The universe is one great kindergarten for man.

Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson.

The mountain teaches stability and grandeur, the ocean immensity and change.  Forests, lakes and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate and inanimate existence, leaves its impression upon the soul of man

Sing songs that none have sung.

Think thoughts that ne'er in brain have rung.

Walk in paths that none have trod,

Weep tears as none have shed for God,

Give peace to all to whom none other gave,

Claim him your own who's everywhere disclaimed.

Love all with love and none have felt, and brave

The battle of life with strength unchained.

YOU ARE INFINITE HAPPINESS
YOU ARE INFINITE BLISS
YOU ARE INFINITE TRUTH
YOU ARE INFINITE GRATITUDE
YOU ARE INFINITE CREATIVITY
YOU ARE INFINITE INSPIRATION
YOU ARE INFINITE HEALTH
YOU ARE INFINITE HEALING
YOU ARE INFINITE CLARITY
YOU ARE INFINITE TRUST
YOU ARE INFINITE STILLNESS
YOU ARE INFINITE FREEDOM
YOU ARE INFINITE ORIGINALITY
YOU ARE INFINITE VITALITY
YOU ARE INFINITE RADIANCE
YOU ARE INFINITE HARMONY
YOU ARE INFINITE WISDOM
YOU ARE INFINITE INNOCENCE
YOU ARE INFINITE STRENGTH
YOU ARE INFINITE DIGNITY
YOU ARE INFINITE SERENITY
YOU ARE INFINITE ONENESS
YOU ARE INFINITE JOY
YOU ARE INFINITE TRANQUILITY
YOU ARE INFINITE PROGRESS
YOU ARE INFINITE COURAGE
YOU ARE INFINITE SUCCESS
YOU ARE INFINITE COMPASSION
YOU ARE INFINITE LOVE
YOU ARE INFINITE INFINITY......

When you convince God that you want Him above all else, you will be attuned to His

will.  When you continue to seek Him no matter what obstacles arise to take you

away from Him, you are using your human will in its most constructive form.  You

will thus operate the law of success that was known to the ancient sages and that

is understood by all men who have achieved true success.  The divine power is

yours if you make a determined effort to use it to attain health, happiness and peace.

As you encompass these goals you will travel on the path of Self-realization to your

true home in God.

AFFIRMATION

Heavenly Father, I will reason, I will will, I will act;  but guide Thou my reason, will

and activity to the right thing that I should do.

Our intellectual knowledge can sometimes hold us back, visualization can act as an

aid.  We may also find visualization to be an important part of our daily prayers. 

Before we pray, we can visualize how deep, calm and sublime our prayers will be.

We can visualize ourselves becoming love itself and light itself, and experiencing

the supreme bliss of becoming one with the divine.  We can imprint in our mind

the image of ourselves as we emit a light that guides all living things to awaken

to their divinity.

In our daily lives, too, we sometimes play out various scenarios in our mind.

When we do this, we may feel ourselves becoming very emotional, to balance

ourselves we can return to visualizing ourselves in prayer.  When we feel

ourselves getting irritated or annoyed, we can recall an image of ourselves engaged

in deep, relaxed, harmonious breathing.

In the end, when it comes to putting truth into practice, I believe that there is no

substitute for our own efforts.  As a result of these efforts, we are constantly

evolving and self-creating and elevating ourselves to higher and higher planes.

With both our intellectual knowledge and the power of visualization on our side,

I hope and pray that we will all live lives in accordance with divine truth.

Yuka Saionji
Booklet 8 - Intuitive decision Making
www.byakko.org

picture - Mount Fuji - Japan (taken from a postcard)

Blessings to all - Merry Christmas - Taikunping

I had two ideas for a greeting card - this is the second one.....

It is a "Happiness" water crystal image by Masaru Emoto - author of the Hidden Messages in Water

In Peace.....Taikunping

Just as the cells of our physical body are linked with the universe and all forms of life

so the genes of all human beings are firmly interconnected.  Thus, we can say that

all forms of life are interconnected, and that we are by no means isolated from

others.  If all of us human beings - threads of light from the Universal God -

acknowledge this truth and deepen our mutual understanding, and if we all

awaken to this principle, there will be no longer any need for conflict and strife.

The cells and genes of all human beings are inscribed with the ultimate truth

of the universe.  When this truth is awakened and activated, humanity will achieve

global peace through mutual acceptance, respect and harmony.  As our

consciousness ascends to higher and higher dimensional levels, the whole

world will be joined into one, transcending our individual physical entities.

Without a doubt it is our own consciousness that will bring about world peace

and lasting happiness.  Each and every one of us is a divine being.  The time

has finally come when this simple truth will be acknowledged.  The path we

have walked along has been perfectly arranged under the great plan of the

Universal God and we have been guided along this divine path.

May peace prevail on earth
article from "Intuitive Decision Making" by Masami Saionji
picture - peace mandala "Peace is in my Heart"

Evoking the presence of the great compassion,

let us fill our hearts with our own compassion -

towards ourselves and towards all living beings.

