your archived experience with Source and the grand matrix of the Hue-Man forest ~

• All trees are connected through the network of expressive presence, they do not understand separation, only connection, so remember, none of us are alone, ever; your Soul will never abandon you – sing to it, dance with it, wake it up and shout IAM together!

Grace Sequoia ~

Dryad of the Mother Tree, now in the Hue-Man Tree of Life

Imbolc, The Rise & Stirring of the Tarot Princesses

The Quickening of the Year

The Rise and Stirring of the Tarot Princesses

Art by WarwickGoble; Google image from ‘teachmetarot.wordpress.com’

Many of my friends will soon be celebrating Imbolc, also known as Candlemas, at the end of January and the beginning of February. The next equinox is approaching and the Earth, our celestial Mother, is beginning to awaken from her dark slumber. Her fiery husband is courting her with ever increasing warmth of light and love; stirring her, quickening her heart beat, and bringing her flow into fullness. She spreads open her presence to receive and we join in the divine dance through ritual whether ancient or not.

Winter is often referred to as the ‘crone’ period, where our lives become quiet and we go deep within to listen to the experiences of the past year, dream of the upcoming year and honor the presence of friends and family still with us. The winter is the time when the veils are thinnest, when we release the old and many choose to exit this realm to return to our true home with First Source. The vacuum of winter pulls on all that can no longer remain tethered to the Self and its connection to Earth. Winter’s grip is tight, cold and we see the severity of Geburah, but pray for the mercy of Chesed. The quickening of light and warmth is when the snow begins to recede showing us the first signs of the promise of spring; the time of the maiden. This is the splendor of Hod and victory of survival in Netzach.

Princess of Disks

In Tarot this time of year is represented by a rising of the four Princesses of the Elements of the human psyche. In the Thoth deck, the Princess of Disks is pregnant with the seed of promise, the assurance that our Mother will again warm her daughter’s womb in preparation for bearing fruit through our labors.

Princess of Wands

The Princess of Wands rides the fiery current of the warming fire sent from deep within our Mother’s heart, the quickening of the serpent fire to prepare her daughters for divine courtship and the Great Rite to follow. It is she that invokes, she that holds the wand in her authority of her Mother, and she that pushes life forward.

Princess Cups

The Princess of Cups is dressed in her finest gown of sensual crystalline weave. She reweaves the old into the new while correcting any errors remaining from the past year. She is fluid and feeling everything all around her but not controlled by it; she rules her feelings and emotes only what is the truth of her feelings.

Princess of Swords

The Princess of Swords rises forth to apply her sword of understanding removing the thoughts that will no longer serve the divine Self in our journey to understand the divine architecture of our expanding and evolving presence. Together, these four act under the direction of the Great Mother. They are soon to be courted by their magical matches, the Divine Princes, riding downward from their fiery house of the Sun and acting their part to complete the divine marriage of sun and moon, dark and light, anima and animus; the two serpents rising around the maypole of the Divine Sword of our Spine and joining our Mother and Father in the divine presence of I AM. All in preparation for the renewed cycle of opening and expanding, all that is on this plane we call home.

Now is the time we clean up the wintery dust of stale thoughts, feelings and emotions. We open the windows and doors to welcome in fresh air, set fire to the old remnants we find buried and hidden in closets; things we coveted but no longer call to us as hoarded thoughts and feelings. We gather to dance around the fire in gratitude and bliss; preparing for the gush of fecund gifts to come forth to all who prepare.

In the next week, take time to recognize the process it takes for food to adorn your table, fire to warm your hearth, and the physical temple your Soul uses as its personal Avatar. Honor your bodies with cleansing baths, scented and energetically clearing. Clean the home and hearth to call forth new energy and begin a new cycle of experience. Eat foods the encourage health like blackberries (the darker the color means it is full of antioxidants and Vitamin K), anything with ginger to get the blood going and assist inner energies to get moving, and if you are feeling the need for a taste of the fresh fullness of new life, eat cheese from ewe’s milk.

Photo: Google Images
Sodahead.com/Gaia

When you throw a tarot spread, ask ‘Show me what remains hidden and needs to be released.” Call forth the maidens of the tarot for assistance to feel, understand, impassion and fill your presence with the seeds of a new year’s opportunities. See them as the sensual and magical maidens of change and growth; but beware of what you ask. They each manifest under divine authority of each Queen of the deck and the Great Empress, who reflects the knowing from the Divine First Mother. Keep your heart true to your divine Self; sovereign and without limits, be mindful of that which you agree to, or surrender to, from the outside of integrity of You.

