My Personal Spiritual Path and Healing Journey Series - Part 2

Check out "My Personal Spiritual Path and Healing Journey Series"
- Part 2: Work Exchanges

Happy Autumn!

 

Happy Autumn Equinox (Sept. 20-23)

Autumnal Equinox ~ Mabon

The autumnal equinox occurs when the sun crosses the equator on its apparent journey southward, and we experience a day and a night that are of equal duration. Up until Mabon, the hours of daylight have been greater than the hours from dusk to dawn. But from now on, the reverse holds true.

Mabon marks the middle of harvest, and for the moment nature is in balance. It is a time to reap what you have sown, of giving thanks for the harvest and the bounty the Earth provides. For finishing up old projects and plans and planting the seeds for new enterprises or a change in lifestyle. Mabon is a time of celebration and balance.

This is the time to look back not just on the past year, but also your life, and to plan for the future. In the rhythm of the year, Mabon is a time of rest and celebration, after the hard work of gathering the crops. Warm autumn days are followed by chill nights, as the Old Sun God returns to the embrace of the Goddess.

- from The White Goddess

https://instagram.com/p/8Bz1EYn3_F/?taken-by=tennebula

I Have Enough

Life has enough of everything to spare.

---Ernest Holmes “Living the Science of Mind”

Getting Prepared For Autumn Equinox

Getting Prepared For Autumn Equinox

Spiritual tips for detoxing and purifying your life
http://tennebula.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-can-be-cleared-in-your-life-right.html

Thank you to the spirit of Wayne Dyer (May 10, 1940 – August 30, 2015)

It is a great thing when someone comes to the planet, makes such a difference and leaves such a huge impression. Wayne Dyer was an amazing being who has affected so many people. His work has been a great tool in my life. I offer appreciation for his time on the planet and for all that he contributed to our human race.

Remembering 9/11

I want to offer light and love to all the people
who will be remembering their loved ones that died on 9/11
I want to offer light and love to all the people who died in 9/11
I want  to offer light and love to all the souls (from all over the globe, past-present-future) who have died in tragic events (i.e. war, hunger, terrorism, disease, abuse, etc)




All life is valuable, important, and sacred!!!!!!!!



May more people remember (and know) this divine truth!!!!!

Ten Nebula Monthly Newsletter - September 2015

Ten Nebula Monthly Newsletter - September 2015
http://tennebula.weebly.com/newsletter.html

Happy Labor Day!!!!

To all my working girls........

Strive to do what you love for your livelihood

https://instagram.com/p/60NBj8H3yo/?taken-by=tennebula

Tools for your spiritual bath

Tools for your spiritual bath

 
‪https://instagram.com/p/7NhyrNn38x/?taken-by=tennebula

Reiki with Ten nebula

Reiki healings, treatments, attunements, and private instruction

Visit the site for more info
http://reikiandlight.blogspot.com/


Email us today to make your appt. - tennebula@gmail.com


Thanks in advance for your business!!!!!

Bright Blessings!!!!

Bitch, I'm Ten Nebula

Do what you love. Celebrate yourself. Live your life to the fullest.


"Becoming a Celebrity of Light" Blog
 
Check out my latest post from " Bitch, I'm Ten Nebula"
 
http://870208690950392718.weebly.com/celebrity-of-light-blog/-bitch-im-ten-nebula

Ten nebula Healing Space - September 2015

September 2015:

Align with your innermost truth
. Heal your shadows
 and bring light to all aspects of your life. 
Live as your brightest self
. Do you live in San Francisco Bay Area, CA?
 Or are you a nationwide client?
 Want a healing treatment? private instruction?
 and you need a healing session by phone?

We work with local clients and offer phone sessions to those that live across the US
. We also offer special discounts on certain treatments this month


Visit the site to learn more.....

http://thespiralofthegoddess.blogspot.com/
Email us today to make your appt. - 
tennebula@gmail.com


Schedule your healing session today!!!!!

Thanks in advance for your business!!!!!

Follow me "Ten Nebula" on Instagram

Follow me "Ten Nebula" on Instagram
https://instagram.com/tennebula/

Why Getting Outside Is So Good For You

 

Read: Why Getting Outside Is So Good For You
by Bess Hochstein


http://kripalu.org/article/1602/?utm_source=kc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=feature&utm_campaign=aug2015kc

Happy Lammas!!!