Let us pray that all living beings realize they are

brothers and sisters, all nourished from the

same source of life......


www.sacredspace.ie/peaceprayer//pp_day1.htm

picture from the Water Crystal Oracle based on the work by Masaru Emoto

This crystal is entitled "Prayer"

I'm currently reading the above book and today I opened the page at:-

Chapter 4 - Act Responsibly

Question - How can I live up to my new ethics and view of the world?  In what way can I act more responsibly?

Ten Commandments of Responsible Living are:-

1.  Satisfy your needs without detracting from others.

2.  Live to respect the right to life and development of others.

3.  Safeguard the right to life and health of all growing and living things.

4.  Pursue happiness, freedom and fulfillment for self and in others.

5.  Help those less privileged to live without hunger and penury.

6.  Preserve or restore the integrity of the environment.

7.  Help children and young people to discover ways of thinking and acting in a
     beneficial way to themselves and others.

8.  Ask your government to deal peacefully and cooperatively with other nations
     and cultures.

9.  Patronize businesses that provide services and goods without impairing the
     environment.

10.Use media with reliable information on trends and events that affect life to make
      sound decisions based on truth.

Our neighbourhood cat - he loves inviting himself indoors on cold, not so cold, hot, warm, misty, rainy, or even windy days!
 
I found out the other day he loves drums, but in a slightly different way to us.....

I've just finished reading the above - a brilliant read which really stretches the "boundaries" of what life is all about.


We are indeed on a shaman's journey, mere children struggling to become technicians of the sacred.  We are learning how to deal with the plasticity that is part and parcel of a universe in which mind and reality are a continuum, and in this journey one lesson stands out above all others.  As long as the formlessness and breathtaking freedom of the beyond remain frightening to us, we will continue to dream a hologram for ourselves that is comfortably solid and well defined.

But we must always heed Bohm's warning that the conceptual pigeonholes we use to parse out the universe are of our own making.  They do not exist "out there", for "out there" is only the indivisible totality.  Brahman.  And when we outgrow any given set of conceptual pigeonholes we must always be prepared to move on, to advance from soul-state to soul-state, as Sri Aurobindo put it, and from illumination to illumination.  For our purpose appears to be as simple as it is endless.

We are, as the aborigines say, just learning how to survive in infinity."

The cover is pictured above - if anyone would like to go out and buy the book - it was a journey, but a pleasant one.  302 pages of very small writing....


One of my favourite sayings is "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND"................!!!!!
Have a safe journey fellow travellers and may our boundaries be limitless

Taikunping

Around you, or a little above you, maybe, is a beautiful garden, the infinite and eternal Garden of the Spirit;  from this state of life, with its beauty and peace, and the love of its inhabitants, we draw close to you in your physical life to help you.  We come to raise you above the limitations of pain and grief into that true home, that heavenly life from which you have all come, and towards which you are all journeying.

The rose quartz pictured was a piece I came across at a shop in Wales on a day out to visit a slate mine - it was inexpensive and I thought it looked like a pink mountain.


It was one of the centre crystals in our solstice medicine wheel on Thursday night, the other being celestite. We placed them in a central position in the wheel to represent father sky (celestite) and mother earth (rose quartz).  The idea was to harmonize and balance the masculine and feminine energies within the earth and humanity.
We sent our energies into the circle of crystals to amplify the healing we sent out for friends, family, those in need of healing and mother earth.

The outer wheel was made of rainbow coloured tumblestones, as were the spokes and the inner wheel (around the two central stones) were made of larger pieces of rough mineral - also in rainbow colours.

We used our drums and rattles as we each walked the circle, spending time in each segment - spirit, emotion, body and mind.  We took it in turns holding a large obsidian sphere for visioning. We smudged with sage and left it burning in a small pot, and needless to say by the end of the evening "the cabin" was fragrant, cleansed but a bit smokey!

A great night - I've posted pictures of the wheel itself in my photo section, but the crystal colours don't show up too well.  The general effect and structure can nevertheless be seen.  We used 4 clear quartz points, facing inward at the East, South, West and North Gates, and we each did a separate turn of the medicine wheel, always entering and exiting at the east gate.  We each used the crystal wand, circling it clockwise around the wheel to make a sacred space within the wheel.

"You are on your path, walking your vision, and it has brought you to me to learn

lessons.  I will be woven in and out of your existence into eternity.  Unless you

choose to reject me, to give up your confidence and to forget who I am".

I am mesmerized by the twinkling eyes.

"You are in a spirit land, on a shamanic journey.  You have gone within to the realm

 of the mind, where the answers are.  Learning from us, your ancestor spirits, will give

you the ability to perceive all that is necessary to have your vision"

"Grandfather my earth walk is difficult.  Since I was a small child I have seen the sun

and the stars and the moon.  I am now at an age when I must start to walk.  I do not

know my direction.  It's that time when one chooses what to be as a two-legged".

