Grace Notes: Other Mothers and The Mother of All

I didn't send my Mom a Mother's Day card this year; she made her transition in January. I did send a trio of cards to a beloved 100-year-old friend who's been a spiritual mother my entire life, from the days when I'd paste my artwork on the kitchen window she'd pass on her way to work (and to which she'd respond in poetry), to our adult friendship spanning four decades. Ellie and her husband never had children, yet I don't think that's why so many "young people" (as she characterized those in their 50s when she was 92!) have adopted her as a surrogate Mom. It's because, by her very essence, she engenders the deep love and appreciation we associate with mothering.

I've been blessed to enjoy this kind of relationship a few times in my life. Another was with a woman whose husband I met in the park, not long after I'd graduated from college. He brought me home to meet his wife as though I were a flea market find, and the three of us became fast friends during the year before I moved to California. I was just launching my life at 22, and Sten and Ethel provided the support and encouragement I needed to thrive — right down to lending me their old car for the final weeks prior to my relocation, so I could get around town once I'd sold mine. Ethel had multiple sclerosis (MS), and her optimism and sunny disposition in the face of her illness seem even more amazing to me now. For her birthday that year I sent a singing balloon-a-gram; the center balloon was shaped like a heart. She told me this balloon kept its helium for weeks and followed her around the house! That's the power of Love.

Another spiritual mother for 26 years and counting is Louise Hay. An old friend gifted me with Louise's signature book, You Can Heal Your Life in 1988, the same year I was blessed to meet Louise in person when she held a "Hay Ride" event in San Francisco. Her breakthrough personal growth work has sustained and healed me on many levels since then. Louise is just nine months older than my biological mother, so in many ways she really does feel like my Mom.

Who are the "other mothers" in your life? Mother's Day is a beautiful moment to let them know how much you cherish their love, their support, their wisdom. Whether they know you personally or are a public figure who's helped you via their planetary service (Oprah springs to mind), take a moment to acknowledge this gift. In the level playing field of the digital age we can connect with almost anyone, yet your thank you needn't be splashed across the social landscape unless you so choose. If you send your message via the quantum field, it will be received — at an even more profound level.

If you can and want to connect in 3D, that's always a delight. I'll call my 100+ year-old friend in the morning, and thank her again for shining her Light in my life.

Finally, there is our collective Mother, Gaia, in all her (wo)manifestations. During my awakening journey I realized how profoundly I yearned to nestle into the nurturing archetypal arms of the Great Mother. I found her in trees, in our animal kin, in metaphysical bookstores and sacred ceremony, and in the wisdom of those who had gone before me and could give a name to this longing.

Reaching our Light means daring a descent into the dark, to the ancient womb of Mystery that lives within each one, calling us to awaken and claim our power. Men and women alike are capable of this kind of birth, which knows no gender — only the willingness to open to the immanent truth of our being.

Everything arises from this awareness: how we move through the world, how we effect change, how we define what "matters" (which comes from the same root as "mother".) Uncloaked, we are cut from whole cloth — "material" in its original sense. When we abide in the Mother, who we are matters — and we are always Home.

Mother yourself, today and every day. That's the greatest grace note of all.

~ Much Love to you ~

Managing Those Weird Cosmic Aches and Pains…

We're in the birth canal of the greatest shift humanity has ever known. Becoming a light body isn't easy, though it can be a lot more manageable once you understand what's going on! Celia Fenn offers some wise reminders about how the cosmos is affecting us multidimensionally. Excerpted from Radical Shift: The Venus Transit of 2012:

"Venus is the Solar System level of Consciousness that resonates with the Goddess Energy, with Love and Relationship, with Money and with Passion and Beauty. At this time, all these issues are being highlighted and transformed. On a Planetary scale we can see how the Economic system is crumbling, especially in the 'First World' of the USA and Europe, and how it is making space for the 'New Economy' that will take us into a sustainable and co-operative way of living. On the personal level, many people are finding that they are making radical shifts in their attitude towards money, and that the desire for conspicuous consumption has been replaced by the desire to live in an balanced way and in harmony with the Earth. Money is simply a means of achieving a balanced lifestyle, where the focus is on living in the energy of beauty and harmony with all beings and with the Earth.