Happy Lammas!!!

August 1

Festival of Reminder. Time of harvest.
Ruled by the Amazon and female warrior. Time of the first fruits of the harvest. Begin reaping our harvest or good. First harvest. The days are becoming shorter and shorter as the Sun God's power wanes

Names: Lammas, Lughnasadh, Loaf-Mass, Lammas-Tide, Ceresalia, Elembiuos, First Harvest, Lad Day, Lugh Samhioldanach, Nos Calon Awst

Spiritual tips for preparing for a great season
http://tennebula.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-can-be-cleared-in-your-life-right.html

A Love Letter from the Goddess of Love  

(from Sanctuary of the Open Heart Newsletter) 

Beautiful Sister,

Your beauty is an awe inspiring, breathtaking miracle. The light that exudes from you ~ the iridescent light of who you actually ARE~ inside of that vessel...you are BEAUTY-FILLED.

  

I see beyond the beyond. I can touch into the places you hold most secret. The intimate, shy, ravenous, beautiful places ~ the ones that you think can't be seen from the outside. I see, feel, touch, taste all of you. That is why you fear me. I know it sounds strange to speak of fearing LOVE, especially the Goddess of Love, but in truth it is my naked, vulnerable, wide-eyes-open love that you find yourself shielding yourself from.

  

Beloved one...breathe with me as I come closer to sit by your side. Such love is hard to accept and receive isn't it? That I can see you that clearly ~ with all of your perceptions of your imperfections ~ that's what we try to hide under the clothes, the make-up, the artifice...we try to hide the very things that our beauty is consumed with.

  

You see, my love, it is your imperfections, your human-ness, the places that you don't want me to see... these are the places that I love most in you. These are the places that are unfinished, raw, undone, taken a part, wobbly. They are places that you have been taught are not allowed. They need to be hidden from sight. And yet in my temple in the heart, it is these places, these fragile-oh-so-tender places, that I adore.

  

I love you exactly as you are right now.

There is nothing to fix, or change, or perfect. I love all of you--the light and shadow. I see the beauty in all of it. It is the light and shadow that gives you the beautiful form that you are. It is the dance of the light and shadow that gives your dance grace and humility. It is the light and shadow that draw me closer to your heart.

I want to hear of all the places that you would hide from me. I want to touch you with my gaze of love. I can be as gentle as a feather on your cheek, and I can transmute all with love. 

I love your shadow as I love your light.

Choosing to enter my temple is to choose to enter into the undefended heart. It is a choice to love into wholeness now all places that you have been separate ~ all places that you have judged, compared or reviled.

Now is the time to let me seep inside of you as a golden pink gold nectar of bliss. 

I am in love with you. 

I know that is intimate to say. And it is the truth...for I am the frequency of divine intoxication. I am mad drunk on love...I am the power of unfettered love within you. I am the power of love to heal all the hidden shadowy places. I am HER within you ... soften and open and let me flood in.

As you receive me, sit quietly my love. Breathe me in. Let me intoxicate you with my love. Intimacy is my gift to you. I see your beauty essence. I see your light that radiates. I invite you to offer this light, this radiance, this brilliance out into the world. I ask you to become an invitation for love--to all those whom you might meet...strangers, lovers, children, butterflies. 

Can you dare to meet them with the eyes of love? And share in a moment of naked--yes, naked!--LOVE? And feel the tender rush of opening, as the separation between us disappears in a shy and delicious moment of REAL BEAUTY.

 

Self–responsibility, Self-accountability

 

Do what you love. Celebrate yourself. Live your life to the fullest.

"Becoming a Celebrity of Light" Blog

Check out my latest post from -
Self–responsibility, Self-accountability........

http://870208690950392718.weebly.com/celebrity-of-light-blog/self-responsibility-self-accountability

Being Inspired

Peace and light, Divine Ones

I went to the SF Center for spiritual living for their Sunday service and it was so great. I love those centers. I have been to many and I love the philosophy.

The minister was hilarious and shared a story about rage, a homeless man, personal space, and seeing people for their divine self. It was interesting and inspiring.

I love that about life, how we can take some difficult, harsh, painful, or uncomfortable experience and make it amazing, a healing, an inspirational tale, or change it to an empowering experience for ourselves and others. We define ourselves and have the power to change our own story! Life is kind and loving like that!

