Revealing the Sacred In All Things

Opening Sound Journey for workshop at Wholistic Sound, Saturday, June 25, 2016.

Sitting in my house, my beautiful log house, listening to birdsong on a perfect day. I was blessed with a surprise day off today when all the power went off in South County Commons where I usually do massage on Thursday. Perfect, as the last two weeks have been a whirlwind of intensity.

A weekend of sessions and workshop with my friend and spiritual healer D. Crowfeather had been planned for a while for last weekend, which I knew was going to be very powerful- and it was. More on that in the next installment! Leading up to that, just two days prior to the weekend before, I heard that an Ecuadorian shaman, Don Alberto Taxo, was going to be teaching a workshop in Jamestown. I knew nothing about him or the people who were hosting him but I was very drawn to it and immediately registered for the workshop.

What a gift. I am so grateful that I listened to the voice that pushed me forward, rather than the one that sometimes holds me back- that I listened to the voice for Spirit and Truth and Beauty which knew this would be the perfect preparation for the weekend to follow.

The workshop was about our relationship to Pacha Mama and our connection to the four elements. It was very powerful for me. I experienced and deepened my relationship to the four elements in profound ways. I learned from the air that I could let go of my past with every breath- not just distant past, old memories, old wounds and traumas but now, in every moment. That I can breathe in now and let it go and breathe in the next new moment, that I can make love to the air with each breath.

I felt the alchemy of the four elements merging within me and creating something more powerful and more magical in every moment. I felt the stardust within my cells. I felt the channels of fluid that run through my body, flowing, pulsing, nurturing, supporting and sustaining me.

Four Directions Mandala from materials found on beach. Rosie Warburton 2013

This experience deepened my understanding of who I am on this earthly plane in ways that are still being revealed to me.

Before the workshop I had been thinking about the Sacred- how we bring the element of divinity to those things (people, places) which we honor. In unseen ways it may already be there, in that All Is Truly Divine, but as we navigate the earthly plane we often miss it. So we need a dedicated and powerful intention to bring it forth- really it is for our recognition of That Which Already Is, we infuse with our sacred intention and bring that energy forth. A crystal bowl, when played, does not automatically produce "sacred sound". It is dependent upon the energy and the intention of the player.

When I got to the workshop, one of the first things Don Alberto talked about was how we have an intimate connection to the elements but we must make a practice of exercising this connection through deepening our awareness of the sacred in all things. Right away I knew I was in the right place.

I also saw by the end of the weekend how it was preparing me for the weekend to come.

That's all for today.

Until next time, blessed be.

Fathers, Sons and Cat Stevens

Honestly, I am forcing myself to write this tonight. I find myself so quickly exhausted when I get on the computer. I feel strong physiological effects from it and almost feel as though I am becoming allergic to it. It's too bad... Or not. It just is, I guess.

It is dusk. Father's Day. My father is far away now. He has been gone for 33 years. I was 28 when he died. He was 61, the same age I am now. I thought he was old. Now I think, "My god- he was so young!"

This evening I celebrated Father's Day with my youngest son, Nic and his 14 year old son, Jonah. Nic's dad died when Nic was 21- his dad, my ex, was 53 when he died. Nic's birthday is February 5, the same as my father's. They celebrated Nic's first birthday and his grandad's 60th birthday together. Patterns that run through families... births, deaths, histories that repeat themselves... so interesting. Emotional wave patterns that we become entrained to? Familiarity is attractive and compelling and often sneaks up on us while we are paying attention to other things. Some of that is good and some is problematic at best and very difficult to disentangle ourselves from. It sometimes seems to be deeply ingrained in our DNA and can take a tremendous amount of courage, hard work and intention to heal.

Oh, and I just remembered that I got married on this day in 1975. For whatever that's worth.

And tomorrow is the solstice and a full moon- the first time they have coincided in 70 years.

And I just spent a weekend with a beautiful Ecuadorian shaman, Don Alberto Taxo- but that is a story for another time.