The Premise of One's Beliefs Effect Our Ability to Manifest Truth

Webster refers to a belief as "faith; an act of accepting as true, or giving credence to...". Premise is "a previous statement from which something is inferred or concluded." (It's also a piece of real estate--which just might be the most salient way to work with with our beliefs--upon what ground are our beliefs built anyway?--aka St. Peter) This may be the premise for the instructions to honor Truth initially for how Truth presents to us. It does seem that contemplating our premise's for our life, as Sara did in her commitment from yesterday's post, is the action step or the 'effect' of our belief for Truth as we currently experience it in our being.

Our beliefs and the actions resulting from our premises are either Life Giving or Life Killing, in terms of becoming who we are in our Soul Self. Jung has a lot to say about this in terms of the development of the Soul. So do Thomas Moore, James Hillman, and Marion Woodman. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "As a matter of honor, one man owes it to another to manifest the truth."  It is also a matter of honor to our Self.

Self-Reflection: What is the premise of my beliefs around Truth?

Embodied Commitment to Honor

Sara shares:  I have been getting lots of nudges about body awareness and care lately.  In this cycle of "Honor Truth", my focus for the waxing moon will be honoring the truth of my body.

In the story of Wisdom Keeper, the Clan Mother for this month, we are prompted to look at our histories.  Much of my history is written in my body; the genetic history that contributes to my physical limitations and abilities, my personal physical history of adventures and injuries, my emotional history held in bodily tensions and evidence of not making self-care a priority.  I Honor the truth of my physical reality.  I am not judging, but I am looking with clarity.  I am not even asking to understand, just to be with what is. To truly honor something is to connect to its existence through my existence--body, mind and soul.

For the next 2 weeks, I make an embodied commitment.  I declare "I AM a commitment to awareness and care of my body".  I implement the following daily practice to anchor this commitment into my life: Once during each 2 hour period of my work day, I will choose one of the following; 1)go outside and be active 2) yoga or chiropractic exercises 3) mindful eating.  I'll check back in after the full moon to share what comes up!

Self-Reflection: What is my focus for Honoring Truth during this waxing moon?

Petition to Honor Truth

Honor the sacred.

Honor the Earth, our Mother.

Honor the Elders.

Honor all with whom we share the Earth:

Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones,

Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people.

Walk in balance and beauty.

- unidentified Native American Elder-

Self-Reflection:  Where is it easy for me to honor, where is it difficult?

Starting the Cycle From a Place of Neutrality

The color for this moon cycle is grey. Grey is the color that represents neutrality. When we look at the events in our lives, our beliefs, our feelings from a place of neutrality, we are able to see more possibilities. We have more options for creating change, making movement happen. The greyness we experience in these waning winter months can have new meaning for us. We can see it as a reminder to move into a place of neutrality and then be able to see the bigger picture, rather than be sucked into mid-winter depression and despair!

Grey is the perfect background for reflecting all of who we can be and help us to see outside of ourselves more accurately.

Try this as an experiment: Take a grey piece of fabric (or paper) and a white piece of fabric (or paper) and lay upon each one a colored object (or paper or piece of fabric). You will notice that the colored object has more vibrancy and depth against the grey as in comparison to the white.

So it is also in our lives. When we become willing to live in the grey of things, rather than insist on a black and white world, we see things more fully and brilliantly and can also see more possibilities. By learning to come into a place of neutrality, we can release our judgments and embrace the wisdom of discernment. (For those interested in archetypes--discernment is the matures and enlightened aspect of the archetype of the judge).

Self-Reflection:  If I am willing to live the neutrality of grey, my true brilliance will be clearly reflected. I can Honor can Truth. 

Mandala and Inspiration for the February New Moon

copyright Lisa Kay 2016

February New Moon Mandala

I created this mandala drawing on a snowy gray day. The sky was oppressively beautiful;  Mother Earth  stunning! The set of gray pastels that used to draw the background, I have had since my undergraduate art school days. For some reason, this seems important to mention. The nautilus shell magazine image I recycled from a "Soul Collage" that I created years ago. This seems important to mention also. I hear the chorus of Joni Mitchell's Circle Game.  I "go round and round and  round" the moon cycle circle remembering my stories.

