Heaven is hers! Earth is hers! She is a warrior. She is a falcon. She is a great white cow. She fought the dragon and slew it. She seduced the scorpion and tamed it. The golden lion slept at her side. She is the singer. She is desire. She is the mountain of silver, gold and lapis. On her hips tall trees grow and grasses. From Her waters spout and savory grains. Her lap is holy. Her lips are honey. Her hand is law. Her breasts pour heavenly rain. She is the healer. She is life-giver. She is the terror, the anger, the hunger. Fierce winds blow from her heart. Hers is the thunder, the lightning, the glory. She is the morning. She is the evening. She is the star. She wears the gown of mystery. Heaven is hers! Earth is hers! Who can argue?
Inanna’s Chant by Janine Canan
Inanna is an ancient Sumerian Goddess of fertility, love and beauty. The people of Mesopotamia worshipped Inanna as far back as 4000 BCE (perhaps even earlier) as the undisputed Queen of Heaven. No other Goddess in any culture has come close to matching Inanna’s stature and power. The Akkadians also knew her, calling her Ishtar. And many anthropologists assert that Inanna later morphed into the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, and then the Roman Venus.
The story of Inanna’s journey into the Underworld has been told and re-told since ancient times. Inanna enters the darkness of the Underworld and must strip away her adornments and clothing piece by piece. Inanna is tested and must let go of who she once was. She is laid bare. Eventually Inanna embraces her naked and vulnerable true Self. And ultimately, she emerges from the dark and rises again as the Queen of Heaven.
Inanna’s myth is an ancient story. Yet it still holds deep wisdom about the transformation many of us go through. Hers is the story of a woman embracing her true self and recovering her Soul.
Moon Meets Morning Star photo by Kwon, O Chul (TWAN)
Every 584 days, the planet Venus traces Inanna’s mythic journey in the skies over our Earth. Venus appears in our sky as a bright morning “star.” Over many weeks, Venus descends toward Earth and then disappears from view. Weeks later, Venus emerges from the dark Underworld. She has been transformed and is now a mature evening “star.”
Venus, Inanna, Aphrodite, Ishtar… there are many names for this sacred Goddess, the Queen of Heaven. Her roots are ancient and deep. And her wild wisdom flows through the Souls of all women. By any name she is one original #BadassWoman!
“The problem in America isn’t just that hate is speaking so loudly; it’s that love is speaking too softly.”
~Marianne Williamson.
I am not responsible for other people’s happiness or healing, I am not responsible for their problems or pain. And yet every interaction I have with another person can be healing or hurtful depending on how I choose to be with that person.
Am I open hearted and authentic? Am I distracted and disinterested? Am I mean and hateful? I chose. And what I choose affects my entire world.
We ‘do’ so much to get praise, we ‘do’ to distract ourselves, we ‘do’ to convince ourselves of our own worth – if only we could relax and just BE! Just BE our big beautiful selves in this moment. Stop trying to get somewhere else or be someone different. Just BE.
The cosmic joke is that all our pushing and striving to accomplish so much matters far less than how kind we are to other people – and to ourselves. But we’re so busy pushing to finish our to-do list that we lose sight of basic love and kindness. We don’t have time to be kind, we’re too busy to stop and open our hearts. In the process of hurrying towards our next goal, we strip our lives of what truly matters.
Love is the Force that Binds the Universe Together. Love is the Source of all Things. Love is God. God is Love.
You are always praying; thought itself is prayer. Whatever you focus your mind on, increases. To change the world, change your thoughts about the world. If you want to experience peace—become peace. Peace is always present, though sometimes hidden. Love is the only force in the universe. The world is already healed.
On a hike last year in the mountains, I walked out of pine forest into a clearing and found myself suddenly surrounded by flowers. The sight was so stunning that I can still picture it now months later. There were flowers, so many flowers everywhere! White, pink, violet, yellow blooms all around me; small whispers of color, large flagrant displays and every size and shape in between. Flowers were trumpeting the joy of life from every corner.
