"I invite you to keep a running list of all the ways life delights you and helps you and energizes you. Describe everyday miracles you take for granted . . . the uncanny powers you possess . . . the small joys that occur so routinely you forget how much they mean to you . . . the steady flow of benefits bestowed on you by people you know and don't know. What works for you? What makes you feel at home in the world?"

From Rob Brezny's Free Will Astrology Capricorn Horoscope.

Spring has Sprung...almost

OHHH...it's so close. I mean, it's practically here! It snowed this past weekend (our first of the Winter) and there are still some parking lot icebergs spotted across the city, but it's almost here nonetheless. The daffodils in traffic medians are blooming. The birds are joyfully singing. The sun is shining. Most days the temperature reaches above 60 degrees F. Yes, indeed, i think Spring is almost here!

Now is the time to take a moment, a day or two, or whatever feels right, and honor Winter with one last internal meditation and do some deep-soul-seeking. What have these quiet, cloaked few months taught us? What were your New Year dreams and aspirations? Are we planting nutritious seeds for our future: thinking positively, loving ourselves (and others) despite setbacks, moving consistently forward?

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H o r o s c o p e

"Try not to be so harsh and judgmental of others today, Karen. It could be that you simply don't understand the perspective that other people hold and the codes that they live by. Differences among people are no reason to find fault with them. You have a powerful personality that is quite perceptive and creative. Use these gifts in a positive healthy manner, instead of using them to get down on others and their behavior."

Sage Advice

 "The consuming desire of most human beings is deliberately to plant their whole life in the hands of some other person," said British writer Quentin Crisp. If you harbor even a small tendency in that direction, Capricorn, I hope that in the coming days you will make a concentrated effort to talk yourself out of it. In my astrological opinion, this is a critical moment in the long-term evolution of your healthy self-sufficiency. For both your own sake and the sake of the people you love, you must find a way to shrink your urge to make them responsible for your well-being.

This weeks horoscope via Free Will Astrology.

 

Pockets of Happy

to be continued...

I did not have you so abandoned
in this dark season.

With a light heart
i recalled your warm embrace
even as a latched the door
against your icy breath.

M E D I T A T I O N

What makes a drop of water cling to glass,
then choose its particular course of descent?

One may feed me lines of scientific scripture:
surface tension, molecular meniscus-so on and so forth-
but let me eat of magic and wonder instead;
it is more satisfying.

* The Giver of Stars *

Hold your soul open for my welcoming.
Let the quiet of your spirit bathe me
With its clear and rippled coolness,
That, loose-limbed and weary, I find rest,
Outstretched upon your peace, as on a bed of ivory.
Let the flickering flame of your soul play all about me,
That into my limbs may come the keenness of fire,
The life and joy of tongues of flame,
And, going out from you, tightly strung and in tune,
I may rouse the blear-eyed world,
And pour into it the beauty which you have begotten.

-Amy Lowell

I LOVE . . .

... a rustic provencal pain au levain turned sliced-down on a thick birch cutting board.

... a fluffy calico cat of peach, white and gray who runs off the porch to greet me at my car.

... the flicker of candlelight in the early morning through a Moroccan-style brass votive holder.

... the distant wind-composed melody of wind-chimes.

... the rich smokiness of the Lapsang Souchong that hangs in my mouth.

... the teal ceramic teapot resting on the carved, wooden trivet from India.

... bread dipped in olive oil + honey.

M E D I T A T I O N

Fare well my troubled lover
tossed and turned
on my turbulent waters
the moon pushes and pulls.

These emotions come from without you
Find solace within.

M E D I T A T I O N

1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
   That saved a wretch like me!
   I once was lost, but now am found;
   Was blind, but now I see.
2. ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
   And grace my fears relieved;
   How precious did that grace appear
   The hour I first believed.
3. Through many dangers, toils and snares,
   I have already come;
   ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
   And grace will lead me home.
4. The Lord has promised good to me,
   His Word my hope secures;
   He will my Shield and Portion be,
   As long as life endures.
5. Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
   And mortal life shall cease,
   I shall possess, within the veil,
   A life of joy and peace.
6. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
   The sun forbear to shine;
   But God, who called me here below,
   Will be forever mine.
7. When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
   Bright shining as the sun,
   We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
   Than when we’d first begun.

-John Newton

[46]

I tramp a perpetual journey,
My signs are a rain-proof coat, and good shoes and a staff cut from the woods;
No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair,
I have no chair, nor church nor philosophy;
I lead no man to a dinner-table or library or exchange,
But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll,
My left hand hooks you round the waist,
My right hand points to landscapes of continents, and a plain public road.

Not I, nor any one else can travel that road for you,
You must travel it for yourself.

It is not far . . . . it is within reach,
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know,
Perhaps it is every where on water and on land.

Shoulder your duds, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth;
Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.

If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuff of you hand on my hip,
And in time you shall repay the same service to me;
For after we start we never lie by again.

This day before dawn I ascended a hill and looked at the crowded heaven,
And I said to my spirit, When we become the enfolders of those orbs and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then?
And my spirit said No, we level that lift to pass and continue beyond.

You are also asking me questions, and I hear you;
I answer that I cannot answer . . . . you must find out for yourself.

Sit awhile wayfarer,
Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,
But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes I will certainly kiss you with my goodbye kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.

Long enough you have dreamed contemptible dreams,
Now i wash the gum from your eyes,
You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.

Long have you timidly waded, holding a plank by the shore,
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
To jump off in the midst of sea, and rise again and nod to me and shout and laughingly dash with your hair.

~ Walt Whitman from "Song of Myself" in Leaves of Grass

Golden Door Part 6

Mystic Mango

Down a steep path,
past the nylon laundry line,
I found Him -
ancient and craggy and no longer bearing fruit.

I swung, for a spell, from his outstretched arm.
I sat on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck,
nodding to his constant companions,
the lizards
who dart
and freeze
and strike with tongues.

We called the guada grau
and heard her call back.
Then she circled above, just once,
before disappearing.

Golden Door Part 5

Sometimes the sand cakes to your feet,
heavy as mud, quicksand underfoot.

Sometimes, for no apparent reason
it wears a black veil--
wet and sticky --
that the ocean's laps can't clean.

(Is the shoreline in mourning for it's dying lover, the sea?)

Sometimes you cannot outrun the froth advance
and it makes you giggle you tried and failed.

"I am the poet of the body,
And I am the poet of the soul.

The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of hell are with me,
The first I graft and increase upon myself . . . . the latter I translate into a new tongue."

~ Walt Whitman from "Song of Myself" in Leaves of Grass

M E D I T A T I O N

On the other shore, live those no longer counting.

I am raking butter like a
Table-top Zen garden,
And staring into sliced baby radishes, whose
Translucent skin, echo the patterns of Big Bang;
I am 13.7 billion years old.

M E D I T A T I O N

Ecola State Park, Oregon

“Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves”

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

M E D I T A T I O N

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there
may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on
good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have
their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations
to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become
vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser
persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your
plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a
real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution
in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But
let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive
for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be
yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical
about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is
as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of
spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress
yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and
loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with
yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees
and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it
is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of
life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and
broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful.
Strive to be happy.

                                ~ Max Ehrman (1872-1945) Desiderata

M E D I T A T I O N

Natural Bridge, Jefferson National Park, Virginia

"Everything, except for God, is metaphor."