"And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game."

After listening to February's New Moon call, these words flowed.  

K/now
Know now,
Notice,
Taste a new vision,
Take note.
Notice.
Being mindful of old visions;
Welcome the new 
Truth(s)
Trust.
Honor the resolute.

Self-Reflection:  What in my history is circling round for me to contemplate?

Closing January's Moon

We have come to the close of the first moon cycle of the new year. This cycle of Learn Truth reminded us of our connection and relationship to all things. It set the rhythm for coming together and being in relationship with ourselves, other human beings, animal and plant life, the planet, universe and Great Spirit! The color for the first moon cycle,orange, continues to remind us to kindle our inner fire, find ways to bring warmth to our relationships, and by caring for our relationships, keep those warming fires going during these long winter months.

Self-Reflection:  Rest and warm yourself in gratitude for the work you do and your willingness to be in the process of becoming, and the gifts your open yourself to receive from the wisdom of Grandmother Moon.

Some of Our Parts Are Slow to Change, but Shift Happens

I often look back at my previous years' moon cycle writing to see where I was in my life in the previous year(s). I came across my writing from the first blog for the Closing Moon (we called it 'dark' moon back then).  I was a bit shocked to read a very similar theme of self-awareness and self-analysis. When I read through my post, I was at first let down, questioning if I have made any progress at all.
But as I read it again, more slowly and with a compassion I would offer to anyone struggling with their way of living life.
I have made changes, albeit sometimes the change feels small.
I have grown as a woman, I hope more into a wise woman.
I AM more willing to be in truth as I currently understand it.
I AM more willing to be with the truth of others--even when I'd rather not.

Self Reflection: I take time to name and appreciate the small shifts in my way of being. I take time to have compassion for where my change is slow.

Talking to Myself. Listening to Myself, I Make Amends to 'Me', Feeling Deeply Touched in a Loving Way

Carolyn shares.  
My negative self-talk was pretty loud this week. That part that of me that is fueled by self-doubt.  This tape is so familiar, I can recite it without any cue cards--it's sometimes my go to response pattern. And this pattern often occurs after I have had a time period when I have made some positive change and growth.  I was sharing my self-criticism with an old friend. "STOP!" he said, as I whined on and on.  

This wise elder suggested I write an amends to myself for all my put-down talk--to write an amends to the part of myself that gave years to studying and working for her degrees and her license, and years of practicing and honing her skills; write to the Carolyn that commits to her purpose of supporting others in their quests for growth and health, and to the Carolyn who wakes up with visions for creating websites, and books, and paintings.  I didn't want to follow his guidance, but. I listened, and I wrote.  I wrote pages--and pages. Then, I read my pages out loud to myself and I self-listen. Well, I didn't make myself--after all that writing, I WANTED to listen to what my writing voice had to say. 

I read my amends out loud to myself. I read out loud what was behind all my talk was the need for staying small (so I could be safer) and not getting made fun of, or attacked, or shamed or making a mistake (does any of this sound familiar in your life??).  I read out loud  to myself of recognizing how much all my behavior and attitude had hurt the me over the years. I said I would do my best to stop the bad self talk habit (an addiction?). 

Something has shifted in me.  My willingness to write an amends to my self gave me permission to hear the part of me that puts myself down and holds me back and shames me. She/I got to talk and I/me listened from the heart.  My wise old friend, it seems, is a male incarnation of Talks With Relations. Since then, the negative voice is almost inaudible-just a little squeak now and then-I'm using it as a reminder to wake up and pay attention to myself, to recenter and refocus on the moment. And, with less background noise I can hear (I) inspiration and (G)guidance much more clearly.  

Self-Reflection:  Am I willing to talk with my self and speak ALL my voices?  How might I practice really listening to myself talk?