Thanks to all you great teachers out there for sharing your tales with the world and allowing us to benefit from your life experiences.


Smiles,
Ten

What is A "Healer"?

Watch - What is A "Healer"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAEUKCwGxbs

We Are Powerful Beyond Measure

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Marianne Williamson,  
A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

     

Focusing On Your Good

I Am clearly focused on the Good in My Life.
I can see My desires taking form right now.  
I Am greatful for My abundance and happiness

                           

- This comes from The Science of Mind Magazine 

written by:   Rev. Dr. Terry Drew Karanen

Thank You, Goddess, For Doing What My Hearts Calls Me To Do

I want to say "Thank You" to all my clients, fans, supporters, visitors, and donors!!!!

Thanks for supporting my work!
www.tennebula.com

Light and love,
Ten Nebula :)

Happy Pride!!!!!

Happy Pride!
Honor the rights of all beings!!!!
Equality for all!

Happy Summer Solstice!!!!

On this magical day, I wish light, love, and joy to all beings every where.  Make it a great season!



Spiritual tips for preparing for a great season
http://tennebula.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-can-be-cleared-in-your-life-right.html

Summer Solstice 2015 offering from Sanctuary of the Open Heart

Read "Melting into the Sun of Union: Our Divine Inheritance"

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs175/1102904774515/archive/1121356101870.html

Happy Father's Day

Peace and Love to My Dad
Peace and Love to My Grandfathers
Peace and Love to my uncles and cousins who are fathers
Peace and Love to the spirits of all my Great Grandfathers and their fathers before them

Peace and Light to all the men who take care of their children
Peace and Light to all the men who make quality time for their children
Peace and Light to all the men who want to raise healthy, positive, and bright children
Peace and Light to all the men who want to be good role models to their children
with right thinking, right words, and right action
Peace and Light to all the men who practice responsibility and accountability in caring for their creations
Peace and Light to all the men who are dads on the planet










Happy Father's Day!!!!!

Getting Prepared For Summer Solstice

Getting Prepared For Summer Solstice

Spiritual tips for detoxing and purifying your life
http://tennebula.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-can-be-cleared-in-your-life-right.html

Being Grounded and Centered

Do what you love. Celebrate yourself. Live your life to the fullest.

"Becoming a Celebrity of Light" Blog


Check out my latest post from

Being Grounded and Centered

http://870208690950392718.weebly.com/celebrity-of-light-blog/being-grounded-and-centered

The Buddha & The Hot Dog Vendor

Spiritual Joke:

The buddhist walks up to the hot dog vendor and tells him to "make me one with everything."

...The vendor gives him a hot dog and the buddhist gives him a twenty dollar bill. After a moment of waiting, the buddhist asks, "Where's my change?" The vendor smiles and says, "Ahh, change must come from within."

Looking forward to June!

June brings the beginning of summer, warmer weather, retreats and vacations, and breaks from school
YAY!
Enjoy your June !

:)

Edges

You will always be too much of something for someone: too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy. If you round out your edges, you lose your edge.

— Quote by Danielle LaPorte

Steady on The Grind

We are limited, not by our abilities but by our Vision.

---Author Unknown

 

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

 

 

 

A Tribute to Women this Mother's Day: by Amy Young

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss this year through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you   

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

Merry Beltane! Merry May!‏

Beltane ~ May 1

 

Blessed Body, Blessed Earth

Wake up, beautiful one! Open your sleepy eyes. Rise! Turn your face toward the warmth of summer's new dawn. The sky is brightening in the east ~ pink-yellow light fills the horizon as the doves and wild geese take to the skies. The cattle have been released to the wild green pastures, having run through the cleansing flames of the Beltane fires last night, blessing and purifying their bodies from winter's confinement. So, too, have our fertile souls been released from the grip of illusion. 

 

Rise now, from the heat of Kali's fierce love, which has stripped away untruths and liberated our energy ~ we are READY NOW to harness the endless potential of the revitalized landscape of our consciousness. 

Open, receptive, and free ... this day, we can feel the solar King's promise of the abundance that is to come!

"This inner renewal sprouts forth, fragrant with possibilities and garlanded with the beauty of choice. No longer limited by what was, we have the power to catalyze what can be."