Grace Sequoia

The Magical Presence of “SEED” – The 4 Aces and Their Connection to the Seed of Earth

The Majestic and Magical Presence of “SEED”

The 4 Aces and Their Connection to the Seed of Earth

Each of us came from seed. We are the alchemy of two polarities conjoined in a divine dance, forming an amazing

seed-sprout-seedfreedom-in-songfor-seed-freedom.jpg

awareness that expresses the bestowement of presence gifted by the Source of all Life. Within our form we carry the majestic ‘star-fire’ that propels us forward to Be. This is our Magic; we are Magi, but we are not all acting as Magi. Some of us have lifted our eyes upward and forgotten the ground from which we burst forth. And in doing so, we hold the heavens as absolute, denying the very soil that holds us and supports us. There cannot be one without the other.

In each seed – any seed – is the total knowing of the universal blueprint of the All. It holds the entire library of what is possible, and yet, by divine province the outcome is not all the same. No flower, leaf, root, hand, foot, eye or anything is an exact duplicate. The fractal of expression may appear similar but it cannot repeat in exactness. This too is by divine choice; exact replication is to be held in a closed circuit, without new breath or expression; it is death without rebirth. When we covet outside of our Self, when we claim ownership of another’s divine presence of anything around us, we cut the cord of connection and begin the begetting of withering; it is a slow corruption of form and function.

A seed carries within itself the ‘Will to Be’. It does not consider the destination, only the expression. For you and me this is the journey without concern for the destination. And before you can object by stating that goals are key to meeting deadlines, benchmarks and such, this concept of the journey exceeds the ‘mundane’ activities of your mental approach to life; for the mundane is the small “i” of “LIFE”.

Deep within each seed is the quiet roar of LIFE. It merely needs to awaken, and upon wakening, it hums and dances within its shell expanding till at the optimum time it breaks through its shell and raises its head into a world unseen till it’s ‘now’. This is our journey too. Each of us a seed awaiting that spark of fire to burst forth like a nova star hurtling us into an immense orchestration of creative activity. Once we state I AM to the universe the journey is in full motion. This brings me to current trend and Tarot – yes, this is a blog after all; the Aces and Seed technology.

In Tarot is the accumulated knowledge systems, shown through symbols, of centuries of studies and experience. Although tied to mythologies, science and art, they hold keys to our psyche that assist us in our journey from seedling to flowering, conception and fruition (either by shared gifts or physically). Where upon our final travels we release our oars and surrender to the current of LIFE and are pulled back into the womb of our Celestial Mother, Earth. She is an open womb, ever accepting of seed and pushing life upward from the folds of deep within to nurture all willing to partake of her.

The four Aces are the seeds of total potential, artistically presented for the four suits: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. Each suit corresponds to the four parts of our psyche, our personal trinity and the realm we walk: Spirit/Passion, Heart/Emotion, Mind/Thought and Form-Function/Presence. The fifth element is the unseen tether to the other side of the mirror, our Solar Elohim or SoEl, Soul. We are the little gods of the Big God. As such we are all potential on all realms, the cosmic brats of our universe. But it is our journey that truly shines the artistry of our painted canvas; this is our ‘Tree of Life Reflection’ to the gifted ‘Tree of Life’.

We are total mind, emotion, want and presence when we are born, but we have no direction at first. We grow according to our physical blue-print, but our mind, built of two hemispheres of wisdom, that over time build the bridges of understanding between into the great hall of consideration; this is what we use to express our I AM. Some build bridges more from the left – the laws of form and function, structure and within the lines and some more from the right, open and airy, abstract and outside of the box. Which are you? Our goal is to build bridges from both sides to the Great Dance Hall, where all knowing meets and coalesces into a knowing embracing all potential expression.

While the aces reflect particular suits, they cannot be separated any more than you can separate a yolk from its sack or the shell. Each is a unique part of the whole, the sum of its parts. An egg is a seed ready for the divine spark to breathe Life into it; which also brings me to Seed technology.

pinterest: the-elegant universe-tumbler

 The recent fights against GMO activity have value. But remember that husbandry whether of plant or animal is also a type of GMO work. The difference being that through ‘conscious’ husbandry/farming the cycles are honored and we work with the Earth and not against Her. When any entity, whether on paper (corporations) or individuals lay claim and ownership to patent a creative process, we have forgotten our partnership with Earth. When we take a seed and create built-in death (sterility), we deny seed ‘knowledge’ to be expressed.

