A Share from Carolyn

There are many ways to receive guidance;
I had a visit from Wolf.
I attended a SoulCollage Card Workshop
We were invited to create a soulcollage card.
Hundreds of images cut from magazines were piled high on the conference table.
Out of all of them, two wolf images caught my eye.
Although I continued to sort and look through the stacks, these two images were insistent on being a part of my collage.  So I gave in and took my seat at the art table.

Following directions I created my card--or more truthful to say, I cooperated with my card creating itself-for it did not turn out the way I was thinking it should be.
Then, following more directions from our leader, I asked my wolf-card what it had to say to me:
"Wait to leap until the waters are still.  Use your strong emotions to help you center and stay focused."

Well, that is mostly the opposite of what I do.  I make changes in the midst of chaos and rest (from exhaustion) when things are (finally) quiet.  Timely wisdom.  I will take it to heart.

Carolyn's SoulCollage Wolf Card

Share Truth or Share Delusions

A brief interruption on our exploration of qualities needed to share truth--or maybe the perfect example?

Today's MoonCycleCircle blog gives her posting space over her space to a colleagues's post:
Dr. Kelly Flanagan on the ego, connection and co-creation

Carolyn writes: I chose to share Kelly's post because he shared so clearly the challenge of discerning Truth and Delusion, He describes how easily delusion is taken as truth, and how this comes to be so. He names the difficulty and vital importance of coming to know Truth and the courage to share Truth in the world.

Connecting Our Hearts to Our Visions

Carolyn writes:

This past July, I had the privilege of spending a weekend with Bob and Lee Nitsch, the son and daughter-in-law of the late Grandmother Twylah Nitsch.  Twylah was the Seneca Elder who shared the Seneca teachings of Cycles of Truth, a foundational part of the Moon Circle Journal, with all who would listen.  Bob and Lee carry on her work, and came to Philadelphia to lead a weekend seminar for contemplating and experiencing the meaning of the Cycles of Truth in our life.  Participants were invited to take contemplation time outside in the gardens surrounding our meeting place.  During one walking meditation, I came across this placard peeking out from among the flowers:

When I uploaded the pictures off my I-phone last week the photo I snapped of Jung's quote was the one that 'just happened' to land in the front of the album. Jung's quote is fitting for the waxing moon phase for October's call to walk and work with/in Truth. I think about my difficulties having 'clarity of vision' and I reflect on Sara's intuitive interconnection of visions, dreams, goals and desires on the Waxing Moon journal page. I ask myself, "where inside me, do I need to look (or sense) more fully, deeply, thoroughly to be more fully awake to my work and to the way I walk in my life? Am I willing to look there?"

Self reflection: Are there places I need to look within myself to be more fully awake to my vision for my life? Am I willing to look?

The Benefits of Transmuting Baggage

When we start to let go and release our baggage, the next experience we are likely to have is that memories will begin to bubble up from our sub-conscious and unconscious.

The revealing of memories from our past is a required step toward living more fully in the Truth of our life, rather than living an image of our life.

Note that memories are revealed; they are NOT meant to be relived. 

Self Reflection: As I release each memory, I reclaim the energy held in the memory and take it back into myself.

This transmuted* energy  purifies through my heart and first is energy to strengthen and heal myself, then energy to share in serving others. Letting go opens the way for me to transmute my old way of being and doing.  

*To transmute is to completely change in form, appearance or nature-especially to a higher form. 

I have the ability to shift my emotional energy to a creative force rather than a destructive force.

Consciousness and Conscience: The Way of Serving Truth

"At root one searches for God by only one way, i.e. in following the truth with all the sincerity of one's conscience."   (Thomas Merton, from The Courage for Truth, Letters to Writers pg 209- in a letter to Victoria Ocampo) 

We enter the 14 Days of the Waning Moon Phase

Stop now and take a moment to ask:

What was my starting point in this cycle?

What has been added to make my life full in this cycle?

What are my victories, my efforts, no matter how tiny they might seem, that add to the ultimate and 

       inevitable illumination of my life?

What would I wish to keep?

What would I to wish share?

What would I not have added, if given the chance for a do-over (these are called regrets)?

Let these words rest with you again. The wisdom you receive from this reflection will serve you to step out with consciousness (and conscience) in Service to Truth.

Collective Aspect of Self: Hearing and Speaking Truth in the World

We live in a concrete, material world.  Yet, our efforts, intentions and actions contribute to an energetic template that creates the collective consciousness for this earth and all her beings.  Most particularly, this template effects the growth and direction of all human beings.  This is not like putting your vote in the ballot box and being only one vote amongst many.  What we add to the template is energy. Energy cannot be destroyed, and when combined with other energies it becomes a massive force.  Our contribution is like the drop of rain combining with many drops, create the path for, and become the flow of an entire river, then ocean.   Yes! Our works matter, and create matter. By our life we are creating the template for human development and evolution.  

Living Our Creative Fullness is Our Gift to the World: Collective Aspect of Self

Nothing is more beautiful or powerful than an individual acting out of his or her conscience, thus helping to bring the collective conscience to life. Norman Cousins