No two flowers in that clearing were exactly alike, yet all were similar. And seeing all those flower patterns reminded me of fractals; Scientists claim that every object in the Universe is created from sacred geometric fractal patterns. The same basic fractal patterns repeat again and again to form the foundation of every single object in our Universe.
Patterns within Patterns
I believe that these fractal patterns describe what human Souls are really like – our Souls express infinite variations of shape and hue that reflect patterns of the divine energy in unique and wonderful way; we are different and the same all at once. We are fractals in a field overflowing with fractals.
Spiritual teachers from every tradition have written and spoken about this field of sacred fractal patterns. This sacred field is known as the Akasha, a Sanskrit word that actually means “space”. Many of the world’s ancient spiritual traditions (Taoists, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Mayans, Druids, etc.) claim that this field is where energies that log all of your Soul’s experiences from every lifetime since the beginning of the World are held.
“A substructure underpins the universe that is essentially a recording medium of everything, providing a means for everything to communicate with everything else. People are indivisible from their environment.” ~Lynne McTaggart
This field is also known as the Void – although, in my experience, it is far from empty. It holds all of the vibrational patterns of YOU in lifetime after lifetime. Sacred texts tell us that Akashic records are held in a vibrational form in this field. The Akasha hold the patterns of your actions and reactions while in human form; your beliefs, and your choices as well as the rippling impact (AKA karma) of each choice.
Web of Life
Akasha represent the “glue” of Spirit; the energetic relationships that weave and hold our Universe together. In many Native American tribes a legend is told of grandmother spider creating the Universe by weaving it all together with invisible threads. And modern quantum physicists speak of “gluon”, the invisible force that binds subatomic particles together. Other scientists write about the Zero Point Field or Quantum Field; an invisible field of constantly oscillating energies that create the foundational structure of our entire Universe.
The Tao, gluon, web of life, Akasha, quantum field, zero point field… choose whatever name fits for you. Just know that you are connected and interrelated to every other part of the Universe through this magical web. The energy of the Tao or Akasha flows all around us in each moment. And it also flows within each of us; it is the energy of Soul and it animates and organizes our human form. It is the field of creation where everything is possible.
We are waves of Spirit,
We are born; we rise and flow on the ocean of consciousness
Before falling once more into the silent depths of the Tao.
∞
Soul Space Meditation
There is a space where true healing resides. This space is infinitesimally small, yet expansive beyond all reason. It lies at the edge of the Great Unknown. Step inside this space and you will know the healing power of boundless love. The divine essence of life is here and all is well.
How do you find this tiny space from which healing beckons? There are many paths; prayer, time in Nature, communing with children, conscious breathwork, dance… the list of ways is as endless as the stars.
Here is one simple way:
Sit. Your back is upright, your shoulders relaxed, your belly soft and your chin parallel to the floor. Just Sit.
Now, close your eyes and breathe. Just breathe. Feel your breath move in and out of your chest; In and out, in and out. Once, twice, a hundred times, just breathe. It is so simple yet hard. Just breathe and your mind kicks into overdrive. Your thoughts will try to get in your way.
But you are not your thoughts. There is far more to you than thought. You are Soul. You are endless and eternal. You can step out of the way of your thoughts and watch them dance by. You can witness the flow of your own mind. Yes you can. Again and again, step out of your thoughts.
Again and again, breath in and watch, breathe out and watch. Step out of your thoughts, Observe the incessant chatter of your “monkey mind”, always restless, always grasping. Notice how feeling arise within you and then fade away.
Step out of your thoughts again and again. And come back to the breath. Feel the rise and fall. Air rolls in to your body and air rolls out. This is the universal wave of life force. Explore each wave as it rolls in and out of you.
Try to find the pause between two breaths. Sit in the pause, explore the pause, that razor sharp edge between the out- breath and the in. Explore that edge and feel it expand.
Again and again, step out of your thoughts. Ride the wave of breath. And find the space between. Breathe and explore the space that flows with the essence of you.
Each of us was born from the Tao. And we return to it when we leave here. Consciously connecting to this flow is transformative; it will help you “wake up” to your Soul’s purpose and remember why you are here. It will clarify and solidify your priorities and become an inner true north that guides your life.