More and more of us are beginning to see the world as a sentient Being, intelligent and expressive, and hear her call to help her remain a divine mother in control of her fertility rights. No one can claim the right to control another’s life experience. Each seed, whether the Aces we use to rebirth and renew our mind, heart, body and spirit or the one we consciously plant to partake of and allow Her to renew and rebirth her forms, has sovereign rights; all of which we should honor. The only reason to hold patent or claim is for profit and bragging rights.

When we use the Tarot deck for divination, we are asking for keys that show our psyche which doors to open, which paths to walk and the map of our activities (for some of us … our ‘mischief management’). We open channels of communication as we stand before the magical mirror of Self and hold dialogue. As we do this we should also remember our agreement to be stewards for Her rights of Self presence. Together we have a place for our divine journey, to travel the Tree of Life, from Aces to Tens and back again. She is only asking for the same. When we destroy her forests we are slowly lobotomizing her archival mind, when we gouge her lands without replacement of exchange we are starving her; and how we treat our bodies is energetically reflected back to Her.

Each time you pull and Ace card to skrye or it appears in a spread, take note; this is the Divine Seed of total potential and awaits your direction, discernment and conscious action. The Holy Grael is the Ace of Cups, the flowing waters of her love. The Ace of Wands the Solar Fire of her Husband the Sun which she embraces, holds to her heart and uses to push Life. The Ace of Swords is the truth of her mind, the balance of severity and compassion for all her children that walk her belly and push outward from her womb. The Ace of Disks (Coins/Pentacles) is the Magic (Magi Creating) card of all elements in action. The womb needs her seeds to be watered, warmed and breathing in nurturing soil to anchor presence.

Sagasrara artwork – pinterest 1

The next time you plant in your garden, consider the source of that plant’s seed. It could have been anything before it burst forth into the sunshine and then became what you now see before you. What are you planting in your life? What are you eating? Do you care what seeds you plant in your Life and Garden. When was the last time you touched a plant flower and saw her womb open and vulnerable? How much have you delved into the center of a seed, whether the Self or Garden and saw the majesty and magic of its presence; the divine feminine looking back at you. These are the Aces of the first Source reflected on Earth. They are not to be taken lightly and hold great power. We must not covet the Aces to harness or cage their raw power; but rather respect them for their divine presence, and know they are what expand our journey into the Abundance and Magic of our Being Alive.

Grace Sequoia

Learning to Mobius – The Dance of Life’s Twist and Turns

Möbius by Corina Marinescu

In a previous post I discussed that we all need to honor our personal dance; no matter what it looks like, feels like or how others choose to interpret our dance. But our dance is dynamic and not static; because it is our personal life experience.

You probably know the Möbius as the Möbius Strip, a strip of flat paper, that when you connect the two ends, you twist one side so it looks like the image to the left (pulled from Google Images). If you create this, (its fun and easy), you will note how your finger will follow one side – say the inner side – and then flow over onto the other or outer side. This creates an endless flow of available action. This is our life dance until the Möbius strip fails, or in essence, we die.

 

The truth is our life experience is much more dimensional, life the image at the top of the post. If you go to this site: https://plus.google.com/collection/IY8YX , you can multiple versions of sacred math in action, including Corina’s Moebius actively flowing. This is how we shift and adjust as we dance through our life. But it is more than that, because our life is also about choices. We can choose to follow the flow as our life twists and turns, we could choose to turn and walk the other way and not follow the flow. Or, we could decide to sit and stay put while our life moves around us, which is usually what makes us feel out of control and topsy-turvy.

Some consider the Möbius as a lead/follow image; on one side it appears that the ants are following and yet the other they are leading. Paradoxically, this perspective is accurate; we both lead and follow when we make choices and when we dance our life experience. But the trick is to ‘know’ when we lead and when we follow. If we don’t, our dance becomes one or the other. To follow only is to give away our self-authority. To lead only, is to take self-authority from others, to control and be less compassionate. Our personal dance must be the dance of both, because we are co-creating with others as we all share our personal dance experience.

Now, because we are all made up of energy, our dance is electric and expressive, which is why when we don’t express or flow, things begin to build up until a required expression explodes forth; consider it a forced spin of our personal Möbius. We are designed to move, flow and express. To dance! To move! To feel!

Which brings me to the multiple openings in the image at the top of the post. Consider these windows that others look into and we look out. Our dance, in its wondrous Moebius flow, allows both us and others to see and experience the complex and varied sides of our presence. These windows are the lattice-work of our personal pattern, no two patterns are alike, because no two Moebius are made alike. These open windows that show the patterns of the expressive sharing of our presence, are also what allows us to be flexible and our energies to flow in and around and through our presence.