Grandfather Red Star laughs.  "You do not choose what you are going to be, you

become what you are.  This is why you are in my home, listening to confidence -

to know what is so for you.  You are a voice, one who speaks.  You are born in the

time of the stars that allows you to speak.  You have been given words and your

confidence allows them to flow.

"It will be your job to teach those who ask questions, to nurture them with the

answers that come from within themselves.  You are placed on the Earth Mother

to show your walk.  You have the ability to give away.  The give away of red

requires that you go forth in your human life and find the tokens that give you the

confidence to become what you are".

"Grandfather, when I'm there on earth, working, will I be able to hear your

guidance?  May I come to your warm home and listen to your words?"

Grandfather Red Star's eyes twinkle.  "You will gaze into the heavens and see

my eyes.  You will close your eyes and see mine.  Remember that you are real,

for this is confidence.  Remember that you have the ability to go beyond and have

what you seek.  You are a teacher of life.  Listen to your heart, for it is the center

of your mind.  It is the balance point where you listen to Great Spirit, which speaks

through the ancestor teachers.  Listen to your vision and the stars will speak to

you of the seven medicines - the gateway to all."

Patience really means confidence in God, knowing that God has you in His Care.  God, the Great White Spirit, is all around you and in you and is working out a wise and beautiful purpose in your soul.  Do not live with the feeling that you must get over the ground as quickly as possible to reach a certain point.  Just live every moment, every hour, every day, tranquilly in the protective love of God, taking the hours as they come and doing one thing at a time, quietly.

The evolution of the bee is directly linked to that of the flower.  Bees did not exist before flowers appeared, while the wasp did.  They collect pollen in special sacs on their legs, while a residual coats their bodies.  The former is used to feed the offspring while the latter fertilizes other flowers, so bees and flowering plants are interdependent upon one another for their continued survival

HABITAT
Bees cover the globe, found as far north as the tundra regions down to the tip of Africa and South America.  They prefer to create their nests inside dark, ill-ventilated places - such as walls or hollow trees.  They will make their home inside attics or lofts, sheds or in rocky crevices out of doors.  A few live underground.

MEDICINE AND POWER

Direction - East
Elements - Air, Sun (Egypt)
Traits - Industry, community, teamwork
Associations - Creativity, prosperity, profit, structure, hierarchy

To invoke bee is to call upon new life.  Especially in group activities, bee brings not only creativity, but harmony.  If there are "problems to be solved" bee brings the light of the sun to illuminate the situation.  At the same time bee provides the organizational skills required to implement the solution.

All but the queen dies at the end of the season.  Yet from this one source the new hive begins.  Bee holds the gift of rebirth from a single source or idea.  Invoke bee medicine to bring "the sweetness back into your life".  Bee also imparts the ability to communicate with others, especially in a group situation or for the common cause.  They are pathfinders to new sources of supplies.



Legends and Traditions:-

'War upon the Bee' was a game played by Dakota boys.  The children would attack a hive with sticks and clubs.  The bees would fight back while the boys would stand their ground.  This was supposed to prepare the children for war, teaching them stoicism in the face of resulting pain.  Any boy who cried out was sent away to sit with the women, and he wore that shame until he'd successfully completed the challenge.  Even the memory would often last a lifetime, as Charles A Eastman's reminiscences in Indian Boyhood illustrate.

In Orphic teaching, the bee symbolized the human soul, because it was believed that souls swarmed to the divine as bees do to water.

For the Egyptians the bee symbolized solar energy.  It was the bringer of the sweetness of life.  Bee meant rebirth and it was associated with many deities, including Neith, Amun and Min.  Similarly the bee had royal significance.  It was the symbol of lower Egypt. 

A quote from Clark's Heraldry:-  "Bees are the most wonderful and profitable insects yet know...."

"When you walk in your world, you must walk your vision.  You must know where to go.

You may always come back to us and lie down and draw strength from the soil and

the soft ones that comfort you.  But on this earth walk, little one remember your

purpose.

It is with intention that life begins beyond this earth in the land of the Grandmother/

Grandfather, Great Spirit, Great Mystery.  Now, as you rest, we give to you your vision".

Lying in the green grass, on my back, I  focus on the sky.  There I see the sun - with 4

lines on each side - top and bottom, left and right.  It is bright yellow, intensely

yellow.  Below it, I see a blue crescent moon.  Between this setting moon, starting at

the top and spiraling down, I see a red star, an orange star, a yellow star, a green

star, a blue star, a purple star, and a burgundy star.  I see the sun and the moon

and the stars.

It is grand, because behind each of these stars it seems as if there are millions

more - billions and trillions of twinkling points of colour.

"Grass people, what have I seen?"  I ask.  "What are this sun and moon and stars

about?"

The grass people laugh, and they say, "Well, it's the sun and the moon and

everything in between.  It's your path.  It's your vision.  Grasp it and hold it dear.

Hang on to it.  It's come to heal the fear.  Remember it and always keep it near".

Wolf Moondance