LionHeart

just for today 

may you find time to truly be with yourself 

may you guide yourself through the places that ache

may curiosity sit beside you as you let your soul stretch

may you hold space for all you feel

may you release judgement towards yourself 

may you find more moments filled with wonder 

Peace on your Path,

-Lioninsunheart-

“It’s useless for humanity to conquer the moon, if it comes to losing the Earth”

-Francois Mauriac-

“…For thousands and thousands of years the idea of the serpent, the ram, the horned animal, were considered sacred . Pagan gods like Pan (Greek)  and Bes (Egyptian) were used to inspire paintings of the Devil in Christian churches in efforts to demonize other religion’s gods. “Archaeological evidence, especially the work of Sir John Marshall, reveals that before the Aryan invasions the indigenous population of India revered the Goddess… She appeared in the Puranas and Tantras under many names, but the name “Devi" simply combined them all.” -Merlin Stone. ("Devil" was Devi+evil is also an interesting coincidence.) The old testament documents the takeover of the patriarchy, a male god who gives birth to a man, who, with the man’s rib gives birth to a woman. Women go to cause the downfall of the whole human race led by a talking serpent. This attack on any remaining traces of the Goddess and the mystical power of nature and women. Creation became removed from the divine, women were the progenitors of sin. If we are taught keep looking toward an invisible being, a heavenly hope, and a god of light, how could we love the earth beneath our feet and her dark fertile soil? How could we protect the fragile, the feminine, the wild, if a patriarchal god of war and fear was all we knew? “Devil” is raised again in my world, not as a symbol of evil, but as a remembrance of the feminine forest spirit of old, decorated with ancient symbols of fertility and energy. “

LISTENING 

by John Roedel

let’s hush

for a moment

my love,

and fall in love

with the mystery

of our lives

all over again

  ~ for the very first time

I don’t know about you

  but everything has been

so noisy and loud lately

and the ruckus isn’t

coming from “out there”

it’s coming from in here

I think it’s time for me

to remember that

these passing thoughts

 that cross my mind a

hundred- thousand times a day

aren’t who I am

they are pieces of falling

cotton that were caught

in an afternoon breeze

these flowing emotions

  that course through my heart

relentlessly

aren’t who I am

they are fat September

leaves that are momentarily

riding the river

~ I am not just what I think about

  I am more than that

I am a raging gale that howls

to be heard as I search for miracles

under a painted western sky

~ I am not just how I feel

   I am more than that

I am the moving water

working my way though the valley

and back to my source

I love my mind

  but it isn’t my soul

my mind is an endless parade

of interchanging soft ideas

and barbed wire considerations

~ that often betray me with either

senseless anxieties or superficial ambitions

my brain is a wonderful calculator

that will someday solve its last equation

yet somehow I will go on

I love my heart

  but it isn’t my soul

my heart is a magic wand

of conjured emotions

and spellbound passions

  ~ that betray me with the dark enchantment of jealousy or through the necromancy of raising ancient guilt from the dead at a moments notice

my heart is an amazing drummer soundtracking the story of my physical life that will someday fall silent

yet somehow I will go on

let’s quit turning the

temporary into a

gospel we must live by

these thoughts racing

inside of your mind right now

say as much about who you are

as the skin on your knuckles

these feelings radiating from

your beating heart right now

say as much about who you are

as the color of your hair today

yes, of course,

our thoughts and feelings

offer a bit of a glimpse

into what’s going on inside

of us at a particular moment

but they are as transient as

falling stars during a meteor shower

you are more than your thoughts

and feelings

because you were built to outlast

both your brain and your heart

we are woven out of

threads of eternity

and it’s time for us to be mindful

to not get stuck inside the sticky

taffy panic room of what we think or feel

and to remember we were

lit long ago with a fire that treats

millenniums like eye blinks

you were ignited with a light that

cannot be extinguished by

momentary shadows

because

you are not just passing through

~ you are what things pass through

someday our brains

will be an antique cell phone

that holds a couple dozen

of our old texts

and someday our hearts will be

fossilized seashells that people

will hold up to their ears from

time to time

and someday our physical form

will fail us

but but but

that’s when our adventure

will really get started

because then our experience

won’t just be all about

our thoughts or our feelings

that often keep us separated

and divided from the wonder

of our very existence

the secret is

we don’t have

to wait for our bodies

to disappear to quit

being beholden to it

once we quit focus only on the chattering

going on inside of us

we won’t be so distracted

 and creation will finally have

our undivided attention

and then we won’t attach ourselves

to the cotton thoughts floating

across the sky

because we will be one with the sky

and we won’t define ourselves

by the leaves of emotion passing

down the river

because we will be one with the river

we are

built to outlast

the clambering

boilers inside of us

maybe we

should take turns

reminding each

other to hush for a bit

so we can sit together

and listen to the song of

miracle that is

playing all around us

After some time you learn the difference, The subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul. And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning, And company doesn’t always mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts, And presents aren’t promises. And you begin to accept your defeats, With your head up and your eyes ahead, With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child. And you learn to build all your roads on today, Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans, And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight. You learn that time isn’t something you can turn back, Therefore you must plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure. You really are strong . And you can go so much farther than you thought you could go. And that life really has a value. And you have value within the life. ~ Veronica A Shoffstall, extract from 'After a While You Learn'