Each of us dances to our own flow and it shows in the fabric of our energetic pattern. This also means that when we choose to make foundational shifts in our presence, it actually shifts the foundation of our presence. So when someone says to us, ‘…you seem different’ or ‘you’ve changed’, You Have! And it allows the vibration of you to flow differently.

We keep hearing of ascension, but we are the ‘hard spark’ of the First Source, which means we ‘chips off the first block’ of Presence. So in reality, we aren’t ascending, but the prodigal child returning home. We are just remembering the path back home, but with a twist (oh no, that Moebius thing again), we are ascending our physical pattern as we return home. It’s a gift to First Source so that collectively (after all First Source is directly connected to and experiences through us), First Source has a wondrous Moebius of patterned form to dance through too. We may all be individual Moebius patterns, but we collectively now make a group Möbius, which when we all learn to dance our personal dance, allows us to fit and complete the big Moebius of the First Source; to create the grand dance of Spirit.

So, are you on the self-reflective inner path, or the sharing and expressive path on the outer side? Are you twisting and flowing to your own energetic vibration, while collectively sharing and raising the vibratory dance of the whole? What does your Moebius look like?

Grace Sequoia

IAM – Au Courant

IAM Au Courant photo source: http://www.lauragraceweldon.com (see also – shortgreenpigg.deviantart.com)

Some meditations bring questions,  some answers,

or, this morning, while sitting under twin-cedars, this.

I call this post Au Courant.

What would you call it, and why? 

 

Scene: 7:17am, 67 degrees,

beneath two 50-year-old Cedar trees named “The Sisters”

I breath in…out…I breath in…and out…

a movie begins to play

and the narration is this ~

There is nothing; a nothing that holds place. A dark thick matter poised as if held without purpose, all potential, unrealized. And as an outer lid opens, there is yet an inner lid that remains shut; yet ready, at any moment, for any moment, a moment. Then something is felt, the inner lid opens and an awareness is present, the question: I AM.

For a brief moment, the awareness waits for something, anything, to appear in response, yet nothing returns the ping of I AM. And in that moment, the nothing shifts into multitudes of expression, and ‘I AM’ is expressed outward in all directions turning to see its self. And it responds with I AM Many Expressions, ME. And it begins to explore each expression, simultaneously, in loving joy and wonder, bestowing upon itself a promise to continue expressing till all ME’s are exhausted. Each ME expressing over and over again, moving in and out of itself, evolving into fractals of connections upon connections.

The First IAM that becomes the First Source of presence, in love with itself, in wonder and joy, exploring and learning through the first-question:     

I AM…

 Grace Sequoia LeFae’

Honoring The Dance

“…We should dance like there’s nobody watching…”

http://www.oilpaintingstore.com-Google Images

Today’s post is about honoring our own ‘dance.’ Each of us walks, talks, and expresses our life in different ways. It is our own dance where we partner with the various parts of our self, our friends, our family and our experiences. Much like the image to the left, there is a moment that we know deep within our self that strikes the pose of presence; and it belongs to ‘You’ completely. No other being does it like you or ever will.

One of my favorite lines of a verse by William Purkey states that, “we should dance like there’s nobody watching.”  And it’s true. We should each find that point of presence on our personal Tree of Life, our Tiphareth of solar shining, and bring it down into Yesod to form and express its presence. All too often we look over our shoulders to compare, and then we feel a tension deep within as we try to adjust to, stay within, that required tiny tolerance of what we compare against. That tension is when we step out of the integrity of our own dance and into that of another’s. Doing what makes us dance the brightest is part of the integrity of living our life, of being the You of you.

Wikipedia Tree of Life 2009

Throughout the universe, you not find exact duplicates; there is no exact cloning of Being. There can’t be. Difference is that slight shift that keeps the gyroscope of presence going and flowing into what is possible instead of the static state of Being which leads to the eventual transformation through putrefaction.  We want that dynamic state, the fullest expression, the whole dance and nothing but the dance. Children live this way until we tell them to follow the prescribed cultural syllabus.  We seek freedom but we consult a massive tome of rules and regulations about the ‘how high to step’ and ‘which tempo’ to dance. The joy of being is about the joy of, well, Being.

Part of Qabbalah is about traveling up and down the Tree of our ‘own’ Life, experiencing in various combinations the multifaceted way of being. Because through us the First Source experiences with us each time we’re laughing, crying, eating, dancing, screaming, sky-diving, playing, sleeping and yes, even sensually. My guess is that the First Source really likes this part because it really is the most sensual experience. And some even call it ‘dancing in the dark.’

