In her book, Awakening Loving-Kindness, Pema Chodron offers us a wonderful story about the illusions of heaven and hell:
“There’s another story that you may have read that has to do with what we call heaven and hell, life and death, good and bad. It’s a story about how those things don’t really exist except as a creation of our own minds. It goes like this: A big burly samurai comes to the wise man and says, “Tell me the nature of heaven and hell.” And the roshi looks him in the face and says: “Why should I tell a scruffy, disgusting, miserable slob like you?”
The samurai starts to get purple in the face, his hair starts to stand up, but the roshi won’t stop, he keeps saying, “A miserable worm like you, do you think I should tell you anything?” Consumed by rage, the samurai draws his sword, and he’s just about to cut off the head of the roshi. Then the roshi says, “That’s hell.”
The samurai, who is in fact a sensitive person, instantly gets it, that he just created his own hell; he was deep in hell. It was black and hot, filled with hatred, self-protection, anger, and resentment, so much so that he was going to kill this man. Tears fill his eyes and he starts to cry and he puts his palms together and the roshi says, “That’s heaven.” “
What you stir lovingly in your depths, what you fiercely imagine, will break through like a storm, like a rapture, simplifying, revivifying? This is what you are for.
To imagine the impossible is deeply human. To muster the heart to stretch for what beckons you is your birthright. Stretch. Tear. Explode your heart. This is what you are for.
Your cellular capacity to imagine is a subversive technology. It alters every thing through an evolutionary, kaleidoscopic spin, juicy with elemental creativity. Dangerous. This is what you are for.
When you imagine with all your heart’s brilliance and meaty courage, you will be claimed by darkly-feathered hands of unchained angels who come to take you hard, down into the deep caves of what flushes your delicate skin, dampens your palms. Wakes you like a raging dream come to carry you by shimmering forces unknown. Here, you will know you have no choice. Finally. You are free. This is what you are for.
If you’re ready enough, let this Trouble take you to your knees. With your sweaty full attention, imagine how you’d kiss the plump, pink lips of your tender soul. But wait. Re-member: This is not about you. You are being used by Every Thing. This is what you are for.
Once re-membered, you will draw into your being the throb you came here to taste. The one way of belonging that is yours to make matter. This is what you are for.
The broken-hearted, glistening hum of your taught, tangled body will give off a fragrant, unruly intelligence beyond the Machine’s measure of right, wrong, reason. This is what you are for.
Have you come here to make Trouble for Comfort and Security? For Greed and Convention? For Routine and Predictability? Good. Those are the Killers of what you are for.
The planet is very uncomfortable. She is writhing in pain. Feel her suffering in your blood, and you will know what you are for. Taste compassion for the slaughtered, and you will love like the Milky Way.
Shatter your old ways, and show me how your soul blushes alive with arousal. This is what you are for.
Be an unpopular harbinger, a tender, sprouted sentinel of the rhizome of archaic revival.
Do not take a seat. She is ready for you. The soul of the world will see you now. What have you come to give her?
My Celtic ancestors held huge celebrations today in honor of the abundance and fertility of the growing season. The time to plant has just begun here in the northern hemisphere and Beltane honors that fact.
Last night under the dark of an earthy Taurus new moon, we slid quietly into the light half of the Celtic year. The light half of each year is filled with sun and warmth, new growth and abundance. And then in 6 months, on November 1, we will dive into the dark half of the Celtic year, marked by short, dark days, fallow ground and long cold nights. And so the cycle of the seasons progresses, year after year after year.
The Celts were avid observers of the seasonal shifts, both on Mama Earth and in the skies above her. So it doesn’t surprise me that my Welsh and Scottish ancestors held outdoor festivals to mark Beltane, also known as May Day. The tradition of teen aged boys and girls dancing around the May pole is believed to have started with the Celts. The dance was a way to have fun AND symbolize the intertwining and merging of the male and female energies that ultimately creates new life on the land and in the waters all around us. Beltane marks the beginning of Mama Earth’s season of fertility and new growth.
For me, Beltane is all about celebrating intimate relationships. My own anniversary falls on May Day, so I consciously celebrate my union with my partner David on this day. But Beltane has other meanings for me as well; my hubby would tell you that this is my absolute favorite time of year, and I love to spend it outside in nature. I love to get outside and commune with Mother Nature by hiking, dreaming in my hammock, picnicking, or just sitting with a tree listening to the wind rustle a million new leaves above me. And I find that every moment I spend connecting with nature nourishes my Soul.
Beltane is the perfect time to connect with Mama Earth in a deep intimate way.