Learning Truth Does Impact One's View of Self and Others

Carolyn Shares: Holding fast to my commitment to communicate with an intention to Learn Truth  has brought to light how much 'fear' influences my behavior, my reactions, my choices.  My desire and longing to have Truth direct my life makes it possible for me to have a Voice that is stronger than the voice of 'fear'.  What is this voice? For me Truth is a name for the expression of 'Great Mystery', 'God', 'The Divine One', 'Creator', 'Great Spirit', in me, in all of creation.  Working with these cycles of Truth for the past years has brought the gift of ongoing, though not quite yet, continual contact with this Divine Force.  The teachings of Truth from all the great spiritual traditions tell us that Truth is another name for 'God', another name for Love.
I feel it changing me and changing my way of being with others.  I can be softer, more receiving, more honoring; even if we don't see Truth in the same way.  Progress...

Self-Reflection:  How do I feel when I don't hold the same truths as others?

What Does it Mean to Communicate With the Intention to Learn Truth?

Carolyn shares her waning phase journey: I decided at the full moon that I really wanted to 'Learn Truth' regardless of how uncomfortable or unpleasant those Truths might be.  My intention for this waning cycle is two fold: 1) to watch myself and notice when I am tempted to alter my words when I am talking (or writing). To notice the people I am most likely to speak 'less than' what is truth for me. And to make every effort to speak truth at these times.  2) I also committed to listening for the truth in what others say. I committed to ask questions from an intention to invite others to speak the truth, and feel safe in doing so.

As we come near the close of this waning moon phase, I have gathered enough data to give a partial report on my experiment (which I hope will become a habit, then a way of living). Here is what I know of myself so far:
1) There are certain people where I am more likely than not to shift my words, to soften the truth of my feelings and thoughts.  Sometimes, I want to hide my feelings, protect the other, impact their response, look better than I feel, get something I want.
2) When I listen and hear something I don't like, I feel my reaction keenly in my body.  I instinctively want to either withdraw (clam up) or strike out (with sarcasm, sharp words or trick questions).  But I am conscious of my commitment, so this month, most of the time, I am able to sincerely invite more of the truth from the other.


Self-Reflection: Have I been willing to communicate with an open-hearted intention to Learn Truth?

Blessings of the Waning Moon

In this time of the waning moon, she pours her gifts out over the world. Feel the blessings of her never-ending inspiration, teaching us how to be present, to be with the rhythm of life.  Open to abundance. Connect with our inner fire. Reflect the Universal Light on the fullness of our life.

Self-Reflection: I give myself time and quiet to receive the gifts of the waning moon--reminding me to be present to the rhythm and abundance of life.  I remember ebbing is part of the flow of becoming. All is as it should be. I am blessed.

Prayer for Learning Truth

O Great Spirit

help me always 
speak the truth quietly,

to listen with an open mind 

when others speak

and 
to remember the peace 
that may be found in silence.

-Cherokee Prayer-

Self Reflection:  O Great Spirit, help me always to speak the Truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and ti remember the peace that may be found in silence.  

A Challenging Gift is Learn Truth

We have begun to embrace this gift of Learn Truth in our own life by our willingness to feel life and have conversation with ALL of our 'relatives'*.  It's not always smooth going or easy...  

* we are related to all beings, and all things. In the First People's way of praying that I was taught, all of creation is referred to as 'our relatives', reminding us to keep our relationships with all sacred. Carolyn

Self Reflection: Am I willing to stay the course of Truth to find the freedom of being my Self?

Learn Truth; Receive WIsdom

The usual practice for the time from the full moon to the closing moon is two-fold: 1) to release what we have come to understand as not serving our life, and 2) to put our selves more fully into the world. During the waning phase, we practice truthfully being who we are, the best as we are currently able and actively living our awareness.

However, during the first few Cycles of Truth at the beginning of each new year, the waning phase seems more appropriately to practice setting aside what we have discovered is not true/Truth, and taking up an attitude, openness and behavior of receiving--knowledge, wisdom, inspiration, hope...all this leads us to be more our Self, receiving all that we need to feel, learn, live and share truth.

Self Reflection: I name what I have learned as 'not true' of myself. I claim a wiser more Truth-full Self.  I become a vessel for Creator's inspiration.