~Jhenah Telyndru, Avalon Within

Firesong(excerpt~author unknown) 

"From feathered flame the fire-bird finds her breath

and leaps to life on wings of liquid gold.

Her sun-dance draws new life from ancient death,

and brings to life a spark from ashes cold.

Come, Sacred Spirit, weave in us your song - 

a melody of sweet celestial fire.

Gift us with wings to speed our journey on;

inflame our hearts, our lives, our dreams inspire."

Beloveds, Beltane season is upon us. As we enter the Light Half of the Year and the sun increases its presence in our lives, let us, too, open our hearts to the life-giving blessings of fire. Spend time in the outdoors. Get outside and let the sun renew your physical energy. Notice the fertility and growth of nature! As the animals and plants increase their activity, may you, too, feel the frenzy of creativity and spiritual energy rise in you!

I breathe in the fire of the sun!

This world is alive, and I am alive with it!

The fire in my heart is a Beltane fire,

A fire raging with passion and purpose!

Today I honor the sun,

And the movement of the earth.

The Earth Mother provides,

And the Sky Father encourages

New life on the land.

This is the moment to remember

I am a living being, interconnected with all life.

I am the tree. I am the river.

I am of the earth, growing into fullness,

Hail, the fire of Beltane!

~Author Unknown

Now, in this season of growing strength, of passion and of the fertility of the approaching summer, it is time to seek new inspiration! How will you tend the fire in your own heart? The fire that inspires your work and your creative life?

We, like the Earth, are passing through a luminal gateway to enter into a new phase of existence. If you've been wanting to bring abundance and new growth of any sort into your life ~ whether you're looking to conceive a child, enjoy fruitfulness in your career or creative endeavors, or just see your garden bloom ~ Beltane is the perfect time for intentional ritual and focus related to any type of prosperity.

May you be cleansed and revitalized this day, dear one! Wash the ash of the Beltane fires away with the purifying dew of this new day. 

Your heart is free, beloved! Free to roam the hills to find the greenest shoots of tender new grass.

Rise! Rise! Feel Love rising in you! Make Love with All of Life. YOU ARE SO DEEPLY LOVED!

May the coming summer months be fruitful and fertile!

Beltane Blessings,  Sanctuary of the Open Heart

www.13moonmysteryschool.com

sanctuaryopenheart@gmail.com

About Us

The 13 Moon Mystery School is a part of the Sanctuary of the Open Heart, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mission is to strengthen and expand our global community of like-hearted beings dedicated to the wisdom teachings of the Divine Feminine, so that we may revel and awaken in each others' presence and that we may build a Sanctuary devoted to the awakening of humanity.

Light Makes Life Easier

Check out my latest post from my "Becoming A Celebrity of Light" Blog Today -

"Light Makes Life Easier" 

http://870208690950392718.weebly.com/celebrity-of-light-blog/light-makes-life-easier

Baby, Imma BOSS!!!!!!!!

Check out my latest post from "Becoming a Celebrity of Light" Blog

Baby, Imma BOSS!!!!!!!!

http://870208690950392718.weebly.com/celebrity-of-light-blog/baby-imma-boss

 

Making The Best of Any Situation

You're always on your way somewhere. The key is: find a way to be happy wherever you now are on your way to where you really want to be. (We're speaking of the state of being you want.) It does not matter where you are; where you are is shifting constantly - but you must turn your attention to where you want to go. And that's the difference between making the best of something and making the worst of something.

---Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop: Detroit, MI on September 27, 2003

Our Love,
Esther Hicks (and Abraham and Jerry)

Happy Spring Equinox! (March 20-23)

Happy Spring Equinox and Spring Season! :)

To all my witches, wizards, pagans, wiccans, lightworkers, and nature worshipers!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Communion: The Wholeness of Attention

by Ariel Spilsbury

Spring is the season when we naturally feel like skipping, singing, sauntering, savoring.

First Love (excerpt)

Denise Leverton

It was a flower

suddenly

there was Before I saw it, the vague past,

and Now. Forever.

Nearby was the sandy sweep of the Roman Road,

and where we sat the grass was thin.

From a bare patch of that poor soil, solitary,

sprang the flower, face upturned,

looking completely, openly into my eyes.

I was barely old enough to ask

and repeat its name.

'Convulvulus,' said my mother.

Pale shell-pink, a chalice

no wider across than a silver sixpence.