"In close connection with this is finding work that ignites your Passion for life and is harmony with your soul purpose and brings you Joy. Many of you will be feeling the urge to let go of past ways of work and reaching out for work that is an expression of your Soul and your Passion.

"As far as Personal Relationships are concerned, there will also be tension in partnerships whose basis is no longer in alignment with the purpose of your Soul and the energy of the New Earth. At this point, you will be guided to reconsider your contract in your relationship, or to simply move on to a new partnership that is more aligned with what you are becoming and what you wish to create in your life.

"These energies and challenges will build towards the transit on the 6th, and you may find around that time that there will be some very deep and fundamental changes in your life. Don't panic! This is all leading you towards something better and deeper, and more suited to where you are heading in the time after the 2012 portal!

"You may also be feeling quite intense physical symptoms as your Light Body makes its final adjustments for the Transit and for the later Portal transit. As you bring your Soul Star and Earth Star chakras 'online', you may experience pains and discomfort in the legs, or dizziness and nausea and disorientation, or bouts of flu and colds. These are all part of the process as the DNA activates and the Light Body surges energy through the system to bring everything into harmony and activation. This also activates the Template for Human Divine Perfection in the DNA and activates the ability to go the 'next step' in this ongoing process of Spiritual and Physical Evolution."

Postpartum Fatigue: Planet Birthin' Blues 'n' Bliss

Did the Earth move for you on 11-11-11? Did you feel replete, complete — and absolutely knackered on Saturday, November 12th? I sure did.

At first I attributed my extreme weariness to the bad fall I took Thursday night, which left me barely able to walk on 11/11/11. Talk about being forced to slow down! Then, as I began checking in with others, I realized this was a system-wide energy outage: the exhaustive exhaustion of assimilating a higher frequency, crossing the threshold, midwifing Earth in rebirth! Gaia herself has been cleansing in preparation for becoming a star; it rained on Friday where I dwell.

By sunny Sunday, the exuberance of the new was shining through. Saturday felt like the First Day; it continues to seem like a world washed clean. And yes, we've got a ways to journey; no child graduates a few days after exiting the womb!

The days ahead will not follow any script; one illuminating resource I'm in the midst of digesting (slowly!) is Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse, a penetrating inquiry into regarding life as play and possibility.

We're paving the new road as we walk it, or better yet, clearing a trail. In Bringers of the Dawn, The Pleiadians (channeled by Barbara Marciniak) called this experience "bushwhacking through consciousness". It's never been more literally true than now, as we enter the time that has been foretold for millennia: the Golden Age, the Age of Aquarius, the Fifth World, Home.

This IS A Test: Commemorating 9-1-1

[My first posting from 9-11-01]:


This IS A Test!

Dear Ones,

We are six days from September 17th, a date heralded as being an opportunity for planetary initiation. An initiatory crisis, personal or global, catapults us out of our prior way of life in an instant, and demands a creative response born of trust in the process. Crisis actually means "turning point," as well as opportunity. So while this morning's air attacks on key U.S. "nerve centers" (the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon) surprise me only in terms of form, the actions themselves were, in a sense, predictable. It was only a matter of when. The time is NOW. The question is, how will we (the United States, and the world) respond?

I believe it was Einstein who said, you can not solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it. From stunned pain, shock and anger, the instinctive response is retaliation. The first person I talked with today, upon hearing the news, spoke of hoping the President would threaten a nuclear attack. This would clearly be the end of life as we know it.

Later, as I listened to reports on radio, I was struck once again by how rapidly people always pull together in an emergency to help one another. Tragedy is a great leveler. We all do need to come together, not to fight a common enemy (which is within) but to begin creating the Global Community we've been inching towards for decades. It's a spiritual emergency, as we emerge from the cocoon of complacency, the old paradigm, into a courageous new world.

We must now choose to go beyond the old, reptilian, limbic brain (the same impulse that drives materialism, separation, self-interest, and misuse of power) into the higher realms of consciousness, where love, wisdom and power are synthesized into service. This is a test of the highest order. It's not about who's at fault, who orchestrated the attacks, or whether we should now place sanctions against the Middle East or other groups. It's about recognizing this attack for what it is: a colossal wake-up call.