Easing Into Vulnerability

Moving toward vulnerability can feel more like a battle than a journey of growth. As I Learn Truth through actively staying in connection with my life, an am able to set this battle with vulnerability aside. I turn my attention to what I might learn in opening my heart and my mind to what I am with in each moment.  Just to notice, closely, and sense what I have not sensed before.  Becoming vulnerable is a practice of small steps and self-checks. I notice my level of awareness with myself and the world around me.  I intentionally look for what I might learn anew. When I do this in all areas of my life, little by little; repeat by repeat, my vulnerability will take care of itself.

Self Reflection:  Am I aware of the places in my life where I squirm? What about the people, places, and things, I try to avoid? Do I have places where I doubt myself on a regular basis? Do I have activities I put off until crunch time, or crisis management is required?  I can take comfort in knowing I am not alone in answering 'yes' to any of these, or to all of them.  This is the front line for my battle with vulnerability.  Can I set the battle aside just for one moment?  And maybe another moment and another, until I don't need this set-aside practice any longer?

Learn Truth and Vulnerability

The calendar page for the January moon reminds us that to Learn Truth means a willingness to learn from the heart.  This requires a willingness to be vulnerable.  When we become willing to be vulnerable, things really do get easier, even though it might not seem that way in the beginning of this great experiment.
It is not a coincidence that the sense of touch is the place we begin  the Cycles of Truth.  Unless there is something amiss in the neurology of a newborn, the need for touch, for human contact determines survival, mental well being and physical and intellectual growth.  Our body never loses the need and desire for touch, but our minds may convince us that to be touched, physically, emotionally, energetically and/or spiritually is dangerous. Or at the least a sign of weakness.  Our minds will convince us that our best protection and smartest response is to avoid being vulnerable.  We grow up thinking it costs too much to be vulnerable, but really the opposite is true.  To not be vulnerable ends up costing us our health, opportunities for growth and pleasure, strong and reliable intuition.  It ends up costing us an ability to Learn Truth.  More tomorrow.

Self-Reflection: When I think about being more vulnerable, what do I think of?  What is my reaction to being more vulnerable?  Fear?  Possibility? Growth?

How Does Truth Impact MY Life?

The waning moon impulse is to put ourselves more fully out into the world. During these two weeks we experience what Learn Truth means particularly to ‘us’, individually.  As we come to know what is true, we become aware of what we need to let go of if we wish to manifest more fully who we are without a shell of protection, or a layer of guardedness.  We take our new knowing of Truth and begin to integrate what we have learned into our intentions, our growth, our vision and our awareness for what is possible in our life.  By continuing to tune in to the information from our felt sense we lay the foundation for living more fully in the world.  

Self-Reflection:  How am I demonstrating Truth in  my life?

Awake Body, Tender Heart, Open Mind

It is no coincidence that the teaching of this cycle of "Learn Truth" has a focus on our senses and that the archetypal Clan Mother of this cycle is "Talks With Relations". Learning is really communication; taking in and processing stimuli from the outside world and from within ourselves, relating our perceptions to others and receiving feedback (and the cycle repeats).

Learning "Truth" occurs when we relate with presence.  When we are present, we suspend judgments, have full awareness and are in relation to all of Creation. In her book, The Five Keys to Mindful Communication, Susan Gillis Chapman teaches us that presence requires an awake body, a tender heart and an open mind. All three are required to fully take in and integrate the lessons being presented to us.

Sara shares: Multiple sources in the waxing parts of this moon cycle have been pointing (sometimes quite strongly) to my need to honor and balance body, heart and mind.  For me, this is a theme that runs through the teachings of the Moon Cycles.  My work for the waning portion of this cycle is to practice presence and awareness in how I relate. I will be aware of how I relate to my own self; body, mind and heart. I will bring that presence to my relationships with others and Creation.  In this way, I am best able to Learn Truth.

Self-Reflection:  What helps me stay awake to what my body teaches me? What helps soften my heart? What helps me keep an open mind?  Do I willingly receive these things?

Full Moon heightens Our Shadow and Our Light

Shadow and Light 8PM CST
night of the full moon at Carolyn's  

Carolyn shares: The moon here in the suburbs of Chicago seem to be playing hide and seek with the clouds, creating reverse shadows.  I'm writing this on the night parts of the US has been buried in snow and in some places pummeled with a high tide. The weather people are talking about the 'high lunar tide because of the full moon'.  While I am sorry for the suffering the storm tides cause for the residents on the coast, I feel some satisfaction that the weather scientists are talking about the moon's influence on our earth, on us. This is the place where myth, magic and Truth meet.