It looked at me, I looked back,

delight filled me as if

I, not the flower,

were a flower and were brim full of rain.

And there was endlessness.

Perhaps through a lifetime what I've desired

has always been to return

to that endless giving and receiving,

the wholeness of that attention,

that once-in-a-lifetime

secret communion.

This poem describes the nature of what it is to live continually in this state, often called being a Mystic...which is to have a "wholeness of attention" that is endlessly giving and receiving simultaneously. The closest word I know to describe this state is communion. Becoming apparent "otherness," being one with it until it reveals its ecstatic delight in simply being a part of the creation! 

In our over-busy, facing-away-from-the-present-moment-looking-down-button-pushing, hamster wheel society, taking time for such communion is made to seem pointless, time 'consuming' and utterly frivolous. That could not be further from the truth, at least if one intends to be AWAKE in the ecstasy of this creation! In the very process of being empty (without thought) enough to BE in a state of communion with life, the juicy inspiration and inexplicable ecstasy which actually gives life meaning, somersaults joyfully into us, laughing as exuberantly as a two year old...

And for no reason

I start skipping like a child.

And for no reason

I turn into a leaf

That is carried so high

I kiss the Sun's mouth

And dissolve.

And for no reason

A thousand birds

Choose my head for a conference table,

Start passing their

Cups of wine

And their wild songbooks all around.

And

For every reason in existence

I begin to eternally,

To eternally laugh and love!

When I turn into a leaf

And start dancing,

I run to kiss our beautiful Friend

And I dissolve in the Truth

That I am.

~Hafiz

As we are actually an intrinsic part of nature (rather than separate from it), Spring is the season when we naturally feel like skipping, singing, sauntering, savoring...the fullness of life scintillating through our veins like champagne bubbles making us giddy for no reason. It takes a lot of personal will and cultural programming to keep us choosing to focus entirely on "work," rather than, even for moments, communing in the wholeness of our attention, with existence, in the form of a hummingbird outside our window, or the bacchanalian sound of honeybees wildly celebrating with their tambourines in a rosemary bush, or the delicious feeling of sun licking wintery cold from our skin and psyches. 

So in this Turn of the Divine Wheel of Time, this acupuncture point of Spring Equinox, I invite you to take time to consciously COMMUNE AND CELEBRATE WITH ALL LIFE that we are in fact alive and awake in the creation!

Where does the real poetry come from?

From the amorous sighs
In this moist dark when making love
With form or Spirit.
Where does poetry live?
In the eye that says, "Wow-whee"
In the overpoweringly felt splendor
Every sane mind knows
When it realizes.. our life dance
Is only for a few magic seconds,
One bloom of a rose,
From the heart saying,
No Shouting..

"I am so damn
ALIVE!"
~Hafiz

Wherever you find yourself this Spring Equinox, gather your beloveds to commune and simply celebrate that we are alive and awake!! For those fortunate to be in the Bay area, we will be wildly celebrating Spring Equinox. Come join us in the revel of Spring shouting out and amplifying our joy! From one who is savoring the "end of the somersault" of this life dance, I invite you to celebrate the preciousness of this life with me!!

Your sister in Delight,  Ariel

Having A High Wealth Consciousness

To all my folks out there
about their cash
making money
healing their money beliefs
and using their wealth in a positive way

I wanted to share with you some of the many names for money:

bank, Benjamin, bills, bones, bread, bucks, butter, cabbage, cake, cash, cheddar, cheese, clams, c-notes, coin, cream, dead presidents, dinero, dough, ends, G's, greenbacks, green, lettuce, loot, moolah, paper, roll, scrilla, stacks


I saw a great tee and had to share it
http://www.freshnessmag.com/2010/08/10/staple-summer-2010-t-shirts/


Much love and dough :)

I Walk In Faith, Always

Faith, being a mental attitude, is according to Law;

and even though one doubts, he can overcome his

doubts and Create the desired Faith, definitely.

 

---"The Science of Mind book”

 

 

Today, I tune into My inner guidance and follow My passion, having Faith that the way will be clear as I approach.

                           

- This comes from The Science of Mind Magazine 

Getting Ready For Spring

We are in winter
but spring will be here soon
Let's start getting ready to clear and purify our lives
and make room for a healthy new season

Let's attract more light, happiness and goodness in our lives

What can be cleared in your life, right now?

http://tennebula.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-can-be-cleared-in-your-life-right.html

Great Faith

Those who have great Faith,

have Great Power.