If you can, spend a few moments outside this week. Turn off your computer and go walk barefoot in the grass. Breathe in the scents of spring. Pause and notice the abundance of new life sprouting up all around you; green shoots of grass, tiny new tree leaves and a plethora of flowers all show us how fertile and abundant Mama Earth is at this time of year. Meditate on the beauty and bounty of Mama Earth. Give thanks for every gift that this beautiful planet joyfully shares with us. Give thanks and revel in spring.
I am holding a special Dream Flow event on Saturday May 10 in honor of World Day of Active Dreaming. Come Dream with me in Boulder!
Exploring your Dreamspace is an amazing way to learn more about who you are and what you really want. Dreams connect you to the juice of the Universe; potent creative energies flowing around and through you in every moment. Dreams can help you tap into that magical flow.
Join me on Saturday May 10th and learn how to harness the powerful magic of your dreams and transform your life.I’ll teach you how to use ancient shamanic techniques and dream in daylight.
When: 10 AM Saturday May 10th, 2014 Where: Boulder, CO Cost: $15 -30, sliding scale
Please let me know you are coming by emailing: nancy@nancylankston.com.
Find out more about my Dream Flow Experiences by clicking on the Dream link at the top of this page. You can also find out more about The World Day of Active Dreaming here: https://www.facebook.com/worlddayofactivedreaming
In the heavens above us, a full lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse occurred this month. I share Jia Hao’s images of this week’s solar eclipse above (link to more eclipse info). What a bizarre and amazing sight to see our sun temporarily snuffed out by the shadow of our moon!
My astrologer friends tell me that eclipses intensify and stir up whatever is going on in our lives here on planet Earth. Some believe that eclipses bring up our subconscious shadow selves to be healed. But the Cardinal Grand Cross that formed in our sky a week ago is even more unusual than an eclipse. This huge planetary cross was created by Jupiter, Pluto, Mars and Uranus; 4 planets actually lined up in a perfect cross formation in our sky this month. You can bet that I sat up and paid attention when I heard that this cross was slowly forming in our skies and would be perfectly aligned on April 23, my birthday. Yikes!
I don’t know about you, but it has definitely been a month of shakeup and shifts for me and my entire family; we moved into a new home, lived through huge job shifts, a delay in the release of my book, and weird illnesses with odd body symptoms that hang on and on… There have been so many unusual events happening in my neck of the woods that I can’t help but shake my head in wonder. And the world around me seems all stirred up too. I have been engulfed and surrounded by chaos and shakeup all month.
I can’t help but wonder what wisdom is held within this crazy, chaotic Grand Cross time for us? Shamanic astrologer Tami Brunk shares this on her web site, Astrology for Earth Renewal:
“This Cardinal Grand Cross is about a cataclysmic transformation of human culture. At its center is the heart–of our shared humanity, and each of us as individuals. The heart of Retrograde Mars in Libra on an inward journey asking the question–how do I care for both others and myself? Jupiter in Cancer asking–how can I find a home in my own heart, and nurture my family, my tribe? Pluto in Capricorn asking–how can I break down the structures and fortresses and walls that have been constructed between each human being, between masculine and feminine, between humanity and the Earth? The heart of Uranus in Aries asking–how can I awaken humanity to a New Beginning, a radical new path forward, filled with Spirit, with consciousness?”
~Tami Brunk
It seems funny now that I never paid much attention to astrology (or astronomy) when I was in my 20’s and 30’s. Back then I would read my horoscope for laughs, but the movements of the planets just didn’t seem that important to me. But over time, I’ve come to realize that the workings of the sun, moon and planets actually do have an effect on my life; I’ve experienced so many instances of shifts in my life lining up with shifts in the heavens that defied the odds of chance. And as I watch the heavens this month, the synchronicity between my life and the cyclic movements in the sky above me just gets more and more obvious.
My Celtic ancestors would laugh at how long it has taken me to accept the idea that I might actually be affected by what’s happening in the heavens. The Celts believed in the spiritual principle of “as above, so below”; what happens in the heavens is synchronized with what happens on planet Earth. The Celts actually studied how the movements in their sky affected and interacted with events on Earth. They used the synchronicity between heaven and Earth to inform and guide their lives.
I wonder why this synchrony between heaven and Earth is such a strange and foreign idea for us today? When did we lose this knowing and why?
Quantum physicists have shown that just the act of observing the inner workings of atomic particles changes the behavior of those particles. Maybe it’s not so weird and far fetched to believe that the movements of huge planets around our sun actually affect and interact with all life on Earth. Maybe, just maybe my Celtic ancestors were onto something important.
I look at everything that’s happened recently in my life and I can’t help but nod and affirm what my ancestors knew so long ago, as above, so below…
“Not just beautiful, though–the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they’re watching me.”