How have I received the influence of the gifts of this cycle? I am beginning to understand the Truth I learn most is about myself, and my ability or willingness to be in truth with others.

Self-Reflection: Can I hold a commitment for the waning moon be more Truth-fully present in my relationships with others?

Full Moon: Learn Truth Is the Light in the Dark

Taken in Carolyn's backyard January 2016

Carolyn's Share: The Full Moon in the winter months always seems to have the blackest of nights as her backdrop.  Every year I am surprised by this, yet it is true that in January I often find myself in a personal shadow of darkness.  I am reminded of January's full moon Moon Circle Journal page where co-author Sara penned the 'shadow words' for the : "...in my heart's shadows, I feel Creator's touch". 

As I stood under the luminescent full moon on the backdrop the darkest of night skies, I experienced my own need and willingness to go into the shadows to feel Creator's illuminating touch.  The black sky is the dark shadow of my heart and the glowing moon shows the miraculous impact of Creator's touch.

As I  Learn Truth, I learn that what I am able to Trust in others is that I can trust them to be who they are, not  to be whom I want them to be, which may be a big difference. That is an initial lesson in Learn Truth.

Self Reflection: When my heart is open and my fear and judgment faced, I receive these gifts:

I remember my source.

I remember who I am.

I can trust myself.

I can live in truth, meaning I can trust life, creator, creation and others.

Learning Truth the Easier, Softer Way

In this last day of the waxing moon of Learn Truth, take time to ask for clarity about anything about which you would like to learn more Truth.  The practice of this moon cycle, learning through what touches us and our life is not complete without our full participation. Asking for clarity is an excellent practice of being present (if, of course, you also practice listening).

As the Full Moon approaches she illuminates our world so we can learn more about ourselves, our life path, and those relatives who are fellow travelers on our journey.  We human beings sometimes resist being on equal ground with other creatures and other forms of life, let alone our fellow human beings.  The path for learning Truth is gentler and easier when we travel with humility.  A truth we learn is that the alternative to living humbly is to live with humiliation as our traveling partner.  Humility opens our mind and our heart to learning truth an easier softer way.

Self Reflection:  Am I willing to be humble, inviting truth into my life in an easy, softer way?  Am I willing to let go of all sense of superiority I carry? 

Everything We Encounter Comes Through Touch

All our experiences, everything that comes to us through our senses, touches us.  Everything we learn in life comes to us through some form of touch.  We can taste the sweetness of a peach by the juices connecting with our taste buds.  We smell skunk because the acrid odor travels through the air touching our nasal passages as we breathe in and out. We hear the birdsong through sound-waves bouncing against our eardrums.  We have spent these two weeks of the waxing moon phase learning how touch is a primary informer for how we understand our life.
With the invitation to adopt (or be adopted by) a stone people companion, we receive a gift from Earth Mother’s first children, the stone people to practice staying conscious to being touched by the world outside of us, and to stay in connection with All Our Relations (all things).  In this way, we are learning to ‘talk’ with and to listen to what all manner of life can teach us about living our own life.

Self-Reflection:  In what ways have I been touched by the world around me in these past few weeks?  What learning of truth have I resisted receiving?  What learning of truth have a welcomed with an appreciative heart?

Learning Truth Through Our Kinship with ALL Beings

Twylah Nitsch, the Seneca elder who, at the encouragement of her Grandfather, Moses Shongo,   brought the Truth Cycles out to the world, shared her story of connecting with her Stone Person guide. In her journey learning to connect and communicate with this Ancient One, who Twylah relayed 'chose her', found his way into her life. This stone person offered a way for Twylah to listen for guidance in a new way. This way of learning took her beyond her known way of communicating with humans, animals, and even trees. She learned a new capacity for relating with ALL manner of Creation.  In the act of being with the stone people, Grandmother Twylah learned a deeper way of learning the truth of her world. This experience of learning truth through the stone people is easily available to everyone, to each of us.