This event is a volcanic eruption, and in hindsight, the rumblings many of us have been experiencing the past few weeks presaged it. Several players on the path have been sharing stories of total strangers (as well as of acquaintances and friends) suddenly, savagely and inexplicably dumping truckloads of mental trash on them. Everyone has been feeling "the quickening" of these end times, but, since we're at different stages in our growth, those who have no context for what they're experiencing also don't know what to do with these volatile energies. The anger's been leaking out, and finally, here's the explosion.

It is, in a very real sense, a planetary birth process. Something old has to die in order for the new to emerge. Please understand, I am not in the least condoning the tremendous loss of lives or the tragedy itself, yet I do feel that some major catastrophe to serve as a worldwide summons to awareness was cued to occur. It also took place on a Tuesday, which correlates astrologically with Mars, the God of war. We are all learning how to transform the war within ourselves into spiritual warriorhood.

It is interesting that the attack on the Pentagon made it impossible for U.S. officials to meet in the Department of Defense, the War Room. Our old defenses have been dismantled, big time and instantly.

Consider, too, that the Pentagon is a five-sided structure. There's a lot of power in five, which configures a star. The number five, as the center of the Native American medicine wheel, signifies the place of transformational possibilities. Five symbolizes access to the Spirit world in the Mayan tradition. It is a unifying element in Tibetan culture. The Greeks called the fifth element quinta essentia, the pure and concentrated essence, or invisible connector that allows earth, fire, water and air to communicate. Five is, cross-culturally, a centering and balancing element. Think of the alchemical phoenix that could arise from this apparent tragedy…

The 13th century Sufi mystic Rumi wrote, "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there's a field. I'll meet you there." This is the field of higher mind, of creative possibility, of the One Love. The moment is now. This is a call to conscious unity. Sisters and Brothers of the Light, please join me.

May this Invocation, sent out from World Goodwill in New York City to commemorate World Invocation Day, June 5, 2001, inspire and support you now. Many blessings and much love to you all, Amara.


The Great Invocation

From the point of Light within the mind of God
Let Light stream forth into human minds.
Let Light descend on Earth.

From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into human hearts.
May the Coming One return to Earth.

From the center where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide all little human wills—
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.

From the center which we call the human race
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.

Halloween: Just a Specter of Samhain

In the U.S., Halloween is all about costumes, trick-or-treating, candy and, occasionally, mischief. Few people realize the date also marks a sacred day on the Celtic calendar, Samhain, ushering in the dark half of the year. October 31st precedes Day of the Dead/All Soul's Day, which takes place November 1-2, honoring those who have crossed over. Clearly, the dark side — what remains hidden from view — is calling.

As mythologist Kathleen Jenks writes on Myth*ing Links, this is an excellent time to explore what is ending, or "dying", within our own beings. What do you need to release in order to move forward in your life? Now, when the veils between worlds are thin, is a ripe moment to embrace transformation.

The souls of those who have transitioned can share their wisdom with us still, if we request their collaboration. Visionary activist astrologer Caroline Casey likes to say, "We cannot live through the dead, but we can invite the dead to live through us." What gifts are asking, aching to be brought forth in you?

The real treat of Samhain is the opportunity for quantum growth, on both personal and planetary levels. And the trick, perhaps, would be turning your back on those inner voices begging you to shine your brilliance and step fully into your aliveness, purpose and service.

So by all means, enjoy the outlandish get-ups and fun. Try not to ingest all the candy at once. And remember to remove your mask when trick-or-treat time is over, so that you can fully become who you came here to be. Blessings!

Equinox Wisdom: A Solar Wave to Heal Earth and Us

This Saturday the Sun enters the sign of the Ram (Aries), creating an equal balance of dark and light on Earth. We call it Spring. The Vernal Equinox (Autumn Equinox for our Southern Hemisphere allies) is a time of rebirth and renewal.

Aries likes action. The first sign of the zodiacal wheel initiates a physical, spiritual, mental and emotional renaissance. It's time to plant the seed, invoke (give voice to) your vision, conceive the next steps in our personal and planetary unfolding. READ THE REST!