Celebrate the freedom to be truly you.

Greetings of Love and Light,
One of the greatest paradoxes of this season is that the longest day brings the return of the journey to the shortest. As we celebrate the light and warmth of the Summer Solstice sun, we acknowledge that the days will now grow shorter as the darkness increases. Can we welcome this cycle of balance and rebirth? The darkness is not to be feared nor is the light something to cling to. We honor the circle of Life and affirm that everything is in Divine Order, whether outward appearances confirm this or not.

If we cling to the past, no matter how good it feels or how inviting it looks, the changes of the present become a threat and a cause for fear. It’s difficult to welcome change when the present seems exactly where we want to be, which is why Source brings discomfort. We’re pushed, shoved, kicked out of our comfort zones! We let go because we have no choice. Our foundation is crumbling under us. We’re birthing something new even if it’s yet undefined. So we trust and we let go of the past and our old life. We become a new seed planted in new ground, waiting for the summer sun and rains to warm us and nurture us and bless us with growth. 

As you bask in the warmth of these long summer days, I encourage you to find some quiet time to breathe and reflect on the path ahead. Ask yourself: “Have I answered my deepest calling?” And what is that calling, that purpose? What kind of seed are you? What kind of flower or vegetable are you becoming? Find your Self, find your True Purpose, and you will find your true Home. 

May you breathe in the beauty of summer with its power of transformation.
May this beauty permeate all that feels un-beautiful in you.
May you seek and find spaces of repose during these summer months.
May these moments refresh and restore the tired places within you.
May you be open to times of celebration and recreation
that are so much a part of summer.
May you find happiness in these times of play and leisure.
May you see the wonders of summer’s colors.
May these colors delight you and entice you into contemplation and joy.
May you feel the energy of summer rains penetrating thirsty gardens,
golf courses, lawns, and farmlands.
May these rains remind you that your inner thirst needs quenching.
May your inner self be refreshed, restored, and renewed.
May you savor the fresh produce that comes to your table
and enjoy the fruits of summer’s bounty.
May you find shelter when the stormy skies of summer threaten your safety.
May the God of summer lead us to amazing discoveries
as we travel the inner roads of our soul as well.

~ From The Circle of Life by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr 

Sweet Spirit, you come to us on the breath of the wind and in the power of fire, whispering of a Freedom we have never known. Come into our hearts and our minds. Melt the doubts and the fears until our human limitations crumble to dust. Empower us with the knowledge of our true power and destiny, but let us never forget from whence we came ~ children of the earth to be angels of the stars. Gift us with the remembering of our true purpose and we shall be free indeed. So it is.

Plant seeds of Love, Hope and Kindness.

Greetings of Love and Light,
 

I hate to admit it but I love dandelions! I know, I know, they’re an obnoxious weed that most people could do without, but they really are pretty and cheerful and a sign of spring. It all depends on your perspective, which is true of so many things these days.

One of my current projects is copying some old VCR tapes onto digital DVDs and recently I watched a very powerful Frontline program from 2002 entitled “Faith and Doubt At Ground Zero”. It was broadcast near the first anniversary of 9-11 and I was struck by how much water has gone over the dam since then. We’ve been through a lot! And I would suspect there are very few of us who can say we are the same as we were on 9-10-01. But is that good or bad?

As we turn to the Voyager tarot for further insight, we begin with the 5 of Worlds, which grounds us into the earth plane with all its current challenges. We could easily be asking the same questions that those in the Frontline program were asking: Where is God in all of this? Can I still believe in the midst of this darkness and chaos? How can God allow these things to happen? The answer I’ve discovered is that God does not create or endorse the pain and the violence, but God does allow it to happen because humanity has free will. If we choose the darkness, then God will allow it.

But it is our choice, and that choice is emphasized by our next card, the Fool. The Fool is a major arcana and brings the power of the unexpected and the freedom to choose. This card always reminds me of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Did they choose wisely or foolishly? Yes, they lost Paradise but they gained growth and knowledge. Perhaps this was all in Divine Order.

For our final card we have the 7 of Worlds, once again grounding the energy into the earth plane and bringing us the hope of change and a breakthrough. As we reflect on these past 20+ years, what have we learned? How have we grown? How have we changed? The often difficult truth is that our sojourn on this earth is not meant to be a four-lane expressway or a bed of roses. It is “bootcamp for the soul”, as one of my spiritual mentors expressed it. So we take a deep breath, pull up our boot straps, and find our faith that God is still our Light shining in the darkness. The dandelions have a positive message of hope for each one of us. So pick a bouquet of dandelions and embrace the hope of a new beginning.

Remember: “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” 

~ Helen Keller

O Source of All, you are the glue that holds are world together. You are the peace we are seeking. You are the Truth that melts all deception and fear. Teach us how to find you when our courage fails and darkness is all around us. Show us a better way, a more excellent way, for a gentler world. In your Love, in your Light, we open are hearts, our minds and our eyes to your Peace. So it is.

I am surrounded and protected by Divine Light and Love.

Greetings of Love and Light,

Recently I watched the interview on CBS with Pope Francis and I was struck by two things that he said. He was asked about how he could assist in bringing peace to the world and his answer was “I pray.” My initial reaction was “Okay, but what good does that do? Our world needs more than prayer.” Then later in the interview he was asked “When you look at the world, what gives you hope?” And he answered, “Everything! You see tragedies but also see so many beautiful things…People are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.”

I quote this here as an anecdote to the rampant fear and darkness all around us. What a gift to be able to view the world with such peace and serenity. And it was not a matter of rose-colored glasses, apathy or indifference. He spoke of indifference as one of the great tragedies of our world. “Too many people wash their hands.” So what are our choices? We can forge ahead and face our fear of the darkness, or we can wash our hands and retreat into blind apathy.

To face our fears, we need to know that we are protected. I have turned to a deck of oracle cards for assistance this month, a beautiful deck called Work Your Light. Our first card is a card of Protection, inviting us to call back our power. We are not helpless, even in the most extreme circumstances.

Our second card is a card of Transformation and change, reminding us that creation and change often bring chaos, but they also can bring positive growth. Our final card gifts us with the energy of Anna, Mary’s mother and the grandmother of Jesus. Her energy encourages us to plant seeds of Light and lay foundations for implementing the Divine Plan. 

Just as the butterfly had to take drastic action to emerge from the night of its cocoon, we need to be ready and willing to work in our world for the spreading of the Light. Facing our fears, we plant seeds and bless them with the light and warmth of the Sun.

Remember: “Be a sweet melody in the great orchestration, instead of a discordant note. The medicine this sick world needs is love. Hatred must be replaced by love, and fear by faith that love will prevail.”

~ Peace Pilgrim from Her Life and Work in Her Own Words

Holy Sophia, so often we let everything in our lives come first before we stop to listen for your voice. Yet we know deep in our hearts that nothing else truly matters. You are the solution to the impossible conundrums, the days that need 30 hours, the rat race that takes us nowhere we want to go. Bring us home, dear Mother, to the hearth of our soul and quiet the many voices of resistance. Let your peace hover over us like a dove. So it is.