Self Reflection: Find a stone that calls to you and make it your traveling companion as you move through your day. Hold this stone in the palm of your hand in your prayer, meditation and contemplation time. If you listen, stone-person will indeed share with you and be a steadfast partner on your journey.



   

More Pathways to Learning Truth

It is no mistake, no happenstance, that we Learn Truth only through touching and being touched by the whole of the world.  Not only the physical touch, whether from another human or our pet or the wind and sun on our face, but the energetic touch of a look or action of another, or being touched by the beauty or the horror of an event or place.  Activating our felt sense invites us to put our focus outside of ourselves. We tend to be a very self-centered species.  We mistake self-centeredness for self-centering and this leads us to mistaken views of the world, ourselves...and Truth. If we are self-centered, our attempts at contemplative prayer or meditation (forms of self-centering) can feel futile. Amazingly, connecting to the world around us is a path to self-centering, as we must go outside ourselves to connect.  When we go outside of ourselves we then can center ourselves from a different perspective. We are much closer to connecting to our own deep soul, and Truth.

Self-Reflection: Do I know the difference between self-centeredness and self-centering?

The Link Between Truth and Love

We are not separate from anyone or anything.
We are all connected:
Sharing the same air
Bathed in the same water
Molecules shared, formed, re-formed, exchanged.
Our kinship runs deep.
Our relatedness can be traced back to source.


What a family tree!

"You must love all that God has created, both his entire world and each single tiny sand grain of it. Love each tiny leaf, each beam of sunshine. You must love the animals, love every plant. If you love all things, you will also attain the divine mystery that is in all things. For then your ability to perceive the truth will grow every day, and your mind will open itself to an all-embracing love."
Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

Self-Reflection:  How do I love my kin, my relation that seem so different from me?  Is it enough for me to love them just because we have the same source of creation?

Being Reminded We ARE 'Talks WIth Relations'

Karin Shares: Early on a brisk 45 degree morning, my husband and I set out on one of the top 10 Texas trails (less than a mile away from our apt!) along the Barton Creek. The creek has burgeoned into a wide river from all the rain we've received, tinted with deep olives to Caribbean blue-green. At times it whooshes in white rapids over limestone boulders to still clear pools at the banks. I squat to rest my hands on small boulders upended and keeping watch at the water's edge. In a burst of energy, I run through sprinkling rain, knowing that a cold front is arriving, happy that the skies are clearing the cedar pollen. I am suddenly stopped by the sweet jit-jit of 3 tiny green and yellow birds with needle-like black beaks, flitting on branches laden with flood debris. They pay me no heed as they chatter to each other. I love this month of listening to and communing with the nature beings in Austin. 

Carolyn's Note: To me, Karin's sharing reflects her willingness to embody the January wisdom that Jamie Sams called "Talks With Relation'.  This wisdom is within each of us, we need only be willing to embrace it.


Self Reflection: I conciously embrace the wisdom of my own being.  How does this change the way I feel about my body?  

Learning the Illusion of Separateness

This Cycle of Truth (if we are willing to learn from the messages of what is truth  our body gives us) brings forth the illusion of separation.  Separateness is an illusion created by the mind...felt in our body at the moment of birth...and lived out in our actions and relationships.

Learning through the sense of touch and learning to communicate willingly with our body is part of this month's teaching. January's waxing moon phase is a time to explore the illusion of separateness/separation that causes so much hurt, pain, disappointment and chaos in our lives.

Self Reflection: A way to start this exploration is to look at the reverse of the illusion.  Ask yourself; "If I were one with (whatever is my current experience of separateness) What/how would I feel?

Cycles of Truth and the 5 Senses

We begin the experience of being human through our 5 senses.  The 5 senses are not instincts, but they inform our instincts, and also, the other way around.
We begin our learning about what it is to be human with our sense of 'touch'. We learn comfort and pain, hot and cold, hard,soft. Our first experience of being loved or rejected comes through our tactile experience during our birth.
In working with the Cycles of Truth, we begin with Learn Truth and the first of our five senses, touch.  This tactile sense is our first informer as to whether our world is a good and safe place to be. It is the first way we are in relationship with all of our world.
Reflecting on our early experience in the world gives us clues about where we need to update our sensory systems (quite literally).  Jamie Sams' experienced this first cycle of truth as 'Talks With Relations'.  Through the story she tells, she shows how our willingness to step into relationship with all of creation (not just people and our pets) is a tried and true way to Learn Truth AND to open our sense of touch to a higher level of sensitivity and frequency, which brings healing for us and for all we touch..