When we dance to the sound of our own drum, follow the music of our heart, we are not only honoring the integrity of our being, we are sharing it with the world. It’s our gift to the world and it wantonly calls us to do so. When we do this, we become a unique part of a snowflake, a fractal, or note from a chord of sound that the universe needs to complete a choreographed moment. If you deny it, the movement is incomplete and an imbalance occurs. If many of us deny the universe of our unique dance, there becomes a disharmony that screams for resolve. To address this the First Source has built into the Universal pattern or refrain to modulate from one part of the score into the next. But remember that included in this score is the knowing that we cannot appreciate another’s misstep without out having made our own misstep of the dance. Both are required, so both are necessary and part of a way for us to ‘know thy self’. And this is where during our footwork we look to find the errors and correct them. Notice I said ‘correct’ and not ‘fix’. To ‘fix’ is to establish that it was wrong and didn’t belong, to ‘correct’ is to adjust into what is needed to master our Dance. By knowing our self we know our dance and honor it daily as best we understand how.

So the next time you see someone doing their dance in a way you don’t appreciate, remember that they are “another way to be you” and their dance is present because the First Source is dancing that dance, that way, and at that moment. Either join in or honor the First Source as it dances.

 Grace Sequoia – A Wild Dryad

Lithuanian Tree Ceremony to Release an Oak Dryad

Lithuanian Tree Ceremony to

Release an Oak Dryad

Yesterday I participated in an ancient rite, a Lithuanian Tree Ceremony to honor the upcoming removal of a dying oak tree. I have passed by this tree often and held conversation. The local utility company was going to remove her. She had weathered lightening and her heartwood was loosing its strength. When I asked if she wished to be sang into new wood, she declined. She has lived in her tree for over sixty years, and wished to be returned to the bosom of the Great Mother. As the suburbs have grown up around her, four families have experienced her presence. Time has taken its toll upon her great oaken form.

We all sang to her a traditional folk-song, drank acorn-coffee to honor her, said a prayer, wafted frankincense, myrrh and sage around her and thanked her for her gifts of shade, renewed air, filtered water and enriched soil as she held place. I closed the ceremony with a Dryad’s Song of Blessing to release her presence and honor her. As I sang, I felt her sigh and the land embrace her as she returned to the great matrix of all knowing. The tree still stood, but now silent and without her song.

Of those gathered, there were thirteen of us, and of those present, the languages expressed was English, Lithuanian and my singing in the Language of Light.  I was honored to participate in such an old and lovely ceremony. It inspired me and reminded me that we are all one, and that at one time, we all honored our celestial mother and her wondrous gifts through our mythology and ceremonies and festivals. Here is the prayer offered and folk song. Follow the links to learn more and hear the song in Lithuanian.

 Tree Prayer: (say each stanza twice)

Thank you great tree

for the shade you have given.

 Even when you are gone

we will remember your

shade, strength and beauty.

 

Lithuanian Song – Oi Kalnas Kalnas

(Listen/watch KÛLGRINDA)

 Oh mountain, mountain highest of all,

upon that mountain an oak tree stood tall.

Under that oak a fire burned,

a fire burned and young girls spoke.

Fire Gabija, oh sacred flame

help me in that work I do

Fire Gabija, oh sacred flame

aid me on the road that I travel.

 In Lithuania, the ‘Baltic Faith’ is known as Romuva, and it is a pagan belief system. Their independence was not until recently. Lithuania is up by Latvia and Estonia, faces the sea across from the UK. The country’s flag is yellow, red and green for the two colors of the sun and the green of nature. Trees and nature are very important and the forests are filled a variety of trees including oak trees. The code of their life includes reverence for nature, to not destroy a life, and replenish nature. There are many old carvings that stand tall, and are similar to the Haida totems, but are more simple in appearance.

“…an oak tree is typical of Baltic Lithuanian folk art. The three levels symbolize the three spheres of existence – the world of the dead (the past), the world of the living (the present) and the divine heights (the future) – all three in unity. They thrive in universal darna, which is harmony.  http://www.romuva.lt/new/?page=en

The flag is a golden with a swirling emblem much like the ancient swastika. The Romuva logo is a black and white image, called the “pattern of the world tree, Austras Koks (“Tree of Twilight”), also commonly used as a symbol of Romuva.

Romuva Flag

Romuva ‘World Tree – the Tree of Twilight”