---The Science of Mind page 156

A Legend In Your Own Time

Check out my latest post from my "Becoming A Celebrity of Light" Blog Today

A Legend In Your Own Time

http://870208690950392718.weebly.com/celebrity-of-light-blog/a-legend-in-your-own-time

Happy Birthday to Me!!!! (Feb. 11)

Hello, World!!!!

I am celebrating my birthday and wanted to say "Thank you" to everyone who has come into my life and blessed it!

Thank you to all the people who support my work and my path!

I am happy to be on the planet! I am happy for all that I have! I am happy for my life!

Another great year lies ahead :)

In love and gratitude,
Ten

My New Website...Tennebula.com

Hello World,

I have created a beautiful new website
www.tennebula.com


Visit. Share. Enjoy :)

Celebrating Our New Pagan/ Wiccan Year....Imbolc (Feb 2)!!!

Hello, Divine Family

I wanted to extend a warm blessing to all of you who will be celebrating our new pagan year, wiccan year, and lunar new year (later in Feb.). Continue to take care of and heal your life. Make the intention to help others. Make each day great for yourself!!!! You are worthy and deserving!

Wishing you a new Goddess year filled with light, love, joy, abundance, and good heath!

Smiles,
Ten Nebula

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Offering from The Sanctuary of the Open Heart

Dearly Beloved,

During this dark time of the moon, let us spiral in and down together, to the black depths of the earth, to the deep red center of our bellies and wombs. Surrender, Receive...welcome to the Temple of the Great Mother.

Please find a soft seat, a cozy blanket, a warm cup of tea, perhaps. Take some time with this, dear one...for this is so much more than "another newsletter." This is an invitation to pause. To breathe. To quiet your beautiful busy mind and open your radiant heart. Spaciousness. Emptiness. Darkness. Down, down, down...

Ahhhhhh, and here we are together...One heart beating. Your Heart. Her Heart. Can you feel your pulse? Sense your blood flowing, bringing nourishment to the tender places in you that have been forgotten, abandoned. Breathe in, breathe out. Surrender to Mother's constant, yet changing rhythms. Receive Mother's soft embrace now. Her arms are always holding you, warm tears of unconditional love ever-welcoming you home.

And, now, enjoy this meditative offering from Elzbeth, our Great Mother Temple Keeper from Sanctuary of the Open Heart.

When the last guest has gone, and the dishes have been wiped dry, after the floor has been vigorously swept, and the children put to bed, when the echoes of laughter and merriment have fallen away, and the silence settles over the house like warm blanket, that is when She loosens her apron strings and makes her way to the soft glow of the fireside.

As She lowers herself into her easy chair, She sighs. Not just an ordinary sigh, but a long and languorous sigh of ages, potent in its expression of every emotion and feeling known to the heart: the fear and the excitement of the dormant seed, the sweat beads of summer's toil and growth, the purposeful scramble amidst falling leaves and ripe fruit...the ecstatic laughter, the painful realizations, the papercuts and the puddles.

She sighs for the song of the whales, the meals shared, the tears spilled, the false starts, the beach walks, the poetry of trees.

She sighs for every living being on the planet, and the ripple of her outbreath sends a shiver of release across the fur, through the glass, under the water, and out the back door.

She sighs because the blessed moment has arrived for her to relax, reflect, and release all that has come before. She knows that the punctuation between the tide's ebb and flow, and the rise and fall of the breath is holy ground, a stillpoint before the next wave of possibility emerges.

This hollow emptiness, the womb lodge, is a welcome respite, a sanctuary. No gravity, no control, no obligation, no-thing... She knows that one must pass through this portal to reach the next opening.

Her wisdom reminds us that we cannot avoid the void, nor would we want to, for this is where the magic happens.

For some of us, this point of the year meets us with frosty breath so that we can feel the weight of the silence, the barren quality in our souls. For others, this time is drenched in heady fragrance and dazzling light, and we must dig deep within to find that place poised between the worlds.

Great Mother invites us wherever we are in our lives to come sit beside her, to take a pause between the chapters of our stories. She whispers sweet blessings into our ears:

May we rest,

May we sigh deeply,

May we surrender to our dreamscapes with hearts soft and grateful, hands open and relaxed,

May we feel the complete embrace of her sturdy and steady arms.

