February 27, 2010

The Moon represents the Feminine principle. She is feeling and compassion, not logic and reasoning; She is the Heart not the head. She is the third eye of intuition that looks inward to see what the two eyes cannot imagine. Her Light shines away the darkness of ignorance that is caused by our refusal to look upon our pain. She is the sanity of wild spontaneity, not the insanity of defensive control.

Tonight I honor Her and welcome Her Light that we may see deeply into ourselves to reveal the truth and to heal our wounds. Using fire and crystals, trance dancing, chanting, drumming, and a shaman's unbending intent, we will face our demons fearlessly.

Tonight we practice true forgiveness, in shamanic ritual and sacred ceremony, to heal the old wounds that yet remain unconscious behind our ego defenses. We still carry these wounds because we are afraid of what they mean; and we are afraid we will lose our identity if we let them go.

Our deepest wounds were given to us by those we trusted, those we loved. And their rejection of us made us feel unworthy of love. The pain was so great that we turned away from it, and began to live in ego fantasies designed to hide us from the "truth" of our sin.

Because we refuse to look upon the truth, we are insane. We hide from the "reality" that we think is there, inside a "better reality" that we have warped around ourselves. This is our ego, our false identity, our fierce protector from the "truth" of our unworthiness.

Our healing and our sanity come from looking on all the pain we have received, and upon all the pain we have caused to others. The pain and suffering will not go away until it is revealed; we cannot release what we deny. And the longer we deny it, the uglier and more fearful it becomes.

If we can feel the pain for just a moment, with full awareness, we will see that it is meaningless. It does not mean that we are unworthy. It does not mean that we are helpless victims. It does not mean anything at all. In fact if we look even deeper into our old pain we see that it exists only as a memory, a false memory that has grown ever more grotesque over time as it festered in our "closet" hidden from view.

We cannot truly forgive ourselves and others, and allow healing to occur, until we feel the pain once again. Yet once we feel the pain with full awareness, forgiveness happens naturally, and we will heal, because we always see that it is no longer real or important or meaningful; we see that it was always the result of a mistaken call for love. 

In the real world of sanity we can either extend love or we can request love — there is no other action. And that which appears as anger, shame, guilt, or any negative emotion is nothing but a request  for healing — a request for love. The only sane response is to always offer love in return. For example, when someone comes at you in anger, it is because they are afraid — the only sane response is to help them not be afraid. To respond with anything else creates a wound for you both. 

What we feel we can forgive, and let go. It is the only sane thing to do because any other response keeps us in pain and suffering, and it damns those who need our love not our condemnation.

Tonight we practice in the safety of our Sacred Circle, we offer each other a safe space in which the old wounds can be felt again, acknowledged, experienced in awareness, and forgiven forever. 

Sanity also tells us that we can neither hurt another nor be hurt by another — because we are creators, not victims. We create and agree to everything that seems to happen to us. Yet, many of our deepest wounds came to us at a time when we were very young, and incapable of anything but coping — and we learned coping skills that were childish. Perhaps those skills were needed once, but no longer. 

It is time we grew up, that we take full responsibility for everything in our experience, and that we stop blaming anyone or anything for our experience of life. We will suffer as victims for as long as we believe we are not responsible.

True forgiveness sets everyone free. It begins by feeling the pain that is always there beneath the surface, and not hiding it behind ego fantasies designed to keep us blind and numb.

Tonight we gather our courage, we open ourselves to our pain to see if it is real and justified; we look with the third eye of intuition to see if we are indeed worthy of love, or not. And we see each other in the Light of forgiveness, not allowing anyone to see anything but unconditional love reflected back to them.

Tonight we can answer that question once and for all: are we worthy or not?

Join Us In Spirit

Please join us in spirit, at midnight. Find a quiet space where you can look within, with no interruption. Pick one person who has hurt you or someone you have hurt. Pick someone close to you; a father or mother, brother or sister, wife or husband… Feel that pain you still hold. Is it anything now but a thought? Is it real, now? Was it even real when it happened? Can you see that it was a call for love, and that it means nothing about who you are? Can you imagine what it would feel like if you could see that the cause of the pain was not real, and therefore the pain itself is not real?

Can you take responsibility for the pain, realizing that you had a choice to return love instead of anger, resentment, shame, or mistrust? Can you see that you can choose again — you can now choose to give love instead of going insane? 

Choose again. Return love in response to any hurt, given or received. Why? Because you can. Because it heals you and the other. Because it is the only sane thing to do, for yourself and for the world. Because it feels good. Because it sets you free…

Our Greatest Fear — Marianne Williamson

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking,
so that other people won't feel insecure around you. 

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

Namaste!

(|) Sahara