First there is the fall,
Julian of Norwich
and then the return from the fall.
Both of which are the mercy of God.
It is Holy Week, and the Mother of God is on fire. The Cathedral of Notre Dame, the resting place of Our Lady, the Madonna, and the Holy Mother burns. In the cosmos above, the moon grows; full on Good Friday for a second consecutive time in Libra, the sign of justice. Mercury and Venus together cross the 29th degree of Pisces into fiery Aries this week, this degree symbolic of our collective sorrow and suffering. Black Moon Lilith, the dark feminine, continues to dance across the sky, unveiling deep karmic wounding and it’s shadow, shame, and secret. Meanwhile, for the first time in history, a black hole has been photographed and named Powehi, a Hawaiian word meaning “the embellished dark force of unending creation.” The algorithm required to produce this photograph was discovered by a young woman.
I recently took a course on Essay writing, which is essentially what these messages are. The core of a good essay is: So What? Why should anyone care about this? It is my experience that the most significant point of all religion, spirituality, and theism, comes down to this:
There is a divine force, omnipotent, compassionate, and communicative that is always with us. The language of God is paradox and symbolism. Sages and mystics have known through the ages that heaven speaks in signs and omens, that both natural and unnatural events are often messengers at times we most need guidance. Myth and story tell of floods and fires, seas parting and talking burning bushes and yet these events are not restricted to ancient times. In Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917, 70,000 people gathered for the promised sign that the Madonna was appearing to three young children. When all had gathered on the designated day, amid a thunderstorm the clouds parted, and the sun appeared to be falling to the Earth. Many screamed in fear until it reversed course and returned to its position. God commands the natural forces and uses them to convene and communicate with us. In the Catholic Mass for Holy Week there is a beautiful sequence in the Tenebrae ceremony characterized by the gradual extinguishing of the candles and then a “strepitus” or loud noise in total darkness – nature convulsing with the death of Christ. Unspeakable pain made heard by the world moaning with us, proclaiming that in our darkest hour we are not alone.
And so we too are given the opportunity to read these signs not with the mind but with the soul. To find presence and grace as God moves among us. As Caroline Myss says: “The Divine is hidden from ordinary view, but obvious to someone who can see through the eyes of the soul.” Look for it. It is there. The natural world is God’s world offered freely at our feet. We are not alone, we are not without guidance, comfort, support, inspiration, and indeed, testing and sometimes defeat. The world and all of God’s creatures flow to the ancient, archetypal rhythms, the law of life. For every sunrise, the sun will set. Night follows day, day follows night. Death and life circle endlessly in the cosmic dance and within it all we rest.
I have lived in my home now for eight months, witnessing the daily changes and nature’s rhythms through my kitchen window which has become something of an altar. The window is at the back of the house facing east over my one-acre fenced yard and then hundreds of acres of preserved farmland with the mountains in the distance. A few days after I went under contract on the property, the Thomas Merton Daily Meditation from the book which has become the foundation of my spiritual reading each morning was titled “A Paradise of Corn Stalks and Silence.”
The sun rises in this kitchen window and sets across it from the corner of my living room. At the right moment the setting sun, all aglow, streams in the west window and then through a small walkway between the rooms and shines again on me if I stand at the kitchen sink; an alignment that cannot be described but is felt as divine, every time. When photographed, it appears as a cross. As much as my rising window offers me the silence, solitude and beauty I desire from my union with God, the opposite window, right on the street with a daily flow of traffic, is what God asks of me.
And so I close this message with a wish that you stop and honor the signs around you. The forces of light will always guide us though they will never tell us what to do or make decisions for us. Though we may not get answers we will find meaning in the mystery, and that can be enough. Sunday is Easter; the holiday of universal renewal and everlasting life, the triumph of good over evil and the eternal promise that in the last reckoning, God has the final say.
“The dawn that is rising this Easter morning is a gift to our hearts and we are meant to celebrate it and to carry away from this holy, ancient place the gifts of healing and light and the courage of a new beginning.”
John O’DonohueDawn Mass Reflections at Corcomroe Abbey
Body, Energy & Soul Care is the product of twenty-five years working in mental health and healing. The foundation of all my work is spiritual, the goal transcendent, the medium a combination of energy and bodywork and sacred teaching. Interwoven is my relationship with the natural and invisible world which I see as a physical manifestation of God’s presence and a live and interactive force available for support, guidance, and wisdom. In between my mental health years and massage therapy, I spent a decade working with horses and know what it means to work to the bone in all weather, to live in-tune and necessity with the seasons, and to embrace the natural circle of life which includes death both accidental and devastating and ultimately miraculous and healing.
Benediction – For Soul Passages
“Benediction Oil™ encourages us to respect and respond to our inner movements of soul: rites of passage, moments of transcendent awakening, and all stages of healing and transformation. Greek sages wisely recognized that not all time is the same. Kronos ruled over the everyday chronology of outer time. However, Kairos was a sanctified time which honored sacred passages in the annual calendar and in personal soul life. Kairos time is a holy opening, or “bleeding,” of the soul (from which our word “blessing” originally derives). Benediction is intended to be a heart balm which not only helps us open to the bliss of love, but also to the blessedness and bleeding of love. Through the use of this sacred anointing oil, we can gradually come to understand the meaning of any anguish or challenge that we suffer. The Benediction Oil™ should be used to open and bless all the sacramental gateways of human experience: birth, coming of age and other rites of passage throughout life, marriage, illness and death. It should be considered for all sacred holy days and festivals, whatever one’s spiritual path may be. In general, Benediction should be used to help assist the soul to be conscious and receptive to any turning-point in time, both within Nature and within human experience.
The Benediction Formula:
The foundation of Benediction Oil™ is the precious ruby-red oil of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) in a base of certified organic olive oil. St. John’s Wort Oil was regarded by medieval mystics as the “blood of Christ” for its protective mantle of light. Certified organic essential oils of Rose Attar, Angelica and Jasmine instill higher awareness by opening the heart and soothing anxiety. Flower essences of Holly, Motherwort and Hawthorn strengthen and purify the heart; while Self-Heal essence helps the soul trans-form illness into wellness; and Angel’s Trumpet essence carries consciousness of the spiritual world. Pure Rose essential oil is at the heart of the Benediction Oil formula.”
Flower Essence Society, fesflowers.com
What are Flower Essences ?
Flower essences are herbal infusions or decoctions, made from the flowering part of the plant, which uniquely address emotional and mental aspects of wellness. The first 38 flower remedies were formulated by a British physician, Dr. Edward Bach, in the 1930’s, although new remedies from other plant species are now available. To understand how flower essences work requires a recognition that the human being is more than a physical body, but also incorporates a “body” of life energy, a “body” of sensitivity and feelings, and a spiritual essence or Self. Flower essences are energetic imprints of the life force of plants which interact with these subtle bodies of the human being, and evoke specific qualities within us.
Flower Essence Society
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