May we let go so that we can receive the new beginnings, the new stories.

Blessed be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m39WpgHWY4

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

A story of Brigit for Imbolc

By Starhawk

Circle round, and I’ll tell you a story…
Once there were two children, a sister and brother
named Brigit and Alex, who lived in a land where
winter brought deep snows and much cold. The children
loved to play in the snow, to make huge snowmen, and
dig tunnels in the high banks and have snowball
fights. But every year they waited eagerly for
Brigit’s holiday to come around, for they knew it
meant that the days would be getting longer and that
someday spring would come again.

One year, winter was especially harsh. Day after day,
clouds filled the sky and the snow piled up on the
streets. Night after night, a cold wind howled around
the corners of the houses and blew smoke back down
the chimneys.

Brigit and Alex grew very tired of staying in the
house, for on many days the air was too cold to play
outside for very long, even when they wore their
warmest jackets with wool sweaters underneath and
snowpants over their jeans and an extra pair of wool
socks in their boots and all the hoods and scarves
and mufflers they could put on. When they did go
outside, they were so bundled up they could only
waddle like penguins, and they were very tired of
making snowmen and snow forts.

“How long will winter last?” they asked their mother.
“Only the Goddess knows,” their mother said.
“Where can we find her to ask her?” Brigit asked.
Their mother smiled. “Light a candle on Brigit Eve,
look into the flame with an open heart, and wait. Who
knows, maybe she’ll come to you. After all, you are
named for her!”

So on Brigit Eve the two children lit a candle with
their mother’s help, placed it on the table, and
looked deep into the flame. After a while, the flame
seemed to grow and grow until it filled the whole
room with a glorious light, and a beautiful woman
appeared. Her hair was bright as living fire, her
face dark as old wood, her cloak golden as a sunbeam.
“I am Brigit of the Holy Well and Sacred Flame,” She
said, “Why have you called me, my children?”
“Oh, Brigit, I am named after you,” said the little
girl, “We called you to ask a question.”
“How long will winter last?” Alex asked.
“Winter will last until clean water rises in the
sacred well and bright flame burns on every hearth,”
the Goddess said, and then she disappeared.
“What does she mean?” the two children asked. They
went to their mother, but she could not say. They
asked their father, but he only winked and said,
“That’s the trouble with the Goddess – it’s hard to
get a straight answer from her.” So they went to bed
unsatisfied.

The next morning, they woke up early and decided that
they would go from house to house in their village
and see whether or not a good, warm fire was burning
on every hearth. And they would ask everyone if they
knew of a sacred well.

So they did. They bundled up in their warmest jackets
with wool sweaters underneath and snowpants over
their jeans and an extra pair of wool socks in their
boots and all the hoods and scarves and mufflers they
could put on, and went outside, waddling like
penguins. From house to house they went, all through
their village. On every hearth, a warm fire burned,
and while people were kind to them and offered them
good things to eat and warm things to drink, nobody
knew about any sacred well.

At last they had visited every house in the village.
The only one left was the cottage of Old Man Maddog,
which lay across the frozen fields on the very edge
of the forest. Nobody liked Old Man Maddog. He was
crusty and mean and didn’t appear to bathe very
often. And he was a stranger who had come from far
away. When children came near his cottage, he yelled
at them and shook his big walking stick. And when all
the other people in the village were working hard,
Old Man Maddog simply sat on his porch, rocking in
his old chair and smoking his pipe.

“Stay away from him,” parents told their children.
“He’s a foreigner. He’s lazy and dirty and probably
dangerous.” And the children stayed away.
But now, from the very edge of the village, Brigit
and Alex could just see the roof of Old Man Maddog’s
house. There was no smoke coming out of his chimney.
“Surely the Goddess couldn’t have meant that we were
supposed to light a fire on his hearth,” Alex said,
“I’m afraid of him.”

“He’ll probably yell at us and shake his stick,”
Brigit agreed. “But still, I think we should go see
if he has a fire.”
So they did, wading through the deep snow that
covered the fields so thickly they seemed to be
walking in a tunnel as high as their heads. At last
they came to Old Man Maddog’s house. The door was
closed, and there was no smoke coming out of the chimney.
“Maybe he’s not home,” Brigit said. “Maybe we should
just go away.”
“Let’s look in the window first,” Alex suggested.
They peered in the small glass window and saw Old Man
Maddog lying on his bed. There was no fire on his hearth.
“Maybe he’s sick,” Brigit said, “We’d better go in
and see.”

