Got reverence?

Prof. Paul Woodruff reminds us that reverence is the key to peace. For many of us raised in western religious traditions, we associate reverence as the way we approach Divinity. With reverence as the foundation of our interactions with one another and the world, we enhance our sense of appreciation and wonder at the possibilities and potentials of our lives. It is the only way we can truly celebrate our diversity. Perhaps the most meaningful way of starting each day would be to intend, feel and make note of at least 5 moments of reverence during the course of our busy schedules. Imagine how such a practice could alter our individual reality.

Creativity, Spirituality and the WWW

How have both your creative and spiritual lives changed since the advent of computers? For our own development and conscious evolution we are we now able to instantly access more information, websites and videos than we ever thought possible; we can attend teleseminars and webinars with our favorite inspirational mentors than we would have thought possible just a few years ago. What about the changes to what we have to say and how we express ourselves? My creative life broadened dramatically when a computer entered our home. As a ‘word artist’, I have been creating word-paintings of a spiritual nature for some twenty years. This aspect of my life broadened in ways I could never have imagined with a computer, photoshop and illustrator. I know I would never have considered writing without a computer. I use the ‘handle’ wordartist for some of my email and www.wordartist.com as one of my websites that showcases my work as a calligrapher. I hope it applies to my writing as well. I often wonder why people chose the email addresses that they do — in a digital age, the choices we make are revealing. Using our own names may be the easy way to go. Many choose intriguing ‘handles’ that spurs our curiosity as to why they were chosen? Perhaps in a digital world where our nuanced voices, facial expressions and handwriting style are replaced by anonymous fonts, these addresses and domain names say as much about us as our handwriting used to reveal in times now past. If you are willing to take the time to share, I would love to know why you use the email address or website domain that you do?

Yesthanksmoreplease

Isn't the intuitive gift amazing? Take for example how the name of my new book, The Syzygy Oracle, came to get its title. Syzygy - the sibilant sound is as melodious to the ear as the word is joyful to write. Many years ago, wearing my calligraphic designer hat, I was commissioned by DIRONA to annually inscribe the names of top North American restaurants on to bold and beautiful black, white and silver certificates that were being awarded by this esteemed organization for continued excellence. I inscribed the restaurant's name on to each certificate in a large and flowing Italic script. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to eat in some of these fabulous places— always enjoying a joyful and personal sense of connection as I viewed my own handwriting in the wall. Syzygy was my favorite certificate to do. The word just flows. The restaurant is in Aspen - unfortunately I have yet been there. I no longer have this commission and it is many years since I did my last certificates for them. But the word stayed with me. I never knew what it meant. A few months ago, as I was completing my newest book and the accompanying deck of cards that I designed to interpret the Major Arcana, the word came to me in a meditation one morning. This time I went to the web and discovered to my amazement and delight that it refers to a conjunction of the sun, moon and earth at certain points in the cyclical cosmic dance of the planets. Additionally Jung used the term to describe the balancing of the opposites. How perfect— the book is about creating a daily spiritual practice based on Kabbalah and Tarot to seek balance amid the polarities in life.It is about archetypal mentors and the hero's journey. I use the mythic analogy of solar and lunar energy and influence we can access on the pathway from ego to essence as we consciously evolve. It is a great example of how the intuitive sense gifts us constantly. If we pay attention, we see, we hear, we feel. The appropriate response is 'yespleasemorethank' a technique I describe in the book, which together with the deck of cards will soon be available on a website near you:-) Perhaps I will actually get to eat at that fabulous restaurant in Aspen Co. Now wouldn't that be the perfect place to launch the book . . . .

2013 - The Year of The Sacred Feminine

My New Year's resolution starts a month late. I want to blog with some regularity. Am I going to be able to maintain a once-a-week commitment? I have had time to consider it carefully as the year 2013 begins. Once again, the doomsday prophets misunderstood— the world did not end on Dec 21, 2012— the new era began as in our journey towards conscious evolution as we become, in Barbara Marx Hubbard's terms, 'homo universalis.' Why 2013 as the year of the Sacred Feminine? ‘Triskaidekaphobia’ (the fear of the number 13) is why many high-rise buildings and hotels go straight from 12 to 14. There are thirteen lunar and menstrual cycles in a calendar year; the moon travels thirteen degrees in the sky every twenty-four hours. Physically, emotionally and intuitively, women are linked to the moon. To the patriarchal mindset the number 13 represented femininity. Just as any new age tries to differentiate itself from past eras, considering the number 13 unlucky can been seen as part of the patriarchal suppression of the lunar calendar in favor of the solar cycle. Time to change that belief as we move forward. As we see the values of the Sacred Feminine begin to influence American society, we celebrate society finding ways of leveling the playing field of all members of our human family as an example to all — same sex marriage is becoming accepted by a majority of people, more women are being voted into office, we are starting to look at the utter stupidity of allowing the public access to assault weapons and their murderous clips. The majority of Americans are beginning to realize that women are autonomous beings and need to be in charge of decisions about their own bodies. Climate change, eradicating pollution, finding alternatives to nuclear energy— it seems everything is entering our field of awareness, begging for solutions that will benefit ourselves, our planet and the generations that are yet to come. Just as I welcome 2013 and the new age, I welcome your comments on ways in which you see evidence of the rise of the Sacred Feminine in our journey to conscious evolution.