Learning Truth the Hard Way: Ignoring My Body's Message

Carolyn Shares: My sense of touch is overly sensitive today. My skin hurts with every touch, my muscles ache with every movement. Even my ears hurt, and I don't want to hear anything or anyone, My brain seems to hurt as well, and yet I fight against the calling of my body to go and rest for the remainder of the day.  I have my own agenda to complete and goals to move toward.  A 'sick day' interferes with 'my plans'.

Clearly, I am once again learning things the hard way!  This month I am searching through the wisdom teachings for messages about how we learn truth.  I am no longer surprised that in my readings across cultures and spiritual teachings the same themes surface at the same time across the different lineages.  This week it has been no different.  I read Richard Rohr's posting on learning the Truth about how the body and soul teach us when the body is hurting and the soul fearful.  And then a reading from Hafiz, and a psalm about resting in the Divine. Finally, I came across a reading from Talks With Relations, Jamie Sams name for the clan mother of the January Moon: ..."she must also learn the importance of resting when her body's rhythms are being pushed beyond their capacity to endure. It must be difficult for her, no longer in Spirit-form, and having to limit herself to the perceptions of a human body." (Blue Jay's commentary-pg. 39 in 13 Original Clan Mothers).

Self-Reflection: Learning through my sense of touch, and learning to communicate willingly with my body is my practice for this month's teaching.

All Our Relations: Learning Truth Through Our Relationship with Nature

Carolyn shares: January's Journal pages remind us that we connect with Creator through our connection with nature.  It's cold for  many of us this time of year; too cold for me to willingly go out and commune with nature!  So, how to communicate with nature when we aren't out in nature?

Here is an abbreviated outdoor practice for and expression of gratitude to 'All Our Relations':  When leaving your abode in the morning, and returning at night, Take a breath and give thanks for the earth and her creatures and the sky and all the celestial beings that hang out there.

Also, pay closer attention to your pets this month.  Talk to them with more interest and curiosity than you ordinarily might. Listen to them, listen while looking in their eyes.  You may be surprised at what you hear.  But, then again, if you are an animal lover, you won't be surprised.  You already know the wisdom animals share.

Watch out the windows of your home and your car for the antics of animals.  What might they show you about your own life?

You might also use the Medicine Cards from Jamie Sams, or another deck of animal tarot cards to ask for guidance from the animal kingdom.

Finally, Tune in to your favorite nature channel or pull out your favorite animal movie (mine would be Babe, with Bambi coming in second) and watch with your eyes and ears to hear what spirit might have to tell you through the animal kingdom.

Self-Reflection: I will find my own ways for connecting and relating to the natural world in these days where the cold can inhibit my movement in tature. Intentional practice is good enough, and that's all Great Spirit asks of me.

How to Learn Truth

How do we learn truth (best)?

Converse with wise people.
Engage in conversation with those who have an open heart.
People with an open heart are able to touch, and to be touched by others, even those with whom they are at odds, disagree with, come from a different place or point of view.

We can't learn Truth when we shut out that which we don't want to hear.
We can't learn Truth when we surround ourselves only with what we like.
We can't learn truth when we avoid those different from us, from our beliefs, our origins.

It is easier sometimes to begin this exploration of learning truth, by learning to communicate with non-human beings--animals, birds, insects, plants, trees, the wind, the moon...
Listening, and speaking as if they can understand us--because often they can. Our non-human relaions often understand us much more than we do them.  It seems less fearful to begin our learning truth through our relationships with these relatives rather than with humans.  THey have much to teach us.

Self-Reflection:  I desire to learn Truth. I take time to listen to the natural world around me.

If you would like to explore a wonderful practice for learning to listen to the wisdom and guidance of nature, click here: A Medicine Walk for Wisdom and Clarity