The door was not locked, so they entered the room. It
was cold as the cold air outside, and dirtier than
any room Brigit had ever seen. Old Man Maddog lay on
his bed, moaning and shivering with fever.
“We’ve got to help him,” Brigit said. She brought him
a drink of water, while Alex took an old blanket and
shook it outside and then covered the old man. They
ran out into the forest and gathered fallen wood
until they had a big pile. Then they lit a fire on
the hearth, and soon the entire room began to grow
warm. They found some potatoes and carrots and onions
in a bag and cooked up a nice, hot soup. While it was
simmering, they cleaned the house and swept the floor
and washed the dishes.

Finally, Old Man Maddog was warm enough to sit up and
drink some soup.
“Pesky children,” he said in a gruff voice, “I never
did like children. Still, I suppose I ought to thank
you.”
“That would be polite,” Brigit told him.
“But what we really want to know is whether you’ve
heard of any holy well around here,” Alex said.
“Holy well, jingle bell,” Old Man Maddog said, “I
don’t hold with your holy wells. The only well I know
of is that old fallen-in well in the woods, and it’s
all full of garbage.”

Brigit and Alex looked at each other. Garbage! That
didn’t sound very holy. But still, it was the only
well anyone had told them about all day.
“I guess we’d better go look for it,” Alex said.
“We’ll bring in some more wood before we go, and when
we get home, we’ll send our mother and father to take
care of you.”

“Don’t do me any favors,” said Old Man Maddog, but
they both felt he didn’t really mean it.”
Once again they bundled up in their warmest jackets
with wool sweaters underneath and snowpants over
their jeans and an extra pair of wool socks in their
boots and all the hoods and scarves and mufflers they
could put on, and went outside, waddling like
penguins. They went deep into the forest, following
the opening between the trees.

At last they came to a small clearing. In the center
was a ring of stones, all tumbled down and scattered.
They looked inside and saw nothing but a small puddle
of frozen mud, all choked with stones and leaves and
garbage.

“Could that be the holy well?” Brigit asked.
“It doesn’t look much like it,” Alex said, “but maybe
if we clear it out a bit, we’ll be able to see some
water.”

They began prying up the stones and pulling out big
lumps of things, which turned out to be cans and
bottles and old, rotting papers. Brigit took a big
stick to clear away the fallen leaves. Alex took off
his mittens and scooped out the mud. And soon clear
water began to rise through the mud.
“We can’t do much more,” Alex said. “It’s starting to
get dark. We’ll have to come back tomorrow, and bring
a shovel.”

“But at least we’ve begun,” Brigit said.
“You’ve done well,” a voice said from behind them.
They turned and saw the beautiful woman and hair
bright as flame and a face as dark as old wood.
“You’ve begun the work – and that is all that anyone
can do.”

“Is this your holy well?” Brigit asked the Goddess
“Yes, it is. A long time ago, the people of the
village tended my well carefully, keeping it clean
and dressing it with flowers in the spring. But now
they have forgotten the way here, just as they have
forgotten the law of kindness to strangers. Without
the warmth of loving kindness, how can the days grow
warm again? And when my clear springs are choked with
dirt, how can the rains of spring fall?”
“We’ll remind them,” Brigit promised. “We’ll bring
everyone out here to finish cleaning up the well.”
“And we’ll make sure to keep a warm fire burning on
Old Man Maddog’s hearth,” Alex added, “Even if he
isn’t a very nice man.”

The Goddess smiled. “Good. You have lit my fire and
cleaned my well. And now I will tell you a secret.
Inside the heart of every girl and boy is a holy
well, full of the waters of love and joy and new
ideas. This is the well you must keep clean, because
it can easily be choked by hatred and greed and
selfishness. And inside of you is also a fire you
must tend and feed and keep burning, so that you grow
to be strong and wise and brave. Will you do that?”

“We’ll do our best,” they promised.
“And now will spring come?” Brigit asked.
“Spring will come,” the Goddess promised, and she
winked at them. “Spring will come – as soon as winter
is over.”
And it did.