SADHANA

The holy practice:
Sadhana, every hour
Of every day.

  

We walk on sacred ground. Within and without all is holy. As humans, we have free will. In this free will we have the option of embracing the sacred that is emanant in every moment of every day. Here is a secret – joy is in the heart of those moments and it is only when we recognize and live in the sacred that we open ourselves to the deep joy.
The holy practice / sadhana is prescribed actions to dispel the darkness and bring us to awareness of the joy inherent in All. In the beginning the practice occurs at set time and in set place.
It may be taking the eucharist …
crawling into inipi …
on knees in prayer …
in lotus posture meditating.
However, a time comes when there is no seperation between secular and holy. There comes a time when we finally recognize; all is sacred. Then on knees in prayer is the same as on knees scrubbing floors. Now we enter deepest practice.

  

  
Rabindranath Tagore on “Sadhana”
“In learning a language, when from mere words we reach the laws of words, we have gained a great deal. But if we stop at that point and concern ourselves only with the marvels of the formation of a language, seeking the hidden reason of all its apparent caprices, we do not reach that end, for grammar is not literature… When we come to literature, we find that, though it conforms to the rules of grammar, it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. The laws are its wings. They do not keep it weighed down. They carry it to freedom. Its form is in law, but its spirit is in beauty. Law is the first step toward freedom, and beauty is the complete liberation which stands on the pedestal of law. Beauty harmonizes in itself the limit and the beyond – the law and the liberty.” 

page from the classic BE HERE NOW by Ram Das

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The BlackBerry Bloom

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BlackBerry blossoms -
Promise for our tomorrows:
Starburst hearts shine through.

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Hope for tomorrow: the black berry flower. Lovely and simple white bloom with 5 white petals and star bursting center. In blackberry bloom’s stunning simplicity, I am held mesmerized for a bit. I pause along the path i have been given to walk and appreciate the beauty.
Today I am thinking – these are Our Children – the children not only of America but The World. Simple and unassuming, yet containing an exquisite starburst of light which seeks to fling itself out into Creation sharing their burgeoning consciousness with all in their path.
And today many have been plucked – taken away – before the bloom could morph into the rich fruit which had been the original intention of Our Creator.
I can make no sense of it and so, I cry. Bright and shining meteors of light plucked from the starrie sky when only a hint of their full potential had been expressed.
And while I cry with head lowed in shame, knowing I did not do enough to create safety for the young ones … The Young Ones who survived are stepping forward with the fortitude of strong hearts, carrying focused intention to go the distance. They have been brought to full fruit before their time by the events they have lived through. Their petals have been crushed by the horrors they now carry with them. Yet battered and bruised they stand tall before the people of the world. They stand with arm raised and heart fully exposed and say to us: NO MORE.

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“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM.”
Isaiah 11:6

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In Memorium for lives lost
on Valentine’s Day 2018
in Parkland Florida

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Camomile

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Tiny white flowers
Quiet, calm and harmony
Gentle medicine.

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Keira - with eyes to behold the wonder of the natural world

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The earth offers so many medicines. Looking in my back yard I see: blackberry bushes, raspberry bushes, mallow, horehound, olives, Peruvian tobacco, juniper, nasturtium, grandfather sage, lavender, geranium, salvia, oregano and rosemary.

There are other edible plants in my yard that may have a medicinal effect – but I don’t know effect they have. Such as the lemonaide plant- the berries eaten right from the tree have a tart lemonaide taste. I am told they can be made into a tea.

As a little one, I think I knew a bit more about herbal medicinals than I do now. I remember munching my way to and from school – picking bits of this and that to munch on. I came to have favorites and quickly learned what to avoid. In retrospect I see that I was an urban forager. I grew up in a small coastal community of picket fences and yards both well manicured and wild with a riot of life.  There were also the sand dunes with grasses and small plants along the shore.  Inland there was vacant land replete with trees to climb 'weeds' to roll in.  Unexpectedly, as the irrigation made the land look so rich with moisture, there were tumbleweeds growing in vacant lots and rambling down the streets on blustery winter days.  (As the area sans humans would have been mostly desert the tumbleweeds were more at home here than the plants and trees requiring heavy moisture).  One of my favorite sights was of the tumbleweeds of winter traveling the streets of my home town in Southern California.

Thinking that my granddaughter may lean the same way as me – thinking she sees every plant is food/medicine and every tiny stone is a gem or crystal. It seems she sees, senses and respects the magic and beauty of Our Mother Earth. So grateful for my Keira. 

 
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Kai and Keira enjoy a quiet moment with the flowers

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Elijah caring for the plants in his garden

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